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Leafmon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Baby I
- Type: Slime
- Attribute: None
9/10._________________________________________________________
Minomon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Baby II
- Type: Larva
- Attribute: None
Leafmon evolves into a very adorable little Baby II form based on the bagworm larva (Megalophanes viciella), putting Pokemon's minimal-effort Burmy into shame. But it's not just based on a fascinating insect, but it's a very, very adorable adaptation of one. LOOK AT THIS THING! Look at how adorable it is, being a little bug-head baby with a funky little mouth that opens sideways, two chubby baby arms holding the edge of the pinecone blanket thing, and also it can float around above the ground for no reason, but when it really wants to cosplay a bagworm, his little hair-antenna can attach to surfaces. Adorable. Look at him! Apparently, it throws around real pinecones, too.
In addition to being the Baby II form of Ken's Wormmon in 02, Minomon serves as minor antagonists in a filler episode of Frontier, used as minions of a villainous Snimon. Interestingly, the Minomon are used explicitly because of their adorable looks, masquerading as friendly guards to a facility that hides a darker secret. Minomon's also shown up in Xros Wars as background characters in Jungle Zone. Overall, easily one of my my favourite Baby II's in Digimon.
10/10.
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Wormmon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Child
- Type: Larva
- Attribute: Free
And this chubby grubby boy is why poor Kunemon is so under-utilized. And while under any normal circumstance would definitely prefer the more monstrous bug monster... Wormmon is so cute! It is so chubby and you can just imagine him just waddling around, and he likes to perch on his partner's shoulder like a little grub-parrot. Oh, and that adorable pair of anime-eyes is matched with a pretty badass looking sideways-mouth, which I've always thought was a cool feature that reminds us that, yes, as friendly and happy and adorable as Wormmon is, he's still a bug! And both the English and Japanese dub do a great job at making Wormmon's voice adorable... even doing a bit of a Droopy-esque deal with his English voice.
Anyway, Wormmon here, just like the six Digimon that can undergo armour evolution, is stated to be the desccendant of an ancient Digimon species, but is itself harmless. Hey, don't knock Wormmon like that! Wormmon here is one of the few partner Digimon to actually have a character arc himself, and his partner Ichijouji Ken is easily the only properly-developed main character in 02. See, for the first half of 02, the main villain isn't a Digimon. No, it's the self-proclaimed Digimon Kaiser (Emperor in the dub), who is one of the Chosen Children that entered the digital world before the current cast, and managed to develop some technology to enslave what he thinks is a virtual game. Of course, later episodes and Wonderswan games would reveal that Ken turning into the Kaiser wasn't done willingly, and under some sort of Dark Spore mind-corrupting stuff, but at the same time, he is a megalomaniacal tyrant that straight-up enslaves armies of Digimon and sends them to their deaths wily-nily. Even Taichi's Agumon got victimized by this!We also learn that Ken is like the sort of anime character that's inherently better than everyone else. He's handsome, loved by girls, super-popular, athletic and all those tropes common in these sort of characters... but we also learn that he's struggling with a gigantic amount of survivor's guilt when his older brother (who he's always trying to compete with) got hit by a van and died. Throw in a pair of parents who are used to over-achieving children, and some corruption that fed on darkness that's already there, Ken became a villain and got a badass cape. He made Kimeramon and shit, ready to destroy the digital world... and then realizes that he was never really in control. But it was Wormmon that made him realize what's wrong. See, Wormmon has been very, very, very helpful, acting as the Big Bad's little sidekick, but not in a sycophantic way like PicoDevimon. No, Wormmon clearly wants to help Ken, even though in his hubris Ken only sees Wormmon as a little grub Child-level. Wormmon faithfully helps Ken, loves Ken and would literally die for Ken. Which he did. Noooo!
For a good chunk of the second half of the series, though, Ken tries to redeem himself, and it's Ken's acceptance of his guilt that actually caused Wormmon to be reborn. Ken would go as a bit of a lone vigilante hunting down evil Digimon and the minions of the actual villains of the show that had manipulated him, before finally being integrated into the main group. Interestingly for these sort of Sasuke-style rival characters, after the Kaiser bit was beaten out of him... he's no longer arrogant and snotty, and actually is a pleasant, well-mannered boy! And none of it would be possible because of Wormmon, the charmingest little grub boy ever.
Anyway, I love Wormmon. Is that a surprise?
9/10.
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Stingmon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Adult
- Type: Insect
- Attribute: Free
You know, you'll probably expect me to rant a bit about how Stingmon is humanoid and I would prefer something more monstrous like Kabuterimon and Kuwagamon. But no! Stingmon's cool! He's humanoid, yes, and I can't really say that I wouldn't prefer Wormmon to evolve into something more bestial, but if they're going for the humanoid route, Stingmon's easily the best-case scenario. As Wormmon's default Adult-stage evolution, Stingmon here is kind of like a Kamen Rider style monster, a humanoid, armoured bug... and I love him. His expressionless bug face, his long green-red antenna, those wings... and best of all, the black armour that he wears! The spiky shoulder-things and his metal claws and his wrist-mounted spike cannon are all pretty damn badass, and Stingmon has a lot of badass scenes in the anime. Stingmon here is the only real stage that Ken's Wormmon is only ever shown to transform into in the anime, because his Perfect stage is a Jogress fusion with ExVeemon, but damn if it isn't a cool warrior bug-man.
Also, I played a lot of Digimon Rumble Arena (Tamers: Battle Evolution in Japan) as a kid, and while every other playable character transformed into their most badass Ultimate stage, with characters like WarGreymon and Dukemon and Holydramon and Beelzemon and Imperialdramon... humble old Wormmon evolves into a mere Adult-stage Stingmon and can kick ass as well as any of them.
Other than 02, Stingmon was a major supporting character in Xros Wars, being the hero of Jungle Zone, and is apparently in a relationship with Lilamon. Well, when your parents talked about the birds and the bees, in the Digimon world it's apparently literal! Stingmon is shown to be pretty damn capable as a fighter, although since he's not one of the main characters, tended to serve as the fall guy. He's also one of the Xros Wars character to recur down the line, too. Overall, Stingmon's pretty damn badass! I like the bug man Kamen Rider, is that a surprise?
9/10.
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Dinobeemon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Perfect
- Type: Mutation
- Attribute: Free
So when fused between ExVeemon and Stingmon with Stingmon as the 'main' part of the Jogress, they transform into Dinobeemon here.
Moreso than Fladramon, Holsmon, Paildramon, the Frontier boys or any of the other designs that were designed with transforming toys in mind, Dinobeemon feels like an afterthought. I actually have the exact ExVeemon/Stingmon/Paildramon transforming toy, and... you can kind of move around the various folding and unfolding parts to create this.
It's just a real, real mess. In Transformers toy lingo, there's just a lot of "kibble" -- things from the toy's other forms -- that's just hanging around randomly, namely Stingmon/Paildramon's arms that are just hanging off behind the bug wings, and ExVeemon's dragon wings on the hips. The distribution of colours are messy, and while I appreciate the idea of a more "beastly", a more "monstrous" Jogress fusion between ExVeemon and Stingmon... this doesn't look like a mutant or a chimera. This looks exactly what it is -- a mistransformed toy.
The thing is, you could do something with that. You could make the secondary Stingmon arms actually be a second pair of arms like Chimairamon. Hide one of the wings. On paper I actually like the concept of a more predatorial, more buggy fusion, but one with enough draconic DNA to have giant muscular blue dragon-man arms to choke prey. But the execution is quite, quite bad.
1/10.
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GranKuwagamon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Perfect
- Type: Mutation
- Attribute: Free
It doesn't help that the more "Wormmon" Ultimate stage was GranKuwagamon... which makes most fans associate it as the convenient final form for Adult Kuwagamon and Perfect Okuwamon! This means that poor Wormmon and Stingmon doesn't really "get" a dedicated, easy-to-associate Ultimate stage like most of the other main characters.
GranKuwagamon is... a bit messy, although I can see that they're going for a parallel with HerakleKabuterimon's centaur-esque body configuration. GranKuwagamon here is certainly a design that looks better with a bit of streamlining, because the Bandai art doesn't really do it any favours. It's got the Kuwagamons' distinct stag-beetle horns, and a fun face with two little pincers on it. I kinda like how GranKuwagamon's "hands" are formed out of the middle set of limbs instead of the front ones, making it not 'quite' a centaur body layout. GranKuwagamon is, as expected, described to be the rival to HerakleKabuterimon and have an eternal, legendary beef.
I had thought that it would be a design that would look better in motion, but in GranKuwagamon's appearances in Tamers, Frontier and Xros Wars they are shown to be relatively static when moving. Despite Kuwagamon's general reputation as a villain in these anime shows, GranKuwagamon's Tamers and Frontier roles had it be part of a 'cavalry' of Ultimate-level Digimon fighting against the D-Reapers and Royal Knights respectively, which I thought was interesting.
I do still ultimately like this bug-centaur monster, particularly as we slowly move away from this design aesthetic for bug monsters... but it's still a design that I wish was a bit less cluttered. It is surprising that I actually like this 'ultimate' Kuwagamon a lot less than all the Kuwagamons and Kabuterimons before it!
7/10, could be 8.
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Wormmon got the full set of 10 Armour evolutions in the virtual pets, but not a single one made it into the 02 anime -- once Ken and Wormmon joined the side of the good guys, the show (and promoted toys) have shifted to the Jogress evolutions. I do wonder if some of these weren't originally designed to be "alternate transformations" or "toy repaints" at some point?
6/10.
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I'm not going to do any of these armour evolutions in the same order as I did with Veemon's, and will list whatever I think is a bit more relevant first. For Wormmon, it's the bugs! Wormmon's Knowledge Armour evolution is Searchmon. I think Searchmon might be one of the more obvious ones where all the Armour evolutions actually have the sigil/crest from the Adventure anime incorporated into its design in some way, with Searchmon's being on its huge radar dish.
5/10. Not my favourite, but he's all right.
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Wormmon's Miracle Armour (which gave us deus ex machina powerup Magnamon) is the rather disappointing Kongoumon. He's a six-armed golden cartoon bug monk holding a bunch of vajras. He's got Wormmon's mouth. and I... I don't really care for it? The concept would be interesting if they made Kongoumon a bit more serious, but it doesn't do either the comical or the imposing aesthetics particularly well. I feel like it's trying to do a bunch of interesting themes together, but fails to deliver on either one of them satisfactorily.
4/10.
This one is a cool one! Archelomon is Wormmon's Sincerity Armour evolution, which is tied to Gomamon and Joe. It draws its name from Archelon, an extinct genus of giant sea turtles. Archelomon's design itself is pretty nice, with a nice set of spiky shell, blades for flippers, one of the very few Wormmon armours to have the green antennae sprout out to establish that this is an 'armour'. I'm not the biggest fan of the pink hair and beak, but otherwise I like Archelomon quite a bit.
7/10, could be 8
And those are any of Wormmon's Armour evolutions that actually feel like they are related to Wormmon. And that's honestly because those are all bugs. As the next batch are going to demonstrate, none of these have the 'oh, look at Veemon's blue skin beneath the armour' vibe that Veemon's evolutions have, and it's going to be a running theme for the rest of the 02 armour evolutions. A bit of a shame, if they had committed to the Armour evolution stuff I might have respected it a bit more.
3/10.
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Yeah, there really was no rhyme or reason here. Wormmon Armour-digivolves with Patamon's Digimental of Hope into Bullmon. Who is a bull wearing tacky blue armour and a bright red cape. I get that the cape is a reference to matadors and bullfighting. Bullmon is described as a simple-minded brute that is very powerful, but can only charge forwards and can't control itself, and gets angrier and angrier.
3/10. Kind of boring.
This is Wormmon's evolution with Sora/Piyomon's Digimental of Love... and... yeah, even without the expectation that this is supposed to be a Wormmon evolution, it's just bland, isn't it? A lot of these are just 'draw an animal and give them a couple of accessories', huh? Owlmon is just... it's just an owl with some quasi-robotic details, a set of sci-fi goggles and a set of metal 'ear guards'.
2/10.
I actually really like Nohemon. Yes, part of it was because their random, one-off scene in Digimon Tamers to demonstrate how unsettling and strange the Digital World can be stuck with me as a kid. But I just like scarecrows as an enemy in general, and while creepy jack-o-lantern monster scarecrows are cool, these less aggressive-looking, dumpy Wizard-of-Oz designs are also neat.
9/10. I actually like this one! It's so weird!
Wormmon evolves with the Light Digimental into Coatlmon, and... it's pretty cool, isn't it? It's a great-looking 'holy beast'. Based on Quetzalcoatl (and called 'Quetzalmon' in the English dub), Coatlmon draws from Aztec mythology and gives us a cool armoured winged serpent. I really like the details of those golden runes running down its body, interspaced with red snake-like patterns. The snake head and the wings look neat, and while I'm not sure why there's a giant bush of green hair (that's a Stingmon thing? But why does Stingmon have hair?) but it actually does a great job at breaking up the otherwise monotonous white and red.
8/10.
Bizarrely, you'd think that Wormmon's own crest, Kindness, would give him an armour evolution that's particularly suited or themed around him. And it turns Wormmon into... Pucchiemon here, who is like a humanoid fairy? Um??
4/10.
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The Ultimate-level Deathmon (Ghoulmon in the dub) is one of the bosses in the D3 virtual pets, and quickly ended up being featured in many other video games. I think his most prominent appearance is in the V-Tamers manga, where he was formed from the Jogress evolution of a Megadramon and Jyureimon (of all things) and nearly killed the protagonist and his Veedramon. Deathmon here is, like most demon Digimon, a high-ranking Angel Digimon that was corrupted and transformed into a Demon Lord... but is noted by the profile that it's not wicked or evil the way your Devimons, Vamdemons and Piemons are, but rather does its best to straight-up maintain a position of neutrality. Hell, some sources even state that Deathmon is a Data type despite being a demon lord! Deathmon comes in gray and black flavours, and apparently when the time comes for a certain Ragnarok-style "final battle", it will transform into that jet-black state.
Deathmon's a pretty unique design, and I really do like how unconventionally weird he is for a demon. Just this huge formless body with mean-looking claws, demon wings stapled on his back, and a giant eyeball with a little black chitin helmet. Sort of looks like a fun D&D monster, really, and I love the additional eyeballs on its claws, as well as the chunk of pink flesh around his eyes and within his fingernails. Anyway, Deathmon's pretty neat -- not my favourite design, but definitely a neat contrast to all the humanoid demons out there. Deathmon here is one of those Digimon I keep forgetting is an Ultimate, by the way, because I kept thinking that he's a Perfect-level. I know he's powerful, but his design is so neatly low-key that I don't remember that. It's still cool, though.
7/10.
I really didn't care about Crossmon here, who is the Ultimate-level evolution assigned to Parrotmon. It's basically the same 'beastly birdman' vibe as Parrotmon, only completely covered with golden armour and with very bent arms that look particularly awkward in its official Bandai artwork.
3/10.
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7/10, could be 8. _________________________________________________________
Shadramon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Armor - usually treated as Adult-equivalent
- Type: Insect
- Attribute: Free
Wormmon got the full set of 10 Armour evolutions in the virtual pets, but not a single one made it into the 02 anime -- once Ken and Wormmon joined the side of the good guys, the show (and promoted toys) have shifted to the Jogress evolutions. I do wonder if some of these weren't originally designed to be "alternate transformations" or "toy repaints" at some point?
Shadramon here looks too much to be using Fladramon's "chunks of the Courage Digimental split into armour" look, after all. There are some differences, of course, the two most obvious ones being the addition of flaming moth wings and a bug head with Wormmon's mouth. I also like the jagged lower arms. A punch from those would probably hurt a lot. Interestingly while most of the 'inner' body has Stingmon's dark green skin, the veiny flesh and the ears look more like a Veemon armour.
The official profile notes that Shadramon here is apparently a Digimon that has an "unfortunate adverse reaction" to the digimental of courage and became evil? What? Uh... Wormmon is straight-up allergic to the digimental of courage? That's unexpected.
Shadramon didn't show up in any anime or manga for the longest time until Ghost Game, almost two decades after its initial debut... where a Shadramon was fused into a human and began to slowly possess the poor host!
6/10._________________________________________________________
Searchmon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Armor - usually treated as Adult-equivalent
- Type: Insect
- Attribute: Free
I'm not going to do any of these armour evolutions in the same order as I did with Veemon's, and will list whatever I think is a bit more relevant first. For Wormmon, it's the bugs! Wormmon's Knowledge Armour evolution is Searchmon. I think Searchmon might be one of the more obvious ones where all the Armour evolutions actually have the sigil/crest from the Adventure anime incorporated into its design in some way, with Searchmon's being on its huge radar dish.
Searchmon is a neat-enough robot beetle or cricket of some sort, with the giant radar dish glued to its back. It looks quite sleek and not quite the style of 'robot monster' that Digimon used to have -- think of Mechanorimon, or MetalGreymon, or Andromon -- and it's a shame that we never actually got a proper 'cyborg bug' in that aesthetic. I don't want to be mean and rag on Searchmon for using a different artstyle, but I have to admit I find him way more boring than he could've been.
Searchmon's specialty, of course, is searching -- it can detect the presence of enemies as long as they make any small sound or vibration, before unleashing debilitating 'jamming waves'. Searchmon would make its anime debut in a cameo in Xros Wars... but surprisingly would get a relatively major role as a recurring character in Adventure: 2020, as the evolution of a Tyumon/Chuumon of all things! The 'radar' bit was themed more as a scavenger's metal detector instead of a military equipment, which I thought was quite clever.
5/10. Not my favourite, but he's all right. _________________________________________________________
Kongoumon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Armor - usually treated as Adult-equivalent
- Type: Insect
- Attribute: Free
Wormmon's Miracle Armour (which gave us deus ex machina powerup Magnamon) is the rather disappointing Kongoumon. He's a six-armed golden cartoon bug monk holding a bunch of vajras. He's got Wormmon's mouth. and I... I don't really care for it? The concept would be interesting if they made Kongoumon a bit more serious, but it doesn't do either the comical or the imposing aesthetics particularly well. I feel like it's trying to do a bunch of interesting themes together, but fails to deliver on either one of them satisfactorily.
Kongoumon's profile notes that it is "an agent of God on earth since ancient times, separate from Angel Digimon'... but does not go on and elaborate anything about what this golden bug does as an agent of God.
That's really a shame! Kongoumon had brief cameos in Frontier and Savers, but I remember him the most from Xros Wars where he was an arc villain. A Kabuterimon was forcibly transformed into an evil Kongoumon and acts as one of the generals that led a bug-themed army that's trying to conquer one of the zones.
4/10._________________________________________________________
Archelomon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Armor - usually treated as Adult-equivalent
- Type: Reptile
- Attribute: Free
This one is a cool one! Archelomon is Wormmon's Sincerity Armour evolution, which is tied to Gomamon and Joe. It draws its name from Archelon, an extinct genus of giant sea turtles. Archelomon's design itself is pretty nice, with a nice set of spiky shell, blades for flippers, one of the very few Wormmon armours to have the green antennae sprout out to establish that this is an 'armour'. I'm not the biggest fan of the pink hair and beak, but otherwise I like Archelomon quite a bit.
Most importantly, Archelomon's shell? That's the shell that Gomamon's Perfect form Zudomon lugs around as back armour! The implication being that all Zudomon, at some point, have slain an Archelomon to wear their shells on their backs. This is a great little nod that the profiles don't point out, but I do really like that detail. Digimon Adventure 2020 even references this, having the specter of an Archelomon appear and bequeath its shell during the transformation sequence of Ikkakumon to Zudomon!
Again, I kind of wish that we got this cool design with the older, less simplified-to-be-a-plastic-toy art style. It most definitely looks better in animated form, which gives it more organic details and better proportions. Archelomon appears in Tamers as a hostile enemy, and in Xros Wars as a senile old turtle-man. This one is all right! I like it.
7/10, could be 8_________________________________________________________
Togemogumon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Armor - usually treated as Adult-equivalent
- Type: Mammal
- Attribute: Free
And those are any of Wormmon's Armour evolutions that actually feel like they are related to Wormmon. And that's honestly because those are all bugs. As the next batch are going to demonstrate, none of these have the 'oh, look at Veemon's blue skin beneath the armour' vibe that Veemon's evolutions have, and it's going to be a running theme for the rest of the 02 armour evolutions. A bit of a shame, if they had committed to the Armour evolution stuff I might have respected it a bit more.
Togemogumon is Wormmon fused with the Friendship Digimental, which if you need a refresher, was originally associated with Yamato/Gabumon and turns Veemon into Raidramon. It turns Wormmon... into a giant mole. A very awkward-looking mole, too, with overly chunky legs, and a very bland-looking face. This one surely should've been an Armadimon Armour?
There is the slight gimmick that Togemogumon's crystals are ice crystals, which doesn't prick you so much as freeze you. That's... that's all there is to it. Togemogumon made cameos as citizens in Xros Wars. I just feel like this one felt like a rough concept, like they just rushed to draw an animal they haven't made into a Digimon yet and called it a day.
3/10._________________________________________________________
Bullmon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Armor - usually treated as Adult-equivalent
- Type: Mammal
- Attribute: Free
Yeah, there really was no rhyme or reason here. Wormmon Armour-digivolves with Patamon's Digimental of Hope into Bullmon. Who is a bull wearing tacky blue armour and a bright red cape. I get that the cape is a reference to matadors and bullfighting. Bullmon is described as a simple-minded brute that is very powerful, but can only charge forwards and can't control itself, and gets angrier and angrier.
I get that bulls aren't the most exciting creature out there, but they really could've made this one look a lot more interesting visually. Bullmon appeared cameos in Frontier and Xros Wars, and finally became a villain-of-the-week in Adventure: 2020 where it teamed up with fellow bull Digimon Minotarumon.
3/10. Kind of boring.
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Owlmon
- Alternate Names: Aurumon (alternate romanization)
- Stage: Armor - usually treated as Adult-equivalent
- Type: Bird
- Attribute: Free
This is Wormmon's evolution with Sora/Piyomon's Digimental of Love... and... yeah, even without the expectation that this is supposed to be a Wormmon evolution, it's just bland, isn't it? A lot of these are just 'draw an animal and give them a couple of accessories', huh? Owlmon is just... it's just an owl with some quasi-robotic details, a set of sci-fi goggles and a set of metal 'ear guards'.
Owlmon's profile describes its ability to detect enemies in the dark, making it essentially a more night-vision themed Searchmon. Owlmon hasn't really appeared in any media beyond being minor video game enemies. Really, I would've commented much more about it if it wasn't so boring. It's just an owl!
2/10.
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Nohemon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Armor - usually treated as Adult-equivalent
- Type: Puppet
- Attribute: Free
I actually really like Nohemon. Yes, part of it was because their random, one-off scene in Digimon Tamers to demonstrate how unsettling and strange the Digital World can be stuck with me as a kid. But I just like scarecrows as an enemy in general, and while creepy jack-o-lantern monster scarecrows are cool, these less aggressive-looking, dumpy Wizard-of-Oz designs are also neat.
Nohemon evolves with Palmon/Mimi's Purity Digimental, which kind of makes sense. Most of the Purity-related armours are plant-based somehow, and scarecrows kind of loosely count on account of being made of straw.
The most important thing about Nohemon, however, isn't just that it is a scarecrow with a scribbled-on face (and a bow and arrow) -- it's that the bird puppet is the real Digimon. You can actually see it even in the base art, where the bird on the arm has actual eyes, while the entire face on Nohemon is just scribbled on. Those familiar with Japanese culture will recognize the markings/face as a henohenomoheji, a common way to draw a face using hiragana characters. That's actually very cool! Puppets have been a running theme in old-school Digimon, but this is one that uses a puppet body as a distraction and a weapon. That bow-and-arrow isn't for show!
I talked about Nohemon's cameo in Tamers above, but they also make brief background appearances in a Frontier movie. A Nohemon gets to be an ally-of-the-week in Adventure: 2020, which really got a lot of mileage with the confirmation that it's the bird that's alive, and the Nohemon's voice comes entirely from the bird. I really like Nohemon -- I like that it manages to be both friendly and creepy without resorting to the expected 'creepy stalking scarecrow' tropes.
9/10. I actually like this one! It's so weird!
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Coatlmon
- Alternate Names: Quetzalmon (EN dub)
- Stage: Armor - usually treated as Adult-equivalent
- Type: Mythical Beast
- Attribute: Free
Wormmon evolves with the Light Digimental into Coatlmon, and... it's pretty cool, isn't it? It's a great-looking 'holy beast'. Based on Quetzalcoatl (and called 'Quetzalmon' in the English dub), Coatlmon draws from Aztec mythology and gives us a cool armoured winged serpent. I really like the details of those golden runes running down its body, interspaced with red snake-like patterns. The snake head and the wings look neat, and while I'm not sure why there's a giant bush of green hair (that's a Stingmon thing? But why does Stingmon have hair?) but it actually does a great job at breaking up the otherwise monotonous white and red.
Coatlmon here is noted to be a sacred being that is the embodiment of the sun and wind, and while normally well-tempered, it will cast deadly curses on those that attack it carelessly. It really does look quite majestic, and I could see it being the lower-evolved form of other 'holy beast' Digimon like Goddramon or Magnadramon.
Coatlmon gets a rather major role in Digimon Savers, where one of the human villains is able to transform into a 'Bio Coatlmon'. Coatlmon would also later make a creepy appearance in Ghost Game, explicitly portrayed as a 'sinister angel' enemy. Pretty cool design overall, and I am surprised at how much I enjoyed this one.
8/10._________________________________________________________
Pucchiemon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Armor - usually treated as Adult-equivalent
- Type: Fairy
- Attribute: Free
Bizarrely, you'd think that Wormmon's own crest, Kindness, would give him an armour evolution that's particularly suited or themed around him. And it turns Wormmon into... Pucchiemon here, who is like a humanoid fairy? Um??
Taking away that expectation, I do find Pucchiemon kind of all right as a cute fairy-imp, with those long ears and a design that generally looks like some kind of a department store mascot. The art style with the chunky gloves and boots brings to mind designs like Impmon in general. Pucchiemon also shows up in two versions, a red one and a green one.It's a bit surprising that they bothered to.
I've warmed up to this one, mostly because it at least isn't 'just' an animal with some accessories. Pucchiemon is noted to like to share secrets with others, and its mood swaps depending on whether you pat its head (it'll be happy!) or if you touch its tail (it'll be angry!). Pucchiemon's ability allows it to calm down the aggression and fighting spirits of hostile Digimon.
Since then, Pucchiemon's shown up as background and filler characters in Frontier and Xros Wars, often as 'peaceful' Digimon. A pair of them show up as supporting characters in Adventure: 2020, and a surprisingly creepy-cheerful interpretation as a 'payback' karma stalker in Ghost Game. All things considered, they are all right fairies/angels -- I'm happy to have them look more like abstract chibi humanoids.
4/10._________________________________________________________
Deathmon
- Alternate Names: Ghoulmon (EN dub)
- Stage: Ultimate
- Type: Demon Lord
- Attribute: Virus
The Ultimate-level Deathmon (Ghoulmon in the dub) is one of the bosses in the D3 virtual pets, and quickly ended up being featured in many other video games. I think his most prominent appearance is in the V-Tamers manga, where he was formed from the Jogress evolution of a Megadramon and Jyureimon (of all things) and nearly killed the protagonist and his Veedramon. Deathmon here is, like most demon Digimon, a high-ranking Angel Digimon that was corrupted and transformed into a Demon Lord... but is noted by the profile that it's not wicked or evil the way your Devimons, Vamdemons and Piemons are, but rather does its best to straight-up maintain a position of neutrality. Hell, some sources even state that Deathmon is a Data type despite being a demon lord! Deathmon comes in gray and black flavours, and apparently when the time comes for a certain Ragnarok-style "final battle", it will transform into that jet-black state.
Deathmon's a pretty unique design, and I really do like how unconventionally weird he is for a demon. Just this huge formless body with mean-looking claws, demon wings stapled on his back, and a giant eyeball with a little black chitin helmet. Sort of looks like a fun D&D monster, really, and I love the additional eyeballs on its claws, as well as the chunk of pink flesh around his eyes and within his fingernails. Anyway, Deathmon's pretty neat -- not my favourite design, but definitely a neat contrast to all the humanoid demons out there. Deathmon here is one of those Digimon I keep forgetting is an Ultimate, by the way, because I kept thinking that he's a Perfect-level. I know he's powerful, but his design is so neatly low-key that I don't remember that. It's still cool, though.
7/10.
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Crossmon
- Alternate Names: Eaglemon (EN dub)
- Stage: Ultimate
- Type: Giant Bird
- Attribute: Vaccine
I really didn't care about Crossmon here, who is the Ultimate-level evolution assigned to Parrotmon. It's basically the same 'beastly birdman' vibe as Parrotmon, only completely covered with golden armour and with very bent arms that look particularly awkward in its official Bandai artwork.
Crossmon would appear in Digimon: 2020, which evolves its obligatory Parrotmon into Crossmon to fight our heroes. And... I just don't particularly care for him, he sure is a bird-man dude with wings? Newer art styles does make the wings and the eyeless mask a bit cooler, but I still find Crossmon (or 'Eaglemon' in the dubs) quite underwhelming.
3/10.
The art doesn't do Crossmon justice
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. I saw Crossmon in anime screenshots and it's still not my thing, but the official artwork looks so awkward.
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