"Soon, the entire Galvan race will wish they had perished along with their former predators!"
While it is Lighter and Softer compared to Alien Force and Ultimate Alien, it had its moments too.
As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
- In case Zombozo wasn't creepy enough in the original series and Ultimate Alien, Omniverse gives him a more zombie-like appearance, with visible ribs, an apparently missing eye, and decayed flesh in some places. In addition, this is his first appearance since Gwen punished him back in Ultimate Alien, and maybe this is the end result.
- Psyphon has become much more creepy and threatening, with a newer, more shark-like design, Ax-Crazy tendencies (he thinks about eviscerating one of his own henchmen), and actually managing to screw around with Ben's nerves.
- “Outbreak” puts it further with him. Two words : Pyronite Psyphon.
- And in the mainly fun episode "Special Delivery", he charges himself up with a Dwarf Star and beats the crap out of Humungousaur. Ben is suitably worried.
- The Nosedeenians in A Jolt from the Past screech in terror as Fistrick's men re-capture them and when Fistrick uses them to power his mech-suit. It's also implied that being forcibly drained of their electricity by Fistrick's tech is causing them extreme pain.
- Khyber's Trophy Room is filled with bodies and body parts from various aliens that have been confirmed to be sentient over the course of the show. This includes a skull from a Vaxasaurian (Humungousaur's species), a helmet that looks like it belonged to the Sentient Ultimate Humungousaur from “The Ultimate Sacrifice” above in the Ultimate Alien section, The hook hand of Lockdown, Grimlock's sword, a shell from a Geochelone Aerio (Terraspin's species), a Crabdozer head, an Appoplexian skeleton, and many others...
- Khyber himself has his moment. In “It Was Them”, when Ben is being trapped by one of his pet's forms, he is shown holding a long knife and saying "Soon", strongly hinting he was intending to behead Ben...
- Then in “Of Predators and Prey”, he outright states he plans to cut off Ben's hand and to keep it with the Omnitrix, even indicating where he plans to place it in his Trophy Room. Even Ben seems disturbed.
- Malware's birth in Azmuth's flashback is very scary. When Azmuth disconnected the Helix, a yellow and black puddle leaked out, eventually shaping itself into a Galvanic Mechamorph. He then displays his ability to copy and destroy technology, seems weakened.... and rushes at the closest innocent Galvanic Mechamorph around with claws at the ready. And then the flashback cuts off.
- Malware's appearance in “Of Predators And Prey” showcases that he's got a new, much more monstrous look to him, and it's shown that he, along with his associates, forced Phil, Max's old partner, to use the Nemetrix, with this experiment being shown, but scarcely seen.
- “Malefactor” reveals the reason for Malware's monstrous appearance and all but demonstrates his Knight of Cerebus status. When he and Present Ben meet for the first time, Ben is furious and a bit scared at the sight of him. Now keep in mind that Ben himself stated that he's faced many foes such as Vilgax the Conqueror and Dagon the Destroyer. What has Malware done to make Ben of all people scared of him? Malware even hinted at it, saying something to the effect of Ben knowing better than anyone what Malware is capable of. Chances are that he wasn't talking about the worst thing he'd done in that episode to that point (serving as a distraction so Khyber could scan this alien moth animal for the Nemetrix.)
- We also find out what his Arm Cannon does. Malware assimilated a gun that takes an enemy apart on the cellular level and the effect can spread to anything with a similar genetic structure. If it were to hit a human, every human for 100 miles would basically turn to dust. It also means if Malware ever scores a direct hit on Ben or any other of our heroes, there's no Only a Flesh Wound, no "just stunned." No possible effect other than "you die, game over." Malware's no Zombozo, but every single time we see him, we add to the list reasons why you know if he's around, shit just got real.
- Malware endangering a busload of innocent children to escape from Ben is quite frightening. Especially right after the Sandy Hook massacre put endangering children right in the public's mind.
- And we finally find out why Ben's so afraid of Malware. He painfully tore Feedback (Ben's favorite alien from when he was 11) out of the Omnitrix and destroyed the form. As if that weren't bad enough, there's how he did it. Red lines spread over Feedback as either he or the Omnitrix emits a horrific screeching noise that sounds like a dying fax machine mixed with AOL, until Ben has been pulled out of him and Feedback is just hanging limply in Malware's hand before Malware causes him to wither and disintegrate into dust right in front of Ben! So on top of all the other reasons this guy is so scary, Ben knows he can destroy his aliens in a horrific fashion if he ever gets the chance. No wonder Ben's scared of him.
- And it's also a traumatic experience for poor 11-year-old Ben. It filled him with such rage that he actually tried to kill Malware by setting the Omnitrix to overload the rogue Galvanic Mechamorph, Not only did Malware eventually reform himself and flee in secret, the incident left Ben unable to turn into Feedback for the next five years. It also left him traumatized to the point where he won't even talk about Feedback in the present time.
- “Showdown, Part 1” also finally shows Malware killing two Galvanic Mechamorph guards onscreen, and the end of the same episode has Malware seemingly entering Omnicidal Maniac territory by destroying Galvan B.
- “Showdown, Part 2” shows Malware grow bigger than even Way Big and look even more horrific. This is even more punctuated by him absorbing Way Big into himself.
- "Malgax Attacks" has Vilgax having Albedo fashion Malware's remains into a Powered Armor. But what's scary is at the end. After Vilgax is defeated, something black and red seeps out of Vilgax's petrified remains.
- On a related note: said Powered Armor basically makes Vilgax look downright demonic. And that's not counting the fact Vilgax spends the episode more or less wearing a corpse.
- The Psycholeopterran whose DNA Khyber was taking is kinda hardcore. It makes you see your fondest desire, but it is a predatory beast. Most Lotus-Eater Machine scenarios give you a long time to realize the world's wrong and marshal your Heroic Willpower, or your friends come and rescue you, or something. This thing however... If you happen to encounter this thing in the wild, you've got about five seconds in la-la land before this thing eats you. And just think, aliens use this thing as a G-Rated Drug. If it's improperly contained, enjoy your Darwin Award.
- Billy Billions getting trapped in Dimension 12 is very frightening. Sure, he brought it on himself but think about it, he's trapped in a dimension where he cannot age and is hunted down by robots designed to destroy all organic life. That's scary.
- And it's also scary how close he came to getting rid of Ben. Ben was too busy with the thief he caught to notice someone gunning for him. Had he not been Diamondhead at the time, who's crystalline body deflected the laser, he would have been sucked into Dimension 12 and the Ben 10 universe would have been very different.
- For five years Billy's parents didn't know where he was. For five years, they had no idea their little boy was trapped in a dimension filled with killer robots. Truly, a parent's worst nightmare.
- “Store 23” was initially about Ben trying to find the legendary 23rd Mr. Smoothy store and lots of wacky hijinks ensue. Now, why is this episode on this page? Because Ben does find Store 23, and it turns out to be a unique Mr. Smoothy that travels between dimensions. The real shocker however comes when Ben stumbles into Dimension 23, whose native Ben Tennyson (dubbed Ben 23) is more of an Attention Whore and has Fantastic Racism against all aliens that aren't his Omnitrix transformations. The reason... in this dimension, Grandpa Max died before Ben obtained the Omnitrix. As a result, Ben 23 didn't get the moral support and Character Development that would mold our Ben into the Humble Hero he is today. Wanna make it even worse? Ben 23 nearly ripped his reality's version of Azmuth in half!
- A weird variant, but Fistina's look with her Kraaho boyfriend in “Special Delivery” is kinda disturbing. Even the other villains are freaked out.
- That same episode gives us Toepick, one of the aliens mentioned in the Ben 10,000 future and hasn't been given a physical form until now. All that was said about this alien is that it grosses even Ben out. At first it seems to be an ordinary alien with a helmet. Then the faceplate opens, revealing a horribly grotesque face. We're never shown its face, but if Psyphon's screams of terror are any indication, it's better if we didn't. Even more so, Zombozo is established as Nightmare Fuel incarnate, and yet Toepick terrified him at least as much as (maybe worse than) Ghostfreak.
- Toepick, as mentioned just earlier, hides his Nightmare Face in a cage. According to Word of God, only Ma Vreedle, blind species, and robots aren't scared (though with robots it would trigger a defensive reaction).
- It heightens the nightmarish implications when both Psyphon with a Dwarf Star and Zombozo (you know, the closest thing the series has to a god of fear), are scared relentlessly by Toepick.
- Psychobos' Mind Control serum when used on Revonnah. Seeing all those mind-controlled people acting so mechanical was somehow extremely creepy.
- “Frogs of War” has Psychobos and the Incurseans unleashing an army of mutated To'Kustar on Earth. While the most well known one is something of a Cute Monster Girl, the others are more akin to berserk Evas with skeletal faces. Three
in particular are Body Horror incarnate. - Rook and Max as zombie clowns. Zombie clowns in general, actually.
- Proctor Servantis, leader of the Rooters and serial mind rapist. His design is creepy enough, but then there's also his voice. Charles Adler is usually known for playing funny characters, but there is nothing funny about Servantis, who is a chillingly composed sociopathic Knight Templar. He frequently snatched and experimented on various humans AND aliens alike (most notably, YOUNG ORPHANS), brainwashing them into becoming his loyal servants. The purpose? All to “stop” Ben Tennyson, as his inexperience with the powerful Omnitrix could be detrimental to the world, possibly the universe. Sounds kinda noble, right? Unfortunately, Servantis and the Rooters didn’t seem to care about leaving Ben alone with the device off his wrist, and insist that Ben must DIE along with it.
- In "Mystery, Incorporeal", Darkstar appears to have a cult under his control. He drains one of the girls in the cult of life force. Another girl, who appears to be her sister, replies by saying "Margie's so lucky" When Margie has just been left a dessicated husk. As if that is some kind of opportunity.
