#or FistRook lol

[catgirlxox]

Ben Is Too Good For His Own Good

Aka a "cinnamon roll", if you will. Yes, I'm writing an essay on this. 

So it's nothing new that Ben has this "second chances" philosophy, but that is indicative of the possibility that he would let himself be in damaging relationships in hopes that the other person would change or improve. 

There have been various instances of Ben kind of just brushing off being treated poorly. I wouldn't say that this makes him a push over or anything like that, but I never see any of these things being pointed out. They're just kind of laughed off.

Just the other day, in fact, I had someone privately DM me saying that they don't believe Ben ever had any trauma or side effects from his lifestyle, even questioning “what nightmares” I was even referring to. 

On top of that, it's a very common thing in this fandom to state things like "the girls deserved better than Ben." I'll always be of the opinion that Ben is the one that deserved better, and I have plenty (logical) reasons why, but that’s besides the point. 

Even though Ben is so forgiving and cooperative, giving everyone a second chance to change, it just doesn't sit right with me that we should just be okay with some of the horrible things that are being justified here. That doesn't mean you should hate these characters. I mean, Ben clearly doesn't. But it honestly says more about him than any of them. 

It says a lot to me when I see Ben seeing the best in someone, even when they've done horrible things in the past or are in the midst of doing something bad to him. 

One example, which I keep bringing up on this blog, is the episode "Vilgax Must Croak." Besides everything else that Vilgax had done to him in the past, in addition to throughout the episode up until this point, Ben was still shown believing that Vilgax could have tried to save him by jumping in front of Ben to shield him from a (seemingly extremely destructive) blast from Attea. 

Things like this also explain why I don’t support shipping Ben with Attea, but that’s besides the point too...

Of course, even if he did save Ben by doing this, Vilgax was only manipulating the situation to make it look like he was trying to save Ben when he was really taking the chance to break himself free of the handcuffs. 

But, even so, this seems to mean that Ben believes that Vilgax does have it in him to do something good. Ben was admittedly shocked by what had happened at first, but by the next scene where he turns back to human, he's got his guard down enough for Vilgax to take advantage of the situation again and shoot him in the back. Because, please realize, if Vilgax didn’t “save” him, he wouldn’t be able to shoot him in the back. 

But anyway, in conclusion, as the title states, he's too good for his own good. 

The next unfair circumstance which displays the same thing happens in the episode "No Honor Among Bros." I am aware that the following is uncharacteristic of Rook and had only happened because Rook was under the influence of a substance, so I want to acknowledge that, but I am mostly focusing on Ben's actions here.

Ben and Rook eventually are set up against each other in the tournament, and, besides the fact that Ben already doesn't want to fight anyone needlessly, as shown by his previous match against Malice where he was BEAT UP FOR THREE HOURS...

...he clearly holds back while fighting Rook in this match, too. 

The one time he actually hits Rook with a decent shot, which knocks Rook out temporarily, not only does he immediately go check on him to make sure he's not badly hurt, but also turns back to human, leaving him somewhat more vulnerable then he would be as Upchuck. 

This seems to mean that he trusted Rook wouldn't take that chance to hit him right back. And unnecessarily hard too, at that. 

This knocks Ben down, making him lose the fight. The important thing to take away from this is that, regardless if he just chalked it up to Rook not being himself, he still didn't seem to hold it against him, besides just being slightly annoyed. 

So, basically, he got his ass beat multiple times only because he was holding back for the other person's sake. He's too good for his own good. 

Then there's also Kevin and Tetrax. Both are former "criminals", albeit for different reasons, and Ben still had it in him to befriend both of them. This is probably due to the fact that they've built trust over time, and fought evil together to protect others, including each other. 

I don't like to look past the fact that Kevin, while admittedly not entirely in control of his powers at the time, has tried to kill Ben on multiple occasions. But, like I said, Ben has grown to trust him and they have each other's back, so there’s no need to really expand on those two all that much. 

Then there's the sad story of Elena. 

You could argue that the reason it's difficult for me to look past Elena's “mistakes” is because she was given little to no chances to redeem herself. And perhaps there is some truth to that. 

However, there has been a scene which seems to be what is considered "redeeming" - when she attempts to sacrifice herself to save Ben. 

And while Ben himself seemed extremely moved by this at the time, clearly not holding any hard feelings towards what she had just done to him throughout "Revenge of the Swarm", I can't say that I feel the same. 

I can't say that I feel the same because Ben's life would not even be in danger at this point if she didn't attempt to suffocate him. Should I see her as a “hero” for saving Ben from herself? 

Especially when it’s evident that she had enough self control to attempt to commit suicide, but somehow not enough to not attempt to kill Ben again once she realized that her suicide attempt failed. 

Ben: “Elena! They’ve been controlling you! You’ve got to fight them!”

Elena: “They’re not controlling me, they are me! And I am them!”

Another thing about her predicament that I don't understand is whether or not her choices are voluntary. The other characters say outwardly that "the chips are controlling her", while she, in response, claims that they are not controlling her and instead, that they "are her." 

Elena: “They give me what I want! They fulfil my deepest desires! Even the ones I don’t know I have!”

She also claims that the chips want what she wants, and because they “are her” they give her the ability to get everything she might want. By that logic, she would want everything that had happened up until this point, which is crazy and inexcusable. 

If she is the chips, implying there is no other Elena inside that is the “true” Elena, and she genuinely wants to do things like stalk Ben and attempt to kill him, then I don’t see a way to excuse or justify that.  

But then, in the midst of choking Ben to death, Julie tells her that she couldn't seriously want Ben to die, which Elena responds to seemingly confused or unsure for the first time, and only states it must be what she wants, before claiming that she really did care about Ben. 

I’m sure Ben would agree that she could still be redeemed at this point. He would probably still agree she could be redeemed after all that I’m about to go over as well.

And, while this is evident since he did state the following, believing, once again, that there is still good in someone who had done horrible things:

Ben: “There was enough of my friend left to save my life.”

She still came back to make the situation worse instead of taking the chance to redeem herself. 

Unfortunately, unlike I suggested earlier, and instead of leaving it at that after surviving her suicide attempt and traumatizing everyone in the process, she returns in "The Perfect Girlfriend" impersonating Julie, being the cause of Gwen suffering a pretty significant injury, and, let’s not forget, attempting to kill Ben once again. 

It’s even worse that she chose to do so at such a vulnerable point in Ben and Julie’s relationship, considering that they had been arguing lately, even in the beginning of that very episode. I’ve actually had someone claim that this episode proves that Ben’s idea of the “perfect” girlfriend is someone who does everything he says and may as well have no individual personality. And, because someone I think is credible enough to speak on Ben’s behalf believes that to some extent, it just shows me that it’s possible many other people in this fandom might believe the same thing.

To me, it simply seemed as if he believed that his relationship with his girlfriend was finally improving, which is a good thing. It doesn’t seem all that unreasonable for him to not question why they were suddenly getting along much more than before. Why would anyone question their relationship with their significant other going well, especially after going through a rough patch? 

Regardless, after realizing the reason why this was the case, he must have also felt horrible about not noticing sooner, which sucks. He’d be seen as a jerk for questioning why his girlfriend was being so nice to him had he done so, but he’d be seen as a jerk for not noticing that it wasn’t really her all this time anyway.

I hate to keep flaming her, but Elena chose to put him in that position since the chips allow her to fulfil “all her deepest desires”, apparently. Because that's what you do to someone you "love." 

While Elena's story wasn't continued past Ultimate Alien, the Ben 10: Omniverse comic "Parallel Paradox" did attempt to tie up loose ends. 

Before I continue, I have to state that the comics are not technically "canon.” However they are official source material and therefore should be accurate to canon. So, for clarity, and for those who haven't read this comic, Elena here is basically presented as if she is voluntarily a criminal. She's apparently stealing tech for money, working for some other higher level bad guy, and clearly has a grudge against Ben after what had happened. 

I’ll provide the relevant pages below, but Elena states that Ben was “rude” to her the last time they saw each other...when, in the moment she is reffering to, she had impersonated her way into Ben’s living room and had the nerve to get into an argument with him when she was clearly in the wrong. 

But Ben himself wasn’t even being rude to her in that particular scene, either. He was trying to explain why what she was doing was wrong. He only resorted to using the Ultimatrix once Elena resorted to violence herself.

At the end of "Parallel Paradox", it's revealed that Ben feels like Elena hates him, despite all that she's done to him. Which is interesting, since it doesn't seem to me like he's done anything to her to give her a reason to hate him. Not even supposedly being “rude.” It seems like it should be the other way around, really. 

I know that I wouldn't hesitate considering filing a restraining order against someone who stalked me, attacked my friends, kidnapped my significant other, lied to me, and then attempted to kill me twice. 

But Ben? No, AFTER ALL THAT...he actually wants to help her and wishes she didn't hate him for no reason. 

Or maybe she doesn't have a grudge against him for what he did do, but rather what he didn't do, in her view. The irony is that Ben clearly would do anything he could to help her, she just isn't accepting that help. She just wants what she wants and will stop at nothing to get what she wants. 

She seems to constantly be putting the blame on everyone but herself. And the first step to changing for the better starts with changing oneself by changing old habits and actively working to do better. It's even more sad that she doesn't seem to realize just how much faith Ben does have in her, despite the horrific stuff in Ultimate Alien. 

If she really loved him, she shouldn't let him down. But at this point, I don't know if that's the case anymore. 

Anyway, at the end of the day, what astounds me the most is that Ben isn't mad at her. I mean, he should at least have serious trust issues by now! It really puts things into perspective and explains why there even is an alternate future where a pairing like Benkai can happen. 

If someone like Kevin, who hated Ben as a kid and actively tried to kill him, can become his best friend, and if someone like Elena can also get away with causing so much unnecessary harm to Ben without so much as a displeased glance, why wouldn't he give a girl who just likes to bully and pick on him another chance? 

I still don't believe he deserves that, but I fear that is it is extremely likely, even if it comes from a good place.

And because he gives everyone 764845786448578 chances. 

[catgirlxox]

You lost me at “Ben bullied Rook”...

Like, I know you said that you don’t blame him, and I will admit the writers did have a strange habit of (unintentionally?) writing characters (like Kai) in an unlikable way, for some reason. So, okay, fine.

Taking “playful” jabs at one another like Gwen and Kevin did with Ben back in UAF, perhaps I can see. But, I don’t think I can pick out one scene where he does something to Rook that would amount to “bullying.” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[mysticblue9]

Am I the only one who haven’t seen this picture before?XD