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Well, they usually end up with the people everyone was most angry at for causing the circumstances that lead up to the revolution powerless or dead, as an explicit aim.

So regardless of who ends up in charge after or if that regime succeeds, you can’t say revolutions themselves are not frighteningly effective. After all, every existing country on earth is the result of a revolution against the leaders of its past.

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Depends on whether the real goal is "kill those people" or "make a better life for the rest of us". The first is easy; the second is harder.

I assume it often starts with "kill those people" and once that nasty business is out of the way and new people are selected to replace them there's a very strongly implied "Now you people make a better life for the rest of us, or else we will go back to the 'kill those people' step and repeat as needed."

I think you're confusing successful revolutions with revolutions. Way more likely the revolutionaries succeed in doing a bit of damage and get crushed.

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