User blog comment:Ultimate Mega Gamer/UMG's Weekly Thumbnail Contest 2/@comment-25430354-20171217080753/@comment-25430354-20171217192322

I appreciate the explanation, but I have to disagree with you on a couple of things. You open with trying to downplay the art's impact on your ranking but then go on to essentially say that it wouldn't have looked good if the sizing was to your liking primarily because of the art. I think if the characters have the potential to be consistent in their art design, then the thumbnail would look better. For example, the revised Zits vs Leo thumbnail is arguably the worst of the revisions for having cartoon Zitz and live action Leo, ESPECIALLY since we know there were plenty of better cartoon Leos to use instead. Meanwhile the revised Link vs Cloud thumbnail looks better than v2 because of updating Cloud's artstyle to match Link's (even if SSB4 wasn't used, a cg Cloud would've looked better than the 2d against SSB4 Link). Even the ones you chose as winners are relying on some element, and the other "artsy ones" lack a certain sense of consistency. The DB podcast actually favors using the last place entry for their upcoming podcast.

Given that Marvel and DC work well in live action or 2d, I think Ross's unique blend of the two would work well for the situation. I agree that it could've slightly been closer up, but the point was to show their action poses without pulling a Guts vs Nightmare version 1 and make it look a little like the v2 version of Batman vs Spider-Man rather than just zooming up on their faces and calling it a day.

I will contend that the Batman pic I took was too dark and purple, but I think it blends nicely with the Spider-Man one. In summary, I disagree that the art or style isn't "thumbnail worthy". Hell, your #1 pic for Atom vs Ant Man uses Ross's art for Atom in a similar style to the ones I've been showing.