And separating this from the original 'episode 49' as well are the rest of the Digimon debuting in Pendulum Z, many of which also made appearances in the then-current Digimon Adventure 2020 reboot. From what little I've seen of the reboot, it's a nice 'back to basics' vibe with the franchise, if, admittedly, somewhat heavy on trying to get the nostalgia. I don't mind, though! After the highly controversial and more melancholic Tri movies and its even-more-controversial Kizuna follow-up... I thought Tri was all right if not quite the story I liked, but I have very strong opinions about Kizuna that could take up an entire article of its own.
But we're not here to review the anime or the movies, but the monsters! And in this segment, we're going to talk about the Algomon and Morphomon families that I excluded from my Pendulum Z reviews because they had bigger lore stuff tied to them. Also, I've included some of the (as I understand it) Digimon Adventure 2020 villains, and a couple of extras that I've moved out of the original overcrowded 'episode 49' of my Digimon reviews.
That way, that episode would be mostly filled with the Pulsemon line, and I'll probably expand a bit on the intro for that article. It does swap the chronological order of my review episodes, but... with a five-year hiatus on this Digimon review series, at this point I'm more in the mindset of trying to get this little 'block' done.
Some of them are old, and if I had time I'd like nothing better but sit down and just review all the Pokemon and Digimon again, but alas, I need that thing called time. But here, and scroll a bit down, is a link to all the Digimon Reviews I've done. I'm working slowly on an index so you can CTRL+F a Digimon you're looking for on a list, but that's slow in the making. There's a lot of these guys!
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Algomon (Baby I)
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Baby I
- Type: Mutation
- Attribute / Field: None / Nightmare Soldiers
Featured in both the Pendulum Z virtual pets as well as Adventure 2020 (or 'Adventure:', technically, with the colon... but I'll stick with calling it with the year) is, surprisingly, the return of Algomon. Algomon was a one-off movie villain from Digimon Frontier, appearing in a Perfect and Ultimate form... and almost fifteen years later, they decided to go back to the weirdo and give him a full evolutionary line to fill in the gaps from Baby I to Adult. Normally I'm not a big fan of these highly-specified evolutionary lines, but the Algomons actually do a great job at making each design feel unique enough! It is also one of those Digimon that is born from a strange mutation in digital data, so I don't mind them going a bit more to expand upon it.
Baby I Algomon is noted by the profile as being 'born from a bug in an algorithm', which is basically what the original Algomon's concept was. They gather where high-capacity data leaks in hordes, and then blanket it.
The original Perfect/Ultimate Algomon is themed around parasitic vines and tendrils, so Baby Algomon is a little seed-pod with a singular (seemingly decorative) eyeball, a little organic pink-blob on top and a little tentacle at the end. The end result makes it look like some kind of microorganism, like one of those weird protozoans or planktons. The colours are really nice, too.
8/10._________________________________________________________
Algomon (Baby II)
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Baby II
- Type: Mutation
- Attribute / Field: None / Nightmare Soldiers
Baby II Algomon has the basic body layout that recalls one of my favourite babies, Kuramon -- the Baby II form of Diablomon. A tiny little squishy jellyfish with a single eye! Except Baby II Algomon has a couple of fun little details. Its central decorative eye is still colourful and neat, and the purple borders extend to the side as little arms that can extend to have little spikes. Under those pokey tentacles is a fanged feeder mouth that is helpfully shown by the specimen in the background. Love it!
Best of all are Baby II Algomon's horns, which have very specific colouration -- that of the iconic parasite of snails, Leucochloridium -- a creature that shows up a fair bit in Japanese media like Chainsaw Man, One-Punch Man and a couple of others. Now I don't think Algomon itself is parasitized, since it itself is the parasite, but it's a nice little detail.
Again, the bright colours of this form is wonderful, too, and I really do love this thing! In the Adventure 2020 anime (technically 'Adventure:', with the colon as part of the title, but that's weird to type) the Baby II Algomons were the foes in the first episode, swarming and feeding on data in the Network, leading to chaos as they break the internet, causing disasters like runaway trains in the real world. They're a literal 'computer bug', behaving like a swarm of bugs!
9/10._________________________________________________________
Algomon (Child)
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Child
- Type: Mutation
- Attribute / Field: Virus / Nightmare Soldiers
It is quite a shame that we know the end point of what 'Perfect' and 'Ultimate' Algomon will look like, so there's not exactly a surprise, but it's still nice to see just how non-humanoid its less-evolved forms are. Child Algomon has a central eyeball body with a very nice purple upper dome with even more of the Leucochloridium eyestalks bunched up as horns, and it's finally gotten the green vine tendrils of its original iconic final stages. A bunch of them trail down to give Child Algomon the visual imagery of a jellyfish alien, and two masses of thinner tendrils bunch up, hilariously, into boxing-glove arms.
I find this quite funny! Child-level Digimon tend to be a bit more whimsical, and I like that Child Algomon doesn't go immediately into the parasitic draining of its prey but rather bunches up those vines and throws hands. The parasitic-draining thing would still be cool, too, but I love that this parasite-vine monster just decides to box.
It's a pretty neat-looking little monster! I really love its proportions in the anime, too, which makes this eyeball vine monster really cute! I think I like it slightly less than its pre-evolved form, but only marginally so. I do really like that the Algomons are 'default' Digimon in the 'Nightmare Soldiers' Pendulum Z. That's neat!
8/10._________________________________________________________
Algomon (Adult)
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Adult
- Type: Mutation
- Attribute / Field: Virus / Nightmare Soldiers
Adult-level Algomon, interestingly, still keeps the quasi-jellyfish vibe of its predecessors. It's purple orb-head has ballooned quite a bit, and the peacock-tail-eyes and zippers of the Perfect-level Algomon is there, forming a strange 'face' that gives the impression of a closed bud. From within it, a mass of tongues lash out. Adult Algomon also has a much larger mop of vine-tentacles, and two arms that end in... metal graspers? That's not a thing in Perfect Algomon, is it? Nope, it isn't. I'm not sure if I like Adult Algomon with or without those graspers.
Adult Algomon's profile seems to give it a bunch of strange 'construction' themes, with its arms being described as mechanical manipulators, and its tongue being a live electrical cable line. It is a bit odd that these themes are dropped when Adult Algomon becomes Perfect Algomon... who is a vine-manipulating kimono-humanoid. But I suppose most other 'main' Digimon lines also become more humanoid when they hit the Perfect stage, so it's nothing new for the franchise.
I like Adult Algomon a bit less than its two predecessors, but it's still a pretty cool design. A giant spherical mouth-monster slithering along on a carpet of vines is cool, and I can kind of imagine in my head the purple sphere opening apart like a flower to reveal the humanoid form within. It's just... Perfect Algomon and Ultimate Algomon aren't the most interesting designs compared to these cooler forms! ...which the Adventures 2020 anime team actually seem to agree with, by showing off Perfect Algomon almost exclusively in its 'Worm Form' (which is just a mass of vines with the 'peacock false eyes' as the 'face') and never showing the more humanoid form; and Ultimate Algomon's weirdness with its gaping chest-mouth and creepy pupils are highlighted... making Ultimate Algomon really feel like a primal creature that is just taking a humanoid form. The end result does actually really highlight how cool these otherwise-forgotten one-off movie villains are! I approve of this a lot.
Anyway, Adult Algomon's cool. This is another one that I like a lot more after seeing it in motion in the anime, with its mass of wire-vines letting it move along like a giant slug in the vein of Raremon, and having the spherical purple head look a lot more in proportion to the green vines. Seeing that petal-like head open and close for its attacks is quite cool, too.
8/10, could be 7._________________________________________________________
Ghostmon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Child
- Type: Ghost
- Attribute / Field: Data / Nightmare Soldiers
A cutie! Debuting in the 'Nightmare Soldiers' V-pet, we get Ghostmon, who has a smiling scarecrow face, and a flaming wraith-like body and a witch/wizard's hat. We aren't really hurting for 'evil' Child-level Digimon, since that's one of the tropes that do pop up quite a bit, but Ghostmon feels a lot more unique by virtue of not being a little demon imp like Impmon or DemiDevimon. I feel he would hang out well with fellow fiery spectral spookster Candlemon! I still like Candlemon way, way more than Ghostmon as an individual design, but Ghostmon does end up feeling like it's a sensible pre-evolution for spectral Digimon like Bakemon; or Wizardmon with its fancy hat.
Ghostmon is characterized as being timid and shy, and actually likes to help those in need... but it will do so invisibly, because it doesn't want to be noticed.
Ghostmon is a bit of a simpler one here, but I appreciate him quite a bit! Since his debut he's been used in some anime and manga material, so clearly the writers appreciate this design! It's a cute one. Once I'm more caught up with the newer anime seasons and manga (which may be a while) I might go back and add some stuff here.
8/10._________________________________________________________
DoneDevimon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Ultimate
- Type: Fallen Angel
- Attribute / Field: Virus / Nightmare Soldiers
So most 'Devimons' don't really go beyond Perfect-level, which is something I never noticed before. LadyDevimon, MarinDevimon and NeoDevimon are all Perfect-level, and the associated Ultimate tends to be a Myotismon variant, or one of the Seven Deadly Sins, or something like Piedmon or Apocalymon. Which Pendulum Z corrected by giving us DoneDevimon. He's done with being upstaged despite being the original villain of Digimon!
DoneDevimon is noted to be a Devimon that has 'taken in negative data to its limit', and it has became super crazy as it shifts between normal and abnormal, going into berserking rages where its intelligence vanishes.
And... it's an interesting design? DoneDevimon keeps Devimon's signature bat-wings and the blood-stained massive claws, but he's standing on all fours now, with the wings being a bit less prominent. His head is a lot more... beastly, and I've seen a lot of comparisons with Venom of Marvel Comics fame. And its primary attacking moves is to create two gigantic shadowy punching arms out of his back.
DoneDevimon also shows up in the Digimon Adventure 2020 anime, where its status as a 'super' Devimon is a bit more clear with its upright design resembling the classic Devimon silhouette. I still think that changing the face so drastically and giving those shadow arms are a bit too much to make him feel a bit too much not like a Devimon. But I would like to stress that it's a neat enough take on the design that I'd rather them experiment on making a Devimon variant that I didn't like as much, compared to the continual vomiting of basically the same WarGreymon and Omegamon redesigns every other year.
7/10._________________________________________________________
Morphomon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Child
- Type: Insect
- Attribute / Field: Vaccine / Nature Spirits
Morphomon made its debut in the final Digimon Adventure movie, meant to cap off the original Adventure canon consisting of the Adventure and 02 anime seasons, and the Tri movie series. And it was... I agree with a lot of the general concepts of the themes of growing up, of moving on and letting go. Removed from everything else in that movie, those would be the perfect way to cap off the Adventure show. Animation and music were gorgeous, too. The story itself, the plotline, and how they went about showing that? I have very strong opinions about how Kizuna handled all of those and the result ends up feeling less of a conclusion of the story, characters and themes, and more of just the writers waxing lyrical without delivering a satisfying payoff. But we're not reviewing the movie so much as we're reviewing Morphomon! Morphomon is the partner Digimon of the movie's adult 'tragic villain who lost her partner', not to be confused with the identical adult 'tragic villain who lost her partner' from Tri.
Butterflies are significant to the Adventure anime because that was the title of its bombastic, iconic opening song, and it's also a great symbolic thing that represents change and metamorphosis. So having Morphomon be a butterfly is all right. I do really like that they put the butterfly wings in place of its ears, which is a nice touch. I also like the bug antennae, and the butterfly sleeves.
Morphomon's personality is basically what you'd expect, it enjoys nature, it's carefree, and its special ability can soothe the mind or body (or paralyze them, if they're hostile). Pretty simple and expected stuff. It's an inoffensive Child-level Digimon, one that I don't feel any particular way towards.
Also, another homage to the Butterfly song, the blue-winged butterfly angel Hudiemon (who debuted in the Cyber Sleuth games) feels like the 'intended' Adult-stage evolution for Morphomon. But Morphomon doesn't get to evolve into Hudiemon, or any other fairy or bug Adult-stage, for that matter...
4/10. (I don't dislike it, I'm just not impressed)_________________________________________________________
Eosmon (Adult)
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Adult
- Type: Unknown
- Attribute / Field: Unknown / Metal Empire
...because Morphomon was recreated into Eosmon. Similar to Algomon, Arkadimon and a bunch of others that I'm not thinking of at the moment, Eosmon has the same name across all of its stages from Adult, Perfect and Ultimate, something that I think is just the defining feature of most man-made creatures.
Eosmon Adult's design is clearly reflective of Morphomon, with hexagons making up the long, tapering sleeve-arms and the butterfly wing-ears... but replaces everything else with a futuristic sci-fi getup. Eosmon Adult also has a full pair of light-blue butterfly wings on its back (which brings to mind, again, Hudiemon). Eosmon in the movie typically creates extra constructs with those hexagon panels, either as barriers or as projectiles.
The official profile gives a setting-agnostic background for Eosmon, which I always appreciate for these things. Eosmon Adult is still created by a researcher, and it lacks emotion and moves according to the researcher's instructions -- be it good or bad. With the context of what the design is meant to be, I don't mind it as much although I do stress that this kind of robot just isn't my kind of aesthetic. But that's okay, because I actually do have a favourite Eosmon...
2/10._________________________________________________________
Eosmon (Perfect)
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Perfect
- Type: Unknown
- Attribute / Field: Unknown / Metal Empire
Perfect-level Eosmon, though, is a lot cooler! Expanding on everything that Adult Eosmon is, Perfect Eosmon has a much more defined body with a larger set of hexagon-panel butterfly wings (that still sprout from the back of its head!), a more defined body, and two sets of those tentacle arms that it uses to scuttle around. One set is proportional to its humanoid body, and another one is much longer. Its humanoid part is a bit odd, too, with a massive collar around its neck, and some poofy jester pants that also bring to mind a swollen insect abdomen. It brings to mind the strange anatomy of other creepy weirdo designs like Cherubimon and Diablomon, and a horde of Eosmon Perfects probably makes up the majority of Eosmon's screentime in the movie.
Eosmon Perfect, in addition to being faster and stronger than the Adult, can move around its transparent panels to create illusions. Illusions and the Peter Pan Syndrome was most definitely a theme of the Kizuna movie, although the Eosmon there seemed to just duplicate themselves ad nauseum instead of creating illusions.
This is my favourite of the three Eosmons, although that's not really saying much since I don't really like the other two.
6/10._________________________________________________________
Eosmon (Ultimate)
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Ultimate
- Type: Unknown
- Attribute / Field: Unknown / Metal Empire
Eosmon Ultimate is the fusion of an entire swarm of Eosmon Perfects, also fused with their human partner/master. Which means that this is technically one of those human/Digimon fusions that were all the rage in Tamers and Frontier, transplanted into a different continuity. Sure. The design is... it's a golden shiny humanoid bug-woman, with an even more elaborate, rippling set of those hexagonal butterfly wings. Perhaps because of the human's influence, Eosmon Ultimate actually has a skirt of seemingly organic butterfly wings. And also, out of her butt is a massive purple bottle designed to evoke a hornet's abdomen and stinger? This swollen tail is a nest that the Ultimate-level Eosmon can create Perfect-level Eosmon out of as minions.
It's... it's not really my thing, although I suppose it makes sense in context of what Eosmon is in the movie. The setting-agnostic profile gives a similar backstory, noting that several Eosmon created a single collective entity when the researcher controlling the lesser Eosmon 'lost control' and 'things didn't go as planned'. It's neat, all things considered, but I just don't feel like it's 'my thing'.
3/10._________________________________________________________
Agumon: Yuki no Kizuna
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Ultimate+
- Type: Unknown
- Attribute: Unknown
I don't like him.
Kizuna gives Agumon and Gabumon two brand-new Ultimate forms, foregoing the usual WarGreymon, MetalGarurumon and Omegamon. It's not a new Omegamon form for once, which is surprising, but... I'm very much not a big fan of the two resulting humanoid designs? The two Kizuna forms are born out of the strong bonds as Taichi and Yamato resonate really strongly with their partners for one last epic hurrah, and... I'm just not really impressed.
The official Digimon website's art is a bit too cluttered with the effects, but the anime character model makes it a bit more clear -- it's a muscle-man humanoid with Greymon's markings and a very human face under a Greymon helmet. He also kind of looks naked, thanks to everything being coloured orange. I had thought that this, again, is a Frontier/Tamers style human-Digimon merger, maybe as a statement to tie in with the whole 'bonds' aspect of the movie... but no, it's just another Ultimate form, essentially a fleshier, less armoured, and less cool WarGreymon.
0/10._________________________________________________________
Gabumon: Yujo no Kizuna
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Ultimate+
- Type: Unknown
- Attribute: Unknown
Gabumon's Kizuna form is a bit better on account of it being a humanoid covered with robotic metal plating, similar to Lobomon's evolutions like Beowulfmon or MagnaGarurumon. It's got a cool jetpack and tiny little drone minions. That's a bit better, although being another cyborg man isn't anything new in Digimon. The official profile notes that Gabumon Yujo no Kizuna can transform into a motorbike form, which would be cool... but we don't see that in the movie.
I get that the franchise has given us like around a half-dozen WarGreymons and MetalGarurumons, and maybe a dozen Omegamons, so they are trying to do something new for the fancy final forms... but these two designs really fall flat, and that's before adding my own admitted bias against how the debut movie of these two forms. But rest assured, I don't think they would get too many extra points in design even if I liked the movie.
1/10._________________________________________________________
Eyesmon
- Alternate Names: Eyesmon: Scatter Mode
- Stage: Adult
- Type: Demon Dragon
- Attribute: Virus
We are moving now to the Adventure 2020 reboot! I have not spoiled myself on any of the story or the main movers and shakers, but I do know that this guy is one of the main villains, or a minion of one of the main villains. And when I first saw it, I thought it was Shademon! Obscure old Shademon from the quite neat Xros Wars manga! Except while Shademon was 'just' a mass of creepy eyes in a ghostly shadow, Eyesmon here takes the form of a massive, grinning wolf-ghost. This isn't the first time that an anime takes a design from a manga and reimagines it -- they did that with Veedramon and Veemon as early as the 02 anime.
Eyesmon's design being so filled with eyes is pretty cool, and I love just how wide that grin is in the official artwork. I like that the design makes it look like Eyesmon has two 'primary' set of eyestalks... that can also be seen as a pair of ears/horns while the six more elevated eyes around its snout could also form as its 'face'.
There is, of course, the elephant (the Mammon?) in the room that Eyesmon and Shademon both draw very heavily from the true form of Pride of Full Metal Alchemist fame, and the addition of a massive fanged grin to Eyesmon does make the inspiration a lot more obvious. I do really like Pride, so it's an aesthetic I enjoy... but I also can't help but think that maybe they could've done a bit more to make it not so obvious that they're copying Pride....
And they kind of do. Sort of.
This is 'Eyesmon: Scatter Mode', where it's only got two eyes and a single tiny mouth in a cute, fiery-wraith figure. Scatter Mode here is still classified as an Adult level instead of being Eyesmon's Child form, and it is the result of the main Eyesmon splitting itself apart into smaller, tiny creatures that go around and accumulating data. Which, in Digimon-speak, probably means devouring other Digimon.
This quasi-hivemind vibe allows Eyesmon to gain more power than what its form should usually have, and it's noted to have power that can surpass even of Perfect-level Digimon. We've seen some 'fused of other data mushed together' Digimon, most iconic being final boss Apocalymon from the original Digimon Adventure... but I do like that Eyesmon shows off the method of how it does it.
Eyesmon actually has an official evolution in the anime, transforming into... Orochimon? I suppose Orochimon is a giant multi-headed snake, so there's your 'multiple personality' thing. But Orochimon in Adventure 2020 then evolves into...
9/10._________________________________________________________
Nidhoggmon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Ultimate
- Type: Demon Dragon
- Attribute / Field: Virus / Nature Spirits
...Nidhoggmon! Nidhoggmon has the 'snake' part from Orochimon down pat, and its colours and aesthetics goes back to Eyesmon's shadow-monster design. Nidhoggmon, of course, is named after Nidhoggr of Norse mythology fame, the giant worm-serpent that gnaws on the root tree Yggdrasil. (Yggdrasil being used many times in Digimon's history as the computer system of the Digital World is likely a reason why Nidhogg was chosen as an inspiration for a Digimon as well). Nidhoggmon appears to combine both dragon and tree, having its main serpentine body looking like it's also made up of barks or vines! Or maybe just more serpents?
The upper half of Nidhoggmon's design is not bad, either. It has got four wings, that is constantly emitting heat and in a state of thermal runaway. It's got two claws, and a head shaped like a stealth bomber jet with a nice row of beady evil red eyes. Like the Pokemon Dragapult, that head also evokes the the strange extinct real-life amphibian Diplocaulus. Pretty cool design, and I appreciate this a lot more! If you're going to draw from mythology, do something like this instead of just having Jupiter and Venus stroll over from a Greek mythos manga.
...does his tongue actually have eyes on them too? Ew!
Nidhoggmon just consumes and absorbs everything in its path, burning it up into energy that it unleashes in explosive blasts of heat. Notes by its designer is that it's essentially a huge love letter to Godzilla, and I can dig that! It's not even just a transplant of Godzilla, but with its own fun twist.
8/10._________________________________________________________
Negamon
- Alternate Names: Negamon (Evolved Form)
- Stage: Baby II
- Type: Unknown
- Attribute: None
I had originally thought that Eyesmon, Nidhoggmon, Negamon and Abbadomon below are all part of the same evolutionary line, but no! We get two different sets of blobby shadow evil Digimon! Debuting quite early in Adventure 2020, Negamon is an adorable little octopus thing seemingly made up of overlapping layers of metal tentacles that whorl around into a sphere. Instead of octopus suckers, Negamon's got strange red lights. The artwork shows the tentacles unfurled, but Negamon can wrap itself fully into a perfect sphere.
The design, by the way, reminds me fully of Kuramon and Tsumemon, the baby forms of Diablomon. It's that eye design, but also the fact that all three of them are just eyes on an orb with multiple limbs sticking out of it. Spider-fingers for Tsumemon, and robot tentacles for Negamon. And just like the Diablomon line, Negamon is way more powerful than what a Baby stage should be.
Not sure how much this is accurate to the anime, but the official profile describes Negamon as a 'Baby Digimon that grew up immersed in the negative data that the Network is overflowing with' and in this darkness of the internet, it 'constantly awaits its death'. What the fuck! Negamon, drawing on the negativity that it's named after, appears before other Digimon and 'makes them prey on themselves', causing them to 'lose their emotions and corrode from the inside-out'. It's depression, suicide and data corruption all wrapped up into a little demon baby ball.
Also seen in the anime and some video games is this 'Negamon (Evolved Form)' and it's not clear if this is just a battle form, or if it's some kind of stage, or if it even has a proper stage. Evolved form Negamon goes from a robot squid into a giant shadowy mouth-monster that reminds me of 'The Imprisoned' from Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. From the anime screenshots I can find, it's just a mass of nondescript shadowy tentacles, parts of them breaking off to reveal the rows and rows of red light beneath.
It's pretty cool that this thing has a badass, creepy battle mode... but it's not really Negamon's final form, no...
8/10._________________________________________________________
Abbadomon
- Alternate Names: Abbadomon Core
- Stage: Ultimate
- Type: Species Unknown
- Attribute: Unknown
Negamon's final form is Abbadomon, a name that I'm actually surprised Digimon hasn't used before considering it really likes referencing Judeo-Christianity lore. When I first saw it, I really did think it was going to be tied to Eyesmon considering that most of its body is a mass of sharp, ribbon-like tenteacles with eyeballs and grinning mouths. Very Pride from Full Metal Alchemist, again.
Abbadomon's central body is a giant black sphere with a fanged mouth that seems quite happy. The lore is that Abbadomon has absorbed all the negative data in the Digital Network to its limit, because it wants to transcend good and evil as this force of pure nothingness. And hunger. Apparently, it has even consumed other Digital Worlds in its wake, and its whole point is to just erase all data. Abaddomon "seeks nothingness, prefers nothingness, and rejects everything except nothingness". It wants to consume everything before disappearing itself. Okay!
Again, a bit surprised that visually it's not connected all that much to Eyesmon/Nidhoggmon... but I also admit that I haven't watched the 2020 anime, and these reviews will likely have some edits once I do.
The final battle, of course, sees a humanoid form inside Abbadomon, called Abbadomon Core. It's a demon knight, of course... which... all things considered, I actually like it quite a bit. It's got everything filled up with the same fangs and eyes of its original form, and I like that the mouth-fang serves as an 'unzipped' thing that both the giant cannon and the head are nestled in. Zippers aren't quite as ubiquitous as belts in old-school Digimon, but I do like the aesthetic.
Abaddomon Core also seems to be obviously homaging good ol' Omegamon, with the cape, one giant cannon arm and one giant melee weapon arm. He's got a lance instead of a sword, though. The way that the lance and part of the gun is drawn makes it look a lot like those are the tendrils of the original Abbadomon being 'folded' and curled up into an Omegamon-mimicking shape, and I wonder if my interpretation of that is what is true in the anime.
It's all right, for what it is! I might like him a lot more once I see him in the anime, but it sure is a big bad final boss demon monster!
6/10._________________________________________________________
RareRaremon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Perfect
- Type: Undead
- Attribute: Virus
Of course I love this thing. RareRaremon was one of the reasons I went and expanded on my original 'final review' for Digimon back in 2021, as requested by a wonderful commenter Chalicothere. And I felt like I owe it to properly talk about this glorious design in a bit more detail. RareRaremon is the brand-new Perfect-level evolution of classic sludge-muck zombie Raremon. Remember Raremon? As a quick reminder Raremon isn't 'just' a sludge Digimon, it's the sludged-up corpse of a Digimon that failed to evolve, and is keeping itself alive with mechanized parts. It takes various options of being a physical undead being and smooshes them together.
And what happens if that abomination evolves even more? In the very first Virtual Pets, just like the other 'failure' evolutions, Raremon got assigned a 'piloting a puppet' Perfect-level evolution, the obscure ExTyrannomon.
But what if a Raremon just becomes... more Raremon? RareRaremon is a Raremon that has survived the progressive decay of its body through even more mechanization. Its body keeps breaking down and reconstituting, eyes and mouth emerging, decaying, and emerging again. It's just like a D&D Gibbering Mouther, only this time we know the origin that this used to be someone's partner Gazimon or Gabumon or something.
Just look at that artwork. The bottom half is just a mass of sludge with eyes and mouths of different forms emerging from the sludge, with random limbs and cables and stuff coiling out of it. The larger chompy green-glob-mouths serve as RareRaremon's "hands", a bit more obvious in TCG art or the anime. The upper half of Raremon's body is dominated by a (yes, phallic) giant metallic dome, covered with a lot of eyes and mouths -- including a big set of chompers that bisect the head sagittally. RareRaremon's main 'eye' is right at the center, menacingly looking down.
So foul is RareRaremon's stench that even Ultimates can't easily approach it freely. We've had a bunch of Digimon (like Eyesmon or Negamon above) that punch above the weight class of their stage, but RareRaremon does so by grossing out the likes of Omegamon and MaloMyotismon.
It's also worth noting that the black metal 'dome' head of RareRaremon also feature the same sort of chomping tooth that Negamon's attack form has, and some of the eyes set against the black metal look like the same eyes as Eyesmon and Abbadomon -- but it's actually not obtrusive or particularly obvious until I actually placed them side-by-side, and I missed them the first time I reviewed RareRaremon!
Anyway, a very cool giant gross glob monster! It is quite surprising to see Raremon graced with an evolution, and for it to actually expand on the theme so much! I would have maybe liked to have some of Raremon's original pitiful blank eyes in there somewhere, but overall I feel like RareRaremon is such an excellently nasty goop-pile that I really can't complain.
9/10._________________________________________________________
Potamon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Adult
- Type: Food
- Attribute: Vaccine
It sure is a potato Digimon. I'm surprised that it's an Adult-level Digimon? It sure is a potato-headed humanoid with the hairdo of peeled backed potato, and it's... eating potatoes? That's kind of cannibalism, surely? I'm not the biggest fan of its surprisingly mundane farmer outfit, I felt like they could've exaggerated it a bit more. This guy feels like he would be an NPC in a Digimon World game or something.
Potamon is a gourmet, and has consumed data on all kinds of fries, and shares all the fries that it recommends. Potamon basically has the personality of an obnoxious food critic, you know the kind, and if you disagree with him? Oh, it's going to launch razor-sharp fries and summon a gigantic hot 'Bashed Potato' from the sky! It is a competitor with Burgamon, the other Adult-level humanoid food-themed Digimon all the way back from Frontier.
I was a bit confused as I would think that Potamon would be designed as a Child level of Burgamon (I know, you don't usually use potatoes to make a burger, but Burgamon's already established as an Adult-level) but I guess the idea is to make Potamon a pre-evolution of obscure classic 'rock potato' Digimon Jyagamon, which was the evolution assigned to it in the Adventure 2020 anime! I actually like that a lot.
4/10, bonus point for Jyagamon!_________________________________________________________
Hiyarimon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Baby II
- Type: Lesser
- Attribute: None
We're going to close this off with a bunch of randoms introduced in various mobile games -- some of which made it into the newer anime and manga. I very much appreciate that unlike the glut of mobile game Digimon between 2010 and 2020, a lot of these feel more 'Digimon-like'.
Hiyarimon here didn't impress me when I reviewed it in 2020, but I've since gained a new appreciation for it... for the simple reason that we don't actually have a proper snow-themed Baby II! We do have a YukimiBotamon (SnowBotamon) as a Baby I, and Penmon or YukiAgumon (SnowAgumon) tends to be the ice-themed Child-level. I guess the newer Blucomon works too, and this might be meant to specifically tie in with the Blucomon line... but it's not immediately obvious. I find that to be the best kind of Baby Digimon, where it's not just the disembodied heads of the Child-level! Little Hiyarimon gets its own identity, a rarity among honestly most Baby Digimon released after 02.
It's an all-right baby. It's a little snow friend with chunky Mochimon arms, and a icy beak-mouth that's dribbling snot. Don't like the snot, but I do like the idea of what appears to be an icy creature covered in snow.
6/10._________________________________________________________
FrosVelgrmon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Ultimate
- Type: Giant Bird
- Attribute: Virus
FrosVelgrmon, as far as I can tell, doesn't have anything to do with the original Velgrmon -- who was the Beast Evolution of Darkness in Digimon Frontier. There really isn't much in common, I don't think, other than being a giant bird.
FrosVelgrmon is a bit prettier, being a big ice peacock. The fancy tail gets all the attention, but I like that FrosVelgrmon has four wings, and a bunch of gems on its chest and a nice set of additional icy decorations around its head. It's not 'my thing' exactly, but it's a brand-new Ultimate that isn't just another dragon, knight, robot, or a combination of those three... so that absolutely gets some bonus points from me.
Personality-wise, FrosVelgrmon is a rare Digimon that appears in snowy regions and rescues those stranded on snowy mountains... but if you're unworthy, you get a peaceful freezing death. Which is a nice little 'edge' that this beautiful bird has. FrosVelgrmon isn't a concept that's particularly novel, but it's also something that I realize doesn't readily exist in Digimon before... there has been so many super royal knights and super evil demons and olympus omegamons.
7/10, could be a bit higher._________________________________________________________
Frozomon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Perfect
- Type: Machine
- Attribute: Virus
Another random independent debut, Frozomon here is a snow-plow Digimon. I reasonably like the design here, with shadowed eyes similar to some older mechanical Digimon like Mekanorimon. It's got a nice set of details of snowplow equiment -- the plow, the treads, the snow exhaust -- but it's also got a whole set of armaments. A pair of missile racks, a grabber arm, and a superheated blade, which it uses to break through ice.
Frozomon inhabits areas with heavy snowfall, and is a bit of a contradiction itself -- it goes off to rescue people that get lost in snowstorms, but it's also hideously violent and launches missiles and gores anyone that gets in the way of its rescues... even babies. That is a detail that was explicitly noted by the official profile! What the hell, Frozomon!
I dismissed Frozomon the first time I saw him as being boring and 'another Trailmon', and while I don't like him as much as some of the other Digimon I've recently reviewed, it was certainly too harsh of an original review. Frozomon's neat! I just like him less than other mechanical Digimon. But while Frozomon here isn't neatly connected to any other mechanical Digimon, it's also something that I feel any Tankmon, Trailmon or Mekanorimon could conceivably evolve into if they find themselves stuck in icy regions. It's a neat one.
6/10._________________________________________________________
...how much did I stuff in the original episode 49? Wow! I think the only brand-new Digimon review entries are KoDokugumon, Negamon and Abbadomon, and every single entry in 50 and 51 were rushed in 49 alongside the entire Pulsemon gang. That's a lot in a single article! No wonder I was burnt out when I did it in 2020.
