Alien Zarab

https://m-78.jp/taiga/kaiju/ are a race of aliens from Planet Zarab in the 8th Galactic System talented at creating illusions. They have been mostly portrayed as vile beings with the desire to destroy other worlds, either through trickery and deception, or brute force. They are best remembered for being the first aliens to imitate an Ultra.
Subtitles: 
*
*Shin:
**
** (Shin Ultra Fight)
==Conception==
===Etymology===
Alien Zarab's name is actually the word "Brother" pronounced backward, as Zarab claims himself to be an elderly brother to humanity. Furthering this, in a magazine featuring an unused concept of Alien Mefilas holding a conference with other aliens, Zarab's name was romanized in English as 'Therrob', a more literal translation of its name being Brother spelled backward.
==History==
===Ultraman===
====Generation I====
The first Zarab's goal was to destroy the Earth by inciting chaos within the international governments so that they would destroy themselves.
Alien Zarab I was discovered by Mitsuhiro Ide and Daisuke Arashi of the SSSP within a toxic, radioactive fog that fell over Tokyo. First, the duo attempted to tackle Zarab, then Arashi tried to attack him with the Spider Shot. The alien disappeared both times, then knocked the two unconscious. Zarab then appeared at the SSSP's electronic brain computer, where he claimed to the team that his species was a friendly "older brother" to humanity, but the team remained skeptical. However, SSSP member Shin Hayata was at the same time investigating a missing space shuttle that suddenly appeared in the Earth's stratosphere. Zarab suddenly appeared in the SSSP's base and admitted that he had led the off-course shuttle back to Earth. When Captain Muramatsu said that he would trust Zarab if he removed the fog, the alien obliged and was made a guest of the SSSP as a result. Unbeknownst to the team, both the fog and the space shuttle were sent into space. Zarab then secretly placed Ide under his mind control and drugged Arashi so that he could listen into a meeting between the SSSP and Space Center discussing the alien and his intentions via Ide's radio antenna. After the Zarab created a portable electric brain of his own and insisted on going to the Space Center, Hayata was allowed to investigate and follow the alien.
Hayata pursued Zarab as he took off into space. There he discovered Zarab in the space shuttle, with the crew under his control. As Hayata attempted to return to Earth in his VTOL, Zarab confronted him and confirmed his intentions to conquer and enslave the planet because it was his "job". As Hayata attempted to radio Muramatsu, Zarab revealed his knowledge of Hayata being the secret human host of Ultraman, before knocking him unconscious and crashing his VTOL. Zarab returned to Earth, where he imprisoned Hayata and took the form of . In this disguise, he briefly wreaked havoc across the city of Tokyo. 
Alien Zarab then appeared at a Space Center meeting and suggested that Ultraman was an alien bent on world domination, and that the SSSP was sympathetic to him. He further insisted that the SSSP should be ordered to attack Ultraman if he were to return. Returning to the imprisoned Hayata, Zarab attempted to confiscate the Beta Capsule, but was unable to find it, as Hayata had forgotten to bring it during his investigation. Immediately after Zarab left the room, the honorary SSSP member Isamu Hoshino discovered Hayata, and returned to him the Beta Capsule. At the same time, Alien Zarab I assumed his disguise as Imit-Ultraman and resumed his rampage near the Space Center. 
With Hoshino's help, Hayata broke free from his binds and transformed into the true Ultraman. Suddenly, Zarab grabbed Hoshino as he attempted to rappel to safety, only for Ultraman to grab Hoshino back and stun his doppelganger with a chop as he returned Hoshino to safety. Ultraman and his doppelganger briefly grappled before the Imitation attempted to take flight and escape. Ultraman knocked Zarab down via the Spacium Beam, shedding the imposter of his disguise. Zarab stunned the hero with his Sonic Destruction attack, then charged. After Ultraman countered Zarab's attacks with several chops and punches, Zarab once more attempted to fly to safety. Despite firing explosive missiles at the pursuing Ultraman, the latter caught up with Zarab and tackled him to the ground. At last, Ultraman ended Zarab's invasion with a second shot from the Spacium Beam, killing the alien. 
=====Trivia=====
*Voice and suit actor: Takeshi Aono
*Zarab's Imit-Ultraman is portrayed by suit actor Fumio Ikeda.
*Alien Zarab was created from a heavily modified Ragon male suit.
**His flying prop was altered slightly from Alien Baltan.
*The voice in the English dub for Zarab is a lot stronger and deeper.
*The Imit-Ultraman suit was made by modifying the original Type A costume while using the Type B shoes and a new mask.
*Imit-Ultraman was cited by the third Blu-ray cover of Ultraman Ginga as the inspirational source for Ultraman Dark, the original Ultraman's corrupted form.
*In the Ultra Kaiju Encyclopedia video uploaded to Tsuburaya Productions' YouTube channel, Alien Zarab briefly and bizarrely had Magular's roar.
====Generation II====
Alien Zarab was "resurrected" along with Kemur II and Alien Baltan III as by Alien Mefilas. However this Zarab was actually a hologram created by Alien Mefilas' ship to scare the people of Earth. Mefilas claimed that he did not want to use violence so he made the aliens disappear. 
=====Trivia=====
*Zarab II's is colored black instead of light-brown and does not have ear-like appendages.
*The Alien Zarab created by Mefilas seemed to be constantly inhaling air, and is so far the only incarnation of Zarab known to do this.
===Ultraman Mebius & the Ultra Brothers===
Alien Zarab formed the Alien Union with fellow aliens: Alien Temperor, Alien Guts, and Alien Nackle in order to kill Ultraman Mebius and release U-Killersaurus and Yapool from the seaside of Kobe. After Temperor was destroyed by Mebius, Zarab was sent to take care of "Phase 2" of the plan. He kidnapped Aya Jinguji (Mirai/Ultraman Mebius's human disguise's close friend), poisoned and paralyzed Mirai, and transformed into to attack the city of Kobe. Mirai transformed into Ultraman Mebius again and initially had trouble against his dark duplicate, but was eventually able to break his disguise with punches and a Mebium Slash to expose Zarab's true identity. When Mebius began recklessly firing Mebium Slashes while Zarab had a shield up, his mentors advised him to calm down. The battle concluded with a beam struggle that Mebius won, destroying Zarab and regaining the trust of the people. Unfortunately however, Zarab managed to complete Phase 2 before dying: Mebius was now weak enough for Guts and Nackle to take down. 
====Trivia====
*Voice actor: Takeshi Aono
**Imit-Ultraman Mebius' grunts are voiced by Shunji Igarashi, who played Mirai Hibino as well as the real Mebius' voice actor at the time.
**The decision to have Takeshi Aono reprise his role was under the request of director Keiichi Hasegawa.
*This incarnation of Alien Zarab is a lot more muscular than his old form.
*Alien Zarab as Imit-Ultraman Mebius is the third Imitation Ultra to display facial expressions while fighting with the real Ultra. The first one was Terranoid/Zeluganoid and the second was Alguros as Imit-Ultraman Agul.
*Zarab poisoning Mirai in a human disguise is a reference to the same stunt he performed on Arashi in his debut episode.
===Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Adventure NEO===
Presumably the same Alien Zarab that would appear in Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle: Never Ending Odyssey, he appeared in front of Ai Asama and Kanegon to demand their Battlenizer by masquerading as Ultraman. Alien Lady Benzene and Ultraman Shadow appeared to expose him as an impostor, blowing his cover and forcing him away.
The story above is retreaded in Mega Monster Battle: ULTRA MONSTERS NEO, but it was the protagonists who exposed his Imit Ultraman disguise after defeating him with their chosen monster. While Lady Benzene didn't appear, Shadow serve as Imit Ultraman's support character.
===Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle: Never Ending Odyssey===
Alien Zarab is portrayed as a moronic, and comedic character who collects broken Battlenizers for unexplained reasons, possibly as trophies. He managed to kidnap Haruna (the female XO of the ZAP SPACY crew) and disguised himself as her to masquerade as her to the rest of the ZAP SPACY crew members, but failed miserably and comically when he could not cope with the simple life of humanity, mistaking insignificant terms for danger and confusing the crew's kaiju fan for a Reionics. The real Haruna returned and exposed Zarab as the fake, but before the ZAP SPACY could take action, he transformed into Imit-Ultraman. After a short and comedic battle against Rei's Gomora and a vengeful Haruna, Alien Zarab's true form was revealed again. Hurting and humiliated, Alien Zarab fled from Planet Hammer never to bother anyone ever again. 
====Trivia====
*Voice actor: Takeshi Aono
*The anatomy page that Zarab stumbles upon lists several organs as 'Medusa,' 'Misery,' 'The Cat with Nine Lives,' and 'Greedy Neighbors.' It is unknown whether this is a case of random English insertion to make the page look impressive, or whether the organs unique to Zarab were literally named that.
===Ultraman Mebius Gaiden: Ghost Rebirth===
Although not seen in full body, Alien Zarab's hand was shown grabbing the Giga Battlenizer in the end of the gaiden, foreshadowing when he gives it to Ultraman Belial in Mega Monster Battle Ultra Galaxy: The Movie. 
===Mega Monster Battle Ultra Galaxy: The Movie===
Alien Zarab (as Imit-Ultraman) attacked two guard Ultras and freed Ultraman Belial from his prison. After revealing his true identity, Alien Zarab gave Belial the Giga Battlenizer in hopes of the two forming an alliance. Instead, Belial betrayed and killed Zarab, not wanting to share his rule with the alien. 
====Trivia====
*Voice actor: Takeshi Aono
**This was Aono's final role in voicing Zarab, as he retired in 2010 and passed away in 2012.
*It's unknown if this Alien Zarab is the same one that appears in Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle: Never Ending Odyssey or if this one is a different one of its kind.
*He was one of the monsters that made up Belyudra's second support.
===Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Adventure===
50 years later after the incident on Planet Hammer, an actual Reionics Alien Zarab is in possession of an EX Eleking, using it to fight off Alien Metron's EX Red King. The two Reionics even fought each other like their monsters, but Zarab then became the first to fall. Metron, Zarab and Vittorio would later be targeted by Alien Reiblood's Silverbloome, absorbing their energies for his revival. Both Metron and Zarab are left as lifeless husks, but Vittorio managed to escape.
His role in the manga would also be reiterated in the Mega Monster Battle: ULTRA MONSTERS, but instead, Zarab had the opportunity to face off the protagonist as well.
===Ultraman Ginga===
Alien Zarab's Spark Doll was seen in Dark Lugiel's collection alongside Yapool, Verokron, Gatanothor, Zeluganoid, Fire Zetton, Twin Tail, Kabuto the Killer, King of Mons and many others.
In episode 7, Alien Zarab along with lots of different monsters are seen cheering Ginga on as he fights Dark Galberos. 
===Ultraman X===
Alien Zarab was an intergalactic criminal that had destroyed countless planets. He set Earth as his target by bombing multiple chemical plants. After bringing Bemstar's Spark Doll back to life, he hid himself in another chemical plant, being tracked by Xio officers Wataru and Hayato but their inability to cooperate gave Alien Zarab a chance to escape.
Soon, he reappeared at point S-9, trying to bomb another chemical plant until the Xio members, Hayato, Wataru and Asuna confronted him. He grew to giant proportions to crush them but was destroyed after being overpowered by the Land and Sky Musketty, followed by Wataru's Ultlaser. 
Evidently, either Alien Zarab's Spark Doll or his specs were collected, creating a Cyber Kaiju under the name which was held inside a Cyber Card. Cyber Zarab was used for Xio's target practice alongside Cyber Neronga. 
====Trivia====
*Voice actor: You Murakami
*Suit actor: Keita Rikimaru
*Alien Zarab's suit is modified from the one in Mega Monster Battle Ultra Galaxy: The Movie, where its color had turned grey and becomes more skinnier and scaly than muscular, as well as its head redesigned to "fit" with the suit. Also, the customization made in this suit is obviously trying to re-invoke Zarab's original appearance in the series.
*To further relate Bemstar as Alien Zarab's monster, the official website of Ultraman X stated that Zarab's mouth naturally shared their design with Bemstar's gorge.
*Alien Zarab's detonator seems to have its design based on the Portable Artificial Brain his first incarnation uses in Ultraman. Meanwhile, its grip resembles that of Alien Zarab himself, with the star-like logo stimulates his mouth and the whole grip is colored based on his skin.
*This is the first Alien Zarab that never utilizes any form of disguises in his appearance. It is possible his reason is that he relies on his strength instead of calculative strategies like his past incarnations did.
**Hisako Kurosawa, the writer in episode 4 mentioned this and express his regret for not being able to portray Zarab with the shapeshifting ability.
===Ultraman R/B ===
An Alien Zarab was a cameraman for NPTV's documentary program, his partner Alien Mefilas's section was failing and views were dwindling. Their boss, an Alien Chibull, warned them that if things don't change, they will have to face some consequences. Mefilas then got the idea to have his partner Zarab to disguise as a giant Saki Mitsurugi, but their director reprimanded them. They then went around interviewing other people and aliens regarding their thoughts on Saki's plan to turn Earth into a bomb, but yet again the director said that if they don't get the views, the sponsors would pull out and the program would be cancelled. Desperate for a solution, they decide to interview Ushio Minato, who they saw potential in after seeing him on the news. The two then took on human disguises and went to Quattro M to interview the him, and disguised as a man named to do so.
After the interview was over, they went over to Aizen Tech to interview Saki Mitsurugi regarding her plan, asking if she could hurry it up, even though they didn't have much hope that the interview would go well. However, the duo were chased out. They then went back to interviewing other people, this time about Ushio. Coming to the conclusion that an Ultraman's father would have extraordinary abilities, Mefilas decided to set Ushio up. He had Zarab disguise as Asahi Minato and restrained near a bomb and lots of explosives, in a life-or-death game that he thought would really get him the views he needed and was even willing to sacrifice the Zarab, who was unaware that the explosives were real. Katsumi Minato and Isami Minato found out about the plot, and transformed into Ultraman Rosso and Ultraman Blu and after the battle, Mefilas was destroyed by the Triple Origium Beam and Zarab was set free by Ushio. 
====Trivia====
*Voice actor: Kazuki Takeuchi
*Like its previous appearance in Ultraman X, this Zarab carries equipment, this time a camera, that is made to resemble the original's translator.
===Ultraman Taiga===
Alien Zarab, Alien Godola and Alien Sran sought out Alien Chibull Mabuze's help in defeating the Tri-Squad and Ultraman Tregear so that they could stand unopposed. Mabuze decided to help them by using the Belial samples he acquired to create Imit-Ultraman Belial, who was able to overcome each of the Tri-Squad members, though they had to give it a power boost using additional Belial cells when Ultraman Tregear appeared. Ironically, this became their undoing as Tregear led the Belial clone to destroy the building that the aliens were in, crushing them under the rubble. 
====Trivia====
*Voice actor: Jun Fukuzawa
*Zarab reuses the same camera model that his kind used in Ultraman R/B. Here, he explained that this particular camera can hack into televisions.
*Zarab expressed the idea of disguising as Taiga to confront the Ultras, but his companions refuse out of fear that he would be outnumbered against Tregear as well.
===Shin Ultraman===
Zarab was the second extraterrestrial that humanity encountered, appearing after Ultraman. First appearing in the SSSP's base with an electromagnetic pulse that knocked out the power and corrupted the data on their computers. After introducing himself and restoring the lost data as a show of peaceful intent, Zarab demanded to meet with the Prime Minister of Japan in order to seal a peace treaty with the government. When questioned on why he started with Japan first, he answered that it is simply because he happened to have landed there first, instead of the unique recent events such as Ultraman's appearance.
Meeting with several government members, Zarab offered his assistance and technology which the government quickly accepted to get an upper hand in global politics, putting pressure on other countries. At the same time, Zarab had been leaking confidential information from the government to other governments and intended to do the same with other nations. His leaks were found out by the police's Public Security Division, who sent one of their agents to report to Shinji Kaminaga who was now fused with Ultraman.
Just as the agent left, Zarab appeared in Kaminaga's car and conversed with him, explaining his true motives before knocking Kaminaga out, turning invisible and vanishing away with him, chaining the man up in an abandoned building. Zarab attempted to take the Beta Capsule from him but found that it was not in his possession. With that out of the way, Zarab could commence the next phase of his plan to wipe out humanity.
Zarab transformed into an imitation of Ultraman and attacked the Yokosuka Naval Base, making sure that the humans would see him so that he could tarnish Ultraman's reputation while providing further incentive for the government to ally with him, while also disclosing Ultraman's Spacium 133 abilities, his identity as Shinji Kaminaga and the proposal of an . Zarab put on his disguise once again and attacked a populated area with the military unable to do anything to him.
When the SSSP arrived on site, they ordered the military to do nothing as they believed that this Ultraman was a fake and that Kaminaga, the real Ultraman, would return. True enough, Hiroko Asami did manage to locate Kaminaga and free him, handing him back the Beta Capsule he left in her bag. Their reunion was cut short when the imitation Ultraman grabbed Asami from inside the building, forcing Kaminaga to transform and fight his impostor. After securing Asami's safety, Ultraman shot the imitation into a building where his disguise faded away, revealing Zarab's true nature to the world. After a short grounded battle and an aerial chase, Ultraman cut Zarab in half using his Ultra Slash.
Unknown to anyone else at the time, Mefilas was monitoring the events that had unfolded thus far. He used the presence of Zarab on Earth to his advantage to further his own plan on militarizing humans using the Beta System. 
====Trivia====
*Voice actor: Kenjiro Tsudahttps://www.cinematoday.jp/news/N0129861, Kellen Goff (English dub)https://twitter.com/kellengoff/status/1603812200048738335
*Similar to Ultraman, this incarnation of Zarab is also a recreation of Tohl Narita's artwork, referring to the alien's front being the only visible part.
**In addition, his head was meant to be portrayed with a live action Zarab suit, but was opted out in favor of a full CGI.
*Unlike previous incarnations of the character, Zarab's impersonation of the Ultra was a near-perfect imitation, albeit with hexagonal-looking eyes.
*Unlike in the original, where the name 'Alien Zarab' refers to his species, in the movie Zarab is treated and implied to merely be his own individual name.
*Initial concept art of the Imit-Ultraman features grey patterns before it was replaced with red in the final cut.Shin Ultraman Design Works
*In Shin Ultra Fight, Imit-Ultraman's CG is depicted as the same as the original Ultra, while his color palette being desaturated as a form of distinction.
===Ultraman Regulos: First Mission===
An Alien Zarab had gathered the remains of Reibatos following the aftermath of The Kingdom's battle with the Ultras. He took the remains to Planet Maijii where he put the lifeless body back together. He was later discovered by Sora in his Ultraman disguise, capturing her to reveal his plan of providing Alien Reiblood with a new physical body. When Ultraman Regulos, and later Ultraman Great, Ultraman Powered and the Ultra Force arrived to fight Reiblood's revived monsters, Zarab sent a reconstructed Ultraman Shadow to fight Regulos. With the Ultras occupied, Zarab attempted to finish off Sora, but was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Ultraman Ribut. The alien took on his Ultraman disguise to fight Ribut, but the real Ultra's fight skills were enough to outclass the fake. After having his attack reflected back at him by Sora, Zarab was destroyed by a point-blank shot of Ribut's Galaxium Blaster. 
====Trivia====
*Voice actor: Masaya Kamikura, Tom Constantine (English dub)
==Data==
==Other Media==
===Chibira-kun===
Alien Zarab appears a few times in the child friendly show, Chibira-kun, as a postal service worker.
====Trivia====
*Unlike the normal Zarab suit, the silver head has spots on it and is very loose.
===Ultraman Boy's Ultra Coliseum===
Alien Zarab appears in episode 110 of Ultraman Boy's Ultra Coliseum. In the episode, Zarab fought Ultraman Agul with a series of shockwaves and later on summoning a hypnotized version of his past self (Version 1) to fight the present day Agul. The past self vanished in thin air as Zarab left the battle unharmed.
O0439074713720451916.jpg
O0500074613720984641.jpg
O0500075213720846497.jpg
O0500075413720886469.jpg
===Mega Monster Rush Ultra Frontier===
Alien Zarab appears in Mega Monster Rush Ultra Frontier along with an Alien Zetton. He watched Alien Mefilas Djent's team.
===Kaiju Busters POWERED===
TBA
===Ultra Zone===
TBA
====Trivia====
*Voice actor: Tomokazu Seki
*Suit actor: Koichi Toshima
===ULTRAMAN manga===
A subordinate of Ambassador Mephisto; together with an Alien Adacic and an unknown alien, were ordered to impose Shinjiro, Dan, and Shin in their Ultraman form, as their superior's desperate operation to tarnish humanity's faith in Ultraman.
The real Ultraman trio was captured, one after another, by the three aliens disguised as each of them for the abduction. They soon proceed into a city and start to cause destruction and terrorize innocent citizens while openly insulting the race of Earthlings. Meanwhile, the real Ultraman trio was restrained in Mephisto's ship and forced to watch themselves being framed publicly (they were unable to fool Endo, though).
Seiji and later Kotaro soon arrived on the scene, but they were no match to the rampant impostors and were quickly being suppressed. To make matters worse, the trio took a woman hostage, which the reinforcing Leo Brothers refused to rescue, as they decided to exterminate them both.
However, the tide was turned as Bemular and Adad also joined the battlefield after the hostage's rescue, as well as the real Ultraman trio, was freed by Edo and Windom. The three impostors quickly started to panic, begging for mercy from those they had just insulted, much to the high-spirited Leo Brothers' amusement, as they had just officially been entitled as "Ultraman." But Zarab still believes that Mephisto has a plan, even as they have seen the latter's ship was de-cloaked.
Their last hope was shattered as their Mimicry Systems were shut off, revealing their true face to the human crowd. Then, the aliens horrifyingly found their bodies being engulfed by a gelatinous substance and started to grow rapidly, which was a boobytrap of the Alien Mefilas to dispose of his men when needed, triggered under Edo's last command.
They soon grew into three gigantic rampaging monsters, mindlessly destroying everything in sight. With the arrival of the real Ultraman trio and their allies joining forces again, the three were quickly annihilated, with Zarab himself being destroyed by the tri-Spacium Beam from the Hayatas and Bemular.
==Cultural References==
===Mobile Suit Gundam===
MSM-07 Z'Gok mobile suit had its design based on Alien Zarab. Of course, Tsuburaya would return the favor with two characters themed after two mobile suits: Apatee, based on MS-06 Zaku II and Gan-Q, based on MSM-04 Acguy.
===Sgt. Frog/Keroro Gunso===
The Keroro Platoon possessed robotic copies of themselves called Copy Robots which Kululu made to replace them whenever they took a day off, as well as taking care of the household chores at the Hinata residence. The Keroro Platoon's robotic imitators could not only imitate Keronians (their race) but also other humans.
While imitating a Keronian, the duplicates disguise had a little defect, much like Alien Zarab as imitation Ultramen, they had sharp eyes and witch-like feet. Humans could not see the differince between the robotic Keronians and the real ones, something which in the original Ultraman series portrayed.
Despite being used as replacements, but in one episode, Keroro and his platoon tried to use mass-produced version of these as invasion armies. However the plan backfired and ended up with the impostors replacing the Keroro Platoons (including Mois) and the Hinata siblings. It wasn't until the real Tamama (whom was in vacation before the impostors' takeover) destroyed them and free their captives. Kululu rebuild the Keroro Platoon Double but never intended to use them for malicious schemes again.
==References==
id:Alien Zarab
Category:Ultraman Graffiti
Category:Ultraman Graffiti Characters
Category:Kaiju Busters Kaiju
Category:Seijin
Category:Aliens
Category:Movie Kaiju
Category:Villains
Category:Modified Kaiju Suits
Category:Fake Ultras
Category:Cyber Kaiju
Category:Belyudra's Left Horn
Category:Spared Kaiju
Category:Ultraman Regulos