Kit Review

Straight build + Panel lining + Stickers

The universal yardstick — size comparison with a cigarette pack.

HY2M Glorious Gouf - The front skirt armor moves in a clever way, so the legs can bend forward despite the Gouf's power cable

The front skirt armor moves in a clever way, so the legs can bend forward despite the Gouf's power cables getting in the way.

HY2M Glorious Gouf - All finger joints are articulated, naturally. But compared to the Rick Dom, the fingers look a bit... we

All finger joints are articulated, naturally.
But compared to the Rick Dom, the fingers look a bit... weak and flimsy.

The heat saber handle can be stored inside the shield.

It comes with two heat sabers — one for storage and one made of clear material.

Just like the Rick Dom, it's bolted straight into the palm — no-nonsense style~

When the heat rod is fully extended, it's about 40cm long — quite lengthy.

HY2M Glorious Gouf - It's stiff enough to hold a pose reasonably well, but there are also several C-shaped clips included to

It's stiff enough to hold a pose reasonably well, but there are also several C-shaped clips included to help support the weight and maintain the shape better.
Several C-shaped clips are included. Honestly, it holds up fine without them too.

HY2M Glorious Gouf - The arm comes in two versions — a light-up machine gun arm and a poseable action hand. You can swap them

The arm comes in two versions — a light-up machine gun arm and a poseable action hand.
You can swap them by disassembling the arm, though it's a bit of a hassle ^^;
Still, props to them for including both options — that's a thoughtful touch.

Due to the finger structure, the action-type machine gun left hand only articulates in two sections.

The switch is located inside the backpack — just slide the backpack armor backward and it pops out.

HY2M Glorious Gouf - Two switches. One controls the verniers, and the other controls the LEDs in the head and torso separatel

Two switches. One controls the verniers, and the other controls the LEDs in the head and torso separately.

HY2M Glorious Gouf - Just like the Rick Dom, it uses 2 AAA batteries, and the battery compartment is located underneath the h

Just like the Rick Dom, it uses 2 AAA batteries,
and the battery compartment is located underneath the head when you lift it off.

Articulation is... well, just about passable.

The waist also moves on a ball joint.

Light ON !

Heat rod action po~se. The heat rod is stiff enough to hold its shape pretty well.

Cockpit hatch open. The interior lights up, and you can see the glow through the yellow window.

The verniers on the backpack light up too, of course.

HY2M Glorious Gouf - The sole only has one vernier to begin with, so it looks a bit sparse compared to the Rick Dom. The vern

The sole only has one vernier to begin with, so it looks a bit sparse compared to the Rick Dom.
The verniers on both sides of the legs are cleverly lit up by a single LED. (See the assembly process for details.)

The Gouf's highlight feature! The 5-finger light-up machine gun system on the left hand.

HY2M Glorious Gouf - The power source and switch are built into the arm itself, and you turn it on by rotating the tip of the

The power source and switch are built into the arm itself,
and you turn it on by rotating the tip of the shield-stored heat saber handle 180 degrees to the right.

HY2M Glorious Gouf - The light-up fingertips aren't just a simple glow — there's a small electronic circuit board built into

The light-up fingertips aren't just a simple glow —
there's a small electronic circuit board built into the forearm that makes them flash on and off rapidly.
It really gives you the feel of a machine gun firing. Good point~
I tried capturing the flashing effect by shooting burst photos with my digital camera and making an animated GIF,
but the photos came out blurry — not sure if the camera shook.
(Actually, doesn't that make it more realistic? A machine gun firing would naturally shake a bit... -o-)s

Heat saber po~se

As expected, the HY2M series from the back is...

Vernier glow seen from below.

Interestingly, there's a spot on the rear to store the Rick Dom's bazooka.

Since we borrowed the bazooka anyway, let's throw in an action pose!

Comparison with the PG Zaku II. The Gouf has a bigger build~!

A shot with the HY2M Rick Dom.

Hmm... when it comes to vernier lighting, the Rick Dom wins hands down.

A shot with the MG and HGUC. The molded colors are all quite different from each other.

Following the Rick Dom and Char's Rick Dom in the HY2M Glorious series, the Gouf has been released. Along with the Zaku, Rick Dom, and Gelgoog, it's one of the most popular Zeon mobile suits, so having it released in 1/60 scale was something to be happy about ^^

Unlike the Rick Dom with its impressive 17 verniers, the Gouf only has 8 — 6 on the legs and 2 on the backpack — so the impact of that bottom-up light-up shot is a bit less dramatic. Instead, the Gouf has its own unique appeal: the machine gun firing effect from the tips of all 5 fingers on the left hand. A single LED cleverly lights up all 5 fingertips, and a simple PCB circuit board is included so it's not just a static glow but a rapid flashing effect — blinking quickly to simulate the feel of a machine gun firing. (See the animated photo above.) Beyond that, the cockpit and mono-eye lighting are also implemented.

The overall proportions feel quite impressive. Just like the Rick Dom, the joints use bolt-tightening adjustment, so if you dial in the joint strength while building, they won't be loose at all. For reference, the HY2M Gouf tends to need the joints tightened a bit more than the Rick Dom. The leg connection points and ankles have relatively less tolerance, so they can feel loose. (You can always disassemble the armor later and readjust, of course.) Articulation is neither great nor terrible — you can pull off poses well enough.

There are various opinions about the molded color. Like the Rick Dom, the large plastic panels are evenly molded without any swirl marks, but blue plastic tends to vary quite a bit in terms of how people perceive the shade. A lot of people were unhappy with the MG Gouf because the blue came out too dark. On the flip side, the HGUC Gouf is a bright, almost sky-blue color — nice shade, but some felt it looked too light and not very Gouf-like. This HY2M Gouf lands somewhere right in the middle — an ambiguous shade between the two. (See the comparison photo with the MG/HGUC above.) Personally, I think it's just about the right molded color. Worth noting: blue is one of the colors that digital cameras have the hardest time capturing accurately. In person it's slightly darker than in the photos — the lighting tends to make the camera shots come out brighter. So just assume it's a touch darker than what you see in the photos.

One of the unique things about the HY2M Gouf is the new power cable connection method. Unlike the MG/PG approach of threading beads through pipes or springs, this time every single segment is a multi-joint piece that you connect one by one. This method is much stiffer than it looks, locking in very firmly without any wobble. The downside is that it doesn't have that natural drooping feel you'd expect. Probably because, unlike the Zaku, the Gouf's power cables are only on fixed areas like the head and waist rather than on moving parts like the legs — so they went with this rigid fixed-type cable approach. It works well enough in its own way.

The weapons include a shield, a storage-type heat saber, a full weapon-form heat saber, and a heat rod. The heat rod uses the same connection method as the power cables, and it's stiff enough that posing it isn't too difficult. C-shaped clips are included to lock the heat rod pose in place, but it holds up reasonably well without them too. One complaint: because it's a multi-joint connection system, it's a bit tricky to line all the segments up in a straight line. If you look closely at the photos, you can see it's not perfectly straight — it's a bit crooked here and there (^^;). Getting each stiff segment lined up straight is a bit of a pain. (Same goes for the power cables.)

The soft parts on the heat saber feel really nice. Since it's bolted into the palm, it absolutely won't fall out. Interestingly, there's a weapon storage slot on the rear of the HY2M Gouf that's designed to hold the HY2M Rick Dom's bazooka. Is it pressure to buy both? ^^;

Compared to the HY2M Rick Dom, it's smaller in volume and uses fewer LEDs, but the build difficulty feels on par with the Rick Dom — or possibly even harder. The Rick Dom is chunky enough that you can be a bit sloppy when routing the wires inside, but the Gouf's interior is cramped, making wire placement more fiddly. Connecting all the power wires to the battery compartment in the torso was especially tough given how tight the space is.

Compared to the Rick Dom, it has fewer light sources and less overall volume, so it's a bit less flashy and can feel relatively underwhelming. But looking at it purely as a Gouf kit, it's a highly polished 1/60 big-scale kit. When you consider the larger build compared to the Zaku, the great proportions, and the impressive action poses in LED lighting mode, it's easily the best Gouf kit ever released. On top of that, it's 6,000 yen cheaper than the Rick Dom, so it doesn't really fall short in terms of value for money.

If you're a Gouf fan, this is practically a must-buy, and it's also highly recommended for anyone who wants a large-scale Zeon mobile suit. It's true that it keeps feeling a bit lacking compared to the HY2M Rick Dom, but the Rick Dom is the Rick Dom, and the Gouf is the Gouf. ^^

Gouf | 2003. 6 | ¥12,000

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.