"What a great idea Chats! But what will we call ourselves?"

This page uses the name "Cartoon Characters", which isn't official, but it's what most people call it!

"We're gonna build it up!"

Build it high! This page is currently under construction by one or more members of our community!

Cartoon Characters is the name given by the community for the animated versions of the cast of each series. These were created as early as Season 1 of the original series, as the need for easily identifiable and replicable versions of the live-action cast were needed not only for merchandising but for branding purposes too.

These designs varied between eras of the original show and it's adaptations, and were seen mostly featured on both the theme song animations of each series as well as merchandising and other applications.

Timeline

The first cartoon characters to make an appearance were the ones seen in the Season 1 theme song animation, illustrated by Eddie Mort from Fudge Puppy Productions, and depicted the original cast in 2D.

Different cartoons were seen in merch at the time, not fully matching the designs of those seen in the first two theme song animations of the show.

Starting from Season 3, a new artist, Bort. Q. Rockefeller (artistic name) was brought in into the team^[1], which re-designed the 2D versions of the cast; these new versions weren't just seen on merch, but were also seen reproduced in 3D in the theme song, since the launch of Season 4.

Bort was also responsible for the character designs in both seasons of the American adaptation of the show.

With Sun's arrival to the cast in 2006 as a replacement of Kathleen, a new design to reflect her appearance was supposed to debut alongside the rest of the cast in Season 9, however, marketing executives at the time advised to keep Kathleen's original design in favor of a more accurate one.

In Season 10, Bort, now under the Australian design studio Studio Bauhaus redesigned the cast once again, giving the strokes a lighter feel and making the designs feel more fluid and expressive; this was the last season in which Bort worked on.

After the branding reset that came with the replacement of most of the cast in 2009, the new cartoon designs for Season 11 were instead commissioned to Southern Star Singapore^[2], where the original design philosophy was reworked into a more soft and preschool appealing look. These new designs were virtually only seen in 3D, and although 2D versions were seen in some events, merch, and the official show's website, these are only traced from the 3D models and are not original 2D art per se. Another key difference with previous designs is that only one version of them was produced, with no outfit specific versions for certain Songs of the week or events made.

Now under the Hi-5 House brand, new 3D designs were made for the theme song by Infinite Frameworks and Tremendousness^[3], and while somewhat resembling those made in 2009, these received a more human feel and proportions. For Season 2 of the House series, Lauren's design was narrowly adjusted to fit Tanika's design better.

During the last years of Hi-5 House, new 2D designs began to be observed at live events of the cast, these new designs were the base for those seen in Season 17's theme song^[4] and merchandising, which turned it into the first season since Season 3 to not feature 3D models of the cast in any shape or form on any applications; it also has the first theme song animation to feature 2D designs of the cast after Season 2 of Hi-5 USA.