Ben 10 Ep. 1x01, 09, 13 REVIEW - Atop the Fourth Wall 

Chief Wiggum: "We think we're dealing with a supernatural being, most likely a mummy." Me: *LAUGHS IN SEASON 3*

"Grandpa?...what aren't you telling us?" "LOOK we used to DATE for a while OKAY?" This is hilarious on SO many levels when you consider Max's sex life.

The fact that Max has weird tastes in food is a franchise-long running gag. By Omniverse it gets to the point where he offers Ben *live kraken* for lunch.

Linkara wasn’t completely wrong with the Vilgax joke. He just has to replace him with Verdona

Every time Linkara describes one of Ben’s aliens I think about it justifying that every transformation from Alien Force-onwards shouts the name (well, nickname) of the alien species Ben transforms into

Linkara so professional; talking Ben 10 whilst petting a sweet little kitty. 10/10

A friend used this theme song to describe what Blue Beetle is to my sister. “It started when an alien device did what it did. It stuck itself upon his back with secrets that it hid.”

Ben 10 has manny aspects of being a comic despite not originating as one,so manny comic industry people behind it,the original series artstyle, the controversial backstory retcons and charcther reinvention

Fun Fact, when Ben turned into the ghost alien, aka Ghostfreak, in Last Laugh the alien said, "Woah, that kind of actually freaked me out." Which was foreshadowing towards the alien trying to escape the Omnitrix and the alien's true name is Zs'skayr (Zuh Scare).

We now need an episode of Dr. Linksano reviewing the episodes with Dr.Animo, feels like that's the next step

BEN 10 FANS UNITE, WE HAVE BEEN SUMMONED FORTH ONCE MORE

Grandpa Max has spent so much time around aliens hes developed a taste for their cuisine, he objects to it in the flashback episode that gives his and Verdonas backstory

Vilgax dating Max joke is pretty funny since Max has been going around f-ing aliens on more than one occasion

Fun fact - Man of Action were also the ones who created Big Hero 6

Zombozo didnt run off, actually. Ben's ghost form, which he calls Ghostfreak, actually scared him to death.

Fire alien- heat blast Crystal guy- diamond head Animal thing- wildmutt Tech alien- upgrade Speedster- XLR8 gross dragonfly- stinkfly Creepy ghost- Ghostfreak Reptile- ripjaws

“There’s not a single being in the galaxy that dares stand in my way!” (Proceeds to repeatedly get his ass handed to him by a 10-year-old.)

As much as i like the Zombozo episode, some places online switch the order of the episodes for some reason so you get cases where the episode "Last Laugh" replaces the episode "The Alliance", which actually ties in directly with the Vilgax arc of the first season. The episodes chosen by the patron sound deliberate to follow the build up to Vilgax in the finale but the bad ordering online might have ruined that, replacing the middle episode with an unrelated one.

I'm so happy this happened. I was born in 99, and this was my action show growing up. I don't mean this as a gotcha, or an "um actually", but on the off chance this becomes relevant again, the names of the aliens in order of appearance are: Heatblast, Wildmutt, Diamondhead, XLR8, Ripjaws, Upgrade, Ghostfreak, Stinkfly, and Fourarms. (I should note these aren't the names of their species in-universe, but nicknames Ben gave them). Vilgax is seen throughout the entire first season, but most of it is just him healing in that big tank while yelling at his underlings to "GIVE ME THE OMNITRIX!". Gwen also does get more to do in fights later in the series. And about the noise filter, it's just a stylistic thing, I'm not really sure why they chose that specifically. I'm really glad you enjoyed these episodes. This was a big part of my childhood.

Me about to go to sleep: Linkara uploading at 3 AM: I'm about to ruin this girl's entire sleep habits

I actually like that Max is revealed to be a former hero of sorts himself. I find I prefer legacy heroes overall, and I just find the idea that this random modern kid is the first person to encounter the strange, supernatural/sci fi to be a bit silly. That they took a while to build up to the reveal I think also works, giving Max some mystery buildup as the kids start to notice. It's kind of the same as making Hank Pym a Cold War superhero in the MCU, and Carol Danvers active in the 90s. It adds texture and history, which makes things more believable for me.

Hearing Linkara go through the episodes without nameing the aliens is odd at first, then I think we all memorized the aliens names thanks to advertisements and toys. I THINK! I actualy can't remember

DC comics must have been kicking themselves when Ben ten became a juggernaut of a franchise when they had dial h for hero.

Its so weird seeing Linkara covering something that I knew and loved before I was even a comic fan. Like, it's not supposed to work this way. Linkara's supposed to introduce *me* to *his* hyperfixations, not the other way around.

16:53 Ofc, the only two emotions you need are anger & confusion.

5:40 - 5:52 "Green color spaces are X-box, blue spaces are Playstation, and red is Nintendo Switch." "What're the yellow spaces?" "Pee breaks."

From what I see in this episode, I halfway expect one of Ben's ten forms to be an alien reverse version of Smokey the Bear: "Only you can start forest fires!"

21:29 - Nah, the mummy's not 'til season 3~

Dark and gloomy at 11am? It's the smoke and ash from all the fire they keep starting.

fun fact: The star wars effects was on account that CN got "Clone Wars" at the time, and all of their shows had references to the movies! Everything from "Samurai Jack", to "The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy". It was a good time to be a CN fan!

Ben is a really good kid hero. He has the attitude and selfishness of a bratty kid but being a kid he really idolizes the idea of superheroes and tries to be like them and it hits a real good balance of that

Fun little fact for anyone curious. in the 2016 Reboot Ben DOES get a transformation themed after Vilgax's species which he calls Gax, he loses this form though when the reboots version of Vilgax named Vil (yeah I know) tricks him into turning into that form and stealing it restoring his power and yes he does go by Vilgax the rest of the reboot.

Dial H for Hero may be a bit obscure, but not so obscure that Cartoon Network shows haven't referenced it in the past. Remember Dial M For Monkey?

"Welcome to Atop The Fourth Wall where bad media burns." Tagline fixed. Even if the burn is verbal.

Ah, a classic from my childhood. Funny enough I was the same age as Ben when the show was first coming out, and honestly the sci-fi mixing with superheroics really dragged me in. I was already big on Justice League and Teen Titans, as well as Code Lyoko, so another superhero show really tickled my fancy. Show was great, characters were likeable, and the aliens were made of pure awesome. Just in case anyone was wondering, these are the names of all the aliens Ben used (in order of appearance) Ep. 1: Heatblast, Wildmutt, Diamondhead, XLR8 Ep. 9: Ripjaws, Upgrade, Ghostfreak Ep. 13: Stinkfly We also saw a brief snippet of Fourarms in one of the segments (the red dude with... Well... Four arms), and the tenth alien is a little dude called Grey Matter who gives Ben enhanced intelligence. (Fun fact, we learn the creator of the Omnitrix is the same species as Grey Matter) Season 2 also gave us the awesomeness that is Cannonbolt (a rather chubby alien that becomes a high-velocity giant ball of death) who ended up replacing Ghostfreak for... Reasons. Cannonbolt is def my second favorite after Upgrade.

Also, all of the aliens have official names. They're established in the episodes you skipped. Flame guy - Heat Blast Blind dog - Wild Mutt Crystal dude - Diamond Head Fast man - XLR8 (pronounced the same as "accelerate") Fish monster - Ripjaws Tech goop - Upgrade Little alien - Grey Matter Grey ghost - Ghostfreak Four-armed warrior - Fourarms Flying bug - Stinkfly Starting with Alien Force, Ben shouts his alien's name whenever he transforms.

I kinda wonder if the patron meant to nominate "The Alliance" - which continues the Vilgax storyline - instead of "Last Laugh" and didn't realize there was a difference in airing and production orders

So, fun fact. When Ben 10 was first being made, Gwen was Ben's classmate instead of cousin and meant to be his main love interest. However, they couldn't come up with a decent excuse as to why Gwen's parents would allow her to go with Ben & Max for 3 months, so they decided to change Gwen into his cousin instead. As fans will tell you, they made them cousins, but barely changed the writing of the two, meaning one of the biggest memes of the show was that Ben and Gwen acted like an old married couple than siblings/cousins. The writers, rather than scaling this back as the show progressed, leaned into the ship and made Ben/Gwen even MORE like a couple, including Gwen teaching Ben how to slow dance. This is why, when Alien Force came around, Kevin was made a good guy and immediately entered into a relationship with Gwen.

Zombozo does come back at least 2 or three times. But not until the much later sequal series where Ben is a teenager. So for the longest time me, and I'm sure many others, assumed Zombozo died from fright as aplsosed to teliporting away.

25:54 - 26:13 I did like how Gwen got to have her own powers later on via learning magic, first introduced through a magic charm talisman that granted her luck, and becoming her own hero character, "Lucky Girl." When she and Ben fought Hex, the sorcery villain whom the charm belonged to as part of a set called the Charms of Bezel, Gwen ended up destroying them. Later on, she found another charm called the Keystone, which amplifies her original luck powers that she had, but was crucial for Hex's niece, Charmcaster, to try and bring back the other charms. *Luckily-* Get it? - Ben, Gwen, and Max stopped that from happening. I'm glad that Gwen learning magic carried over to Alien Force and Ultimate Alien, putting her on equal footing with Ben as crime fighting partners instead of as a sidekick.

My theory is when Ghostfreak opens his chest shows an image - it’s Troll from Youngblood showering.

The joke about Max dating Vilgax...Not as off as you'd think seeing as his children are half Alien

I think the patreon may have one of the episodes mixed up. Since the first and last episode were about Vilgax the three episodes were supposed to be about vilgax Ben's main antagonist. The Zombozo episode was good but i think the episode was supposed to be where Ben sees Vilgax but doesn't interact with him directly. Also wanna go laugh look up a promo where Batman gets jealous over Ben for having superpowers and Aquaman eating Ben's sandwich

Welp, now we need the Kevin episodes, the Ghostfreak saga, the movie, the Highbreed invasion- Oh boy this really opened Pandora’s box didn’t it?

I think the patreon confused the episodes. episode 8 serves as a prelude to the finale with robot from vilgax merging with the baddie of the week and giving ben visions of vilgax.

Wouldn’t Max be an irresponsible idiot if he was in the dark about aliens, but still let his 10 year old grandson use an alien device that accidentally let him start a forest fire, is being pursued after by alien forces, and lets him fight armed criminals knowing that’s there’s a time limit for how long on his transformation while not taking Ben back to his parents to discuss on what to do next

I always loved how all the aliens were voiced by VA legends like Steve Blum or Dee Bradley Baker. Really added to the mythos in a meta way. In a just world, they be one of the more expensive parts of the production.

21:30 Your use of that clip is actually pretty Apt because there is an episode that features an Alien Mummy.

Great episode choices. Ben 10 was (and still is) one of my favorite shows to watch/revisit on occasion. Don't know why the patron chose to cover Zombozo though (unless they plan to secure the slot again later) since it's considered the start of a pretty important arc. I'd have gone with either: 1x07: Kevin's intro (for obvious reasons) 1x10: Lucky Girl (to give Gwen a better showcase alongside Ben in the first episode and Max in the finale) 1x11: the Forever Knights intro (being the OTHER main recurring antagonist over the franchise history)

ALGORITHM ENGAGEMENT SQUAD... ENGAGE!!!

7:06 Gruncle Stan: "Good thing I'm an uncle." 13:47 Boffo? How long has it been?

20:37 fun fact, McDonald’s actually serves dinner until 4 AM, so max will be VERY upset about waiting for breakfast once they reach the next one

Genuinely wondering if the patron chose the clown episode simply to try and get Linkara to make new Boffo jokes

Disappointed that episode 9 didn’t end with Ben and his family walking away from an exploding circus tent. (If you get the reference, you deserve a hug.)

About your quick aside regarding Invader Zim... wasn't the show actually cancelled because the CGI sequences which Jhonen Vasquez and the other writers were very adamant about, was becoming way too expensive for the network? I remember that being the reason, while Nickelodeon actually going out of their way to say that they WANTED an older audience and were specifically shooting for an older, edgier demographic with it.

Kind of wish he covered Kevin's introductory episode too.

Max is oddly calm about Ben being an alien... Then again he's probably vicariously seen somr crap working with Solid Snake

The Green Lantern joke was inevitable, but I think it's funny how Ben 10 has almost exactly the same origin as Earthworm Jim. If it had landed on one of those mealworms they were eating, it would have been exactly the same!

This has certainly been a fun episode, but if you do cover this in the future, I feel like knowing the Alien names will help. -Fire Alien: Heatblast -No eyes beast alien: Wildmutt -Crystal Alien: Diamondhead -Really fast alien: XLR8 (pronounced like "accelerate") -Black Lagoon alien: Ripjaws -Tech Possession Alien: Upgrade -Ghost Alien: Ghostfreak (bit of a twist with this one in later seasons) -Bug alien: Stinkfly -Four armed alien: Fourarms -Tiny alien with big eyes (The Sir Not-Appearing-In-These-Episodes): Greymatter Also, the squid in the tube is named Vilgax, and he's basically the big bad for the entire franchise. Unfortunately the first series wasn't too good with naming things right off the bat. Also, if you do decide to watch more, you'll see more of the races that Ben can turn into. They're all technically species of aliens in this universe. Also, the Max dating aliens joke... Just keep that in the back pocket for if you cover some later seasons or series.

I’m guessing the patron picked these episodes probably because these 3 combined showcase almost all of Ben’s original aliens. A large part of what made the show popular was the idea of turning into all these cool aliens with unique powers and so they wanted to have episodes that show all 10 Alternatively they could have picked them because the first was the pilot,which is obviously, and then the third was the episode that had the first real story progression (the show was mostly episodic) and the circus one was to show a typical episode/was possibly a personal favorite

So good to see Buffo again, it's always fun when he shows up.

I think what made me love this show so much as a kid was its similarity to Power Rangers. A kid or teen getting superpowers from an alien to fight other aliens. Also the whole idea of Ben turning into other aliens by using a wrist device obviously reminded me of morphing. Pretty cool to see you talk about this show Linkara, it clearly had a big impact on my childhood lol

This show is fantastic and made me into the sci fi loving nerd I am today. This show is my childhood and seeing you tackle it gets me all forty and excited despite watching it at 3am by the time I’m writing this.

FUN FACT/TRIVIA: The voice actor for Grandpa Max, Paul Eiding also voiced Colonel Campbell in Metal Gear ⚙️

for what it's worth, there _are_ Ben 10 comics ;) i haven't read them, or watched the show, but i lay hands on some in the juvenile graphic novels section of the library i work at when i'm alphabetizing that area pretty regularly (that one uses single-letter labels instead of author names or decimals and so it's _extremely_ prone to getting out-of-order)

Calling the Ben 10 theme “fine” is unthinkable to me. It one of the greatest themes ever.

There's no way they weren't at least a little aware of Dial H, probably in in the back of their minds. Like they heard about it, forgot it, then later subconsciously drew on it to create Ben 10, mistaking a half-forgotten memory for genuine inspiration. Episode 9 is the odd man out. I feel like most people who requested you look at Ben 10 episodes would've asked for Kevin 11 (introducing Ben's evil counterpart turned best friend) or Lucky Girl (which gives Gwen some time in the spotlight.) Last Laugh seems pretty random unless the plan to commission the episodes where Ghostfreak turns evil in the future. Boffo! Been a hot minute since we've seen him around. 19:53 The prequel no one was expecting: I Know What You're Planning to Do This Summer. Kinda ironic, you're going from a show where a single kid can become ten different aliens to a show where five aliens can become 35 different teams of Sentai.

can't lie, I am glad one of my favourite franchises gets the spotlight^^ Hilariously about half of your jokes turn out true later. Zombozo DOES come back later on and his new plan specifically involves going after Ben's family, Max did date aliens (albeit not Vilgax), and a Mummy does show up later :p But yeah I am glad you enjoyed it^^ part of me hope you'll review some sequel episodes later but I guess we shall see.

12:51 umm, ripjaws (the fish alien) can't breathe on land for very long and he was surrounded by fire which shorted his time on land. Also for anyone who doesn't know, the alien's names are heatblast (fire alien), wildmutt (orange alien), diamondhead (crystal alien), XLR8 (speed alien), ripjaws as you already know, upgrade (tech alien), ghostfreak (ghost alien), stinkfly (bug alien), and fourarms. (the four armed alien)

"Fire Guy" = Heatblast Machamp = FourArms Baseball Launcher = Upgrade Small Grey Alien = Grey Matter Beastial Form = WildMutt Crystaline Guy = Diamond Head "Skeletal Form" = GhostFreak The Speedster = XLR8 "Some kind of bug" = Stinkfly "Creature from the black lagoon" = RipJaw

23:37 I remember that I liked the "Not an average plumber" line so much, that I always felt disappointed his MIB organization was honestly called "The plumbers"

When the patron selected episode 9 the most likely intended on The Alliance (episode 9 canon order) so you got the 3 big Vilgax episodes.

This was great, although I have to say I'm kinda scratching my head as to why these three episodes were chosen. "And then there were 10" and "Secrets" makes sense because it's the beginning and end of that story arc, but for the middle episode I would have picked either "Hunted" or "The Alliance" because it involves Vilgax sending people after the Omnitrix. "The Alliance" in particular, because it's the first time Ben and Vilgax actually talk and start to build the rivalry. Still great review though.

3:44 This comparison is hilarious for reasons I'm not going to mention just yet.

22:28 Ok this is hilarious considering that... yeah, Max's wife is an alien. Gwen ended up inheriting latent abilities later in the season that I believe allowed her to channel them via magic.

Every Ben 10 fan hearing Linkara say the theme song is just fine “How dare you”

You picked a very good show to review

One thing I liked from the few episodes I saw was that the watch tended to malfunction, causing him to turn into an different alien than what Ben wanted, making it so he has to solve a problem creatively instead of the way that he planned.

As a note with the fire on the pier thing, it's not the oxygen for once, but the alien he's taken the form of. You're absolutely correct that Ripjaws, the alien form, is amphibious, but his race is primarily water breathers. They can't last for extended periods outside the water, and that's only sped up when fire and extreme heat are involved. I say this mostly cause of the original 10, Ripjaws is my fave. Also, Grandpa Max's voice actor also played Colnel Campbell in MGS. Also also, Zombozo actually stays out of the series for a LONG time after this. Wouldn't show up again until two series later, directly trying to get revenge.

13:47 The Magnificent bastard has returned :) 23:45 Funny enough ThirdMarioBrother is also the name of a youtuber. 26:51 Always excited to see Lewis review more Gokaiger. :)

Ben is probably my favourite non Spider-Man superhero and I hope you make more videos reviewing some of the other notable episodes

what's this linkara reviewing a show that we have a deep love for and respect for this should be good

19:44 Well... yes, he does, but to clerify some points Zombozo didn't teleport away... he exploded... he died, as confirmed by his minions on a later appearence. But somehow returns in one of the sequel series, Ultimate Alien, without explanation (where funnily enough it does come up that he knows Ben's identity... but by then Ben had gone public with his powers so it doesn't really matter) Later they would retcon him into being a zombie, which i wonder if it was the original intention giving his name.

If anyone is unfamiliar with Ben’s arsenal, and Linkara didn’t use any of their “names,” here’s a rundown of the aliens: Heatblast, Wildmutt, Diamondhead, XLR8 (pronounced like “accelerate”), Rip Jaws, Upgrade, Ghostfreak, and Stinkfly. Edit: forgot Four Arms and Greymatter.

Fun fact: Ben and Gwen have a cameo in the final issue of the New 52 Dial H for Hero series!

Glad to see this episode. I’ve massively gotten back into Ben 10 because of RU-vid so you covering it is awesome to see. I especially like your own brand of jokes to some of the scenes and especially your own insight at the beginning given the dial H for hero comparisons.

nah the "where bad comics burn" is still a good tagline. also the ghost ben turns into ends up becoming a villain because even the tiniest dna gained from his species is alive and VERY consious and ben just so happened to be turning into an evil alien warlord ghost.

Nobody told me Uncle Max was voiced by Paul Eiding! Thats Col. Campbell!

My favorite reviewer reviewing my favorite cartoon! 12:49 Actually, what's going on here is that the heat is dehydrating Ben. This alien, Ripjaws, is a humanoid fish that can only stay on land for a short amount of time because he breathes water. 20:06 Vilgax makes two other appearances in the first season (Either of which probably should have been requested in stead of Last Laugh). In one episode, Hunted, Vilgax hires threat bounty hunters to capture the Omnitrix. In the other, The Alliance, one of his robot-drones merges with a biker and he contracts her to capture it.

One of the best bits of episode 9. Ben noticing how his Ghostfreak form behaves... differently from the others :3

Here's how you can tell The Last Laugh is a memorable one: As far as I remember, I didn't even regularly watch Ben 10 as a child, and yet I *still* have a memory of that one time I tuned in on it by chance.

Also, in Ben's case, he did start the fire, it was not always burning until he kept lighting things up

I remember when I was a kid and how they advertised the show. Me watching a sneak peek of it and then watching the show and the different iterations over the years. How I would consult the wiki to learn alien names, species, etc. I just remembered being a kid and watching the new episodes and how things grew and changed.

"Snake this device known as the Omnitrix by using it you can take on the forms of 10 different aliens" "Metal Gear?" "No Snake Aliens"

22:22 this joke killed me lol. died laughing

if you want to get hip to current cartoon trends, Consider the cartoon series or the Comic Book "Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur" Its certain to be a series SOME ONE will ask for. you should get ready for that inedibility.

I THINK Zombozo makes a return either in the original series or in one of the sequel shows. If not him than his gang at the very least since I do recall them showing up and threatening Ben's family. Btw the first turn aliens are: Hot Streak, Diamond Head, Wild Mutt, Rip Jaws (arguably ben's least useful alien of the first batch), Upgrade, Greymatter, Ghost Freak, Four Arms, Stinkfly, and XLR8. I'm honestly surprised the patron didn't have you review episode 20 cause that one is freaky

Ben 10 is something I was hoping to see covered for a long time, in fact it was one of my ideas to do a Patreon epsiode if I ever got a slot but doenst seem to be strictly nessecary now. Beyond what Lewis stated Ben 10 has LOTS of connections to comic books, or more accurately comic adaptations. I can’t remember if this was started in an episode or on Cartoon Network’s old website, but Ben’s middle name is Kirby, as a tribute to Jack Kirby. Man of Action the team behind the original series and the 2017 reboot would the group who made most of the Marvel shows for Disney XD The next two shows Alien Force and Ultimate Alien hired the late Dwayne McDuffie as the head writer and story editor. He was the guy who headed Static Shock and Justice Leauge Unlimited The fourth series (and last in the original continuity), Omniverse, would be head by the late Derrick J Wyatt. Wyatt had worked as the art director on Teen Titans and was the head writer of Transformers Animated. As we cannot forget Transformers technically started as a comic series The writer of “Secrets” was Marty Eisenberg. Not only is Eisneberg one of the few writers to work on all five shows, but has many writing credits on various superhero shows over several decades. And I don’t mean niche ones he was on several of the big ones: such as Batman TAS, X-Men TAS, Spiderman TAS, Ninja Turtles 2003, and Danny Phantom (okay maybe that last one isn’t as big but still). Finally the voice of Ben as a Teenager (Alien Force takes place five years after the original show for those who don’t know) is Yuri Lowenthal the guy who voices Spiderman in the recent PlayStation games. While Sausake from Naruto started his career, I’d argue Ben Tennyson is the role that made him A-List in voice acting. And despite their roles in the sequels being minimal Man of Action clearly had respect for Yuri’s tenure as they cast him as Vilgax in the reboot.

Zombozo looks like he hosts a web series that reviews horror comics.

Next Episode: More aliens.