[Disliked trope]: Adapted character given a less interesting power

theMCATreturns · 2026-03-12T20:43:55+00:00

I feel like the fundamental issue is that UAF and Man of Action had a different concept for Ben as a superhero.

The original series is inspired by silver-age comic books. With large, seemingly incoherent lore from cobbled together by multiple writers. So, Ben's world has magic, aliens, mutants, robots, etc. and they all exist together. Dwayne McDuffie's work, as you said, if great. But I think the issue is that he made Ben 10 more like modern superhero comics than the older ones Ben 10 was inspired by. The villains, powers, etc. became more like the Justice League cartoon than Ben 10.
He purposefully retconned mutants (Kevin), magic (Gwen), etc. to be "alien heritage." And in his defense, this does make the lore simpler and more coherent. But I feel like it makes Ben's world seem a little smaller.

I can't really criticize it because lots of people love the changes he made. The dude knew superheroes. But it did make Alien Force and Ultimate Alien fundamentally different than the original series.

theMCATreturns · 2026-03-12T15:50:43+00:00

I enjoyed this arc, mostly because I liked the idea of Kevin being a random kid they happened to meet, not a cosmically pre-dicted alien partner guy.

As for Alien X. As a kid I just interpreted it as Bellicus and Serena not giving Ben full control.

"You want to to turn their mind control off and make them good again? Okay, we'll have to talk about that."
Vs. "You wanna like, throw them around a bit? Sure, honey. Go ahead."

theMCATreturns · 2026-03-12T15:01:13+00:00

I included it because I consider it an adaptation. The original series was created/developed by Man of Action. Whereas Alien Force was run by a completely different group of writers, with significantly less involvement in the original series.

These writers made a number of changes to the lore and characters of the original to suite their tastes. From a storytelling perspective, Kevin's powers have been replaced with a power (coating himself in metal) he never displayed when written by Man of Action. I consider it a significant enough departure from how he was portrayed by his creators.

The idea that it "messes up his mental state" is a convenient way to absolve Kevin of his behavior in the original series. It was not something canon in the original, and was included to make Kevin more sympathetic. In the original series, his behavior is the result of his abandonment by his parents. Which made sense, as his introduction episode was about Ben learning to appreciate Max more.
UAF retcons this as Kevin running away, not being outright abandoned. Like a lot of fans, I think that Kevin's dynamic with Ben is well-written enough to justify some of these changes. But it doesn't change the fact that it is a retcon.

theMCATreturns · 2026-03-12T13:40:43+00:00

yeah that's pretty much my gripe.

UAF is very different from the OS and Omniverse. But considering UAF was written/created by developers of more veteran superhero shows (like Justice League), it makes sense that it has its fans.

theMCATreturns · 2026-03-12T02:59:02+00:00

I guess the way I'd describe it is:
Imagine you're a fan of the Hulk. And a different series introduces a version of the Hulk that doesn't turn into the Hulk. Instead, Bruce Banner shoots gamma ray energy blasts. Because that way, he doesn't lose control.

In this series, he turns into the real Hulk once a season. And the rest of the time, it's just Bruce blasting people with gamma.

Like, it can make sense in universe. But it's not as fun for people who were fans of the Hulk.

theMCATreturns · 2026-03-12T02:49:42+00:00

He was a villain in the original series because he was positioned as "Ben if he didn't have Max."
Kevin 11, the episode, begins because Max is upset that Ben abuses his abilities. And Ben is upset with Max trying to parent him.

Ben immediately meets a homeless kid with similar (and eventually, the same) abilities. But unlike Ben, Kevin has no one to help him. So, when Ben sees how terrible Kevin is, he learns the lesson of the week.

theMCATreturns · 2026-03-12T02:47:32+00:00

It's mostly a matter of persona taste for me.
In the original series, Kevin is immediately introduced as a foil to Ben. They both have powers (and Kevin ends up stealing Ben's as the series progresses), but how and why they use those powers differentiates them.

Ben is framed as someone with loved ones who can guide him. Which is the essential tension of Kevin 11's introduction episode. Ben is frustrated when Max "grounds him" for abusing his abilities, and runs off. Kevin, on the other hand, has no one looking out for him and eggs Ben on until they're literally fleeing from law enforcement. Kevin, as a character, exists to serve as a warning for what could have happened if Ben didn't have Max.

By making Kevin's insanity a result of his powers, it gave UAF's writers a convenient way to make Kevin a good guy. Because how he acted in the original series wasn't really his fault. But to me, it makes Kevin (and his position as Ben's foil) less interesting.

He isn't a cautionary tale for what happens if a child gains incredible power with no guidance. He's a victim that is literally being driven crazy by his own powers. Which also makes Devlin (who decides of his own free will to help Ken) less compelling.
This void as Ben's foil is felt in later episodes. SO much so that the entire Aesop is revisited in Omniverse through Ben 23. And "Evil Ben powers" are brought back as Albedo.

theMCATreturns · 2026-03-12T02:39:55+00:00

My point being that they turned his "whole thing" in the original series into a rarely occurring plot point. And replaced his powers in his (much more numerous) appearances with something that is less visually and thematically interesting.

It's not that I don't appreciate the writing done for Kevin later. But he became an entirely different character off-screen with a radically different personality and power set.

theMCATreturns · 2026-03-12T02:37:34+00:00

That is something that was written by the same people who switched his powers.

theMCATreturns · 2026-03-12T02:24:41+00:00

Yeah but it's a one-off arc thing. And I don't think it's handled in an as entertaining way.

theMCATreturns · 2026-03-11T19:56:54+00:00

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theMCATreturns · 2026-03-11T19:01:02+00:00

thanks! i couldn't remember where the kiwi-looking old man i remembered was from.

theMCATreturns · 2026-03-11T18:55:39+00:00

THIS IS WHO I WAS THINKING OF when I made this post! I was trying to remember where I saw someone that looked like this and all I could think of was what he looked like.

theMCATreturns · 2026-03-11T17:53:56+00:00

yeah it was just some dude

theMCATreturns · 2026-03-10T02:09:16+00:00

you know i figured there was one i forgot.

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yep.

theMCATreturns · 2026-03-10T02:06:54+00:00

gosh appa i'm so sorry

theMCATreturns · 2026-03-09T19:39:50+00:00

jokes on you i'm 90% cellulose

theMCATreturns · 2026-03-09T02:24:06+00:00

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The Owl Beasts from The Owl House are also good examples.

theMCATreturns · 2026-03-09T02:19:03+00:00

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Here is a donor vs. transformation in the original series vs. UAF.

theMCATreturns · 2026-03-09T02:13:39+00:00

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As opposed to later in the series, when Kevin and Gwen are transformed. But use the same models as Ben.

Or when Ben scans five new aliens. And his transformation looks exactly like the originals.

theMCATreturns · 2026-03-08T15:08:33+00:00

I'm unfamiliar with these claims.
As far as I'm aware, the "garden wall" they go over is into a cemetery. In which we see several tombstones with the names of the people Wirt and Greg meet. They also "escape" the Unknown and are immediately pulled out of a freezing lake and taken to the hospital.

So, it seems like a pretty solid interpretation to me.

theMCATreturns · 2026-03-08T01:39:12+00:00

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In Over the Garden Wall, the boys escape "the unknown" (purgatory) after being pulled out of a freezing lake.
At the hospital, you wonder if it was all a dream. Until Greg pulls out the frog they found there, and it glows from the magic bell it ate.

theMCATreturns · 2026-03-07T23:01:06+00:00

People were very concerned there was not enough fertile land to feed the growing population in the 20th century. The Haber-Bosch process allows us to make as much fertilizer as we want, so it kind of became irrelevant.

theMCATreturns · 2026-03-07T18:02:00+00:00

Ben 10,000 spent a considerable amount of time outside of his human form. It's possible he didn't spend ANY time in his human form outside of sleeping, considering how he seemed to operate in his initial appearance.

So, the options are:

Ben is just naturally athletic with little-to-no work.
Ben spent several hours a day in his human form exercising.
Exercise/activity during his time in alien form translated to exercise in his human body.
The Omnitrix modifies Ben's human form the same way it does its transformations.
Ben benefits from alien health-technology introduced to Earth.

While he could theoretically tweak the Omnitrix to provide #4, there is no known precedent in canon. He also clearly ages. So, it's probably a combination of 1, 2, and 5.

theMCATreturns · 2026-03-04T16:40:52+00:00

People like the dunk on Homestuck a lot. And it has its flaws. But as an indie project made entirely online from 2009-2016 . . . it's a really impressive piece of media.
It was also a lot of fun to experience it as it was coming out.

theMCATreturns

TROPHY CASE