- 5 months ago
McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse Gold Label Collection Wesley Dodds Sandman Figure
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00:00For almost 50 years, comic companies slept on this character.
00:0385 years later, Todd woke him up.
00:05Here's a look at McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse, the gold label collection, Wesley Dodds, The Sandman.
00:25Sporting a suit, hat, cape, and gas mask,
00:28he employed his detective skills, sleeping gas, and other gimmicks against a legion of crooks.
00:33Touched by the power of Morpheus, Lord of Dreams World War veteran Wesley Dodds
00:37was plagued by nightmares of evil deeds.
00:40Eventually, he realized these were present visions
00:42and used his vast fortune, scientific genius, and years of experience as a world traveler
00:47to create The Sandman, eerie mystery man stalking America's vilest human predators.
00:53He was a founder of the Justice Society of America,
00:55fighting uncanny menaces and battling the military might of Nazi Germany and Japan,
01:01but was always most comfortable hunting the darkest examples of human evil.
01:06No, you're not dreaming.
01:08Thanks to Todd and his team, we finally get ourselves the Wesley Dodds Sandman.
01:12A character that had been around, I mean,
01:14his first appearance was New York World's Fair Comics, number one, from April 1939.
01:18The character, though, had gone pretty obscure from the 40s onward
01:23until eventually the character's name, at least, was picked up in the 1990s
01:26when writer Neil Gaiman decided to do his own standalone Sandman comic run,
01:31even though, obviously, it's not based on the Wesley Dodds design or character background at all.
01:36Again, while I made mention, though, of 85 years later,
01:39it has been like 85 when you think Trek back to 1940s to 2025 now.
01:45So, we're going to go ahead and take the tape measure.
01:46We're going to measure off to the top of Sandman's head.
01:49Then we'll bring in a couple of other figures.
01:50We'll also bring in some of the accessories that come in clear with the character,
01:53and we'll do a little bit of digesting and discussing.
01:56If that all sounds keen to you, hopefully you're going to be sticking around for this review.
02:00While I'm also, as well, measuring Wesley Dodds to the top of his head,
02:03I'd like to thank Popeye the Toyman.
02:05He was, in fact, where I actually bought this figure from.
02:07If you'd like to check out his Facebook selling group, I'll click the link down below.
02:11A lot of details all thrown out at the beginning of this video.
02:13One other detail, though, is that the figure is going to stand at 7 inches in height,
02:17or roughly about 18 centimeters tall.
02:20If the body of Sandman may look familiar to,
02:22it's likely because you already have this figure in your collection.
02:25Yeah, lending over the legs, the vest, the shirt, the tie, and even the jacket
02:29would be the Dark Knight Trilogy Joker.
02:31The only tooling that I can see that they would have had to have done differently
02:34is that they would have needed to add the straps on the front of Sandman's vest.
02:39Outside of that, though, it looks like the identical figure.
02:41Even, like, the hands you can see are exactly the same.
02:44He's got the closed fist on one side, the gripping hand on the other.
02:47Hey, Joker has the same.
02:48Not as much, though, got lent over when it came to Alfred Pennyworth.
02:52The only thing that really could be said for him would have been his vest,
02:55the shirt, the tie, and, of course, his pants.
02:57Different arms, different hands.
02:59This figure was also part of the affiliate group of Justice Society of America.
03:03So, for example, you'd like to have him characters displayed,
03:06like with the likes of Dr. Fate or even Deadman.
03:08And for spookier characters would be an ideal place to have the same
03:12and displayed on your shelf.
03:13Or rather, though, you may even choose to have him depicted
03:16around the time of year one Batman.
03:18If that's the case, then you can bring in the Batman
03:20we've already had a look at, short arms and all,
03:23and also Lieutenant Jim Gordon.
03:24I was going to say Commissioner, but he was still a lieutenant at that time.
03:28Now, through Wesley's accessories, and the accessory list is small.
03:31First, the figure does come in clue with the display stand,
03:33the now used DC logo, which is present with all the marketing moving forward,
03:37guns, film, verse, and pretty much anything.
03:39It's DC now.
03:40I like the look of the logo.
03:41I still don't like how proximity-wise it's close to this peg.
03:45If only, though, they changed the logo this way,
03:47just turned the steering wheel this way,
03:50and still had the peg further up.
03:52I think what they have planned in mind,
03:54at least if you have the figure displayed, for example,
03:56Sandman's feet are going to be like essentially, well,
03:59essentially like this.
04:00So then you would be able to see the DC logo in between his legs.
04:03That's my only guess.
04:04But rather, though, I still feel like the peg should have been up more in the corner.
04:08Still, though, we get ourselves a stand.
04:10There's very few companies nowadays that are even including plastic like this.
04:13So we still have to commend Taun and his team for doing it.
04:16We also commend him as well for the fact that they also included
04:18source material for their trading cards.
04:21Wesley Dodds, the Sandman, nicely printed down below here,
04:25one of the originals of superheroes.
04:27I love that they used this artwork and chose to have one that made use of his gas gun.
04:31And you can see the way that the gas is wrapped all around his body.
04:35I like this.
04:36I like also that they've got the logo or the symbol,
04:38I say logo or symbol, the face of Wesley up at the top corner.
04:42I'll tell you one thing, though, I still don't love.
04:44When you get a classic character like this,
04:46it makes no mention of the first appearance.
04:49Sure, it says his first name and his full name.
04:51But what it does leave off, unfortunately, though,
04:53is there's no made mention of New York World's Fair Comics number one
04:56or the fact that the character first debuted in 1939.
05:00Something like that, I feel, could easily have been
05:02if they just took this and shrunk the size of this.
05:05There would be enough space, at least under the character's name.
05:07You could have put his first appearance.
05:10Again, does anybody really care about that?
05:11Am I the only one that really cares about that?
05:13Okay, I might be the only one that cares.
05:15I'm going to move the card off to the side, though.
05:17One thing that was strange, though, about Wesley
05:19is that the figure already came out of this plastic prison
05:22with the gun in his hand.
05:23And this, I'm sure, had more to do with the fact
05:25that they were already using what the Heath Ledger's hand,
05:29being, of course, again, like the figure,
05:31basically just using this body.
05:32This Joker hand was already designed this way.
05:35Well, somewhat similar.
05:38The finger, if you actually look at the two hands,
05:41it looks almost really like Wesley's fingers,
05:43a little bit closer to the three that's below it.
05:45But you can see, though, that they're identical.
05:47So one thing I'm sure that they chose
05:49is that they opted to have the gun already in his hand.
05:53Unfortunately, though, I took the gun out of his hand
05:57at the beginning of this review
05:58because I didn't want to show you guys
05:58what the gun for it to look like
06:00before we put it back into his hand.
06:01That may have been a mistake on my part.
06:04It's very difficult to put back into his hand,
06:06especially this little thin strip of plastic,
06:09the trigger that's supposed to be around this finger.
06:11I'm going to do my best to put it back into his hand.
06:13First things first, though,
06:14I did want to show you guys what the gun looks like.
06:17I guess we can kind of get away from the mandate
06:19that we can't use guns.
06:20This isn't so much more a gun as it is just a gas capsule
06:23that shoots off and emits the...
06:25what basically puts the criminals to sleep.
06:27It is really warped, though, getting it out of the tray.
06:30I might choose to maybe heat this up in hot water
06:32before I put it back in his hand.
06:34It definitely, though, is warped.
06:36Warping it may have to be one thing I'll have to do
06:39in order to get this back into his hand.
06:41Let's twist the handle in first.
06:45And it isn't really so much the handle that's the issue.
06:47The biggest issue, really, is the trigger.
06:49So, again, we'll kind of just wedge this in between his hands.
06:52It's almost really like they needed to design a brand new hand
06:54specifically for holding the gun.
06:56Because, again, you have to kind of force that in first.
07:00Let's just show you guys what I'm doing here.
07:02And then carefully,
07:04because you don't want to break that plastic,
07:07fit that around his trigger.
07:08And then from there,
07:09you're going to have to kind of tuck this in between his fingers.
07:11There is really a reason why I'm sure
07:13they had the hand specifically already holding the gun
07:16getting it out of the packaging.
07:18I'm going to have to fix that just a little bit.
07:20But you can see, like, he holds it okay.
07:23I would really just recommend altogether
07:25keeping the gun in his hand.
07:26Don't try to force it out.
07:28Don't do what I just did.
07:30Anyways, we'll keep the gun in his hand for right now.
07:31We'll get a closer look at the gas mask for Wesley.
07:34Sandman, what a cool character.
07:36I really like what they've done here
07:38for the character and the figure.
07:39The only one thing I really don't love
07:42is the excess amounts of wash
07:44that they've added to his arms
07:45and to the top of his hat.
07:47If you, though, look at the two figures,
07:49again, I'm going to bring back in Joker,
07:51looks to be the exact same trench coat,
07:53same vest.
07:54And why I say it's the same vest,
07:56if you look at the placement of the wrinkles,
07:58they're in the exact same spots.
07:59The only thing, though,
08:00that they'd have to go back and retool
08:02or repurpose, if you prefer,
08:04they'd have to add these straps
08:06on the front of his vest.
08:07I mean, Heath Ledger's Joker never had that.
08:09The legs are exactly the same.
08:11The arms are the same as well.
08:13And it's just to show you guys on the back,
08:15the jacket is the same, too.
08:16And again, I'm an advocate
08:18when it really comes to reusing the molds.
08:20If you can repurpose a mold
08:21to give us a figure that came
08:23only really around in the 30s and the 40s,
08:25became really obscure until, again,
08:27like Neil Gaiman did use technically Sandman,
08:29but it was a completely different character.
08:31Wesley Dobbs, I mean,
08:32the likelihood of ever us getting a Wesley Dobbs,
08:34if, for example,
08:36it took really Heath Ledger to walk
08:37in order for Wesley to run.
08:40The head sculpt, though, again,
08:40it looks really good on the character.
08:42Now, you can't remove the mask at all.
08:44You can't see, though,
08:44they've gone in there and sculpted the hair,
08:46so that's a nice touch,
08:47but the mask is non-removable.
08:49The nice attention to detail, though,
08:51is if you look at the goggles,
08:52they actually look like he's looking at flames.
08:55I love that.
08:56So it really kind of makes you wonder,
08:58what exactly is Wesley looking at right now
09:00to have this reflection across the front of his goggles?
09:03The hat, again, is not removable.
09:04He can't take that off or anything like that.
09:06Nice fedora, though, well-sculpted.
09:08Again, nicely painted.
09:09The problem with it, though,
09:10is I just feel like there's so much unnecessary wash
09:13on his arms.
09:14They did this, I'm sure,
09:15just to give us this look of leather.
09:17The problem with it, though,
09:18there's not enough of it either on the...
09:20There's either, like, too less of it on the jacket
09:23or there's too much of it on his arms.
09:25They need to sort of meet in the middle
09:27and have both of them exactly the same.
09:29Because to look at them,
09:30it really does look like the arms have too much paint
09:33or the jacket just doesn't have enough of it.
09:36The jacket, though, is still attached to the vest,
09:38so that hasn't changed at all
09:39from the Heath Ledger days of Joker.
09:41Still has the shirt and the tie underneath, though.
09:43So, again, like, if you're looking at the two figures,
09:44exactly the same, at least in that department.
09:47Joker did have the chain.
09:48Obviously, Wesley doesn't have that at all.
09:50And the exact same legs.
09:51I do actually like the coloring
09:53that they chose for the legs.
09:54They're not really quite green.
09:55They're kind of like a bluish,
09:57kind of teal-like green.
09:59It looks really quite well.
10:00And, too, if you're looking at the feet,
10:02they're exactly the same as well.
10:03There's nothing that I can see,
10:05at least that's different between the two figures.
10:06But it does mean, though, again,
10:08if we use this mold to get us a figure
10:10that looks like this,
10:11that's not a bad thing at all.
10:13Now, for Sandman's articulation,
10:15if you're familiar with Heath Ledger's Joker,
10:17then you'll pretty much know
10:18what you're going to be getting
10:18with this figure as well.
10:20The head's going to be in a ball joint.
10:21Because the gas mask is the size that it is,
10:24it's not going to, first of all,
10:25hit anything around it.
10:26So it's very easy as well
10:28to rotate the head all the way around.
10:29You can also move the head up and down,
10:32and you can also rock it back and forth as well.
10:35Stop that.
10:36The arms do rotate, yeah,
10:37all the way around.
10:38No issues there.
10:39You can hinge those arms
10:40at a 90-degree angle bend,
10:41so you get yourself your capital T pose.
10:44The figure does also have a bicep swivel
10:46double hinge on the elbow,
10:48and the hands rotate all the way around.
10:51The upper torso is going to be on a ball joint.
10:53You can easily move it up and down,
10:54move it back and forth,
10:55but while you're moving the vest,
10:57you're moving also the jacket.
10:58The jacket is a softer plastic.
11:00Legs manage to split out.
11:01They're on ratcheted joints.
11:03You can, of course,
11:03take the legs,
11:04move them forward,
11:05move them back,
11:06and there's a swivel there
11:08at the top of the thigh.
11:09The figure does also have
11:10a double hinge on the knee,
11:11nice and tight there.
11:12Despite really using these legs,
11:14I mean, these legs have been used
11:15for already Heath Ledger's Joker.
11:17He came first.
11:18Then we also got a couple of Jokers as well,
11:20I think, as well,
11:21used the same lower legs,
11:22and then Alfred Pennyworth
11:23also would have had the vest,
11:25also would have had the lower legs.
11:26I didn't mention, though,
11:27in the review of Alfred
11:28that also these arms and everything else
11:31were also used for Heath Ledger's Joker.
11:33The interrogation scene Joker
11:35would have also used these arms.
11:37Anyways, again,
11:38like the same lower legs
11:38are still here present
11:39for the Sandman
11:40because of that.
11:41You've got the swivel there
11:42at the top of the thigh,
11:43double hinge on the knee.
11:45Yeah, again,
11:45ankle pivot up and down,
11:47ankle rocker,
11:48and Sandman does also manage
11:49the pull-off toe articulation as well.
11:52When you're coming up with figures,
11:54obviously, if you can go back
11:55and look at the moles
11:56that we've already gotten before,
11:57I'm thinking like what Todd's doing
11:59when it comes to deciding
12:00what new characters
12:01they can come up with.
12:02I mean, obviously,
12:03you can look at a character
12:04like Joker right away
12:05and know that
12:05from the cost
12:06and the budget of tooling,
12:08the only thing
12:08that they would have had
12:09to have done different to tool
12:10would have had to have been
12:11the straps on the front of the vest.
12:13A brand new head sculpt,
12:14so that's factored into the budget.
12:16And of course,
12:17you'd had to come up
12:17with also the gas gun.
12:19With already the tool
12:20being invested
12:21into the presses,
12:23very little really
12:24when you think about
12:25would have had to have been invested
12:26into creating a brand new figure.
12:28That's why you can get
12:28more of the obscure characters
12:30from the 1930s
12:31like Sandman here
12:32because, again,
12:33from the standing
12:33of where they have to pay
12:35for the figure
12:35right from the beginning
12:36of creation
12:37to the molding press,
12:39of course,
12:39of tooling the brand new molds,
12:41this part they already
12:42have to skip out
12:43because they already have
12:43really essentially the mold.
12:45It makes things
12:46for an obscure character
12:47a much easier thing
12:48to afford
12:48because they don't have
12:49to spend as much
12:50to create it.
12:51That being though in mind,
12:52with very little
12:54that they've spent
12:54to create the Sandman,
12:56things that I would have liked
12:57to have seen
12:57come include with the character,
12:58and I'm not just really
12:59talking about the displaced end
13:01or the trading card
13:02for that matter,
13:03but I feel like
13:04they could have also
13:04added some gas effects,
13:06something that maybe
13:06could have attached
13:07onto the end of the gun
13:08so it could have just had
13:09like a spiraling smoke effect.
13:11Being that very little,
13:13again,
13:13had to really go into
13:14creating the character
13:15from scratch,
13:16I think some of the budget
13:17could have also been
13:17dedicated to creating
13:18some smoke effects.
13:20Now, whether, again,
13:20you want to have this guy
13:21displayed as a Justice Society
13:23member,
13:23that's entirely up to you.
13:25Like, for example,
13:26you could bring him in
13:26Wildcat.
13:28Wildcat would be, again,
13:29a suitable candidate
13:29to be displayed
13:30along with Sandman.
13:31I would rather, though,
13:32maybe think a little
13:33further back from that
13:34and have the character
13:35maybe displayed
13:36with Year One Batman.
13:38I like the kind of idea
13:39that this guy would be
13:40roaming the streets
13:40of Gotham City,
13:41in my mind,
13:43at least,
13:43when it comes to
13:43displaying these figures.
13:45I think, like,
13:45Year One Batman,
13:46Lieutenant Jim Gordon
13:47would be ideal characters
13:49to be displayed
13:50with Sandman.
13:51Maybe some may not know
13:52that the background,
13:53the history of Wesley Dodds
13:55as Sandman,
13:56when you tend to think
13:56of the character's name,
13:57you tend to think
13:58of the stuff
13:58that we got
13:59from Neil Gaiman's run
14:00of the Sandman
14:01from the 90s.
14:02But there was a Sandman
14:03that predated that,
14:04one from the early 30s,
14:06the late 30s,
14:06the early 40s.
14:08Then from there,
14:08it basically just
14:09became obscure.
14:10The character just
14:10fell off the map
14:12until eventually
14:12we get a now new figure
14:14from Todd and his team.
14:15The end result, though,
14:16even though, again,
14:17I know a lot of the molds
14:18got used before,
14:19again, if, again,
14:20you're familiar with the Joker,
14:21obviously you're going to be
14:22familiar then with Sandman.
14:23But it doesn't make anything,
14:25it doesn't take necessarily
14:26anything away from Sandman.
14:27He still turned out
14:28to be a great-looking figure.
14:30When I look at a figure
14:31like this Sandman,
14:32I'll tell you what I don't see
14:33right away is Heath Ledger's Joker.
14:35Yet, though,
14:36despite having a new head sculpt,
14:38a repurposed pair of straps
14:39on a vest that was already there
14:40and a thrown-in gas gun,
14:42that's essentially really
14:43what we're getting.
14:43It's a rehash
14:44of the Dark Knight trilogy Joker.
14:47Now, you have to kind of
14:47look at this, too.
14:48A company like McFarlane Toys
14:50has to look at the investment,
14:52what they're going to be
14:52spending on the materials
14:53and tooling of a figure
14:54from scratch.
14:56You're not ever going to see
14:57a 1939 character
14:58like the Sandman
14:59ever see light of day
15:00if it wasn't already
15:02for the fact that we got
15:03the Nolan trilogy Joker.
15:05If it means, though,
15:06that as much had to be used again,
15:08bored over,
15:09molding again,
15:10to get ourselves
15:10a Wesley Dodds,
15:12I'm okay with that.
15:13Now, I'm not going to let
15:14the company off the hook
15:15completely.
15:16With so much of the budget
15:17already being saved
15:18because they didn't have
15:19to spend the initial cost
15:20of making a tool from scratch,
15:23you know that they already
15:24had a budget set aside.
15:26I would have liked
15:27if they could have used
15:27some of that money
15:28to invest in
15:29including some gas effects,
15:31something that could have
15:32maybe even had
15:33like something you get
15:33attached onto the end
15:34of the gun,
15:35just a little spiraling
15:36bit of gas,
15:37just thrown in something
15:38because collectors are going
15:40to look at this right away
15:41and think,
15:41well, you're reusing a Joker.
15:43Maybe could you then
15:45use some of the money
15:45to throw something else
15:47in there as well.
15:48Just though as a side note,
15:49as you saw in this review,
15:50the gas gun comes in his hand
15:52when you get him
15:52out of this plastic prison.
15:54It might be probably
15:54a good idea
15:55to keep it like that.
15:56The one thing you really
15:56have to worry about
15:57is not necessarily the handle,
15:59but the trigger.
16:00It's a very thin bit of plastic
16:01and wrapping that
16:02around his finger
16:03or even taking it off
16:04the first time,
16:04I was really worried
16:06I was going to break
16:07that trigger.
16:08Luckily, I didn't.
16:09Luckily, I didn't
16:10when I put it back
16:11into his hand.
16:12What do you guys though
16:12think of Wesley Dodds,
16:14the Sandman?
16:15Are you glad that we are
16:15also getting this figure
16:16as well?
16:17And how do you really feel
16:17when it comes to
16:18using molds again?
16:20Do you kind of also think,
16:21well, you know,
16:21the positives are
16:22that we're getting
16:23obscure characters.
16:24If it means that
16:25we have to get
16:26the figure body again,
16:28you have to kind of
16:29look at the positives
16:29over the negatives.
16:30The positive,
16:31we're getting a really
16:32neat looking Sandman.
16:33The negatives are,
16:34yeah, it's using
16:35the body again.
16:36I don't think
16:36that's a bad thing at all.
16:37One thing that's
16:38really cool though
16:38is if you guys
16:39are also interested,
16:40get this one for yourself.
16:40I found this on
16:41the Facebook selling group
16:42from Popeye the Toyman.
16:43As far as I know,
16:46he still has the figure
16:47as well as some other
16:48DC Multiverse figures,
16:49so if you would
16:50certainly like to
16:51check out his wares,
16:51you can click the link
16:52down below
16:53in the video description.
16:55If you guys did also
16:56enjoy this video,
16:57shameless plug,
16:57plug, plug,
16:58hit it certainly
16:59with a like.
17:00And if you guys want
17:00to stick around for more,
17:01so I hope so.
17:02This isn't,
17:03by the way though,
17:03the end of the
17:04DC Multiverse.
17:05Oh no.
17:06In fact,
17:07even though we've
17:07already had a look
17:08at two figures
17:09so far this week,
17:10there's another
17:11DC Multiverse
17:11coming your way
17:12through the pipeline
17:13and making sure
17:15you guys are going
17:16to be coming back
17:16for that.
17:17As always,
17:17thanks for watching.
17:18See you guys next time.