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@ungrateful-wolf And as I said on the Tv Tropes forum (which I will paste on here), if Man of Action really intended for Kevin to have his own Omnitrix in the OS, ok then. Two things comes to mind though. One, will Kevin having his own Omnitrix really work well for him as a character and for the show overall? Part of me doubts that considering the poor writing and execution that usually plagues the reboot show. Two, why do you think Kevin ended up not having his own Omnitrix in the OS? Probably because the OS writers saw that it wasn't a good idea and wouldn't work for the OS, which just further fuels my doubt that this direction for Kevin will work in the reboot.

These elements that didn't make it into the OS didn't make it into the OS for a reason. The OS crew knew that it wouldn't work well for the show. Stinkfly's original design didn't make it into the OS because the writers knew that it wouldn't work and the reboot prominently showed why it indeed didn't work for Stinkfly. Most fans and viewers that I've come across don't like Stinkfly's reboot design because it was a bland, generic, and out-of-place design that doesn't fit the fact that Stinkfly is an alien. That's one of the things about the reboot. Man of Action took pre-concept (or beta or whatever) elements that didn't make it into the OS and introduced them into the reboot forgetting as to why those pre-concept elements didn't make it into the OS. They weren't going to work well for the OS and the reboot proved that very point. With that taken into consideration, along with how the reboot show and its writers screwed up almost every returning character, I very much doubt that Kevin having his own Omnitrix is going to work. Looking at these factors, I find it more likely that Kevin in the reboot is just going to be like almost every other returning character being that he, too, will be a bland shell of his former self. Like I said, if Kevin having his own Omnitrix means that he's going to lose his energy absorption powers, then Kevin isn't Kevin. Kevin would lose something that defined him at his best and made him Kevin. If Kevin is going to keep his powers, then why does he need his own Omnitrix? If Kevin is going to keep his powers, then there's no reason for him to have his own Omnitrix because his powers would provide him with what having his own Omnitrix would provide, if not more. The way that I see it, Man of Action and the other writers put little to no thought into this. They implemented this very direction into Kevin while taking little to no consideration as to how this would actually affect and impact him as a character.

@ungrateful-wolf Yes because that's certainly something that Kevin, the show itself, and the franchise as a whole really needs. If Kevin really is going to have his own Omnitrix in the reboot, that tells me that it's most likely that he no longer has his original powers. If that really is the case, that means that Man of Action and the other reboot show writers are taking away one of the key aspects about Kevin that defined him at his best. That they're taking away a major component that defined Kevin as a character. That they're taking away what makes Kevin, well, Kevin. Yeah, given how the reboot show and its writers has treated and undermined every returning character (with the exception of Dr. Animo), I have a feeling that they're going to screw up Kevin as well. If Kevin does have his energy absorbing powers, then WHY DOES HE NEED HIS OWN OMNITRIX?!

@ultraalien That's why I said that episodes need to be between 30 and 60 minutes long each. You can make good stories with 11 minutes but they would have to be more simple and not a lot has to go on because there's such a short amount of time. The more complex the story is and/or the more that's going on in the episode, the longer the episode needs to be.

Ok so in regards to how Man of Action can improve the Ben 10 reboot through season 3, there's a lot of things that would have to be done. First off would have to be the story. Season 3 CAN NOT be just another season where we get villain-of-the-week filler episodes followed by an around one hour long season finale split into 11 minute parts that have the closest to resembling an actual overarching story that we've been getting with the first two seasons. There needs to be an overarching story that spans throughout the entire season. Episode 1 of season 3 needs to introduce a major story plot and at least most of the entire season needs to stick to that plot. However, the problem with that is that season 3 is most likely going to be another 40 episodes that are each 11 minutes long. With so many episodes, there's a chance that the major story plot could likely end up dragging out and the 11 minute episode run time would likely create issues with the pacing...which we already saw with the first two seasons already. Therefore, I say that it would be better for season 3 to be somewhere between 10 and 20 episodes that each span a length of 30 to 60 minutes.

Then there are the characters. Ben needs to grow as a character. His tendency often to cause situations to happen in the first place and to often make situations worse than they should be needs to go. Ben needs to have more maturity and responsibility in him. He can still be cocky and fun-loving but they need to tone that down and introduce more maturity and responsibility into him to balance that out. This leads up to Gwen. Gwen needs to put her foot down more and be more stern and serious whenever Ben is causing more shenanigans. That was one of the aspects about Gwen than made her at her best. She kept Ben in check. She kept Ben focused on the task at hand. Gwen being the voice of reason and being hard on Ben whenever he did something stupid helped Ben become a better character and hero. Her lacking that in the reboot is one of the major aspects about her that greatly undermines Gwen as a character.

Tone down the comedic elements as well; especially in the action scenes. It's fine to have some comedic elements but there's too much of it in the Ben 10 reboot and it undermines the action scenes because it makes the action scenes feel devoid of tension and a sense of danger. They're action scenes. We should be getting the feeling that people's lives are at stake. We should be concerned for the well-being of the main characters. That can't happen if the action scenes often feel like a comedy act.

Whatever unnecessary, toy-selling gimmick they're going to throw out next also needs to go. That is not a good way to add quality content to Ben 10. A gimmick is a freakin gimmick. Shock Rock was an example of that. He was an unnecessary alien to add to Ben's roster when there are already plenty of other, better, more unique and interesting electric and energy based aliens that have already been introduced in past shows that CN Studios and Man of Action could've easily brought back and would've worked out a lot better. The Omni-Enhancements were also just as much unnecessary to have around as the Ultimate Forms from Ultimate Alien. The real reason that Shock Rock and the Omni-Enhancements exists were to sell more toys. If what they plan to bring into season 3 is really only there just to advertise and sell more toys, it needs to go. If Man of Action wants to introduce better quality content to season 3 of the Ben 10 reboot, they could easily do this by providing a good story with well-written characters, tense and well-directed action scenes, interesting lore and world building, interesting and unique and useful aliens, etc etc etc. That's why the Original Series made billions in merchandise during its run and is still considered by many, if not most, fans to be the best show in the franchise.

There's still many more aspects and elements of the Ben 10 reboot that need to be fixed and improved as well but this comment is already going to be long enough as it is and there's a lot that I want to save for when I plan to make my next article. Regardless though, I doubt that Man of Action and CN Studios are going to be able to do much to change and improve season 3 now. After season 2 finished production, production for season 3 started and that was a while back. My guess is that season 3 is almost done in production and going through with such a drastic revision is something that Cartoon Network isn't really going to favor much as it would put season 3 on such a significant delay and everything done up to now would be seen as a waste of time and resources, which to the CN executives means a waste of money. Considering that season 2 very much had the same issues as season 1 had, more issues with the writing were created, and very little improvements to the show were made, I don't see season 3 going to be any better than season 1 and 2. Most likely were just going to get more of the same stuff with season 3 and therefore more of the same issues.

@offbeatcat Christ, where to even begin with this show.

@offbeatcat How can they improve the reboot show?

@offbeatcat While I do agree that CN needs to take some time to reorganize themselves, I don't think shutting down the channel and app for at least a month would be a smart decision for them to make business wise. They just need to figure out a plan to kick things back up into gear. Reorganize the channel, fix and improve the app, change leadership around, kick those freakin left leaning politically correct ideologues out, etc.

@offbeatcat I just took a look back at that episode and nothing established that Ben could use the Omnitrix because he was also a Tennyson. In fact, they way that I interpreted that revelation was that Xylene didn't send the Omnitrix to Max so that he can wield it but instead to protect it from Vilgax. Xylene was in the middle of an expedition to collect DNA samples for the Omnitrix when she was attacked by Vilgax and she knew it was a losing battle because her ship was not equipped to properly combat Vilgax's ship. Since that Xylene was near Earth and she knew and trusted Max well enough, she sent the Omnitrix to Max to protect it.

Another thing is that as far as I know in regards to the OS continuity, Azmuth doesn't know who Max is or at the very least doesn't know him well enough. Even then, why would Azmuth send the Omnitrix to someone that would just turn 60 during that summer let alone someone who was a former Plumber who retired to be closer to his family. The OS Plumbers didn't have much good views towards most alien species...because more often they encountered aliens that were more of a threat to Earth than not. And again, Max retired to be closer to his family. Xylene knew this as well. Given Azmuth's intentions with the Omnitrix, Max is not an ideal candidate to be wielding it. He's too old to be physically fit for the Omnitrix and too determined on settling down on Earth with his family to be the ideal choice to wield the Omnitrix. I bet that if Azmuth did offer Max the Omnitrix, Max would most likely turn it down. It doesn't make sense for Max to be the intended wielder of the Omnitrix, which is why I went with the conclusion that Xylene sent the Omnitrix to Max to protect it from Vilgax given the situation that she was in. This is something that I find the sequel shows screwed up on and that a lot of people missed.

As for your reboot fanfic, it's ok. Your alien roster is mostly fine. Granted, I don't recommend Goop because he has an obvious weakness being his Anti-Gravity Projector. Once that's gone, Goop is just a useless puddle. A Lenopan or Protost would've been a better option; especially the Lenopan since that Ben can use that alien to create disguises. I'm not fond of Jetray either and one major reason is that he can go to space and can somehow go into slipstream, which makes little sense to me. Even then, Jetray just seems bland compared to some of the other aliens. Crashhopper is a terrible alien. Using your head to ram into stuff (even if your head is armored) is a surefire way to at best get a concussion and at worse completely obliterate your brain. Cannonbolt is the better option here. He does what Crashhopper can do but better. As for Echo Echo, I find him to be one of the most overpowered aliens in the franchise because Ben can create as many duplicates of Echo Echo as he wants with no negative consequences to it. That's why each of Ditto's duplicates are linked to each other and therefore all react when one of them gets hurt. If you're interested, here's my article on what I find to be the most ideal roster of aliens for Ben to have: https://ben10club.org/topic/357/ben-10-my-ideal-roster-of-ben-s-aliens-revised-and-finalized. The characters are, for the most part, just fine. I'm just not a fan of how you want to portray Vilgax and much of Max. I find your idea to overall just be ok; especially when compared to other Ben 10 fanfics. There's not a lot that it does that makes it stand out.

@offbeatcat Well, yeah, I know that I reference Little Moments so much but that's because it's a great and well-written Ben 10 fanfic that does a lot of things better than the official shows. I find it to be the best Ben 10 fanfic out there.

Also, you don't have to rely on the Original Series. You can make a reboot that doesn't have to rely on having the audience know about the past shows. Examples of this is the Tomb Raider reboot game and the Doom reboot game. Those games take different directions to the premise without having to rely on the audience having prior knowledge of the previous games. Make a brand new origin story with a different premise if you want to. I've seen some Ben 10 fanfics that do that.

And what plot device? It was never established that only anyone of the Tennyson bloodline could use the Omnitrix. The Omnitrix can be used by any sentient being. If Azmuth only restricted the use of the Omnitrix to only one specific bloodline, it would go against his intentions of creating the Omnitrix in the first place being that the Omnitrix was created to allow various alien species to better communicate with each other, thus further promoting peace.

What I like in regards to the reboot? The other shows?

Ok so since that you asked me through chat about any advice that I can give to you for your fan fiction series, here's what I have. Sure, much of this is just my opinion and you have a choice to not follow my suggestions here. Still, I think it's something that you should take note of if you want to write a better story.

First off, try not to be too ridiculous and absurd. When I read your part 1 page about how you would reboot Ben 10, the part where you state how Vilgax would acquire a sample of DNA from Max Tennyson and some samples from the Omnitrix and would plan to create his own warrior with its own Omnitrix is an example of what I mean by that. To me, I find that to be a moment of "Wait...what? Why?". It sounds too ridiculous and absurd even for Ben 10 standards. I rather watch Innervasion again than see something like that. Also, if Vilgax is after the Omnitrix, he's after it for a reason. Vilgax knows some aspects about the Omnitrix but he doesn't know how to make one himself. Otherwise, he wouldn't even be bothering at all with going after Ben. It also presents the issue of making the original Omnitrix seem less unique because, well, now there's another Omnitrix. That was an issue that I had with the sequel shows introducing stuff like the Ultimatrix, the OV Omnitrix, the Nemetrix, etc. It made the original Omnitrix feel less unique. For more on that, here's my article on what I think are ways to fix and improve the Omnitrix: https://ben10club.org/topic/373/ben-10-how-to-fix-and-improve-the-omnitrix. So yeah, again, try not to get too ridiculous and absurd. That's a common issue that I've seen with many Ben 10 fanfics. The same goes with the notion of Max and Vilgax being former friends and how Max was some galactic war veteran that nearly wiped Vilgax's species to near extinction. That sort of stuff just sounds too ridiculous and absurd, again, even for Ben 10 standards. That's not to say that they can't work though. To me, it just doesn't sound right for Ben 10.

Second, I say that you should ditch the road trip approach. Take that direction and burn it. I said this before in your part 1 page, we already have the Original Series. Such a direction has already been tackled before and in a much better way and considering that the Ben 10 reboot is reusing that very same premise of Ben, Gwen, and Max going on a summer road trip makes such a premise feel overused now. I also recall seeing other fanfic writers reuse that premise many times themselves, which, again, points to the issue that this very premise feels overused. In your part 2 page, you say that the road trip approach has a greater amount of variety in what the characters experience. What variety? The Original Series already used up most, if not all, of that variety. The reboot had to reuse plot elements from the previous shows to add content. In fact, often times the characters in the reboot show are revisiting locations that they already visited. It's either that or they're visiting locations that are quite similar to locations that they already visited before. Many scenarios are being repeated as well in the reboot. At this point, there is no variety left in the summer road trip approach. Again, as I stated in your part 1 page, the reboot's reuse of that very premise contributed greatly to making the show itself feel very much unnecessary to exist and considering that there are plenty enough of Ben 10 fanfics that also use that premise as it is already, if you were to reuse the road trip premise, your fanfic series isn't going to feel unique. It won't stand out much. It would feel very much unnecessary and would likely be drowned out by the fact that we have an official Ben 10 show that already does this premise and does it better. What I would suggest is for you to branch out into other directions. Try to do something different. Try to go for a premise that is more different and stands out more. Try to go for a premise that we haven't seen out of Ben 10. You can use some elements from each of the Ben 10 shows but it's also important to try and do something more different, unique, and interesting with a premise.

Of course though, none of that matters if your writing skills aren't, well, good. This is where YouTube can come into great use. You should do some research. Learn how to improve your writing skills. Learn about structure and execution and whatnot. In the case of YouTube, I suggest looking up well credited reviewers and critics of films, shows, video games, books, etc. Look up analysis videos that go in-depth into these types of works and what makes many of them stand out. Some YouTube channels that I would recommend are Every Frame a Painting, Rossatron, Raycevick, Chris Stuckmann (especially his analysis videos), Jeremy Jahns, Now You See It, etc. Contact these folks as well if you want to get some more advice on how to make good writing. Always do some research into matters like this to help further improve your writing skills. There's always going to be something new that you're going to learn from this stuff. On FanFiction.net I believe there are beta readers. When it comes to writing your fanfics, have these people proof read your works and give you suggestions (if you plan on posting your fanfic series on that website though). After posting your fanfic, any reviews that you get, take note of any criticism that people direct towards your story. I know that you're not going to like people criticizing your work but, and as I said to you plenty of times before, criticism is an important tool to use in order to fix any issues that your works have and thus further improve your skills and the quality of your works. You need to know what you did wrong so that you can make things right.

You likely know this already but my most favorite Ben 10 fanfic series is Little Moments created by shadows59. Even if you're not a fan of the Bwen shipping, I highly recommend that you check this series out. It does a lot of really interesting and unique elements to it. Often times, the series does stuff that's better than the actual canon. For example, the prequel chapter, Stone in the River by Erico, introduced Professor Paradox but unlike the actual canon, this prequel chapter takes a much different approach to him and the concept of time traveling. The first time I read that chapter, it blew me away with just how interesting and unique the lore and story was. I find this version of Professor Paradox to be more interesting, unique, and mysterious than the official version. Here is a link to the page that provides all the links to the Little Moments series: https://ben10club.org/topic/183/little-moments-and-breaking-point. I suggest starting off with Stone in the River since that, well, it's a prequel chapter to the main story and a great predecessor to the Ben 10,000 episode in the Original Series. I say the Little Moments series is a great example of what I'm referring to with the suggestions that I'm providing here. Something that doesn't get too ridiculous and in fact often feels quite real with the way that the story, characters, and lore are written and implemented. Something that branches off into its own interesting and unique direction that makes it stand out. Something that has a lot of quality to it that you can learn from. I also need to get back to giving this series another read again because christ it's so freakin good.