Sparklypoo villainy: "All That Glitters"
A young woman knocks frantically on the door to a mansion, desperately trying to see someone inside. But as the doors open, a mouth comes for her. Not much longer after, a group of teens sees a zombie walking toward them.
Meanwhile, in another part of town, Team 10 has stopped for a break. Ben's obsessively watching Grandpa Max's last holodisk, and Gwen and Kevin are having relationship issues. When Kevin suggests to Ben that they fight some aliens, Ben gets the idea to use Kevin's badge to track down the other Plumbers' badges around...and thus, track the other Plumbers' kids. But as they hit the road to search for the nearest Plumber, a girl is staggering on the highway, walking into the traffic and causing a massive accident. But while Team 10 is busy trying to rescue the drivers and hold the bridge together, the girl is still wandering into danger, prompting a newcomer to fly in and save the day.
The golden hero is Mike Morningstar, a Plumber's kid who's heard of Ben, is thrilled to team up, impresses Gwen, and pisses off Kevin right at the onset (guess why). He's investigating some strange happenings to the girls in his school, and he invites the team to his mansion to show off his dad's Plumber equipment. But when Ben points out a bizarre power spike occuring during a sudden brownout, they decide to investigate the power plant. But when they get there, they find some odd zombie girls absorbing the energy. During the fight, Gwen becomes unusually weak and Kevin gets more suspicious. While Gwen and Morningstar head out for dinner, Kevin drags Ben back to the mansion to investigate. But when they get there, the girl from earlier, Trina, is desperately looking for Morningstar, asking them where he is and insisting she "needs" him. Kevin spots an odd star-shaped tattoo on her arm--tattoos that he saw on the zombies, and now that he thinks about it, Gwen's suddenly wearing her sleeves lower than usual. This makes Ben realize there must be a connection between Trina's weakness on the highway and Gwen's weakness in the battle. But since he's still not entirely convinced, Kevin must prove to him that Gwen is in danger before they're too late.
Morningstar marks the first villainous Plumber's kid we've met. He starts out as your typical Mary Sue: rich, connected, and gorgeous with blond hair, blue eyes, and more sparkles to him than Major Armstrong. In fact, the gold glitter is actually a side effect of his energy powers, making him sound even more suited for House Sparklypoo. However, it's subverted when it proves that Kevin is the only one immune to his glitter and he realizes that it's all a play to get girls attracted to him, and then steal their energy--furthermore, all of that beauty comes from the energy he's stolen from girls, further subverting the trope.
Kevin shows another side to himself, proving that Ben's not the only one who can follow the patterns of weirdness and solve the mystery. It helps that he is incredibly stubborn and sticks to his convictions even when Ben says he's acting crazy and jealous. Ben also admits the faith he has in him now, following "Kevin's Big Score," remarking that breaking into Morningstar's place to spy on him is something "the old Kevin would do." His stubbornness does come with a downside, however, as it's what got him into this whole mess to start with--getting in a fight with Gwen is what made her try to make him jealous by going out with Morningstar.
The shipping, of course, plays a major role in this because the whole episode essentially acts as a vehicle for the Kevin/Gwen ship. It's why this episode is near the bottom of my list; the rest of the plot is fairly entertaining, showing that Team 10 will not be able to trust every half-alien kid they meet, as well as giving Kevin a little more development and some contrast between him and Morningstar to show how far along he's come. However, it crams the ship down your throat in the beginning, and the UST is so thick you wonder why they haven't bonked each other silly yet. But seeing how Kevin is trying his hardest to help Gwen near the end and how he insists that his suspicion of Morningstar is only incidentally connected to the love triangle with Gwen is certainly a redeeming feature, even if it relies too heavily on making Ben completely clueless and rather dangerously over-focused on the goal to build a team.
Finally, Morningstar's actions toward the girls edges creepily on rape territory. The way Kevin mentions how Gwen seemed to be trying to hide her tattoos is reminiscent of the way abuse victims may try to cover their bruises, and the desperation of Lucy and Trina shows a degree of codependence that allows Morningstar to keep preying on them. The fact that he wanted to keep Gwen all alone in an undisclosed location and then Kevin and Ben find her lying on the ground with Morningstar standing over her, having taken something from her in his quest for power... Overall, it made me glad to see the girls get back.
Ben's new alien this episode was Chromastone, who proves quickly that he's not just a cheap clone of Diamondhead. His ability to absorb, conduct, and redirect energy makes him impervious to weapons fire or any other kind of non-physical attack. And, as I neglected to mention Jetray in my review of "Everybody Talks About the Weather," I'll cover him now: looking like a flying stingray, he is super-fast and shoots green lasers out of his tail and his eyes. Because of these abilities, Jetray will prove to be Ben's most versatile and thus most frequently used alien form.
Kevin mentions offhand that he did learn something in the Null Void--in particular, the ability to pick locks using his powers. It's kind of unclear just what he does, seeing as this episode cements for the rest of the series that he doesn't fully absorb the matter he touches--he only forms a layer of it over his body, depending on how much he has on hand and how strong ("Plumber's Helpers" with the change arming only his hand and not well), and that it can be blasted off his body with sufficient force (in this episode and very often throughout the season thusfar). He may be able to do this by somehow extending the shield to whatever he's touching, a technique seen in "Plumber's Helpers" later.
And on the subject of comparisons to future episodes, this brings up another interesting parallel to "Plumber's Helpers." Like Manny and Helen, Morningstar tracks aliens with salvaged technology, only his is from his father, sleeker and presumably up to date (as Manny and Helen had a mark 1 Null Void projector), and he actually knows how to use it. Furthermore, as Morningstar realizes that something about Gwen's energy is different and makes him stronger than ever, we have yet another hint about her Anodite heritage--as an immature Anodite, it seems likely that she'd have far more mana than a human would because Anodites are energy beings to begin with. It's another hint that she's different, but it's a subtle one that you wouldn't get the full meaning of until you see "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"
"All that Glitters" was written by Bob Goodman. Mike Morningstar was voiced by Wil Wheaton, and the zombie girls Lucy and Trina were voiced by Kim Mai Guest and Kamali Minter respectively.
Meanwhile, in another part of town, Team 10 has stopped for a break. Ben's obsessively watching Grandpa Max's last holodisk, and Gwen and Kevin are having relationship issues. When Kevin suggests to Ben that they fight some aliens, Ben gets the idea to use Kevin's badge to track down the other Plumbers' badges around...and thus, track the other Plumbers' kids. But as they hit the road to search for the nearest Plumber, a girl is staggering on the highway, walking into the traffic and causing a massive accident. But while Team 10 is busy trying to rescue the drivers and hold the bridge together, the girl is still wandering into danger, prompting a newcomer to fly in and save the day.
The golden hero is Mike Morningstar, a Plumber's kid who's heard of Ben, is thrilled to team up, impresses Gwen, and pisses off Kevin right at the onset (guess why). He's investigating some strange happenings to the girls in his school, and he invites the team to his mansion to show off his dad's Plumber equipment. But when Ben points out a bizarre power spike occuring during a sudden brownout, they decide to investigate the power plant. But when they get there, they find some odd zombie girls absorbing the energy. During the fight, Gwen becomes unusually weak and Kevin gets more suspicious. While Gwen and Morningstar head out for dinner, Kevin drags Ben back to the mansion to investigate. But when they get there, the girl from earlier, Trina, is desperately looking for Morningstar, asking them where he is and insisting she "needs" him. Kevin spots an odd star-shaped tattoo on her arm--tattoos that he saw on the zombies, and now that he thinks about it, Gwen's suddenly wearing her sleeves lower than usual. This makes Ben realize there must be a connection between Trina's weakness on the highway and Gwen's weakness in the battle. But since he's still not entirely convinced, Kevin must prove to him that Gwen is in danger before they're too late.
Morningstar marks the first villainous Plumber's kid we've met. He starts out as your typical Mary Sue: rich, connected, and gorgeous with blond hair, blue eyes, and more sparkles to him than Major Armstrong. In fact, the gold glitter is actually a side effect of his energy powers, making him sound even more suited for House Sparklypoo. However, it's subverted when it proves that Kevin is the only one immune to his glitter and he realizes that it's all a play to get girls attracted to him, and then steal their energy--furthermore, all of that beauty comes from the energy he's stolen from girls, further subverting the trope.
Kevin shows another side to himself, proving that Ben's not the only one who can follow the patterns of weirdness and solve the mystery. It helps that he is incredibly stubborn and sticks to his convictions even when Ben says he's acting crazy and jealous. Ben also admits the faith he has in him now, following "Kevin's Big Score," remarking that breaking into Morningstar's place to spy on him is something "the old Kevin would do." His stubbornness does come with a downside, however, as it's what got him into this whole mess to start with--getting in a fight with Gwen is what made her try to make him jealous by going out with Morningstar.
The shipping, of course, plays a major role in this because the whole episode essentially acts as a vehicle for the Kevin/Gwen ship. It's why this episode is near the bottom of my list; the rest of the plot is fairly entertaining, showing that Team 10 will not be able to trust every half-alien kid they meet, as well as giving Kevin a little more development and some contrast between him and Morningstar to show how far along he's come. However, it crams the ship down your throat in the beginning, and the UST is so thick you wonder why they haven't bonked each other silly yet. But seeing how Kevin is trying his hardest to help Gwen near the end and how he insists that his suspicion of Morningstar is only incidentally connected to the love triangle with Gwen is certainly a redeeming feature, even if it relies too heavily on making Ben completely clueless and rather dangerously over-focused on the goal to build a team.
Finally, Morningstar's actions toward the girls edges creepily on rape territory. The way Kevin mentions how Gwen seemed to be trying to hide her tattoos is reminiscent of the way abuse victims may try to cover their bruises, and the desperation of Lucy and Trina shows a degree of codependence that allows Morningstar to keep preying on them. The fact that he wanted to keep Gwen all alone in an undisclosed location and then Kevin and Ben find her lying on the ground with Morningstar standing over her, having taken something from her in his quest for power... Overall, it made me glad to see the girls get back.
Ben's new alien this episode was Chromastone, who proves quickly that he's not just a cheap clone of Diamondhead. His ability to absorb, conduct, and redirect energy makes him impervious to weapons fire or any other kind of non-physical attack. And, as I neglected to mention Jetray in my review of "Everybody Talks About the Weather," I'll cover him now: looking like a flying stingray, he is super-fast and shoots green lasers out of his tail and his eyes. Because of these abilities, Jetray will prove to be Ben's most versatile and thus most frequently used alien form.
Kevin mentions offhand that he did learn something in the Null Void--in particular, the ability to pick locks using his powers. It's kind of unclear just what he does, seeing as this episode cements for the rest of the series that he doesn't fully absorb the matter he touches--he only forms a layer of it over his body, depending on how much he has on hand and how strong ("Plumber's Helpers" with the change arming only his hand and not well), and that it can be blasted off his body with sufficient force (in this episode and very often throughout the season thusfar). He may be able to do this by somehow extending the shield to whatever he's touching, a technique seen in "Plumber's Helpers" later.
And on the subject of comparisons to future episodes, this brings up another interesting parallel to "Plumber's Helpers." Like Manny and Helen, Morningstar tracks aliens with salvaged technology, only his is from his father, sleeker and presumably up to date (as Manny and Helen had a mark 1 Null Void projector), and he actually knows how to use it. Furthermore, as Morningstar realizes that something about Gwen's energy is different and makes him stronger than ever, we have yet another hint about her Anodite heritage--as an immature Anodite, it seems likely that she'd have far more mana than a human would because Anodites are energy beings to begin with. It's another hint that she's different, but it's a subtle one that you wouldn't get the full meaning of until you see "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"
"All that Glitters" was written by Bob Goodman. Mike Morningstar was voiced by Wil Wheaton, and the zombie girls Lucy and Trina were voiced by Kim Mai Guest and Kamali Minter respectively.