The Hasbro Toy Shop San Diego Comic-Con 2016 exclusives online sale came and went earlier this month–and to the surprise of everyone, the Marvel Legends The Raft set was easily available for hours without a hitch! If you missed it, don’t despair–there are plenty available of The Raft set on the aftermarket for around MSRP! Anyway, although most collectors who wanted The Raft have purchased it already, there’s one more figure from the set I want to review: Marvel Legends Sandman in his sand form!

The Right:

This year’s SDCC Exclusive The Raft Marvel Legends set is unique in that it includes not one, but two figures that would ordinarily be Build-A-Figures. The first was the outstanding Abomination figure I reviewed earlier in the week, and the second in the Marvel Legends Sandman figure I’m reviewing today.

While the Sandman isn’t nearly as impressive as Abomination (in my opinion), I still think he’s a unique and underrated part of this box set.

When I reviewed the Marvel Legends Absorbing Man figure earlier this year (whose mold is reused for Sandman), I wasn’t pleased with the scale on Crusher Creel–I thought he was just plain too tall and out-of-scale.

Luckily, that’s not a problem with Sandman. Flint Marko (AKA William Baker) can manipulate his body to basically any size and shape, so him being a bit large while in sand form isn’t an issue–in fact, it just makes him look cooler while battling Spider-Man.

In addition, the “pants and boots” molds are an ideal match for Sandman, and the fist on the left arm is also perfect. This mold works so well (for the most part), you’d think Hasbro made it with Sandman in mind (which they probably did)!

There’s one part of this figure that’s a 100% new mold, and that’s the Flint Marko head. The textured “rows” of hair atop Sandman’s head look fantastic, and I adore the lip-curled scowl on his face.

The “whited-out” eyes with no pupils work great for a powered-up Sandman figure, and I even like the shape of his arched eyebrows. The head may be the only new part of this figure, but at least it’s a fantastic one!

The articulation on the Raft Sandman Marvel Legends figure isn’t perfect, but it’s still extremely strong and includes a ball-jointed head, upper torso an crunch, swivel waist, ball-hinge shoulders, single-jointed elbows, ball-hinge wrists and hips, double-jointed knees, and ball-hinged feet with ankle rockers.

Double-jointed elbows and a ball-jointed upper torso would put the articulation here over the top, but as it is, Sandman’s articulation scheme is already quite solid.

The Wrong:

I could be a real punk and complain about how most dry sand isn’t ordinarily the dark colors of this Sandman action figure, but I’m not going to be that much of a jerk–the colors are a lot of fun and look comic-accurate, and that’s good enough for me.

What’s not good enough for me, however, is the lack of accessories for this figure–namely, some sort of interchangeable sand arms.

While Absorbing Man’s mold works fine here for the most part, his right arm with grasping hand (for holding his wrecking ball) doesn’t make sense for Sandman. In fact, the fact that Sandman is in sand form and has no sand weaponized limbs doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.

I have very little doubt that Hasbro is developing alternate arms for a future normal-colored released of a Sandman Build-A-Figure in 2017, but for now, the fun and posing opportunities for this figure are limited by the lack of new parts on this figure (beyond the head).

Overall: My heart wasn’t exactly aflutter with delight when this sand-form Sandman Marvel Legends figure was announced, but it turns out that I like him quite a bit. The sand colors are actually really fun, the height doesn’t seem out of place on a shapeshifter, and the new Flint Marko head sculpt is a nice one.

The posing options for this Sandman figure are sadly limited at the moment, but hopefully the inevitable regular Marvel Legends Sandman Build-A-Figure will remedy that situation. As it is, this is a perfectly solid figure that can only get better with future accessory additions.

GRADE: B