#gwevin related

[sparklinpixiedust]

Lucky

AN: not proof read because im tired :(. a little one shot of the aftermath of Vendetta. Idk , ive always felt something like would've gone down. I mean the plumbers are still a legal defense organization, they probably do have Gwen, ben and kevin come in for questioning when they feel something isn't adding up all the time.

" will you please repeat your statement for the camera ?"

Gwen groaned. She'd already repeated herself thrice at that point , what more could they possibly expect from her?

" there was this big scary alien called ragnarok who rummaged through my boyfriend's home a week ago looking for a key to destroy the planet.

We went after him in hopes of stopping him. During the battle something went wrong and the ship got destroyed more than expected. We got separated from ragnarok in all that smoke and rubble , so Ben , Kevin and i decided to leave immediately through an escape pod back to earth. We have no idea if Ragnarok escaped the ship in time or not. "

The 4 armed alien in front of her nodded with a blank expression on his face.

" So you're saying all 3 of you escaped , no one stayed behind?"

" nope. All 3 of us were on that pod that night"

" hm, and you all say Ragnarok was alive at the time"

" from the last we saw of him, yes, very alive"

He scribbled something down on a piece of paper in front of him while Gwen sat across, her hands neatly folded on the cold metallic table in front of her.

She looked over to the one way mirror behind the bespectacled alien, taking in her reflection. Dark eye bags and unruly hair in a bun, she was exhausted. Who wouldn't be after being suddenly awoken at 2 am and driven to a top secret location for questioning , questioning that had gone on for a few hours now.

It shouldnt have taken that long, but Ben went before her, and she was sure he spent most of his time in theatrics , claiming he was The Ben Tennyson and most likely quoting some sort of fbi interrogation scene from a some TV show. He sure was excited on his ride over there.

"You think they'll play good cop bad cop on me? Maybe they'll call me little punk? Ooh I better get a tooth pick, it'll make look tough "

" miss tennyson you claim the there were 3 of you on that escape pod, however the biosensors on the vehicle show presence of only 2 living beings. how do you explain that?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. Gotchya.

" well of course it wouldn't detect Kevin. In case you missed it, he's not technically living by organic standards. He's mutated as a bunch of rocks and metal, non living things. The scanners would just ignore it as a pile of debris.

Gwen narrowed her eyes back at him. Checkmate.

Oh Kevin got lucky. So lucky that he didn't even have proper fingerprints to track down or leave behind.

She could feel her temples slowly pulsating as she stared ahead. And the flickering fluorescent light bulb was not doing her upcoming migraine any favors either.

" anything else?" she retorted.

" actually yes."

He took off his 4 eyed glasses and sighed.

" Miss tennyson, do you know why I brought you and your cousin in for questioning? Because the two of you are good honest people. The both of you are heros in your own rights, and will always dot he right thing "

Ahh yes. The guilt trip tactic.

" by the way , I hope you and your cousin are both well aware ragnarok is the one who killed Kevin's father yes?"

Gwen scrunched her eyebrows. " Is he? kevin never mentioned it."

The alien nodded. " Yes he is. And we have been trying to track him down for some time now but this is the first time he showed up on our radars again. And he's out of our hands, again. All I am saying is Kevin is no stranger to revenge, always trying to seek justice for his past. I hope you are aware 2 years ago he-"

" Kevin's past is his alone, it's neither mine nor my cousin's business to get involved. All I know is nothing nefarious happened on this mission as much as you want to believe. What might've happened to Ragnarok was an accident, that is all." She cut in without missing a bit. She did not need a highlight reel of all of Kevin's crimes right now.

She wasn't in denial, she knew what he was capable of and had an idea of what he might've already accomplished in his stage of rage. But he was trying, slowly but surely Kevin was healing, and both Ben and her agreed to help him in their own ways. And one of it was not delve too much into his past unless he told them himself. They realized he wasn't so different from them. Just like them , he too was thrown into this insane world at a very young age, but he had no one to support him. Either one of them could've ended up in the same situation as well.

" hm. Interesting how your cousin has the exact same story. It's almost as if it's, I don't know, rehearsed?"

" well if we all experienced the same thing , then surely the story would be the identical"

She could keep this up all day if she wanted, she wasn't captain of the debate team 3 years in a row for no good reason.

" I suppose so"

Gwen crossed her arms and leaned back into the metallic chair, the screeching sounds due to the weight of her body suddenly shifting backward echoing off the cold walls.

" are we done here officer? Its a Saturday and I would really like to catch up on my sleep"

He nodded and raised his right upper limb, pointing to the door behind him. A click was heard and the door opened up to the hallway.

" By the way , it wouldn't hurt to have a little faith in Kevin. He's a good man and is trying to live up to it. Who knows colonel, he might just end up being the hero we all need someday" And with that she left, hoping this was enough to save the obsidian eyed boy this time.

--------------------------------------------

[geekgirles]

Nothing I want more than more expansion on how Kevin must’ve felt during the Dagon arc when Gwen was possessed. The ANGST potential if they expanded on that 😭

OH MY GOD, YESSSSSS

The brainwashing!

The Apocalypse Maiden Undertones!!

The potential angst!!!

How it was pretty much glossed over even though it was featured several times in Ultimate Alien!!!!

If I have to choose a favorite Ben 10 iteration, that would be UAF, and especially Alien Force seasons 1 and 2, but even they aren't exempt of flaws or missed opportunities.

For example, is it just me, or is the Gwevin angst always coming from Kevin?

Whenever the focus was on whatever kind of strain their relationship was going through at the moment, the friction always came from Kevin or was related to something he was going through.

I'd say the first time would probably All That Glitters, where Gwen was willing to try going out with him, but Kevin's hesitance kept in the way. Which combined with the hold Michael then had on Gwen, spurned her into trying to move on, while making Kevin jealous.

Then we have their season 3 drama. Which was caused by Kevin's new mutation but, again, wasn't a result of Gwen's actions or her rejecting Kevin now that he was mutated. In fact, Gwen made it clear practically every time the issue came up that she loved Kevin regardless of his outward appearance. It was never her actions that put a strain on their relationship.

It was Kevin's actions and insecurities that got in the way. Which is realistic and to be expected, truth be told. Given how heavily his original mutation back in OS hung on him, anyone would have deep-seated insecurities linked to their looks and the side effects of their powers in Kevin's shoes. But the thing is, during season 3 nothing Gwen did was the origin of the tension between the two, she wasn't the source of the drama, it was Kevin convincing himself that, either Gwen wouldn't love him now that he wasn't "handsome", or that she was taking advantage of the situation to keep him to herself.

In season 3, the source of the conflict was Kevin unknowingly sabotaging himself and his relationship with Gwen.

And then we have the first season of Ultimate Alien, where once again the main conflict between the two is sparked first by Kevin's Osmosian heritage and his relation to Aggregor, and then by another mutation. Only this time, his mutation drives him crazy and power-hungry, so much so, he becomes an even bigger threat than when he was 11.

In my honest opinion, the Absolute Power Arc was top notch in terms of drama and angst. It delved into Kevin's past in the Null Void, we went back to some Tennyson Cousins Quality Time like we hadn't had since the Original Series, the Gwevin scenes were heartwrenching... The actual end, though, is a tad lackluster.

And by this I mean the last scene where Ben and Kevin decide to go grab some Mr Smoothies while ditching Gwen felt like a huge kick in the gut. I'm sorry, but no matter how you look at it, Gwen is the real hero of the arc, not Ben. Sure, Ben had to go all serious and homicidal to highlight the how high the stakes were, but the one who ultimately saved the day was Gwen.

She believed in Kevin from the beginning, which was proven true when he revealed he was actively trying to stay away from her to protect her.

She tracked down Darkstar to recruit him for her plan to bring Kevin back to normal.

She acted as bait to lure Kevin to them.

No matter how you look at it, it was Gwen's beliefs and efforts what brought Kevin back. In the meantime Ben was planning ways to kill him! And you're telling me the two would just shrug her off like that?

Hell, no! Come back and thank my girl profusely, you morons!

Nevertheless, my point still stands: whenever the writers needed to spice things up a little with Gwevin, they went the Kevin angle, never Gwen's.

Par contrast, whenever it looked like Gwen was in danger or risked crossing over to the dark side, it was but an appetiser. The possibility of Gwen going rogue was an idea they kept bringing up, but never took the chance to materialise.

While Kevin got several arcs all about his inner conflict and his mutations and his backstory and whatnot, every single time Gwen was in any sort of danger of suffering the same kind of fate would immediately be resolved or glossed over until it became relevant again.

Literally most of the times Gwen put herself in danger all it took was for Kevin to say he couldn't afford to lose her, or come up with some sort of half-baked plan and POOF! Crisis averted.

No, Gwen will not be going full Anodite on us and lose her humanity.

You think Gwen's going to carelessly put herself in danger even though she's vulnerable to mind control? Dont'cha worry, Kevin's got ya!

And speaking of mind control, you actually thought we'd let Gwen be a pawn to the season's Big Bad for more than two minutes? Oh, you silly goose!

Unfortunately, Gwen getting the short end of the stick happens constantly in this franchise.

No, I'm serious. Even though in UAF the focus was supposed to be on the Ben, Gwen, Kevin trio, the actual focus was always on either Ben or Kevin. Gwen didn't have nearly as many episodes/plots that were indeed focused mostly on her. Even in episodes that were all about magic/mana and sorcery, most of the time she shared the spotlight with another character, if she wasn't outright eclipsed by them. It was usually Charmcaster, but Kevin and even Darkstar stole the spotlight from Gwen.

The only episodes from UAF to Omniverse that I can think of right now that were indeed about Gwen would be What Are Little Girls Made Of?, Time Heals, It's Not Easy Being Gwen, Mud Is Thicker Than Water and maybe Charm School (and even then, a huge part of the episode featured both Hex and Charmcaster more prominently than it did Gwen).

That's it.

Which is why I am so bitter over the fact that we never got an Unhinged Anodite Gwen Arc. Not only because it would have been amazing to see what an Anodite can do when they're not holding back, or even the fact that I am a certified sucker for when one of the most powerful characters in the cast of a show temporarily joins the bad guys, but because it would have been the perfect chance to finally explore the impact Gwen has had on those around her.

And yes, it would have made for some very sweet Gwevin angst.

TL;DR: we were robbed.

[kariachi]

What's beneath the cut is very Gwen&Ben-negative. This is your warning,

So, last night my brain meandered over to the plethora of 'Devlin is Gwen's' works out there, more specifically the ones that try to fit that into an otherwise canon-compliant Ken 10. Annoys the piss out of me, personally, because I've seen more than a few say it's canon because Gwevin despite the information we get in the the show itself, but que sera sera. But my brain continued onward into 'what would we do'? If we were told 'Gwevin is canon, therefore Gwen is Devlin's mother, now rewrite Ken 10 with that in mind', what would we put out?

Regular readers of this blog, especially those who know my spiteful nature, may see where this is gonna go....

So, we start off, we're building off Gwen's shit in the sequels, where she's clearly of the opinion that it's fine to use violence against your partner when you're unhappy with them. I've said before that someone who pulls some of the shit she does as openly and in front of others as she does sure as fuck ain't a saint behind closed doors, and I've mentioned before that her actions seem to get bolder over time.

Piece one of the episode then- Gwen has continued on her 'totally not abuse because Kevin is sturdy and 'deserves' it' bullshit, primarily in 'small' but regular acts rather than big displays.

"Okay Achi," I hear you say, "but a big part of the plot of the episode is Devlin releasing his dad from the Null Void, he can't do that if his dad is at home getting knocked around." To which I say two things- 1) Kevin is openly a 'they hurt my loved ones I hurt them' sort of person; 2) people who knock around their partners are more likely to also knock around their children.

Piece two of the episode- After a point Gwen started in on Devlin and Kevin lost his fucking shit.

So we get two birds with one stone- Kevin is in the Null Void because the Tennysons essentially are the local law enforcement and nobody is going to side with the ex-con who got violent with his Good and Heroic wife no matter what his side of the story is. Devlin wants to get his father out because anyone who was on Kevin's side in the whole mess got cut out, his mom's abusing him, and the adults in his life aren't going to do anything about it unless he starts walking around with black eyes and shit to make it glaring obvious she's not just a overworked single mom doing what she can to to keep Kevin Levin's kid on the right track- boy yearns for the dad he knows is gonna take his side.

So we get our background and our Devlin motivation. But this is a Kenny-focused episode, so where are we getting our shit there?

We don't need time with Kenny and Devlin meeting and making friends, they're family they already know each other and are close, and we don't need the background 'hey it's my birthday' stuff. So, we focus more on Kenny growing as a person.

We start with Kenny and Devlin running around, being kids. This lets us 1) establish them as being close, 2) establish Kenny's desire to be a hero like Ben prior to things going wrong, 3) lay the groundwork for the smack of 'yeah no the shit Gwen does is abuse' later on (personally I'd go with a more straight-laced Devlin who very clearly doesn't want to get dragged into anything that might upset his mom, maybe have him torn whether getting involved in shit or not helping someone would be the wrong call), and 4) potentially allows us to give Devlin what at first seems like a morbid fascination with the Null Void, blamed on trauma in relation to his dad snapping and getting thrown in there as a result.

We take the time to establish Kenny and Devlin, their relationship, and also the time to establish Ben, where he is now, how his son looks up to him, and his relationship with the kids.

Relatively early in the episode we get to see Devlin free Kevin from the Null Void, who- rather than starting shit- grabs his kid and bolts.

The next morning there's phone calls about 'have you seen Devlin', people find out Kevin's free and has him, Ben and Gwen go off to get him while insisting Kenny stay behind because Kevin is dangerous.

Kenny, in proper child hero fashion, does not listen. His dear friend is in danger and he's going to help.

I'm picturing Kenny finding them first and trying to sneak Devlin off when Kevin isn't looking, only to be thoroughly confused when Devlin staunchly refuses to go back, telling Kenny to just go home before vanishing off with his dad again.

There's a lot of fighting and arguing once the adults clash. I've got two specific images in my head- one of Kevin telling Devlin to stay safely out of the way and getting even more pissed at Gwen when he doesn't even hesitate to listen because that's not healthy Levin behavior and he's met enough of them to know it's not healthy Tennyson behavior either, and one 'moment of brevity' case of Kenny trying to help in the fight only to 1) be very out-classed, Kevin's already holding his own against two seasoned heroes who know how he works Kenny is not gonna do anything, and 2) merely prompt the adults to start doing fucking bizarre maneuvers to fight around him while all three urge him to get out of the fucking line of fire.

But what hits Kenny, and that's the important part is hitting Kenny in all the character growth spots, is that the arguing is about Kevin taking Devlin, and Kevin's snapping against Gwen, but also involves a lot of Kevin accusing Gwen of abuse and Ben of enabling her, holding that up as the reason he did what he did, while Ben and Gwen's responses really just boil down to 'you are and were overreacting, you've gone too far, we had faith in and defended you and you tried to put the person who loves you most in traction'.

Then you add on him eventually abandoning the fight to try again with getting Devlin out of there and to safety and having him snap, not violently but emotionally, and confirm what Kevin's been saying. His mom has been abusing him, everybody seems to just ignore it or not notice, and he just wants to not deal with that anymore. He wants his dad, who he knows won't stand by and let it happen from prior experience, and he wants to be the fuck away from his mom.

And this right here is the exact point where Kenny learns and grows. He's been questioning since that first attempt to save Devlin what exactly is going on, he's been confused and concerned about the accusations being thrown around by the adults, and here is where he learns two important lessons and chooses the path he's going to take.

His dad isn't a paragon of heroics, the adults in his life can and will make bad decisions and do bad things, even if they're otherwise wonderful, and so he's going to have to align his own moral compass.

Being a hero isn't just about stopping crimes and fighting bad guys.

In the end, Kenny 'messes up', 'accidentally' giving the Levins a prime opportunity to escape, and the three of them all know it. Kevin ruffles his hair, Devlin and him exchange a quick hug, and then they're gone. Kenny doesn't know where, doesn't know if he'll ever see Devlin again, as he leaves with his dad and aunt he can only cross his fingers and hope they end up safe and happy.

End episode.

Now that I write it out, really I think this version would do better not as a one-off in Ben's show but as a season one finale or season two premiere in Kenny's. It would give a whole season in which to establish and build up Kenny and Devlin's bond, to lay the groundwork for the reveal of the truth about Devlin's homelife and for his freeing Kevin, to get Ben established on a pedestal, establish people's opinions on what goes on with Gwen and Devlin prior to the big episode.

(Gwen's staunch belief that she's just preventing Devlin from going down the wrong path like his dad did, especially after having 'failed' with Kevin himself, unable or unwilling to admit that she slipped passed that excuse and into 'and it's cathartic' years before Devlin was even born || Ben admitting wholeheartedly that Gwen can be rough with people, but insistence that what she does isn't abuse, only accentuated by feelings of regret and responsibility re: her being a single mother, since Kevin is his enemy, leading to him cutting her even more slack than he would anyway and making excuses involving how hard raising a superpowered kid alone is || Kenny, not entirely oblivious to what's going on but unknowing of the severity and, between his father's assurances that everything is fine and media's portrayal of abuse as a raised fist or neglect- neither of which he's seen- that what Devlin is dealing with is abuse at all || Devlin with his million conflicting feelings, loving his mother but- without the age, experience, and issues of his father- walking on eggshells at home, hating what he's going through, guilt because he knows other people's parents treat them worse, guilt because he knows his dad snapped out of a desire to protect him, a myriad of worth and confidence issues his mom just can't seem to figure out the source of, all heightening as the first season goes on and Kenny drags him into more trouble, increasing the odds of shit going poorly at home, until he finally can't take it-)

It would also give plenty of time following the episode to build off what Kenny's learned and see how it affects how he approaches heroing from then on. How he questions what the adults say, investigates things himself to make his own decisions. How he steps away from trying to help his dad in fighting bad guys in favor of keeping his eyes open for people in need of help that he may otherwise have overlooked.

Kenneth Tennyson, using his transformations to do shit like help in soup kitchens, no less a hero than his dad for it.

[splashtail]

gwevin. for the. vnjkdfnbd

IT'S NOT. LIKE. ugh. I just think it's extremely obnoxious it's genuinely one of the few mlw pairings i turn my nose up at because it literally like. I don't think they have true chemistry i didn't wanna mark that though bc ghh

I just don't like them as a romantic pairing . THEY'RE such a like "well now they're teenagers so boy and girl have to be in love" and completely disregard the original character relations from os.

[electraslight]

my hot take is that the transmogrification of Eunice would be less weird and actually make more sense if Eunice was Kevin's love interest and not Ben's. like aside from Ben and Eunice technically being related wouldnt it make more sense for Eunice, a girl who is exactly like Gwen except her dnas been scrambled and she's had different experiences, to like Kevin, the guy Gwen likes? they LOVE to pretend like gwevin is a universal constant why aren't they hopping on this. and I'm not saying he'd even have to receprocate bc we all know how dense Kevin is abt that stuff but it would be nice for someone to be interested in Kevin other than Gwen that wasn't a massive creep or an insane person. also the writers LOVE pitting two bad bitches against each other they would have loved this. where's their taste

[radianceofelectra]

all I was doing was complaining about how there was a missed opportunity in relating Kevin and simians stories. like a big one. that would fit way more thematically then just doing the same arc over again. but no ppl always have to bring gwevin in to fucking everything. like what would the parallel even be with Kevin and charmcaster in that situation. Kevin didn't groom himself lol. and he was CONCERNED because she was COERCING AND MIND CONTROLLING HIM not because of any romantic things. like what I was saying in the og post was that showing Kevin that Ben always believed in him through how he treats simian could strengthen their relationship.

tbh I feel like unlike the simian thing which was a missed opportunity the charmcaster Kevin Gwen thing is actually worse bc lest we forget charmcaster lured Kevin in by pretending to be a fellow teenager, kissed him, and then mind controlled him to hurt her. like she's not a positive parallel,if the point this person is making is that Gwen treating charmcaster with forgiveness could strengthen their bond. she's way worse than simian for one and unlike Ben and simian Gwen KNOWS charmcaster LITERALLY GROOMED HER BOYFRIEND and STILL FORGIVES HER. like if that's a parallel does that mean that Kevin is genuinely a bad person? and again tbh Gwen forgiving the adult woman who coerced and assaulted her teenage boyfriend and then blaming said boyfriend for being coerced is uh. not romantic. at all.

anyway I probably massively over interpreted that post abd if your seeing this person who made the post hi. but idk I just hate going on to a post that has nothing to do w your ship and being like here is blatant weirdly interpreted biased ship stuff and no it's not ship stuff even though it obviously is

[petrosapian]

Fuck it, I'm also bored, so since I love you I'm gonna say Gwevin, and since I'm evil I'm also gonna suggest Gwengit.

classic, sure has been a while since ive visited anything ben 10 related

who hogs the duvet: Gwen, small but mighty

who texts/rings to check how their day is going: Kevin, little needy but Gwen is very quick to respond

who’s the most creative when it comes to gifts: Kevin, get a little over anxious about it

who gets up first in the morning: Gwen and her fuckin 5am ass

who suggests new things in bed: Gwendolyn maam

who cries at movies: Kevin big softee

who gives unprompted massages: I thihnk both really, theyre very stressed ppl

who fusses over the other when they’re sick: Both but Kevin more so

who gets jealous easiest: lmao theyre both jealous ppl

who has the most embarrassing taste in music: Kevin

who collects something unusual: mm idk if cars or magic artifacts are really weird

who takes the longest to get ready: theyre both pretty quick i think

who is the most tidy and organised: Gwen definitely

who gets most excited about the holidays: Gwen

who is the big spoon/little spoon: alternates but Kevin is ususally little spoon

who gets most competitive when playing games and/or sports: Gwen is agressively competitive

who starts the most arguments: Gwen lmao

who suggests that they buy a pet: Kevin definitely

what couple traditions they have: hmmm i think a lot of soft low key ones like going over each others scars and the like

what tv shows they watch together: cooking shows, get very worked up

what other couple they hang out with: whoever ben is dating at the moment so they can back up his poor partner

how they spend time together as a couple: just nappign or reading around while they do like separate tasks together

who made the first move: who the fuck knows

who brings flowers home: kevin

who is the best cook: kevin

gwengit

who hogs the duvet: gwen, will concede nothing to argit

who texts/rings to check how their day is going: the other could be dead for all they care

who’s the most creative when it comes to gifts: argit but theyre awful. half eaten day old pizza hut type of fare

who gets up first in the morning: Gwen

who suggests new things in bed: hmm

who cries at movies: neither, stone cold

who gives unprompted massages: Argit but theyre awful

who fusses over the other when they’re sick: neither

who gets jealous easiest: Gwen

who has the most embarrassing taste in music: Argit

who collects something unusual: Argit collects like gum wrappers or some weird horder shit

who takes the longest to get ready: Gwen puts more effort but shes quick

who is the most tidy and organised: Gwen by a mile

who gets most excited about the holidays: Gwen

who is the big spoon/little spoon: hmm. if they had to gwen would be little spoon

who gets most competitive when playing games and/or sports: both are obscene in this respect

who starts the most arguments: its a 50/50 split

who suggests that they buy a pet: i dont think they could handle a pet

what couple traditions they have: idk nothing

what tv shows they watch together: shark tank

what other couple they hang out with: no one wants to

how they spend time together as a couple: they dont

who made the first move: who knows it just happened

who brings flowers home: neither

who is the best cook: hmm. kevin

[of-thieves-and-witches]

Okay so I wanna try something, I can't promise I'll do it properly lol , but I wanna have a little challenge.

Send me a number and I'll try to write a short fic , maybe just a sentence or 2, maybe a whole page ,idk anything that's like gwevin related.

Kinda like what i did a few posts ago about the " soft summer rain" post.

pic source

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[petrichorparacosm]

Devlin Levin Ideas

To be clear, most of these ideas are not tied to any specific Ben 10k/future universe that we have seen; rather, these are all ideas applicable to any universe about Devlin. Many of the ideas will likely be incorporated into my own personal version of the character.

Origins

Devlin is Kevin Levin’s son. After Devlin’s appearance and before Gewvin became a thing, the basic story was that Kevin 11,000 had Devlin with a random, unnamed woman, and got put in the Null Void not long after. This backstory leaves a lot of blanks, and would not work for every version of Kevin. So, here are some alternate Devlin backstory ideas (some of which are shamelessly based off the headcanons of others):

The Clone Theory: someone (probably Proctor Servantis) cloned Kevin. This would allow for Gwevin without Gwen being Devlin’s mother. I actually really like this option for bad/crazy-Kevin-who-gets-redeemed, because I can imagine a power mad Kevin saving Devlin being what reignites the Tennysons’ faith in his ability to be saved himself.

Gwevin Version 1- Weird Osmosian Biology (I do not mess with that “Osmosians are not actually aliens” retcon btw): Kevin spawned Devlin all on his own, possibly with Gwen’s DNA, but maybe not. This preserves the possibility of the Tennyson family not knowing about him, opens up the possibility for him to be related to them or not, and works equally well with any Osmosian version of Kevin, good or bad.

Gwevin Version 2- Kidnapped Kid: Devlin is Kevin and Gwen’s kid, and was kidnapped when he was quite young. By a crazy Kevin? By an old enemy? By someone who just wanted an Osmosian for some reason? This backstory has a lot of room to play around in. Kevin could go crazy and kidnap his own kid, go crazy because someone kidnapped his kid, or he could remain sane. Having Devlin pop up years later is prime drama material.

Gwevin Version 3- Raised by Gwen (and maybe Kevin): this one is fairly self explanatory

Other Ideas

I think his full name is Devlin Kwarrel Levin

Devlin’s eyes look dark blue in his first appearance, but Kevin’s are black and Gwen’s are green, so I prefer one of colors those for him. Green, if he’s Gwen’s son.

If Devlin is Gwen’s son, I don’t think he inherited the Anodite Spark, personally.

If Devlin was mothered by a random woman from a Saturn colony, she was probably a criminal, and may not have been human. Devlin clearly takes after his father; his mother could easily be, say, a vulpimancer who runs a small organized crime ring. Devlin did not seem eager to return to his unnamed mother in his first appearance.

[lecliss]

Yeah so just finished Omniverse for a second time. Forgot everything half way through season 6 so that was all pretty much new to me. I feel, I dunno. Maybe cuz my brain does recall that I've gone through this before so I wasn't all that emotional about it. I'm usually such a crybaby when I finish shows. But I do rarely rewatch them so I guess I don't know what my usual reaction is to that.

I dunno. I think it's more that I didn't really... care? The Maltruant plot is, meh. Probably because he's an entirely new villain so for him being the 'final boss', it didn't mean much. It being surrounded by a season of content that I was about halfway disappointed by too? Made it much more meh. So it wasn't all that emotional.

However, I got super teary eyed when Ben was rapidly transforming through all his aliens and I recognized it was in the order he first transformed into them throughout the entire series. That was powerful and I was trying not to breakdown, lol. Also the universe creation scene was pretty so I felt emotional from that too, but otherwise not much else came from me aside from laughs about the funnies.

Sorry this is gonna be long and kinda ranty, but I just feel like I need to get it out. Season 8 did not feel powerful. It was the final season and they obviously knew that since they were wrapping up loose ends with Vilgax and Charmcaster. That was nice and all, but I feel like, to me at least, because I could recognize that and the episodes didn't feel so dramatic and meaningful about it, it didn't matter much. Like, 'okay time to wrap everything up and get it all in its place to end this show' and it didn't feel like anything more than that.

I also have problems with the way Rook was handled and Skurd kinda ties into that. Rook got great development and once I recgonized that I feel like he became an even better character than before. But because his relationship with Ben was now so close, it became harder to use the 'we don't get along but we have to work together anyway' type antics. Skurd was introduced to create more alien toys to sell, that I've read before and am pretty certain that's confirmed(and I also don't mind that since I understand selling toys is a big part of the franchise anyway). Ben and Skurd now have that 'we don't get along but we have to work together anyway' type relationship. And I noticed Rook seemed to talk a lot less in season 8, barring his final focus episode with Kundo and Fistina.

Therefore, Skurd became, in my eyes, a replacement for Rook, and Ben started to, sort of, bully Rook. Like, obviously in a way friends do, but also in a way that friends do when one friend is being harsh and doesn't recognize that what they're saying is actually bothering their friend. And that really bothered me. Rook became a target for Ben to bully for fun and I'm not gonna blame Ben, because I think that was just a shitty writing decision.

I also have a problem with "The Secret of Dos Santos", not only because of Ben's bullying of Rook in that episode, but because of the severe romance problem the entire show has and is shown off very noticeably in that episode. I just can't understand bickering with a guy and then you think he's gonna apologize but he doesn't but he does show you a cool helpful thing and then... you kiss him??? Even tho he didn't apologize?? I'm not cishet and I do know how to write women so, okay then. Go ahead and make no logical sense I guess.

And I'm sure all of us are bothered by the romance writing in OV(in varying ways of course), so no need to make people see the hundredth rant about it or whatever, but Imma just say a bit anyway about generalness of it.

I've never liked romance in Ben 10. I don't remember my opinion on the Benwolf episode from the original series, but I know I liked 10yo Kai at least a bit. I also liked Julie. I just, didn't think she was a great romance choice for Ben. And there's the thing. Little crushes are fine by me, but full on dating and romance getting involved in an action series bothers me. I never felt like Ben needed a girlfriend, and I'm in camp 'if he has a girlfriend, a completely normal human one isn't a good choice for a superhero'. The trope only causes unnecessary problems in my eyes. Getting kidnapped and making plans that have to be ruined when hero duty calls, those are things that happened in UAF. We didn't need that kind of stuff imo.

And I'm fine with Gwevin since they both were always involved in the hero work, but the drama annoyed me, especially that particular Charmcaster incident in UAF. Actually, thank you OV for not doing that with them this time. But, Ben 10 never needed romance. I have ships I like anyway tho, but the unnecessary-ness of it in UAF and the poor writing in OV was not needed. Also, I'm the kind of person that hates harems. Ben Tennyson, a 16yo, did not need a harem.

Otherwise, I love the show. Removing nostalgia from the original series, OV is definitely my favorite series(cue me getting shot). I love Kenny too, so it's not like I despise that Ben ended up Kai, just how it was written that they did not get along at all and even seemed to have that same bickering as adults. It just was not enjoyable.

I keep going back to that, but anyway, still, I treasure the show and everything good it did. It gave us Rook, Ester, and my favorite alien, Ball Weevil, returned many character designs to their roots of the original series, brought back Lucy, the two part season finale with the other Bens made me cry, and so did the season finale with Malware. I will forever stand by the statement of Ben talking with younger Ben and getting Feeback back being the greatest scene in the entire show.

Oh, right, and about the Rooters. Fuck Servantis. I will slaughter the man with my own bare hands and I will make it slow and painful. Anyway! The show put in effort to make these retcons related to them make sense. I'll give them that credit. But the problem lies with UAF and its decision to make Kevin an alien and all the Devin backstory stuff. The original intention in the original series was for him to be a special kind of human(basically a mutant iirc) and UAF made him an alien instead. OV wanted to go back to the orginal intention, but needed a way for that to make sense.

It was a mess, but I understand what the point of it was. Something had to be done to make it make sense and there was no way it would be a situation that didn't bother at least some people. I find 'your memories were a lie the whole time' as a form of retcon to be such a bad trope, but what else was there to do? For the decisions they made to handle it, it was perfectly fine. I just wanna torture Servantis is all because the Rooters got off way too scott free. They essentially had no punishment and I want to see the blood of child abusers spilled on the floor. Immediately.

Anyway, again. I love the show. Will always love it. I thank OV very much for all the joy it gives me and at the end of the day, it's a fucking cartoon. I love it, I hate some things in it, but I can put it down and go care about something else if I wanted to. I'm not gonna let the parts that bother me actually ruin my day or anything. Cuz again, it's a cartoon and I may not feel like it, but I do have a life. And I'm gonna spend the limited time I have in this shitty life by enjoying the things I like, which is the parts of OV that make me happy. 💚 Mainly Rook. And Ester. And the Evil Bens. And many more things, actually. Okay, I think the emotions are finally setting in. Oh god, I want it all back already!!! 😭😭😭😭

[ben10daily]

happy final day of gwevin week! shame it has to end so soon. 😔 last fic below for the final word prompt: ceremony. thank you @brooken-gwevin-weeks for organising, it’s been fun!

title: to a buried and a burning flame words: 1,076 summary: demon boy meets girl witch. that old cliché. au.

The spellbook said it took just a hundred grams of ground animal bones, a handful of rose petals, and a cracked turtle shell for a witch to summon a familiar. The book said, quite clearly, “Draw a pentagram on the floor in human blood, preferably your own, but store-bought is fine if you have to compromise. Pile the ingredients in the centre of the circle, and say the incantation three times.”

Gwen always did things by the book. She was top of her class at the Academy, and she always, always played by the rules. Except when the rules got in the way of her natural progression as a witch, of course.

Earlier that day, Charmcaster had come flying into the dormitory with a beast made of rock following in her wake. This was, she said, her new familiar. A servant to do her bidding and probably her homework too, if she could teach the monster how to hold a quill. She’d learned the spell from an old tome in the library, and weren’t they all so jealous of her new ability?

Yes, Gwen was jealous. And also unwilling to let Charmcaster get a leg-up in anything related to magic.

She hunted for that spellbook, all up and down the library shelves. And when she finally found what looked to be a summoning spell in a battered edition of Dark Creatures Great and Small, she crept into an empty classroom and began preparations, exactly as the book instructed.

So why, after all that, was there a decidedly human-looking boy sitting in the middle of her pentagram?

“You got anything to eat?” the boy said, scratching at the back of his black mop of hair and looking around with disinterest. “Cross-dimensional travel really takes it out of you.”

-

“So,” Gwen started, only after she’d taken a high stakes trip to the kitchens for a slab of raw red meat at the boy’s request. No steak for the faculty tomorrow, but needs must. “You’re my familiar, right?” She pressed the spell-book to her chest, uncertainly.

Still sat in the middle of the stone floor, with his long, muscular legs crossed at the ankle, he ripped into the steak like a wild animal, tearing a fist-sized piece from the rest with razor-sharp teeth, and then chewed thoughtfully before answering through a full mouth. “Doubt it.”

“But I summoned you,” Gwen pointed out, grimacing a bit at his non-existent table manners. She paced the room and he tracked her with black, predatory eyes.

“You opened a door and yanked me through it. Congratulations.” He finished chewing and swallowed, before releasing a low burp. “Doesn’t make me your familiar, or whatever.”

“Then what are you, exactly? Because the spell says, and I quote, ‘an incantation to bring forth creatures from the great beyond, who shalt obey the will of she who speaks it’. That seems pretty clear to me.”

The boy rose to his feet abruptly, and Gwen took a wide step back towards the door.

“I don’t obey anybody,” he said, baring his teeth as he stepped forward. “And if I did, it wouldn’t be some witch in her training robes.”

Gwen scowled at him when he took another step. She had simply wanted a rock beast from some other backwater dimension; a really stocky one to prove she was still capable of anything Charmcaster could dredge up. Not this creep who was backing her up towards the wall. He was bigger than her, but he still looked like any other boy, and she didn’t like being threatened.

And if she couldn’t control him, she’d probably end up like the hunk of meat he’d just pulverised and tossed aside.

“You need to back off, right now.”

Nothing happened for a moment, and Gwen’s heart skipped a beat, waiting for those sharp teeth to open wide into a gaping maw of death.

Instead, the boy took one last step forward before he froze, eyes open wide in shock, and ricocheted off the far wall. He slumped to the ground next to her summoning circle with a strangled groan, spitting blood into the cracks between the stonework.

“Now that’s interesting,” Gwen said, a smile spreading out across her face as he slowly picked himself up off the floor.

“Try that again, and I’ll make you regret it,” he spat, shoulders heaving.

“Sit.”

He sat. Or rather, he fell backwards gracelessly on his ass.

“You’re dead,” he roared, glaring daggers at her from below. Gwen crossed her arms and stepped closer, more than a little amused by his efforts to separate the seat of his pants from the floor and break her control.

She crouched down less than a foot away, resting the closed book on top of her knees with her arms folded on top. For a quiet moment they just sized each other up in silence.

“What’s your name?” she asked him.

Bitterly, he opened his mouth, clamped it shut, and then blurted out, “I don’t have one. We are not to be called.”

“That’s a shame.” Gwen tilted her head. “It’s not going to be much of a partnership if I can’t call on you.”

“So deal with it, partner.”

“I could give you a name.”

That seemed to catch him off guard, if the resentful curl of his lip was any indication. “Not interested. Now if you’d let me stand up for five seconds, I can see myself out.”

“And see yourself right into the security runes around every inch of this school,” Gwen added with a smile, getting to her feet. “Pretty sure they won’t let your unholy highness through without cooking your insides to ash.”

“I’ll take my chances,” he said snidely. “Me, I’m the first-born son of the Eleventh House. They worship my power in the seedy underbelly of your nasty little kingdom.”

“Eleven,” she repeated, and slapped the cover of her spellbook, sending up a thick cloud of dust. “How’s that for a name?”

“Listen when I’m talking to you—”

“I wonder if you’d pass for a student.”

Charmcaster may have summoned herself a glorified pet rock with eyes, but Gwen now had a demon with a handsome boy’s face, collared by magic for however long the spell would last. Maybe forever, though she wasn’t all that confident in her ability to maintain it.

In any case, introducing Eleven to the graduating class was going to be the highlight of her school year.

[sparklinpixiedust]

I want to write some oneshots for my inverted au. Feel free to send in any prompts and I'll try to see what I can do with it :))

Inverted AU:au where Kevin and Ben are cousins on a road trip, Kevin gets the watch , Ben is the anodite and Gwen is the emo girl they meet in an arcade I.e the osmosian

[mysticqueen-bee]

Gwevin headcanons(reboot edition pt 2)

So I have mixed in so far little tidbits that I like to think about along with the bits of content that the show has provided along with unofficial teen & older domestic life drabbles to add here - Gwen had known how precious finding that asmr CD was to Kevin (because of his plaguing troubles in his home life previously and most failed father figures to fill that gap and treat him properly) so she stocked up and bought a bunch of blank discs to burn for that specific one properly while he had temporarily taken refuge while sleeping in the rustbucket (just winging it on this), just in case the main one gets scratches & stopped playing so Kevin can have backups to ensure he gets proper sleep and doesn't end up going almost a week without rest again - He was anxious about the main secret poem that he had made about gwen bringing him some light in the darker moments that he had to grow up with (having a drunkard neglectful father/guardian etc. and a mother that worked long hours to support the family which left him lonesome for a long while) being spoken before he could properly finish it along with the previous poem reflecting that excruciating inner pain he's dealt with so far to that point so he wanted to channel other forms of his poetry until the other is completed, he usually recites mini haiku's and other drabble related things to express himself around her which gives him some stress relief for the most part (but he tries to make sure Ben is distracted with some activity when he's in the mood to pull out his book and have some fun) - Sometimes Ben has joined in to watch some lucky girl with the two but most of the time they caught up watching most of the airing shows with some more privacy and admire what the episodes will entail, Kevin's most favorite parts during the event is the pure joy on Gwen's face and the mini conversations that reflect the subject at hand (in the future they meet the actor herself and he makes sure the complete box sets and merchandise will be well kept in fine condition into their upcoming adulthood and beyond) - When Gwen had shown off her transformation to the lucky girl attire that appeared in "Cyber Slammers" to Kev he was speechless for at least a few minutes in complete awe before saying that it brought out the cuteness in her (despite that she was still adorkably cute to him for a long while), he did try to hide his apparent blush though when she thanked him for his compliment - Although her robo cat suit was short lived and he had been dealing with getting revenge on FK's lies & constant belittlement towards him at the time he did think later on that she looked cute in it, once in their teen years and Phil recreated the suit again to accommodate for her current age & physical build he was stunned & was a blushing mess (he blames his hormones for making him more awkward around her than he already was to begin with) and says she looks beautiful (even if she's beautiful to him with being herself regardless) - A few years later both make sure they have their privacy set for a special moment they've wanted to experience together - Kevin was upset that he was turned into a baby when he was trying to confess his feelings to Gwen (though aside from his antics he enjoyed the brief moments of her holding him despite than after the events & before changing back that the cramped feeling of sharing room with little Ben & Max had gotten on his nerves which resulted in the shoving shown later), later on he was able to tell her how he feels about her - They were going to have a little leisure drive courtesy of glitch though Gwen had a moment of uneasiness (due to the events of Buggy Out) even if she honestly didn't want to have it brought up when things are much different now & what he was getting through during then, which results for them walking for a while and her telling him why she felt uneasy at first and felt guilty about such but he told her that it was alright for him to be aware of it so it helps him know what bugs her so she can feel comforted. After hugging one another Glitch catches up to both of them and escorts them back to the RV, during the ride he non verbally consoles her which prompted a soft smile which he also did the same. - During their early adulthood and her being pregnant with Devlin at the time they both watched some reruns of older Lucky Girl episodes and enjoyed their quality time together, while Kevin was getting some groceries due to her craving she had slept and had a nightmare that she had lost him to an accident. She was uneasy for a while until he had returned home and reassured her that he'll make sure nothing bad would happen to him for both their sakes. - When it comes to which aliens that Gwen is fond of she would say she likes them all since they come from someone that she's grown to adore whom adores her back, she enjoys how sweet and cuddly Kev's Bashmouth is and loves to give him hugs since it is a good stress reliever for the both of them - Once he finishes his special poem he thinks up of going to a nice restaurant that she's been mentioning for a while, while they were ordering her food he goes and recites the entire thing to her, once he reaches near the end he proceeds to bend on one knee & finish off with a proposal as the ring she's liked when she skimmed a ring store in the past (which he earned a lot of money over time for this to be possible) popped from the end of the poem page & into his hand. She looked into his eyes overjoyed with the marriage proposal that she accepted, for once the two didn't mind an applause from the other patrons surrounding them at the restaurant - The couple had spent some time with her family (mostly a lot after their twins Krystal & Kaleb were born) & spent time having play dates with Ben's kids so they can have some interaction outside of home for a while - On a date to a theme park based on Adrenaland the two see a place that has plushes based on Kevin's aliens (since people recognized what the group had done of their heroic efforts) and Kevin decided to win a plush for her (which he won & received Bashmouth and gave it to her as a gift), she enjoyed the gift he gave as they kissed and shared an embrace. - Gwen & Kevin took time to enjoy a snow day and decided to do some activities while having the time of their lives, they grinned at one another while making snow angels - While her hair was starting to grow out she wanted to keep them from getting tangles & knots so after dong her hair she asked Kevin to give her some braids (he's been learning about doing it for a while), he obliges her and makes a few braids with his own flair - Being fans of Lucky Girl they like to think they are the characters in the story (their children in the future follow suit on the role play), since Gwen would be lucky girl Kevin would be whomever would be the mamoru/darien of that show and be proud to be by his sweetheart's side - Both are proud & doting parents to their children, Gwen shows her abilities & powers to them along with their lucky girl stuff while Kevin tells his kids how proud he is of them & lets them play with the array of alien plushes he owned (Devlin chose Quadsmack, Kaleb chose Bashmouth & because Krystal kind of wanted to choose him before her baby twin did she compromised and chose both Dark Matter and Bootleg) he doesn't mind in the slightest if his little girl wants to have both plushes - While putting on some music they decided to enjoy slow dancing together, while they both gazed lovingly at one another (even if they've done it before they definitely enjoy doing it again) - The picture that was taken during his time with the Tennyson's at Adrenaland Jr. before they were banned from the park was one of his most cherished pictures that he laminated in a frame that was a part of the decor of his and Gwen's home - Since it would be a while before someone would take the time and give Kevin some swimming lessons in safer waters the he and Gwen spent some time together wading through the water with his giraffe floatie - Although Kevin had thought he got the highest score in the newest Sumo Slammers phone game, Gwen had schooled him at the game sometime later in her free time. He was flabbergasted at first but he was impressed that she took the crown in such a short time. - At a point of time he playfully teased Gwen once calling her 'Carrot top' he did it to be endearing (aside from his usual princess nickname he gives her) he tries to not tease her as much as he teases her cousin, she knows and appreciates it but tells him to tone it down to a few times when the mood strikes - Before Gwen was his girlfriend,fiance and wife along with Ben being his brother in law they were his first and most treasured best friends that he ever had, even if he had a tsundere like attitude towards it and that his relationship with the two was a bit rocky at first and he loves every moment that he doesn't feel alone in the world - If he went back to human form when he was still a baby he would've clung to Gwen because he trusts her, though he would probably grumble and growl at Ben sometimes much to Gwen's displeasure - A few years later the Tennysons & co would pay a visit to Simon and the others and would note about if Kevin was Gwen's boyfriend considering how he acts around her, both their faces had never been more red that day though he sees her as his girlfriend until they made it official later - Based on a twitter post during Digital Quality in a AU sense Kevin & the Tennysons had combined their efforts through a song to fight against Lord Decibel - They both care for another if ones gets ill (but take proper precautions as well before and during it) and appreciate each other for doing that as they grow closer - When either is down they are there to cheer each other up and comfort one another (if Gwen was feeling down and he was Bashmouth he would be right by her side and just be his cute doggo self which brings a smile to her face, even if she would be crying/having a sad expression on her face) - If Gwen wanted to be able to see things and some people were too tall for her to get a good glimpse at something Kevin would change into Dark matter and place her on his shoulders for her and him to get a better look (or another alien if she needed higher elevation) - While watching a load of monster/horror movies they decided to binge, Gwen notices some similarities Kevin's aliens had in correlation to those movies which to her teetered it being between either coincidence or being intentional in some sense - Since she liked his free styled rap in what rhymes with omnitrix they went ahead and did a duet for the fun of it and had a great time - Kevin enjoyed their campfire stories and could imagine to interact with Gwen during those segments of the stories, his favorite would be when she gives him her galaxy brownies to eat -Gwen may make quips about Kevin’s mullet but she does like the way he wings with it compared to others that make it look like really messy bad hair

[kariachi]

I really think it goes back to the writers having that nice brand of 'a good female character is Perfect and Right and always Better and Smarter than the boys and will always remind that they are Superior' brand of misogyny that just leads to the ladies being assholes whose bullshit is minimized. Even for characters who aren't getting the full treatment themselves. In these cases it seems to lead to a place of 'if we have the guys causing problems than it's a Problem because it's more serious when guys do things, but if we have the ladies causing problems then we can and must dust it under the rug because of course it's not as serious as all that'. An amazingly pervasive form of misogyny in the last 20-or-so years.

And from an in-universe perspective, I have to assume relation to Verdona plays a role, because three of the problems are her and her grandchildren, but I also have a theory that Tennysons just have this tendency to go 'I'm going to help' and just run with their first idea without actually thinking about it. Because Vera's whole thing was 'I'm going to help out around here' and then she didn't ask how she could help, she just decided what she was going to do and did it no matter what anybody said or whether it helped or not. And Gwen's whole thing in Kevin's matter chimera arc was 'I'm going to help Kevin' and then she threw herself into research without a second thought to asking how she could help him, or even for any potentially useful information. And even in Verdona's premiere, Gwen's parents and Ben immediately jump to 'we're going to support Gwen's decision to leave' before she'd even made it and so end up doing shit like assuring her that she's replaceable. They just seem to have a nice combination going of 'my good intentions will carry me' and 'but they're family' that, has to be a fucking mess below the surface. Like no wonder there's so many secrets in that family, it'd dissolve like tissue paper.

That really is the vibe Gwen gives. Like she's watched too many middle school and teen romances where everything is Power of Love and a guy not knowing you prefer two squeezes of ketchup over your fries instead of three means he's a selfish jerk who needs to be Fixed or Left. Add in this desire to fix fuckers and a lack of acceptance of other people's boundaries...

And I also can't verify but I'd swear that came up in a scene where Gwen could read fuckers' minds and then it was just, never used again (which, theme with Gwen and Kevin, they're handled like old school superhero comics I swear- 'this issue Superman shows he can fart a pheromone that lures ants, this will never come up again in the next forty-two years of comics'). But again, can't actually verify that one. It would certainly help explain a bit of her bullshit, though it would also bring up a whole load of questions (like how the fuck she falls for people's shit, or why she couldn't figure out shit like 'Lucy isn't Bad').

I've asked it before to electraslight- does Gwen ever actually say why she likes Kevin? Does she ever give a reason? Like, we get reasons from Kevin, but never her. Like, like you said she should be so into tech with him, the shit he can do with tech should impress her, but the show and Gwen both seem to just brush them off. It's weird.

But yeah, the show just, for some reason decided, what? That this was the only reasonable way to bring Kevin into the group? That they needed to attract the yet-untapped Gwevin-fan demographic? Friendship is boring? Character growth is hard? 'If we give the non-white person more focus the studio will catch fire'? There were options out there.

Fuck, add Argit instead of Kevin, I still think we would have gotten a better show. Something more akin to Rooters arc!Argit than AF-canon, give us more blatant alien in Alien Force, force the treatment of aliens as people more than obstacles earlier, we still get Kevin access via Argit, lose the sudden jump from 'trying to kill the Tennysons' to 'working with them' and give more space to see his growth organically rather than having to drop it all on top of us at once, no rushed, toxic romance because like fuck they would have had the balls to set Gwen up with a rat- There's potential there!

*climbs off soapbox*

But anyway, yeah, Kevin and Gwen need-- Therapy, distance, separate lives, different states at minimum, let them grow, let them learn, let them form healthy shit. Then we can see how friendships go.

I don't have the emotional fortitude to write it, but the brain does sometimes mosey over to the potential aftermath of simple shit like 'the Omnitrix is programmed to prevent its wielder from dying', 'Ben is known to occasionally get the wrong alien', and 'falling from great heights is very bad for your health' coming together after Gwen shoves the boys out of the ship during Showdown to result in one dead Kevin.

Like damn but that could be one dramatic and painful storyline.

[ben-10-setting-omnicrom]

My Ted Talk on why (reformed) Elena Validus is Ben's best choice of canon love interest.

Now I know you might ba asking yourself "Who?" and that's fair considering she only appeared 3 times in canon with the 4th being a cameo in Omniverse's The Most Dangerous Game Show. I'm talking about Ben and Gwen's childhood friend from before all the alien and cosmic shenanigans.

A link to her page.

I fully admit that as she is now she's not really girlfriend material. Or friend material.

Buuuut she has shown the capacity to change twice.

_______________

The first time was when she tried to commit suicide to stop her chips from killing Ben.

The second was during her talk with Ben in The Perfect Girlfriend where he seemed to be getting through to her before Julie showed up.

All of her problems stem from how her chips strive to grant her every desire as she explains earlier in Revenge of the Swarm

Not only does she come ready made with a constant internal struggle to provide drama (her having no inhibitions) but there's clearly mutual want there and she's had Plumber Training (before she quit after losing her father) and a desire to help others with the chips.

The above qualities already make her a better love interest than basically everyone besides Eunice who is likewise a capable fighter and has no problems with Ben's heroing (unlike Juile*).

Allow me to elaborate on a AU where Julie isn't his girlfriend and Elena is the one who keeps Ship after they've confessed to each other. Canon goes as usual (without the one sided fights that paint Ben as the bad guy for no justifiable reason and Elena joining their team with Ship's help) until after Alien Swarm. Now all of the sudden she has no impulse control and is a great foil for Kevin power drawbacks wise but in reverse. Kevin is always on the edge of crazed addiction if he absorbs too much energy and Elena starts crazy and has to fight tooth and nail to remain sane. She can now operate as a mix of Gwen and Cooper in a fight via chips as well, with her being able to go into a god mode like Gwen with her Anodite form by merging with Ship (since the chips are already hyper adaptable just adding a Galvanic Mechamorph will basically make the Ben 10 equivalent to Doomsday).

Not only does she have a lot of story potential for what's canon but her being the mother of Ken (and Devlin being the child of Gwevin) has a ridiculous amount of plot potential too. They'd be great foils for each other since Ken would have the same problem Elena did but he'd have help in making a impulse control and Devlin would likewise have help in dealing with being both an Osmosian and Anodite. It'd also offer up Ken the perfect way to be Spanner without having to leave his current time since he can just make a clone of himself. They'd make a hell of a Hero duo honestly.

* In fact I should elaborate on my feelings of Ben's love interests.

Julie straight up wanted shit Ben couldn't in good conscious give her since he isn't about to let people die or suffer if he can help it and knows about it. Them breaking up in Omniverse is flat out the best outcome.

Kai/Nyancy/Looma/Attea only like one of his forms.

Ester sucked at communication and gave up/moved on at the first sign of romantic trouble.

Eunice actually WOULD be pretty perfect romance wise (since they care for each other and she's all for his Hero work), unfortunately she actively makes it hard for Ben to Hero since the Unitrix messes with the Omnitrix. If that was fixed she honestly has a ridiculous amount of plot potential especially if she's the mother of Ken. Also before you say it she's only distantly related to Ben seeing as the Unitrix randomized Gwen's DNA sample it took from her when she made contact with it.

Elena Validus (assuming she gets over her batshit crazy/obsessed phase) is the only other love interest that actually cares about Ben and his Heroics. She also knew him prior to the watch and there's clear mutual want there.

So if I had to rank them it'd be something like this.

1 : Elena Validus 2 : Eunice 3/4 : Ester/Julie 5 : Looma 6 : Attea 7/8 : Nyancy/Kai

[catgirlxox]

BenKai is weird because I'm pretty sure I know what the writers are going for and intend for the pairing. They wanted BenKai to be seen like a bickering old married couple who who eventually smooth out their edges and get softer to each other (as seen in some of the future scenes where they do look like a happy family). But from a fan perspective I'm left wondering why the execution was so terrible. Kai never really stood out as 'Best Girl' material for Ben because she never acted like -

like she wanted to be in enough obvious way (for fans and Ben). Again I think I get it. Maybe the writers were trying to go anime style on us and do some class is Tsundere love interest who is too stubborn to admit her interest. Like I get it. She smiled and blushed when Ben accidently kissed her. Her only complimenting his alien forms is her way of denying admitting anything to Ben’s face. But yeah I’ve seen plenty of anime who did it better. Kai’s problem is that the writers didn’t care to make her a fully fleshed out character with enough depth to stand out as interesting on her own. She’s pretty simple: loves archeology. Furry lover I guess. Not nice to Ben 99% of the time (who is her main source of interaction in the show). Also they kept the dynamic stale but not throwing in softer moments that showed growth from Kai. But instead of getting support/understanding/compassion we got more bickering and mocking. You can say Kai could work because she’s such a blank slate. Which kind of reminds me of my Hunger Games days where I loved the story for its story and characters but some fans were obsessed w/pairings and Gale/Katniss had a following. Gale is better then Kai character depth wise but for the life of me I couldn’t understand why enough people liked such a bland character they could project any personality into. He felt entitled to Katniss. Hated the capitol. Looked down on anyone who wasn’t his family or Katniss. Every Time I read a fanfic his personality changed. I realized some fans didn’t care. They liked shaping his anyway possible because there was so little to define him in the first place. The fact some fans thought he was better for Katniss made me confused since almost every interaction post HG was negative. She went through all this trauma but he acts like a huge jerk to her whenever she cares about someone else or has surviving/protecting loved ones on her mind over romance w/him. Sorry for the rant but it got on my nerve every time Katniss was having a moment contemplating the inhumanity of it all and how likely it is she’s going to die or watch someone she loves die. Then Gale shows up to be all ‘gee golly Katniss pay attention our love triangle problems!’ Got me every time. Boy she’s having a crisis you can’t understand. Don’t push her around like you own her or know better. But yeah terrible relationships w/mains you love is terrible. Doesn’t hurt in omniverse Ben never acts like he wanted to be in love with anyone. Briefly I actually thought he was going to end up alone because that’s what he wanted. =P In the end the writers botched up. Romance isn’t a big deal in Ben 10 and they made Gwevin act like a couple. You think giving Ben a minor healthy romance wouldn’t be that hard but no I guess it was. They failed to make Kai a actual character (They put more effort in Skurd and his relationship w/Ben. Let that sink in) or the 2 invested in each other in likable/healthy ways.

 (I don’t know how much I like that formatting but I felt keeping the numbers was distracting. Anyway…)

I actually haven’t seen the Hunger Games, so I can’t really comment on that. However, I do see where your perspective is coming from in relation to the character dynamic. You bring up an interesting point:

“People liking such a bland character they could project any personality into.”

I feel like that’s what it is. 

I feel like people only like Kai’s character when they step away from the canon presentation of her character. 

When they begin to project their own values - things like being a good representation for Native American people, and appealing to feminist values through ambition and independent success - they see the potential of a character like her, and then believe that is what was attempting to be introduced to the audience through the Omniverse portrayal of Kai. 

While being an ambitious, smart archeologist interested in history, or a strong, independent female who empowers women are good traits, it was not heavily focused on in her actual canon presentation, unfortunately. 

Instead, what was majorly focused on is this “Tsundere” type personality, likely for the reasons you mentioned above. 

Now, just to be clear, I don’t personally think there’ s anything inherently wrong with projecting on characters. I mean this in the sense that writing divergent interpretations of canon characters is, in itself, harmless. Whether it is done out of creative expression or for personal reasons, the point is that those people are still able to make the distinction between the canon portrayal, and their portrayal. 

However, with a character like Kai, the trouble is that, because her canon portrayal is the way it is, when people project on her due to this idea of her “potential” and what she could have been (but wasn’t), she becomes out of character very quickly. At this point, it’s expected that she act like she had on screen. 

When I read a fanfiction, and the author chooses to have her be mean to Ben in inappropriate situations, it’s in character.

Change that, and insist that she is an angel, and now you’re just straight up lying to yourself.

It’s the same thing as insisting that Ben is a “sexist sociopath.” We all (most of us, anyway) know that is a lie. Even the writers would find that ridiculous. It wasn’t their intention in the slightest to consistently give us that impression, but it was their intention to consistently give us the impression that Kai is mean to Ben for whatever reason. That’s undeniable. 

As for Ben and Skurd’s dynamic, while they did end off on a good note, I feel like their dynamic had their own issues. I was always pretty indifferent to Skurd, but @karkalicious769 had brought up a very interesting perspective a little while ago in this post which I have to say that I agree with.