Pacific Bonsai Museum has a very nice dissectum maple, estimated to be in training at least 60 years. You'll have to forgive the "before" photo, I hope to get a better, finished one by end of the week. This tree might not stand out in PBM's collection to the general public compared to green leaf varieties, but for those who understand the challenges of cultivating this group of maples, it is a head turner.
The dissectum group is very broad and the leaf morphology especially is varied--selections have made primarily for leaf and secondarily for branching habit. Generally, dissectums are on the coarser side, often having more brittle branches, and are grafted, all of which can present significant challenges. Selecting a specific variety with favorable genetics plus either hand-picking an excellent graft or rebuilding the roots from scratch would be key to building a specimen out of a dissectum maple.
None of that is to speak directly to the tree in question, only that with good technique and enough time dissectums are promising for bonsai, though different than the natural varieties. My 2 cents on your tree: This plant does not have an excellent graft and it is just as like to get uglier as it is to get better with age. Addressing this by building a new root system above the graft--either by layering or root grafting--will be necessary. Alternative, you could treat this as a mother plant, and air layer off branches for smaller future bonsai. (Fwiw, thisis the same as my basic playbook for nursery stock plants)
Why would you be sarcastic?
