Skins give the player a sense of being able to express themselves through the mech visuals. No, they don't give any battle bonuses except looking different. However, this game is about more than who is stronger in battle; for some people, it's much like making model airplanes or cars - just with mechs.
But yea, the fortune vault (like all RNG pulls in this game) are rigged to try to convince you to spend more, and more, and more. I've won 1k acorns off a pull once, every other attempt I've made since starting this game has been 1 of the 3 lowest prizes available.