Yesterday everyone was posting their feelings on TBB. I'm glad I waited, because there's a lot swirling around. Cut for negativity again.

I was introduced to The Bad Batch in August 2022 and fell instantly in love. The characters, the story, the complex family dynamics, they all spoke to me. I wasn't even a Star Wars fan but I went through and devoured The Clone Wars, Rebels, The Mandalorian, all of it. I threw myself into this world and adored every second of it. I must have rewatched season one over five times before season two even came out.

When season two premiered I loved it. Every Tuesday night I stayed up until the episode drop and devoured it immediately. I looked ahead at the schedule and took days off work for the double episodes, for the big Crosshair episodes - he was my favorite early on and season two only made that grow. But season two also really brought Tech into my radar even more. I had always liked him, but here he was shining. The Crossing really solidified it, as an autistic person. I'd never heard someone describe the difference in processing so succinctly before, so clearly, and it spoke to me like very little had. Here was a character that was like me. Here was a character that I needed when I was an undiagnosed child, someone that would have made me feel like I had at least some way of describing my differences.

Then, well. He died. It was an affecting scene, but it felt out of nowhere, it felt unfinished. Tech didn't even get the climax of the episode. He just fell into the clouds, the Batch grieved for a few minutes, and then the plot steamrolled right along.

I didn't believe it, not after the mad scientist presented his goggles and claimed not to salvage anything else. It seemed like such an obvious fake out. The longer I sat with it the less satisfying it felt. It felt so brushed over, so pointless, all for a mission that they accomplished nothing on. Then came the social media circus. Again and again his fall was shoved in our faces on Twitter, demanding we stream it. TikToks were made that were so out of touch they felt like parodies, the wound ripped open again and again, and I thought surely there had to be a purpose to it.

So I waited for season 3 as interviews were done that seemed to almost intentionally avoid calling him dead. As tweets were made promising we'd be so fulfilled if we could only see who was onscreen in the mid-season! (A tweet that immediately garnered dozens of people hoping it referred to Tech, all without a single comment to try and quell the speculation.) It felt already like we were being toyed with, but I thought it had to be for a reason or a purpose. More weirdly vague discussions went up about his Sacrifice, his Fall, his Anything But Death, even as everyone insists that it was so meaningful, the way he died on a mission that accomplished nothing. Jokes were made around Valentines Day.

He Fell For You, get it?

The first official use of killed went up on the databank right after the trailer, on Hunter's page of all places. The first time the interviews used dead was the Friday before the premier. It all felt too late, theories had already grown for months by that point.

Season 3 finally came and I waited up for every episode drop just like I did for season 2, hoping for him to come back or at least for him to be properly grieved, since we had barely a couple of minutes in Plan 99 before it was swept away for the next plot point. Surely Tech's impact deserved an episode of focus, if he were really gone.

The previously on plays his last words twice. But then we skip months into the future. We don't see Crosshair find out the news - even though Tech died on a mission to retrieve him. We don't watch Omega grieve. She barely seems to notice she's missing a brother. We got a brief allusion in episode two. It took three episodes to even mention his name in passing. Five episodes in everyone got their chance to look sad about him, but only for a few seconds and only when his skills were relevant. Compared to the gorgeous callback to Mayday in the same episode, it felt shallow. He had to have been more important than this didn't he?

Episodes 6 & 7 felt like maybe there was a reason. We see a new masked assassin that gets extra focus, who got put through a series of Tech-adjacent situations, whose beef with Crosshair was just a little too personal, who survived longer than all the rest but stayed masked. Rex talks about losing brothers, but Hunter says nothing about the brother they lost. I hoped it all meant something, that this was the reason that he felt so much like he was thrown away, so that he could come back in.

More one off mentions that only really come up when it's about how useful Tech would have been. More poking at the wound that still felt open and raw because we'd never gotten any closure. The closest we get is a single scene in episode eleven, so late in the season and so brief that I thought that couldn't possibly be it.

CX-2 comes back, and he talks like Tech. He's still not unmasked. I really need him to be something because otherwise what was it all for?

The most emotion comes in Juggernaut, from Phee. Its a highlight because it actually feels like it was about him, like he mattered as a person. It's episode twelve and we finally talk about him like a person. We never saw her get the news either.

Episodes thirteen and fourteen pass without any mentions at all. We're running out of time. Episode 15 hits and we get one raw one from Crosshair that Clone Force 99 died with Tech. It's the first time they directly say he's dead in so many words. It's the season finale. CX-2 is a nobody it turns out, and he dies faceless. Everyone gets a happy ending and after over a year of wondering if we'd ever get closure, it turns out Tech's just dead. But look how happy everyone else is!

Everyone gets to grow old. Except the autistic one of course. He's just dead and it hardly feels like it mattered at all. Did you know Wrecker and Hunter don't use his name once in season three? Omega and Echo mention him once each. Crosshair twice, only once with any emotion behind it. Phee tops the charts at three mentions, two by name and one by nickname. We see his goggles four times. I kept count.

There was never a bigger plan, this was just all he was worth. We spent two seasons on Crosshair's absence. We spent a whole episode dealing with it when Echo decided to go with Rex. Tech dies though and all his life amounted to was a handful of mentions when his skills would have been useful, some shots of his broken goggles, and endless cooing out of the text over how meaningful his sacrifice was. Too meaningful to take back, of course, even as Ventress is brought back from her own sacrifice.

I had really, really thought that this time autistic life would be worth more than autistic death. That a character that felt so carefully handled couldn't have just been thrown away for shock value, barely to even be mentioned again, his memory used to string us along to keep us watching. If you added up every mention and shot through season 3 it might actually clock in at less time than was spent on Mayday's send off.

I'm an adult. I'll survive, though the sting of seeing yet another character like me used as a stepping stone for everyone else's happy ending will take a while to fade. But I think about the child I used to be who needed a character like Tech. And I think about how it would have felt to actually get that only to watch him die a handful of episodes later as a side note to his family's story, barely even mentioned again. How badly it would have hurt, how deep it would have scarred.

I'm not that child anymore. But there are a lot of autistic kids out there that are the same as I used to be, and they're learning for the first time that people like us don't get happy endings. Instead they die so that everyone around them can rise up, and they might even get mentioned a few times. But don't worry. Everyone will tell you how meaningful and special it is and how delusional you were to ever hope for anything else.

The Bad Batch still means a lot to me. I think it always will. I love the characters. I love the family, and all the potential they had. But the sting of not belonging in this happy ending is there, and it's deep. It's been a long time since I trusted a show. It'll be a long time before I risk trusting another. And I hope that the autistic kids trying to learn how to close their hearts off behind new walls are doing okay.

Do you think Jean is sex repulsed as a result of his trauma? The way he’s actively trying to repress his feelings of attraction to people is giving sex repulsed

I'll preface this by saying that I am in no way and expert of these things, but I wouldn't say that, no. He clearly experiences sexual attraction, and it's not that he doesn't want to act on it; it's more that he's scared? But would I be me if I didn't provide excessive evidence? No, let's gooooo

(The Sunshine Court, ch.11)

I think it's only fitting to start with Jean's beach party bi panic™️ he refers to his attraction to Laila as inappropriate and his attraction to Jeremy as dangerous. He's not disgusted by it, though? He just doesn't seem to think he's allowed to feel that way. He seems more frustrated than anything, I think. He's giving 'why is everyone fucking hot?!' vibes, like he thinks it's cruel because he thinks he's not allowed to do anything about it?

I do think that it's interesting that he doesn't deny it when confronted about it, though. Like, Jeremy straight up (no pun intended) calls him out on his very poorly concealed sexuality and he didn't bother to even try lying.

(The Sunshine Court, Ch.12)

Jean being unable to lie to Jeremy is a common theme, which I could rant about separately, but Jean caring more about Lucas insulting Jeremy's integrity than his friends knowing he's bi doesn't scream disgust or aversion to me. In fact, I may go as far as to say that this suggests that he isn't trying all that hard to repress his sexuality in the first place.

Jumping onto the next chapter, we've got some more of Jean's idea of what he is 'allowed' and him actively testing that boundary, just a tiny bit.

(The Sunshine Court, Ch.13)

Jean-Yves, my precious baby boy, you are allowed to feel how you feel! Personally, this isn't giving me sex repulsed vibes either, though. Yet again, this isn't about what he wants, it's about what he is allowed (Riko, I hope you are burning in hell 💕).

But even with the belief that he isn't allowed to be attracted to Jeremy, Jean still dips his toe in, just the tiniest bit. I'm hoping this is a taste of what's to come, and Jean will feel more able to try things as Jeremy continues to prove that their attraction to each other isn't inherently unsafe. The fact that he's testing it at all, and that he seems happy with the outcome, suggests to me that he may be open to trying things once he feels safe.

For my final point, we're sticking with chapter 13 for sex toy gate!

It might just be me, but this reaction doesn't give 'sex repulsed'. It's giving kid being teased by his friend or mortified by their older sibling. It's iconic, it's hilarious, he's a blushy little boy. I really hope that we see something more about this in tsc2. I think that, once he is done dying of embarrassment, Laila's thinking might not be too far off.

Riko is dead, Tetsuji is gone, Jean isn't imprisoned in the Nest anymore. He is free and safe to explore his sexuality and I think/hope we will get to see Jean realise this in the future. It has the potential to be really beautiful.

Do people think loml is about Matty? I thought the "all at once" line seals it for me. Very direct callback to KOMH (and it tears me apart every time). Also the "get-love-quick scheme" seems like she's saying she was wrong bout Joe not being just like the others. She also has referenced themes of 'loss' with respect to him, so the fact that it changes to 'loss of my life' in the end is a pretty big deal.

Also;

you shit-talked me under the table//I talk shit with my friends, it's like I'm wasting your honor.

Talking rings and talking cradles // give you a wild, give you a child // I'd marry you with paper rings

When your impressionist paintings of heaven turned out to be fakes // You paint dreamscapes on the wall

Still alive, killing time at the cemetery // Till we were too far gone to bring back to life

I know it mentions rekindled flames and the 'counterfeit' line is a reference to Glitch which might be about Matty, but there's too many callbacks to Joe which makes me think it's taking a page out of both relationships rather than one.

there are definitely shades of joe in it, because the donut hole in the entire album (ie, what is omitted but essential) is that she fell hard and fast for matty because she was leaving joe and was emotionally spiraling from that. she loved joe and they talked marriage, and kids, she was planning on a future with him, but their relationship fell apart. as they sometimes tend to do.

but my personal interpretation is that the "surface story" is more matty and explains how he got under her skin so fast. they rekindled the flame that burnt out for a reason last time - he said this time would be different, it wasn't. and at the end of it all she wanted to believe both were her fated soulmates, and they were not.

the subtext of the song (and many other songs on the album), though, is that she was trying to find what she'd spent a long time waiting for. oven -> microwave.

There’s absolutely a HUGE lack of information about the FUNNY MAZE floor, I’ve decided to obsess over it and make my own hcs >.<

CHECK UNDER THE CUT FOR MORE :3c

Scary Mike is a godless entity born from an empty shell and Funny Maze is its own realm. The pages contain a lot of personal and powerful info so it’s very protective about it

“Fleshy” found it’s way to it’s domain and never left, somehow Scary Mike cannot fucking kill that thang and as time passed it realized how it didn’t seem to express any harm (it wasn’t trying to get the pages so) and Evil Jermbo fr just manifested itself inside and just ponders in a chair so Scary Mike does not fucking care

BIVE is a whole ass another thing, after she escaped the lab she was made she helplessly found herself in the Funny Maze. SCARY MIKE actually took pity of her because the similarities between it’s past as an empty shell, so it allows Bive to stay and leave freely. Scary Mike actually likes when Bive tries to get to it’s pages because it gives it a challenge and now it has a reference for future foreign trespassers in it’s realm (Scary Mike limits it’s interactions with Bive! That’s why she treats everything as a investigation)

Also Bive has a little office somewhere in the Funny Maze, that’s fr her home. She studies evil jermbo, talks about her theories with “Fleshy” and investigates Scary Mike :)

Post-JTTW Stone Egged Au asks: Bad Ichor

Amassing some Post-Jttw egg asks with similar vibes of "reject gods. stay monke".

Hehehe many questions - main ref post here. Btw in future try sending one sentence questions/comment as replies to the specfic posts. sometimes I find asks referencing a post and I can't remember which one they're talking about.

Wukong in the au makes a concious effort to inform his cubs and his people of what his mother sacrificed to bring him into the world. Her statue and the paintings on the walls of Waterfall Curtain a tapestry of a ruler more fair and far grander that any celestial in the monkeys minds.

And when their little chaotic Eclipse twins found the Consort's resting place, more of Wukong's parent's sacrifice was uncovered. Along with the King's delayed twin brother Luzhen. The little prince grows up being taught how him and the "larger him" share parents, but they aren't here in person anymore but they love him very much. Luzhen has met his and Wukong's parents during the holidays that allow it and gladly runs up to Yē Lín and Shíhuā calling them "Baba" and "Mama" let he's known them all his life. He misses them a lot. But older Brother/Mama and Bama/Baba are really good to him so he isn't sad for long.

Wukong never lets Heaven realise that Luzhen isn't his biological child, as he fears the Emperor or Queen Mother attempting to sieze custody of Luzhen out of spite. The few higher up that know agree that baby monkeys need to be with monkeys.

Pigsy is still uber confused when Luzhen refers to Wukong as "mama" and "gege" in the same sentence tho.

Mac and Wukong are still super petty tho. They call upon their ancestors during the cubs' naming ceremonies to give their little one's blessings. And along with Shíhuā, Yē Lín and Guanyin making an appearance, the royal couple are invoked to send divine blessings of protection down onto earth. They know who's calling them. They aren't happy about it but they won't hurt the little ones.

MK is still a huge JTTW fan, even more so since to him it's like learning about all this cool stuff his family did back in the Before times! And he was there for a lot it! (even if he wasn't born yet). Him and his childhood besties deduced early on that they have *some* kind of family in the Celestial realm, just not sure who.

As for the Dragons:

Going by Ao Guang still being upset by the theft (barely, in Jttw his wife let Wukong have it), of the Staff, I imagine that dragon can be super petty. Ao Guang doesn't like Sun Wukong at all for the theft and the havoc in heaven, even if he was cordial to him during the Journey.

When the youngest son of the Ao Run/Ji is fatally wounded by the Samadhi Fire, basically every royal dragon had an attack of pstd to when they lost Ao Bing. They started to hate Sun Wukong for his recklessness.

Then DBK, Wukong's older sworn brother and godfather to his young twins, suddenly goes on a rampage forcing Heaven's hands.

The royal dragons basically took DBK's imprisionment as an excuse to bail out. Dragons don't like the gods, and they don't like Sun Wukong.

Mei's parents hadn't wanted to cut ties with the monkeys, but Mei was a super sickly dragon pup and Ao Yi simply couldn't emotionally deal with cutting off her family with that happening... her and Long Chen continue to send Wukong's family birthday presents, card, and the occasional letter - all covert like a spy mission. Other dragons who disagreed with the royals continue this practice as well.

And ofc S4:

:)

Nezha: "Jade Emperor, there's a message for you from Sun Qi Xiaotian." Jade Emperor & Queen Mother: (*super intrigued! Did he find out about their connection?*) JE: "Send him in." Nezha, peaks head out of window: "Yeah he's in." MK: (*busts through wall like a Looney tunes character, shaking with anxiety*) MK, like he's on fast-forward: "Mister Jade Emperor sir I'm so sorry but Azure Lion's got this memory scroll and he trapped my family in it. He tricked me and my friends into freeing his old buddies from the Brotherhood but he wont let my mom loose and NOW he has my baby sister and little bro (it's complicated) and they're on their way here right now to kill you and my powers are glitching out and I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!" JE: "Uhhh..." Queen Mother, rolls her eyes and turns to her entourage: "Prepare the safehouse. Contact all the bodhisattvas and the Kings of Hell, and tell our armies to be ready for a big game hunt. And get this child some peaches." MK: (*heavily breathing/mid-panic attack. gives thumbs up*) Mei, peaking her head in: "Wow. Girl bossing!" Nezha: "And Sun Wukong my lady?" Queen Mother: (*looks over MK like he's the most precious thing in the universe. like she doesn't want to let him leave*) Queen Mother: "For the sake of my daughter... find Sun Wukong's mate the Six Eared Macaque. He knows those Brotherhood brutes well. It's the least he can do for giving my grandson such distress with that disappearing act." Rumble & Savage, appear from the Queen Mother's shadow: "Do we gets peaches too?" "I like melon better." Queen Mother: "Who are these?" MK, calming down: "My older little siblings. They're twins. Azure didn't take them. Probably because he couldn't catch them." Rumble & Savage, proudly flexing: "We're too fast!" "And we got our bama's powers!" Queen Mother: (*notices little red tiger-stripe-like markings on the twins' bodies*) "OH!!!! He had twins! My love! More wàizēngsūnérnǚ! Twins too!!" JE: (*frozen stiff on his throne, completely shocked*) "Can the brown one repeat what he said about celestial beasts coming to kill me?" MK, blanking at QM's use of chinese: "Did the Queen just say-" Orchard Maidens, quickly shuffling the Noodle Gang out of the Throne Room: "SO! How about those peaches?" "You'll learn soon enough." "Sorry, but we're going into lockdown." "He's taller than didi!" "Must be mother's genes that did that."

Basically MK is calling in the big guns early cus he's panicking, abd accidentally uncovers the fact that he's somehow the great-grandchild (by reincarnation nonsense) of the two rulers of Heaven!?

All he wanted when all this Scroll nonsense happened was a day off!

For real. Smosh Summer/Winter Games? x

Can you draw vinny, but he’s corrupted with body horror

stuck his finger in the usb port

Calling out your homie's weirdness before he says anything weird in front of Angel who is, in fact, an angel.

just a heads up, if you get a dm from nobugdev, this person is trying to scam you and will tell you to kys r slur (then deleted the specific kys message before I could screenshot it lol) when you tell him you don't want to be paid under federal minimum wage :)

this is just a small sample of the lovely conversation I had with this guy. it didn't last long because I didn't actually plan on taking the commission, and wanted to give this guy a wake up call as to how shitty it is to expect a grown ass adult to work for a wage that can barely buy a single candy bar in our current economic climate.

I've had an influx of scam artists and underhanded clients like this in the past 2 years, partially which I blame on AI art making ppl undervalue every creative profession out there. I'm fucking exhausted from having hours long conversations with someone only for them to tip toe around the fact they think my art isn't even worth a single grocery trip. not to mention people think artwork can be mass produced by a human like a machine now- it is not possible to do 10 cleanly lined images in "an hour or two".

even when I was working as a caricature artist, I was paid a base hourly rate on top of tips and was given much more time to work on black and white illustrations than what this guy was offering me. I usually block immediately and move on, but I'm tired of putting up with this type of shit on a daily basis.

tl;dr: know your worth artists, don't let these scumbags try to force you to do what is essentially sweatshop labor!

do NOT take this weirdo's commissions, even if the diary of a wimpy kid art style is simple you shouldn't be charged under federal fucking minimum wage for that type of illustration!

I opened Pinterest for the first time in months.

That made me realize a lot about how bad I was actually doing and how much of a Waffle House Index use of Pinterest is for adult me, apparently.

I hadn’t realized it had grown that foundational to me in a healthy-brain-exercise-and-hobby-joy way. Nice to know moving forward! It’s another sign I can keep track of and use to spot correlation/indicator patterns earlier my behavior.

I love this kind of thing, it makes me so excited!

doctober day 12: train tracks

fact: their favorite bedtime story is 'how mom, dad, and clint eastwood stole a locomotive and saved the space time continuum'. source: dude trust me

not a long while ago,  i posted about wanting to explore dynamics more and build more long-lasting connections between the muses,  but as of late there’s also been another related thing circulating inside my head,  which is the topic of romantic shipping.  i always say i’m open to considering those and people should always feel free to approach me about it and then we can discuss whether it makes sense or not,  though something i’m not particularly a fan of is devoiding a dynamic between characters for the sake of shipping.  romance is not my priority and even when it happens,  most of the time those relationships still will be difficult because this is how i write and interpret leon and his approach towards it.  all i’m asking for is some more depth.  otherwise,  simply speaking,  it’s hard for me to stay excited or interested.

Dunno I but I actually feel kinda sad when I see people talking about Gojo like he's some kind of bad person etc etc😩 maybe I take it personally but how can I not when I love him so much😢 do you have such feelings?

No, I get you 😭 it's kind of frustrating to see how often he gets mischaracterized.

I might have already did so but can I use your art as a pfp if I credit you correctly? Ur art is so good omg

oh yeah lol go wild

Do you guys find it annoying that I post the comic ref along with the panel? Should I stop?

also for future reference (and ill probably add this to posts of them) please never tag my doll and uzi posts as ship <3 nothing against the ship i just personally rlly dont like shipping them