“Peter, it's me. Flint Marko. Do you remember?”
The 2021 release of Spider-Man: No Way Home was shrouded in a lot of secrecy ahead of its release due to the number of returning characters that appeared in the movie as cameos, or as key characters. This meant that Hasbro was a little restricted by the Marvel Legends releases to coincide with the December release to a figure of Doctor Strange and two versions of Spider-Man himself, both as seen in the trailers. Following the movie, there was a huge clamoring for many more figures from the movie and it has taken a full 2 years to finally bring the next batch of Spider-Man: No Way Home figures to store shelves.
The Marvel Legends ‘No Way Home’ wave is dedicated to movie figures and goes down a similar track as the Across the Spiderverse releases by packing the figures onto blister cards and doing away with a build-a-figure option. The cards themselves are beautiful featuring a deep blue Spider-Suit-inspired backing overlaid with a bright gold panel that acts as the backing colour for the figure in its blister as well as depicting scenes from No Way Home with the three Peter Parkers. The movie logo sits above the blister while the Marvel Legends logo as well as the character name sits bottom left. Round the back is a repeat of the image of the three Peters, expanded now to show them on the scaffold of the Statue of Liberty and headed by the movie logo as though it were a movie poster. The standard Marvel Legends principle of a short character overview is then listed to the left of the card back. The decision to card this wave does mean there is no way of opening the figures without damaging the packaging in some way.
Sandman did not come over well in the promo images for this wave, but in hand, I am pleased to say he is much more impressive. The figure is a full new sculpt and this is done so with a sand texture throughout including what can best be described as ‘absorbing’ sand at the side of both feet. The base colour is of course a sandy brown, the whole figure cast in the same colour. Definition, depth, and weathering are achieved by the use of at least two further brown tones applied around key areas of body definition such as the chest, stomach, legs, and arms - this doesn’t extend fully to the rear of the figure. The lack of a defined waist is what threw me about the promo images, it is still something that doesn’t quite look right and a waist cut joint may have helped.
The head sculpt is impressive and a strong likeness to the CGI recreation of actor Thomas Haden Church from No Way Home. The face uses the same sand texture as the body, so much so that it is unlikely this can or will be repainted to a flesh tone for a Flint Marko release. The depth of sculpt, and the applied shading, gives definition to the eyes and to that prominent eyebrow ridge, as well as around the nose and mouth.
Sandman is a fully pinless body and is articulated across 18 points. The knees and elbows remain double-jointed and he also retains the thigh swivel which is being phased on on some of Hasbro’s other lines. As we’ve mentioned, there is no waist cut - only a torso ball joint - and there is also only a single neck joint although that works better aesthetically considering there is no collar. There are no obvious butterfly shoulders, but these are not missed. Sandman is very easy to pose with no encumbering parts that restrict movement. He can sit, kneel, crouch, and extend his arms in nearly every direction.
The arm movement is perhaps the critical element of the figure as the accessories are all themed around his use of his powers to create weapons from his body. The figure comes with a pair of clenched fists and a second pair of open, gripping hands. The real winners though are the two enormous hands supported by a wrist overlay that bridges the gap between the slimmer forearms and the exaggerated hands. The engineering is flawless and the hands and forearm pieces all swap in and out without a hitch. Both of these larger hands are sculpted in an open grip, a part of me would have perhaps also wanted to see a clenched fist version.
Doing a fully sand-coloured Sandman - as per No Way Home - was a brave decision for Hasbro when something more aligned to the comic book releases of Flint Marko may have been an option basing the figure more around the Spider-Man 3 appearance than the CGI No Way Home look. This execution won’t please everyone particularly as Sandman is essentially a naked figure complete with sculpted abs, and buttocks. The sculpting itself is to a good standard, as is the sand texture finish and the paintwork. The head sculpt is glorious and the swap out hand parts are fun. I do however wonder what a Deluxe version would have given us in terms of display options to make Flint more menacing. The packaging change away from the classic Legends boxes isn’t too much of a big deal as the MCU releases have always fluctuated in places. The lack of a BAF will also drive disparity in shopping, with many focusing on the three Peter Parker releases and most likely leaving other characters to peg warm - including a BAF of someone like Lizard would have perhaps smoothed out the sales. Sandman, in my opinion, is a recommended purchase in so much that he is unlikely to get any do-overs any time soon and is a key part of building up the No Way Home collection of villains alongside the incoming releases of Goblin and Doc Ock. We just have to hope Hasbro can complete the set and bring us Lizard and Electro to finish the collection.
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About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...