A lot of Season 1 and 2's praise comes down to being vindicated as early Alien Force wasn't muddled with executive meddling and OS pandering compared to AF S3 onwards.
Edit: And the fact that story driven cartoons were later viewed as "higher quality" compared to their episodic counterparts.
Edited by Afrovenator on Apr 15th 2022 at 1:41:41 PM
"You see, I had to trap Sonic in the hell dimension cause he disrespected gamers."Doesn't help that they end up magnifying already existing problems.
"You see, I had to trap Sonic in the hell dimension cause he disrespected gamers."I suspect sudden adding of third season forced to move quicker. Season 3 has this feeling of a filler so they couldn't come up with all 10 aliens.
TBH, they already struggled with making 10 new aliens with most of them being copies of the previous ones. I imagine it would be pretty hard to make 10 more. I do wonder if they had any planned out. Lodestar was one but was Rath, Water Hazard and others in it?
Kuro finally starts Season Three of Alien Force, with both parts of "The Vengence of Vilgax" in one video. In his opening monologue, he reminds us of the season's perception of seeding some of the Flanderization / Franchise Original Sin elements of the franchise (Omnitrix Glitches, Ben's Composite Characterization, OG Callbacks, etc). In spite his past dislike of this season, he's using this opportunity to reevalute.
On the flipside, Sarcastic Chorus talks about the Ben x Julie relationship. Even though he never cared too much for it, he felt the series offered one of the most "infuriating" ship experiences thanks to executive meddling and good intentions.
Edited by XMenMutant22 on Apr 30th 2022 at 6:54:37 AM
Honestly, I think giving Ben an alien girlfriend would've been a way better choice. It would've tied into the Omnitrix's purpose and the main plot of the Highbreed invasion. Julie was way too bland and attempts at giving her characterization kinda ruined her.
Highbreed: Mixed race couple? Cringe! *guitar solo*
Edited by Afrovenator on Apr 30th 2022 at 12:14:15 PM
"You see, I had to trap Sonic in the hell dimension cause he disrespected gamers."Give him a Highbreed gf, who needs Green-Skinned Space Babe
Edited by alekos23 on May 1st 2022 at 11:34:03 AM
Well, she was 10. She probably didn't whole get an implications.
All this talk makes me realize one thing: Cartoon Network is obsessed with capturing lightning in the bottle that was original Ben 10.
So while all those Batman cartoons, Scooby Doo shows and Transformers can just peacefully end and be replaced with whatever random idea sounds good for developers, the fate of next Ben 10 show depends on some executive producers who are breaking their heads trying to figure out how to make it just as successful as the first one.
Like, imagine if every single Batman cartoon was expected to recreate succes of TAS.
Kuro finished the Alien Force saga
and will be moving on to Ultimate Alien.
The franchise merely needs a revamp in its concept. It'll continue to be stagnant as long as they continue the OS pandering.
Kuro's Ultimate Alien coverage begins today! He questions why, to his perspective, there seems to be a backlash to this iteration to modern audience. The irony stemming from the reaction back when Omniverse was premiering, and UA was put on a pedestal.
If you're impatient, there's a very recent full series review Ultimate Alien done by Billiam. It follows up on his own retrospective series of Ben 10 media.
This week, Kuro talks about the episode "Duped", which happened to be the 100th episode of the UAF era.
Kuro seems less fond of the episode wasting its own premise, where Ben finds a generally neat loophole power, but decides it isn't worth the trouble investing into. To add insult, this celebratory episode indulges into Ben's worst traits, and ends with him being considered a jerk in-universe.
Amusingly, this episode has Ben freely available on YouTube via one of the international Cartoon Network channels.
Edited by XMenMutant22 on Jul 9th 2022 at 2:49:50 PM
Kuro does a mini review of "Hit Em Where They Live", which see Zombozo, Charmcaster, and Vulcanus kidnapping Ben's relatives. Kuro points out that while the premise of Ben's enemies knowing his family and attacking them sounds good on paper, a lot of them already knew and just didn't act until Ultimate Alien.

Opinions are always split. There are plenty of fans who have long moved on and claim that Classic is the only good Ben 10. But I guess it's better regarded now that every show after it was regarded as the worst Ben 10 show ever.
Not that there aren't people who love OV or Reboot better than UAF but I doubt they make a majority.