I have zero idea who catgirl biker is meant to be based on and don't care. Cat ears are coming off. Helmet; meet file. Bakunin is known for that catgirl schtick. Keep the Hellokitty crap with them.
Ditto. I'mma call it the Shogun Executioner regardless of what it's actually called, even if it isn't a giant base-stomping tripod monster robot.
There are two things I've always disliked about some models and parts of Infinity from the day I started playing: the lazy references and the over-stereotypical cultural representations. Because the second also feels like laziness. The more I see it, the more I am reminded that this is a minis game based off a couple nerds' basement cyberpunk DnD games. It really shows. If you can imagine sitting around with your drunk frat bros going "Haha, dude, my guy is LITERALLY, like, MOTHERF@&#(ING ACHILLES, like Brad Pitt shit man! Haha!" I think that gets the starter across lol. I'm being hyperbolic obviously, Carlos would never play as Achilles (he likes Ariadna too much ;), but my point remains. And I think the unfortunate thing is that, for all its growth as a company and the game on a whole, Infinity really hasn't matured much beyond that. We play a game where every single model is the 'bestest of the bester most el1te skillz', and everything runs off rule-of-cool. Although some of the cliches in the writing annoy me sometimes, I actually think their story writer is the most mature of the group, and is clearly struggling desperately to reign-in the others' fanboyism lol. If you read the RPG books you can see that he clearly has good ideas for expanding the lore and making a coherent, contructed world...and I suspect that somewhere along the line one of the group went "but Gutier, come on man, we LOVED that HILARIOUS mission we did where the space-Americans made a Coke factory! LOLZ Itll be great man, please keep it in the fluff!" and Gutier sighed and hit his head against a wall and wrote it in. TLDR; I don't mind references, but I hate expies. And there is a difference. That article showing the comparison should make it even more obvious. There is a huge difference between straight pulling a character out of a show and into Infinity and using, say, Brad Pitt's likeness for Achilles. The armor, sword, etc etc look right in Infinity and nothing like Hoplite armor. The face looking like a movie character is a fun nod. And I'd argue Hector looks nothing like Eric Bana, so...*shrug* I was also going to start Bakunin but stopped when I saw the blatant rip-offs. And now I'm avoiding JSA like the plague because they seem to want to continue that trend. *sigh*. So, I'm sticking with Aleph and MO for now, because I can take a facial match to Brad or hair color matching Saber (Joan's face looks nothing like the anime character so, all good there imo). And it's neither here nor there, but it annoys me in general how stereotyped the designs are. From the wild west Ariadnans to the space samurai...just...I get it. I get why they do it. I just wish they wouldn't. The problem is, it IS laziness. Or greed (wanting to cash in as much as possible on the latest pop culture fad), but I'm assuming the best. As a sculptor and writer myself, yeah, it's hard. And that quote about pulling in ingredients to make a new dish is right on point, and exactly why I think Infinity fails at it. Sculpting the Morlocks to all look like the Suicide Squad isn't ingredient mixing...it's taking a whole damn pizza and sprinkling some cyberpunk-colored cheese on top. The basic thing's already been made. Nobody eating it isn't going to get that it was a pizza first. CORRECT use of the 'ingredients' of pop culture is taking a little bit from here and there and mixing them together to make some new blend. Lobster pizza, for example :D
There's no way there's greed or any malice. Things like Star Trek and Star Wars, Dune, Known Space, etc. build a world much larger than their original medium. A lot of people want that out of Infinity but that might be contrary to what most designers want.
Right well, that's why I said I'm assuming the best. The WORST possibility would be that they just want as much money as possible and dont give a shit about the game. But I truly believe that is not the case.
Unfortunately I have to agree. There are certainly very creative and original elements in the infinity back ground (Pan Oceania f.e. does strike one as very realistic concept, Nomads split into different kinds of anarchism is pretty on point too), but often lazy stereotypes and moe culture kinda destroy it. The Bakunin especially is trapped between those: the Riot Grrls are a nice subversion of sexism, but the minis totally fail in transporting that, so are the Moira's to a degree, though Riot Grrls certainly missing way to much punk and feminism. And it certainly looks like with the growth of the company the laziness or lack in creativity is unfortunately a little bit in decline. Imo the Haramaki are a interesting take on cyber samurai, but that new giant power armour double wheeling one seems like every other samurai mecha out there, completely blend. Not to speak of the dynamics and character the poses transport.
Yeah exactly. The sad thing is (and I don't say this as a plug, just an observation), that there ARE creative people out there...here...whatever...who could help. I sculpt and write, and even then I'm restricted to going through the 'chain of approval' to apply like any other job. Which isn't a bad thing per se, but my point is that until the company internally decides to choose 'oh, we need more creativity and to hire new/different/more people!', the design ideas are always going to flow down from a handful of people. Which means that for better or worse, anybody outside the company is kind of powerless to change it. I really don't mind inspiration...I mind copy-paste. I don't mind Achilles, or the Guarde de Assaulto looking like Lost characters, or whatever...because for the most part they look like just another Infinity model. They fit in the setting. What annoys me (besides the stereotyping laziness) is the direct import of the entire look of a character...whether's thats Celty or the Suicide Squad.
I don't think hiring fans has worked for anything except for Sonic. edit: plus taking on people wanting to make a political impact... 100% kill rate for the art.
Where in what I said did I suggest people who want to make a political impact?? O.O Trust me when I say that's like, the antithesis of what I think would be a good idea. And I find that first statement silly. Every game company ever was literally made BY fans of the medium, whether it be someone like Todd Howard, a huge videogame nerd, getting in to videogame design to eventually make Skyrim, or the sculptors at Rakham splitting away to eventually work for CMON and make Wrath of Kings. Most media is made by artists who....like the medium... companies made entirely of salespeople and businessmen tend to absolutely suck at good art. And when you add the 'people wanting to make a political impact' like you mention, yeah, that's even worse (see current Marvel comics sales...) I'd argue that most of the time in fact, the fans have a better grasp of the overall look, tone, and theme of the setting than the actual producers do. Lucas famously had little interest in Star Wars beyond making campy b-movie serials and purposefully avoided talking about how the Force worked, etc...the fans that became the writers are the ones who expanded the universe to have this huge EU (even if Disney eventually nixed that). Fans-turned-creators are the ones who kept it alive in-between the originals and prequels and from then till now. I think fan dislike or irritation with a brand tends to be the most crushing thing to any franchise, and is a lot of what prompted GW to change some of its business practices (not that they're perfect yet either). This modern dislike and poo-pooing of fans as neckbeards and such is really short-sighted IMO.
If fanboys want to stop being looked at like mouth-breathing perverts that want to put themselves crossed with John Wick in while dating a main character and killing their childhood bullies they should stop confirming it.
Trolling time? Thats... such pointlessly generalized stereotyping I...lol I can't even decide how to respond. But I would suggest that prooooooobably you're in the wrong forum and wrong hobby if you hate fanboys so much lol.
You can enjoy something, even a LOT, without making it your identity. Don't be obsessive. Edit: anyone see the guy ship himself in the official Powerpuff Girls remake? Dating one of the kids no less.
lol that's....not...really the typical definition of a fan though. That's like....really extreme lol. I think anyone can agree that extreme-ness, in any form, is bad...
Yeah, and I think that's exactly the mindset that's created this 'dont listen to the fans', 'fans are bad', etc etc mindset that seems to pervade the media and culture these days. I mean if you guys feel that way then, ok, I just disagree I guess. I was just pointing out that there is something to be said for a company paying attention to what the fans want, if only to avoid backlash :)
Subjugated Japanese uprising... wonder if we'll get any Code Geass inspired models soon? Character Loyalist YJ Japanese prototype TAG pilot? Or Maybe a JSA TAG with a viral CCW? Or some Impersonation line troopers?
