For me, my Dashat was the third YJ sectoral before White Banner. I saw them as the Mongol sectoral by using Kum bikes and such. I used mostly YJ figures (mainly 1st edition versions) and some Haqq figures.
巨人キラー兵団 "Kyojin Kira Hidan", Killer in katakana so these guys probably aren't samurai ninja or monk themed. Infinity loves pop culture references, so definitely Attack on Titan reference. Even got wings in their logo. Perhaps they've got climbing plus and super jump to cut through TAGs? The S.T.R.S. Tanuki has a Resident Evil Umbrella corp looking logo. In the first few games the S.T.A.R.S. organization fights them in Raccoon City. Perhaps a VIRAL weapons unit? Mechazoid's logo is UC Gundam's Earth Federation, fitting for a relatively plain mass produced TAG, like the GM mobile suit. Shurayuki Onna Koroshi-Ya probably means "Asura(demon, carnage) Assassin Woman" is a reference to Lady Snowblood (修羅雪姫 "Asura/carnage/demon Snow Queen")
The lore from the book mentions them having: "Vertical movement devices as well as hook for mounting and riding those titans"
Their lore also talks about a bioweapon incident gone wrong that ended with the whole city being nuked. 1000% a Resident Evil reference.
At this point, it's closer to plagiarism than reference, for both Tanuki and the Kyojin thing. I never got that tendancy from CB to just copy/paste random pop culture references and shove it into the game. I find it detrimental to immersion and it looks like lazy design. I mean, why would I want a Daenaerys with a dragon when I'm playing Infinity? Let's hope the minis won't be too ridiculously cliché.
Lupe and Pancho actually have rather detailed background which fits Nomads a lot and underlines the enormous difference between Corregidor and Bakunin quite well. That she looks like Daenerys is, of course, a customer bait and Pancho could have just as easy been a wolpertinger or a chupacabras, but the lore works well and I don't find it detrimental to the immersion of the setting.
Bro, last 10 years of Infinity story is just "mastermind" Gutier watching anime whole day and then writing whatever he likes into Infinity story.
the first JSA army pack also had some references to anime. like durarara: and ghost in the shell: and of course gundam designs in recent JSA tags and many more references in other factions. never really took me out of it, and I find a lot of appeal as someone who likes the inspiration.
Sure, you can afterwards more or less justify anything by writing a couple lines of character background (the dragon pet in this case for example). But 1- I don't read the lore much, 2- That's Daenerys Targarye, period. The dragon, the hair, the face. It screams "GAME OF THRONES" in my face, something I surely don't want when I'm playing Infinity. Multiply that by the dozens of similar cases, and there you go. Good point is that I can just not buy these minis and proxy them :) Well, of course, I'm aware of this. But stuff like Ghost in the Shell is way less shocking because Infinity itself is largely inspired of it (And within Infinity, JSA even more). It fits. A Daenerys Targaryen and her dragon in the middle of Nomads however... I'm not against references, even very obvious ones. I just don't like the "let's just put random stuff in the game because why not".
And even more from Appleseed. All over the game. To talk about PanO, it was even in concept ot it. Not the worst thing. Fine for me. Plus I like "ears" on PanO heavies) And yes. Too much references ruins original picture.
Jamie Arantes wasn't that subtle a reference either. I do prefer when they do it like they did with Galwegian minis
There is references and there is straight out copying stuff to ride the popularity it earned. Guess which of the two Infinity does.
I don't mind when they take design elements or likeness from pop culture, like Achilles resembling Brad Pitt from Troy, Joan of Arc looking like Sabre, or the new Tikbalang drawing from Eva Unit-02. I think it crosses a line when names, backstory, or entire character archtypes are used, like Samus Arantes (whose name and unit symbol were so flagrant that CB decided that maybe they should change them a day later.) or Senor Massacre.
That one was so obvious CB had to change the logo at the last minute, most probably to avoid a lawsuit from the very zealous legal team of Nintendo...
Ultimately humans are inspired and love to merge what inspire them to their designs, I see nothing wrong with tributes and references.
With, no. With the way it's being done sometimes, yes ;) It's highly subjective ofc. I personally prefer subtle references.
