 |
April 1990 | It all started in April of 1990, when Banpresto produced their very first set of plush catcher toys, a set consisting of Ultraman, Baltan and Pigmon. These early plushes were small and extremely simplistic. |
The Banpresto Ultraman Gallery
Updated 11/9/2001
Introduction:
Long before the Power Rangers, there was Ultraman, one of the earliest Japanese live-action superhero series. He was a soldier from another planet who protected the Earth from the many bizarre creatures who posed a threat to mankind. Ultraman has been called a Japanese version of Superman, and it seems like a fitting description, except that Ultraman and the monsters he fought were all about 120 feet tall. So you could also say that Ultraman was an attempt to bring the popularity of the giant monster films to television. The first Ultraman series began in 1966 and lasted just 39 episodes, but the legacy continued in new series' which sprung up every couple of years, introducing more and more members of the Ultra-family.
Banpresto has produced an extensive amount of Ultraman toys, with new catcher goods produced every year since 1990. Up until recently, very few of the catcher toys seem to have found their way to the US, so I hope this page will be the best available source of information for the fans of Ultraman and the collectors of Banpresto's catcher toys.
** The following toys are here for display purposes, and are not for sale. **
s always, click on any of the thumbnail images to see a larger image.
The Early Years: 1990 - 1992
|
April 1990 | It all started in April of 1990, when Banpresto produced their very first set of plush catcher toys, a set consisting of Ultraman, Baltan and Pigmon. These early plushes were small and extremely simplistic. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| The second set came in October of '90, and this time there were five 6" toys: Ultraman, Kanegon, Baltan, Pigmon and Dada. The Ultraman and Baltan were basically the same design as the first set. Pigmon, thankfully, was improved. For some of the earliest catcher toy sets, Banpresto produced two versions of each, a regular plush and a fuzzy plush. The first pic shows the regular plush Ultraman, The other pics show the fuzzy plush versions of this set. | |||
 |
Sept., 1991 | I believe the next set was made up of just Ultraman and Baltan, which were much larger than those before them. The Ultraman has a tan fabric on the chest, and looks like an oversized replica of the very first 1990 Ultraman. The tag reads 1990, but I don't believe it was released until 1991. The tag does not have an ID #. |
 |
11/1991 - 5 in this set - Ultraman, the first Ultraseven, Baltan (this time in blue), Eleking and another monster foe. |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Father, Mother, Chuck | Ultraman | 80, Great, 7 & Taro | Ultraman Jonias |
| The next two series both came in May of 1992. First, there was a set of 10 members of the Ultra-Family: Ultraman, Father & Mother of Ultra, Ultraman Chuck, Ultraman 80, Ultraman Great, Ultraseven, Ultraman Taro, Ultraman Ace & Ultraman Joe. | |||
 |
 |
 |
| The second '92 series consisted of 5 monsters, including Ikarasu, one of my favorites. | ||
| Ultraman Kids | ||
 |
 |
 |
| In December of 1992, there was a set of five toys based on an animated series called "Ultraman Kids", which presented the cast of Ultraman heroes and monsters as children. Not much is known about the series itself, but the catcher toy set consisted of Ultraman, Ultragirl Pika, Eleking, Garamon & Baltan. | ||
Ultraman Page 2 - 1993 to 1994
Ultraman Page 4: 30th Ann. Collection - The Heroes
Ultraman Page 5: 30th Ann. Collection - Kaiju
[ Back to the Index Page ] [ Back to the Main Page ]
The words and scans are © Kane, aka spooky@voicenet.com, who freely admits he spends way too much time thinking about toys. The toys shown are © Banpresto, Inc., a subsidiary of Bandai, Inc. This site is not endorsed or affiliated with Banpresto, it is just a hobby that I enjoy working on. The toys on this site are part of a personal collection, and are NOT FOR SALE. Thanks for visiting. Cheers.
