Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-34260455-20180118013149/@comment-34260455-20180120032719

I always interpreted Paradox and No Watch Ben's trip as traveling to a point from which all parallel timelines that involve Ben getting the Omnitrix diverge. No Watch Ben's timeline is an odd one, where Azmuth never built the Omnitrix (or rather, no one seems to possess one).

When Vilgax detonated the Chronosapien Time Bomb, he destroyed every timeline diverging from the point where he destroyed Xylene's ship. You're right, EnderJesse, that Paradox and No Watch Ben gave Prime Ben his Omnitrix, resetting the timestream. For No Watch Ben to still exist, this new Prime Ben timeline must branch off from the No Watch timeline, instead of replacing it.

I don't think Vilgax being out of his own universe is what protected him from the blast, since other Bens who were outside of their native timeline were erased along with everything else from their respective timelines.

Here's a wild thought: since the Prime Ben timeline now branches off from the No Watch Ben timeline, when Ben and Rook travel to 1773, they are actually meeting No Watch Vilgax. This would correct some plot holes (such as, why didn't other Vilgax's have Time Bombs as well?), and keep intact the in-universe lore that Maltruent gave Vilgax the Time Bomb.

Although No Watch Vilgax was intrigued by a device with shape-shifting powers by Prime Ben, he never knew about the Omnitrix until he met Eon. This both provides Prime Vilgax with the incentive to search for an Omnitrix-like device (as he branches off from No Watch Vilgax) and provides No Watch Vilgax with the means and motives to carry out his plan in "And Then There Were None".

I think that makes the most sense (as much as any time travel can make sense, anyway).