Full disclosure: it's been a couple of years since I wrote a good chunk of this article, and even longer since I binge-watched Xros Wars (pronounced "Cross Wars", and called Digimon Fusion in the dub), and so a lot of details might actually be a bit blurred in my head. Xros Wars, in contrast, was a series that I watched relatively close to its original release date. It was an anime series that ran in 2011, and I watched it around... 2013? Thereabouts, anyway. And I actually found it very, very decent! It is perhaps one of the more solid Digimon anime series in my opinion, easily my third favourite Digimon series after the pretty spectacular and dark Tamers, and the character-driven (also nostalgia-driven) Adventure. What made Xros Wars feels so different is perhaps its premise. Instead of a group of children partnered with a group of Digimon, Xros Wars instead has a single character attempting to be 'king', and amassing an army of Digimon to do battle across different 'zones' to ultimately fight the big bad, Bagramon. It has one of the most well-structured series of recurring villains and recurring characters, some legitimately great plot twists, and, being that it's an anime series made in the 10's, pretty top-notch animation. Plus, the whole "huge war" concept was never something that was really explored in any other Digimon series, which definitely tickled my fancy.
The thing that made Xros Wars far, far more divisive to the fans than other series, though, is the complete abolishing of Digimon levels. Digimon just... exist, and the way that they "evolve" here is instead through DigiCross or DigiFuse, depending on your favoured translation. It's quite literally combining two Digimon into one in a way not dissimilar to the "Jogress" fusion of past series, but the fact that Digimon just straight-up don't evolve anymore and just exist as creatures in this alternate dimension rubbed everyone the wrong way.
Ultimately, though, I had felt that this wasn't any more heresy than having children evolve into Digimon, so I really didn't feel like it was that huge of a deal. Xros Wars told its story relatively well, developed its characters quite well, and... and, yeah, it's perhaps one of the most blatantly "SELL NEW TOYS" anime among Digimon, but it's actually a pretty decent show and it's not something I'm going to really put it down for.
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Shoutmon
Our first Digimon this time around is Shoutmon, who I actually fondly remember as one of the very few partner Digimon to actually have a fully-fledged personality and goals. Even the best Digimon characters in Adventure or Tamers never really amounted much to being a support system for their human partners. Here, it's interestingly Kudou Taiki (Mikey Kudo in the dub) that feels like the accessory to Shoutmon. See, Shoutmon's goal is to be the goddamn King of the Digital World, and to realize this he has to unite all the various 'zones' while fighting back the video-game-esque big bad monsters of the Bagra Army. Kudou Taiki, meanwhile, is a human whose biggest strength -- and fault -- is his desire to help every single person in need, no matter how self-harming or impractical it might be. The two are a surprisingly fun pair to watch, and I can honestly say that Shoutmon's one of my favourite actual Digimon partner characters. He's just so fucking hammy, I think, which is the biggest drawing point for me.
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| King version |
The Xros Wars anime ran for two seasons (with the second season having a slightly different theme although it basically served as a sequel), and a third in-continuity-with-a-different-cast sequel. In that final spin-off season, Shoutmon got a brief redesign, where his head-horns are longer, his chest armour's a bit more pronounced, and he's got a pretty badass Kamen Rider scarf deal going on. I'm not going to actually cover any of Shoutmon's evolutions until the end of this article, and I'm going to cover the rest of Team Xros Heart (a.k.a. Fusion Fighters in the dub) first, because of the... pretty strange rules of evolution in what is essentially a soft reboot of the Digimon franchise.
9/10, in no small part because he is a fun character.Dorulumon (a.k.a. Dorurumon)
A good portion of the earlier episodes of Xros Heart involves Taiki and Shoutmon (as well as two of Taiki's school friends, Akari and Zenjirou, that basically act as the sane people of the group) recruiting allies into their small 'army'. While this army would feature a bunch of old classics like Jijimon and Beelzebumon, a vast majority are
This is, of course, because Dorulumon is a transforming toy, and his toy basically transforms into a gigantic cannon emplacement.... even if those weird black spikes still don't make a lot of sense before we enter the X-whatever forms. Dorulumon's Bombardment Mode, sometimes treated as an actual separate form, does look pretty damn ridiculous with those lion legs still there, but it does make the concept somewhat more interesting, as this cyborg that actually does a pretty good job looking organic when not transformed.
Dorulumon in Xros Wars is basically the badass that initially refuses to join the group and is somewhat antagonistic, but ends up befriending our heroes and being pretty nice. It's a neat design, if not a particularly spectacular one. I did quite like how he's portrayed in the show, but that might just be because I do like Xros Wars a fair bit.
6/10.Ballistamon
Also, it's not immediately obvious, but Ballistamon, being Shoutmon's best buddy, actually is also inspired by a musical equipment, in this case a speaker. Sure, he can do the generic bug stuff of ramming them with horns, or do the robot stuff of punching them with a rocket punch, but Ballistamon's actual super attack is "Heavy Speaker", which just unleashes gigantic sonic-boom waves of doom. It's perhaps a bit obvious that I name this my favourite visual design from Xros Wars, but hey.
9/10.Cutemon
Apparently, according to Cutemon's official Bandai profile, those bunny ears aren't actually ears, but a far more sensitive sensory organ that allows it to detect the approach of other Digimon, making Cutemon sightings particularly rare. I guess that explains why the headphones are attached to where human ears would be, instead of the actual rabbit ears. Neat! Cutemon's not my favourite design by a long shot, but he's a pretty fun, not-unpleasant design.
5/10.Starmon II, Pickmon & Chibickmon
These guys basically sort of exist as an entire swarm of Digimon that hang around Shoutmon's little party. And, yes, it shares a name with Starmon, a species of Digimon from the original series, but Xros Wars does reinvent a bunch of Digimon that Bandai basically considers "rebooted" or alternate variations of their classic counterparts. From here on out, I'll be calling them with the 'II' moniker, because '(2010 Anime Version)' is a pain in the ass and also very unwieldy to type. Anyway, the "Starmons" is comprised of a single Starmon surrounded by a bunch of Pickmons. And they're all sentient, but basically behave like a single entity at times. They basically sort of serve as comic relief most of the time, or as power-up since the Starmon and Pickmons' most common configuration is to stack together into a sword.
The whole idea is that Starmon will combine with the Pickmons and creating a sword for Shoutmon or any member of the cast to hold, and the additional Pickmons will serve to help lengthen the blade when Shoutmon transforms into his bigger forms. Not the biggest fan of the Starmons blade, honestly, which just looks kind of awkward. In addition, the Starmons are known to have transformed into an axe, a slingshot, a chakram and a lightsaber. Okay, then.
Of course, all of this also plays into the whole rock-star theme that Shoutmon's army has, with the Pickmons and Chibickmons being obviously based on guitar picks. The profiles of all three members sort of alternate between actually telling us that Chibickmons evolve into Pickmons, who then evolve into Starmons... but it's actually a plot point that regular evolution doesn't exist (yet) in the Xros Wars universe, and most power-ups is done through Digi-Xros (pronounced DigiCross), literally fusing with other Digimon.
7/10.Dondokomon
These guys aren't the megazord-fusing characters, but we'll cover them here. Dondokomon is actually a character that hangs out with the main cast from day one, but is mostly just treated as comic relief and just another member of the Xros Heart army. It's... it's basically a traditional drum with a face with drumsticks for hands. It's got a neat little bandana, I suppose, and a fun little face that seems lifted straight from Shoutmon, as well as legs wrapped with bandages. Dondokomon appears for a lot of episodes, but he's really pretty unimpressive. He's a lot more charming than other ultimately-irrelevant-but-consistently-there mascots, though, in contrast to, say, those two twerps from Frontier. I do like how its bio notes how Dondokomon apparently incites violence with its drumming, and even friendly competitions will erupt into gigantic battle royales if Dondokomon shows up.
Also, since I really don't have much to say about Dondokomon, other pretty prominent secondary members that joins Xros Heart but tends to just spend their time inside Taiki's
6/10.Baalmon (a.k.a. Reapmon)
Named after Baal, the Mesopotamian god (and considered a demon by Christian and pseudo-Christian literature), Baalmon here is a pretty badass anti-hero/anti-villain character in Xros Wars. The English dub changed this to 'Reapmon", which is still prety badass. Introduced as an assassin working for the Bagra Army, Baalmon is noted to have killed an entire temple of angel Digimon in the Sand Zone before joining the Bagra Army. Turns out, though, that an agent of the Bagra Army had mind-controlled every single one of Baalmon's victims, forcing him to kill his buddies in self-defense, and Baalmon basically went on full Kill Bill mode to find out which member of that organization was responsible. It's... it's an Ebemon, which is actually a surprisingly goofy design as Baalmon's rival. And I tend to talk about how I don't really find humanoid Digimon interesting, but Baalmon's story, as well as those pretty awesome accessories, really make him pretty neat! That grotesquely gangly left arm holding a bloodied blade is pretty neat, as is the right arm that's hidden inside a large, almost cannon-like sleeve with belts and seals wrapped around it. Inside this massive sleeve? A fucking shotgun. Also really like that cape made entirely of seals.
Baalmon would eventually join Xros Heart, and would be killed in a dramatic sacrifice... but in death, the goddess that he worshiped would redeem him and transform him into a new form, Beelzebumon. Turns out Baalmon's meant to be that elusive pre-evolution to Beelzebumon, and basically everyone considers Baalmon to be a Perfect-level Digimon, one of the few Xros-Wars-originating Digimon to actually have a classic-style evolutionary level. Baalmon's actual Bandai profile is also pretty interesting, noting that Baalmon acts like some sort of prophet that will grant you answers, but in exchange for an ordeal that the asker must complete. And should the ordeal not be completed, Baalmon will steal your soul. Also, apparently those amulet-seal things all hold hidden weapons, Naruto-style, which is neat.
7/10.Beelzebumon II (a.k.a. Beelzemon)
New!Beelzebumon actually looks pretty damn faithful to the original design, while also changing a fair bit. Beelzebumon II ditches the badass leather jacket in favour for metal body armour, while the wings have been dyed blue and are a whole lot shorter. Also, the cannon ends up looking a lot more sci-fi based as opposed to the punktech appendage that the original Beelzebumon has. Overall, it's kind of a neat little variation of the original Beelzebumon that actually looks like a variation, while at the same time not changing too much of a pretty classic design. I really do think that I prefer the original Beelzebumon, but that's where the nostalgia is talking.
What I really love about this incarnation of Beelzebumon, other than his whole story of redemption? His attack. The original Beelzebumon had pretty generic-sounding attack names like "Chaos Flare" or "Double Impact". Beelzebumon II? His main attack is called DEATH, THE CANNON. As in shouting those words loudly in English. Glorious.
4/10 as a variant.Shoutmon X2
So let's talk about the actual Digi-Xros'd forms. Basically, the gimmick of this particular season/soft reboot is that the only way to get any more powerful is to hang around humans who have the ability to use the mysterious plot devices and engage a DigiXros (DigiFuse in the dub), combining two or more Digimon into one. The most common forms are X3 through X7, which are the basic Power Rangers Megazord style power-up that they use to beat whatever threat of the week, but there is a metric fuckton of these Digi-Xros'd forms, some of which even only show up for a gag or two. We're just going to cover the forms that actually have official Bandai art and profile, because even I'm not ready to try and sort the differences of the various manga-exclusive or game-exclusive Shoutmon X-Whatever forms. Shoutmon X2 here is the combination of Shoutmon and Ballistamon, and I really do like the fact that it's just such a bizarre, clunky-looking form. I'm genuinely not sure where that white grill-eye-robot-visor thing even comes from, and the only real part that obviously comes from Shoutmon seems to be the crest on the top of this dude's head, displacing Ballistamon's head to the chest.
Apparently, Shoutmon X2 can also house other Digimon within itself, presumably in a way akin to Soundwave from Transformers. Shoutmon X2 is basically treated by the cast as kind of an 'imperfect form' that they only use a couple of times, and only when the other members of the cast aren't present. And it's all right for what it is, an awkward, dopey robot toy. 6/10.Click below for ALLLLLLL of the fusions. I like Xros Wars enough to cover all of them. There is a lot.
Shoutmon X3, X4 and X5
And here we go with the Voltron/Megazord forms, and, if you haven't already guessed... and... well, I'm just going to blaze through all of them at once because I have more or less the same opinion for most of them. First up here is Shoutmon X3, throwing in Dorulumon into the combination of Shoutmon and Ballistamon, and basically turning the whole thing into... well, a giant combining mecha. To borrow terms from the transforming toy community, it's got a couple of somewhat unpleasant lion-leg kibble on the side of his legs, but it's otherwise a pretty okay-looking robot, all things considered.
It's a pretty clean gestalt transformation, with Dorulumon forming the legs and tail, Ballistamon forming a majority of the upper body, and Shoutmon presumably providing bulk and the main head. The heads of Dorulumon and Ballistamon end up as the shoulder guards, which is a pretty neat combining mecha trope. Apparently that giant Gundam-like 'V' symbol on his chest, in addition to be a Japanese-anime-style beam blasting thing, is also a boomerang. Okay, then.
Next up is Shoutmon X4 is basically the most common form of Team Xros Heart's combinations, and it's... it's basically Shoutmon X3 holding the Starmon/Pickmon Star Sword. As far as the show is concerned, Shoutmon X4 is basically the "Adult Mode" that sees the most action. I mostly think it probably shouldn't be a separate form, but eh, whatever.
Becoming increasingly like a Megazord is Shoutmon X5, which throws Sparrowmon into the mix. We'll cover Sparrowmon next week since she's associated with a different human character, but she's basically a yellow bird-jet. Again, Shoutmon X5 is basically Shoutmon X4 with a brand-new accessory, and at least it looks like Sparrowmon actually attaches into the arm instead of just "Shoutmon X3 holds a sword".
Of course, combining with a jet also means that Shoutmon X5 can fly, and he will do his attacks by flying up and then back down like a meteor.
These three are variations of Shoutmon X4, and, from left to right, are X4K, X4S and X5S respectively. Each of them throw in a new Digimon not from the main cast into the mix, but since toy merchandising probably dictates that only the main cast gets the transforming toys, they are treated as alternate X4 power-ups instead.
Shoutmon X4K combines Shoutmon X4 with a Knightmon, which gives the resulting design a pretty slick cape, a fancy custom shield, and changes the ugly-looking Pickmon sword into a more pleasant looking blade. Shoutmon X4S and X5S basically has Shoutmon hold another Digimon that can transform into a weapon, in this case Spadamon, who transforms into a bizarre spear-lance-harpoon thing. X4S also has a hilariously long Bandai profile that try to sell the fact that this Spadamon blade is the ULTIMATE weapon of doom and glory and shit.
But Shoutmon X4B has to be my favourite as far as ridiculous forms go, though, combining Shoutmon X4 with a Beelzebumon... and this, somehow, ends up forming a goddamn centaur! Dorulumon/X4's legs end up being the back half of the 'horse', while Beelzebumon's punk demon-ghost-rider legs become the front half of the legs, the demon wings end up being some sort of pegasus wings, and Beelzebumon's fucking cannon ends up being a crotch-gun for this centaur. Here's a cleaner image of the Toei anime model. Honestly, X4B is easily my favourite form, owing to how utterly ridiculous it is.
On the right is Shoutmon X5B, which basically is the same thing, but with Sparrowmon tacked on -- similar to regular X5.
(Not included in this list, because they're most manga-exclusive and I can't get good, proper scans of them: Shoutmon X6, Shoutmon SH, Shoutmon X2-incomplete-X4, Shoutmon X3GM, Shoutmon X3SD and Shoutmon X2-plus-M. Plus Ballistamon MC and Ballistamon SR. As well as black repaints.)
Overall, I do think that the actual Bandai artworks for these end up looking way too busy, but I actually do appreciate that the gimmick for this series ends up being a homage to transforming mecha. And while the various forms having so many different names is admittedly pretty hilariously ridiculous. They're nowhere near to being favourite designs of mine, but they're... they're all right.
6/10 as a set, mostly for the concept.OmegaShoutmon (a.k.a. OmniShoutmon)
During the final battle of the first season of Xros Wars, it's revealed that regular evolution/digi-volution actually do exist in this universe, it's just called "Super Evolution" and is really, really rare. And it's treated as the culmination of the bond between Shoutmon and his partner. And OmegaShoutmon is... it's neat, and meant to depict Shoutmon channeling the power of the super-awesome Omegamon, but the result is honestly kind of disappointing, basically just being a longer, more humanoid Shoutmon with super-long horns, and golden robot armour all over. It's Magnamon all over again, I feel, although I do think that OmgeaShoutmon does look a lot better. I dunno. It just looks kinda tacky? The moment when Shoutmon evolves is admittedly cool, and it kicks ass, but as a visual piece OmegaShoutmon just earns a shrug from me. I do find it hilarious that one of his attacks is called "OMEGA THE FUSION", though. It's kind of an all right, if pretty dang tacky, super mode, I guess?
3/10.Shoutmon DX
Shoutmon DX here is a Digi-Xros of two evolved Digimon -- OmegaShoutmon and ZekeGreymon, the latter being the partner of Kiriha, the cool anti-hero rival of the show. Both OmegaShoutmon and ZekeGreymon are golden robot-people, and the resulting combined form is... it's basically what you expect, honestly, basically OmegaShoutmon bulked up with a bunch of kibble, a pair of robot wings, extra claws and thicker legs, and a giant weird blade-arm. It's a neat enough power-up mode I think, but it's not one that I'm particularly fond of. Again, I kind of feel like this ends up being memorable more because of the emotional moment when OmegaShoutmon and ZekeGreymon fuses moreso than the actual combined form itself. Sort of like basically every Dragon Ball Z transformation, where the forms themselves are just kinda similar, but it's the badass moments that lead up to said super mode, as well as the resulting beatdown, that you remember.
3/10.Shoutmon X7 (and Superior Mode) & EX6
Because we're not counting properly, we jump straight to Shoutmon X7. There is a Shoutmon X6, but that only appears once in the manga and there's no real proper, hi-def scans of it. Anyway, Shoutmon X7 here is what happens when you do a Xros fusion between the components of Shoutmon X5, but with OmegaShoutmon instead of Shoutmon, as well as ZekeGreymon (who's formed out of two Digimon), forming Shoutmon X7. It's basicaly the super-duper-final-ultimate form and it's... it's basically a more cluttered X5, really, although I appreciate that this final form gets to re-obtain a gigantic version of the original Shoutmon's mic stand.
At the final conflict of Xros Wars' second season and the climactic final battle against the main villain, Bagramon, Shoutmon X7 fuses himself/themselves with everyone. And I do mean everyone -- basically every single person in the Digital World shows up and 'lends their power' to Shoutmon X7, Spirit Bomb style, and gets caught up in the fusion and forms Shoutmon X7 Superior Mode, which is basically the same thing, but entirely gold, and with angel wings thrown in. Again it's sort of been something I note ever since I reviewed last-minute repaint final forms for Imperialdramon and Dukemon... these final forms never really impress me. The actual story impact of "oh shit, they're fusing everyone!" and "it's the entire world against the main bad guy, let's go!" is pretty damn awesome, but, again, as a design, both X7's are just too cluttered for my tastes.
Shoutmon EX6 here is a manga-exclusive form, and one that's basically an equivalent to Shoutmon X7... but Dorulumon and Sparrowmon have evolved into their golden forms. It's... it's there, I guess.
2/10.ChibiKamemon (a.k.a. ChibiTortomon)
The various Digimon wikis alternate on whether ChibiKamemon here is meant to be just a young version of a Kamemon, or if he's a variant species. He's consistently referred to as "ChibiKamemon" throughout the series, though, and his character model gives him pretty distinct proportions compared to regular Kamemon. If we consider regular Agumon and Savers/Data Squad Agumon to be subspecies-es of each other, then I'm allowed to consider ChibiKamemon to be its own thing! Anyway, it's a happy turtle buddy, and it's really interesting just how basically changing the head-to-body ratio ends up giving us such a different 'feel' for what is essentially the same design.
6/10.Spadamon (a.k.a. Supadamon)
3/10.DarkVolumon
Sadly, we don't have a proper Bandai art for this one, so an anime screenshot will have to do. Ignore Depthmon there! See, turns out that Ballistamon isn't always a nice, happy yes-man best friend, but he had an evil past... he was a pirate! A nasty, nasty pirate, and when he was a pirate, he's called DarkVolumon, and he looked like that. Almost entirely blue, with vaguely stag-beetle horns isntead of a rhinoceros beetle, and an adorably spiky lower jaw. He's still got awkward arms, and he's got a larger speaker and a bunch of extra gatling guns jutting out of his torso. It's not the coolest looking alternate form, I admit, and loses a whole lot of charm compared to regular Ballistamon, but I do kind of appreciate that they actually made up a whole new alternate form for what's basically half an episode.
3/10.AtlurBallistamon
We're not done with Ballistamon forms, actually! So in addition to the anime, Digimon: Xros Wars also received a manga adaptation. While both manga and anime sort of start off similarly, they diverse significantly after the opening arcs, and the climax of the Xros Wars manga end up with not just Shoutmon achieving the power of Super-Evolution, but the rest of the cast, too. And that means Ballistamon gets to become a more badass rock-em-sock-em beetleborg! AlturBallistamon (borrowing the same prefix as AlturKabuterimon!) here does admittedly lose a lot of the "cute boxy toy robot" charm that oriignal Ballistamon has, but I really do love how clunky he looks as opposed to his predecessor in the robot-bug game, Blitzmon. The chunky lower arms, the spring-like upper arms, the backwards-bent legs, the chunky chest piece, the huge Hercules-beetle-like horn and random beetle legs on his shoulders... and I really love that they still allowed Ballistamon to keep his goofy face. Ultimately, I still think I like original Ballistamon a lot more, but this is a pretty neat-looking robot bug too.
6/10.JagerDorulumon
Dorulumon, meanwhile, ends up transforming into a humanoid lion-knight. And while I've been an outspoken critic about humanoid Digimon, JagerDorulumon is actually a reasonably cool robot-lion-knight, and, best of all, it's a humanoid evolution that incorporates a lot of elements of its previous stage. A gigantic lance made out of a drill? It combines Dorulumon's drill theme with knights holding lances. And I really do like how Dorulumon's knight armour looks somewhat robotic, and the resulting figure honestly looks far more pleasaing compared to the kibble-laden oriiginal Dorulumon. Pretty badass giant robot arm too. Also, considering how much Dorulumon is often portrayed as the protector of the team, it's fitting that he actually ends up becoming a knight.
3/10.ShootingStarmon
7/10.RANDOM DIGI-XROS FORMS
While the previous bunch of Digi-Xroses have been nothing but the same Power Ranger Megazord with extra accessories thrown in and out, here are some of the more insane forms from the anime, some of which only ever show up once or twice. I'm just basically going through them and going to talk about the ones that have a decent enough image. Definitely wished that actual Digimon variants would be more like this as opposed to a dozen different BlackAgumons and BlackVeemons.
Shonitamon here is a fusion of Shoutmon and Monitamon. Meanwhile, DonShoutmon is a fusion of Dondokomon and Shoutmon, the only time Dondokomon ever fuses with anyone. Shonitamon's kind of obvious but also somewhat cool, combining the Monitamons' sleek TV look with Shoutmon's own angular horns, while I really like how DonShoutmon incorporates Shoutmon's mics into its whole drumming theme.
JijiShoutmon is, of course, a fusion of Jijimon and Shoutmon. It's just an old, bearded Shoutmon, and it's pretty much a joke, but I really do love how Jijimon's paw-stick and Shoutmon's mic have fused together as well. ShouCutemon is a bit more obvious and kind of a generic fusion, but it's there. PawnShoutmon, though, is a fusion of Shoutmon and a white PawnChessmon, and I really do like the bizarre, weird, almost owl-like face that it resulted in.
What do you get when you combine stocky robot-bug Ballistamon, with sexy cat-lady belly dancer Bastemon? You get BalliBastemon, which is totally a pun on "belly". This is just so bizarrely hilarious. See for yourself.
A pair of cooler DigiXroses are these two with unofficialnames ones, the first being a fusion of Beelzebumon and Revolmon (BeelzeRevolmon? RevolBeelzebumon?) that basically turns Beelzebumon into an even more badass dual-wielding walking weapon emplacement. The second one, also without any official name, combines Starmon with Beelzebumon (StarBeelzebumon? BeelzeStarmon... oh, no wait, that second one is taken) and allows him to basically shoot meteors out of his DEATH ZA KYANON.
A fusion of Knightmon and Wisemon ends up becoming Knightmon Wise Sword Mode. Which is just Knightmon with Wisemon's scarf, but apparently Wisemon's wisdom has given the sword wings and turned its blade into an impractically fat one. Okay then!
I save the best two for last. Behold, GoleJijiKamemon, a hideous DigiXros of ChibiKamemon, Jijimon and a random Golemon. The Golemon's there to give the size and general body plan, as well as the massive, hulking arms, but seeing how ChibiKamemon has basically transformed into a hulking, giant king kong monster is pretty surprising. Most horrifying, though, has to be that aged-up face, which just looks utterly hilarious on ChibiKamemon's face!
And this... this is G-Cutemon. I really am sad that we don't get more bizarre nonsense like this from DigiXros, but just more and more forms of the Shoutmon X-whatver. Look at G-Cutemon here! Look at what mankind has wrought! It's this giant warrior with a drum for a lower body, turtle legs, cat tails, a knight's upper body wielding a pair of drumsticks, PawnChessmon and ChibiKamemon's faces as shoulder-pads, and an adorable bunny head with a knight's helm. Presumably, it drums on its crotch. This insanely bizarre abomination is a fusion of Cutemon, Dondokomon, Knightmon, PawnChessmon, ChibiKamemon, Bastemon and Jijimon... I'm not even sure where Jijimon figures into all this. I guess maybe that's why they don't let Jijimon out so much? It turns everything it touches into abominations.
Anyway, that was fun. For better or for worse, I think the whole concept of Digi-Fusion/DigiXrossing has been pretty all right. It's all but abandoned after Xros Wars ended, which is a shame since I really would like to see some more fusions, which seem to be mostly abandoned after the whole Jogress stuff from Adventure/02. Overall, though, I actually think that a good chunk of my good will towards the Xros Wars cast did come from me actually liking the anime a fair bit.
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