Omniverse has some good ideas and some genuinely good episodes (e.g. "And Then There Was None" / "And Then There Was Ben", Khyber and Malware arcs) but overall it's a pit of wasted potential. I hate this constant obsessive reverence the writers seem to have towards the original series while retconning or removing elements from AF/UA (like the idiotic break up with Julie just to shoehorn in Kai Green, to name one, and don't even get me started on the nonsensical retcons from the Rooters arc).
The redesigns (and new designs) are a bit of a mixed bag. I like how expressive the characters are and how fluid animation is (AF/UA era animation seemed kinda stilted to me) as well as the fact that different aliens from the same species look recognizably different with their own unique features. Some redesigns are actually an improvement (Psyphon, Shocksquatch), others seem okay but unnecessary (Swampfire), but others are either ugly as sin (Kevin, Gwen, Grandpa Max), ignored the original design (Ghostfreak), or both (Big Chill). The new designs can be good (Crashhopper, Gravattack) or terrible (fucking Bloxx).
The humour is something the writers definitely went overboard with. UA went too far into dark and edgy territory, but OV went too far into the other direction. Some humor is fine, but not when any sincerity is sacrificed for it! The original series knew how to balance serious and funny fairly well, but for all its obsession with OS, Omniverse can't replicate it.
But the biggest turn off for me was Ben turning into a complete idiot, which also comes back to Omniverse blindly trying to replicate the original series' success without understanding why it worked then. Yes, in the original series Ben could be an obnoxious dumbass who often had no idea what he was doing, but it was justified by him being a 10-year-old child who had only just received the Omnitrix. We could understand and forgive his fumbles, not to mention, Ben was still serious and competent on many occassions. But in Omniverse Ben is 17 and he's had his powers for years. What excuse does he have for being such an incompetent moron?! It's especially jarring if you compare him to AF, the first two seasons in particular, but even comparing OV Ben to his original incarnation is fairly unflattering. The worst thing is, OV had a very good setup for a kind of "best of both worlds" approach. They could've used flashbacks to show 11-year-old Ben as similar to original and present the present-time Ben as more mature. But nope, we just got spectacular character derailment instead
Good ideas, terrible execution
Omniverse has some good ideas and some genuinely good episodes (e.g. "And Then There Was None" / "And Then There Was Ben", Khyber and Malware arcs) but overall it's a pit of wasted potential. I hate this constant obsessive reverence the writers seem to have towards the original series while retconning or removing elements from AF/UA (like the idiotic break up with Julie just to shoehorn in Kai Green, to name one, and don't even get me started on the nonsensical retcons from the Rooters arc).
The redesigns (and new designs) are a bit of a mixed bag. I like how expressive the characters are and how fluid animation is (AF/UA era animation seemed kinda stilted to me) as well as the fact that different aliens from the same species look recognizably different with their own unique features. Some redesigns are actually an improvement (Psyphon, Shocksquatch), others seem okay but unnecessary (Swampfire), but others are either ugly as sin (Kevin, Gwen, Grandpa Max), ignored the original design (Ghostfreak), or both (Big Chill). The new designs can be good (Crashhopper, Gravattack) or terrible (fucking Bloxx).
The humour is something the writers definitely went overboard with. UA went too far into dark and edgy territory, but OV went too far into the other direction. Some humor is fine, but not when any sincerity is sacrificed for it! The original series knew how to balance serious and funny fairly well, but for all its obsession with OS, Omniverse can't replicate it.
But the biggest turn off for me was Ben turning into a complete idiot, which also comes back to Omniverse blindly trying to replicate the original series' success without understanding why it worked then. Yes, in the original series Ben could be an obnoxious dumbass who often had no idea what he was doing, but it was justified by him being a 10-year-old child who had only just received the Omnitrix. We could understand and forgive his fumbles, not to mention, Ben was still serious and competent on many occassions. But in Omniverse Ben is 17 and he's had his powers for years. What excuse does he have for being such an incompetent moron?! It's especially jarring if you compare him to AF, the first two seasons in particular, but even comparing OV Ben to his original incarnation is fairly unflattering. The worst thing is, OV had a very good setup for a kind of "best of both worlds" approach. They could've used flashbacks to show 11-year-old Ben as similar to original and present the present-time Ben as more mature. But nope, we just got spectacular character derailment instead