This episode was a reminder of the dumbest argument against alien X I've ever heard, which is, "He was never shown manipulating time on screen." Like, bro, it was literally his first appearance.
I think the reason why ben is afraid of turning into Alien X is he could be trapped in there forever. Any time he transforms, he knows there's a small chance he'll never come back. For example, like Albedo in the universe Paradox mentioned, where he stays Alien X for over a year.
@@plantainsame2049 And what are the chances they'd say yes? He's realized from this episode's interaction that Bellicus and Serena are extremely hard to deal with. They decide things on a whim, and there's no guarantee they would do anything he requests of them. Maybe asking to stop the flow of time while they talk it out is too inconsequential of a request for them, or maybe they have some other bullshit reason for not agreeing to it. Hell, their reasoning could may as well be that they just don't feel like it.
One reason why I thought it was justified to not become Alien X is, what if Bellicus and Serena don't let him back out again? They basically override the omnitrix and at this point outclass Ben in the control department. What he means in the end by cost is literally transforming into Alien X is gambling with his life.
Totally agree, imagine being trap in there for eternity, can’t really count to Paradox to get him out (Edited) What I meant in "can't count on Paradox" is that they just met in the last episode, Ben probably wouldn't trust him that much, plus Ben didn't even know yet that Paradox can break him out.
Yep. And according to Paradox in Ultimate Alien, in another universe, Albedo wound up stuck in Alien X for 6 months. That is the thing Ben was worried about. Heck, it's why I didn't like Alien X when I was a kid. Due to the fear of that.
@@leonseuropeanislandadventu7398 six months, a year, hell even a day of my mind being stuck in the body of something else entirely would freak me the hell out.
>Gets tons of buildup outside the show >Appears only at the end of the first season >Uses godlike powers to fix a dam >Refuses to transform back >Refuses to elaborate >Leaves
It could be argued that Ben's character "regression" is due to the fact that he meets all these Universal level beings (Bellicus, Serena, and Prof Paradox) and the fact they take NOTHING seriously. Probably got to the point that after Ben rebuilt the Universe he was kinda just like "Fuck it"
But the character regression happens in Alien Force season 3, way before he recreates the universe in Omniverse. The in-universe justification seems to be that he just got cocky after saving the universe from the Highbreed.
I like how bellecus got genuinely angry at ben for making her cry. Shows that even though they rarely agree, they still care about each other. Just like an angry married couple.
One thing I've always wondered is: Alien X consciousnesses have always existed, or did they exist from the moment Ben first transformed, because the DNA in the omnitrix is a blank canvas that molds itself from Ben's DNA. So theoretically Belicus and Serena didn't exist until Ben transformed, and then they became independent entities.
Well remember there is only one alien X and it's DNA is shared in EVERY Omnitrix in the multiverse so the conscious of alien X existed when the first Ben turned into him
I just believe that alien x was is just living in the Omnitrix floating. Similar to og ghostfreak he wasn't a ai copy but sentient being trapped inside the device
I like to think that, since all of Ben's aliens are "part Ben" in a way, Bellicus and Serena are too, and already came up with the name Alien X. Or they just knew Ben would call him that anyway. The way they speak it's as if they'd been anticipating Ben for a while As for their personalities, I think it's deliberate that Bellicus and Serena will never agree with each other without Ben there. He has to be the voice of reason, because the other two aren't reasonable. They're too stubborn to do anything on their own.
i would have liked to see ben try to come to agreements with them. like, "do my homework and keep my parents out of my room and give me a good night of sleep and i'll be willing to negotiate with you for a specific amount of time". obviously that's a bit silly but you get the idea, ben requests that they take care of stuff for him, and he will give them some time they desire from him.
I honestly think that if Ben didn't live so much in the "here and now" and had a larger thought process, he could compromise with Bellicus or Serena much easier, especially during UAF's "majority rules" interpretation of his power where he only needs to get one other to agree with him.
I like the fact that you agree they won't ever agree with each other, because if they could, what would stop them from agreeing that they could leave the Omnitrix, yk?
So let's say what if? What if the other celestial sapians are controlled by their own will of emotions. How many other thoughts besides Serena, bellecus, and Ben are there? We know albedo is in it. It could be possible paradox hid himself reasoning with them as well.
27:10 I always love when Kevin absorbs something that isn't the basic metal/stone shade of color. Like when he absorbs Seven-Seven's armor or when he absorbs the tire rubber or when he absorbs his car. Always a nice change of pace
Honestly, after thinking about this episode as an adult, I kinda have to agree with Bellacus and Serena about shooting Bens ideas down. Teleporting the incursians or disabling the conquest ray won't help. Millious can just repair the ray and teleport back, angry at the team and taking revenge on earth. That being said, Bellacus and Serena could've explained that and maybe suggest solutions on their own. So I believe Ben is still right for getting angry at them and calling them useless
That may be the case. But how about for doing something like putting a barrier around the Earth to block the ray? Or the fact Bellicus wanted to focus on old arguments now that Ben was there, instead of them realizing Ben wants to protect Earth, and for him, Earths safety comes before any of their old arguments?
@@danielwesley5051 or just let Ben ask "why?" When they say no. They're both somehow agreeing on not helping so there must be a valid reasoning other than them just not wanting to
I honestly like the way Alien X was handled here, showing that he has near unlimited power, but showing that this power comes at a price before it can be used… (And in a way it even alludes to the fact that Ben will one day be able to use the powers of Alien X without any drawbacks).
When i was young, I was thinking the 10th alien is powerful than the rest of other aliens, as it turned out be more than that. Alien X is not just as powerful as he is, he's reality warped with nigh-omnipotent powers. I was very diappointed that Ben won’t become Alien X in Alien Force again, until one episode of Ultimate Alien and mostly Omniverse. it's cool that Belicus is Kevin Conroy, who voices Batman.
Judging from how Seven seven reacted, that was probably the first time his armor broke. I'm also guessing that he decided to run away because he realized drawn out combat is not a good idea against someone that broke through his armor in one hit. I'm guessing with all of this, but that's just how I have interpreted it.
@@Antasma1 Never thought of that. I'm inclined to bring up Six six, considering his helmet fully broke, but there are plenty of differences between him and Seven seven. I'm adding to my original comment here, considering what it took to break Six six's helmet, and that we're told that Seven seven is far more dangerous, can we assume that his armor would be stronger? If so, then Swampfire can hit very hard.
31:20 Albedo was stuck as Alien X for almost a year, every time Ben would transform to train to debate, he risks being stuck motionless for a long time
@@muhdmat8454 In "Ben 10,000 returns", Professor Paradox says Albedo was trapped as Alien X in an alternate timeline, this references the events of the video game "Vilgax attacks"
This is why I prefer the Omniverse explanation of all three needing to agree, it makes the polar opposite personalities more hindering. Think about it, why waste time with both of them? Want a diplomatic solution? Just get Serena into it. Want a fight? Convince Bellicus. Majority voting here doesn’t work as a drawback.
I honestly like how all this hype was for this. It's like such a genius troll. "Alien X is allmighty and all powerful!... but Ben can't use that power, lol" It's such a hilarious concept, but also like a bit of a good lesson. Don't get enamoured with power scaling, and feats and all that jazz. You don't need ungodly power to be a hero, aliens like Jetray and Swampfire are enough. Which is the message of the episode, Ben doesn't win by being Alien X, he wins by being his other aliens.
The problem with making Alien X easier to use is it opens way too many doors to easy solutions. There's a reason Alien X is only ever used one time after Ben gets the "keys" to them in Universe v Tennyson
To be honest, I think doing the "Chowder" thing with Alien X would make sense. I've always imagined him as a sort of "transparent casing enveloping a small universe" as opposed to the stars just being a texture on his skin. Having the stars be static while he moves, but also making the stars rotate to resemble a 360° FOV while "the camera pans around him", would sell this idea very well I think.
I always thought his look was because hwas like a window to the universe. Like you can see the entire universe through him, so the stars moving would be a cool feature
My theory that I've developed is that at some point in the years of arguing, the Celestialsapien that is Alien X noticed the existence of the Omnitrix and managed to agree to give it the ability to transform into them for the SAKE of creating a third "Voice of Reason" that would be able to break their tie.
That's pretty interesting. Thinking about it, Alien X having no Voice of Reason technically makes him a disabled member of his species. It makes sense that he might agree to Azmuth's idea if it meant a possible treatment for his disability.
For anybody wondering why Ben doesn't use Alien X as often as other aliens is because of how he morally uses his alien transformations. Ben experienced what is was like to essentially play God, no BE a God. That much power is a HUGE responsibility for him even with his status as savior the universe. Plus with Belacus and Serena, sorry to say this, it's no wonder Ben Prime use Alien X for serious situations that as far as we know NO other alien could do.
sounds cool but this makes that one scene in omniverse pretty disappointing where, **spoiler,** he's using Alien X to casually fling the rooters around with kevin watching
My problem with Alien X is that he takes up a spot as one of the ten aliens Ben can only for the first 2 seasons of Alien Force. So since Alien X is a situational use, it really like Ben 9 for the first 2 seasons. They should have had Alien X just be a extra alien Ben unlocked. And, with hindsight, I would have had Lodestar be apart of the Alien Force 10.
@@ksoundkaiju9256 rath, loadstar, etc showed up in season three. In hindsight Alien x ought to have been ben’s eleventh alien for AF. Like cannonbolt was for the og.
I think the idea of Alien X is great, a godlike being with limitless power but with a price that isn't worth paying. However, they presented it in the least engaging way possible. Just having Ben floating in the endless black void, caught in an endless bickering and arguing match, while Alien X just stands around motionlessly doing absolutely nothing.
Would of preferred them actually showing some drawbacks. Ben's idea of teleporting them away isn't bad but then let them point out that you just made them someone else's problem. Now they are in this area destroying planets that will never know life or had life beginning to start. Things like that would show how the two personalities have a much larger insight on things than ben can comprehend.
I personally disagree. The episode left me wanting more Alien X and I think that was the intention. If I got too much Alien X then I think that would ruin the alien for me.
@@steelbarber I mean “able to fix a dam” and “infinite godlike power so op ben is scared of transforming into him” don’t really fit in the same character
@@aerostrafe1075 I feel a better idea is this "Great power comes with a great amount of concentration and training in order to use it well", think of Sentry in the marvel comics In case you don't know him, despite his great power, it comes at the price that if he exerts too much, he might let out too much power by accident, and whatever he was trying to save might be destroyed in the process, making it so most of the time, it either HAS to be a world ending threat, thats far away from earth, or any life period, or you just can't use him cause he'll just end up doing whatever the villain was gonna do anyway, and destroy everything, or it has to be something so insignificant, that you could have asked any other hero to do it, AND just in case it wasn't enough, due to all his power, he has a split personality that can only be held off by him constantly focusing his power on keeping him within him, if he exerts too much power, that power being redirected from that, to doing whatever Sentry is doing, leads the the being, or even just small fractions of them being escaping, and again, reeking havoc, however, the being always has as much power as he does, its just that he doesn't hold back cause he's evil, this means that if he were to exert himself too much against say a mid level fight for him, the being would escape, and use all that power to destroy everything, however, if he's only doing small, simple shit like, saving people from a sinking boat, either the being doesn't escape, or a really insignificant fraction of him comes out, BUT it still reeks havoc Point is, I think it would have been nice to give Alien X, one or two of these weakness, after all, it already has the personalities there to "Balance" stuff, so imagine if ones like "Ok, I'll save earth, but in return, I'll destroy another planet with just as much life", or have it so the reason he has 3 personalities, is cause he has so much power, that if only Ben uses it's power, he'll just use more power than he intended by accident, and make things worse, and if only ONE agrees, the chances are lower, but the power still isn't as focused, or as potent due to all three needing to be unlocked so that the full concentrated power is used, so the only way to properly use him is to have all three agree, and BOOM, you still have the same conflict, but Ben at times thinks of using him cause "How much worse would it really be if Alien Xs power went wild at this point?", this way you can also still use Alien X in other episodes cause "Hey, not all three are agreeing, but as long as Ben focuses real hard, this small thing shouldn't cost something worse happening"
20:18 hard disagree, part of what makes Alien X cool is that we have no explanation for how or why it talks like a stenographer, leading the audience to grow instantly curious about what’s going on behind the scenes. If we actually saw the deliberation process beforehand, hearing the motion carried out in real time would have been way less interesting.
I actually really like how Alien X was handled here, he's kept mysterious and weird, with Bellicus and Serena never being able to agree without Ben (as they are basically complete opposites and stubborn af) and Ben not wanting to use him again made sense to me, because he could just be stuck as Alien X forever if he failed to convince Bellicus and Serena, and that worked with him being the last resort all powerful alien. Great review as always though.
I am sorry for making a joke on Creepypasta they/them's dead Guinea pig, what I did was not the best way to treat the situation. It was arrogant of me to send that picture. I'll remind myself that other people have feelings and not everything is a joke. I'm asking for forgiveness.
@FueguitoAzul too bad that just never really happens and Alien X is kept useless for two whole series until Omniverse says fuck it and decides to throw away all weaknesses and limitations and then just have Ben... not use Alien X for no reason other than plot. It just made the whole point about it being not worth the price completely null and void. But I agree, this episode left a lot of open doors for Alien X to come back and eventually do shit, and presented the Alien in an interesting way, it just really felt kinda boring overall when you take the sheer scale of what Alien X is into consideration, at least in my opinion. Like, he's supposed to be nigh omnipotent and all he does is fix a broken dam and then stand around doing nothing, that's not exactly that impressive when half of Ben's aliens could probably do the same thing. Even the time manipulation thing isn't that impressive once Clockwork rolls around. We just get told about how powerful Alien X really is, not shown. If they had shown him do something like casually flicking away the Incursian's planet busting laser- forgot it's name- with a glance or something, THAT would've been an impressive example of just how powerful he is and why there are such heavy drawbacks.
@FueguitoAzul they also should've definitely introduced Alien X in an episode about, you know, Alien X? The Incurseans had nothing to do with Alien X or the Celestialsapiens at all, the Incurseans didn't relate to Alien X in anyway or even seemed to recognize what it was, it's like they just crammed two completely different episodes together for no reason. Even if Alien X didn't do much in it, an episode exploring the Celestialsapiens themselves would've been a lot more interesting to watch and fit a lot more with it's debut.
@FueguitoAzul it probably would've, Ben could've just used Big Chill or Swampfire to stop the water somehow, Alien X being there only makes Ben useless for the rest of the episode, but I'm sure they could've found a way to include him in the main conflict and not have him immediately solve it by going Swampfire.
Honestly the take away that such a powerful alien could be so useless had a very lasting message for me. Reminds me of those all powerful abstract beings in comics and anime that seldom ever interfere though I’m not sure that was ever the intention. Now that ben can (potentially) use him willy nilly i really think it takes away from the over all stakes of the show. *SevenSeven and the rest of his fam are also super rad!* 29:49 (OOP! huh, well SixSix’s got more balls then him for sure.) i’m surprised ben never unlocked his species to become TenTen. 20:43 I always figured the mask were vague representations of bens own psyche, so they’d deep down have a reverence for the title he chose first hand. 20:50 going further with this head canon, I think they sort of represent all the unconscious thoughts on how ben might want to see the world be different. 23:19 YES BRING THE DINOSAURS BACK PLEASE!
Even if Alien X was kinda overhyped, I would say this episode served well enough for his introduction and how he works. The concept of an alien that's on the level of a cosmic being having a restriction like this is definetly interesting. It gives a reason as to why Ben can't just use Alien X for every single situation, otherwise he might have been overused. Yea a couple more appearances here and there would've been nice, but I guess the writers weren't sure what situations would absolutely demand Alien X's utility (at least until Omniverse). Sidenote: Wish Seven-Seven had a longer fight rather than just running away like a pussy.
The moment I saw this title, the first words that came to my mind were "Why would you say something so bold, but also so brave?" I haven't watched the reaction yet but I'll say this, when I watched this episode when I was younger,I never really understood how powerful Alien X was, and didn't initially like the drawbacks that came with using him,so I kinda see where you're going with this.
@@flameohotman8032 it's pretty good. And I finally saw Ghost Rider the other day with Nicholas Cage, it's awesome. Now I just need to find Ghost Rider 2.
As a real young kid when this episode came out I was pretty unaware of all the crazy marketing I just saw that one alien was hidden. So I thought then (and now) that this episode was awesome. Introduction of great returning characters, a unique story, unexpected twists, and Alien X was and still is the most unique transformation.
I don't know if this has been talked about a lot, but my headcanon is that Azmuth got Alien X's DNA from Ben travelling back in time at some point and giving him the DNA. This wouldn't be impossible for Alien X to accomplish, and would explain why they've been conscious for so long. Time could be relative to them, so a timeloop wouldn't effect the two personalities.
I'm... not sure if that theory works? Time travel in Ben 10 creates a new timeline almost every time, and I can't imagine Paradox or other Celestialsapiens would be happy with Ben so casually time travelling. Granted, there are cases of time loops like Vilgax knowing the Omnitrix or Maltruant's uhhh, entire existence, but then the question would be when did the timeloop start? The earliest possible point would be the medieval era, because that's when Azmuth abandoned Ascalon and started work on the Omnitrix. According to this episode, Belicus and Serena have been sentient long enough to know about the dinosaurs, which would contradict the idea that Alien X's DNA was "created" during the medieval era. This makes the possibility of what the crew said more likely, that Azmuth just had a Celestialsapien friend who lent their DNA, because at least it's arguable that the original DNA Donor simply existed way before, and their memories transferred (?) to Belicus and Serena.
@@leonseuropeanislandadventu7398 I wanted to give the theory the benefit of the doubt lol, even though yes, writer statements have already disproved it
How I interpret Alien X and Celestialsapiens as a whole: They're essentially what we perceive as "God". They were supposed to be the God of Ben 10 universe, as gods are usually represented as a vague entity, a living being with emotions and immense powers. A higher being who's thought process is beyond our understandings. A good example would be, no matter how smart a squirrel is, you can't ever make it understand why we cutting down the trees. So no matter how hard we try, we'll never understand the thought process of the Celestialsapiens. The squirrels probably see us and wonder why these giant creatures standing still around eachother and making weird noises? Like how we see Celestialsapiens just standing like a statue. And about the three personas, I think it's entirely a metaphor about how a human mind maybe able to easily get used to an arachnichimp brain or a necrofriggian brain, Celestialsapiens are a being of an entirely different level and a human mind is not capable of keeping it under control. It's as impossible as making two different personalities agree on something. And obviously these views would hurt religious people all over the world thus they backtracked and made Celestialsapiens a lot watered down in omniverse.
How’s the Celestialsapien watered down in OV? Even if that’s true, your last argument would need to be supported by examples of Alien X portrayal in UAF that made people offended. But there is none. There is no evidence to suggest that UAF Alien X needed anything to backtrack from.
@@langletprolet8378 they probably either didn't wanna start a controversy, or some religious people within the production were against it, that'd be my guess. And OV obviously watered Celestial sapiens down by humanizing them. In UAF they were this mysterious lifeform who's concept of reality is so far advanced from us that we can't even begin to fathom. In OV they wear clothes, have beards, and can be smacked sense into. Like what the hell
Celestialsapians have several weaknesses later revealed offscreen or in statements after the series ended, but they still exist and are canon. One of them is that people with energy manipulation like Aggregor or chromastone could remove and even absorb their power, with another being that the only way to truly become omnipotent would destroy their minds, and that ectomites (ghostfreak's species) can possess them and use all of their power
@@bluecario Eh it was both a water down and improvement if you ask me mate. Espeically since Ben rebooted the universe anyway so it's practically a mute point being honest canoically speaking.
From a power scaling(?) point of view there's another reason why they were nerfed later. You can't have more than one truly omnipotent being in one universe (you could even argue that in existence in general), so a whole species of omnipotent beings wouldn't make sense. Hence, they can be nigh-omnipotent at most. Actually, you could say Celestialsapiens have been nigh-omnipotent since their first appearance due to the whole split personality thing. A true omnipotent being wouldn't have that limitation.
I have a theory that Bellicus and Serena are like the way they are because their species have different standards than us humans. They are higher beings with different concepts of morality and duty, of course they’re going to be difficult to reason with.
I think the reason they denied every request is because they're the voices of opposition. They refuse because it's in their nature to argue. It's not the answer we want but it makes the most sense to me. Also it would have been cool to see Ben actually getting used to Alien X, it'd be training. Alien X doesn't need power because he can do anything so the problem is reason. 2 of 3 have no reason to act so they don't in a sense. Ben being the voice of reason it's up to him to give the reason to make action. The other 2 being in constant opposition means barely anything could get done. It's a cool concept for an op character.
@@LucyWest370 And they Aren't. They're literally still debating about things millions of years into the past. Without Ben And him making a really good point/argument they can't do anything.
Personally I like the idea that they present themselves as those higher beings constantly debating about important things but deep down they're just petty youtube commenters who genuinely enjoy arguing with each other about the most inconsequential random things. The kind of people to spend months arguing back and forth Goku vs Superman under a completely unrelated 4 year old video but on a cosmic scale. It makes the way Ben unlocks full power of Alien X so fitting because as the voice of reason he helps them realize that they never agreed on anything not because they didn't have a third voice but because they genuinely like debating more than actually doing anything
I feel like a way they could’ve handled Alien X would be that Ben only starts the series with nine aliens, have Ben, Gwen or Kevin wonder why there's only nine and have Ben train with his new aliens off-screen to get familiar with them, then have him unlock Alien X through a code/turning the dial of the Omnitrix in a certain way like he did in the classic series with cannonbolt, for example, and maybe have him appear a bit later on, rather than reveal him fairly quickly like they did. Maybe towards the end of season 2 or 3?
I'd like to imagine that Ben just never really practiced with alien x beforehand and just picked him in the heat of the moment because none of his other aliens would work for the situation.
It's a cool idea I think it would sort of fit but I would have two ways. One azmuth but like a safe guard on the omnitrix or the omnitrix says something like are you sure you want to transform into this alien or have a warning concerning the fact ben may not be able to turn back. Two Ben's alien x personalities haven't fully developed and there for ben cant access alien x I like the first one better
As someone who was NOT involved in the hype train at all, the Alien X episode was one of my favourites. Since I didn’t have some preconceived notion of just how powerful alien x was supposed to be, the idea of being able to turn any physical problem into a one where Ben just had to win mentally was interesting. While now I think I wish Ben had some deliberation over the use of Alien X in some situations, his choice to not use him made perfect sense. It was a huge gamble, especially since Ben and ourselves didn’t know JUST how much power Alien X had. If it took the full length of this episode just to convince Serena and Bellicus just to let Ben transform back and simply MOVE again. It would begged the question how much convincing would they need to let Ben do something proactive
Alien X is a complex character and the episode did 10/10 job showing the hopelessness of Ben inside the mind of Alien X, It is terrifying to even think your friends are about to die and you can not convince the two personalities, Brilliant episode.
I think a good secondary limitation to Alien X would be if using him made the universe a bit weak near where he was used for an unknown period of time. So trying to do big things like rewinding time and teleporting a giant ship would be more dangerous to do in quick succession than just throwing people. Like he doesn't use telekinesis or chronokinesis. He just takes the fabric of reality around a point and alters it
Speaking of which, I think one reason Alien X would be quite difficult and dangerous to use is because Ben can't necessarily control how his powers manifest. For example, when it comes to things like moving your fingers, you don't say "I want to move my fingers, so I will move them now". Such choices are instinctive in a sense, where you aren't consciously thinking about the process of doing them or how they even work. Theoretically with Alien X, presumably Ben, Serena, and Bellicus have to consciously decide everything, even if it's just as simple as raising an arm. While Alien X probably doesn't exist within the normal flow of time and space, Ben is still a human that's limited by the mental capacity of a human. He can't necessarily think in full detail at all times of how to will something into existence. As Kuro mentioned, Alien X seems to be able to make some assumptions to fill in the gaps, and in Omniverse when Ben tried to bring the universe back Alien X interpreted it as making an almost perfect carbon copy of what the universe was before. Against a regular opponent, Alien X's process of making decisions probably isn't a big deal, but against another Celestialsapien or something of significant speed this may cause more issues. Given how little Ben uses him, he would probably resort to general commands like punches, kicks, and signature moves in most fights, which may not be enough for certain opponents. He probably can't train with him much either.
I am sorry for making a joke on Creepypasta they/them's dead Guinea pig, what I did was not the best way to treat the situation. It was arrogant of me to send that picture. I'll remind myself that other people have feelings and not everything is a joke. I'm asking for forgiveness.
Blacking alien X out and making him a silhouette to make him “mysterious” for marketing was such a bruh moment. Cuz he’s literally pitch black with like a “galaxy” patter on him. So they showed him everytime they thought they were being “mysterious”
I feel like Bellicus and Serena are needing Ben, as the voice of reason, to REASON with them rather than just throw out one idea after another. I’m sure they are jaded from each other just throwing out motions for eternity
Looking back on this episode makes me wish they gave Ben one of his later transformations instead, and give him Alien X later on. In fact, I would honestly prefer if he was given Water Hazard. I like that form, and feel it was underappreciated.
8:34 If I knew my favorite franchise at the time had the voice of my absolute least favorite cartoon character back then I would've had a nuclear meltdown. Also I for one thought Alien X's design was worth the hype, a pocket galaxy encased in a transparent humanoid body was the coolest shit ever to me, loved having the toy too
Growing up I always wondered what was the point of giving Alien X a multiple personality restriction. Only to realize how powerful Alien X is and why they were put there
It requires serious decision making to use omnipotence, your possibilities of power use are literally endless and you need a proper guide to settle what will your next move be
10:26 This is my biggest complaint about Alien X. They keep his design a secret and then when he's revealed he looks exactly the same! They could've made him look awesome but nope. Add some white specs, call them stars and do NOTHING else. Total missed opportunity
Honestly, when I first watched this episode, I was pretty disappointed that Alien X did nothing for majority of the episode But, looking back at it now, they handled him in probably the best way possible They introduced an incredibly powerfull alien with mysterious origins, even more so then others, and actually gave a REASON as to why Ben doesn't just use him all the time and win every fight by just snapping his fingers
21:00 It’s revealed in Omniverse however, that if Ben alters reality too much, he would have to answer to the galactic court. Because when he Creates an entire copy of his own universe, they show up.
There are so many Alien X elements that were never 100% explained, and I love that. It adds to the fact that this alien is a creature one level above all others.
Even if it’s an animation error I really like that after Alien X distorts space and time it feels like he teleports them all to a different location that’s more ideal or something. It kinda reminds me of how Paradox works in his introduction, where he seemingly teleports places through the use of camera cuts. Really makes Alien X’s powers feel mysterious cuz you never really know how they work
Alien X having the multiple personalities restriction on his powers nerfs down Alien X so Ben can’t abuse it’s power to end any conflict within seconds. This weakness is very important and clever in my opinion for course of the show.
With the whole “most power being in the universe” thing I believe that the first time when they say they are “one of” they mean a member of their race as an introduction sort of deal, like “we are one member of the royal family” then later in the episode when they get frustrated with ben calling them useless they drop the formalities and confidently state that they are the most powerful being in the universe which you could argue is consistent as alien X is never even damaged by the galactic guardian who is literally the champion fighter of the celestialsapiens, so obviously the term in the universe still leaves room for extra planar and extra dimensional beings so I actually believe them especially when later a fragment of alien X DNA can pierce through a forcefield made to protect 5th dimensional beings from the anililarg which would assumably damage them bare minimum or else they wouldn’t even have a shield
Here's an idea for how this could have been a bit better, let's say that Gwen/Kevin die in the dam flooding and in a panic Ben uses an alien he hasn't touched yet. Using Alien X he reverses time on a larger scale than he did in the actual episode. That gives a greater emotional weight to using the power, and makes the trade off of being basically inert for the rest of episode actually good
Would have loved to see them debating over whether to repair the dam or not. Because I was honestly surprised how easily they passed that motion especially when looking at Ben's mood after the event confirming that they didn't took long to debate like they did later.
27:53 I get the feeling that Selena and Belacus act this way because they find the circumstances that Ben, co find themselves in and calls to action from Ben to be so trivial to the greater scheme of things that they'd rather spend time on discussing things like saving the Dinosaurs, When you look at the cosmological impact, bringing organisms that have been roaming earth for hundreds of millions of years back from extinction seems greater than Saving the current earth with it's current state. Let's not forget that they don't want Ben to leave so there's an implication that they know it's a possibility for him to do so. Now that they have their voice of reason, they can finally come to a vote to determine things they've argued about for millions of years. I guess a counter point to that is, all of this happens on their terms, if they really wanted a co-operative voice of reason to handle their own matters it would've been in their best interest to be co-operative with Ben in *his* issues as well. Then again, you'd need reason to come to a conclusion like that. So I guess they're this way because now they finally have a method to conclude their disputes, they're unreasonable, so instead of be co-operatives so that Ben would feel obliged to pass a vote on some of their personal notions, they just decide to trap him hoping that through these set of circumstances, Ben would just eventually comply with passing his votes on issues they've been bickering on for so long, and would never let him go because, if they do, they don't have a guarantee that he'll be back.
The issue with Alien X is that it's so ridiculously that it can solve nearly any problem. The writers had to keep it in check or ignore its power. What's Vilgax going to do if Ben turns into X and sends him 1 billion years in the past? What's ghostfreak gonna do if X seals him away in a can for all time?
In my opinion, the biggest weakness of this episode is the space in Ben's mind when he turns into Alien X. We have a perfect opportunity to follow two groups of people, Gwen and Kevin dealing with the Encourgin* [Can't remember how to spell that] and Ben dealing with Belecus and Serena. Both situations are characters out of their element [Gwen and Kevin against the frog invaders without the help of Ben because of his new transformation. While Ben having dealt with his transformations having a mind of their own only once before with Ghost Freak, and he doesn't know what to do with two] excellent for building conflict, but it feels like all that the scenes inside Alien X's mind were just a bump on the road the disrupted the build up of conflict.
I always wondered why Ben didn't propose an agreement along the lines of "I'll be at your service for one full day every year to decide on your matters - but in return any other time I transform into Alien X, we exclusively focus on the situation I'm currently in." I get they want to keep their literal deus ex machina out of reach, but the way they did it felt like Ben just instantly gave up at the first sign of inconvenience... Also "I decide to drop all motions that would have changed my past until now." That would cut down on a lot of their clutter and gets rid potential paradoxes. Regarding names and the likes that aliens shouldn't be aware of, I just always assume that's just a matter of loose translation. When Bellicus and Serena talk about "Alien X", they're probably not actually saying the name, but transmitting whatever mental image encompasses "the specific Celestialsapien being made up of our three minds" - a unique reference akin to a name, so it is translated as the currently only name for this specific individual that can be understood by humans. Same would go for alien languages.
While I do think it is a pretty good idea for Ben to transform into Alien X whenever he knows he has time off to do so and potentially get used to it and get better at talking and deliberating with the two personalities, it still does have risks. The two main ones I can see is the fact that they said that they didn't wan't Ben to transform back to human and had the power to keep him as Alien X. He managed to convince them this episode, but that doesn't mean it will always be possible. The other risk is one that comes from what you brought up earlier, Alien X's perception of time. If the other personalities really wanted to, they could make it that millions of years are passing them by like seconds and not tell Ben, or at the very least Ben might not be aware of it until he actually asks them.
I see your point to call Alien X disappointing, and the advertising sure would leave you wanting more, but... i disagree completely. Alien X's debut is perfect, completely casual like any other alien, but right away it shows that he's NOT just any other alien. An absolute last resort that could potentially leave Ben trapped within him for all eternity (hence why "Ben is too scared to use him")
I still feel like “fixing a dam” and “infinite power” arent really the same thing, especially when he doesnt show up again even in the highbreed invasion which would totally qualify as an absolute last resort considering the entire world was at stake.
@@LucyWest370 well there's also a difference between "fixing a dam" and "literally reversing time just to fix a dam" which is what he actually did. It's like hammering a nail with a war hammer.
@@thegoblin4948 they spent the entire season hyping him up and all we see from him is fixing a dam. Like they say he has infinite power but literally all he did was do a temporal shift thing and just yeet the dam back into place. The entire scene couldve been done with several other aliens ben unlocks later on in the series, theres nothing special to the infinite power alien X has. He shouldve done something no alien could do that he had unlocked previously or in the future of the show but he does serve as an excellent dam repairman.
@@LucyWest370 that's because of Ben's ignorance on not mastering how to use him. Bellecus and Serena made it clear Ben got what he wanted first now they needed reasoning
I like Alien X, a very interesting concept. But it's true that it also restricted Ben to only having 9 aliens, because he never used Alien X. But this alien also gave us the amazing moment at the end of the Aggregor arc when he tries to absorb an infant Celestialsapien and the dialogue with Paradox about how he can't be too close to them because they see him as a threat, which is a piece of lore I love. And the fight on the Celestialsapien's hand and Kevin needing to absorb Aggregor's power because it was that or losing, thus giving us that amazing Kevin killing spree arc right after the Aggregor fight, ugh I love UA season 1 a lot, so good. But the important part is that Alien X gave us more Paradox screentime, therefore it's GREAT
Going by how Serena and Belicus acted in Omniverse, yeah they are just lazy and want to discuss for fun. They really just seem to just want to do what they want and don't do anything else unless really talked into it. Which is great for Ben because he eventually played into that aspect of them to gain control of Alien X. On a different note, I may have forgotten but why are we doing just an episode at the time now? Does anyone know?
I am sorry for making a joke on Creepypasta they/them's dead Guinea pig, what I did was not the best way to treat the situation. It was arrogant of me to send that picture. I'll remind myself that other people have feelings and not everything is a joke. I'm asking for forgiveness.
I’ve always had this whoooooole idea in my head that this episode would have been redeemed had Ben “done the ultimate sacrifice”’ and used him at the end of season 2 to win against the high breed and as a cliff hanger he’d get stuck as Alien X, that would have honestly been pretty cool and this episode would have been an actual warning for Ben for the cost of using Alien X
Some ideas I had watching the episode about the points you brought up about Alien X: Why did they make a screen? I think they created the portal screen because Ben specifically said show. So they do follow genie rules a little bit, just not to the absurd degree genies have. Why was Pluto's explosion so bright? Bright screen. Especially since the backdrop of the mind space is space, there's a lot of darkness that would be filled with the light. Or, since it isn't happening to his friends, this is a hint at how Bellichus and Serena see the entire universe as it happens as if they were right there, even when they aren't. Why do they refer to themselves as Alien X? I think it's likely that Bellicus and Serena knew Ben would give it a nickname, and are just using it as a way to more simply refer to the Celestialsapien. Otherwise they'd risk having to explain Celestialsapiens to Ben and that's probably one of the topics on the backburner. Have they been conscious this whole time? Probably. They're omnipotent, if I'm not mistaken, so it's entirely likely that they've been keeping tabs on the universe the entire time they've been in the Omnitrix. Especially since if you think about it, the last thing they would have agreed on would be getting put into the Omnitrix. So that had to have happened right before the dinosaurs went extinct if that was their next topic of discussion. Why are they saying no/not doing anything? Think about the emotions they're supposed to represent. Bellichus is rage, Serena is love. Teleporting them away is neither side of the emotional spectrum, making it right in Ben's wheelhouse as the voice of reason. In order to get them to agree, you'd have to word it in such a way that one of the others thinks it's on their side of the emotional spectrum. He's wording things as neutral, so they disagree. Bellichus probably wants to destroy the Incursion, Serena probably wants to not interfere with them. That's also why they don't seem to want to do anything. You don't want to do anything you disagree with either, so why would they? Think about it as the old D&D alignment chart. If it's not Good (Serena) or Evil (Bellichus), they won't do it. Where are they and what are the floating heads? I think this is just Alien X's version of what Ben's mind is like any time he transforms. He's still seeing himself as himself, he can just do other things because his brain knows he can do it as that alien. The floating heads are probably just an easier way for Ben to understand the voices, so he made them visual forms based on their voices. That might be why we don't see the mind space for the rewind time; Ben hasn't heard them yet, so he doesn't have a visual representation formed for them. The problem with "practicing" with Alien X is that you gotta get through over 10 million topics of debate, and these topics could be universal issues or regarding species Ben has no clue about.
Hey thanks a lot , unfortunately we just learned that Derrick j Wyatt has died . Regardless of what anyone thought of him he will be missed and I’m thankful for his contribution to Ben 10
A better question than "can Serena and Bellicus make decisions without Ben?" (I'd say the answer is yes by the way) is: what would have happened if Ben seconded the motion to save the dinosaurs? Would they be resurrected in the present, or would all of Earth's history have been changed?
@@Samfry523 I thought he was apart of alien x, like how in universe vs Ben episode, it required all 3 of the voices to give Ben full access to alien x, the same happened in so long an thanks for all the smoothies (I think that was the episode title)
31:08 Well Ben did recreated the universe multiple in Omniverse before gaining full control of Alien X. So he probably did do what you would've mentioned.
As someone who remembers the marketing for Alien X from Cartoon Network who wanted to see what all the fuss was about you're 100% right in saying this episode was disappointing. I really like the idea of Alien X. Having a being with limitless power capable of doing anything have the handicap Alien X did was smart. However the way they handled him in Alien Force was just bad. He appeared once, was mentioned once after that and then never again until Ultimate Alien, it's like the writers didn't know what to do with him after his introductory episode. Also if it were me I would've built the stakes of Alien X in the show by having Ben try to turn into Alien X but the Omnitrix not let him, seeing as the Omnitrix is seemingly aware of the situations Ben is in I'd have it be a thing of Ben trying to turn into Alien X but it not letting him multiple times during the season. Maybe have the Omnitrix straight up say something like "the current situation is not deemed dire enough for this transformation", have that happen in multiple episodes throughout the season just so you understand what's at stake with the Alien X transformation. Then when he does transform it's a cool moment because you as the fan are excited to see why this transformation was saved only for world ending events and then after the episode you fully understand why the Omnitrix wouldn't let him transform into Alien X. Not just because Alien X is super powerful and should only be used in world ending situations like you assumed but also to protect Ben from turning into him unnecessarily and being trapped as him.
My headcanon for Alien X's DNA sample is the foundation for the established relationship between Paradox & Azmuth, especially given the 500-lightyear treaty as if they'd had a run-in. Like, surely it was a newly self-understood Paradox who undertook a mission for an incredibly ambitious inventor with results to seek not only a higher power, lay an easier path to get there again, swab some drool, & get hit with a restraining order lmao
I actually liked the episode. The way Ben leaves bellacus and Serena saying that he got nine more aliens who can do the same job in a much better way and later tells Kevin that the price for using alien x is too high was great writing. Plus never saw any commercials or advertisements about alien x in my country so he was a total mystery for me. Which made his debut even better.
I have some head canon about Alien X's history, my guess is that because Alien X is the strongest/one of the more powerful Celestialsapiens, they only had two personalities so they would be at a permanent standstill and Azmuth somehow convinced them to voluntarily be in the Omnitrix with an assurance/possibility of a future user taking the natural third personality to break their permanent inability to do anything. As to why Alien X would refuse to do anything that Ben asked, it's probably ego or lack of knowing how to cooperate with a third personality
Yeah i feel like ben being 16 makes alien x only have 2 personalities, its mentioned in both ultimate and omniverse the younger an alien x the less personalities they develop hense why aggregor was trying to take a baby one before it could develop personalities and interfere with him
@@sdbzfan1 That's also a possibility, i meant that maybe Alien X was a unique case and was exceptionally powerful and thus was limited to only 2 personalities but age could be factor too
In my head l came up with the explination that alien x is a mutant in the celestial sapien standard. To me alien x (Serena & belicus) are just among the regular celestial sapien, they don't need to be the most powerful.
@@bashengatheblackmanta7003 That's also interesting, i naturally assumed that alien X would be the strongest as Ben's aliens are meant to be the prime version of that species
20:10 My theory is that Bellicus and Serena couldn't agree on an actual name for Alien X, so they're just stuck with the placeholder, and then Ben mistook it for the transformation's actual name and went with it
I always liked to imagine that to put alien x in the omnitrix, Asmuth went to the forge of creation and debated Bellicus and Serena until convincing them to agree to go inside of it themselves. So that rather than a strand of DNA, they literally just beamed themselves into it. and just kept talking the whole time. They could have gone out whenever they wished, they could just never agree.
I’m back for an update to the ‘Oh Man’ counter. I figure I’d drop the season total at the end of each season, along with the previous totals. Keep up the good work. Classic Season 1 - 15 Season 2 - 19 Season 3 - 29 Season 4 - 20 Classic Total: 73 Alien Force Season 1 - 4 Ben 10 Returns, Pt.1: 1 Ben 10 Returns, Pt.2: 1 Everybody Talks About The Weather...: 1 Kevin’s Big Score: 0 All That Glitters: 0 Pier Pressure: 0 Max Out: 0 Be-Knighted: 0 What Are Little Girls Made Of?: 0 The Gauntlet: 0 Plumbers Helpers: 0 Paradox: 0 X=Ben+2: 1 Grand Total: 77
-Alien X is in this episode
-Really? What's he doing?
- He's just standing there... MENACINGLY!!!!
LoL
@@blue_object It's funny because it's true for this one. Alien X is pretty much a God
To be honest Alien x can just do that even if Ben has full control of it because he is legitly that terrifying anyway
Only 3 comments? Let me fix
Honestly the most disappointing thing about Alien X is that his debut episode wasn't episode 10
I always thought it was
Favorite comment
Alien 10… lol why didn’t I ever think of that before?!
@@SkimBee me too
Oh yeah cuz X
Never thought of that
11 year old me is never not going to think Alien X the hypest thing ever okay
Aye
Imagine an asylum movie based on Ben 10
@@nabeelahmed2786 Sven 20
Agreed!
I just saw it in commercials and popped up to watch the episode he appeared in, it was pretty entertaining :3
This episode was a reminder of the dumbest argument against alien X I've ever heard, which is, "He was never shown manipulating time on screen." Like, bro, it was literally his first appearance.
"Reality includes time."
@@merchantziro4285 "Time, huh? Thanks for the tip."
@@capitalwenisberry2052 *Sotobro effect intensifies*
@@miracles4219
*expect only works for clockworks species*
@@l0sts0ul89 what about professor paradox
Doesn't the effect work with beings that have time power
I think the reason why ben is afraid of turning into Alien X is he could be trapped in there forever. Any time he transforms, he knows there's a small chance he'll never come back.
For example, like Albedo in the universe Paradox mentioned, where he stays Alien X for over a year.
Yo we can use alien x like a prison I saw a UA-camr who had a ben 10 rp him trap someone in alien x the UA-camr name is pixeldip
Also I think he doesn't want to deal with those 2
But it's also All-powerful Couldn't you just ask them to be like Hey can we just Not have any time pass out Side when we're talking
@@plantainsame2049 And what are the chances they'd say yes? He's realized from this episode's interaction that Bellicus and Serena are extremely hard to deal with. They decide things on a whim, and there's no guarantee they would do anything he requests of them. Maybe asking to stop the flow of time while they talk it out is too inconsequential of a request for them, or maybe they have some other bullshit reason for not agreeing to it. Hell, their reasoning could may as well be that they just don't feel like it.
@@Medbread yeah I guess
One reason why I thought it was justified to not become Alien X is, what if Bellicus and Serena don't let him back out again? They basically override the omnitrix and at this point outclass Ben in the control department. What he means in the end by cost is literally transforming into Alien X is gambling with his life.
Totally agree, imagine being trap in there for eternity, can’t really count to Paradox to get him out
(Edited)
What I meant in "can't count on Paradox" is that they just met in the last episode, Ben probably wouldn't trust him that much, plus Ben didn't even know yet that Paradox can break him out.
This happens to a Albedo of other Universe
Yep. And according to Paradox in Ultimate Alien, in another universe, Albedo wound up stuck in Alien X for 6 months. That is the thing Ben was worried about. Heck, it's why I didn't like Alien X when I was a kid. Due to the fear of that.
@@robertkovarna8294 He was stuck as Alien X for an entire year.
@@leonseuropeanislandadventu7398 six months, a year, hell even a day of my mind being stuck in the body of something else entirely would freak me the hell out.
>Gets tons of buildup outside the show
>Appears only at the end of the first season
>Uses godlike powers to fix a dam
>Refuses to transform back
>Refuses to elaborate
>Leaves
It could be argued that Ben's character "regression" is due to the fact that he meets all these Universal level beings (Bellicus, Serena, and Prof Paradox) and the fact they take NOTHING seriously. Probably got to the point that after Ben rebuilt the Universe he was kinda just like "Fuck it"
But the character regression happens in Alien Force season 3, way before he recreates the universe in Omniverse.
The in-universe justification seems to be that he just got cocky after saving the universe from the Highbreed.
@@corphish129 while im not a fan, it does make sense to a 15 year old to get as cocky after a feat like that
A reoccurring theory is that once a being becomes powerful enough matters that used to mean a great deal to them become inconsequential
@@corphish129 If you were a 15 yr old saving the world you'd also be mega cocky.
@@h3nder sure, but he also loses like half of his social awareness. He really becomes a jerk.
RIP Kevin Conroy, the best Batman and Bellicus of our time.
“With out Batman crime has no punchline”
Kevin conroy didn’t voice Bellicus, it was Jeff bennett
@@sammaelabaddon9993 he did in X=Ben+2
" I got nine other guys that could do it better! "
Easily the best line of the episode.
And Serena crying is actually kinda sad. :(
@Gooey that scene always sends chills down by spine, it's my fav too
@Gooey you mean Ben 10 as a whole?
I like how bellecus got genuinely angry at ben for making her cry. Shows that even though they rarely agree, they still care about each other.
Just like an angry married couple.
@@N.I.A23
Awwwwwe, he *does* care.
Every gangster until Alien X stands still his whole debut
If you see my comment sorry I basically took yours lol edit: I deleted it
@@TFTdarkstar01 ?
Yes
Idk actually
@@TFTdarkstar01 ok
One thing I've always wondered is: Alien X consciousnesses have always existed, or did they exist from the moment Ben first transformed, because the DNA in the omnitrix is a blank canvas that molds itself from Ben's DNA.
So theoretically Belicus and Serena didn't exist until Ben transformed, and then they became independent entities.
Well remember there is only one alien X and it's DNA is shared in EVERY Omnitrix in the multiverse so the conscious of alien X existed when the first Ben turned into him
Belicus and Serena did always exist, first in the original body of celestial Sapien then in Alien X after Azmuth tinkered around with "DNA"
@@mr.knightthedetective7435 so is there a second Belicus and Serena out there in the OG body?
@@mr.knightthedetective7435 That doesn't make sense, since that original Alien X would have its own Voice of Reason.
I just believe that alien x was is just living in the Omnitrix floating. Similar to og ghostfreak he wasn't a ai copy but sentient being trapped inside the device
I like to think that, since all of Ben's aliens are "part Ben" in a way, Bellicus and Serena are too, and already came up with the name Alien X. Or they just knew Ben would call him that anyway. The way they speak it's as if they'd been anticipating Ben for a while
As for their personalities, I think it's deliberate that Bellicus and Serena will never agree with each other without Ben there. He has to be the voice of reason, because the other two aren't reasonable. They're too stubborn to do anything on their own.
i would have liked to see ben try to come to agreements with them. like, "do my homework and keep my parents out of my room and give me a good night of sleep and i'll be willing to negotiate with you for a specific amount of time". obviously that's a bit silly but you get the idea, ben requests that they take care of stuff for him, and he will give them some time they desire from him.
I honestly think that if Ben didn't live so much in the "here and now" and had a larger thought process, he could compromise with Bellicus or Serena much easier, especially during UAF's "majority rules" interpretation of his power where he only needs to get one other to agree with him.
I like the fact that you agree they won't ever agree with each other, because if they could, what would stop them from agreeing that they could leave the Omnitrix, yk?
So let's say what if?
What if the other celestial sapians are controlled by their own will of emotions. How many other thoughts besides Serena, bellecus, and Ben are there? We know albedo is in it. It could be possible paradox hid himself reasoning with them as well.
i always wonder other celestialsapians have different consciousness right? so are there other voices LIKE WAAAAAAAAAR
27:10
I always love when Kevin absorbs something that isn't the basic metal/stone shade of color. Like when he absorbs Seven-Seven's armor or when he absorbs the tire rubber or when he absorbs his car.
Always a nice change of pace
When he absorbed Way Big's red metal in Omniverse
@@sameerkashyap1750Omniverse always made him more unique with the powers. His textures really reflect what he absorbing like metal or wood.
Honestly, after thinking about this episode as an adult, I kinda have to agree with Bellacus and Serena about shooting Bens ideas down. Teleporting the incursians or disabling the conquest ray won't help. Millious can just repair the ray and teleport back, angry at the team and taking revenge on earth.
That being said, Bellacus and Serena could've explained that and maybe suggest solutions on their own. So I believe Ben is still right for getting angry at them and calling them useless
That may be the case. But how about for doing something like putting a barrier around the Earth to block the ray? Or the fact Bellicus wanted to focus on old arguments now that Ben was there, instead of them realizing Ben wants to protect Earth, and for him, Earths safety comes before any of their old arguments?
One line could have helped explain why they weren’t helping
Bellacus: planets get destroyed all the time, why should we save your’s?
@@danielwesley5051 or just let Ben ask "why?" When they say no. They're both somehow agreeing on not helping so there must be a valid reasoning other than them just not wanting to
Therapist: “Egg Kevin isn't real, he can't hurt you.”
Egg Kevin:
Eggvin Leggvin
Rubber egg Kevin
Blackface Kevin
The screams
Lol
I honestly like the way Alien X was handled here, showing that he has near unlimited power, but showing that this power comes at a price before it can be used… (And in a way it even alludes to the fact that Ben will one day be able to use the powers of Alien X without any drawbacks).
I feel the same, but I do understand why people would be disappointed who saw all the hype they tried to build for him
@@rubyknight2015 The most powerful person always has to have a absurdal weakness...
@@wyslanniknewworldorder9525 Agreed
Wdym near unlimited all we see from him is fixing a dam dude
@@LucyWest370 hold this L my dude
When i was young, I was thinking the 10th alien is powerful than the rest of other aliens, as it turned out be more than that. Alien X is not just as powerful as he is, he's reality warped with nigh-omnipotent powers. I was very diappointed that Ben won’t become Alien X in Alien Force again, until one episode of Ultimate Alien and mostly Omniverse.
it's cool that Belicus is Kevin Conroy, who voices Batman.
He is? I didn't know Conroy was in Ben 10 alien force.
Oh wow I never knew Batman and Belicus were voiced by the same guy
He’s not omnipotent
He isn't omnipotent, thats never been shown.
I mean if Batman was one of the two voices in my head I’d be a little worried to transform into Alien X as well.
Judging from how Seven seven reacted, that was probably the first time his armor broke. I'm also guessing that he decided to run away because he realized drawn out combat is not a good idea against someone that broke through his armor in one hit. I'm guessing with all of this, but that's just how I have interpreted it.
@@JBKaton I think you're on the wrong comment.
Either reason is plausible.
Good theory
I assumed it interrupts his breathing or something
@@Antasma1 Never thought of that. I'm inclined to bring up Six six, considering his helmet fully broke, but there are plenty of differences between him and Seven seven.
I'm adding to my original comment here, considering what it took to break Six six's helmet, and that we're told that Seven seven is far more dangerous, can we assume that his armor would be stronger? If so, then Swampfire can hit very hard.
31:20 Albedo was stuck as Alien X for almost a year, every time Ben would transform to train to debate, he risks being stuck motionless for a long time
Very true
What episode
@@muhdmat8454 In "Ben 10,000 returns", Professor Paradox says Albedo was trapped as Alien X in an alternate timeline, this references the events of the video game "Vilgax attacks"
-Appears
-Saves the day in a second
-A-poses for the rest of the episode
-Refuses to elaborate
-Disappears
Now that's a power move.
GigaChad Grindset.
A Pose to assert your dominance over inferior power scale characters
This is why I prefer the Omniverse explanation of all three needing to agree, it makes the polar opposite personalities more hindering.
Think about it, why waste time with both of them? Want a diplomatic solution? Just get Serena into it. Want a fight? Convince Bellicus. Majority voting here doesn’t work as a drawback.
I never thought of it like that but yea kind of makes sense
Don't say stupid things.
I honestly like how all this hype was for this. It's like such a genius troll. "Alien X is allmighty and all powerful!... but Ben can't use that power, lol"
It's such a hilarious concept, but also like a bit of a good lesson. Don't get enamoured with power scaling, and feats and all that jazz. You don't need ungodly power to be a hero, aliens like Jetray and Swampfire are enough. Which is the message of the episode, Ben doesn't win by being Alien X, he wins by being his other aliens.
The problem with making Alien X easier to use is it opens way too many doors to easy solutions. There's a reason Alien X is only ever used one time after Ben gets the "keys" to them in Universe v Tennyson
To be honest, I think doing the "Chowder" thing with Alien X would make sense. I've always imagined him as a sort of "transparent casing enveloping a small universe" as opposed to the stars just being a texture on his skin. Having the stars be static while he moves, but also making the stars rotate to resemble a 360° FOV while "the camera pans around him", would sell this idea very well I think.
You know I was thinking the same thing. That his stars are in the same place
I always thought his look was because hwas like a window to the universe. Like you can see the entire universe through him, so the stars moving would be a cool feature
My theory that I've developed is that at some point in the years of arguing, the Celestialsapien that is Alien X noticed the existence of the Omnitrix and managed to agree to give it the ability to transform into them for the SAKE of creating a third "Voice of Reason" that would be able to break their tie.
That's a pretty cool idea
That's pretty interesting. Thinking about it, Alien X having no Voice of Reason technically makes him a disabled member of his species.
It makes sense that he might agree to Azmuth's idea if it meant a possible treatment for his disability.
For anybody wondering why Ben doesn't use Alien X as often as other aliens is because of how he morally uses his alien transformations. Ben experienced what is was like to essentially play God, no BE a God. That much power is a HUGE responsibility for him even with his status as savior the universe. Plus with Belacus and Serena, sorry to say this, it's no wonder Ben Prime use Alien X for serious situations that as far as we know NO other alien could do.
Nah, he just doesn't want to deal with Serena and Belacus
@@Antasma1 Ben does have other Aliens so why use just Alien X? He pretty much just uses Alien X for mostly situations where he is needed.
You read the 5yl comics don’t you
sounds cool but this makes that one scene in omniverse pretty disappointing where, **spoiler,** he's using Alien X to casually fling the rooters around with kevin watching
@@TacticalNerd1963 and that's cause he doesn’t need to talk for one hour to just punch someone
My problem with Alien X is that he takes up a spot as one of the ten aliens Ben can only for the first 2 seasons of Alien Force. So since Alien X is a situational use, it really like Ben 9 for the first 2 seasons. They should have had Alien X just be a extra alien Ben unlocked. And, with hindsight, I would have had Lodestar be apart of the Alien Force 10.
Or Rath
@@ksoundkaiju9256 rath, loadstar, etc showed up in season three. In hindsight Alien x ought to have been ben’s eleventh alien for AF. Like cannonbolt was for the og.
Classic or not, I forgot which alien he turned into first that wasn't part of the Alien Force 10
@@ksoundkaiju9256
this
@@GreaterGrievobeast55
Also this
I think the idea of Alien X is great, a godlike being with limitless power but with a price that isn't worth paying. However, they presented it in the least engaging way possible. Just having Ben floating in the endless black void, caught in an endless bickering and arguing match, while Alien X just stands around motionlessly doing absolutely nothing.
Would of preferred them actually showing some drawbacks. Ben's idea of teleporting them away isn't bad but then let them point out that you just made them someone else's problem. Now they are in this area destroying planets that will never know life or had life beginning to start. Things like that would show how the two personalities have a much larger insight on things than ben can comprehend.
I personally disagree. The episode left me wanting more Alien X and I think that was the intention. If I got too much Alien X then I think that would ruin the alien for me.
@@steelbarber I mean “able to fix a dam” and “infinite godlike power so op ben is scared of transforming into him” don’t really fit in the same character
@@aerostrafe1075 I feel a better idea is this "Great power comes with a great amount of concentration and training in order to use it well", think of Sentry in the marvel comics
In case you don't know him, despite his great power, it comes at the price that if he exerts too much, he might let out too much power by accident, and whatever he was trying to save might be destroyed in the process, making it so most of the time, it either HAS to be a world ending threat, thats far away from earth, or any life period, or you just can't use him cause he'll just end up doing whatever the villain was gonna do anyway, and destroy everything, or it has to be something so insignificant, that you could have asked any other hero to do it, AND just in case it wasn't enough, due to all his power, he has a split personality that can only be held off by him constantly focusing his power on keeping him within him, if he exerts too much power, that power being redirected from that, to doing whatever Sentry is doing, leads the the being, or even just small fractions of them being escaping, and again, reeking havoc, however, the being always has as much power as he does, its just that he doesn't hold back cause he's evil, this means that if he were to exert himself too much against say a mid level fight for him, the being would escape, and use all that power to destroy everything, however, if he's only doing small, simple shit like, saving people from a sinking boat, either the being doesn't escape, or a really insignificant fraction of him comes out, BUT it still reeks havoc
Point is, I think it would have been nice to give Alien X, one or two of these weakness, after all, it already has the personalities there to "Balance" stuff, so imagine if ones like "Ok, I'll save earth, but in return, I'll destroy another planet with just as much life", or have it so the reason he has 3 personalities, is cause he has so much power, that if only Ben uses it's power, he'll just use more power than he intended by accident, and make things worse, and if only ONE agrees, the chances are lower, but the power still isn't as focused, or as potent due to all three needing to be unlocked so that the full concentrated power is used, so the only way to properly use him is to have all three agree, and BOOM, you still have the same conflict, but Ben at times thinks of using him cause "How much worse would it really be if Alien Xs power went wild at this point?", this way you can also still use Alien X in other episodes cause "Hey, not all three are agreeing, but as long as Ben focuses real hard, this small thing shouldn't cost something worse happening"
@@user-kq5ci7ol8o Interesting take but you might want to separate it into paragraphs since its a lot of text. I do find sentry interesting.
20:18 hard disagree, part of what makes Alien X cool is that we have no explanation for how or why it talks like a stenographer, leading the audience to grow instantly curious about what’s going on behind the scenes. If we actually saw the deliberation process beforehand, hearing the motion carried out in real time would have been way less interesting.
That's why I said flashback
23:20 There's something so cute about Belacus wanting to discuss on the idea of saving Dinosaurs
I love getting glimpses of Kevin’s past when he mentions that him and Raff used to be business associates
Rath not Raff
@@101caoimhe it's raff dude
Oh I thought he was talking about the Alien Rath not raff
Would that be retconed too because of the Rooters arc?
@@101caoimhe why would you think that
I actually really like how Alien X was handled here, he's kept mysterious and weird, with Bellicus and Serena never being able to agree without Ben (as they are basically complete opposites and stubborn af) and Ben not wanting to use him again made sense to me, because he could just be stuck as Alien X forever if he failed to convince Bellicus and Serena, and that worked with him being the last resort all powerful alien. Great review as always though.
I am sorry for making a joke on Creepypasta they/them's dead Guinea pig, what I did was not the best way to treat the situation. It was arrogant of me to send that picture. I'll remind myself that other people have feelings and not everything is a joke. I'm asking for forgiveness.
@@jennyberger8229 I want to know what that guy is talking about
@FueguitoAzul too bad that just never really happens and Alien X is kept useless for two whole series until Omniverse says fuck it and decides to throw away all weaknesses and limitations and then just have Ben... not use Alien X for no reason other than plot. It just made the whole point about it being not worth the price completely null and void. But I agree, this episode left a lot of open doors for Alien X to come back and eventually do shit, and presented the Alien in an interesting way, it just really felt kinda boring overall when you take the sheer scale of what Alien X is into consideration, at least in my opinion. Like, he's supposed to be nigh omnipotent and all he does is fix a broken dam and then stand around doing nothing, that's not exactly that impressive when half of Ben's aliens could probably do the same thing. Even the time manipulation thing isn't that impressive once Clockwork rolls around. We just get told about how powerful Alien X really is, not shown. If they had shown him do something like casually flicking away the Incursian's planet busting laser- forgot it's name- with a glance or something, THAT would've been an impressive example of just how powerful he is and why there are such heavy drawbacks.
@FueguitoAzul they also should've definitely introduced Alien X in an episode about, you know, Alien X? The Incurseans had nothing to do with Alien X or the Celestialsapiens at all, the Incurseans didn't relate to Alien X in anyway or even seemed to recognize what it was, it's like they just crammed two completely different episodes together for no reason. Even if Alien X didn't do much in it, an episode exploring the Celestialsapiens themselves would've been a lot more interesting to watch and fit a lot more with it's debut.
@FueguitoAzul it probably would've, Ben could've just used Big Chill or Swampfire to stop the water somehow, Alien X being there only makes Ben useless for the rest of the episode, but I'm sure they could've found a way to include him in the main conflict and not have him immediately solve it by going Swampfire.
Honestly the take away that such a powerful alien could be so useless had a very lasting message for me. Reminds me of those all powerful abstract beings in comics and anime that seldom ever interfere though I’m not sure that was ever the intention. Now that ben can (potentially) use him willy nilly i really think it takes away from the over all stakes of the show.
*SevenSeven and the rest of his fam are also super rad!* 29:49 (OOP! huh, well SixSix’s got more balls then him for sure.) i’m surprised ben never unlocked his species to become TenTen.
20:43 I always figured the mask were vague representations of bens own psyche, so they’d deep down have a reverence for the title he chose first hand. 20:50 going further with this head canon, I think they sort of represent all the unconscious thoughts on how ben might want to see the world be different.
23:19 YES BRING THE DINOSAURS BACK PLEASE!
Even if Alien X was kinda overhyped, I would say this episode served well enough for his introduction and how he works. The concept of an alien that's on the level of a cosmic being having a restriction like this is definetly interesting. It gives a reason as to why Ben can't just use Alien X for every single situation, otherwise he might have been overused. Yea a couple more appearances here and there would've been nice, but I guess the writers weren't sure what situations would absolutely demand Alien X's utility (at least until Omniverse).
Sidenote: Wish Seven-Seven had a longer fight rather than just running away like a pussy.
Rest in Peace, Kevin Conroy
The moment I saw this title, the first words that came to my mind were "Why would you say something so bold, but also so brave?" I haven't watched the reaction yet but I'll say this, when I watched this episode when I was younger,I never really understood how powerful Alien X was, and didn't initially like the drawbacks that came with using him,so I kinda see where you're going with this.
I like your profile picture.
@@christianparrish6647 Thanks man, I like yours too
@@flameohotman8032 have you watched venom 2 yet?
@@christianparrish6647 Not yet, though I may watch before or after No way home comes out.
@@flameohotman8032 it's pretty good. And I finally saw Ghost Rider the other day with Nicholas Cage, it's awesome. Now I just need to find Ghost Rider 2.
As a real young kid when this episode came out I was pretty unaware of all the crazy marketing I just saw that one alien was hidden. So I thought then (and now) that this episode was awesome. Introduction of great returning characters, a unique story, unexpected twists, and Alien X was and still is the most unique transformation.
I don't know if this has been talked about a lot, but my headcanon is that Azmuth got Alien X's DNA from Ben travelling back in time at some point and giving him the DNA. This wouldn't be impossible for Alien X to accomplish, and would explain why they've been conscious for so long. Time could be relative to them, so a timeloop wouldn't effect the two personalities.
I'm... not sure if that theory works? Time travel in Ben 10 creates a new timeline almost every time, and I can't imagine Paradox or other Celestialsapiens would be happy with Ben so casually time travelling.
Granted, there are cases of time loops like Vilgax knowing the Omnitrix or Maltruant's uhhh, entire existence, but then the question would be when did the timeloop start? The earliest possible point would be the medieval era, because that's when Azmuth abandoned Ascalon and started work on the Omnitrix.
According to this episode, Belicus and Serena have been sentient long enough to know about the dinosaurs, which would contradict the idea that Alien X's DNA was "created" during the medieval era. This makes the possibility of what the crew said more likely, that Azmuth just had a Celestialsapien friend who lent their DNA, because at least it's arguable that the original DNA Donor simply existed way before, and their memories transferred (?) to Belicus and Serena.
@@Genra Its just a headcanon, either way it's just wrong. There's nothing supporting it, and even bad theories have some sort of evidence.
Matt Wayne already disproved that
@@leonseuropeanislandadventu7398 I wanted to give the theory the benefit of the doubt lol, even though yes, writer statements have already disproved it
There was a statement that one of them was living in the Milky Way
9:33 and both eps have Mr Smoothy featured. I'm convinced that "SLATFTS" was an homage to X=Ben + 2
How I interpret Alien X and Celestialsapiens as a whole:
They're essentially what we perceive as "God". They were supposed to be the God of Ben 10 universe, as gods are usually represented as a vague entity, a living being with emotions and immense powers. A higher being who's thought process is beyond our understandings.
A good example would be, no matter how smart a squirrel is, you can't ever make it understand why we cutting down the trees. So no matter how hard we try, we'll never understand the thought process of the Celestialsapiens. The squirrels probably see us and wonder why these giant creatures standing still around eachother and making weird noises? Like how we see Celestialsapiens just standing like a statue.
And about the three personas, I think it's entirely a metaphor about how a human mind maybe able to easily get used to an arachnichimp brain or a necrofriggian brain, Celestialsapiens are a being of an entirely different level and a human mind is not capable of keeping it under control. It's as impossible as making two different personalities agree on something.
And obviously these views would hurt religious people all over the world thus they backtracked and made Celestialsapiens a lot watered down in omniverse.
How’s the Celestialsapien watered down in OV? Even if that’s true, your last argument would need to be supported by examples of Alien X portrayal in UAF that made people offended. But there is none. There is no evidence to suggest that UAF Alien X needed anything to backtrack from.
@@langletprolet8378 they probably either didn't wanna start a controversy, or some religious people within the production were against it, that'd be my guess. And OV obviously watered Celestial sapiens down by humanizing them. In UAF they were this mysterious lifeform who's concept of reality is so far advanced from us that we can't even begin to fathom. In OV they wear clothes, have beards, and can be smacked sense into. Like what the hell
Celestialsapians have several weaknesses later revealed offscreen or in statements after the series ended, but they still exist and are canon. One of them is that people with energy manipulation like Aggregor or chromastone could remove and even absorb their power, with another being that the only way to truly become omnipotent would destroy their minds, and that ectomites (ghostfreak's species) can possess them and use all of their power
@@bluecario Eh it was both a water down and improvement if you ask me mate. Espeically since Ben rebooted the universe anyway so it's practically a mute point being honest canoically speaking.
From a power scaling(?) point of view there's another reason why they were nerfed later. You can't have more than one truly omnipotent being in one universe (you could even argue that in existence in general), so a whole species of omnipotent beings wouldn't make sense. Hence, they can be nigh-omnipotent at most. Actually, you could say Celestialsapiens have been nigh-omnipotent since their first appearance due to the whole split personality thing. A true omnipotent being wouldn't have that limitation.
I have a theory that Bellicus and Serena are like the way they are because their species have different standards than us humans. They are higher beings with different concepts of morality and duty, of course they’re going to be difficult to reason with.
I think the reason they denied every request is because they're the voices of opposition. They refuse because it's in their nature to argue. It's not the answer we want but it makes the most sense to me. Also it would have been cool to see Ben actually getting used to Alien X, it'd be training. Alien X doesn't need power because he can do anything so the problem is reason. 2 of 3 have no reason to act so they don't in a sense. Ben being the voice of reason it's up to him to give the reason to make action. The other 2 being in constant opposition means barely anything could get done. It's a cool concept for an op character.
If they are voices of opposition theres no reason for them to exist lol, they wouldnt be able to do anything
@@LucyWest370 And they Aren't. They're literally still debating about things millions of years into the past. Without Ben And him making a really good point/argument they can't do anything.
Personally I like the idea that they present themselves as those higher beings constantly debating about important things but deep down they're just petty youtube commenters who genuinely enjoy arguing with each other about the most inconsequential random things. The kind of people to spend months arguing back and forth Goku vs Superman under a completely unrelated 4 year old video but on a cosmic scale. It makes the way Ben unlocks full power of Alien X so fitting because as the voice of reason he helps them realize that they never agreed on anything not because they didn't have a third voice but because they genuinely like debating more than actually doing anything
I feel like a way they could’ve handled Alien X would be that Ben only starts the series with nine aliens, have Ben, Gwen or Kevin wonder why there's only nine and have Ben train with his new aliens off-screen to get familiar with them, then have him unlock Alien X through a code/turning the dial of the Omnitrix in a certain way like he did in the classic series with cannonbolt, for example, and maybe have him appear a bit later on, rather than reveal him fairly quickly like they did. Maybe towards the end of season 2 or 3?
I'd like to imagine that Ben just never really practiced with alien x beforehand and just picked him in the heat of the moment because none of his other aliens would work for the situation.
It's a cool idea I think it would sort of fit but I would have two ways. One azmuth but like a safe guard on the omnitrix or the omnitrix says something like are you sure you want to transform into this alien or have a warning concerning the fact ben may not be able to turn back. Two Ben's alien x personalities haven't fully developed and there for ben cant access alien x I like the first one better
@@dabuff1319 that's exactly why ben chose the "mysterious alien".
As someone who was NOT involved in the hype train at all, the Alien X episode was one of my favourites.
Since I didn’t have some preconceived notion of just how powerful alien x was supposed to be, the idea of being able to turn any physical problem into a one where Ben just had to win mentally was interesting.
While now I think I wish Ben had some deliberation over the use of Alien X in some situations, his choice to not use him made perfect sense. It was a huge gamble, especially since Ben and ourselves didn’t know JUST how much power Alien X had. If it took the full length of this episode just to convince Serena and Bellicus just to let Ben transform back and simply MOVE again. It would begged the question how much convincing would they need to let Ben do something proactive
Alien X is a complex character and the episode did 10/10 job showing the hopelessness of Ben inside the mind of Alien X, It is terrifying to even think your friends are about to die and you can not convince the two personalities, Brilliant episode.
I think a good secondary limitation to Alien X would be if using him made the universe a bit weak near where he was used for an unknown period of time. So trying to do big things like rewinding time and teleporting a giant ship would be more dangerous to do in quick succession than just throwing people. Like he doesn't use telekinesis or chronokinesis. He just takes the fabric of reality around a point and alters it
Speaking of which, I think one reason Alien X would be quite difficult and dangerous to use is because Ben can't necessarily control how his powers manifest. For example, when it comes to things like moving your fingers, you don't say "I want to move my fingers, so I will move them now". Such choices are instinctive in a sense, where you aren't consciously thinking about the process of doing them or how they even work. Theoretically with Alien X, presumably Ben, Serena, and Bellicus have to consciously decide everything, even if it's just as simple as raising an arm. While Alien X probably doesn't exist within the normal flow of time and space, Ben is still a human that's limited by the mental capacity of a human. He can't necessarily think in full detail at all times of how to will something into existence. As Kuro mentioned, Alien X seems to be able to make some assumptions to fill in the gaps, and in Omniverse when Ben tried to bring the universe back Alien X interpreted it as making an almost perfect carbon copy of what the universe was before.
Against a regular opponent, Alien X's process of making decisions probably isn't a big deal, but against another Celestialsapien or something of significant speed this may cause more issues. Given how little Ben uses him, he would probably resort to general commands like punches, kicks, and signature moves in most fights, which may not be enough for certain opponents. He probably can't train with him much either.
Clicked on this video faster than Alien X can blink
Glad we aren't gone yet
I don't think it's debut was a disapointment.I liked Alien X's great power comes with a great cost philosophy.
Agreed.
I am sorry for making a joke on Creepypasta they/them's dead Guinea pig, what I did was not the best way to treat the situation. It was arrogant of me to send that picture. I'll remind myself that other people have feelings and not everything is a joke. I'm asking for forgiveness.
Blacking alien X out and making him a silhouette to make him “mysterious” for marketing was such a bruh moment. Cuz he’s literally pitch black with like a “galaxy” patter on him. So they showed him everytime they thought they were being “mysterious”
15:15 "the chowder thing"
The TV trope article calls it "static plaid" and to be perfectly honest I think that would look super cool.
24:29 he's doing his best alien force back round cosplay
I feel like Bellicus and Serena are needing Ben, as the voice of reason, to REASON with them rather than just throw out one idea after another. I’m sure they are jaded from each other just throwing out motions for eternity
Looking back on this episode makes me wish they gave Ben one of his later transformations instead, and give him Alien X later on. In fact, I would honestly prefer if he was given Water Hazard. I like that form, and feel it was underappreciated.
I feel that this would have been the perfect opportunity to introduce clockwork
8:34 If I knew my favorite franchise at the time had the voice of my absolute least favorite cartoon character back then I would've had a nuclear meltdown. Also I for one thought Alien X's design was worth the hype, a pocket galaxy encased in a transparent humanoid body was the coolest shit ever to me, loved having the toy too
Ben: *Giving the Death Stare*
Also Ben: *Autographing a cup without looking*
29:48 maybe 7-7 need this suit to breathe or sustain his body temperature, because his species are delicate and need very specific atmosphere
Growing up I always wondered what was the point of giving Alien X a multiple personality restriction. Only to realize how powerful Alien X is and why they were put there
It is understandable because given how powerful he is and what he has to do
In fact that’s what they did with a lot of aliens
Take Ghostfreak, Clockwork, Pesky Dust, Way Big, and Gutrot for example
It requires serious decision making to use omnipotence, your possibilities of power use are literally endless and you need a proper guide to settle what will your next move be
@@mr.knightthedetective7435 that is true
@@mr.knightthedetective7435 *Fast forward to Omniverse. With Ben using Alien X to flex on The Rooters and the Amalgam Kids*
10:26 This is my biggest complaint about Alien X. They keep his design a secret and then when he's revealed he looks exactly the same! They could've made him look awesome but nope. Add some white specs, call them stars and do NOTHING else.
Total missed opportunity
Honestly, when I first watched this episode, I was pretty disappointed that Alien X did nothing for majority of the episode
But, looking back at it now, they handled him in probably the best way possible
They introduced an incredibly powerfull alien with mysterious origins, even more so then others, and actually gave a REASON as to why Ben doesn't just use him all the time and win every fight by just snapping his fingers
21:00 It’s revealed in Omniverse however, that if Ben alters reality too much, he would have to answer to the galactic court. Because when he Creates an entire copy of his own universe, they show up.
There are so many Alien X elements that were never 100% explained, and I love that.
It adds to the fact that this alien is a creature one level above all others.
Even if it’s an animation error I really like that after Alien X distorts space and time it feels like he teleports them all to a different location that’s more ideal or something. It kinda reminds me of how Paradox works in his introduction, where he seemingly teleports places through the use of camera cuts. Really makes Alien X’s powers feel mysterious cuz you never really know how they work
Alien X having the multiple personalities restriction on his powers nerfs down Alien X so Ben can’t abuse it’s power to end any conflict within seconds. This weakness is very important and clever in my opinion for course of the show.
Alien D?
"Alien D"? Ditto? Also, I (and this entire reply section it seems)agree
Ah sorry 0-0
@@Alphaanims Sh_t happens
But of course, Omniverse happened.
With the whole “most power being in the universe” thing I believe that the first time when they say they are “one of” they mean a member of their race as an introduction sort of deal, like “we are one member of the royal family” then later in the episode when they get frustrated with ben calling them useless they drop the formalities and confidently state that they are the most powerful being in the universe which you could argue is consistent as alien X is never even damaged by the galactic guardian who is literally the champion fighter of the celestialsapiens, so obviously the term in the universe still leaves room for extra planar and extra dimensional beings so I actually believe them especially when later a fragment of alien X DNA can pierce through a forcefield made to protect 5th dimensional beings from the anililarg which would assumably damage them bare minimum or else they wouldn’t even have a shield
One thing (among a lot of other things), I love about Omniverse is that they ACTUALLY used Alien X, and he was really damn cool
Here's an idea for how this could have been a bit better, let's say that Gwen/Kevin die in the dam flooding and in a panic Ben uses an alien he hasn't touched yet. Using Alien X he reverses time on a larger scale than he did in the actual episode. That gives a greater emotional weight to using the power, and makes the trade off of being basically inert for the rest of episode actually good
Too soon to have Ben recreate life and give an existential crisis
I think Omniverse did a better job at displaying Alien X's powers, which is saying a lot since it was geared towards younger audiences.
omniverse in its early seasons was experimenting which is why we got a lot of stuff like that i think.
honestly, I hate how Omniverse handled Alien X, they took away all of limits and your left wondering why Ben doesn't use him all the time.
@@anthonyrodriguez8788 Good point now that you mention it.
@@anthonyrodriguez8788 after you’ve got infinite power you also have to have infinite responsibility dude
@@anthonyrodriguez8788 well I mean he can be put on trial again and I don't think Ben is ready or wants to take the responsibility of while using him
Would have loved to see them debating over whether to repair the dam or not.
Because I was honestly surprised how easily they passed that motion especially when looking at Ben's mood after the event confirming that they didn't took long to debate like they did later.
They gave a free pass cuz it was the first time
27:53 I get the feeling that Selena and Belacus act this way because they find the circumstances that Ben, co find themselves in and calls to action from Ben to be so trivial to the greater scheme of things that they'd rather spend time on discussing things like saving the Dinosaurs, When you look at the cosmological impact, bringing organisms that have been roaming earth for hundreds of millions of years back from extinction seems greater than Saving the current earth with it's current state. Let's not forget that they don't want Ben to leave so there's an implication that they know it's a possibility for him to do so. Now that they have their voice of reason, they can finally come to a vote to determine things they've argued about for millions of years. I guess a counter point to that is, all of this happens on their terms, if they really wanted a co-operative voice of reason to handle their own matters it would've been in their best interest to be co-operative with Ben in *his* issues as well. Then again, you'd need reason to come to a conclusion like that. So I guess they're this way because now they finally have a method to conclude their disputes, they're unreasonable, so instead of be co-operatives so that Ben would feel obliged to pass a vote on some of their personal notions, they just decide to trap him hoping that through these set of circumstances, Ben would just eventually comply with passing his votes on issues they've been bickering on for so long, and would never let him go because, if they do, they don't have a guarantee that he'll be back.
The issue with Alien X is that it's so ridiculously that it can solve nearly any problem. The writers had to keep it in check or ignore its power. What's Vilgax going to do if Ben turns into X and sends him 1 billion years in the past? What's ghostfreak gonna do if X seals him away in a can for all time?
Actually, I think they should do the chowder thing for alien x, where the texture is consistent. I feel like it works for alien x.
normly I hate that astetic but here I wouldn't mind
In my opinion, the biggest weakness of this episode is the space in Ben's mind when he turns into Alien X. We have a perfect opportunity to follow two groups of people, Gwen and Kevin dealing with the Encourgin* [Can't remember how to spell that] and Ben dealing with Belecus and Serena. Both situations are characters out of their element [Gwen and Kevin against the frog invaders without the help of Ben because of his new transformation. While Ben having dealt with his transformations having a mind of their own only once before with Ghost Freak, and he doesn't know what to do with two] excellent for building conflict, but it feels like all that the scenes inside Alien X's mind were just a bump on the road the disrupted the build up of conflict.
28:57
Ouch. You'll need intergalactic ice to recover from that burn.
"Ben is scared to use this alien"
_That should've been Ghostfreak._
I always wondered why Ben didn't propose an agreement along the lines of "I'll be at your service for one full day every year to decide on your matters - but in return any other time I transform into Alien X, we exclusively focus on the situation I'm currently in." I get they want to keep their literal deus ex machina out of reach, but the way they did it felt like Ben just instantly gave up at the first sign of inconvenience...
Also "I decide to drop all motions that would have changed my past until now." That would cut down on a lot of their clutter and gets rid potential paradoxes.
Regarding names and the likes that aliens shouldn't be aware of, I just always assume that's just a matter of loose translation. When Bellicus and Serena talk about "Alien X", they're probably not actually saying the name, but transmitting whatever mental image encompasses "the specific Celestialsapien being made up of our three minds" - a unique reference akin to a name, so it is translated as the currently only name for this specific individual that can be understood by humans. Same would go for alien languages.
While I do think it is a pretty good idea for Ben to transform into Alien X whenever he knows he has time off to do so and potentially get used to it and get better at talking and deliberating with the two personalities, it still does have risks. The two main ones I can see is the fact that they said that they didn't wan't Ben to transform back to human and had the power to keep him as Alien X. He managed to convince them this episode, but that doesn't mean it will always be possible. The other risk is one that comes from what you brought up earlier, Alien X's perception of time. If the other personalities really wanted to, they could make it that millions of years are passing them by like seconds and not tell Ben, or at the very least Ben might not be aware of it until he actually asks them.
20:40 UAF Vilgax refers to Ben's alien by the names that Ben gave them. Even when he had the omnitrix.
I see your point to call Alien X disappointing, and the advertising sure would leave you wanting more, but... i disagree completely.
Alien X's debut is perfect, completely casual like any other alien, but right away it shows that he's NOT just any other alien. An absolute last resort that could potentially leave Ben trapped within him for all eternity (hence why "Ben is too scared to use him")
I still feel like “fixing a dam” and “infinite power” arent really the same thing, especially when he doesnt show up again even in the highbreed invasion which would totally qualify as an absolute last resort considering the entire world was at stake.
@@LucyWest370 well there's also a difference between "fixing a dam" and "literally reversing time just to fix a dam" which is what he actually did. It's like hammering a nail with a war hammer.
@@thegoblin4948 they spent the entire season hyping him up and all we see from him is fixing a dam. Like they say he has infinite power but literally all he did was do a temporal shift thing and just yeet the dam back into place. The entire scene couldve been done with several other aliens ben unlocks later on in the series, theres nothing special to the infinite power alien X has. He shouldve done something no alien could do that he had unlocked previously or in the future of the show but he does serve as an excellent dam repairman.
@@LucyWest370 that's because of Ben's ignorance on not mastering how to use him. Bellecus and Serena made it clear Ben got what he wanted first now they needed reasoning
@@christianhenry4173 this is pre season 3 alien force ben dude not post season 3 alien force ben
23:26- I think Serena and Bellicus just agreed to basically move into the omnitrix when Azmuth asked them to, or something like that.
I like Alien X, a very interesting concept. But it's true that it also restricted Ben to only having 9 aliens, because he never used Alien X. But this alien also gave us the amazing moment at the end of the Aggregor arc when he tries to absorb an infant Celestialsapien and the dialogue with Paradox about how he can't be too close to them because they see him as a threat, which is a piece of lore I love. And the fight on the Celestialsapien's hand and Kevin needing to absorb Aggregor's power because it was that or losing, thus giving us that amazing Kevin killing spree arc right after the Aggregor fight, ugh I love UA season 1 a lot, so good. But the important part is that Alien X gave us more Paradox screentime, therefore it's GREAT
As a kid I was really hyped for Alien X, so I went to google and searched Alien X videos, then my childhood was ruined.
I am so, so sorry xD
I just searched for Alien X photos, and Oh. My. GOD!
What did you see?
Oh damn it took me a while to get what you said but damn.
@@saucymongoose7246 take a guess
Going by how Serena and Belicus acted in Omniverse, yeah they are just lazy and want to discuss for fun. They really just seem to just want to do what they want and don't do anything else unless really talked into it. Which is great for Ben because he eventually played into that aspect of them to gain control of Alien X.
On a different note, I may have forgotten but why are we doing just an episode at the time now? Does anyone know?
Kuro is getting busy putting retouch on 5YL's earliers parts and trying to convince Warner to put Ben 10 in multiversus
I am sorry for making a joke on Creepypasta they/them's dead Guinea pig, what I did was not the best way to treat the situation. It was arrogant of me to send that picture. I'll remind myself that other people have feelings and not everything is a joke. I'm asking for forgiveness.
I was really excited to see alien x and know his power and history and he truly is one of my absolute favorite aliens
I’ve always had this whoooooole idea in my head that this episode would have been redeemed had Ben “done the ultimate sacrifice”’ and used him at the end of season 2 to win against the high breed and as a cliff hanger he’d get stuck as Alien X, that would have honestly been pretty cool and this episode would have been an actual warning for Ben for the cost of using Alien X
16:30 Kuro, I really wish you were joking here
Yes, he is
Us :Batman
Kuro :Some Kind Of Cat Or Something
@@rukminikannan9779 ikr😂
I love the heroic way Yuri Lowenthal delivers Alien X's lines in Omniverse, just the way he says "Surprise!" is really cool to me
Unfortunate that he doesn’t talk with multiple voices simultaneously like in uaf
Some ideas I had watching the episode about the points you brought up about Alien X:
Why did they make a screen?
I think they created the portal screen because Ben specifically said show. So they do follow genie rules a little bit, just not to the absurd degree genies have.
Why was Pluto's explosion so bright?
Bright screen. Especially since the backdrop of the mind space is space, there's a lot of darkness that would be filled with the light. Or, since it isn't happening to his friends, this is a hint at how Bellichus and Serena see the entire universe as it happens as if they were right there, even when they aren't.
Why do they refer to themselves as Alien X?
I think it's likely that Bellicus and Serena knew Ben would give it a nickname, and are just using it as a way to more simply refer to the Celestialsapien. Otherwise they'd risk having to explain Celestialsapiens to Ben and that's probably one of the topics on the backburner.
Have they been conscious this whole time?
Probably. They're omnipotent, if I'm not mistaken, so it's entirely likely that they've been keeping tabs on the universe the entire time they've been in the Omnitrix. Especially since if you think about it, the last thing they would have agreed on would be getting put into the Omnitrix. So that had to have happened right before the dinosaurs went extinct if that was their next topic of discussion.
Why are they saying no/not doing anything?
Think about the emotions they're supposed to represent. Bellichus is rage, Serena is love. Teleporting them away is neither side of the emotional spectrum, making it right in Ben's wheelhouse as the voice of reason. In order to get them to agree, you'd have to word it in such a way that one of the others thinks it's on their side of the emotional spectrum. He's wording things as neutral, so they disagree. Bellichus probably wants to destroy the Incursion, Serena probably wants to not interfere with them. That's also why they don't seem to want to do anything. You don't want to do anything you disagree with either, so why would they? Think about it as the old D&D alignment chart. If it's not Good (Serena) or Evil (Bellichus), they won't do it.
Where are they and what are the floating heads?
I think this is just Alien X's version of what Ben's mind is like any time he transforms. He's still seeing himself as himself, he can just do other things because his brain knows he can do it as that alien. The floating heads are probably just an easier way for Ben to understand the voices, so he made them visual forms based on their voices. That might be why we don't see the mind space for the rewind time; Ben hasn't heard them yet, so he doesn't have a visual representation formed for them.
The problem with "practicing" with Alien X is that you gotta get through over 10 million topics of debate, and these topics could be universal issues or regarding species Ben has no clue about.
Hey thanks a lot , unfortunately we just learned that Derrick j Wyatt has died . Regardless of what anyone thought of him he will be missed and I’m thankful for his contribution to Ben 10
A better question than "can Serena and Bellicus make decisions without Ben?" (I'd say the answer is yes by the way) is: what would have happened if Ben seconded the motion to save the dinosaurs? Would they be resurrected in the present, or would all of Earth's history have been changed?
I’m pretty sure they need all 3 head guy things to actually carry a motion
@@sangkim6556 You mean 2? Ben isn't a "head guy thing"
@@Samfry523 I thought he was apart of alien x, like how in universe vs Ben episode, it required all 3 of the voices to give Ben full access to alien x, the same happened in so long an thanks for all the smoothies (I think that was the episode title)
@@sangkim6556 He is, but you said "head guy things". Ben is not a "head guy thing". Just saying
@@Samfry523 I feel like that was unnecessary then, but thanks anyways
Princess Attea is one of the few redesigns I actually like from Omniverse.
31:08 Well Ben did recreated the universe multiple in Omniverse before gaining full control of Alien X.
So he probably did do what you would've mentioned.
As someone who remembers the marketing for Alien X from Cartoon Network who wanted to see what all the fuss was about you're 100% right in saying this episode was disappointing. I really like the idea of Alien X. Having a being with limitless power capable of doing anything have the handicap Alien X did was smart. However the way they handled him in Alien Force was just bad. He appeared once, was mentioned once after that and then never again until Ultimate Alien, it's like the writers didn't know what to do with him after his introductory episode.
Also if it were me I would've built the stakes of Alien X in the show by having Ben try to turn into Alien X but the Omnitrix not let him, seeing as the Omnitrix is seemingly aware of the situations Ben is in I'd have it be a thing of Ben trying to turn into Alien X but it not letting him multiple times during the season. Maybe have the Omnitrix straight up say something like "the current situation is not deemed dire enough for this transformation", have that happen in multiple episodes throughout the season just so you understand what's at stake with the Alien X transformation. Then when he does transform it's a cool moment because you as the fan are excited to see why this transformation was saved only for world ending events and then after the episode you fully understand why the Omnitrix wouldn't let him transform into Alien X. Not just because Alien X is super powerful and should only be used in world ending situations like you assumed but also to protect Ben from turning into him unnecessarily and being trapped as him.
My headcanon for Alien X's DNA sample is the foundation for the established relationship between Paradox & Azmuth, especially given the 500-lightyear treaty as if they'd had a run-in. Like, surely it was a newly self-understood Paradox who undertook a mission for an incredibly ambitious inventor with results to seek not only a higher power, lay an easier path to get there again, swab some drool, & get hit with a restraining order lmao
I actually liked the episode.
The way Ben leaves bellacus and Serena saying that he got nine more aliens who can do the same job in a much better way and later tells Kevin that the price for using alien x is too high was great writing.
Plus never saw any commercials or advertisements about alien x in my country so he was a total mystery for me.
Which made his debut even better.
19:25 If Bellicus and Serena were to show a planet exploding like that on my face Ngl I'd be scared
I have some head canon about Alien X's history, my guess is that because Alien X is the strongest/one of the more powerful Celestialsapiens, they only had two personalities so they would be at a permanent standstill and Azmuth somehow convinced them to voluntarily be in the Omnitrix with an assurance/possibility of a future user taking the natural third personality to break their permanent inability to do anything. As to why Alien X would refuse to do anything that Ben asked, it's probably ego or lack of knowing how to cooperate with a third personality
Yeah i feel like ben being 16 makes alien x only have 2 personalities, its mentioned in both ultimate and omniverse the younger an alien x the less personalities they develop hense why aggregor was trying to take a baby one before it could develop personalities and interfere with him
@@sdbzfan1 That's also a possibility, i meant that maybe Alien X was a unique case and was exceptionally powerful and thus was limited to only 2 personalities but age could be factor too
In my head l came up with the explination that alien x is a mutant in the celestial sapien standard. To me alien x (Serena & belicus) are just among the regular celestial sapien, they don't need to be the most powerful.
@@bashengatheblackmanta7003 That's also interesting, i naturally assumed that alien X would be the strongest as Ben's aliens are meant to be the prime version of that species
Azmuth probably originally named his Celestial Sapien DNA sample "Alien X" and Belacus and Serena just sticked with it
20:10 My theory is that Bellicus and Serena couldn't agree on an actual name for Alien X, so they're just stuck with the placeholder, and then Ben mistook it for the transformation's actual name and went with it
I always liked to imagine that to put alien x in the omnitrix, Asmuth went to the forge of creation and debated Bellicus and Serena until convincing them to agree to go inside of it themselves. So that rather than a strand of DNA, they literally just beamed themselves into it. and just kept talking the whole time. They could have gone out whenever they wished, they could just never agree.
I’m back for an update to the ‘Oh Man’ counter. I figure I’d drop the season total at the end of each season, along with the previous totals. Keep up the good work.
Classic
Season 1 - 15
Season 2 - 19
Season 3 - 29
Season 4 - 20
Classic Total: 73
Alien Force
Season 1 - 4
Ben 10 Returns, Pt.1: 1
Ben 10 Returns, Pt.2: 1
Everybody Talks About The Weather...: 1
Kevin’s Big Score: 0
All That Glitters: 0
Pier Pressure: 0
Max Out: 0
Be-Knighted: 0
What Are Little Girls Made Of?: 0
The Gauntlet: 0
Plumbers Helpers: 0
Paradox: 0
X=Ben+2: 1
Grand Total: 77