The enemy is still Bagramon and we've covered all of his forms, but the seven generals are all-new Digimon, and we do get a bunch of new characters among the bad guys' army. the Seven 'Big Death Stars' or 'Seven Generals'.
This originally had a bunch of one-off 'Darkness Modes' for a lot of the generals that... just weren't adding anything. It's cute for the DigiXros gimmick, but ultimately were just big glowing swords and extra wings. With the Reference Book not acknowledging them and there not really being good artwork, I've removed Dorbickmon, NeoVamdemon and Gravimon's 'darkness modes'.
I also randomly decide to move the Bancho Digimon here. They have nothing to do with Xros Wars, but they were released around this time, so they can hang out with the generals!
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Dorbickmon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Ultimate
- Type: Dragon Man
- Attribute: Virus
6/10.Zamielmon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Perfect
- Type: Demon Man
- Attribute: Data
Zamielmon is the next member of the Big Death Stars, borrowing his name from a fictional hunter from the German opera Der Freischutz. And while I could really dismiss him as "oh, another humanoid monster", Zamielmon does have a couple of things going on for him that makes him a bit more memorable. The wacky elf getup, his weird tail that ends in an arm, and his lanky, robotic arms with crossbows attached are all fun features. Also a fan of his face, which looks pretty goblin-y like a lot of older Digimon.
Zamielmon is the general of the Wood Spirit Army, leading fairy and plant type Digimon into battle, and this cheeky little fucker definitely looks like a particularly mean-spirited ouphe or fair folk that has dressed up in all sorts of armour. He's also kind of unremarkable in the anime, I think, but he definitely looks more impressive than I thought he would be. Interestingly, despite most of the Big Death-Stars being assigned Ultimate levels when the Digimon Reference Book gave levels to all the Xros Wars Digimon, Zamielmon is one of the few to be a 'mere' Perfect, alongside Splashmon and Gravimon. So the less brutish fighters, then?
4/10.
And then, holy shit, one of the Big Death Stars is a variation of Vamdemon, and NeoVamdemon actually looks pretty damn cool! Leading the Moonlight army and, of course, all the spooky undead and zombie Digimon, NeoVadmdemon's design is perhaps a bit too cluttered, but I do really love just how thin his abdomen and upper arms are, and how gangly his arms are. He's more like a weird hybrid of Vamdemon and Devimon as opposed to just being a Vamdemon variant, which I definitely appreciate. Also like the weird, downwards-pointing wings that double as a weird cape, too. NeoVamdemon also has a pretty memorable two-parter in the anime, unlike his two predecessors. I do like the little description in his bio that NeoVamdemon is an utterly emotionless being (definitely not true for the NeoVamdemon in the show, but I digress) that he's not like most demon or undead Digimon. He doesn't relish in slaughter or murder, only finding it something fulfilling that he just feels obligated to do.
And where the original Vamdemon summons a whole lot of vampire bats, NeoVamdemon summons a bunch of shadowy... whale-like things with no eyes and just a huge fang full of teeth. Apparently these are called "Evilvils", which is just such a dumb-sounding name. Anyway, I do like NeoVamdemon a fair bit. A pretty neat goth boy.
8/10.
Olegmon is the token good teammate of the generals, in that he's... he's not even really evil, but definitely not a good guy. Olegmon is like this viking leader of a crew of pirates, leading the Gold-Thief Army, and he just apparently sails around the sea with his crew and collects treasure. And he's in the employ of the Bagra Army despite being a pretty fun, chill dude because, uh... reasons. I'm not sure. But apparently we get an unexpected connection with one of our main characters, Ballistamon, and apparently Ballistamon used to be a member of his crew, or something. He still opposes our heroes, but not in an evil way, and the way Olegmon was eventually defeated was a pretty fun, manly "well, shucks, I lose" bit. It's kinda nice, and I do like the little detail from the profile that Olegmon's obsession with gold comes from the fact that he apparently eats gold. Design-wise he's honestly kind of bland, just being a cyborg Viking plated with gold, but I do like how he fights -- it's not with his axes, but by unleashing two genie-like entities from his shoulders, Jormungandr and Surtr, both references to Nordic mythology monsters. Anyway, Olegmon's kinda cool.
The final member of the Big Death Stars we face off is Gravimon, the general of gravity and leader of the Earth-God Army, and I'm a huge fan of him! From his voice, to his bizarre appearance... he's got these wacky, twisted, fucked-up limbs that look more like weird paper cut-outs that just taper off, that bizarre smoky cloud hair, and lots of wire tendrils jutting out of his back. Gravimon is a design that I feel was neat but ultimately unimpressive until I actually see him in the anime, and especially from the side. It's a pretty creepy look, honestly, and the fact that Gravimon can apparently manipulate gravity could probably give a couple dozen thematic reasons as to why his limbs look pretty fucked-up. Those papery limbs look quite distinctive, and it's even shown to wrap around Gravimon's slender, humanoid body like a cocoon or a straitjacket. Cool!
4/10.
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NeoVamdemon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Ultimate
- Type: Undead
- Attribute: Virus
And then, holy shit, one of the Big Death Stars is a variation of Vamdemon, and NeoVamdemon actually looks pretty damn cool! Leading the Moonlight army and, of course, all the spooky undead and zombie Digimon, NeoVadmdemon's design is perhaps a bit too cluttered, but I do really love just how thin his abdomen and upper arms are, and how gangly his arms are. He's more like a weird hybrid of Vamdemon and Devimon as opposed to just being a Vamdemon variant, which I definitely appreciate. Also like the weird, downwards-pointing wings that double as a weird cape, too. NeoVamdemon also has a pretty memorable two-parter in the anime, unlike his two predecessors. I do like the little description in his bio that NeoVamdemon is an utterly emotionless being (definitely not true for the NeoVamdemon in the show, but I digress) that he's not like most demon or undead Digimon. He doesn't relish in slaughter or murder, only finding it something fulfilling that he just feels obligated to do.
And where the original Vamdemon summons a whole lot of vampire bats, NeoVamdemon summons a bunch of shadowy... whale-like things with no eyes and just a huge fang full of teeth. Apparently these are called "Evilvils", which is just such a dumb-sounding name. Anyway, I do like NeoVamdemon a fair bit. A pretty neat goth boy.
8/10._________________________________________________________
Splashmon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Perfect
- Type: Aquatic Beast Man
- Attribute: Virus
Splashmon here might otherwise be another in a generic "oh, he looks like a cool MegaMan boss", if not for the utter style he has in the anime, where he relies more on subterfuge and pretending to be a human ally to our heroes. The fact that he has two forms -- a human villain with liquid for hair, and a monstrous, huge-fanged monster tiger form -- is also pretty damn cool. Splashmon's whole deal is that he can turn into liquid, which explains his malleable form, and interestingly, his "Water Tiger Army" is apparently comprised mostly of cyborg and machine Digimon. Splashmon is also someone that's vain and puts a lot of stock in maintaining his beauty.
- Alternate Names: Splashmon: Darkness Mode; Splashmon (True)
- Stage: Perfect
- Type: Aquatic Beast Man
- Attribute: Virus
In the anime, the way that he assumes his monstrous beastly tiger form (alternately called "True" or "Darkness Mode") is by unzipping all of those zippers found on his humanoid form's white suit, which is a fun little gimmick! Of course, Splashmon hates his monster form because it's ugly, but come on, Splashmon, the fact that you're a giant snarly tiger makes you stand out so much more than the other Big Death-Stars! Easily one of the more memorable Death Generals for me from the anime, due to his personality and fun voice.
Splashmon actually shows up, again using his very cool watery-form, in Adventure 2020 as one of Devimon's minions!
7/10. (+2 points for personality and gimmick)
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7/10. (+2 points for personality and gimmick)_________________________________________________________
Olegmon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Ultimate
- Type: Marine Beast
- Attribute: Vaccine
Olegmon is the token good teammate of the generals, in that he's... he's not even really evil, but definitely not a good guy. Olegmon is like this viking leader of a crew of pirates, leading the Gold-Thief Army, and he just apparently sails around the sea with his crew and collects treasure. And he's in the employ of the Bagra Army despite being a pretty fun, chill dude because, uh... reasons. I'm not sure. But apparently we get an unexpected connection with one of our main characters, Ballistamon, and apparently Ballistamon used to be a member of his crew, or something. He still opposes our heroes, but not in an evil way, and the way Olegmon was eventually defeated was a pretty fun, manly "well, shucks, I lose" bit. It's kinda nice, and I do like the little detail from the profile that Olegmon's obsession with gold comes from the fact that he apparently eats gold. Design-wise he's honestly kind of bland, just being a cyborg Viking plated with gold, but I do like how he fights -- it's not with his axes, but by unleashing two genie-like entities from his shoulders, Jormungandr and Surtr, both references to Nordic mythology monsters. Anyway, Olegmon's kinda cool.
The Adventure 2020 team really likes the generals, and has Olegmon reappear basically as a big, rowdy but secretly having a heart-of-gold pirate in a viking-themed episode battling against Vikemon!
6/10. +1 for personality
The actual 'token good teammate', it seems, is Apollomon, who actually opposes Bagramon! But he has an eeeevil split personality, called Apollomon Whispered. Which is a recolour of the regular Apollomon. It is the most relevant Apollomon has been, so there's something in that. Design-wise it's honestly kinda bland. I don't really have much to say about him, honestly. I'm reviewing him as a variant of Apollomon, he doesn't rank particularly high for me.
3/10.
6/10. +1 for personality
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Apollomon: Whispered
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Ultimate
- Type: God Man
- Attribute: Virus
3/10._________________________________________________________
Gravimon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Perfect
- Type: Species Unknown
- Attribute: Virus
The final member of the Big Death Stars we face off is Gravimon, the general of gravity and leader of the Earth-God Army, and I'm a huge fan of him! From his voice, to his bizarre appearance... he's got these wacky, twisted, fucked-up limbs that look more like weird paper cut-outs that just taper off, that bizarre smoky cloud hair, and lots of wire tendrils jutting out of his back. Gravimon is a design that I feel was neat but ultimately unimpressive until I actually see him in the anime, and especially from the side. It's a pretty creepy look, honestly, and the fact that Gravimon can apparently manipulate gravity could probably give a couple dozen thematic reasons as to why his limbs look pretty fucked-up. Those papery limbs look quite distinctive, and it's even shown to wrap around Gravimon's slender, humanoid body like a cocoon or a straitjacket. Cool!
Gravimon can even detonate himself like an actual black hole, causing a big bang or something... although he doesn't want to do this because he's not sure how long it will take for him to regenerate. Overall, a pretty neat-looking villain!
Rather interestingly, Gravimon's Adventure 2020 counterpart actually is a heroic figure, curling up and being grouchy until our heroes' efforts ends up causing him to assist in a reconstruction effort.
7/10.
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Of course, when you have a bunch of enemies together in a series all about fusion, it's sort of obligated to fuse them together. So at one point during the climax, the Big Death Stars (or their corpses, or something like that) are fused together into GrandGeneramon, which is like... it's kinda like Chimeramon, with multiple arms belonging to different generals, and the Dorbickmon/Apollomon combination forming the central torso jutting out of Splashmon's entire body as everything below the stomach. It's not the most creative look since it's basically just everything mashed together, but I do appreciate just how much of an abomination this looks like. Not my favourite design, but a neat little enemy to face as part of the story.
5/10.
Back when BanchoLeomon was released, its profile notes that it's part of the BAN-TYO (sic) group, but it's not until this period that we've ever seen any other member out of that group. They're all Ultimate-level, and we're going to open up with BanchoGolemon. Who... actually has very little, design-wise, with the original Golemon beyond being vaguely associated with rocks. It's kind of just another generic humanoid made up of rocks, although I really do like the giant drill that his left arm has transformed into, as well as the little golem buddies that fly around it. BanchoGolemon is apparently a huge, huge dick, and will only help out his own buddies. He's honestly kind of boring, though, and in my opinion doesn't even deliver on the whole 'delinquent' theme particularly well. If you didn't show me his name, I wouldn't have guessed that he's even a Golemon.
4/10.
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A bit more like it! Lilimon isn't my favourite design, but going one step further and turning this cheery plant fairy into a delinquent schoolgirl isn't particularly creative. The simple addition of a spiked, thorny yo-yo that she weaponizes, though? That goes a long way into making BanchoLilimon a lot more charming. It's even got a funny little Togemon face, a neat little nod to Lilimon's most commonly-depicted pre-evolution! While her design is surprisingly a bit more 'real-world' inspired than I'd like, the Banchos are particularly based on a subset of Japanese culture anyway, and I do enjoy the fact that of all the possible Digimon that they picked to be delinquents, happy-go-lucky plant fairy Lilimon was one of the five they chose. Her profile is also pretty hilarious, describing what's essentially an emo punk teen, except this emo punk teen is an Ultimate-level Digimon.
6/10.
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Heyyy it's Mamemon! With two giant... cutlass-club things (which, like BanchoLilimon, ends in Mamemon's goofy :3 face), and I do find it hilarious that the Jotaro Kujo cloak is basically stapled onto the back of Mamemon's body. A big fan of those random chains and smaller flying ball-heads, too. It's kind of a fun little variant, honestly. The Banchos aren't particularly my cup of tea, but I do find BanchoMamemon to be kind of hilarious. Not much to say here, though I tend to not mind the Bancho dudes as much as everyone else on this page. Might as well end this on a somewhat positive note, right?
7/10._________________________________________________________
GrandGeneramon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Ultimate (presumably, no Reference Book profile yet)
- Type: Unique
- Attribute: ???
Of course, when you have a bunch of enemies together in a series all about fusion, it's sort of obligated to fuse them together. So at one point during the climax, the Big Death Stars (or their corpses, or something like that) are fused together into GrandGeneramon, which is like... it's kinda like Chimeramon, with multiple arms belonging to different generals, and the Dorbickmon/Apollomon combination forming the central torso jutting out of Splashmon's entire body as everything below the stomach. It's not the most creative look since it's basically just everything mashed together, but I do appreciate just how much of an abomination this looks like. Not my favourite design, but a neat little enemy to face as part of the story.
5/10._________________________________________________________
BanchoGolemon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Ultimate
- Type: Mineral
- Attribute / Subgroup: Virus / Ban-TYO
We're going to talk a bit about some of the Digimon released post-Xros-Wars in the card games and assorted material, just because this article isn't quite that long and we can talk a bit about these four punks!
4/10._________________________________________________________
BanchoLilimon
- Alternate Names: BanchoLillymon
- Stage: Ultimate
- Type: Fairy
- Attribute / Subgroup: Data / Ban-TYO
6/10._________________________________________________________
BanchoMamemon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Ultimate
- Type: Mutation
- Attribute / Subgroup: Data / Ban-TYO
Heyyy it's Mamemon! With two giant... cutlass-club things (which, like BanchoLilimon, ends in Mamemon's goofy :3 face), and I do find it hilarious that the Jotaro Kujo cloak is basically stapled onto the back of Mamemon's body. A big fan of those random chains and smaller flying ball-heads, too. It's kind of a fun little variant, honestly. The Banchos aren't particularly my cup of tea, but I do find BanchoMamemon to be kind of hilarious. Not much to say here, though I tend to not mind the Bancho dudes as much as everyone else on this page. Might as well end this on a somewhat positive note, right?
BanchoMamemon does show up, rather hilariously, as a 'bancho' delinquent dropout of Babamon's school in Adventure: 2020, and goes through a typical 'delinquent actually respects the kindness of the teachers in the school' storyline. BanchoMamemon's funky chain-manipulation and tricked-out bats are in full display there, which I thought was quite fun!
6/10.
The last one here is BanchoStingmon, who is a red-coloured Stingmon with a delinquent cloak. And... and this is where the change in the Digimon aesthetic really ends up looking awesome, because the stylized, skinnier bug legs given to BanchoStingmon looks so much better than the action figure legs that the original Stingmon has. Plus, the fact that BanchoStingmon's weapons have became these cool-looking golden gauntlet with a single stabby claw? Stingmon was already kind of punk-looking, and apparently all you need to do is to give him a delinquent cape. BanchoStingmon, apparently also has a bunch of little stinger-bug buddies, so I wonder why it is BanchoLeomon and BanchoLilimon don't have their own flying lion heads or plant fairies to help them out. Anyway... the Banchos aren't particularly creative, but they ooze some amount of charm, at least.
7/10.
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6/10._________________________________________________________
BanchoStingmon
- Alternate Names: N/A
- Stage: Ultimate
- Type: Insect
- Attribute / Subgroup: Free / Ban-TYO
7/10._________________________________________________________
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