Euhg...not a great looking start, but neither was the first baby stage of Gammamon. At least this is the stage we have to look at the least anyway. Not much to its bio except that it hates loud noises and attacks by slapping things with its single weird ear.

RATING:

Evolution gives Pyonmon a second ear and covers up its creepy baby doll eyes, so it's better, but it's a pretty underwhelming baby stage. Except when there's a special reason, like for such "abnormal" Digimon lines as Keramon or Algomon, I don't think baby Digimon should look too specific to their evolved forms. The whole point is supposed to be that they're more vague prototypical digital creatures, isn't it?

RATING:

Angoramon is fairly fun. It's a giant rabbit creature that, intentionally or not, strongly resembles a tubby sasquatch or yeti. It's possibly also the physically largest child stage we've ever seen, at least as a main partner. Its bunny ears look a little like propeller wings, and that's exactly how they work. It's a lagomorph bigfoot helicopter. That's fun! The eyes are still covered up, too, which remains an endearing design choice on pretty much anything. Angoramon is also a reasonably likeable character in Ghost Game; a monster that's kind of shy and sleepy, but extremely strong and highly protective.

RATING:

Angoramon's first evolution is arguably a downgrade, dropping most of its fluffiness, all of its skunk ape vibes, and adds some clothing to go more "anthro." It feels kind of geared toward the people who got really really into Renamon.

But, for what it is, it's stylish enough that I'll keep its score. It's still a helicopter bunny guy, even if it they shaved it and made it wear pants.

RATING:

Now hold on, what? Wow! Angoramon's perfect stage actually ditches the anthro path to become a bit more monstrous than any prior stage! It drops the helicopter ears, which is a shame if that was your favorite part, but the more biological ears are very cool looking, kind of like long, sharply pointed bat's ears complete with a second set of smaller ear-flaps. The face now reveals a more cat-like face with sinister, kind of reptilian eyes and a mouth full of sharp little teeth. The rest of its body is shaggier and more feral looking, it has bird talons on its hads and feet and it has at least four bird wings. Some speculate that it's a reference to a Wolpertinger, a mythical clawed and winged hare from Germany, which I think checks out, but what I personally notice is how much it looks like someone made a poofy moth out of bird and mammal parts.

This is an honestly killer Digimon concept, scary and stylish and quite unlike anything else in the series. I don't personally go that much for mammaloids, but this rabid flying bunny-gremlin is so different from my expectations and such a neat overall creature design, it's going to get 5/5.

RATING:

AWWWWWW...dang it! RIGHT back to a guy in a suit, huh? Nothing against Diarbbitmon in itself; it's a competent design for what it intends, it has a nice color scheme, on entirely its own merits it could get a 4/5...but don't tease us like that with a gnarly beast. I feel like at some point, maybe this Digimon line was intended to have a branching "good" and "bad" path like Gammamon, but that perhaps it fell to the wayside. This otherwise feels a bit too similar to the aesthetics of the existing Anubismon to stand out, and I think something as goofy as a big giant Bigfoot-esque rabbit - which is also a helicopter - should have had a much more unique finish.

RATING: