#antitrix redesigned

I'm finishing off the Antitrix transformations for this month with a pretty exciting one in Undertow!

The universe this version of Kevin and the Antitrix are a part of doesn't have any of the reboot's new aliens species. They simply don't exist. Naturally, that means that within the Antitrix, the slots dedicated to them will have to be filled in with combos of classic aliens instead!

Ripjaws was Ben's og aquatic alien, so it was only natural to make him the basis for this version of Undertow. There also just so happens to be a perfect alien I could combine him with to keep some of og Undertow's powers! That alien being Spitter!

Undertow is a lot bulkier than Ripjaws and, as a result, much stronger than him, too. While his bite isn't much stronger than Ripjaws', since his mouth is so much bigger, his bites are still a lot more destructive, anyway. Undertow has a special organ in his chest that produces a dirty watery mucus, which he can spew from his mouth. That same mucus also helps him to moisturize while out of water, allowing him to stay on dry land a lot longer than Ripjaws. Being merged with a species that permanently has a tail had removed Undertow's ability to go from legs to tail. That and his added bulk make him significantly slower and less agile in water compared to Ripjaws.

Undertow is a fairly straightforward fusion of Ripjaws and Spitter. His color scheme and the ridges on his tail were all details chosen to make him look a bit more alligator-like.

You know the drill by now! It's the 11th, and that means more Antitrix transformations!

This time I'm tackling Crystalfist, whom I've renamed to Mineroul(Mineral+Ghoul) for reasons you'll soon find out!

Crystalfist was an alien that was tough to figure out an interesting rework concept for, but it is when I decided to focus in on a specific detail did I figure out something I really liked! I noticed that Crystalfist has those strange ribcage-like crystals on his torso, after that everything clicked for me: I had to go in the undead direction!

With that said, Mineroul is a fusion of Petrosapien and Necrofriggian DNA. He may still be made of crystals, though not diamonds, but ice instead! This makes him more fragile than Diamondhead, though, his ice body is still pretty tough, but it does give him the ability to manipulate his ice body in a way Diamondhead can't! Mineroul is able to briefly turn his body into vapor, allowing him to pass through objects or dodge attacks thrown at him. Unlike Big Chill, though, he does not get fully intangible, meaning that he can't just straight up go through walls. He is also extremely vulnerable to heat in his vapor form. His solid form is weakened under heat, too, making him and his constructs a bit more vulnerable to physical impacts, but as vapor he can straight up get condensed into water, making Kevin instantly detransform. Naturally, Mineroul keeps Diamondhead's crystal generation ability, but he also gets ice breath to add to it!

Crystalfist is probably the Antitrix alien I've been the most torn on in terms of what I wanted my version of him to be! I've come up with several ideas that could act as fun and unique reinterpretations of him, but ultimately Mineroul was both a creative take on Crystalfist and followed the design conventions I set for the aliens in this Antitrix au best, too!

I'm a little late, but here's the next Antitrix alien I redesigned! This week, my choice fell on Bootleg, who I decided to rename to Hijack, as the original name didn't quite fit the alien anyway. This won't be the only Antitrix transformation I rename, as there will be a few, where their names don't suit my concepts at all!

I chose to fuse Upgrade with Frankenstrike. I mainly did this because his coils and metallic parts could help recreate Bootleg's armor really well, but also, his electrical abilities complement Upgrade's natural ones already!

It's the 11th! You know what that means? It's time for another Antitrix transformation! This month, it's Dark Matter's turn.

Dark Matter is red, lanky, and produces an odd substance from his body. There's an alien that fits this description perfectly in the classic series: Astrodactyl! As such, this is who I decided to fuse Grey Matter with!

Dark Matter was already among my favourite Antitrix transformations, so I didn't change him much ability-wise!

Dark Matter is able to secrete cerebrospinal fluid from bone-like protrusions on his forearms and back. Upon contact with air, it begins to crystallize, and by shaping it, while it hardens, Kevin can create all kinds of crystal weapons and tools. It can also he ejected as fireballs, which Kevin mostly does by launching them cannon-style from his back, or launch them from his forearms to give himself a vertical boost.

Naturally, Dark Matter still has Grey Matter's heightened intelligence and wall scaling abilities. However, since he's a lot larger than Grey Matter, he can't utilize these abilities in the same way. He can't do precision work on technology as naturally as Grey Matter, instead Kevin mostly utilizes his knowledge to create elaborate traps, especially since Datk Matter can create some components himself. He's definitely faster, stronger, and more agile than Grey Matter, but due to his size, it is not as good at hiding.

This time, I also want to note the Antitrix badge placement. Since Kevin has a limited selection of aliens, I'm trying to give every single one of them a unique badge placement. Dark Matter's is on his right shoulder, just like Astrodactyl's.

Second Antitrix transformation in line is Thornblade!

As you may have guessed just by looking at him, Thornblade is a combination of Wildvine and Chromastone. This is not just because they're both cycloptic scrawny aliens, though. Chromastone's crystals become the thorns this transformation is named after. These thorns are still capable of absorbing energy, but only solar energy, as a result of acclimating to Wildvine's plant biology. Thornblade can then release the collected energy as beams from any of the crystals on his body, but most often from ones on his head, shoulders, or forearms. Alternatively, he can also launch the solar energy as a big blast from the flower on his neck. The other half of his name is paid off as well, since he can shift his vine arms to form blades made of rock and crystal thorns. He also has two big vines that he can summon from his back to help himself move around faster and upon vertical surfaces.

If Thornblade beats Wildvine in sheer offensive capabilities, then Ben's form beats Kevin's in agility, stealth, and shape-shifting. Having two legs instead of four tendrils limits how flexible he can be. Thornblade may be able to shoot solar beams, but Wildvine can just easily dodge them. Being partially composed out of minerals also limits how much of his body he can shift and prevents him from merging with plants entirely.

Now, as for his design, I should note that his fully rocky legs are supposed to evoke a plant in the soil kind of look. That was another reason why I chose Chromastone for Thornblade. I kept his color scheme largely the same as the original reboot design, as it's, honestly, really nice!!

I want to point out the Antitrix badge design in this post, as you can basically see its whole design here. To push the cobbled together from spare parts look that the watch kinda had already, I made the dial be made of two halves that are slightly different shades of dark gray. I also changed the symbol itself from one resembling a "K" for Kevin to one that looks like an "11". I never liked that it was a K in the first place.

The Antitrix is my favourite concept to see interpretations of within the Ben 10 fandom! Particulatly those that interpret each transformation as a fusion of two existing omnitrix aliens! Each of those I've seen has been so creative and distinct! Now it's time for me to start sharing my own!

Starting this month, I'll be sharing at least one Antitrix transformation every 11th of a month. Ideally, I would've started this in January, but I didn't think of this idea until it was too late, unfortunately. I'm making up for lost time, however, as this month you're getting a triple feature: the aliens from last two months, as well as one from this month. You'll be getting one today and two more for each of the following days.

We're starting things off with Wreckingbolt! Arburian Pelarota DNA gets spliced with some from the Oryctini to make Wreckingbolt! Just like with the original design, the Eatle DNA makes Wreckingbolt extra spiky and gives him more prominent fangs. However, that's not all, as the top of Eatle's horn has become the tip of Wreckingbolt's new tail. It gives the alien jet propulsion, with an occasional need to recharge by munching on something! This can be used to not only make him faster than Cannonbolt, but with the addition of his spiky shell, he truly lives up to his name and becomes a living wrecking ball! If Cannonbolt is a peaceful alien, whose capabilities were turned to combat by Ben's creativity, then Wreckingbolt is one that was genetically engineered for combat and destruction. He does have a fairly significant drawback, though. If it's hard for Ben to control Cannonbolt while in his ball form, then Wreckingbolt is almost impossible for Kevin to control when rolled up, particularly when using his jet boost.