JinCustoms Sandman Review! (Patreon)

This fig was VERY hard to acquire!

As of June 2022 (around the time this fig was announced and sold) JinCustoms put out a statement that they were receding from their foreign markets and only planning to sell locally in the Hong Kong / Taiwan Area. Being based out of China, Jin had multiple resellers, including TracyMinifigs and Legend C MOC that did a lot of their international selling, so understandably I was a bit shocked that this fig was still shipped out and produced after that drama.

Turns out looking back on it in January of 2023 (when I’m prepping the review) Jin pulled out of the market only temporarily due to their designs being stolen. They stopped selling fig for about three or four months before they returned to a new reseller and got the ball rolling.

However let’s take a trip back to June of 2022, shall we?

Jin had just pulled out and sent everyone into a panic. In the gut reaction to it all, this Sandman fig was set up to purchase through a private auction on a WhatsApp group that I had to join in order for me to even get the chance to get a hold of it.

The amount of people I had to bounce around and ask just to find out about it was even more of a hassle. It was all word of mouth.

Due to Jin dropping multiple resellers, the listings for some of his Rami Spider-Man figs never went public, and then sold out before they were ever technically listed in the public market some months later.

Because of this I missed out on Jin’s Topher Grace Venom fig, and might never get a hold of one due to the nature of its release.

It was a big shit show, and frankly it wouldn’t feel right to talk about this beautiful Sandman fig without addressing the elephant in the room. It’s felt non-inclusive and really unfair for a lot of people.

Not to mention that it was really irritating finding out that I had to be part of some secret club after missing out on a couple figs that I actually wanted (not knowing any of this was going on until I started poking around)

…yeesh

Anyway, now that all the faff is out of the way, let’s talk about this fig, yeah?

This bad boy looks great! It’s a fig nobody has made before and the design and overall concept is perfect!

From the human-to-Lego Flint Marko / Thomas Haden Church, Jin really nailed the look of this fig! Down to the little creases in the shirt and all without looking over detailed… frankly it's a really REALLY good looking fig!

However, the one thing that I’m not as big of a fan about is the heads. 

Call me a traditionalist, but I’m bummed that this fig didn’t come with a second “non-poseable” head for the angry expression or vice versa. While it’s a neat concept, it’s not all that Lego-Like, and dosen’t function that well. It’s rather loose on the neck balljoint and can easily shift positions (seen in this low-res inserted gif right here)

However as a photographer I don’t mind it because you can get some neat poses out of the fig… so maybe I actually do like it? …no I don’t like it… do I…?

I think I’d like it more if there were more refined options (like one standard double sided head and one poseable double sided head). Why independent expressions were only printed on one side of each head is beyond me and it’s rather frustrating.

Also also! One of the heads has black eye print and the other head has dark brown eye print! That’s weird too, right? Am I the only one that noticed that?

Also also also, another funny thing about the print before I move on to the parts is the shoe print, or lack there of… why is there no shoe print? The outlines are there, but there’s no filler color… feels weird man...

Okay alright okay... one thing I really really love about the print however, is the silver locket on the left leg. That’s a nice wholesome detail that could have just been left out, but Jin kept it in :)

Okay but for real! Enough about the ink! It’s time for the custom parts!

I like that hair! Plus you get two of em! That’s cool! They’re not the cleanest custom parts, but they’re great for other figs!

This fig also came with an extra swappable printed arm! Cool… but a little less cool that Jin is encouraging collectors to swap arms of torsos that have the potential to crack when the fig itself cost nearly $100

Also it’s worth noting that the green of the arms isn’t the same green as the torso sooo… *shrug*

The sandy footbase is really good! I enjoy how where the toes fit inside the element makes Sandman look like he’s got knees! All the textured bits of indentations and concaves that really sell the sandy look!

But of course, nothing comes close to how cool and useful the sandy arm is!

The sandy arm is really my favorite piece here! It’s designed to look like a bigfig arm/hand which is really fun! However the caveat to the design choice is that he can’t hold anything in the sandy hand because of how everything has been scaled down.

I’m personally kind of okay with that though, because I’d rather the hand look more like it fits in with the Lego system than have a bigger opening around the palm and have the designs not match.

Of course one of the best selling features (that wasn’t a selling feature) is with a quick head swap, you’ve got a really nice upgraded Comic Sandman too! Jin really found a nice balance for this fig in a lot of ways that most designers don’t quite reach. It doesn’t look too much like an action figure, but it’s got juuust enough details to look like an official Lego minifig at the same time.

It’s honestly really really really good! Even more shocking how this fig only ran for $95 (a whole $20 cheaper than New Goblin!)

All in all, no regrets picking this one up!

Shame about the drama around it though...