>>28463213I don'y mind humanoids or human concepts specifically. To me, it's more of a matter of less is more in how much detail they include to get across the idea.
Just for some basic examples, take Blaziken and Luchalitten. Blaziken doesn't have an overly busy design. It's a weird bird monster with flame patterns that looks like a kung fu fighter. If you look deeper into it, then you find out it's based on cockfighting, but that isn't knowledge you need to really get the design.
Luchalitten, for contrast, has a lot of features that feel more tacked on. The belt, the fur shirt, the poison spit. If you know the inspiration is Japanese heel wrestling, it makes sense. If you don't, then you're going to be confused why the wrestler is spitting at people, or why the tiger is wearing a belt. It requires you to get the idea behind it to really appreciate it, which I think is a flaw.
I don't mean to argue quality with these particular designs either. They just sprung to mind as good examples for what I meant. Mainly that a pokemon should worry about having a strong design first, and any references should be more secondary and subtle.
