>>11506598>>11506719I feel like the humanoid/"moe" problem more came from the anime era enforcing a samey look for all of the protagonist characters, since they're meant to fill the same role as the face of that season of the anime, in the same vein as other serial anime like Pokemon using the same male leads but cycling out the girls. In the vpets, that context is lost so you often see people call them out for being Sanrio/Lovelitchi clones, and for good reason there.
I'd argue the m!x and Meets did a good job at creating modern/"humanoid" designs that didn't fit that samey mold, since the gene mix gimmick meant they HAD to create unique designs to incentivize breeding with them. But that also creates a bit of a dilemma where they never really get a chance to exist as their own characters despite being very clear, solid designs, and are just used as parts for your gene mixed frankenstein, in entries where the only real goal is to keep breeding. Feels like only Shimagurutchi, Hotcaketchi and Shinobinyatchi got a chance to shine on their own, with almost everyone else getting the bin just as quickly as they came, which is a shame.
