Zabu

Good kitty, take off, go. Hidden below the crust of Antarctica lies the Savage Land - a forgotten jungle, home to a powerful and intelligent sabertooth tiger named Zabu. Together with his companion Ka-Zar, Zabu protects the unique jungle that time forgot. I like how this text from a 2012 Upper Deck card treats Zabu as the important one and Ka-Zar as the sidekick - that makes sense, since this was the cat's card, not the human's. The last time Hasbro made a Zabu figure, it was a repainted Sigma 6 tiger with a new head. This time he's a Build-A-Figure for one of the series Hasbro can't get retailers to carry - kind of sad when the SDCC exclusive version is easier to get than the "mass" release, eh? Building him doesn't require that you buy Superior Iron Man, but get the other six figures in the series and you'll be able to swiftly pop together this big anygry jungle cat. Like we said, the previous Zabu got his molds from Sigma 6, so he was at least somewhat cartoony. Today's version is more realistic, with sculpted fur covering believable muscles. The figure is more than 7" long and 4¼" tall - a little smaller than Lockjaw. Like a real smilodon, he's got a stumpy tail, and there's a ruff of thicker fur along the throat and the back of the neck; not quite a mane like a lion would have, but it wouldn't take much to get it there. Similar tufts can be found on the backs of the legs, and along the belly so you won't notice that this boy cat doesn't have any sort of penis. Because a (supposedly) mass-market toy isn't going to have one, but Hasbro doesn't want you questioning why his belly would be smooth. The sabertooth gets its name from its dentation, of course, but not in the way you think: you'll likely recognize the "-odon" part of "smilodon" as meaning "teeth" (at least, if you've ever had to visit an orthodontist), but the "smil-" part comes from the Ancient Greek smilē (σμίλη), which doesn't mean "smile" no matter how similar the two words look; rather, it was the word for a tool used for carving wood, meaning the saber-tooth is really a "chisel-tooth." And that seems a logical enough name, right? It's still named after a big, bladed implement, just one that's more of a tool than a weapon. But here's the thing: like many ancient animals, the smilodon was named after just a few partial fossils had been found; that was in 1842, and it wasn't until 1846 that anyone found the giant fangs that are so iconic today! Like, imagine if rhinos were extinct, and we found scant bones and named them rhinoceros before finding out they had a horn on their nose. Luckiest coincidence ever! Zabu's mouth can open behind those saber teeth, and he's also got a barbell head, swivel/hinge neck, balljoint shoulders, swivel/hinge elbows and wrists, barbell chest, balljoint hips, swivel/hinge knees, swivel/hinge ankles, swivel/​hinge toes, and a swivel/hinge tail. The neck is weird. The hinge part to move it up and down is incredibly stiff, to the point where you may not even realize it exists unless you decide to turn the ruff all the way to the side and expose the track it moves in. Maybe that's right - I don't know what a sabertooth's cervical musculature was like, maybe it was notoriously inflexible. The fur is dark orangey-yellow, with lighter paint on the muzzle. The inside of the mouth is bright pink, and is painted crisply so it doesn't bleed onto the white of the teeth at all. His green eyes are rimmed in black, which matches the nose and the paw pads, as well as the claws on each toe. It really does look quite nice, and fits with his depiction in the comics perfectly. Marvel Legends Series 12 wasn't a bad assortment, but it definitely had a few clunkers in it, so it's no real surprise stores didn't want to carry it - especially with Hasbro artificially inflating the price by 25%. But it's been 16 years since there's been a Zabu action figure, so there's no way we're going to say this isn't one we needed. But now we definitely need a Shanna to complete he and Ka-Zar's family. Black Winter Thor | Wolfsbane | Ka-Zar | Red Widow | Ikaris | Cable -- 03/10/25 When they make Shanna, do you want her to be blonde or redheaded? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.