Very cool idea! Suggestion: add a trail of breadcrumbs that the figure tosses behind them and, when scrolling up, picks them back up again or kicks them off the screen.
My first two ideas to ‘innovate’ on this was; a car driving down the page, or a drag racing Christmas tree where the lights count down in ‘full tree’ style.
A rocket, flying saucer or bird seems obvious, for something which is going up and down. But as an improvement, it should also handle the direction of scrolling. At the moment, the buddy always looks into the same direction. Unless it's Michael Jackson doing a moonwalk (which you could add too), it's inconsistent.
Stickman Michael Jackson; complete with moon walk, anti grav lean, side glide, circle slide, and a toe lean at the end. Crotch grab optional (maybe on click?).
This is the first prototype i made.
Going to make a skateboarder, rock climber, or squirrel next. what other kinds of scroll buddies should I make?