Welcome to Day 4 of Dark Knight Week here at Figures and More. We are counting down to the release of The Dark Knight in theaters on Friday, July 18th. Today, we being to focus on the tie-in action figures. Today, we focus on the last figure line to hit store shelves: the 4″ line. They are being marketed and accessible to everyone and able to be taken anywhere. But, in a sea of merchandise, should there be a place for them in you collection? Read on and find out.

Mattel has the master Toy License for The Dark Knight and has developed an comprehensive and varied product line reaching across several different scales. There are three main scales to the line: 4″, 5″ amd 6″. The 4″ and 5″ lines echo the movie costumes, but are not absolutely accurate. These lines are aimed at Children and the Mass Retail market and feature a softening of some of the not-so kid friendy elements of the film; the Joker’s face, for example. The 4″ and 5″ lines also include the seemingly endless variations of Batman which Mattel has been famous for. The 6″ line, also known as the “Movie Masters” line, is designed for the Collector Market and features movie accurate depections of the major character, including Heath Ledger’s truly frightening Joker face. The 4″ and 5″ line also feature vehicles and playsets. Today, I will be reviewing the 4″ line. For purposes of review, I will be reviewing one of the 4″ figure two-packs and the 4″ scale Tumbler (also known as the Batmobile). I should note that this line has only been seen at Target stores. The two pack I will be reviewing is Batman (in the Dark Knight suit) and The Joker.

We’ll start with the figures. These figures are scaled down versions of the 5″ figures. They lack the elbow joints fo their 5″ counterparts, but have the knee joints and the exact same sculpting. That means that the Joker face does not resemble Heath Ledger, but is rather an “animated-style” amalgam of the cartoon and movie looks. My biggest complaint about this line is that they don’t come with any accessories. This is unacceptable if Mattel wants to enter the 3.75″ market. Hasbro, which are the undisputed masters of this scale, manages to include several scale accessories with both their Star Wars and G.I. Joe figure lines. Mattel must do the same if they hope to succedd at this scale. They also must include elbow joints. Without elbows and accessories, these are just average figures.

The 4″ Dark Knight figures from Mattel get 3 missing Batarangs out of 5.

Now, on to the Batmobile. The Tumbler is faithfully recreated to be in scale with the 4″ figure line. It looks exactly like the movie vehicle and moves very well. Unlike the 5″ version, which will be reveiwed tomorrow, this version does not come with the Batpod. It does not fire missile either. However, you can put any of the 4″ figures in the cockpit of the Batmobile. It’s actually a really well done version of the Batmobile and if you need to save space, it is definitely the ideal version for you.

The 4″ Scale Batmobile gets 4 booster rockets out of 5.

Tomorrow, our reviews of the figure line continue with the main line, the 5″ scale and the highly anticipated, “shrouded in secrecy” Stealth Launch Batmobile.