The Dark Knight and Friends

The interesting thing about Mattel's new Batman Movie Masters line, is how it almost seems to be their way of admitting that the rest of the Batman product they've put out is less than special. This line is made up of some very basic, but very detailed and well built figures. They don't come equipped with jet-packs, or obnoxious weapons like many of the other Batman toys. And more importantly, they have the same if not better play value as all of those albatross equipped bat-figures.



I haven't seen any of the "chase" figures that have come out with these, and as hard as some of the villains had been to find at first, I suppose I'm just happy to have found what I have.

The Batman figure from The Dark Knight is a favorite of mine for the year. It's well sculpted, solid, and fun to pose or play with. It's everything that a kid or collector could want.



The Joker is a good figure. He suffers somewhat from an overly simplistic sculpt, but what we're given is done very well. Paint application is good, but the quality of paint detail to the face varies from figure to figure.



I didn't expect much from the Gotham Thug figure, and was surprised to find that it's probably a slightly better figure than The Joker. He has better articulation, which counts for a lot, but he also happens to stand and pose somewhat easier as well.



The Scarecrow is a weird figure that's honestly sort of boring given the film's design, but Mattel did a good job of rendering texture detail in the sculpt.



There is also a Batman Begins version of Batman out there, and though I was more than happy to have a version of this batsuit, the toy itself broke almost instantly. One (or maybe it was both) of the Batman's hands fell off as I pulled him from the packaging... which is honestly a serious disappointment.



In all it's a great line at a fair price, with most figures retailing for around ten dollars. I'd love to see a few more secondary characters like Alfred and Commissioner Gordon made before they decide to call it quits with this one, but as is, I'm more than happy with what they've given us so far.