this is gonna be a weird bonus segment, as Ceej did all these pics. He's not here to see these comments so I can verbally assault him as much as the ToS allows!
Our first picture! This was the greatest contest of all time?! Look how bland the round 1 pics are!! Well, to be fair, Ceej used to LOVE full body shots for round 1, but as more and more newer FPS characters got in it got harder and harder to keep with tradition so full body became upped torso.
It's hard to rate these fairly as they're all the same exact crap, but I'll just comment on if the pic choices were good, the quality, how they match (he had FULL CONTROL so they should match to some extent, unless it's Marcus Fenix vs Ulala) and if he did a good job rendering.
This one is alright. I think Wind Waker Link matches PERFECTLY with Aiai. Also, Wind Waker Link basically owned this contest, so I'm gonna start the Wind Waker Link tally to see just how much CJayC wanted him to lose!
Overall: 8.5/10 (matching styles, clean, no dynamic)
WW Link Count: 1
The first appearance of Melee Fox?! Maybe. Fox wasn't in 2K2, right? So our first pic is the most basic possible one alriiiight good start I guess. He's a 3D model and Pikachu is 2D, which is OK as they're also the most basic pics you could ever choose ever. For srs. It'd be better if Pikachu was facing inwards. I'm not sure how valid it is but one of the basic design rules I learned way back when is that characters should never be jumping out of the picture. It would be cooler if he was jumping at Fox, I guess so that rule must work sometimes!
Overall: 7.5/10
Hey I'm Tidus and I'm a HURRRRR and this is Ganondorf and he's a DURRRR. They both look super washed out; There was no vibrance adjustment layer back then so I guess it was harder to deal with, but SRSLY they're just kinda standing there. Default OoT art vs... is that an action figure? Huh.
Overall: 6.5/10
You know what really must have sucked? Writing fanfiction for these contests. GODDAMN how could you write this seriously? Magus would SLAUGHTER Sam Fisher in a fight. I think Cloud and Squall and I really revolutionized the Fanfiction business on this board when we came up with the idea to have the characters not fight, but face physical and psychological challenges and overcome them before their opponents!
I don't know why I went off on this tangent but damn Sam Fisher looks like a big black gimp or something next to the dynamic and awesome Magus. I LOVE that Magus art, especially compared to that ugly ass "magus standing there and looking like a pale 200 year old piccolo" art with the huge codpiece.
Overall: 7ish/10
This is pretty awesome because Squall's gunblade is like blending in SO MUCH that it looks like he's just holding a revolver. Two PS1-y 3D models with GUNZ and one of them is in leather and one has a tubetop. SO BADASS.
Overall: BADASS GUNZ/10
But in all seriousness it was a big deal to blend in the gunblade like that. Half of Squall's appeal is that his gun is ALSO a sword!! Jill looks fine but this is really just a "default" kinda look for her, but it's round 1 and full body pics are limited, and Jill always looks pretty good when she isn't cosplaying as Zero Suit Samus.
Overall: 6.5/10
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~Zen