Zexmon, An Early (not quite official) Attempt at an Omegamon Counterpart

[MarcFBR]

Earlier today, longtime Digimon designer Soh Moriyama posted an early attempt of his at making an 'enemy' counterpart for Omegamon.

This was uncommissioned work done on his own, so it was never quite planned as a potential official Digimon, but is still an interesting look at one of the ideas that was being designed by one of the primary designers of the franchise over many years.


The Digimon itself he gave the name Zexmon, and it was designed as an 'Omegamon style' type design using Armagemon and Imperialdramon, and looks to have been the inspiration for Chaosmon later on.


The tweets date the design back to 2004, as he was finishing up (or had just finished) Digimon Chronicle, the mini comic that was included with the Pendulum X V-Pets (Chronicle was adapted into X-Evolution, and the Chronicle X story acts as a sequel to Chronicle.)


Tweet 1:

A Digimon of my creation (discarded idea?)
I came up with the rough drawing without being commissioned, as the next strong character to appear after the end of Chronicle. The concept I had back then was BlackOmegamon/ the enemy version of Omegamon X/ the strongest chaotic character, and the tentative springboard for the birth of Chaosmon.

Text on the artwork itself:

(BlackOmegamon) Zexmon (X) (a variation of Omegamon X)
Diaboromon whip (katakana looks like "armored" and "cabled"-something)
Imperialdramon (Dragon) cannon and sword
Alphamon is ∀ and this guy is X

Tweet 2:

This design was back in 2004. There weren't any Omegamon variations back then, right?
Also the direction for Chaosmon went astray, and I drew many rough drafts that ended up being trashed. Personally, I felt there were many ideas then that deserved better.

Tweet 3:

Sorry, "Zexmon" is not an official Digimon.

Nothing quite official, but a very interesting design and what if.


Thanks to onkei for the translations.

 

[Ragnalord]

Good, we dont need more designs like this.

Come on more gracenovamon and rafflesimon would be awesome *imagines armagemon and imperialdramon fusion without just looking like just another omegamon, would look amazing*

 

[Sparrow Hawk]

I really want to see other rough drafts he drew. Now I know why Chaosmon was created.

Zexmon is huge surprise and it is jogress of Imperialdramon and Armagemon. Glad it was discarded for our Chaosmon.

Soh drew Omegamon X's feet, As'maria's art style. Huh

 

[BeLKastel]

It's an interesting design for sure!
Since it's just a sketch we'll never be sure, but I wonder if the Imperialdramon arm was going to be the underused Imperialdramon (Black). (Also because it was scrapped, lol)

 

[BlankShell]

Glad they shouted out Chaosmon, definitely got those vibes from the design.

 

[Nightwing]

Honestly, this Zexmon looks pretty incredible.A timeline where we would’ve gotten this in addition to Chaosmon way back when would’ve been great, although I also would’ve been fine with it being an ”instead of” situation.

Since it was mentioned that Morimiya started designing this on their own, I have to wonder if that’s pretty common for Digimon. Maybe we have that answer already, though. It hasn’t been all that long since Nakano Haito showed off their Imperialdramon X design for the Chronicle X, but I don’t remember if that was a scrapped design or one like Zexmon that wasn’t a commissioned design but one they did on their own too.

From a 2020 perspective, I don’t know if I’d want to see this reworked into a new Digimon. We just got Keramon X, Diablomon X, and a direct to Ogudomon X on the one hand, as well as like 5 more Omegamon variants after X, so ultimately I think things are better off as they are, although I’d love to see what other kind of eldritch abomination they could make using these components in much the same way as Ordinemon and Ogudomon X.

 

[Bancho]

I wouldn't mind more Chaosmons and more Omegamons like Alter-S. I don't have the same hate for them as others

 

[Sparrow Hawk]

Since it was mentioned that Morimiya started designing this on their own, I have to wonder if that’s pretty common for Digimon. Maybe we have that answer already, though. It hasn’t been all that long since Nakano Haito showed off their Imperialdramon X design for the Chronicle X, but I don’t remember if that was a scrapped design or one like Zexmon that wasn’t a commissioned design but one they did on their own too.

Soh: Zexmon
As'maria: GaiOumon Burst Mode(?)
Nakano: Imperialdramon X (Fighter Mode)
Kenji: two Radio tower digimons and lot of scrapped ones includes Frontier at twitter

What did I miss others?

 

[YongYoKyo]

Kenji: two Radio tower digimons and lot of scrapped ones includes Frontier at twitter

The Frontier concepts never credited the designer as far as I'm aware of.

 

[Sparrow Hawk]

I thought Kenji drew those concept arts? Like RustTyranomon's concert arts.

 

[YongYoKyo]

I thought Kenji drew those concept arts? Like RustTyranomon's concert arts.

They never stated Watanabe's name for the Frontier artworks. Also, Watanabe only drew the initial rough sketch for RustTyranomon. As'maria designed the rest of RustTyranomon's concept arts and finalized its design.

 

[Sparrow Hawk]

I see. Hope Soh reveal more of his works next time.

 

[CloneWarrior]

Good, we dont need more designs like this.

But this was designed back before we had any designs like this besides Omegamon. And Chaosmon potentially resulted from this design anyway.

 

[Arranos]

Kinda wish we got Zexmon, ngl.
It looks cool & it makes more sense if you were an anime-only person, not someone who'd know the lore of the V-Pets.

 

[Sarabande__]

He looks awesome I even think he looks cooler then omegamon himself. Wish I could draw I would create digimon in my spare time.

 

[Amandil7]

I'd love more Digimon in general! I hope they make new designs and newer forms. It's always something great to look forward to aside from the X forms.

 

[Nightwing]

Since it was mentioned that Morimiya started designing this on their own, I have to wonder if that’s pretty common for Digimon. Maybe we have that answer already, though. It hasn’t been all that long since Nakano Haito showed off their Imperialdramon X design for the Chronicle X, but I don’t remember if that was a scrapped design or one like Zexmon that wasn’t a commissioned design but one they did on their own too.

Soh: Zexmon
As'maria: GaiOumon Burst Mode(?)
Nakano: Imperialdramon X (Fighter Mode)
Kenji: two Radio tower digimons and lot of scrapped ones includes Frontier at twitter

What did I miss others?

Gaioumon Burst Mode is a good example, and that’s one that I still want pretty badly lol.

 

[Ragnalord]

Good, we dont need more designs like this.

But this was designed back before we had any designs like this besides Omegamon. And Chaosmon potentially resulted from this design anyway.

What I'm saying is that it is a good thing it did not turn into another one of those today.

 

[Unknown Neo]

Huh... You know, I like Chaosmon more. Though you could do this style with a few others. But really, it'd only work once. You have normal, black repaint, Chaosmon, so you just do a lady version and that's all the kind you could do. ...Besides maybe a black lady Mon but you'd have to have evil counterparts.

 

[Chisana Minamoto]

Well, I would personally see it as a counterpart, apart from the different dark versions, jogress between Alphamon and another Digimon so that the result is not Alphamon and the other Digimon as a weapon.