Current Pantheon project:
Ultraman 80, God of Over-qualified teachers (Takeshi Yamato) – Hall of Teachers
Takeshi Yamato
- Greater God. Lesser God as Takeshi Yamato
- Symbol: His Ultra sign (as 80). Alternatively, the UGM Logo (as Yamato).
- Theme song: 80 No Uta
, Hang in There, Ultraman 80 (as 80), The guy with a burning heart, Let’s go, UGM, Chikyu-jin Dayo (as Yamato) - Alignment:
Lawful Good - Portfolio: Henshin Hero, Friend to All Children, Hand Blast, Be the Ball, Transformation Trinket, Hour of Power, Critical Annoyance
- Takeshi Yamato: Aliens Among Us, Nice Guy, Cool Teacher, Badass Teacher, Ace Pilot, Initially a Enthusiastic Newbie Teacher, Late for School, Cassandra Truth, But Now I Must Go
- Domains: Protection, Giants, Heroes, Education
- Heralds: Sakuragakoa Middle School Class 1E, Kyoko Aihara, UGM (Captain Kazuki Oyama, Junkichi Ito, Emi Jono, Hiroshi Tajima and Tokohiko Harada, Shinpachiro Fujimori and Noboru Ikeda, Sera Teruo, Yuriko Kosaka), Yulian
- Allies: All Benevolent Ultra Series Deities (especially Ultraman, Ultraseven, Zoffy, Ace, Leo, King and Mebius), All friendly child deities, The friendly members of the House of School, All heroic Toku Deities (Especially Gamera and The Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman), Captain America, Superman, Spider-Man, Raleigh Becket and Mako Mori, Mafalda, Yotsuba Koiwai, the heroic Kingdom Hearts deities, Adam West, all friendly alien deities
- Enemies: All evil Ultra Series deities (especially Belial, Alien Empera and the evil Baltans), The Galactic Imperial Army Zone, the evil members of the Houses of Extraterrestrials and Otherness, The Heartless, Agatha Trunchbull, Damien Thorn, Denzel Crocker
- After five years of peace following the final defeat of Commander Black, the Earth was suddenly under threat by a new wave of dangerous and bizarre menaces. In addition to new and deadly kaiju and alien invaders, a new form of supernatural energy known as Minus Energy had begun to prey on humans’ negative emotional energy to create monsters from these bad feelings. To combat this mounting threat and preserve the Earth they had come to cherish, the Land of Light sent a young Ultra warrior to both defeat Minus Energy monsters and curb its spread across Japan. To accomplish this loft task, the hero, known to Earth as Ultraman 80, took on the identity of Takeshi Yamato, a passionate young man balancing twin duties as the teacher of Sakuragakoa Middle School Class 1E and new recruit to the Utility Government Members (UGM), Japan’s latest monster-busting taskforce. With these two identities and three jobs in play, Yamato played a key role in curbing negative emotions among his students and Japan’s youth at large, as well as helping UGM destroy Minus Energy monsters and other monstrous threats. After nearly a year of adventures, during a quarter of which he actively served as a teacher, 80, along with fellow Ultra Yullan, could leave Earth knowing that Minus Energy was curbed for the long-run and humanity could defend itself.
- When filling out teaching roles among The Elysium Academy, the Pantheon’s teachers were surprised to find a particularly eager yet unassuming candidate named Takeshi Yamato. Unlike most other candidates, his resume only listed a single semester of teaching, coupled with a long list of hobbies and a year-long, page-spanning entry on his duties as a UGM officer. Despite his resume seeming more appropriate for the House of Space, the Pantheon’s Teaching Board relented in giving him a chance to teach a trial section. To their surprise, his students listened raptly to his well-structured, interactive lectures … until tremors shook the building, signaling the untimely arrival of a kaiju on the House’s grounds. Without a thought, Takeshi evacuated his new students far from the monster’s path before running back to the attacked school as if he were somehow able to save the building. Revealing himself in an orange jumpsuit, Yamato shot at the monster to draw it far from the school, before transforming into his true form – a new Ultraman! After destroying the monster, 80 was surprised to be greeted by several members of both the House of Education and the Main House. Commending him for his fantastic teaching skills, which were somehow overshadowed by his marksmanships and incredible powers, both parties offered him a dual role as an Academy teacher and God of over-qualified teachers, to which he gladly accepted both.
- Shortly after his ascension, 80 was pleased to find that he was just the latest of several Ultras who had managed to ascend before him. Of the Ultras of his home universe, he was especially grateful to Mebius for having inspired him to reconnect with his students decades after they had unceremoniously parted for reasons 80 was never fond to reveal. Outside of the heroes of his home universe, Cosmos and Musashi’s unmatched compassion for people and monsters alike struck a deep chord with Takeshi. Whenever they have some time on their hands, the two have been seen taking strolls across the Pantheon in their respective human identities, talking about the children they befriended during their journeys.
- While he was technically ascended as an academic teacher, Takeshi sees his greatest responsibility as a deity to be serving as a good role model and friend to his students. Whether it be entertaining them by walking into class on his finger after he showed up late one too many times, collaborating with them in an extracurricular garage band or talking them through a harsh break up, the Ultra regularly takes time to know his students in and outside of the classroom on an emotional level beyond what his job would imply. This friendship even extends to children outside of his class. A few deities have speculated this was ultimately why he was ascended as an overqualified teacher: not due to his UGM training or superpowers, but rather because of his dedication to helping his students grow academically and emotionally. In fact, one of them grew up to be a teacher, hoping to live up to his example, so this theory has some basis.
- Outside of the Ultras, 80 considers the Fiveman to be his best friends, with both groups bonding over their common backgrounds as superheroes with civilian identities as teachers valiantly defending the Earth from kaiju and alien invaders. Whether it be discussing science with Gaku or training with Remi, Yamato and the sibling quintet are frequently seen hanging out together whenever the Pantheon’s villains keep low for a bit. When the time calls for the Fiveman to appear, they can always count on 80 to show up and help them defeat the Galactic Zone Empire’s newest Galactic Warriors, creating no short number of headaches for Empress Meadow.
- Besides the many kaiju and alien invaders that the ascended Ultras battle, 80 strongly opposes the Heartless hordes and their masters, as the former reminded him far too much of the Minus Energy monsters he usually has to deal with. Unlike Minus Energy, the Heartless’s ability to assimilate the victims that generated them, coupled with their vast numbers, make them a more commonly recurring and arguably more dangerous threat to 80 than even Minus Energy was at its peak. Furthermore, the Heartless’s subservience to intelligent and cruel masters like Xenahort and The Idea of Evil have enabled them to coordinate their attacks against Yamato and UGM have forced the defense organization to ally themselves with Sora and his allies to wipe out Heartless infestations more efficiently.
- As another giant hero with a strong devotion to the planet Earth and a fondness for children, 80 quickly became friends with Gamera. It certainly helps that they share a common creator. Outside of the Guardian of the Universe’s occasional unpredictability, 80 has become Gamera’s strongest advocates, using his human identity as Takeshi Yamato to advocate for the monster when even UGM and the GUAG lose faith in the kaiju. This new alliance has without a doubt made life even worse for the ascended Gyaos.
- As a teacher among the Pantheon’s vast world of magical and mighty beings, Takeshi has certainly had to deal with students far more unruly and/or powerful than those he had to console during his heyday. Despite Ultraman 80’s full power being a match or more for most young deities, 80 has often treated his Ultra Powers, themselves victim of the infamous “three-minute time limit”, as a last resort, preferring to speak with troubled deities as equals in need of help rather than menaces. That being said, Takeshi was horrified to encounter children who could not be reasoned with and instead reveled in evil emotions. Without a doubt, he sees Damien Thorn as the worst of the lot, being one of the Pantheon’s personifications of evil. In spite of the boy lacking any powers (as of yet), his near-unrivaled influence and hate-filled heart terrifies even the mighty Ultra.
- The polar opposite of Takeshi Yamato in temperament and abilities, Denzel Crocker hated his new coworker for his immense popularity among the Pantheon faculty and students alike. Determining this “unfairly gifted” adoration to be the work of FAIRY! GOD! PARENTS!, Crocker attempted to kidnap Yamato to get him to spill the beans on the fairies helping him. The key word being attempted – Crocker’s traps, more often built for fairies and children, were mere child’s play for Yamato, who didn’t need to transform into 80 to give the sadistic teacher a taste of UGM’s finest boots. Instead of apologizing, Crocker concluded the real source of his failure: Takeshi was neither a child nor a fairy.
- To the surprise of many, 80 is on pretty good terms with Adam West, who once could have portrayed 80 in an American adapation of the Ultra’s adventures before plans fell apart. Despite the project going nowhere, the two have shown enthusiasm for learning about each other’s (very different) lines of work. In a gesture of goodwill, West even asked Yamato for the permission for the House of Theater and Spectacle to put on a play remaking 80’s adventures, though Takeshi remains a bit iffy on that proposal for the time being.
