There is a special story behind Alice. I rememember Aery_Soul mentioning that they were retiring the character due to personal reasons. I don't know the specifics, but it sounds like the character was made in memory of someone very special to them.

There was a huge outcry from people who had wanted to get Alice, but missed out prior to her being pulled.  So now they release the character once  a year for a very short period of time and then remove her again.

I see nothing wrong with that.

"It is good to see ourselves as others see us. Try as we may, we are never
able to know ourselves fully as we are, especially the evil side of us.
This we can do only if we are not angry with our critics but will take in good
heart whatever they might have to say." - Ghandi