Friday 12 July 2019

Digimon Reviews, Episode 29: Lucemon, Royal Knights and Video Game Dudes

This time around, we're going to be talking about Frontier's final set of villains, as well as awhole bunch of other Digimon that showed up in video games released around this time. Not much to say here about the intro, really -- Frontier is a show that I've always thought wasn't quite bad, but has too many problems for me to recommend even as a franchise tie-in anime.

I guess I kinda have to intro the Royal Knights? The Royal Knights are noted in various Digimon profiles, video game backstories and prose writings to be a group of super-powerful noble elite knights that guard the central computer of the Digital World (previously "God", called "Yggdrasil" in all subsequent material). Past final-forms of main Digimon partners like Omegamon, Magnamon, Imperialdramon, UlforceVeedramon and Dukemon are all part of this Royal Knights group.

Frontier, interestingly, introduces the Royal Knights, and only two of them, as villains. When I first read brief synopses of Frontier, I thought that we're going to at least have some sort of backstory behind these guys. Were they once protectors who are corrupted or fooled by the main villain, Lucemon? Nah, the Royal Knights just 'went rogue' for no real reason, and are just huge dickheads that are utterly unbeatable and spent a huge stretch of the Frontier cartoon just curb-stomping everything our heroes throw at them until they get killed off by the true main villain, their new master Lucemon. Not even an attempt to play off the Knight Templar tropes like Digimon Savers did.

Lucemon himself has a more interesting backstory, even if in practice he's just a mwa-ha-ha-I-shall-rule-the-world generic final boss villain, being the one who brought the digital world to peace before being corrupted by power, and then sealed by the Ancient Ten Warriors. Not the most impressive backstory, but at least there's something.

Anyway, let's talk about them.
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Dynasmon


DynasmonFirst up is Dynasmon, the 'brute' of the two. Dynasmon is the more powerful of the two Royal  Knights, and tended to just want to destroy the enemy and be done with it. While it's not immediately obvious from this official artwork, Dynasmon is actually a dragon-man of sorts, with a draconic-inspired helmet, giant dragon wings and huge claws. Not the biggest fan of those pointy golden feet, though. And I suppose as a dragonman-knight creature, Dynasmon's actually a cool enough design. I do definitely prefer Dynasmon compared to his partner LordKnightmon. Dynasmon's profile and most of his non-Frontier appearances tended to show him as being fanatical, but ultimately a good guy that just doesn't question the orders given to him. Dynasmon is noted and has been shown to be able to manipulate all the elements of the Ten Warriors with his hands, which is nowhere as relevant in Frontier as you think it is, and his ultimate attack is the pretty cool "breath of wyvern", which creates a gigantic nuclear-level explosion in the shape of a dragon.

Outside of Frontier, Dynasmon and a huge chunk of the Royal Knights showed up in the final arc of Digimon Savers, although he doesn't really do a lot. He also shows up as one of the good Royal Knights in the Xros Wars manga. All of the Royal Knights tend to show up in most video games that are released after their appearance, and Dynasmon is no exception, with a pretty impressive amount of video games that he's shown up in. He's kinda cool, I guess, in the most visceral sense -- there's not much creativity here, but the end result is definitely a lot cooler looking than the likes of UlforceVeedramon. I dunno. I don't mind Dynasmon at all, so I'll give him a neutral rank of 6.

AgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gif 6/10.

LordKnightmon (a.k.a. Crusadermon/LoadKnightmon/Rhodonitemon)

Lord KnightmonDynasmon is partnered with LordKnightmon, who in the original Japanese cartoon of Frontier is portrayed as a slightly effeminate man, a trope that has always caused problems for Japanese material localized in the West. Japanese LordKnightmon isn't actually as bad as some examples of this trope, mind you, without any overtly exaggerated gay inflections and mannerisms beyond the couple of times he's shown with a rose. Both English dubs of Frontier and Savers have handled LordKnightmon differently -- the Frontier dub straight-up just turned him into a her, whereas the Savers dub does the far more questionable choice of getting the most flamboyant voice for him. You decide which is more offensive, because this isn't a topic I'm going to touch with a five-foot pole.

LordKnightmon has also been the subject of various names. In the Frontier dub, due to her gender change, the term "Lord" ended up not making sense and she was renamed Crusadermon. Thanks to the katakana making up his name (Rodonaito) being a pun on the rose-pink material rhodonite -- hence his appearance -- he's been called Rhodonitemon as well. There have also been instances of some official English material calling him LoadKnightmon.

LordKnightmon is noted to be, well, the "Lord" of all the Knightmons, and indeed in both Frontier and Savers he's followed by a small army of Knightmons. LordKnightmon is one of the few Virus-type Royal Guards, and he's noted by his bio to be immensely fanatical about 'justice', and that the end justifies the means, even supporting tyranny as long as the tyranny is peaceful. He fights in two ways, by using those ribbon-whips to wrap up and/or slice up the enemy, or to use that giant shield and transform it into a giant pile driver to deliver powerful hits onto the enemy.

Ultimately, though, I'm not a big fan of LordKnightmon, even without the messy cloud of gender politics hanging above him. The design has always felt too bland, and LordKnightmon's Frontier portrayal doesn't endear himself to me. He actually got a full episode to himself in Savers, attacking an airport and trying to unleash his ultimate justice, but gets his ass handed to him. Overall, a neat concept, but not my taste. I still genuinely think that both Dynasmon and LordKnightmon pull off the humanoid action figure aesthetic far better than the Frontier protags, though.

AgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gif 5/10.

Lucemon - Child

LucemonLucemon's first form that we see him in is a Child-level, and in full defiance of power levels, Child-level Lucemon is noted to be as powerful as Perfect-classes or something along those lines.  Lucemon's backstory in his profile notes that he was born in a chaotic period of the digital world, and brought harmony and order to the world, but to deal with a period of rebellion, he ended up plunging the world into darkness, and had his ability split between the three great angels, Seraphimon, Ophanimon and Cherubimon. I'm not 100% sure if this is the same backstory as the Frontier backstory or not, though. I'm also not 100% sure what's the use of naming a villain after Lucifer if they're not going to even attempt to give him a similar backstory.

In addition to being the main villain of Frontier, Lucemon in both his Child and Falldown modes act as a villain-of-the-week in Xros Wars. Anyway, Child-level Lucemon has always felt like he belongs to another franchise. He's just an angel kid with ten wings. Not even trying here, Bandai.

AgumonScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gif 1/10.

Lucemon - Falldown Mode

Lucemon: Falldown Mode
Lucemon borrows a page out of Arkadimon, and all of his stages have the same name. Falldown Mode Lucemon is your typical half-angel, half-devil aesthetic that I've never actually liked, but I also know that it's pretty popular in the anime circles, so I get why they went that way. In any case, Lucemon Falldown Mode definitely looks a lot cooler than his Child version. Bandai alternates whether Falldown Mode Lucemon is meant to be his Perfect-level evolution or Ultimate-level evolution, but either way he's, of course, oh-so-powerful and represents the Sin of Pride among the Seven Great Demon Lords, just like the real mythological Lucifer.

I guess my problem is how Lucemon just looks like a dude with a cosplay costume? Comparing this dude to the more intricate getups of your HolyAngemons and Seraphimons, and if you take away the half-and-half aesthetic of Lucemon, you're just left with a very generic blonde dude in a fancy suit. Lucemon Falldown Mode is noted to be this contradictory existence that loves all things equally but also wants to destroy all things, although in practice he just tends to be mwa-ha-ha-I-am-the-devil! Throw in the pretty suspect quality of Frontier, and I can safely say that Lucemon is at the bottom of the list of these angel/demon Digimon. I don't really have much to say here.

AgumonAgumonAgumonScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gif 3/10.

Lucemon - Satan Mode (a.k.a. Chaos Mode) & Lucemon Larva

Lucemon satan art mini.gifLucemon: Satan ModeOh, now we're talking! Lucemon: Satan Mode is the result of Lucemon when he fought the ultimate-final-form of Frontier's Chosen Children, Susanoomon, leaving behind only his evil, dark data, and it turns him into a crazed demon-dragon with seven wings (sometimes depicted with seven magical rainbow-coloured circles representing the seven deadly sins) and carries around a little ball of shadow. It's not the most creative evil dragon ever, but at least they're trying to do something different with him, and I've always found Satan Mode here to be far more impressive-looking than Falldown Mode. That ball is apparently named "Gehenna", after the name of a cursed valley in Judeo-Christian mythology.

Lucemon: LarvaInterestingly, though, Lucemon: Satan Mode, supposedly the ultimate to end all ultimates (until the next ultimate to end all ultimates show up, of course) has a secret. His body is utterly immune to all attacks, but inside the orb exists his true body... Lucemon Larva, which is Lucemon's absolutely and most definitely true form, a little robot fetus-shrimp with twelve wings and an adorable wasp-stinger that shoots beams of light. It's actually a great subversion on Digimon's part to make the final form not the most humanoid one of all, but rather a dragon with a little winged prawn inside it.

Individually, I don't think I would rate either of these designs above 3/5. Satan Mode is a cool evil shadow dragon, maybe with an extra ball and some wings, but that's all it is. And Larva mode isn't that cool without all the backstory of being the true soul/brain/core of Lucemon's most powerful form. Together, this little robot worm piloting a gigantic dragon that can destroy the world ends up actually being a pretty nifty monster, and far, far more memorable to me compared to Mr. Generic Bishonen up there.

AgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonScumon vpet dm.gif 9/10.

Puttimon

PuttimonWhile none of these would appear in Frontier, at around this time period, Bandai released a bunch of classic Virtual Pets. There's not a lot of new creatures in these Virtual Pets, though, as they tend to be obligated to include a bunch of old fan favourites from older series, but the second version of the Pendulum Progress Virtual Pets, "Armageddon Army", plays on the whole angels-and-demons deal and ends up introducing perhaps the most canon pre-evolutions for Lucemon. This little adorable dude with a single horn, the most adorable eyes and little flappy wings is Puttimon, and I just find this little bugger adorable! How long has it been since we've had a real adorable little blob-baby? Puttimon is noted to have poor self-judgment between good and evil, and presumably its tamer is the one that'll guide Puttimon into embracing its true nature and become your Seraphimons and Ophanimons, or have it fall down into evil and become your Lucemons and Beelzebumons.

AgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gif 7/10.


Cupimon (a.k.a. Kyupimon)

CupimonPuttimon gets significantly less cute when it evolves into a surprisingly intricate Baby II stage, Cupimon (or Kyupimon in some localizations), named after the mythological Cupid. Cupid is a Roman god, not an angel! Cupimon is a lot less cute, losing the adorable eyes of Puttimon and getting a pretty generic bipedal-bunny body design. It's also a lot more akin to a Child-level Digimon in complexity instead of a Baby II, too. In the virtual pets it showed up in, Cupimon is able to evolve into either Patamon, Plotmon, Terriermon, Impmon or, of course, Lucemon.

Both Cupimon and Puttimon's sole anime appearances are as background characters in Xros Wars's heaven zone, a heaven-themed area.



AgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gif 4/10.

Lilithmon (a.k.a. Laylamon)

LilithmonWhile most of the Childs, Adults and Perfects in Armageddon Army are pre-existing angels'n'demons, they introduced another member of the Seven Great Demon Lords in this virtual pet, Lilithmon, named after Lilith, a demonic creature from Jewish mythology. Who, of course, embodies Lust, and also the only female member of the Seven Great Demon Lords. She's... she's just a lady with cleavage in a traditional kimono dress with a couple of nice, ribbon-like demon wings. Lilithmon's official bio notes that she's rumoured to be a fallen Ophanimon, and her default pre-evolution in most material tended to be LadyDevimon, which is definitely appropriate.

I'm not the biggest fan of Lilithmon, although I do find that her design just has enough of a balance between accessories and complexity to show that she's a powerful Ultimate-level, and also simple enough to not look messy and cluttered like Lucemon: Falldown Mode up there. However, this doesn't really change that she's essentially just a lady in a nice dress, and I feel a huge step-down from the cool monster demon lady that is LadyDevimon.

Lilithmon tended to show up a lot in video games, but her big role is in Digimon: Xros Wars, where she is one of the biggest bads and one of the main generals under Bagramon, hounding our heroes for nearly the entire season and the only one out of the Bagra Army's main leadership to be a pre-existing Digimon. Lilithmon's writing in Xros Wars is... sporadic. She alternates between being scarily competent and a femme fatale... and then sometimes you just get scenes where Lilithmon ends up getting shot with incompetence. Throw in the extremely uncomfortable-yet-kinda-hilarious bit where she gets turned into a dominatrix with her Evilmon minions turned into her bra and panties (no, I'm not joking) with the Evilmons still being conscious... yeah. She's not as bad as Ranamon, I guess, but I still remain pretty unimpressed with Lilithmon. Again, I just don't really like Digimon that are just "human with cosplay armour". At least Dynasmon and LordKnightmon up there try.

AgumonAgumonAgumonScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gif 3/10, most of those points are thanks to anime portrayals.

Kotemon

KotemonWe're now going to unpack a bunch of Digimon that made their debut in either the Digimon Progress virtual pet, or the Digimon World 3 video game (we've seen a bunch of Digimon World 3's bosses before). This really isn't done in any specific order, but since a bunch of these dudes actually had brief bit roles in Digimon Frontier, I'll start off with Kotemon, one of the game-original Child-level characters in Digimon World 3. Kotemon is, at a first glance, just a generic kendo practitioner wearing a kendogu and wielding a wooden sword. But then you take more of a look and he's apparently some sort of reptilian creature with legs similar to the likes of Veemon. It's not the most interesting concept, mind you, but Kotemon's pleasing enough of a design with lots of fun little touches -- like the long sleeves and the glowing eyes inside the barred face-mask -- that make him fairly more charming than he otherwise would be.

Kotemon's profile notes that he is a hardworking but quiet individual that likes to train behind the scenes, being both timid while having a strong sense of justice. Kotemon would make his anime debut in the Frontier non-serial movie, being a member of the 'humanoid' Digimon that befriends our heroes. He's also made brief cameos in Savers and Xros Wars, before getting a spotlight episode-of-the-week in Hunters. Overall, a pretty pleasant design.

AgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gif 7/10.

Dinohumon (a.k.a. Dinohyumon)

DinohumonUm... okay? This dude sort of looks like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle found himself without a shell, in a fantasy setting, and then trained so hard he got really ripped. He's also got like two sickle-blades on either side of his wrists, a big-ass knife on his back and another butcher knife? I guess Dinohumon is meant to be some sort of a Lizardman-style monster, and I suppose that this is a somewhat appropriate Adult-level evolution of Kotemon... but Dinohumon drops all of the kendo/martial arts stuff that Kotemon has, and becomes a whole bit... messier. I'm genuinely not the biggest fan of this design, although I also admit that they at least tried to make him a wee bit more interesting by giving him a lot of exaggerated accessories. He's shown up in bit roles in both Frontier and Xros Wars, although never in any significant role. As it is, though, I find Dinohumon pretty forgettable, and genuinely associate Kotemon with the likes of Musyamon and Igamon instead.

AgumonAgumonScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gif 2/10.

Kyukimon

KyukimonBizarrely, despite both Kotemon and Dinohumon being reptile-people with swords, their default Perfect-level evolution is Kyukimon. Kyukimon is based on the Japanese yokai Kyuki, a bladed weasel similar to the far more popular Kamaitachi. And... and, well, Kyukimon is basically a scary bladed monster, with actual sickles as his beard and arms. I'm not sure if he still counts as a weasel? I guess a huge, mutated one. Kyukimon's profile is disappointingly bland, noting that it's, oh, just a mysterious beast with sickles that can manipulate the wind. Kyukimon's all right, I guess, when removed from the fact that it has nothing in common with its pre-evolutions other than 'blades somewhere'.

AgumonAgumonScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gif 2/10.


SlashAngemon (a.k.a. SlushAngemon/GuardiAngemon)

Slash AngemonSpeaking of 'blades somewhere', the default final evolution of the Kotemon line in Digimon World 3 is SlashAngemon, perhaps best described as 'blades everywhere. I actually like this one! SlashAngemon would be retconned to evolve from more angelic Digimon like Piccolomon, Shakkoumon or HolyAngemon, but I do think the idea of using blades for wings is a pretty cool concept, and then designing an Angemon with gigantic blades for arms and feet?Look at this artwork. Isn't he just badass? More importantly, this dude exactly addresses my problem that I have with Lucemon and a huge chunk of end-level angel-type Digimon by still being an angel, but also doing something creative with the concept. This dude is clearly a warrior angel, and I'm definitely a big fan of him.

For whatever case, in some of his earlier appearances, SlashAngemon is hilariously mistranslated as SlushAngemon. SlashAngemon has appeared in a fair bit of video games, as well as virtual pets. He's also shown up as a police captain or something in Xros Wars' Heaven Zone. Overall, a Digimon that I unabashedly like despite being introduced relatively later without any significant anime roles.

AgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gif 6/10.

Koemon (a.k.a. Monmon)

KoemonThe second of the Digimon World 3 original Child-levels is Koemon (or Monmon in the English version)... who genuinely is just a green, "jungle boy" version of Makuramon. Yet there is no way for Koemon to evolve into Makuramon in any video game. Boo, Bandai! Koemon is a pretty decent Tarzan-monkey, in any case, with a big-ass slingshot on his back. That's about all there is to say about him -- his bio notes that he's a careless monkey that often falls from the trees. Oh, Koemon. Tarzan you ain't.

Not the biggest fan of this one, to be honest, but it gets points for having Makuramon's gloriously emotionless face.

AgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gif 4/10.

Hookmon

HookmonBizarrely, Koemon's default evolution in Digimon World 3 is... Hookmon, a god damned pirate! Not Hanumon, not Gorimon, but a god damned pirate. Hookmon's got a pretty fun set of exaggerated body proportions that brings to mind Revolmon from way back when, with an almost inhuman head that juts out of his chest, no mouth, an eyepatch and a single eye under that hat. He has one giant hook arm and one giant arm that's just a chibi cannon. I guess that's what the theme in this evolution line is? Ranged weapons? The Kotemon line all use swords, while the Koemon line all uses some sort of ranged weaponry? Hookmon's all right. I like the little allusion to Moby Dick in his official profile, where he apparently goes hunting for a "white Whamon". Not much else to say here.

AgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gif 4/10.

Assaultmon

Assaultmon
Hookmon, instead of evolving to a bigger pirate-themed Digimon, evolves instead into the kickass-looking Perfect-level Assaultmon, who tragically ends up being one of the few to never appear outside of World 3 other than some trading card games. Why? Just look at this badass motherfucker! This dude is a cyborg centaur with green organic skin beneath all that armour, two arms that are just gigantic gatling guns with ammo ribbons jutting out proudly, a great, inhuman-looking robot-combat-mask deal going on, and two more guns strapped onto his back. And crotch-turrets, just because. Yet all we know about Assaultmon is a simple one-line bio. I'm genuinely not sure why this Digimon never gets any love when nonsense shits like Bokomon get to star in every episode of an entire cartoon.

AgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gif 6/10.

Cannondramon

CannondramonCannondramon is the final evolution of this line, and is a pretty cool looking cyborg brontosaur. For a while, Cannondramon also ends up being the most sensible Ultimate-level evolution for Brachimon. It's not the best-looking cyborg dinosaur out there, but by virtue of being a cyborg dinosaur with two long space cannons and a pretty cool robot head, I've always liked Cannondramon a fair bit. And while Assaultmon never saw the light of day outside of World 3, at least Cannondramon managed to show up as bit roles in a couple of subsequent video games, usually acting as the evolution of various abandoned Perfect-level Digimon like Triceramon or Brachimon or Vermillimon. Not much else to say here. Pretty cool cannon dinosaur. Both Assaultmon and Cannondramon are pretty cool designs on their own, but they don't really do much, y'know?

AgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gif 6/10.

Bearmon

BearmonThe last of the three Child-level Digimon original to World 3, Bearmon here is the opposite number of Kotemon in that Frontier movie, presenting the side of the 'beast' Digimon. It's a pretty basic-looking cartoon creature, I guess, although I'm not the biggest fan of it and its silly-looking baseball cap. Definitely could see Bearmon here not looking out of place with the first-season Child-levels, though. I think its his crapton of belts that gives that effect. Bearmon's profile is pretty generic, noting that it's friendly, and very protective of its allies. I think Daigo's partner in that flashback in Tri is a Bearmon? Overall, though, I kinda find this dude just... just m'eh. I guess it's the poor incorporation of the random bear cap? It's going to be a problem that I have with the likes of Gaomon in the future, where humanoid accessories are just stapled onto random designs without any real care on whether it fits or not.

AgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gif 4/10.

Gryzmon (a.k.a. Grizzlymon)

GryzmonBearmon's default Adult-stage evolution is an expected giant bear-beast, and Gryzmon here more than delivers... although apparently that mass of belts have evolved into gigantic metal claws that kind of clash with the rest of Gryzmon's design. Gryzmon is noted to have the 'spirit of a honed martial artist' that basically means that it can do kung fu style dodging despite being a bear. That's the theme of Bearmon's line, then? Unarmed physical combat? I do like the little nod to an older Digimon by noting that Gryzmon's claws are apparently the inspiration of WaruMonzaemon's artificial bear claws. I'm not the biggest fan of a four-legged animal that just wears gauntlets for no reason, though, an aesthetic that I will also dislike with Gaogamon when we get to him. Gryzmon shows up in that Frontier movie as Bearmon's brother, as well as generic enemies in Xros Wars. He's an okay,  inoffensive design.

AgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gif 4/10.

GrappuLeomon (a.k.a. GrapLeomon)

Grappu LeomonWith his whole existence owing to the GRAPPLEomon pun, GrapLeomon here is easily one of my least favourite designs out there. With SlashAngemon, I did note that I'm praising the designers for thinking out of the box when designing an Angemon variant. Gryzmon's Perfect-level evolution here is a Leomon variant, but by god, this thing is just ugly, isn't it? It honestly feels like it comes in from a different franchise, with just how bland that facial expression looks, and his whole deal is that he has a suit with... spinning... pieces of cylinders that allows it to 'grapple' other people? The hell? I guess if you get clotheslined by this dude while his armour is spinning it'll rip your skin off? I dunno. The design of GrapLeomon here is pretty much a mess, but for whatever reason he shows up in so much video games as Leomon's default Perfect-level evolution. I'm not sure why this dude really offends me all that much, but it's one of the ones that I see the picture of and I go, "right, this dumb thing." Leomon has a lot of variants. Some of them are lazy, some of them are unnecessary, some of them are cool. GrapLeomon is none of them. He's just dumb.

Scumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gif 0/10.

Marsmon

MarsmonGrapLeomon's final evolution is the Ultimate-level Marsmon, supposedly based on the Roman God of War, Mars. And this will start off another recurring 'set' of Digimon like the Seven Demon Gods and Royal Knights -- the Olympos XII. Supposedly, the Olympos dudes are the "neutral" to the Royal Knights being "good"and the Seven Demons being "evil". Okay, then, only Mercurymon really ended up mattering anywhere. And Marsmon is... he's a dude in puffy pants, with oversized biceps, a weird Ikkakumon-style hoodie over a very human face? Even though the rest of his skin is red? I dunno. This design is all over the place, honestly. And Marsmon's profile just notes that he's a wrestler specializing in underhanded techniques with hidden weapons? Stop trying to be a poser, Marsmon!

Marsmon ends up getting used as a minion of the evil Apollomon in Xros Wars, and is treated as kind of this dude that defects back and forth between the good guys and the bad guys. I genuinely don't remember him. All of the Olympos XII also show up in some Japanese-only phone trading card game as the main NPC's? Eh, whatever. I was genuinely underwhelmed when I saw Marsmon for the first time, and when I found out that he's supposed to be part of this huge set of super-powerful beings, Marsmon just ends up getting sillier. The likes of Duftmon, Lucemon and Lilithmon may not do anything particularly spectacular and might just be humans-in-suits, but at least they look good and colour-coordinate their appearance. Marsmon's just messy.



AgumonAgumonAgumonScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gif 3/10.

BlackKingNumemon


Black King NumemonHAHAHA what? Only appearing in Digimon World 3 as a secret boss and only showing up in some trading card games and the recent Cyber Sleuth games, BlackKingNumemon is  Perfect-level evolution of Numemon, with its face and general shape leaning more towards the KaratsukiNumemon variant. It's got a fun mustache and a neat little crown for a shell. I kind of don't quite like him, I think. Nowhere as exaggerated or charming as regular Numemon.

AgumonAgumonAgumonScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gif 3/10.


Fangmon

FangmonI'm ticking off a bunch of miscellaneous Digimon introduced in Frontier's tie-in virtual pet, the D-Scanner, and we'll start off with the Adult-level Fangmon... who has never appeared in anything outside of trading cards and that one virtual pet, which is a bit of a shame. Apparently based on the data of the "Big Bad Wolf" archetype from fairy tales, Fangmon isn't just a wolf, he's a slender, mean-looking cartoon wolf with a pretty fancy huge maw full of teeth, an insanely lean body and his legs are wrapped in leather for some reason. Apparently, just like the Big Bad Wolf from the story of Little Red Riding Hood, Fangmon also likes to disguise himeslf to fool his prey? We never really get to see that in fiction. Fangmon isn't the most intricate or original design, but he's a pretty pleasant one, honestly. I guess I just like how streamlined he looks?

AgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gif 6/10.


Boogiemon


BoogiemonOriginating from a trading card, and clearly used to poke fun that it was the 666th card in the set that it was released in, Boogiemon here is an Adult-level demon that's based on the archetypal cartoon devil with red skin, a spiked tail, a trident and a horns-and-wings deal. I like that it looks like it's actually wearing a bodysuit, and the fact that its body is covered head to toe in random demonic tattoos, which is the source of the spells it casts. Boogiemon is also described as a coward that hides in the darkness. Kinda redundant because we've got a fair amount of evil-looking Adult-level demons (Devimon, Evilmon, et cetera), but I think aesthetically Boogiemon looks unique enough that I don't mind it existing, even if it's not quite my style of aesthetic. It's been sort of ignored for the most part, though, only appearing in super-comprehensive TCG or collection games. Personally, I kind of don't mind it. It looks unique enough, in any case.

AgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gif 6/10.


Phelesmon (a.k.a. Feresmon)


PhelesmonBoogiemon's go-to Perfect-level evolution is Phelesmon, based on the demon Mephistopheles, using the half of the name that Mephsimon didn't use. Where Mephismon played up the "goat devil" stereotypes, Phelesmon is definitely a lot more inspired by the same bat wings/pitchfork/horned/devil-tail deal that Boogiemon was, except he's clearly a lot fancier about it with a more humanoid face, some fancy boots and a cowl. As Phelesmon notes in his bio, he's "shaped like an aristocrat", a pretty common depiction of demons masquerading as humans in fiction. Phelesmon showed up in trading cards and the D-Scanner virtual pet and would probably be kind of doomed to just be another forgotten obscure Digimon with a somewhat-cool but ultimately overlapping design, but he ended up being used as a villain of the week Xros Wars: Hunters anime, where some kid in the main character's school being corrupted and tempted by Phelesmon as he possesses people or something. I dunno. Hunters was kind of a crappy show, although Phelesmon at least was memorable for a scene where he forced a school's population to make a pentagram in the field.

AgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonAgumonScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gifScumon vpet dm.gif 6/10.

Betsumon

Betsumon
Yeah, this thing. For whatever reason, they decided to make a Perfect-level ugly middle-aged-dude in a body-suit of Tailmon, with a disgusting, protruding navel and a very unfortunate budge on his crotch. Betsumon is apparently the Digimon World's version of Ditto, where it is able to impersonate any other Digimon by changing his suit. Its only real abilities and ways to attack, according to his profile, is by telling horribly bad jokes. Somehow this is a Perfect-level Digimon. Even moreso than any other Digimon, Betsumon was utterly ignored, even by most of trading card games, since his introduction in the D-Scanner virtual pet. Instead of burying this abomination permanently, though, Betsumon ended up being featured as a villain-of-the-week in Xros Wars: Hunters, and he is as obnoxious and horrible as you think anyone with that face would be. Nope, they could've used, oh, Marsmon or Fangmon or Assaultmon or Hookmon or Kyukimon or any of the many abandoned Digimon on this page. But... yeah. This thing is a horrible design. He gets my vote for being the worst Digimon design ever. I feel bad even having Sukamon represent this thing.

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