Comic-Con has always been about bringing the artists and fans together, clearly evident by everything I saw on the Exhibit Hall floor on Friday. Comic book and collectibles dealers shared their offerings with rabid fans, fan boys and girls in costume constantly stopped to pose for pictures, artists talked their latest creation and gave autographs, geeks checked out the latest video games, greeting card animators met their adoring fans... um, wait, back up there a minute.
Greeting card animators? Yes, Comic-Con had even opened their floor to Hallmark and their unexpected success story, hoops&yoyo.
Bob Holt and Mike Adair, the creators and voices behind this pink cat (hoops) and his green bunny sidekick (yoyo), were there at their first Comic-Con, signing posters and greeting a long line of fans.
"It's pretty wacky, a little scary," Bob Holt (voice of yoyo) said, still taking in the incredible turnout.
"I'm totally zapped and energized at the same time," added Mike Adair (voice of hoops). I've never seen so many people in one place dressed up. It's like Halloween concentrated."
After all, when they went to record their first sessions five years ago for hoops&yoyo, neither Bob nor Mike could have anticipated this was waiting for them down the line. Neither could have guessed that their creation, a joking, playful, and sometimes mischievous pink cat would appeal to the masses like this. Ditto for his green bunny best friend with plenty of energy and heart, as well as an obsessive love of sweets.
How Did They Get Here?
Bob Holt found himself in 2001 needing to create a character for a Fourth of July card. Like any good animator in a crisis, he came through with a pink cat with enormous eyes and a huge head placed on a small body called hoops. After a while, Holt found that even animated characters need a friend so he pulled out of his archives a more proportionate green bunny named yoyo. Once the characters began to take on life, the growing popularity of animated e-cards and greeting cards with sound meant hoops&yoyo needed voices.
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