r/generatorrex

I'm an OG fan, when I first discovered Rex in 2010, I wasn't much older than he was. Back in the day Rex was being pushed hard as the next big thing on Cartoon Network on Foxtel, Australia's cable television. Does cable TV still exist anymore?

I had been a fan of Ben 10, but something about Rex connected with me on a deeper level. I think I was drawn in by the way it was always skimming so close to darker themes without flagging the censors. I soon got my friends into the show and we were often amazed at the things Rex was allowed to get away with. It was much like X-Men, what resonated most was seeing kids about my age clearly dealing with trauma. I spent countless hours imagining what Rex's past must have been like, and needless to say, what I imagined was not what we got. It was probably too dark and too Evangelion.

Ben 10 was about an average kid with a normal family, and possessing the Omnitrix seemed mostly like inconsequential fun. But Rex was a weapon, a child-soldier, being wielded in a realistic world with familiar politics. But at the centre of it, he had his found-family, that was an appealing fantasy to me. What kid wouldn't want to run away and be adopted by Holiday and Six?

Sixteen years may have passed, but Rex always occupied some small corner of my mind. I never forgot about him. I recently started rewatching the series and it's put a lot of things about my teenage self and my home life into perspective, I see why I latched onto Rex so hard. I used to relate to him as a peer, now I watch him as a concerned parent.

I'm glad to see he's not been forgotten here either, it's nice to see young fans still discovering Rex. While it is a shame Generator Rex never reached the level of success and fame that Ben 10 did, in a way, I'm glad. It's retained its dignity, no endless reboots, remakes, revivals, and enough microplastic shedding merch to fill an island. No, it was just three tight seasons, a story with a beginning, middle, and end. A story that despite all the goofy, cartoony antics, seemed to always have a melancholy resting under the surface.

I'm not sure if this has been talked about but when Rex got Block Party, I always associated the situation to be a "fight or flight" response.

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Like the only similar situation is where Blast Caster was created when Rex activated the Omega-1 for the first time but besides that I don't think any of the Omega Builds were ever created out of desperation and out of nowhere.

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Every other one is a Build that Rex had in mind but Block Party seemed like a real surprise to Rex himself.

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And part of the reason why I think the Block Party was a sporadic moment is because of its design.

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It's like a smaller Smack Hands almost and with how much he was spamming Smack Hands to block lasers from Quarry, I feel that influenced how Block Party came to be but mostly from the Omega-1. Not to mention it did technically bring him back from drowning.

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So that makes me curious on how much can the Omega-1 can act on it's own for it's user.

does Cartoon Network hate the show or somethin?