Another Earthquake in Japan

So our Eastern time 10:30 am Thursday morning, the Earthquake occurred for Japan's Thursday night. The Tsunami Watch lasted a couple of hours and it was lifted, no Tsunami happened. But lots of cities lost power.

A 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit Japan at 11:32 p.m. local time on Thursday in the same area as the initial March 11 9.0-magnitude earthquake. It was the largest aftershock to date. Some injuries were reported, but no death so far, according to Japan’s government broadcaster. The earthquake also knocked off power in parts of the region.

Source:
International Business Times
The Australian

Recurring Monsters of Ultraman: Zetton

As Ultraman's toughest opponent ever, Z-Ton first appeared in the show's final episode, #39, "Farewell, Ultraman". He was even popular enough to appear again in several subsequent Ultra Series. "Zetton" is also the name of the planet from which he originated, as well as the aliens (Alien Zetton) that utilize him. In Ultraman's finale, an armada of alien ships arrive, plotting to conquer the Earth, and their plan was surely an effective one, almost succeeding where Ultraman's previous adversaries have failed. The aliens target the Science Patrol Headquarters and Ultraman, the only obstacles in their conquest. However, the Science Patrol chases and eliminates all but one of the alien vessels. Adding to the Science Patrol's difficulties, one alien infiltrates the headquarters and subdues Doctor Iwamoto. This alien then shapeshifts to disguise itself as Doctor Iwamoto, knocks out Science Patrol team member Fuji, and sabotages much of the Science Patrol's communication equipment and scientific instruments.

The Science Patrol eventually chases down the alien and kills it. Doctor Iwamoto and Fuji manage to recover. The one ship that evades the Patrol emerges from being burrowed underground and surfaces just outside of Science Patrol Headquarters, releasing Zetton to finish the job. Hayata transforms into Ultraman for one last time. Ultraman and Zetton battle but Zetton easily withstands each of his attacks until Ultraman falls, his Color Timer was damaged by Zetton after absorbing and redirecting his own Specium Ray. Ultraman falls unconscious and, left prone on Earth's surface, faces the prospect of dying without direct stellar radiation to revive him. Zetton proceeds to set fire to Science Patrol Headquarters. However, Doctor Iwamoto presents a newly-developed weapon, and with it, Science Patrol member Arashi succeeds in destroying the Zetton. The Science Patrol douse the charred remnants of their headquarters.

With Ultraman at death's door, he is suddenly saved by his superior, Zoffy, who comes to Earth in a Travel Sphere to rescue him. He not only restores Ultraman's life, but separates him from Hayata's body, restoring the Earthling's life as well. Zoffy and Ultraman then fly back to their home world on the Land of Light in the Nebula M78. However, Zetton was brought back to life as a pawn against Ultraman and his kind in some of the subsequent Ultra Series. He appeared in Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy, Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle: Never Ending Odyssey, Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle, Ultraman Mebius, Ultraman Max, Ultraman Powered, Redman, and The Return of Ultraman.

Recurring Monsters of Ultraman: Telesdon

After the Underground People captured Shin Hayata, they released their ancient weapon, Telesdon. As Telesdon terrorized a city he emerged from underneath, the Underground People began hypnotizing Hayata to learn what they could from Ultraman. However, they underestimated Ultraman's power, as Ultraman transformed by himself and escaped to fight Telesdon. While Telesdon tried his best, he was of little match for the hero from M78 and was easily brought down by the Specium Beam after a brutal beating.

Telesdon would return months later when Pigmon returned mysteriously in a toy store mumbling about something. The Science Patrol had his sayings analyzed and within time they found out that Pigmon, along with Telesdon and Dorako, were revived by a mystical kaiju by the name of Geronimon. Geronimon threatened to revive sixty monsters and conquer Earth. Telesdon awoke with Dorako on an island. The two clashed for a short time, but they were too tired to continue. The Science Patrol traveled to an island to defeat the creatures. After Dorako was killed Telesdon was quickly taken down as well by the Science Patrol's weapons, but they awoke Geronimon and made him angry.

This ugly guy appeared in Ultra Fight, Redman, Ultraman Powered, Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle, Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle: Never Ending Odyssey, and Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legend The Movie

Recurring Monsters of Ultraman: Gomora

Gomora first appeared in the show's only two-part storyline, The Monster Prince (episodes 26-to-27). Most notably he appeared as the leading beast of the 2008 program Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle and its 2009 follow-up. Gomora, a 150-million year old dinosaur, is from the Johnson Islands (a South Seas island, different from Johnson's Island). Standing, Gomora is 40 meters tall, 80 meters (262 feet) long, from head to tail, and weighs 20,000 tons. Having the same height as Ultraman Max, Gomora is extremely powerful. His strength is second to that of Zetton's. His massive body has dark brown skin, has huge horns on the sides of his head, a small horn on the nose, rough plates down the front torso, and a thick, powerful tail. Gomora has the power to burrow underground. Hence, the name "Gomora" was derived from "go mole". (Many have assumed that he was named after the ancient biblical city, Gomorrah.) In the US English-dubbed version, Gomora was renamed "Gohora". He will also appear in Ultra Galaxy.

Professor Nakatani goes on a scientific expedition to the Johnson Islands. They discover that the legendary monster Gomora is still alive, and Nakatani decides to bring the still-living monster to a museum for the World's Fair. The Science Patrol agrees to do this task. Before the monster attacks them, Arashi tranquilizes the monster with the UNG Dart, and the Patrol airlifts the monster via nets with the Jet VTOL. However, the Monster awakes an hour early due to atmospheric changes between the island and the mainland and struggles to the point where the VTOL's have to release the nets, thus causing the monster to fall two kilometers to the ground. Enraged, Gomora goes on a rampage on Mount Rokkô, and Ultraman, who comes to the rescue, is unable to stop the monster, and is beate.

Even worse, somehow in the fight, the Beta Capsule is knocked free from wherever its stored in Ultraman and its retrieved by a kid nicknamed the Monster Prince due to his fascination with monsters. When Gomora continues his rampage, Hayata of the Science Patrol uses the powerful Mars 133 gun, invented to counter the second appearance of the Baltans, and succeeds in severing his tail. But the monster burrows under the ground in retreat, and later appears at Osaka Castl and smashes the castle. As the monster pursues Ide and Arashi, the child returns the Beta Capsule to Hayata. Hayata tells the kid to run and hide then uses the Beta Capsule to transform back into Ultraman.

He has ultimately appeared in Ultraman, Ultraman 80, Redman, The 6 Ultra Brothers Vs. the Monster Army, Ultraan Max, Ultraman Mebius, Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero|Ultraman Powered, Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle: Never Ending Odyssey, Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle, and Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy.

Recurring Monsters of Ultraman: Red King

Red King is a dinosaur-like monster featured in Ultraman (1966). Its first appearance was in Episode #8, "The Lawless Monster Zone." Red King's name comes from the fact that Ultraman's original name was "Red Man" and Red King is considered the "King" of Ultra monsters. Red King appeared in Ultraman 80, The Ultraman, Ultraman Powered and Ultraman Max. Red King's body appears much like a Tyrannosaurus Rex, with the long neck, and narrow, pointy head of a Brachiosaurus, and large bulky Gorilla-like arms.

Its mouth is armed large dagger-like fangs. Redking's "Shparr!" cry is one of the most characteristic monster sounds from the series (its roars sound very similar to cries of both Godzilla and it's mixed with the roar used for Green Gargantua of the War of the Gargantuas). The first Red King was discovered on a remote island with other monsters, where a small group of scientists had been terrorized and all but one were killed. Red King appeared along with Magular and Chandrah, and identified by some as Peguila (from the Ultraman prequel, Ultra Q). Red King defeated Chandlar by tearing off a limb/wing and throwing the dismembered limb, as well as some rocks, at him as the monster fled.

Red King killed Pigmon by creating an avalanche of rock. Once Ultraman appeared, Red King was defeated without the need for the Spacium Ray. When Red King reappeared, he was as part of another trio of monsters, including Dorako and Gigas. Red King viciously tore Dorako's wings off, and Dorako died of its injuries soon afterward. Gigas was driven off by Red King and fell victim to an experimental Science Patrol bomb. All three monsters apparently precipitated out of a fragment of comet debris, or were awakened by the comet's radiation. Apparently Red King now presented an extra danger, as it had swallowed a long-lost atomic weapon. Ultraman ultimately paralyzed Red King and raised it off the ground with one of his rarely used telekinesis powers. He then used two of his energy rings to slice Red King into thirds. Apparently the atomic weapon was resting in some sort of gullet in Red King's digestive tract, because Ultraman took the head and neck portion and flew away into space with it to allow the atomic device to detonate without harm.

Recurring Monsters of Ultraman: Alien Baltan

Alien Baltan is an alien race originally featured in Ultraman (1966). Their first appearance was in Episode # 2, "Shoot the Invaders!" The Baltan aliens have been considered Ultraman's most popular foe. A Baltan recently appeared in episodes 33 and 34 of the Ultra series, Ultraman Max. The race's trademark is their sinister laugh.

From Wikipedia: The Baltan-Seijin have several powers at their disposal. they can fire either explosive machinegun style white beams or repelling red beams from their giant claws, or white freezing beams, a red/white energy ball, or basic beams. To confuse and bewilder an enemy, Baltan-Seijins can also project multiple, fake illusions of their bodies like Ninjas. Baltans can also hypnotize or possess human beings and use them as translators for communication. Also, when one Baltan suffers enough damage, it can shed its outer skin. They can teleport over short distances. Multiple microscopic or human-sized Baltans can fuse into a single, larger Baltan form.

They appeared in The Return of Ultraman, Redman, The Ultraman, Ultraman 80, Ultraman Powered, Ultraman Cosmos, and Ultraman Max. Juda, the main villain of this series of Andro Melos (1981), had a cyborg version of the character named Mecha-Baltan as one of his many minions.

Since Baltan Seijin's debut in 1966, there has been a continuous array of countless armies of Baltan toys bombarding and assaulting innocent children and avid toy collectors alike world over. With the majority of toys made and released by Bandai the Japanese toy giant and its subsidiaries (Bandai B-Club, Banpresto, Yutaka and UniFive, just to name a few), the market has been tapped and sometimes overly saturated by vinyl makers such as M1, Marmit and U.S.Toys in the recent years.

• Marusan | マルサン | 9" standard vinyl
• Bullmark | ブルマルク | 9" standard vinyl
• POPY | ポピ | 6"
• Bandai | バンダイ | 6"
• Bandai B-Club | バンダイ | 9"
• Banpresto | x | 15"
• Yutaka | x | 5"
• RunA | x | 3"
• M1 | M-いちご | 9"
• U.S.Toys | U.S.Toys | 3"
• Nostalgic Heroes | x | 3"
• Tsuburaya Communication | x | 9" standard vinyl
• Yamanaya | x | 9" standard vinyl
• Bearmodel | ベルマドル | 9"standard vinyl
• ArtStorm/Fewture | x | 6"
• X-Plus | X-Plus | 6"
• Marmit | マーミット | 9"　standard vinyl* MC-collect=Ultra Monster vinyl web shop
• Billiken | ビリケン | 6"
• Apex | Apex | 24"
• Ark | アルク | 6" die-cast
• Marusho | マルショウ | 5" model kit
• Keshigomu | 消しゴム | 6"