Ben 10 Phenomenon

Ian with his "not so real"version of Omnitrix

(this one we bought from the wet market)

Ian and cousin with his "real" Omnitrix

Ian has been a Ben 10 fanatic since early last year. I guess it could be influence from his schoolmates and the television show on Cartoon Network.

Ben 10 first came to my attention last year when Ian began running about bashing his wrist and throwing strange poses. When I asked him what he was doing, he said that he was activating his Omnitrix. From then on, he kept bugging me to get him a real Omnitrix so that he could go on his mission to save the world. Lol..

I went online and did a search and Ben 10 was indeed the current superhero of millions of young people all over the place.

If this is new to you, here is Ben 10’s story. Ben 10 is a television show aired on Cartoon Network about Ben Tennyson who one day stumbles upon an alien watch-like device called the “Omnitrix” which allows him to morph into any one of ten different alien life forms including those like Heatblast, who is a chap entirely made from flame and Greymatter, a small bloke with big glasses who can slip inside a machine and operate it from within. These powers come in handy as Ben combats intergalactic evil villains, all the while trying to appear a normal boy. Clearly, Ben 10 is loaded with craze-potential. Obvious, really. Much of childhood is mad of mishearing and fantasies, and that's how your imagination is nurtured.

The genius of the Ben 10 concept is that Ben can turn into any of these heroes, not just one hero with 10 different powers, and he doesn't have the ability to choose which hero he wants to be.

Ian has had his "real" Omnitrix for 4 months now and so far, it's stood the test of time in the hands of a 6 year old.;) It is very like the omnitrix in the series, and has encouraged a lot of imaginative play between him and his friends.