A Loveletter to Ben 10

Preface:
You schmucks never told me it had to be fiction.
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I think it's safe to say that our generation is growing up in an age of heroes. 
We idolize our pop figures, our actors, our athletes, our video game characters, our TV show characters, our comic book superheroes
The concept of Ben 10 started out simple. Aliens weren't involved back then. It was just a ten-year-old-kid who could. Imagine if you took Shazam, and instead of giving him all of the powers of the ancient heroes in one character, they were spread out into various forms and with their own disguises. Basically, give Billy Batsen a Power Rangers morpher and let him turn into the other Justice League members. Really, it was such a simple concept that it was bound to happen at some point.
But Ben 10 eventually went down the sci-fi route. as we all know. While many would see this as a divergent path for its "comic book" pastiche genre, really, when you examine the history, it's actually digging back further. Marvel comics started out with pulpy horror, and yes, that included sci-fi and a bit of body horror (look at the Fantastic Four!) that have come to be hallmarks of the Ben 10 franchise.
Even if we do not love the specifics it went down to,
(conclusion)
It was a simple concept; really, so simple that almost anyone could have thought of it. Yet, I think it shows us something telling about our society - things don't have to be complex to inspire greatness. Even if Ben 10 was simple, even if it was a kid's show, I know that it's inspired some of the most creative works of writing and artwork I've been lucky enough to see. I'm glad my existence on Earth overlapped with this tiny little phenomenon in a corner of another massive sprawling universe - the Internet - that we call BTFF.