but it was decided that the forum community here dictate much of the design choices
That is INCORRECT. ED asked for dreamed specs, and people said what they wanted BUT final specs were ED decision and choice. For example, initially it was going to be FullHD (1092×1080) but he changed it to 720p (1280×720). Sometime he asked something, but only as a posible advice. He got its own decisions.
Using molded plastic and choosing that 1st company, losing a lot of years/money/effort, was his decision, not community decision.
Sorry, but community can't be blamed for ED decisions.
that unfortunately added a ton of complexity on the project
But worst part was not for complexity but for opting for bad decisions: molded plastic, bad company (for what it was needed), bad SOC/CPU/company support, etc.
It was an ambitious project for a near only man, but no much more complex compared to other projects which have been developed an completed in much less time.
And there have been a lot of other projects from other people achieving goals, some of them with a lot less backers. For example look at Pocket Reform: there was much less backers BUT for example they choose aluminum for case, no molded plastic with their problems.
Pocket Reform campaign: 424 backers, and they didn't need more than 10 years:
A newer, smaller, lighter, more-affordable, seven-inch mini Reform laptop that remains fully open source
www.crowdsupply.com
did their best to move through a lot of obstacles when things didn't go well
We don't question his will and effort. Others would have abandon that project much earlier (although that would have saved us a lot of years following a dead project).
That said I'm lucky I've had my Pyra for over 5 years now so I may have a different perspective
You have been lucky if you are satisfied. If I would pay for Pyra and receve it, I won't be so satisfied without a CPU upgrade, because it doesn't fulfills what I expect from a pocket computer with that SOC: for example I expect "instant-on" from suspension and a very good time in suspend mode (even my smartphone, in offline mode, last at least half a month, not to mention to old pocket computers where batteries last for a lot of months in suspension; but Pyra with that SOC doesn't have suspend mode). I wouldn't be satisfied that way (without other CPU card which could work ok in suspend mode and having better support).
The final reality is that Pyra is a dead project from a lot of time.
PD: I backed this project talking to other people (out of this forum) about it and even writing on other places about it. I believed on it, but realty was different.