From Board 8 Wiki

Pic Factor is one of the most controversial of the many "factors" that have been discovered (invented?) by the Gurus who reside in Board 8's Stats Topics. Some claim that pic factor does not exist in matchups between well-known characters, because users will vote for who they like more, regardless of the Match Pics. Others, however, attribute many results to pic factor, such as Bowser's overperformance on Snake, Snake's overperformance on Sora, and even Link's 2003 defeat at the hands of Cloud (because of his "Celda" design).

Some varations on pic factor include The Jug Factor, which claims to explain why attractive females overperform on males, and the Solid *&$# Factor, which would explain why Snake performs like "crap" every time his NES sprite is dragged out. Pic factor appears to have been validated at least somewhat by several strong showings turned in by 'Face Cats,' who is considerably more recognizable as "that guy from the flash cartoon" than the so-called 'Eggplant CATS' who did so poorly in earlier Contests.

The pic factor was partially disproven in the Spring 2006 Contest when Final Fantasy defeated both Resident Evil and Super Mario Bros with what are generally considered to be terrible pictures. Cloud Strife was reinstated as the poster-boy of Final Fantasy in the finals of that contest.