I honestly think its in because they used the SC4 engine as the basis for the game.
They didn't want the functionality, but thought it would be a freebie to leave the effect in. (With the problem being it doesn't work right with some outfit parts)
Alternative use, you can use one of the animal costumes and pretend that as you get beat up its breaking a terrible curse on your character.
STORYTELLING!
just to beat this particular drum a bit harder, the dlc mode they need is one that combined 'random match' from offline, 'quick match' from online, the kingdom mode from SC2 arcade, and realtime saving of ghost data.
That's the dlc I'd pay for more than any other.
I was thinking of that, can you think of any not-young (and not cheatingly preserved) woman in any fighting game?
Only one I can think of was Mitsuko in Bloody Roar, and they took her out by the first sequel.
Soul Edge versionB!
At this point I have to agree with you though, I'd love DLC chars, but I like the expansion model more overall at this point.
They could package in kingdom mode too, then all would be well!