Introducing Ultraman Family!

Before my little boy discovered his newfound obsession with Ultraman, I always thought there was only one Ultraman in the superheroes universe. I didn’t realize there was more than one, consisting of other family members with an assortment of Japanese names.

There’s Ultraman Taro, Dyna, Tiga, Jack, Max, Nexus, Seven, Cosmos, King, Queen… even Mother & Father pun ada! Each has a different look, but one must observe very carefully to notice the difference. Nizzar knows all of them and can identify which one is which. If your son is (or used to be) into this mute superhero (as how my daughter puts it), I'm sure you can relate to that as well.

Ultraman family members (not complete)

The one that we are most familiar with is Ultraman Tiga. He always wears red, but may change colour to reflect his power or energy level. When he turns purple, that means he’s at his strongest point.

When I first saw the series, I thought it was very silly. All throughout the 30-minute episode, Ultraman will only make its appearance for 3 minutes ~ at the end. The rest of the time, you’ll see people in strange outfits going about, talking in a language which is hard to understand, strategizing ways how to destroy the monster that’s attacking the town/village.

My son will not be interested in the whole conversation. He’ll be playing with his toys or harassing his other family members, but he expects us to leave the TV on.

After all efforts failed (usually, the monster tak kan mati walaupun dah berapa kali kena tembak dengan rocket atau bom), Ultraman will come to the rescue. This is when my son will sit up straight and his eyes will be glued to the TV screen. No one can disturb him during this crucial 3-minute segment. But the look on his face when Ultraman finally kills the monster is priceless. It’s as if he was the one in the Ultraman suit and he was the one who killed the monster!

After continuously watching this show day in day out with the little boy, I can't help developing a certain kind of fondness for this superhero. So does my husband. He would secretly go on the internet at night to check out the names of all the Ultraman series. The next day, you’ll see him proudly showing off that he also can name the Ultraman. His favourite is Ultraman Seven.

So now, all my family members can sort of identify which Ultraman is which. We like to play this guessing game after dinner because at the dining hall, we have this huge Ultraman Family poster (given to Nizzar by Dada’s boys ~ it used to be theirs). We’d go through all the names and I love the part when one of us got it wrong, my little Ultraman will quickly correct it for us ~ “No… that’s not Ultraman Tiga. It’s Gaya..” (or Taro, or whatever lah)

He always get it right no matter how you try to cheat him. I find that pretty amazing.

Last night, before we dozed off to sleep, I said to him, “Good night Nizzar….”. He turned away from me and softly whispered, “Goodnite Ultraman…….” Ada ke??

From left: Ace, Jack, Taro, Zoffy, Seven, Ultraman, Queen, King

Enjoy this video!