That's kind of unusual. I tried looking for a Hammerstrike a few years ago and prices were kind of wild.
I may put this on the list. Still would love a new version, though.. Maybe it'll get a redeco I can repurpose as
this guy.
Early Beast Machines was REALLY over saturated and over shipped. By the time Battle for the Spark came around, there was still stuff from wave 1 lagging about and retailers were just totally OVER Beast Machines. Those later releases, especially those never reused in RiD01 or Universe, were always pricier.
Megas (aside from Blast Punch Primal) managed to keep their pricing down for a LONG time because the size class was always poorly managed and sold even poorer. I actually got a Mega Rattrap from BBTS in 2012-ish (maybe a bit earlier) for $15 and shipping because BBTS stepped up and bought heavily into the back end of the line (especially with Battle Unicorn).
After 25 years, seems the aftermarket inventory has dried up enough that in package samples are actually starting to appreciate.
Check eBay. I think I got mine in 2017 or 2018 and it was still only $15. Beast Machines aftermarket prices have been rising exceptionally slowly.
It's not a great toy but contemporary reviews were absolute nonsense. It's not a Deluxe in Mega packaging. You'll know when you feel the weight.
BM ”Minitron” is a pretty solid encapsulation of why Mega was such a poor price point. Too many figures felt like designs that were “plus up’d” out the deluxe range with gimmicks, or a design that really needed the budget of the Ultra class to be viable. Not to say that there weren’t really good Megas (The Transmetals and Tankorr, or even BM Rattrap, stand out to me as really good ones), but the way Kenner/Hasbro was handling the price point just didn’t work on many levels.