"shipping and blorbofication are not inherently at odds with understanding a story's deep themes" and "some people can't grasp the themes of a story because they never learned how to engage with stories outside of the lens of shipping and blorbofication" are two statements that can coexist
Some design ideas for the 456 ambassador from Torchwood
A lot of people interpret it as a crab with huge claws, but a lot of the behind the scenes material refers to them as heads; indeed, the puppet itself has little "eyes" and deer skull-like nostrils, so I think the intent was always to evoke a sort of three headed dragon or vulture. Some sort of legs/arms are implied but were never built past the "shoulders".
The little crest on the head is also a canonical design element only really visible in filming footage: