Digimon Reviews, Episode 62: Shoemon and Friends

We now cover more Digimon from the Liberator comic, particularly starring the secondary protagonist's partner, Shoemon! Some really fun ones in this one, and there are a couple that really surprised me on how much I ended up liking them. 

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Shoemon

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

Another one that shows up in Liberator, Shoemon is an adorable little puppet-style Digimon similar to many others in the past that I really like! Most recently, we've got Junkmon as another 'modern' take on the puppet Digimon. But Shoemon is perhaps one of the few that actually really embodies the 'sewing' aspects of these puppets. 

The 'mouse' part of Shoemon has a mismatched set of ears, with a chunk of its head being transplanted and sewn together from a different plushie, and one of its eyes being a button. Shoemon doesn't care, it is just happy to exist and to be holding that giant needle! The shoe itself has a cute zipper-mouth for its sole, eyes on either clasps, and huge bandage to show that it's also not a 'mint' shoe. 

Shoemon is noted to be a bit of a neat freak, not wanting to walk in sandy or muddy roads. Which makes sense. It is a shoe, and dirty shoes are annoying to clean! The soles of Shoemon allows it to move up and down walls and pillars. Shoemon also spits out sewing needles from its mouth (the shoe mouth, or the mouse mouth?) and stitches the enemy in place, Gulliver's Travels style. It can also leap up and launch the sole (lower jaw?) down at the enemy. Man, these new Digimon are fun! I like this one. When I saw the name of the Digimon I mentally groaned, but it's actually a surprisingly adorable one! 

 7/10.

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Shoeshoemon

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

Not the most impressed with Adult-level Shoeshoemon, which feels a bit too mundane. It's just a squirrel with huge chunky roller blades, but the fact that the shoes are regular shoes instead of a monster shoe robs Shoeshoemon of a lot of its personality. There are some nice details like the safety pin earring, and having mismatched puppet parts for its arms and tail, but I'm just not feeling it. Also, every other member of the Shoemon line references a classic fairy tale (Shoemon: Elves and the Shoemaker; Chaperomon: Little Red Riding Hood; Cendrillmon: Cinderella; Nyabootmon: Puss in Boots) but I can't think of any squirrel-on-roller-blades fairy tale. So that's another point of it really feeling out of place. 

The gimmick of Shoeshoemon is that it has cheek pouches that can expand and carry things, but since it's also a puppet, it can also carry things in its empty plush body. I don't know. Looking at Shoemon, I expected its assigned evolution to be either cuter or weirder, but Shoeshoemon is just not my thing. 

 3/10.

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Chaperomon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Perfect
• Type: Puppet
• Attribute: Virus
  

Thankfully, its Perfect-level fixes a lot of what I didn't like in that it brings back a lot of the whimsiness of Shoemon. Chaperomon is a pastiche of Little Red Riding Hood, sure, but the main humanoid body is actually a puppet/doll, as you can see from its jointed fingers. Most adorably, its shoes are back to having faces, being stitched up adorable oversized slippers with the Big Bad Wolf's head and tongues sticking out. The best part of Chaperomon's design has to be that googly-eyed Mimic-style picnic basket with a little hand waving and a fanged mouth grinning. That basket is filled with sentient gummy bears. Or 'Mini Monzaemon Gummies'. 

....actually, is Chaperomon holding a molotov cocktail? Holy crap, that's awesome. 

Yeah, the profile explicitly states 'Apple For You' as Chaperomon's special move, where it launches an apple cider based Molotov cocktail. Haha! Other things that Chaperomon can do? It's got knives stocked on its feet, and it has a 'magnificent, ceaseless volley from the gatling gun in its basket'. I'm sorry, what?

Chaperomon's a cutie, but it is also based a bit on a more 'twisted' version of fairy tails without needlessly grimdarkifying it. Chaperomon is noted to have its joints bend in different directions since it's a puppet. It has a particular compulsion to hunt down Fangmon, and will ignore everything else to take down Fangmons... because Fangmon explicitly has 'Big Bad Wolf data' in it. Which, by the way, is fully canon in its profile. Fangmon evolved with fairy tale data! 

I was almost ready to dismiss this design, but the more I look at it, the more I read the profile, the more I like Pinocchimon's less-psycho little sister! I didn't expect to really like any member of Shoemon's evolutoins as much as this, but this creepy whimsy puppet is basically ticking all  the boxes of being creepy-cute. 

 8/10.

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Cendrillmon

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

Shoemon's original Ultimate takes a different approach with fairy tails, being Cendrillmon, based on the French reading of Cinderella (Cendrillon). Cendrillmon's just an ice lady with a fancy leotard and dress, and one of those Digimon-style masks that covers the eyes. The shoes part, actually, fits this myth as well since Cinderella famously lost her glass shoe... only here, Cendrillmon's shoes have morphed into thigh-high ice blade-stockings. That's a twist all right!

Cendrillmon lives in volcanic regions instead of the expected icy ones, and holds 'balls' to look for its 'prince'. However, those balls are fighting tournaments. All right. If it finds its candidates unworthy, it uses a clock (a gigantic ice grandfather clock it lugs around as a bazooka!) to unleash a laser beam that eradicates these failures, a fun twist on the original fairy tale. 

But the best part of Cendrillmon's design isn't herself, but her little army of minions. Puppet minions, actually fitting with Shoemon's theme! Cendrillmon's got an army of little chibi rat-people that resemble the puppet Tyutyumon (Chuuchuumon), and flying puppet birds that drop bombs, maybe patterned after Mailbirdramon? Whatever the case, Cendrillmon comes with her own army of servitors, and being puppets, they are willing to jump into pumpkin carriage shaped bombs and blow themselves up as 'Noble Familiars'. This, by the way? This is a demonstration of "token" mechanics in a TCG, which is quite amazing.

When not functioning as their mistress's minions, they go around dropping glass slippers to strong Digimon to look for potential 'prince' candidates. Those glass slippers, by the way, instantly teleport strong candidates to Cendrillmon's castle, Dragon Ball tournament style. 

'Anime lady searching for a groom' is a bit of a tired trope, but combining it with everything else around Cendrillmon does make this a surprisingly interesting Digimon. On visual first impressions alone, I most certainly didn't expect me to be rating Cendrillmon and Chaperomon higher than the bee, so kudos on those that wrote the profiles for these two! 

 8/10.

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Nyabootmon

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

The 'super' Ultimate that Shoemon unlocks later on is Nyabootmon here. Nyabootmon is a riff on 'Puss in Boots', which makes sense for a combination of fairy tales and shoes... but rather disappointingly Nybootmon is just a cat with huge, chunky, and non-sentient shoes. The official profile describes it as a 'puppet', but other than some bandages around its arm, there really isn't anything puppet-like about it; nothing in its profile noting that it's a puppet. It sure has Tailmon's ears. 

Its personality is what you'd expect from a Puss in Boots parody. It is over-the-top and hammy, which can be overbearing...  but ultimately is a champion of justice. I don't have much of an opinion on this, if Nyabootmon ever shows up in an anime and get a voice actor I might be more amenable to it, but otherwise it sure is a puss in boots. I never give high points if the adaptation is straightforward without trying to make it feel like a Digimon. 

 3/10.

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Landramon

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

So one of the main characters would use a Sunarizamon as her partner. Back when I reviewed it for the first time, I noted how Sunarizamon had a bunch of potential Adult-level Digimon that it seemed to evolve to, including Baboongamon, Golemon and Tortomon... but Liberator gave a full line designed to play around Sunarizamon's sandy monster vibe. And Landramon, after more than two decades, finally fills up the trio of Seadramon, Airdramon and Landramon! It's not quite the same, sure, but Landramon even has a mask and a somewhat serpentine body if you squint. 

Landramon is quite cute. It's just a giant pile of sand, with its anatomy being made of a massive mound with the Sunarizamon helmet stuck and forming the upper jaw; and a tail made up of sand emerging behind it. Landramon's got a bunch of drill-spikes both running down its spine and also making up its fingers. I really do like the artwork of that yawning sand mouth!

The official profile describes Landramon as commanding small packs of Sunarizamon, using vibrations transmitted through sand. It despises water since it weakens its sandy body, and creates quicksand with its massive form. Pretty cool! 

 8/10.

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Proganomon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Perfect
• Type: Mineral
• Attribute: Virus

All those drills are carried over to the new Perfect-level Proganomon, which drops everything to do with sand and is... a giant turtle kaiju. Okay? It's a very cool looking beastie, and I particularly love its face with the threatening metal underbite and fangs. Proganomon's shell is massive and riddled with giant drills, and even its tail is a flexible drill. Proganomon's arms also end in massive drill-fingers.

Proganomon goes through bedrocks in desert regions, accidentally causing earthquakes as it moves through the ground. Proganomons can also retract their body into the shell, and expel sand like a massive exhaust to propel itself. There's not really a whole ton to say other than that since its profile is pretty bare, but I really appreciate the monstrousness of this desert kaiju. And while it's the only level in Liberator's Sunarizamon line that breaks the 'sand creature' theme, it's still a monster that explicitly lives in the desert. Can't fault it for that.

 8/10.

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Pyramidimon

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

Oh wow, okay,  that is cool. Pyramidimon is a giant hulking 'sand elemental' that emerges waist-first from an upturned pyramid, and everything else around its body features either pyramids, ruins, or Egyptian-style regalia. I love the broken chains and the ruin pillars giving the vibe of chains around its arms, and I really like the hulking proportions and golden mask. 

And yes, the jokes do write themselves. This is a trading card game from a Japanese series, so the Yu-Gi-Oh references is inevitable... but honestly, even if the concept is new, Pyramidimon's silhouette does resemble the hunched-over, partly-chained look of Exodia, doesn't it? Normally I'd call it a coincidence, but since Pyramidimon seems to be designed specifically for the card game and tie-in fiction... 

Separate from all the card game stuff, Pyramidimon is described as a monster always surrounded by a sandstorm and keeps ordinary Digimon away with the weather itself. Pyramidimon actually would sleep and camouflage itself as a pyramid, making it somewhat similar to a hermit crab... only instead of a crab, it's a gigantic sand monster. It has gained high intelligence and power due to absorbing the ancient data stored within ruins.

A very cool design, and honestly feels quite epic in general. In addition to their starring role in Liberator as the partner of one of the characters, Close, the Sunarizamon line up to Pyramidmon also makes an appearance in the Beatbreak anime as a partner Digimon. Not bad for our little sandy lizard friend!

 9/10.

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Magneticdramon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: Rock Dragon
• Attribute: Virus

Mmm, not the biggest fan of Sunarizamon's alternate Ultimate. I get the idea that it goes on a different vibe of 'mineral' Digimon by highlighting magnetic ores, and in the manga there's something about the bonds between people being as strong as magnets. That's neat and all. I like the horseshoe magnet tail, and the different positive and negative poles on Magneticdramon's arm-pillars, as well as those two coiling half-dragon heads. I just... don't really feel this thing? It looks impressive, sure, a mass of electrically-charred sand/rock with armours of black rock around it. I just think I find Pyramidimon a lot cooler, I guess? Which has been most of my reactions towards a vast majority of the alternate Ultimates. They're not bad designs in and of their own, but I just like them a bit less than the 'default'. 

Magneticdramon, as noted, doesn't really have a proper body but is just a mass of electrical energy holding together a bunch of other metal. Its presence wreaks havoc with the Digital World and causes volcanic and seismic activity. I do like that its abilities involve sci-fi magnetic abilities, like using its magnetic abilities to pull enemies closer; or to accelerate and launch the ores on its body like a railgun; or to create a massive magnetic field to render enemies unconscious by messing with their heart impulses digicore. 

It's still a cool giant magnetic dragon, but I think Liberators and New Century has been spoiling me with so many good designs!

 7/10.

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PolarBearmon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Perfect
• Type: Ice-Snow
• Attribute: Vaccine

I'm sorry, Yukidarumon gets a new Perfect? That's unexpected! I've always thought that Yukidarumon looked like a teddy-bear snowman, and PolarBearmon essentially takes Yukidarumon's basic design and gives it a bunch of ski outfits. I like that the actual ski-sleds and those ski-poles are made out of PolarBearmon's own ice-elemental powers. And just to make it not just a cartoon animal in clothes, PolarBearmon's got a backpack with two big honking cannons. As you do, when you go skiing. PolarBearmon is actually a bit of a menace, zipping into the dens of Mojyamon and Hyogamon and causing trouble for them. 

One thing that I don't particularly like about PolarBearmon is that I wished it didn't have a mouth, to make the resemblance to Yukidarumon a bit more obvious, but that face does make it look as an equally natural-looking Perfect form for Chackmon (or Kumamon for Frontier dub lovers), doesn't it? This isn't the usual type of design that I like, but I do appreciate how goofy it looks. 

 6/10, bonus one point because I like Yukidarumon. 

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Skadimon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: Ice-Snow
• Attribute: Vaccine

PolarBearmon's Ultimate form is Skadimon, who is based on the Nordic goddess of ice and winter (and, yes, skiing) in Nordic myths, but it's not just a straight-up 'let's draw this mythological figure in Digimon style'. No, Skadimon is a goofy snowman-jester-king figure, with an adorable bubble head and giant, exaggerated ski-blades on his shoes. That crystal bubble head is easily my favourite feature, because what seems from the distance to be a pair of glasses and a Mr. Monopoly mustache is actually a tiny happy Digimon head! It's PolarBearmon's head, or, divorced from a neck, a YukimiBotamon with a mouth!

So the idea is that Skadimon is actually one of those 'super-compressed' higher stage in the vein of the Mamemons, but it's manipulating a massive snowman (or, well, ice-man) body that also happens to be dressed in a jester-king's outfit. The profile even calls it a 'powered suit made of ice'. 

Skadimon rules over ice realms (the profile describes a single one ruling over 'Thrymheimr') and that realm is also surrounded by a protective snow-globe made of ice. Skadimon is of course usually happy and jolly, but can manipulate ice walls and illusions within its snow globe 'domain'. Normally Skadimon just summons exploding ice snowmen or giant snow fists, but when it's really angry, it is still an Ultimate and the globe will break and unleash a gigantic avalanche to bury its enemies. A fun, creative monster design and I really enjoyed reading its profile! Alongside FrosVelgrmon from a couple of entries back, this is a nice fill-in for Ice-themed Ultimates! 

 7/10. 

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Oblivimon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Perfect
• Type: Cyborg
• Attribute: Virus

Oh! This one is a cute one. It's just a big UFO with three Doctor Octopus tentacles, what appears to be a classic old-school sci-fi brain in a glass dome on its head, and two depressions with orbs that resemble eyes. And Oblivimon's got a couple of tiny UFO babies with Kuramon eyes! That's adorable. Debuting in Liberator, Oblivimon is assigned as the Perfect-level evolution of HoverEspimon from Ghost Game, and I like this brain-UFO much, much more than the awkwardness of that design. 

Oblivimon even has some really cool lore in addition to just being a UFO Digimon, so much that I wonder if this plotline was originally intended to be in Ghost Game and its focus on the occult. An Oblivimon's presence is heralded by other Digimon having their memories and behaviour becoming erratic, before ultimately capturing their prey with their tentacles. Oblivimon's victims will have their memories absorbed from within, transformed into data and consumed by Oblivimon. The resulting abductee is tossed away, alive but amnesiac. It's a great combination of the idea of alien abduction victims losing their memories... but also playing it up with how a 'digital monster' would behave! That's cool.

Oblivimon's little Keramon-looking buddies are 'hemispheric remote terminals' that it sends out to investigate narrow spaces it cannot penetrate, able to attack and spy in tandem. I normally don't mention attacks, but one of Oblivimon's attacks is 'Waste Abduction', which sends huge amounts of trash data into the brains of its enemies to incapacitate them.

Very neat! I like this one. In addition to being a great evolution for the Espimons, I also feel like this UFO would hang out well with other alien-themed Digimon like Vademon or Bemmon. 

 8/10.

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Invisimon

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

I had originally reviewed Oblivimon and Invisimon in completely separate articles, because I didn't even realize they were tie-ins to each other. Oops! It really does show how little connection Invisimon has with Espimon, HoverEspimon and Oblivimon. I had described it as a 'random Ultimate-level robot', and with the context that it's the final form of a UFO-themed evolutionary line, it gets even more disappointing.

Invisimon's design is a very basic 'protagonist mecha' from a Transformers or Gundam ripoff, with bright primary colours and a cape. That's not particularly interesting. What's interesting, however, is the fact that it's remodelled to be a camouflage expert. Despite what this normally implies, Invisimon itself is a rowdy and aggressive combatant who's difficult to control, and uses its invisibility more to cause chaos and a massive distraction while its allies, the Crack Team, infiltrates and hacks enemy bases. Okay. 

The most memorable and redeeming feature about Invisimon, however, is that it wields a whole B2 stealth bomber as a boomerang-cum-bladed-weapon. Because he's a stealth operative, that's why his weapon is stealthy! Genius! And also alive, and also a sidekick. I'm otherwise unenthused about this thing, but Stealthwing the little stealth jet friend gets some points. 

(I probably should've reviewed these two with the Liberator cast; or with Espimon itself... but they also serve as a nice token bridge between Ghost Game and the video games/TCG Digimon). 

 2/10. Only for Stealth Wing.