Quote - Thanks, Cage. Your old stuff had that more illustrative look old Poser 4 stuff had. Less photo-real and more like old pulp magazine cover paintings in gouache. 

I don't know who made this image or how old it is, but I've always loved it for that 'pulp magazine cover painting' feel. When it looks like a painting it's easier to enjoy it at face value, to overlook the drinking straw elbows and bubble-butt-type problems because painters don't always get everything perfect.

As you get closer to photorealism the uncanny valley thing kicks in and small things like staring eyes or unnatural poses really jump out at you.

 

Quote - There was something about the crudeness of the models and render engine that drove personal vision more in a lot of people's work I kind of think and often that made it pretty evocative. There is an unrealness to pre-firefly renders that I still find fascinating. 

It can be argued that the simpler the tool, the more the person wielding the tool gets into the finished work. As the tool becomes more complex some of that direct connection between artist and work can be lost in fussing with the tool.