Yazan Gable

Yazan Gable was a Lieutenant Commander in the Titans who served as one of their most feared ace pilots during the Gryps Conflict. Unlike other aces in the war, Yazan displayed no Newtype potential, instead gaining his reputation through pure skill, cunning, and an unmatched bloodlust for battle. He was responsible for killing more AEUG members than any other major Titan pilot, earning him a reputation as one of the most dangerous pilots of the Universal Century.

Biography

Early life

Yazan was born on Earth in UC 0060. His birth and family background remained largely shrouded in mystery throughout his life. According to reports, he came from a British family line. His father was a former scholar who had made a grave error during research, forcing him to retire from his university position. His mother was described as an uneducated wild woman who harboured a deep hatred for intellectuals and raised Yazan to live purely on instinct rather than intellect.

A local pastor eventually persuaded Yazan’s mother to send him to a seminary school far from home, where he received his first formal education. Despite this opportunity for learning, Yazan developed a lasting grudge against his father and had nothing positive to say about him throughout his life.

During the One Year War in UC 0079, the Principality of Zeon dropped a colony on Earth as part of their declaration of war against the Earth Federation. This attack damaged Yazan’s home, though details of his activities during this period remained unclear. It was rumoured that he became a mobile suit pilot for the Earth Federation and played an active role in the conflict, though no official records existed of his service.

Around UC 0083, during the Delaz Conflict, no mention of Yazan’s name appeared in any records. He did not readily apply for the newly formed Titans during their initial recruitment phase. Instead, he spent his days earnestly training in mobile suits, earning the nicknames “savage” and “devil” amongst those who encountered him.

Gryps Conflict

Yazan made his major debut in August UC 0087 when he joined the Titans as part of Operation Apollo, the mission to gain control of the lunar city of Von Braun. He was assigned to the defence squadron of the Alexandria-class cruiser and given command of an experimental variable mobile armor, the ORX-005 Gaplant.

From the beginning, Yazan demonstrated his contempt for incompetent leadership. He developed an intense hatred for his superior, Jamaican Daninghan, with whom he had several strategic disagreements. During a battle against the Argama, Yazan grew angry when Jamaican attempted to fire at enemy ships despite Yazan being in the line of fire. In retaliation, he craftily arranged Jamaican’s demise by leading Emma Sheen and Kamille Bidan to the bridge of the Alexandria. When Emma fired her beam rifle, Yazan dodged the blast, allowing it to hit the bridge and kill Jamaican.

Throughout the conflict, various Titan leaders attempted to recruit Yazan to their factions. He found himself drawn to Paptimus Scirocco, who Yazan felt had actually acknowledged his talent and respected his abilities. Under Scirocco’s command, Yazan was assigned two wingmen: Ensigns Dunkel Cooper and Ramsus Hasa. Together, they formed the elite “Yazan Team” and were equipped with three prototype RX-139 Hambrabi transformable mobile suits.

The Yazan Team proved devastatingly effective against AEUG forces. Yazan demonstrated genuine care for his subordinates, offering encouragement during sorties and teaching younger pilots like Chief Petty Officer Adol Zeno how panic could mean the difference between life and death. When Ramsus was killed by Katz Kobayashi’s FXA-05D G-Defenser, Yazan was deeply shocked by the loss and carried out a fierce counterattack, destroying the G-Defenser and killing Katz in the process.

During the Battle of Gryps, Yazan single-handedly destroyed the AEUG battleship Radish, killing Captain Henken Bekkener in the process. He also fatally wounded Emma Sheen by delivering the final blow to the PMX-001 Palace Athene, sending debris flying that cut Emma with shrapnel. These ruthless actions angered Kamille Bidan, prompting him to tap into his Newtype abilities and destroy Yazan’s Hambrabi with the MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam. However, Yazan managed to escape by ejecting in his cockpit’s escape pod.

In the movie version of Zeta Gundam, Yazan was responsible for betraying and killing Bask Om instead of Reccoa Londe, demonstrating his willingness to eliminate any Titans leadership he deemed unworthy.

First Neo Zeon War

Several days after the Battle of Gryps ended, Yazan’s escape pod was recovered at Shangri-La Colony by Judau Ashta and his gang. Yazan attempted to persuade them into stealing the Zeta Gundam by infiltrating the Argama while it was docked at the colony. Eventually, Judau and his friends turned against Yazan when they witnessed him knock out Saegusa, attacking him while he piloted a Petite Mobile Suit.

Over the following days, Yazan made several unsuccessful attempts to steal the Zeta Gundam, earning Judau’s ire with each failure. In a final attempt to redeem himself, Yazan obtained a custom-coloured Geze and battled Judau as both he and the Argama attempted to leave Shangri-La. Despite initially having the upper hand, Judau managed to outmanoeuvre him and throw his Geze into the Neo Zeon ship Endra. Yazan managed to escape by parachuting with a jacket before his mobile suit collided with the ship, though the Neo Zeon soldiers believed him to have perished and even erected a grave for him.

However, Yazan survived and later made a brief cameo appearance attending a party with Neo Zeon and Federation personnel as a guest in Dakar.

Later years

In UC 0090, as depicted in the manga MSV-R: The Return of Johnny Ridden, Yazan appeared as the captain of the Earth Federation Forces’ mobile suit squadron “Knight Jaeger” under the pseudonym “Vasuki,” named after Nagaraja, the king of serpent gods in Indian mythology. He had become more intelligent and mature than during his Titans days, taking good care of his subordinates and acting politely towards his superiors, though he retained his intense love of battle.

At the direct request of Chancellor Gopp, his former superior during the One Year War, Yazan accompanied Ingrid 0 into space. Ingrid was a former Chimera Corps member and Cyber Newtype who had become his adopted daughter. During operations in the Confeito sector, Yazan engaged in battle with Char Aznable, and his custom RGM-79V GM Night Seeker suffered heavy damage. He was forced to accept an RX-178 Gundam Mk-II as a replacement, though he expressed disapproval of the machine.

By January UC 0094, Yazan had grown weary of life on Earth and returned to Shangri-La, where he reportedly resumed work as a bodyguard for a junk shop. It was said that he promised assistance to Neo Zeon remnant uprisings and went on rampages during this period. What ultimately became of the man who prowled seeking battle like a beast remained unknown.

Personality and traits

Yazan was characterised by his insatiable love for battle and his confident, aggressive, and bloodthirsty personality. He possessed a feral cunning that made him extremely dangerous in combat, often mocking his opponents with taunts such as “I’m gonna violate you.” Despite his brutal nature, he showed some moral standards, being disgusted by Jamaican Daninghan’s plan to drop a colony on Von Braun.

While not usually one to follow orders blindly, Yazan demonstrated respect for commanders he deemed competent, particularly Paptimus Scirocco. However, if he believed his superiors to be unfit or incompetent, he would disregard their orders and, in some cases, engineer their deaths.

Despite his reputation for brutality, Yazan showed genuine care for his subordinates, particularly his wingmen Dunkel Cooper and Ramsus Hasa. He offered encouragement during combat operations and was deeply affected by the loss of his comrades, seeking fierce revenge when they were killed.

Skills and abilities

Yazan was exceptionally capable as both a mobile suit pilot and battlefield commander. Despite possessing no Newtype abilities, he was more than capable of matching the combat prowess of Newtypes such as Kamille Bidan and Char Aznable. His victories came from pure skill, combat pragmatism, and his ability to improvise effective ambushes in battle.

He demonstrated excellent tactical awareness and was skilled at planning and executing effective attacks against enemy forces. His feral instincts in combat, combined with his technical piloting abilities, made him one of the most feared pilots of his era.

Mecha

RX-139 Hambrabi

Yazan’s most famous mobile suit was the RX-139 Hambrabi, a prototype transformable mobile suit developed with assistance from Paptimus Scirocco. The Hambrabi featured five mono-eye sensors placed throughout its body, enabling superior target tracking in both mobile suit and mobile armor modes. Yazan used this machine to devastating effect during the Battle of Gryps, where he killed multiple AEUG members including Henken Bekkener, Katz Kobayashi, and fatally wounded Emma Sheen.

The Hambrabi could transform into a highly agile mobile armor mode and was equipped with unique “Sea Serpent” wire-guided weapons that could deliver electrical shocks to enemy mobile suits. Yazan and his wingmen developed the “Spider Web” tactic, using their Hambrabis’ wires to create an electrical net that could disable enemy units.

ORX-005 Gaplant

Earlier in his Titans career, Yazan piloted the ORX-005 Gaplant, a prototype transformable mobile armor developed for space use but with excellent atmospheric flight capabilities. The Gaplant was one of the most agile mobile weapons of its era when in mobile armor mode, capable of quick direction changes mid-flight thanks to its thruster-equipped movable shield binders. Yazan used this machine during Operation Apollo and in his manipulation of Jamaican Daninghan’s death.

Full mecha list

• ORX-005 Gaplant — Primary mobile suit during early Gryps Conflict operations
• RX-139 Hambrabi — Signature mobile suit and most famous machine
• Geze — Custom mobile worker used during attempts to steal the Zeta Gundam
• RGM-79V GM Night Seeker — Used during UC 0090 operations under pseudonym “Vasuki”
• RX-178 Gundam Mk-II — Replacement unit provided by Chancellor Gopp
• Petite Mobile Suit — Briefly used at Shangri-La
• RMS-108 Marasai — Various operations
• AMX-003 Gaza-C — Limited use

Behind the scenes

Yazan Gable was voiced by Hōchū Ōtsuka in the Japanese version and Corby Proctor in the English dub. Ryan Ballantine provided his voice in Dynasty Warriors Gundam 3.

Yazan is notable for being one of the few Titan pilots to wear a custom uniform, sporting yellow trim as opposed to the Titans’ standard black. His distinctive hairstyle—part bouffant, part mohawk, part mullet—became iconic amongst fans of the series.

The character has been cited as an inspiration for several future Gundam villains, including Rakan Dahkaran, Rezin Schnyder, Rau Le Creuset, Ali Al-Saachez, and Desil Galette.

In Mobile Suit SD Gundam Mk IV, Yazan appeared as a parody of Dick Dastardly from Wacky Races, piloting the “00 Machine” alongside Gemon Bajack. In the comedic short Around Thirty Office Worker Haman-sama, he appears as a kind-hearted convenience store manager.

Yazan has featured prominently in the Super Robot Wars series and holds the distinction of being the only Titans member to appear in all of the Alpha series games. In Super Robot Wars V, he can potentially be recruited to the player’s roster, making him one of the few previously “irredeemable” characters to join the heroic cast.

Appearances

• Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam Episodes 24—49
• Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ Episodes 7—8
• Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New Translation II - Lovers
• Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New Translation III - Love Is the Pulse of the Stars
• MSV-R: The Return of Johnny Ridden manga
• Dynasty Warriors: Gundam series
• Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme Vs series
• Super Robot Wars series