It's here! Let's begin!
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So the episode starts with... Malware beating the crap out of the eleven-year-old Ben! Man, how I've missed the little guy. Fore (Four)!... Arms. Heh heh.
Okay, that was hilarious. And it's hilarious because it's so stupid! Ah... Though Four Arms's new voice is... well, different. Then again, Ben's now eleven, so it's understandable. Still miss the old voice though.
Ben, in his eleven years of wisdom, promptly gets cocky and Malware gets the drop on him, shutting down the Omnitrix. And, with a classic, "Oh, man..." we go to the opening theme!
My god, that was awesome! It was so campy! We get to see the aliens in an invigorating and fun way as well as have a laugh. They all look really good. Rath still looks the same. In fact, the less redesigned aliens look the same. Whiners.
After the opening, Malware falls victim to classic villain posturing, allowing the Omnitrix time to recharge and Ben to transform into the brand new Feedback! Oh, I love these old-styled transformations. The new ones were rather dull and macabre. I like how Malware mocks Ben's quips. Genre savviness in one area, genre blindness in another. Malware looks to be an interesting villain.
Feedback looks to be exceedingly dangerous, which makes sense since he's apparently young!Ben's go-to alien now. The ability to absorb and redirect all kinds of energy, including that which is involved in punching things? Yes, please! Feedback was also designed by one of the original artists on the show, to give him the original series feel. It really shows through.
Feedback! Ben leaps up in victory and promptly times out, falling on his butt. We cut from the young Ben saying, "You'd better run!" (more as an attempt to make himself look tough) to the older Ben saying the same (though more in the sense of a threat) as he, Gwen, and... Kevin chase down a newly redesigned Zombozo, who actually seems terrifying again. He's less a Joker-wannabe and more undead clown like in the original. Just even more undead and even more clown. Which freaks me out. Clowns are no fun, man. Sadly, Gwen still has the Anodite crap. A real shame. Actually seems more dangerous, though. Maybe. Haven't seen a lot of it.
Kevin seems like his powers involve absorption moreso than they did in UAF. He makes sounds as he absorbs, his body makes sounds appropriate to what he is, and his coloration matches what he was touching. Largely? Quite an improvement.
Lodestar returns, with a little design flourish added to his forehead but largely unchanged, and the two actually pull off an impressive maneuver.
Actually, an amendment to what I said about Gwen's powers. They sound like magic again, which is an improvement and they certainly seem more effective.
Kevin still gets kicked around a bunch, so he certainly hasn't gained any effectiveness over the change. It's understandable, given that Dwayne McDuffie was one of the writers for the episode before his untimely death. Makes sense that a lot would still be the same as UAF since it was mostly written by one of its chief writers.
It's nice to see Ben and Gwen acting more like teenagers that grew from the ten-year-olds they were in the original series, instead of who they were replaced by in UAF. "Dweeb" and "Doofus"... Ah, it's been so long. You know, if the grown up Ben 10,000 from "Ken 10" still retained some of the original's personality, why couldn't the teenaged one have as well? Or the same with Gwen? It was such a shame to have seen the core of who they were lost in the sequels. I'm glad they're back. It's like seeing old friends again, something I so rarely get to experience.
Crap, now I'm tearing up.
I don't need a team to get the job done! I'm a superhero! I can do this alone, no problem. *Beat* Why am I telling this to a crazy monster clown?
I liked that exchange. A good way to show off some of Ben's character without Gwen or Kevin to bounce it off of.
We quickly are introduced to both the way to get into and the base itself hidden beneath Belwood. How nobody's found it yet is beyond me. If you look closely at the various background characters, you'll see a lot of old one-shot-ers from UAF. It still doesn't make sense that the intergalactic police force was retconned from the defunct Plumbers, considering everything that was established in the original series, but there's nothing that can really be done about that now.
... Man, the music in this is amazing! Gone are the episodes of UAF where the music was mainly limited to intense, grim music, making the show seem empty. There's music showing up wherever it's appropriate, making the show more vibrant and full. Very nice.
A building on the surface is blasted apart, leading Ben to rush to the scene with his typical cockiness, though we can extrapolate some insecurity from there too. I don't need a team! I'm me!
He probably wouldn't have said that if Gwen and Kevin hadn't left. A lot of egos are built out of some perceived inferiority, as can be seen with Ben or, well, me. I have an inferiority complex that is less a complex and more a planet. I'm... not exactly healthy.
We are soon introduced to our new villain of the show, Khyber, and his pet alien dog. Placing what we have been told is a twisted version of the Omnitrix called the Nemetrix onto the alien dog, he transforms it into something not unlike a rhinocerous beetle. I forget which species it's the predator of, though.
Frivolity in the face of danger? That ALWAYS makes for some good comedy.
Whoa, let me guess. You must be what took the building down. Nice work! Very thorough!
Ben's rashness and preference for brawn over brains shines through here as he attempts to transform into the indomitable Hugo... and screws up (entirely his own fault now), transforming into the newly redesigned Spidermonkey. With brighter colors, another pair of eyes to separate him from the likes of Four Arms and Way Big (fun fact: those bulges that were removed for UAF? They were eyes), and a backpack, new Spidermonkey is sure to be a lot of fun.
And, speaking of new, Ben? New Omnitrix doesn't hate you. You were just cocky and didn't pay attention to who you were selecting. The new Omnitrix doesn't do stuff like that anymore. And I loved his reaction to the mis-transformation and getting smashed against the side of the crater.
Why do you hate me, new Omnitrix? *Monkey noises*
So, after Khyber calls off the hunt for... some reason (I don't know why, he kinda had Ben on the ropes there. Maybe it's some crap about his hunter's pride or something...) OH MY GOD, IT'S ADORABLE!! Ladies and gentlemen? Let me introduce Pakmar. He's small, frog-like, and lives in a toilet. And scares the crap out of Ben when he pops out, so that's kind of appropriate.
... Wow, I really don't want to know what sort of alien needs that sort of crazy toilet.
The sheer ridiculousness of Ben trying to "fit in" with the other aliens, and failing horribly at it while destroying parts of the store is great. Liam's very existence as a silly chicken man is great. Cannonbolt's new design is... well, largely the same, just with more edges due to the artstyle. But still great! Ben's interactions with the decent threesome is great.
I hear he has great deals on toilets.
Mr. Baughmann's attempts to get Ben to leave, and his reaction to them, are great. Please! I'll pay you not to do this, Ben! Really? =D I mean...
The hooded Rook shows himself to be a grade-a badass by deflecting a laser with a spoon and Bubble Helmet sets the bomb to destroy Mr. Baughmann's store. In his attempts to stop it, by repeatedly smashing into it as Cannonbolt, Ben reverts to human and slams headfirst into the shield around it, in the moment of slapstick that we got a sneak peek of a long time back.
Eh, isn't this when your friends show up and save the day? Mr. Baughmann's fit of sarcasm springs the previously immobile Rook Blonko into action, continuing to show himself as a grade-a badass by quickly and cleanly incapacitating all three of the mobsters, leaving Ben to look on in disbelief.
So after some rather hilarious interactions between the clueless Rook and the... rather jerk-ish Ben, the Omnitrix recharges, allowing Ben to transform into one of his new aliens, Bloxx! A.k.a., THE BEST ALIEN EVER!! Bloxx's inherent weakness becomes immediately apparent, being able to be broken apart quite readily, causing Ben to switch tasks with his new, unwanted partner.
Rook quickly realizes he won't be able to deactivate it in time so, in a fit of technobabble to boils down to, "Get it outside", he blows out a wall to Baughmann's dismay and has Ben carry it out. Outside, Rook stops Ben as he attempts to toss the bomb willy-nilly, first scanning for sentient life in the building next door, hurried along by Ben's impatience.
Take your time. *Realizes who he's talking to* I'm joking by the way, hurry up!
The mobsters return and blow off Bloxx's arms before he could make the toss, leading to a familiar scene in which Bloxx attempts to catch it... and fails. :iconsaysplz: I got it! *Breaks through his arms* I don't got it... We are introduced to another facet of Bloxx's powers: shapechanging. Like the dome, the stretching, and the bowl, the LEGO gorilla transforms into a catapult to get rid of the bomb. I'd seriously transform into Bloxx just for the fact that he is AWESOME!!
The mobsters escape while an exasperated Ben tries to deal with Rook and they, quickly followed by Khyber and his pet, chase the trio down into the underground alien city. Quite shocking, both to Ben and myself. Seriously, how does nobody find these things?
This was an amazing opening episode for the series! Let the haters hate!
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So the episode starts with... Malware beating the crap out of the eleven-year-old Ben! Man, how I've missed the little guy. Fore (Four)!... Arms. Heh heh.
Okay, that was hilarious. And it's hilarious because it's so stupid! Ah... Though Four Arms's new voice is... well, different. Then again, Ben's now eleven, so it's understandable. Still miss the old voice though.
Ben, in his eleven years of wisdom, promptly gets cocky and Malware gets the drop on him, shutting down the Omnitrix. And, with a classic, "Oh, man..." we go to the opening theme!
My god, that was awesome! It was so campy! We get to see the aliens in an invigorating and fun way as well as have a laugh. They all look really good. Rath still looks the same. In fact, the less redesigned aliens look the same. Whiners.
After the opening, Malware falls victim to classic villain posturing, allowing the Omnitrix time to recharge and Ben to transform into the brand new Feedback! Oh, I love these old-styled transformations. The new ones were rather dull and macabre. I like how Malware mocks Ben's quips. Genre savviness in one area, genre blindness in another. Malware looks to be an interesting villain.
Feedback looks to be exceedingly dangerous, which makes sense since he's apparently young!Ben's go-to alien now. The ability to absorb and redirect all kinds of energy, including that which is involved in punching things? Yes, please! Feedback was also designed by one of the original artists on the show, to give him the original series feel. It really shows through.
Feedback! Ben leaps up in victory and promptly times out, falling on his butt. We cut from the young Ben saying, "You'd better run!" (more as an attempt to make himself look tough) to the older Ben saying the same (though more in the sense of a threat) as he, Gwen, and... Kevin chase down a newly redesigned Zombozo, who actually seems terrifying again. He's less a Joker-wannabe and more undead clown like in the original. Just even more undead and even more clown. Which freaks me out. Clowns are no fun, man. Sadly, Gwen still has the Anodite crap. A real shame. Actually seems more dangerous, though. Maybe. Haven't seen a lot of it.
Kevin seems like his powers involve absorption moreso than they did in UAF. He makes sounds as he absorbs, his body makes sounds appropriate to what he is, and his coloration matches what he was touching. Largely? Quite an improvement.
Lodestar returns, with a little design flourish added to his forehead but largely unchanged, and the two actually pull off an impressive maneuver.
Actually, an amendment to what I said about Gwen's powers. They sound like magic again, which is an improvement and they certainly seem more effective.
Kevin still gets kicked around a bunch, so he certainly hasn't gained any effectiveness over the change. It's understandable, given that Dwayne McDuffie was one of the writers for the episode before his untimely death. Makes sense that a lot would still be the same as UAF since it was mostly written by one of its chief writers.
It's nice to see Ben and Gwen acting more like teenagers that grew from the ten-year-olds they were in the original series, instead of who they were replaced by in UAF. "Dweeb" and "Doofus"... Ah, it's been so long. You know, if the grown up Ben 10,000 from "Ken 10" still retained some of the original's personality, why couldn't the teenaged one have as well? Or the same with Gwen? It was such a shame to have seen the core of who they were lost in the sequels. I'm glad they're back. It's like seeing old friends again, something I so rarely get to experience.
Crap, now I'm tearing up.
I don't need a team to get the job done! I'm a superhero! I can do this alone, no problem. *Beat* Why am I telling this to a crazy monster clown?
I liked that exchange. A good way to show off some of Ben's character without Gwen or Kevin to bounce it off of.
We quickly are introduced to both the way to get into and the base itself hidden beneath Belwood. How nobody's found it yet is beyond me. If you look closely at the various background characters, you'll see a lot of old one-shot-ers from UAF. It still doesn't make sense that the intergalactic police force was retconned from the defunct Plumbers, considering everything that was established in the original series, but there's nothing that can really be done about that now.
... Man, the music in this is amazing! Gone are the episodes of UAF where the music was mainly limited to intense, grim music, making the show seem empty. There's music showing up wherever it's appropriate, making the show more vibrant and full. Very nice.
A building on the surface is blasted apart, leading Ben to rush to the scene with his typical cockiness, though we can extrapolate some insecurity from there too. I don't need a team! I'm me!
He probably wouldn't have said that if Gwen and Kevin hadn't left. A lot of egos are built out of some perceived inferiority, as can be seen with Ben or, well, me. I have an inferiority complex that is less a complex and more a planet. I'm... not exactly healthy.
We are soon introduced to our new villain of the show, Khyber, and his pet alien dog. Placing what we have been told is a twisted version of the Omnitrix called the Nemetrix onto the alien dog, he transforms it into something not unlike a rhinocerous beetle. I forget which species it's the predator of, though.
Frivolity in the face of danger? That ALWAYS makes for some good comedy.
Whoa, let me guess. You must be what took the building down. Nice work! Very thorough!
Ben's rashness and preference for brawn over brains shines through here as he attempts to transform into the indomitable Hugo... and screws up (entirely his own fault now), transforming into the newly redesigned Spidermonkey. With brighter colors, another pair of eyes to separate him from the likes of Four Arms and Way Big (fun fact: those bulges that were removed for UAF? They were eyes), and a backpack, new Spidermonkey is sure to be a lot of fun.
And, speaking of new, Ben? New Omnitrix doesn't hate you. You were just cocky and didn't pay attention to who you were selecting. The new Omnitrix doesn't do stuff like that anymore. And I loved his reaction to the mis-transformation and getting smashed against the side of the crater.
Why do you hate me, new Omnitrix? *Monkey noises*
So, after Khyber calls off the hunt for... some reason (I don't know why, he kinda had Ben on the ropes there. Maybe it's some crap about his hunter's pride or something...) OH MY GOD, IT'S ADORABLE!! Ladies and gentlemen? Let me introduce Pakmar. He's small, frog-like, and lives in a toilet. And scares the crap out of Ben when he pops out, so that's kind of appropriate.
... Wow, I really don't want to know what sort of alien needs that sort of crazy toilet.
The sheer ridiculousness of Ben trying to "fit in" with the other aliens, and failing horribly at it while destroying parts of the store is great. Liam's very existence as a silly chicken man is great. Cannonbolt's new design is... well, largely the same, just with more edges due to the artstyle. But still great! Ben's interactions with the decent threesome is great.
I hear he has great deals on toilets.
Mr. Baughmann's attempts to get Ben to leave, and his reaction to them, are great. Please! I'll pay you not to do this, Ben! Really? =D I mean...
The hooded Rook shows himself to be a grade-a badass by deflecting a laser with a spoon and Bubble Helmet sets the bomb to destroy Mr. Baughmann's store. In his attempts to stop it, by repeatedly smashing into it as Cannonbolt, Ben reverts to human and slams headfirst into the shield around it, in the moment of slapstick that we got a sneak peek of a long time back.
Eh, isn't this when your friends show up and save the day? Mr. Baughmann's fit of sarcasm springs the previously immobile Rook Blonko into action, continuing to show himself as a grade-a badass by quickly and cleanly incapacitating all three of the mobsters, leaving Ben to look on in disbelief.
So after some rather hilarious interactions between the clueless Rook and the... rather jerk-ish Ben, the Omnitrix recharges, allowing Ben to transform into one of his new aliens, Bloxx! A.k.a., THE BEST ALIEN EVER!! Bloxx's inherent weakness becomes immediately apparent, being able to be broken apart quite readily, causing Ben to switch tasks with his new, unwanted partner.
Rook quickly realizes he won't be able to deactivate it in time so, in a fit of technobabble to boils down to, "Get it outside", he blows out a wall to Baughmann's dismay and has Ben carry it out. Outside, Rook stops Ben as he attempts to toss the bomb willy-nilly, first scanning for sentient life in the building next door, hurried along by Ben's impatience.
Take your time. *Realizes who he's talking to* I'm joking by the way, hurry up!
The mobsters return and blow off Bloxx's arms before he could make the toss, leading to a familiar scene in which Bloxx attempts to catch it... and fails. :iconsaysplz: I got it! *Breaks through his arms* I don't got it... We are introduced to another facet of Bloxx's powers: shapechanging. Like the dome, the stretching, and the bowl, the LEGO gorilla transforms into a catapult to get rid of the bomb. I'd seriously transform into Bloxx just for the fact that he is AWESOME!!
The mobsters escape while an exasperated Ben tries to deal with Rook and they, quickly followed by Khyber and his pet, chase the trio down into the underground alien city. Quite shocking, both to Ben and myself. Seriously, how does nobody find these things?
This was an amazing opening episode for the series! Let the haters hate!
