If you can't pay to play, by all mean you shouldn't be in the game.
10 years ago the Takatoku/Bandai chunky/monkey were going hot like 1.5K for Super VF-1S....
What is the point for Yamato to make it cheaper with mass volume per cutting so that they can please your budget, but they end up with thousands of unsold stocks in hands and went out of business down the road or remove macross from their line? For your information, it's not about making expensive toys to a few collector, it's the fact of manufacturing cost and demand. Do you get it?