Unpopular opinions and rants about the Digimon franchize.

[Tortoiseshel]

Seadramon is a fish, not a reptile. I don't know if that's actually an unpopular opinion, but I felt it needed to be said.

 

[JR9386]

Seadramon is a fish, not a reptile. I don't know if that's actually an unpopular opinion, but I felt it needed to be said.

What are you basing that off of?

The oarfish?

One of the things I liked about OG Digimon is that the designs took inspiration from multiple sources.

Speaking of unpopular opinions, while Adventure holds a special place in my heart, Tamers perfected the aesthetic of partner specific lines, especially for the core cast. Guilmon's line is fantastic.

Something I would have liked to see occur in the OG series are having particular Digimon family rivalries play a role when certain digimon encounter their rival species (ie Kuwagamon vs. Kabuterimon).

 

[Muur]

Seadramon is a fish, not a reptile. I don't know if that's actually an unpopular opinion, but I felt it needed to be said.

Dragons aren't fish, though. It's a dragon that lives in the sea. Like how Lugia lives in the sea in Pokemon but is not only not a fish it's not water type.

 

[Bancho]

well dragons aren't construction equipment either but Breakdramon

 

[e105zeta]

Seadramon is a fish, not a reptile. I don't know if that's actually an unpopular opinion, but I felt it needed to be said.

Dragons aren't fish, though. It's a dragon that lives in the sea. Like how Lugia lives in the sea in Pokemon but is not only not a fish it's not water type.

Apparently that's because they didn't think Water-type was "Special" enough for Lugia (they came up with his design and role first).

Regardless, if Ebidramon can be a shrimp dragon, and Birdramon can be a bird dragon, there's nothing stopping Seadramon from being a fish dragon. Seahomon is a fish dragon and speculated to be Seadramon's ancestor.

On a similar note: There should be no Coredramon Blue. They should've used Airdramon in Dracomon's line instead.

 

[xyzt]

Unpopular opinion: the best part of Runaway Locomon is everything before Locomon starts rampaging, and Konaka's statements suggesting that Ruki's missing father shouldn't matter to her character is a black mark on his qualifications as an artist.

Why is that a black mark? He pretty much stated that single parents were pretty common in that area and I doubt all kids there are traumatized by that aspect so one could argue Ruki was meant to be a subversion of the "child seriously damaged by their parent's divorce" stereotype. She has parental issues but it has to do with her mother and not her absent father.

 

[JR9386]

Seadramon is a fish, not a reptile. I don't know if that's actually an unpopular opinion, but I felt it needed to be said.

Dragons aren't fish, though. It's a dragon that lives in the sea. Like how Lugia lives in the sea in Pokemon but is not only not a fish it's not water type.

I think what they're alluding to is the lore of Magikarp to Gyrados. A carp that becomes a dragon.

I don't recall Seadramon having that mythology associated with his design.

Basilosaurus, in spite of looking more like a reptilian cetacean could work as a source of design inspiration for Seadramon.

 

[The Chaos Entity]

Isn’t it far more likely that Seadramon is just supposed to be a generic Sea Serpent that prevails in several different mythologies?

 

[Mon-Ohma]

And here I always assumed Seadramon was just a loose pop cultural reference to Manda.

 

[JungleTrooper]

'Normal' Digivolution mechanics- and evolutionary designs are way better than the likes of Fusions and Xros'es. The Xros War period might've had the worst designs, in my opinion. All those Shoutmon, yikes. Good designs like Blastmon and Bagramon were overshadowed by toy-looking creatures.

I'm glad the new designs (V-pet related to an extent) have been very solid the last couple of years and how the series has returned to its roots, mechanics-wise and art-wise (so, not talking about the reboot in general).

 

[Muur]

Seadramon is a fish, not a reptile. I don't know if that's actually an unpopular opinion, but I felt it needed to be said.

Dragons aren't fish, though. It's a dragon that lives in the sea. Like how Lugia lives in the sea in Pokemon but is not only not a fish it's not water type.

I think what they're alluding to is the lore of Magikarp to Gyrados. A carp that becomes a dragon.

I don't recall Seadramon having that mythology associated with his design.

Basilosaurus, in spite of looking more like a reptilian cetacean could work as a source of design inspiration for Seadramon.

well Betamon isnt a Dragon, so it's basically the same thing.

 

[BeelzebumonBlastMode]

'Normal' Digivolution mechanics- and evolutionary designs are way better than the likes of Fusions and Xros'es. The Xros War period might've had the worst designs, in my opinion. All those Shoutmon, yikes. Good designs like Blastmon and Bagramon were overshadowed by toy-looking creatures.

I'm glad the new designs (V-pet related to an extent) have been very solid the last couple of years and how the series has returned to its roots, mechanics-wise and art-wise (so, not talking about the reboot in general).

I have mixed opinions on the Xros Wars era digimon. Some are really good like the one you mentioned: Blastmon. As well as some fun ones like Dondokomon and they had all those contest digimon around that time too like Bacomon and Soundbirdmon who're really cool. But some of the shoutmon forms are unreadable messes. Thats also true for some of the x-antibody forms too.

I'm not sure which "era" of digimon designs I dislike the most. There was some iffy stuff around the Frontier, savers hiatus time. For example the artwork for Tobucatmon and Salamon X just looks really amateur.

 

[JR9386]

Seadramon is a fish, not a reptile. I don't know if that's actually an unpopular opinion, but I felt it needed to be said.

Dragons aren't fish, though. It's a dragon that lives in the sea. Like how Lugia lives in the sea in Pokemon but is not only not a fish it's not water type.

I think what they're alluding to is the lore of Magikarp to Gyrados. A carp that becomes a dragon.

I don't recall Seadramon having that mythology associated with his design.

Basilosaurus, in spite of looking more like a reptilian cetacean could work as a source of design inspiration for Seadramon.

well Betamon isnt a Dragon, so it's basically the same thing.

Supposedly, not that it's official, it's based off of Dimetrodon.

 

[The Chaos Entity]

Seadramon is a fish, not a reptile. I don't know if that's actually an unpopular opinion, but I felt it needed to be said.

Dragons aren't fish, though. It's a dragon that lives in the sea. Like how Lugia lives in the sea in Pokemon but is not only not a fish it's not water type.

I think what they're alluding to is the lore of Magikarp to Gyrados. A carp that becomes a dragon.

I don't recall Seadramon having that mythology associated with his design.

Basilosaurus, in spite of looking more like a reptilian cetacean could work as a source of design inspiration for Seadramon.

well Betamon isnt a Dragon, so it's basically the same thing.

Supposedly, not that it's official, it's based off of Dimetrodon.

Uh…no?
Betamon is an amphibian, and Dimetrodon was a synapsid. The two aren’t even remotely similar except for having fins on their back…which lots of different creatures have had throughout the history of life on Earth. Whoever told you that was clearly making shit up.
(Besides, even if Betamon was a Dimetrodon - which he isn’t - Dimetrodon wasn’t a dragon or even a reptile. It was a synapsid and is more closely related to mammals like dogs or cats that it was to any reptile, including the dinosaurs)

 

[JR9386]

Seadramon is a fish, not a reptile. I don't know if that's actually an unpopular opinion, but I felt it needed to be said.

Dragons aren't fish, though. It's a dragon that lives in the sea. Like how Lugia lives in the sea in Pokemon but is not only not a fish it's not water type.

I think what they're alluding to is the lore of Magikarp to Gyrados. A carp that becomes a dragon.

I don't recall Seadramon having that mythology associated with his design.

Basilosaurus, in spite of looking more like a reptilian cetacean could work as a source of design inspiration for Seadramon.

well Betamon isnt a Dragon, so it's basically the same thing.

Supposedly, not that it's official, it's based off of Dimetrodon.

Uh…no?
Betamon is an amphibian, and Dimetrodon was a synapsid. The two aren’t even remotely similar except for having fins on their back…which lots of different creatures have had throughout the history of life on Earth. Whoever told you that was clearly making shit up.
(Besides, even if Betamon was a Dimetrodon - which he isn’t - Dimetrodon wasn’t a dragon or even a reptile. It was a synapsid and is more closely related to mammals like dogs or cats that it was to any reptile, including the dinosaurs)

You do realize I said it wasn't official, right?

Betamon

Betamon is an Amphibian Digimon. It walks on four legs. Its personality is gentle, but although it is a docile Digimon, once Betamon is angered, it emits its "Electric Shock" (Dengeki Biririn) from its body. Attacks Electric Shock (電撃ビリリン, Dengeki Biririn?): Generates more than 1 MV of electric...

digimon.fandom.com

Just hope that was clear.

Nevertheless, my response was to Muur's response to me concerning Tortoiseshel's allusion to Seadramon's origins being akin to this:

Carp Leaping Over Dragon's Gate

Not that I want to get into it over Betamon, to each their own, but considering that Dimetrodon was semi-aquatic (or at least it is speculated to have been), I think it's safe to assume that they could have been playing loosely with the term amphibian. Given it a more pudgy frog like appearance (Probably a Pacman frog.), and drawing from other semi-aquatic animal sources.

This would work as well:

Edaphosauridae - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

This is off topic, but I've long speculated, at least in so far as some OG digimon lines, that many were meant to be reptilian/dinosaur like as they progressed. Palmon has always made me lean in that direction. Would have liked for her to become Petaldramon > Toropiamon/Entmon > Ceresmon in A2020 as a slide form.

Unpopular opinion:

In retrospect, as much as I enjoy new digimon and lines being introduced, I personally think it goes against what Digimon was meant to be. Perhaps it was better with limited higher forms.

 

[e105zeta]

In retrospect, as much as I enjoy new digimon and lines being introduced, I personally think it goes against what Digimon was meant to be. Perhaps it was better with limited higher forms.

All of the things we associate with Digimon are afterthoughts or reinterpretations. The pixel art came first and then they were interpreted through Watanabe’s art. With abstract pixels it’s easier to accept a Fox thing becomes a wolf which becomes a zombie dinosaur.

I would also argue that Betamon’s real inspiration is probably just Gigan on all fours.

 

[Bancho]

tbh looking at Betamon I just assume they drew some funny looking thing without alluding to any real life species. Stuff like Mamemon, Monzaemon, Meramon, and Agumon really don't feel like deep thought was put into them in terms of design so I'm not sure why Betamon would be

 

[e105zeta]

tbh looking at Betamon I just assume they drew some funny looking thing without alluding to any real life species. Stuff like Mamemon, Monzaemon, Meramon, and Agumon really don't feel like deep thought was put into them in terms of design so I'm not sure why Betamon would be

I think I once saw art of the original proposed Digital Monster lineup and it felt more like Tamagotchi characters with more depth to the artwork. The original proposal had 4 Child stage Digimon: water frog, electric cat (really looked like Pulsemon actually), fire dragon, and flying dragon. I think they ended up at least partly combining the two dragons for Agumon and the frog and cat for Betamon.

 

[Bancho]

I think I once saw art of the original proposed Digital Monster lineup and it felt more like Tamagotchi characters with more depth to the artwork. The original proposal had 4 Child stage Digimon: water frog, electric cat (really looked like Pulsemon actually), fire dragon, and flying dragon. I think they ended up at least partly combining the two dragons for Agumon and the frog and cat for Betamon.

you're thinking about this. Betamon looks more like Otamon than anything in this early design stage.
They ditched the elemental themes to not feel like a Pokemon clone if I recall correctly

 

[The Chaos Entity]

Seadramon is a fish, not a reptile. I don't know if that's actually an unpopular opinion, but I felt it needed to be said.

Dragons aren't fish, though. It's a dragon that lives in the sea. Like how Lugia lives in the sea in Pokemon but is not only not a fish it's not water type.

I think what they're alluding to is the lore of Magikarp to Gyrados. A carp that becomes a dragon.

I don't recall Seadramon having that mythology associated with his design.

Basilosaurus, in spite of looking more like a reptilian cetacean could work as a source of design inspiration for Seadramon.

well Betamon isnt a Dragon, so it's basically the same thing.

Supposedly, not that it's official, it's based off of Dimetrodon.

Uh…no?
Betamon is an amphibian, and Dimetrodon was a synapsid. The two aren’t even remotely similar except for having fins on their back…which lots of different creatures have had throughout the history of life on Earth. Whoever told you that was clearly making shit up.
(Besides, even if Betamon was a Dimetrodon - which he isn’t - Dimetrodon wasn’t a dragon or even a reptile. It was a synapsid and is more closely related to mammals like dogs or cats that it was to any reptile, including the dinosaurs)

You do realize I said it wasn't official, right?

Betamon

Betamon is an Amphibian Digimon. It walks on four legs. Its personality is gentle, but although it is a docile Digimon, once Betamon is angered, it emits its "Electric Shock" (Dengeki Biririn) from its body. Attacks Electric Shock (電撃ビリリン, Dengeki Biririn?): Generates more than 1 MV of electric...

digimon.fandom.com

Just hope that was clear.

Nevertheless, my response was to Muur's response to me concerning Tortoiseshel's allusion to Seadramon's origins being akin to this:

Carp Leaping Over Dragon's Gate

Not that I want to get into it over Betamon, to each their own, but considering that Dimetrodon was semi-aquatic (or at least it is speculated to have been), I think it's safe to assume that they could have been playing loosely with the term amphibian. Given it a more pudgy frog like appearance (Probably a Pacman frog.), and drawing from other semi-aquatic animal sources.

This would work as well:

Edaphosauridae - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

This is off topic, but I've long speculated, at least in so far as some OG digimon lines, that many were meant to be reptilian/dinosaur like as they progressed. Palmon has always made me lean in that direction. Would have liked for her to become Petaldramon > Toropiamon/Entmon > Ceresmon in A2020 as a slide form.

Unpopular opinion:

In retrospect, as much as I enjoy new digimon and lines being introduced, I personally think it goes against what Digimon was meant to be. Perhaps it was better with limited higher forms.

You seem to have a weird habit of insisting that Digimon are based on things they blatantly aren’t.
Dimetrodon and Edaphosauridae ate fish, but they weren’t aquatic. Again, they’re distant relatives of mammals - and aquatic mammals like dolphins and whales are relatively new, evolutionarily speaking.
I think, in terms of ‘dinosaur that is aquatic with a sail on its back’, you’re thinking of the Spinosaurus. Partly because Spinosaurus was semi-aquatic according to modern data, and partly because your insistence that Betamon is supposed to be a reptile makes no sense through the lens of him being Dimetrodon or Edaphosauridae, because neither were reptiles - they were synapsids. Again, modern research shows that synapsids, like Dimetrodon and Edaphosauridae, were closer genetically to a cat than to a dinosaur.

tbh looking at Betamon I just assume they drew some funny looking thing without alluding to any real life species. Stuff like Mamemon, Monzaemon, Meramon, and Agumon really don't feel like deep thought was put into them in terms of design so I'm not sure why Betamon would be

You’ve got the nail on the head here, I think, Mynor. Agumon is obviously not based on any particular reptile, just the idea of a ‘cute little dinosaur’. Betamon, given that his name means ‘slimy and wet’ was probably just meant to be a ‘cute ancient frog’ or something, that was designed to look cool.