Are the Forever Knights Cool Again?

The war of a thousand lifetimes!

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Intro/ Outro Music: Noxi (NoxiMation)

TIMECODES:
0:00 - Introduction
2:15 - Episode Breakdown
27:45 - The Ratings
31:30 - Final Thoughts

_______HOW MY BREAKDOWNS WORK:

THE REVIEW
I watch each episode with my own commentary, often pausing the scenes to get my words out without having to talk over the episode, and also to point out and analyze the show's art and animation. I have seen each episode already growing up, so these reviews are to compare and contrast the five categories listed below.

PLOT (Scaled from 1 to 5 Points)
The foundation of the episode. Uniqueness and overused tropes are taken into account, but it is also judged on how well it tells the story of the episode. An episode can score a 5 even with a basic/ cliche plotline as long as it has good pacing, worthy use of its tropes, and feels well-polished. An episode can lose points due to plotholes, uneven storytelling, and relying too heavily on cliches to do the work for it.

CHARACTERIZATION (Scaled from 1 to 5 Points)
How well the characters are written. Do they feel like themselves compared to the grand narrative of the franchise? Are the supporting or one-off characters interesting, or pure plot devices? Did the humor land? Did the actions and character motivations make sense?

VISUALS (Scaled from 1 to 5 Points)
Basically, everything that happens on-screen. Character Design. Animation. Backgrounds. Creative mechanics and solutions. If there is CGI or digital effects added, how well do they blend into the show, and were they used as an enhancement, or a crutch?

IMPORTANCE (Scaled from 1 to 5 Points)
This includes, but is not strictly based on, how important the episodes are to the current story arc (if there is one) or the general narrative of the Ben 10 Franchise. Points can also be awarded for how impactful the episode was, or how favored/ important it is to the general Ben 10 fanbase. I ask myself, "If I skipped this, would I be missing out on the 'Ben 10 Experience?' "

ENTERTAINMENT (Scaled from 1 to 5)
Pretty much the most important part of developing a tv show. You can be perfect in all four of the previous categories, but the episode can still be boring. On the flip side, the episode can be absolute garbage, but still an enjoyable watch. How likely would you be to put this episode on if you were in the mood to watch Ben 10?

[DigiWarriorCallum]

It always bothered me that they never acknowledged Pierce dying here. Imagine if Ben went into that fight at the end with the mindset of doing it for Pierce and any of the other aliens the Knights murdered

[christophermitchell]

25:12 While I wouldn't call most of the Omnitrixes weapons, the Ultimatrix is the exception. It was designed for power, its forms are created through war simulations, and we know that it caused the sentient ultimates to suffer. The omnitrix was designed to create peaceful understanding and Ben uses it as a tool to do good, he's proven multiple times he's a hero without powers, but the Ultimatrix was created for combat.

[SilverHyozanryu]

"Turn into way big, that'd be hilarious"
That shit cracked me up good.

[frostythesharkpup]

In the duel scene, Kevin was basically the whole fanbase: "Dude, go for Way Big, that would be hilarious"


Yes Kevin, it would be hilarious

[auditect]

Kevin: Did Pierce just die?
Ben: You know, it was really unclear.

[zaxreg]

Pierce's death would've been much more impactful if they showed any sort of consequences for it, have Manny and Helen lose it again like when they were introduced and have max feel like he failed to keep a kid under his care safe, anything other than just never acknowledging it

[StanHanrahan]

The knights used to always confuse me, their intentions or agenda was never really clear to me. All i could understand watching them as a kid is that they where in the business of scavenging alien tech, and often used as filler villains. I'm glad they got a more important arc in UAF. Always good to see another great breakdown! also how did i not notice mr Baumann was in UAF :0

[theamazingspooderman]

15:32 when he said "very small thing" and zoomed into Gwen 💀

also I think what "honourable" meant for Ben was to not choose an insta win alien like Way Big and keep it more grounded and fair

[HiperPivociarz]

Argit is growing bigger and bigger with each subsequent appearance! If we don't do anything, soon he'll be kaiju sized.

[Tinkatube]

Should be said, the "Wielder of the most powerful weapon" line is accurate because Albedo's Ultimatrix is actually a weapon. Or at least, was modified INTO a weapon by Albedo. Whatever research purpose it had before Albedo installed the energy core into it, it's now a weapon: the most powerful weapon in the universe.

[nikewall]

For me, I always saw Ben threatening the Forever Knights as him transitioning into Ben 10, 000, the one who took out Vilgax and feels he doesn’t have time for family or friends anymore. Would have been interesting to see him slowly turn into that Ben.

[Jack-symr]

They really should’ve had Driscoll in armor that looked like his classic series Forever King, it took me years to realize they were the same character

[calvinmatthews]

Ben's threat to Driscoll was legendary man! Ben tells him some of his greatest feats with such an imposing demeanor plus it doesn't come off as braggy or condescending, he's just giving straight facts. Truly one of the most iconic moments in the franchise!

[nateds]

Seeing Ben just straight up threaten to murder the leader of the forever knights if he doesn't stop his alien extermination was spine chilling as a kid and still awesome now. It really made me realize how easily Ben could just waste his enemies if he wasn't a good person.

[christianparrish]

Imagine in Driscoll's mind when he saw Upchuck again, he's thinking about two things. One, oh no, not again! And two, why does he look different?

[brucesimmons]

I have to admit, this arc fully redeemed the Forever Knights for me. Not a fan of them in the original series and certainly not UAF, but here they finally got interesting.

[theredgaruda]

The scene where Ben threatened Driscoll shows how intense this show was at times.

[drangcbex]

I kinda love the idea of 2 Baumann's just cause I can see the conversation they'd have like
OV Baumann - "Ugh Tennyson was in again today...."
AF Baumann - "Oh Benjamin, How is he? We should invite him and Max over for dinner."

[hert]

Pierce's felt should've been acknowledged by the trio imo, felt so random to kill off one of your characters without them at least being noticed by your characters. Also, liked the scene of Ben threatening Driscoll and the Knights, honestly it makes sense for Ben to be pissed off

[WebofSpeedForceTS-FU]

Let's be honests: this is the third most serious moment of the character. First time was when he almost killed Kevin 11K, then when he was willing to do it in Ultimate Kevin arc, and finally, here he establishes that, despite he is not used to take a life, he is willing to do it if he looks it necessarily, showing how compromised he is to the cause of protecting others.