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Alright, here's my proposal for the main character Digimon:

The final Mega forms of the main cast (excluding Protag) are the Four Holy Beasts: Xuanwumon, Baihumon, Zhuqiaomon, and Qinglongmon.

The Rival's Labramon digivoles into Siesamon, then into Caturamon, then into Baihumon. This trend continues with the other 3 side characters, who eventually digivolve Sinduramon into Zhuqiaomon, Majiramon into Qinglongmon, and Sandiramon into Xuanwumon.

I think the 5th team-member would be the partner of Majiramon. I think it makes sense for Sinduramon and Sandiramon to be partnered with two siblings, since their names are so similar, so that leaves Majiramon as the odd one out.

Except for the main character, who has Agumon's evolution line of Greymon, MetalGreymon, and WarGreymon. WarGreymon is notably weaker than the Holy Beasts, and that gives him an inferiority complex. Until the final battle in Movie 2 or 3, where all four of the Holy Beasts are unable to win, they give WarGreymon energy via Terra Force and he absorbs it to Digivolve again into Huanglongmon, the golden dragon boss of the Holy Beasts, and they win the final battle.

Maybe Majiramon is even the main villain of the first movie, defeated by MetalGreymon, and the end-credits scene shows Majiramon, having devolved into Coatlmon, meeting the 5th member and teasing a redemption arc.

Still thinking about a live-action Digimon movie because of this post and the cool thing about Digimon is that there have been so many Digimon series and games and stuff that it doesn't have to adapt anything in particular.

Digimon would be super easy to make a live-action movie out of because you don't have to fit any specific storyline to film. You can just make a Digimon movie.

And it's probably best you don't try to adapt a particular series because.

Like.

You could. I'm sure it would be possible to squeeze Digimon Adventure, for example, into a series of four consecutive films. Devimon movie, Etemon movie, Vamdemon/Myotismon movie, Dark Masters & Apocalymon movie.

You could do that.

But it would have to be radically different to account for the 2-3 year production gap between films. Your actors are aging. That is the reality of live-action filmmaking. These kids wouldn't be gone for a couple months of compressed time; They'd be missing for eight to twelve years. You cannot tell this story and not account for that.

But you don't have to, because if you're making a Digimon movie then you can just tell your own story. In fact, you should. You should tell new Digimon stories instead of trying to make the old ones happen again.

[pushovermediacritic]

Both Tamers and Appmon had the Rival Character with a Blue/Canine Digimon be a girl, so it's not unheard of.

Labramon could work well. I don't see her popularity ever eclipsing Renamon, though.

I like the idea of the three other main characters having unusual/obscure Digimon that haven't really gotten the spotlight, to counteract the MC having Agumon.

Also, a few series have played with the idea of having non-matching Human and Digimon genders, so that's something that could play into the other main characters.

Still thinking about a live-action Digimon movie because of this post and the cool thing about Digimon is that there have been so many Digimon series and games and stuff that it doesn't have to adapt anything in particular.

Digimon would be super easy to make a live-action movie out of because you don't have to fit any specific storyline to film. You can just make a Digimon movie.

And it's probably best you don't try to adapt a particular series because.

Like.

You could. I'm sure it would be possible to squeeze Digimon Adventure, for example, into a series of four consecutive films. Devimon movie, Etemon movie, Vamdemon/Myotismon movie, Dark Masters & Apocalymon movie.

You could do that.

But it would have to be radically different to account for the 2-3 year production gap between films. Your actors are aging. That is the reality of live-action filmmaking. These kids wouldn't be gone for a couple months of compressed time; They'd be missing for eight to twelve years. You cannot tell this story and not account for that.

But you don't have to, because if you're making a Digimon movie then you can just tell your own story. In fact, you should. You should tell new Digimon stories instead of trying to make the old ones happen again.

[pushovermediacritic]

Agreed, a Digimon movie would be better served by being an original story that happens to use the setting. One thing about Digimon is that its setting is very malleable. It's basically just "in modern-day, people discover that the internet is a world with its own ecosystem and creatures". And various other shows have established a multiverse, meaning every show is canon. They frequently recast DIgimon in different roles, too.

In addition to what you brought up, one problem with adapting Adventure specifically would be giving enough focus to all the cast. Digimon casts get bloated really fast, since all the main characters count as two, a human and a Digimon. Adventure in particular has 14 main characters, with 2 more at the halfway point. That's not as much of a problem for a tv show, but it really strains a movie.

I think it would be better to keep the core cast relatively small, like Tamers, Data Squad, Appmon, and Ghost Game. All four of those shows started with a smaller core group of 6 (3 humans and 3 Digimon).

I think the ideal set-up for a movie would be 8 main characters, with 4 kids and 4 Digimon. That allows for equal gender diversity with two boys and two girls, and also makes the core cast robust enough for in-depth character interactions and development for a 2-hour runtime. Have the end of the movie hint at a 5th party member.

Now, which Digimon would they use? Tradition dictates that the Protagonist be a boy with Agumon (since he's the mascot as much as Pikachu is), but I think the rest is up in the air. Generally, one of the side characters has a canine Digimon and serves as a rival, but that's not a hard rule.

And what level would the movie stop at? Personally, I like the idea of all the main characters Digivolving to Champion, and then the final battle has the Protagonist Digivolving to Perfect, with Mega saved for the sequel.

Still thinking about a live-action Digimon movie because of this post and the cool thing about Digimon is that there have been so many Digimon series and games and stuff that it doesn't have to adapt anything in particular.

Digimon would be super easy to make a live-action movie out of because you don't have to fit any specific storyline to film. You can just make a Digimon movie.

And it's probably best you don't try to adapt a particular series because.

Like.

You could. I'm sure it would be possible to squeeze Digimon Adventure, for example, into a series of four consecutive films. Devimon movie, Etemon movie, Vamdemon/Myotismon movie, Dark Masters & Apocalymon movie.

You could do that.

But it would have to be radically different to account for the 2-3 year production gap between films. Your actors are aging. That is the reality of live-action filmmaking. These kids wouldn't be gone for a couple months of compressed time; They'd be missing for eight to twelve years. You cannot tell this story and not account for that.

But you don't have to, because if you're making a Digimon movie then you can just tell your own story. In fact, you should. You should tell new Digimon stories instead of trying to make the old ones happen again.

[pushovermediacritic]

A Steel-Dark Jellyfish. So, like a regional variant of Nihilego?

pokèmonize yourself!!!!

spin this wheel to see your pokemon type

spin this one to see how you'll look like

[pushovermediacritic]

The Digital World doesn't function on real-world logic, it functions on video game logic. Not the in-universe logic of video game worlds, but the literal logic of video games. Digimon is the OG isekai anime with video-game mechanics.

Digimon need to eat not to sustain their bodies with calories and vitamins, but to fill up their Food Meter. Eggs and Milk don't come from chickens or cows, they just spawn in certain locations as random drops.

The reason Digimon names always end in -mon is because all Digimon are the .monster file type. Their bodies are just wireframe models with a texture layered on top. This is one of the reasons I think a Digimon live-action movie is totally plausible.

They wouldn't have to make the Digimon look as realistic as the Pokemon do in Detective Pikachu. It could have a much lower budget. The Digimon could and should look like obvious CGI, because they literally are. A Digimon movie should be more like the CGI equivalent of Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Given how the last 02 episode shows that there’s milk in the Digital World (and that’s not a dub censorship thing, it’s in the original as well), and given where milk comes from.

Does that mean, at least in the original Adventure continuity, that there’s a species of Digimon capable of lactating?

Not necessarily. I see it kinda like the way chicken eggs spawn in randomly placed refrigerators. The Digital World just has stuff in it with no real connection to logical causality.

I make no assumptions about this place. For all we know, milk, steak, and eggs might literally just... come from the local convenience store.

[pushovermediacritic]

Read Dinosaur Sanctuary. That's exactly what you're looking for. The premise is basically "what if Jurassic Park wasn't a disaster".

It's a slice-of-life manga taking a realistic look at a dinosaur zoo. The author consulted an paleontologist on keeping the dinosaurs as realistic as possible, both in appearance and behavior.

jurassic park has a good philosophical message but unfortunately the only thing i ever take away from watching jurassic park is "god i wish i could go to jurassic park." like yeah it's a blatantly obvious don't create the torment nexus scenario, but this torment nexus has DINOSAURS.

[pushovermediacritic]

Horn Drill only has 30% accuracy if you're a SCRUB! If your Seaking is STRONK, Horn Drill will ALWAYS hit!!!

why is no one talking about the REAL discourse happening in the Seaking fandom??

[pushovermediacritic]

I loved this episode, great character interactions in the first half and amazing action throughout.

And I really don’t know what to expect with the story going forward, the fact that they STILL haven’t popped the “Glorio Traitor Reveal” thing is REALLY interesting to me. Also, I was expecting Goku and Vegeta to fight Kuu and Duu, then the Majin bros fuse, then they have to team up to fight Gomah. The fact we barely got a fight with the Majin bros before Gomah showed up indicates to me that fight is still yet to come, and that’s super interesting to me. I’m still iffy on Gomah being the true main villain, I’m still expecting that to be either Arinsu with Duu and Kuu or Neva with Tamagamis 1, 2, and 3.

One thing that caught my eye was that Daima continues to be REALLY GOOD at character-building fight choreography. Duu and Gomah were particularly good here, Gomah so much that I have to go into detail.

Fighting Style Breakdown: Gomah

Maybe it’s because he only recently grew from 3 feet tall to 15 feet tall, but Gomah fights like a much smaller guy. Like Kingpin in Marvel comics, he’s a big guy who fights like a little guy, he keeps himself very compact and defensive. He rarely goes for big haymakers and wide swings, instead doing a lot of smaller jabs and flipping strikes, sometimes without even extending his limbs fully. He curls up his limbs and body to shrink his profile and keep himself tense for snappy counter-attacks.

Add onto that his telekinesis and ki (magic?) blasts, both of which he also uses primarily for defense, and Gomah surprisingly has a very interesting moveset. In boxing and other combat sports, there’s a term called “staying defensively responsible”, which means even when you’re on the offense, you’re still doing things to prepare for counter-attacks, such as keeping an arm up to block/counter, bobbing and weaving to dodge, or switching stances to throw off your opponent’s range. Gomah is REALLY good at staying defensively responsible.

Based on this episode, I feel like we got a pretty good idea of how Gomah fought even without the Third Eye. It reminds me of Ozai in Avatar, where the only time we see them fighting is in a powered-up state, but their fighting style there is so unique and honed that you get the impression they always fought this way, even without the power-up.

Prior to this episode, I didn't take Gomah seriously AT ALL, but now I think he'll be cool to play as in the fighting games. Same thing that happened with Kuu and Duu, really (and Gamma 1 and Gamma 2 in Super Hero). Really good choreography and/or character writing can completely redeem a lackluster design.

Dragon Ball Daima 01x17 - Gomah

The episode is titled after Gomah and I assume we're going to see his inexplicably Pride Troopery ass in new form by end of episode but I am way more invested in Goku, Vegeta, and maybe Piccolo finally meeting the Arinsu family, and probably also finally paying off what's been going on with Glorio.

Perfect introductions. 10/10 on the ominous bad guy reveal scale.

I feel like there's probably a way we can avoid hostilities here. How about we trade. We have two separate sets of Dragon Balls that are way easier to obtain than these. You let us use your Dragon Balls to become adult-sized again, and then you can use our Dragon Balls to take over Daimakai.

Or, alternatively, I guess....

We could just....

Fuck off.

We came here for Dende. Mission accomplished. There's literally nothing stopping us from going home and either hitting up Namek or waiting for Earth's Dragon Balls to recharge.

Like, the political thing to do here would be to walk away and let Daimakai sort out Daimakai's matters. We didn't come here to sponsor a coup and install a new regime that's more friendly to our way of life. This was a rescue mission. But we are doing that now.

We're in too deep. We're invested in the whole "liberate Daimakai" thing now. The Third Worlders are right behind us and it'd be really awkward to go home now.

Still, I feel like there are diplomatic ways we could resolve this, so how about we sit down and mediate a discussion between you and the Third Worlders to discuss your plans for the nation and whether they're compatible with--

Oh, you have imperial expansionist ambitions.

Never mind, this is our problem again. Diplomacy of the fist, it is.

Shit, she's done her research. We're suckers for rigidly-structured 1v1 matches. You can take the boy out of the tournament arena but you can't take the tournament sportsmanship out of the boy.

Go right ahead. We have two backup sets. I cannot stress enough how much we are pursuing your Dragon Balls out of a combination of convenience and hobbyist recreational interest. You have more to lose from them breaking than we do.

It's fine, though. You had Goku at "I want you to fight my champion." No threats required.

Goku and Vegeta bickering over who gets to fight is the inevitable result of there only being one 1v1 on offer, but Duu in the background chasing a butterfly around with a stick really livens up the scene. XD

I love the Arinsu family.

I don't know what it is about Kuu but I feel Arinsu stopping him here is a mistake. Obviously she wants Duu to fight Goku. Duu beat the Tamagami and Kuu lost that same fight. Erego, Duu is the stronger fighter.

But I don't know. There's something about Kuu's confidence and eagerness. I can't shake the feeling that if he fought Goku, he might fare better than Duu.

Duu is really strong, but he's also kind of dimwitted and unlike when he fought Buu, Duu's powerset isn't anything Goku hasn't seen before. Goku's had time to think about how he would fight someone like Buu again and it shows in this fight. He isn't as easily surprised by Duu's fluid dexterity as he was with Buu.

Buu was something straight out of left field, something unlike anything Goku's ever fought before. But Duu is Buu with fewer weird powers.

Though Duu does still get some good licks in there. And while the fight ends inconclusively due to Gomah's appearance, it does end with Goku admittedly letting himself be baited into a very bad spot.

This is a bad position to let yourself get into with someone who can shoot mouth beams. I'm honestly not sure what Goku's options would have been to get out of this. He can't even teleport because he takes people he's touching with him when he does.

Really does look like a Pride Trooper uniform and I have no idea what possible connection there could be for why that is.

Still not sure if Gomah's actually supposed to be the final boss. My money was on Duu and Kuu, and a possible Count Duukuu fusion. I was starting to be sold on it being Gomah but we have like three more episodes left after this one. It feels about an episode two early for Super Gomah to show up and start throwing hands if he's supposed to be the ultimate foe.

Goku and Duu didn't even get to settle their fight.

Alternate Ending: Goku punches Gomah one time. It can even be a reference to the Recoome gut punch. Gomah goes down immediately.

Neva then explains, "Specifically, political power. It confers tremendous authority and a commanding physique upon the wearer but does not enhance their strength in the slightest."

Okay, the fact that he makes his own final boss arena does lend some credibility to the idea that this really is the ultimate showdown.

Oh, wow, he's huge. I knew he was like a big tall manly man now but I hadn't realized we were talking colossal-sized until right this moment. It's hard to tell when all you have to scale him to are background objects that are similarly ambiguous in size.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HE'S STILL A DOOF THOUGH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Gomah suddenly realizing that his goddamn castle is becoming the collateral damage to this fight is not only a great comedic element to add to it but also actually pays off the Discount Ginyu Force's introduction. That little gag where they shot up his foyer and left him pissed off was the setup for this.

Gomah has the distinct quality of having strong opinions about the collateral damage of a huge, explosive Dragon Ball fight. We haven't seen that before. It's neat.

It's surprising to me that we've met Dr. Arinsu, we were partway through the confrontation with her, and Glorio still hasn't pulled the pin on his role as her spy one way or the other.

Whether that way is betraying them to Arinsu or refusing to betray them to Arinsu 'cause of Power of Friendship or revealing a true motive that he was playing Arinsu all along too or what.

Whatever the payoff for Glorio is, that cat is still firmly tucked in the bag. This is another thing that makes me question whether Gomah is really supposed to be the final boss or not. It feels like there's too much that hasn't happened yet for this just to be "And then we beat Gomah and go home."

Yeah, checks out. Goku rarely rejects people's assistance. When, say, Piccolo jumped in to help him against Raditz and Frieza, Goku didn't send him away and insist on fighting alone. But it's not his first instinct.

The one time Goku's been like "Let's do this together" was with Super Buu, and it was a decision he later recanted. Goku can be backed into a corner hard enough that he agrees to teamwork, but he's never the one to say, "Let's fight this guy as a team" even when the universe is on the line.

...

That said, I'm not sure that drawing attention to how OOC this moment is for Goku makes it better. The only explanation on offer for why Goku would go back on his principles is because "The situation is just that dire."

But the situation's been pretty fucking dire before. Majin Buu was going to annihilate everything in existence, and Goku broke the Potara anyway because it made him feel underhanded.

But I think they're trying to bridge the gap between the manga and Super, where Goku is shown to be a lot more comfortable fighting side-by-side with others against a powerful foe - though he still likes to try going 1v1 first.

Drawing careful attention to the satchel with the bugs in it as it falls from Goku's dogi.

This has to be building up to the Fusion Bug finally coming into play.

Thank you, Bulma.

Dr. Arinsu, you are literally trying to take his throne. You are holding in your hand the evidence of your treachery. You really think you aren't a part of this?

Ooooo and we're paying off Neva's ability to power up the Tamagamis into a Super Mode, established in Vegeta's fight.

I was wondering what the deal with that was, since this Tamagami's fight already happened by the time we got here.

Well, it was a pretty cool fight up until this moment, but ending on yet another eleventh-hour climactic unlocking of a Super Form Goku already had from the beginning is where it loses me.

Like. The characters stopped to briefly discuss that this situation is so desperate it's pushing Goku to behave out-of-character. He's calling on everyone to combine powers against Gomah because that is how far on the edge of his rope he's hanging. He's violating his own principles purely out of desperation because there are no other options left.

I can forgive Goku holding Super Saiyan 3 back. It's a bad transformation. A form that bleeds ki so tremendously that it's impossible for it to even achieve its own theoretical maximum power. To date, Vegeta just a few episodes ago is the only person ever to actually win a fight with it. It's a power boost whose drawbacks suck so hard that they outweigh the power boost.

So Goku keeping this in his back pocket and only pulling it out in a moment of pure desperation? Yeah. I can believe that.

...but if we're going to make a thing out of Goku betraying his principles from desperation? I... have to believe Goku would try Super Saiyan 3 first.

I can believe he'd only use Super Saiyan 3 as a last resort, but I still feel like he'd use his last resorts up before he'd do anything that makes the other characters go "Goku would NEVER. He must be TRULY desperate like he's never been before." Apparently not if he's still holding back and only giving half-effort.

...

Speaking of last resorts, this is going to end in a Daimakai Genki-Dama, isn't it?

[pushovermediacritic]

The only things that affect physical potential in sports are height, weight, and build, not gender.

Yes, men are on average taller than women, but that is the only reason men are on average stronger. You take a man and a women, same height, weight, and build with the same training, make them compete, they're equal.

Sports should not be segregated by gender.

Not to venerate the halcyon and bygone days of yore, but it used to be that declaring that girls are too fragile and delicate to ever possibly compete with the boys or ever be as good as them at anything was rightly denounced as the kind of raging sexisim that made you sound like the flatly written villain of a teenybopper movie.

[pushovermediacritic]

Yo, check out this Brook AMV made with a BROOK FAN-SONG!!!

It is in French, though, so I can't appreciate the lyrics as much as I'd like.

[pushovermediacritic]

✨Straw Hats X Warlords Outfit Swap!✨

[pushovermediacritic]

Makes me wonder how many more Whitebeard Pirates are dead that we don't know about from the Payback War and Weevil's hunts.

Ghosts of the Past

[pushovermediacritic]

I would not consider worms "bugs", but I would consider everything else "bugs", including the aquatic arthropods. For me, "bug" is synonymous with "arthropod".

Also, are we just ignoring that @ratbugs's dog is a demon?

[pushovermediacritic]

He was actually going to play Mysterio in Spider-Man 4.

Bruce Campbell in Spider-Man (2002) Spider-Man 2 (2004) Spider-Man 3 (2007)

[pushovermediacritic]

✨ Please reblog to make it reach out to as many people as possible, but KEEP IT SPOILER-FREE to make people listen to the music with an open mind 💖 Artists and titles will be revealed after the poll's conclusion, check the original post for an update! ✨

[pushovermediacritic]

It's interesting to examine aroace representation. On one hand, you're absolutely right that they are sorely underrepresented in media and fandom. The number of canon or heavily implied aroace characters I can think of off the top of my head is extremely low.

However, that list does include arguably the 3 most popular queer characters in all of fiction. Those being Spongebob Squarepants, Monkey D. Luffy, and Sherlock Holmes. All three of these characters have extremely strong aroace coding in their source material and Spongebob and Luffy have explicit statements made supporting it by their creators.

So aroace representation is rare, but when applied to protagonists, they can become insanely popular. Maybe it's because keeping the main character out of romantic plots forces the writers to be more creative and makes the character light on shipping controversy.

That said, even these titans aren't immune to the Jughead situation. Many a modern Sherlock adaptation has given him a love interest, it's hard to find ones that don't. And various games have hinted at Spongebob having a crush on Sandy. Luffy's gotten pretty lucky in that regard, the One Piece Live-Action actually created new scenes to have him demonstrate aroace coding.

And shippers will ship. Fandom flagrantly ignores the aroace coding these characters have all the time. It is a problem.

Honestly it’s so tiring having to fight for ace/aro hcs in fandom. Like they’re never anyone else’s first pick unless the character is nonhuman (usually robots and aliens, because of course) or inherently un-pair-able for whatever reason. If the character falls outside that slim margin by even a little bit you have to fight tooth and nail to find any scraps of someone, anyone with a similar interpretation to you. Even if the character does have stuff in canon that supports an ace/aro read it still feels like you have to fight to prove it’s there. It’s just thoroughly disappointing.