Ben 10: How to Fix and Improve Julie Yamamoto
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Oh I bet this is going to push some buttons among some of the Alien Force and Ultimate Alien fans, if my other recent articles hadn't done so already since that I believe Julie is a popular character in Alien Force and Ultimate Alien but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on that. Let's discuss Julie in the Ben 10 franchise and her biggest issue as a character. She's a Satellite Character...or more specifically a Satellite Love Interest. Julie, of course, is the love interest of Ben Tennyson in Alien Force and Ultimate Alien...and that's pretty much what sums up most of her as a character. Most of the time that we see her in the shows is so viewers could be reminded that she's Ben's girlfriend and "Oh, they look so cute together" and all that other pointless stuff. I find that this works against her as a character. That how the writers made her so reliant on Ben just so she could be interesting and compelling and have a purpose in the shows hindered and limited Julie's potential. She did get a little better in Ultimate Alien but I don't find that to be enough for her and they certainly made the right call to have Ben and Julie separate in Omniverse. Julie is by far one of the, if not the most, pointless characters in the Ben 10 franchise. She is so bland, boring, uninteresting, and so reliant on Ben to even have a reason to be in the show, it ultimately doesn't make her relationship with Ben work well for both characters and the shows overall. It certainly doesn't help either that, much like with Gwen and Kevin's relationship, Ben and Julie's relationship was rushed in Alien Force as well. Overall, Julie isn't a good character. She is a pointless character that either really needs some help here to gain some significant ground or she shouldn't have even existed in the Ben 10 franchise in the first place. I do have some ideas and suggestions that might help make Julie a much better character though; a character that does have a much greater purpose of being in the show than just being the main character's girlfriend.
So what can be done to help make Julie Yamamoto an overall much better and more significant supporting character? Well first off, don't pair her up with Ben. We've already seen the result of that and like I said, it doesn't work for her as a character and it doesn't make their relationship with each other work either. Again, Julie was too reliant on Ben to even have a reason to be in the shows. She needs more substance in her and just having Julie be nice and cute most of the time isn't enough. What I think is a good start for her is to get Julie more involved in the action and I say that a good way to do that is to make her a Plumbers' kid. I say that this will help give her some more room to develop as a character; to make her more interesting and compelling while also keeping her as a minor supporting character. What sort of abilities can she have as a Plumbers' kid? I'm not entirely sure on that yet. Since that Julie has a connection with Ship, maybe she could have Upgrade's abilities. That was the first thing that came to mind for me with her but again, I'm not entirely sure on that. If anyone has any ideas of their own, feel free to state them in the comments below and explain why. Overall, again, I think this is a good start for her. Julie being a Plumbers' kid can help to get her involved in more situations in the franchise and help to give her some more substance to her as a character while also having her be less reliant on being with Ben just so she has a reason to exist.
That's not the end of it though. Like I said, just having Julie be nice and cute isn't enough. Again, it's stuff like this that makes her feel bland, boring, and uninteresting. Possibly even generic for her. In fact, I even say that Alien Force and Ultimate Alien are quite significantly generic overall as well. Anyways, I say that she needs more to her personality. It's fine for Julie to be nice and sweet and cute and all that but she needs some more to her to make her stand out some more. The shows established that Julie is a tennis player and often times she attends tennis games and tournaments. Because of this, I can see Julie be quite a competitive character. I can see her often express a competitive attitude in various situations with a strong desire to win. Another major aspect that inspired me to think of this direction for Julie comes from the iconic character, John-117 aka the Master Chief from the Halo franchise, most notably and specifically how he was portrayed in the canon novel, Halo: The Fall of Reach. The book describes the Master Chief as a very competitive individual who is so determined to win at any situation at all costs. During his Spartan II training, Master Chief had to learn teamwork. He had to learn to take his desire to achieve personal victory and make it into a desire to achieve victory for his team and the human race overall. While I don't see my idea of Julie's competitive nature and desire to win to be as extensive and deep as that of the Master Chief's, if viewers want to see Julie go though some character development, I can see Julie going through a similar direction to this. I believe that most, if not all, of her tennis games are 1v1 type of games, which leaves very little to no room to practice proper teamwork. Having Julie become a more competitive character could possibly lead to her revealing an intended character flaw among the other Plumbers' kids. That her having a strong desire to win in various situations could lead to her not exercising proper teamwork with the other Plumbers' kids, which could thus lead to significant consequences that would encourage her to tone back her competitive nature (doesn't have to be completely but at least significantly enough) and learn proper teamwork. Again, not to the extent and depth of the Master Chief's character development because Julie is a minor supporting character and it's important to maintain that status for her. The Master Chief is the main character of the Halo series. Julie is not the main character in the Ben 10 franchise. If Julie were to go this very direction in her character development, it needs to be significant enough to make her a more interesting, compelling, and unique character without her taking too much of the spotlight away from Ben and Gwen. The same needs to go with the other Plumbers' kids as well. Every Plumbers' kid can have their own set of characteristics and character development to make the each of them stand out more but they are minor supporting characters while Ben and Gwen are the main characters and it's important for that status to be maintained within the Ben 10 franchise. Plumbers' kids should all be interesting and compelling in their own right if possible but not to the point where it overpowers Ben and Gwen's characteristics and character development.
In the end, I do think that this could be a good and fitting direction to take for Julie in order to help make her a much more interesting, compelling, and unique character than how she was portrayed in the actual shows. A direction that could help fix her glaring issues and vastly improve her as a character. If anyone else has any thoughts of their own on the topic of this article, feel free to leave a response in the comments section below.
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Well like I said at DA.
She exist just to say "Look, Ben has a girlfriend....and it's not Gwen." They didn't give her anything else because her purpose doesn't go beyond that.Your suggestions might help but she's still an unnecessary character. There's only so much you can do with her.
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@car54 I recently had a conversation with shadows59 about Julie and it did make me think of another direction that I want to address about her that could work well too. If I'm able to, I plan to cover and address that tomorrow.
