This Taiwanese anime-inspired animated series, originally released circa 2004, begins with a father and inventor named Dr. Lu who makes toys for children. One day, he brings some toys to a toy demonstration exhibition and drops a dollop of a magic potion on them, bringing them to life. However, Baron Rose managed to place some corrupting chips in three of the toys, Mobe, Nika, and Hake, turning them evil and making them into his minions.
The remaining four form a team known as the Yoyo Supermen, consisting of enthusiastic YoYo Man, the bookworm genius Kube, YoYo Man's spoiled sister Yamy, and the elephant-like trickster Fefe. Later, a fifth rabbit-like winged character named Qiube joined the Yoyo Supermen. Together, they fight against Baron Rose and his evil minions while staying in Dr. Lu's house alongside his son Ludou and his sister Felei.
This series aired on the channel EBC Yoyo for four seasons, each with 13 episodes in them. YoYo Man, the character, is the second-generation mascot of EBC Yoyo.
EBC Yoyo have uploaded the series to YouTube for free viewing. Since the series' generic title makes it hard to search for it on Google, here is Yoyo TV's playlist of the episodes
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Has absolutely no relation to the musician Yo Yo Ma.
YoYo Man contains the following tropes:
- Animesque: The series' art style has a clear anime influence, to the point where one would be forgiven for assuming it actually was from Japan.
- Blush Stickers: Yamy has permanent blushes.
- Breath Weapon: Kube is able to breathe fire, befitting his dragon-like appearance.
- Brought to You by the Letter "S": A variant; YoYo Man has some sort of natural growth on his head that looks like the letter "Y".
- Cartoon Creature: Kube, Fefe, and Qiube are meant to look like a dragon, an elephant, and a rabbit respectively, and Nika's bat wings may be an indicator of what she's based off of, but it's more ambiguous what YoYo Man, Yamy, Mobe, and Hake are supposed to be. Hake looks like he could be some kind of rhinoceros or dinosaur, but Mobe's species is even less pinpointable, and YoYo Man and Yamy don't seem to resemble anything in particular.
- Chromatic Arrangement: The original four Yoyo Supermen; YoYo Man (yellow), Yamy (pink/red), Kube (green), and Fefe (blue).
- Early-Bird Cameo: There's a brief shot in the opening that shows Qiube. This opening is used from the first episode, well before she's actually introduced.
- Foreign Language Title: The series does not have an official Chinese title. This applies to the character it's named after as well. As an interesting side effect, this makes it hard to search for the series since the name "Yoyo Man" is used for a number of other things as well.
- Freeze-Frame Ending: The series finale, Season 4 episode 13, ends with a freeze-frame that turns sepia, of the five Yoyo Supermen jumping into the air.
- Introductory Opening Credits: The very beginning of the original theme song has graphics that show the four main characters and their English names.
- Killer Yoyo: YoYo Man, true to his name, will sometimes wield a yoyo in battle.
- Literal Surveillance Bug: Baron Rose and his cronies frequently use a tiny surveillance drone with a slender body and dragonfly-like wings to spy on others.
- Living Toys: The Yoyo Supermen and their enemies working for Baron Rose were toys brought to life by the inventor Dr. Lu via a potion.
- Mascot: YoYo Man is the mascot of Yoyo TV.
- Mercury's Wings: Fefe has small wings on either side of his helmet.
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Ludou and his sister Kelei, who have blue and pink hair respectively.
- Pulling Themselves Together: In episode 3, a robot made of special magic blocks is blown apart by the Yoyo Supermen, only to start reassembling itself brick-by-brick. Fefe alleviates the problem by creating a bubble buffer to prevent the robot from rebuilding itself.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: The Yoyo Supermen, with their large heads and similarly bulbous eyes, are meant to look adorable.
- Running Gag: In earlier episodes, the evil Toy Supermen have a catchphrase, "The natural enemy of justice! The nemesis of kindness! We are high-quality model students from the dark world. Magic Lightning Team!", that they use to introduce themselves, but it's always bungled as "the nemesis of good mothers" by Hake, who is corrected by Mobe.
- The Smurfette Principle: Until Qiube's introduction, Yamy was the only female in the Yoyo Supermen.
- Something Person: YoYo Man. While he does indeed use a yoyo as a weapon, he also has that name since his series aired on a channel called EBC Yoyo.
- Superhero Origin: The first episode shows the events at the toy demonstration ceremony that ultimately led to the birth of the Yoyo Supermen and Baron Rose's minions.
- Superheroes Wear Capes: The Yoyo Supermen, excepting Fefe and Qiube, wear capes.
- Title Theme Tune: The original theme song mentions the name "YoYo Man" several times.
- Two Girls to a Team: Yamy and Qiube, once the latter was introduced, are the only two girls in the Yoyo Supermen.
- White Bunny: Qiube is clearly meant to look like a white rabbit.
- White Hair, Black Heart: White-haired Baron Rose has no problem inserting chips into toys to make them evil.
