One of the surprise “hot” Hasbro figures of 2015 has been the 6″ Marvel Legends Chameleon figure from the second Spider-Man wave of the year. Given how well-received by collectors and difficult to find in stores that figure is, I had high expectations for the Marvel Infinite Series Chameleon 4″ figure and immediately bust it open when I received my 2015 Marvel Infinite Series Wave 3 set from EE. Unfortunately, despite how “right” the Marvel Legends version was, this Chameleon figure is a bit of a dud in comparison…

The Right:

For whatever reason, Spider-Man’s rogues gallery largely got the shaft during the span of the Hasbro Marvel Universe line. Thankfully, Hasbro has been rectifying this by including classic villains such as Sandman, Vulture and Doc Ock  in this year’s 3 3/4″ Marvel Infinite Series lineup.

And now, we can finally add the very first super-villain Spidey ever faced off against to the list with this 4″ Chameleon action figure! Character selection thumbs up.

The standard Chameleon head looks pretty decent. It’s not quite as detailed as the 6″ portrait, but it obviously would be unfair to expect it to be. This version has a bit more a “Lord Voldemort” feel to it than its larger counterpart, but I still think it’s a good Chameleon head overall.

The most fun feature of the Spider-Man Legends Chameleon figure was his two bonus interchangeable heads (J. Jonah Jameson and Hammerhead in that case), and that remains true with this smaller version of the character.

You get two extra heads with Marvel Infinite Series Chameleon: a Norman Osborn head and a weird Chameleon-ized Spider-Man head. While the Osborn head is a bit dead-eyed, Hasbro got the “flame-grilled” stripes texture of Norman’s hair right, and I honestly think this figure looks best when sporting the Norman Osborn portrait.

It took me a little while to warm up to the “Spider-Man” head, but eventually it grew on me as well. While Chameleon won’t be fooling many people with his own mask painted over in Spidey’s colors, it’s still a fun look and a clever addition.

The Wrong:

Unfortunately, this action figure is riddled with problems despite the coolness factor of being a head-changing saboteur villain.

First and foremost, it really limits the fun you can have with an action figure when there are virtually no fun poses you can do with it. Due to restrictions caused by the suit, the forward-and-back range of motion on Chameleon’s legs is so poor that other than wiggling them back and forth, they literally don’t move at all.

His side-to-side leg movement is slightly better in that you can open his legs to about a 45 degree angle, but overall his lower body articulation is terrible. See that photo above? That’s literally as far as Chameleon’s legs can be posed apart from each other. I’m not asking for Chameleon to bust out Chun Li’s Spinning Bird Kick or anything–I just want a reasonable range of motion, and I don’t get one here.

The upper-body articulation doesn’t fare much better–there’s no swivel waist or upper torso ab crunch of any kind, and the ball-jointed heads have a surprisingly small range of motion.

And speaking of the heads–which are the best part of this figure–the Chameleon and Spider-Man heads both look like undersized pinheads on the bulky, suited body. As a result, the Norman Osborn head looks most natural on this figure (though I don’t think Norman would actually wear this style of suit).

The suit itself is straight-up inferior-looking to the awesome suit on the 6″ Legends version. There’s no tie and no belt this time out, and the musclebound upper body looks like it belongs to a UFC Fighter like Brock Lesnar and not just “some guy” who doesn’t want to stand out in a crowd.

But wait–maybe Chameleon’s weapons and accessories save this figure? After all, the Marvel Legends 6″ Chameleon came with three cool guns on top of his extra heads and Rhino Build-A-Figure part.

Well… no. Chameleon has absolutely no accessories other than his two alternate heads. No guns, nothing. He has two grasping hands, but nothing to hold with them, meaning this figure has no offensive abilities of any kind–not even a closed fist! He looks pretty good if you steal Deadpool’s pistol for him, but I shouldn’t have to cannibalize other toys to accessorize my $13 G.I. Joe-sized action figures.

For $20, the Legends Chameleon felt like an outstanding deal due to the great articulation and tons of accessories. In comparison, this ~$13 Chameleon Infinite Series figure feels flimsy, disproportionate and poorly-articulated.

Overall: This Hasbro Chameleon figure is outright disappointing in almost every way. Two of his heads are undersized, his leg articulation is almost non-existent, his body proportions look unrealistic and he has two grasping hands but nothing to grasp. I appreciate the bonus Norman Osborne and “Spider-Man” heads, but this figure’s look is pretty bad and his playability is even worse. Below average.

GRADE: D