Rating the changes: TBT Fair 2016 vs TBT Fair 2017

[Alolan_Apples]

If you have read about my rating system for changes and similarities and two of my beta tests on the rating system, you are about to read the first full entry about rating changes. Since I have no movies or video games to evaluate, I’ll go ahead and rate changes in TBT Events. Today’s entry compares the TBT Fair of 2016 to the TBT Fair of 2017.

To those who were members prior to 2018, we had the exact same staff listing for two years. During this era, we had two TBT Fair events, and they’re both kinda similar, even though we had differences. Three years ago on this day, we were in the middle of the 2016 TBT Fair. Two years ago on this day, we were on the hype train to the 2017 TBT Fair.

Stuff that changed:

Even though we have the same activities in almost every TBT Fair, it’s obvious that we have differences since there are different themes, collectibles, and challenges, but there were a lot of weird changes that I didn’t expect in the 2017 TBT Fair. Since they were both great, a positive score means that the 2017 Fair was better while a negative score means that the 2016 Fair was better.

• Theme: The first thing I want to talk about is the theme. The 2016 TBT Fair was about the Summer Nights theme, as we light the nights and make it more lively. The 2017 TBT Fair was about the 1980’s theme, as well as arcade games and retro theme. While I did like 2016’s theme a lot, the 2017 TBT Fair has a much better theme. Not only it’s about old games (which I like more than new games), but it’s also about the 1980’s, something I have been a fan of. Ironically, I felt more nostalgic towards the 2016 Fair, when the 2017 Fair was about nostalgia in general.
  • Score: +3
  • Significance: 3
• Collectibles: On the other hand, the collectibles were a mixed bag. While the feathers were a lot better for having blendy colors (as the Tetris Grid was more exciting than the Moon Wand), the glow wand set is the best set of collectibles ever. So good that I would even suggest adding more glow wand collectibles. I would say that it’s a +2 change for the blendy feathers, but a -3 change for the arcade collectibles.
  • Score: -1
  • Significance: 1
• Real World Prizes: The prizes haven’t changed as much, but since we had Custom Line-Art as a real prize in 2017, the 2017 TBT Fair was more promising in this field. But the 2016 TBT Fair had pillows based on AC items and the 2017 TBT Fair didn’t.
  • Score: 0
  • Significance: 1
• Contests: The 2016 Fair had five contests, but the 2017 Fair had three. Even though the 2017 Fair had a regular interior design contest, the one thing that the 2016 Fair was a whole lot better in was that there were more contests. I was hoping for six in the 2017 Fair before it started, but there were half as many. There was no poetry contest or dream town contest as the avatar and signature contest was rather an event.
  • Score: -3
  • Significance: 2
• Bucket of Paint: While I say that Laudine’s Line-Art is the best event from both TBT Fairs (and the Christmas of 2018), I’m not too happy about the changes. Usually I wouldn’t care about some differences, the event in 2017 was better because we had three extra line-art pictures we can color just for extra tickets.
  • Score: +1
  • Significance: 2
• Cooking: Originally, I was going to not participate in the cooking event in case if it’s going to be like Chopped again, but since I wanted to get the Custom Line-Art and since you only have to cook once, I chose to give it a shot. Honestly, I think a regular cooking event where you make one for the artistic appeal is better than 3 weekly challenges with required ingredients like the Food Network show Chopped.
  • Score: +3
  • Significance: 2
• House of Mirrors: In 2016, they gave 2 tickets for every easy mirror and 4 tickets for every hard mirror. But in 2017, they gave 1 to 4 tickets based on how many users get each mirror right. The only change I did like was that the staff were more evil in 2017 than 2016 (especially that butterfly mirror), but that change isn’t worth noting as the other changes since we have different mirrors every year.
  • Score: 0
  • Significance: 1
• Crafting Event: The crafting event in 2016 was Paint the Night, where we color a piece of paper with colored pencils, then paint it with black paint, then scratch it to make line-art. The one in 2017 was Real Life Pixel Art, where we make squared pixels out of paper or other materials and form a pixelated image of our choice. Since I felt that the 2017 event was easier and more fun, I give this change a positive score.
  • Score: +2
  • Significance: 2
• Caption the Picture: The one event I don’t mind removing is absent from the 2017 Fair, but present in the 2016 Fair. While the event is okay at best (better than Discord Trivia Night and House of Mirrors), I think an avatar and signature event was better, but the latter is more suited for contests.
  • Score: +1
  • Significance: 2
• Arcade: Probably the best addition to any Bell Tree Event in history is the introduction to the Arcade. Back when I was a kid, I used to go to Neopets, which had their own games. The fact you had online interactive games like that for a small forum like TBT is what made the event exciting. I even managed to become the top scorer in one of the games.
  • Score: +3
  • Significance: 3
• Final Score: +0.900

Stuff that stayed the same:

While each TBT Fair had their own uniquenesses, both had a couple of events that remained the same. A rule I have for rating similarities is that I must rate half as many similarities as I rate differences, but I’m gonna break that rule today and have as many similarities as I have differences. This time, a positive score means that the attribute on both TBT Fair events is good as I would like it to remain the same for the next fair, and a negative score means that it’s a common problem both Fairs had that I seek a change for the next fair.

• Animated Collectibles and Rainbow Feathers: They always gave rainbow feather collectibles to TBT Fair contest winners since the 2013 Fair, but since the 2014 Fair, they have given staff favorite winners (and other winners) animated collectibles. I hope they keep this tradition, which would be unrealistic if they couldn’t. Score: +2
• Feathers: At the same time, I kinda wish they sold items other than feathers for the TBT Fair. I kinda hope that balloons or food becomes the new feathers. Score: -1
• Championship Series: Even though I have little interest into it, the Championship Series is part of the reason why the 2016 and 2017 Fairs were better than the previous ones. There should be more than just contests and events. Score: +2
• Duration: One problem I had with the 2016 Fair that also lasted to the 2017 Fair was how short the event was. In the 2014 Fair, we had four weeks of events. Not only it meant more time to enter the contest, but we had eight photo challenges, eight mirrors, eight scavenger hunts, and four weeks of others like Count Inside the Bottle. In 2016, it was cut back to three, which gave us three or six rounds of a particular event. Another problem with shorter events is that fewer collectibles would be sold (unless participation is much higher). Score: -2
• Animated Collectibles for Scavenger Hunt and House of Mirrors: Even the two events were you couldn’t get animated collectibles for every challenge gave out animated collectibles to a single winner. For the Scavenger Hunt, they have a raffle for everyone that found a staff favorite. If you found a staff favorite, you have been entered. And at the end, they host the raffle where the winner gets an animated collectible. For the House of Mirrors, they have three bonus mirrors, where the first one to get the most mirrors correct wins an animated collectible. Score: +2
• Contest Winner Prizes: In addition to winning trophies and rainbow feathers, the contest winners for both the contests and the championship series get colored usernames and a chance to catch Fair collectible restocks. Even if I never get there, I kinda like this. Score: +1
• New Leaf Photo Challenge: While some of the events had different tweaks, others remain completely unchanged, with the New Leaf Photo Challenge, one of the classic TBT Fair events, being one of them. With the exception of changing it to New Horizons Photo Challenge for the next fair, there really isn’t much need to change the structure. Score: +2
• Count Inside the Bottle: One of my favorite events in the contest is to guess how many pieces of candy or other objects are in the bottle. Since I would like to see it come back every year, I would be disappointed if it didn’t happen again. Score: +2
• Scavenger Hunt: Another thing I like about the TBT Fair is that it’s not just limited to Animal Crossing activities. This event is a perfect example. I like to find stuff and show what I have found. Score: +2
• Discord Trivia Night: Out of all events, the Discord Trivia Night is my least favorite event. It’s just stressful, and it doesn’t matter if you got the answer right or wrong. What matters is if you’re the first one to get it right. But I don’t want the event removed. Score: 0
• Final Score: +1.200