import re
from typing import List

_RGX = re.compile(r'(.)\1*')
def long_repeat(string: str) -> List[str]:
    return [m.group(0) for m in _RGX.finditer(string)]

print(long_repeat('devvvvveeeeeeeeeeeloooooooooper'))

['d', 'e', 'vvvvv', 'eeeeeeeeeee', 'l', 'ooooooooo', 'p', 'e', 'r']

print(long_repeat('country'))

['c', 'o', 'u', 'n', 't', 'r', 'y']

# to do:
# Ignore single characters