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Upgrade is the Omnitrix's DNA sample of a Galvanic Mechamorph from Galvan Prime's moon, Galvan B.
Appearance
Ben as Upgrade
Upgrade has a black exterior with green stripes that resemble circuitry all over him. The green circle on his head is his eye, which glows whenever he talks. His body is made up of billions of small cell-like creatures called nanites.[pop-up 1][1]
In the original series, Upgrade's front torso was white and the original Omnitrix symbol was on his chest.
In Back with a Vengeance, Upgrade wore a yellow raincoat.
In Destroy All Aliens, Upgrade looked the same as he did in the original series except he had more of a metallic shine, making him look more machine-like.
In Ultimate Alien, Upgrade's front torso was recolored green with black circuitry patterns and the Ultimatrix symbol on his chest was recolored green.
In Heroes United, Upgrade looked the same as he did in Ultimate Alien except his green circuitry stripes glowed yellow.
In Omniverse, 16-year-old Upgrade is more muscular, his circuit pattern has changed slightly, and the Omnitrix symbol is inside the ring of his eye.
11-year-old Upgrade looks exactly the same as he did in the original series, except his neck is slightly longer and the Omnitrix symbol on his chest is recolored green.
Kevin as Upgrade
Kevin's Upgrade looked exactly like Ben's did in the original series, but without an Omnitrix symbol.
Powers and Abilities
Upgrade is not completely solid, as he can be both liquid and gelatinous. The nanites in his body are what allow Upgrade to reshape and move like liquid even though he's a solid being.[pop-up 2][1] Due to this, he can reshape himself to let projectiles or blows pass through him by creating a hole in his body at will. His physiology also makes him extremely flexible.
Upgrade can use his internal nanotechnology to merge with and possess any technology by encasing himself over it. The size of the device is not significant and he controls it as naturally as he would his own body. When he merges, he upgrades the technology, making the technology he possesses far more advanced and futuristic, causing new features to form. After he unmerges with a machine, it returns to normal.
Upgrade's technological possession can work on non-electrical machinery, such as a row machine in a gym.[2] This ability extends to even sentient beings that are mechanical in nature, like a Chronosapien.[3][4]
Upgrade can reconfigure technology to suit for any situation, like transform the Rust Bucket into a battle armor, with an arsenal of heavy energy weapons, or even retractile robotic manipulator arms.[5]
Possessing technology allows Upgrade to transform it with seemingly no limit, such as merging with a baseball pitching machine and turning it into a tripod-like robot that fires a seemingly infinite amount of baseballs.[6]
Upgrade can make his head or face appear anywhere on the machines he possesses.[7]
Upgrade can merge with organic beings, as long as there is machinery integrated within them, such as with Rojo[2] and Rex.[7]
Upgrade can enhance certain devices, such as Rook's Proto-Tool, just by touching them.[8]
By energizing his biomechanical blood,[pop-up 3][1] Upgrade can launch a powerful green energy blast from his eye.[9][10]
Upgrade can form energy constructs such as an energy spike, though mostly while merged with machinery and upgrading them into weapons.[11]
Upgrade can travel through electrical currents[12] and phase through most technology.
Upgrade can reshape his body to resemble a parachute in order to gently descend and glide through the air before landing safely.[13]
Being inorganic, Upgrade is able to survive in the vacuum of space.[14]
Due to being made of living metal, Upgrade is able to regenerate himself.[15]
Upgrade possesses enhanced strength, being able to throw a sewer lid at a Megawhatt,[9] push Vilgax off of a ship,[13] and overpower Viktor.[14]
Upgrade is durable enough to withstand a blast from the Proto-Tool without physical damage.[8]
Upgrade can generate electrical charges capable of shocking his opponents into submission.[16]
Upgrade can repair damaged machinery with ease and come out unscathed, as demonstrated by Azmuth when he used the Retaliator Armor to repair the Rust Bucket by absorbing its remains into itself and reassembling them.[15]
Upgrade can turn into technology it has touched before, or improvise a device to transform into. It can also turn into non-eletrical items such as a bookshelf or a tennis racket. This ability was only shown by other galvanic mechamorphs.
Weaknesses
Being living metal, Upgrade is weak against electricity such as those generated by Nosedeenians[9] and Conductoids, the latter of which has been demonstrated with Malware.[17]
Upgrade is sensitive to electromagnetic pulses/fields and magnetic fields.[18]
Upgrade can be hurt if he is pulled and stretched hard enough, as shown when he was being pulled and stretched by Dr. Animo's Mutant Squid.[16]
If he is being continuously attacked, Upgrade cannot regenerate.
Upgrade can be affected by technorganic viruses[DJW 1] and is weak against acid.[AS 1]
History
Ben 10
- Upgrade first appeared in Permanent Retirement, where he stopped some thieves from robbing an ATM machine.
- In Tourist Trap, Upgrade fought a Megawhatt to no avail and accidentally duplicated it.
- In The Alliance, Upgrade defeated Rojo by merging with her, while also coming face to face with Vilgax for the first time.
- In Last Laugh, Upgrade defeated the Circus Freaks.
- In Side Effects, Upgrade defeated a thief before finding an ice cream truck.
- In Secrets, Upgrade entered and played with Gwen's laptop. Later, Upgrade defeated some Drones and saved Max from Vilgax; after doing so, Upgrade glided down to Mt. Rushmore, but before he could land safely, the malfunctioning Omnitrix turned him into Ripjaws.
- In The Big Tick, Upgrade failed to defeat the Great One.
- In Framed, Kevin as Upgrade took control of a cable car and defeated Wildmutt.
- In Grudge Match, Upgrade merged with Slix Vigma and freed some prisoners from the Megacruiser.
- In They Lurk Below, Upgrade escaped the Cyber Squids with Gwen and Eddie.
- In Back with a Vengeance, Upgrade appeared when Ben accidentally unlocked the Master Control.
- In Ben 10,000, Upgrade battled future Vilgax before Future Diamondhead switched him into Cannonbolt.
- In Midnight Madness, Upgrade was hypnotized to steal a giant clock.
- In Game Over, Upgrade cheated on a Sumo Slammers video game, and accidentally trapped himself and Gwen in the game and defeated many enemies. Later, Upgrade defeated Kenko and freed himself and Gwen from the game.
- In Under Wraps, Upgrade defeated the Mummy.
- In Be Afraid of the Dark, Upgrade traveled into space and fought Viktor before ditching him. He then defeated the Mummy with the help of Max and Gwen.
- In Divided We Stand, Upgrade battled Dr. Animo's Mutant Squid.
- In Ben 4 Good Buddy, Upgrade fought the Road Crew.
- In Ben 10: Destroy All Aliens, Upgrade destroyed an alien tank with Gwen's help. Later, Upgrade was confronted by the Retaliator.
- In Radio Dazed, Upgrade accidentally broke the Rust Bucket's radio.
- In Road Trip Rumble, Upgrade fought Gwen in order to decide whether the Omnitrix or magic is better.
5 years prior to Omniverse
- In From Hedorium to Eternity, Upgrade battled Zs'Skayr.
Ultimate Alien
- In Ben 10,000 Returns, Upgrade was unlocked by Ben 10,000.
- In Ben 10-Generator Rex: Heroes United, Upgrade merged with Rex to battle Alpha/Omega.
Omniverse
- In OTTO Motives, Upgrade merged with Kevin's car and defeated Otto.
- In Something Zombozo This Way Comes, Upgrade battled Rook, who had been turned into a Zombie Clown.
- In Animo Crackers, Upgrade attempted to prevent Animo's escape from Plumber HQ, but was stopped by a magnetic wave bomb.
- In The Color of Monkey, Upgrade defeated Rojo.
- In The Final Countdown, Upgrade was used to successfully halt Kundo's virus upload, but failed to launch the Plumber HQ's core into space.
- In A New Dawn, Upgrade appeared for a short time when Ben was cycling through his aliens.
Gwen 10 (What If?)
- In Gwen 10, Gwen used Upgrade offscreen to increase the processing power of her laptop. Later, Max used Upgrade to merge with the Rust Bucket.
Appearances
- Ben
- Season 1
- Permanent Retirement (first appearance)
- Tourist Trap (accidental transformation)
- The Alliance
- Last Laugh
- Side Effects
- Secrets (x2)
- Season 2
- The Big Tick
- Grudge Match
- They Lurk Below
- Back with a Vengeance
- Season 3
- Ben 10,000 (selected alien was Four Arms)
- Midnight Madness
- Game Over (x2)
- Under Wraps (selected alien was Snare-oh)
- Be Afraid of the Dark
- Season 4
- Divided We Stand (selected alien was Ditto)
- Ben 4 Good Buddy
- Ben 10: Destroy All Aliens (x2)
- Shorts
- Kevin
- Season 2
- Max
- Season 2
- 16-year-old Ben
- Season 4
- OTTO Motives (first reappearance)
- Season 5
- Something Zombozo This Way Comes
- Animo Crackers (intended alien was Humungousaur)
- Season 7
- The Color of Monkey (intended alien was Stinkfly and/or Jetray)
- Season 8
- The Final Countdown (intended alien was Juryrigg)
- A New Dawn (cameo)
- 11-year-old Ben
- Season 8
- Cartoon Network Action Packs
- Fast Lane
- A Villain a Day
- Techno Zombies
- Space Camp and Beyond
- Greasy Lightning
- Swimming with Sharks
- Alien Data Files: Upgrade
- Others
Video Games
Ben 10
Upgrade is a playable alien in the game.
Naming and Translations
Language | Name | Origin |
---|---|---|
Albanian | Ultra-+ | From ultra and + |
Arabic | أبغرَيدf | Apgreid |
Bulgarian | Биотек | From био, bio and тек, tech |
Chinese | 变形怪 | From 变形 (Biàn Xíng), transform, and 怪 (Guài), monster |
Croatian | Tehno | From tehno, techno |
French | BioTech | From the abbreviation bio, biologique and tech, technologie |
German | Upgrade | From the original English name |
Greek | Αναβαθμιστής | From αναβαθμιστής (anavathmistis), upgrader |
Hebrew | שדרוג | From שדרוג upgrading |
Hungarian | Meti | |
Italian | PlusUltra | From PlusUltra, upgrade |
Japanese | アップグレード | From アップグレード (appugurēdo), upgrade |
Korean | 업그레이드 | From 업그레이드, upgrade |
Polish | Upgrade | From the original English name |
Portuguese (Br) | Ultra T | From ultra, high and from T, abbreviation of technology |
Romanian | Upgrade | From the original English name |
Russian | Плазма (Plazma) Апгрейд |
From плазма (plazma), plasma From the original English name |
Serbian | Tehno | From tehno, techno |
Spanish (HA) | Ultra-T mejora (Back with a Vengeance) Ultra (Ben 10-Generator Rex: Heroes United) Upgrade (Ben 10: Destroy All Aliens) transformación (Ben 10: Destroy All Aliens) Actualización (sometimes in Omniverse) |
From ultra, ultra-, and T, abbreviation of technology. From mejora, upgrade. From ultra, ultra-. From the original English name; pronounced /'hopgreɪd/ From transformación, transformation; dub error (Upgrade is referred as a transformation instead of his name). From Actualización, update. |
Spanish (Spain) | Actualizador | From actualizador, updater |
Swedish | Upgrade | From the original English name |
Turkish | Güncelleme | From güncelleme, update |
Trivia
- Throughout his appearances, Upgrade's voice sounds essentially the same as Ben's albeit through a speaker. The reason for this is because Galvanic Mechamorphs cannot "upgrade" living tissue, thus making the merge with Ben's DNA incomplete.[pop-up 4][1]
- In Framed, Upgrade's voice is Kevin's recurring voice from the original series through a speaker.
- In Gwen 10, Upgrade's voice is Max's voice through a speaker.
- In Destroy All Aliens and From Hedorium to Eternity, 10/11-year old Upgrade's voice is mostly the same as in the original series, except they have a robotic tone similar to Azmuth's father whenever he wears the Retaliator Armor, as well as Malware.
- In Omniverse, 16-year-old Upgrade's voice is mostly the same as in Heroes United but with the robotic tones his younger self uses.
- In Destroy All Aliens, Upgrade's texture was based on a high-tech computer tablet of an unspecified brand.[AC 1]
- Upgrade is one of five aliens featured in Omniverse who generate green electricity; the others being Buzzshock, Frankenstrike, Brainstorm, and Nanomech.
- Upgrade is the final alien used by 11-year-old Ben in Omniverse.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Game Over
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Alliance
- ↑ It's a Mad, Mad, Mad Ben World: Part 1
- ↑ It's a Mad, Mad, Mad Ben World: Part 2
- ↑ Road Trip Rumble
- ↑ Last Laugh
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Ben 10-Generator Rex: Heroes United
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Something Zombozo This Way Comes
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Tourist Trap
- ↑ From Hedorium to Eternity
- ↑ Side Effects
- ↑ Midnight Madness
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Secrets
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Be Afraid of the Dark
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Ben 10: Destroy All Aliens
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Divided We Stand
- ↑ The More Things Change: Part 1
- ↑ Animo Crackers
Crew Statements
Derrick J. Wyatt
Alex Soto
- ↑ Ben 10 Volume 2 DVD
Pop-ups
Audio Commentary
See Also
- Uprigg (fusion of Upgrade and Juryrigg)
- Upgrade Suit