As Promised, The Bad Batch!

the chaos in "tangled ever after" but it's tech and phee's wedding

The Bad Batch’s favorite underrated movies when they were cadets:

Tech: Atlantis, because let’s be honest, he totally daydreamed about discovering and saving a lost civilization as an eight year old

Wrecker: The Iron Giant. Innocent yet emotionally intelligent kid, giant super strong robot, explosions—that movie is so Wrecker coded, except he definitely cries at the end and the rest of the batch has to be up all night consoling him (“the whole point is that the robot LIVES, Wrecker” “b-b-but they never see him again…”)

Crosshair: Treasure Planet. Like can we all agree that deep down inside, Crosshair is just a Jim Hawkins, aka angsty teenage boy that needs some Love and Attention. Except he would rather die than admit why that movie resonates with him

Hunter: Brother Bear. Mountains and wilderness?? Check. Brothers?? Check. Bears?? Check. 8 year old Hunter literally just wants to be a bear

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.

Omega: hi I’m Omega!!

The rest of the batch: 🤔🙄😑

Tech: *in his head* child?? Human child?? Kaminoan-created human child?? Origin?? Purpose?? Genetic composition?? Must scan this fascinating creature.

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.

What do you think was the first little spat that Tech and Echo had, I have my theories but I’m curious 👀

Hunter wasn’t jealous watching Omega chew on a toothpick just like Crosshair. He just knew her sarcastic potential and was terrified that Crosshair would turn her into his evil, sassy prodigy, and he only has the mental capacity to deal with one of those in his squad

The more that I think about the early episodes of TBB S3, the funnier they get to me. Like

First we have Crosshair, who is really getting to know Omega for the first time. His only real interactions with her in the past have involved his brothers being EXTRA protective of her, so in his head Omega is probably just this poor, scared, naive little kid. And then one day she just pulls up to his prison cell and is like “what’s up, loser, we’re getting out of here” and then proceeds to sneak him out of a high security government lab under the nose of the emperor himself (she knows our battle plans?? Of course she knows all of our battle plans, that’s a normal thing to teach a 12 year old…) Not to mention the fact that Omega gambled in a bar and won more credits than either of them had probably ever seen in their lives, so that they could bribe the space TSA into getting them off world (WHY does the kid know how to gamble). Not that Crosshair is in any position to judge someone’s parenting, but he has QUESTIONS.

Omega, meanwhile, is for the first time getting the full Crosshair Experience, complete with every bit of sarcasm, snark, and sass that the man has been bottling up on Tantiss, and she is not having it. No, Crosshair, I don’t really know how to fly this shuttle, why don’t you quit your backseat flying and get your butt up here and do this yourself? No, Crosshair, we cannot open fire on civilians in an airport, I thought that was just an inhibitor chip thing for you. No, Crosshair, we are NOT LEAVING OUR MAN-EATING HOUND ALONE AND UNSUPERVISED ON A RESIDENTIAL PLANET.

And then you have Hunter, who hasn’t been thinking clearly for five months and who probably is living off a diet of spiked lemonade and sour patch kids (to match the bitterness inside him), who went from thinking “oh yeah we’re gonna settle down on Space Greece” to “Wrecker, that one crime syndicate called us back, if we murder this one guy for them then they MIGHT give us some info on Omega, wheels up in 10”

And poor Wrecker finds himself as The Responsible Adult for the first time in his life, which is incredibly confusing and a little bit scary and Hunter, you are TOO CLOSE to the edge of that cliff!! He’s never really believed in vegetables before but Echo says they’re good for you so he spends every moment that he’s not trying to keep Hunter from starting a second interplanetary war over the disappearance of his kid attempting to convince Hunter to try an apple or something.

And then it all culminates in this very tense, dramatic moment where they’re all staring at each other and Omega is like “yay now we can all get therapy!” and Wrecker is like “Echo come back I can’t do this on my own anymore” and Hunter is like “you can’t commit fratricide in front of the kid, you can’t commit fratricide in front of the kid” and Crosshair is like “TAKE YOUR SCARY CHILD BACK” and if that’s not peak Bad Batch then I don’t know what is

DYING pleeeeease 😂😂

How Phee (should have) seduced Tech:

As the sun sets on the Pabu sea, the lights of the village come on from the shore up the hill.

Phee: Pretty spectacular, right?

Tech: I suppose...that is one way to quantify it.

Phee (leans in, softly): Technically, that was a qualification.😏

Tech: (the goggle fidgeting intensifies)😳

“this armor is the best” “no this armor” i think we all know the correct answer here ✋🏻