YMMV / Ben 10: Alien Force

• Accidental Innuendo:
  • The show has Kevin uttering the line "I don't know if I can pound your Grandma!" He means he's unsure he can fight her...but still.
  • During one of Kevin and Manny's arguments...
    Manny: Boy, are you asking for it!
    Kevin: I'm begging for it, who's going give it to me!?
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Is Vilgax a Noble Demon and a benevolent ruler on Vilgaxia who genuinely cares about his people, or just a pragmatic villain who keeps a good image to get their support? Was he always like this, or did he change during the five years between this show and the Original Series?
    • Furthermore, in "Ghost Town", was Zs'Skayr betraying Vilgax and taking over his homeworld truly a result of Vilgax underestimating of Zs'Skayr's treacherousness and evil, as Vilgax claimed? Or was everything Zs'Skayr did to Vilgax and his people a Batman Gambit from the beginning so that Vilgax could stylize himself as a hero when he defeated Zs'Skayr? The fact that Vilgax resorted to allying with his sworn enemy to stop Zs'Skayr supports the former interpretation.
  • With the reveal in Omniverse that the Appoplexians (Rath's species) are in conflict with the Lewodans and the previous coincidences and story details that imply the Omnitrix's addition of alien forms isn't completely random, was the Tiffan's electromagnetism affecting the Omnitrix the only reason that Ben unlocked Rath? Did the Omnitrix unlock Rath as an attempt to also facilitate peace between the two species by having Ben become one to assist the other, per the Omnitrix's origin, in part, as a means for galactic peace? Or was it the opposite, and the Appoplexian sample in the Omnitrix came out because it wanted to fight one of its origin species rivals a la the idea of Cannonbolt being unlocked to avenge his species against the Tick?
• Angst? What Angst?: Despite Grandpa Max apparently dying in season one, Ben and Gwen immediately composed themselves. No tears, no anguish, no nothing. To be fair though we just see one shot of them before the episode ends and the episode that was supposed to come next ("What Are Little Girls Made Of") starts with a depressed Gwen mourning Grandpa Max while Ben mentions the fact she has been like that for some time and that he thought she would get better after coming to his secret fishing place.
  • Also the same could be said about Gwen's father (Max's son) who is shown not too affected by the death of his father in the episode mentioned above. Although to be fair, this could be because either Max's death was still a secret (because Ben and Gwen's superhero life was still a secret until at least this episode for him) or because some time had passed already (as alluded by Ben at the beginning of the episode) and he had time to mourn him.
• Badass Decay: Kevin and Vilgax suffer a lot of this. The general consensus is that Kevin got better in season three after he received a new mutation (something that is even lampshaded in "Time Heals"), but Vilgax (ironically only featuring in that very season) never recaptured his former glory.
• Base-Breaking Character: Ben himself became a major one in the third season due to Executive Meddling forcing a complete overhaul of his personality and growth, taking major levels in both dumbass and jerkass to make him act more like he did in the original series. Many fans dislike such blatant character regression and feel it makes him completely unbearable in this season, especially when his behavior is far less acceptable from a teenager than a child. However, others still find him a redeemable character overall and point to the many moments in the season where he proves he's still a hero at heart, arguing his competence and immaturity become more balanced as the series goes on.
• Broken Base:
  • The series as a whole started the split in the fanbase that would keep getting worse in the following sequels. While a part of the fandom despised the show and swore by the Original Series only, the other part actually loved the Darker and Edgier take and found it an improvement for maturing the main characters (particularly Ben).
  • Gwen inheriting her affinity with magic/mana-manipulation powers from her grandmother's genes. Some saw it as a pointless retcon taking away diversity from the team (based on the idea aliens should be Ben's gimmick), others think it added more background to the character and finally gave an explicaton to why she was inexplicably so good at magic back when she was 10. Alternatively, others feel the idea was good, but poorly executed due to making it unclear if Gwen's powers were really magic, fully aliens or both. For the most part this last group believe this issue was rectified in Season 3 and Ultimate Alien where it's finally stated that magic indeed exists and that people like Charmcaster or Hex indeed use magic to have powers. But Gwen's alien genes allow her to use that mana manipulation without effort (unlike Earth people who, Word of God confirmed, have to train hard and be really good at it to succeed using), confirming it as the reason why she was so good at 10 years old.
  • To a lesser extent, there is a similar split about Kevin being half-alien and his father being a Plumber who was Max's partner, though the reasons are slightly different than the one above. While the problem about Kevin being half-alien rather than mutant and removing the diversity remains, fans against this change are mostly complaining it contradicts both the franchise's chronology and Kevin's initial backstory. Those who support it feel it gives a bit more depth and motivations to the character. However, while controversial, this change was much better received by the fandom as a whole. This in turn made the fans doubly angry when the next writers would revisit this issue with a much more controversial and badly received retcon in Omniverse.
  • Kevin's Heel–Face Turn. Some fans felt he worked better as a villain and complained this took away one of Ben's coolest and most iconic nemeses. Others like him better as a main character for his snarky humor, cool factor, and the way it complimented the other two members of the cast who are more abided by the rules. They also think the changes actually developed him from a generic Ax-Crazy villain to a more interesting protagonist.
  • While most fans agree about Vilgax suffering Villain Decay, there is some debate around the fact he is implied to be a benevolent ruler on his planet, and the scene of him rescuing a little girl from his species (who then hugs him). Some consider this gives him Hidden Depths and makes him potentially more interesting than a bland Evil Overlord, other see it as yet another instance of him being made less scary, and feels it seems out of character for a guy who once blew up a planet just to test his new weapon.
  • While it's generally agreed that the third season is inferior for making Ben immature and having several underwhelming episodes, there are fans who don't think the third season is that bad and bring up good things that season did in order to defend it, such as introducing Rath.
  • Gwen's design is a decisive matter. There are criticisms that she doesn't look like Gwen while others think it worked well. Her having long hair is also debated against.
• Character Rerailment: Vilgax's characterization and voice (though the voice was done by John DiMaggio rather than by Steve Blum) were a bit closer to how he was originally portrayed in the original series in the video game Vilgax Attacks!.
• Complete Monster: See here.
• Contested Sequel: Alien Force inevitably started this trend among the fans of the franchise due to it's drastically change in tone and direction. It didn't help matters that the series rushed to introduce their many changes in the very first seven episodes which include Kevin's Heel–Face Turn, Ben's more mature persona, turning Gwen's magic powers into mana-manipulation, throwing Grandpa Max on a bus, and establishing the more mature tone instead of the playful one in the original series. Although it is worth noting the series managed to gain plenty of these fans back both as it went along. Nowadays many consider the first two seasons as a really good sci-fi mystery story arc with the right amount of goofiness, seriousness, drama, and surprisingly deep real life issues. And while the third season is still just as contested as it was back in the day, the effort it did to explain and reconnect all the many changes mentioned above with the original ideas in the original series is very appreciated.
• Creepy Awesome:
  • Darkstar was complete Nightmare Fuel in his first few episodes, and it definitely played in his favor to make him popular.
  • Big Chill qualifies because of his Grim Reaper like appearance as well as his echoey, monotone voice.
  • Ax-Crazy Ben in "Above and Beyond". It was all an act, but it's amazing how Ben can make a surprisingly good villain.
• Creepy Cute:
  • Big Chill could be considered this. While his Reaper-like mannerisms and monotone voice do tend to be rather disturbing to some, it is mostly offset by the eerily beautiful color scheme of his wings and body, as well as an almost feminine, slender appearance.
  • His offspring are undisputedly, undeniably this. All together now: D'AWWWWWWW!
  • Surprisingly, in the episode Primus, Vilgax can qualify as this. He goes around as Goop and sounds excited, relieved and satisfied at the same time (which is normal considering it took him 5 years to finally get the Omnitrix from Ben and use it, not that he gets to keep it anyway).
• Critical Backlash: While the show is by no mean flawless, it's definitely not as bad as Original Series fans tend to describe it. The first two seasons, especially the second, are considered quite good of their own by a lot of fans.
• Crosses the Line Twice: Jarret eating the Tiffin? Not funny. Kevin fainting after seeing this? Hilarious.
  • In the same episode, Kevin implying that Argit not only actually sold his grandmother, but got a top price from her.
• Damsel Scrappy: Julie is perceived like this by some fans, but it's mostly an undeserved reputation caused by being Not Badass Enough for Fans; she actually got kidnapped only thrice over the course of five seasons, which is fairly low as far as Super-Heroes' Love Interests go, and, by the time she got Ship, she was perfectly capable of defending herself of her own.
• Draco in Leather Pants:
  • Albedo definitely has sympathetic motivations, as he essentially just wants to get out of what he sees as a Blessed with Suck situation, and this, combined with his unintentional Adorkable attitude and his cute design as an albino version of Ben, understandably makes him highly popular among fangirls, who tends to emphasize these aspects—thus forgetting his nastier aspects, thus as his huge ego and arrogance, blatant Fantastic Racism toward humans, willingness to hurt innocents or work with Vilgax in order to get out of his situation, and of course the fact he got himself in his current situation to begin with.
  • Darkstar is an even bigger case, as unlike Albedo, he doesn't have any sort of redeeming features, being a sociopathic stalker who lives by Screw the Rules, I Have Supernatural Powers!.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • By far the biggest darkhorse of the series is Rath. Despite only being properly used by Ben in 3 episodes, his existence as a Hulk Hogan parody endeared many fans to him, and his popularity caused him to reappear in every subsequent sequel series with much more screen time, even making it into the reboot series.
  • Big Chill also is fairly popular amongst fans for his cool design, similarities to Ghostfreak, and cool voice.
  • Swampfire, who was Wildvine and Heatblast combined with an arsenal of powers and impressive design, was very popular with fans.
  • Albedo, who rarely appears (he only had three appearances in this show and two more in Ultimate Alien), is very popular among the fans as mentioned previously, and his appearances usually have very cool Mirror Match fights between himself and Ben's transformations. In fact, he was so popular that Omniverse raised him to Arc Villain rank.
  • And let's not forget the time-travelling Doctor Whomage Professor Paradox, who even most of the Alien Force haters actually love.
  • It's hard to find anyone who doesn't like Ship, given that he's both insanely powerful and absolutely adorable. His creator/owner Baz-El, is no slouch either.
  • Darkstar, one of the scariest villains in the series and an Expy of Raven and Doctor Doom.
  • Fangirls and the furry fandom love Argit for being cute and funny despite how sleazy he is.
  • Magister Labrid. Despite only appearing in the pilot and dying at the end of the episode, he's still quite popular and fondly remembered. He was even brought back in a Whole Episode Flashback in Ultimate Alien due to his popularity.
  • Reinrassic III; granted, he is an important character, but he only had three appearances in the whole show. Yet you would be surprised to see how many fanarts there are of him.
• Evil Is Cool: The show debuted some of the most memorable villains of the franchise. The Highbreed, Darkstar, The Incursians, Argit, and Albedo are maybe the most memorable with the last four making plenty of appearances in both sequel series (Omniverse being the one that had a very different showrunner). Darkstar became so popular he managed to remain as part of the cast even after the reboot, which otherwise only included Original Series characters.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: Ben/Julie isn't quite as reviled after Julie got Rescued from the Scrappy Heap.
  • There are quite a few who want Kevin/Ben as well.
• Fanfic Fuel: The whole Plumbers' Kids is based around the idea that a lot of alien-human hybrids exist on Earth due to former Plumbers mating with humans. This makes for an excellent justification for fans to create their own half-alien Original Characters.
• Franchise Original Sin: While the overall story arc was well-received, there were many Filler episodes often seen to the detriment of the story arc, some going at odds with the tone being established, but were able to be freely ignored if the viewer so pleased. These problems (too much Filler and goofy plots) have since become one of the biggest criticisms of Omniverse, where later arcs have so much filler that the story arcs are shorter and developments become abrupt due to it.
• Fridge Horror: Imagine being Alien X. You're all-powerful, capable of bending time and space...and unless the voices in your head agree to do anything, you're stuck in place, forced to stand by while horrible things happen.
• Genius Bonus: The Tiffin. If you know what the term means then it's no surprise that he's going to be eaten.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: While the show is seen as a Contested Sequel in USA, it generally was a much bigger hit than its predecessor in the United Kingdom.
• Growing the Beard: The first season didn't really have a clear story arc after the first six episodes, and although the remaining episodes were mostly good quality and added characterization, it was easy to forget what the point of the series was to begin with. The second season improved things a bit, making elements from previous episodes matter, giving a slightly clearer progression, rescuing Julie from the Scrappy Heap, and actually concluding in a real finale. Sadly, the third season didn't work that well.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • You might have to squint to see it, but Professor Paradox's status as an Expy of The Doctor seems downright prophetic if you think he looks like a younger Peter Capaldi.
  • Speaking of Paradox, one of the last things he tells Ben in his introductory episode is "You're a lot smarter than you were when I met you later".
  • Psyphon was created as an expy for Desaad. His voice actor, Dee Bradley Baker, goes on to voice Desaad in Young Justice (2010).
  • Sugilite, the Crystalsapien guardian of Petropia, was later succeeded by another crystalline alien warrior of the same name and gem type in another Cartoon Network show.
  • Humongousaur as a concept may come off as this, given that he's essentially a T. Rex with big, beefy, muscular arms— with T. Rexes being commonly maligned in pop culture for having tiny and useless arms.... except they actually were the the former more then anything else.
  • Rath is an alien in the form of a wrestling tiger. Perhaps he's the basis of Incineroar?
• It Was His Sled: The mere appearance of Alien X was hidden until the season 1 finale, but now it and the fact that he has reality warping powers are well-known thanks to being a prominent point in who would win fights involving Ben Tennyson.
• Magnificent Bastard:
  • Reinrassig III is a commander of the Highbreed alien army, one who grows beyond his kind's xenophobia to become a true leader. Forced to ally with Ben 10 when they are stranded on an alien world, Reinrassig cleverly outwits and takes down a variety of the planet's natural predators, while growing more friendly and understanding of Ben. Inspired by Ben's heroism and sharing his DNA to heal Reinrassig, the Highbreed commander later personally sways the entire Highbreed supreme council into ending their genocidal plans and accepting other races, getting himself elected as the new ruler of their kind. Reinrassig becomes a genuine friend and ally to Ben, assisting him in saving the galaxy and homeworld while paving the way for a tolerant, accepting Highbreed society.
  • Verdona is Ben and Gwen's grandmother, a feisty Anodite who believes in freedom from physical constraints. First arriving on Earth as a prisoner, Verdona helped Max Tennyson take down her captors even when she was powerless, falling in love with the man in the process. Returning to Earth years later, Verdona charms her grandkids and tries to first convince Gwen to embrace her Anodite side, then attempts to force her into the role by fighting her and her friends. Ultimately accepting Gwen's choice to stay on Earth, Verdona wishes her grandkids the best and later assists them in taking down rogue Anodites.
• Memetic Loser: As noted in Never Live It Down, Vilgax is constantly seen as a poor villain and a joke in this series due to the Villain Decay he suffered. While said decay is real, it's nowhere near the level fans tend to attribute him - he's still a major threat and nowhere close to an Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain, he's just not on the same level he was in the original series.
• Memetic Badass: Rath himself. List of achievements from his first appearance alone: Defeating The Vreedle Brothers and the other aliens they hired (Alongside Gwen and Kevin), Jumped into space without a suit and took down the entire crew of an Incursean Battle Ship alone (Sans The Commander), Defeated Vulcanus, Dove head first into Jarett's mouth to retrieve The Tiffin that he (Jarett) ate, Threatened Jarett when he tried to declare war, and finally, threatened the Lewodan Ambassador for tricking him (Ben/Rath). And he just keeps getting more awesome with each appearance. He's so badass even gravity couldn't defeat him.
• Memetic Molester: Darkstar could almost rival Slade in this department. Really, you could make reasonable arguments that fanfics depicting him as a rapist are not that Out of Character with him, especially since he canonically is a stalker toward Gwen.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "BRING ME CHILLI FRIIIIIIIIES!" ^explanation Albedo, despite hating his human body, develops a taste for earth cuisine, to the point where he screams this line while imprisoned at the end of his debut appearance.
  • Ben's transformation sequence into Spidermonkey has been co-opted by the "reject humanity, return to monke" meme, with jokes about how Ben has returned to monke.
  • Kevin's sudden Mr. Fanservice role in this series is frequently memed, especially with him being reduced to skimpy speedos after his mutation is cured.
  • The existence of Half-Human Hybrid Plumber kids is often parodied, especially the fact that one of them is a Pyronite and thus implies that a human Plumber had sexual relations with a Heatblast. ^noteThis was retconned in Omniverse as instead having been genetically modified humans, which some people are more comfortable with than the idea of a human somehow mating with a being of burning magma.
  • "I don't recognize any of these guys."
  • "No juice for you!"
  • Also, Rath's "Lemme tell yah something" catchphrase have become quite popular.
  • Echo Echo has been playfully compared by fans of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable to Koichi's similar-looking and similarly-named Stand, Echoes Act 3.
  • "¡Humongosaurio hasta la muerte!" ^explanation (means humongosaur til death)In the lationamerican fandom, Humongosaurio (humongosaur latinoamerican spanish name) gained quite the reputation due to Ben's immense favoritism and wanting to use it at every opportunity he gets over his more obscure, powerful aliens, something which started in Season 3 of Alien Force and up to Omniverse. common jokes involve Ben wanting to get a tattoo to show how much he loves the alien.
• Moe: Big Chill's babies are just plain adorable.
• Moment of Awesome: Rath diving into the giant Trigonesque alien to rescue the Tiffin and escaping by punching the guys teeth out from the inside and threatening to "knit [his] organs into a sweater" if he tries to retaliate.
• Narm: Kevin's season 3 mutation is underwhelming to some people, as despite his despair that he's a "monster" again, he looks more like a bootleg Metamorpho than an alien chimera abomination. Not helping much is that he just wears a speedo for no given reason, and that he's composed of earth materials when his other transformations are a fusion of alien parts.
• Narm Charm: Ben's "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Cash, as well as everyone clapping after it, was kind of cheesy, but it really shows how much Ben had grown as a character and many fans were under the impression Cash had been asking for this for a long time.
• Never Live It Down: While Vilgax did suffer Villain Decay in Alien Force, he still had his share of badass moments, including having a Curb-Stomp Battle with all the Plumbers Helpers and Max, defeating several of Ben's most powerful alien forms (Jetray, Big Chill, Humongousaur and Chromastone) one after the others, destroying a whole ship of his own to free Ghostfreak, having a decent fight with Ghostfreak (which he won), and actually getting the Omnitrix in the finale, which led to the show's Darkest Hour. However, the only things most fans retain about Vilgax in Alien Force are that he was following a Galactic Code (even through both the series and Word of God show he did it only out of Pragmatic Villainy), that he got defeated by Diamondhead, who couldn't even scratch him before, and that he had a ridiculous-looking "true form".
  • While Julie did got Rescued from the Scrappy Heap, a lot of viewers still were unwilling to accept her and still considered her a Satellite Love Interest whom Ben was better off without. To be fair, the second season of the following show didn't help.
  • Gwen and Kevin relationship arc used to be such a big topic in discussions about the series that it lead most to believe it was the actual main focus of the series, to the point some fans refered to Alien Force as "teen drama". In truth, the romantic arc is a minor element to the show, while the plot focuses primarily on Ben's adventures.
    • The relationship itself is frequently subjected to this treatment. While the way it was introduced in Season 1 was messy, to say the least, the writers made an actual effort to fix the rushed nature of it on season 2 and 3. By the time of the season finale and the next series, the relationship evolved to a point where it's arguably the most realistic relationship of the whole franchise. With Kevin and Gwen acting around each other like actual individuals with their own opinions, personalities, and lives rather than just two lovebirds who can't live without each other. The fact they argue, show conflicting emotions, and solve their problems by actually talking about them instead of making out or any other love cliche, showed the real desire the writers had to portray Gwen and Kevin as an honest reflection of what a healthy relationship should be.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • Cash's Drunk on the Dark Side nature mixed with the Body Horror of the alien tech merged with his body in "The Gauntlet". A mere Jerkass bully ascends to a sociopathic would-be killer that outright tortures Kevin with repeated blasting For the Evulz, and wants to brutalize and even attempt to kill Ben for telling him off and making him look bad. Sure, it's not all his fault — but the basis for the assault and attempted murder he commits were all fueled by his inherent nature anyway.
  • Ben turning evil in "Above and Beyond". Sure, it was all just a test put together by Max in order to see if the kids could handle the Plumber's Academy, but it was still pretty unsettling to see Ben act like a complete sociopath as he toys with the recruits.
    Manny: I know you're in here. Come out and show yourself! The others might be afraid, but I'm not scared of you!
    Ben: That's because the others are smarter than you.
  • Ben's transformation into Ghostfreak in "Ghost Town". Highlights include massive spikes emerging from his spine as he hunches over and his skull turning upside down as his mouth curls into a smile that would give the Joker nightmares.
    • Adding to the creepy factor, his Omnitrix symbol melts into his skin and his trademark green eyes turn pink. Then it’s made clear that Ghostfreak has possessed him.
  • Really, a lot of the transformation sequences would count, considering the X-ray view of Ben's skeleton morphing and twisting into alien shapes that are rather painful to look at. There's Spidermonkey's transformation that shows Ben's arms splitting into two, Humongousaur's transformation showing his ribcage deforming and expanding, and Goop's transformation that shows Ben's skeleton melting away before he collapses into a puddle of ooze.
• Older Than They Think: The episode "Ghost Town" wasn't the first time Zs'Skayr and Vilgax interacted.
• Pandering to the Base: The third season is this to fans of the original series who didn't care for the more mature direction that Alien Force went with in the first two seasons. This...didn't work out quite well.
• Paranoia Fuel: The DNAliens can use ID masks to disguise themselves as whoever they want in order to infiltrate and invade the humans right under their noses. They can literally be anyone, and “Max Out” reveals they can turn humans into more of them. They can basically be anyone and anywhere.
• Portmanteau Couple Name: Gwevin (Kevin and Gwen), Benlie (Ben and Julie), Bevin (Ben and Kevin), Bwen (Ben and Gwen).
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: The general opinion is that this happened to Julie midway through the second season thanks to the show developing her bond with Ship.
• Retroactive Recognition: Alan Albright was Zeno Robinson's first animated role.
• Romantic Plot Tumor: Gwen and Kevin, quite often. For one famous example, they forced an emotional subplot about the turmoil their relationship was going through due to Kevin's mutation...in an episode with a central plot revolving around aliens that poop gold. To say there was some tonal whiplash is an understatement.
• The Scrappy:
  • Julie was this for a while due to some fans perceiving her as a forced girlfriend for Ben, but got Rescued from the Scrappy Heap midway through the second season when she was given a purpose other than being a Satellite Love Interest with Ship's introduction. Though some fans consider she fell back into this territory later. (See the Ultimate Alien YMMV page for more details)
  • Despite being a one-shot character, Probity suffers this treatment when she gives Ben a very bratty and spiteful message at the end of the episode that introduces her, followed by her lavishing herself in the discovery of riches. Although Ben did do her wrong, her behavior was just plain disgusting.
• Seasonal Rot: The third and final season appears to be the least popular overall. Fans of the first two Alien Force seasons mostly dislike it because it took a lighter tone, focused on filler episodes rather than having a story arc, and started making Ben immature again while Original Series fans mostly dislike it due to bringing back Original Series villains only to give them completely different designs and/or characterizations, particularly inflicting a major case of Villain Decay to Vilgax. It’s not that it's entirely hated though, as it did introduce us to RATH!!!
• Signature Scene: The Omnitrix's recalibration and Ben transforming into Swampfire for the first time is the most iconic moment from this series.
• Spiritual Successor:
  • To Justice League, courtesy of Dwayne McDuffie. Both are superhero shows with a mystery/thriller aspect to it that wouldn't be unseen in normal television.
  • To a lesser extent, it's also one to another DCAU show, Batman Beyond, due to the supervision of Glen Murakami and a similar tone like Justice League Unlimited (albeit Batman Beyond is darker).
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Some fans wish that characters like Ben's Necrofriggian babies or Gwen's brother had appeared in more than just one episode each.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • The whole "Form A Team Of Plumber Kids". And even what they did of this plot didn't amount to much. For a series called Alien Force, the only major things thing they did was fight the Highbreed at the end of season two, get their asses handed to them by Vilgax at the beginning of season three and then got sent off to the Plumber Academy after "Above and Beyond". One must wonder what the point to this plot was when pretty much everything important amounted to Ben, Gwen and Kevin (and Max after season two) doing all the work.
    • Speaking of which, the idea of stopping an Ax-Crazy Ben could've been useful for an entire arc of its own. Instead, it's all a Secret Test of Character.
  • When Ben gets the Master Control unlocked in the season 2 finale he never uses Four Arms, despite the Original Series establishing him as Ben's favorite of the original aliens. Plus Richard McGonagle could have easily reprised his role as Four Arms, since he was voicing Reinrassic III in the same episode.
  • Some people complained about things that are established, but are just dropped or otherwise not elaborated upon (why Ben decided to remove the Omnitrix, which could have tied into him wondering if his job as a hero is worth it, Kevin being Easily Forgiven and almost entirely trusted, among a few other things).
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Everything has been blamed to be this at least once, from Gwen's alien origins to the Omnitrix's new shape, without forgetting Vilgax's new design, the characters' change of personality (especially Kevin), and the list goes on.
• Ugly Cute: Argit. There are some people out there (mostly fangirls and furries) who adore him.
  • He is adored by 4chan's /co/, mostly due to this trope.
• Unpopular Popular Character: Argit again. In-universe, he is despised by almost everyone, and seems to have people who want him dead in every part of the galaxy. On the fandom side, on the other hand, you would be surprised to see how many fans love him. Even Derrick J. Wyatt, the one in charge of Ben 10: Omniverse, admitted he thought Argit was the best thing that came out of the Alien Force/Ultimate Alien era.
• Values Resonance: Let's just say the central conflict of the Highbreed arc, a group of racial supremacists who seek to maintain their "purity" at the cost of diverse beings and thought is something that's grown in appreciation since the series' original airing.
• Vindicated by History: At the time, the show was bashed by many original series fans for going against the goofier, episodic tone of the original series. Nowadays, it's widely agreed to have the best balance of humor and seriousness out of the franchise (whereas the following two shows both took things too far in one direction), and the more mature updates to Ben and Gwen was the thing they needed to finally grow up and take some responsibility, as well as becoming more likable in the process. And while not perfect, it wrapped up its plot threads fairly well and, season three aside, was a consistent maturation for Ben's character compared to the widely-criticized Omniverse, which several fans felt undid nearly all of Ben's serious qualities and made him more unlikable.