Jennifer Daniel introduces Noto Emoji on Google Developers Blog:

And that my dear is how the blobs came back. Say hello (again) to our little friends.

Likable. Nostalgic. Relatable without maintaining a distinction between genders. Google’s blob emoji were really something special. Cute, squishy, and remarkably friendly.

The years when Google Blob Emoji were the default for Android (2013–2017, according to Wikipedia) overlap with the timespan where a Nexus, and later a Pixel, or OnePlus with stock Android OS being my everyday phone. They really are the more lovable variant of Emoji and the more familiar one for me. Though they are later replaced with the circular ones for compatiblity with other OSes.

Unbelivable they are reviving it in the form of a variant in the new B/W version of the Noto Emoji. Lovely.