The Preschool Gang is a group of four characters that were representative of JumpStart's preschool media from the mid 90s to the early 2000s. The Preschool Gang consisted of Eleanor, Kisha, Pierre, and Casey.
History
The Preschool Gang first appeared in JumpStart Preschool (1995). Shortly after, the gang appeared in JumpStart Pre-K. All four characters also had cameos in JumpStart Adventures 4th Grade: Haunted Island.
The Preschool Gang in JumpStart Preschool (1999)
The next major appearance of the Preschool Gang was in JumpStart Preschool (1999), in which all of the characters were redesigned and given more unique and definitive personality traits. Certain aspects of characterizations introduced in this game have remained in recent media. For example, this game established Eleanor as dainty and bookish, Kisha as artsy, and Casey as active and playful.
In 1999, the JumpStart Gang appeared in the animated video JumpStart Preschool: Who Left the Juice in the Caboose?. They subsequently appeared in the game JumpStart ABC's, which was based on the video. Around this time, the main characters from the preschool through second grade media started to appear together, when previously they had only appeared in media at their designated grade levels. Although characters such as Frankie, Hopsalot, CJ, and Edison started to appear alongisde the Preschool Gang, they still remained iconic to the preschool grade level
Artwork of the Preschool Gang for JumpStart Around the World
through at least the JumpStart Advanced series.
The Preschool Gang appeared in the preschool version of JumpStart Around the World in 2000. In this game, the characters serve as the player's travel buddies as they go on round-the-world trips.
Around 2000 and 2001, the Preschool Gang appeared in various workbooks aimed at preschoolers.
In 2002, the Preschool Gang appeared in JumpStart Advanced Preschool. Although the JumpStart Advanced series features all of the main characters from previous preschool through 2nd grade media, each game in the series seems to most prominently feature the character(s) that were previously representative of the game's grade level. In JumpStart Advanced Preschool, the Preschool Gang is more prominent than the other characters. The only exception to this is Frankie, who became the main mascot character around this time, and thus has a prominent role in all of the games.
Subsequent to the JumpStart Advanced series, Casey was dropped from the franchise and has ceased to appear. Eleanor, Kisha, and Pierre continue to appear in media aimed at multiple grade levels, but there are no references to their previous grade association.
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