Bebop

Bebop is a male hamster character who first appeared in JumpStart Kindergarten (1994).

Appearance
In JumpStart Kindergarten (1994), Bebop was depicted with peach-colored fur, a white belly, and a white tuft of fur on his head. He wore green shoes. In this game, he is roughly the size of a real life hamster.

In JumpStart Reading for Kindergartners, Bebop wears purple shades, a brown tuxedo over a white shirt, black pants, and black and white wing tip shoes. He lacks a tuft of fur on his head. In this game, he is roughly the size of an adult human.

In JumpStart Kindergarten (1997) and JumpStart Math for Kindergartners, Bebop has a tuft of light blonde hair and blue eyes. He wears a green shirt, blue pants with light gray suspenders, and brown shoes. In both of these games, he is once again roughly the size of a normal hamster.

In JumpStart Kindergarten: Why Did the Bus Stop? and JumpStart Phonics, Bebop has more yellowish blonde hair, light tan fur, and he wears blue overalls over a light blue shirt. He is roughly the size of a human child.

Personality and Characteristics
Bebop was originally depicted as an adult character with a laid-back, smooth personality. In JumpStart Reading for Kindergartners, he says that he and Hopsalot have been friends for a long time. Many of his appearances depict him as being fond of rhyming and making music. Since JumpStart Reading for Kindergartners, he has often been depicted as playing brass instruments in particular, such as the trumpet or saxophone, a trait which carried on to some of his most recent appearances in Scholastic workbooks.

In JumpStart Kindergarten: Why Did the Bus Stop? and JumpStart Phonics, he is depicted as a kindergarten student, and he has a more child-like, naive personality.

JumpStart Kindergarten (1994/1997)
In both games, the player can play hide-and-seek with Bebop. If the player visits him in his home and clicks on him, he will disappear and leave behind a clue for the player to find him. He can hide in various places around the school.

JumpStart Reading for Kindergartners
Bebop appears in a game where the player helps him finish his song lyrics by finding rhyming words.

JumpStart Math for Kindergartners
When the mailbox outside the school is clicked on, Bebop will appear from inside of it and state that the shape of an envelope is a rectangle. If the clock inside the schoolhouse is clicked, he will hop up on the stack of books and state the time on the clock, and play one note for each hour with his saxophone. If the stack of books in the schoolhouse is clicked, Bebop will hop up on it and play a short tune with his saxophone.

JumpStart Learning Games: Phonics
Bebop appears in a few cutscenes.

In Videos
Bebop is one of the main characters of JumpStart Kindergarten: Why Did the Bus Stop?.

In Books
Bebop appears in some of the Kindergarten workbooks, usually alongside Hopsalot.

Quotes

 * "I'm Bebop the hamster, a real cool dude. I can play trumpet with a hip attitude. There's another thing I like to do- that's playing hide and seek with you. Click on me here, and watch me disappear." - from JumpStart Kindergarten (1997)


 * "Hey cats! My name is Bebop, and I live in the big city. I've been playing my horn since the day I was born. I've known the Hops man since he was a little bunny, and I remember plenty about that treasure. So if you come visit me, maybe we'll jam a little. Then I'll give you the lowdown on the treasure. Stay cool." - from JumpStart Reading for Kindergartners

Trivia

 * In both the credit sequences for JumpStart Preschool: Who Left the Juice in the Caboose? and JumpStart Kindergarten: Why Did the Bus Stop?, Bebop's name is written as BeBop, with the second B capitalized.
 * Curiously, although Bebop is renamed to Prosper in the French release of JumpStart Kindergarten (1997), the French box art for the game refers to him as Victor instead.
 * On the Japanese cover art for JumpStart Math for Kindergartners, there is an illustration of small rodent-like creature near Jack and Roquefort that may be intended to be Bebop. Despite the dissimilarities to Bebop's appearance in that game, it is still at least somewhat likely that this was intended to be Bebop considering the cast of characters.