I feel like /vp/ doesn't know the difference between concept and execution.

It's not the concept that's bad. It's the execution.
Alolan Muk as an oil slick would have looked cool as fuck if they had just made it look like an oil slick. Just having it be slightly transparent with the pink and yellow shimmering over it would have been perfect. Instead it just looks like clay.

This applies to a lot of poor designs that /vp/ is quick to defend because they don't want to look like genwunners.