Obviously the first thing that I noticed was that this is a blatantly garish image--well pulled off for what it is, being bright and full of clashing colors with a completely zany subject--but of course there are some (or, possibly, many) who would be turned off by such a thing, which will cost you votes. (I guess the choice winds up being between appealing to the masses, and going with your instinct.) I find myself wondering what the heck this thingamajig actually is: who thought it up? what company paid to have them produced? what is it supposed to be? -- All effectively rhetorical questions that will never be answered. Evoking wonder is always a good thing for an image to do.
Technically, this image is excellent. The subtle changes in tone in the background are lovely, and even with the highly reflective subject, you almost completely avoided having any overexposed areas. If I were to be nitpicky, I'd say that you might have wanted to burn in the seams on the metal body just a bit to bring them down a notch from white, but that's not really important.
By way of a possible explanation for the score, I have to say that for all the technical virtuosity of this image and the thematic zaniness, its relevance to the challenge is pretty tenuous. Taking a picture of a wild-eyed robot toy thingy and trying to make it into a New Year's Resolution is creative--but definitely a stretch. Voters probably picked up on this and voted you down accordingly. Nonetheless, it remains a great image on its own and is just begging for any variety of captions...
I am completely convinced that you need to have less fun with your chosen profession, as it is written somewhere that the "daily grind" should be painful.
Sorry I missed voting on this, it caused a welcome grin.
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