#plumbers: max is amazing and wonderful and a hero

[kariachi]

I have channeled the building rage and animosity in the ongoing me v ants war (literally paused writing to apply painters tape to a crack in my ceiling) into some fic detailing Eva’s feelings about Max and why she feels that way.

~~

She’d never liked Max, even when he’d just been Space-Pig #Whatever. He’d blatantly thought he was better than them- braver, smarter, more moral- ran around acting like one semi-badass act ages ago made him the space-pig. They’d had him standing guard when she was finally caught, when they stupidly offered her a job rather then prison time, and it had taken every ounce of her self-control to stick to the plan quickly forming in her head rather than just jumping up and knocking that smug look right off his face.

She got plenty of chances to do that later, when she was a ‘proper’ Plumber and the default response to her actions was a semi-stern talking to, and she took them. If she’d hated Max the Space-Pig she loathed Max the Coworker. The way he would cover or make excuses for Billings’s atrocious behavior, even when that behavior was bigoted remarks towards their coworkers. The way he would constantly try to take charge, as if there weren’t plenty of people who outranked him, solely on the basis that he was absolutely sure he was right about everything. It was a Tennyson trait, as she’d realized when she met his brother, and when the two of them got together on anything it took Devin or Labrid shutting them down to stop them from just taking over and ruining everything.

Well, it took Devin. Labrid and the other higher-ups were loathe to find fault with their golden boy Max Tennyson, who- to hear anyone besides Devin and Phil tell it- had single handedly taken on Vilgax the Conqueror and driven him off the planet. Because of course that made the man an infallible hero rather than a self-important dipshit who cared more about riding that ‘perfect hero’ wagon to his death than the people around him.

Some might’ve said she was biased, she said they’d never worked with the man. He’d let people (mostly her and the younger aliens, something they all noticed and Devin was constantly trying to mitigate) take the blame for problems he caused. He and Gordon pushed for his nephew Joel to be accepted into the Academy based solely on the family relation. He would swear up, right, and backwards that anyone he felt ‘betrayed’ by for any reason was an evil, irredeemable person.

After over twenty years working together, he, his jackass brother, and his shitstain sister-in-law had attended Devin’s funeral and refused to eat him.

Then they’d tried to get his paperwork foisted off on her and Kay, since they ‘knew him best’.

So, she had already had pretty strong negative feelings regarding the man and his family when she quit. Max-hate was a pre-existing condition she was happy to let sink down and be buried in the detritus of her soul while she never had to deal with the man again. Why would she? Even when Kevin had vanished, of course she had reported it to Kay rather than any other Plumber, he was his brother. She’d alerted Kay, Kay had filed the missing chick report, the Hell Cats, the Ghost Dogs, the Jones family, the Hollow Tone Pack had all run themselves ragged searching. They’d all feared the worst, even if they couldn’t decide what ‘the worst’ was.

Only for Maxwell fucking Tennyson, a year later, to come out of the shortest retirement ever with full knowledge of where he was and not say a damn thing.

And she’d been, was still, pissed to a degree heretofore unknown by man at the Plumbers. The fucking space-pigs who’d processed her baby, seen that he was a missing child, quietly marked him as found, and locked him up. All without a word to her, to Kay, to anybody. Just, decided that none of them needed to know where he was, that he was alive. There were people she wanted dead, people she was tracking down, and they damn well deserved it for this. But Max…

Max had worked with Kay. Had been witness to his constant searching for any hint of Kevin, not knowing or having reason to suspect that he’d been taken off the missing person registry, had been found. He’d seen Gabe, already traumatized by the kidnappings of his mother and grandmother, running himself ragged trying to ensure no other members of the pack would disappear. He’d watched this for years, until Gabe died on his watch too and Kay finally quit in pain and disgust, without once mentioning that he’d seen him. That he’d had any idea where he was. Not. Once.

It was the last straw. She’d hated him, loathed him before but there’d always been that naïve belief Devin had managed to lodge in her chest that there was a good heart somewhere under all that bullshit. No more. He was nothing but scum- the sort’ve man who roped children into fighting wars, who refused children help for the crime of being related to someone he’d denounced, who’d decided to bring in Harvey of all people to try to talk Kevin down rather than Kay or herself- as if he was trying to rile him up even further.

She’d never liked him, but now she was enforcing a strict ‘punch on sight’ policy.

[crystal-moon-101]

(Updated Drawing for a second time) Name: Jay Maxwell Tennyson Nickname: Jace, Jay Jay, Human Omnitrix, Lill’ Ben, Hero Boy, Omni Boy (By Feike) Age: 13 Gender: Male Birthday: February 7 Sexual Orientation: ??? (Just like his father) Ethnicity/Species: American/Japanese - Human/'Omnitrix' Personality: Adventurous, Often has self-doubt, Sensitive, Cultured, Dependable, Brave, Hopeful, Persistent, Impulsive, Jokester, Trustful, Has slight anxiety problems, Forgiving, Selfless. Hobbies: Gaming, mostly survival games. A couple of sports (He's known to play tennis with his mother). Learning and Reading up on aliens and their cultures. Collecting items/souvenirs. Photography. Designing with Family:

Ben Tennyson - (Father/Jay has always looked up to his father, striving to be a hero like. However, there are issues between them, in that Jay struggles with how often his father isn't around, out in space-saving the day on another planet. He understands why this is, but it makes it hard to spend time together, along with seeing the struggles his mother goes through, even if she accepts this with Ben. That being said, anytime Ben visits, Jay jumps at the chance to spend time with his father.)

Julie Yamamoto - (Mother/Absolutely adores his mother and vice versa. Since Ben is often away, Jay has picked up a lot of Julie's habits and behaviour, even hobbies, like tennis. He's always eager to help her around and the house and spending quality mother and son time. He's very thankful his mother raised him to be patient, kind and polite, a big part of his personality.)

Ship - (Pet - Galvanic Metamorph/He's always loved the pet blob of the family. When he was born, Ship was very excited about Jay's presence, doing whatever he could to make the baby boy laugh. It's been the same, even as Jay grew up. The happy blob will always comfort the boy, especially through his anxiety attacks or self-doubt moments.)

Muse - (Pet - Null Void Guardian/Muse wasn't the kind of pet Jay thought he'd get, but he loves her anyway. Having saved her during a mission in the null void, the creature became rather attached to him as they don't normally have positive interaction with other species, even their caretakers. She loves cuddles and having Jay's attention, but can be very protective if anyone dares to hurt her human.) 

Tundra, Orion, Vale, Neva, North, Crystal, Alaska, Micha, Storm, Gray, Raine, Arlo, Zodiac and Lux - (Half-Siblings/Jay is very close to his fourteen Necrofriggians siblings, despite the species differences. He's never really questioned how unusual it was having them as siblings, even when people give weird glances. His siblings also adore their baby brother, spoiling him whenever they visit.)

Ivory - (Kind of half sister? It’s complicated/When Jay bumped into Ivory the first time, during a mission where Khyber was running around, he had to say he was surprised to see someone who had similar features to him and to his dad. After explaining this run-in with his parents, it didn’t take them long to come to the conclusion she must be the daughter of Albedo, back from when he was still human. Since then, Jay has tried reaching out to her, not only because he believes she can find a better life beyond Khyber, but also because he has a feeling she wants family, just as he wouldn’t mind having another sibling around...But for now, she brushes him off.)

Gwen Tennyson - (First cousin once removed/'Aunt'/Much like Ben, he looks up to his aunt, always eager to hear stories she shares with her father and Kevin. Since Gwen and Kevin aren't off earth as much as Ben now of days, Julie and Jay often visit for dinners. He likes to ask her help with schoolwork during these visits, though lately he's also been interested in learning about Ledgerdomain. Gwen has a feeling it might be because of a certain spell caster he is crushing on, but he hasn't said anything.)

Kevin Levin - (first cousin once removed in-law/'Uncle'/Somehow, Kevin was often the one that both Jay and Thea were dumped on to babysit. He would complain, but he really did adore the pair, even recording some of their younger interactions and adventure, which were both hilarious and adorable. Jay likes to show his uncle love when he can, as he knows very well how rough Kevin's background is.)

Cynthia Levin - (Second Cousins/The two basically act like siblings, teasing one another, hanging out often and venting to each other when they need it. Even if the two-act like opposites, they play off each other well. With Thea being more bombastic and outward, she helps keep Jay out of all the trouble he gets caught in by mistake. She does what she can to protect him from bullies or galaxy criminals, sometimes even from himself. That being said, Jay is one of the only few who can pull her back from her aggression, showing her that there are calmer and nicer ways to handle things. His forgiving nature sometimes worries her, because she knows it'll backfire and get him hurt sometimes, but she has been amazed by it, as shown through his many connections with aliens they've met, even some who were dangerous or criminals. Even if they have hard arguments or struggle to understand one another at times, they'll always have each other's back.)

Ken Tennyson - (First cousin once removed/'Uncle'/While he enjoys his life with space and aliens, he does appreciate having a family member who is very down to earth. Ken is a very supportive and wise uncle, often knowing just what to say or do to cheer Jay up.)

Carl Tennyson - (Grandfather/Carl, of course, loves his grandson, happy to babysit him and have him over. However, because of Carl's effects of galaxy life and aliens as a child, he sometimes struggles to talk with Jay, who adores that lifestyle. Jay understands, as he and Carl both had/have Plumber fathers often off-world, along with how his grandfather was somewhat abandoned by Verdona, his own mother, in his younger years.)

Sandra Tennyson - (Grandmother/Sandra has always doted on her grandbaby since he was born. Always jumping to babysit, playing with him and proudly shows him off to her friends. She is also the one who inspired his photography hobby.)

Mr Yamamoto - (Grandfather/Despite Julie's father's issues towards Ben, he's always been gentle and kind towards Jay, often being the one to remind him of the beauty of earth.)

Verdona - (Great Grandmother/Verdona and Jay have a friendly relationship, often openly showing affection through hugs or chatting away. While it does somewhat hurt, he doesn't resent her for mostly coming around for Gwen and Thea, because of their Anodite sides. Since he can change into different aliens, he understands very well that every alien functions different, so he can't fault her in her behaviour, so he'll take what he can get.)

Maxwell Tennyson - (Great Grandfather/A legend in Jay's eyes, being who his middle name is from. Even though Max is retired and spends these days in his RV with Xyelne, he's always happy to tell Jay stories of his old Plumber days. The boy will listen to every word with wonder in his eyes. Max has even told stories on Ben when he was very young, including the summer vacation when he first got the watch. It always puts a smile on the boy's face.)

Xylene - (Great Grandfather Figure/While Xylene isn’t amazing with kids due to her background, her and Jay get along nicely since he’s a polite and calm boy. She has a way of speaking with Jay where she can be blunt and honest, but in a manner that he understands and doesn't get hurt by. Like getting that needed push to do something.)

Frank Tennyson - (Great Uncle/He enjoys the boy's soft presents and can always ask Jay for help here and there.)

Natalie Tennyson - (Great Aunt/Natalie likes having Jay around, as he's always eager to help with housework. She does love her granddaughter, but having a quieter child around is sometimes more preferred.)

Friends:

Vanessa Morningstar - (The two have a sweet relationship, despite Thea’s rivalry with her and Vanessa’s parents. They treat each other with respect and trust, and for Vanessa, this is something not common to her. He's always ready to listen to her and doesn't believe she is destined to be a villain, even with her heritage. There have also been noticeable sparks between the two, but with all that goes on, it's hard to make something of it.)

Malax Shard - (Friend/A common friend and partner in Plumber training. Unlike Thea's uncertainty towards his gentle side, Malax has full trust in it. She knows his personality is rare in this line of work and is something desperately needed at times. That being said, she's often the one to give him the tough talks about reality and how harsh it gets. He respects her for this and both would have each other's back in any fight.)

Rook Rilla - (Friend/Another common friend and partner in Plumber training. The two have known each other since childhood, due to how close their fathers were. Rilla’s dry wit and no nonsense attitude has, admittedly, gotten Jay out of some tough problems, and the two play off each other well while working on the field.)

Feike - (Friend/He started out with issues towards Feike, mostly because of his flirting towards Thea. But, over time, Jay has started to see more to him. It's clear to him Feike isn't exactly happy where he is and feels trapped, being abused and manipulated by his boss, Sciros. He's tried reaching out to him, but the other teen likes to brush it off and tells him not to get involved.)

Renata - (Friend/Because of Reiny and Ben's friendship, there had been some playdates set up between the two when they were young. Despite how hard it is to communicate with Renata, Jay has come to understand how to talk to her, thanks to these playdates. He'll often go to her for space politic problems, given her status and training. Even though she doesn't show much emotions, she can show a protective side around him.)

Azmuth - (Friend/Azmuth is normally the one to take a look at his biology and powers if needed. Ben has also dropped Jay off for rare babysitting, Azmuth can only be so thankful Jay will listen to him and be quiet when told. He's always found it amusing how gentle Jay is compared to his father. He's also to happily talk about embarrassing moments about Ben to the boy.)

Etherea’Liss - (Friend/Their first meeting had been a little iffy, as Jay had met Zs’Skayr a few months before meeting her. But he quickly came to see that Ectonurites are not like him, and she's always happy to educate him on her home planet and people. In return, he helps her adjust to life outside of her home.)

Enemies:

Eldrigma (Enemy/Ever since this man showed up, Jay has been chasing him across the galaxy, feeling responsible in stopping him. However, with each encounter, they learn something new, that there's more to the story behind this man. As much as he wants to stop him and fight him, Jay is starting to see something grim and sorrowful behind the man's dark outside.)

Professor Alate - (Enemy/Honestly, this man creeps him the hell out. His intelligence as always been trouble for Jay, often getting outsmarted by the scientist. This wouldn't be so bad, if it weren't for the fact that Alate has this dedicated goal to catch Jay and experiment on him, mostly because of his Omnitrix biology.)

Sciros (Enemy/Jay has nothing but bad thoughts about this man, stemmed from kidnapping him and hurting friends like Feike and Vanessa, tricking and abusing them. He desperately wants to keep his friends away from the man, but his grip is tight and he knows how to keep them inline.)

Vilgax ('Enemy?'/It’s mostly Vilgax’s history with his father that scares him the most. Vilgax can be a hard foe to fight and is willing to use Jay to get revenge on Ben, however, with Jay’s teachings from his father and the fact Vilgax doesn’t have that great of an understanding since it’s been twenty years, Jay can fight against him and survive him. After seeing Vilgax around, he’s come to the realization that Vilgax isn’t as scary as most of the other villains Jay is currently fighting. He’s also given warnings to Vilgax about Alate.)

Representing Song: Human - Christina Perri

Skills: Enhanced Endurance/Stamina. Alien Morphing (He's able to turn into aliens without a watch, thanks to his unique biology). Hand-To-Hand Combat. Multilingualism (Jay can actually speak and understand a few alien languages, comes in handy). Photographic Memory. Makeup, dress ups, hairstyles, Jay is amazing at finding the right outfit or disguising others.

Weakness/Flaws/Fears: Monophobia (Fear of being alone or lonely), Atychiphobia (Fear of failure), Sometimes Anthropophobia (Fear of people. But depending on what people are currently like, especially in school, also depending on his mood) Slight Catoptrophobia (Fear of mirrors. Sometimes he can’t stand looking into the mirror, easily after something sudden or traumatic) Didaskaleinophobia (Fear of school) Autophobia (Fear of oneself). Sometimes changing aliens, becoming one or turning human can fail, especially if he has barely any focus. He keeps his injuries and damage he gets from fights as his aliens, even in his human form. Lack of energy or being rendered unconscious can make him turn back to human. He gains the weakness of his aliens. He needs to focus to be able to transform. His hidden sensitivity and anxiety can hinder his progress and the mission he’s on. He has a habit of taking on too much work, struggling to say no to others who depend on him. In rare cases, his biology can go out of whack sometimes, causing things like blindness, dizziness, struggling to walk E.T.C but it’s never permanent, so far. In his human form, he isn’t the strongest fighter and barely has any defense in tanking hits.

First Ten Forms:

War Roar

Cibeetle

Lavizard

Hollow Woods

Katana

Shadow Puppet

Manta Wave

Smitemare

Power Source

Sin Reaper

[sparklinpixiedust]

Been meaning to rant about this conversation for a while now

So I'm going to comment as the video progreses

Max : The only responsible move is to take him down with all necessary force

Okay um what? No the responsible thing would be to help the guy. Look I know he's absorbed a lot of power and is insane, but hear me out.

He's not in control. Its not his fault.Somethings that's bugged me for a while is how no one ever has thought of contacting Osmos V.

Keep in mind this is before omniverse , so they hadn't really thought of the retcon yet. So in this situation Kevin is an alien.

Aggregor mentioned once something along the lines of how the elders of their planet had forbid to absorb energy. Which means they've had cases of like this before.

The elders of the planet would have to have some idea as to how to fix stuff like this right? I mean they are the elders, who better to handle the situations than those who know what's going on?

Kevin has been insane for days now, which means there's been plenty of time for the plumbers to have contacted someone on Osmos V to help them figure this out. I'm pretty sure they would soem sort of stabilisers or something.

Max : its the logical move

Again. I'm sorry but what kind of great hero are you when the most sensible thing you can think of is murder? That too on the first try. They haven't even tried to help him.

Gwen may have been love struck but she had the right idea. Still didn't get why her idea to help was shot down. Max didn't even hear her out.

Capture him, try to help, and then if all things fail, then maybe we could move on to killing --- this is sensible.

Max : you trusted him anyway

Ben : Look at how that turned out

Okay , this really made me mad. Why does Ben say this with regret? Why does he regret trusting Kevin?

Did he forget that Kevin only absorbed the omnitrix this time because HE WAS SAVING THE UNIVERSE!

Which by the way makes me wonder why Kevin never received any recognition for it. He literally sacrificed his 'humanity' to save the world and all people talk about is his insanity after.

Where are his medals? Where are his trophies?

I guess its true huh, you do a lifetime of good but slip up once and no one let's you forget it.

Ben : now he's a monster

Max : and I'd put him down like a mad dog

Max is a plumber, considered to be amazing by the organisation.

But this conversation doesn't really show me he was a hero. He sees, he kills.

Says a lot about him and the plumbers.

You know , a part of me wants to theorise the reason why we don't see many osmosians is because the plumbers probably killed them.

The second they got crazy , the plumbers took them out without trying to help.

Max : I'm not going to argue. Just wanted to make sure you really thought about this.

The final thing i wanted to add , the main reason that made me write all this stuff is that how on earth is Max okay with letting a 16 year old boy murder his best friend.

I get Ben's this hero, but this is definitely not good for his mental health. He's just a teenager.

No wonder Ben keeps running off being a hero all the time. There's too much pressure and responsibility on him.

I'm not blaming him for wanting to kill Kevin. According to him , that seemed like the right thing, and keeping in mind he's kind of a kid, I'm letting him off the hook.

A month ago there was this whole conversation if Julie was a good girlfriend or not. A point that came up was that he puts his hero stuff first before anything and that it should be praised.

I'm sorry, but no.

He needs to have a life. But its clearly not his fault though.

There is absolutely no need for Ben to kill someone close to him , specially at such a young age.

They can have someone else do it. The whole time this was going on , I didn't see any plumbers trying to help.

Like why not? Could they not have had a team deployed to capture Kevin? Couldnt they have helped Ben?

With a team , they could've kept Kevin in confinement somewhere, contacted osmos v, have Gwen help him etc etc.

Its not like they didn't know what was going on, kevin literally attacked two plumber areas.

The null void and the freaking academy!

Why did they, and more important max , leave ben to make a choice that is for sure going to leave him traumatised?

[coll2mitts]

Super Mario Bros. (1993)

Thanks to the awesome people who donated to Extra Life (you still can, btw!)  y'all will now be treated to a retrospective on the 1993 classic movie, Super Mario Bros.  When I took on this milestone, the first (and only) person I messaged for ideas on terrible (but wonderful) films based on video games was my friend Max, who has a history of viewing and talking about bad movies.  He suggested this, and while I was aware of this magnificent piece of cinema history, I had not had the pleasure of viewing it myself.  He hooked me up with a copy, and to say this film lived up to my expectations would be an understatement.

I couldn’t help but be charmed by this movie.  It is filled with so many questionable creative choices that were fucking ridiculous.  Mario and Luigi not being blood related?  Sure.  Cheesy Italian accents replaced with a New York ones?  Yeah, why not?  Having all the enemies in Super Mario Bros. be canonically dinosaurs?  I mean... It's a choice informed by the great media dino wave of 1993, but whatever.  Yoshi is a dinosaur, if we want to extend that to goombas and Koopa for whatever reason, I'm down.  Having these dinosaurs live underneath New York City in a parallel dimension?  It's based on a video game, why the fuck not?  Everything is so goddamn bonkers.

The opening credits roll, and we’re told that 65 million years ago, a meteor created said underground parallel universe dinosaur land.  We witness a human-looking woman, who is really a dinosaur, leaving an egg baby on a church doorstep.  Don’t think about it too hard, the logistics of a human giving birth to an egg that size are just... it’s gross to think about.

We’re then introduced to the titular characters, Mario Mario and Luigi Mario.  Yes, their last names are Mario.  Making them the Mario brothers.  Because this movie is interested in answering the important questions.  Mario is the owner of a failing plumbing business, while Luigi is a conspiracy theorist who would have really enjoyed modern-day YouTube.

While they’re out trying to find work, they run into Miss Amy March herself, Daisy, who is an archeologist in charge of digging up dinosaur bones from a New York City construction site.  She’s being forced off the property by the mob, who apparently are annoyed that a blonde lady in cargo shorts is coming between them and whatever the fuck they’re building.  

They try and intimidate her, she storms off to use a payphone to call for security, and is almost picked up by two inconspicuous bozos in a cab who apparently are stealing Brooklyn women off the street for no reason.  Their plan is quickly thwarted by a random moving pane of glass.

Instead, Daisy runs right into Luigi, who forgets how to human once he sees her pretty face.  He asks her on a date, where she reveals even more exposition.  She believes the meteor that destroyed the dinosaurs landed in New York City.  Oh, and also, she’s the abandoned egg baby.  Luigi is also an orphan, and this shared trauma apparently gets them both hot and bothered.  They wander off to the dig site, because an underground pit attached to a sewer is so romantic, and it is also where Daisy feels the most comfortable.

What if we made out at the bone pit?

Their touching moment is cut short when the mob sabotages the plumbing in the sewer and water starts flooding the area.  They run to get Mario, because he is a plumber, to fix the pipes, which is so fucking clutch, I love it so much.

While the Mario brothers are distracted, Daisy is captured by the weirdo twins and dragged into the alternate dinosaur universe.  Mario and Luigi follow, and we’re treated to the most fucking amazing transition scene of Bob Hoskins spinning wildly through colorful rocks.

Turns out, parallel dinosaur world, or Dinohattan, is fucking lit as hell.  I am convinced that Futurama based their sewer city on this movie.

King Koopa, who is a dinosaur with badly bleached hair gelled back in an effort to look like Michael Douglas in Wall Street, has taken over Dinohattan.  He is the one who asked the goons to kidnap Daisy, because of the tacky crystal necklace she wears.  Apparently, it is a piece of the meteorite that crashed into earth, and once he puts the piece back into the original space rock, the dinosaur world will merge with the mammal world after 65 million years of his people being sequestered underground, and Koopa will have endless resources at his disposal.  Also, Daisy is a princess, and her dad is a giant fungus taking over the city, so that’s totally normal and not at all weird.

Problem is, the two idiots he sent to grab her didn’t think to check if she was wearing the necklace.  Turns out, Luigi has the necklace, or had the necklace, as they are quickly mugged by a granny, who is then robbed by a lady with a bright red spiky latex coat and springy robot feet.  The brothers are then arrested by the dinocops and are grilled by Koopa for the whereabouts of the rock.  When they play dumb he uh... reacts in a proportionate way.

I am not even going to attempt to explain the devo process...  It is a combination of insane and fucking disgusting.  Whoever in the costuming department looked at the cute fucking mushroom Goombas in the video game and decided to translate them into this scaly, jagged-teethed nightmare fuel deserves to be committed.

Also, there’s only one lizard king, and that’s Jim Morrison, so back off, buddy.

What is hilarious to me is this is the story the screenwriters came up with.  Super Mario, as a video game, doesn’t have much lore, right?  You slide down pipes, you jump on mushrooms, and you save the princess from a spiky turtle.  They took that game and created... This.  A parallel underground dinosaur universe that has a sentient fungus as a king, taken over by a human-like t-rex that devolves other lizards into tiny-headed night paralysis demons.

The middle of this movie alternates between a slog of expositional scenes about Daisy being a princess, and pretty entertaining action scenes of the Mario brothers running from Goombas while trying to find and save Daisy.  Mario and Luigi steal a cop car and drive it off a cliff Thelma and Louise-style; They cosplay as Ketchup and Mustard to steal the necklace back from Big Burtha while asking her to stomp on them; They jump off a bridge into a garbage truck; They break the pipes in Koopa’s building to freeze everything, and get past an elevator full of Goombas by making them dance.

Watching Daisy damsel-in-distress-it in Koopa’s high rise office building and fend off advances by a long-tongued dude who devolved her father into a mushroom was pretty boring and disturbing.  Alternatively, witnessing Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo pretend to jump on giant sheets of fungus really sold this movie for me.  It succeeds when it tries to be ridiculous and fun, and fall flat when it attempts to integrate any sort of drama that I’m assuming was added to make this story more appealing to adults.

Mario and Luigi eventually find Daisy, and she introduces them to her father - a giant dripping blob suspended from the ceiling.  Luigi wants in her pants badly enough that he pretends this is a reasonable thing to do.  Mario heads further into the building to free the other ladies kidnapped by tweedle dee and tweedle dum that they initially thought were Daisy, but weren’t.  The newly assembled group are able to escape by sliding down the frozen pipes on a mattress before they are green-screen launched out of the pipe and back into the greater Dinohattan area.

The amount of times Mario and Luigi use their plumbing skills to overcome obstacles may be my favorite part of this movie.  The plot goes out of its way to justify a really bizarre character trait for the original game.

Anyway, the end of this movie comes at you fast.  First, the sentient fungus king gives Mario and Luigi a bomb, and they decide to wind it up and aim it at Koopa.  This takes about 10 minutes of screen time to matter again.

Koopa’s second-in-command tries to merge Daisy’s stolen necklace with the meteor, and instead gets skeletoned to bits, prompting the best line delivery reaction from Daisy, a deadpan “Yikes”.

Because the necklace has now been returned to its resting place, the worlds start to merge Infinity War style.

“Mr. Koopa, I don’t feel so good.”

Koopa and Mario end up back in Manhattan, and Koopa just starts shooting his devo guns at human mobsters, turning them back into primates, and giving their wardrobe a whole new literal definition of monkey suit.

Luigi uses his super plumbing powers to drill the necklace back out of the meteor, separating the worlds again.  The bomb finally goes off, they devo Koopa into slime, and the citizens celebrate by immediately painting over his ever-prevalent propaganda.

The king evolves back into a mushroom person or something, and Daisy stays in Dinohattan to get to know her father better.  Mario and Luigi return to their lives in Brooklyn as plumbers, and their heroic acts make them conspiracy community famous, as they now refer to our heroes as the Super Mario Brothers.  Roll Credits.

Except not, because Daisy returns to ask for the help of a couple of great plumbers, setting up a sequel that will never, ever happen because there is no god and we’re not allowed to feel joy.

Honestly, Super Mario Bros. is great.  It owned every bold plot and visual choice it made, and I have to respect it.  I could listen to John Leguizamo say Mario like 700 more times.  Y’all are missing out if you think you’re too cool to watch this movie.

I’ll be back to musical reviews later this month.  I have a few seasonally appropriate movies in my big red sack waiting to be placed under the tree...  Yes, I meant to phrase it that way.

[rolaplayor101]

Prime 5

Major Omniverse spoilers, major violence and gore, self hatred tw

Prime Chapter 5 under the cut

   The entire world is scared of Ben Tennyson. 

   Images of his face and captions such as Ben Tennyson: A Vigilante, Will Harangue Was RIGHT?!?!, and Ben 0: The Cancellation Of Ben 10 popped up on screens all over New York in a matter of what seemed like hours. Social Media boomed for days. He'd gotten everything taken from him in a matter of a week. All his fame: flushed down the toilet. He couldn't go outside without getting something thrown at him. His enemies laughed in his face. Of course there were those that said he'd done nothing wrong. You'd think there was a war going on the way Twitblr fought over his actions. Were you ProBen or NoBen? Were you celebrating? Wondering why this was a bad thing? Were you grieving? Arguing over the morality of a seventeen-year-old boy?

    Rex and him had fought a few days earlier and Rex hadn't come over since. Rook was at Plumber HQ and hadn't visited him at home, but Ben made no effort to contact him either. Gwen, and surprisingly Julie, had called to give him support. Gwen would be there later that day. But for now, he stayed in his bed, bingeing all of his Sumo Slammers DVDs. 

    It all happened like this:

---

    The incursions attack the Plumber ship holding Vilgax and the small team selected to bring him in. Ben and Rex and Rook are a part of that team. They all get split up inside the Prison after being followed inside. Ben'swith Vilgax. Vilgax tests Ben, Ben gets angry. Attea finds them and Vilgax escapes, Attea proposes something to Ben, Ben is thinking it over when Rex appears and fights her off. She escapes, Rex wants to know what she said, Ben tells him, and Rex freaks. He tells Ben not to do it, it's not him, he's not that kind of hero. He's not Rex. 

   Ben nods, they split up again, and Ben finds Vilgax. Now, this is when things get...ugly. 

   The octopus alien always had a specific way of getting on Ben's nerves, and it wasn't any better when he kept baiting him. He probably would've done it without Attea's proposal. It just took that one little push, and Rex's words went right out of his ears. 

  "You're nothing, and you're going to die a nothing, and you're gonna die alone."

  Ben's blood turned to ice. Vilgax stopped behind him, his hands still cuffed together, his eyes still red with hatred. Ben didn't turn around. Oh, no, he lifted one hand from his side and slowly brought it to his wrist, turning the dial, searching. Vilgax said nothing, his height making it so that Ben's big, brown head of hair covered all movement of his hands. 

   Seconds later, Vilgax was on the ground, his face being smashed in, defenseless as he was held down by Swampfire. 

    "Well, you're gonna die alone, and slowly. And no one is going to miss you." He'd never heard Ben's voice like that before, and it would be the last voice he'd hear. 

   Ben went through almost every alien he had until his watch timed out, which was way after Vilgax's face had turned to mush. Teeth and liquid a non-human color was all that was left on top of what used to be Vilgax's torso. Ben stood up, the thick liquid all over his hands, and huffed.

   When Attea found him, she cleaned him up and knocked him out, and later Rex, Rook, and Grandpa Max told him that Vilgax and Attea had gotten away. 

   Months pass. Everything's normal. His partner and boyfriend Rex is by his side, a new Sumo Slammers movie is out, everyone's having a good time-- and then Attea and Looma show up, fighting for his love. 

   Of course he should have seen it coming. Attea broadcasting to the whole world their greatest accomplishment, killing the universe's most despicable villain, was the most outlandish, princess-ey thing to do! Why would that possibly be a bad thing on his side? Why wouldn't that be the most viable example of them being a power couple? Attea and Ben Tennyson, ruling the world together! Sounds amazing right?

---

    Ben isn't sure if he and Rex are broken up. He's too scared to call him. And honestly, at this point, he just wants to die. Vilgax was right. He is going to end up a nothing and alone. He can't take back what he's done. Can't stop Attea from telling the whole world their secret. 

   He hates himself, and he hates the world. 

---

     Rex's entire world is mad at him. 

    'Entire world' equalling what he used to call Ben Tennyson. He's ignoring Rex's calls, won't meet up with him anywhere, walking away when Rex tries to talk to him at Plumbers HQ. 

    Ben's world calls him a hero. Rex's world has been fine without him for a year now. Ben calls him a A-hole. Said he went too far. That it's not his job to choose who lives or dies. 

   Rex said who cares? No one's gonna miss that guy!

   Ben said that's not the point!

   Rex asked then what is the point?

   Ben said that bad guys go to jail, not get their heads chopped off!

   Rex said if you had the chance, you would've done it, too. 

   Ben left and hasn't talked to him since. 

   It all happened like this:

----

      Rex and Ben are transporting Vilgax via Plumber ship to a highly renowned prison in the middle of the galaxy. They'd taken every possible precaution: clearing out the prison before letting them in, keeping the transport under wraps, selecting only a few of the Plumber's most trustworthy crew. But that didn't prepare them for an Incursion attack. 

   At first, they thought it was Vilgax's plan to escape, but it soon became apparent that Attea and her army wanted his head. And good riddance, right? Why not just let her? Except the morality of it was that they couldn't just do that. Let him suffer behind bars for the rest of his very long, alien life. At least, that's what Rex's entire world tells him. 

   Everyone got split up. Rex handled Attea, but she kept using that disgustingly long tongue of hers and it freaked him out. She got away. He met up with Ben some time later, but at that point he had lost Vilgax. 

   They search for him, again finding Attea. But now, alongside her is Eight Eight. Ben said he'll hold them off, so Rex goes on. 

   He should've fought with him. Would've made it easier on Ben, who would be found unconscious later. Would've made it easier on Rex, who would get in trouble with Plumbers headquarters for killing Vilgax. Would've made it easier on Vilgax, who wouldn't be dead right now. 

---

   Rex is laying on his bed in Plumbers HQ, looking up at the slate, metal ceiling. He hasn't gotten up in awhile. The only time he does get up is to get food or use the bathroom, at this point. He's been sleeping all day for the past few days, and when he can't do that, he stares up and thinks. No one has called for him. Ben won't text him back, but it's been a few days since he's last tried. He can only lift his phone and stare at the last message he sent. He can't see whether he's been left on read or not. It hurts each time to look, so he puts his phone back down. 

   He raises his right hand off the edge of the bed, squeezes it into a fist, tries to be angry(maybe punching something will make it better), but his hand only glows, doesn't change, makes a pathetic, whiny sound. He let's it drop back down and hit the side of the bed. 

   His stomach is growling, but he doesn't have the energy to get up. He can't find a good reason for it. What's the point in eating? Why is it such a necessary thing? He's not even a full human! 

   So he doesn't get up to get something to eat, but he imagines he does. He imagines he leaves his room, walks right out of this freaking facility, goes to Mr. Smoothies and finds Ben there. He imagines that he apologizes to him, says it wasn't worth it, says he wants them to figure this out, and he imagines that Ben forgives him. He imagines that Ben sits them at a table outside and they order chilli fries even though Mr. Smoothies doesn't make chilli fries, but this is his dream so it doesn't matter, and he imagines they eat together and laugh again. To take it one step further, he imagines Bobo is there, and Noah is there. He imagines Gwen and Kevin come through, and Circe and whoever else. He imagines they all talk and catch up, that they all have amazing stories to tell and no one is mad at him and he can eat food and not feel sick or look at Ben and not feel like he's the worst person on the planet. 

   His stomach stops aching for awhile. 

   Then there's a flash of light. 

   ---

    Ben's in his backyard with a can of black paint in hand and his jacket on the ground. He focuses on this moment and this moment only. 

   He glares down at the jacket. That ten used to mean something. He layers some masking tape over it and all the green lines on the jacket, after that, he sprays the white on the front of the jacket black, then turns it around and does the back. While that dries, he goes inside and takes his mom's eyeliner into the bathroom. 

  An hour later, he's back outside, black smudged under his eyes and hair brushed forward in a bang. He puts on his new and improved jacket, and pulls the hood over his head. 

   Then he hears something. Air splitting apart and being sucked in at the same time. He turns around and faces the flashing light. A man steps out of the portal, and following behind him is Rex. 

[crystal-moon-101]

(Updated Drawing) Name: Jay Maxwell Tennyson

Nickname: Jace, Jay Jay, Human Omnitrix, Lill’ Ben, Hero Boy, Omni Boy (By Feike)

Age: 13

Gender: Male

Birthday: February 7

Sexual Orientation: ??? (Just like his father)

Ethnicity/Species: American/Japanese - Human/'Omnitrix'

Personality: Adventurous, Often has self-doubt, Sensitive, Cultured, Dependable, Brave, Hopeful, Persistent, Impulsive, Jokester, Trustful, Has slight anxiety problems, Forgiving, Selfless.

Hobbies: Gaming, mostly survival games. A couple of sports (He's known to play tennis with his mother). Learning and Reading up on aliens and their cultures. Collecting items/souvenirs. Photography. Designing with

Family:

Ben Tennyson (Father/Jay has always looked up to his father, striving to be a hero like. However, there are issues between them, in that Jay struggles with how often his father isn't around, out in space-saving the day on another planet. He understands why this is, but it makes it hard to spend time together, along with seeing the struggles his mother goes through, even if she accepts this with Ben. That being said, anytime Ben visits, Jay jumps at the chance to spend time with his father.)

Julie Yamamoto (Mother/Absolutely adores his mother and vice versa. Since Ben is often away, Jay has picked up a lot of Julie's habits and behaviour, even hobbies, like tennis. He's always eager to help her around and the house and spending quality mother and son time. He's very thankful his mother raised him to be patient, kind and polite, a big part of his personality.)

Ship (Pet - Galvanic Metamorph/He's always loved the pet blob of the family. When he was born, Ship was very excited about Jay's presence, doing whatever he could to make the baby boy laugh. It's been the same, even as Jay grew up. The happy blob will always comfort the boy, especially through his anxiety attacks or self-doubt moments.)

Muse (Pet - Null Void Guardian/Muse wasn't the kind of pet Jay thought he'd get, but he loves her anyway. Having saved her during a mission in the null void, the creature became rather attached to him as they don't normally have positive interaction with other species, even their caretakers. She loves cuddles and having Jay's attention, but can be very protective if anyone dares to hurt her human.) 

Tundra, Orion, Vale, Neva, North, Crystal, Alaska, Micha, Storm, Gray, Raine, Arlo, Zodiac and Lux (Half-Siblings/Jay is very close to his fourteen Necrofriggians siblings, despite the species differences. He's never really questioned how unusual it was having them as siblings, even when people give weird glances. His siblings also adore their baby brother, spoiling him whenever they visit.)

Ivory - (Kind of half sister? It’s complicated/When Jay bumped into Ivory the first time, during a mission where Khyber was running around, he had to say he was surprised to see someone who had similar features to him and to his dad. After explaining this run-in with his parents, it didn’t take them long to come to the conclusion she must be the daughter of Albedo, back from when he was still human. Since then, Jay has tried reaching out to her, not only because he believes she can find a better life beyond Khyber, but also because he has a feeling she wants family, just as he wouldn’t mind having another sibling around...But for now, she brushes him off.)

Gwen Tennyson (First cousin once removed/'Aunt'/Much like Ben, he looks up to his aunt, always eager to hear stories she shares with her father and Kevin. Since Gwen and Kevin aren't off earth as much as Ben now of days, Julie and Jay often visit for dinners. He likes to ask her help with schoolwork during these visits, though lately he's also been interested in learning about Ledgerdomain. Gwen has a feeling it might be because of a certain spell caster he is crushing on, but he hasn't said anything.)

Kevin Levin (first cousin once removed in-law/'Uncle'/Somehow, Kevin was often the one that both Jay and Thea were dumped on to babysit. He would complain, but he really did adore the pair, even recording some of their younger interactions and adventure, which were both hilarious and adorable. Jay likes to show his uncle love when he can, as he knows very well how rough Kevin's background is.)

Cynthia Levin (Second Cousins/The two basically act like siblings, teasing one another, hanging out often and venting to each other when they need it. Even if the two-act like opposites, they play off each other well. With Thea being more bombastic and outward, she helps keep Jay out of all the trouble he gets caught in by mistake. She does what she can to protect him from bullies or galaxy criminals, sometimes even from himself. That being said, Jay is one of the only few who can pull her back from her aggression, showing her that there are calmer and nicer ways to handle things. His forgiving nature sometimes worries her, because she knows it'll backfire and get him hurt sometimes, but she has been amazed by it, as shown through his many connections with aliens they've met, even some who were dangerous or criminals. Even if they have hard arguments or struggle to understand one another at times, they'll always have each other's back.)

Ken Tennyson (First cousin once removed/'Uncle'/While he enjoys his life with space and aliens, he does appreciate having a family member who is very down to earth. Ken is a very supportive and wise uncle, often knowing just what to say or do to cheer Jay up.)

Carl Tennyson (Grandfather/Carl, of course, loves his grandson, happy to babysit him and have him over. However, because of Carl's effects of galaxy life and aliens as a child, he sometimes struggles to talk with Jay, who adores that lifestyle. Jay understands, as he and Carl both had/have Plumber fathers often off-world, along with how his grandfather was somewhat abandoned by Verdona, his own mother, in his younger years.)

Sandra Tennyson (Grandmother/Sandra has always doted on her grandbaby since he was born. Always jumping to babysit, playing with him and proudly shows him off to her friends. She is also the one who inspired his photography hobby.)

Mr Yamamoto (Grandfather/Despite Julie's father's issues towards Ben, he's always been gentle and kind towards Jay, often being the one to remind him of the beauty of earth.)

Verdona (Great Grandmother/Verdona and Jay have a friendly relationship, often openly showing affection through hugs or chatting away. While it does somewhat hurt, he doesn't resent her for mostly coming around for Gwen and Thea, because of their Anodite sides. Since he can change into different aliens, he understands very well that every alien functions different, so he can't fault her in her behaviour, so he'll take what he can get.)

Maxwell Tennyson (Great Grandfather/A legend in Jay's eyes, being who his middle name is from. Even though Max is retired and spends these days in his RV with Xyelne, he's always happy to tell Jay stories of his old Plumber days. The boy will listen to every word with wonder in his eyes. Max has even told stories on Ben when he was very young, including the summer vacation when he first got the watch. It always puts a smile on the boy's face.)

Xylene - (Great Grandfather Figure/While Xylene isn’t amazing with kids due to her background, her and Jay get along nicely since he’s a polite and calm boy. She has a way of speaking with Jay where she can be blunt and honest, but in a manner that he understands and doesn't get hurt by. Like getting that needed push to do something.)

Frank Tennyson (Great Uncle/He enjoys the boy's soft presents and can always ask Jay for help here and there.)

Natalie Tennyson (Great Aunt/Natalie likes having Jay around, as he's always eager to help with housework. She does love her granddaughter, but having a quieter child around is sometimes more preferred.)

Friends:

Vanessa Morningstar (The two have a sweet relationship, despite Thea’s rivalry with her and Vanessa’s parents. They treat each other with respect and trust, and for Vanessa, this is something not common to her. He's always ready to listen to her and doesn't believe she is destined to be a villain, even with her heritage. There have also been noticeable sparks between the two, but with all that goes on, it's hard to make something of it.)

Malax Shard (Friend/A common friend and partner in Plumber training. Unlike Thea's uncertainty towards his gentle side, Malax has full trust in it. She knows his personality is rare in this line of work and is something desperately needed at times. That being said, she's often the one to give him the tough talks about reality and how harsh it gets. He respects her for this and both would have each other's back in any fight.)

Rook Rilla - (Friend/Another common friend and partner in Plumber training. The two have known each other since childhood, due to how close their fathers were. Rilla’s dry wit and no nonsense attitude has, admittedly, gotten Jay out of some tough problems, and the two play off each other well while working on the field.)

Feike (Friend/He started out with issues towards Feike, mostly because of his flirting towards Thea. But, over time, Jay has started to see more to him. It's clear to him Feike isn't exactly happy where he is and feels trapped, being abused and manipulated by his boss, Sciros. He's tried reaching out to him, but the other teen likes to brush it off and tells him not to get involved.)

Renata (Friend/Because of Reiny and Ben's friendship, there had been some playdates set up between the two when they were young. Despite how hard it is to communicate with Renata, Jay has come to understand how to talk to her, thanks to these playdates. He'll often go to her for space politic problems, given her status and training. Even though she doesn't show much emotions, she can show a protective side around him.)

Azmuth (Friend/Azmuth is normally the one to take a look at his biology and powers if needed. Ben has also dropped Jay off for rare babysitting, Azmuth can only be so thankful Jay will listen to him and be quiet when told. He's always found it amusing how gentle Jay is compared to his father. He's also to happily talk about embarrassing moments about Ben to the boy.)

Etherea’Liss (Friend/Their first meeting had been a little iffy, as Jay had met Zs’Skayr a few months before meeting her. But he quickly came to see that Ectonurites are not like him, and she's always happy to educate him on her home planet and people. In return, he helps her adjust to life outside of her home.)

Enemies:

Eldrigma (Enemy/Ever since this man showed up, Jay has been chasing him across the galaxy, feeling responsible in stopping him. However, with each encounter, they learn something new, that there's more to the story behind this man. As much as he wants to stop him and fight him, Jay is starting to see something grim and sorrowful behind the man's dark outside.)

Professor Alate (Enemy/Honestly, this man creeps him the hell out. His intelligence as always been trouble for Jay, often getting outsmarted by the scientist. This wouldn't be so bad, if it weren't for the fact that Alate has this dedicated goal to catch Jay and experiment on him, mostly because of his Omnitrix biology.) 

Sciros (Enemy/Jay has nothing but bad thoughts about this man, stemmed from kidnapping him and hurting friends like Feike and Vanessa, tricking and abusing them. He desperately wants to keep his friends away from the man, but his grip is tight and he knows how to keep them inline.)

Vilgax ('Enemy?'/It’s mostly Vilgax’s history with his father that scares him the most. Vilgax can be a hard foe to fight and is willing to use Jay to get revenge on Ben, however, with Jay’s teachings from his father and the fact Vilgax doesn’t have that great of an understanding since it’s been twenty years, Jay can fight against him and survive him. After seeing Vilgax around, he’s come to the realization that Vilgax isn’t as scary as most of the other villains Jay is currently fighting. He’s also given warnings to Vilgax about Alate.)

Representing Song: Human - Christina Perri Skills: Enhanced Endurance/Stamina. Alien Morphing (He's able to turn into aliens without a watch, thanks to his unique biology). Hand-To-Hand Combat. Multilingualism (Jay can actually speak and understand a few alien languages, comes in handy). Photographic Memory. Makeup, dress ups, hairstyles, Jay is amazing at finding the right outfit or disguising others.

Weakness/Flaws/Fears: Monophobia (Fear of being alone or lonely), Atychiphobia (Fear of failure), Sometimes Anthropophobia (Fear of people. But depending what people are currently like, especially in school, also depending on his mood) Slight Catoptrophobia (Fear of mirrors. Sometimes he can’t stand looking into the mirror, easily after something sudden or traumatic) Didaskaleinophobia (Fear of school) Autophobia (Fear of oneself). Sometimes changing aliens, becoming one or turning human can fail, especially if he has barely any focus. He keeps his injuries and damage he gets from fights as his aliens, even in his human form. Lack of energy or being rendered unconscious can make him turn back human. He gains the weakness of his aliens. He needs to focus to be able to transform. His hidden sensitivity and anxiety can hinder his progress and the mission he’s on. He has a habit of taking on too much work, struggling to stay no to others who depend on him. In rare cases, his biology can go out of whack sometimes, causing things like blindness, dizziness, struggling to walk E.T.C but it’s never permanent, so far. In his human form, he isn’t the strongest fighter and barely has any defense in tanking hits. First Ten Forms:

War Roar

Cibeetle

Lavizard

Hollow Woods

Katana

Shadow Puppet

Manta Wave

Smitemare

Power Source

Sin Reaper

Bio:

It had been nearly three years since the birth of Thea when Julie discovered she was pregnant. She contacted Ben, who was out in space at the time, and he came straight home to be there for her. Ben had demanded to have time off from work so he could spend time with his wife and his eventual child. Of course, when word got out that Ben Tennyson was finally having a child of his own, the media, the public or even some villains were desperate to question the two or cause a problem. With the help of family and friends, the couple managed to hide away or be protected from questions and the public view often enough to spend time together and prepare for the new arrival. It so happens that their new family member was born on Thea’s birthday, similar to how Ben and Gwen were born on the same day and believed they started a family curse. In came Jay Maxwell Tennyson. Many welcomed the newborn and many wanted to see the son of the galaxy’s hero. People like Gwen or Ben’s parents spoiled Jay with many toys or love, much to Ben and Julie’s amusement. Unlike Thea, Jay was rather gentle, shy, quiet and sweet, opposite to her bombastic nature. He’d be the one to play with dolls or draw while Thea would be the one to play out in the mud or with bugs, making Gwen and Ben feel like they swapped children. Despite being a healthy baby with two loving parents and a great family, the time came for Ben to start working again, often leaving for missions far in space and being gone for weeks or even months. Jay had struggled to understand why his dad failed to come home so often but had adapted to this life, getting excited whenever his dad did come and would cherish those moments, wanting to play with him or hear stories from him. Jay can easily say he looks up to his dad, so much and wants to be like him. Jay and Thea get on very closely, despite their opposite personalities. The moment Thea first held Jay, she felt a protective urge over her second cousin. While she does tease or push him around a little, she’ll do almost anything for him and always tries to make him happy. Their relationship has grown so much that the two are like siblings. From the moment he was born, Jay has had a fascination with space, The Plumbers and aliens. Whether it’s the many toy aliens he got, his father working with them or being told stories about space and aliens, he just couldn’t get enough of it. He’d be so joyful whenever someone like his dad or great grandpa would take him to the Plumbers, sometimes befriending alien kids of Plumbers. One day, something very unexpected happened to Jay. He transformed, and thus his Omni powers were discovered. It turns out, from what Azmuth explained to them, because Ben had worn the Omnitrix so long and used it so often, with it also attached to him when it replaced his arm, some cells had been infected or altered, even some gamete cells. And while it was a rare chance, Jay ended up with these powers. He’s able to turn into aliens once his body unlocks a form, much like the Omnitrix. You can tell if he’s gaining a new form if his personality suddenly changes or he gets weird habits, as he takes on the traits of the alien he’ll soon unlock. Jay had to learn to adjust to his new powers, often randomly transforming or getting side effects from it. Julie would do her best to support and care for her son and Ben, whenever he was home, would do the same and give some tips. The family agreed to keep Jay’s powers a secret, not wanting to cause someone to try and steal him or make the media rampage the small boy. Azmuth is one of the few scientists or doctors to know, since he’s often in charge of testing Jay’s powers and helping if his biology goes wack or causes side effects. Jay had mixed feelings with his powers at the time, but he was excited to see what they could bring and maybe allow him to become a plumber or hero like his father. However, a lot of his views and opinions changed when he started going to school and out in public more. He was put into the same school as Thea, so the two spent a lot of time together during break or became buddies when there were social events in the school. But the actual school and other people weren’t so accepting of Jay, in fact, many despised him. Since Ben was often out in space, he barely had time for earth unless they really needed him, many took this as a sign that Ben no longer cared for his home or his race, thus causing some backlash against the Levins and Tennysons. Since other kids feared Thea or couldn’t get a reaction out of her, their targeting fell onto Jay, who couldn’t defend himself and suffered the damage of bullying. He would try to stay optimistic and make friends, but people would reject him so easily and call him things. While the teachers didn’t do anything cruel to him, they’d often look the other way when he was bullied. At first, the bullying was only things like name calling or the occasional rude note given to him, but it quickly became physical as kids would shove him, trip him, throw things at him or even get into a one-sided fight, due to Jay not wanting to fight back or accepting what they said about him. Jay didn’t tell anyone, thinking it would soon end or that he didn’t want to cause conflict. He figured out how to use makeup and paint to hide any physical damage he couldn’t hide with clothing. He kept this up for a long time, until Thea discovered the truth. She would help treat some of his wounds, protect him if she found someone hurting him or encourage him to tell his parents and stick up for himself, he only disagreed and said it wasn’t that bad. She kept telling him to do so but never pushed it and didn’t tell anyone else, since he asked her not to. This led to Thea being even more overprotective of him, along with causing Jay to be more quiet and sensitive, but excellent at hiding it. While his parents or aunt and uncle found out about a small part of the bullying, the school didn’t listen to them as thoughtfully as they should have. The more he aged, suffering from the bullying and the judgement of society on him, Jay started to doubt himself and even his father. Jay loves his father, don’t get him wrong, but he can’t help but hate how the anger and disappointment towards his father also affects him. He’s plagued with doubts that he’ll never be as great as his father, always in his shadows and being put down by others who don’t think he’ll be as amazing as Ben. He loves Ben, but he can’t help but feel some resentment towards him. It wasn’t until the age of ten when the world learnt of Jay’s powers. He had nine forms at the time, but when an enemy of Ben came to earth to get revenge, did his tenth form appear. The villain had gotten their hands on Julie and Jay, taking them to a high building and started making demands. When the villain manhandled Julie and dared to hit her, Jay snapped and turned into a new form, the one he dubs Sin Reaper. He made quick work of the enemy but was quickly coaxed out of his raging form by Julie and Ben. Since then, he’s rarely used Sin Reaper due to his lack of control and aggression from it. The world, however, saw everything through videos people posted online. The family had to come clean and admit Jay had powers. This only caused more pressure on Jay’s life, since people began to see Jay as a freak or even non-human, making him question if he was human to begin with. With countless threats, comments and hits thrown at Jay, he became more and more doubtful of himself, even to the point where he began to hate himself and wished for things like he never had his powers or maybe that he never existed, but he never told anyone. It wasn’t until he became thirteen did something significant happen in his life to turn him around. On his thirteenth birthday, his father gave him and Thea plumber badges and said they could take part in plumber training and even some missions. This had been Jay’s dream when younger and once he entered the world of aliens and Plumbers, that dream came back. Many students or aliens he met around there were so kind to him, not caring he was different or that he was the son of Ben Tennyson, it would sometimes make them respect him or trust him. His skills and personality shined here, being able to take on many missions and talk with people, forming partnerships and rivalries. Thea is his primary partner, going on missions and adventures with her. Because they are opposites, they cover each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Thea protects Jay and teaches him that he’ll have to make hard decisions and that there are things that he can’t do, that he has to let go and move on from problems he can’t solve. Jay can be naive too often for his own good, and since he is unique with his abilities and how more accessible it is to capture him than someone like Thea, he’s often been kidnapped for revenge, profit and so on, making Thea the one to run in and save him. However, despite his naive nature, Jay’s forgiving and understanding nature can allow him to show Thea that things aren’t always black and white, that you don’t always need force to get things done and that his route, while rarer and longer than taking the fast and forceful route, can benefit better and even make new friends and allies in the process. He’s also gained friendships through people like Malax Shard, a plumber student senior who is often partnered up with them or trains them, Vanessa Morningstar, Thea’s biggest rival who he’s formed a fun and sweet relationship with, and maybe some deeper feelings, Feike, someone who Thea and him go to often to get information but maybe also have a wild time, Renata, an heir to the High-breeds who can help them with nation problems or law issues. He’s made many more friends over the time, even assisting others to get back on their feet or give them the forgiveness to realize their mistakes and become better people. This is the world that Jay feels like he belongs in. Despite his love for plumber lessons or missions, he still has to suffer with the anger people have for him and now the feeling of responsibility, sacrifices and how much bigger the world is. He’s been making enemies, making massive failures, beaten to a pulp, taking the lead from time to time and so on, something not easy to work with, mainly since he still gets judged and bullied on earth and helps his mother take care of the house. Being at a young age too, it’s caused many scars and problems for him and he’s struggling to focus and recover. He struggles to say no and to take a break. He’ll sacrifice himself more often than he should and take on more responsibilities and judgement than he should. Right now, Jay is struggling with his life and abilities, finding out what he is and if he wants to be who he is and what he wants to be. His countless doubts on himself, his friends, family and even the world can hold him back, but he pushes as far as he can go and will do anything to help people, save them or even give up himself if it means someone can live another day. He knows the world isn’t black and white, he knows people have stories and reasons, he knows he can’t stop doing what’s right and he knows he can make a change if he puts the effort into it. He will cover more obstacles later and larger threats, but he’ll take it on the best he can.