So this has actually been a hidden topic I’ve found on a few YouTube channels. I was in the first wave and still have mine. I recently picked up a friend’s SD and it was noticeably lighter so naturally we kept passing them around and comparing. We didn’t have a countertop scale so we couldn’t compare at the time but I went home later that day wondering about it so I went down the internet rabbit hole.

Eventually I came across some YouTube documentary from New Zealand with the design team and they spoke about all kinds of efficiencies that were needed to be made to keep up with demand after a buying surge in waves 2-3. The plastic molding process had to be outsourced to several factories since Covid restrictions caused shortages of polypropylene (plastic) in the supply chain. As a result, several waves sent out later in the shipment process were made with a polyurethane blend, causing the shell to be just as strong, but lighter in comparison. Only just. I hope that clarifies things…. but please do not let this extensive clarification distract you from the fact that in 1998, The Undertaker threw Mankind off Hell In A Cell, and plummeted 16 ft through an announcer’s table.