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All-Time Worst DVD Packaging

#1
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12/9/08 at 5:34pm
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I would love to get a list going of the absolute all-time worst DVD packaging. What incited me to start this thread? I just got I DREAM OF JEANNIE - The Complete Series. Oh, this one takes the cake. Even worse than The Flintstones Complete Set Packaging.

GENIE discs are supposed to come in this bottle but it is a flimsy cardboard shell with the bottom torn off, and the discs are in one of those "designed-to-scratch DVDs" accordian-like cardboard things. As an insult, they put the episode synopses on these individual so-called collector cards and don't give you anything to keep the cards in but an oversize box with cardboard filling in the bottom. How do I find an episode? Flip through all the cards? Play Solitaire? I guess I'll put a rubber band around them and go print out an episode guide off the Internet and cross index my discs now. Geez. I have nothing better to do, right? Lucky I keep my DVDs in wallets. If I didn't, this set would have driven me to it (Star Trek sets drove me to it years ago).

Even put together in one box, sparkling on the shelf, this looks horrible. I bought it because I got a great price of $88 for all the seasons (and season one is in color so I will have to turn down the color on my TV--lovely).

It wins my vote for all-time worst packaging (I'm sure one even worse will come along shortly).

I could list about two dozen others but I think it's more interesting just to pick the all-time worst and highlight it.
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#2
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12/9/08 at 7:07pm
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Re: All-Time Worst DVD Packaging

A few of my least favorites:

The Simpsons: S11 (cardboard accordion version)
The Simpsons (plastic head versions)
The Munsters: S2
Most Star Trek sets
Battlestar Galactica (Cylon head)
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Sex and the City (season sets)
Strangers With Candy
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#3
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12/9/08 at 7:13pm
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Re: All-Time Worst DVD Packaging

Oh, where to begin?
  • Those spindles that Sony uses for some of their complete series sets.
  • Last year's Ford at Fox set with the DVDs held on by rubber buttons in a cardboard binder.
  • Those bendy spine digistacks Warner used on Babylon 5, Smallville and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. that seem designed to fall apart with use.
  • The Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection spiralbound book that scratches and warps the DVDs.
  • and any set with hubs that just will not let go of the DVD.
I could go on...
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#4
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12/9/08 at 8:28pm
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Re: All-Time Worst DVD Packaging

I wasn't too crazy about the complete series packaging for Sliders. In fact, it was the deciding factor in my choosing not to purchase it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MattHR
Most Star Trek sets
I would agree with this to a degree, especially with the North American casings. But the U.K. packaging is in my estimation far sturdier, and IMO more aesthetically pleasing. And if I had had a choice in the matter, I would have used the TNG boxes as well for the TOS sets rather than distribute them in the communicator-shaped boxes, which I don't care for very much.
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#5
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12/9/08 at 8:29pm
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Re: All-Time Worst DVD Packaging

I rarely (almost never) worry about the packaging but The Simpsons: Season Eleven is terrible.
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#6
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12/9/08 at 11:41pm
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Re: All-Time Worst DVD Packaging

I was hoping for one shining example of how awful DVD packaging could be with the painful details of why it's so awful.
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#7
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12/10/08 at 1:27am
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Re: All-Time Worst DVD Packaging

Dave at TVShowsonDVD.com did a great job of summarizing just why The Simpsons S11's packaging is so, so bad. Read it here.
The Simpsons: UK & Ireland Schedules | The HTF TV DVD Challenge 2008 | Last.fm
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#8
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12/10/08 at 8:30am
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Re: All-Time Worst DVD Packaging

Quote:
Dave at TVShowsonDVD.com did a great job of summarizing just why The Simpsons S11's packaging is so, so bad.

Wow! And I thought "Wanted: Dead or Alive" S1 and "The Outer Limits" (original series) were bad. But this...is DVD packaging from the depths of hell.
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#9
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12/10/08 at 8:52am
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Re: All-Time Worst DVD Packaging

Another vote for THE SIMPSONS Season 11.
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#10
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12/10/08 at 9:05am
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Re: All-Time Worst DVD Packaging

There's sets that just plain bug me, but aren't technically bad. One of my least favorites is the U.K.'s Are You Being Served? complete series set. It consists of 14 discs; each of them has its own standard dvd case. The problem is that 14 discs takes up a LOT of room on a shelf. They could have produced a box that was about 1/3 the size for those 14 discs. I finally got fed up with all the room it was taking up; I took out all 14 discs and stuck them in a disc binder.

Another crapfest is the O.C. season one (original printing.) This one had about 6 or 7 discs that came in these FAT plastic trays, and you opened the case like a big fat flipbook. Again, the only reason I hate it is that it takes up too much space. Luckily, they made a second printing that was much thinner. Everwood season one is also the same kind of fat.

But, oh my--for my money Simpsons Season 11 is the worst dvd packaging in the history of the Planet Earth. And I hope it remains so--they couldn't come out with something worse, now could they??
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#11
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12/10/08 at 2:41pm
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Re: All-Time Worst DVD Packaging

I would have to say:

The Monkees 1st and 2nd Seasons-They are both in a card-board box in the shape of a record-player that easily splits down the sides and the actual DVD's are in individual card-board 'records' that scratch the DVD's to the dickens. For the price of these DVD's, they could afford to put these in decent packaging.

The Munsters Season's 1 & 2; The packaging is so terrible I don't even feel like explaining it. One season is actual ok, but the one in the shape of Hermans head is awful.
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#12
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12/10/08 at 3:02pm
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Re: All-Time Worst DVD Packaging

The complete What's Happening comes in a box, but when you open it up, it's got a vacuum molded spindle half full of dvds with a corrugated cardboard spacer on top.

Pictures of the monstrosity here.

Poor Shirley Hemphill is probably spinning in her grave!
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#13
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12/10/08 at 4:51pm
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Re: All-Time Worst DVD Packaging

That What's Happening disc is Sony's new cost-cutting measure to clear out inventory for the few shows that make it to completion. They did it for Good Times, Sanford and Son, Soap, and NewsRadio too. So if you need to compile a list of those spinning in their respective graves you can add deceased cast members from those shows.

Best Buy now has lunch boxes for first seasons of several Sony orphans (Fantasy Island, Silver Spoons, and the first seasons some shows to make it past the first releases: Diff'rent Strokes, The Facts of Life and The Partridge Family). First of all, if the discs aren't selling, how is a crummy lunch box going to move units instead of getting sent back so that they're taking up three times as much space as before? I haven't used a lunch box since kindergarten, and I think by now everyone who wants these shows has them.

But The Simpsons S11 takes the cake. The discs are nearly impossible to get out or put back in. The plastic heads were bad enough (aesthetically and functionally), but nothing compares to this atrocity.

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#14
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12/10/08 at 8:16pm
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Re: All-Time Worst DVD Packaging

with the recession hitting, people are more prone to bringing their lunch to work. Why wouldn't an overgrown kid want to have a Charlie's Angels lunchbox at their desk?

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#15
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12/10/08 at 8:18pm
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Re: All-Time Worst DVD Packaging

My vote has to go to the M*A*S*H: Martinis and Medicine Collection.....sure the package looks nice covered in army green fabric but those lousy cardboard slide in slots for the DVDs are so damn tight you might as well be shoving the discs in trays lined with sandpaper.....it's that bad! Needless to say, scratches are the norm for this set. Really poor decision by FOX to package them this way.
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#16
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12/11/08 at 3:40am
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Re: All-Time Worst DVD Packaging

While the "disc-on-disc" format has to be one of the worst, I don't mind it as much when it's single-siders you're dealing with (as with "Hardcastle and McCormick" #3). I do mind it, however, when that method is used for double-siders. Why, you might ask? First, when the discs are double-sided, a "disc-on-disc" method (this format is used for #3 of "Dallas" and #2 of "The Waltons," both of which are doubles) makes it more aggravating, since not only do you have to deal with tightly locking hubs (which are usually used in a disc-on-disc format), you also have to worry about getting fingerprints on the surfaces while trying to pry the discs loose, therein adding to the worries of possibly making your discs unplayable.

And yes, it is true-- though I'm not really a "Simpsons" fan, the packaging method that was used for #11 has to take the cake as one of the worst (the head packages for several others of that series rightly deserve dishonorable mention as well).
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#17
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12/11/08 at 4:13am
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Re: All-Time Worst DVD Packaging

Brady Bunch shag Complete series. An interesting idea but it doesn't work. About 8 of my DVDs were scratched with smears of glue. After months I'm still trying to get Paramount to replace more than one of the damaged DVDs. I wonder why they didn't just put the previous slip cases in a large shag covered holder.

Also, the classic Andy Griffith show complete set with amazing artwork printed all over...cardboard sleeves?!!! CARDBOARD SLEEVES!!!!! WTF!

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#18
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12/11/08 at 4:17am
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Re: All-Time Worst DVD Packaging

Quote:
Originally Posted by cscmonkeefan
I would have to say:

The Monkees 1st and 2nd Seasons-They are both in a card-board box in the shape of a record-player that easily splits down the sides and the actual DVD's are in individual card-board 'records' that scratch the DVD's to the dickens. For the price of these DVD's, they could afford to put these in decent packaging.

...
I had to return several of my Monkee DVDs to Rhino for replacement. They send me 2 copies of each damaged one. those guys are high!

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#19
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12/11/08 at 4:41am
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Re: All-Time Worst DVD Packaging

The Simpsons Season 11 "accordion" sleeve AND the Krusty outer sleeve.

Any Simpsons set with the clamshell "head" packaging (made that mistake only ONCE).

The "Sex and the City" season sets (not only is it impossible to get the spines to line up with your other cases, but the plastic can actually cut your fingers when extracting a disc).

The Penn & Teller "Bullsh*t" sets. There's nothing wrong with each individual season's packaging by itself, it's just each season uses a completely different packaging.

Quote:
Another crapfest is the O.C. season one (original printing.) This one had about 6 or 7 discs that came in these FAT plastic trays, and you opened the case like a big fat flipbook. Again, the only reason I hate it is that it takes up too much space. Luckily, they made a second printing that was much thinner. Everwood season one is also the same kind of fat.

All the early Warner season sets were like that (Smallville and La Femme Nikita among others). They seemed rather sturdy at the time, but MAN, they take up a lot of space...

The other side of the coin is that the yearbook edition of "Freaks and Geeks" and the recent complete "Charmed" limited edition (which clocks in at about 10 pounds) are fantastic...
When she embraces, your heart turns to stone
She comes at night, when you're all alone
And when she whispers, your blood shall run cold
You'd better hide before she finds you...
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#20
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12/11/08 at 12:30pm
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Re: All-Time Worst DVD Packaging

Quote:
Originally Posted by Corey3rd
with the recession hitting, people are more prone to bringing their lunch to work. Why wouldn't an overgrown kid want to have a Charlie's Angels lunchbox at their desk?

Paper bags are cheaper.

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#21
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12/11/08 at 4:12pm
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Re: All-Time Worst DVD Packaging

To start, any package where the discs COVER UP episode information! The INVADERS Season One and PERRY MASON Season Three Volume One are ones!

You should never have to remove a disc to read episode liner notes!

Though PERRY MASON Season Three Volume Two appears to correct this… and hopefully The INVADERS Season Two will do so as well.

But the clear winner is THE SIMPSONS Season 11. I’ll just repeat my comments and experience from the SIMPSONS thread:

This is, without doubt, the WORST DVD packaging I’ve ever seen!

I opted for the “standard” packaging, as I’ve always done since the “head” packaging began. When I opened it… I COULDN’T FIND THE DISCS!!!

There was folded illustrated cardboard, with no discs on either side. For a moment, I was truly dumbfounded. Then I realized that the discs lie loose WITHIN pockets of the folded cardboard… and are NOT SECURED by anything.

Not only is this damaging to the Discs (Disc Three already had a noticeable imperfection causing me to return it for an exchange), but these are the MOST DIFFICULT DISCS TO ACCESS of any set I’ve purchased since the early days of 2004! Even the return clerk at Best Buy was flummoxed when opening the package to try to find the discs inside! Can you believe it?

Nothing designed for pleasure should require this much needless effort to remove from its packaging! How does a major studio like FOX approve such a thing! This is more akin to a one-dollar discount store PD package! Every bootleg, I’ve ever owned is more securely and sensibly packaged.

Oh, wait… I get the joke! They’re using “Krusty Brand” packaging! Never mind!
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#22
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12/11/08 at 4:27pm
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Re: All-Time Worst DVD Packaging

The Simpsons heads still get my vote--even the alternative box isn't that great; I hate how it opens from the top.

One that hasn't been mentioned is 30 Rock season 2. No problems functionally, but the first season was three discs and the second was two. I guess they figured that, since they were charging the same price (or close to it), they needed a psychological sort of appeal, so they used incredibly thick pieces of plastic to hold the discs, resulting in the season 2 box actually being bigger than the season 1 set.
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#23
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12/12/08 at 1:22pm
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Re: All-Time Worst DVD Packaging

I have to agree with the Are You Being Served? set being too big. They just grabbed the season discs and crammed them into a box. I also have The Monkees S1 but didn't have much of a problem with the record player design. Getting the discs out is another matter, but at least I didn't have to return them. For me the worst was the Get Smart complete series set, because 1) the actual box is supposed to fit into an outer package that resembles the elevator (cool in theory but a very tight fit) and the discs are layered one upon another. So if I wanted to get a later disc from any season I had to remove the earlier disc over it to acces it. The latest MST3K colleectors edition (with the Crow figurine) is also a tight fit getting the actual box with the discs out.
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#24
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12/13/08 at 3:11pm
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Re: All-Time Worst DVD Packaging

Fraggle Rock Complete Series (Half of the discs didn't make it into the slots and were badly scratched, everytime I emailed them about replacements, they never followup)

Simpsons Season 11
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#25
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12/13/08 at 6:20pm
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Re: All-Time Worst DVD Packaging

Quote:
Originally Posted by Corey3rd
with the recession hitting, people are more prone to bringing their lunch to work. Why wouldn't an overgrown kid want to have a Charlie's Angels lunchbox at their desk?

There ARE worse things to look at than Farrah Fawcett on a lunch box.
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#26
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12/13/08 at 6:59pm
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Re: All-Time Worst DVD Packaging

I wasn't too thrilled with Season 1 & 2 of Sliders. The first one has disks packaged in a way that's easy to Scratch. Season 2 doesn't have an Episode List, plus BOTH of them are on 2-Sided Disks.

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#27
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12/14/08 at 4:15am
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Re: All-Time Worst DVD Packaging

The Cosby Show Complete Series is also a worthy contender.

The discs are housed in a fold-out packaging with paper sleeves, 2 discs overlapping on each panel. Nothing that hasn't been done before, however in this case these sleeves have some kind of black coating. And on the edges of the sleeves the coating comes off and now sticks to the back of the DVDs! Out of the 26 or so discs, 22 had that black crap on the playable surface, and the only way to get if off seems to be to carefully scratch it off with the finger nails.

Yup, scratching with a fingernail on the playable surface of a DVD. A real bright idea. And of course if you put the discs back in the sleeves there's always the danger of more coating coming off and ruining the discs even more.
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#28
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12/14/08 at 12:43pm
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Re: All-Time Worst DVD Packaging

For me by far the worst is the tri corder shaped packaging for organial StarTrek dvd season sets their so bad and fragile never bother to watch them because they damage so easy. Do they fix it with the blue ray set nope they suck even worse.

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#29
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12/14/08 at 2:50pm
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Re: All-Time Worst DVD Packaging

I just got THE WIRE complete box set and let me tell you while I admire its simplicity and compactness, the discs are shoved into these hard cardboard sleeves and it's a miracle some of them weren't scratched or even cracked. I immediately removed my discs, housed them in a wallet, and promptly tossed the packaging.

THE WIRE is my all-time favorite show of the 21st Century and I'm glad my discs weren't damaged.
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#30
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12/14/08 at 4:26pm
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Re: All-Time Worst DVD Packaging

The Land of the Giants complete series set may not be the worst DVD packaging, but it gets my vote for the most extravagant packaging--especially for a lesser known series.

I guess my major complaint is the size. The discs are stored in a wooden crate box that's about 4 times as large as it needs to be, and contains a bunch of gimmicky extras like a comic book reproduction, patch and key chain.

Since the discs are double-sided and stored in 5 slim cases, it could have been housed in a smaller 2-inch width thick case.

I'm sure die-hard fans are in heaven, but for most folks, a simple, bare-bones set would've sufficed nicely.

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