Why are all these scratch forks that enable extensions (like GP and Snap), all stuck on an ancient ugly version of Scratch core?

How is this the first that I am finding out about this?!?

I've been looking for such a tool for _forever_!

Thanks!

Any notable forums/discussion areas for this?

(I will note the name makes it hard to search for --- maybe that's why I didn't find it?)

How can a block-based language help students transition from block-based coding to text-based coding?