This was compounded by the problem that not only did you have them getting acted circles around by men more than twice their ages but with the fact the old Ultras kept their powers you had them FOUGHT circles around by men more than twice their ages too. This made you wonder why Mebius was even there half the time and while respect for the past is good, it's bad form to make the guy who's supposed to represent the next generation be completely irrelevant too. It's especially telling in Mebius' case because they basically called a Mulligan on the "inheritor of the next generation" idea with Zero.
Didn't the Mebius movie explain that the older Ultra brothers were not actually capable of fighting since they risk death by transforming, and that the crisis during the film was an exception? Had that condition worn off later during the series?
Also, does anybody think Zero might be a little
too far in the opposite direction when it comes to fighting ability? Just in his first appearance, he tore through the monster army like it was nothing, and he keeps getting more powers after that. The plasma spark enabled him to turn his sluggers into a large sword, Seven gave him a bracelet like Jack's, Noa gave him his Ultimate form, and in Retsuden he gets form-changing powers based on Dyna and Cosmos.
Of course, from what I've seen, Zero-focused media has never really been disrespectful towards older Ultras.
Way to be literal. I mean what we saw on screen.
Okay. But I don't really agree that Empera was more memorable than Belial. His schtick was basically DARKNESSDARKNESSDARKNESS. Belial at least had the whole Reionyx thing and the tendency to form super kaiju (Beliudora and Arch Belial).