why does this make me so emotional? tutorial tom and HQ harry being part of the cartoonival cavalcade.

i started the original game, toontown online, relatively early. i distinctly remember playing through the tutorial for the first time, so excited to learn about the game. i loved drawing and reenacting the tutorial, always quoting tutorial tom ("a happy toon is a healthy toon!") to tell other people about this game i loved. when i joined rewritten, i didn't pay as much attention to the tutorial because i already knew how to play.

having the first toons we meet when we play the game ever join us during this parade and speak to us with such familiarity touches my heart. they talk to us like they're proud of us, having sent us off into the toontown world as 15-laffers and welcoming us back now after our many experiences later.

i like to think tutorial tom feels proud meeting me 15 years later from when i first saw him, having loved this game enough to follow it through being shut down and progressing my toon in rewritten far beyond my old one! it's like reuniting with an old friend, and i felt connected to a younger self of mine. maybe he'll find me again many years later.

COG BALLOONS! ⚙️🎈💥

There's a minigame at the cartoonival where you get to pop them in a certain time limit, and each balloon gives you disguise points for the specific department you popped.

- 1 sellbot balloon = 15 merits

- 1 cashbot balloon = 20 cogbucks

- 1 lawbot balloon = 30 jury notices