No, the wealth of evidence post Tashas/Witchlight, is all the proof we need that its become gentle/twee/soft.
Sitting around rolling dice and pretending to be elves has always been twee.
There's never been anything tough or hard about it.
When
Chainmail was being developed and introduced, (certain members within) the old guard of wargaming decried this fantasy wargame as twee, melodramatic, pretentious, affected, and maybe something someone's small children or Lit majors might be interested in; but not something the real manly* men who played Roman or Napoleonic tin soldiers as a game-hobby would have any interest in.
*in this context, distinct from boys, not from women, this is about perceived adulthood.
Ever since, there's been a semi-continuous clamor to define one's own version or preference set for this series of fantasy play games as the one that makes you more adult, hard-edged, unsentimental, and so on. That can be playing a specific version, playing 'RAW,' enforcing the 'realistic' rules, or a given tone.
It doesn't seem to be D&D (or TTRPG) exclusive, of course. Fandoms in general seem to have a strong streak of this. I never quite understood it. I mean, you, me, or that guy over there can absolutely all be gamers and be very adult/potent/hard-edged -- but it isn't because we are gamers that we would be so (and certainly not because of our preferences within gaming).
I'm not repulsed by a group of people, happy, enjoying life, and at peace. I have lot's of family photos just like this I love. Not connected to my disdain of this art for "d&d". I don't like the art in any way, the style, the characters, the actions... nothing about it gets me stoked to play d&d at all. For same reason I don't think bad ass sword and sorcery adventures when I see a Clifford the Big Red Dog book.
That's fine. Everyone's preference is their own and valid and true to their own lived experience. If you don't like it, more power to you for realizing that.
I will point out that the earliest version of the game had pictures of fairy fighters flying across plant-tops swinging twee little swords, purple worm and carrion crawler illustrations that looked like kids who would be reading Clifford books might have drawn them, and demons and demon princes who look like they might have come straight from a Muppet/furry convention.
Likewise, the version many people cut their teeth on had illustrations of PCs trying to sneak into the wererat temple wearing Micky Mouse ears, adventurers sitting down to play
Papers and Paychecks, a pillar bearing a mouth that looks like a claymation toothpaste ad, and a Monster Manual whose entire cover suggests almost family-friend adventure among fantasy monsters.
I'm not saying you are wrong in your preferences. I am just saying that I think each edition has looked 'bad ass sword and sorcery adventure' if and only if you selectively choose which art you want to include or exclude from your tone-building mental picture.
