Visual Studio Code was first released in 2015; Intellij (the original JetBrains IDE) was first released in 2001. Even Atom -- the editor that Microsoft forked to make VSCode -- had its first public release in 2014.

It's safe to say that JetBrains IDEs are something other than "crappy VSCode clones."

I happily pay.

And I continue to use NetBeans, VS Code, Eclipse as needed (or desired).

eg Mike Lischke's (awesome) ANTLR4 plugin for VS Code has features not in Terr Parr's (et al) IntelliJ extension (and vice versa).

Switching back and forth is nothing sauce.

Calling JetBrains IDEs "VS Code clones" is the most batshit insane thing I've read regarding editors and IDEs as a whole.