#khyber forever

[erimeows]

Too Good To Say

Raindrops smack against the glass of the window as Rook Blonko lies in bed, amber eyes trained on none other than Ben Tennyson. The other plumber sits on the edge of the bed watching the new live action adaptation of Sumo Slammers. Normally, Ben would be ranting about how different it is than the original cartoon, but today is not a normal day. In fact, it doesn’t seem as if Ben is paying attention to the show at all, just blankly staring at the television but not really consuming the media in front of him. 

Meanwhile, Rook just watches Ben, a soft smile gracing his lips. They got into a terrible skirmish with Khyber earlier that morning and lost him, but not before the accomplished hunter managed to stab one of his many blades through Rook’s shoulder. Thankfully, he’s bandaged up and recovering well, but he would be stupid not to realize how upset Ben is that they’ve let Khyber escape yet again. Rook is frustrated that Khyber got away, though more than anything, he’s glad that Ben made it out unscathed- that they’re both okay.

Rook sighs. The movement of Ben’s shoulder blades against the back of his jacket, the steady rise and fall of his back as he breathes, the way he slightly ruffles his own hair to calm himself down, it’s all reassuring in a way that Rook never thought it would be when the two of them first became partners. 

Rook thought he was in love when he met Rayona, because she loved him. She was kinder than his parents, and she was stronger than his friends. The attention she gave him, the admiration he felt for her, it all mixed into a disjointed infatuation that he had foolishly assumed was love. The validation she provided was exciting. The love she had for him was the only love he knew.

But Ben, Ben is different. Ben is interesting and self-centered and altruistic; a cacophony of contradicting qualities that make Rook’s heart flutter with excitement whenever they’re together. The feelings he has for Ben are more than the intense infatuation he’d become accustomed to on Revonnah, because Ben isn’t perfect and doesn’t present himself as such. He’s strong in many ways and weak in others. He’s kind and caring, but inconsiderate and selfish. He’s authentically himself. He doesn’t care about how others perceive him. He’s beautiful, yet so incredibly frustrating, too. He’s nothing like the cool, collected, muscular, bold hero he’s presented as in all of the rip-off television shows, badly drawn posters, and dramatized stories. And Rook still loves him despite all of it, because the good qualities outweigh the bad ones, even when Ben is at his worst. 

Suddenly, Ben snaps out of his trance and breaks his eyes from Sumo Slammers. He scoots to sit next to Rook on the bed, staring down at him with his jade eyes. Rook averts his gaze, heart thumping against his chest.

“How’re you holding up, buddy?” Ben asks and places a hand on Rook’s arm. Rook can never tell if the touches are romantic or not, but he always accepts them without question. He craves them, even; desperately wants the heat of them to burn the fur off of his skin and leave a scar in its wake- for it to stay there forever, in one way or another. Ben’s fingers brush through his fur. Rook isn’t prone to leaving it uncovered, mostly wearing a full suit of armor with gloves and boots to keep himself safe. Following his injury, however, Ben insisted he shower and change into clean clothes after having his stab wound tended to, so now he’s in a tank-top and sweatpants that are a little too short for his long body. His worn clothes sit abandoned in a pile by Ben’s bedroom door. “Rook?”

“Oh,” Rook starts. Ben’s hand lingers a little too long, trailing up his arm before Ben finally pulls it away, careful to avoid touching anywhere near Rook’s wrapped injury. “I am fine, thank you for asking.”

“I’m going after Khyber.”

Rook tilts his head to the side, baffled. He knows Ben is serious based on the tone of his voice. Still… Khyber is dangerous and Ben has been cornered by the huntsman multiple times now. Ben going by himself wouldn’t just be risky, it’d be stupid. 

“You… I am sorry? I must have misheard you.”

“No, you didn’t. I’m going after him tonight. Grandpa managed to get a tracker on his car and-”

“Ben, you can not go by yourself,” Rook interjects, furrowing his brow.

“Yes, I can. I have to- or we’re not going to be able to catch him! I won’t let him get away again.”

“Catching Khyber is not worth you getting seriously injured, or worse, killed.”

“Well, no matter what you think, you’re not in any condition to stop me,” Ben argues as he stands from the bed.

Rook gulps and reaches forward to grab Ben’s hand. It’s cool to the touch and calloused from all the fighting they do. Ben turns to look back at him with wide eyes. Rook drops his hand and stares down into his own lap.

“You are going to go even if I ask you not to?”

“Well, yeah,” Ben answers as if it’s obvious, as if Rook’s concern for him doesn’t matter at all.

“You…” Rook starts with anger bubbling up in his chest.

It’s an odd feeling, one that he hadn’t felt much before meeting Ben. There’s just something about the brunette that’s so incredibly frustrating. Maybe it’s his blatant disregard for others, or maybe it’s the way he so recklessly throws himself in danger’s way without any consideration for his own safety. 

“What? Got something to say?”

Rook hesitates, unsure of how to answer at first. Ben just stands there glaring at him with his arms crossed. 

“Yes, actually,” Rook responds after a few seconds. He stands up from the bed and goes to pick up his pile of old clothing and shattered armor. “Your self-absorbed nature is going to get you killed. When will you stop to consider the consequences your actions have on others?”

“Consequences? Nothing I do affects you, and neither will this!”

“And how did you come to that conclusion, exactly?” Rook demands while pulling his boots onto his feet and tucking his clothes underneath one arm. 

“It’s obvious! You don’t care about me in all of this- you’ve never cared,” Ben spits. His words couldn’t be farther from the truth. Then again, Rook would argue that Ben is even more emotionally oblivious than himself, which is quite the accomplishment. That would be the only explanation for how he hasn’t figured out Rook’s feelings by now when even Kevin, Gwen, and Argit have made jokes about the situation in front of both of them. “What you care about is following the rules and- and controlling me!”

“Controlling you? Are you serious?” Rook scoffs, standing in front of Ben’s bedroom door. Both of his parents are gone on a vacation with Ma Vreedle of all people, so Rook can’t even try to get them to convince Ben to stay. “I do not think there is anyone in this universe let alone on this planet who is capable of controlling the likes of you, Ben.”

“Whatever,” Ben huffs and heads for the door, only for Rook to block his way.

“You can not do this. I will stop you if I have to.”

“Why? Why are you acting like you care about me all of a sudden?” Ben rants, getting closer and closer until his face is mere inches from Rook’s chest. “Worst case scenario, I go do this, and I get hurt, or even die. We’re partners- friends, maybe- but it’s nothing more than that! You’ll get over it, get another partner that’s probably a lot easier to deal with, and you’ll be fine. So, why does it matter what I do? Why do you care?”

“I will not ‘be fine’ if you die, I-” Rook raises his voice, and then stops. He can feel heat rising to his cheeks and he’s suddenly incredibly grateful that they’re covered by fur so he doesn’t have an obvious blush like Ben often does- like Ben does right now. “I...”

“You what?”

“Unlike you, I do not think I am too good to say to you how I feel,” Rook closes his eyes. He’s too scared to see what Ben’s face will look like after hearing what he’s about to say. “I will be shattered if something happens to you, because I love you, and just so there is no confusion… What I mean by that, is that I am in love with you.”

“You-” Ben stumbles over his words, an awkwardly choked noise coming from the back of his throat.

“But you are clearly not reciprocating my feelings, and that is fine,” Rook continues as he reaches behind him and opens the bedroom door.

“But-”

“I never could have expected you to love me. You’re you, after all; Ben Tennyson, the hero who has saved the universe a thousand times, and I am just your partner who you refuse to respect and refuse to listen to- who you never even desired in the first place. I would be a fool to expect more than what you are willing to give, I am aware of that. I have never assumed you would fall in love with me at any point,” Rook says, glancing at Ben over his shoulder. The brunette’s cheeks are bright pink and his pupils are blown wide as he stares at Rook. Rook can’t quite discern the face Ben is making; maybe it’s confused, maybe it’s angry. He himself is too frustrated to figure it out. “But I did make the mistake of assuming you would, at the very least, respect me and value my opinion.”

“Rook, would you just-“

“No, I see how it is now,” Rook interjects, shaking his head. “I can leave you alone, if that is really what you want… Just call me when you need to be rescued like you always do.”

Rook turns to leave, only for Ben to reach out and clasp a hand around his wrist. Rook freezes at the touch- it’s cool yet firm and he wants to stand there and let Ben hold his wrist forever, but he’s so angry that he just can’t. So, he snatches his wrist from Ben’s grasp and stomps out of the Tennyson household. 

As the steps of Rook’s steel-toed boots thump onto the carpeted floor, he can’t help how disappointed he is that Ben doesn’t chase after him.

~

By the time Rook arrives at the plumbers’ headquarters in his truck, his fur is wet with tears and his amber eyes are puffy from crying. He scans his badge to get inside and heads to where he knows Ben’s grandfather, Magister Max Tennyson, will be manning the monitors. 

“Magister Tennyson, sir,” Rook greets with a salute, to which Max turns around from where he’s sitting in front of the many screens.

“Rook, what’s going on?” Max greets, a big grin on his face. He seems excited to see Rook again following their confrontation with Khyber- at least until he sees Rook’s expression. The Magister stands from his chair and crosses his arms as disappointment washes over him. “Oh, no, what’d he do this time?”

“I assume you are referring to Ben?” Rook questions with an awkward laugh.

“When am I not these days?” Max sighs, shaking his head and adjusting the collar of his floral shirt.

“He is going to go after Khyber by himself. He told me that he refuses to let me come with him since I am still recovering from my earlier injury, and he insisted on going alone. I believe he will be angry if he finds out that I have gone behind his back to inform you of this, but I am quite concerned about his well being.”

“That idiot. I put that tracker on Khyber’s getaway car so we could find him together at a later date, not so Ben could go on a wild goose chase all by himself,” Max groans and pinches the bridge of his nose between his thumb and pointer finger. “Hold on, I’ll track him using his badge so I can send him some back up.”

Max turns back to the computers and types in Ben’s plumber identification number so he can pinpoint the location of his badge. Rook wouldn’t usually be so bold, but his concern for Ben overtakes him as he curiously peeks at the computer and then at Max’s face. Max appears to be baffled, his lips pulled tight and the rest of his face scrunched.

“What is it?”

“The badge… The coordinates are still at his parents’ house. Did he say when he was going to leave?”

“No. Him and I got into an argument over this while still at his house and I left, but he declared he was going to leave to go after Khyber then and there, which is what started the argument in the first place. I assumed he left shortly after I did, but if his plumber badge is still there…”

“I’m going to go and check if he’s actually still there or if he’s just trying to pull one over on us by leaving his badge at home,” Max explains, then stands up and places a reassuring hand on Rook’s shoulder. “You should head home and rest up. I’ll let you know what I find, okay?”

“Yes, sir.”

Max walks past him and to the exit of the monitoring room, only to turn and look back at Rook to speak to him one last time before leaving.

“Hey, now, don’t worry yourself to death. You’ve already got a lot on your plate as, and you know how Ben is. He’ll be fine- he always is.”

“Right… I will head home, then,” Rook nods. “Thank you.”

“Of course.”

With that, Max leaves. Rook immediately notices that the rest of the plumbers in the room are staring at him with curiosity in their prying eyes. He wonders if he’s really that obvious… If it’s so easy for them to tell that his concern for Ben goes beyond one plumber caring for his partner’s safety. If they can all tell that he’s in love. 

Embarrassed, he storms out of the base before anyone can ask him about it and gets into his truck so he can drive back home. 

Weirdly enough, as he drives down the streets of Bellwood, he can’t help but notice that his heart hurts far more than the healing wound on his shoulder.

~

That night, Rook finds himself unable to sleep as he sits in the windowsill of his living room, staring out the window. The apartment he started renting a month or so back is small and a little crowded, but most of the time, he doesn’t mind it as it’s significantly larger than the dorm rooms that they had on the plumbers’ base. 

A knock rings through the room. At first, Rook assumes it must be one of his neighbors’ doors, but then there’s a second knock, and then a third. The knocks quickly form a rhythm that Rook recognizes as Ben’s, so he rushes to let his partner inside. When he opens the door, he’s faced with Ben, who is slightly hunched over. He has a black eye, bloody nose, and a busted lip.

“Ben!” Rook exclaims, amber eyes widening in horror. All of the anger, the frustration, and every other terrible thing Ben had him feeling earlier morphs into pure worry and fear. “What happened to you?”

“Rook-“

“You are badly hurt,” Rook scolds and grabs Ben’s hand without thinking. He intertwines their fingers and while he would normally never do something so bold, he can’t stop to think about the implications of hand-holding with a human amidst his many conflicting emotions. He practically drags Ben inside, shuts the front door behind them, and pushes Ben down onto his living room couch. “You should have called me before it got to this point. I do not know if you are aware, but I was waiting by my cell phone and had my badge on hand the entire time you were gone so you could contact me!”

“You were mad at me! You really expected me to call you in the middle of the night to come save my ass after the argument we got into this morning?” 

“I am still upset, but that does not mean I want you to be hurt,” Rook kneels in front of the couch where Ben is sitting, holds both of his hands in his own, and glances up at him.  “Why did you not go to your mother and father? They were supposed to return from their vacation this evening, correct? Or why not your grandfather at the plumbers’ headquarters? He went off to look for you.”

“They don’t understand,” Ben looks away and crosses his arms over his chest. “You’re the only one. You always have been… You’re just easier to talk to. No one else gets me like you do.” 

And Rook pauses, because for the first time since leaving his home planet to become a plumber, he’s being chosen first. He swallows tightly and allows his mind to race. Part of him entertains the idea that Ben may actually reciprocate his feelings, but at the same time… it seems like such a reach that he doesn’t dare to ask. If Ben doesn’t feel the same way, he’d rather they just forget about it and pretend as if nothing happened between them in the first place.

“Hm… So, how did everything unfold?”

“I lost him… We beat the shit out of each other but I had the upper hand. He realized that he wasn’t going to win and made an escape, and I was too messed up to catch him,” Ben explains while running a hand through his hair to push the fluffy brown locks away from his bruised, bloody face. “I barely even made it here to you.”

“I see.”

Rook lets go of Ben’s hands and goes to retrieve a damp washcloth, an ice pack, some bandaids, and a bottle of the water. When he returns, he opens the bottle of water and pushes it into one of Ben’s hands, then sits down next to the other plumber and starts to gently wipe the blood off of his face with the washcloth.

“Not going to lecture me about how I was wrong?” Ben indignantly demands. “No ‘I told you so’?”

“No. You already know you were in the wrong when you went after him. You do not need to be informed of that fact.”

“That somehow made me feel even worse.”

The two plumbers fall silent as Ben chugs the bottle of water he was given by Rook. The crinkle of the plastic bottle echoes through the small room. Rook thoroughly cleans and bandages Ben’s injuries, and though they look gruesome, they prove to be quite minor compared to so many of the other ones Ben has acquired with the work they do. Once he’s finished, he tries to push the ice pack into Ben’s spare hand, only for Ben to put it to the side and reach forward. He holds both of Rook’s hands in his own and stares into his amber eyes.

“What is this?” Rook questions, moving to sit next to Ben on the couch.

“I’m sorry. I do respect you, and I should listen to you more. I do value your opinion, I just…”

“You are stubborn. I understand,” Rook says with a small smile. “It is something I love about you, most of the time. I admire your tenacity. In situations like this, however…”

“I know, and about that… Y’know, it’s pretty messed up to confess your love like that and then leave without letting me respond.”

At that, a lump forms in Rook’s throat. He’s barely able to swallow it in time to reply to Ben, who is staring at him expectantly with an undeniable blush on his face. 

“I see. Would you… Like to respond now?”

“Yeah, I think I should,” Ben answers and leans forward to rest his forehead against Rook’s. Rook freezes in place, his heart skipping a beat. He and Ben have been in closer quarters before due to their profession, but it’s never been so… Intentional. So intimate. Ben shuts his jade green eyes and allows a small smile to take over his face. Rook just stares at him and waits for what’s next. Much to his surprise, Ben gives him a kiss. Though brief, it’s sweet, and enough to lift the weight that’s been on Rook’s shoulders since their argument earlier that day as Ben pulls back. “I love you, too, Rook. I’m glad you told me.”

“Oh.”

“Oh?” Ben laughs.

“It is a lot to process,” Rook answers, barely able to get the words out. “Would you stay here with me tonight?”

“Yeah,” Ben nods, his smile as radiant as the moonlight that shines upon them through Rook’s living room window. “I think I would.”

[msnihilist]

what can you say about the Khyber and Ben pairing?

A LOT.

I don't know why it's not more popular 😭 (Well, yeah, I do, actually — because this fandom is populated by BORING PEOPLE.) I've seen people making villain AUs, and it's like?? If you want an obsessive villain to ship Ben with, Khyber is right there.

S1 of Omniverse, with Khyber hunting Ben and testing him, definitely awoke something in me as a child. I love love LOVE that Khyber doesn't care about the Omnitrix at all, he just wants to skin Ben and hang him on his wall.

Khyber is a pretty stoic character, so maybe that's why he's not a popular choice for shipping. But I think literally all the time about how much he enjoys the chase, the game of it all.

I 100% believe that if he HAD worn Ben down on his hunting preserve, Khyber wouldn't have killed him. He would have hesitated. Looked at his ultimate prize lying at his feet, too tired to run anymore, and Khyber wouldn't have been able to make the killing blow.

Because if he kills Ben, then what? There's nothing more left for Khyber. He's conquered everything else. It's only once you've reached the top that you realize just how much you enjoyed the climb.

I think Khyber wants to keep hunting Ben. Forever. That's called true love 🥺

[ben-101-rewrite]

Hey. Sorry if this has been asked before but do you think Khyber's the type to make it so his student can only "graduate" or whatever by finishing a hunt on Khyber?

I see him more as the kind of person that doesn't think training ends until the day he dies. He'd have no interest in them beating him since he will forever want to be seen as the top dog.

[cyclone-rachel]

Ben probably should have forgotten about it.

That summer when he was eleven, a year after he first got the Omnitrix- he hadn’t thought it was going to be anything worth remembering in the first place. After all, he’d already had an unforgettable summer, traveling with Grandpa Max and Gwen and doing things he’d never thought possible. Anything else was almost guaranteed to be a letdown in comparison.

Then he unlocked Feedback. Then he got himself stuck as different aliens every week because of how much he wanted to stay being Feedback. Which definitely backfired, which led to Grandpa taking him and Gwen all the way to Galvan Prime so Azmuth himself could fix the Omnitrix again. Then he met…

Well, Ben knew how downhill everything went from there. He hadn’t treated him that seriously, at first. That particular Mechamorph, according to Azmuth, was corrupted, different from the others of his kind, which should have made him easier to take down.

And at first, it was.

But things changed- and thanks to Azmuth’s assistant, so did this villain. After that, though, Ben didn’t think he’d ever see him again- he should have been stuck in Diamondhead’s crystals, frozen on Galvan B for the rest of his days.

That all changed when they met on Earth, though, and with their next meetings, things seemed different. He got away each time, not seeming to care whether he won or lost. (Although he sure acted like he won every time, just like when they first met- some things never seemed to change)

It was confusing, if Ben had to be honest. Why did his behavior suddenly change so much from who he’d faced originally?

Then came- what Ben thought- was their last meeting.

At least, it should have been their last.

But he’d put that out of his mind, as much as he could, for the better part of five years. As tough as this guy was, as much as he could survive through, Ben had basically vaporized him.

Then, he’d moved on. He put the Omnitrix away, and tried to be normal for a while.

Of course, he couldn’t stay normal forever, and ever since then he wouldn’t trade superhero life for anything. Any thoughts about past villains who he believed were dead were put out of his mind completely, pushed out to make room for whoever he was facing at the moment.

That was, until recently, when he was captured by Khyber.

But even then, he’d mentioned him in the past tense. The two of them had just been working together previously.

Five years ago. Not now.

Right?

He didn’t want to consider the other option. He was still lying to himself, really, until he landed, and came around to Rook’s truck.

Until he saw him- the ghost, the nightmare himself. Looking no different than the last time.

“No…” he said. “You can’t be here. It’s not possible.”

“Come now, Ben Tennyson.” Malware answered, advancing toward him as Ben backed away. “You didn’t think a child could get rid of me that easily, did you?”

No, I did. He thought. But I can do it again. And hopefully, this time it’ll be permanent.

[nightace12]

Plot Summaries:

Bunzo Bunny 1 - Luna's adventures through the factory, and their friendship with Bunzo before he got turned into a toy.

Bunzo Bunny 2 - The Easter comic thing. On their regular patrol through the factory, Starfall finds Bunzo badly injured in a hole. He tries to help his old friend.

Molten Freddy - Ennard finally kicks out Circus Baby. But Freddy realises something is wrong...

Time Force - A longer fic. Fang thought he could be happy with his team, despite being half-mutant. But when an old friend from the past returns, his relationship with the other Rangers might just be damaged forever.

Khyber - After waking up after being knocked out by Khyber (after he was turned into Tyrannopede), Geckax is left unaware of what condition his friend is in. Hunting down Khyber, Geckax can only hope he hasn't lost his mind...

Ikagen - Geckax is reunited with his ex, but Ikagen is badly injured after a fight with the Kyurangers.

Glitchtrap - Glitchtrap has finally escaped the VR game, but not through Vanny. But strangely, his new host is putting up more resistance than he expected. Basically just a Glitchtrap X OC

Sun/Moon - Flint searches for the Daycare Attendant after the Pizzaplex burns down.

Henry - Henry and Void reunite for the first time in 30 years. But things have changed.

Funtime Freddy - Millie thought Funtime Freddy was working alone. But after barely managing to escape from him, she discovers she was wrong...

Springtrap - After 30 years of isolation in the saferoom, Springtrap was finally freed by the staff at Fazbear Frights. But one of them almost seems familiar.

Swap AU Mike - William wants to show Mike what his bullying of Evan feels like. It goes horribly wrong.

[yellowmagicalgirl]

📽?????

Send me a 📽 and I’ll tell you about an animatic I’ll never make

So you probably haven't listened to Khyber Shards, but my brain is there and has been there for a while and since you're an anon I'm not gonna try to tailor this to any shared fandoms.

Also, tbh, my ideas are most heavily concentrated toward the front and back ends of the song.

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded - The players & DM all sitting around a gaming table. On the table, you can see the minis for the PC's, as seen in the prologue.

Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed - One of the players or DM picks up a d4 and rolls it. As they do so, it morphs into the pyramid-shaped floating citadel of the Twelve.

Everybody knows the war is over - We see Soryn walking with the Stryke Force, a group of Deneith guards hovering in the background.

Everybody knows the good guys lost - Daine and Thora look at each other, and briefly we see three other figures around them, with scribbles over where their faces are supposed to be. These three are supposed to represent their team, now dead.

The rest of the stanza as well as the next few stanzas would be dedicated to episodes 2-147 or so, and while I have some vague ideas for what scene goes where, I don't know quite where to place them (aside from under a cut)

Everybody got this broken feeling / Like their father or their dog just died - Something to do with Tommel. Maybe it's the map job, or maybe it's earlier.

Everybody talking to their pockets / Everybody wants a box of chocolates / And a long-stem rose - The Storm Lords discussing the fate of the Stryke Force. If this scene occurs on talking to their pockets, then box of chocolates is Thora rescuing the Stryke Force. If the scene is on box of chocolates, then the prior scene would tie more directly to the Twelve, while the scene after is Thora rescuing the Stryke Force. If the scene is long-stem rose, then there may not be a Thora rescue scene.

Everybody knows that you love me baby - either Pog and Solarka or Shade and Ari.

And everybody knows that it's now or never / Everybody knows that it's me or you - Either the Stryke Force heading over to Blackbriar or the Tommel vs Ari duel.

And everybody knows that you live forever / When you've done a line or two - Either both of Esri's deaths, Esri's first death contrasted with Ari's death (since Erandis brought both of them back), or Ari's deal with the Forgotten Prince contrasted by his deal with the Forgotten Queen. No matter what, Erandis has to be here.

And now we're back to me having a very good idea of pacing.

And everybody knows that the plague is coming - The Stryke Force faces the murderbot, Thora grabs its head, and forces gather near the manor.

Everybody knows that it's moving fast - smashcut of Daine, the Stryke Force, and Demise all making their way through the ziggurat

Everybody knows that the naked man and woman - Ari explains that they were all born with their marks (possibly with some more of the smashcut towards the front end of the lyric)

Are just a shining artifact of the past - Cardaen, with his eye sparkling for effect.

Everybody knows the scene is dead - Cardaen and Ari talk, and Cardaen clutches his head.

But there's gonna be a meter on your bed - As tribute to all the times I have misheard the lyric as "on your head", Demise touches Cardaen's head and casts Greater Restoration on him.

That will disclose - Cul'Sir kills Vadallia. This scene will bleed into the end of the previous lyric, as well, for timing purposes.

What everybody knows - Daine flying everyone back to Stormreach. The scene zooms in on a particular area of Stormreach, where...

And everybody knows that you're in trouble - Thora can be seen limping her way through the streets of Stormreach.

And everybody knows what you've been through - The scene glitches to Thora in a similar pose, back in Blackwheel. For stylization purposes, her face is currently on fire instead of the horrific burns being visible.

From the bloody cross on top of Calvary - Thora is captured by Blackwheel, but there is defiance on her face.

To the beach of Malibu - Glitch cut to Thora in the same pose, but in Stormreach, and there is a look of despair on her face instead.

Everybody knows it's coming apart - While held captive, a look of utter terror crosses Thora's face as Soryn walks into the room.

Take one last look at this sacred heart - Thora's communicator, surrounded by all the messages she has sent after she left the manor with the murderbot head. It's left unclear if she herself was the one to send them.

Before it blows - A panel split four ways between the Stryke Force and Daine. All of them are horrified, and as the lyric continues, each of their sections disappears, revealing the next scene beneath.

Everybody knows - One of two scenes. Either Thora is held at wandpoint, even more heavily injured than she was prior to Everybody knows it's coming apart, or she is fully healed, but her eyes are glowing a solid color as she points a sword at them.

[eldritch-baby]

History of Eberron

Every child knows the story of the Progenitor Dragons: Siberys, Khyber and Eberron. In the dawn of time, these three cosmic beings created 13 planes of existence, each embodying a concept. Their final work was the Material Plane, we're all their ideas would become manifest. A realm that would know war and peace, life and death, order and chaos. But cruel Khyber sought ultimate dominion over this new reality. She struck Siberys without warning and tore him apart. Eberron wrestled with Khyber and bound the traitor in her coils but could not defeat her. So Eberron became a living prison, a world that would forever contain Khyber's evil.

Almost every culture in the world shares this story as a myth that explains the world. Shattered Siberys became the ing of golden dragonshards wrapped around the planet, said to be the source of magic. Eberron is the world, the source of all natural life. And Khyber is the Underdark and the source of aberrations and fiends, forever struggling against her bonds and yearning to destroy the world above.

Another tale shared across cultures describes one more conflict that occurred in the first age of the world. Long ago, powerful archfiends known as the Overlords and their armies of rakshasa and lesser fiends dominated Eberron. Forces of light--some versions of the story say the nine gods of the Sovereign Host, others say an alliance of dragons and celestials--eventually defeated the Overlords. But these fiends couldn't be destroyed; instead their immortal essences were bound to Khyber. Should they ever break free of their bonds, the results would be catastrophic.

Over the course of the millennia, numerous civilizations rose only to fall. Giants built mighty kingdoms on the continent Xen'drik that were devastated by a war with the dragons of Argonnessen. The goblin empire of Dhakaan ruled Khorvaire until its reign was shattered by an invading army of mind flayers, beholders, and the foul creatures that crated them. Today these civilizations are known only through the remnants left behind.

[kydv404]

--UPDATED as of 12/30/2021--

All of my Ben 10 stickers! (so far) They’re all up for sale except for Zak and Rex (gonna do sets for their shows eventually.)

Links to buy below the break!

Original 10 aliens

AF 10

Andromeda aliens, including NRG out of suit, plus Clockwork, Eatle, Clockwork, Nanomech, Lodestar

Chamalien, Juryrigg, Frankenstrike, Snare’oh, Gutrot, Eyeguy, Rath, Whampire (normal and bat form), Fasttrack

Blitzwolfer, Wildvine, Cannonbolt, Ditto, Articguana, Spitter, Buzzshock, Kickin’ Hawk, Upchuck (Murk and Perk)

Feedback, Bloxx, Shocksquatch, Crashhopper, Astrodactyl, The Worst, Peskydust, Walkatrout, Mole-stache, Ball Weevle

Gravattack, Atomix, Waybig, Toepick, Bullfrag

Reboot aliens + Ben, Gwen, and Kevin

Ben (OS, UAF, OV), Gwen (OS, AF, OV), Kevin (OS, UAF, OV), Rook

Ben (OV hoodie), Gwen (AFs3, UA, OS Lucky Girl), Kevin (AFs3 outfit, AFs3 mutation), Max (UAF, OV), Julie

Gwen (UAF Lucky Girl, OV Lucky Girl, Anodite), Plumbers Helpers, Kai, Argit

Ben + Small Chills, Eunice, Lucy, Max (OS), Ester, Reiny, Myaxx, Paradox, Azmuth, Tetrax

Ben + Skurd, Gwevin + Zed, Julie + Ship

Vilgax, Kevin 11, Aggregor, Zs’skayr, Albedo, Eon, a Forever Knight, Malware, Maltruant, a Highbreed

Hex, Charmcaster, Darkstar, Attea, Khyber, Psychobos, Animo, Zombozo, Servantis, Ultimate Kevin

Circus Freak Trio, Looma, Elena, Addwaitya, Xenocite, Kevin (OV flashback mutation), Rojo, Ragnorok

XL Waybig for whatever absolutely unhinged motherfucker wants a 14 inch tall Waybig.

[aureolusfire]

So in fanfiction it's common for people to write ben as not being concerned at villains threatening to cut off his arm and I don't blame them that's what I would write I mean he doesn't seem bothered when Khyber is threatening him. But then in Return to Forever when Chadwick threatens to cut off his arm with a buzzsaw while he's trapped and Rook is there watching this is his reaction:

He's still scared no matter how cocky he can be, when he knows he's trapped and knows that he isn't getting away he's still terrified at that prospect and honestly I don't blame him I mean who would

[ripjaws]

Ben 10 Survey Results!

Huge thank you to everyone who submitted a response, it was really fun looking through them all and I was genuinely surprised by the results of some of the questions.

Hopefully this will work under a read more because it's quite long and I don't want people to have to scroll a hundred years to get past it.

If anyone has any questions or anything please feel free to ask! :)

Thanks again!

General

Q1. How would you describe your gender?

36% - Female 25.3% - Male 24% - Non-binary 8% - Prefer not to say 4% - Agender 2.7% - Genderfluid

Q2. How would you describe your sexuality?

32% - Bisexual 20% - Heterosexual 20 % - Asexual 8% - Lesbian 6.7% - Prefer not to say 5.4% - Pansexual 4% - Gay 1.3% - Demisexual 1.3% - Questioning 1.3% - Polysexual

Q3. Current age

48% - 20-24 39% - 15-19 13.3% - 25-30 1.3% - Older than 30 1.3% - Younger than 15

Q4. Age when you first became interested in Ben 10

86.7% - Younger than 15 9.3% - 15-19 2.7% - 20-24 1.3% - 25-30

Episodes and season

Q1. Which series did you watch first?

88% - Original Series 9.3% - Alien Force 1.3% - Omniverse 1.3% - Reboot

Q2. Rank the series in order of preference

[IMAGE ID: Five separate groups of five vertical bar charts. The individual columns for each group are coloured in the same order and corresponds to what ranking they recieved on that question of the survey. According to the key at the top of the image the order is; blue = 1, red = 2, orange = 3, green = 4 & purple = 5. The Y axis of the graph goes from zero to thirty in intervals of ten.

The first group is labelled ‘Original Series’ and shows that it got twenty votes in blue, seventeen votes in red, sixteen votes in orange, ten votes in green & twelve votes in purple.

The second group is labelled ‘Alien Force’ and shows that it got nine votes in blue, eighteen votes in red, twenty-one votes in orange, twenty-two votes in green & five votes in purple.

The third group is labelled ‘Ultimate Alien’ and shows that it got thirteen votes in blue, ten votes in red, fourteen votes in orange, twenty-two votes in green & sixteen votes in purple.

The fourth group is labelled ‘Omniverse’ and shows that it got eighteen votes in blue, fifteen votes in red, seventeen votes in orange, fifteen votes in green & ten votes in purple.

The fifth and final group is labelled ‘Reboot’ and shows that it got fifteen votes in blue, fifteen votes in red, seven votes in orange, six votes in green & thirty-two votes in purple. END IMAGE ID]

Q3. Favourite season (Original Series)

40% - Season 1 18.7% - Season 2 18.7% - Season 3 17.3% - Season 4 5.3% - Don’t like/Haven’t watched

Most popular episodes were Ken 10 (S4E10) & Kevin 11 (S1E7)

Q4. Favourite season (Alien Force)

52% - Season 2 28% - Season 1 16% - Season 3 4% - Don’t like/Haven’t watched

Most popular episodes were Alone Together (S2E2) & Save the Last Dance (S2E4)

Q5. Favourite Season (Ultimate Alien)

36% - Season 1 25.3% - Season 3 20% - Don’t like/Haven’t watched 18.7% - Season 2

Most popular episodes were Forge of Creation (S1E16) & Duped (S1E2)

Q6. Favourite Season (Omniverse)

18.7% - Don’t like/Haven’t watched 18.7% - Season 2 16% - Season 5 12% - Season 6 10.7% - Season 1 9.3% - Season 8 8% - Season 4 5.3% - Season 3 1.3% - Season 7

Most popular episodes were And Then There Were None (S6E1) & And Then There Was Ben (S6S2)

Q7. Favourite Season (Reboot)

60% - Don’t like/Haven’t watched 17.3% - Season 4 10.7% - Season 3 6.7% - Season 1 5.3% - Season 2

Most popular episodes were Omni-tricked (S1E37) & Innervasion (S2E36)

Q8. Which live action movie did you prefer?

40% - Alien Swarm 22.7% - Race Against time 22.7% - Didn’t like either 14.7% - Haven’t watched either

Characters and aliens

Q1. Favourite main character

45.3% - Ben Tennyson 28% - Kevin Levin 17.3% - Rook Blonko 9.3% - Gwen Tennyson

Some ‘Why’ responses:

Ben -

I know it's a really basic pick but I enjoy Ben alot as a character. Even though I feel like he took an extremely sharp turn into immaturity in the final season of Alien Force onward (from what I've heard it was due to ratings), it still fit well after a bit of time of adjustment. Him being rash and selfish at times while still having a good heart feels...very human. I'm a huge fan of flawed protagonists and Ben is a prime example of such, imo! Plus I hradcanon that he has autism and it's a big comfort for me :)

I love his potential as a character and the way he hands having such power and responsibility thrust upon him. Ben has done so much for the people in his life and the universe, and I absolutely adore him.

I think of him like a kind person who tries his best to the right thing, he's pretty chill and optimist and in my mind he's a chaotic bi and i can relate to that

Kevin -

I like that he's always been an antihero in the original series. And in the reboot I really like the direction the showrunners are taking his character. He has a different backstory, motivations and I'm really enjoying his character development. It's a fresh take on his story and they're treating it with care, which I really appreciate. His Antitrix aliens also have some really incredible designs.

Cool powers, uncommon character in children's media, especially as a primary character often cast in a good light (ex con, high school dropout, masculine, not emotionally mature). His character development is some of the best in the series.

Gods, we could be here forever... Okay, short version- 1) I can relate to him on a mental health level, especially in the OG series we seemed to have similar issues and to handle them in similar ways 2) there's a lot of depth and variance to his character, he's angry and aggressive and dangerous but also a dork, a sweetheart, and very affectionate once he lets his walls down, he loves cars and supernatural romance, violence and magical girls, he'll rescue an aggressive dog for no reason other than it needed help but also he might consider how much he could get for selling you, he's a complex character and he's allowed to be in a way the Tennysons can't because of how firmly they sit in the Hero seat 3) for all of this, we never really know all that much about him and his experiences, at least in comparison to what we know is there- we never learn about his time traveling the galaxy, we haven't heard anything about his time stuck in time, it's only in the reboot we're getting trustworthy information about his background and even then it's rare tidbits- he's ripe for exploring in fic, headcanon, and so-on 4) his powers in the OG series, his status as mutant or alien or both who knows anymore leaves a lot of doors open to play and to look at the world through different angles 5) dude has turned into six different monstrous chimera forms over the course of the franchise and honestly you have to support that sort've shit in media otherwise they might stop

Rook -

Alien catboy with a glorious voice and have you seen those arms??? And he's so polite while also being hilarious when he gets a little rude/snarky and his character development is amazing!!

While I would normally say Ben himself, Rook is his only friend that hasn't tried to kill him. Additionally, he provides Ben with guidance as well as support the Gwen and Kevin are fickle about.

Having an actual alien joining the cast and serving at Ben's foil worked well to me.

Gwen -

Smart, talented, funny, snarky, confident, and super cute. Jock-prep-nerd energy all in one. Deserves the world. Criminally ignored by the majority of the fandom. Knows karate and judo?? College at 16?? Icon.

Angel, can do no wrong, was capable of so much more than the show let her do, potential to be the most powerful member of the team if they'd just let her go a lil feral sometimes :/

She was a good voice of reason most of the time. Her powers were really interesting and overall I think she had a lot of wasted potential having to be sidelined since the series was about Ben ultimately

Q2. Favourite minor characters

40 votes - Paradox

22 votes - Max Tennyson

18 votes - Tetrax

17 votes - Argit

16 votes - Julie Yamamoto

15 votes - Azmuth

12 votes - Ester

10 votes - Looma Red Wind

9 votes - Glitch

9 votes - Kai Green

7 votes - Alan Albright

6 votes - Jimmy Jones

4 votes - Cooper Daniels

3 votes - Eunice

3 votes - Helen Wheels

2 votes - Elena Validus

2 votes - Manny Armstrong

1 vote - Cash Murray

1 vote - Driba

Other votes went to Penny Bennyson, Kenny Tennyson/Spanner, Lucy Mann, Rook Shar, Eddie Grandsmith, Myaxx and Pakmar.

Q3. Ship or Zed

64% - Ship 36% - Zed

Q4. Favourite main antagonist 

20% - Albedo 13.3% - Kevin 11 12% - Vilgax 10.7% - Charmcaster 10.7% - Zs’Skayr 9.3% - Malware 5.3% - Forever Knights 5.3% - Eon 4% - Highbreed & DNAliens 4% - Aggregor 1.3% - Servantis & Rooters 1.3% - Khyber 1.3% - Dagon & the Esoterica

Some ‘Why’ responses for top 3:

Albedo -

When I first saw him during the airing of Good Copy, Bad Copy, I was scared that Albedo might be a one-and-done evil clone that doesn't get much development. These fears went away, and I was pleased to find out about his backstory and motives, just a sour soul in an unpleasant situation. Even in Ultimate Alien with his reappearance episode, he tries to work on his own to cope in a horrid human world. He isn't necessarily malicious until Ben gets in his way, he just wants to return to his own body and leave, even stating that he wasn't going to fight Ben anymore while he had temporarily returned to his Galvan form. I know DJW stated in some interview that Albedo could never be redeemed, but I believe there's some hope if he gets help. And I'm a sucker for those redemption arcs :)

Tragic frog man that could have been helped but nobody helped him and he doubled down on his hatred which led to him getting stuck in a cycle of revenge and punishment and it's the tragedy of how much better things could have been for him if someone just helped him that I love so much!!

Kevin 11 -

He’s very dangerous and has a terrifying power to absorb electricity and living DNA to have the same powers of who he absorbed it from and even turn himself into a mutant with all those powers combined leading to destructive power 

Kevin was a good antagonist and a good protagonist, although i feel the transition was rushed. Anti-hero kevin in the reboot is great!

Vilgax -

He was always the endgame villian for Ben, despite how many battles they've had, despite countless losses, he always tried to stay one step ahead, and plan everything.

"Speak with care, Psyphon. Your counsel is valuable...not irreplaceable."

Q5. Favourite minor villains 

38 votes - Animo 20 votes - Hex 18 votes - Michael Morningstar/Darkstar 14 votes - SixSix 13 votes - Zombozo 9 votes - Vreedle family 9 votes - Vulkanus 8 votes - Rojo 5 votes - Inspector 13 5 votes - Billy Billions 5 votes - Will Harangue 4 votes - Fistrick 4 votes - Nyancy Chan 3 votes - Lord Decibel 3 votes - Simian 3 votes - Subdora 3 votes - Viktor 2 votes - Addwaitya 2 votes - Fistina 2 votes - Kraab 2 votes - Psyphon 2 votes - Steam Smythe 2 votes - Sunder 1 vote - Liam 1 vote - Ssserpent

Other votes went to Maurice & Sydney, Bugg Brothers, Alternate evil Bens, and the Mummy.

Q6. Favourite canon relationship

66.7% - Gwen & Kevin 13.3% - Max Tennyson & Verdona 5.3% - Ben & Kai 4% - Rook & Rayona 1.3% - Julie & Herve 1.3% - Max & Xylene

Q7. Favourite non-canon ship

36% - I don’t have one 30.7% - Ben & Rook 6.7% - Ben & Kevin 4% - Ben & Julie

Other responses included Ben & Rex, Kai & Julie, Looma & Attea, Alan & Cooper, Ben & Looma, Kevin & Manny, Gwen & Cooper, Ben & Ester, Max & Phil, Azmuth & Paradox, Cooper & Elena, Kai & Ester, Ben & Zak Saturday, Ben & Eddie, Ben & Albedo, Ben & Kevin & Gwen, Kenny & Devlin, OC & canon, and Ben & a therapist. 

Q8. Favourite alien introduced in the Original Series

18.7% - XLR8 17.3% - Upgrade 13.3% - Ghostfreak 10.7% - Diamondhead 9.3% - Heatblast 8% - Wildmutt 6.7% - Ditto 2.7% - Blitzwolfer 2.7% - Snare-oh 2.7% - Grey Matter 1.3% - Cannonbolt 1.3% - Four Arms

Q9. Least favourite alien introduced in the Original Series

22.7% - Eye Guy 18.7% - Spitter 8% - Articguana 8% - Frankenstrike 6.7% - Upchuck 6.7% - Stinkfly 5.3% - Buzzshock 5.3% - Snare-oh 4% - Four Arms 2.7% - Blitzwolfer 2.7% - Ditto 2.7% - Wildmutt 2.7% - Grey Matter 1.3% - Cannonbolt 1.3% - Diamondhead 1.3% - Ghostfreak

Q10. Favourite alien introduced in Alien Force

46.7% - Big Chill 17.3% - Rath 8% - Goop 6.7% - Lodestar 5.3% - Swampfire 4% - Chromastone 4% - Spidermonkey 2.7% - Alien X 2.7% - Echo Echo 1.3% - Humungousaur 1.3% - Jetray

Q11. Least favourite alien introduced in Alien Force

18.7% - Lodestar 17.3% - Brainstorm 13.3% - Alien X 10.7% - Humungousaur 10.7% - Spidermonkey 8% - Jetray 8% - Chromastone 5.3% - Goop 5.3% - Echo Echo 2.7% - Rath

Q12. Favourite alien introduced in Ultimate Alien

18.7% - Juryrigg 16% - AmpFibian 14.7% - Clockwork 12% - NRG 8% - Armodrillo 8% - Shocksquatch 8% - Terraspin 8% - Water Hazard 2.7% - Chamalien 2.7% - Fasttrack 1.3% - Eatle

Q13. Least favourite alien introduced in Ultimate Alien

30.7% - Fasttrack 18.7% - Eatle 13.3% - Juryrigg 9.3% - Chamalien 8% - Shocksquatch 6.7% - Terraspin 5.3% - Water Hazard 4% - Clockwork 1.3% - AmpFibian 1.3% - Armodrillo 1.3% - NRG

Q14. Favourite Ultimate Form

38.7% - Echo Echo 24% - Big Chill 10.7% - Swampfire 9.3% - Way Big 8% - Wildmutt 6.7% - Spidermonkey 1.3% - Cannonbolt 1.3% - Humungousaur

Q15. Favourite alien introduced in Omniverse

29.3% - Feedback 13.3% - Pesky Dust 12% - Gravattack 9.3% - Ball Weevil 8% - Bullfrag 6.7% - Whampire 5.3% - Bloxx 4% - Atomix 4% - Walkatrout 2.7% - Gutrot 1.3% - Crashhopper 1.3% - Kickin Hawk 1.3% - Toepick 1.3% - The Worst

Q16. Least favourite alien introduced in Omniverse

24% - The Worst 14.7% - Bloxx 12% - Mole-Stache 8% - Bullfrag 6.7% - Astrodactyl 6.7% - Kickin Hawk 5.3% - Atomix 5.3% - Gutrot 4% - Crashhopper 4% - Walkatrout 2.7% - Toepick 1.3% - Ball Weevil

Q17. Favourite alternate Ben timeline

29.3% - No watch Ben 24% - Gwen 10 17.3% - Ben 10,000 8% - Mad Ben 6.7% - Dimension 23 6.7% - Eon 4% - Nega Ben 2.7% - Benzarro 1.3% - Bad Ben

Misc.

Q1. Favourite watch design

37.3% - Original Series 29.3% - Omniverse 17.3% - Alien Force 9.3% - Ultimatrix 6.7% - Reboot

Q2. Favourite alternate watch design

29.3% - Biomnitrix 20% - Gwen 10 18.7% - Negatrix 17.3% - Antitrix 8% - Power Watch 6.7% - Hero Watch

Q3. Favourite planet visited

32% - Anur Transyl 20% - Revonnah 13.3% - Mykdl’dy 10.7% - Galvan Prime 9.3% - Vilgaxia 6.7% - Piscciss 5.3% - Petropia 2.7% - Khoros

Q4. Favourite locations

34 votes - Undertown 23 votes - Ledgerdomain 23 votes - Null Void 22 votes - Bellwood 19 votes - Friedkin University 18 votes - Mr. Smoothy 16 votes - Forge of Creation 15 votes - Los Soledad 7 votes - Burger Shack 7 votes - Plumber Headquarters 4 votes - Incarcecon 2 votes - Mt. Rushmore Plumber base 2 votes - The Perplexahedron 1 vote - Plumber Academy

Q5. Favourite Vehicle

33.3% - Kevin’s car (Original) 25.3% - Rustbucket 18.7% - Proto-TRUK 13.3% - DX Mark 10 5.3% - Kevin’s car (Omniverse) 4% - Glitch

Q6. Favourite Kevin mutation

40% - Original series 20% - Ken 10 future 12% - Ultimate Alien 8% - Omniverse 8% - Alien Force 6.7% - Omniverse flashback 5.3% - Reboot

Q7. Favourite Omniverse redesign

66.7% - Ben 26.6% - Kevin 6.7% - Gwen

Q8. Least favourite Omniverse redesign

76% - Gwen 18.7% - Kevin 5.3% - Ben

Thoughts

(Putting every single response here would make this insanely long so I’ve just put the most detailed/most echoed responses & include all sides of opinions when possible.)

Q1. Thoughts on the Osmosians retcon?

Okay, first up, do you know how much work I had already put into building shit surrounding those fuckers by the time of the retcons? I had been working on this crap since AF season 2! But no, they gotta go ruin that in one fell swoop, thank you, much appreciated. Second up, I wibble on it? Like, working with mutants is fun and interesting and I've done plenty of shit with them as well, but in the end I'm always going to be a pro-Ossys person. Mostly the retcons left more questions than they gave answers (how, if Osmosians never existed, did everybody and their mother know Kevin was an Osmosian? why, if Osmosians never existed, did none of the people not-involved in this whole disaster with Servantis's mindfuckery look at Aggregor being reported as an Osmosian and go 'wtf that's not a thing'? do they really mean to tell me that not only did Kevin never bother to look into his heritage, but neither did research-happy Gwen? or am I expected to believe the Rooters made enough fake information and put it out publicly that they fooled literally everyone? and if they did then why? when it would've done the same thing with less effort if they'd just, let Kevin be a mutant with a Plumber father who died) and I feel like they didn't really give enough to justify them. One of those cases of 'making your work less interesting to make it more 'accurate''. Personally, I forever keep working on Osmosians (where's the line where it just starts becoming your shit, I think I may be heading there) and I love on mutants and I flip between or combine the two as needed for whatever story I want to tell.

While the fake memories plot isn't great I think it's for the best because the original series meant for Kevin to be a mutant while UAF changed it to alien. I like him better as a mutant human. Too much alien connections in UAF.

I could scream for hours. Easily one of the worst decisions they ever made. Omniverse picks and chooses what canon to follow from AFUA + the original run and throws it in without care or concern to what it means for the timeline. Retconning something and keeping the effect it had is just bad writing. Kevin coming to terms with not being human and that’s okay was important to me when I was a kid. Knowing that he’s just been on an unending series of brainwashed nonsense all his life deprives him of his agency. I hate this decision more than several dozen essays could ever convey.

I wasn't mad about it. Mainly because I liked the idea of Kevin being a mutant than an alien. Alien Force really was pushing that aspect even with Gwen. To the point where she called her powers 'not spells' because of her heritage. Stupid that the rooters and fake memories were a thing, but necessary.

I was never a big fan of the Rooters Arc, but this doesn't bother me too much. It makes UA a little weird with Aggragor, but again, it doesn't really bother me, as most of Omniverse didn't explore Kevin (While UA Did), and was mostly about Ben.

Osmosians were such a cool idea, and it would've allowed for more exploration into what Mike Morningstar was as well, but just writing them off as mutates is so boring. As well as it makes Aggregors whole part not really make sense, like who is he then.

While well executed, it was unnecessary. You could have had the same story line where Kevin was used to mutate other kids and still had him an Alien. You could have had it where it was another alien species that used Osmosians to morph other species to theirs; a call back to the DNAliens if you want.

Q2. Thoughts on how the Ultimate Kevin situation was dealt with in UA?

Terrible. They wanted to go far. They wanted to go dark. But they didn't think their viewership could handle it so they dialed it back. I will always be curious to know what they would have written if they didn't have those constraints. Because the final product was a mess of contrasting tone and unsure footing about how far to go with questioning our hero's moral compass. They wanted to push Ben to see what he would do and apparently, we got that he would kill Kevin and maybe Gwen if she got in the way of saving the universe.... but not really because he didn't. And then the gang is happy all back together like none of it ever happened. They wanted to explore dark themes but have it leave no consequences on the characters. Also... it was so ableist and awful and Kevin deserved better than how Ben and Max (and the writers) treated him.

If they did everything the same but the argument was 'we need to capture him and lock him away' instead of 'we need to kill him'? I would be fine. It's the fact that they slipped so quickly into murder, into murder by his 16-yo bestfriend, that gets me. Like, there's apparently no space between 'recklessly risk our safety trying to talk him down' and 'Ol' Yeller his ass' and that just does not sit right with me.

Ben should have looked for alternate solutions before jumping on the "Let's kill Kevin" train. I understand why he did (this took place immediately post-Aggregor so Ben was still traumatized about having lost so many people and because he failed and "let" Kevin get turned into Ultimate Kevin, he felt as though every person Kevin hurt would be on him) but I wish he hadn't.

Pretty good actually. I like Gwen's emotions becoming a hindrance to the job, I like Ben putting on his big boy pants and I like Kevin going up to Aggregor and saying "y'know, I was a big boy villain once and I'm tried of just getting kicked around" (obviously paraphrasing)

Other than the scenario being overplayed, I think Ben was right. Kevin was eventually going to end up killing Gwen and he'd already put others in the hospital. He needed to be stopped.

Ben jumping straight to murder, yikes. Kevin dismissing Gwen to hang out with Ben almost as soon as he turned back to normal, yikes. Otherwise, it was an interesting plotline.

Really bad. Really shows how awful max and the plumbers really are. I mean , the guy saved the universe and now he clearly needs help but all they wanted to do was kill him.

it really felt like Ben just wanted to murder Kevin because he saved the universe that one time and Ben couldn't stand someone else being the hero for once

The worst, Max straight away wanting to put him down makes u wonder how long he's been waiting for that kind of opportunity.

I'm fine with it, maybe they could have spent some time dealing with the consequences of Kevin's actions, possibly even the ramifications it had on Ben and Kevin's friendship, but overall I'm ok with it.

Q3. Thoughts on the Plumbers

Plumbers ain't shit. Individuals can be acceptable or not but the organization as a whole has too much power, not enough oversight, utilizes child labor, uses a deathtrap of a hellscape dimension as a penal colony, has been shown onscreen sentencing people to imprisonment in said dimension without a trial, and I'm sorry the fact that a Plumber official could walk into a base with his team, assault several members of staff, attempt to kidnap a boy, admit to having and planning to continue to run illegal experiments on him and others, admit to having altered the memories of other Plumber officials, all in front of the entire base, and nothing was done until he tried to kill the golden child Ben 10 and failed, got his ass kicked by one of his victims, and in a place where presumably there were security cameras? And that the response was, again, to sentence him and his team without trial, take all the evidence, and peace out without so much as looking at nonetheless apologizing to his victims? Yeah, that don't fly. Doesn't sound like an organization that has it's shit together. Either the Plumbers don't have their shit together or the higher ups were in on it until it became something that could actually damage their reputation, and either way I Do Not Approve.

They're pretty cool. I know everyone's talking about how Plumbers are space cops and therefore absolutely corrupt and bad but this is a fictional universe in which corruption in organized forces isn't a necessity. Plumbers don't function the same way real cops do, they don't follow they same chain of command, they don't have the same motivations and they definitely don't have the same biases. Plumbers perform an essential function in the Ben 10 universe, which is to capture and contain aliens who aim to hurt anyone (or those who Ben defeats).

My knowledge of the Plumbers' unfortunately doesn't go beyond UA. They're not my favorite thing ever. Some of my least favorite episodes were the ones where the Plumbers or Plumbers' kids are involved, except for the episode "Everybody Talks About the Weather". The way Alan is introduced is really cool and very X Files-esque, and it ties into the DNAlien plot very well. But throughout the series I stopped caring about the Plumbers in general and I think that concept was given too much attention.

They don't do what they're meant to. They act like heros yet I don't think I've ever seen them do anything heroic. The DNAliens situation, the aggregor situation, dagon etc etc. Where were they??? Why did they leave the fate of the universe in the hands of a 16 year-old boy? Ben has the omnitrix sure , but he's still just one guy, how much can he fight? They showed up every once in a while but that's it. They were useless.

Of course the Plumbers have their problems, but looking at most characters we've met that were plumbers seem to be pretty good people. Max, Patelliday and Rook (and even Kevin, technically) are great examples of Plumbers, Servantis being a bad example of one.

Honestly liked it when it was disbanded. It’s cool they introduced Rook but like there’s so much wrong with how they run most things. My favorite version of the plumbers was tbh the first live action movie. Where it was just a bunch of old people watching out for Ben cause they actually cared about the people they protected (in this case Ben).

Q4. Thoughts on Grandpa Max

(The responses to this one were way more divided than I thought they would be omg)

He said Kevin was a mad dog that needed to put down. He's terrible. Military. Secretive. Kept his kids out of the loop and probably told the grandkids not to tell them about a huge and extremely dangerous part of their lives. Thus creating a gap between them and their parents that didn't need to be there. Child endangerment. Other than that....? He's important to Ben and Gwen so I tolerate him and he had some good life lessons to share. Also legendary adult figure in a kids cartoon who had relationships with multiple aliens.

He’s incredible, he worked in the Air Force, was going to be one of the first people on the moon (But he refused because he joined the Plumbers) had children with an Energy Being, he has a few grandchildren, and not to mention knows how to still kick butt despite him being in his 60s and was there to help Ben grow

He’s a complicated old man. Love him to bits in the original run and I love him in AF! He’s a utilitarian doing what needs to be done and suffering the consequences when need be. He does what he thinks is going to lead to the best possible outcome for the most people in any situation.

Needs to get knocked off his pedestal more often, both in and out of canon. He's got good traits, they're very nice, but there's other shit that gets glossed over, ignored, brushed aside, too easily forgiven, and just. They really needed a character who served double duty being a counterforce to him. Somebody to go 'wtf is wrong with you?' or 'yeah, no'. Ideally this would've been Patilidae, but no. We couldn't be so lucky.

Conflicted. Was he grooming Ben for plumber work, or just trying to support him in a situation he knew would be dangerous? It’s not made very clear...

I think he's got some sort of narcissistic personality disorder. I just can't forgive him for making Ben carry the burden of the Omnitrix at the age of 10 without ever explaining anything, and for not letting Ben and Gwen know he was alive after the Null Void grenade incident in AF. He clearly could have, if Helen could reach Gwen so easily. I think he views Ben more as an asset than a grandson at this point and that's really sad.

I love him! The progression from family hero to questionable old man felt kinda natural, like learning about a family member as you grow older and realizing they aren't perfect

He's awesome. He was a good role model for Ben and he was very supportive to both his grandkids. I hate that they made him mute in Omniverse and changed his design so drastically. I loved Max in every season from the original till Ultimate Alien. After that, he was pretty much just a prop.

Q5. And finally, give me your most controversial Ben 10 opinion!

It seems to be the worst thing to say that Ben isn't perfect and that Kai isn't demonic. And it's pretty standard for the women of color characters in every fandom to get the most hate so to me all the hate towards Kai when her personality is so close to Ben's AND she's also more hated than the ex-villain and the actual villains that tried to kill Ben multiple times just seems- hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. But really, and really I've needed to say this for a long time but I'm afraid of being strangled. Some fans will denounce incest/pedo shippers and people that interact with them and then reblog from a proud Bwen shipper with no self-awareness. Please I have the tags blacklisted are you safe to interact with and you just don't know? Or you're just saying you hate Bwen shippers to give yourself an out for reblogging their content????? Or are you all closeted incest shippers trying to maintain a public image???? I'm at my limit.

I do not think the reboot should have existed tbh :,D I know that it has a ton of fans and all due respect to them, but from what I've seen of it I don't think it was worth tossing away four interconnected series' worth of development and starting from scratch to end up with what we have now. I would be fine with it existing if we got an Omniverse continuation alongside it, but CN screwed OV over by the decisions they made near the end of it's run. So it's probably impossible it would return, even moreso because of the reboot already airing, and it would probably confuse younger audiences that don't know about Omniverse if two Ben 10's were running separately. I just really miss Omniverse, it had more potential and the reboot placed the final nail in for it to ever return.

The Ben 10 reboot is fun and meant more for kids rather than the ones watching for nostalgia. I didn’t like how Gwevin were sidelined and downplayed to make Ben look better. Sometimes it felt like Gwen was a bit naggy towards the two of them. I didn’t like how the fact that she was the only female lead how she had sometimes act like a parent or that they put Gwen and Kevin together just because. Their relationship felt forced and awkward a lot of the time. Omniverse’s designs while controversial were fun and unique but I didn’t like what they did with Gwevin, especially Gwen.

Kevin is totally smart enough to figure out an Omnitrix with the blueprints in front of him, we see him do amazing shit with technology- including the Omnitrix- in the OG series, people just don't notice he's as brilliant as Gwen because the show never made it as big a point that he and Ben were so very smart like it did with her before the reboot, so now they're being forced to acknowledge that Kevin might have two braincells to rub together and they're pushing against the supposed 'change'.

idk if it's controversial but there should've been way more episodes of just gwen & kevin & rook without ben or ben having a very minor role in the episode. just more time for those three to shine and show off how capable they are without ben always having to come in to save the day at the end

Gwen and Kevin aren't good friends to Ben. I mean they were initially, but once he got famous and they didn't, they stopped putting more than a half-assed effort to help him. They also don't really consider his feelings nor really care about the toll heroing takes on him.

The Reboot has the best jokes in the entire franchise and I don't why people give it so much crap.

Kai Green is an abuser and I refuse to find anything redeemable about her character. "Worthy to wield Excalibur," my entire ass. And Ben and Julie's breakup was good for them both, as people, and just as much her fault as it was his.

Ben 10 is an incredibly flawed show and people need to stop getting butt hurt when the blatant misogyny, and copoganda in the show get pointed out or when any even minority critiques Ben's character.

Ben is the worst character in Ben 10 and the whole franchise would be better off without him.

Azmuth is fine for the most part and malware was not exactly the most understanding person

I think Ben should've stayed single. Every episode where romance (or the girl Ben was dating) was the focus of the episode was pretty boring to me, personally.

Ben's parents were right to try to stop him from being a hero, so were Gwen's.

Ultimate alien force season 2 and 3 were amazing.( not comparing the OS since obviously that's the best, or omniverse since I haven't watched all the episodes of that)

Pierce deserved to die for being a boring character. I just wish his death had actual consequences.

The reboot is a genuine improvement over the original continuity in MANY ways!

Oh geez, um, Kai was a good character, just her and ben were obviously toxic. Not everyone needs to like Ben and she isn't an abuser, they just don't get along and that's fine but by God, why did the writers have to force them in a relationship? That's all I could really think of on the spot. Oh! And that the first two season of AF were a watered down version of Ben and the plot focused more on Gwen and Kevin than it did Ben. He felt like a side character and I'm not mad about that, but I don't understand why people praise that characterization of ben when I remember more about gwen and Kevin then Ben. Dude, I've been watching the show for the past week and I can name more about kevin and gwen because they're memorable.

Azmuth's hot af, but y'all aren't ready for that conversation...

----

If you’ve made it this far then thank you!

Again huge thank you to everyone who submitted a response and if you have any questions/comments please feel free to leave them in the replies/send me an ask/dm/whatever ^^

[lecliss]

Do you ever think how Ben is the only one that remembers the original universe before it got destroyed then he remade it and that everyone he knew is dead with replaced by the copies he made in their place?

😦😦😦😦😦😦😦😦😦

I have thought a little bit in that area but I didn't actually consider that specifically. Yikes.

Man, like, Ben goes through so much dude. The episode before For A Few Brains More(can't remember the title, too lazy to look) right before Khyber started chasing Ben as Ditto with his Panuncian, Ben was bragging and showing off a ton of confidence while visibly nervous and you could TELL he was trying to reassure himself and hopefully convince Khyber that he WAS that confident he'd make it out, so it's not even a theory that a lot of hero stuff stresses Ben out immensely and he's not as confident in himself as he lets on.

Also he got REAL pissed at Vilgax during Vilgax's re-introduction episode in Omniverse. And it was clear he was pissed about everything Vilgax had put him through previously.

THEREFORE! There is canon evidence to believe that many things, not just these two villains, have given Ben some trauma that he hides and tucks away and tries not to think about.

He doesn't show it in So Long And Thanks For All The Smoothies or Tennyson vs Universe that he feels something negative about recreating the universe, aside from not getting the grape smoothie right. But judging by the evidence above, considering its just a smoothie, he might be trying to diminish his overall concerns about doing that by projecting everything onto the smoothie. He cries in court about the damn smoothie. It's just a grape smoothie, Ben. I know you love smoothies but are you sure you're not dodging your feelings by fixating on the smoothie???

He gets all haughty to Rook and Argit, like, 'be glad I recreated you' or whatever it was specifically that he said. That, like, they should be thanking him for saving them. And, bro? You're gonna brag about that? Considering your track record you're clearly just covering up how freaked out you are that the 'original' ones DIED and you could only receate them instead of save them.

(I say 'original' because the universe has been remade prior to that by other Celestialsapiens as proven in Tennyson vs Universe.)

And like, imagine that from Ben's place. Go home that day, say hi to your parents, check to make sure everything is how it should be, watch them for a second, realize they're acting normal like how they were earlier 'that day', understand that even if they seem the same as before, they still aren't the ones from before, they're entirely new ones.

Spend the next couple days checking to see what else is different aside from Mr. Smoothy's design and the new jacket, stare at Grandpa Max for a minute too long, stare at the road signs in the truck with Rook a little too closely, listen closer to everyone's voices when they speak. It all seems to be in place, yes, but is it really truly? Can it really be the same as before when it's all completely remade from scratch? You can argue that if it's not different, then it's still the same. But the only thing remaining from the previous universe is Ben. Based off that, everything after the recreation is different because Ben is the same.

Does he feel 'other' then? Does he feel like because it's a new universe then he doesn't belong in it since he's from the previous one? Does he lie awake at night thinking about that? He still thinks about the smoothie in Tennyson vs Universe, but once again, it's not about the smoothie is it Ben? It's because the smoothie is a reminder of what you did. What you had to do. Every time you drink it you're reminded everything is indeed, not the same. You recreated the universe. You couldn't save it and you lost everything and you did recreate it yes, but that doesn't erase what you lost. You can never erase that. You will live with that forever. And you will drink the grape smoothie hoping beyond hope that this time it will taste like it used to. But it never will. And you've long forgotten the old taste now. But that doesn't matter. Nothing will ever taste like the old grape flavor, because nothing will bring back the pervious universe. And you will never let that go. Never.

[orderlysummit]

@jennifer-10nyson​ inspired another big post from me but thankfully I typed it up in advance

Here are my basic ideas for if Ben 10 were in the MCU (up to Phase 3)

Before I get to the actual movie things, there are a few bits of housekeeping to get across first. 

1. The opening scene of the first movie HAS to be Ben finding the Omnitrix, that’s non-negotiable  2. I couldn’t think of a way for Ben to remove the Omnitrix and have it be a satisfying reattachment without a netflix series that I didn’t want to plan out, so the Omnitrix basically morphs as Ben grows, as well as receiving updates via Galvan Prime in the form of a recalibration and subsequent transformation into the Ultimatrix for movie 3  3. No Phase 4 so far because it’s not finished irl yet but it would be focussed around Omniverse and the Khyber/Malware arc specifically 

Now that’s settled, on with the post 

Phase 1  - Ben 10 (2010): Origin, takes place during the school year after The Summer and focusses on Vilgax with Dr Animo taking up the middle segment, mid-credit scene has Kevin being transported to the Null Void branch of Incarcecon, end-credit scene teasing the Forever Knights - Avengers (2012): basically the same but Ben shows up almost exclusively in alien form, change the shawarma scene to Ben messing around with the watch and unlocking Feedback 

Phase 2 - Thor the Dark World (2013): the same but with Gwen studying magic in a credit scene - Ben 10 Invasion (2015): opens like Ben 10 Returns, with Ben n Gwen meeting Kevin again during a DNAlien/Forever Knight deal, basically Team Tennyson gearing up to fight the High Breed, mid-credit scene is Steve meeting up w/ them to thank them for saving earth, end-credit teases Khyber and Malware 

Phase 3 - Civil War (2016): identical aside from the airport scene (I can expand on that later but it doesn't change the story much) and a third credit scene of Vilgax being worshipped by the cult of Dagon - Ben 10 Ultimatum (2016): opens with Team Tennyson restoring the Andromeda Aliens and hauling Aggregor away, rest of the movie is payoff to the Forever Knights/Dagon build-up and ends with Ben receiving the official omnitrix after the original had recalibrated into the ultimatrix (Albedo would make things a bit too complicated)  - Avengers Infinity War (2018): this one is quite a bit different and I can expand on it too but Gwen and Kevin both get snapped while Ben is yoinked by Paradox in a credit scene - Avengers Endgame (2019): basically the same but Ben is tossed out of Paradox’ pocket dimension when Gwen and Kevin are restored (it feels like 0 time has passed for any of the trio) and the Big Fight just has more combatants

[ben-101-rewrite]

How long does it take Kevin's body to flush out any foreign DNA?

You mentioned that Zs'Skayr was able to locate Kevin via trace DNA inside of him, So I'm curious?

and Speaking of Kevin, what are some of the other Kevins like, you talked about Fusion Ben's Kevin before so I'm kinda curious.

I don't have anything entirely solid, but I'd say somewhere roughly a year, or just under a year. Normally osmosians can revert to completely normal in a month or so, but the omnitrix caused some lingering side effects for Kevin that makes it take a little longer.

As for each of the alt Kevins for their respective universes.

Ben 23 Kevin - Mostly just a street punk. He knows of Ben 23 through the media, and thinks negatively of him and his wealth, as Kevin is just trying to survive, living with his mother still, but both are extremely poor. Gwen 10 Kevin - Similar to his prime counterpart, but him and Gwen have a more complicated relationship with her being the trix user this time. Ben 10k Kevin - Similar to his prime counterpart, just older, married to Gwen and has a family with her. Goes by Kevin 11k No Watch Kevin - Lives on the streets, committing small crimes, just getting by, but trying to make his way into actually alien black market territory Omni Ben Kevin - Lives with both his parents, his father very much alive. Meets Ben and the others during their trip, Ben and him figuring out what each other was after giving a hand shake. Wanting to be a Plumber like his father once was, Kevin joins the Tennysons in helping Omni Ben.

Jen 10 Kevin - Basically prime timeline, but Kevin is a girl called Keva. Julie 10 Kevin - A black market crook and rivals with Ben, often teasing him and pushing Ben's buttons. But in this timeline Kevin is the anodite, while Gwen is the osmosian Sentient Omnitrix Kevin - Similar to Prime Timeline, nothing too different.

Rooters Ben Kevin - Works are Ben's co-worker in the rooters, the two known to work well as partners.

Eon Kevin - Dead, like every other person from Eon's timeline.

Bad Ben Kevin - Started off as a good kid, but over time started to join the villain side, and eventually hanging with Ben and his crew.

Mad Ben Kevin - A trader that makes deals with Ben, but will also smuggle people off of earth if they pay the right price.

Negative Kevin - Still a villain Ben fights, though Kevin often makes comments to Ben about how the Plumbers are using him, Kevin being disgusted by how they use Ben as a tool. But Ben refuses to listen to him.

Benzarro Kevin - Joined Benzarro's crew, mostly due to being threatened half the time, and still stuck in his mutated form.

Malware Ben Kevin - Was picked up by Khyber during the aftermath of the Malware situation, and started working for him. He is conflicted towards what happened to Ben, but mostly avoids him and the topic of him.

Forever Knight Ben - Originally use to make deals and trades with Ben and the Knights, but a deal went south at one point when they tried killing him or capturing him, and since then he's been doing anything he can to annoy them and prolong their plans.

Ultra Ben Kevin - Ended up being killed during the Ultimate Kevin arc, being one of the major points in Ultra Ben's downfalls of power and the need to do anything to protect people the way he sees fit. Light Magic Ben Kevin - A version of Kevin who is an apotrodite, and was in a secret relationship with Gwen, now having to help her and others out due to Light Magic Ben's insane attacks and plan to take over Ledgerdomain.

[dailytafsirofquran]

Tafsir Ibn Kathir: Surah Al-Baqarah Ayah 80-82

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

80 And they (Jews) say, "The Fire shall not touch us but for a few numbered days.''

Say (O Muhammad to them): "Have you taken a covenant from Allah, so that Allah will not break His covenant! Or is it that you say of Allah what you know not!''

The Jews hope They will only remain in the Fire for a Few Days

Allah says;

And they (Jews) say, "The Fire shall not touch us but for a few numbered days.''

Say (O Muhammad to them): "Have you taken a covenant from Allah, so that Allah will not break His covenant! Or is it that you say of Allah what you know not!''

Allah mentioned the claim of the Jews, that the Fire will only touch them for a few days, and then they will be saved from it. Allah refuted this claim by saying, (Say (O Muhammad to them): "Have you taken a covenant from Allah').

Hence, the Ayah proclaims, `if you had a promise from Allah for that, then Allah will never break His promise. However, such promise never existed. Rather, what you say, about Allah, you have no knowledge of and you thus utter a lie about Him.' Al-Awfi said that Ibn Abbas said about the Ayah, " (And they (Jews) say, "The Fire shall not touch us but for a few numbered days'').

"The Jews said, `The Fire will only touch us for forty days.'''

Others added that this was the period during which the Jews worshipped the calf.

Also, Al-Hafiz Abu Bakr bin Marduwyah reported Abu Hurayrah saying, When Khyber was conquered, a roasted poisoned sheep was presented to the Prophet as a gift (by the Jews). The Messenger of Allah ordered, `Assemble before me all the Jews who were here.'

The Jews were summoned and the Prophet said (to them), `Who is your father?'

They replied, `So-and-so.'

He said, `You have lied; your father is so-and-so.'

They said, `You have uttered the truth.'

He said, `Will you now tell me the truth, if I ask you about something?'

They replied, `Yes, O Abul-Qasim; and if we should tell a lie, you will know our lie as you have about our fathers.'

On that he asked, `Who are the people of the (Hell) Fire?'

They said, `We shall remain in the (Hell) Fire for a short period, and after that you will replace us in it.'

The Prophet said, `May you be cursed and humiliated in it! By Allah, we shall never replace you in it.'

Then he asked, `Will you tell me the truth if I ask you a question?'

They said, `Yes, O Abul-Qasim.'

He asked, `Have you poisoned this sheep?'

They said, `Yes.'

He asked, `What made you do so?'

They said, `We wanted to know if you were a liar, in which case we would get rid of you, and if you were a Prophet then the poison would not harm you.'

Imam Ahmad, Al-Bukhari and An-Nasa'i recorded similarly.

81. Yes! Whosoever earns evil and his sin has surrounded him, they are dwellers of the Fire (i.e. Hell); they will dwell therein forever.

82. And those who believe and do righteous good deeds, they are dwellers of Paradise, they will dwell therein forever.

Allah says,

Yes! Whosoever earns evil and his sin has surrounded him, they are dwellers of the Fire (i.e. Hell); they will dwell therein forever.

Allah says, the matter is not as you have wished and hoped it to be. Rather, whoever does an evil deed and abides purposefully in his error, coming on the Day of Resurrection with no good deeds, only evil deeds, then he will be among the people of the Fire.

Also, Abu Hurayrah, Abu Wa'il, Ata, and Al-Hasan said that, (And his sin has surrounded him) means, "His Shirk (polytheism) has surrounded him.''

Also, Al-Amash reported from Abu Razin that Ar-Rabi bin Khuthaym said, (And his sin has surrounded him), "Whoever dies before repenting from his wrongs.''

As-Suddi and Abu Razin said similarly. Abu Al-Aliyah, Mujahid, Al-Hasan, Qatadah and Ar-Rabi bin Anas said that, it refers to major sins.

All of these statements carry similar meanings, and Allah knows best.

When Small Sins gather, They bring about Destruction

Here we should mention the Hadith that Imam Ahmad recorded, in which Abdullah bin Mas`ud said that the Messenger of Allah said, Beware of the belittled sins, because they gather on a person until they destroy him.

He then said that the Messenger of Allah gave them an example, This is the example of people who set up camp on a flat land, and then their servants came. One of them collected some wood and another man collected some wood until they collected a great deal. They then started a fire and cooked what they put on it.

Allah says,

And those who believe and do righteous good deeds, meaning, "They believe in Allah and His Messenger and perform the good deeds that conform with the Islamic Law. They shall be among the people of Paradise.''

Allah said in a similar statement, It will not be in accordance with your desires (Muslims), nor those of the People of the Scripture (Jews and Christians), whosoever works evil, will have the recompense thereof, and he will not find any protector or helper besides Allah.

And whoever does righteous good deeds, male or female, and is a (true) believer (in the Oneness of Allah (Muslim)), such will enter Paradise and not the least injustice, even the size of a Naqira (speck on the back of a date stone), will be done to them). (4:123-124).

Muhammad bin Ishaq reported that Ibn Abbas said that, And those who believe and do righteous good deeds, they are dwellers of Paradise, they will dwell therein forever.

"Whoever believes in what you (Jews) did not believe in and implements what you refrained from implementing of Muhammad's religion, shall acquire Paradise for eternity.

Allah stated that the recompense for good or evil works shall remain with its people for eternity.''

[catgirlxox]

Omg! I just watched the B10:AF ep “Veeedle, Vreedle” and I now see what your talking about with Julie! I mean, I always believed you, but now I am seeing it with my own eyes! I haven’t watched Ben 10 in some, just recently started to rewatch it (found you blog and I love it!), and I always remembered feeling weird about their (Ben & Julie) relationship. I didn’t remember this ep I rewatched it and I notices something. (1) when the Vreedles come to repo, Ship is on the offensive & starts morphing

into weapons. Julie tells Ship “I don’t want them to see how valuable you are” and instead calls Ben(who comes with in seconds!!) (2) when with Gwen and Kevin, they find out the court order is legit, Ben says “somebody can use him [Ship] as a weapon” Gwen: “AND you DON’T want Julie to LOSE her pet EITHER, right BEN?” Ben passively says he agrees and Julie calls him out on it not being sincere 

(3) Julie ask Gwen would Ben care if Ship was “just a dog, my [Julie] dog” (4) When Ben & Kevin comes back from court Julie is happy b/c Ben went “halfway across the galaxy” for her. But when Ben tells her that he feels, in light of all of this, that Julie is putting a lot of pressure on their relationship, Kevin tells him “it’s just a dog”. Like people Ship is not a dog! Ship is a sentient Mechamorph! You perceive it to act like a dog! Is there even dogs in space?!

Julie starts the episode saying that Ship is powerful, latter saying the same thing to Gwen, but once Ben says the exact same thing that she says, all of a sudden it’s wrong. I’m with Ben, that thing can kill you, your family, or anyone at any given time! Ship, though friendly, it’s not a toy or pet. Ship is like owning a gun; it’s cool and you can take it to the shooting range for “fun” BUT it doesn’t take away how deadly it is.

Gwen & Kevin might be so relaxed b/c they have seen and can handle things like this. But Julie hasn’t, she literally had to call Ben for help b/c she couldn’t protect herself! And what if he couldn’t answer his phone?! But lucky for Julie he comes on time to help, but after that Julie questions if Ben cares about ship. Girl, he cares about you and Ship on two different levels. Even if Ship was a dog, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t go out his way unless it was important.

Julie is important to Ben & Ship is important to Julie, therefore Ship is important to Ben. But again you can’t ignore how dangerous Ship is, or the potential to be. But the worst thing is Ben opened the conversation about what he feels in the relationship, but Julie looks offended and Kevin dismisses Ben. If anyone says they feel pressure in a relationship, THATS SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT! Your partner should feel safe & comfortable with you not pressure.

His grievances are dismissed but when Julie got a problem, she’ll raise hell for Ben. And note that this is in the beginning of their relationship and latter Ben doesn’t start these types of conversations anymore, he is mostly reacting or apologizing (to my memory, still rewatching). And I’m surprise that Gwen, of all people, doesn’t have Ben’s back more often. In OS when Kai was first introduced, I remember Gwen sticking up for Ben when he was treated unfairly. Seeing this, I personally think Ben stayed in the relationship b/c he’s lonely & wants intimacy with someone. It used to be Grandpa Max & Gwen, but they now have lives and responsibilities outside of Ben. Often times people who are lonely overindulge in intimacy, i.e always wanting to be around people no matter how long & if it’s good or bad . Some who are quick to romantic relations often do it b/c it’s a quick way to companionship.

I’m not saying Ben doesn’t love Julie, I’m saying is that he emotionally needs Julie more that what she knows and what she can give him. It’s funny how in OV when Rook and Ben become friends, girls start throwing themselves at Ben but he doesn’t care. Julie is traveling and he doesn’t freak out, instead believes the best and let her do her thing. Why? B/c he has Rook, he has a friend that will never leave his side. He finally gets that companion & intimacy he wanted. 

Therefore, no longer NEEDING to hold onto or pursue romantic relations. Instead he’s free to get a gf when he wants one. It’s sad b/c Ben is a empathetic guy, he is so open hearted, kind, forgiving, lighthearted, & trustworthy but people see that as a flaw. Ben will fight for you however you need it, at any cost, but rarely is it returned. He can’t afford to feel bad, to be anything less than Ben 10/10. 

I personally think, within story, Ben deserved better romantic partners or should just stay single. The girls say they given more than they get, but they should know who they’re dating. He couldn’t stop being a hero if he tried, b/c it’s who he is! He’s not dumb, he’ll make “gf time”, but he also needs “me time”. He’ll do what they want, but to do what he wants they’re reluctant or wants something out of it *cough* the D *cough*. It seems like they all are in love with

—————————————————————-

Yes!! I’m so glad people are noticing!

First, the “dog” situation…SHIP IS NOT A DOG. Just because he is seemingly programmed to mimic an earth dog, doesn’t make him any less a weapon. It’s the equivalent of having a machine gun painted pink. Cute, but still deadly.

Ben is right to see Ship for what he is, and in doing so, it proves that he cares about Julie because he cares that she’s in possession of what could be highly dangerous alien weaponry.

Why does he need to go half way across the universe for her to see that??

Is he supposed to just agree with her delusion? Okay, “delusion” might be a little harsh, but he’s had so much experience with dangerous alien technology, even being able to become a Galvanic Mechamorph himself because of the potentially dangerous alien technology literally on his wrist, that he would know what he’s talking about. She doesn’t even know the half of it at this point!

Why does she not care that he’s looking out for her?? How does that make him a bad boyfriend? Just because he disagrees with her?

Who wouldn't feel under pressure when this is a problem very early into your relationship?

Part of me just thinks that they’re reading him wrong. Maybe it should be obvious that Ben saying “I think Ship could be used as a weapon” would translate to “I care about Julie’s safety”, but to her it seems to not have been so clear, unfortunately. 

Similarly, I hear a lot of people talk about how much of a problem Ben’s “attitude” is when debating things in relation to this pairing. Although this is probably more common when discussing Ultimate Alien. 

But honestly? If you don’t like someone’s attitude, why would you stay in a relationship with them?

Are relationships for changing your partner to suit your own preferences? And if their own opinions and perspectives don’t line up with yours, even if they’re right, does that make them a bad partner? 

Flaws are subjective. Clearly what these characters thought was ‘bad’ about Ben, we see the good in. 

He is not fundamentally a terrible boyfriend. 

It’s interesting that you say Ben chose to stay in the relationship due to feelings of loneliness and longing for intimacy that he was lacking. I have my own particular issues with Rook, but, for the most part, I’m willing to slightly overlook those flaws because I’m glad he was there for Ben when he needed someone during the beginning of Omniverse. But that really makes it clear why he stuck around.

I hate when people argue that he was neglectful and ignorant towards her, which is what made her leave. Or, more accurately, “ghost him.” 

I don’t recall anyone in “Rules of Engagement” ever definitively saying that it had been months between the last time Ben and Julie spoke. 

Ben is sixteen in both Ultimate Alien and Omniverse, apparently. If that is true, SO MUCH HAPPENS THAT YEAR! He gains fame, takes down his childhood hero (Captain Nemesis), deals with Ultimate Kevin and Aggregor, deals with the Forever Knights becoming increasingly more violent, defeats Vilgax and Dagon with Ascalon, loses his old team, becomes friends with Rook. deals with Khyber hunting him down, has old wounds ripped open and faces off Malware, gets kicked off the planet while the Incuseans enslave Earth before coming back to save everyone…and that’s not even the whole show! 

They had a falling out between Ben defeating Vilgax and Dagon, and the frog war. Compared to how many events can fit into a year of his life. that couldn’t have been an extremely long time. Two months, maximum. 

But more importantly, he must have been so overwhelmed. It’s so unfortunate that he feels like he can’t express that in fear of people not seeing him as the strong, unbreakable hero he is always expected to be. 

Overall, I definitely agree that he deserved better than what he got. And I could be petty and plug my own self insert oc who I ship with him (and do it right lol) but I’ll save it. Thank you for letting me know my words make a difference!

[seizerofdarkness]

Villain Kids Yelling “McDonald’s! McDonald’s! McDonald’s” - “We have food at home”: Dr. Animo, Psyphon, Hex, The Forever Knight “McDonald’s! McDonald’s! McDonald’s!”: Zombozo, the Circus Freaks, Vulkanus, Khyber, Albedo, Dr. Psychobos (pulls into the drive-thru as children cheer, orders a single black coffee and then leaves): Vilgax, Sixsix, King Georges, Zs’Skayr, Eon, Malware, Maltruant, Attea, Will Harangue

ALL TOO ACCURATE