My $200 Rant

My BF recently started a new hobby, buying and flying helicopters/planes which he really enjoys doing. The fact that he is able to do his own thing with his friends is great.
He purchased this plane for $200 on craiglist which he nicknamed "The Franken-Jugular"; it's a beauty I have to admit (when I first saw it).
Now while I have no problems with one treating him or herself (hey I am a single mom but I can still treat myself right?) I still feel things need to be prioritized.
I mean with Christmas just around the corner I can understand wanting to treat yourself.

So why the rant?
We had a "debate" of sorts about this purchase; my argument(s) was that he is still fairly new to this hobby so why not purchase a less expensive toy to smash around.  I have seen him flying and he is not yet at that point. His rebuttal was that I purchase boots that are $200. Hmmm my comeback? "Well, my boots will last
a long, long time. "Much longer than your toys I might add". In addition I don't have to continually purchase accessories because I won't keep wrecking them.
Here is the before pic of the beauty.

Before Pic

For the holidays we always make our lists, that way we get what we want (but also) with a few surprises.  Weird to some but it works for my family.  Guess what is on his list? Another "toy" for under $400.  Now I don't have a problem getting a gift that expensive but where he is a novice (and he is fairly new in my life) I am a bit concerned.  I would rather spend $200 on clothes for him or shoes or on videos games NOT on a toy that WILL get trashed!  I think it's such a rip-off!!!  After flying the darn things and crashing, that's money down the drain. He is constantly picking up replacement parts, I would hope that once he gets the hang of it that he will be ok. I was still a bit hesitant and had it listed as a maybe, that soon quickly changed to a NO after he sent me the picture below.

Here is the after pic of the beast.

After pic.

And he criticizes me about my $200 boots, really? What in the tarnation is this? Now why would I spend $399.99  if this is what happens?  I think from what he said he cried a little, poor baby!!!

That is definitely off his list.

He thinks I'm being unreasonable and being hypocritical (because I did say to send me a list), I never said however that I would got everything off the list.  What do you think? I would love to get feedback on this!