About a year and a half-ago, I contributed a special Kaiju Kompendium article to Shucwatch!, a fantastic Ultraman fanzine. Since it’s been quite some time since that fanzine has been out, I think it’s time to share this article on my site at long last, enjoy!

The Ultra franchise has had a long history of fan interaction throughout it’s 56 years on Japanese TV, and, occasionally, Tsuburaya Productions would tap into the creativity of their audience to create brand new monster characters for their shows. During the airing of Ultraman Max in 2005, Tsuburaya would hold a contest to decide who Max’s opponent would be in episode 28. The winner would be the deadly space kaiju Luganoger, but, I’m not here to cover him today, but rather, the runner ups! Tsuburaya had received 13,746 entries into the contest. I (sadly) cannot review all of them, but I would at least like to highlight the ones I’ve been able to find because they are so unique. 

GRINGA

The first monster we’ll be looking at is Gringa, who feels delightfully like something you would’ve seen in the Showa era, like Mukadendar. Kisenguy, a Japanese kaiju artist I’ve been following for just about a decade now designed this really wonderful monster, and I love how they conceptualized how it would’ve been operated as a suit! Gringa feels like he’d belong in the grand pantheon of Ultra monsters based on the body plan, the textures and spines. According to Kisenguy’s bio of this guy, Gringa is a ‘manipulative’ monster, and can control surrounding plant life to use as attacks, such as turning trees into missiles, vegetation into bombs and using vines to restrain opponents. The monster’s motif was based off of gourds and alligator snapping turtles. I could very easily see this guy being a great opponent for Ultraman Max!

GLION

Next up is Glion, a kaiju designed by another Japanese artist I’ve followed for quite some time: the Monster Count of Kaiju-Design! Much like Kisenguy, I’ve followed this artist for a decade, and they produce some incredible kaiju designs. Glion was the Monster Count’s entry in the kaiju contest, and it’s another really good one in my eyes. I love the shape of the monster, with the creature’s back being akin to a giant flower. Much like Gringa above, Glion is conceptualized to be another two-person costume, and I love how the monster’s look changes entirely based on whether you view it from the front or the back. I’m also a big fan of the monster’s color scheme as well. The naturalistic colors contrast well with the shiny surface of the “flower”.

The Monster Count based the creature off of cliones, or sea angels, a kind of sea slug that’s often referenced in Japanese pop culture. The flower petals where an idea by the Monster Count’s wife, and the coloration was based on pearls. There was also some design elements taken from the space monsters seen in the 1967 book Monsters of the World. While Glion did not win the chance to battle Ultraman Max, the monster would get third place in the Hyper Hobby Monster Design Festival Contest where it got third place.

GONBEZON

A giant monster from another dimension, Gonbezon is equipped with all sorts of funky powers such as swords for arms and a tail, psychic powers and agony beams from his eyes, making him quite the opponent for Max! I feel like Gonbezon with his strange appearance, as well as his wide assortment of powers makes me feel like he’d be right alongside the chojuh from Ultraman Ace! 

KAIJU TRAIN

A mysterious train that brings dead kaiju and aliens back to life, the Kaiju Train doesn’t want to defeat Max, but rather return to being a normal train. The Kaiju Train here is one that’s definitely a bit of a stranger monster concept, but I love how a lot of these go in directions that we never usually see in the shows. I do appreciate the young artist giving the train features such as eyes and a drill for a nose to differentiate it from just being a regular train. 

JUICY ALIEN

Only four monsters in, and we’ve hit one of my favorites! The Juicy alien is easily one of the most fun of the monsters we’ve seen so far, and the idea of Max battling an alien made of fruit rivals Ultraman Taro for sheer lunacy. The Juicy alien hails from the planet Juicy and has the ability to manifest fruit out of thin air, as well as firing off the grapes on his chest as missiles! If this guy had been brought into the show, he would’ve easily become one of my all time favorites! 

ELECTROWEB

Electroweb is a monster that I really love from a design standpoint, albeit I do wonder how Tsupro would’ve pulled off this kaiju had they chosen him. I can easily imagine him being a puppet or CGI, though more than likely they would’ve just altered the design enough to make it workable as a suit. Electroweb’s net-like body allows him to restrain his opponents, and then use his four arms to electrocute them. It paints a good image of how this guy would look in action. 

DORAGOSU

According to my friend Tori, who helped to translate these monsters, the name derives from the Kyoto phrase “dragon dosue!” (“it’s a dragon!”). The monster is described as wearing clothes and fighting a sword, so I imagine he’d be akin to Ultraman Ace’s Aprasar in terms of suit execution. The Doragosue concept feels like something that would’ve come out of the 70’s shows, and anything that captures that vibe is cool in my book. 

POTEMON

Potemon is the one monster out of this group of creatures that I feel perfectly captures why these guys are so fun. Even though this drawing isn’t as clean as the concept art for the kaiju seen throughout the franchise, it perfectly illustrates the idea behind the design and how he’d look in the context of the show. The story with this guy is that Potemon is a kaiju that loves french fries and arrives on Earth to eat some. When angered, Potemon can fire a beam from his arm, and can only be calmed down by potatoes. He’s essentially Mochiron, but crazy for potatoes and for that, I love him. 

RAINBOW KAIJU

The Rainbow Kaiju here is a cute and imaginative little kaiju with their roly-poly inspired body, asymmetrical antennae, and rainbow belly. The Rainbow Kaiju is a nice monster and has a rainbow breath that makes people feel happy and joyful. This sort of makes me think that they would’ve been a friendly, small monster as opposed to a giant, much like Hanejiro from Ultraman Dyna. 

GABERA

Gabera here looks like he’d fit in fairly well with the multitude of saurian monsters from the Heisei era entries, particularly Golza from Ultraman Tiga. Gabera’s got the ability to absorb heat and energy such as lava and even Max’s beams and fire them back as weapons! I really like the usage of grey and red on Gabera’s design, which fits with the fire theme. This is a guy I could easily see being a mid-season boss had he made it to screen. 

ZARUGON

Zarugon here is a really nice looking monster, and I’m quite fond of the orange and black color scheme, especially with those sick TRON inspired lines on him! There’s not much to him, but he’s quite fun. 

SUNGON

Sungon is another one of my favorites, and despite looking so whimsical, he’s definitely one of the freakier monsters from the contest. According to the description included with him, should you be hit with the light from Sungon’s eyes, your own eyes will shine like Sungon’s….

BONBIRASU

Bonbirasu’s another one I’m quite fond of, and much like Sungon, is one of the spookier monsters from finalists. On rainy days, Bonbirasu uses his red eyes to turn kids who haven’t fallen asleep to stone! Dude looks and acts like something out of Ace or Taro, and it’s not hard to imagine him running around in one of those  shows. 

NUMATAROU

Said to be a friendly kaiju, Numatarou has the ability to grow giant to battle Max. Based on his good nature, I’m guessing their fight is more playful than anything serious. He’s got a nice design too, and I can see him joining the ranks of fellow cute kaiju like Kanegon and Pigmon. 

RYUGIN

Said to be a capsule monster from space, Ryugin starts off fish-like before evolving into his kaiju form. He’s got himself a nice looking design with those huge, rainbow fins which can absorb Max’s beams. Apparently, his weakness is being swung around by his tail, so I imagine the battle between him and Max getting fairly comedic. All in all, I feel like he would’ve looked fantastic in suit form, and would’ve definitely been one of the show’s best original monsters. 

OCTOPUS TWISTER

Octopus Twister here is a cute enough monster and is armed with some elemental attacks. I’ve always been fond of kaiju that have those sorts of abilities, and a monster that’s an octopus that can shoot ice and fire is a fun idea. The pink and blue spot on his chest are actually two mouths! It does make me wonder how Tsupro would’ve pulled that concept off in suit form based on how the drawing looks. 

BUILDLEON

Ok, it’s probably a good thing Buildleon wasn’t chosen because this thing is sheer perfection and if he showed up in an Ultraman show, they’d have end it after he showed up because there’s no topping this guy. Buildleon could’ve been the next Dinosaur Tank in terms of just utter sublimity. Buildleon is a “chameleon kaiju”, and disguises himself as a regular building to suck up people and cars, and battles Max with electric attacks. Just the idea of a building fighting Ultraman just feels like the ultimate culmination of Ultra kaiju, where do you go after that? If Gomess is the alpha, Buildleon is the omega, the end all and be all of Ultra kaiju. 

The kaiju from the Ultraman Max Kaiju Contest show off the imagination and ingenuity that fans have, and this zine, a celebration of the worldwide fandom itself is the perfect place for them to get some long-deserved recognition. While these guys never got their time in the sun, I hope by shedding a light on them, that they serve as inspiration to Ultraman fans the world over. And while guys like Buildleon never got his chance to shine in the show itself, perhaps he, and his fellow monsters will live on in the realm of fanart, fan comics and fanfiction for the rest of time, becoming part of the show’s fan culture, which, is just as good, as headlining one’s own episode. 

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