The 2000s were a transitional period for cartoons, when shows wanted a more epic scope, but were still afraid of losing viewers who missed an episode, so they would reset to the status quo for most of the run. Ben 10 was one of the worst cases of this.
For me the best example of having those limitations while still being great was Clone Wars, because it really expanded on stories while also being self contained arcs that you don’t need to see the previous arcs to understand what’s going on. It’s hard to have a good balance between episodic and serialization in the same series
To be fair that wasn’t just the 2000s the Network for Alien Force Season 3 wanted the views from classic to come back so they forced teenage Ben to act like kid Ben so the creators created the golden poop episode in retaliation. This is why some major plot points like dragon world and the forever knights arc were never completed. It was very disappointing because parts of the script for season 3 at least the original script have been released and it’s leagues better than the actual season 3.
1:25 ""So if Ben forgets a lesson he already learned, or if we reset his character, I'm gonna be pretty annoyed" Oh honey, if you're looking for consistent character growth or consistent maturity from Ben, then you're gonna be in for a rough ride with this franchise.
As soon as I watched the season 2 episode, I was like “oh boy, you’re looking at the wrong franchise, baby.” Ben 10 is a show where you need to revel in the silliness and worldbuilding, not the characters.
I think this show suffers a lot from Cartoon Network talking down to the target demographic, young kids, and how one of them is the protagonist. At times, Ben can be one of the most likable protagonists in any cartoon, and other times, he can be the literal embodiment of a stereotypical elementary schooler. No room for growth, regressing on his lessons, always acting like a brat, it sucks. It just feels like so many times an episode could have been perfect, but the characterization of Ben brings it down so much.
@@FrenchFryCheese04 I’m basically saying that it suffered because the main character was like the demographic of the show, and lots of kids cartoons talk down to their demographic at times, so Ben comes off as a brat because it feels like CN execs were like “no, he can’t grow, he’s just a kid!”
Yep aside they have to regress ben of course in season 3, its great. Especially how they give layers to characters and even enemies we know. And still the oh no my rustbucket is carried over without gramps.
Was thinking this the entire time I was watching. Those first 2 seasons of Alien Force fix pretty much every complaint he has and are probably the best Ben 10 as a series has to offer.
I guess the writers didn’t expect kids to catch every episode of the show. You would catch stand-alone episodes on rerun. Watching them all sequentially highlights the repetitive nature of the episodes.
Probably not. Ben doesn't change much, he's already as mature and responsible as he could be in Alien Force so he doesn't change or develop. Until season 3 which was, you know, dumb.
@@celestialsoldier622, true but he does consistently learn lessons though; they do persist in Alien Force Ben’s journey. Like the ones learned in the Dragon episode or the Morningstar one. But yes, third season just strips it all down.
@@celestialsoldier622 maybe in a "is he a good person" way. But I feel Ben has the best and most significant growth in Alien Force becsuse the new angle is "can Ben rise up to be a leader". It's no longer just about Ben maturing as an individual, it's about whether or not he can truly mobilize an alliance that can protect the planet. Distinguishing honest friendships and allies from deception and backstabbing. Learning when someone needs to be forgiven and have a chance at redemption, or when you have to cut your emotional energy off to focus on the larger picture. This time without Grandpa max to directly guide him. ... But yea, in CN executive fashion they screw all that up in S3. It's not horrible but noticeable. By early Ultimate Alien it's unbearable how much he regressed tho.
Spoilers regarding Ben's character? This is more like a warning or a heads up really: Yeah, regarding Ben. That's pretty much how Ben operates through the entirety of the series. He "develops" then regresses, then develops. If there's something consistent about Ben is that he isn't. I guess the writers just decided to keep him as a static character instead of one with an arc. EDIT: But this means that Ben has some high highs and really low lows. You'll like what they do to him during the first 2 seasons of Alien Force, but sadly, that's not going to last after the third season.
disregarding ben's character in classic mainly because his character was made to be a stereotypical 10 year old, in alien force he had a good consistent character until season 3 onward where the show was heavily controlled by the network and this affected many characters, not just ben, it's just he's the main character you'll be seeing most of the time so the change is more apparent and the other characters that got altered eventually either found a solid foothold with their new character personality or they return to how they were originally envisioned to be by the writers
Okay, I know everyone is saying the same thing, but... hold out for Alien Force. Seriously. Its like Ben 10 Classic but with lasting character development and a proper overarching narrative.
Regarding character development it was always my thought that they never really had a clear plan for the character past vilgax coming to earth...... I don't think they really expected Ben 10 to be so marketable However I do agree that it's not an excuse for the writers to completely rewrite Ben every other episode
I know it happens all the time in pretty much any media. But Ben 10 is really one of the most egregious cases where you can point to the exact moment where you saw some bigwig executive that hasn't interacted with people in decades come in and say "hey, let's listen to me this time". I wonder if Ben 10's Fandom wouldn't have tapered off so much in the early '10's of the writers got to actually keep doing their job instead of having the table flipped for toy sales every other year.
I can't wait for u to review Alien Force, considering ur reviews I think it will be ur favorite. To me that is peak of the entire franchise. Thank you for doing these.
The mummy episode on the farm is one of those that stuck for me, I can still remember how it scared me as a kid to this day it isn't very complex but it untouched horror to a mew audience in a good way while keeping some of the new aliens secrets
The inconsistency of the seasonal writing can definitely be attributed to its directors. If you look at the wiki, you can see that 2 names regularly interchange Scooter Tidwell and Sebastian O. Montes. Now im not making statement on their abilities to direct they both have fantastic and terrible episodes to their names, but an important thing to note is that while the directors are fairly consistent the writers are all over the place. There was a different one almost every episode. And with them flip flopping between both directors and writers, internal consistency was going to be very difficult. I imagine there wasn’t a lot of communication between the teams as tv broadcasts are notoriously mismanaged.
I feel like all you want is done in Alien Force (keeping character development throughout all episodes, one consistent story etc.). Can't wait till you get to it!
@@Chroncitrus Yeah. If I remember correctly, writers were told to make show more like original series which basically meant regressing all characters (especially Ben) and making show structure purely episodic again. Though, I don't remember Ultimate Alien that well, so maybe the series got good again then. P.S. I've tried watching Omniverse but it sucked bad, didn't like it at all.
I was SO excited for the Ben Ten-Thousand episode, because I remembered it being my favorite, but not where in the show it happened. And then... jeez what a letdown
I think you will love first two seasons of Alien Force and some episodes of Ultimate Alien. Also i think you would really like Generator Rex. That was what Ben 10 classic should've been. Had consistent and usually likeable characters, better animation (especially morphing sequences), a great voice cast and season long story arcs. It doesn't reset to the same status quo after every episode. But does all of those while still being a action cartoon. Alien Force isn't exactly a action cartoon and i love it for that. But Generator Rex is like a spiritual succesor to Ben 10 classic. Also it has a crossover with Ben 10 Ultimate Alien and that is a great episode. Cartoon Network cancelled the show but they managed to make a finale. So it didn't end on a major cliffhanger like Teen Titans.
@@kermitgotthesickkicks4265 I like Alien Force for what it is. It is not a regular action cartoon. Ben solves some of his problems without beating one bad guy. Episodes like Paradox, What Are Little Girls Made Of, Alone Together and War of The Worlds doesn't end with Ben beating up a bad guy. Alien Force tried something new and i think it worked. Generator Rex keeps the action cartoon formula. It has few exceptions but usually climax of an episode is beating up the villain. But it uses that formula much better than classic Ben 10. Villains and main cast has character development so we has a reason to care about cool action scenes. When same villains appear again they didn't forget other episodes of that villain. Ben 10 classic was too episodic and it didn't have consistent character growth.
@@keremmazman3761 The inconsistent character growth applies to all of ben 10 not just the classic series. Which is why Generator Rex is what Alien Force should've been. Generator Rex had the artstyle the animation and the story telling with the consistent character growth.
@@kermitgotthesickkicks4265 First two seasons of Alien Force was as consistent as Generator Rex. I even liked some things more. But after that network forced creators to make Ben like his 10 year old self again. When i praise Alien Force i talk about first two seasons, seasons without the network interference.
Everyone is mentioning Alien Force, but I'd also love to see you cover Generator Rex, I prefer that over any Ben 10 series and Rex is a way more consistent and introspective protagonist.
I haven't watched generator rex, but it sounds interesting, heard the show got studio interference, which isn't a surprise since generator rex was owned by cartoon network.
@Lowart you said "thats probably enough fanfiction though" NO LOWART GIVE ME YOUR ALTERNATE CHARMCASTER PLOTLINE! I wanted to care about her so much. I empathize with her backstory and wanted SOMETHING good or bad for her and the show just... doesn't do much with her. found family charm caster with the Tennyson's is something I would read or watch so much content of.
Monster Weather at least had some grade A animation, basically every fight scene with S.A.M. was really visually appealing. Now if only Ben wasn't at his absolute worst personality-wise in that episode.
@@crashingbasher7376 100% agree, I was so peeved when Kai ended up being the (this is kinda cringe to say) "true pairing" because Ester was so fun and way better imo
Usually I don't care about love stories, however, if the chararcter ends up with someone who doesn't fit them, that's annoying, and kai fits that and she is very forced and rushed, and she isn't a likeable chararcter.
@@crashingbasher7376 I quite liked Ester, too bad the writers dumped her for a chararcter no one even cared for in the first place. (They have the 2 together because of a pop up, even though the OS pop up just says he "meets up with kai" which doesn't mean they'll end up, also, the OS Ben 10k wasn't guaranteed to be Ben's true future since a pop up states this)
Cartoon Network has never really been good at arc-based shows and it's sad. A series that's episodic is more accessible to a broader audience. Granted that's not always the case, Nickelodeon during the same time period showed that Avatar: The Last Airbender was a major hit. It did something different, it had a clear end goal, it showed that this was gonna have an ending. Ben 10 also did this, but when it showed it was making money, enough to get a 3rd season, I wouldn't be surprised if corporate execs said "Hey, great show, love the direction. Just do me a favor, year make season 1 again so people coming into the series now don't get confused". And what did we get? Mediocre, monster/villain of the week episodes that reverted Ben to a brat, but still tried to show growth, like with Gwen getting better at magic, and Grandpa Max still doing badass plumber stuff. Season 3 left us with a mix of the main character being basic and stagnant, while still trying to move the plot around. And this isn't just a Ben 10 issue, this is Cartoon Network wanting their grubby hands in everything, and if they don't like what's going on, it gets cancelled. Thundercats 2011, for all its love triangle bullshit, was still a good show worth it's time. Nope, cancelled and rushed the conclusion. Sym-Bionic Titan had an amazing premise, and I remember it fondly and loving the animation and story it was telling. Nope, cancelled and the last season gets rushed to the conclusion. And it's sad, I want all of these shows that I saw as a kid that got unjustly cancelled to be brought back in the care of a better company, especially with modern streaming involved now is the best time for a show that tells a story from beginning to end. But we're not gonna get it. We have a kids show version of Thundercats designed in the same vein as every art student from California it seems, and I see 0 hope in Sym-Bionic Titan ever coming back because of how poorly the second season was handled. This is a rant I didn't know I had in me that I needed to say. What the fuck
I don’t know, as a kid, arc-based stories were both hard to follow, and alienating. I was not a fan of Alien Force because of the plot, but the cool aliens. I didn’t watch The Clone Wars because of how stressful it was to keep up with everything, and that turned me off. And that show is not the most serialized show out there. I didn’t get into serialized stories until I was a teenager. Episodic television is just better for kids imo, because they don’t have the story gatekeeping them away.
@@thomasffrench3639, that’s true but this person either hasn’t seen Dexter’s Lab or doesn’t think it counts for whatever reason. The 2010s plot based shows could be more their speed.
I'd say the original Ben 10's greatest strengths were the animation and action, while it's weakest was the characterization. Future installments in the franchise sometimes have better characterization, sometimes they have worse, but they never reach the same levels of quality in the action department as the original (which imo was the most appealing factor of the OG show, along with the premise itself, to the people - myself included, that adore it to this day). It's a shame though, that throughout the entirety of the franchise, the consistently worst part about every single entry is Ben himself as a character (par from Alien Force S1 and S2). I will forever curse the execs over at Cartoon Network for forcing the writers to revert teenage Ben to his 10-year-old brat self in AF S3 in a misguided effort to boost the ratings, instead of idk, giving more funding for better fight scenes, for example, or anything else, lol.
Not even just the fight scenes. Give the poor background artists a back light lol. It may be "realistic", but it's really hard to make any great fight scene when half the season is in dark, dimly lit areas where you can't even see what's going on. It's even weirder because Kuro (Ink Tank) has shown that on multiple occasions that the environments are actually drawn and textured... But you'll never see it yourself without overexposing your screen.
@@raze2012_ Yeah, I've seen them too. If I were a background artist on the show, I'd be so mad about having to place massive black blotches all over the artwork that took so much time to make. At least from S3 onward their backgrounds definitely improve.
I would say that the retcons are debated to be even worser then bens chararcter regression to chararcter assassination, because they are just as inconsistent, if not even more.
Funny thing about Charmcaster, there’s actually some good episodes in Ultimate Alien that deal with her as a character, especially on the lengths she’d go to for her family. Her conflict becomes an almost rivalry of sorts with Gwen, rather than just being evil for the sake of it. That said, it gets undone a little in Omniverse where she’s just more aloof. The Charmcaster episode in season 3 is also important for starting Gwen in her magic journey, but there are things that could’ve been done better. Also guilty pleasure but the Benwolf episode was always one of my favourites, for a while it was the only one of the “horror” episodes I could watch as a kid lmao
ben really reminds me of me at the age of 10, going back on lessons and doing the same childish stuff. kinda sucks that he regresses so much because watching this so many years later shows it but the target audience probably relates to it more
"Cathartic moment where Ben tells his bullies 'I've moved past you, I don't care about you anymore'" Oh boy, I cannot wait to see what you think of Alien Force
@@lonemotheo1964 But at least they appeared in the opening of Omniverse and Ben turned into them in the comics and Flash Games . Ghostfreak on the other hand had absolutely NOTHING until Alien Force (and chronologically Alien Force 5 years after the original series)
@@SeiLa-zf1sf maybe because Ghostfreak has a high chance of taking control over Ben. Also, I don't remember where I heard of this, it has something to do with the Ghostfreak's species having consciousness even in their DNA. Plus, the transformation probably gives him the creeps.
As always, really appreciate the honesty. Alien Force is a solid continuation, abd im curious to see your thoughts on that if you’re interested, but i can’t in good faith recommend Alien Force season 3 and potentially onward. If memory serves, its really more of the same, Ben forgetting lessons and while occasional episodes are great, many are bland. Either way, looking forward to your future content.
As a kid, I have already found this trait of Ben being a brat after he supposedly learned his lessons too annoying, consistency matters. I did not understand that he had regress his progress, I just thought he wasn't supposed to act this way.
That's an inevitable sci-fi issue when trying to introduce a bunch of new species. You're never going to have time to truly flesh out every character's biology and behavior. In this case, he was revived the first time by Viktor using science (its not really explained that well. That was the plan leading to the 2 parter), and after the second "death" he retreated a small sample of his DNA back to the Omnitrix. Which is the explanation writers later gave for why he became sentient and escaped to begin with; something about how an Ectoneurite can exist even in a single strand of DNA.
@@raze2012_ that's what I'm talking about. I'm saying that how could set up his plan with Viktor in the first place when the only time he was free to do so was in the episode were he and Ben separated.
It really feels like this show was not made to be watched in a order it really feels like its just something that kids catched in on every once and awhile and during the start end and sometimes in the middle of each season they would have a episode were they would hype up and advertise that's relevant to the story I remember as a kid the video game episode and the episode were we find out the watch was for grandpa were some of my favorites but put in the context of it being the 3rd season and how much ben has progressed in previous episodes they seem alot more lacking. I dont think its as much of the shows falt because what it aims for to be a entertaining action show for kids that they can watch before they go to school in the morning but it does fail at what I think the second most important part of kids programing like this should be give something for the parents to enjoy because the kids are going to want to have their parents watch it or they will happen to be the same room as them but any story arcs get cut up the characters can get annoying for adults and without any major serious conflict for older audiences to enjoy even if you look at it from a lessons point of view its repetitive copying the same lesson every handful of episodes for the kids to learn them selves or for the parents to teach their kids.
I kind of wish you would talk about the production side of shows you review more: the writers, the directors, etc. Maybe that information is hard to find, but there might be trends between the episodes you don’t like and which specific people were tasked with putting those episodes together.
Funnily enough, I did that haha I made a list of all the writers and directors and which episodes they worked on, after giving each of the episodes a score from 1-3 (1 being didn't enjoy, 2 being mediocre, 3 being enjoyed). Unfortunately, there weren't any strong correlation with certain writers or directors as far as my enjoyment was concerned. I also watched/read the few interviews I could find, but there wasn't anything all that useful for the purposes of this retrospective (outside of one thing I may include in the final part of the OG retrospective)
@@Lowart, oh okay. I guess I’m just a little spoiled, because Channel Awesome’s annual Bat-May wrapped up and the hair of that show loves to dig deep into production info. It’s probably just a “me” thing.
Agrees i love the time travel, and its the reason I didn't like how they changed it last alien force, it was perfect in the og, no reason to change it)
Just out of curiosity, would you consider doing Generator Rex? It's one of those shows I remember adoring as a kid and would like to see your opinions on it.
This came out at a rough time for cartoons, and it came out on Cartoon Network. Trying to increase the scope and make things more epic but ending up reverting everything so any kid watching any episode could enjoy it. Honestly, I thought they fixed this with Alien Force, it felt like every episode there had a purpose. And then they took this more mature Ben, and reverted him to an egocentric brat, where he's more concerned about smoothies half the time than being a proper hero.
I think that they should have leaned into the X-Files formula more. The most effective way to do monster of the week is avoiding character growth, so it’s not inconsistent.
It certainly was not a rough time for cartoons, there were a lot of good shows airing at the time like Avatar The Last Airbender (S2-3), The Replacements, Chowder, Class of 3000, Phineas and Ferb, Legion of Superheroes, El Tigre, Spectacular Spider Man, Batman Brave and The Bold, The Secret Saturdays, Transformers Animated, Flapjack, Wolverine and The X-Men
I agree the part with ben when he acted like a brat, Ben learnt a lot but he always forgets what he learnt and learn it again it’s so annoying so I agree with you, Ben is so clueless and cocky in one of these episodes, why can’t the creators make Ben act mature and adult like
Because it’s more profitable to make Ben act like a kid for relatability reasons. The creators tried to make Ben mature and move along a solid progression but the Network put their foot down.
I really hope season 4 will redeem your opinion. The secrets of the omnitrix will DEFINITELY change your opinion. It’s best to watch it after the negative 10. I also want to see your opinion on Ken 10 the episode. This show is still one of the best superhero shows in history. Benwolf and game over are pretty interesting episodes imo, but you can tell they love designing concepts for the aliens
In all of the episodes seasons 1-4 and the special movies of the Classic Ben 10, Ben Tennison is always one consistent fresh presence as a heroic character with interesting character development arc for his growth regarding him learning from his mistakes by becoming a better person as a whole. And also not to mention that he is very complex and relatable teenage boy that we can relate to him regarding his flaws being expanded to his character being interesting in some sort of way.
Honestly this is why Generator Rex was just the superior show imo. Granted it came a lil later cause the crossover with Ben 10 was an older Ben, but still.
I love both, but as someone that just watched Gen Rex last month: it is much more cohesive and consistent in it's writing. I wish it could've gotten at least one more season.
Right now I'm binged my watching for the 3rd time in a row on Ben 10 Classic Season 3 the first 4 episodes (Ben 10.000 to A Change Of Face) giving my chance and opportunity to finished the other 9 remaining episodes.
Man, you'll probably like Ben 10 Alien Force seasons 1 and 2 a lot. Season 3 of AF though, I think that you will probably have a similar opinion compared with season 3 of classic.
I never really noticed till now that most of Ben 10s greatest and most memorable episodes were ones either near the end of the season or in the beginning woth some middle episodes chugging along.
I don’t know, why does a show for kids need to be serialized for the second half of the series? It seems like a weird thing to require. Yeah Avatar did it, but Ben 10’s premise doesn’t suggest that it’s serialized.
It does when it had a plot at the beginning where Vilgax was gonna come for the omnitrix but after that even as a kid I felt my attention waning. Hell I preferred Storm Hawks and even they were more episodic than Ben 10 but when the plot kicked in the characters stayed consistent. No back and forth. If they wanted to be episodic then dont bother developing your characters. Ngl s1 Ben 10 was the peak of its series
@@TheNightTyrantit’s not like manga has any better storyline except if we take any seinen series like monster or anime like legends of galactic heroes I am happy atleast Ben 10 was never tried to be best animated show
The omnitrix gives ben a huge ego boost throughout every series because how easy it makes things for him, he even loses it a couple times and becomes more responsible and respectful
Ben 10, the show that the main character have to learn the same lesson every single fucking episode. I mean, even when i was a kid that shit bothered me. The problems with the cartoons, in general, is that they think the audience does not grow up, does not get more mature., so they keep making the same fucking show over and over.
Agreed and even when he learns lessons in alien force and the writers even to go even farther and give the characters more challenges, cartoon network when NOPE FUCK CHARACTER DEPLOYMENT, ofc their reasons where that Ben is to mature and that lowed ratings or just maybe having a stable fun base is better then dramatic changing the characters and losing fans, they is what happened with ominverse.
That’s not quite true for a lot cartoons even Ben 10 as Alien Force is targeted towards older kids. Learning the same lesson isn’t a big issue if it’s an episodic tv series, but when it starts to be serialized, then it’s a pretty big issue
@@thomasffrench3639 I disagree the show should not even if it's episodic should atleast keep SOME character development keep and does not need to be repeated.
Ghostfreak's motivation was a bit confusing. Why did he want to conquer Earth? Doesn't he already have a planet under his thumb? He could've literally gone back to Anur Phaetos and reclaimed his Ecto Lord title. And how was he able to coordinate the plan with his monster minions if he was dead?
The answers you seek are in the pop-ups in the episode where “Ghostfreak” returns. Apparently Ectonurites are these conquers who took over their entire solar system. “Ghostfreak” wanted to expand his rule to other planets and gain more power after one of many of Vilgax’s data probes crashed landed in Anur Phaetos. He learned of the Omnitrix and wanted to become more powerful to rule the universe, basically. The reason why “Ghostfreak” was able to have his plan succeed post-mortem is because he coordinated with Victor beforehand when he could take control of Ben as Ghostfreak.
Yeah you express my feelings with this series really well. I wouldn't be so irratated and anoyed if I didn't love the concept and think it had been really good. I loved season 1. 2 was fine. 3 pissed me off. and by alien force I was so done I never watched it. perhaps your review of it will make me give it a chance. I want to love this. but even in its time I was comparing this to Teen Titans 2003 and Avatar the last airbender and getting pissed. And I WAS BEN'S FREAKING AGE! as an adult. it is even more frustrating.
Despite you listing all of these flaws with these episodes, I still enjoy this show I think it’s peak America “shounen” cartoon along with avatar and Danny phantom
ben and gwen being at odds with each other is fine within reason, so long as it's done in an entertaining way and it's trivial and trolly rather than mean. my sister and i still get on each other's case despite being adults. it can't be at a bad time, it can't be overdone, and being overly mean to max is not excusable. and it can't act as a character regression, either. it has to be clear that they're just messing with each other to mess with each other. and again, you can't overdo it.
Ben being so obnoxious is especially bad when he's up against villains whose lives are far worse, like Kevin, Charmcaster and even Ghostfreak. Kid should appreciate what he has.
Ranking the top 13 episodes of Ben 10 Classic Season 3 worst-best are: 13: Merry Christmas 12: Midnight Madness 11: Benwolf 10: A Change Of Face 9: Super Alien Hero Buddy Adventure 8: The Unnaturals 7: Monster Weather 6: Under Wrapps 5: Game Over 4: Ben 10.000 3: The Return 2: Be Afraid Of The Dark 1: The Visitor Ranking the top 15 aliens of Ben 10: 15: Upchuck 14: Blitzwolfer 13: Snare-oh 12: Frankenstrike 11: Stingfly 10: Rippjaws 9: Wildmutt 8: Gray Matter 7: Wildvine 6: Upgrade 5: XLR8 4: Heatblast 3: Four Arms 2: Cannonbalt 1: Diamondhead
Oh boy, sınce you didn,t like season 3,ı am sure you going to dislike season 4 even more.although please watch at least first two season of alien force it does fix some problems with classic ben 10.(especially since af ben does not forget his lesson and actually grow over course of the series)
I don't remember Ben being this annoying honestly, maybe Because I watched this when I was 10 or something like that. It's crazy how inconsistant the show is, I didn't remember that either. I do remember alien force way better because I watched it sereval times and more recently. I remember loving Ben in aliean force because he was an actual heroe, but then they made him annoying again. There is an explanation for this in the last reason of Alien Force when a younger version of Ben is questioned about him not taking things seriously and basically his answer is that it's a coping mechanism to deal with the stress of knowing that people can die if he, as a heroe, makes mistakes. But honestly, I think that's just an excuse of the writers.I kind of like the idea, but I don't buy it.
At least for Ben Tennison in The Ben 10 Classic his character arc is well written and developed as a fleshed out protagonist in the special movie "Secrets Of The Omnitrix" showing more layers to his character and being more understandable to work with Tetrax Gwen & Mayax to find the creator of the omnitrix Azimuth and also showing some deepness into his personality like feeling the sandness, the grief and the pain of him losing Gwen and there is a lot more than for him that everybody would expected it as he definately grows into his own character in a much better way.
Not gonna lie. Kai liking Ben more as a werewolf rather than human despite the shitty interaction, is lowkey an accurate representation of girls irl especially at that age
you are not alone there you know, Season 3 have Some really boring episodes, though i love the old switcheroo episode with Gwen and Chamcaster and find it, in Kuro breakdowns when reviewed Season 3 you could see that he thinks that the season is overall a weaker season. And as everyone Said before i really suggesting Watching Alien force, cuz at least the first two seasons you will get exactly the things you wanted form the classic.
