Gourmand

Gourmand
General Information
Homeworld	Peptos I (destroyed) Peptos II (destroyed) Peptos III (destroyed) Peptos IV (destroyed) Peptos V (destroyed) Peptos VI (destroyed) Peptos VII (destroyed) Peptos VIII (destroyed) Peptos IX (destroyed) Peptos X (destroyed) Peptos XI (destroyed) Peptos XII
Locomotion	Bipedal Flight (through burping)
Diet	Omnivorous
Sapience level	Sapient
Subspecies/Races	Perk Gourmand Murk Gourmand "Queen Gourmand"
Behind the Scenes
Universe	Ben 10

Gourmands are a vaguely humanoid amoeba-like species from the destroyed planet Peptos XI and currently the physically identical Peptos XII.

Biology

Anatomy

Gourmands are small, vaguely humanoid amoeba-like aliens with short stubby limbs, four-fingered hands, three-toed feet, six tubular growths on the back of their head, and three sets of gill-like markings on their face. There are three different types of Gourmands, all of which have yellow eyes and at least three tongues.

Certain Gourmands have four dull green bulbs on their tails and some hairs on their chins.

Besides the ones listed below, Gourmands can come in other colors. For example, Perk Gourmands from Dimension 23 have bluish-green skin, Tim 10's Perk Upchuck has dark green skin, and Mad Ben's Perk Upchuck has skin resembling a Murk Gourmand's.

• Upchuck as a Perk Gourmand
• Upchuck as a Murk Gourmand
• Queen Voratia Rumbletum, the only known "Queen Gourmand"

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Perk Gourmands

The first known subspecies of Gourmands is the Perk Gourmands, who are green all over with a darker shade of green on their foreheads, backs, and hands. They have crooked teeth that appear outside the top of their mouth, forming an over-bite.

Murk Gourmands

The second known subspecies of Gourmands is the Murk Gourmands, who are swampy-green with tan bellies and muzzles, black digits, and black-green spots on their tails, limbs, hips, and backs. Their teeth are more aligned with visibly sharp canine teeth that appear outside the bottom of their mouth, forming an under-bite.

"Queen Goumnands"

The third known subspecies of Gourmands is seemingly a caste which their Queen belongs to. This rank is similar in appearance to a Perk Gourmand except they are much larger and have light green markings across their skin.

Ecology

Gourmands do not have a natural predator because they are "at the top of the food chain".

Powers and abilities

Gourmands have three, very strong adhesive tongues can stretch to great lengths, allowing them to latch onto large objects and reel them in with relative ease. These tongues can also be used as whips.

Gourmands have developed jaws, diamond-hard teeth, and a gastrointestinal tract that allows them to can eat almost any material, including solid objects and organic matter all the way up to the Ascalon.

Gourmands can eat other lifeforms, such as earth tigers, Crabdozers, To'kustars, Metahumans, and even Celestialsapiens. In the case of To'kustars, they would first have to be chopped up into bite-size chunks. In the case of Celestialsapiens, they could either be digested or spat back out.

After digesting something, a Gourmand's acid-filled stomach dissolves all matter into a brew of combustible gases and liquids that can be expelled in the form of glowing acid spheres both at will and with great accuracy. These "loogies" explode upon contact with considerable destructive power, which depends on the chemical composition and overall size of what they ate to create them.

Gourmands do not always need to eat anything to spit. They can use the digestive acids in their stomachs.

In addition to the above, Gourmands can eat and spit out energy, such as lasers and the ultraviolet beams of a Crystalsapien.

Gourmands can use their tongues offensively to throw objects or grapple an opponent. Technically speaking, these tongues are strong enough to pull down Incursean warships and heavy machinery.

Gourmands are connected with a trans-space bladder dimension where they store all the "food" they eat. Every individual Gourmand, regardless of subspecies, is connected to the larger species. As such, they can sense any danger to their people through their stomachs. Lifeforms eaten by Gourmands will trapped in this bladder dimension.

Gourmands can expel their breath downward in order to fly, using their belches like rocket thrusters and propelling themselves upwards. They can also survive in the vacuum of space.

Gourmands have great durability and stamina for their size, as they can withstand being hit by a car, skidding across a concrete road for a decent distance, and crashing through a brick wall.

Gourmands can spit out slime that is slippery to Arburian Pelarotas and can melt ice, such as that generated by a Necrofriggian.

Weaknesses

Gourmands have a limit to how many big objects they can swallow at once. As such, they are slow when they eat a lot of things and become excessively fat. If they do not spit out anything they have eaten, they will remain fat and be rendered immobile until they spit it out.

There is a limit as to what types of energy a Gourmand can ingest, as the lasers fired by an Evolved Galvan can make them inflate into a ball.

A Gourmand's hunger can be used against them, as they can easily be swayed from any task with the simple promise of a tasty treat. The mere mention of food is enough to distract them from fighting.

Gourmands can temporarily be immobilized in ice, such as a Necrofriggian's ice breath.

Gourmands can be lifted by a species with as much strength as Sonorosians.

A Gourmand's tongues are neither strong nor fast enough to catch and reel in certain beings.

Gourmands cannot eat radioactive materials because they are not particularly hearty.

Whenever they eat Celestialsapiens, Gourmands do not gain their cosmic powers in any form or way.

Culture and society

Perk Gourmands and Murk Gourmands do not normally get along with each other but will obey and protect their queen without question.

Perk Gourmands are thought-oriented and defense-minded, wear metal cups like helmets, and fight with spoons. Meanwhile, Murk Gourmands are more action-oriented and attack-minded, wear metal saucers as helmets, and fight with forks.

Generally speaking, Gourmands are not an aggressive race as their main thoughts revolve around eating. Given the chance, an individual Gourmand will begin snacking on any kind of material in its vicinity.

Gourmands do not wear clothes because they are considered to be a primitive species that does not interact with other aliens.

Notable members

• Upchuck: An Omnitrix transformation used by Ben Tennyson.
  • Vomit Man: An alternate version of Perk Upchuck used by the Ben Tennyson of Dimension 23. It is currently unknown if Ben 23 has Murk Gourmand DNA in his Omnitrix.
  • Upchuck (Tim 10): An alternate version of Perk Upchuck used by Timothy.
  • Mad Upchuck: An alternate version of Perk Upchuck used by Mad Ben.
• Queen Voratia Rumbletum: The queen of the Gourmands and the only member of her subspecies.
• Sergeant Cookmeister: The second-in-command of the Perk Gourmand army.
• Sergeant Cast Iron: The second-in-command of the Murk Gourmand army.
• Private Brownbag: A Murk Gourmand soldier
• Gourmand Actor: A Murk Gourmand who auditioned for the role of Upchuck in Albedo's stage play.

Half-qualifiers

• Kevin 11 2.0: 12-year-old Kevin Levin of the Prime Timeline transformed into an amalgamation of Ben Tennyson's second set of 10 aliens, including Perk Upchuck.
  • Ultimate Kevin: 17-year-old Kevin Levin of the Prime Timeline transformed into an amalgamation of every alien available in the Ultimatrix prior to traveling to the Forge of Creation, including Murk Upchuck.
• Gwen Tennyson: The Prime Timeline's Gwen Tennyson was temporarily transformed into a Murk Gourmand due to an Ultimatrix malfunction.
• Rook Blonko: Rook Blonko was temporarily mutated into a Perk Gourmand due to an Omnitrix malfunction.
• Big Chuck: A Biomnitrix transformation comprised of Perk Gourmand and To'kustar DNA.

History

The Gourmands have a plan to eat their entire planet as a last resort during times of war, which can only be enforced by their Queen Rumbletum. Known as Plan Omega, their way of thinking is that a planet cannot be conquered if there is no planet to conquer.

The Gourmands have previously eaten Peptos I-X as a result of Plan Omega. When the Incurseans attempted to invade Peptos XI, Plan Omega was executed for the eleventh time. The Gourmands currently live on Peptos XII.

Gallery

Perk Gourmands

Perk Upchuck

Perk Upchuck (Omniverse; age 16)

Perk Upchuck (Omniverse; age 11)

Ben 23 as Vomit Man

Tim 10 as Perk Upchuck

Mad Ben as Perk Upchuck

Big Chuck

Sergeant Cookmeister

Murk Gourmands

Murk Upchuck

Murk Upchuck (Heroes United)

Murk Upchuck (Omniverse)

Albedo as Murk Upchuck

Sergeant Cast Iron

Private Brownbag

Murk Gourmand Actor

Miscellaneous

Queen Voratia Rumbletum

Notes

• The name of Gourmand comes from "gourmet", a term associated with food.
  • The subspecies "Perk" is named as a homage to Tom Perkins, a character designer in the original series. Therefore, Perk Gourmands resemble Upchuck's appearance in that series.
  • The subspecies "Murk" is named as a homage to Glen Murakami, who was an executive producer for Alien Force and Ultimate Alien. Therefore, Murk Gourmands resemble Upchuck's appearance in those series.
• Tom Perkins envisioned Gourmands as vaguely humanoid amoeba-like creatures. They were always supposed to be translucent, with similarly translucent tummies. But since that detail did not make it to the on-screen design, people have mistaken them to be humanoid amphibians.
• Perkins also designed Perk Upchuck with three tongues, yet he is commonly depicted with having four tongues on-screen in his appearances in the original series. This is also seen on official artwork and Bandai's battle version toy of the character.
  • Similarly, Upchuck is described as having four tongues by Dwayne McDuffie and in his bios on both the Cartoon Network website and the Ben 10: Alien Force Volume 6 DVD.
  • Amusingly, Murk Upchuck was shown to have only one tongue on-screen during his appearances in both Alien Force and Ultimate Alien.
• Upchuck is the only Omnitrix alien who can switch between two different variants of his species. Although it is unknown why Azmuth included DNA for both Perk and Murk Gourmands, the Queen's subspecies is the only one not sampled in the Omnitrix.
  • Both Perk Gourmands and Murk Gourmands have the same abilities; neither of them has abilities exclusive to any one subspecies.
• Several concept designs for the Perk Gourmands' apperance in the original series were used to create other species such as the Sphoeroids and Polar Manzardills.
• In the original series, Perk Gourmands were unable to consume human food. This has been retconned in Omniverse, as it has been confirmed that they can now eat normal food in addition to everything else.
  • The out-of-universe reason for this change was because the crew felt that Perk Gourmands being unable to eat Earth food was too limiting.
• Peptos XI was originally described as a volcanic planet whose molten lava prevents the Gourmands from eating it. This is no longer true in Omniverse, as Peptos XI generally had pink terrain.
• Though Derrick J. Wyatt prefers Perk Gourmands over Murk Gourmands, he likes both variants. In fact, the out-of-universe reason Upchuck has both Perk and Murk versions of himself is because Wyatt wanted to use both designs.
• It is confirmed that the Omnitrix from the Ben 10 reboot contains Gourmand DNA. Therefore, Upchuck is among the countless aliens whose DNA pods were glimpsed in the episode "Innervasion Part 5: High Override".
  • Upchuck was among the aliens considered to physically appear in a future season of the reboot. However, changes at WarnerMedia are putting things on pause.
• Although they are from different universes, Gourmands could have difficulty trying to catch and reel in Captain Marvel.
  • A Gourmand's inability to eat radioactive materials was confirmed using Kryptonite as an example.