Oops, I forgot all about this...
As mentioned, I did order another, and while my request wasn't received before the order processed and shipped... I was fortunate enough that the Lonestar I received was much softer, like the Johnny I had.
I later got another Bandit, since my first one was a little mistreated in storage... and it was definitely firmer than Johnny or the new Lonestar.
So it looks like some variation does happen.