What does っぽくなってきたぜ! mean?


I have some trouble with this expression. It's by itself, on a sticker,
without anything else before or after. I know っぽい can mean "-ish" and that
with なる it usually means "tend to become" but since there is no adjective here
I don't get it. "Become something like" what?




(っ)ぽい is basically a suffix ("-ish"), but in very informal speech, it is
sometimes used like a standalone adjective meaning それっぽい or "authentic-
looking/-sounding", "believable", "plausible", and so on. For example,

> 「鳥山明みたいな絵を描いてみたよ。」「すごい、ぽい！」

> あんまり、ぽくなくない？  
>  It's not very realistic, is it?

In your case, the sticker means something like "it's becoming more authentic"
or "(finally) this is like the real thing". Looks like this is a phrase from
SLAM DUNK, so I assume it was originally said with sufficient context. For
example, if this is said during a boring basketball game, it would be
interpreted as "Finally, this is real basketball!". But you can use the same
phrase when something different from your expectations has finally become
exciting.

