Just some dork who daydreams too much

"How long will all of you attack a man to batter him, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?" "They only plan to thrust him down from his high position. They take pleasure in falsehood. They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse." - Psalm 62:3-4 (PLEASE DO NOT SPAM MY INBOX OR @ ME IN REGARDS TO DONATION-RELATED MATTERS! I HAVE BILLS AND OTHER IMPORTANT PAYMENTS TO MAKE ON A REGULAR BASIS!)

[dorkasdaydreams]

Happy Father's Day to anyone who's celebrating it today!

Allow me to offer a Papa Ben with Baby Chill in commemoration. :)

[dorkasdaydreams]

Matt Youngberg as a showrunner sucked so much in Ben 10 Omniverse. This guy , was a story board artist in one of the episodes of Alien force. But when he became the supervising producer he started messing with the show, after Dwayne Mcduffie (RIP) died .

Later in the Omniverse series he became the actual showrunner that's where he took control of everything in the entire story. He just turned this entire show from mature storytelling to comedy Central show . Even once, he didn't consider including the Man of Action crew. That is why transformers animated 6.7 out of 10 in imdb rating compared to its previous iterations.

He is such a worst showrunner and ruined the most successful I.P.

Like with Len Uhley, I'm not entirely familiar with Matt Youngberg's contributions to the show. Therefore, I cannot speak on whether or not his contributions were lacking. That being said, him stripping away the more mature tone of the show wasn't the best decision.

As I mentioned in a previous ask, there's nothing wrong with Ben 10 having comedic moments. However, the show works best when there's a healthy balance of both light and heavy moments.

[dorkasdaydreams]

Dwayne Mcduffie as a writer would have easily blended well with the Man of Action crew , if the latter were involved. His storytelling skills were great and had a lot of potential ideas that would have helped Man of Action in the long run. It would have worked better if Duncan Rouleau was the showrunner along with Dwayne Mcduffie. The 3 members of Man of Action were the The show would have been freaking awesome.

But no , he was forced to work with other crew of writers who made the show even more complicated. Some of them don't even know the previous lore very well. Or simply just ignore it .

Sorry for the late response. Had a lot going on irl.

I honestly don't know why Man of Action wasn't more involved with the iterations after Classic. They're still the ones who made the show in the first place! If they had helped with UAF, things like magic being initially retconned wouldn't have happened.

Not that magic being retconned was a big deal to me, anyway.

[dorkasdaydreams]

Ben & Julie Re-watch Part 1

JULIE TO BEN

Ben 10 Returns Part 1:

Julie smiles at Ben after he notices her. (good)

When Ben offers her a handshake, she reciprocates. (good)

She congratulates him on his skills during the soccer game. (good)

When Ben asks to meet up again later, she agrees. (good)

She waves and says goodbye as Ben leaves. (good)

TOTAL SCORE: 5

CONCLUSION: Good

Pier Pressure:

Julie smiles and waves at Ben during her tennis match. (good)

She is patient with him as he awkwardly asks her out. (good)

She looks at him in Kevin's car & smiles. (good)

She asks Ben what Kevin means by “disco”. (neutral)

She asks Ben why Kevin is mean to him and says that he’s “nice to let him”. (neutral)

She points out that she and Ben have the pier to themselves and holds his arm. (good)

She covers her ears and asks about the Omnitrix after it goes off. (neutral)

She looks on with concern as Ben runs to get cotton candy. (neutral)

She calls a friend and expresses her worries about Ben running off. (neutral)

She eagerly tells her friend about Ben returning and hangs up. (good)

When Ben tells Julie there was a line at the cotton candy stall, she gets suspicious and points out the fact that there aren’t many people there. (neutral)

Julie admits that she thought Ben had stood her up. (good)

When Ben offers her cotton candy, she takes the pink one. (neutral)

She laughs when Ben makes his teeth blue with cotton candy. (good)

Julie notes that the Jet Fighter ride looks fun. (neutral)

She asks Ben if he doesn’t want to ride the mechanical rocket. (good)

She asks if he’s okay when she sees him tense up. (good)

She teasingly asks if he’s hiding something. (neutral)

She expresses concern when asking what Ben is going to do after Ship attacks. (good)

She is shocked when Ben asks what he missed. (neutral)

She calls out to Ben after Ship captures her. (neutral)

She asks Jetray how he knows her name. (neutral)

She expresses shock at Ben being a monster. (neutral)

She tells Ben that she thinks his powers are “cool”. (good)

She notes that Ship is trying to communicate with Ben. (neutral)

She expresses surprise at the fact that Ben has seen a Galvanic Mechamorph before. (neutral)

She asks him what the alien language in the spaceship says. (neutral)

She reiterates that Ship is trying to communicate with Ben. (neutral)

She lets him know when the explosion subsides. (neutral)

She tells Ben to be nice to Baz-L and that the two are “practically related”. (neutral)

When Ben asks if this is the worst date she’s ever had, Julie replies that it’s just different and that “being different is fine”. (good)

She asks Ben if he’s going to keep Ship. (neutral)

She admits that she’s not enjoying the “walking home” part of the date. (good)

She says that not being able to fly home doesn’t matter because they will both be grounded for being late. (neutral)

She helps Ben flag down a truck. (good)

She holds Ben’s hand as the two of them walk home. (good)

TOTAL SCORE: 15

CONCLUSION: Good

BEN TO JULIE

Ben 10 Returns Part 1:

Ben talks to Julie when he notices her. (good)

He admits that he’s “sort of showing off”. (good)

He introduces himself. (good)

He thanks her for congratulating him on a good game. (good)

He asks if she wants to meet up the next day and leaves. (good)

TOTAL SCORE: 5

CONCLUSION: Good

Pier Pressure:

Ben smiles when Julie waves at him. (good)

He asks Julie out in spite of how nervous he is. (good)

In Kevin’s car, Ben looks over at Julie and nervously looks away when she looks at him. (neutral)

When Julie asks about Kevin’s disco comment, Ben explains that Kevin watches a lot of TV reruns. (neutral)

He opens the car door for Julie. (good)

He apologizes to Julie about Kevin’s behavior in the car. (good)

When Julie asks Ben why Kevin is mean to him, Ben explains that it “makes Kevin happy”. (neutral)

He notes that the pier is having a “slow night” and that it is usually packed on weekends. (neutral)

When Julie asks about the watch, Ben nervously says he needs to get it fixed. (neutral)

He asks if she likes cotton candy, then tells her he’ll be back and runs off to deal with the Omnitrix. (neutral)

When Ben returns with the cotton candy, he tells Julie there was a line so she doesn’t find out about Ship. (neutral)

When Julie points out how few people there are, he specifies there is a line at the concession stand. (neutral)

After Julie admits that she thought Ben had stood her up, Ben assures her that he would never do that to her. (good)

Ben offers Julie the cotton candy he bought, even letting her pick which color she wanted. (good)

He smiles at her after taking a bite of cotton candy, revealing that his teeth are blue. (good)

At the Jet Fighter ride, Ben jokes that it’s especially fun if one doesn’t mind “wrenching g-forces and waves of nausea”. (neutral)

When Julie asks if Ben doesn’t want to ride the Jet Fighter, Ben responds that he didn’t mean that and clarifies that he meant he was glad he didn’t get cheeseburgers. (neutral)

When Julie asks Ben if he’s okay, he says he’s fine and suggests skipping the ride. (neutral)

He says he’s not hiding anything. (neutral)

He leads Julie by the hand to get her away from Ship. (good)

He tells Julie to stay hidden. (good)

When asked what he’s going to do, Ben says he’s going to the bathroom. (neutral)

He protects Julie when she steps out of her hiding spot. (good)

After hiding in the bathroom and de-transforming, Ben asks Julie what he missed. (neutral)

He asks what Julie is asking that he didn’t see. (neutral)

He is shocked when Julie is captured by Ship. (good)

He calls out to Julie when Ship makes off with her and goes to rescue her. (good)

He stops Ship with an indirect approach so Julie doesn’t get hurt. (good)

When Julie asks how Ben (as Jetray) knows her name, he tells her not to be scared and reveals his identity. (good)

He awkwardly explains his transformation abilities. (good)

He is surprised when Julie thinks his powers are “cool”. (neutral)

He tells Julie about Upgrade when he sees Baz-L. (neutral)

He holds Julie back when she tries to go through the forcefield. (good)

He apologizes for not being able to read the alien language. (neutral)

He protects Julie from the shockwave caused by the explosion. (good)

He nervously taps his fingers when Julie says the explosion is over. (neutral)

He explains the term “Plumbers” to Julie. (neutral)

When Julie notes why Ship tried to get help, Ben reminds her that he wrecked the pier and kidnapped her. (neutral)

He asks Julie if it is the worst date she’s ever been on. (neutral)

He apologizes for not being able to fly Julie home and explains that it’s because of the Omnitrix shutting down to recharge. (good)

He works with Julie to try and flag down a truck. (good)

He holds Julie’s hand as the two of them walk home together. (good)

TOTAL SCORE: 20

CONCLUSION: Good

[dorkasdaydreams]

Heya! I’ve gathered the findings from my re-watch, and I am preparing to release them! (Sorry for taking so long. I started a new job recently and couldn’t find the time to put this post together until now.)

First, I’d like to start by explaining exactly what this project is and why I started it:

As you may know by now, I have made several posts regarding certain moments in the Ben 10 franchise that many in the fandom have misunderstood (whether intentionally or not) for years due to the presence of online echo chambers portraying Ben Tennyson’s overall behavior as “awful” or “disgusting”. Specifically, the points I covered were related to Ben’s primary romantic interests. While I don’t think that every single thing that Julie, Ester, and even Kai did to Ben was bad, I still couldn’t see how they treated him generally well, especially compared to Ben’s treatment of the girls. However, as someone who often misunderstands situations and takes things out of context in both my personal life and in my consumption of media, I wanted to be completely sure that my stance wasn’t unfounded. I wanted to see firsthand what was actually said and done in those moments.

To do that, I re-watched every episode featuring Ben’s three primary love interests (minus most non-speaking cameos or episodes where they don’t interact with Ben at all) to analyze everyone’s actions and determine the level of morality and justification of their words and actions towards one another. In addition, I’ll also be covering words and actions said or done in relation to the characters. For example, if a character says something about another to a different character, I will count that towards the scores. This is because while the two characters in question are not directly interacting, what they say about one another when they aren’t listening demonstrates their mentalities towards each other. As for the scoring part, I’m about to get to that right now.

The way I will determine the morality of the characters’ actions is by a scoring system. Every action the characters take in relation to one another will be divided into three categories:

Good: Any action that (directly or indirectly) personally benefits the party that said action is being directed toward (+1)

Neutral: Any action that does not positively or negatively affect a party (0)

Bad: Any action that is detrimental to one party (-1)

Here are some examples so you can get a better sense of how the scoring works:

Ben sharing chili fries with Julie is a good action.

Ben & Ester relaying information to one another on a mission is a neutral action.

Kai screaming angrily at Ben for no reason is a bad action.

Additionally, overall scores will be considered good if the number of the score is positive, bad if the number is negative, or neutral if it is exactly 0. I chose this formatting because a score of 0 might be caused by a character being a mixed bag in an episode, which could potentially lead to the good and bad actions of that character canceling out.

(Side note: I tried to be as objective as possible when scoring each action. I apologize in advance if anything seems off.)

I’ll have to split these posts into multiple parts because, as you can imagine, 28 episodes is a lot of content to comb through. Thankfully, I’ve already watched all of the episodes and gathered my findings. All I need to do now is compile the information in a series of posts that I’ll divide by at least two episodes per post (or more if the list of actions is shorter). Also, it should be noted that some scores may seem higher mainly due to the fact that some characters appear in more episodes than others (and some also do more in those episodes than others). I think that’s about it for now.

As I said previously, the first post will be coming soon! I will also try to make a masterpost for the re-watch so that all of the posts can be found in one place. I’m not entirely sure how to do that (especially with how my attempts at including links in previous posts have been unsuccessful), but I’m sure I’ll figure it out eventually. Until then, STAY HYDRATED!

[dorkasdaydreams]

I hope you are alright and healthy.

It is quite disappointing that Ben Tennyson never got the Master Control. Spanning over 4 series of original continuity, he didn't get the true power that he deserved. How much of an unfairness was posed upon him? It is quite an injustice that is way beyond comprehension.

I'm quite well. Thank you for asking!

It does suck that Ben didn't get access to Master Control by the end of Omniverse. However, I can't say I'm surprised by it. Azmuth told Ben he could "perhaps" gain permanent master control access for his 18th birthday, but Ben was still 16 by the end of Omniverse. The only way Ben could gain master control now is with a new series focusing on 18-year-old Ben, although I doubt the writers would want to skip the year between that potential new series and Omniverse.

On a semi-related note, I do want to make a sequel series after Astral Reverb that features Ben gaining access to Master Control permanently. That's going to be much later down the line, though. I still need to finish Astral Reverb altogether (especially since I rewrote part of the script for Episode 1 AGAIN ^^').

[dorkasdaydreams]

Thank you to everyone who got me to 500 likes!

[dorkasdaydreams]

In case y'all were wondering where my backdrop came from:

I made it myself. :3

[dorkasdaydreams]

Breaking Down “That Scene” from “Revenge of the Swarm”

This is mainly just an investigative thing for my own understanding, but I wanted to take another look at the scene in "Revenge of the Swarm" where Elena tries to kiss Ben. This might be my longest Ben 10 post yet, so please bear with me.

First, let's establish some context:

Ben pays a visit to Elena Valadis after encountering the chips disguised as her father so he can figure out why the chips are still active.

Julie is captured by Elena and hidden in the storage room of her lab while being handicapped.

Ben goes to meet up with Julie at Burger Shack, but he finds a chip instead, prompting him to go back to the lab to look for Julie and see if Elena knows anything.

Ben figures out that Elena has been controlling the chips to get rid of anyone she believes to stand in the way of her and him.

Elena confesses to lying about the chips but denies using them to get what she wants.

Elena suggests that Ben go with her to find and deactivate the remaining chips (which is a part of her plan to make Ben love her).

Ben, having not found any evidence that Julie is or has been in the lab, agrees to help Elena.

With that, let's discuss the scene in full.

The scene begins with Ben saying:

"Guess I got a little paranoid. For a minute there, I even thought Julie--"

I'm not entirely sure what Ben was going to say here before Elena cuts him off, but if I had to make an educated guess, it may have been something along the lines of:

"For a minute there, I even thought Julie was here at the lab."

The reason I say this is because it makes sense for Ben to assume that Julie is NOT at the lab if he has found no evidence of her being there. After all, finding a chip at the spot where he was going to meet up with her isn't enough. Julie wasn't at Burger Shack when he got there, and an eyewitness told him what she did directly:

"She just went around back."

That's a bit more vague than it seems at first glance. Sure, Julie could have gone around back, but how could anyone be sure that she would STAY there? And if Ben is under the assumption that Julie is neither at Burger Shack nor in the lab...

Then, his response to what Elena says next also makes sense:

Elena: What about Julie?

Ben: Nothing. She must have changed her mind about wanting to see me again, that's all.

Keep in mind: Ben & Julie's relationship has had a good few hurdles at this point. Julie already pulled the whole "we might as well be broken up" thing on Ben in a previous episode. Who's to say she wouldn't also fail to show up after making plans to meet up with him, especially if he were to show up late?

And ESPECIALLY after their interaction earlier in the episode:

Ben: You know, it feels like I'm always running off somewhere, doesn't it?

Julie: It's starting to.

Ben: ...Can we get together tomorrow night? For sure?

Julie: I'd like that.

Ben made plans to get together with Julie, and he made good on that promise by going to Burger Shack to meet up with her. His first reaction to not finding Julie was, of course, concern. Because when he shows up at the lab, he walks right past Elena without a word and immediately starts looking around for Julie. However, after Elena gives him an explanation, he feels inclined to believe that Julie simply failed to show up. His guard is too lowered around his childhood friend for him to believe he has a reason to turn into an alien, so he doesn't have access to a form that could detect Julie's presence in that moment.

I'd like to briefly bring up "Pier Pressure" because it illustrates a similar moment. When Ben runs off to deal with the Omnitrix and Ship, Julie calls one of her friends and expresses concern over Ben's disappearance. When Ben comes back, Julie confesses that she thought he had stood her up. Would it not make sense, then, for Ben to make similar assumptions after not finding Julie at all when he arrived at their meeting spot after explicitly making plans to meet up?

Ben also uses the word "again" when thinking of this, which could mean that the two were not seeing one another beforehand. If Julie had changed her mind about "wanting to see Ben again", it means that she WOULDN'T want to see him again, and if Ben is under the impression that Julie doesn't want to SEE him again...

Wouldn't it make sense for him to also believe that she wouldn't want to hear from him or speak to him again? Or, you know... do literally ANYTHING together again?

Including, perhaps... kissing? (I'm about to get to that, btw.)

After Ben tells Elena about Julie, the following exchange occurs:

Elena: I'm so glad we're going to be together now.

Ben: WORKING together, Elena.

Elena: It won't always be work.

And right after this exchange, Elena leans forward to kiss Ben. Yes, ELENA initiated it. She moved her head first, and when she did, Ben did not move at all. Then, Ben moves his head back. Yes, his head does move forward afterward, but as explained earlier, Ben believes that Julie does not want to see him anymore. If you completely believe that your significant other does not want anything to do with you anymore, why should you feel obligated to stop yourself from seeing other people? As stated previously, Ben had no way of knowing for sure that Julie was in the lab. For all he knew, Julie could have left Burger Shack BEFORE the chip ended up there.

Also, doesn't the fact that he moves his head BACK first make him seem... hesitant? Reluctant? It's almost as if he feels conflicted. He is currently under the belief that Julie no longer wishes to see him, and he has just agreed to work professionally with his childhood friend (who he is inclined to believe has no more secrets to keep than the ones she herself has already revealed to him) to collect the missing pieces of her research. If he is trying to keep things professional with Elena, it makes sense for him to still hesitate when she makes a move on him, especially with the factors I listed before regarding Julie.

Then, lo and behold, when Julie starts tackling the storage room door, he drops everything to check the door. Because he has just been alerted to a sign that Julie COULD be in the lab like he thought earlier. That would also cause him realize that Julie DIDN'T abandon him like he previously thought.

Like I said earlier, this was one of the most confusing scenes in Ben 10 for me. It didn't make me viscerally angry (unlike what it did for some people) but I did feel inclined to go back and watch this episode again so I could try to make sense of it.

Whenever scenes like this involving Ben pop up, the majority of the fanbase is quick to point fingers at him first (although I genuinely can't imagine why sometimes), even when it is visibly clear that he is not the one at fault. However, it is understandable that fans would interpret this particular scene a certain way. I can admit that it looks pretty bad on paper. However, if you take the time to examine the context surrounding everything that happens in this episode and everything that has happened before it, you may gain a new perspective you wouldn't have considered otherwise.

And, perhaps, a better understanding of how the protagonist processes everything that happens to himself and those closest to him.

[dorkasdaydreams]

Now that I think about...

Why DID Ben almost kiss Elena in "Revenge of the Swarm"???

I get that Elena's the one who initiated it... but why didn't Ben back away??? Did he feel cornered or something???

Was that just him... or does Elena have the ability to control OTHER people with the chips??? I don't recall ever hearing about that, but it wouldn't surprise me if that was the case. The nanite chips have already been shown to have as much control over Elena as she has over them. Ben literally tells her that the chips are controlling her, and to quote Elena herself:

"They are me, and I am them. They give me what I want."

And one way for her to get what she wants (which in this case is Ben's love) is for her to FORCE Ben to do what she wants him to do... such as, perhaps... kissing her?

Because, hot take: other than that moment, Ben was overall pretty good to Julie in that episode. So one would assume that since they are both on better terms in that episode, Ben would have no reason to almost kiss another girl, even IF she's a childhood friend.

Then again, I'm not certain atm that there's any definitive proof that the chips CAN control other people besides their host, so...

What exactly was going on there????

[dorkasdaydreams]

I read something a couple of weeks back about Ben saying that Julie was "only a little too good-looking" for him in "The Transmorgification of Eunice", and I would like to clear up the confusion on this matter for those who somehow believe that statement to be true.

I can't find the original post/comment, but the person who made it claimed that Ben was responding to Gwen's question of "What about Julie?", which is not true. He was responding to KEVIN saying that EUNICE was "way too good-looking" for him.

If you look closely at Ben's body language, he is very clearly looking at Kevin after he speaks.

After Kevin speaks up, Ben takes his focus OFF OF GWEN to respond to Kevin. Kevin is taller than Ben & Gwen, so it makes sense that Ben would have to LIFT HIS HEAD UP to address him. His pupils are also directed UP TOWARDS HIS TOP EYELIDS. If he was talking to Gwen, he would not have to do this since the two of them are the SAME height. His pupils would also be directed to the side in that case.

Therefore, BEN NEVER SAID JULIE WAS TOO GOOD-LOOKING FOR HIM.

I can't believe this needs to be pointed out...

On a related note, Gwen's attitude in this episode really disappointed me. You're telling me she defended Ben when Kai literally dehumanized him AND encouraged him to ask Julie out by listing all of his good qualities, then she turns around and tries to accuse him of cheating when JULIE is the one who broke it off???

You'd think Gwen would be more inclined to defend her family when their significant others mistreat them. Maybe if it was Kai doing it instead, Gwen wouldn't have any issues tearing into her???

All I know is that this is not Gwen's only less-than-stellar moment in Ultimate Alien. She has quite a few, in fact, and one episode in particular is especially frustrating to me.

...but I'm saving that for later.

[dorkasdaydreams]

Final Re-watch Update Before the Gathering of the Data:

I AM DONE!!

Now I just have to make some calculations and sort some things out, and the results will be ready to go!

Side note: The fact that I am SURPRISED that Kai helped a LIMPING BEN get back to his Time Cycle and even ASKED IF HE WAS OKAY TO RIDE says a LOT about her overall characterization.

[dorkasdaydreams]

Ben 10 Re-watch Update Number I-Lost-Count-A-While-Ago:

I am about to tackle the final episode for this rewatch project, which is "The Secret of Dos Santos". Once I'm done, I'll look over my findings and prepare them for posting. In the first of these posts, I'll also finally explain in full detail what the purpose of this project is and why I started it in the first place, although I think I've already given enough hints to piece everything together.

On to the final episode!

[dorkasdaydreams]

Being a pokemon fan, you have played dozens of games . Each time a new region is released , a new set of pokemon is introduced. That becomes exciting to fill the pokedex. So my question to you is , among the starter pokemon, fire , water and grass type , which one you have picked more frequently, throughout those years? And why?

Whenever a new generation is revealed, I tend to initially gravitate towards the Fire starter of that Gen since they are often based on animals I like. Fennekin is a fox, Litten is a cat, and Scorbunny is a rabbit. Gen 9 is the only exception so far since I knew I was going to stick with Sprigatito the moment I saw it.

As for Gen 10, I preferred Pombon at first; then Gecqua started to grow on me after I decided I was probably going to get Pokemon Waves before Pokemon Winds (and that made me want to use the Water starter because... y'know, WAVES). Until I see all of the version exclusives, I can't make a final decision on which game or which starter I'll be selecting. Here's hoping we get more news sooner rather than later!

[dorkasdaydreams]

Yet Another Re-Watch Update:

I finally got through "The Most Dangerous Game Show".

...and now I need to bleach my eyes to forget the ending. X(

(Like fr Ester was going on about being too tired to fight a fate that doesn't even exist in Ben 10 at all. Granted, she's not aware of the Omniverse like Ben is, but still.)

Oh, but I'm not done yet! I still have 3 more episodes to go!

...and all of them feature Kai...

Fingers crossed so I can survive the onslaught...

[dorkasdaydreams]

I made this a while back, but here's a screenshot edit I made featuring Ally:

What did she see? (wrong answers only)

[dorkasdaydreams]

Adding to my previous post about Ben's last line in "Hot Stretch":

Once again, there is a part of my personal past that has me sympathizing with Ben. Specifically it concerns the ex-boyfriend I mentioned in a post from a couple of months ago (and I'm gonna sound like a hypocrite, but please bear with me because I didn't remember it until now... I guess that just goes to show how much I want to forget about all of that stuff).

During the last few months of my first relationship, I was having doubts about whether or not I wanted to stay with the guy I was dating at the time. As for why that was the case, long story short: we were NEVER going to be compatible in the long run due to how different our lives were. He also crossed my boundaries several times, particularly in a very... COERCIVE manner... but I'll spare you the specifics on that...

(Also, if you're wondering why I was staying with him at all despite him disrespecting my boundaries so often, it's because this guy had been my best friend throughout most of our middle school and high school years. Being that close to him for so long made me feel like I OWED him total love and loyalty. I still cared for him as a person, but my romantic feelings had dwindled a while before we actually broke up.)

Our last few months together just so happened to take place during my penultimate semester of college (which was last year), and one of my fellow peers in one of my courses was a nice guy who was a lot more similar to me than my then-boyfriend was. I soon realized that I was starting to have thoughts such as, "Would he treat me better?", or "Would I feel happier with him?"

However, because I was already in a relationship at the time, I dismissed those thoughts and kicked myself for even having them in the first place. Then, in May, my ex and I officially broke up.

In my last semester, I made an effort to get to know the second guy. Sadly, we had a couple of major differences that made me realize it might not have worked out long-term, so I lost romantic interest in him. We still remained friends, though.

With all of this in mind, I think I have a better understanding of why Ben said what he said at the end of "Hot Stretch". If Julie hadn't returned any of Ben's calls before "Rules of Engagement", it's understandable that he would be having doubts about how much he actually loves her and vice versa. Therefore, Ben considering the idea of a relationship with Ester makes sense. However, Ben (to my knowledge) doesn't bring this up again until the end of "Rules of Engagement", AFTER he has officially broken up with Julie. Even then, he wasn't the one who initiated the relationship. ESTER made the first move by grabbing him by the arm and pandering to Ben's love of Mr. Smoothy's by claiming she loved it as well.

Anyway, apologies for the long follow-up. NOW I'm going to re-watch "Catfight"!