Yeah, don't buy a big set, maybe ever, or at least not until you you've been at it for some extended period of time. You will habitually use some tools more than others and exactly which ones need to "bonsai tools" is debatable. Any pliers with sharp teeth can be used to strip bark or break jin and you can buy a 3 size set of ordinary pliers cheaper than one "bonsai" pliers. Needle nose pliers of many sizes are useful for holding wire in places where your hands won't fit, and again are locally available in sets or alone, cheap. The bonsai wire cutter is overlooked by many as being replaceable by an electricians, but only the bonsai one is snub-nosed and can be pressed perpendicular against the branch to cut a wire without marking the branch. It gets important when it is a thin wire tight on a skinny twig. The scissors needs to have a long skinny reach and fairly large and heavy hand loops to reach in and comfortably cut heavier twigs. The blades need to a few inches, 3 or 4". The little, short blades are cute but not used much. Any ordinary pass-thru garden shears works fine for roots. The key tools are the flush cutters and concave cutters, the 7 or 8" size are the starters and from there if you can afford to buy different sizes larger and smaller, they are handy where one size doesn't fit all.
Tools are a lot like cars. Dream up a price and there are products for that price. The high end tools will scare most people just like expensive cars do, so don't get carried away thinking you're going to impress somebody with "great" tools, -they all look the same on the bench and you usually have look hard to see the maker's mark. The cheapest tools are cheap and the expensive tools are only marginally better than the middling tools. As to rust, the better steel does resist it better, but mostly that's a problem for people who don't take care of their stuff. Keep things in your perspective and they'll work out. Shop all the bonsai websites and start in the low mid-priced range and move up as you get more serious.