The only way the dice could be more generic is if they were white with black pips (when I think of monopoly that's what I think of). At least make them translucent or something.
It makes me think they were like "hurry, we need to put SOMETHING out there... use whatever you have lying around!" which doesn't speak well of such a wealthy major corporation. Then again maybe Avalon Hill is a poor outfit and they don't have all that Hasbro cash (then what's the point?? this isn't supposed to be some low-budget indie game that somebody slapped together in their garage over the summer... but a major tribute/remake of a fan favorite beloved for a generation, promoted by one of the biggest gaming companies in the world and virtually synonymous in peoples minds with great toys, right??).
Making the miniatures that beige color is to show that they are probably just 3d printed resin and not even the proper plastic, but the image is very small (low res). We know they won't all be one color, but as far as colors go it is easier to see detail than white, and if they made it gray they would confuse us thinking they were going to back to the "they won't all be gray" thing from the fundraiser pledge drive.
The super thick round bases remind me of some of the more recent fantasy board games that have come out. I want to say the Dungeons and Dragons one has identical bases. I know, someone will say "but with round bases you can swivel the character around so easily!" but in Hero Quest "facing" doesn't matter at all, and while the prototype images (like you see in the original tv commercials and some of the photos even that appeared in box fliers or painting promos) have round bases, nobody had round bases in the package. To some this is an improvement.
Imagine if you are one of those people who is obsessed with the characters fitting the bases properly (I showed picks of my own 1 inch square enlarged board to show that everything fits just fine with classic pieces). Now there's proof that the new figures won't take up the whole square, for better or for worse. When we played the old game I never had a problem when there was a pit trap square or skull tile under the figure. Now you'll just be able to see a little more of it underneath. If you really wanted to make the tile visible underneath, make the base entirely transparent, right? But don't do that. Keep it simple, keep it more like the original I say.

I never liked that the Barbarian has one leg up on top of some rocks. It's dynamic, but he's already tall and big, and none of the other characters get that, right?

Great point about the Gargoyle's "removable wings" (in the original). No such luck here...