HOOT! The Little Owlet who gets his Wisdom from Anagrams

Before the apps.
Before the platform dreams.
Before Cursor and code and animated anagram boards…

There was a drawing.

An owl in a tree.

HOOT! began as pencil lines and imagination sometime around 2008 — long before I knew how animation software worked, long before I understood timelines, keyframes, or audio levels. I only knew one thing:

An owl would be the perfect messenger for anagrams.

Owls watch.
Owls think.
Owls rearrange the dark into understanding.

And HOOT! was born to rearrange letters.

HOOT!’s animated life officially began in 2010 when Australian artist David Arandle brought my original drawing to life inside the platform then known as GoAnimate (now Vyond).

His very first animation revealed something delightfully symbolic:

GOANIMATE
rearranges into
A GIANT MEGA

And isn’t that exactly what it became?

HOOT! was custom-built as a Flash character and given the most heart-melting side-glance — a subtle expression that instantly made him feel alive. He wasn’t just moving. He was observing.

Years later, Arandle transformed him again — this time into G2 and G3 character formats for Cartoon Animator 4 (formerly CrazyTalk Animator). That evolution gave HOOT! greater flexibility, more movement, more range.

He was growing up.

And so was I.

I first saw HOOT! alive on May 22, 2010 — the day I opened the email telling me he was officially inside the GoAnimate platform.

That date placed his Sun perfectly in Gemini.

The messenger.

Ruled by Mercury — the archetype of Hermes — the bridge between worlds.

It felt right. Almost scripted.

His Gemini Sun formed a harmonious trine to the Moon in Libra. And wouldn’t you know it? He was warmly received in the GoAnimate community. Curious. Playful. Balanced. Communicative.

HOOT! didn’t just tell anagrams.

He delivered them.

HOOT! was rarely alone.

In many early animations, he had a sidekick — a simple stick figure character who was forever getting into trouble and needing guidance. The contrast was perfect: chaos and clarity. Confusion and wisdom.

HOOT! never mocked.

He illuminated.

That dynamic — one character struggling, the other gently revealing — became the emotional backbone of my amateur animations. It wasn’t about being clever. It was about helping someone see what was already there.

Just rearranged.

In 2013, something magical happened.

I had been doing promotional graphics for a local blues tavern — my favorite genre of music — where I met incredible musicians, including Michael Shawn Gonzales.

I heard his instrumental piece “Gypsy Grass” and felt its lilt immediately. It carried something nostalgic. Searching. Light-footed but soulful.

So I used it in one of my favorite HOOT! animations — a story called How TheseStars Found the Yellow Canary.

I did all five voices.

Three years into teaching myself animation — scripting, voice acting, editing, timing — I sent the nearly finished video to Shawn and asked permission to use the song.

His response stunned me.

He told me the piece had been inspired by his beloved bird, Brutus, who used to wake him in the morning by throwing quarters at his door. He said my animation reminded him of dreams he had about finding him again.

Sometimes you rearrange letters.

Sometimes the universe rearranges meaning.

That moment sealed something for me.

HOOT! wasn’t just an owl telling anagrams.

He was a bridge.

When Cartoon Animator expanded, I explored other characters, other voices, other ideas calling for expression. HOOT! rested quietly in the background.

But he was never gone.

He was waiting.

And now, after building interactive apps — watching code transform into living, playful tools — I can see what he was always meant to become.

Not just animations.

Interaction.

Today, HOOT! lives again — not only in animation, but in interactive form.

HOOT! Anagram Board
Anagram something. Your name. Maybe your name strung alongside someone else's like ROMEO AND JULIET. Or maybe you want to discover whats hidden inside the word SWEETHEARTS!

Just enter in your word, name or phrase. Hit create tiles, watch the letters fall, then start moving the letters around to find an anagram.

Once you found something fun, you can go the

HOOT! Anagram Generator
Enter your own word or phrase and then enter the anagram and let the generator spin it into your found anagram. If you use your phone, you can record the screen, and send it off to someone.

These aren’t just apps.

They’re the early dream — realized.

I get to share my sweet little owlet HOOT! with the world.

And if you like word games. I'm working on one right now. Be sure to keep an eye out for HOOTNANNIE! a different kind of word game.

I once imagined:

• A Saturday morning cartoon teaching kids through wordplay
• Personalized animated messages delivered by HOOT!
• A platform game teaching logic, language, and self-understanding
• An introduction to the stars through story

Now?

With the tools we have today — those ideas are no longer distant dreams.

They’re blueprints.

If you and your children would be interested in keeping up with HOOT! be sure to subscribe below!

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