Acrylic gets a bad name because it shares a shelf, in most minds, with disposable tat. But cast acrylic is a genuinely beautiful material — optically clear, edge-glowing, and it takes light like almost nothing else at the price.
We use it because it does things brass and wood can't. It carries colour all the way through. It glows at the cut edge. It can be translucent, so an object made from it changes completely depending on what's behind it and what time of day it is.
It also fights back. It scratches. It melts if the laser lingers. It cracks if you drill it wrong. Test 04 was too red. Test 09 cracked at the corner. Test 14 was, finally, right.
So no, it's not plastic. It's a material with opinions. We like that in a material.