I think that this axe trend is mostly convention/fashion. sure, hatchets are less treatening, are maybe lightweight and take less space, but there's nothing they can do that a small billhook/kukri cannot do. I own several axes and billhooks the type used in northern italy, which have not changed in style for maybe 2 thousand years. For the size, a small hatchet, say a 40 cm 500 gr one, has more or less equal penetration than a 4 mm thick, 30 cm billhook. plus, with the billhook you can grab dead branches from the ground or pull logs, you can clear saplings and brushes and thick grasses, dig roots, and also act as a big knife.
How much wood we need to chop during a trip, anyway?
I also own a kukri, a 5 mm thick, full tang one made by Fox, and even if not nepalese made, is a great chopper and nice tool, I say on par with an hatchet.
In a bush, or in the woods, I would take a small billhook and a folding knife.