Casey

Casey is a male cat character who first appeared in JumpStart Preschool (1995). Since 1999, he has generally been depicted as fun-loving, active, and athletic.

In the past, he was often a mascot character for JumpStart's Preschool media, alongside Kisha, Eleanor and Pierre (see also: Preschool Gang).

Between the JumpStart Advanced series and JumpStart Academy series, Casey was dropped from the main cast of characters, and did not appear in any of the products associated with World of JumpStart. However, Casey was reintroduced in the JumpStart Academy series.

Appearance
In JumpStart Preschool (1995) and JumpStart Pre-K, Casey had cream-colored fur, one green eye, and one blue eye. He wore a white collar and a red tie.

In JumpStart Preschool (1999), his fur color has been changed to orange and both of his eyes are green. He wears a red T-shirt and a blue backwards baseball cap.

In JumpStart Preschool: Who Left the Juice in the Caboose?, JumpStart Kindergarten: Why Did the Bus Stop?, JumpStart Around the World and JumpStart ABC's, he is taller with skinnier arms and legs. His fur is yellow, and he has a tuft of dark orange hair hanging over his forehead. He still wears a red T-shirt and a blue backwards baseball cap.

In the JumpStart Advanced series, he has light orange fur with pale yellow fur around his muzzle, on his stomach, and on the tip of his tail, and he wears a green T-shirt instead of a red one, but the rest of his appearance is fairly similar to his previous design.

In the JumpStart Academy series, Casey has light yellowish fur with dark yellowish spots, and a tuft of pale yellow fur that hangs over his forehead. He also has blue eyes and a brown nose. He wears a bright red baseball cap backwards, a T-shirt with white and dull red stripes, and blue jeans.

Personality and Characteristics
Since at least the late 90's, Casey has often been depicted as energetic and enthusiastic, as well as somewhat prideful and reckless.

Originally, Casey had a much calmer disposition in JumpStart Preschool (1995) and JumpStart Pre-K. A biography for Casey on the old Knowledge Adventure site pertaining to his appearance in JumpStart Preschool (1995) stated that he grew up in San Jose, California, his favorite hobby is art projects, his favorite food is warm milk, and his favorite school subject is science (he is especially fond of experiments to prove Schrodinger's Cat hypothesis). He is also mentioned as being peaceful and preferring to avoid confrontation, and one of his hobbies is napping.

In JumpStart Preschool (1999), Casey is depicted as being quite energetic, with this trait carrying on into later appearances. He has a bit of a mischievous streak, as seen when he disrupts and annoys Kisha, or he tries to climb to high places where he has trouble getting down from. He appears to be easily entertained, finding Pierre's jokes funny even though Eleanor thinks they're corny. He can also be rather impatient, such as having trouble waiting and staying still when Kisha was trying to paint a picture of him.

In the JumpStart Advanced series, Casey's learning style is 'The Athlete'. JumpStart Advanced 2nd Grade's manual says, "Casey teaches children using his bodily-kinesthetic learning style. He learns best by doing, and he uses his body to get ideas across."

On a now-defunct site for the JumpStart All-Stars, Casey's profile said, "An unstoppable ball of energy, Casey knows only two speeds: fast and faster! He loves sports, any kind of sports, and attention, and any kind of attention! His innate curiosity and propensity to act before he thinks often get him into trouble. Casey doesn't want to grow up and dreams only of the next big game." A printable trading card in JumpStart Advanced 1st Grade: Art Club says regarding the character, "Casey Cat is a true athlete. He's great at sports, stunts, and anything competitive."

In the Advanced series, while Casey is stated to like all kinds of sports and games, he seems to be mainly associated with soccer. On the JumpStart All-Stars selection and quiz screen, Casey's banner has a soccer ball on it. In JumpStart Advanced 1st Grade, his personal activity involves playing soccer, and he has his own soccer field in his backyard.

JumpStart Preschool (1995)
Casey is one of the main characters. He appears in a few of the activities.

JumpStart Pre-K (1996)
Casey appears in the Airport, the Construction Site, and the Park activities.

JumpStart Adventures 4th Grade: Haunted Island (1996)
Casey makes a cameo in the woods.



JumpStart Preschool (1999)
Casey appears in the activities "Toy Box", "Blocks", "Player Piano", and "Wagon and Balls". Unlike all of the other schoolhouse characters, Casey doesn't appear singularly in any activity. In the "Blocks" game, his bouncing around makes Kisha's blocks get scattered.

JumpStart ABC's (1999)
Casey hosts the Pizza Palace mini-game. The player can help him find letters inside the pizza resturant he owns. He also appears in most video clips and cutscenes, as he is a prime suspect for who left his drink in the caboose of the JumpStart train.

JumpStart Learning System: Phonics (1999)
Casey is a camper at Camp Readalot. He appears in the River Raft activity.

JumpStart Around the World (2000)
Casey is one of the player's travel buddies in the preschool version.

JumpStart Artist (2000)
Casey appears in the activity "Casey's Concentration". The player matches images to find clues about a painting, and then helps Casey select the correct painting.

JumpStart Wildlife Safari: Field Trip (2001)
Casey gets lost in the wild animal park, and Frankie and Kisha are trying to save him. He is the only playable character that's locked from the start.

JumpStart Advanced Preschool (2002)
Casey mainly appears in the Shape Tag and Balloon Animals activities. In Shape Tag, Casey will specify a certain kind of shape for the player to find. In Balloon Animals, Casey will ask for a certain number of balloons. After the player gives Casey the balloons he asked for, Casey will create a balloon animal.

Casey is also one of the JumpStart All-Stars. The player can select him as a partner and ask him for help.

JumpStart Advanced Kindergarten (2002)
Casey is one of the JumpStart All-Stars. The player can select him as a partner and ask him for help.

JumpStart Advanced 1st Grade: Fundamentals
The player can visit Casey at his house and play an activity, Casey's Soccer Field, there.

Casey is one of seven characters who can be selected to be the player's racer, and he has his own power-up, gadget, trick, and track. His power-up is the Game Ball, his gadget is the Soccer Ball Kicker, and his trick is the Robo-Soccer Goalie. His track is lined by white blocks, and the surrounding areas have sports equipment.

Casey is also one of the JumpStart All-Stars. The player can select him as a partner and ask him for help.

JumpStart Advanced 2nd Grade: Fundamentals
Casey is an agent at JumpStart Headquarters.

Casey is also one of the JumpStart All-Stars. The player can select him as a partner and ask him for help.

JumpStart Sing-Along Time (2003)
Casey briefly appears in the intro song.

In Videos
Casey is a main character in JumpStart Preschool: Who Left the Juice in the Caboose?. He is one of Eleanor's prime suspects for who left his drink in the caboose of the JumpStart train.

Casey also made an appearance in JumpStart Kindergarten: Why Did the Bus Stop?.

In Books
Casey appears in all the Pre-K workbooks and Pre-K Readers, as well as some other Readers.

Quotes

 * "I'm Casey, and what I love most is action, action, and more action! I love to run, dance, play sports, and most of all, jump!" - JumpStart Advanced 2nd Grade

Trivia

 * It is unknown why Casey was dropped from the cast following the JumpStart Advanced series. However, a statement from the JumpStart Blog in 2011 suggested that changes made to the JumpStart main cast happened due to wanting to keep the characters new and relevant for kids, thus implying that this might've be the reason for Casey's removal.
 * According to a bio for Casey that was featured on the Knowledge Adventure website circa the release of JumpStart Pre-K, Casey is adopted.
 * In JumpStart Preschool (1995), Casey has "Heterochromia iridium" (meaning his eyes are two different colors).

Gallery
See Casey/Gallery