Kind of like how in RoU when you're not sure how Jack is going to win with the timer running out he just pulls out the Ultra Bracelet and immediately eviscerates his enemy. Though it's usually quite spectacular.

I did like how the first time he uses the Emerium Beam you can kind of feel the weight behind it because it's the first time he's done his Ultra Beam and it's like he's about to shoot a WMD.

That actually was the intention initially. They would later retcon this tho and make Taro a seperate character from Kotaro

Thanks for clearing that up. I thought it was somewhat weird (especially since it seems to imply that the Mother set Kotaro up to die so she could use him as an incubator.

That definitely paints Mother of Ultra as a lot more suspicious and darker than need be (to say nothing of Ultra Society as a whole)!

Not the first franchise who looks better (or worse) thanks to a retcon.

But the original dialogue remains, and there isn't much a retcon can do to reconcile itself with Mother's original thought process and the actions of the five preceding Ultra Brothers.

Not sure if this counts as a SPOILER or not, but..

um, maybe don't get too attached to that dog. I don't think the writers were.

The episode with Dilemma/Jirenma, is I think the point where the writers didn't want to account for how the dog factored into the story anymore.

Damn, someone on the crew must have had a bad experience with a dog once and decided to get their "revenge" using Taro's Kaiju!

I've also been looking into other Kaiju and one of the most destructive has got to be Silverbloom from Leo. Not that it's the most powerful, but it's "success rate" is abnormally high!

Don't click the link if you want to avoid major spoilers!

https://tsuburaya-prod.com/encyclopedia/silverbloome

I never finished Leo though I knew that MAC didn't have a stellar go of it, but DAMN this sounds like a horror movie more than an episode of Ultraman! The reception to the show was clearly bad for this to happen.

Trademarks for Ultraman Blazer

SKaRD
アースガロン(Earth Gallon)
ガヴァドン(Garbaton)
カナン星人(Alien Canan)
ガラモン(Garamon)
ゲードス(Gedos)
ゲバルガ(Gebarga)
ザンギル(Zangiru)
タガヌラー(Taganura)
チルソナイトソード(Chilsonite Sword)
(Chilsonite)
デマーガ(Demaga)
デルタンダル(Deltandal)
ドルゴ(Dolgo)
ニジカガチ(Nijikagachi)
バザンガ(Bazanga)
ファードラン(Fadoran)
ブレーザーストーン(Blazer Stone)
ブレーザーブレス(Blazer Brace)
モグージョン(Mogujon)
レイナス(Reinas)
レヴィーラ(Levira)

Shin Ultraman physical release on June 13! The day before my Birthday!

https://www.amazon.com/Shin-Ultraman..._bs_2625373011

the day of my birthday!

Eyy!!! Nice!

Does anyone know which episode of Ultraman Z this frame is from?

https://i.imgur.com/aSR7MVy.jpg

I think episode one?

When Haruki and Z meet for the first time

Thank you, it is indeed episode 1!

huzzah!
you are welcome!

So, this is more of a figure question, but an Ultra Question is still an Ultra Question!

What the hell is "Armor of Legends" and when did Geed ever wear "Sun Quan Armor"!?

https://toygeek.com/anime/ultraman-g...andai-spirits/

Lol I remember that. They even made a figuarts of the Zero one. It was some sort of marketing thing in China

https://i.imgur.com/afJvWGL.png

yeah, it's basically Ultras dressing up as various chinese historical/mythical figures
https://ultra.fandom.com/wiki/Ultram...our_of_Legends

I assume it's because China has a bigass Ultraman fandom. Explains all those model kits of Ultra heroes as Liu Bei or Lu Bu and stuff.

I can't believe they killed off Father of Ultra in the first episode he appeared in! We didn't even know he had a wife and kid at the time!

I've only seen a handful of older Ultra shows, but I get the impression the Ultra series leans into cross-show continuity far more than Rider or Sentai tends to. Are there any shows that people suggest watching only after seeing specific older entries first? I'd like to try something more modern at some point but I'm nervous I'll pick something and it will be like "you fool, you didn't watch Orb first and the plot is ruined now" or something like that. Maybe I'm afraid of nothing, you tell me!

It does do crossovers and such a lot more, but I feel you don't really need any context for them beyond what's provided in the episodes. I'd compare it to say Gokaiger's tribute episodes for the most part.

Even looking at more extreme examples, Geed and Decker are shows that are made completely on the basis of being follow-ups to previous series -- the Zero movies and Trigger, respectively. But Geed basically explains everything you need to know in the first couple minutes, and Decker basically never draws on anything specific from Trigger and plays more on its nature of being a sequel in general rather than needing to know what happened in this one Trigger episode or whatever. Both shows to begin with focus much more on the new characters, and there's an argument you could replace the returning characters and plot threads with completely original ones and not lose much.

It can look a bit intimidating (and a few movies and episodes do handle it as subtly as a bag of hammers) but it's really fine in the long run. It obviously is a lot more enjoyable if you've seen a previous show before their characters show up in a new one, but I'd say the same about like, if you've seen Hurricaneger before you saw their Gokaiger episode or W before you saw Revice: The Mystery. Absolutely not necessary and is just a little bit more fun and cool if you have seen them.

... the exception to this is Ultra Galaxy Fight; I find it really funny that they do English dubs specifically for those as if they're a good entry point for newer fans, but they consist almost entirely of just fanservice for existing fans

It usually isn't that tight. Sometimes you'll have characters that are related to each other, but that's usually just a tangential detail and not incredibly central to the plot. And honestly, given how episodic all the old shows were, it's not like you're missing huge sprawling storylines.

I came to Ultra pretty recently in 2021. I watched Ultra Q and Ultraman 66 then just skipped right to Ultraman Orb. I saw ultraman X was going to be in the Orb movie, so I watched Ultraman X. Then I decided to watch Ultraman Z. I got to an episode where Geed showed up, so I decided to pause Z and then watch Ultraman Geed.

I think this can be applied pretty well to anything in Ultra, if you are feeling adventurous.

Only caveat I would offer is that you probably would be better off watching Ultraman Orb before you watch the shows that came out after it. At least two shows that come after Orb built some pretty big references from Orb into their plots.

So Tsuburaya is collabrating with TBS for new projects.

There first announcment is going to be this fall.

Some exciting stuff. Feels in line with the rumors going on.

https://twitter.com/livedoornews/sta...ghtmode%3Dtrue

Shin Ultraman gets an updated Mafex release which includes Imitation Ultraman's head
https://images2.imgbox.com/b3/01/97vVESdi_o.jpg
https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Produ...Details/236712
$94.99
January 2024

Now THIS is something that makes me want to consider the Mafex over SHF. SHF makes you buy the first contact version if you want the beam and beta capsule, but Mafex just did a re-release with those parts (plus Imitation parts which is also cool) like a reasonable company.

I, uh, already paid for my SHF Shin Ultraman though and it's due to ship soon, so... kinda locked in!

Reported from Ryu Manatsu(Ultraman Leo), Jiro Dan(Ultraman Jack) has passed away.
https://twitter.com/manatsu_ryu/stat...48777356173312

May he rest in peace.

Edit: an article reports that he passed away from lung cancer
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/bd...ae615931e2b00c

RIP.

Tsuburaya have officially posted the teaser they had in the Decker Movie on their Youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meM4e75KrAk

For some reason, this teaser gives me Ultraman The Next/Nexus vibes, which I am all for!

Judging from the "stories from Astronauts" and "for decades," I'm wondering if this is an Ultraman Story set in the future?

And that design is absolutely amazing so far.

We'll know more come April, but I'm looking forward to a fresh new Ultraman.

I’m kind of wondering if this isn’t this year’s main show and if we’ll still be getting something new this summer. I’m also definitely feeling more Nexus/Ultraseven X vibes.

I mean, Tsuburaya did recently announce that they’d once more partnered with TBS (the broadcaster until Ultraman Mebius and co-producer until Ultraseven), so who knows? Maybe something more adult oriented is coming.

Got in a few Ultra Kaiju with my recent package, and of them Ultra Action Figure Baltan has proven to be such a treat. He was an awesome surprise to see recently even among a slate of releases that saw UAF doing better (starting Showa Ultras, doing a lot more releases in general, re-releasing the rare Zero with a bunch of accessories) and he's really lived up to the excitement for me. He's a little simple and has no head articulation as you might expect, but for the price he's loaded with so much personality and looks excellent fighting my Figuarts Ultras.

I'd really love to see UAF do more of these. Larger Kaiju especially with big tails like Gomora and Red King would present issues for sure, but I think they could easily do something like King Joe or Zetton. I'd pick them up in a heartbeat especially after Baltan here turned out so good

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FseLu9ba...jpg&name=large

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FseLu9Ka...jpg&name=large

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FseLu9Pa...jpg&name=large

Finally got my thoughts together and understand what I lacked in Shin Ultraman, other than the coherence of the plot. Namely:
1) Drive and bright heroes. The original Ultraman had a chic ensemble cast that played albeit trite but likeable characters. Anno's chosen low-key tone worked well in Shin Godzilla, but for Ultraman it was a loss.
2) A slightly more creative rethinking of the hero's image. To be fair, it's tough as the Ultraman franchise continues to evolve, but still, I'd rather have more of their own instead of copying the original show.
3) It would be unfair to say that Anno is really bad at humor. Therefore, I will write that in comedy it is much weaker than in drama.

Ultraman found his business calling: A construction company!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCYo870XB7E

TokuShoutsu just added in Mebius show & Specials (but no movie how odd). I recommend this show for both newcomers looking to get into Ultraman & for amyone wants to rewatch this amazing show rn.


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YP3_fOjTaos

I started watching this earlier this year but I'm definitely more likely to finish it now. Watching stuff on my computer or tablet is just easier than dusting off the blu-ray player.

Aww, I didn't even know they made Baltan in this line! He looks really good.

A treat indeed.That Baltan figure may not have the full details of a figuarts or medicom figure but it has enough details and articulation just based on what I see. Good buy. :rock: