In future installments as we go through the Pendulum games, unless otherwise mentioned, we'll be covering all of the ".5" upgraded versions of the Pendulum toys together with the rest of their ".0" ones.
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YukimiBotamon (a.k.a. SnowBotamon)
So Tailmon, the partner Digimon we're covering for this section of Digimon Reviews, is a relatively late addition to the cast, appearing in the third arc of Adventure and only joining the main cast around halfway through that arc. To compensate, though, she and her partner Hikari also sticks around with the main cast in the sequel series 02, when the majority of the main cast are semi-retired. While Tailmon's Baby II and Child forms were seen in the anime, though, her Baby I form didn't even appear until nearly the final episode of 02. And it's revealed to be this cute little YukimiBotamon, a snow-themed 'repaint' of Botamon. Apparently, though, it's not actually made out of snow, but is just covered with fluffy white hair... but likes the cold anyway and can breathe cold moisture? Eh. It's neat, I suppose, although I prefer regular Botamon. YukimiBotamon seems to be picked for Tailmon's Baby I stage more as a little parallel because Tailmon and Agumon's partners are siblings... and while it's never quite made as explicit, in the scenes that Tailmon and Agumon are allowed to interact together, Tailmon ends up in a "responsible older sister" mode. So I guess it's kind of appropriate that these two end up with a similar Baby I form? Eh. YukimiBotamon here's kinda cute, I guess. YukimiBotamon has since made cameos in multiple other seasons alongside the other babies. 
4/10. Nyaromon
Nyaromon here is the Baby II stage this time around, and it's a bit more clear where we're going for -- a kitty-cat! Nyaromon always struck me as being inspired partly by a mouse (the electronic kind, not the living kind), although that might've been just me. I do like Nyaromon a fair bit, with a fun jagged mouth and enough features to pass off ass a cat while still being amorphous enough to conceivably evolve into multiple different Child-stages (and it has, definitely, in various games). Nyaromon is described to be, well, kind of cat-like, being capricious yet also kind of lonely. Interestingly enough, though, unlike most Baby II Digimon, Nyaromon doesn't attack with acid bubbles, but by puffing up its tail into a club with spikes made out of its wires, and then whacking its opponent. It's noted to be extremely weak, but hey, Nyaromon tries! Overall, a fun baby design, but nothing particularly spectacular to me.
5/10. Plotmon (a.k.a. Salamon)
I've always actually been indifferent to poor Plotmon here. See, for this evolutionary line, we see everything younger than Tailmon a fair bit later after she appeared. It's the same way in the games as well -- while they all debuted in 1999, Plotmon, Nyaromon and YukimiBotamon weren't seen a fair bit after Tailmon, Angewomon and Holydramon. And thus I was genuinely confused that Tailmon's Child stage was not a cat, but... a little bald dog? I am definitely a dog person in real life, but Plotmon's not that interesting of a dog design and is honestly downright boring. Between her very plain appearance, the blobby feet and the rather strange lack of a snout, I've always found Plotmon boring at best and weird at worst. Plotmon's only real defining feature is that she's got Tailmon's Holy Ring as a collar on her neck. Honestly, Plotmon feels more of an afterthought than anything, and feels bizarrely interjected between the cat-like Nyaromon and Tailmon.
Also, Plotmon was named Salamon in the dub after one of the dub producer's pet cat, one of the weirder and honestly quite unnecessary renamings in the dubs. Plotmon's profile notes that it's apparently not aware of whether it can be good or evil, so it has the potential to evolve into many things... but, of course, tends to just evolve into Tailmon most of the time. Interestingly, the profile also notes that Plotmon was "created by Digimon experimenters" to mimic human pets? Weird.
In addition to being the rarely-seen Child form of Tailmon in Adventure/02/Tri, the Ophanimon that was a major lore character in Frontier was eventually transformed into a Plotmon and stayed like that for a huge majority of the season. We'll talk about that Ophanimon later down below. Anyway, you might notice the discrepancy that I don't really have much to talk about in the Child-stage of the partner Digimon... what gives?
4/10.
Tailmon (a.k.a. Gatomon)
Well, that's because Tailmon here is an Adult-stage, and Tailmon is also this particular partner Digimon's default stage. Apparently, while all the other Partner Digimon defaults into their Child stage, Tailmon has accumulated enough battle experience that her default stage is her Adult-stage. And, of course, to make things convenient for our heroes, unlike most Adult-stages, Tailmon here is in carry-size so she can travel around with everyone and Bandai can sell plushies of her. That is not a criticism, by the way, because Tailmon here is a pretty badass little kitty-cat! She deceptively looks cute and adorable, just a cartoon cat with weird ears and weird yellow gloves that end with claws, but in her first appearance, she was a straight-up lieutenant to the longest-running big bad in Adventure, Vamdemon, and straight-up beat three of our heroes' Adult-stage partners in a single scene.
Tailmon would then spend a good amount of time still as a bad guy, before a strong bit of self-introspection and discovery of her destined partner, Yagami Hikari (shortened to Kari in the English dub), causes her to question just how loyal she is to the bad guys. Tailmon is a lot more mature than the other partner Digimon, having gone through a lifetime of torture and brainwashing by the bad guys, but she draws the line at killing a little girl. There was a scene where she was prepared to cut out Hikari's oblivious neck before deciding against it, easily far darker than the outright deaths that happen elsewhere in the series. Tailmon would eventually decide that she likes to be with the good guys better than the bad guys, and ends up defending Hikari from the villains and ending up being accepted into the group, but would remain in her default Adult-stage throughout the adventure, contrasting nicely with the fact that while she was the most emotionally mature of the partner Digimon, her partner Hikari is the youngest and most inexperienced of the human partners... but it's this naivety and inexperience that allows Hikari to far more readily trust Tailmon and get Tailmon to actually forgive herself. Hikari's associated emotion is the honestly bullshit and ambiguous "Light" that tends to be hadnwaved into anything (including Hikari's random visions that isn't really ever properly explained), when I really think it probably would've been better to be Forgiveness or Acceptance or something similar. Eh.
Also, Tailmon ends up being renamed into Gatomon in the English dub, which is honestly bizarre because unlike most of the other renamed characters it's not a confusing Japanese name (YukimiBotamon, Yukidarumon, TonosamaGekomon) or a potentially censor-unfriendly name (HolyAngemon, Vamdemon, Dagomon). "Tail" is an English word, and while you can argue that it's not specific enough for a cat Digimon, neither are names like "Greymon", and those stuck around. Eh. Gatomon's a fine name, I suppose, but Tailmon was what I know this character as before, and that's how I'm going to refer to her.
Tailmon's profile notes that the Holy Ring on her tail is the source of her power, and if it's removed, her power would decrease dramatically. This actually came as a plot point in 02 where the cast is reset with a bunch of newbies, and to limit evolution so our old cast can't help... but they wanted to keep Takeru and Hikari, and it's problematic since Tailmon is an Adult-stage, so they had an Unimon step on Tailmon's holy ring and she spends a significant amount of 02 sans-ring and is basically reduced to the power of a Child-stage. Not that power levels really matter in a series where emotions are literally fuel for your partner monsters, mind you.
8/10.
Tailmon would then spend a good amount of time still as a bad guy, before a strong bit of self-introspection and discovery of her destined partner, Yagami Hikari (shortened to Kari in the English dub), causes her to question just how loyal she is to the bad guys. Tailmon is a lot more mature than the other partner Digimon, having gone through a lifetime of torture and brainwashing by the bad guys, but she draws the line at killing a little girl. There was a scene where she was prepared to cut out Hikari's oblivious neck before deciding against it, easily far darker than the outright deaths that happen elsewhere in the series. Tailmon would eventually decide that she likes to be with the good guys better than the bad guys, and ends up defending Hikari from the villains and ending up being accepted into the group, but would remain in her default Adult-stage throughout the adventure, contrasting nicely with the fact that while she was the most emotionally mature of the partner Digimon, her partner Hikari is the youngest and most inexperienced of the human partners... but it's this naivety and inexperience that allows Hikari to far more readily trust Tailmon and get Tailmon to actually forgive herself. Hikari's associated emotion is the honestly bullshit and ambiguous "Light" that tends to be hadnwaved into anything (including Hikari's random visions that isn't really ever properly explained), when I really think it probably would've been better to be Forgiveness or Acceptance or something similar. Eh.Also, Tailmon ends up being renamed into Gatomon in the English dub, which is honestly bizarre because unlike most of the other renamed characters it's not a confusing Japanese name (YukimiBotamon, Yukidarumon, TonosamaGekomon) or a potentially censor-unfriendly name (HolyAngemon, Vamdemon, Dagomon). "Tail" is an English word, and while you can argue that it's not specific enough for a cat Digimon, neither are names like "Greymon", and those stuck around. Eh. Gatomon's a fine name, I suppose, but Tailmon was what I know this character as before, and that's how I'm going to refer to her.
Tailmon's profile notes that the Holy Ring on her tail is the source of her power, and if it's removed, her power would decrease dramatically. This actually came as a plot point in 02 where the cast is reset with a bunch of newbies, and to limit evolution so our old cast can't help... but they wanted to keep Takeru and Hikari, and it's problematic since Tailmon is an Adult-stage, so they had an Unimon step on Tailmon's holy ring and she spends a significant amount of 02 sans-ring and is basically reduced to the power of a Child-stage. Not that power levels really matter in a series where emotions are literally fuel for your partner monsters, mind you.
8/10. Angewomon
So during the climax of the Vamdemon battle, with a couple of fallen allies and a literal personal demon that's menacing Tailmon and out to murder her new best buddy, Tailmon ends up evolving into her Perfect form, Angewomon. Who is an angel, but also a woman! And borderline dresses like a BDSM stripper, although Adventure and 02 never actually has Angewomon in any real provocative poses, that doesn't stop a lot of TCG artwork in particular in making her look ridiculously sexy. It's really kind of unfortunate just how weirdly provocative her design looks, though -- Angemon gets a full body suit, and Angewomon gets exposed flesh everywhere? Teenage-me didn't complain much, though, I'll grudgingly add.I thought Angewomon ended up just toeing the line of being complex and cluttered in the way HolyAngemon was. A good part of it is because her eight wings (she outranks Angemon, after all, being a Perfect-level) are neatly folded down into a cape-like structure, and she has a neat bit of asymmetry going on with her boots and sleeves that keeps her from being not quite as boring. I've always loved how her attack involves having that ornament on her right wrist expand into an actual bow, though. That's always cool. She ends up forming this duo of angels with Angemon throughout Adventure's run, which I thought was kinda neat. And while Angewomon's lost a lot of her luster due to her rather questionable design, she's had enough cool scenes in the anime for me to give her one extra point. Overall, though, definitely not a design that I would really like if not for the power of nostalgia. Nostalgia's a powerful force, guys!
6/10. Holydramon (a.k.a. Magnadramon)
So Holydramon (Magnadramon in the dub, because 'holy' is a bit of a panic-inducing word for American moms) is Angewomon's most canon Ultimate evolution, appearing in various video games at around the same year that Tailmon debuted in the anime -- and all three of Tailmon, Angewomon and Holydramon made it into the Pendulum 1.5 Virtual Pet, replacing some slots filled by a bunch of others in the 1.0 version of the Virtual Pet. And Angewomon is shown evolving into Holydramon in the Hurricane Touchdown tie-in movie for 02. Which is frankly a pretty damn terrible movie, but it also showed Patamon and Tailmon reaching their Ultimate stages and for that part I will actually forgive Hurricane Touchdown of some of its sins. Years later, Angewomon would evolve into Holydramon in Tri as her proper Ultimate, the final member of the cast to reach her ultimate form in that series.
I've always thought that Holydramon was always the more appropriate final stage for Tailmon, anyway, since she spent her entire evolutionary line as a beast up until Angewomon, and then her Ultimate final stage combines the angel aspects of Angewomon and the bestial nature of Tailmon and her prior evolutions, resulting into this pretty dang magnificent-looking pink dragon angel. Most of all, I think, that made Holydramon pretty striking, was how... unique she was at that time. This wasn't just some random generic angel-in-an-armour that I've seen so many times in Digimon alone. This was a truly weird holy beast, combining the shape of an oriental dragon with angelic wings (ten of them, because Holydramon's an Ultimate-level angel) and a mammalian face that looks kind of like a big cat. Sure, anime appearances tone down Holydramon's snarling maw a little and made her look a lot cuddlier, but hey, she is meant to be cuddly.
That is, until this "god beast Digimon" unleashes her ultimate move, striking the opponent with "the light energy of all justice", causing those who suffer this technique to have their forms "instantaneously erased". Dang, Holydramon, calm down! Anyway, I've always really liked Holydramon, being exposed to her a lot thanks to the video games. Always thought she's pretty dang appropriate and unique for Tailmon's final form
9/10. Ophanimon (a.k.a. Ofanimon)
Introduced in 2001, in the year that Digimon Frontier came out, however, is Ophanimon (sometimes Ofanimon) here. And... this is what I talked about when I said that a humanoid angel in armour is just generic. And I realize that it's kind of hypocritical for me to be saying this after gushing about all sorts of different-looking bug monsters in the previous section, but I dunno. I've always felt absolutely underwhelmed by Ophanimon when I first saw Ophanimon show up in Frontier. Ophanimon was introduced as one of the Three Archangels in Frontier alongside the angelic Ultimate forms of two other previous protagonist Digimons -- Patamon's Seraphimon and Tamers' Lopmon's Cherubimon. But instead of using Holydramon, they decided to make an alternate evolution for Angewomon, and ended up with Ophanimon... who's... not an unpleasant design, I suppose, which is why she's not getting 0/5, but feels so goddamn boring. Even compared to other humanoids like Angewomon, Rosemon and Seaphimon, Ophanimon is just sort of... derivative. And also what's up with that random midriff? Angewomon at least isn't giving the impression of wearing armour. Ophanimon is just bizarrely armoured (with a very impractical skirt, but still kind of armoured) but leaves her belly open? At least she has a cool lance and shield. Ophanimon in described in her profile as being the "loving and merciful" side of 'god' (god in the Digimon world is a computer called Yggdrasil), while Seraphimon is the executor of the laws. In Frontier, they actually swap things around where Ophanimon ended up being the more shrewd and manipulative, while Seraphimon is the kinder one. Ophanimon was always more of a plot device than a character to me, honestly.
The existence of a humanoid angel Digimon that canonically evolves from Angewomon sort of tore the fandom apart, though, with official material going back and forth on which is more canon for Angewomon to evolve into. They sort of just went "fuck it, this is Digimon" and had both Ophanimon and Holydramon as possible evolutions, which is actually the sensible option... but when Tri rolled around, Adventure's Tailmon actually evolved into an Ophanimon... which is treated as a dark evolution in the same vein of SkullGreymon, and Tailmon's real Ultimate evolution turned out to be good old Holydramon. That's an actually clever way to acknowledge both of Angewomon's evolutions in the broader franchise, in my book.
Anyway, I've spent way, way too much time to say that I really don't like Ophanimon, and I really like Holydramon. She's pleasant-looking enough, I suppose, which is probably why she's getting two points. The original draft of this had her get zero points, but I'm not sure if that's just me sort of being vehemently in #TeamHolydramon making me dislike Ophanimon even more than I probably should.
3/10. Gotsumon
Hooo, that's a mouthful. With the kitty-cat angels out of the way, let's talk about Gotsumon! Gotsumon here is the third possible Child-stage evolution for the Nature Spirits Pendulum game, alongside Otamamon and Tentomon, and despite never really being the partner of anyone, this happy rock child has appeared in way more material than I thought he would have. And I dunno, Gotsumon's pretty cool, I guess, even if rock monsters isn't something I particularly like. Gotsumon's concept is pretty simple, just a rock dude with a funky mouth and a very energetic disposition, although is sometimes a bully.Gotsumon and his buddy Pumpmon/Pumpkinmon was the subject of one of the straight-out most callously brutal episodes in Adventure, though, being two goofballs that hung out with the good guys and were straight-up executed by the arc's big bad Vamdemon for refusing to be evil. Various unrelated Gotsumon would show up as cameos in 02 and Tamers, but most interestingly Gotsumon is perhaps the only 'normal' Digimon to show up as recurring important characters in more than one series. In Frontier, a heroic Gotsumon is a recurring character that ends up being a fan of the good guys, even achieving evolution into Insekimon/Meteormon in the climax of the series before being slapped down by villains out of his depth. In Savers, a very villainous and skeevy Gotsumon was actually the Big Bad's lieutenant and a gigantic racist towards humans and survives for waaaay more episodes than I thought possible.
Anyway, Gotsumon is an otherwise okay-but-nothing-special design that is truly elevated by his varied and memorable anime appearances. In the original virtual pet, Gotsumon is able to evolve into various creatures -- Tortamon (a giant turtle), Monochromon (a dinosaur), Starmon (a star with limbs) or Gekomon (a frog), but nowadays Gotsumon has two sort-of official rock-themed evolutions. The first is Golemon, which we'll cover below, and the other? Icemon. Which is literally identical with Gotsumon, but with ice instead of rock. Icemon can then evolve into Insekimon (Meteormon in English), which is exactly the same with Gotsumon, but with meteor rocks. I'm just sad there isn't an Ultimate-level that's just Gotsumon but with another element.
Anyway, I like this dude. He's a fun little rock baby.
7/10. Tortomon (a.k.a. Tortamon)
Tortamon here is... neat! He's a Digimon obviously based on a tortoise, or at least a tortoise-esque dinosaur, and I do like how it plays up a snapping tortoise's beak and makes it kind of a desert-dwelling monster as opposed to the common trope of associating them with water. The spikes on his back really end up making him look pretty fun and threatening too. It's somewhat boring but does fit the niche of a fun-looking enemy, and has been a villain of the week in both 02 and Savers. Interestingly, it's apparently known because of its shrill cry, earning its nickname of "Noise Digimon", which is just such a random bit of detail given to a giant tortoise dinosaur. Especially when its main mode of attack is to launch its shell-blades like missiles (badass), or to retract his limbs and head and spin around like a bladed top. He consistently shows up in a fair amount of video games, but has never really been given any sort of default pre-evolution or evolution. I don't have much to say about him. Overall, kind of a boring, if admittedly solid, design. 5/10. Starmon
Starmon here is a possible evolution of Otamamon and Gotsumon originally, although, and I'm becoming a bit repetitive now, he's since been associated with a lot of other stuff. His Bandai profile notes that Starmon is apparently a planet Digimon born out of the data of a planet-analyzing software, and is a "space warrior" in a space-suit... and is also a fanboy of Leomon, apparently. I'm genuinely not sure why this dude is in the Nature Spirits themed game, though, when all other evolutionary options tended to be beasts and insects and nature spirits.The 02 anime characterizes Starmon as a sheriff in a cowboy-themed town, but ended up being a villain when he was taken over by the Digimon Kaiser. Definitely can see the cowboy deal, what with him resembling a sheriff's star and having that cowboy-esque scarf dealie. In Frontier, Starmon apparently are the inhabitants of the moon! While initially sort of stuffed together with just whatever Child and Perfect stages, and actually ended up being a rather appropriate pre-evolution of the Mamemons, a couple of years later and Starmon is one of the few "one-off" Adult levels to get a proper Perfect level devoted to him, SuperStarmon. Yay for Starmon! He's definitely one of the designs I've always found to be a bit forgettable, honestly, without being outright bad or boring.
5/10. Triceramon
The "Nature Spirits" Pendulum introduced Triceramon as the Perfect evolution of Monochromon, although Starmon and eventually a bunch of other dinosaurs can also turn into this dude. And it's actually a pretty neat design! Triceratops tended to just be characterized as basically being rhinoceros, but dinosaurs, so to see one so insanely monstrous is neat. Hell, Triceramon is honestly less of a Triceratops-themed Digimon and more of a green Tyrannomon or Greymon with a Triceratops' crest and horns stapled onto it. It's even got carnivorous teeth and claws! It's apparently still herbivorous, though you can't really tell with that look.Triceramon's a pretty cool looking kaiju monster, honestly, and I've always been a bit sad that herbivorous dinosaurs never got to look scary and threatening. While Triceramon probably would look cooler in my opinion with a biologically-accurate beak, I'm not really complaining. He ended up being a pretty badass villain-of-the-week in 02, and one that actually prompted our heroes' main Digimon to achieve its final form. A Triceramon is also featured in Tri as one of the previous generation of Chosen Children's partner Digimon. Triceramon is one of those Digimon that I don't think is fairly represented by his official Bandai art, which always felt a bit awkward to me. Overall, though, a pretty fun Perfect-level with a surprisingly fun colour scheme that's just basically three shades of green (and a splash of red) that still manages to look distinctive.
7/10. Jyagamon (a.k.a. Jagamon)
Jyagamon is a Perfect-level Digimon that I always forget. Apparently named for the Japanese word for potato (jyagaimo), Jyagamon is... a rock potato? A rock dinosaur? Jyagamon honestly surprises me that it's even a Perfect-level -- something like Tortamon up above looks far more menacing than this thing. And I'm genuinely not sure what to feel about this. It's so forgettable, with its only real anime appearance as a gigantic herd that rampages through the Digimon World in Tamers, more a wildlife feature than an actual part of the show. Hell, it's even excluded from a fair amount of games, something that other neglected perfects like ExTyrannomon at least manages to sneak into. I mean, compare Jyagamon to the other Nature Spirits options -- AtlurKabuterimon, Okuwamon, Piccolomon, Angewomon, Triceramon... the only other Perfect that I'd argue looks worse than this thing is TonosamaGekomon, and that fatass is at least memorable. Poor potato.Jyagamon is apparently so timid that it basically hides and pretends to be a potato? Which is why it has a leaf-tail? And despite its Perfect-level strength, it just likes to curl up its limbs, bury itself underground like a potato, and hide from conflict. As hilarious as a potato Pokemon would be, Jyagamon has always been kind of a disappointment, honestly. It'd help if it actually looks like a potato, but it looks more like Gotsumon's shut-in cousin. I kinda feel bad for this thing, but at the same time I honestly kind of remember he exists most of the time. I'd have given him 1 point, but potato.
4/10. SaberLeomon
In addition to the main characters' Ultimate forms HerakleKabuterimon and Holydramon, the other two available Ultimates in Nature Spirits are explicitly designed for pre-existing Digimon. First up is SaberLeomon here, introduced as Leomon's Ultimate form. SaberLeomon is, of course, based on the famous sabertooth tigers, combining it with lion features. Definitely a fun progression to have the humanoid lion Leomon revert back into a quadrupedal bestial stage, and apparently in addition to the expected clawing and biting, SaberLeomon can shoot out poison-tipped hair like darts, definitely unexpected for a noble-looking lion!In the anime, Adventure's Leomon skips any Perfect level and evolves straight into SaberLeomon, and it's... it's neat, I suppose, and works better in motion. I've always thought that SaberLeomon ended up being a wee bit too busy, with like maybe two or three detail pieces too much than what he should be, but he's definitely a majestic one. I don't really have much to say about this one -- it's kinda weird for me to say this, but I think I prefer the original Leomon. I dunno.
6/10. MetalEtemon
So in the final Dark Masters arc, previous Big Bad Etemon ends up returning, having evolved from a Perfect level into the Ultimate level MetalEtemon. Yeah, the Elvis impersonator is now into metal. Apparently Etemon went on a journey of self-discovery, and ended up strengthening himself by coating himself with "Chrome Digizoid", and is sort of turned into an indestructible Elvis-impersonating singing monkey? Hilariously, even though MetalEtemon has the strength of an Ultimate-level creature and can punch and kick as good as most of them, his main attack still involves throwing a banana slip. MetalEtemon ends up causing all sorts of havoc after his return, even battling and matching current Big Bad Pinocchimon for a while... and ended up being killed by a combination of Zudomon (who we'll cover next episode) and SaberLeomon... but not before killing SaberLeomon himself. Man, MetalEtemon is a dick.
Anyway, I do... well, I don't hate MetalEtemon, and I think it's the logical evolution of the crazily ego-tripping Etemon. In this case, in addition to retaining the Elvis-esque hair and the superstar sunglasses, MetalEtemon's become a metal-plated bodybuilder dudebro that still likes to throw concerts. And I always loved the fact that MetalEtemon replaced the Monzaemon plush with a WaruMonzaemon plush. A lot of guys don't really like Etemon because every facet of this franchise must be all dark demons and cool dragons and demons, but I dunno... MetalEtemon's pretty funky. I found this one pretty all right.
5/10. Golemon
Golemon is another one that always feels somewhat underappreciated, although I've always found it kind of cool. Based on the mythical golem, Golemon truly looks pretty neatly Frankenstenied, with a bunch of rocks bolted together crudely with metal stitches and random wrappings, with fleshy eyes under that strapped-on mask. There are even exhaust vents on Golemon's back for some reason! Initially introduced as an alternate evolution of Agumon of all things in a Wonderswan game, Golemon has shown up here and there as monsters-of-the-week, notably 02 and Frontier, both of which actually sort of play up Golemon's whole "golem" deal in different ways. In Frontier, one of the members of the initial big bad ensemble, Grottomon, has Earth-manipulating powers and created Golemon out of the Earth. In 02, Golemon is just straight-up a golem created by a plot device and there was a bit of a debate among the Chosen Children on whether killing Golemon would be right or not -- an ethical debate that ended up being moot since, y'know, Golemon isn't even alive.
Golemon's a pretty cool design, honestly, and I do like that he's apparently born from the "digital analysis of an ancient curse", causing it to basically be a golem. Apparently it emits some sort of plague-like gas? Which is called "Curse Crimson"? Eh. Golemon's a cool-looking monster. I really didn't think he'd rank this high, but there is enough that went into his artwork that he ended up being fairly cooler than I remembered him to be.
7/10.
Golemon is another one that always feels somewhat underappreciated, although I've always found it kind of cool. Based on the mythical golem, Golemon truly looks pretty neatly Frankenstenied, with a bunch of rocks bolted together crudely with metal stitches and random wrappings, with fleshy eyes under that strapped-on mask. There are even exhaust vents on Golemon's back for some reason! Initially introduced as an alternate evolution of Agumon of all things in a Wonderswan game, Golemon has shown up here and there as monsters-of-the-week, notably 02 and Frontier, both of which actually sort of play up Golemon's whole "golem" deal in different ways. In Frontier, one of the members of the initial big bad ensemble, Grottomon, has Earth-manipulating powers and created Golemon out of the Earth. In 02, Golemon is just straight-up a golem created by a plot device and there was a bit of a debate among the Chosen Children on whether killing Golemon would be right or not -- an ethical debate that ended up being moot since, y'know, Golemon isn't even alive. Golemon's a pretty cool design, honestly, and I do like that he's apparently born from the "digital analysis of an ancient curse", causing it to basically be a golem. Apparently it emits some sort of plague-like gas? Which is called "Curse Crimson"? Eh. Golemon's a cool-looking monster. I really didn't think he'd rank this high, but there is enough that went into his artwork that he ended up being fairly cooler than I remembered him to be.
7/10. Musyamon
Musyamon is another one of those initially-standalone Adult-level Digimon, also introduced in a WonderSwan game as a replacement for Ogremon. Still doesn't make sense for either Patamon or Kunemon to turn into this demon-samurai oni, though Musyamon would eventually be integrated into a "Japanese samurai" evolutionary line with the later-introduced Kotemon as his Child-level, Asuramon as his Perfect and Zanbamon as his Ultimate. Musyamon is a pretty simple samurai humanoid with a lot of the generic trappings of a samurai armour.. Do appreciate that his one leg is human and the other is demonic, though. A lot of Musyamon's details is neatly ragged and battle-worn, and apparently this dude is hungry for battle and just wants to fight guys with strong swords... and is born from the data of a foreign video game or something?
Anyway, Musyamon's shown up in way more stuff than I remember, being a villain of the week in 02, and Tamers. Villains of the week, mind you, not just a non-speaking cameo. I genuinely cannot remember Musyamon appearing in a single one of them and in my head I've always considered him one of those "appears mostly on profile books and trading cards". I did at least remember him being the main bad guy in a short arc in Xros Wars that has an Edo-era Japan theme, where Musyamon was the leader of an entire army of evil ninjas. It's an okay design, honestly, as far as these things go, but I just never found this dude really memorable.
4/10.
Musyamon is another one of those initially-standalone Adult-level Digimon, also introduced in a WonderSwan game as a replacement for Ogremon. Still doesn't make sense for either Patamon or Kunemon to turn into this demon-samurai oni, though Musyamon would eventually be integrated into a "Japanese samurai" evolutionary line with the later-introduced Kotemon as his Child-level, Asuramon as his Perfect and Zanbamon as his Ultimate. Musyamon is a pretty simple samurai humanoid with a lot of the generic trappings of a samurai armour.. Do appreciate that his one leg is human and the other is demonic, though. A lot of Musyamon's details is neatly ragged and battle-worn, and apparently this dude is hungry for battle and just wants to fight guys with strong swords... and is born from the data of a foreign video game or something?
Anyway, Musyamon's shown up in way more stuff than I remember, being a villain of the week in 02, and Tamers. Villains of the week, mind you, not just a non-speaking cameo. I genuinely cannot remember Musyamon appearing in a single one of them and in my head I've always considered him one of those "appears mostly on profile books and trading cards". I did at least remember him being the main bad guy in a short arc in Xros Wars that has an Edo-era Japan theme, where Musyamon was the leader of an entire army of evil ninjas. It's an okay design, honestly, as far as these things go, but I just never found this dude really memorable.
4/10. Asuramon
Also introduced in the same Wonderswan game that Musyamon debuts is Asuramon, who is a Perfect-level Digimon that can evolve from multiple Adult-level Digimon, but tends to be obviously associated with Musyamon. And I don't remember Asuramon at all. In fact, I was genuinely surprised he debuted in 1999 and not any newer. Asuramon here is based on the Asura, which is a group of power-seeking deities in both Hinduism and Buddhism (and often seen in many anime), and Asuramon himself is pretty much what you'd think an Asura monster would look. Multiple faces, multiple arms, quite powerful... I do like the little detail that Asuramon was born out of a program that analyzes ancient Hindu cultural documents, and the official profile notes that Asuramon's three faces symbolize mercy, wrath and blessings respectively, and despite its fierce appearance it's actually a protector of justice. It's... it's okay, I guess, but I've always found Asuramon to be... underwhelming? It's shown up as one of Sephirothmon's minions in Frontier, and as part of Musyamon's big ninja-themed army in Xros Wars, but I genuinely don't remember him at all.
I'll still give him a two because a burning four-armed, three-headed deity is still innately cool, but I guess these sort of deity-based monsters just don't appeal to me all that much? This dude's definitely cooler than Musyamon, for sure.
5/10.
That's all for this week, tune in next week for a bunch of aquatic Digimon!
Also introduced in the same Wonderswan game that Musyamon debuts is Asuramon, who is a Perfect-level Digimon that can evolve from multiple Adult-level Digimon, but tends to be obviously associated with Musyamon. And I don't remember Asuramon at all. In fact, I was genuinely surprised he debuted in 1999 and not any newer. Asuramon here is based on the Asura, which is a group of power-seeking deities in both Hinduism and Buddhism (and often seen in many anime), and Asuramon himself is pretty much what you'd think an Asura monster would look. Multiple faces, multiple arms, quite powerful... I do like the little detail that Asuramon was born out of a program that analyzes ancient Hindu cultural documents, and the official profile notes that Asuramon's three faces symbolize mercy, wrath and blessings respectively, and despite its fierce appearance it's actually a protector of justice. It's... it's okay, I guess, but I've always found Asuramon to be... underwhelming? It's shown up as one of Sephirothmon's minions in Frontier, and as part of Musyamon's big ninja-themed army in Xros Wars, but I genuinely don't remember him at all.I'll still give him a two because a burning four-armed, three-headed deity is still innately cool, but I guess these sort of deity-based monsters just don't appeal to me all that much? This dude's definitely cooler than Musyamon, for sure.
5/10. That's all for this week, tune in next week for a bunch of aquatic Digimon!
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