Billy the Silly Hamster

Billy the Silly Hamster is a Hopelandian media franchise created by Kenffrey Hillsford. The character was created in 1980, the comics started in 1981. The strip is syndicated to more than 80 newspapers in Hopeland and has gained a significant footing elsewhere.
The successful comic strip, inspired mostly by the Sierran Garfield comics, created three television series (1989, 2007 and 2019), video games and endless lines of merchandise. He has since become one of Hopeland's most recognizable characters. The current iteration came when the first television series premiered.
The body of work is set in a world where humans and anthropomorphic animals coexist, and what sets it aside from Garfield is that the animal characters don't speak using thoughts. The series plays with the relations between humans and hamsters.
==History==
Hillsford developed the character in 1980, in response to the rising influence of fast food mascots (specifically those of McDonald's and A&W, whose mascots were starting to catch up in popularity in the country). The reason why he selected a hamster was because he had one in his childhood that was actually borrowed from a friend who wasn't interested in pets, and as such he thought that the character would be a payback to him. The idea was to create a dimwit character inspired by those mascots. The character was set to appear in local newspapers in the Albany area, but was unilaterally rejected, and sold the rights to the publishing company of a small magazine aimed at kids. The deal was approved and the first comics started in June 1981.
As the years progressed, BTSH started gaining more followers. The character changed in 1986 because Hillsford thought that the personality was "exaggerated", and in an attempt to make the character more recognizable, his hat was dropped and clothes were changed.
By 1989, when the television series premiered, the character had started to become more profitable, giving Garfield a run for its money. Eventually the success of the television series and merchandise deals related to the intellectual property caused Billy the Silly Hamster's international recognition to skyrocket, and for a brief period in the early 90s, managed to surpass Sierran properties like its de facto counterpart from the USS, Garfield. By the late-90s, the character started to lose steam.
==Marketing==
Main article: Billy the Silly Hamster merchandising
Billy became more of a marketable character after the 1986 revamp, aiming towards a more relatable identity for the character. The success of the merchandise drove the creation of the television series.
Interest in Billy came and went over the years, with interest depending on the success of either the TV series or the comic strip.
==Media==
===Internet===
A BTSH website started in June 1998, featuring archived comic strips, games and an online store. In 2002 some experimental web cartoons were added.
===Television===
Billy first appeared on television on February 14, 1982 with the primetime special A Love for Billy, running on the IBS Network and associated regional stations. This was one of the two primetime specials to be made before the 1986 retooling of the character, and set the pace for then-upcoming characters, including human characters and love interests. The second special paved way for a renewed interest in the property.
There were three animated series featuring the property. The first ran on IBS between 1989 and 1996. A brief revival came on the Toonhouse channel, however due to the shutdown of the service, production ceased.
With help from the Great Scorrian animation studio Beach Side Studios, a new series premiered on Nickelodeon Hopeland in 2007, however it first aired on TV2 in Great Scorria some time before its Hopelandian premiere. The series was heavily criticized and work stopped in 2013.
In 2017, IBS decided to greenlight a new series for the channel, some time before the IBS Corporation bought BTSH's parent company. The goal was to produce a new animated series featuring the characters and create a Billy Cinematic Universe. The series then premiered in 2019 with ten episodes, containing two segments of ten minutes each. After production halted, work resumed in 2021 for a Halloween episode and a second season of twenty-six episodes. There are plans for a third season.
====TV series====
Title 	Premiere date	End date	Network
Billy the Silly Hamster (1989)	1989 	1999 	IBS
Billy the Silly Hamster (2007)	2007 	2015 	TVGS 2Nickelodeon
Billy the Silly Hamster (2019)	2019 	2019 	Qoox
====Primetime specials====
About sixteen specials were made between 1982 and 1995.
====Films====
It wasn't until the 2000s when Billy made an ill-fated theatrical premiere, in 2005, where Billy was portrayed by an adapted hamster. Kenffrey Hillsford was against it and the movie was heavily panned due to its lack of quality. There was supposed to be a trilogy, but the lack of interest halted these plans.
====Video games====
Starting in 1990 for the Sega Mega Drive (as one of its first titles specific to Hopeland), before Sonic came, was a game similar to Alex Kidd called Billy Saves Paisley. Four further BTSH games for the platform came after 1991, when the character was at its apex. Likewise these games were all released after Sonic the Hedgehog was released in Hopeland.
====Stage====
Billy the Silly Hamster's intellectual property took to the stage for the first time in 1990
====Comic book====
====Art book====
===Main characters===
Through the Billy the Silly Hamster strips, there have been many additional characters, but the main ones are described here.
====Billy====
The main character. A human-sized anthrpomorphic hamster who is constantly hyperactive. In his development he uses to had a golfer's hat with a buzzer instead of a ball, the design was changed to the hatless format in 1986. He is known for his quirky, goofy personality, and his catchphrase "What could possibly go wrong?". Despite all of that, he seems to have had a more "normalized" behavior in strips made after 2000 and has made a sucessful love affair. In the current canon he has different clothes in order to avoid constant repetition.
====Keith====
A "Keithlandian-Maganan" beaver who lives in the other side of the street. Despite being calm he sonetimes has life problems
====Howard====
The main human character of the strips, who in older strips hasn't had found a relationship and adopted Billy to supervise him. In the past he was seen as the main antagonist of the strips
====Paisley====
Billy's cat girlfriend who speaks with a Sarian accent.
===Recurring subjects and themes===
====Existential issues====
Some comics deal with rather awkward existential issues such as "why am I a big hamster"
====Fourth wall====
Fourth wall breaks are also recurring in the BTSH body of work, especially in some comics and the television series.