Self-topped plant, beneficial mutatation/genetics? Would cuttings reproduce the same scenario? New growth is/was always crowded and squished.

I don't think it should be taken as a good or bad indication. It can come in handy. I've had two plant selfed-top right from seed. I did two seeds per run those times and one time the self-toped plant was the keeper and the first time it was the not-as-good plant. You kind of have to wait and see. it does come in handy for training in some situations. The cuttings mostly likely would show some sort of similar growth characteristic at first, but I ve had cutings that I've re cloned to keep new moms and their structure does change over time. mine mostly got really lanky over time. Og cuts are infamous for this. This more looks like its bushing out than it self-topping. self topped plants tend to have an asymmetrical alternate leaf pattern develop