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Arkadimon I [Baby]
First up, let's talk about the main villain of the V-Tamer manga. While Daemon and the human Neo Saiba are the actual villains, the big bad threat is this little baby, Arkadimon, named after the Greece region Arcadia. All of Arkadimon's stages are called "Arkadimon", which just honestly makes me roll my eyes. Back when V-Tamers ran maybe this felt weird and unique, but so many Digimon ended up having multiple levels and designs sharing the same name or with ": Whatever Mode" added onto its back that it's ceased to have any sort of novelty. Anyway, this Arkadimon is the Baby stage, and is an artificial Digimon or whatever created by Daemon in his bid for world conquest. It's okay, for what it is, a clearly evil, mean-looking alien baby with shades of being inspired by Alien without having any obvious Xenomorph-like homages.
4/10.Arkadmion II [Child]
Child-level Arkadimon is like, oh-so-powerful and can fight against regular Adult, Perfects and Ultimates with no problem because it's the hyped-up villain of the piece. It's an okay design, I guess, succeeding relatively well in looking pretty unnatural, with a pair of really mean-looking weird scythe-blade arms, a head that doesn't really look like any animal, and a neat set of single-toed claws. I didn't really like this design a whole lot the first time I saw it, but I've came to appreciate just how unique and bizarre this motherfucker really is. It's just this weird construct with a humanoid body shape, and it lives by absorbing the data of its fallen enemies -- something that is also used in the Tamers cartoon. The entire Arkadimon line (and most of V-Tamer's original creations, save for Veedramon and Daemon) end up sort of never really appearing anywhere else but the manga and trading cards. 6/10.Arkadimon III [Adult]
Basically our theme here is 'weird humanoid monsters', huh? Adult Arkadimon is okay, I guess, with huge, gangly arms, weird red... growths that can extend into spikes, and a cool-looking single vertical third eye above two slit-like eyes... and whatever those hairy things that jut out of his shoulders are supposed to be. The weird usage of green here sort of makes the Adult-level Arkadimon feel a bit messier than it should be, though. I suppose it's to show off just how unnatural and an aberration Arkadimon really is compared to the normal Digimon? It's neat, for what it is, although not a design that I must confess I'm really in love with.
5/10.Arkadimon IV [Perfect]
Perfect-level Arkadimon ends up being a pretty neat-looking humanoid anime demon with bug-like chitin armour, demon wings made up entirely of tendrils, a more defined demon head, and big mean-looking claws. It's just a shame that none of the Arkadimon stages really get any sort of unique lore or profile, or any attempt at exploring their abilities and behaviour, and are just "it's an aberration, it can delete other data, and absorb them" because they're treated as just the same creature mutating and growing stronger in the V-Tamers manga. I like Perfect Arkadimon. He's not a bad design, and probably the most cohesive of the Arkadimons without looking like a mess.Clearly the anime staff agree with my love for Perfect-level Arkadimon, incidentally, because this is the only form to ever make an animated appearance, as a lieutenant of one of the main vilains in Xros Wars (albeit coloured white). It's overall a pretty neat-looking monster!
7/10.Arkadimon V [Ultimate]
Ultimate-level Arkadimon basically is the same design as Perfect Arkadimon, but cuts out a lot of the colours, swaps out Perfect Arkadimon's tendril wings for two pairs of boring-looking leather wings, and homogenizing the design somewhat. While the Child, Adult and Perfect stages don't feel like they connected with each other too well due to changing too much, Ultimate Arkadimon feels like it has the opposite problem -- it's way too similar to Perfect Arkadimon, just with a lot of the more interesting aspects cut out. It's still a decent bug-demon monster, though, and I can't fault it for that. I do like that its eyes seem to have migrated into the sides of its lower arms, though, a fun little bit of detail I've never really noticed. Ultimate Arkadimon is able to transform his tendril-like fingers into spears, in his ultimate attack, "Dot Matrix", which allows it to absorb and drain the data of any Digimon to restore his own. Still pretty neat, even if I like the Perfect Arkadimon better. 6/10.Arkadimon VI ["Super-Ultimate"]
This Arkadimon is identified as a "Super Ultimate" level, created when Ultimate Arkadimon evolved even further, and was treated as this big, unnatural deal because Digimon aren't supposed to evolve beyond Ultimate. And the franchise seems really leery at even using the term "Super Ultimate", with the franchise flip-flopping on whether the "Super Ultimate" Digimon are just powerful Ultimates or a unique, super-special final stage. Super-Ultimate Arkadimon does manage to take the Ultimate/Perfect Arkadimon design and conflate it into such an unholy mass of tentacles and tendrils that really sells the fact that it's mutated into some strange monster that must-not-be, and the eyes on the huge shoulder-blades (arms?) do help to give it a pretty interesting look. While I think I prefer the look of other 'eldritch abomination' style Digimon like Apocalymon or ZeedMillenniummon to Super-Ultimate Arkadimon, it's a neat effort that results in a pretty distinctive design.
5/10.Demon: Super Ultimate
Oh, halfway across the final battle, our previous bad guy, Demon, shows up and hijacks Arkadimon and transforms into a Super-Ultimate level himself. Which is basically the exact same demon-man design, but proportioned into a less comical fashion with extra huge bony fingers on his wings. It's a form that earns me a bit of an 'eh' for me. It does admittedly make Demon look far more badass, but at the same time a fair bit more generic than the goofier beast-man that he was originally envisioned as. And looking at how this looks like a poor man's Summoned Skull, I kinda see why they went with the more distinctive angry beastman design for canon Demon. Kinda don't care about this one, honestly. 3/10.Metamormon
Metamormon another one-shot villain original to V-Tamers, showing up in a crossover episode between V-Tamers and Digimon Frontier, and it's an Ultimate-level that can basically transform into any other Digimon, basically being the Digimon counterpart to Ditto. It's got a fun little blobby-ghost look with giant claws and weird little blob-wings. I kinda wished that he was used a bit more due to how utterly goofy it looks for what's otherwise supposed to be a pretty powerful Ultimate-level. I was about to basically give this thing a neutral 2/5 rating, but then I realized that Metamormon's belly is supposed to actually evoke the shape of some of the earliest virtual pets. It's a joke that entirely went over my head. That's actually a pretty hilarious and somewhat meta design choice, and that earns him an extra point in my books. 5/10.Parallelmon
Another one that appeared in a crossover episode, Parallelmon is yet another Ultimate-level that facilitates a different crossover episode between the protagonist of V-Tamers and the protagonist of 02. It's... it's kind of like a weird cross of Diaboromon and Arkadimon, with a neat single-eyed face, huge claws connected to his body with wire-like tendrils, an always welcome feature in any monster design. It's also got the power to rip through parallel realities or something, but it really doesn't have anything that feels particularly unique outside of his design. It's a neat enough standalone design, but, it's easy to see why this never really gained traction as a more popular villain. S'neat, but we've seen neater designs. I don't dislike Parallelmon, but he's just sort of... sort of there. 4/10.Callismon
0/10.NeoDevimon
Far more memorable, though, was NeoDevimon, who was modified from Neo's own Devimon army, and enhanced in a similar way that Callismon was. But where Callismon is a silly-looking man-bear with a gun, the redesign for NeoDevimon ends up being pretty different while still faithful to the original Devimon aesthetic that NeoDevimon's ended up appearing in a fair amount of virtual pets and video games, the only other Digimon from the V-Tamers manga outside of Daemon and the whole Veedramon line to really get any sort of huge recognition. In fact, with the franchise really wanting to make Devimon and Vamdemon distinct, what with the two of them being two of the more iconic villains in the franchise, it's neat that Devimon gets a Perfect-level that's more "him". It's a simple set of modifications, and I probably wouldn't have cared about NeoDevimon as much if it was just changing the bandages and wings into blood-red (although that's cool), adding golden claws (also cool), boot-spikes (also cool) and covering chunks of his chest with silver plates and red implants (also also cool)... but the most striking figure is easily changing Devimon's Batman cowl into a faceless metallic golden mask. It's a very cool visage on top of a lot of other 'edgy' additions done right, and I'm definitely a huge fan of NeoDevimon as a design. Edgy done right, I say. 7/10.
Dominimon
Dominimon here is the alternate Ultimate-level evolution for HolyAngemon because in the manga's storyline, Arkadimon handily beat him while he's a Seraphimon, nearly killing him and preventing him from accessing that form or something? It's easily just Seraphimon with a few details changed, though, and while the shields are somewhat distinctive, I really feel like this is a pretty inferior design compared to Seraphimon. Definitely not a huge fan of this one, and the fact that we actually do have an alternate Angemon Ultimate-level in the far cooler SlashAngemon, Dominimon jsut ends up feeling far too redundant. 0/10.Regulumon
Regulumon is basically Leomon's Ultimate-level evolution in this manga as opposed to the existing one, SaberLeomon. And it's... it's basically a tanned Leomon, but with a green... cape? I think that's meant to be a cape and not wings. Either way, minimal effort. I do like Leomon as a design, but this just feels wholly unnecessary, especially with an already far-more interesting Ultimate form out there. Maybe if they had done something more to distinguish Regulumon from Leomon, a more humanoid Ultimate-level would be cool (and, well, there's going to be a lot of other alternate Leomon evolutions down the line) so this one just doesn't cut it for me, honestly. 0/10.PetitMamon
Wow, the zero-stars just keep coming, huh? These two PetitMamon feel like they came from a different franchise altogether, honestly, like the knockoff brand Digimon's version of Impmon. They also have nothing to do with the actual Mammon in Digimon, who is a giant goddamn mammoth. PetitMamon is nowhere as cute as other 'imp' style devil Digimon like Impmon, PicoDevimon, Vilemon or any of the others. They basically just show up as one of those manga 'sidekick' characters that are supposed to inject comedy and levity, but ends up being a distraction and an annoyance. Not a huge fan of this. 2/10.Click below for a bunch of mostly-underwhelming video game bosses,!
Gokumon (a.k.a. Reapermon)
Gokumon (not to be confused with Gokuwmon, the Digimon based on Son Goku. Gokumon's "Goku" is from jigoku, the Japanese word for hell) here comes not from the V-Tamers manga, but from a video game. And we're going to cover a bunch eenof video game related enemeis from here on out... Gokumon's probably my favourite out of these, although it's not saying much. Gokumon's a neat little robot-warrior man with scythes, a giant Megatron arm-cannon and cool-looking claws. Gokumon here is the final boss in Digimon Tamers: Battle Evolution -- known in the west as Digimon Rumble Arena. I played that game a lot as a kid, but never actually got to reach Gokumon/Reapermon. Like most of these 'final boss' Digimon that appeared after Millenniummon, though, Gokumon ends up sort of fading into obscurity and was never seen in most subsequent video games other than card collection games. Gokumon's official profile notes that he's a fugitive Digimon born out of the data of wanted criminals, so it works as a bounty hunter of sorts? It's a neat killer robot, but I don't really have a whole ton of strong feelings either way. 4/10.Suijinmon
These next few guys are bosses in Digimon World 3, and have so far only really been seen in very obscure trading card games. Borrowing his name from Suijin, a Japanese god of water, Suijinmon is a centaur robot with gigantic, long arms that reach the ground, as well as big-ass cannons on his shoulder. As its profile notes, it's got a combination of two Justimon arms and two Mugendramon cannons. I'm actually a big fan of how this creature ends up turning out... a centaur-like robot that also manages to look somewhat antique, with arms that are planted on the ground like some sort of weapons emplacement being emplanted onto the ground. I definitely also like how he's lurching forwards, like he really needs those massive arms to support that gigantic set of shoulder weaponry. You know what? I've never actually given Suijinmon the time of the day before, but he's honestly a pretty neat-looking robot! 7/10.Raijinmon
Anyone who's played old-school Yu-Gi-Oh knows that if there's a Suijin, there's going to be a Raijin and Fujin. I don't have much to say about Raijinmon, though, borrowing his name from Raijin, god of thunder. He's... he's a humanoid figure with two of Justimon's regular arms, I think? I kinda like the little SaintGargomon-esque shoulder missile-pods, and I definitely like the fact that he's got a tail that's basically just a cable jack. Robots are cool, and I feel like while Raijinmon doesn't quite look as distinctive as Suijinmon, he's still kinda neat-looking. 5/10.Fujinmon
Fujinmon, borrowing his name from Fujin, god of wind, is probably the most boring of these three, looking pretty generic and not even with the fun little cable-tail or the chunky shoulder-pads of Raijinmon. He's got a weird little wind-funnel thing, I suppose? He's got Justimon's blade-arms, but that genuinely doesn't quite look that cool, and especially not with his mono-green paint scheme. Not much for me to say here. Where the other two are kind of charming robots, Fujinmon just feels like it doesn't have a lot of thought put into his design.I guess I haven't mentioned that all three of these are Ultimate-levels? Now you know.
3/10.Raidenmon
5/10.Valvemon (a.k.a. Bulbmon)
Valvemon is a Perfect-level Digimon in Digimon World 3, and among Digimon World 3's many, many boss-only encounters, Valvemon is the only one to actually be popular enough to be included in various other games, the first to get an official artwork, and even made it into the anime as a minor villain in Xros Wars. Not bad, Valvemon! He's a pretty neat design, this huge multi-faced d40 die or whatever, with four pillar-like spider legs, tentacle-arms, a pop-up head and apparently chunks of his dice-like body can be shot off as projectiles. The Perfect-level Valvemon is apparently utilized as a transport Digimon, carrying up to forty Digimon within his body (Forty Koromon? Forty Whamon? What?) and acts as a troop-deploying carrier for the bad guys of World 3.Not my favourite design, but a pretty fun robot nonetheless.
4/10.Bemmon, Snatchmon, Destromon & Ragnamon
These guys are the villains of Digimon World 3 (and we'll cover some of the more interesting playable Digimon introduced in that game later), and none of these ever had any sort of acknowledgement or official artwork. They are... artificial Digimon or something? I can't find a decent summary of Digimon World 3's storyline.
Bemmon is an okay design, I suppose, being a basic alien-suit monster that seems to be kind of the most common weak minion of the bad guys here. Snatchmon has that Mewtwo Y like head-tentacle-tail, and is clearly a stronger Bemmon. Again, nothing much to say here. Both Destromon and Ragnamon looks insanely complex and cluttered, being some kind of... draconic space vehicles? They're kinda-sorta cool as a video game boss, I guess, and the brief cutscenes I can find of them in Youtube does sort of make them look kinda cool... but I guess there's a reason that they never got incorporated into the broader Digimon canon, nor did they ever get any official artwork. I must say that I do find Ragnamon to be far more pleasing than some of the actual 'complex cyborg dragon' they would make afterwards, mind you.
Eh, they're neat, I suppose. But in their case, I think Bandai not incorporating them further into subsequent trading card games or whatever and the like is probably the right move.
3/10.A Lot of Miscellaneous Palette Swap Digimon
I suppose it's come to this. All of these repaints are introduced around 2000, and a lot of them are just bland black repaints. And unlike BlackWarGreymon, none of them really appeared with any real unique lore except for BlackGarurumon and BlackWereGarurumon, and we'll mention them when we get there. Otherwise? They're just minimal-effort black repaints with the bio inevitably going "oh no, this is the same with X iconic Digimon, but they're black! And maybe a Virus!" I'm just covering them, and then giving them a total rating at the bottom.
Also, in the Japanese versions, these are just called Agumon (Black) or Greymon (Black), whereas the dub ends up treating all of these with slightly more respect, giving them proper prefixes like BlackAgumon and BlackGreymon, and I'll use the dub terms because they're easier to type.
Anyway, these are BlackAgumon and BlackGreymon, just to make a full evolutionary line that leads to the original, Virus-attribute MetalGreymon and finally to the ever-popular BlackWarGreymon. And also because they are easy repaints to put in a video game, so basically any game Agumon or Greymon show up in, expect these two to show up. I do like that Greymon at least shares the Virus MetalGreymon's blue colour scheme.
BlackGabumon, BlackGarurumon, BlackWereGarurumon and BlackMetalGarurumon. Might've sprained a finger typing all of these. They're... they're black, what do you want me to say? These black variants are pretty cool for what they are, although obviously after a while these black repaints just sort of get silly. These are all introduced in a Wonderswan game, by the way. Newer artwork tended to portray BlackMetalGarurumon as having fire wings, which is about the only real unique thing about him.
BlackGarurumon actually has an anime appearance, being the evolved form of an Elecmon villain-of-the-week in Digimon Savers, before evolving into BlackGarurumon and being beaten down by GeoGreymon. BlackWereGarurumon, on the other hand, showed up as a main antagonist in a filler Frontier episode where BlackWereGarurumon partnered up with a Dogmon as a Wile E. Coyote-style slapstick villain in a filler episode where the protagonists are involved in a Wacky Races homage.
Most prolific among these black recolours is BlackTailmon here, who is actually the only one on this list called "BlackTailmon" even in the Japanese instead of having (Black) attached as an afterthought. BlackTailmon is an evil Tailmon, which appeared first in a TCG video game just to give LadyDevimon an Adult-stage evolution for extra parallels with Angewomon. She would also show up in the Pendulum Progress virtual pets, and as a pretty consistent recurring character in some of the newer video games. She's neat, I guess?
These are ChaosGreymon, ChaosPiemon and ChaosSeadramon, who are the minions of Chaosdramon up above in Digimon World 2. Yeah, they technically have new names, but fuck it, a black repaint by any other name... ChaosSeadramon (a.k.a. ChaosMetalSeadramon in the dub) didn't even get an official photoshopped art from Bandai! ChaosGreymon (a.k.a. ChaosWarGreymon) is totally different from BlackWarGreymon, he's got gold in different parts of his body!
Anyway, I kinda get why these exist -- they needed actual boss fights but didn't have the resource to make all-new models, although the lack of a ChaosPinocchimon to make a proper quartet of Chaos Dark Masters irks me.
IMPERIALDRAMON IS ALREADY BLACK, YOU REPAINT-OBSESSED GAME DESIGNERS.
WHAT THE LITERAL SHIT
I have nothing more to say here.
Finally, something that's not a black repaint! Elecmon (Violet) is a fun little purple-and-gold recolour of good old Elecmon, which is actually a bit of a surprise considering everyone else on this list has been a major protagonist of some sort. Violet Elecmon is noted to be particularly mean and is a virus type. Not much to say here.
These are GoldVeedramon, RedVeedramon and MasterVeedramon, three repaints for Veedramon in case AeroVeedramon, UlforceVeedramon, Veemon, ExVeemon, and the dozen of Veemon-themed Armour evolutions aren't already enough. They show up in a Wonderswan game as secret characters and in a bunch of newer games. I like Veedramon well enough, but are these necessary at all? Goldilocks is apparently Veemon's Armour evolution with the Digimental of Fate, and of course has Ultimate-level power because all your protagonist Digimons have to be inherently so powerful they can deus ex machina anything. Reddy is still Adult-level, and apparently born of anger? Master there, who looks no different than a regular Veedramon, is born by... fusing Gold and Red? These get a zero, by the way, regardless of the combined rate I'm giving these repaints.
Barely 2/10 among all of these, and that's mostly for Elecmon's benefit. 
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