Love How In Trb Adam’s Narration Is Like “yeah, We’re All Fucking Losers, Gansey Takes Pity On

Post-Order 66 Clone Thoughts

(Minor ROTS, TCW, and TBB spoilers)

I’ve been trying to wrap my brain around what canon is now showing the “inhibitor chip” actually does, and I decided to make it everyone’s problem.

In almost every fic I’ve read that portrays still-chipped clones after Order 66, the authors show the clones as losing most, if not all, of their free will. Most authors don’t have them use their names anymore, going only by designation again, which is understandable to get across the idea that they’re “droids” at that point made up only of their training.

And then we have TBB showing us chipped clones after Order 66. Crosshair is the first one that we see in an individual manner who has an activated chip. Now with season 2 we have another example we’re familiar with from the pre-Order 66 timeframe in Cody.

With both Crosshair and Cody, some of the assumptions that fanfic writers have been making fly out the window. They still go by their chosen names, at least with other clones. They still act like themselves in every regard except the Jedi. They act like individuals, not droids or a hive mind connected by the chip.

That brings up thoughts on what the chips actually do. Writers, and fandom as a whole, seem to have been assuming for years (since TCW season 6) that the chip took away all free will and critical thinking skills. Canon and fanon both infer that the transmission of the Order was near simultaneous, which is difficult but could be done with more advanced tech than what we have. Most of fandom also assumes that the chips were dormant until Order 66.

I accepted all that until TBB because yeah, why else would they fire on the Jedi, even the younglings, with absolutely no hesitation. Why else did none of the clones (except our “defective” 99s) protest the Order? It made sense.

Now that TBB is showing us that wasn’t the case, I have Thoughts and Questions related to the deployment of Order 66 how it affected the clones.

How long were the chips actually active?

We know the command “Execute Order 66” caused an automatic reaction at least within the immediate hearing range of the order. We can infer, from how clones not within hearing distance reacted to the actions of those taking down Jedi, that there was some sort of signal that transmitted from chip to chip at an insanely fast rate.

But then there’s Tup. Tup never received a verbal activation, even though the way everyone described the incident is that his chip was “activated.”

I have a degree in telecommunications and a husband with a degree in radio frequency engineering. We’ve talked it over, and even given the supposed technological advances that would allow for near-instant transmission, the chip(s) of the clone(s) who heard the order would need to be actively processing information to transmit to the others, and the receiving chips would need to be active enough to at least passively receive the transmission.

Now we also know from canon that clones with an active chip don’t really act much different than those without one in terms of remembering who they are and the decisions they make except in specific circumstances dictated by the chip. We also know, from TCW, that the clones had nightmares about what Order 66 would make them do.

To me, that added to the need to have active chips to transmit and receive Order 66, points to the chips always having been active and affecting the clones their whole lives. This brings a level of horror to things because what other orders are the clones acting under without even knowing it?

How did the chips actually work?

If we go off the assumption that the chips were always active, that rules out the “taking them over completely” and “erasing their personalities” theories. TBB shows us, between Crosshair and Cody, that just isn’t the case at all.

Crosshair is still a prickly asshole and answers to his name. He becomes a bit more “by the books” than we saw him in TCW, but that’s just in relation to the Jedi. He didn’t particularly care one way or the other about the Republic in TCW (that I remember), but he did become at least initially fanatically loyal to the Empire, similar to the other chipped clones.

Cody also apparently answers to his name. He’s still a competent commander, which I don’t think he could be if all of his independent thinking was taken away. And we see him questioning the Empire the same way he questioned some of the Republic’s decisions in TCW. That questioning leads to him defecting.

So from that I have to assume that either the control of the chip is deteriorating, which it seems a lot of authors do, or the chip’s control isn’t absolute. Maybe in the moment directly after receiving the order it is, but however it works allows the clones to question if that’s in their nature. So it hasn’t taken over all of their thought processes.

Was the immediate reaction during Order 66 a combination of chip and flash training?

We know the clones received flash training in a lot of things. Prior to TCW season 6, most of fandom was under the assumption that flash training/brain washing was what led to the clones’ apparent easy and immediate acceptance of killing the Jedi (even younglings), despite them having good working relationships and even some friendships (and fans, including me, like to assume more) with most of the Jedi. Normal, sane people don’t fight a war for three years with someone, living in ships that are basically small towns, without having at least a twinge of regret upon being ordered to execute them.

Then the chips are brought up and fandom went “Oooh, mind control. Got it.” Fandom was already assuming mind control, through the flash training, but a chip in someone’s brain that can make them do what Tup did makes a lot more sense. Chips in brain = control.

Yet now canon is establishing that the control isn’t quite that complete. Even Rex in TCW season 7 showed that, with knowledge of the chip, it could be fought off for a few moments, long enough to get a warning out. So if it’s not complete mind control, making them thoughtless, emotionless meatdroids, why didn’t anyone else fight it?

I think flash training plus the chip is the answer, and I don’t think the flash training was just “this is what to do when you receive this particular order”. Nothing Sidious did was that straightforward, and even though Dooku was the contact, this has Sidious’s oily fingerprints all over it.

The question would be, what did the flash training entail that would cause an immediate reaction to the Order 66 activation? How long was it supposed to last? Did the chip suppress emotional reactions to their actions, and did the flash training emphasize that?

Still. So. Many. Questions.

Shadow and Bone Season 2 spoilers

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Okay so it wasn't horrible but I'm really kind of annoyed on how they portrayed their characters and the story lines. Also this is just my opinion I don't mean hate to any of the cast members or anything like that

First of all Mal would NEVER leave Alina like idk why but that felt really out of character for him

Also in the books, Nikolai LOVED being Sturmhond. That was his escape from everything and a way he could do what he wanted to do without having to be worried about his royal status. Again I feel like him giving up Sturmhond to Mal is just a bit weird like the whole of KoS and RoW plot lines would not be the same and if a 3rd season does happen, then they are clearly going to try and include those plot lines because of what happened with the nichevo'ya

ZOYA GOT ROBBED OF HER SCREENTIME! Zoyalai is literally endgame and I don't get how they are going to do this when they barely said a word to each other this whole season

I'M REALLY ANNOYED ABOUT WHAT THEY DID TO WESPER! Like yes I loved seeing them interact and it was honestly so cute but I feel like their relationship got severely rushed and after Jesper got over his crisis about him being durast, everything was fixed after one scene which just didnt feel right to me. Also they missed a massive amount of their story from the books by speeding up their relationship like they included plots from CK when SOC is just about to happen at the end of the season so the whole thing with Kuwei is not gonna work as well

WHY DID DAVID DIE SO EARLY?! His death was completely brushed over by the other characters and they completely jumped over key points in Genya and David's relationship and considering how David and Nikolai interact in KoS duology we got to see none of that in the show

I feel like the Kanej plot line was also really rushed as well like the hallucination didn't really make sense to me but that might just be me

I also really wished we got more Helnik in it like they did it well but its a shame it wasn't included more

I get that the show is different from the books and I'm find with that but I think they carried out some of the plot lines really badly and it would have been better if it wasn't all so rushed

All my star wars bitches raise your hand if you need more pretty Cody art

Wake up babe new bad batch trailer just dropped

Cody, in one corner, throwing hands and going absolutely feral on a commando droid, releasing some pent up emotion via clanker violence

Crosshair, in the other corner, giving Cody the “can you just STOP FOR A SEC AND HELP ME” eyes

i miss cody. where is he. is he well

It fills me with such pride and joy to announce that my version of Speak Now will be out July 7 (just in time for July 9th, iykyk 😆) I first made Speak Now, completely self-written, between the ages of 18 and 20. The songs that came from this time in my life were marked by their brutal honesty, unfiltered diaristic confessions and wild wistfulness. I love this album because it tells a tale of growing up, flailing, flying and crashing… and living to speak about it. With six extra songs I’ve sprung loose from the vault, I absolutely cannot wait to celebrate Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) with you on July 7th. Pre-order now at http://taylor.lnk.to/SpeakNowTaylorsVersion 💜💜💜

The Obi Wan show has created a natural set-up for Cody to come back into his life. Obi Wan successfully stayed totally under the radar on Tatooine, even if Cody was looking for him, why would he find him? Until, of course, a big fat bounty is suddenly dropped on his head and he’s spotted in multiple places and gets into a public fight with Vader and the trail is suddenly hot.

And Cody would know that means the hunt was on for people out to kill him, so even aside from wanting to find him for himself, he might just want to try and run a bit of interference on that.

(………..This also could apply to Ahsoka but idk if that could work with rebels continuity)

I HAVE ONLY ONE THOUGHT AFTER THAT EPISODE

(credit to @techsluvr for the meme lol)