I think it's pretty much the same reason that a whole lot of film gear is outrageously expensive...
"Because it can be."
If there was a huge market for these and there were stacks and stacks of them on the shelf at every Target store, they'd probably be three bucks apiece. You could probably easily name a hundred different pieces of film equipment that, if commonly used by the general public, would be a mere fraction of their costs today.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com