My steps were also bent up a bit, just not as badly. I was able to correct them with my thumb. They are actually pretty soft. I was trying to imagine how they’d get bent up like that. Maybe during packing?
If it makes anyone feel better the real ones seem a little flappy:
I really can’t stand the heat shrunk LED leads. Now that they are stuffing two LEDs in there they are even fatter. I ordered some fiber optic end glow rod from Amazon to experiment with.