Mattel Recalls Dark Knight, DC Universe, Speed Racer, + more

Posted in Action Figure Chatter

Just in time for Dark Knight, Mattel blows it big-time for kids and action figure fans around the world!

Lame Personal Back Story: I had been curious since I first spotted the Dark Knight figs as to why the Movie Masters Joker was nowhere to be found, and in my area [Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale & North Miami] only Wal-Mart had the Movie Masters figs, while everyone else [TRU, KayBee, Target, Kmart etc] only had the crappy, worthless cartoonish figs with the typical crappy batman variations and a boring joker. I thought some comic-store guy's had raped the shelves and I was probably right, but then as time went by the movie masters figs vanished all together and no one had them at all. But I kept reading of people finding them and saw more show up on ebay. I thought maybe I just had terrible luck and my area just had a poor selection or ... something, I dunno! I was waiting for another shipment to come but it never came. It just didn't make sense. DK was lining up to be one of the biggest movies of the year if not ever and the movie figs were gone with no more on the way!

The Deal: Then I hear rumors of a recall. A recall?? Certainly if there was lead in the paint of the action figures for the biggest movie of all time it'd make the news or dirt sheets or the underground.. somethin! Then the terrible news hits: [ I have a link but I'm not allowed to post it ]

"Mattel is withdrawing certain limited products from retailer shelves worldwide. While these products meet with applicable local standards, the products do not meet Mattel internal specifications. Because these toys are safe, it is not necessary for us to "recall" them from the market. To confirm, no U.S. standards have been violated and no recall under federal law is warranted.

Though an exact list of the items being withdrawn by Mattel was not available, Dan did tell me that all products that were planned to be in Mattel's lines for ’08 will still be on store shelves…nothing is being dropped from this incident."

WTF does that even MEAN?! Since when does MATTEL have quality standards?! TRU offered this, the closest thing to a complete list yet available:
DC Superheroes
The Batman Shadow Tek figures
DK Movie Masters
5" DK Movie 4 pack
DK Batman on Batcycle
and Batman Begins 4.75 figures YES! Batman Begins!
ALL PULLED FROM THE PEGS
Speed Racer and Kung Fu Panda

So Mattel's idea of quality standards is to release these figs, for likely one of the most popular movies of all time, where one of the leading actors tragically died creating a higher demand for the products, just long enough for scalpers to get them and stick them on ebay, then remove them from shelves just before the movie si released, so now anyone, collector, admirer, kid, parent or anxious fan, has no information when the shelves will be restocked and is FORCED to pay scalper's prices on auction sites?? Obviously mattel's standard of quality is LOW.

As a Batman, action figure and Batman action figure fan, this is the worst senario. The figs are recalled, gone, with only a vague explanation and no clue as to when or what will be returned to shelves. I was just getting into 'The Batman' cartoon, too! [those are the shadow tek figs] I actually spent today hunting those down in Walgreens, of all places, before I read this! It's insanity! Between stores not carrying them in my area, jerks buying out all the Jokers and sticking them on ebay and this recall, it's like a force in the universe is keeping these figs out of my hands!