The pastel colors are washed out and unattractive.
And then it’s me who thinks A12 was the best UI change that Android has had… But don’t mind me, I came from iOS something at that date, so I am kinda used to “simpler” UIs.
I do agree you should be able to customize it yourself, AFAIK you can do so if you are rooted.
They should just let us install icon packs, third party launchers are broken since A12 or A11 if you use full screen gestures (and I would not use android buttons even if I get paid for it lol).