The real reason the current writers suck is because they are too focused on trying to be seen as good writers than writing entertaining stories which would likely lead them to be seen as good writers.

While this might sound harsh this is a dumb franchise for children this is not game of thrones this is not even Star wars. In some ways it will never even be that.

Someone who had a self awareness that they were writing mascot slop would not have a podcast designed to prop up how good of a writer they are and how deep lore they have. This even extends to the original project SparkFlame where Evan Stanley's Ensouled rather than trying to hype you up or explain the work just tries to make it seem like a profound personal work and ended up being the second worst received story in the batch.

It is why Flynn's classic Sonic comics and Klaws McGee are an easier sell than Drogune and what he writes for the main comic. Because he is writing something for the sake of being entertaining rather than being a good writer. However even in those cases it seems like he is doing this begrudgingly rather than making an honest work.

Almost every story you people love was probably made out of a desire to be entertaining and fun rather than profound. Many of these creators do not prop up their work this much in interviews even when their work is that profound because being profound was never the point of it.