Why are modern arms so ugly?

My votes :
Saec WE8000ST
ODYSSEY
Pluto 9A
Exclusive EA3
FR 66S
Saec WE308SX

Hi all, thanks for accepting the observations, my key points are :
I have no issues with the performance. I question the aesthetics and I question what is really new.
To me there is a total disconnect in the arm tube style vs the pillar design.
For example the Ortofon A90 mounted on the arm - looks much more homogenous than the arm tube/pillar combo.
I have not seen the arm but have read all the blurb, and the only thing "new" is the arm tube - note however that the Wilson Benesch arms use carbon fiber and claim to have dealt with the resonances.
Unipivot - done before
Hangy thread - done before
Fixed counterweight - done before
Pivot point at record level - done before
Carbon fibre arm tube with computer calculated resonance control - done before
VTA tower that does not alter pivot to stylus distance - done before

Perhaps if they included a built in cartridge, the armtube being the cartridge body, the coils connected directly to a phono stage embedded in the carbon fiber using nano technology, .. oh and connectivity to the internet such that customers can go online specify the sound they like and download the parameters into the built in phono.

To say that the Cobra/Copperhead designs have all been done before displays a cynicism or ignorance which is not shared by other arm designers.
We may as well say all pivoted tonearms do the same job and use principles of engineering and construction in various combinations?
Same for cartridges, turntables, amplifiers and speakers.
Move along.....no discussion here....nothing to see.
Oh....and no carbon fibre was hurt in the making of these arms :-)

Apparently, no one bought it for its looks first. When you look on their site, it says it was designed with the help of software. They design aircraft that way. Then the test pilot gets to see if it does fly, and it seems to work. Same goes for new buildings, plus who know what else. So it seems to have worked here too.

Halcro -
Dont intend to be cynical, but your criteria was "advanced the art and science". You said if an arm does not meet this criteria it is not of interest.
Can someone please explain how the Continuum arms have advanced the science. That is my question. What do you think are the breakthrough design concepts that are unique or new that have been introduced to tonearm science from the design, development and production of the Continuum arms.