The one thing that stands out with this is that it can cut square corners unlike a router, it is also nice enough to be used as an ornament unlike a router and yes everyone to there own but surely a router is the modern version of this tool, just like we use GPS and not the sextant for navigation which by the way can also be a thing of beauty. I suppose what we are seeing is the cosmetic aspect of tools being dumped in favor of plastic and die casting to reduce cost, something that is echoed everywhere these days because no one has the time or can be bothered to deliver the finesse.
Even further than that, I think the new way to do things that would've been done by hand is design every part to be made by CNC. it's not a matter of whether or not the maker can be bothered, it's that they no longer have the capability.
We get tools made with parts held together by screws, plain castings with no floral element, small parts that used to be cast are replaced by CNC bits, often free machining brass or worse - aluminum, to cut costs, and anodized aluminum. So red and black anodized aluminum is everywhere - and with bridge city, you can get a pretty big array of colors.
I kind of see any black aluminum accessory on the chinese sites as copied from LV and red copied from woodpeckers.
When you look for anything from luban or harvey or whoever else and find it on alibaba, I think the price is artificially inflated to protect the retailers - like woodcraft, etc. When you find machined high speed steel irons and other such things that aren't sold and branded in the US, the cost is a fraction.
At one point, that wasn't the case, and I found butt chisels that woodcraft was selling for $60-$80 for $16 a set on alibaba, which isn't a surprise. And I posted them....
......and then suddenly those listings changed!
At any rate, I think legitimately if I didn't have a day job, the evaporation of hand work in tools would create a niche market where I could make a reasonable living forging and grinding and hand finishing tools. Like in the $30-$40 an hour range, which seems odd to me.
The flip side of all of this is guys like Tony Z on here can make good quality metal parts for the innards of power tools that would've otherwise been changed to nylon - but do it with long wearing or self lubricating powder metal parts, and really cut back on the machining without having to resort to soft metal or plastic. That part is good.