Kit Review

Straight build + Stickers + Panel lining

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Detail shots

Outer armor removed — inner frame shots.
There's just a bit of frame structure in the arms and thighs.

Only 3 hands are included in total.

Among them, the beam saber hand has a wrist that articulates flexibly.

Thanks to that, the wrist moves smoothly through about a 100-degree range.

The shield locks on securely thanks to its dual mounting points.

The mounting points can be adjusted to various angles as shown above.

This also makes it possible to position the shield facing straight forward, as shown above.

HGUC Gyan - The limb articulation folds up way better than expected. The only downside is that the front skirt doesn't

The limb articulation folds up way better than expected.
The only downside is that the front skirt doesn't lift very much, which limits the hip joint range a bit — a bit of a shame.

The shoulder articulation is great too.

The waist is fairly flexible as well.

HGUC Gyan - The neck in particular has a surprisingly nice range of motion that really helps with posing. The mono-eye

The neck in particular has a surprisingly nice range of motion that really helps with posing.
The mono-eye is applied as a sticker,
so you can stick it in different positions to express eye movement as needed.

HGUC Gyan - Standing at attention. Worth paying attention to the arm and wrist articulation here. (1/3)

Standing at attention.
Worth paying attention to the arm and wrist articulation here.

HGUC Gyan - Oh wow!! Thanks to that flexible wrist, a fencer-style thrusting pose comes together really convincingly~

Oh wow!!
Thanks to that flexible wrist, a fencer-style thrusting pose comes together really convincingly~

Aerial action pose

HGUC Gyan - The excellent articulation makes unique poses like this possible. (1/3)

The excellent articulation makes unique poses like this possible.

Alongside the original HGUC Gyan released back in 1999.

Alongside the MG Gyan.

Straight build

Following the Guncannon, the Gyan — the second HGUC kit released back in 1999 — has now been reborn as an HGUC Revival. Being one of the very earliest HGUC kits, the quality limitations were even more apparent, so it's great to finally see it renewed after 17 years. ^^

First off, the molded colors have been deepened slightly for a richer, more premium look, though the color combination itself hasn't changed since the original HGUC Gyan already had solid color separation. The proportions haven't changed all that dramatically compared to other Revival versions either, which just goes to show that the 1999 HGUC Gyan was a pretty solid kit in its own right. The head is where you notice the most difference — the cross-shaped gap on the face has been made considerably narrower, which can feel a little cramped. That said, the narrower cross does make it look a bit sharper, so there's that.

The area where the Revival version clearly upgrades things is articulation. The original HGUC Gyan felt a bit stiff in that department, but this Revival version gets full fold on the limbs, and articulation across the waist, shoulders, neck, and more has been significantly improved. The wrist in particular moves through about 100 degrees, which opens up a wide variety of beam saber poses, and the neck is flexible enough to add that extra bit of expression when posing.

As you can see in the review photos above, poses like the attention stance with the arm held close to the body and the beam saber raised straight up, or a fencer-style forward thrust, all come together naturally. These were actually tricky to pull off even on the MG, so it's great to finally see them properly realized in the HGUC Revival version.

On the downside, the front skirt has a very limited range of motion that restricts the hip joint. That said, the hip joint is positioned slightly lower than the skirt, so the thigh can still come up close to 90 degrees even without skirt movement, which is a relief.

Either way, this feels like a complete upgrade 17 years in the making — a kit that's genuinely charming thanks to the flexible action poses you can pull off with its signature beam saber. The base quality is just so good and it's such a satisfying build that I'd highly recommend it to both longtime fans and newcomers alike. :-)

HGUC Gyan | 2016.5 | ¥1,500

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.