Paint can be removed in most cases. That’s why painting pieces is allowed and removing prints is not. Also, there are metru thigh pieces available literally for FREE on bricklink right now.
I think you are realllly overestimating how much the average person cared about thigh pieces.
Nobody is saying that creators should have full say, they bring up kodiak’s approval because it supports TTV’s approval. Also, you are still constructing an extreme scenario that nobody is arguing for to be possible here, not even the people you are trying to disprove. Still a slippery slope fallacy in that regard.
Okay, even if they didn’t notice, it’s because it’s only really seeable at all if you zoom into the build in order to make out anything that could be seen as parts of an inika thigh.
Once again, this really isn’t as big of a deal as you’re making it out to be.