Maybe the key is in the star system. What if with each skylander you complete all their quests with it gives ypou a star? That would give ther personalization and the time with each character and give more portal master levels for upgardes and such
So finally the stat stuff was answered to some extent. I do find it odd that Skylanders are no longer being carried around and still have everything intact for the quests. (Stuff now being saved to your HDD instead of the figures) I do still plan to get everything tho.