Do you know why Sanzomon is with those other digimon in her card art? Chohakkaimon, Gokuwmon and Shawujinmon I think. Is it random or a reference?
Yes! I'm glad you asked @tenzeniths !
Gokuwmon, Sanzomon, Cho-Hakkaimon, and Sagomon.
So, what do these Digimon have in common? It’s probably not that obvious to Western fans, but these Digimon are based on the main characters from the famous Chinese tale 西遊記 Xī Yóu Jì, “Journey to the West”.
First off, we have Gokuwmon, who is based on the Monkey King, 孫悟空 Sūn Wùkōng, or how the Japanese transcription reads, Son Gokū. This character has inspired other popular culture characters before, most well known, Son Goku from Dragon Ball. The monkey looking tailed beast of the Naruto series, the four-tail, Son Goku, is also named after this character.
The "w” in Gokuwmon is supposed to show it should be pronounced like a “coo” sound.
Next we have Sanzomon, who is based on the monk 唐三藏 Táng Sānzàng, which is read as Sanzō in Japanese.
Then Cho-Hakkaimon is based on the Pig 豬八戒 Zhū Bājiè, read as Cho Hakkai in Japanese.
Lastly Sagomon is based on 沙悟淨 Shā Wùjìng, read as Sagojo in Japanese. It is a recolor of Shawujinmon, which is named after the same character.
While Gokuwmon, Sanzomon, and Sagomon seem to share somewhat of a design philosophy, Cho-Hakkaimon does stick out a little, which probably makes the group look more confusing if you don't know the reference.
However, while Shawujinmon debuted in 2006, in the Digivice iC 20X toy in relation to the Digimon Savers series, its recolor Sagomon debuted in a Digimon Jintrix set later in 2011, along with the other three of the group
It’s really interesting. It feels like once you’re even a little familiar with elements from “Journey to the West” you’ll notice references to it in many popular franchises.