yeah I was sorta waiting for this to come up, and its definitely not a hill I’m going to die on, I acknowledged mine was a hot take and I stand by that; not necessarily a correct one. Many people, most of them almost definitely smarter, faster, more skilled, more important, and/or more open minded than me definitely still want other wheel sizes, especially setup as you note, the mullet thing.
Im an aestheticist, be it one who lives in a fantasy world, and the riding I love most just speaks to me on 29’ wheels better than anything else i’ve ever ridden. the other riding can get in the lake.
EDIT: im entirely wrong, this is obviously metal AF and im so, so here for it.
can I ask what your motivation for not wanting a bigger/equal sized rear wheel is?