%%All tropes related to specific series must go on their respective page! Tropes of the franchise in whole or multiple series go on this page.
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!!Examples with their own pages
[[index]]
* ''YMMV/UltraQ''
* ''YMMV/{{Ultraman}}''
* ''YMMV/{{Ultraseven}}''
* ''YMMV/ReturnOfUltraman''
* ''YMMV/UltramanAce''
* ''YMMV/UltramanTaro''
* ''YMMV/UltramanLeo''
* ''YMMV/UltramanEighty''
* ''YMMV/UltramanTowardsTheFuture''
* ''YMMV/UltramanTheUltimateHero''
* ''YMMV/UltramanZearth''
* ''YMMV/UltramanTiga''
* ''YMMV/UltramanDyna''
* ''YMMV/UltramanGaia''
* ''YMMV/M78LoveAndPeace''
* ''YMMV/UltramanNeos''
* ''YMMV/UltramanCosmos''
* ''YMMV/UltraQDarkFantasy''
* ''YMMV/UltramanNexus''
* ''YMMV/UltramanMax''
* ''YMMV/UltramanMebius''
* ''YMMV/UltrasevenX''
* ''YMMV/UltraGalaxyMegaMonsterBattle''
* ''YMMV/UltramanZero''
* ''YMMV/UltramanGinga''
* ''YMMV/UltramanX''
* ''YMMV/UltramanOrb''
* ''YMMV/UltramanGeed''
* ''YMMV/UltramanRB''
* ''YMMV/UltramanTaiga''
* ''YMMV/UltramanZ''
* ''YMMV/UltramanTriggerNewGenerationTiga''
* ''YMMV/ShinUltraman''
* ''YMMV/UltramanDecker''
* ''YMMV/UltramanBlazar''
[[/index]]
!! Other examples
* ArchivePanic: With 29 basic shows (and a handful of non-basic), a few dozen movies, some specials, and numerous manga and video games - made over 50 years and counting. It's so bad that the Guinness Book of World Records has determined that the original ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'' is the world record holder for most spinoffs.
* AudienceAlienatingEra:
** It's commonly agreed the 15 years between Series/UltramanEighty and Series/UltramanTiga was an abysmal time for the Ultra series, with only cheap movies or foreign spinoffs being made, with none of them really garnering much interest or praise.
** In terms of special-effects; Series/UltramanAce, Series/UltramanTaro, and Series/UltramanLeo. While well-liked shows, the special-effects were seen as a step-down from past series. A lot of it can be attributed to the declining 70s economy and oil crisis hurting Japan. The effects improved immensely with Series/UltramanEighty, but soon after, the Ultra series was put on hiatus as mentioned above.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: So much of it that they had to get their own [[AwesomeMusic/UltraSeries sub-page]].
* BizarroEpisode: Almost anything directed by Akio Jissoji. Examples can be found in ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'', ''Series/UltraSeven'', ''Series/UltramanTiga'', ''Series/UltramanDyna'', and ''Series/UltramanMax''.
* CommonKnowledge: Due to the Ultra Series' MainstreamObscurity in the west, this is fairly common.
** Many people will say that ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'' is a single long-running series featuring multiple incarnations of the eponymous character. Yeah, except ''Ultraman'' only ran for 39 episodes from 1966-1967 and all his "incarnations" are completely different individuals that, at times, may not even be related at all to the original Ultraman. PopCulturalOsmosis is likely responsible for the issue at hand here.
** The Color Timer's purpose is to keep the budget under control... except it was a last-minute addition to the series, created while the first episode was being filmed (hence why early promotional materials and the transformation model of Ultraman show no Color Timer) for the sake of giving the hero a weakness; not to mention that special effects scenes can often take up as much as half or more of a typical episode's 24 minutes.
** Most of the Ultra Brothers are not brothers, many of them are related to each other, but it's more complicated than that. Zoffy, ''Series/UltramanAce'', and ''Series/UltramanTaro'', are brothers, but former two were adopted by Mother of Ulta(Marie), and Father of Ultra(Ken) after losing their parents. ''[[Series/UltramanLeo Ultraman Leo, Astra]]'' are brothers, but are not only unrelated to the others ultras, but come from a different planet entirely. {{Series/Ultraseven}} is Marie nephew, ''[[Series/ReturnOfUltraman Ultraman Jack]]'' is married to one of Marie sisters, and ''{{Series/Ultraman}}'', ''Series/Ultraman80'', ''[[Series/UltramanMebius Ultraman Mebius, and Ultraman Hikari]]'' have no family link at all. The Ultra Brothers are more brothers in arms then actual siblings.
* CompleteMonster: Numerous examples. See [[Monster/UltraSeries here]].
* ContinuityLockout: Many of the later series rely heavily upon the massive mythos established by earlier series, and viewers are often required to be familiar with them. ''Series/UltramanMebius'' is a really good example of this.
* CultClassic: The best way to describe its status in America. While it lacks an English-speaking fanbase as large as, say, ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' or ''Franchise/KamenRider'', the Ultramen remain very recognizable to many (and not just among Kaiju and Toku enthusiasts!) and many fans of more popular Japanese special-effects franchises have favourites from it.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: The monsters. To many, they're the real stars of the franchise, especially the most famous and popular of them. Including the examples under RootingForTheEmpire below, we have [[TheChessmaster Alien Mephilas,]] [[HybridMonster Tyrant]], [[PlayingWithFire Golza]], [[GiantFlyer Birdon, Bemstar]], [[MasterOfIllusion Galberos]], Gudon, Twin Tail, [[ShrinkRay Dada]], [[{{Shapeshifter}} Alien Zarab, Alien Babalou]], [[BenevolentMonsters Pigmon, Miclas, Windam, Agira]], [[HatePlague Nova]], [[RealityWarper Bullton]], [[TerribleTrio Vakishim, Velokron, and Doragory]].
** The series have plenty of monsters who only appeared in a single episode of the entire franchise, but have fans demanding for them to be brought back as recurring foes, like Geronimon, Melba, Lagoras, Jirass, Silver Bloome, Neosaurus, Kiyla, etc.
** Let's not ignore the human characters either. Most people come to watch the Ultras battle monsters, but some will end up staying for the fun casts of human characters who support the heroes all the way.
** Series/{{Redman}}, a very obscure Ultraman-clone has, as of 2016, seen a large resurgence in popularity after his old episodes were re-dicovered and uploaded online. He quickly reached [[MemeticMutation memetic-status]] due to his series [[SoBadItsGood low-budget fight scenes]] (even by genre standards), and the character's [[MemeticPsychopath seemingly unprovoked]] [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation brutality towards his "victims".]]
* FandomEnragingMisconception: While the term "salted egg superman" (咸蛋超人) as a FanNickname for the franchise as a whole is embraced by fans in Hong Kong, Taiwanese fans are generally less welcome towards the term due to seeing it as somewhat insulting to name the Ultras after food, and prefer the official localisation name loosely translating to "Superman Strength Overlord" (超人力霸王). The fact that the official Taiwanese dub of ''Series/UltramanTiga'' using the "salted egg superman" nickname as Tiga's name became a rich source of {{Narm}} probably influenced the dislike towards the term.
* FandomRivalry:
** Used to have a rivalry with the ''Franchise/KamenRider'' and ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' franchises that has died down now that it has become common knowledge that Creator/TsuburayaProductions helps Creator/{{Toei}} with marketing the shows.
** Interesting despite being more of a FriendlyFandoms in Japan, Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion and ''Franchise/UltraSeries'' fans have a far more contentious relationship in the west. Many Ultra Series fans have been vocal of the influence their series had on ''Evangelion'' which has been annoying to it's show fans. It especially gets heated when anyone brings up the Christian elements of ''Evangelion'' when analyzing the show. Ultra fans will in turn mention that the creator was heavily influenced to put that stuff as more of a shout out to the ''Ultra series'' then any deep symbolism which ''Evangelion'' fans think degrades it's writing and and the creative efforts to make an original story. It also doesn't help that the ''Ultra series'' is LighterAndSofter than ''Evangelion'' making it unappealing to alot of its fans despite the ''Ultra fans'' constantly recommending it to them.
* FauxSymbolism: Possibly a subversion as Creator/EijiTsuburaya and his family are Catholic.
** Crosses and other Christian imagery are used in attacks and story plots, like the Antlar episode of ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'', in which Mt. Ararat appears and the people of Barraj/[[SpellMyNameWithAnS Vallarge]] call Ultraman [[Literature/TheBible Noah]].
** Also a number of monsters and characters have Biblical names (Gomora, Sodom, Ultraman Belial, Barabas, Judah, Alien Mephilas and Dark Mephisto, Ultraman Noa...).
* FirstInstallmentWins: The Showa ''Franchise/UltraSeries'', especially the original ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'', are more iconic and popular than the Heisei ones in both Japan and the rest of the world (which is not to say the later series haven't enjoyed their share of success though) to the point where non-Japanese people are often unaware the Heisei series even ''exist''.
** On the other hand, ''Series/UltramanTiga'', ''Series/UltramanDyna'' and ''Series/UltramanGaia'' have become this for the Heisei era, as all three are fondly remembered by many fans on Japan and outside of it, Tiga even consistently ranks #1 on surveys of favorite Ultras and continues being popular in spite of not having appeared in a while on any series.
* FriendlyFandoms:
** With Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'s fandom because of the monsters and Creator/EijiTsuburaya's work on the franchise. Even Creator/{{Toho}} and [=TsuPro=] get along very swimmingly.
** With ''Franchise/KamenRider'' and ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' when it's not a case of FandomRivalry.
** In terms of fandom overlap, ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' and ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' can go hand in hand between franchises and leading to various comparisons and jokes for multiple installments, due to a lot of surprisingly plot-specific similarities.
** While it hasn't reached ''Kamen Rider'' or ''Super Sentai'' level, there is fandom overlap with ''Anime/PrettyCure'', which saw significant growth since the ''New Generation'' series. Similar to above examples, fans have noticed plot-specific similarities, along with [[ShoutOut deliberate references]] (for example [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/ultra/images/0/06/Manatsu%27s_Ultraman_Rise.png/revision/latest?cb=20210920010032&format=original this pose]] made by [[Anime/TropicalRougePrettyCure Cure Summer]]). Crossover fanfics (in Japanese) are also surprisingly abundant in websites such as Hameln and {{Website/Pixiv}}.
* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff:
** Go ahead and ask any Malaysian kid (or their parents, or grandparents or great-grandparents) if they've heard of Ultraman. Chances are, they would be at least familiar with one version of Ultraman or another (even the American attempts). Being one of the earliest {{Kaiju}}/{{Toku}}satsu show to make it over (the first versions of Ultraman first aired in the late 70s) and there being an official toy distributor in the country helps. Technically, this explains the {{Hong Kong Dub}}s, since the show, along with Manga/{{Doraemon}}, is just that popular over here. It has gotten to the point where Tsuburaya acknowledged the Fandom with Ultraman Tiga's name (''Tiga'' means ''three'' in Malay, and the name was specifically chosen to be meaningful as that version of Ultraman has three forms), and later, worked with the creators of Animation/UpinAndIpin to create an official crossover with the apperance of their very own Ultraman: Ultraman Ribut, who became a popular character soon after his apperance in other Ultraman media.
** Same case with a Chinese person, Ultraman is the most well known Tokusatsu franchise in China, Ultraman's nickname in Cantonese is Salted Egg Superman (咸蛋超人）due to the fact that most Ultramen have eyes that resemble a pair of eggs.
** The original ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'' developed a strong following in Latin America when it aired in the region during the 60s and 70s. Spanish-language Ultraman merchandise like comics were produced there, and it still remains a CultClassic in some places.
* GenreTurningPoint: As stated on the main page, the ''Franchise/UltraSeries'' was responsible for transitioning the Japanese {{Toku}}satsu genre from {{kaiju}}-centric cinema like the ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' and ''Film/{{Gamera}}'' movies to the small-screen {{superhero}} action like ''Franchise/KamenRider'' and ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' that makes up most of the genre today. It is often considered an in-between of the two sides of Toku as a result.
* HilariousInHindsight: In a 1931 Franchise/CthulhuMythos short story, ''The Lair of the Star Spawn'' by Creator/AugustDerleth and Mark Schorer, the characters manage to stop the [[EldritchAbomination Great Old Ones]] Lloigor and Zhar with the aid of the Star Warriors from Orion, described as monstrous-size glowing beings that "shot great beams of annihilation and death". The Land of Light is located in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_78 Nebula M78]] in the Orion Constellation. Doubly hilarious with ''Series/UltramanTiga'' featuring such things as Gatanozoa, Zoiger/Lloigor, and R'lyeh.
* IAmNotShazam: Most people assume that every different Ultra hero and series is the same as the original Series/{{Ultraman}}, thus will call them all just "Ultraman" -- a problem that persists even on this very wiki.
* MainstreamObscurity: Related to IAmNotShazam above. Lots of people know who Ultraman is, what he looks like, and what he does, but few actually really known anything beyond that, hence the common assumption that ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'' is a long-running show where the hero's appearance changes from season to season.
* MemeticMutation: Unsurprisingly, the franchise's popularity and countless episodes have spawned numerous memes over the years. [[Memes/UltraSeries Here are a few notable ones.]]
* MemeticPsychopath: When Creator/TsuburayaProductions began uploading episodes of the spinoff ''Series/{{Redman}}'' online, the fanbase immediately latched on to the titular character being this, due to his knife-like weapon and habit of brutally stabbing monsters that weren't even harming anyone.
** AscendedMeme: In 2018, Redman received an [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff American comic book series]] which plays up his [[{{Fanon}} murderous personality]], and framing the story from the [[MookHorrorShow perspective of the kaiju]]. Later on, ''Series/UltramanZ'' would have a friendly Kanegon being terrified of the "red guy" when seeing Ultraman Z's form: Beta Smash.
* MemeticTroll: Gubila. Due to the [[NoBudget low budgets]] of the New Generation era (i.e. ''Series/UltramanGinga'' through ''Series/UltramanDecker''), the shows have been forced to use a lot of PropRecycling. As a result, Gubila, a relatively unpopular one-off kaiju from the original ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'', ended up being used four shows in a row, rivaling iconic kaiju like Gomora, Red King, and Zetton. While it hasn't appeared as much afer ''Series/UltramanRB'', the fandom still cracks jokes about how Gubila is guaranteed to appear in every series.
* MorePopularSpinoff: Technically ''Series/UltraQ'' should be the record-holder for most spinoff shows, but because its first spinoff ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'' is [[SequelDisplacement more popular and well-known worldwide]], the world record goes to the second entry in the ''Franchise/UltraSeries''.
* NarmCharm: Like any good {{toku}} work, the Ultra franchise runs on this. Each show often has incredibly [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments touching]], [[TearJerker sad]], and [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome heroic]] moments despite the fact that each episode revolves around 2 (or more) PeopleInRubberSuits fighting on a miniature stage.
* NightmareFuel: Plenty. See [[NightmareFuel/UltraSeries here]].
* SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames: The franchise has more good games than the average Tokusatsu franchise.
** The ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'' arcade game and the ''Series/{{Ultraseven}}'' Super Nintendo game are very faithful adaptations of their series and have a decent pre-''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' fighting engine.
** The ''Ultraman Fighting Evolution'' series evolved from a ''VideoGame/VirtuaFighter'' clone into a lore-expansive Ultraman crossover that has been praised by fans and non-fans alike for their great fighting dynamics and loads of characters from the franchise (''Rebirth'', however, changed its focus from the original TV shows into its own style [[ContestedSequel to mixed success]], although the gameplay keeps the quality).
** Likewise, the eponymous ''Ultraman'' Playstation 2 game is an almost-perfect TV to game simulation with engaging gameplay.
** Also, most of the games focused on the human teams, ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' clone ''Kaiju Busters'', ShootEmUp ''Ultra X Weapons'' and ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' clone ''Ultra Keibitai - Monster Attack'', have recieved good ratings in their homeland.
** ''Ultra Kaiju Monster Rancher'', being an installment of the well received ''VideoGame/MonsterRancher'' series. Many ''Monster Rancher'' [[JustHereForGodzilla fans who don't even know anything about the Ultra series have played and loved it, to boot]]. It also helps that this is the first game in the ''Monster Rancher'' series after a SequelGap of over a decade.
* OlderThanTheyThink: As described in HilariousInHindsight above, a 1931 Franchise/CthulhuMythos short story called ''The Lair of the Star Spawn'' featured alien beings whose descriptions are freakishly similar to the Ultras and who even help the protagonists defeat a pair of giant monsters. Considering Creator/EijiTsuburaya had probably never read a Cthulhu Mythos story in his life, it's one truly crazy example of weird pop cultural precedences.
* OnceOriginalNowCommon: To western viewers, the ''Ultra'' series seems goofy and stereotypical, and insignificant compared to such franchises as ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' and the ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' movies, as well as the vast amounts of anime and manga, but it cannot be understated how big it was in Japan when its first shows were airing (we're talking ratings of 25-40% of viewers; and it's still quite beloved today) and how much it has influenced anime, superhero, and kaiju series, as well as video games, in Japan.
* PeripheryDemographic: Although the franchise primarily targets kids, there are a lot of older fans who enjoy watching the series because of how the shows are not afraid of making some occasional social commentary without toning it down for children. ''Series/UltraSeven'' is a good example, but even the original ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'' and ''Series/ReturnOfUltraman'' are known and acclaimed for having a bit of this every now and then.
* PopCulturalOsmosis: "Ultraman" ''only'' refers to the original series and the first Ultra hero, but due to how well-known it is compared to its successors (mainly outside Japan), most people will never get that right and assume every Ultra hero is the same as the original. Not helping is that some series actually ''do'' call their title hero just "Ultraman" (''Series/UltramanNexus'', ''Series/UltramanTheUltimateHero'' and ''Series/UltramanTowardsTheFuture''), but those can be justified by that they're meant to be remakes ignoring all previous series.
* PopCultureHoliday: On [[https://en.tsuburaya-prod.co.jp/news/531 July 10th]], Japan celebrates "Ultraman Day" in honor of the eponymous hero. This is because the pre-series stage show ''"ULTRAMAN Eve: The Birth of Ultraman"'' was broadcast on July 10th a week before the [[Recap/UltramanEp1UltraOperation01 first episode]] of the [[Series/{{Ultraman}} 1966 series]] aired.
* RootingForTheEmpire: Many of the monsters are very well-loved by the large fanbase. Some of the favorites are [[InsectoidAliens Alien Baltan]], [[FriendlyEnemy Alien Metron]], [[BigCreepyCrawlies Antlar]], Red King, Gomora, Dinosaur Tank, Jirass, Black King, [[SeaMonster Eleking, Gubila]], [[HumongousMecha King Joe]], [[HeroKiller Zetton]], [[EyesDoNotBelongThere Gan Q,]] [[BirdPeople Alien Guts]], and [[MultipleHeadCase Pandon]].
* SoBadItsGood: ''Film/SpaceWarriors2000'', the infamous bootleg movie produced by Dick Randall by stitching together scenes from the Ultraman Zoffy movie and the ''Film/HanumanVs7Ultraman'' movie with a dub so cheesy it makes Saban's ''Series/MaskedRider'' look tame.
-->'''Red King:''' They call me Mr. Bad!
* SpecialEffectsFailure: Because of the way {{Toku}}satsu works, the franchise is as prone to this as it is to SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome, especially in the 1970s due to the Japanese economy being in a rough spot from the Energy Crisis. The monster suits of the 70s are often considered to be some of the franchise's worst.
* TearJerker: Surprisingly capable of pulling this relatively often. See here for [[TearJerker/UltraSeries some general examples.]]
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Given that it is originally made by a special effects team, the franchise itself is known for its high quality miniature sets and costumes. Even the ones from the 60s and (to a lesser extent) 70s were often on par with contemporary work in Japanese {{toku}} cinema -- ''on a television-level schedule and budget'' -- but the movies ''Film/MegaMonsterBattleUltraGalaxyLegends'' and ''Film/UltramanZeroTheRevengeOfBelial'' are considered the crowning achievements of the franchise.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: Some have criticized the franchise for supposedly having nationalistic anti-foreign sentiments, seeing the Japanese defense teams defending against various alien threats as paralleling Japan pushing away foreigners and foreign influence. Many point to the second episode of the original ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'' as an example, where the Baltan aliens were fleeing refugees after they blew up their own planet.[[note]]Ignoring the fact that they were planning to enslave humanity and take the planet by force, ''and'' Science Patrol actually okayed the idea of the Baltans living on the planet so long as they abided Earth's laws (which the aliens refused).[[/note]] This is ignoring the many times that aliens were shown sympathetically (even as tragic victims of [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything allegorical]] [[FantasticRacism racism]][[note]]such as in episode 33 of ''Series/ReturnOfUltraman'', episode 25 of ''Series/UltramanMax'', and many episodes of ''Series/UltraSeven''[[/note]]) and the main heroes, the Ultramen, are well... aliens. The Science Patrol is also shown to be an international organisation, the series just focuses on the Japanese branch.
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