Curate, connect, and discover
Shameless Plug: This is tangentially related to my ongoing fic "Crosshair Accepts a (Helping) Hand." You don't need to read my fic to understand this post, but obviously, I hope you check it out once you're finished here...
Regarding this headcanon, it's quite possible I'm not the first person to share this. It's something I've wondered about since the TBB finale aired, and I know others have thoroughly discussed all of Adult Omega's possessions in the epilogue to see if there's any other connections or deeper meaning we might’ve missed on first viewing.
But, after the new Bad Batch comic "Ghost Agents" released a few weeks ago, I feel like my headcanon is all but confirmed.
In The Bad Batch series finale "The Cavalry Has Arrived," we get an epilogue where Omega leaves Pabu to join the Rebellion. She has a beautiful and tear-jerking scene where she bids farewell to a 50yo Hunter, and then flies off into the stars.
As people pointed out shortly after the finale aired, Omega has items representing each of her brothers, except Echo.
(If Echo is still alive at this point in the timeline, he's likely WITH the Rebellion. So, Omega doesn't really need any keepsake of his, because she's going to JOIN him.)
She is wearing a red bandana that may have been the same one Hunter wore earlier in the series. Or it's a new one that's at least reminiscent of Hunter's from S1-2. (She's also wearing a necklace that is the same one — or at least similar to — Hunter has in S1 according to BTS artwork.)
She has Tech's goggles on the dashboard of her ship.
Wrecker's Lula is seen aboard her ship as well.
And she has Crosshair's ....... bag?
While the items representing the other three brothers are obvious, Crosshair's is not.
Thus, some fans — myself included — figured that Crosshair was supposed to be represented by the bag that Adult Omega has. It looks nearly identical to the one she uses in S3, except that it now has a shoulder strap.
So, before I share my alternative, let's quickly examine this possibility:
Omega first gets her bag in 3.04 "A Different Approach," when she and Crosshair are trying to blend in on Lau. She steals the bag from an alleyway and uses it to carry the credits she wins at the cantina.
I want to point out that Omega is the one who picks out the bag in the episode.
When she decides to go back for Batcher, she throws it at Crosshair, telling him to take the credits and leave.
He, of course, finds her and returns the bag and credits.
She then surrenders the bag and credits to the Imperial officer when they get caught trying to free Batcher. Crosshair then recovers the bag and tosses it onto one of the empty seats as he and Omega fly away from Lau.
The bag doesn't reappear until 3.05, when Omega uses it to store the Nala Se’s datapad when the Bad Batch visit Barton IV.
We see it again in 3.11, when she and Lyana place Tech's goggles and Wrecker's Lula in the Archium. She then places it atop the crates Crosshair and Hunter are pushing through the colonnade when the Marauder explodes.
I want to point out that, between the Marauder exploding and Omega's abduction, the bag is one of Omega's only possessions that survives Season 3.
Anything she had on her when she was taken to Tantiss was confiscated; and anything she had on the Marauder was likely destroyed or at least severely damaged.
Thus, it makes sense that Omega might find the bag on Pabu — perhaps where she left it in the colonnade — when she returns in the series finale, and she keeps the bag for the next several years.
The bag would no doubt be an important keepsake for Omega as one of the few items that survived the events of the series. Plus, once she added a shoulder strap, it'd be very functional and handy.
I don't have a problem with Adult Omega having this bag or one like it in the finale.
My problem is with the idea that the bag represents Crosshair.
Unlike the bandana, the goggles or Lula, the bag is not significant to Crosshair.
Hunter's bandana is iconic — one of the things that immediately sets him apart from a “standard” clone.
Tech's goggles are equally iconic for the same reason, and were probably the only item he used that survived both his death and the Marauder's explosion.
Lula was likely Wrecker's most prized possession during the Clone Wars, as he panicked when he couldn't find it on Kamino in the TBB series premiere.
Meanwhile, Crosshair does have some association with the bag, but it is tenuous at best.
Unlike the other three items, Crosshair never owned the bag and then gave it to Omega. He did not pick the bag out for her — she swiped it herself. He handled it twice and promptly returned it to Omega both times. In fact, none of the characters in the episode focus on the bag so much as the credits inside the bag.
Additionally, Omega's 30,000 credits are never brought up again after 3.04, despite Crosshair going out of his way to retrieve them/the bag during the shootout at the cargo dock.
So, because of that, it's quite possible that the showrunners intended for the bag to represent Crosshair in the epilogue.
It's an item associated with him and Omega, and Omega wouldn't have it if not for Crosshair. I mean: Why put so much focus on him retrieving the bag/credits, if the credits were never brought up again in the show?
However, like I said, I take issue with that idea.
I have no problem with Omega still using the same bag after all these years. I just don't think it should be the item that represents 'taking Crosshair with her,' the same way the bandana, the goggles and Lula represent her 'taking' her other brothers with her.
Granted, I latched onto the 'bag represents Crosshair' idea before because we really didn't have a clear alternative.
But that all changed with the new "Ghost Agents" comic...
In "Ghost Agents" Vol. 1, the Bad Batch is tasked with finding a thief that stole valuable information from the Republic. To find their thief, the Bad Batch dons civilian attire and goes down to the Coruscant underworld to get information.
Hunter wears a tank top, a scarf around his neck and bandages around his arms. Wrecker wears a long-sleeve top with pronounced cuffs. Tech appears to wear a long-sleeve shirt as well, although it's hard to tell because we don't get many panels of him in this sequence.
But Crosshair wears a jacket!
And it appears to be a leather flight jacket!
In "The Bad Batch" series, we don't get many instances of the male clones wearing true civilian clothes. We see Hunter in a shirt and Wrecker in a poncho in 1.02 “Cut and Run”; Echo wears his droid-like disguise in 1.04 “Cornered”; and Crosshair wears his ugly onesie with a baseball cap and toilet seat in 3.04 “A Different Approach.”
Other than Cut in 1.02, that’s about it.
The rest of the time, the male clones wear military armor/uniforms, some version of military fatigues, or prison uniforms. Even Emerie only wears a medical uniform.
I realize that in "The Bad Batch" series, the characters didn't have many options when it came to civilian attire/disguises.
But, in "Ghost Agents," they presumably had a little more time and resources at their disposal to put their disguises together. I mean, Hunter wrapped his arms in bandages for crying out loud! (And, believe me, I'm not complaining. He served with that look!)
So, presumably Crosshair picked out his jacket himself. It was something that fit with his character and his fashion sense.
That can't be a coincidence.
(Note, it's quite possible that other clones wear jackets in TCW series or in other Clone Wars/Rebels comics, but I'm not counting those. I'm only looking at the TBB arc in the TCW show, the TBB comics and the TBB show itself.)
The fact that both the jackets we see are leather (or at least part-leather) flight jackets can't be a coincidence either.
So, it makes more sense and feels more significant if Adult Omega's jacket — not her bag — is supposed to represent Crosshair!
Unlike Tech's goggles or Wrecker's Lula, I doubt Crosshair owned the jacket first.
It's quite possible that Crosshair either made the jacket for Omega or picked it out for her.
Or, perhaps Omega picked it out herself, but Crosshair either helped her do so or altered it for her.
We see in one shot that it has a CF99 patch sown onto the shoulder. So, either it was custom-made by/for Omega OR it was altered at some point.
I'm fine with the idea that either Crosshair picked it out for her or that he altered it for her.
I wouldn't be surprised if something similar happened with Omega's bandana.
I doubt that's the same bandana Hunter had in S1-2. We see him wearing a thinner, darker one in S3. So, either he lost his original bandana or it was on the Marauder when it exploded. Either way, it probably didn't survive the events of S3.
Plus, the one Omega's wearing doesn't have the CF99 skull on it either, so I'm guessing it's a different bandana than Hunter’s from S1-2.
Perhaps the one she has in the epilogue is one she and/or Hunter found on Pabu, and Omega decided to get it — or he gave it to her — so she could wear it in his honor.
So, why couldn't the jacket work the same way but for Crosshair? Either he picked it out for her or he sewed the patch on for her?
Either way, it would represent him as she sets off on her new adventure.
And her badass flight jacket would be far more significant than a dumb bag he inadvertently retrieved for her one time several years prior. 3.04 is the only time Crosshair handles the bag or is associated with it. The rest of the time, it is in Omega's possession.
Again, it is her bag.
It wasn't something he picked out for her; it wasn't something he already owned and gave to her; and it wasn't a duplicate of an iconic part of his wardrobe.
So, yes, I'm much more inclined to believe the jacket is supposed to represent Crosshair, not the bag.
Unlike his brothers, Crosshair is not obviously and/or significantly represented by any of Omega's possessions in the TBB epilogue.
While some people might posit that Adult Omega's bag represents Crosshair — because it's likely the same bag the two of them had on Lau in 3.04 — that bag wasn't significant enough to Crosshair individually, unlike the items that represent his brothers.
Crosshair and Omega are the only two clones in the TBB show/comics we see wearing jackets.
Both of jackets we see them wearing are specifically leather flight jackets.
Omega's jacket was either custom-made or altered for her, as it has a CF99 patch on the shoulder.
Anyway, feel free to reblog or comment with your thoughts. I could be totally wrong about this. Like I said, it's quite likely the showrunners wanted the bag to represent Crosshair. Why else would they focus on him retrieving it in 3.04 if the credits never came up again? Why else ensure the bag survives the Marauder explosion in 3.11?
BUT with the "Ghost Agents" connection, I now feel like the jacket is Crosshair's true representation as Omega leaves Pabu for the Rebellion.
That's my headcanon and the TPTB can pry it from my cold, dead hands.
Again, check out the latest chapter of my ongoing fic, "Crosshair Accepts a (Helping) Hand," if you enjoyed reading this. I won't spoil anything for you, but I basically wrote this to justify a plot point in the latest chapter. ;)