History Sandbox / DarkMirror

* AdaptationalNameChange: Sweet-Eels Sparklefunk is now named Eellias. Snare-Oh is also renamed into Wrap-Up.

* AmplifierArtifact

* BadPowersGoodPeople

* BlindObedience: Max wasn’t very big on critical thinking as a Plumber. As Vera had put it, if the High Command told him to jump, he had only ever asked how high. Thankfully, he got better.

* CastFromStamina: Since all magic is powered by [[LifeEnergy mana]], using too much can knock a mage unconscious, though it doesn’t seem to cause any permanent damage. Gwen had been said to drain her magic to zero more than once, but all she needed to recover was some rest.

* CasualInterplanetaryTravel: Everyone and their mother seems to have [[FasterThanLightTravel FTL technology]]. [[InsignificantBluePlanet Except Earth]].

* CircusOfMagic: Zombozo's circus is full of superpowered perormers, but it's otherwise normal. They're just entertainers doing their jobs.

* ConspiracyTheorist: Gwen notes that when the fact that aliens exist hit the national news way too many conspiracy theorists came out of the woodwork.

* DefectorFromDecadence: Red Cross, the [[LaResistance renegade Plumbers]], who fought their corrupt organization.

* DimensionalCutter: Centivitrum (alien [[CreepyCentipedes centipedes with very sharp limbs]]) can cut portals between worlds.

* DisappearedDad: Kevin doesn't know what happened to his biological father, nor does he care.

* EnfantTerrible

* EnterStageWindow: When Kevin was helping Kai sneak out of her home, he flew to her window.

* EntertaininglyWrong

* FantasticRadiationShielding

* FinishingMove: Whatever it was Zs'Skayr did to defeat [[spoiler:otherwise-unbeatable Ultimos]] needed a complicated setup and drained all his mana.

* FireForgedFriends: Most of the allies Ben and and Gwen gain are through fighting against a common enemy.

* ForcedSleep

* {{Futureshadowing}}

* HelpYourselfInTheFuture

* InsignificantBluePlanet: It has been mentioned several times that Earth is located far away from anything important and no one cares about it. Which is good, because the Plumbers don't want to waste resources on conquering.

* ItsASmallNetAfterAll: Subverted. Gwen can't find anything about Animo because she doesn't even know his name. She also can't find any information about SECT. And Ben has trouble finding anything relevant about Archamada Book of Spells.
** Played straight in 'The Krakken'. Gwen almost immediately finds out that Greg Shaw is a poacher.

* ItsAllMyFault: Ben blames himself for the destruction Xylene's robot army brought in season 1 finale. [[YouDidEverythingYouCould Both Vilgax and his friends disagree]].

* LaResistance: Red Cross are renegade Plumbers that opposed their evil organization.

* MagicMirror: After their first meeting, Charmcaster gave Gwen an enchanted mirror to keep in touch. It’s pretty much a magic version of a cell phone.

* MagicVersusScience: Gwen and Animo once got into a heated debate on the nature of magic. Funnily enough, Hex considers magic to be a branch of [[FantasticScience science]].

* {{Magitek}}: Magic naturally interferes with technology (specifically electronics). However, Anurians have solved this issue and widely employ [[SpellMyNameWithAnS magitech]].

* MistakenForAliens: Downplayed. In 'Framed' Agent Steel mistakes Ben, Gwen, and Kevin for aliens (they were either shapeshifted or in disguise at the time). He is sort-of correct, actually: Ben and Gwen are part-Anodite and Kevin is half-Osmosian.

* MundaneSolution: When Ben ended up separated from Gwen and Max in chapter 2, he was wondering how to contact them. Animo suggested using a cell phone.

* MyFutureSelfAndMe

* MysteriousStranger: SECT first appears in chapter 8, but only [[TheDragon Agent Steel]] and nameless {{Mooks}} are shown properly. The specialist, who is responsible for R&D, isn’t seen until chapter 24, and the [[MysteriousEmployer benefactor]] who had been funding SECT and giving them orders takes even longer to appear.

* MythologyGag: While the fic is based on the original series and its sequels, there are some references to the [[WesternAnimation/Ben102016 reboot]]. In 'Change of Face' the Rustbucket had been magically reshaped and repainted as a disguise, making it look similar to the reboot version, and when trying to make up a name for TV show he and Gwen were supposedly going to watch, Ben came up with ''Xingo''.

* NamedByTheAdaptation: Many characters that were only known by their aliases in canon (the circus trio, Sublimino, Driscoll, Enoch, etc.) were given names. Some alien species and planets have also gained names.

* NerdsLoveToughSchoolwork: Averted. Jonah claims that ''no one'' likes schoolwork, and the 'nerds' only do it because otherwise their teachers (or their parents) will get angry.

* NoBiochemicalBarriers: Discussed and mostly averted. [[HalfHumanHybrid Interspecies hybrids]] exist, but they can only be made through genetic engineering (with some justified exceptions). The kids also worry whether the alien food offered to them in ‘Grudge Match’ is [[NoBiochemicalBarriers/AlienFoodIsEdible edible]], and the only human food Zs’Skayr, an alien, can safely eat is sugar.

* OmniscientDatabase: Phil has a database on most alien species in the galaxy and he gives a copy to the team. It's implied to be standardissue for plumbers. However, it contains only the most basic facts, such as name, planet of origin, and species-specific abilities. Also, it has almost no information about Anur System.

* ParentalNeglect

* PowerCrystal: While not exactly powerful by themselves, properly enchanted crystals can be filled with mana and used as magic batteries.

* PowerLimiter: Gwen’s enchanted ring can presumably keep her Anodite powers under control and her emotions from overwhelming her.

* ProtectiveCharm: Crüjo is shown wearing bracelets that are a magic equivalent of a HazmatSuit.

* RadiationImmuneMutants

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Driscoll and Enoch are shown to be fairly reasonable and understanding, if a bit weirded out about having to work with literal children.

* RogueAgent: Thompson was supposed to apprehend Dr. Animo. He was ''not'' supposed to shoot a rocket launcher on a crowded street.

* ScienceCannotComprehendPhlebotinum: Plumbers don’t have magic, so they can’t replicate Anurian magitech. Dr. Chadwick also says that magic is poorly understood and not well-studied, but that seems to be mostly because it’s so rare.

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney

* ShoutOut: Animo calls his pet rat Rous, which stands for [[Film/ThePrincessBride Rodent of Unusual Size]].

** In ‘Lucky Girl’ the team ends up fighting a magic book that can [[VideoGame/{{Nier}} fly, laugh, and attack with lightning and crimson spears]].

* SpaceBattle: Ben, Gwen, and Kevin end up fighting [[spoiler:Xylene]] in space.

* SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic: While it’s possible to use magic even if you don’t really know what you’re doing, it requires a lot of energy. The more complicated the spell, the more energy it needs, until at some point it simply isn’t enough. Hex spent hours on calculations to create a transformation charm, and it’s implied that transmuting materials requires knowing their atomic structure. Gwen can cast some fairly powerful spells thanks to being [[UnskilledButStrong part-Anodite]], but she cannot manipulate them, because she doesn’t understand how they work.

* SymbioticPossession

* TakeThat: Everyone who ever meets Forever Knights makes fun of their medieval aesthetic.
** Ben also claimed that fusing with a laptop as Upgrade would [[InsideAComputerSystem transfer him inside a video game]], before laughing it off as completely unrealistic.

* TerrifyingRescuer

* ThereAreNoTherapists: Averted. Gwendolyn encouraged Gwen to seek psychological help, though Gwen was worried that talking to a therapist [[AllTherapistsAreMuggles would lead to her being locked up]]. Enoch and Driscoll, who are already in the know, also plan to send the kids into therapy.

* TransformationTrinket: Inverted with Kevin’s necklace. Instead of giving him superpowers, it allowed him to turn human when he ended up stuck in his mutated form.

* TranslatorMicrobes: Universal translators seem to be standard equipment (though they can translate some languages like Sotoraggian and Vulpimancer). Zs'Skayr could achieve the same effect with magic.

* TrueCompanions

* UnstablePoweredWoman: Gwen's Anodite abilities are tied to her [[EmotionalPowers emotions]], amplifying them (and vice-versa). Gwendolyn warned her that trying to tap into these powers can be dangerous, but it's ultimately worth it and Gwendolyn herself could easily flip between human and Anodite form.

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: After Kevin was shot in his introductory episode, Ben hunted down the gang who attacked him, surrounded them with flames, and coldly contemplated just turning around and [[MurderByInaction leaving them to burn alive]]. Ultimately, he lets the gang live and just drags them to the cops.

* WizardsFromOuterSpace: Magic is rare but not unheard of and Anodites aren't the only species that can use it: everyone in the Anur System has magic powers and they might not be the only ones.

* WrongTimeTravelSavvy

* DimensionalCutter: Centivitrum (alien [[CreepyCentipede centipedes with very sharp limbs]]) can cut portals between worlds.

* ThemeNaming: All Quicksilver and Menagerie subjects have codenames based on [[ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]].

* ArtificialGravity: Appears to be stadard for alien ships. During the battle with [[spoiler:Xylene]], Ben turns off the gravity on their ship to save on energy.

* TeleportInterdiction: During the season 1 finaly, Kraab says that his ship cannot teleport them out, because the enemy can reroute the signal.

* ElementalPowers: Gwen’s favorite family of spells, Tempestus, are all elemental attacks.

* ThemeNaming: All Quicksilver and Menagerie subjects have codenames based on GreekMythology.

* PowerLimiter: Gwen’s ring can keep her Anodite powers from overwhelming her.

* CallingTheOldManOut: The kids aren’t shy about calling out Max on all the things he had done and the secrets he had been hiding. 'Truth' two-parter is probably the best example.

* UnstablePoweredWoman

* WhiteSheep: Gwendolyn outright calls her cousin Sunny the white sheep of the Anodite part of her family.

* CallingTheOldManOut: The kids aren’t shy about calling out Max on all the things he had done and the secrets he had been hiding.

''Dark Mirror'' ([[https://archiveofourown.org/works/28358898 AO3]], [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13784130/1/Dark-Mirror FF.net]]) is a fanfic by Acidwing that takes place in a MirrorUniverse of the original run of ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'', though it does involve some characters and concepts from the other installments of the [[Franchise/Ben10 franchise]]. Unlike the usual hero-villain reversals, the main characters are still on the side of good, whichmeans that rather than remain on opposite sides, only with the [[CharacterAlignment alignments]] switched, [[AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul the villains become allies for the team]], leading the plot in a much different direction from canon.

--->'''The Specialist:''' ''And you don’t have to be so formal: we’re all friends here, right? [[spoiler: Call me Cooper.]]''

--->'''Ben 10,000:''' ''You lovebirds do whatever, I’m gonna go visit grandpa.''\\

''Dark Mirror'' ([[https://archiveofourown.org/works/28358898 AO3]], [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13784130/1/Dark-Mirror FF.net]]) is a fanfic by Acidwing that takes place in a MirrorUniverse of the original run of ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'', though it does involve some characters and concepts from the other installments of the [[Franchise/Ben10 franchise]]. Unlike the usual hero-villain reversals, the main characters are still on the side of good. This means that rather than remain on opposite sides, only with the [[CharacterAlignment alignments]] switched, [[AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul the villains become allies for the team]], which can lead the plot in a much different direction from canon.

* PowerCrystal: Crystals might not be powerful by themselves, but they can be filled with mana and used as magic batteries. Ledgerian batteries are round and transparent, while Anurian ones are dark and angular.

* PowerLimiter: Gwen’s ring which can keep her Anodite powers from overwhelming her.

-->'''The Specialist:''' ''And you don’t have to be so formal: we’re all friends here, right? [[spoiler: Call me Cooper.]]''

-->'''Ben 10,000:''' ''You lovebirds do whatever, I’m gonna go visit grandpa.''\\

-->This day was incredible. What were the chances that everything would come together so perfectly? [[spoiler:The smile slowly slid off his face. [[TooGoodToBeTrue Really, what were the chances?]]]]

* INeedAFreakingDrink: Upon realizing that Ben, Gwen, and Kevin are just kids, Driscoll morosely wishes for something stronger than coffee. Rojo wants to find a bar after participating in a superpowered battle with an alien robot, and Max gets drunk after all the revelations in ‘Truth’.

* WhamLine: From ‘Ghostreaked Out’:

''Dark Mirror'' is a fanfic by [[https://www.fanfiction.net/u/4756445/ Acidwing]] that takes place in a MirrorUniverse of the original run of ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'', though it does involve some characters and concepts from the other installments of the [[Franchise/Ben10 franchise]]. Unlike the usual hero-villain reversals, the main characters are still on the side of good. This means that rather than remain on opposite sides, only with the [[CharacterAlignment alignments]] switched, [[AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul the villains become allies for the team]], which can lead the plot in a much different direction from canon.

''Dark Mirror'' can be found on [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/28358898 AO3]] and [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13784130/1/Dark-Mirror FF.net]].

->''"I’m not a hero. I’ve never been one."''
-->--'''Ben 10,000'''

''Dark Mirror'' is a fanfic by [[https://www.fanfiction.net/u/4756445/ Acidwing]] that takes place in a MirrorUniverse of the original run of ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'', though it does involve some characters and concepts from the other installments of the [[Franchise/Ben10 franchise]]. This fic differs from the usual hero-villain reversals because the main characters are still on the side of good. This means that rather than remain on opposite sides, only with the [[CharacterAlignment alignments]] switched, [[AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul the villains become allies for the team]], which often leads the plot in a much different direction from canon.

->''"I’m not a hero. I’ve never been one. I’m just a guy with an alien watch, trying to do something good with it. And... there’s nothing wrong with that. There is nothing wrong with just trying to live your life and be a good person."''\\
''"...Am I? Am I a good a person?"''

* CreatingLifeIsBad: Downplayed. Gene splicing (the only way to create interspecies hybrids) is fairly rare, and Psyphon mentions that there is some stigma attached to it, but it’s not taboo. It mostly comes down to why this technology is used: there is a big difference between someone who can’t naturally have kids simply wanting a family, and a shady, corrupt organization making super-soldiers and [[BioweaponBeast living weapons]].

* CyberneticsEatYourSoul: Usually averted, unless said cybernetics are under control of an evil technopath. And some characters had been evil to begin with, cybernetics or no cybernetics.

** In a more literal way, ''[[CastingAShadow Tempestus Tenebris]]'' is the only spell in the ''[[ElementalPowers Tempestus]]'' group that’s completely harmless to living beings.

* DesignerBabies: With some rare exceptions, [[HalfHumanHybrid interspecies]] [[NonHumanHumanoidHybrid hybrids]] can only be created in a lab through gene splicing.

* ElementalPowers: Gwen’s favorite family of spells, ''Tempestus'', are all elemental attacks.

* INeedAFreakingDrink: Upon realizing that Ben, Gwen, and Kevin are just kids, Driscoll morosely wishes for something stronger than coffee. Max also gets drunk after all the revelations in ‘Truth’, and Rojo wants to find a bar after participating in a superpowered battle with an alien robot in her chapter.

* {{Magitek}}: Magic naturally interferes with technology (specifically electronics), however, Anurians have solved this issue and widely employ [[SpellMyNameWithAnS magitech]].

* MaliciousSlander: The media really doesn’t like aliens and SECT is implied to be fanning the flames.

* ScienceCannotComprehendPhlebotinum: Plumbers don’t have magic, so they can’t replicate Anurian magitech. Dr. Chadwick also says that magic is poorly understood and not well-studied, but that seems to be mostly because it’s rare.

* ScienceWizard: It seems that in this verse unless you have [[UnskilledButStrong Anodite-level mana reserves]], studying magic requires, well, ''studying''. Hex can easily rattle off the atomic structure of silver and generally considers magic to be [[FantasticScience a branch of science]].

* SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic: While it’s possible to use magic even if you don’t really know what you’re doing, it requires a lot of energy (far more than most people have). The more complicated the spell, the more energy it needs, until at some point it simply isn’t enough. Hex spent hours on calculations to create a transformation charm, and it’s implied that transmuting materials requires knowing their atomic structure. Gwen can cast some fairly advanced spells thanks to being [[UnskilledButStrong part-Anodite]], but she cannot manipulate them, because she doesn’t understand how they work.

* ThereAreNoTherapists: Averted. Gwendolyn encouraged Gwen to seek psychological help, though Gwen worried that talking to a therapist [[AllTherapistsAreMuggles would lead to her being locked up]]. Enoch and Driscoll, who are already in the know, also plan to send the kids into therapy.

* TheyWouldCutYouUp: Thompson is disturbingly happy at the idea of vivisecting Ben. [[spoiler:And so is Cooper.]] It is also the reason Kevin ran away to live on the streets: he had overheard the caretakers of the group home he had been living in planning to send him to some sort of a research lab.

* UnwillingRoboticisation: Project Quicksilver boils down to using alien technology to turn people into cyborgs. Whether they consent to this process is irrelevant.

->''"I’m not a hero. I’ve never been one. I’m just a guy with an alien watch, trying to do something good with it. And... there’s nothing wrong with that. There is nothing wrong with just trying to live your life and be a good person."''

* BigBad: Xylene on the alien side and SECT on the Earth side.

* BlindObedience: Max wasn’t very big on critical thinking as a Plumber. As Vera had put it, if the High Command told him to jump, he had only ever asked how high. Thankfully, he got better. [[BigBad Xylene didn’t]].

* Designer Babies: With some rare exceptions, [[HalfHumanHybrid interspecies]] [[NonHumanHumanoidHybrid hybrids]] can only be created in a lab through gene splicing.

* ScienceWizard: It seems that in this verse unless you have [[UnskilledButStrong Anodite-level mana reserves]], studying magic requires, well, ''studying''. Hex can rattle off the atomic structure of silver and generally considers magic to be [[FantasticScience a branch of science]].

* ShoutOut: Animo names his pet rat Rous, which stands for [[Film/ThePrincessBride Rodent of Unusual Size]].