Due to this recent development, I'll be sending this one back until the moderators reach a decision.
It's obvious that work has been put into this, so it isn't PURE evil : P
But we generally don't favor these practices, so be sure to avoid such methods in the future.  I've seen your gallery, I know you're fully capable of pumping out legitimate, quality pixel work.
Thanks in advance for understanding.

I just did a few tests - it surely is a trace by no doubt.  It lines up pixel-perfect to the ref image with the exception to the stomach-contour and arm which where deliberately changed to void the reference imo.  Tracing is iffy, but okay so long as you clearly state it in the description.

With regards to this being reduced - it appears not to be, at least at first glance.  I did several image reduction tests, and even with my rough-estimate scale of the reference image, I was able to get almost EXACTLY the same results as we see on the arm in this image.... yes, but only the arm.

This leads me to the conclusion that this image was clearly reduced first, then heavily edited to appear otherwise.  Obviously there are some strong pixel techniques that were utilized while doing so - but this is still very deceptive and sore in my mind.

basically it is in fact a trace, and remnants of a reduction are still visible.  This should not have been accepted in my eyes.  I can supply some of my test images to the mods here upon request.

EDIT:  its also interesting to note, that although the stomach contour has changed, the line in this image matches up pixel-perfect to a costume seam in the original image making me believe that it was actually a mistake during reduction to get rid of it.

Ok ThereIsNoCure, thank you for the advice :), i take care for the next time!
Right, this is NOT a redux, it´s one week of hard work in my rest time.
The reference is correct, but is altered substantially.
Thanks for the comments to everyone! :D

that was a cool movie.


Good job

Approved then.  bullet, just be sure to cite any and all references in the future in order to avoid confusion, thanks.

Okie day, good enough for me.   : " )

I assume this is the reference.  Doesn't look like a (aeon) redux to me, just referenced.  The pixels seem to be controlled enough.

references? Looks to possibly be a reduction. Please prove me wrong.