Nano Banana 2 Partially Passes the Seven-legged Spider Test

In June of last year, I wanted to create a quick cover mockup for a book I was working on. The primary element I wanted on the cover was the silhouette of a spider missing its front left leg.¹ The results were… interesting. None of the models I tested was able to create the image of a spider missing a leg, and they weren’t able to tell that the leg was still there or when the image had nine legs rather than seven.

Nano Banana 2 (or maybe Gemini 3) seems to at least recognize that it failed, which feels like a huge step forward. It also didn’t add any extra legs, which was a pretty common failure pattern when I tested this last year.

the model has rendered the spider with all eight legs perfectly symmetrical

…but it still doesn’t totally understand the image. The spider isn’t perfectly symmetrical, and it does look Nano Banana 2 tried to do something on the front right (not left) leg. One of the right middle legs also cuts off.

I’m sure with the right incantation and a bit of luck, it’d be possible to generate a spider with the correct number of legs, but I’m mostly interested in this as a quick pelican riding on a bicycle test for image models. The combination of Nano Banana 2 and Gemini is a clear improvement on previous generations, but seven-legged-spider aficionados may have to contract with an artist or wait for Nano Banana 3 to satisfy their needs.