S2E01 - Mutation City

[Betaruga]

Mutation City Liveblog part 2 of 5...

Bringing this discussion back with more gifs... there are so many sweet looking moments in this episode, it'll take a few more posts to cover them all <3 This is actually an old fav of mine. I remember seeing it once while our VCR wasn't working and loved it so bad that I waited for 6 months every time SWAT Kats aired to try and catch its syndication again so I could rewatch and record it. Needless to say, I watched the crud out of that tape. First episode for season 2 breaks in with some sweeeeet animation from Mook, and I'm a fan.


Confirmed: homeless people in SWAT Kats.


Actually dig his design to be honest. Purple jacket? Shnazzy.


Mayor Manx is not a fan of this new animation style however.


Tentacles have arrived and this is now WAY too anime for comfort.
He's been around. He's learned a thing or two from Mr. Young and associates.
More than any sentient mind ought to know.


"This is Mayor Manx...GET ME OUT OF JAPAN!!"


Nice to see Callie jumping around and having a little bit more action in the show, even if it is evasive action.


"Mayor Manx was right. Cultural sensitivity be darned. This has just gotten weird!"


Meanwhile, Chance and Jake are oblivious to outside events by being rad as usual.
"Can't you kick any harder than that?"


#he know he dead
As a kid rewatching this ep over and over on VHS, I remember my mom walking in and asking one time if these guys had boobs as a dig into this episode's tendency to draw them with pointy muscular man-pecs. After making all these gifs, I...I can kinda see where she was coming from with that. Especially in scene 1.


Anyone else ever feel like this is an episode about Jake getting one-ups on Chance?


I mean, those things are heavy, you know. In the face.


"SWAT Kats! Come in!"
"Yes Miss Briggs!"
"Megakat City has been inundated with some sort of... Japanese animation!"


"Also ooze. Mutating ooze."




Not gonna lie, I love Felina's intro here.


Razor impressed with gloves he's worn so many times, it never gets old!


Awkward off screen helmet toss. Still tho, T-Bone suiting up. Dang.


Razor still totally stoked by his usual gear and pulls the dramatics. T-Bone keeps politely quiet as he smirks to himself.


If there's one thing Season 2 delivers... it's sweet, sweet flight scenes. Aw yis.


Love this monster's scene entrance.






Funny how his controls being covered with acid drool never seems to resurface as a plot point. Kinda hilarious, then again, this show is also pretty ridiculous.


Yeah I remember seeing this episode in 1995 and being like "why doesn't everything look this awesome?"


"Look ma, no seat belt!"






Feral: The Spider Kitty


"Your niece is pretty quick on the draw, Commander."
"Are you implying that my niece is fast?!"

Jokes aside, this cheeses Feral off for some... reason. Then again, this is Feral. Does he need a reason to be cheesed? Maybe I never pieced it together. Is it because he doesn't like Razor complimenting his niece? *cough* I'm on the fence as to whether it's faux flirtation just to peeve Feral. Or if everything just annoys him, especially losing his face by getting his tail saved by a pair of vigilantes and his own niece.

[Kooshmeister]

Jokes aside, this cheeses Feral off for some... reason. Then again, this is Feral. Does he need a reason to be cheesed? Maybe I never pieced it together.

He's mad at seeing Felina working with the SWAT Kats. She's cooperating with the two guys who just wrecked his control tower and a good chunk of the runway. Again. He'd probably prefer to keep her away from them because they'll be a bad influence (or something) and now here she is shooting alongside them and getting compliments from them.

If this is so, this might be why he orders her to remain behind when he makes the run to get the anti-mutagens; he's still peeved with her so he's grounding her butt.

That's about all I've got.

[Betaruga]

I wish they had more episodes where we saw more into Jake and Chance's day to day lives. I liked this exchange too as well as the one in the Reflex Room and other episodes showing them training. I always got the impression from scenes like these that Chance has lived a bit harder of a life than Jake did, and that Chance is most likely the older of the two, though maybe by a couple years.

I agree. The combat is nice, but I'm honestly more interested in their lives outside the mask. I think it would have helped to get to know who Chance and Jake are, which would then help to relate to T-Bone and Razor. Not to mention whenever there is a building used often in the setting it drives me nuts not knowing the whole layout of the building. -The garage is a good example. They have an up-stairs, but we never know whats up there (and I've looked but never actually seen a staircase).
But back on topic, I agree with you about Chance most likely having it rougher than Jake. It gives a depth to his character and makes him more of a tough kind of guy to me. In my mind, I do see him being older than Jake. Why would he call him "Kiddo" in The Metallikats if Jake was older? Still, I wouldn't want them to be too far apart where ages are concerned. I would like to think that Jake is 20 or maybe 21, and Chance is 22.

One thing that irked me about this scene is... where the heck did Chance's arm stripes go? LOL Obvious bad animation error there.

Holy fudge! I know right?! I could spare forgiveness if it was just one short scene where they forgot to add his stripes (because Hanna-Barbera's track record is full of mistakes like that). But this is like a whole scene where he's utterly stripe-less! It makes him look like he'd be kinda fair-skinned if he were human.

"Honestly though, have you even seen our feet? They're HUGE! I actually blacked out from the pain while putting these on--I still don't know how they managed to fit!"

Do you remember the boots T-Bone wore in Cry Turmoil? Those looked almost like they could fit, but the combat boots in this episode almost looked as though their legs and feet would have to shrink in order for them to fit.

My favorite scene, I will confess, is the scene where T-Bone has turned into this cool mutant frog thing and Razor is trying to avoid him and get the chemicals to save the city. It was a nice twist, because usually in these types

of cartoons there are EXPLOSIONS, and minor character death, and destruction, but somehow the heroes are unscathed, "Can't touch this! Dudududuh!"

Hmm...I know there's more I want to say because I frickin love this episode, but nothing is coming to mind so...

"Nothing can STOP ME NOW!"

"Except the Swat Kats, EVERY SINGLE TIME, YO!"

Ok, the thing about the building layout... XD OMG, I KNOW RIGHT?? How the heck do they even get up to the second floor. Is there a kitchen up there? I hope they have separate bedrooms for...reasons... XD

I totally relate to wanting to know more about the SWAT Kats as Chance and Jake, and like, know more about them... Like anything.... At all.... ... *stares hungrily at SK kickstarter to launch* The creators teased us by implicating that they had fleshed out their back stories and infused them with more depth and feels. The Metallikats having a son as a teaser in and of itself was also intriguing. I think honestly, the reason why I've held on and loved SWAT Kats for this long is...because of the lack of closure. I want moar, darn it.

Dude, Chance is a total softie (lol and kind of a manchild, which I think adds to the rough kit-hood theory) under that tough act. I totally take him as a bit older than Razor, too, though I've kinda wondered about timelines and don't think they could have gotten the skills or time to orient themselves as SWAT Kats if they weren't in their mid 20s at least. But hey, can't say for sure

(Also lol yeah dude I remember T-Bones flight commander uniform. I remember it very well. Awww yeeaah. Oh wait, boots. Right. YEAH they fit, don't they? It's a nice change.)

As for "NOTHING CAN STOP ME NOW"... I like to dream too, Viper

[Kooshmeister]

Well, in Viper's defense, he was fifty feet tall at least, with acid-fingernails. Can't blame a guy for being a little overconfident. Plus, he totally would've won if he hadn't for some reason held the canisters up just begging someone to shoot them.

"Here, let me hold these aloft in triumph, giving any fool with a ranged weapon within a mile or so of me a perfect chance to shoot them! This can't possibly fail! Bwahahahaha, mad science!"

[Betaruga]

Okay... I'm gonna blow through the rest of this episode now. Part 3 of 5. Finally. Liveblogging this entire thing. 120+ gifs guys.

Send help.



I love that Doc Conway replaced Dr. Zyme. Finally, a competent dude? Just look at this guy. Grabs the first two chemicals he has and BAM!



Sweet, sciency magic!



"You mean we could have just splashed Dr. Viper with anti-mutagen this whole time?! Why haven't you ever said anything?!"

"Oh my gaawwhh, Feral, I only just got here! It's not like you wanted this yesterday. Gawh. How RUDE."



Feral's not gonna deny that. He know he rude.

(I like that they took a moment to highlight Feral's stress with that nice non-verbal cue there.)



See? There he goes again! T-Bone's not even gonna protest. He don't want anything to do with that. So RUDE!



Then he tells Felina that Fight Club's just for dudes and can't come. That or Feral's just got a lot on his mind and we can't always fathom what he's thinking. Always figured it was some emotion backing that decision instead of logic.



Look at her though. She don't care. She's Felina!



"Pff, whatever! I'll make my OWN Fight Club!"



Razor: So what about us?



Razor: We're dudes. What are we, not good enough for Feral's Fight Club? Where's our restorative reprieve, where we deal with the crud mundane life throws at us by fist fighting strangers underground after meeting up with other dudes and sobbing into each other's chests?



Razor's right. T-Bone pleads the city authorities for the rights to their own Fight Club. They got personal baggage to unload before dealing with Dr. Viper and the baddies, dag nabbit.



Mayor Manx balks, but Callie know's what's up. She sees how important this is. For her. For the SWAT Kats. For all of Megakat City. So she lectures her incompetent boss on the necessity and benefits of Fight Club.



"UGH! Fine, whatever! I don't even care! Just save the city already, I really need a shower!"

MEANWHILE...



"Felina! I thought I told you to stay put!"

"Hey, we both know I'm your best wingman, in the chopper and in shady underground tournaments!"



"...Okay, yeah. That's fair."



Enforcers doing what they do best. Getting owned!



"Commander, we're hit!"

"You know, that sure happens a lot! Everyone else, don't elevate or anything. Make sure you keep flying low enough for these things to snag yah."



"See? Just like that. AW YEAH."



"How are we even related?!"



"Relax Felina it's fine, see I'll just radio for some chopper back uhHOLY SH---"



Felina seriously cannot believe she's actually related to this guy. She wanted to navigate the chopper higher but NoOoOo.



Ouch. Way to derp your gun over to the enemy, Felina. Fun fact: you ARE Feral's niece!



Good thing the SWAT Kats Fight Club pulled through!
You know how badly I wish those blades were actually shuriken though? That would be CRAZY.



The plot advances as Dr. Viper commits his truly, most evil act in Megakat City!



...Littering.



Uh oh. Looks like Fight Club didn't help out as much as T-Bone expected.
And he even sobbed extra hard into that one dude's chest before beating everyone up!



Razor: Well, let's be real here. Maybe if you had just let me teach you to swim, you wouldn't have been stressed about fighting in a city inundated with swampy ooze. And then we wouldn't have gotten caught up at Fight Club for so long, and in this mess!

T-Bone: OH NO YOU DO NOT. Do not make this be about my not swimming right now!



"STOP MOCKING ME!"



Just ignore the Japanese tentacle monster, T-Bone. Haters gonna hate.

[Betaruga]

Mutation City Live Blog part 4 of 5.



Razor thought he knew the drill. Mutating ooze flooding the city? Check. Fight Clubbing the jitters out? Sure. But getting crushed underwater by a giant tentacle monster? Well, that escalated quickly.



Razor didn't know exactly what the night had store for them, but he had this sneaking feeling ever since they met up with that giant acid toad that they were in for a trip.

"NOPE! TOO HARSH, MAN. I AM FREAKING OUT."



"WE GOTTA EJECT--"

"Oh, great idea! Let's just eject into the mutating ooze with Octopus-San! I'm sure I wouldn't be an easy target, being unable to swim and all!"



"C'mon, baby. Just one more time for ol' T-Bone. Don't let this "can't swim" thing backlash on me now....Especially with Octupus-San in the picture, alright? This episode was animated in Japan. I've seen some things, man. That's just a whole n'other level of nope right there.



"..............aw duude."



Jokes aside though, I love this scene. The way these two clash during intense situations is always fun, especially with their lives (and T-bone's stubborn pride) riding on the line.



Oh wow, the Enforcers are actually shown with faces for once!



Off to retrieve dem anti-mutagens.

"...Let's do the rest of this mission on projectile motorboats. I feel gross being in the jet after that."



Wee!



"Razor, look out for that thing I'm not dodging!"



How did Razor even jump his motorboat like that? CARTOONS



Razor: Way to not shoot with your gun, buddy!



Razor: OH AND 10 POINTS FOR TOSSING OFF YOUR GLOVATRIX, SUPER.



Razor: GREAT.



And now Razor has to save him. Again.

"Oh, you had better be drowning."



"Oh, he's just passed out underwater. That's fine."



Aaand turns out T-Bone wasn't passed out. He was just letting himself sink like a rock. Razor is so done with this scene!



T-Bone: Thanks for saving me bro, btw mind scratching this itch on my back?

Razor: Man, you need me to do everything for you?



Razor: Fine, I'll go ahead and HOLY KATS THAT THING HAS NO EYES. How did it even find you? Why are you so good at attracting bad stuff?!

Look! Some rare early 90s blood on an American kids cartoon!

No worries tho. Razor is prepared.



Why does he even have missiles that tiny like it's the size of a golf ball at what point did he sit down and decide that was a good idea? I'm sorry but I just can't help laughing that the lil monster just lets it hit him. He's not paralyzed from fear, guys. He's paralyzed from confusion and embarrassment. "Is this really happening right now?"



He's not the only one though. Just look at that guy. T-Bone looks kinda embarrassed, too.



"Dude, I will pay you with money if you never bring this up again."



Razor: Man, that bite looks like it must hurt...
T-Bone: Ow! Then stop touching it!



Razor: You know, you should have Doc Conway check that bite out when we return with the anti-mutagens.



T-Bone: Lay off, man. You're not my dad!



Razor just broke his bare foot kicking that locked door. But he doesn't show it, though. He's just that hardcore, man.



Okay guys, guys. Look closely at this gif. Watch his hand. I didn't realize this til I made the gif, but he's literally clawing his back to shreds with each swipe and doesn't even feel it while mutating. I mean, wow. That's pretty brutal for a kids show. That's brutal period.



Razor: Whoa, convenient! I'm with Feral on this one. We coulda anti-mutagen'd Dr. Viper ages ago with this stuff! It's just sitting here!



Alright, no jokes this time. This fight was my favorite in the series. The reveal, the pacing, and when they cue the silence? This fight scene had atmosphere, and was a sophisticated bit, ahead of its time. Not only that, but these two have been butting heads since the start of the episode, and it all really came to a head here. I adore this scene.









But the scene still.. had kind of a funny moment, too. I always laugh at this point because they're both just.. chillin' there, while Mutant!T-Bone babbles and decides what to do with himself for an awkward moment before going in for the swipe.

But then the tension comes right back.













So good.



"I hate to do this to you buddy... but you're just not yourself!"

[Betaruga]

MUTATION CITY Liveblog, Part 5 of 5...

OH THANK GOODNESS IT'S FINALLY OVER. And thank sweet mercy that SWAT Kats fans on Tumblr are so vocal in their commentary of this beast of a project (giving me life, seriously, then again nobody likes crickets in a fandom) cuz I'm not gonna lie, making a billion gifs and creating running commentary has been no easy feat. That and nerding out with bros is fun. But madness help me, I loved it. Every second of it <3 (There are two versions of this liveblog actually, the PG rated one here, and a way more adult-friendly version on Tumblr, where I can joke around more freely. For any curious and mature readers, you can check out my SK stuff on Tumblr here http://betaruga.tumblr.com/tagged/swat-kats Heads up: link has no explicit content, just bad language that would upset your mom.)



Callie phones in, using... what actually looks kinda like a cheap cell phone in this shot, wow. 1994, huh? They say this show was ahead of it's time, and they weren't kidding!

"Razor, come in! We got big problems...."



"...And I'm not even exaggerating! Viper really took the Japanese gag too far this time. It's like Kaiju Big Battle down here!"



Razor is on it.

"Kaiju Big Battle is for nerds!"



Heh. What do you call your Turbokat when it actually comes when you call?



TURBO-DAWG, yo!



This screencap shows the real reason Feral's been an ineffective force against Viper so far.

DEM LEGS.



How many times has Megakat Biochemical Labs been demolished in this show? Not enough, apparently.



T-Bone's still himself just enough to get cheesed off over this, tho. Now they're gonna have to pay for property damage, too?! CRUD!

(Just kidding. Lol these guys never pay squat)



Razor flies with the anti-mutagens to save teh day, but we all know he flies like T-Bone aims. So therefore... Meeeehh...



Dr. Viper sees that it's Razor flying and stops taking this seriously, too, and shows off his fancy Kaiju Makeover.

"HOW YOU LIKE MY NEW MANI-PEDI, BABY?"



"IT'S PRETTY GROSS TBH"



Viper snags dem anti-mutagens.

"Oh look! Deux ex machina."



"Nice try, SWAT Kats! BWUAHAHHAHA!"

Razor can't figure out what's worse, the fact that all hope may be lost or the fact that the laughing face of despair can snap it's jaws open and shut like his door when Razor's angry ex would drop by and slam it repeatedly during one of her daily fits.

"YOU HAVEN'T CALLED ME IN 3 HOURS! I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME"



Razor somehow manages to hold his stomach despite the unsightly display and the memories they conjure. That and the spins.



Razor ejects. He's got just one shot. He sweats.



And it's gross, cuz he's covered in fur, too.

Rest of the city is flooded and he's not gonna risk getting swamp butt himself. He's gotta end this. And FAST!



WAY TO GO, DERPZILLA



Man, wouldn't it be ironic if Razor drowned? Show's cancelled, kids.



Anti-mutagen 'splodes over the city, turning all the big shots back into small fry.

"Aw, I suck now."

(Just kidding, that thing is a leech. So it still sucks. I mean...technically.)



(Love this gif)



"I couldn't control myself...I just hope Razor forgives me. That and, you know, for being an irresponsible jerk about refusing to swim. Maybe could have avoided this whole thing..."



"....Naaah."

#youknowhedead



Oh yeah, T-Bone can swim now. CONVENIENT DESU.



T-Bone tries desperately to save his friend.





Thankfully, T-Bone's moneybag revives.

What? You know his partner handles most of the repairs at the bodyshop. Hot girl shows up? Oh, don't worry, Jake will get right on it. Oh, I broke your engine trying to supercharge it? Don't worry babe, I got a guy.



It's fuzzy at first, but it all comes rushing back. Mutating ooze. Acid toad. Fight Club. Tentacles.

"Dude, that was the worst trip EVER."



"Hey man, it wasn't that bad."



"I mean, we got through it in one piece, and I even got to avoid a valuable lesson today!"



"I even picked up swimming by becoming a mutated toad, too! Also, everything tastes like colors now. How cool is that?"

You know what? Razor just can't.



He just can’t do this right now.

Alright, I’m gonna switch the tone here. So, the thing is… while it’s true that the writers didn’t make T-Bone “pay” for his mistake in refusing to learn how to swim, you gotta admit that it created an interesting source of tension in this episode because it made one of our heroes a liability for once...and it comes to a head here. A big, giant head that deflates awkwardly in the glare of the spotlight.



I mean, let’s face it. T-Bone’s stubbornness and irresponsibility actually led him to being useless half the episode and into the climax, only able to join the fold again when his bro single-handedly saved his tail for the umpteenth time, and all the responsibility got shouldered onto Razor. And as cool and tense as that was to watch, I think even as kids most of us fans were like, “What the heck, man?”



Razor: IT’S NOT COOL, OKAY?

T-Bone: Heh. Just kidding! Actually, everything kinda tastes like electrical discharge. But whatevs. We’re cool, right?



“Haha, hah…

Never touch me again.”

Yeah, he "learns how to swim” by being a mutated frog as a lucky break (and a writing cop-out by the end), and you wonder if he learned his lesson or not… but the tension of T-Bone’s glaring issue in this episode still gave it some underlying strength that’s hard to ignore.



T-Bone: Aw, don’t be like dat, brah.

All in all though, this was still a pretty freakin’ radical episode. As much as I would have liked it if they spent the last 20 seconds having T-Bone own his side of the street after saving his bro 4 life, it was still cool as HECK.

Anyway… That’s it for the liveblog, folks! Thanks for letting me ruin your childhood. Hope ya’ll had some laughs and got a nostalgic kick outta this, I know I did!

[MoDaD]

That was a lot of effort you put into this. It's greatly appreciated. And, your commentary is really amusing and highly entertaining

And once again, thanks for letting me archive these on The SWAT Kats Encyclopedia.

[LowdogCraft]

Aaand turns out T-Bone wasn't passed out. He was just letting himself sink like a rock. Razor is so done with this scene!

I absolutely love how Razor just grabs T-bone in this scene. He's like "I swear, if you drown, I am erasing those MegaWar II tapes."

[Felony]

LOL the projectile motorboats... again, something that they suddenly had just for the right moment and never seen again, along with the Sandkat, Turbomole, Thundertruck, etc. Geez the toyline could have been so frikkin' awesome with all those vehicles!

And one of my fav lines "Locked." kick "Unlocked". XD You know Razor's momma DID put agracite in HIS cereal (or he started eating it after the Caverns of Horror? I forget the order of eps anymore lol) so he's got rock foot hoooooi!

Your commentary is always hilarious, and spot on! Plus often things I didn't notice are pointed out, or things that I felt and am like "YES THIS!^^^^"