All right, so I know I've been doing quite a bit of these TV show reviews lately, but it honestly wasn't my plan to. I was really just hoping to do ones for the Last Airbender and Legend Of Korra, but after watching this series again, I decided I wanted to do another one for this. This'll probably be the last one unless I decide I wanna talk about some other show, but, for now, I'm just gonna talk about Ben 10. So, I'm not gonna lie, this was the big action show I grew up with when I was a kid. Me and a cousin of mine were big fans of it when we were younger. In the same way a lot of people have huge nostalgia for other action shows like anime and were big fans of it and it was just a super awesome show to watch when they were younger and they got really into it, yeah, that's what this series was for me. I remember adoring Ben 10 and thinking it was really cool and buying a whole bunch of toys and action figures about it and it was just a really fun and awesome show to follow. And, last year, I actually got the entire series box set and I just watched the whole series in three days and I just finished it the other day. And now, years later, it's still cool. Obviously not as cool and I'm not as super into it as I was when I was a kid, but there are some things about it I appreciated more about it. As well as just understand it a bit more. The story is about a ten year old boy named Ben who's on summer vacation and is going on the road with his grandpa Max and cousin Gwen. But on their first night gone, Ben discovers a pod that fell from the sky with a device in it called the Omnitrix, a device that attaches itself to his wrist and also has the power to transform him into different aliens. While first, obviously, being freaked out by it, he soon discovers how to use it properly and decides to use it to help people. And the entire series from this point onward is just him in different places around the world and fighting different villains. So what really drove me to the series in the first place was the fact that the characters and this premise were so cool. And the characters were really cool despite maybe acting like they were trying to be too cool. But unlike other shows where the characters try to act cool and it just comes across as lame, these characters are cool and really enjoyable. Even nowadays, they still come across that way. Also, and I know me saying this is just kinda repetitive right now, but you can definitely tell that this is another American show that's inspired by anime. Sure, not the same way as Avatar: The Last Airbender or The Legend Of Korra, but you can tell that anime helped inspire this too. And that aspect was shown more obvious to me now. I clearly had no idea what anime was when I was a kid, but nowadays, the elements that are similar are obvious to me. One of the things that benefit from that is the continuing story. Sure, the story is definitely episodic with the episodes, but this is clearly one story moving along with different storylines connecting later in the series and when characters from earlier join up and we see different team up episodes, this was really awesome to me when I was a kid and something that was great to see. I think this might have been the series to introduce me to that. And the other thing that this has in common with anime is the concept. Not just the whole aliens coming to Earth thing, which, come on, has been done to death, but just the way it's done and the way they present it and the designs of the different aliens is all that. Even the designs of the characters show that a bit too. Also, the animation on this show is so good in my opinion. As a kid, even though I never properly thought about it, I still thought the animation was still great and I still believe that. This is some of my favourite American animation ever. As animation for a series, I don't know how to describe it exactly, but this is some amazing animation. Most would probably disagree with me on this, but I can't help but think like that. And the characters are also great. Sometimes they're... not, per se, but they are most of the time and a lot of the time, they get some great moments. Ben himself is probably my favourite character because he is really cool and he does seem to change and mature as the series continues, but a lot of other characters are great too. Gwen, Max, Tetrax, Azmuth. All of them. Not to mention the fact that the villains are awesome too. My favourite is actually the main villain, Vilgax. He's got a cool design and his strength is enormous. Though there are a few things about him I question, but he's still a good villain for the series. And the others are cool too. Kevin, Enoch, Hex, Animo, Ghostfreak. All of them and all the rest not only have great designs, but are just great characters too. And something that's really cool about this is how the series connects, especially with the villains. This is when the series is at its best in my opinion. And it all starts with the alien werewolf. First we meet him and then we see an alien mummy and then it all connects in "The Return" and "Be Afraid Of The Dark." This two parter was a big deal for me when I was a kid. It was essentially the combination of everything in the series thus far, mostly. And I really do remember the first time I watched this and I remember my reaction to the big twist. So, in this, we get to see the werewolf and the mummy returning along with a new character named Victor who's an alien himself and says he's working for his "master", and it's up to Ben, Gwen and Max to stop them. And it's a story about going into space as well, so that's cool. But the first part actually finishes with Ghostfreak being brought back to life. Like I said, I remember my shock when I first saw that. I didn't expect that at all. But it doesn't stop there as we get to see their big fight in the next episode, and it's all really creative and we see more of that anime aspect to it. The fight itself, like I just said, is really creative and we get a lot great moments. Overall, this two parter was a great and kind of a different experience when I was younger with how I was watching shows back then. And it's still a lot of fun to watch. Also, and I kinda touched on this before, but the voice acting is really amazing here. In particular Tara Strong as Ben himself. I mentioned this in my top 5 Tara Strong voice performances list last year and I still stand by that I think this is her second best performance behind Timmy Turner. She's just amazing. The rest of the acting is really great too. And, I love how in later seasons we get more aliens in the Omnitrix and how we see them incorporated into the series. Speaking of, I love all the different aliens they introduce in the Omnitrix. They're all really cool, very unique and have great designs. Not to mention each one has a great power. In terms of which one is my favourite, I think Canonbolt was my favourite when I was younger, but, nowadays, it's Heatblast. But all the rest are great in their own way too. And the rest of the episodes are all mostly just normal episodic ones that occasionally set up something for the end of the series like showing us the Forever King and so on. And a lot of them are really great and entertaining and I like a lot of the ideas they do like Gwen getting magic. That was cool idea and it gives her a chance to fight properly. However, I do have some problems with the series that, again, makes it feel like anime. The fact that since a lot of these are so episodic, some can feel like filler. I know that's different from an anime because it's a cartoon so that doesn't make any sense. But, there are some episodes that feel like that. The biggest I can think of is Gwen 10. A weird episode where Ben somehow gets sent back in time to the first episode where he doesn't have the Omnitrix and Gwen is the one who finds it. I don't think I liked this episode when I was younger and I don't really like it now. It doesn't make any sense, it doesn't connect to the other episodes and it's never explained how it happens. It's just some random episode that's here and then is kinda forgotten. The other episode that feels like that is the future episode. Not the Ben 10000 episode, that episode was cool, I mean the Ken 10 episode. What I don't like about it isn't the idea of Ben having a son, I like that, it's what they do at the end with having Kevin being the villain. What I don't like about it is how in the later series, Ben 10: Alien Force. In that, and in Ultimate Alien, he's a good guy, so him being the main villain doesn't really make sense. I know those shows weren't made yet, but still. I just like to think that it's a non-canon episode. Anyway, something else that's awesome is the three parter special, which could almost be called a movie for the series, "Secret Of The Omnitrix." I love how Tetrax returns and this is what made me like him a whole lot more and made him one of my favourite characters, and the idea of looking for the creator of the Omnitrix is a cool concept and one that I feel like we sorta had to see with it never being brought up before. And the journey through the whole special is fun and the different fights are really enjoyable. And then the climax on Asmuth's planet was great. Especially when the Omnitrix gets fixed and we see Ben turn into Way Big for the first time. And then, finally the series keeps going until the Ben 10 vs. The Negative 10 episode. This two parter was another thing that was pretty big when I was younger. It's the special before the series finale where a whole bunch of villains from the series team up and are working for the Forever King. And seeing a whole bunch of these villains teaming up was such a cool thing for me when I was a kid. We see the Circus Freaks, Charmcaster, Rojo, Clancy, Animo, Sublimino and some red armoured ninja guy and the Forever King teaming up against Ben and the others. The backstory of the Forever King is cool when we see that he was an ex-Plumber. The Plumbers are basically an organisation that Max was part of a long time ago that fought off evil aliens. And so, having one of them being one of the major villains in the series is cool. I mean, this isn't the first time we saw a Plumber be evil in the series, but this is the first time we saw one be a huge, major villain. And having the ten of them going up against Ben, Gwen, Max and another kid with them, Cooper, was cool to see. Anyway, the series officially finishes with "Goodbye And Good Riddance" where the summer's over and Ben is now trying to settle back into his normal life but feels like he can't. Especially since Vilgax is hunting him again. And the whole episode is just that. Him trying to stop Vilgax once and for all, which he does. And, overall, I greatly appreciate how much of an impact this series made on me when I was a kid and I love how this was a super huge show I was following for a long time and it's awesome that I was able to rewatch the whole thing again recently and still see it as a great show. Something else that helps with it in my opinion is that it is a good show. Unlike some other shows I may have liked when I was younger but I now see as bad and annoying, this one totally holds up and I love how this is a show that me a lot of other people liked too. It's just a blast to watch with some really great moments and moments that I can watch and feel a huge amount of nostalgia with. And I love how, in a sense, this kinda introduced me to the idea of continuing stories in shows and making it interesting and fun to follow and kinda seriously. Especially a show I followed for the longest time and was always excited whenever they were introducing new episodes. Yeah, this definitely left a big impact on my childhood and I don't know what a part of my taste in entertainment would have been like if I didn't see it. Also, and this is just something I'm just kinda bringing up even though I probably should have brought it up earlier, but I did actually meet Tara Strong last year at a Comic Con and mentioned how her performance as Ben was one of my favourites of hers. I know that's kinda random to bring up, but I just wanted to there.
So, in the end, yeah, I do still really, really like this show and love a lot of aspects about it. Also, I'm not doing reviews for Ben 10: Alien Force or Ultimate Alien because I haven't watched enough of them to do reviews, and also because I wanted to do this one because it's kinda special to me and nostalgic, so I just wanted to talk about this. Maybe I will someday, but, for now, I'm just leaving it with this. So, yeah, I would say I recommend it. It's just a load of fun to watch and I would definitely say you'd enjoy it. And so, yeah, everyone, that's my review of Ben 10. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.
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