recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Floramon

Today we have another evolution line that's sort of complete from the child level on up, even though the connections between these digimon are pretty loose thematically. It all starts with Floramon, an alternative to Palmon said to even have a kind of jealous rivalry with it. Floramon isn't as cool looking to me as Palmon, but it's certainly an interesting looking creature. The "helmet" is seemingly formed from its upper petals folded down, and its description implies that all of its petals can close up over its head. That probably looks pretty cool, but we've never seen it happen, and the artwork is only kinda drawn like it could; those lower petals are a tad too short.

## Digivolves from

* Tanemon

or

1. Yokomon

## Digivolves to

* Kiwimon
* Yakiimon

or

1. BlackGargomon
2. BlackGatomon
3. Dobermon
4. Flymon
5. Garurumon
6. Harpymon
7. Kyubimon
8. Ninjamon
9. Ponchomon
10. Raremon
11. RedVegiemon
12. Searchmon
13. Sepikmon
14. Shellmon
15. Stingmon
16. Thunderbirmon
17. Togemon
18. Vegiemon
19. Woodmon
Bakumon

This cute little child type dream-eater is kind of frustrating, because the addition of tusks adds a pachyderm aspect onto its tapir basis, and the metal mask is exactly like an unevolved version of Mammothmon's mask...but Bakumon is a child level, Mammothmon is a perfect level, and there's nothing in between that rationally links them by evolution, except perhaps the fiery Boarmon, and I guess that's the best we're going to get for the time being. Is that why Boarmon had a metal plate on its face? Was it SUPPOSED to be their missing link?

There isn't a whole lot else to say, except Baku are always a cool yokai and Bakumon is a decent take on one, even if both Pokemon and the later Yo-kai Watch kind of blow it out of the water with their own entries.

## Digivolves from

* Tokomon

or

1. DemiMeramon

## Digivolves to

* Elephantmon
* Starmon
* Bullmon

or

1. Apemon
2. BlackGatomon
3. Boarmon
4. Centarumon
5. DarkLizardmon
6. DarkTyrannomon
7. Dobermon
8. Dogmon
9. FlareRizamon
10. Garurumon
11. Greymon
12. Gururumon
13. Halsemon
14. Kokatorimon
15. Meramon
16. Monochromon
17. Musyamon
18. Sorcermon
19. Wizardmon
Ankylomon

Armadillomon's "truest" evolution is a decent Ankylosaur, following very logically from an armadillo and throwing in some spiky punk armbands for good measure, but it does kinda bug me how this is designed exactly like the "armor" evolutions. It doesn't look any more organic or natural than Digmon, and definitely not as organic and natural as it might have had it been a season 1 digimon.

The only other really interesting thing here is that this is the digimon who fuses with Angemon to become Shakkoumon, the giant flying Dogu statue. Maybe I should have saved that for this page, so we would have something also to review at four or five stars. Nuts. We don't even really have an appropriate Perfect stage to include!

## Digivolves from

* Armadillomon

or

1. BlackAgumon
2. Gomamon
3. Psychemon
4. Tentomon

## Digivolves to

* Shakkoumon

or

1. Meteormon
2. SkullScorpiomon
Flymon

So, oddly enough, it's quite clear that this Digimon was designed as an evolved form of Kunemon, but it doesn't appear until a couple of virtual pets later, evolving from something else entirely that we'll be reviewing later this week. Since then, of course, Kunemon and Flymon have been more directly linked in various game appearances, though they both remain rather obscure. It seems like these poor bugs are almost nobody's favorite Digimon, and again, I wish I could say they were mine. This is clearly more of a wasp than the promised fly, and I may like wasps, but I love flies, and it seems doubtful we will ever get a proper one in Digimon form with this Hymenopteran hogging the name.

Still, Flymon does have a lot of neat characteristics. Some great looking arthropod limbs, a cool frill. REALLY cool wings with creepy eyespots, and a jaw structure that appears to have been lifted from a graboid!

## Digivolves from

* Kunemon

or

1. Crabmon
2. Dokunemon
3. Floramon
4. Gizamon
5. Mushroomon
6. Tentomon

## Digivolves to

* Flybeemon

or

1. Arukenimon
2. Okuwamon
Dobermon

What a COOL evil dog digimon! Well, not totally evil. We've certainly seen this Adult level as a minion of malevolent digimon, but it's one of those demon digimon that was turned from a virus type to a vaccine in order to hunt other bad guys. I actually really like the sleek simplicity of its face, while the gaunt vertebrae are a detail I like on just about anything, the raptorial heel talons are terrifying on a big dog and the oversized spiked collar is a fun touch. Finally we have those red "eyes" on its legs, giving it a final dash of supernatural weirdness that feels like much more than just a scary dog.

## Digivolves from

* Gazimon

or

1. Bakumon
2. Bokomon
3. Floramon
4. Gabumon
5. Labramon
6. Neemon
7. Salamon
8. Strabimon

## Digivolves to

* Cerberumon
* Cerberumon Werewolf Mode

or

1. Caturamon
2. Persiamon
3. SkullSatamon
Cherubimon (Evil)

Like every one of Lopmon's evolutionary stages, however, Cherubimon also gets an eviler counterpart, though ironically enough I feel that this isn't even half as scary looking as regular Cherubimon. The meaner eyes just don't leave anything to the imagination; Cherubimon had those horrible little beady doll eyes!

Still, I like that one of the mightiest angel digimon is this freaky-weird rabbit thing at all, and I like that it doesn't stray too far from that design when it goes bad.

## Digivolves from

* Antylamon (Virus)

or

1. Antylamon
Dokugumon

How about we just round out a "trio" of adult level bug digimon, shall we? Dokugumon even released the same year as Snimon and Yanmamon, filling the much-needed niche of a true arachnid Digimon, and it's as cool as any fan of both spiders and digimon could have hoped for.

Honestly, just how much cooler could this design have gotten? You have the massive jolly roger on its abdomen, shaggy tarantula legs with stripes and belts and bandages, a mane of wild rocker hair, beefy humanoid forelimbs and that many-eyed, demonic looking mask topping the Violator-Giger jaw arrangement. Add to that the lore that this was once a gentle giant spider until a computer virus drove it mad and you've got a great, iconic digimon all around.

Sadly, Dokugumon has what SHOULD be a perfect child-level form, Kodokugumon, but was officially declared a Baby II digimon at some point...and has had only two minor anime roles with no official gaming appearances, which would almost make its very canon questionable if Digimon had any concept of a canon.

If we are to consider this swell little spiderling an actual digimon, its baby status means it still has to evolve into something that is not a spider before it evolves back into full-size Dokugumon, and the most common child stage here is Dokunemon, the poisonous green worm. Digimon doesn't follow biological logic to begin with, no, and it shouldn't, but a little part of me can't help but wince that an insect larva winds up being the closest a spider has to an official prevolution. Another child level option, however, is a poisonous mushroom digimon we'll be seeing later, and while that doesn't make biological sense either, it runs with more of a "toxic" theme that's a lot of fun, if you ask me.

On the plus side, Dokugumon ACTUALLY has a Perfect-level spider digimon to evolve into, and she in turn can evolve into an ultimate-level arachnoid. These couldn't be more obvious or more "official" evolutions of Dokugumon, which is why we would usually review them immediately, but this time...both are so unique and special that they fully warrant their own more dedicated review pages. Sorry guys. I can't blow ALL the spiders in one shot.

## Digivolves from

* Dokunemon

or

1. Armadillomon
2. Biyomon
3. Crabmon
4. Gabumon
5. Kunemon
6. Mushroomon
7. Palmon
8. Wormmon

## Digivolves to

* Arukenimon

or

1. MegaKabuterimon
2. Piximon
3. Scorpiomon
Archelomon

Would it really kill them to give wormmon more invertebrates? Especially as armor forms? Archelomon isn't bad, though. Its colors and "ears" follow directly from the little green grub, it's a cool looking sea turtle, and it has giant knives for front flippers, which is a pretty unique look.

## Digivolves from

* Gwappamon

or

1. Armadillomon
2. Crabmon
3. Syakomon
4. Wormmon
Kangarumon

Haha, what?! Kindness is the crest of a new digikid we'll be talking about soon, and his digimon is an insect type, but somehow the associated form for V-mon is a plush boxing kangaroo. The helmeted head isn't that interesting, but I LOVE the disturbing zipper mouth where its "pouch" should be, chewing on a little voodoo-doll surrogate baby. I think I like that creepy pouch enough to give this an entire extra point. It feels like the kind of monster detail classic to the digimon style, and at this point, I'm taking all of those I can get.

## Digivolves from

* Neemon

or

1. Veemon
Candlemon

Speaking of ghostly things, I always loved the Haunted House feel of Candlemon here, with its dripping white wax, menacing red eyes, fully organic teeth, spiky candlestick foot and the fact that a whole Demimeramon still serves as its flame, albeit without the stitches! A solid design all around, though it looks even better drawn by Mucchi Tsubura, winner of a fan-art contest whose entries were used on official TCG cards:

MAN that's good! I wish the official design was even closer to these proportions!

## Digivolves to

* Meramon
* FlareRizamon

or

1. Apemon
2. Birdramon
3. BlackGrowlmon
4. Devimon
5. Flamedramon
6. Guardromon
7. Musyamon
8. SandYanmamon
9. ShimaUnimon
10. Soulmon
11. Thunderbirmon
12. Wizardmon
Cyclonemon

This is another of the many, many adult Digimon who have no appropriate evolutions and get precious little attention, with Cyclomon in particular having virtually ZERO anime appearances of any note. It's a pretty cool beast, however, almost resembling an extremely mutated Greymon. Cyclomon's primary gimmick and namesake is that it's a "cyclops," but while that usually entails a creature with one eye in the center of its face, Cyclomon has more of a reptilian head with only one eye on one side. This gives the poor thing a pretty massive blind spot, pretty much its entire right side if it doesn't turn its head often enough, but it still looks pretty damn cool.

According to Cyclomon's profile, it was once a "stalwart dragon warrior," but Leomon destroyed its right eye and reduced it to a brutal, vengeful killer. Wow, Leomon, what the hell, man!

To facilitate its revenge, Cyclomon also strengthened its right arm to abnormal proportions, lest you thought this was just a poorly drawn perspective effect. No, it really does have one arm that's just three times as beefy as the rest of it, which I guess also compensates for that big blind spot.

## Digivolves from

* Gizamon

or

1. BlackAgumon
2. Gazimon
3. Monodramon
4. Sharmamon
5. Tsukaimon

## Digivolves to

* SkullGreymon

or

1. Brachiomon
2. Datamon
3. Mermaimon
4. Paildramon
5. Vermillimon
6. WaruSeadramon
Halsemon

Like I said, we're not going to look at ALL of the armor evolutions this time; just the most important. Halsemon ends up being Hawkmon's go-to evolution, and you can see some similarity to V-mon's Love Egg form. That thing really was a darker, eviler distortion of this interestingly quadrupedal bird, which seems to "fly" using the metallic wings on its helmet. That's a pretty novel idea for a bird monster, not gonna lie.

## Digivolves from

* Hawkmon

or

1. Bakumon
2. Terriermon

## Digivolves to

* ?

or

1. MetalGreymon
Dragomon

Yes, there is a cthulhu Digimon, but named after Dagon, Lovecraft's fish-headed sea-god. As you might expect, it can evolve from any number of aquatic Digimon, but Gesomon and Octomon are the most obvious, with Dagomon even possessing both the squid's metal cables and the octopus's treasure as well as a couple of barnacles!

Dagomon is specified to have arisen from a computer virus that attacked the navigational equipment aboard ships in our own world, and it called "the sinful priest of the ocean floor." The beads around its neck are a rosary it wears when it prays over its own defeated opponents, and it bunches all its tentacles up into a humanoid shape because it just sort of likes to be humanoid, apparently. Personally, I like that the arm facing us works out as a whole second octopus head, and also, that his main head has adorable little freckles under its eyes.

It's almost a shame that I've been so, SO burnt out on the whole concept of Cthulhu since at least the early 2000's, because Dagomon was a pretty rare and novel cultural reference for its time. All but the most hardcore geeks were all that familiar with Cthulhu back in the day, and it really is pretty cool that he's got a Digimon counterpart.

Dagomon was even the subject of an exceptionally weird, dark and confusing episode of Digimon Adventure 02, which included a bunch of fishlike Hangyoumon ("Divermon" in English) literally wanting to mate with Kari (ew??) to produce a new hybrid race that could defeat their new god, a Dagomon seen in shadow only briefly. None of this is ever mentioned again by the series and was seemingly intended as a stand-alone horror episode, but I remember the Fox Kids dub kind of missing that and ending the episode with a "who is this mysterious new villain?!" cliffhanger.

That sign is a real Digimon alphabet code, by the way, and it says "Innsmouth."

Unfortunately, there has yet to be an Ultimate-level mollusk Digimon other than Platinumnumemon, and it would be hilarious if Cthulhu could evolve into a coprophilic angel slug, but he doesn't. The only really interesting evolution options for Dagomon, thus far, are a space alien we're going to review later and the possibility of Devitamamon, but Dagomon only evolves into Devitamamon if it fuses with a Ladydevimon and a blue Meramon in the Digimon Story: Super Xros Wars video games.

This concludes our look at Digimon mollusks until we get around to a certain team of villains who happen to include a pretty interesting mermaid-kraken, so, look forward to that!

## Digivolves from

* Octomon

or

1. Coelamon
2. Ebidramon
3. Gesomon
4. IceDevimon
5. Mantaraymon
6. Seadramon
7. Seasarmon

## Digivolves to

* Leviamon

or

1. Daemon
2. MetalSeadramon
3. Pukumon
4. Suijinmon
5. VenomMyotismon
Butterflymon

This, meanwhile...I don't know what this is. I want to give it props for looking fairly menacing, both for a butterfly and for one of Gatomon's armors, but we already saw a scary armor-level butterfly a few pages back, and the way this thing is designed and drawn just doesn't grab me. I will say there's a kind of interesting backstory that says Butterflymon, Flybeemon and Honeybeemon (see V-mon's page) all evolved during a "mass outbreak of Kunemon."

## Digivolves from

* Honeybeemon

or

1. Gatomon

## Digivolves to

* ?

or

1. Etemon
2. MegaKabuterimon
Leomon

Until Weregarurumon showed up, Leomon was the buff hero furry man we were originally introduced to, and considered the heroic rival to Ogremon. In fact, Ogremon believes he only exists to defeat Leomon, but of course, the two form a grudging alleigance for the greater good in the Adventure anime.

As a design, Leomon isn't really my kind of thing, but he serves a purpose, and apparently, his sword (you can just see it sheathed on his waist) is sentient. This is just never mentioned anywhere but his official profile.

## Digivolves from

* Elecmon

or

1. Agumon
2. Bearmon
3. Biyomon
4. Gabumon
5. Gazimon
6. Guilmon
7. Palmon
8. Patamon
9. Penguinmon

## Digivolves to

* GrapLeomon

or

1. Andromon
2. Divermon
3. IceLeomon
4. Mamemon
5. Megadramon
6. Minotarumon
7. Vademon
8. WaruMonzaemon
Labramon

The child stage is a pretty forgettable digimon dog. We sure have come a long way from child digimon as original as Gabumon, that's for sure, but I guess being such a plain, shaggy dog ties in with the "human modification" aspect. Labramon's signature move is a healing ability called "Cure Liqueur," I guess based on the fictional image of St. Bernards delivering alcohol to "revive" people.

## Digivolves to

* Dogmon

or

1. Baromon
2. Coelamon
3. Darcmon
4. Dobermon
5. Gargomon
6. Growlmon
7. Kyubimon
8. Mantaraymon
9. Opossumon
10. Seasarmon
11. Wendigomon
AeroVeedramon

Straightforward, metalgreymon-style winged evolution but without any cybernetic elements. Nice to see some tattery wings again, at least.

## Digivolves from

* Veedramon

or

1. Allomon
2. Birdramon
3. GoldVeedramon
4. Peacockmon
5. Shurimon
6. Thunderbirmon

## Digivolves to

* UlforceVeedramon

or

1. Hououmon
2. Imperialdramon
3. Machinedramon
4. MetalGarurumon
5. Metamormon
Gesomon

A very great deal of aquatic Digimon can evolve from the scallop, but there are no less than four adult-level mollusks it can morph into, counting, yes, the shelled version of Numemon if your mussel parenting skills are lacking enough.

Gesomon is the obligatory squid-based Digimon, and it's a lovely design all around. Its complete lack of eyes are pretty ominous, and quite unusual for a squid, replacing them with those cool metallic hoses and Todd Mcfarlane markings. Actually...ARE those just its eyes? It's not like Venom's eyes from Spiderman look like anything but markings either.

Gesomon adds Digimon claws to its suckered paddles for another neat effect, AND swaps out a squid's beak for another of those "Violator" jaw arrangements! I kinda like how the pink flesh of the jaw makes the rest of the squid look like a costume.

## Digivolves from

* Gomamon

or

1. Crabmon
2. Gazimon
3. Gizamon
4. Guilmon
5. ModokiBetamon
6. Neemon
7. Penguinmon
8. SnowGoburimon
9. Syakomon

## Digivolves to

* MarineDevimon

or

1. Dragomon
2. ExTyrannomon
3. Scorpiomon
Guardromon

Not one of my top favorites, but not bad at all. This simple, chunky humanoid robot has a nice antique look and feel to it, like it was built with salvage from an old submarine or a boiler, it wouldn't look out of place in a Megaman game and you know how I feel about eye-hole faces by now. The little robot bullet with the baton and the whistle is also hilarious.

## Digivolves from

* Hagurumon

or

1. Betamon
2. Candlemon
3. Kokuwamon
4. Muchomon
5. Psychemon
6. Renamon
7. Salamon
8. ToyAgumon

## Digivolves to

* Andromon

or

1. BigMamemon
2. Megadramon
3. Myotismon
4. WaruMonzaemon
KaratsukiNumemon

Simply dubbed "Shelnumemon" in earlier English material, this variant was introduced in the sixth Digimon virtual pet, the same one that gave us Tentomon, but was surprisingly enough not this virtual pet's "failure" evolution option.

Karatsukinumemon is otherwise exactly the same thing as Numemon, including overall battle power according to every game since, merely borrowing its shell from other mollusk-like Digimon. There are no such Digimon who naturally have this particular shell, mind you, but it's kind of like how the Shellder on Slowbro's tail changes shape when they evolve together. What it does have over Numemon, other than the shell, are the eerie red irises and the smaller but sharper-toothed mouth, and it's actually hard to decide which set of features I like more.

## Digivolves from

* Syakomon

or

1. Chuumon
2. Psychemon

## Digivolves to

* BlackKingNumemon

or

1. Digitamamon
2. SkullSatamon
Etemon

Sukamon's evolutions are where this becomes more of a mixed bag, because while Numemon was long ago granted an entire line of googly-eyed gastropods, Sukamon's only "official" evolution has remained the same since its debut: a buff, plush monkey man who channels Elvis Presley.

I...okay?

I do get the reasoning here, of course. For one thing, monkeys are notorious for throwing feces. For another, pretty much every culture has a concept of someone being "full of shit" or "talking shit." Whereas Numemon attempts to make up for its gross, lowly image with a "cute" teddy bear evolution, Sukamon goes the route of aggressive machismo and now regards itself as a sexy superstar.

Etemon isn't something I find that cool on its own and I do wish there were some more direct variations on Sukamon itself, but I understand where Etemon is coming from, and he makes a fairly funny yet surprisingly threatening villain in the anime only shortly after the defeat of Devimon. We go from basically Satan to just a loud dudebro, and...well, I guess that makes enough sense.

You'll also notice that Etemon wears a doll of Monzaemon on his hip. This is said to be a symbol of their "close friendship," and that's the only explanation we're ever really given.

## Digivolves from

* Sukamon
* PlatinumSukamon

or

1. Apemon
2. Butterflymon
3. Fugamon
4. Gorillamon
5. Hyogamon
6. Nefertimon
7. Swanmon
8. Targetmon
9. Tylomon

## Digivolves to

* KingEtemon
* MetalEtemon

or

1. Jijimon
Chrysalimon

Speaking of bad news, you know that's what you're in for whenever a monster transforms into a giant pupa. Moreso if that pupa still has ways to murder you, with this armored "chrysalis" sporting a number of blade-tipped tentacles and beam attacks. It continues to resemble something crafted by some sort of ancient martian civilization, too. Not bad at all!

## Digivolves from

* Keramon

or

1. Arkadimon (Rookie)

## Digivolves to

* Infermon

or

1. Arkadimon (Ultimate)
2. Cyberdramon
3. Taomon
HerculesKabuterimon

Finally, the Ultimate stage is another one we never got to see in the original two series, but it does make a major appearance in the newer Digimon Tri, and is even central to what many assert is one of the most heartbreaking emotional moments in "Adventure" continuity. There aren't a lot of franchises out there where you can watch a thing that looks like this having a tearjerker hero moment, I'll tell ya what.

## Digivolves from

* MegaKabuterimon

or

1. Cyberdramon
2. Gigadramon
3. Kabuterimon
4. Kuwagamon
5. Megadramon
6. Okuwamon
7. Paildramon
8. Scorpiomon
9. Shellmon
10. SkullScorpiomon
11. SuperStarmon
12. Tekkamon
Dogmon

Another product of an art contest, Doggymon is an Adult-level puppet digimon following a similar style to monsters like Chuumon and Gekomon, so naturally, I love it. It was supposedly created from the data of an American cartoon database, and its body can squash and stretch to resist serious injury. It's another highly unusual digimon that SEVERELY warrants an appropriately themed Perfect and Ultimate stage, but unfortunately, is only thus far known to evolve into two possible digimon; either Cerberumon or Metal Greymon. Of the two, only Cerberumon is even a dog, and a dog we're going to be reviewing a bit later. It doesn't even get to evolve into Weregarurumon or any of the other existing canines? Or any of the higher-level cartoon puppets? Sheesh.

You might also expect this to be one of those "garbage" digimon, but I'm not sure it's even gotten that distinctive of a role. On the plus side, it can evolve from the similarly styled Chuumon. From a mouse to a dog? I guess they're both pretty basic cartoon animals, which means there really oughta be some fat, toony cat monster for Doggymon to evolve into, and from there, I don't know...a creepy Etemon-like rabbit?

The only attention Doggymon's ever gotten at all was in a single episode of Digimon Frontier, but at least it was a fun gag. He served as the sidekick to a conniving, cheating Black Weregarurumon participating in a race, and the two were basically direct expies of Dick Dastardly and Muttley from Hanna Barbera's Wacky Races!

Aesthetically, Doggymon is also a good lead-in to tomorrow's digimon, and for multiple reasons, I really think it should be one of its evolutionary options.

## Digivolves from

* Labramon

or

1. Bakumon
2. Chuumon
3. Neemon
4. Renamon
5. Terriermon
6. ToyAgumon

## Digivolves to

* ?

or

1. Cerberumon
2. MetalGreymon
3. Mummymon
Chamelemon

Awwww man. I really do wish these armor digimon weren't just a bunch of random, forgotten miscellany, because I really love this grumpy, helmeted chameleon. It's just so nicely designed and drawn! This is also one of the few armor digimon whose armor has anything but a smooth, shiny plastic texture, looking much more natural, organic and studded with knobs to break up the monotony. I have no idea why a chameleon would have aviator goggles, which also seem to be completely unusable the way they're fused into its helmet, but it's a fun little extra detail, sure.

## Digivolves to

* ?

or

1. Paildramon
Gallantmon

Sorry, but...yawn. An animal-like digimon evolving into a human-like digimon lost its novelty almost a hundred digimon ago. Another of the "Royal Knight" digimon, too, and admittedly it's fairly fun for a dragon to evolve into a knight, but I think we've already seen that before, too.

## Digivolves from

* WarGrowlmon

or

1. BlackWarGrowlmon
2. MagnaAngemon
3. MetalGreymon
Allomon

Like any other digimon, there are now many things that can canonically evolve into each of these armor forms, but each also has a child stage they were sort of "officially" introduced for, like how Allomon here evolves from Hawkmon. Any instance of a bird evolving into a nonavian dinosaur, or vice versa, is always pretty cool in my book, even if it's a little gauche that they made a cartoon dinosaur look "native american" and called it a day.

Minus its dressup accessories and the fact that real Allosaurs may have been entirely feathered, Allomon is otherwise one of the most "life like" carnivorous dinosaur digimon, and that has to count for something too...though I'm not sure how exactly this is an "armor form," and that's going to be an issue quite frequently as we go over these.

## Digivolves from

* Gaossmon

or

1. BlackAgumon
2. Crabmon
3. Guilmon
4. Hawkmon
5. Monodramon
6. Muchomon
7. Veemon

## Digivolves to

* ?

or

1. AeroVeedramon
2. Orochimon
3. Vikaralamon
4. WarGrowlmon
5. WaruMonzaemon
6. Zudomon
Cherubimon

Lopmon continues to be Kind of a Big Deal in the digital pantheon when it evolves into Cherubimon, considered one of the three highest ranking angel digimon alongside Ophanimon and Seraphimon, which you may remember as final evolutions to Angemon and Angewomon. Together, they symbolize the three angelic choirs in Christianity, the Cherubim being the guardians of God himself.

In appropriately celestial fashion, Cherubimon's design is both "heavenly" and a little unsettling. You can still see the rabbit aspect, but there's a really alien quality to the whole thing, with that disarmingly innocent "stuffed animal" face and huge, weird hands, not to mention the almost clown-like neck ruff.

## Digivolves from

* Antylamon

or

1. MetalGreymon
2. Piximon
BlackKingNumemon

Sadly, you can kind of tell this is a later Digimon just by the lower level of detail on those eye stalks, but the idea of a kingly Numemon with a giant, silver crown for a shell and a little curly mustache is an acceptable enough alternative to Monzaemon, and its existence was established in Digimon World 3 as a Numemon who declared itself king of a place known as the Dark Trash Data World. What else would anybody want to be the King of?

now, before we move on the Ultimate stage, there's actually a couple of other alternatives to talk about...

## Digivolves from

* KaratsukiNumemon

or

1. Numemon
2. Raremon
3. Sukamon

## Digivolves to

* ?

or

1. GoldNumemon
Ikkakumon

Gomamon's Adult form is an expected walrus-like sea beast, but with the shaggy fur and single horn, there's also shades of narwhal and "abominable snowman" in here. Not bad, a good simple big animal-like Digimon.

## Digivolves from

* Gomamon

or

1. Muchomon
2. SnowAgumon
3. Syakomon
4. Terriermon

## Digivolves to

* Zudomon

or

1. Divermon
2. Gigadramon
3. Scorpiomon
4. Whamon
Flybeemon

What honestly ever happened to the way they used to draw arthropod digimon? From pretty much this season onwards, we almost never get another one that looks like an organic insect, or really like anything other than either a robot, a bug-themed dinosaur or a bug-themed human. Flybeemon just doesn't interest me much, but I'll give it a three because it's not bad for what it's going for.

## Digivolves from

* Flymon

or

1. Hawkmon
2. Tentomon
3. Wormmon

## Digivolves to

* TyrantKabuterimon

or

1. Arukenimon
2. Dinobeemon
3. Knightmon
Goblimon

A proper child stage for Ogremon would only come later, though I can't say I really like Goblimon as much, and I think it's just because the muzzle, more like a cartoon ape, just looks too dorky combined with those Sonic the Hedgehog eyes and little shock of hair. You looked like an utter goof as a kid, Ogremon. No wonder you overcompensate so hard now.

## Digivolves from

* Pagumon

or

1. Nyaromon

## Digivolves to

* Ogremon
* Grumblemon
* Boarmon

or

1. Baromon
2. BlackGrowlmon
3. Coelamon
4. Ebidramon
5. Flamedramon
6. FlareRizamon
7. Fugamon
8. Golemon
9. Grizzlymon
10. Growlmon
11. Mantaraymon
12. Musyamon
13. Ninjamon
14. Raremon
15. Shurimon
16. Sorcermon
17. Tortomon
18. Tuskmon
19. Youkomon
ExVeemon

Please...that's enough...why does this exist. We aleady have V-mon and V-dramon and Aero v-dramon. How many Veemans designs did they really have to come up with and why did they have to use all of them.

## Digivolves from

* Veemon

or

1. Agumon
2. BlackAgumon
3. DemiDevimon
4. Flamemon
5. Gabumon
6. Mushroomon
7. Patamon
8. Renamon
9. Salamon
10. SnowAgumon
11. Wormmon

## Digivolves to

* Paildramon

or

1. Dinobeemon
2. MagnaAngemon
3. Orochimon
4. SkullSatamon
KingEtemon

I'll review these two together, because I basically have the same thing to say about them both. They're two slightly different ways in which Etemon's ego spirals out of control, evolving into either a battle-crazed, metal-plated bodybuilder - one known for "fighting dirty" - or a self-described "Great King of Kings" that only believes he rules anything. Both are funny, and I like that Metaletemon now has a Warumonzaemon plush, but this is another of those cases where Digimon came up with whatever more it could to fill that Ultimate-level hole they went and dug for themselves.

Fortunately, we don't have to end on just a bunch of ghastly monkeys!

## Digivolves from

* Etemon

or

1. Digitamamon
Daemon

One of the most powerful of all demon digimon, Daemon was introduced only briefly in the second anime series, but allegedly the top villain pulling the strings behind the scenes and leader of the "Daemoncorps," a team also consisting of Skullsatamon, Ladydevimon and Marinedevimon. Good taste in friends, Daemon!

We were also introduced to this digimon in his "mantled" form, a humanoid figure with creepy occult robes and a conical hood. I see this kind of design a lot in anime; I think it actually might have been inspired by the Kloo Klurx dipshits, but Japan misunderstands it as a generic Scary Cult outfit and associates it more with Satan.

Under the robes, Daemon is actually kind of goofy looking, but in a way that I think may also draw inspiration from various Devilman demons, or at least the general style in which a lot of them are drawn. The only thing really strongly cool about this design, to me, is how the scaly limbs can apparently extend or retract, and how their furry "sleeves" end in their own rings of teeth.

Various other illustrations make Daemon look a little more epic and threatening, this probably being my favorite. You can really tell here that Daemon was originally conceived as the most evil and supreme of all evil digimon, the true equivalent to Satan Himself in the digital world. Today, he's just one of seven different demon lord digimon representing the seven deadly sins, his being wrath.

Daemon is also one of the few digimon to have an "ultra" form, or a seventh evolution into an "even more ultimate" stage, because of course that's something digimon eventually did, and has since pushed even further as new series and new games seek to break the record for epic-scale villains.

Super Duper Daemon is...alright. A little less beastly, a lot bigger looking with that tiny little head, spikier and with scarier wings. Not terrible, but nothing too amazing either.

As a last note, Daemon is just Demon in Japan, but was almost translated for the dub as "Creepymon" to avoid offending religious folk. Instead, they compromised with Daemon because hardly anybody uses that spelling, or something. Personally, I think "Creepymon" is so entertainingly underwhelming for Literal Satan that I wish they'd stuck with it.

## Digivolves from

* Mephistomon

or

1. Arukenimon
2. Dragomon
3. Garudamon
4. LadyDevimon
5. MarineDevimon
6. Mummymon
7. NeoDevimon
8. Phelesmon
9. SkullGreymon
10. SkullMeramon
11. SkullSatamon
Dinobeemon

When we reviewed all those veemons, I said that Paildramon was one of only two possible fusions with another digimon. That digimon was Stingmon, and this is their other fusion. Can you tell that this and Paildramon were both modeled after toys that were made first? Transforming toys that were made first? I supppose that in itself lends a certain, uh, uniqueness to it. It sure does look like an action figure flipped inside out into another action figure. Also just okay. Not my thing as a design, but it's nice to know why it looks the way it does.

## Digivolves from

* Stingmon

or

1. BlackExVeemon
2. ExVeemon
3. Flybeemon
4. Gatomon
5. Gladimon
6. Greymon
7. Grizzlymon
8. Honeybeemon
9. Kabuterimon
10. Kongoumon
11. Kuwagamon
12. Searchmon
13. Shadramon

## Digivolves to

* GrandisKuwagamon

or

1. BlackImperialdramon
2. GranKuwagamon
3. Imperialdramon
4. VenomMyotismon
5. WarGreymon
6. Zanbamon
Knightmon

I have a distinct memory of actually really liking this giant perfect-level knight the first time I saw it, but I can't really recall why. It's JUST a giant knight. Were my tastes really that broad in my teens? I think NOW we're all done with minor anime digimon up to the year 2000, and will really finish them off with tomorrow's entry.

## Digivolves from

* Gladimon

or

1. BlackGatomon
2. Blimpmon
3. Centarumon
4. Clockmon
5. Dinohumon
6. Flybeemon
7. Golemon
8. Kabukimon
9. Lynxmon
10. Nefertimon
11. Opossumon
12. Oryxmon
13. Rabbitmon

## Digivolves to

* GuardiAngemon

or

1. Crusadermon
2. Imperialdramon
3. MetalGarurumon
4. Seraphimon
5. WarGreymon
FlaWizarmon

A little more obscure than its brother and sister, this fire-themed Wizardmon was actually introduced as an "armor" digivolution for one of the second season's hero Digimon, but one of many such forms that never actually showed up in said season and couldn't possibly have anything less in common, thematically, with that hero digimon. I was originally going to go through all "armor forms" on their own, but there's so darn many of them, I may as well get some of them out of the way wherever they make sense.

Flawizarmon would go on to be treated as just another adult-level counterpart to Wizardmon, one too cool to hide its face and also too cool for the letter D, apparently. What I personally like most about this design, besides obviously being Guy Fieri's partner Digimon, is that it carries two cartoonishly gigantic matchsticks around.

## Digivolves from

* Impmon

or

1. Tentomon
2. Wormmon

## Digivolves to

* Mistymon

or

* Baalmon
* WaruMonzaemon
* Wisemon
Arukenimon

BEHOLD, two of Digimon's all-time biggest cutie-butts and the two most redeeming things about Adventure 02, even if these Perfect-level foes don't even show up until halfway through the series. Once that happens, however, they fulfill a much needed and probably intentional Team Rocket sort of roll, albeit with a far less healthy friendship than Jessie and James, which we'll explain in a moment, but first, to review them both as digimon concepts!

Arukenimon is introduced to us in her "human" form, which isn't something a digimon is normally supposed to have, or even something an Arukenimon normally has in other continuities. There's a reason for this that we'll also get to later.

As a "human," Arukenimon is a big cutie with great fashion sense that subtly communicates her spider theme without the more typical Black Widow motif or any obvious extra appendages. In this form, she can play a flute that puts all insect-type digimon under her control, and use her silver hairs to transform "dark towers" (long story) into evil digimon.

Arukenimon's true self, as you can see, is an even bigger cutie with even greater fashion sense, an demonic spider queen with a huge, fuzzy abdomen and the kind of weird, lanky proportions I was beginning to really miss from humanoid digimon. She's probably one of the only digimon to date with this much of a human woman aspect who still looks to any degree like a deranged monster, and for once, it's actually played up and improved upon in the anime version.

Just look at that face. How frequently does ANY "female" anime character ever get a mug that twisted? Why does the entire industry seem to believe that everbody everywhere would rather see some whimpering, baby-faced, perfectly groomed wife-oo, as the kids say these days, to one with snarly teeth, ghoulish eyes and giant arms? Who honestly prefers that? You take that rubbish and you KEEP ON MOVIN' ON OUTTA HERE with that, BUB!!!!

Arukenimon's abilities in this form include the razor-sharp "spider thread" she can release from her hands, a corrosive green "acid mist" from her mouth, and the ability to "release countless Dokugumon from her abdomen." This last ability is never actually seen in the anime, which is probably fortunate for all but the weirdest viewers. I mean, Dokugumon is consistently portrayed much bigger than Arukenimon. I know they're digital creatures anyway, but that still can't look all that pleasant.

Dokugumon, it should go without saying, is the default Adult digimon that evolves into this one, at least in games where Arukenimon is featured as a normal, "natural" digimon. She can also evolve further into something really great and visually thematic, but still unique and special enough that we're reserving it for a dedicated review of its own.

## Digivolves from

* Dokugumon

or

1. Flybeemon
2. Flymon
3. Honeybeemon
4. Snimon

## Digivolves to

* Parasimon

or

1. Babamon
2. Daemon
3. Lilithmon
Jyarimon

So as usual, we begin a new series by reviewing its lead hero digimon. Sadly, I feel like baby stages lose a lot of their creativity by this point in the series. They used to be conceived of as more unique organisms in their own right, but many we'll be seeing from here on out are pretty much just little ball versions of their child stages, and that's that. Eventually, they would cease to even introduce new Baby I stages at all, and most digimon to this day evolve from one of the same handful we've already reviewed.
Kunemon

Today, we have a child-level Digimon originally introduced alongside Patamon in the third virtual pet, actually making this little worm one of the original six child Digimon ever released. Unfortunately, this particular virtual pet offered no larger arthropods for Kunemon to evolve into, but could evolve into the debut appearances of Ogremon, Bakemon, Shellmon, Sukamon or the mole, Drimogemon, which we'll review sometime later, and some of these could go on to evolve into either Andromon or Giromon, in case you still didn't realize just how messed up digimon evolution charts can be.

It's too bad that Kunemon is otherwise so forgotten and overlooked. A wormlike larval insect Digimon is a solid concept, but it's one that we'll be seeing again later in a more popular, more marketable form that has unfortunately overshadowed this eyeless-looking, beaky grub ever since, and I feel bad saying I do prefer the later "Wormmon" as an insect design. Kunemon has a lot of features I should find extremely cool, but something about it just isn't QUITE there. Maybe the electrical motif isn't quite "me." Maybe the beak just isn't as appealing as actual mandibles would have been. I don't know. I really, really want this to be one of my favorite Digimon, but it's just somehow missing something.

I will say that I like its poisonous cousin, Dokunemon, marginally more not only for the poisonousness but the fact that green and purple are my kind of color combo.

## Digivolves from

* Motimon

or

1. Koromon
2. Tanemon
3. Tokomon
4. Tsunomon

## Digivolves to

* Flymon
* Yanmamon
* SandYanmamon

or

1. Bakemon
2. Dokugumon
3. Drimogemon
4. Honeybeemon
5. Kabuterimon
6. Kuwagamon
7. Musyamon
8. Nanimon
9. Numemon
10. Ogremon
11. Roachmon
12. Shellmon
13. Snimon
14. Sukamon
15. Vegiemon
Diaboromon

So, the Ultimate level is basically a humanoid, and you probably saw that coming by now, but surprisingly, I'm very fine with that, perhaps because it's clearly not "just" another humanoid.

Sure, you could describe this thing as a roughly anthropomorphic, armored demon, but that would be doing a disservice to its freaky, stretchy, boneless limbs, its warped proportions and its madly deranged face. It's also obviously meant to look a little bit like an Eva unit, especially once their mouths open and they start going feral, which may be a pretty mainstream anime reference, but let's face it; the Eva units are cool as hell designs. I love that hunched lankiness of theirs!

Diaboromon isn't as bizarre as it could have been, but it has an acceptable level of weirdness and more character than Chrysalimon or Infermon. Now that I really think about it, I might even like it second only to Keramon itself.

## Digivolves from

* Infermon

or

1. Antylamon
2. Indramon
3. Pajiramon
4. Sandiramon
Bullmon

There IS a theme here, it seems. For whatever reason, every single one of the Hope armors have been hoofed mammals. I can't think of any hoofed mammal that would make biological sense to evolve from Wormmon, but I can see why they went with this luchador bull, which feels as if it ties in with Wormmon's "superhero" evolutions.

## Digivolves from

* Bakumon

or

1. Tsukaimon
2. Wormmon

## Digivolves to

* Minotarumon

or

1. Kumbhiramon
2. Vajramon
Kongoumon

I'm also glad Wormmon gets another insect-like evolution here, and it's not too shabby. It at least has a cute little beetle mouth instead of a cartoon dinosaur-man mouth, and a round fat beetle is always a good beetle. It's supposedly based both on sumo wrestling and the Vajra for whatever reason. I feel like they really could have just made this an Egyptian scarab beetle and had a slightly more solid concept.

## Digivolves from

* Yanmamon

or

1. Hagurumon
2. Wormmon

## Digivolves to

* ?

or

1. Dinobeemon
Eaglemon

Sadly, Parrotmon's most official Ultimate stage loses all that monstrous parrot charm in favor of a metal-plated bird with little in the way of personality or flavor. It was actually adapted from a digimon Dot-art contest, meaning the entrant was only allowed to work in pixels, but you can still tell that his concept had eyes, and could have easily had a more Parrotmon-like look to it in the final design.

## Digivolves from

* Parrotmon

or

1. Angewomon
2. Blossomon
3. Cyberdramon
4. Datamon
5. Deramon
6. Garudamon
7. Kimeramon
8. MetalGreymon
DemiDevimon

So, a special child level for Devimon only came later, and they never actually say so, but I'm sure Demidevimon in the anime is meant to be the rebirth of the very same Devimon the kids originally went up against. I was so, so sure they were going to acknowledge that at some point, or have the little guy re-evolve at the last minute for revenge, but it never came to pass and the kids never seemed to notice any connection. In fact, they fell completely for this little bastard's lies and scams at first, like there's simply nothing remotely suspicious about something called "Demidevimon" showing up immediately after "Devimon" tried and failed to murder them all.

Demidevimon continues to be the go-to "spooky" child Digimon, unfortunately still one of the very few such options and still one of the best looking. He's sort of a cartoon bat monster, except when you look closer, he's more like a bodiless human head with bird talons, overall a much stranger and more interesting physiology than I think he gets credit for. It's one of those cases where a Digimon appears so frequently, it just starts to feel less special, but I'd honestly settle for one of these as a main Digimon partner if I had to, especially since he can evolve into pretty much any or all of the darkest and spookiest Adult stages, not even just all of the Satans, but ESPECIALLY all of the Satans.

It's also worth noting that Demidevimon's primary battle move is called "Demi Dart," and is supposed to throw a giant syringe that sucks out the opponent's blood. How cool is THAT!? Much too cool for Western audiences, apparently, by which we mean too violent and too reminiscent of "drug abuse imagery," so the syringes were carefully painted over as shadowy, black energy-darts in the dub. WEAK!

## Digivolves from

* Pagumon

or

1. DemiMeramon
2. Tokomon

## Digivolves to

* Vilemon
* Devimon
* Devidramon

or

1. Aurumon
2. Bakemon
3. Boogeymon
4. BlackGrowlmon
5. DarkTyrannomon
6. Dinohumon
7. ExVeemon
8. Garurumon
9. IceDevimon
10. Kyubimon
11. Magnamon
12. Pegasusmon
13. Raidramon
14. Raremon
15. Rinkmon
16. Soulmon
17. Wizardmon
Azulongmon

I guess god-tier digimon couldn't all just be Satans. This digimon, the "Azure Dragon of the East," is introduced near the beginning of the Dark Masters story arc, as one of the four "holy beast" digimon who apparently keep the digital world in harmony, and he's alright I guess. He's got a body made of nothing but glowing energy stuff with a few birdy wings, he's all wrapped in chains, and his head is a cool spiky mask with a beard on it, which is funny. He'd look SO much more dignified, even kind of "cute" without his beard and stache, a sort of ghostly sea serpent, but you get a beard on it and you're just going to have to deal with that. I'm liking him more and more as I write this.

Those eyes are pretty cool looking, too. Now that I really look at him, Azulongmon isn't even what I'd call overdesigned. He has a very simple set of elements, evenly distributed until you get to the head, which has every right to stand out jarringly. They really managed to communicate that this is some kind of almighty digital deity without cluttering it up.

## Digivolves from

* Raidramon

or

1. Antylamon
2. Majiramon
3. Mihiramon
Andromon

Andromon was one of the first perfect-level Digimon ever encountered in the series, so technically more powerful than even Angemon or Devimon should have been, but he never got to be much more than a friendly side character. Clearly inspired by Robocop, Andromon has quite a bit more for me to like than the typical robot-man design, including a disturbingly fleshy right leg, exposed wires and a skeleton motif throughout. I also like the way his eyes are spaced much farther apart than they could be if an actual human head were under that helmet.

Best of all, Andromon has those meaty fish-rockets we get in some of the other early Digimon, and they fly right out of his pecs!

## Digivolves from

* Guardromon

or

1. Angemon
2. Centarumon
3. Clockmon
4. Deputymon
5. Kenkimon
6. Leomon
7. Mekanorimon
8. Meramon
9. Ogremon
10. Pteramon
11. Shellmon
12. ShimaUnimon
13. Unimon

## Digivolves to

* HiAndromon

or

1. Boltmon
2. Machinedramon
3. MegaGargomon
4. MetalGarurumon
5. Raijinmon
6. Valkyrimon
HiAndromon

Unfortunately, Andromon loses a lot of his creepy cybernetic traits when he evolves into his final form. I get that this is totally by design, that he's supposed to be completely "perfected" by going full robot, but in the process, all the freaky charm is sucked right out of him in favor of something that looks more traditionally "cool," and unfortunately, that sums up a lot of Digimon as a whole.

At least Boltmon, the Frankensteinian monster, is also a possible evolution of Andromon, and so is that Reapermon or Gokumon we talked about under the Angemons!

## Digivolves from

* Andromon

or

1. BigMamemon
2. Caturamon
3. Giromon
4. Makuramon
5. Sinduramon
6. Tekkamon
Kimeramon

This is the perfect stage famously introduced in the second season of the anime, when Ken - a kid who starts out as the villainous "Digimon Emperor" - boasts that its his own original digimon. Amazing. You just stuck all the famous ones together and called it a day, huh? It does do an interesting job of merging some of those body parts, like Greymon and Kabuterimon's heads, but it's otherwise just a lot of copy/pasting. It's alright. Cheesy fun, but just alright.

## Digivolves from

* Devidramon

or

1. BomberNanimon
2. Deltamon
3. Devimon
4. Garurumon
5. Greymon
6. Kabuterimon
7. Kyubimon
8. Nanimon
9. Rinkmon
10. Togemogumon

## Digivolves to

* Millenniummon

or

1. Eaglemon
2. Ghoulmon
3. Valkyrimon
4. VenomMyotismon