Chapter Text
In Ben 10 canon, Azmuth notes that the aliens are grouped in menus of 10 for ease of acess. The fandom has decided to call these playlists, at least because to the best of my knowledge there is no canon reference to them being called playlists. The detailing of the aliens will be in groups of ten, and will be done in canon order first, or at least as close to order of unlocking as I can get, then when I get to fan made ones it will be all over the place.
The aliens will often have different names than in canon, if so I will say the canon name in parentheses.
Heart’s Fire (Heatblast)
The very first alien unlocked/summoned by Ben, Heart’s Fire is mostly unchanged from Chaquetrix canon. She’s a bit childlike, and the member of the original ten who most embraces the idea of being a superhero. This, perhaps ironically, actually means that she is more often than not the voice of reason who tries to reign in the ten year old Ben. Mind you, at times she can be the fire to Ben’s gasoline, but the fact that she’s very willing to call out Ben when he’s not acting like a hero means that she’s one of the aliens Gwen can tolerate; for the most part.
Sadly, Heart’s Fire is also a bit of a butt monkey. Whenever the Chaquetrix is being buggy she’s often one of the first to suffer. For instance, she merges with Yara to become Heat-Jaws, a very scary thing as she is exposed to the bottomless hunger of the Ripjaws equivalent. And in the same episode, she had a connection to Heat Bat, which only makes Heat-Jaws less effective as she hears its squeaking and chittering in her mind.
In Omniverse, her human form has the job as a fire safety teacher for kids and adults with a side job as a girl scout leader. She chose these jobs because one of her first actions was to accidentally start a forest fire, and because she wants to help people learn about these things that might save their lives. She does have some annoyance with her scouts because they keep trying to use her fire to roast marshmallows. She does not really get a risqué outfit because, technically, she’s nude and you can’t get more risqué than that. Of course, this is only realized in Omniverse.
Wild-Gal (wildmutt)
The Chaquetrix sample of a Vulpimancer, Wild-Gal is very much worthy of the name. She acts a lot like a dog, and she essentially is unchanged from canon. The most important changes I see are that she can sense supernatural and hidden evils. She can tell when Zs’Skayr is in control of Scream Queen, leading Ghostfreak to try and attack her.
Only real thing to add is that her human life is a dog trainer/worker and her sexy outfit is in the vein of a pet play thing.
Stingwing (Stinkfly)
A loud and proud lepidopteran, Stingwing has an in-your-face attitude and is rude and crude. If you don’t like something about her, then up yours buddy. The only thing that she is actually embarrassed about is her odor, but since Ben says she smells fine she not only falls extremely deep in love with him she also ignores others who badmouth it. Otherwise there’s no change.
In Omniverse her job is nebulous (ie I can’t really think of one) and her outfit is unchanged cause her figure hugs it just right.
Armizon (4-Arms)
The Chaquetrix sample of a Tetramand, Armizon is the physical powerhouse of the first playlist. She is very well named because her personality is overall honorable and quite like that of Wonder woman. Make no mistake she’s still very proud and a blood knight but above all she seeks out fights with honor and with opponents that can actually stand a chance of fighting her on equal terms.
This rarely happens for two primary reasons. The first is that she is not only a female Tetramand (females are always stronger than the males) but she is the most physically perfect/beautiful Tetramand in existence by the standards of her species. This means that unless she intentionally holds back she is strong enough to trounce Vilgax with ease, though admittedly in said beatdown she was enraged beyond measure and Vilgax had no time to react; in a fair fight it would be roughly even and Vilgax would probably win due to his willingness to play dirty/his strategic mind.
The second reason is that she is summoned by Ben when he thinks he needs her. It’s rare that an opponent can pose a true challenge to her; but she fights these foes anyway. This is not because the Chaquetrix makes it impossible for the heroes to disobey as they do have their own free will; it’s just that they are highly inclined to follow along with what Ben says. More often than not if Ben tells them to do something they will do it. If it conflicts with their morals or seems like a bad idea Ben will have to convince them, but overall it’s not the master/slave relationship that many villains think it is or assume it will be when they get the Chaquetrix.
Armizon, like most Tetramands, is violently protective of her family unit. This is of course the other heroes and Ben, Ben’s family, and their allies (rook and Skurd among others). She also has a Tetramand’s sense of justice, which is harsh and unforgiving. It’s played for laughs obviously, like for example the Tetramand punishment for jumping a turnstile is being buried up to your head in the sand. Armizon will even do this to the other aliens.
In Omniverse, Armizon becomes a bodybuilder/gym coach with a personal trainer gig, and her outfit is based on the ultimate alien one, just covering her naughty bits (let’s face it, that ultimate alien outfit would be an extremely sexy outfit on a woman). A big thing in Omniverse would be her relationship with Princess Looma. This will be detailed in the Looma entry. A more minor thing is that Armizon and La Tigresa (rath) become what amounts to besties among the two blood knights.
Crystal Knight (Diamond Head)
One of the original 10, Crystal Knight frames herself as a loyal knight in line with tales of yore. Honoring the code of chivalry, she will always protect the innocent and uphold the law. She also has a tendency to speak in ye olde English, only dropping it when surprised or when it looks like she’ll die. She is actually one of the aliens who is most vocal in her disapproval of Ben’s actions as well as the flirtations of the other aliens. This does not mean she is above these things, it’s just she’s waiting for Ben to come of age and any flirtations take that in mind. She fights primarily with a crystal sword themed after a knights sword, but has all of Diamondhead’s canon powers, even the sword is something she generates/summons.
One of Crystal Knights weaknesses is that she takes her code of honor very seriously, so much so that it can hamper her. In Hunted, Tetrax calls her form sloppy and this angers her enough that it causes all strategy to go out the window. Meanwhile, she absolutely despises the Forever Knights for degrading and defiling the honor of knighthood with their evil deeds. She also has a rocky relationship (pun intended) with Kevin. The first affront was him framing her and the other aliens, and the sins only piled on. By the events of Secret of Gemjutsu (secret of Chromastone) she makes no secret that it’s only the fact that he’s in a relationship with Gwen that stays her blade.
She reappears in Alien Force when Gemjutsu (chromastone’s equivalent, the name comes from Spartan1992) is destroyed. When she reforms, she has the theme of a samurai and after winning against Vilgax she reassures Ben that Gemjutsu lives on in her, and that it’s what Gemjutsu wanted. This is proven almost immediately after, as some quirks of Gemjutsu are revealed to have carried over.
This new Crystal Knight follows the code of Bushido, and her crystal blade is now a katana, though she still slips into ye olde English at times, especially when under duress or being snarky. She also has many, if not all of Gemjutsu’s quirks. For instance, like Gemjutsu, at times she replaces certain words with their Japanese equivalent. One notable example of this is in the secret of Gemjutsu, where after team Tennyson attacks Tetrax for seemingly killing Crystal Knight, its revealed that Crystal Knight is still alive as she starts saying Itai (Japanese for Owie) repeatedly.
As a human she teaches sword fighting at Gemjutsu’s dojo and has a part time job checking the accuracy of medieval recreations and samurai stuff. Her outfit when summoned seems to be not in any way sexy, as it’s just knights armor made of crystal. But when the fight is over she’s suddenly aghast and yelling that no one behold her (slipping deep into ye olde English). When asked what’s wrong she goes on a rant that no one can parse except for Skurd who blushes and averts his eyes. When Ben asks what’s the problem he notes, “She’s nude dude!”
One last thing; Crystal Knight and Tetrax become a couple post omniverse. At first they don’t like each other due to Hunted (and later secret of Gemjutsu) but can tolerate each other if need be. Eventually this relationship morphs into a true romance.
XLR8
One of the names that is too good to pass up, XLR8 is a badass biker chick with a need for speed. Since the original ten are pretty well covered by Chaquetrix canon, I don’t really have much to add for her. In Omniverse she’s a courier and her outfit is unchanged (she’s got a full figure).
Cerebra (Grey Matter)
Cerebra is the Galvan sample, and out of the original ten aliens she’s the one most likely to defy Ben. The others might question him or persuade him to do something else; but Cerebra almost never listens to him. When A Small Problem rolls around and she sees Bens devotion to saving her she warms up to him. She still rarely follows his orders, but that’s because she’s a Galvan and sees herself as smarter than Ben. And while technically true she perhaps ironically misunderstands situations due to her focus on pure logic and the fact that her personality (and voice) is basically that of Peridot from Steven Universe. It takes the people skills of Ben or one of the other heroines to work at maximum effectiveness.
In Omniverse, not only is she a scientist who founds a lab that most of the other science type heroes work at, but she and Azmuth are actually dating. You see, Cerebra is almost identical to Azmuths old girlfriend Zenith; in looks and personality. Since Azmuth can’t act perverted to a love interest he doesn’t give an intentionally sexy outfit (it’s the original series outfit) but her figure is that of a barbie doll. Theres actually a b-plot in a few episode/an arc where Azmuth courts Cerebra with help from Skurd, who goes along out of a morbid curiosity/desire to see if Azmuth can actually have a true relationship.
Ultra-T
A female version of Upgrade, like in Chaquetrix canon her personality is that of an Alexa. Honestly not much else different about her besides one thing; namely in Omniverse Malware fights her once and the behavior of the mutant galvanic mechamorph is so full of lust that even Ben can tell he intends something vile. So he makes sure she never confronts him.
In Omniverse she serves as Cerebra’s personal assistant and there’s no change in outfit from canon (again, technically nude).
Yara (Ripjaws)
On her name, while the name is usually unchanged I felt that Ripjaws didn’t fit the whole theme I have going for alien names. IE unless the name is sufficiently cool/applicable for a female hero I would change it. So instead of Ripjaws, she’s call Yara. The name comes from a mermaid that is known to eat men (or at least evolved from a carnivorous fish man), and it was the only one I could really find. Plus the name sounds good.
Unlike Chaquetrix canon, Yara is not under delusions of beauty or thinks she’s a Disney princess. Instead, she’s inspired by Scripanon’s version of Ripjaws in their own Chaquetrix fiction. Namely she’s obsessed with food and loves to eat meat. I don’t have much else about her besides her omniverse status; namely as a human she’s a food critic and her outfit when summoned is basically a thong bikini.
If I think of anything else (for any alien) I will put it in a future chapter.
Scream Queen (Ghostfreak)
The sample of an Ectonurite from the Anur Galaxy, because there are so many planets made in canon and fanon that it’s better to me as a galaxy. Visually Scream Queen is identical to how Ghostfreak looks like in Chaquetrix canon, or rather how Zs’Skayr looks as Ghostfreak. This is because I find her facial expressions hysterical and while I respect and understand Trixthealien’s decision for the real ghost lady to look like Ghostfreak as a transformation; the facial features and how funny they are is something I can’t pass up.
Her powers are the same as in canon, including having the skin suit that allows Ghostfreak to be in the light with no real trouble (and makes her look very human like), and the mind breaking attack showing off what she really looks like is called Flashing. A lot of comedy will be drawn from the fact that its flashing in the same way as we humans know it (and that Zs’Skayr is basically a nudist); but it’s her most powerful and terrifying move. When she used it on Zombimbo, the zombie clown was scared to death so bad that it not only took her five or six years to reform but also gave her a permanent and crippling fear of ghosts. When she used it on Vilgax he only flinched, but the fact that it only caused him to flinch is more a sign of just how much of a badass he is.
Scream Queen has a very weird and interesting story arc, as from the very start there’s something off about Scream Queen. Like all the aliens she loves Ben, but her love is much closer to a yandere than anything healthy; being violently protective of Ben. In Hunted there’s a moment where her eyes shift to give Ben and Gwen what she thinks is a reassuring look. In Last Laugh Zs’Skayr actually takes control of Scream Queen, though none know it. The only hint that Scream Queen is not really herself is the line, “Ok, that kinda even freaked me out.” This line is said when Zombimbo explodes into confetti and like in Ben 10 canon its actually the Ectonurite King speaking.
Season 2’s equivalent really ramps up the foreshadowing, as every episode she’s in has a scene or two where she acts weird, where her yandere tendencies act up, or she hears a dark whispering that’s telling her to do bad things. When the others start picking up on this, they are worried. Notably Scream Queen is very afraid of this, as to her it’s like she’s blacking out randomly and starting to go crazy. Indeed, even in the omnitrix realm where the transformations live (which is not a prison but more a house for all the aliens) Scream Queen is slipping, and Ben has nightmares about Scream Queen tormenting or attacking the others are actually happening, albeit filtered through the typical nonsense of dreams. What he doesn’t see is the aftermath; namely after Scream Queen tries to attack the others she immediately breaks out of it and flees sobbing and yelling apologies.
This all comes to a head in Scream Queen Splits (ghostfreaked out); where Zs’Skayr takes full control and eventually separates from Scream Queen, confronting both Scream Queen and Ben. I see Scream Queen saying something to the effect of Ben’s line in canon line about how Ghostfreak can’t be him because Ben is Ghostfreak. Zs’Skayr gleefully taunts the two about how an ectonurites DNA contains their consciousness and that even the Chaquetrix’s attempted defense of mixing the DNA to make each instance it summons different enough to not be the same being was a futile measure (basically Scream Queen isn’t truly Zs’Skayr but his daughter).
Zs’Skayr then says he will remove the final insult, and he tears off the human looking skin to reveal a form identical to his canon look. But Zs’Skayr roars and says that while he was always going to kill them both now he’s gonna make them suffer for the insult. Because it turns out that he was genderbent (the first of many villains to suffer that fate). He manages to tear Scream Queen to pieces right in front of Ben and the only reason the kid doesn’t die is that Zs’Skayr made himself vulnerable to even just glancing light. Of course, Scream Queen is the hero of the ep, outright saying to both Ben and Zs’Skayr that it’s like Ghostfreak (as the heroes often call Zs’Skayr) said, an ectonurites consciousness exists even in a few strands of DNA. Scream Queen just had to reassemble the pieces Ghostfreak left her in.
Scream Queen then fights her father and is the one to drag him into the light. Zs’Skayr tries to coerce her by claiming they could rule the universe with the Chaquetrix but she states she doesn’t want to rule nor does she really care about humans other than Ben. Zs’Skayr tries to play to her survival instinct but she notes the light will only destroy him because she still has the suit. Lastly Zs’Skayr tries playing the old “You wouldn’t kill your father” card but Scream Queen notes that would have been a lot more effective if the first action he took after insulting her wasn't to tear her to shreds. The intent of killing way there and were it not for his own words about ectonurite survivability and her own love for Ben she’d be dead. Zs’Skayr dies screaming, although it sadly is not the last of Ghostfreak.
Side note; When Skurd learns of Ben’s history with Zs’Skayr in Alien Force, he insults the ectonurite by lampshading how much more dangerous he could have been if he kept the second skin, citing the vulnerability to light being nullified and the possibility of framing Scream Queen for his own bad deeds (which was actually my original idea for Zs’Skayr’s gender Bending).
While Zs’Skayr is seemingly destroyed, Scream Queen is used less and less, which she understands. It really doesn’t help that she occasionally hears her father’s voice urging her to do things. Scream Queen desperately hopes that this is trauma, especially given how this time the voice isn’t borderline mind controlling. But she’s wrong, and when Zs’Skayr returns Scream Queen delivers some victories for the heroes but is constantly hearing the voice of her father, and on more than one occasion became just his puppet. When Zs’Skayr is finally defeated for good (or at least until alien force) Ben still never uses Scream Queen again, and again she agrees because she is afraid of hurting the others should she become her father’s puppet.
For the entirety of Alien Force and Ultimate Alien Scream Queen is absent; though the heroes from the original series note that they talk to her and occasionally ask Ben to give her a chance, noting that she’s too afraid to make the first move. She also develops a friendship with Fulgora (amphibian) due to both having their genetic donor make them do horrible things. The biggest mention of Scream Queen in this period is during the events of Ghost Town, where Kevin suggests using the fact that the enslaved vilgaxians look identical to Scream Queen to have her sneak in. This is shot down, as while Ben does have access to her Zs’Skayr/Ghostfreak could easily detect her given the shared DNA between him and his daughter, as well as the fact that Scream Queen can be influenced/mind controlled by Zs’Skayr.
When all the used/hard unlocked forms are given freedom in Omniverse, so is Scream Queen. She becomes a horror host in vein of Elvira but intentionally stays away from Ben. The only contact they have was a letter from Scream Queen giving him her human identity and hoping that they could be friends again. Ben is still scared of her, to the point that when he sees her on TV he has a mini panic attack.
She debuts in omniverse in the episode Whatever Happened to Scream Queen (Mystery Incorporeal) where it starts out with the aforementioned panic attack happens. The plot of the episode is admittedly majorly changed, the new Tennyson team still goes to the college, but while there Scream Queen is also there with Fulgora (whose job is primarily Scream Queens assistant as well as a part time electrician) because Scream Queen is getting an honorary degree. She spit takes upon seeing Ben and hides for most of the episode while Fulgora tells her to make the move.
When Darkstar gets the spell to become Michael Morningstar again and goes on a rampage, the Chaquetrix forces Ben to summon Scream Queen, who is ecstatic and hugs Ben, saving that professor like in canon and saying Ben doesn’t have to be afraid of her anymore. She gives a horror host style intro to Michael Morningstar, calling him a modern day Icarus and noting he was living the American dream, and when the arrogant jerk notes that the spell has given him enough power to drain even the heroes Ben summons, she replies that he might be right, but the thing is, mana is life energy. Scream Queen is a ghost, and she literally has none to absorb, then she possesses him and gives him a humiliating beat-down. This will be a drabble because it’s my absolute favorite canon Ghostfreak moment.
Unlike every other outfit, hers in Omniverse is actually not designed to be tantalizing first and foremost. It’s still sexy, being the chains from Omniverse that link to the heart symbol and covering her naughty bits. But they are functional first and foremost, as should she ever fall under Zs’Skayr’s influence the chains will encircle and imprison her until its gone.