Version 3.0 of the Digimon Pendulum Virtual pet was the "Nightmare Soldiers", which is all sorts of demons, vampires, spooks and ghosts! This is a V-Pet that featured a bunch of old favourites like Garurumon, Meramon, Devimon and Bakemon, and was the one where WereGarurumon debuted in! While it seems that we've cleared a huge chunk of the population of Pendulum 3.0 out of the way, Digimon Adventure and arguably the entire franchise's biggest villains debuted in this particular virtual pet, so we'll see how this goes -- depending on how verbose I get, I might have to cut this into two segments.
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Mokumon
The Baby I stage for this virtual pet is good old Mokumon here, a Digimon that I've always found charming! It's just a little puffball of smoke with a little bit of embers on his forehead. Look at that face! That just screams "mischievous" yeah? Mokumon's a creature made entirely out of smoke, with an adorable drooling monster mouth. Mokumon's design has always been a bit more complex than most of the blobby Baby I's, and I always mis-remember him as a Child-level or a Baby II-level. A pile of smog with a little candle on his head is a perfectly acceptable pre-evolution to PetitMeramon and Candlemon down below, for sure! I don't have much to say about Mokumon -- he was ignored throughout Adventure and 02 and merely had a brief bit role in Tamers as little creepy buggers that manifest in the real world to flummox the resident men-in-black organization. I don't have much of an opinion on Mokumon, if we're being honest, but it's a pretty pleasant design.
6/10. PetitMeramon (a.k.a. DemiMeramon/PetiMeramon)
PetitMeramon (the translation of the "buchi" prefix tends to flip-flop between petit and peti) is just a ball of fire with little hands, ghostly eyes and a stitched mouth... and would be uninteresting on its own. It does, however, form a neat set with Mokumon, Candlemon below, and, of course, good old Meramon! It's basically Meramon's stitched-mouth face, reduced to a mere floating Pac-Man head with little itty-bitty fire hands. Not the most creative design, but definitely a fun little pre-evolution for Meramon. PetitMeramon had a brief cameo in Frontier before a trio of them became a villain-of-the-week in Savers, basically characterized as pyromaniac children that eventually got so excited they merged together into a Meramon. Overall, it's not a design that's particularly exciting as a standalone creature, but one that's pretty fun as a set.
5/10.Candmon (a.k.a. Candlemon)
Candlemon is a rarity in that he's one of the few Digimon I refer to almost exclusively with his English name, because while "Kyandomon" is a perfectly fine name, when it come time to revert it into a romanized version, "Candmon" and "Candlmon" just sort of eliminates the vowel in kyando and that makes typing his name feel kinda wrong. Eh.Anyway, Candlemon here is one of the three available Child-stage evolutions for the Nightmare Soldiers virtual pet, and I genuinely wouldn't have thought up of the idea of using poltergeist phenomenon to act as the default Child-stage for a lot of spooky guys. As a staple phenomenon in haunted house tropes, though, Candlemon is certainly an appropriate spooky monster, and I absolutely love everything about this guy. The fact that he hops around with a lower body that's just the candle holder, the fact that he has little waxy arms that are near-permanently in a "OoooOOoOoOo" position, or the fact that the fire burning on top of his head is a PetitMeramon, I've always found everything about Candlemon to be pretty charming. The profile notes that Candlemon straight-up dies when the fire on his head runs out, so it might be its "true" form, animating the bigger candle body like a puppeteer? But Candlemon's wax face is so expressive!
Candlemon's always been a favourite of mine from a design standpoint, and it's a bit sad that he's only really shown up in a single episode of Frontier. There was a whole village of the guys, mind you, and they can evolve into a Wizardmon, which has honestly stuck with me as one of the more distinctive early episodes of Frontier. Frontier has a pretty awful and same-y opening, but the Candlemon episode always stood out to me. While nowadays Candlemon's default Adult-stage evolution are Meramon and Wizardmon, the video games allow Candlemon to evolve into a whole lot of fire-themed and ghostly-themed things. Anyway, a pretty dang good design.
10/10.Bakumon (a.k.a. Tapirmon)
Bakumon here is based on the baku, a mythological dream-beast in Japanese culture, and also the Japanese word for a tapir, because they decided that the adorable tapir's appearance was so odd that they gave the designation of a dream-beast to it. Bakumon's a neat enough representation of both meanings of the baku, being a mainly tapir-like beast with a bunch of accessories -- namely the same holy ring that Tailmon has, and a fun little helmet that seems to foreshadow its evolution into Mammon below (although there's no real proper adult-stage pachyderm between the two).Apparently Bakumon was born out of data of medical equipment that scanned the human brain, which is why it has a taste for eating dreams. I've always liked how the rear legs of Bakumon sort of just drift into smoke, adding a neat little connection to Mokumon and making Bakumon just that much more ephemeral and interesting than just a tapir. Bakumon, interestingly, eats nightmares, stores them and the barfs it all up upon its enemies. We get a neat bit of connection in the profile that notes that this is apparently similar to Digitamamon's technique, adding a fun little connection with a different Perfect-level. It's had a bunch of cameo appearances over the years, being a waiter in 02, a random 'wild' Digimon in Tamers and, interestingly, used a villain of the week in Frontier, but recently a Bakumon ended up being a major plot point in Tri, which I won't spoil here in case some of you haven't watched it. Anyway, I've always liked this little dream-tapir. He's neat, even if he doesn't do anything particularly novel.
5/10.PicoDevimon (a.k.a. DemiDevimon)
PicoDevimon here is a little bugger I really like! PicoDevimon is renamed DemiDevimon in the dub, a name that I'll concede actually rolls better of the tongue, but I did watch the entirety of Adventure in Japanese, so PicoDevimon is the name I associate with this guy. PicoDevimon here is a Child-level version of Devimon, interestingly, but while Devimon was heralded as a pretty damn powerful monster among Adult-level Digimon, PicoDevimon is a tiny, shifty little quisling! He's also one of the longest recurring characters in the Adventure anime, where after defeating Big Bad Etemon, PicoDevimon ended up shadowing the scattered chosen children and try to basically get them to be trapped in the digital world. Of course, PicoDevimon is merely the toadie of a far, far more dangerous being -- Vamdemon, the third Big Bad and easily the longest-running one in Adventure. PicoDevimon ended up serving the archetype of a silly minion, this little dude that isn't much of a threat to the good guys and more of an annoyance... but still able to cause some damage by directing Vamdemon's seemingly-inexhaustible armies of monstrous Digimon. It does bring the children's competence into question, though, when at one point they blindly trust a being that shares its surname with Devimon.PicoDevimon's official profile notes that it's a "familiar" meant to be used by higher-ranking demons like Vamdemon and Devimon, but it's also apparently the being that managed to lure the original Devimon from being an angel to a demon? Hilariously and apropos of nothing, PicoDevimon's method of attacking is to throw a bunch of hypodermic needles at its enemies, apparently intended to either draw blood, vampire-style, or to straight-up inject viruses.
PicoDevimon's design isn't half-bad either. It's a bat, at a glance, but ends up being more of a unique look, with its entire body being a head with wings and claws. I always loved the fact that he's got a pair of smaller wings under the big one, always loved his anatomically-inaccurate giant bird talons, and his shit-eating grin really sells the fact that he's a mischievous little devil. Also loved how the leathery parts of his body end up forming a facsimile of Devimon's Batman-esque cowl. Oh, and the mask is stitched in parts, because of course it is. It's a design that perhaps seems simple, but honestly is pretty creative. PicoDevimon's one of the best big-bad-guy minion I've ever seen, and like most of these "mouthpiece" minions, poor PicoDevimon met a grisly end at the hand of his own master. PicoDevimon would appear in Frontier, Savers and Hunters as minor adversaries or cameos, and is basically omnipresent in all the video games. Overall? A pretty damn good baby-devil.
9/10.Hanumon (a.k.a. Apemon)
Wow, I don't remember Hanumon at all. Hanumon (renamed Apemon because Hanumon's a bit too close to the Hindu deity Hanuman) here is one of the possible Adult-stage evolutions in the Nightmare Soldiers Pendulum virtual pet, which is... kind of bizarre? Everyone else is some sort of a demon or plays with a Halloween trope, or evolves into one, but Hanumon is just... kinda there? I guess he carries a big-ass bone on his back that is kinda-sorta related to skeletons, maybe? But I've never really liked Hanumon's design. He's this gangly ape that's yellow for some reason, carries a big bone, and has a lot of random accessories latched on like the random ring and bracelet and those random red fur-tips. His Bandai profile notes how he's very rarely seen and hides around in forested areas, so maybe he's meant to be Bigfoot? I dunno, though. I've never really liked Hanumon as a kid and I am genuinely surprised to see this dude listed as having appeared as villains-of-the-week in 02 and Xros Wars. I just never found this honestly pretty boring ape all that interesting. As it is, he's just kind of an ape cosplaying as Goku -- neat as one of the many different types of Digimon available, but not one I'll ever look at and go "oh yeah, that's cool". 4/10.Dokugumon
I always liked Dokugumon! Obviously based on a spider, I really did like Dokugumon's design a lot. Its head manages to combine the weird triple-jawed helmet-faced look of Kabuterimon but add its own spin on it, namely having the eight beady spider eyes be embedded into it. Oh, and it apparently took fashion tips from Devimon, because none of its legs look the same! It's got devil horns, it's got leather straps on its second pair of legs, mummy wraps on the third pair... and the rear-most pair is extra-large, while its front legs are gripping its red anime hair (many spiders actually do have hair, so Dokugumon gets a pass on this). Oh, and there's a big-ass skull on his abdomen! It's a pretty dang badass-looking design, honestly, and something with so many details really shouldn't work, but it kind of does, and ends up as a pretty neat-looking combination of a hairy, shaggy tarantula and venomous spider tropes. And in the anime, Dokugumon is shown to basically be able to do anything a spider can -- spin webs, shoot hair, shoot poison... pretty fun! Also always love the detail that his front legs are always gripping his hair.
Despite his impressiveness, though, Dokugumon is a 'mere' Adult-level, and while his original anime appearance in Adventure was pretty dang scary and protracted, subsequent appearances in 02, Tamers and Savers have sort of downgraded Dokugumon into little more than a nuisance that relies on swarm tactics more than actually battling. Interestingly, Dokugumon's official profile noted that Dokugumon was initially a gentle spider-type Digimon that was corrupted by a computer virus and is transformed into its feral, evil stage. Dokugumon, unlike Snimon and Roachmon, actually has a Perfect-level spider evolution that it can turn into, although they were clearly not meant to be evolutions of each other, Arukenimon, one of the main villains of 02. It's neat that at least one of these neglected Adult-stages actually got an evolution, yeah?
9/10.
I always liked Dokugumon! Obviously based on a spider, I really did like Dokugumon's design a lot. Its head manages to combine the weird triple-jawed helmet-faced look of Kabuterimon but add its own spin on it, namely having the eight beady spider eyes be embedded into it. Oh, and it apparently took fashion tips from Devimon, because none of its legs look the same! It's got devil horns, it's got leather straps on its second pair of legs, mummy wraps on the third pair... and the rear-most pair is extra-large, while its front legs are gripping its red anime hair (many spiders actually do have hair, so Dokugumon gets a pass on this). Oh, and there's a big-ass skull on his abdomen! It's a pretty dang badass-looking design, honestly, and something with so many details really shouldn't work, but it kind of does, and ends up as a pretty neat-looking combination of a hairy, shaggy tarantula and venomous spider tropes. And in the anime, Dokugumon is shown to basically be able to do anything a spider can -- spin webs, shoot hair, shoot poison... pretty fun! Also always love the detail that his front legs are always gripping his hair.Despite his impressiveness, though, Dokugumon is a 'mere' Adult-level, and while his original anime appearance in Adventure was pretty dang scary and protracted, subsequent appearances in 02, Tamers and Savers have sort of downgraded Dokugumon into little more than a nuisance that relies on swarm tactics more than actually battling. Interestingly, Dokugumon's official profile noted that Dokugumon was initially a gentle spider-type Digimon that was corrupted by a computer virus and is transformed into its feral, evil stage. Dokugumon, unlike Snimon and Roachmon, actually has a Perfect-level spider evolution that it can turn into, although they were clearly not meant to be evolutions of each other, Arukenimon, one of the main villains of 02. It's neat that at least one of these neglected Adult-stages actually got an evolution, yeah?
9/10.KoDokugumon
So while KoDokugumon (lit. Small Dokugumon) here has never really appeared anywhere else other than Adventure and Xros Wars, as mass-produced minions of Dokugumon, it's apparently Dokugumon's younger stage -- either a Baby I or a Baby II depending on the source. And it's basically a Dokugumon without his gothic makeup and far less of a rockstar hair, and a less crazy-looking mouth. Interestingly enough, its abdomen looks like a bee, and it is always seen in the anime swarming when summoned by Dokugumon (in Adventure) or just swarming around like feral beasts. Interestingly, KoDokugumon is one of those oddities that has only appeared in the anime without being acknowledged by any video game or trading card or official Bandai profile, despite having a unique appearance. Meanwhile, "Otamamon (Red)" and various "Veemon (Black)" got their own profiles. What gives, Bandai? Anyway, KoDokugumon is a neat little accessory to Dokugumon up there. I like it.
7/10.
So while KoDokugumon (lit. Small Dokugumon) here has never really appeared anywhere else other than Adventure and Xros Wars, as mass-produced minions of Dokugumon, it's apparently Dokugumon's younger stage -- either a Baby I or a Baby II depending on the source. And it's basically a Dokugumon without his gothic makeup and far less of a rockstar hair, and a less crazy-looking mouth. Interestingly enough, its abdomen looks like a bee, and it is always seen in the anime swarming when summoned by Dokugumon (in Adventure) or just swarming around like feral beasts. Interestingly, KoDokugumon is one of those oddities that has only appeared in the anime without being acknowledged by any video game or trading card or official Bandai profile, despite having a unique appearance. Meanwhile, "Otamamon (Red)" and various "Veemon (Black)" got their own profiles. What gives, Bandai? Anyway, KoDokugumon is a neat little accessory to Dokugumon up there. I like it. 7/10.Wizardmon (a.k.a. Wizarmon)
Aw yess Wizardmon! Among the spooky boys we're reviewing in this page, other than two of the arc villains Vamdemon and Piemon, the most prominent one is easily Wizardmon (sometimes Wizarmon). Initially introduced as merely one of Vamdemon's minions, and Tailmon's partner-slash-confidant, we get the long revelation that Wizardmon's been helping Tailmon out since her childhood, and even as a member of Vamdemon's army, Wizardmon's someone who is intent on helping out Tailmon. It's an interesting subversion because Wizardmon's machinations and impact is perhaps one of the biggest factors as to why Vamdemon ends up falling in Adventure, but unlike most characters in these sort of shows Wizardmon is shown to be pretty damn weak. Sure, he's impressive considering what he can do -- shoot lightning, shoot fire, heal people at one point... but at the same time, he's so utterly outclassed by Vamdemon in simple power levels. Hell, even a good chunk of Vamdemon's army outclasses Wizardmon! But he ends up being able to get the plot devices out of Vamdemon's hand so many times, and even straight-up sides with the good guys for the final couple of episodes in the arc, before performing a "jump in front of an attack" heroic sacrifice. And with the exception of the gangland-style execution of Gotsumon and Pumpmon, this is the first and most epic heroic sacrifice in Adventure before the Dark Masters start raking up bodies of our allies like flies in their own arc.Wizardmon ended up being so goddamn popular due to his pretty charming personality (he's a very laid-back drunkard for what, on paper, would be a badass Gandalf-style character) and so vital and intertwined with Tailmon's story that he ended up returning as a ghost in 02 for a single, haunting episode, and even gets a brief cameo in Tri. (Frontier also used a Wizardmon as a villain-of-the-week, but that Wizardmon was a lot less memorable)
Wizardmon's design is pretty neat, too, making Wizardmon look absolutely frumpy and chunky. He doesn't look like a pushover, sure, but he doesn't look like an athlete like some fantasy wizards tend to be displayed as. He's got enough accessories to look a bit complex -- the zippers, the Tamagotchi staff, the skull-hat, the rune cape -- but it doesn't clutter his design. Sure, he's still a humanoid Digimon and that's ever-so-slightly annoying, but as Adventure shows... he is more of a scarecrow creature under that mask with pale skin, spiky ears and stitches in his mouth. Yeah, from a design standpoint Wizardmon isn't the best (although he clearly looks a fair bit better than a lot of the post-Tamers humanoids).
Wizardmon's profile notes that he's apparently an immigrant from another dimension, making him, like Nanimon and Digitamamon, a homage to another one of Bandai's products -- the short-lived Magical Witches series. Apparently, being an outsider means that Wizardmon is able to master sorcery -- otherwise known as high-level programming language. Yes, Wizardmon, like Piccolomon, straight-up hacks the damn digital world to summon flames and shit. Overall, a damn good character and a respectable design.
9/10. Bonus points for the anime.Evilmon (a.k.a. Vilemon)
EvilmonIntroduced in a Wonderswan game, Evilmon here doesn't actually appear in the Pendulum Virtual Pet, but thematically fits into the Halloween-y spooky theme of the monsters here, so I'll cover him here. Renamed Vilemon in English (because Devimon is okay, but "Evil" isn't?), Evilmon is meant to be a 'grunt' Adult-level demon minion, a bit more powerful than PicoDevimon but nowhere as powerful as your Devimons and your Phantomons. Evilmon's pretty ugly and ghoulish, but that's what they were going for, I suppose? I've never been particularly fond with Evilmon, honestly. He's got some fun design features, with his ear-bat-wings, but that gigantic grinning mouth has always been kind of a pass for me.Evilmon was introduced pretty late in Adventure as a large swarm of demonic minions for Piemon, but this was basically so the returning allies the Chosen Children have gathered have something to punch. Evilmon would be minor enemies in 02, a villain of the week in Tamers (summoned when Culumon accidentally drew a Pentagram while playing with chalk, no less!), a villain of the week in Savers (posing as a friendly deity or something, I think? He did have a couple of PicoDevimon buddies) and becoming a bunch of recurring Lion King hyena cackling goons in Xros Wars. Actually, the Evilmon trio in Xros Wars might easily be their most prominent appearances, being a trio of faithful henchmen to secondary antagonist Lilithmon... but all people ever talk about is the one time the Evilmon became lingerie.
Anyway, I've never liked Evilmon much, but they definitely fill in a neat niche as an appropriately ghoulish, sniveling grunt demon. It's a neat niche among all these evil Digimons. He earns a neutral rating of 5/10.
5/10.DeathMeramon (a.k.a. SkullMeramon)
Since Meramon is a possible Adult-level Digimon in "Nightmare Soldiers", we get a proper Perfect-level evolution for Meramon in DeathMeramon (renamed SkullMeramon in the dub, because the word "death" isn't okay, but the concept of death is) who is basically just fucking Ghost Rider and Jason had a baby, and pumped it full of steroids. Look at this motherfucker! He's metal as shit. With a muscular body wrapped from neck to waist with chains, and also on fire, and a lower body wearing pants with fire patterns and a skull-cap, and that head? That head's just a creepy metal mask with some crazy rocker blue hair. And, again, this is a humanoid monster that's designed pretty damn well. Look at how badass he manages to look! DeathMeramon and Wizardmon looking more humanoid ends up being an actual plot point, because it allows them to actually wander around Tokyo with trenchcoats and blend in with the humans while Vamdemon's larger minions like Gesomon and Raremon are far, far more conspicuous.DeathMeramon ends up battling Sora, Mimi and Tai at Tokyo Tower, after stalking them for a while with a hilarious trenchcoat and a hat. I've always found DeathMeramon pretty damn cool, honestly. And besides, DeathMeramon's profile notes that he might not be quite as human as he seems, because his attack involves "melting down the metal within his body" and vomiting it out. Is DeathMeramon a Terminator in addition to all the American comic-book nods? Whatever the case, though, DeathMeramon ends up playing the part of a 'slasher villain' among the Nightmare Soldiers' horror aesthetic, and my god what a badass dude this guy is. I like DeathMeramon a lot.
8/10.
Pumpmon (a.k.a. Pumpkinmon)
Pumpmon (lengthened as Pumpkinmon in the dub) is a pretty damn funny little bugger, isn't he? I've always loved jack-o-lanterns and jack-o-lantern monsters. Whenever they go for the "pumpkin head with a scarecrow body" route, though, they always go for gaunt and gangly, which is pretty damn effective... but for Pumpmon? Fuck all that, his body is an adorable stitched-together doll! And he's got a goddamn axe embedded into his pumpkin skull, and a green cape! The Bandai profile explicitly notes that Pumpmon is a plush toy with a pumpkin head, but unlike all the spooky ghosts in this page, Pumpmon doesn't mean anyone any harm, and just wants to play around. It is still a Perfect-level Digimon, though we never actually see Pumpmon be quite a badass in the anime, with most of its appearances having Pumpmon face off against an enemy that outclasses him a lot, or have him be a bystander.
Pumpmon appeared in Frontier, Savers, Xros Wars and Hunters as minor characters, with some of them not even getting a line of dialogue, but, of course, its most memorable appearance is in Adventure in an episode I alluded to with Gotsumon earlier. Gotsumon and Pumpmon make a pretty bizarre pairing, don't they? A pair of toddler-sized Digimon with a very mischievous streak running around seeing all the sights of the human world, when they should be embracing their internal monsters and blowing up the city? Pumpmon actually does manage to stand up a little against his evil boss Vamdemon at the end of the episode, and shows off his skill -- manifesting a car-sized pumpkin and dropping it on the enemy -- but, sadly, as we know, the two get straight-up murdered by Vamdemon.
Anyway, Pumpmon is an extremely fun Halloweeny design! I really like him.
10/10.
Pumpmon appeared in Frontier, Savers, Xros Wars and Hunters as minor characters, with some of them not even getting a line of dialogue, but, of course, its most memorable appearance is in Adventure in an episode I alluded to with Gotsumon earlier. Gotsumon and Pumpmon make a pretty bizarre pairing, don't they? A pair of toddler-sized Digimon with a very mischievous streak running around seeing all the sights of the human world, when they should be embracing their internal monsters and blowing up the city? Pumpmon actually does manage to stand up a little against his evil boss Vamdemon at the end of the episode, and shows off his skill -- manifesting a car-sized pumpkin and dropping it on the enemy -- but, sadly, as we know, the two get straight-up murdered by Vamdemon.
Anyway, Pumpmon is an extremely fun Halloweeny design! I really like him.
10/10.Phantomon (a.k.a. Fantomon)
Of course, in practice, Phantomon is nowhere as eldritch and powerful as the personification of death itself, and is treated just like any other Perfect-level Digimon. One that's frankly quite low when compared to other spooky Perfect-level Digimon. Still, Vamdemon's most powerful lieutenant that recurs through a huge part of the Vamdemon-invades-Tokyo arc is a Phantomon that leads a huge army of Bakemon. Phantomon never really shows any sort of proper personality like PicoDevimon, though, just being a silent, serious general... who ends up getting taken out by a glancing blow in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment during the final battle with Vamdemon when Angemon and Vamdemon are clashing. I actually missed Phantomon's death animation as a kid, and kept expecting him to show up again considering he's been a huge presence in the preceding episodes. Phantomon also appeared as brief secondary villains in 02 and Frontier, and, interestingly, would receive a proper Ultimate-level evolution a couple of years down the line.
8/10.LadyDevimon
LadyDevimon here is easily one of the more popular monsters in the franchise, and you can probable see why. She's a hot dominatrix demon-lady, but I dunno -- having the demon temptress be the sexy humanoid definitely fits her theme a lot better than plant-lady Rosemon or the angelic Angewomon. And besides, LadyDevimon doesn't go for blatant skin-showing like Angewomon does, instead going for the 'sexy' route of skintight leather clothing. Just like Angewomon is a Perfect-level that outclasses Angemon, LadyDevimon is a Perfect-level that outclasses Devimon. Also, Devimon can evolve into LadyDevimon because what is gender? I do like that LadyDevimon isn't just straight up a lady demon in the way that other, lazier future designs (Lilithmon, for one) would be. She still shares Devimon's freakishly long arms and claws -- or one of them, at least, leading to a pretty neat asymmetry. She's swapped out Devimon's leather belt fetish for a BDSM chain fetish, too. Hell, that left chain is bolted straight into her flesh, for an extra level of hardcoreness. Her costume still has a lot of skulls, bat-symbols and stitches all over, though.Easily the most interesting feature in LadyDevimon is the fact that she's got a little buddy hanging over her shoulder like some sort of ghostly familiar made out of shadows, but closer inspection reveals that the flame-buddy actually has the same consistency and is connected to LadyDevimon's leather outfit, meaning that it's the section of LadyDevimon's shirt that used to cover the now-exposed left sholder. It's even got a set of stitches as a mouth! I've never noticed that the lower part of her sleeve actually curls up into another face, too.
Surprisingly, though, outside of the TCG games that sexualizes the hell out of anyone with boobs, LadyDevimon tended to be played straight in most of her appearances. Sure, LadyDevimons are sometimes portrayed as a bit catty, but what Japanese female villain isn't? She first shows up as Piemon's only lieutenant in Adventure (a stark contrast with the other three Dark Masters, who had a lot of minions), going into a cat-fight against Angewomon that the cast lampshades. 02 featured a different LadyDevimon as one of the three lieutenants of Daemon. This one got whacked with a skateboard. In Xros Wars, the final arc included a vampire-themed zone, which was patrolled by three LadyDevimon, one of whom had a red suit. Overall, LadyDevimon might be a fanservicey humanoid character, but unlike most examples of this trope, LadyDevimon still functions pretty well as a monster. I'm surprised to say that I actually like her design unironically as a monster. I started this review off thinking I was going to go in another direction, actually.
8/10.Mammon (a.k.a. Mammothmon)
There are a lot of Perfects in this one, huh? Mammon here (renamed Mammothmon in the dub, another change that I actually prefer) is a scary-ass mammoth monster! I was genuinely flummoxed to find that Mammon was introduced among the "Nightmare Soldiers", but then as the very first Digimon enemy that rampaged in the real world in Adventure's Vamdemon arc, Mammon has always held a special place in my heart due to how unsettling that goddamned face was to me as a kid. I knew as a child pretty quickly that all animals can be pretty dangerous and they're not always cute Simbas and Dumbos and Baloos, and elephants are always particularly scary considering their immense size. And Mammothmon (screw Mammon, Mammothmon feels more natural to type out) plays on all the tropes you'd expect from a scary pachyderm. Shaggy coat, ragged ears, scary fang full of teeth, prominent toe-claws... it's the same way they make a lot of the earlier Digimon more monstrous. But then you get to Mammothmon's face, and realize just how bizarrely alien it is thanks to some pieces of metal bolted on to his face and trunk, with nothing but a golden carved eye in the center. That was such a striking mental image to me as a child, especialyl with how the metal parts actually blended in well with Mammothmon's real flesh, and this dude ends up being way scarier than it should even before it starts wrecking buildings with its massive size.Again, I found it a shame that there's no Adult-stage that connects Bakumon to the Perfect-stage Mammothmon considering how similar their metal-plate head deal looks. I mean, sure, in the original Pendulum V-Pet Bakumon can turn into either Garurumon or Hanumon, which in turn evolves into Mammothmon. And that's not counting the large amount of games both of them appear in with interconnected evolution lines. I get that, but there isn't any sort of continuity. Oh well. I also do like the mismatched tusks on Mammothmon, which is oddly asymmetric with the right one having patches of flesh grafted on to it.
Anyway, Mammothmon is pretty dang cool. He's noted by his bio to be a creature that was once extinct, but unleashed upon the world. Kinda similar to Plesiomon and Ikkakumon, then? Also, that eye on Mammothmon's head is apparently magical and can see into the future. As you can imagine, Mammothmon's used as antagonists in several series -- 02, Savers and Xros Wars -- thanks to just how scary it looks. Great monster.
9/10.SkullMammon (a.k.a. SkullMammothmon)
4/10.Boltmon
Poor, forgotten Boltmon. Boltmon here is an Ultimate-level Digimon, and tended to be associated with either DeathMeramon or Andromon (although, as Digimon tended to be, there's a lot of things that can turn into this thing). Boltmon's obviously based on a Frankenstein's monster, and the Bandai bio even notes how he was constructed at around the same time that Andromon was, in an experimentation to make a more organic powerhouse... but Boltmon's emotions run rampant due to his fleshy parts, and this causes him to rampage and be uncontrolled, a reference to the Frankenstein novel. Boltmon's design actually has a fair bit of fun bits to him, like the nails on his arms or the weird-ass gas mask or the wires jutting out haphazardly from his chest. Oh, and he's got a big-ass battle-axe, too, which I always found neat. Poor Boltmon was sort of ignored, though, having a glorified cameo in both Tamers and Xros Wars, and was only used in the V-Tamer manga to die twice just to show off the power of an actual character. Boltmon's... okay, but I really can't find much to say about him that isn't "a'ight". 5/10.Vamdemon (a.k.a. Myotismon)
(Oh, Vamdemon was renamed Myotismon in the English dub, after Myotis, a genus of mouse-eared bats. Not the vampire bat, though.)
Of course, Vamdemon's design is... it's basically Dracula with anime accessories. Sure, he does have a couple of neat features like sharing Devimon and Angemon's really long arms and fingers. But other than his weird lime-green wrist-cuffs, Vamdemon's design basically goes for a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality by mixing dark blue, black, red and a dash of gold, making Vamdemon look both sophisticated and scary. Plus there's that fun little masquerade domino mask deal going on, that helps to break up his face a little. Vamdemon is nominally the evolution of Devimon in video games, although a lot of other spooky stuff can also turn to Vamdemon -- they tended to have to work for it, though.Vamdemon is noted as the King of the Undead, with the Digimon World game giving Vamdemon an entire Haunted House to lord over, and, obviously, being an overlord of an insane army in Adventures. From a design standpoint Vamdemon wouldn't be so impressive, but the sheer badassery he brings with him ends up setting a pretty high standard for a lot of future Digimon antagonists, one that not a lot can match. Vamdemon's got a lot of awesome powers, too, among them unleashing a gigantic stream of bats (like Gomamon, straight-up animal bats) at the enemy, creating a giant whip made out of blood, spreading mist everywhere to empower himself, causing mere humans to fall asleep at whim, and, at one point, turning Lilimon into... stone? Okay? Eh, whatever the case, Vamdemon's pretty damn badass. Not bad for a Perfect-level!
9/10. +3 points for animeVenomVamdemon (a.k.a. VenomMyotismon)
Interestingly, VenomVamdemon's profile notes how much Vamdemon hates this form because Vamdemon is a civilized gentlemanly vampire, god damn it, and Vamdemon takes pride in his intelligence and reason. VenomVamdemon is a creature of pure brutish instinct, just roaring and destroying and swearing vengeance on all of his enemies.
However! In what is perhaps one of the most bizarre sequences in the anime, partway through the battle, an attack that landed on VenomVamdemon's crotch exposes a "true form" hiding within a maw-like opening on VenomVamdemon's crotch. And it's this little black glob with Vamdemon's mask, a screechy voice and two stubby arms that seems to be the actual, reasoning consciousness of VenomVamdemon? Um, what? This is never really explained beyond the kids figuring out that this was VenomVamdemon's weak point, just like a Legend of Zelda boss's eyeball, and decide to kick a goddamn part of a building into the poor crotch-thing, and then have WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon unleash their respective attacks on VenomVamdemon's crotch-baby. It's... it's got to hurt, yeah? If nothing else, the crotch-baby is the thing I remember most about VenomVamdemon.
Overall, honestly quite underwhelming as a design and slightly messy, but one that I still respect for what it's trying to do.
7/10.Piemon (a.k.a. Piedmon)
Piemon's nowhere quite as long-running as Vamdemon, having to share the spotlight with his three other teammates, but ends up really selling the point home of being an unstoppable juggernaut, as well as being revealed to have menaced the digital world for a long, long time. A flashback episode showed that Piemon has been fighting against Gennai (the digital world's "antivirus" of sorts, not quite a Digimon but not a human) and the forces of good since even before the Chosen Children arrived, and actually battled a previous generation of Chosen Children -- a throwaway line of dialogue that ended up being an important plot point in Tri twenty years later. Piemon doesn't do much other than be threatening and be absolutely domineering in power, but that's all he needed to do.
In battle Piemon is able to draw the swords sheathed onto his back, and the anime have some fun showing him japer about with the blades, which he can apparently teleport anywhere. Also, he's able to use a cloth to turn people into keychains, and the little blue teddy bear he's clutching in his official art is probably one such victim. Interestingly, Piemon's profile notes how he's shrouded in mystery, and this 'demon-man' Digimon's true form is apparently unclear and that he appeared out of nowhere.
7/10. +3 points for anime. Demon (a.k.a. Daemon/Creepymon)
And while "Cloaked" Daemon was... kinda neat, as much as it ends up unfortunately resembling the KKK. I've always been extremely disappointed with Daemon's true form, though. I get what they're going for, to give a far more beastly creature... but I dunno. Daemon ends up looking like an Evilmon on steroids more than anything, and honestly looks a lot less impressive than his sinister cloaked self. There have been attempts to make regular Daemon a lot more impressive than his Bandai artwork, but I've never actually liked Daemon's design all that much.
There's the neat detail that his claws can stretch out, which the official artwork displays, but that doesn't really mean much when your regular Adult-stage Devimon can basically already do the same thing. Daemon does look pretty monstrous and you can kind of tell that the original designers wanted him to be the ultra-supreme-badass leader of the devils and demons of the digital world. He's apparently a fallen Seraphimon, too. And while Daemon is supposed to initially be the super-badass ultimate evil, later series, video games and profiles would reveal that Daemon is a member of a group of Seven Great Demon Lords, based on the seven deadly sins. Daemon ends up being given the title of the Sin of Wrath, and... and, well, Daemon does look pretty beastly and angry, I suppose. Overall, though, I've always found Daemon to be pretty dang underwhelming. I did find it funny, though, that the English dub, when censoring Daemon's name, ends up going for... "Creepymon?" Really? 6/10.... whew, that's a lot. We covered three of the Digimon franchise's biggest villains in Daemon, Vamdemon and Piemon, as well as a major lore character in Wizardmon, and a bunch of classic designs among them, too! We'll see if I get this verbose in the next session.
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