EVE General Discussion

Yes, there are 4 Civilisations, and i fully agree that they should not all be the same ('Caldarified' as you put it)
But remember the bitter conflict betwqeen these civilisations and everything surounding them. The Caldari hate the Gallente, are at war with Minmatar because they are allied to Gallente, and, while not at war with amarr, they do dislike them. Not to mention the Pirates (Especially Sansha)
Now, back to ships and Modules (They are, after all, the basic building block of EVE)
IMO, 'Goofy' would detract from the overall look and feel of EVE. Each ship should appear Menacing, in its own (Racial) Way.
'Goofy' Isnt menacing, 'Goofy' isnt a threat. 'Goofy' is silly. In my own (personal) opinion, 'goofy', while not bad, is not what EVE is. Take, for example, the Naga, and especially the Talos. Both, IMO, sucessfull Designs that Illustrate Racial philosophy. Both highly menacing, in their own different way. Neither of them are necessarily 'goofy'
Now take, for example, the Moa. The Moa isnt menacing. The Moa is the height of Goofy. I Take one look at it and wonder 'Why? It could have been beautiful'
As Peta Michalek said, Spaceships are Serious busness, and the designs should reflect that. I struggle to look at a Moa with a straight face, and I believe this reduces immersion. Loss of immersion is bad, and, therefore, the Moa is bad.
Going back to your final paragraph in your OP - I still agree with it, but I beleive there is something Missing.
Make some things look like thety have an Obvious Function
Make some things look like they dont have an obvious function.
Make thigns look like they could believably function, regardless of whether that function is obvious or not.
Three Examples: The Talos, for one. It simply looks like it would work. Second is the Moa. It doesnt appear to be able to function properly. If it could fly at all, it would fly in circles. Third example is sort of straying from the others in that its a Turret (Alot of them, actually, but ill use one)
Some of them could function properly, yes, some of them couldnt (Looking at you, 650mm Repeating Artillery) yet the vast majority looks like they would, at best, be only able to fire a few shots before running out of ammo and being unable to reload.
They are goofy and non-functional because there is simply no way to reload them in space.

TL;DR Some 'goofy' is good, but in limited ammounts, and ONLY when it doesnt impede beleivability and function. Even if we dont know what something is supposed to do, we should rest assured at night that it can do it. Moa is Bad. Function leads to menace and beleivability, which leads to immersion and enjoyment.

TL;DR of my TL;DR Function is good, even when that function is unclear.

:o