Hot Rod Dogs and Cool Car Cats is a 1995 animated series. It takes place in the world of Autopia, which is populated by two races: dog-cars and cat-cars. The main characters are Hot Rod and his friends Carbs, Doggone and Benz, who are on the run from Autopia's tyrannical ruler, The Crusher, and his henchman, Scarhood.
Tropes
- Abnormal Ammo: Hot Rod's Super Mode allows him to fire gears at his enemies.
- The Alleged Car: Benz. He is constantly falling apart while driving, and is in regular need of spare parts.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: Both dogs and cats come in all kinds of colors.
- Animal-Vehicle Hybrid: The inhabitants of Autopia consist of canines and felines who have wheels instead of paws, engines, and other vehicular traits (such as headlights in their eyes).
- The Atoner: Gus, the mechanic who built the Crusher, helps the team out to make up for his mistake.
- Badly Battered Babysitter: Hot Rod and Carbs become this whenever Baby Bumpers shows up in their hideout, constantly having to keep him from hurting himself - and getting hurt themselves in the process.
- Big Bad: The Crusher is the tyrannical ruler of the setting, the main antagonist, and the one in charge of the villains.
- Blinded by the Light: Carbs' Super Mode includes high-intensity headlights that temporarily blind her opponents.
- Bounty Hunter: Scarhood, who was called in by the Crusher to capture Hot Rod and his friends. His minions, the Choppers, also qualify.
- The Chosen One: Suggested. Both Gus and the Crusher hinted that Hot Rod is "special", but this was never elaborated on.
- Cool Big Sis: Carbs' sister, Spare Parts.
- Cool Old Guy: Doggone.
- The Dragon: Scarhood is this to the Crusher.
- Enmity with an Object: After an attempt at crushing the heroes is foiled by getting a "crank popper" stuck in his inner workings, the Crusher announces that he has a new mission... to destroy all crank poppers.
- Evil Minions: The Choppers, Scarhood's henchmen. They attack other cars, looking to strip them down for parts.
- Evil Overlord: The Crusher is the evil ruler of the setting.
- Fantastic Racism: Sometimes seen between the cats and the dogs.
- Flying Car: One of the abilities of Hot Rod's customised form.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Both Gus and Spare Parts qualify.
- Genius Bruiser: Gus. A brilliant mechanic, and he can hold his own in a battle with Scarhood.
- Genius Loci: The Crusher is a sentient trash compacting complex.
- Glowing Eyes: All characters have these, by virtue of being part-car. At night, or at times of low visibility, they can activate their eye lights to see where they're going.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: The Crusher, who went from being a glorified garbage disposal to the unquestioned, tyrannical ruler of Autopia.
- Hypnotic Eyes: The One-Shot Character Jag possessed these.
- Interspecies Romance: Hot Rod, a dog-car, and Carbs the cat-car, have a mutual crush on each other.
- Kick the Dog: After Hot Rod falls off a cliff, seemingly dead, Scarhood tells the others that he ran away and abandoned them.
- The Mentor: Doggone has shades of this regarding Hot Rod.
- The Mole: In one episode, a young dog-car named Towhead is sent to infiltrate Hot Rod's group and lead them into a trap.
- Near-Villain Victory. In one episode, the Crusher succeeds in trapping the heroes within his inner workings. He is on the verge of crushing them when a "crank popper" Doggone had gotten for Benz falls into his workings, disrupting them enough for the heroes to escape.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Carbs. Her full name is "Carburetta", but no-one ever calls her that.
- Police Are Useless: The Gridlockers, Autopia's police force, are utterly incapable of catching Hot Rod and his friends.
- Pink Means Feminine: Carbs.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Gridlocker #6, having read the files on Hot Rod, has doubts over how much of a criminal he really is. After he saves her from falling, she reinflates his punctured tire and allows him to escape in return.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Scarhood has these, reinforcing his villainous nature.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Baby Bumpers.
- Second Episode Introduction: Scarhood is introduced in the second episode of the series, called in by the Crusher to capture Hot Rod and his friends after the Gridlockers failed to accomplish this task.
- The Smurfette Principle: Carbs is the only female of the main characters.
- Super Mode: Hot Rod and Carbs both get one, courtesy of Gus.
- Wall Crawl: Carbs' Super Mode comes with spikes in the tires that allow her to drive up walls.
