1 Part-Man. 10,000 Parts-Hero
It's the Universe's Darkest Hour. Vilgax has returned once again with his most vile plan yet and only the Hero of Heroes, Ben 10,000 can stop him.
"Ben 10K" is a 15-minute fan animated short, created by Lux Tenebris. The short tells the story of the first Ben 10,000 of the Classic series. It is first posted on 12 October 2021. Link to the video is here
. The video was then dubbed to English which can be found here
It would later received a sequel called Ben 10K: Era of Eon, a multi-part series which aired on 29 December 2023.
The following tropes are:
- An Arm and a Leg: Vilgax slices off Four Arms's upper left hand. It doesn't stick since Ben has Swampfire to regenerate the limb back onto him.
- Bittersweet Ending: Vilgax is defeated but Azmuth and the planet Galvan are gone and the battle has left severe mental scars on Ben. The hero cuts all ties with his family and allies to ensure that no one else will die for him, turning him into the cold and humorless man we see in Ben 10,000.
- Call-Back:
- The Galactic Enforcers return to aid Gwen in protecting the Earth from Vilgax.
- Azmuth uses a suit that's similar to the one he had in Ben 10: Secret of the Omnitrix to fight Vilgax.
- Ben uses Way Big against Vilgax. However unlike last time where he was in the receiving end of a Curb-Stomp Battle, Vilgax gets some payback against the To'kustar.
- Kevin 11 was last seen in the original series still trapped in the Null Void. Vilgax returns to Kevin to extract the latter's DNA for his battle with Ben.
- Call-Forward:
- This won't be the last time Vilgax smashes Cannonbolt into the ground.
- By this point in this short, Ben has obtained 10,000 aliens, including Snakepit, an alien mentioned by Ben in Ken 10.
- Vilgax's corpse looks exactly like how it is in Ben 10,000.
- Won't be the last time a Big Bad survives Way Big's wrath.
- Continuity Nod:
- Ben has an Uxorite form, the same species as Xylene, Grandpa Max's previous love interest.
- The sequence where XLR8 battles Vilgax is similar to how he fought the Wigzelian Org Beasts in the Classic series Season 2, Truth
- Ghostfreak fires a purple beam, an ability Ectonurites possessed, showed in the Classic series, Season 3, Be Afraid of the Dark.
- The Omnitrix shows that Ben has access to the Chimera Sui Generis, Vilgax's species. This references to Ben Wolf when Ben laments wanting to get Vilgax's DNA after learning about the Omnitrix's DNA collecting function.
- Ben has also obtained a Sotoraggian transformation, the same species as SixSix, SevenSeven and EightEight.
- Cynicism Catalyst: Azmuth's death hits Ben really hard, turning him into the humorless and cold hero whose only focus is on the mission.
- Curbstomp Battle: Alien X completely obliterates Vilgax who has just absorbed the power of the Omnitrix.
- Darker and Edgier: While the short is based on the Classic series, the tone is more along the lines of Alien Force and Ultimate Alien by showing more gorier scenes like Four Arms losing a hand and Azmuth bleeding out and dying. The fact the normally energetic and wise-cracking Ben doesn't smile at all gives a clear idea just how serious the stakes are.
- Earth-Shattering Kaboom: What Vilgax did to Galvan and what he intends to do to Earth.
- Fate Worse than Death: Vilgax gloats to Ben that after he defeats him, he'll leave the hero trapped on this planet.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: When Ben unlocks Alien X, the Omnitrix cycles through aliens Ben has. In order, it starts with Heatblast, Snakepit, Jetray, Buzzshock, Snare-oh, Four Arms, Big Chill, Atomix, Swampfire, Ghostfreak (Z'Skayr form), Artiguana, Armodrillo, Stinkfly, Feedback, Ditto, Humungousaur, Wildvine, Upgrade, Spitter, Chromastone, Blitzwolfer, Goop, Gravattack, Rath, Cannonbolt, Chimera Sui Generis (Vilgax's species), Way Big, XLR8, Crashhopper, Chamalien, Whampire, Ballweevil, Gutrot, Graymatter, Anodite (Gwen and Verdona's species), Sotoraggian (same species as SixSix), Echo Echo, Clockwork, Pesky Dust, Uxorite (Xylene's species), Spidermonkey, Terraspin, Ripjaws, Ampfibian, NRG, Lodestar, Fasttrack, Eye Guy, Diamondhead, Bullfrag, Brainstorm, Frankenstrike, Eatle, Highbreed, Upchuck, Juryrigg, Shocksquatch, Wildmutt and Water Hazard.
- Grievous Harm with a Body: Wildmutt uses a time-frozen Gwen to smack Eon into the Hand of Armageddon.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Azmuth has his suit to self-destruct to take out Vilgax with him. It didn't work.
- Killed Offscreen: Planet Galvan was destroyed by Vilgax.
- Mythology Gag:
- The opening sequence mirrors that of the opening of Ben 10: Alien Force except instead of the alien roster from that show, it's the roster from the Classic series.
- Also during the opening sequence, we see Ghostfreak's two forms, the original and his Z'Skayr form. The latter makes another appearance at the end.
- The aliens from Alien Force make appearances here including Swampfire, Big Chill, Chromastone, Echo Echo, Jetray, Rath and Alien X.
- Heatblast displays his terrakinesis, a Pyronite ability first shown in Alien Force Season 1, Everybody Talks About the Weather.
- This is not the first time Big Chill is used to fight Vilgax nor Vilgax successfully able to bypass Big Chill's intagibility. Vengeance of Vilgax Part 2.
- Also from that episode, Chromastone being taken down (not destroyed this time) before transforming into Diamondhead.
- Ben having a Chimera Sui Generis transformation is a nod to Ben 10 (2016) where Gax appears, Ben's transformation and Vilgax's other half.
Word of God even confirms that the Classic series does have Gax. - Ben having an Anodite transformation references the Sequel Series' revelation that Ben is part Anodite. Although this comes of as a Plot Hole as Word of God reveals that Anodites do not have DNA.
- Shocksquatch's appearance is based on his original look in Ben 10/Generator Rex: Heroes United.
- A few aliens from Ben 10: Ultimate Alien (most notable, Clockwork, NRG and Eatle) have their Ben 10: Omniverse designs.
- Alien X's transformation harkens back to the Classic series' style of transformations.
- The pose Alien X makes at the end of his transformation sequence mirrors that in the Alien Force intro.
- The order of aliens Ben transforms into when he sends Vilgax flying are the same order from the original Ben 10 theme song.
- Kenny has a suit that resembles his Spanner identity in Ben 10: Omniverse.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Gwen, Ultimos and presumably Grandpa Max and the rest of the Galactic Enforcers are able to destroy Vilgax's ship from destroying the Earth.
- Power Fist: Vilgax's gauntlets are based on Kevin 11's Energy Absorption abilities, allowing him to absorb Ben's Omnitrix powers.
- Prequel: This short serves to explain the events that lead up to Ben 10,000.
- Revenge by Proxy: Hex intends to kill Kenny in front of Ben as retribution for what he did to his family.
- Underestimating Badassery: Downplayed. Vilgax knows how powerful Alien X is but as far he's concerned, Ben doesn't have control over it. Or at least that's what he heard.
- Alien X: I think you heard wrong.
