The VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
The picture in the article looks like "travel damage" (book rubs against cardboard box, for example) rather than a printer's error.
But I don't have a physical copy to inspect more carefully, so I could be wrong.
But, yeah, if I had been given one, I'd be disappointed that somebody somewhere along the way was careless.
The ten copies one of my local game shops got had spine damage (both cosmetic and actual dents) and all of them were bowed/warped. It looked like the spines were scuffed, but that could have been a printing error because it was pretty much universal.
I am shocked that these got out of the production facility in this condition and more shocked that the distributors sent the damaged goods to stores once they were taken out of the shipping cartons to go out in orders.
Mistakes happen. This sucks, but it does look like WotC are doing exactly the right thing - identify the problem, take swift and appropriate action, and fix it.
That’s a bummer. But yeah, it looks like Wizards is making good on this. I’ll be stopping by my FLGS in a little bit and I’ll be curious to see what their stock looks like.
Although, to be honest, I think I like the regular cover more. I’ve really enjoyed the stylized covers of the FLGS-versions of the past few books, whereas this looks like just alternate cover art