Gyaos (1967)

Review by JoshB

Gyaos comes from the 1967 film Gamera vs Gyaos, the third Gamera film in the Showa series. While not Gamera’s first opponent, Gyaos has become his most iconic foe, appearing in all three incarnations of the Gamera series.

Gyaos is a prehistoric creature that resembles both a bat and a Pterosaur. It can fly, fire sonic beams from it’s mouth, and trample on the homes of terrified Japanese people.

The Gamera films of the 60s were noticeably poorer than the equivalent Godzilla films, but what the lacked in budget they made up in charm. Make no mistake, the rubber suits in these movies look CHEAP but there’s something really fun about them.

You can imagine the challenge then to make Gyaos both look like the original suit and a modern toy. How “cheap” do you make it look? Do you go for movie accuracy or an idealized version of the classic design? Kaiyodo settled for something in between for this Sci-Fi Revoltech release, brought to you by ToyFreakz.com.

The box is typical for the Revoltech Sci-Fi line – a beautiful book-cover style box with obi strip around the bottom. Inside you have images of the classic monster along with text about the character. All of the Sci-Fi series packaging has a nostalgic feel and they look great displayed together.

Included in the packaging is:

• Gyaos Figure
• Sonic Beam
• “destroyed” jet
• Flying Gamera
• Nameplate
• Alternate severed foot
• Stand

Gyaos is actually reasonably large at about 5 inches tall with a 6 inch wingspan. The proportions are right for a suit actor to fit inside.

Articulation is great, with Revoltech joints all over the place. The figure is much more dynamic that Gyaos ever was in the movie.

The head features the trademark flat top and large eyes. The mouth features two different points of articulation and a hole to attach the sonic beam part. The head can be tilted back all the way for flying mode.

The body has multi-segmented joints under a thick rubbery coating, but the sides are left exposed.

The wings have Revoltech joints in the shoulders, then dual joints at the claws, enabling a wide variety of poses.

The sonic beam is a long, transparent weapon effect that mounts in the mouth. Included is a severed jet which clips on to the beam effect – the effect is very nice.

Gyaos can be put in a flying pose with aid of the included stand. The stand includes a special clear part designed to go around the tail joint to support poses. This eliminates the need for a large hole in the back of the figure as so many Revoltech figures had before it.

 In the original 1967 movie, Gyaos cuts off his own foot to escape from a trap. This is represented here with the additional severed foot accessory.

Finally, also included is a small flying Gamera statue that is unfortunately not to scale. It’s a nice accessory, but feels like a last minute addition included to beef up the set.

Overall this is a great figure – highly recommended. You can get yours from ToyFreakz.com!