Callie Briggs

Calico "Callie" Briggs is a major supporting heroine in SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron. She is the deputy mayor of Megakat City and an invaluable ally of the SWAT Kats, being amongst their most fervent supporters. Callie is the one who often handles the day to day dealings of City Hall, as Mayor Manx is cowardly and incompetent.

History
She appears for the first time in the episode "The Pastmaster Always Rings Twice" where she was interviewing Dr. Abby Sinian in the Megakat City History Museum about the exhibition with the theme: "The Dark Ages", where Dr. Sinian was analyzing the Pastmaster's coffin-chest. After hearing a clatter in a hall of the exhibition, they were chased by a sabertooth tiger revived by the Pastmaster while he was looking for his magic book: "The Tome of Time." They escaped to the roof of the building where they were cornered at the edge of the roof and were quickly saved by the SWAT Kats and the cement machinegun.

While Dr. Sinian was explaining who was the responsible, Callie sights Pastmaster while he carried his book and summoned a megasaurus rex (a parody of a T-rex) in order to create havoc while he was looking for a way to transport Megakat City back to the Dark Ages. When the SWAT Kats were abducted by one of the time portals of Pastmaster, she goes with Commander Feral with Dr. Sinian in order to catch and stop Pastmaster before he accomplishes his purpose and reproaches him for not listen to Dr. Sinian's advice. Later, they tried to negotiate with Pastmaster, without success and end up locked in the service room. Finally, she tells the SWAT Kats, via communicator that they must prevent the clock tower from striking twelve o'clock and at the end, she's with Dr. Sinian and Mayor Manx watching as the Turbo Kat flies into the distance.

From that point onwards she often served as the damsel in distress, although she does have her moments where she speaks up, such as in the episode "The Giant Bacteria", when she defends the Swat Kats from Commnader Feral. Unfortunately, her overall character importance depends on her being the object of interest to villians such as, where her and Mayor Manx were chased by a monstrous bacteria created by Dr. Viper at the new Megakat City Park. Later, she was in the Megakat City Biochemical Labs with Dr. N. Zyme while he was preparing a special missile with antibiotics to stop the giant monster. She was then captured by Dr. Viper, who planned to use her as his escape pass. This leaves her as the one whom the Swat Kats always save and it is often her involvement in certain incidents that alert the Swat Kats to the situation at hand, like when they heard her scream while they were watching the television during the attack of the bacteria. Callie is also shown to be the major female love interest of the Swat Kats as they are shown fawning over her multiple times within the episode and the series as a whole.

Later, she, along with many other citizens,  would be a witness of Dark Kat's assault on the Megakat City Nuclear Plant, as well as the Kat's Eye News chopper getting shot down. She eventually learns from Lieutenant Steel about Commander Feral's infiltration plan on the Dark Kat ship, and communicates it to the SWAT Kats while they made repairs to the Turbo Kat.

Her problems would continue when Mayor Manx was selling the new business center,  Megakat Tower, to some oriental investors. Callie followed the janitor, who was Dr. Viper in disguise, and discovered that he had irrigated all the plants with a mutagenic chemical, which had caused a robbery earlier in the episode, and when she tried to escape, Dr. Viper took her as a hostage and the mutated plants sealed all access to the building, trapping her. Before that occurred however, she successfully  contacted the SWAT Kats, and Razor entered to the tower and rescued her. As they escape they discover the plant's weakness to cold. With this info, they approach the Turbo Kat and launch (not without difficulties) a huge rocket of gas coolant to freeze the tower and destroy Dr. Viper's scheme. She then asks to be left in front of the tower, in order to help the mayor deal with the disaster.

The peace is interrupted again in the episode "The Metallikats", where the dangerous former mob chiefs, Mac and Molly Mange returned from the grave and try to take revenge on all of those who put them in the Alkatraz Island Prison. Callie arrives at the place where it all began, facing Feral for his accusations against the SWAT Kats, and responding to Ann Gora that Mac and Molly should be jailed forever. Later, she's seen in the Mayor Manx's office, worriedly showing him a newspaper about the Metallikats vendetta against him. She and Manx then witness how Feral and the Enforcers were beaten by the two powerful cyborgs, who then made their way to the office, taking Manx hostage and beating Callie. Later, as she recovers, she says she was the responsible of the jailing of the Metallikats, and gets dropped off of the building by Molly and is saved by the SWAT Kats. She and Razor quickly go to  Mayor Manx office and face off with Mac. When Razor was suffering a beating, she tried to save him using the emergency fire hose, but this was useless. Razor then takes an ashtray and uses it against Mac, causing him to malfunction and eventually explode. After T-Bone disposed of Molly, she, together with Manx and Feral say farewell to the SWAT Kats and she asks Manx if he really is going to create a SWAT Kats day. He responds that it was only said to save his image before commissioning Feral to dispose of the Metallikats.

Personality
Callie is shown to be sweet-tempered, kind-hearted and self-reliant. She is also fiercely dedicated to the SWAT Kats and always defends them from Feral's accusations. Further, she has formed a significant bond of love and courage with them and it is implied throughout the series that she harbors romantic feelings for Jake Clawson, aka "Razor". She is also under constant pressure to singlehandedly keep the city running while putting up with Mayor Manx's snooty and amateurish behavior. As a result, she has very little time for herself and often vents her frustrations about her job to any who will listen, often the SWAT Kats. However, she regularly shows the confidence and courage to face any challenge in front of her and despite the mortal peril she often finds herself in, is always determined to turn the situation around.

Trivia

 * Callie's role in the series is eerily similar to that of Ms. Sara Bellum from The Powerpuff Girls franchise. While seemingly subordinate, both are much more capable and competent in comparison to their respective political figures, serving as the brains behind their operations. However, Callie is not a sexualized character like Ms. Bellum.
 * For a time, it was believed she and Molly Mange were sisters, due to what she said in the episode "The Metallikats" where she said "... and I'll do it again, sister!" as in that same episode Molly mentioned that Mac almost hit her sister's car. This turned out to be a simple misinterpretation of common street slang.
 * In "Enter the MadKat", when MadKat captures four certain people in his box, he considered Callie to be the queen, possibly due to the fact that her ancestor was the Sorceress Queen Callista.
 * Despite being on friendly terms with both SWAT Kats, Callie is shown to have affections (or at least a preference) for Jake/Razor, much to Chance/T-Bone's chagrin.

Appearances
Callie appears in all episodes, being the main one to inform Razor and T-Bone of the villain or monster terrorizing Megakat City.