I'm with @glubglubz on this one - the old composition isn't bad (on the contrary, and there's quite a bit you can do to improve it in the direction you want). I'm amazed by your willingness to strive for perfection and the lack of fear of changing things even so close to the deadline!
The new composition is good and very interesting looking (but I reckon it's also gonna be time-consuming). For now, I can say that it does capture the feeling of lighthearted joy of wrecking baddies that your old illustration had (especially with the introduction of the sunglasses :D). It could use some more dynamic elements hinting at the rotation though (I suppose you'll have her lightparticles do the trick). Maybe bend the cabletail a bit? The right knee can be brought a bit forward as well to signal the momentum.
I'd say - spend half an hour playing around with the saturation/contrast of all the parts you don't want to be center-stage in the old illustration and see what comes out of it.
Whatever you go with however, you've done an amazing job and your entry was really fun and pleasant to go through! (man, this comment got longer than expected :D)
