C3PX said:
Also not sure why they changed the look of the Romulans. I always kind of liked the way they looked before.

I wanted to chime in on this.

It's explained in the "Countdown" comic (I know, I know) that they looked just like any other Romulans, but when Romulus was destroyed Nero and his crew shaved their heads and tattooed themselves in mourning. You can see when Nero shows Pike the hologram of his wife that she has hair and no tattoos.

The real-world explanation was to differentiate them from the Vulcans for new audiences. But my point is that there's a canon explanation as well.