lol! I don't usually paint my toys.
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(excepting of course all those D&D and Warhammer figurines I had)
I did something similar a few years ago-- I bought a few of the GI-Joe and Transformers toys I used to have that had gone missing over the years. I may have overdone it a little, but you know how it is... if it's worth doing, it's worth
over-doing. 
As for charging for cosmetic upgrades in online games, that's actually becoming quite standard. Star Trek Online does that, among others. In fact, the argument is that usually the for-money upgrades
should be cosmetic only, so that no one can just buy an unfair advantage in the game. People shell out a lot of money for bling, so it's lucrative for the game makers.