recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Boarmon

From an armadillo to a pig, huh? Not that big a leap, by digimon standards. An armadillo IS pretty piggley. There's not much to boarmon other than a straightforward flaming hog, but that's pretty cool in itself. Could have easily been an early-season digimon, too, especially when it barely has any more "armor" than Allomon up there. Just a metal plate bolted onto its skull. It's almost like they just filled up a lot of "armor level" slots with whatever miscellaneous concepts they had lying around. Boarmon deserves better than that!

## Digivolves from

* Goblimon

or

1. Armadillomon
2. Bakumon
3. BlackAgumon
4. Bokomon
5. Elecmon
6. Gabumon

## Digivolves to

* Vikaralamon

or

1. Caturamon
2. Piximon
Jewelbeemon

Definitely better looking than the transformer, this evolution never appears in the anime and was only introduced some time later, but at least it keeps with Stingmon's theme while looking just a little more insectoid, at least from the neck down. This time the "bee" in the name is actually short for "beetle," based on the appearance of actual jewel beetles.

But...this is it, basically. Wormmon, despite his importance, never gets a complete digimon line of his own, only evolving next into Grankuwagamon or Imperialdramon. What a waste! Where's Wormmon's real Ultimate stage, jerkholes??? It's been almost twenty years! Wormmon has seen NO important new roles or tailor-made new evolutions!

## Digivolves from

* Mothmon

or

1. Fangmon
2. Searchmon
3. Snimon
4. Stingmon
5. Yanmamon

## Digivolves to

* BanchoStingmon

or

1. Fujinmon
2. GranKuwagamon
3. SaberLeomon
Karatenmon

This debuted the same year as armor evolutions and looks exactly like it was designed to be one, but it isn't one, while many other armor evolutions we went over had NO armor on them. Okay then.

However misplaced, it's a very cool looking tengu and cool looking bird-person digimon in general, its mythological basis instantly recognizable with a distinct digimon style that isn't near as garish as it could have been.

I feel like this should constitute a more important character, but it only has brief importance as a minor antagonist in Digimon Frontier, a series that would air a few years later.

## Digivolves from

* Saberdramon

or

1. Harpymon
2. Kougamon
3. Mojyamon
4. Shadramon
5. Shurimon
Agumon

Now we get to the main event, the little yellow dinosaur and "child stage" Digimon most recognize as the entire face of the series. Even compared to today, almost nothing flew off the toy shelves of the 90's quite like any kind of carnivorous dinosaur, and Agumon really distills the "ugly-cute" vibe that sold so many on Digimon's debut.

Agumon shows off several design quirks that actually remain signature to the franchise even today, notably the colorful irises and the flaring, mole-claw forelimbs they stick on virtually everything they possibly can.

In the anime, of course, Agumon's uncanny veins and muscles were a little toned down, but he still had that hilarious little beer-bellied human body with freaky dinosaur limbs on it. He was, if you hadn't guessed, the Digimon partner of our main hero and leader of the "digidestined," both of them basically the same sort of naive, over-eager but pure-hearted hero figure, which I know sounds super boring and is usually super boring, but they really did a good job of making every single kid and every single monster in the show incredibly likeable.

It's especially nice how the characters, no matter how cookie-cutter they may seem, show off a whole lot of carefully planned emotional growth over the course of the original series, with Tai and Agumon helping one another mature into more responsible leaders by the end of it all.

This statement will also be completely meaningless and devoid of myriad in-jokes to the majority of you, but my spouse and I at least were fairly delighted to discover that Agumon has the same Japanese voice actor, performing the same voice, as Anpanman's friend Tendonman here, and you only have to listen to his song once to know that we say "friend" in more of a "grudgingly tolerated" sense, the only sense in which anybody has ever been Tendonman's friend.

Anyway, I'm gonna rate Agumon a three out of five, because it's pretty much the most basic possible measure of a Digimon you could point to.

## Digivolves from

* Koromon

or

1. Nyaromon

## Digivolves to

* Greymon
* GeoGreymon
* Tyrannomon

or

1. Birdramon
2. BlackGreymon
3. Centarumon
4. DarkTyrannomon
5. Devimon
6. ExVeemon
7. FlareRizamon
8. Garurumon
9. Golemon
10. Gorillamon
11. IceDevimon
12. Kyubimon
13. Leomon
14. Magnamon
15. Maildramon
16. Meramon
17. Monochromon
18. Nanimon
19. Ninjamon
20. Numemon
21. Sepikmon
22. Stingmon
23. Sukamon
24. Togemon
Kuramon

We're off to a great start already with this one-eyed little spineball, which looks to me like the purest possible embodiment of the virus type, and that's kind of exactly what it is! It was apparently born from "the malice of people abuse the computer network" and the conflicts they cause, so by now I guess the digimon world would be a solid, writhing sea of these things and pretty much nothing else, wouldn't it?

Kuramon's main attack is to produce a gross froth from its eye. Adorable!

## Digivolves to

* Tsumemon
* Arkadimon (Baby)
Sandiramon

Snake Deva and servant of Zhuqiaomon. Sandiramon is the "cruelest" of the devas, which is a pretty tired stereotype of snakes. Nothing makes a snake crueler than a wolf or a tiger or a falcon or a porpoise but we all treat those animals like they're supposed to be more noble and heroic? At least that kind of attitude is rapidly fading these days, in my experience.

Sandiramon is a cool enough looking giant, white cobra I guess, and the fact that its hood is just a turtle shell is an interesting detail I don't think I've seen elsewhere on a snake or serpentine monster!

## Digivolves from

* DarkLizardmon

or

1. Airdramon
2. Grizzlymon
3. Kyubimon
4. Quetzalmon
5. Sagittarimon

## Digivolves to

* Mervamon

or

1. Beelzemon
2. Diaboromon
3. Megidramon
4. Zhuqiaomon
Calumon

The last of the "main character" digimon from Tamers, Calumon is interesting in that it isn't meant to have any evolutions or prevolutions, but has the power to make other digimon evolve spontaneously, even straight to their Ultimate stages. It's basically the power of digivolution itself, manifesting as a digimon, which I'd say makes well enough sense considering digimon are just sentient strings of computer code anyway; this is just the digimon form of the code for digivolution, I guess.

It's a passably cute design, originally treated as a child stage but apparently showing up in a Xros Wars game as a Baby II stage, actually evolving for the first time...into Plotmon. The dog thing that evolves into Gatomon. Eh. I liked it better when Calumon never evolved.
Deltamon

This was a Digimon I constantly overlooked in the early years of the series, and for a long time, I just sort of assumed it was a higher level than the adult stage. It's dramatic and weird enough to at least be perfect level, isn't it? These early monsters usually followed a pattern in which the adults were relatively straightforward, usually completely organic beings while the perfect forms were unnaturally mutated or cybernetically enhanced.

Deltamon is said to have fused from three Digimon when a computer was fried in an electrical storm, and would be more powerful if its three heads weren't too "fiendish" to cooperate happily with one another. Do multi-headed monsters who bicker and fight ever get old?

Deltamon's design is pretty nice, too. There's a subtle shark-like quality to the central head that's just a lot more interesting than your typical dinosaur Digimon, the left head (Deltamon's left, not your left) seems to be based on Skullgreymon, and the right head is some terrifying, slobbering, cybernetic mosasaur, or something, that we've never seen anywhere else.

## Digivolves from

* Gaossmon

or

1. Armadillomon
2. BlackAgumon
3. Gizamon
4. Monodramon
5. Patamon
6. ToyAgumon

## Digivolves to

* Orochimon

or

1. Cyberdramon
2. Datamon
3. Kimeramon
4. Megadramon
5. MetalGreymon
Caturamon

Dog Deva and servant of Baihumon. For such a highly "designed" digimon, Caturamon has a pleasantly consistent palette and that charming visual personality inherent to "lion dogs." Supposedly, it has a doglike loyalty to our previous two devas, treating the monkey and rooster like its "younger siblings" to protect, but they're said to not really return the affection, which isn't surprising because monkeys and roosters both evolved to be jerks.

## Digivolves from

* Seasarmon

or

1. Boarmon
2. Dobermon
3. Garurumon
4. Grizzlymon
5. Raidramon

## Digivolves to

* Baihumon

or

1. Beelzemon
2. HiAndromon
3. SaberLeomon
Zurumon

Digimon V-pet Version 5 was basically the "bad boy" of the original line, consisting primarily of virus type Digimon even as far back as its baby stages, with Zurumon here being one of the meanest and rottenest of all hatchling Digimon! Its slimy form is apparently poisonous enough that even fully evolved Digimon prefer not to mess with it, just like a lot of small and frail but highly toxic critters in the real world!
Gekomon

...And here's one now! This is also where things get slightly strange with this line. The sixth pet featured Shellnumemon as a "failure" adult when you make too many care mistakes, but if you simply didn't meet the criteria for any other evolutions, you wound up with Gekomon here, still treated as another kind of "failure" digimon, but the first one to not be associated in any way with poop or garbage. It's pretty unusual that a "failure" would be the actual truest evolution of an otherwise ordinary child stage, but I guess the idea here is that a tadpole is going to turn into a frog by default anyway, and it just takes extra care - or gross neglect - to end up with anything else.

So, as a design, Gekomon has that same "90's American Comedy Cartoon" style as most of the other "loser" digimon, and that's already my favorite aesthetic we ever see in these here digital monsters, but I daresay Gekomon perfects, and this newer illustration really drives that home. Gekomon's crazed, irregular eyeballs, wild teeth, lanky body, three-pronged tongue and absurdly built-in trombone all make for one of the zaniest, most endearing, most criminally under-appreciated designs in the whole series, and you know I mean it when we're not even talking about a bug or a slug or a trash pile this time.

Gekomon may not be one of my personal, must-have favorites as a concept, no, but for real, no joke, I genuinely think this bonkers frog might actually be, in my eyes, the best any Digimon can ever possibly look. You may not like it, but this is the ideal Digimon body. This is what peak digivolution looks like.

## Digivolves from

* Otamamon

or

1. Gizamon
2. Gomamon
3. Gotsumon
4. Tentomon

## Digivolves to

* ShogunGekomon

or

1. Okuwamon
2. Piximon
Cerberumon Werewolf Mode

Debuting eleven years later in 2013, this transformation of Cerberumon keeps the burnt flesh at least on its arms and turns the shoulder heads into RIDICULOUS giant, robotic dog-head cannons, and for that, it deserves a four. It would just be any other boring humanoid transformation if it didn't lug those freaking stupid things around, so instead I love it.
Coelamon

Despite the fact that there's an adult-level lobster Digimon out there, Crabmon's go-to adult stage is typically this kickass bony fish, dressing up a stylized coelecanth in all the BEST trademark Digimon features. It's got flesh-rimmed eyes peering from rugged holes in its cranial armor plating, horrifying teeth, paddle shaped claws, external rib bones and areas of excessively veiny flesh! I most of all love how the hind fins are really emphasized as weird little feet. I really can't imagine a better Digimon fish for those who like both Digimon and fish.

## Digivolves from

* Crabmon

or

1. Betamon
2. Gizamon
3. Goblimon
4. Gomamon
5. Hagurumon
6. Labramon
7. Lopmon
8. Syakomon

## Digivolves to

* Divermon

or

1. Dragomon
2. LadyDevimon
3. Megadramon
4. MegaSeadramon
5. Scorpiomon
6. Vademon
7. WaruSeadramon
Hawkmon

Alriiight, fiiine, I'll move on. Hawkmon is the partner digimon to a nerdy girl who's seemingly meant to be the spiritual successor to both of the original female digidestined, but as you may have surmised from V-mon, Adventure 02 really doesn't get heavily into the psychology of its main characters or why, exactly, they are partnered with these particular digimon, which sucks, because that was definitely one of the coolest aspects of the original series.

I just...don't really feel strongly one way or another about Hawkmon. He's a hawk with a belt on his head. He's okay, but I don't even remember any aspect of his personality.

## Digivolves to

* Aquilamon
* Halsemon
* Ninjamon

or

1. Airdramon
2. Allomon
3. Angemon
4. Birdramon
5. BlackGrowlmon
6. Darcmon
7. Devidramon
8. Flamedramon
9. Flybeemon
10. Greymon
11. Harpymon
12. Kiwimon
13. Kokatorimon
14. Meramon
15. Moosemon
16. Orcamon
17. Peacockmon
18. Rinkmon
19. Shurimon
20. Thunderbirmon
21. Toucanmon
22. Tyrannomon
23. Vilemon
24. Woodmon
Indramon

Horse Deva and servant of Zhuqiaomon. Whereas the snake deva was an insufferable "evil snake" cliche, I appreciate this use of a horse as a rat bastard. Indramon is vain, arrogant, rude and brutal, beating opponents to death with the giant, golden conch shell on its back or its upsettingly gigantic front hooves.

More and more people these days seem to realize that horses are, in fact, extremely unsettling and intimidating animals, but the number of nightmarishly buff horse people in manga and anime tells me that Japan was aware for much longer.

## Digivolves from

* ShimaUnimon

or

1. Pegasusmon
2. Sagittarimon
3. Unimon

## Digivolves to

* ?

or

1. AncientTrojamon
2. Beelzemon
3. Diaboromon
4. Murmuxmon
5. Zhuqiaomon
Drimogemon

The only mole-based Digimon and one of the very few burrowing-themed Digimon has always stood out to me as a design, partially because it doesn't even look as much like a mole as it does a shaggy, clawed narwhal. I don't know what it is about bulbous, whale-shaped creatures that are not actually whales, but they're always really appealing to me, and so is the trope of a mole monster with a drill for a nose. Drimogemon even adds drill fingers! Not to mention those cool teeth and gums almost hearken back to Tokomon.

Considering that it is one of the longest-running Japanese cartoons of all time, I'm about 80% positive Drimogemon and many similar monsters are all homages to Mogurin, the mole-themed mecha of Anpanman's nemesis, Baikinman, a character I talked about as a Halloween feature because the same Halloween was the debut of my medical webcomic and we did a whole germ and disease theme that year. It was great!

Almost everybody in Japan watched Anpanman at some point in their early childhood, so it's no surprise that its imagery might creep at least subconsciously into one creator after another, though we also know how Digimon's dad is big into completely overt pop-culture references.

Though there's no older or younger Drimogemons to evolve into, there is an odd variant, Nisedrimogemon, which seems to exist just as a joke. Instead of whiskers, it has a curly mustache, and the "Nise" or "imitation" in its name refers to the fact that this mustache is the one and only difference. Both Nisedrimogemon and Drimogemon's official profiles note that if Drimogemon had been discovered first, it would have been given the "Nise" in its name!

Finally, here's some adorable artwork of Drimogemon finding a bone that Garurumon had buried, then throwing it away because he "doesn't need it." This is actually a part of Drimogemon's lore; it really finds bones that are buried by Garurumon often enough to be mentioned in its profile, and throwing them constitutes one of its main attacks!

## Digivolves from

* Gabumon

or

1. Kunemon
2. Patamon

## Digivolves to

* Giromon

or

1. BlackMetalGreymon
2. MetalGreymon
3. Vademon
Arkadimon (Ultimate)

Perfect Arkadimon is actually a little less interesting to me than the weird, naked dog thing it once was, taking on a burly demon-guy sort of shape, but the tentacle fingers are at least interesting. Its descriptions say that its main attack "opens the mouth on its chest," but I have no idea what that looks like.
Arkadimon (Rookie)

Unlike any other digimon, every evolution of Arkadimon is still named Arkadimon, for some reason, but I guess that in itself is pretty ominous. Most digimon are more or less "different characters" when they evolve, in a weird way, but I guess Arkadimon is truly the same being with different bodies.

There's a nice visual "wrongness" to this digimon, like you can tell by looking that it's supposed to be something exceptionally deadly and a bit unnatural even for this setting, in kind of the same way that Mewtwo immediately looks like a genetic experiment among other Pokemon.
Kyubimon

The evolved form is a little better in the sense that it is decidedly more beast-like, but it's still so. Ordinary. Nine tailed foxes are a classic yokai and culturally significant, so there kind of had to be one in digimon sooner or later, but digimon used to have such a marvelous knack for making even the most conventional tropes stand out.

Think back, if you're a fan or have at least read our previous reviews, to how digimon packaged such classic concepts as a unicorn, a centaur, an ogre, an angel, a devil, basically anything.

This...is every kitsune I've ever seen, but with a couple extra doohickeys on it. What a wasted opportunity. It downright hurts.

## Digivolves from

* Renamon

or

1. Agumon
2. DemiDevimon
3. Floramon
4. Gabumon
5. Gizamon
6. Guilmon
7. Labramon
8. Neemon
9. Veemon

## Digivolves to

* Taomon

or

1. Kimeramon
2. Kyukimon
3. Mephistomon
4. Myotismon
5. Rapidmon
6. Sandiramon
7. Vajramon
8. WaruMonzaemon
Ebonwumon

Definitely a step up, even the most interesting looking of the holy beasts, the "black tortoise of the north" takes after Azulongmon by having a much simpler, more straightforward design than you might expect from a digimon so epic in scale. Just a two-headed turtle with a tree for a shell, fully organic, very much in line with classic reptilian beast digimon.

What's really novel about this one is that all of the holy beasts have four eyes each, but only Ebonwumon distributes them between two heads!

## Digivolves from

* Petaldramon

or

1. Jagamon
2. Kumbhiramon
3. Vajramon
4. Vikaralamon
Orcamon

Hilarious. What's not to love about a goofy anthropomorphic porpoise in a life jacket AND life preserver? Pity it doesn't also add some floaties to its arms. Apparently this ludirous thing is "very cautious" but also "dull witted" and "often breaks things by hitting them too hard," but it's also well known for rescuing digimon who get lost at sea or risk drowning. It's a big, dopey lifeguard orca whale and it makes nooooo sense to be an armor form at all, let alone for a bird, but them's the breaks I guess.

## Digivolves from

* Penguinmon

or

1. Hawkmon
2. Renamon

## Digivolves to

* Mermaimon

or

1. MarineDevimon
Lopmon

The weird thing about Lopmon is that while it's intentionally a "sibling" species to Terriermon, it's actually described as a lagomorphic digimon. No wonder I was confused! Terriermon is a "dog" but Lopmon is a "rabbit," while both of them look basically the same. I guess it's because they're digital entities and not biological lifeforms with genetic evolution.

Unlike the snarkier Terriermon, Lopmon is also calm and timid, which only makes some of its evolutions all the creepier.

## Digivolves to

* Turuiemon
* Wendigomon

or

1. Baromon
2. BomberNanimon
3. Centarumon
4. Coelamon
5. FlareRizamon
6. Gargomon
7. Gargoylemon
8. GoldRapidmon
9. Harpymon
10. Kumamon
11. Lynxmon
12. Moosemon
13. Rabbitmon
14. Seasarmon
15. Youkomon
Manbomon

Two truly absurd fish digimon in a row! This is just a mola-mola or ocean sunfish with a propeller in its tail, muscly arms and boxing gloves, which is a very very digimon sort of thing for anything to be. It's also described as a "precious" digimon whose body "produces antibodies against computer viruses," which is neat. I wonder if whoever wrote that was aware that ocean sunfish suffer from exceptional parasite density compared to almost anything else in the ocean. Being very large and very slow will do that!

## Digivolves from

* Swimmon

or

1. Gomamon
2. Neemon
3. Otamamon
4. Patamon

## Digivolves to

* Sagomon
* Depthmon
Cyberdramon

INCREDIBLY cool for an anthropomorphic dragon, if not the second coolest one in the franchise; the first being a redesign of this very digimon. This is the one form in this line that we DO see in the Tamers anime, though only in a few select episodes. Despite Strikedramon's aspirations, Cyberdramon is a vigilante vaccine not truly accepted into the "virus busters," and it's interesting how much it resembles a demon type digimon at first glance, right down to the pale blue of its underlying skin! I really like the cybernetic rubber armor with transparent panels, the red of the wings as a backdrop and I REALLY like how you can almost faintly see eyes through the dimly translucent helmet.

This is just a truly, truly badass, scary, and downright beautiful design, demonstrating that a meticulously detailed anthropomorph can still be sleek and appealing, if only more of them were designed under similar artistic principles. Nothing "juts out" awkwardly from Cyberdramon. Nothing breaks up its color scheme in a weird or tacky way. Cyberdramon is genuinely flawless.

## Digivolves from

* Strikedramon

or

1. Chrysalimon
2. Deltamon
3. Deputymon
4. Ebidramon
5. Gargomon
6. Gargoylemon
7. Greymon
8. Grizzlymon
9. Icemon
10. Kabuterimon
11. Piddomon
12. Raidramon
13. ShimaUnimon
14. Thunderballmon
15. Veedramon

## Digivolves to

* Dynasmon

or

1. Eaglemon
2. Fujinmon
3. Goldramon
4. HerculesKabuterimon
5. Justimon
6. MegaGargomon
7. Raijinmon
8. Suijinmon
Cerberumon

Now you'd think this would ALWAYS be Dobermon's evolution, right? It's a demon dog with a similar color scheme that debuted the same year in the same virtual pet! But no, in fact, there have been relatively few instances since then of Cerberumon evolving from Dobermon. Why?! What the heck!?

Well, whatever. I'm putting them together. I don't think Cerberumon is as cool as Dobermon to be honest, but it's still very cool for what it is. I like the long, more reptilian looking tail than we expect from a dog, the burnt-looking flesh wherever it isn't armored, and the additional heads being its "shoulders" is a cool enough aesthetic.

## Digivolves from

* Dobermon

or

1. Dinohumon
2. Dogmon
3. IceDevimon
4. Seasarmon
5. Youkomon

## Digivolves to

* Anubismon
* AncientSphinxmon

or

1. Magnadramon
Kabuterimon

...And when the going gets rough, the brainiac beetle can explode into a freakin' two-story xenomorph. What was I just saying about arthropod protagonists? This was what I meant when I called Birdramon only the second most terrifying hero Digimon. I never witnessed a "good guy" half this monstrous and menacing until this series, unless it was also some kind of antihero or antivillain or villain-turned-antihero or something else with a "dark" twist to excuse a "dark" appearance.

None of that here. Kabuterimon is just a huge, black and blue, eyeless nightmare with a slavering red maw who happens to be the same sweet, virtuous hero he was as a Tentomon. Horned beetles are pretty widely thought of as heroic in Japanese culture, but even other anime and manga rarely make a hero beetle this immediately grisly, and I do believe I mentioned that the lead Digimon designer is a huge fan of Western horror.

## Digivolves from

* Tentomon

or

1. Biyomon
2. Gabumon
3. Kotemon
4. Kunemon

## Digivolves to

* MegaKabuterimon

or

1. Angewomon
2. Cyberdramon
3. Dinobeemon
4. HerculesKabuterimon
5. Jagamon
6. Kimeramon
7. MetalKabuterimon
8. MetalMamemon
9. Paildramon
10. SkullGreymon
11. SkullScorpiomon
12. Vademon
Boltmon

And yes, this is the Digimon tied most directly and most commonly to Skullmeramon. That's one interesting turn! We went from a living candle to Frankenstein's Monster, and against all odds, especially in this franchise, the transition actually managed to go fairly smoothly, each of these Digimon running neatly into the look and feel of the next.

I can even kind of see a thematic logic to this line, like these flame monsters "cool off" and temper into an electrical science monster, right? I guess? Kinda? Eh? They're all things you might find in a spooky castle, at the very least.

Even judging Boltmon by the standards of Frankensteinian monsters as a whole, I think it's a fairly exceptional one. That is a really cool looking metal-masked face, I like the severed power cables still sparking around his body, and I like the way his upper arms are put together. I'm glad there's such a classic Halloween monster among the Ultimate level Digimon, which is sure less than we can say about the Garurumon line. We'll eventually be seeing a mummy and a vampire, too!

## Digivolves from

* Pumpkinmon

or

1. Andromon
2. BigMamemon
3. Mistymon
4. ShadowWereGarurumon
5. SkullMeramon
6. Taomon
7. Tekkamon
8. Tinmon
9. Volcamon
10. WereGarurumon
Stingmon

Back when this series was airing in the states for the first time, I actually thought for sure that the mantis, Snimon, would be Wormmon's main evolution. It's certainly an option, but "our" Wormmon primarily evolves into Stingmon here, which surprisingly enough isn't one of the "armor" evolutions the series made such a to-do of introducing. Alright then.

I'm not real huge into Stingmon, another entry in the Humanoid Digimon Uprising, but I get what they were going for here. It's a Sentai superhero insect type, an homage to Kamen Rider but with a waspier theme. If it can sting it should technically be a female wasp, but whatever, it's a digimon. It's okay.

## Digivolves from

* Wormmon

or

1. Agumon
2. Dokunemon
3. Floramon
4. ModokiBetamon
5. Mushroomon
6. Salamon
7. Tentomon
8. Veemon

## Digivolves to

* Dinobeemon

or

1. Angewomon
2. Asuramon
3. Jewelbeemon
4. Mammothmon
5. MegaSeadramon
6. MetalGreymon
7. Paildramon
8. Phelesmon
9. SkullScorpiomon
10. Vajramon
Neptunemon

Mermaimon can evolve into an ultimate-level mermaid, but it's part of a special set of digimon best reviewed later. Her one other appropriate Ultimate stage is Neptunemon, and it's...eh. I like that digimon evolutions have no regard for gender, but this is a pretty bland and straightforward "Neptune." The only cool thing about this design is the helmet that looks like one entire fish.
Kiwimon

Floramon's most accepted evolution feels somewhat like it fits in visually with the masked flower, but this isn't even a plant type digimon, obviously. It's a kiwi bird! A kiwi bird with a really cool bony mask, like a plague doctor, and the ability to spit even more adorable little kiwi-head-critters. I liked this design as soon as I first saw it as a minion of the villainous Puppetmon, whom we'll be reviewing in just a couple pages. In fact, Floramon was a minion of his too.

## Digivolves from

* Floramon

or

1. Aruraumon
2. Biyomon
3. Hawkmon
4. Palmon
5. Penguinmon
6. Renamon

## Digivolves to

* Deramon

or

1. Blossomon
2. Garbagemon
3. Garudamon
4. Lillymon
5. Piximon
6. Sirenmon
Golemon

What's perhaps even better than that, however, is that there's an Adult stage digimon properly linking these two pals directly together. GOLEMON is the most official evolution of Gotsumon to not be the same exact creature in a different color, and you know they couldn't resist letting Pumpkinmon evolve from it on at least a few occasions.

Golemon is also just really REALLY damn awesome to look at. Look at it RIGHT NOW! Really get up in there! Check out that face! Don't you love how many Digimon sport just one eerie eye on one side of a helmeted or masked face? I gotta do that more in my art. If they're going to abandon some of their own design conventions like they have, then somebody else has just gotta step in and pick them up. Not to mention, how many "golem" or rock-man type monsters have you ever seen with jagged, predatory teeth? This is an unmistakably spooktacular rock beast, and it may not make all that much sense for it to evolve into a pumpkinhead, but I definitely like that it can evolve into a pumpkinhead who can then evolve into a Frankenstoid.

## Digivolves from

* Gotsumon

or

1. Agumon
2. Bearmon
3. Biyomon
4. BlackAgumon
5. Goblimon
6. Hagurumon
7. Muchomon
8. Mushroomon
9. Salamon

## Digivolves to

* Volcamon

or

1. BigMamemon
2. Cherrymon
3. Jagamon
4. Knightmon
5. LadyDevimon
6. MetalGreymon
7. MetalTyrannomon
8. Meteormon
9. Piximon
10. Zudomon
Strikedramon

Again, almost all of these forms were introduced by the tie-in video game rather than the series, but Strikedramon is pretty interesting. It has that tried and true blinding metal mask that makes so many digimon so much cooler, it's humanoid without losing the oversized, chunky digimon claws, and it has baggy pants! There's just something really funny about any digimon who specifically gains pants upon evolving.

Strikedramon is supposed to be a Monodramon who wanted to become a "virus buster," and as such, it's an otherwise friendly vaccine type who flies into a rage when it encounters a virus.

## Digivolves from

* Monodramon

or

1. Flamemon
2. Strabimon
3. Veemon

## Digivolves to

* Cyberdramon

or

1. SkullGreymon
2. SkullSatamon
Nanimon

Okay...

uh......

...No?

This...thing... is apparently supposed to be a reference to the Tamagotchi character, Oyajitchi, who's in turn supposed to be a caricature of a middle-aged dad. That's pretty funny, and Oyajitchi's design is stylized enough to hit that "ugly-cute" that's so big in Japan, but even without looking just a shade or two away from some sort of nebulous, nonspecific racist caricature or distorted celebrity cameo, Nanimon feels just plain creepy.

Yes, I know, I'm usually the last person in the world to even exhibit any concept of "ugliness," but this Radical 90's Mascot Man aesthetic has always been an uncanny one. It's like Bolt Man or Mac Tonight, arguably fun because it's so dreadful, but I'd have a pretty hard time looking my Digimon in the eye if it evolved into any of those guys either.

...And then I'd have to feel extra guilty about that, because this ridiculous thing, which is also a violent drunk by the way, there's also that, occupies the same exact role as our beloved Numemon. A "bad" evolution. A form that exists as a punishment to you, the player, for being terrible. Wanna know which child digimon were featured in the first V-pet to include Nanimon? Imagine screwing up so hard that a tweety bird or a flower in your care grow up into a booze-guzzling bench-pressing Dad Head with pit hair.

It gets worse, too. Early Digimon V-pets only changed the names and sprites of existing creatures, leaving stats and attack animations exactly the same, so just like the sewage-loving Numemon, this beefy ballman attacks by...yes...unfortunately...

...I really, truly want to have room in my heart for all of these broken, screwed-up, crap-lobbing underdog Digimon, but while a googly-eyed slug wallowing in feces is only quirky and endearing to me, a bearded orb-man doing it is just...

It's just.....

......it's godless. I'm not religious, that's just the only thing that this is. Godless.

## Digivolves from

* ToyAgumon

or

1. Agumon
2. Betamon
3. Biyomon
4. Elecmon
5. Gabumon
6. Impmon
7. Keramon
8. Kunemon
9. Palmon
10. Patamon
11. Penguinmon
12. Solarmon

## Digivolves to

* Mamemon
* CatchMamemon

or

1. Digitamamon
2. GrapLeomon
3. Kimeramon
4. Vademon
Unimon

Man, how many times are we going to have to say "this adult digimon is totally different from anything else and completely forgotten?" Is it even still worth saying after this many times? I've always liked unicorns when they're anything other than just a normal horse with a horn on it. Old-school unicorns were weirder than that, and Unimon is only BARELY a horse. A horse with a horrifying dog-mouth full of fangs, long ears, tattered wings and a bolted-on helmet with an eerie visor.

Digimon back in the day took great pains to avoid generic monster designs and equal pains to avoid traditional cuteness or prettiness, and I like cute, pretty things too, but I miss when even a unicorn was a battle-scarred monstrosity in this series.

Oh yeah, and I forgot there was a variation called Shimaunimon which just trades the wings for zebra stripes! Both of these Digimon really are just so, so frightening.

## Digivolves from

* Elecmon

or

1. Biyomon
2. Cutemon
3. Patamon
4. Penguinmon
5. Cutemon

## Digivolves to

* Kirinmon

or

1. Andromon
2. Asuramon
3. Giromon
4. Hippogriffomon
5. Hououmon
6. Indramon
7. Okuwamon
8. Phantomon
9. Piximon
10. Vademon
Wormmon

And then we have Wormmon, the digimon partner to Ken Ichijouji, and while I'd probably love Wormmon even more with actual insect eyes, he still manages to edge out any other child-level insect as my favorite. He's just such a perfectly wormy, grubby little larva, with a little caterpillar and a little centipede in the same design, and unusually for any digimon, he looks even better in the anime. He also has my absolute favorite dub voice of any hero digimon, however hit or miss it may be with the digimon fandom. In Japanese, he's just got a tiny, squeaky child voice, but on Fox Kids, they decided he'd sound like a frightened little old man, which makes his wide-eyed innocence and clinginess to Ken all the more hilarious and kind of heartbreaking. Enjoy this clip I found in which Wormmon gets jealous of a little girl whose voice actor has no idea what a Mexican accent is:

I remember when this series debuted, there were people who thought the "Droopy" voice was just jarring and terrible, but it only ever made me think of characters like Winnie the Pooh, who similarly sounds and behaves like a child in the body of someone's weird little old granddad.

Ken and wormmon are just about the only new characters to get any real development or background story in this second series, and it's a pretty grim one. As a child, Ken spends his life in the shadow of his genius older brother, their parent's favorite, and often wishes that he was an only child. At some point, Ken is called upon by the digital world for an adventure of his own, but unknowingly corrupted by "dark spores" from the digimon villain he helps vanquish. It's not long after this that Ken's brother is hit by a car and killed, which Ken feels is somehow his own fault, and the dark ocean, the domain of Digimon Cthulhu and other evil thingies, reaches out to Ken and awakens his dark spores. He basically loses his mind, begins to believe that digimon - even his friend, Wormmon! - aren't actually real, sapient beings, and begins to treat the digital world like a video game to escape to, becoming the cornball villain known as the Digimon Emperor.

Long story short, he gets better.

## Digivolves to

* Stingmon
* Mothmon
* Hudeimon

or

1. Airdramon
2. Angemon
3. Archelomon
4. Aurumon
5. Bakemon
6. Boogeymon
7. Bullmon
8. Deputymon
9. ExVeemon
10. FlaWizarmon
11. Flybeemon
12. Greymon
13. IceDevimon
14. Kongoumon
15. Kuwagamon
16. Nohemon
17. Pucchiemon
18. Quetzalmon
19. Searchmon
20. Shadramon
21. Snimon
22. Sorcermon
23. Togemogumon
24. Yanmamon
Orochimon

With the armor evolutions finished for now, we've got a lot of catching up to do with some other miscellaneous digimon. Did I really skip this one completely? Even though we talked about the fusion between Leomon and Orochimon? I really am not great at this.

Orochimon is based, of course, on the mythical Orochi, a legendary multi-headed serpent of titanic size and power. Its digimon form is as cool looking as it could have been, too; the central, organic snake is already stylish enough with its interlocking, blocky jaws, but all of its additional heads are cybernetic enhancements, which is a downright ingenious way to make a digimon-style orochi. Like many classic cyborg digimon, it's a Perfect level, though this unfortunately means that it's left "stranded" without an intended Ultimate level.

You have to also admire the fact that they didn't just give this snake a bunch of identical extra heads. There are three different pairs of them with completely different faces, and a final extra head with a more distinct dragon-like appearance. I like how the "original," biological head is flanked by cyborg heads actually modeled on it, too.

Orochimon also has one of the most amusing signature moves of any dragon digimon, and a mythology reference to boot! The orochi was actually defeated by alcohol in one famous tale, unable to resist an enormous vat of sake, and Orochimon's "Sake Breath" attack releases a cloud of alcoholic vapor to intoxicate its opponents!

## Digivolves from

* Deltamon

or

1. Allomon
2. ExVeemon
3. Greymon
4. Growlmon
5. Raidramon
6. Stegomon
7. Veedramon

## Digivolves to

* Bacchusmon

or

1. Imperialdramon
Vajramon

Ox Deva and servant of Ebonwumon. This is also our very last Deva, and another with a centaur-like body. Do I even need to say it has an honorable warrior persona? The color scheme isn't too bad, giving it a sort of oni-like feel. I can't think of much else to say. It's alright.

## Digivolves from

* Musyamon

or

1. Boogeymon
2. Bullmon
3. Devimon
4. Gladimon
5. Kyubimon
6. Ponchomon
7. Stingmon

## Digivolves to

* Zanbamon

or

1. Anubismon
2. Beelzemon
3. Ebonwumon
4. SaberLeomon
5. Sakuyamon
Salamon

Here's where this line gets a little peculiar, because the kind of forgettable Salamon here is a dog Digimon that evolves from a cat and then straight back into a cat. Maybe if we got to see a little more of Salamon, I could give it a real rating, but the design isn't particularly interesting, and this is one child stage we almost never see in the anime.

## Digivolves to

* Gatomon
* BlackGatomon
* Mikemon

or

1. Airdramon
2. Chuchidarumon
3. Darcmon
4. Deputymon
5. Dobermon
6. ExVeemon
7. Frigimon
8. Garurumon
9. Golemon
10. Greymon
11. Guardromon
12. Icemon
13. Kabukimon
14. Kazemon
15. Maildramon
16. Musyamon
17. Nefertimon
18. Opossumon
19. Oryxmon
20. Piddomon
21. Raremon
22. Shurimon
23. Sistermon Noir
24. Starmon
25. Stingmon
26. Swanmon
27. Veedramon
28. Witchmon
Seadramon

What's also cool about Betamon is that, while Agumon evolves into multiple flavors of dinosaur, Betamon evolves into various dragons. Seadramon here is a rather bare-bones, classic sort of sea serpent, but I like the garish color scheme, almost like it's advertising how badly it tastes to still larger Digimon, and I especially enjoy the tiny, reduced flippers on its otherwise perfectly snake-like form; the sea dragon equivalent of one of those nearly-legless skinks.

Would you be surprised to know I actually had a dragon phase as a kid? I was genuinely ALL ABOUT dragons, even conventional dragons, for a good couple of years straight, even if I still loved arthropods and plant monsters on a deeper personal level, and while they missed Digimon by a good few years, dragon-phase me would have probably adored this thing here.

## Digivolves from

* Betamon

or

1. Crabmon
2. Monodramon
3. Otamamon
4. Penguinmon
5. Renamon
6. Syakomon

## Digivolves to

* MegaSeadramon
* WaruSeadramon

or

1. BlackRapidmon
2. Dragomon
3. Mamemon
4. Megadramon
5. Scorpiomon
6. Vademon
VenomMyotismon

Also called Venomvamdemon, of course, which rolls much nicer, Myotismon is actually said to dislike taking on this form, because his sophisticated and gentlemanly mannerisms give way to a more brutal bloodlust he considers embarrassing. It's a pretty cool design for a big giant Dracula Satan, with a lot of what still make Digimon look so monstrous and wild. Nice skeletal parts, exaggerated limbsand tattered wings, and the relatively normal guy head with just slightly unkempt hair actually looks pretty cool on a body like this too. I actually wouldn't prefer this design a creature-head.

The anime, however, reveals that there's a much smaller "true form" inside of Venomyvampdemyotisism....

...Hiding inside of his crotch.

This is never further explained and isn't mentioned in any official profile or featured in any other artwork. Venommyotismon just had a little round baby devil-head Digimon in its groin, and that's its true weak point. There was a fan theory that it's probably the real Baby I or Baby II Digimon that Myotismon descended from, but those aren't usually hanging out like little parasites inside their evolved forms...are they? Nonetheless, it's pretty interesting and memorable.

## Digivolves from

* Myotismon

or

1. Dinobeemon
2. Dragomon
3. ExTyrannomon
4. Kimeramon
5. LadyDevimon
6. MetalGreymon
7. Mummymon
8. Phantomon
9. Phelesmon
10. SkullMeramon
11. SuperStarmon
PetitMamon

A real misfit of an entry today; Petitmamon are child-level digimon who debuted in 2001 as part of the second digimon manga series, which ran from 1998 all the way to 2003 and followed its own distinct continuity. They would also get their own TCG card that same year, but with no further appearances since, we can probably consider them another of those digimon effectively scrapped from all canon.

Digimon with their own individual names and dress styles were a little more common in the manga than in other digimon media, and these two are siblings consisting of older sister Pal and younger brother Pul, huge fans of a major villain until they realize just how twisted he really is and help one of our human protagonists escape from his demonic fortress.

I really wish these two hadn't been forgotten, because as much as I furiously wish Pul would wipe his disgusting damn nose already, these little creeps have really appealing designs to me, almost as cool as Demidevimon and much more visually interesting than Impmon, I hate to say.

I like their more extreme proportions, I like their leathery wings, I like their crumpled jester horn things, I like the stitches on their cheeks and I REALLY like their adorable punk jackets with the oversized zipper pulls. They're just perfect little bratty demons and I can't believe they weren't more heavily marketed or adapted into the anime. What a waste!

## Digivolves from

* Tsumemon

or

1. Tokomon

## Digivolves to

* Boogeymon

or

1. Devimon
2. Ninjamon
4. Pucchiemon
1981

**Melodifestival 1981** var den tjugoförsta upplagan av musiktävlingen Melodifestivalen och Sveriges uttagning till Eurovision Song Contest 1981. Programledare var Janne "Loffe" Carlsson, kapellmästare var Anders Berglund, och bakgrundskören bestod av Rosa Gröning, Caj Högberg, Agneta Olsson, Lennart Sjöholm och Liza Öhman.

Detta år stängde man ut allmänheten och SVT bjöd istället in fem låtskrivare som hade bäst framgångar på Svensktoppen mellan 1 juli 1979 och 12 oktober 1980. De fem inbjudna låtskrivare var Agnetha Fältskog, Anders Glenmark, Lasse Holm, Bengt Palmers och Janne "Lucas" Persson, varav samtliga tackade ja.

Detta års Melodifestival sändes som ett förlängt avsnitt av TV-programmet **Janne Carlsson show**, där Loffe agerade som programledare för både sin egen show och för musiktävlingen.

Kicki Moberg var kanske den mest uppmärksammaste artisten i tävlingen, dels för att hon skulle framföra Agnetha Fältskogs bidrag "Men natten är vår", och för att hon var "Stikkan Andersons nya fynd". Hon slutade emellertid på sista plats och gav efter tävlingen ut en LP-skiva, varpå hon sedan skulle försvinna från rampljuset. Som medlåtskrivare till bidraget fanns Ingela "Pling" Forsman i sin debut i Melodifestivalssammanhang.

Gruppen Chips utökade sin besättning men var dessutom tvungna att byta namn till **Sweets 'n Chips** när ett dansband hävdade att de hade rättigheterna till namnet Chips.

Medan jurygrupperna röstade pågick en frågesportstävling mellan de tävlande artisterna som mellanakt. Artisterna delades upp i två lag: Kicki Danielsson, Anders Glenmark, Lasse Holm och Kicki Moberg mot Elisabeth Andreassen, Britta "Tanja" Johansson, Janne "Lucas" Persson och Björn Skifs. De slutade oavgjort och fick diverse pusselspel som priser.

Efter en spännande omröstning slutade Björn Skifs som vinnare med bidraget "Fångad i en dröm". Precis som i 1978 så besegrade han Lasse Holm och Kicki Danielsson med bara några poängs marginal.

## Poängtavla

Varje jurygrupp bestod av tio personer, samt en ordförande. Hälften av medlemmarna var under 25 år, och fördelningen var jämn mellan allmänna personer och musikexperter. Varje jurygrupp fördelade 8 poäng till favoriten, sedan 6-4-2-1 poäng.

### Röstavlämnare

* Falun: Anna-Kajsa Wilje
* Göteborg: Rune Rustman
* Karlstad: Ulf Schenkmanis
* Luleå: Anita Lovén
* Malmö: Kåge Gimtell
* Norrköping: Larz-Thure Ljungdahl
* Sundsvall: Maritta Selin
* Umeå: Fredrik Burgman
* Växjö: Göran Winberg
* Örebro: Sten Lindquist
* Stockholm: Agneta Ekberg

## Källor

* TV-sändningen från Öppet arkiv
* Melodifestivalen genom tiderna (andra upplagan). Thorsson, Leif; Verhage, Martin (2006). Premium Förlag (Stockholm). ISBN 91-89136-29-2
* Melodifestivalen 1981 på Melloartiklar 2012-2018
* Melodifestivalen 1981 på svenskspråkiga Wikipedia
Vikemon

The final stage, I gotta say, feels like it should have been swapped around with Zudomon. This looks more obviously like an older, beefier, more anthropomorphic Ikkakumon, while Zudomon looks like a more monstrous mutation of this being, even losing most of its fur in the process. As a final stage, I kinda find Vikemon disappointing compared to Zudomon.

## Digivolves from

* Zudomon

or

1. MagnaAngemon
2. Monzaemon
3. Shakkoumon
MadLeomon

So, NOW we're talking. This thing is terrifying! Its level is kind of unclear, considered an adult stage in some sources and a perfect stage in others, but it represents Leomon losing himself to raw power to become a thoughtless killing machine. Funny that between the two rivals, it's Leomon who can go the most disturbing route, looking as if that mutant dog kid from Fullmetal Alchemist grew up and joined a death metal band. Love the tiny, glowing eyes and the horrible exposed ribs!

Madleomon appears mostly in Digimon Fusion, a series in which it turns out that absolutely any and all Digimon can fuse into limitless possible new forms and would drive us absolutely up the wall to try and fit into our reviews with any regularity, but for just a taste of it, this here is "Armed Madleomon," which consists of Madleomon after absorbing at least three other, totally unrelated Digimon that have nothing to do with either chainsaws or big metal gloves but apparently become those very things in the process. Armed Madleomon's main attack is literally named "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and is described thusly:

"Chops things up without caring whether they are alive or inanimate, while looking as if it is trying to completely shake off its arm and detach the chainsaw. The Lion "Sleeps" when its hunger is satisfied, that is, when it has preyed upon an opponent. In order for the Lion to sleep, it must also defeat that opponent."

Okay. Alright then!

Another fusion consists of Madleomon and three "Apemon," which results in an even more bestial, more muscular, still shaggier Madleomon because apes and terrible animals.

Finally, there's "Orochi Mode" Madleomon, fused to an "Orochimon" which you may have guessed is a multi-headed snake. Leomon does NOT look like he's enjoying any of this. Not at all. These additional fusions don't generally get full-blown Digimon Species treatment, unfortunately, showing up in the anime as though written on the fly and rarely breaking out into tcg cards or any other appearances, so don't expect me to include Fusion stuff all that often. Only when it's really important, like a sad monster kitty whose arms and legs all turned into snakes.