Crispy M and M's (Blogger won't let me use an ampersand, because its ridiculous)

Many of you know by now that I have a passion for hard-to-obtain or otherwise discontinued food. I don't know why this is, but part of me wants to think that it's some sort of massive conspiracy that states that anything deemed too "tasty" by myself is immidiately restricted from being produced any more (or at least made difficult to obtain). Then I realize that I don't live in The Truman Show (which would be creatively re-named The Walters Show in my world (The Ty Show is too short)), and life goes on.
But this one is different from the rest. Back in 1998, Mars Candy company decided to try something new with their ever-popular M&M's line:

Crispy M&M's, the name given to the semi-crunchy rice puff-filled chocolate candies they introduced, were some of my favorites as an adolescent. I'm assuming that since sales of M&M's Minis were so high, they were feeling a bit adventurous. Well, their tenacity paid off. Widely appreciated by people in all walks of life (the above picture is from Malaysia!), Crispy M&M's are often hailed as the "Best New Candy of the Late 1990's," a title I assure you is incredibly difficult to obtain.
But imaginary awards aside, Crispy M&M's kicked an illegal amount of ass. They kicked more ass than Bruce Lee (yes, that's a shitload of ass-kicking). Biting into them was like biting into a chocolate-covered Kix; delicious and crunchy. These were the candy I chose when offered as I begun aging into the double-digits, as well as my favorite when I begun hitting puberty; only to have them whisked away for no apparent reason in 2005. I have no idea why they would choose to end the production of these wonderful candies, but they did. I loved these more than I should have. And as a child with a very small sweet tooth, it was sort of surprising.
But like I said, I don't understand what reasoning they had for discontinuing these. Sales couldn't have been that bad, could they? Everyone I've talked to about them has said that they loved them, so I'm not entirely sure.
With the recent Indiana Jones M&M's, they had a similar "crispy concept," except these ones were mint-flavored. They just weren't the same. It was like drinking watered-down soda: you want to like it and compare it to its better-tasting "brother," but something inside of you won't let that happen. It's sad, really.

Here is an eBay store that sells them for a good price. I may buy some soon. I'm not sure how good they'll be though.
Click here to view/sign a completely pointless (but still active) online petition to bring them back to the U.S.