Hi again, Toons! It's time for our third and final Backstage Column of this week -- the most that we have ever had in a single week. There's a lot of things that we've been working on behind the scenes, and these three posts are only giving you a small glimpse of what's to come.

Today's post aims to give you a sneak peak of our highly anticipated real-world event, ToonFest at ReplayFX 2018 -- and in turn, a glimpse of the huge announcements to expect at the event!

The Importance of ToonFest

We've hosted a real-world ToonFest event for the past three years, with ToonFest at ReplayFX 2018 being our fourth event. Some players ask us, "Why put so much time into ToonFest? What's so special about it?"

This is a good question -- after all, ToonFest costs thousands of dollars to put on and takes an incredible amount of work to plan and organize! There's a reason why we've done this every year, however, and anyone who has ever attended ToonFest knows exactly why: It keeps Toontown alive in a way that we could never achieve online.

There's something really special about getting a bunch of Toontown players all in one place! The sheer amount of excitement, celebration, and downright fun that we have at ToonFest every year energizes the players and staff alike, and catches the attention of people even outside of the Toontown community.

Think about it: Hundreds of people spend hundreds of dollars to travel and attend an event hosted for a game that was supposed to have closed 5 years ago. That is INCREDIBLE! We've been emphasizing Toontown's Toontastic community a lot this week, and the success of ToonFest is the single greatest testament to just how great you guys are. 

Not convinced that you should get excited about ToonFest yet? Let us tell you more about what makes this year special!

New Activities and Collectibles

We've been putting a lot of thought into how to make this year's ToonFest a blast (or, in some cases, a SPLAT!). In addition to all of the great gaming activities that ReplayFX has, Toontown will have plenty of activities of our own such as Game Stations, Competitions, Arts & Crafts, a Pie Toss, and more!

A huge part of ToonFest is also meeting other players and the Toontown Team, who are super eager to meet you as well! Rumor has it that two certain special guests are making a return, too... Can you guess who?

Of course, one of the coolest parts of ToonFest is all of the free stuff you get to take home with you. In fact, we've got a special sneak peek of one of our collectibles this year in the image on the right! That's right -- everyone who attends ToonFest will get to take home an exclusive Toontown Mousepad, in addition to plenty of other goodies that we're saving as a surprise!

Our Biggest Project To Date

ToonFest isn't all about the fun and games -- but we'll admit, that is a really fun part of it. In addition to the activities at the Toontown Rewritten booth, we host a Main Event every year to announce what we've been working on. Sometimes, like last year's reveal of v2.0.0, this results in brand new gameplay that you can actually play for the first time at ToonFest!

We're going to let you in on a secret: The content we've shown you this week isn't the biggest thing we've been working on recently. In fact, the biggest project that we've EVER created will be seen for the first time at ToonFest. That's a big secret we just told you!

Until then, our lips are sealed! You'll have to "Toon" into ToonFest to see for yourself.

Bringing the Fun Back Home

Hopefully by now, you're as excited for ToonFest as we are. We understand, though, that some of you who live too far away from Pittsburgh, PA may be feeling a bit down that you can't join in on the fun. That's why we're bringing the fun back home to you!

This year, we're doing more than ever to get players who can't attend ToonFest involved. With more Livestreams, more Social Media coverage, and more activities going on in-game -- you'll feel like you're really there!

Toontown's community spans all across the world, and we want to celebrate with ALL of you -- not just the ones who can make it in person.

Watch Our Live Preview

Thanks for sticking with us through this series of Backstage Posts! We've got more blog posts coming every day this week to celebrate Toontown's 15th Birthday, leading up to our official Toontown Team Livestream on Saturday at 1:00 PM Toontown Time (PST).

This Livestream will feature a bit of Q&A, just to give you a taste of our big Q&A with the entire team that's happening at ToonFest! 

If you're ready to hop on the hype train and ride over to Pittsburgh, PA -- check out the ToonFest Page of our website to learn more about the event and purchase tickets.

Stay TOONed -- we'll see you on Saturday!