>>107055663When talking on /co/ or places like here, it sometimes actually boils down to
>>107055699But really, a reference/homage is when something is clearly nodding to another thing, whether blatantly or not depends on whether a person gets it or it's supposed to be subtle.
Flat out plagiarism is when a person takes an idea from a work and presents it as their own work.
It can get iffy when telling a story because people can always find similar story beats in different works, especially if one's super popular and has influenced a lot of people anyway, but what usually keeps it down is whether you credit it as an influence, or the author still has their own spin on it.
There are a lot of scenes that are flat-out copying how they're presented, but it's a reference/homage because the context is usually completely different.
