Official solicit:

The Dark Knight Movie Masters Batman

Inspired by the timeless DC comics, the Legends of the Dark Knight 7 inch scale action figure collection feature the dark superhero as he has never been seen before, with highly dynamic poses and articulation. Collect them all, each sold seperately.

Experience the denizens of Gotham City in all their heroic or hideous glory with Movie Masters figures. These highly detailed figures give you an up-close-and-personal look at the freakish make-up of the Joker and his Gotham City Thug and Batman’s suit, all from The Dark Knight movie.

May 2008
MSRP 10.99USD

It’s been a few months since the arrival and my review of the Movie Masters Joker figure, and finally I’m going to get around to reviewing Joker’s counterpart, Batman. Thanks in part to the fact the figures were unexplainably recalled from shelves by Mattel and unavailable anywhere for about a 6 weeks, and then made doubly difficult because of how poor Mattel’s distribution of their figures have been lately - from the Batman toys all the way to their DC Universe line as well. And even if you could find a store that carried Movie Masters figures, you’re only going to see 2-3 at a time. That’s assuming you get to them before the scalpers grabbed them all to sell on ebay too, sales of which for the Joker figure and chase variant Batman with Bruce Wayne head were going for as high as a 70-80 bucks each. WOW.

Now that the movie is out, the frenzy to get these figures is just as high, but at least now we’re actually getting to see them on shelves more. Not that I think Mattel has done a better job of distribution, or supplying orders, but I think the scalpers have lost their steam some, as people aren’t willing to pay that much for these figures anymore. And also, since May, most people who already wanted the toys pretty much got them already from alternate sources - be it ordering from distributors like Entertainment Earth or Big Bad Toy Store or just getting lucky on ebay auctions without having to pay top dollar for them.

Luckily for me, as is the usual lately with the toy reviews here at Murdershow, I had the help of my syndicate of agents across the country, willing to track down all these hard-to-find toys and purchase them for me, to mail directly to Murdershow HQ. You know, kinda like The Shadow, only with a better profile

Which brings us right to the review.

In package, roughly the same packaging as the Joker figure, we get a shot of Batman with his “crime scene evidence” which is a Batman mask, and of course the plastic bag to store it in too. Back of the card features a shot of Batman in his full glory, and out of card we get a shot of Batman in his bubble.

Noticeable off card are the first of the two major flaws I had with not only the Movie Masters line, but almost every DC character I’ve bought recently - no accessories. Joker at least came with the little shaving blade, but Batman here comes with NOTHING. Even though he has hands which were molded as able to hold something, but he’s just got nothing to grab. Given all the gadgets Batman is seen using during the course of The Dark Knight, this seems almost inexcusable for a figure of this detail, price and intention towards a more collector based market (vs the kiddier line of Dark Knight toys on the shelves which come with TONS of accessories each) to have nothing. What was the planning behind that move?

BOO.

Finally, the second flaw, as with the Joker figure - the stench. The rubber used for these figures, which I have mentioned elsewhere as feeling softer, maybe even cheaper, also puts off an insanely toxic aroma. Imagine the most rubberized smell you’ve ever gotten from a cheap Halloween mask, and multiply that by about a hundred, and you’ll get an idea of how bad these stink. Even left out of package for a few weeks the Joker’s stench never went away, it got a little less localized, but that might be even more scary when you think about it too…

Out of bubble and off card, we get Batman in all his glory. And he is great to look at, besides the 2 previously mentioned flaws. The detail captured in all the small bits of the suit is really impressive, the sculpt (as done by the Four Horsemen studios) of this figure is especially amazing. And unlike my complaint with the Joker figure about not looking much like Heath Ledger, Batman here does bear a striking resemblance to Christian Bale. At least around the mouth and chin, which is really the most important place for the accuracy to occur!

Standing at about 6 and 1/4th inches tall, and featuring around 21 points of articulation, Batman as an action figure is truly that, capable of lots of action! His head, shoulders and waist all feature a full range of motion, the same range of motion as all the DC Classic figures as well actually.

And although his cape is made of rubber instead of some kind of cloth, and incapable of taking on any other shape than the one it’s molded into, it still looks good as is. That said, it woulda been nice to allow some change or adaptability with the cape, since in the movie Batman uses the cape to glide around the cityscapes in a bat-shape so much, yeah?

Up close, we can really get a view of and appreciate the details in the mold. Sure, given how toys are made and cast, the sculpt for this figure was possibly 2-3 times larger than the final product, which means it was around the 12 inch range. Even knowing that doesn’t take away any of the magic of how great the details are at all though.

In the above right pic we can see another flaw due to the materials, (although there were actually 2 instances of this on the figure, the other being at right knee) where the cheaper rubber while sitting in package for so long, took on it’s squished form permanently. The spikes on the back of his gloves are kinda mushed and out of form, and will probably never take on the proper shape they were supposed to have again, no matter how much you push them back into place etc. Kind of annoying, and even in the knee, it still doesn’t ruin the figure per se - but it seems like it could have been an avoidable issue by using a more rigid plastic on joint pieces and the peripheral additions of the figure like the glove spikes or his utility belt too.

Another thing I have noticed with this particular figure, as opposed to the Joker, is how tight the joints are. In contrast too to how flimsy the rubber the figure is made from. I actually have to loosen up all the moving parts to get him to move, because they almost felt glued together, or melted together and

Well huh. Wow.

Never had that happen before, certainly never DURING a review photoshoot.

Batman snapped in half, only moments after coming out of package. As I said before, he was really tight at all his joints, elbows, knees etc, and the waist as well. Once you moved the area, it was fine, like an old man getting out of bed in the morning, he just needed to be loosened up. It seems however that the waist joint was just not going to budge at all though, so SNAP.

How very frustrating all in all, which just leads this from what would have been a good review of a toy, to now being a bad review of a company. Prepare for a rant.

Mattel has no online presence to speak of, sans the only just launched and painfully amateurish “mattycollector.com” website - which as of now features only 1 item for sale (with 3 items listed as coming soon, and 3 items completely sold out) - ONE! Mattel, one of the largest, oldest toy-makers in the world, and as of 2008 have barely even taken advantage of the age of the internet. No online shop to purchase Barbie, or Cars, or DC figures, or any of the various line of products they serve. Nada. Nothing. ZIP!

How embarrassing.

And given the troubles Mattel has had in recent times with the lead paint issues, and things like the Bratz lawsuit, you’d think they’d have a much clearer plan as a whole for getting their company back on track. But as of yet, I can say as a consumer and someone mildly associated with the toy industry as a whole, I see no proof that this is going to change.

A Mattel rep recently said in an interview with AFI that the mattycollector.com website wasn’t even going to be a place to purchase line-wide toys and “for now” simply used as a specialty/collector front - which as I stated above, is pathetically non-existent right now anyways. What is the arbitrary logic in that? Only offering some (and hardly even any of that) of your product for sale - why make it so difficult for your customer base to acquire your product??

Further included difficulty has been in even finding to purchase so many of their toys in brick and mortar stores, especially their DC Universe figures, which for many fans have been non-existant on shelves (see this 35 page thread over at tfw2005.com’s website about many fans difficulties even SEEING these figures), but are very soon going to become Walmart exclusives. Which then essentially means I personally will never see nor purchase them - as I don’t give my money to Wally World - sorry. And I know more than a few collectors who feel the same way, so good job limiting your sales even more Mattel.

It’s just baffling to me how backwards all of this seems.

Meanwhile a company like Hasbro continues to turn great profits, it’s no wonder to me either. The ease and simplicity of Harbro’s website - hasbrotoyshop.com - which features a nearly full online catalogue of their products, from toys to games and everything in-between, Mattel could really take a note from that. Assuming they want to stay in the game and remain viable and competitive in the toy industry. And industry that now features such upstarts as Mezco, NECA, and even Shocker Toys, all ready and willing to step in and fill the niche Mattel clearly has no interest in maintaining.

The only shining light in all of this, given my utter disgust with the situation and Mattel too, was how helpful their actual customer service was when I contacted the company about this. I don’t know if I got special treatment because of who I am (the Murdershow name carries weight, kids!), and while they were completely unable to offer me an exchange of the figure itself (I was told they don’t even have a stock of them anymore - which I sort of took the meaning of in a few different ways - if anyone has ever been to a Ross or TJ Maxx, you’ll understand), but I was offered a full refund voucher - which I gladly took. So it was pretty awesome of them for sure, even though the figure I searched 2 months for broke IMMEDIATELY out of package, and yeah, I got a 12 dollar voucher to purchase any Mattel toy I want with - the real question is, will I even be able to use it though?

As of yet, a week plus since the figure broke and I spoke with Mattel, I have yet to see either any of the Movie Masters line in stores OR any of the DC Universe figures either. All I know is I had better hurry if I want to use it, the voucher expires in November. And given the cost of gas, and the fact I am going to have to search high and low through many stores just to MAYBE actually see any of their products I can buy, sadly I’ll have definitely spent well more than the initial 12 dollars when all is said and done.

And I still might not even have the figure I want.

Just disgusting.