Tu Shanshu App

[plumberson]

Player Information:
Name: Boots
Age: Still old.
Contact: baekhesten (AIM)
Game Cast: Dean Winchester

Character Information:
Name: Ben Tennyson
Canon: Ben 10: Alien Force
Canon Point: Post-episode 4, after Gwen and Ben have gotten Kevin back to normal.
Age: 15
Reference: Look at that adorable baby face.

Setting: Ben 10 is set in a world that seems largely normal to the people living in it. If you don't already know aliens exist, you'll probably live most of your life continuing to believe aliens don't exist. (For the record, aliens exist. Lots of them. Lots of them are also on Earth.) For those who do know that aliens exist, there are a few key people and phrases to know:

Vilgax: The big, bad, creepy alien who dominates the first series of Ben 10. He wants to get his hands on the Omnitrix (more on that in a moment) so he can break it down, figure out how it works, make more of them, and ultimately create a massive alien army with which he plans on taking over the universe. As evil plans go, it's pretty cliche, but that's fine, because Vilgax is a grade-a jackass. He kidnaps Ben (and in an alternate reality, Gwen), threatens to kill a number of people, successfully does, manipulates children, tortures children, and seems to take a not insignificant measure of pleasure in inflicting pain. (Did we mention this is a kid's show?) He's finally nullified, but the ghost of the things he does never really go away.

The Plumbers: An intergalactic police force (kind of like the Men in Black). Their ranks are smaller now than they used to be, but their name still seems to carry some clout. Ben's grandfather, Max, himself a retired plumber, is able to use his status to get himself and the kids out of a number of pinches. And the weaponry he's gathered over the years is nothing short of impressive--you kind of have to wonder why they abandoned such important and dangerous weapons like the Null-Void projector underneath Mount Rushmore, though. Sometimes the Plumbers aren't the brightest crayons in the box--as evidenced when one plumber in particular screws up a covert mission by shouting. For a supposedly experienced character, he messes up pretty badly--and gets himself killed in the process. Good job, intergalactic police force! You're all idiots!

Highbreeds and DNAliens Some of the major antagonists of Alien Force, initially little is known about them except that they sell alien tech to humans to fund their own technological advancements and that they use these advancements to try and dramatically cool the Earth (theoretically, they're trying to create another ice age) and they cannot survive for long in high temperatures. In truth, they are a species on the edge of extinction desperately trying to survive (they're still assholes, though), but at this point, Ben and crew aren't aware of that fact.

The Omnitrix: At Ben's canon point, he doesn't know the purpose of the Omnitrix. That's good, because it's purpose is stupid. It was created so people could wear it, turn into other races, and as a result...stop being dicks to each other? I don't know about you, but if I'm an ice alien who hates a different kind of ice alien and I suddenly develop the ability to transform into a fire alien...someone's gonna get melted and that someone's not me. (We should also mention that the secondary purpose of the Omnitrix is to get the creator's girlfriend to come back to him, proving that even aliens can be Nice Guys, but that's neither here nor there.) Once the Omnitrix has chosen a user, it stays with that user, going so far as to partially bioconnect (it can be taken off, but it's painful and the user is definitely going to lose some skin in the process. For faster removal, simply chop off the limb to which it's attached!) As far as Ben knows, the Omnitrix is a really cool alien watch he found one day that lets him transform into a whole bunch of aliens and use their specific abilities (for about 10 minutes), which leads us to:

Ben's Aliens: In the first series, Ben initially has access to 10 aliens. He unlocks a few more over the course of the series and accidentally creates a number of hybrids when he breaks the watch. By Alien Force, he's unlocked several more. Over the course of the various series, he unlocks a total of 68 aliens. Going into detail on all of them would take far too long; fortunately, Ben has a few favorites he goes to time and again, so we'll just go over a couple of those.

Fourarms: Fourarms has four arms. 10 year old Ben was not super clever with the names. He's a huge (7-feet, at least), red skinned alien who appears to have enhanced strength (alas, not an enhanced intellect). The race as a whole appears to place great emphasis on feats of strength. Ben seems to enjoy using Fourarms because unlike Ben, Fourarms can throw his weight around and people pay attention.
Heatblast: Heatblast is on fire. All the time. Unless he's sick, in which case he turns to ice and instead of setting thing on fire, he freezes them solid. He has great control of his flames and only sets things on fire when he means to. He can also use his flames to fly or levitate pieces of rock that he uses like a hoverboard.
Stinkfly: Stinkfly flies. And stinks. Ben has a lot of fun with this one when he's younger, using Stinkfly for a number of pranks. The four eyestalks mean he has a great range of vision, his wings allow him to fly very fast, and he can spit a nasty, sticky gunk to slow people down if he's chasing them. But then there's the stink, so it's not exactly stealthy, and his wings don't work if he gets wet. There's a downside to everything.
Big Chill: Big Chill breathes ice, uses his wings to fly, and can become incorporeal for an indefinite period. ...Big Chill is also capable of eating metal and reproducing via parthenogenesis so yes, Ben 10 is a kid's show with canon mpreg. Chew on that for a while.
Echo Echo: Echo Echo is a very small alien (maybe 2 feet tall or so) capable of splitting himself into multiple copies. This is great, because it means he can spread out and cover more ground. On the downside, when the copies merge back together, the final merged version suffers whatever effects the copies have suffered (notably, when they re-merge in an early usage, one copy is asleep and accordingly when Ben transforms back into himself, he's slightly groggy. It's safe to assume the effect is cumulative.) Echo Echo can also create soundwaves that it can control, even using them to direct small objects through the air.

Also noteworthy is Ghostfreak, who retains his consciousness across every fiber of his being--which includes DNA coding. He was able to separate from Ben and later attempted to possess him in order to avoid the damaging effects of sunlight, but failed. He tries to darken the earth so he can safely live there a handful of times before he's finally killed (and whoo, what a death. Flying an alien damaged by sunlight right by the sun? Brutal.).

We also have such groups as the Galactic Enforcers who are a pretty obvious riff on the Justice League (and who only show up in a couple episodes just long enough to screw things up) and the Forever Knights, a group of alien tech researchers complete with shadowy pasts, silly accents, and an even sillier uniform. Unlike the Galactic Enforcers, the Forever Knights are actually somewhat of a threat to Ben and crew, but serve mostly as filler at this Ben's canon point. Like the Galactic Enforcers, the Forever Knights generally see themselves as the "good guys." Whether or not they're right is open to question.

Personality: Ben is a brash, foolhardy, impulsive, not too bright, asshole of a child.

Wait, wait, no. Hang on. Ben is brash, foolhardy, and impulsive. A chunk of this is a function of being a teenaged boy with literal cosmic power in his hands. Being able to turn into so many aliens has given him a not entirely undeserved sense of invincibility. Small wonder that he often leaps before he looks. He also does it because he's protective of the people around him. Oh, sure, he fights with his cousin constantly and even argues with his beloved grandfather, but the second it looks like Gwen is in serious danger, he drops everything and surrenders. He'll throw himself into terrible situations if he means he can get somebody else out of it (bonus points if they love him more for doing it. He does love recognition and adoration. His need to be popular can drag him down at times.)

As for being not too bright, well, that depends on what you call bright. See, Ben is great at adapting to unusual circumstances. He masters the Omnitrix prototype over the course of a single summer (though to be fair, he zeroes it out and can't remember what he did to unlock it in the first place). He figures out how to use wildly alien bodies to their best advantages within hours of unlocking them. Several times in canon he's shown drawing figures he's only seen once (and often then at a glance). So he's a C-student in school. So what? Kid is bad at book learning, sure, but he's no dummy.

And as for being an asshole, well, yeah. He's a bit of a dick. Ben's temper gets away from him sometimes, and the more stress he's under, the more likely it is to get away from him. He likes to cover his fear under a veneer of bravado, which doesn't work too well when that bravado pushes away the people he cares about--the same people who help him not be afraid. Likewise, he tends to get aggressive when he's worried about people, and when the people he loves make choices that hurt themselves (or other people he loves), he gets downright catty. It's not nice and he's not proud of it, but at least he's aware of what he's doing. Sometimes. He can also be selfish and forgetful (notably when he forgot about his grandfather's birthday in favor of other things he considered more important.) but he's also deeply contrite when confronted with these things.

But it's not all bad. Ben is also a charismatic kid. He makes friends easily and loves to joke and play pranks. He's always interested in the latest gadgets and alien tech is basically the coolest thing ever, in his book. He's also not afraid to show his feelings and he's not afraid to show affection--and boy, does Ben have affection in spades. Deep down (okay, maybe not so deep), Ben is a damn love machine who just wants everyone he knows to get along and be friends. He's of the opinion that more friends are better friends and gosh darn it, he'll do everything in his power to shower those people with every good thing he can come up with.

And trust me. He can come up with a lot.

Regarding his reaction to being in Tu Shanshu, never fear! Ben has been in weirder places (alien gladiator tournaments, the Null Void, his own future...more than once.). Time and space are easily bent things in his universe, so when the Kedan tell him time has stopped in his world, he'll believe it easily enough. Of course, he'll want to get home, sooner rather than later, but in the meantime, he'll reason that if time is stopped back home, there's not a huge rush. Besides, there's a lot of really cool stuff to look at around here and it's kind of nice to have a break from dealing with evil aliens. Bonus.

Appearance: Look at this obnoxious little shit and his hipster skinny jeans.

Abilities: By himself, Ben isn't the most special kid on the block. He's got aliens in his ancestry, but the alien abilities seem to have by and large skipped the poor kid. (You want cool, inborn powers, you need to look at his cousin.) That said, Ben does display a few special protagonist traits, like his eidetic memory. He also adapts to unusual situations quickly--even being thrown into alternate universes doesn't seem to phase him, and he learns the particular abilities of his various aliens with a minimum of trouble.

The Omnitrix allows Ben to meld his DNA with that of various alien races, though the transformation isn't always perfect (he often gets aliens other than the ones he intended), and the time it lasts is erratic (transformations can last as little as 5 minutes or indefinitely--though the former is more common and the latter generally only happens if the Omnitrix is tampered with.). After it powers down, and Ben is himself again, the Omnitrix has to recharge, which can take up to an hour or more--though it will occasionally override it's own safeties and allow a transformation before recharging is complete if Ben seems to be in mortal danger.

Inventory: A cellphone, the clothes on his back, and the Omnitrix (seeing as it's stuck to him and all.)

Suite: Somewhere in Metal, please!

In-Character Samples:
Third Person:Being a hero is generally pretty awesome. Being a hero in a world where nobody's ever seen him before is even more awesome. More chances to make a great name for himself! Like over here in the Water Sector. It hasn't escaped Ben's notice that the canals are kind of messed up, and it sounds like it's something to do with the turtle being sick. No problem. Ben has fixed things more messed up than this before, and he knows the perfect alien to help out.

In retrospect, hopping into the water before his transformation was kind of stupid, especially since his stupid watch decided to completely ignore the fact that he chose Ripjaws and made him become Humongosaur instead. One breathes underwater, the other...oh boy. Wow, he uh. He really hopes that dock wasn't important. Probably wasn't. There wasn't anybody standing on it, so it's probably okay. Yeah. Yeah, it's fine, it's even still in one piece! Ben picks it up out of the canal before it can float away and turns to put it back in place--

A nearby Kedan shrieks and dives out of the way of a shattered plank of wood and oh come on, he wasn't even close to that one!

"It's okay, I'm a hero!" Okay, okay, he doesn't look much like one now, but that's not his fault! He told the watch he wanted Ripjaws, he slapped it shut on Ripjaws, why does it always do this at the worst possible time? Ben struggles to climb out of the canal, but his stupid tail is stuck under one of the bridges crossing it. He's shrunk as far as he can as Humongosaur, but it's not enough, and in his attempt to gently wiggle free he...maybe kind of accidentally tears the bridge to pieces. Kedan run screaming from the concrete carnage. Oh man, is he ever glad Gwen isn't here to see this. He's never telling her this story, either. "I'm here to help, I swear! I'll fix it, just--aw man." Part of the bridge railing is still stuck to his tail.

This is going so badly.

Network: [The video pops on to show a new arrival who looks...somewhat less distressed than one might expect a new arrival to be. He waves a little at the screen.] Okay, I got the whole explanation on the way here--this console is seriously awesome by the way--but I forgot to ask: has anybody ever sent out a message? I know time is stopped and all, but they didn't tell me for how long, and I'd kind of like to pass on a message so nobody back home gets worried in case it takes me a while to get back.

[He stops and thinks for a second, gaze swiveling up to the ceiling.] It's weird, though...I've never gone anywhere that you didn't need a projector or a portal to get to....