Hoops&yoyo
Hoops&Yoyo is a franchise starring a pink cat, a green bunny and a blue critter. These characters are the stars of the E-Cards, Littlelife, Homepages, Podwalkin', Manners, The Studio and games of the franchise.
All these characters were made by Bob Holt. He made Yoyo as a character first, but he changed him to Hoops, since a certain 4th of July e-card was in production.
These were popular since the 2000's and 2010's, since they were mascots of Hallmark. Their declines were in 2015, by Bob Holt being fired, after making them millions.
Voice Actors
Hoops is voiced by Mike Adair.
Piddles is voiced by Bev Carlson.
Development Of Hoops&Yoyo
It all started were Bob Holt was challenged to create a 4th of July e-card animation using only a firecracker. Bob started with a little green bunny he had already created at home; then the green bunny transforms into Hoops, a pink kitty with enormous eyes and an unusually large head plunked on an unusually small body. When Hoops eventually needed a pal, the original green bunny came back to life as Yoyo.
There's this hallmark book, which tells us how hoops and yoyo come to be.
"Hallmark: A Century of Caring"
"The popular characters hoops&yoyo got their start in Hallmark artist Bob Holt's basement in 2001, with Bob fiddling around on the drawing of a little green bunny. Bob liked his funny bunny. For a Hallmark.com e-card, Bob made the bunny pink, gave it a kitty's ears, and the green bunny became Hallmark's pink kitty, which Bob eventually named hoops. When hoops needed an e-cards sidekick, Bob brought back the green bunny and named it yoyo.
Thus from wacky origins the duo's on-line popularity grew and spawned plush characters, profitable sound cards, and a crazily popular web site that launched in 2004. Much of hoops&yoyo fame lies in their hilariously unscripted gab-fests.
Their voices are recorded (and speeded up) in a Hallmark studio, with Bob as yoyo and artist pal Mike Adair voicing hoops.
There's something subversive in their wisecracking anarchy, but wholesome too. From the heap of fan letters and email, Bob says his favorite points to hoops&yoyo's innocent appeal: "I come to your site because you guys make me smile, even on bad days."