Tag Archives: Ka-Zar

#3828: Ka-Zar & Zabu

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

KA-ZAR & ZABU

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“The X-Men find themselves mysteriously transported to the Savage Land a prehistoric tropical jungle in the middle of the Arctic circle!  With the help of their friend and leader of the Savage Land, Ka-Zar, the X-Men weave their way through this treacherous land.  Aided by dinosaurs and other prehistoric beasts, Storm, Wolverine, Angel and Joseph have their hands full throughout their dangerous journey.

Native and leader of the Savage Land, Ka-Zar rules his prehistoric kingdom with his faithful sidekick, Zabu. An expert fighter, hunter and tracker, nothing dares to threaten Ka-Zar. Zabu, the saber-tooth tiger, is ready to protect his master with his two massive razor-sharp teeth and huge paws. Ka-Zar and Zabu rule the Savage Land side-by-side keeping all its prehistoric beasts in order and safe from outside attacks.”

So, remember waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back at the beginning of the site when I reviewed Savage Land Angel?  And then, like, at the middle point between then and now, when I did an addendum about Savage Land Angel?  And then this morning when I did a *second* addendum about Savage Land Angel?  Great.  Well, what you may not know about Savage Land Angel from the three times I’ve focussed on him here on the site is that he was part of a larger set of Savage Land-themed figures, of which there are four more.  Guess what my Monday Marvel theme is gonna be this month!  That’s right, the rest of those guys.  Alright!  So, let’s look at the Savage-Land-iest of the bunch, Ka-Zar and Zabu!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Ka-Zar and Zabu make up the second of the five sets in the “Savage Land” Series of Toy Biz’s X-Men line.  These were a larger boxed series from 1997, which paired off with the thematically opposite “Space Riders” Series from the same year.  While the Riders each got a large space vehicle, each figure in the “Savage Land” set was packed with a larger beast of some sort.  In the case of Ka-Zar, his was by far the most sensible, as he paired off with his “brother” the sabretooth tiger Zabu.  This would mark the first time either character saw action figure treatment, but not the last, as Hasbro’s now tackled them twice as Legends.

Ka-Zar is the more conventional figure in the set.  He’s based on that usual off-brand Tarzan look, which makes sense.  The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  He’s built on a variation of the Archangel II mold, a favorite of Toy Biz’s during the 5-inch era.  That being said, he actually gets a fair bit of new and reworked parts.  The head is outright new, and it’s certainly dynamic.  That hair’s just jutting straight out to the side there, isn’t it?  He’s also got quite an intense, almost crazed look in his eyes.  Wow.  I don’t know that I’d be super comforted by this guy being my ally in a place called the Savage Land, but I’m also not an X-Man.  His torso is modified, removing the wing-flapping apparatus that most uses of the mold sported, which is actually really nice.  He also gets modified lower arms and legs.  Now his hands are actually gripping, and he’s got bare feet, as well as some anklets, you know, for properly accessorizing.  He also gets an add-on piece for his loin cloth, which you can remove if you want, but why would you?  Why would you do that?  Ka-Zar’s paint work’s actually pretty fun.  He’s got those crazy eyes, of course, but also some tribal markings, to keep him a little more interesting.  Ka-Zar is packed with a shield, a spear, and an axe.  The shield has storage for both weapons, which is very fun indeed.

Zabu is, in essence, a glorified accessory, I suppose.  He’s bigger than Ka-Zar, of course, but only sort of articulated, since most of his movement is tied into his action feature.  His sculpt’s certainly very stylized, but in such a way that he feels pretty much right at home with the general Toy Biz Marvel vibe.  There’s a lot of neat detailing going on, and I do like the fur texturing.  His paint’s basic, and the shades of orange on the differing plastics don’t match up perfectly, but it’s not terrible.  He’s got a “pounce” feature, where his back legs are sort of spring loaded, so sitting him down leads to him “pouncing” back up.  It’s rudimentary, and basic, and stupid, and I absolutely love it to no end.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Toy Biz Marvel is my one true love when it comes to Marvel toys.  Heck, toys in general, really.  I could leave everything else behind, but Toy Biz Marvel would be difficult.  So, I’m trying to more properly appreciate my Toy Biz Marvel collection, and that means putting them up in a more proper display.  While going through things that were not on display, I came across my Legends Ka-Zar and Zabu, and asked myself that ever important question “am I ever going to display these?”  The answer was no, and I realized that, as nice as they were, if I wasn’t going to display them, then why was I keeping them.  The simplest answer was that I didn’t own this set yet.  So, I fixed that with a sensibly priced eBay purchase, and here we are.  These are not as technically impressive as the Legends, but I love them ever so much more, so I’m glad I finally tracked them down.

#3645: Ka-Zar & Zabu

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , ,

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.