Cartoon Orbit History:
(Courtesy
Toonarific)
A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away....specifically, in the year 2000, Orbit was created. The idea originated from a pile of coconuts and a can of tomato soup. This idea was to create one of the internet's most popular gaming site, owned and operated by Cartoon Network. Cartoon Orbit allowed internet users to setup an account, and with that membership, they could obtain points through games and other means, which were then used to buy ctoons.
What
are ctoons, you ask? They are online trading cards, which can be bought, sold,
and traded for other ctoons. Over the years, there have been many other ways to
get ctoons also. For instance, one of the original games on Orbit which helped
in obtaining points was Winball. This game was modeled after a pinball game, and
if you managed to get the ball in the right hole, you got a Golden Mojo ctoon.
Over time, Winball awarded other ctoons, as well. Later on, the game was changed
to Winwheel, and gave 3 different prizes, as well as points. The prizes became a
Goldfish, Stuffed Taz and a Bop Clown. Just as Winball, this game also changed
its prizes over time. The majority of the prizes,if not all of them, could later
be obtained through Orbit codes too. Kinda stunk up the fact you initially had
to sweat and bleed to win them by playing the games!
Cartoon Orbit has also had various contests over the years,
where
very limited edition ctoons were awarded to those who managed to find them
first, as the surfed across other Orbiters czones. This is where the fabled You
Found Magilla ctoon came from, as well as the original Pots of Gold. Though many
people have tried to obtain this ctoon over the years, all have failed. It is
cursed, unfortunately, and those who have touched it, have died. It now dwells
in an account that is owned by a demon. This demon uses unnatural forces to
protect it, and unfortunately, it will probably stay in that account until the
end of time.
Several
years later, Orbit decided to hold a similar contest, this time the contest
had 2 very rare, and exclusive ctoons that were awarded, as well as a third
ctoon which became very common and soon threatened to flood the system, the
continent, and eventually the world. This was later remedied with the use of
large power tools and a set of Ginsu knives. There were only about 6 of the
O'Malleys and Clovers though, and many battles were fought and lost to obtain
them. They eventually became more valuable than gold and platinum combined, and
can now, using only 1, support a medium sized third world country. Around the
same time, You Found Ricochet was born. Only a couple of these were made, too.
Not as pricey as You Found Magilla, this albino rabbit still manages to bring in
a hefty bounty.
Orbit has also had MANY facelifts. When it was first
built, it looked like it was made by a 5 year old learning html. The backend was
there, but the face needed serious help. Infocards were cooler, all of the
ctoons were categorized into worlds, and there were funnerer modules to play
with, like the fabled OffLine Trading!! Dun dun dun!! If you never heard of
offline trading, you need to ask an old orbiter pronto!
During the period of world domination, other worlds were added. Those were Toonami and WB Backlot. These new worlds brought in tons of ctoons depicting aliens and men in tight fighting costumes. There was also an original infocard design. Though not as spiffy as the new flash one, it held it's own. Personally, I think it was alot better. Auctions hadn't been invented yet, and your czone inventory section also had a much different look. So did the cmart. Being that it was still HTML based, you could actually jump to certain sections of you inventory, which made scanning for certain ctoons ALOT easier then the current "load every page" method. Will any of these previous modules return, but in a flash form? Who know's really. We can all wish, and compile lists of things we'd like to see, to send to the great workers at Cartoon Orbit.
Alot of ctoons have come and gone, too. Lots of promotional ctoons, licensed to
Orbit by outside companies looking to reap the benefits of an almost completely
juvenile userbase. GI Joe, Jurassic Park, and even ctoons
based
on imaginary breakfast cereals depicting Cartoon Orbit characters were created.
Unfortunately, alot of those great ctoons expired, and disappeared into
oblivion. Surprisingly enough, there were even ctoons that were made, but never
released. There have actually been quite a few that fall into this category. One
of them, seen to the left, is of the infamous PPG Radio. Never seen it before?
Well, that's because it was never released!! It only existed on the servers of
Cartoon Orbit, along with a bunch of other ctoons and bb crings. Even these
days, ctoons are created that never see the light of day. It is sad, though,
since they die a fast death, and are never recognized for the potential they
possess.
Well, with the
onslaught of flash, Winball went away, and many of the other wonderful old
modules, and a whole new site was created. Not only that, but also a new game
called gToons. To this point, Cartoon Orbit was an online trading community,
where you could just collect ctoons. Now, you could actually get a ctoon
and
play with it like you would a deck of cards. Pure genius! Or was it? Although it
caused quite a stir, and many new Orbiters were created who only wanted to play
the game, it also brought alot of new problems to the table. People are always
looking for the easy way, and this new game was no exception. Though lots of
cheaters do exist in this game, there are still alot more who just play it for
fun, as it should be!
Does Orbit have more in store for us in the future? I hope so. The site has been around for years, and the potential is limitless. Just learn the system, play it right, and make sure you always let the guys at Orbit know how much you enjoy and appreciate the work you do for them!
