I think I preferred the way voting gauntlets were originally. Sure, they led to one-sided stomps for popular characters but at least it wasn't a nonsensical mess like they are now where every result is just based around bonuses. You could do stuff like hoard flags to contribute more against more popular characters before but now it's just a see-saw of bonus periods until everyone's run out of flags. I don't care that much since voting gauntlets are just free feathers to me, but some gauntlets that don't include an obvious winner using the original system have more chance of getting me invested again.
At least Adult Tiki beat Nowi in this round so I don't have to be too down on the whole system and community.
While people are talking about Reddit stuff, I'd like to point out that the subreddit for this game in particular is a steaming pile of trash. There's some good fan content (and some bad stuff too, but it's nice to see people sharing as they improve) and occasionally you might see something resembling a discussion but most of it is just people trying to be funny and failing horrifically. I get there's not much to talk about around a moderately old mobile game but sometimes saying nothing is better.