Digimon Reviews, Episode 63: Elizamon and Friends

We're going on a brand-new line, with Elizamon being another one of the main characters' Digimon lines. Similarly with the Pteromon and Shoemon lines, we're going to cover both the initial chunk of evolutions released in 2024, and their bonus one that debuted in 2025!

And we're also going to go through the Maquinamon line, who serves as the final antagonists for a chunk of the Liberator webcomic which I thought was a pretty interesting visual  concept even if the pacing of the webcomic wasn't the best near the end. 

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Elizamon

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

Oh! A cutie! Elizamon's name and inspiration is a bit of a pun. The Japanese term for the frill in a frilled lizard is 'eri', so eri lizard... which is also a double-pun on Elizabethan-era fashion. So we've got a nice,  pink-and-blue frilled lizard with the frills and fashion of a noblewoman from that era. Neither the fashion frills nor the neck frills are overly exaggerated, however, giving us a rather distinctive design that stands well on its own, but when you point out the inspirations you go "ah, I see!" It really is a very pleasant-looking friend.

I also like the shape of its chunky forearms, with how the claws are arranged. Elizamon's frill-ears are noted to be soft but sensitive in terms of picking up sounds. Of course, it has an elegant personality... but can be fierce in combat. It can also spin that frill around to either fly at low altitudes, or use it as a buzzsaw. Fun! 

I really have not much to say here beyond that, but I really did find Elizamon to genuinely be one of the neater new Child-levels. They really did start making good, intresting Child-levels again after the glut we got in the late 2010's, huh!

 9/10.

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Dimetromon

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

Oh! Another cute one. Dimetromon is, of course, based on the Dimetrodon -- one of the more iconic prehistoric creatures that hasn't been adapted yet into a Digimon. Dimetromon still follows a lot of the fun Elizabethan frills and ribbons that Elizamon has, although it's still kept quite subtle other than the big ribbon on its neck. The flowing parts of the body and the 'sleeves' feel natural enough that it could be part of the natural anatomy. I really like how wavy the main sail is, and unlike a real dimetrodon, Dimetromon's got an extra 'leaf tail' similar to Seadramon. I also like the head and the jagged beak that it has. 

The colours are nice, and it really is overall a very pleasant-looking creature that both adapts the inspirational creature without just being a transplant. Some of the dinosaur Digimon do look a bit underwhelming because of that! Dimetromon does it without going the obvious and lazy route of just mechanical cyborg parts that so many other dinosaur-mons like to do. 

Dimetromon interestingly has the ability to regenerate wounds from its sail, and the sail grows larger every time it regenerates, making those Dimetromons with larger sails be particularly respected due to having survived competition. The sails can also absorb energy and amplify it as heat rays, which were one of the theories that are still debated on the function of sails on prehistoric animals like dimetrodons and spinosaurs. Being a Digimon, of course, Dimetromon does absorb heat... and uses it as a Solarbeam.  

Very pleasant! Did not expect to like this line quite as much as I do. 

 8/10.

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Lamiamon

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

Now you'd think I would not like Elizamon's Perfect-level since it becomes a humanoid and a 'waifu', but it's the opposite, actually! I really like Lamiamon! It has never being just 'humanoid' or just 'a waifu' that bothers me for a Digimon. It's when they no longer feel like a digital monster, or even a monster at all. It's when they look like just a regular dude or lady wearing some anime clothes. Lamiamon isn't that, and she's a stylish one to boot! Now a 'lamia' isn't necessarily always awoman with a snake lower body, but that's what Japanese media has synonymized the name with... and it's such a stylish snake lower body, with frills made up to be like a dress opening up cleverly on where a snake's dorsal and ventral scales would change in appearance, and it ends in a fancy fan!

Lamiamon's humanoid part is also quite nice, with pterodactyl wings jutting out from below her arms, her face being the same reddish-purple as the rest of her body, and while she does have clothes and accessories they're not so obviously 'for fanservice'. The fancy hat, the horns, and the huge umbrella accessory are really fun, too. I actually really like this one!

Lamiamon's profile describes that it has lots of 'scales and fins that resemble dresses', and being a snake-person in a quasi-fantasy media of course it's an expert of poison -- being able to create all sorts of fantasy poison like paralytic ones, unrealistically acidic ones, and just regular poison that kill the enemy. Lamiamon is a sadistic noble that lies to watch its opponents suffer, and that umbrella (her 'Venombrella'), of course, is tricked-out to contain all of the poisons that Lamiamon synthesizes. That's neat! 

Interestingly, its expertise in poisons also makes it great at detoxifying viruses, despite being a Virus-attribute itself... but it's not going to do it for free, of course! Getting a snake-person to de-poison you is going to cost quite a bit!

 9/10.

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Medusamon

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

We've never had a Medusa Digimon? Really? All that creatively-bereft years when they were adapting the Greek gods and they didn't go for the Greek monsters? You know, I would've liked the Olympos XII a lot more if they had bothered trying to make them feel like an actual Digimon evolutionary line that might be Greek-themed, which was something they really only did for Plutomon evolving from a Cerberumon, and Ceresmon from Sirenmon. The Greco-Roman mythos has so much monsters and even heroic inspirations!

But then we wouldn't have gotten this Medusamon, which is also a fun design. I like it a bit less than Lamiamon, but Medusamon's quite cool, too. It's got a fancy ballgown which looks very nice. Sure, she's got a generally more humanoid inner body, but keeps the monstrously pink skin tone, and has a long tail and elf-ears. The best part of her humanoid side has to be that singular eyeball embedded into a golden mask with two horns. 

Being a Medusamon, it's got snakes for hair... but instead of regular Medusa's writhing swarm of snakes, we've got three large snakes tied up into two massive pigtails plus a couple of smaller ones that trail down its arms. The profile describes the two primary snake-hair-bunch as 'serpent dragons', which are sentient and fights independently so the main body doesn't need to move and can pose elegantly. Medusamon can further unbraid its hair, letting the serpent-dragons rampage even more. It's like a noblewoman letting her retainers do most of the work for her... but if the opponent manages to endure Medusamon's serpents, the main body can still fight with tail-stingers and those fancy fanged platform boots. 

Being a gorgon, Medusamon can petrify enemies into stone, of course. But for whatever reason, Medusamon is given an extra quirk of particularly liking to petrify 'small, round Digimon', and this unfortunately often ends up being Babies. Oh no! Medusamon shows no mercy to these, turns them into stone, and lines them up in its collection. This is what I like when I talk about using creatures and figures frmo mythology and giving them a nice twist, and tying into the dinosaurian theme of Elizamon and Dimetromon really worked out very well, too. 

 8/10.

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Styracomon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: Dragon Man
• Attribute: Data

Okay??? All the main characters get a second Ultimate-level form, and Elizamon is no exception, but we get a rather interesting deviation here. The other alternate evolutions (Vortexdramon, Nyabootmon, Ariemon) tend to tie in somewhat to an aspect of the original line and I suppose Styracomon ties back to the dinosaurian aspect, but the vibe is most certainly different. Based on the styracosaurus, Styracomon goes for an old-school WarGreymon-style 'inner dragon-man with chunks of armour like a sentai hero'. 

And it's... it's an interesting design, I'll give you that. The huge styracosaurus helmet is certainly nice and eye-catching... but the real 'face' is actually nestled within the beak of the dinosaur head, which forms more of a helm. It's a lot more obvious in close-up shots in the manga, but it is disproportionately small compared to the proportions of its muscular arms and legs. 

Styracomon's got an Iron Man style chest-piece with a glowing core. It's tail has cannons and armour that resemble cutely a Triceratops head. On either arms, it's holding two giant shields (again, similarly to WarGreymon's gauntlets) with horns that are patterned after a different kind of ceratopsian -- the Einiosaurus. 

...what? I know my dinosaurs at least as well as I do my Digimons. 

Styracomon basically goes on a subversion of the elegant-noblewoman vibes of the Elizamon line in general, as it is now a brawny, brutish fighter that prides itself on its muscles and armour. It generates a forcefield that nullifies physical attacks against it, and it prides itself on being able to tank and defend attacks before counteracting. It's a neat monster design. I am legitimately unsure about how much I like it as an evolution of Lamiamon, but I do like it enough on its own merits. 

 7/10.

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Necromon

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

One of the main supporting characters, Violet Inboots (no, really) is partnered with a Ghostmon. I don't know enough about the Digimon TCG to understand if it's accurate to the games, but the way her deck is portrayed is a graveyard resurrection deck which is one of my favourite styles of TCG gameplay. Violet's Ghostmon evolves into existing Adult and Perfect-level spooksters (Bakemon, Soulmon, Phantomon, MetalPhantomon)... but receives a brand-new Ultimate ghost monster. I like this! We've got a lot of demons, devils, vampires, even skeletons in the Ultimate level but we're actually sorely lacking a big ghostly boss. 

Necromon is a typical fantasy 'lich', with a pretty cool skull-head that's lacking a lower jaw. It has four ghostly arms burning with pale blue flame, and is holding a giant blade that expands out into a crescent blade at the end. I love that the official artwork has it surrounded by a small cluster of Bakemon and Soulmon. Necromon walks around with a soul-trapping lantern, killing strong Digimon silently and absorbing their souls in its lantern and recording their names in its book, the Necronomicon. 

This would normally fall under 'okay, you look like a World of Warcraft raid boss more than a Digimon'. And that is absolutely true. On the other hand, I really do find giant over-the-top undead armour pimped out with fancy WoW armour and weapons to be cool and still quite fresh in Digimon!

 7/10, could be 8. 

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Dullahamon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: Ghost
• Attribute: Data

Ghostmon's alternate Ultimate is Dullahamon. The official artwork is a bit cluttered, but it's essentially an adaptation of the Dullahan that often shows up a lot in Japanese RPG media -- a headless knight holding its own head. Dullahamon goes a bit further, having the knight be quasi-robotic, and the decapitated head doubles as the morningstar/flail that's attached to its robotic arm. Oh, Dullahamon's face also has a giant blade stuck to it. Floating on either side are two iron maiden coffins that are constantly emitting ghostly hands. 

I do find it quite cool! The lore notes that Dullahamon's head and body are linked by chains and appear to have a will of their own, and different Dullahamon might cooperate together while others have the 'rampaging head manipulate the body'. The ghost horse is called Coiste Bodhar, and presumably is a different entity as well. Those slain by Dullahamon ends up having their spirits trapped in the coffins.

Necromon and Dullahamon are both pretty cool overall, and it really is quite refreshing to be talking so positively about what otherwise would be just 'humanoid knights'. We really don't get enough ghosts and spooksters!

 8/10.

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Maquinamon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Child
• Type: Composite
• Attribute: Data

So of course any self-respecting 'investigate the problems in the Digital World' storyline needs to have an artificial creature going around running amuck. Especially if you're in a very video-game-y setting! It is ironic because BEMmon of Digimon World 3 fame is actually one of the partner Digimon in Liberator and received its first significant role in over two decades. But the strange glitch in this case is Maquinamon here. 

And the concept of this creature is one that I didn't care for initially, but has grown to really appreciate after seeing its evolutionary lines. Maquinamon is split right down in the middle, with its right half being a generic fuzzy cat-like Digimon that wouldn't be too far off if I call it an off-brand Tailmon; while its left half is a robot version of that. The details are paralleled nicely, and Maquinamon's even got two different tails -- its mechanical tail being a little plug-jack thing. I like that!

I like the profile that cyborg Digimon are not uncommon. Very common, in fact, in the Digimon world. But instead of a cyborg like MetalGreymon or Andromon where the metal parts are grafted onto flesh; or the more 'clean' ones like RizeGreymon and Styracomon where the metallic parts look more like armour, Maquinamon is bizarrely split right down the middle. It is a Digimon of unbalance, and ends up not showing much emotion or hostility towards those around it. Its unbalanced nature also means that its attacks end up being quite weak, and its dual-property 'bubble' attacks are noted to be equivalent to that of the baby Digimon! 

Its technorganic nature actually makes it energy inefficient, making it only skillful to hunt food and consume food... something that feels like it's referencing real-world cancer cells without being explicit about it. Maquinamon is noted to be able to change its physiology by taking in data from its surroundings, and is extremely omnivorous regardless of its habitat. Maquinamon is all right, a little weirdo and an okay design, but I like what they did with its evolutions. Its two branching evolutions. 

 7/10.

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Mulemon

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

So the first evolutionary line for Maquinamon is... a robot dog! And I think this is a pretty fun gimmick going on both sides. So the 'vaccine'-attribute evolutions for Maquinamon are all completely mechanical robots... but are shaped like animals! That's a really nice way to design two different evolutionary lines that still feel like they tie to the concept of a half-organic, half-mechanical design. Beast Machines!

Mulemon is probably supposed to be a 'mule' more than a dog, but that's what I see out of the design. Or maybe that's just because there was a period of time where robot dogs were everywhere. I find it interesting that there seems to be two 'faces' on this creature, with the obvious main ehad with the syringe/rocket upper jaw; and a second head on the torso with Maquinamon's eye on the side. I like the blade-tipped feet as well. The little lightbulb tail, exhaust vents and exposed wires are also quite neat. 

Mulemon is noted to look fragile at first but is actually very sturdy and possess the balance and mobility to go through rough terrain. While not seen in its official image, Mulemon also has a bunch of extendable robotic arms, which it uses to grab objects and place them on its back... which is where the 'mule' part comes along. While the Liberator manga portrays Maquinamon and its evolutions as being unnatural invaders, the official profile notes that Mulemon just exist in the digital world as a 'courier Digimon'. Being a robot, however, Mulemon often only travels along a set route in a straight line no matter what... and also will violently remove anything in its way. 

I like it. It's a fun looking robot! Robots shaped like animals aren't anything new (we've even had a couple in Digimon) but taking into context everything else around Maquinamon, I do like this. 

 7/10.

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Mockingbirdmon

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

The machine-themed Perfect-form for Maquinamon is Mockingbirdmon, which is a robot shaped like a bird. I appreciate that the designs are allowed to look like different animals! Going through some of the lines that I didn't like so much is when the Adult and Perfect forms are just 'transition phases' for the little dragon to be a big dragon -- something that doesn't really make for particularly memorable intermediary forms. 

Mockingbirdmon is noted to merely look like a bird, but the central 'head' is actually that eye on the base of the bird's 'neck'. In fact, all five of its limbs are actually 'arms', with its main head, its two wings and two talons being able to serve the same function. Mockingbirdmon actually makes use of people thinking it's a regular bird, and alternates between using its various five tentacle arms as either shooting lasers or functioning as restraining tentacle-talons. That's why the 'wings' appear to be energy projections of some sort. That's cool! The mental image of this thing swooping in like a bird, and then swapping the functionality of the limbs like a madcap octopus is really fun. 

Mockingbirdmon's two giant orbs are 'search eyes' that function as radars. Like the mockingbird it's named after, Mockingbirdmon also engages in mimetic behaviour, mimicking the sounds of Digimon it has heard and using it to confuse its prey. I like this one a lot, too -- it really feels weird! 

 8/10.

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Metatromon

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

The Ultimate-form of robotic Maquinamon and the main big bad of Digimon Liberator is this guy, Metatromon. We've run out of dominions, powers and thrones throughout the various Angemons that has been released over the years, so we're moving to specific named angels. The mighty Metatron occupies a different role in Jewish mythology as the celestial scribe. Originating from the Apocrypha, there are lots of debates on whether Metatron is a 'true' angel or not in mythology. And this has led to Metatromon here being also an apocryphic, artificial angel digimon. In that it's a robot angel!

Have we had a robot angel before? With the two dozen Angemons out there, I am surprised we never got a MetalAngemon or any such cyborg ones! That's actually quite cool, and Metatromon's similarity to angel Digimon without having holy power and status is actually noted in its profile. Metatromon is noted to be a machine Digimon in its core, and has prided itself to reach the level of angelhood while still being a machine. 

Metatromon's entire body is filled with robotic eyeballs, which run across its wings and 'feathers', its limbs, and even the circular palms of its robotic hands. The bio describes every single one of these eyeballs as being able to shoot lasers and creates forcefields, making it super-powerful in battle. The actual final battle in Liberator ends up being a card game due to the nature of the manga and so we don't really get to see Metatromon do a lot of actual eyeball-attack stuff, but with how much I've expressed my disdain about them churning out Angemon after Angemon without any of them feeling like they add anything, this is a very refreshing and cool one. I like it! 

 7/10.

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Turbomon

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

While 'machines that look like animals' are common in fiction and we see them in real life a fair bit too, the other side of Maquinamon's evolution is a bit more interesting. These are organic beings that look like machines instead, and Turbomon here is some kind of strange, rodent-like mammal... but its body layout is shaped like a racing car, or perhaps a Crush Gear. Anybody remember Crush Gear? 

Turbomon's a pretty interesting design, having wing-like protrusions. The beard looks like the front pars of a F1 car, and those blue colourations and red/yellow highlights are pretty striking. The 'wheels' around its three-clawed feet are described as shell-like organic protrusions, which is can spin around and is described as being particularly strange to see on an organic animal. I would bet! 

This is absolutely a bit more unnatural than how Mulemon and Mockingbirdmon felt more like cool robot animals. In these organic-vs-mechanical stories, usually the organic side tends to be the good guys and the mechanical tend to be portrayed as something unnatural, but here I can see why the 'virus' attribute was assigned to the Turbomon stream of evolution. They do look a bit more unnatural and somewhat more unnerving. 

Turbomon isn't described to be particularly evil or aggressive, though, with its bio being more intent on talking about its abilities to maneuver like a vehicle that can instantly respond to an organic brain's thoughts. Also, Turbomon can still walk around on two legs like Maquinamon, but it has adapted so much to being a rat-car that it prefers to move around like a car. Okay! It's not my 'type' of design, but I appreciate the creativity. 

 7/10.

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Maneuvermon

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

The evolution goes airborne, and Maneuvermon is an organic shark-bird-dragon thing that behaves like a fighter jet. This type of design, I feel, I've seen a bit more often in fiction compared to Turbomon. Latias and Latios from Pokemon come instantly to mind, but the streamlined shape ending in a shark head does remind me of a lot of other Armour Digimon. Maneuvermon is a nice, colourful one, though, and I like those ribs/gills-like details on its underside that try to emphasize that this is an organic creature. It's got feathers at the end of its wings, and we can see talons both pointing forwards like missiles. They shoot lightning bolts! When Maneuvermon needs to land, it has recessed talons that function like landing gear in real jets.  

The colours are admittedly a bit eclectic, but I like the non-traditional colours. Dark blue, yellow, orange and teal all serve as secondary colours to white without any of them dominating, and that does make for a memorable silhouette, if a slightly messy one.

Maneuvermon is described as having 'bone-hard-wings', and has 'jet-engine-like organs' to fly. It also has a 'cockpit organ' on its neck to carry humans or smaller Digimon. Maneuvermon likes flying its friends around... but they don't like it as much since they have to enter the cockpit through the mouth. I like that bit of nice inconvenience, and I actually think it is a bit more realistic as a 'speculative alien biology' that it doesn't actually have a cockpit segment that can be lifted up.

It's not an easy task to make an organic creature that looks like a machine, and while I'm not super in love with Turbomon and Maneuvermon, I can respect what they are. 

 7/10.

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Dalphomon

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

Unfortunately, their final form is... just a big lion monster. Dalphomon draws its name from the angel Sandalphon, an angel associated with gathering prayers. Where Turbomon and Maneuvermon do a decent job at being a beastly dragster and a jet respectively, Dalphomon is just... it's a huge lion with braids, a bunch of wings, and a bunch of tails, and a metal mask. It's still somethiing we don't quite see as much of in Digimon, but other than the huge missile on its back there's nothing that really ties Dalphomon to the theme of the rest of the Maquinamon line. I suppose the fact that it's a 'beastly' angel to contrast Metatromon's 'humanoid' angel?

Anyway, Dalphomon is an angel that values the elegant physical forms of beasts, and believes it can ascend by taking in pure data from other angels or holy beasts... and it despises cyborgs that modifies their bodies. That's a bit of an interesting twist and I honestly wish that some fiction in the future would actually play a bit more on this organic-vs-machine conflict. It has been something brewing in the back of some of the classic bios of the 'Metal Empire' Digimon that many Digimon are utilizing cyborgification for power-ups, but it's never actually been explored in actual fiction as digivolutions tend to just be a bright beam of light and an instant change. 

The plotline introduced is interesting and Dalphomon is at least a nice looking holy angel lion. It gets points for novelty if nothing else, but I felt it could have been more. 

 6/10.

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ExMaquinamon

• Alternate Names: N/A
• Stage: Ultimate
• Type: Unique
• Attribute: Data

Of course the two fuse. I'm not even mad about that, because while it doesn't quite go to the epic levels of Ordinemon before it, or even other fused creatures like UltimateChaosmon, ExMaquinamon fuses the mechanical eyeball wings of Metatromon and the organic, feathered wings of Dalphomon together. At the center of it is a humanoid angelic body with a whole mass of details, which does admittedly make ExMaquinamon a bit less interesting to me -- I'd much have preferred the design to just be the two fused wings, and then just the red/blue mask with eyes and the extra greebles. With the so-called 'biblically accurate angels' being a fad in popular media in the last couple of years, I'm a bit bummed that their attempt at making a monstrous angel ends up with another humanoid core. 

The humanoid core is... is all right. It's a mass of purple tentacly flesh with a metal horned devil helmet, placed on top of a mask. I felt like it could've been more of a weird cyborg if this is a true fusion of machine and organic. 

ExMaquinamon is a being that can combine different kinds of data with its powers, something that can cause vast destruction. The main villain of Liberator wants to use it to reboot the world, which is nothing new in Digimon, but at least the source of the power has a fun theme of fusing two things that shouldn't be fused together. 

I feel torn about this one! I really like the wings and having it go back to the half-and-half theme of the original Maquinamon, but with the angelic themes of Metatromon and Dalphomon... but the central part really isn't doing it for me. It's still an impressive creature and I do appreciate it for what it is, I suppose. 

 7/10, could be 6.

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