I agree that an important part of the manga is how they're big fish in a small pond and can wreck anyone but smoker. That makes it so that when they get to face people like crocodile, kuzan, cp9 and kuma they are extremely humbled and need to constantly reinvent themselves in order to stay relevant.

Apart from that I think they missed the ball on luffys character, but I haven't gotten to arlong park yet so maybe he can redeem himself.

Helmeppo and Buggy are being totally nailed, and are the reason I tolerate the extra screen time they're getting.