Well, this is a no-brainer from a marketing perspective. It was just a matter of time before they figured out that the collecting community would shell out big bucks for carded figures hidden inside of something much more expensive. At $105, you'd have to sell 7x TVC carded Merrick's to equal one X-Wing sale. As several people here stated, no one needs another X-Wing, so they're tying in more shelf presence, a big ticket item for the holidays, and more overall profit for the brand. Offering this in any other form or separately at a later date just dilutes sales of other future releases.
I'll buy one for a Merrick, but I'll definitely watch for repacks and wait for a sale. I wish they would go back to those little transparent windows on the box so you could see the figure inside.