Grandpa Max looks different. It's probably the beard.
They’re not pets. I don't name them anymore.
After following a tall stranger who kidnapped Gwen, Ben finds himself in his own future, and he doesn't like what he sees.
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- All Work vs. All Play: Ben 10,000 represents the "All work" side by not even naming his aliens forms anymore and barely visiting his cousin and grandfather. Ben 10, on the other hand, represents the "All play" side and inspires his future self to relax and have fun once in a while.
- Alternate Timeline/Alternate Universe: Given how the original series continued with Alien Force and the like, the future shown in this episode is considered only a possible one, not the canonical.
- Averted due to Omniverse revealing that the future shown in this episode and later episode "Ken 10" (along with some of the episodes in Omniverse) is canon to the Main Ben 10 Timeline once again. However a number of irreconcilable elements such as Ben 10,000 still having the original Omnitrix and his antagonistic relationship with Kevin mean it's more likely to be a close but not exact match.
- An Ice Person: Articguana can shoot out a freezing ray from his mouth.
- Artificial Limb: Grandpa Max lost one of his hands in the intervening years and replaced it.
- Back from the Dead: Vilgax is brought back to life by Animo.
- Batman Gambit: The future Gwen knew that just trying to talk to Ben would get her nowhere, but that grabbing her younger self in front of him would get his attention.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Dr. Animo and Vilgax work together; Animo tries to release the null void creatures while Vilgax tries to finally destroy Ben 10,000.
- Birthday Episode: Grandpa Max turns 60 in this episode (80 in the future) and it's implied that Ben's indifference with it turned him in the jerk that is Ben 10,000.
- Brain in a Jar: Animo lost his whole body except for his head which he keeps inside a jar connected to the body of a giant gorilla.
- Came Back Strong: Future Vilgax is genetically prepared to deal with each and everyone of Ben's 10,000 aliens after Animo resurrects him.
- Crippling Overspecialization: Vilgax plays with this. He is brought back to life by Animo, now genetically engineered to handle all of Ben 10,000's alien forms, so nothing he does can surprise him. The one form he isn't prepared to handle though is Ben's own human form. Ben 10,000 eventually decides to stop fighting Vilgax head on as an alien and uses his human form, and some help from his ten-year old self, to lure him into a trap where he defeats Vilgax by freezing him.
- Fights Like a Normal: Since Vilgax is now genetically prepared to deal with any alien Ben 10,000 uses, Ben 10,000 decides to stop fighting in his alien forms and uses his human form to out-smart Vilgax
- Foreshadowing: Max's future self alluding to how he doesn't see much of Ben 10,000 these days hints at the real reason Ben was brought to the future.
- Future Badass:
- Ben's future self has mastered the Omnitrix, having command of literally any alien he wants at any moment.
- Gwen's future self has mastered magic, possesses the five Charms of Bezel, and has a black belt.
- Future Food Is Artificial: Ben 10,000 gives his younger self a metallic box with a red button. Pressing it turns it into a birthday cake.
- Future Me Scares Me: Ben Tennyson and Adult Ben. Older Ben has No Sense of Humor and can't lighten up, but younger Ben's presence gives him an attitude adjustment.
- Giver of Lame Names: At his past self's urging, Ben 10,000 still names his alien forms after their immediately noticeable traits. But, after years without doing so, his skills have gotten rusty and he gives an ice-based alien the decidedly boring name of "Absolute Zero." Present Ben gives him the name "Arcticguana" instead.
- Help Yourself in the Future: Ben is sent to the future to help himself (Ben 10,000), although his future self thinks he'll only get in the way. Despite the fact that he should really remember being his younger self on that trip...
- Heroic Build: Future Ben in his human form is a Hunk.
- I Hate Past Me: Ben 10,000 is annoyed at how the younger Ben sees everything as a game and underestimates his enemies.
- Kidnapped by an Ally: Gwen's kidnapper turns out to be her future self, who was trying to get Ben into the future to talk some sense into Ben 10,000.
- Killer Gorilla: Dr. Animo uses a giant albino gorilla as a substitute for his missing body.
- My Future Self and Me: Ben and Gwen both meet their future selves in this episode.
- No Name Given: Ben 10,000 no longer names his alien forms, more likely using their actual species names; as such, his Sphoeroid and Megawatt forms aren't named, although present Ben would later name them once he unlocked them himself (the former Spitter, the latter Buzzshock). When using a reptilian, ice-based alien to freeze Vilgax underwater, at Ben's prompting he tries dubbing it "Absolute Zero," which present Ben dismisses in favor of Arcticguana.
- Noodle Incident: Ben 10,000 alludes to taking care of Vilgax in such a way that he was left in a lot of pieces.
- Rock–Paper–Scissors: Gwen and Ben play to see who should be blamed for not buying a cake for Grandpa Max's birthday. Gwen says that Ben always loses but, according to the pop-up trivia, he would have actually won this time around if it wasn't for Gwendolyn's appearance.
- Speak in Unison: Chiding Ben 10,000's attitude problem in the exact same way is how Gwen learns the masked woman is her future self.
- Super-Speed: XLR8 as when Gwendolyn grabs Gwen and carries her into the time portal, Ben transforms into him and enters the portal after Gwendolyn but gets ahead of her, turns around and slams into her to knock her down and save Gwen. Ben 10,000's version is even faster.
- Super Spit: Spitter can shoot out a stream of high-pressure goo out of his mouth.
- Time-Shifted Actor: Fred Tatasciore and Tara Strong do Ben 10,000 and Gwendolyn.
- Time Travel: Both Gwen and Ben travel 20 years in the future.
- Workaholic: Ben 10,000 spends literally every moment he can fighting villains and subsequently ignores his surviving family. Max in particularly takes this hard.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Ben assumes he was brought to the future for some grand crisis, a feeling reinforced by the presence of Animo and the return of Vilgax. However, it's really just to get Ben 10,000 to relax and spend time with Max on his birthday.
