Robot Spirits Gyan

Let’s take a look at a Robot Spirits action figure:

If you’re wondering why I picked this one in particular, it was mainly price. I found it at a retro toystore, and despite most things in the shop being grossly overpriced, somehow they were charging quite a bit less for this than what it was going for online. Seemed like the easiest and least risky way to dip my toes into the realm of Robot Spirits.

About Robot Spirits

Bandai of course has lots of companies and brands under its big corporate umbrella. One of them is called Tamashii Nations, which as far as I can tell is the banner under which most (if not all) of their figurine and action figure lines fall under.

One of those figurine brands is THE ROBOT SPIRITS (yes, they seem to insist on capitalizing it), also known as Robot Damashii. This line is meant for figurines of mecha (including Gundam of course, but not limited to it either):

And within Robot Spirits is another subline called “Ver A.N.I.M.E.”, which is what my Gyan is a part of. These are intended to be anime accurate recreations of classic mecha.

Now I know what you might be thinking - “Big deal, there are plenty of Gunpla that also aim for anime accuracy. What makes these so special?”

OR you might be thinking something like - “What’s the difference between these figure and the ones from Gundam Universe?”

To answer the first question, Ver A.N.I.M.E. isn’t just about the look of the mecha. It’s also about recreating classic battle scenes. As a result, the figures usually come with an incredible number of accessories and effect parts. For example, consider all the stuff you get with the Mk II:

You’e got effect parts for thrusters, the beam rifle, and the hyper bazooka, as well as a curved beam blade.

Or consider the GM Sniper, which comes with a whole ass platform and smoke effect parts just to recreate its one iconic scene from _08th MS Team

You’re not going to get any of this from a Gunpla kit, at least not right out of the box.

Speaking of 08th MS Team, if you want a good example of just how anime accurate they can get with this line, consider this: did you know that because it was a battlefield patch job, the EZ-8 uses its old Gundam Ground Type shield, and thus the shield is a different color from the mobile suit? It’s true!

Now look at the Robot Spirits figure:

That’s some dedication to detail.

Now to answer the second question. Gundam Universe figures are meant to be less expensive than Robot Spirits, as they are meant to compete with the kinds of $25-$30 superhero action figures that are popular in the States.

And because they cost less, the quality if lower. They don’t come with anywhere close to the same number of accessories and effects parts, nor are they made from the same kind of plastic (Robot Spirits are made of good, hard, solid plastic, while GU figures are made out of this weird, rubbery stuff).

Furthermore, whereas Robot Spirits Ver A.N.I.M.E. is meant to be show accurate, GU figures intentionally made changes to proportions and panel lines in order to offer an alternate take on its designs. TL:DR the two lines of figures have very different purposes.

Pricing

When I say that ROBOT Spirits figures are pricier than Gundam Universe ones, I don’t mean it’s a difference of a couple bucks. The cheapest ones are around $60, with many of them hovering closer to $80, and quite a few going over the $100 mark.

(For reference, I found my Gyan being sold for a bit under $50)

You might be wondering if the quality justifies such a high price tag. I’m not entirely sure yet, but I’ll have more to say about this after we look at the Gyan.

About the Gyan

I’m going to be honest with you - I kinda hate the Gyan. I’ve tried to force myself to appreciate it, but I just can’t bring myself to it. But before I get to that, let’s see what the wiki has to say about it:

The YMS-15 Gyan was developed by Zimmad in the late stages of the One Year War for the Principality of Zeon's second phase mainstay mobile suit development project as a rival to the MS-14 Gelgoog.

Gyan was a high-performance MS that emphasized close-combat. Therefore, its armaments were very innovative and simple, consisting of only a custom beam saber and a weapon rack shield with built-in space mines and needle missiles that can be used for both defense and offense. This is because it was designed based on the tactical idea of ​​charging into the enemy forces with the support of heavily armed MS such as the MS-09R Rick Dom, and dragging the enemies into close-combat where large firepower cannot be used. However, unlike the Earth Federation Forces, the Zeon Army did not want to adopt coordinated attacks by using MS with different functions.

While Zeonic's Gelgoog was ultimately selected as the second phase mainstay mobile suit due to its superior general performance and versatility, as well as the ability to power a beam rifle, the Gyan's basic performance was said to be superior. Thanks to its use of the fluid pulse accelerator, as well as its arms and hands being tuned specifically for close combat, Gyan's responsiveness and range of motion were extremely high among One Year War-era mobile suits.

A Gyan (depending on sources, this was either the sole unit produced or one of three produced units) was customized for use by Colonel M'Quve of the Mobile Assault Force. The appearance of Gyan, with its silver armor and Pickelhaube helmet design, had a strong resemblance to a medieval armored knight. This was further emphasized by M'Quve's fighting style, which was heavily based on fencing.

There’s so much wrong with this.

First off, the Gyan was the personal mobile suit of M’Quve, which is immediately disqualifying because M’Quve fucking sucks:

But even if we disregard that, the other problem with the Gyan is that it feels like the lore writers are doing their best to make it look like more of a threat than it actually is. Do you seriously expect me to believe that this mobile suit that’s strictly limited to close quarters combat was ever seriously considered as competition for the Gelgoog?

The Gelgoog - you know, that mobile suit that wields a beam rifle and a beam sword, AKA the exact same weapons as the Gundam? You can’t be serious with that bullshit.

Which brings me to another point - is it just me, or is there a lot of outsized love for the Gyan, both within Bandai and Sunrise, and within the fandom?

This is a mobile suit that, in the original Mobile Suit Gundam TV show, literally shows up for one battle in one episode, piloted by one of the worst characters in the show - and loses. And yet it has multiple model kits, figurines, cameos in video games and other media, etc.

It just seems to get an outsized amount of attention relative to its overall importance to the lore (which might make sense if it looked cool, ala the GM Sniper II, but we’ll get to what I think of the visual design in a minute)

Furthermore, every time it shows up somewhere, online fans seem to lose their minds. When a new and improved version showed up in GQuuuuux, they acted as if it were the second coming of Christ himself.

I just don’t get it.

About the Visual Design

Zeon mobile suits usually look like suits of armor. Normally that’s a really cool aesthetic.

But not with the Gyan. It’s lacking ornamentation and detail (and color), and the head is too narrow. Also for something that’s supposed to be fast, it’s backpack is way too small and simple.

It also has pointy toes like an elf.

The whole thing reminds me of the Black Knight from Monty Python, in that it’s a goofy version of something that’s supposed to look tough:

It didn’t have to be this way. If they changed some of the proportions, gave it a bigger backpack, (fixed the feet), and maybe did something with the joints to sell the idea that it has super smooth, fluid motion, I could see it being a winner. But as it stands, it’s just … not. The only thing it really has going for it is its iconic shield, which do find to be quite nice.

And this is why I don’t get the love. You do not, in fact, have to go to bat for the Gyan. It could have - nay, should have - been a one off appearance as a “sub boss” encounter, and then left for dead as a relic of the late 70’s.

So Why Buy It?

Like I said earlier, this was part of my effort to try and like it.

Also, completionism; whether I like it or not, it’s now one of the more iconic mobile suits of the Universal Century, so it probably deserves a spot on the shelf.

Appearances in Media

Since this is a Ver A.N.I.M.E. figure, I’m only going to cover its original appearance in Mobile Suit Gundam. It shows up in Episode 36¹, where it fights the Gundam in the abandoned Texas Colony.

The first thing M’Quve tries to do is ambush the Gundam with mines, which fail to do much damage. Then he launches his shield missiles, which look less like missiles and more like a stream of tiny darts:

When that doesn’t work, he retreats into the colony proper, where there are even more mines (which again do nothing to stop Amuro):

Wouldn’t you know it, but Char is also in the colony with his new Gelgoog, ready to help. But M’Quve, being the idiot that he is, insists that he’s got it under control.

Spoiler alert - he doesn’t have it under control.

At this point the Gyan engages Gundam in close quarters swordfighting, which, you know, is its specialty. But despite the mobile suit being purpose built for this kind of combat, and despite the pilot presumably being a master fencer, together they basically just thrust wildly at Gundam:

Okay, so sometimes it swings wildly instead:

It doesn’t take too long for Amuro to grow impatient, at which point he pulls out the ol’ Double Beam Sabers and goes for the old bear hug:

Somehow this works, at which point he finishes the fight by cutting the Gyan in half:

It’s not a particularly well animated fight, nor is it particularly tense. It’s nearly the Gundam equivalent of a wrestling squash match., and in fact it was so useless that it was cut from the theatrical adaptation of the story.

And remember, this is the thing that terminally online Redditors and the like go nuts for.

About the Figure

Other than its sword and shield, this figure actually doesn’t come with a whole lot of accessories or effect parts:

It’s got some parts for firing the missiles out of its shield, which is certainly welcome. It also has a part shaped like an exploding set of mines, which is actually supposed to be used on the Robot Spirits figure of the Gundam, so if you don’t have that, you might not be able to use it:

It also has effect parts for when the Gundam cuts it in half, which just seems pathetic. Aren’t effect parts meant to make your mecha look cooler?

Lastly, it comes with some alternate monoeyes, so you can make it look either to the left or the right. It’s cute I guess, though not really a gamechanger considering that High Grade Gunpla have let you adjust the monoeye for years now.

Out of the Box

Let’s look at what the Gyan is like straight out of the box:

I suppose that it is indeed quite anime accurate, though that also means it’s kind of boring. So I went ahead and added some panel lining, as well as some waterslide decals, and a layer of clear coat for good measure.

All Dolled Up

Here is my “finalized” version of the Gyan:

That’s … better. Not perfect, but certainly better. At the very least now it looks more like a mecha.

Articulation

As a mobile suit that doubles as a swordsman, the Gyan should have some great articulation. And it does, at least where it counts.

The feet have multiple points of articulation to accommodate fancy footwork. Meanwhile the wrist has an extra point of articulation separate from the hand, while the hand itself is on a hinge. This allows it to pull off certain sword poses with ease:

I should also mention that there is one thing that gets in the way during poses. The rear skirt cannot move at all, which makes it difficult to lean it back (or even straight) when mounted to an action base or other stand. Instead, it’s going to try really hard to lean forward whether you want it to or not:

Gimmicks

We’ll start off with the monoeyes. You simply pluck off the top of the head, and drop in the monoeye you wish to use:

It’s cute I guess, but I do find it a bit weird how the monoeye flattens when it’s moving on the horizontal track. I could see maybe using one of these alternate eyes for certain shelf poses, but it’s too much of a hassle to switch between them in the middle of a photoshoot.

Next we have the missile effects:

For me this is the highlight of the figure. It adds a much needed level of action and dynamism. We hear so much about the Gyan having a missile shield, so it’s important to be able to see it in actual use.

Lastly we have the battle damage effects. First, the exploding mines:

The part has a rectangular cutout on the underside to allow it to plug into Gundam’s shoulder. I’m specifically using the High Grade Revive Gundam here, and weirdly the cutout in the effect part is actually too small to lock onto its shoulder. The best I could do is have it gently rest on it.

And then we have the effect part for when the Gyan dies, but before we see that, let me show you my attempts at recreating some of the goofier stillframes from the animated fight:

And there it is folks - the Gyan is toast.

I must admit that I accidentally tossed the instruction manual for this figure, so I don’t know how you’re supposed to attach this effect part. I see that there’s a little peg on on end of it, but I don’t know what it’s supposed to plug into. I ended up making it work by using Gundam’s beam saber blades to hold it into place.

Sturdiness

One thing I noticed while playing around with this figure is that, since it isn’t a Gunpla, it doesn’t use polycaps. All the joints feel rock solid, and none of the body parts ever threatened to disconnect or fall off.

Hands

The figure comes with a lot of hands, but in this case I feel like they’re unnecessary. Only one of the hands is designed to hold the sword, and since that’s it’s only weapon, that’s the only one you’re going to need. As for the other hand, it doesn’t really matter what you choose since it’s mostly going to be hidden behind the shield.

I suppose the one nice thing is that they provided a left sword hand so you can make a left handed Gyan:

Conclusion

I’ll admit it - my feelings on the Gyan warmed up a bit after doing this photoshoot. It can (easily) do some cool sword poses, something that a lot of other mobile suits struggle with, so it’s got that going for it. I still don’t love it, mind you, but may now I don’t outright hate it.

As for this foray into the Robot Spirits line, my opinion is largely the same as with Gundam Universe - it’s not bad, but it’s overpriced. It can be worth it, but only if it’s a mobile suit you particularly like, and you find the added effect parts to be useful or interesting.

(oh, and you better enjoy taking photos, or at least taking it off the desk or shelf to repose it every so often. I feel like that’s half the point of having all these accessories)

If not, you’re probably better off with a much cheaper model kit. Maybe the action poses won’t be quite as immaculate, but you’ll save some money, and will at least get a fun build out of the process too. Plus, there are various effect parts they make for use with Gunpla, and you might be able to get some of those over time to progressively enhance the look of your Gunpla.

Will I get another Robot Spirits figure some time in the future? Maybe, but I don’t see myself rushing out to do so.