Wait, do you actually have to pay for the original icon now? In what world do you make your actual logo a paid option? I hope this is only for the r/place event but with the recent changes I wouldn't be surprised if they made everyone pay to not have the shitty pixel icon.
Apple don't let you change app icons outside of the app? I'm not sure what's stupider, apple or Reddit. On Android I can set my icon to whatever I like in my launcher.
I think that this is just for r/place (and even then it's still scummy), but if the Reddit executives have shown us anything, it's that they don't act according to rational thought. I could easily see them keeping this pixel icon as the default, no matter how stupid that might be. Or they might keep coming up with things to make new icons for so you always have to pay if you just want the default original.