def string_breakdown(the_string :str) -> list:
    """Accepts a string and returns a list of tuples of form [(char, count)]"""
    
    checked = []
    components = []   
    
    for char in the_string:
        
        if char not in checked:
            count = the_string.count(char)
            checked.append(char)
            components.append((char, count))

    return components