A L B E D O
"Oh, maaaaaan!"[ALBEDO ⫻ BEN 10 - GALVAN PRIME ⫻ 700+ (10) ⫻ NEUTRAL]
▼ APPEARANCE ▼
"Every Ben for himself!"Albedo is a Galvan whose DNA has been replaced by that of Benjamin Kirby Tennyson of the Prime Timeline, transforming him into a clone of the Prime Ben. A feedback pulse resulted in his DNA becoming damaged, altering his appearance to have red eyes, white hair, and black eyebrows. His alien forms also exhibit different color patterns from the Prime Ben, resulting in Albedo sometimes being referred to as ‘Negative Ben.’ As punishment for his arrogance, Albedo’s physical form was changed to trap him in the body of a 10 year old Ben Tennyson.
▼ PERSONALITY ▼
"Now I see the universe for what it is: We are all dust, bound by one enormous, universal force."Arrogant, bigoted, and self-righteous, Albedo believes the Galvan to be the superior species in the universe for their intellect. His hero worship of the First Thinker (Azmuth) has soured into skepticism and loathing, leading to his fall from grace. His struggles to defeat Azimuth and Ben Tennyson have not been without learning, however, as Albedo experienced an epiphany about destruction, creation, and the nature of the universe during the period that he possessed Azmuth’s greater intellect.
▼ BACKSTORY ▼
"My lust for power, my jealousy of Azmuth, it isn't just evil, ultimately; it's pointless."Albedo, like most Galvans, grew up with a great respect for the First Thinker, Azmuth. He regarded it as a great honor when he was chosen to become one of Azmuth’s lab assistants, working alongside his hero and mentor on the project that eventually became the Omnitrix. Albedo’s contribution to the product was in designing the software interface that the Omnitrix utilizes. During the period that he worked with Azmuth, Albedo worked alongside the clandestine alien service known as the Plumbers and aided Max Tennyson in defending the Solar System from attack.
Albedo learned that the Omnitrix had come into the possession of a human child when the device began to malfunction, causing Ben Tennyson to transform into different aliens without any control over the transformation. In identifying the cause of the malfunction, the creature known as Malware was revealed. Albedo was key to stopping the threat posed by Malware, much to Ben’s regret. This incident proved the inception of Albedo’s fall from grace. Unable to comprehend how Azmuth could allow the Omnitrix to be wielded by a human child, Albedo began to become a skeptic and question the ways of the First Thinker. This skepticism turned to outright rebellion, with Azmuth firing Albedo.
Believing the Galvans to be the superior intellect, Albedo used his knowledge of the Omnitrix to create a duplicate of his former mentor’s masterpiece. His work in recreating the Omnitrix was perfect -- so perfect, in fact, that testing of the duplicate Omnitrix caused it to sync with the original. When this happened, Ben Tennyson’s DNA was coded as Albedo’s default form. This caused him to swap bodies, as his natural Galvan form became only sustainable for short periods, after which he reverted back into a clone of Ben Tennyson. Disgusted at having become human, Albedo traveled to Earth in the hopes of capturing the original Omnitrix and using it to re-set his own to restore him to his Galvan form permanently. This attempt was not only unsuccessful, but a feedback pulse from Ben Tennyson’s Omnitrix damaged Albedo’s DNA, resulting in his appearance altering to exhibit the colors red, white, and black.
Imprisoned into the null void, Albedo was released by the interstellar warlord known as Vilgax, who wanted Albedo’s knowledge of the Omnitrix in order to defeat Ben Tennyson. Building upon his broken Omnitrix, Albedo was able to upgrade the disabled weapon into the Ultimatrix, though he was not able to overcome Vilgax when the warlord (inevitably) betrayed him. After Vilgax’s defeat, Albedo returned to Earth with Ben Tennyson, who agreed to let Albedo go in exchange for the Ultimatrix.
Albedo lived on Earth, portraying Ben Tennyson in a television series based around Ben’s aliens. Using the studio as cover, Albedo set a plan in motion that enabled him to alter his DNA at will, allowing him to return to his Galvan form. This DNA transformation was unstable, however, causing him to revert back to his ‘Negative Ben’ imperfect human clone form. He later built a new Ultimatrix, which he used to stabilize himself in Galvan form. Using this second Ultimatrix, he evolved the Galvan form into Negative Ultimate Grey Matter and was successful in kidnapping Azmuth. With the First Thinker in his possession, Albedo siphoned the knowledge from out of his former mentor. However, possession of Azmuth’s knowledge caused Albedo to have an epiphany, and he ceased his attack on Earth in order to restore and release the First Thinker.
As punishment for what he had done, Azmuth modified the Ultimatrix to revert Albedo back into his human clone form. Horrified at the prospect of being a teenage Ben Tennyson, Albedo was shocked when the Ultimatrix timed out, reducing him to a new default form: a negative version of Ben Tennyson’s childhood self.
▼ ABILITIES & EQUIPMENT ▼
"I don’t need an Omnitrix to destroy you!"Prime Thinker. Albedo is regarded as one of the most intelligent Galvans living, making him a distant second to Azmuth. His work as a research assistant for Azmuth results in Albedo having a great deal of knowledge about science and technology, and his memory recall is adequate enough as to have re-created a perfect duplicate of the Omnitrix without access to Azmuth’s schematics for reference.
Ultimatrix. Albedo is the original creator of the Ultimatrix (albeit, from an incomplete prototype of Azmuth’s design). The one he currently possesses is the second Ultimatrix that he has constructed, which he wears over his right hand. Albedo’s Ultimatrix follows a red/black color scheme, which is also visible in the alien forms he takes (e.g. his Goop is red instead of green).
▼ WEAKNESSES ▼
"Can I get some sunscreen out here!?"Only Human. In his default form, Albedo has all the physical limitations of a preadolescent human child; including need for an oxygen-rich environment with a pressurized atmosphere in order to breathe, 9-10 hours of sleep, access to food and potable water, and protection from the elements (such as sunscreen). He also demonstrates the emotional vulnerability and volatility of childhood.
Time Out. The Ultimatrix is only capable of sustaining an alien form for a limited amount of time. Extremes of energy output, such as making use of a so-called ‘Ultimate’ form further limits the amount of time that the Ultimatrix can safely sustain Albedo in that form before it will time out. Directed energy strikes can also trigger the time out feature as a safety measure to prevent overcharging the power cells. After the Ultimatrix times out, its functionality is locked out while the device undergoes a re-charging cycle.
▼ OTHER ▼
"What could be worse than being a sixteen year old Ben Tennyson?"The departure here is the direction that the character takes after having had the epiphany from
Ben 10: Omniverse “For A Few Brains More.” Whereas the show loops Albedo into the role of Vilgax’s recurring minion (despite Albedo’s intelligence and Vilgax having betrayed him every single time...), its noteworthy that Albedo doesn’t start off as a villain in the series and originally saved Ben from Malware. Thus, this depiction of Albedo is neither good nor bad, but capable of either.
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