X-Plus Giant Series Gyango Vinyl Figure Review

​FIGURE SPECS

​大怪獣シリーズ ジャイアント ギャンゴ

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​JAPAN RELEASE: AUGUST 2011

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​SERIES: TOHO 30CM SERIES

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​MATERIAL: SOFT VINYL

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​FROM: “ULTRAMAN”, EPISODE 11 “THE RASCAL FROM OUTER SPACE”, 1966
ウルトラマン 宇宙から来た暴れん坊

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​HEIGHT: 11 INCHES / 27.94 CM

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​WIDTH: 6 INCHES (FRONT ARMSPAN) / 15.24 CM

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LENGTH: ABOUT 13.75 INCHES / 34.92 CM

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​ARTICULATION: NONE

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​REVIEW AND PHOTOS: JOHN STANOWSKI

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Gyango is probably one of the most recognized ultra kaijus from the orginal Ultraman series, no doubt in part to his appearance as a silhouette during the show’s opening sequence. X-Plus created a great likeness in this entry into the Giant Series.

Probably one of the more ‘interesting’ ultra kaijus, Gyango is a hodge podge of parts sprung from the imagination of a two-bit gangster coupled with the power of a mysterious rock from outer space. Made from the remains of the Bemular suit, the very first kaiju to appear in Ultraman, Gyango sported an unusual array of features including metallic clamp hands, winding antennae ears and a splash of tribal-like shapes down his belly.

SCULPT

The X-Plus Giant Series Gyango is an awesome likeness. It’s broad range of features and textures are faithfully represented from diamond-shaped scales to spikey areas on his back. The only thing that bothers me sightly is that the right arm is a bit too “rounded”. The right arm, however, almost gives you the impression that there is a suit actor’s arm in there with subtle bends and bulges.

​The head is very well done with a mouthful of individually sculpted teeth. The ears are amazing; where other figure lines would skimp out on the finer detail, X-Plus individually sculpted every single spoke. (This is why we collect X-Plus!) On a side-note: the ears are made of a very soft squishy material.

​It’s no secret that X-Plus sculpts their figures based on the actual suits rather than idealized or stylized versions. And Gyango is a perfect example of this as a silver zipper runs down the back and neck. The colorful totem pole shapes were added with a thin layer of material no doubt to act as a guide for the painters. Where these shapes occur over the belly a bit of the scale detail is lost.

JOINTS & SEAMS

​There are two seams very well hidden around the middle of the head and base of the neck which are virutally invisible. The arms look like they may rotate at the shoulder but I’m afraid to try and force them to find out. They look best where they are anyway. The feet rotate at the ankles and you may need to tweak these in order to get the figure to stand properly balanced. The Ric Boy version of this figure comes with 2 sets of ears and so it may be possible to remove or rotate them on the standard version, but again, I’m afraid to try as they are so soft and may be glued. Finally, if you want to nitpick, the ears and hand “claws” have subtle flange lines on them from the mold, something I would expect to see only on a plastic model kit. Overall, though, good show!

POSE

The pose is typical of Gyango and looks best from a front angle. The side and rear views are unexciting.

PAINT JOB

The base coating of brown is pretty standard and uneventful without any shading or highlights. The front neck and chest were well down with desaturated totem pole colors of which Gyango may be most known for. The inside of his red mouth is surround with a pink lower lip and a dull metallic blue upper lip and snout. The feet are a dull silver which have a sandy tan paint texuring. There is also silver on the claws and ears (which is particularly shiny on the ears.) Nice job!

SIZE & FOOTPRINT

At 11 inches tall, the X-Plus Gyango scales somewhere in its own range. It’s taller than the Large Monster Series yet shorter than the 30cm series Godzilla figures. If you’re a collector who buys from multiple vinyl figure makers, then the discrepancy of scale likely doesn’t bother you in the least. But X-Plus obsessive scale freaks like myself and (Hi, Ryan!) may be a little disappointed.

But there is good news…

The Giant Series Gyango is a perfect match for the X-Plus Ultraman vinyls! Gyango is taller than Ultraman (seen here beside the X-Plus Ultraman C-Type Standing figure) and he should be! What matters the most is that the shoulders on Gyango and Ultraman are level with each other, just as were likely the shoulders of the actors who wore the suits.

​The figure comes nested in a plastic shell and wrapped in a blind box that’s twice as large as it needs to be. A single tie keeps the figure in place.

The X-Plus Giant Series Gyango is an awesome addition to the collection of any Ultraman fan and I am overly pleased to finally add him to my shelves. He was a bit hard to find but the search was worth it!

By John Stanowski Originally posted June 17th, 2013​ on Kaiju Addicts.