#He's got everything of a digimon protagonist...

[digitally-dahlia]

"He looks like a Digimon protagonist" -My dad

[tastycitrus]

i'm suddenly filled with a desire for digimon especially the games so i decided to make a shitpost about something i've noticed

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Fujitsumon

Debut: Digimon Pendulum 2.0 Deep Savers (kind of. It's a little complicated. But don't worry about that)

Fujitsumon is a darling little eyes-in-a-void barnacle! With their brown exteriors, they really do bring to mind Jawas, world-renowned eyes-in-a-void creature. This is a rare design choice for a barnacle, and a barnacle is a rare creature inspiration choice! Too rare! They are such incredible and fascinating animals, and should absolutely be represented as such, and not just background decorations!

Fujitsumon is essentially a Digimon by technicality, an accessory of a creature, and I'm fine with that. They're acknowledged as creatures, and that's enough for me! They're almost always seen attached to the surface of another creature, and that sure is barnacle of them!

This is their host, Octomon! Or Octmon, if you don't like the dub name, but I think Octomon sounds better. Octomon wears a clay pot on its head, and Fujitsumon live on top of that! This is a smart setup. If I lived underwater I would love to wear a hat that some barnacle friends of mine could live on! Fujitsumon and Octomon have a mutualistic relationship going on, where the barnacles will sense danger, and warn the octopus of it, getting the whole group out of danger!

The reason I wasn't so sure about Fujitsumon's debut is that in Deep Savers, Octomon's sprite looks like this, not nearly detailed enough to even depict some barnacles! However, it does seem like the official art was made around this time, so I might as well consider this Fujitsumon's debut too.

There isn't much to Fujitsumon, but I love it! It's cute, it's a barnacle, and it's almost a "secret" creature, and that makes it, dare I say, even more fun than if it was a standalone obtainable Digimon! A charming little oddity in the digital world.

That's what I thought until I found out this little barnacle has a whole dedicated ANIME EPISODE! YEEHAW! This is the best barnacle-related cartoon episode I've ever seen! Better than SpongeBob SquarePants episode 164a Barnacle Face! Why, even better than Benny the Barnacle (2022)! Can you believe it? Better than Benny the Barnacle? I can.

In this episode of Digimon Ghost Game, the human protagonist is tormented by premonitions of disasters occurring to everyone around him, revealed to be caused by a Fujitsumon settled on his head. A land mammal is no place for a barnacle! Wouldn't it be crazy if you could go to the beach and leave with a barnacle settled on your fingernail? What would you even do? I would probably feel obligated to dip my finger into the ocean regularly to let it filter-feed. If only we had air plankton!

This Fujitsumon, as well as others that are affecting other humans, come from one particular Octomon, who got so angry at his barnacles that they Left. These are no real-life, cemented-in-place-for-the-rest-of-their-lives barnacles! They can just get up and leave if they're bothered. I bet real barnacles wish they could do that! It would be so embarrassing to end up settled right next to a turtle's... hehe... I shan't say...!

Octomon's petty outburst was over his magic brain barnacles not using their clairvoyance to help him win at a mobile game. Now, because of his Gamer Moment, there are Fujitsumon stuck directly to peoples' heads, which can cause these heads to explode. Maybe he should have just played a good mobile game, like Pico Pets Puzzle! *high fives someone offscreen*

Don't worry! Everything's ok in the end, like it always is with invertebrate friends! Octomon apologizes, the lead Fujitsumon gathers the whole crusty crew, and everything is fine except for the physical damage that has already been done, but don't worry! The virtual invertebrates are all friends again! Squishy or chitinous, none of us have spines, and that's what matters!

If you know of any obscure barnacles in media, please let me know in the notes! And until the next high tide, remember to close your armored plates to prevent dessication!

[alpaca-clouds]

Chosen One: Refused the Call

Let's talk about the second Chosen One deconstruction trope - and one I really would love to see a whole lot more off. And that is "Refused the Call". Yesterday we spoke about the Chosen One missing the call. The call got sent out, but the Chosen One had bad cell reception, so they could not answer it.

Well, today there is another one: Refused the Call.

Basically, destiny calls: "Hey, I got an adventure for you. To save the world." And the chosen one goes: "Are you sure you have the right number?" And destiny says: "Yeah, absolutely. I am destiny, you know?" And the Chosen ones says: "Yeah, sorry, not interested." And hangs up.

Now, of course, as in the gif example I used, you find that almost all examples listed on TV Tropes will have heroes that, yes, initially refuse the call but will come around to going on their adventure eventually. Be it, because they see reason, or be it because destiny comes personally knocking on their door to drag their sorry ass onto the battlefield.

Which, again, is a thing I find almost sad. While, yes, there are absolutely some conversations some of the examples have with the trope (most notably The Matrix - I could do a whole series on how The Matrix series deals with the Chosen One trope), it still is a pity that we have very little media that has a "Refusal of the Call" happening, that lasts until it is too late. Until "evil" wins.

I mean, sure, in ATLA it comes very close to it, but that is more due to destiny, than due to Aang's own choice. While, yes, Aang runs away from the Air Temple, he would have come back within days, had he not been frozen for a hundred years, which was nothing he had planned on when he left. And in the end, he is still just in time to save the world before it gets real bad.

It is this reason that the concept of the manga introduced on Digimon Con in March intrigues me so much, even if it is just a One Shot. Because the concept of that one is: "5 kids get called to adventure, one of them refuses, and because of that evil wins. Now the one kid has to try to fix his mistake."

As said in the entry two days ago, one of the main issues I even had with the Chosen One trope as kid was that I hated how it took the agency from the protagonists. They are chosen by fate. They have to save the world. If they save it, they did so, because it was their destiny. If they don't do it (not that this tends to happen), everything bad is their fault.

Now, the first option I hate because it is boring. But while the second option also sucks for the destined hero, it is a very interesting concept to explore in writing - and I am honestly surprised to see so little media that does not have the hero out of the door by act 2.

There are a couple of interesting stories to be told. What if the hero refuses the call, but someone else goes in their place? What if the hero refuses the call, but the crisis gets averted? But also: What if the hero refuses the call, and because of that, the world eventually ends? Those are interesting stories to tell - and I kinda wish we saw them told more.

[firstagent]

Spoilers! Digimon Adventure 02 The Beginning [Dub]

Here's my full System Restore write-up of Digimon 02 The Beginning. Spoilers below!

In this movie, an adorable, sympathizing Digimon gives a poor, desperate kid the chance to make his humble wishes come true. Clearly they’re the villains of the piece.

Depending on whether you approach The Beginning from the perspective of Lui or the Zero Two cast, you’re going to find it to be a story about one of two things. Looking solely at Lui and Ukkomon, there’s a lesson in how wishes are fulfilled. You’re only going to get what you want out of a relationship if you express your needs clearly and understand the motivations of those trying to provide them. That applies double if they can magically grant wishes, as any good Monkey’s Paw derivative would illustrate. The Zero Two kids face a tale about the nature of fate. Not the dread over an inevitable tragedy as the last parts of tri. and Kizuna explored. Instead, the dread of learning that something wonderful originated from something awkward and manufactured, and how an origin point can be more uncomfortable than a fixed destination.

It’s a bombshell to both us and the established cast: the digidestined were created not to help a digital entity maintain order, but to help a abused four year old feel less alone. There are some staggering questions that arise from all this. Did Ukkomon empower Homeostasis to choose digidestined? Would the Digital World have been defenseless against its evils if Lui hadn’t made the wish? Why couldn’t Ukkomon get anyone together for Lui’s eighth birthday? Even if everything that came before this remains in continuity (and it’s supposed to), it twists the initial contact between child and Digimon into something forced rather than a divine destiny. That’s what the kids have to grapple with, and grapple they do.

What they come to realize is that even if their fated partnership had such shallow origins, they themselves made it genuine. They’re the ones who put the work into creating and maintaining these bonds, the same as any other relationship. The preservation of past canon reinforces that, allowing them to look back to Willis and Ken and even Lui himself to understand that such partnerships, well-intentioned as they may be, have the capacity to go wrong. Theirs didn’t (or at least they got better), and that’s still something to cherish. In this way, it’s still a struggle to accept fate the same way Tai had to in tri. and Kizuna, but coping with the past rather than the future.

Meanwhile, contrast that to Lui and you can understand his cynicism towards the concept of digidestined. Grateful to have his life turned around and unwilling to question the implications of Ukkomon’s actions, he doesn’t put the effort into maintaining a partnership because he never had the impetus to. Without the stakes the other digidestined faced, he’s allowed to continue living his fantasy, only realizing the implications when he sees other kids and Digimon risking their lives because of the wish. Feel to mark that as a possible clue to some of the above questions. Either way he goes to the other extreme, rejecting the wish entirely, inflicting some gruesome body horror, and making Ukkomon very sad.

In this regard, and our astonishment that Kari calls this out so bluntly, Lui and Ukkomon are simultaneously the story’s protagonists and antagonists. Lui’s wish and his initial refusal to rein in his partner are as responsible for this mess as Ukkomon was, while both seek to work together to find a more organic solution to make young Lui’s life better and not realize the wish’s final apex. The Beginning is very naive about the power of communication. Sympathetic as it tries to be towards Lui’s mother, a random stranger grabbing her out of nowhere is unlikely to suddenly reform an abusive parent. And it’s hard to envision a way Lui could have successfully articulated his wish better after it was already set in motion. But this movie follows a series where Davis reforms a former villain just by talking to him enough, so don’t act so shocked.

The movie certainly communicates its feelings about this world’s continuity. Its way of honoring everything that came before it while simultaneously being cavalier about how it’s incorporated is either incredibly frustrating or the most zen thing we’ve ever seen. Kari and TK know of Homeostasis and mention it by name, so they must know of the original five digidestined. But using that to question Lui’s claim of being the first would be distracting and fruitless, so we don’t see it. The epilogue is more intact than ever, with Davis consumed by ramen, Kari helping with a daycare, and Yolei hitting on Ken. But it also treats the notion of giving everyone a Digimon partner as a nightmare scenario with little elaboration. Not that it needs any after Savers and Ghost Game, but Zero Two’s ending relies on the idea of making Digimon accessible to everyone. And despite its close links to Kizuna, when the kids wonder if killing Ukkomon will end everyone’s partnerships, it never weighs on their minds that they may already have a shelf life. In fact, the destruction of the D3s suggest that the bonds are again limitless, possibly reversing mechanics we just learned about.

So why is it all right? Both the elimination of the digivices and the final narration suggest that even if the Digimon Adventure timeline is unbreakable, it is malleable. Events can swerve in different directions, new revelations can upset what we used to believe, contradictions can co-exist, and the rules and logic of the world can be made and broken on a whim. We have to allow ourselves to put our assumptions and expectations aside for the sake of a good story. We still seem headed towards the epilogue, but the surprises Kizuna and The Beginning throw at us suggest we should stay on our toes as we await whatever comes next. Remembering how dull it once seemed to be stuck traveling a narrow path to 2027, isn’t that what we should be wishing for?

My Grade: A

Loose Data:

Suppose we should start out with thoughts on the dub, which is mostly faithful and generally solid. Davis, Ken, Veemon, and Hawkmon are back in peak form, and Yolei sounds more natural and expressive than she did in Kizuna. TK, Patamon, and Cody are fine, while our substitute Wormmon does his best. Kari and Gatomon have the same voices from tri. and Kizuna but sound a little shakier this go-round. Armadillomon’s the same actor, but an shockingly stark downgrade in his direction. As the leads, both of Lui’s actors and Ukkomon absolutely deliver standout performances. Good luck getting that birthday song out of your nightmares.

As far as the script goes, some things like Hikarigaoka and a couple attacks don’t get adapted to dub equivalents, but everything’s pretty understandable. The conversation about switching to D3s is the only one that seems unfocused.

That “Journey 1, Route 1” bit at the start makes it feel like there’s some bigger plan in motion for more Digimon Adventure stories. But it also feels like whatever that’s supposed to be about should have started with Kizuna.

Even if the story is not really about the Zero Two kids, Davis, Ken, and Yolei certainly make their presences felt. Davis Davises his way into getting everyone on board working with Lui and with Veemon offers the motivational speeches. Ken keeps him in check and tries to inject reason to his madness, even if Davis’s introspective side shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise to him. Yolei is back to offering pure personality in her dealings with Davis, even calling out him and Ken’s “flirting” (which Davis blushes at!). Kari and TK occasionally bring up interesting points. Cody… he got them into a computer room?

It doesn’t matter for purposes of this movie and nobody is in a position to deliver answers, but they bring up Ukkomon’s connection to a higher power a lot. A connection to Homeostasis makes the most sense, but there were an uncomfortable number of helixes flying around when Lui dove into Ukkomon at the end there. That’s not usually good.

The effects of Ukkomon melting and later dying track well enough if you realize Lui isn’t actually changing the past. But his mother dropping dead is alarming since she wasn’t physically unwell when Lui made the wish. Her death suggests that Ukkomon taking control of her means it actually killed her years ago. Hope those classmates are all right.

We get the sudden canonization of the ol’ “digidestined count doubles every year” thing that was only a rough guide that even Zero Two proper didn’t actually follow. It still can only be seen as a loose estimate given its inevitable march to the “everyone on Earth is a digidestined” scenario the kids fought so hard to avert, and there are so many surprise digidestined cropping up before the Zero Two kids (Menoa and Meiko are just the recent ones) that it’s a disservice to steer the audience to any hard numbers. So it’s a strange choice to mention out loud, especially when Miyako or Ken just dropping the raw estimate would have sufficed for that scene.

It’s worth pointing out that Lui convincing his mother to stop abusing her kid is happening inside Ukkomon, so the improbable effectiveness of that act could well be one last bit of wish fulfillment before they hash things out. Wonder what would have happened if Davis actually had intervened in the first leap.

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[terresdebrume]

Fic writer interview

Merci pour le tag, @almost-a-class-act ! :D

How many works do you have on AO3?

372 :D

Most are fics, but I do have a little under 30 fic covers hanging around there 😊

What's your total AO3 word count?

988 968 words! My goal this year is to crack the million xD

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Fun fact, this top has not changed in years and my more recent writing habits mean it's unlikely to ever change at this point xD

S.O.S. Ecrits Avec De L’Air (aka SEADLA) an unfinished Tony Stark/Loki fic in which everything starts because Loki stops Tony from commiting suicide.

 We Shall Have Peace, a fic in which Steve Rogers comes out of an 80+ years long captivity to discover Loki turned the earth into a utopia.

Dots: 2-4, 1-2-3, 1-3-6. A fic in which Tony Stark is a university student, and Loki is his blind teacher, and they fall in love.

Wooer Wooed. A fic in which Tony Stark tries to teach Loki how to woo someone and ends up surprised by the results.

Corny Lines For Thanksgiving A fic in which Tony Stark sees Loki iand Thor interact from his office window and mistakes them for a couple.

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes! I like showing my appreciation and it feels more polite :D

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

Say it three times and it will be done, in which Loki sends Tony Stark a very sad letter to tell him he's giving up on him and their not-relationship.

What the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

Oh shit, I've written so many of these xD But I guess I'll go with a top 3:

Clark Kent, of Krypton because it's one of the ones where the protagonist's situation changes the most drastically.

Once more, with kissing because the protag ends in what would probably be my dream configuration for any kind of romantic relationship.

All on my own because it's probably one of the more hopeful endings I have.

Honorable mention to A summer evening in Philly. for being the most recent :P

Do you write crossovers?

Rarely. I did write a Battlestar Galactica x The Walking Dead crossover once for a friend, but that's about it. When I mix fandom, I gravitate more towards fusions :P

The fic is called Killing zombies (and other fun activities), if you're curious.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I think I got maybe...three angry comments on AO3 so far? One was pissed because the protag hated his stepmother, another was angry that I'd posted negative meta on a ship, and iirc the last one accused me of making a character stupid because they didn't understand a word as a little kid who was communicating in a language that wasn't his first language.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I try my hand at it on occasion x) It's probably not the greatest but so far no one told me it sucked so we'll see how it goes in the future xD

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

If I rememeber correctly there were projects of translation into Chinese and Russian for some of my fics, but I can't recall if they were completed or not xD

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No. I toyed at the idea but it fizzled out, mostly because of me.

What's your all-time favorite ship?

I honestly have never thought of it that way tbh xD

But my two oldest ships are Taichi/Yamato from Digimon Adventure and Hyoga/Shun from Saint Seiya. I've liked those since I was a kid. As in, I first discovered Hyoga/Shun when I was under 10 so.

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

I'm not going to answer that one, I don't want to jinx it xD

What are your writing strengths?

I think I'm good at dialogue and worldbuilding.

What are your writing weaknesses?

I struggle a little more with description, and also The Doing Of The Sex. Also I sometimes worry that I do the writing equivalent of same-facing my characters, but I guess it might also be because I have A Type.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

More often than not, saying "[x] said in German" or "[x] switched to Italian" is more than enough. It's clear, concise and avoids the two main risks of foreign dialogues: losing the readers who don't understand the target language and (if you're not fluent yourself) making a grammar mistake that takes readers who are more fluent than you out of the story. (Example: I've recently stumbled across a Band of Brothers fic where Liebgott used Sie to address Webster. Sie is a formal form of address, which I guarantee Lieb wouldn't use for his fellow soldiers, especially not Web, and so seeing it made be tick hard even if I didn't spontaneously understand the rest of the sentence.)

That being said! All rules are made to be broken, and I've written a fic that was intentionally in 3 different languages and another where a significant chunk of the dialogue is just em dashes with footnotes. In the first case, I used the script format and the language juxtaposition to mimick the sort of humor you'd get from a more fast-pace, visual medium like a movie or show (and also because I enjoyed the idea of a fic that was a bit of an in-joke with readers who mostly understood all three languages).

In the second case, I used the em-dashes (intersped with the few words the POV character understands) to force the reader into the protagonist' shoes, because the whole plot revolves around her distress and frustration about being unable to understand the language her family speak.

So, you know. Do what you want x)

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

It was a very, very intense plagiaristic fic for Lord of the Rings but with Harry Potter style wizards. I don't think it was very good, but I rememeber having fun with it.

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

For a long time, that fandom was Digimon Adventure but I've done it now so... non, for now, I think x)

What's your favorite fic you've written?

... I'm gonna cheat and link you to my AO3 porfolio for my top 11 :P

Tagging : @takingoffmyshoes, @kyttwrites, @nemainofthewater, @ghostinthelibrarywrites, @liesmyth and @talysalankil :)

[r0bita]

I think a lot about Lucemon from Digimon World Re:digitize: Decoded and Digimon World: Next Order because neither are technically evil, at least not intentionally.

Spoilers, if you haven't checked out the games, I guess?

Decoded Lucemon is pretty much a little kid that got seperated by it's gaurdian and friend angemon and kidnapped by Barbamon (most likely the very same one you confront with Rina in Cyber Sleuth, yep...). Lucemon, along with several other unfortunate digimon, was tortured and experimented by Barabamon and left for dead calling for help in a bolted prison cell until the protagonist breaks it open only to see him succum to his injuries. This results in the child Lucemon's digicore being overcome by malice and turning to Falldown Mode. Barbamon adds insult to injury by continuing to brainwash Lucemon FM to the point where he's become a mindless killing machine. Eventually, it digivolves into Lucemon SM and almost destroys both the digital world and the real world. After it's defeated, Lucemon's (rookie/child level) spirit thanks you for stopping it, says that everything should return to normal on its own, and the spirit returns home. Needless to say, Lucemon's circumstances in De:code is kinda horrifying and Barbamon is the worst.

And then there is -Next 0rder-'s Lucemon who is arguably the most chill Lucemon so far (both figuratively and literally, you meet him in an ice dungeon during post-game content). Many, if not all, of the digimon who were initially introduced in Digimon lore and animes as villains are a lot more laid-back and sometimes down right friendly in-game and some don't need to fight you in order for them to become your ally (It's kinda refreshing, really). The Lucemon here is no different, and in-fact takes a very unique interest in the protagonist, first approching you as a rookie to tell you that they've been watching you since the begining of your journey, and then challenging you in FM and later SM, albiet asking the player some philisophical questions over "what defines good and evil" to either test, startle, or just confuse the protag. Once the fighting is done Lucemon confirms that it's not the protagonist's strength that defines them as a force of good but rather the their perserverence and conviction. They also start talking in a more casual tone with you and join the city where you've been recruiting a whole bunch of other digimon to live in. They also help you out in a DLC quest with Beezlebumon, which is pretty neat!

Can't rememer if this is correct but I believe Next 0rder Lucemon also keeps track of your in-game movements. From wins and loses, money earned, traversed areas?, etc.

[kichimiangra]

I thought too much about a species swap between Hiro, Gammamon and Gulus.

Hiro would be a star themed, wish granting Digimon who has to learn to say "no" over the course of the show. He starts the whole thing by stumbling across Gamma, and trying to help him solve his various problems which culminates in Gamma wishing for Hiromon to be his big brother. Now Hiromon has gone from a fairy godparent role to an actual responsible caretaker who can't solve everything with magic.

Gamma is an extremely adorable young human who is lost in the Digital World due to following his older brother in there and losing track of him. He thinks Gulus is the most amazing person ever, and that Hiromon is the best thing that's ever happened to him. He really enjoys the Digital World, especially with Hiromon's carefully shepherding him away from the worst of it, and his character arc is coming in to his own and realizing his own ability to help others and not live in the shadows of his brothers.

Gulus is a delinquent who is pursuing his own mysterious agenda in the Digital World and is appalled to learn his younger brother followed him and now his cool protagonist journey is yet another bout of babysitting. He considers Hiromon as just a useful sap to foist his responsibilities on at first, until he realizes Hiromon's potential and decides to make him his Digimon partner. He is similar to Marcus from Digimon Savers in that Gulus doesn't hesitate to fight Digimon personally and is initially uninterested in getting a partner. In sharp contrast to the usual hapless humans in Digimon Ghost Game, Gulus is confronted by a hostile Digimon and goes "Oh no. Woe is me. Whatever will I do? :)" before pulling out his magnetic knife and going Michael Myers on them.

I feel like that has the strong potential to go down a route mirroring Riku's butt-hurt from KH1. Like Gulus (Riku) is on the adventure, Gulus is the cool brother(Dependable friend)... wait... baby babay boi Gamma(Sora) got a digimon(Keyblade plus donald and goofy)? well he prolly is a silly baby too I'm the coolest one here! Except wait he's a cool digimon and is becoming self sufficient... I want the digimon (Keyblade) entitlement starts to kick in and a few butthurt reports have to be filed while Gulus overcompensates by trying to stab dinosaurs to show how cool he is but he's ready to play "How could this happen to meeee" in his room for 10 hours on repeat.

[myfaveisfuckable]

Rants!

Nightmare Polycule: The cirsed creation of like. 4 people on a niche fandom discord. Polycule consisting of pretty much every adult character in the series. It's awful and somehow the best thing ever. The potential for both crack and angst is unmatched. The divorced parents energy is OFF THE CHARTS. Marcia realizes she is a morosexual and has a crisis about it. Gringe confronts his prejudices by falling for a no-good wizard. Jillie Djinn is Marcia's ex and also dead and also GHOSTING ON HER COUCH which makes it very hard to bring her boyfriends over. Marcellus tries to be dramatic about the fleetingness of human life (except his) and gets made fun of until he confronts his trauma instead. Sarah and Mrs Gringe are having tea and getting a break from the drama.

Nokia/Ami: (spoilers for the game) all the fan stuff ive seen for the game is painfully straight unless its focusing on the two ships where one character is canonically gay n in love with the other (protag of the sequel game with his gay bestie i forgot the name of n yuuko/fei) n ami is usually just drawn on her own BUT theres a lot of canon subtext between nokia n ami mostly as a result of not much actually changing based on if u play as a boy or a girl regardless nokia to some extent likes ami she flirts with her talks about their relationship as if theyre already dating theres a scene that parallels a m/f couple in the game that plays exactly the same between ami n nokia with two other characters saying something along the lines of ah young love during a mandatory side quest ami gets offered an implied sex doll that looks exactly like nokia (weird story there the quest ends with it being heavily implied that the people that take the dolls end up having their organs harvested while their minds are stuck in a digital space called eden unaware that theyre not in the real world) n she has to think about it before declining the offer nokia's character arc is working to become a strong leader n reliable friend cause she wants to stand next to ami instead of relying on her theyre childhood friends but forgot about it ok i need to explain a bit more of the story so like as kids ami n nokia along with three other characters met beta testing for eden n one of them ended up getting eden syndrome to make sure theyre all able to leave safely (theres a thing called eaters that if u get eaten by put u in a coma cause theyre storing the contents of ur brain in them) n a guy who wants to use the eaters to get to the next stage of evolution removes their memories of the incident so years later as teenagers ami nokia n arata (one of the childhood friends important to the story but not to the ship) become friends again n reunite on eden where ami ends up getting eden syndrome but in a funky way cause she was logging out as she got eaten so she has a cyber body that over the course of the game deteriorates n at the end of the game ami basically dies right as everything is being fixed all the victims of eden syndrome are no longer comatose but ami is cause yknow kind of deteriorated too much n it happened right in front of nokia's eyes as she reached out for her hand so they could go home together n nokia cries for the only time in the game cause of that but ive genuinely never seen any fan stuff of them interacting so despite them being teased romantically n built up as being really important to eachother theres nothing not even like nokia with takumi (boy protagonist) im submitting it specifically as nokia/ami just cause i like wlw ships more if u want to do it neutrally protag's surname regardless of gender is aiba sorry if this is incoherent its been like 6 months since ive played the game

[bellafragolina]

Yyaayaya I'M BACK WITH IDEA.. Yesssss...

As i said back then no need to make this since your Inbox/request are closed :D just give me your thoughts hahahha I'm dying-

Just imagine Pokemon with and Digimon Reader

Reader out of nowhere Got into Pokemon worlds and damn confuse af like what is this thing- (taking about the Pokemon)

And just imagine when the Villain and the protagonist and whoever there with them seeing this GIGANTIC BICH LOOKING THING IN THE SKY (it's literally Big that Gigamax Pokemon lmao), they be like shock so shock, screaming, panic, scared and shit fr Reader be like :

Villain/Protagonist/People : WHAT THE- WHAT THE HELL HOLY ARCEUS THAT THING IS BIG!!! <<READER>> YOU LIVE LIKE THIS!! HOW-!!!?!?!! *literally panic and about to shit themselves*

Reader : yeah... I live with this crap :) *calm at this situation*

And just imagine arceus literally panic/maybe he not, and there's literally bigger than a planet it self and Literally like reader out of no where calm rather than like panic, i mean they already live like this on the digimon world so there no things such as panic, kinda except if you want to fight god there like literally A whole buch of them but yeah... Let's not talk about it too much..

I just like have this idea out of nowhere/jk youtube.. And i just like remember my damn dad use to play this type of game and back then i use to love watching him play it, no lie i literally love it and i try to play it and i just give up and give it to my dad since i sucks.., i just damn imagine all of the villain try to capture Reader just to do what they want or making the reader being their Work just for the things they want Freedom for Pokemon, or rule the world with it or maybe they piss their pants and run off when they see reader.. I mean no lie like that thing is huge and i probably scared as a mouse if i see one

- Anon with many idea [ Anon enjoy Rambling like this yyaayaya :) ]

I will admit to you I have never played a Digimon game only see half a season of the anime

But! I do like this!! I love the idea of a character just so unfazed by whatever totally chaotic thing that’s happening while everyone around then panics. They’re so tired. They’re so done with it all. It’s so funny and charming to me!!

I really enjoy this!! Please ramble more about it if you think of more!!! Just know I’m a little uneducated so I might not understand everything, but that doesn’t mean I won’t enjoy it!! But I really enjoy this!!!!

Tell me more pls!

[hestzhyen]

Shipping Logs

I went on a trip down Memory Lane and realised that my shipping preferences haven't changed at all since I started pairing characters together over 20 years ago.

Considering how much anime and manga I've watched/read in that time, this list is pretty short (I have >600 completed titles on MangaDex alone). I actually don't ship that often! But when I do, I go hard for a particular dynamic, apparently.

Roughly in chronological order...

1x4x1 (Heero/Quatre) - Gundam Wing

Behold the cronchy 301x244 image I tied up the phone line to download back in Ye Olden Days.

I was a lumber shipping enthusiast before I even knew what shipping was. For some reason, I really wanted Heero and Quatre to spend more time together, hold hands, be there for each other... y'know, the usual stuff. I'd make up scenarios in my head and everything.

There's some basis for it in canon with Quatre being the "soft" one of the group who broke when trying to pilot Wing Zero and Heero being the one who rescued him, but honestly, 1x2x1 was Heero's most popular slash ship for a reason. I just took my favourite characters and wished they'd become a little closer than they were in canon.

I liked the idea of Quatre's softness and genial personality being what melted the ice around Heero's heart and got him to relax. Finding comfort in each other as part of the group of pilots who understood exactly how Wing Zero fucked a person up, being there to patch each other up after a fight. And Quatre also had a solid core in him- he WAS a trained terrorist after all. So he wasn't some wimpy pushover that would let Heero down. They could fight together side by side and watch each other's backs.

Heero would be the one who kept pulling Quatre forward when he hesitated. And honestly I just genuinely liked him. He was cool as hell despite running around in a tank top and spandex shorts. But he definitely needed someone to heal his wounded heart after everything he endured. Relena was alright but I just wanted it to be Quatre as someone who was openly kind and could relate to him on levels that no one else could.

Then I found out what shipping was and I became a rarepair shipper for my first ship ever. Well, "rare" compared to the volume of 1x2x1 and 3x4x3 art at least...

TaiTo (Taichi/Yamato) - Digimon

The first time "power of friendship" seemed a little off, but I was too young to know why that was.

This is the second ship I was shipping before I knew it was a thing. I didn't have to imagine much for these two because the TV show delivered pretty well even with the changes the dub made. Then I watched it in Japanese many years later and just nodded along because yeah, these guys were a little more than "friends" by the end.

You've got your cheerful and positive Friend to All protagonist and his aloof, damaged frenemy guy that becomes his BFF by the end of the series. Taichi is the ray of sunshine that Yamato needs and Yamato's the reliable lancer that Taichi needs. Yamato cries in front of Taichi despite saying he never wants anyone see him do that, they hug and hold each other several times, it's all very sweet. Each one is exactly what the other needs to be a better, stronger person.

Tri doubled down by having Yamato blush about Taichi and almost directly pine after him when he goes missing. They even get called an "old married couple" by another friend. The clincher is the infamous ending of 02 though- that one where the cast is aged up and paired off and/or shown with their kids. Taichi and Yamato are standing close together with their kids (Taichi was confirmed to have divorced Sora lmao) and no girls nearby. Hmm.

It's a pretty standard passionate shounen friendship that the creators tease because they know people like it, and I'm fine with that. Digimon as a franchise has more queer characters and coding in it than you'd expect so it's not in bad faith, or at least it doesn't feel that way. They just wink and nod with the fans.

SoRiku (Sora/Riku) - Kingdom Hearts

Just bros using their super special combined rainbow keyblade that only they can manifest.

I'm still obsessed. The brainworms are only dormant right now because there's been no official news; once Missing Link announcements start back up you can bet I'm going to be combing over every bit of that game for KH lore implications and SoRiku crumbs.

KH was the first series that got me into the theory and analysis side of fandoms too. And through this series of silly Disney games I've come to appreciate taking a deeper look at writing and symbolism. Sometimes the author does know what they're doing even if the story seems muddled at a surface glance.

Anyway, Sora and Riku are the reason I play Kingdom Hearts despite not having great feelings about Disney. I love them both and I want to see where their stories go to the very end. Riku was also my favourite character from anything ever until I met another troubled white-haired boy with pain he hides deep in his heart. I still love him though and I hope I get to see a lot of him in KH4, which we will get news on this year... surely... maybe... p l e a s e [sob].

The fact that Kingdom Hearts' story makes the most sense if you believe that Riku's in love with Sora fascinates me. There aren't many convincing platonic explanations for lots of Riku's actions and lines after DDD bashed us over the head with the fact that Sora is the person Riku cherishes the most (in JP, at least). There's a reason he's so often written with the romantic Disney parallels while Kairi is largely (and sadly) absent.

Sora's still figuring this whole "love" thing out but he'll get there before the end of the series probably. And if it culminates in him having mutual feelings for Riku, I wouldn't be surprised.

Friends to lovers, battle couple, being each other's perfect partner in all things. Their relationship being core to the plot of the franchise. Summoning the motherfucking Gayblade. There are no brainworms like SoRiku brainworms, let me tell you. The narrative weight and complexity of the bond between them is so fucking satisfying.

Shuichi/Suguru - Gravitation

Another ancient image from my hard drive for your viewing displeasure.

The first and only time I got hooked on a crackship. But boy did I get hooked:

I'm not telling you the name of the fic or my old username, go look it up yourself if you want to suffer reading moldy cringe from 2005 that badly.

Gravitation was interesting and impactful to me in many ways. It was my first big BL title, for one. So I kind of had a different impression of the genre than I should have going in- most BL titles aren't nearly as funny or have such banger OSTs. Gravitation was the first time since Gundam Wing and Digimon that I bought merch too. I had a messenger bag and the OSTs... good times. I still have some songs from the anime in my playlist to this day.

Speaking of the anime, it was also the first BL anime I watched or heard about. The actual animation part of it was, uh, not great. But there was a lot of effort put in to the show despite the low budget- Shiuichi had different outfits quite often (still not typical even with improved standards these days), and the music was almost all great to listen to even outside of the show. The manga was my first exposure but I actually liked the adaptation despite the extremely unimpressive visuals.

As to why Shuichi and Suguru specifically, it's because I was young and a little dumb. I liked Shuichi and hated Yuki. Hiro wasn't an option because he was with Ayaka and K. Tohma and Ryuichi weren't my type. So even though the canon relationship with Yuki was supposed to be the core of the manga, I felt really bad for Shuichi that he didn't have someone who treated him well.

Suguru himself was barely a character really, mostly there just to yell at Shuichi's antics and be the serious one while everyone else was goofing off. Or make suggestive advances at Hiro in the manga despite being 16 years old (times were different back then...). Based on reading my old fanfic, I think I basically self-inserted into him and made him a deeply damaged, slightly OOC tsundere just to have someone I liked to ship with Shuichi. He was cute, about my age (at the time), and could fall in love with Shuichi if I warped reality to suit my preferences.

Isn't that the essence of shipping, though? I wouldn't do it now since I prefer ships that could work in canon with just a slight tweak to add a deliberate romantic intent. But getting fixated on smushing characters together because you prefer your own reality to the one the author crafted is perfectly fine too. It's just fiction, after all. Yuki still a shit however. Forever and always.

The author's "unofficial" doujinshi of Shuichi servicing him in various ways was still hot as hell though. She actually watched gay porn for ideas! Shame she drew Shuichi looking younger and younger as time went on- he didn't look much like the 18~20 y/o he was supposed to be. Check the art style shift from the manga's start to finish if you want to see a total transformation.

Abe/Mihashi - Ookiku Furikabutte

This was peak internet humour back in the day, trust me.

Ah, Oofuri. Not my first gay sports series but definitely the one that hooked me. Abe and Mihashi were so fucking gay with the hand thing, the mutual absolute devotion, Abe promising to not get sick or injured for three years for Mihashi's sake, Mihashi learning to trust and rely on Abe (and the rest of the team)...

It's the specific combination of Abe learning how to be gentle with Mihashi and Mihashi learning to have confidence in himself that really pulled me in. Abe recognises Mihashi's talent right away and actually gets frustrated that he's not more confident in his amazing potential. Meanwhile, Mihashi wants to cling to the pitcher's mound but is insecure after being bullied off his old team- no one supported him to help him grow into the monster pitcher he can be. Abe's carrying his own baggage too, though, after having to deal with Haruna during his lowest point a few years back. He was treated like a target for Haruna to throw brutal pitches at rather than a partner and came away from the experience with a deep hatred for pitchers who defy his signs. So both of them start the series with some personal issues that affect how they interact with each other.

The way they slowly get closer together is written like a slowburn romance in some respects! They immediately hit it off as a surprisingly compatible duo since Abe's a very controlling type and Mihashi is basically a perfect example of someone with an anxiety disorder. He feels happy that Abe wants to use him like a tool because it means he'll be useful and keep the position of ace; Abe promising to make him a "real" ace also helps a lot. It works well at the start but soon enough the shortcomings of that dynamic start costing them in games and change needs to happen. So then they start navigating how to actually communicate with each other by working on their personal flaws that get in the way. It's so. HNNGH. But neither one ever stops doubting the other's ability for a second- they still have huge amounts of faith in the other guy. HNNNNNNGH.

The manga's still ongoing, believe it or not, though it was on hiatus for a while due to the author's health. It's got some pacing issues but I still love the gayest battery in all of anime that many other series have unsuccessfully tried to imitate. If Kagurabachi keeps losing my interest and no KH news comes out this might become an Oofuri blog for a bit...

I dropped out of shipping for a while since I fell in with a dudebro crowd then life hit me like a truck which left me reeling for a long time. But now that I'm back into it...

HakuHiro (Chihiro/Hakuri) - Kagurabachi

eeeeeeeeeee

I yap about these guys every chance I get, including writing a ~5k word essay when I caught up to the manga in chapter 38 about why I was jumping in feet-first on shipping them despite how little time they'd spent together. I'm still on board. They make me so happy by consuming all my waking thoughts with how they care for each other so deeply.

There are many many MANY reasons I love HakuHiro but I think the most fundamental reason is that they are actually soulmates in canon. Not just super best friends or brothers from other mothers, but genuinely written with soulmate imagery and narrative support to match the label. Hakuri's character is completely intertwined with Chihiro's from the ground up and they are the perfect pair even if it's meant to be entirely platonic. Souls resonating when they're in distress, the beginning and end of all things, yadda yadda- I've yapped an incredible amount about them and I will keep doing so even if I cool down on the manga itself. I've even been maintaining the text parts of the Shipping Wiki page for them as a mostly solo project.

Even when they're separated they're still thinking about each other. Hakuri asks the Masumi to protect Chihiro for him, Chihiro wants to become the samurai Hakuri needs. And it's been less than two weeks since they met in canon! I can't get over them, I seriously can't. Two deeply damaged guys finding the comfort they never thought they'd have in each other is the ultimate bait for me. They're the combination of everything I love to ship.

What's the Point?

The commonality in all of these are pretty obvious- two people coming together to heal and support each other, usually one becoming the support the other didn't think they'd need or deserve. But it's best when both of them soothe each other.

Both people being exactly what the other one needs in life. Similar enough to never grow apart but still very different in mannerisms and behaviour to create pleasing contrasts.

Basically, just two people slotting together so perfectly that they fill all the gaps in each other's hearts without any overflow or room to spare.

It's the kind of love I was incredibly lucky to find with my partner of 15 years, so I think shipping can give insights into what our own preferences in terms of romance are. How we'd like to fall in love and the partner we'd like to have and all that. It's a safe way for us to explore all the options before getting ourselves out there in the dating pool. Of course, real life experience matters the most- I had to have a few failed relationships like everyone else before finding my match.

I cracked up looking at this list because even as a kid I knew what I wanted, apparently. Some details regarding the combination of traits in each character might change, but the essential dynamic in all of them remained the same. Even the crackship I created just to satisfy myself!

If you read all this, thanks. Not sure why you would but I hope it was at least mildly entertaining...

[kitty8804]

What if the Danganronpa V3 Characters Were Given Digimon Partners? Pt 5

Masterlist

Shuichi Saihara

How has it already been almost a year?! I am so sorry that this took so long guys! School has been kicking my a** these past few months so I have had very little time to do any digimon research, and the little free time I had left me too drained to work on this. I enjoy doing these posts, but I didn’t want to spend my few hours of free time being frustrated because I can’t find a good digimon match. For some odd reason the V3 cast is extremely difficult. But I finally got Shuichi done! I had to be extremely careful since he and Kyoko have the same talent which strongly influences my choices. I know I said repeats were okay if the characters were from different casts, but I still want to at least try to make everything unique. It was a pain but I think I have a pretty good line. The more I look at it the more I like it, so let’s get started!

Rookie: Kudamon

So my reasons for this pick are not very complicated. I was looking around for possible digimon that I could use and when I saw Kudamon I thought “This looks like a digimon Shuichi would have. Let’s use it!” I don’t know why but Kudamon screams Shuichi for me and it deserves more attention. According to the digimon wiki It has a calm, cool, and collected personality, conducting a precise assessment of the situation even in combat and attaining the advantage of battle. I always imagined that Shuichi would either have a very calm or a very crazy partner, and I think the former suits him more. He needs a partner that is super calm, especially since Shuichi is so anxious. Kudamon’s analytical skills also seeming fitting for the partner of the Ultimate detective.

Champion: Deputymon

I will admit this is a goofy pick, but the more I look at it the more I like the idea of using Deputymon. Similar to Shuichi it has a strong sense of justice. I also realized that Shuichi is the only protagonist that has an allusion to truth bullets since Deputymon is literally a gun. (I already have a solid idea for Makoto and Hinata.) I need to have at least one protagonist with that theme and honestly I think Shuichi is the best protagonist for it. One of the biggest themes of Danganronpa V3 is truth vs lies. If any protagonist is going to have a truth bullets reference then it should be Shuichi for that reason. Also you know how I said I could see Shuichi having a crazy partner. Deputymon is usually portrayed to have a goofy personality and while I still think it would still be super serious, it makes me like this pick more even if it is silly.

It’s alternate evolution time! I’m not going to lie this was extremely difficult so my pick might not be the best. I’m the end I decided to go with Oryxmon.

For the sake of my sanity armor digivolutions will be treated as any other champion type digimon. I decided on Oryxmon because it’s a digi-egg of hope digivolution. Since Danganronpa has a whole hope vs despair theme I found it fitting to use one of them. After looking at them Oryxmon was the only one that looked like a good fit for Shuichi other than Pegasusmon which I already have plans to use for someone else. But Oryxmon is still a very Nobel digimon and the grey fits Shuichi’s aesthetic.

The Champion level is also where we get Shuichi’s dark digivolution. This was a pain in my a**. It was so difficult to find a digimon for this that if I didn’t think that it was essential for Shuichi to have a dark digivolution I would have given up! After literal hours of looking I decided on Shademon.

Would this have been a better pick for Junko? Possibly, but I will deal with that problem if I ever get to the original Danganronpa cast. But honestly I think Shademon would have a field day with Shuichi. It feeds on the despair of the people and digimon it haunts, and transforms it into its own nourishment. Shuichi already had a bunch of issues and insecurities before the killing game began so I can see those feelings manifesting into a dark digivolution that uses him a basically a human battery. Actually that would be a really coo arc in some sort of fan fiction now that I think about it. I was reluctant to use Shademon at first, but the more I look at it the more I think this fits.

Ultimate: Paildramon

I am ignoring that Paildramon is a DNA digivolution! If this was some sort of fanfiction Deputymon would digivolve into Paildramon naturally. It’s actually surprisingly common to find random Digimon in the anime that would ideally need another digimon or object to digivolve, so I still think this works. Out of the entire line the Ultimate was what was giving me the most trouble. I decided on Paildramon because it’s technically a main protagonist digimon, and Shuichi is the main protagonist of V3. Also the fusion contains Stingmon, who is Ken’s partner. For those of you who don’t know Ken becomes a detective, which is Shuichi’s ultimate. Why didn’t I use Stingmon for the Champion? Because finding an Ultimate was so hard that Paildramon felt like my only option. The Champion level did not have the same struggle.

Mega: Justimon

I honestly think the Mega was the easiest part for Shuichi. To me, Justimon feels like a very Shuichi digimon. It never lets an evil deed go unpunished, and is constantly fighting for others. I always felt like Shuichi stands for the same values, and is just more timid about it. In the final chapter of V3 he proclaims that even if everything is fake, the feelings and the hurt that he has gone through in Danganronpa are real. It is for that reason that Danganronpa must end. That screams justice to me.

***

And that’s it! Sorry this took so long. I have plans for more characters so hopefully I can gets those out soon.

[seventeenlovesthree]

The growing up aspect you mention is probably the most vital aspect here - as well as the whole "children getting chosen and disposed of once they're not needed anymore" angle. In the previous ramble - and probably several times before - I had compared Digimon to Neon Genesis Evangelion and Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Heck, you can even put Sailor Moon in the mix once again and probably every other series that revolves around the themes of "chosen ones" and "wishes", preferably both. There's a reason why I always come back to these - because they just have inherent similarities in the way they make their protagonists suffer through hardships, making them contemplate their life choices and letting them shoulder the fate of the entire world/universe. Granted, one might argue that the Hero's Journey plays a part in this as well and that all of these are just general themes of the Superhero trope... Meaning that the hero has to overcome hardships for the audience to have someone to root for and to go through a certain sense of catharsis...

... But this is where it all falls apart, because we NEVER got that sense of catharsis for TAICHI (and Yamato and Sora too, but Taichi is our main protagonist, so this counts). I know I'll just keep repeating myself at this point over and over again, but it's just so grim how, with everything that happened since Tri, they decided to put Taichi through the most amount of suffering possible. And what you said up there makes it even worse - because it made me think that Gennai really only approached him, because he had already been broken at this point. I went through Taichi's connection to death symbolism before as well and the final conclusion was that his mental health had declined and he had gotten so tired of everything (even if it just happened subconsciously) that he wouldn't fight the departure too much. He had been used up enough, so he couldn't "function" anymore anyway. Which... I don't even know how else to describe it besides "grim".

And it's actually so stupid that they never made use of the bond Taichi shares with everyone else. I may or may not have listened to a song called Heartbodymindsoul and couldn't help but feel reminded of Team Light... And about how Homeostasis should actually FEAR and single out Hikari and Koushirou as its biggest potential opponents out there. Hikari has a connection to it and to various other worlds (as does Ken) and had already proven that she was capable of breaking through her possessed state - and we know how devastating she can be if wrath takes over. I don't even have to go into too much detail with Koushirou again, but really - if Hikari is a magical God of the Digital World, he basically is a technical God. If they really wanted to - and we know they CAN go through with grey morals if the situation requires it, ESPECIALLY when someone like Taichi is involved, who is pretty dear to both of them -, they could burn the whole place down. Literally and figuratively.

But yeah, long story short... Kizuna should have ended with them breaking through the spell of departure - by achieving their Bond forms, Agumon and Gabumon should have overcome their "fate", just like Taichi and Yamato suggested. How much more fulfilling would that have been? Heck, if the Digivices had broken apart and they STILL would have remained in the world in the same way they did it in The Beginning, I wouldn't even have been mad. But the disappearance of the Digivices in The Beginning had still been the most ridiculous decision of everything ever anyway...

... And I'm still both scared and excited to see how exactly Kakudou will solve it all.

I know i am days too late but i saw dunking on Homeostasis and wanted to join in xD

I think that Homeostasis brought back ukkomon in The Beginning to stop the influence of the digivices on digimon (and their evolution) and the digital world. With so many new chosen, the human fraction and their partners could became too powerful. So it brought ukkomon back with the hopes/calculations that the chosen from tokyo would help Rui see past the digivice looking for more of a true connection. With the events of the movie, the chosen just played into its hand.

(I would love for the og 8 to question homeostasis and gennai. I know Taichi was depressed in Kizuna already but i WISH he would have blew up in his face, when gennai showed up. I hope we will see at least Koushiro being distrustful)

No worries, I hadn't forgotten about this and wanted to reply to it DAYS ago, but didn't get to do it!

I think it's interesting that there seems to be an increasing sentiment of people agreeing that Homeostasis is just screwing with the kids whenever they become "inconvenient" or need a little more "nudging" (derogatory) to "do their job". I've watched a - more or less "constructive" - review on 02 on YT recently and one aspect I COMPLETELY forgot about was... That Ken actually wished for his brother to disappear. Like... In a way an angry child wishes it was an only child for getting neglected. And then... That's exactly what happened. In the most tragic way possible. This was absolutely not the happiness Shinji-kun Homura-chan Rui Ken wished for, but it was probably deemed necessary to eventually "trigger" the true potential of his Kindness, no matter how much suffering he had to go through...

I feel like Tri already TRIED to play with the idea that the OG 8 would rebel against their purpose - but like with so many other plot threads, they didn't pull through with it and made it all the more confusing with Yggdrasil.

And yeeeeah, Hikari and Koushirou were kinda the only ones who picked up on it, so it would be nice if they - alongside Taichi and Yamato for obvious reasons - would do something about it.

(I know, this is all very story dependent on the reboot and everything, but it still treats the Chosen Children as "nuisances".

Also, I feel like Kizuna and The Beginning WANTED to have the theme of "fighting against fate/choosing your own destiny", but those themes are ALWAYS linked to losses one way or another, so it really feels like there cannot be a happy end either way.

[flamemons]

How do you think Digimon Frontier might have gone if the Spirits of Steel, Wood, and Earth had been bequeathed to Ophanimon, the Spirits of Darkness and Water had been bequeathed to Seraphimon, the Spirits of Flame, Light, Ice, Wind, and Thunder had been bequeathed to Cherubimon, and the protagonists had been Katsuharu, Teppei, Chiaki, Teruo, and Koichi (with Kouji joining later)?

im just gonna ramble whatever comes to mind lmao. i drew some stuff too!

uuh while i find it hard to care too much about those other kids because well, I don't know much about them, it is really fun thinking about how kouichi would act if he was there from the start. I think he'd be serious, in a similar way to Kouji, bc he's there on a mission, y'know! All he remembers is following his brother around until Kouji gets some weird text message (wait,,, does kouichi have a phone? probably not, huh. poor people gang ftw...) and now hes in this fuckin place! (hes a dead soul in this au too.) I'd imagine he'd be just as driven as Kouji was, if not more so, bc he KNOWS koujis gotta be here somewhere....but instead of initially trying to avoid the other kids (koujis strategy), he'd probably stick around as soon as he realizes that theyre gonna get themselves killed if they keep acting stupid. So, instead of trying to ditch the kids or act distant, he'd nag them and rush them to stay on track, and come off as kind of a bossy stick-in-the-mud at first

Side note, its easy to think of kouji as being a lot more serious and mature compared to the rest of the frontier kids, but honestly, I have to wonder if he wouldve acted differently if ophanimon wasnt calling him all the damn time telling him that he has to find answers! hes gotta get stronger! theres something he Has To Know!!! like damn if ophanimon was that specific with the other kids they'd also probably be just as sullen. anyway, kouichi would be feeling the same kind of pressure.

in an attempt to make it more interesting for me, chiaki and teruo are now siblings. or close cousins. or something. (what if they were fraternal twins?? that would be so funny actually. there is a statistically improbable amount of twins here!) AND bc i like chiaki the most i think she'd make a cool leader of sorts! like, the lancer to kouichi. kouichi ends up accidentally being the leader bc hes so driven, and chiakis like, a genuinely nice person who really wants to help the digital world as soon as she steps off the first trailmon onto the flame terminal. she also doesnt take shit from anyone. maybe she was a quiet wallflower-type kid at school, but, if its for another's sake, then she'll always speak up! so now, in the digital world, she cant stay quiet!

ah i love just making shit up. this is fun

so together, they make the most chillest leader/lancer duo ever. (hey, if they WERE to be the two Main Ones, wouldnt it be cool if their Susanoomon-type evolution was deep-sea themed? mix darkness and water together, and you get The Fucking Abyss. it could be bioluminescent! a cool way to turn "light into darkness!")

btw, im not drawing any spirit forms here bc I think these kids would have alternative spirit forms as opposed to the evil ones in the show. like, heroic looking ones (basically, no child deserves to have to spirit evolve into grottomon) BUT im no good at character design and that sounds like a lotta work. also, the other spirits (fairymon, chakkmon, agnimon, etc,) would need evil forms too then, right?? that sounds like a REALLY hard thing to try drawing, so nah. just imagine these kids spirit evolving and fighting offscreen. speaking of the other spirits though,

i want chakkmon/tomoki to try pummeling the shit out of katsuharu and teppei!! karmas a bitch!! tomoki didnt get to have his character development in this AU, bc he (probably) fell off the trailmon train tracks and got Got by cherubimon!

i like the main frontier kids too much to not include them in everything i draw Ever, so imagine that maybe they all came to the digital world alone, and wandered around until they found their respective spirits (in similar circumstances to the show) but since those spirits belongto cherubimon, theyre possessed/convinced to fight on cherubimons side!! like "oh shit i have no friends and i hate my life, yea this big evil bunny has a point lets go fuck shit up". maybe some of them are fully in control of their actions, maybe some arent. maybe some of them remember that theyre human, but maybe some of them dont....?

lastly, i have to apologize bc i got completely sidetracked bc i thought "oh takuya and kouji would be very funny as team rocket-esque villains" so heres flamon and strabimon but Evil™

i like to imagine that theyre the Most Incompetent of cherubimons Evil Guys but theyre the only two (that cherubimon knows of) that can form susanoomon so THATS why hes trying to collect all the spirits. bc of that, they DEFINITELY dont remember that theyre human. (bc of that, they also kind of dont have anything to care about, so theyre just trying to have fun)

it would be fun if they were initially kind of lame but although they may be idiots, theyre not Dumb, so they slowly become competent at the same rate as the Heroes do, and instead of a sephirothmon arc theres like.......a beowolfmon and aldamon arc??? im not a writer i dont know. watch these five kids (and counting!) get slowly hunted by two fucking Beasts in the darkest forest ever.

or maybe they do Actually manage to collect all the spirits but it goes so horribly wrong and now theres like ten goddamn kids and ten spirits mashed up in the psyche of a very unstable susanoomon and its just some fucked up Twisted psychological nightmare. digimon evangelion.

basically in this AU, there is even MORE wild tone shifts and the plot goes Absolutely Fucking Bonkers. and takuya's cosplaying Jotaro Kujo for some fucking unknown reason.

thank you for asking! this was....probably not what you were going for, but c'est la vie

[droshawoluv]

Moments I love from Digimon Adventure (1999) - [5/?]

🌆 R e s o l v e 🌆

Hello, this is my favorite chapter ever. So the whole ep. is the moment I love.

Is it the aesthetic given by a different iconic Director?

the ambient sounds where you can hear your Summer crickets?

the nostalgic and melancholic feeling that this gives you without even knowing why?

the feeling that something is not really ok?

the back and forth of Taichi trying also to figure out what is real and what is going on?

the revelation that is still the same day?

Hikari, my 2nd favorite character being here and kinda creepy with her knowledge?

the protagonist I love showing he's a great brother who loves his sister (a personal biase there as fraternal love is something I got emotional about) ?

the way that all around Taichi feels more mature in this episode being at home and caring about his sister and Digimon partner?

the music that always put you in the mood even if there's a big dinosaur attacking your city (which granted, it's such an amazing piece of music that even featured in the freakin entrance of the OLYMPIC TORCH AT TOKYO 2020 OPENING CEREMONY WHAT)?

the ending part where you can see the tension of the siblings watching Digimons no one can, and an Agumon that shows that rookies can be snappy and good in hands of a nice episode Director?

the whole ending with first Agumon saying goodbye, and Hikari trying to stop Taichi in a heartbreaking moment that probably made me cry %90 of the times with that music?

The understanding that this is the first time in the show that one of the destined children decided by himself to be in the Digital World, instead of being forced to be there?

the resolution that it implies a turning point to Taichi, to be back to do what he must do?

Maybe a little bit of everything.

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[legendheroes]

Hello, I just find your blog and really like your head canons. I want to ask about Dark Evolution, I wonder how the other protagonists would react to Gulusgammamon. Does Hiro tell them what happened? That's all. I hope you're doing well.

Hiro: I think they already know?

OG Taichi: DUDE. How can you be partnered with a villain?

Takuya: His Level of Menace is goin’ up!!

Hiro: And they are ranking me higher now.

Takato: Um, can we please not judge Gammamon and Hiro-kun like this?

Daisuke: Yeah, he said everything is fine! He won’t destroy the world or anything… R-right?

Takuya: Daisuke is scared.

Daisuke: I-I’m not! Look, this is not the first time someone got partnered with a villain TAICHI-SENPAI!

OG Taichi: Oh… You’re right, Tailmon was a baddie too. Hehe sorry, my mistake.

R!Taichi: Wait, so you have a Tailmon who was your enemy before too?

OG Taichi: Yup, she’s my sister’s digimon partner.

R!Taichi: I see, my sister is also partnered with said Tailmon too.

OG Taichi: Is she named Hikari?

R!Taichi: You’re kidding me, my sister is named Hikari too!

Takuya: Alternative universes are weird.

Daisuke: My head hurts… And this is NOT the first time I met another Taichi!!

Takuya: So you met that Taichi too, huh…

Masaru: Y'all are changing the subject.

Hiro: D-don’t worry, Gammamon ate Gulus and he’s behaving… Inside Gammamon.

Haru: He ‘ate’ Gulus??

Hiro: Yeah, literally.

Daisuke: H-how?

Hiro: Don’t even ask me, we were inside their inner universes or something like…

Tagiru: Inner universes are a thing now?

Hiro: [shrugs]