ShogunGekomon

It is, unfortunately, a little downhill from there, but maybe not so bad. What truly places Gekomon in the same family as "failures" like Numemon and Sukamon is that it's the only way to get the sixth pet's most powerful ultimate. This is the monster occupying the Monzaemon slot in the pet's coding, and even attacks once again with little hearts it can hurl. Obviously we end up losing a great deal of Gekomon's uniquely outrageous personality for an evolution that mostly thinks "bigger is better," or perhaps "fatter is funnier," and it did take a long tiime for this one to grow on me even a little in comparison.

I will say that the collector's card artwork may not be the MASTERPIECE Gekomon's represented, but it does go a long way to making this design look cooler and livelier. I really appreciate those drunken eyes and scary little teeth in this pose, and only now realize that this digimon is also meant to resemble a big, fat tomato, I guess like the real world "tomato frog!" That's certainly a step up from only a bigger, fatter Gekomon with funny hair, but I still miss how Gekomon basically sports a froggy version of that Violator mouth. What we really need here is an Ultimate stage that hearkens back to that, maybe even plays up the line's scarier qualities. Where's our Devigekomon!?

Digivolves from

 * 1) Gekomon

Digivolves to

 * 1) Pukumon