So, cases arrived! I've done some very very initial inspection and I have good news and bad news. Let's start with the bad.
Two of the four boxes were ****ed during shipping - not sure if it was ****ty packing or handling (probably both) but yeah, pretty big vertical holes and crushed corners, that kinda stuff. I've so far examined 6 cases (top and bottom pieces, haven't gotten to badges), two were dark gray and 4 were red. 1 of the dark gray top cases was pretty bad - 3 places on the exterior with anodization issues. one of the red top cases had a small chip taken out of it (the kind of damage cerakote won't fix), and 2 of the other red cases had some minor external issues that would make me classify them as B-stock. I'm still hopeful that these are outliers as they were taken from the most damaged areas, but I'm almost certain I'll need to do a (hopefully small) remanufacturing run.
It's also worth mentioning that on all the bottom cases, the internals have been some measure of pretty bad, but the externals were pretty much flawless on all but one. Since I'm not counting internal flaws against a case unless it's egregious, seems like plenty of A-stock there.
The good news is, the red and dark gray colors are both great, and the two A-stock top pieces I've checked out so far are really nicely done (pretty much flawless externally), so if I can get everything up to those standards, we should be good.
Like I said, this was a super brief initial inspection - it'll probably take me a week or more to catalog each piece. I'm still cautiously optimistic, and will update when i have more information, but I wanted to keep everyone in the loop, even if it's not the happiest of news.