#the bad batch moments

[archivistofnerddom]

The Batch + Getting forehead kisses from their partners

Hunter

Hunter carries so much weight that comes with keeping the family safe and together. You giving him this soft gesture is an acknowledgement of and silent thanks for everything he does. It’s a little action between you two.

With his heightened senses, Hunter frequently deals with overstimulation. You gently brushing back some of his hair and cupping his face calms him. His focus is solely on you in this moment. All his senses focus directly on you as you tilt his head back slightly to kiss his forehead. When you press that gentle kiss to his forehead, he glitches a bit and reaches out for you, holding you close to him.

He won’t say it, but he needs to have you so close to keep him from getting so overwhelmed by everything. And you understand. You stay close and lean into him, pressing one another kiss to his forehead as you hear him breathe more steadily.

Crosshair

He doesn’t trust easily, doubly so after what he survived with the Empire. Trusting you is a Big Thing for him. You can tell how much Crosshair needs gentle, soft reassurance that you’re still there, still around to support and love him.

Crosshair is tense when you slide next to him, wrapping a blanket around his shoulders with one arm. He looks at you intently. You shift yourself enough so that you can press a kiss to his forehead. Crosshair’s hand finds yours, squeezing gently, a little act of gratitude from him.

When you draw back a bit, he moves a bit and presses his forehead against yours. This feels safe. This feels like home. You feel warm when he acts like this with you. Crosshair is telling you that you are important to him without having to say anything.

Tech

This man always has something going on in his head, and he usually has four projects going on at once. Tech is a man of activity. He doesn’t slow down easily.

When you join him at his work bench, he’s happy. Tech likes having you nearby. He smiles at you when you lean over and sneak in a kiss to his forehead. You feel his hand sneak around your waist when you do, keeping you from stepping away after you finish that kiss.

Tech isn’t always good with his words, but he does show he cares with his actions. Accepting your kiss to his forehead and holding you close is one way he says he cares about you. Holding you close after you press this little kiss to his forehead is an enjoyable way for him to take a break from his work.

Wrecker

Wrecker is a very physically affectionate person. He loves openly and freely, often wearing his heart on his sleeve. When he has someone he loves deeply, Wrecker will let them know so clearly how much they mean to him.

You laugh when he pulls you down into his lap, one of his hands on your hip and the other around your back. Wrecker inhales sharply when you cup his face with both hands and kiss his forehead. His hand on your hip tightens a bit, a sign of how much you doing this means to him.

For Wrecker, this gentle sign of affection from you is also a sign that he is safe and can enjoy peace after war and being on the run. Wrecker likes being able to slow down and put down roots with his family and with you.

Echo

Look, Echo has been through a lot. He does so much to get his brothers to safety from their horrible treatment from the Empire. It’s a heavy thing that he’s handle, one that is thrown on top of him still recovering from his trauma at the hands of the Techno Union and his new life with three prosthetic limbs and cybernetic limbs.

You know how much that weighs on him, and it tugs at your heart. In the quiet moments between missions, Echo finds comfort being near you, often taking your hand in his good hand. Adjusting your position, you put your free hand on his scomp gently and press a little kiss onto his forehead.

Echo might be surprised by getting a forehead kiss from you, but he loves receiving it. Your acceptance of him as he is now means so much to him. Echo appreciates having quiet moments like these. He draws strength from having you around, especially as he’s dealing with so much for his brothers.

[yudmil]

See you later✨

[tangents-within-tangents]

Echo canonically being sentimental (and a sweetheart)

With his armor, there's also the "For Hevy" memorial, the fact he kept Rex's handprint, and that he put the Bad Batch skull on his armor before he even joined them

Echo holding 99 as he died has always stuck out to me as one of the saddest/sweetest things in TCW (especially since the show rarely actually shows clones mourning/expressing much emotion)

I also noticed that Echo is often the one to mention his brothers by name, and make sure they're remembered. And of course his entire thing about saving his brothers and leaving no one behind. (Also that he turned the call signs into this like nickname/inside joke thing with Omega is so adorable to me ahh)

--

And then there's whatever this is:

Not even a reaction to the name (and we know they are good at implying expression under those helmets)! I know this is old news but it bears saying lol. They had the perfect opportunity here to not only address Echo's loss, but also to honor Fives and the sacrifice he made to discover the chips. A sacrifice which saved Ahsoka, Rex, and now the Bad Batch. This is obviously not the first time Echo and Rex talked about Fives, he knows he's dead (I firmly believe he would not have left the 501st if Fives was still alive), but come on! This did the bare minimum to check the box of 'mention Fives.' How about you cut Wrecker getting attacked by a sarlacc or whatever and give that screen time to show us an actual conversation?

Like I found this bit in an interview:

While the conversation obviously never happened onscreen, Corbett says that doesn't mean it never happened, suggesting the two talked offscreen, saying "For Fives, I imagine that Rex and Echo had that conversation after he was rescued off of Skako Minor, and I know in Season 1 we did have Rex reference Fives on Bracca," adding "So, in my headcanon, they've had many conversations about Fives."

And I'm just like... Jennifer! You don't have to have headcanons, you are literally the writer! Show us!!

(Also he should have gotten his handprint again no I will never let this go)

[ahhlehlehlehleh]

How are we feeling bad batch nation? I am terrified but also overjoyed to see them again.

[lilacjunimo]

the lowest of low quality but I still see his smile which is what matters :)

[clonecaptains]

HUNTER

↳ my favorite clones in no particular order

[cloneenthusiast]

Despite everything.

[zaana]

Upgrading from the bow

[blackseafoam]

✨all that matters✨

[chaotic-kitty]

I've seen a lot of HCs of Tech and Crosshair as twins. I also saw one of Tech and Wrecker being the twins.

But I raise you one! Wrecker and Crosshair are the twins.👀

My evidence:

Edit: I'm well aware of the fact that they're (the BB) the same age and that there's no genetic twins or anything in this case. I do not claim any of the twin HCs as fact. I just had a silly what if thought prompted by the several twin HCs on my dash daily and decided to raise people one. So I know it's not correct, nor does it make much sense. It's just for fun. /Lh

[storminormins]

this image has been living in my brain for a full 24 hours

[barissoffee]

Star Wars: The Bad Batch 3.12 | Juggernaut

[laughhardrunfastbekindsblog]

Bad Batch Underrated Hilarious Moment #382

"Where'd the disks go? And where's Omega??" Echo asks in concern.

"Found her," Tech replies, casual and chill as all get out, pointing to their little sister running alone across a heavily-guarded restricted area while holding illegally forged government documents.

(As an aside, I love that Tech somehow instantly knows where to first start looking for Omega - Echo says she's missing and Tech immediately turns around to check outside through the viewport)

[tangents-within-tangents]

Echo, baby, this is why we love you

Probably my favorite line in the finale, it's so simple but so powerful coming from him. Honestly kinda amazing that we got such a nice full-circle wrap up to his cross-series arc (especially after he was sidelined all season)

I was sad about not seeing as much of him when he left the Batch in season 2 of course, but I could never be mad because it was a choice that just made so much sense for his character. Seeing him fighting alongside Rex, rescuing Howzer, freeing all the clones in Tantiss, it’s just so clearly where he belongs. He’s been through so much and he’ll never stop fighting for his brothers

[umbramoons]

TECH MOMENTS PT. 9

The Bad Batch S1 E5: Rampage

I am so sorry I forgot to make a post last week! It was finals week for me, so I was focused on a lot of other things.

- He’s holding Omega’s wrist so gently.

- “Technically, it was Crosshair’s, but… he doesn’t appear to need it.” Everything about his face and his voice shows how sad he is. He just misses his brother (his favorite brother, I think.) ❤

- HE SMILES AT HER PLAYING WITH THE COMMS (Which she did the second he expressed sadness about Crosshair, and she immediately smiled at him when Echo tells her to stop. There is a playful aspect to their relationship that is often overlooked). 

- “The Jedi who are all dead?”

- “Charming.” I’m in love. ❤

- “That would have been information to share earlier.” You’re one to talk.

- “Well, perhaps Cid heard what happened to the Jedi, and fled. Or he was arrested for violating countless health code regulations.” ❤

- He’s not even paying attention to Cid, he’s just fascinated by her collection.

- Sitting relaxed in a chair with one leg crossed over his knee. He looks so comfy.

- His firm nod when Echo’s describing slavery. ❤

- Echo: “And we are gonna stop it from happening to that kid.”

Tech: “As well as earn a decent amount of credits once the job is complete.”

- That concerned look he shoots Echo's way when he seems uneasy about taking this job.

- Tech leading the way through the ruins, as he should. ❤

- “Save your energy. We are going to need it.” ❤

- I could say this over and over again, but he really does just have the most gorgeous eyes. ❤

- After Hunter, Tech is the first person Omega tries to contact for help. They’ve become closer over the last few episodes, as exemplified by their playfulness with the comms earlier.

- Once again, he’s the first to notice Omega nearby. “We won’t need a comm to signal her.” ❤

- That glare he’s giving the Zygerrian sizing them up could start fires.

- Immediately translating for the slaves.

- Echo: “How long’s he been at this?”

Tech: “Too long. He’s losing his touch.” 

[lornaka]

My five cents on Tech’s fate in TBB

It’s been over three weeks since the show ended and I’ve been writing this in my head ever since, mostly to have it summed up in one post for posterity lol. I considered letting it go at this point but I know it’ll drive me crazy if I don’t get it out of my system so might as well.

So here we go, some of my rambly post-finale thoughts on Tech’s death (and a few other issues) under the cut!

Disclaimer: while this post is in critical spirit (because that’s how my brain works), I want to make clear that I have nothing but respect and gratitude towards everyone who’s worked on the show. My criticisms are of the final story as a whole as I interpret it (art is art, everything is subjective, you know the drill), but one never knows what goes into the process of making it behind the scenes, so I’m not holding anything against the creative team. I love this show dearly and am in awe of how good it is at its best, despite certain things I wish they did differently.

To begin, if I had to sum up the biggest problem that TBB writing suffers from, it would be lack of closure, and too many red herrings. Not just for Tech, but many things. Major plot threads as well as little character moments are cultivated or thrown in just to never culminate in anything or to be immediately discarded after serving the plot, some of them incredibly misleading. Some of the top examples:

- Crosshair’s chip. We never get an exploration of how the trauma of his chip activating and being left behind not only affected his motivation and choice to stay with the Empire, but his relationship with his brothers. While it was made fairly obvious, if subtly, that Crosshair became free of the chip’s influence after getting hit by the ion engine on Bracca, the narrative treated this change as if it didn’t matter at that point, while it obviously mattered a lot within the context of Crosshair’s character. Add to that all these little details with him clutching his head in s1 finale, Omega expressing her disappointment in him, and Tech’s comment on how “it is just his nature” (as if it matters!!! See what I mean about the narrative treating Cross’s chip as if it didn’t play the key part in his trajectory? They throw in this line, like we are supposed to take away that it’s simply Crosshair being Crosshair and not like, the results of brainwashing and abandonment), Wrecker blaming Crosshair for not going back to them, all while we as the audience have been shown and told repeatedly how these chips work (and so were the Batch), we ended up with an incredibly confusing situation with lots of mixed signals from the writers. And once Crosshair makes his choice to stay with the Empire in s1 finale, his chip and the confusion it brought to his relationship with his brothers is never brought up again, because the plot simply moves on.

- Cid’s betrayal. After her being a major character for two seasons with a continuous relationship build-up with Omega in particular, she is discarded as soon as her betrayal serves the plot, with all that character development getting thrown out of the window. You can be mad at Cid all you want, but to me it’s incredibly weird and wasteful to end two seasons worth of build up on that note without it having any closure for the characters, especially Omega whose whole theme is trusting people and bringing out the best in them. It’s fine if they decided to make Cid exactly what she appeared on the surface (untrustworthy and self-serving) after playing around with her potentially growing through her fondness of Omega, but then at the very least the betrayal should’ve had an impact on the characters, Omega most of all. Even just one casual line from Omega in s3 about how Cid’s betrayal impacted her emotionally, however minimally, would have solved that problem. And no, CX-2 mentioning how he extracted info on Phee from her off screen absolutely doesn’t count as closure, because I’m talking about emotional closure for the main pov characters as well as the audience. Cid had a presence for two seasons, then as soon as she executed her role as a traitor to further the plot, she was discarded like she was a random extra.

- Emerie’s relationship with Hemlock. We are led to believe that he basically raised her, instilling in her the idea that she had no chance without him and owed her purpose and “safety” to him. You can’t tell me that this didn’t deeply affect her struggle and eventual decision to break away from all that and choose to help the kids, basically betraying Hemlock. I get that the show only had so much screen time and Emerie is a supporting character in season 3 at best, but common, she has more tension with Dr. Scalder than Hemlock while the potential for this rich deep conflict between them is right there.

I can probably list more smaller examples but this is getting long and I don’t want to go on any more tangents, so, finally, the biggest example of lack of closure and tendency of TBB writing to display foreshadowing that leads nowhere:

Tech’s death.

First of all, I’ll die on the hill that it wasn’t denial or delusion that led to such a big portion of the audience to believe that Tech didn’t really die in s2. If we look at the facts:

- there was no body

- it’s the finale of season 2 out of 3, pretty early for one of the main titular characters to get killed off

- the only/last character to allegedly see Tech after his fall is a villainous scientist who is known to experiment on clones specifically

- not a fact but: the whole scene with Hemlock presenting Tech’s goggles to Hunter was incredibly suspicious. In hindsight, I think the whole purpose of it was so that the Batch got Tech’s goggles back in their possession as a memento (and to show how evil Hemlock is to rub it into Hunter’s face like that) but it was executed in a way that read as something much more. It read as if Hemlock was going out of his way to convince us/Hunter of Tech’s death, but with us knowing who Hemlock is, his background in experimenting on clones, everything screams at us to not trust a word he says. Is it really so surprising that so many of the viewers immediately jumped at the conclusion that something more was going on there?

- Hunter’s (lack of) reaction/immediate narrative fall-out. More on that later as I address lack of emotional impact of Tech’s death in s3.

- it’s Star Wars. And there was no body.

So yeah, to me, it is completely justified that so many people read that whole thing as open to speculation at the very least, foreshadowing Tech’s survival at most.

Personally, I was 70% sure Tech was truly dead prior to s3, but not because the text told me so, but because at that point I was used to the show’s writing regularly sending out mixed signals, and a part of me was resigned to Tech’s death becoming another example of the writer’s intent clashing with their accidental empty foreshadowing.

As season 3 aired and the whole CX-2 plot was unfolding alongside continued lack of closure for Tech’s fate, my hope for Tech Lives reveal grew and grew, but in the end my initial doubt was proven right, unfortunately.

Oh, CX-2.. what a mess. You can’t tell me the creators went over all of these scenes, all of these lines, looked at the whole picture and *didn’t* see how it was incredibly easy to interpret CX-2 as potentially being Tech with all these little potential parallels. “Domicile” alone.

If they didn’t want us to entertain the idea that it could be Tech, they could’ve done it differently, but for some reason, they chose to leave that space for speculation. My question is, why?

If they truly wanted us to believe Plan 99 was it, Tech’s Noble End that we were supposed to take as this dramatic super emotional ultimate sacrifice and all that, then why would they not make it clear that CX-2 couldn’t be Tech? Why breed confusion? And breed confusion they did. It’s hard for me to believe they didn’t foresee the “ohh is it Tech?” speculation.

When so many members of the audience immediately and individually jump at a theory or have the same take away from the story they are being told, yet the authors say it wasn’t meant to be taken that way, something went seriously wrong with the writing.

I don’t like to speculate on such things because we will probably never know for certain, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they had at some point considered CX-2 being Tech or at least something more for the whole CX plot thread, but changed and reshuffled things at the last minute for whatever reasons.

Which is fine and understandable. But it brings me to the heart of my biggest issue with how Tech’s fate was handled:

lack of impact and closure.

Let’s disregard all the Tech Lives theories for a moment and focus on what we did get: Tech, one of the main characters, getting killed off at the end of s2 out of 3, for stakes and consequences and NOTHING else. When I say nothing, I mean nothing.

Imagine, for a moment, he survived and stayed with the Batch. Nothing would have changed, in the grand scheme of things. Nothing. We wouldn’t have had a few obligatory “Tech mention, everyone feel sad now” throwaway lines/goggle shots and whatnot, sure, but that’s it.

Tech dying didn’t change the trajectory of the plot in any way, nor did it affect any of the other characters in a way that changed their trajectory. And anything less is simply not enough to justify killing one of your main characters. Stakes and consequences ain’t it.

Consider Mayday, for example: a supporting character, but his death in s2 affected Crosshair in such a way it completely redirected his journey, AND in s3 we got an episode that cemented the impact Mayday had on Crosshair and provided emotional closure for them. That’s a narratively meaningful death.

Tech’s death was not meaningful to the narrative beyond removing him from it. That’s why so many Tech fans insist he deserved better treatment: not only was he not present in one third of the show physically, but he lacked any sort of presence even in death. His absence was never processed or grieved by any of the main characters and so by extension by the audience.

And before anyone starts with the whole ‘they are soldiers/they had no time to grieve/etc’ arguments, it is the responsibility of the writers to provide the space for all of that emotional impact. It they don’t, there is no impact.

A few reactions here and there, moments of missing Tech as a person and a brother, not an asset, anything would have made this whole thing easier to accept.

The lines that we did get, from Omega mentioning the stuff Tech taught her to Echo commenting on how decryption would be easier if Tech was with them to “Clone Force 99 died with Tech” from Crosshair - each and every single one of those lines linked to Tech’s functions as part of the squad, his usefulness, but we didn’t get a single line in remembrance of him as a person of his own, no one missed or remembered him for himself or his personal impact on them.

Just one line from Omega about how he taught her about change being a constant part of life or whatever, or Wrecker making a comment on how Tech used to info dump about stuff, anything would have instantly provided that much needed sense of “he was here, he was a person and is still a part of us”. Instead, Tech was killed off to show that messing with the Empire is dangerous and risks are real, I guess, and immediately lost any and all presence within the story.

We never even got to see Crosshair’s or Phee’s reactions to losing him.

Speaking of Crosshair, that’s a whole other example of complete lack of closure: they never closed the loop on the family being reunited again after initially leaving Crosshair behind, and with Tech dead, it’ll forever stay broken.

They could’ve given this a bittersweet yet meaningful spin if they developed the angle of Tech dying on a mission to bring Crosshair home, making a sacrifice so Crosshair had a chance.

Instead, the moment Tech dies, we get Hunter (and through him, the narrative) immediately abandon the idea/plot thread of going to rescue Cross all while saying “let’s not waste Tech’s sacrifice”. Sacrifice for what? Clearly Hunter doesn’t see it as a sacrifice for Crosshair’s sake, so, what, to make sure the rest of them makes it from the mission? The mission to save Crosshair. That mission. Right.

I see people talking about Tech’s noble sacrifice that ensured his family got to live and eventually have their happy ending, but all I can think about is how the creators chose to have him die on a mission that was immediately abandoned and the only take away from that whole sub plot was Tech’s own demise.

And after Crosshair is back with the Batch, his reaction to Tech’s death is never explored at all.

So yes, to me Tech deserved so much better. If you are going to kill off a major character, it must be necessary to be compelling. The way I see it, Tech’s death was not necessary at all because it didn’t change anything. And if it was meant to, the creators failed to communicate that by choosing not to explore the emotional impact of it and not structuring certain story beats in a more precise manner.

To wrap this up, if the way Tech’s death was handled was satisfying for you, that’s valid and I’m glad for you. For me, unfortunately, it’s completely the opposite and will forever remain the biggest and most unfortunate low point in the story.

And while I welcome anyone to share their own perspective if they wish, please don’t take this post as an invitation for debate, since there is no one right or wrong way to interpret or be affected by art.