TBH I think people get stockholm syndrome with whatever their first assembler language is. I can't stand X86, but similarly find 6502 absolutely bonkers. My first ASM was MIPS-I, and apparently that makes me one of the few people that /like/ delay slots.
Hm, as a counter-example, I learned assembly languages in this order - Z80, x86, 6502, ARM, SuperH, MIPS (then some more).
SH and MIPS I like the most, not because of delay slots specifically, but I do like the concept. (The one I "hate" is ARM.)
Well, my 1st assembler was IBM mumble... goto Computer History Museum to see a 1401 running; it had BCD representation (before ASCII), and variable-length fields for data, with the length being noted with a 'word mark' -- so you could add two 6,000 digit numbers with a single instruction.
Arm v8 seems to have fixed some of the arm v7 cruft -- what do YOU not like about arm?
My 2nd favorite is Z80 -- that also had 'automatic' move-a-string instruction (LDIR / LDDR). 8051 is OK. Z8 is OK. And MSP-430 is pdp-11esque.
I find it difficult to read, it's aesthetics mostly, not necessary an architectural thing as such, the choice of mnemonics, why "ubfx", what's "rsb" - have to lookup these things constantly when I need them, while 6502 or x86 I can just open and read after all those years.
But that's just a personal preference certainly - yeah, I was fine with the abovementioned LDIR on Z80, heh.
I thought x86 was pretty dang fun.