Board Thread:Ben 10 Discussion/@comment-4969948-20160930222056/@comment-4952704-20161007084148

Since there hasn't been that many comments since the whole criticizing OS thing (I think that's what that was?), I might as well go ahead and share my thoughts because it's either that or i continue binge watching It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Keep in mind, this is my opinion.

Ben 10 as a whole, in it's entirety, is a mediocre franchise. I mean, OS is a classic, for sure, it's great for the people who watched it as kids but after all these years, I went back to rewatching it about a year ago and I still remember it well enough to form an opinion. While it is classic and certainly iconic, it doesn't have that substance to me. Maybe it's just that i've gotten older or that i have a specific taste, but it's just not a great show to me. My own personal taste goes out to story and character over action. I'd gladly watch a drama over an action show. This especially applies in fanfiction since my favorite parts about, say, Heroes of Evolution is when the characters just speak. It got tiresome when it came to the action itself.

This applies to Ben 10 as well. It's an action show. It's iconic and i'll forever cherish it, but it has no substance for me to recommend it. I cherish it because it lead me to become a writer, it lead me to such great friends and I dare say it did change my life.

AF/UA were my favorite in the franchise because it offered a true story. Looking back now, AF was not as great as i once thought. It was certainly, dare i say an improvement over OS, but it kind of lacked what OS had: something iconic. A lot of the new aliens were quite nice though 90% of them had a bland design, much like every other thing in this show. It had some nice character stuff (Max, though it doesn't hold true after Voided) but really, the biggest step up was the Highbreed arc. True pay-off stuff right there. But it's not something truly special outside of its own realm. Compared to any other thing, this still is kinda mediocre.

UA... I dare say it's great and the best stuff to come out of Ben 10 was in UA. Season 1 was the height of Ben 10 and i will say it (tried) to change the franchise. The Aggregor stuff was really good but what sold it to me was the Kevin stuff because it was the closest to something dark yet added character depth. And I will say that it was quite iconic. The Ultimates, Andromedas... all unique stuff. After S1, the show just went to shit. The dark things that it tried belongs on /r/cringe, the story after that was just not satisfying in the slightest, it had some neat things here and there but it was actually quite for the most part. I will say that every alien introduced in UA I actually quite liked. Can't say that about any other series.

OV BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! What a joke. So let me get this straight, every concept that i actually liked (Khyber, Malware) went to complete shit by Arc 8. Every single thing that I actually liked and enjoyed and complimented for got RUINED. EVERYTHING. And to top it all off, we end on a terrible Mark Hamill performance, with the most irritating character (Skurd) and a shit story to boot. Yeah, I liked some of the new aliens, I liked how there was more diversity and I liked the attention to detail.

Guess what? Each of everything I liked had a bad side. With diversity came ridiculous designs. With detail came RIDICULOUS CHANGES OR DESIGNS. With the new good aliens, came a billion more useless and dumb bad ones. Like really, nothing by the end of that show satisfied me and nothing left me with liking anything because it ruined any spark that it created. How do you even screw up a Secret Saturdays crossover? This show truly spit in the face of everything Dwayne McDuffie tried to do which is just sad. Before anything, I'd like to say that yes, DJW did have a say in a lot of this shit so I am blaming him as well. But, I liked the Rooters at least.

See what I mean? Everything here that i've just said has not been great in the slightest, aside from a few really good episodes of UA. It's iconic, but that's just the thing, isn't it? Despite the franchise being mediocre at best, it was iconic. It inspired us, a generation, to write great things. We used it's ideas and we created something truly special. We aren't a perfect fanbase, for sure, but I will argue that we're a unique one. With what has been left, we made something out of it. I think that's the best thing Ben 10 has ever done, inspire us. Moreover, I think something great could be made out of it with the right writers *cough*Weisman*cough*.

The reboot is not something I wanted nor am I gonna watch because it disrespects me as a viewer first and foremost. I was fine with a reboot, I was fine with it being based on OS. Every subsequent thing afterward just spit in my face and because Ben 10 is something that's special to me, I refuse to watch it or give it attention. As far as i'm concerned, it doesn't exist to me. I wanted to like it, but it doesn't offer anything that is of use and from what i've noticed, it only caters to the enjoyment of 9 year olds.

There. I have no life.