Western Animation / Ben 10: Alien Force

A Whole New Ben, A Whole New Force.

Ben 10: Alien Force was a Sequel Series to Ben 10. Management was taken over from Man of Action Studios by Glen Murakami and Dwayne McDuffie of Justice League fame.

Ben "10" Tennyson and his cousin Gwen, now both 15, team up with a reformed Kevin Levin, now 16, to stop various evil aliens. Seasons 1 and 2, which were initially one entire season, has them going off against the Nazi-esque Highbreed, who are determined to eliminate all other races, leaving the "one true race". Compared to the original series, those seasons had a darker and more mature approach, as well as less filler and more continuity between the episodes. They also matured Ben into an Older and Wiser, more competent Hero, giving him more control over the Omnitrix and amplifying his Chronic Hero Syndrome to almost Messianic Archetype level.

Season 3 is a bit more loose, involving Vilgax's attempts to finally get his revenge on Ben. This series' Grand Finale set up Alien Force's own sequel series, Ben 10: Ultimate Alien.

This show as a whole is notable for starting a major Broken Base in the Ben 10 fandom: while a lot of fans complained about the often unexplained (or badly explained) changes both in-story and amongst the characters, and remained faithful only to the original series, many others appreciated to see Ben finally getting mature after all the Aesop Amnesia in the original series, as well as the Cerebus Syndrome it led to. It's commonly believed that all of Alien Force was the highlight of the franchise. In the end, Alien Force was popular enough to last three seasons and allow the franchise to go on, spawning a similar sequel before it was decided to try going back to the original series' roots with Ben 10: Omniverse.

As with the original series, Alien Force was given a Live-Action Adaptation film Ben 10: Alien Swarm. General consensus is that it's leagues better than the original's Race Against Time while others were disappointing at the fewer hero changes.

---

This show provides examples of:

• 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: Grandpa Max's mobile home, and pretty much any flying ship.
• Aborted Arc:
  • The Forever Knights going after the planet of alien dragons.
  • The first episode establishes that any damage Ben suffers in alien mode will carry back over into his human form. This is never brought up again, nor does Ben ever sustain any injuries after a tough battle, apart from getting a black eye in Grounded.
  • At the end of the Highbreed invasion, Ben's omnitrix accidentally resets. He starts lamenting on how he can't recognize any of the aliens he currently has downloaded, but realized the new possibilities he now has with all new aliens. The omnitrix displays Lodestar, and Ben selects him as the episode ends. However, he has the same aliens going into season 3. Lodestar would not be used until the fifth episode of season 3.
• Accidental Tickle Torture: In the first episode, Ben transforms into Swampfire for the first time and gets this reaction when the Forever Knights started firing at him.
• Agony of the Feet: Kevin gets acid spit on his feet.
• The Alleged Car: Ken's car is junker visibly held together with duct tape. Ben and Gwen call it the Awesomemobile, making Kevin a bit defensive of his own car until he actually sees it.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Gwen towards Kevin.
• All Myths Are True: All mythological creatures are actually aliens living on Earth. Except Bigfoot; that's a guy in a suit.
• All There in the Manual: The Ask Dwayne threads clear up a good number of the apparent plot holes, or at least assure us that explanations are forthcoming. At least when they're not being fumbled around by other writers, lying through their teeth, or giving answers so ambiguous they could mean anything.
• All Your Powers Combined: Busy Box. The group has to fight off a robot who can not only copy their appearances and abilities, but combine them, too.
• Aesop Amnesia:
  • Particularly blatant with Kevin, who learns in "In Charm's Way" that Gwen still loves him despite his new, monstrous appearance. A few episodes later, he's back to wallowing in Wangst about how Gwen must not care about him anymore due to him looking the way he does.
  • Ben's victory at the end of the Highbreed invasion fuels his ego and makes him more narcissistic and cocky and less empathetic towards his allies, drastically changing his personality from the previous two seasons and reverts him to his personality from the classic series.
• A Nazi by Any Other Name: The Highbreed, a race of aliens so obsessed with genetic purity that they seek to exterminate all other races, believing their gene pools to be "inferior". While it is true that they are obsessed with genetic purity and believe all other races are inferior, the real reason they are trying to exterminate all other races is because they are all sterile due to inbreeding and are such huge dicks they want to take the rest of the universe down with them.
• Animesque: Just like its predecessor.
• Antiquated Linguistics: Brainstorm often indulges; in "The Vengeance of Vilgax" this was actually the first weakness of one of Ben's new aliens (not counting Alien X) demonstrated. Spidermonkey attacked Brainstorm while he was busy prattling on. If Gwen hadn't told Ben to just absorb him with the Omnitrix he would've lost.
• Anti-Smother Love Talk: In one episode, Ben's parents find out that their son has been acting as a superhero. They are horrified and attempt to prevent him from returning to the field of battle, even going so far as to ground him and take away his technology so he can't be involved with the battle even remotely. They even get Gwen grounded after Ben caves and tells them she's also involved. Ben initially sticks to their rules (albeit with some use of Loophole Abuse), but when Kevin is in trouble during a battle, he tells his parents that he has to do this — after all, they taught him to do the right thing. When he gets back, they agree to let him continue with the superheroics, but caution him to please be careful.
• Apocalypse How: Alien X was unable to stop a Class X on Pluto (and a class 4 on the dinosaurs) due to its indecisiveness.
• Arbitrary Skepticism:
  • Kevin matter-of-factly informs Gwen her powers come from her alien bloodline. But he scoffs at Gwen's insistence her powers are magic-based. Turns out that Gwen's alien powers and magic are related.
  • The cops in Alan's hometown have no problem accepting the fact that he turns into an alien. But in "Inside Man", the police don't believe Tyler when he says he saw aliens. Keep in mind that Ben 10 largely consisted of Ben, Gwen, and Max fighting aliens and other weird stuff, very publicly, for an entire summer. They were actually DNAliens disguised as police. By that point in the series, there's good chance none of them were human (At least, not anymore).
• Art Evolution: This show sports a noticably different visual style than the classic series, with more proportioned head sizing, simplified hair, some slightly more streamlined angular features, and strangely enough, pants are less baggy.
• Artifact Title: As with the original series, Ben had much more than 10 aliens by the end of the series. He had the ten from the start of the series (sans Alien X), Cannonbolt, Diamondhead, Upchuck, Way Big, Lodestar, Rath, and possibly Ghostfreak, with a grand total of 16 aliens. And that's not if you count the Ultimate forms he gets in the Grand Finale.
  • Also, the titular Alien Force didn't exist at all until the end of the second season.
  • Additionally, Kevin 11 no longer has 11 superpowers (although he did stop using the nickname about the same time as his Heel–Face Turn).
• Artistic License – Biology: The show features numerous human/alien hybrids, biologically impossible enough on its own. One of these had a nonhuman parent of a species made of fire.
  • Though it was later retconned (in Omniverse), since, for instance, Alan Albright was an ordinary human whose DNA was merged with a Pyronite's (Heatblast's species) DNA. All of the other Plumbers' Helpers (with the exception of Cooper) were also normal human beings until they were kidnapped and had their DNA mutated by Servantis, leader of The Rooters.
• Artistic License – Nuclear Physics: Considering that the show's writer, Dwayne McDuffie, has a Master degree in Physics, it's almost clear that this was an intentional joke, since the whole epsiode "Fool's Gold" is one itself. Solid Gold Poop, anyone?
  • The waste of a certain alien when it eats meat is said to be Uranium-1412; an isotope created by the writers, that not only has an incredibly high atomic mass, but also somehow explodes like dynamite when you step on it.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: In this series, this is an interplanetary law, allowing anybody who's powerful enough to beat the strongest person on a planet control over that planet. Vilgax conquers planets this way.
• Asymmetric Dilemma: Ben and Kevin give this example.
  Ben: "...And since I don't have a car—"
  Kevin: "—or a license."
  Ben: "—or a license, I was wondering if you could give us a ride."
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: "Primus" ends with Uber-Vilgax VS Way-Big.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Alien X.
• Badass Boast:
  • In Con of Rath, Ben (as Rath, the Appoplexian) makes such a boast to Jarret, leader of the Pantophage.
    "Lemme tell ya somethin', Jarret of Pantophage! I just jumped down your throat! And if you start a war with Luodans, I'll do it again! Only next time, I'll knit your intestines into a sweater!"
  • "Vengeance of Vilgax": during Part 2's big fight, Vilgax has seemingly won by shattering Chromastone into many pieces, but then the Omnitrix lights up and Ben reforms as Diamondhead.
    "You're in trouble, Vilgax. I've had a lot of practice with this one."
• Badass Long Robe: the Wrench from Season 2's "Voided."
• Badass Normal: Grandpa Max
  • You could say that about Ben's parents as well.
    • Hell, even Julie has her moments.
• Bad Future: "Time Heals".
• Bag of Spilling: At the start of the series the Omnitrix locks all of Ben's old transformations due to disuse. It takes the later seasons of Alien Force and Ultimate Alien for Ben to reclaim all of them, though in the meantime he is mostly happy with his new transformations.
• Beach Episode: In Charm's Way starts off at the beach, including Gwen in a new black bikini.
• Berserk Button: Don't harm a child of his own species in front of Vilgax.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Gwen Tennyson and Grandpa Max, besides the obvious fact that Grandpa Max is a Badass Normal, he's super, super nice to everyone, but when you push his buttons it's not pretty. Same with Gwen, she's the nicest of the Power Trio, but when she blows up, THINGS BLOW UP WITH HER.
• Big Bad: The Highbreeds in the first two seasons and Vilgax in the third.
• Big Damn Heroes: A whole parade for the season finale!
• Big Eater: Upchuck, just like before.
• Big "NO!": Ben has one in "Max Out" when Grandpa Max supposedly kills himself to destroy a DNAlien factory.
• Big Red Button: The Rustbucket has one.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: The ambassador in Con of Rath may be a subversion, as he had tricked the heroes into delivering a baby as a peace offering, fully knowing it would be eaten, and lying to the protagonists about it. However, he did it to stop a war which had cost them greatly.
• Bizarre Alien Biology: The alien vacationers in "Fool's Gold" eat popcorn and excrete Solid Gold Poop. When they eat meat, they instead grow to giant-size and start eating everything in sight before splitting up into a hundred copies. Not only that, but their poop also becomes unstable and very explosive uranium. Ever heard of Mars? They used to call it the Popcorn Planet!
• Blade Brake: Kevin does this on a collapsing space station in the episode "Vendetta".
• Body Backup Drive: The Vreeedle brothers have died repeatedly and come back using expired cloning kits.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Ben as Rath.
• Book Dumb: Kevin, who is not only very clever and resourceful but who is extremely knowledgeable about alien technology and their inner workings, but when it comes to subjects here on Earth he's clueless, due to never actually going to school. Played for laughs in one episode where he attempts to light a match in a cave and doesn't realize the crates around his labelled TNT are filled with explosives, leading to a brief Looney Tunes-esque gag.
• Book Ends: In the first episode of the series, the first transformation Ben uses to fight is Swampfire. In the series finale, Ben uses Swampfire's Ultimate Mode in the last fight of the series.
  • While Ben was wearing the Ultimatrix in the end, the last Omnitrix form he used was also Swampfire. The first season also ends with Swampfire as the last alien, just like in the original series.
• Bored with Insanity: Paradox got bored of going mad after a few thousand years of it, so instead he decided to go sane. Very, very sane.
• Born Winner: Pretty much the big issue Charmcaster has with Gwen, with the whole "stole my spellbook" thing on the side. Charmcaster had to work and study for her magic, while Gwen was born half Anodite, "made of magic", and thus her learning came easier to her.
• Brain Monster: Ben's alien form Brainstorm can open his head to reveal his oversized brain and shoot electricity from it.
• Brainwash Residue: Albedo copies Ben's appearance and Omnitrix. He also gains some of Ben's characteristics, like eating junk food. After having his Omnitrix broken, stuck with Ben's color-swapped form, and taken to prison, he shouts, "BRING ME CHILI FRIES!!!"
• Breaking In Old Habits: One of Ben Ten's alien enemies was trapped in a duplicate of Ben's body. Among his complaints: the hands, which had an alarming tendency to touch "places I suspect are inappropriate."
• Breather Episode: In season one, there's "Pier Pressure" (about Ben getting a date), which comes between "Maxed Out" (in which Grandpa Max apparently dies) and "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" (concerning the aftermath of said event, plus some major revelations about Gwen).
• Calling Your Attacks: In this case, calling your aliens. This may be a compulsion from the Omnitirix: Vilgax's blank DNA robots in the finale do it, but Albedo doesn't when using his copy of the Omnitrix and the Ultimatrix.
  • Rath does a few of these, with the best one being "Serious Sirius Buttkicking!"
• Canon Character All Along: In Voided, D'Void turns out to be Dr. Animo with a power boost.
• Casting Gag:
  • Yuri Lowenthal voicing a character with multiple personas, with battle cries while using them? Weird...
  • Also, both of their first transformations (Swampfire and Orpheus) have fire attacks.
  • Also, regarding the Japanese dubs...Noriaki Sugiyama voices a dark haired Evil Former Friend who's has an Inferiority Superiority Complex towards the main character and pulls a Heel–Face Turn. Are we taking about Kevin, or Sasuke Uchiha?
• The Cavalry: The season 2 premiere, when Ben, Kevin, a Highbreed, and a Plumber Magister are all captured by Michael Morningstar, now known as Darkstar, Gwen leads a squadron of DNAliens into the battle to stop him.
• Character Catchphrase: Rath "Let me tell'ya somethin'"
• Chekhov's Armoury: The War of the Worlds two-parter assembles every ally Ben's made over the first two seasons(Alan, Profesor Paradox, Julie, Ship, Reinrassig III, Manny, Helen, and Pierce) and some old friends as well (Azmuth, Grandpa Max, Cooper) for the final battle with even Darkstar as a Token Evil Teammate. Kevin's habit of putting alien tech in his trunk from The Gauntlet, is revealed to have been used to upgrade his car. Subverted when Gwen manifests her true Anodite form, and doesn't do anything with it.
• Chekhov's Gun: One episode begins with Ben watching a cheesy horror flick where the villain brainwashes a girl’s boyfriend. Later in the episode, the Villain of the Week enacts a similar plan, to which Julie reveals that she too has seen that movie and knows how it ends.(The Power of Love breaks the brainwashing)
• The Chosen One: Ben plays this up and milks it for all its worth. "Ben Tennyson, Wielder of the Omnitrix!"
• Chronically Crashed Car: Kevin's car repeatedly gets destroyed in various ways.
• Claustrophobia: Or as Gwen puts it:
  Gwen: (defensive) "I am so not claustrophobic, I just can't stand to be in tight, closed spaces, okay? (increasingly frantic) You have a problem with that?"
  *Beat*
  Ben: "Ooookay. I think I'll go first..."
• Clear My Name: Ben and team help a Plumber's kid accused of burning Crop Circles into local farmlands, and prove he was innocent.
• Clingy MacGuffin: the Omnitrix.
• Clothes Make the Maniac: An alien cybernetic glove ends up in the hands of a bully Ben has known since childhood.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Ben. It becomes more noticeable as the series progresses.
  • Premium example in the episode where Charmcaster shows up: a Brainwashed Kevin is told to retrieve Gwen, so he deadpans a number of cover-up activities to get her out of the house (stock-car races, going on patrol, going to the planetarium). Instead of realizing that something's up, he reacts hilariously enthusiastically to every suggestion.
    Ben: "I bet I'd be a great race car driver! * Vrrroooooom!* "
• Combo Platter Powers: All of the Alien Force alien forms to various extents, particularly Swampfire (who has plant- and fire-based powers), Big Chill (who has flight, intangibility, and ice breath), and Echo-Echo (who has sonic screams and duplication).
• Comic-Book Adaptation: Alien Force stories were featured in Cartoon Network Action Pack, the last comic book series consisting of comic stories based on Cartoon Network shows published by DC Comics.
• Coming of Age Story: The first two seasons are about Ben and Gwen (and Kevin) becoming more accomplished superheroes with 5 more years of experience under their belts. For Ben especially, he does his best to fill the shoes that Grandpa Max left behind, first when the latter disappeared, and the second when the latter was exiled to the Null Void.
• Context-Sensitive Button: The Rustbucket at times.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Ben encounters other aliens and/or people which bear the same forms as his younger self was able to pull from the Omnitrix at the time. Often refered to with the names Ben gave them.
  • A couple of old photos show up with Ben and Gwen in their original outfits.
  • Kevin's criminal past and time in the Null Void are often alluded to.
  • Ben's soccer jersey is the same shirt design he wore during the original series.
  • In What Are Little Girls Made Of? Gwen's Lucky Girl mask shows up in her drawer of magic items and Verdona references Max's love of the band Shag Carpeting.
  • In Plumber's Helpers Piece's records have have several of Ben's original aliens drawn to match their appearances in the original series.
  • When discussing Seven Seven, Ben brings up Six Six.
  • Magister Gilhil mentions Azmuth in Darkstar Rising and the old Galvan returns in Good Copy, Bad Copy.
  • Both Gwen and Ben reference the Zs'Skayr/Ghostfreak attempted takeover in Save the Last Dance when they suspect Big Chill is trying the same thing.
  • Undercover features the return of Cooper Daniels and Ben references his involvement in Ben 10 vs the Negative 10. Los Soladad also reappears from from Paradox as the DN Alien base.
  • Vilgax is named dropped by Ben and Gwen in Grounded
  • Voided has a ton of them. The Null Void and Null Guardians return from Back with a Vengeance, with Ben referencing his involuntary visit there. Dr Animo makes his return as D'Void, recognizing Ben and Grandpa Max from their past clashes. Even Grandpa Max's bizarre taste in cooking is given a nod.
  • War Of The Worlds has Azmuth referencing the time he told Ben the the Secret of the Omnitrix and Ben guesses a total of 10,000 aliens species in the Omnitrix, alluding to his future self Ben 10,000. The Mount Rushmore Plumber base returns from the Original Series with the same control room seen in Ben 10 vs the Negative 10. The Omnitrix Master Control returns and after Ben loses it, Azmuth once again declines to unlock it and leaves Ben to figure it out himself. Ben transforms into his three of his old aliens, Cannonbolt, Upchuck, and Waybig, with the red recharge mode showing up as well.
  • Several villains introduced in the original series such as Vulkanus (though he appeared in an earlier episode), Zs'Skayr/Ghostfreak and Charmcaster have returned in Season 3, the latter mentioning Ben and Gwen's former encounters with her.
  • Ultimos and the Galactic Enforcers are shown defeated by Vilgax in The Vengence of Vilgax Part 1
  • Time Heals starts off with Gwen back in her old Lucky Girl costume, "acquiring" the Archamada Book Of Spells.
  • The Secret of Chromastone brings back Tetrax Shard in the Resolute and the episode revolves around him atoning for giving Vilgax the means to destroy Petropia as first established in Secrets of the Omnitrix. Vilgax's old battleship appears in Tetrax's flashback, although Vilgax has a differnt design. Once again,as in Side Effects, Ben's aliens are affected by him having a cold.
  • The Final Battle Part 1 brings back Kraab, last seen in the Original Series season one's Hunted, and Azmuth's assistant Myaxx from Secret of the Omnitrix.
  • In The Final Battle Part 2 Vilgax gets the Omnitrix and uses it to create an army as he envisioned way back in the Season one finale of the Original Series. When Ben activates the self-destruct on the Omnitrix, Vilgax bring up the fact it would destroy the universe while Ben notes it would take a couple of days to build up enough charge for that referencing how it nearly went off in Secrets of the Omnitrix.
• Cool Car: The Rustbucket, and Kevin's Car
  • Subverted with Gwen's brother's car, the Awesomemobile.
• Cool Ship: Ship, the Galvanic Mechamorph.
• Cooldown Hug: Kevin to Gwen in the Season 2 Finale
• Costumes Change Your Size: Ben's DN Alien disguise makes him noticeably taller.
• Could Have Been Messy
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Ben, especially by Season 3.
• Cursed with Awesome: As of Season 3, Kevin is stuck in an ugly composite form, made of stone, crystal, metal, and wood, with no way of changing back to his normal human form. On the other hand, now he can turn his limbs into hammers and other weapons a la Metamorpho, and has been far more effectual in combat as a result.
• Cuteness Proximity: Even Rath has to admit that the marshmallow-looking alien baby is cute.
• Darker and Edgier: Literally and figuratively. Is it ever even day in this show?
  • The implication is that this show isn't happening during summer break this time, so the heroes are usually at school in the daytime.
• Death by Origin Story: Devin Levin
• Did You Get a New Haircut?: Word for word, by Argit on seeing Season 3 Kevin. Twice (in "Simple" and "Con of Rath").
• Discard and Draw: The series finale sees Ben destroy the Omnitrix via voice-activated self destruct. By the end, it's replaced with the Ulti-Matrix.
• Disapproving Look: Ben gave one to Kevin for stealing from a Forever Knight castle.
• Downer Ending: The episode "Simple" has Ben answering an alien girl's request to come to her planet and end the war going on between the blue people and the red people. By the end of the episode, Ben gets both sides mad at him for accidentally destroying the statue of a person they respect. To add insult to injury, the little girl who asked Ben to stop the war decides that she hates Ben even more than the war. Downplayed in that the girl finds a treasure chest full of riches Kevin left behind.
• Dungeonmaster's Girlfriend: Julie
• Dying Race: The Highbreed are revealed to be this in the second season finale as their obsession with racial purity has rendered them sterile and on the verge of extinction. This was resolved when Ben used the Omnitrix to repair their genetic damage by fusing them with random samples of alien DNA.
• Egopolis: Vilgaxia? Seriously?? The only thing missing are ridiculous statues and art of their "king".
  • It was named by the people because he is surprisingly benevolent to his own kind.
• Eating the Enemy: In the finale, Vilgax's ship crashes into the ocean during his fight with Ben who just acquired the Ultimatrix. But with the ship submerged, Vilgax is able to assume his One-Winged Angel form, a giant squid monster. He then captures and swallows Ben. But fortunately, Ben was able to somehow escape and emerge from the water as Jetray.
• Eats Babies: From "Con of Rath", Rath!Ben jumps down the Pantophage ruler's throat (to retrieve a baby prince, of course), then threatens to do it again and knit his intestines into a sweater if he doesn't agree to a peace treaty with the Luodans.
  Eating. Babies. Is NOT. COOL!
• Embarrassing Middle Name: Kevin Ethan Levin, or "Kevin E. Levin". Ben wastes no time in mocking him when he finds out.
  • Which is especially amusing considering that Ben's own middle name is Kirby.
• Empathic Weapon: The Omnitrix.
• Enemy Mine:
  • In "Alone Together", Ben and a Highbreed have to work together when they get sent to another planet and have to find their way home. In the end, the Highbreed stays behind as he believes Ben "infected him" with human emotions after he saves Ben's life. In the Season 2 Finale, Rhiney, said Highbreed, comes around and returns to his home, at the most opportune moment to convince the Highbreed to stop the invasion.
  • Happens briefly in an earlier episode, when Ben & company must work with a Plumbers Magister AND THE D.N.ALIENS to defeat Darkstar.
  • Also, in the Season 2 Finale, the team recruits Darkstar for their attack on the Highbreed headquarters.
  • More surprisingly, Ben teams up with Vilgax of all people to fight Ghostfreak!
  • Kevin and Darkstar to solve their mutual problem with freaky appearance.
    • But by the end of the episode, they're back to square one.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Vilgax may be a world-conquering bastard, but he still cares about his own kind. Especially children. Although, some would consider it Villain Decay on his part, especially since he showed no signs of this in the original series.
• Evil Debt Collector: The Vreedle Brothers, sent by one of Upgrade's species to retrieve Ship, whom he dumped on Ben in season 1.
• Evil Is Petty: The Highbreed consider themselves a Master Race want to obliterate all other species in the universe (like some people), but that's not petty enough. They are attacking not out of their self-proclaimed dominance, but because their consistent purifying their genre pool has left them incapable of further reproduction and they can't stand the thought of other species outliving them.
• Eviler than Thou: The Highbreed. While Vilgax merely wants to conquer every planet in the galaxy, The Highbreed want to cleanse the ''universe'' of all other races not to mention that Word of God states that they are far more powerful than Vilgax.
• Exposed Extraterrestrials: Gwen's grandmother. Of course, her entire body is luminescent.
• Expy:
  • Swampfire looks like a DNA Digivolve of Heatblast and Wildvine, but he is still a very popular alien form regardless.
    • And he has Benmummy/Snare-Oh's regeneration.
  • Similarly, Ghostfreak + Arctiguana = Big Chill.
  • Humungousaur is part strong guy (Four Arms) and part really-big guy (Waybig), who returns in season 3, yet sees little actual use, thanks to the Omnitrix's attitude.
  • Echo Echo is basically Ditto without the Animaniacness but with Blitzwolfer-esque sonic powers.
  • Chromastone replaces Diamondhead. This is flipped around in Season 3.
  • Brainstorm combines Grey Matter's brains (but not his lack of size) with psycho-electric powers that are a tiny bit like Frankenstrike's.
  • Jetray replaces Stinkfly as "the flying one", and can apparently swim to make up for a lack of Ripjaws.
    • He also has XLR8's speed, and Eye Guy's eye lasers.
  • Spidermonkey has the other part of Fourarms (having.. four arms), but is more of a Lightning Bruiser, with Spider-Man's primary gimmicks.
  • Also, Paradox may be somewhere between an Expy of and an extended homage to Doctor Who.
    • Homage to be sure. He actually says the (fourth) Doctor's iconic "I walk in eternity" line. And he's played by David "Ducky" McCallum. So is thus made of pure awesome.
    • He also resembles Dr Manhattan, with the glowy blue pulled out to form a new character. He even transports our heroes off Earth for a bit.
    • He may also be a homage to Walker from the Nightside series, owing to that pocket-watch with shortcuts to every where and when, and the smart suit he wears. If only he had a cane, though...
  • Besides the aliens, the Power Trio has its dynamic shift a little- Ben has become more like his grandpa, mature and level-headed, while the roguish and hotheaded Kevin resembles younger Ben. Gwen is about the same, though a little less bratty.
    • This is averted in Season 3 where Ben, Gwen, and Kevin act more like their own respective younger incarnations from the Original Series.
  • On top of that, Seven-Seven is just Six-Six with a better arsenal. In fact, in a marathon of the original series, they mention Seven-Seven is Six-Six's brother, so he's not so much an expy as he is an older brother.
  • The Con of Rath introduces us to a new Omnitrix alien: a broad-shouldered, feral savage with a quick temper, razor-sharp claws jutting from his knuckles, and a tendency to solve everything with violence. Sound familiar?
    • The same episode also features a new villain, Jarret, King of the Pantaphage: a large, red, demonic overlord with long white hair. Kinda sounds like Trigon to me...
  • Darkstar in his debut resembles Slade with Raven's powers... technically he had the same powers he did as Morningstar, but with the FX now resembling Raven's Zinthos-mojo.
    • But his habit of wearing a helmet is more like Doctor Doom.
  • The Highbreed, a race of super powerful aliens made of "perfect DNA" who hold utter disdain for anything even remotely different from them, declaring all out war on the universe in order to eradicate any species that is not a Highbreed.
• Extra-Strength Masquerade: Like its predecessor, the show is really inconsistent with regards to whether the existence of aliens, robots, and mutants is commonly accepted knowledge, or whether such things are supposed to be regarded as myth by the general public.
• Extremophile Lifeforms: Features a planet that is sun-blasted on one side and ludicrously cold on the other, leaving a small barely-habitable band in the center. Ben asks who would want to live there; the answer is the Necrofridgians, or the mothlike Big Chill species.
• Eye-Dentity Giveaway: All of Ben's aliens share his green eye colour (when their eyes are visible, at least), including appearances of ten-year-old Ben's aliens in Ultimate Alien and Omniverse that originally did not. In the finale, Gwen identifies Swampfire as Ben via his green eyes rather than his Evil Twin Albedo's red.
• Faceless Goons: The DNAliens are a literal example, since they have no face
• Family-Unfriendly Death: The pilot depicts a Forever Knight dying by being disintegrated in the explosion of his own dysfunctional weapon. As he dies, you can see his skeleton as he is disappearing. As if it was not enough, it is revealed mid-season that the DNAliens, the Hightbreeds' minions who the heroes frequently killed, are actually mutated humans themselves. Especially considering Darkstar is seen sucking their innards out in one episode.
  • The premiere episode had a scene that averted the Bloodless Carnage trope on a TV-Y7-FV rating. Specifically, after a particularly intense fight, Ben looks to the stomach of the alien helping him, saying "your suit is leaking water". The alien puts his hand to the bluish liquid, brings it up within view of the camera, and gravely mumbles "that's not water" before falling down into his death throes.
• Fanservice Pack: Myaxx from the alien force finale. She went from basically pre-exploded Vilgax with a female voice, to suddenly growing breasts, and resembling Max's old flame Xylene in appearance.
• Fantastic Racism: The Highbreed, who served as Big Bad of the first two seasons, looked down on any and all non-Highbreeds, especially humans, viewing them all as mongrels and vermin. They didn't even try to hide it: the Highbreed Commander that Ben fought in the pilot episode openly and relentlessly insulted him with remarks like "filth" and "scum", and when Ben bit his hand to escape a Neck Lift, freaked out and declared that Ben had "infected" him. Unusually, they were content to merely avoid contact with other species in the past. The reason they started their campaign to "cleanse" the universe is because they discovered that their species has become sterile and will go extinct in a generation or two. They just can't stand the idea of "inferior" beings outliving them. However, using the Omnitrix to hybridize them and cure their genetic damage, Ben convinces the Highbreed to drop their villainous ways and reform.
• Filler: The entire second half of Season 1 (From Ep 7, "Pier Pressure" onwards). Season 3 is also riddled with this.
• Flanderization: By season 3, Gwen went from calm, mature and responsible with occasional Tsundere outbursts to stern, serious, but short-tempered, stubborn, moody and snarky.
• Foreshadowing: Max warns Devin against absorbing energy to stop Ragnarok, hinting at how the following season would reveal that energy absorbian has an adverse effect on Osmosians.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble:
  • Ben's team:
    • Ben (sanguine): A compassionate, charming, cheerful, idealistic leader.
    • Gwen (melancholic): A studious, even-tempered, loyal cousin and girlfriend.
    • Kevin (choleric): A hot-headed and brash young man.
    • Grandpa Max (phlegmatic): A wise, mature, Old Master who usually lets the kids handle things.
  • Pierce's team:
    • Pierce (melancholic): A focused, task-oriented, dutiful leader.
    • Helen (sanguine): An extroverted, idealistic and people-oriented Nice Girl.
    • Manny (choleric): A strong-willed yet short-tempered Big Guy.
    • Grandpa Max (phlegmatic): The Old Master assisting and overlooking the team, since Ben's team can usually handle things on their own without him.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Cooper.
• Genius Loci: The planet Primus, source of the Omnitrix's alien DNA samples. The planet itself displays no signs of this, but Azmuth claims that it is in fact alive.
• Girliness Upgrade: While Gwen wasn't that much of a tomboy in the original series, she clearly became more girly in Alien Force, being provided a new outfit including a skirt.
• Go Back to the Source: The Omnitrix must on occasion return to Primus, an artificial planet that holds the universe's DNA bank.
• Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: In the series finale, Albedo's eyes glow red in his alien forms. Gwen uses this fact to recognize Ben as Swampfire at the end, because his eyes are still green.
• Grand Finale: Aptly titled "The Final Battle"
• Green-Skinned Space Babe: Verdona (except purple...and being an energy being, having no actual skin; just a vaguely female-humanoid shape)
• Half-Human Hybrid: Most of the characters introduced in this series and even retconned in for the main characters.
• He Is Not My Boyfriend: Gwen says that to people when Kevin says that Ben is Gwen's boyfriend. Obviously, that is SO not true.
• Heel–Face Turn: Kevin, who also counts as a Heel–Face Return.
• Heel–Race Turn: The Highbreed, after Ben saved their species from extinction.
• Here We Go Again!: The end of the Season 2 Finale ends with the Omnitrix reset, leaving Ben with 10 completely new aliens, yet again.
  • Retconned as of Season 3. See Red Herring down below.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Quite a few actually,
  • In the second episode, the Plumber agent saves Kevin's life, but tears his suit- since he doesn't breathe air, he dies. This is considered part of the reason Kevin agrees to help Ben for the rest of the series.
  • Later on Max uses a weapon to send all of the D.N.Aliens and the Highbreed in the area, along with himself to the Null Void saving Ben and his friends.
  • Before that Devin Levin saved Max by jumping in front of a lethal blast from Ragnarok
• Hoax Hogan: The series introduces Rath, a tiger-like alien whose personality is based off of Hulk Hogan and fights using wrestling moves like Piledrivers and Armbars.
• Hypocritical Humor: Kevin's mocking of Ben, Gwen and Ken's names. In If All Else Fails, we learn the name of his father: Devin. And then in the Ben 10,000 future arc, his future son is named Devlin.
• Humanoid Aliens: Many of the Omnitrix aliens, as well as many other aliens in the show. Averted with many other Starfish Aliens however, such as Brainstorm and Ghostfreak.
• I Choose to Stay: Max says he could've left the Null Void as soon as he got there, but he opted to stay when he saw what D'Void had been doing to the locals and led the effort to stop him. He remains behind at the end of "Voided" to finish fixing things, though he returns home for good at the end of the season.
• Idiot Ball: Ben's parents in "Grounded" apparently have a matching pair. Yes, Ben lied to you. Oddly enough, not actually the most important detail in that conversation. That freak-out you're currently experiencing? That's WHY he's been lying to you.
  • Not to mention Cash and J.T. in "The Gauntlet", who apparently decide that this is a good plan:
    J.T.: You mess up Kevin's car, and everyone will know you're bad-the baddest in town! They'll be talking about it for years.
  • Albedo, for believing Vilgax when he said he was no longer interested in the Omnitrix after years of pursuing it.
    • Everyone on this show is gonna get a chance to hold the Idiot Ball at some point.
• If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: Gwen's afraid of this happening to Kevin in "Vendetta"
• I Hate Past Me: Ben's...not so amazed at the maturity of his younger self.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: In "Pet Project", Ship is kidnapped by the Forever Knights to be used as a Anterian Obliterator and goes Brainwashed and Crazy due to the effects of a mind-control chip implanted in him by Joseph Chadwick. When Ben Gwen Kevin and Julie arrive at the Forever Knights' lair to rescue lair, Ship attacks them in his Anterian Obliterator form and manages to corner them. As he is about to kill them, Julie uses the Power of Friendship to appeal to Ship and frees him from Chadwick's control.
• Impairment Shot: Tyler's view of the road blurs and doubles in "Inside Man".
  • Kevin after getting zapped by a device in "Trade Off"
• Imported Alien Phlebotinum: The Omnitrix.
• Ink-Suit Actor: According to a source, Ben's parents in this series were designed from and voiced by their live action counterparts from Race Against Time.
• Innocuously Important Episode: A few of the Filler episodes in Season 1 covertly set up some important details for later.
  • "Pier Pressure": though important for Ben and Julie getting to know each other, it also introduces Ship. The little guy wanders off in the end and is generally forgotten about like any other one-shot character, but he returns in "Pet Project" and will be how Julie takes part in the final battle against the Highbreed.
  • "Paradox": the main action occurs in Los Soledad, which is where the Highbreed later set up shop to build a jump gate for their invasion fleet.
  • "Plumbers' Helpers": Helen and Manny enter the Null Void to fix their mistakes, which later results in Ben learning that Max is Not Quite Dead.
• Instant Expert: Alan the half-Pyronite in the teaser, has trouble flying. By the end of act 1, he's trick flying and Jetray is having trouble keeping up with him. For that matter, he flies better than Ben ever did onscreen as Heatblast...
  • Not to mention Ben seeming to automatically know what his powers are when transforming into a new alien.
    • This could be because of the "updates" the Omnitrix received at the premiere, he had no clue in the original series.
• Jerkass: Argit
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Kevin
• Kid Hero: Downplayed from the original, as he is older, but still present as Ben is not yet an adult.
• Kids Driving Cars: In one episode, 15 year old Ben Tennyson reveals he got taught to drive in emergencies even though he has yet to try out for his license.
• Kid With The Remote Control: Julie to Ship.
• Killed Off for Real: The Vreedle brothers; see Cloning Blues above.
  • Kevin's dad.
• Last Day of Normalcy: The first episode gives not only a glimpse of Ben's regular life (playing soccer at school), but also of Grandpa Max, Gwen and Kevin's. Ben goes to visit his grandfather at the trailer camp Max is living now to find a weird alien there and his grandpa's message about the Omnitrix. He goes to see Gwen in a karate competition, showing they became a lot closer; that's when they meet Magister Labrid, whom (after a short misunderstanding) asks their help to solve the case Max has been working on. They find out that Kevin (who is human again), is still involved in shady schemes, as when they were children.
• Large Ham: Omnitrix-newbie Rath. To quote his lesson for the episode:
  Eating. Babies. Is NOT. COOL!
• Lawful Stupid: Alien X again. His mind is typically made up of a voice of rage and aggression and a voice of love and compassion. Without Ben as the voice of reason, they are too busy debating what to do next for Alien X to even move. This is not as in "just stands there" as much as it means "frozen in the exact same position, not even able to walk or blink." And they have been doing this since at least the extinction of the dinosaurs.
• Leitmotif: A snippet of the original Ben 10 theme song describing Ben can be heard in the theme song.
• Lending a Backhand: The episode "Ghost Town" has Vilgax teaming up with the heroes against Ghostfreak. After Ghostfreak possesses Ben, Vilgax cannot resist the urge to fight both of his greatest enemies in one body and goes all out on him. When Gwen tries to interfere, Vilgax knocks her out. After the fight is over, Vilgax claims if he hadn't taken Gwen out of the fight, then Ghostfreak would have killed her.
• Lighthearted Rematch: Ben and Kevin have a playful fight, five years after they spent several months fighting each other with extreme enmity. Of course, that's mainly because Kevin is a drastically different character in this series.
• Love Redeems: Kevin to a lesser extent. According to the writers of FusionFall his fondness for Gwen is keeping him in check.
• Lovable Rogue: Kevin
• Loyal Phlebotinum: The Omnitrix proves to be this after Vilgax successfully steals it, but Ben is still the only one who can activate it.
• Magic Pants: AKA The "Broadcast Standards and Practices Modesty and Y-7 Rating Preserver." AKA, Kevin's unexplained black underpants in season 3.
• Magic Skirt: Though Gwen wore tights, too, so even if her skirt were to fly up, we still wouldn't get a panty shot.
• Make Me Wanna Shout: Echo Echo's other power, besides duplication. They can also transfer the concussive wave across speakers or amplify it by shouting through each-other.
• The Man Behind the Curtain: Double-subverted with D'Void, who turns out to be Dr. Animo within moments of talk that D'Void was invincible; he shook off Ben easily, thanks to newfound power, which turned out to be from the drill (which of course was later destroyed).
• Mana: The force used for magic and energy powers.
• Matchlight Danger Revelation: Subverted in one episode where they're in a dark cavern & Kevin lights a match to see, revealing that the chamber is filled with crates of TNT. Gwen immediately blows the match out before it can set off the explosives. Annoyed, Kevin tries to light another match, only for Ben to blow that one out too. Apparently Kevin's not a very fast learner.
  • Subverted in the season 3 premiere, where Ben goes Swampfire...in the methane-filled sewer tunnels.
• Meaningful Name: The Incursion Empire, a warmongering species.
  • Pretty much all the alien species names, such as Rath the Apoplexian.
  • The High Breed call themselves that because, obviously, they think their race is superior. However, it takes on a second meaning when in order to allow the species to breed, Ben uses the Omnitrix to mix their DNA with a variety of different alien DNAs, making them a Hybrid species.
  • The Ulti-Matrix, which can evolve it's aliens to their highest forms.
  • Kevin's full name is revealed in Alien Force. Kevin means 'handsome', while his middle name, Ethan, is 'strong'. His last name, Levin, is a form of Lewin, which means 'beloved friend'. Guess how Gwen sees him?
  • Albedo is the measure of the reflecting power of a surface, just as Albedo is a reflection of Ben; albeit in a funhouse mirror.
• Mentor Occupational Hazard Subverted by Grandpa Max, who despite performing a Heroic Sacrifice, turns out to have simply been transported to the Null Void.
• Messiah Creep: Ben- "No sacrifices."
• Micro Monarchy: Zanovia, the European monarchy that called in Ben and his team to help with a revolution brewing.
• Mind Rape: Ken Tennyson
  • By extension, any human turned into a DNAlien.
• Mister Seahorse: Ben himself in the form of Big Chill in Save the Last Dance.
• Mooks: The DNAliens
• The Movie: Alien Swarm.
• Ms. Fanservice: Gwen appears a couple of times in revealing bikinis.
• My Little Panzer: The robot that can shapeshift, mimic other peoples abilities and combine them? It's a childs toy from several physical dimensions over.
• The Name Is Bond, James Bond: In Episode 15, "Alone Together" Ben introduces himself to a Highbreed as "Ben; Ben Tennyson". From that point on the Highbreed addresses him as "Benben Tennyson".
  • "Rhiney" continues to do this in future appearances.
• My Name Is Inigo Montoya: Kevin says the whole line to Ragnarok. Verbatim.
• Mythology Gag: After "Vegenance of Vilgax" ends with Ben winning, Max tells the villain to leave on the basis of rules ratified by the Casey-Kelly Accords. The name comes from two of the original series' co-creators, Joe Casey and Joe Kelly.
  • Ben's soccer uniform that's first seen in the first episode is designed after the shirt he wore when he was ten.
• Name Amnesia: Professor Paradox long forgot his name due to the countless eons he had spent trapped outside of time. He renames himself "Professor Paradox".
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Ragnarok
• Never the Selves Shall Meet: In Time Heals. Averted when Gwen travels back to the season premiere to keep Kevin from mutating, and literally when she arrives in the new present, where her alternate self was previously killed in battle by Charmcaster.
• New Super Power: Played with. Many new aliens are simply combinations of the older ones so it seems like an aversion. However...
  • Despite being a combination between Heatblast and Wildvine, Swampfire is the first alien to actively manipulate plants ^note Wildvine was limited to manipulating his own plant-based body.
  • Humungousaur is a Sizeshifter (not that it comes up much).
  • Big Chill is a downplayed case. He's a combination of Ghostfreak and Articguana but Articguana was only an alien Ben 10,000 had so while he isn't the first alien in the series to be An Ice Person, he is chronologically the first alien Ben has that has cryokinesis.
  • Chromastone is also downplayed. He is the first alien to use Energy Absorption but in a later episode, Diamondhead also reveals that he can use the ability but never used it in the original series.
  • Spidermonkey's main ability is Projectile Webbing though that's given he's an Expy of Spiderman instead of being a Suspiciously Similar Substitute of other aliens.
  • Alien X is a Reality Warper, which of course has the potential for a slew of other abilities.
  • Lodestar adds Magnetism Manipulation to Ben's arsenal of powers.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Quite literally in the Season 3 when the trio overload the watch trying to get it to access more alien forms (granted it was well intentioned). Gwen also pulls one in "Time Heals" via time travel.
• Nigh-Invulnerable: Alien X. Good thing too, considering the Voices are too concerned with debating to walk.
  • Lodestar is also about as invincible.
• No Indoor Voice. RATH.
• Non-Linear Character: Paradox.
• Noodle Incident: In "Fool's Gold," when explaining what happens to his species when they eat meat, Orb says, "ever wonder what happened to Mars? It used to be called The Popcorn Planet."
• Not Brainwashed: The Plumbers' Helpers thought Ben was Brainwashed and Crazy when he went on a destructive rampage in "Above And Beyond". Except that he wasn't; he was actually pretending to test them as a team.
• Not Quite Dead: Grandpa Max's Heroic Sacrifice in "Max Out" had actually sent him into the Null Void, as learned in Voided.
• No Kissing: Gwen/Kevin shippers have speculated through the entire season if/when Gwen and Kevin would get an on screen kiss. Dwayne McDuffie continually stated it would always stay off the airwaves. Subverted. It eventually happens at the end of the series finale. Kevin regains his human form after the original Omnitrix was destroyed and Gwen indulges in a "victory kiss".
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: The final battle with Vilgax involves Vilgax going One-Winged Angel...and we don't actually get to see the fight and Ben defeats him offscreen...
• Omniscient Database: Somewhat subverted; the Codon Stream on planet Primus is the actual source of the Omnitrix's DNA samples; the Omnitrix itself is a sort of wireless reciever.
• One-Winged Angel: Both the heroic and evil versions. And the heroic version, Alien X, is both played straight and nastily subverted.
• Palette Swap: Albedo becomes a non-videogame example after his copy Omnitrix is damaged.
• Papa Wolf: Rath, when he rescues the Lewodan Prince Tiffin.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Two issues of the Tie In Comic have plots predicating on this.
  • Bad Boy has Kevin posing as Ben by wearing his jacket and taping his Plumber badge to his wrist to simulate an Omnitrix. The DNAliens he’s dealing with are utterly fooled.
  • The later issue Double Trouble has Albedo pose as Ben in front of his parents. No, he doesn’t hide any of his differently coloured features, or his personality. Ben’s parents are liberal enough to accept that Ben’s going through changes.
• Paradox Person: A monster from 50 years in the past that accelerates time destroying a town and Ben and the gang is told the creature does not hold order in the time stream by a being whose existence himself is like a paradox.
• Parental Bonus: In the episode "The Gauntlet," Ben brings juice for Kevin and Gwen. Kevin dismissively tells him to go away, so Ben sets the drinks down, but on second thought grabs Kevin's drink and says, "No juice for you!" This is a reference to the Seinfeld episode "The Soup Nazi," in which the eponymous character's catchphrase is "NO SOUP FOR YOU!" when proper etiquette is not followed at his soup stand.
• Penal Colony: In the episode Voided, it's revealed the Null Void was originally created by the Galvans as one of these, and while there are still prisons there for the more dangerous criminals, several land masses are actually inhabited by the now peaceful descendants of the original prisoners.
• Pet the Dog: In two episodes in a row, a featured villain (Charmcaster and Vilgax) save the life of a child (Charmcaster levitates a boy away from being hit by a truck, and Vilgax defends one of his species' children from Ghostfreak's minions.) The two still engage in evil-doing afterwards, though.
• Phrase Catcher:
  Ben: <some joking and/or bitter remark about Kevin being an ex-villain>
  Kevin: "Let it go, Tennyson/Ben."
• Pinocchio Nose: Kevin claims that Ben's left eyelid twitches when he lies. Fortunately, so does his Evil Twin.
• Plant Aliens: Swampfire is one.
• Plot Hole: A number of these have popped up in the series and usually come with a Retcon, but others aren't patched up. One example being Vilgax getting the Omnitrix and being unable to use it. Even though in the first series he had extensive knowledge of the Omnitrix, even in the series finale of Alien Force he had better understanding of it than in the earlier episode.
  • There are a few situations where Ben transforms in public without compromising his secret identity. This is particularly the case with "The Gauntlet", where a fight scene happens near a Mister Smoothy, with either none of the townsfolk leaving the scene, or the few that stayed being there long enough to see Ben transform into Chromastone or back.
• Plucky Girl: Julie. Gotta give the girl some credit for how she handles the whole alien thing.
• Pluto Is Expendable: Because "it was a dwarf planet".
• Poor Communication Kills: Gwen never mentions to her Mode Locked boyfriend, even in passing, that she's been constantly searching for a way to help him.
• Power Copying: See All Your Powers Combined.
• Power Echoes
• Power Trio: Ben, Gwen, Kevin
• Pride Before a Fall: Ben's cocky attitude, which began coming about after saving the world from the Highbreed, is a prime example. His ego results in the Omnitrix resetting to its faulty first series self, as well as turning Kevin into another amalgamated monster.
• Product Placement: Most likely accidental; Mr. Smoothie is a real franchise of juice bars in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, and coming soon in Ohio.
• Psychotic Smirk: Ben wears one in "Above and Beyond" when he starts attacking the Plumber recruits.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: After a particularly bad Omnitrix malfunction:
  Ben: YOU! ARE A PIECE! OF JUNK!
• Punny Name: One of the Plumbers' Kids has pointy spines...and is named Pierce. His sister Helen Wheels (hell on wheels) and her partner Manny Armstrong, who, as a Tetramand, has many arms that are indeed strong. There's also Kevin E. Levin,and Rath, who's species is known as "Apoplexian".
• Rapid Aging: This happens to Kevin in the episode "Paradox" when he tries to punch an interdimensional creature and becomes an old man. Paradox is somewhat affected as well as he says he can still feel the eons passing. However, since he exists outside of time, it doesn't do anything to him.
• Reality Warper: Alien X. Too bad the Voices are indecisive to the point of inaction.
• Really 700 Years Old: Professor Paradox is over a million years old due to his time outside of reality which made him biologically immortal.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: When Ship is being repossessed, Kevin and Ben go to the Judge who issued the order, one of Raff's species. Despite Kevin insisting on doing the talking, Ben tries to smooth talk his way out, and ends up making the situation worse, and destroys the Judge's bench. The Judge also recognizes Kevin, having tried him for numerous crimes. Despite all these mishaps, the Judge mostly keeps a straight face, and rules in favor of Ben, because he did just save the universe.
• Red Herring: At the end of Season 2, Ben supposedly had 10 completely different aliens. However, in Season 3, he still has all the aliens from the previous seasons (except maybe Alien X), in addition to Cannonbolt, Upchuck and Way Big ( also, Diamondhead replaces Chromastone if you count the premiere's ending). This could be that Ben was able to modify the Omnitrix and give it aliens he's previously transformed into. Otherwise, damn you, Second-Hand Storytelling!
  • With how different many of the 'returning' aliens look in Season 3, it could be Ben dialed one up and had a cloudlander moment so he didn't recognize the differences.
• Reformation Acknowledgement:
  • In "Kevin's Big Score", Ben is still distrustful of Kevin, while Gwen insists that he has changed. Ben's suspicions seem confirmed when Kevin steals Max's Rust Bucket; actually, Kevin planned to exchange the alien tech of the RV for a holo-message Max left for Ben, which is in possession of Vulkanus, but Argit steals the Rust Bucket from him. Without anything to offer, Kevin tries to negotiate with Vulcanus, just to be imprisoned and tortured; fortunately, Ben and Gwen have followed Kevin and save him from the alien criminal. When Ben asks Kevin why he didn't tell him about the holo-message, Kevin replies that Ben never would believe him because of his past. Ben replies that it doesn't matter what Kevin did, but what he is going to do.
  • The situation repeats in "Darkstar Rising", when Magister Prior Ghihil forbids the trio from fighting aliens; of course, he is especially harsher to Kevin because of criminal record. He changes his opinion when they are kidnapped by Darkstar and Kevin shows his values helping to free Ghihil and neutralize the real villain.
• Remember the New Guy?: Ken, Gwen's older brother who was never mentioned or even suggested she even had any siblings up to that only episode he has appeared in. Although he was referenced in the Pop-Up Trivia for the Original Series episode "Lucky Girl", suggesting he always existed in the series bible and just never came for some reason. The lack of any follow up episodes dosn't help though.
• The Remnant: A variation in "If All Else Fails". A Highbreed commander had been chosen when the war still raged to stay in a hibernation-like state on Earth, to awake only should his kind lose the war. An earthquake awoke him however, and thinking he was woken up due to the Highbreed losing the fight (which was actually resolved peacefully), the commander unleashed a fail-safe doomsday weapon on all of humankind. It wasn't until the new Highbreed Supreme briefed him on the situation and ordered him to stop the weapon that he ceased acting as an antagonist to the main cast.
• Retcon: Just a few major examples:
  • Pretty much everything about Kevin as his backstory, species, and his power's origin have been altered for the series.
    • He is now an Alien hybrid with the ability to absorb a shell of material around his body instead of a mutant that has the ability of absorbing, storing, and redirecting energy (though Word of God stated he's always been able to absorb matter and energy).
    • His dad is revealed to be a Plumber that he got his powers from, but it's specifically stated before in the original series that his powers were a mutation that nobody knew the cause of, and it's what caused his parents to kick him out.
    • A lot of these retcons about Kevin (except maybe his step-dad) were in fact retconned as untrue in Omniverse. Kevin didn't have a father who was a Plumber and that was just a fake memory implanted in him and Max in between the original series and AF by a group called the Rooters so that Kevin would get close to Ben and Max would look after him. He's also not an Alien hybrid, and Osmosian is just a term with someone with a special ability they were born with like Kevin's absorption (though everyone else who also fits this description on the show is still labeled as a mutant for whatever reason).
  • In "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", it was stated all magic is really reality-warping scifi-powers caused by aliens, though they've since backtracked somewhat on this and Gwen even still has Charmcaster's spellbook and now the Archamada Book Of Spells. McDuffie also said Hex and Charmcaster are human practitioners of magic, though it's since been revealed that Hex and Charmcaster themselves are from another dimension. Admittedly Verdona says nothing about magic not existing and the guy who does say it isn't particularly knowledable on the subject, so it possible the Retcon was just a misreading of the episode. Later episodes have Gwen explictly using magic in any case.
    • Related to this is the status of Verdona. In "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", we find out she's alive (and the reason for Gwen's powers). In the original series episode, "The Visitor", it's implied (though not stated) that she was dead.
  • The name of Gwen's mother was changed from Lily, which was mentioned in Pop-Up Trivia for Lucky Girl and the non-canon Goodbye and Good Riddance, to Natalie.
  • In the original series, the Omnitrix aliens' names were just something Ben made up himself, as evident when his future self said he quit naming them because he gained so many. In this Alien Force, they're apparently "file names" the Omnitrix stores them under as evidence by the case of Transformation Name Announcement. Then again, Ben actively names Brainstorm after transforming into it the first time, and shouted the name after transforming each time after that. And Albedo, who creates a copied Omnitrix based on Ben's, doesn't shout out the names. So it's almost certainly still just a personal quirk of Ben's.
    • This is confirmed in Ultimate Alien, where he says he yells out the names to strike fear into his opponents. How he does this so accurately despite not knowing what Alien he's transforming into half the time is anyone's guess.
  • The Plumbers themselves: In the original series, they were a defunct The Men in Black-type organization, and all human (and many were very anti-alien) with Xylene only being an honorary member. In AF, they're now a still-active interstellar police force, and pretty much all of the known human members married aliens. Thankfully the discrepancy was fixed by Word of God explaining there were two separate groups of Plumbers, the Earth-based The Men in Black of the Original Series and the Space Police of the sequels, with the remnants of the Earth group merged into the larger organization at some point before the start of Ben 10: Alien Force
  • The Forever Knights now have different factions instead of being one whole group.
• Ret-Gone: At this rate, the Ben 10,000 future from the Original Series has become an alternate one.
  • Averted due to Omniverse revealing that the Ben 10,000 future from the Original Series is the canonical future to the Main Timeline (i.e. the timeline of Main!Ben/Ben prime) once again. Though given how much of a Continuity Snarl this creates...
• Retired Badass: Ben starts the series as one, having chosen to remove the Omnitrix and live a normal life sometime after the Original series.
• The Right of a Superior Species: The Highbreed believe in this.
• Running Gag: Just like the original series, Ben always gets the wrong alien.
• Sacrificial Planet: In the episode "Fool's Gold", mischievous but harmless aliens come to a village every 17 years where they eat massive quantities of popcorn and defecate solid gold. When the town's mayor gets greedy and kidnaps one, he gives the alien a steak, causing the alien to grow into massive size and defecate unstable uranium. The alien's friend tells Ben that Mars "used to be called The Popcorn Planet" before his kind came there.
• Sadistic Choice:
  • In "Primus", Vilgax has finally taken possession the Omnitrix and captured Ben Gwen and Kevin dangling them in chains over a pit of acid. However, he doesn't how to use the Omnitrix due to its recallibration and forces Ben to show him or he'll kill Gwen and Kevin...and then him afterwards. Fortunately, Ben gets out of it by Tricking The Shape Shifter which Gwen didn't anticipate.
  • Vilgax does it again in the Grand Finale also with Gwen and Kevin captured. This time, however, Ben is forced to oblige.
• Same Character, But Different: Ben and Gwen are somewhat different from the Original Series, but considering they're no longer ten years old, its justified by the Timeskip. The most drastic change is with Kevin. In the first series, he's an eleven-year-old sociopath who couldn't care less about crashing a money and passenger train together, killing hundreds of people for some cash. Then here he shifts to a petty criminal and semi-untrustworthy ally who suddenly has a crush on Gwen and actually becomes friends with Ben. No amount of Character Development could explain having a completely different personality...although the next series tries its luck at it.
• Save the Villain: Ben saves the Highbreed from extinction in the second season finale "War of the Worlds: Part 2".
  • Happens in the third season finale with Krabb.
  Kevin: In my defense, [Gwen] forced me to save him.
  • Also, in the same finale, with Albedo, whom Ben frees from Vilgax and lets him escape the ship, presumably by ejection pod.
• Saw It in a Movie Once: Julie's "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight with Ship, who had been mind controlled by the Forever Knights. She tells Ben "You're not the only one who saw 'Brain Stealers From Outer Space' when he asks how she knew to do that.
• Scary Dogmatic Aliens: The genocidal Highbreed.
• Schmuck Bait: The Vreedles announcing a bounty on Rath, whose alien species clearly thrives off of the Foe-Tossing Charge.
• Scream Discretion Shot: Max Out
• Self-Deprecation: The finale has Ben talking about how his favorite show changed and became unpopular, in the process highlighting pretty much every complaint about this series compared to the original.
  • Additionally, the changed show-within-a-show had gained a new subtitled- Hero Generation, the working subtitle of Alien Force.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Brainstorm
  • And to a lesser extent, the Vreedle Brothers. Or at least Octagon.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Time Heals. Gwen tries to undo the explosion that got Kevin trapped in Shapeshifter Mode Lock. It... doesn't turn out well...
• Set Wrong What Was Once Made Right: ...Which results in her having to undo the whole thing.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Gwen and Kevin both doll up for their date and both of them can only say "Wow" to the other's all dressed up appearance.
• Shout-Out: The show is fond of these.
  • "No juice for you!"
  • Worst. Roadtrip. EVER!
  • Upchuck, the Extreme Omnivore alien, is a Gourmand from the planet Peptos. Matter-Eater Lad, the Legion of Super-Heroes member with the same power, comes from the planet Bismoll.
  • Paradox's "I walk in eternity" is a direct quote from Doctor Who.
  • "The Con Of Rath" to The Wrath Of Khan.
  • One of the Forever Knights yells ""RUN AWAY!" when Ship breaks their mind control and turns on them... while still outfitted with their weapons.
  • "My name is Kevin Ethan Levin. You killed my father. Prepare to die."
  • Vilgax has homing Eye Beams like Darkseid.
  • Ben's command to self-destruct the Omnitrix is a shout out to Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Kirk gave the same command to destroy the Enterprise.
  • When Ship surrounds Julie and becomes her armor, she ends up looking a lot like Samus Aran from Metroid.
  • The Vreedle Brothers, lets see, a pair of idiotic twins, with a last name that begins with V, that are killed multiple times and are brought back to life by cloning them? Sounds kind of familiar.
  • In The Secret of Chromastone, Kevin references Alien when he tells Ben that "In space, no one can hear you sneeze."
  • Raff, the Incursian commander, looks a bit like Psimon, purple colors cheme and My Brain Is Big.
  • At the beginning of "Undercover", Ben is wary of Kevin testing the teleporter with a banana, questioning what would happen if a fly landed on the banana during the test, turning it into a "killer banana fly", a direct Shout-Out to The Fly (1958).
  • Kevin tries to make it off an alien planet with a stash of treasure, but winds up dropping it on the way out, where a poor girl picks it up. Think they'll name the place Levinstown?
  • When Vilgax faces Ben in the season 3 premiere, he says, "Ben 10, I've come to kill you and conquer your world. Is now a bad time?".
• Smooch of Victory: Gwen kisses Kevin for the first time when he is finally changed back to normal in the Grand Finale, even calling it "victory kiss".
• Solid Gold Poop: The Trope Namer (along with American Dad!).
• Something Only They Would Say: When Gwen travels back to stop Kevin from mutating in "Time Heals", she assures her past self that she is her by wispering a disgusting locker secret in her hair. This happens again when she travels back to the same date a second time and says the secret to both her past selves.
• Something We Forgot: At the end of "The Gauntlet", Gwen forgot Kevin who is still left behind in the abandoned factory after being battered and bruised by the Techadon Cash despite her promise to return for him later.
• Space Is Cold: Actually averted. Ben's Neccrofriggian babies live in areas of space where it's cold, not that space in general is cold.
• Stab the Scorpion: In "Alone Together", when Highbreed Reinrassic III saves Ben from a creature that would devour him in his sleep.
• Star-Spangled Spandex: Alien X
• Starfish Aliens: A lot of aliens, such as Brainstorm who is a hyper-intelligent crab, and Echo-Echo, who is a sentient Soundwave.
• Status Quo Is God: Lampshaded at the end of Trade-Off
  Kevin: (sees he has been mutated again) Figures that might happen.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Lampshaded when Ben heads off to rescue Kevin and Gwen from Albedo:
  Max: It's only cool when I do it.
• Steven Ulysses Perhero: Well, okay, Kevin Ethan Levin.
• Straight for the Commander: In the season 1 finale, the heroes, failing to stop the Hightbreed invasion, end up using their portals to reach the Hightbreed Supreme himself. Played with in that they don't end up killing him, but rather finding a peaceful solution to end the conflict.
• Subverted Suspicion Aesop: Kevin is very suspicious of Ben's first invitation to the Plumbers, but both Ben and Gwen calm his fears. However, 1. Ben is oblivious, 2. Gwen turns into a victim, and 3. it's Mike Morningstar, who'd go on to be recurring villain Darkstar.
• Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum: This is revealed to be the Highbreed's plan. After keeping their race genetically pure for so long, the Highbreed have become starylized and are on the verge of extinction. Unwilling to have other species outlive them, they unleash a war to destroy every universe in the entire galaxy so everyone else will die too.
• Suicidal "Gotcha!": Ben does this twice, first transforming into Big Chill and second landing on Ship
• Superdickery: "Above and Beyond" is about the Plumbers' Helpers trying to rescue Grandpa Max, who's being attacked by an out-of-control Ben. Of course, Ben hasn't really gone rogue. The entire scenario (sans crashing space station) was really just a test for the Plumbers' Helpers.
• Super Power Lottery: Even more so than in the original series. Though he doesn't have his original series aliens, Ben still ends up winning this with his new arsenal. In addition to the general superhuman condition that most of his aliens possess, Ben also acquires regeneration, plant manipulation, fire generation, sound manipulation, duplication, size shifting, flight, eye beams, cryokinesis, invisibility, intangibility, energy manipulation, energy absorption, nigh-invulnerability, Super-Intelligence, electrokinesis, telekinesis (to an extent), the ability to generate barriers, web generation, acid manipulation, shapeshifting ^Note Goop possess the ability to change his body shape at will , magnetism manipulation, wolverine claws and even reality warping (provided Serena and Bellicus agree with him). Later on in the series, Ben also regains Cannonbolt, Upchuck, Diamondhead and Way Big. Unlike the original series, this trope isn't downplayed because while his alien forms still only possess a fraction of these powers, the Omnitrix gains a quick-change feature and its time limit has been substantially increased.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: When Ben's parents find out about his heroics and try to stop it by grounding him, he does so without complaint. However when the current threat becomes to much for him to ignore, he turns into Humungousaur and leaves the house over his parents protests. They might be his parents, but Ben is in control of the most powerful device in the universe and if he doesn't want to listen to them they don't have the power to stop him.
• Take Me to Your Leader: Said by Gwen when Ben and company break out of the Highbreed prison in "War of the Worlds: Part 2."
• Take My Hand!: At the end of "Voided", Ben is in the Null Void and Gwen reaches out to pull him through a portal back to Earth. She's struggling...and then Kevin appears and grabs Ben's other hand.
  Kevin: It's time to come home, Ben.
• Taking You with Me: Pretty much, the Highbreed's entire plan was to take down the entire universe with their dying race.
• Talking the Monster to Death: Played straight in the final battle against the Supreme Highbreed leaders.
• Tasty Gold: Gold poop in "Fool's Gold".
• Team Power Walk: At the culmination of the Highbreed storyline in "War of the Worlds part 1", the team shows that they have truly become an Alien Force.
• Technopath: Cooper
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Lampshaded by Kevin when he mentions the green alien the trio has taken to calling "Tiny" can't be a girl because she'd have a big pink bow on her head. Subverted in that Tiny's mother doesn't have breasts, either.
• That Man Is Dead: Mike Morningsta- Uh, Darkstar.
• Theme Naming: Ben Ten(nyson) isn't 10 anymore, but is back to having 10 aliens on the Omnitrix.
  • There also seems to be a pattern of "-en" names in the Tennyson family, much to the amusement of Kevin in "Max Out":
    "Gwen and Ken? What are your parents' names, Sven and Jen? I'm talking to you, Ben!"
    • Which is ironic, because Kevin (Levin)'s first and last names rhyme and gets even more ridiculous when it turns out his middle name is Ethan, which Ben mockingly points out makes him "Kevin E. Levin"...
    • ...which makes Kevin something of a hypocrite now that we know his father's name was Devin Levin. And may in the future name his son Evan.
  • The aliens' "English names" are pretty much based on their personalities and abilities:
    • Rath, a creature of blind rage is an Apopplexian.
    • Kevin, who has absorption powers, is called an Osmosian by Ragnarock.
• This Billboard Needs Some Salt: In one episode, Charmcaster brings a Mr. Smoothie sign to life. Ben defeats it by turning into Upchuck and drinking it dry. For some reason, Charmcaster's spell made it actually full of smoothie.
  • Upchuck was also able to use that smoothie for nuclear loogies when he has to use inorganic matter, but a wizard/witch did it and none of their powers are like they used to be...
• Time Skip: Alien Force is five years on from Ben 10.
• Timeshifted Actor: Ben, Gwen, and Kevin.
• Token Evil Teammate: Perhaps in response to complaints about odd characterization, Kevin became this in season 3- actually killing a villain, war profiteering, etc. He still didn't quite undergo Character Rerailment until Ultimate Alien, though.
• Tomato in the Mirror: Tyler in "Inside Man"
• Took a Level in Badass: Ben took a massive level in Badass between the end of the original series and "The Return Of Ben 10", where he stopped acting like a dumb jerk and started thinking through his actions before jumping in, even asking Gwen for advice because he knows she's smarter than him, something the old Ben would never do.
  • D'void in Voided, who was known as Dr. Animo in the original series. He conquered the Null Void, and had bulked up considerably too.
  • Julie, despite not being an alien herself, nor having any familial links to the Plumbers, fights in the final battle against the Highbreed.
• Took a Level in Dumbass: Ben in season 3, when the writers tried Pandering to the Fanbase in a failed attempt to make him more like his 10 years old self, and he started acting more narcissistic and cocky again. Partially justified in-universe in that saving the Universe went over his head, but it sticks far longer than it should.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Ben in season 3, as he doesn't seem to care about Kevin's transformation that he caused. Gwen goes into this in season 3 onwards, as she tends to get angry a lot more often than in the first two seasons, as well pouring an smoothie on Ben and laughing at him with Kevin. She also inexplicably refused to tell Kevin she was working night and day on curing him even though it was clear he was suffering and could use the support, then got mad at him for assuming she wasn't doing the thing she wouldn't tell him she was doing.
• Too Awesome to Use: Alien X is by far the most powerful transformation Ben has in the franchise, but the only way to use him is to have 2 out of 3 personalities (including Ben) agree on an action. This left Alien X immobilized and forced Ben to watch helplessly as Pluto is destroyed, as the other two personalities wanted Ben to stay in order to clear out the arguments they started before unlocking Alien X. Ben escapes because he insulted and offended them enough so that they let him go. After, he promises to never use Alien X again.
• Touch the Intangible: Vilgax's Shield of Ziegel gauntlet allows him to grab Big Chill while he's intangible, much to the latter's shock.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Ben loves Mr. Smoothie and chili fries, which he passes on to Albedo when he becomes trapped in Ben's form (who in actuality also likes chili fries but blames Ben's DNA for it).
• Training "Accident": The episode "Above and Beyond" is one of these.
• Transformation Conventions: The appearance of the alien form matches the person wearing the Omnitrix. Ben's Grey Matter form is an innocuous-looking small humanoid with those big, green eyes of his. Meanwhile, Albedo's supreme Grey Matter form is a cylindrical monstrosity with three red eyes and a wizened old man's face. Albedo is Ben's Evil Counterpart.
• Transformation Name Announcement: Zig-zagged. Ben shouts out the alien's name after he transforms, except for a few occasions. It's also inconsistent whether it's automatic or if Ben does it himself. When he turns into Lodestar the first time, he does it even though he's never seen the guy before. When he tries for Waybig and gets Humungousaur, he starts "Waybi.." * looks* "Aw man... (* exasperated* ) Humungousaur. This is further complicated by Brainstorm, who Ben transforms into for the first time by accidental transformation, and names him on the spot instead of having a name prepared. Word of God says it's for younger viewers to be able to remember the names of all the aliens.
• Transformation Sequence: Ben has these when he transforms into his aliens.
• Transformation Trinket: The Omnitrix.
• Translator Microbes: Kevin states that it's pretty common alien tech. So common, apparently, that it's even built into Plumbers' badges. Word of God states that Sixsix and Sevenseven's species' language, like Wildmutt's, is too difficult to be translated.
• Tricking the Shapeshifter: A variant that includes letting a character become a shapeshifter so that he can be tricked. Ben lets Vilgax activate the Omnitrix so that he can have him turn into Goop and incapacitate him by removing the gravity-device that allows Goop to function.
• Troubled, but Cute: Kevin
• Trust Password: Done twice, time travel style, in Time Heals. Gwen first tells her past-self something they find disgusting. The second time, she just shares a detail about her (their?) locker at school.
  • Interestingly, future!Gwen takes a short glance at Kevin before telling past!Gwen the Trust Password.
• Tsundere: Gwen towards Kevin in the beginning of the series. Given his "hero" status, it's pretty clear why.
• Two Guys and a Girl: The lead trio, obviously.
• Unfazed Everyman: Julie. She's pretty cool with her boyfriend being able to turn into a plethora of aliens, and has an empathic alien creature that can turn into a warship as a pet. No matter what happens around her, she never loses her composure.
• Use Your Head: Lampshaded at the start of "Be-Knighted":
  Ben: (after Gwen knocks him down with the sandbag) Good one! Use your head! (rushes to the bag)
  Gwen: (stops him) Not like that! The other way.
  Ben: What other way?
  Gwen: You gotta be kidding me.
  • Ben goes on to use his head both ways throughout the episode.
• Vampiric Draining: Michael Morningstar can drain the life force from his victims.
• Verbal Tic: Octagon Vreedle has what you might call one o' these.
  • Rath starts nearly every comversation with "Let me tell you something!", followed by the full name of the person he is addressing.
• Victor Gains Loser's Powers: Vilgax does this very vaguely prior to the later season of Alien Force, as he uses a machine to absorb the powers of the greatest of heroes after defeating them in battle and conquering their lands before going to Earth to face Ben 10. Naturally, he's done this ten times meaning he had zero powers when he started.
• Villain Decay:
  • The Forever Knights were an ancient cult seeking alien technology to facilitate their world conquest. Now, it seems it started in trying to find tech to kill an alien dragon. This is fortunately corrected in Ultimate Alien.
  • Vilgax received a new, physically less impressive design, and is defeated several times by Ben in Season 3.
  • After being a big threat in her debut episode due to powerful magic and cleverness, Charmcaster returns in an alternate timeline in "Time Heals", constantly boasting about how she killed that timeline's Gwen...only to get kicked around by present-Gwen on multiple occasions. It leaves one with the impression she only managed to kill her timeline's Gwen because she got lucky.
• Villains Want Mercy: In "Vendetta", Ragnarok begs Kevin to save him from the collapsing spaceship. Considering that Ragnarok killed Kevin's dad, you can imagine the outcome.
• The Virus: DNAliens, who are humans infected with alien parasites.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: The Omnitrix gives Ben this ability.
  • Not just the Omnitrix; Ship, a blob-like symbiote spawned from a Galvanic Mechomorph(AKA the species 'Upgrade' was in the original series) , is capable of transforming into any device he's come in contact with, and in season 3, he spontaneously forms a suit of techno-armor to protect Julie and fight off a pair of bounty hunters.
• Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Bellwood is apparently in the same state as Springfield.
  • In the original Ben 10 In the first episode And Then There 10 Ben, Gwen, and Max get from Bellwood to Yosemite National Park by night time, this would indicate Bellwood is in California.
  • During the production of Alien Force Matt Wayne said that Bellwood was supposed to be to be in the Southwest.
  • Bellwood seems to be within driving distance of a Mojave-ish desert environment and it's confirmed that it never sees snow, which suggests it's in California or Nevada.
  • In the Alien Swarm movie, Kevin and Gwen pull up a map on the Plumbers base computer. It zooms in to an area in the upper Midwest, near the Wisconsin-Minnesota area.
  • The series itself seems to imply that Bellwood may be relatively close to New York City. Since this series (and future series) seem to confirm Kevin is from Bellwood it wouldn't be to farfetched considering that's where he ended up as a child when Ben and co. met him when he couldn't drive and didn't have the power of flight. Later in the the crossover special Ben 10/Generator Rex: Heroes United, Ben in Rex's universe, Ben transforms into Big Chill (not exactly his fastest flyer) and flies to where Bellwood should be from New York City and it seems to only take him a few minutes or hours since the time of day doesn't change much.
• White-and-Grey Morality: For the first two seasons at least; in those seasons, most characters fought by the protagonists were at worst Anti-Villains, at best misunderstood characters; even the Hightbreeds, despite being basically Nazi in space, turns out to be redeemable. Season 3, on the other hand, does give more actually evil characters.
• Was Once a Man: The DNAliens are actually human beings who have been infected by brain slugs created by the Highbreed to form their army of aliens.
• Who Dares?: Said by the Highbreed Supreme when Ben and company break into the council chamber in "War of the Worlds: Part 2."
  • Also said by D'Void and "Voided", who is promptly mocked by Ben as Brainstorm.
• With a Friend and a Stranger: Ben joins up with his cousin Gwen, obviously a friend, and former enemy Kevin, a stranger, to wage war with the Highbreed and their army of DNAliens.
• Wolverine Claws: Omnitrix newcomer Rath, who's basically a tail-less humanoid tiger, has one large black claw jutting out of each fist, which he can extend at will.
• The Worf Effect: Kevin, Ben on occasion.
• Xanatos Gambit: Ben in the series finale. After Vilgax successfully steals and activates the Omnitrix, Ben uses a voice command to set it for a 30 second self-destruct ^note  (In the original series, it was charged for several days, which is why the explosion would wipe out the universe; 30 seconds would cause an explosion of a much smaller radius but still be deadly). Vilgax either removes the Omnitrix and allows Ben to reclaim it, or the Omnitrix is destroyed. Vilgax choses the second option and gets his arm blown up. He gets better. Ben does the same to Albedo with his newly made Ultimatrix a few minutes later, but he complies.
• You Are Grounded!: When Ben's parents find out (five years after the fact) that their son does the "transform into aliens and be a superhero" thing, they freak and forbid him from Omnitrixing. Fortunately, they come to an understanding and allow him to save the world (as long as he's being honest).
• You Have Failed Me: Milleous lives on this trope due to his fearmonging reputation. This was seen in "X=Ben+2" when he kills an Incursean guard for letting his daughter Attea get kidnapped by Sevenseven.
  • Subverted when it seemed like Simian was presably Killed Offscreen for failing to steal the Earth communication power source for the Highbreed in "Birds of a Feather". However, Simian returns in Ultimate Alien revealing that the Highbreed spared his life and locked him up instead.
• You Killed My Father: In "Vendetta", it is revealed that a villain named Ragnarok murdered Kevin's father who was an Osmosian Plumber and Max's partner during a mission to secure the key to Ragnarok's spaceship. Kevin finds out and goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge to kill Ragnarok and avenge his father's death.
• You Won't Feel a Thing!: When Ben is overtaken by his transformation as Big Chill and goes on a rampage across Bellwood, he is interrupted by cops. When Julie begs Ben not to hurt the officers, Big Chill simply replies "They won't feel a thing" and then freezes them.

---