When he wasn’t crafting monster suits for Toho’s Godzilla franchise, special effects legend Eiji Tsuburaya ran his own television production company. You may recall Tsuburaya stepping aside back in 1966’s Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, staying on only in a supervisory role for several films. What became of his pet project after passing the torch at Toho? None other than the beloved Ultraman series that spawned another suitmation genre with hundreds of series drawing from this source material. Ultraman inspired shows like Kamen Rider, and Super Sentai, best known as the production Mighty Morphin Power Rangers used footage from. Eiji Tsuburaya’s legacy is cemented in not one, but two media juggernauts that changed the history of entertainment forever. And it’s that powerhouse of creative force that lead Toho to hold a contest to design an Ultraman-esque robot that would be featured in the next Godzilla film. After a few redesigns (much to the chagrin of the kid that won the contest), this robot would become the both beloved and despised, the android with a plandroid, the polarizing pugilist, the one…and only…JET JAGUAAAAAAAR!

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