I'm all for brand loyalty, but this is the sort of thing that should make you re-examine whether an RB is cost effective, or a deep pit to throw money into.
The reason the blocks cost so much is that (in addition to the R&D... ha ha I'm kidding, there isn't any) the start-up cost has to be amortized over a fairly small number of purchases. This is why they don't make aluminum heads for the 318 poly.
The model is the light bulb: the first bulb costs $10 million, the 10 millionth bulb costs $1.
They're only going to sell (perhaps, when Satan skates to work) 1,000, not 10,000.