Series/ Ben 10 Omniverse

... which guy from which movie?

I feel like Blukic and Driba could be reworked into something halfway tolerable, like they could keep the "dumb geniuses" angle but severely downplay the comic relief aspect. I don't know how but I feel like they could alter the characters to be much less intolerably obnoxious.

No, even the idea of a dumb genius is just stupid. What's the point of a genius type character if they're going to be stupid? At that point just have a character who is a genius in that one particular field but regular/a bit socially awkward when it comes to other things.

Actually I have to agreee with Etheru; A dumb genius CAN be done right, that's the whole point of a Genius Ditz. It's completely possible to be a genius in one area and incredibly stupid in others; heck, I know some people who are exactly like that in real life. The problem with Blucik and Driba is that they are supposed to be idiots by Galvan standards but genius by human standards, and since they come up as idiots even to human characters this end up being an Informed Ability at best. That, and you can add all their obnoxious bickering and unprofessionalism (again, leaving to get a Smoothie in the middle of a crisis). So yeah, I do think they could be reworked into something tolerable. Still think Cooper instead of them would have been better though.

Here's a question: every series did something wrong and something right, breaking as much as they fixed. But are there any elements that were consistently good/bad in every cartoon?

... I honestly don't know.

I thought the animation and vocal work was generally quite good throughout all the shows, although I did feel that Alien Force's fight scene choreography and range of movement was lacking.

Is it sad that out of all four series, UA is the only one whose fights I can remember?

That seems a bit harsh to me. The Original Series had some awesome ones as well (Kevin's and Vilgax's fight were pretty memorable to me, especially the latter for how brutal they were). Albedo and Darkstar got a few good ones in AF. And even Omniverse, I can think of a few memorable fight scenes, though very few that don't involve moments of Ben being pushed around or acting like a moron...

Ah, Azmuth was the name I was thinking of. I assumed he was just a one-off guy from the Secrets of the Omnitrix special.

Yeah, he's doing fine.I would argue that Azmuth is one of consistently better characters in show.

Actually I will concede Original had a few fights, mainly the Vilgax and Kevin ones. Can't say the fights with Darkstar were memorable.

I will give that the ones with Kybher were also pretty good. I do admit it was actually surprising where it was mostly Rook vs Khyber because in other shows like that it would usually been main character vs hunter character.

I usually remember the situations around fights rather than the fights themselves - for example, I can remember most of Darkstar's defeats but not the fights that led up to them.

True, Darkstar's fight weren't particularly memorable, but I do remember the beatdown he gets from Ben in Darkstar Rising rather well.

Khyber's fights are... a mixed bag. On one hand, there ARE some good ones, especially his fight against Rook. On the other hand, some of his fight involve a bit too much of Ben getting crappy aliens causing him to instantly get beaten comically, and For A Few Brains More has this case where the "Ultimate" Predator pet get... a rather lame defeat. And then there is his last fight against Ben and Skurd, which was mostly just slapstick. Don't get me wrong, Khyber is still an awesome villain, but I feel he was one of the many victims of Villain Decay.

Another fight that was terrible was the final one in Anur Transyl. All these mind-controlled super-powered aliens, and they spend the entire melee... punching and brawling like humans. Did the writers forget these characters had powers?!

I was getting sick of the gag of Ben screwing up an alien and getting his ass handed to him. This gets even worse? That sounds intolerable.

Yeah, sadly it does. Even though this Omnitrix is supposed to be the perfect one, it has a much bigger record of screwing up than either the prototype or the Ultimatrix. The explanation given is that Ben is pushing too hard which randomizes the time limit, but he learns that around half the series yet STILL keeps doing it.

We have tropes to phrase it.

To be honest, this is probably complicated issue. I mean "slamming too hard randomizes timer" doesn't explain why Ben gets wrong aliens.

What really bugs is is how its being used. This is something OS did best: random transformations were used to force Ben to improvise. In UAF however most mis-transformations are pointless. Remember when he wanted to catch bomb as Humungousaur but got Jetray and had to fly after it and detonate it early with laser? Try naming any other example when it mattered. Most of time it's "I will beat you up with Rath! No wait, that's Chromastone. Anyway, I'll beat you up." It was that or stopping Ben from using Way Big.

In Omniverse sometimes it mattered, but often it was just Waybig stopper or meaningless even in more specific scenarios (switching around Upgrade, Grey Matter or Jurry Rigg doesn't really make conflict) or it was used to remove Ben from action all together. In Original Series there was never a moment when bad alien would make him completely useless. Not Grey Matter against large opponents, not Diamondhead in chase scene, not Ripjaws on desert.

Finally, sometimes it feels as if writers just wanted to add words or keep reminding us that Omnitrix doesn't listen, because often Ben can't shut up, always going "Bloxx! Yes, good choice, Omnitrix" or "Give me something good! Bullfrag? This will do." even if scenes would work without these lines.

Oops, I ranted.

edited 29th Nov '15 10:23:17 AM by Sunchet

Eh, I actually agree with this rant. Looking back, OS indeed had the advantage that Ben would actually improvise and use aliens in crafty ways to make up for getting the wrong ones, whereas it's just used to make him look stupid for most Omniverse. Honestly they should have just let this gag die and figured out new ways for Ben to be forced to think in battles.

So, apparently new Ben 10 series will have only 11 minutes long episodes.

Great, this is sounding more and more like Teen Titans Go!. Not a good sign.

It's like some sort of strange evolution, we went from the lightness of a kids-cartoon with some dark-elements to grim-dark then to softer and lighter an now; we'll get an even more lighthearted Ben-10-GO!

Not really surprised. Lastly, Cartoon Network has been more and more oriented toward Lighter and Softer.

Well goodbye interesting plots and character development. Because I highly doubt they're going to be able to pull off something like Steven Universe.

Well, its a bit disappointing but not really surprising given CN's recent direction with it's shows.

Personally, I kinda wish someone would make Ben 10 comics that actually woul develop into their own thing and give more depth to the franchise. I know, it's just wishful thinking, but admit it, it would be awesome.