Digimon Reviews, Episode 48: Ludomon and Friends [2017-2019 releases]

These are just a bunch of Digimon that are done exclusively for video games and such, while the franchise as a whole did a far more well-thought-out Appmon spinoff series (which I haven't watched, and am planning to maybe sometime in the future), and as such the designs showcased here are honestly pretty... m'eh? It's not that the fact that I don't have any emotional attachment to any of these designs, which is definitely a fair point, but also the fact that making them for trading cards or as one-off video game villains really just cause these designs to honestly feel very bland and unengaging, just mostly "generic huge anime dragon with loads of details".

This basically covers a lot of the Digimon released in the 2017-2018 era, including a batch of a whole ton of X-Antibodies released in 2019. In 2020, apparently has a new Adventures-reboot anime or something? I'm definitely not caught up on that, and a majority of the reviews that I did after Xros Wars Hunters are done with me just reading up on them in the wiki.

It's a super long article, though, which I took too long to edit. I've placed most of the X-Antibodies under a break.

I honestly have to say that... a lot of the Digimon from this period also doesn't really appeal to me. Perhaps not as much as the period between Hunters and Tri, but still, I do apologize for being a bit low-energy in this page. Note that I actually did the first draft of these post-Hunters article way back in 2019 and it took me near close to two years to finally finish it, so apologies if I sound a bit inconsistent in-between reviews. 

EDIT: This episode initially had a bunch of rushed X-Antibody reviews, that have been moved elsewhere to be rewritten. 

Sakumon & Sakuttomon

It's a blob with a knife jutting out of his head, and we're getting another full evolutionary line that's just "slow evolution from point A to point B". These are the Baby I and Baby II forms and as early as the Zero Two season we've really not been having a whole ton of exciting, unique baby forms. These two are... they're all right, I guess, and I do chuckle at the thought of blobs with knives apparently sometimes getting stuck on the ceiling. I'll lump the forms of this evolutionary line together because, well... I'm just so indifferent about them. These two are cute, but I don't really have much to say here. 

 4/10.

Zubamon & Zubaegermon

Ehhhh, it's sort of like Hackmon if Hackmon was a lot less interesting. Just like its pre-evolved forms, Zubamon's whole deal is that he's gold, and he has a sword on his face. Its profile is a generic 'chosen one' nonsense about how he's a mighty weapon that, depending on who wields him, Zubamon can save or destroy the world. Apparently he is the "Twentiest", but no one knows what that means, not even Zubamon.

Zubaegermon, the Adult form, looks a bit more unique, but I honestly do feel that maybe they wwapped out Zubamon and Zubaegermon's designs? Like, Zubamon has a cape, loses it and becomes the quadrupedal beast Zubaegermon, and then re-gains the cape and stands up when he evolves further? Eh. Aparently Zubaegermon can turn into a knife, so this is sort of similar to the Ginryumon line, but a lot less interesting and more gold.

 3/10.

Duramon & Durandamon

Named after a legedary blade in a French epic poem, the Perfect and Ultimate stage Duramon and Durandalmon are... they're... they're sword-knight people? I am just running out of things to say about this line. They're not ugly, but are just so devoid of any real appeal to me that I just find them so god-damned boring. Hell, the franchise's even done humanoid knights with knives for arms and whatnot and made them look far less tacky and look so much more interesting. I do really like that apparently they are born from the "data of mythological weapons from video games", which is such a rare, fun detail to see in modern-day Digimon profiles. So instead of being born out of Durandal the French epic balde, Durandamon is born out of Durandal, the weapon from Fire Emblem. That's neat, I guess. Not my kind of thing -- I don't hate this one, but comparing this line to... well, the next year, I guess, I just really don't care for this one. It's neat. 

 3/10.

Cotsucomon & Kakkinmon

No, not Costcomon. Cotsucomon. Anyway, this pair of Baby I/Baby II Digimon are basically the 'shield' equivalent to the entire Durandamon being the sword. DIGIMON SWORD AND SHIELD! These two are clearly just pretty much stronger/weaker versions of each other, but at least they make the effort to make them look more unique compared to Sakumon and Sakuttomon. These are two all right ones, if not too creative. I guess we're going with this format of two Digimon stages for a lot of these video-game tie-in "whole new evolutionary line!" families if I don't have much to talk about them, I suppose. 

 4/10.

Ludomon

Oh, hey, I actually like Ludomon! This Child level little critter is such a funny looking little gremlin, and so colourful with all sorts of weird circular shields strapped onto him. He looks like he could be a fun, cute little gremlin mascot for Splatoon or something, and I really do like that slightly pissed-off face, the quasi-samurai-esque layout of his armour, and the stubby little arms with shields latched on to the side.  I also love the little bits of... graffiti? "Camouflage", in some way or form? Whatever the heck compelled Ludomon to decorate his giant disc-arms with pink and blue, anyway. It's such a fun, wacky way to do a shield-themed creature, compared to the obvious route that the Zubamon line goes through. 

 6/10.

TiaLudomon, RaijiLudomon & Bryweludramon

On the same token, I do like that the Ludomon line isn't just obvious "same thing, but in different poses with different details" the way that Zubamon and the rest of them are. It's just a shame that TiaLudomon instantly loses almost anything interesting that his Child-level counterpart has, and just becomes a pretty bland, monotone generic futuristic robot. A massive step down. And TiaLudomon evolves into RaijiLudomon, who is another pretty generic robot-man that doesn't even look interesting by the standards of robot-man Digimon. I really have nothing to say about this Perfect form. It's so boring. So I guess the theme of the evolution line is "shoulder shields" or something? 

Bryweludramon, which is a bitch to type, is... it's the ultimate form, and I am slightly surprised at how we go from humanoids with shields plastered on randomly to a massive dragon made out of flame, with its recognizable limbs and wings being shields. It's pretty neat, and definitely refreshing to see some of those "tied together by theme" thing going on in Digimon evolution lines as opposed to just the very banal thing Durandamon has going on. It's a neat-looking dragon, but not the neatest-looking dragon we've ever seen in Digimon. Definitely do feel that it's a bit too cluttered, although I do appreciate that between Bryweludramon and Volcanicdramon, we have a couple of modern lines that end up with a non-humanoid Ultimate form.

I'm sorry -- I don't actually actively dislike any of these like the Collectors designs, but I just really don't have too much to say here.

 4/10.

RagnaLordmon

Oh, yeah, you got to have a Omegamon-style Jogress, huh? The Zubamon and Ludomon lines are version counterparts in their respective digital pet lines, and their two final forms combine into an anime knight dude with a sword and a shield. Durandamon becomes the sword, and Bryweludramon becomes the shield. And holding them is a completely generic dude in armour. Like, I'm trying to be positive and pretend that I actually have something interesting to say about this form, but I really don't. It's a decent anime knight dude, and at least Durandalmon and Bryweludramon actually look like they are meant to turn into weapons. Not impressive, but not terrible.

 3/10.

Pusumon, Pusurimon & Herissmon

It's a cute hedgehog! And a hedgehog child mode! And a hedgehog slime-ball with Pabumon's little pacifier thing! An evolutionary line created as the mascots of a mobile game, I... I actually don't mind them. Pusurimon is a fluffy hamster buds. Pusumon is a hairy fluffy buds. He's neat. Herissmon (sometimes "Erismon") looks more like a knockoff Digimon made by cheap Chinese companies trying to catch a quick buck, but I still can see him being a mascot for a Digimon manga or whatever. Not my favourite design, but they're all pretty decent. I don't have anything much to really say here, they're clearly designed with Herissmon first and the other two to tie to him. This line is basically the exclusive evolution line for the Digimon ReArise video game. It's... it's an all right mascot, all things considered. I don't care about them, personally, but they're all right.

 4/10.

Filmon & SteFilmon

Herissmon evolves into a predictable fur-man creature, and by this point we've seen so many of them that look cooler, better, more beastly, more organic, and even more humanoid. Filmon and SteFilmon are just there. They're humanized furry hedgehog-lion things with very generic "something something super-powerful digizoid" bios. I find them utterly bland and boring. Filmon's proportions just look weird (how do those elbows work?). SteFilmon is a bit better but also it's the type of design I don't particularly care for. I do like the random cowboy shoes it has, though.

 1/10.

Rasenmon

Herissmon's Ultimate form is Rasenmon, which... is, again, the sort of anime knight-person with a lot of random details slapped on to it. And I know, I know, I've been harping on that sort of design like a broken record, but there are a lot of these designs, y'know? The default Rasenmon has swapped its massive amount of hedgehog spikes for a bunch of giant drills that jut out of his back, which... okay, that does give him something that's somewhat unique compared to its two pre-evolutions. Rasenmon is noted to be able to absorb the powers from his allies' emotions, which would be something special if all other Digimon don't already do that.

A lot more interesting, though, is Rasenmon's "Fury Mode", which is presumably how you originally obtain Rasenmon in the game based on how the profiles are worded. And, as usual, the monstrous form is the far more interesting one, with gigantic claws and gigantic tails that lash all around. It's basically yet another Nine-Tailed Fox reference, but it's a pretty cool monster and I do like that a lot of the details on Rasenmon: Fury Mode do translate into equivalent details on the regular Rasenmon, like the gigantic golden claws (that become upside-down gauntlets in regular Rasenmon) or the tails that turn into drill-bits. Individually, I don't think they would be all that impressive, but as a duo of alternate forms, they do bring enough to the table to get a pretty neutral 5/10 rating.

 5/10.

Blucomon & Paledramon

Blucomon here is the mascot for another mobile game, this time one from China, "Digimon Encounters". I do actually like Blucomon a fair bit, and I suppose it's no surprise that he looks a bit more monster-like compared to a lot of the ones we just went through. I do like that Blucomon is described to be literally made out of ice, and that his power will actually decrease if he walks out of icy habitats. I also like the fact that he's got a parka-esque fur around his neck despite being a mostly reptilian draconic creature on the same vein of Agumon. It's also apparently good buddies with Penmon, which is such a randomly adorable detail.

His adult form, Paledramon, is basically him but bigger, with pretty cool arms made out of ice and... well, I suppose those tacky ice-crystal wings are to be expected. He is still a pretty decent humanoid dragon/dinosaur creature, though, and I don't think I realized until writing this how few ice-themed Digimon we have. Paledramon is noted to be cold enough to be immune to the changes in environmental temperature, but he's still very much susceptible to Digimon with fire attacks. Eh, they're not terrible, but I'll probably forget them after writing this article. 

 5/10.

CrysPaledramon & Hexeblaumon

At this point it's basically a given that any given Digimon line gets to become more humanoid as he evolves, yeah? Volcanicdramon notwithstanding? CrysPaledramon is basically how you expect Paledramon to become more humanized, gaining huge chunky Wolverine gauntlets and having his ice wings be more elaborate and Gundam-esque. And then his profile just details about how he's more powerful and stuff. And then we get to Hexeblaumon, a generic anime hero man which has apparently mastered "ice sorcery (a high-level programming language)", which I do appreciate how magic in Digimon-land is always prefaced with it being a programming language. It's got an ice sword and its ice wings now resemble Strike Freedom Gundam. They look cool. Get it? Cool?

 4/10.

Jazamon & Jazzdramon

Debuting as part of the "Digital Monster X" virtual pets, (which is a reason for the large resurgence of X-Antibody Digimon in the recent years), Jazamon is a brand-new chlid stage that's basically a baby bird, but also a robot. It's pretty adorable, and, well, I do like robots and baby birds are cute. I do think that Jazamon is a wee bit too complex for a child-stage, but at this point I don't really think it matters a whole ton. Jazamon is noted to be unable to actually fly, is very skittish and timid, and can only glide around with its metal wings. Cute, but honestly kind of mundane.

Jazzdramon, meanwhile, is a pretty cool design. It's noted to combine both traits of a "dragon and a fighter jet", but it really ends up looking like it's inspired by both but isn't really either. I absolutely love the funky way that those legs connect to the body, and those legs, while still resembling some sort of VTOL engine, also resemble giant boots and this gives Jazzdramon a very Mega-Man boss vibe. The head does look a bit disproportionately large, but that might just be the forced perspective of the artwork. Overall, I actually like Jazzdramon's design a lot.

 7/10.

Jazarichmon & Metallicdramon

The Perfect and Ultimate stages for the Jazamon line are a bit more obvious robotic dragons, and in the somewhat more generically cool sense instead of the wacky style that Mugendramon or Megadramon are, but that's okay. Jazarichmon is a bit less sleek compared to its pre-evolved and evolved forms, but it's still a pretty decent looking metallic wyvern-thing. I really don't have much to say here, it's not a super-revolutionary design, but it's still a pretty cool robot dragon. 

Metallicdramon is basically what you expect the final form of one of these things to look like, but a giant metallic dragon/bird creature is still a whole lot cooler than something like Hexeblaumon. I do like the design of the wings and the fact that the tail-stinger thing grows increasingly larger and larger as the line evolves. Metallicdramon apparently moves around so fast that other Digimon can't even see it, and when it shows up, it's a portent for some huge event. Whenever it flaps its wings, apparently particles that will "preserve the harmony of the world" are scattered. Okay, that's a pretty mythical quality to it or something, but I dunno, we don't really learn enough about Metallicdramon from just that.

 5/10.

Vorvomon & Lavorvomon

Vorvomon here is a Child-level and done as a tie-in to a new Digivice. There are two or three entire lines, but the other two fit together well as a set, so we'll cover them in the next article. It's a cute enough baby Deathwing, I suppose, a little dragon wyvern chick with body entirely made out of black ore, and apparently it can flap up for a couple of seconds, but gets tired easily. I really don't have a whole ton to say here, but I do acknowledge that the Vorvomon evolutionary line is probably the favourite thing of these post-Tri Digimon. Granted, a good chunk of what makes them feel special is that they're doing a pretty interesting but simple theme with coal? Eh. It's all right, I guess. I like him.

Lavorvomon is... it's Vorvomon, but bigger. A bunch of those cool "claws made of yellow molten slag" thing going on, and some fun details with little mini-volcanoes on his back. It's the Adult stage, and I do get the feeling that instead of just a small dragon with a furnace in his body, when it actually became a fully-fledged dragon, Lavorvomon is straight-up just made of magma inside. I do like the detail that apparently because it's so heavy (being a magma creature and all) it just crawls around like an angry flightless bat, because it's a poor flier. The art style does make it feel like it is a generic dragon enemy from [Insert Generic Japanese Mobile Game], but that might just be me nitpicking. Lavorvomon is a pretty cool volcano-inspired dragon. It doesn't quite feel as interestingly wacky and has that grungy Digimon feel as something like Shellmon or Kuwagamon or Megadramon or anything, but it's still a pretty neat dragon. 

 7/10.

Lavogaritamon & Volcanicdramon

Holy shit, that name, I had so many typos here. Lavogaritamon is... it's basically what you expect from a Perfect level of this line? It kind of interesting that after the rather wild jump in a lot of the more traditional Digimon lines, the Vorvomon line actually progresses from just being a small lava dragon to a big lava dragon. What is this logical progression, Pokemon? Bah! All jokes aside, It's still a cool-looking dragon, and those are cool, but at this point it's starting to just feel same, just bigger. I do miss the days when a Digimon evolution line involves a little smiling seed creature transforms into a flower-goblin with vine-fingers transforms into a boxing cactus transforms into a plant fairy. All of Vorvomon's forms honestly look pretty cool, like, very very cool, but they also don't leave much for me to talk about.

The final Ultimate form of the line, Volcanicdramon is what you expect from a giant, volcanic slag-themed wyvern. Again, it's pretty much the previous forms, but bigger. Like, you can't go wrong with a giant black dragon with molten/burning wings, and... you don't go wrong with Volcanicdramon and his pre-evos. You also don't really get much out of them. Fire dragons in general are always just sort of cool regardless of how you do it up, so this isn't particularly super creative to me? I like him slightly less than his previous forms, but that's not a knock on him. 

 6/10.

NoblePumpmon

Oh, okay, what now? Pumpmon gets an evolution nearly two decades after his debut? NoblePumpmon is the real, honest-to-goodness proper Ultimate evolution for Pumpmon, and it's... it's basically a Jack Skellington style affair, only with a pumpkin instead of a skull. And y'know what? Considering how Pumpmon is portrayed in that one iconic episode of Digimon Adventures, how it's supposedly hired as what's essentially a contract killer but would rather spend his time going around celebrating Halloween, before getting his ass killed for it by the evil big bad Vamdemon. And NoblePumpmon is... basically everything Pumpmon wants to be, but in actual style. No longer is he running around in a pudgy potato-sack body with an ax stuck to his head, but he's got spindly limbs, a proper suit, a hat, a cane, all the works! His personality is that he just wants to bring smiles to everyone with the pumpkin dishes he's able to conjure with his cape, and that's so wholesome. He's even got a pair of downwards-facing angelic wings that double up as a 'cape', and the whole combination ends up with such a stylish evolution for good ol' Pumpmon that you can't dislike this thing. The description of NoblePumpmon's attacks are even hilarious -- it's either giant pumpkin bombs (which are mundane compared to its predecessor) or "pouring a huge amount of pumpkin soup into the enemy's body and causing them to explore". Hahaha, that's brutal!

 8/10.

Voltobautamon (a.k.a. Boltboutamon)

Somehow, when you combine the vampiric Vamdemon and the demon clown Piemon, you get... Voltobautamon, who is a crazy looking ghost pirate demon thing with multiple arms? It's an interesting design, and probably the bad guy in like everyone's childhood Digimon Adventure fanfic since its component parts are the two most memorable villains from the show, but I don't love-love it. It's cool enough, being a demon pirate with a funky cape and all, and I definitely appreciate that it isn't a cheap mis-mash of the two more iconic Digimon. But... we really don't get a whole ton, yeah? It's got a very pirate-y theme to it, I feel, and I do kind of actually appreciate how Voltobautamon actually has it's own identity, sort of? Voltobautamon is apparently controlled by some other entity or something, though, and his official profile doesn't really say much beyond him being the final boss of one of the newer games. I'm not the most interested in this guy, but the sheer Adventure-fanboyism in making a combination of Vamdemon and Piemon is something I can approve out of principle. 

 5/10.