Ben 10 Fans

Let's hope we do get that announcement by this end of this year. I'm excited to see what's next for Ben 10.

@Tactical-Ochoa Given that MOA and the other writers were the ones who created him, they probably understand him better than any of us do. And apparently that's the direction which they were going to take Kevin and Charmcaster in the inital sequel Hero Generation. Even when Dwayne McDuffie was brought on he at first wanted to take that same direction with Kevin but then CN mandated Kevin being on Team Tennyson. I don't think that it's completely out of the question that Kevin improves slightly for the better but he would never realistically get close to Ben and Gwen. Perhaps vigilante is the wrong word to use but Kevin doesn't work as a world ending stakes villain as much as he does a personal rival to Ben. Perhaps they're not always purely antagonistical of each other but Kevin works when he challenges the very person whom Ben is.

If I had to redo Alien Force would've actually given him his own arc to parallel the character development which Ben goes through. Perhaps something to do with his past and how he was treated back then . Perhaps there would've been a better way to implement his shattered relationship with his own family. Though rather than going down the path of love and light like Ben does, Kevin would probably take the other road of darkness and anger.

@coreofthesun Granted, I don't really see Kevin as a vigilante-type. Most especially with moments like when he was willing to let two trains crash into each other and kill hundreds of innocent people in the process just so he can steal some money, Kevin seems like quite a selfish person. I think he cares too much about himself to be a vigilante and be willing to help others, unless maybe it furthers his own selfish goals. Like he's willing to work with Vilgax because it would help him get closer to Ben and try to achieve his goal of getting payback towards Ben. He also just doesn't have a good view towards other people given the treatment and abuse he faced. In the episode Framed, Kevin states, "Nobody's innocent! They just haven't had the chance to make fun of me yet!". That's not someone that fits the role of a vigilante.

@coreofthesun The Mr. Smoothy mascots thing was certainly the biggest killer of that finale. It's one of the biggest examples of the show being too comedic. That's a noteworthy moment that really should've been taken more seriously but the crew, for some reason, decided to play it off as a joke. It really ruined the moment.

Good Bye and Good Riddance is a fun episode and as just a final episode to the OS without thinking about any of the sequels, it is a satisfying conclusion. However I think that Ben having a secret identity in his home town was just too good an opportunity to pass up, and it's a shame that the writers barely touched on it.

I personally think that the final episode of the OS should've been akin to GBaGR with the summer ending, but maybe not the unexpected return of Vilgax (which is never explained) or Ben's identity being revealed. It could've been a character-focused episode where they reflect on going back to normality, or something along those lines.

Secret of the Omnitrix is easily my favourite thing to ever come out of the franchise because I think that they nailed the personal stakes and character growth for Ben as well as keeping the adventure and fun of Ben 10.

Alien Force's finale attempted to be a more character-driven finale and it was interesting to actually see Vilgax achieve his goal and win, as well as Ben willingly sacrificing his Omnitrix for the greater good, but there are plotholes and things which don't make much sense. Ultimate Alien's finale is almost universally accepted as terrible due to a bad antagonist, the lack of personal connection to Ben as well as the lamest final battle. Omniverse's finale was at least more exciting but it didn't hit me as hard as either of the OS finales because again, we didn't get character-driven moments. I think that this finale would've been a whole lot better if there were moments between Ben and Rook to show how close they've grown as friends, or if the final antagonist was actually intimidating and somewhat relatable, and most of all if BEN HAD ACTUALLY SEEN THE CONTEMALIA AS GRANDPA MAX AND NOT MR SMOOTHY MASCOTS.

I think that it really was unnecessary for Devin to exist. Aside from his role as a Plumber tying in to the huge Plumber retcon in UAF, why on Earth did they make him Max's partner? It makes Max the world's biggest scumbag for not even trying to help Kevin or acknowledging himonce in the OS. Despite Kevin apparently being his ex-partner's son. And as npzman said, what are the chances of Max just happening to come across Kevin in NYC, and then doing nothing?

And then there's the whole false memories thing in the Omniverse Rooters arc which attempted to fix this but made things even more confusing because of the story arcs involving Kevin in UAF which directly contradict it.

Devin seemed to be the main motivation for Kevin turning good in UAF. I'd argue that it is a really cliche motivation which wasn't necessary and required unnecessary retconning of the past to achieve. IF Kevin has to go through a redemption, I'd rather have him change due to him seeing the error of his ways himself and becoming a better person under the influence of Ben and Gwen who act as character foils to him. Then again, I think that vigilante/villain Kevin is a way better direction to take his character than being a hero.

Maybe as a extra layer of punishment

but then in Ultimate Alien Ben did said that they are out of prison but still in the null void. So I guess that is punishment enough. Forgetting that the null void itself is a prison.

Also why would Ben meet the son of max's partner Devin a random city. That has to happen by ridiculous chance. Grandpa Max had those fake memories during OS right ?

@KineceleranGirl Well, assuming that the gas line explosion did indeed kill Vilgax. Vilgax has survived worse. He was once stuck onto a nuclear missile that was fired at his ship after all.

Goodbye and Good Riddance I think can work as a good finale. Although, Secret of the Omnitrix works well enough as a series finale of the Original Series as well. I think I would've rather preferred for Ben to keep his secret identity for a while longer though. I don't think that aspect of Goodbye and Good Riddance made much sense and having Ben's secret identity be revealed at a later time would work better. Ideally when Ben transitions into Ben 10,000. Say around the age of 15 (the original age in which Ben supposedly made that transition) and during or after the Highbreed invasion could be a good point. Alien Force really should've centered on Ben's transition into Ben 10,000.

I do think that Goodbye and Good Riddance, as well as Secret of the Omnitrix, were better finales than Omniverse. Omniverse's series finale felt like they were trying to do better by going bigger. You don't always have to go bigger though. Bigger doesn't always mean better. More doesn't always mean better either. Sometimes, less is more. I tend to appreciate stories and finales more when they're more personal over having bigger scale and I think Secret of the Omnitrix handled that personal element quite well, despite having a universe-wide threat being involved. To me, Secret of the Omnitrix's story gradually ended up feeling like a more personal and grounded story despite its premise.

Just another little thing that I wanted to post alongside the "prisons inside the Null Void" post. The sequel shows established that Max's former Plumbers partner was Kevin's father...and then that was subsequently retconned into a false memory in Omniverse. None of that makes sense because those moments established that Max knew about Kevin, yet the Original Series showed that Max doesn't know about and recognize Kevin at all.