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Interestingly, Takato perhaps comes from one of the most stable families in the Digimon franchise, with a pair of parents that runs a bakery, and Takato himself doesn't have to deal with any actual angst or sad backstory in his life. There's no attempt to rebel against a too-young single mother like Ruki, there's no implied abusive/neglected parentage like Juri, and there's no childhood trauma of nearly causing his Digimon's death (as well as the whole daddy conspiracy) like Jianliang. Takato is pretty normal, and unlike most normal anime protagonists, Takato... actually sure as hell isn't ready for being a superhero and defender on Earth.
The beginning of Takato's journey is similar to 99% of Shounen anime out there. A young, normal boy discovers that he has some sort of amazing power, and decides to be super-confident and save the day. In Takato's case, he's a huge Digimon nerd and he naturally spends most of his day drawing up what he thinks should be his partner Digimon. Don't lie, any one of you readers who grew up in the 90's with Pokemon and Digimon did the same thing. And when this made-up Digimon suddenly comes to life into a real fire-breathing dragon dinosaur Guilmon, Takato is excited! Oh, the adventures they'll have together!
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Throw in the fact that due to being far more newly created and never actually existing in the digital world, Guilmon is far, far more childlike and naive than Terriermon or Renamon are. Tamers really likes throwing Takato into the deep end and basically seeing if he's going to sink or swim, but it doesn't subvert expectations that much, and while Takato has had to endure a fuckton of loss, including seeing many of his friends die, Takato ends up basically being the superhero he kind of dreams to be. Quite literally, since, as I mentioned in the previous segment, Tamers Ultimate evolution involves the tamer fusing with his partner. And I think that's the big point of his characterization -- Takato learning to accept responsibility despite just wanting nothing more than to goof around.
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Jyarimon
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Another baby blob that's obviously meant to be 'blob Guilmon'. I really, really find it hard to say anything about these newer babies beyond "eh, it's not ugly". Jyarimon's profile just basically notes how he's the baby of a dragon and hypes up the potential murder dragon that he's going to become. About the only interesting thing about Jyarimon that he has on his own is that instead of acidic bubbles, he shoots out fire bubbles.
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Gigimon
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Jyarimon then evolves into Gigimon, who is noted to be a dragon-like variant of Tokomon by the bio. And, you know what? It actually does! It keeps the dragon-wing-ears that Guilmon and Jyarimon has, and has the genesis of the markings and cute little stubby tail that he'll have when he becomes Guilmon.
And... and that's all I got. Jeez, remember when babies were at least somewhat unique?
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Guilmon
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And here we go with the poster boy of this series, Guilmon! And while it's obviously meant to capitalize on the baby dinosaur-like look that Agumon has, it is at least canon that Takato probably has Agumon in mind when designing his fanfiction Digimon. Guilmon's a pretty fun little design, honestly. It doesn't really try to do too much -- it's just a slightly more elaborate Agumon with a better-proportioned head, some extra dragon wing-ears, spikes and a bunch of black bands on his body. Also, on Guilmon's body (and indeed most of his evolutions), there's this little tattoo called the Digital Hazard that is basically the Digimon equivalent of a radioactive sign, noting that Guilmon carries huge power within him.
Guilmon's also, interestingly, a Virus-type, a fact that is lampshaded a couple of times early on in the anime where Guilmon is so, so friendly and happy and likes to make friends, but is still a Virus-type. I guess it's part of Takato's edginess where he wants to be friend with a badass Virus-type, but also wants his Virus-type buddy to be friendly and have fun with him and goof off? As a Virus-type, Guilmon's evolutions would prove to be pretty damn horrifyingly powerful, though, and nobody designs a fire-breathing dinosaur-dragon child to just play football with (get Terriermon to do that!) since Guilmon is, at his heart, a fighter. It's very interesting how the childlike Guilmon has to struggle with his own internal feral instincts. They never really try to emphasize this too much in the anime because I guess the mascot still has to be kinda relatable to kiddies, but at the same time the few times the anime is allowed to show Guilmon's feral-ness is pretty well-executed.
Other than Tamers, Guilmon would make some short minor cameos with all the other protagonist Digimon in Xros Wars and Hunters. There's really not that much to say about Guilmon himself -- he's admittedly a pretty simple character and a simple design, but it does manage to balance itself between both feral animal and cute mascot pretty well. I'm not quite sure whether I like Agumon or Guilmon better as the tyrannosaur-based mascot character, but I like both of them!
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Growmon (a.k.a. Growlmon)
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It's actually kind of neat to show that the likes of Guilmon and Growmon are far more melee-based scrappers compared to the fire-breathing Greymons. Sure, Growmon is perfectly capable of shooting fire out of his mouth, but for the most part, he tends to use that arm-blade to slice up his enemy. Overall, Growmon's still pretty cool thanks to the anime and thanks to being a big-ass dinosaur, but also kinda underwhelming.
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MegaloGrowmon (a.k.a. WarGrowlmon)
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Oh, and those two giant metal rods jutting out of MegaloGrowmon's metal vest? Those are actually his vernier thruster jet engines, allowing him to fly. I'm not quite sure what the silver metal whip is for, but it's a cool little detail that doesn't clutter MegaloGrowmon's design up too much, and in the anime I think it's used as something akin to a combat tentacle. And in addition to using those blades to slice people up, MegaloGrowmon has a goddamn atomic reactor in his chest that he launches through his nipple-cannons. I also find it hilarious how many people compare his chest-plate to looking like a Transformer's car-chest kibble. The Bandai art also has disproportionately large feet for some reason.
I've always found MegaloGrowmon to be pretty damn cool, honestly. A pretty good cyborg dinosaur, and one that doesn't really lose a lot of his dinosaur-y-ness upon evolution.
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Megidramon
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Megidramon's design is pretty cool, basically taking everything I love about Megadramon and Airdramon, and putting a slightly more stylized, streamlined version with more humanoid proportions. And I really do love this dude! I kinda wished that he looked more bestial and feral, but the look of a humanoid figure stapled onto the draconic, serpentine tail is pretty dang cool. Also love the fact that his head is basically the same head with Guilmon's with a bunch of spikes and a far more feral mouth. I do feel that Megidramon is a little bit too cluttered, with random bits of golden armour that, other than the arm-blades he inherits from MegaloGrowmon, we probably could've done without. Love those ribcages, too. He does work kinda well as a final, ultimate evil dragon Digimon!
Megidramon in the anime appears when Takato is so consumed with grief and rage when one of their allies, Juri's partner Leomon, gets murdered, causing Guilmon to dark digivolve into the insanely powerful Megidramon that curbstomps not only Beelzebumon but also everyone else. It's a trope that's been done before with Taichi and SkullGreymon, but here Takato has to agonize over having to weep over his feral partner nearly getting killed and nearly killing all his friends because of his own mishap.
Overall, a pretty damn suitable final form for a cute little dinosaur-dragon baby who's a Virus type but tries to deny his true, destructive heritage!
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Dukemon (a.k.a. Gallantmon)
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This is still an optimistic anime, though, so the cool and badass Megidramon isn't Guilmon's "real" final form. No, Guimon's real Ultimate form is actually achieved when he and Takato has reached a full level of understanding, and... and then they fuse together into the mighty Dukemon! (Renamed Gallantmon in the dub). And... really, I'm of two minds about Dukemon. He's pretty damn badass in the anime, and he certainly stole my heart there, but there's barely anything from Guilmon's evolutionary line that makes it into Dukemon's design other than the vaguely Guilmon-ear-shaped mask that Dukemon has, as well as MegaloGrowmon's head-antenna thing. And this is what I truly dislike about Dukemon -- he has so little to do with his previous forms that I just don't really think he's that suitable as a final evolution from a visual standpoint. Even SaintGargomon and Sakuyamon shares a lot more traits with their previous forms, while becoming more humanoid. Hell, even dudes like Imperialdramon and WarGreymon from the previous shows at least have more parts than their mask horns that indicate that they evolved from dinosaurs or dragons.
That said, though, as much as Dukemon is just a dude in anime armour with an admittedly cool-looking set of lance and shield (Gram and Aegis, respectively). And while I don't mind dudes-in-armour if they're drawn well, Dukemon feels like he should evolve from Knightmon or something instead of MegaloGrowmon. OThe anime really manages to sell Dukemon's awesomeness that looking at him I kind of shrug and not mind quite as much. He is kinda generic, though. Dukemon is still a Virus type, which I appreciate, and his bio notes how he has to keep his mental balance in check lest he transform into Megidramon. Also absolutely loved the weird Takato/Guilmon mixture voice that they give him, and making this badass knight having that voice is pretty hilarious.
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Dukemon is also a Royal Knight, following the tradition set up by Omegamon, Magnamon, Imperialdramon and UlforceVeedramon that the main character's final evolution ends up being, hey, a Royal Knight and one of these super-badass people that guard the god of all of the digital world. Dukemon is also, I think, the last protagonist Digimon to be inducted into the Royal Knights. Tamers' Dukemon isn't actually part of any organization, mind you, but different Dukemons would appear in the Xros Wars manga, the X-Evolution movie, and especially in Savers as the most enthusiastic and passionate of the Royal Knights, quick to exercise the will of Yggdrassil but also quick to question it. Anyway, not a bad-looking lancer knight, all things considered. Could've been better, but the anime helps to fix that for me.
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Dukemon: Crimson Mode (a.k.a. Gallantmon: Crimson Mode)
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I do like the little subversion that this super-ultra-badass-final-form ends up... being a bit of a hilarious fail as Dukemon: Crimson Mode runs out of energy right before he/they can reach Juri from deep within the D-Reaper (long story short, that's the way they win the final battle), and it's good old Guilmon and Takato that has to save the day. Which is fine and dandy -- Dukemon appears enough times in Tamers that I have an emotional attachment to him, but Crimson Mode here is just kind of an honestly redundant power-up that sort of comes out of nowhere. Not a big fan of this one, and in my opinion it's way too cluttered compared to the original Dukemon. It's way, way more popular in the fandom, of course, and I respect that, but Dukemon: Crimson Mode just isn't my sort of aesthetic is all. He's not ugly, at least.
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Ketomon & Hopmon
While the first half of Digimon Tamers focuses mainly on the three pairs of Takato/Guilmon, Ruki/Renamon and Lee/Terriermon, eventually members of the supporting cast would end up being promoted into Tamers as well. Juri is partnered with Leomon (which we've mentioned a couple of times), Xiaochung is partnered with Lopmon, Hirokazu is partnered with a Guardromon and Kenta is partnered with a MarineAngemon.
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Ryo is introduced in the second half of Digimon Tamers as having journeyed in the digital world and ends up helping our characters, partnered with the oh-so-badass Cyberdramon. The Tamers staff ended up creating two forms for Cyberdramon's younger stages, the Baby I Ketomon and the Baby II Hopmon. as you can probably tell, none of these have much effort put into them, none of these even got official Bandai artwork or profiles. Hopmon's kinda neat, though, looking like a weird malformed fish as opposed to the simple "take the head of the Child stage and add stubby legs" mentality that Guilmon, Renamon and Impmon are stuck with. Eh, whatever.
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Monodramon
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Cyberdramon |
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While Ryo's partner tended to run around as the badass, super-awesome but feral Perfect-level Cyberdramon (who we covered waaaay back in the first couple of years, but I'm including a picture of him here), he does have a Child-stage, the happy little Monodramon! And Monodramon is... I dunno. Okay? I do like his weird drill claws, and the fact that his arms have wings attached to them, but I've always found Monodramon to be kind of underwhelming. It's a pleasant-looking Child-level dragon, I guess, but I felt that there's not quite enough with Monodramon that really distinguishes him enough other than those arm wings. I guess it's the shape of his head that makes me not like him quite as much? I dunno.
Monodramon's described in his profile as being kind of a brawl-seeking fight freak, although the exact opposite ends up happening in Tamers to contrast Monodramon and the Cyberdramon form that we see him most as. While Cyberdramon feels barely even sentient and constantly seeks fights and wants to murderkill everything, Monodramon is a happy little dragon baby. In a reference to Cyberdramon's data-deleting claws, Monodramon's attacks apparently causes little bugs and cracks in the data of whoever he bites, which I thought is kinda neat.
Anyway, as much as I like Ryo and Cyberdramon, Monodramon's kind of always been a bit of a miss for me.
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Strikedramon
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Justimon
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Interestingly, maybe because Bandai themselves realize that a simple Power Ranger isn't enough to sell action figures, Justimon can swap between a couple of modes, namely Critical Arm where his arm transforms into a big-ass laser buzzsaw, or Accel Arm where his arm becomes extra large. "Eh", I say.
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I'm giving him two points because of how fun he is in the anime because the Tamers anime sort of flip-flop between playing him straight as a badass action hero, or to parody the concept. Easily hands-down my least favourite major design in the Tamers anime, though, and I kinda wished that Ryo's Cyberdramon stayed a badass, feral robot-dragon-man. Oh well, at least we get to hear him shout "JASUTISHUUU KIKKUUUU" every time he attacks. I don't hate this design, and maybe if Justimon was a standalone Digimon I'd go "eh, he's neat" and move on, but the fact that this is attached as the final evolution for Cyberdramon is pretty irksome. I just find it really hard to justify why this is a good Digimon design, and such an utter disappointment compared to Cyberdramon. I dunno. I just don't really like humanoid Digimon, I guess.
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Culumon (a.k.a. Calumon)
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Interestingly, the franchise really flip-flops on what level Culumon really is, with various sources fli-flopping between Culumon being a Child, a Baby-II or outside normal evolutionary levels. Anyway, he's cute. He does get a wee bit too wrapped up in exposition for his own good, but honestly, can't you not like Culumon? A pretty fine little cutey-mascot Digimon.
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Other versions of the Guilmon Line
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Yeah, Tamers is when they went super-crazy with the repaints. Here we have, in order, BlackGuilmon, BlackGrowmon, BlackMegaloGrowmon, ChaosDukemon, Growmon (Orange) and MegaloGrowmon (Orange). Substitute "WarGrowlmon" and "Gallantmon" yousrelf. Not quite sure why we need even-more-evil versions of the Growmon line when they're already Virus-types... but I dunno, I guess they needed merchandise, I guess. To have a cheap-yet-desirable repaint to sell as extra toys and cards and whatnot.
BlackGuilmon is kinda... there, just Guilmon with his colours swapped. I do like the effect on BlackGrowmon that makes the golden digi-code glyphs light up, and thus BlackGrowmon is easily the coolest repaint amongst these. BlackMegaloGrowmon's secondary colours end up being a sickly green for some reason? Ew. ChaosDukemon is just Dukemon, but black and purple. Worth noting that ChaosDukemon is a major NPC in the Digimon World: Dawn/Dusk video games. The only real interesting thing is the bit of backstory where Megidramon and ChaosDukemon can appear as each other depending on the observer.
The orange versions are apparently 'data' versions of the Growmon line. And that's it. While I appreciate them doing more colour variations other than "paint it black", they kind of look like literal piss. Really? Our of all the shades of orange, yellow or gold they could've done, they pick this? Looks more like someone shines a really bright light at Growmon more than anything, honestly.
Honestly, pretty minimal effort.
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