I think it would have been awesome if the New Republic was depicted using Star Destroyers/TIE Fighters etc etc and the First Order relegated to battered old X-Wings and Y-Wings etc. Imagine seeing Leia and Ackbar at the bridge of a big ol’ Star Destroyer - it makes sense the that the New Republic would’ve seized the tech of the former government right? Imagine seeing Kylo Ren in an X-Wing. Probably marketing/toy sales suicide of course, but THAT would subvert expectations and also add an emotional element visually - that of visualising the First Order as a kind of rebellion. If Snoke hadn’t just been a shallow Palpatine-clone we might have had an opportunity to have some ambiguity with regards to the motivations of the FO and Kylo Ren.

And I stand by my contention from a zillion threads back that the ‘new Emperor’ should’ve been Mon Mothma on a revenge trip after her secretly siding with Palpatine and giving the rebels false information (in order to spare the Bothan system and win a seat of power at Palpatine’s side) went south during the Endor battle…