History YMMV / Ben10AlienForce

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: The general opinion is that this happened to Julie midway through the second season thanks to the show developing her bound with [[CoolPet Ship]].

* VindicatedByHistory: At the time, the show was bashed by many original series fans for going against the goofier, episodic tone of the original series. Nowadays, it's widely agreed to have the best balance of humor and seriousness out of the franchise (whereas the following two shows both took things too far in one direction), and the more mature updates to Ben and Gwen was the thing they needed to finally grow up and take some responsibility, as well as becoming more likable in the process. And while not perfect, it wrapped up its plot threads fairly well and, [[SeasonalRot season three aside]], was a consistent maturation for Ben's character compared to the widely-criticized ''Omniverse'', which undid nearly all of Ben's serious qualities and made him more unlikable.

** Ben turning evil in "Above and Beyond". [[spoiler:It was all a test put by Max in order to see if the kids could handle the Plumber Academy, but it was still pretty unsettling to see Ben act like a complete psychopath as he toys with the recruits.]]

* CharacterRerailment: Vilgax's characterization and voice (though the voice was done by Creator/JamesRemar rather than by Creator/SteveBlum) were a bit closer to how he was originally portrayed in [[WesternAnimation/{{Ben10}} the original series]] in the video game ''Vilgax Attacks!''.

* ContestedSequel: ''Alien Force'' inevitably started this trend among the fans of the franchise due to [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks it's drastically change in tone and direction]]. It didn't help matters that the series rushed to introduce their many changes in the very first seven episodes which include Kevin's HeelFaceTurn, Ben's more mature persona, turning Gwen's magic powers into mana-manipulation, [[PutOnaBus throwing Grandpa Max on a bus]], and establishing the more mature tone instead of the playful one in [[WesternAnimation/{{Ben10}} the original series]]. Although it is worth noting the series managed to gain plenty of these fans back both as it went along. Nowadays many consider the first two seasons as a really good sci-fi mystery story arc with the right amount of goofiness, seriousness, drama, and surprisingly deep real life issues. And while the third season is still just as contested as it was back in the day, the effort it did to explain and reconnect all the many changes mentioned above with the original ideas in the original series is very appreciated.

** Psyphon was created as an expy for Desaad. His voice actor, Creator/DeeBradleyBaker, goes on to voice Desaad in ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice''.

* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: Rath [[spoiler:diving into the giant WesternAnimation/{{T|eenTitans}}rigonesque alien to rescue the Tiffin and escaping by punching the guys teeth out from the inside and threatening to "knit [his] organs into a sweater" if he tries to retaliate.]]

* Ben turning evil in "Above and Beyond". [[spoiler:It was all a test put by Max in order to see if the kids could handle the Plumber Academy, but it was still pretty unsettling to see Ben act like a complete psychopath as he toys with the recruits.]]
--> '''Manny''': I know you're in here. Come out and show yourself! The others might be afraid, but I'm not scared of you!
--> '''Ben''': That's because the others are ''smarter'' than you.

* CharacterRerailment: Vilgax's characterization and voice (though the voice was done by Creator/JohnDiMaggio rather than by Creator/SteveBlum) were a bit closer to how he was originally portrayed in [[WesternAnimation/{{Ben10}} the original series]] in the video game ''Vilgax Attacks!''.

** Many fans of the series admit to liking Big Chill simply because of his Grim Reaper like appearance as well as his echoey, monotone voice.

** Darkstar, one of the [[CreepyAwesome scariest]] [[KnightOfCerebus villains in the series]] and an {{Expy}} of ComicBook/{{Raven}} and ComicBook/DoctorDoom.

* FoeYay: Gwen with both Darkstar and Charmcaster. Ben and Kevin qualify as "Former Foe Yay".

** To a lesser extent, Big Chill.

* MagnificentBastard: See [[MagnificentBastard/Ben10 here]].

* NightmareFuel:
** Ben turning evil in "Above and Beyond". [[spoiler: It was all a test put by Max in order to see if the kids could handle the Plumber Academy]], but it was still pretty unsettling to see Ben act like a complete psychopath as he toys with the recruits.
---> '''Manny''': I know you're in here. Come out and show yourself! The others might be afraid, but I'm not scared of you!
---> '''Ben''': That's because the others are ''smarter'' than you.
** Ben's transformation into Ghostfreak in "Ghost Town". Highlights include massive spikes emerging from his spine as he hunches over and his [[BodyHorror skull turning upside down]] as his mouth [[SlasherSmile curls into a smile that would give the Joker nightmares]].
*** Adding to the creepy factor [[spoiler: his Omnitrix symbol melts into his skin and his trademark green eyes turn [[RedEyesTakeWarning pink]]. Then [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie it’s made clear that Ghostfreak has possessed him]].]]
** Really, a lot of the transformation sequences would count, considering the X-ray view of Ben's skeleton morphing and twisting into alien shapes that are rather ''painful'' to look at. There's Spidermonkey's transformation that shows Ben's arms ''splitting into two'', Humongousaur's transformation showing his ribcage deforming and expanding, and Goop's transformation that shows Ben's skeleton ''melting away'' before he collapses into a puddle of ooze.

* TearJerker:

** [[spoiler:Magister Labrid's death]] in the pilot.
** The ending of [[spoiler:"Max Out", with Max's apparent [[HeroicSacrifice death in the line of duty]].]]
** At the end of “Alone Together”, Reinrassic III choosing to stay on the planet rather than just come back home with Ben, because [[FireForgedFriends the friendship he's formed]] with Ben means that [[DeliberateValuesDissonance he has failed as a Highbreed]]. [[spoiler:He gets better fortunately]].
** The ending of "Voided", [[spoiler:where Max is revealed to be alive and he and Ben reunite briefly, but Max is still unable to return to Earth yet.]]
** [[spoiler:Ben's HeroicSacrifice in “Time Heals”.]]

** Humongousaur as a concept may come off as this, given that he's essentially a T. Rex with big, beefy, muscular arms-- with T. Rexes being commonly maligned in pop culture for having tiny and useless arms.

* ContestedSequel: ''Alien Force'' inevitably started this trend among the fans of the franchise due to [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks it's drastically change in tone and direction]]. It didn't help matters that the series rushed to introduce their many changes in the very first seven episodes which include Kevin's HeelFaceTurn, Ben's more mature persona, turning Gwen's magic powers into mana-manipulation, killing off Grandpa Max, and establishing the more mature tone instead of the playful one in [[WesternAnimation/{{Ben10}} the original series]]. Although it is worth noting the series managed to gain plenty of these fans back both as it went along. Nowadays many consider the first two seasons as a really good sci-fi mystery story arc with the right amount of goofiness, seriousness, drama, and surprisingly deep real life issues. And while the third season is still just as contested as it was back in the day, the effort it did to explain and reconnect all the many changes mentioned above with the original ideas in the original series is very appreciated.

** Darkstar was complete NightmareFuel in his first episodes, and it definitely played in his favor to make him popular.

** Gwen inheriting her affinity with magic/mana-manipulation powers from her grandmother's genes. Some saw it as a pointless retcon taking away diversity from the team (based on the idea aliens should be ''Ben'''s gimmick), others think it added more background to the character and ''finally'' gave an explicaton to why she was inexplicably so good at magic back when she was 10. [[TakeAThirdOption Alternatively, others feel]] [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot the idea was good, but poorly executed due to making it unclear if Gwen's powers were really magic, fully aliens or both.]] For the most part this last group believe this issue was rectified in Season 3 and ''Ultimate Alien'' where it's finally stated that magic indeed exists and that people like Charmcaster or Hex indeed use magic to have powers. But Gwen's alien genes allow her to use that mana manipulation without effort (unlike Earth people who, WordOfGod confirmed, have to train hard and be really good at it to succeed using). Confirming it as the reason why she was so good at 10 years old.

* ContestedSequel: ''Alien Force'' inevitably started this trend among the fans of the franchise due to [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks it's drastically change in tone and direction]]. It didn't help matters that the series rushed to introduce their many changes in the very first seven episodes which include Kevin's HeelFaceTurn, Ben's more mature persona, turning Gwen's magic powers into mana-manipulation, killing off Grandpa Max, and establishing the more mature tone instead of the playful one in [[WesternAnimation/{{Ben10}} the original series]]. Although is worth noting the series managed to gain plenty of these fans back both as it went along. Nowadays many consider the first two seasons as a really good sci-fi mystery story arc with the right amount of goofiness, seriousness, drama, and surprisingly deep real life issues. And while the third season is still just as contested as it was back in the day, the effort it did to explain and reconnect all the many changes mentioned above with the original ideas in the original series is very appreciated.

* CompleteMonster: [[Monster/Ben10 Vilgax]]. See that page for details.

** By far the biggest darkhorse of the series is Rath. Despite only being properly used by Ben in 3 episodes, his existence as a CrazyAwesome [[HoaxHogan Hulk Hogan parody]] endeared many fans to him, and his popularity caused him to reappear in every subsequent sequel series with much more screen time, even making it into the reboot series.

* CrazyAwesome: Rath practically ''runs'' on this trope.

* StrangledByTheRedString: Gwen and Kevin -- The ship is dropped on the viewer with absolutely no set-up, no basis, no rationality ''in the very first episode''. Kevin almost wrecking his precious car to tell Ben not to be rude to Gwen could be attributed to his BadassDecay, but "I'll follow you anywhere"? Were the writers afraid that if they took the time for some actual development, the show might be canceled before their new favorite couple actually got together?

** There are many who don't like the Anodite species as a whole due to what is felt to be a pointless, as well as sometimes incredibly confusing Retcon, with the representatives of the species [[{{Jerkass}} not being]] [[BlueAndOrangeMorality very well-regarded either]].