Okay this has been bugging me but not to act like I know more about Ben 10 than one of the actual creators but this cannot be the case. Sorry in advanced for the long post.
Duncan Rouleau didn’t write this episode so I wouldn’t take his word as final for the episode regardless but Alien X-Tinction presents way too many contradictions with the original continuity for those Ben’s to actually be the same Ben’s we saw in those series.
Now may it have been the intention for them to be the same Ben’s? Absolutely but that’s not what happened in the final product. Alien Force Ben is seen very casually traveling between dimensions and is familiar with the concept of meeting multiple versions of himself and his family, which Alien Force Ben is definitely not at the level of yet, also this AF Ben is said to be a Plumber which doesn’t really happen until Darkstar Rising in Season 2 yet this Ben either hasn’t unlocked Alien X yet which would place him in season 1 or he did unlock Alien X but he named the transformation something else whichever explanation it is neither of those happened in Ben 10 Alien Force so the AF Ben we see in Alien X-Tinction is ruled out as being Prime Alien Force Ben.
The 10 year old Ben we see is the only one I think you could argue being Ben Prime maybe Omniverse Ben but I don’t think so especially with his appearance in the Forge of Creation but we know afterwards that young Ben thought it was just a dream, there’s nothing to indicate that these Ben’s lost their memories after they go back to their dimensions.
The Ultimate Alien Ben’s Ultimatrix is obviously backwards as everyone has pointed out but it’s seen like that throughout the whole episode so it seems to be a deliberate choice and not an animation error, granted we know Ben can just take the Ultimatrix on and off whenever he pleases so I suppose it’s possible he just decided to take it off and flip it around that day but I don’t buy that.
Now Omniverse Ben probably has the least amount of contradictions mostly just that his Omnitrix doesn’t work how his Omnitrix works in Omniverse, also this doesn’t necessarily count him out but I don’t think Omniverse Ben should be all that shocked by the Evil Alien X being an alternate Ben given everything he went through in Omniverse.
Now another thing that on it’s own wouldn’t contradict it but along with everything else it just doesn’t add up each of the Bens we see have alterations in design with their original continuity counterparts.
Original Series Ben’s Omnitrix has two activation buttons instead of just one, however this has been seen in the Original Series as well in animation errors so this one can be overlooked.
Alien Force and Ultimate Alien Ben’s Jacket have the two white stripes on both sleeves instead of just one like Original Continuity as well as having the white stripe on the chest of the jacket go all the way around the jacket instead of starting at the shoulder and stopping at the bottom hem of the jacket, also as stated before UA Ben’s Ultimatrix is backwards.
We see two Omniverse Ben’s at separate points and given that one of them dies they’re definitely not the same Ben but both of them also have differences in design with the actual Omniverse Ben, Deceased Ben’s Omnitrix has a different but still similar design to the OV Omnitrix and also his black t-shirt just has a green collar and cuffs and not the green stripe going down the arms connecting the collar to the cuffs like Omniverse Ben’s shirt does, and the OV Ben with a hoodie we see later while having the actual Omniverse Omnitrix it still functions differently as it doesn’t have the faceplate to reveal the Omnitrix core like it does in Omniverse it just pops up with the core instead of sliding to reveal it, also this Ben’s pants don’t have pockets like actual Omniverse Ben’s do.
Also none of the Ben’s seem to have any idea of the true power of Celestialsapiens which aside from 10 Year Old Ben they all should also Omniverse Ben who post Universe V Tennyson got control of Alien X never thought to transform into Alien X to stop the evil one.
Also the alternate Max we meet is very determined to make sure everyone knows that there’s no time travel involved, so those 4 Ben’s cannot be the same Ben just from different points in time, they’re just alternate Ben’s who were born at different points in time relative to their home dimensions.
It was a fun special I really enjoyed it but these Ben’s cannot be the same ones we know and love unfortunately, and like that’s fine it’s not a bad thing these Ben’s while not being the same are still clearly very similar and they all acted in character so it doesn’t really take anything away from the enjoyment of the episode.
