Maybe we've had this discussion before and I just can't find it, but should they be separated?
I mean think about it this way: knights can switch and swap gear underneath costumes like it's nobody's business (and they do already with hide inspect!), but sprites aren't so lucky. When you get an ultimate you are forced to permanently change and conform to that sprite's look forever unless you buy a reset star to change ultimates. But ultimates and appearance aren't mutually exclusive. I wanted a Maskerwraith with those dread looking arms, BUT I really want to use the ultimate skill the wings offer.
I really think this is a missed opportunity for true customization and variability. In my proposed future, sprites will have their own unique items in the "sprite gear tab" (which only holds pods {which is silly if you ask me}) and from there we can swap around sprite appearance PROVIDED you've used it as an ultimate at least once.
Or OOO could take the "nothing good is free" approach and have "sprite accessories" that get destroyed if you remove them if you don't buy the silly overpriced reset star ticket whatever to save your appearance.
General discussion because generally everyone will have a sprite and we should all talk about it.
I understand the desire for flexibility. Let me tell you another example, and then explain why ultimately I disagree.
It has been proposed that weapon style, damage type, and status be decoupled from one another. So for example you could buy a flourish-style sword and then attach shadow enhancements and shock enhancements and end up with some sort of shadow-shock flourish. This plan would greatly increase the variety of weapons in the game, without adding much design work, due to simple "combinatorial blow-up". The same could be done for armor, trinkets, etc.
The problem with these approaches is that they have too much symmetry. Beautiful design often benefits from a delicate mixture of symmetry and asymmetry. As examples I offer Millenium Falcon, Castle Neuschwanstein, and Warlock. They would be much more boring if they didn't have just the right amount of weird appendages sticking out unexpectedly.
Ultimately, limiting our choices to a few configurations that aren't perfectly symmetric with each other keeps things more interesting.