GNU poke either already ships with UI mode or will some day ship. Not too interested in it, since--in line with the post's suggestions--I'd rather use the right tool for the job, so for visual exploration I'd use Python / VIM hack or a simple hex editor.

I don't know how do you judge "horribleness" of syntax, but from the standpoint of expresiveness, both are demonstrably more expressive than 010 scripts. But if you're more into hip syntaxes, check out Elixir. It has the same binary pattern matching semantics: https://hexdocs.pm/elixir/Kernel.SpecialForms.html#%3C%3C%3E...

Importantly, both are FOSS, so it's easier for people to consider them as a viable option.

I don't think that expecting a hobbyist to purchase 010 is more reasonable than expecting a hobbyist to purchase IDA instead of using Ghidra.