Terriermon

Terriermon (テリアモン)
Voiced by	Aoi Tada (Japanese) Mona Marshall (English)
Partner(s)	Henry Wong

Terriermon is a fictional character from the Digimon media franchise. Terriermon is the partner digimon of Henry Wong. He appears as a main character in the Digimon Tamers anime series (as well as the two related movies Battle of Adventurers and Runaway Locomon).

Conception and creation

A toy likeness of Terriermon was initially given the pre-recorded line "Petit Twister". Chiaki J. Konaka thought that the line "had the power to make the listeners feel warm and fuzzy inside" and "was enough to shift my mental image of Terriermon". Terriermon was developed with a "truly special personality" that included cynical and sympathetic tendencies, and thus was a favorite of the script-writing team.^[1]

Appearance

In the English dub, Terriermon was called a bunny because of his long ears and his similarity to Lopmon. However, he is actually modelled after a dog, and named after a group of dog breeds Terrier. Terriermon also has a unique characteristic of having one horn on his head, which could also be stated as a difference to Lopmon who has three horns instead of one. Terriermon also has very large ears which are often used for spinning attacks such as in the move "Terrier Tornado". Terriermon's ears are also capable of letting him to float as well as glide.

Description

Henry Wong's Terriermon started out as a wild Digimon, fighting by the rules of the "survival of the fittest" doctrine in the harsh realm of the Digital World.^[2] When Henry received a Digimon video game as a present from his father, he selected Terriermon to play with because he identified with him (he said he wanted to be challenged by a small Digimon). During a battle between Terriermon and Gorillamon, Henry caused Terriermon to Digivolve into Gargomon. However, Gargomon lost control of his powers and Terriermon was nearly unconscious when he De-Digivolved, causing Henry to regret causing Terriermon's digivolution. Soon after, the mysterious Blue Card was discovered among Henry's card collection. Henry swiped the card through his card reader, transforming it into a D-Power. Terriermon then Bio-Emerged into the Real World as Henry's partner. At first, Henry hid Terriermon from his family by making Terriermon act like a simple stuffed animal. Later, Terriermon met the other Tamers, and became fast friends with Guilmon (Takato's partner).

Terriermon has a laid back personality - and often uses the word "Momentai" (written as 無問題 or 无问题), a Cantonese phrase that means "no problem" (In the English Dub, this has the translation of "Momentai" has been changed to "take it easy").

Terriermon was the first digimon to digivolve into champion level in Digimon Tamers.

Other forms

The name "Terriermon" refers to only the rookie form of this digimon. Throughout the series, Terriermon gains the ability to Digivolve into a number of more powerful forms (each with a different name). The rookie form, however, remains as his most common form.

Gummymon Gummymon is Terriermon's In-Training form. After the final battle in Digimon Tamers, Terriermon De-Digivolved to Gummymon, & afterwards returned to the Digital World.

Gargomon Gargomon is Terriermon's Champion form. Terriermon accidentally Digivolved into Gargomon while Renamon and Guilmon were fighting in an indoor parking lot and went out of control. If not for Guilmon tackling him into a wall, Gargomon would have fired at Rika. The same problem happened when Henry was playing his online videogame and Terriermon Digivolved into Gargomon to drive off Gorillamon. It wasn't until the following battle against Musyamon that Gargomon was able to control herself and that Henry realized that there are times when one needs to fight in order to prevent disaster.

Rapidmon Rapidmon redirects here. This section is about the Rapidmon featured in Digimon Tamers. For the Rapidmon seen in Digimon Adventure 02, see Rapidmon (Armor). Rapidmon is the Ultimate form of Terriermon. His upper body is metal except for his face and the base of his ears. His fur is a light cream color. When Henry slashed a "Blue Card", Gargomon became Rapidmon and used his attacks in a battle against Pajiramon and Vajramon. Rapidmon also appears later on in other battles against Vikaralamon, Beelzemon, Zhuqiaomon and some of the agents of the D-Reaper. He famously said the line "my blood hurts", a reference to Homestar Runner.

MegaGargomon MegaGargomon is the Mega form of Terriermon. His size and heavy arsenal gives him the appearance of a mecha. MegaGargomon was formed when Henry Biomerged with Terriermon during the fight against the Sovereign, Zhuqiaomon. In this form he was able to hurt the powerful Mega Digimon, but nevertheless lasted only a short time in the fight. He later participated in battles with the D-Reaper, and used the Juggernaut program downloaded by Hypnos to defeat it. In combat, MegaGargomon demonstrates that as a whole, 'they' benefit from Henry's experience as a T'ai chi Martial Arts student, using martial arts in battle against opponents. In the English version, he retains the child like, laid back jokester personality of Terriermon whereas in the Japanese, he is portrayed as a serious minded fighter.

Critical reception

GameZone's review of Digimon Battle Spirit called Terriermon "a short rabbit-like creature with stubby little legs and hands that couldn’t even harm a fly."^[3]

Notes

1. ^ Konaka, Chiaki J.. "Terriamon". http://www.konaka.com/alice6/tamers/characters/terriamon-e.html. Retrieved July 8, 2010. 
2. ^ "It Came From the Other Side". Digimon Tamers. Fox Kids. 2001-09-08.
3. ^ "Digimon Battle Spirit - GBA - Review". GameZone. January 26, 2003. http://gameboy.gamezone.com/reviews/item/digimon_battle_spirit_gba_review. Retrieved June 15, 2010.