An interesting discussion, been enjoying reading it. I'm not an active heavyweight roboteer but have been having a think about the matter.

The way I see it, the issue that is the source of many of the 'oh look, all flippers' comments on Youtube vids and so on is that flippers don't come across distinctly as FP and LP. They're just...flippers. So while the FP flippers may be dominating and at the top, two FP flippers fighting two LP flippers is seen as four flippers fighting.
I don't know what the attendance list for Dublin was, nor have I watched that many videos, but how many robots (besides Puck) didn't have flippers as weapons?

The flipper is the best design type for the current environments in which we fight, but I find many HW fights boring to watch on Youtube if it's just flippers. If there's a hint of Thor or Big Nipper (or something unique) in there it will be more likely to catch my attention but often it is flippers galore. However, the abundance of flippers is probably more noticeable in the heavyweight class because of the absence of spinners.

My point? Not really sure!
I reckon the comments are based more on flippers in general rather than FP specifically, but to be honest, there's not a lot that can be done to change that, except for people taking the plunge and building more interesting (if less competitive) robots. The two-tier system sounds interesting and a potential encouraging point for those with less robust robots. Whether it would discourage 'boring' fights or flipper-based comments on Facebook/Youtube I don't know. But I'm not going to criticise the plan anyway as it's still an attempt to rebalance things and level the playing field, which is something that should be appreciated.