First off, let me say thanks to Bob for posting this. I am reasonably new to shopping, and some of these things, especially the splitting of groups when there are 9 toons, seemed a confusing experience when I was getting started.
One comment I will make about splitting groups is that new people need to be sensitive to the gags available to different toons, especially in small runs. For example, my toon does not have toon-up. This makes him a less-than-ideal companion on a 4- or 5-toon load, due to the fact that I have to rely on my rocks-for-brains maxed doodle to toon up the other person. It can also be an issue if there are toons without lure. So understand that there may be other factors involved in trying to split a larger group, especially with the limited selection of speedchat phrases provided by TT.
I also have a suggestion for helping people get used to identifying the toons. Within Windows XP, there is a tool for those with vision problems that can help. It is located under Start/All Programs/Accessories/Accessibility/Magnifier. You can play with the settings, but I have TT running in windowed mode with the magnifier window set up next to the TT window set at 5X magnification centered on the mouse pointer. When the initial shot of the toon shopkeeper is shown, I simply point to the toon's name and a magnified view shows up in the window. Due to TT's anti-aliasing (if you don't know what that is, don't worry), some of the names are still challenging to read, but it can still help you recognize them more quickly.
Oh, and Bob, I forgive ya for mocking my lack of toon-up.
