I am glad to hear that I am not the only one who keeps all FIRST stuff, and that our trading items from that year were not in vain. This particular item has kept my attention for so long, since I only kept one. One of my good friends admires it, and is always saying she will steal it off my backpack.
The economics of that year were interesting, since we didn't have the budget to produce more of the lizards than we did, and demand for them was much higher than expected. Had we redone that year, I am sure we would have brought a lot more of them with us.
By contrast, we passed out braided Lanyards the following year, and we had so many of them, we could not even give them away. It is interesting the way things happen like that. It is difficult to judge ahead of time what will be popular, though it was a solid bet that button pins were not going to last in one's memory. They do make a nice bulletin board though -- 4 years worth of FIRST trading items completely cover the one that I decorated to remember FIRST by. I am glad that FIRST is so successful!
Colt 007
Alliance Captain of Team 80 (Tournament 2000)