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Next, we have Cartoon Network's poster boy for merchandising. The only show from this franchise I remember watching was a few episodes from the original series. To prove that, I remembered what the theme song sounded like and yeah. Although this was one of the first action cartoons I've watched, I didn't have an interest in the show (which the uninteresting parts of the show will be discussed in this review) because I'm not that type of action kid who likes watching superhero cartoons. My only relations with Alien Force up to Omniverse is that I saw coming up next bumpers for each show. That's about it for both of them. Also, I didn't include Ben 10: Alien Swarm because I didn't watch it yet and there's no title card available for it online. Of course, there's the promo, but I'm looking for the official one.

But wow, look at the pie chart. Isn't it very interesting? Well, this is ought to be a long paragraph, but anyways, this is a true definition of a mixed bag where the good ratings balances the bad ratings. Heck, the ratings were consistent in quality on both sides that I had to call in a piece of history from Europe to separate the negative side of Ben 10 from the positive side. That's right, an iron curtain has descended across the franchise. Now back to the pie chart, where there's actually more episodes I disliked rather than like, with 46% of the pie chart being episodes I don't recommend at all compared to ones I recommend 45%. It's shocking because they're almost neck-and-neck between one another on what side will take up the most on the pie chart. Sadly, there are more damned episodes than blessed with a ratio of 19:15. Even though there's a lot of bad, don't worry because there's also a lot of good as well. And you're wondering about the mixed bag seal asking you, the viewer, to take sides. For that, I mean which side of the show are you on? Are you with the negative and dreadful part of the show or the improved and positive part? If you like to see bad ratings, then the north side of the scorecard would be your choice. If you hate that and rather wants to see some good episodes, come over to the south side of the scorecard where both sides balances loads of unpopular opinions. You know, this is like North Korea and South Korea where the red glow is North while the green glow is South. Well, enough of that.

Since the whole franchise has aired 5 shows total, I will split them in 4 sections for the 3 aspects of this franchise:
Original series

Alien Force/Ultimate Alien

Omniverse

Reboot
Why did I merge Ben 10: Alien Force with Ben 10: Ultimate Alien? Because they're mostly related with its storytelling, animation and characters. However, they both tend to have different plot points and the latter have more story arcs than Alien Force. And without a further adieu, let's talk about the one aspect this show sucks at up to Ben 10: Omniverse, the writing:

Original series: I really don't get the praise this show gets judging by the premise because it looks like Cartoon Network's answer to Disney Channel's Kim Possible and Nickelodeon's Danny Phantom with the superhero aspect and slice of life concepts being the main subplot. What makes the premise for Ben 10 (2005) very uninteresting in my opinion is that it's just a typical action cartoon. The only saving grace I can think of from the premise is that Ben has the ability to transform into different aliens, which I think is a cool addition to the premise, but that's all I can think of. I'm not really a fan of superhero cartoons due to a lot of them feeling the same, and this here shows the case of a generic cartoon. Most of its plots are either uninteresting stories that has the same structure as other superhero cartoons (which in that case is straightforward) or even worse, Ben 10 (2005) would borrow a lot of cliches as possible to merge them together to form its own stories without doing any clever execution to them. What I can give credit to the writing is that it at least gives depth to the settings and characters throughout the series with the addition of new aliens to the Omnitrix, interesting locations of Plumbers bases, etc. While the original series does a decent job at telling depth, the cliches may come in and make the backstories uninteresting or just predictable altogether, so not all of the depth is played perfectly. As we step forward into the 2nd season of Ben 10 (2005), plot holes are starting to crack up beneath the writing where there's a lot of plot points the writers forgot to describe or they were really oblivious that they made something way apart from Ben and teleport it to a place Ben is currently at. Randomly teleporting characters to other places is another unexplained situation that the writers don't seem to care about, which the worst case for that was in Gwen 10. Not only are there plot holes in the majority of the series, but also continuity errors 2 seasons later. This show follows continuity as starting Season 3, Gwen got her grasp on Charmcaster's spellbook in A Change of Face (which again, teleportation problems where the spell book seemingly teleported from Charmcaster's left sleeve over to Gwen's shirt for some illogical reason) and now it's revealed she has the power of Mana. For those continuity errors I'm talking about, villains would magically break out of prison because teleportation (which is a nitpick so no problem) and the null-void plot hole that at first in Back With a Vengeance, Vilgax and Kevin were stranded in the null-void, but then around the 4th season, they're back! How? The writers forgot to describe that where it makes the Season 2 finale pointless. Another case of the writers forgetting plot points is that one thing you didn't see coming, so you had to rewind the episode to get a closer look at what just happened and it's not there; Ben 10 (2005) puts no foreshadowing into their episodes that makes any plot twist out of nowhere and random. It's not Megas XLR's case where despite it being random, it's still clever and funny, it's the case where it mostly makes you more confused rather than amused. During some rare times in the series, there really isn't that much wrong to bash the writing, but they aren't literally something I want to go back to. From a bland superhero premise turns into a broken narrative that the writers didn't put that much effort into.

Alien Force/Ultimate Alien: Yawn. These shows are even more generic than Ben 10 (2005)! What's the case for this? The episodes have gotten twice as cliched and less interesting overtime. That's only one thing that returned in these sequels of the original, because there's actually more things I would die to describe; The continuity errors are still present in these shows except worse that makes us think that the new writers who wrote the script for these shows didn't watch the original series and would rather innovate what Ben and the gang would look like 5 years later. The most fatal continuity error from these shows is the fact that the Omnitrix is actually easy to separate from the owner's wrist despite the fact that as shown in the original series, the Omnitrix merges with the owner's DNA that makes it hard to separate. The separation and activation codes for the Omnitrix are nice additions to the watch, but why do you need the codes to separate the Omnitrix from owner's DNA if you can simply take it away from Ben's wrist easily? Next up, the action scenes that aren't anything special but not impressive in my opinion. They would usually be repetitive and even predictable at times (especially what moves the characters have up their sleeves) without offering that many plot twists to really bring up the suspense. And like the average episodes from Ben 10 (2005), most of the meh episodes where there isn't that much wrong with them are still nothing for me to flee back for but they just bore me due to being uninteresting and they simply fail at paying off good suspense. What good I can say about the writing that did return from the original series is that at least these shows explore the universe rather than stay on Earth. And with all that, it does present plenty of decent looking settings despite the rapidly dark animation. Also, the decent depth does return here, with the most surprising of them all is the world inside the Omnitrix. But not only does these shows revive the bad aspects of Ben 10 (2005), they also made some of their own. For example, most of the setups are plain repugnant. They are either cliched or even worse, goes on for too long and makes one character and idiot thinking Ben and the gang aren't Plumbers BUT aliens in disguise (the one setup that is really frustrating), which I'll get to in the characters section. There are even a few episodes that rather have no setup to explain how the villains/characters got here or did that in the first place, and it could've been valuable to the writing. Because of the serious action tone these shows have, there's also some episodes that rather wants to emphasize more on the action, which makes them boring and filled with repetitive action. Note that what happened in War of the Worlds would revive Ben's cringy ego from the original series, but once again, I'll get to that in the characters section. What else to make the episodes more unoriginal is when they rehash other episodes of other shows and play them off as their own. Heck, they even do it on themselves where they reuse the same concept over and over again where it gets tiresome. The most reused I can think of is when the antagonists seek help from the protagonists, which gets very predictable as its being used from time to time. I don't think it was a good decision to continue the franchise where the writing is twice as broken as before.

Omniverse: Surprisingly, the writing is a massive improvement over the last 3 shows. The last 3 have rather generic concepts, but this show does something new and different for not only the franchise, but also superhero cartoons in general. What is it you may ask? The homage to Ben Tennyson from 2 different time periods from when he was 11 years old and when he was 16. It's not a bad and generic concept because you could imagine that for a premise like this, both characters can interact with each other in a few episodes where it makes some interesting interactions between Ben's older self and his younger self. And it pays it all off for the writing. Ben 10: Omniverse dispose many problems from the first 3 shows, which includes the continuity errors, predictability, cliches, rehashing, etc. It also takes the good aspects from the first 3 and made them better as before. The description on certain objects/settings became compelling and a great contribution to some of the episode's structure and writing. This show does manage to creative a lot of very well timed and clever twists that fixes the foreshadowing problem from the original series and made these twists unexpecting and interesting rather than obvious and bland. What about the action scenes that the show has problems maintaining? It's like the clever twists where it has the right amount of twists and turns and plenty of foreshadowing that makes them void of being straightforward and dull. Not only does it have some awesome twists and fight scenes, but also breathtaking settings that we've never seen before in the franchise that acts like a breath of fresh air into any new setting the characters go to. Concepts such as an under town and different dimensions sound fitting and interesting for Ben 10 that expands into the history and brings out a lot of depth to the characters/aliens. The one aspect that this show manages to be distinct from the first 3 shows is the show's tone where it aims in a rather humorous way, and it works because this show does something different rather than be generic all the way. Even though some of the jokes didn't age well and have simple slapstick, I would say that Ben 10: Omniverse has a good sense of irony. One of the few problems I have regarding the humor is when it tries for anime-related jokes where the characters would show shocked anime-like expressions. It's a problem because it can be omnipresent in an episode where it poorly executes, but that doesn't make all the humor bad thanks to its solid irony. What this show mostly does right is that it's unsuspecting, engaging with real suspense, and have decent humor.

Reboot: So here we are at the most hated of the bunch, Ben 10 (2016). Yeah, at first, I thought this won't be a good show due to the dull premises and like The Powerpuff Girls reboot, I fear that it'll get its humor out of hand. Yes, while the episode premises are bland and generic, what really matters here is the execution, which I have yet to talk about so if you want to see me rant about the reboot, good luck finding cons in this paragraph. Anyways, I don't have that much to describe the writing. What makes most of these episodes stay in the positive zone is the clever amount of twists in them that returns from Ben 10: Omniverse. Yeah, it's just like The Powerpuff Girls reboot's writing where it aims for a different tone for the franchise and doesn't become that distinctive from the rest. What helps me get interested in a few of these episodes are when they're fast paced, which is a good thing considering that the show is a lot kid-friendly compared to the other Ben 10's. It doesn't go too fast where you don't know what's going on with the speed of the episodes, but rather like a brain rush for children. As for the humor, it's actually decent and doesn't poke that much into this decade's generation with cellphones and hashtags like The Powerpuff Girls reboot (but if this reboot was like the aforementioned show, then it'll feel completely different and worse than the reboot because it's directly rehashing it). Some things that make the humor work is that the show can get creative with its slapstick. Xingo is a huge example for the exaggerated slapstick because it involves cartoon violence and portrays it in a more creative direction where it shows Ben and Xingo as if they're trying to see who is the funniest. Also, there are some decent visual gags with text, which are something related to classic jokes from SpongeBob SquarePants like "Imagination". My only gripe with the humor is that how it makes fun of background characters are rather lame. And if you've been waiting for my problems, you've come to the right place; The rehashing returns here where this time, the reboot rehashes older episodes from the original series (The Ring Leader to Ready to Rumble, and Clown College is something like Last Laugh). Without any execution that makes some of the writing shine bright, a lot of the episodes aren't anything special, just like the ones from Ben 10 (2005) where it's all whatever for me. Also, why is there unnecessary dabbing in Season 2? You know, while the characters moves their arms, they would sometimes at one point dab for no reason or because it's one thing to keep the kids interested. And that's it. Not much to describe here except it's executed pretty well.

Want to know which show wins this category? Of course it's Ben 10: Omniverse. In fact, it wins every aspect of the show. Including this one:

Original series: This here is another indicator that Ben 10 (2005) is just generic. You see, this was at a time where action cartoons would have an anime touch to them with the thin lines. The original series does not try to deviate from the fad action cartoons were having at that time and wants to be like them, therefore bringing in some typical 2000's action animation with slightly realistic character designs, often dark color schemes and heroic orchestral music. If an action cartoon does have typical 2000's animation, then it should at least have some charm and credibility in them that makes them different from the other like cool effects, fluid character animation, the different tones, etc. Ben 10 (2005) does little to make itself different from the other shows and tries to make its effect look good, but it comes out as poorly done. The warbling effect is usually inconsistent and some of the transformations (or simply just weapons firing) scenes would flash epilepsy that it becomes a pain to look at. But that's just my view on the show because sometimes, it can be bothersome to me. The most unnecessary of them all is the static effect that poses as the textures for the backgrounds for the original series. Sometimes, the static does have animation going on, but most of the time, it doesn't, therefore making the static effect inconsistent in animation and plain unnecessary. It was a good thing they got rid of it in the 4th season. But, does the original series does something different? Well, they do. I can say that the stock sound effects are a guilty pleasure because despite being badly placed, it's still funny due to how bad they are. And I would say that some of the alien designs are solidly crafted, looking different from other humans and avoiding looking like a generic alien figure. Also, the backgrounds are painted nicely. Even though they are rather bland because Ben 10 (2005) mostly takes place on Earth, the crew did a good job with the backgrounds. One more surprising turn for the animation is when it utilizes computer animation that actually blends well, which is not a common case for cartoons since its time. I'd say that the voice acting does need some work, however, because Ben Tennyson sounds too old for a 10 year old or heck, doesn't sound like a boy at all sometimes. Despite a few positive things that keeps the show from looking generic, a lot of stuff are poorly executed.

Alien Force/Ultimate Alien: . Do I have to do this again? This is just like the writing where it's like Ben 10 (2005) except it's even more generic! I repeated myself about these shows. They're twice as generic as the original series that doesn't have that many redeemable qualities about it. The colors are much darker, the character designs are more realistic and there's very seriously a lot heroic background music playing through the series. I shall tear apart the animation one by one to describe what this simply does is incorrect. First off, there's way too much blue and black in the backgrounds where it creates a bad and generic color scheme for the show. It's that type of dark where you can't see almost everything in the background but also the characters as well, especially their hair. Most of the background is either just foreground black as its background or spam blue and black everywhere in the background to show that this is a very serious show that wants to be treated seriously. When it doesn't look overly dark, it still looks generic and bland. If you think that the darkness is too much, that also affects the lighting on certain objects, which is just awful and off. Objects include slime, which appears to be too light in a dark room and lava, which doesn't really glow in front of a dark atmosphere. That also says for the computer animation that also looks off for the show. It blends well with the backgrounds last show, but here though it doesn't try to blend with the traditional animation when there's no line strokes on the objects edges (rocks, plenty of buildings and waters are examples of this). What also returns from the original series is the badly done effects that takes a big toll on the animation and makes it unwatchable. Not only does the bulging and warbling look cheap and awkward to look at, but there's also cheaply made explosions and that one effect that wants to yell at me to look away or else, the flashing. There is just way too much flashing in these shows that they could even last up to minutes (the longest amount of flashing I can think of is from Fused). How the process for the flashing works is by using a foreground color, show it for one millisecond, and repeat it for a few frames and that's what the flashing is like in these shows. It also applies to some of the alien's powers that are also an eyesore to look like such as Chromastone's powers where it shows colors dashing around. It's not even a surprise that by 2012, it looks dated since the rise of vibrant animation granted by shows such as Adventure Time. I feel like this animation quality is way too dark, too generic and just bad overall.

Omniverse: Well, they did it again when they try to come up with something different for the franchise, and they paid it off really well. This type of animation style does something different for not only the franchise, but also for any kind of animation. The use of square tiles in different shades as a texture looks pretty original that blends with the background really well. It's not Ben 10: Alien Force/Ultimate Alien's case where the square tiles' shading looks off, it's actually shaded in a different amount of tones for the colors and then placed on the background. It works here because in a dark setting, not one square tile doesn't look too bright and the brightest square tile isn't even that bright. But, what makes the quality a lot distinct from the other Ben 10's and does a really good job at keeping up with the time period of the 2010s is the variety of hues used. I love it how this show manages to be relevant to its time by looking a little vibrant but also give really good color hues. Ben 10: Alien Force/Ultimate Alien tried to present its color hues, but it comes out as too dark and the lighting is just off often where it ruins the effect of the hue. This show keeps the lighting consistent and gets cool with it. Examples of color hues include the shading of the dark rooms in ships (it works here because it doesn't look too dark where black takes up almost the entire screen and its lighting is kept dark), the warm colors for sunset and sunrise, alarms flashing and the world where dimension portals roam. Then we have what a lot of Ben 10 fans kept complaining about; the character designs. Actually, I prefer these character designs over the first 3 shows because instead of looking like bland and generic people, they tend to distinct from one another. Sure, they don't have an interesting design, but the most interesting of their design are their pupils because it's a cool inclusion to their designs. Whether if the pupils colors be green, purple, brown, etc., they look interesting due to being simplistic. Although the first episodes have the epilepsy-induced flashing, it would later disappear later on in the series, finally. And what about the background music, the one aspect that stays generic throughout a majority of the franchise? Sure, there's few typical superhero background music, but there's more variety in them such as cartoon stings and many others that captures the tone of each part of an episode well. It may utilize some stock sound effects with the most cringiest one out of them all is the screaming sheep sound effect (not as bad as the unnecessary dabbing from the reboot), but it's not used rapidly. Overall, this is a breath of fresh air for the animation where it tries something different and it succeeds at its originality, relevance, and variety.

Reboot: This was another aspect I fear would be generic 2010s animation with the vibrant animation and simplistic character designs. Well, of course there's some generic aspects regarding the animation such as the simplistic character designs who look bland now. Despite of that, it was better than I'd thought. The hue variety from Ben 10: Omniverse returns here with the sunset/sunrise being the case. The paint backgrounds add a new touch to the show that makes the reboot have some charm in the animation department like the transparency of the clouds solidly blends with the skies, and thick pencil line strokes on plenty of background objects such as cars (including the Rust Bucket). It seems to follow the path Ben 10: Omniverse left behind with its square tiles being the texture, but not the case for the reboot because it doesn't actually use square tiles as its texture. What the show's real textures appear to be are solid that are used with good amount of variety with them, just like Ben 10: Omniverse. Background objects like trees and clouds that have a dissolve effect in them and some impressive underwater effects that look better than the ones from the original series and Ben 10: Alien Force/Ultimate Alien are good choices for what the effects are going to be like. For the character designs, like I said again, they look bland, but for the background characters, instead of looking like they came out of Clarence like in The Powerpuff Girls reboot, they look like they came straight from We Bare Bears with the design of their faces being the case. A relatively short paragraph compared to the others, but it's all I can describe the animation style. Sure, it can be bland sometimes, but it does have some aspects from Ben 10: Omniverse that makes it otherwise decent animation.

Time for me to bash on your favorite characters? Be prepared.

Original series: Oh man. And by that, I mean the main characters are annoying as heck. Yes, they are children, but in a way where there are points where I can't stand them. Ben and Gwen are rather obnoxious contributions to the brother/sister relationship (who are actually cousins but feel like they're part of that trope) who randomly develop in the middle of the story for some reason. Now I don't have a problem with character development only if it makes sense. This is the case where one character would jump from one personality to another because of a fight going on. And what my problem with that? Them changing their personality because it's hero time feels really rushed. There are also times where the characters don't develop and stay the same attitude they had from the beginning and stay with it until the end. And back to Ben and Gwen, where they barely bond (which makes sense) at all and the way they view each other in one episode happens again and again in a lot of episodes. At first, they would normally bicker like children. And when danger arises, they became serious quickly. Not only are they pretty annoying characters, but they can be arrogant, especially Ben who feels like your typical boy character. It's even worse when he's a loser in school that we're supposed to sympathize with him and then it's shown that he can get bratty often. As for Max, he is a good character with a creative depth, showing he's a retired Plumber with a lot of stuff going on throughout his life as we learn more about him throughout this franchise, and I'd say he's one of the few characters I like in the original series. He avoids being one-dimensional and has a good sense of heart and care for Ben and Gwen. Comparing him to other characters where their backstories would be cliched and obvious and his backstories would unfortunately be the most interesting one out of them all. And as for the villains, they're not really interesting as well. They are just a generic villain who can act menacing and be very serious. They're nowhere near as good as the villains from Kim Possible where they actually have interesting depth and likable charm that voids them from being dull villains. I'd say the worst villain of them all would be Charmcaster because at first, it's hard to determine what role she's in at her very first appearance in the franchise. See this; At first, she feels a little manipulated by Hex and there were times where she tries to seek help from Gwen to get away from Hex, but too bad because that was really irrelevant to include in that specific episode. The reason why I dislike her is because I don't know if I should root for her or not. Of course, she is a villain, but other times, she trying to get away from Hex is just there. It would also continue into the next series as well where she's actually a good girl in Where the Magic Happens, and suddenly (and very obviously) revert back to villain in Enemy of My Frenemy. There wasn't that many characters I liked and the ones I remember from the original series are rather annoying and bland.

Alien Force/Ultimate Alien: Do I even need to say it again? This time, the characters are not only one-dimensional versions of their former selves in the first 2 seasons of Ben 10: Alien Force, they are still annoying despite the fact that Ben and Gwen got over their bickering years ago (although it wasn't explained how that happened). Some of the characters feel like cliched character tropes used a bunch of times and heck, feel similar to other characters from other shows. That I say goes to Julie, a typical-uninteresting love interest. Plus, because of that the first 3 shows suck as continuity, it is bound to affect the characters as well. For example, Vilgax's fate is unclear here because earlier in Alien Force, Ben told us that he defeated Vilgax years ago, so that means that he is gone, right? Obviously no because no one can die in the franchise, and so he is back in Season 3. That's also the same case as Ghostfreak where he magically came back in Ghost Town with no explanation. But what about Ben? Was he better than his original series counterpart? Not a bit. Despite being less bratty, he is overly egotistical after the events of War of the Worlds, bragging about how he "saved the universe" from that random episode with no foreshadowing and would look upon Kevin and Gwen and ask them who saved the universe. So, to sum up Ben's behavior starting Ben 10: Alien Force Season 3, his annoyance no longer comes from his bratty attitude, but worse, his ego. As for my problems with Kevin, him joining the gang was a little rushed. A more fatal issue for Kevin is that he would usually betray Ben and Gwen in a rushed direction in order to get his hands on something Ben and Gwen would not be satisfied with. In fact, his betrayals towards Ben and Gwen would very often be rushed with the stupidest case being in The Forge of Creation where he thinks Ben and Gwen view him as a monster, even though they don't. And that's what really obnoxious about these characters; that one frustrating cliche where characters don't believe what the other character is saying about him when he/she is actually telling the truth. That goes for my next problem; at first, few of the Plumbers are complete idiots when they view Ben, Gwen and Kevin as "impersonating Plumbers". Weren't they reminded that Ben and Gwen are the grandchildren of Grandpa Max? There was even one point where they were actually saving the day, but then in Plumbers' Helpers, Manny, a Plumber's helper, was still not convinced that they're heroes and decides to just capture them despite saving the day. That's actually villainous work, not heroic, and portrays a Plumber, who is usually on the protagonist side, as a villain. And the aliens? Some of them feel like copies of older aliens (Fasttrack is a direct copy of XLR8 and Swampfire has similar design and powers of Heatblast). Let's not forget the new villains, who are also affected by the show's repetition where the idea of villains absorbing powers from other characters is a dull power which was reused multiple times. They are still uninteresting villains because there isn't that much charm in them. In fact, a few of them might be cliched, including Ma Vreedle where she is feared by a lot of people. However, there is one former villain who used to be an antagonist but now just an anti-hero where I found worse than Charmcaster and who really grinds my gear is Princess Attea. She was the reason for the terrible writing of X = Ben + 2 where the Incurseans will blow up Earth all because of her, specifically if she didn't return. I found her motives just stupid and more irritating is that she is like a Mary Sue to the Incurseans where the Incurseans want the princess so bad from Earth. The motives of Attea I was talking about is that she overthrew Emperor Milleous for a very stupid reason that all along, Sevenseven wasn't actually the bad guy. What I'm talking about is that according to my analysis on the franchise, she became ruler of the Incurseans, and I don't even know what she wants to do with them. It would also continue into The Frogs of War's dumb ending where she betrayed her race just to be ruler. But enough talking about terrible villains, the characters are no better but annoying and very dumb at times.

Omniverse: This show needs a lot in order to heal the wounds Ben 10: Alien Force and Ben 10: Ultimate Alien caused, and it does recover from the mess of the characters. One thing I took down in my notes is that I noticed that Ben's ego is actually toned down and he's just a normal character now that isn't either bratty or egotistical. Sure, he can be egotistical and arrogant in few episodes, but it doesn't do any harm where it appears often in an episode. So, as you can see, this show tries to clean up the mess and it shed light on plenty of character development and heck, the new characters now have a likable charm. The only thing this show failed to get away is that young Ben and Gwen are still annoying. Going too far is when Max can't give Gwen a seat because the seats are full in Trouble Helix, despite the fact that Azmuth is small and Gwen and fit in that seat perfectly. But anyways, the new characters have fascinating motives and depth throughout the series. Sure, there are a few characters that feel rather pointless, but there are some such as Mr. Baumann who are given the spotlight in a certain episode where it fleshes out his/her character in a way where he/she is fully developed and makes it easy for us to sympathize with him/her. You see, it's nice to see some characters get a main focus in certain amount of episodes of Ben 10: Omniverse and actually do something interesting for them rather than just be a side character all along. Their roles can either be comedic (like Blukic and Driba's roles in Blukic and Driba Go to Mr. Smoothy's) or rather dramatic (like Mr. Baumann's story in The Ballad of Mr. Baumann). The tone of each episode affects how the characters behave in a way where they fit very well in the story, therefore having a great portrayal and cool appearance. Some of the new characters are even relatable who also have a good portrayal of themselves and sometimes a good sense of humor (Rook). To help the development work in Ben 10: Omniverse, there were real character arcs that portray the development for the characters and how their experiences change throughout the episode. And what about the backstories? They're no longer cliched thanks to the show avoiding them, but instead pretty clever and sometimes relatable. Ben 10: Omniverse does something refreshing to the characters by giving them a interesting motive, focus and mass amount of character development.

Reboot: I don't think the characters from the reboots are a major letdown. I find them pretty good to be honest. Sure, Ben continues his bratty and egotistical behavior, but what really matter here is that Ben and Gwen's bond is now justified and no longer annoying. That doesn't mean that they stopped bickering because sometimes, they can still annoy each other sometimes, but other times, they actually care for each other, especially Gwen where she no longer does anything annoying to Ben. To sum up Ben and Gwen is that their bond is better than the original series' because sometimes, they can care for each other and show sportsmanship towards one another. That also explains the decent character development for the characters as well. Max, on the other hand, feels like Professor Utonium from The Powerpuff Girls reboot where he's used for the humor, which is unfortunately a fatal blow to his character. But that's not harmful to the majority of the cast because some of the new villains are actually interesting with a fascinating motive. Yep, it's like Ben 10: Omniverse where it fixes the issues the first 3 shows had and took care of them. They're no longer cliched villains but rather clever ones, especially Steam Smythe. Plus, their schemes can be exaggerated in a more creative direction rather than be just bland. However, the background characters aren't like Ben, Gwen, or the villains because they're remain oblivious of what just happened to them and continue on what they were doing rather than thank Ben for saving them. Once again, it's short because I don't have that much to describe the characters. They're more likeable and have decent amount of charm in them.

Time for my final thoughts on all 5 shows. They'll still be divided into sections, but I will also include a verdict on all of them as well.

Original series: This is just a generic superhero cartoon that doesn't have the same charm Kim Possible has or near the levels of Danny Phantom. The writing is broken, there's not much in the animation, the main characters are annoying, the villains are dull, barely anything stands out of it. I would rather not watch this again and because that there's not much good stuff, it's inadequate (33%). Only if it were less annoying and more dependent on what's going on with its continuity and story and it'll look better.

Alien Force/Ultimate Alien: What's the point of another sequel when all it offers is multiplied the cons of the original with so much plot holes, idiocy, repetition, even more generic nature, blander characters who can easily betray, that flash effect, and being two unsatisfactory shows (22%) altogether? I would definitely stay away from this more than the original series. Never have I seen the sequel make the cons of its predecessor worse than before!

Omniverse: Hey, it's nice to see the franchise take a turn and try something different. This is one of those shows I don't get the hate for because the humor and some bits of idiocy is an issue, but I don't understand all of the problems for this continuation. I like it for being different from the others with engaging story-telling, decent humor, fascinating and original animation style and greatly-developed characters. Well, I'm surprised that the Ben 10 franchise took a big turn and wish that the franchise would just stop, but it shines like divine (81%). In my opinion, this show is the real Ben 10 and is something I want to watch again, despite a few weak ones.

Reboot: I don't think this is a step down from Ben 10: Omniverse because while it's not that good, I can safely say that it's still a lot better than the original, Alien Force and Ultimate Alien. It has decent humor, good execution, nice textures and charm inside the characters just like Omniverse has while facing minor issues such as bland character designs and episode premises and sometimes jerky characters. If the show continues to keep it up and avoid entering alright territory, it'll remain ample (71%) at best.

THE VERDICT: This franchise used to stunk badly with too many cliches, continuity errors, annoying characters and feeling generic most of the time, but later on, it picked up when it brought in good story-telling with clever twists, unique animation styles, better execution and developed-characters. If the reboot was just okay, then I wouldn't recommend this franchise at all, but thanks to 2 good shows, it has just enough positive aspects to bring the franchise up to tolerable (45%). Despite having 2 atrocious superhero cartoons that don't shine very bright and rather stay dark like the animation and tone itself, I surprisingly began to like the franchise when the overhated ones came by. Typing this review was pretty long. Just like the duration of watching the entire franchise, which took me around 3 weeks to complete the entire franchise and get the scorecard on the way. In the beginning, I was anticipated to make the scorecard and now that I finally made it, I'm satisfied and complete over watching the series and getting the scorecard done. Watching the entire franchise was so long that I had to delay the scorecard twice just because it took too long to review.

And speaking of too long, you may notice the "DISCONTINUED" sign on the title. Well, this isn't the first time I discontinued a scorecard , but here, while I do like this scorecard, it has me taking so many screenshots of the reboot's title cards that it really takes up too much time updating this scorecard especially when there are too many new episodes of the series. The underlined text is basically another reason why I don't feel like continuing this scorecard because while the reboot isn't bad, the atmosphere of the series personally doesn't interest me and I found myself distracted a little watching the more recent episodes. In other words, the reboot is not interesting for me personally. However, I think I have watched enough episodes to think that my final thoughts on the show are pretty much finalized so maybe it's a good time to stop working on this scorecard not just because of it having too many episodes as well as the lengthy production of updating it but also because I'm dealing with way too many ongoing shows that it's taking up so much of my time and compared to those shows, the reboot doesn't matter much in this community nor my top 10 lists. The linked scorecard made me annoyed at it being burned off a network I don't have access to plus the bad production values, but Ben 10 (2016)? I simply have lost interest in the series, but there could be someday when I could revive this scorecard at one point.

Description
Next, we have Cartoon Network's poster boy for merchandising. The only show from this franchise I remember watching was a few episodes from the original series. To prove that, I remembered what the theme song sounded like and yeah. Although this was one of the first action cartoons I've watched, I didn't have an interest in the show (which the uninteresting parts of the show will be discussed in this review) because I'm not that type of action kid who likes watching superhero cartoons. My only relations with Alien Force up to Omniverse is that I saw coming up next bumpers for each show. That's about it for both of them. Also, I didn't include Ben 10: Alien Swarm because I didn't watch it yet and there's no title card available for it online. Of course, there's the promo, but I'm looking for the official one.

But wow, look at the pie chart. Isn't it very interesting? Well, this is ought to be a long paragraph, but anyways, this is a true definition of a mixed bag where the good ratings balances the bad ratings. Heck, the ratings were consistent in quality on both sides that I had to call in a piece of history from Europe to separate the negative side of Ben 10 from the positive side. That's right, an iron curtain has descended across the franchise. Now back to the pie chart, where there's actually more episodes I disliked rather than like, with 46% of the pie chart being episodes I don't recommend at all compared to ones I recommend 45%. It's shocking because they're almost neck-and-neck between one another on what side will take up the most on the pie chart. Sadly, there are more damned episodes than blessed with a ratio of 19:15. Even though there's a lot of bad, don't worry because there's also a lot of good as well. And you're wondering about the mixed bag seal asking you, the viewer, to take sides. For that, I mean which side of the show are you on? Are you with the negative and dreadful part of the show or the improved and positive part? If you like to see bad ratings, then the north side of the scorecard would be your choice. If you hate that and rather wants to see some good episodes, come over to the south side of the scorecard where both sides balances loads of unpopular opinions. You know, this is like North Korea and South Korea where the red glow is North while the green glow is South. Well, enough of that.

Since the whole franchise has aired 5 shows total, I will split them in 4 sections for the 3 aspects of this franchise:
Original series

Alien Force/Ultimate Alien

Omniverse

Reboot
Why did I merge Ben 10: Alien Force with Ben 10: Ultimate Alien? Because they're mostly related with its storytelling, animation and characters. However, they both tend to have different plot points and the latter have more story arcs than Alien Force. And without a further adieu, let's talk about the one aspect this show sucks at up to Ben 10: Omniverse, the writing:

Original series: I really don't get the praise this show gets judging by the premise because it looks like Cartoon Network's answer to Disney Channel's Kim Possible and Nickelodeon's Danny Phantom with the superhero aspect and slice of life concepts being the main subplot. What makes the premise for Ben 10 (2005) very uninteresting in my opinion is that it's just a typical action cartoon. The only saving grace I can think of from the premise is that Ben has the ability to transform into different aliens, which I think is a cool addition to the premise, but that's all I can think of. I'm not really a fan of superhero cartoons due to a lot of them feeling the same, and this here shows the case of a generic cartoon. Most of its plots are either uninteresting stories that has the same structure as other superhero cartoons (which in that case is straightforward) or even worse, Ben 10 (2005) would borrow a lot of cliches as possible to merge them together to form its own stories without doing any clever execution to them. What I can give credit to the writing is that it at least gives depth to the settings and characters throughout the series with the addition of new aliens to the Omnitrix, interesting locations of Plumbers bases, etc. While the original series does a decent job at telling depth, the cliches may come in and make the backstories uninteresting or just predictable altogether, so not all of the depth is played perfectly. As we step forward into the 2nd season of Ben 10 (2005), plot holes are starting to crack up beneath the writing where there's a lot of plot points the writers forgot to describe or they were really oblivious that they made something way apart from Ben and teleport it to a place Ben is currently at. Randomly teleporting characters to other places is another unexplained situation that the writers don't seem to care about, which the worst case for that was in Gwen 10. Not only are there plot holes in the majority of the series, but also continuity errors 2 seasons later. This show follows continuity as starting Season 3, Gwen got her grasp on Charmcaster's spellbook in A Change of Face (which again, teleportation problems where the spell book seemingly teleported from Charmcaster's left sleeve over to Gwen's shirt for some illogical reason) and now it's revealed she has the power of Mana. For those continuity errors I'm talking about, villains would magically break out of prison because teleportation (which is a nitpick so no problem) and the null-void plot hole that at first in Back With a Vengeance, Vilgax and Kevin were stranded in the null-void, but then around the 4th season, they're back! How? The writers forgot to describe that where it makes the Season 2 finale pointless. Another case of the writers forgetting plot points is that one thing you didn't see coming, so you had to rewind the episode to get a closer look at what just happened and it's not there; Ben 10 (2005) puts no foreshadowing into their episodes that makes any plot twist out of nowhere and random. It's not Megas XLR's case where despite it being random, it's still clever and funny, it's the case where it mostly makes you more confused rather than amused. During some rare times in the series, there really isn't that much wrong to bash the writing, but they aren't literally something I want to go back to. From a bland superhero premise turns into a broken narrative that the writers didn't put that much effort into.

Alien Force/Ultimate Alien: Yawn. These shows are even more generic than Ben 10 (2005)! What's the case for this? The episodes have gotten twice as cliched and less interesting overtime. That's only one thing that returned in these sequels of the original, because there's actually more things I would die to describe; The continuity errors are still present in these shows except worse that makes us think that the new writers who wrote the script for these shows didn't watch the original series and would rather innovate what Ben and the gang would look like 5 years later. The most fatal continuity error from these shows is the fact that the Omnitrix is actually easy to separate from the owner's wrist despite the fact that as shown in the original series, the Omnitrix merges with the owner's DNA that makes it hard to separate. The separation and activation codes for the Omnitrix are nice additions to the watch, but why do you need the codes to separate the Omnitrix from owner's DNA if you can simply take it away from Ben's wrist easily? Next up, the action scenes that aren't anything special but not impressive in my opinion. They would usually be repetitive and even predictable at times (especially what moves the characters have up their sleeves) without offering that many plot twists to really bring up the suspense. And like the average episodes from Ben 10 (2005), most of the meh episodes where there isn't that much wrong with them are still nothing for me to flee back for but they just bore me due to being uninteresting and they simply fail at paying off good suspense. What good I can say about the writing that did return from the original series is that at least these shows explore the universe rather than stay on Earth. And with all that, it does present plenty of decent looking settings despite the rapidly dark animation. Also, the decent depth does return here, with the most surprising of them all is the world inside the Omnitrix. But not only does these shows revive the bad aspects of Ben 10 (2005), they also made some of their own. For example, most of the setups are plain repugnant. They are either cliched or even worse, goes on for too long and makes one character and idiot thinking Ben and the gang aren't Plumbers BUT aliens in disguise (the one setup that is really frustrating), which I'll get to in the characters section. There are even a few episodes that rather have no setup to explain how the villains/characters got here or did that in the first place, and it could've been valuable to the writing. Because of the serious action tone these shows have, there's also some episodes that rather wants to emphasize more on the action, which makes them boring and filled with repetitive action. Note that what happened in War of the Worlds would revive Ben's cringy ego from the original series, but once again, I'll get to that in the characters section. What else to make the episodes more unoriginal is when they rehash other episodes of other shows and play them off as their own. Heck, they even do it on themselves where they reuse the same concept over and over again where it gets tiresome. The most reused I can think of is when the antagonists seek help from the protagonists, which gets very predictable as its being used from time to time. I don't think it was a good decision to continue the franchise where the writing is twice as broken as before.

Omniverse: Surprisingly, the writing is a massive improvement over the last 3 shows. The last 3 have rather generic concepts, but this show does something new and different for not only the franchise, but also superhero cartoons in general. What is it you may ask? The homage to Ben Tennyson from 2 different time periods from when he was 11 years old and when he was 16. It's not a bad and generic concept because you could imagine that for a premise like this, both characters can interact with each other in a few episodes where it makes some interesting interactions between Ben's older self and his younger self. And it pays it all off for the writing. Ben 10: Omniverse dispose many problems from the first 3 shows, which includes the continuity errors, predictability, cliches, rehashing, etc. It also takes the good aspects from the first 3 and made them better as before. The description on certain objects/settings became compelling and a great contribution to some of the episode's structure and writing. This show does manage to creative a lot of very well timed and clever twists that fixes the foreshadowing problem from the original series and made these twists unexpecting and interesting rather than obvious and bland. What about the action scenes that the show has problems maintaining? It's like the clever twists where it has the right amount of twists and turns and plenty of foreshadowing that makes them void of being straightforward and dull. Not only does it have some awesome twists and fight scenes, but also breathtaking settings that we've never seen before in the franchise that acts like a breath of fresh air into any new setting the characters go to. Concepts such as an under town and different dimensions sound fitting and interesting for Ben 10 that expands into the history and brings out a lot of depth to the characters/aliens. The one aspect that this show manages to be distinct from the first 3 shows is the show's tone where it aims in a rather humorous way, and it works because this show does something different rather than be generic all the way. Even though some of the jokes didn't age well and have simple slapstick, I would say that Ben 10: Omniverse has a good sense of irony. One of the few problems I have regarding the humor is when it tries for anime-related jokes where the characters would show shocked anime-like expressions. It's a problem because it can be omnipresent in an episode where it poorly executes, but that doesn't make all the humor bad thanks to its solid irony. What this show mostly does right is that it's unsuspecting, engaging with real suspense, and have decent humor.

Reboot: So here we are at the most hated of the bunch, Ben 10 (2016). Yeah, at first, I thought this won't be a good show due to the dull premises and like The Powerpuff Girls reboot, I fear that it'll get its humor out of hand. Yes, while the episode premises are bland and generic, what really matters here is the execution, which I have yet to talk about so if you want to see me rant about the reboot, good luck finding cons in this paragraph. Anyways, I don't have that much to describe the writing. What makes most of these episodes stay in the positive zone is the clever amount of twists in them that returns from Ben 10: Omniverse. Yeah, it's just like The Powerpuff Girls reboot's writing where it aims for a different tone for the franchise and doesn't become that distinctive from the rest. What helps me get interested in a few of these episodes are when they're fast paced, which is a good thing considering that the show is a lot kid-friendly compared to the other Ben 10's. It doesn't go too fast where you don't know what's going on with the speed of the episodes, but rather like a brain rush for children. As for the humor, it's actually decent and doesn't poke that much into this decade's generation with cellphones and hashtags like The Powerpuff Girls reboot (but if this reboot was like the aforementioned show, then it'll feel completely different and worse than the reboot because it's directly rehashing it). Some things that make the humor work is that the show can get creative with its slapstick. Xingo is a huge example for the exaggerated slapstick because it involves cartoon violence and portrays it in a more creative direction where it shows Ben and Xingo as if they're trying to see who is the funniest. Also, there are some decent visual gags with text, which are something related to classic jokes from SpongeBob SquarePants like "Imagination". My only gripe with the humor is that how it makes fun of background characters are rather lame. And if you've been waiting for my problems, you've come to the right place; The rehashing returns here where this time, the reboot rehashes older episodes from the original series (The Ring Leader to Ready to Rumble, and Clown College is something like Last Laugh). Without any execution that makes some of the writing shine bright, a lot of the episodes aren't anything special, just like the ones from Ben 10 (2005) where it's all whatever for me. Also, why is there unnecessary dabbing in Season 2? You know, while the characters moves their arms, they would sometimes at one point dab for no reason or because it's one thing to keep the kids interested. And that's it. Not much to describe here except it's executed pretty well.

Want to know which show wins this category? Of course it's Ben 10: Omniverse. In fact, it wins every aspect of the show. Including this one:

Original series: This here is another indicator that Ben 10 (2005) is just generic. You see, this was at a time where action cartoons would have an anime touch to them with the thin lines. The original series does not try to deviate from the fad action cartoons were having at that time and wants to be like them, therefore bringing in some typical 2000's action animation with slightly realistic character designs, often dark color schemes and heroic orchestral music. If an action cartoon does have typical 2000's animation, then it should at least have some charm and credibility in them that makes them different from the other like cool effects, fluid character animation, the different tones, etc. Ben 10 (2005) does little to make itself different from the other shows and tries to make its effect look good, but it comes out as poorly done. The warbling effect is usually inconsistent and some of the transformations (or simply just weapons firing) scenes would flash epilepsy that it becomes a pain to look at. But that's just my view on the show because sometimes, it can be bothersome to me. The most unnecessary of them all is the static effect that poses as the textures for the backgrounds for the original series. Sometimes, the static does have animation going on, but most of the time, it doesn't, therefore making the static effect inconsistent in animation and plain unnecessary. It was a good thing they got rid of it in the 4th season. But, does the original series does something different? Well, they do. I can say that the stock sound effects are a guilty pleasure because despite being badly placed, it's still funny due to how bad they are. And I would say that some of the alien designs are solidly crafted, looking different from other humans and avoiding looking like a generic alien figure. Also, the backgrounds are painted nicely. Even though they are rather bland because Ben 10 (2005) mostly takes place on Earth, the crew did a good job with the backgrounds. One more surprising turn for the animation is when it utilizes computer animation that actually blends well, which is not a common case for cartoons since its time. I'd say that the voice acting does need some work, however, because Ben Tennyson sounds too old for a 10 year old or heck, doesn't sound like a boy at all sometimes. Despite a few positive things that keeps the show from looking generic, a lot of stuff are poorly executed.

Alien Force/Ultimate Alien: . Do I have to do this again? This is just like the writing where it's like Ben 10 (2005) except it's even more generic! I repeated myself about these shows. They're twice as generic as the original series that doesn't have that many redeemable qualities about it. The colors are much darker, the character designs are more realistic and there's very seriously a lot heroic background music playing through the series. I shall tear apart the animation one by one to describe what this simply does is incorrect. First off, there's way too much blue and black in the backgrounds where it creates a bad and generic color scheme for the show. It's that type of dark where you can't see almost everything in the background but also the characters as well, especially their hair. Most of the background is either just foreground black as its background or spam blue and black everywhere in the background to show that this is a very serious show that wants to be treated seriously. When it doesn't look overly dark, it still looks generic and bland. If you think that the darkness is too much, that also affects the lighting on certain objects, which is just awful and off. Objects include slime, which appears to be too light in a dark room and lava, which doesn't really glow in front of a dark atmosphere. That also says for the computer animation that also looks off for the show. It blends well with the backgrounds last show, but here though it doesn't try to blend with the traditional animation when there's no line strokes on the objects edges (rocks, plenty of buildings and waters are examples of this). What also returns from the original series is the badly done effects that takes a big toll on the animation and makes it unwatchable. Not only does the bulging and warbling look cheap and awkward to look at, but there's also cheaply made explosions and that one effect that wants to yell at me to look away or else, the flashing. There is just way too much flashing in these shows that they could even last up to minutes (the longest amount of flashing I can think of is from Fused). How the process for the flashing works is by using a foreground color, show it for one millisecond, and repeat it for a few frames and that's what the flashing is like in these shows. It also applies to some of the alien's powers that are also an eyesore to look like such as Chromastone's powers where it shows colors dashing around. It's not even a surprise that by 2012, it looks dated since the rise of vibrant animation granted by shows such as Adventure Time. I feel like this animation quality is way too dark, too generic and just bad overall.

Omniverse: Well, they did it again when they try to come up with something different for the franchise, and they paid it off really well. This type of animation style does something different for not only the franchise, but also for any kind of animation. The use of square tiles in different shades as a texture looks pretty original that blends with the background really well. It's not Ben 10: Alien Force/Ultimate Alien's case where the square tiles' shading looks off, it's actually shaded in a different amount of tones for the colors and then placed on the background. It works here because in a dark setting, not one square tile doesn't look too bright and the brightest square tile isn't even that bright. But, what makes the quality a lot distinct from the other Ben 10's and does a really good job at keeping up with the time period of the 2010s is the variety of hues used. I love it how this show manages to be relevant to its time by looking a little vibrant but also give really good color hues. Ben 10: Alien Force/Ultimate Alien tried to present its color hues, but it comes out as too dark and the lighting is just off often where it ruins the effect of the hue. This show keeps the lighting consistent and gets cool with it. Examples of color hues include the shading of the dark rooms in ships (it works here because it doesn't look too dark where black takes up almost the entire screen and its lighting is kept dark), the warm colors for sunset and sunrise, alarms flashing and the world where dimension portals roam. Then we have what a lot of Ben 10 fans kept complaining about; the character designs. Actually, I prefer these character designs over the first 3 shows because instead of looking like bland and generic people, they tend to distinct from one another. Sure, they don't have an interesting design, but the most interesting of their design are their pupils because it's a cool inclusion to their designs. Whether if the pupils colors be green, purple, brown, etc., they look interesting due to being simplistic. Although the first episodes have the epilepsy-induced flashing, it would later disappear later on in the series, finally. And what about the background music, the one aspect that stays generic throughout a majority of the franchise? Sure, there's few typical superhero background music, but there's more variety in them such as cartoon stings and many others that captures the tone of each part of an episode well. It may utilize some stock sound effects with the most cringiest one out of them all is the screaming sheep sound effect (not as bad as the unnecessary dabbing from the reboot), but it's not used rapidly. Overall, this is a breath of fresh air for the animation where it tries something different and it succeeds at its originality, relevance, and variety.

Reboot: This was another aspect I fear would be generic 2010s animation with the vibrant animation and simplistic character designs. Well, of course there's some generic aspects regarding the animation such as the simplistic character designs who look bland now. Despite of that, it was better than I'd thought. The hue variety from Ben 10: Omniverse returns here with the sunset/sunrise being the case. The paint backgrounds add a new touch to the show that makes the reboot have some charm in the animation department like the transparency of the clouds solidly blends with the skies, and thick pencil line strokes on plenty of background objects such as cars (including the Rust Bucket). It seems to follow the path Ben 10: Omniverse left behind with its square tiles being the texture, but not the case for the reboot because it doesn't actually use square tiles as its texture. What the show's real textures appear to be are solid that are used with good amount of variety with them, just like Ben 10: Omniverse. Background objects like trees and clouds that have a dissolve effect in them and some impressive underwater effects that look better than the ones from the original series and Ben 10: Alien Force/Ultimate Alien are good choices for what the effects are going to be like. For the character designs, like I said again, they look bland, but for the background characters, instead of looking like they came out of Clarence like in The Powerpuff Girls reboot, they look like they came straight from We Bare Bears with the design of their faces being the case. A relatively short paragraph compared to the others, but it's all I can describe the animation style. Sure, it can be bland sometimes, but it does have some aspects from Ben 10: Omniverse that makes it otherwise decent animation.

Time for me to bash on your favorite characters? Be prepared.

Original series: Oh man. And by that, I mean the main characters are annoying as heck. Yes, they are children, but in a way where there are points where I can't stand them. Ben and Gwen are rather obnoxious contributions to the brother/sister relationship (who are actually cousins but feel like they're part of that trope) who randomly develop in the middle of the story for some reason. Now I don't have a problem with character development only if it makes sense. This is the case where one character would jump from one personality to another because of a fight going on. And what my problem with that? Them changing their personality because it's hero time feels really rushed. There are also times where the characters don't develop and stay the same attitude they had from the beginning and stay with it until the end. And back to Ben and Gwen, where they barely bond (which makes sense) at all and the way they view each other in one episode happens again and again in a lot of episodes. At first, they would normally bicker like children. And when danger arises, they became serious quickly. Not only are they pretty annoying characters, but they can be arrogant, especially Ben who feels like your typical boy character. It's even worse when he's a loser in school that we're supposed to sympathize with him and then it's shown that he can get bratty often. As for Max, he is a good character with a creative depth, showing he's a retired Plumber with a lot of stuff going on throughout his life as we learn more about him throughout this franchise, and I'd say he's one of the few characters I like in the original series. He avoids being one-dimensional and has a good sense of heart and care for Ben and Gwen. Comparing him to other characters where their backstories would be cliched and obvious and his backstories would unfortunately be the most interesting one out of them all. And as for the villains, they're not really interesting as well. They are just a generic villain who can act menacing and be very serious. They're nowhere near as good as the villains from Kim Possible where they actually have interesting depth and likable charm that voids them from being dull villains. I'd say the worst villain of them all would be Charmcaster because at first, it's hard to determine what role she's in at her very first appearance in the franchise. See this; At first, she feels a little manipulated by Hex and there were times where she tries to seek help from Gwen to get away from Hex, but too bad because that was really irrelevant to include in that specific episode. The reason why I dislike her is because I don't know if I should root for her or not. Of course, she is a villain, but other times, she trying to get away from Hex is just there. It would also continue into the next series as well where she's actually a good girl in Where the Magic Happens, and suddenly (and very obviously) revert back to villain in Enemy of My Frenemy. There wasn't that many characters I liked and the ones I remember from the original series are rather annoying and bland.

Alien Force/Ultimate Alien: Do I even need to say it again? This time, the characters are not only one-dimensional versions of their former selves in the first 2 seasons of Ben 10: Alien Force, they are still annoying despite the fact that Ben and Gwen got over their bickering years ago (although it wasn't explained how that happened). Some of the characters feel like cliched character tropes used a bunch of times and heck, feel similar to other characters from other shows. That I say goes to Julie, a typical-uninteresting love interest. Plus, because of that the first 3 shows suck as continuity, it is bound to affect the characters as well. For example, Vilgax's fate is unclear here because earlier in Alien Force, Ben told us that he defeated Vilgax years ago, so that means that he is gone, right? Obviously no because no one can die in the franchise, and so he is back in Season 3. That's also the same case as Ghostfreak where he magically came back in Ghost Town with no explanation. But what about Ben? Was he better than his original series counterpart? Not a bit. Despite being less bratty, he is overly egotistical after the events of War of the Worlds, bragging about how he "saved the universe" from that random episode with no foreshadowing and would look upon Kevin and Gwen and ask them who saved the universe. So, to sum up Ben's behavior starting Ben 10: Alien Force Season 3, his annoyance no longer comes from his bratty attitude, but worse, his ego. As for my problems with Kevin, him joining the gang was a little rushed. A more fatal issue for Kevin is that he would usually betray Ben and Gwen in a rushed direction in order to get his hands on something Ben and Gwen would not be satisfied with. In fact, his betrayals towards Ben and Gwen would very often be rushed with the stupidest case being in The Forge of Creation where he thinks Ben and Gwen view him as a monster, even though they don't. And that's what really obnoxious about these characters; that one frustrating cliche where characters don't believe what the other character is saying about him when he/she is actually telling the truth. That goes for my next problem; at first, few of the Plumbers are complete idiots when they view Ben, Gwen and Kevin as "impersonating Plumbers". Weren't they reminded that Ben and Gwen are the grandchildren of Grandpa Max? There was even one point where they were actually saving the day, but then in Plumbers' Helpers, Manny, a Plumber's helper, was still not convinced that they're heroes and decides to just capture them despite saving the day. That's actually villainous work, not heroic, and portrays a Plumber, who is usually on the protagonist side, as a villain. And the aliens? Some of them feel like copies of older aliens (Fasttrack is a direct copy of XLR8 and Swampfire has similar design and powers of Heatblast). Let's not forget the new villains, who are also affected by the show's repetition where the idea of villains absorbing powers from other characters is a dull power which was reused multiple times. They are still uninteresting villains because there isn't that much charm in them. In fact, a few of them might be cliched, including Ma Vreedle where she is feared by a lot of people. However, there is one former villain who used to be an antagonist but now just an anti-hero where I found worse than Charmcaster and who really grinds my gear is Princess Attea. She was the reason for the terrible writing of X = Ben + 2 where the Incurseans will blow up Earth all because of her, specifically if she didn't return. I found her motives just stupid and more irritating is that she is like a Mary Sue to the Incurseans where the Incurseans want the princess so bad from Earth. The motives of Attea I was talking about is that she overthrew Emperor Milleous for a very stupid reason that all along, Sevenseven wasn't actually the bad guy. What I'm talking about is that according to my analysis on the franchise, she became ruler of the Incurseans, and I don't even know what she wants to do with them. It would also continue into The Frogs of War's dumb ending where she betrayed her race just to be ruler. But enough talking about terrible villains, the characters are no better but annoying and very dumb at times.

Omniverse: This show needs a lot in order to heal the wounds Ben 10: Alien Force and Ben 10: Ultimate Alien caused, and it does recover from the mess of the characters. One thing I took down in my notes is that I noticed that Ben's ego is actually toned down and he's just a normal character now that isn't either bratty or egotistical. Sure, he can be egotistical and arrogant in few episodes, but it doesn't do any harm where it appears often in an episode. So, as you can see, this show tries to clean up the mess and it shed light on plenty of character development and heck, the new characters now have a likable charm. The only thing this show failed to get away is that young Ben and Gwen are still annoying. Going too far is when Max can't give Gwen a seat because the seats are full in Trouble Helix, despite the fact that Azmuth is small and Gwen and fit in that seat perfectly. But anyways, the new characters have fascinating motives and depth throughout the series. Sure, there are a few characters that feel rather pointless, but there are some such as Mr. Baumann who are given the spotlight in a certain episode where it fleshes out his/her character in a way where he/she is fully developed and makes it easy for us to sympathize with him/her. You see, it's nice to see some characters get a main focus in certain amount of episodes of Ben 10: Omniverse and actually do something interesting for them rather than just be a side character all along. Their roles can either be comedic (like Blukic and Driba's roles in Blukic and Driba Go to Mr. Smoothy's) or rather dramatic (like Mr. Baumann's story in The Ballad of Mr. Baumann). The tone of each episode affects how the characters behave in a way where they fit very well in the story, therefore having a great portrayal and cool appearance. Some of the new characters are even relatable who also have a good portrayal of themselves and sometimes a good sense of humor (Rook). To help the development work in Ben 10: Omniverse, there were real character arcs that portray the development for the characters and how their experiences change throughout the episode. And what about the backstories? They're no longer cliched thanks to the show avoiding them, but instead pretty clever and sometimes relatable. Ben 10: Omniverse does something refreshing to the characters by giving them a interesting motive, focus and mass amount of character development.

Reboot: I don't think the characters from the reboots are a major letdown. I find them pretty good to be honest. Sure, Ben continues his bratty and egotistical behavior, but what really matter here is that Ben and Gwen's bond is now justified and no longer annoying. That doesn't mean that they stopped bickering because sometimes, they can still annoy each other sometimes, but other times, they actually care for each other, especially Gwen where she no longer does anything annoying to Ben. To sum up Ben and Gwen is that their bond is better than the original series' because sometimes, they can care for each other and show sportsmanship towards one another. That also explains the decent character development for the characters as well. Max, on the other hand, feels like Professor Utonium from The Powerpuff Girls reboot where he's used for the humor, which is unfortunately a fatal blow to his character. But that's not harmful to the majority of the cast because some of the new villains are actually interesting with a fascinating motive. Yep, it's like Ben 10: Omniverse where it fixes the issues the first 3 shows had and took care of them. They're no longer cliched villains but rather clever ones, especially Steam Smythe. Plus, their schemes can be exaggerated in a more creative direction rather than be just bland. However, the background characters aren't like Ben, Gwen, or the villains because they're remain oblivious of what just happened to them and continue on what they were doing rather than thank Ben for saving them. Once again, it's short because I don't have that much to describe the characters. They're more likeable and have decent amount of charm in them.

Time for my final thoughts on all 5 shows. They'll still be divided into sections, but I will also include a verdict on all of them as well.

Original series: This is just a generic superhero cartoon that doesn't have the same charm Kim Possible has or near the levels of Danny Phantom. The writing is broken, there's not much in the animation, the main characters are annoying, the villains are dull, barely anything stands out of it. I would rather not watch this again and because that there's not much good stuff, it's inadequate (33%). Only if it were less annoying and more dependent on what's going on with its continuity and story and it'll look better.

Alien Force/Ultimate Alien: What's the point of another sequel when all it offers is multiplied the cons of the original with so much plot holes, idiocy, repetition, even more generic nature, blander characters who can easily betray, that flash effect, and being two unsatisfactory shows (22%) altogether? I would definitely stay away from this more than the original series. Never have I seen the sequel make the cons of its predecessor worse than before!

Omniverse: Hey, it's nice to see the franchise take a turn and try something different. This is one of those shows I don't get the hate for because the humor and some bits of idiocy is an issue, but I don't understand all of the problems for this continuation. I like it for being different from the others with engaging story-telling, decent humor, fascinating and original animation style and greatly-developed characters. Well, I'm surprised that the Ben 10 franchise took a big turn and wish that the franchise would just stop, but it shines like divine (81%). In my opinion, this show is the real Ben 10 and is something I want to watch again, despite a few weak ones.

Reboot: I don't think this is a step down from Ben 10: Omniverse because while it's not that good, I can safely say that it's still a lot better than the original, Alien Force and Ultimate Alien. It has decent humor, good execution, nice textures and charm inside the characters just like Omniverse has while facing minor issues such as bland character designs and episode premises and sometimes jerky characters. If the show continues to keep it up and avoid entering alright territory, it'll remain ample (71%) at best.

THE VERDICT: This franchise used to stunk badly with too many cliches, continuity errors, annoying characters and feeling generic most of the time, but later on, it picked up when it brought in good story-telling with clever twists, unique animation styles, better execution and developed-characters. If the reboot was just okay, then I wouldn't recommend this franchise at all, but thanks to 2 good shows, it has just enough positive aspects to bring the franchise up to tolerable (45%). Despite having 2 atrocious superhero cartoons that don't shine very bright and rather stay dark like the animation and tone itself, I surprisingly began to like the franchise when the overhated ones came by. Typing this review was pretty long. Just like the duration of watching the entire franchise, which took me around 3 weeks to complete the entire franchise and get the scorecard on the way. In the beginning, I was anticipated to make the scorecard and now that I finally made it, I'm satisfied and complete over watching the series and getting the scorecard done. Watching the entire franchise was so long that I had to delay the scorecard twice just because it took too long to review.

And speaking of too long, you may notice the "DISCONTINUED" sign on the title. Well, this isn't the first time I discontinued a scorecard , but here, while I do like this scorecard, it has me taking so many screenshots of the reboot's title cards that it really takes up too much time updating this scorecard especially when there are too many new episodes of the series. The underlined text is basically another reason why I don't feel like continuing this scorecard because while the reboot isn't bad, the atmosphere of the series personally doesn't interest me and I found myself distracted a little watching the more recent episodes. In other words, the reboot is not interesting for me personally. However, I think I have watched enough episodes to think that my final thoughts on the show are pretty much finalized so maybe it's a good time to stop working on this scorecard not just because of it having too many episodes as well as the lengthy production of updating it but also because I'm dealing with way too many ongoing shows that it's taking up so much of my time and compared to those shows, the reboot doesn't matter much in this community nor my top 10 lists. The linked scorecard made me annoyed at it being burned off a network I don't have access to plus the bad production values, but Ben 10 (2016)? I simply have lost interest in the series, but there could be someday when I could revive this scorecard at one point.