I hate leaving a fandom like this. It's like a breakup, only this one was onscreen through the course of very painful and messy reviews.
It's July now, and I still can't articulate how I feel on all of this. How my favorite characters mostly all progressed into this mess. How the story just fell apart at the seams. And then the sense going around that the best thing to do is to scrap everything and go back to Ben 10 original in terms of style and substance.
I guess what I've been trying to get at is that I got into Alien Force because it was a series that appeared to be growing with its fandom and its star. It was slightly darker than the original and significantly more mature. It focused on friendship and family. It made Ben into a leader, while the first series focused on him as a hero. That was the first two seasons. After slipping in season three, Ultimate Alien got back on track by having Ben as THE hero--the one who everyone now was looking to to save the universe. All of the planet, all of the galaxy, all of the universe was looking at him. And I loved watching him struggle, watching him slowly rise under that weight. So going back to basics feels like a massive step backwards in terms of development of story and character.
Devlin and Ken refuse to let me walk away from their side of the fandom, and I still have "Derailed" and its lovely, cracky Den-O elements to play with. But honestly, I just want to play with my Kamen Riders instead now. Even when they screw up a season, it's not the entire franchise that feels destroyed in the wake of it.
It's always hard leaving a fandom openly. I had to go through a sad one through Naruto and I don't know if I'll be back - if only to see it end maybe. Completely understandable. It's a miserable experience but if it's not working out anymore there's no point in staying just to get further annoyed.
I think when you've been watching or following something for ages it really makes the break off from it more complex and harder. I don't know if I'm going to go through that with the new series and I very well hope not, but this might be another case of my second Naruto.
My sis and I are still discussing why the producers and the big wigs thought a return to the original was going to win people over. I think it just created even more divisions and forging an even smaller audience willing to stay. Hopefully it gets new audiences without falling into the trap of Continuity Lockout? Because even though they're trying to relive the original, they're actually going to keep this as continuation of the previous series. My mind boggles at the kind of people they actually want watching it. It's starting to creepily remind me of the comic book industry. Them and their reboots and redesigns and their gimmicks but no improvement in storytelling.
That's actually what I was desperately hoping for. That they'd actually make it more about a much greater exploration of his nuance as a hero. The name Omniverse could be about ideas on how to be a hero when the complications of interdimensional/interuniversal travel comes into play. Would be a different ball game just being the hero of one Universe. But I doubt they'd be interested in anything emotional or psychological when he's breaking off previous strong ties with his long running team to team up with (the hell?) himself and some new guy. The idea of that seems to focus on hijinks rather than making his leadership more solid. It baffles to no end.
That's great though! XD I do hope you'd keep on going with Devlin and Ken muses and the Derailed stuff because it's too awesome to do without. I guess with Kamen Rider they don't do stupid gimmicks so they're more reliable than this series? I dunno lol. XD
Split in two because I'm nothing if not thorough (and long-winded):
I hate saying it, because it makes it sound like there's a One True Way of doing things, but I really prefer the Kamen Rider/Super Sentai/Power Rangers approach to a franchise. Since the '80s, Kamen Rider's been doing it, and Power Rangers started in '99 while it's pretty much been the way Super Sentai has always operated: Each season is a new team entirely. You have a whole new gimmick. Right now, Kamen Rider Fourze is a celebration of space and youth, Power Rangers Samurai is samurai, and Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters is Power Rangers, oddly enough. If you don't like these series, there's always a completely different one you can get into. Fourze too goofy for you? Watch one of the older series, geared toward an older audience, or go back to W or OOO which were slightly more mature while still being light enough for the kiddies. Power Rangers Samurai sucks? There's always RPM. Go-Busters not doing it for you? There's 35 other seasons for you to enjoy.
Choose which gimmick you want: card-based superpowers (all three franchises, once Power Rangers Megaforce airs), evil computer viruses (Power Rangers and now Super Sentai), magic coins (all three), vampires (Kamen Rider), time travel (all three), space (Kamen Rider and Power Rangers). Choose how serious you want it. Do you want a really serious, often dark, show? Kamen Rider Ryuki or Faiz, Choujuu Sentai Liveman. Do you want a really silly one? Kamen Rider Den-O or Fourze, Gekisou Sentai Carranger. You want more of a balance? Well, any Power Rangers really, but particularly RPM, Kamen Rider W or OOO, and probably most Super Sentai too. Do you want a good starting point? Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, Ninja Storm, Dino Thunder, or RPM, Kamen Rider W or OOO and probably Kabuto too, and damn near any Super Sentai really. Want an anniversary? Power Rangers in Space and Megaforce, Kamen Rider Decade and the Let's Go Kamen Riders and Megamax movies, Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger and the Super Hero Wars movie. If you don't like something, you can skip it, and you're not getting lost when you come back. Okay, well, watching Kamen Rider Decade when you really only know a handful of the seasons it's a tribute to will get you lost, but that's different.
These three franchises all want particular audiences--they want new kids, so they'll change things up and try to bring them in. And god help Power Rangers, they at least try. But they also know that they've got a long history of fans, some of whom have grown into parents themselves, so their shows also appeal to the moms and dads. And again, Power Rangers at least tries.
Ben 10 I really think has the potential to be a big franchise like the trio above, and its international popularity certainly shows that. But storywise, it's flailing. The story only ever focuses on Ben and doesn't offer a large enough glimpse into his universe. What happens when Ben is an adult? Are kids still going to want to watch the adventures of college-age Ben? Nobody planned for that. What about his supporting cast? Max has a great backstory and should get his own show from his days as a Plumber. Kevin had a hell of a character arc and is still interesting enough that he could have his own show and it would be amazing. Now, yes, the show is called Ben 10 for a reason. And to be perfectly honest, this is where it flounders. Even Superman and Batman have a larger world that they explore. And they're locked into a specific age unless you want to do something like Batman Beyond where a younger hero takes the reins.
Ben is never locked into a specific age. Originally he was, but they made him grow. And once you do that, there's no turning back. So what they do instead is mentally regress him, send him back in time to meet his younger self, things like that. You can't build a franchise on trying to keep everything in the past, where it was safe. You have to take chances and grow and evolve. And the first seasons of AF and UA did just that, but the fear always took over and they regressed (do you hear me, Samurai?). You've got a lot more room to do that when you've reached 20 or so years and you want to go back to old days. Ben 10 isn't even 10 yet. It's 6. The original Kamen Rider had reached a hiatus by that point, but what had it done? It had produced five strong series featuring seven Kamen Riders (eight if you count Tackle, and I do, so there) in total. After three or four years off the air, they tried a reboot and that didn't even stick. The new series? 2006 was Kabuto, a fight against aliens disguised as humans. Super Sentai? If you use Goranger as the starting point, then you have Taiyou Sentai Sun Vulcan, a sequel to the previous season where a three man (and yes, I do mean man) team against remnants of the previous bad guys. Using Battle Fever J, the 6 year point is Changeman, where the Earth itself grants the power to the military heroes who decided to protect it. Power Rangers? Was exploring the Lost Galaxy, having put a close to the story arc it had been running since the original. New stories, new gimmicks. Ben 10 is stale in comparison.
It's July now, and I still can't articulate how I feel on all of this. How my favorite characters mostly all progressed into this mess. How the story just fell apart at the seams. And then the sense going around that the best thing to do is to scrap everything and go back to Ben 10 original in terms of style and substance.
I guess what I've been trying to get at is that I got into Alien Force because it was a series that appeared to be growing with its fandom and its star. It was slightly darker than the original and significantly more mature. It focused on friendship and family. It made Ben into a leader, while the first series focused on him as a hero. That was the first two seasons. After slipping in season three, Ultimate Alien got back on track by having Ben as THE hero--the one who everyone now was looking to to save the universe. All of the planet, all of the galaxy, all of the universe was looking at him. And I loved watching him struggle, watching him slowly rise under that weight. So going back to basics feels like a massive step backwards in terms of development of story and character.
Devlin and Ken refuse to let me walk away from their side of the fandom, and I still have "Derailed" and its lovely, cracky Den-O elements to play with. But honestly, I just want to play with my Kamen Riders instead now. Even when they screw up a season, it's not the entire franchise that feels destroyed in the wake of it.
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I think when you've been watching or following something for ages it really makes the break off from it more complex and harder. I don't know if I'm going to go through that with the new series and I very well hope not, but this might be another case of my second Naruto.
My sis and I are still discussing why the producers and the big wigs thought a return to the original was going to win people over. I think it just created even more divisions and forging an even smaller audience willing to stay. Hopefully it gets new audiences without falling into the trap of Continuity Lockout? Because even though they're trying to relive the original, they're actually going to keep this as continuation of the previous series. My mind boggles at the kind of people they actually want watching it. It's starting to creepily remind me of the comic book industry. Them and their reboots and redesigns and their gimmicks but no improvement in storytelling.
That's actually what I was desperately hoping for. That they'd actually make it more about a much greater exploration of his nuance as a hero. The name Omniverse could be about ideas on how to be a hero when the complications of interdimensional/interuniversal travel comes into play. Would be a different ball game just being the hero of one Universe. But I doubt they'd be interested in anything emotional or psychological when he's breaking off previous strong ties with his long running team to team up with (the hell?) himself and some new guy. The idea of that seems to focus on hijinks rather than making his leadership more solid. It baffles to no end.
That's great though! XD I do hope you'd keep on going with Devlin and Ken muses and the Derailed stuff because it's too awesome to do without. I guess with Kamen Rider they don't do stupid gimmicks so they're more reliable than this series? I dunno lol. XD
Reply
I hate saying it, because it makes it sound like there's a One True Way of doing things, but I really prefer the Kamen Rider/Super Sentai/Power Rangers approach to a franchise. Since the '80s, Kamen Rider's been doing it, and Power Rangers started in '99 while it's pretty much been the way Super Sentai has always operated: Each season is a new team entirely. You have a whole new gimmick. Right now, Kamen Rider Fourze is a celebration of space and youth, Power Rangers Samurai is samurai, and Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters is Power Rangers, oddly enough. If you don't like these series, there's always a completely different one you can get into. Fourze too goofy for you? Watch one of the older series, geared toward an older audience, or go back to W or OOO which were slightly more mature while still being light enough for the kiddies. Power Rangers Samurai sucks? There's always RPM. Go-Busters not doing it for you? There's 35 other seasons for you to enjoy.
Choose which gimmick you want: card-based superpowers (all three franchises, once Power Rangers Megaforce airs), evil computer viruses (Power Rangers and now Super Sentai), magic coins (all three), vampires (Kamen Rider), time travel (all three), space (Kamen Rider and Power Rangers). Choose how serious you want it. Do you want a really serious, often dark, show? Kamen Rider Ryuki or Faiz, Choujuu Sentai Liveman. Do you want a really silly one? Kamen Rider Den-O or Fourze, Gekisou Sentai Carranger. You want more of a balance? Well, any Power Rangers really, but particularly RPM, Kamen Rider W or OOO, and probably most Super Sentai too. Do you want a good starting point? Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, Ninja Storm, Dino Thunder, or RPM, Kamen Rider W or OOO and probably Kabuto too, and damn near any Super Sentai really. Want an anniversary? Power Rangers in Space and Megaforce, Kamen Rider Decade and the Let's Go Kamen Riders and Megamax movies, Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger and the Super Hero Wars movie. If you don't like something, you can skip it, and you're not getting lost when you come back. Okay, well, watching Kamen Rider Decade when you really only know a handful of the seasons it's a tribute to will get you lost, but that's different.
These three franchises all want particular audiences--they want new kids, so they'll change things up and try to bring them in. And god help Power Rangers, they at least try. But they also know that they've got a long history of fans, some of whom have grown into parents themselves, so their shows also appeal to the moms and dads. And again, Power Rangers at least tries.
Reply
Ben is never locked into a specific age. Originally he was, but they made him grow. And once you do that, there's no turning back. So what they do instead is mentally regress him, send him back in time to meet his younger self, things like that. You can't build a franchise on trying to keep everything in the past, where it was safe. You have to take chances and grow and evolve. And the first seasons of AF and UA did just that, but the fear always took over and they regressed (do you hear me, Samurai?). You've got a lot more room to do that when you've reached 20 or so years and you want to go back to old days. Ben 10 isn't even 10 yet. It's 6. The original Kamen Rider had reached a hiatus by that point, but what had it done? It had produced five strong series featuring seven Kamen Riders (eight if you count Tackle, and I do, so there) in total. After three or four years off the air, they tried a reboot and that didn't even stick. The new series? 2006 was Kabuto, a fight against aliens disguised as humans. Super Sentai? If you use Goranger as the starting point, then you have Taiyou Sentai Sun Vulcan, a sequel to the previous season where a three man (and yes, I do mean man) team against remnants of the previous bad guys. Using Battle Fever J, the 6 year point is Changeman, where the Earth itself grants the power to the military heroes who decided to protect it. Power Rangers? Was exploring the Lost Galaxy, having put a close to the story arc it had been running since the original. New stories, new gimmicks. Ben 10 is stale in comparison.
Reply
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