Reviewing 5E D&D Monsters - 5E Adventure Modules, Pt 5

One of my most recent projects was the rewriting of the Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition monster reviews, many of which were written circa-2015 or so, with me being inexperienced in both the actual D&D tabletop game as well as writing monster reviews. Times have changed since then, and it has been my project through 2025 and 2026 to rewrite and collate/expand these older reviews as needed. The brand-new "5.5E" Monster Manual with new content also helped give me an excuse and a lot of new content to talk about. 

But now that that's over, I'm going to talk about a bunch of adventures that I have never reviewed on this blog before! This batch of adventures -- not strictly in exhaustive publication order -- covers Candlekeep Mysteries and Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel. These two books are anthology books, taking the place of a couple half-dozen adventures. 

Finally, we are covering a couple of monsters from Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk. The Shattered Obelisk is a full campaign that expands on the original starter set of 'Lost Mine of Phandelver', which was highly popular and ended up being expanded into a full adventure for higher levels. There are goblins and mind flayers here! 

Again, I am obliged to give my usual disclaimer that I'm not reviewing every single stat block, and am intentionally skipping any named NPCs (including bosses), 'jobs' and particularly setting-specific jobs, simply because I just find that there's not much for me to say about them. 

• Click here for the previous part.
• Click here for the next part.
• Click here for the index.

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Animated Objects

• Medium Swarm of Tiny Constructs; CR 1/4 (Swarm of Animated Books)
• Small Construct; CR 1/4 (Animated Broom)
• Large Construct; CR 1 (Animated Chained Library)
• Debut: Candlekeep Mysteries (2021)

I just want to acknowledge the new batches of animated objects! I always felt like it's a bit of an untapped source of wacky enemies and comedy. I think the Animated Chained Library isn't too memorable. It's a chained bookshelf, it really can't do much but spit books at you... okay, that's funny, never mind.

The Animated Broom is always fun, and you can imagine this thing trying to sweep you away. And the Swarm of Animated Books summoned by the Chained Library is given a cute art where the horde of flying animated books isn't just trying to whack you, it's also pretending to be like the book equivalent of a sheet ghost, placing a book with a demon's face for a cover as its 'face', and holding two larger books open as 'hands'. The Swarm of Animated Books is trying!

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Gingwatzim

• Small Aberration (Shapechanger); CR 2
• Debut: Candlekeep Mysteries (2021)

This one is a weirdo! Appearing in one of the mysteries, the Gingwatzim initially seemed to be a new, random made-up creature for this adventure to serve as the solution to a mystery, but are actually a very obscure monster from AD&D. The Gingwatzim are 'blobs of raw life force', which are artificial life-forms who now live in the ethereal plane. In AD&D, they can morph between three forms -- a 'free form' of a sphere of swirling gas, a 'creature form' as it mimics the appearances of creature it's seen, and 'object form' where they can serve as magical items.

5E's incarnation has the Gingwatzim be artificial life forms, created by wizards, but still with the same three forms but with the 'creature' and 'object' forms being predetermined. While the tiny items and creatures look harmless, the Gingwatzim can transform into its gas-orb form and drain the life of those around it. In the story, copies of a particular book causes all their readers to be attacked by monsters. But instead of the authors, or something about the story, or the publishers, turns out that the books themselves were the problem... they were shapeshifted alien gas-blobs all along!

I am unaware of this creature before doing this review, and I'm happy that they went to a very obscure source for it. It's a weird little shapeshifting creature, and while I can't say about how well the adventure is done, I'm always for stories that explore the implications of strange, artificially-created magical creatures like these. 

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Naiad

• Medium Fey; CR 2
• Debut: Candlekeep Mysteries (2021)

I genuinely thought that Naiads have appeared in Dungeons & Dragons before, but apparently not! Apparently D&D has used 'Nymph' and 'Nereid' more or less all the time when they describe watery fey. In Greek mythology, a Nymph is a nature spirit associated with water, and Naiads and Nereids are types of nymphs bound to freshwater and seawater respectively. In fact, as a monster statblock or as a part of the D&D fantasy world, the earliest mention I can find of Naiad is in 5th Edition's Magic: The Gathering crossover with Theros. Huh!

Naiads are essentially just fey that are bound to a single location, specifically a lake or a spring. The book basically just handwaves the lore as 'being similar to a Dryad', which is a bit lazy... but not exactly wrong. I do like the art, though, with lilypads and other lake plants whirling around her 'dress' and her 'hair', while roiling waves make up her 'cloak' and the 'frills'. 

Still, I wonder what makes 'leafy' or 'forest' fey a lot more appealing for D&D to adapt? They have no problem adapting Treants, Dryads, Shambling Mounds, Wood Woads and a lot of other 'plant fey' themed creatures. But we have a dearth of watery fey! Give me a proper Siren stat block, Wizards!

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Grippli Warrior

• Small Humanoid (Grippli); CR 1/4
• Debut: Candlekeep Mysteries (2021)

Ah, Grippli, Grippli, Grippli. Yet another frog-man race, but this one actually draws its roots all the way back to the 1st Edition! They even show up in the 2E Monstrous Manual, which is one of the classic and best D&D bestiaries out there. But there are just so many frog-people, and over the next couple of editions, the 'regular' frog-people have all been rolled up into just the Bullywugs, who enjoyed a lot of major appearances in the first monster manuals of 3E, 4E and 5E whereas all the Grippli got were random mentions in Dragon magazine. There is a difference between the two frog-people, being that the Bullywugs were swamp-dwelling toads or mud-frogs, whereas the Grippli were very much themed after tree frogs; and the Grippli were more good or neutral-leaning compared to the primitive, cavemen-like Bullywug. Even from their first appearance in 1st Edition's Monster Manual II, the Grippli felt like they were made specifically to be quirky allies and even player-character adjacent... but ended up falling on the wayside similar to the Locathah for the fish-people. 

Unlike the Locathah, though, the Grippli were just more or less forgotten, and when 5th Edition's team decided to make a friendly tree-dwelling frog-people race... they decided to make a brand-new one called the Grung. Sure, the Grung were poison arrow frogs instead of tree frogs, and they were a bit more chaotic with a goblin/kobold vibe to them, but that left the poor Grippli just ignored until 2021, where it made its low-key debut in Candlekeep Mysteries. 

And there is probably a world where the Grippli were just retooled into the Grung, and that would probably make them more exciting because... the Grippli are just... boring? Bullywugs had a 'dum-dum frog horde' vibe before, and since 5.5E have been retooled into pretentious Feywild noble-wannabes. Grungs do the tree-dwelling stuff too, but with a chattering wackiness that gives them such a fun personality. So yeah, poor Grippli don't quite have the 'hook' that either the Bullywug or the Grung have. I almost wished that they had kept the original 2E artwork where the Grippli are just big giant tree frogs instead of being frog-men, because that would've given them something interesting for us to talk about. 

 

5E's lore characterizes the Grippli pretty faithfully, noting that they are communal frog-people who live in trees, can snare foes with their tongues, and live in harmony with nature in very communal village; and have to defend their young and eggs from Lizardfolk and Yuan-ti. Which... it's all nice and good. Again, one of the running gags I've done in my D&D monster reviews is the sheer amount of frog-people, and I'm sorry, my Grippli friends... you guys are theoretically neat, but in the 5E world the role of being a friendly forest-dwelling frog tribe is already done better, twice. 

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Skitterwidget & Kittywidget

• Medium Construct; CR 1 (Skitterwidget), 1/2 (Kittywidget)
• Debut: Candlekeep Mysteries (2021)

I wasn't going to include these, but the artwork is cute enough that I thought 'what the heck'. The two Widgets are technically just another set of constructs which the flavour text note to be 'surprisingly cute'. They are described also by the prose as 'dog-headed cockroaches', which... which makes them a lot cuter than if they were just robot bugs or robot dogs! Some crazy gnome artificer decided that these scuttling constructs with your typical set of spidery insecty robot legs needed to have the heads of stylized dragon-dogs, and they are just moving around with their 'language of squeals', which is comprised of high-pitched vowels. Okay!

The 'Widgets are bound to a magical control ring, and a single control ring can link up to seven Skitterwidgets. That's one more than a typical Pokemon trainer! The most interesting thing, however, is that Skitterwidgets mate and breed. Which... I'm not sure how it works since these are robots. You'd think they just replicate and construct new automatons, but the flavour text says 'mate and breed', which... I'm not trying to think too much about. These Skitterwidgets make the smaller Kittywidgets, 'which are cuter than their parents'. And the Skitterwidgets are so protective of their young that it's the only thing that can make them disobey the magical control ring. 

The idea of a reproducing robot is an... odd one, and I don't think they'll ever be followed up upon in D&D beyond this one-off adventure, but I do find the design of these dog-roaches quite cute. 

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Constructed Commoner

• Medium Construct; CR 0
• Debut: Candlekeep Mysteries (2021)

The Constructed Commoner is literally just the statblock of a Commoner given a 'construct' reflavouring. It's surprising that she got a full statblock segment, when so many other D&D books have been content to handwave potentially interesting monster variations with 'oh, just use the Troll statblock for the Bagman'. 

The Constructed Commoner, of course, are really realistic mannequins that are populating a village and act pretty uncanny as they go through a routine of what real people will do. From what I can gather from the flavour text, these poor golems or whatever actually think they are real humanoids living their lives in a real village. They have little things that give themselves away, like little clicking noises when they move, and their cold flesh, and they automatically try to change the topic when asked about things outside their village. 

When they get killed, they revert to their mannequin form, but because this is a magical village, the mannequin will disappear and a new villager is generated to take over the 'slain' villager's role. Creepy! It's something I've seen before in sci-fi and fantasy, but still a creepy trope. 

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Lichen Lich

• Medium Undead; CR 18
• Debut: Candlekeep Mysteries (2021)

We're skipping over the Canopic Golem and other monsters since I don't have much to say about them, and we're going to this fabulous Lichen Lich. You can't convince me that the designers didn't make this just for the pun, but it makes sense, isn't it? Lichen are kind of fungi, and we've had a lot of connections between fungus and the undeath. So yeah, bring on this badass Lichen Lich!

What a cool design this particular lich has, too. She's got a massive wedding dress made up of bark-like folds of lichen, a little veil/cape of hyphae, and a little glowing green 'collar' made of fungal tissue. I really like that the art direction decided to make the Lichen Lich actually fabulous and aesthetic instead of going for the mushroom body horror, a la the Golgari from Magic: The Gathering's Ravnica set... which would still be welcome, but this one also looks cool. 

In addition to doing the typical Lich stuff that Liches can do, Lichen Liches have a bunch of extra spells that are very 'evil druid' related. They can transport themselves through plants, manipulate rotten roots and vines, summon clouds of poisonous spores, cause anyone that's poisoned around her to fall unconscious, or summon corrupted shambling mounds out of her diseased grove.

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Aurumvorax

• Small Monstrosity; Unaligned; CR 2 (Aurumvorax)
• Medium Monstrosity; Unaligned; CR 4 (Den Leader)
• Debut: Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel (2022)

We're moving to Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel first, and we're going to first cover the Aurumvorax. The Aurumvorax, or 'Golden Gorger', is a creature that debuted in the classic 1E adventure Journey to the Barrier Peaks -- the same weird 'crashed spaceship' adventure that gave us classics like the Vegepygmies and Froghemoths. The Aurumvorax are an eight-legged badget that scuttles around and feeds on metal. Particularly gold. Particularly your gold. 

I really like the idea that this creature is adapted specifically for a diet of gold, being able to sniff out towards where gold is, and then try and attempt to eat them. There is a bit of a Rust Monster 'haha, fuck you' vibe to it, but there is always a charm for these monsters that feel created specifically for this magic-rich setting. I feel like Aurumvoraxes could be used in various different ways due to how everyone uses gold in the setting... perhaps a bounty hunter uses an Aurumvorax as a version of a trained tracking hound (their quarry may have hidden their scent, but maybe not their own gold), or a bank might use them to detect counterfeit or fool's gold. 

Since then, the Aurumvorax would appear in1E's Monster Manual 2 and 2E's Monstrous Manual... but then remain more or less obscure as it was deemed not iconic enough, I suppose, to be counted alongside the classics like the Umber Hulks and the Mind Flayers and the Gith. But I've always liked the idea that these are the kind of creatures that should show up in the appendix, like how the original 5E Manual handled Death Dogs and Wargs! The Aurumvorax could just use the statline of the giant badger with an additional line that says it eats metal!

Well, whatever the case they are back now. We even get the lore that they can get into much larger sizes if they consume enough metal, growing to the Medium size. I've always got a soft sport for the Aurumvorax, and it actually shows up in the remake of the aforementioned Barrier Peaks adventure as well! 

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Wynling

• Tiny Fey; Chaotic Neutral; CR 1/2
• Debut: Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel (2022)

Now all the other monsters introduced in Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel anthology are an interesting experiment of bringing in a more culturally-diverse team of writers to adapt some of their stories into D&D adventures; which is an interesting thing to do! There are definitely times when I kind of go -shrug- when my culture is represented in older editions of D&D. And while they clearly put much more effort into the setting and stories (as they should), we also get a bunch of new monsters! Not all of them are very specific, and most are just themed around the general vibes of cultures and mythologies. And that's all right!

The Wynling, mascot of the book and featured in its cover, is a cross between a bush baby and a bat, being these tiny little fey spirits that are clearly up to some mischief. They're kind of based on wind spirits or guardian spirits in many different real-world myths. I don't exactly think (or am able to find) any direct match to the Wynling from real-world mythologies, but I'm happy to learn if someone can point me to what it's based on!

Wynlings are described to defend mountain heights against trespassers, often harassing them with thefts and pranks, stealing equipment and glaring at them from the shadows to creep them out. However, nearby settlements sometimes lure Wynlings out and they end up having fun when they hear high-spirited music and sweet foods... all free to cause mysterious wacky hijinks! The Wynling honestly feels like a greatcreature to be a sidekick to a player character or an NPC as well, this flying little grubby rodent with the ability to become invisible at will!

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Soul Shaker

• Large Undead; Chaotic Evil; CR 4
• Debut: Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel (2022)

This one is very cool. Not exactly drawn from a specific real-world mythology that I can tell of, but more of a shared theme where malevolent spirits coalesce from lingering negative energy, the Soul Shaker is a literal grasping mass of humanoid limbs, described as an 'obsessive claimer of corpses and collector of body parts'. The flavour text for it gives several possible origins for the Soul Shaker, noting that they can arise from ghoulish collections of severed limbs (because all self-respecting necromancers have one of those) or when 'numerous Crawling Claws form a cooperative relationship'. That's cute! The little Crawling Claws are friends!

The Soul Shaker pulverizes the flesh of its victims with is many arms, and also drain the vitality of their prey... which is probably somewhat expected considering that it's an undead mass of limbs. Interestingly, when a Soul Shaker encounters someone with an impressionable mind (i.e. a child), the Soul Shaker is intelligent enough to try to charm the individual and get them to act as a lure to tempt other victims into its hunting grounds. This is a nice little bit that really feels like it comes from folklore in general, of monsters that also act as 'warnings'. In-game, however, the Soul Shaker doesn't really need to do the hard work to charm its unwitting pawn... it can cast geas, one of the most powerful mind-control spells. 

Also, the description of the Soul Shaker being able to tempt others means that, yes, this mass of limbs whirling around like a twisted sea urchin is a fully sentient undead. As the short adventure that the Soul Shaker is part of establishes, the Soul Shaker's mind is a twisted composite of all the dead bodies that are combined to create it, with the particular Soul Shaker involved in this adventure having one of its component arms harvested from the friend of the plot-relevant NPC... and that friendship ends up being twisted into 'be with us forever, friend!'

Oh, and to make things worse, when a Soul Shaker is destroyed, it disperses into a bunch of skittering, animate limbs. If any of these pieces escape, like a good undead, it somehow reforms into a mass of limbs again. A fun undead critter, and I love the visuals, too!  

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Tlacatecolo

• Medium Fiend - Demon; Neutral Evil; CR 5
• Debut: Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel (2022)

Based on Aztec myths, the Tlacatecolo roughly means 'human-owl'. It doesn't exactly have a perfect one-to-one counterpart in Aztec mythology, but owls are associated with death, bad luck and misfortune in Mesoamerican culture, particularly associated with the deity Mictlantecutli. 

D&D's Tlacatecolo is described as a straight-up demon, being bipedal plague-stricken owl-men. They unleash a plague-ridden wind that causes a chilling poison to seep into those afflicted, leeching heat and life from the living. This is a unique poison that exhausts those infected and prevents healing... but is staved off by sunlight. Which is a pretty fun little detail!

Unfortunately, we don't really get to learn much about the Tlacatecolo beyond its abilities, and I really wish we did. From what I can glean from the story, the demon has 'hosted' itself inside of a local youth, being both an evil influence as well as allowing its host to transform into the human-owl form. Kind of wish we actually got more -- the story is interesting, for sure, but... I wished we learned a bit more about the Tlacatecolo! 

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Tlexolotl

• Huge Elemental; Neutral; CR 10
• Debut: Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel (2022)

Going to Mexican mythology now with another brand-new monster called the Tlexolotl, who draws its name from tle (fire) and axolotl. The real-world amphibian axolotl is actually named after the Aztec god of fire and lightning, Xolotl... traditionally a canine-headed god. But that's why this guy is the Tlexolotl! There's also something here about how the mythological salamander, a different amphibian, is also associated with flame. 

Tlexolotls are gigantic, being classified as 'huge' elementals, and they slumber deep in the magma of dormant volcanoes. Like a Godzilla-style creature, Tlexolotls rise up every couple of centuries to consume animals and plants around it, before retreating back into the volcanoes to slumber. Of course, being giant elemental monsters, the Tlexolotl can be awaken earlier than it normally would, and when it does it will rampage and burn everything and consume everything. Of course, a fire cult tries to wake up a Tlexolotl in this adventure. 

In a nice nod to how helpful volcanoes are, the Tlexolotl and its volcano actually causes the land around it to become abundant with crops, and those that aren't killed by the Tlexolotl's rampage tend to honour the Tlexolotl for bringing a bountiful harvest to their farming efforts. I like this creature for the relatively simple concept -- the embodiment of the destruction caused by an active volcano, but also it's a giant axolotl! Axolotls are cute.

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Riverine

• Large Fey; Any Alignment; CR 12
• Debut: Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel (2022)

Oh, and I just ranted about the Naiad, too up above. The Riverine, which I don't think is drawn from any specific myth, are fey that are embodiments of particular rivers. They manifest as Poseidon-looking men with lower bodies of whirling water -- which they can replace with humanlike legs if they need to. A Riverine's personality reflects the nature of the river it arises from, some being wilder or more lethargic than others. A Riverine can sense whatever is going on around its river, and the Riverine's presence causes flora and fauna to reproduce rapidly around it; while magical tracks appear to guide travelers to shelters (and away from areas that the Riverine doesn't want them to come towards). 

Riverines are a fair bit more powerful than Naiads, with a lot more combative spells -- including a bunch of lair actions and water-themed spells. They can revert into water and teleport elsewhere in their river, create mists or torrents of water. If the Riverine dies, its river dries up immediately. 

This, by the way, is a pretty great stat block to use for any river or lake spirit. I am honestly just quite miffed that this trope, whatever you want to call it -- a Nymph, a Naiad, a Nereid, a Riverine -- just somehow isn't in one of the more 'core' bestiaries! Honestly, the solution is to get a fourth proper dedicated bestiary book! Come on! 

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Bakunawa

• Gargantuan Dragon; Neutral; CR 12
• Debut: Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel (2022)

Adapted from Filipino folklore, the mythological Bakunawa is a moon-eating serpent that was used to explain lunar eclipses. The 5E Bakunawa is noted as a particularly large serpentine dragon, and a nice artwork showing glistening scales and rows upon rows of wings leading to a face that looks like a strange eel. The Bakunawa is described as 'avatars of storm and tide' that soar over archipelagos. There mere presence causes storms and winds, and they swallow those that challenge them. 

The Bakunawa isn't part of any moon-eating myth in this one, and instead is portrayed as just a powerful, spiritual force that is unleashed when the spiritual balance of the region is shaken. That's a common trope across various myths. I did wish that there were a bit more that drew from the original myth, since the Bakunawa ended up coming off as too much of a 'storm dragon' more than anything, but at least the artwork is cool. 

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Pari

• Medium Celestial; Lawful Good; CR 13
• Debut: Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel (2022)

Drawn from Persian myths, the Pari (or 'peri') is adapted from being the Persian equivalent to a fairy-like spirit into an 'angelic harbinger', given a pretty badass artwork of a blue-skinned humanoid with four blood-red wings. Paris are described as celestials that bring prophetic warnings and portents. 

In addition to their prophet-messenger role, 5E's Pari gives is a small smattering of angelic spells, as well as a fun ability called 'disorienting futures' where they telepathically overload someone with visions of multiple possible futures. That sounds like a fun little ability that would have post-battle roleplaying implications!

However, outside of the very cool artwork... there really isn't much to the 5E Pari. A celestial devoted to just prophecies and messages and nothing else isn't anything new, and this doesn't really properly adapt the mythological Pari's stories either. This one feels like a miss to me, I'm afraid. 

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Haint

• Medium Undead; Neutral; CR 7
• Debut: Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel (2022)

Drawing from a Southern-US dialect word for ghost/spirit, the Haints make their debut in a frontier-themed adventure. Haints are described specifically as spirits that rise from the sorrowful dead, and can change their shape in an imitation of what they once were. With the sheer amount of different types of undead, I do like this little niche that the D&D Haint fills, where they can shift from an incorporeal phantom-like form into appearing as a corporeal humanoid -- how it looks like in life. From the description of the flavour text and the abilities, I think the Haint can interact as if it's solid. 

It's a nice little wrinkle even compared to other undead-types that mimic the living. Haints are able to share their sorrow to incapacitate those around them. And so trapped are they in their sorrowful nature that they might mistakenly view passersby as their murderers; or try to entreat mortals to exact revenge on their behalf. 

Base D&D already kind of have ghosts and undead that are related to spirits tied to the mortal coil in the Ghost (haunting a location for an unfinished business) and the Revenant (hunting for specific people for revenge), but the Haint provides an interesting enough alternative in this case with the ability to masquerade as the living -- whether they know it or not. It's always nice for undead NPC enemies to have some kind of tragedy to them!

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Whistler

• Large Aberration; Neutral Evil; CR 9
• Debut: Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel (2022)

Oh, I really like this one. Whislters are aberrations that hail from the 'airy, screeching reaches of the Far Realm', and they aren't tethered to a single point in space. They're constantly 'blurred', and the artwork shows this perfectly by having it seemingly stepping over an invisible wall. Its arms are a bit too long and the edges unfocused, and of course there's that creepy modern-age-camera-trick head with glowing eyes that vibrate in place. I don't think the Whistler is based on any specific myth, but the freedom in just crafting a creepy monster does end up letting the Whistler feel so much cooler.  You really get the feeling that the writers were able to really describe the monster that they're cooking in their head, since there's simply just a lot more description about what the Whistler does. 

Whistlers stalk prey, and those stalked by a Whistler can't shut out its 'soundless, seven-note tune'. It invades and scourges their victim's mind as the Whistler pursues them, and even if they manage to escape the Whistler, that tune will be stuck in your head and drive you crazy. The stat block itself isn't the most impressive, just having psychic damage, limited teleportation and the aforementioned whistling gimmick, but this is one monster that if done well can really give a really haunting and tense atmosphere.

It really is very cool, and feels a bit of a Slenderman-meets-Lovecraft vibes as well, doesn't it? There's a nice little urban horror vibe to the Whistler, except its design and lore is adapted quite well to the fantasy setting of D&D. I like this one.  

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Mutate

• Large Aberration; Chaotic Neutral; CR 10 (Cloaker Mutate)
• Medium Aberration; Any Alignment; CR 4 (Humanoid Mutate)
• Large Aberration; Neutral; CR 6 (Otyugh Mutate)
• Debut: Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk (2023)

Our next book is Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk. Which is a full campaign based and expanding upon the original 5th Edition starter set, The Lost Mine of Phandelver. The setting included a lot of classic D&D creatures and tropes and became so popular that they decided to expand it quite a fair bit, using Mind Flayers as the main villain. We never had a proper Mind Flayer campaign in 5th Edition, so it worked out quite well! Basically, there are lots of Far Realm spookiness happening in Phandelver, and things are being changed. 

These guys are here because of the art! Mutates are, well, mutations. Creatures that are exposed to the Far Realm, and the energies of the eldritch dimension warp and twist what was once normal. They all get sunlight sensitivity, and a random mutation from a table (wings, tentacles, slime, psionic powers... typical aberrant stuff), and keep some of their original abilities. 

Interestingly, Mutates are noted to be explicitly reversible once the influence of the Far Realm is removed. That feels a bit odd. Forcing this transformation on creatures also 'inexplicably fail', so they either have to be actively seeking it themselves and embrace it; or to be passively corrupted without realizing? Mind Flayers apparently have been trying to create Mutate armies to conquer the Underdark and continually fail, although Mind Flayers don't exactly have the best track record with their experiments not going feral and killing them. 

The game gives us a humanoid, a Cloaker and an Otyugh. Two of those are aberrations themselves, which are interesting -- being aberrations, they are more likely to become mutates, according to the prose, but it also means that beings like Cloakers and Otyughs are more 'acclimatized' to the Material Plane despite being Aberrations. 

The humanoid in the art has sprouted a whole bunch of bat-wings which would be an eye-rolling 'demon man' super mode if not for how haphazard they are arranged. The Otyugh is just seemingly disintegrating in the spot, with parts of its body looking like hard carapace while its tentacles appear to be fluid? And the Cloaker just looks even more monstrous, with a disturbingly much more human face, that also seems to erupt into more gore. ____________________________________________________

Aberrant Zealot

• Medium Aberration; Chaotic Evil; CR 8
• Debut: Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk (2023)

Out of the humanoid enemies, by virtue of how creepy the art and statblock of this guy iis, I have left him here. He's a zealot cultist who have reached into the Far Realm, and has been mutated. It's nowhere as extreme (and therefore, a lot 'cooler') as the Farspawn or Core Spawn, which makes the Aberrant Zealot here to look far, far wretched. Still having a lot of his regular human anatomy, only for it to be covered in a layer of slime, algae and having tentacles grow out of his arms and sides... it's not even in the cool places like a Cthulhu beard or a powerful tentacle whip-arm!

Aberrant Zealots just have this constant aura of exuding the chaos of the Far Realm, forcing constant saves against psychic damage on any non-aberration around it. It can move through any space as narrow as an inch, can teleport via void portals, and also has minor psionic powers similar to the psi-goblins. I like that a lot! I like that there are some actual abilities that make the Aberrant Zealot feel unnatural beyond 'it can cause mind blasts and the frightened condition'!

There are a couple of additional new monsters here as well that I'm skipping, including the Ashenwright (just psionic undead that rise in areas blighted by the Far Realm), the Fiendish Auger (a drill possessed by an evil spirit) and the Psionic Goblins (who are just goblins with psionic powers). 

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Mind Flayer Variants

• Medium Aberration; Lawful Evil; CR 11 (Clairvoyant), 8 (Prophet)
• Debut: Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk (2023)

That's artwork of the Mind Flayer of Thoon from... 3E? 4E? One of those! I remember those, they are Mind Flayers who are even more corrupted by a strange entity called Thoon that out-eldritches the Mind Flayers!

Anyway, with Phandelver setting the Mind Flayers as the big bads, we get two extra variants that are particularly tied with prophecy, with the CR 8 Mind Flayer Prophet and CR 11 Mind Flayer Clairvoyant. The Clairvoyant is rather cool, ripping open a tear in space to summon a giant tentacle. The Prophet is choking and killing another Illithid -- using the reused Thoon art. These guys are noted to not always be tied to an Elder Brain, but instead heed the whispers of whims of the Far Realm itself, a nice adaptation of some of the older Thoon lore.  

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Encephalon

• Large Aberration; Unaligned; CR 10 (Cluster)
• Tiny Aberration; Unaligned; CR 3 (Gemmule)
• Debut: Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk (2023)

And here we are with a brand-new monster! 'Encephalon' is another medical term for your brain. And these Encephalon Clusters are the result of Mind Flayer eggs being exposed to a Far Realm rift! I do like the idea that the Mind Flayers are actually more 'stable' aberrations, as far as aberrations go. These Clusters look vaguely like brains if seen from afar, but more accurately as large-sized clusters of giant eggs. Spheres instead of sulci and gyri. Of course they're surrounded with green slime.  The Cluster egg-mass/parent organism can also slam down on prey to consume them.

The Encephalons, when threatened, unleash blobs of eggs that hatch into Encephalon Gemmules, which are... strange little pyramidal things with itty-bitty tentacle limbs and green eyeballs. Gemmules swarm over prey and leech life for them while also bombarding them with psychic blasts. Surviving Gemmules will then grow into proper Encephalon Clusters if left unattended. 

Encephalons, interestingly, is noted to not pay any heed to the Elder Brain, or any of the Mind Flayers. This makes Encephalons similar to Neothelids as creatures that arise from mutated Mind Flayer young! The Mind Flayers view Encephalons as 'insidious viruses', as they continue to gorge themselves, multiply and create more and more gemmules. While this does feel like a retread of the Neothelid, I do appreciate them trying to do something new here. 

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Flesh Meld

• Huge Aberration; Chaotic Evil; CR 7
• Debut: Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk (2023)

This one is cool. Flesh Melds are huge creatures, so the size of dinosaurs, and they are just giant masses of... flesh, straight out of Resident Evil or something. The one pictured just looks like a giant slab from the butcher's shop, with loads of what initially looked like stitches to me, but are actually entire spines and ribs arranged... well, up and down the body like stitches. Three tentacles that open up to vaguely lamprey-like mouths coil atop the flesh-mass. It's a nasty mass of flesh and gore. 5th Edition has been shying away a lot from more violent depictions of monsters, but I do appreciate that some of the supplementaries are allowed to do something a bit less PG-13. 

Flesh Melds are not just giant masses of reanimated flesh. Because this is a Mind Flayer adventure, Flesh Melds are also hiveminds. Their gore-tentacles consume their prey, and both mind and flesh are subsumed into the Flesh Mind's consciousness. Some resilient minds may remain, but inevitably the discordant chorus of 'kill' and 'consume' will overpower you. 

Despite being a huge creature, the Flesh Meld's gore-fest body is still counted as 'amorphous' and it can pour itself through cracks... which has to be disgusting with all those bones. It also has the ability to 'spider climb', and has an aura of necrotic decay that damages all creatures around it. It is basically kind of an undead/gore-themed slime, which I've seen in other games like Elden Ring and World of Warcraft before. Again, 5th Edition D&D tend to shy away with body horror, but it's nice to see some still make it in. 

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Intellect Snare

• Small Aberration; Neutral Evil; CR 8
• Debut: Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk (2023)

Another aberration, the Intellect Snares are formed from the 'wayward shards of thought that have conglomerated together'. How does wayward shards of thought form? Why, from all the madness and corruption of the Far Realm! As the minds of foolish adventurers and civilians are broken by all the eldritch horror, those broken pieces coalesce into Intellect Snares. The design is pretty simple, all things considered, just a shadowy orb with ribbon-like tendril-tentacles. But the backstory of this being created from 'broken thoughts' are cool. 

Intellect Snares interestingly behave like scavenger, feasting on creatures left behind by Mind Flayer attacks. They feed by shattering the minds of their prey and making more pieces of broken minds to consume. In addition to this whole 'mind-consuming' thing, Intellect Snares also have an aura of cacophony, and anyone who stands too close to this thing has the potential to be incapacitated by the sheer amount of psychic noise radiating from this thing. 

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Oculorb

• Large Aberration; Chaotic Evil; CR 9
• Debut: Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk (2023)

Oh, these are... Beholder dreams? Beholders, who come from the Far Realm, will dream up Oculorbs when the Far Realm pervades their dreams. Which... okay, another case of 'our aberrations can also be corrupted by the Far Realm'. Sure. I love the art, though. I've seen a lot of eyeball monsters in my day, and eyeball-mass monsters, thanks to the Zelda franchise, but this one just looks... it just looks really sad and in pain. I think it's those two or three biggest eyes, which look like they're begging to be blown up back into the void they were spawned from.

Oculorbs are described to be a tangle of negative emotions -- fury, melancholy, obsession -- and while all its eyes can shoot eye beams, they all unleash just negative emotions like antipathy, despair and rage. Which... sounds a lot cooler than the mechanics, which just stops enemies from moving, get feared or just take damage. 

I feel like other than named Mind Flayer godling 'Ilvash' (the 'boss' of the campaign) I felt like we're just scratching the surface of how weird and creepy a Mind Flayer campaign can get. I'm sure the usual aberration suspects do show up in this adventure too, the Mind Flayers and Elder Brains and Beholders and whatnot, but I also kind of wished that we really got more, you know? It might seem that I'm a bit down on some of these monsters, but I'm not -- I do enjoy that we get new aberrations and new monsters and all, it's just that it feels a bit disappointing that almost all of them are just corrupted and derivatives of existing creatures. i get that it fits the story of Phandelver being a 'classic' D&D-brand adventure, but still.

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Let's Play Mystery Dungeon DX, Part 6: Mudkip's Fugitive Life

And thus, begins my life as a fugitive. 

That's a pretty cool line, isn't it? But yeah. Mudkip and Bulbasaur travel the land, and we get a bit of a montage as the game shows huge fissures in the ground, a forest fire, and a volcano erupting. It's a nice bit to show off all of the cataclysms and natural disasters that the world is supposedly experiencing, even if we technically don't interact all that much with it. 

The game finally goes into a proper cutscene with dialogue as we stop in front of the Lapis Lazuli Cave, which is a cave with blue crystals. The game doesn't show it to us, but apparently we're being pursued by a mob of rescue teams trying to claim our bounty. Or, well, to lynch us to death. So Mudkip and Bulbasaur just hop into the Lapis cave. The cave is a bit darker, and I immediately lose Mudkip two floors in due to being ambushed by a Nidorino/Nidorina gang that poisons Mudkip. Bulbasaur didn't last too long after that. And... and I lost the few items I brought with me, but thankfully the game gives me access to the Kangaskhan storage. So long as I don't run out of apples!

Lapis Lazuli Cave has 14 levels and is primarily inhabited by Poison-types like Zubat, Golbat, Nidorino and Nidorina, but there are a couple of others as well like Tangela, Illumise and Bagon. Again, at this point I'm kind of forced to sneak around and try and get to the next floors as fast as possible. Without a third member, it's proving interestingly challenging!

I wish there was more to say about the Lapis cave, but there really isn't. It's just a dungeon, and the moment we get through it, the faceless mob catches up. And so we run towards Mt. Blaze, the Doomed Desolation.

And as expected, Mt. Blaze is filled with Fire-type Pokemon. Good news for my Mudkip, bad news for my Bulbasaur. There are also lava 'lakes', which Fire-types and hovering Pokemon can pass but neither of my boys could. The location is filled with Slugmas, Numels, Torkoals, and the odd Pidgeot that apparently make nests in volcanoes. Oh, and Arcanines. I discover, much to the pain of poor Mudkip, that Arcanines pack Thunder Fang in this mountain. Bastards! Are you guys angry that Ninetales was the Generation I Fire-type that got the spotlight? 

At the peak of the mountain, of course, is, to the surprise of no one, a huge explosion and a legendary bird descends. It's Moltres, who is wasting absolutely no time at all declaring that he is the Warrior of Fire, the mountain is angry, and he is going to be the manifestation of the giant explosive rage. And... and my party got wiped out by Moltres. It is quite challenging that we're just fighting a big legendary boss with two Pokemon! And having one of my party members be Grass-type does make both the boss fight and traversal through the dungeon a bit tough. 

Running a bit low on Oran Berries, Tiny Reviver Seeds and Max Ethers, I had to grind the stony path a couple of times just to get these essentials. It's a bit of a nice sequence to turn my brain off while I listen to a podcast anyway. 

And even then, it still took a couple more tries to fight Moltres! At least the game puts me several floors before the boss fight. Eventually I chanced upon a Link Box or whatever it's called, allowing Mudkip to link Water Gun and Rock Tomb together and so I just banked on having both Bulbasaur and Mudkip run up in front of Moltres and spam the double-hitting moves, and just reviving as necessary. It's a bit more of a 'let's try to outlast the big phoenix' more than anything. 

Ultimately, Moltres falls... and just like Zapdos, he bursts back into life and creates a huge fiery pillar explosion behind him. Bulbasaur manages to talk Moltres down, however, with an adorable 'look into my eyes!' Well, you can't argue with the cute frog eyes of Bulbasaur! There's a bit of a gag as Moltres continually causes the huge fire explosion effect to intimidate Bulbasaur various times through the conversation, which I thought was a bit funny. Moltres essentially tasks us to go and figure out the cause of the natural disturbances that has been disturbing it... which does beg me to ask why Moltres himself hasn't gone off on his own. But birds be lazy, I suppose. 

With Moltres out of the way, Bulbasaur and I go through Mt. Blaze and we get a nice short scene where we overlook Mt. Blaze. Bulbasaur sits for a while and ruminates the idea of just setting up camp there since it's unlikely that the other pursuers can get past Mt. Blaze... but dismisses it when he realizes that Team Alakazam is super competent and smart and will be able to get past it. I mean, there's also the deal of needing to solve the mystery or Moltres will be mad, but that, too. Some of these downtime scenes do drag on a bit, but I appreciate the character they're building up for my partner. 

We get a montage of words on a black screen saying that Mudkip and Bulbasaur continue to go north, past some swamps and cliffsides and caves... which would be nice to see, honestly. But of course, we end up in the snowy tundra becuase there's only one Kanto legendary bird left. Bulbasaur waxes some lyrical about how the icy wastes are cold and there's no sign of life around us. The trees are frozen, beautiful and harsh, all that stuff. 

We're briefly interrupted by the arrival of a mysterious, silent Absol. Bulbasaur is completely terrified of Absol, not even sure if Absol is a Pokemon at all... which is honestly a bit much. Even at this point in the game we've seen weirder Pokemon than Absol! But okay. Again, a huge fan of non-legendaries like Absol and Ninetales getting so much focus in this game. 

I also decide to grind a bit more -- for healing items if nothing else. And the 'Rock Path' has been swapped for 'Snow Path'. The selection of Pokemon is quite cute -- New Snap has caused Furret to be associated with icy locations for me, and Pineco makes sense actually in a way I've never really thought of before. And Snorunts are just icy. Pinecones in the snowy locations! But Nosepass is a bit odd, and Azurill is definitely odd. 

Next up, the proper dungeon is the Frosty Forest, populated with those same Pokemon, but also some ice-types like Piloswine... and just those guys! I'm actually surprised. Were there so little Ice-types that would live in the forest in Gen III? Sneasel existed! But some mountain Pokemon like Rhyorn, Lairon, and even weirdoes like Metang and Ditto pad out the restof the population. Not what I'd expect! 

Ice isn't very good against my team, since poor Bulbasaur is again quite weak to Ice, although Mudkip at least has Rock Tomb to deal super-effective damage. But the Snorunts launch their Powder Snow like sniper rifles from half the map away, so the Frosty Forest is a bit more treacherous to hike through than Mt. Blaze. Around one-thirds of the way in the screen turns black as an ominous voice (it's Articuno, it's obvious it's Articuno) reacts to the arrival of new entities in the forest and wonders if we are the one that has been causing the changes in frost. 

Fighting through the rest of the dungeon, and of course at the end of the Frosty Forest is a little boss arena. It's a little grove where Articuno resides, and just like Zapdos and Moltres before him, Articuno appears in a hissy fit because the temperature in the Frosty Forest has decreased. "Snow that has never melted before" has melted! And of course, Articuno blames us because apparently the Frosty Forest is so remote and secluded that no one else has ever stepped foot into it, and being the only outsiders, Articuno is mighty pissed off at us. 

Articuno is a bit easier for me to deal with, despite Bulbasaur being weak to both Articuno and Moltres. I guess it's a matter of me actually stocking up on Revival Seeds and Oran Berries... but Articuno also feels a lot less aggressive in his attacks compared to Moltres. The fight goes relatively easily as I spam Rock Tomb on Articuno, and I eventually knock him out. 

Also like Zapdos and Moltres, Articuno makes it clear that this isn't his full power... but unlike the previous two, Articuno flies back in. Bulbasaur tries to explain to Articuno that climate change is happening regardless of our arrival or not, but Articuno just gets super angry and starts preparing a massive Ice Beam. It's at this point that a surprise third party enters and strikes Articuno... Absol! Absol, who has been watching us before. 

Absol tells Articuno that natural disasters are happening everywhere, and as someone who can sense natural disasters, his opinion makes Articuno believe in him. Articuno isn't quite as dickish about it as Moltres was, but he also tasks us with preventing the disasters from spreading, before flying off. Really, legendary birds, if you guys are all-powerful warriors ready to kill and abduct random Pokemon, clearly you are invested and powerful enough to also investigate? Silly birds. 

Absol also tells me and Bulbasaur that we need to investigate the calamities and stop them, something that's a bit of a broken record at this point... but unlike the silly birds, Absol decides to join forces. Which means... yes, a new party member! Finally, a third party member again! One of the biggest problems throughout the past couple of dungeons (and frankly, what made it not the most fun experience for me) was forcing me to play as only two Pokemon instead of the 3+ that the game has been conditioning me to accept as the normal. It's something that feels a fair bit more 'J-RPG', a bit more Final Fantasy or something. That's neat!

With all the three legendary birds dealt with, Mudkip's Fugitive Life continues as we go on ahead deeper into the remote north...

Random Notes:

• My playthrough of Mystery Dungeon is a bit more sporadic than the way these let's play segments are played. Case in point, there's a couple of months' break between the previous Zapdos dungeon and Mt. Blaze. The amount of grind kind of put me off until I spent a couple of slow nights just grinding the Stone Path for berries and revives just to stockpile in my inventory. 
• In Lapis Cave, there's a bit of a 'darker environment' thing going on. It mostly has to deal with the long tunnels, which is a lot less visible than other dungeons are.
  
• Meanwhile, Frosty Forest has both the darker tunnels and some watery areas. Mudkip can swim through the waters, but it's a bit sad that Bulbasaur can't do it. Since the game prevents you from having two Pokemon of the same type, I don't think these alternate-terrain bits are ever going to be useful in a regular playthrough. 
• Rock Path is available all the way from Lapis Cave and I think the Zapdos dungeon as well, but Mt. Blaze is the first time I actually need to grind for some items. Losing items really did set me back a fair bit!
• Splash actually does something in Mystery Dungeon! It's not actually useful, but Azurills actually jump and land somewhere else adjacent to me on the map. 
• Mightyenas join Arcanines in assholes with Thunder Fang that bully my poor Mudkip.
• I do know that I've already been complaining about the length of this 'fugitive' arc, but it is kind of a shame that the natural disasters is something that's told to us more than shown. I get that the GBA was a simpler device, but the Switch doesn't really have an excuse not to show us more, like, even visual lava pools in Mt. Blaze or melting snow in Frosty Forest to show how abnormal things are becoming. 

Bleach TYBW E42 Review: deAth deAled

Bleach, Thousand-Year Blood War, Episode 42: Son of Darkness

Rather unexpectedly after I bemoaned the likely lack of content for poor, poor meme'd-upon Chad, I normally would've included Orihime there... except the anime adaptation actually did a fair amount of scenes for Orihime. Orihime was in this version of the scene in the manga, but she really didn't do much. And setting her up as an actual character and having TYBW also be the last opportunities for the show to properly formalize and write a proper romance for Ichigo and Orihime... this was a needed scene, especially considering the last chapter. 

I just didn't expect Inoue Orihime's big moment to be in the middle of a fight against Juhabach, in ways that recalled her original status as an anomaly whose 'power treads upon the realm of the gods' to use Aizen's faction's words, or that they managed to make her feel badass without downplaying either Ichigo or Juhabach. That's awesome. A lot of the payoff happens in the next episode, but even here we do get a fair bit of buildup for that. 

The episode starts off with a flashback with Orihime and Tatsuki in happier times, discussing flowers and Orihime comparing Ichigo's heart to a flower that looks particularly like a flame. And as Ichigo and Orihime does that trademark Bleach-run-to-an-action-scene sequence, Orihime reflects on how much she wants to protect Ichigo -- a contrast and a nod to Ichigo's own declarations that he wants to protect everyone. Ichigo at this point in the story has risen so much above the power levels of his friends, particularly his human ones, that it isn't unfair to say that characters like Chad and Orihime are utterly outclassed. And that clearly bothers Orihime here. 

While most of the episode deals with the Askin/Urahara fight, the final one-thirds of the episode covers Ichigo and Orihime entering the throne room of Juhabach, who at this point has absorbed the Soul King and transcended everything. And Ichigo still treats Orihime as essentially an equal, trusting defense to her. And as they climb up the stairs together, Orihime muses that she can finally fight to protect Ichigo... which does admittedly fall a bit flat if we're basing it on power levels. Which is what both the original script of the manga -- and the anime adaptation -- is trying to deconstruct.

The confrontation has Juhabach monologue a lot, noting Ichigo's immense power and the power he is supposed to have, and then even mocking Isshin and Masaki. Ichigo is having none of the 'you are my son' business, especially since Juhabach is responsible for Masaki's death. Being an asshole, Juhabach just brushes off Masaki's death and starts ranting about how Masaki should be happy to die after fulfilling her purpose, like a tool. Ichigo, of course, isn't taking this lying down and charges in to fight. Fair enough.  

The fight also cuts away to the Uryu/Haschwalth fight, where Uryu is still trying to overwhelm Haschwalth with omni-directional attacks. It's still pretty impressive, and again Uryu spamming attacks just so Haschwalth can't react to a future he can 'see' is pretty nice. And even as Uryu bombards Haschwalth.... we see the Almighty power taking the form of shadows moving out of Haschwalth's body and protecting him from Uryu's arrow spam. But then Haschwalth says that Uryu is mistaken in some of his assumptions about the Almighty, before opening his eyes to reveal the Almighty's multiple pupils. The implication from Haschwalth's monologue is that the Almighty is so, well, almighty that it can't be measured. And as Haschwalth clads himself in his shadowy super form, he declares that 'despair begins now' as the fight sets up for round two. 

There's a couple of really cool sequences in the Uryu/Haschwalth fight as well, like Uryu placing glowing reishi runes on the walls of the building they're running through, before they unleash barrages of arrows at Haschwalth. A lot of cool showcases of Haschwalth's shadowy powers and Uryu's Vollstandig form, which is just a delight to watch for what was notoriously the final arc's worst fight in the manga.  

As this is going on, Juhabach also manipulates the power of the Soul King, again in the form of roiling shadows, to push Ichigo backwards. Orihime summons her Santen Kesshun shield and it gets shattered instantly. Juhabach even mocks Ichigo, asking him why he brought her along... and Juhabach, interestingly, seems to be a bit drunk on power. Instead of instantly killing Ichigo and absorbing his power or whatever he's planning to do, Juhabach talks about the amount of miracles and effort needed to create a being like Kurosaki Ichigo, how his body and power doesn't only belong to him, and how Juhabach essentially wants to toy around with Ichigo a bit before he 'expends his power and dies'. 

And, again, the actual Ichigo/Juhabach lines are essentially identical to the manga counterpart, but the additional focus on Haschwalth/Uryu and Orihime really does make it a whole lot more exciting.

Oh, all that talk about Orihime, but almost the entirety of this fight wraps up a faithful adaptation of the Askin fight. And I feel bad focusing a lot on the great new Orihime content, because the Askin fight is one of the more fun fights of the Schutzstaffel. My annoyance about Yushiro's inclusion and Yoruichi's Raiju Senkei aside, I do enjoy the sequence -- and the amazing voicework by Askin and Urahara's voice actors make this so much better. That whole influenza 48-times-in-a-second stuff ends up being brushed off by Askin, saying that he basically Uno-reversed the situation, since Hasshein can just instantly adapt to any poison. 

There's a bunch more wordy explanation going on, but that's brushed aside in favour of the colourful spectacle of Askin summoning his interconnected Gift Ball constellations, which look amazing animated. Askin notes how he doesn't like boasting, but notes that his Gift Bereich is impossible to escape from. Urahara then asks Askin why he's doing all this, since he's not someone who looks like he'll ever be properly loyal. Askin's always a goober, but he then gives his own motive rant. He is just interested in seeing the world that Juhabach will create after he destroys the three worlds... and Askin can't think of anyone other than Juhabach that can do it. It's just curiousity. 

Urahara counters it very quickly, although thankfully we don't get a repeat of the Urahara/Mayuri spiel about scientists and experimentation -- just a note that a proper scientist, even if they are curious, wouldn't want to see it created by someone else's hand. 

The fight then continues, and I really like seeing Askin's glowing purple powers animated -- him flash-stepping backwards by moving in a zig-zag pattern on his little circle-and-line patterns, or expanding one of his bracelets into a chakram to blind Urahara, is all quite neat. Askin talks about the destructive potential of his Gift Ring, blinds Urahara... and Urahara summons his Bankai at last, the creepy giant doll that is Kannon-Biraki Benihime Aratame. 

They didn't really change too much about Benihime Aratame here, still depicting her as a giant puppet that appears and disappears as it modifies Urahara's body. I do like the way that she crawls out of the void that Urahara summons her out of. Benihime Aratame slices up Askin's arm a bit (a la Sticky Fingers from JoJo) and fixes Urahara's eyes. In a bit of a nice visual expansion of the original fight, we see more stitches appear and disappear, as Urahara's hand and later feet get split apart by Benihime Aratame and then stitched together -- giving him a boost in his sword swings and speed respectively. As Urahara is moving around, he's also trailing white stitches in the sky, as if he's skating -- which helps to later explain the 'left a line for Grimmjow to follow' thing. 

Askin summons a giant pole of his Deathdealing orbs and gets a bit angry that this fight has turned into a clash of brute force. Urahara uses Benihime Aratame to make stitches in the sky to split apart the Gift Balls, while Askin channels the full power of the Gift Ball Deluxe, creating bigger and bigger balls of poison (or, well, of deathdealing aura) while his staff gets nicely bigger. It's appropriately chaotic and spectacular, up until the big clash before Urahara zips away...

...and Grimmjow in his full Pantera form punches Askin from behind and tears his heart out. Again, due to the addition of the white stitch-lines in the anime, it's a bit more clear that Urahara is doing something to get Grimmjow back in. It's... again, it's still as sudden as the scene from the manga, but at least all the white stitches on the ground actually feel like Urahara is planning something instead of ass-pulling it. There's a nice art to that, showing random details that feel like it's flair and revealing that it's actually important, as opposed to just saying that "ha ha, I planned this all along". 

Urahara gives a bit of a monologue, noting that Arrancars can turn their reiatsu into Hollow powers, and Urahara thought 'it would be useful', so he prepared for perhaps needing to use that bit. Urahara then gives a badass speech about how he 'takes one thousand precautions, and if even one is successful', then he's happy. After all, they are at battle, and if you lose, you die. There's a very cool shot of Urahara's dead eyes as he says that, bereft of any of the gloating or comedy he's been doing these past two episodes. 

Grimmjow then interrupts Askin's final soliloquy by stabbing Askin again until he dies. Grimmjow then notes that the contract between the two of them is done (we still don't know the extent of this contract, whether it's just the healing or something more). As Askin dies, he apologizes because he notes that Gift Ball Deluxe would actually go haywire and be more powerful, since Askin himself is a bit of a coward and normally has a subconscious power limiter on Gift Ball Deluxe... but then as Askin dies, he also muses that Urahara probably prepared for this eventuality... as he subverts his catchphrase, and the Deathdealing goes haywire, Urahara and Grimmjow fall. 

It's a nice, fun exit for Askin. I've always felt like considering everything that's going on in the final set of battles Askin's fight really often doesn't get the respect it deserves since most discussion around this part of the story often centers around the fact that the Juhabach storyline is unresolved... but it is a pretty fun fight, and Askin himself is a fun little asshole. I like him. 

And as this happens, Neliel stands outside of Gift Bereich, noting that this is 'one of five possibilities' that Urahara told her would happen, and while we don't see it in this episode, clearly Urahara has left Neliel around as an exit route. 

Overall, again, we're rather rapidly going through the final couple of volumes, which is nice. I do really feel like the primary parts where the story isn't satisfying are the parts with Ichigo/Juhabach and Uryu/Haschwalth, and having their original fight from the final volume be wrapped up alongside the Askin and Gerald sequences is definitely a good sign for them revising and expanding on whatever's going to happen with the primary players of the series. 

Random Notes:

• Askin Nakk le Vaar -- he has twice the loyalty of a Pomeranian. As the owner of a couple of Pomeranians, they are, indeed, good dogs. 
  
• I know nothing about flower symbolism, but Bleach loves its flower symbolism. 
• In the cinematic showing of the first three episodes, it was noted to be especially jarring for the movie to jump straight from Askin's Hasshein reveal straight to the Orihime/Tatsuki civilian flashback. 
• Askin's lethal dose and Deathdealing ability is a bit weird, huh? I have known about his ability for near a decade now so it's not a huge surprise to me, but it would be a bit weird, and the 'no, you', 'no, you' sequence did feel a bit too much of an info-dump. 
• Lost in the whole discussion about everything is me having to appreciate Urahara actually thinking that not even Kurotsuchi Mayuri would want to see what Juhabach creates. 
• Benihime Aratame still looks like Unohana to me, I'm sorry. 
• Urahara notes that he has never used his Bankai around 'present company'. While he is exiled and probably wouldn't be under the Vandenreich's shadow-surveillance, surely Urahara would've used his Bankai at least once during the captain exams to confirm that he has a Bankai, right? 
• It is subtle and barely seen, but Urahara in the manga actually also does skate and move around on the stitches as well; it's just not as clear and most scenes show him already leaping off of the sky-stiches. 
• A nice detail is that as Askin lies dying, his Blut Vene actually goes a bit haywire around the hole that Grimmjow punches through, as if Askin reflexively had tried to block the assault but failed.
• While Urahara monologuing about the Hollow reiatsu is appreciated, I kind of wish there was some more reaction about Hollow reiatsu being poison to Quincies, which would make the Arrancar and the Visored relevant. While the Visored next episode would prove fodder as usual (poor Visored!) I had thought that it would've been appropriate to hype up Grimmjow's big moment here. 
• In a nice touch, we get to see Benihime Aratame try to protect Urahara before dissipating. 

Digimon Reviews, Episode 62: Shoemon and Friends

We now cover more Digimon from the Liberator comic, particularly starring the secondary protagonist's partner, Shoemon! Some really fun ones in this one, and there are a couple that really surprised me on how much I ended up liking them. 

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Shoemon

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

Another one that shows up in Liberator, Shoemon is an adorable little puppet-style Digimon similar to many others in the past that I really like! Most recently, we've got Junkmon as another 'modern' take on the puppet Digimon. But Shoemon is perhaps one of the few that actually really embodies the 'sewing' aspects of these puppets. 

The 'mouse' part of Shoemon has a mismatched set of ears, with a chunk of its head being transplanted and sewn together from a different plushie, and one of its eyes being a button. Shoemon doesn't care, it is just happy to exist and to be holding that giant needle! The shoe itself has a cute zipper-mouth for its sole, eyes on either clasps, and huge bandage to show that it's also not a 'mint' shoe. 

Shoemon is noted to be a bit of a neat freak, not wanting to walk in sandy or muddy roads. Which makes sense. It is a shoe, and dirty shoes are annoying to clean! The soles of Shoemon allows it to move up and down walls and pillars. Shoemon also spits out sewing needles from its mouth (the shoe mouth, or the mouse mouth?) and stitches the enemy in place, Gulliver's Travels style. It can also leap up and launch the sole (lower jaw?) down at the enemy. Man, these new Digimon are fun! I like this one. When I saw the name of the Digimon I mentally groaned, but it's actually a surprisingly adorable one! 

 7/10.

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Shoeshoemon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Adult
• Type: Puppet
• Attribute: Virus

Not the most impressed with Adult-level Shoeshoemon, which feels a bit too mundane. It's just a squirrel with huge chunky roller blades, but the fact that the shoes are regular shoes instead of a monster shoe robs Shoeshoemon of a lot of its personality. There are some nice details like the safety pin earring, and having mismatched puppet parts for its arms and tail, but I'm just not feeling it. Also, every other member of the Shoemon line references a classic fairy tale (Shoemon: Elves and the Shoemaker; Chaperomon: Little Red Riding Hood; Cendrillmon: Cinderella; Nyabootmon: Puss in Boots) but I can't think of any squirrel-on-roller-blades fairy tale. So that's another point of it really feeling out of place. 

The gimmick of Shoeshoemon is that it has cheek pouches that can expand and carry things, but since it's also a puppet, it can also carry things in its empty plush body. I don't know. Looking at Shoemon, I expected its assigned evolution to be either cuter or weirder, but Shoeshoemon is just not my thing. 

 3/10.

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Chaperomon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Perfect
• Type: Puppet
• Attribute: Virus
  

Thankfully, its Perfect-level fixes a lot of what I didn't like in that it brings back a lot of the whimsiness of Shoemon. Chaperomon is a pastiche of Little Red Riding Hood, sure, but the main humanoid body is actually a puppet/doll, as you can see from its jointed fingers. Most adorably, its shoes are back to having faces, being stitched up adorable oversized slippers with the Big Bad Wolf's head and tongues sticking out. The best part of Chaperomon's design has to be that googly-eyed Mimic-style picnic basket with a little hand waving and a fanged mouth grinning. That basket is filled with sentient gummy bears. Or 'Mini Monzaemon Gummies'. 

....actually, is Chaperomon holding a molotov cocktail? Holy crap, that's awesome. 

Yeah, the profile explicitly states 'Apple For You' as Chaperomon's special move, where it launches an apple cider based Molotov cocktail. Haha! Other things that Chaperomon can do? It's got knives stocked on its feet, and it has a 'magnificent, ceaseless volley from the gatling gun in its basket'. I'm sorry, what?

Chaperomon's a cutie, but it is also based a bit on a more 'twisted' version of fairy tails without needlessly grimdarkifying it. Chaperomon is noted to have its joints bend in different directions since it's a puppet. It has a particular compulsion to hunt down Fangmon, and will ignore everything else to take down Fangmons... because Fangmon explicitly has 'Big Bad Wolf data' in it. Which, by the way, is fully canon in its profile. Fangmon evolved with fairy tale data! 

I was almost ready to dismiss this design, but the more I look at it, the more I read the profile, the more I like Pinocchimon's less-psycho little sister! I didn't expect to really like any member of Shoemon's evolutoins as much as this, but this creepy whimsy puppet is basically ticking all  the boxes of being creepy-cute. 

 8/10.

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Cendrillmon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: Puppet
• Attribute: Virus

Shoemon's original Ultimate takes a different approach with fairy tails, being Cendrillmon, based on the French reading of Cinderella (Cendrillon). Cendrillmon's just an ice lady with a fancy leotard and dress, and one of those Digimon-style masks that covers the eyes. The shoes part, actually, fits this myth as well since Cinderella famously lost her glass shoe... only here, Cendrillmon's shoes have morphed into thigh-high ice blade-stockings. That's a twist all right!

Cendrillmon lives in volcanic regions instead of the expected icy ones, and holds 'balls' to look for its 'prince'. However, those balls are fighting tournaments. All right. If it finds its candidates unworthy, it uses a clock (a gigantic ice grandfather clock it lugs around as a bazooka!) to unleash a laser beam that eradicates these failures, a fun twist on the original fairy tale. 

But the best part of Cendrillmon's design isn't herself, but her little army of minions. Puppet minions, actually fitting with Shoemon's theme! Cendrillmon's got an army of little chibi rat-people that resemble the puppet Tyutyumon (Chuuchuumon), and flying puppet birds that drop bombs, maybe patterned after Mailbirdramon? Whatever the case, Cendrillmon comes with her own army of servitors, and being puppets, they are willing to jump into pumpkin carriage shaped bombs and blow themselves up as 'Noble Familiars'. This, by the way? This is a demonstration of "token" mechanics in a TCG, which is quite amazing.

When not functioning as their mistress's minions, they go around dropping glass slippers to strong Digimon to look for potential 'prince' candidates. Those glass slippers, by the way, instantly teleport strong candidates to Cendrillmon's castle, Dragon Ball tournament style. 

'Anime lady searching for a groom' is a bit of a tired trope, but combining it with everything else around Cendrillmon does make this a surprisingly interesting Digimon. On visual first impressions alone, I most certainly didn't expect me to be rating Cendrillmon and Chaperomon higher than the bee, so kudos on those that wrote the profiles for these two! 

 8/10.

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Nyabootmon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: Puppet
• Attribute: Virus

The 'super' Ultimate that Shoemon unlocks later on is Nyabootmon here. Nyabootmon is a riff on 'Puss in Boots', which makes sense for a combination of fairy tales and shoes... but rather disappointingly Nybootmon is just a cat with huge, chunky, and non-sentient shoes. The official profile describes it as a 'puppet', but other than some bandages around its arm, there really isn't anything puppet-like about it; nothing in its profile noting that it's a puppet. It sure has Tailmon's ears. 

Its personality is what you'd expect from a Puss in Boots parody. It is over-the-top and hammy, which can be overbearing...  but ultimately is a champion of justice. I don't have much of an opinion on this, if Nyabootmon ever shows up in an anime and get a voice actor I might be more amenable to it, but otherwise it sure is a puss in boots. I never give high points if the adaptation is straightforward without trying to make it feel like a Digimon. 

 3/10.

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Landramon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Adult
• Type: Mineral
• Attribute: Virus

So one of the main characters would use a Sunarizamon as her partner. Back when I reviewed it for the first time, I noted how Sunarizamon had a bunch of potential Adult-level Digimon that it seemed to evolve to, including Baboongamon, Golemon and Tortomon... but Liberator gave a full line designed to play around Sunarizamon's sandy monster vibe. And Landramon, after more than two decades, finally fills up the trio of Seadramon, Airdramon and Landramon! It's not quite the same, sure, but Landramon even has a mask and a somewhat serpentine body if you squint. 

Landramon is quite cute. It's just a giant pile of sand, with its anatomy being made of a massive mound with the Sunarizamon helmet stuck and forming the upper jaw; and a tail made up of sand emerging behind it. Landramon's got a bunch of drill-spikes both running down its spine and also making up its fingers. I really do like the artwork of that yawning sand mouth!

The official profile describes Landramon as commanding small packs of Sunarizamon, using vibrations transmitted through sand. It despises water since it weakens its sandy body, and creates quicksand with its massive form. Pretty cool! 

 8/10.

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Proganomon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Perfect
• Type: Mineral
• Attribute: Virus

All those drills are carried over to the new Perfect-level Proganomon, which drops everything to do with sand and is... a giant turtle kaiju. Okay? It's a very cool looking beastie, and I particularly love its face with the threatening metal underbite and fangs. Proganomon's shell is massive and riddled with giant drills, and even its tail is a flexible drill. Proganomon's arms also end in massive drill-fingers.

Proganomon goes through bedrocks in desert regions, accidentally causing earthquakes as it moves through the ground. Proganomons can also retract their body into the shell, and expel sand like a massive exhaust to propel itself. There's not really a whole ton to say other than that since its profile is pretty bare, but I really appreciate the monstrousness of this desert kaiju. And while it's the only level in Liberator's Sunarizamon line that breaks the 'sand creature' theme, it's still a monster that explicitly lives in the desert. Can't fault it for that.

 8/10.

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Pyramidimon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: Mineral
• Attribute: Virus

Oh wow, okay,  that is cool. Pyramidimon is a giant hulking 'sand elemental' that emerges waist-first from an upturned pyramid, and everything else around its body features either pyramids, ruins, or Egyptian-style regalia. I love the broken chains and the ruin pillars giving the vibe of chains around its arms, and I really like the hulking proportions and golden mask. 

And yes, the jokes do write themselves. This is a trading card game from a Japanese series, so the Yu-Gi-Oh references is inevitable... but honestly, even if the concept is new, Pyramidimon's silhouette does resemble the hunched-over, partly-chained look of Exodia, doesn't it? Normally I'd call it a coincidence, but since Pyramidimon seems to be designed specifically for the card game and tie-in fiction... 

Separate from all the card game stuff, Pyramidimon is described as a monster always surrounded by a sandstorm and keeps ordinary Digimon away with the weather itself. Pyramidimon actually would sleep and camouflage itself as a pyramid, making it somewhat similar to a hermit crab... only instead of a crab, it's a gigantic sand monster. It has gained high intelligence and power due to absorbing the ancient data stored within ruins.

A very cool design, and honestly feels quite epic in general. In addition to their starring role in Liberator as the partner of one of the characters, Close, the Sunarizamon line up to Pyramidmon also makes an appearance in the Beatbreak anime as a partner Digimon. Not bad for our little sandy lizard friend!

 9/10.

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Magneticdramon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: Rock Dragon
• Attribute: Virus

Mmm, not the biggest fan of Sunarizamon's alternate Ultimate. I get the idea that it goes on a different vibe of 'mineral' Digimon by highlighting magnetic ores, and in the manga there's something about the bonds between people being as strong as magnets. That's neat and all. I like the horseshoe magnet tail, and the different positive and negative poles on Magneticdramon's arm-pillars, as well as those two coiling half-dragon heads. I just... don't really feel this thing? It looks impressive, sure, a mass of electrically-charred sand/rock with armours of black rock around it. I just think I find Pyramidimon a lot cooler, I guess? Which has been most of my reactions towards a vast majority of the alternate Ultimates. They're not bad designs in and of their own, but I just like them a bit less than the 'default'. 

Magneticdramon, as noted, doesn't really have a proper body but is just a mass of electrical energy holding together a bunch of other metal. Its presence wreaks havoc with the Digital World and causes volcanic and seismic activity. I do like that its abilities involve sci-fi magnetic abilities, like using its magnetic abilities to pull enemies closer; or to accelerate and launch the ores on its body like a railgun; or to create a massive magnetic field to render enemies unconscious by messing with their heart impulses digicore. 

It's still a cool giant magnetic dragon, but I think Liberators and New Century has been spoiling me with so many good designs!

 7/10.

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PolarBearmon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Perfect
• Type: Ice-Snow
• Attribute: Vaccine

I'm sorry, Yukidarumon gets a new Perfect? That's unexpected! I've always thought that Yukidarumon looked like a teddy-bear snowman, and PolarBearmon essentially takes Yukidarumon's basic design and gives it a bunch of ski outfits. I like that the actual ski-sleds and those ski-poles are made out of PolarBearmon's own ice-elemental powers. And just to make it not just a cartoon animal in clothes, PolarBearmon's got a backpack with two big honking cannons. As you do, when you go skiing. PolarBearmon is actually a bit of a menace, zipping into the dens of Mojyamon and Hyogamon and causing trouble for them. 

One thing that I don't particularly like about PolarBearmon is that I wished it didn't have a mouth, to make the resemblance to Yukidarumon a bit more obvious, but that face does make it look as an equally natural-looking Perfect form for Chackmon (or Kumamon for Frontier dub lovers), doesn't it? This isn't the usual type of design that I like, but I do appreciate how goofy it looks. 

 6/10, bonus one point because I like Yukidarumon. 

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Skadimon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: Ice-Snow
• Attribute: Vaccine

PolarBearmon's Ultimate form is Skadimon, who is based on the Nordic goddess of ice and winter (and, yes, skiing) in Nordic myths, but it's not just a straight-up 'let's draw this mythological figure in Digimon style'. No, Skadimon is a goofy snowman-jester-king figure, with an adorable bubble head and giant, exaggerated ski-blades on his shoes. That crystal bubble head is easily my favourite feature, because what seems from the distance to be a pair of glasses and a Mr. Monopoly mustache is actually a tiny happy Digimon head! It's PolarBearmon's head, or, divorced from a neck, a YukimiBotamon with a mouth!

So the idea is that Skadimon is actually one of those 'super-compressed' higher stage in the vein of the Mamemons, but it's manipulating a massive snowman (or, well, ice-man) body that also happens to be dressed in a jester-king's outfit. The profile even calls it a 'powered suit made of ice'. 

Skadimon rules over ice realms (the profile describes a single one ruling over 'Thrymheimr') and that realm is also surrounded by a protective snow-globe made of ice. Skadimon is of course usually happy and jolly, but can manipulate ice walls and illusions within its snow globe 'domain'. Normally Skadimon just summons exploding ice snowmen or giant snow fists, but when it's really angry, it is still an Ultimate and the globe will break and unleash a gigantic avalanche to bury its enemies. A fun, creative monster design and I really enjoyed reading its profile! Alongside FrosVelgrmon from a couple of entries back, this is a nice fill-in for Ice-themed Ultimates! 

 7/10. 

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Oblivimon

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

Oh! This one is a cute one. It's just a big UFO with three Doctor Octopus tentacles, what appears to be a classic old-school sci-fi brain in a glass dome on its head, and two depressions with orbs that resemble eyes. And Oblivimon's got a couple of tiny UFO babies with Kuramon eyes! That's adorable. Debuting in Liberator, Oblivimon is assigned as the Perfect-level evolution of HoverEspimon from Ghost Game, and I like this brain-UFO much, much more than the awkwardness of that design. 

Oblivimon even has some really cool lore in addition to just being a UFO Digimon, so much that I wonder if this plotline was originally intended to be in Ghost Game and its focus on the occult. An Oblivimon's presence is heralded by other Digimon having their memories and behaviour becoming erratic, before ultimately capturing their prey with their tentacles. Oblivimon's victims will have their memories absorbed from within, transformed into data and consumed by Oblivimon. The resulting abductee is tossed away, alive but amnesiac. It's a great combination of the idea of alien abduction victims losing their memories... but also playing it up with how a 'digital monster' would behave! That's cool.

Oblivimon's little Keramon-looking buddies are 'hemispheric remote terminals' that it sends out to investigate narrow spaces it cannot penetrate, able to attack and spy in tandem. I normally don't mention attacks, but one of Oblivimon's attacks is 'Waste Abduction', which sends huge amounts of trash data into the brains of its enemies to incapacitate them.

Very neat! I like this one. In addition to being a great evolution for the Espimons, I also feel like this UFO would hang out well with other alien-themed Digimon like Vademon or Bemmon. 

 8/10.

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Invisimon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: Cyborg
• Attribute: Virus

I had originally reviewed Oblivimon and Invisimon in completely separate articles, because I didn't even realize they were tie-ins to each other. Oops! It really does show how little connection Invisimon has with Espimon, HoverEspimon and Oblivimon. I had described it as a 'random Ultimate-level robot', and with the context that it's the final form of a UFO-themed evolutionary line, it gets even more disappointing.

Invisimon's design is a very basic 'protagonist mecha' from a Transformers or Gundam ripoff, with bright primary colours and a cape. That's not particularly interesting. What's interesting, however, is the fact that it's remodelled to be a camouflage expert. Despite what this normally implies, Invisimon itself is a rowdy and aggressive combatant who's difficult to control, and uses its invisibility more to cause chaos and a massive distraction while its allies, the Crack Team, infiltrates and hacks enemy bases. Okay. 

The most memorable and redeeming feature about Invisimon, however, is that it wields a whole B2 stealth bomber as a boomerang-cum-bladed-weapon. Because he's a stealth operative, that's why his weapon is stealthy! Genius! And also alive, and also a sidekick. I'm otherwise unenthused about this thing, but Stealthwing the little stealth jet friend gets some points. 

(I probably should've reviewed these two with the Liberator cast; or with Espimon itself... but they also serve as a nice token bridge between Ghost Game and the video games/TCG Digimon). 

 2/10. Only for Stealth Wing.