Creator Template: Featured Image Not Rendering in Blog Loop

I purchased GeneratePress One and installed the Creator template from the Site Library on a clean WP Engine staging site. No other themes were previously installed. Fresh WordPress install.

The problem is with the Loop – Blog and Archives Element (Appearance → Elements → Loop – Blog and Archives).

The Image block inside the Looper (Loop Item → Container → Container → Image) came with NO dynamic data connected to the featured image. It was pointing to a static demo placeholder image (/image-4-3.png) instead of pulling the post’s featured image dynamically.

I manually added the {{featured_image key:url}} dynamic tag to the Image block’s IMAGE field, following your documentation.

Here’s what happens:

– The dynamic featured image renders correctly IN THE EDITOR — I can see my test post’s featured image in the block editor.
– The dynamic featured image DOES NOT render on the front end — the blog archive page still shows the gray placeholder.
– The featured image DOES display correctly on the individual single post page — so the image is properly assigned to the post.
– I have cleared all WP Engine caches and done hard refreshes. No change.
– I also tried setting the featured image as an Inline Background Image on the parent Container. Same result — shows in editor, not on front end.
– I tried both with and without “Required to render” checked. No change.

My questions:

1. Why does the Creator template import with static demo image URLs in the Loop Element instead of dynamic featured image tags? Shouldn’t this work out of the box?

2. What is the correct way to configure this Image block to pull the featured image dynamically on the blog archive page?

PS: I have a support ticket opened but did not get an acknowledgement of receipt email (and yes, I checked spam), so, sorry to post here too but figured I should post here too, just in case it went into a black hole. 🙂 Thanks for any help. Temp login creds available.