Those primitive RC cars weren't $499 though.

I'm clearly old, but I'm sure I remember the Tamiya Frog was about £100 in the mid 1980s, plus radio - IIRC it was about £130 for a complete kit. That equates to about $500 in today's money, so it's not a crazy after all...

Given we've had about 100% inflation since then, it's actually not that crazy. A $250 RC car would have been extravagant, sure, I think my fanciest was about $100 back then, but not unthinkable.

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System cost $199 when it launched back in 1991. Plus the additional costs of the games.

The original mindstorms set from lego was over $100 in 90s money and pales in comparison