#Featuring: Gallantmon

[digimontamerrichie-tcg]

[digi-lov]

Bandai Card Game Next Plan Presentation — Digimon Card Game

Summary and pictures under cut (sorry I'm like a week late)

Digimon Liberator

They revealed the name of the last character from promotional materials for the Digimon Liberator web comic, Close and Sunarizamon.

Part I of Episode 7 came out (today) on 10/10, and part II will be released on Thu. 10/24. (so, regular schedule)

Furthermore, chapters Debug.5 and .6 are scheduled to release mid november.

EX-08 Chains of Liberation

The trailer shows some new card illustrations, which we've known about from product descriptions: Voltobautamon, Sakuyamon X and Justimon X.

Extra Booster Chains of Liberation will release in Japan on 29th of November. This Set will include characters, and cards, we've been introduced to already through the web novel: Tyrannomon, Dinomon, Ryutaro Williams, PolarBearmon, Skadimon, and Suzune Kazuki.

After EX-07 introduced the trait NSp (Nature Spirits), this set will give it more support, as well as introduce DS (Deep Savers) and NSo (Nightmare Soldiers). From product information we can assume this set will also feature Myotismon and Plesiomon. With Myotismon and Piedmon DNA Evolving into Voltobautamon, we might also get a Deep Savers DNA Evolution.

We will also get "Shoto Kazama's New Trump Card" - MedievalDukemon/Gallantmon! This card had already been featured in Digimon Liberator web comic Episode 6. It has both [Vortex Warriors] and [Witchelny] in its traits (as well as [Warrior]) so hopefully it will see more play than the one from EX4.

BT-20 Over the X ([ɛks])

Over the X is schedule to release in Japan on January 31th 2025! Based on the promotional image, we will receive an new Alphamon Ouryuken! This set will also feature Digimon Chronicle and Digimon Seekers again!

An Image (print?) of Yuuki and Impmon will be distributed at a BT-20 release tournament in Japan.

With BT-19 having the BT-14 WarGreymon serial number card campaign, BT-20 will have one for the BT-15 MetalGarurumon. Displays will contain a code with which you can enter a lottery, and there will be 150 winners. (I would assume only in Japan)

Other Products

We got a look at the first wave of official sleeves from 2025. They will release on January 31th 2025 in Japan.

Digimon Animation Series 25th Set PB-20 got announced! Release is scheduled to be March 2025, with preorders going from October 15th (Tue) to November 14th (Thu) 2024. Includes 1 Playmat, 20 Cards (10 different Cards, each 2 copies), 50+5 Card Sleeves (for one Digimon main deck and digi-egg deck), and a storage box.

(I'll just skip the infos of japanese Tamer tournaments)

[avalypuff]

I want all of you who follow me to know that, while I started shipping Gallantmon and Beelzemon thanks to my lovely wife Bechnokid, the ones featured in her art are NOT the ones from Tamers!

Neither of us would ship the Tamers versions as they’re literally children regardless of their evolution stage.

Nah, our Gallantmon and Beelzemon pair are pretty much OCs, even with some slight characteristics that make them unique from canon versions of the same Digimons. 👍❤️

[hallohartje]

Digimon Tamers - Final Digivolution Alternative Art

Digimon Tamers (デジモンテイマーズ) was a Japanese anime that ran from 2001-2002. The third in the Digimon franchise, the series was noted for a smaller central cast with three main characters: Takato Matsuki, Henry Wong and Rika Nonaka.

The cards featured here are the final forms of the three partner Digimon -- Gallantmon, Sakuyamon and MegaGargomon. Cards on the left appeared in Digimon TCG EX-02 (Digital Hazard) and cards on the right appeared in EX-04 (Alternative Being).

--

Gallantmon (EX02-011)

Medieval Gallantmon (EX04-013)

Sakuyamon (EX02-024)

Kuzuhamon (EX04-030)

MegaGargomon (EX02-029)

BlackMegaGargomon (EX04-037)

[thebl00dmaster]

Limbus Tamers

The limbus brainrot is terminal and digimon has been worming its way back so why not combine the two together. I’m not the biggest Digimon nerd (mainly watched some Adventure, 02 and Tamers and played Digimon world 3 and Cybersleuth) so I’ve been using Wikimon to help with the evolution lines, while  yes I could just mix and max anything I tried to use Digimon that actually evolve into one another.

I may do another one with Dante, Charon and Vergilius plus any Sinner I want revisit. So onward to my dubious picks!

For Yi Sang I chose this line mostly for his desire to have wings and his association with crows. Plus Yatagaramon is cool.

For Faust I focused on her witch imagery, what with her base E.G.O. giving her a broom and her codename being Walpurgisnacht, and her vast knowledge with Impmon being a stand in for Mephistopheles (I know Mephismon exist I already had settled on witchmon and needed a rookie). AncientWisemon could have gone to Yi Sang since he invented the mirror we use to pull the gacha but it still have that sorcerer vibe.

For La Creatura I settled for the Guilmon line mostly because Gallantmon/Dukemon, being a Royal Knight, fitted with her knightly delusions and also because I remember Guilmon going feral at some points in Tamers. Plus if we go for Dark Digivolutions,when Don completely snaps she could go down the Megidramon (or even ChaosDukemon) route similarly to Takato.

I hesitated a bit with Ryoshu so I ended doing both ideas: I kinda cobbled this one together trying to concile her ties to fire (her E.G.O inflict burn,the “cooking” of the Kebab and that one picture of her burning everything using as her steed) and art with Etemon being a singer and Piedmon being a clown (and circus artist in general).  Plus the Dark Master have throwing knives/swords. 

This one was more was more based on her swordplay and the fact she’s ... ok maybe not “honourable” but she’d rather not do it the “coward’s way”, she straight up refused to disguise herself during the casino heist and wanted to face the Shi assassin head on in Canto IV. So Musyamon popped into my mind and then went up the evo line to try and keep the samurai/ronin theme and Kunemon is here because I couldn’t use Kotemon as it doesn’t digivolve into Musyamon. 

Mr Salt got the Andromon line because he’s very robotic at times, a cog in the machine if you will, plus he is a tank of a man so Guardromon fits well. Also I thought it would be funny if somehow the machine Digimon ended up being more prone to make judgements than its human partner. 

I didn’t know where to go with Hong Lu, I tried with the Devas and little more with Lopmon’s line then I saw QueenChessmon and went “Chess is pastime for hoity-toity rich folk and Hong Lu is a rich boy” and went from there. Not really satisfied but it just clicked in the moment. ... If Hong Lu is playing some 5d chess with us I SWEAR TO -

Another double feature with the other sinner with double seats privilege ... this was completely incidental. This one is based on the brutish side of Heathcliff though Ogremon can be cunning as can our angry british. Titamon is also connected to revenge (specifically against the Olympos XII) so it fits as well. I know Rebellimon doesn’t digivolve to Titamon but fuck it ! I didn’t want Digitamamon on here and that’s the only exception I made, I just wanted to keep mean green demon all the way.

This one came frame from a flash about Telepole Heathcliff and since He’s a bastard I couldn’t him give a regular Gabumon.

I just had to give Fishmael a Whamon because of Moby Dick. As for the rest: I picked Gomamon because I thought it’d be funny to have a laid back partner with how rigid she can be; Dolphmon to transition between Gomamon and Whamon and Plesiomon because it’s a traditional Mega for Gomamon alongside Vikemon.

I must admit being stumped and just going “Waifumon go !”. Might revisit her with a more fitting line sometime.

For Sinclair at first I wanted to give him an avian line then stumbled upon Tsukaimon digivolving into Pidmon and went “time to go the angel route” as a spin on Patamon. Outside of MagnaAngemon (and Angewomon for that matter) I tried not to use Adventure/02 digimon. I picked Dominimon but hesitated between it, ClavisAngemon and SlashAngemon.

For Outism I first wanted to have an Olympos XII member then wondered whether or not there was a trojan horse digimon, Lo and behold there was ! As for the rest I worked my way down : Cherrymon being a duplicitous tree (he tried to manipulate Yamato during the Dark Master arc) fit Outis being suspicious, kiwimon is kind of a filler pick and Alraumon is a fake Palmon. 

Finally for Gregor I picked the Wormmon line though with some changes. I chose Snimon instead of Stingmon to harken to G Corp Gregor and while there’s a roachmon I felt it was too on the nose. As for Bloomlordmon I hesitated with going with GranKuwagamon or HeraclesKabuterimon but leaned more on this one mainly to distance a bit from bugs since Gregor has two plant based E.G.O.

That should be it for now.

[joekabox]

Have you ever made your own custom Digimon evolution line?

Do you mean for canon Digimon or mine from the ground up? I'll answer both!

If you mean branching off from canon Digimon, I can't say I've ever really made any I've been happy with and put to paper or word in a meaningful way. I've had ideas, like I had an idea for a Gallantmon/Dukemon sort of Digimon, meant as a 'good' final form for the Keramon line, instead of Diaboromon, but ultimately I never really did much with it. I think I planned on calling it Grendelmon? Named after Grendel from the epic poem of Beowulf.

My intent was that they were more based on Beowulf themselves - a legendary hero that overcame a monster (in this case, Diaboromon), to shine through as a hero, but Beowulfmon already exists, so I went with Grendel themselves as the name origin. I think it still works.

If you mean my own Digimon from the ground up, I have actually, yeah!

I used to make tons of Digimon as a kid, though the one that really shone for me was an idea I had for a personal partner idea. I thought, if I wanted a Digimon partner that wasn't a canon Digimon (like Veemon, my current go to choice), this would be it.

Her name was Hoppymon, and she was a pink bunny with a long tail with a foot at the end, allowing her to use her tail to hop around too. Weirdly enough, the idea for her came to me in a dream, and I remember trying to draw her almost immediately after waking up.

She was intended to be a holy Digimon with healing abilities (her signature move being Healy Hop, where her hopping makes healing-shockwaves), that had an evolution line that saw her losing much of her tail-hopping abilities, but becoming a large, buff bunny that could beat people up and kick them with her tail instead, until finally turning into a large, bunny-like dragon, with similarities to Magnadramon/Holydramon.

I drew out her evolution line a long time ago, and while I still have those drawings, I can't find them for the life of me. Instead, have a couple of drawings I drew of her first two evos a lot later (though by no means recently), and the original sprite art I made as a little kid that started it all!

The names for the evolutions after Hoppymon are not what I ended up going with, but I don't recall what I used other than the Champion/Adult stage was named Lagomon. I was like, not very old when I made this sprite art, so I wasn't super creative with names.

My brother also worked with me to make a 'brother' to Hoppymon, named Hippymon, who is very similar in design but blue instead of pink, and took on more ninja-like features as it evolved instead of buff fighter bunny features. Both resulted as dragons though. They had sort of a Terriermon and Lopmon relationship.

I hope that answered your question, and i hope you enjoyed the answers!

[hazelplaysgames]

copy, aaaand... the Gaia Origin gauntlet featured many battles: the first against Duftmon and Sleipmon, the second against Apocalymon, the third against Susanoomon, the fourth versus ZeedMilleniummon, and the fifth against Alphamon and Omnimon. the last two were ?v1s against Beelzemon BM and Gallantmon CM. buncha names, none of them were too hard, and the last two are the more important ones here. i’m actually disappointed i don’t have to even jokingly edit ANY of that! the only real difference is that i got GCM’s data for winning instead of Beelzemon’s, too.

that said, the sum of grinding i had still left the lot not being cakewalks, which i think is a pretty nice surprise. also, Ophanimon also got referred to with he pronouns. that took me off guard a bit, i was expecting that with being a FeMC, not a major character. by the way, three nickels, for each Digimon game where the FeMC gets referred to with he/him pronouns.

still got 20% of the quests to go, and i still need to get into platinum rank, and then i think there’s no barriers stopping me from shooting for Legend.

so i just noticed i put this one in the drafts. didn’t even cross my mind as a possibility. so i just gotta cycle the team, finish off the species quests, and then i can do Legend.

[bbeelzemon]

so i was thinking about how much more expensive a recent v-pet i missed out on is now (dmx ver 3.. someday i will own you) and anyway it made me curious as to what these two little digimons o' mine are worth now and uhhhh uh umm

😳

[reversemoon255]

Figure-rise Standard Dukemon/Gallantmon (Amplified) 

My favorite season finally gets some love in Amplified! Years ago, I talked about my disappointment that the original Reboot line never got the Dukemon they showed off at Trade Fairs, and it’s cool to see one finally come out. It’s also neat to look at them side-by-side, as you can clearly see the difference in aesthetics they were going for between releases. The names say it pretty clearly; the unreleased kit is a rebooted version with a more mech-like appearance (just look at those robot knees!), and the kit we’re talking about today is an amplified version of the Dukemon design. It’s really cool to see how both tried to tackle this in different ways. Now we just need Shoutmon X4 (because I’m obligated to bring it up in every Digimon review at this point).

The Good: Dukemon builds upon and improves what Mugendramon gave us before, featuring many more ratcheted joints, but doesn’t rely on the polycaps Mugendramon did. This not only helps it maintain poses, but also deal with its heavy accessories.

He also has some cool and non-intrusive gimmicks. His lance is able to expand into a larger form, and his shield has a very fun built-in effect part that’s triggered with the flip of a switch. It’s also very fun to build it and see how it works, being my favorite part of putting this guy together.

Last thing I want to mention is the cape, which I wasn’t sure what to make of before getting it in hand. It seems to be a very thick, non-adhesive sticker; comes off a sheet like one and everything. It does what it set out to do very well, and isn’t flimsy or intrusive to the rest of the posability. I would still take care of it, but it’s unlikely to damage or tear from standard play.

The Bad: While Dukemon has good posability overall, his feet lack some of the ankle movement required for a lot of wide-legged poses. He also has some balance issues due to having so many large accessories. His big feet do help a bit with both these issues, but that display arm is very necessary to get him into any even slightly dynamic pose (unless you use his included hands). He’s a Digimon who appreciates a display stand.

The Details: Like the other Amplified kits, I did metallic red panel lining where applicable, except on the red parts which I did in gold. Top down, I:

Painted the gold and black on his mask

Painted the eyes in and added black fill to the back of the head and collar

Did the gold trim and red piping along his chest

Painted the hazard emblem on his chest red with a gold center

Painted beneath all the translucent red elements with silver as well as his belt buckles

Added red and gold to his hips, as well as some black fill in the back

Added red to the tops of his legs, under the gold trim

Did the hazard emblems in his knees red with black underneath to make them pop

Painted the area beneath and inside his knees black

Added extra red to the feet

Painted the hazard emblems on the backs of his hands black with a red center

Painted many of the shield’s grooves black and added red and gold on the underside; also added solid red to the translucent red effects

And painted the external latch parts of the cape red and some of the internal elements and back thrusters black

Overall, I’m very happy with this kit. While I think I had more fun assembling Mugendramon (apart from the shield), I like Dukemon as a final product more, and am very happy to finally have a model kit of him after all these years. While seemingly a new mold, Omegamon X seems to use the same skeleton, so at least we know it’ll be a good kit (with probably less balance issues).

[radroller]

Why is Gallantmon so cool? Also have you seen the Medabots/Digimon crossover stuff?

Gallantmon is cool because of its dual signature attacks, awesome color scheme, and heroic knightly features that still keep true to Guilmon’s aesthetic.

As for the Medabots/Digimon stuff i have seen it before but that doesnt change the fact that it’s the tightest shit in the universe. I want Omedamon in a game and i want Medabots to come back to prominence so that i can use OmegaKnight, WarGreys, and GaruruMetal in something.

[digi-lov]

The upcoming BT-11 Booster Set Dimensional Phase includes a Bearmon card which features Agumon and Guilmon on it, as a reference to the Digimon World 3 box art and intro.

Marsmon's card also features their respective Ultimates WarGreymon and Dukemon/Gallantmon, which are also featured on the japanese box art.

The upcoming Beelzemon Advanced Deck also includes a new Alternative Art of the ST7 Guilmon, which references their Warp Jogress Evolution from the DW3 intro. This Guilmon's effect also allows it to Warp evolve into Dukemon.

[satoshi-mochida]

Following its initial announcement in August, Bandai Namco has fully detailed the Japanese “20th Anniversary Box” limited edition for the upcoming Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth Hacker’s Memory.

For 10,300 yen (plus tax) on PlayStation 4 or 9,200 yen (plus tax) on PS Vita, the “20th Anniversary Box” includes the following:

A copy of the TV Anime Sound Edition version of the game

Includes the following 12 tracks:

Digimon Adventure – “Butter-Fly” by Koji Wada

Digimon Adventure – “Brave Heart” by Ayumi Miyazaki

Digimon Adventure 02 – “Target~Akai Shougeki~” by Akai Shougeki

Digimon Adventure 02 – “Break Up!” by Ayumi Miyazaki

Digimon Tamers – “The Biggest Dreamer” by Koji Wada

Digimon Tamers – “Slash!!” by Michihiko Oota

Digimon Frontier – “Fire!!” by Koji Wada

Digimon Frontier – “With The Will” by Koji Wada

Digimon Data Squad – “Gou-ing! Going! My Soul!!” by Dynamite SHU

Digimon Data Squad – “Believer” by IKUO

Digimon Fusion – “Neba Giba!” by Sonar Pocket

Digimon Fusion – “We Are Cross Heart!” by Koji Wada

Suzuhito Yasuda-illustrated visual

Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth Hacker’s Memory character designer Suzuhito Yasuda has drawn an original visual featuring the new and old protagonist of the Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth series specifically for the 20th Anniversary Box.

170-page visual art book

A full-color, 170-page visual art book featuring character designs and main visuals from the 2006-released DS title Digimon Story (released as Digimon World DS in the west). There are also character and Digimon designs from Digimon Story: Sunburst and Moonlight (Digimon World Dawn and Dusk), Digimon Story: Lost Evolution, and Digimon Story: Super Xros Wars illustrated by Taku Koide. Enjoy the world of the Digimon Story series all in a single art book!

16-track original soundtrack CD

Includes the following 16 tracks:

“Ya Cyber Sleuth”

“Cyber Duel”

“Fudie”

“One Mind”

“Hikari Todoke kame Ranmyaku no Tsuchi”

“Digital Wars II”

“From the Darkside”

“Rojiura no Hacker-tachi”

“Hacker’s Dignity”

“Memory Server”

“Kyoui no Kengen”

“Terror”

“Masked Necromancer”

“Shinshoku-sareta Risoukyou”

“Last Cyber Attack”

“Memories”

Trainable Digimon: Gallantmon NX and Alphamon (NX Edge Style) – download code printed on a Kuremi Detective Agency business card

NX Edge Style Gallantmon and Alphamon appear as trainable Digimon. Adventure alongside with the cute and cool Gallantmon NX and Alphamon NX. (NX Edge Style is a new generation of action figures from Bandai that make use the modeling and movability know-how it cultivated through its “Robot Spirits” brand. Its edgy design and silhouette by means of its “Edge Plus” arrangement are also expressed in the game.)

Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth Hacker’s Memory will launch for PlayStation 4 and PS Vita in Japan on December 14, and in North America and Europe in early 2018.

View a new set of images at the gallery.

[digitize-ignite-module]

Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth Hacker’s Memory

Featuring HippoGriffomon, Coelamon, Triceramon and Gallantmon Crimson Mode

[jolteonjordansh]

Thoughts on Digital Monster X-Evolution

Okay, for real this time I’m writing my thoughts on this. So there was this random independent Digimon movie made sometime in 2005, a couple years after Digimon Frontier ended and before Digimon Savers was a thing--Digital Monster X-Evolution. It was a single TV movie that only aired in Japan and it was completely rendered in CG animation. There’s no “DigiDestined” or anything like what we’re used to--it’s straight up all about Digimon. Or rather, it’s focused on this idea of new Digimon forms known as “Digimon X-Antibodies”. 

So it’s completely Digimon-focused, is entirely in CG animation, and is its own self-contained world that features little that we’re familiar with. Is it any good? Well, let me review under the break.

Also, is it pronounced X-Antibody like the letter “X” or is it pronounced like “cross”? Does anyone have a sure answer to that? I feel like it was supposed to be the letter as I watched the movie, but Japan’s weird about the use of it sometimes.

This is certainly something really different from the standard Digimon format, and considering its timeframe, it really came out of nowhere. But different definitely doesn't mean bad by any means. It's a very curious and interesting little film, and I can't help but wish it was expanded upon a bit. There's a couple of reasons for that. The first reason is that because it's an all new world with new elements and characters, there's a lot to throw in during its 80 minute runtime. Because of this, the pacing is really fast and you really need to make sure you pay attention or you'll miss some sort of detail that helps you understand the story and world here. My second reason is that there are apparently a lot of Digimon X-Antibody designs that were made, but were never used for this film. There's only a handful of X-Antibody Digimon, and even excluding them there still aren't a ton of Digimon.

Now, there is a reason for the last statement and that has to do with the plot. The plot itself, when you break it down, isn't too complex. Digimon are in danger of being completely eliminated by Yggdrasil, who basically rules over the Digital World. It became overwhelmed with the evolution and populace of the Digital World, so it goes out to eliminate them with the apocalyptic event known as the "Digital Hazard". Yggdrasil begins "Project Ark", where only a few Digimon will be handpicked to survive while the rest will be eliminated. He even sends out the Royal Knights--Omegamon, Magnamon and Gallantmon in this movie--to kill off the Digimon who are not among the chosen to survive. However, the X-Antibody emerges and certain Digimon are infected with it. They don't really explain what the X-Antibody does--like if it makes Digimon immortal or something--but my assumption is that it basically allows them to regenerate because they can be killed, but they're shown to come back despite this. Basically, this movie is a sort of fight for survival apocalypse story.

It's not a bad story and it honestly has a very important theme to it--the importance and beauty of life. It actually gets rather dark sometimes, down to having a Tokomon nearly killed but saved by the sacrifice of a MetalGarurumon's X-Antibody. Still, right down to the baby killing about 20 minutes into the film, yeesh... There's a lot of grim moments in this. Gallantmon gets impaled by Omegamon in a duel between each other, a couple Digimon are straight-up eaten alive, and several Digimon are literally sliced to bits and pieces. There's no real gore or anything, but it's pretty gruesome to show to kids. Also, Leomon dies within three minutes of the film. Horray for continuing the Leomon death trend!

The story isn't even just physically gruesome, it's emotionally so as well. The main character, Dorumon, is being chased to his death straight from the get-go and is shunned by many Digimon like an outcast. Seriously, five minutes into this movie and I was already tearing up! How do you even do that!? Even the scene where Tokomon is nearly killed, just hearing Dorumon announce "This child is dead!" is just heartwrenching. Every death, even the usual Leomon death, has a strong impact because it's the frightening sight of the loss of life. This is a really cruel world and it shows. Dorumon deals with a lot of emotional pain between seeing others fight for survival, going through an identity crisis, and being pushed away and judged by others. He even has to come to accept that he has to sacrifice himself to save the Digital World from Yggdrasil's plan. For such a short and separate film, I really felt a lot of emotions in this 80 minute ride.

The Royal Knights are also pretty interesting in this. There are only three of them, but they're all more compelling than their first debut of Dynasmon and Crusadermon in Digimon Frontier. Gallantmon is the first to question the morality of Yggdrasil's decisions, while Omegamon tries to be the one to obey without question (as a knight would). He is able to be this for a while, but after Gallantmon decides he wants to do what's morally correct in his mind, Omegamon kills him and then begins to question his action. Thankfully, my boy Gallantmon doesn't go out like a light, and actually died on purpose to obtain the X-Antibody himself and become Gallantmon X-Antibody, and he looks pretty freaking awesome down to have an actual light saber, which he brings hell with. There's also Magnamon, but unfortunately he isn't quite as interesting. He's able to follow the whole loyalty thing better than Omegamon, but other than talking down to Omegamon for disobeying Yggdrasil and tattletale on him for it, he doesn't really do anything. I would have liked to see him actually fight Omegamon and Alphamon (when he makes his debut) when they try to confront Yggdrasil, working with the whole theme of a knight willing to die for his king, but it just doesn't happen.

To gush just a little about Gallantmon (I'll be brief I swear), I really like how he's the one to question Yggdrasil's actions first. Going by my bias, I would've been heartbroken to see him blindly obey and kill Digimon left and right the way Omegamon was willing to. Going off logic however, it makes sense for him to rebel first. He is a Royal Knight, so he wants to protect the Digital World and do what's right, but he is a Virus-type, so it makes sense that he would question Yggdrasil's law first and rebel if he felt it was wrong. And he's really insightful and brave in this, willing to die on purpose to obtain the X-Antibody and fight back to take advantage of his new power. It makes him very... well, gallant. He's just awesome as ever. And I didn't talk about this with Digimon Tamers, but man his Japanese voice is just perfect.

This is the first instance of Yggdrasil in Digimon too, and it's basically like the D-Reaper in Tamers but I would say it's a little less interesting. It doesn't really talk much or have much reason to its actions other than, well... it's sort of a program like the D-Reaper. It doesn't think morally, it thinks logically no matter how cruel it may be. If this is as ordinary as it gets, I can understand why some people may not like it. I hear it appears in other Digimon mediums, so I'll just have to see how it's handled.

Just to talk more about Dorumon, again, he's a very relatable protagonist with his struggle to feel like he belongs in a world that seems to hate him. This especially hits hard when he Digivolves up to DoruGreymon, looking very similar to Yggdrasil's creation of DexDoruGreymon. This makes the remaining Digimon to believe he's a traitor and makes Dorumon question his identity and then desperately fight to seek the answer. This leads him to be able to achieve his final evolution to Alphamon and reveal him as one of the elusive Royal Knights thought to be a myth, which gave me a lot of respect for the Digimon itself and really admire Dorumon's resolve in the end. I definitely didn’t expect his Mega form to be Alphamon of all things though.

There's also a handful of side characters, and they're all okay. Most of them are nothing too special, but it's easy to understand they're all simply in a fight for survival. The Tokomon is pretty cute (though I kind of wish he had at least Digivolved into a Patamon X-Antibody, which apparently doesn't exist), and there were a few okay characters like the WarGreymon X-Antibody and the MetalGarurumon X-Antibody. I was kind of hoping to see them Jogress Digivolve to Omegamon X-Antibody to fight the Royal Knights' Omegamon, but nothing like that happens. Omegamon does eventually take on an X-Antibody form when rebelling against Yggdrasil, and of course he gets to deal the finishing blow because, well, he's Omegamon.

So that's about as much as I can stress talking about the story. I've probably put off talking about the animation, probably what's considered the main selling point of this movie. I'll admit that it's definitely aged and I think even for 2005, it's not exactly the highest quality animation. There are things that look a little odd, like how the Digimon are animated sometimes and how some things look funny--like this one scene where a tree falls over and you can see it has clearly already cracked in a sort of unnatural fashion. But at the same time, it is sort of a marvel to look at. Some of the water effects do look nice, and I have to admit that the Royal Knights look awesome in this film. There were never really any major issues like clipping or anything, so it was still pretty good. I guess if I had to describe it, it has the sort of quality of the many Final Fantasy VIII and Final Fantasy IX animated cutscenes do, but closer to the fluidity of the Final Fantasy X ones. Now just imagine that as a whole movie. It's still pretty good. You just have to keep in mind its age, but even for what's just a TV movie, it's rather high quality for that. Honestly, I wish we could see it get remastered. I think that would help do it some favors in all of the time that has passed since.

I will admit, some of the Digimon designs don't quite translate as well into CG as they did in traditional animation. Andromon is honestly really cringy to look at and I'd almost argue he's straight-up body horror. Granted, I guess he was body horror to begin with, but it just doesn't look so well in this. It's also weird to see Wizardmon's mouth moving constantly. I know we've seen his mouth move a few times in traditional animation and he is meant to have a scarecrow-like appearance, but it's more creepy in this and I guess I’m just used to it being hidden. On the other hand though, some Digimon translate well like Silphymon, DoruGreymon, and again, the Royal Knights look fantastic in this.

Another issue however is the camerawork--it doesn't quite follow the action well sometimes and it can be hard to follow, not helped by the fast pacing of the movie itself. There's also a few moments, especially in the beginning, where it's so dark that it's hard to tell what's going on. I get they obviously wanted dark scenes to set up the mood, but there's not much of a point when you can't tell what's going on. It's almost like some of the bad lighting of Nintendo 64 games--you know it's supposed to be dark and you want to see what's going on, but it's just too poor. In the beginning in particular, what they should have done was having lightning flash the whole scene occasionally so we could get a clear idea of what was going on in a stylistic way.

I do have to say though, this movie has an amazing soundtrack that's probably seriously underrated. It's a wonderful symphonic orchestra--you could just close your eyes and see the music being performed on a stage. Some of the strings are really gorgeous, it has lots of nice leitmotifs throughout it, and it fits the moments right. Granted, the movie is generally pretty serious, so you won't be hearing many light-hearted songs. But it really nails the intensity, drama and emotions well. Much like the Runaway Locomon movie, I highly recommend sitting down and listening to this one, whether you've seen the movie or not. While I'm kind of sad this film never even got a chance to be dubbed and exposed to American audiences, at the same time... they probably would have completely replaced this soundtrack and butchered the film with some really bad synthesized music. So I guess in that case, it's just great to see this film in its pure, true form.

In conclusion, I'd say this film is more of a curiosity, almost like Hurricane Landing!!/Transcendent Evolution!!, except this movie is actually good. It may have a few problems and the animation is a little dated, but it is interesting. For a single film, I'm surprised it was as compelling as it was considering it was a one-off thing for a TV showing. I only wish we could have seen more--and had a few technical improvements as I went on about. Still, it's definitely worth a watch and it is a good action flick. Give it a chance if you love Digimon.

[hazelplaysgames]

it’s a few days past when i’d wanted, but lets get started with Digimon Dawn here! i’m honestly not too sure whether i’m gonna be more or less detailed about it than i was with Dusk, but i’m not getting anywhere doing nothing. to start: Coronamon got nicknamed Antares(after a star), and the other two are exclusive to the Japanese pack: Reppamon, dubbed Elvis, and Karatenmon, Arpeggio.

something i like compared to Dusk is how the opening is of the second half of the Normal Tamer Tournament. in Dusk, it was basically a interrupted training session, and all you fought were Vilemon for a bit, and finished off the tutorial with the final fight of this. this changes up a fair bit, which i like more. something i don’t like, which i didn’t expect to be an issue, is that it feels harder to read these orange menus. it might just be i’m not used to it.

on to the supporti-- hey wait game. game let me talk to everyone in the waiting room. game!

you know i think Newton is the first fight you have in Dusk, too. single Kokuwamon as was there. second is Ponch, third is Gutts. the cocky pricks return! i don’t remember seeing the teams of either of the latter two in Dusk, so it’s neat to see them here. it’s not the full Clown squad, Barone was in the stands before heading into the stage. also, Raigo was there as well, probably to show off the Gold tamer status.

so, supporting cast, as i was saying: it looks like the main two friends are gonna be Pulsa and Komachi, and the secondary squad is Tonpei, Kenpa, and Cheetah. the team leader is Glare, and his Digimon partner is Ophanimon. can i just say, way less of a mouthful than Chaos Gallantmon? and the rival character of Night Claw is Sayo, as seen in Cyber Sleuth last i played a Digimon game.

and as for supporting supporting cast, the audience stands also has Gideon, a LF Silver member, and Litton, who... either Bronze or Gold at a guess, i kind of sort of doubt that both Silver members are in the crowd here. Gideon seems pretty cool.

to say it right now, the characters to Light Fang seem way less cocky as of right now. let it be said Ponch and Gutts are not good at first impressions. or second or third... Cheetah might be the Gutts of this game, but he at least comes across as having a shred of humility.

oh hey, Antares actually managed to not die in all these fights. that’s pretty nice! i think Sayo has the Dusk Balance pack? Lilamon and MechGaogamon. ooh, and after Sayo’s fight, Raigo confirms Litton is a Gold Tamer! she. says it now too, actually, Raigo’s just closer to the door. the scene with the hooded figure plays out pretty much the same as in Dusk, maybe omit a detail or two for the fact you don’t see the stuff at Thriller Ruins.

Gaoh and Lyla are confirmed to be the Bronze members of LF, and i’m unleashed on the City to head home, which makes no sense to me because i’m used to DMC, featuring Dante. as a point of clarity, i’ve actually never played a DMC game. nor for that matter, God of War, Shin Megami Tensei, Persona(i’m actually getting into it now so that might change soon)... are we sure i grew up with a PS2? i’m getting distracted. i saw a place called the Shine Gate, thought “Mario Sunshine :),” and adhd won. i think that’s a good sign the inaugural post is getting too long.

to go one sentence further, i always felt it was a bit weird that Dawn had Gatomon as the NaviDigimon, while Dusk used Phascomon, one that otherwise doesn’t show up in the games.

[reversemoon255]

Figure-rise Standard Imperialdramon (Amplified)

It’s not from season 1! And we already have confirmation (and a preorder on my part) that after Mugendramon/Machinedramon we’re getting Dukemon/Gallantmon from Tamers! Finally some pathos for that old Reboot model kit. I really like that they’re progressing through the series like this, and not just hovering over Adventure. Just some musings on the line, I have a feeling we might see a Beelzebumon, I’d like to see a Granni that could combine with Dukemon, and I’m pipe-dreaming we might get Sakuyamon and a giant SaintGargomon. Tamers is my second favorite anime of all time, so as a fan I’d like some representation.

If we pass up on more Tamers stuff and move onto Frontier, I’d like if we got both KaiserGreymon and MagnaGarurumon. I know the final forms aren’t as iconic as, say, Agnimon and Wolfmon, but they are the big final evolutions (which we’re 5 for 5 on), and doing both allow them to do a Susanoomon gimmick. And after the engineering they stuffed into this guy to allow him to switch between Dragon and Fighter Mode, I’d say that’s not too farfetched. Also, raises my hopes for my ultimate wish of combining Shoutmon X4.

The Good: This is a very solid, and surprisingly posable figure. The amount of joints in the hips and shoulders are insane, and allow for an amazing range. That helps a lot since the ankles and elbows are slightly hindered by the sculpt, but he can achieve some crazy poses on a stand. The wings also have some really good range to them, though it’s easy to break up the sculpt.

But I’m sure you’re most interested about the transformation, and it’s surprisingly good and involved. The arm mechanism for extending their length is very cool, and the amount of engineering in the legs to both compress them and allow for all the joints to work unhindered is very cool. There are only 3 parts required for Dragon Mode (the extended neck, chest, and their hair), and Fighter Mode just requires the head and hands.

The Bad: While I think the inclusion of Dragon Mode is extremely cool, it’s mostly just a gimmick. The posability on it is not great, and while you can get it to stand on its own, those knee spikes constantly bump into the forelegs (MetalGarurumon this isn’t). The hip mechanism, while great for achieving poses in Fighter Mode, is hard to use in Dragon Mode, as well as tricky to assemble. The waist, while it holds, is kind of weak, and the tail only has 2 joints in it. Fighter Mode is the main item here; Dragon Mode is just a neat extra.

The chest cannon thing is an appreciated inclusion, but it doesn’t look all that great, and it doesn’t peg into the chest at all; you’re just supposed to rest it in the mouth.

The Details: So, again, like WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon, I did the armored panel lining in metallic red to emulate the aesthetic of Children’s War Game, and did some light shading on the organic parts (just the hands and shoulders) in black. There’s quite a bit of additional metallic red throughout, such as the hips and on the legs, and all the gold has been repainted.

I also replaced all the stickers, including the eyes this time! They finally sculpted them in, thank goodness. As for details I added, there’s black fill in the cannon and its wing tips are gold (not red like the stickers), black detailing added to the tail, and added gold on the knuckles. The parts layering is very good here, so even if you don’t want to significantly paint it, it’ll still look great.

Overall, Imperialdramon Fighter Mode is a fantastic kit, with a great range of posability to help balance out an awkward sculpt, and a fantastic gimmick. Imperialdramon Dragon Mode is a nice added feature, but not much more than that. But more important than anything, it has me excited for the potential of this line, where it could expand from here, and what could be accomplished in the future. Mainly Shoutmon X4, though.