#honestly all these thoughts spawn from my dogboy 'in all forms INCLUDING physical i am a wolf' blorbo bingus jed who is in a band

[whatudottu]

Because Ben 10 introduced mutants in OS as a baseline ‘they exist’ presence to a ‘Ben has encountered multiple mutant individuals across the states in one (1) summer roadtrip’ ratio of commonality, I’ve been thinking about how mutants in Ben’s Earth are actually out and about in conjunction with alien life before they were able to legally exist as aliens in human public when OV rolls around. And because I’ve been thinking as much as I have, I think I can have my cake and eat it too when it comes to whether or not Kevin is mutant or osmosian-

Let’s start off by introducing a little term I’ve been calling pseudo-human (or pseudo-humanity). I’ve been using this in my head in reference to aliens or alien hybrids (human/alien hybrids or Earthling alien/alien hybrids) born on Earth during the prior to Omniverse just introducing legal recognition of alien residency, and the whole ‘pseudo-human’ coming from the concept of being raised to be or as a human despite otherwise. This does not apply to adults who have immigrated to Earth as they have extraterrestrial heritage, even if they have lived a long time on Earth having to pretend to be human (whether that form comes under perhaps plumber provided ID masks - I guess if your immigration is recognised by the plumbers - along with inserted human documentation that only specific levels of government know is in fact a plumber provided documentation, by shapeshifting a la lenopan or anodite immigration, or those that keep VERY MUCH to themselves because ‘woops that’s not human’ is something they can’t very much help without the mutant community existing as a safety net). And pseudo-humanity doesn’t inherently mean ‘no connection to alien culture’, it just means that what ever alien community there is (whether it’s kept to family or extended to a much larger group), the kid still in that period of not being legally recognised as a person has to pretend to be human if they’re a participant of society, raised as one instead in the absolute lack of extraterrestrial community.

This term would apply to three of my OCs, the previously mentioned and created live on screen the crystal twins Lucía and Blanca - one human passing, the other not - and the ‘has been sitting in DMs’ lead singer of the all alien band Thing/s Jed - a lenopan/loboan who with the power of shapeshifting REALLY gets to pretend to be human - who grew up with pseudo-humanity. But what I find interesting about this is that indeed, this term could even apply to the Plumber’s Kids too.

If I recall, it was Manny and Helen that had come across as indeed confused as being referred to as aliens. For all they knew they were Earthlings, and yes they are, but they have existed (along with Pierce) on Earth potentially under the assumption of - let’s hear it - mutants! In a Ben 10 world that mutants exist in, especially open enough for Ben to randomly encounter multiple individuals across the US in only one summer’s worth of roadtrip, what else would one assume you’d be if you were born on Earth and have a human parent? Even Alan Albright was just ‘suddenly’ a pyronite one moment, waking up to a burnt bed that he left without injury. Heck- Pierce could have (if mutant league wrestling competitions were broadcast) just identified as a mutant since Porcupine and Gaterboy were indeed siblings, in fact if they actually could watch older episode or even grew up on them Manny could see Fourarms and go ‘Hey that’s me!’ under the same assumption of being a mutant.

And tell me - tell me to my face - why wouldn’t there be, with as many mutants as there are, why indeed wouldn’t there be a mutant community? It’s part of the reason why I my Mutants and Magic au acts as my OC verse in conjunction, characters like Jed, Lucía and especially Blanca (who cannot begin to pass let alone know she’s specifically an alien) would have a better chance of having just some sort of community if mutants were around already having to deal with ‘not being human enough’ for non-mutant humans, because so long as there are mutants, pseudo-humans can find a culture that connects them to something if they cannot find community in extraterrestrial peoples.

And this, my friends, indeed turns to Kevin Ethan Levin, a runaway so human passing that even his powers hide beneath his skin. Though this kid had no community to fall to, though this kid had no alien culture to connect with, he exists as someone that can call to the mutant community just as other pseudo-humans can. Just as the Plumber’s Kids identify with the mutant community, presented perhaps as spectacles to gawk at on TV screens (one of the easiest ways a mutant could earn a living) yet human all the same, Kevin can fall under the community of folk just being human, no matter what others say. The developments in Kevin’s identity of instead being an alien - an osmosian - is really just an evolution of what information about himself is known, and though perhaps it is not quite the same as going from ‘i don’t differentiate attraction between genders’ bisexual to ‘okay so equal attraction just means 0/0′ asexual discovery, but like- isn’t that just more interesting?

And - AND - this means that I don’t have to retcon the Rooters from all this either, another bonus. It could indeed be that Kevin was identified as a mutant - Servantis certainly has a point of reference what with mutants being just another part of the Ben 10 world - it’s not like the Rooter’s are up to date about the universe outside of the Null Void. What does Servantis know of Aggregor, of the Andromeda 5, of perhaps even the Map to Infinity?

Anyway I hope that was cohesive enough- idk if pseudo-human sounds a little slurry or not I guess you could say this is a peer review non-beta read little post of mine but like- it sounds more like a clinical term rather than a community name but eh. Just really wanted to like... establish that mutants have an actual impact on the world so... I hope you like it!