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Hoops&Yoyo

Hoops & Yoyo are a pair of animated characters featured on Hallmark Cards. The website features E-cards, animated episodes, an "Ask hoops&yoyo" section, desktop and phone wallpapers, audio snippets, IM icons, fan photos, interactive monthly calendars, blog, podcast, and merchandise available for purchase.

The storylines center around two main characters: Hoops, a pink cat, and Yoyo, a green bunny, and also feature a few other humorous characters joining them. It shows their usual antics in a "Slice of Life" matter.

They were created by Bob Holt and Mike Adair.

Characters

Hoops - The more emotional of the two, Hoops is a pink cat that has a tendency to scream as he talks. He hates Mondays as seen on the "It's Monday" e-card and based on others, it's possible that he's not very fond of his current career. He is also the first character to appear in the series originally with a slightly higher-pitched voice. His first e-card appearance was on "No Ordinary 'Hi!'". He states his weight as "depends on a finely-balanced equation of the time of day and the amount of cakes consumed." He stays in shape "by having dance offs with Yoyo" and likes "coffee, doughnuts, laughing, cakes, ice cream, pizza, Tuesdays (as it's treat day) ... TREATS!" He says his worst habit is "talking a LOT!" and he hates nearly everything to do with his job.

Yoyo - Unlike Hoops, the green bunny is slightly more playful and energetic with less of an over-sensitive personality. He also seems to actually enjoy his current job. He loves lollipops or "suckers" which Hoops often hides, then blaming the thievery on dingos. Yoyo's first e-card appearance was on "This Day...Your Birthday!" Yoyo wishes "that every day was treat day" and claims his occupation is "to captivate the nation with dazzling dance moves and beat Hoops in doughnut-eating competitions." His favorite pastime is singing, though he doubts Hoops is as good as him, and he stays in shape "by shakin' my groove thing, baby." He likes the same things as Hoops as well as marshmallows and doesn't like not getting the last slice of cake.

Piddles (f.k.a., Penelope and Sprinkles) - A blue self-described mouse-like "critter" with a high-pitched voice fond of singing. She has hopes of becoming an opera singer one day. She can actually speak fluent Spanish. But based on older parts of the site, she was possibly intended to speak Spanish entirely. Her first e-card appearance was in "summer fun"
Marshmallow Monster (a.k.a. Marshy) - An enormous marshmallow monster. Marshy randomly appears chasing or scaring Hoops & Yoyo angrily for unknown reasons in e-cards. This tactic is similar to the Bear. Its first appearance in "Campfire Tales: The Runaway Marshmallow, Series" revealed that a couple on a camping trip a took regular marshmallow scaring it to run away before making s'mores. The runaway marshmallow was then struck by lightning to cause its amazing growth of "two stories high" and "evilness". The story, however, is merely a tale told by Hoops to Yoyo and Piddles on their own camping trip.

Chilli Bear - A brown, wild bear that randomly chases Hoops & Yoyo. Unlike the Marshmallow Monster, he sometimes enjoys being with the two such as surfing or rowing a boat and is sometimes seen on e-cards. Chilli Bear can often be activated by pressing the "bear button" often located in the top left corner of the page.

Puck - A purple mouse who is rarely seen on the site. When he does appear, he is usually in the background, never involved with the other characters. He has no speaking voice as referenced to by the rest of the group of him being "the silent type" in a recent podcast. His first e-card appearance was on, "No Ordinary 'Hi!'".

Bird - A blue bird that, like Puck, is rarely seen.

Harry Spider - A large black spider with purple spots, "Harry" has only appeared once or twice on the site and is generally seen during Halloween.

BBQ- When originally on the site, the BBQ grill was seen in the background with no facial features and would only blow smoke when you run the cursor over it. Later, the BBQ was featured with sharp teeth and a menacing grimace, and would howl loudly when the cursor grazed over it. BBQ is usually portrayed in the summer to early fall.

Minor Characters

Monster Donut - Occasionally you will see a monster donut on the top of the site on hallmark.

Monster Hot Dog - A monster hotdog made a short appearance at the end of the short film about marshy.

The leprechaun - He appears on the "Hey Leprechaun" e-card. He is actually pictures of Bob dressed like a leprechaun.

Albums

In December 2005, Hallmark released A Hoops&Yoyo Holiday CD entitled "Jingle Jingle Wiggle." It features both vocal and instrumental music. All of the music is played by Hoops and Yoyo's friend Pablo and his band, "Makuza." The CD also features the animated short "A Bongo Christmas."

In March 2008, Hallmark released another Hoops&Yoyo album, "One Donut a Day." All music on this album is reminiscent of a pop/rock-like style, and all vocals are by the Hoops&Yoyo voice actor(s) and instrumentals are by the pop-punk group Nerf Herder, with lead singer Parry Gripp providing most, if not all, lead vocals -- Hoops, Yoyo, and Piddles themselves provide secondary/backup singing.