Ken and the Crest of Kindness

[JR9386]

So, this has been something ruminating in my mind for the past couple of days.

In both Tri and I suppose to some degree 02, we see that Ken's digivice becomes Black/Grey when it upgrades to a D3. Furthermore, we see in Tri that his smartphone Digivice (Do we ever get an explanation for the purpose of these, or was it just a marketing gimmick? (Off-topic: I've only seen Tai's being marketed through official Bandai/Toei merchandise. Is this accurate?)) is black and emblazoned with the Crest of Kindness. However, unlike the original Chosen Eight, his doesn't correspond to the color of his crest (Fuschia), but rather to his dark digivice. Do we ever get an in-universe explanation for why it remained a dark digivice, and why his phone didn't correspond to his crest? Is it possible, because he never managed to achieve activating his crest (I honestly believe he should have been featured in Tri. We'll just pretend Yolei and co. don't exist...)?

I've begun to personally speculate that Ken's crest lent itself in allowing Wormmon to evolve into a more fairy line as part of my own personal headcanon. In my mind, Puttiemon is something of a fairy, even if not explicitly deemed such by its namesake. His possible alternate Ultimate of JewelBeemon likewise concerns itself with beauty, and if you look at the overall design, it corresponds to pixies/wood nymphs/fairies etc. The digiegg of Kindness while not featured on screen likewise features this same floral motif reminiscent of Thumbelina. I personally am not the biggest fan of his evolving into a Kuwagamon species, but this has more to do with the lore of Kabuterimon and Kuwagamon families being at odds with one another. It's just lore, but it seems appropriate to avoid it. Similar to how having a Greymon species and a Parrotmon on the same team. Sure it can happen, but the rivalry we've seen between them would make it odd.

 

[DigitalCorp]

Probably to stay masculine.

 

[JR9386]

Probably to stay masculine.

Sure, from a marketing perspective that makes sense, but then they kind of buried themselves into a hole with the color of the crest and its design.

I could theoretically see it being okay as an Indigo digivice, since Izzy has a Violet digivice (And Google doesn't help in distinguishing the two...). But then the D3s are weird in their color schemes. TK's D3 is green, but his Crest Phone is yellow, whereas Cody's D3 is yellow, and his Crest Phone is mustard.

This actually got me to thinking about the light spectrum. Kari's should theoretically be white instead of pink, which corresponds to Gatomon, and her initial appearance as Angewomon when they lent her their power for her initial attack. That just leaves the question of why Joe's is grey (Absence of light?).

 

[TMS]

The Crest colors are in many cases arbitrary. There’s no reason why Knowledge had to be purple, that I know of. Sincerity was gray just because it was what they had left, or to go with Jou’s partner’s arctic theme.

I don’t remember what origin was given for the smartphone Digivices, so I can’t really speak to that.

 

[JR9386]

The Crest colors are in many cases arbitrary. There’s no reason why Knowledge had to be purple, that I know of. Sincerity was gray just because it was what they had left, or to go with Jou’s partner’s arctic theme.

I don’t remember what origin was given for the smartphone Digivices, so I can’t really speak to that.

I get that the crests didn't need to be specific colors, but Ken's seems the odd one out as his smartphone Digivice doesn't reflect the crest we actually see. Even in so far as D3s which generally correspond to their partner colors. Ken remains dark regardless of his redemption arc.

I went off on a tangent in so far as the crests for the original Chosen Children corresponding to the light spectrum, given that most with the exception of Kari and Joe fit that scheme.

 

[Mynor]

Ken was evil all along! In Tri that wasn't Gennai posing as Ken. That was Ken posing as Gennai posing as Ken!

 

[Xadhoom]

his doesn't correspond to the color of his crest

That's because the Crest has never been as big a deal to him as the original eight's were to them during their journey. Might be stating the obvious, but: Ken's part of the Zero Two team.

 

[Yamato-san]

Personally, I like that Ken's Digivice didn't change after his redemption. It serves as a nice little indication that, in a franchise absolutely full of black and white duality (especially the original Adventure canon), there is still a place for benevolent darkness (hell, they spent a good deal of Frontier pointing this out). Likewise with Beelzebumon. He didn't turn into some glowing angel upon redemption..... rather, a fallen angel, with a hugeass gun, all of which stands to make him look even more intimidating (though granted, he did trade in his vicious red eyes for calmer-looking green ones).

his doesn't correspond to the color of his crest

That's because the Crest has never been as big a deal to him as the original eight's were to them during their journey. Might be stating the obvious, but: Ken's part of the Zero Two team.

Yes, but at least lorewise, he's kinda similar to Takeru and Hikari in that he originally had a first-model Digivice (as well as his own Crest) and was a Chosen Child well before Daisuke's group. Though I guess his comparison to those two does get a bit complicated in that his Partner's completely original to 02 and had no viable non-Jogress Perfect options (at the time).

 

[Muur]

I think only we saw three smartphone digivices in the movie itself and one of them (TKs) didn't even match promotional material (green in promo, yellow in the movie)

They only existed to sell smart phone cases.

Only lore we got is that Izzy created them

 

[e105zeta]

Ken was already coded as pretty feminine/ambiguously queer, so I assume they just couldn't push it too far for the time. Also probably the reason why he's the only male in a confirmed heteronormative relationship in the finale.

The Crest colors are in many cases arbitrary. There’s no reason why Knowledge had to be purple, that I know of. Sincerity was gray just because it was what they had left, or to go with Jou’s partner’s arctic theme.

I don’t remember what origin was given for the smartphone Digivices, so I can’t really speak to that.

The explanation out of universe was that they were created so the kids seemed more modern and adult, instead of playing with an undersized toy.

In-universe they were created by Koushirou so they wouldn't have to carry both a cellphone and a Digivice with them everywhere because they might forget one, and they also link to a special Digimon only social network for the world's 30,000 Chosen Ones.

 

[TMS]

In that case, Koshiro and/or Ken just decided they liked black better than lavender.

 

[Muur]

Also probably the reason why he's the only male in a confirmed heteronormative relationship in the finale.

Matt/Sora

 

[JR9386]

Ken was already coded as pretty feminine/ambiguously queer, so I assume they just couldn't push it too far for the time. Also probably the reason why he's the only male in a confirmed heteronormative relationship in the finale.

I never quite saw Ken in that way. I always took the softer side of Ken being emphasized in the series to demonstrate his redemption as well as why he was the bearer of the Crest of Kindness.

After all, we do see them going over the top with the 02 kids when it comes to those traits (Yolei... *shudders*).

Edited to add: This is also part of the reason *why* I think that Ken in spite of being introduced in 02, shouldn't be treated as just another 02 team member. According to the internal logic of the series, as cited by Kari, Ken is an OG Adventure team member. Ken did not have the benefit of the team, but he was summoned into the digital world just like the rest of them and received a crest. Honestly, I do wish we got a reboot of 02 that radically shifts the tone of the story. I'd be on board with Ryo replacing Davis..., Menoa/Maiko replacing Yolei (Not that I care much for Menoa/Maiko, but she's within the same age bracket.), and Cody, well, we just won't discuss him... The show seems to imply that devoid of a team, most members go off the deep end. It's too bad, because Hawkmon is one of my favorite digimon, but I could see Menoa and Ken working out quite nicely, though Kari and Maiko work out well as Jogress Partners.

Off-Topic: Ken should have gotten a ponytail when he got older.

 

[VanChizzle]

I like to think that Ken's smartphone is black as a reminder of his past and to be vigilant against the darkness.

 

[JR9386]

I like to think that Ken's smartphone is black as a reminder of his past and to be vigilant against the darkness.

Maybe, but it shows little character growth. If at his core he is Kindness, why is he still grappling with it?

 

[VanChizzle]

I like to think that Ken's smartphone is black as a reminder of his past and to be vigilant against the darkness.

Maybe, but it shows little character growth. If at his core he is Kindness, why is he still grappling with it?

I think even if he's completely fine now himself, it never hurts to look out for warning signs in others. Especially other Chosen who may go through something similar.

If Kizuna is faithful to the 02 epilogue, and by all accounts it is, eventually everyone in the world gets a Digimon. Surely not all of these people are well-adjusted or even law-abiding individuals, which is where his future job presumably has a lot of crossover with.