Reviewing 5E D&D Monsters - 5E Adventure Modules, Pt 4 (Critical Role)

Love it or hate it, the 'live-play' show Critical Role is certainly not the first group to think of streaming their Dungeons & Dragons campaign for an audience. But they are most certainly the first one with high-profile voice actors and one that was immensely successful due to the dynamics within the players, the abilities of professional voice actors to improv, and the amazing worldbuilding done in the world of Exandria over three campaigns. 

At the time of writing this update, Critical Role is a fair bit into its fourth campaign, a soft reboot with a rotating cast -- and in contrast, I first reviewed the monsters in their setting guide Explorer's Guide to Wildemount when its second campaign ended in 2020. Time flies. I had enjoyed Critical Role since then, consuming so much of their content throughout the past couple of years. They've quite literally been my companions throughout so many exercise sessions.

Since then, under the banner of official 5th Edition rules, Critical Role have also released an adventure: Call of the Netherdeep. While they were released a couple of books apart in the official release order, I've decided to merge the two together here since there are a fair bit of reprinted monsters in the latter. (Critical Role, independent of Wizards of the Coast, have also published a bunch of 5th Edition compatible books which have their own bestiaries, but if I do those they'll be in a separate article -- I'm just trying to get through most of the 5E content first). 

I am iffy about doing reviews for a lot of the crossover content, but Critical Role feels like it's designed to be used alongside D&D and a lot of their monsters have a very strong 'insertable in any D&D world' flair, if you know what I mean? You can see any of these appearing without needing to import the trappings of Exandria, with minimal lore adjustments, in Faerun or Eberron or whatever. 

As usual, my disclaimer with these 'refurbished' D&D 5th Edition reviews stand -- I'm only reviewing monsters that I have something to talk about, and will not talk about 'NPC' or 'job' statblocks, as well as the named characters (including bosses!) which had really caused me to struggle to find something to talk about in my initial reviews. 

And speaking of my original, pre-2020 reviews... this marks the last of my 'rewritten' D&D 5th Edition articles! I am quite satisfied. A bulk of the work went to the three primary bestiary books (Monster Manual, Volo's and Mordenkainen's) of course, but I am actually quite happy with how much more streamlined the compilations for the adventures are! I'm particularly happy that I got to remake some of the articles that gave me so much burnout back in the day. I don't think I'll redo the MTG crossovers -- mostly because I plan to continue reviewing MTG stuff, eventually, but also because I think I can do the rest of the 5E adventures in two to three more articles. Maybe I'll finish rewriting player races at some point. But then we're jumping all the way back in time to 2nd Edition as I break down the AD&D Monstrous Manual! 

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

[Originally reviewed in 2020, revised in June 2026]

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Aeorian Absorber

• Large Monstrosity; Neutral Evil; CR 10
• Debut: Explorer's Guide to Wildemount (2020)

Most of the creatures that debuted in Explorer's Guide to Wildemount are either creatures that have appeared before in Critical Role, or would be relevant in the then-current final arc for the second campaign. These 'Aeorian Hunters' are one such pre-emptive monsters, and I remembered finding how cool it was when I've seen the monsters' statblocks in the book, and then hearing them described in the live play. 

The Aeorian Hunters are artificial lifeform created by mages in the flying city of Aeor, specifically bred to battle angels, demons, fey and even the gods themselves. They are biological monstrosities created by horrible experimentation on beasts and humanoids. Aeor itself would crash during the expansive backstory of this world, but their anti-magic monstrosities remain in the ruins of Aeor. They are immortal and designed for war, and have been driven insane and violent in the intervening years. However, I also like that the backstory is quite 'generic-fantasy' enough that you can swap in the Aeorian Hunters into any setting and call them the creation of a mad wizard or a mage city like... oh, Dalaran or the Netherese Empire, and they would fit.

I like that the Aeorian Hunters were specifically noted to have 'brightly-coloured flesh' due to the experimentation. Not all creepy monsters need to be dour! 

We're going by alphabetical order, and the Aeorian Absorber is the second-strongest of the three Hunters. It's a bright red-and-blue creature that's described as 'some sort of canine or feline', but it's got a tail that extends into a gigantic eyeball. I like that the Absorber doesn't actually have real eyes on its head, just flat flesh. All the Aeorians have resistance to radiant and necrotic, as well as resistance to magic. The Aeorian Absorber, as its name implies, will absorb half of any spell launched at it, and then unleash that energy in eye-blasts through its tail. Very cool! Very Legend of Zelda, I feel. 

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Aeorian Nullifier

• Large Monstrosity; Neutral Evil; CR 12
• Debut: Explorer's Guide to Wildemount (2020)

The most powerful of the three Aeorian Hunters is the Nullifier, which has a humanoid form... and looks like a ghoulish lizard-person with long arms, but with a torso and abdomen filled with fanged mouths. Nasty! The Aeorian Nullifier attacks with its many fangs and claws, as well as the 'horrid gnashing' that can stun or frighten other creatures. But when fighting mages, the Aeorian Nullifier shows off its little list of anti-magic spells... Counterspell and Dispel Magic to break spells, Detect Magic and See Invisibility to go around stealth and illusion, and even Antimagic Field to prevent spells from being casted. It's pretty much an MTG Blue player!

Of course, the one saving grace is that Aeorian Nullifiers and its other hunter kin are technically stuck in the destroyed ruins of Aeor (or your campaign-appropriate ancient ruins), and live alongside its fellow hunters -- and they know each other well enough not to harm one another. But the flavour also gives some nice potential plotlines, noting that there are rumours of a magical control device for these mighty anti-magic monstrosities, and regardless of whether the device exists or not, that would be probably something of high interest for a society so steeped in magic like any D&D setting. 

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Aeorian Reverser

• Large Monstrosity; Neutral Evil; CR 8
• Debut: Explorer's Guide to Wildemount (2020)

The weakest of the Aeorian Hunters is the Reverser, who is also visually the most boring, a bright-green dog-headed brute guy. And it is the brute of the three Aeorian Hunters. The Reverser's little gimmick is that it reverses healing done, nullifying healing and dealing force damage instead to the creature. That's a dick move! I guess healers are also spellcasters, though.

I don't have much to really say about the Reverser; I really do think that its appearance could've done more to communicate the idea of something that's anti-healing-magic. The gimmick is interesting, but I wished for a bit more in terms of thematic cohesion.  

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Core Spawn Crawler

• Small Aberration; Chaotic Evil; CR 1
• Debut: Explorer's Guide to Wildemount (2020)

The Core Spawn! Surprisingly, the Core Spawn has never appeared or alluded to in the many, many Critical Role episodes, which is surprising! They really do scratch the itch of a strange, Lovecraftian horror species -- something that I actually expected from the Call of the Netherdeep adventure below but didn't really get. The Core Spawn are really weird and bug-themed, so I absolutely love them. 

The lore given to us about the Core Spawn ties them to the Elder Evils, who manifest in the Material Plane through 'exploiting the unfathomable energy and darkness found in the world's depths'. They infest a particular region of Exandria called 'Blightshore', and anyone who explores there often return mind-wracked shells of their former selves, babbling about twisting labyrinths and malevolent nests. When cataclysmic, seismic events happen, and cultists hasten the events, are right Core Spawns sometimes pour up from where they are slumbering deep in the earth. 

I like this idea. I like that these aren't exactly creatures that breach in from the Far Realm like the Beholders or Star Spawn, but are dark things that are left buried deep beneath the earth, who emerge when the stars and signs are right. 

The Core Spawn Crawler is the smallest and the weakest, scurrying through the labyrinthine depths with their four strange hooked legs, their long tails, and probably biting anything in their path with that bug-like mouth. There's a vague Tyranid or Xenomorph vibe to them for sure, but also enough to set it apart. I like that they look insectoid enough while still looking so wrong, with fleshy parts and an inherent wrongness of how the anatomy is. As the weakest Core Spawn, these ones are just melee scrappers with pack tactics and an immunity to psychic damage. 

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Core Spawn Emissary

• Medium Aberration; Neutral Evil; CR 6
• Debut: Explorer's Guide to Wildemount (2020)

The Emissary is much cooler. On a brief glance, it's 'just' a wasp-person. But the longer you look, the weirder it gets! That face is easily the weirdest part of the design, looking more like a wasp's nest instead of a head. It's got a bunch of hollowed-out chambers above what I assume is a proboscis. Two sets of arms are traditional insect-monster bone-scythes, but its 'legs' point in a really weird reverse-direction.

The Emissaries serve as assassins and sentinels, and they expel crystalline spores from those tubes in their heads. These crystal spores deal damage when inhaled, which is... not what I expect 'crystal spores' to do. It just deals poison, which isn't the most interesting thing! I expected some kind of weird rock disease or something. But okay. The Emissary also has an 'alluring thrum' that charms those around it, but it's a bit less interesting. The crystals tie to the 'core' and 'rock' part of these subterranean eldritch bugs. 

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Core Spawn Seer

• Medium Aberration; Chaotic Evil; CR 13
• Debut: Explorer's Guide to Wildemount (2020)

Going a bit weirder is the Core Spawn Seer. These are the least traditionally insectoid, and that's because they are humanoid arcanists that are corrupted! You can still see a bit of a humanoid figure in a tattered cloak, but its lower body has degenerated into a mass of scuttling bug-like legs... except they are actually arms, which make it creepier. Crystal mases grow erratically across the Seer's body, and its head is probably the coolest part, having degenerated into an oblong mass embedded with crystals. Or are those eyes? The flavour text says that they are 'horrible protrusions of fluorescent crystals', so does it just not have a face anymore? The end result is quite interesting, a weird silhouette that looks like something out of Dark Souls. 

The Core Spawn Seer has been 'ravaged by otherworldly radiation and disease'. Okay! It has a bunch of interesting abilities that the more 'natural' insect Core Spawn don't have, like the ability to glide through the earth, a resistance to magic, the ability to launch psychedelic orbs that cause random effects, and a strange 'fuse damage' that lets it negate damage and then unleash radiant damage on the next turn. 

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Core Spawn Worm

• Gargantuan Aberration; Chaotic Evil; CR 15
• Debut: Explorer's Guide to Wildemount (2020)

And the final and most powerful Core Spawn is... a giant worm. It always comes back to a giant worm! Love the art of this thing, though, where the body of the giant worm seems to be made up of a mass of dark tendrils that can break apart into masses of tentacles that are tearing into the adventurers fighting it. Its head is also not just a huge lamprey mouth, but rather a mass of tentacles surrounding an inner, almost reptilian mouth -- that red bit isn't the inside of its mouth, but rather its head! What a 'toothy maw'. The flavour text notes that this Core Spawn Worm's body is 'composed of primordial lava, perpetually on the verge of hardening into solid rock'. Which is probably why it can move around and coil around, while also tying into the 'earth's core' gimmick. 

In addition to being a giant worm that destroys and swallows prey, the Core Spawn Worm is also able to unleash explosions of damage whenever it is hit by radiant damage. Wouldn't you know, the Seer can deal radiant damage! It's a bit similar to the Star Spawn Hulk from Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes being able to reflect its allies' attacks, which is a nice little consistency among aberrations. 

Ultimately I do feel like they could've done a bit more in highlighting the 'born from the planet's core' aspect of it beyond the visuals and some descriptions of crystals and lava, but I still like these weird eldritch bugs nonetheless! 

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Frost Worm

• Gargantuan Monstrosity; Unaligned; CR 17
• Debut: Explorer's Guide to Wildemount (2020)

Appearing in both the first and second campaigns, the Frost Worm is actually adapted from 3.5E's Monster Manual! Particularly in the first campaign, Critical Role made a fair amount of use of 3E and 4E monsters, and the Frost Worm showed up in a cool sequence alongside a Purple Worm. Standing at a CR 17 with the 5th Edition rules, the Frost Worm is slightly more powerful than a Purple Worm, and the stat blocks feel inspired by it -- with the addition of frost damage to its bites, a frosty aura around it, and the ability to emit a haunting 'trilling' that stuns them. 

I like the artwork, too. The original 3E Frost Worm is a bit more unique, with a triangular head-ridge and a pair of pincer fangs, but the 5E Frost Worm does look like a relative of the Purple Worm... with its 'inner body' even being coloured purple and the artwork making it look like it's a Purple Worm that's grown or evolved the frosty white carapace and bristles around it. 

Just like other big wormy enemies like the Purple Worm or the Remorhaz, the Frost Worm spends most of its time hiding underground, conserving energy until it detects foolish prey walking overhead with its tremorsense, upon which it bursts out and tries to eat them. I've always felt like the Frost Worm was a bit redundant because of the aforementioned Purple Worm and Remorhaz, and I can see why post-3E editions eliminate it from the base bestiary... but I am happy to see them represented in 5th Edition for sure. 

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Gearkeeper Construct

• Large Construct; Unaligned; CR 10
• Debut: Explorer's Guide to Wildemount (2020)

Named a 'Gear Warden' in the actual campaign, the Gearkeeper Construct is a large construct whose primary shape is a sphere... but is like a swiss-army knife! The artwork shows it scuttling on blades, using them like beetle legs; while a bunch more blades poke out of its upper half. But it can also do a bunch of other things, like launch spears or unleash a cone of shrapnel blast. They can also roll up into a ball to quickly navigate corridors, before entering a combative state to shred whatever unlucky intruder they happen to find. 

These Gearkeeper Constructs were designed by ancient tinkerers and mage-engineers in the same 'Age of Arcanum' that those Aeorian Hunters were created, and were similarly left behind in ancient ruins. There's definitely some Skyrim Dwemer inspiration that goes into these things, which isn't a bad thing to reference.

And just like Skyrim, in the world of Exandria, the recovered parts of the Gearkeeper Constructs have been reverse-engineered by modern tinkerers (those dang gnomes!) to make modernized versions of it, which could be used in prisons or by fancy collectors. 

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Gloomstalker

• Large Monstrosity; Neutral Evil; CR 6
• Debut: Explorer's Guide to Wildemount (2020)

Very much a recurring creature that show up a lot particularly in the first campaign, the Gloomstalker's visuals are quite simple. It's a giant 'shadow wyvern', and its ability involves it being able to teleport within shadows, being able to unleash a paralyzing shriek, and also being sensitive to sunlight. The Gloomstalkers hail from the cursed lands of Shadowfell, being some of the apex airborne predators of the place. 

The Gloomstalkers in the wild hunt in packs (called 'frenzies') to tear apart prey together, but they are most commonly utilized as mounts. Originally employed by worshippers of the evil Betrayer Gods, the cool giant shadow-wyverns have been utilized by even some of our heroes' allies. It's not the most original creature, but also one that I feel fits neatly as a not-too-derivative monster, and I've always felt like the Shadowfell needed a fair bit more expansion. And shadow-wreathed wyverns that emit paralyzing screeches are neat enough. 

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Horizonback Tortoise

• Gargantuan Monstrosity; Unaligned; CR 8
• Debut: Explorer's Guide to Wildemount (2020)

Love these guys. The Horizonback Tortoises are just really, really big tortoises, which really isn't super interesting, but I really love the idea of these slow-moving gentle giants having entire houses or even mini-villages on their back. The rough-and-tumble settlements look great, and the Horizonback Tortoises keep showing up both in the campaign as well as in the different Critical Role books. 

I really love the artwork and the idea of people making settlements atop giant, slow-moving tortoises. It's not quite the 'turtle island' that often crop up in media, but it's neat enough and I love the idea of these mobile caravans of tortoises picking up entire houses and facilitating a nomadic tribe to wander across deserts and plains. 

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Moorbounder

• Large Beast; Unaligned; CR 1 (regular), 3 (Bristled)
• Debut: Explorer's Guide to Wildemount (2020)

This one shows up a lot, too. The Moorbounders are large panthers with massive tusks, and the eyes of goats. Again, like the Gloomstalkers, they were originally introduced to give a unique mount -- particularly utilized to get through marshes and swamps. They're one of those monsters that are just a regular real-world animal with a few extra weird features... and that's fine. I guess early on, Critical Role's DM Matthew Mercer didn't want to go too wild with his original monsters? But it's fine; all settings have their own simple 'slightly different real-world animal'. Almost every D&D 5E adventure does that, in fact, except they usually go for creatures that can be turned into familiars. 

Moorbounders come in two variants, the regular and the Bristled Moorbounder. The Bristled variants are less suitable for mounts, being covered with blade-like bristles that they can use to slice up its prey. 

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Nergaliid & Husk Zombie

• Large Fiend (Devil); Lawful Evil; CR 3 (Nergaliid)
• Medium Undead; Neutral Evil; CR 1 (Husk Zombie)
• Debut: Explorer's Guide to Wildemount (2020)

The first arc villain of the second campaign is the Nergaliid, or 'Devil Toad', who joins the ranks of 'evil frog/toad people' that has been a bit of a glut throughout Dungeons & Dragons. I've done this rant elsewhere, so I won't belabor the point, but it is a bit of a pet peeve that there are so many other animal inspirations out there!

The Nergaliid is quite cool. These devils stalk the edges of society, feeding on the life force of sleeping humanoids. They try to stalk the same prey nightly, besetting them with nightmares and keeping them alive just to be a food source. The Nergaliid that our heroes fight was masquerading as part of a traveling circus, which gives it a convenient cover. When discovered, a Nergaliid tries to strike a deal with whoever uncovered it, in exchange for silence and freedom from torment. But if it has to battle, the Nergaliid will fight like the devil toad that it is... and anyone that the Nergaliid fully drains the life of turns into a Husk Zombie.

Husk Zombies are a bit different in that they aren't the 'shambling, brains brains' zombie like the ones described in the Monster Manual. Rather, they are the fast, charging zombies of Resident Evil or Night of the Living Dead, and whoever is slain by a Husk Zombie also becomes a Husk Zombie -- in typical zombie apocalypse fashion. There are also Husk Zombie 'Bursters' that explode when they die, in typical video game fashion. 

I really kind of wished that there was a bit more cohesion in the themes! The night-feeding and the zombie-plague-making are both cool features for sure, and I really like the idea of a fiend that stalks and insidiously feeds on the same prey over and over again. But I felt like there could have been a better cohesion between the themes explored here, particularly the fact that this is a devil -- the type of fiend that normally has a specific goal of creating deals in mind. It's not a bad monster, but one that I felt would've worked better as an independent fiend. 

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Sea Fury

• Medium Fey; Chaotic Evil; CR 12
• Debut: Explorer's Guide to Wildemount (2020)

Critical Role portrays Fey quite well, and I'm surprised we didn't get more of a Fey presence in its tie-in books. The Sea Fury is a nice one, filling in the gap back in 2020 when the Hags had super-cool lore but not much in terms of impressive stat-blocks. Doing this review a half-decade later, we now have the Arch-hags in the 5.5E Monster Manual and a bunch of named Hags in the Witchlight adventure, but I respect the Sea Fury a lot. 

With a pretty cool name, a Sea Fury is an elite version of the otherwise-weak Sea Hag. Sea Hags that form massive covens to fight a threat often fall upon themselves, and the victor of the infighting would transform into a Sea Fury after absorbing the power of her once-sisters. A Sea Fury acts as one of the minor antagonists in the second campaign (which has a fair share of nautical elements to it). 

The statblock isn't super special compared to the other hags, but it is a very nice thematic one that has a lot of thematic fear and water-related abilities. Most cool is one of her lair actions, which has her summon the ghosts of dead pirates and sailors that haunt its lairs as Specter minions. Love the regional effects caused by a Sea Fury's presence too, which involves seaweed morphing into grasping limbs, while regular crabs and octopi mutate into intelligent, giant sentries.

Of note is that I am skipping a bunch of monsters that are just... 'variants of old monsters'. Since the Sea Fury is a variant of Sea Hag, I'll cover them quickly here. we've got a 'Shadowghast', which is a stealthy ghast. And to tie in to the nautical theme, we've got 'elite' versions of the Merrow and the Sahuagin, with the Sahuagin being a Warlock of local deep-sea eldritch horror Uk'otoa. They're neat, but I don't have much to say beyond that.

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Swavain Basilisk

• Huge Monstrosity; Unaligned; CR 7
• Debut: Explorer's Guide to Wildemount (2020)

Again, at this point of 5E's history, we don't actually have a proper 'sea serpent' statblock -- with the Swavain Basilisk here having a full year of publication history before Fizban gave us a Sea Serpent. As someone that likes to classify monsters in my head, I am not the biggest fan of calling it a 'Basilisk' since it's confusing with the actual dinosaurian, six-legged reptile Basilisk. But from a worldbuilding perspective, I like the idea that the same word is attributed to two completely different monsters. 

The Swavain Basilisk is basically just a big sea serpent, and the 'basilisk' part comes from its slimy secretions being able to petrify those that come into contact with it. That's a bit unexpected, but I suppose that's what makes the Swavain Basilisk so dangerous, I suppose. Like the land-based Basilisk, a Swavain Basilisk's secreted oil can be collected to create an alchemical antivenom. 

The Swavain Basilisk is noted to be a 'cousin' of its land-bound namesakes, which I find a bit hard to believe, but also magic exists, so okay. The Swavain Basilisk petrifies sailors in the ships that it wrecks en masse, creating large 'ocean gardens of statues' that the Swavain Basilisk uses as a food larder. The flavour text also suggests that they might travel up and end up in inland waterways or subterranean sewer systems. Must be a really big sewer... which makes sense, considering how big sewers get in the fantasy setting. 

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Udaak

• Gargantuan Fiend; Neutral Evil; CR 16
• Debut: Explorer's Guide to Wildemount (2020)

A bit of a recurring creature in Critical Role -- albeit more of a background description -- Udaaks are giant, four-armed demon gorillas with a monstrous maw and four eyes. Its head also looks a bit 'stony'. It's basically a badass version of the Girallon we've seen elsewhere in Dungeons & Dragons. Standing at a mighty CR 16, the Udaak is only slightly weaker than the iconic giant demon, the Goristro. Which is classified as 'huge' instead of 'gargantuan'. 

The Udaak is a lot dumber than the Goristro, though. These 'ox-gorillas' are solitary wanderers, and in the world of Exandria, many of them were left behind after an ancient cosmic war left them there. With no more connection to the Abyss, the remaining Udaaks just wander the world, titanic beings that slowly scavenge for food as they move and crush anything in their wake. However, in the time of Critical Role, the Udaaks have been enslaved by magical collars used by the mostly-Drow Kryn Empire, and used as siege engines and war mounts in their war against the Dwendalians. 

Overall, it's a pretty cool, if relatively simple, giant demon monster!

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Alyxian Aboleth

• Large Aberration; Lawful Evil; CR 12
• Debut: Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep (2022)

A significant chunk of the 'Call of the Netherdeep' adventure takes place in underwater locations, and deep in the titular Netherdeep, an ancient demigod Alyxian has been imprisoned, slowly 'Golluming' between his inherent goodness and his selfish wrath, and has been corrupting the world around him. 

Even aberrations can be corrupted, and while I kind of wished for an eldritch campaign that starred greater Aboleths as the ultimate evil to be defeated (or at least as lieutenants of the Big Bad), I also recognize that it wouldn't fit the story this adventure is trying to tell. The Alyxian Aboleth has been corrupted to have the left side of its body warping to form a whorling mass of eyes, teeth and a nasty, parasitic mass of ruidium -- a plot device connected to campaign 3 and also Alyxian. 

Despite having a higher CR rating, the Alyxian Aboleth actually has a much less interesting statblock, swapping out some of its original abilities for ones that just do more psychic damage. Instead, the book actually utilizes the Alyxian Aboleth as this persistent threat that stalks the heroes through a part of the dungeon, causing parts of the dungeon to warp and change, and for strange whispers that foreshadow the real Alyxian's conflict to manifest in people's minds.

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Corrupted Giant Shark

• Huge Aberration; Unaligned; CR 9
• Debut: Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep (2022)

One of the first monsters you meet that show the strange corruption of the Ruidium is the Corrupted Giant Shark, which is a wonderfully-illustrated hammerhead shark with these grisly red-moon crystals and tendrils that trail behind the shark like a nasty fungal infection. The artwork is just pretty cool!

The ruidium corruption causes the shark to emit an aura of constant psychic damage around it, and it is also to regenerate from wounds, unless hit by radiant energy or critical hits. It's a cool artwork more than anything, although we don't actually get to see that many ruidium-corrupted creatures in this adventure. 

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Death Embrace

• Huge Aberration; Chaotic Evil; CR 11
• Debut: Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep (2022)

That's more like it! As we enter deep into the Netherdeep, we get to see some screwed-up, mutated sea life. The Death Embrace is a giant monstrous jellyfish-squid thing, with long grasping tentacles, a mass of veiny 'feeding' ones, and really wouldn't look out of place in a setting like Metroid or something. I like the pinky-purple colours as well!

The Death Embrace's feeding tentacles thrums with magic, while its 60-feet-long barbed tentacles does the titular 'death embrace', which is illustrated in that artwork. Those touched by the Death Embrace actually become petrified into statues, which... why not? It's a magical jellyfish. Interestingly, despite its name, the Death Embrace is highlighted to not be an aggressive predator, but rather prefers to do ambush tactics, and use the petrified statues of its other prey as shields to absorb attacks.

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Light Devourer

• Medium Aberration, Unaligned; CR 6
• Debut: Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep (2022)

Oh, this one is a cool concept. You could be forgiven for thinking that it's merely a monstrous, alien anglerfish. That alone would be cool enough -- the body looks a bit longer and the perspective is a bit tricky, but I think it's meant to be a longer fish, like an oarfish or an eel. It's got spikes all over its body, a massive beard of Cthulhu tentacles and veins, a glorious gaping maw, and I don't see any visible eyes but a lot of glowing pink spots that could be eyespots? 

But the Light Devourer's name comes from its ability to absorb light -- including radiant damage -- and that's how it generates its own light! That's different from real anglerfishes! And when the Light Devourer unleashes the energy it absorbs, the spines and teeth glow hot as it converts the stolen light into searing energy. It's such a fun and perhaps somewhat 'video-game-y' enemy concept, but I like the gimmick a lot. I like the idea of this monster absorbing light (which other creatures need in the dark abyss) which it can weaponize against its prey. That sounds like pretty fun fantasy-magic-creature biology to me. 

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Scuttling Serpentmaw

• Small Aberration; Unaligned; CR 4
• Debut: Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep (2022)

The Scuttling Serpentmaw is a fun one, a deep-sea craw with four claws (two near its mouth, and two longer ones), a really spiky body, and an alien pink worm bursting out of the center of its crab body. I love how alien this looks, while also still boiling down to 'crab fused with a snapping eel'. The artwork, again, is really nice!

The lore notes that Scuttling Serpentmaws lurk in crevasses and deep canyons, and normally the serpentine maw is hidden within the shell. When they see a prey, they unleash these serpentine appendages to tear into prey. Interestingly, the flavour text explicitly notes that the 'Scuttling' part isn't just decorative, these eel-crabs literally can't swim, and can only move around in seafloors and the sides of underwater caverns. I guess they are all crab legs and claws, and are missing the rear 'paddle fins' of real-life crabs!  

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Slithering Bloodfin

• Large Aberration; Unaligned; CR 9
• Debut: Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep (2022)

Another sea-life creature mutated by the Netherdeep is the Slithering Bloodfin, who is just a large sea serpent! Or maybe gulper eel? This one just looks cool, though, with a row of red spines running down its body, some blade-like fins near its head, and a massive, mean maw with a blue tongue. I guess the idea is also to reference another iconic deep-sea creature, the gulper eel, since the flavour text notes how it unhinges its jaw quite wide, but it's still just a regular sea serpent.

In an interesting twist of the usual 'big creature swallows an adventurer' gimmick, the Slithering Bloodfin actually drains energy from the swallowed prey, using it to regenerate damage to its own body. The Slithering Bloodfin also explodes when it dies, leaving behind a poisonous cloud of viscera in its wake. Overall, the art is nice, but I like this one a bit less than the other deep-sea horrors we've seen. 

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Sorrowfish Swarm

• Medium Swarm of Tiny Aberrations; Unaligned; CR 6
• Debut: Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep (2022)

And... our final underwater enemy is the Sorrowfish Swarm, which gets cool art, but ultimately are just mean-looking snapping fishies that are a cross between like, a barracuda's 'mean long' body layout and a piranha's behaviour. They're just a horde of fish that bite you, and the statblocks are essentially Quippers (or Piranhas, depending on the edition of 5E you're using) with immunity to psychic damage. 

The flavour text does try to give some interest to them, noting that some people think that the Sorrowfish are given their name for their horrible flesh, but the real 'sorrow' is when hordes of them gather together, and are transformed by the dark presence in the Netherdeep into vicious, all-devouring hordes. The best part of this description also notes that Sorrowfish Swarms hide within the tentacles of a Death Embrace, probably similar to clownfish and anemones, except the Sorrowfishes are more vicious than clownfish. 

Overall, I felt like this is just... scratching the surface of a 'Netherdeep', deep-sea and eldritch abomination bestiary, surely? I liked the adventure given, but main villain Alyxian that we're not reviewing here goes for a more 'blob demon/corrupted angel' vibe which fits his story, I guess, but the adventure does rely a lot more on mood and descriptions of surroundings to set the horror moreso than either deep-sea or Lovecraftian horrors, which I thought was a bit of a missed opportunity! 

One Piece 1181-1186 Review: Brook's Tragedies

One Piece, Chapters 1181-1185

So due to my quasi-hiatus, I haven't had the time to really do the typical in-depth discussions I usually do for One Piece. But I am still keeping up to date, and I'll just do a rapid-fire discussion about the past couple of months of chapters. I know I'm missing a couple of the newest ones! Such is the case when you make some notes for a discussion while the chapters are being released, and whatnot. 

That'll be similar to how I handle the Bleach TYBW season as it comes out, by the way. Very excited about it, but due to real-life stuff I really am unable to do the reviews to the depth, detail and speed that I used to do. Anyway...

Chapter 1181: God and Devil

This one is mostly an action scene, and it's a nice setup for Loki versus Imu. I never really cared all that much for 'powerscaling' and I genuinely don't think Loki's going to be the one to take down Imu... but it's always fun, in Dragon Ball terms, to see Vegeta try and take on the big bad before Goku comes along. 

That's not to say this isn't entertaining, as Loki is really angry at Imu having the gall to act all inconvenienced at Harald's death when Harald's son and kingdom are the ones that actually suffered the most. We then have some clashes of big, over-the-top anime powers. Not a lot of them are explained; Loki has some lightning hammer attacks and does a dragon breath explosion attack at one point. Imu has some more black flames that he can mould and shapeshift. He summons a blade called Nemesis at one point. It's cool, it's neat, and just like the Rocks/Garp/Roger fight, it's nice to see a One Piece fight breathe and take the time to show off new powers.

Imu gives a nice Final Fantasy villain motivation rant, too, about the 'trinity of evil', which is neat. It doesn't really tell me anything new about him. He's anti-freedom and all about subjugation and domination. He freaks out about Joy Boy every now and then. But I can appreciate a villain speech as he's beating up the heroes. The title is 'god, devil, what's the difference', which is a bit of a background theme in One Piece. 

Not much to really discuss here and I thought I'd be happy if the bulk of the chapters of the hiatus were action scenes and I can take it easy... but it's not all just punchy punch!

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Chapter 1182: Zaza

We've got more fighting between Imu and Loki, and again, we get some more reinforcement that Imu's really having a lot of comparisons with the world of the past -- identifying Loki as Nidhoggr and being acquainted with Ragnir. We get some displays of how Ragnir and Loki combine their attacks into dragon breath explosions (which would undoubtedly be a source of the anime's fancy special effects) and Loki starts summoning more magical circles and fire bomb demons. It's very much a 'wizard duel'! I can't complain. It looks cool. 

And then we get a couple of scene-seetting scenes. We get a scene of Sanji heading off to hunt down Killingham after a bit of a flashback to establish Killingham taunting him. A bit shorter, but Zoro is also heading down to go God Knight hunting. Robin and Saul find out that the enigmatic Biblo the owl have moved the books of Ohara into a secret underground chamber. Chopper has stitched Gerd's fingers back. There's a comedy moment with Road and Gerd. Summers (or SUPER Summers) have gotten a boat to kidnap the kids...

And the final part of this chapter is an odd one, where it's the titular 'Zaza'. SUPER Summers berates Killingham for accidentally summoning the thing that he fears most... and after a buildup, we learn that this is... the Rain God Zaza. the Rain God Zaza is a four-armed woman with a kasa hat, a covered mouth, and utterly titanic as it moves around like a water elemental kaiju to grab the children. Zaza honestly did really just come out of nowhere and I kind of wished that there was a bit more of a buildup.

Or, well, buildup within the arc, in any case, since the idea of a "Rain God" has been around since Skypiea, which also mentioned the "Sun God" which would become super relevant. That leaves Earth and Forest as the two missing ones from the Skypiea pantheon. I like the idea of Killingham summoning another threat for our heroes to fight, and I like the concept of tying it into showing off the mythology of the gods that Oda is building up to... but not necessarily how abrupt it is done. 

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One Piece, Chapter 1183: Good Mor-Maid

We start off with more fighting, with Loki unleashing more named attacks, and Imu creating more giant flame blades. Very cool, one of the coolest swords in mythology, Gram, gets a name-drop. Imu also name drops someone called 'Douzan' as someone who he had eliminated before. Ominous!

We get more shots of Zaza kidnapping the kids and Ripley giving a badass motherly rallying cry... but then we cut to Brook talking with the rest of the Straw Hats there, who ask Brook what his connection to Gunko is. Finally it is being addressed! With how abrupt the Brook-vs-Gunko-Imu was handled, I was very very pleaased to see it actually be handled. In the previous chapters, that Brook/Gunko flashback the tension and mystery and confrontation rose up, it was so compelling, and even Usopp joins in... and the two are defeated offscreen. And that was a bit bad. 

But now? 

Now, we don't just get Brook sitting down (or lying down) and explaining the context about Gunko (or Shuri)... but Brook also points out that three are three personalities in her -- which we know as the original kind Shuri, the evil twisted Domi Reversi'd Gunko, and Imu possessing Gunko. Jinbe asks Brook to make the decision on whether Gunko lives or dies...

AND WE GET A BROOK FLASHBACK.

I am sorry, what?

That was so unexpected, but so welcome. Brook is in the running to be my favourite Straw Hat with really the only serious contender being Robin, but I've honestly fallen into accepting that Brook is in the secondary tier of the crew and I wasn't expecting a full flashback to flesh out the story before he joined the Rumbar Pirates. I was already over the moon that we're getting something with the Gunko connection. 

But Brook is revealed to have hailed from Esperia, a country that makes musical instruments. He's singing (which gives us the painful 'good mor-maid' title) in the city early in the morning, and Leader of the Raider Squad Brook is like the superstar of the kingdom. The knights idolize him, little tiny princess Shuri really looks up to him, and we're also introduced to the king and queen of the kingdom. The seemingly slovenly King Reuven initially looks like a typical evil king a la Wapol, but the comedy between them is basically just two brothers having a comedy routine. Brook also has an unashamed crush for the queen Candelle, even openly saying it in front of Reuven and Shuri... again, it's all a nice establishing of their wacky little family dynamic. The chapter ends with Brook doing a very long distance Arrow-Notch Slash to cut a bunch of mafia trying to kidnap Queen Candelle, which is hilariously and insanely over-the-top with how delayed it was. Man, present-day Brook need to be in more fights! 

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One Piece, Chapter 1184: We're All Bones When We Die

We jump a bit forwards in time from the previous flashback, with Shuri growing into a teenager at 14 and emulating Brook as a warrior (because Brook likes strong women). Brook and Shuri have a really nice relationship going on, bonding over music and stories. Also nicely established is that while Brook acts like his typical perverted self throughout the entire flashback, he constantly shoots down Shuri's child-like crush towards him. So the idea is that Brook does just see Shuri as a daughter-figure, which nicely avoids any creepy implications. 

We then get a flashback-in-a-flashback, which is... it's a very touching story, even if it's simple. 11-year-old Brook is a ratty little beggar who peeks into the nobles playing music, while he lives in a garbage dump and plays music with a "violin" made up of random bottles and wires. He sings songs to mock the king while singing about his dead family that starved to death. This is when he met the then-Prince Reuven, who is doing a "royal pretends to be a common folk" deal, and the two become fast friends. Brook calls Reuven 'big bro' (aniki), and gives his precious food -- random frogs and grasshoppers, but it's a cuisine because Brook found some curry powder and cooked it. Reuven is utterly appalled at the contrast between his own royal life. 

A couple of years later, Brook gets captured by some corrupt navy who thinks he's a drug runner (it's actually the Moron mafia family from the previous chapter). But then heedless of the potential implications of fighting the Marines, Prince Reuven charges in to rescue Brook... and Candelle, who is his royal bodyguard, shows up with him. This is when Brook essentially gets adopted into the castle as Reuven's charge, and this begins Brook's crush on the future queen Candelle. 

It's a very wholesome chapter, but we also know what happened to Brook and some tragedy's going to happen. This is a One Piece flashback, after all. 

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One Piece, Chapter 1185: Mindja Own Beeswax

We get more wholesome scenes of Brook bonding with Candelle, who trains Brook as her squire. There are some nice comedic moments that show Brook's a gigantic goober even as a child, and we see the genesis of his panties gag -- Candelle insists that Brook needs etiquette and has to speak politely, which is the origin of the 'would you mind doing me the favour of showing me your panties please' formal gag.

We cut to the teenage Shuri, and in a very blink-and-miss detail, as Brook handwaves the time when they grew up and Shuri was born, Brook notes a moment when a World Government ship landed on Esperia, where Candelle was 'stressed and bedridden for months', and shortly afterwards was the time of Reuven's coronation, marriage and Shuri's birth. I actually didn't realize the implications that was being told here until the next couple of chapters... which is surprisingly well-hidden by Oda and honestly one of the better ways to utilize the rape/sexual assault trope in a narrative and making it horrifying without being graphic.

The fact that it was hidden in-between Brook's stories as he explains his benefactors to Shuri, and there's also a cute moment where Shuri pouts that she also wants Brook to treat her as someone that he would 'sacrifice his life for', is cute. There's a great montage of Brook and Shuri as they grow up, set to the tone of 'Mind Your Own Beeswax', a little teenage-rebellion song that Brook teaches Shuri. Lots of cute moments here, the highlight being Shuri scaring the shit out of Brook with a halloween sheet skeleton. 

Of course, it's a One Piece flashback, so bad things happen. A couple of years later, Esperia is beset by a fog that conveniently destroys the musical instruments that Esperia's economy depends on. Everyone tries to keep their spirits up, but Queen Candelle ends up succumbing and dying to the disease. This was done quite quickly, there's a lot of great panels of the mourning Brook, Shuri and Reuven... and shortly afterwards, the country is beset by another problem -- they can't pay the Heavenly Tribute. 

Reuven declares that there's going to be a war against the World Government, and we get a cool scene where Brook just immediately nods and accepts it with no question. Reuven did explain what's going on to the rest of his soldiers, noting that the World Government demanded 1000 slaves. We get then another montage of Brook singing the 'Mind Your Own Beeswax' song. He says this to raise the morale of the citizens, and then as he leads the army to fight the Marines that come. It's such a valiant fight, but while Brook himself is badass the artwork shows just how outnumbered the Esperian forces are. 

We get Brook running through every setting that has been shown in this flashback. The castle, the garden, even the dump are on fire. And as he rushes back into the castle, he sees... a demonized Shuri licking blood off her face over the dead body of a similarly demonized King Reuven. A giant demon bird (St. Marcus Mars's Itsumade form, but shadowed) looms over it, and a God's Knight is in the background. Brook's shocked face is... appropriate. 

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One Piece, Chapter 1186: One More Time

Brook is just shell-shocked at this point, unable to process what has happened. And the main thing that we learn later on? Brook at this point in his life is so secluded from the outside world that he doesn't even know what a 'Devil Fruit' is, that magical powers exist. He would also suffer from heavy brain damage and the implication from his discussion with his men is that he thought he's misremembering and exaggerating the events in his own mind... which explains why he ended up believing Shuri is evil.

But that confrontation was also horrifying. Faced with the death of his 'big bro' and benefactor. And while Brook initially thinks that Shuri is some kind of impostor, then Shuri starts talking horrible things about how she is a Celestial Dragon, how Reuven isn't her real father, and how Reuven hid the true reason of the start of the war -- the Celestial Dragons demanded her, and Reuven plunged the nation into devastation over nothing. 

St. Manmeyer Gurou also speaks up, noting that he remembers Brook as Candelle's squire -- he was the Celestial Dragon that showed up long ago, and  Shuri's biological father. There's discussion about the heterochromatic eye, and how Gurou couldn't 'awaken it' and perhaps Shuri can do so instead. Brook doesn't care about any of this heavy lore drops, more horrified about the strange betrayal of Shuri. And as Brook mentally compares the younger Shuri to an angel, and the current Shuri to a devil, he can't even raise his sword to defend himself as Shuri stabs him through the skull (giving him his distinctive skull scar) with Brook's own Gavotte: Bond en Avant technique.

(Imu also shows up, rising out of Mars's shadow-bird form, and seemingly glorps out because he doesn't care about the drama, which I thought was weird but funny. He also shows up only to interrupt Gurou for talking too much.)

As Brook seemingly 'dies', we later see him wake up, miraculously surviving having the sword hit his brain stem, and after realizing what's going on (and telling the audience the caveats above of why Brook doesn't know the real context of what happened) Brook freaks out and breaks the fuck down. 

End flashback. 

That was... that was a really, really powerful flashback. I am very biased, because I love Brook. But seeing this right after the Harald one? I like the Harald flashback, but I feel like this short flashback was also really very powerful as well! This also gives me hope that some of the other characters (particularly Usopp, mostly Usopp, okay it's just Usopp) is going to get some attention from a character development perspective.

We cut to the present, with Brook telling this to his crewmates... and noting that if the 'demonic visages' are real memories, then Shuri could be a victim and not a traitor, and Brook asks and resolves to have faith in Princess Shuri once more. Cutting back a bit to the scenes about his cute argument with Shuri about 'why would you protect me', Brook resolves himself, bows his head to ask the help of his crewmates, before running towards where Shuri was frozen in ice. 

We then cut back to the 'main' fight, and if we're being honest as much as there's the fun spectacle of Loki versus Imu, it feels almost disappointing to go back to that fight! Luffy is also here, finally having eaten his fill of food. Imu gives a rant about how he had defeated the giants 800 years ago with their children, and continues his ramble... until Luffy shows up and decks the shit out of Imu the way he did St. Charlos all the way back. Okay, that fight is happening, then... nice to see some progression there, but if we're being honest I'm not the most invested in Luffy at this point. 

Random Notes:

• Yes, there's a lot of comparisons to One Piece: Red. I don't want to make this review any longer, but I'll recognize it. 
• During the run of the chapters I remembered there being a lot of discussion about Queen Candelle actually being a God's Knight honey trap, trying to infiltrate a country or get some 'genes' like what Shamrock did with his own children's mother. Which I always thought was an insane leap even as the chapters were going on. But you should feel bad for thinking that Candele is evil! 
• St. Manmeyer Gurou was also mistaken as Admiral Kong by many people, and I would like to say that I also number among this one.
• With this arc (or the previous one) introducing the idea of bounty inflation for Dorry and Brogy, Brook having a 'reinstated' bounty from the past actually means that whether it's because of his raw 'cut some mafia members an hour into the future' sword skills or because the World Government suspects that he knows about Esperia means that Brook's real bounty might be quite higher than what it was introduced as! 
  
• Snuck in-between Brook training Shuri is Brook mentioning that Shuri seems like she could even see briefly into the future, with the wording clearly implying Future Sight. Brook doesn't seem to know what Haki is at the point in time (especially when he doesn't know what Devil Fruits are) so it might be Shuri awakening Future Sight Haki very early on because of her eyes.
• Brook's dream of piracy is actually noted by Shuri during one of their discussions, but Brook does the "I'll lay down my dream for another's" in deference to Reuven, because that's how much Brook respects him. Shuri also offhandedly makes a comment that she'll also be a pirate with Brook. Foreshadowing?
• By the way, a lot of the details in these flashbacks have been noted to be in Oda's mind since forever. Brook's favourite food being curry, Brook being stated to be the Straw Hat that wakes up the earliest, and the different artwork of Brook as a child has alternatively shown him as a beggar or in noble clothes, so it's most certainly something Oda has had in mind for this backstory!
• Knowing what we do later on about Shuri's parentage, it does add a huge layer of tragedy for poor Reuven as he keeps seeing Shuri get along better with Brook as a paternal figure. It's not even that Shuri and Reuven are estranged or fighting or anything, which honestly makes me feel even worse for poor Reuven. He really is quietly one of the best men in all of One Piece. 
• The 'Mind Your Own Beeswax' stuff is the English localization team's attempt to localize the Japanese accent that Brook borrows the slang from. I think it's the same real-world Hiroshima dialect that Akainu speaks, which Brook notes in-universe comes from 'Kamigata'. I am more surprised to learn that 'Mind Your Own Beeswax' is a real phrase that's an old slang from 18th to 19th century!
• The Itsumade is a being associated with the spread of disease, so putting two and two together, Mars might be the exact person responsible for the plague on Esperia. I mean, the World Government is definitely responsible in some way or form, but maybe Mars specifically.
• Speaking of the Itsumade, I did a quick scan through the Egghead arc, but Brook was never in a position where he would come face-to-face with Mars's Itsumade form, and even then it's glorping in a shadowy form instead of manifesting as a full bird like in Egghead. Luffy really did eliminate Mars from the battlefield quite early!
• Can I just say how wholesome -- and sad -- the cover art for chapter 1186 is? Little Loki surrounded by his animal friends drawing Ida as 'Mommy' with crayons? How fucking cute that is?  
• Jinbe of course is aligned with Brook the moment he hears the story, but I like how cold he was when Gunko was just a heartless enemy without the context, asking Brook basically for 'do we kill her or not'. 
• Franky, as always, is the most emotional of the Straw Hats, full with tears as Brook finishes his story.

Digimon Reviews, Episode 58: Ukkomon and Friends

So with the majority of Ghost Game's cast out of the way, we're going on to more Digimon released in 2022-2023. In addition to the Ghost Game anime itself, the original Adventures canon continue to shamble on by releasing a movie follow up, Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning, starring the much-neglected Zero Two cast. It's actually a pretty good movie if taken as a standalone story... but it does place a lot of focus on the brand-new character almost to the exclusion of the actual Zero Two cast. I find it a nice, fun 'epic' movie with a nice story for the movie-original character Lui, but for people who wanted something more substantial to the 02 cast it does leave something lacking. 

That said, not trying to do anything too daring with the main cast does make me appreciate the 'movie story' they are telling, instead of nitpicking it like I did when I was watching Tri and especially Kizuna. So it was an enjoyable movie, although at the cost of giving the already neglected 02 kids proper spotlight. 

This review will cover the primary new Digimon from 02: The Beginning -- Ukkomon -- as well as a batch of Digimon that were released in Digimon New Century, a Chinese-market video game. 

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Ukkomon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Child
• Type: Ancient Fairy
• Attribute: Free

Ukkomon is the strange little buddy that the movie claims to be the 'first Digimon' to cross over to the real world, at least in the Adventure canon. Ukkomon presents itself to a abused little boy, and begins granting it wishes... and it's an interesting corruption of the typical human/Digimon partnership where Ukkomon genuinely comes from a place of wanting to make its human partner happy and has no ulterior world-ending motives beyond that, but does so in the most fucked-up way possible. Without spoiling too much, I actually thought that was a nice subversion that we haven't really seen in the animated Digimon media before -- normally it's the human that's the evil side of the equation, or the Digimon in question is actively manipulating their human for malicious end goals. Ukkomon is entirely pure, which makes its confusion at Lui's horror even more sad. 

Ukkomon is vaguely based on the Clione, or sea angel, which was chosen to give it the feeling of a 'primordial', almost cell-like creature. That orb in the middle of its translucent chest is likely just a typical DigiCore, but looks like a nucleus. We already had a sea angel Digimon in MarinAngemon, but Ukkomon's dumpy head and particularly its face gives it a look that's simultaneously cute but also creepy. There are also features that remind me of other Digimon as well, with the colouration and highlights bringing to mind classic Gomamon, but those eyes are also transplanted directly from Digimon's darling firstborn mascot, Agumon. 

Ukkomon's profile notes its two primary abilities displayed in the movie, with its 'Liar Dream' being its mind-controlling powers, while the profile also notes that it can grant the wishes of others. The profile (which I don't think is true to the 02 Ukkomon) notes that Ukkomon was a survivor of the 'Ancient Digital World', which was destroyed, and the only thing known from this ancient world is how so many Digimon gathered around Ukkomon to get it to grant their wishes. It's a cool little alternate backstory, nicely painting Ukkomon as some kind of ancient, 'elder fae' or 'elder god' style being that just happens to look like a dumpy lumpy little sprite. 

I don't mind this form, it's a nice combination of cute and creepy! 

 7/10.

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BigUkkomon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: Ancient Fairy
• Attribute: Free

Ukkomon's Ultimate form when it appears in the present day was initially very underwhelming. BigUkkomon isn't the most threatening name out there, and being a bigger, pink version of its Child form isn't all that cool. Sure, its skin is pink, its ears are smaller and those eyes have glossed over, but it is still just a 'big' Ukkomon. 

That's kind of lame, but here's the thing. BigUkkomon spends maybe thirty seconds in that big form, before spending the entire movie looking like this: 

Yeah. That adorable head splits open to reveal rows and rows of... teeth?> And then masses and masses of tentacles unfurl out. An outer later of spike-plated tentacles surround a central 'pistil' that's just a mass of orange wires surrounding a central pitcher-plant-like structure. Even BigUkkomon's original sea angel body is now split with extra rows of teeth. It's a very cool and surprisingly creepy 'eldritch horror', a rare organic version that we haven't really seen too many of in Digimon... we usually get something that's a huge mass of demonic shadows, or mechanical. BigUkkomon feels fresh, unlike poor Eosmon a couple of reviews back which I felt I've seen in some variation throughout Digimon's long history of Big Bad Monsters. 

BigUkkomon's official profile notes that it supposedly sacrificed itself out of the tragic sorrow of the destruction of the ancient Digital World, possibly even creating the Digitama that birthed the current Digital World. There's some vague mention of the Ten Warriors (remember them from Frontier?) probably coming from this ancient age too, but it's all speculation... speculation that ties into the combination of BigUkkomon causing vast destruction due to tragic misunderstandings and circumstances, something that befell its tragic movie counterpart.

Beyond the storytelling, BigUkkomon's giant mass of tentacles menace the city that it manifests in, forcing our heroes to fight through its massive hordes of tentacles and reach its core before it can grant a particularly harrowing 'wish'. It just looks so monstrous, so wrong, and I just find it surprising that this came out from modern Digimon.

Also, a quick little biological trivia... this is even based on real-life sea angels. We all know sea angels as being adorably-shaped sea slugs, but real sea angels feed by extending their 'buccal cones'. Which actually looks very nicely nightmarish, and clearly what BigUkkomon's basis is. Sea Angels have snuck their way into mainstream media to show up as the basis of a bunch of newer monsters, and I love that, but I love Digimon a lot for using the sea angel's very cool natural features as the basis of their Cthulhu. Very cool, very creepy, and again, while The Beginning arguably fails as a way to extend the story of Daisuke and the rest of the 02 cast, it does a damn good job at telling a horror-tragedy story with Lui and Ukkomon. 

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you...

 9/10, almost 10.

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Cthyllamon

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

Oh! What? MarinAngemon got a 'devil' counterpart? That's adorable! It's even named after Chtylla, daughter of Cthulhu (no, really!) in the Cthulhu Mythos. The design is pretty neat, taking some of the 'puppet' themes of early Digimon and transplanting it to MarinAngemon. The wings are replaced with some Megadramon-style tattered wings, the mouths are jagged and partially stitched up, its tail and right arm are partially switched with other fabric, it's got a Digimon Belt (tm) and a skull on its chest. 

That skull, by the way, is the only thing that glows in the deep dark Net Ocean, and thus Cthyllamon is known by the alias of 'Phantom of the Ocean'. That sounds like a very cool twist on bioluminescent deep-sea creatures, of which you can usually only see a single part of their anatomy. Cthyllamon, by the way, debuted in Digimon Ghost Game as a rival to Jellymon/Amphimon, but I thought I'd include it here to hang out with its cousin Ukkomon. 

Funny that this is a second mind-controlling sea angel based evil Digimon released in almost the same year, but Cthyllamon also has the ability to mind control lesser deep-sea Digimon to fight for it. That's where the 'puppet' theme comes from! It's not as epic as BigUkkomon up above, but Cthyllamon also has a 'Buccal Rush' attack where it 'opens its mouth wide and attacks with its three, long flexible tongues like a whip'. Which it does do so in the Ghost Game anime! The Digimon team in 2023 was really in a 'sea angels are actually cool, holy crap' phase!

As a Lovecraftian-inspired Ultimate-level, this actually makes Cthyllamon one of the few appropriate final forms for the original face of the Lovecraft mythos in Digimon, good old enigmatic Dagomon! Who, as I remind most people, is a mere Perfect-level despite the hype that the 02 anime and its fandom gave it. Cthyllamon also serves as a nice, appropriate final evolution for another underwater tentacle monster, Calamaramon. I mean, I would like a proper kraken or Cthulhu or Scylla themed final evolution for either one of those two Perfects, but I also like the idea that they transform into an evil eldritch elder god that also looks like a little gremlin sea slug. 

This is what constitutes a good 'evil repaint', by the way. Both visually and thematically, they did something cool with it. 

 8/10.

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Zanmetsumon

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

There is a new Vital Bracelet virtual pet with occasional updates, and we're going to sprinkle the Digimon introduced in those virtual pets with these articles. Zanmetsumon is a pretty neat Perfect-lvel samurai-themed centaur Digimon. I don't think this is based on any specific yokai? Zanmetsumon has a centaur-like body, with the upper humanoid body being a four-armed, blue-skinned samurai with a dog head. He's also got four swords, of course. The lower centaur-like beast body is a fuzzy beast with a massive tooth-filled maw on its front end, bringing to mind other centaur-like Digimon we've had in the past like Gulfmon or GranDracmon. Oh, and Zanmetsumon's also got a sword at the tip of its tail, giving it a total of five swords. 

The centaur-crotch mouth can unleash a roar that can paralyze its prey in its tracks, but I like that Zanmetsumon actually hates doing this since it wants to prove its sword skills and defeat its prey with its sword and nothing but its sword. That's a nice little character quirk!

It's all right. It's not my thing exactly, but I appreciate it existing and I appreciate how easily this could've been just a regular four-armed samurai without the badass beast centaur body. Zanmetsumon currently has a bunch of random protagonist Digimon as its pre-evolved and evolved stages, but in addition to reminding me of centaurs (so potentially between Centalmon and either Gulfmon or GranDracmon), Zanmetsumon also fits in as a much more thematic samurai Perfect-form between Adult-level Musyamon and Ultimate-level Zanbamon! ...even if Zanbamon does admittedly look less impressive visually now next to this four-armed, monster-mawed creature. 

 7/10. He's a'ight. 

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Bombermon

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

It sure is a bomb dude! Another Perfect-level, Bombermon initially looks boring to me, until the details start standing out. Bombermon is a humanoid figure whose straitjacket trails off into wraith-like tatters at the end. Its head is itself a bomb with a fuse, and it is snapping its fingers a la Roy Mustang. Most adorably and crucially, Bombermon is surrounded by a tiny swarm of little spider-legged bomblings (named "BB"s!) that float around it. Those little bomb spiders that Bombermon commands and sets off as explosions really does salvage this design from being 'just a minor gimmick anime enemy'. 

Since we've already referenced Roy Mustang, let me also reference good old Deidara from Naruto, whose personality has been translated to Bombermon here. Bombermon is an 'Explosive Artist' who is guided solely by the beauty of the explosions it makes, heedless of the damage it does. The tiny BB's that Bombermon commands explode depending on the emotion and passion that Bombermon has. 

I didn't like it all that much initially, but I've grown to appreciate it a lot more as this crazy artistic ghost that commands little exploding spiders. We've had bomb-themed Baby and Child-level Digimon in Bommon/Bombmon and Missimon, and I guess BomberNanimon exists as an Adult level? It's all right. Over the process of writing the review he went from a 2/10 to a more neutral score. 

 6/10.

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Fumamon

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

It sure is a robot ninja. Fumamon is yet another Perfect-level that is based on the fuma-ryu ninjutsu technique, and is described as a mercenary assassin that disposes of its targets with its badass ninja attack styles. It pursues its enemies relentlessly, and the only way they can save themselves is to defeat Fumamon. In addition to the expected repertoire of ninja tools, Fumamon can use its ninja scroll to summon hordes of undead Digimon. 

I don't know. It is a cool robot ninja, but other than that bladed tail (which might be a robotic attachment anyway) this could be a background character in any anime show, much less an actual Digital Monster. Remember how Digimon used to do ninjas? Igamon was an onion ninja-monster, and Shurimon had a badass vine-plant theme to it. The relatively newer Tuwarmon and Monitamon both have their own additional themes that play with the 'disguise' and 'monitoring' aspects of a ninja while still having more flair than just being a dude in a suit. 

Fumamon's got cool art, I just don't vibe with it as a Digimon. They really are just giving 'Perfect' status to everyone, huh? Some of these feel very Adult-level.

 3/10.

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Lianpumon

• Alternate Names: Ryenfumon (JP reading)
• Stage: Adult
• Type: Mutation
• Attribute: Data

Digimon New Century gives us a bunch of new Digimon based around Chinese mythology, and I am pumped to talk about this! The location is on the 'Eastern Digimon World' or Shambala, with many designs that are based on aspects of Chinese mythology. Lianpumon here is based on lian pu, traditional face masks, and perhaps most well-known internationally not just for Chinese Opera, but also in the Beijing Bian Lian ('face changing') art. In bian lian, the actors can rapidly swap masks with a flourish of their hands or a prop. 

And that's what Lianpumon is all about! It is wearing its 'default' mask face, which is that of a typical Chinese Opera mask, but its main body is a small, furry body with two large arms that end in webbed fingers. But what draws your attention isn't that 'real' body, but the massive cape with an assortment of masks based on other Digimon -- Sunflowmon, Andromon, Pumpmon, Starmon, Pandamon, Vilemon, Tentomon and... Gomamon, maybe? Mamemon! These masks are not static, and the bio notes that Lianpumon has masks in its cape based on the Digimon that it gets along with. 

Lianpumon isn't a creepy mask salesman like Majora's Mask, though, and is completely festive and happy! It dances around in a festive atmosphere, expresses itself through gestures and mask changes, and it will always have another mask if you remove its mask. Its abilities involve putting on different masks to allow it to access different powers, like a defensive aura, healing abilities, or just the rage to unleash all its other masks like shurikens. It's just a really fun one! I like this one. 

 8/10.

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Xingtianmon

• Alternate Names: Shintenmon (JP reading)
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: Mutation
• Attribute: Virus

I had originally reviewed these two separately, until I realized that they were not standalone but tied to each other. Xingtianmon is the associated Perfect-stage from Lianpumon, and it is based on Xingtian, a mythological figure in Chinese history who was beheaded, but continued to fight on -- with his nipples and bellybutton turning into a new head and mouth as he continued to fight.  

It's an... interesting myth, and the design interprets this with more pizazz. You can see the furry arms and legs of a white-furred humanoid, which ties it loosely with Lianpumon up above, but the primary design has to be the 'body-face' -- interpreted here as a combination of Ogremon's 'oni' face, metal armour, and opera mask details. The head-stump is given a little flair of a glowing wispy blue flame. Pretty cool design for what it is, and I like that the axe and shield both have 'faces' on them.

In a reference to the mythological Xingtian being too stubborn to give up even after he is beheaded, Xingtianmon is noted to be stubborn and refuses to accept defeat no matter how hopeless the situation is, and throws himself into battle regardless. It's an interesting take, and I do enjoy them taking effort to make it fit the Digimon style, unlike many of the Olympus/Journey to the West/Peter Pan myth-transplants in the 2010's.

 6/10. Not my thing, but I respect it. 

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Dijiangmon

• Alternate Names: Dijanmon (JP reading)
• Stage: Perfect
• Type: Oni
• Attribute / Subgroup: Virus / Shikyoju

Oh! Dijiangmon is the Ultimate stage after Xingtianmon, and it's introduced as the first in a set of four -- the Shikyoju, or the Four Perilous Beasts. Based on the Four Perils of Chinese mythology. That's cool! The faceless mythological Dijiang is also commonly known as the Hundun, who's relatively recently featured in Marvel's Shang-Chi as a mythological creature there. Dijiangmon doesn't have much to do with that design beyond being faceless, but the Four Perils are never consistently described anyway, so. 

Dijiangmon is a 'mutant' Digimon whose entire body is covered in leather, many belts, and a bunch of seals. From what we can see of its exposed anatomy, Dijiangmon has gray skin, red claws (one feet having a metal prosthetic slip-on) and a tail that ends in barbs. Those arms are unnaturally long with joints that look uncomfortable, and two sets of wings pop out of Dijiangmon's back. 

Dijiangmon doesn't have a mouth and doesn't express anything, which seems to be a nod to its Lianpumon form. It stands in a spot in eerie silence, 'has no interest in self-expression', and is an evil creature that specializes in robbing others of life. It slips into crowds of Digimon and sends signals that incites them into violence. In combat, it opens up its zippers to suck foes in... and not even Dijiangmon knows what dimension that his zippers lead to. Spooky!

Dijiangmon is a member of the Shikyoju, the 'Four Perils', whose members will be fleshed out by subsequent releases over the next couple of years as the New Century story plays out. 

Again, it's another humanoid Digimon that I fairly like! It's not that being humanoid that makes me roll my eyes, it's being humanoid and repetitive. Dijiangmon manages to feel like a Digimon villain without me going 'yeah, but it's just X with extra details', draws from a nice context without just plagiarizing it, and stands well enough on its own as a creepy long-armed 'sealed evil' monster even if you don't know what it's referencing. That, by the way, is an important aspect of these creatures that draw from mythology, and why I praise designs like Nidhoggmon and Dijiangmon who are cool standalone designs regardless of whether you know the inspirational myths, and not many of the Collectors-era additions that would just be some dude or lady if you're unfamiliar with the original myths. 

 8/10.

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Fujamon

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

Fujamon technically debuts a couple of years after its evolutions, but we'll be covering it here. The next set of V-pets is Pendulum COLOR, which incorporates a bunch of the newer Digimon introduced in other sources. Fujamon debuted there, to give a Child level to its next three forms that also debuted in New Century!

Fujamon is based on the Hujiao (though unlike the other Digimon based on Chinese mythological beings, its official name is with the katakana reading?) which is a mythological creature with the body of a fish, the tail of a snake, and the call of a duck. Fujamon is a nice shade of light blue with lavender accents, and it sure has a saky tail connecting its fishy body and its fishy tail! I love its head, though, which has a fanged 'inner mouth' and the blue part forming a 'helmet' similar to many old-school Digimon. Note the beak on the blue 'helmet' portion, that's going to be important later on. 

I love how much this fits into Digimon's old-school style while clearly being something new. Fujamon's described as a violent, territorial beast that bites intruders with its venomous fangs, and uses its powerful snake-like tail to swim upstream and its fins to waddle on land. Nothing in the details mention its duck call, but I assume it still quacks. Can you imagine being chased by this ill-tempered snake-fish slithering across the riverbank, threatening to maul you, while all you hear is 'quack quack quack'?

 8/10.

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Xiquemon

• Alternate Names: Shichumon (JP reading)
• Stage: Adult
• Type: Bird
• Attribute: Vaccine

We get another trio of Digimon from New Century, this one based mostly on the mythological Peng -- a giant bird from Chinese mythology that has the ability to transform into a fish called the Kun. This context is important! Adult-level Xiquemon is just a regular bird for now, with some Chinese-clothing inspired details on its chest. Xique means 'magpie' in Chinese. Other than its accessories, Xiquemon is otherwise a mostly regular bird... with a fish tail! It's not as evident here, but incorporating the Peng myth early on is a good thing for sure. 

Its bio notes that Xiquemon can dive into the water and navigate waterways as smoothly as it can fly -- which isn't a strange thing to do, as seagulls and albatrosses all divebomb and navigate the waters relatively well. That's why it's got those goggles... those are swimming goggles! Which I find rather goofy looking and not the biggest fan of. 

There are some extra details, like how Xiquemon is a migratory bird, eats very little food and therefore freezes its leftovers, and is renowned as a sign of good luck. My favourite detail has to be its special attack 'Gyoryuho', where it fires a missile shaped like a fish from its mouth. It's all right, but I'm more excited for its evolved forms.

 6/10.

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Huankunmon

• Alternate Names: Fankunmon (JP reading)
• Stage: Perfect
• Type: Aquatic
• Attribute: Vaccine

And like the Peng, it evolves into a fish! Whereas Xiquemon is a bird with fish features, its Perfect-level evolution Huankunmon ('mythical Kun', with Kun being Peng's fish-form name) is a fish with bird features. A pretty bird-fish, too, with the central fish body being a gorgeous mix of teal, blue and gold; while its wing-fins and other details are a great shade of pink. The end result looks like a colourful Betta fish, albeit one with a horrific beaked mouth that reminds me of prehistoric fishes like the iconic Dunkleosteus. That's a clever way to suggest a bird's beak while also looking 'fishy'! 

Huankunmon's bio notes that its scales are as tough as Chrome Digizoid, but it's normally gentle and calm, protecting lakes and rivers from environmental pollution. It can jump into the air and fly through it, swallowing flying Digimon whole. No! Poor Piyomon! Interestingly, due to its large size, Huankunmon flies alongside large flocks of Xiquemon and covers the whole flock with magical bubbles that distort light and makes the whole flock invisible. That's a neat way to allude to its 'mythical beast' status. 

I just really find this one quite pleasant!

 9/10.

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Xiangpengmon

• Alternate Names: Shanponmon (JP reading)
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: Holy Bird
• Attribute: Vaccine

The final stage is shaped more like a Chinese Dragon instead of a bird or a fish, and I like Xiangpengmon a bit less than Huankunmon... but it is an appropriate final stage. And I'm happy that it's still bestial instead of turning into a dragon-man. Xiangpengmon is still classified as a bird, too, despite its body shape. It does have a beak and talons, albeit four pairs of them. The design is a bit busier but not to the degree of some of Digimon's worst, and a lot of it has to do with the clouds that gather around Xiangpengmon's body. Otherwise, it's got a small set of accessories... which I feel one or two could've been removed and would improve the design quite a bit. I really do like the blue-and-pink colouration of the main serpentine/fish body.

Xiangpengmon is also very big, with a 'body large enough to cover a mountain', and usually slumbers deep beneath the ocean, and its sheer size allows aquatic Digimon to use its body's crevices as nests and hideouts -- while providing it with energy and nourishment in a symbiotic relationship. Its data regulates the surrounding environment, and wakes up when it senses that a different location has been polluted and deteriorated, to make it its new nest. Its immense size means that it causes a lot of abnormal weather patterns when it moves around. 

Its artwork definitely doesn't showcase just how big it is -- do we really have Digimon that are super-duper big like this? ElDoradimon and Ceresmon, I suppose? But it's interesting to have a Digimon that's less of a kaiju and more 'it's a whole chunk of the terrain'. Anyway, the size is neat, although I would note that I still prefer its previous lines. 

 7/10.

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Luxmon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Child
• Type: Angel
• Attribute: Vaccine

...it sure is a kid Angemon? I mean, I guess Lucemon Child has all the baggage of having the name of a Demon Lord and everything, but Patamon is right there. Not every stage needs to be blatantly angelic, and honestly I'd prefer if they had taken Patamon and given it an Angemon-themed coat of paint. This just feels lazy and unnecessary, and honestly cheapens Angemon more than the three dozen other Angemons out there. 

Luxmon at least has that characteristic 'helmet covering eyes', or rather 'hat covering eyes', and an old-school style zipper. I still don't care about it. It gets bullied a lot by Impmon and PicoDevimon, because it can't see through lies. 

In development, this was called 'PicoAngemon', and I really would've liked that a bit better... although Puttimon/Cupimon (who were originally tied to Lucemon Child) kind of already serves as a nice little 'child angel Digimon' without just being a child angel with no subtlety, right? 

 2/10.

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ArkhaiAngemon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Perfect
• Type: Principality
• Attribute: Vaccine

I suppose it's about time we started filling in the 'nine angelic ranks', since we kind of have a bunch of them filled out. ArkhaiAngemon fills out the 'Principality' level, and it's... it sure is an eight-winged angel? Two of its wings cover the skirt, and it sure is an Angemon wearing a fancy spiky crown and holding a torch. They really could've made this one a bit more interesting. I get that the various Angemons are just trying to fill out the angelic heirarchy, and ArkhaiAngemon finally gets to fill one of the more obscure ranks in 'Principality'... but it's just so boring. 

The profile notes that ArkhaiAngemon specializes in defense, and acts more as an advisor and commander due to its ingenuity, protecting the soldiers assigned to it. I do like the detail that it employs Gargomon (Gargoylemon) and Manticoremon as familiars. So this is the angel Digimon that's responsible for trying to weaponize the feral manticores! That's interesting because of Manticoremon moreso than ArkhaiAngemon itself, though. 

 2/10.

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