Premium DNA Battletoads

I picked up the two toads at Power Con. SUPER impressed with them. Solid across the board between engineering and overall feel. They come with a TON of stuff and the swappable parts all generally pop on and off pretty smoothly. 

Same but I only picked up one from there. I was surprised they were pretty decent but slightly loose.

I won’t be preordering them because Megalopolis but once they’re in stock, I’ll buy a few of these. I would have bought the exclusive one released early but I don’t want it enough to pay double the retail price that BBTS is asking.

I handled these guys at Power-Con and they are really well made. I nearly canceled my preorder and bought them off the con floor I was so excited, but I'll stick with Big bad since I made a commitment there. Porka Pig has some awkward proportions and he still retains all his articulation, the size is perfect for fitting in with the Ninja Turtle offerings from other lines so this is delivering pretty much everything I wanted.

Any update on these? I'm excited to get the toads themselves. They dont seem to be available yet, still. In spite of being sold at PowerCon and being reviewed by Toy Bro.

Posted by: @ben

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Any update on these? I'm excited to get the toads themselves. They dont seem to be available yet, still. In spite of being sold at PowerCon and being reviewed by Toy Bro.

The figures are in stock for immediate shipping from https://premiumdnatoys.com/pages/battletoads-anthology-collection-in-stock-sale and they have some video game variant colors. The only reason I am not ordering from there is due to my preorder at BigBadToyStore

Megalopolis is at it again. I ordered the variant Battletoad enemies and it looks like I may end up fighting for a refund. Premium DNA has blocked me on Instagram and removed my comments. I've seen them remove other peoples' comments as well. They said on Instagram that the Porka Pigs and Rat Bones have shipped but that the shipping confirmations aren't popping and they are looking into it. I have an email saying they haven't shipped yet and are being prepped. Which is it guys?

Someone posted tonight thanking them and saying they got their order. A part of me wonders they're a dummy account to hype up Premium DNA or if they're a friend of the owner.

I knew they were sketchy but I thought there might be a chance of things going ok since it looks like they shipped the Madballs and Barnyard Commandos. Anyone else gamble here? You get tracking or anything?

Posted by: @flytaggart38

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Megalopolis is at it again. I ordered the variant Battletoad enemies and it looks like I may end up fighting for a refund. Premium DNA has blocked me on Instagram and removed my comments. I've seen them remove other peoples' comments as well. They said on Instagram that the Porka Pigs and Rat Bones have shipped but that the shipping confirmations aren't popping and they are looking into it. I have an email saying they haven't shipped yet and are being prepped. Which is it guys?

Someone posted tonight thanking them and saying they got their order. A part of me wonders they're a dummy account to hype up Premium DNA or if they're a friend of the owner.

I knew they were sketchy but I thought there might be a chance of things going ok since it looks like they shipped the Madballs and Barnyard Commandos. Anyone else gamble here? You get tracking or anything?

To be fair and/or balanced; I don't think confusion like this about shipping is all that unusual, especially for "newer" companies, or even just smaller companies. For whatever reason. One could fairly and balancedly argue that the Westovers should have MORE than enough shipping experience for this not to happen. I mean, they did occasionally ship out product from Mega before they just decided to collect money and not ship out product because that's easier and far less expensive. But either way I wouldn't say it's necessarily an indication that something bad or unethical is happening.

Even my beloved Boss Fight has occasionally sent me a shipping notice and then a day later sent me a 'packing it up' notice. So.. again, not necessarily cause for immediate alarm. That being said, it's not exactly professional (huge shocker there) for them to block and delete comments from customers unless those customers were being outright abusive. Without knowing what your comments were, I can't comment on that. But if they were innocuous 'where is my stuff?' kind of comments, then that's shady.
NOT necessarily because they're not shipping your product, but because it represents an attempt to hide potential problems and customer complaints about their practices. Deleting customer comments that aren't outright abuse or lies is never a good look.

So yeah - I wouldn't worry too much yet in terms of not getting the product you paid for. I don't think running a scam is in any way the intention being PDNA. And if Mega's fate (and the fate of Mega's customers and all their money) was simply due to monumental stupidity - then one would hope a lesson was learned and won't be repeated. However shady, stupid, or crooked those guys are, I do believe they want this to be a legitimate, successful toy company.

I know it's easy, given the history, to immediately work yourself up. I'd just caution you not to go down that road. At least not so quickly.

All that being said, I have -ZERO- sympathy for anyone that does end up getting fucked over by PDNA. If you buy from them, you do it knowing exactly who you're buying from and have no one to blame but yourself if it goes sideways. But that doesn't mean you should be seeing Shocker Toys in every shadow, as it were.

I think a word to the wise is not to buy directly from them if possible.

I see other people in all kinds of toy threads complain about getting shipping notices and then their packages don't actually move along for days or a week.  This isn't troublesome.  Stores/sellers generate shipping labels in anticipation of shipping an order.  It may take them some time to actually pull together the product or receive it (label could be generated shortly before stock actually arrives) and it may also take days for the shipping company to actually pick up the shipments.  Some small companies may only have shipping pick-ups on designated days.  Maybe even only once a week.  I think some collectors are just too antsy to get their goods.

Regarding PDNA.  Based on Megalopolis, I really don't want to do business with them.  That said, I did buy one of their Madballs figures via BBTS.  Pumpkin headed guy.  James Groman sculpted at least some of it, and I'm a fan of his.  Figure is decent.  Some joints, like the wrists, feel a bit too loose.  But I like it.  I will be tempted by their Mars Attacks figures, but I'm fearing those are going to be too costly to troop build in any significant quantity.  They're trying to pack in diorama bits with those figures to replicate the source artwork.  Unfortunately, I think that's going to make the figures too costly to get more than a couple.  Similar problems with Super7's Ultimates Mars Attacks being $55 each.  Just give me some stripped down Martians to army build.  I don't need bells and whistles.

@ashtalon Not buying directly from someone that has been problematic with delivery in the past is some of the best advice, for sure. Obviously I still think the ideal is not to support people that have proven they don't deserve it. But if feel like you really need to - at least do it in a way that protects yourself from as many potential issues as possible.

The problem with toy companies seeming to reverse engineer their pricing is a whole 'nother topic that cuts across at least a few different lines - Super7 definitely being the biggest offender, but certainly PDNA being a candidate for that list as well. "It's gotta cost a 'Premium price' so let's figure out how we justify that. Maybe throw in an extra accessory and some printed cardboard."

Great points from both of you.

I wasn't rude or offensive in my messages. I actually have screenshots of my messages (and some of the other posters who were deleted) in case I need them.  I totally understand shipping being a complicated mess but they are sending mixed messages and acting shady. I should also point out that they said they use Shipmonk for fulfillment and I was told by Shipmonk that they do not have Premium DNA as a client. It's entirely possible that they use a different name for their Shipmonk account, but the evidence is adding up that something is going on.

An update. I can see in USPS Informed delivery that I have a package on the way (just scanned in, no date yet) from Shipmonk in California. Looks like PDA may actually come through. If they had to ship these from Salt Lake City to California, that would certainly explain the long shipping times.

I’ve wound up passing on these so far but I was excited when first announced. I just don’t trust Megalopolis and if you buy them from BBTS you allegedly don’t get some exclusive accessories that only come if you buy direct from megalopolis.

To add more distrust, megalopolis released some limited edition glow in the dark skeletons for this line which are listed as 300 piece release. I was briefly excited that these limited toys were still available when I went on their site. 

Then I tried adding 1,000 to my cart to see if the page shows real time inventory. And sure enough, it let me add 1000 of the limited 300 worldwide total piece figures to my cart.

Months later, I check again today, same thing. So they’re either lying about how limited these are, or are going to scam payment until you dispute with your credit card company.

I need a Dark Queen and Pimple before I commit to these.

The reviews seem like they're pretty good, but I won't jump on board if there's gonna be glaring holes in the collection.