Stalagmites and Stalactites model change

The new stalagmite and stalactite, while a welcome addition, feel poorly done model-wise. The design shown at Minecraft Live appear fragile and out of place.
Here are my issues with them and some ideas I have come up with:
-Coloration seems off, which may be a lighting issue, but I wish they would mimic the type of stone they are on.
-The two planes intersecting which makes up the model makes it appear very fragile and thin, while stalagmites and stalactites are mineral deposits, thus being at least a little sturdy. This type of modeling does not work well, at least to me, in large quantities and tall structures.
-The current models appear to busy. The edges of the model adds the problem of to many corners, as the surface changes makes it a bit too complex for the surroundings.

The solution to the last two points, in my personal opinion, is to make the model more blocky. We have already seen an example of a block having multiple sizes with bamboo, which gets thicker the taller it grows. I would like to see something similar with this.
Example: At the base, they could have a maximum thickness of a chest, or maybe slightly smaller. For world generation have a random value be selected within a set of parameters as to how long the structure will be and how much to shrink each block as it leaves the base. Have the structure change size based off connected pieces when placed by a player so there is a bit of control over their size.