Digimon, Digital Monsters, Digimon Are The Champions (Survive might actually be getting a release date!?)

Sod it, let's talk about Digimon.  We've got a fair few 90s kids in here, and as Drunkalilly said in Meet the Admin. Team (answer our questionssssss (please)), it was one of the better things about that era.  I'm expecting this thread to be mostly a nostalgic love-in, but please do talk about more recent Digimon 'things' if you know about them.


My main exposure, like I suspect most of you, was the original-series anime and the virtual pets.  I mostly ended up watching it on the dodgy telly on the school bus, snatching episodes here and there; but even there and even at that age I preferred it to the Pokémon anime.  It had a strong ongoing and developing plot, with genuinely threatening villains.  Patomon became an immediate favourite, being a cute pudgy bat fella.  And yes I did cry at the final episode.

I then got into the merchandise, just as they'd planned. This was mostly soft toys, because... well, because I'm me.  My favourites were the reversibles, where you can unzip the baby form and flip it inside-out into the rookie form.  



I also got this thing.  It was crap.


Did you watch it?  Did you buy the stuff?  Did you have any favourite Digimons?  Does Moyles Do you have any terrible musics you'd like to subject us to?  Go f'rit!

I was going to say what a coincidence it is that you brought this up, as I'm super nostalgic about Digimon at the moment, and then I remembered that you only made this thread because I mentioned Digimon.

Yep, Digimon was a huge part of my childhood. This and Pokemon were the Marvel and DC of their day. Between the animes in particular, Digimon was hugely superior. It didn't quite have the budget of Pokemon, so it relied much more on character development and story. There was still an element of monster-of-the-week, sure, but there was an ongoing narrative, peril, drama. Plus, the Digimon world intersected with the real world, which made it much easier to fantasize about actually meeting my own Digimon.

These fantasies were hugely facilitated by the classic LCD digital pets. I was somewhat intrigued by Tamagotchi when the craze first hit our shores, but Digimon? Oh boy. Every dood-dad and gizmo I saw, I wanted. Raising monsters, battling them with my friends, collecting figures and trading cards and comicbooks . . .

I think I've mentioned how coming to Japan rekindled my love of Pokemon. To be fair, Pokemon never really went away, its been a part of my life. Slowly, though, with a poster here and a gachapon there, with little toys in second-hand shops . . . Digimon has been creeping back into my life as well. Because its been much more obscure since the 90s, my nostalgia is much stronger for the Digital monsters than the Pocket.

I didn't know you were a Digimon fan, Balla. I've been thinking for a while about doing some kind of Digimon content- maybe a special episode, maybe some "hilarious" videos about squeezing LCD pets into adult life. Now I'll know to hit you up as well as Mas.

I actually just this past weekend downloaded the first episode and got Shen to watch it with me. The new guy at work is also a big Digimon nostalgia-head, so talking to him has been making me really seriously considering going to the second hand shop and buying a . . .

Balladeer wrote:

I also got this thing.  It was crap.

Oh, mate.

MATE.

MATE.

MATE.

I came into this thread absolutely pumped to talk about some Digimons. I bloody love Digimon, I do. I was excited for a really positive, fun thread. And then you throw down FIGHTING WORDS like that?

You buffoon.
You fool.
You cretin.
You clown.

The LCD digivice with accelerometer technology? You mean my entire fucking LIFE? How dare you.

Yeah, I played that bad boy. TO DEATH. I wrote a diary which was slightly about what I did in the real world but mostly about the adventures I was simultaneously having in the digital world with each step.

When I was 17/ 18, me and my buddy Dom bought new ones from eBay and I wore it every day and LOVED LIFE until I lost it, and by the time I did the nostalgia had caught up and they were prohibitively expensive to buy.

Now I'm seeing them here and there in Japan, and wondering if I should buy one, and you just convinced me.

Oh, also, major crush on Sora as a kid but she ended up with Tai so I decided I liked Mimi instead.

Also also: I love that, unlike most kids animes from the 90s, the dub made no effort to pretend Digimon wasn't set in Japan. I definitely want to visit some locations from episodes.

Also also also: At various ages in my life, I've wanted to become serious about swimming, become a pilot or start riding a motorcycle just so I'd have an excuse to wear goggles at all times. Then I'd know I was the protagonist . . .

The movie was a banger and so where the games on PS1.

I'm super excited about Digimon Survive coming this year.

masofdas wrote:

The movie was a banger

I loved it as a kid, but now I know how much it was chopped up from three better Japanese films, I'm a little disappointed.

masofmon wrote:

and so where the games on PS1.

Mixed bag, but the nostalgia is certainly strong. I've also thoroughly enjoyed the Gamecube smash clone.

Pengillimon wrote:

I'm super excited about Digimon Survive coming this year.

Now this I can fully get behind! The trailer was FEELS.

Have you or anyone got around to watching Tri?

I really should pick up Digimon World 4, Digimon Rumble Arena 2 for GameCube, out of any of the games that are available, maybe World on PS4 but I never gave the CyberSleuth games enough time.

As you're in Japan, should be easy for you Drunka to track down a WonderSwan (I do have one myself) as that has 14 Digimon games on it (I don't own any of them), so that could be a treat.

Also, the card game was pretty good as well.

I still haven't tried Tri. I always wanted to do a rewatch of Adventure 1&2 first, so seeing as I just started that I guess I'll get to Tri this time.

I've spotted Wonderswans here and there, so I am tempted . . .

There was also a Digimon Mario Kart clone on GBA! It . . . wasn't great.

Drunkalilly wrote:

I didn't know you were a Digimon fan, Balla.

I'm a terrible Digimon fan.  Like I say, I mostly picked up the episodes on the school bus, and never really sought them out myself.  That said I did have a handbook to 'all' the different first-season Digimon in that actually had nowhere near all the first-season Digimon in (lacked the Big Bad for a start), and the soft toys, and drew my own a lot; so maybe I wasn't so bad?  I never had one of the virtual pets though, aside from...

Lillymon (which is actually a thing) wrote:

You buffoon.
You fool.
You cretin.
You clown.

I love how you used insults that I'd understand instead of actual cusswords. Also don't insult clowns: I'm fairly sure Piedmon was the start of my fondness for creepy harlequin villains.  Him or Dr. Whiteface.



It's possible that my Digivice was broken, but as well as removing most of the virtual pet aspects of the other Digimon iterations, the P2P battling seemed broken and I couldn't figure out how to get my monster past any of the latter bosses.  I was young and stupid at the time, mind.  Let me know how you get on with yours.

Also: while you wanted to be Tai, I wanted to be Myotismon.  Some things change...

I wouldn't say I was a fan but I actually used to watch a few episodes here & there but that's because I was much more interested in Buffy the Vampire slayer at the time.

Cyber Sleuth is a good game and also a great example of why JRPGs shouldn't have a hard mode

There was a spell where I was into Digimon much more than I was into Pokémon - I'd watch the anime religiously and excitedly talk about what was going to happen next with my pals on the playground. I remember being genuinely gutted when I got Pokémon: The Movie 2000 for Christmas instead of the Digimon movie like I'd asked for.

I think the bulk of my Digimon nostalgia lies with Digimon World. Fire up this track and my nostalgia goes into overdrive. It might just be because it was on a home console as opposed to a handheld, but it felt much more involved than the Pokémon games in my eyes. It was - and still is - bloody solid too, so making progression and finding new areas felt wonderful, and the game didn't half reward you with some amazing tracks for your efforts. Just unbelievable. Absolutely mindblowing stuff. It was amazing stumbling upon a new Digivolution. Seriously, to get some of those Ultimate Digimon, you had to jump through the most convoluted hoops. I don't think I ever managed it.

Why did I click every one of those links?

I tried to lull you into a false sense of security with the first link being a proper tune. It worked.

Ah Digimon, I plan on rewatching the original subbed someday. Saw the first episode of tri a few years back, it was alright. Biggest shock was what we missed out on with the dub of the original series. We get the Digimon rap, Japan got this...

I'm also going to say something a bit controversial here and mention Tamers as best series.

Balladeer wrote:

I can only think about APEX when I see this

Is that Jay's favourite game you're referring to Mas? Why does it bamboozled people? (I'm keeping that misspelling.)

Athrun888 wrote:

Ah Digimon, I plan on rewatching the original subbed someday.  Saw the first episode of tri a few years back, it was alright.  Biggest shock was what we missed out on with the dub of the original series.  We get the Digimon rap, Japan got this...

I'm also going to say something a bit controversial here and mention Tamers as best series.  

Yep, there's no way they'd ever have put that song in the Western version. What's so good about Tamers, Athrun? Er, in one post, please.

Mirage in APEX says bamboozled often and EofGiz plays as him, so I hear it often.

Balladeer wrote:

Is that Jay's favourite game you're referring to Mas?  Why does it bamboozled people?  (I'm keeping that misspelling.)

I mean, you joke and all but it's genuinely jostling with Sekiro for my GOTY at present...

Mirage from Apex Legends says "you just got bamboozled" often as he uses a little hologram clone to dupe enemies into thinking he's running out from cover or approaching them or what have you.

I'll go one better Balla and sum it up in one word! Feels.

But seriously though Tamers is easily the most well-written of the series I watched. Some solid deconstructions went on, some great character arcs (Impmon and his journey that spanned the entire series, nuff said), and a complete unabashed willingness to get pretty dark despite being a kids cartoon.

It's a veeeeery slow burn of a series, and its pacing in the penultimate arc is super slow, but it pays everything off spectacularly by the end. The journey to that end was great most of the time too.

JayMon wrote:

Mirage from Apex Legends says "you just got bamboozled" often as he uses a little hologram clone to dupe enemies into thinking he's running out from cover or approaching them or what have you.

This sounds like the bit from Total Recall. "You think this is the real Quaid? IT IS!"

Athromon wrote:

Ah Digimon, I plan on rewatching the original subbed someday.  Saw the first episode of tri a few years back, it was alright.  Biggest shock was what we missed out on with the dub of the original series.  We get the Digimon rap, Japan got this...

Because I have so much nostalgia for the English version, I'm really hesitant to watch Digimon in Japanese. That said, the soundtrack is better, the tone is more consistent, the movies aren't carved up to form one giant beast  . . . and it'd be a nice way to segue into Tri.

SkullAthromon wrote:

I'm also going to say something a bit controversial here and mention Tamers as best series.

I'll go one better Balla and sum it up in one word!  Feels.   

You're far from the only person to say this! 

MetalAthromon wrote:

But seriously though Tamers is easily the most well-written of the series I watched.

It's funny. I always think of it as Digimon not having Pokemon's budget so they made up for it with good writing, and then Tamers does that one further level to Digimon's already decent characterisation.
 

WarAthromon wrote:

It's a veeeeery slow burn of a series, and its pacing in the penultimate arc is super slow, but it pays everything off spectacularly by the end.  The journey to that end was great most of the time too.  

I think the slow pace was why Tamers' popularity dropped off. I don't even know if it finished airing on TV when I was a kid.
When my friend and I rewatched the show in High School, I only watched the two seasons of Adventure because that was here my nostalgia was. He went on to Tamers as well and said similar things to yourself - it sounds legit dope.

I plan to rewatch 1 and 2, then go on to Tri, but after that I will definitely move onto Tamers after that.

I saw a thing recently which was showing how real-world Tokyo locations were recreated in Digimon, particularly Tamers, and it made me really want to rewatch the shows now that I'm here and try to visit some of these spots. There were even two Digimon locations in Tokyo marked on the anime map of Japan which I picked up a couple of weeks ago.

JayMoyles wrote:

I mean, you joke and all but it's genuinely jostling with Sekiro for my GOTY at present...

Ah hah, yes. Joke.

Athrun888 wrote:

I'll go one better Balla and sum it up in one word!  Feels.  

...

You might have sold me. I haven't watched Digimon in years, any form...


...would other people on the forum be willing to do a watchalong? Acquire the DVD (or Blu-Ray Mas) and go through it couple of episodes a week, talk about each one?

I loved Digimon and Digivices and toys that digivolved. My favourite digivice was the one where you would swipe a card through it because it made you feel super powerful.

CyberSleuth consumes a good few weeks for me a few years ago, highly recommend it. I bounced off of 2 though, but probably because I didn’t get around to getting all medals in the first one so I felt I would forever have an incomplete collection...

Sent from Topic'it App

drunka wrote:

This sounds like the bit from Total Recall. "You think this is the real Quaid? IT IS!"

There are times when I think this is Arnold Shwarzenegger's best film.

I'm up for a watch along