Multiform Balance / Ultra Series

Following

The Ultra Series has often since the start of the Heisei era. The franchise usually follows a standard pattern, though each series tends to have its own twist on it:

• A default form that's a Jack of All Stats, with a good balance of strength, agility (including flight), durability, and Hard Light attacks.
• A red-colored Mighty Glacier form that has more physical strength and defense but in exchange is slower and is a Magically Inept Fighter that's not as good with energy attacks.
• A blue form that serves as the opposite of the red strength from, being weaker and frailer but featuring some mix of speed and flight ability, energy manipulation and other "magic"-like effects, and non-offensive pacification. Blue forms will usually focus on just one of the above categories, but will include elements of the others as well.
• A Super Mode with no specific weaknesses, appearing later in the series as a Mid-Season Upgrade.

• Ultraman Tiga: Tiga uses four forms in the series:
  • Multi Type: The balanced Jack of All Stats. His default form.
  • Power Type: Strong but slow
  • Sky Type: Weak but fast and good at fighting in the air.
  • Glitter Tiga: His most powerful form that turns him gold and is only used in the last episode. He can only gain it through the power of others' hope in him.
  • In the Final Odyssey movie, Daigo is forced to transform with Dark Spark Lens and become Tiga Dark, which is supposed to be the most powerful warrior among the Dark Giants. But since Daigo resists The Dark Side, it ends up as the weakest form instead. He later gets through the Next Tier Power-Up process as Tiga Tornado and Tiga Blast by purging away the power of darkness from himself, and finally assumes the Glitter Tiga form again.
• Ultraman Dyna: Follows in Tiga's footsteps but with more emphasis on each of the alternate forms.
  • Flash Type: The balanced Jack of All Stats; also his default form. Unlike Tiga, Dyna can only use one alternate form in each fight, and so Flash Type is the only form he always has access to.
  • Strong Type: Slow but strong, and mostly focuses on physical attacks, with the only energy attack being the Finishing Move.
  • Miracle Type: A mix of Fragile Speedster and Squishy Wizard. This form has low stamina and physical strength but has supernatural abilities such as telekinesis and Super-Speed.
• Ultraman Cosmos: Cosmos has three forms in the series.
  • Luna Mode: A mix of Fragile Speedster and Stone Wall that focus on healing and purification but no offensive power. As a dedicated pacifist, Cosmos uses this as his default form.
  • Corona Mode: His battle form. He uses this one when he chooses to kill the Monster of the Week.
  • Eclipse Mode: His Super Mode and Mid-Season Upgrade. This form combines the powers of Corona Mode and Luna Mode but can used only for one minute instead of the usual three.
  • Cosmos also gets three more forms in The Movies: Space Corona Mode is a stronger version of Corona Mode, used when, as the name indicates, fighting in space. Future Mode amplifies the power of Eclipse Mode. Ultraman Legend is his most powerful form, which is the result of his Fusion Dance with Ultraman Justice.
• Ultraman Nexus: Nexus has a unique take on this as he has multiple human hosts through the course of the show, and different hosts help him acquire new forms:
  • Ultraman: The Next: A weakened form seen in the prequel movie, due to an incomplete merger with his host at the time. The Next shifts from its own Anphans to Junis forms as the merger improves.
  • Anphans^note based on the French enfance, "childhood": A default gray Jack of All Stats form.
  • Junis^note based on the French jeunesse, "youth": A red Mighty Glacier form used by the second host.
  • Junis Blue: A blue Fragile Speedster form used by the third host.
  • Ultraman Noa: Nexus' true form, and not just a Super Mode but a Physical God which even few other Ultramen can match. Naturally, he doesn't reacquire this level of power until the final episode.
• Ultraman Zero:
  • Zero doesn't have multiple forms at first, but acquires them in Ultra Zero Fight: First, as an aftereffect of a prior Fusion Dance with Dyna and Cosmos (described above) in Ultraman Saga, he acquires their form-changing abilities and can activate Strong-Corona and Luna-Miracle forms. He then unlocks his own Super Mode, Shining Zero, which is powerful but usually too tiring to use for long.
  • Zero has also gained more forms in other spinoffs. Ultimate Zero uses a set of Ultimate Aegis armor granted by Ultraman Noa, which serves as his original Super Mode and has the special ability to travel to other dimensions — and since it's armor, any form can use its power (though Ultimate Shining Zero is far too exhausing for most situations). In Ultraman Geed, he gains a second Super Mode called Zero Beyond, which is less of a strain than Shining Zero but requires the powers of Ultramen Ginga, Victory, X, and Orb, either by Power Copying or direct Fusion Dance, which he usually doesn't have access to outside of Geed.

New Generation Era

• Downplayed in Ultraman X, as X can equip sets of armor based on the series' Kaiju which act similarly to form changes, but appear to only provide special weaponry and don't modify his physical attributes.
  • His main armors are Gomora Armor with a set of claws, Eleking Armor with a lightning cannon, Bemstar Armor with a shield-claw that can absorb and redirect enemy attacks, and Zetton Armor with powerful gauntlets. The final episode also gives him the 11th-Hour Superpower of Hybrid Armor composed of the power of all possible kaiju armors, using parts from all four armors he used in the series.
  • Ultraman Zero Armor: X meets Ultraman Zero and makes a copy of his Ultimate Aegis, using it as a fifth main armor set.
  • Exceed X: X's Super Mode. In a post-series movie, Exceed X gets its own set of Beta Spark Armor that strengthens X with the powers of the original Ultraman and Ultraman Tiga.
• Ultraman Orb gets his various forms by channeling the powers of previous Ultramen:
  • Specium Zepellion: His balanced Jack of All Stats form, based on Ultraman and Ultraman Tiga. It can channel bursts of strength and speed from Tiga's Power and Sky Types, respectively.
  • Burnmite: His strength-based form from Ultraman Taro and Ultraman Mebius, capable of Playing with Fire.
  • Hurricane Slash: His speed form drawing on Ultraman Jack and Ultraman Zero, which has the ability to teleport and can arm itself with the Orb Slugger Lance.
  • Thunder Breaster: The Mid-Season Upgrade based on Ultraman Zoffy and Ultraman Belial, Thunder Breaster relies on immense brute force. However, the influence of Belial means that it's initially a Deadly Upgrade; making Orb prone to getting carried away and becoming The Berserker that brutalizes his opponents and ignores possible civilian casualties.
  • Orb Origin: Orb's true form and Super Mode. In this form, he's equipped with the Orb Calibur, a sword with Elemental Powers.
  • Trinity: An even more powerful form seen in the post-series movie, Trinity fuses the powers of the three Ultramen immediately preceding him: Ultraman Ginga, Ultraman Victory, and Ultraman X; and it can use all their special abilities.
• Ultraman Geed also channels pairs of Ultramen to get his different forms. He does have a personal, non-Power Copying form that's seen during the Transformation Sequence, but hasn't been able to access it himself:
  • Primitive: Pairing Ultraman and Geed's father Ultraman Belial, Primitive is balanced but tends to be a wild fighter.
  • Solid Burning: Ultraseven and his student Ultraman Leo provide the strength-focused form enhanced by Powered Armor.
  • Acro Smasher: The peaceful Ultraman Hikari and Ultraman Cosmos are the basis of this form, which focuses on non-offensive techniques and precise strikes.
  • Magnificent: Channels two of the most powerful Ultramen and Belial's bitterest enemies, Ultraman Zero and Father of Ultra, into a powerful Lightning Bruiser.
  • Royal Mega-Master: This form uses Ultraman Belial just like Primitive, but its main power is that of the Big Good and Physical God Ultraman King for Geed's Super Mode.
  • Ultimate Final: Seen in the movie, this brings out Geed's own powers and is his most powerful form.
• Ultraman R/B: Ultramen Rosso and Blu share the same arrangement of forms, which go on a sliding scale from fast-yet-vulnerable through balanced to tough-but-slow. From "fast" to "strong", they have Wind Form, Aqua Form, Flame Form, and Ground Form. For their shared Super Mode, they Fusion Dance into Ultraman Ruebe;^note the Japanese phonetic pronunciation of "R/B" and in their movie they further fuse with their little sister Ultrawoman Grigio to become Ultraman Gruebe.^note "G/R/B"
• Ultraman Taiga: Rather than being host to an Ultraman with multiple forms, Hiroyuki is host to three different Ultramen:
  • Ultraman Taiga: The most prominent of the three and the Jack of All Stats.
  • Ultraman Titas: A muscular heavyweight fighter and Mighty Glacier.
  • Ultraman Fuma: The Fragile Speedster of the group who fights with Ninja techniques.
  • Taiga Photon Earth: Taiga's Mid-Season Upgrade. Unlike the usual pattern that would make the middle-stage upgrade a Lightning Bruiser, this form is a Mighty Glacier that gains strength but loses speed thanks to wearing armor, though not to the same extremes as Titas.
  • Taiga Tri-Strium: Taiga's Super Mode, achieved via Fusion Dance with Titas and Fuma.
  • Ultraman Reiga: In the movie, Hiroyuki is host to a fourth Ultraman partner that's a Fusion Dance of six Super Mode Ultramen (the above-mentioned Exceed X, Orb Trinity, Geed Ultimate Final, Gruebe, and Taiga Tri-Strium; plus Ginga Victory).
• Ultraman Z: Returns to Power Copying multiple Ultramen as Orb and Geed did, only Z channels three at once:
  • Original: Z's regular form, a Master of None described as "a third of a real hero". After gaining his other forms, the show treats it as a "civilian" form that he returns to when not in combat.
  • Alpha Edge: Following the Master-Apprentice Chain of Ultraseven, Ultraman Leo, and Ultraman Zero; Alpha Edge is a Jack of All Stats and skilled martial artist. Z's host Haruki comments that as a martial artist himself, Alpha Edge is the easiest form for him to use.
  • Beta Smash: Channeling some of the original "Ultra Brothers" from the 60s and 70s (Ultraman, Ultraman Ace, and Ultraman Taro), Beta Smash is a Mighty Glacier and themed like a pro wrestler .
  • Gamma Future: Drawing on Ultraman Tiga, Ultraman Dyna, and Ultraman Gaia from the series' 90s era; Gamma Future is a Squishy Wizard whose powers resemble sorcery.
  • Delta Rise Claw: Featuring the main characters of Ultraman Geed (Geed himself, and Zero and Belial in their Super Modes from that series), Delta Rise Claw is Z's Super Mode with incredible power. The form is also associated with a sentient sword of darkness, though it's not actually part of the Delta Rise Claw powerset and doesn't always agree to let Z wield it.
• Ultraman Trigger, as a homage to Tiga, has the same selection of Multi, Power, and Sky Types; and eventually he gets two Super Modes:
  • Glitter Trigger Eternity: A Golden Super Mode and his equivalent to Glitter Tiga, though his source of power is different and he gets it earlier in the season than Tiga did. It ends up being so powerful that Trigger can barely control its energies until he undergoes special training.
  • Trigger Truth: A new form used only in the last episode. Where Tiga rejected being Tiga Dark, Trigger accepted that such powers were a part of him and temporarily reabsorbed his former darkness; blending light and dark into a Yin-Yang Bomb.
• Ultraman Decker is a homage to Dyna the same way that Trigger is to Tiga, and similarly has Dyna's Flash, Strong, and Miracle Types (though he doesn't carry Dyna's limit of using Strong or Miracle but not both in a single fight). Decker would later on get a Super Mode in the form of Dynamic Type. An epilogue movie also adds Ultraman Dinas; similar to The Next and Nexus, Dinas is a less developed version of the Decker powers due to being used by a host that's not as capable of fighting.
• Ultraman Arc equips armors instead of changing his body, but they nonetheless fit the usual balanced-strong-fast archetypes that most Ultramen adhere to. He's also only the second Ultraman after Dyna to have a restriction on changing forms, only able to summon armor when his Hour of Power is running out.
  • Ultraman Arc: Arc's Jack of All Stats basic form, without equipping any armor.
  • Solis Armor: A Mighty Glacier built for close combat, with enhanced strength and defense.
  • Luna Armor: A Fragile Speedster that boosts Arc's speed and flight, and gives him a long-range weapon that can shoot discs of energy.
  • Galaxy Armor: Arc's Super Mode, with the special ability of Thinking Up Portals. He's also been shown creating multiple duplicates of himself in his Solis and Luna forms. Unfortunately, it also ends up being a Deadly Upgrade, as the Big Bad has spiked its power source so that it slowly poisons him.
• Ultraman Omega has kaiju that serve as Equippable Allies, providing him with some armor (primarily down one arm) and weaponry. It's not clear if the armors introduce any weaknesses like most form changes do.
  • Ultraman Omega: The Jack of All Stats.
  • Rekiness Armor: Provides Omega with a broadsword and command of Rekiness' formidable telekinetic abilities.
  • Trigaron Armor: A fast attack form with Super-Speed and a gauntlet with Wolverine Claws.
  • Valgeness Armor: The Super Mode, with a halberd and control of the four classic Elemental Powers.