Ben 10/Fridge

Fridge Brilliance

• Vilgax's return in Ben 10 Alien Force season 3 had him trying to take over Earth by challenging Ben to a legally-sanctioned gladiator match between the two that awards the winner control over the planet. The fan outcry about Vilgax suddenly caring about honor and laws seemed odd for the usually lawbreaking Evil Overlord and after thinking about the end of season two, I realized there were two very good reasons for Vilgax to take this route.
  • First off, Ben had recently helped to save the galaxy from destruction, in addition to giving the Highbreed a way to save themselves from their genetic decay. He has the gratitude of entire alien species, as attested by the mound of medals he keeps in his closet, and is also best buds with the Highbreed Supreme Commander. Even if Vilgax was actually able to kill Ben, he'd have to deal with massive backlash from the rest of the galaxy and a race of beings that have a far larger fleet and no qualms about wiping him out. Alternately, if he attacked Earth with an invasion fleet and Ben called for help, the Highbreed would most likely respond and be through the jumpgate in the Los Solidad military base in time to back him up. Ben takes the Power of Friendship to new levels and Vilgax is smart enough to realize this.
  • Second, it also happens that every time Ben and Vilgax have tangled in the past, he's had help from his family and allies like Azmuth, Tetrax and even his future self. Vilgax has pumped himself up with bionics and threw a robot army at Ben, but lost because he had other people to encourage him, save his butt or unlock a new power for him. Vilgax has to know at this point if he's going to beat Ben, it has to be one-on-one and it may be he wants to be the one that kills the one sentient being that's caused him more trouble than anything else in the universe. That's why he defeated the other world's champions so he could take their powers and weapons to add to his own, it was to match the diversity of the Omnitrix's forms. If he defeated Ben in fair & legal combat, he would be safe from reprisals and have ownership of the Omnitrix, the item that started the whole rivalry with the Earth boy in the first place and which will give him the edge he needs to conquer the Universe. It's not Villain Decay, It's Personal and smart. --koolkame
    • As a person who likes Alien Force, thank you so much for this! It makes re-watching the fight even sweeter without "villain decay" hanging around.
• Gwen and Kevin, Strangled by the Red String? Maybe. Or maybe it's what happens when a slightly education-obsessed nerd girl starts trying to hook up with a Jerk with a Heart of Gold whose affection for his ride puts the "car" in Cargo Ship. Kevin is heavily implied to have had a bad home life before he mutated in Ben 10 and lavishes way too much attention on his car to be considered healthy, Running Gag or not. Gwen's love life isn't really brought up, but anyone who takes someone to task about why they haven't asked her out does not seem too knowledgeable about flirting. It hit me that of course they would have a mixed-up chemistry since these are two people who have probably avoided relationships for fear of being hurt (Kevin) or because their focus is on higher learning and are separated by their intellect (Gwen, who is attending a prep school). I never saw the red string snag because I had already classified them as a textbook case of Opposites Attract, not terribly original but still a classic combination. It does make the few times they really connect all the more poignant like the season two finale where Kevin calls Gwen back from going full Anodite even if it meant she could save the universe or their dance at the end of "Save the Last Dance". --koolkame
  • Remember too that both had more than likely felt separated from "normal" society from a younger age, so more than likely had felt uncomfortable getting close to other people, leaving them disaffected with the possibility of finding love, or even feeling a close connection with most people. --Kittyhawk
  • On the topic of Kevin, we learn in Vendetta that his father was a Plumber killed on duty, there's a possibility that his step-father (as he mentioned Devin as "My real father" one time) was likely abusive toward him for being part alien. Add that with the hint dropped about the frequent use of his powers (as his father used his energy absorption powers, he seems glad "nothing happened this time" after using it subsequent times) especially being eleven years old and suddenly his Troubling Unchildlike Behaviour is quite justified. Unfortunately, it leads to a bit of Fridge Logic in that Max Tennyson, who was with Devin at the time of his death and was asked to take care of his son, had to not have recognized him in order to justify not explaining to Ben why he was acting the way he was. - Metal Shadow X
    • Re-watching "Kevin 11" answered this problem for me because Max never sees Kevin in his human form except for a brief moment at the end IIRC. It's possible Max thought that it was another Osmosian boy or his hiding of his Plumber past made him keep quiet about knowing Kevin's family; heck, Max lied to his WIFE about being a Plumber and it's likely Devin Levin did the same with his son. Plus, the bad effect of absorbing energy for Osmosians pretty much explains Kevin's change during the Time Skip: if Devin was worried about a one-time use of energy absorption, Kevin's near-constant use could not have been healthy for him. Think back to Kevin's baggy eyes in Ben 10 and he becomes the PG version of a young junkie with the Alien Force Kevin being on the rebound from addiction. -Nice Retcon, MacDuffie - koolkame
• Since we're on the subject of Ben 10, let's talk about how the Omnitrix didn't make him change into an unwanted alien in the first 2 seasons of Alien Force. It seems to be justified in season 3 of AF simply by having been screwed up at the start of the season, but this wasn't a problem in the original series. But then I realized when Ben tried using Humongosaur in one episode and he ended up being turned into Lodestar: Ben habitually uses stronger aliens. And when his ego decides to be a problem, he doesn't give much thought of strategy. The Omnitrix most likely is trying to make sure Ben's ego doesn't get in his way. --User:Master Knight
  • Word of God hinted (never outright stated) that there was an artificial intelligence of sorts in the Omnitrix that kinda chose for Ben an alien that would be better suited for the job. --@/wildste
• I was fine with her changing sides, to make it as if she atoned. However, Charmcaster's Heel Face Turn is also believable in that she was distracted by her goal to reclaim her home dimension from an Evil Sorcerer (not Hex, but Ledgerdomain). Not convinced? She initially appeared with her uncle Hex, trying to reactivate magical charms that bestowed power to those who wielded them; the next time she appeared, she tried to take Ben's Omnitrix; finally, she seduced Kevin to her side and attempted to take Gwen's mana for herself. The means to those three goals? She was trying to get strong enough to face her home's usurper, and would do anything to do it, regardless of rules. However, after her second appearance, her animosity towards Ben and (especially) Gwen had grown to the point that she lost sight of her true goal and teamed up with the Tennyson team's Rogues Gallery (twice) to get back at them. Mr. Dwayne McDuffie has once again proven his great skill in Arc Welding. - Metal Shadow X
  • Back to Kevin; why did he perform a Heel Face Turn in the first place back in Alien Force? Because a Plumber sacrificed himself to save him. Why was it that simple? Because someone already did the same thing to help him escape the Null Void. Someone who helped him return to his human form and whose death he felt he was responsible for. Understandably, that bit of tragic deja-vu was all it took for him to reform. - Metal Shadow X
• Somthing occurred to me when I was rewatching season 4 of the original Ben 10. In Alien Force, it was stated the Forever Knights' true goals were looking for weapons to kill the dragon seems a bit out of place doesn't it? But in reality, look at what they've tried to do in the original series: they went after that sword that could as Grandpa Max said "level the city in one swipe"; they tried to steal the Omnitrix, which as we all know is a very powerful weapon if used as such, and then we have the finale of season 4 which had the subatomic energy (IIRC) which was said to have great power (I would say so if it blew most of Mt. Rushmore); all of these were weapons or great sources of power that were supposed to be utilized as weapons to kill the dragon! The only two that don't fit is the Little League episode and their original appearance when they kidnapped Greymatter. Even then I think the robots from the Little League episodes were probably supposed to be used to kill the dragon and the whole replace the president thing was probably to use America's fellow countries to look for even stronger weapons and maybe they were looking for toxins inside Greymatter and how about the different alien objects in the glass cases? Those were probably failed destruction attempts on the dragon. And even now in Ultimate Alien, there's the giant robot in the museum and I almost forgot when they made Ship absorb that death machine in Alien Force, so all in all, the Knights have been trying to destroy this dragon all along, Retcon be damned. - User:L Bcrimson
  • Recent episode "The Purge" (and Word of God before that) stated that all the Forever Knights we have seen were from different sectors, each with a different goal in mind.- @/wildste
  • Another possibilty for the Forever Knights to capture Greymatter is that they were trying to replicate his vast inteligence into themselves.
• In Alien Force, I was kind of skeptical when it turned out the Master Control also gave Ben access to all of the aliens in the Omnitrix. At first I thought, "Well that's pretty cheap, the Master Control didn't do that in the original Ben 10". Then I realized... who's to say it didn't? The original series episode where Ben unlocked the Master Control was before "Ben 10,000", and therefore before Ben had any idea how many aliens were in the Omnitrix, and before he'd seen any forms like Spitter or Articguana and learned they were in the Omnitrix. He's not going to try and transform into something if he doesn't know it's there, now is he? Then I thought, "Wouldn't he have noticed when he was scrolling through the dial that he had thousands of new forms?", only to realize that Ben, being an excitable 10 year-old who'd just been given the ability to mentally switch forms, probably never even looked at the dial after unlocking the Master Control! - Khfan429
  • • Also, based on how Ben zeroed out the master control at the end of season two, it seems like merely turning the dial gets rid of the feature. He was most likely being careful that he didn't mess it up earlier.
• In the first series, Vilgax almost never tried to touch the watch on Ben's wrist, only trying to touch it to remove it from his wrist. Why doesn't he try to grab the watch more often? He probably knows about the watch's ability to collect DNA, and won't touch the Omnitrix unless it's off of Ben's wrist, because he does not want Ben to be as powerful or dangerous as him. Ben even lampshades in "Benwolf" where he says he could have gotten a "Wicked Vilgax".
• The revelation in the finale that the previous Omnitrix was a prototype readily explains why Ben had so much trouble handling it in the original series and Alien Force. In real life, prototypes usually are pretty buggy.

Fridge Horror

• In the first series of Ben 10, Zombozo is so callous about how he does what he does - draining the positive energies from people and Gwen looked like she was dying from it - two things: 1. This scene implies that this isn't the first time Zombozo's done this. 2. The subtext in the scene... know how Slade had almost Pedophilic moments? Zombozo has these moments, and they are even worse.
• The fate of Max's partner, Phil, at the end of the season 2 episode, Secrets. He winds up trapped in the null-void dimension, which he had been using earlier to set up crimes by releasing aliens. When Gwen asks what'll happen to him, Grandpa replies, {{"You Don'tWantToKnow There are some things about this job that are better left unheard of."}} Keep in mind the Null-void was designed to hold Extraterrestrial threats, and Phil's just a human.
• The final battle in Destroy All Aliens between Waybig, the Retaliator, and Azmath transformed into a berserk Waybig. It takes place in the middle of a fully populated city and racks up lots of collateral damage. It's honestly a pretty awesome fight until you realize that they must have killed thousands of people while fighting...