#Rex and Crosshair have kinda similar arcs

[darthpastry]

wow people weren’t kidding when they said the Umbara arc was fucked up

[horatio-fig]

Neurodivergent Coding in TBB (‘Good’ vs ‘Bad’)

I believe that all the members of the bad batch could be seen as neurodivergent coded, and if you have any sort of neurodivergence, you will probably see yourself in at least one of them.  

I see a lot of myself in Tech, as a lot of us do. When we first see in him in The Clone Wars, he is introduced by rapidly firing off a lot of facts. Something I do a lot in social situations. But, in the same scene, Crosshair is seen hanging back and it takes him the longest to open up and speak, something I do too. 

In this arc Crosshair gives his unfiltered opinion, and all he does is state things that he sees as facts. You could make the argument he is fully aware his words will hurt, but he seems pretty surprised when Rex swings for him, so maybe not. (Also, when I first watched the arc, I was kinda thinking what he was thinking about the loyalty thing) 

Crosshair is easily hurt and takes things very personally, his alterations give him a skill but unlike the others it’s only one very specific skill, he lacks social nuance and craves order to the point he is incapable of changing his path.  

However, in TV there is sort of two types of autistic. ‘Good; cinnamon roll too pure for this earth autistic’ and ‘Bad; weird, there’s something off about him, creepy autistic’. Despite Tech and Crosshair showing very similar traits, especially in their lack of social awareness and penchant for planning and order, they are getting two very different portrayals. 

I have my theories why. Tech is the more relatable of the two, chances are people sitting at home aren't elite sniper assassins but we’ve read a couple of Wikipedia pages and can recite a few facts.  

This isn't me saying forgive fascists if they are neurodivergent or we can't tell stories in case we accidently code the bad guy. It’s more a look at how differently they are being portrayed and received by audiences. 

Why is it when Tech is blunt and hurts people's feelings, he’s a ‘sass queen’ or ‘a poor socially awkward baby’ but when Crosshair is clearly hurting and struggling to understand, he doesn't get the same reception. 

We know they do the hero/villain coding thing with physical disabilities and people are cracking down on that, but I think the conversation should be opened to look at neurodivergence as well.  

[moosethren]

I saw your notes on this post https://www.tumblr.com/moosethren/717347673558155264?source=share you reblogged and I fully agree with what you said in the notes. Firstly, I am very tired of the Star Wars trope of "man adopts child" (we see this in TCW with Ahsoka, Rebels with Ezra, Mando with Grogu, TBB with Omega, Kenobi with Leia, etc) and seeing how the TBB series' narrative is specifically made for the man adopt child trope hurts the series overall, in my opinion.

As you mentioned in your tags, Hunter has practically no personality aside from, literally, "Omega". People will say that his personality has changed due to the changing times and stress, but how he's shown and displayed in the show canon directly is having a personality designed for the main child character and nothing else. He had zero development and has changed absolutely none at all since TBB season one. His decisions are still made solely for the narrative (going back to Cid's for AZI solely because the writers needed to find a way to have them captured, even though they could have contacted Rex or found a medic literally anywhere else) and for Omega. I am doubtful we will see much development for Hunter that isn't revolving constantly around Omega in season three, let alone with the other men. All of the men are developed for her, rather than for themselves or for the sake of them being expanded upon, which completely shortens their purpose to just existing for the narrative and Omega - which none of them deserve.

I want more from the show than we will ever get, and seeing the TCW Bad Batch turning into "men who adopt children" and losing the joking, brotherly love they displayed in TCW. But that's just my thoughts on it, since I saw your tags and became intrigued to see someone else feeling a similar way as myself.

Oh, man, I couldn't agree more.

I still don't even know why AZI is with Cid in the first place, when they could have handed him over to Rex where he'd be useful. They went through all that trouble to save him in S1 (Omega nearly died, Crosshair had a huge thing of saving him and her) and then he ends up a frigging waiter droid at Cid's...

There's so many weird decisions/mistakes that TBB does just because of the honestly poor writing at this rate, cause they seem determined to yeah, have the narrative involve purely her. I don't know why the show isn't just called "Omega". And I get it, she's the person the audience/kids sees stuff through but come on... I expected to watch stuff about the Bad Batch and their relationships with each other, in a show called The Bad Batch. Now it's just a few men following this kid around and letting her decide everything and get them into trouble with no consequences.

(spoilers but I guess you've seen it all) Also because this is getting LONG.

Ever since the end of S2 my interest has plummeted because my fave character was offed after having had a 'full character arc with OMEGA' (since that's clearly all that matters), Hunter's only personality trait is being a 'dad' and I'm not interested in that either. Poor Wrecker has so much potential but it's squandered per usual and Echo's just kinda there, when he seems much happier being with Rex. Crosshair is my second fave but he's gonna be trapped with Omega which means his writing is going to go from really good to well, not that great.

What's worse, there's yet another media that is going towards the same trope atm and I'm frankly losing it. It seems like it's just me and one other who really dislike the trope (and you, which, yay, we're not alone 😂) I could go on about this for ages but I know it's a very unpopular opinion. But it's honestly ruining the show for me. And the trope, which I used to kinda like.

Imagine a show based on an adult sibling dynamic, which we're sorely lacking.

But again I'm the wrong audience for this and shouldn't have expected anything else, and at the moment I don't trust these writers anymore. (plus them killing off the autism rep sits really wrong with me.)

I want to like Omega (even if I'm not a big fan of child characters in the first place) but her writing and the show's direction makes it very difficult.

At the moment I'm re-writing the entire show without her in it and I'm honestly having much more fun making the Batch work together through this ordeal. Sure, I have a few OCs involved but they're not removing the Batch's claws as it were. But since the canon show is kinda just eh to me atm, that's my solution to it, so if anyone's upset about that well... they have a whole show out there to enjoy.

I'm glad for those who do like where the show is going and who love the trope 'cause they're being fed well, but the rest of us, well, some of us are getting salty and that's okay too.

[saturn-sends-hugs]

OHOHOHO YOU BET I WILL!!! The hurt/comfort will happen wether it’s in the show or not.

And back to the Echo and Cross parallels…

I feel like a huge overarching storyline for both of these characters has been survival.

With Echo, that point is pretty obvious. In Clone Cadets, they set up the idea of him struggling to adapt, which later is used in the opening quote of one of the Citadel episodes, “Adaptation is the key to survival.” At this point in the series, it seems like a grim reminder, saying that Echo failed to survive because he just couldn’t adapt.

But he did! He adapts, he survives, and the quote for his rescue episode is, “Survival is just one step on the path to living.” (yes i have these memorized bshjshsjsjk) He survives, he’s back with his brothers, but what does he do now? This is the same arc we get Cody’s quote from, which Rex directly relates to Echo. Cody says “Sometimes in war, it’s hard to be the one that survives.” but Rex responds with “That’s what I’m worried about.” Because it’s true, and now Echo has to deal with that fact. His whole story is one of survival, of beating the odds, and he has to relearn how to live with the batch.

And especially after The Outpost, Crosshairs character parallels this. We all know the parallel between Cross and the vultures, and Maydays line regarding them is: “Vicious creatures. But you have to admire them. They find a way to survive.”

And that’s the difference, isn’t it? Kinda like @the-bi-space-ace said earlier, Crosshair’s reaction, how he deals with trauma, how he goes about that survival, it’s just different. Where Echo has this sort of righteous survival, not particularly by anything he did, just due to how he’s rescued, Crosshair’s survival is much messier. He gets his hands dirty, he snaps, and it almost goes against that survival instinct.

Initially, Crosshair kept his head down with the empire. He stuck with them, he didn’t complain, even when the Lieutenant was AWFUL AND DISGUSTING OMG STRANGLE HIM ahem Crosshair just sat back and took it, because what else could he do? He’s saving his skin by not speaking up.

And by the end, he snaps. His sheer pain wins out, and he doesn’t care what’ll happen to him anymore, he just wants that Lieutenant dead. (SLAYYYY CROSSHAIR GET IT YOU DID SO WELL <333)

The motif of survival is so prevalent in both of their character arcs, and I think despite the differences there, Echo really would be the best one to deal with the fallout with Crosshair. He understands, he knows how it feels to survive almost against his will and to have his entire life changed around him.

Crosshair is now in an extremely similar situation. The batch might not think he’s dead, but he’s not expecting them to ever come back for him. He’s alone, logically the empire should’ve probably killed him, and now he’s someone’s twisted science experiment. And I’m so curious to see where this goes; will they parallel Echo’s story again with the batch rescuing Crosshair when he never thought they would? Will Crosshair escape on his own and have to fight for survival again? Or will he just… not escape? Become whatever the scientists are aiming for, or (pls pls omg nO) end up not making it? I do not know and my GOD I AM TERRIFIED 😭😭

But yeah, parallels weeeeeeee 🫠🫠🫠

Let's Talk About Echo & Crosshair

This is going to be long winded so I will put my thoughts under the cut <3

Echo and Crosshair have a lot of similarities and I think a lot of that has to do with their experiences with trauma. They have reacted differently to that trauma but still, those similarities are there.

Let's start with the lightest of this discussion: their wit and personalities. Crosshair has a dry delivery, borderline or outwardly mean at times, and he tends to never beat around the bush. He's forward and stubborn and he will call you out if he thinks you're wrong (immediately his treatment of Rex comes to mind). Echo is similar in this dryness. He rolls his eyes a lot and he strikes me as the person to call out his loved ones when they're being absolutely obtuse. He speaks his mind and doesn't hide when he's upset. They are both on the blunter side of things but the way people react to Echo's bluntness versus Crosshair's definitely varies. I think this is because Crosshair can be cruel while Echo tends to hold his tongue and go for a, still forward, but more diplomatic way.

I also think they both lead with emotion. Crosshair we see be angry a lot more than any other emotion (but that doesn't mean he doesn't have other emotions). We see Echo have a lot of fire within him - usually pointed towards an injustice. He's willing to stand up for his family, testify for Riyo, and fight with Rex to save their brothers from the empire. We see Crosshair do this too when he fights so hard for Mayday. He sees a person who is so deserving of saving that he puts his all into doing just that. They are both willing to let their emotions guide them, it just manifests a little differently. Crosshair's is more passion and surges of protectiveness and loyalty while Echo's is more sustained and dialed in. They both have this loyalty towards their loved ones and their brothers but Echo's is more doing the right thing to keep people safe and Crosshair's is more: whatever it takes to get the best end result is the path I will take. Same idea different approach.

This plays into a trait that both of them have: a strong sense of loyalty. Loyalty is extremely important to both of them but Echo tends to let this loyalty drive him towards the greater good, a willingness and need to protect everyone not just those closest to him. Crosshair, on the other hand, lets this guide him to do just about anything to stay true to it. He'd willingly kill and die for those he is loyal to. Again we see their paths line up in a way that is just so similar and yet their reactions and how they use it is very different.

Now, for the biggest part of this: their trauma. We are well acquainted with Echo's trauma. He was left behind, captured, tortured, and mind controlled before his rescue. He suffered immense pain and has massive guilt over what he did when he did not have control. We see him struggle with PTSD, anger, and probably a lot of survivors guilt. His story is one soaked in tragedy but ultimately it is about overcoming odds and staying true to who you are even as the world caves in around you. We can see this struggle with Crosshair too. He was left behind which led to his continual torture and mind control. He was forced to do horrible things and endure a lot of pain and suffering along the way. But then we see him continue down a path with the empire and instead of overcoming and staying true to himself he latches onto the empire and starts to build his life around that instead. (We definitely got a lot of development in this area with episode 12 with seeing him save Mayday and shoot Nolan.) What I want to focus on here is why their responses to this are so different.

Echo, upon being rescued, had a massive support system to help him. He had Rex, this new squad, and an environment that was familiar to him despite how much he himself had changed. He had to adjust and adapt to this new reality of his but he still had so much of what he was used to that he was able to take that pain and start to cope with it. I definitely think he's got a lot left to work through but my point is that he was able to start the process in a healthier way. There was a stability built into it and it allowed him to grow and mature and hold onto his kind heart.

Crosshair on the other hand... He finally starts to wake up from the mind control. The brain washing wears off. And he's alone. There is zero support system for him to feel safe enough to be vulnerable. His family is gone. There is no one around who loves or supports him. He has done horrible things and hunted down the only people in the galaxy that care about him. And instead of coming out of the ordeal with a greater sense of self and an ability to overcome the anger and resentment inside of him it leaves him hollow and burrowing into himself to keep himself safe. He has no support system to help him emotionally so it festers and ends up hurting him even more.

They have such different reactions to coming out of the other side because they came to in much different circumstances. But in the end they would understand each other better than almost anyone else. They’ve been through very similar things and have made it to the other side. (and I think if anyone would understand Crosshair's anger it would be Echo, even if he doesn't agree with Crosshair's choices.)

I think it would be fantastic when Crosshair is reunited with his family that we see a moment where the two of them get to acknowledge that they have something even greater in common now. Even if it's silent or short. These two could draw so much healing from each other.

If you have things to add please please please feel free! I’m so interested to see what everyone else sees.

[smolbean-17]

TBB Wasted(?) Potential

I know we collectively as a fandom have had a lot of mixed thoughts/feelings on how TBB has turned out so far. I think that the general disappointment is merited. At least for now.

I love The Bad Batch. Let me just say that right now.

I am holding out hope that the show will take a turn for the better and get us all reinvested like we were at the beginning. And I’m sure it will. They usually save their best for the very end, especially when it comes to their cartoon series.

What I think sucks the most for us as fans is that we feel the need to defend it or delve so deep into headcanons and theories to make it seem more meaningful and emotional than it really is.

Avatar: The Last Airbender is something that I immediately refer to when I try to think of a children’s show with real, deep, adult situations and character reactions. The characters are ALL fleshed out and show deep emotion. We even feel for the villains! ATLA is some of the best storytelling out there, and it’s aimed for children.

So why isn’t TBB doing the same?

Backstory time: I’m coming into this fandom pretty late in the game. I’m 26 years old. I didn’t start even watching The Clone Wars until 2018, when my husband suggested we get deeper into Star Wars lore. I didn’t grow up with it like many of you did. I viewed the cartoons from an adult perspective from the very beginning. My husband is a filmmaker, so naturally, we were hypercritical the first couple seasons. We had to constantly remind ourselves “this is a show for children” when something cheesy happened or when the story decided to follow freaking Jar Jar Binks for the umpteenth time. Some arcs were enjoyable. Some were soooo boring. Some were incredible.

Really emotional moments were few and far between, similar to The Bad Batch. Did we ever see Obi-Wan or Anakin cry? Ahsoka? I think we only ever see the clones cry (Umbara arc and Rex at the end) And maybe Ahsoka cried at Obi-Wan’s fake death? (Do they not like animating tears?) Those moments aside, during three entire years of grueling war we don’t see much emotional trauma. Not when Satine died. Not when Ahsoka walked away from the Order. There isn’t much residual emotion besides the few off-handed comments that those bad things happened. Sadness, guilt, remorse, longing. These deep emotions were touched upon but never really fleshed out or re-explored. They did, however, do an excellent job portraying Anakin’s gradual fall.

The Clone Wars is far from perfect. It could’ve been more emotional. It could’ve built upon the characters even more then it did. But it is ultimately an amazing and emotionally driven show in so many ways. We love Rex, Ahsoka and the Clones. Anakin’s character was given new life because of The CW. It took a few seasons, but they finally found their pace and delivered. Even if they missed a few beats, there is a reason it’s one of the most critically acclaimed TV shows.

It took me and my husband two seasons to invest ourselves into The Clone Wars and see where the story was going.

I firmly believe it will be the same case with TBB. There are focus groups, people whose jobs are specifically to feel out the audience reactions and make the story better. That’s why Ahsoka went from being kinda annoying at the beginning to becoming one of the most loved, badass characters in Star Wars history. The tone of the show slowly became more and more mature. The creators of TBB need to get a feel of their audience. The first season is almost like a pilot season in a lot of ways.

I bet my life that there will be a second season of TBB. That they know exactly where they intend to end the story. Our reactions to this season will hopefully be an eye-opener to the creators and show them what we really want, and how to direct the story in a way that will leave us satisfied.

We want backstories. Flashbacks. Emotional talks that happen on a whim rather than as an afterthought tacked in at the end of an episode.

We want to know the story behind Tech’s goggles. The story of how Wrecker got Lula. How Echo’s doing with his PTSD. Why Crosshair is so reserved. How Hunter’s enhancements affect him. Why they don’t like the Regs. Why they’re named after 99. If they actually knew 99. What Omega’s life was like on Kamino. What their story is as brothers.

And I hope they deliver. I’m choosing to believe that they will.