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Legend
It's not wasted space -- every word is used to present the dragon as a multidimensional antagonist. Combat stat blocks are, contrary to early 4e design choices, not the place with the most important information.
In a game called Dungeons & Dragons it's also probably more important to have a few iconic dragon antagonists right in one of the main books than it is to have mimic kings and bear wizards.
And if you want to just plunk one down in your homebrew, well, the statblock is still there, and is still useful for you, and can be found either in the book itself, or in D&D Insider's online database, which, you may find to your delight, is almost entirely stat blocks.
It is wasted space if I have no use for it. If I have no use for the majority of a book, I will not purchase it. If I want to buy a book of iconic examples of monsters, I will specifically buy it. That is a book of icons, or villains, or adventure hooks, or NPCs, or whatever. It is not a book of monsters. They've sold books like this before, and I have purchased some of them after deciding that the information within was worthwhile, while I have ignored others, even when I could get them at a discount.
I am not spending $30 on 30 monsters and lots of fluff I'll never use. I don't even use relatively scant fluff presented for 4E monsters most of the time.
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Now what I might find compelling would be if they made a list of Monster Themes that applied concepts like "Ritual Master" or "Illusionist Tormentor" or "Desert Menace." Imagine if all that stuff you want to apply specifically to the blue dragon could be instantly applied to ANY monster, in part or in whole, and monsters that warranted it would get suggested themes mentioned in their stat blocks? You could introduce some basic themes in the DMG, then expand on them in future books. You could have basic themes like "Hive Queen" that turns a monster into the center of a hivemind, and then advanced themes like "Master of Intrigue" that would come with a lot more tools.
Then you could have your blue dragon that uses illusions to menace the desert, who uses a mimic to guard its horde, and I could have my mimic that uses illusions to menace the desert who keeps a pet blue dragon to eat people who want to disturb its plotting.