Lancelot
Epic
Bell Tree Direct - 2.7.24 - Twenty Years of TBT
- Thread starter Jeremy
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Alolan_Apples
No presents for me
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Now which of the upcoming events are the apples gonna roll? Let’s see:
- Lunar New Year
- Farewell to New Leaf Online (maybe)
- Easter Egg Hunt
- Bell Tree Fair
- Halloween
- Twenty Years of Bell Tree
ShinyDungeoneer
Helpful Life-Form
Too late, I already main it (I do have other mains i swap to for each class, but LBN is my most used, having gotten to the white flag freshness level)PLEASE no more TBT Blaster users
This all sounds pretty cool. I'll have to read up on all the events in further detail later. The farewell to NL sounds very nice and fitting to. I want to do that with some friends for a last hurrah to NL. Great work all around preparing the event to all staff involved!
How dare you.
Aquilla
slow replies, reach me on discord if you need me🍁
Oh my goOOOOddDDD?!!! I’m about to explode! This years events sound spectacular with one iconic event after the other! I cant even say what I’m most excited about! So happy the tbtwc is coming back! And I‘m beyond excited for the fair (and basically everything else too lol).
The tbt art book sounds like a marvellous idea! I would love to revisit old masterpieces this way.
The tbt art book sounds like a marvellous idea! I would love to revisit old masterpieces this way.
ShinyDungeoneer
Helpful Life-Form
Looking at the WC dates, I could try and participate in Smash Ultimate (Banjo-Kazooie/Pichu main) if possible once I get to California as I'll be there during the event. I could also try Mario Party Superstars if possible (I usually play Yoshi, but my last online match was as Daisy and got 2nd place). Splat 3 will be the number one priority though, as my kit will be useful in Turf War. I wanna reveal it early just to see people's reactions to it lol.
20 years of TBT is incredible. No, seriously. Look at the state of almost all forums that are this old. I don't know if there is any other one that (still) gets this much love and hard work put in from the staff. Respect.
The output from this whole community is on a completely different level. Just look at all the amazing submissions during the events if you don't know what I mean. And look at that... I'm sure the "Art Book" will be an amazing way to celebrate this! And the "TBT Archive" is very much something that should exist to show just how extraordinary this site is!!
Can I say that I'm very happy that there is going to be a "Farewell to NL Online" event!!
The two new reactions are also very nice additions!
Now, I would like to take this opportunity to look back at my relationship with forums.
This will also add a lot of context to why I recognise TBT as such a huge success.
After all, 2004 was, in fact, the year I first registered on a forum that I actually used! (I think I signed up somewhere before, but I didn't actually use it.) To be precise, I signed up on August 31st 2004.
So where was this? It was a german children's magazine called KidsZone, which focused on anime on German TV. After a few years I became a moderator there, and I moderated there until it shut down sometime around... 2009 maybe? Funny thing is, the KidsZone forum shared infrastructure with the other magazines of the publisher. This means that my account still exists on the few other forums that are still standing. One of the other forums was called N-Zone (Nintendo-Zone), which was later fused into "Videogameszone" which still has its forum up. However, that forum is basically dead at this point. A few years ago there was still at least some discussion going, now it's not completely dead, but... almost. RIP in advance I guess.
I was also a regular in the KidsZone and NZone IRC chats. Anyone here remeber mIRC? Well, crazy enough we still have two WhatsApp groups with a few core members from KidsZone and Videogameszone going!
The other big, big forum in my life was the Finnish (official) Pokémon forums. At that point in my life I lived in Finland. The forums started off as the official Pokémon forums of the distributor of Pokémon in Finland (Bergsala). There, I also became a moderator and after some time even an administrator.
I was very active there and starting in 2007, I used to run the biggest finnish language Pokémon website, made with a certain free website builder which lead to a strange ".de.tl" ending to the website. The website had three iterations: "Rayquaza's game help" [translated] (my nickname contained "Rayquaza") for Diamond and Pearl, "Bell Tower" (2010) for HG/SS and "Dragonspiral Tower" (2011) for Black and White. At some point Bell Tower suddenly vanished, but the other two are still live, however with broken layouts that I can't be bothered to fix. If you like, you can check them out here:
rayquazan-peliapu.de.tl
dstower.de.tl
After several years, the distributor decided to shut down the official finnish Pokémon forums in 2010, even though the forums were still very much alive and well. We created a successor which was very active for a couple of years. Funny enough, I just noticed that I registered on that new forum on August 31st, 2010. Exactly six years after registering at KidsZone. Huh...
I can't tell exactly when the new forums got quiet. I'd guess around 2016-2018. Obviously, it's a gradual thing. Finally, the forums "shut down" sometime in 2021. You can still access and read the forums, but no new posts can be made. (Well, jokes on you, as an admin I still have the right to post there, but...)
If you like you can check the forums out here (again, not like you'll understand Finnish... probably at least lol):
(Edit: Also RIP to the several beautiful layouts I made for the forums. I don't know why one of the other administrators removed them. Now the forums look so bland.)
So yeah, I registered here at TBT over 10 years ago, in 2013, ALSO IN AUGUST (?!), but not on the 31st but on the 17th, lol! At that time the second finnish Pokémon forums were still doing well and as an admin I also implemented something like collectibles as rewards for contests, although less cool, since we didn't have the awesome collectible infrastructure. So the collectibles were regular small images that I made that the users were allowed to use in their signatures when they earned them.
I think this is enough reminiscing since I don't even know if anyone is going to read this, but I made it to look back myself so whatever I guess!
Feel free to share your history with forums too!
PS: I also used to be active on a certain english language Pokémon TCG site, but I got banned (!) because I criticised the website once (!!!) which was completely ridiculous and unfair, especially since I was a well-known member there and not just a random person who wanted to trash the website, so I don't like to think back at that site.
The output from this whole community is on a completely different level. Just look at all the amazing submissions during the events if you don't know what I mean. And look at that... I'm sure the "Art Book" will be an amazing way to celebrate this! And the "TBT Archive" is very much something that should exist to show just how extraordinary this site is!!
Can I say that I'm very happy that there is going to be a "Farewell to NL Online" event!!
The two new reactions are also very nice additions!
Now, I would like to take this opportunity to look back at my relationship with forums.
This will also add a lot of context to why I recognise TBT as such a huge success.
After all, 2004 was, in fact, the year I first registered on a forum that I actually used! (I think I signed up somewhere before, but I didn't actually use it.) To be precise, I signed up on August 31st 2004.
So where was this? It was a german children's magazine called KidsZone, which focused on anime on German TV. After a few years I became a moderator there, and I moderated there until it shut down sometime around... 2009 maybe? Funny thing is, the KidsZone forum shared infrastructure with the other magazines of the publisher. This means that my account still exists on the few other forums that are still standing. One of the other forums was called N-Zone (Nintendo-Zone), which was later fused into "Videogameszone" which still has its forum up. However, that forum is basically dead at this point. A few years ago there was still at least some discussion going, now it's not completely dead, but... almost. RIP in advance I guess.
I was also a regular in the KidsZone and NZone IRC chats. Anyone here remeber mIRC? Well, crazy enough we still have two WhatsApp groups with a few core members from KidsZone and Videogameszone going!
The other big, big forum in my life was the Finnish (official) Pokémon forums. At that point in my life I lived in Finland. The forums started off as the official Pokémon forums of the distributor of Pokémon in Finland (Bergsala). There, I also became a moderator and after some time even an administrator.
I was very active there and starting in 2007, I used to run the biggest finnish language Pokémon website, made with a certain free website builder which lead to a strange ".de.tl" ending to the website. The website had three iterations: "Rayquaza's game help" [translated] (my nickname contained "Rayquaza") for Diamond and Pearl, "Bell Tower" (2010) for HG/SS and "Dragonspiral Tower" (2011) for Black and White. At some point Bell Tower suddenly vanished, but the other two are still live, however with broken layouts that I can't be bothered to fix. If you like, you can check them out here:
RPA - Pokémon Suomi - RPA (Etusivu)
Pokémon helping website (in finish language).
rayquazan-peliapu.de.tl
Dragonspiral Tower - Pokémon Suomi - DST (Etusivu)
Dragonspiral Tower on suomalainen Pokémon Black ja White sivusto, joka tarjoaa paljon apua suomeksi! Tämän lisäksi se tarjoaa Pokémon uutisia ja tapahtumakalenterin! Dragonspiral Tower - Pokémon Suomi!
dstower.de.tl
After several years, the distributor decided to shut down the official finnish Pokémon forums in 2010, even though the forums were still very much alive and well. We created a successor which was very active for a couple of years. Funny enough, I just noticed that I registered on that new forum on August 31st, 2010. Exactly six years after registering at KidsZone. Huh...
I can't tell exactly when the new forums got quiet. I'd guess around 2016-2018. Obviously, it's a gradual thing. Finally, the forums "shut down" sometime in 2021. You can still access and read the forums, but no new posts can be made. (Well, jokes on you, as an admin I still have the right to post there, but...)
If you like you can check the forums out here (again, not like you'll understand Finnish... probably at least lol):
Suomen Pokémon-foorumi • Etusivu
pkmn.foorumi.eu
So yeah, I registered here at TBT over 10 years ago, in 2013, ALSO IN AUGUST (?!), but not on the 31st but on the 17th, lol! At that time the second finnish Pokémon forums were still doing well and as an admin I also implemented something like collectibles as rewards for contests, although less cool, since we didn't have the awesome collectible infrastructure. So the collectibles were regular small images that I made that the users were allowed to use in their signatures when they earned them.
I think this is enough reminiscing since I don't even know if anyone is going to read this, but I made it to look back myself so whatever I guess!
Feel free to share your history with forums too!
PS: I also used to be active on a certain english language Pokémon TCG site, but I got banned (!) because I criticised the website once (!!!) which was completely ridiculous and unfair, especially since I was a well-known member there and not just a random person who wanted to trash the website, so I don't like to think back at that site.
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Ya'll weren't kidding when you said it was going to be a big year. I don't think I could even pick one thing to be most excited for they all seem amazing! I also love that Valentine's is cancelled for Lunar New Year 
And as always the free bells are super appreciated!
And as always the free bells are super appreciated!
ShinyDungeoneer
Helpful Life-Form
I'm already imagining the egg collectibles for the egg hunt. Time to make new lineup ideas!
Paperboy012305
Maining Male Villager since 2015
I have huge amounts of copium for the Starpower Egg to be legit.
Oh, I'm actually pretty excited for the new reaction emojis.
The archive project and art book also sound interesting.
Anyway, happy 20 years!
The fact this site is about as old as my interest in Neopets is mind-blowing to me.
The archive project and art book also sound interesting.
Anyway, happy 20 years!
The fact this site is about as old as my interest in Neopets is mind-blowing to me.
I’m very excited about TBTWC returning! I love a good team event. I love the team aspect even if I’m not part of any specific TBT clique. I only participate for the interactions in hope to meet some new people. I will be able to participate in the gaming sessions this time, too. There are so many events this year and I’m looking forward to it. I was happy to see new reactions, as well. Lastly, thank you for the free bells!
Xara
❄️🐇 | semi-hiatus
Oh my goodness, this was such an exciting surprise to wake up to! The past 24 hours have been rough for me, so this is just the pick-me-up I needed.
The 2024 event schedule looks so fun! First of all, thank you for including an event schedule to begin with! Having a general idea of what’s to come and dates to keep in mind is super helpful, and gives me things to look forward to! I’m so excited to see what all of the new events will entail, as well as the returning events I’ve never participated in! This will be my first Hybrid Flower Breeding event, and I can’t wait to see what it’s all about! Purple hybrids finally?
I’m especially excited about this year’s TBTWC!! I have so many cherished memories from the first one, and had so much fun participating! It was the first event where I really felt close to the community, and I made so many incredible new friends during it! I can’t wait to see what this year’s will bring, and what incredible team I’ll be a part of this time! Bellflowers forever!
I’ll shut up about the events after this I promise xnsinchfhf, but I’m already counting down the days to this year’s Annual Easter Egg Hunt! My favourite TBT event, I can’t wait to see the clues and egg collectibles for this year! A birthday party-themed TBT Fair sounds so fun as well! I can already imagine an event where we have to design a birthday card of some sort! I’m also so happy about TBT’s Season of Giving making a comeback; I think it’s the perfect holiday event for this special year! It’s my favourite holiday event as well for the charity aspects. And finally, I’m looking forward to the upcoming Lunar New Year event!
The art book project is such a beautiful idea! It reminds me of the incredible galleries Mistreil has made for some of the more recent big events! I would love to see this come to fruition, even as just a digital book! Though, if it does get published physically, I agree that the artists featured should get a cut of any profit made! The forum archive project is so exciting as well! I’d love to be able to see the entries I made for the 2016 TBT Fair, since I didn’t save/post them anywhere and the event board isn’t accessible.
I’m so delighted to see the new “hug” and “celebrate” reacts, especially the former! I’ve always felt so bad “liking” or “loving” people’s posts when they’re talking about how they’re struggling, but I still want to acknowledge their post in some way to let them know that I hear them and that I care, even if I don’t know what to say. The “hug” react will be so useful for those times, thank you for adding it!
Staff, I can only imagine how busy this year will be for you all, between your personal lives and forum preparations. I know you want to go above and beyond to celebrate this incredibly special place, but please give yourselves time to relax and recuperate as well! Don’t push yourselves too hard. You help make TBT as incredible as it is just as much as the community and the events do, and you deserve to feel like your best, rested selves. Thank you for all that you’ve done and given to us over the years, but please don’t stress yourselves out too badly in the process!
I’m so so grateful every day that this community exists, even if it isn’t always perfect or happy times here. TBT has seen and gotten me through so much, from my transition from teenager to adult, the passing of my grandmother, the loss of 3 cats (one of whom was my best friend), and the addition of Bonk to my family. I’ve made so many beautiful friends and memories here, and I truly don’t know if I would have gotten through the past 3-4 years if it wasn’t for you all and this wonderful place. Thank you for everything.
And thank you for the bells!
The 2024 event schedule looks so fun! First of all, thank you for including an event schedule to begin with! Having a general idea of what’s to come and dates to keep in mind is super helpful, and gives me things to look forward to! I’m so excited to see what all of the new events will entail, as well as the returning events I’ve never participated in! This will be my first Hybrid Flower Breeding event, and I can’t wait to see what it’s all about! Purple hybrids finally?
I’m especially excited about this year’s TBTWC!! I have so many cherished memories from the first one, and had so much fun participating! It was the first event where I really felt close to the community, and I made so many incredible new friends during it! I can’t wait to see what this year’s will bring, and what incredible team I’ll be a part of this time! Bellflowers forever!
I’ll shut up about the events after this I promise xnsinchfhf, but I’m already counting down the days to this year’s Annual Easter Egg Hunt! My favourite TBT event, I can’t wait to see the clues and egg collectibles for this year! A birthday party-themed TBT Fair sounds so fun as well! I can already imagine an event where we have to design a birthday card of some sort! I’m also so happy about TBT’s Season of Giving making a comeback; I think it’s the perfect holiday event for this special year! It’s my favourite holiday event as well for the charity aspects. And finally, I’m looking forward to the upcoming Lunar New Year event!
The art book project is such a beautiful idea! It reminds me of the incredible galleries Mistreil has made for some of the more recent big events! I would love to see this come to fruition, even as just a digital book! Though, if it does get published physically, I agree that the artists featured should get a cut of any profit made! The forum archive project is so exciting as well! I’d love to be able to see the entries I made for the 2016 TBT Fair, since I didn’t save/post them anywhere and the event board isn’t accessible.
I’m so delighted to see the new “hug” and “celebrate” reacts, especially the former! I’ve always felt so bad “liking” or “loving” people’s posts when they’re talking about how they’re struggling, but I still want to acknowledge their post in some way to let them know that I hear them and that I care, even if I don’t know what to say. The “hug” react will be so useful for those times, thank you for adding it!
Staff, I can only imagine how busy this year will be for you all, between your personal lives and forum preparations. I know you want to go above and beyond to celebrate this incredibly special place, but please give yourselves time to relax and recuperate as well! Don’t push yourselves too hard. You help make TBT as incredible as it is just as much as the community and the events do, and you deserve to feel like your best, rested selves. Thank you for all that you’ve done and given to us over the years, but please don’t stress yourselves out too badly in the process!
I’m so so grateful every day that this community exists, even if it isn’t always perfect or happy times here. TBT has seen and gotten me through so much, from my transition from teenager to adult, the passing of my grandmother, the loss of 3 cats (one of whom was my best friend), and the addition of Bonk to my family. I’ve made so many beautiful friends and memories here, and I truly don’t know if I would have gotten through the past 3-4 years if it wasn’t for you all and this wonderful place. Thank you for everything.
And thank you for the bells!
ohhhhhh this is exciting !!! i looooove the idea of a schedule ! makes it a little less overwhelming knowing i can mentally prepare myself, i'm really gonna try to participate in everything this year 
thanks staff, all sounds v exciting
thanks staff, all sounds v exciting
exciting days ahead!! 
happy 20th year, TBT!! thank you for being a part of my life for such a long time can't wait for the lunar year event!
and i wonder if we'll be needing to dust off our 3DS for the ACNL event, i do be missing my old town (which is now in shambles lol)
happy 20th year, TBT!! thank you for being a part of my life for such a long time can't wait for the lunar year event!and i wonder if we'll be needing to dust off our 3DS for the ACNL event, i do be missing my old town (which is now in shambles lol)
Mr_Keroppi
Loved Froggy Friend ੈ✩‧₊˚
BEST TBT UPDATE EVER! So excited for the new events and the reactions are so iconic! Im so excited for everyone and everything!!!!! 
(YAY LUNAR NEW YEAR REP! 
) THANKS SO MUCH STAFF!!!
(YAY LUNAR NEW YEAR REP! ) THANKS SO MUCH STAFF!!!
Yanrima~
"Laughter is the best medicine."
Happy 20th anniversary, TBT!
It's amazing how it's been here for a long time since 2004! (And time flies for my time here since 2020.)
I'm legitimately excited for both TBTWC and TBT fair this year!
Also, I'm happy that we now get an event roadmap for the future events, hope we get to see this as a forum tradition in the future. And the new reactions? I'm super happy about it!
It's amazing how it's been here for a long time since 2004! (And time flies for my time here since 2020
.)I'm legitimately excited for both TBTWC and TBT fair this year!
Also, I'm happy that we now get an event roadmap for the future events, hope we get to see this as a forum tradition in the future. And the new reactions? I'm super happy about it!
ShinyDungeoneer
Helpful Life-Form
I would do the NL event as I have a digital copy, but it is on my 3DS at my dad's house (my physical copy got left in colorado last Spring Break), so I sadly can't. also I'll be joining the discord soon (if tbt has one, that is), so that way I'll be able to be up-to-date on the forum happenings at home since my tablet has Discord downloaded.
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