#Natalie Tennyson

[autistic-ben-tennyson]

Ben and Gwen: lonely kid and gifted child

I’ve thought a lot about these two and their family dynamic. Both are relatable to me but in different ways. Like Gwen, I’ve always been the “mature” one who was good at school and loved by the adults in my life, but I also don’t have any friends and have a desire for fame and attention like Ben. At first glance, they seem to have little to complain about, being white kids with stable homes and two parents, compared to someone like Kevin, but there’s more to a character than just the surface and I think both have a lot of emotional issues relating to their self worth.

With Gwen, we get glimpses into her life and how everyone views her as perfect. Sunny envied how she was adored by her parents and Verdona and Gwen wished her mother would stop thinking of her as the “good influence”. All the adults in her family loved her and expected her to be the role model for the other kids which is a double edged sword. Yes you get praise and love but also pressure and high expectations. You’re expected to babysit the other kids and often have to bury your true feelings to please everyone and people will envy the love you get. And that love is often conditional and based around living up to their standards, remember how Natalie told her “normal people don’t glow” and how she doesn’t like her daughter or nephew using their powers around her.

As a kid, she was constantly doing extracurriculars like cotillion and judo before earning a scholarship to go to college early in Omniverse. We got a glimpse into her daily life in “It’s not Easy Being Gwen” where everyone expects her to fulfill certain obligations. Gwen seems like a child prodigy who feels she has to be the best and is always filling her schedule with activities and is always trying to get into the top schools. I think that’s why she fell for Kevin. He was the only one who loved her without putting her on a pedestal or because she’s family. The only person she could be herself around and doesn’t force her to act like a perfectionist. People complain about her outfit change in OV and I agree with some of the criticisms, but with all the pressure in her life, I get why she would want a change from the expectations in her life.

Ben strikes me as someone with a deep inferiority complex. It’s implied that he’s a bit of a loner who doesn’t have many friends with JT ditching him for Cash. He did get along better with Sunny which makes me wonder if he can relate to being in Gwen’s shadow. Fans talk about how great Carl and Sandra are as parents and while they are nice people, their free range approach can seem negligent. They only seemed concerned about Ben’s heroics once they witnessed it. By that time, Ben had been on late night road trips with Kevin, who punched holes in their doors, for weeks and didn’t even come home one night in “Save the Last Dance”. Ben may have acted the way he did in the OS as a cry for help as he feels neglected and the favoritism everyone has towards Gwen may rub off on him. It reminds me a bit of how Steven from SU acted the way he did in the early episodes because he was constantly being left alone without the gems or Greg while being compared to Rose. Kids who don’t have friends nor get much attention while living in a family member’s shadow can and do develop inferiority complexes.

Ben’s desire for fame seems to stem from wanting to be loved and wanting to feel special. He becomes so full of himself because people finally love him as opposed to viewing him as some average kid. Fans have dismissed the bullying he faced as cliche or unnecessary but it adds to his character. A lonely, bullied kid who’s in the shadow of his overachieving cousin will want something that makes him feel special, like the Omnitrix. Ben has to learn throughout the 4 shows that he is the hero, not the watch. I think that’s why he loved using transformations like Four-arms, Humungousaur and Feedback so much even if they were inadequate for the situation as they made him feel confident. The way he fights is reminiscent of standing up to a bully too, picking an intimidating form, offering a chance to back off and then doing what he can to stop the threat. It’s easy to write him off as just a spoiled brat or narcissistic but I think 1, that’s ableist and 2, is a rather shallow way of looking at his character. While he can be insufferable at times, is it wrong to want acknowledgement or praise when there’s people like Will Harangue or the Rooters who hate you just for existing? I think he deserves a break from fans who hate him and he acts a lot better than most kids would in his situation. Compare him to Shinji Ikari from Evangelion, who I also love as a character, who would break down after seeing what Ben has to deal with every day.

I think both may envy each other at times. Gwen has been shown to be jealous of Ben getting all the glory as well as how Ben was given a car by her boyfriend despite her parents being wealthier. Like Sunny, Ben may have viewed Gwen as a stuck-up overachiever who got all the respect from their parents. That was until they bonded and became friends in the OS but it occasionally came back like when Ben lashed out at her for telling him he couldn’t use Feedback, believing she was trying to take the only thing he had. Because they have it easier than Kevin, it’s easy to expect them to just get over it but I think both Tennyson cousins need a lot of therapy and need to talk about their issues with each other. Both characters mean a lot to me and remind me of my own struggles.

[mtlupy]

Self examination of how I write the Tennysons:

Max: Literal trash. Do better my guy. Seriously.

Frank: Boring lawyer, but he tries.

Natalie: Bitch.

Ken: Oh right, he exists.

Gwen: The smartest and prettiest person ever.

Carl: Underachieving pothead with massive daddy issues, but also he survived being a teen dad, so respect.

Sandra: Wicked smart vegan teen mom doctor extraordinaire. Literal queen.

Ben: Sexy idiot who must suffer.

Bonus:

Kai: Complicated bitch.

Kenny: Look, he's doing his best with massive mommy AND daddy issues, okay? Do not bring up Eon. DO NOT.

[undeath1245]

Regarding Verdona and her role

We all know who she is. Verdona is Ben and Gwen's estranged grandmother and Max's old partner, long before he met Xylene. And she's also an anodite.

Analysis and criticisms

Ever since her debut, Verdona had changed something fundamental with the Tennyson family. Because she was Max's old partner, that would make their two sons, Carl and Frank, half-anodites, and in-turn, that would also make their grandchildren quarter-anodites. However, just because they're half-anodite or quarter-anodite, it doesn't mean that they immediately possess mana-based powers. A descended anodite would have to inherit an anodite spark in order to grow their powers, and Gwen was the lucky child to possess one. So, long story short, Verdona is Ben and Gwen's magical grandma, and the Tennyson family is now presented as a strange family of regular folk, plumber agents, and magical energy beings. Everything's fine and dandy, right?

Here's the thing: I think Verdona is a huge inconsistency. Let's go back to the Ben 10 episode, "The Visitor". According to the episode, Max met Ben and Gwen's grandmother in St. Louis, hence why he looked so melancholic in the beginning, either they split up or something bad really happened to Ben and Gwen's grandma. That immediately contradicts the Ultimate Alien episode "Moonstruck", where a young Max met a runaway Verdona in a diner in the middle of the desert. Sure, you could say that they probably had a later date in St. Louis, but still, it felt kind of contradicting whether or not Verdona was planned to be Ben and Gwen's grandmother. It makes me wonder if UAF was intended to be a soft reboot or not. And speaking of the episode mentioned above, where does Xylene fit in this? I would want to pry into it further, but that's a can of worms I don't want to discuss about.

Here's another thing about Verdona: She's a confusing, frustrating character. Verdona had only appeared in three episodes throughout the course of UAF and in the game, Vilgax Attacks, and two of these appearances depicted most of her negative traits. For example, in the episode "What Are Little Girls Made of?", she harbors huge favoritism of Gwen over her grandson, Ben, due to Gwen's anodite spark, especially after Ben presented his Omnitrix to her. She wanted Gwen to become an anodite and take her to her home planet so she could train her into becoming a powerful, free-spirited energy being. When Gwen politely declined, Verdona takes matter in her own hands, strips herself of her old human disguise (as in she removed her human skinsuit), and battles against her own kids (and Kevin) so she could transform her granddaughter into an anodite by force. To think that a free-spirited anodite like Verdona would respect Gwen's personal choice to remain on Earth with her family as a human, but no, she had to go ham on her own kids. Later on in the episode "Girl Trouble", after dealing with her rebellious granddaughter, Sunny, Verdona expresses favoritism of Gwen over Sunny in front of the rebellious anodite, and she still expresses her desire for Gwen to come with her to Anodyne after all this time. Grandmother of the year, ladies and gentlemen.

You would think that Verdona is a good enough character to impact Ben, Gwen, and the Tennyson family, and yet, all she left them were a few bad impressions and generational pressure. I mean, sure that Verdona helped her kids out with dealing with the rambunctious Sunny in "Girl Trouble", and sure that she helped the trio teleport towards Anur Phaetos during the events of Vilgax Attacks, but that's about two things she done some good for our main characters. If Max hadn't made his sacrifice in "Max Out" and wound up getting teleported to the Null Void, I wonder how would he react towards Verdona's attitude towards Ben and Gwen. Hmm, I wonder if that's how he and Verdona split. Maybe there were tensions between the two after Max found out Verdona's carefree, near-selfish attitude towards normal, non-powerful people. Maybe Verdona tried to make anodites out of her own kids, Frank and Carl, but later realized that they didn't possess the anodite spark and gave up on them. Maybe Verdona realized that she couldn't live such a normal life in an average, simple world like Earth, and so, once Frank and Carl are old enough to fly the coop, she decided to split from Max and leave Earth, at least that's how I see it.

What could have been...

You know, I feel like Verdona could have been an actual antagonist (not entirely a villain, though) in the series had her actions and attitudes weren't just waved off in a whim by the narrative. If so, there probably could have been a family member in the Tennyson rogues gallery. Imagine if Verdona didn't hold herself back in her episode debut and revealed her true nature and attitude towards non-powerful beings. Imagine if Verdona actually tried to transform Gwen into an anodite by force (which is something that I would call forced anodization). Imagine if she were to constantly encounter her granddaughter multiple times throughout the series and push her into becoming an anodite, probably saying something like, "This world is holding you back, Gwen," or something like, "You don't need them anymore. I'll still be your family." Long ago, I looked at a deviation of Verdona surrounded by rebel anodites (something I mentioned in my last post on anodites), and the artist talked about her potential as an antagonist in Gwen's small rogues gallery, as well as Verdona being a member of a rebellious, yet radical group of rogue anodites. I'd figure that, similar to Charmcaster, she could have served as another foil to Gwen, being a representation of unlimited, unrestrained power and potential, yet holding a disregard and attitude towards regular, non-powerful sentient life.

My initial idea for Verdona were to have her as a siren/witch-inspired antagonist. She would have lived for a hundred years and woo a dozen men into making love with her so that she would conceive a child. And afterwards, she would then train her child into a full-fledged anodite throughout their childhood, and once they're fully grown and well-trained, she would then transform them into an anodite and assimilate them, their whole body and very power so that Verdona herself can grow more powerful. Evil, ain't it? I was largely imagining her as some sort of witch, particularly one who has a physical disorder that weakens her and her very energetic structure, so she would have to rely on assimilating other fellow anodites in order to rejuvenate her body. Then, it got worse when she realized that younger anodites are twice as powerful than an adult anodites. She's basically like Spectra from Danny Phantom except that she relies on positive psychological manipulation.

Here's how I imagine her backstory with Max could have played out. Back when she was young, she wooed Max with her magical charms, and he let her into his life. Little did he and his kids know, she was planning on making Carl and Frank into powerful anodites so that she would gobble them up like a hungry witch. Thankfully, Carl and Frank didn't possess the anodite spark, so she saw no use in absorbing them whole. I imagined that Max also soon realized that Verdona was actually an energy-absorbing witch and then had a nasty argument with her when he found out about her true intentions with their kids. Eventually, they split up, but not before that nasty argument involving laser guns and mana blasting. Many years later, she discovered that her granddaughter, Gwen, has the anodite spark and is a wiz at her magical abilities. The events of "What Are Little Girls Made of?" play the same, except that not only is Verdona presented as more vicious and more apathetic, but Max is also there, as I would have have him not sacrifice himself in the events of "Max Out". In fact, I would have Verdona use her anodite charm to condition him into a happy, loving grandpa who likes to bake sweet, fruity cherry pies and cook scrumptious spinach casseroles. Does this sound like something Max would cook? After Max is freed from Verdona's charms, he would have used a prototype teleportation bomb that would send Verdona far away from Earth. During the climax of the battle, we would see Verdona's true form wither a bit while trying to pull herself away from the portal. After these events, Verdona, Ben and Gwen's grandmother, is now officially added to the Tennyson rogues gallery. Like I said, this is my initial idea for Verdona's revised character, of which I decided to recycle for a different character.

Alternatively, Verdona doesn't need to be a former lover of Max, and by extension, she doesn't need to be related to Carl, Frank, and Ben, only Gwen through her mother, Natalie. I was thinking about Verdona's biological relation with the Tennyson family and their anodite heritage, and I feel that it's a bit unnecessary for Ben to be quarter-anodite, same goes for Carl and Frank being half-anodite, especially since neither of them don't possess the anodite spark. So, why not make Verdona Gwen's maternal grandmother instead? It would make more sense for Natalie to be super distrustful with Verdona, considering the indication of her own mother pressuring her into becoming a full-fledged anodite during her childhood, but not to eat up, though. Once again, the events of "What Are Little Girls Made of?" play the same, and Verdona still wants to transform Gwen into an anodite regardless of her feelings. So, what if Natalie swoops right in and uses her anodite powers against her mother? After that, she and Gwen perform a magical spell to summon a large portal to banish Verdona away from Earth. They then reconcile, and Natalie apologizes to Gwen for not being honest with her anodite heritage or her grandmother.

Alternatively, Verdona doesn't need to be an antagonist at all. In fact, she could also be have character development once she understands better of Gwen's personal choice to remain on Earth. Let's say that she also learns the perspective of non-powerful beings and their own norms and limitations, like from her own family. She could still remain free-spirited, but she could still learn from her attitudes and feelings, realizing that there's more to life than maintaining your free spirit. She could even grow as a proper grandmother to Gwen and Ben, and she could still train Gwen with her magic, just not in Anodyne. Heck, she could also reconcile with her old family, Max, Frank, and Carl, and be the mother she could have remained after her kids were grown up. Or, if you choose for Verdona to be Gwen's maternal grandmother, she could make amends with her own daughter, Natalie, and apologize for being so rough on her throughout her childhood. Maybe there ought to be a rogue anodite (or a group of rogue anodites) that Verdona and the main trio encounter, and during the battle, the rogue anodite asks Verdona why she chose to remain here on Earth and help the less powerful humans, only for Verdona to reply, "That's my family you're talking about!" And then, she pulls the biggest magical spell we see from her and blasts away her opponent, thus earning her role as Ben and Gwen's grandmother.

So, that's all I want to share how I feel about Verdona, her character, and her potential. There's basically multiple ways to revisit her character, either as a member of a dangerous rebel group, a sadistic witch with a need to rejuvenate her body, an apathetic energy being with little regard over family, or a confused energy being with a lot of room to grow. There are a couple of posts I'd like to make about other characters, like Kevin and his character between the original series and the UAF series. But, that's all for now.

[lizzygibbons]

natalie

season 2

it's not easy being gwen

busy schedule episode

[senseigarmfan]

" nuh uh "

"fym nuh uh "

[frauleinfunf]

Nightmare Blunt Rotation: Mom Edition 💞

[multifandomplushie]

What Ben and Gwen’s parents are like in comfort Ben au? Even Gwen’s brother.

I'm still in the process of deciding how to do them, but some of the things I'm considering are a) Max's children being aware of his job as a Plumber, b) Ken becoming a Plumber.

What I know for sure, the events of "Grounded" won't take place in my AU.

[newnitz]

Kevin was also shown to be Ben's #1 threat in Ken 10, so the OS definitely established him as a genius.

I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS REGARDING NATALIE TENNYSON

The bottom line of which are: The reason Gwen's such a prissy little shit in the OS is bc of her upbringing. Everything in her life so far has been structured and manicured to perfection, that she has no frame of reference outside of it. She seemed like a very different character to me in AF, and I now realize, it's because she developed an identity outside of her mother's frame of reference.

Sandra is canonically a hippie mom, so anything goes, but she's far from flawless, as we see in Grounded.

[dokidokitriviaandstuff]

DETECTIVERONPA: COMING THIS JUNE

.

WHO ARE THE KILLERS?! AND WHO ARE INNOCENT?!

[autistic-ben-tennyson]

Unpopular opinion

While she’s definitely flawed and has some prejudices, I don’t think Natalie is the evil abusive mom fandom makes her out to be. She’s not like Odalia from TOH. I think some are projecting their issues with their conservative parents onto her, especially if they love Gwen, and I love her too but people take that one line about not using anodite powers from “It’s not Easy Being Gwen” and make it her whole character. She still loves and tries to be supportive of Gwen and she lets her date Kevin despite not liking him. She was willing to let her go train with Verdona even if she didn’t like the latter or agree with it. She doesn’t really hate Ben either, all she did was ask him to not transform in her house which is reasonable as he can be a bit clumsy and still invites him to dinner despite finding his table manners sloppy. She’s not a great mom but she’s not an evil monster either.

[mtlupy]

Lol so I made a series to collect all my Ben 10 fics. You can find it here!

[magicalincorrectrobodokiquotes]

"Murder, She Jinxed" Clip

It was a Friday. A motherfucking Friday

“And I was promised 20 bucks, what’s the problem here?” Booloo was at the detective’s house, looking at the sugar-filled kitchen.

“Someone took the cupcakes for Chrissy’s party. We have a few innocent detectives, but we need to know, to see if Arthur’s innocent or not-” Raven inhaled. “Can you walk past the pantry?”

Were they serious?!

“Wheeler couldn’t have done it without their wheelchair getting in the way- plus those tracks were made by…” Raven made a ‘y’know what I’m saying’ motion. “...a bipedal detective…”

“Plus, Aggie would’ve freaked out over the sugar and cleaned it up, Emily would’ve freaked out, Theodore’s a smol murder husband…” Henry continued. “...also Gertie has proven her innocence. Dicky wouldn’t waste an hour of being ‘solid’. Polly, Anne, Charlotte and Natalie are nowhere near clumsy enough to knock the sugar over. Edgar has his alibi, so do Gary, Tommy and I. Santiago didn’t do it either, Dicky can testify. That leaves Mr. King and Mx. Edison.”

“So we’re seeing if Arthur could’ve done it?” Booloo asked.

“Yep.” Theodore sighed.

“Meh. I’ve earned 20 bucks for stupider. Let’s do this.”

(pic coming soon)

[senseigarmfan]

i was bored at school so I made this

[frauleinfunf]

Natalie: Gwen has the SATs on Saturday. We’ve been prepping her for sometime. Back in my second trimester, we hired an SAT tutor to to go over some basic tricks and methods through my womb. Then, in the delivery room, we wrapped her in a scantron sheet, and gave her her first practice exam.

Natalie: The results were disappointing. I was devastated.

[sword-wielding-sapphic]

Recall the tale of Icarus.

Choose to be Icarus.

Linda K. Hughes, Text and Subtext in "Merlin and the Gleam", p.166 /// Alfred Tennyson, Merlin and the Gleam /// BBC Merlin, The Last Dragonlord (2x13) /// Natalie Wee, Patroclus Dreaming /// Hozier, I, Carrion (Icarian) /// BBC Merlin, The Wicked Day (4x03) /// Hozier /// Natalie Wee /// BBC Merlin, The Disir (5x05) /// Alfred Tennyson /// Hozier /// BBC Merlin, The Diamond of the Day: Part 2 (5x13) /// Natalie Wee /// Alfred Tennyson, The Passing of Arthur /// BBC Merlin, The Diamond of the Day: Part 2 (5x13) /// Hozier /// Alfred Tennyson /// Natalie Wee

[kariachi]

Hey, who wants something from the same 'verse as this? A bit later in the timeline.

Kevin is adjusting to this being back in Ben's life thing.

~~

“I can’t believe my parents paid you eleven hundred for a backsplash.”

If things had been a little less tense between them, their history that bit less raw, Kevin would’ve been quick with a smart remark. Something about the fact Ben’s parents could afford to eat that much for a backsplash while he was having to make his place livable through his own sweat and stubbornness. As things were, he merely blew a raspberry down the couch.

“Eleven hundred to put in twenty square foot of handmade glass tile, in a custom pattern,” he said around a bite of the Tennysons’ food. “If anything they got a fucking steal.” And that unshakeable feeling like he’d undercharged was going to haunt him for ages.

“Seems like way too much for some tile,” was all Ben said, shaking his head with a smile. “I mean it’s not that hard.” Again, Kevin silently lamented that they’d only been on speaking terms again for a week. It was nice, something in his heart he’d never realized had never really healed- stacked as it was with everything else- wouldn’t stop going in circles, but he felt like he was walking on eggshells. Like a wrong move and Ben would remember who he was dealing with and cast him aside like he should.

It made telling him he was being annoying far too difficult.

“It’s that easy, next time your mom wants some work done you do it.” He cracked a smirk, gut warming at the way Ben brightened up, just a touch as he did. “I’ll be nice and only charge her a quarter over my rate to fix the mess.” Barking a laugh, Ben blew a raspberry back at him.

“Not like you’ll have to go out of your way,” he said, “if Mom gets her way, she’ll be hiring you for everything she can.”

“I’m not gonna argue,” Kevin said, snorting a laugh, “seen spandex that wasn’t as tight as our budget.” Shaking his head again, Ben chuckled.

“Well, knowing Mom? And how good a kid she’s decided you are? She’ll find something to pay you for.”

Freezing for a moment, Kevin turned the revelation over in his head. Kwarrel said he was a good kid plenty, but other people? That pretty much never happened. Or it hadn’t in a long, long time.

Okay, maybe he hadn’t undercharged her. Maybe any fuck-ups Ben made could be repaired at his going rate.

“Has anyone told you,” he found himself saying around a deep breath, “that your mom is a bad judge of character?” Ben let out another laugh, crunching down on a handful of chips.

“Oh yeah, Aunt Natalie won’t shut up about it.”