I'm not angry with Carter or complaining about the amazing deal I received. I am, however, disappointed that what i purchased was branded, when I was led to believe that it would not be.
That said, is it that big of a deal? No. The bottom line is the promo code Carter posted made having mechanical boards with different switches possible. I've purchased 5 boards total, 2 from Amazon and 3 directly from the CM store and they have all been solid (with the exception of one I bought with a smooth 'f' key and a bump on the 'g' key). And, especially when you look at the price of the competition, the promo-code was practically giving them away (which selling at or below cost basically is anyway).
To me, the only thing that the branding means, other than getting something slightly different than what I thought I was paying for, is that I need to get some more sandpaper and I'll have a new color of case to use. As for the keycaps, those were going to be replaced regardless. And, hopefully the CM store will still be selling me 3-4 blank tops in a month or two.
@Carter: Thank you for the amazing deal and for nudging some of those who were not ready to make the jump to mechanical. And, even though 2 of the 3 that I purchased were branded, thank you for listening to the community and making an already great product even better.