Twenty-five years of Digimon has brought us to this. Despite no indication of future Digimon movies or series, I have no desire to slow down–still perpetually watching the series; currently watching Digimon Tamers and Digimon Adventure 2020. I recently got to the point of Adventure 2020 in which TK teams up with Patamon–possibly one of the redeeming story arcs of the series. So like I’ve done many times before, I want to highlight the different iterations of Patamon. Despite being a relatively minor character among Digi-Destined partners, he’s a fan favorite between the Adventure saga, Frontier, and Adventure 2020.
Digimon Adventure
Meeting TK in the form of Tokomon, he was the late-bloomer among the Digi-Destined partners. It was through Patamon’s story arc that we learned how Digimon are reborn, after Angemon sacrificed himself to defeat Devimon. He was the last to reach the champion (Angemon) and ultimate (MagnaAngemon) levels. That being said, when Angemon and MagnaAngemon finally entered the scene, he was able to hold his own (and sometimes right out defeat) Digimon a full digivolution above him, like Myotismon, Phantomon, and Piedmon.
A few years later, Patamon and TK joined the new Digi-Destined team to fight the Digimon Emperor, Arukenimon, and Mummymon. While digivolution to champion was prohibited, he was able to become Pegsusmon to join the fight. Later, when MagnaAngemon would have been wonderful to fight BlackWarGreymon and others, Angemon was able to DNA digivolve with Ankylomon to create Shakkoumon. He may not have been MagnaAngemon, but Shakkoumon was still able to hold his own against BlackWarGreymon. The lack of utilizing his natural champion and ultimate forms is one of my grievances about Adventure 02. However, the second season did give Angemon his mega form in The Digimon Movie… even if Seraphimon only lasted a few seconds.
When Digimon Adventure Tri came across, Patamon was still very clingy to TK, which didn’t get any better when he was the first of the Digimon partners to get infected by Meicoomon. The scene in which TK holds him as he writhes from the infection broke my heart. I want to do another post at some point to delve into the trauma that TK and Patamon go through in direct contrast with his crest of hope; suffice it to say that when the Digi-Destined get reunited with their partners post-reboot, TK putting that faith and positivity back into Patamon was amazing, enabling him to reach Seraphimon once again.
Despite being a more minor character in the original series, TK was one of the characters front-and-center in Last Evolution Kizuna, joining in all the major fights alongside Tai, Matt, and Izzy. It was sad to see him and Patamon lost in Menoa’s Never World, but with his scars of losing Patamon, who can blame him. In a similar way, it makes sense that he was scared when he was faced with the possibility of losing Patamon in the fight against Ukkomon in The Beginning. Both times, despite his fears, Patamon came to the fight as Angemon (and later as Shakkoumon in The Beginning). Last we see of them, Patamon is still alive and kicking with TK. I can only hope they find a way to keep their bond from breaking as TK grows up, unlike Tai and Agumon.
When he’s at in-training or rookie levels, Patamon ends up acting very childish, in good ways and bad ways. Throughout the Adventure saga, he’s clingy to TK. In the first season, he mirrored TK’s immaturity, but as TK matured he kind of turned into his child or pet at times. But when in one of his angel forms, Patamon matured instantly, becoming brave and fierce–though I’d never accuse Patamon of being cowardly either, as demonstrated when he would get protective of TK (see “Forget About It!”).
Digimon Frontier
When Seraphimon entered the scene as one of the Celestial Digimon, he was powerful and epic… and comatose. That persisted until the five children visited his castle in the Forest Terminal. He was only awake for a few moments before he had to sacrifice himself to save the kids–his data taken by Mercurymon and his egg saved by Zoe and Bokomon. As an egg, he gave a portion of his power to Koji and Takuya to enable them to fusion-spirit evolve. It wasn't until Takuya recovered his data as Aldamon that the egg hatched into Patamon. He spent the rest of the season assisting the kids as they fought Cherubimon, the Royal Knights, and Lucemon.
The personality of this Patamon was similar to TK’s partner, pretty immature at times, like when referring to Bokomon as his “papa-mom”. Granted, this Patamon had barely been reborn from a digi-egg, so he had an excuse. That being said, he showed wisdom and insight at times, leftover from when was Seraphimon. You couldn’t ever really tell what Patamon was going to do in this season.
Digimon Adventure 2020
This version of Patamon was introduced as the captive Celestial Digimon, Angemon, held by his dark counterpart Devimon (the two having split from Seraphimon after the war). Like the Frontier version, after he got saved he reverted to an egg and lost much of his memory regarding his past in the Digimon war and his life as the angel Digimon. It took him a long time to regain the ability to digivolve into Angemon, but was able to turn into Pegasusmon in the meantime. As the children journey, he learns to digivolve into MagnaAngemon, Seraphimon, and (once) into Goldramon.
Between his involvement in the ancient war and being split into Angemon and Devimon, this version of Patamon has one complex backstory. I just wish he didn’t come into play so late, but other than the angel feathers that TK finds, Patamon doesn’t properly appear in any form until a third of the way into the story. I love that his backstory is more complex though, which you don’t tend to see with Digimon partners in any series; usually the complexity comes from the humans. As I continue to watch Digimon Adventure 2020, I’ll have to keep an eye on this storyline more closely.
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