#forge of creation

[c1aytonic]

DnD Series - Forge Cleric of Moradin

In the firelight, you understand why gods choose champions.

[hellknightdean]

what is a peak friendship moment from media you like?

😭😭😭

[anotherwatchedninja]

I JUST REALISED A CONTINUITY BUG

In the forge of creation, Ben supposedly brings himself from five years in the past, and he was 16 in UA, and as of Alien Swarm, set in February, before AF S3. But everyone says that it’s 10 year old Ben, but that can’t be possible… MEANING THE YOUNGER BEN IS FROM AT LEAST MONTHS, MAYBE WEEKS BEFORE THE OV FLASHBACKS,

[emperorsfoot]

I’ve posted about this before, but it’s time to go off on the Ben 10 arc that I hold deepest in my heart.  

The Ultimate Kevin arc of Ultimate Alien

Let’s begin with how Kevin became Ultimate Kevin.

The Defeat of Aggregor

Aggregor was the main villain for the first two seasons of Ultimate Alien. We went through two arcs with him. One where our heroes had to protect his alien prisoners from being re-captured (a task they consistently failed at in every episode), and then after Aggregor re-captured them and absorbed their powers, the Map of Infinity arc where they had to stop Aggregor from collecting all the pieces of a map that would guide him to the Forge of Creation where the “ultimate prize” was (another task they consistently failed at in every episode). 

Aggregor got all his aliens, and he got all his map pieces, and he made it to the Forge of Creation, and he had beaten Ben!OS, Ben!AF/UA, and Gwen into submission. Our heroes were not doing well. Kevin and Ben!OS were the only ones even still conscious and Ben!OS’ Omnitrix was timed out and non-active. 

So, Ben comes up with a plan. 

He offered the power of his Omnitrix to Kevin in order to defeat Aggregor. 

This is a very jarring moment because, remember, THIS version of Ben has only ever known Kevin as an enemy and not someone to be trusted. But he also recognizes that his other self and Gwen were both unconscious and unable to do anything. He himself is unable to do anything because without his Omnitrix, he’s just a tiny little 10-year-old kid. But Ben recognizes that Kevin can do something if he uses his Osmosian powers to absorb the Omnitrix. 

So, he offers that power to Kevin. 

That’s very important. 

As we move forward in this post (and all my rants about this arc, to be honest), I want you all to remember: Ben offered Kevin the Omnitrix. 

Kevin has his misgivings and refuses at first. The reasons for this should be obvious, but I’ll list them for you anyway:

Kevin loses his mind when he absorbs too much power

Absorbing a lot of power overloads an Osmosian’s mind and they lose their sanity

If Kevin absorbed and Omnitrix, any Omnitrix, he will cease to be himself

Do all three of those sound like the same thing to you? Good. They should. It’s very important to this essay, so I had to say it three times. Kevin does not want to absorb the Omnitrix or the Ultimatrix because Kevin does not want to lose his mind. Kevin does not want to lose the stable life he’s built for himself. Kevin does not want to lose the healthy relationship he has with his mother. Kevin does not want to lose the friends he has made. Kevin does not want to lose the love he has found with Gwen. 

Kevin has everything to lose by following Ben’s plan and absorbing an Omnitrix. 

But, Kevin has even more to lose if Aggregor absorbs the power of a god and can un-make the universe. 

Realizing the necessity, Kevin, accepts this plan, but goes for his Ben’s Ultimatrix instead. 

He absorbed the Ultimatrix, as was Ben’s plan and becomes Ultimate Kevin. This gives him the power needed to defeat Aggregor. 

The universe is saved! Whoo hoo!

The universe is saved and Kevin was the one who saved it. 

Ben didn't save the universe. Kevin did. 

It was Kevin. 

Kevin is the hero here. 

But at great personal cost.

He’s now off his nut. He even says, out right, very clearly, in plain words, that he could absorb all of his friends right now. Both Bens and even Gwen. He could even do what Aggregor was trying to do and absorb the Celestialsapien and become a god. 

No one can stop him. They’re all still too weak from having their asses handed to them by Aggregor. 

Everyone is 100% at Kevin’s mercy. And they all know it. 

But Kevin doesn’t absorb anyone. He doesn’t absorb either of the Bens. He doesn’t absorb Gwen. He doesn’t absorb the baby god-alien that’s right there. 

Instead, he leaves. He has just barely enough control of himself to do it. But he does it. Because he just sacrificed -literally- everything else he has in the universe to save these idiots. 

Cue the wrap-up. Professor Paradox sends Ben!OS back to his own time, and Ben and Gwen wonder what’s gonna become of Kevin now that he’s... changed...?

And that leads us into the next segment:

Trying to Convince Us Kevin is an Unforgivable Monster

So now we have an arc of Kevin being a villain again. 

Sure. I’m down. 

I love a good “good guy turned bad” arc. It... does things for me... 

But, the very first episode of the “prove Kevin is evil” arc only shows us that he’s not evil at all. All it does is show us that Kevin Levin has had one of the hardest and most unfair lives of any character from the Ben 10 franchise. 

Let’s begin. 

The Episode opens in the Null Void in a prison called Incarcercon, and introduces the characters that are going to be important for this episode. Two convicts, Trukk and Quince, and the Warden, Morgg. We’ll come back to them. 

Then it cuts to our “heroes” Ben and Gwen. 

And Ben is already on his “Kevin needs to go down” bullshit. 

They are desperate to find Kevin. Gwen, to help him and return him to some version of sanity and normalcy. Ben, to beat the shit out of him and “stop” him like any other villain in his rogues gallery. 

After this conversation we learn that Kevin has actually hurt someone, so he’s not completely innocent. 

This Guy ^

Whom we have never seen before and we will never see again. 

According to This Guy, Kevin claimed he owed him money and then attacked him, and Kevin’s into some pretty sketch stuff so I’m willing to believe that. Sure. 

But Kevin also, right now, has the power to fly through space, race the Rust Bucket, rip into Plumbers bases, somehow get to the Null Void, and a whole bunch of other stuff. He could kill an average earthling with a sneeze, and this guy looks like an average earthling to me. I’m honestly skeptical Kevin actually hurt him at all and he didn’t just see Kevin, get scared, and trip down some stairs. 

But whatever. 

The testimonial from This Guy, whom we have never seen before and will never see again, bolsters Ben’s resolve. “Kevin must be stopped, no matter the cost!” (<--Optimis Prime voice)

So, where in the universe is Kevin Levin?

You guessed it! He’s in Incarcercon that was already explained to us at the beginning of the episode! 

One of the other inmates approaches him because he thinks he recognizes him. Kevin is his normal abrasive self. Ben and Gwen teleport into the prison. Then we get a flashback to Kevin’s past to explain his motivations for coming to this prison in the middle of the Null Void. 

This was the prison Kevin was sent to when he was just 11 years old. (I have more comments to make on that, but that’s a whole other post!) And it’s the place where -objectively his best- father figure was murdered. 

Y’all remember in the OS how Ben finally “defeated” Kevin was to trap him in the Null Void, right? 

Welp, once he was in the Null Void, they went even further and locked him up in the alien equivalent of a Turkish prison. 

The flashback opens up with Kevin being attacked by multiple other inmates at once. 

The fight is seen by two other inmates, Quince, the one we already met in the present who approached Kevin, 

and Kwarrel. 

Kwarrel approaches Kevin and offers to help him. 

And thus, Kevin Ethan Levin gets the first positive father figure he’s had in his life. (At the age of 11, but once again, that’s another post.) 

Kwarrel teaches Kevin how to channel his anger, control his powers and... TURN BACK FROM A MUTANT INTO A REAL BOY! 

Oops. Sorry. Wrong image. 

Here you go. 

We also learn why Kwarrel wasn’t there at the beginning of Alien Fore when we run into Kevin again. 

He dead. 

He super dead. 

He murdered. 

Shot in the back by Warden Morgg, the current Warden of the prison Kevin has snuck into. Kevin has come back now that he’s Ultimate Kevin and has all these extra powers, so that he can avenge his father-figure’s murder. 

That really does not sound all that villainous to me. 

Morally questionable, yes. But not “evil”. 

Kevin want’s justice, not senseless mayhem. 

Ben and Gwen expose a slave labor and drug smuggling plot. The corrupt Warden is defeated. Ben and Gwen are the heroes. Kevin escapes. End Episode. Okay. 

Let’s keep it moving.

Next episodes begins yet again with the supporting characters that are going to be important in this episode, before cutting to Ben and Gwen. 

Ben is still on his “Kevin’s gotta go down” bullshit. 

Then Argit practically jumps in front of their car and explains that Kevin is after him. The main conflict of this episode is Ben and Gwen protecting Argit from Kevin. (There’s also a subplot of the Vreedle brothers becoming Plumbers, and Argit trying to scam a Plumbers base, but this post is about Kevin, not them.)

Argit, of course, played the innocent victim. Gwen does mention that Argit has betrayed not only Kevin, but both her and Ben in the past and asks why they should help him. But they end up helping him anyway. 

Trying to protect Argit from Kevin who wants to murder him now. 

The thing is... the first time we met Argit, he paralyzed Kevin (and Ben and Gwen), and tries to steal the Rust Bucket 2. 

He also sold Ben, Gwen, and Kevin out to the Vreedle brothers.

Kevin finally breaks off his friendship with Argit in “Andreas’ Fault” of Ultimate alien, when Kevin witnesses his treatment of Andreas (one of the prisoners of Aggregor). 

In this very episode where Argit is the “victim”, Argit is trying to defraud the Plumbers.

So, while Ultimate Kevin trying to kill him is very extreme, for sure! I don't think it’s all that “evil” considering the history they have. 

Once again, Kevin wants justice, not mayhem. 

Obviously, this is a kids show and so some black and white morality is to be expected. Killing is wrong and so if Kevin wants to kill someone then he is wrong. 

I just don’t think he’s acting “irredeemably evil”. 

Certainly, he’s not acting bad enough to earn him a death sentence of his own! 

Which is exactly what Ben tries to do to him in the third and final part of this arc.

Operation Kevin Must DIE!

[emperorsfoot]

I just want everyone to remember that Kevin saved the universe. 

[emperorsfoot]

To everyone who keeps asking me “what makes you think they sent Aggregor to the Null Void?” Do y’all not read the wiki?