Strium , also known as Strium Energy , is an energy substance first appeared in Ultraman Taro.[1]
It is known for the application of Strium Beam , a finishing move of that show's eponymous Ultra Hero to destroy his opponents.[2][3][4][5] In the recent years, Strium Beam saw its recurring usages by those who share Taro's power, or through his son, Ultraman Taiga.
History
Ultraman Taro
Strium Beam is used by Ultraman Taro during his active days fighting on Earth, especially after the departure of Ultraman Ace. Other than destroying opponents, some of which had their own adjusted variations.
Ultraman Story
Taro Shot
As a child, Taro used to train himself with firing his own finishing move, the Taro Shot .[6] The emitted beam kept missing the target when Taro had a private training session to himself, attracting the attention of Dokkun. By the time Taro grew up, the Taro Shot was left unfinished.
Taro acquired the Strium Beam at some point after reaching adulthood, training with it against saucer drones unleashed by Father of Ultra as target practices. After killing Alien Mefilas (in this movie, the original from Ultraman and the second generation from Taro are treated as the same individual), Taro combined with the Ultra Brothers into a Super Ultraman, using the Strium Beam to damage Grand King before ending it with Cosmo Miracle Beam.
Ultraman Mebius
During Ultraman Taro's return to Earth, he utilized the Strium Beam against both U-Killersaurus Neo and Inpelaizer, only for both attacks to be ineffective. While Ultraman Mebius Phoenix Brave and Zoffy were fighting Alien Empera on Earth, Taro's Strium Beam was among the Ultra Beams of the Ultra Brothers being fired to remove Empera's coating on the Sun.
Mega Monster Battle Ultra Galaxy: The Movie
During Ultraman Belial's escape from his prison, Taro fired his Strium Beam to intercept the fallen Ultra, but Belial perfectly avoided the attack.
Ultraman Ginga
After spending most of the series as a conscious Spark Doll, Taro was finally able materialize in his true form thanks to the countless Ginga Light Spark provided by the school alumni and Hikaru's friends. Taro fought against Dark Lugiel after Ultraman Ginga was incapacitated. When Lugiel fired a beam from the Dark Spark, Taro countered with the Strium Beam in return, both attacks evenly matched. Taro's cancelled his beam, choosing to erect a barrier to hold back the attack as he revived Ginga with his energy, only to be struck down by Lugiel's beam.
Ultraman Ginga S
When Taro returned to Hikaru's Earth, he gave the youth his techniques (Strium Beam and Blue Laser) and those of the other 5 Ultra Brothers. The Lone Warrior Out of all the finishing moves, Taro's Strium Beam was the one frequently used by Ginga Strium,[7] as it was accessed to destroy a platoon of Inpelaizers transformed from Chiburoid,[8] accidentally blocked by Shepherdon when shielding Hiyori/Gomora and in against Five King.
Ultraman Orb
By scanning Taro and Mebius's Ultra Fusion Cards, Gai Kurenai can provide Ultraman Orb with the Burnmite form. The form's various finishers with Stobium prefix seems to imply that Orb harnesses some amount of Strium energy in his techniques, in addition to Mebius's Mebium energy.
Through their card components, the rest of the Ultra Warriors are summoned by Orb as part of Orb Supreme Calibur: Origium Galaxis where all of them fired their respective finisher beams in unison, including Taro's Strium Beam.[9] The Wandering Sun
Ultraman Geed
Using the Taro Capsule onto the King Sword, Ultraman Geed Royal Megamaster can access the Strium Flasher attack. He used it to defeat Thunder Killer.[10][11] Inheritor of the Dream
Ultraman Geed The Movie: Connect the Wishes!
From Jugglus Juggler's recollection, Taro led a squadron of Inter Galactic Defense Force to Planet Kushia in order to destroy Gillvalis, using his Strium Beam to destroy the terminal. However the beam failed to destroy the core and he escaped somewhere to rebuild his domain.
Ultraman Taiga
Taro's son, Taiga, is able to fire his own version of the Strium Beam, promptly called the Strium Blaster.[12] The attack was often use enhanced with the power of the Ultra Taiga Accessories, particularly those of the Orb-let, Rosso-let and Blu-let.
Ultraman Taiga The Movie: New Generation Climax
Under possession of Grimdo, one of the many attacks Taro fired is a darkness-imbued Strium Beam in battle against his son.
Ultraman Z
From Riku Asakura's recollection to explain the Devil Splinter, Taro was seen firing his Strium Beam and Belial grazed from the attack, causing the splinter to exist in the first place. The scene was a recollection from Belial's escape, slightly retconning the events of Mega Monster Battle Ultra Galaxy: The Movie.
Nature
Not much to be known about Strium as an energy substance, but according to Ultraman Official Data File volume 3, Strium Energy flows within Taro's body, known as Super Body .[1] How exactly it came into existence is unknown, but it is implied to be a result of being converted from sunlight energy in the same principle as a regular Ultra Warrior produce their own deposit of Spacium Energy for Spacium Beam. Worth noting however is that his Ultra Horns store a different kind of power source, called as Super Energy , which is noted to be different from Strium.[1]
Strium Beam itself
Ultraman Taro in the Strium Beam pose.
The Strium Beam is usually done by stretching his arms above him, joining his hands in the process. As he lowered them to his sides, he gathers energy from the atmosphere as his body glows in multicolored energy hue.[4] He then raises his left arm in fist, followed by the right arm in knifehand position as it rested on the left fist.[13] As he shouts "Strium Beam!", the entire left arm then fired the beam in the process.[2] According to source materials such as Ultraman Official Data File and Ultra Tokusatsu PERFECT MOOK, it is a "T"-shaped design, but visual wise, it is more or less the letter "L" rotated 180 degrees upside down (˥).[4][5] This finishing move is also the first Ultra Beam to notably shouted the attack's name first before firing, a trait that would be prominent in the New Generation Series, both its eponymous heroes and some of the older ones' guest appearances.
The Strium Beam is said to be 20 times stronger than Ultraman Ace's Metalium Beam,[3] itself being a stronger Ultra Beam than the taxing Wide Shot. Granted, as some of the adversaries that Taro fought were known as Super Ability Monsters, who are stated to be more powerful than even the Terrible-Monsters. However, out of 25 shots fired, only 16 of them landed a hit, a testament to how some of the adversaries that Taro fought are outright powerful by themselves. For example, Enmargo blocks it with his shield, Sheltar's skin endured the attack, the beam proven ineffective on Arindo, Garaking and Alien Temperor, being dodged by Volkeller and cancelled out of Rodera's beam.[4]
Other variations of Strium Beam included as below:
- A weaker Strium Beam, purposefully adjusted by Taro to simply knock out Queen Tortoise.[4]
- Neo Strium Beam : An enhanced variation of the Strium Beam by crossing the arms into an "X",[5] used to destroy Alien Temperor after he resisted the original version.[14] The Ultraman Taro Super Complete Works magazine also calls it the Strium Beam Special Type .[15]
- An uncharged version of the beam. In Ultraman Story, it was a smaller beam from his palms (being his first time firing) while Mebius portray it as a straight-up forming the arms to fire them.
- Super Strium Beam : A variation of the Strium Beam fired when Ultraman Taro became a Super Ultraman by fusing with the rest of the 5 preceding Ultra Brothers. It was first used in Ultraman Story to land a hit on Grand King's head (more specifically the firing port on the forehead), as it was fired without the charging motion.[16]
- A darkness-imbued Strium Beam as a result of being possessed by Grimdo.
- Double Strium Beam : A joint Strium Beam made by Taro and Leo. Leo (on the right) did Taro's Strium Beam position while Taro put the reverse position to line his vertical right arm together with Leo's left arm to combine the resulting beam.
- Chaos Strium Beam : A dark replica of the Strium Beam accessed by Chaosroid T, a Chaos Header clone of Taro.[17] The fired beam is either purple in game or dark red in live action.
Strium Blaster
Ultraman Taiga's Strium Blaster hand maneuver, with the Taiga Spark visible at the front.[18]
The Strium Blaster is Ultraman Taiga's own answer to his father, Taro's Strium Beam.[19] The pre-firing movements being Taiga raising his arms upwards, then drawing them downwards (the arms swing forward) as he gather energy, followed by raising his left knifehand forward while his clenched right fist bent downward to his side. The right fist then raised upwards vertically while the left knifehand rested its palm on the fist. The right fist however has the Taiga Spark faced forward and from there, the Strium Blaster commenced firing against the target.[20]
In his home series, Taiga rarely uses the original variant and relies on some of its empowered versions, including:
- Supreme Blaster : After scanning the Orb-let, Taiga's Strium Blaster is enhanced in light energy, increasing its destructive power.[21]
- Flame Blaster : After scanning the Rosso-let, Taiga's Strium Blaster is enhanced in flame energy.[21]
- Aqua Blaster : After scanning the Blu-let, Taiga's Strium Blaster is enhanced in water energy. It can be used to put out fires by adjusting its power output.[21]
- Aurum Strium : Taiga Photon-Earth's enhanced finisher beam, where he summons a golden aurora to draw energy from Earth and fire a golden beam from the Taiga Spark.[22] It is far more powerful than the Strium Blaster, as this beam was able to finish off Night Fang while an enhanced version of the prior, Aqua Blaster, failed to do any substantial damage to it. Aurum is Latin for "Gold".
Users
- Ultraman Taro
- Super Ultraman Taro
- Ultraman Leo (only by joining alongside Taro)
- Colorless
- Ultraman Ginga Strium (via Strium Brace)
- Ultraman Orb
- Burnmite
- Strium Galaxy
- Ultraman Geed Royal Megamaster (via King Sword and Taro's Ultra Capsule)
- Ultraman Taiga
- Normal
- Photon Earth
- Tri-Strium
- Chaosroid T
- Alien Babarue (Story 0) (via mimicry of Taro and Colorless)
Other media
The Ultraman
The hitman Golgo was noted to be a powerful adversary that Ace's Space Q was at least needed to defeat him, per Dan Moroboshi's words. After Gen Otori sought the wandering Kotaro Higashi, Leo and Taro fought Golgo and defeated him with Double Strium Beam.
Ultraman Story 0
The manga iteration of Ultraman Taro used Strium Beam as one of his attacks, as it was taught to him by Colorless, who also used it for his finisher but with an X arm position instead of T, simlar to Taro's Neo Strium Beam. It could also be accessed by Alien Babarue by taking on either Taro or Colorless's forms. The Strium energy is appearantly linked to the inherent ties both Ultras had with nature, as the charging motion and phenomenon are here contextualized as drawing upon the energy of nature around them.
Gallery
Combinations
![Ultra Hero Legends[23]](/wiki/File:UltramanUltraHeroLegends.gif "UltramanUltraHeroLegends.gif (8.49 MB)")
Trivia
- The Strium Beam is rather popular among fans due to being the first finishing move wherein an Ultraman shouted the name of their attack, a trend that would be recurring in the New Generation Heroes of Ultra Warriors. Although Ultraman Jack did shouted the name of Ultra Hurricane as he threw Zetton II mid-air, this did not count as a finishing move.
- Ultraman Blu Aqua's finishing move is called Aqua Strium,[24] wherein he charged energy with both of his arms drawing closer before he formed the "L"-style arm maneuver. This is however not the same kind of Strium that Taro used, as it was evident through the Japanese pronunciation (Taro's Sutoriumu versus Blu's Sutoryūmu ). Blu's "Strium" pronunciation is more in line with the English word "Stream", as in "a firing beam of a stream of water".
- An unseen ability of Ultraman Rosso is to insert Taro's R/B Crystal to R/B Slugger Rosso and activating the Twin Strium Slasher . However, the resulting attack is more likely the elemental power of fire than an actual Strium energy.
- Two members of the New Generation Heroes of Ultra Warriors, Ginga and Taiga, had their enhanced forms known as Ultraman Ginga Strium and Ultraman Taiga Tri-Strium. However, these are most likely naming senses on their part and not true emphasis on the Strium Beam's energy properties, since Ginga focuses on the borrowed powers of the 6 Ultra Brothers and Taiga uses flame-based finishing moves provided by Taiga Tri Blade.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Weekly Ultraman Official Data File #3 pg 4
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://m-78.jp/character/taro/
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 https://tsuburaya-prod.com/heroes/ultraman-taro
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Weekly Ultraman Official Data File #16 pg 3
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Ultra Tokusatsu PERFECT MOOK vol. 11: Ultraman Taro page 8
- ↑ Weekly Ultraman Official Data File #56 pg 2
- ↑ Ultra Tokusatsu PERFECT MOOK vol. 33: Ultraman Ginga / Ultraman Ginga S page 18
- ↑ ウルトラマンギンガS超全集 page 21 ISBN 978-4091051486
- ↑ https://cocreco.kodansha.co.jp/telemaga/news/feature/kaijubiyori/zSpb8?page=2
- ↑ https://m-78.jp/geed/1173/
- ↑ https://x.com/tsuburayaprod/status/926607451566129152
- ↑ https://m-78.jp/character/taiga/
- ↑ ウルトラマン ビジュアルブック page 87 ISBN 978-4835631202 Amazon link here
- ↑ Weekly Ultraman Official Data File #16 pg 4
- ↑ ウルトラマンタロウ超全集 page 56
- ↑ Weekly Ultraman Official Data File #56 pg 1
- ↑ ウルトラマンギンガS超全集 page 65 ISBN 978-4091051486
- ↑ https://www.skipcity.jp/event/sp/greeting.html
- ↑ https://tsuburaya-prod.com/heroes/ultraman-taiga
- ↑ Ultraman Taiga Super Complete Works page 27 ISBN 978-4-09-105167-7
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Ultraman Taiga Super Complete Works page 37 ISBN 978-4-09-105167-7
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 Ultraman Taiga Super Complete Works page 33 ISBN 978-4-09-105167-7
- ↑ File:UFF-CN-BZ2-068P.png
- ↑ https://en.tsuburaya-prod.co.jp/news/506
