I wish they had used that more. I mean, Ben even mentioned "You should always keep it locked." to his younger self in Ultimate Alien when they go to The Forge of Creation. But even in Omniverse they rarely touch on it.
Wasn’t a variation of that used in the Animated movie that Tetrax set his watch too. Which is why he could never be human and only transitioned through his alien forms when fighting the blue Upgrade.
I feel like they decided not to give Gwen the charms, because she could become very overpowered. Rather than that they probably decided Gwen to actually earn those charms as she grows more powerful.
@@RadikAlice yeah I just rewatched that episode. It's the one where we get to see him in his plumber suit again and he's obsessed with hunting down a mask
Gwen's characterization in the classic series to me has always felt a bit like Danny Fenton. She is a hero because she has to be not because she wants to be. I feel like the Lucky Girl episode should have put more of a focus on Gwen realizing that being a hero sucks. Because in later episodes in the classic series she says she wishes she went to summer school. And Gwen's arc throughout the show in my head was her coming to terms that this is her life now and that she needs to embrace that a bit more.
Makes sense, there's multiple upon multiple instances throughout alien force and ultimate alien where the highlights in gwens life are the average person activities, from camping to karate, to writing 100 wedding invites the old fashioned way taking forever. In Every instance of her being confronted with her anodite abilities, she always finds a way to problem solve without relying on them, showing her smarts instead of her physical prowess, being practical, solving a problem the NORMAL way. Hell she finally decides her schooling is more important than being a hero in omniverse, she finally puts herself first, partaking in normal activities.
Wouldn’t that make her more like Jazz? Someone who acts older and thinks of herself as the voice of reason, who sometimes needs to remember what it’s like to embrace your inner child. Jealousy issues ties into ghost envy Jazz brings up in the Reality Trip special, that being around someone special all the time can make you not feel special (for DP it’s ghosts and Ben 10 being a hero).
@@alexh4319 In a way,ben 10 is inpired by all the comic industry,you see bits of all genres that have poped along the time,lots of marvel and Dc,manga influence,and the simple fact that a lot of the crew is made of comic writters and artists shows that
I wish he turned into Stinkfly instead of Four Arms - maybe Clancy could’ve taken control of him - and it would’ve made more sense if Stinkfly sneezed on the councilwoman, since he already is known for secreting a mucus-like substance. It’d be interesting to see how his cold affected Stinkfly’s goop.
This guy is great, he isn't here for money but to interact with his audience, very few people like him are there, plus he is really talented, keep it up
@@vetarlittorf1807 That wouldn't really matter seeing that they're all targets to begin with thanks to Ben's omnitrix, and with Ben backing her up, they'd mostly be just fine and the extra firepower would be more than useful
@@vetarlittorf1807 exactly, she finally understood what Ben's going through and when given the choice she chose to live a normal life instead of being a hero. Ben doesn't have that choice, and all his power comes with the biggest responsibility.
I kinda feel like “Side Effects is one of those episodes that seems better when you don’t break it down. With the grading system it comes off as basically average, but is pretty well regarded by fans.
I like how they kinda brought back the aliens being affected by Ben's health or body conditions(or vice versa) in omniverse like having a cold and acne/growing up changing heatblast and swampfire
I thought it was more of swampfire was effecting ben, rather than Ben effecting swampfire. I mean, they say that the acne and stuff was because swampfire was kind of evolving and if the big chill episode in alien force is anything to go by, alien forms can definitely effect regular ben.
@@xmant8842 I mean it's sort of both. From what I remember Swampfire was evolving because that's just what his species does around the relative age that Ben was at. The omitrix by default makes the aliens approximately the same age or as close to Ben's as it can get. So if Ben was still Younger or he was older the bloom wouldn't have happened
@@chrishansen1842 It always seemed like they were the same age as Ben and I think it was confirmed, but if that was the case the big chill thing confuses me. Levin says they have eggs every 80 years or so. That would mean big chill would have had to be 80.
Really gives that sibling vibe. Both are absolutely at each other's throats but neither genuinely hates the other and both have at least a base level of respect and admiration towards each other. The thing is they may be assholes to each other but that comes from childhood idiocy.
I feel like it’s actually easy to justify how Grey Matter’s smart as he is. The creator of the omnitrix is of the same species, so it can be argue that he attached some of his knowledge into the form’s data, which would mean the scene where Grey Matter’s reasoning for the omnitrix’s glitch and the line “It’s not Ben talking...” can now imply it’s because it’s both Ben’s & the creator’s IQ combined into a whole new IQ and thus, a whole new person almost. The inconsistency of how the intelligence is portrayed can be excused as how the omnitrix was in its prototype form during this era. This is coming from someone who hasn’t touched the franchise for a *long* while but your comment about the second episode got me thinking.
The way the omnitrix is that aliens in the omnitrix are copies engineered to have the best traits of their respective species. Plus, Grey Matter’s Power is just being really smart compared to 4 Arms who really strong. A nice detail that the reboot did for it’s incarnation of Grey Matter, is that he says something really smart only for Ben to be confused on how he knew that.
This is a copy of my other comment Wait this just made me remember something in Omniverse it's said the galivins have two brains right? Maybe bens second brain or "human brain" Is the default brain rather than it just being there for basic functions . It can explain why he can pull certain tidbits of knowledge from his Galvin brain but he won't know certain things either
@@atomic-art That’s pretty much what I said minus the age part. The DNA changes Ben to the peak version of that species. Even the classic series shows the aliens age with Ben with Ben 10,000 episode (famously Heatblast has flames burning out of his shoulders)
3:13 in every version that I watched, Ben says “Who’s your hero!” Which is referenced later when Gwen says the same thing after her first official outing as Lucky Girl.
Yeah I have that too, strange change if so but I think that line happened before that little segment and this was then just repeated animation after it zooms in on Gwen’s face
@@Bertiboy my guess is that they forgot to record the lines/edited something wrong so when they dubbed later down the road/other languages they added it back
The fact that they showed Ben actually affecting his transformations is a call back to Ghost Freak affecting Ben when he transforms into him and it gives you the idea that both Ben and his transformations can affect each other.
It's confirmed Grey Matter was the first alien added to the omnitrix, but in the same breath it is also confirmed neither Azmuth or Albedo are the DNA donor. However as Grey Matter is a prime example of a Galvan, in Time he could theoretically become just as smart as Azmuth (remember, Grey Matter is only a prime example of a galvan that's lived through 1/8th of his life expectancy, Azmuth has lived through roughly half of his life expectancy)
@@IronLegionnaire1 I always wondered if the aliens could be stronger, smarter, ect ect if lets say someone like an immortal or a really long lived species had the omnitrix, so like at a certain point its making the aliens bodies adapt to its peak/prime at an age it could never normally get to thus from the genetics point of view having more time to improve all of these things
Something about "Lucky Girl" that annoys me is that we see on Gwen's computer and are told that there are 6 charms, but we only see 5. We see the sixth later, but it honestly feels like a retcon, especially since we're told that you need all the charms to make the spell book work.
That could be something as simple as the site people were lazy and just didn't update the photo yet. Or the sixth was recently found and hadn't been properly documented yet.
Regardless of how old this was, I do wanna mention that in Ov, Azmuth stated "stop banging on my Omnitrix, the impact sets the time-out function to a random." We literally see Ben smack the Omnitrix this time, and why we still see him time-out near the end.
@@ferdinandb.s8975 I also think it's Ben not thinking he is as smart as he is but in show he does have some genuis moments on the fly so he is more street smart than he thinks. Grey matter helps his more book smart side
I think that Grey Matter's intelligence is coming from a combination of everything Ben has ever seen and certain information prebuilt into the Omnitrix.
Another aspect about the lucky girl episode is that gwen has always been the over achiever working hard in school and taking karate whereas ben after become a hero had something on his life that made him good and special so when gwen does it too it means the one thing hes been able to do isnt special, and as we see numerous times in the series like gwen with the omnitrix she can often just be better than ben sometimes so I think it makes perfect sense why ben wouldn't want gwen being a hero.
I think the reason gwen was a better hero as a kid then ben when they were kids was because she was more mature ben just acted like ur average kid gwen only acted like a kid when she was arguing with ben as ben grows up he starts to become a better hero and more realistic like when kevin became a universal threat and gwen just wanted to “talk it out” and ben realizing the threat and already giving kevin chances was ready to kill him for the good of the universe
@@bohlalenchabeleng1370 the two personalities dont listen to logic or that of a humans they have access to infinite knowledge and gwen logic would make it look like she either thinks she smarter then them or the fact that she thinks her situation is important would come off as arrogant or selfish too the two personalities
@@bohlalenchabeleng1370 also gwens logic and plans are flawed by her emotion like when kevin was a universal threat and she wanted “just talk” to where ben understood the situation and understand that kevin had to die
I always thought Greymatter's intelligence was something similar to the other alien abilities, more of an instinctual thing. Like how Ben doesn't know how his aliens work unless he's not trying to do it too hard. Sometimes he just kind of knows what he can do when in a new alien but others he doesn't. I don't have much to really support it but the only times I remember Ben not understanding aliens is when he's actively trying to figure them out, but when like, Wildvine still shows up when Ben is actually in danger and just trying to save himself and Max, he can just kind of do it. Greymatter's knowledge seems to be in a similar vein, where if Ben tries to think about it too much he doesn't know it, but when Ben is more focused on the situation/just randomly spouting the first thing that pops into his head, the smart information just spills out. Ben has no idea how the omnitrix works, yet when he's just spouting stuff angrily he offhandedly gives an explanation for why it might be happening, but also didn't know what planet/galaxy they were from when asked a question and actively is like "Do I know that? Guess not." It's not perfect, but I think it's a sort of reasonable explanation.
I always assumed it was a problem solving power. Like, Gray Matter can figure this out that Ben couldn’t using what scraps of information he has or even identify things that Ben wouldn’t know about, but it can’t generate new information.
Most species evolve to develop some basic instincts of what to avoid. Scary shapes, certain colors that imply a threat. Our minds have some things that are just hard coded into them, maybe Galvans have evolved to be born with certain data about by their standards primitive technology
That's funny. A Small Problem was one of my LEAST favorite since I never cared much for Grey Matter. But to each their own. Side Effects was great, but my favorites were Divided We Stand and Ken 10.
I absolutely loved that shot of four arms pulling the sword out, resting it on his shoulder then swinging it as he turns reducing the golem and top of the sword into rubble. 31:11 max's hair is swapped, normally gray on top and white on the sides but here its white on top and gray on sides. I feel like sick Heatblast may have been an inspiration for big chill
The ending of Lucky Girl is even worse further down the line with how haphazardly Gwen's magic subplot was handled in the later seasons. Also, I'm pretty sure 2 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 2 is 9.
For Grey Matter's sporadic intelligence, I'm pretty sure it's like those people who know the square root of Pi to the 13th decimal, but have trouble reading a map or remembering a phone number.
Damn I still remember Ice Heatblast perfectly after all these years later, Clancy was cool and the effects of the sickness very interesting I think this episode is the reason I like blue fire so much
@@gf_real This is what I say to myself when I was crushing hard for her :D ...Hey, it was like 15 years ago. ...I was in my mid 20s. (Sirens in the distance) Fuck.
I think Grey Matter gets his knowledge from what's called passive intellect, he observes whats in front of him, and the ridiculous galvan IQ means he has alot of insights based purely on what he's seeing Later, in a season 3 episode, Grey Matter accidentally breaks teh air con in the RV, insisting he knew what he was doing, when he in fact did not. He can look at something and make some pretty impressive educated guesses based on what he's seeing, but he can still be wrong, and doesn't actually know anything more than Ben does
I’m so glad kuro said it but i love how huge four arms was in the classic series i think the scaling and size for the aliens was the most consistent in general in the og series
I feel like when I was younger I always subconsciously thought "WHY GWEN!? LUCKY GIRL WAS SO AWESOME AND YOU GAVE UP THOSE POWERS PLUS MORE FOR NO REASON!!" And plus in the future she does get them all anyway so she really could of kept them then that's the explanation of how she got them. But alas, Gwen was the most dump in this moment of the show imao
After Omniverse I always thought that Ben accidentally activated the LifeForm Lock in "Small Problem". There's holes in that theory though so it could just be a big glitch in the Omnitrix.
Ben’s no stranger to giving the Omnitrix physical abuse, his standard method of activating it is slamming his hand down on the faceplate, it’s no wonder it’d glitch out eventually. In season two he messes it up so bad various samples hybridise! He does access Master Control through persistent fiddling with it though, but clearly not understanding enough to remember how he did it after he turns it off.
Regardless of how old this was, I do wanna mention that in Ov, Azmuth stated "stop banging on my Omnitrix, the impact sets the time-out function to a random." We literally see Ben smack the Omnitrix this time, and why we still see him time-out near the end.
I think i got the explanation for why ben stays as grey matter for hours in "A small problem" episode. Since Azmuth said when he bangs the Omnitrix, the time-out function sets to a random time, maybe the fact that he slammed it so hard to the wall, kinda fits.
I think Gwen destroyed those charms because she felt they were too powerful to fall into the wrong hands and they'd probably just make her a target for Hex.
If that were the case, I don't see why they didn't have her say something along those lines instead of saying that she'd be fine without all those powers.
I just started watching this series and this video was a godsend. I, like many people here, grew up with this show and it's awesome to see it still be liked, watched, reviewed all these years later. I also love the format, the ranking system and the other things like road maps and counters so much. I'd like to thank you for doing this. Keep it up!
Kuro and the rest of the InkTank team, you are awesome! The whole Ben 10 AND Danny Phantom fanbases are honoured and glad to have you!!! I am a huge fan of your work and am a huge fan of both those series! If you need me for help or heck, even a collab or something, I'll be there!
I like to think for Grey Matter's intelligence, that the Omnitrix itself has a "knowledge pool" for things like how Ben knows the basics of the alien biology even when he first discovers it, we know it has a mind of it's own and was made by Galvans that being one gives Ben a lot more brain power to sort through it, like you said with perfect memory and undertsandig of things Ben may have only glanced before.
The fight at the cemetery looks so much like a hellboy comic with the gargoyles designs and Ben choosing four arms, definitely one of my favorite moments
I've always liked "A Small Problem" due to Grey Matter being one of my favorite Aliens in the franchise. Ben always getting annoyed because he gets such a "weak alien" only makes it better when he uses him to his best.
Could you imagine how deadly is a simple cold for the pyronites is? Their bode temperature must drop so low in order to shoot ice, taking that into consideration with their hell-like planet (for a lack of a better term) they might just melt away.
Your critiques on the episode is really good! It’s not vague or suggestive like a lot of reviews I watch on RUclips. It’s more specific, exemplified by how you highlight the use of the sound effects that was used for Heatblast (which you showed was also used in Race Against Time) and also gave attention to the use of lighting with Ben’s Omnitrix and the shadows that occurred. This is great critiquing, especially when you make it sound like you actually worked on the show (which I would sincerely believe if that was the case) and I am sincerely appreciative of critiques like this, so thank you!
Grey Matter’s intelligence probably comes from the owner of the DNA sample. Since all aliens in the omnitrix are at their peak, i’d like to imagine the DNA is from Azmuth, then it’s brought down to the age of the user. So I think Grey Matter is basically a 10 year old Azmuth.
Pretty sure with grey matter, he gets the intelligence and knowledge of the galvans but he keeps the personality and wisdom of Ben. The decisions he makes are ben’s decisions but the information he can gather and access is that of a more intelligent species capable of understanding things more quickly and intricately. To use the roomba/cat thing, grey matter would’ve been easily capable of rebuilding the roombas into some sort of high tech saddle for the cat it’s just that Ben didn’t realize that was an option
Honestly, magic being introduced was a neat shakeup.. They didn't use it often, but it implied an entire new level to the setting, with all that came before falling under sci fi, while the addition of fantasy as an unusual change. In addition to giving Gwen her own unique strengths on the team of course. Then came the Annodite retcon and Kevin being inexplicably out of the Null Void. So I left the show.
As a kid I remember thinking up how the cold could affect XLR8. My idea was that its tail would swell up a lot, making it heavier and thus slowing Ben down. Also I think it's a bit interesting that Side Effects had different examples of how much the aliens were affected. Wildmutt was rendered practically useless with its senses hampered as they were. Fourarms wasn't affected too much, aside from the smelly boils and the sneeze (does that species usually produce snot? they don't seem to have a nose). And finally Heatblast who got his powers reversed.
Yes! Thank you for pointing out that being cold hasn’t been proven to make you sick, just that weakening your immune system increases the chances of you catching something from another person.
Lucky Girl really should have ended with either a situation where the charms are activated and cannot be stopped, even by Hex and that leaves Gwen to having to resort to smashing them to be the hero of the day, putting her in a situation where she needs to give up the powers but still show that she can do what needs to be done, OR have Ben smash the charms while fighting Hex, with the result taking Ben out of commission and leaving Gwen alone to deal with Hex. Gwen has always been the smart one of the trio, usually being the one to point stuff out to Ben, so leaving her without the lucky powers having to deal with her own villain would have given her more of a chance to shine
Gwen keeping the Charms would have also been cool because it could have been a bit of development for Max dealing with the fact that he doesn’t know how to teach her magic and having to deal with the fact that he can’t be everything she needs him to be.
I think it’s in a small segment before that part. Like he says ‘who’s your hero’, it cuts to Gwen’s face and then it cuts back to that part that Kuro mentions. So it was probably just repeated animation
Mexican here. In the Latin American dub, the scene at 3:11 has XLR8 saying "Who's your hero!?". Which I think is later said by Gwen when she's the one getting all the praise.
I really enjoy these episode breakdowns that you're doing. I'm someone who extensively looks for details and tidbits in media that I indulge in, and this really gets the gears turning! This is probably a bit too much to ask, but maybe a Danny Phantom one in the future?
Headcanon: Ben getting stuck as Graymatter is caused by a glitch that activated the life form lock for a period of time.
I’m willing to bet the lifelock was inspired by this episode
I wish they had used that more. I mean, Ben even mentioned "You should always keep it locked." to his younger self in Ultimate Alien when they go to The Forge of Creation. But even in Omniverse they rarely touch on it.
Wasn’t a variation of that used in the Animated movie that Tetrax set his watch too. Which is why he could never be human and only transitioned through his alien forms when fighting the blue Upgrade.
YES!!!
@@Fi_Sci_ Are you talking about the movie Destroy All Aliens? Because otherwise I don’t think I know what you’re talking about.
I feel like they decided not to give Gwen the charms, because she could become very overpowered. Rather than that they probably decided Gwen to actually earn those charms as she grows more powerful.
Definitely. Would have also have added dialogue from Gwen stated they were too dangerous to risk falling into the right hand.
Well they did that in the first ben 10k future episode so id love that idea
I was thinkin she should have kept the luck charm
Also, the charms would've made her a target for Hex.
Considering Gwen later, she didn't need them anyway. 🤷♂️
There should be a "Max isn't watching the road" counter.
My theory: Secret autopilot. He's only got his hands on the wheel to keep up appearances.
I could swear he explicitly pulls out a panel and turns on autopilot in a chase fight with the Forever Knights later on, so probably yes
@@RadikAlice i love how everyone love this show
@@RadikAlice yeah I just rewatched that episode. It's the one where we get to see him in his plumber suit again and he's obsessed with hunting down a mask
@@StardustLegend Yup, that one!
I like that.
The reasoning for keeping up appearances might be to avoid police interactions, since driverless cars clearly weren’t the norm.
Gwen's characterization in the classic series to me has always felt a bit like Danny Fenton. She is a hero because she has to be not because she wants to be. I feel like the Lucky Girl episode should have put more of a focus on Gwen realizing that being a hero sucks. Because in later episodes in the classic series she says she wishes she went to summer school. And Gwen's arc throughout the show in my head was her coming to terms that this is her life now and that she needs to embrace that a bit more.
Makes sense, there's multiple upon multiple instances throughout alien force and ultimate alien where the highlights in gwens life are the average person activities, from camping to karate, to writing 100 wedding invites the old fashioned way taking forever. In Every instance of her being confronted with her anodite abilities, she always finds a way to problem solve without relying on them, showing her smarts instead of her physical prowess, being practical, solving a problem the NORMAL way. Hell she finally decides her schooling is more important than being a hero in omniverse, she finally puts herself first, partaking in normal activities.
@@mikelove8720 normal way?
Wouldn’t that make her more like Jazz? Someone who acts older and thinks of herself as the voice of reason, who sometimes needs to remember what it’s like to embrace your inner child. Jealousy issues ties into ghost envy Jazz brings up in the Reality Trip special, that being around someone special all the time can make you not feel special (for DP it’s ghosts and Ben 10 being a hero).
@@LeviChurch Hulu
Man rewatching these episodes makes me appreciate the rogues gallery and just how thought out some of the villains were.
Me too
It really was a fantastic superhero show without being based on a comic
@@thefvguy5648 Surprised it wasn’t based on a comic, to be honest.
I agree
@@alexh4319 In a way,ben 10 is inpired by all the comic industry,you see bits of all genres that have poped along the time,lots of marvel and Dc,manga influence,and the simple fact that a lot of the crew is made of comic writters and artists shows that
The biggest consistency of the episodes: "MAX! LOOK AT THE ROAD!"
Ikr
Kinda wish they did more things like him being sick affecting the transformations
I wish he turned into Stinkfly instead of Four Arms - maybe Clancy could’ve taken control of him - and it would’ve made more sense if Stinkfly sneezed on the councilwoman, since he already is known for secreting a mucus-like substance. It’d be interesting to see how his cold affected Stinkfly’s goop.
@@ultimatezayman It would probably be like a slight power up for stinkfly. Maybe it could turn his mucus into acid.
Ben 10 alien force season 3 has too sick episode
I do wonder if Ripjaws can't swim that well cause the mucus would clog his gills or if maybe Stinkfly had more of an advantage? so many questions
But that is what happened in the episode?
Ben 10 will always be one of the most greatest cartoons ever made. Nice to see peoples love for Ben 10 only growing more.
Yep
I make Ben 10 alien fusion art on TikTok. I'm trying to get more attention on the series.
FACTS
@@josephbiddle1637 not interested in tiktok, sorry
@i am elecro How do I do that?
When Kuro said the charm of Resurrection I thought Ben killed Hex
😒
Same and then I thought “ooh... welp we might as well add a “dead body count” since we now have two types of counts in this review series”
@Tiffany Video lmao 😑
Fortunately, you don’t need to be dead to be resurrected.
@@Riv_Falcon actually you do need to be dead to be resurrected otherwise its not resurrection like look it up
This guy is great, he isn't here for money but to interact with his audience, very few people like him are there, plus he is really talented, keep it up
429 likes no comments are you god
Ya
Omg I was a huge ben 10 fan when I was a kid bruh this brings back alotta memories
And I used to play ben 10 game on my ps all the time
He has 777likes omg
yes
When gwen destroyed those charms .... To quote Robbie Rotten "What are you doing?!"
Cool profile picture
She had a good reason to do so though. The charms would have just made her a target for Hex or some other power-hungry sorcerer.
@@vetarlittorf1807 That wouldn't really matter seeing that they're all targets to begin with thanks to Ben's omnitrix, and with Ben backing her up, they'd mostly be just fine and the extra firepower would be more than useful
@@Artemus973 True, but that should tell you why she chose not to keep the charms. Because they can barely handle all the unwanted attention as it is.
@@vetarlittorf1807 exactly, she finally understood what Ben's going through and when given the choice she chose to live a normal life instead of being a hero.
Ben doesn't have that choice, and all his power comes with the biggest responsibility.
I kinda feel like “Side Effects is one of those episodes that seems better when you don’t break it down. With the grading system it comes off as basically average, but is pretty well regarded by fans.
I like how they kinda brought back the aliens being affected by Ben's health or body conditions(or vice versa) in omniverse like having a cold and acne/growing up changing heatblast and swampfire
It was cool, Swampfire's bloom state is just an awesome design
I thought it was more of swampfire was effecting ben, rather than Ben effecting swampfire. I mean, they say that the acne and stuff was because swampfire was kind of evolving and if the big chill episode in alien force is anything to go by, alien forms can definitely effect regular ben.
@@xmant8842 oh damn thanks for the correction bro forgot about that detail in those two instances
@@xmant8842 I mean it's sort of both. From what I remember Swampfire was evolving because that's just what his species does around the relative age that Ben was at. The omitrix by default makes the aliens approximately the same age or as close to Ben's as it can get. So if Ben was still Younger or he was older the bloom wouldn't have happened
@@chrishansen1842 It always seemed like they were the same age as Ben and I think it was confirmed, but if that was the case the big chill thing confuses me. Levin says they have eggs every 80 years or so. That would mean big chill would have had to be 80.
Every time I see Ben try to make Gwen laugh or just cheer her up (and she does) . . . . . . . . . . . It warms my heart.
Really gives that sibling vibe. Both are absolutely at each other's throats but neither genuinely hates the other and both have at least a base level of respect and admiration towards each other. The thing is they may be assholes to each other but that comes from childhood idiocy.
The only problem i have with this series is that i have to wait a week for the next episode.
Yes
It is faster than your particular ink tank episode
Welcome to the old times stranger
I feel like it’s actually easy to justify how Grey Matter’s smart as he is. The creator of the omnitrix is of the same species, so it can be argue that he attached some of his knowledge into the form’s data, which would mean the scene where Grey Matter’s reasoning for the omnitrix’s glitch and the line “It’s not Ben talking...” can now imply it’s because it’s both Ben’s & the creator’s IQ combined into a whole new IQ and thus, a whole new person almost. The inconsistency of how the intelligence is portrayed can be excused as how the omnitrix was in its prototype form during this era.
This is coming from someone who hasn’t touched the franchise for a *long* while but your comment about the second episode got me thinking.
The way the omnitrix is that aliens in the omnitrix are copies engineered to have the best traits of their respective species. Plus, Grey Matter’s Power is just being really smart compared to 4 Arms who really strong.
A nice detail that the reboot did for it’s incarnation of Grey Matter, is that he says something really smart only for Ben to be confused on how he knew that.
This is a copy of my other comment
Wait this just made me remember something in Omniverse it's said the galivins have two brains right? Maybe bens second brain or "human brain" Is the default brain rather than it just being there for basic functions . It can explain why he can pull certain tidbits of knowledge from his Galvin brain but he won't know certain things either
@@JohnWilliams-wl9px No its the peak form of that aliens age
@@atomic-art That’s pretty much what I said minus the age part. The DNA changes Ben to the peak version of that species. Even the classic series shows the aliens age with Ben with Ben 10,000 episode (famously Heatblast has flames burning out of his shoulders)
@@JohnWilliams-wl9px yeah also fourarms has a more threatening design.
The ice heatblast was always so cool
I see what you did there.
Pun intended. Ayy!
Next time on heatblast his twin brother frostblast secretly replaced him.
@@majesticgothitelle1802 hahahahahahaha!
@@majesticgothitelle1802 I always just called him 'FreezeWave'
3:13 in every version that I watched, Ben says “Who’s your hero!” Which is referenced later when Gwen says the same thing after her first official outing as Lucky Girl.
Yeah I have that too, strange change if so but I think that line happened before that little segment and this was then just repeated animation after it zooms in on Gwen’s face
@@Bertiboy my guess is that they forgot to record the lines/edited something wrong so when they dubbed later down the road/other languages they added it back
these are legit the three episodes i remember watching the most from classic
Thank you Giorno. Very cool
I didn't know Giorno Giovanna watch Ben 10
@@knightstudio9985 well now u know😂
Same lol
Personally my 3 were: The one where Charmcaster makes her first debut, A Small Problem, and Evil Ghostfreak Debut
The fact that they showed Ben actually affecting his transformations is a call back to Ghost Freak affecting Ben when he transforms into him and it gives you the idea that both Ben and his transformations can affect each other.
I always thought Grey Matter was based off Azimuth's DNA, and his intelligence was just so vast, that it bled into the DNA.
The writers confirmed that Azmuth isn’t the DNA basis for Grey Matter
Though he does look a lot like Azmuth's dad, so maybe that's the DNA source? Unless they confirmed that isn't the case either.
It's confirmed Grey Matter was the first alien added to the omnitrix, but in the same breath it is also confirmed neither Azmuth or Albedo are the DNA donor.
However as Grey Matter is a prime example of a Galvan, in Time he could theoretically become just as smart as Azmuth (remember, Grey Matter is only a prime example of a galvan that's lived through 1/8th of his life expectancy, Azmuth has lived through roughly half of his life expectancy)
@@IronLegionnaire1 I always wondered if the aliens could be stronger, smarter, ect ect if lets say someone like an immortal or a really long lived species had the omnitrix, so like at a certain point its making the aliens bodies adapt to its peak/prime at an age it could never normally get to thus from the genetics point of view having more time to improve all of these things
@@thedivineshadow451 That's technically what the Ultimatrix does except that version of the omnitrix focuses heavily on combat.
Something about "Lucky Girl" that annoys me is that we see on Gwen's computer and are told that there are 6 charms, but we only see 5. We see the sixth later, but it honestly feels like a retcon, especially since we're told that you need all the charms to make the spell book work.
Yeah the one thing that annoys me the most are the retcons
That could be something as simple as the site people were lazy and just didn't update the photo yet. Or the sixth was recently found and hadn't been properly documented yet.
Ben10 and retcons. Oh, will we see a lot of those eventually.
I always thought the whole "Stuck as Grey Matter" thing was Ben accidentally activating Lifeform Lock
Its in a prototype phase so it updating on human being
Love your wattpad story HYPER
Regardless of how old this was, I do wanna mention that in Ov, Azmuth stated "stop banging on my Omnitrix, the impact sets the time-out function to a random." We literally see Ben smack the Omnitrix this time, and why we still see him time-out near the end.
i have an idea:
“Max not looking at the roads while driving” counter
Grey matter did affect Ben's mind as well as he did say he was smarter after all the using Grey matter for his powers.
I kinda thing ben often have "how tf i know that" moment when using greymatter
@@ferdinandb.s8975 I also think it's Ben not thinking he is as smart as he is but in show he does have some genuis moments on the fly so he is more street smart than he thinks.
Grey matter helps his more book smart side
@@ivanbluecool ua?
I think that Grey Matter's intelligence is coming from a combination of everything Ben has ever seen and certain information prebuilt into the Omnitrix.
I wonder what would Clancy look like, if he had appeared in omniverse.
he comes back in the first series finale and he turns into a bug man. he can do that apparently
Hey I found you here 😇
Another aspect about the lucky girl episode is that gwen has always been the over achiever working hard in school and taking karate whereas ben after become a hero had something on his life that made him good and special so when gwen does it too it means the one thing hes been able to do isnt special, and as we see numerous times in the series like gwen with the omnitrix she can often just be better than ben sometimes so I think it makes perfect sense why ben wouldn't want gwen being a hero.
I think the reason gwen was a better hero as a kid then ben when they were kids was because she was more mature ben just acted like ur average kid gwen only acted like a kid when she was arguing with ben as ben grows up he starts to become a better hero and more realistic like when kevin became a universal threat and gwen just wanted to “talk it out” and ben realizing the threat and already giving kevin chances was ready to kill him for the good of the universe
Also i dont think gwen would be able to use alien x because ben is really good with persuasion
@@ImJustMovin nahh Gwen 's logic would convince them, Ben just goes with the flow where as Gwen plans.
@@bohlalenchabeleng1370 the two personalities dont listen to logic or that of a humans they have access to infinite knowledge and gwen logic would make it look like she either thinks she smarter then them or the fact that she thinks her situation is important would come off as arrogant or selfish too the two personalities
@@bohlalenchabeleng1370 also gwens logic and plans are flawed by her emotion like when kevin was a universal threat and she wanted “just talk” to where ben understood the situation and understand that kevin had to die
The Captain America and iron man thing made me laugh hard
I always thought Greymatter's intelligence was something similar to the other alien abilities, more of an instinctual thing. Like how Ben doesn't know how his aliens work unless he's not trying to do it too hard. Sometimes he just kind of knows what he can do when in a new alien but others he doesn't. I don't have much to really support it but the only times I remember Ben not understanding aliens is when he's actively trying to figure them out, but when like, Wildvine still shows up when Ben is actually in danger and just trying to save himself and Max, he can just kind of do it. Greymatter's knowledge seems to be in a similar vein, where if Ben tries to think about it too much he doesn't know it, but when Ben is more focused on the situation/just randomly spouting the first thing that pops into his head, the smart information just spills out. Ben has no idea how the omnitrix works, yet when he's just spouting stuff angrily he offhandedly gives an explanation for why it might be happening, but also didn't know what planet/galaxy they were from when asked a question and actively is like "Do I know that? Guess not." It's not perfect, but I think it's a sort of reasonable explanation.
I’m gonna adopt that as my new head cannon
I always assumed it was a problem solving power. Like, Gray Matter can figure this out that Ben couldn’t using what scraps of information he has or even identify things that Ben wouldn’t know about, but it can’t generate new information.
Most species evolve to develop some basic instincts of what to avoid. Scary shapes, certain colors that imply a threat. Our minds have some things that are just hard coded into them, maybe Galvans have evolved to be born with certain data about by their standards primitive technology
Kuro: no other alien has their own special theme
Feedback: am I a joke to you!
I think his theme is exclusive for his transformation (as well as Ripjaws's)
I thought Ditto had his own theme, too. Or am I wrong?
@@somehelluvafanboy8357 ripjaws doesn't have a theme.
@@christianparrish6647 in his transformation he does
@@somehelluvafanboy8357 ohh, that dramatic theme.
A small problem is one of my favorite episodes.
Over the years I developed a soft spot for Grey Matter so I can somewhat agree
Side effects has gotta be mine out of all of these.
It helps they reran it all the time, at least to my memory. I may have just watched it a lot on the DVD and mixed that memory with the airings.
That's funny. A Small Problem was one of my LEAST favorite since I never cared much for Grey Matter. But to each their own. Side Effects was great, but my favorites were Divided We Stand and Ken 10.
I absolutely loved that shot of four arms pulling the sword out, resting it on his shoulder then swinging it as he turns reducing the golem and top of the sword into rubble. 31:11 max's hair is swapped, normally gray on top and white on the sides but here its white on top and gray on sides. I feel like sick Heatblast may have been an inspiration for big chill
So Gwen as “Lucky Girl” basically has the powers of Domino or John Constantine?
More accurately plot armour
10:27 Ben is wearing the Omnitrix around both of his wrists, like handcuffs.
Oh lol
wow
Foreshadowing the Biomnitrix
😂👍
I do really like how these reactions are coming from an artist perspective so that we can further appreciate the cool animation even more
So... Ultimate Big Chill is just "Sick Heathblast Moth Skin Edition".
Hahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahaha!
The ending of Lucky Girl is even worse further down the line with how haphazardly Gwen's magic subplot was handled in the later seasons. Also, I'm pretty sure 2 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 2 is 9.
A double take moment
Exactly , I noticed 2+2+2+1+2 is 9 not 10 😂😂
Okay it's good I'm not the only one who caught that, I thought I was going crazy
He got is math wrong? Literally un watchable.
For Grey Matter's sporadic intelligence, I'm pretty sure it's like those people who know the square root of Pi to the 13th decimal, but have trouble reading a map or remembering a phone number.
Cool Ben 10 breakdown intro.
true
@@bobbyahmad5197 definitely
Nah, its stupid. Sometimes even his logic doesnt make sense
@@justindeliwe8065 what?
Max: “They call it the organization”
Me: without a cool acronym
Not seeing any black coats or Nobodies.
Damn I still remember Ice Heatblast perfectly after all these years later, Clancy was cool and the effects of the sickness very interesting
I think this episode is the reason I like blue fire so much
Gwen I don't need charms of bezel
Future gwen she's stupid
Thanks for liking
She did it because the charms made her a target for Hex. Future Gwen is powerful enough to keep the charms away from people like Hex.
@@vetarlittorf1807 short answer: Calm down bro she's still 10
@@gf_real This is what I say to myself when I was crushing hard for her :D
...Hey, it was like 15 years ago.
...I was in my mid 20s.
(Sirens in the distance) Fuck.
@@StorymasterQ FBI OPEN UP
I think Grey Matter gets his knowledge from what's called passive intellect, he observes whats in front of him, and the ridiculous galvan IQ means he has alot of insights based purely on what he's seeing
Later, in a season 3 episode, Grey Matter accidentally breaks teh air con in the RV, insisting he knew what he was doing, when he in fact did not. He can look at something and make some pretty impressive educated guesses based on what he's seeing, but he can still be wrong, and doesn't actually know anything more than Ben does
The "could they dance" moment got me laughing so hard
I’m so glad kuro said it but i love how huge four arms was in the classic series i think the scaling and size for the aliens was the most consistent in general in the og series
I feel like when I was younger I always subconsciously thought "WHY GWEN!? LUCKY GIRL WAS SO AWESOME AND YOU GAVE UP THOSE POWERS PLUS MORE FOR NO REASON!!"
And plus in the future she does get them all anyway so she really could of kept them then that's the explanation of how she got them. But alas, Gwen was the most dump in this moment of the show imao
After Omniverse I always thought that Ben accidentally activated the LifeForm Lock in "Small Problem". There's holes in that theory though so it could just be a big glitch in the Omnitrix.
The watch is in a prototype phrase
@i am elecro yes a series where ben gets a new prototype watch
@@ImJustMovin noice
Ben’s no stranger to giving the Omnitrix physical abuse, his standard method of activating it is slamming his hand down on the faceplate, it’s no wonder it’d glitch out eventually. In season two he messes it up so bad various samples hybridise! He does access Master Control through persistent fiddling with it though, but clearly not understanding enough to remember how he did it after he turns it off.
Regardless of how old this was, I do wanna mention that in Ov, Azmuth stated "stop banging on my Omnitrix, the impact sets the time-out function to a random." We literally see Ben smack the Omnitrix this time, and why we still see him time-out near the end.
I like how your description of Gray Matter's knowledge is basically just how the powers worked in the movie Limitless.
Besides heatblast with his ice powers, arctiguana and bigchill are useful.
I've been waiting years for a cinema-sins style breakdown of Ben 10 with incredible attention to detail. Now it's here. Thank you Kuro
Yeah. I've seen Cinema-sins style videos for episodes of Steven Universe, but I would love to see an "Everything wrong with" series for Ben 10.
@@josephbiddle1637 me too
"A small problem" got 2, 2, 2, 1, and 2, which is 9. SO HOW DID IT GET A 10?!
Matamatics 📈
I agree with the math.
I guess you could you call this...
A small problem
Yehehoyeyo
I thought that too.
Can we all just agree how *fucking great* Hex' theme is? Like when was the last time you heard something as epic as his score?
I think i got the explanation for why ben stays as grey matter for hours in "A small problem" episode.
Since Azmuth said when he bangs the Omnitrix, the time-out function sets to a random time, maybe the fact that he slammed it so hard to the wall, kinda fits.
4:40 this man casually switched to a photoshop tutorial for a second, that was pretty cool
I am loving these episode reviews please continue 😭😭
I think Gwen destroyed those charms because she felt they were too powerful to fall into the wrong hands and they'd probably just make her a target for Hex.
If that were the case, I don't see why they didn't have her say something along those lines instead of saying that she'd be fine without all those powers.
@@SoRandom31 Because it's not considered good writing when everything is spoon-fed to the audience.
I just started watching this series and this video was a godsend. I, like many people here, grew up with this show and it's awesome to see it still be liked, watched, reviewed all these years later. I also love the format, the ranking system and the other things like road maps and counters so much. I'd like to thank you for doing this. Keep it up!
Kuro and the rest of the InkTank team, you are awesome! The whole Ben 10 AND Danny Phantom fanbases are honoured and glad to have you!!! I am a huge fan of your work and am a huge fan of both those series! If you need me for help or heck, even a collab or something, I'll be there!
Hi
@@King-fm3ox Hi! How are you?
@@yancylake2019 jk I'm 13
@@King-fm3ox I asked how are you not how old are you! I'm only a few years older than you!
@@yancylake2019 oooh sorry
I like to think for Grey Matter's intelligence, that the Omnitrix itself has a "knowledge pool" for things like how Ben knows the basics of the alien biology even when he first discovers it, we know it has a mind of it's own and was made by Galvans that being one gives Ben a lot more brain power to sort through it, like you said with perfect memory and undertsandig of things Ben may have only glanced before.
I find it kinda funny the way Graymatter blinks
The fight at the cemetery looks so much like a hellboy comic with the gargoyles designs and Ben choosing four arms, definitely one of my favorite moments
Well Feedback has his own theme. It's too awesome to be forgotten!
You can say that again.
Uncle Ben: "With great power comes great responsibility."
Gwen: "Ha ha, shovel go smash, charms gone now."
i’m so happy he’s doing this, it’s so simple but it’s so good to have such a well put together series that’s just oozing with love for this show. pog.
kinda sad you didn't review the Ghostfreak transformation on the previous reviews
7:55 no wonders why her suit looks like a Catwoman cosplay
I've always liked "A Small Problem" due to Grey Matter being one of my favorite Aliens in the franchise. Ben always getting annoyed because he gets such a "weak alien" only makes it better when he uses him to his best.
I think Ben wasn't jealous, but was worried about Gwen when she got powers as he knows how dangerous it is.
Kuro, you know what you definetly should do?, save scenes with a meme potential.
Could you imagine how deadly is a simple cold for the pyronites is? Their bode temperature must drop so low in order to shoot ice, taking that into consideration with their hell-like planet (for a lack of a better term) they might just melt away.
The strange thing is that Gwen never uses the red stone ever again. The red stone is never used even in the future timeline.
Except Ben 10000 Gwen has all the charms, suggesting that at some point in that timeline the charms are remade likely through the red charm
@@jondw In Omniverse it was shown that the Charms of Bezel were restored/remade sometime before season 5 and Gwen has recovered Charm of Telekinesis.
Your critiques on the episode is really good! It’s not vague or suggestive like a lot of reviews I watch on RUclips. It’s more specific, exemplified by how you highlight the use of the sound effects that was used for Heatblast (which you showed was also used in Race Against Time) and also gave attention to the use of lighting with Ben’s Omnitrix and the shadows that occurred.
This is great critiquing, especially when you make it sound like you actually worked on the show (which I would sincerely believe if that was the case) and I am sincerely appreciative of critiques like this, so thank you!
I really like it when Kuro gets a little side tracked and tries to change the animations to look a little better
Hey dude thanks for giving me permission to translate your comic 5 years later
33:37 grasshopper, more like Crashhopper.
15:42 the water effect on his face was really cool
Grey Matter’s intelligence probably comes from the owner of the DNA sample. Since all aliens in the omnitrix are at their peak, i’d like to imagine the DNA is from Azmuth, then it’s brought down to the age of the user. So I think Grey Matter is basically a 10 year old Azmuth.
No. The writers confirmed that the DNA basis for gray matter is neither from azmuth or albedo.
You ever noticed how the guy who grabbed Ben looks like Dwight from the Office
Gwen kicks major butt in the future episodes
16:00 Imagine if the more scared Ben was as Greymatter, the closer his pupils got to being circles.
Pretty sure with grey matter, he gets the intelligence and knowledge of the galvans but he keeps the personality and wisdom of Ben. The decisions he makes are ben’s decisions but the information he can gather and access is that of a more intelligent species capable of understanding things more quickly and intricately. To use the roomba/cat thing, grey matter would’ve been easily capable of rebuilding the roombas into some sort of high tech saddle for the cat it’s just that Ben didn’t realize that was an option
Add a Counting to every time omnitrix get a glitch
Honestly, magic being introduced was a neat shakeup.. They didn't use it often, but it implied an entire new level to the setting, with all that came before falling under sci fi, while the addition of fantasy as an unusual change. In addition to giving Gwen her own unique strengths on the team of course.
Then came the Annodite retcon and Kevin being inexplicably out of the Null Void. So I left the show.
Your reviews are getting better and better keep going ink tank 👍
Ah yes, my favorite youtube series.
As a kid I remember thinking up how the cold could affect XLR8.
My idea was that its tail would swell up a lot, making it heavier and thus slowing Ben down.
Also I think it's a bit interesting that Side Effects had different examples of how much the aliens were affected. Wildmutt was rendered practically useless with its senses hampered as they were. Fourarms wasn't affected too much, aside from the smelly boils and the sneeze (does that species usually produce snot? they don't seem to have a nose). And finally Heatblast who got his powers reversed.
My theory on why Ben is Gray Matter without a time limit is that the omnitrix glitch accidentally activated the lifeform lock function
Probably
That thing Grampa did to the dog seems like the Vulcan pinch from Star Trek
That's from Star Trek? I learned about it from the parody movie, SpaceBalls.
Yes! Thank you for pointing out that being cold hasn’t been proven to make you sick, just that weakening your immune system increases the chances of you catching something from another person.
Maybe when Azmuth created the Omnitrix he downloaded all that information to Grey Matter’s brain, but only when Ben was Grey Matter.
So according to Kuro's theory Greymatter is like NZT from Limitless.
Lucky Girl really should have ended with either a situation where the charms are activated and cannot be stopped, even by Hex and that leaves Gwen to having to resort to smashing them to be the hero of the day, putting her in a situation where she needs to give up the powers but still show that she can do what needs to be done, OR have Ben smash the charms while fighting Hex, with the result taking Ben out of commission and leaving Gwen alone to deal with Hex. Gwen has always been the smart one of the trio, usually being the one to point stuff out to Ben, so leaving her without the lucky powers having to deal with her own villain would have given her more of a chance to shine
I like the forever knights doctors or scientists but it'll be so much cooler if they made them plague doctors
Gwen keeping the Charms would have also been cool because it could have been a bit of development for Max dealing with the fact that he doesn’t know how to teach her magic and having to deal with the fact that he can’t be everything she needs him to be.
same thing, when I was in like 2nd grade A little problem is the episode I remember watching.
Gwen REALMENTE merecía su propia serie, pudo haberse enfocado en los años en los que Ben dejó de usar el Omnitrix...
Something I noticed is every time something good happened to Gwen with the charm, something bad happened to someone else.
3:12 "He doesn't say anything but his lip flaps"
Wait doesn't he say "who's your hero?!" or something* in this clip? I remember he does.
Yep he does
I think it’s in a small segment before that part. Like he says ‘who’s your hero’, it cuts to Gwen’s face and then it cuts back to that part that Kuro mentions. So it was probably just repeated animation
Mexican here. In the Latin American dub, the scene at 3:11 has XLR8 saying "Who's your hero!?". Which I think is later said by Gwen when she's the one getting all the praise.
I really enjoy these episode breakdowns that you're doing. I'm someone who extensively looks for details and tidbits in media that I indulge in, and this really gets the gears turning! This is probably a bit too much to ask, but maybe a Danny Phantom one in the future?