KA-ZAR & ZABU

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“In a lost world full of prehistoric dinosaurs, Ka-Zar performs heroics as Lord of the Jungle alongside the sabretooth Zabu”

The Ka-Zar most people think of (or at least the Ka-Zar people who think about Ka-Zar think about, I guess) is actually Marvel’s second character to use the title.  To be fair, the first one predate’s Marvel even being “Marvel” and was such a thinly veiled Tarzan knock-off that even Stan Lee admitted he’d never read any of the Golden Age Ka-Zar’s appearances prior to introducing the second one during the Silver Age.  Introduced by Lee and Kirby in X-Men #10, the Kevin Plunder Ka-Zar also brought with him a rather enduring piece of X-Men lore: the Savage Land!  Because who doesn’t love a good “why are there dinosaurs here?” story?  Ka-Zar the first has had *no* action figures, while Ka-Zar the second has had two of them, and now has a third.  And every time, he brings along his best pal Zabu!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Ka-Zar is figure 3 in the Zabu Series of Marvel Legends, while Zabu is, unsurprisingly, the Build-A-Figure.  The assortment is a Fan Channel exclusive, which is becoming fairly common with Build-A-Figure sets these days.

When it comes to Ka-Zar designs, there are a few different variations, but generally they all land on the same basic idea: blonde guy in a loincloth.  This one sticks with the oft-seen “and also boots” variation, which is acceptable, and notably different from his two prior figure releases.  The figure stands just shy of 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  His sculpt makes its start as the Vulcan base body, which is an okay start, apart from the slightly odd glove lines at the forearms.  He’s got a new head, upper torso, loincloth, and boots courtesy of sculptor Paul Harding (who, fun fact, also sculpted the prior Legends Ka-Zar).  The new pieces are all pretty solid.  The hair restricts the neck movement at bit, but other than that, I Iike them.  They capture a sort of Frazetta-esque vibe, which feels appropriate for the pulp-y origins of Ka-Zar, even if it’s not the pulp-y origins that belong to *this* Ka-Zar.  Kazar’s color work is pretty simple.  Lot of molded flesh tone, as expected.  There’s a bit more to the clothed parts of him, plus the usual face printing, which always does nice work for the sculpt.  He’s also got a bit of accenting on the hair, which keeps those particular sculpted details from getting lost.  Ka-Zar is packed with three sets of hands (in fists, gripping, and open gesture), a spear, and a knife (which can be stowed in his belt), as well as front right leg to….

Zabu!  Everybody’s gotta have a Zabu.  Well, Ka-Zar’s gotta have a Zabu.  I mean, I guess.  Does he really *have* Zabu, though?  Or are they just buddies?  Is one of them a mentor to the other?  It’s confusing.  You know, technically, Zabu has a near-human intelligence from when he was exposed to radioactive mists, and Ka-Zar, at least in earlier appearances, of a sub-average-human intelligence, so maybe they’re on a closer level than we realize.  Zabu has accompanied Ka-Zar to every figure release, but he tends to be somewhat hampered.  His first figure was really just a glorified, and the second was a re-deco of a Sigma 6 mold.  This one takes advantage of the Build-A-Figure budget to give him an all-new mold. It’s a solid one, which gets his general sizing and his look down. I mean, he’s a sabretooth, so it’s not like it’s an exceedingly unique look, I suppose, but it does it well. There’s some decent texture work for the fur, and they’ve managed to work it the articulation in such a way as to not totally break up the flow of the sculpt. Paint on this guy is minimal, which isn’t really a shock. What’s there certainly works, but I wouldn’t have minded maybe a little bit more accenting on the fur. That said, I know it’s tricky to get such things consistent across multiple BAF pieces, so maybe it’s best this way.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Ka-Zar and Zabu’s original figures are on the list of Toy Biz figures I’ve never owned. My dad has a set, which I suppose was good enough for me. The last Legends set was an SDCC exclusive, so that one was out too. I was…non-plussed about having to buy the whole wave to get Zabu this time, but I also didn’t really want *just* Ka-Zar.  So, I bit the bullet and bought the whole set just to build the Zabu, and then off-loaded the other figures I didn’t want.  It was actually less difficult than I thought it would be.  They’re a fun pair.  Some day I’ll get that Toy Biz set, and that’ll probably be my default set for the characters, but these two are certainly very nice.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.