akinoame: (Ben: Hero)
[personal profile] akinoame
The team manages to stop a Level 3 weapons dealer, but the Plumber on duty gives them a mandate that because they received their badges in the battlefield, their training is incomplete and if they want to remain Plumbers, they’d better get officially certified. Why they waited a year before telling them this is beyond me, especially considering how many times Ben’s acted as an official Plumber on various missions even in peacetime. And hell, that reminds me—how do Ben and Gwen know the Magister in charge of the academy from “Enemy of My Enemy” if they didn’t attend? The team needs to report to Academy 2814 to complete their course. Does this mean that this guy is going to be their teacher? On the shuttle ride to school, Gwen’s excited about the classes (and Kevin only about the ones involving weapons and starships), and Ben’s bored. But he meets Tak, a new student who obviously has a crush on him and shows him his extreme respect for Ben by “reverentially” touching foreheads with him in what Ben calls a slow-mo headbutt but I believe might be some kind of alien courtship ritual. Tak warns the team that the head of Academy 2814, Magister Holka, is the most hardass and decorated Plumber in the history of the service. He expects respect from his students, and Gwen and Kevin already know Ben’s going to be a problem.

Right away, the quartet finds trouble at 2814 when Tak runs afoul of Alpha Squadron, the best and most assholish students at the academy, led by a senior cadet named Brannigan. Ben tries to make peace with Brannigan, but he tells him off, mentioning that Holka wants all new recruits in their barracks for a strict curfew, due to a breakout at the Null Void (surprise, surprise). Oh, and he calls them maggots. Look, he and Ben are friends! To Ben’s surprise, Kevin drags Ben away from the impending fight, though Brannigan promises that he and Ben can go at it “anytime, any place.” Write your own foe yay joke here. After dragging Ben into the barracks, Kevin explains to Ben that for all Ben might not be particularly invested in this, he’s determined to keep his badge at all costs, and Gwen warns Ben not to ruin it for him. At this point, Magister Holka enters, and to my disappointment, he’s not played by R. Lee Ermey. Because he is the drill instructor, Hartman, from Full Metal Jacket. Read Hartman’s memorable quotes from IMDB, and you basically get the rundown of this episode, but with more cursing and sex references—you know, all the stuff the fans throw in anyway. Holka refuses Gwen’s offer of help with the breakout, insisting that cadets must follow orders. Ben already hates him and begins showing him massive disrespect, including questioning his record by asking why he wears only one of his medals. Holka’s response is to order them to the shooting range.

Training days aren’t going well for Ben. During an exercise where they need to reassemble and shoot a blaster, he gets in trouble when he goes Four-Arms to help Tak recover a lost magazine, since according to the rulebook, no cadets are allowed to use their powers during training. He also turns out to be a lousy shot with a gun and once again runs afoul of the “no powers” rule when he decides to solve the problem by going Swampfire. It only gets worse when Tak goes in for fusion grenade practice. The magnetic lock is stuck, keeping it on him, and instead of being set to stun, it’s overloading. Holka orders the team to stay back as he tries to get the grenade off Tak, but Ben goes…either XLR-8 or a new alien to save them. More on this alien later. Holka isn’t exactly grateful to Ben for saving their lives, but Gwen breaks up the next impending fight by pointing out that it was sabotage. Kevin thought it was some roundabout test (and Ben didn’t suspect a thing), but Gwen thinks someone is out to get Holka, who pretty much tells her to butt out. The four head back to their barracks and while Gwen and Kevin try to figure out what’s going on, Ben brushes his Justin Beiber hair while Tak copies him exactly and bumps up the show’s ho yay rating a little higher. Ben decides that it’s high time he’s broken curfew and explored the academy, so he drags his new boyfriend along to do just that. They sneak back in, since they’re supposed to be able to sleep in the next morning, but Holka’s had enough of Ben’s rule-breaking and wakes them up for combat training as punishment. Alpha Squadron is running a hostage situation, and since Ben is such a lousy shot, Gwen takes the lead to rescue the hostage. Unfortunately, everyone but Ben gets captured, and at that point, he decides to go Leeroy Jenkins on Alpha Squad, providing enough confusion for Gwen and Kevin to kick their asses. But Ben’s fed up with Brannigan and goes Diamondhead to settle things with him, throwing aside their hostage dummy and getting ready to attack when Holka calls off the exercise. He criticizes Brannigan for losing and then gets on Ben’s case for injuring the hostage with his recklessness. Ben defends himself by trying to explain that he would have taken it seriously if it were a real situation, but he believes that how you handle a situation isn’t nearly as important as the results. Given his rampage toward the end of last season, this isn’t exactly the best mindset for the boy. He also makes the mistake of questioning his drill instructor’s sanity, which results in everybody having to scrub the floor of their barracks with their toothbrushes.

But in the middle of cleaning duty, there’s an explosion from Holka’s quarters. A team of older cadets is already on the scene, but Ben goes Terraspin to kill the flames so everyone can enter. They clear the scene, and Kevin finds a fragment of a fusion grenade. When Holka arrives, he recognizes the grenade fragment as Plumber issue, and Gwen realizes that he knows who the culprit is. But of course, he just tells them off and says they’re cleaning his room after theirs. You’d think he didn’t want them to save his life. Apparently skipping all that, the four decide to brainstorm. Kevin believes that Brannigan is the perp, given the way he was pissed at Holka’s criticism of him earlier, but Gwen doesn’t think that’s enough evidence for a conviction. Instead, Ben puts them on a stakeout. Gwen tails Holka, spotting Brannigan doing the same. She follows them into a weapons depot, where Brannigan confronts her, criticizing her surveillance techniques. At this point, the other three show up and surround him, revealing they’ve put their own spin on the traditional Plumber techniques. Brannigan confesses, but only to tailing Holka since the guy’s too damn stubborn to accept a guard. Turns out it’s a good thing Holka’s got so many people watching his back, since he’s attacked by a blue-skinned Tetramand, named Kolar. He apparently was a former student with no sense of honor, and for his transgressions, he was sent to the Null Void. And unsurprisingly, he’s come back for revenge. I swear, this is a frickin’ drinking game. Holka lured him into the weapons depot to get the upper hand, but while Kolar may not be smarter than he’d been before the Null Void, he’s certainly stronger because the Null Void is where you go when you want to become a badass. Before Kolar can attack Holka again, Ben goes Four-Arms and engages him, but Kolar is easily able to overpower him and takes Tak hostage. Kolar demands that Holka throw himself into a Null Void portal leading to a sun, but as Holka starts to make his way over, Ben spots a weapon nearby. Proving he learned something from the last time he faced this kind of hostage situation in “The Final Battle,” Ben whispers to Tak to “greet” Kolar reverentially, which Tak realizes means a headbutt. Tak escapes, but he nearly falls into the portal, so Holka makes a crazy-ass leap over the portal, punches out Kolar, and goes to rescue his student. Nice. As Kolar tries to attack them from behind, Ben fires a restraint gun at him, but unfortunately, Kolar’s strong enough to pull on the tether and start dragging Four-Arms toward the portal, and even Gwen, Kevin, and Brannigan aren’t strong enough to stop him. Luckily, Holka’s rescued Tak and he throws Kolar into the portal, forcing it to close before the cadets can fall in. Boy, they should really put a time limit on these things. At first, everyone’s horrified that Holka apparently threw Kolar into a sun, but Holka reveals he’d changed the exit point to a Null Void jail, pointing out to them that Plumbers are law enforcement and never judges. Ben points out that they successfully used their training to save the day, but Holka points out that Ben still used his powers and couldn’t help but improvise.

Graduation day arrives, and all four managed to pass their final exams. Gwen is upset with only getting 98/100, and Kevin’s glad to have “exceeded” the minimum grade of 72. He probably got 100 and is too smart to say so in front of his perfectionist girlfriend. Meanwhile, Ben got a 95; despite his attitude, he’s been paying attention and learning from all his lessons. Holka arrives to tell them that they’re all officially Plumbers now, and Ben tries to taunt him into saying thanks. Instead, Holka tells him that the shuttle home is leaving soon, but before he goes, he gives Ben the medal right off his uniform: “For demonstrating the Plumbers’ most essential attribute: the ability to exercise latitude and creativity in problem-solving.”

This episode was actually pretty good, and I think it comes down to the fact that it’s always interesting seeing how the team reacts to other Plumbers. They don’t exactly have the best relationship with the rest of their colleagues, especially seen in “Deep” and “Darkstar Rising.” They’re kids, they’re from a low-level planet, they were given their badges in the heat of battle, and their team consists of a perfectionist whose feelings for her team overrule her professionalism, an ex-con, and a reckless young man with the powers of absolutely everything in the galaxy, and he’s the leader. While the other episodes showed the conflict of having to work with another Plumber who didn’t trust them—okay, who didn’t trust Kevin—this episode puts them under the command of a Plumber who doesn’t like their tactics. It’s the first time we really see them in a military setting, and these are three people who are far from the perfect soldiers.

To be honest, Kevin thrives in this environment. He’s totally into it, mostly because he is willing to do whatever it takes to keep his badge—it means that much to him. And it makes sense that he does so well here: he’s used to this. Absolutely everyone he has met in the past year or two has questioned his motivation, questioned his loyalty, and questioned his ability. He has had to prove himself time and time again to everyone in the Plumbers. And Holka is a piece of cake in comparison to Pike and Gilhil. Holka never brings up Kevin’s record; all that matters is can he act as a soldier in the battlefield? Answer: yes.

Gwen doesn’t do quite as well, though she does try. She knows just how important this is to Kevin, but she’s instinctively drawn to try to help. When there’s a breakout, when there are attacks on Holka, she immediately offers to help, and Holka turns her down. This is part of her personality, her need to be needed, but it seems to be supported by the character growth she got from the Kevin mini-arc at the end of last season. In the Alpha Squadrion hostage mission, Gwen instinctively took the lead from Ben, ordering him to remain as backup since his blaster aim was terrible. This was excellent to see—she gave out orders like a seasoned commander, and Tak and Kevin never questioned her. Her downfall, however, was the same weakness Ben had pointed out in “Absolute Power”: she cares too much, specifically about Kevin. When Kevin was captured, she let herself get distracted, allowing another Alpha Squad member to take her captive.

It’s Ben who does poorly here, and it’s a pattern that’s been evident with him…well, actually since he first met Magister Labrid. What I’ve gotten from Ben is that he’s not necessarily going to take orders from you just because you rank higher than he does. You have to earn his respect first. Plus, he’s the leader. Someone else comes in on his turf, he’s going to…well, less try to defend his territory with a burst of stubborn testosterone than generally just start complaining and mocking you like a little kid. ‘Cause I don’t think he really knows how to put a burst of stubborn testosterone to good use. So when you put him under the command of someone who acts like R Lee Ermey in every part he’s ever played EVER, yeah. Ben’s going to be Private Joker. Emphasis on the Joker part. Ben is not a soldier. He might have been at ten, but at sixteen, he’s been the leader for a while. In the military, officers and soldiers have entirely different mindsets, and this is where Ben is different from Gwen and Kevin. Kevin is a soldier. Gwen has a bit of an officer mindset, but ultimately, she’s still a soldier. Ben is more of an officer, a commander. And he doesn’t do well the role of leadership is taken from him. The way he looks at things is actually put best in the previous episode: “Either get on board or get out of our way.” Or maybe that was a Young Justice quote; the two lines are blurring in my mind.

On top of it, the Ben Way comes under attack. His greatest strength has always been improvisation, and Holka was calling it into question—though as we see at the end, he was secretly impressed because it is indeed a vital skill for Plumbers to display in a battlefield. Ben’s plans are whatever he comes up with on the fly. He can think quickly and knows exactly how to put people’s skills to the right use. And if something doesn’t work, he throws that plan out the window and goes with a new one. See “War of the Worlds” for a great example, or “The Final Battle,” once he started improvising his way over to threatening to blow up Albedo if he didn’t give up the Ultimatrix. And Ben implies that he doesn’t think the Plumbers’ way works. He’s bored with his classes, and he doesn’t take the hostage simulation seriously because he knows how to handle a real situation, as he shows when Tak is taken hostage by Kolar. In fact, it’s his unpredictability that helps save the day; Brannigan is completely caught off-guard by the team’s twist on surveillance, and Ben’s improvisation throughout the confrontation with Kolar saves Tak and Holka. He knows that in a real situation, there’s no time to fuss about the rules and hierarchy and everything; you have to get the job done in the most effective way possible, and in his eyes, the rigid structure of the military is going to be a hindrance.

If there’s one thing I do have to agree with Holka over, it’s that Ben does over-rely on his aliens. I’ve been saying this for a little while now. He’s an excellent fighter in human form, and not all of his enemies need to be smashed by Humongousaur. But again, he goes for the quickest and most effective method, and that’s “Hulk Smash.” But now we see that it has caused his skills to atrophy in human form: he can’t shoot worth beans. And this is a really important skill for someone who is constantly around people with access to various blasters, and especially when he knows that after ten minutes at best, his powers are going to conk out on him. It’s like James Bond not knowing how to kill a man without one of Q’s gadgets. It’s not a good thing.

Finally, I come back to that alien I mentioned who saved Tak and Holka when Kolar set them up the bomb. I assumed this was a redesign of XLR-8, given the coloring is similar and he’s got super speed. To describe him, he doesn’t have the elongated body or head, but the sweeping spike-like details on his arms look like XLR-8’s. These details are also in black on his face and jut off, like a mask. Apparently, a fan wiki has identified this guy as a new alien, but I’m hesitant on this given that we never found out who this guy is in canon and there really isn’t anybody from staff to tell us who it is. So he’s either a massively redesigned XLR-8 or a new alien with a first appearance shorter than most transformation sequences. We’ll find out either way sooner or later.

“Basic Training” was written by Adam Beechan.

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Akino Ame

May 2025

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