Digimon Reviews, Episode 48: Olympos XII and Friends

Between the end of Xros Wars: Hunters in 2012 and the release of the anniversary movie-series Tri in 2015, there isn't a lot of new Digimon material... but the franchise was still kept alive with a bunch of video games (which mostly used old designs anyway), the profile website and a digital TCG... which introduced a lot of new Digimon. The problem? They all tend to be pretty underwhelming. It's also at around this point that the long-running "Olympos XII" and "Royal Knights" subgroups ended up having their members filled.

Personally, it is at around this point that so many of these really stop feeling like they are Digimon to me. In a vacuum, I'm not averse to humanoid designs or whatever, but these things just really end up feeling like they stray so much from what Digimon originally was that they ended up looking more like generic characters from a generic fantasy RPG. Just dudes in a suit? Just a straight-up Peter Pan? Loli nuns? 

At this time in the post-Hunters, pre-Tri era, the Digimon franchise mostly survived on video games and card games. There were some great video games released around this period, although they did not do much in giving us new designs. Instead, new designs were given via online collectible card mobile games -- Crusade, Collectors and I think Jintrix as well. These were notorious and I have referred to them several times in the review series for giving us some really fanservicey artwork for any female-looking Digimon, even hiring hentai artists to draw some really cheesecake poses. I am not averse to fanservice, but there is a line here. 

And up until Tri and a bunch of other V-pets and proper games started doing more varied Digimon, I just really felt this batch ended up being very unimpressive. In the past five years or so, some of them have been used by the franchise, particularly the 2025-released Time Stranger video game that starred Aegiomon and the Olympos XII as a main character... but still, a lot of my opinions and frustrations here still stand. 

Some Digimon -- the Bancho series, RustTyranomon, Aegisdramon, Gankoomon, Rafflesimon and a couple of others have been moved around to more appropriate articles and to not clog this one up too much. Check the index out to see where they have moved!

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Aegiomon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Adult
• Type: God Man
• Attribute: Vaccine

I guess we do have to start off with Aegiomon. Collectors/Crusaders adapted a lot of Greek mythology, trying to fill out the ranks of the Olympos XII that have been slowly built up since Minervamon and Mercurymon in the Savers era... but one major complaint I have is that a lot of these guys don't feel like Digimon. They just feel like... dudes.

I mean, sure, Aegiomon is inspired by a satyr. Or the satyr god Pan. But its design is just a generic anime protagonist with goat legs and some typical anime protagonist accessories. Big gloves, red scarves... you could tell me this is a character from a Final Fantasy ripoff game, and I wouldn't bat an eye. And it's not just because it is a humanoid design, because we've had some cool humanoid Digimon in the past... but it's because they did very little to adapt it as a Digimon. 

Anyway, Aegiomon uses its flute to distract other enemies. It's secretly the amnesiac, reduced-to-Adult-level form of Jupitermon, the father of the gods. At least there's a story about Aegiomon, but it's also a very 'Mary Sue, writer's favourite' story.

The Olympos XII people wouldn't get a lot of lore for almost ten years since their debut, before finally appearing in the 2025 game Digimon Story: Time Stranger, where Aegiomon is the main character. A whole point of that game also involves Aegiomon as being easily disguised as a human, which... again, I probably wouldn't have minded that concept if the 'digimon form' is a bit more like a Digimon? Even the Frontier characters or Arukenimon/Mummymon's human disguises had something a bit more monstrous, a bit more 'Digimon' about them. And... no, just because Time Stranger is a good game and did a lot of great stories doesn't mean that I automatically like these designs. I'm happy someone is doing something about the Olympos XII, but if we're being honest? The reason I'm playing the decade-old Cyber Sleuth instead of Time Stranger at the time of doing these reviews is explicitly because I was told that Aegiomon is a mandatory party member in most of Time Stranger's story. That genuinely kills most of my interest in playing that game.

 Still 0/10.

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Aegiochusmon

Like any self-respecting fan-insert character, Aegiomon has multiple alternate forms. But where other Digimon with multiple forms (like Veemon) have the self-respect of at least trying to try and have something unique, Perfect-level Aegiochusmon just go the laziest route. There is some minimal-effort early-in-the-series Kamen Rider power-up forms going on here, but all of these guys are just a more adult body of Aegiomon with longer hair, longer horns, and they change the attached arm and colours.

Again... really still don't like them. Time Stranger is good. I know. That doesn't mean I like these designs. 

• Alternate Names: Aegiochusmon Red
• Stage: Perfect
• Type: God Man
• Attribute: Vaccine

Regular Aegiochusmon, or Aegiochusmon Red, has apparently taken the data of dragons. And while I like the restraint of not making it a WarGreymon, there's also nothing particularly draconic other than the red colour. If anything, Aegiochusmon Red looks more demonic than anything. Also, for all the description of the armour, Aegiochusmon's armour all consistently shows off his abs. The half-face thing is, I suppose, a cool design, but the abs is just a bit silly. 

I tried to say something about the official profile, but it's just a description of the various gimmicky powers that Aegiochusmon can do. I suppose it having lightning powers is a "foreshadowing" of its true form as Jupitermon, as if Jupitermon isn't the only reason to care about these satyrs .

• Alternate Names: Aegiochusmon Blue
• Stage: Perfect
• Type: God Man
• Attribute: Vaccine

Probably the form that looks the most like the 'armour' that the Aegiochusmon is meant to be, Blue form takes on data from Cyborg-species Digimon. And I suppose this is one of the two forms that I don't immediately hate, because a cyborg is meant to be half-humanoid. I like that the tiny little angel wings are changed to impractical-looking jet wings, and I like that one of the robot arms is ridiculously large. 

That is faint praise, by the way. Aegiochusmon Blue looks way, way worse than a lot of the other humanoid robots we've seen in Digimon's past and future. It's just better-looking compared to the rest of the Aegiochusmons. 

• Alternate Names: Aegiochusmon Green
• Stage: Perfect
• Type: God Man
• Attribute: Vaccine

Aegiochusmon Green is based on plants, and it's... very boring, isn't it? They just swapped out the chest-plate and mask for green, gave green tint to Aegiochusmon's satyr legs and wings, and swapped some arm accessories. Again, for a Kamen Rider show you can appreciate changing a couple of details here and there because it's meant to be physical props and suits to be placed on an actor. This is supposed to be a Digital Monster 'god man' who, according to the lazy and overwrought bio, is doing the 'pursuit of the ultimate state' and 'dramatically altering its appearance to match its surroundings'. I... no, putting some pink durians and vine-whips doesn't make you a plant, I'm sorry.

It really would be something if any of these forms actually tried to correspond to their corresponding Olympos XII god as well. I mean, that would mean I have to talk about 11 Aegiochus-es, which sounds positively nightmarish, but I wonder if that would at least be somewhat more thematic.

• Alternate Names: Aegiochusmon Holy
• Stage: Perfect
• Type: God Man
• Attribute: Vaccine

Aegoichusmon Holy gains the data from the angels, and... those are all right accessories, I suppose, little gear-shaped shields that are surrounded by glowing swords in a circle. The design is a bit messy but the angel wings (do Greek gods even have angel wings? Certainly not Zeus...) seen in the other forms have extended into a long jacket-cloak that splays out into wing-like extensions at the bottom. Sure.

• Alternate Names: Aegiochusmon Dark
• Stage: Perfect
• Type: God Man
• Attribute: Vaccine

Thankfully, not even the creatively-bereft team making Aegiochusmon could make the evil 'Dark' form look bad. This is actually kind of wicked. The (non-Greco-Roman!) angel wings are now black and larger, one of Aegiochusmon's horns is glowing red, its half-mask now looks threatening, and two sets of robotic mantis-arms extend from its roboticized 'normal' arms, and those have nice mean-looking joints and creepy red lightning. Evil Jupiter lightning! Another robot-mantis arm extends from Aegiochusmon's back, and the general body is hunched-over. I like that they took the satyr-man design and made it look threatening without just making it another Mephismon. 

Ultimately? Ultimately, I really felt like the multiple forms really made Aegiochusmon feel redundant. I feel like if hey had done a more 'extreme' regular Aegiochusmon (probably the 'Holy' one) and just made two; or tried to actually do a theme with either the other members of Olympos XII or the general Ten-Warriors classification of Digimon, then Aegiomon would be something. As it is, the whole line still feels like a bad self-insert character. 

I really do feel bad because there clearly are fans of these Olympos guys. I tried to like them, but I still can't. 

 1/10. One point solely for Dark.

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Jupitermon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: God Man
• Attribute / Subgroup: Vaccine / Olympos XII

Aegiomon's final form is Jupitermon, based on the high god of lightning and the skies, Jupiter (or Zeus in Greek). The design... sure is a golden knight-man. It takes Aegiochusmon-Holy's feather jacket and turns it into a cape, and it's got random wings on its head and legs. It sure is a knight man? The main thing that makes Jupitermon somewhat stand out as a design are the two dumbbell-like weapons that it uses as weapons and represent Jupiter's Thunderbolt.

Its profile notes that Jupitermon acts like an arbiter of justice and metes out justice, and is extremely emotionless and fair and dispassionate. So those dumbbells are probably meant to be symbolic of a judge's gavel or something. I don't think mythological Zeus/Jupiter is anything like that, but sure.

I have to confess, I genuinely don't remember what Jupitermon looks other than those dumbbells, or Wrath Mode below.

• Alternate Names: Jupitermon: Wrath Mode
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: God Man
• Attribute / Subgroup: Vaccine / Olympos XII

Wrath Mode is what happens when Jupitermon is super angry at the sins committed by some of the people it is judging. It swaps its silly dumb-bells for a more generic over-the-top broadsword, but its body design actually becomes a bit more interesting in that it's now a bunch of armour parts connected by a body that's entirely made of living lightning. The dumbbells are even now its 'wrist' and 'shoulder'. 

Jupitermon Wrath Mode's whole deal, as described by the profile, involves it judging people with its giant godly lightning blade. If the Keraunos thunderbolt hits and kills them and annihilates them, then they're guilty. If it misses, then they're innocent. Notably, the profile doesn't actually say if there's anything properly ensuring the guilt of the judgement, so I'm going to take it that Jupitermon is just a lunatic that relies on launching thunderbolts in court. 

It's all right. If Wrath Mode didn't exist, I'd probably be a lot more critical... but it really does say something that I remember Jupitermon's gimmicks and accessories more than anything else about it.

 2/10.

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Junomon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: God Man
• Attribute / Subgroup: Virus / Olympos XII

Junomon is based on Juno, or Hera, wife of Jupiter. Again, notably the Collectors/Crusaders design was plagued with really heavy attempts at fanservice for any Digimon that's remotely feminine, and that extends to the new designs they are making. Which is why Junomon dresses like... well, like that. A whole ton of over-the-top gaudy accessories in every part of its body that's not sexy. 

The profiles for the Olympos XII are especially dire, spending so much time talking about very same-y powers, but the little information we get for Junomon describes it as essentially Jupitermon's very loyal and loving enforcer in the battlefield. 'Cool', even if it's not really something that fits with mythological Juno/Hera. 

The only part of regular Junomon I find cool are those gloves, with the blades attached and pointing forwards from the ring around her elbow.

• Alternate Names: Junomon: Hysteric Mode
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: God Man
• Attribute / Subgroup: Virus / Olympos XII

Thankfully, Junomon's super mode, 'Junomon Hysteric Mode', is a bit more interesting. The 'evil personality sleeping within the innermost depths of the heart' of Junomon has awakened, and all the fancy accessories have merged together to form two giant metal serpentine arms that end with giant lances, while a helmet has covered Junomon's head. This is an adaptation of mythological Juno's jealousy, although since this Jupiter doesn't go sleeping around with mortal women, Junomon gets jealous of the enemies taking up her husband's time. Junomon Hysteric Mode sees herself as a judge, but its judgement is always guilty and she goes around murdering everyone she sees. This is a form that Jupitermon never sees, and... and I actually find it 'fun', if a little sexist? The Olympos XII bios are genuinely so bereft of anything that's not just a description of generic superpowers, that Junomon having something is a vast improvement. 

This form is a bit of a weird non-sequitur for me, but commentor Scythemantis below makes a note that Hysteric Mode Junomon is based on a uterus. The term 'hysteria' originates from the Greek word for an uterus, as the ancient physicians believed that the uterus could travel around the body and this 'wandering womb' is used to explain any unexplainable emotional symptom in women. 

That is, I suppose, a cute enough little explanation, and I like the concept of a monster that is based on the ancient crackpot theories on medicine. It's really just such a shame that it's attached to the bland Olympos XII. There is a nice bit of creativity here, and that makes me almost forgive regular Junomon for being so uninspired because it clearly is just a vessel for the weirder Hysteric Mode. 

 3/10, for Hysteric Mode.

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Vulcanusmon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: God Man
• Attribute / Subgroup: Data / Olympos XII

You know what? This is probably the only Olympos XII member that I've actually genuinely warmed up to over the years. I still find the fact that he's just a dude wearing a robot suit to be boring, but with more artwork and video game models published of this forge god, the more that the fact that Vulcanusmon is meant to resemble an octopus is evident. I appreciate that a lot. 

Based on Vulcanus (or Hephaesthus), the god of smithing and forging, Vulcanusmon is depicted as a sickly dude in an astronaut bubble-helmet... but with a eight robotic arms, each holding a different weapon or crafting tool. In front of the bubble helmet is a cannon that is placed in the right spot for how Japanese cartoons depict an octopus's siphon. 

Vulcanusmon's profile is quite boring, unfortunately, just noting that it's a craftsman that creates a bunch of other weapons in the franchise's history, like Beelzebumon's Berenjena guns. In a random reference to the Unlimited Blade Works from Fate, Vulcanusmon's weapon-equipping special ability is called 'Appropriate Works', and then he rapidly creates whatever weapon works for the situation, 'Pinpoint Weapon Works'. That's cute. You're... you're all right, Vulcanus.

 3/10. 

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Venusmon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: God Man
• Attribute / Subgroup: Vaccine / Olympos XII

While most of the Olympos XII tries to at least give their humanoid designs some attempt to look a bit more epic with armour and whatnot... not Venusmon. Venusmon is just... a sexy lady in a sexy pose, extremely cheesecake ones in the original digital card game that it debuted in. Sure. I get that Venus (or Aphrodite) is the goddess of love, sex and beauty. You can be that and not just be a lady in a sheer gown. No, holding the dove and the clam doesn't make it a Digimon. No, just because it's referencing a piece of art doesn't mean that it's 'clever', not unless you incorporate it into the design. 

It's just a sexy lady. Which, sure, that's fine, but Venusmon doesn't even get a mode-change like any of the its Olympos siblings! 

The only cool thing about Venusmon in Time Stranger is that the Venusmon there canonically has a Shellmon as its previous form, which is a reference to that famous painting of Venus being birthed from a scallop shell. They... they could have incorporated that a bit. Maybe some dove-angel wings. Maybe Venusmon could ride on a giant clam. It sure is a sexy lady, but that's not a Digimon. 

 0/10.

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Plutomon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: God Man
• Attribute / Subgroup: Virus / Olympos XII

Plutomon is based on the god of the underworld, Pluto (or Hades), and actually is connected to a previously-existing line. Its armour design has fangs all over, particularly around its big shoulderpads, which corresponds to the Perfect-level Cerberumon. Cerberumon was based on Pluto's pet guard dog in mythology, so that's great! Plutomon's design is... it's otherwise kind of generic as far as these 'dark knight' Digimon goes, although I do like that it channels its dark energies to create a giant set of spectral fangs to bite on enemies. The fangs around Plutomon's body is described to always be chattering as it hunts for its prey, which I thought was cute. 

Kudos to the design team for not making Plutomon 'the evil one' of the group, as Pluto/Hades's role as an enforcer of just neutral death is emphasized. Plutomon actually seeks out 'villains who deserve to fall into the realm of the dead', making it like the Digimon version of Ghost Rider or something. Jupitermon refuses to admit Plutomon into the Olympos XII because of Plutomon's cruelty, but at least Plutomon's profile makes it clear that it hunts only the evil ones that deserve to die! Jupitermon just lobs his sword and calls it a day! What a jerk! 

 3/10.

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Ceresmon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: God Man
• Attribute / Subgroup: Data / Olympos XII

And suddenly we go to a design that really should've been more of the Olympos XII. I'm not saying that they should all be animal gods, but Ceresmon's true form is a giant bird behemoth made entirely of a slab of forested mountain that has seemingly taken flight. Based on Ceres, Roman goddess of agriculture and fertility, it's such a fun, creative idea to have the embodiment of fertility be quite literally a sentient, moving forest, that, upon touch, creates even more forests. 

• Alternate Names: Ceresmon Medium
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: God Man
• Attribute / Subgroup: Data / Olympos XII

Sure, Ceresmon's "true" form is still a sexy lady ("Ceresmon Medium"), but it's at least somewhat integrated with a more god-like design in the normal Ceresmon, as you can see the humanoid form enshrined on the bird Ceresmon's head. Even if I do roll my eyes at the blatant, unnecessary fanservice, it's at least part of a pretty interesting concept. Ceresmon, interestingly, evolves from either Blossomon or Jyureimon, which is pretty neat. If she is just the giant mountain forest bird, I'd give her a 7/10. The fact that she has a 'true' fanservice goddess form slapped onto her docks some marks. 

 4/10.

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Bacchusmon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: God Man
• Attribute / Subgroup: Virus / Olympos XII

Oh, definitely not 'just a dude in cosplay'. Based on Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and revelry, Bacchusmon is not at all just a generic, minimal-effort fancy-fantasy-armour design. Instead, Bacchusmon is a giant pink snake-thing that ends in a giant spherical maw (that may be his chest, depending on whether that little pink blob on top is his head or just a pimple), and with two long arms that end in green gloves. And those arm-bands give the appearance of eyes, which is neat! Like, honsetly, why can't more of the Olympos XII be more like this? I don't want them all to be as bizarre as Bacchusmon, but practically the entire set are just people in cosplay, maybe with some metallic parts or extra arms. 

Bacchusmon still manages to look like a god of wine of sorts, while also looking like a Digimon. I do also love the fact that Bacchusmon really likes to party with weaker Digimon, that he's the foremost drinker of the Digital World (look at those tiny barrels in the artwork!) and apparently he's good buddies with Ceresmon because she supplies him with wine ingredients. A pretty cool dude! Best of all, Bacchusmon either evolves from Digitamamon or Piccolomon, two utterly bizarre choices to pick, but also two that sort of feel like they make sense to turn into this giant Pac-Man snake god of alcohol. He still kinda gets 3/5 because ultimately he could've been designed a lot better, but he's hilarious enough that I will definitely say that he is heads and shoulders more memorable than every single member of the Olympoos XII by a huge margin.

 6/10.

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GraceNovamon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: Galaxy
• Attribute / Subgroup: Vaccine / Olympos XII

We're going to cover some Digimon tangentially tied to the Olympos XII. GraceNovamon here is the fusion of two of the Olympos XII Digimon introduced in Digimon Story Dawn and Dusk -- the mascots Apollomon and Dianamon. I reasonably liked Apollomon and Dianamon, but this one is just a bit messy while also looking like a generic Gundam.  I have to zoom in to really understand what they're going for here. Like, jeez -- one of the most important aspects of character design is to make a recognizable silhouette. You can add as many random nonsensical details like flaming red manes and floating swords and claws from the shoulders and a galaxy cape or whatever, but the design will always feel "cluttered" and not majestic or whatever they are going for.

The lore is that GraceNovamon is so awesome that it contains a galaxy and the Big Bang within itself. Sure. It sure has images of a galaxy on its cape, and a bunch of over-the-top effects. This has nothing to do with the Olympians either, does it? 

 1/10.

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Sirenmon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Perfect
• Type: God Man
• Attribute: Data 

Released a bit later, Perfect-level Sirenmon is based on the mythological siren, and I do like how it merges the 'bird' and 'fish' parts of the different versions of the legend. It's a weird little bird thing with huge light-blue wings and little bird feet, wearing a bunch of musician apparel. Not my favourite design, and honestly it's a design that I'm completely indifferent about. It is admittedly refreshing to see something that's not a robot god or an angel, though. Sirenmon would later basically be attached to Ceresmon as her default 'Perfect' stage.

In a rather inspired move, the Ghost Game anime actually featured a maddened Sirenmon haunting karaoke systems and forcing people to listen to her songs, playing the villainous tropes associated with sirens straight in its first major anime appearance. 

  4/10.

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Titamon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: God Man
• Attribute: Virus

"One-Man Army" Titamon here is apparently the 'bad guy' that faces off against the Olympos XII, and he's, unexpectedly, the Ultimate-level evolution of good old Ogremon! ANd I like Titamon a bit more just for that factor. And the fact that he's apparently holding a gigantic fuck-off blade made from the skull of a SkullGreymon. It is basically an adaptation of all the various Greco-Roman Titans, I suppose, because it goes around 'hunting the heads' of the Olympos XII. It also attacks by summoning a giant army of the undead, which is... neat, I guess? I do find it neat that apparently he's got a fucking eyeball on his crotch. Anyway, he's... he's still kind of bland, but at least we're deviating away from the 'generic anime humanoid' into 'generic anime humanoid monster'. Which... well, it's preferable than another random dude in a funny dress, I guess, and that sword is pretty cool. Like, I've been bashing the humanoids, but this one's a decent one.

 4/10.

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Tinkermon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Child
• Type: Fairy
• Attribute: Virus

This next set is from Peter Pan. They... they didn't really try with Tinkermon here, huh? It's just a lady with fairy wings and shorts. The only bit of creativity is giving Tinkermon a bit of a 'bee' theme by giving it stingers on its boots and fingers. Some games have assigned Tinkermon as the Child level for Frontier's Fairimon. Sure.

Anyway, its profile is basically just Tinker Bell, but as a tsundere waifu. I do like that it's at least deceptively brutal, using paralytic, hallucinogenic poisons that it laces onto its, sigh, nail polish. It's since shown up in Beatbreak and New Century. While New Century has Tinkermon be the size of a regular human, Beatbreak at least keeps it as a 'monster' and has it the size of a fairy. I'll give it one point for that. 

 1/10. 

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Petermon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Adult
• Type: Fairy
• Attribute: Data

Look at that picture. Look at that picture. That's Peter Pan. That's just anime Peter Pan, with elf-ears and some RPG equipment. Is it a 'Digimon based on Peter Pan'? No, it's just Peter Pan. 

There is the creepiness of its profile, which kudos for that. Petermon is all about the 'Peter Pan syndrome', wanting to make a country just for children, and unlike the real Peter Pan is actually a bit twisted in using Tinkermon's fairy powers to revert other Digimon to child form, and spirit them away to Neverland. It also beats up Digimon mercilessly if they break their promises. Nice subversion, but still not a good Digimon. 

 0/10.

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CaptainHookmon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Perfect
• Type: Machine Man
• Attribute: Vaccine

The Perfect-level CaptainHookmon technically ties in to Tinkermon and Petermon, as weird as it is to have Peter Pan evolve to its own literary nemesis, but I think we've established how creatively bereft this batch of Digimon are. It's also technically a potential evolution to old Hookmon... but this is just a guy. He doesn't even have a hook-arm, which is probably the biggest travesty here. 

Sure, CaptainHookmon's got a revolver for a peg leg. That's funny, I guess, but it also debuted in the same batch of Digimon that also have revolvers for weird body parts, and CaptainHookmon's 'just a cool anime guy' face and body design is just so banal. I do like his ridiculous giant anchor-harpoon wrist gauntlet, and his ridiculous fencing pistol, but that would be giving points to the accessories. It's characterized as a heroic pirate guy, which is meant to 'subvert' expectations, I guess. A bad one. 

 1/10 for the peg leg. 

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Kinkakumon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Adult
• Type: Oni
• Attribute: Virus

We get a couple of Adult-levels now, based on the 'gold and silver brothers' from Journey to the West, which are often depicted as oni in some Japanese interpretation. Kinkakumon is... a barbarian with a bikini. It's another Digimon designed to be a sexy chick, and I honestly just roll my eyes. Unlike Mervamon, there isn't even an attempt at doing anything clever. There are... skull ornaments, I guess? The club has laser spikes? The characterization that the profile gives Kinkakumon is a very eye-rolling anime trope of a woman that gets way into finding a boyfriend, except she is an oni and she doesn't know her own strength and she keeps accidentally punching away her suitors... is this even Digimon? Does anyone find this interesting as a digital monster?

Kinkakumon and its twin Ginkakumon would be villains-of-the-week in a Ghost Game episode. Mercifully, we are spared the terrible trope, and Kinkakumon is given a more appropriate (if more basic) obsession of beating people in combat. 

 0/10.

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Ginkakumon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Adult
• Type: Oni
• Attribute: Virus

The cooler twin is Ginkakumon, who isn't a sexy person, but a giant demon-armour mecha. It's got an interesting head -- which we've seen on some demon Digimon before -- and a giant empty cylinder on its chest. Ginkakumon's whole deal is that it is a lot bigger than its 'big sister', and if 'big sister' pilots it, Ginkakumon finds that "being boarded is secretly a happy time". That's... that's not appropriate, that's your own sister, dude.

Ginkakumon is the calmer sibling and defends its sister from 'unscrupulous fellows'. It's also got a giant benihisago gourd that it uses to trap its opponents, turning its victims into alcohol. That's... that's cannibalism with some extra steps. While Ginkakumon doesn't do much in the Ghost Game episode, it does get to trap random humans in its gourd and they actually start dissolving into digital alcohol. 

Not bad, actually. If only it comes as a set with a less eye-rolling sibling. 

 4/10. 
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BeelStarmon

• Alternate Names: BelleStarmon, Beelstarmon (alternate spelling)
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: Demon Man
• Attribute / Subgroup: Virus / Three Musketeers

BeelStarmon here is one of the most popualr ones from this batch of releases, and it is a Rule 63'd version of Beelzebumon. And in the transformation from a dude to a lady, BeelStarmon lost the clothing from between the lower half of her boobs and her pants. It's... it's a bit eye-rolling, although I must admit that out of the fanservice characters that were introduced around this time, BeelStarmon at least looks cool. It's really hard to go wrong with a leather-clad gun-toting demon markswoman, of course, and I do like the little bullets with BeelStarmon's helmets on them. 

Apparently her guns are called Rizoma de Loto, which means "Lotus Roots", which I think plays on the pun that those 'magnum' revolvers look like a sliced lotus root. Both the guns and the Digimon are described as 'little sisters' to Beelzebumon and his guns, Berenjena. The scarf can temporarily transform into wings, which is a similar thing with Beelzebumon whose normal form is also wingless. I can appreciate that consistency.

BeelStarmon isn't considered part of the Seven Great Demon Lords, but is part of the 'Three Musketeers' group, a trio of Ultimate-level gunslinger Digimon. BeelStarmon gets along well with other gunslinging Digimon... ironically, except for its own male counterpart because Beelzebumon is 'solitary'. I do find BeelStarmon kind of cool enough, as far as these things go.

 3/10, could be 4 on a good day.  

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MagnaKidmon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: Dragon Man
• Attribute / Subgroup: Virus / Three Musketeers

Our second member of the Three Musketeers is MagnaKidmon. Who is 'just' a cowboy outlaw based on Billy the Kid... until I take a closer look and realize that MagnaKidmon has the ridiclous property of having his ENTIRE FEET BE GIANT REVOLVERS. What the shit, that's hilarious. That alone makes MagnaKidmon a bit more interesting. There are a couple of fun little extra details that I didn't notice until I saw MagnaKidmon in the Liberator manga, like the fact that its arms are also tiny revolvers and the fingertips crack open to reveal little laser barrels. 

MagnaKidmon is a dragon man cowboy, so he's also got a dragon tail that juts down from the back of its neck, and ends in... a bayonet? Eh? MagnaKidmon is noted to be buddies with a whole army of Revolmon deputies, which MagnaKidmon notes is his 'posse'. MagnaKidmon does serve as a neat enough 'final form' for the Revolmon, although there's a much cooler gun Digimon on this page as well. It is also a wandering amnesiac who doesn't like company but secretly has a heart of gold. Because of course it is, can't be a new Digimon in 2012-2015 without borrowing one of the common backstory tropes...

Anyway, he's got big guns for feet. Respect for that. There's only so much I can find 'just a cowboy' interesting, but MagnaKidmon is somewhat ok. 

 3/10.

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AvengeKidmon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: Dragon Man
• Attribute / Subgroup: Virus / Three Musketeers

Despite being a 'repaint', AvengeKidmon actually has a backstory that makes me glad I read the profile! AvengeKidmon isn't just an alternate evolution or an 'evil form', but it's birthed out of the desires of a rival of MagnaKidmon. A Digimon that MagnaKidmon defeats with the 'Minus Mind Data' attack causes their digi-cores to overload, mutate, and transform into a form that is identical to the opponent that it must defeat. And AvengeKidmon is so so so angry at this... that it... self-sabotages itself in its anger, and even forgets the goal of defeating MagnaKidmon? That backstory was cool for a bit there.

I do like the idea that there is a Digimon that goes around corrupting others to become more like it, but that's usually something given to like, infectious plants, or viruses, or vampires, or demons or something. The idea that this is some distortion of Wild West movie tropes of vendetta and vengeance, that the foes that MagnaKidmon defeats but 'lets live' somehow evolves all the way to Ultimate into AvengeKidmons, that there is probably an entire army of Inigo Montoyas hunting down every MagnaKidmon out there... that's an interesting concept, but the profile doesn't really elaborate beyond that. 

Visually I like Avenge a lot less than Magna, with the all-black colours drowning out the details. The profile's a bit more interesting, though.

 3/10.

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Gundramon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: Machine
• Attribute / Subgroup: Virus / Three Musketeers

Yes. 

This article was originally just all the 'dudes in cosplay' Digimon, but Gundramon here is actually a member of BeelStarmon and MagnaKidmon's exclusive little Three Musketeers club. 

And how can you not invite Gundramon to the gun club? This is 'Barrel Dragon' from Yu-Gi-Oh taken up to eleven. It has two massive revolvers for hands. That's all right. It's got another gun on its forhead, and guns for head-horns. It's got massive revolvers on its shoulders. It's got more guns jutting outwards instead of dragon wings. Its tail is a big gun. I love that it's all magnum revolvers, unabashedly because revolvers are cool. I love its description. "The burning smell of cartridges permeates through the full metal comprising its body. It is a bitter, hardboiled Digimon." Yeah, Gundramon, you tell them! You tell them how badass you are with your like twenty guns!

I like this guy. It's compared in its profile to Mugendramon, but where Mugendramon is a fusion of all the cyborg Digimon, Gundramon is a fusion of... all the guns! I love this guy. It ridiculous in all the best ways.

 9/10.

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Sanzomon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Perfect
• Type: Monk
• Attribute: Vaccine

Tying in with the other Journey to the West characters introduced and mostly appearing in Xros Wars: Hunters, we've got the Buddhist monk Tang Sanzang (Sanzo in Japanese) who teaches and leads the monkey spirit Sun Wukong (represented by Gokuwmon), the pig spirit Zhu Bajie (ChoHakkaimon) and the river spirit Sha Wujing (Sagomon or Shawujinmon).

While Gokuwmon and Shawujinmon are relatively interesting 'monsterified' versions of their mythological counterparts and ChoHakkaimon at least tries to be creative, Sanzomon is just a Rule 63'd version of a mythological character that is still worshipped by some cultures and religions. Oh, and Sanzomon of course has to show cleavage. Despite being based on a religious monk. 

It's just... it's just bad. No. 

 0/10.

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Shakamon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: Tathagata
• Attribute / Subgroup: Vaccine / Tentei Hachibushu

Shakamon is based on Buddha, borrowing its name from the Japanese reading of one of the titles of the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama. This one is at least more respectful from Sanzomon, depicting a figure sitting cross-legged sitting on top of a blazing orb, surrounded by smaller orbs and having a ring behind it. 

Shakamon is described by its bio to be the being closest to the 'Host Computer', and is associated with the Eastern Digital World (which would later be explored in future installments) and is a being that is both full of love but not above giving ordeals to the digital world to have them grow. Just like the deity it is based on and the famous story of Sun Wukong's confrontation with it, attempting to fight Shakamon will only have you find out that you're only dancing on its palm. 

I don't like the idea of just randomly taking mythological gods of religions that people are still actively worshipping right now and turning them into monsters. Shakamon, at least, does so with some modicum of respect, but I can't say I'm a fan of it. 

 1/10.

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Sistermon

• Alternate Names: Sistermon Blanc, Sistermon Blanc (Awake)
• Stage: Child
• Type: Puppet
• Attribute: Vaccine

Ugh. We've got loli nuns.

The Sistermon twins debuted in the Collectors mobile TCG and made me go "what the fuck" when I was going through a lot of the post-Xros-Wars designs.

I have mellowed out on some of the more eye-rolling designs in this part of Digimon's history, but the Sistermons still make me go "what the fuck."

• Alternate Names: Sistermon Noir / Sistermon Noir (Awake)
• Stage: Adult
• Type: Puppet
• Attribute: Data

They are designed back then to tie to the role of Gankoomon mentoring Hackmon to be a Royal Knight, which is just kind of bad all around. Did you need two of them? And did they really just need to be... people? Just regular people, with no real justification or explanation? And at least some of the more humanoid Digimon had some, ever so slight monstrous features here and there. The Sistermons are just people. Parade them next to other humans in the franchise, especially those with more outrageous designs in the video games, and the Sistermons don't feel like Digimon at all. There's no concept here beyond "girl but nun". Even the other 'fanservice' Digimon had something to work with. And at least Lilithmon and Venusmon being sexy had some mythological basis.

Nuns are the exact opposite, and having the Sistermons have a specific "super mode" eith their outfits explicitly exploding in the cleavage section is dumb.

I don't like to sling around fanservice as if it's always a bad thing, but when it feels like it's someone's fetish -- and the Collectors/Crusaders artwork were definitely bad -- it is really eye-rolling. 

• Alternate Names: Sistermon Ciel / Sistermon Ciel (Awake)
• Stage: Adult
• Type: Puppet
• Attribute: Data

Adding to this stupidity, when the Sistermons made a major appearance in a video game (Hacker's Memory?) apparently the sight of a nun with a gun offended the censors that Sistermon Noir is turned into Sistermon Ciel outside of Japan, who wields a katana. Until now, Noir is still persona-non-grata and edited out of all artwork outside of Japan.

Sistermon Ciel would make its debut in Ghost Game, having nothing to do with its bio and video game profiles as a complete and unhinged lunatic that has an obsession with... speed? And this isn't me being glib because I don't like the design, but Sistermon Ciel terrorizes highways and causes accidents with its forced races (homagic the classic yokai march, the hyakki yagyo) where a lot of poor, hapless other Digimon are forced into running because Sistermon Ciel made a deal with a MetalFantomon that would reap their souls if they don't participate. A lunatic! 

It's not the fetish thing, but the nun thing that got them. Sure. I just... i just find this monumentally stupid. I had slung the '0/10' a couple of times, but this time I mean it more than every other time I did it. If there was a single Digimon I would remove, it would be this one.

 0/10. Negative all the points.

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Jeez, this... this was pretty tiring to write, if we're being honest. I don't think there's any batch of Digimon I particularly dislike more than these. All of them are just so damn boring and uninspired, and even the Banchos are neat mostly just for the sheer ridiculousness of their concept. I didn't even feel this tired writing about the X-Antibody nonsense!