Honestly, the backgrounds are the most tragic thing about this entire show. Almost every background in the show has been painstakingly and beautifully drawn, even the ones that are cloaked in black. You just never get to properly see that art in a lot of scenes and that sucks a lot for the artists who drew them. While I very much disagree with a lot of other arguments made in the video, I absolutely wish that the backgrounds weren't so shafted.

The bad thing is it’s dark in the background but the backgrounds have been drawn, for some reason they made the backgrounds dark when there’s fully drawn backgrounds

Don't worry Lowart, you will get an explanation on how Kevin got out of the Null Void... But not in Alien Force. You gotta wait until the next show, Ultimate Alien, to see what Kevin went through during the timeskip between OG and Alien Force

So just as Kuro is about to dive into Ultimate Alien, Billiam releases a review on that series while Lowart is here to take us back! How fun!

I don't have anything against this show specifically, but I do wish they had been more faithful to the OG series. I especially hated how they retconned Gwen from a human sorceress to an alien made of mana. There were so many other ways to explain her strong affinity to magic and not everything needs to be tied to aliens since the OG series already established the existence of the supernatural.

The black voids of the background are even worse when you realize they did actually draw them, they just turned the brightness all the way down for no reason

2:35 When you review omniverse, feedbacks death implies that it's the reason Ben took of the omnitrix, but only implied to be.

9:40 here is the worse thing, under all that darkness, they actually have drawn backgrounds apparently we just can't see them because, well, the darkness

Actually Surprisingly one of the series that people hated the most when it first came out inculding myself but Have grown to love . Ben 10 Omniverse I believe gives a good explanation of why Ben might have wanted a normal life at some point. That shows does have a lot of lore in it. Same with Kevin he gets a lot more details in his backstory later in omniverse.

I'm surprised you didn't talk about how much more bland and boring the alien transformation sequences are in this series compared to the og one. In the original, each alien felt like a unique transformation that looked so cool, but now they all look so similar and just don't look anywhere near as good

Big chill is also my favorite alien! Even before “save the last dance”, but after seeing it I loved them even more!

Even though I never watched this show, it's still nice to hear the summaries and analysis!

I absolutely love Kevin in the UAF era. The dude’s hilarious.

7:33 Okay so I will say this before I get into spoiler territory, Kevin’s story in Alien Force isn’t told yet. If you want to know more, keep pushing through. They do eventually get to this explanation and it does hold relevance but you really gotta shift through a lot of episodes to get to that point. It may be worth it but I can say this much, there is a story explanation to this change.

As a big fan of Ben 10 when I was watching cartoons on TV as a child, I can say that this show feels more like a reboot, than a sequel. Characters barely feel like themselves anymore.

You made a good point in saying the people who probably felt the most alienated from Alien Force were fans of the OG series because I really loved the series as a kid, and when Alien Force came around when I was a teenager I tried to watch it but stopped after, like, 6 episodes because it felt like a completely different show to me. That being said, great job on this and your other Ben 10 videos. Maybe one day you’ll also look into Generator Rex, I remember that show having a crossover with Ben 10 Alien Force at one point? Would love to hear your opinion on that!

I like how people kept saying you'd love Alien Force because it's different from the OG in the way it keeps character development consistent, ignoring the fact that... well, you'll see.

3 minutes in and I've had this exact conversation with people regarding the Kenobi series. I remember watching the first episode of Alien Force growing up and I had the thought "Wait. When did Ben give up the watch?" He was older but he felt alien to me as a character. I was obsessed with the OG show as a kid and I legitimately thought I missed some crucial episode(s) or a movie special that explained this change in personality

9:43 They actually do draw all the dark backgrounds but for some god awful reasons they decide to darken them and make them a void.

Ben 10 fans eating good this year Thanks to all these content creators Felt so starved of good quality videos talking about Ben 10 when I was younger We are so lucky because of videos like this

*"BIG CHIIIIILLL!"* Ben sounding out his aliens was such a cool addition especially for big chill, swamp fire and Humangasour

Ben 10 has a main character did not age well lol. There’s too many problems with him. I don’t know what the creators were thinking but they kept taking away too much character development from him. And making him into an immature kid as a teenager. Literally nothing worked with his character. 🙃

Honestly I just hope that, despite the messy transition, you still end up actually liking AF for exactly the reasons everyone hoped you would.

We get an explanation as to how Kevin changed from B10 Classic to Alien Force is Season 2 (or was it 3?) of B10 Ultimate Alien. Basically, he had a healthy mentor figure in the form of an wise alien prison inmate in the Null Void

Although I don't always agree with Lowart hating on Ben, his series on Ben 10 definitely brings some valid points to the understanding of the series overall.

"as an excuse to not draw backgrounds anymore" they do actually draw the backgrounds, it's just so freaking dark that we can't see any of them.

I feel like Alien Force made WAY too many changes that I feel doenst really make it connect well to the original series. Like I hate how they retconned Gwen's magical abilities to make her an alien.

A small different take on gwen' "kissing boys" line and how I read that moment, at least personally, when I first watched this show: The new Gwen feels like an extension of her younger self - level headed, supportive, and the moral compass. But what she often has struggled with in the past is her identity, her self worth, and finding value in who she is as a person outside of (before, Ben's but now also her own) the alien powers and practically magic abilities all around her. When this moment happens, i never got the impression she was turning down the offer to become something super powerful for a boy, but instead that saying she was turning it down for Kevin was an excuse she gave. She wanted to turn it down for multiple reasons - selfish ones, but the Gwen she is now can't validate these feelings. She knows she should leave, even if she doesnt want to, so she asks everyone their opinions but they all just tell her its her decision. But thats just it - she doesnt want to choose, because she knows deep down she will do what's best for others and not herself. She always chooses that. So shes looking for just one person to say it's okay, that she can be selfish for once, and Kevin gives that to her. He tells her to stay and its exactly what she needed to hear: that it's okay to be what she is, to enjoy things - even just dumb things like kissing a boy - and stay here on Earth with the people she loves. While i agree the writing for this moment could be done a lot better, i nontheless got something out of it deeper than her just "wanting to kiss boys". I took it as what I hope they were going for: a teen trying desperately to battle with what she knows she wants or what she SHOULD want and ultimately deciding to choose the former. Sorry for another super long comment. I dont know what it is about your content, but it always makes me think and want to share my own thoughts. If you read this, thanks for listening to my rambling opinions and my differing viewpoints. Great vid as always, looking forward to the upcoming ones. See ya soon, Lowart!

I'm in Love with the idea of this video !! It's amazing. I really wanna see the next one now, keep going pls

Being from South Africa this show played at night around 8pm and so the lack of sound and background made sense to my 14 year old younger self as I sat on the couch alone in the living room, because oddly enough, it created a calmness and a chance to follow the dialogue. And also their occasional trips to out of space made that feeling stick because space is also quiet and calm. I really loved this show

nice a great start to the next part of the show already looking forward to the next part

Ok Kevin's powers "changing" is just more of him using the original premise plus using the whole thing where he turned himself into copies of Ben's aliens after absorbing power from the Omnitrix. The way I see it, he's still using his original power but in a very creative way on his part

Boy, I can't wait for you to get to season 3! And I genuinely can't wait for you to get to Omniverse. Really want to see your reaction to the change in art-style and their attempts to "fill in the blanks" in the show's timeline (well, what's left of it after the time travel episodes).

Even with the messy transition, overall Alien Force is way better than the original series. in terms of characterization, character exploration and themes.

The Ben taking off the watch thing is expanded a lot more in omniverse and it starts to make more sense after you realize what Ben went through after he lost feedback and went through all the stuff with malware

Kevin’s backstory gets explained in Ultimate Alien way later than it should. This show, unlike Alien Force, also contains some actually edgy moments.

With regards to your dislike of how Ben and Kevin changing wasn’t shown, those events will be explored, but much later. Kevins stuff won’t be explained until Ultimate Alien, and Ben’s won’t until Omniverse. Gotta just bear with it till then.

Man, it's great see you're covering Alien Force. Thank you for all the great reviews.

You really hit the nail on the head with the characters. It's like the creators were aware of the problems with the original characters, but over-corrected and sanded off everything that made them unique until they were dull, generic do-gooders. Also, "They just grew up" is NOT a good explanation for why characters act differently after a time skip, because what changes you when you grow up is LIFE EXPERIENCES, which we don't get to see, not just hormones or whatever. And some may argue they're saving that for later, but the characters, again, are just too bland.

I love your takes and critiques.

I did have a big issue with Gwen too. With this new characterization it feels like Ben should be trusting of Kevin, not Gwen. Ben and Kevin started as friends, Kevin lives out the life that a younger Ben always wished for (cool car, attractive guy, fun alien tech, crazy adventures, no school). Gwen should be the one who doesn't trust Kev, and it would make the romance better overall if she turned around to him gradually and he earned her trust before making a move.

Ahh yes, the "Darkest" Ben 10! Y'know I was excited for when you'd get to Omniverse and talk about it, but now I'm worried you won't even be able to LAST through all of Ultimate Alien Force. There's only so much a person can take, unless you're a masochist.

, you can make up any reason for why he left the watch, actually ben’s change in personalty shows that he matured, and learned his lessons, that made him realise he needed to stop. I don’t see it as a bad thing, you can’t compare your 15 years self with 10 years self

All of the sudden changes in story definitely put me off the show as a kid. Because if the creators don't care about the story, why should I? Like the plumbers suddenly being space cops. Also, anybody else bugged by the new aliens mostly being mash-ups of earlier aliens?

I heard the steps for Humungausaurs, but it was pretty low considering how close he was the the character’s in the foreground. My mans was on stealth mode 💀

I loved Ben10 growing up and my mum bought me the game. It was the best time. I also had the watch. XLR8 was my favourite alien. I just didnt enjoy Kevin and Gwens romance, it felt forced, would have been better as a slow burn. I actually liked the bromance of Kevin and Ben more haha.

Thanks for this. Definitely a series with both merits and some rough edges. Ben's developements was a highlight and sadly the thing they U-turned on most.

lowart: im covering all of the alien force me: excellent

I know this isn't explained until a lot later, in Ben 10 omniverse they explain how Kevin gets out of the Null void and why Ben removed the omnitrix because he lost his favorite alien "feedback" at age 11.

agreed with ALL of your points. thanks for this video 💛

9:32 The saddest part is that they DO draw the backgrounds

I don’t agree that OG ben and AF ben are too different. There’s a 5 year age gap and me personally (and a lot of my friends) were completely different from 5 years ago (although technically I was 14 5 years ago not 10 but still)

They actually explain Kevin's change in attitude and powers in ultimate alien

For me I was kind of a fan of 10yr old Ben, but found him annoying at times. So when Alien Force came along it really made me a fan. Yes it has flaws, but there are fans of AF despite those flaws.

Alien Force does this a lot, its basically the Clone Wars of Ben 10. For those who don't understand what I just said, Clone Wars has a problem with disregarding the previously set up cannon of what is now called Star Wars Legends and even the origonal movies at parts and significantly changing parts of pre-established characters so that they fit into its narrative, sound familiar? Now, you might be wondering if they did this so much, why don't people bring it up as problem? Well from what I've gathered its the same reason why Ben 10 Alien Force gets away with it so much, because the stories they tell are good enough to overshadow what they did to get themselves in a position with all the correct pieces in place to tell said stories. Even If said pieces need to be massively retconned or need to ignore massive parts of there past and previous development to get them into place for this story, so be it. For Star Wars this isn't a major issue due to a system they have which is basically levels of cannon where some Star Wars media just flat out overrule others when it comes to what is and what is not cannon (simplified explanation sorry). But Ben 10 doesn't have that, leaving Alien Force as a great show with some great stories that are sadly built on the foundation of potholes, retcons, off screen development and giving characters convenient amnesia. In my eyes, this leaves Alien Force as a good show when it could have been great if it didn't have no jump through so many in universe hoops to get where it wanted to go. Its thoroughly entertaining if your willing to turn your brain off a bit and ignore the same pieces of history this show does or if you watch it before the origonal, however that's obviously more of a compromise then a good part of the show. (Edited 3 weeks latter to cleaning things up and making my point a tad clearer as I read it again and it just barely didn't sit right with me)

BRO HE LEFT THE OMNITRIX BC OF FEEDBACK MAN. IT HURT HIM AND HE HELT LIKE IT TOOK A PART AWAY FROM HIM.

Honestly, you hit the nail on the head. I was a huge fan of the OG Ben 10 and the beginning of Alien Force really put me off. I grew to like it on it's own merits, but it felt like a messy transition and that was a vibe of kind of continued through the whole show. And some things are explained retroactively, but I found it so unbelievable that Ben and Gwen trusted Kevin (the kid who tried to murder them on multiple occasions) so fast and moreover that Gwen had a crush on him so fast. It feels like we really missed some crucial plot points to get here (again, retroactively explained but still). The stilted presentation also didn't help much in really making this seem like a totally different franchise. That said, I'm glad you're willing to go into this show with an open mind even if you personally didn't care much for OG. I hope this is more your cup of tea.

Ben taking off the omnitrix is explained in omniverse and Kevin’s personality change is in either late alien force or early to mid ultimate alien I don’t remember when

9:45 Oh no is worse, i recommend you check Kuro the Artist Breakdown series of Alien Force, the backgrounds are drawn... They just hide then through making then dark as f-... I don't know why, they are good backgrounds.

Reminds me of ConfusedMatthew's review of the lion king; "simba doesn't grow and change, he just resets and becomes someone totally different" Ben's 'growth ' seems similar

I didn't even really watch Ben 10 growing up, but I love watching these videos anyway lol

The first Two Seasons of Alien Force was pretty solid, Season 3....Not so much.

Honestly, most of your problems come from Time skip which are almost all solved (or atleast attempted to solve) in Ben 10: Omniverse. They have tons of flashbacks to set up Kevin's and Ben's personality change, the change in how the Plumber's operate, and Kevin's relationship with Gwen, etc.

Kissing boys was one of the reasons, not the only one.

All these comments pointing out that he has to wait a whole nother series to get answers like it's not that serious is blowing my mind. He is reviewing as he is currently watching. To go from OG to Alien Force without explanation for the changes is annoying, why is that so hard to grasp? I didn't have these problems as a kid because I skipped OG Ben because he's annoying. So I couldn't think "why is he different" all I knew was I liked this version better. Yeah Gwen is a downgrade which sucks but Kevin did make up for it for me honestly. I'm a bigger fan of Generator Rex anyway so I hope he covers that months down the line later after so much BEN & a break.

I could never get into Alien Force because Gwen feels like a massive downgrade and that goes double for her magic which feels weak and useless to the team or just utility.

I'll just say the idea that kids you know at 10 or 11 will probably be very different people in five years time isn't really far fetched. Also as a kid that watch ben 10 and alein force as they came out I didn't feel alienated at all, it felt like the show and ben were growing with me

You will see why he took off the watch in omniverse

I loved alien force it was my childhood

YOU HAVE NICE POINTS ON THIS.I THOUGHT IT WAS SOMWTHING STRANGE WHEN I FIRST WATCH THE SHOW, AND NOW I KNOW WHY

I liked this show when I was younger but now that I'm older, it really would've been cool to see how the characters got here. And the darkness is something I couldn't handle when I revisited it last year.

Cool vid.😺

I absolutely loved watching Alien Force and Ultimate Alien as a kid and think both of them were vastly superior to the original Ben 10 show. I think you were way too critical on this review for the show.

Gwen talking about kissing boys means she has grown up. Nothing wrong whit a adult teen female wanting to go on dates. It doesn't ruined her character, it don't make her look bad, it means she finally grow up? Why do people have problems whit girls growing up becoming women?

I hated the was Alien Force started when I was a kid. It bugs me to this day that Kevin is an entirely new character in this show.

Not to spoil anything, but if you hated season 3 of classic, you're gonna fucking despise season 3 of AF

I loved OG Ben 10 but I wasn't annoyed at all with the changes in alien force , in fact I loved them ! And I think techniquely it's a better show than OG Ben 10

They actually explain in Omniverse that the reason why Ben took off the Omnitrix was because of how he lost the alien that made him feel the most heroic, Feedback. After Malware destroyed Feedback, it crushed Ben and he would then take off the Omnitrix. But most of this was due to guilt, in how he was once again cocky and immature using the Omnitrix and let his guard down, causing Feedbacks death. So the guilt of his immaturity as well as the grief led to Ben to take off the Omnitrix. He took it off because he felt he was too immature to be heroic.... finally learning a lesson XD

Just wait a while Lowart everything will (probably) come into play when you finish the ben 10 series as a whole

I love Classic Ben 10. When it comes to Alien Force, I like it, but it definitely isn't as good. Ultimate Alien was better, but that had a lot of problems. But Omniverse was easily the best one and fully realized the potential of the franchise.

To correct you, going to Omniverse lore, the reason Ben took off the Omnitrix is because his favorite alien, Feedback, was erased by Malware

the stuff with Kevin actually gets explained way later on why he isn't as crazy iirc its in ultimate alien.....

Ayooo that was quick. Alien force went hard

Fun fact, a lot of the backgrounds are there for some reason they darkened a lot of images later on in production from what I understand

I grew up with Ben 10 Alien Force and I love this show a lot because it introduced me to Ben 10. Yes this show does have its problems but I am able to look past them and continue to enjoy the show.

Part of me wonders if I should just live with the ignorant bliss my younger self had with the absolute love of this series or keep watching and risk it all

"no explanation" it's literally a 5 year time skip, your main issue was that characters don't develop and are being brought back to being the same characters over and over again. You think Kevin wouldn't be able to get out of the null void for 5 years? Spoiler, they will show you how he escaped it. In Omniverse (fourth series) they will even show you what happend in between Classic and AF so you shouldn't complain about how they didn't show you everything. Edit: Fish Man's death will make more sense in the later seasons where Kevin's backstory gets revealed. The only complaint i would really agree with is the dark backgrounds. 12:10 He doesn't just "suddenly" flips, it's his characters being more mature, he can't believe his Grandpa could really be dead, isn't that what you wanted from Ben? So he cares about his family and friends? Just finished watching the video, it's great that in the end you will be covering the series without comparing it to Classic.

Omniverse explains why he got rid of the omnitrix

What happened after the class ben 10 ended well be questioned in omniverse

Ben 10 omniverse explained/retconned the reason why young Ben quit with the omnitrix when he was 11 And Ben 10 Ultimate Alien also shows how Kevin changed and got new powers

U don’t figure out why he left the omnitrix until omniverse

The first episode made the light shades and shadows very well but most of the time the, don't us---- forgotten the light... The mood is good but it was a bad choice... Many scenes should have more light effects especially with fire and Gwen magic light... Sad I like they made Kevin the grampa role but as you said, the transition was bad... I guess they made like that due to the trend of Marvel and DC doing this in that time.... Even today with Tom Holland Spider Man that only now they announced that will have a tv series showing his origins(maybe it is out already but I don't know)... There is Young Justice... Some Batman shows......

Gwen is the heart of the group, it is she that unites everyone, her role is essential.

The transition between classic and now is actually delved into during Omniverse, oddly enough

Well when you get to Omniverse it fill in those gaps of why ben took it off and how kevin changed is in ultimate. Love Alien Force.

Honestly it feels like all his complaints stem from the very basic premise of a timeskip, uh, skipping and having big changes that get explained. I dont know why he expected them to be exposited right away. The whole point is to give us these big character flips that intrigue and eventually build to a resounding conclusion. I feel if he got what he wanted he would just complain that it feels weird to skip and then immediately explain everything. Doesnt feel like he's giving the sequel a chance. Also yeah saying she wants to "kiss boys", is a perfectly normal thing for a cooped up middle class teenager to say as her freedom is getting more and more explored. Seems Lowart is disappointed that Gwen is more normal in a series that follows the original Ben 10 where she was essentially forced to pick up the mature slack compared to Ben.

Kevin using his power differenr and why he seems having a different personality us actually adressed pretty well.and no void is just a prison dimension now, with reformation. And didnt they say he learned to deal better with basically everythong from someone there? Basically he got out on good behaviour. For now he got out on parole and good behaviour.

they do explain how Kevin changes and gets new powers later on

Omniverse fills the blank with flashbacks showing that Ben was traumatized by a villain encounter when he was eleven

I think it was Kidna Cuz of feedback that that he took a break with the Omnitrix honestly Cuz of OMNIVERSE