I know a few guys have said that STERN should announce at the start of production if they are going to produce a limited Edition etc, BUT everyone is ASSUMING that STERN knew back then , that they would do a LE run.

Garry Stern has probably been asked by many many dozens of people are u going to do a LE Avatar like u did a LE Lord of the Rings etc.
Its more likely that 6 months down the track from the first Avatar production, that STERN has now decided that both the economy, and the demand/enquiry for a LE run of Avatar is worth while.

I am certain, that STERN never intended to do anything to its AVATAR customers except provide a good product.

As alot of us have seen with the other LE runs of STERNS, the difference in monetary terms or collectable terms for the LE machines, is minimal at best.
Paying an extra $800 for fake gold that rubs off in 5 minutes, or getting a few extra plastic toys, is really nothing to write home about.

You know what some say about buying the first model of any new car release, ALWAYS wait for the 2nd generation when they add the extra goodies and they iron out the bugs. Maybe it might apply to pinballs in some cases if the LE vs Std version is of concern to some buyers.   AVATAR, standard or LE is still a nice machine, either way. I wouldnt be too fussed if I already had a std one.  Perhaps more stuff to go wrong with the LE one. I would still be proud of owning the original std machine. 

Dont know where you get 6 months from,Avatar only made it to OZ in early Sept and its only the middle of Nov,the pinball is lucky to be 3 months old world wide .Poor form on Sterns behalf I think