To me, Honda was magic for a long time up until the mid-'00s. They simultaneously made the dead-reliable tools for peoples day-to-day lives while also spreading their wing(s) in all sorts of experimental directions. The same company that built solid rocks like the ST1100 also went nuts and made the NR750 or Rune (check used prices on them if you think they were a dud). The RC30 sums it up best: a beautifully engineered machine built to win races (and it won a lot) that was also amazing as a street bike, incredibly reliable, and stunning to boot.
Somewhere along the way, though, they forgot the wacko and experimental stuff and just made the reliable stuff. The OG CBR900RR redefined sportbikes, but from 2008 on, the bikes were bland and ugly. Only the latest pirate edition has brought any desirability back to the model. They seem to be finding some of their spark lately, though that may also be me aging into finding bikes like the Africa Twin sexy...
It might be to simple to say the death of Soichiro was the culprit, with the echoes of his vision taking over a decade to dissipate, but they have felt an awful lot like the dullest of corporations over the past 15 years. I'd love to see them do more design exercises like the Rune or thought experiments like the NR, even if they're not to everyone's taste. Sure, they did that GP bike a few years ago, but that wasn't imaginative or creative, it was the opposite.