my headcanon is that they all look similar to OG Ultraman is because he is the standard look, the average, the default, the normal. He represent the common man of M78.
It makes Man's legendary status potent to a degree, unlike the other Ultra Brothers who have gained some connections with bigwigs, he was some random scout/soldier and wound up becoming one of the most important of their species.
About Ultraman Ribut, I heard the reason it's design is similar to original Ultraman is that the owner of the animation studio (Les Copaque) is a fan of the original Ultraman design. So he wanted the Ultraman Ribut design to not deviate too much from the original design.
Ultraman Ribut was probably the first Ultra to capture my attention as a kid because during that time, I was watching Upin And Ipin , a Malaysian tv show that helped me with my Malay language as I had to to take Malay in school as it was the only language to have similar alphabets as English and I remember watching one of the specials that involved Ultraman Ribut and my god was it brilliant, and eventhough I’m not taking any second languages in school , I will never forget that day
It's pretty much shown in a lot of sources such as manga that the vast majority of Ultras actually look like Man Nii-san, if not straight up identical. My headcanon is that Man Nii-san was just an average joe that looks identical to most of his species, but gained a legendary status after discovering Earth. In real life, it's because many Ultras use Man Nii-san's design as a template, but it makes so much sense for Man Nii-san to originate as a basic Ultra soldier in-universe. Maybe they have the ability to distinguish each other like how we humans can identify each other via our faces, meanwhile, dogs all look the same to us. I know they made civilian Ultras look different in Ultra Galaxy Legend movie, but I think that's what the canon was for years.
It's funny because the real Average Joe should be Seven, since he wasn't a combatant Ultra, he was a scout/mapper, traveling the universe just to map the Milky Way, until he arrived on planet Earth, saved a climber, assumed his appearance, and the rest we already know. This explains why Ultraseven doesn't have a Color Timer, which is only given to warrior class Ultras. The average Land of Light resident doesn't have a Color Timer either.
I don't know much about you random lady in marcosatsu's channel, but thanks for taking your time writing script and voice over for this video. Writing is easy to digest and it was a good watch.
in essence, the reason can come come down to the fact theyre a species of biological beings. us humans have the same genetic features as each other (speaking generally of course), with differences in the form of minor surface-level differences, the ultras opperate much the same, hence them looking like theyre all part of the same species, because they are. armored body suits can provide more diversity in color, builds, etc, but theres something to be said about tsuburaya's dedication to making every ultraman look like they belong together.
@@teddydayooooheck, as shown in the Ultra Galaxy movie, before they became Ultras, they WERE humans, or at least, they were a human-like race before the Plasma Spark evolve them
Zoffy star marks are said to be given to him after his brave attempt to fight Belial during the attack on Nebula M78. If you look closely at mega monster movie, the scene before zoffy leaps in to fight Belial in the Belial flashback, you can see he doesn't have the star marks. And so many people suggest that Ultraman King gave him the star marks as a gratitude of his bravery.
@theneo-spacianplayer yes. But we're talking about the timeline before the ultramen even came to earth. He alr had the marks during the early introduction, but he only had them because time had passed since the attack of M78. All the series during showa were after Belial was imprisoned.
@@BlahajK9 oh really, it have been quite a while since i have touch anything Ultra related this year so it seems I completely forgot about that. Well thanks for the explanation and sorry if i came off as rude, i have the tendency to say something in a way that would make it seems like i am being rude
My headcanon is that the Ultras of M78 are energy-based beings that create protective suits with their own power to move. Man Nii-san's appearance was fairly standard in his society, but his and Zoffy's heroic acts made him a symbol of heroism among the Ultras and other species.
Funny thing about Ribut: he actually debuted in an animated kids show from Malaysia, but he didn't have his own. Within the context of the original show, he was the newest Ultra series and a current obsession of the kids that star in the show. But the kids somehow meet Ribut in real life, and somewhere along the line he became popular enough he was accepted into official canon. Possibly to avoid another copyright conflict with a smaller animation company.
It's a collab between Tsuburaya and Les Copaque Studios, the creators of the said animated series, Upin & Ipin. The founder of the studio literally met the higher ups in Tsuburaya as a Japan-Malaysia collab kind of thing.
3:37 Reminds me of that edit of the edit the scene where Invincibile meets Batman and in where first edit Batman says "Yea, I'm Batman" instead of being deliberately off-screen because the show staff couldn't get the rights but it was edited further to remove the ears from the cowl and he instead says "Yea, I'm Man."
A powerhouse video that introduces an old guy like me to the awesome production backstories to some amazing designs inspired by the OG Ultraman. Loved this and I hope there'll be more like this in the future for Ultra related content. Great writing from Mako and great editing too folks (dug Marcos' music too). This is just great work from top to bottom from every one involved so thank you! But echoing an additional critique, where a pic of Stephen Chow from LOVE ON DELIVERY? There's your salted-egg superman right there. 🤣
I watched the original Ultraman on Saturday mornings, in the early 1970's. I was young and thought it was the greatest thing to be on TV. I still like to watch the original.
I like how Tsuburaya doesn't ignore international Ultras or make them the butt of jokes-they're just taken as they are, treated like any other. Toho could learn a thing or two from that.
Zofie is an unfortunate character. In the Tsuburaya Official Live Show, he buried Grimd, who had cornered the New Generation Ultramen up to Taiga, with a single blow with his maximum output M87 ray, and official documents at the time of the Orb clearly state that his M87 ray is the most powerful in the universe. Tsuburaya has been restoring Zoffy's honor for the last 20 years or so, and Zoffy himself is a character that has inspired many creators, but he was created 60 years ago, and he cannot afford to be given a solo work now, and remains an uncrowned champion. However, because of this circumstance, the more knowledgeable fans love him.
He basically suffers from the "Worf Effect," derived from Worf the Kligon from Star Trek: The Nex Generation. Basically, to convey that a new enemy is very strong, the supposedly strongest character of the good guys is defeated first. The problem is that if it's done too many times, then the "strongest" good guy doesn't really come off as one. Especially of he doesn't really get to demonstrate being the strongest. Being _called_ the strongest is different from _actually_ being the strongest. Zoffy is conceivably one of the strongest Ultras in the Land of Light but he ends up getting his ass kicked a lot to demonstrate how strong the new bad buy is. UGF really helped to re-establish that Zoffy is one of the strongest by having him demonstrate exactly that more consistently.
Really loved this video, ultraman rising was my first introduction to ultraman and I loved the movie and then I watched shin ultraman, another project that made me fall in love with the character. Thank you!
Damn, what a hell of a well put together video. Amazing job here! Love all the behind the scenes info. And props into going over the A,B,C designs for Ultraman. Just really amazing stuff here!!
Oh ma boy Ribut is here. I can't quote the source (It's probably in Bahasa Malaysia / Malay language anyway) but I believe the animation studio specifically choose "Ribut" since it can also have a hidden meaning in English (reboot)
Ribut or Hurricane in Malay, to give this Ultraman as his namesake because of how swift his moves are against monsters. Also, his moves are based on the martial arts, silat, which is complex, yet swift when doing the moves
I agree that all Ultras belong to the same race, Ultraseven and Zearth may have diverged with the red body and red face but generally they all look similar. From a real world marketing standpoint, they try to keep it visually consistent for branding purposes. Just like Superman's costume, they usually don't stray far from the blue suit and red underwear, boots and cape. They sometimes try something new or change the details but they eventually go back to the iconic design.
Ultraseven was my first exposure to Ultraman. I would watch it on TNT before school in the 90s before school. Still my personal favorite because of that.
Another thing to consider with all the lookalike Ultras is that Ultraman himself is an alien, and most of his fellow Ultra heroes are members of the same species. There's a great deal of variety within that species, including differing "tribes" of Ultras marked by different colored markings and physical traits, but the silver giants that appear on-screen is what they look like. The mask isn't a mask, the padded spandex isn't spandex, that's just how their species has evolved. Their anatomy just so different they can basically get away with zooming around the universe and fighting monsters naked. There's plenty of room for change and variety, but then you run into the same problem other long-running scifi franchises have with updating older, iconic alien races: how much can you tweak the design and still have the fans accept the final product? It's why alot of newer Ultra heroes either have origins outside of the Land of Light (Ultraman's homeworld), or they're presented as having a mixed heritage within the different tribes living on the Land of Light; to allow them to pull from the existing variety or come up with something new altogether. But it's also really hard to improve on the sleek simplicity of the original design, which is almost always the baseline for any new design.
I’m confused…bear with me, I’m a new-ish fan..Ultras are giants on Earth, but human sized everywhere else? Also, I had that same question about their appearance, it’s their anatomy then? What bonds with their hosts, their bodies or their mind and they just take on the appearance of said Ultra?
@@tonyclements1147 they can shrink down to human size, but they're almost always giant sized, it's just harder to tell when they do space battles or fight on alien planets and there isn't anything human scale for comparison. And yes, the silver and the whatever stripes or armor is technically they're skin, although Ultra anatomy can get weird... Prime example, the original Ultraman shared his life force with his human host, and the beta capsule was used to store his body. Plus a lot of modern Ultra heroes can basically turn into pure energy, or fuse with other ultra heroes Dragonball style. And then there are others like Ultraseven who simply shrink down, take on a human guise while on Earth. Every season, every interpretation puts their own spin on how it works, you just have to take it series by series to understand it
@@HenshinHead Thank you, I’ve watched Decker, Blazar and currently watching Arc on the official Ultraman channel. The lore behind these characters is a bit confusing, can you recommend any books dealing with the behind the scenes stories or in universe reference material like ST, DrWho or SW has?
@@tonyclements1147 I'm afraid any books like that out there would be printed in Japanese. However, an overwhelming number of older series and specials are actually available to watch overseas, including English dubs for those who prefer it. DVD sets are available through Mill Creek Entertainment, and streaming options are available through Tubi and PlutoTV via Shout Factory TV. And yes, it includes just about everything from the original Ultraman to Taiga, the series that came out before Z.
46:59 Honestly makes him look more like the Ultraman-inspired alien Way Big from Ben 10 (and possibly the To'kustar (no really) species in general but we've never seen any others, save for the mutant Way Bads, the non-canon Evil Way Big and alternate universe versions of Way Big, all of which used the same DNA sample (presumably in the case of the Way Bads as To'kustars are extremely rare but it was never explained where Pyscobos got the sample))
I always thought these guys looked the same because of an Ultra hierarchy or something, with the "Man San look" being what the standard soldiers all look like, mostly other different looking Ultramen being higher ranked(kinda like the standard Clone troopers in Star Wars, or how lower class Saiyans mostly have the same hair in Dragonball). I never knew how many subtle differences there are between these characters from small mannerisms and body language, it makes me appreciate them more
I just refer the OG Ultraman as Ultraman Hayata. I think most people from Malaysia refer him as that also. Just my extra info. Love ur video as always! ❤
I feel like in Ultraman Rising instead of Ken, it Ultradad is the one, who stand for original Ultraman. They had almost identical red pattern on their bodies and he much closer to him in characterisation, and he might look exactly like the original in his prime (although they still have different eye colours)
4:56 That's the mask's teeth, not the actor's. Human teeth don't look like that, the mouth was supposed to move with the actor's mouth but it ended up looking too unnatural and that's why it ended up looking like that
I'm a pretty recent Ultraman fan (my first real exposure to Ultraman was Ultraman Risintg), but like knowing the broad scope of lore you gave about the characters in this vid, I'd like o make my own crackpot theory about why a bunch of them look the same Somewhere out there, there is a grand blueprint for what we know as Ultraman, whose crimson and silver visage lays dormant among the cosmos. This blueprint is constantly broadcasted into the natural world, which makes itself known in the subconscious of beings all across the universe. Through this, there are a lot of different ways one can become Ultraman, which would explain why some Ultras are the result of accidental contact with an alien and other Ultras just aren't. Also, this might help explain the convoluted nature of some of the crossovers you mentioned.
Just new coming in and FYI, During the production of Ultraman and shows after 80 before Tiga . Tsuburaya alot of time were near facing bankruptcy. The Typa A suit was made from a diving suit and Type B was stolen. Jack was inspired by design of Man nissan.
3:54 I mean Superman's evil mirror universe and anti-matter universe counterparts (as well as the animated movie adaptation of the animatter universe counterpart who was instead passed off as the evil mirror universe counterpart in spite of being a different character) go by Ultraman so it's especially confusing knowing that.
I think it's worth noting that the Ultras who aren't so directly comparable to the original still tend to look fairly similar, there's a very definite design style in Ultraman which is in contract to even other toku franchises. It's also interesting how new generation Ultras deviate further from this, but still carry a lot of the traditional aspects on.
Huh... when The Next was screened at the Fantasia film festival in Montreal it was advertised as 'Ultraman: The Next'. I still have a flyer for the screening. You forgot to mention that Ribut's ears are notably different than the other look-alikes.
39:30 I looked up the Ultraman suit and found that the Jack suit's design is basically Ultra Hulkbuster (except with an actual neck, a bizzarely thick neck) so I don't think it's mere coincidence at all.
I kinda wish Zoffy look more like Nexus to give him a more Samurai like Leader look. And Jack to be more like Dyna cause i think it will fit his Personality.
3:34 i'm unsure whether it's the first time uttered but in Ultraman Ace the narrator refers to him as 'Man' while listing out the Ultrabrothers so that might be where the nickname comes from
Ever since Mill Creek put out those high quality bluray sets a few years ago, ive been slowly working my way through the series. The last one I finished was Ultraman 80. Next up looks like these two American produced series from the early 90s, which are ridiculously hard to find in any official manor. As much as I hate doing this, I may have to resort to pirated copies. At least the next series after those are on official streaming services.
Surprised to hear the Hong Kong-Cantonese name of the first Ultraman in this video! That "salted egg" nickname spread through comic books in Hong Kong during the 1980s, and got stuck with Hongkongers and overseas Chinese communities after being referenced in the 1994 Stephen Chow movie "Love on Delivery." The mouthful "overlord" Chinese name is the never popular Taiwanese official name. Mainland China simply adopted the Mandarin-based phonetic translation "Ao Te Man" (pronounced like "aww tuck maan").
in the mega monster battle movie, there is an explanation why they all look alike. All the M78 ultra was a human being, until their sun ran out of energy. Then they made their own source of light (that's why ultra homeland has greenish white light throughout the planet). unfortunately, that source of light radiated their body that transfomred them to ultraman. idk about the non M78 ultras. Maybe, just maybe... they took a humanoid form because it gives them the best chance to survive and adapt to the environment, just like human. So my takeaway is they look alike because we just can't see their difference, because they became a different being. just like we see all orange cats look the same
Oh my god those names from other countries are wierd, good thing when this is airing in the Philippines they didn't change the name like they do with "Kamen Rider" changing it to "Masked Rider". Oh by the way Ultraman is huge in the philippines, I personally am a fan from when I was a young lad, I watched Ultraman Tiga and Ultraman Dyna back then.
54:35 for me , i have a theory that there are many race in the ultraman species just like us humans. So most of these ultras are probably from the same race as the original Ultraman. Not only that, if im not mistaken, they're all from M78 too
I've seen a lot of comments about this Ultras were a more humanoid species that evolved into Ultras due to these rays of light known as Differator Rays
I used to call Ultraman as "salted egg hero" but later i call him "weak" because he seemed pretty weak (misconception) nowadays i call him "奥特曼" as it sounds better
My hunch is the original lore of ultraman is supposed to be simple. But when the first ultraman was a success, the author might have expanded the lore significantly
38:00 Tbh. It wouldn't be bad to give someone Nexus power and start from Next onward to their own Nexus form and then other colour form till their final form that is different and weaker then Noa. Or we could potentially revive dark Zagi but turn him good (because of Noa) as Next at first and then evolve into form that is similar to the dark ultra like Faust and Mephisto in Nexus but with different colour and then in the end have a similar form to Noa but isn't as strong for obvious reason.
Kamen Rider had at least one other rider just called Kamen Rider. Kamen Rider, who was later retconned to Skyrider in a crossover special partway through the series but he didn't look too very much like the original as his color pallet was much more saturated, he had a brown and later red chestpad instead of green (his original design had orange sleeves too but this was changed to the same deep shade of red as the chestpad in the mid-series upgrade design) and as the retcon name implies, he did a bit more than just ride a motorbike (though the original two riders had insane jumping powers and V3 could straight up fly with his Glide Mufflers).
The original Ultraman (who I like to call "Ultraman Q" to distinguish him from others, as well as a nod to Ultra Q) is pretty much the template for all future Ultras, but it's not surprising why there have been so many different re-interpretations of him in particular, especially in regards to marketing him outside of Japan. Jack is the only one that's arguably a direct "descendant" of the original in the main series while almost all other mainline Ultras save for Neos are their own character. Great, Powered, Neos, and Next were all basically attempts at "rebooting" the Ultraman franchise for a newer, albeit more international audience, to varying degrees of success, with Neos being probably the most "successful" one. Ribut and Rising are more their own interpretations of the character, and in the case of Rising, you could either consider him the original but in a different continuity, or a separate character entirely. Granted you could say the same for Jack until he was retconned into being a separate character, which admittedly happened very early on.
26:39 Sort of like the failed Tamagotchi group of webseries (failed because Bandai sucks at marketing) where the formerly US-exclusive Bill Gates inspired (albeit blonde, not brown haired) Bill's webseries was focused on Bill teaching English.
A very good video....well made well research.....I was surprised that you inclued only Ultras who looks similar to the original.....So you skipp over all the Ultra brothers and other series....Still you did a great job........The only one that I disagree to inclued...is ULTRAMAN RISING.......NO CONECTION or CONTINUITY with any real Ultraman...Its as real Ultraman as ULTRAMAN KIDS.......A show exclusivaly for kids and as such is not a bad film at all.....BUT ....yuckk its not worhy to be a real Ultraman.....BUT your video is excellent and I congradulate you...Thank you very much...
The ultra brothers are family members and they look alike because there from one family hand you may say that they are just like soldiers of land of light but no they are a family member and Zoffy is the oldest brother of the ultras and the most original ones were the 5 stars of the universe then the 6 ultra stars In the first ever nickname included Zoffy, ultraman, ultraseven, ultraman jack, ultra man ace and those were the original 5 stars of the universe then boom ultraman taro became the youngest the the 6th ultra brother to be a 6th ultra star
my headcanon is that they all look similar to OG Ultraman is because he is the standard look, the average, the default, the normal. He represent the common man of M78.
Imagine if the roles were reversed and the people of M78 were confused on why all the Japanese people from earth look the same
@@switchnslider1636 exactly
@@rexeleon “Omg Karen you can’t say all Ultraman look the same”
It makes Man's legendary status potent to a degree, unlike the other Ultra Brothers who have gained some connections with bigwigs, he was some random scout/soldier and wound up becoming one of the most important of their species.
Man nii-san is the average joe in the Planet of Light.
About Ultraman Ribut, I heard the reason it's design is similar to original Ultraman is that the owner of the animation studio (Les Copaque) is a fan of the original Ultraman design. So he wanted the Ultraman Ribut design to not deviate too much from the original design.
yes that's right and ribut was originally just a collaboration product between tsuburaya and lescopaque studio to promote ultraman outside of japan
Ribut must be the son or next generation ultraman hayata
Ultraman Ribut was probably the first Ultra to capture my attention as a kid because during that time, I was watching Upin And Ipin , a Malaysian tv show that helped me with my Malay language as I had to to take Malay in school as it was the only language to have similar alphabets as English and I remember watching one of the specials that involved Ultraman Ribut and my god was it brilliant, and eventhough I’m not taking any second languages in school , I will never forget that day
He first apearnce in upin and ipin where he has two episode
It's pretty much shown in a lot of sources such as manga that the vast majority of Ultras actually look like Man Nii-san, if not straight up identical. My headcanon is that Man Nii-san was just an average joe that looks identical to most of his species, but gained a legendary status after discovering Earth. In real life, it's because many Ultras use Man Nii-san's design as a template, but it makes so much sense for Man Nii-san to originate as a basic Ultra soldier in-universe. Maybe they have the ability to distinguish each other like how we humans can identify each other via our faces, meanwhile, dogs all look the same to us.
I know they made civilian Ultras look different in Ultra Galaxy Legend movie, but I think that's what the canon was for years.
Wasn't an average joe but a low-ranking soldier who apparently didn't really get much higher in ranking until long after his show ended.
@@mattwo7 I meant average joe, as in he looks the same as most of the species, at least in old sources
It's funny because the real Average Joe should be Seven, since he wasn't a combatant Ultra, he was a scout/mapper, traveling the universe just to map the Milky Way, until he arrived on planet Earth, saved a climber, assumed his appearance, and the rest we already know.
This explains why Ultraseven doesn't have a Color Timer, which is only given to warrior class Ultras. The average Land of Light resident doesn't have a Color Timer either.
I don't know much about you random lady in marcosatsu's channel, but thanks for taking your time writing script and voice over for this video. Writing is easy to digest and it was a good watch.
I was disappointed when I clicked the channel that this isn't the channel owner
in essence, the reason can come come down to the fact theyre a species of biological beings. us humans have the same genetic features as each other (speaking generally of course), with differences in the form of minor surface-level differences, the ultras opperate much the same, hence them looking like theyre all part of the same species, because they are. armored body suits can provide more diversity in color, builds, etc, but theres something to be said about tsuburaya's dedication to making every ultraman look like they belong together.
This. Ultramen are people, much like humans. They all look similar with distinct differences, just like humans.
@@teddydayooooheck, as shown in the Ultra Galaxy movie, before they became Ultras, they WERE humans, or at least, they were a human-like race before the Plasma Spark evolve them
@@teddydayooooMakes sense since they were originally a human like species
Zoffy star marks are said to be given to him after his brave attempt to fight Belial during the attack on Nebula M78.
If you look closely at mega monster movie, the scene before zoffy leaps in to fight Belial in the Belial flashback, you can see he doesn't have the star marks. And so many people suggest that Ultraman King gave him the star marks as a gratitude of his bravery.
But wait that doesn’t makes sense because Zoffy has those star marks already during his first introduction and previous appearance before the movie
@theneo-spacianplayer yes. But we're talking about the timeline before the ultramen even came to earth. He alr had the marks during the early introduction, but he only had them because time had passed since the attack of M78. All the series during showa were after Belial was imprisoned.
@@BlahajK9 oh really, it have been quite a while since i have touch anything Ultra related this year so it seems I completely forgot about that. Well thanks for the explanation and sorry if i came off as rude, i have the tendency to say something in a way that would make it seems like i am being rude
@@theneo-spacianplayer no problem brother. Always here to help a ultra fan out. Shuwatch!
My new takeaway from this video is that Ultraman IS naked all the time. He's like one of those oily Olympians from ancient Greece.
i didnt need that information😳
@@rodimusprime1622 if I have to think of it everyone does
@@phillipjohnson8903 im gonna have a long time ptsd
He's walking over an entire city like that too, with even his.... heart exposed :)
@@HordikaNate3821Im gonna go Ultraman nerd, actually that's not his heart that's a meteor that they put in their chest
I never noticed the difference in specium beam poses between Ultraman and Ultraman Jack until seeing their suit actors doing it side by side
My headcanon is that the Ultras of M78 are energy-based beings that create protective suits with their own power to move. Man Nii-san's appearance was fairly standard in his society, but his and Zoffy's heroic acts made him a symbol of heroism among the Ultras and other species.
Funny thing about Ribut: he actually debuted in an animated kids show from Malaysia, but he didn't have his own. Within the context of the original show, he was the newest Ultra series and a current obsession of the kids that star in the show. But the kids somehow meet Ribut in real life, and somewhere along the line he became popular enough he was accepted into official canon. Possibly to avoid another copyright conflict with a smaller animation company.
It's a collab between Tsuburaya and Les Copaque Studios, the creators of the said animated series, Upin & Ipin. The founder of the studio literally met the higher ups in Tsuburaya as a Japan-Malaysia collab kind of thing.
3:37 Reminds me of that edit of the edit the scene where Invincibile meets Batman and in where first edit Batman says "Yea, I'm Batman" instead of being deliberately off-screen because the show staff couldn't get the rights but it was edited further to remove the ears from the cowl and he instead says "Yea, I'm Man."
A powerhouse video that introduces an old guy like me to the awesome production backstories to some amazing designs inspired by the OG Ultraman. Loved this and I hope there'll be more like this in the future for Ultra related content. Great writing from Mako and great editing too folks (dug Marcos' music too). This is just great work from top to bottom from every one involved so thank you!
But echoing an additional critique, where a pic of Stephen Chow from LOVE ON DELIVERY? There's your salted-egg superman right there. 🤣
I watched the original Ultraman on Saturday mornings, in the early 1970's. I was young and thought it was the greatest thing to be on TV. I still like to watch the original.
How old are you, sir?
I like how Tsuburaya doesn't ignore international Ultras or make them the butt of jokes-they're just taken as they are, treated like any other. Toho could learn a thing or two from that.
Zofie is an unfortunate character.
In the Tsuburaya Official Live Show, he buried Grimd, who had cornered the New Generation Ultramen up to Taiga, with a single blow with his maximum output M87 ray, and official documents at the time of the Orb clearly state that his M87 ray is the most powerful in the universe.
Tsuburaya has been restoring Zoffy's honor for the last 20 years or so, and Zoffy himself is a character that has inspired many creators, but he was created 60 years ago, and he cannot afford to be given a solo work now, and remains an uncrowned champion.
However, because of this circumstance, the more knowledgeable fans love him.
Urutora kyoudai namba 1!!!!
He basically suffers from the "Worf Effect," derived from Worf the Kligon from Star Trek: The Nex Generation.
Basically, to convey that a new enemy is very strong, the supposedly strongest character of the good guys is defeated first.
The problem is that if it's done too many times, then the "strongest" good guy doesn't really come off as one. Especially of he doesn't really get to demonstrate being the strongest.
Being _called_ the strongest is different from _actually_ being the strongest.
Zoffy is conceivably one of the strongest Ultras in the Land of Light but he ends up getting his ass kicked a lot to demonstrate how strong the new bad buy is.
UGF really helped to re-establish that Zoffy is one of the strongest by having him demonstrate exactly that more consistently.
Man. Ultraman Towards the Future is what I watched as a kid on FOX. That show will always hold a special place in my heart.
Really loved this video, ultraman rising was my first introduction to ultraman and I loved the movie and then I watched shin ultraman, another project that made me fall in love with the character. Thank you!
Damn, what a hell of a well put together video. Amazing job here! Love all the behind the scenes info. And props into going over the A,B,C designs for Ultraman. Just really amazing stuff here!!
Oh ma boy Ribut is here. I can't quote the source (It's probably in Bahasa Malaysia / Malay language anyway) but I believe the animation studio specifically choose "Ribut" since it can also have a hidden meaning in English (reboot)
I actually kinda remember reading that in an article when Ribut was revealed
Ribut or Hurricane in Malay, to give this Ultraman as his namesake because of how swift his moves are against monsters. Also, his moves are based on the martial arts, silat, which is complex, yet swift when doing the moves
I agree that all Ultras belong to the same race, Ultraseven and Zearth may have diverged with the red body and red face but generally they all look similar.
From a real world marketing standpoint, they try to keep it visually consistent for branding purposes. Just like Superman's costume, they usually don't stray far from the blue suit and red underwear, boots and cape. They sometimes try something new or change the details but they eventually go back to the iconic design.
53:05 We could call both Rise and Rising.
Oh I was just about to recommend that
But if we chose 'Rise,' then we'd get confused if we wanted to look up Ultraman rise sequences.
@@foldabotZ You literally just answer the question you ask me about.
Ultraseven was my first exposure to Ultraman. I would watch it on TNT before school in the 90s before school. Still my personal favorite because of that.
Another thing to consider with all the lookalike Ultras is that Ultraman himself is an alien, and most of his fellow Ultra heroes are members of the same species. There's a great deal of variety within that species, including differing "tribes" of Ultras marked by different colored markings and physical traits, but the silver giants that appear on-screen is what they look like. The mask isn't a mask, the padded spandex isn't spandex, that's just how their species has evolved. Their anatomy just so different they can basically get away with zooming around the universe and fighting monsters naked. There's plenty of room for change and variety, but then you run into the same problem other long-running scifi franchises have with updating older, iconic alien races: how much can you tweak the design and still have the fans accept the final product? It's why alot of newer Ultra heroes either have origins outside of the Land of Light (Ultraman's homeworld), or they're presented as having a mixed heritage within the different tribes living on the Land of Light; to allow them to pull from the existing variety or come up with something new altogether. But it's also really hard to improve on the sleek simplicity of the original design, which is almost always the baseline for any new design.
I’m confused…bear with me, I’m a new-ish fan..Ultras are giants on Earth, but human sized everywhere else? Also, I had that same question about their appearance, it’s their anatomy then?
What bonds with their hosts, their bodies or their mind and they just take on the appearance of said Ultra?
@@tonyclements1147 they can shrink down to human size, but they're almost always giant sized, it's just harder to tell when they do space battles or fight on alien planets and there isn't anything human scale for comparison. And yes, the silver and the whatever stripes or armor is technically they're skin, although Ultra anatomy can get weird...
Prime example, the original Ultraman shared his life force with his human host, and the beta capsule was used to store his body. Plus a lot of modern Ultra heroes can basically turn into pure energy, or fuse with other ultra heroes Dragonball style. And then there are others like Ultraseven who simply shrink down, take on a human guise while on Earth. Every season, every interpretation puts their own spin on how it works, you just have to take it series by series to understand it
@@HenshinHead
Thank you, I’ve watched Decker, Blazar and currently watching Arc on the official Ultraman channel. The lore behind these characters is a bit confusing, can you recommend any books dealing with the behind the scenes stories or in universe reference material like ST, DrWho or SW has?
@@tonyclements1147 I'm afraid any books like that out there would be printed in Japanese. However, an overwhelming number of older series and specials are actually available to watch overseas, including English dubs for those who prefer it. DVD sets are available through Mill Creek Entertainment, and streaming options are available through Tubi and PlutoTV via Shout Factory TV. And yes, it includes just about everything from the original Ultraman to Taiga, the series that came out before Z.
Them: Why do some Ultras look the same?
Me, being lazy: Why not? What's bad about it. I mean they are not that similar if you squint hard enough
This is very in depth for most of their characterizations though I might go check out Ultraman Great, I like when Ultras talk
46:59 Honestly makes him look more like the Ultraman-inspired alien Way Big from Ben 10 (and possibly the To'kustar (no really) species in general but we've never seen any others, save for the mutant Way Bads, the non-canon Evil Way Big and alternate universe versions of Way Big, all of which used the same DNA sample (presumably in the case of the Way Bads as To'kustars are extremely rare but it was never explained where Pyscobos got the sample))
....??
ULTRAMAN 1966 / WAY BIG 2007!!!!!!!!!!! ULTRAMAN IS NOT COPY OF WAY BIG!!!!!!!!!!!!!
42:11 as a Malaysian myself, I kinda agree with that statement
This is very timely, as the new Ultraman Card Game is about to come out. Imma show this video to my mates.
What game?
What game?
I always thought these guys looked the same because of an Ultra hierarchy or something, with the "Man San look" being what the standard soldiers all look like, mostly other different looking Ultramen being higher ranked(kinda like the standard Clone troopers in Star Wars, or how lower class Saiyans mostly have the same hair in Dragonball). I never knew how many subtle differences there are between these characters from small mannerisms and body language, it makes me appreciate them more
the ultra caste system where they under suffer ultra systemic oppression
They look similar because they came from the same species.
This is the first time ive ever heard of anybody call him salted egg man except my dad. I wasn't sure it was a real name until just now lmaoooo
I just refer the OG Ultraman as Ultraman Hayata. I think most people from Malaysia refer him as that also. Just my extra info. Love ur video as always! ❤
Or take his name from the Shin movie, Lifia
Love these details. If there isn't a similar dive into the rest of the Ultras then I'd love to see one in the future.
Mako, I love your voice! This is a superb video!
I feel like in Ultraman Rising instead of Ken, it Ultradad is the one, who stand for original Ultraman. They had almost identical red pattern on their bodies and he much closer to him in characterisation, and he might look exactly like the original in his prime (although they still have different eye colours)
I just call the Original Ultraman... Ultraman Hayata.
Yeah that's what I like it😎
I did NOT expect the Josh Hutcherson part to be like that
4:56 That's the mask's teeth, not the actor's. Human teeth don't look like that, the mouth was supposed to move with the actor's mouth but it ended up looking too unnatural and that's why it ended up looking like that
I'm a pretty recent Ultraman fan (my first real exposure to Ultraman was Ultraman Risintg), but like knowing the broad scope of lore you gave about the characters in this vid, I'd like o make my own crackpot theory about why a bunch of them look the same
Somewhere out there, there is a grand blueprint for what we know as Ultraman, whose crimson and silver visage lays dormant among the cosmos. This blueprint is constantly broadcasted into the natural world, which makes itself known in the subconscious of beings all across the universe. Through this, there are a lot of different ways one can become Ultraman, which would explain why some Ultras are the result of accidental contact with an alien and other Ultras just aren't. Also, this might help explain the convoluted nature of some of the crossovers you mentioned.
Just new coming in and FYI, During the production of Ultraman and shows after 80 before Tiga . Tsuburaya alot of time were near facing bankruptcy. The Typa A suit was made from a diving suit and Type B was stolen. Jack was inspired by design of Man nissan.
3:54 I mean Superman's evil mirror universe and anti-matter universe counterparts (as well as the animated movie adaptation of the animatter universe counterpart who was instead passed off as the evil mirror universe counterpart in spite of being a different character) go by Ultraman so it's especially confusing knowing that.
I think it's worth noting that the Ultras who aren't so directly comparable to the original still tend to look fairly similar, there's a very definite design style in Ultraman which is in contract to even other toku franchises. It's also interesting how new generation Ultras deviate further from this, but still carry a lot of the traditional aspects on.
Fan usually refer OG Ultraman as "Man-Niisan", which sounds sweet and endearing
Huh... when The Next was screened at the Fantasia film festival in Montreal it was advertised as 'Ultraman: The Next'. I still have a flyer for the screening.
You forgot to mention that Ribut's ears are notably different than the other look-alikes.
39:30 I looked up the Ultraman suit and found that the Jack suit's design is basically Ultra Hulkbuster (except with an actual neck, a bizzarely thick neck) so I don't think it's mere coincidence at all.
How about cosmos? I mean he looks like og Ultraman but blue
I kinda wish Zoffy look more like Nexus to give him a more Samurai like Leader look.
And Jack to be more like Dyna cause i think it will fit his Personality.
missed opportunity not adding the picture of Ng Man Tat & Stephen Chow with salted eggs on their eyes to add more context of the Cantonese meme
3:34 i'm unsure whether it's the first time uttered but in Ultraman Ace the narrator refers to him as 'Man' while listing out the Ultrabrothers so that might be where the nickname comes from
Ever since Mill Creek put out those high quality bluray sets a few years ago, ive been slowly working my way through the series. The last one I finished was Ultraman 80. Next up looks like these two American produced series from the early 90s, which are ridiculously hard to find in any official manor. As much as I hate doing this, I may have to resort to pirated copies. At least the next series after those are on official streaming services.
Ngl its a missed opportunity to call Ultraman: The Next "Ultraman: The First" and the sequel is The Next haha
Surprised to hear the Hong Kong-Cantonese name of the first Ultraman in this video! That "salted egg" nickname spread through comic books in Hong Kong during the 1980s, and got stuck with Hongkongers and overseas Chinese communities after being referenced in the 1994 Stephen Chow movie "Love on Delivery." The mouthful "overlord" Chinese name is the never popular Taiwanese official name. Mainland China simply adopted the Mandarin-based phonetic translation "Ao Te Man" (pronounced like "aww tuck maan").
Great video 👏👏👏
I did not know that Netflix Ultraman was voiced by Josh Hutcherson. That means he’s Ultraman FNAF.
And here I was expecting the video was going to go over characters like Mirrorman, Redman, etc.
The Original Ultraman is sometimes called Man nii san or called "Debut" in different language to not confuse with others name in and out universe.
I wanna see that clip of Z accusing his host of being ultra racist
this information more important than my study.👍
in the mega monster battle movie, there is an explanation why they all look alike. All the M78 ultra was a human being, until their sun ran out of energy. Then they made their own source of light (that's why ultra homeland has greenish white light throughout the planet). unfortunately, that source of light radiated their body that transfomred them to ultraman. idk about the non M78 ultras. Maybe, just maybe... they took a humanoid form because it gives them the best chance to survive and adapt to the environment, just like human.
So my takeaway is they look alike because we just can't see their difference, because they became a different being. just like we see all orange cats look the same
Oh my god those names from other countries are wierd, good thing when this is airing in the Philippines they didn't change the name like they do with "Kamen Rider" changing it to "Masked Rider".
Oh by the way Ultraman is huge in the philippines, I personally am a fan from when I was a young lad, I watched Ultraman Tiga and Ultraman Dyna back then.
54:35 for me , i have a theory that there are many race in the ultraman species just like us humans. So most of these ultras are probably from the same race as the original Ultraman. Not only that, if im not mistaken, they're all from M78 too
Ultraman geed was what got me into the ultra series but it wasn't what introduced me into ultraman
Visually, I treat Ultraman and his derivatives (the ones covered in the video) like the RX-78 series Gundams. Composed of variants, "brother" units.
When you mention the changes in the original Ultraman costume you didn't mention the B-type suit elf like feet I always love those 🙂
I've seen a lot of comments about this Ultras were a more humanoid species that evolved into Ultras due to these rays of light known as Differator Rays
"Every Ultraman look the same."
"Dude, that's racist."
Nexus and The Next was supposed to be the downgrade version for Noa,well because he felt like he needed his strength to be on par with his enemies.
I used to call Ultraman as "salted egg hero" but later i call him "weak" because he seemed pretty weak (misconception) nowadays i call him "奥特曼" as it sounds better
My hunch is the original lore of ultraman is supposed to be simple. But when the first ultraman was a success, the author might have expanded the lore significantly
Wait! Peeta Mellark was an “Ultraman?”
Well expressed.
38:00 Tbh. It wouldn't be bad to give someone Nexus power and start from Next onward to their own Nexus form and then other colour form till their final form that is different and weaker then Noa.
Or we could potentially revive dark Zagi but turn him good (because of Noa) as Next at first and then evolve into form that is similar to the dark ultra like Faust and Mephisto in Nexus but with different colour and then in the end have a similar form to Noa but isn't as strong for obvious reason.
31:34 Maybe Toei's lawyers got a bit antsy about it?
Because that seems an awful lot like Kamen Rider lol.
Can we also have this for heisei to reiwa rider design history?
My favorite version of Ultraman is Gridman and its spin-off.
(52:55-53:01) How about "Ultraman Lupa?" Lupa, as in, the wolf who raised the fabled Romulus and Remus.
17:29 So in other words it's the Moon Knight "random BS go!" meme?
Kamen Rider had at least one other rider just called Kamen Rider. Kamen Rider, who was later retconned to Skyrider in a crossover special partway through the series but he didn't look too very much like the original as his color pallet was much more saturated, he had a brown and later red chestpad instead of green (his original design had orange sleeves too but this was changed to the same deep shade of red as the chestpad in the mid-series upgrade design) and as the retcon name implies, he did a bit more than just ride a motorbike (though the original two riders had insane jumping powers and V3 could straight up fly with his Glide Mufflers).
Ichigo was orginally just "Kamen Rider" too
@@tedjomuljono3052 Kind of beside the point...
38:41 I love this manga so much!!! They need to release the last volume in english already
we got so many type man-san and type seven head ultra but not much type Ace
The original Ultraman (who I like to call "Ultraman Q" to distinguish him from others, as well as a nod to Ultra Q) is pretty much the template for all future Ultras, but it's not surprising why there have been so many different re-interpretations of him in particular, especially in regards to marketing him outside of Japan.
Jack is the only one that's arguably a direct "descendant" of the original in the main series while almost all other mainline Ultras save for Neos are their own character. Great, Powered, Neos, and Next were all basically attempts at "rebooting" the Ultraman franchise for a newer, albeit more international audience, to varying degrees of success, with Neos being probably the most "successful" one. Ribut and Rising are more their own interpretations of the character, and in the case of Rising, you could either consider him the original but in a different continuity, or a separate character entirely. Granted you could say the same for Jack until he was retconned into being a separate character, which admittedly happened very early on.
26:39 Sort of like the failed Tamagotchi group of webseries (failed because Bandai sucks at marketing) where the formerly US-exclusive Bill Gates inspired (albeit blonde, not brown haired) Bill's webseries was focused on Bill teaching English.
You should do many ultraseven lookalike 😊
Nice
I usually refer to the original Ultraman as Man-san it’s just easier
Hope, Tsubaraya creates an Ultraman for the Philippines!❤😊
In other words, characters from the original continuity
Where is Zearth?!!!💓💓💓💓💓💓
I think kens ultra form should of resembled dynas form
because I think shin asuka has alot in coomon with him
I’d want a mecha version of ultraman yeah a mecha version
i wonder if i should get into ultraman, since i've been watching tokusatsu like super sentai and kamen rider
Ultraman Netflix series perfect ultras looks like of ironman ☄️💕👺☄️☄️♥️♾️☄️☄️♦️
24:29 Just in case you notice a flick of something here.
"Revenge of the Ninja"
Thank me later! 😂
I remember the name 鹹蛋超人 was from a scene of a hong kong movie. Not really sure
A very good video....well made well research.....I was surprised that you inclued only Ultras who looks similar to the original.....So you skipp over all the Ultra brothers and other series....Still you did a great job........The only one that I disagree to inclued...is ULTRAMAN RISING.......NO CONECTION or CONTINUITY with any real Ultraman...Its as real Ultraman as ULTRAMAN KIDS.......A show exclusivaly for kids and as such is not a bad film at all.....BUT ....yuckk its not worhy to be a real Ultraman.....BUT your video is excellent and I congradulate you...Thank you very much...
You also missed ultraman Chuck and the face of father of ultra
Bemular up! [tun tun tun!]
Depends on lore, Ultraman have different origin.
Ultraseven ,21 looks like of Ultraman max this design of mask 👺♦️☄️☄️🃏🔥🗡️🦊🔥😊
The ultra brothers are family members and they look alike because there from one family hand you may say that they are just like soldiers of land of light but no they are a family member and Zoffy is the oldest brother of the ultras and the most original ones were the 5 stars of the universe then the 6 ultra stars
In the first ever nickname included
Zoffy, ultraman, ultraseven, ultraman jack, ultra man ace and those were the original 5 stars of the universe then boom ultraman taro became the youngest the the 6th ultra brother to be a 6th ultra star
What spider-man 1996 stay shows?