The first was a prototype for the original Ultraman, developed just before and during the
successful Ultra Q . This Redman, which never
saw the light of day outside of a few photographs, resembled Ultraman, but with a
monstrous head.
There were actually 3 different entities named "Redman."
The first was a prototype for the original Ultraman, developed just before and during the
successful Ultra Q . This Redman, which never
saw the light of day outside of a few photographs, resembled Ultraman, but with a
monstrous head.
The second Redman was supposedly a prototype of Ultraseven. This Redman also had a monstrous
head, but was significantly more red, like Ultraseven.
The third Redman, shown here, came about in 1973. Using magma for
energy, Redman became "red like fire" when he fights. His main weakness was
cold, which presumably included temperatores on the surface of Earth. Redman often fought various monsters from other Ultra-series, although both were apparently in human form. These fights were only a few minutes in length. Redman had a sword and lance he could call up out of thin air.
Here is Wayne Koizumi's description
of these characters:
Part of the "Ultra Super Legend" (Urutora Choh-densetsu) which was originally not a TV series. It was featured exclusively in "Televi-kun," a monthly book for boys, and depicted live-action costumes on elaborate sets. "The Ultra Super Legend" started in the May, 1981 issue, soon after "Ultraman 80" went off the air. Televi-kun also included a standard manga to explain the details.
The story begins with the reappearance of powerful new versions of old Ultra arch-nemeses... sent by the "Gua Empire," which was headed by Juda (Juda made a reappearance in that Ultraman Taro movie).
Ace Killer (from Ultraman Ace) was the first monster to reappear, and he throws Zoffy into a black hole.
Soon thereafter, a mysterious new hero Andro Melos appears. Protected by a new green and silver space armor, the "Cosmo-tecter," Andro Melos defeats Ace Killer. [Andro Melos also has detachable Eye Slugger-style weapons that can be combined to form the Double Lancer.]
Subsequent reappearing monsters include Gora (from U. 80), a trio of Magma-seijins (from U. Leo), the ubiquitous Baltan-seijin, Mecha-Baltan, Nackle-seijin and Black King (from U. Jack), and King Joe (U. 7).
Utraseven was also defeated and became missing in action. At about the same time, the red and silver Andro Wolf comes to save the day. Andro Wolf has a couple of detatchable shoulder blades called "Sword U's." Since Wolf's mouth and eyes resemble Ultraseven's, one begins to wonder... is Wolf Ultraseven? For that matter, is Melos Zoffy?
Well, Melos and Wolf defeat Juda, who turns out to be a robot. Melos reveals that he is indeed Zoffy, but since he and Wolf save Ultraseven from captivity, it is obvious that Wolf is defeinitely not Ultraseven.
So then the Gua Empire sends a new menace, Mordo, who commands Gina and a revived Juda. They attack with HUGE Monster Battleships that resemble popular former Ultra monsters. These things are way bigger than your standard-sized Ultraman. The Monster Battleships include Gieronia (which looks like Gieron-seiju from U. 7), King Jorg (like King Joe from U.7), and Bemuzun (Like Bemuster of U. Jack).
Enter the orange and silver Andro Mars, who uses a button on his left arm guard to become gigantic. Mars is joined by Wolf and a new green and silver Andro Melos who is not Zoffy. In fact, this new Melos goes by the name Bunowa, if I remember correctly. They are joined by Andro Furol, the white-armor-clad female Andro warrior. Her mission is to guard a secret, ultimate weapon hidden in Antarctica.
Furol was protecting the "Grand Tecter," an upgraded Cosmo Tecter that Andro Melos wore in his final battle with Gua... it increased the his power by ten times.
The "Televi-kun" saga lasted about two years. Toward the end of this run, 41 ten-minute TV vignettes were produced under the title "Andro Super Warriors" (Andro choh-senshi), and were broadcast five times a week in the Greater Tokyo area. Since it's main method of publicity was a monthly children's magazine and it lasted only about a month, the show came and went with little fanfare.
[end of Wayne's submission]
The manga translated by Viz Communications titled "Battle of the Ultra-Brothers" shows a different Andro Melos. Also protected by a super-suit of armor, Melos, of the Andromeda branch of the Space Patrol, saves Zoffy and the rag-tag remnants of the Ultra-warriors from the dreaded Jackal. This Melos has an arrogant brother, Fightas, who challenges Ultraseven to a duel, and loses in death.
Electric Warrior Gridman is probably the second or third best-known Ultra-type
character in the US, thanks to Ultracom's attempt to give it the "Power Rangers
treatment" with Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad, a series that put
American-made sequences around the Japanese "action" sequences.
Gridman was a being who served as a "policeman," not of space, but of a "Hyper World," an alternate dimension connected to the Computer World, a reality which exists within electronics & electrical devices. There, the evil Khandejifer arrives, with an intent to destroy the Computer World. To help him, he calls on Takeshi Todo, a Japanese "Richie Rich from hell." Takeshi creates digital monsters, which Khandejifer turns into "real" (for the Computer World) monsters bent on terrorizing the inhabitants of that digital realm. The problem is, the Computer World is connected to the real world. When Khandejifer's first monster, Giralus, attacks the digital world inside a hospital's computers, lives are threatened, including that of Daichi Sho. Daichi's brother, Naoto, and his friends create a digital form for Gridman, but that's not enough. Gridman must merge with a human, in this case Naoto, to gain solid form within the Computer World and battle the monsters.
Gridman is normally the size of the Compoids, the inhabitants of the Computer World. He can grow to giant size, pretty much equivalent to Ultraman's normal size compared to the rest of us. His main attacks are two types of laser beams, the Spark Beam and the Grid Beam. He can also call upon a sword and shield for offsense & defense. Gridman also could call upon several sub-programs to help him. God Tank, Twin Driller, and Thunder Jet could operate independently, or join together to form God Zenon, a mechanical humanoid warrior. For more power, they could wrap around Gridman, transforming him into the more powerful Thunder Gridman. Likewise, King Jet and Dyna Fighter could join together to form the super-jet Dragon Fortress, or the dinosaur-like Dyna Dragon. They, too, could combine around Gridman to form King Gridman.
The American Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad kept most of this plot summary, adding American actors to replace the Japanese ones. The Syber-Squad Gridman was called Servo, a computer-designed warrior somehow brought to life by Sam Collins (played by Matt Lawrence). His fellow warriors, replacing Gridman's assistant programs, "samurize" into the digital world to fight Kilokhan, a rogue artificial intelligence program with megalomaniac delusions of world conquest. Many of the stories came directly from the Gridman plots, although there was almost too much additional nonsense that, in the opinion of most Gridman fans, ruined the whole show. Unlike most American shows, Syber-Squad produced 52 episodes before disappearing from syndication.
(The following came to me from Leong Wai Kin.)
Got this from one of the Hong Kong Anime Magazine published in 1988.
Mirrorman's secret identity is a man named Kyo Taro who is a news reporter, his father is a resident in the two dimensional "Mirror World" & his mother is just an ordinary person living in this world. Both of them died when Kyo Taro was still a child. Kyo Taro was brought up by a professor (his name was not given) who forms a team "SGM" ( the meaning ws not given, but it is believe to be just another science patrol team). [Dave Fullam says SGM stands for Science Guard Men.]
One day, while returning from his work, Kyo Taro was surrounded by a group of mysterious men, who started to assault him. These mysterious men soon disappeared when a mysterious strong beam of light was shine on them. From this mysterious beam of light came a voice telling Kyo Taro that the group of men are actually alien invaders, it also tell Kyo Taro how he can transform to Mirrorman, so Kyo Taro begin to fight side by side with "SGM" both as a member and Mirrorman.
To transform to Mirrorman, Kyo Taro will need something that can reflects (eg. mirror a pail of water etc) so that he can travel to the "Mirror World" and transform to Mirrorman.
Mirrorman does not have the ability to fly, but he can travel to any place by using the "Mirror World" as a passage.
His greatest weakness is that he can only stay in "Mirror World" for a short time, or he will die. In later part of the show, Mirrorman was captured by the alien invaders who installed a energy bomb in his body, whereby it will explode if Mirrorman over exerts his energy.
Mirrorman's other powers include the ability to generate a energy shield and his killer beam attack is one know as the "Star Beam", when emmitted it is in a shape similar to the star sign on his fore head.
Mirrorman was first run in Japan on December 1971. Tsuburaya had planned to produce sequels for Mirrorman (much like Ultraman) and introduce the Mirrorman family. But this plan was overruled when market studies shown that Mirrorman was not widely accepted by the audience themselves.
The above infor are translated from Mandarin, the name "Kyo Taro" was a direct translation from the chinese character.
[Note: another email writer indicates Mirrorman's alter ego was Kyotaro Kagami, the latter name being Japanese for "mirror."]
Jamborg Ace, also known as Jumborg [Jumbo Cyborg] Ace, was yet another Tsuburaya
monster-fighter. Jumborg Ace was a plane that could be transformed into a half
robot, half super suit. The pilot, whose name was never given beyond JA3396,
would use a device on his wrist, then turn the plane into a backward somersault.
Jumborg Ace had the Borg/Fin Ray, and the Headbut Blast (which tended to
decapitate his foes). When the robot was low on energy, a colored light would
begin to blink.
Later in the series, Jumborg Ace was joined by a car/robot, Jumborg 9. (Because
this design closely resembles the manga version of Andro Melos, some confuse
him with Melos. See above for a real picture of Andro Melos.) Both the Jumborgs were piloted by
members of PAT, the Protective Attack Team.
Fireman was a being from the underground world of Agan who comes up to protect
the planet. His human form is Misaki Daisuke, who transforms into Fireman using
the "Fire Stick." Fireman can survive in his giant form above ground for 3
minutes.
The Ultra-heroes had their share of "evil twins" and enemy dopplegangers. To date, there have been 7 enemies who have appeared to be evil Ultramen, though only one could really be classified as such (and one turned to evil after his form was merged with an evil entity).
Imitation Ultraman was actually an alien in disguise. He tried to discredit the
real Ultraman while destroying as much as he
could. The real Ultraman, of course, defeated him. Note that the Imitation
Ultraman has longer eyes, a pointier chin, slightly different markings of red &
silver, and two black lines around his midsection.
The evil Ultraseven was actually a robot. It appeared identical to
Ultraseven, except for knee pads, elbow
pads, a belt-like structure around the midsection, and a couple of riveted-on
plates. It seemed to have all of Seven's abilities.
Ultraman Shadow was the dark version of Ultraman
Zearth who appeared in the second Zearth movie. Shadow was slightly taller,
with the characteristic "evil" red eyes and pointier ears & head fin. Shadow had
the ability to throw an energy-punch from his fists; this punch devastated Zearth
in their first battle in the Antartic. Shadow had a ColorTimer, like Zearth, but
was equipped to protect it against attack. Shadow turned out to be a robot
controlled by the Lady Benzene alien; Ultraman Zearth destroyed Shadow, even with
Shadow at full power, by augmenting his Spesheshurra Beam attack into a
crossed-hands version with over double the power. (Shadow was not an
alternate form of the Lady Benzene, as was reported before the movie aired.)
Evil Tiga is the closest thing to being a true "evil Ultra," short of
Kamilla and her cohorts. As the background
for Ultraman Tiga mentions, Tiga's form was
created by an ancient Ultra-Warrior, but was empowered by a human spirit. Only
certain humans have the DNA-encoded ability to merge with a former
Ultra-Warrior body to become a new Ultraman. Daigo was one of these humans.
Keigo Masaki, corrupt head of a large business in Japan, was another. Masaki
defeated Daigo after Ultraman Tiga's ColorTimer ran out battling Masaki's robot
GeoShark. Masaki then stole Daigo's Spark Lens, and later used it to power a
device that converted his body into energy, allowing him to merge with a fourth
Ultra-Warrior statue held, along with the Ultra's pet monster's body, in a
cave. Daigo eventually recovered the Spark Lens, transformed into the real
Tiga, and defeated his evil counterpart. Without the Spark Lens, Masaki would
be unable to return to his Ultra form.
Asuka Shin, the human host of Ultraman Dyna met
his evil twin when he discovered the apparent return of a monster he battle in
space. Just before Asuka transformed, a black-garbed man standing across the
stream raised his hand and transformed into a replica of Dyna. A later
encounter revealed this man to be Glegoal, an alien who tried to usurp Dyna's
place of popularity in the minds of the world. When Glegoal changed back into
his fake Dyna form, he appeared drastically different from the real Dyna,
although his head retained Dyna's shape. Dyna/Glegoal was defeated
when Super GUTS and the real Dyna stood him down. Realizing he would never
replace a real Ultraman, he left the planet.
The day came when General Kondo, a less-than-trustworthy member of TPC, found out
that Asuka Shin of Super GUTS was Ultraman Dyna.
From what I can gather, this TPC officer felt that humans shouldn't rely on an
Ultraman to get them out of danger. At least, not an Ultraman that wasn't under
their control. (Previously, Kondo tried to create a gigantic robot that would
supposedly supplant Dyna. Unfortunately, this robot was taken over by aliens.) So
he captures Asuka and reveals that he knows his secret, also revealing that
secret to the hidden Ryo. Kondo then reveals his plan: to create his own
Ultraman. Behind him stands a large Ultra-warrior statue, much like Ultraman Tiga and his 2 fellow warriors stood before
Daigo arrived. Using a machine of unknown origin, Asuka's life force is almost
completely drained and transferred into the statue. Since Asuka's entire life
force was not transferred, the new Ultraman, Teranoid, wasn't as powerful as
Dyna. After a half-hearted battle with the Zelganoid, the monster merged with the
nearly-overcome Teranoid, forming the Hybrid Gelganoid. Asuka recovered,
transformed, and managed to overcome the hybrid, thanks to the sacrifice of
Kondo's life force to recharge Dyna.
In the episode that explains how Fujimiya merges with Ultraman Agul, the recurring monster Algeroth, a
monster apparently made of molten metal, formed itself into a red-eyed "evil"
version of Agul. Algeroth was able to duplicate most of Agul's energy attacks,
but it couldn't match the raw power; when both fired off a Photon Crusher
burst, Agul's quickly overwhelmed the fake's, destroying it completely.
Kamilla and her two partners, Dahram and Hyudora, was once an Ultra-warrior, and quite in love
with the original Ultraman Tiga. The four of them
had turned to darkness, and helped destroy the ancient civilization that left
Earth millenia ago. Tiga turned back towards the light, and fought his former
love, her companions, and the monsters that threatened to destroy life on
Earth. While Tiga had redeemed himself, Kamilla, Dahram, and Hyudora did not;
they were sentenced to exile trapped within their stone bodies.
Centuries later, after GUTS agent Daigo had
become the new Tiga, and later lost that ability, the three evil Ultras
escaped, and, in human form, Kamilla offered Daigo the opportunity to become
Tiga once again, but one subject to the darkness. Daigo refused, but was forced
by the three evil Ultras to use the Black Lens to become a dark version of his
former Ultra-self. Daigo, however, fought the darkness, eventually reclaiming
his original form, and finally, in an even more powerful form, overcame the
Darkness.
Dahram was one of the partners of Kamilla and Hyudora, three evil Ultras who helped destroy the
ancient civilization the original Ultraman Tiga
eventually tried to defend. For further information, see Kamilla's and Tiga's
entries.
Hyudra was one of the partners of Kamilla and Dahram, three evil Ultras who helped destroy the
ancient civilization the original Ultraman Tiga
eventually tried to defend. For further information, see Kamilla's and Tiga's
entries.
Other studios have created giant heroes similar to Ultraman. While none of these are considered part of the "Ultra-family," they do deserve honorable mention here. (Note: the Chaiyo Thailand Ultramen are listed in the main section; see the page on Thai Ultramen for more information.)
Zone Fighter, also known in Japan as "Human Comet Zon" or "Zon, The Meteor Man,"
was a being created by Toho Studios, creators of Godzilla and other popular
Japanese monsters. Zone Fighter was one of three alien heroes sent to Earth to
fight Baron Garonga, who destroyed their home planet. Zone Fighter and his
siblings, Zone Angel and Zone Junior, normally appeared as costumed
"super-heroes." Zone Fighter, however, could also grow into a giant Ultraman-like
super-being, armed with a proton beam and "Monster Missiles." (One correspondent
informs me that Zone Angel was actually "Zone Mother." This is currently
unconfirmed.) The 3 Zone's had a space ship, Smokey, that fired a neutron beam.
Zone Fighter, in his giant form, had a timer much like Ultraman's, except it
could be recharged in a variety of ways; this timer was on his belt. Zone Fighter
often was assisted by Godzilla himself; one episode, in fact, had them sparring,
and another episode had them actually shaking hands. (Guess the mutated
dinosaur's intelligence increased around the Zone siblings.) Zone Fighter also
fought two of Godzilla's enemies, Gigan and Ghidorah. Although Zone Fighter
looked like he could've been, perhaps even should've been, an Ultra, he wasn't.
(One interesting item to note was that one of the non-fighting members of the
Zone Family was the actor who played Commander Kiriyama in Ultraseven.
For more information, check out Stuart Johnson's Zone Fighter page.
Then there was Jet Jaguar, a giant humanoid robot who fought
with Godzilla against Megalon in the movie Godzilla vs. Megalon.
I've also run across a picture of someone named "Triple Fighter." (Thanks to
Eugene Glover and his Tokusatsu home page.)
According to Akemi Kishita, "the
alien Devila and his gang from the evil planet Devil attempt to conquer the
earth; fighting against them is three Hayase [siblings], each of whom transforms
into Red Fighter, Orange Fighter, and Green Fighter. And when they find their
attacks are not so effective on their enemy (as always), the three Fighters morph
into one hero, Triple Fighter." Red and Green were brothers, while Orange was a
girl.
Then there's the one whose name even sounds close to "Ultraman" -- Inframan.
Actually, Inframan shares more in common with Kamen Rider, in that both are
humans transformed into super-powerful cyborgs. In Inframan's case, he was
created to stop the evil Princess Dragon-Mom's attempt to take over the Earth.
(Check out Scott Hamilton's
Inframan page for more information and pictures.)
Another Ultra-like hero was Spectreman, a "hero of the environment." He was an
android sent to Earth by a race known only as "Overlord" to protect our planet
against the space apes, Gori and Rah.
Hero Zero is an Ultraman-like entity shown in comics published by Dark Horse. Zero is a mysterious being from
another planet who bonds with 15-year-old David Macrae. By touching a jewel on
his chest, David transforms into the size-changing Hero Zero, who has the
ability to fly, power bursts, infrared vision, and a "hydro-mode." When Zero's
power ran out, he changed back into David.
(The following is directly from Zach
Green's Email message to me)
how the theme of Eisenborg went was the after years of being icelated the [dinosaurs] break loose with the power to breath fire,speak english, and conrol animals there evil leader Emperor Tyranus forces them to attack humans by firing a ray from his eyes into his servents eyes they come to the surface to attack with power over some kind of animal the Gemini force comes to save the human race. The main charectors are Jim and Gem because they morph together to form gemini. To Transform they put their hands on there chest say gem separatly then put their arms together and say Gemini their vehicle changes into a mutulating machine called....... ........................................................................ ....... EISENBORG. a cross between Atragon and sawing utensuls. The deal with jem and jim is this guy named Dr. Carmety created two humans with half robotic bodies when the form gemini they become one cyborg. The way Eisenborg usally finishes his enemy is cuts his head off or drills through their chest. this show was half puppets,cardboard buildings, and the charectors are chartoons.
If you want to see this movie ask for "ATTACK OF THE SUPERMONSTERS"
Zach also tells me that the cyborg can only stay merged as Eisenborg for 1 minute, or their circuits will overload. The two vehicles (actually 3) are Eisen 1 and Eisen 2.
This dinosaur-fighting Ultra-like hero was actually the star of a series of 8mm
amateur movies produced in the 1980's by a group of fans led by Harriken Ryu,
now a stunt coordinator and "rubber suit actor."
(Thanks to Michael "The Kooster" Koo for this picture. For more pictures, check
out http://www.annie.co.jp/~magical/ovd.html.
(Thanks to the help of FAQ readers like yourself, there are currently no unknown "Ultras.")