#mega level digimon

[tanakavox]

Got this art commission for a Shoutmon level mega, a level beyond OmegaShoutmon!

Art done by r/various_sales on reddit, and @Legenarytamer on insta!

[digimonreviews]

Ultimate Digimon: Tailmon’s Final Form

So, like Gomamon with Vikemon and Plesiomon, Tailmon’s Ultimate-level form has varied, with different sources going back and forth before Digimon Adventure tri. ultimately settled on something. They seemed to be playing with people’s expectations a bit up until almost the very end, but in the end, Toei and Bandai made their choice. So today we’re focusing on the first, best, and final choice for Tailmon’s Ultimate that is canon to Adventure, now and forever.

Holydramon - Holy Dragon Digimon | Attribute: Vaccine Attacks: Holy Flame, Apocalypse, Hermit Fog, Shining Heal; (Dub) Fire Tornado, Apocalypse/Dragon Fire, Hermit Fog/Heaven’s Claw

The ultimate form of god beast Digimon. Its heroic appearance is reminiscent of a ruler of the sky. There are few who have seen its appearance, and it has not even been entirely confirmed where it usually is. However, it is said that it suddenly appeared out of nowhere once when a gigantic evil energy was generated in the Digital World, and laid waste to the evil with its vast power. Its Special Move is striking the opponent with the light energy of all justice (Holy Flame). Those who suffer this technique have their forms instantaneously erased.

Sorry for the bit of trolling there, folks. This argument has gone on so long, I wanted to have a bit of fun with it.

While a lot of people wanted tri. to go with Ophanimon (and they sorta did, but catch back tomorrow), I’m ultimately happier they went with Holydramon (known as Magnadramon in the US) here. Holydramon debuted in Digital Monster Ver. S, where it was actually a Perfect, went on to appear in the Pendulums, was Tailmon’s Ultimate in the third Digimon movie (or the first for you dub fans) and then after Ophanimon’s introduction, they started jumping around a bit before finally settling on Holydramon in tri.’s final act. A lot of people wanted Ophanimon because of the “Patamon and Tailmon’s forms have to go together” thing, but ultimately, I prefer Holydramon because lets Tailmon and Hikari stand as their own characters better.

Plus, honestly, it’s fitting that Tailmon end up changing into something completely different one last time. Plus, being the “ultimate form of Holy Beast Digimon” sort of brings what was mentioned in Plotmon’s profile full circle.

Holydramon’s design has gone through some evolution over the years, with it being made more proportionate, elegant, and less outright vicious-looking than it started as. I know a lot of people prefer their Digital Monsters as more monstrous-looking, but Holydramon just looks rather ungangly and weird in this original rendition.

And it’s not like they can’t make her look more ferocious when they want to, either. Going from peaceful and beautiful-looking to wrathful and ferocious fits Tailmon’s character pretty well, I think, especially in the context of the anime. Plus, yanno, one of her attacks is called friggin “APOCALYPSE”.

If Holydramon looks familiar to you, then you’re probably aware of The Neverending Story’s Falcor, the Luck Dragon, which Holydramon seems to draw heavily from in that they’re both fuzzy, dog-like dragons.

In terms of her role in the franchise beyond being Tailmon’s Ultimate, Holydramon is one of the Four Great Dragon Digimon, which are based off the Four Dragon Kings of Chinese mythology, and seems to represent the White Dragon, who represents the west and the essence of Autumn. In terms of overall lore, the Four Great Dragons haven’t really done much of anything in Digimon media, save for Holydramon herself kickstarting a portion of the plot of Digimon All-Star Rumble, where her status as a member of this group is directly mentioned.

And while we’re on those guys, it’s worth pointing out that not even Holydramon can escape the whole “every single form of Tailmon’s has a parallel that Patamon can evolve into”. Goddramon here can evolve from HolyAngemon, but this is less prominent due to the fact that Goddramon hasn’t really appeared in the anime in this capacity at all.

I really like Holydramon. Not only is she unique among dragon Digimon (we don’t have a lot of furry ones), she’s a fitting endpoint for the Tailmon line, being both unique, and representative of its lovable tendency to consist of totally different things while still managing to fit together pretty well. Holydramon’s final score is...

SHOOTINGSTARMON!

Yep, we have another top-scorer here, folks. I admit, I’m a bit biased here, but you really gotta go with your feelings with these things, sometimes.

[furyxiv]

Aw yeah first Mega Digimon in this playthrough! Lotosmon, weird bug monster lady FTW baby!

[digimonreviews]

Ultimate Digimon: Rosemon

Catching up on reviews after a string of delays. The first one we’ll be covering is Rosemon, the end of Palmon’s evolution line. But she’s more than Palmon’s final form, she serves as the end point of Lalamon’s line in Digimon Savers as well!

Here she is with the cast members from her anime debut. Rosemon was also the partner of Gotojuki Mari, a recurring antagonist from Digimon Adventure: V-Tamer 01. She also appeared in the second version of the “Wind Guardians” pendulum along with Lilymon, long after Lilymon’s debut and after the Adventure anime ended, but I imagine they had the design in reserve for a while, and they just simply chose not to use any other Ultimates in Adventure. 

Rosemon - Fairy Digimon | Attribute: Data Attacks: Thorn Whip, Roses Rapier, Forbidden Temptation, Ivy Hug, Beauty Shock, Rosy Cradle, Rose Velvet, Fascination, Thorn Shoot, Danger Thorn, Prickle Storm; (Dub) Thorn Whipping, Rose Spear/Rose Rapier, Forbidden Temptation, Ivy Hug, Beauty Shock, Thorn Shoot, Danger Thorn

A Fairy Digimon with an appearance resembling a rose, it is referred to as the Queen of Flowers. It has the appearance of a beautiful woman, and desires to remain beautiful forever. Its personality is more or less that way, and though it is excessively self-conscious about such things, its true strength does not in fact compare unfavorably with other Ultimates. Also, it wears on its breast a "Tiferet", a jewel which is engraved with the symbol of love and beauty. This Tiferet that it possesses is said to promise it eternal beauty and power. Its Special Move is taming Digimon, no matter how frenzied, with a thorned whip charged with electricity (Thorn Whip). It is said that those that suffer this technique become Rosemon's slave, body and soul. Also, it can bring down the opponent using the whip as a rapier (Roses Rapier). Additionally, as for Digimon who suffer Rosemon's ultimate Forbidden Temptation, their data is beautifully destroyed in a shower of innumerable rose petals.

Let’s not beat around the rosebushes here. The profile comes as close as possible as it can to directly stating that Rosemon is a dominatrix. Just getting that out of the way, let’s not dwell on it.

Rosemon is one of the first designs (along with LadyDevimon and Angewomon) to lean into more fanservicey designs, which would... be done a lot later on. How overt this is depends on the series and just who happens to be animating, so it can be a bit ridiculous.

That said, as a base design, I feel like Rosemon walks the fine line of what is and isn’t too much, and while she falls on tropes like having high heels despite being a fighter, it at least fits her sense of style. The eyeless face and top half of her head being a flower, as well as her wearing her ivy thorn weapon around her upper body add a bit of edge and other-wordliness to the design as well.

Rosemon has to pull double duty as the endpoint of two lines, and I think she achieves it well. Her design elements have direct parallels to elements of Lilymon and Lilamon; both have flowers on their heads, and Rosemon’s cape matches Lilymon’s wings and the flower on Lilamon’s back, to name specifics. Rosemon also first fine as a more “grown up” version of Lilymon, while her whip and thorn attacks fit Lilamon’s more aggressive attacks like “Lilac Dagger” and “Forbidden Temptation” matches up decently to “Undeux Pollen”.

That said, part of me wishes that they’d chosen different Digimon for them both. Savers is my favorite series, but I’ve always seen people saying Yoshino and Lalamon “stole” Rosemon from Mimi and Palmon, despite them not achieving this form until years later in tri. Despite Digimon lines being more fluid, a large part of the fandom likes to treat them like Pokemon where each Digimon gets one form and nothing else, and while this is one of my favorite parts of the franchise, it can get pretty annoying when the fandom gets into this kind of character territorial-ism.

Plus, you know, BanchoLilymon is boss, and I think it would have fit Mimi and Palmon pretty well. Oh well, what can you do? Besides, it’s not either show’s fault if fans act a certain way, so in the end it’s not a big deal.

Rosemon’s final grade is...

FOUR STARMONS!

[digimonreviews]

Ultimate Digimon: Plesiomon

Today, we’re taking a break from the Hybrid/No Level category to cover another Ultimate. You’ll recall yesterday that Gomamon originally had an another Ultimate form, so today, for completion’s sake, we’ll be covering Gomamon’s OTHER final form.

Plesiomon premiered in the Deep Savers Pendulum alongside Gomamon and the rest of his line, and for years, he was the go to choice for Gomamon’s final form in video games and other media. Nowadays he’s more or less been replaced by Vikemon, but he still gets some play in other areas, with a fairly memorable cameo appearance in Digimon Xros War,  and getting to briefly enjoy a return to his role as Gomamon’s Ultimate in Digimon: All-Star Rumble.

Now let’s stick our necks out and get to his review!

Plesiomon - Plesiosaur Digimon | Attribute: Data Attacks: Sorrow Blue, Shaking Pulse; (Dub) Sad Water Blast, Water Tail Blaster

A previously imaginary Digimon discovered within the computer of a British cryptozoology research institute. It was a Digimon that had already been rumored among researchers. Although it rarely makes an appearance, it seems to show up when visibility is reduced due to being shrouded in fog. It is a mysterious being whose appearance gives the impression of being polished to shine white. It sings with a high-pitched, crystal-clear voice, wrapping the listener in sorrow and making them lose their fighting spirit (Sorrow Blue).

- Translation by Wikimon.

Here’s one for you cryptid fans out there. Plesiomon isn’t just based on the plesiosaurs of the Mesozoic, he’s also based on lake monsters like the Loch Ness Monster, which are often said to be plesiosaurs. It’s a natural combination of elements for the lore, and I like the bits about how it was discovered in a crytozoology database.

Plesiomon is also a pretty clearly a giant Gomamon, what with the similar colors, markings, and the red hair-like structures (or maybe they’re fins) running down his neck and back. That being said, he doesn’t match up to Ikkakumon or Zudomon as well, not just in that he’s a reptile, but in that Plesiomon’s not very strong or powerfully built. His attacks are also all ranged and not very physical or hard-hitting, so he breaks away from the “strongman” mold that Ikkakumon, Zudomon, and Vikemon fill.

So in a way Plesiomon’s sort of left adrift. He’s too specifically tied to a certain Digimon in appearance, but at the same time, he doesn’t fit in so well with the rest of the line. It’s kind of sad in a way, but personally, I like Plesiomon as the Ultimate form of Coelamon and Anomalocarimon, which are also prehistoric sea creatures. He also makes a good final form for Whamon.

Being left without a nominal lower form doesn’t keep Plesiomon from being an excellent Digimon in his own right, but he’s still part of Gomamon’s family. And while he may have been set aside for another Digimon, he’s still got his place in history by being Gomamon’s Ultimate, at least for a time. Plesiomon gets...

FOUR STARMONS!

[digimonreviews]

Ultimate Digimon: Seraphimon

Today we conclude our look at the Patamon line with the final stage, Seraphimon. Are you tired of angel Digimon yet? Because I guarantee you the fandom isn’t.

The Digiletters on his breech-cloth, for the record, translate to a quote said by Final Fantasy 7′s Sephiroth: “Subete wa ware to tomoni“, or “all shall become one with me.” A meaningless reference? Or foreshadowing of Seraphimon’s tendency to fall to the dark side? You, the people, shall decide.

Anyway, buckle in folks, this is a long one.

Seraphimon - Seraph Digimon | Attribute: Vaccine Attacks: Seven Heavens, Testament, Ascension Hallow, Divine Breaker, Excalibur, Final Heal, Heaven’s Kick, Seven’s Wing; (Dub) Strike of the Seven Stars/Seven Heavens, Testament, Hallowed Ascension/Rising Halo, Hallowed Knuckle/Divine Breaker, Full HP Cure

A Seraph Digimon that is dressed in holy armor that shines silver, and possesses ten golden wings. As the highest-ranked being among Angel Digimon, it rules over them all. Although its true face and personality is hidden behind a mask and cannot be glimpsed, it is the being closest to the "Being of Good" called "God". It is told that when it descends for the final battle against evil beings, it will purify everything. Also, it is said that Demon, who fell to the Dark Area and became a Demon Lord Digimon, was originally a Seraphimon. Its Special Moves are firing seven super-heated spheres of light at the opponent (Seven Heavens), and using the deepest mystery to convert its mortal life into a Big Bang (Testament).

- Translation by Wikimon.

Seraphimon is, of course, based on the Seraphs, the highest ranking of all the angels. Of course, the seraphs described in the bible look a bit different from Seraphimon does. However, they do at the very least share the trait of having covered their faces and bearing six wings.

Seraphimon continues the trend of “Angemon, but more”, but I like him a bit more than HolyAngemon. The full armored body and the return of lore stuff like it being at risk of becoming a fallen angel like Angemon is with Devimon are welcome touches, and his attacks are different enough from Angemon and HolyAngemon’s to avoid HerakleKabuterimon’s “The same Digimon, but bigger” problem. The only returning attack is HolyAngemon’s “Excalibur” attack, but I’m largely fine with that.

Of course, Seraphimon is more than just Takeru’s partner. He’s a rather important Digimon in the grand scheme of things, given that he’s a member and leader of the “Three Great Angels”, a group of three Angel Digimon that serve as the holiest of the holy and enact the will of the Digital World’s “God”, whomever that enigmatic being may be. So while he’s appeared in Adventure media as Patamon’s final form, he’s mostly only appeared briefly in that capacity and without as much fanfare, with his most significant fictional appearance actually being in Digimon Frontier, where he serves as the primary end goal for the first cour and factors significantly into the backstory.

That being said there’s something noteworthy about Seraphimon. I’ve talked briefly about the power wankery surrounding HolyAngemon and Angemon and the attitude that they’re “the strongest ever”. But Seraphimon? Seraphimon...

Seraphimon gets beat up. Seraphimon gets beat up a lot.

That last one is actually Tokomon, but he was Seraphimon several moments before.

Pretty much every debut appearance by Seraphimon in any form of media, save for Digimon Adventure tri., inevitably ends with him getting his ass handed to him. And even then, his first appearance was an afterthought happening after the evolution of Hououmon, which was treated as a bigger deal. This happens so often, it’s definitely got to be a “Leomon dies”-esque running gag. Heck, his loss in V-Tamer 01 wrecked him so bad, he evolved into a completely different Digimon for the rest of the series.

I hope this doesn’t sound like I’m overly bitter or like I don’t like Seraphimon, because ultimately, he’s actually my favorite of Patamon’s evolution line. But dang, this happens enough to be noteworthy, and it’s hilarious in the context of how the fandom sometimes talks about the Angemon family, so I just thought I’d give it a bit of focus.

Seraphimon achieves the goal of being a natural endpoint for Angemon’s line without just being “more of the same”. Furthermore, he occupies a pretty important spot in Digimon cosmogony. I’m pretty happy to give him...

FIVE STARMONS!

[digimonreviews]

Ultimate Digimon Thursdays: WarGreymon

Vote for next week’s Ultimate-Level Digimon here!

We come to our first Ultimate-Level Digimon: MetalGreymon!

No, wait. That was yesterday. Right. Ultimates are Megas.

(This will be the last time I poke fun at this, I promise you, dub fans.)

So with the Digimon anime starting up, and the new Pendulum virtual pets being released alongside it, a new evolutionary level was created to give Digimon a new form to go alongside it. One of the first Ultimate Digimon to be featured in animation, was, of course, one of Agumon’s forms, with only him and the second-most prominent male character’s partner reaching this stage amongst the protagonists.

Let’s talk about WarGreymon!

I said TALK. Not SHOUT. Come on, work with me!

WarGreymon - Dragon Man Digimon |  Attribute: Vaccine

Attacks: Gaia Force, Great Tornado/Brave Tornado, Dramon Killer, Dramon Tackle, Grey Fire, War Driver, Dragon Killer, Brave Shield ; (Dub) Terra Force, Mega Claw/Dramon Destroyer, Great Tornado, Grey Fire, War Driver

The strongest dragon warrior whose body is clad in armor of the super-metal "Chrome Digizoid", it is the ultimate form of Greymon-species Digimon. Though it differs from the gigantic figure seen in Greymon-species Digimon, and has the form of a Man-type, it has rapidly improved its speed and power, and it is likely impossible to defeat it with the attacks of a Perfect Digimon. The "Dramon Killers" equipped to both of its arms exhibit immense power against Dramon-type Digimon, while simultaneously being double-edged swords that put its own life at great risk. Also, when the shells equipped on its back unite into one, they become the "Brave Shield", which is a shield of the strongest toughness. It is said that the moment that a true hero among veteran warriors awakens to its own mission, it evolves into War Greymon. Its Special Move is taking all of the energy within the atmosphere and concentrating it into one spot, then firing it as an extremely dense, high-temperature energy shot (Gaia Force).

- Translation by Wikimon.

So there’s a lot to unpack here with WarGreymon. On a purely visceral level, he’s got a lot going for him, so I’ll turn this over to my adolescent self. In a franchise full of dragons, making your main character who is also a dragon have special weapons that help him KILL the other dragons is a pretty good way to set your new main character Digimon up as the baddest of the bad. And Gaia Force basically being a Digimon version of the Spirit Bomb is a good choice for a lot of the same reasons, what with Dragon Ball being such a classic with kids and both it and Digimon both being Toei anime. Yeah, WarGreymon’s pretty much everything a kid would think is cool.

Just as with Agumon’s other forms, WarGreymon introduces a number of design concepts we’d see again throughout the franchise. WarGreymon is a pretty stark departure from MetalGreymon and all of Agumon’s other forms in the anime, and we’ll see a lot more Digimon who are anthropomorphized later on, especially at the Ultimate level. WarGreymon also gets points for being a gateway to attractive, muscular, anthropomorphic lizard men, and let me tell you, that can have quite an influence on a young man...

...

Ahem.

That being said, WarGreymon is interesting for another reason. He was designed from the get go to be more than just a monster you raise in a video game. A lot of why WarGreymon looks the way he is because he was originally conceived as a transforming toy.

This is actually from a newer take on the design, but you can see how the idea of a transforming toy Agumon that converts into WarGreymon influenced his final design. Agumon’s arms and claws become WarGreymon’s Dramon Killers, his head splits apart to become the Brave Shield, so on and so forth. I never realized this as a kid, and this is in no small part due to the fact that his final, on-screen design eliminates a lot of the more kibbly features, but I think that it not being so noticeable in the final design just goes to show how strong a design concept WarGreymon is.

As a final note, WarGreymon’s design and proportions have been interpreted fairly different over the years. Here’s a few hallmarks.

His original, more gangly Bandai art. His more relatively human proportioned anime design. And his design from Tri, with the more detailed armor and flexible Dramon Killers.

Anyway, WarGreymon’s score is...

FIVE STARMONS!

[digimonreviews]

Ultimate Digimon Thursdays: HerakleKabuterimon

We come to the end of the Kabuterimon with HerakleKabuterimon, known in the US as HerculesKabuterimon. Like Hououmon, he made an early appearance in Digimon World as a perfect level, but unlike that Digimon, the Nature Spirits pendulum was already released. As far as the anime goes, his sole appearance before Digimon Adventure tri. was a short one in Digimon Tamers.

As you might expect, HerakleKabuterimon is based on the hercules beetle, but what’s a bit more obscure is that he also draws from the recurring image of the rare “golden beetle” that reoccurs through Japanese media as a rare insect in bug catching that’s gold in color and therefore quite valuable.

Sadly, he’s not this shiny all the time.

HerakleKabuterimon - Insect Digimon | Attribute: Vaccine Attacks: Giga Blaster, Giant Scissors [Kyodai Hasami], Horn Buster Revision [Horn Buster Kai], High Mega Blaster; (Dub) Mega Electro Shocker, Giga Scissor Claw, Horn Buster II, Hyper Mega Blaster

An Ultimate Insect Digimon that evolved with the data of Kabuterimon- and Kuwagamon-species Digimon. It has a gigantic horn and scissors, and it can be said that its form perfectly compensates for the weaknesses of those two types of Digimon, which had opposing natures. Its body shines gold, and it has regained and strengthened the flying ability which Atlur Kabuterimon had lost, so it rushes about the Digital World at supersonic speed. Having now accomplished this Ultimate evolution, there are probably few beings who can rival Herakle Kabuterimon. Its Special Move is an enhanced version of "Mega Blaster" (Giga Blaster). There isn't anyone who won't be annihilated by this technique.

-Translation by Wikimon.

HerakleKabuterimon is one of my favorite Digimon. Of all the Ultimate-levels to finally appear as a man character evolution in Digimon Adventure tri., he was the one I anticipated the most. I just really love this guy, the way everything about his design brings the best elements of Kabuterimon and AtlurKabuterimon together and also throws in a bit of Kuwagamon for good measure. Everything about him just looks so cool and embodies what a bad ass insect monster should be.

Which presents something of a conundrum. A lot of the Adventure evolutions bring something new with each form, with WarGreymon differing heavily from the rest of the Greymon line, Gabumon becoming four legged becoming bipedal becoming four legged again, Birdramon up being different takes on the idea of a firebird, so on and so forth. But HerakleKabuterimon more or less just improves on what’s already there, and the only new idea he introduces is to borrow the traits of another species. Of all the “first generation” Ultimates, he just sort of... gets bigger. Kabuterimon, but more. Even all of his attacks are just improved versions of his previous forms’.

And that on its own is very solid, but he really stands out in comparison to everything surrounding him. Stuff like HerakleKabuterimon would be more common as the franchise went on, but in the context surrounding him, and as much as it pains me, HerakleKabuterimon doesn’t meet the same kind of potential I feel he should.

He’s still awesome, just sometimes you have to set aside your own investment in a design and score accordingly. HerakleKabuterimon gets...

THREE STARMONS!