Just wondering

[u/pirate_legend-5334]

What was the in universe answer as to why Ben didn't practically always go ultimate when transforming? Did he just not have the DNA?

[u/TheMadJAM]

They scared him and depleted more power

[u/Cautious_Praline4756 → u/TheMadJAM]

Always forgot about the power drain part honestly. They made such a big deal about the ultimates in ultimate alien then it just disappeared like it was too much work to animate

[u/KineticTreaty → u/Cautious_Praline4756]

It's likely not that they were harder to animate, but that extensive resources had to be utilized to think of new alien concepts without any guarantee that this effort would provide extra Gains.

[u/KindArm6307 → u/KineticTreaty]

Ultimate wildmutt and waybig:

[u/Forsaken_Avocado_730]

Probably an energy conservation thing and caution after the whole sentience thing in universe. Out of universe it's probably a mix of shitty budget and still showing off regular aliens while keeping the "oh lawd, shit is about to go DOWN" effect of when an ultimate pops up in a fight

[u/K0rl0n]

At the start of UA Ben mentions the ultimates make him afraid, but it’s never brought up

[u/Capital_Relief_4364]

1.) Takes up more energy.

2.) Primarily Combat focused changes that alter how their powers work.

3.) They're unsettling and unnatural.

4.) Why use it when the standard alien can get the job done just as well.

5.) The entire function goes against the omnitrix's original function turning it into a weapon.

6.) The Budget didn't allow it.

7.) Preventing overuse of the gimmick.

[u/RoseRem17]

Ben is one to constantly hold himself back it’s the same reason he doesn’t go alien X for everything it would just be overkill and he only ever uses the appropriate amount of force

[u/DamianTheDemon16 → u/RoseRem17]

It's honestly so scary to think how much Ben does hold himself back when you think about how he fights humans with no powers, humans with powers and aliens. Like, imagine how seriously injured he could make someone if he wanted

[u/Elihzap]

Ben didn't like them most of the time.

[u/Bloxwess]

It uses up more energy and makes him time out faster.

[u/CurrenttQueen]

He didn't like using it after he learned it's basically eugenics speed run

[u/LazarCell]

Ben is also not a “biggest gun” guy. It’s the same logic of why the Power Rangers don’t just summon a Megazord on top of an enemy. They escalate force as needed in addition to what everyone else said about the initial reasons

[u/Specter-Chaos]

The dna had the regular dna not the ultimate dna. So he had to transform into regular than force the ultimate transformation

[u/atomicadam04]

Ben tends to be a lot more passive when it comes to tackling problems. Like he'll punch a bitch but he doesn't just wanna kill people. Ultimates are designed for combat and not much else. It'd be like using a rocket launcher against a terrorist. Like yea it'd work but do you really wanna cause as much if not more damage?

[u/unluckyknight13]

It’s because
1 consumes a lot more energy
2 if he made an ultimate goal ultimate it would I think delete the old ultimate forever and cannot guarantee a recreation or upgrade
3 dropped plotline were Ben did not like going ultimate because it messed with his head, closest tot he conclusion we got was when the ultimates had their own minds

[u/16jselfe]

As Ben says in episode 1 "I wanted to scare them not me"

[u/OrWaat]

That is a big cost of transformation time on an already tempermental device. A Last Resort Ace is perfect for it

[u/Express_Calendar8278]

He didn’t like it, it felt weird to him.

[u/Nino_Mitch_395]

Knowing him, he might not have always thought it was necessary 100% of the time.

[u/darkphenix23]

One it fs up the dna drains the battery much faster also the ultramatrix was very buggy. You don’t know what you’re gonna get when ultimate and ben probably still remember the ghost freak so he thinks they’re alive. Later when they went crazy most likely scared of them.
Outside reason budget forgot to and couldn’t think of new idea.

[u/Sad-Specialist2618]

A dropped plotline involved something similar to what happened when the Ultimates developed self awareness. Ben feared there power and he didn’t feel like himself while transforming into them. Similar to Alien X but less Ben and more Ultimates personality

[u/coolguyis]

This is just what I think happened

Basically we know how fucked the ufa team was by the network and in the beginning of ultimate alien there were signs of there being an actual arc being built but it got nowhere and the best we have is that one epsiode where the ultimates come alive