Thanks scrllock, I am definitely not calling this changed plug the end all be all solution.
My last few items for the carbon cleaning arrive Monday, so perhaps I can start disassembling and inspecting then. I already have replacement injector seals and the tool kit so I was prepared in the event they needed work.
I am about to hit 70k, the car has been to the stealership for all regular maintenance intervals and when prompted by the car itself, only declining minor options like air filters and pads/rotors which I changed myself.
The spark plugs were changed back in 2020 with 40k Service (I think?)
The clutch failed at approx 50k or so and I had a local shop replace it with Sachs Stage 1 since reading on here the stock clutch is failure prone.
I was checking out another thread about piston appearances and seeing other folk's pictures (and how much better they look even at higher mileage), obviously I am not done here.
I am going to move this to it's own post as we are past the spark plug stage.
Thanks Diggs, Dak and scrllock for your feedback so far, it is appreciated!