#betamon

DigiMonday - BETAMON

(Child Level/Virus Attribute/Amphibian Type)

Betamon is a franchise veteran first appearing in the original Digital Monster Vpet way back in 1997, and in doing so it holds the distinction of being one of two possible outcomes of the franchise's very first branching evolution; depending on how attentively the player cared for their Koromon it would develop either into an Agumon or to this little little froggish friend. With their shared history in mind, it becomes pretty clear that Betamon was designed to contrast with Agumon; where Agumon is a vivid yellow biped with relatively sharp, boxy features Betamon is a squat, smooth-bodied quadruped (giant fin/hair...thing nonewithstanding) with an overall calmer colour scheme of greens, blues and whites. This contrast is even carried over into their Digimon Encyclopedia entries, with Betamon being described as calm and docile if left unprovoked while Agumon, in contrast to its later "loveable goofball" characterisation, was originally described as far more fierce-and-feisty. One of these is sounding a good deal more huggable than the other, I'm just saying...

(The possible evolution lines in the original Digital Monster VPet, image source here.)

Beyond contrasting with its more famous reptilian cousin Betamon is a pretty charmingly designed critter in its own right; its colour scheme, amphibian typing and the tendency of official art to depict it as inhabiting forests and wetlands all invoke real-world frogs (with its red eyes, blue stripes and white belly particularly bringing the arboreal amphibian icon that is the Red-Eyed Tree Frog to mind,) while its lizard-like tail, toothy maw and single-toed spiky lil' feets all help to sell it as being a frog-like monster as opposed to just a weird frog. Those monster-ish elements would be played with further with the introduction of...

BETAMON (X Antibody)

(Child Level/Virus Attribute/Aquatic Type)

Like most of the original 14 Digimon the early 2000's provided Betamon with a more elaborate-and-edgy alternative design as Betamon X, debuting in a 2003 booster set for the original Digimon Card Game. At a glance this take on Betamon doesn't seem all that different (more-or-less resembling a normal Betamon with some extra spikes attached,) but its the change in the patterns on its skin that make it interesting; the fairly straightforward blue streaks have been replaced with a series of squiggles and spots that are identical to those seen on the reimagining of a reimagining of a fellow original Digi, Seadramon X. Their similar markings combined with Betamon X's typing being changed from "amphibian" to "aquatic" (which also happens to be Seadramon's typing,) makes it clear that Betamon X's design is intended to reframe it from the somewhat miscellaneous froggy lil' freak it debuted as to a sort of baby Seadramon, much like how Agumon (and especially Agumon X) can easily be read as a baby Greymon - given that it was always possible for Betamon to evolve into Seadramon where Agumon originally couldn't this is a very fun way of more definitively solidifying the two's connection to one another!

Comparing the prominence with which Agumon and Betamon have appeared in Digimon media since their joint debut leaves no doubt that the folks at Bandai-Namco don't exactly love all their children equally, but Betamon has still gotten a fair bit of attention throughout the years; its made at least a cameo in most instalments in the series (in particular the games, with a particularly notable appearance as one of 3 possible starter Digis in 2015's Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Hackers Memory,) and to this day when a VPet featuring Agumon needs an "other" child-level option there's a good chance that Betamon will hop/slither up to fill the role.

Favourite Betamon Artwork: This adorable card from the Digimon TCG's "Versus Monsters" booster set, which is made up largely of cards celebrating the original Digital Monster VPets and the 'Mons that appeared in them (with this one even showing Betamon off as an evolution of the now strongly Agumon-associated Botamon and Koromon.) There's no shame in being second best, little guy...

Happy Odaiba Day!