It is not only about the devs, it is about the community, no matter how good the project is, no matter how great the devs is it will not fly to the moon if the community will not support, in cryptocurrency, it is a power of community or many people if the project will go to the moon or not.
Of course there must be a whale in it because indirectly whales like Elon, for example, can move their followers to manipulate the market. and it's been proven by the flying of the meme coin.
and actually the community also if there is no one who can guide the others, I don't think it will run smoothly and there must be obstacles. and this is where the role of the popes is needed.
but i really like your description and it's true these coins wouldn't be able to fly to the moon without a lot of people supporting them from behind