Well, this past weekend @ Wizard World Chicago ... I was so amped up for any and everything "Dark Knight" related, that I swung by the booth at Mattel to see if I could gather any information regarding the upcoming "Dark Knight" movie line. I spoke to two different Mattel reps, one being in creative and the other being in the public relations dept.
The info I recieved was extremely positive and encouraging. After hearing much response from the more adult oriented fans of the movie products (even though the BEGINS line was very successful), Mattel listened and will be releasing a 6 - 7 inch, highly detailed and poseable collector's line for the movie. The first lineup would include Batman in the 2 different suits seen in TDK, the Joker, Scarecrow and Two-Face. He said the figures would be highly detailed (more so than the 5 inch line) and would include even the most horrific of details from the movie characters (like Joker's scar). I then asked the gentleman if the collector's line was successful, whether they would continue it and make other characters from not only the current movie, but from BEGINS as well, for example: Ra's Al Ghul, Alfred, Jim Gordon, etc. The rep said they would definetely make other characters if the collector's line is indeed a hit amongst fans. So if you want more characters, you need to go out there and support the line.
He also touched based on the continuity of the 5 inch line, mainly aimed @ kids. He said they would be making figures of Batman in both his suits from the movie, they would have 2 different Joker's with completely different sculpts. I then asked him, being the 5 inch line is mainly aimed at kids, would the look be as grotesque as it is in the movie and like it he will be seen in the collector's line. He told me that it's about at 75% of what we'd see in the movie, or ont he collector's figure. He said the collector's one just shows more of what we will actually see, due to details / size, etc. He also said we'd get another Scarecrow in this line, and that we'd be recieving a movie Two-Face as well. He also told me there would many suprises in the line that he wasn't mentioning. For both the collector's and children. He said kind of think like the collector's edition Batman and Prototype suit Bruce Wayne. I then got another one of the Mattel rep's to further divuldge what he meant by that, and he only gave us one of the suprises ... a movie inspired by Firefly character figure. The bat-pod toy will be made in scale for the 5 inch figures, as that is the line aimed at kids because it's versatile in that it can include accessories and vehicles, etc. They also are working on playsets for the 5 inch line. All they had there was a TDK poster and post cards hyping up the movie and product, but the guys said they are almost done now with all the toys, but WB wouldn't let them show them at any of the trade shows that involve the public. I also asked how the process goes with the studio and the production of this merchandise. He told me the movie producers send them the designs, set pics, and even invite the Mattel people down while they actually film so they can entirely capture the essence. And before anything is released or goes into production stage, the studio (Nolan included) has to approve of the designs so that they are authentic. So you know it's good.
BTW, that collector's line of movie figures I mentioned ... it's being sculpted by some infamous toy group called the 4 horsemen ... errr, something like that.
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