Unpopular opinions and rants about the Digimon franchize.

[Aldath]

Disclaimer: I'm not here to bash the franchize in any way, I just wanted to share some thoughts I've been harboring for quite a while and wanted to know if I'm the only one. This is only a list of opinions, I'm not claiming to be right, just wanted to share and see what others think.

• Most of the designs are unrelatable and inconsistent: I find Digimon, as creatures, to be much less reliable than Pokémon because of their designs. Digimon were originally conceived as virtual pets that you care for and train, having all sort of wacky shapes and motiffs (talking about the original V Pet). By the time the franchize got manga and anime adaptations, and more Digimon started being added to the roster, I noticed a trend where some of the character models were over complicated and others simply grotesque. Visually it was easy to distinguish which Digimon the franchize wanted to push for marketing and which ones were designed to be eternal henchmen. There's something charming to having a cute little Etemon sprite in your V-Pet, but I find the original Bandai art disgusting to look at. As time has gone by, some Digimon have received much needed visual redesigns, and others have stayed neglected. I find the shapes and general inconsitent quality of the artworks to make Digimon much less relatable than other monsters from collectible franchizes. That said, Shin Megami Tensei has the same issue and some people would argue it's "part of the charm", and I know that for every Etemon hater out there there's someone who likes him (I actually love the little sprite and find it extremely endearing, I just have to re imagine him as something funnier).
• There's an oversaturation of humanoid Digimon as of late: Be it attractive women, mechas with tails or generic anime warriors, I feel that for a series that still sells the whole "Monsters that you train and evolve" idea in both the V-Pet and videogames, they have been taking most of the "monstruous" away. Most of the most powerful Digimon are portrayed as Mecha Warriors of sorts; being Bandai, who also sells action figures, it's not surprising that this might as well be the most marketable route. Not only that, but the unspoken rule of Humanoid Digimon having the eyes or head covered to make them more monstruos is bit by bit being broken, with things like Gankoomon or the Sistermon creatures looking all too human. The increase in "lewdness" of the female shaped Digimon is also quite evident, the only modern one I can remember which wasn't portrayed with enormous breasts was Cho-Hakkaimon. It's somewhat off putting to think that part of the virtual pet experience is actually feeding and cleaning the poop of a woman with large breasts, a leather outfit and guns.
• I really dislike the Effort System and the whole idea behind base AP. V-Pets are by nature very passive toys. Digimon, on its first iterations, somehow managed to be more involved than the first Tamagotchis. You had to train them a lot, and in some versions, even keep an eye of certain times of the day to get the desired results, it made the experience more active and fullfilling. Effort makes it so in order to have a certain evolution, you have to limit the interactions and training minigames you can have with your pet during a certain timeframe, which was significantly reduced. Not only it makes a passive hobby already much more passive and not much different from watching paint dry, but it removes a certain element of bonding. Also, the Base AP makes it so some Digimon are completely useless in the long run. The first V-Pets let you turn stuff like Monzaemon and Vademon into formidable foes by letting you increase AP by training. Nowadays it just depends on the species and the Strength Level of the Digimon, creating situations like in the latest D1-Grand Prix where it isn't much your training skills what counts, but which Digimon you're using, and everyone and their mothers who made it far into the finals were using RustTyranomon and Omnimon. I, for once, dislike Pukumon, but I really like MarineDevimon. If my Digimon doesn't evolves, I have no hope of training him to be strong enough to clear the Colisseum, thus I'm forced to kill it in order to try and evolve again, or stick to a Digimon I really dislike.
• There's an over reliance on the Royal Knights: This holds specially true for the animated media. Some of the most explored Digimon are part of the Royal Knights. The presence of the Royal Knights more often than not ends up being integral to the plot, be it as Antagonists or prominent mentor figures. It's a trope that has been used and re used when there are other groups that could be explored more, like the Olympos XII.
• Some of the V-Pet sprites are actually better than the Bandai artworks: No, I'm not talking of Gomamon who is a completely plain seal or Mamemon who is a pixel with face. Some of the sprites, like the aftermentioned Etemon, are charming, funny, or endearing, whereas the official artwork ends up being incredibly grotesque or over complicated. Take for example Bryweludramon, who actually looks like a Dragon on the V-Pets sprite; the official artwork is so over the top that it's very hard to make out the details of the creature. Nanimon's sprite is a homage to Ojayitchi from Tamagotchi, and I think putting arms to it and giving him so many details in the artwork kinda kills the whole purpose of original Nanimon.
• The anime/manga does a terrible job portraying Digimon as a species: The videogames make a much better job of creating an imaginative and lively Digital World where a Piemon can be shy, a Vamdemon can be good, and a Botamon can run a shady meat-trafficking business. The visual media usually locks certain Digimon under the henchmen/evil archetype and never let go. Mushmon are always douches. Hangyomon are always weak henchmen despite being Perfect level. MarineAngemon is a pansy even if it's an Ultimate. Demonic Digimon are evil, Angelic ones are good, and you're only cool and powerful if you look like a Bandai Action Figure; everything else means you're completely useless.
• I'd rather have Digimon World: -next 0rder- localized for Steam and Switch than Cyber Sleuth:

And that's pretty much it for me. I don't know if anyone shares my oppinions or has other stuff to add/say!

 

[Ragnalord]

Evil digimon always being 10x stronger than good digimon and it requires a good digimon to transcend evolve even further to beat a simple ultimate evil digimon.

I was just looking at ordinemon battle vs 6 ultimate level good digimon, one being jogress (ordinemon is also a jogress as well), 1 of them being part of the 4 great dragon and the other part of the 3 celestial digimon also being a highest ranked at that.

I'm sure if rosemon became evil somehow, she would easily beat up all the royal knights with ease. I mean I know how anime works compared to video games, like ash pikachu being able to defeat pokemon who are 10x stronger than he is.

I mean ordinemon is just a simple jogress of 2 mega level digimon, the same as omnimon, granted ordinemon is a fusion of 2 celestial and omnimon is a fusion of 2 average megas.

Let's just say I want it to be more realistic and I'm pretty sure that gamers can tame more than 1 digimon.

 

[Muur]

You sure have some controversial opinions, OP.

Mine:

The anime is over rated, and most games shit all over it.

 

[Xadhoom]

Adventure is overrated. It's all just nostalgia goggles.

02 is hard underrated. It's all just the opposite of nostalgia goggles.

The Royal Knights were a mistake.

Ophanimon was a mistake. Just look at how many clamor for Kari's Gatomon having it so they can pretend the evoline makes more sense, and the worse "she fits better with Seraphimon".

UlforceVeedramon was a mistake. Imperialdramon is Veemon's "one true" Mega, and that's the way it should be. EMBRACE IT.

Too many "sexy woman" pseudo-monster designs.

Shakkoumon is better than Angewomon and MagnaAngemon.

 

[flintlock]

In the last 10 years how many new Digimon were actually humanoid, as in human bodied
Not mecha or knights. Because it doesn't seem like there were that many to me. Same question for fan service Digimon.

 

[wildwing64]

"Unpopular opinion" threads are overrated... and I swear we had one of these already.

I dislike the use of "01" when retroactively referring to Adventure. Yeah, I get it, it goes with its sequel. But the whole point of the "02" title is a play on it being a followup set in the year 2002. Adventure doesn't take place in 2001, so...

I flip-flop on 02 all the time but my main point of contention is how the writers keep finding ways to blatantly nerf the Original Eight to show off the new team's gimmicks. Contrary to what some may think I don't hate the 02 kids, but Daisuke is insufferable in the dub, and Iori can best be described as a character that happens to exist.

While Tamers is good, it's also extremely overhyped.

Frontier had some good ideas but tons of wasted potential. The story arcs dragged, and the characters were one-dimensional and boring. And yet it keeps getting put on a pedestal that it doesn't deserve.

Whether you like it or not, Tri. was the best thing to happen to the franchise in a long, long time oh, wait, this isn't the facts thread. Anyway, while their removal could have been handled better, I like the 02 kids being absent from Tri. For one thing it compensated for my main frustration with 02 itself. But more importantly I like the cast being limited to the Original Eight and Meiko as it allowed for a more focused, character-driven narrative.

The anime is over rated, and most games shit all over it.

OH YEAH?!?! Well, lemme tell you that- *remembers 02, Frontier, X-Evolution, and Hunters exist* ...you may have a point.

Jokes aside, my experience with the games is limited so I can't really comment much. World 1 was fun, but it has a steep learning curve and can be difficult to get back into. The Cyber Sleuth games are solid for the most part, but the battles can get repetitive. They'd also be more enjoyable without relying on grinding, level caps, and that ABI mechanic. Nothing like getting Shoutmon only to discover he's useless because he evolves at level 99 but is capped at 16.

I think a better direction for Digimon as a game franchise would be to merge elements of World and Story with an open world action RPG akin to Xenoblade.

Generically speaking, I get way more enjoyment out of the v-pets than I have with any of the games.

The Royal Knights are overused, but I don't see what difference focusing on another group like the Olympus XII would make if Bamco/Toei just do the exact same shtick with them.

 

[GuidingLight]

As a relative newcomer to the v-pets, it's kind of shocking reading how you could essentially make any digimon a powerhouse with training. When I first read about the D-1 Grand Prix, I had suspicions that anyone that wasn't using top tier digimon was not going to make it that far. It seems like that suspicion was true. Maybe Bandai changed how it works due to the digimon showing up in media and being at a certain power level, and they assumed people would want those certain digimon like Alphamon and Omegamon to be stronger than others no matter what due to their portrayal.

 

[Koharu Nanakura]

X-Evolution was a masterpiece. No humans, just the way I like it.

Speaking of no humans, Adventure and Tamers would be better if they focused more on Digimon instead of on humans and portrayed Digimon more faithfully to the lore (perma-evolution, NOT bleeding, etc.). Think like V-Tamer.

Frontier and Hunters are great just for Salamon and the clock shop guy respectively.

World DS and Dawn/Dusk had potential, but wasted it. Hated the species EXP mechanic and the dungeons, and I also hated how Dawn/Dusk was 70% random quests and 30% actual plot.

 

[Aldath]

As a relative newcomer to the v-pets, it's kind of shocking reading how you could essentially make any digimon a powerhouse with training. When I first read about the D-1 Grand Prix, I had suspicions that anyone that wasn't using top tier digimon was not going to make it that far. It seems like that suspicion was true. Maybe Bandai changed how it works due to the digimon showing up in media and being at a certain power level, and they assumed people would want those certain digimon like Alphamon and Omegamon to be stronger than others no matter what due to their portrayal.

It may be, but that's exactly my issue with the Effort and Base AP mechanics; it's not so much of your skill and dedication as a Tamer anymore, but using the popular ones. I mean, stuff like Monzaemon, Vademon and Datamon won't even work in the long run for a single player because their base AP can't keep up with the later Colisseum matches.

 

[GuidingLight]

As a relative newcomer to the v-pets, it's kind of shocking reading how you could essentially make any digimon a powerhouse with training. When I first read about the D-1 Grand Prix, I had suspicions that anyone that wasn't using top tier digimon was not going to make it that far. It seems like that suspicion was true. Maybe Bandai changed how it works due to the digimon showing up in media and being at a certain power level, and they assumed people would want those certain digimon like Alphamon and Omegamon to be stronger than others no matter what due to their portrayal.

It may be, but that's exactly my issue with the Effort and Base AP mechanics; it's not so much of your skill and dedication as a Tamer anymore, but using the popular ones. I mean, stuff like Monzaemon, Vademon and Datamon won't even work in the long run for a single player because their base AP can't keep up with the later Colisseum matches.

I feel like it would make it so much more personal if they added those features back in. Like you were saying, it would feel more like it's YOUR digimon and YOUR efforts instead of just going for the popular royal knights to win every battle

 

[LotusRose]

I prefer Pegasmon and Nefertimon to the angels.

Shakkoumon is one of the better Jogress designs.

 

[flintlock]

I prefer Pegasmon and Nefertimon to the angels.

Shakkoumon is one of the better Jogress designs.

Shakkoumon's design is amazing when you know where it comes from and that it's supposed to be an alien robot.

 

[LotusRose]

I prefer Pegasmon and Nefertimon to the angels.

Shakkoumon is one of the better Jogress designs.

Shakkoumon's design is amazing when you know where it comes from and that it's supposed to be an alien robot.

Exactly this. I love the thought behind Shakkoumon and its design. Was always one of my favourites in 02 and I never understood the hate. Okay, so it looks kinda weird. As opposed to what, the cat-man with bird legs?

 

[Deep Saver]

Tamers is the most overrated show. I like a lot of the parts of the show, but to hear fans talk about it you would think it was a once in a lifetime masterpiece.

I don’t know how anyone can stand to play Digimon World Dawn/Dusk, haha.

On a more positive note, ShineGreymon is my favorite Greymon-Species Digimon, but it doesn’t seem very popular compared to a lot of the others.

 

[Vaioumon]

Does it count if the opinion is only unpopular among the online people I see, even if it goes with what the series is already doing and by extension is actually popular among the majority?

If so: Omegamon is a great face digimon, I enjoy all the forms it gets, and I wanna see an "official" Omegamon clash. Like, it being officially part of a game or something, not just "suggested" (ex. your tutorial partners in N0 being WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon while there's an enemy Omegamon in the game) or in art.

If not: Well too bad.

 

[D O R U g o r a m o n]

"If so: Omegamon is a great face digimon, I enjoy all the forms it gets, and I wanna see an "official" Omegamon clash."

Omegamon battle royale.

 

[Ragnalord]

God no, agumon is fugly and omegamon, while cool should not have been the face of digimon.

 

[DontStopPataPata]

I prefer Pegasmon and Nefertimon to the angels.

Shakkoumon is one of the better Jogress designs.

Shakkoumon's design is amazing when you know where it comes from and that it's supposed to be an alien robot.

ItÂ’s based on Shakōkidogū not an alien robot.

Tamers is the most overrated show. I like a lot of the parts of the show, but to hear fans talk about it you would think it was a once in a lifetime masterpiece.
.

The ET meets The Iron Giant first 13 is pretty fun. The deva stuff is okay. The Digital World crap is boring up until Beezlemon shows up. The D-reaper arc mostly saves that series.

I echo that Tamers is overrated after a recent rewatch. A series show run by a guy who normally does off kilter sci fi series aimed at teenagers and adults did not mix with a kids advertisement series that had agendas on the part of the toy company to fulfill.

 

[Tippy]

I have no idea if this would be considered an unpopular opinion or not, but Digimon Rumble Arena was the bomb and probably the most fun I've had playing a digimon game. I've tried others and they were all incredibly meh.

 

[VanChizzle]

I wish they'd stop sexualizing female characters in a franchise that I've grown to love since my childhood. And that's coming from a straight, red-blooded male. Some things are just better left alone.

Shakkoumon is one of the better Jogress designs.

Agreed, I actually don't mind it - although it isn't designed as a composite of 2 Digimon like Paildramon and Silphymon, it still makes sense if you consider what kind of elements go into the Jogress.