Over time, it seems like I'm seeing more and more blatantly "inspired" ideas like the Morlocks being the suicide Squad including Killer Croc, Harley, the Joker and Kitana, and the Moderators from Bakunin being The Collector, Yondu, Gamora and Nebula and Drax from Guardians. Van Zant is another well known example of being an almost exact picture of his inspiration from Matthew Mcconaughey's character from Reign of Fire. Do you like these uncanny-valley inspirations, or would you like to see something less easily identified? Do you think it's just easier to tell because of the dawn of much more accurate 3D sculpting as opposed to hand sculpting? I personally don't care for the very heavily inspired models, they draw me out of the game. If I wanted to play a game with DC characters or Marvel characters, I'd do that. I don't really want them on my infinity table. I also recognize I can convert models or paint them to make them less obvious, but how do you feel about them?
Didn’t stop reading but stopped taking it seriously from this point. Literally for as long as I can remember and almost as long as Infinity existed, there’s been inspirational characters from anime, movies and comics. As for your question, I don’t care that much. I think CB have always found a good balance between their original work and the more “inspirational” models.
I have absolutely no problem with such references. Whether or not I like particular case depends on whether I like the referenced movie or anime. Some simply fly past me, like the old Acon Regulars being the characters from Lost. What I do care is whether the models themselves are nicely done, and that is hit and miss recently. New Morlocks and Moderators are so-so, the only model I really like being the "Colossus" Morlock. But that's the problem with uninspired or weird posing, as some sculptors clearly have problems with it.
For me personnaly there's nothing annoying about it, I wouldn't even notice the thing with morlocks if not all the buzz about them, mainly because I didn't watch the movie, but in my opinion without a specific colouring like with pink/blue hair on 'Harley Queen' morlock it isn't really all that noticeable, original models are great, but there's nothing bad about injecting some references in models, espescially when it is not as much the model itself as a colour choice.
Well it is just a question of opinion, so I wouldn't expect you to take it too seriously :) What are some other inspirations you'd list as such? The Acon starter I had forgotten about. I'd also list Ko-Dali as basically Kerrigan. To me, at least compared to the old sculpts, some of the posing has gotten a bit samey. However, as far as sculpt quality goes I'm really enjoying what they're putting out. God knows I don't want this back.
Paint schemes work wonders, as does quality of painting. Honestly, if I were to paint up those Morlocks, they'd look nothing at all like Angel's work. And while they'd be fine tabletop quality, and people would get the idea that they're weird mutant/punk/misfit warriors, I doubt anyone would "get" from my painting that they're based on Suicide Squad unless I pointed it out to them. I feel that way about most of the homages. At the end of the day, the players who collect, build and paint them have a lot more influence over what they end up looking like. I'm also willing to give CB a lot of leeway when it comes to doing projects that inspire them. They're not a huge company... They're a small company, full of artists. This kind of relentless release schedule has got to be draining, and if they get obvious inspiration and maybe a grin and a chuckle from sculpting something with a clear pop culture reference, I'm down with that if it keeps the release on track. I also recognize, given that tabletop wargaming is a pretty niche industry, that having obvious references is a really nice way for pulling new players into the game. "Hey, yeah this is the faction with misfit space punk mercs/hackers/misfits. See those? Yeah, they look like Suicide Squad. That guy? Homage to Deadpool. Want a demo game? Will only take 10 minutes." Done.
Infinity has always been "blatantly" inspired by other media -- look at the old Guijia: it could fit right into a lot of 80s super robot shows without much change...
Since we are listing examples at this point, I feel like posting this link full of those. By no means that list is complete and besides larger pics are corrupted, but I'm pretty sure you can still see what's up just by looking at thumbnails. The page is in Russian, but I think that shouldn't be the problem, the worst part being name of RL people in case you don't recognize them. I think auto translators should be able to chew at least that. If anything, bug me :P
I'm not convinced by 100% of the comparisons on that page, but if nothing else it gives plenty of evidence that there are a lot of them and they've been around for a while.
I don't mind the references, but I'm not a fan of the Moderators or the Morlocks. More from the poses and stuff. the Croc Morlock is brilliant though.
Never thought it'll happens, but those bastards rip off article I wrote https://greenmetalsoldiers.blogspot...QzF-saMQ&postId=3629329045711201557&type=POST
@Green Huh! I knew I've seen some version with better images, but I thought it was just links breaking over time. Turns out it was a different site altogether.
Personally I don't care too much for the new morlocks. I appreciate a subtle nod to another work, but the new morlocks seem a little lazy IMHO, like the homage is too visible, if you know what I mean. I think a large part of it is that hype train for Suicide Squad (Harley Quinn in particular) is ridiculous, like up until the movies release, and still continuing to this day, there is an relenting bombardment of SS-related crap (to the point where I refuse to watch the movie, for no reason that I was completely and utterly sick of it before it was even in cinemas). The new morlocks kind of suffered in that the homage is almost instantly recognisable, to the point where the homage is noticed first, then the infinity models and not the other way round (which is how it should be). Perhaps in a few years when everyone stops going on and f######g on about SS they will get more credit than they are. Edit: case in point, I did not know that the Lupe Balboa dire foes box was based on Daenerys and Jon Snow from GoT until I read that blog post above, but the first thing I thought when I saw the new morlocks was 'oh its suicide squad'
I think this discussion only started because the Morlocks in specific feel very lazy. Colossus morlock is badass and looks good, but the SS morlocks look kinda meh with the exception of Croc morlock. In the end, I think it was just a strike out from CB, and I like the references, I think they can get a lot better (Look at how they handled Massacre in Aristeia for a good example of a reference done right).
There's a huge difference between "the old Squalo looks like something out of Patlabor" and "this model is literally Harley Quinn". The purpose of the model is important too. Giant robot looks like giant anime robot. Screaming drugged out underground mutant doesn't line up with conniving psychopath.
