Well I see this custom as a "Classicsverse upgrade" of G1 Orion Pax, whose face already looks too old for Orion Pax anyway... and it did bug me when I first got this toy, but I've since accepted it.
So as a homage to the Orion Pax toy, who already looks haggard, the old face doesn't bug me so much. I thought it would when I started out doing this repaint, but it doesn't. I guess I've been desensitised by G1 Orion Pax. :p