The person who painted them? Greg Broadmore. The people who're making them are the same people behind the wonderful props in the Lord of the Rings series, as well as King Kong. Mmmm....aether oscillators...
The last one kind of looks like Han Solo's blaster. It's too bad we didn't get more Vendigrothian tech.
I found out that Han Solo's blaster, while based on another character's gun (Buck Rogers), it was actually a world war 2 era broomhandled Mauser carbine that was jazzed up for the movie.
I've read about that. They did that with a lot of the weapons in Starwars. I think of the big rifles the Stormtroopers carried was hardly modified at all from some german heavy machine gun.
If they worked, they'd be worth a lot more than just $600 dollars. Still, I see your point; Toys should not cost that much.
Maybe Toys the wrong word think Collectables, Collectors Items etc. You just have them on display or get them out carefully when friends come round.