Starscream looks amazing, especially in colour, but even before the prices were announced, I found I didn't have a strong desire to buy this figure, even with a fear of missing out. Putting it next to MP-11 will probably make the older figure look bad in comparison, but unlike Optimus, I'm happy enough with MP-11 and don't feel a need to upgrade.
I think I'll just enjoy this one vicariously by looking at photos and videos of it.
The high prices likely reflect the development costs and a desire to make back the R&D money on initial release. None of the Beast Wars figures really have repaint potential. Hound could potentially get the 'plus' treatment or even get repainted as Detritus, either one as a store exclusive, but I doubt they would sell as well as regular releases. Besides, it seems very strange to spend money developing a new Starscream and not further monetise the work that went into development of the figure by making redecos of it. Like Skyfire typed, these things aren't cheap, and it makes sense to monetise the moulding with repaints.
Yeah, I get that. I want Jazz and Mirage and Galvatron and Cyclonus, but I also accept that a new version of a popular character like Starscream (and its repaints) will help to pay for R&D on those new figures.
The cartoon existed to sell toys, and doubtless there were children who thought it was strange that the toys of several characters bore a passing resemblance at best to the characters on-screen. I can understand if the idea is to give nostalgic collectors faithful figures of what they saw on-screen as children.