To open this journal up, this is a formal suggestion for a change in the Byako Round Robin Original Character Tournament. (hosted on )
I am posting it here for feedback.
The change that I propose to be enacted is a shift in the tournament style now that we have reached the Final 8. The proposed shift would be from the Round Robin style to an Elimination style.

This shift would benefit two primary groups and possibly one minor group. The primary groups in question are the BRR Audience, which includes all those who watched the tournament so far and all the former competitors who are sticking around the cheer on their favorites, and the Final 8 Artists, those who have pushed ahead despite adversity to make it this far. The minor group that could theoretically benefit is comprised of three members. These three are DeVars (), Greenfrostfire (), and Ai Akura (DeviantArt status unknown). Together they form the BRR judging team and are referred to as "the score judge", "the ever mysterious phantom mystery space pilot ghost kitty x who pilots the ever-incredible and ultra shiny space mecha ghost kitty Z! (who asked to remain anonymous in judging and identity)", and the "paragraphy judge".

Now I will progress to a discussion on a few reasons why I believe that a shift to elimination would benefit us.

Personally, I have full confidence in the Round Robin tournament style. I find it to be a great style to showcase Byako's openness and fairness to those unfamiliar with it, friendly to beginners and standins, and a style that makes a tournament very inclusive and entrant friendly. This made it a perfect fit for the opening, public rounds of the Byako tournament.

But, we are now past the public rounds. Non-finalist involvement is limited to spectator entries, cheerleading, and prepping for the sequel tournament. The welcoming, public atmosphere has been replaced with a competitive series of matches, the best of Byako striving for first place. These final rounds need not be beginner-friendly, nor fill-in-friendly, as all the finalists have some modicum of talent and experience. If they needed to be coddled, they would not have made it this far on their own. There will be no further entrants, everyone is familiar with how events and matches work around here in the Final 8. There is no further need to continue in a style welcoming to the public and beginners, if the public and beginners are excluded from here on.

In a continuation on the position of those not a part of the Final 8 or Judging Team, there is no real active sport left. We're all wrapping up our storylines, perhaps with epilogues and spectator entries, but other than that, we're left as spectators. Our actions hold no more sway over how the BRR will go. And from an audience standpoint, seven more rounds is a very large stretch. We all want to see our favorites blazing a path to victory, but are we really prepared to wait almost half a year (21 weeks) to see it happen? As things stand now, we are still a whole round from being even halfway to the finish (excluding tiebreakers). As an audience, can we honestly promise to remain interested for the remaining 58% of the tournament? This especially comes into question when one views the inherent trait of the Round Robin style, it's ability to allow turnarounds. There will be no suspense or intensity added to these following entries, besides that which will be incorporated by the eight competitors. These is no real sense of danger, no real threat of loss, until somewhere near the halfway point of the remaining matches. That is 10 and a half weeks away from the completion of the tiebreaker round. It's an awfully long time to wait for intensity, and it's an awfully long time to continue producing entries. There have been many, many issues with contestants not being able to reach the deadline or just barely squeaking through. On their shoulders is now seven more entries to squeeze out, and now, rather than taking a break, they are expected to improve upon their past work. It's a rigorous workload to impose, and it is likely that some will feel the strain of it. Twenty-one weeks is also a very long period of time to account for random acts of fate. Contestants have been forced to drop out of this tournament for unforeseeable crises stemming from real life, including the wonderful , who was one of the crowd favorites in this tournament. Can we honestly say with confidence that it is unlikely that something may come up for one of the remaining eight artists in the next twenty-one plus weeks?

The other group that benefits does so in a smaller manner. I am referring to the Byako Judging Team. If shifted to a four round elimination, they would only have to judge and produce random events for four rounds, rather than seven.

This shift would be intended to give the artists and judges a bit of a break and give the audience a bit more excitement and reason to cheer. Your tourney favorites would be on the brink of danger every round, instead of just at the end!

The current objections to this idea that I have heard stem from the promise to the finalists that the final rounds will progress in the round robin format. I am a big believer in keeping promises, but sometimes things work better in a different manner. These final eight were promised the chance to face off against all the other finalists in epic clashes, and as fun as that sounds, is it worth it to have to go against every one in turn?

This is just my humble proposal. I will happily accept feedback and opinions, and do my best to answer and incorporate them here. Please pass this on to all your friends who are current or former BRR entrants, and those who are interested in spectating.

I don't need to force this onto everyone, but in my honest opinion, it looks like a better solution, and I hope that the Byako Tournaments can run in the best possible fashion.