Digimon Zone Force!

Not a new Digimon Zone subseries, though a little Zone related thing to document a sticky note in Digimon history.

Who here remembers Digimon Force 3?

Anyone?

Judging by the Cricketmon, I'd guess not.

So Force 3 was an American toyline that was considered sometime after Digimon Frontier ended. Possibly, it may have been billed as a Frontier sequel as the script went something like this:

"Over 100 years after Season 4, a small conflict occurred in the three areas of the Digital World. Over time, the struggles grew and persisted until now. All that is left is chaos and disorder. But there is a glimmer of hope. The leaders of the 3 areas have come from the real world and they've been given all the powers of the Digivice to help them restore peace. They've been given the awesome responsibility of defeating the evil Hydemon before he completely destroys the Digital World."

Needless to say, nothing truly came of it, and and all that was ever released were three prototype Digivices that were designed to connect to one another. Each one had a specific name: Armor, Hyper and Fusion. There used to be a pamphlet saying which one was which, but I couldn't find it right away. =w=

At the time of this thing's announcement, the X-Evolution stuff was getting off the ground in Japan such as the promotional comic Digimon Chronicle.

All kinds of speculation and rumors started getting tossed around with Force 3 as a result, though it's been so long since then that I don't think anyone remembers for certain what was fact or fiction.

It's said that there were going to be three kids (presumably two boys and a girl ala Tamers) and that they'd be sharing a single Digimon who would Digivolve based on what Digivice was being used.

Because of the Chronicle/X-Evo stuff circulating at the time, people latched on to Dorumon and thought he was the new Digimon of Force 3. I seem to recall that there were even names given for the Digimon that Dorumon'd turn into, but I don't remember what they were. I think they were based on certain elements like water or earth, but don't quote me.

Evidently there was something tossed around about a Tournament as well, but I have no memory of it.

In the end, no actual DigiDestined/Tamers or main Partner Digimon were ever hinted or mentioned for this thing. The only Digimon that was specifically named was the mysterious villain named Hydemon, and even then it was just a name. Speculation was that it was either a dub name for an existing Digimon of some kind or (more than likely) it was an American created Digimon.

So how's Zone fit into it?

Weeeeellll there'd have to be a "Force Zone" now wouldn't there?

So some Zoners'd have to stop by and visit it~

I probably put more thought into this than I should have.

After seeing this thread on WtW, I kind of wondered how the Zoners would adapt to this and it boiled down to "three guys fighting over Betamon".

Based on the sharing idea, Ryo came immediately to mind because his entire schtick of getting DigiLoans in the games. He'd probably wield a Customized Hyper Digivice.

Dan'd wield the Armor Digivice. Not really sure why to be honest.

For the Fusion model, well, naturally someone skilled in DigiFusing.

I thought of Nene mostly due to her having trouble holding onto Partners (DarkKnightmon defecting and Sparrowmon becoming Kotone's partner). XD;
Akari was a thought since she didn't have any Digimon until later on.

I suppose Poindexter objected to Nene going to another Zone because he was afraid for her safety. (Spoiler Alert: They've been in a relationship since the end of Death Generals).

So as for Hydemon? My mind initially thought of this large, beastly Digimon that overtime became a Mr. Hyde style Digimon. There's probably a Dr. Jekyll style Digimon he could Slide Evolve into...!

Hydemon's personality I thought would be something similar to Myotismon's, but prone to fits of insanity.

I had kind of thought of two sidekicks, a girl and a smaller Digimon (possibly Jekyllmon), but I didn't really want to spend time on a design right then.

Sort of the same reason why there aren't any Force Zone DigiDestined since we didn't know what they were going to look like.

So yeah, just an overly thought out Zone themed nod to a concept that never really left the drawing board.

As hideous as the Digivices look and the Partner concept a little controversial (at least back then), I would have been interested in seeing where this would have gone.