REVIEW: Hasbro's SPIDER-MAN "SANDMAN SERIES"

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When the Marvel brand switched over from Toy Biz to Hasbro, many fans, myself included, cringed, almost knowing entirely how the future of the line was going to be handled. The worst crime was the debut of Spider-Man 3 action figures earlier this summer when the scale we were all used to was taken away. Why was Hasbro selling smaller Spider-Man 3 toys? Did they not realize that they just alienated an entire legion of fans and collectors?

After a few months, Hasbro announced that they had heard our requests for a movie line in the Marvel Legends scale. They also promised that they would deliver by the end of the year and here they are – just in time for the holidays!

But did Hasbro really deliver the goods?

Of the eight figures in this collection, three of them are reissues -- Green Goblin, Doc Ock, and Spider-Man.

1. Mary Jane (new)

2. New Goblin (new)

3. Doc Ock (old)

4. Green Goblin (old)

5. Spider-Man (old)

6. Sandman (new)

7. Black-Suited Spider-Man (new)

8. Venom (new)

Now imagine that you already had the previous figures but bought them anyway just so you could build the giant Sandman figure. You will ultimately regret that decision.

For simplicity’s sake, I have left the older figures off of the review. Instead we will focus on the new offerings.

PACKAGING: The card and bubble are now very similar in design to the Marvel Legends series, but focus on the Spider-Man trilogy. I you like that style of packaging then you’ll be satisfied with this.

The card features graphics front and back of the character along with a short bio and stats. The card also shows the Sandman build-a-figure along with each of the other figures you’ll need to complete the collection. Packaging does the trick very well for a mass produced toy.

SCULPT: The sculpts of these Marvel heroes are a hit and miss.

New Goblin actually looks good, but that’s because he’s hidden behind a mask. The rest of his outfit looks alright too.

Black-Suited Spider-Man doesn’t look nearly as good as the Spidey released for the second movie. All Hasbro needed to do was repaint that figure, tweak the spidey symbol and that’s it. Instead, black-suited Spider-Man is an all new sculpt, but very pathetic in comparison. Either his arms are too short or his legs are too long. There’s just a lot not right about this figure.

Sandman vaguely resembles his film version, but it’s not quite there. Here’s a figure of a very sad looking guy with a spikey ball right hand and a huge fisted left hand. Where’s a normal Sandman? Those would make for great add-ons, but I’d like to see a basic figure too.

Venom looks good, but doesn’t look anything like he should from the film. This is how Venom looked in our minds when we were picturing a comic book bad guy translated to the big screen. This isn’t quite the Eddie Brock Venom I was hoping to get.

And lastly, Mary Jane Watson looks surprisingly decent. It’s not the best likeness of her (Toy Biz did a better job for the first film), but for Hasbro, this is actually the best figure of a Kirsten Dunst likeness they’ve done. Mary Jane is also generic enough that you can use her for your recreation of Crazy/Beautiful or some other movie she’s in.

PAINT: Paint is clean, but highly lacking. It’s the reason why these toys appear cheap -- there really isn’t much paint at all, just colored plastic. Venom and Black-Suited Spider-Man both have some painted webbing work, but it’s a hit and miss. My Venom has some major unpainted lines on his spider symbol, which is pretty disappointing. The inside of his mouth and his tongue are also one color, which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

Mary Jane would look better if she had a wash of some sort. Her hair is just a glob of orange and her dress is just a glob of brown. Skin tones are also a major issue, with Mary Jane and Sandman looking extremely pale.

ARTICULATION: Articulation is an area that is at least halfway decent with these figures, but there’s still a lot to be desired.

Let’s start with New Goblin. He features a lot of strong articulation that harkens back to the Toy Biz days, which is a major plus. But unfortunately, for a character that requires extreme posing on his board, he still lacks some of the major points that allow him the ability to look up. Nor does he have the articulation in his abs to help him get in those really crouchy poses. All together, New Goblin has a decent 28 or so points of articulation.

Mary Jane, a simple figure, has about 22+ points of articulation. She’s more articulated than one would expect from her, but her dress severely limits her leg articulation.

Sandman has about 23 points of articulation, which is pretty close to the standard points of Mary Jane. Nothing special here.

Venom also has about 28+ joints. These numbers were impressive when the very first Spider-Man Classics line made its debut, but they’re pretty disappointing now.

Black-Suited Spider-Man has a whopping 27 points of articulation. For being Spider-Man, that’s extremely low since Spider-Man 2 Spidey had FORTY SEVEN points of articulation! That’s twenty points of extra articulation. Granted there are some folks who don’t want that many points of articulation, but I’m sure there are some points that you would definitely like to have put in. I can’t even pose my Black Spidey in the famous poses he’s known for. He can stand around and shoot his web but that’s it. No, scratch that. He can’t shoot his web because he can’t even put his hands into the right pose to do that.

ACCESSORIES: Aside from the packaging, I’ve been pretty disappointed in every category so far. Accessories continue to disappoint. Each figure does come with a piece of the build-a-figure Sandman, so we won’t count that as an accessory. Let’s start with the “winners”.

New Goblin comes with his hover board contraption and a sword. But that’s it. The board isn’t even painted correctly, nor does it have any fun gizmos with blades that pop in and out. It’s as good as a Happy Meal Toy.

What would have been nice would be some Pumpkin Bombs, a REMOVABLE MASK, and any number of fancy gizmos he uses in the film. How about a transparent display stand to prop the figure up so it appears as if he’s floating, just like the original Green Goblin figure?

Mary Jane is also a “winner” since she comes with a base and a piece of wood. I suppose I should be happy she comes with anything at all, but for a generic girlfriend figure, how about a handbag or something?

Black-Suited Spider-Man has an accessory! It’s... some circular web thingie. It plugs into the palm of his hand. It doesn’t shoot. It just stays where it is. It’s an awful accessory.

Venom comes with nothing and Sandman comes with nothing. Venom I can understand, but Sandman? Come on, Hasbro! This guy should be the most fun figure in the entire collection. Alternate hands! Alternate body! Alternate feet!! The possibilities are endless. It would have also been great to have a normal armed Sandman with some money bags to steal.

BUILD-A-FIGURE: This series is titled the "SANDMAN SERIES" for a reason, as each figure comes with a piece, torso, head, leg, arm, whatever, to build a larger scale Sandman figure. In the past we have seen incredible figures like Galactus, Sentinel, Apocalypse, and Giant Man. They've gotten smaller since then, with build-a-figures like Modok, Mojo, or Blob. But those figures were at least good, solid characters with decent sculpts, articulation, etc.

This is the first time we're getting a build-a-figure for a movie related figure, so I should be really excited,right? Unfortunately, I was unable to convince myself to buying three figures that I already own for the sake of building Sandman. And from the photos I've seen, I don't believe I'm missing anything. The pieces I do have snap together and what you'll end up with is a figure with very limited articulation, forever staged in a swirling sandstorm.

In the past I was able to be suckered into buying characters I care nothing about in order to build an amazing figure. This time, Hasbro provided no such thing. My apologies to everyone wanting a review of the giant Sandman.

VALUE: These figures will cost you $10 each.

OVERALL: In all of my years of collecting Marvel figures, I’ve never been more disappointed by a line of toys. This was a complete waste of my money and not worth my time. If I could return them, I absolutely would.

Even if you want figures from Spider-Man 3 to go with the rest of your movie collection, I would still advise against it. The quality isn’t there. The sculpt and paint isn’t there. The articulation and accessories aren’t there.

If you want the older Green Goblin, Doc Ock, or Spider-Man figures, take the time to find the original Toy Biz releases. The Toy Biz version of Green Goblin has a removable helmet. The Toy Biz super poseable Spider-Man comes with a billboard.

It’s quite obvious that this was a rush job from Hasbro, not to satisfy the fans, but to take advantage of the holiday shopping. So the first strike was to give us smaller scale figures, the second strike was to give us toys that are less fun than the smaller scale figures.

I really wanted to like these figures. I really wanted to support this series so we could get more Spider-Man movie figures. But I’m getting tired of being disappointed by Hasbro’s Marvel product. I’ll give Marvel Legends series 3 and the Fantastic Four "Legends" a try, but as far as the Spider-Man movie toys go, I’m done. They’re still decent toys for the kids... but I would still expect more for $10 a pop.

CLICK HERE for a photo gallery tour of this series.

Review and Photos by David Yeh