Also, I realized it might not be clear why I thought the quotes above are relevant to whether the reviews addressed the “theory-building” aspect. The point is it seems to me that the quoted parts of the reviews are directly engaging with whether the definitions make sense / the results are meaningful, which is a question about the adequacy of the theory for addressing the claimed questions, and not of its technical impressiveness. (I could imagine you don’t feel this addresses what you meant by theory-building, but in that case you’ll have to be more specific for me to understand what you have in mind.)
Also, I realized it might not be clear why I thought the quotes above are relevant to whether the reviews addressed the “theory-building” aspect. The point is it seems to me that the quoted parts of the reviews are directly engaging with whether the definitions make sense / the results are meaningful, which is a question about the adequacy of the theory for addressing the claimed questions, and not of its technical impressiveness. (I could imagine you don’t feel this addresses what you meant by theory-building, but in that case you’ll have to be more specific for me to understand what you have in mind.)