Facial Rig Changes

Before I start, MASSIVE shoutouts to Dilarus for helping me out personally understanding the fundamentals of the facial structure. This is something I've been pretty much inept in and I've only really been guessing up to this point. He's willing to help me out in the future as well.

So before these changes, I've been struggling to understand what's wrong with my facial rig. Why can't I get my face to look natural. Why can't I push the expressions further without going uncanny? I was getting somewhere from changes before, but I still lacked SOMETHING.

It might surprise you that at the time, I had no idea why this didn't look quite right. I knew SOMETHING was off, but I couldn't tell. At all. It might even be obvious to some of you reading right now about what's actually wrong. But again, thanks to Dilarus, I've been able to improve my rig according to his tips and managed to turn that monstrosity into this:

The difference should be immediately noticeable around the cheeks. I've allowed the cheeks to be pushed up way farther up into the face. I've also modified shape keys for the mouth to allow the lip corners to tuck under the cheeks for a huge smile like this. And I've also changed the angle of the closed eyelids to arch more towards the nose. Among other changes. There are still some things I need to get to, like the bottom teeth are too angled downward, making the jaw look like it's pivoting in the wrong place, for example. But this is a MASSIVE improvement, and the kind of changes I've been looking for.

(You guys should also check out Dilarus if for whatever reason aren't familiar with his work already. Great artist, and madly good with pony expressions)