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TBT Fair 2017 Review: Part 1

Alolan_Apples

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So once again, the great staff of the Bell Tree Forums hosted a wonderful event of contests and other activities. This time, it was even better than before. Since it is a long review, I'm gonna put it into three parts.

Strengths:

As this fair was better than last fair and the one before, I shall explain what this fair did better. This is not about my experience, but on what made the fair better.

First of all, they added another section. Back in 2013 and 2014, all we had was the Carousel of Contests and Event Pavillion. Last year, they added the Championship Series. This year, it was the Arcade. For the first time since I joined TV.com, I'm playing actual games on a forum site. I knew Neopets had games, but no forum site I went to after Neopets did. But then they introduced the Arcade. Granted, we don't get paid TBT for submitting a score, but we do have scoreboards. It wasn't just an arcade I wanted. It was something other than contests, events, and championship series.

Second, the old feathers have been replaced with these blendy colored feathers: Hot, cool, fresh, glam, sweet, rad, and final boss. There's nothing wrong with the old feathers, but the problem with re-using the came collectibles is that their value goes down. That's what happened with the candies. I didn't want feathers and eggs to suffer the same fate. New collectibles is what we need.

Third, some of the events have been improved from last year. Bucket of Paint - you have weekly challenges. House of Mirrors, now grades people based on how many got it right. Cooking event, it's better than the Chopped event from last year. And it's not just limited to events. We also have improvements in the Championship series. Mario Kart 8 friendlies, does not discriminate against Wii U or Switch users.

Fourth, there was some improvement in the real world prizes. I know the pillow is missing, but you can get line-art commissions for your own characters. I got one for 40 tickets, and I plan on seeing Andrea from MoonGlow with a few Eevees near an apple tree. Kirby, Yoshi, and Pikachu are having a desserts picnic in the same forest as that apple tree. And the other characters are camping. I'll give the full details to Laudine later, and I'll post an image when I'm done.

Last, I know this may seem subjective, but the 80's theme and arcade theme is better than the Summer Nights theme. But last year's theme was better than the theme for 2014's TBT Fair.

Weaknesses:

Of course, the fair wasn't objectively better than last fair. While I did like some of the aspects more, here's what went wrong.

First of all, the fair lasted three weeks instead of four weeks. In 2013 and 2014, the fair was four weeks long. But they contracted that in 2016. That hasn't improved in 2017.

Second, there are three contests this year instead of five. I was hoping for a sixth contest, but no, we only have three this time. The avatar and signature contest did make it into the fair, but as an event. The Dream Town contest and poetry contest weren't even a thing this year.

Third, I know the staff are busy with other stuff, but I noticed how inconsistent the ticket delivery was. Usually when an event is over, we are immediately given tickets. But this year, I seen delays in ticket delivery in two events. I wonder what was going on.

Fourth, although the feathers were better and the tetris grid was more exciting than the green pinwheel and crescent moon wand, the other collectibles were not as good this year. I liked the balloons, pinwheels, and glow wands. But the arcade ones didn't look as good. In fact, I was at the point to where I think the staff needs to implement new features. Collectibles is not enough.

Last, ticket prices for some collectibles have not dropped from last fair's. I thought 10 tickets was reasonable for the cheaper and unlimited collectibles. But at least the patch was easier to grab.

Questions:

Q1: If you were to add any contest or two, what would it be?

Two contests I would add are Fair Food Collectible Design Contest and 3D Art Contest. I like the idea where we can design our own collectibles. The other one, we have an art drawing contest. I would like to see a 3D art contest to submit.

Q2: If you were to add any event or two, what would it be?

One would be the tissue art event, where we can make a portrait or work of art out of colored tissues and glue. It's kinda like painting, but using colored tissues. Another would be the paper craft event.

Q3: What collectibles would you suggest?

If I had my set of collectibles, I would like:

  • Light-up Fan collectible
  • Lava Lamp collectible
  • Disco Ball collectible
  • Plasma Ball collectible (animated)
Q4: If you were to remove something, what would it be?

This time, it's a tough question. There's no event or contest I would take out if I were a staff member.

--End of Part 1--​
 
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