ULTRA-THREAD 2.0

For the discussion of any Ultraman related shows, movies, comics, video games, etc.
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Saturndusk
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Re: ULTRA-THREAD 2.0

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Vakanai wrote:So, one issue I've noticed with the steelbook editions is how the disks are stacked up on top of each other around a long hard center piece that holds onto them a little too well. I just took out disc 5 of Ultraman, and figured I'd take disc 6 as well - dear lord! The way the disc bends when I'm trying to take it out, I'm afraid it'll snap in half or crack. Gave up for the moment until after I'm done with the current disc, but does anyone know a good way to get a disc out without wracking my nerves so bad?
I have this issue. And I’ve had some playback issues so I don’t know whether it’s just coincidence or not

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Ace comes out May 12
X release date is April 21
Last edited by Saturndusk on Sat Jan 18, 2020 2:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: ULTRA-THREAD 2.0

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daveblackeye15 wrote:
MM Raids Again wrote:
daveblackeye15 wrote:I forgot how brief a lot of the early Ultraseven battles are. It really is a combination of Ultra Q and Ultraman. I think I like Ultraseven more because it seems like the cast is allowed to do a little more. Only time there was drama in Ultraman was are Ide practically.
My main issue with Seven and why I prefer Ultraman and even Return of Ultraman over it is because it's almost ALWAYS the same thing: alien invasion after alien invasion after alien invasion. I get that was the idea for the series and done on purpose, but I prefer a bit more of "plot diversity."
I dunno a nice thing about aliens invading is typically they are sentient and can talk, doing evil plans. It seems like with aliens it makes it easier for the cast to do more stuff. A rampaging giant monster is almost always 'shoot at it! Oh no our weapons don't work! Thank god Ultraman is here!' Though in that case when the cast gets a win it is a bit more delicious.

Like those robots underground in Ultraseven Soga got to shoot a few.
Even then, there's only a few handful of alien episodes I feel really utilized all the potential. And not to harp on the great Tsuburaya, but the limited budget endured by the series REALLY hampered Seven compared to Ultraman. Like don't get me wrong, I LOVE the King Joe episodes, Dinosaur Tank, the Iron Rocks episode has grown on me, the Shadow/Gabora episode, and a handful of others. But IMO, for each good episode, you have an episode that is just totally blah.

Prime example: Episode 7. An alien fugitive on the run from his home planet. Should of had all sorts of great potential and instead it just comes off as blah. And it doesn't help that the alien itself further highlights the hugely limited budget the series had. At that point, they should have just done some quick makeup effects and made the alien look human... instead of like a walking turd. Legit, a walking turd.

Sure, Seven had more human and alien interacting than Ultraman. But when most of that interacting involves aliens that look like this:
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Is there even a point?

Again, I want to state I am not hampering on the entire series. It does feature some truly awesome aliens that I really do like. The iconic Guts, Goron, Borg, and Shaplay come to mind. But another thing that just holds the series back for me is its also a lot more hampered by its budget compared to Ultra Q and Ultraman.


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Re: ULTRA-THREAD 2.0

Post by Vakanai »

Saturndusk wrote:
Vakanai wrote:So, one issue I've noticed with the steelbook editions is how the disks are stacked up on top of each other around a long hard center piece that holds onto them a little too well. I just took out disc 5 of Ultraman, and figured I'd take disc 6 as well - dear lord! The way the disc bends when I'm trying to take it out, I'm afraid it'll snap in half or crack. Gave up for the moment until after I'm done with the current disc, but does anyone know a good way to get a disc out without wracking my nerves so bad?
I have this issue. And I’ve had some playback issues so I don’t know whether it’s just coincidence or not
I've also had some serious playback issues. Most aren't too bad, but the Ballonga episode in Ultra Q and that one episode late in Ultraman with the reappearance of Pigmon and two resurrected monsters were unwatchable. I had to rewind, fast forward, use the skip chapter buttons, and so on with frustration to get enough glimpses of the parts the disk wanted to skip over just to get a very basic "gist" of those episodes. Enough so I've been wondering if there's a way to ask for replacement disks.

Only watched the first disks of Orb and Geed so far, but no problems there yet. Haven't begun Ultraseven either.
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Mac Daddy MM
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Re: ULTRA-THREAD 2.0

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So Tsubuaya has a new registered trademark: Ultraman Z.

Let the hype begin! Place your bets on returning kaiju! A gimmick!? What do you want? I personally just want to see Lunatyx, Geronimon, the Gillas Brothers and Dinosaur Tank to make comebacks.


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plasmabeam wrote: Tue Dec 05, 2023 3:03 am Hear me out on this. What if Godzilla is actually Suko’s father? In GvK when Godzilla defeated Kong and they were roaring at each other, what if Godzilla inseminated Kong at that moment and that’s why they were screaming?

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Re: ULTRA-THREAD 2.0

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MM Raids Again wrote:So Tsubuaya has a new registered trademark: Ultraman Z.

Let the hype begin! Place your bets on returning kaiju! A gimmick!? What do you want? I personally just want to see Lunatyx, Geronimon, the Gillas Brothers and Dinosaur Tank to make comebacks.
Dinosaur Tank or bust.
Spirit Ghidorah 2010 wrote: Sun Dec 03, 2023 4:54 pm Anno-san pleasures me more than Yamasaki-san.

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Re: ULTRA-THREAD 2.0

Post by UltramanGoji »

I feel like he'll have some kind of relationship with Ultraman X, but that's just going by the name alone.
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Re: ULTRA-THREAD 2.0

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The past few Chronicle shows have dropped hints at the themes/characters featured in the next shows before, so I've heard some people hypothesize a teacher-themed series ala Ultraman 80, given the current Chronicle (Which looks super lame, BTW) has Riku and Pega being taught Zero's history as if they're students in school. And considering 2020 is 80's 40th anniversary, it makes perfect sense. I actually remember one of the rumors of R/B being the Ultra would be a pupil of 80's, and also Taro's son, and considering one of those came true in Taiga...

I also heard a rumor of more than one hosts ala Hokuto and Minami. A student/teacher dynamic might be fun, if they go that route.
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Re: ULTRA-THREAD 2.0

Post by UltramanGoji »

Oh man, a new 80-styled show would be fantastic. I loved the teacher angle of the original series but hated how it was dropped early on for more of the same. Reintroducing and expanding on that topic would be great to see.
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Re: ULTRA-THREAD 2.0

Post by MoarCrossovers »

Witness the power of Grimd and Ultraman Reiga!

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Re: ULTRA-THREAD 2.0

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Birdman wrote:Witness the power of Grimd and Ultraman Reiga!


Oh, so the new kaiju is a mountain-sized one. Haven't had one of those in like 10 years. Kind of glad they're letting all of the Ultras show their most powerful forms, but I have a feeling it'll be a cannon fodder moment to show how powerful said kaiju is and they then all merge with Taiga.


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plasmabeam wrote: Tue Dec 05, 2023 3:03 am Hear me out on this. What if Godzilla is actually Suko’s father? In GvK when Godzilla defeated Kong and they were roaring at each other, what if Godzilla inseminated Kong at that moment and that’s why they were screaming?

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Re: ULTRA-THREAD 2.0

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MaxRebo320 wrote:
LSD Jellyfish wrote:I think there's valid reasons to dislike the modern Ultra-man series, but this isn't the place to get into that discussion.
I mean sure, I can get the toyeticism making it hard to enjoy for some people (I acknowledge that as being my least favorite part of it), but it makes no sense for a supermegafan like Augie to enjoy them given all of the aforementioned traits they have that he'd obviously dig, especially when he apparently enjoys smut like the Godzilla anime movies. And his apparent criticisms of the shows go beyond just their toy-plugging, like the protagonists all being "pretty boys" (Something the old shows NEVER had), Ultramen not being "tough" anymore, etc.

That said, I'm sure he still watches the shows in secret.
I decided to just move the conversation to this thread.

I think that yes, the series is filled up with too many "pretty boys" and "pretty girls". That is, until you realize that the shows were always like this, and it's just the standards of what society views as attractive or handsome has just changed. Definitely characters like Akiko Fuji, and Shinya Hayata were intended to be attractive. I think the series characters getting younger and younger, as I get older, is frustrating, but that's just a personal preference relating to a current trend overall in Japan not unique to the Ultra-Series. I do think that some of the tropic characters in the modern series greatly annoy me.

An exact example of this would be me hating this episode:
https://ultra.fandom.com/wiki/In_Order_to_Meet_You
The episode revolves around how great it is to be an idol, an aspect of Japanese culture I despise. The episode does little to criticize how manipulative the whole industry is and reinforces ideas hat beauty and being popular are some of the most important qualities to have. And it also reinforces that unrealistic expectations and devotions towards people is completely fine.

I do think that the original series had more "soul" behind it. I think that's too general of a term, but what I mean is that a lot of the series have a more bland emotional core to them, and reemphasize stereotypical and easy thematic themes such as the value of "friendship". Even the handling such as the implication that Geed is Belial's son, is never fully played around with beyond a generic "I forge my own destiny/I am my own hero". Compare this to a lot of the older series themes regarding things like the episode with Gyeron from Ultra-Seven. They dealt with darker subjects like death more often.

As I say this though, one of my favorite episodes in Ultraman of all time is a random Ginga S episode, which controversially I'll say might be better than most epiosdes of some of the older series:
https://ultra.fandom.com/wiki/The_Tears_of_Gan-Q
The episode criticizes salaryman culture, while also simultaneously showing that the father character works hard for his family. It provides a very nuanced opinion of the issue at hand, and delivers some good laughs and memorable moments.

The irony is, the two episodes I listed, Tears of Gang Q, and In Order To Meet You, are back to back episodes.

My main take away is that it's fine to not like modern tropic Japanese characters and trends and how they have seeped into the episodes. I think that complaining about how Japanese commercialization and idol culture have entered the series is a legitimate complaint. However, to completely write off any of the modern series is incredibly foolish and downright idiotic.
Last edited by LSD Jellyfish on Tue Jan 28, 2020 5:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Spirit Ghidorah 2010 wrote: Sun Dec 03, 2023 4:54 pm Anno-san pleasures me more than Yamasaki-san.

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Re: ULTRA-THREAD 2.0

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MaxRebo320 wrote:And his apparent criticisms of the shows go beyond just their toy-plugging, like the protagonists all being "pretty boys" (Something the old shows NEVER had), Ultramen not being "tough" anymore, etc.
Ultramen have literally never been so overpowered tho
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Re: ULTRA-THREAD 2.0

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PopInPicsPresents wrote:
MaxRebo320 wrote:And his apparent criticisms of the shows go beyond just their toy-plugging, like the protagonists all being "pretty boys" (Something the old shows NEVER had), Ultramen not being "tough" anymore, etc.
Ultramen have literally never been so overpowered tho
I think he meant that in reference to their characters being portrayed by younger people, rather than older and gruffer men.

I do agree that all the transformations and abilities are overpowered and it's a shame that a lot of modern formulas use powerups to get out of unwinnable situations rather than something different.
Spirit Ghidorah 2010 wrote: Sun Dec 03, 2023 4:54 pm Anno-san pleasures me more than Yamasaki-san.

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Re: ULTRA-THREAD 2.0

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I'm still chipping away at the original series. I was kind of unsure about it after a few meh episodes (the ones with the plant monster and the chocolate-obsessed lizard), but The Monster Anarchy Zone was a nice curveball, breaking up the typical monster of the week format with a five-monster episode and the introduction of Red King.
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Re: ULTRA-THREAD 2.0

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JAGzilla wrote:I'm still chipping away at the original series. I was kind of unsure about it after a few meh episodes (the ones with the plant monster and the chocolate-obsessed lizard), but The Monster Anarchy Zone was a nice curveball, breaking up the typical monster of the week format with a five-monster episode and the introduction of Red King.
The more the series goes on and things reappear the better the series gets. There’s some great episodes towards the middle and end.

This goes for Ultraman, and episodic tv as well (Star Trek for example) but the good episodes make up for the lame ones.
Spirit Ghidorah 2010 wrote: Sun Dec 03, 2023 4:54 pm Anno-san pleasures me more than Yamasaki-san.

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Re: ULTRA-THREAD 2.0

Post by Cryptid_Liker »

Where can I find the original Ultraman show? I just finished the anime about a week or two ago and I want to get into the franchise more.

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Re: ULTRA-THREAD 2.0

Post by Tyrant_Lizard_King »

Its readily available pretty much everywhere now. Even the old Chaiyo licensed DVDs aren't too awful hard to find for cheap.
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Re: ULTRA-THREAD 2.0

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Was Tsuburaya's decades-long legal battle with Chaiyo the main reason why Ultraman as a brand didn't really kick off as big in the west as it could have for the longest time?
Last edited by LegendZilla on Thu Jan 30, 2020 10:24 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: ULTRA-THREAD 2.0

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LegendZilla wrote:Was Tsuburaya's decades-long legal battle with Chaiyo the main reason why Ultraman as a brand didn't really kick off as big in the west as it could have?
Yep, pretty much 100% the main reason.
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Re: ULTRA-THREAD 2.0

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Cryptid_Liker wrote:Where can I find the original Ultraman show? I just finished the anime about a week or two ago and I want to get into the franchise more.
Amazon. Mill Creek is in the process of releasing just about the whole franchise on Blu-Ray.
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