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They had evolved into their current state of being following the activation of the Plasma Spark, which replaced their dead sun.
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Ultraman Nexus Junis statue outside Bandai HQ in Tokyo.Īs revealed in Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy, the Ultras are a technologically advanced civilization originating from a planet within the M78 nebula ( M78星雲, Emu-Nanajūhachi seiun), three million light years away from Earth (not to be confused with the Messier 78 nebula)-colloquially called the Land of Light ( 光の国, Hikari no Kuni )-who were originally identical to humans. References to Ultraman are abundant in Japanese pop culture, much like references to Superman in U.S. Ultraman was the world's third top-selling licensed character in the 1980s, largely due to his popularity in Asia. In Japan, the Ultraman brand generated US$7.4 billion in merchandising revenue from 1966 to 1987, equivalent to more than $18 billion adjusted for inflation. However, the series also falls into the Kyodai Hero subgenre of tokusatsu, a subgenre it also helped popularise. The series is also one of the most well-known examples of the kaiju genre, along with Toho's Godzilla series and Daiei Film's Gamera series.
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Debuting with Ultra Q and then Ultraman in 1966, the series is one of the most prominent tokusatsu superhero genre productions from Japan, along with the Toei-produced series Kamen Rider, Super Sentai and the Metal Heroes. Ultraman, also known as the Ultra Series ( Japanese: ウルトラシリーズ, Hepburn: Urutora Shirīzu), is the collective name for all media produced by Tsuburaya Productions featuring Ultraman, his many brethren, and the myriad monsters.
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