Never skip secondary arm day.
You don't care about anyone else but yourself.
After screwing up their stay at a fancy hotel by violating the rules, Ben meets Kevin, a kid who can absorb and use the energy from whatever he touches. They both start a friendship based on how they can use their abilities to ignore any law and do whatever they want. That is until Kevin crosses the "deliberately hurt an innocent" line.
Tropes:
- All There in the Manual: According to the Pop-up trivia from the enhanced episode:
- Ben's father is named Carl, and the latter is Max's son. Carl would make his official debut in Ben 10: Race Against Time and make his canon debut in Ben 10: Alien Force, "Grounded".
- At Total Zone, Ben only had one strike and no outs at the baseball-hitting game, so the game really did eat his tokens.
- Kevin's last name is Levin, which Kevin would generally be called by starting in Alien Force.
- The reason why Kevin is nicknamed "Kevin 11" is because he is roughly a year older than Ben.
- The padlock Kevin wears around his neck is a souvenir from his first crime, stealing a bike.
- Kevin can only absorb energy, though his powers have great potential for growth, something that would later be proven true when Kevin reveals his ability to absorb matter in Alien Force.
- Without the Omnitrix to control the alien DNA, Kevin's transformations are more like mutations of human and alien DNA mixed together.
- Antagonist Title: The title of the episode refers to Kevin and how he can absorb Ben's powers apart from having his own.
- Bittersweet Ending: In the Pyrrhic Victory sense. Ben managed to chase back Kevin and keep the Omnitrix safe. However, due to Ben's actions, Grandpa Max made it painfully clear it will take more than an apology to earn back his trust. And unknown to our heroes, Kevin has managed to absorb some of Ben's alien powers from the Omnitrix's blast, leaving the audience to wonder when he'll resurface again...
- Body Horror: Kevin's alien transformations in this episode are noticeably uneven and malformed. His Tetramand form retains his hair and left eye and only has one pair of muscular arms, with the other two sets being severely underdeveloped.
- Disproportionate Retribution:
- The hotel guard who catches Ben playing the upcoming Sumo Slammer game retaliates by having the entire family banned from the hotel forever. If he had just told Max to discipline his grandson, this whole episode wouldn't have happened.
- Even the Pop-Up Trivia notes that a fully armed SWAT team is a rather excessive response to the theft of a video game.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Kevin's introduction in this series has him act and do things much differently than fans may be used to seeing in later installments of both this show and the sequel series:
- Kevin is shown explicitly absorbing energy from arcade machines and other electrical sources, which is an ability he never demonstrates again. He also doesn't ever absorb solid matter, one of his defining powers in future shows.
- When absorbing the Omnitrix, Kevin seems to outright enjoy transforming into the mutated versions of Ben's various aliens, a sharp contrast to how his changes into various aliens are uncomfortable or outright painful later on before he becomes Kevin 11.
- Unlike with their romantic relationship in future installments, Gwen is shown to be overly distrusting and hostile towards Kevin even before his more malicious nature is revealed, with Kevin in return barely acknowledging her presence.
- Eiffel Tower Effect: The episode takes place in New York, so obviously Ben as Stinkfly has to fly near the Statue of Liberty. Even if he is in the middle of a chase scene.
- Entitled Bastard: Ben thinks that he's entitled to use the Omnitrix for some fun as a reward for doing a lot of good with it, and whines that it's "not fair" when Max grounds him for misusing the Omnitrix and getting them all kicked out of the hotel.
- The End... Or Is It?: When Kevin tries to rip off the Omnitrix from Ben's wrist, it pushes him away with a feedback pulse to protect itself. Kevin is then shown having returned to his human form, apparently due to losing Four Arms' power, before running away. The ending soon shows Kevin lighting up a fire with Heatblast's pyrokinesis, revealing that he managed to absorb some of Ben's alien powers from the Omnitrix's energy, proving that the conflict between him and the Tennysons is far from over.
- Energy Absorption: Kevin was born with the ability to absorb and later use any kind of energy he touches. Unfortunately for Ben, this also includes the Omnitrix's.
- Evil Counterpart: Kevin to Ben. While they may both be selfish, Ben is not willing to put civilians in danger and will always try to save as much people as he can. Kevin only lives for himself.
- Evil Wears Black: Kevin wears mostly black and even has black hair.
- Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: After Kevin is stopped and he apparently loses the power he drained from Ben's alien form, Ben apologizes to Max for all the trouble he's caused. Max does forgive Ben but trusting him is an entirely different matter.Ben: I'm sorry Grandpa, for everything.
Max: I know you are. You're my grandson and nothing will ever change that. But my trust is something you'll have to earn back. - Get Out!: A security guard of the hotel the team was at says this phrase after catching Ben playing the Sumo Slammer video game without a pass. Max is understandably angry at Ben and tries to talk to the hotel manager to see if they can give him his money back.
- Growing Muscles Sequence: Kevin after absorbing Four Arms's powers.
- Heroic Second Wind: Four Arms is viciously attacked by a mutant Kevin and is almost defeated, but the sound of the Omnitrix turning him back to normal rushes him to quickly punch Kevin with all his strength and he ends up defeating him.
- I Surrender, Suckers: After receiving a beatdown from Four Arms, Kevin seemingly surrenders and says that he is sorry for becoming so crazy about the power. He was just acting to absorb the energy from the Omnitrix itself.
- Instant Flight: Just Add Spinning!: XLR8 quickly circles around a thug and makes him fly by how fast he is running.
- Kick the Dog: "You're not my dad."
- Laughing Mad: At the end of the episode, Kevin starts laughing after discovering he still has Heatblast's power.
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Tetramand Kevin takes this trope even further than Four Arms by having six arms.
- Never Hurt an Innocent: Ben may be willing to steal a video game and even cause a few thousand dollars in damage, but he tells Kevin that he will not let him actively hurt anyone.
- Never My Fault: Ben disobeys Max and sneaks past a guard to play a new Sumo Slammer video game without a pass. This results in him and his family getting kicked out of the hotel after he gets caught even after Max paid for it and without getting to enjoy themselves. But Ben refuses to apologize or accept what he did was wrong, acting like he is entitled to use the Omnitrix for some fun sometimes because of the good he uses it for, and believes Max grounding him is "no fair" and he has no right to do so because "he's not his dad".
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Max becomes furious with Ben for breaking the law, Gwen notes she would have normally enjoyed seeing Ben in trouble and the mere fact she isn't shows just how serious the situation is.Max: Of all the stunts Ben's pulled, this is the worst! When I find him...!
Gwen: (sighs) I should really be enjoying this. So why aren't I? - Power Copying: Kevin's energy absorption abilities also apply to the Omnitrix. In its case, he can use the alien's abilities for a short period of time.
- Power of Trust: Ben loses this in the end after his constant troublemaking. Max tells him that he'll need to earn it back.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Max delivers this to Ben after he uses the Omnitrix for his own selfish gain.Max: It's not how many times you use it, Ben. It's how you use it.
Ben: It was no big deal.
Max: To you. And that's all you care about! - The Right Hand of Doom: When Kevin absorbs Heatblast's powers, only part of his body is transformed, leaving him with a disproportionately large right arm compared to his child-sized body.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Supernatural Powers!:
- Ben believes he is entitled to have as much fun with the Omnitrix as being a hero with it, but Max tells him that is not the case. Ben turns into Ghostfreak to bypass the security guard of the Sumo Slammer video game, which results in his family being kicked out of a hotel.
- Kevin lives the trope: He makes a video arcade's console return all the tokens it had inside, tries to steal the Sumo Slammer video game before it's on sale and was even willing to cause a collision between two trains to get the money from one of them.
- Small Role, Big Impact: The nameless guard who throws out the Tennysons in the episode's opening. Not only does this lead to Ben wandering off and meeting Kevin, it kickstarts Kevin's evolution from a mutant streetpunk to vicious mutant monster. Then eventually becoming one of Ben's strongest allies and a main character. If it wasn't for this guy being a hardass, the entire franchise would've gone down a different path.
- Stock Scream: When Ben as XLR8 runs circles around one of the thugs harassing Kevin, a stock scream comes out of the kid's mouth.
- Tranquil Fury: "I told you not to sneak in there."
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Kevin is perfectly willing to let a lot of innocent people die to get a few thousand dollars.
- We Can Rule Together: Kevin says that with their abilities combined, they could do whatever they wanted whenever they wanted without anyone being able to stop them. Ben accepts the offer but later regrets his decision.
- With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: While not the first time he has learned this, and certainly not the last, Ben learns this big time throughout the episode that there are consequences in abusing your power. This ultimately separates him from Kevin.
- You Are Grounded!: Max grounds Ben by not letting him use anything related to the Sumo Slammer franchise for making the team get booted from the hotel when Max had already paid a night.
- You Could Have Used Your Powers for Good!: Ben says that Kevin can join them and "kick butts for good". Kevin uses the offer to gain the upper hand and absorb the Omnitrix.
- You're Not My Father: Ben uses the phrase to stop Max from scolding him for using his powers for selfish reasons. Max stops talking and goes back to the hotel to see if he can get his money back.
