#just the bad batch tcw season 7 arc | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

xecutivecucumber · 1 year

Text

I need some happy angst in my life right now so here’s Fives living and getting to find Echo.

Once again, posting things from my fic that I think appeal to a wider audience. Ever since I saw Echo was alive, I knew I needed Fives to have been there. It was a pleasure writing this version.

Again, sorry my usual followers, this is stuff in the fics.

Today’s Sample: Fives learns what Rex discovers and comes along on the mission to rescue Echo.

The context: Fives lives and Ahsoka stays with the 501st. Also Ahsoka has super charged Force powers that cripple her if she uses them too much. She leads the mission to go get Echo. Also Fives and Crosshair one hundred percent got into a fight. (oh and Tup lives too)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

General Skywalker was serious as they explained what had happened.

“I’ll talk to the Council.” He said. “But we will be getting permission.”

Rex knew that meant they were going whether or not they got actual permission. For once, the General was acting as his old self again.

“Go and talk to Fives.” He said. “He’ll want to know.”

“Thank you, sir.” Rex said.

General Skywalker patted Rex on the shoulder.

“I’ll let you know when we can leave.” He said. “And I’ll see if that Bad Batch can give us a hand.”

Rex and Ahsoka turned to leave before the General spoke again.

“Oh, and Rex?” He said. “I’ll need your- help later, okay?”

Rex repressed a sigh.

“Yes, sir.” He said.

“You’re only back a few days, and he’s making you stand watch during his little meetings with Padme?” Ahsoka asked once they were on the way to the barracks, shaking her head.

“It’s all right most of the time.” Rex said. “Just as long as General Kenobi’s not around.”

Fives was waiting at the entrance of the barracks for them.

“Rex, Ahsoka.” He said as they approached. “Tup said you had something important to talk to me about?”

“Yes.” Rex said.

“We’ll go to my quarters to talk about it.” Ahsoka said.

Fives’ frown deepened, but he followed them to the small room Ahsoka stayed in.

“Take a seat.” Ahsoka said to Fives, gesturing to her cot.

Fives did so, looking between them.

“Whatever it is, I didn’t do it, okay?” He said.

It was a weak attempt to diffuse the tension, Rex knew, and Fives’ grin slipped away as Ahsoka and Rex continued to look grim.

Rex gave the outline of the mission: that they suspected an algorithm that could predict Rex’s plans.

“We found a live signal at the Separatist Cyber Center. From a being on Skako Minor.” Rex said. “When we asked who it was-”

Rex took a deep breath. He hoped he wasn’t wrong in opening this wound.

“It said it was CT-1409.”

Fives’ eyes widened, his nostrils flared, and he stood immediately.

“When do we leave?” He demanded.

Rex and Ahsoka shared a look.

“Fives, we are going, and soon, but you have to consider that this may be a trap.” Ahsoka said.

“Of course it’s a trap!” Fives said. “They’re using our dead brother to try and lure us in! They have to pay for it!”

“Fives,” Rex said, unsure on how to respond to Fives’ reaction. “Echo could be alive.”

“He’s not.” Fives’ voice had dropped to a low growl. “He’s not. It’s a trick and they have to pay.” “Fives-”

Fives whirled on them, eyes wild.

“Don’t you think I would know if my brother was alive?” He yelled. “I saw him die! I felt it! Echo is dead!”

He stared at them, daring them to say differently. Tears were leaking down his face, unnoticed.

“Just-just let me know when we leave.” He said.

He pushed past them and out the door.

“Ahsoka.” Rex said. “Can you- can you maybe feel Echo?”

Ahsoka shook her head.

“But that doesn’t mean he’s for sure dead.” She said. “I couldn’t really feel Master Obi Wan when he was pretending to be that bounty hunter, and sometimes a person can change so much that you can’t recognize them in the Force.”

“I have to believe he’s alive.” Rex said quietly. “It has to be him.”

"But if it's not?" Ahsoka asked.

"Then I say his name in remembrances again." Rex said. "And move on, like with every fallen brother."

It was a lie. If it was not Echo, Rex did not know if he could move on this time.

Fives shot again and again into the crowd of clankers. His face still throbbed from where Crosshair had landed his only decent punch from their fight earlier. Fives liked to think that the sniper had come off worse for wear from their scuffle. The idiot shouldn't have brought up leaving Echo behind.

That was why this couldn't be Echo. It was a trap, through and through. Because if Echo was alive, that meant Fives had left his injured brother behind, left him for dead. Fives could have never done that. So Echo wasn't alive. It was just a fact.

Ahsoka led the group through the Techno Union's base. Rex was at Fives' side. The Captain had been high strung and moody this whole mission. He'd nearly attacked Crosshair too and would have if Ahsoka hadn't stopped him.

Fives vaguely wondered how he'd been acting, if Rex was this bad.

Fives was forced to admit, the Bad Batch was good. He wouldn't choose to take any of them on missions, as they were all pretentious shebs'e. Except the big one. Wrecker was all right, and was worth a squad of his own.

He’s a bit like Hardcase Fives thought as he yanked a droid's head from its body and chucked it at another oncoming clanker. He never thought this much during missions. He had a laser focus, only deviating for a well timed joke.

"The signal is coming from in there." Tech said, pointing to a door.

He had been calling it Echo's signal until Fives had threatened to shove his datapad up his unmentionables. It wasn't Echo's signal. It was a trick.

"Open the door!" Rex ordered.

An ugly, amphibian like mug appeared on a screen next to the door.

Fives tuned out most of what Wat Tambor had to say and shot more clankers.

"Your friend is dead." Fives managed to catch Wat Tambor's words over the blaster fire.

He knew it.

"Liar!" Rex snarled.

Fives wanted to scream at Rex. He didn't know how the Captain would react to finding out that Tambor was telling the truth. Rex needed to let the delusion go.

"Fives!"

Fives looked back to see an open door. Rex was beckoning to him.

"You're with us!" He said.

Fives ducked in with Tech and Rex. Hunter looked back at them.

"I hope you find what you're looking for." He said.

The door closed behind them. They were in a dimly lit chamber with several control desks. The focus of the room seemed to be a strange- Fives couldn't think of any other word than casket.

"I don't like the look of this." Tech said as they moved slowly into the room.

He tapped at his datapad.

"I'm definitely picking up a lifeform in there."

"Signals can be faked." Fives said.

No one responded. Rex was staring at the casket.

"I think I can get it open." Tech said.

He worked at the controls. Fives stood next to Rex, ready to pull him away from whatever trap was contained in the casket.

The casket opened.

A body fell forward, hanging from a jungle of cords and wires.

For a horrifying moment Fives thought it was a corpse. Then he saw the flickering of the eyes.

It was alive.

Echo was alive.

Fives moved faster than Rex, ripping his helmet off and climbing up to where Echo was attached. An anguished noise he couldn't remember making echoed around the chamber. He pulled Echo down into his arms.

"Echo!" Fives said.

Echo made no movement. His skin was freezing, even through Fives' armor and blacks. Fives clutched him harder into his chest.

"Ey'ika, wake up." He said.

Hot tears were dripping off his nose onto Echo's back, melting the frost.

"Ey'ika, please." He begged. "We're here, we're here. You can wake up now."

He was openly crying now. He was vaguely aware of Rex giving Tech instructions, but he didn't care what the others did. Echo had to wake up.

Then Echo began to speak.

"We-we have to get to the shuttle-" Echo mumbled. "To escape the Citadel."

Fives' already cracked heart broke into two.

"No! I'll go first."

"No, Echo." Fives said in a rush, rocking Echo back and forth. "No, you're not there."

"No, no!" Echo struggled weakly against Fives' grip.

"You're with me. It's Fives. I'm here." Fives babbled.

"No!" Echo pushed against Fives one last time before falling back. "Fives?"

His eyes finally focused on Fives' face.

"You- you came back for me." He said.

A fresh wave of tears overcame Fives. He pressed their foreheads together.

"I'm sorry." Fives choked out. "I'm sorry."

Echo shifted against Fives' grip.

"Rex?" He asked.

Rex knelt next to them.

"Yeah, it's me." He said softly.

"What- what happened?" Echo asked. He pulled weakly away from Fives and looked around. "Where am I?"

"It's okay, Echo." Rex said. "You're safe now."

Fives wondered how Rex was staying so calm. How could he reassure Echo that it was okay? It wasn't okay. Didn't he see what they had done to Echo? And they were the ones who left him.

"Just sit tight trooper." Rex said. "You're going home."

He beckoned and suddenly Tech was with them. Fives instinctively wrapped his arms tighter around Echo.

"Fives." Rex said. "We gotta make sure he's okay."

Fives swallowed. He felt if he let go of Echo, then his brother would suddenly disappear and Fives would find that it was a dream. He released Echo and gently positioned himself so that Tech could get a look, but kept one arm around Echo's shoulders.

Tech was surprisingly gentle as he checked Echo over. Even still, every so often Echo would shudder or flinch.

Fives took in Echo’s condition as Tech worked. Echo was so, so thin. He was ghostly pale and his now faded eyes were too large in his face. But the worst thing was what they had added. Metal studded the skin of his back, his stomach, his chest, his head. Wires were screwed into his left arm, and his right- Fives swallowed bile as he looked at the inhuman scomp they had replaced his right hand with. As far as Fives could tell, Echo’s legs were also mechanical. For a second, Fives was overwhelmed with how little of his brother was left.

"Unfortunately there isn't much I can tell without a good scanner." Tech said after a moment. "As I suspected, most of the useful information will come from the data here."

He stood and handed Fives a canteen.

"He is dehydrated." Tech said. "Make sure he drinks."

Then he turned back to the controls and started tapping away.

Fives unscrewed the canteen and held it to Echo's lips. Echo grimaced and turned his head away.

"Come on, Ey'ika." Fives encouraged. "Just a little."

Echo opened his mouth and Fives poured a little of the water in, careful not to make his brother choke.

Echo drank slowly at first, and then hungrily. Both his hand and his robotic attachment came up to steady the canteen as he gulped.

"Slow down." Fives said.

Echo's eyes widened and he pushed away at the canteen. He only moved it a little bit, but it was enough space for him to hunch over and vomit the water over his and Fives' laps. It hadn't had time to warm in Echo's stomach and the cool, yellowish liquid soaked into Fives' blacks.

"S-sorry." Echo mumbled, attempting to wipe at his mouth.

"It's okay." Fives soothed.

Echo stared at the canteen. His throat bobbed up and down as he swallowed, his thirst evident.

"Hey Tech!" Fives said. "He threw up the water."

Tech glanced at them.

"His stomach's size has been reduced considerably." He said. "Only let him take sips every few minutes."

"You hear that, Echo?" Rex asked.

Echo nodded.

"Do you remember how you got here, Echo?" Rex asked after Echo had had a few sips.

Fives shot Rex a glare. Echo didn't need to be interrogated right now.

"No." Echo said softly. "I-I just remember trying- trying to get to the shuttle and then- and then-"

He clutched at his head with his hand. He was trembling under Fives' arm.

"That's all right, trooper." Rex said. "Just relax. Do you think you can stand?"

Echo put his hand on Fives' shoulder, pressing down. He managed to get to his feet, but he swayed. He took a step but immediately lost balance. Fives caught him and helped him back down.

"It'll be fine." Fives said. "I'll carry him."

Rex nodded. He placed his hand on Echo's shoulder again for a moment before standing and taking a defensive position near the front of the room.

It wasn't long before Ahsoka came into the room.

“Things are almost under control out there.” She said. "How's it going in here?"

"I'm still trying to decrypt Echo's cerebral interface." Tech said promptly. "Until I do, we cannot disconnect him from this computer system."

She came forward and knelt in front of Echo. “Echo.” She called softly.

Echo, who had retreated into his own mind, started and looked up.

“Com-commander?” He stuttered. “What-what happened to you?”

Ahsoka gave a small laugh. Fives’ own smile disappeared when he saw the look on Echo’s face.

“How long have I been here?” Echo whispered.

“We can talk about that later.” Ahsoka said. “How do you feel?”

“I-” Echo swallowed. “I’ve been better, sir.”

Ahsoka glanced at Rex and Fives.

“He’s too weak to walk.” Rex supplied. “He’s very disoriented. Can’t remember how he got here.”

Ahsoka nodded.

“Have you called in the extraction squad?”

“I tried.” Rex said. “Signals are-patchy here. I don’t think I got through.”

Ahsoka grimaced.

“Well, we’ve been in worse binds.”

The rest of the Batch had come into the room.

Fives ignored their reports and turned back to Echo. His brother was shivering and damp from the melting frost. All Fives could do was hold his brother close.

Echo seemed to fade in and out of reality. Occasionally he would jerk and whisper his number again.

"I've got it!" Tech declared. "We can unplug him now."

Rex approached and Fives helped Echo turn around. Fives held him steady as Rex ripped the connections out. Echo jerked and gasped after each one. The last one sent him sprawling onto Fives' shoulder, coughing. He lay still for a second.

"Echo?" Fives asked.

He pushed Echo off of him and held him at arm's length. To his surprise, Echo was sitting upright by himself. When he looked into Fives' eyes, there was a light that wasn't there before. A smile touched his lips.

"I got a big headache." He declared.

Fives gave a laugh that verged on a sob. Echo was free.

Fives helped Echo up the Marauder's ramp, despite his brother's protests.

"I can walk, Fives."

"Just because you can, doesn't mean you should." Fives replied.

Echo's snort of laughter made Fives' heart swell.

Behind them Rex carried Ahsoka. Saving all of their shebs'e had put her firmly out of commission.

Fives figured that spewing forth masses of lightning would take it out of anyone.

The battle alongside the Poletec had been going badly. Fives had had the traitorous thought of wishing they had a Jedi with real lightsabers. Ahsoka's electrostaffs had been useless against the tri-droids. Hunter and Rex had been making some progress on them, courtesy of Wrecker chucking them on top of the droids.

Then one had made the mistake of turning its sights on Crosshair and Echo.

Fives had shouted, but Ahsoka had acted. Fives could still see in his mind her flinging her hands forward in a desperate attempt to stop the tri-droid from firing. Instead of an invisible push, a barrage of green bolts of electricity had sprung from her fingers. It had overwhelmed the tri-droid and it toppled over into its fellow, bringing them both down.

After they'd taken out the rest of the droids, they'd found Ahsoka unable to move, but able to curse loudly. Rex had carried her the entire way back.

Fives had been impressed, but Ahsoka seemed somewhat upset about it. General Skywalker had told stories about Dooku's ability to use lightning. Allegedly it was something only Sith could do.

Fives figured there was a first time for everything. Ahsoka was the furthest thing from a Sith one could get, at least according to Fives' limited understanding.

Echo stumbled and Fives quickly steadied him.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah." Echo said. "Just a little tired."

"I suspect you are feeling more than 'a little tired.' Tech said. "The adrenaline that has kept you functioning the last several hours should be wearing off."

Fives had Echo sit on one of the Marauder's seats. Looking into his brother's eyes, Fives guessed Tech was right. Echo's eyelids were drooping.

On the other side of the ship, Rex was lifting Ahsoka onto one of the sleeping racks.

"Does this happen to you a lot?" Wrecker asked Ahsoka. "Cause this is the second time-"

Rex shot Wrecker a look, but Ahsoka laughed.

"It's a recent development." She said. "Doesn't happen as often as it used to though."

"Here." Fives looked up to see Hunter holding out a set of blacks and a blanket.

"Thanks." Fives said, accepting them.

He nudged Echo, who'd been staring into space.

"Tech says he shouldn't eat anything right now." Hunter went on as Fives began helping Echo get the blacks on. "But he's getting nutrition and saline shots ready."

Fives nodded his thanks. Echo kept zoning out, making dressing him a little difficult. Finally Fives got Echo settled with the blanket wrapped tightly around him. Fives removed his own upper armor and put an arm around Echo. For the first time since they'd freed him from that casket, Echo stopped shivering.

It wasn't until the Marauder had taken off that Tech came by with several hypos.

"Echo." Fives said softly.

Echo blinked at Fives and then saw the needles. His eyes widened.

"No-" He croaked and jerked away from Tech. "No more, get away from me-"

"Echo!" Fives held his brother firm. "Echo, you're safe. These are going to help you."

Echo shook his head.

"No more." He said again. "No more."

"You will have to hold him." Tech said. "I will administer a sedative first."

"I'm not gonna hold him down!" Fives said. "Not like they did!"

Tech pushed at his goggles and frowned.

"Echo." Ahsoka said. "Be calm."

Fives could feel the power in her words. Echo stopped struggling. He meekly allowed Tech to roll up his sleeve and give him the first shot, though he was trembling. He flinched hard as the needle pierced his skin. Fives let out a breath as Echo's head fell onto his shoulder.

"Excellent." Tech said.

He administered the other two shots. Fives tucked his brother in closer and settled down.

The Batch migrated to the cockpit. Fives suspected they were uncomfortable with their ship so overtaken by strangers. There were a few minutes of indistinct conversation before the only sound on the ship was the hum of the engines.

Fives looked down at Echo. The shadows under his eyes were so dark. Fives wondered why. Wasn’t stasis like sleeping? He’d have to ask Kix when they returned. Maybe they just looked dark because of Echo’s ghostly skin.

Clones didn't have much to lose in terms of body weight. They were slim, efficient machines. But Echo was skeletal. His bony shoulder dug painfully into Fives' side.

Fives suddenly became terrified for Echo. Did he meet the standards anymore? Could he do what was required of him as a soldier?

That thought made Fives even more sick to his stomach. Echo, if he wanted to live, had to become a soldier again. Looking down at him, Fives thought that he'd never seen anyone who looked less ready to go to war. Fives didn't want him to, either. He wanted Echo to have the chance to forget about what he'd been through. The war would make that impossible.

Echo twitched in his sleep and let out a soft groan. Fives didn't want to imagine what horrors lurked behind Echo's eyelids.

"You're safe, Echo." Fives muttered. "I'm here."

Echo stilled again. Fives mentally prepared himself for a long trip. Echo would need him and Fives would be there. It wouldn't make up for the years he'd left Echo alone, but he would be there.

He would not sleep. Not when there was the chance of waking and finding that Echo’s return was a dream.

Mando’a:

shebs’e: asses

Ey’ika: Little Eyayah, Fives’ special nickname for Echo

Eyayah: Echo

And then later they fight about Echo going with the Bad Batch and it’s the last conversation they have before Fives takes a blaster bolt for Ahsoka after Rex’s chip activates. And then Fives nearly dies because they don’t have enough bacta. But then he recovers and bullies his way into the Bad Batch. And somehow I torture him less than in my other fic.

49 notes · View notes

tired-night-owl · 12 days

Text

This week’s bad batch episode reactions

Poor babies

It’s giving obi wan’s zygerria arc from tcw

Pretty clouds

I love rampart being shut down

MOM IS HERE !!!!

Why is rampart so funny this season

Wrecker and crosshair in unison is not something I thought I needed but here we are

Like really why am I starting to like rampart he’s a proud little whiny bitch and it makes me laugh too much for this abomination of a man

You’re gonna hate THEM even more, you dont know what you’re in for

Why are they taking blood from the back of their hands ?! Couldn’t it be somewhere with a bit more skin it has to hurt

Omega you little smart pickpocketing queen

Well here’s another bitch to replace emerie since she’s starting to be « nice »

Older sister omega vibes

Smart girl I love her so much but she’s getting cocky and with 2 episodes left, I don’t think it’s a good thing

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH YOUR BEAUTY, YOUR IDENTITY *cue bmo cries when finn cuts his hair*

Stop making me simp for rugged imperials Star Wars animation team !

I don’t trust this twink

He’s totally gonna betray you

How is no one recognizing rampart?? He was arrested in front of the whole senate !

Of course you missed being a bitch and ordering people about

Tell him echo

Imperials are so dumb omg but at least it works out in our faves’ favor

Ffs wrecker, crosshair was right lying is really not your strength

Wrecker is soooo the zeb of the bad batch

MY BB ECHO ?! IS THAT HOW YOU DIE

You’re probably right rampart and I’m not looking forward to it except maybe for you

Omg he’s just a baby it’s so sad and I feel like he’s the one who will slow them down in their escape attempt

Omg Omega !!!

But even if you have found your way out, there’s people watching you 24/7 and you’re locked in your individual rooms at night how tf are you gonna help those kids escape omega ?!?!

You better not snitch you translucent r2 wannabe

I understand echo is mostly droid but there’s still flesh on him why will he not be detected ?

Well he got moves that’s why

There’s no way it will end well I don’t trust Star Wars

Shut up and stay strapped in, you whiny man child

IM STRESSIN !

Hunter being hot part idek anymore

Omg it worked ?!

#the bad batch #star wars #tbb #tbb spoilers #the bad batch spoilers #the owl house #tbb omega #crosshair #sw tbb #tbb crosshair #tbb hunter #tbb wrecker #tbb echo #tbb tech

29 notes · View notes

eelfuneral · 1 year

Text

Tech Was Never Cold or Uncaring

In the wake of Tech’s broken-femured heroics in the newest season of The Bad Batch, I am overjoyed (read smug and obnoxious) about the fact that more people seem understand that Tech is, in fact, capable of being a caring individual. The assertion that he is somehow a cold or uncaring character always confused me, because textual evidence points to a very different characterization. I think people got hung up on his formal speaking register, social difficulties, and problems verbalizing his emotional state and kind of ran with an alternate character interpretation that completely ignored his actions and reactions. So in case you are curious about what I mean, here are some moments from the TBB arc of TCW and TBB Season 1 where Tech is a genuinely nice guy.

1. Standing up for Hunter

When Jessie and Kix asked what was “so special” about Hunter, Tech immediately stepped in and explained Hunter’s mutations and how they were beneficial.

2. Physically carrying Echo to safety

During Echo’s rescue, Tech carried Echo (a grown man) on his back while also using his strength to climb. He could have easily pawned this duty off to someone like Wrecker if he didn’t care to do it.

3. Being disgusted at the slaughter of the Jedi

Tech was so upset by the deaths of the Jedi that in the second episode of TBB Season 1, he brought it up verbally as one of the big issues that he had with the Empire.

4. Worrying about Omega when she cried

Omega cried after being rescued from the Nexu on Cut’s farm, and Tech had a genuine emotional reaction to seeing her in that state:

5. Helping Omega over the comm

After Omega managed to get her comm back and get into contact with her dads again after being kidnapped by Cad Bane, Tech made it a point to calmly talk her through what he needed her to do next to help them find her.

6. Not wanting to let Omega fly the Marauder until she knew it inside and out

Omega made an offhanded comment to Hera about Tech not wanting her to fly until he felt that she was sufficiently knowledgeable about their ship. I don’t know about you, but that screams “worried dad” to me.

7. Catching Omega when she jumped down from the upper level of the Marauder

Enough said. There’s also a really sweet moment in a later episode where he helped steady Omega when she climbed down from Wrecker’s shoulders.

8. Being reluctant to leave Hunter after he was captured by the Empire on Daro

Hunter ordered Tech to just leave him after his capture, but Tech tried argue against it by stating that Hunter’s odds of escape were not good. When he prepared to comply with Hunter’s order, you could see him hesitate to initiate the jump to hyperspace because he didn’t want to leave Hunter.

9. Getting genuinely worried about Wrecker after his chip removal

It took a while for Wrecker to come to after the surgery, and you could tell by the tone of Tech’s voice that he was very, very worried. When Wrecker finally stirred, Tech sprang right up from his nap to see.

This isn’t even a complete list of all of the little moments where we got to see Tech’s caring nature, and I may expand on this list later.

#tbb Tech #the bad batch #The bad batch meta

228 notes · View notes

spacemagicandlaserswords · 9 months

Text

The Clone Wars: Return of the Thoughts

I’m over half way through my first watch through of The Clone Wars (I’m part way through the Onderon rebels arc at the moment) and it has been An Experience. I have really enjoyed watching it, even though so much of the story is just pain and despair. If it isn’t already completely obvious from my reaction posts, I have completely fallen for the clones. New hyperfixation unlocked. I love and adore all of them. This brings about its own problems because for a show called The Clone Wars, there isn’t exactly a great focus on the clones. They’ve basically been sidelined in their own show (Hmmm, I wonder where we’ve seen that done to a clone before?). When we do finally get some decent clone-centric episodes, they are all just pain, misery, angst and despair. Which explains why I’ve been dreading watching so many of the various arcs in TCW.

I’ve found that my anticipation of episodes falls into either 'outright dreading', 'generally looking forward to', 'somewhat interested in', or 'fairly ambivalent about'. Out of the three seasons I have left to watch, the only arc I’m actually looking forward to is the opening arc of season 7, because:

a) Baby Bad Batch b) ECHO c) More clones! More clone interactions and personality and character development and depth and emotions and all the things! d) Jesse and his ARC tits running around being an absolute unit e) Kix! *weeps for his beautiful hair* f) Rex being a BAMF as usual but also being all soft and concerned when he gets one of his Domino Twins back after he thought he’d lost them both. g) We even get a bit of Cody too, before he gets squished by a larty and Wrecker has to lift it off him. h) Non-chip controlled Crosshair! He smiles! He laughs! He’s snarky and sarcastic! We finally get to see the toothpick with a soul before it’s ripped out and trampled into the ground by the Empire. i) I think the season 7 premiere is where Obi-Wan cuts an actual missile in half to save Cody, and if that isn’t the most hyper competent way of conveying your love for your space husband, then I don’t know what is.

On the other side of things, there are a number of arcs that I am dreading and almost don’t want to watch.

I’m not overly looking forward to the Mandalore arc in season 5, mainly because we have to watch Obi-Wan watch Satine get brutally murdered in front of him by Maul. Along with being utterly cruel and completely devastating, it’s also another wholly unnecessary fridging of a female character. There’s already enough man pain in this series as it is, we don’t need to add to it by killing off one of the few female characters with depth.

Straight after this is the Jedi temple bombing arc, which I almost don’t want to watch. The way Ahsoka was treated was utterly horrendous and appalling. No wonder she left! What they did to Barriss was just as awful.

Then it’s straight into the chip conspiracy arc, which is just more pain, misery, suffering and death for the clones. First Tup, then Fives, in what seems to be generally regarded as one of the most devastating deaths of the entire Clone Wars series. I’m pretty sure there’s going to be a lot of sobbing at the end of it. I also cannot wrap my head around the fact that Fox is the one to shoot Fives. I cannot believe that a clone would ever shoot another clone. That a vod would kill another vod. It’s just inconceivable. From what I’ve read, the generally received headcanon seems to be that Palps was controlling Fox via the chip or the Darkside. This makes complete sense, is a believable in-universe reason, and is definitely the headcanon that I’ve accepted. Blasters have a stun setting! Fox is the Commander of the Coruscant Guard. He’s a command class clone and he has a kama so presumably he’s got ARC training as well. There’s no way he’d be that sloppy as to not have his blaster set to stun. I know this is leading up to my inevitable internal conflict between fandom Fox and canon Fox (which is already brewing), but that’s another rant for another day. Either way, I'm absolutely dreading watching this arc.

I’m not really looking forward to watching the Rush Clovis arc in season 6. I touched on this in 2.04 ‘Senate Spy’ and I should imagine that this arc involves more of Anakin being abusive and controlling of Padmé, which both @0bianidalas and @coraex basically confirmed in the comments. For a multitude of personal reasons, I am really not comfortable with watching something like this. That said, I should imagine it will be a clear example of Anakin’s further descent to the Dark side and give a greater understanding to how it happened, which I gather was a key reason for the existence of The Clone Wars series in the first place.

Finally, there’s the Siege of Mandalore arc, which is just pain, misery, death and despair for everyone involved. We have to watch another perspective of the genocide that is Order 66, and by all accounts this one seems to be one of the most heart-wrenching and devastating. All of the clones are forced against their will to turn into brainwashed, controlled, mindless monsters. Jesse is turned into the very opposite of everything that he is, stood for, and believed in. Ahsoka is hunted by the very men she thought were her friends. Rex has to shoot his brothers out of self defense and to protect Ahsoka. All of the 322nd die. Rex cries. The only saving grace to all of this is that Rex is finally free, but at what cost. At what cost.

(Editor Me: My heart is already aching just going through the various gifs from these arcs. I'm going to be an absolute wreck I watch the actual episodes.)

After all of this, I somehow have to power through 4 seasons of Rebels before Ahsoka premiers on August 23. I’m probably going to have to binge watch Rebels and come back to it later for the reaction posts but we’ll see. While I have spoiled myself on Rebels in the same way I did for TCW, I haven’t been looking up what happens in Rebels quite as much as TCW. I’ve forgotten a fair amount of what happens so I think I’m going to try and keep myself as spoiler free as possible for Rebels. Hopefully that way I’ll be able to avoid this ‘dreading watching particular arcs’ problem that I’m encountering with TCW.

It’s not all doom and gloom though. There are moments in particular episodes that I’m looking forward to.

Hondo turns up again in the younglings arc and I am all for more Hondo. My interest in this arc falls somewhere between ‘somewhat interested’ and ‘fairly ambivalent’ but Hondo is an absolute riot and I love his particular brand of chaos. He was hilarious in the season 5 premiere and stole every scene he was in so I’m very glad to see him appear again.

We finally get to meet Gregor! He seems like a fan favourite and I’ve been looking forward to meeting him. If the droids mission is anything like R2-D2 and the reprogrammed B1 droids in the Citadel arc then this should be fairly amusing too so I’m generally looking forward to this.

In a way, I am looking forward to parts of the Mandalore arc in season 5. Obi-Wan in Mandalorian armour! More sass and snark from Obi-Wan is always enjoyable and at least we get to see him rescue Satine before it all goes horribly wrong. I know I’ve made this point before but I also love it when we get to see just how damn good a Jedi Obi-Wan is. There’s a little bit of this in the season 4 finale when Obi-Wan teams up with Ventress to fight Maul and Savage (after he’s thrown about like a rag doll and we get even more Obi-Wan whump. TCW has been a surprisingly excellent source of Obi-Wan whump.) But you really get to see it in the season 5 premiere. At one stage Obi-Wan is dual wielding lightsabers like an absolute madman while fighting both Maul and Savage at the same time. Sir, your lightsaber form is Soresu, what are you doing?

I’m looking forward to ‘The Lost One’ because we get to see a bit more of Wolffe, Plo and the Wolf Pack and I am always happy when we get to see more of them. Even if it's only for a tiny bit at the start of the episode.

As painful as the Siege of Mandalore arc is going to be, there are also some good moments that I’m looking forward to. Rex and Ahsoka reunite after she left the Order. I’ve really been enjoying watching the gradual evolution of their relationship, from Captain and Commander, to colleagues that respect each other, to friends, and then brother and sister. Or ori’vod and vod’ika, if we’re going with the headcanon of clones knowing Mando’a and creating their own culture out of what they can glean from their Mandalorian origins. Rex is definitely ori’vod.

Rex is finally promoted to commander so we get a little bit of Commander Rex for a while, and isn’t that just a delicious thought thot.

Ahsoka essentially gets her own company in the form of the 332nd and they all paint their helmets in a pattern inspired by the markings on her montrals, which is just so damn sweet and adorable.

Rex and Ahsoka fighting side by side, even if some of it is against chip controlled clones.

From what I can gather, this entire arc is mainly about Rex and Ahsoka, with a showdown with Maul thrown in. They both go through the wringer and there’s going to be everything from hilarious one liners, to heartfelt moments, to the absolute emotional devastation that is Order 66 and all that it wrought upon them.

Out of the arcs that are left, they’re a mix of ‘somewhat interested’, ‘fairly ambivalent’ and ‘really not sure what to expect’. I’m fairly ambivalent about the rest of the Onderon rebels arc, which ends in another unnecessary fridging of a female character. At least Steela was more sensible and had more nuance. I could see her evolving into a great leader, in a similar vein to Leia. Saw is just another boring arrogant male who turns into a ‘for the greater good’ monster. The consequences of his actions have disastrous effects for the Empire and the rebels, or anyone who even slightly opposes the Empire. He’s not a good person and definitely falls into the ‘an enemy of my enemy is my friend/temporary ally’ camp.

I’m ‘fairly ambivalent’ to almost disinterested in ‘The Disappeared’ arc. Anything involving Jar Jar Binks is always deeply painful and uncomfortable to watch, a point I’ve made before, so I’m not going to blither on about it again.

The final arc of season 6 just sounds weird and all very ~mystical~ Jedi. Or more Jedi osik as the more cynical of the clones would probably say.

The Ahsoka arc in the middle of season 7 is one I’m really not sure what to expect from. I’m looking forward to meeting Trace and Rafa and I’m all for more women of colour in Star Wars. It’ll also give more context to the episode ‘Decommissioned’ from The Bad Batch and help understand exactly who they are and why they’re coincidentally looking for the same Separatist tactical droid as the Batch. It’ll also be interesting to see what happens to Ahsoka after she leaves the order and get a sense for what she’s been up to and how she’s managed to survive and cope since. I’m not sure if this arc is in chronological order with the rest of the season. Though the last episode does appear to link into the Siege of Mandalore arc, so maybe it is. The official chronological order lists this arc as happening before the Bad Batch arc and after the season 6 finale arc, so I guess that solves that then.

Aside from The Bad Batch arc, there’s no whole episode or arc that I’m actually looking forward to watching. This seems to be the main structure to TCW, hilarious comedic moments and heartfelt scenes interspersed between a whole lot of emotional devastation and heart wrenching endings. I’m still glad I’m finally watching The Clone Wars but the emotional ride from certain episodes and arcs has been something else. I’m so glad fix-it fics exist, because I’m going to need to read so many after all of this is said and done.

I know this might seem like I’m complaining but I’m not. I’m simply being open and honest about my experiences watching The Clone Wars. I am enjoying watching it all, even if ‘enjoying’ doesn’t quite feel like the right word with all of the pain and despair and misery that happens.

I’ve got a lot left to watch and not much time to watch it in but I’m also going to make sure I enjoy it as well. I’ll be sad when it’s finished but I am very happy and glad that I finally started watching The Clone Wars.

32 notes · View notes

transitranger327 · 9 days

Text

So I actually have a Star Wars story to tell (it’s a core memory): Echo has always been my favorite clone trooper. My family, especially my brother and I, started watching The Clone Wars during season 1 and we became mega-fans (I was 9, he was 6, literally the target demo). Every Friday we’d watch the new episodes, then Saturday we’d go to star wars dot com and watch all the behind-the-scenes content. We missed the first time “Rookies” aired, but we saw the behind the scenes content for it, and caught it on reruns. We immediately knew Fives and Echo were our favorite clones, he picked Fives so I picked Echo. But we were so disappointed when they weren’t in the rest of Season 1 or 2. But we were absolutely stoked for the series 3 premiere when we heard Fives and Echo were in it. And then they were gonna be ARC troopers? We were losing our minds. Our favorite boys, ARC troopers‽ Unfortunately for me, the Citadel arc happened next. Don’t get me wrong, we loved seeing the Dominos in the phase 1.5 armor. But for some reason we missed the end of episode 2 of the arc (where Echo dies), and when the bts content said Echo died I was inconsolable. I refused to ever watch the ending of that episode for YEARS. When Fives kept showing up in seasons 4 and 5 (Umbara arc is like my favorite SW movie), I was always jealous that my brother’s fave was still around and mine wasn’t. Then TCW was cancelled and I thought that was the end of it.

About a year later, I heard they made half of a Season 6 but it was only on Netflix. It took me a while to figure out how to watch it (on the high seas, as my family didn’t have Netflix), but I was in high school now. The first arc having Fives discover order 66 and coming this close to exposing it? I’d been thinking about that kind of story for forever (my favorite Star Wars AUs are where order 66 didn’t happen or was disobeyed). I was so excited to tell my brother…until I saw s7e4 and Fives died. My brother was just as sad/mad as I was when Echo died. But I finished Season 6 and thought that was the end…until I went onto star wars dot com and saw that there were unfinished animations for some episodes called “the Bad Batch”. And then…my world became whole. ECHO WAS ALIVE!!!!! Sure it was janky af, felt dubiously canon, he had been thru hell and was now a cyborg, but MY BABY BOY! My brother was, of course, just as jealous that my clone was alive and his wasn’t.

Then 4 years later. TCW Season 7 was announced. The Bad Batch arc would be in glorious HD. Echo was firmly alive and hanging out with the Bad Batch. And he got me thru lockdown, as TCW was one of my comfort shows I’d watch and s7 was airing in April/May 2020. And the Bad Batch were gonna get their own show? Hell fucking yeah.

Here we are, 16 years after Echo first graced my small TV screen, and he’s still my fave. I see a lot of myself in him. How by-the-book he used to be and isn’t anymore, how his life fundamentally changed and now’s not exactly a man (I figured out my sexuality, gender, and disabilities in 2019 right before TCW s7 remastered Echo’s return). I would almost certainly die inside again if he dies in the TBB finale. Anyway I’ve never shared anything this personal about Star Wars with anyone and TBB tumblr definitely seems like the kind of people who want to hear this.

#star wars #the clone wars #the bad batch #clone trooper echo #tbb echo #lgbtq #seriously corbett and rau if you hurt echo again i will find you

7 notes · View notes

ooops-i-arted · 9 months

Note

Separate of feelings on tcw and its unending array of spinoffs (though honestly, day by day I find myself sliding closer to your attitude about them) I do think filoni and favreau's treatment of the Star Wars/Disney brand is worthy of an academic paper. Specifically looking at how allergic to consistency it all (including the sequels) is. Because again, regardless of feeling, I think there are some really wacky choices being put to screen that often contradict itself in ways that actively antagonises and alienates its audience. Because say what you will about the prequels, but at least they had a clear vision throughout. Personally I think they were the last time SW had any sort of clear vision but that might just be me being bitter about Din's treatment in s3... :P

Yeah, anyway, stopping before I get rambly-er...It was just something that sorta stuck me as I was backreading some of your clone wars critical posts.

The underlying problem imo is that Disney wants money, not a consistent story. George Lucas of course wanted to make money, I'm sure, but he had a consistent story and he stuck to his guns throughout. People hated the prequels when they came out, but George Lucas stuck to his overall story even if he tweaked things (like reducing Jar Jar's screen time). The sequel trilogy makes it abundantly clear that Disney changed things as soon as there was any sort of backlash and they risked losing money - Finn CLEARLY being Force-sensitive but shafted by the story and never allowed to be a Jedi with Incel Poster Boy Kylo Ren given all the attention instead makes it very clear that's what happened.

It's more than that with Filoni - at this point I think some of my students have more consistent storylines in their play than he does in his paid work! He drops anything like a hot potato when something more interesting to him comes along. I've been saying this since Rebels season 2 finale - half of your ensemble cast doesn't even feature in the season finale and the rest are shoved aside so your OC and Darth Vader can have a rematch that's meaningless to anyone that hasn't seen TCW instead?? That's fucking bad writing. It's a pattern that continued. TCW had a message of just because the clones look the same doesn't mean they aren't individuals with value - wait, no, we have the individualistic, specialier (whiter) Bad Batch butt in during season 7. Din and Grogu have a heartfelt separation that's for Grogu's benefit? Nope, he's back with Din in the next show. Boba Fett getting some good character development and becoming a leader? Nah, back to the Mandalorian. (I love Din, but again: fucking bad writing. Temuera Morrison has every right to be salty as fuck.) Din having the potential to be come the leader the Mandalorians need and can respect and follow? Nah, just hand the sword to Girlboss Barbie Bo even though she's lost it and we've done this arc already what, three times? Actually no, never mind the Darksaber, let's break it! Anyone wanna take a bet that it's gonna be reforged in Season 4?

#he's like a seven year old playing with barbies i s2g #i can't believe i write stuff i work hard on for FREE and he gets paid probably way more than my teachers salary to write complete schlock #anti filoni #anti tcw #asks #just prime

13 notes · View notes

heyclickadee · 1 year

Text

Okay, I know everyone’s kind of moved on to the midseason but I still wanted to get my thoughts on “Tribe” out, so:

1. Oh. My goodness. I love the design of this space station. That shot of Omega sitting on the marauder steps with space stretching out behind her? Gorgeous.

2. Echo—Echo, I love you (please come back soon), but please for the love of all that is good and holy do NOT walk away from Omega. She will take off and explore. She will gosalyn mallard all over.

3. I also love the design of these droids. And I’m not sure, but I think they’re similar or identical to the droids in the trailer from the shot where Hunter is leaping off that wall to stab something that looks like one of these droids, so I kind of wonder if they show up later. They’re trafficking people, apparently, so maybe that slave trade angle from season one comes back. Could be wrong, though.

4. Do I find it suspicious that Omega feels like something’s just a tad off and then investigates only to run smack dab into a jedi in trouble? Yeah. I’m leaning hard into the theory that Omega’s force sensitive. Honestly, I’m leaning into the theory that all of the clones are just a teeny bit force sensitive because Jango was just a teeny bit force sensitive, and that Omega was an attempt to augment what was already there. But I have thoughts on how that might play out lower down.

5. Gungi! Poor kid!! I hope at least some of the other kids from that padawan arc in TCW made it out okay.

6. Gungi’s reaction to Echo and the other adult batchers broke my heart. And the way Echo, Hunter, and Wrecker all backed off and gave him space did, too. And the fact that the droids had to know he was a jedi, since they had his lightsaber and wanted to sell him alive—I don’t think they were selling him to a spice mine. That would would be bad enough, but…I don’t know how far along the inquisitor program was, but I think that might have been where poor Gungi would have ended up if Omega hadn’t wandered off.

7. I loved how much attention was paid to the way Gungi really didn’t know much about his people’s culture. He was always looking around at the other wookiees to see what he should do and it—honestly, it was a beautiful touch to the episodes. He belongs on Kashyyk now, but he doesn’t really know how to be there. But he’s learning! It’s…it’s sweet and sad and everything in between.

8. I don’t understand how a man already diagnosed with terminal fatherhood can get more fatherly, but Hunter did somehow. Fatherhood looks good on him. The way he was instantly on board with finding a way to help Gungi out? Your hand in marriage. Sir. I am on one knee. Sir.

9. Seriously, though—after how down Hunter’s been since everything that went down last season, it was good to see Hunter actively invested in helping someone out. He’s so protective of children in general, and having another chance to help a young Jedi when I think he feels like he failed with Caleb lot a fire in him that we haven’t seen for a while. And there’s something so sad about Hunter being so determined to make sure Gungi gets to be with his people and has a place to belong when that’s something the clones don’t really have anymore. They don’t have a place to belong or where they fit, and even before what happens in episode eight happens, that’s something so think Hunter knows, about his family, at least.

10. Branching off of that, I LOVE the emphasis this season has had on culture and history, and in culture and history outside of (and sometimes pre-existing) the war, the separatists, the republic, and the jedi, and contrasting that with the the bad batch and the rest of the clones and the way their culture revolves (or revolved) entirely around the war, the separation between the republic and the separatists, and serving under the Jedi. It’s all they’ve ever known. They were never allowed to be have anything else. Their entire culture is, at most at this point, fourteen years old. I sort of wonder if, at the end of the series, any of clones are going to be able to establish a place that they can call home, have a future, maybe have families of their own, and continue their culture in a way that’s derived from but not dependent on the war. I’d like that to be possible. The thing is, it’s looking like being a clone in the GFFA is going to start being just as dangerous as being a jedi. Maybe. I don’t know. I have sort of a pet theory that the batch (the whole batch) and a whole lot of other clones are going to end up settling on some uncharted planet in the outer rim or even further out, in a new galaxy even, where they can just be. Or something. I’m kind of rambling at this point.

11. Speaking of culture and clones and swinging back to the force sensitive Omega/all the clones are slightly force sensitive theories: I don’t think we’re going to see Omega try to train as a Jedi somehow even if she does turn out to be force sensitive. You know what would be cool, though? If the clones developed or established their own force tradition. After all, there are plenty of non-Jedi non-Sith force traditions in the galaxy. I don’t see why the clones can’t have one of their own, if enough of them manage to make it to the end of the series alive.

12. I love seeing Omega get to interact with other kids. She’s always surrounded by adults and never gets to interact with people her age.

13. Tech’s growth from, “Primitive is being kind,” to explaining, without any trace of irony or condescension, that, “They believe this planet belongs to the trees, and that they are allies in this fight,” was really nice to see. The boys are just extremely respectful of the wookiees’ traditions all the way around and I’m here for it. (Also the trees’ plan totally worked, so…yeah. I love it when Star Wars gets weird.)

14. Wrecker going from zero to kinda sort of speaking the language in about a day? Good for him.

15. Every moment of interaction between Hunter and Echo in this episode was gold. They trust each other implicitly and I am here for it.

16. I’d like to know who on the bad batch creature design team loves extinct prehistoric animals, because the ordo moon dragon looked kind of like a type of synapsid, the saberjowl looks kind of like a coelacanth crossed with a mosasaur, there was that skinny ankylosaur from hell in “Entombed,” and the netcasters from this episode look like one of these little opabinia dudes, but huge. And with legs.

17. This is completely unimportant, but what is this?

Is any of it any good? What’s the green disc? Is it like an algae cookie or something? Are the rectangles bread? Mini space burritos? Was this Omega’s lunch?

18. Tech noticing that Yanna walking over to Hunter and joining them so he could translate and then that last exchange I’m 🥺🥺😭😭🫠🫠🥺🥺

19. I don’t know what the Kiners put in their music this season, but hook it to my veins. They’ve been on point every episode.

#the bad batch #tbb spoilers #tbbspoilers #the bad batch spoilers #the bad batch season two #sorry this is even more incoherent than normal

36 notes · View notes

fayedolan · 8 months

Note

so... what's the watching order of everything sw for someone who wants to catch up with everything. i've seen episodes i-vi but have no clue about the shows -animated or otherwise. i might have seen some episodes of the clones wars on tv but i don't really remember, and all this sw hype on my dash makes wanna delve into it 😭

I want to preface this by pointing out that there are endless guides on endless websites re: the chronological order of Star Wars shows and movies (I like IMDb's because it's a running list that's broken down by even a show's episodes). I've always thought it was better to watch things in release order, though, because that's how most of us experienced the shows and movies and, regardless of its place in the timeline, every show and movie builds off what came before.

What follows is not a comprehensive list, but what I think are the most worthwhile shows and movies. Asterisked titles take place after the original trilogy.

The Clone Wars (2008) movie

The Clone Wars (2008-2020)

Rebels (2014-2018)

Rogue One (2016)

The Sequel trilogy, episodes 7 through 9*

Solo (2018)

The Mandalorian (2019-)*

The Book of Boba Fett (2019-2020)*

The Bad Batch (2021-)

Tales of the Jedi (2022-)

Andor (2022-)

Obi Wan Kenobi (2022)

Ahsoka (2023-)*

It's a lot! And that's just the canon! I absolutely recommend Star Wars Visions and Tartakovsky's The Clone Wars (2003-2005), both noncanonical animated shows. The former is an anthology series where each episode is produced by a different company and riffs on the SW universe; you see each company's country of origin and their histories reflected in their respective episodes, it's truly spectacular. The latter contains characters and events that overlap with the 2008 show, but where the shows differ is some great offbeat stuff.

A comprehensive book of the definitive SW timeline was released earlier this year, if you're interested. In general, it’s important to remember:

The Clone Wars takes place between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, which is roughly 3 years.

Rebels starts 15 years after Revenge of the Sith.

Andor takes place before Rogue One, and the latter depicts the events immediately leading up to A New Hope.

The Mandalorian starts 5 years after Return of the Jedi. The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka are supposed to take place around the same time.

The Sequel trilogy takes place 30 years after Return of the Jedi.

Like I said, it's a lot, and of course, tastes are different. I'll leave you with my favorite take on Star Wars from the inimitable Rahul Kohli:

Happy watching!

Other things to keep in mind while you're watching (feel free to ignore this; it has more to do with what surrounds the shows and movies):

If you pay attention to the animated shows' credits, you'll eventually notice the name Dave Filoni. He worked with George Lucas to create The Clone Wars (TCW) and then wrote and directed a lot of Rebels, The Mandalorian, and Ahsoka. We sometimes refer to him as the Cowbay Hat Man because he wears a lot of stetsons. He and Jon Favreau are basically the current creative stewards of the SW universe.

Viewers hated Ahsoka in the beginning. Hated her with a passion. If you end up feeling the same way while watching TCW, hang in there. I promise her character arc is great.

The production history of TCW is sort of tragic. For five seasons, it aired continuously on Cartoon Network before it was canceled after Disney acquired Lucasfilm. Season six tried to tie up loose ends and was released on Netflix a year later. And then six years later, season seven was released on Disney+. If you pay attention, you can sense the differences born out of the hiatuses between each change.

The Bad Batch will end after its upcoming 3rd season.

Andor will end after its upcoming 2nd season.

You'll find people within the SW fandom who loved each show, but the normie consensus is that most of the live-action shows are underwhelming. Except The Mandalorian because of the cute baby and the sexy armored man, and Andor because of the writing and the latent politics of an entire franchise finally being made obvious and overt. I think all the shows have their moments, however few and fleeting, so they're all worth a watch.

I say this also in terms of Solo. It was a box office bomb, but even critics thought the performances were good. Lando isn't on IMDb's list, but as far as anyone can tell at the moment, the spinoff show is still a go. And Emilia Clarke sure did dodge a question about potentially returning.

And yes, they all connect to and reference each other. Characters show up in multiple shows, and plot details recur across the timeline.

#star wars #asks #anon #starwars.txt #was this amount of detail necessary? prob not lol

3 notes · View notes

morethansky · 1 year

Note

Do you have any clone ships?

Most definitely! Thanks for the question, anon! Honestly, I'll happily read fic and enjoy art of any combination of clones, but some of my favorites are:

Fives/Echo: A perennial fave of mine. It's childhood friends to lovers, except all their other friends died and they only have each other as they enter the warfront. That kind of bond is unbreakable. And it hurts so good that Fives lost Echo and then got a lot more cynical about his place in life—and about authority—and ended up dying, only for Echo to come back from the dead so soon afterward and have to find out that Fives was gone. I think a lot about Echo finding out about Fives not being around anymore contributing to his decision to leave with the Bad Batch. (Post–Order 66 situations where Rex is added to the mix in some angsty, complicated way are also excellent.)

Crosshair/Hunter: Currently experiencing severe brainrot for this ship. I'm always enchanted by enemies-to-lovers dynamics, especially friends/lovers to enemies to lovers, and I find how different Crosshair and Hunter both are in TBB compared to how they were first introduced in TCW absolutely fascinating. I'm obsessed with the little glances they throw each other in the TBB pilot, which imply this closeness we never get to see enough of. And then Hunter leaving Crosshair behind and Crosshair feeling so deeply betrayed and both of their reactions being to run away from each other is so delicious and interesting to explore. And then after everything, the icing on the cake is Crosshair saving Omega's life on Kamino just as Hunter is about to risk his life saving her, then choosing to risk his life to warn the Batch about Omega knowing it's Hunter who's particularly obsessed with her safety.

Jesse/Kix: They're just a natural pair. I'm so happy we were treated to more of them and their dynamic in season 7 of TCW. I think a lot about how when Maul looked into Jesse's mind, he must have seen so much of Jesse's sorrow and confusion about Kix's disappearance. What if Kix was abducted while Jesse was away at ARC trooper training, and he returned to find him gone? And when Kix wakes up on the Crimson Corsair and finds out about Order 66 and the chips, how does he feel knowing he wasn't there to help Jesse and his brothers?

Waxer/Boil: Like Jesse/Kix, they're a natural pairing, and I always love when a grumpy person falls in love with someone with a bubbly personality. I think a lot about how proud Boil must have been when Waxer got promoted, and then what he must feel after Umbara, when he can't find Waxer and then has to reckon with the fact that he was killed by a fellow brother.

Tup/Dogma: Whether it's Dogma pining while Tup falls for Fives, or Tup interacting with Dogma after the events on Umbara, or Dogma letting Tup get away with stuff he disapproves of, or Tup being defensive when Dogma is being bullied, or Tup getting with Fives after Dogma is taken away, or Dogma in prison finding out what happened to Tup, I love it all.

Tech/Wrecker: The TBB S2 finale really sold this for me. Wrecker's agony when Tech is in danger and when he realizes what he's about to do is so painful. And then the way he's shown crying and just sitting quietly by himself afterward... He reacts in a much rawer way than anyone else. I also like how they bicker in such a familiar way and how Wrecker is shown to be the most physically affectionate with Tech, always slapping him on the back and nudging him in the shoulder, and how Tech often starts what are clearly old arguments with him. They just feel lived in and Established Relationship™, in a way I like.

I'm just realizing these ships kind of all have tragic endings where the pairs are separated, huh... I'm an angst fiend, but I swear I like when the clones get to be happy together, too!

7 notes · View notes

eriexplosion · 2 years

Text

Okay just finished rewatching the finale and there's a ton of things that make me lose my entire shit.

For one, I am constantly struck by just how shitty this situation is for everyone, like it's easy to say the batch should have come back for Crosshair or Crosshair should have called them but genuinely no one had easily workable options.

They didn't know how to remove the chips, or if they even could be removed, until episode 7 and before they had any chance to recover from all of them having brain surgery, Crosshair is there and trying to murder them, cutting off the one place they had to DO the surgery. Even if they busted in, kidnapped a - to their knowledge - still murderous and chipped Crosshair, somehow contained this extremely angry and dangerous man in a space smaller than a studio apartment without him hurting them or himself, they'd still have nowhere to take him to help him.

Crosshair could have reached out to them, maybe, but there's no way communications aren't monitored and he just really was not in a position to do this, or a mental state to do it honestly. The man contemplated waiting around to die like three times in the finale. He's NOT MAKING REASONABLE DECISIONS RIGHT NOW.

Everyone is hurt, everyone feels betrayed, and they can't exactly talk about it with their birthplace coming down around them. It's just! Agonizing to watch them lash out at each other! (Interesting that the only one who didn't tear into him at any point was Echo. Coincidentally also the only one who knows what it's like to be left behind.)

Second, there's a point where Hunter says Crosshair will never be anything but a number to the empire. Which, yeah, no one in the empire has said his name once since this started. But only the kaminoans call him that, the empire doesn't even say his number. He's not even a number to them. He's just. The clone. Commander if they're being polite. But he's not even a serial number. He's BARELY above an object.

Third, when Hunter tackles him in the training room he spends most of his time just putting Crosshair to the ground and shooting droids over him, protecting him repeatedly. Crosshair spent their whole arc in TCW being protected, even from situations he instigated himself. And he's still being protected now. They just want him to come the fuck home damn it.

It's a painful finale, and narratively it's not time for him to come back but I have got to hold onto the hope that he will or I will simply pass away. They want him back so bad. Please season 2, let him come home.

#eri talks #the bad batch #long post #also just the fact that despite getting into this vicious fight Crosshair and Hunter still squeeze into the same tube #and just decide not to look at each other about it #batshit behavior I love them #star wars

24 notes · View notes

feltpool · 8 months

Text

I think the thing that bothers me most about current Star Wars is that it lies so hard about what it’s really doing, like we’re not going to work it out anyway.

Fandom cannot create new canon, it can only work with what it has, open up the cracks, fill in the plot holes and put a new spin on things. But the show creators don’t have that limit, and yet have devolved to reusing the same old plot and structure we’ve seen before and hiding it under a different set of faces.

I suppose it’s meant to be clever, but fanfic has been re-spinning these stories for literal decades now so it just feels like a pallid and obvious cash grab as well as a way for Disney to lay claim to the older Lucas-made canon as now belonging to them.

Personal opinion and potential spoilers behind the cut

Mando spins its story around the core structure of the OT movies while doing its utmost to pretend that it isn’t doing that. Instead of starting with the feisty space princess whose home has been destroyed by the Empire it sneaks in via Solo and focuses on a lone gunslinger doing any dodgy job for money while throwing him about in the mud a lot, role flipping Yoda and Luke, and hiding it all under a layer of Mandalorian armour. But the constant references to other parts of SW get old fast, and they leap right in there from the very start regardless of people only majorly starting to complain about that from Season 3. It was always there, we just weren’t so overloaded by the constant stream of really obvious ones back in Season 1.

And The Bad Batch follows this exact same pattern, the only major difference is that it’s framed around the core plot of the prequel movies and overall tends to bury its true purpose under fewer Rebels references. Sure it’s tying up a bunch of loose ends from multiple seasons of TCW, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to like it.

Add to this the other shows that only got made in order to support these^ two shows.

TCW Season 7 sets up everything the other shows need to have already been established in order to work. The Bad Batch setup is established, Trace, Rafa, and their convenient little Coruscant hiding place gets laid down for later plot use, and the Mandalore arc sets up the rest.

Tales of the Jedi explicitly covers how Anakin treated Ahsoka behind closed doors and how he used others to actually carry that out so that it can be reused later. Amongst other plot relevant details it showed us the relationship between Dooku and Mace, how Dooku was pissed when Mace got a promotion he hadn’t even been trying to claim, and how Dooku was directly offered the chance to drop all of what he was doing and to walk away with the Jedi – and still chose not to.

Half of The Book of Boba Fett was just a dumping ground for anything that didn’t conveniently fit into either of the other two shows but that they didn’t want to leave out (you can’t claim copyright over something you haven’t put onscreen), and boy did it show that they didn’t waste any money covering that part if they could help it. Orphan Boba gets to re-enact Luke’s back story of getting and losing a new family out in the sands of Tatooine, while Vanth gets to lose his arm and get a robotic replacement, it covers the question of what happened once Jabba was dead, drops in a much cuter version of the scene where the Luke defeats the rancor, features a cantina complete with familiar players, and shoves not-Chewbacca in there because having a Wookiee in the main story would be way too much of an obvious nod to the OT setup they’re still trying to pretend isn’t happening. However, it was permitted to drop in a couple of future plot points such as what happens to your brain/memory once you get a deep tissue, full body, bacta treatment, and giving Boba his 3 seconds of playing both Solo getting thrown wetly around by a Wookiee, and the Emperor as he rescues Fennec from certain death by having her Vaderized.

In all fairness this has taken a certain level of effort to re-spin. Aspects of one movie or TCW have been given to the other show, roles have been split between characters to make things less obvious. Hunter gets Anakin’s wig, while Hemlock gets his hand, and Echo gets to play Vader but in reverse order (starting as a cyborg and not becoming one). Or things have been approached from a different angle (usually reversed), like how Bo rescues Din and Grogu from the dianoga pit on the boat instead of getting them into the garbage masher in the first place. Pieces have been recycled from all prior SW visual canon as well as many games, books, and comic books, in addition to many references to non-SW movies.

But some things have been lifted straight out of fanfiction. The outfit that Riyo Chuchi wears when we first see her in TBB mimics Fox’s armour as closely as it possibly can without actually being clone armour, and Foxiyo is a small ship that has zero canonical basis – so far at least. Not that this would be the first time that SW has blatantly ripped off someone else’s work for their ideas or spaceship designs, but being able to data scrape AO3 must make this a lot easier to do than back when you had to pay people to manually cruise the internet.

Whether the Ahsoka show will continue this pattern and frame it around the plot of the sequel movies while pretending it’s nothing more than Rebels Season 5 remains to be seen, but having Jacen Syndulla reframed as the new Kylo Ren is definitely nothing I will ever need to see.

Obviously I’m glossing over a lot of the finer detail and references here because I’d be here all day otherwise and I’m trying to limit potential spoilers.

#star wars #the mandalorian #tbb #tcw #probably unpopular personal opinion #disney are all about the copyright ownership #we already know that

2 notes · View notes

the-obiwan-for-me · 1 year

Note

For the Star Wars ask game....

3. which character are you actually most like?

6. what planet would you most like to live on?

20. what do you hope will happen in future movies? (I'm gonna take liberties with this question and say you can include shows as well)

3. Which character are you actually most like?

I answered this one in a previous answer, but will dig in some more! I do think I have a little Leia in me, as she has had a huge influence on me for a long time, right down to be kinda crabby when people are getting under foot and making it hard for me to do what needs to be done. But, the truth of the matter is, I am probably most like Peli. My partner even says I talk to the cats and dogs like Peli talks to he droids 😂

6. What planet would you most like to live on?

Tatooine. Just kidding. If I never see that planet again, it will be too soon (MOVE ON, COWBOY MAN). Probably Scarif.....prior to the Empire coming in, that is. I am a tropical lizard, after all. I would definitely enjoy those beaches and palm trees.

20. What do you hope will happen in future movies (or shows)?

In the most immediate future, I want to Bo-Katan to get a satisfying arc that shows she truly is a hero/recovering baddie. I want her redemption arc to show her leading a particular shiny pantsed Mando into realizing that being Mandalorian means many things (with emphasis on her sister's Mando-ness) and leading him out of his cult.

I'd also like, most likely in the Bad Batch, to see some sort of arc on what happened to Mandalore between the end of TCW season 7 and Rebels.

Wouldn't mind seeing Korkie make an appearance, particularly in Mando, but I'm very protective of him and I'm not sure anyone can write a satisfying story with him that would make me happy.

Further on, I want Bail in Andor, season 2, and I think this is a perfectly acceptable character to include while avoiding the "no cameos" mindset that this show seems to have. He is part of the Rebellion story, he is part of Cassian's story, so give some Bail!

As for movies, I'm not really sure. I was excited for the Rogue Squadron movie and disappointed it got canned. If we do more movies, I wouldn't mind either looking at the galaxy from another viewpoint (like Andor) or a Jedi focused movie that is completely separate of the Skywalker saga....with the High Republic era or a story from the same era (Clone Wars) but where we don't focus or even mention the disaster lineage.

Also, burn the sequels and give me sequels more like the EU 😂😂😂

4 notes · View notes

moonstrider9904 · 2 years

Note

I rewatched the Bad Batch arc of TCW in honor of May the 4th and I feel like they totally changed Crosshair's personality in TBB or is it all the chip?

Nonnie! Hello!

I love analyzing Crosshair's character and how it changes throughout canon, and I can say for sure that yes, there's a difference in his character between TBB and TCW.

I take Crosshair's character and analyzing him a *bit* too seriously hehehe so I'm putting this under a cut. It is way longer than anticipated; it'll be a mix of facts and theory, observations of mine, etc.

For starters, back in TCW he displays more banter with his siblings, particularly Wrecker, with their competitions and so on.

I'm honestly sad we didn't see that at all in TBB season one and haven't given up hope it'll happen in future seasons.

But as to your question--was it a matter of writing or was it just the chip? From the realistic point of view, I think writing did have to do with it. As far as I'm aware, the writers in TBB and in TCW weren't the same, but I could be wrong.

Either way, Crosshair's inhibitor chip was activated within the first ten minutes or so of episode one, meaning there was barely any room for us to see how the writers of TBB wrote him without his inhibitor chip active before order 66. Before that, he was distant, snarky, bit cocky, and that much is consistent between TBB and TCW.

From my point of view, his personality did change with the chip, as it did with all the clones. With the chip, Crosshair shows concern over Saw Gerrera and his soldiers plotting against the Emperor, something that Crosshair (in all honesty) never would have given two craps about. Even his brothers point out this difference--Crosshair was acting differently. He was thinking differently, and he couldn't control it.

However, his chip wasn't active all the way, as stated by that evil Nala Se, so because of the way Crosshair was altered genetically, the chip's functionality was due to have some differences with the way the other clones' chips did, mainly the fact that a big part of Crosshair's actual personality was still visible while the chip was active. Even after Crosshair had his chip programming intensified, he retained his usual sneer and snark (we see this in the way he confronts Hunter at the end of ep 1 with quotes such as "make it easy on yourself" "I guess it is [an order]").

From here on out is mostly my own theory and my observations, bear with me: I do believe the programming intensification was supposed to be reinforced periodically, i.e. the intensification could wear off. I think that by episodes 7 and 8, Crosshair was more able to make his own decisions above the chip.

At the very start of episode 8, Rampart gave Crosshair the direct order to kill Clone Force 99, and Crosshair did no such thing despite having multiple opportunities to do so. When he has them lined up and surrounded, he banters and deliberately stalls for time by asking questions and saying things like "I suggest you drop your weapon," things that don't really have?? to be said?? Why else would he say those things when he has a direct order to put a swift end to his former squadron?

When Tech and Hunter peek out from the engine, we see Crosshair aiming at them through his scope. On two occasions, Crosshair has a clear shot. He doesn't fire, and instead resorts to pointless chatter. "Try again, Hunter!" Why? Crosshair is a sniper. He has no need to distract himself. He sees his objective cross his scope, he fires. End of story.

And then, in the engine scene, once he notices the explosions detaching the cone of the engine from the main structure, Crosshair was already on his way out. Now, my man is smart. He's got brainpower. He wouldn't do anything deliberately stupid. So why in the flying tookas would Crosshair return, put himself directly in blast's way and look at the scene through his scope, all to yell "No!" right before the explosion? I very much believe that the whole engine scheme was to give them a chance to get out of there, and when he saw that his brothers had once again been completely reckless, he legitimately thought they would perish there.

Bringing me to my next point. Why, pray tell, would Crosshair be so anxious to personally be on the shuttle overseeing the persecution to the Marauder when he's just been notified that his forces have the means to capture them without his help?

What I want to say is Crosshair's behaviour with the chip evolves, but the chip isn't all of it. Not only did his chip activate, but he also suffered abandonment. It is no secret at all that Crosshair felt abandoned, and that was made clear many times before the infamous "We were brothers once" speech. We see it in episodes 1, 3, 9, and 12.

And I'm still not fully convinced Crosshair's inhibitor chip is out, but that's a whole other post uwu

And while the technical level of the writing is different, we see that with the other batchers as well. Like Crosshair, they've gone through different things that have also changed them as people. Now, I'm not saying the writing of TBB is flawless and I do by all means hope that future seasons elaborate more on their sibling dynamics. But I am saying that, on some level, it makes sense that the characters behave differently.

Their four episode arc in TCW was a manner of introduction of these characters. They were a semi-freelance squad who did as they pleased, who were cocky enough to call themselves the Bad Batch, who prided themselves in their recklessness. In TCW, they were like boys at the start of college. Energetic, proud, cocky, laughing at one another. By the time of TBB they're adults having to make their way in the real world. It's the simplest comparison I can think of.

TLDR yes, Crosshair's personality does change. A lot of it must be due to the writers themselves on a technical level, but I'm not discarding the fact that the chip as well as the events surrounding Crosshair in canon can contribute to him behaving differently. In short, he is now sadder than he used to be, and he's lost, and that frigging breaks my heart.

Let me know what you think!! Like I said, I love analyzing Crosshair's character, I've spent a full year trying to get a better understanding of him so I like to believe I'm on the right track, and I'm always down to talk about things like these!

#moonstrider answers #nonnie asks #tbb #the bad batch #crosshair #tbb crosshair analysis #crosshair analysis #tbb analysis #clone trooper crosshair #crosshair isn't a villain #crosshair deserved better

15 notes · View notes

kasleejubaka · 3 months

Text

katie's silly thread about how the RWBY openings parallel the eras of The Bad Batch, in order. (i highly recommend listening to the songs along with the lines as they are shown.)

so we must start with our introduction to TBB, their arc in season 7 of TCW; and how these episodes parallel to the RWBY season 1 opening, "This Will Be the Day".

a good bit of this first part is based of speculation, as so far we have not been shown any of the Batch's time as cadets, only vaguely referenced it. we start with the opening lines of "This Will Be the Day":

it is heavily implied that the Bad Batch had a very rough time growing up, to put it mildly. they were looked down on by the "regs", ostracized for differences forced upon them, maybe even viewed as failed experiments (based on Nala Se claiming "five are all that remain" of the enhanced clones, implying there were more created, but those we know are the only ones who survived). Clone Force 99 was most likely never expected to amount to anything, especially when we consider the idea that there were so many "versions" of them that failed, which relates to the first two lines. yet, as we are told as we learn more about them, the Bad Batch have a 100% success rate, bringing us to the third line; if there were so many like them that failed to even make it through experiments and training, we can infer that the Batch's success rate must have come as a shock to the Kaminoans. unlike the regs, the Bad Batch had to push themselves to be seen as a worthy investment, becoming almost "super soldiers" to justify their right to existence.

the next few lines tie into that idea, along with the concept that war is all the clones know, so what else would the Bad Batch hope to achieve?

again, going off the idea of Clone Force 99 being the only remaining enhanced clones, the only successful ones, i personally like to equate these next lines to just that. not only is it a miracle they not only exist but excel at what they do, it is their differences from the regular clones that make them who they are.

now we move to the refrain of the song. the main concept pulled from these lines, as it relates to the Bad Batch, is the emphasis of their nature to deviate from the norm. their success comes from this intentional disregarding of the so called "rules", and their ability to push beyond.

as for the final three lines of the refrain, we see how throughout their 4 episode arc, the Batch's ideas and methods are first questioned, but eventually embraced, leading to them finding Echo.

i equate these next lines towards that idea of others, especially Rex, going from almost disregarding Clone Force 99's methods to that eventual acceptance. Rex has always been very by-the-book, and we see how that quickly clashes with the Bad Batch early on in this arc.

this is all rather specific, but i see these lines as the direct contrast to Rex (and thus the previous lines). based on what we know of the type of missions the Bad Batch was sent on, we can infer that they've seen the darker and nastier side of the galaxy, along with experiencing atrocities themselves in the name of experimentation. to an outsider, they might see the Batch as having a bleaker outlook on things, but instead it's simply reality, a truth that the Bad Batch have come to accept, if for no other reason than to survive.

these next lines can be seen as a hint of what is to come, especially considering what we as viewers now know about the future of the Bad Batch. an omen of sorts, perhaps?

these next lines are said almost in the background of the song, as if thought rather than spoken. i like to see this as the moment where Echo choses to join the Bad Batch. having finally been rescued, yet forever changed, Echo needs to decide his place in the galaxy now ("This will be the day we've waited for"). because of how he has changed, Echo realizes that things cannot go back to how they were before, that he will never truly fit in with the "regs" anymore ("We are lightning"). As such, Echo joins Clone Force 99, in a way embracing his own differences and using them to help however he can. and he is welcomed into this new world of the unorthodox, as we see in the final moments of the arc (Welcome to a world of new solutions").

the song picks up again and ends with the refrain once again. the Bad Batch continue on, keeping their 100% success rate, pushing onward as they know how.

i also like to see the final line ("and victory is in a simple soul") as a nice nod to how the success and victory seen on Anaxes comes down to the plan of one single clone: Echo.

and thus, the Bad Batch's introductory arc ends, and we move onto season 1 of their own show.

season 1 of The Bad Batch parallels nicely to the season 2 opening of RWBY, "Time to Say Goodbye".

we start of strong with the following:

we as viewers know that Order 66 is coming, and that we will face the fallout of said order. the order is given, and the clones turn on the Jedi, a move the Bad Batch instantly question. they seem to be resistant to the effects of the order... all but one. we see Crosshair fall under the chip's influence, and the strife it causes internally between the members of Clone Force 99. they try to keep themselves together, as it has always been them against the world, but it becomes too much.

one of their own turns against them, siding with the Empire, a choice the rest of the Batch cannot follow. they are forced to leave Crosshair behind, to become deserters and fugitives. they pass the point of no return, now to be hunted by the Empire.

the Batch tries to simply disappear and wait it out, but are forced into action by both the Empire and bounty hunters sent to retrieve Omega.

on the other side, Crosshair is put in charge of a new "elite" team, and the Empire grows stronger and stronger with each passing day.

so where does this all leave Clone Force 99?

going along with the refrain, the Bad Batch are forced into working as mercenaries in order to survive. their views and ideals are questioned and tested, and along this, we see Omega learn more about the galaxy. and, as the season goes on, she is forced to go from being a child to being a soldier, despite the best efforts of the Bad Batch.

the days of being soldiers are over, and the Batch are unsure where exactly that leaves them.

so they do their best to work with this new reality, fighting against the dangers that threaten them, for what else can they do?

and, to make things worse, they are forced to face Crosshair. they cannot reason with him, and now they are faced with the very real idea that they might have to kill Crosshair in order to survive, in order to protect Omega.

the state of the galaxy grows worse and worse, so do the Bad Batch help fight against the Empire, or do they simply try to survive?

this drastic change from before is emphasized even more, as more and more challenges push against the Batch.

these next lines help transition into the final episodes of season 1. going along with this theme of questioning themselves and the changes around them, Hunter is captured and taken back to Kamino, setting up the two-part finale.

the Empire begins to fire on Tipocca City, with the Bad Batch and Crosshair still within. as the city sinks, they search for an escape, but also question Crosshair and his choices. these lines are reminiscent of those questions asked, a final attempt at showing their brother the truth of the Empire, that Crosshair doesn't need the Empire, and the Empire obviously doesn't need him.

as both the season and song end, the Batch is forced to say goodbye once again. the only thing they could consider a home is gone, their own brother has chosen to stay with the Empire of his own violation, and the Bad Batch are faced with the question of "what do they do now?". and we as viewers are also left wondering.

and thus we move on to season 2 of The Bad Batch, along with the season 3 opening of RWBY, "When It Falls".

while season 1 gave us some heavy themes, season 2 only grows darker as the Bad Batch continue facing a galaxy forever changed.

the song pulls no punches with it's opening lines. we see the Bad Batch continue working as mercenaries for Cid, and how this decision too causes internal strife. Echo doesn't believe they are doing enough, that they are standing by and watching the Empire destroy when they could be helping the fight against tyranny.

we can see the effect Crosshair's choices have on Hunter, how Hunter must push all guilt away and solely focus on keeping his family alive. the weight of leadership is a heavy burden, and this disagreement of what to do between Hunter and Echo only brings about more tension.

these lines reflect that tension, paralleling not only to the conflicts within the Bad Batch themselves, but also the greater conflicts of the galaxy that surrounds them.

the refrain emphasizes this lack of hope and growing desperation. and not only among the Batch.

Crosshair has been stripped of his rank and his loyalty is questioned by Rampart. Not only this, but Crosshair is also sent on a mission with Cody, showing continued loyalty to the Empire despite the atrocities it commits. Cody deserts, and Crosshair is left alone again. And we witness the toll this solitude and separation takes on Crosshair.

things take a turn for the worst as, despite their efforts, the Clones are made obsolete and replaced with the Imperial Stormtrooper. they did the right thing, exposing Rampart, and yet their actions are turned against them, leaving little hope towards any chance of fighting against the Empire.

and Echo leaves to join with Rex, and we see the Bad Batch start to fall apart. as their ship is stolen, they are left stranded by Cid, whom they are beginning to realize is better left out of their lives.

yet despite all this, the Bad Batch find a sliver of hope in the galaxy in the form of Pabu, a space far from the reaches of the Empire. things start to look up for them... but it doesn't last.

on the other side, Crosshair is forced to face the realities and consequences of his choices. he watches as clones are phased out around him, and sent to an outpost on a frozen planet, something obviously below his skills. yet it is there where Crosshair stumbles upon revelation, in the form of Mayday. he is forced to face the truth that the Empire never cared for him, that there was never a place for him in their grand design. despite his efforts, Mayday dies, and we witness a turning point for Crosshair. he kills Nolan, and wakes up in Tantiss, under the devious hands of Dr. Hemlock.

and now we come to my favorite, and the most tragic, part of this:

Crosshair risks everything to warn the Batch that Hemlock is looking for Omega, and in turn the Bad Batch decide it is finally time to bring their brother home. yet things don't go according to plan. faced with a desperate attempt to escape, we find them stuck with literally no where to go, and the Empire closing in from all sides.

and the worst happens.

0 notes

writingforfun0714 · 5 months

Text

Hi everyone,

Sorry it’s been so long, I’ve been having some writers block. I’ve been trying to work on the block by drawing some fanart that I’ll post on my main @mabrego0714

Here are my WIPs I’m working on IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER so comment/reblog if you have a preference:

—Arcane Sisters of Mine fic Chapter 5

—Bad Batch AU—Jedi OC

—Game of Thrones/Jungle Book crossover

—Clone Wars Clone One-Shots (Day in the Life Of series, Shinies, etc)

—Delta Squad Reader Insert fic

I actually started getting writers block around the midpoint of Ahsoka. I hadn’t really had high hopes but it really fell short for me. I won’t get into it in this post, but because of my dissatisfaction with the show, my faith in Disney Star Wars has fallen. While I did think Rebels was more ‘kid-oriented’ at first, I didn’t hate it and I even grew to love it as a young adult (iirc Rebels is Disney’s first SW content). The Sequel trilogy should’ve been a wake up call.

Then, Clone Wars Season 7 was announced. I thought the animation was beautiful (aside from the horrendous clone model), and the soundtrack/music is incredible. That being said, I have some major problems with the story(ies). I liked the ideas but not the execution.

The Bad Batch’s intro is a perfect example.

It’s clear that the group is quite different in CW S7 than in their own show (which I won’t get into rn since those that have seen my previous posts know I hate tbb). In TCW, they are introduced as a unique clone squad that all have enhanced senses. They are shown to be disobedient and disconnected from the other clones, which makes absolutely no sense. They appear different to the ‘regular’ clones who have a derogatory nickname of ‘regs’. Their mission is to save a ‘reg’ clone who we (the audience) thought was dead: ARC Trooper Echo.

We see Rex’s loyalty to his men through his faith that Echo is alive. Despite being clones, Rex KNOWS the sound of Echo’s voice because of how long he’s served with him. Because of their prejudices, The Batch is skeptical and Crosshair, the sniper, even taunts Rex about Echo’s death. Despite being in the wrong, Wrecker, CF99’s weapons expert and largest of the group, defends Crosshair and attacks Jesse for defending Rex. That clearly set up a good group character arc of learning that all clones are brothers, not just the ones closest to you. At the end of Echo’s story, we learn that CF99 offers him to join the squad and he accepts (despite the group looking down on Echo and judging him once rescuing him).

We don’t learn until TBB that what little progress, if any, towards having a good relationship with clones is gone.

Next we learn about where Ahsoka’s been since walking away from The Jedi Order. It’s assumed she’s been hiding on the lower levels of Coruscant surviving. Her story opens with her speeder bike dying and her falling onto a garage platform belonging to the Martez sisters. Lots of people dislike the Martez sisters story arc due to their attitudes and behaviors. While I don’t hate them like a lot in the fandom seem to, they aren’t my favorite characters and I thought there were a lot of better stories that could’ve been told with Ahsoka.

That brings me to Ahsoka’s character. I get that people change over time and she was obviously still hurt by the Jedi Order, specifically the Council, but I didn’t like how easily she partnered with Bo Katan in the finale and sided with her cause given Bo’s history. She easily dismissed her relationship with Anakin (and Rex to an extent) despite her recognizing everything he did for her. But other than that, I loved Ahsoka meeting/fighting Darth Maul and the O66 moment for her and Rex was so tragic.

I loved the clones but I thought one person would’ve made it next level good: Kix, the 501st medic. I know in Legends he was frozen in carbonite/hypersleep or something and was woken up by pirates about 50-60yrs later, making him the last clone since the others have accelerated aging (aside from Boba/Omega). But I would’ve loved to see Kix either with Ahsoka and her 501st half or at least mentioned about being with Anakin and his 501st half.

So while I generally enjoy CW S7, I definitely prefer making my own interpretation and looking at fan-made art/stories.

Because I enjoyed the animation and music of CW S7, I was excited to see another show that has the same animation about clones: The Bad Batch. This is definitely one of those shows that has great ideas but the execution actually hurts it. They are shown to have lighter skin than the rest of the darker ‘regular’ clones and they all think they are superior to the other clones but especially Crosshair. Again, I won’t get into it, but TBB is a dumpster fire of racism and horrible story telling.

I definitely prefer the live action shows, but even then it’s hit or miss. Like I said, OWK and Ahsoka fell short for me. However I love Andor, Mando and TBoBF.

Which finally brings me to the upcoming Star Wars content animated and live action. SPOILERS—YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!

First, the Mandalorian movie. I’m more hesitant about this movie despite my love for the show but that’s mostly because of Ahsoka. I didn’t like how Ahsoka was handled and because it left on a cliff hanger, I’m sure it’ll tie into the Mandalorian movie with Thrawn probably taking the role of the villain. I don’t think I really have any expectations other than it’s not bad, though Felony will helm the project so I’m not holding my breath.

Second, the Rey Skywalker movie. I definitely think Disney knows how badly they messed up with the sequel trilogy and will try and redeem Rey’s character. I think it’s an interesting premise. She knows Luke, who had a failed Jedi school, and she chooses to do the same, knowing it could fail like Luke’s but chooses to do it anyway. I’d love for this movie to show a new villain instead of Palpatine/Sith. I could see more Dark Jedi or even Night Sister magic being the main conflict instead.

Next, the James Mangold Star Wars movie. Supposedly it’s set thousands of years in the past and will focus on the first Jedi. I think that’s an interesting topic and a great chance to form new ideas as well as bring in Legends/EU content. However, with the mixed reviews of Indiana Jones 5, I’m tempering my expectations accordingly.

I know Taika Waititi has a Star Wars movie coming out as well but idk anything about it other than he wants to have original characters (which I think is good).

I think Shawn Levy has a Star Wars movie coming but again, no details about it since he’s been busy with Stranger Things S5 and Deadpool 3.

I believe Rian Johnson also has a trilogy set in a new place the lore has never explored before but I don’t think this trilogy is coming any time soon.

I believe that’s it for movies so over all I’m hesitant, but that’s because I need more info.

Now for the shows. I’ll start with the new ones.

Lando will obviously focus on Lando Calrissian played by Donald Glover. There’s no info about any idea of when the series will take place but I kinda hope it’s like right before the sequel trilogy.

Skeleton Crew has a good concept of a Jedi in hiding finding 4 Jedi kids and as long as it doesn’t get too family friendly and the writing is good I’m sure I’ll enjoy it. I’ve always thought this was the story they should’ve told with the Jedi Younglings in TCW arc.

The Acolyte is about the growing dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era (~200yrs before TPM). It seems like a noir-detective style show (like AotC) with a Master/Padawan duo investigating a series of crimes. It seems pretty cool and I’m excited for it.

I’m hoping Mandalorian S4 will be better than S3. I really want Din to call Grogu his son. Not his kid, not his boy, but his SON. SAY IT.

Definitely looking forward to Andor S2 the most. I thought Andor was slow at first and a bit complicated due to how many characters are introduced, but I loved the story and the actors had the passion that made their roles believable.

I could not care less about The Bad Batch S3. No matter what happens, I definitely prefer fandom ideas/my own headcanons. I MIGHT binge watch the season once all eps are out but I will NOT be watching on episode release days.

That brings me to the planned animated Clone Rebellion show. I’m assuming it’ll be the same CW style set after TBB S3 and focus on Rex (and possibly Wolffe+Gregor) which leads me to believe we won’t get much in the way of the clone rebellion in TBB S3. If this show uses the same damn clone model I will cut out Disney Star Wars. I don’t mind making my own stories/AU’s/etc, but Disney in general is on thin ice as it is.

Thanks for letting me get all that out. This is basically why I haven’t been writing. I’ve been pretty disappointed with Disney as of late due to their horrible live action remakes, mid-level animated movies like Elemental, Strange World, Lightyear and mediocre SW content.

If you’ve made it through this whole post, thank you for your time and I promise I will post something soon.

-Maisy💙

#Star Wars #disney #fuck disney #Dave felony #fuck Dave #progress update #sw #thoughts #my thoughts #Star Wars spoilers #thanks for being patient

1 note · View note