I think you don't know what you want actually. You are telling me stories about serious but fun, fun but corporate and in the same time original and simple. Well, none of those are related, especially original and simple. Can you please clarify, because by the rankings it's clear to me that none of the above mentioned is revealed and yet some "geeky" letter play is agreated.... Do you want the term "blaze" to be revealed in the design?
I will know what I want when i see it. None of the entries so far have WOWed me, but I left some ranked to show the ones that I found least offensive to give the designers at least something. If I could design logos I would not be here now would I? I disagree with you about being able to express an original concept in a simple way. I also disagree that you cannot have a corporate feel with a sense or touch of whimsy. Check out your own work in Digitech turbines or Bluepoint. I am fine with Blaze being revealed in the design, the trick is (and this is why they call you a designer) is to do it in a way that makes the customer feel good about it. The fire in your latest submissions look like common clip art to me. Thanks for all of your hard work.