| MSiA
YMS-15 Gyan
Series: Mobile Suit in Action!! (MSiA) Title: YMS-15 Gyan Release Date: 02/2002 Suggested Price: ¥ 1260 No. of Parts: 1 Gyan figure + 5 parts Plastic colors: baby blue, blue, red Gimmicks: beam sword hilt, snap-on transparent yellow beam sword blade, shield, pair of open palm handsets
Contributor: MavHunterExtreme Photography: MHEX Date: April 16, 2005 The YMS-15 Gyan is my favorite mobile suit. Why do I like this mobile suit so much? Well, I’ll admit that there are faster, more powerful mobile suits out there that have had an even more significant impact. None however, have the same artistic flair and uniqueness as the Gyan. Additionally, it’s my belief that the greatest strength of the mobile suit lies with its ability to fight close quarters with hand-to-hand weaponry. After all, all the greatest mobile suit aces have earned their fearsome reputations and continue to dominate the battlefield because of their skill at fighting in close combat, particularly when fighting other mobile suits. Not only that, but all the most famous of rivals in the Gundam universe have fought the overwhelming majority of their battles at close range. The Gyan is a mobile suit that symbolizes more than any other in my mind this fact. Also, the Gyan is a singularly unique in appearance with its smooth lines and shapes and lack of bulky power cables and guns, resembling a knight of ancient times ready to do battle. It is for these reasons that I absolutely adore the Gyan, so when Bandai finally announced back in 2000/2001 that they were finally going to release it in their Mobile Suit in Action! lineup, I just had to have it! So how did the MSiA incarnation of the YMS-15 Gyan stand up? Let’s find out…
The Gyan is singularly unique with its diamond-shaped head and cross track mono eye optical sensor, both of which are in stark contrast to the typical dome-style head with power induction cables and/or Mohawk common to most Zeon-influenced mobile suits. The head is crowned with an equally unique communications spike (inspired by Col. M‘Quve, program manager of the YMS-15 Gyan‘s development in Mobile Suit Gundam) that only adds to the Gyan’s aesthetic appeal. The painting and panel lining are exquisite with no visible flaws, even the Gyan’s single sensor eye is well painted with a stunning pink color. The head easily traverses 360° and tilts up/down 5°, excellent range of movement for a generation 1.5 mobile suit in action figure. The detailing is exquisite on my Gyan, with well-defined panel lines and details (see picture).
The Gyan was released prior to torso ball joints becoming popular, consequently the Gyan can only traverse 360° rather than tilt the usual 5-10°. On a more positive note though, the Gyan’s torso can easily traverse the full 360° since there are no pieces jutting upwards that would normally interfere with torso articulation. The back-mounted engines are connected to the torso using a single ball joint with a connecting cavity mounted in the backpack itself. This is a little unusual because I cannot recall any other MSiA figure of the time period using this same method of connection. Most other pre-generation 2.0 MSiA figures utilized rectangular plugs for attaching the engines to the back, which works well enough in most cases. The approach taken with the Gyan’s engines allows them to tilt about 5° in place and traverse 360° which gives the Gyan’s engines a kind of thrust-vectoring (see picture), I have to say I like it very much.
The arms are attached to the torso using a conventional protruding ball joint that fits snug into a spacious cavity (shaped like a slice of pie) in the adjoining shoulder. This arrangement 2-3° of articulation and allots the arm 90° of outward arm movement, which is a little better than what I had originally anticipated when I first purchased my Gyan figure. The rest of the arm is square-like in form and is very sturdy, able to withstand normal wear-n-tear quite nicely. The Gyan’s elbows are single joints that give the arm 85° of forward movement with 45° of backward movement, putting the Gyan’s backward elbow movement among the worst I’ve seen on a MSiA figure. However, considering the design of the Gyan’s arms as well as the absence of any sort of elbow guard this is understandable and should in no way detract from any interest you may have in this figure. The hands are connected to the forearms using the familiar peg-n-hole system. Although this arrangement suffers from a lack of articulation, it’s proven itself stronger and better able to withstand punishment.
With the exception of two sectioned pieces located in the front, the Gyan’s armor skirt is a solid piece. The skirt’s large area allows for 45° of all-round articulation, again standard for pre-generation 2.0 MSiA figures. The single-jointed knees are quite sturdy and can bend 85° backwards while the knee guard reduces forward knee movement to an acceptable 5°. The large open ankle armor does not interfere with articulation, allowing the feet their full range of an amazing 25° of ankle articulation. The detailing of the legs, knees and feet is exquisite with well defined panel lining and accurate painting. Very nice!
Beam sword- The centerpiece of the Gyan is it’s exclusive beam sword, which is unique in its resemblance to French swords with their cupped hilt guards. The detailing and coloring of the hilt appear to be accurate with no visible design or manufacturing flaws. The beam sword’s transparent yellow blade is unusually large and thick when compared to other beam saber blades. The blade measures 70mm long and 8mm thick, making this blade all but indestructible! The beam blade attaches securely into the hilt using the familiar peg-n-hole system.
Shield- The shield fits securely into the supplied handsets with little difficulty. The shield is nicely molded and detailed with panel lines, needle missiles, hide bombs and a nifty Zeon logo in the center of the shield. The shield can rotate 360° which makes posing the shield accurately a breeze. Something odd I’ve noticed about the shield is that it’s missing two of the Gyan’s twelve hide bombs. This error could possibly be due to difficulties fitting all the hide bombs into the shield’s relatively small size or else problems with saving weight. Although this seems to be the case for a number of Bandai’s Gyan products including the HGUC YMS-15 Gyan action figure model kit. Handset- Fits beam sword and shield securely using a box-like protrusion from the palm, the only thing I regret is that the Gyan does not come with tilted sword handsets such as the ones found on the HGUC series YMS-15 Gyan action figure model kit. The tilted sword handsets hold the sword hilt at a 45° angle, which not only creates a more realistic combat stance and grip but also simply looks better for displaying and posing.
In short, the YMS-15 Gyan remains my personal favorite, not only in the Mobile Suit Gundam universe, but also the MSiA universe despite its pre-generation 2.0 design and construction. Highly recommended to everyone, fan or not of the Gyan or specialized close combat mobile suit. I just hope that Bandai will someday manufacture a more up-to-date version of the Gyan or hopefully will consider manufacturing some of the other Gyan variants like the MS-15B High Mobility Gyan or MS-15K Gyan Kai. I also hope that Bandai will consider making the Galbaldy a, the YMS-15 Gyan’s direct descendant from the Pezun Project of MS-X. In the meantime though, don’t wait much longer to add this classic MSiA figure to your collection! Also, one other MSiA figure I highly recommend is the RMS-117 Galbaldy b, which is a refined variant of Gyan’s descendant the Galbaldy a. High Points: Solid construction, excellent range of motion, great panel Low Points: Backward elbow movement, shield missing two hide bombs, no dedicated sword hands. |
