I like the current Asura because she looks like she has her statline. Honestly, despite being leagues ahead of anything I can do,I feel like the Studio paintjob made a ton of mistakes that did it a disservice. For one, the roots of the hair are dark instead of being bright purple, making it hard to make out the detail on the headgear, also the overdone zombie skin gets lost in all the blued metallic detail. Here's one off facebook that pretty much follows the studio scheme but ends up looking better. Source is https://www.facebook.com/kaedegamestudio
I am just annoyed by the general vibe from this thread that "space samurai" is more valid than Kawaii for Infinity... EDIT: Specifically, people using swords and recklessly charging into a spec ops gun battle is "mature" but adorable kill bots is a step too far..
Not to derail this too much but that's the difference in between the Steel Phalanx and the OSS Aleph side of things I liked. Achilles V2 is a bulky S2 dude with a TAG statline. Old Asura is a biomechanical marvel that fits a little less, but still very respectable amount of durability and gear into like half his size and looks like an upgraded later version, when compared to the new one because of this. I own both minis and the new Asura is a little, well, too "voluptuous" (which imho is a bad fit for Shodan in particular). Less Baywatch hourglass physiology, more old Terminator Asura would have been nice. The gameplay aspect of the old Asura not telegraphing her impressive statline at all is true, then again there are ample examples for that in Infinity. Karakuri being some of the other outliers where the physical model is (and still will be with the new minis) in no shape or form congruent to their durability. Joan too, she's a tiny little thing next to the massive bulk of a Hospitaler or even worse, the Boyg, who have nothing on her in terms of statline.
all JSA HI and the tag are named after samurai armor sets styles as for space samurai vs kawaii for JSA you have to remember JSA was oppressed for over 100 years by yu jing and treated like trash I doubt much of the kawaii culture survived a brutal regime that treats non-Chinese as third rate citizens and the only reason the bushido stuff was tolerated is that space samurais are useful as vanguards Caffe maids and hello kitty not so much
I think putting a sci-fi/anime/cyberpunk filter on military history is more mature than the kawaii aesthetic in which childlike is an inherent characteristic. Sorry if that annoys you but good luck changing my mind. Sometimes the cuteness works, like on Crazy Koalas. If the new Karakuri design were a peripheral or something I think everyone would love it, but as a karukuri puppet-inspired T-800 expy, not so much.
I'm pretty hyped for the new minis - not that i hated the old ones, but i'm not sure "delicate flower geisha" transferred super well into a 28mm mini, they just kind of ended up looking like stick figures from a distance greater than 12".
Why exactly? look, a happy face, harmless kawaii bot. (fuck, now im dead) And if you use robots for city patrolling, you need a non threatening face, so people are not afraid of them.
I think the Crazy Koalas are nomad made and I don't question whether or not cuteness works, the big question is where did the new designs originated it just looks a bit out of place for now maybe JSA is getting a sectorial build around cute stuff.
I'm really excited for these karakuri minis and can't wait to paint goofy faces on them. JSA is literally anime the faction. We got GitS, Evangelion, Durarara, goofy heavy armor rice hats, moody hood boys, katanas for days, hakama everywhere, and more. The JSA doesn't really have a super serious high speed low drag operator aesthetic.
If I had to guess: Noriko Ayase She's the engineer who designed/built/pilots Kosmo in Aristeia! (who was designed in-universe to be kid-friendly), so it's not that farfetched that post-Uprising JSA would reach out to her to make the robots that had previously been used to oppress the public look a bit friendlier. I imagine the general populace has bad memories regarding the old Karakuri look; a redesign makes a lot of sense if JSA wants to keep using them (and given their effectiveness, they would).
That's totally rewriting history, JSA had plenty of "serious business" original designs, like the Raiden, one of the coolest designs in the entire game. It was replaced with a Tacky Expy "homage". There were two great models. Similar fates suffered by Asuka and now the Karakuri. I wouldn't wipe my ass with a three year old Durarara reference much less use it to define the faction. It was Japan the faction, Nomads were more of a dumping ground for cliche anime tropes and homages.
The 'Running Projectiles HT-14' were developed by Aizuri-sho, an armaments company dependent of the Kiyomitsu keiretsu, to cover the close defense requirements of certain armored units of the State Empire Army. However, the troopers of the Nomad Military Force, which purchased a great quantity of these projectiles, would be the ones to popularize the nickname of CrazyKoalas, as they are now known through the whole Sphere. That's the rulebook.
don't be jelly because we nomads have all of the good stuff hot Nunns fox gurls catgirls robots controlled by brains in a jar. the whole nomads buying cheap stuff they could upgrade make sense the tags we use are pano handy downs
On the contrary, I am very happy for you. Nomads have always been a containment faction for the Original Characters and Magical Realms of the creators and tacky casual anime tropes (fetishes) like maids, cat ears and lolicon etc. It works there thematically and I'm glad some people like it. Happy for CB to make as much of that stuff as they like, so long as it has a Nomad stamp on it. As a thought exercise, imagine how you'd feel if the Moiras or Pupniks were redesigned as a bunch of master chief knockoffs because some people out there like Halo.
Or how a werewolf's walkie-talkie is immune to being blown out by an E/M attack for some reason. Or how glue doesn't stick to them.
*Modern day JSDF recruiting poster* Yeah, Japan would never mix modern military aesthetic with cutesy anime....
Oh, I believe quite a few people here could use a nice cup of mint tea and some baklava. But what do I know, I'm a Haqq player foremost...
My complaint and delivery fits the definition well. I'm capable of liking new things though. I think the Haramaki to Tanko transition was just fine. I like the originality of power armour seeing through their hats, as well as the cloth pouches and asymetric shoulders with the single sode. I miss wearing the Hakama outside the power armour and two of the best power armoured women in the Human Sphere 1 Era. Are any of the Tankos women? I haven't rushed to buy the box on account of having 5 or 6 fully-painted haramanlets to proxy with, although I intend to eventually.
Nothing about the body is that different from the originals, besides being a bit thicker (good, those sold ones look like nightmares to assemble), and the poses will likely be more dynamic (the only good pose from the old box was the one with the chain-colt being aimed from the wrist). The only thing that’s changed is the head sculpts, which have more modern, Japanese idol-styled hair pieces (going off the sketches). Grab the old heads, or trim off the ‘anime hair,’ leave the faces blank, and turn them into terror drones.
