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Hey, Logan! Who's yer daddy?!
Mortal enemy of the feral X-Man known as Wolverine, Sabretooth is a psychotic murder machine with an accelerated healing factor, razor-sharp talons, hyper-keen senses... and an all-consuming hunger for blood!
Despite being the "mortal enemy" of Wolverine, Sabretooth didn't start out that way. Like a lot of Marvel Villains, he showed up in a different book before eventually migrating to the foe he's associated with today. In Sabretooth's case, he began as a recurring villain for martial artist Danny Rand, the hero known as the Iron Fist. It was nearly ten years before he first ran into the short-tempered Canadian, but the two were too similar to ever get along.
Sabretooth's undergone a lot of changes over the years, even falling prey to the mid-90s Marvel tradition of turning villains into heroes, but he's best served as his namesake, a vicious predatory killer. When Jim Lee got his hands on the X-Men, he gave 'tooth the first new costume he'd had since his creation, and that's the version represented here.
At just over 7" tall, Sabretooth is a true beast! He's the new ML articulation champ, with 44 points of articulation - five more than previous title-holder Hank McCoy. He moves at the toes, ankles, shins, knees, thighs, hips, waist, stomach, neck, shoulders, biceps, elbows, wrists, palms, thumbs, index fingers and other fingers.
The Lee-designed costume looks good here, from the big fur collar to the distinctive elbow-sharks. Most of the costume elements are just painted on, which means that this might be the basis for a new generic ToyBiz "big guy" body. Creed's got a wonderfully angry look on his face, snarling and baring his fangs. Phil Ramirez has done a spectacular job here.
Like all the Marvel Legends, Sabretooth comes with a detailed base. Part of the series that started with Magneto and Gambit, he's got a piece of a Sentinel robot; specifically, the leg. As a solo base, it's not as nice as the rest of the set, but it looks fine in the group, with all the same techno detailing as the rest. The big foot is 7 1/2" x 5", and 2" tall.
Sabretooth comes with a reproduction of X-Men #5, the book that introduced his new look as well as revealing his real name and the root of the hatred between him and Logan. The book, tremendously hot at the beginning of the 90s, really hasn't aged too well, but it's still a good choice.
Back when the Evolution of X Wolverine came out, it was said that we'd "likely never see the Sabretooth that would have been in the other corner of this fight." Well, while this ML figure probably wasn't intended to be part of the Evolution of X line and isn't as torn to hell as that Logan was, he's a fine companion/antagonist for that figure.
What's with the elbows? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.
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