Different teams, probably—aesthetics versus functionality, though that's probably not how it's sorted within the company. Probably more like... UI vs AI or some such.
Looks like this may have ACTUALLY been a universal wipe this time—my Hati was using an "acceptable" skin and it's still back to ugly gross lightning wolf Hati this morning, though on the flip side it DID appear in the correct (dark blue) coloration to match my artifact skin.
Lightning effect seems even more obnoxious this morning after swapping him back, but that may just be because I was chain crashing in HoV+4 every third time I used Dire Beast or Kill Command and I already have a pre-migraine going on from the flickering that happened on each crash.
Alas, my val'kyr has perished and I can no longer RP as her.
If anyone finds any other trick-tames in the future, I'm sure the community, as well as myself would really like to know about them!