ELZIFELZI

All Phantom related stuff will be in this post including all released Chapters,character breakdowns and other silly stuff related to DP. Last post was getting kinda big so I figured I'd make some adjustments.

#PHANTOM AU

Au following an 18 year old version of Dan who gets his powers after a failed lab experiment.

Season One

AO3 link to the fic.

Like Zukos lightning scar not being present on adult zuko in the aang movie trailer, there is a certain subset of fans who think that they are retconing zukos lightening scar cuz they don't want zutara crumbs or whatever(which by far has to be the dumbest thing I've ever heard" and I have to ask. Has zukos lightening scar ever been treated as a permanent thing in any media post the finale. I know in one of the atla comics on webtoon he has it..but it's completely absent from the physical release of that same comic so that doesn't count. Like truly is zukos scar being permanent not a headcanon thing that the fandom made up? So why are people up in arms at the movie for him not having it.

"Why does aang have his but zuko doesn't?"

1. Aangs scar actually does matter to the story, the lightening entered his back and exited his foot and killed him immediately. He also wasn't headled immediately and needed the magic oasis water to be brought back to life. Not to mention katara had to keep healing him for weeks even after that and she literally says he has a whole bunch of energy knotted up in that specific spot

2.Zuko on the other hand had successfully redirected most of the lightening it just passed through his heart in the process and after katara dealt with azula quickly and after she healed him he was back on his feet immediately.

Plus most lightening scars aren't permanent anyway.

Then you have the whole original benders being contradicted by the lion turtle thing and it's not even a contradiction.

The lion turtles gave the humans the power of the element but didn't give them mastery over it and you can see that in the Wan flashback that the humans just haphazardly tossed the elements around willy nilly there were no bending styles before Wan became the avatar.

And thats where the original benders come in.

The original benders are the dragons, sky bison, moon and badger moles and the humans developed their bending styles by watching and studying how those creatures moved originally because as we've seen with katara naturally being a bender doesn't automatically just make you good at being a bender.

And we even see it with Wan and firebending when he was doing the Dancing dragon in the spirit wilds the same firebending form that zuko and aang learned, they even said that after that he started using it like an extension of his body.

So yeah the lion turtles gave the bending and the humans developed the bending forms by watching the original benders. No contradictions here plus Bryke said exactly this on the braving the elements podcast.

Then you have the whole "element opposite to the avatars personality thing" which seems to be one of the most common ones as of tlok cuz people say it doesn't make sense that korra had difficulties with air and I think they just greatly misunderstood bitter work.

Katara using air being the natural opposite of earth bending to explain to aang why earthbending is so difficult for him isn't her literally saying you airbend therefore earthbending hard cuz by that logic every airbending avatar would have difficulty with earthbending just off them being airbenders. It's her using the elements to directly relate to aangs problem cuz even later in the episode toph says that aangs problem is that he's thinking like an airbender and not an earthbender. Airbending is rarely ever offensive, it's all about be patient and dodging and disorienting your opponent , avoiding actual head on combat which is LITERALLY just aangs nature we've seen aang run away from his problems and try to avoid conflict all the time and well thats not something earthbenders do rock is stubborn so you need to be stubborn as well, you can't avoid or dodge you need to be prepared to take that boulder to the head if the situation calls for it and thats something that aang wasn't familiar with, it's not until after he successfully learns earthbending that he actually starts being more head on in his confrontations.

So yeah korra having difficulties with airbending cuz of her more headstrong and hot headed nature makes sense you add the fact that airbending is an extremely spiritual element and korra was not that spiritual at the beginning of her journey and you can see why it was difficult for her.

And lastly Katara being an accomplished healer and a grandmother in tlok isn't bad for her character.

Katara never hated healing she just didn't want to be forced to be a healer. Katara was the last waterbender in the southern tribe and was only aware of waterbending as an offensive style which is why she trained herself in offensive waterbending and on her journey she found out that she had the ability to heal purely by accident. Now look at it from her perspective imagine teaching yourself one thing to the point where you're better than most masters at said thing and then along your teaching journey you found out through pure accident that you could do this other thing as well,you finally made it to a reputable teacher to learn the thing that you've spent most of your life trying to teach yourself and said teacher tells you that because you're a woman your worth lies in the thing that you figured out you could do on accident and not the thing that you've spent tireless hours trying to master. Of course she's going to be upset but she's never hated healing, she just didn't want being a medic to be her only contribution to the 100 year war. We even see that she has alot of notable healing moments as well as combat moments. Them calling her the best healer in the world isn't them diminishing her efforts from the 100 year war it's just at this point katara doesn't need to be a fighter anymore.

She should've gotten a statue tho, they really fumbled on that aspect for sure.

With everu new reprint variant we get closer and closer to having official designs for the full 10

Something I wish was more explored in canon.

And something I really try to showcase in my au is how the people around these 2 shaped how they used their powers.

Cuz it's no secret that the scenarios around how they got their powers shaped them into who they were meant to be.

Vlad both in Canon and my Au has his accident and he's completely alone through the entire ordeal, no family no friends noone who could ever hope to understand what he was going through , he's lonely then that loneliness turns to bitterness and then to resentment until finally it evolves into hate. Add to the fact that canon Vlad doesn't speak to Jack for 20 years after his accident and never reconciled with him while also fully believing that he's right for feeling and behaving the way he does and you can see why he ends up the way he does. Although he makes use of them to Vlad these powers aren't a gift they aren't a blessing they're a curse, a reminder of how he lost everything he held dear and how he'll never get that back. He has no Tucker and Sam to protect, to give him confidence or to steer him into using them in a positive direction. In the end Plasmius is nothing more than the manifestation of one mans loneliness and how he lashes out because of it. Of course you can make an argument that Vlad was always a bad person but we're gonna ignore that for now.

Now compare that to Danny.

Danny in both canon and my AU gets his powers and immediately he has his friends at his side and they're the ones doing the utmost best to keep him on the straight and narrow. Sam admonished him when he uses his powers for the wrong reasons,and he is constantly trying to do the right thing because he has a support system that he wants to do right by. Danny rarely if ever looks at his powers as a burden cuz even in moments where he wants to he has his friends by his side reassuring him that his powers are the coolest thing ever. Even in season 3 we see that he gets to a point where he actually likes heroics. Unlike Vlad these powers didn't strip Danny of his life they just added a new layer to it. Jazz tells him how proud she is of him, he's getting more confident and Even Jack and Maddie who hate his hero persona and are questionable parents have shown time and time again that they love their son no matter what.

And idk I just find that duality so interesting.

Issues 1, 2 and 3 got new reprint covers.

Issue 1 is on its 4th printing , Issue 2 on it's 3rd and Issue 3 on it's second.

Some people may not like it but damn does this book have motion.

Also we have more official looks for the aliens! Well diamondhead debuted in issue 3 so we already had an official look for him but this is our first time seeing stinkfly and xlr8s full designs.

Diamondheads design is a personal favorite of mines I love how hes just a mass of crystal with extra shards protruding outwards on his chest and arms the shorts work very well ans the arms and feet being more jagged is a nice touch.

Stinkfly is an interesting one cuz it looks like he mashed together Stinkflys prime continuity design and the original concept design robert carey first showed us. He definitely looks more alien, which I know was alot of fans biggest issue with that first revealed design.

He's got regular eyes but he also has the 4 eyestalks(I'm assuming to shoot his slime out of) he's got 4 legs , 4 arms/claws,he's got the sharp tail from classic kinda and he also has 2 sets of wings?? Regular fly wings and also wings that look like classic stinkflys wings. Definitely a huge change..Not sure how I feel about it yet like it definitely looks freaky but I need to see him in the actual comic.

From what I can tell with Xlr8 he seems to be the same design from the concept art just now with an omnitrix symbol and a bit mlre humanoid proportions, since I didn't hate the initial design I'm fine with this one. Since I've never seen robert draw his face and i remember the initial design reveal having eyes on top of the helmet i am willing to bet that he probably doesn't have an actual face...which huge bummer if thats the case but I need to see him in the actual book.

I've seen people say shit like "if the comic gets to omniverse" or they can't adapt x storyline cuz it happens later in bens life or whatever and I truly think that alot of people fundamentally do not know what this book is.

Especially since issue 3 indirectly revealed that Gwens brother might not exist in this version.

This isn't Ben10s greatest hits but in comic form.

This isn't the classic series but in comic form.

This isn't a remake or a readaptation it's a reimagining/ reboot.

This is a whole new Ben, a whole new continuity, a whole new world.

They don't NEED to follow the logic or the timeline of the prime continuity cuz this isn't the prime continuity.

It plays by its own rules

Everything is up for reinterpretation.

So the people thinking this ben can't get feedback until he's 11 cuz thats how it was in the prime continuity. That doesn't matter cuz this book is it's own new thing. Feedback could be his 11th alien for all we know.

Gwens brother doesn't need to exist in this continuity, the same way he didn't exist in the reboot.

Then for people who are like "well why are they doing the summer vacation from classic if this is it's own thing" and tbh thats like asking why MOS superman and DCU superman both land in Kansas if they're different.

The answer is simple, thats his origin. This book isn't just for fans of the cartoon, it's also for new readers and how can you present a character to new readers without doing their origin?

Ben's origin is that he gets the omnitrix on a camping trip during summer break so they're doing it.

Do i think it necessarily had to be a 10yr old ben? Not at all i think the comic would've been much more interesting if we saw a teen ben get the omnitrix for the first time but that doesn't change the fact that this is Ben's origin and you don't skip it.

Some people may not be but all in all I'm very satisfied with these first 3 issues. Not gonna act like these were perfect or anything like that and there's definitely room for improvement but I'm in it for the long run. Also definitely excited to finally be past origin territory and see what steven t seagel has in store for us in these next 2 issues.

I'd say as of right now my biggest gripe is that these should be longer but issue 3 has shown that he's getting better at using the page count he's given to tell a story so there's that.

Just read Issue 3 of dynamite ben10 and just like issue 2 was for issue 1 it's a step up in every regard.

The art has once again drastically improved feels like Robert is slowly getting a handle on what he wants the characters to look like.

The pacing has also improved immensely this issue didn't feel like I was breezing past it while reading it definitely flowed much better than previous issues.

Dialogue is also good aside from some weird phrasing here and there

The writing was also very well executed Max was a standout this issue but I also have to give props to Gwen as well they're definitely leaning more into her classic counterpart than her reboot but thats not a bad thing. It definitely works.

Max definitely feels like a former space cop/ alien hunter or whatever and I love that they're not beating around the bush with his origins cuz atp why hide it.

Diamondheads scene is a standout for me, as far as alien debuts in this comic goes he has the best one imo. Also love his design my one real critique is that I wish he did more Diamond head stuff.

The fight scenes here are also good not anything super insane but the art definitely shines in those moments especially with kraab

The krabb stuff is wrapped up nicely the military stuff was also wrapped up well but they left room to explore it further which is good at least.

We also do see ben willingly go alien this time around which is neat.

My only critiques with this issue and this first arc is that we never find out what that cyber bear was(unless they plan on bringing that back in the future) but they never really explain it which definitely has me confused on why he wasn't just a regular bear. We never get like a good upclose look at the omnitrix(which is more of a pet peeve of mines)but considering this is the beginning of a whole new continuity and the omnitrix is the focal point of it I wish we got a better look at it. And while we do see ben using the omnitrix willingly we don't get the whole alien selection process we only see him slam it down which would be no problem if they started skipping it later on but again since this is a new omnitrix and a new continuity thats also supposed to bring in new viewers it feels like we should've gotten that.

But all in all a great chapter and a very solid arc to start with next month is completely new territory with zombozo which has me pumped so I can't wait for more. Really liking the direction this book is going in and it's been steadily improving by the issue but while this issue is good and a step up once again I do feel the need to say that if you haven't enjoyed anything about the comic thus far, if you hate the art, the story and character direction etc. Then this book may not be for you there is a chance that this issue may persuade you into giving it another chance but it very much seems to be trying to firmly establish itself as it's own new thing in every factor instead of just being a retread and if you're not into that then it may just not be your cup of tea