I think that having a rival group like Tactics is a good source of conflict for Glowing Dawn in terms of construction and idealism. Unlike Glowing Dawn which was formed by Kyo after he left the Five Stars and contains a group of misfits with no place to go, Tactics is like a systematic group where potential trainees train and then are formed into a group. The Tactics that we are familiar with are Team 7, meaning that there are six other Tactics groups. I do wonder if they’re all lead by Seraphy Naito or if they’re all under the watch of other henchmen of Klay’s. However, Tactics Team 7 aren’t the most perfect group, as mentioned by Klay as his idea of perfection was what Kyo used to be during his time as a member of the Five Stars. It’s also later revealed that he used to be the strongest, which only amps up the mysteries shrouding the leader of Glowing Dawn.

Okay, now I will give MetalSeadramon a better shot.

It's a shark! Nah, it's just Shellmon. I'm impressed how much the lifesaver is doing to pull this play off.

Your bias is showing.

It's fine, Tailmon. You can hold your Adult evolution as your base form, including after an exhausting battle with Perfect. And you told your old boss to fuck off for threatening Hikari. You guys are doing great ❤️.

Never trust a beach house in the Digital World.

Yeah, that will do it.

I love Taichi in this episode having the big brother instincts kick in. Younger children within grabbing distance? Protect.

"I trust myself to be quiet, but just in case I will help you be quiet." Is a much funnier image than if each covered their own mouths.

Kids for some food isn't that great of a look.

The contrast of a front shot (intimidating) compared to a profile shot (just a guy scuttling around) is very funny to me.

💪🐢

Why are you bringing him back? Just leave him on the beach.

Lilimon picture because fav ❤️

Oh dear why. I know he gave away kids for some food but this seems unnecessarily brutal lmao.

Ok, nvm, he's alive.

Maybe not.

Zudomon Express working at greater rates.

The first one of the ultimate/perfect is Anomalocarimon. Anomalocaris is one of my favorite extinct animals and I'm absolutely delighted that both Digimon and Pokemon based a monster off of it. It also definitely takes after a sea scorpion with it's scorpion-like tail. It was even born from scientific data about extinct species. I think this is a great Digimon that deserved more attention. Anomalocarimon caused a bit of a translation kerfuffle when it was given the English name Scorpiomon (because American kids are too dumb to know what an Anomalocaris is I guess). Well there's also another unrelated Digimon called Scorpiomon so the English dub was forced to change its name to SkullScorpiomon. Yes, this has caused confusion before. Anomalocarimon also has an x-antibody form that looks like it was standing next to a bunch of exploding spray paint cans.

Anomalocarimon

Anomalocarimon X

Next is Dagomon, who was given the English name Dragomon. It's a minor change but kind of dumb because Dagomon comes from the Cthulhu mythos character Father Dagon and has nothing to do with dragons. Despite being named after Father Dagon, Dagomon is clearly Cthulhu as a Digimon. It's also treated as such in the animes. in Digimon Adventure 02 it rules over deep ones in an extradimensional spaces called the Dark Ocean and is implied to be more of a Lovecraftian horror than a Digimon. In Digimon Ghost Game it starts turning people into deep ones and is powerful enough to overwhelm a higher-level Digimon. I know it also shows up in Xros Wars, but I didn't watch that. It wears Buddhist prayer beads. In a heavily Buddhist country like Japan, a monster dressed like a Buddhist is probably the equivalent of historically-Catholic countries having vampire priests. I dig this one and while I say that a lot of Digimon could use more attention, I think Dagomon only showing up a little bit and being overwhelmingly powerful and mysterious is very appropriate for a Lovecraftian Digimon.

Related to Dagomon is Hangyomon, called Divermon in English. It's very much based on sea monsters like th Creature from the Black Lagoon, but with scuba gear. I think it's a neat Digimon. Notably, Hangyomon's most prominent appearance in the anime wasn't actually them. It was in the same episode as Dagomon and the Dark Ocean where at the end it's revealed that the creatures that presented themselves as Hangyomon were actually disguised deep ones serving Dagomon.

Next is Gusokumon and listen, I'm a simple nerd, I see a giant shrimp that shoots fish-shaped torpedos and I like it. It's also based on real-life biological phenomena relates to the deep ocean. Like many real deep-sea animals it lives life on show mode, being able to live an extremely long time while not getting to eat very often. It feeds on injured Digimon that sink to the bottom of the ocean, which sounds a lot like deep-sea scavengers and whale falls (Whamon falls?)

Next is MarineChimairamon, an aquatic chimera. Yes, it's spelles chimaira instead of chimera. When I looked it to to find out if that's an alternate translation from the original Greek I found out that "chimaira" is the name of a heavy metal band from Ohio. So congrats guys, you accidentally have a Digimon named after you. Two actually, because there is also a Chimairamon (English: Kimeramon) and the two are very similar concepts. They're artificial Digimon made out of a combination of body parts of multiple other Digimon. OC, do not steal. I actually like MarineChimairamon more that the original. I can see Coelamon's helmet, Ikkakumon's head and tusks, Octomon's horns, One arm from Ebidramon and the other from Hangyomon, and tentacles from Gesomon.

Finally at this level is MarineDevimon. Just like how MarineChimairamon is the aquatic version of Chimairamon, there is a land-based Devimon. While Devimon is an evil genius, MarineDevimon is consumed by hate and can destroy its enemies with raw power. I think it's a great design for an evil aquatic Digimon

The apex of Digimon evolution is the mega/ultimate level and there are indeed megas lurking in the depths of the Net Ocean. One of the many horrors down there is Cthyllamon. This very new Digimon is an evil version of MarineAngemon. It's just as tiny and like MarineAngemon, it preferes to not fight. While MarineAngemon uses the power of live to drain its foes of their fighting spirit, Cthyllamon terrifies enemies into diving up and brainwashes lower-level Digimon into serving it. Cthylla is a less-well known member of the Cthulhu mythos, a daughter of Cthulhu who looks like a winged octopus and serves as a back up body for big C if he is ever killed. Cthyllamon doesn't really have anything to do with that. I think it's a great counterpart to MarineAngemon and a delightful little villain

KingWhamon is a bigger version of Whamon and that's about all we know about it. Generally the measure for whetehr or not a Digimon is official is if it has an entry in the Digimon Reference Book and KingWhamon doesn't. The Reference Book is where you get the lore of what that Digimon is and does, so we don't have that for KingWhamon. Despite not appearing in the Reference Book, KingWhamon has an anime appearance in Xros Wars and a card in the card game, which sounds pretty official to me. It's a gigantic whale with an island growing on its head. Te idea of a sea creature so vast that it can be mistaken for an island is common in the legends of seafaring cultures around the world. It's a fine Digimon, I just wish we had more to go off of.

Next is Xiangpengmon and while it looks like a bird dragon, it is aquatic. It's based on the peng, a Chinese legendary creature that can turn from a bird to a fish. This is seen in its evolutionary line, starting as the bird Xiquemon, evolving to the fish Huankunmon, and finally ending as a dragon. Chinese dragons were often depicted as living in the sea and being capable of flight. I think Xiangpengmon is a great Digimon. It is one of 6 species that debuted in the China-exclusive mobile game Digimon New Century and all of them are amazing.

If there can be said to be an aquatic Digimon that's the most powerful, it would have to be Leviamon. Named after the mythical leviathan, Leviamon is not only a big red crocodile, it's one of the Seven Great Demon Lords. They are the epitome of evil in the Digital World and some of the most powerful Digimon ever. Each Demon Lord bears the power of one of the seven deadly sins and Leviamon holds the power of envy. Despite being ungodly powerful, Leviamon envies those it sees as better than itself and lashes out against them. How big is Leviamon? It's big enough that it could swallow the Digital World in one gulp. It's definitely for the better that it spends most of its time asleep in the depths of the sea. The lore says that the limits of Digimon power are being decoded and Leviamon has none. Its existence is also the foundation of evil in the Digital World. So it's a being with no limits that is the origin of all evil. Sounds less like a Digimon and more like some unfathomable embodiment of evil that happens to be masquerading as a Digimon. I think that's super cool and while Leviamon is definitely the least visually interesting of the Demon Lords, it's still one of the coolest. Leviamon also has an x-antibody variant and oh boy. The aquatic Digimon have actually lucked out when it comes to having decent x-antibody variants and you may wonder why I call x-antibodies as a whole overdesigned and ugly. This, THIS, is what I mean when I say x-antibody variants are overdesigned. There are so many lines on this thing that it can be hard to tell what I'm looking at. And it's not even the worst x-antibody form, not even close. The seal of envy hovering over it like a halo is cool, but all the Demon Lords get their seals incorporated into the x-antibody designs so it's not even a unique idea. There is just no salvaging this x-antibody design.

Leviamon

Leviamon X