I decided not to join last year and don't regret it. Out of the 15 sticks, it was 9 one-offs or prototypes, the rest were everyday stuff. The rest of the swag looked cheap and was not very useful to me and likely to have ended up in the round filing bin. We have BOTL, we don't need another forum when you can get info elsewhere without having to buy a decoder ring. I also felt like the prototypes were really a way to dump some excess stuff onto people, which can be good or bad depending on how you look at it.
Ultimately, it comes down to whether those prototype sticks were worth $150. My thoughts on the sticks were if they ended up being great sticks they would end up into one of 2 categories: 1) they are never made again, so who cares if I like it or don't, I'll never get to try another one; or 2) they are so good they get released at a later time, so why buy into it now.
Anyone think they should have at least ironed the shirt on the website pic for next year's shirt?