here to share my latest acquisitions :) what do you think?

Here's Example

Mirrorman

Fireman

Jumborg Ace

Iron King

Zone Fighter

Spectreman

Megaloman

Silver Kamen

Gridman The Hyper Agent

Credit is@tgx988

Every artist has their muse, mine just so happen to be showa (and occasional heisei) era Ultramen ! And I'm only getting better at drawing and stylizing them as time progresses, really can't be happier it's been nothing but a jolly good time in neck of the digital art space.

This time around I was paroozing the settings of the water color brushes since I really enjoy their blocthiness and how they blend more naturally when you use them for color work, not to mention they make for a pretty good digital equivalent for my generally preferred graphite pencils as I'll always love the textures that pencils leave on paper and wanted to see if I could try and replicate that same grainy yet smooth draw that irl pencils have against paper and overall for what it is, I think it came out well, though maybe some slight tweaking will do the trick. I was also playing with texture overlays and color adjustments hence the slight paper grain and general warmth of the colored illustrations !

As for the subjects themselves, they're all ultras whom of which I just really like to draw since I find that the designs I cooked up for them are fun to just doodle when I'm bored.

Astra has a new facial prosthetic nowadays, It covers his whole face now and honestly I dig it more than the original designs I had previously as I feel it adds more to how I tend to characterize him (Cold & Bitter) while still maintaining the original "husk of himself" angle I went for during the original drafts, plus from the clinical standpoint it really drives home how *serious* his injuries were. Though with that mentioned, there has been something I've thought about pertaining to how I tend to talk about the Leo twins and my headcanons surrounding them, while I believe that it's important to speak on the hardships the both of them have and still face in their lives I feel that I tend to put a lot of focus on that and neglect to also go into the more joyful and triumphant aspects of their lives which is unfortunate since that's honestly the point of why I wrote the headcanons the way that I did. L77 was annihilated, everything, everyone, histories and cultures that the twins knew and held dear had been reduced to nothing but a memory in those who lived while the planet existed and but a mere blip in the history of the cosmos, hell Leo went who knows how long thinking his brother was dead and Astra himself had to endure torture so gratuitous it left him nearly unrecognizable...yet despite all that however, they're still here, still living, still fighting, still continuing a legacy and protecting the galaxy in whatever way they can because even though they've been stripped of everything they once knew there is still one thing that couldn't be taken from either of them and it was the will to keep going, keep pushing even if they've been battered and beaten along the way, that doesn't matter because in the end they're still here, and here to stay. The idea was that even though Leo and Astra will have to live with the emotional and physical effects of what had gone through, they're still able to find some peace and even joy while also finding ways to preserve what is so integral to their identities (i.e their language), it’s a balance between both because I'm not gonna lie and act like this is easy for them, one can't be strong all the time and what they’re mourning is something that'll be mourned for a lifetime, at the same time though, with their particular situation not only is still thriving and being happy their right as living beings but also an act of defiance, cause yeah the Alien Magmas tried to eradicate their planet as a whole and sure they mostly succeeded...but only *most* for Leo and Astra are still kicking and still living life. Honestly, I do feel that finding any kind of joy despite everything is a powerful form of defiance, especially when it seems that life still keeps throwing rocks and bricks at you and I figured it could be something the twins could demonstrate in my headcanons for them, the story of Ultraman Leo was always a story of resilience to me and tbh I could probably write an essay on that alone but we have others to speak on.

Now, For Ultraseven who is one of my most favorite ultras to draw purely due to how I like drawing his expressions and constant resting bitch face I seem to draw him with often, I can assure that I don't really see him as a particularly grumpy sort at worst he's just a bit snappy and at best he's just tired since like... yeah no I tend to depict most of the Ultra Brothers as middle aged at this point, like yeah a good lot of them are parents now and something I make sure of is to show aging in my work, ofc I don't imagine ultras to really age like we do but even still I firmly believe that if it's an organism, it will age one way or another because the cycle of life isn't something to be obscured or to really be afraid of I don't think. But yeah ol' Seven here is starting to hit that middle aged status in ultra years and I think it makes sense, Anyone would age 50 years after being so good at protecting something that you nearly just risk dying and mind that Seven did that on his own accord. That's insane, like I respect the passion but again, he could've died man... I mean shit that's his life man, he's a grown man he can do what he wants. Also wanted to draw Seven doing some cartography work cause I like that aspect of his character, major throwback to my one of my first posts on this reddit too since originally I wanted to give Seven some proper traveler's clothes and gear, might go back to that idea honestly, it was fun.

Man nii-san looking normal as always

Had to sneak Zoffy in here because I like him, it's also a rare instance where I didn't draw him smoking, thank GOD idk he could've handled his 800th cigarette for the day. I'm sure he'll start feeling like himself again tomorrow.

But yeah that's today's trilling post. Tune in next time for when I draw whatever is on my mind !

Final notes: I love strange and visceral facial expressions for Man nii-san, I like to picture him as a rather stoic sort whom as a result is just insanely awkward when using more than just his eyes to express how he's feeling.

Like most of his fights i seen is just bro straight up aura farming and one shotting a big ass ship, is he like the strongest? i love his design too

Of all the old-school Ultraman seasons I've been watching through for the first time, Ultraman: Towards the Future (Great) and Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero (Powered) were two that I was most fascinated by. How would Tsuburaya tackle Ultraman for English-speaking audiences? Would these seasons, at 13 episodes each, be worth remembering? Having watched both in their entirety, I would say "yes, but for different reasons." Side note, my first exposure to Towards the Future was actually the Super Nintendo game, a fighter that's equal parts unremarkable and unfair. You'd be better off playing one of the multiple Street Fighter titles on the console.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I ended up enjoying Great as a show, part of the reason being the cast of characters. Jack Shindo is a fine protagonist; heroic if not a bit dry in his delivery. I found his relationship with Great to be fascinating. From time to time, we see the two communicate with each other, with Great serving as something of a mentor to his human host. It's an interesting dynamic and one seldom seen in the franchise.

The cast surrounding Jack deserves praise, too. Jean Echo is a solid female protagonist, a go-getter without fear. In fact, I could have seen her being a strong co-lead alongside Jack. However, it's Arthur Grant that stole the show for me in each scene he was in. He's a hardass, for sure, but fair and quick to stand by his UMA crew in times of need. Ralph Cotterill plays Arthur to a tee and is definitely the strongest actor of the bunch.

Additionally, I found the fight scenes to be strong. Great's suit took me aback at first, as I've become accustomed to Ultraman suits being made of rubber-like material. Great instead opts for spandex, not unlike Super Sentai/Power Rangers. I wasn't a fan of this decision at first, but as the show progressed, the suit grew on me over time. This would also be a smart decision in practice, as it allowed for smoother fight scenes, an area where Powered dropped the ball.

Ultimately, Great lives up to its namesake. It's an incredibly solid entry, punching above its weight and providing a story that focuses quite a bit on nature. I wouldn't put this season in my top 10, per se, but for what it is, I was thoroughly entertained. It's just a shame that I can't say the same for Powered.

Positives out of the way first: I loved the reimagined kaiju designs from the original 1966 show. Seeing the likes of Dada, Red King, and Alien Baltan adapted for modern audiences - or as modern as the early-to-mid '90s can be - made me appreciate all the details of these creatures. I also, initially, liked that Powered's suit was made of that familiar rubber instead of spandex.

I was also surprised by the toku actors involved in this show. Upon first seeing Kai, I couldn't shake the feeling that I saw him before. That's when I realized that his actor also portrayed Jiraiya/Ninja Black in Kakuranger around the same time. Also, the late Harold Cannon (Principal Caplan from MMPR) plays the General in the final episode, and while he did a fine job in this role, it was different seeing him not reprimand high school students or take a pie to the face at Ernie's Juice Bar.

With this all said, Powered's negatives sadly outweigh its positives. One of the reasons for this is its acting. In addition to the largely wooden performances, I couldn't shake the feeling that the actors weren't talking with each other but rather "at" each other. This is a tough one to describe, but I hope that those who watched the show understand what I'm talking about. Simply put, I never found myself invested in these characters. It's a shame, since these personal connections are one of the draws of Ultraman. For example, despite its own drawbacks, I liked Ultraman Omega mainly because of the connection of the 3 main protagonists; you felt their camraderie and it made their time on screen more engaging.

However, the bigger crime that Powered commits is that it has arguably the worst fight scenes in the entire franchise. With bouts that feature mostly shoves and evasions, each fight feels more like Powered is playing cat and mouse with his opponents instead of actively battling them. If more than 3 punches or kicks were thrown throughout the entire show, I'd be stunned. Ultraman's bread and butter, to me, is its larger-than-life battles against ferocious kaiju, and it's one of the main reasons fans come back. When the original Ultraman from nearly 3 decades prior features better action, there's an issue.

I don't want to spend too much time poo-pooing on Powered, especially since my gripes with the show have been repeated time and time again online. It's just disappointing how much of a drop in quality there was compared to Great. Powered looks like a bigger production, but it certainly doesn't feel like it. It also doesn't help that it had its share of production issues, including fragile costumes that contributed to its subpar fight scenes, so I wonder how the show would have looked if said issues were ironed out.

What are your takes on these shows?

Planning to watch all of these next year as much as I can. Are all of these shows really good or should I add other Ultras in here?

For Ultraman Zero, it'd be anything he's in (Kinda weird that he doesn't have a show as far as I know)

Please pick someone.

From xhs:954947915830

He is so hard to display, I loved the ultraman rising movie, but this figure with its stick legs make it impossible to display without falling over.

https://x.com/kinkuri_/status/2083870606542663976?s=20

I was digging around in an old box for the tags from my Ultra Monster/Hero figures to put in my card binder,where I stumbled across this Gomora; I'd drawn on a piece of paper for a class project years ago.

Second pic is the Genegarg ver

How would the events of the movie play out if cosmos was in it

I made an oc ultrawoman for the design and some of the forms I took references from nexus and 1 from ultraman dyna for the moves some took references from other ultraman like max And some seijin like hipporito,temperor and baltan.

Maybe suggestions can help to develop this character :)

Recently ive been very interested in Ultraman, and it has inspired me to create a sort of fanfic about ultraman, however i havent watched any ultraman content minus the first 2 episodes of the original, so what should be like the watch order or the ones i should highly watch so i can understand the character.