Even the best of heroes can get off on the wrong foot with an instructor.
Although offical members of the Plumbers, the tro haven't gone through their basic training. They go to the Plumber Academy, where Ben's more care-free nature can get him in trouble.- A-Team Firing: Despite being a pretty good shot when transformed into an alien, Ben is shown to be very poor at handling alien firearms in this episode.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: An alien variant. Unlike most Tetramands, Kolar has blue skin.
- Ascended Fanboy: Tack idolizes Ben and wants to become a Plumber just like him.
- Badass Boast: When Ben defeats Brannigan as Diamondhead, he boasts to him "This is what it's like to lose," since Brannigan had previously stated he had never lost.
- Both Sides Have a Point: This is the main conflict between Ben and Magister Hulka.
- Magister Hulka, like most Drill Sergeant Nasty, is very strict and demands others follow his orders. He repeatedly berates Ben for his cocky attitude and using his powers, which is against the rules of training. Some of his attitude can come off as practically unreasonable though, like when Ben uses his powers to save him and others outside of training, or not wanting any help even when he knows someone is targeting him specifically. He shows that he does care about the safety of his students and is willing to sacrifice himself to ensure their safety, and at the end of the episode he thanks Ben by giving him one of his medals that is for creative and effective tactics.
- Ben clearly wasn't taking the training very seriously. He constantly causes trouble for himself and his friends by breaking the rules by using his powers, going against Hulka's orders, and just arguing and antagonizing him in general. But Ben does bring up a few good points, like when he saved Hulka and Tack as Fastrack, he points out if he had listened to him they both would have died, and his creativity and use of Out Side The Box Tactic help his team defeat Alpha Squad. Hulka himself even recognizes this in Ben and rewards him a medal for it at the end of the episode as a thanks.
- Defeating the Undefeatable: Brannigan boasts how he and the Alpha Squad have never lost to anyone, until Ben and his team defeat them in a training match.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: Magister Hulka is very passionate about the training and won't hesitate to yell even at somebody as famous as Ben.
- Revenge Myopia: Kolar blames Hulka for ruining his life by sending him to the Null Void, but the Magister points out that Kolar did that himself by committing crimes.
- Stern Teacher: While Hulka is very strict about the training, he still does care for the safety of his students, as he didn't want them to face somebody as dangerous as Kolar and was even ready to sacrifice himself for Tack.
