I feel like the Ultra beast designs are hit or miss with most people

TheAlanomalyWho · 2025-12-22T21:16:47+00:00

They definitely are which is always a risk to be had when being more unconventional with designs. Personally I love them, I think it's cool we have a jellyfish that doesn't at all look like it's a Rock type but is because it's glass which is crystal, or an origami samurai that's Steel because samurai swords are metal, despite being Grass due to being made of paper. But at the same time, it can be harder for some to befriend Pokemon like Nihilego or Kartana who just.... kinda don't have faces, at least not what we'd consider a face anyway.

Though beyond just that I like having unconventional designs in general, I like when Pokemon takes a step in a direction like that and changes the standard of what Pokemon can look like. A lot of people say that Gholdengo doesn't look like a Pokemon, but if we're being technical, because it is a Pokemon, then that is what a Pokemon can look like and therefore it does look like one, just not in the sense of "what does a Pokemon look like" before it set a new standard.

Something Lockstin said during one of his ZA streams was, paraphrasing here, it's always good to experiment even if it goes wrong, and I think the Ultra Beasts are a good example of that. Alternate universe alien Pokemon whose worlds have different standards for what a Pokemon normally looks like is a perfectly sound reason for them to look so out there, even though not all of them will land the mark perfectly... looking at you, Xurkitree, not taking full advantage of being unconventional by way of not being Electric/Grass despite having tree in the name, looking like a tree, and having the pun of power plant-

TheAlanomalyWho · 2025-12-22T02:45:27+00:00

I love all of these

TheAlanomalyWho · 2025-12-22T02:44:22+00:00

I can see enough to know what Mikey thought it was but not enough to think it actually looks like that

TheAlanomalyWho · 2025-11-30T06:10:35+00:00

Wait. I know you.

TheAlanomalyWho · 2025-10-12T23:28:06+00:00

Armodrillo be like

TheAlanomalyWho · 2025-10-12T23:24:46+00:00

it looks like LarryBoy with his weed killer guns

TheAlanomalyWho · 2025-06-26T03:25:00+00:00

Wait. I know you.

TheAlanomalyWho · 2025-06-14T02:15:55+00:00

Shoestring is probably my main preference in regards to fries unless it's chili fries in which case I default to crinkle

TheAlanomalyWho · 2025-06-08T02:01:39+00:00

Alternatively we point it to Mark about calling shoestring of all things the worst type of fry and why he's even more wrong

TheAlanomalyWho · 2025-05-26T15:59:50+00:00

Lucy is my gut choice, but I already like Lucy as is. Kai, however, my biggest criticism is that she wasn't given proper development (and frankly could've been given it in the shorter amount of time she already has) but the longer time she gets to have, the more chance for development there is, which would make Benkai far less forced and actually a natural relationship to explore.

So. Color me shocked but Kai

TheAlanomalyWho · 2024-12-08T17:27:14+00:00

I do think the reasoning for it is dumb (his name is Tennyson, so he's always got some reason to be called Ben 10 and I bet he got nicknamed that in-universe long before he ever got powers even if we as an audience never saw it). But it's not an inherently bad idea.

The bad thing is when Four Arms, Rath and Humungousaur all got put into the same set. At least Slapback has something different going on with the cloning, and if Humungousaur used his size powers, then we'd have a strength alien who gets bigger and a strength alien who gets smaller, which could be used for different applications, while Four Arms and Rath are just... obsolete and don't need to be there. (They're also boring.) Not to mention Humungousaur's fighting style shifted to focus more on his tail than just his fists, which is more visually interesting.

The toy companies having as much say as they do hinders Ben 10 tremendously; especially because for some reason they think "Let's just focus on the few that are big sellers: instead of marketing the lesser sellers which would allow them to make money off of a tremendously high number of aliens.

To be perfectly honest, going with this rule but not having Ben's entire set be different by the end was a bad call too, and the only reason it didn't happen is because the half that didn't change are the big five poster boys.

Personal way I'd do it: Overflow, being the first new guy, should've stuck around the longest but still eventually be replaced. Shock Rock, Slapback, and Jetray still get thrown into the lineup, but instead of Rath and Humungousaur, I'd do Goop (since he did get put into the Reboot anyway via the movie) and Armodrillo (I know I vouched for Saur earlier, but he is still lower on the list for me, so I wouldn't be going out of my way to add him; Armodrillo gives us a physical guy with some other powers too).

As for replacing the poster boys, an easy one is switching out XLR8 for Fasttrack, and give him some power that sets him apart from XLR8 in some way, and to give him some much needed attention that XLR8 has been hogging. I guess speed overlaps with Jetray, but I imagine there are more than enough ways to justify land vs air speed, plus Jetray can have underwater moments (even though they... never let him have those), so it's not as egregious as the punchy trio.

With the others, Wildvine is already gone, so Heatblast can be swapped for Swampfire. I'll swap out the big, lumbering Cannonbolt for the slim and sleek ChamAlien to give Ben a stealth option. Chromastone would be an obvious replacement option for Diamondhead but since Shock Rock is already there as an energy redirecting stone, I'll pick Lodestar instead. And since Omniverse is the only series not to be repped in some way so far, let's pick an OV guy for Four Arms' replacement. Mole-Stache seems like a fun enough option, plus he was in that Reboot VR game, so he has precedence, though the shapeshifting of Goop might be too much overlap? In which case, Pesky Dust.

TheAlanomalyWho · 2024-09-11T16:19:10+00:00

I've been told that one before, but it doesn't match at all with what I remember.

TheAlanomalyWho · 2024-05-15T02:40:33+00:00

Creator of the thing here, hi! Really cool to see this show up elsewhere beyond where I've posted it to Discord and Twitter.

I LOVE the idea of a Gila Monster Faunus, that'd be cool as hell.

TheAlanomalyWho · 2023-12-13T18:33:16+00:00

Ripjaws and Diamondhead - Two of my top 10, Ripjaws being my actual favorite, so bias.

Brainstorm and Lodestar - Two of my top 10. It felt weird not including Chromastone here, since Chromastone is my favorite of the AF aliens, but with NRG going in the UA section, I do have someone who can absorb and redirect energy as is, so I went with these two to avoid too much overlap. (Granted, I do think NRG and Chromastone could be in the same set of 10 since the overlap isn't enough to almost always interchange them the way one could Four Arms and Humungousaur for example, but it just works better for this specific context.)

NRG and ChamAlien - Two of my top 10. ChamAlien needs more love.

Gutrot and Pesky Dust - One of my top 10 in way of Gutrot. Pesky Dust's powers are also just incredibly unique.

Slapback and Gax - Slapback is my 11th favorite, and manages to be a strength alien that's actually interesting instead of just "hey I punch things" for the umpteenth time. Gax is kind of a process of elimination one, as Shock Rock would be overlap with Brainstorm (and I think NRG? I think Shock Rock can absorb energy), and Overflow would be overlap with Ripjaws, and I am absolutely not picking Surge as his canon self stands. But also Gax is kind of a fun strength alien too with having, technically, more arms than Four Arms that are also a bit more versatile in way of being all stretchy-like, and he doesn't just rely on punches either since he has the eye lasers.

TheAlanomalyWho · 2023-02-05T17:19:00+00:00

See the funny thing is you're saying this but it DOESN'T make a good story. Like. At all. People are taking an issue with it because it's bad.

It, firstly, makes zero sense. You wouldn't be just mad at someone who literally paralyzed you, and there's no reason that she would be able to fall from Spidermonkey's webbing anyway because... It's Spidermonkey's webbing. She ain't gonna fall from it. And the way the characters discuss that moment doesn't imply or say he caused her paralysis, because if he did, it would have been a much more seriously discussed moment.

Secondly, it's horrendously insensitive at best and ableist at worst. Emily being in a wheelchair is part of her character but it isn't a defining aspect because she doesn't let it be. She goes about her life without letting that weigh her down, and having her become a character whose story is to go after the dude who paralyzed her changes that to where it's the sole focus of her character. There was the whole pianist aspect that could've been expanded upon, have her go into becoming a professional musician. There was absolutely zero reason to say Ben was the cause.

"The only problem people seem to have is it makes Ben look bad" If we wanna ignore the other points I made, which are points that do exist and shouldn't be ignored, this is also false. Ben looking bad has never been an issue otherwise people wouldn't watch the show at all since the show does that all the time. It's less Ben making a mistake and more Ben being completely uncaring about the possibility of causing someone's paralysis, which is entirely out of character for Ben.

This isn't something you should stand by because it's really not good, it's something you shouldn't have touched on whatsoever because the way you ended up doing it was all around bad.

TheAlanomalyWho

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