Medicom RAH Father of Ultra

Father of Ultra (ウルトラの父 Urutora no Chichi), also called Ultra Father, is the ruler of the Land of Light in Nebula M78, where most of the Ultra beings come from. He first appeared in Episode 27 of Ultraman Ace. He is in fact the actual father of Ultraman Taro, supposedly one of the most powerful of the Ultramen, although he seems to get killed a lot and receives a lot of help from his mother, father and all of his brothers. (Ultraman Taro gets his head chopped off by Enmargo in Episode 14 and gets killed by Birdon in Episode 18)

This is Medicom's 12-inch RAH (Real Action Heroes) Father of Ultra, a mail-away piece when you purchase Medicom RAH Ultraman Taro (pictures here)

Ultra Father out of the box

Check out his horns!

Other than Ultraman King, Ultra Father is the only other Ultra being who wears a belt

Medicom RAH 12-inch Father of Ultra comes with the usual extra pair of hands (clenched fist and open palm) plus an extra grasping hand

The grasping hand is for holding the Ultra Array, a cylindrical rod with two spherical light-emitters at the ends. It could temporarily blind an enemy's eyes. He also has a power beam, the Father Shot, fired by placing his arms in an "L"-shaped manner, similar to all the other Ultras. The manga "Ultraman Super Warrior Legend" also mentions of a beam that comes from Ultra Father's horns.

Medicom's Ultra Array is detachable so that you can make Father Ultra hold onto his weapon as the grasping hands are molded shut or closed.

Being a much senior or elder Ultra being, I think the arthropod mandible looking things at the side of his head/face are supposed to be beard, to represent an aged person. They are very pronounced and distinct, and looks too much like a extra piece deliberately added on, unlike TV images which show that it is very much part of the head/face/helmet (more like a growth and part of the body's process of ageing)

Ultra Father also looks like he has man boobs, still perky after all these years (He is supposed to be 160,000 Earth years old)

Another view of his mandible (beard?)

Back of Father Ultra showing where the zipper is for the actor to get into costume. In this modern age of digital animation, the character would probably be a computer generated animation without the zipper so that he would look like a being and not a man in a costume. But being tokusatsu (live action with special effects), I liked that there was the zipper (very retro, if you know what I mean).

Because of the zip, the belt doesn't go around but stops in the middle - now we know why the rest of the Ultras had no belts, it would look odd. Medicom even replicated the small zippers on his gloves and boots.

Medicom RAH Father of Ultra with his Ultra Array

Ultra Father also has a color timer on his chest. The Ultra beings' main weakness is that they can only stay on Earth in giant form for a limited span of time, usually not longer than three minutes, owing to a limited supply of energy (Earth's  atmosphere filters out solar energy). This is marked by a light on their chest, usually called the Color Timer, or "warning light," which eventually begins to blink with increasing frequency as his energy supply dwindles (turning from blue to red).

Ultra Father once saved Ultraman Ace and the other Ultra brothers by sending the energy of his Color Timer into them. They then defeated Hipporito and returned Ultra Father to Nebula M78 for a recharge in the proverbial nick of time.

Another close-up view of Medicom RAH Father of Ultra's weapon, the Ultra Array and his belt

Another fine 12-inch addition to the Ultras. I think this is the only costumed and articulated 12-inch action figure of Ultra Father to have ever been produced. Now my collection of the Ultra beings of the Showa era is nearly complete :) It has taken me more than ten years since I started collecting 12-inch Ultraman in 1994 to even imagine that all these Ultra beings would be produced.

Medicom RAH Father of Ultra doing his arm exercises with his dumbbell looking Ultra Array - ha! ha!