Often times developers would model units & characters physically in clay, rotate them to capture pics from each angle for isometric projection, digitize them & make sprites out of them. They look like toys because they’re basically actual toys! I think Diablo & Starcraft used digital 3d models turned into 2d sprites though, rather than actual models.
Space Marines in giant suits came from Starship Troopers lol. The novel was about mech suit marines fighting a war against space bugs and blue aliens with energy weapons, and the marines were led by religious officers.
Protoss aren’t elitist space elves (which cmon, warhammer 100% “ripped off” from Tolkien) and they have like three religious schisms happening at the same time, along with a false homeland right of return & persecuted minority group thing goin on.
Zerg were Tyranids before Tyranids were Tyranids - if anything GW “stole” the Zerg aesthetic for later editions of tyranids! Plus, the idea of a bioweapon species attaining sentience and wanting more from life is waaaaay more interesting than “bug who wanna eat errything”
And ultimately, who cares who “steals” what between giant corporations. Unless it’s individual artists or small entities getting fucked over, IP protection is a fuck. It’s a matter of personal taste, but I think OG Starcraft had some pretty cool ideas!
Eh, I liked the writing and aesthetic of “deep south confederate peckerwoods fighting a regional xenocidal conflict in a space backwater”. Throw in some surprisingly prescient war on terror themes for a game from 1998 and it’s pretty damn distinct from 40k.
edit: also never been a fan of the “blizzard just ripped off 40k” complaints - I’ve been a fan of both for years and if Blizz ripped off 40k, they ripped off the same things GW stole from Aliens, Starship Troopers, etc.
And you can’t be criticizing Blizzard for stock generic plots as a contrast to fuckin 40k, king of generic grimdark scifi plots.
I never forgave Blizzard for several heinous things, but among them was changing the aesthetic of every game they make to the super cartoony WoW style. Starcraft got such an art downgrade…
It helps to get the Great Satan economically dependent on your exports, exports which supply nearly every part of the US economy and the flow of which would be halted if they attempt any regime change fuckery
One of the biggest figures in Morrowind & general Elder Scrolls lore is an intersex nonbinary demigod who was a lover of their chief general who they then schrodinger murdered by impaling him (symbolism intentional) with a spear made from the severed penis of the god of SA.
Elder Scrolls has always been weird and queer as fuck but these dumbasses will pretend like it’s gone woke because it included a nongendered body type option.
Was a shit general too