Omnitrix

The Omnimatrix, often referred to as the Omnitrix, is one of Azmuth's creations and the main aspect of the Ben 10 franchise.

Appearance/History

Original Canon

The Omnitrix most commonly resembles a wrist watch. The Prototype Omnitrix was primarily black and grey in color, with a greyish black dial in the middle (like a watch face) which has a green hourglass shape (the intergalactic "peace" symbol, also on Plumber's Badges and Galvan Prime) on it. When Ben selects his aliens, it shows the alien's silhouette. During the Omniverse flashback timeframe, the colors of the Omnitrix symbols have been changed from white and grey to green and black. According to Derrick J. Wyatt, this is due to the removal of a scratch guard that fell off after the events of Ben 10: Destroy All Aliens.

When it recalibrated in Alien Force, the Omnitrix gained a more watch-like shape, a green wristband, became smaller and sleeker, and the face dial became black and green. The inside of the hourglass shape glowed in different colors at certain moments. These colors signify the mode that the Omnitrix was presently in. When Ben is selecting his aliens, it shows the alien's hologram standing on the core. The Omnitrix was destroyed in "The Final Battle: Part 2" and replaced with the original Ultimatrix.

Unlike the Omnitrix, the original Ultimatrix looked more like a gauntlet. The central component, the selection interface remains the same, while the watch band was replaced by a gauntlet-like band extending up to almost half of the wearer's arm (since the band's ability to morph its shape was not placed into it).

The New Omnitrix was first mentioned by Azmuth in "Map of Infinity". He was planning on giving it to Ben, but it was not yet complete, and Ben's maturity needed to increase before he would be allowed to use it. By the events of "The Ultimate Enemy: Part 2", Azmuth had completed the New Omnitrix and claimed that he was working on it ever since Ben got the porotype nearly 6 years ago. In the same episode, he gave it to Ben because he deemed him worthy of wielding it after removing the original Ultimatrix from the latter's wrist.

The New Omnitrix's face plate is now square instead of round, and has a white and green color scheme. The faceplate is black with two green stripes forming an outline for the hourglass of the intergalactic peace symbol. When the faceplate is slid back, the Omnitrix's core is revealed.

Overall, the Omnitrix contains DNA samples from throughout the Milky Way Galaxy, as stated by Azmuth in "War of the World: Part 1". Ben eventually gains 5 DNA samples from the Andromeda Galaxy during the first season of Ultimate Alien. Derrick J. Wyatt and Duncan Rouleau have both confirmed that the Omnitrix contains DNA of species introduced in media not canon to the original continuity. However, these aliens (i.e. Overflow, Shock Rock, Slapback, Portaler, Bob the Blob, Antigravitesla, Plantapocalypse, Stretcheleo, Shadowman, and Invincible) are probably locked.

Reboot Series

During the first season of the reboot, the Omnitrix resembled the prototype featured in the original series. After it was reformatted by Ben using Upgrade in "Omni-Tricked: Part 4", the white chords and dial were recolored silver and green. The four buttons on the faceplate were replaced with grey squares, there was an additional band of dark grey running around the center of the device, and the activation button was on this strip.

After it was rebooted in "Innervasion Part 5: High Override", the Omnitrix's dial rim was white, and the squares on the second upgrade were replaced by green arrows, and both the area behind the hourglass and the wristband became medium stone grey. The outer band was black with green arrows, and the sides of the dial and the ends of the wristband were silver. The top of the grey wristband had a green hourglass underneath the dial.

As of "Summer Breakers", the Omnitrix is almost completely grey, with black ends. The arrows on the dial are absent, the hourglass coloring is two different tones of grey, and there are white support tubes surrounding the dial.

It is stated in the online short "Grey Matter AW1: The Archivists" that this Omnitrix contains DNA samples from across the entire universe. According to Rouleau, that grand total includes every Omnitrix alien that has been confirmed to exist in the original continuity, even if most of them will not be appearing in the show.

During Ben's appearance in the OK K.O.!: Let's Be Heroes episode "Crossover Nexus", Ben gains access to forms based off characters from nearly every Cartoon Network original series (or "Cartoon Cartoons"). However, Rouleau has stated that those forms can only be accessed in the Nexus Realm.

Transformations

Trivia

• The Omnitrix was referred to in the production stage of the original series as the Megawatt/Megawhat, which was short for "Megadeoxyribonucleictransdimensionaltransforminalnumerator".
• According to Wyatt, the Omnitrix does not contain DNA for aliens featured in the Extranet Ben 10 television series, as those aliens are fake transformations created for the show though not by Deefus Veeblepister.
• The Omnitrix was originally intended for Max Tennyson, as it was programmed to work with his DNA. Ben only wears it because, as Max's grandson, his DNA is the closest genetic match to Max's.
  • Wyatt has confirmed that there exists an alternate timeline featuring "Max 10", in which Max actually does get the Omnitrix.
• A Galvan named Albedo created a replica Ultimatrix resembling a white and red version of the New Omnitrix as a stabilizer for his mental transformation powers. When the Polymorphic Crystal was added, the replica Ultimatrix reformatted it self into a smaller version of its original namesake. The replica Ultimatrix was disabled by Azmuth.
• Skurd spent the eight season of Omniverse being attached to the New Omnitrix, allowing himself to generate weapons for Ben made from the alien DNA stored within it.