Digimon! (...and yeah I'm back...)
Mar. 8th, 2021 08:20 pmI know it's been AGES but I'm actually not going to do a whole "I'm back" post because I feel like it'd take forever to get it all out and make it harder to post about other stuff. Let's just say some time were harder than I expected, some times were still really fun, and it's all mixed up in a jumble that is hard to sort out that mostly makes me wish I'd been better about posting, during all that time.
So instead of trying to do that and overwhelming myself, I'mma post about what I'm upto and into right now, and apparently that is Digimon. My new thing the past few weeks is that, I've been watching the show and playing the annoying-but-addictive mobile game, and and then I bought some plushies and the actual virtual pet (mine glows in the dark!) and there's also a proper video game that I'm going to play as soon as my alphas let me (I have to beat another one first before I start something new)
Along with that, I've been thinking a bit about why I've gotten so into it lately, and came up wit some interesting stuff that Dad said I should share as a homework assignment. I realized it's not (just) the basic stuff like cute/cool character designs, and how it does a really good job with its huge cast, and how it's been on kinda as long as I can remember so it feels comfy to watch. It's actually weirdly relatable in some surprising ways.
One thing that really jumped out at me is the whole Digivolution thing. So yeah, you have cute little monsters who get bigger (and generally a little or a lot less cute) to fight other monsters. But unlike some other settings, it's not just a 'grow up and get stronger and stay that way' thing; generally after doing what they need to do in a Champion form, they go back into Rookie (cute critter) form because they're hungry and exhausted, and need some time and care before they can feel good again, much less digivolve.
That already feels a little bit relateable, and it gets more so when you think about the 'higher levels' of the whole thing. There's an Ultimate form (note: not actually 'ultimate' because that's how it goes in these things) for even stronger and more important fights, but when they're done being ultimate, the digimon end up going all the way back to the little blobby 'baby' form, where they're even less strong and capable, and they're just like that for a while until they can get back to their basically-default Rookie form.
Add to that the look of the different forms, the soft and cuddly Rookie forms that I think are cutest, and the increasingly monstery and... extra Champion and Ultimate forms that do not look comfortable to just exist in. (Sometimes you hear one of the trainer kids saying "Wow, whatevermon, that new form is so cool!" and I end up wondering whta the 'mon really thinks about that; I'd much rather be a cool little dinosaur than a weird knight with a dinosaur-shaped helmet!) There's also kinda a side-note in there that the different forms are treated as different identities to some extent (for instance, they always go by the name of the current form) but they're still the same person when they digivolve up and down.
All that put together reminds me a LOT of the times when I have to exert more effort to be, for lack of a better term, 'grown up' and do things that might be hard for me. I can do it, but it's not my default 'form', and definitely not how I want to be with just hanging around with my buddies. And I definitely always need to recuperate after doing it, and there's some stuff that, after doing it, I need even more time to just get back to my baseline. So, seeing all that in cool anime form feels kinda good and validating, and I'm glad there's just a ridiculous amount of more Digimon stuff to watch!
So instead of trying to do that and overwhelming myself, I'mma post about what I'm upto and into right now, and apparently that is Digimon. My new thing the past few weeks is that, I've been watching the show and playing the annoying-but-addictive mobile game, and and then I bought some plushies and the actual virtual pet (mine glows in the dark!) and there's also a proper video game that I'm going to play as soon as my alphas let me (I have to beat another one first before I start something new)
Along with that, I've been thinking a bit about why I've gotten so into it lately, and came up wit some interesting stuff that Dad said I should share as a homework assignment. I realized it's not (just) the basic stuff like cute/cool character designs, and how it does a really good job with its huge cast, and how it's been on kinda as long as I can remember so it feels comfy to watch. It's actually weirdly relatable in some surprising ways.
One thing that really jumped out at me is the whole Digivolution thing. So yeah, you have cute little monsters who get bigger (and generally a little or a lot less cute) to fight other monsters. But unlike some other settings, it's not just a 'grow up and get stronger and stay that way' thing; generally after doing what they need to do in a Champion form, they go back into Rookie (cute critter) form because they're hungry and exhausted, and need some time and care before they can feel good again, much less digivolve.
That already feels a little bit relateable, and it gets more so when you think about the 'higher levels' of the whole thing. There's an Ultimate form (note: not actually 'ultimate' because that's how it goes in these things) for even stronger and more important fights, but when they're done being ultimate, the digimon end up going all the way back to the little blobby 'baby' form, where they're even less strong and capable, and they're just like that for a while until they can get back to their basically-default Rookie form.
Add to that the look of the different forms, the soft and cuddly Rookie forms that I think are cutest, and the increasingly monstery and... extra Champion and Ultimate forms that do not look comfortable to just exist in. (Sometimes you hear one of the trainer kids saying "Wow, whatevermon, that new form is so cool!" and I end up wondering whta the 'mon really thinks about that; I'd much rather be a cool little dinosaur than a weird knight with a dinosaur-shaped helmet!) There's also kinda a side-note in there that the different forms are treated as different identities to some extent (for instance, they always go by the name of the current form) but they're still the same person when they digivolve up and down.
All that put together reminds me a LOT of the times when I have to exert more effort to be, for lack of a better term, 'grown up' and do things that might be hard for me. I can do it, but it's not my default 'form', and definitely not how I want to be with just hanging around with my buddies. And I definitely always need to recuperate after doing it, and there's some stuff that, after doing it, I need even more time to just get back to my baseline. So, seeing all that in cool anime form feels kinda good and validating, and I'm glad there's just a ridiculous amount of more Digimon stuff to watch!