MATLAB figure defaults

Working on a grant, and I have to do SO MUCH fussing in Illustrator just to get stupid MATLAB figures to look even remotely presentable. Why are MATLAB figures so terrible looking?  R makes everything look so much better. And it does it by default–MATLAB can make at least somewhat better looking stuff than what it spits out automatically, but it requires endless tweaking of parameters.

In the remote event that any Mathworks people out there are looking at this, here's a list of problems:

1. Default axes are way overticked. I don't need to have 0, 50, 100, etc. all the way up to 1000.
2. Font sizes are ridiculously small. For publication, figures need to be small. Text gets shrunk to the point of being completely illegible.
3. Line widths are all way too thin by default. Except for axes, which are too thick.
4. Default markers sizes are all way too small.

Please, MATLAB graphics people, help! Make me want to love you, rather than need to have you.