It Really Is So Cute And Sweet How The Bad Batch Collectively Works Really Hard To Teach Omega Everything

As promised, the Bad Batch!

I’m kind of obsessed with the idea of clones taking holos after missions they’re particularly proud of. Also, I love the Dad Batch as much as the next, but I ADORE their Frat Bro days!

(One day I’ll stop drawing clones in T-shirts and put them in proper gear, but today is not that day.)

Despite all of the controversy that exists in Star Wars, I love that we as fans have agreed that when it comes to emotions, Wrecker has the most brain cells, Tech is confused, Hunter needs a good cry, and Crosshair would rather walk through the halls of Tantiss with his clothes on fire than say any sort of statement that starts with the words “I feel”

I just watched the very first episode of the Mandalorian for the first time in like YEARS and I NEVER noticed that in that iconic last scene where it pans out on Din standing over Grogu’s little floating bassinet, holding out his finger,

he wiggles his finger 😭 he does a little finger wiggle 😭😭

Cut literally told Hunter “you need to take care of your people” and then Hunter turned around and gave them the best care that has ever been cared in the history of ever

Examples #56,282-56,285 of Hunter being an exceptional older brother/leader:

- Noticing Crosshair's continued hand tremor, but being discreet about it

- Noticing how close Crosshair and Omega have become

- Drawing a hard line on Omega being anywhere near Fennec, but also...

- Giving Omega an important mission of her own: talk to Crosshair about the hand tremors (because he knows Omega needs something to do AND he knows Crosshair needs to stop avoiding the problem)

I wasn’t a die-hard Tech Lives believer (more of a “I HOPE Tech Lives” believer) but the end of the show has me grieving hard all over again, so here’s my little ode to Tech based on things I’ve noticed about him from rewatching the show:

Tech LOVES his brothers, and he genuinely misses Crosshair. When he has his heart to heart with Omega in the ipsium cavern, the way that he mentions Crosshair—even though that wasn’t even really what they were discussing—shows how often Crosshair is on his mind, so much so that he can’t really talk about people leaving and changing without bringing him up. When they get the Plan 88 from Crosshair, Tech is vocal and insistent about doing whatever they can to bring Crosshair back—because “he is still our brother.”

Tech is incredibly moral. Not that he’s any more moral than I think generally TBB is, but he’s not afraid to speak up when he sees something that he disagrees with fundamentally. “The systematic termination of the Jedi is a big one for me.” “There’s a fundamental different between taking fire in battle and being used for target practice.” Even in just the first episode, we see how firm his opinions are, based on what he believes: that people are people, that HIS BROTHERS are people, that they deserve better, that there is such a thing as right and wrong.

Tech may be practical, but that doesn’t make him any less crazy than his brothers—in fact, I would argue he is one of the more unhinged members of the bad batch. His plans and ideas see everything factually, factoring in risk not as an emotional factor but as a numerical one. He knows their skills, and what they are capable of, and he pushes them to those capabilities, even if the resulting strategy is absolutely insane. The best part is, as insane as he may be, his brothers trust him, because, as Tech himself said, he is seldom wrong.

Tech has a beautiful sense of wonder and awe for the world around him. How many times do we see him go wide-eyed as he encounters something that absolutely fascinates him—even if that thing is a Zillo beast that just ate an entire Imperial crew.

Tech is INSANE. Not unhinged, like I said earlier, but skill-wise, ability-wise, he is an absolute powerhouse. I will forever be grateful to the writers of TBB who gave us a techy, intelligent character who is not your average scrawny computer guy that we get in action movies. You have to have a lot of guts to be the guy in your squad who turns your back on the fight to bend over a computer and hack into a file or break an encryption or alter the programming—already a delicate operation, but with the added risk of getting shot with your back turned. He frickin wields double blasters so that he can shoot more clankers more efficiently (if that’s not practical Tech, I don’t know what is). He DOESN’T WEAR LEG ARMOR SO THAT HE CAN CARRY HIS TOOLS WITH HIM INTO THE FIELD. In “Faster,” we see his hand inching towards his blaster, ready to defend and protect the second it’s necessary—and you know he would’ve beaten anyone to the draw. He fought a group of Imperial troopers!!! With a broken leg!!!!!

Tech was amazing, and I hate that he’s dead, that we never got to see him grow old, that he never saw Crosshair again. But WHAT A LIFE HE LIVED.

Never gonna get over the fact that Captain Rex spent FOUR episodes with The Bad Batch, during which time:

Tech nearly wipes out a runway construction crew, Tokyo Drift style

Crosshair picks 3 separate fights with regs, including Rex himself (and Rex socks him in the face for it)

Hunter literally looks Rex in the face after receiving orders and says “ehhh yeah no” and then proceeds to charge an approaching enemy squadron head on

Wrecker begs to explode just about every single building they lay eyes on

Hunter confesses to a Jedi general that he’s never submitted a single report in his life

Hunter also goes for a joyride by dangling from the foot of a giant winged beast from a single rappelling line

Tech later convinces them all to jump through the air onto the backs of said winged beasts in the middle of heavy enemy fire after summoning them with his self-made Animal Sound Spotify

Wrecker destroys like 100 battle droids in 3.5 seconds with his bare hands and laughs like a maniac the entire time

Crosshair, rather than let himself be shown up by Wrecker, destroys like 1/6 of the enemy forces with tiny hand mirrors and a single laser shot

The entire batch is sassing each other THE ENTIRE TIME (“don’t worry, Wrecker, I’LL hold your hand” “yeah…it’s a lift” “me and the boys will tag along, just to say I told you so”)

And after all of that, Rex looked at Echo and was like “yeah I think we’ve found your new home” and Echo was just like 😍😍

Hunter chatting up Crosshair during a break, one of his dumb jokes even gets the man to smile for a second

It’s canon that Hunter and Crosshair fought each other all the time (literally), but you know who else probably argued a ton? Tech and Hunter. Not necessarily because their personalities clashed or because they liked to pick fights with each other, but because Hunter’s primary instinct is Protect and Defend At All Costs and Tech’s primary instinct is “if I jump off this narrow walkway between buildings at exactly the right angle onto the back of a predatory winged creature whose distress calls I recorded on a whim when it tried to eat my Jedi general, my chances of survival increase from 12% to 16%” and I really just think that would be a source of occasional conflict

“If you haven’t shot each other at least once, are you even brothers??” —Crosshair, to Wrecker, at some point probably

The finale of 'The Bad Batch' has made me feel things that other shows haven't and I don't really know what those things all are, so I can only really think about small aspects of them. There's the obvious sadness you have at the goodbye to anything, the appreciation for the time that I got with the show, and the satisfaction of a well-executed conclusion.

But I want to talk about something else.

There was a review of 'Star Wars: the Clone Wars' that mentioned that the S7 finale gave something to the Clones that they rarely if ever got: a burial. There is the remark from Hunter about how the Clones are finally free to choose for the first time...ever, really. We see from the closing scene that Hunter is struggling a bit from his age; his heightened senses have started to dull.

So I thought to myself, choking up as I did so, where would the Clones want to be buried? What would they want to be done with their remains? Most Clones would probably have a pretty simple wish. Place, preparation, maybe a reason. Not much else, probably.

Rex might want to be buried with the brothers that he and Ahsoka buried together at the crashed cruiser. In death they would be as they once were: together.

We know Waxer didn't survive the war, but if Boil did, he'd be buried on Ryloth. Numa would personally see to the wishes of her nerra.

Hunter would want to be cremated and interred at Pabu. He'd want to take up as little space as possible. They would put his urn with the rest of their priceless treasures.

Echo might want to be on Coruscant. Whatever data that would be still in his head could be useful and he wants to help. Grim though it may be, he'd be like he was on Skako Minor but on his own terms.

Wrecker would want a viking funeral. He wants to go out with a bang and he would want to press the button. The folks on Pabu would rig up a boat for him.

Crosshair would be very specific on everything except his reasons. There's an old Imperial outpost on Barton IV. He would want to be buried in the mountainside just past the perimeter sensors. No one asks why. Maybe Hunter would know something. What Crosshair knows is that the Imperials wouldn't have given the man a proper burial. But he would be there. Somewhere. Crosshair would have to keep lookout. He would be on an eternal watch. For Mayday.