Just in time for Easter. I can't wait to see the match-up you've organized for us this time. I am quite anxious to see some good fakes like this past community-wide FPK.

Sweet! Thanks for taking time out of ur busy schedule for our entertainment's sake. thats why we <3 u

I concur but, uh... i aint gon luv yo ass. blacksaibot don't get down lyk dat.

Awesome, I'm looking forward to another one of these.

Voting has officially begun, folks. As it states in the opening post, the voting period ends at noon (EST) on Saturday, April 6th.

We have a pair of very impressive entries, so let's do the entrants justice and cast our votes. Thanks in advance for your participation, voters.

My vote goes to entry #1, specifically for the second frame. The effect of Baraka being cut in half is very clean, and looks fantastic with the ribs, bones and gore. I also really like the blood dripping from Kung Lao's hat, and the edits you did to his costume. The background is ok (good use of the meditating monks), but the foreground is what really makes this fake shine.

Entry #2: there are a couple of good points. I like dusk-ish colour scheme in the background and the two fighting figures on the bridge. The fatality idea is also cool, and reasonably well executed (good job with the Sektor sprite). Nice to see a Tremor fake.

But I have a few problems with this fake. I'm not keen on the desert sand in the background - it doesn't make sense to have sand dunes that suddenly end in the background before two mountain peaks appear. If the intention was to make it look like the peaks were appearing out of the sand, it didn't really work.

The Tremor sprite isn't up to par. His costume colour is still too close to scorpion's, and the skin tone just doesn't look right - more like gold than rock. Had his skin blended more with the rock formation on his arm, it would have looked much better.

I also suspect some of the elements in this fake were not taken from the 2D games, nor were they made from scratch as the rules stipulated (like the stone hand and the moon/sky). But I could be wrong.

Entry 1:
I think the arena is very good. The only thing that bothers me a lot is the middle of the arena where the sand meets the bottom of the wall behind the yellow-clothed monk. Some of the stars got too blurry with the shine effect from the moon. Aside from that it's a very creative use of props. I love how the monks are observing the battle. It's like the Shaolin are getting revenge against Baraka for the massacre of their temple. Great job with the "3D" like perspective on the stone tablets the monks are sitting on.

My initial reaction to the sprite editing was that it was minimal. But then I noticed that Baraka from frame 2 was not a cheap cut and paste from his death scene in MK2. I went nerd-mode and looked up the sprites on the MKWarehouse. You put a lot of work into Baraka and did all your own gore; from the brain, split skull, ribs, intestines, and blood. Very impressive.

Kung Lao looks good but no fantastic. That is not to say the editing is not accurate to his MK2011 attire. What bothers me is some of the inconsistent shading on his clothing (the red) and the cartoony looking forearm guards. You forgot to add the arm band on the first frame. What really impressed me about Kung Lao are the metal lions on his chest. Such detail is phenomenal.

The fatality itself are two generic ones put together in a creative way. I like the matrix-like buttyerfly kick Liu Kang is doing and the mid-air body slice with his sword. The sword's handle looks kind of ugly by the way.

Entry 2:
I love the idea behind the arena but like Fedegita said it's weird how the desert suddenly comes to a halt. for the mountains. I love the fighting silhouettes and the big moon backdrop. The clouds look great. I am a bit confused as to why I see moss growing on the ground if this is indeed a DESERT. Also, like Fedegita stated, some elements look too good to be done be the artist; my rational is that if you can do that, why am I not looking at magnificent sprite edits?

As said, no sprite editing to really comment on but I really like how Tremor's arm is transforming into rock.

The fatality is pretty good and looks painful ... very painful. The rock crumbles look good and so does the dust. Very good attention to detail. No shadows, though?

Official vote: Entry 1

Great job to both artists!

While Entry #1 has its merits, I have to vote for #2.

It is pleasing, and more-or-less gives the feel of an MK game and arena. That's not to say #1 is bad, it is great! I just feel Entry #2 flows a bit better with me.

my vote goes to entry 2.

As much as I like both of them, I also don't like a good number of things that bring both down in my mind... 1's use of a "Shadow Kartwheel" for Liu was excessive, and as much as I like all the effects and things, seeing the gruesome death wasted on someone like Baraka's a bit of a buzz kill. Why not Shang Tsung? Why not Shao Kahn? A grander enemy for both these characters would've been cooler.
2 has a pretty good, and suitable, fatality for Tremor, but Tremor as an orange ninja and very minimal sprite edits aren't thrilling me either.
My vote goes for 1

My vote goes to Entry 2.

I love the color scheme and the big ass moon in the background. The desert with mountains was a nice job too. That's not to say Entry 1 wasn't good though, I thought it was very well done.

Definitely number 1. As big of a Baraka fan as I am, I still like the way the Shaolin massacred him. Poor toothy guy. The blood on Lao's hat after the throw is cool and the uppercut finish isn't bad either. The stage is cool too.

Number 2 isn't bad either. It's really good and detailed. The stage is awesome and I like the two guys fighting in the background, although the guy on the left looks to be "dancing" more than fighting lol.

But still, really great job on both guys (or gals).

Vote to number 1.

#1.

#2. I just like the idea better. I don't know why. Both fakes are great, though!

I like the stage in the first one.The sprite editing on baraka and kung lao is flawless ...But 2 against one ...not a fair fight...poor baraka...
The second fake is good to, tremor's fatality looks great , the stage is ok , the way sektor is torn apart looks pretty good ...Nice job editing tremor, except for the color.
Gj both entries...And the vote goes to ... #1

Hmmm...

#2

It's a nice fatality and there's a great sense of scope in the image.

Oh man these are two totally kick ass.fakes

Vote goes to 1. No time for a long detailed critique.

My vote goes to Entry #1.

Am really torn between both fakes, they're great but have certain things that outweigh each other. The editing and execution is ridiculous great too. But my vote goes for Fake 2.

Vote goes for number 2. Too much going on in #1 for my tastes.

The shadow effect on Liu's cartwheel doesn't work for me...but I'm still voting for #1 because the bisected Baraka gore looks awesome.

I've been looking at these for days now and I'm simply undecided, I just can't pick one over the other.

#2

After 72 hours, the votes have been tallied and the count thus far is as follows:

Entry #1: 9 votes
Entry #2: 8 votes

With just under 72 hours remaining before voting comes to a close, this should be a thrilling race to the finish. I genuinely appreciate those of you have cast votes in this edition of head-to-head fake picture kompetition.