Sandman isn’t likely to top many fans’ lists for favorite Spider-Man movie villain, but he does have an advantage over more popular villains like Doc Ock and Green Goblin in that he’s easy to package as a basic individual $25 action figure. And so, nearly two years after Spider-Man No Way Home hit theaters, the Hasbro 6” Marvel Legends Sandman No Way Home movie figure is now available. If you don’t have a Flint Marko in your collection, will this MCU Sandman sufficiently fill that void in your life?

Sandman definitely felt like a second-fiddle to Venom afterthought in Spider-Man 3, but Sony decided to do justice to Flint Marko in Spider-Msn No Way Home despite actor Thomas Haden Church being unable to reprise his role in person.

Sandman wasn’t necessarily the top choice of fans, but he was a (relatively) easy figure to pop into the basic packaging for the $25 Spider-Man Legends No Way Home series, and now Hasbro’s second 6” scale movie Sandman (Hasbro previously released a wild shape-shifted sand form Sandman Build-A-Figure in 2007) has arrived.

I like action figures that portray super humans demonstrating their powers, so I was already a bit biased toward this ML Sandman figure in his transformed sandy form. Luckily, the toy itself is actually quite good, validating my preconceived like for it.

While Hasbro has reused a plethora of tooling in 2023 (some to better effect than others), they clearly invested a lot into new parts for this NWH Sandman. The figure has an awesome bumpy sculpted texture that really visually drives home that Flint is a man made of sand. The textured sculpt and paint shading look outstanding to me and really add intrigue to a figure that could have looked quite plain.

Hasbro would automatically get a bit of leeway on the likeness of this figure since Sandman was a CGI construct in the movie anyway, but I think the portrait is very nice regardless. I can definitely see the actor resemblance, which is more than I can say for a huge swath of Hasbro MCU Legends.

There’s nothing too crazy going on here as far as the sand form goes, but I think that’s fine giving the immensely dynamic nature of the 2007 Sandman BAF.

The accessories for Sandman include three pairs of swap out hands and a pair of attachable forearm thickeners. There’s normal sized sand fists, normal sized open sand hands and enlarged open sand hands to pick from.

Personally, I think the enlarged sand hands are a tremendous amount of fun, either with both in use or one mixed with a normal sized hand. These are just so cool to pose reaching out for a Spidey to clutch.

The articulation set is fully pin-less and works great. A swivel waist would have helped with posing, but not having that extra seam really does improve the aesthetic of this cool looking toy. The complete articulation scheme includes:

—Ball-Jointed Head, Hips and Upper Torso
—Ball-Hinge Shoulders
—Swivel-Hinge Wrists
—Double Hinge Knees and Elbows
—Swivel Biceps and Thighs
—Hinged Feet with Ankle Rockers

All of the joints have a solid range of motion except the hips, which have poor backwards range. That’s not a big issue for this character, but I’ll complain about it plenty when I get to my Tom Holland review. As a whole I think the articulation provides all the posing possibilities most collectors will want.

Overall: While it’s not the most aesthetically thrilling toy Hasbro has released in 2023, this action figure still does right by the No Way Home Sandman seen on-screen. Seamless joints, several swap out hands, well-textured new tooling… this is a real good (if not a little plain) figure. Some more sand effects like an enlarged fist or Sandy “feet mounds” would have perfected this Sandman, but I like him worlds better than I expected even without those extras. Almost certainly my favorite figure in the Spider-Man NWH wave.

GRADE: A