Digimon Reviews, Episode 50: Pendulum Z - Sangomon and Friends

...We're back.

So it has been a while since I did Digimon reviews. Five years, in fact, since I last did a review of a batch of Digimon that were released in 2020, tying in to the Digimon Adventures 2020 reboot anime which I still haven't watched! Since then, Digimon has released two brand-new anime series (Ghost Game and Beatbreak) and a bunch of highly well-received games, and around maybe by my count a hundred or so new designs as of the time that I'm writing this opening paragraph. 

I've been really burnt out on Digimon due to a batch released essentially after Xros Wars, with gigantic gluts of designs that are nothing more than Ultimate-level humanoid gods that don't even feel like Digimon anymore. But the last batch that I've reviewed that tied in with the Pendulum Z digital pet series were actually quite fun. 

It's just that real life got in the way for quite a bit. Five years, in fact. And while I've been doing slight little write-ups and catch-ups on some of the monster designs, it really ended up feeling like such a chore. I'm back, though! I think one of the problems before was me trying to both be exhaustive and stick to the strict chronological order and give full anime/manga context to everything. I'll try to not do that as much this time around, which would be a lot less stressful for the writing process. 

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This episode of Digimon reviews will take up a batch of Digimon which I reviewed in 2020 and tied to the Pendulum Z, splitting up the old, very crowded 'episode 49', and fully rewriting these entries. Every single Digimon here were introduced in the Pendulum Z series of V-pets, and I felt like they deserve a full, long entry here. The Algomon stages, you notice, isn't included here despite their Pendulum Z presence, but that's because episode 51 will feature them, the Adventure 2020 villains and some others. Episode 49 of my Digimon reviews is just a mess, and I'm going to slowly declutter it.

Back when I did the reviews back in 2020, I felt like these in particular did not receive the full attention that I should've given them. That has also been one of the bigger problems I had with continuing this series, as I felt like I really could've rewritten a lot of the older reviews (or the 'let's get it done' reviews) and so wanted to do them in order similar to my D&D rewrites... but that decision paralysis simply resulted in no Digimon reviews being written at all. So here we are now!

It's also a nice excuse for me to apply the same new formatting I've done for Dungeons & Dragons and Pokemon, with larger images that aren't trying to be on the side of the paragraph, more consistent text sizes and formatting, and a little list of bullet points -- particularly useful here for the 'stage' more than necessary. 

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Sangomon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Child
• Type: Mollusk
• Attribute / Field: Data / Deep Savers 

After a post-2010 glut of Digimon that were essentially just Ultimate forms that are just... people, the 2020's ended up being very good to Digimon as they remembered the 'digital' and 'monster' parts of the franchise. In addition to a new anime to revitalize the franchise, we also got Digimon Pendulum Z, a new series of digital pet games that goes for a 'back-to-basics' franchise with the traditional evolutionary stages that Xros Wars did away with, and giving us several more Digimon that feels like a throwback to the original batches of Digimon that felt interconnected without being explicitly 'just a bigger version of the child form'. 

And we'll start off with one of the brand-new Child stages in the 'Pendulum Z Deep Savers' game, Sangomon. After so many reptilian/dinosaurian Agumon clones as new Child stages, it's nice to have something so... so different! Sangomon is a happy coral dude, with his primary body being a smiling blue blob while the upper half of his face is made up of spiky pink coral reminiscent of the pink coral that also inspired the Pokemon Corsola. 

I love how the wibbly tentacle-arms end in mouth-like parts (which is an exaggeration of anatomical features that real corals have), I love the sunken eyes that give it a vibe similar to the some older Digimon like Andromon or Octomon, and the best feature has to be the little wind-up clownfish friend that Sangomon has on his 'hair'; calling the image of clownfish hanging out in anemones. 

Sangomon's official bio notes that Sangomon gets along well with other aquatic Digimon due to its gentle disposition and cheerfulness, and hangs out with larger Digimon like Shellmon and Ganimon. In combat, it shoots out high-water pressure from its arm-mouths, or unleash a 'poisonous, lachrymatory mist' from its coral. 

And another great thing about Sangomon is that it harkens back to how in the older games, there are some digivolutions that feel more 'right' than others, but an Agumon evolving into a Tyrannomon or FlareLizarmon isn't more 'right' than Greymon if not for the anime. Now we've got extremely specific digivolutions for everything... leaving a lot of older Digimon that don't have a proper 'family' even more likely to just be ignored. The addition of something like Sangomon makes it a very believable Child-stage that could become the aforementioned Shellmon (which feels the most 'right' to me personally)... but you could also see it turning into other 'squishier' aquatic Adult-level Digimon like Gesomon or Octomon!

 8/10.

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Tobiumon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Adult
• Type: Aquatic
• Attribute / Field: Vaccine / Deep Savers 

One of Sangomon's possible evolutions is Tobiumon, named after specifically the Japanese word for 'flying fish'. And again, I really love that this is just a cool Adult-level Digimon that's not specifically tied to a singular line! It's conceivable that Tobiumon evolves from Sangomon and then into Gosukomon... but I'd also believe a particular Tobiumon that evolves from a Gomamon and then into a Hangyomon or a MegaSeadramon, you know? For a lot of the 2010-2020 Digimon lines it's hard to imagine them changing into something else, which goes against a lot of what makes Digimon so special. 

Tobiumon also feels right at home with the original 90's aesthetic. Its face isn't as monstrous as something like Coelamon, sure, but you can imagine them hanging out together, right? Those leather straps, the rippling muscles, and the monstrous claws. I like the anatomy as well, with Tobiumon having the flying fish anatomy in addition to just two muscular arms. It's a bit harder to see at first glance, but it's got one of those 'organic parasite missiles' on its chest, to... which reminds me of the cool designs of Digimon like Andromon, MetalGreymon or Megadramon. The official bio calls these things 'Suckerfish Darts', which is a cute reference to real-life remoras!

The bios also note that due to having wings and arms, it lets Tobiumon be dominant in the air, ground and sea. I'm not sure about the land part, but I guess it can drag itself around with those mighty fish biceps and launch those suckerfish missiles at people. 

 8/10.

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Gusokumon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Perfect
• Type: Crustacean
• Attribute / Field: Vaccine / Deep Savers 

Gusokumon draws its name from the Japanese term for a Giant Isopod, a weirdo little creature that has become increasingly mainstream as a monster design in video games and other media, and I love this one. It's not content on just being simply a giant isopod monster, but adds so much to it. The blue palette with red markings gives it a very old-school Digimon vibe, and I love just how much the claws, the little extra legs in the back, and the two oversized forelegs all scream like it's made from the same art style as the original Kabuterimon and Kuwagamon. Lastly, I love that to make it not 'just' a giant monster, they gave Gusokumon a badass metal diver helmet with mean slitted eyes, and three upwards-facing mandibles that resemble a massive underbite jaw. 

Gusokumon has a bunch of features that the real isopod has -- being long lived, being able to do biological activity while consuming minimal amounts of energy, and feeds on the carcasses of Digimon that sinks into the bottom of the sea. In addition to its powerful claws, Gusokumon launches 'colony torpedoes', which are small fish-shaped biological weapons. Always a cool aspect of Digimon to have little biological minions, although Gusokumon's are just little fishies instead of being mutants like the traditional Digimon fare. 

A bunch of these newer Digimon introduced in the Pendulum Z would make their debut in Digimon Adventures 2020, which assigns Gusokumon as a villain of the week, evolved from a somewhat obscure classic Adult-stage, the lobster Ebidramon! That's cool! Again, this is really fun -- even though the 'Deep Savers' virtual pet technically gives us a full evolutionary line from Child to Ultimate that's conceivable, they're also connected to a bunch of 'orphaned' single stages. I find these always far more interesting than very fixed evolutionary lines like some of the recent Durandalmon, Hackmon or Vorvomon that are very clearly designed to work off each other. 

 10/10.

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Piranimon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Perfect
• Type: Aquatic
• Attribute / Field: Virus / Deep Savers 

The very obscure MetalPiranimon debuted all the way back in 2008, a one-off Ultimate stage in the Pendulum X virtual pet series. At that time the Digimon franchise was fully into X-Antibody and human-fusion designs, and MetalPiranimon was quickly forgotten among the handful of original designs from those years, not even getting a cameo in any of the anime or manga. 

Not so with the Pendulum Z team, who realized that there was never a regular Piranimon for MetalPiranimon to refer to. And so was born the Perfect-level Piranimon, who is a delightful design that I like a fair bit more than its metallic predecessor! Regular Piranimon looks quite fierce, and reminds me most of Tuskmon -- you can see it, right? The green colouration of the main body, and a lot of black bony carapace on the front end? It's a gorgeous 'old-school' design in general, with Piranimon's inner true fangs being covered by an external skull that seems salvaged and stapled together to make it more fearsome. 

And actually, the more you look at Piranimon, the more you realize it's really just trying to make itself look tough. A bunch of knives as its rear fins; replacing its entire tail with a gigantic fishook, and a necklace of shark teeth? That does give it a nice little personality! And of course, Piranimon's personality is what you'd expect from a piranha monster -- it attacks in swarms and utterly brutalizes anyone that the horde comes across. Love this guy. 

 9/10.

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MarinChimairamon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Perfect
• Type: Composite 
• Attribute / Field: Vaccine / Deep Savers 

We're getting a lot of good new aquatic Perfect-stages, and this one is one of my favourites! It's essentially the classic Chimairamon, but a marine version! It's such a cool design, and it draws from a lot of the classic aquatic monsters, too. Its main body is comprised of Ikkakumon's front body and tusks stapled onto Seadramon's abdomen and tail. The Ikkakumon head also wears Coelamon's metal helmet, and has Octomon's horns. MarinChimairamon has one arm from Ebidramon, and another arm from Hangyomon/Divermon, and also has his harpoon. Sprawling from MarinChimairamon's back is a mass of tentacles from Gesomon, leading to the two larger squid tentacles trailing behind. At the end of the Seadramon tail is Coelamon's legs awkwardly hanging off of it, and a mass of octopus tentacles that are probably from Octomon but look a lot more realistic. 

The end result is really cool! I do like the description it gets in its bio, where it's maybe produced with the same technology as regular Chimairamon, but it's otherwise a complete mystery that shows up, destroys ecosystems, and disappears somewhere else. Not much to otherwise say about this one beyond the sheer coolness of its visual design and the concept. 

 9/10.

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Regalecusmon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: Aquatic
• Attribute / Field: Virus / Deep Savers 

Not every Pendulum Z comes with a brand-new Ultimate-stage, but Deep Savers does... and it gives us Regalecusmon -- borrowing its name from Regalecus glesne, the scientific name of the great oarfish, one of the largest marine animals that hasn't enjoyed as much widespread geeky acclaim as the isopod,  but still very cool. 

Regalecusmon is a giant barbarian fishman guy who has a whole oarfish strapped to the back of his head; and his head is a metal-plated snarling fish monster. Keeping in line with the underwater fish-man barbarian theme, Regalecusmon has webbed, fishy legs, and armour salvaged from other aquatic Digimon -- its left arm has a giant claw (which I don't think is from a specific Digimon) strapped onto it, and its dagger is actually crafted from Zudomon's horn! That he rips off!

Regalecusmon is a pirate who plunders the territories of other Digimon, and is noted to be the 'ruler of the abyss' and stands atop the marine food chain. It's not my favourite design, but I do like the beastliness of this form and how the Marine Digimon finally has a nice new final form. Without going to Olympic God nonsense, I think the only real options for an Ultimate evolution of an aquatic Digimon would be MetalSeadramon, MarineAngemon, poor forgotten Pukumon and maybe Vikemon? Three of those are tied to specific 'families', and Pukumon is one of those Mamemon-style 'compact' final evolutions, so it's nice to have Regalecusmon around just out of principle. 

 7/10.

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Pomumon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Child
• Type: Plant
• Attribute / Field: Data / Wind Guardians

Going from 'Deep Savers' to 'Wind Guardians', we have Pomumon, who is a dragonfruit dinosaur baby! The dragonfruit is always a nicely colourful fruit, and they didn't really need much to make it into a cute monster. I love the colours translating into a very Biyomon-like head, except Pomumon has a mouth that resembles a theropodal dinosaur instead of a beak. Its little bird legs and the fan of yellow-y tails make for a very wonderful looking design. It's not very obvious in the official art, but the anime would show that the two trailing 'ears' are actually Pomumon's wings, and it flies on ear-wings similar to classics like Patamon and Terriermon. 

Ever since Biyomon and Palmon debuted in the same digivice, Digimon's technically been on-and-off trying to merge plants and birds together, a theme that would eventually be forgotten... but Pomumon's here!

Poor Pomumon's got a body that is packed with high nutrition, causing many bird and insect digimon to hunt for it. It runs around on land, mostly, because its flight speed is so slow. I like that, and the evolutions for Pomumon would actually be a lot more ground-bound. In addition to its brand-new Adult stage, the original Pendulum Z also assigns Vegimon (a full plant) and Cockatorimon (a flightless bird) as its Adult stages. This one is cute! 

 8/10.

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Parasaurmon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Adult
• Type: Dinosaur
• Attribute / Field: Virus / Wind Guardians

Pomumon's new Adult stage is Parasaurmon, based on the Parasaurolophus. In a franchise with a massive surplus of dinosaur-knights, it's always the cool theropods and pterosaurs that get represented. So I'm quite happy to have a hadrosaur around now! Parasaurmon is still a 'plant' Digimon technically, which is shown not just by its pleasant, bright colours,  but its hair of bananas -- which also double to fit with a vague 'tribal' aesthetic with the decorations around Parasaurmon's head and limbs.

I'm not the biggest fan of this one and I felt like they could've leaned more into either the 'dinosaur' or 'fruit' stuff more -- the tribal stuff feels a bit tacked on. I really do appreciate Parasaurmon for what it is, though. In place of the Parasaurolophus's speculated communication via loud noises made by their head-crests, Parasaurmon communicate with each other by scents. Just like Pomumon, Parasaurmons are often attacked by fiercer Digimon but they unleash a sleepy numbing gas. And if they really need to fight, their 'Wavy Oktavist' is an adaptation of the aforementioned head-crests, which is a rock-crushing sonic-wave attack. 

This isn't a really huge 'spotlight' Digimon, but feel like something that would show up in the background or group shots of the Digimon world. Which I don't mind! We need more of those, instead of just more and more super-strong-epic holy knights. Lastly, while I can't put my finger on which specific one, Parasaurmon feels very much like giving me the vibe of the non-show 02 Armour Evolutions. Can you guys see that? 

 6/10 -- a score like this is a nice, 'average' Digimon that I don't hate!

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Toropiamon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Perfect
• Type: Dinosaur
• Attribute / Field: Virus / Wind Guardians

The Perfect-level Toropiamon is another plant dinosaur, and this is how it should be! Ditching Parasaurmon's tribal aspects, Toropiamon has the body layout of a theropodal dinosaur... but with a lot of aspects drawn from plants. Its shins has a bark-like texture. Its lower arms and the front of its head has pineapple-like armour. Its tail splits into two, and they spread out into nice, barbed flowers. It's got wings made up of leaves. And best of all, its entire torso is a giant Titan arum flower, curling open like a collar while the dinosaur neck is made up of the so-called 'phallus' of the Titan arum. Pretty great head design, too, with a nice set of red-yellow flower petals splaying open like the inaccurate Dilophosaurus from Jurassic Park. 

Toropiamon is noted by its bio to have evolved into this gaudy appearance by taking in the data of trees and fruits. It's actually quite violent as well, secreting fruit juices so concentrated that they can dissolve iron, and its scent is so powerful that it knocks people out. It unleashes explosive pollen, and its special 'Tropical Venom' attack is a gas that causes those who inhale it to 'melt into mush from within'. Toropiamon is actually an episodic villain in Digimon Adventure 2020, where this attack is reinterpreted into the arguably equally-horrifying ability to transform its victims into non-sentient fruit!

It's a design that I really like already, feeling like Digimon without having to go for some of the more obvious 'grody' '90's tropes... the fact that its canon personality is actually a nice subversion of its colourful appearance is a great bonus!

 9/10.

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Entmon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Perfect
• Type: Plant
• Attribute / Field: Virus / Wind Guardians

Entmon here isn't actually a Ultimate-stage like I thought it would be, but rather a SkullGreymon-style 'corrupted evolution' Perfect stage for the plant monsters! The design of Entmon, on a glance, is neat but nothing too special. It's an evil dragon made out of wood, we've seen a less 'serious' version in Petaldramon from Digimon Frontier. But look a bit closer,  and you'll see that Entmon's design is highly creative!

It's not just a dragon made out of wood... it's a dragon made out of wood CONTROLLED BY A SWARM OF SPIDERS. How cool is that? The actual wooden dragon itself is quite cool anyway,  with a lot of lashes and belts holding on the form of this beast together. The tusks, the mismatched forelegs, the ankylosaur-like tail, the 'deer horns' made up of entire trees, and the fact that its 'hair' and 'wings' are made up of autumn leaves...

Oh, and did I mention that Entmon is a giant colony monster that is controlled by spiders? Or, depending on the incarnation, the spiders and insects 'serve as muscles that move the body around', while the wooden parts of its body rots and is consumed by mould. This means that 'Entmon' isn't just a reference to Lord of the Rings's Ents, but rather to entomology.

A very, very cool design that really helps to show off the 'death and decay' theme without resorting to just drawing another anime devil-person. It's just surprising that Entmon is a mere Perfect-level despite all of the nice lore and buildup attached to its flavour. In the Pendulum Z digital pet that it debuted in, Entmon evolves into the rather disappointing Ornismon (a giant bird) or AncientTroiamon (a giant wooden horse). The Adventures 2020 anime is a lot more generous to Entmon, having it and its colony of giant symbiotic insects fight a Petaldramon in a growth-vs-decay fight. That's really cool! 

0 10/10.

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Sunarizamon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Child
• Type: Reptile
• Attribute / Field: Virus / Nature Spirits

Going to the "Nature Spirits" series now, we've got another brand-new Child stage, Sunarizamon ('sand lizard mon')... who's pretty cool in and of itself! It's a little gecko made up of sand, as you can see the sand trailing and dripping off its body. But it's got a bunch of spieks jutting out of its sandy body, and a rocky upper-jaw. Sunarizamon has a couple of dedicated evolutions in this series (as well as a more blatant one created in the 2025 anime), but seems to be particularly suited for some other forgotten Adults, right? Tortamon is a tan-coloured reptile that moves through rocks and sand; while Golemon is a similarly-coloured rock monster whose colour layout matches Sunarizamon quite well. 

And I like this a lot! I like that Sunarizamon joins Gotsumon alongside the other 'earth elemental' Child Digimon. So many of the new Child-level Digimon introduced after the series gets more into its multimedia nature end up feeling like Agumon clones or very specific to an intended final form, that it's always refreshing to see the likes of Sunarizamon that feel like it has a bit more potential to evolve into different kinds of Adults. That's what makes Digimon special among the other 'Mon franchises!

Sunarizamon, being made up of sand, can use sand to camouflage itself, or make itself larger or smaller. It's a cute way to exaggerate the whole 'lizard can drop its tail', too, since Sunarizamon's tail and main body are all made out of sand. 

 8/10.

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Baboongamon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Adult
• Type: Beast
• Attribute / Field: Vaccine / Nature Spirits

In its original debut, Sunarizamon can turn into a bunch of nice old-school Digimon. Golemon is included, of course, but other evolutions that made sense include Tortamon and Digmon! But it did get a somewhat 'dedicated' new Adult stage to it, at least for a little while before Beatbreak introduces Landramon. Baboongamon shares a bunch of Sunarizamon's rocky growths, and even has its face covered by a full rocky helmet... but it's an ape!

Now, it's a cool ape in that it highlights a really fearsome and rabid-looking specimen, and I like how the baboon mouth is the only part of its face exposed out of the stone. Baboongamon are territorial, build nests in cliffs and mountains, and they regenerate the rocky parts of their body after battle -- these rock growths are what the Baboongamon use to determine leadership. 

Apes aren't really my thing, and merging this one with rocks does make it a fair bit more interesting. I like the random rocky Ankylosaur tail, and it's got those belts around its arm. Always love those belts! It's an all right design, I am all for having more monstrous Adult-level monsters in this franchise. Even if it's not my thing, I really appreciate it. 

 6/10.

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Gogmamon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Perfect
• Type: Ore
• Attribute / Field: Vaccine / Nature Spirits

Baboongamon's Perfect form is Gogmamon... or rather, it looks quite appropriate for the evolution of Golemon again. Heck, Gogmamon was even called "GrandGolemon" in the initial development, and I honestly wished they had kept it just to give Golemon a bit more of a shine! 

It's a pretty cool rock monster for what it is, having a central body of rock, and growths of white crystal surrounding its head, chest, lower arms and growing out of his back. I like those lower arms, too, being cylindrical chunks with claws that can close up to a sharp tip. Those lower arms are also held together by chains and some classic belts. And he's got some bright red hair to break up the colour palette, too.

Gogmamon's evolution in the original virtual pet he debuted in is AncientVolcamon, which is not a bad choice. But I mostly see a lot of Blastmon from Xros Wars here, too. In the intervening years, Digimon has finally caved in and given all the major players from Xros Wars official Digimon levels, and Blastmon is an Ultimate-level! You can see it too, right? All the powerful crystals in Gogmamon could cover the upper body and give us a Blastmon. And Digimon would canonize this, too, in a future game. That's nice!

Gogmamon's lore isn't the most exciting, being a rock monster that lives in solitude in caves... but it photosynthesizes! It goes out of its cave to gather light energy through the crystals! Huh! It's not 'my thing', but I do like it enough as a monstrous rock monster. I like it more than Baboongamon, for sure, and being a nice connective tissue between other Digimon that I like is neat, too. Similarly to Toropiamon above, a Gogmamon serves as an episodic antagonist in Adventure 2020. 

 7/10.

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Baluchimon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Adult
• Type: Holy Beast
• Attribute / Field: Data / Virus Busters

I love the gag behind this, which is quite similar with Piranimon above. SkullBaluchimon debuted even earlier, in 2003, and it was a saber-toothed undead skeleton. No one ever mentioned what a 'Baluchimon' is, and SkullBaluchimon just showed up here and there as minor villains in games and stuff. Finally, however, the 'Virus Busters' gives us an Adult-level Baluchimon... who looks nothing like the original SkullBaluchimon. 

In fact, regular Baluchimon ends up just being a funnily-coloured version of the extinct rhinoceros-ancestor Paraceratherium, but with some blue fur, ghostly white wings, and the same style of holy armour that other 'holy' Digimon like Pegasmon and Maildramon wears. The design does really make it look like something released during the 02 era, which I appreciate. 

The lore of Baluchimon is pretty simple, being a holy beast Digimon found to be surviving in large herds in underground ruins that were associated with Angel-species Digimon. They have psychokinetic powers and dream-like illusion powers, and I feel like their colours and armour make them a perfect Adult stage for Bakumon -- who otherwise doesn't really have a dedicated Adult stage!

It is always an interesting choice that the original SkullBaluchimon looked nothing like the real-world Baluchitherium, but looking closely at SkullBaluchimon's profile, it's created from the 'data of counterfeit fossils'... which means that regular Baluchimon ends up being anatomically accurate and 'pure'. That's neat! 

 7/10.

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Manticoremon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Perfect
• Type: Demon Beast
• Attribute / Field: Virus / Virus Busters

Yes! My original version of this review was quite positive about Manticoremon, but I have since grown to be even more appreciative of this guy. I originally just pegged Manticoremon as a 'holy beast' version of Devidramon, but it's also designed as an evolution to the obscure armour evolution Gargomon/Gargoylemon. And it works amazingly well as both of these things... and far cooler than the 'Manticore' it's supposed to be, anyway. Gargomon's lore is that they are 'sealed' and employed as servants of the greater Angel-species Digimon... and Manticoremon, it seems, is what an evolved, 'unsealed' Gargomon becomes!

The design, again, resembles Devidramon in that 'draconic angel/devil beastman' vibe, but Manticoremon is quite cool! It's got its the upper part of its face covered with holy armour similar to other angelic Digimon like Angemon; but it's got two wings bursting out of the eyeholes. It has three scorpion-tipped tails, and it's got massive claws with extra mouths in it. I'm not sure about the strange 'bib' with runes on it, but it does really add a slightly nice flair to the idea that Manticoremon's barely sealed... and it's something where all the bandages, leather straps and belts make sense if Manticoremon is meant to be 'partially' sealed. 

The lore of Manticoremon has it as a ferocious 'demon beast', and despite being a Virus-attribute itself, it prefers to consume the Digicores of other Virus Digimon. And the Angel-species Digimon decided to make use of this, and train the Manticoremon as hound dogs to take down other fiends. And, of course, sometimes the angels lose control of these feral beasts in battle, causing the Perfect-level creature to wreak havoc in battle. This was actually depicted when Manticoremon shows up in Ghost Game, where they are nominally servants of the D'arcmon. 

A very cool design that I did not appreciate anywhere quite as much when I first reviewed it. 

 9/10.

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Mimicmon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Adult
• Type: Mutation
• Attribute / Field: Virus / Virus Busters

Our last one from the 'Virus Busters' is Mimicmon, who's a really cool one! Mimicmon originates from a 'mutation of security software used for protecting computer terminals'. It's an antivirus that has taken in so many viruses that it has become a Virus-type itself... and it's sealed so many Digimon within itself that its form is now just a squarish cage with random limbs and features popping out as the amalgamation of all this virus data has merged together into a strange being. 

The 'official' Mimicmon's primary features are interesting enough, with a bluish-green muscular arm holding a massive ball and chain; a purple arm with a flamethrower grafted onto it, a single eye peering out of the bursting cage, and several other limbs jutting out of various spots... including a dinosaur horn, a bug leg, some wings, and tattered orange cloth. Surrounding the Mimicmon's core is a bunch of glitchy effects. 

Despite being a mass of other Digimon similar to something like, oh, Apocalymon or something, the 'compressed data' makes Mimicmon's attacks relatively weak, which is why it's a mere Adult level Digimon. It is still creepy enough to be able to consume those that it immobilizes into its legion body. 

Interestingly, Mimicmon is conceptualized as something like the Numemon or Sukamon of the Virus Busters -- normally angels and holy beasts -- and it's a 'failure' that is reduced to an amalgamation of the viruses that it can't deal with 'properly'. It's an interesting design, even if we don't get a Monzaemon or Etemon Perfect-level 'good evolution' for the Mimicmon. 

 10/10.

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Junkmon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Child
• Type: Puppet
• Attribute / Field: Virus / Metal Empire

We're closing off with 'Metal Empire', and the new Child-level is Junkmon... who's an interesting little critter? It's a 'puppet Digimon', and it's roughly based on a beaver with a construction worker's hat, wheels for rear legs, body parts that are clearly sewn-on, and a chunky cannon on its back. It's a little puppet from the junkyard that's going around collecting more junk. Okay! 

Junkmons go around disassembling and dismantling structures around it, essentially acting the reverse of what a constructive beaver colony would do -- which is to create large structures. Junkmon stores the junk it finds in the huge sack at the back of its cannon, then uses its tail to slap upwards and launch those junks through its cannon as its 'Parabolic Junk' attack. 

Junkmon doesn't feel particularly robotic the way other Child-like Digimon like Hagurumon or Kokuwamon do, but feels more themed about 'garbage'... it evolves into Raremon (who's a pile of garbage) in its original V-pet, but I feel like the connection is a bit more loose compared to the other new Child-level Digimon. That's all right! I appreciate Junkmon for what it is, and the influx of new, unique-niche Child-levels is one of the better things to come out of the Pendulum Z series.  

 7/10.

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Komondomon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Adult
• Type: Beast
• Attribute / Field: Data / Metal Empire

Komondomon is based on the fluffy good boy that is the komondor dog, and it's just a cute dog running around with a helmet-hat on it. It's not immediately clear, but Komondomons are huge. That metal thing it carries on its back? That's actually a platform that is big enough for children and even a whole Greymon to sit on. This makes Komondomon something akin to the Trainmon of previous seasons, being large transport Digimon! I did not realize this back when I first reviewed Komondomon, brushing it off as 'just a cute dog with a hat'. It's a lot cooler now that it's got a nice little gimmick!

Komondomon is just carefree and refuses to fight, because it's a big good boy and it just goes wherever it's told to. It can even go underwater by spinning its tail! Komondomon is super-fond of cleanliness, and keeps its long fur coat clean when it's not working. That's a marginal connection to its potential pre-evolution Junkmon, I suppose. 

I am not sure why they took a look at the komondor dog and decided that it's the ideal new bus for our kids, but why not? 

 7/10.

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Machmon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Adult
• Type: Cyborg
• Attribute / Field: Vaccine / Metal Empire

Another brand-new Adult-level Digimon in 'Metal Empire' is Machmon, who really looks like he would hang out with a lot of the grodier '90's Digimon like MetalGreymon and Megadramon. I love this design! It's a 'monster motorbike, yes, and those are neat but nothing too special. But the thing is that Machmon's center parts is an organic cyborg, like a legless Greymon or something with a shark-like upper jaw helmet. Its robotic arms clamp together into the front wheels of the bike and it has a lot of blades and edges all around. Machmon's horns form motorbike handlebars, and around its seat are a bunch of metal ribcage/spine-like parts. 

I really like this! Machmon's concept is that it's a Digimon that years for speed, and it zooms through barren plains to prove its speed, viewing any other speedy Digimon as an enemy. However, despite being a mutant motorbike, Machmon doesn't have a proper seat and 'no one wants to ride it'. Its bio notes, however, that "it believes that it will eventually find a Digimon destined to ride it skillfully'. This reminds me a bit of aspects of the original story for Beelzebumon's sentient motorbike Behemoth!

Honestly, though, I really don't think Machmon would find that much of a trouble finding a new master. Surely Beelzebumon wouldn't mind sitting on it? And there are other less bipedal Digimon who could probably ride Machmon without impaling themselves on the spiky 'seat' section. I love this guy. He's just so edgy and over-the-top in all the best ways. 

 8/10.

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Rebellimon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Perfect
• Type: Cyborg
• Attribute / Field: Virus / Metal Empire

Able to evolve from a host of other Adult-level machine Digimon in its debut in Pendulum Z, Rebellimon here is very obviously meant to be an evolution of Ogremon (called 'MetalOgremon' in concept art). Who, by the way... never had a dedicated Perfect-level evolution, which surprises me! They gave Ogremon an Ultimate in Titanmon, but not a 'clean' ogre-looking Perfect-level. And Rebellimon is a great design that both makes sense as just being an Ogremon evolution... but still 'makes sense' to evolve from Machmon or something, you know? 

The design is pretty awesome. It's Mad Max meets Warhammer 40,000 as Ogremon gets converted into a cyborg racer. He's got a metal breathing-vent thing covering his mouth, a gigantic mohawk, and his entire lower body has been inserted into a single-wheeler bike with flame decals. Rebellimon's back has exhaust vents, and his lower arms are replaced with some rusty construction buzzsaws and just a fist with rusty spikes and plates all around it. 

In Adventure 2020, which I haven't watched at the time of writing this, the Ogremon in that series would eventually evolve into a Rebellimon -- giving context to its original profile: 'it evolved from a Digimon driven to the brink of death that took in junk data from its surroundings'. Rebellimons go around looting parts from other Machine-type Digimon to modify and strengthen itself, and would race with large gangs of Machmon as their gang leader. 

Again, it's fun and over-the-top in all the right ways. I'm not sure if I like this design more than Ogremon, but it's definitely a great MetalGreymon-style 'cyborgization' of Ogremon that fits the roguish, thuggish personality of the original Ogremon in a different way! 

 8/10.

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KoDokugumon

• Alternate Names: KoDokugumon (Child)
• Stage: Child
• Type: Insect
• Attribute: Virus

I am quite content to end this review on KoDokugumon! Dokugumon is the original spider Digimon, one of the first hundred or so of these monsters. In all of its appearances, Dokugumon's attack creates swarms of miniature, less-detailed versions of itself called 'KoDokugumon' in various sources. They never really got much of a profile beyond being a little addendum in Dokugumon's profiles. And when they do, these ancillary sources identify them as Baby-level, meaning that Dokugumon has to evolve from somewhere. Usually, this just means any random Child-level bug like Wormmon, Kunemon or Tentomon. 

More than two decades of the original Dokugumon debut, we have a Child-level KoDokugumon... who looks completely different! It's still clearly a Dokugumon, but it's actually got a fair bit of its own identity compared to its two predecessors. I like it! It's still got a golden head with horns and green orb eyes, but the new KoDokugumon has a fuzzier abdomen with spiky bands, and a more uniform set of equally-fuzzy legs that are wrapped up at the end. Its front two arms now wear gloves (with cute skulls!) and KoDokugumon has sharp fingers poking out of it, reminding me of Tailmon. Having a developed front limb with fingers is also a feature of the original Adult-level Dokugumon, who uses them to hold on to its hair. KoDokugumon also has a metal set of mandibles... which open sideways to reveal that it's got a nasty pair of snake-like fangs underneath it:

It's a bit different from the xenomoprh-esque mouth that regular Adult-level Dokugumon shares with Kabuterimon! The original 'baby' KoDokugumon also has more regular fangs, and honestly, other than the hair and colours, there's actually a nice progression of the development of fangs and front limbs between the Baby KoDokugumon, Child KoDokugumon and the original Dokugumon. 

KoDokugumon, unlike its Adult-level counterpart, is noted to actually behave like a real spider -- usually docile, hangs around from tree branches, and only attacks when its territory is breached. It still attacks in numbers just like the classic baby KoDokugumon. It's also noted that KoDokugumon wears gloves with laced poison on the claws, because it hasn't evolved the powerful poisons of its Adult form yet. That's cute! 

 8/10.

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This has been really fun to do, and I do feel like the designs from Pendulum Z are a lot more fun to go through -- they do a great job calling back into older, classic designs while also doing their job at being distinctive and filling in niches in the Digimon world. This has been very much far more fun than reviewing a lot of the more recent Digimon like the Zubamon and Blucomon lines that are just the same thing that eventually gets bigger and more humanoid and we get essentially five of the same things. 

At some point I will go back to the older Digimon reviews and fix them, but for now I do want to just blaze on and go through the Digimon released between 2021 and 2026 and slowly scratch away that itch before going back and fixing the previous entries. There's a lot of formatting work to do, and a lot of manga-exclusive and video-exclusive Digimon that has been forgotten has ended up with official Digimon website artwork. The Xros Wars cast getting official levels is also a great time for me to start putting in those data bullet points -- which are helpful to me as well.

The length of the older articles will probably, eventually have me pluck out the super-long X-Antibodies and have them as a 'point-five' episodes of Digimon Reviews, and I might merge some smaller entries together (like the Sistermons or the various one-off Shoutmons). We'll see. That takes a lot of work that I don't necessarily have the time for. 

But yeah. This has been a long time coming, and I will do a shout out to the commentors of my last couple of Digimon reviews -- the fact that I'm doing this at all (and honestly, falling in love again with the franchise once more) is thanks to you guys.