Mego of the Day: Ultraman Leo

[vulcan2074]

I Think Ultraman Leo is Just Wonderful. I Like everything about this Figure. He's on my Want List. It's a Very Long List.
Sammy

[cjefferys]

>I'd prefer an original Ultraman, but I like this guy.

I'd prefer an UltraSeven more, since he actually spent a fair amount of time human sized.

Don C.

Yeah, Ultraseven is my favourite too. I like his intricate outfit and he has some of the coolest villians.

I love all the Popy 8 inchers and would love to collect them one day.

BTW, speaking of Ultraman Leo, the rarest toy of him is the 24" Jumbo Machinder version. Less than 10 are known to exist, and only one box has ever been seen for the figure (it used to be on display at the Bandai Museum, now gone). More info here if anyone is curious: http://www.collectiondx.com/node/948

[starsky]

yeah me too

[palitoy]

Although I'm firmly a Kamen Rider guy, I like 7 a lot too, those Turner versions of the show from the 90s are hilarious.

[imp]

This makes me miss my Popy Heroes collection. I used to have a fair number of them, MIB. I even had a gorgeous Battle Kenya, MIB, which I sold to a fairly prominent Mexican collector. Now I have only the first one I got around 1996: Ken Owashi (Mark) from Gatchaman (Battle of the Planets).

Definitely NOT Mego, but definitely cool.

-b

[Mikey]

It seems like most of you guys know who Ultraman is.
If it wasn't for the Museum, I wouldn't.

How do you know about him ?

Did the show run on American TV at one time ?

[ctc]

>Yeah, Ultraseven is my favourite too. I like his intricate outfit and he has some of the coolest villians.

"Hmmmm.... I got it! A cyborg dinosaur thingie, growing out of a battleship.... and the battleship has treads like a tank and drives on land!!!!" NOBODY beats the Japanese for insane sci-fi.

Don C.

[ctc]

>Did the show run on American TV at one time ?

Ultraman is an incredibly long running Japanese series. There are actually a bunch of 'em, each series features a different one. The original show was "Ultra-Q;" which didn't have a giant goodguy in it. (It had a trio of reporters who'd stumble into the monster.) I didn't see thios one until someone sent me a set a few years back; but I've been told it DID show on US tv in very limited syndication back in the 70's. (It premiered in Japan during the mid 60's. I wanna say '66, but don't hold me to that.) It was also black and white. The copy I have was off an old laserdisk set, and featured bits of the third episdoe in English, making me think it WAS shown here at some time. Back in the day a lot of Japanese shows were picked up on the cheap and used as filler. (As I understand it, a lot of stations would buy and dub them on their own, or get them cheap from clearing house style studios; which is why so many shows had really small viewing areas.)

"Ultraman" was the second series, and is the one evrybody remembers. It came out in '67 and was shown here in the early 70's right into the 80's. (I remember watching it BEFORE I was old enough for school: 73/74.) It was set in the future of the 1990's (which you notice if you look on Janilah's tombstone....) and featured the "Science Patrol," an international anti-monster task force.

"UltraSeven" was the third series in Japan, and was apparently shown here in limited distribution in the 70's. (After Ultraman did so well.) TBS redubbed it in the 90's; which is the version most folks are familiar with. (I gues it had a REALLY limited run in the 70's.) I guess the folks who did it for TBS weren't given much to work with as to how the station wanted it done, and some of the episodes are comedic, some aren't.

There were a bunch of series, and movies aftert that in Japan, but most never made it here. A cartoon done by Hanna-Barbera was shown here in the mid 80's. It was the pilot for a series that never happend. The Japanese animated one was released here in the early 80's as a direct to VHS movie.

In the 90's "Ultraman Great," a joint Japan/Australia series was shown here as "Ultraman: Towards the Future." And shortly thereafter "Ultraman Powered" a Japan/American co-venture was shown on US cable.

There was a resurgence in japan during the 90's, with Ultraman Tiga, Gaia, Nice, and more; including "Ultra-Meow" a cartoon series shown in theaters before the Tiga movies which features an Ultraman house cat.

Don C.

[cjefferys]

I'd never heard that Ultra Q had some kind of limited US syndication at one point. I wonder if complete English dubbed episodes still exist somewhere? I've been meaning to check this original show out someday. It kind of sounds like a Japanese version of The Night Stalker. I've heard the show wasn't very successful in Japan which is why they tweaked it and added a hero to fight the monsters.

Godzilla's popularity comes and goes in Japan, but Ultraman always seems to be very popular with the kids, and rules in the toy stores. If you go to a Japanese Toysrus, there is literally a whole aisle dedicated to Ultraman toys, including vinyl figures of virtually every monster who ever appeared on one of the shows. Kamen Rider is another evergreen property there, but Ultraman products usually outnumber it by about 10 to 1.

[blastphemey]

i want this guy so bad. (having that ol time machine day dream again)

[ctc]

>I'd never heard that Ultra Q had some kind of limited US syndication at one point. I wonder if complete English dubbed episodes still exist somewhere?

From what I've heard nobody's actually found any. The bits on the laserdisks is about all there is: ten minutes of the episode. Someone told me it was probably run in Hawaii AFTER Ultraman was shown here.

>It kind of sounds like a Japanese version of The Night Stalker.

That's a pretty fair analysis.

>I've heard the show wasn't very successful in Japan which is why they tweaked it and added a hero to fight the monsters.

I think Ultra-Q did okay; popular but not a huge hit. THey added Ultraman for more of a kaijyu movie feel; and Ultraman took off so much it outshadowed Ultra-Q. Although the monster Kanegon seems to have been INSANELY popular. He's EVERYWHERE! And I don't think he appeared in any series except Ultra-Q. (He's one of the shilouettes in the Ultraman opening.)

>Kamen Rider is another evergreen property there, but Ultraman products usually outnumber it by about 10 to 1.

Yeah! There's an Ultraman theme park too, I think. He's sort of like Batman is here, if there wasn't a lull between the Adam West and Michael Keaton waves.

Don C.

[jimbutsu]

This is neither a Mego or a Popy - it was put out by Miura and is a Type 1. As far as I know, Popy stuff was all Type 2.

Just throwin' that out there.

[cjefferys]

Very good point, you are absolutely correct. It's a unique head and outfit on a Mego T1 body. For some dumb reason I was getting this guy mixed up with one of the three Ultra figures that Popy made. These Miura guys seem to be much, much harder to find, which makes Brian's ebay score an even better one.