Merit badges are more like side quests than micro transactions.
Exactly. You only need a small subset of the 100+ available badges to advance ranks, even for Eagle Scout.
I mean… it was a subset but I wouldn’t say small by any means. at least for my broke ass family, we really struggled to send me to the weekend and summer camps you generally need to attend to get all the badges to get eagle in time. it’s definitely something not every family can afford.