rampart's answer did not, repeating, did NOT please me
like what is he so smug about, i honestly feel like he was lying. they didn't just- you know- execute him for disobeying orders, right?
Bad Batch episode three Cody rant-
yes, Cody DID learn a lot from Obi-Wan, such as how to negotiate properly, but i think it’s also important to recognize that that’s just who Cody is and who he always has been.
Cody has ALWAYS been undeniably kind and has ALWAYS had a good sense of right and wrong. this is why he’s universally loved by every single clone we see- the Batch who hated regs loved him from the start, including Crosshair. every battalion we saw him interact with has always had a DEEP respect for him because he is, fundamentally, a GOOD person. he’s one of the best people we see in all of Star Wars.
that’s not something he learned from Obi-Wan. thats just who he is. and i think that’s something Obi-Wan really loved about him.
Cody is to the bone a kind and caring person. he is extremely loyal to those he loves and there is nothing that matters more to him than those he considers his family- that’s why he was calling his troops by their name, even when no one else was. that’s why he was genuinely distraught when Nova died, and had to be bodily pulled away from him even thought his own life was at risk. that’s why he was kind to Crosshair even though no one else was willing to even sit with him.
Cody is his own person, just as Obi-Wan is his own person, and while they absolutely have a lot of similar traits, those aren’t things they gained from each other.
Cody didn’t suddenly start being kind because Obi-Wan taught him that- we know he’s been like that since he was taking Rex under his wing on Kamino, and did the same with every other troop he encountered. he’s just an intrinsically caring and deeply kind brother. he didn’t decide to start vying for peace because he thinks Obi-Wan is dead. Cody’s ALWAYS been a fair person tries to hear everyone out. that is just who he inherently is, just as that’s who Obi-Wan inherently is, and that is the reason they love each other so much.
i think the reason this episode was so good at showing just how good of a person Cody is comes from the fact that he is alone. he is entirely in command. there is no Obi-Wan there, there’s no one he has to listen to, he is the sole commander here. and yet, even at the pressure of his superior officer, he doesn’t loose his morals at all, and consistently shows how kind and sweet he is. he isn’t doing that because of Obi-Wan, he’s doing that because it’s who he is, even with the inhibitor chip.
of COURSE he would question the Empire and leave as soon as the chip started wearing off, and of COURSE he’d carry the guilt of Order 66 squarely on his shoulders. he is a great example of someone who knows right from wrong and people who ever questioned him don’t understand his character at ALL.
Cody screenshots from the new Bad Batch s2 trailer. 👀
Im begging you do not kill him off—
The production quality in this show is very good and all the actors are amazing but the pacing is so so bad it just makes me want to reread the duology because every step and reveal is so well plotted
(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.
I knew Cody's armor was gonna be different cause reasons but to actually see him in that gray mockery? Fucking christ did that hurt
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 💜💜💜
i have no time. i am a stressed junior in college who also works and wants to have some free time so my mental health doesn’t explode. i have fifteen textbook chapters to read a week and stats homework on top of that. i have no time.
oops, what’s is this? an entire AU based off of Cody leaving the Empire and starting a clone rebellion? oh well, guess i have to write this now. it’s fine, Cody commands my entire brain at this point
I DONT WANT ANYMORE ORDER 66 RETROSPECTS
WHAT I WANT IS TO SEE OBIWAN AND CODY DRINKING TEA, WHILE BEHIND THEM ANAKIN IS CHASING AHSOKA WHO STOLE HIS ARM, WITH REX SCREAMING INTO A PILLOW AS A BONUS
42 days since we’ve seen commander cody. is he safe? is he alright?
she/her | lover of shedding tears over black lines on paper/phone screens | swiftie | whovian | don’t have a personality beyond loving to read and listening to taylor swift | psychology major that doesn’t understand her own actions |
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