I don't mind the lion mode being chunky, because lions are big chunky cats. I think we've gotten too used to the pancaked look of G1 Steeljaw, which looks more like lion roadkill.
I also don't mind the detachable tail accessory, as it means that at least Steeljaw has a tail, unlike Siege Ravage. Steeljaw is undeniably a robotic lion, whereas Ravage is only a robotic jaguar because Hasbro says so. Seriously, I've shown that toy to Mundaners (non-TF folk) and none of them could even identify him as a cat; he's just some weird generic quadruped.

The head-split thing doesn't bother nor enamour me. I do admit that the unevenly painted spools is annoying though. IMO they would've been better off not painting the cassette window and the inside of the mouth/fangs in order to have enough in the budget to paint that other spool. Having said that, the tape window and especially the mouth & fangs are really well painted. So least they did put the money saved on not painting that second spool to good use. I dunno... I'm more forgiving of missing paint apps than I am of superfluous ones, because it's always easier to add more paints myself than it is to remove it. Oh how I do NOT miss all that silver splatter from Siege!