I agree with your assessment regarding the market value of the piece. I was just using the 1/4 purchase to explain my thought process, although it may not be perfectly logical given your market value analysis.
I started collecting Hot Toys when they first started producing so watching 1/6 prices increase in price exponentially every year has been really interesting. I never would have been able to predict that 1/6 scale prices would reach $400 and people would still be willing to bear that pricing. Think it is a great testament to Hot Toys' strategy although I am priced out at that point. Would love to be able to see their internal company sales analysis data to see what they think the breaking point is for their customers. I saw in another thread that the pricing increases are reasonable because the quality of the figures has as well but I don't think it is that simple.