I prefer before.
Reasons, hard to explain, guess I think the patterns you used (circuitry) is one that either demands lots of detail like the prior pic, or little to no details at all. And I like the scheme of the prior more. Of course, all just IMO
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TY for the courteous input.
I'm undecided which i like more. Part of me likes the theme of the skulls but it didn't seem to fit with the rest of the costume. The other part of me likes the look of the lesser shoulders with more of the third tone coming out.
I'm just hoping to see how other ppl see it for third party perspective.
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I'm with Lt on this one and would choose the before.
Though I'm a big believer in "No Capes!" 
The before shot seems to be the best, to me.
While the After shot is, certainly, a lot cleaner and less busy, I don't think it was necessarily a bad thing in the original costume. All of the pieces were used well, it was tied together nicely, and the color choices fit in decently.
You could probably go in-between on it (maybe the skull shoulderpads/chest, with the differently colored arm and losing the clavicle spikes), and come out looking fairly nice, as well. But, between the two, the former seems to be a bit better.
Though the latter is not without it's merits either - it's clean, simple, and very well colored.
Thank you all for the feedback. I'll muck around a bit and post another shot and see what you all think.
...actually, I don't have to choose now. I unlocked a costume slot so now i can just flip to either one 
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I decided to mod my characters costume a bit. I added a bit more of the third tone and got rid of the skulls for a more rounded tech look. Who prefers before and who prefers after?
Before / After
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