hunters-wig - Tumblr blog

hunters-wig · 8 months

Text

This from a while ago, but it's fun to think about how the studio took the most basic "motley crew" caricatures and created a show that is so deeply personal and comforting to thousands of people.

Hello all. Can we talk about Clone Force 99's barracks on Kamino and what I think this says about the Bad Batch?

So we first see their barracks in TBB Episode 1.

I'd like to break down each sleeping area and what I think this says about it's residents. Echo also makes a comment about the smell but, frankly, I don't want to know, so we'll leave that out.

I also want to ad that I love this show and the characters, so any snark here is not ill-willed on my part.

(The majority of the images here are concept art by Jason Pichon, with a smattering of screenshots plus one epic official artwork. I'm largely using these as the basis for my wild speculations.)

Let's begin clockwise starting from the door.

So let's start with Hunter.

His bunk is neat. Sheets folded. No mess. There is a chest/locker with Clone Force 99's logo on it and "Hunter" written in Aurebesh.

The above is neat, uncomplicated and says military and we know that Hunter takes his job seriously. And outwardly Hunger is all business.

There is what looks like a ?canteen? on the shelf plus some medals - which is interesting as Hunter and Co. decline Rex's offer of coming with them at the end of their arc in The Clone Wars Series 7, because accolades aren't their thing. But he's kept these. If anyone can shed some light here please do.

Hunter does have his team's insignia painted on the wall by his bunk however, and this is a nice little insight into his psyche. Because having his team's crest where he sleeps and where he rests is quite lovely when you think about it. This is the first thing he wants to see when he wakes.

If we have a sneak peek inside his locker, courtesy of Omega's snooping, we also see that he has a photograph of his team, Echo included. Which I think is wonderful. He views Echo as one of them even though Echo has been with the Batch for a relatively small amount of time.

And is this something Hunter takes with him on missions? (My heart)

Now Tech:

Tech's bunk is next to Hunter's and we can see it's a chaotic, messy -but not unclean- place. But it obviously the disorder here makes sense to him.

How would he even sleep in this? But this points towards the fact that Tech's approach to rest is a little different.

Where he is comfortable is where he is working or letting his mind wanter to different experiments and projects. If we're honest he's always going to be the smartest man in the room and when you're working on a purely hypothetical and theoretical level perhaps what you crave is mental stimulation? And this is what Tech's sleeping space shows us.

When he relaxes he doesn't necessarily shut off, but he uses these tasks to relax his mind. I assume he sleeps at some point.

He's done a bit of rewiring and hasn't bothered to put it away; clearly tidying wasn't important.

There look like equations and diagrams of projects Tech is working on and these projects might be what are spread around the room - see the thing on the table he tinkers with in this episode.

To me this is almost like Tech extending the field of his personal space and he claims most of the surface area on the room. I'm reading into this as, as much as he is on another planet with his intellect he wants to at least orbit his brothers.

See how he also called the Havoc HIS ship in espisode 4; Tech takes up space like a cat - any space occupied by him is one he will fill.

And I love how it's messy as hell, actually.

As for Echo:

Well, he doesn't have a bunk as the barracks were only outfitted for 4 clones. However we can see a hammock rigged up between Tech's bunk and the window.

I've seen lots of complaints about this, so let me just say: the rest of the Batch didn't have to make him a bed, but they did.

They could have just given him that sofa/bench thing, as presumably they'd be out on missions more often than not and stays back on Kamino would be brief, but they have made him somewhere to sleep.

It's in a quiet corner by the window with a view of the sky. Imagine you're Echo and you've been trapped in that ordeal for all that time, stuck wired in to that tank; you'd want to see the sky too.

It might not be perfect, but it's cozy. A hammock would support him as he slept. It would also bundle him up and give him a little bit of privacy if he needed some space and alone time, rather than him going into an open sided bunk.

It's also fairly common for people serving in the armed forces to sleep in hammocks (source: my dad, uncles, grandfathers - you get the gist?) so this wouldn't be an out of the ordinary experience for Echo. This is some semblance of the familiar for him.

Plus he's close to Tech. And I wonder if this tells us a little about their relationship?

Tech is the one who carried Echo through that vertical shaft / duct during the Skako Minor rescue. They often grump and snark at each other but non-aggressively, the same sort of way that family members often bicker.

Also Tech would be close by if Echo needed any help with his prosthetics/cybernetics.

Now Crosshair:

And he's interesting. If we look at his bunk, it's the only one with crates stacked directly in front of and to the side of it, like a wall:

It's almost like Crosshair has made a partition here to define the boundaries of His Bunk, given himself a modicum of privacy and tried to preserve some semblance of personal space here.

Which I think is fitting as he would be the hardest one to reach. He is aloof and apart by preference but I'm also reading an element of vulnerability here.

I think of this being bit like the opposite of Tech's bunk: Tech spreads out whereas Crosshair contains.

But his metaphorical distance doesn't stop him from some elements of personalisation, namely decorating his bunk with targets from the firing range. I wonder if these were from training sessions that he enjoyed, or shots that he deemed good? But I do know that the centre poster has bullet holes that make out the letter "C" in Aurebesh.

Yes. MF shot his initial in target practice. Yes he did. Because as aloof as Crosshair is, he's been better than you since 21 BBY and he wants you to know it.

His spare blacks are also folded, similar to Hunter's - we can read into this as someone who likes things precise and in their place.

This is a mirror for his demeanor too. His marksmanship is sharp, he is direct without preamble and even his speech is deliberate and precise.

Now Wrecker:

And oh where to start. My boy has probably the messiest bunk (and I'm including Tech's in this) with food bowls, ?fruits? and his blanket strewn haphazardly.

There are weights nearby and we know that Wrecker enjoys working out (see him powerlifting Gonky, the Batch's GNK droid aboard the Havoc Marauder).

He also has his spare blacks hung up across a cable he's rigged to the ceiling of his bunk. This says "I need space but I'm not too bothered about aesthetics", suggesting that he's not much fussed by other's impressions.

He's a simple man and this is a simple expedient. He's a guy who's not fussy where he crashes and this also suggests someone who is fairly carefree.

And we know this is who Wrecker is at heart. His voice actor calls him a simple guy with "not a lot of clouds in that sky". There is no façade with Wrecker - what you get is what you see.

Also, the Batch's "wins Vs losses" board, carved into the wall is closest to Wrecker's bunk and I think he is the one who most enjoys adding to this.

Bonus:

When the Elite Squad move in, is it just me or is it brighter in there?

I can't help but wonder if -most likely- Tech did something to dim the lights so they wouldn't affect Hunter's heightened senses so much...

Now the batch have gone, the room has been stripped, tidied, and restored to default settings.

(Crap, I just made myself feel sad.)

This art work is from the official Instagram.

Over all I love the level of detail here and I love how much effort the animators put into creating this space.

I really think it showcases each Batcher's personality, foibles and quirks, how they treat this space and how they all fit l together - and they do! These men are so drastically different and you wouldn't expect them to coexist comfortably but they compliment and balance each other very well.

🖤❤️🖤

2K notes · View notes

hunters-wig · 1 year

Text

So we all agree the mysterious Marauder thief is Boba, right?

#thebadbatch #starwars #starwarsthebadbatch #sw #swtbb #tbb #wrecker #hunter #omega #tech #echo #rex #captainrex #cody #commandercody #rampart #boba #bobafett

2 notes · View notes

hunters-wig · 2 years

Text

"why doesn't boba even show up in his own show which is already limited to 7 chapters" and "god i am in awe of din djarin and feel like a wife whose husband is returning from war" are two statements that can co exist

16K notes · View notes

hunters-wig · 2 years

Text

🌌🌅 breha organa, beru whitesun lars, &

luke & leia !! 🌅🌌

7K notes · View notes

hunters-wig · 3 years

Text

intriguing and worth a thorough read!

Why the Clone problem in Star Wars animated media is also a Mandalorian problem, and why we have to talk about it (PART 1)

Yes, I’m talking about whitewashing. What a joy

Soo, I finally took my days off so I can properly sit and think this through. With The Bad Batch ending recently and with all the repercussions of it, I’ve been thinking about all of it a lot and I really needed to get this out of my system. You see, I’ve been seeing a lot of posts and discussions regarding the whitewashing of the characters of Bad Batch, and a lot of them would trace this issues way back to the clone troopers design in The Clone Wars animated series, and rightfully so. But actually, the problem goes way further then that, leading it’s way waaaay far to The Mandalorian series, and it’s the White Myth. To put it simply, it’s a systematized shit.

Before I start, I’d just like to leave a little apology for any broken english in this (very long, sorry about that) post, english is not my first language so I’m writing 80% of this with a Google Translate tab open. So without further ado…

PART 1 : THE MANDALORIANS

1.1 STAR WARS AND SIGNS

So, first of all I’d like to talk a little about Semiotics. I study Visual Culture and Semiotics, and one of the first things you really have to set your mind to in semiotics is that everything produced by people will intrinsically contain and reflect cultural aspects (intended or not), and that might and will influence not only the way this thing is effectively produced but mainly how this thing will be perceived by others (and if those “others” belong or not to the culture in which this thing was produced will also have a huge impact). So basically, it’s impossible to consume something without attributing cultural meanings to it, or without making cultural associations. That’s just the way we are programmed to perceive the world. And there’s a concept in semiotics called “sign” — “A sign is anything that represents something in order to create any effect” (Charles Peirce).

And that’s something Star Wars uses generously. The primal core to the Star Wars concept is to take something widely known and culturally grounded (such as arturian knights, monks, cowboys, etc etc) and put it on a spaceship. Luke’s story is very palatable and very relatable to us because it’s a narrative that we, as an ocidental culture, are very familiar with. The Hero’s Journey and all that. Don’t get me wrong, literally everything we consume is made of signs, as I said before, it’s something intrinsic. The thing is that Star Wars often does it purposefully, and masterfully. And not only on the narrative aspect, but on the visual aspect as well.

Take Han Solo for example. Everything, from his characterization (the vest) to his accent (HIS ACCENT) to his VERY FIRST SCENE (a pistol duel, for God’s sake) is made for us to look at him and immediately see a cowboy (if, of course, we are culturally familiar with cowboys).

Just the same, is very easy to look at Padmé and recognize a festival of historical influences in her wardrobe, from Mongolian Khalkha people’s traditional wear to Renaissance fashion (and yes that definitely can be problematized but that’s another story). And so it goes, you can find hundreds of articles on the internet about it, if you’re interested (Padmé’s concepts are truly interesting, I highly recommend checking those if you haven’t already).

All those are very well-known inspirations, consciously made. Now what does it have to do with the mandalorians? Pretty much everything.

1.2 JANGO AND BOBA FETT

You see, the very first contact that we had with what would later be widely known as “mandalorians” (even though this term was never used in the actual films, but actually appeared in The Empire Strikes Back concept sketchbook) was through, of course, Boba Fett in the Empire. And then the fandalorians were born, we all know the story.

BUT YOU SEE THE THING IS even though he was at that time played by a british actor (Jeremy Bulloch), as were all the “bad guys” in the original trilogy, we never actually see his face, and almost never hear his voice.

So, narratively speaking, the only way we can imagine Boba’s face is when years later, our love Temuera Morrison enters the picture in the prequels. Thanks to Attack of the Clones, we all were to know that Boba was in fact a clone of Jango Fett, someone who all of us, and literally ALL of us, assumed to be mandalorian. Even if that was the original intention of George Lucas, we as an audience could never have known that he had actually stolen a mandalorian armor (as it was then told in The Clone Wars — more on that later). And, honestly, the author is dead, and even Dave Filoni admits ( in this mini doc here that I used to make this post) that he also always presumed Jango and Boba to be mandalorians. Therefore, they shaped our idea of who mandalorians were and how they looked like.

Even though the term “mandalorian” is never used, as Jango and Boba have distinct armor and shape from the other species and organizations that we see in the movies, is very easy to understand that they come from another culture, so much that it took me a long time to understand that Boba’s armor was actually Jango’s — I just assumed they were similar because they were from the same culture. And as all of us know, Temuera is a polynesian actor and comes from the Māori people. Even if a person doesn’t know that, is not hard to perceive that he is not white.

He’s just so beautiful.

1.3 MAKE A FANTASY WORLD, MAKE THEM WHITE

The thing about media that take place in sci-fi, fantasy worlds with various species and different cultures and peoples is that we are inclined to quickly associate things like phenotypes as a determinant while defining these species, cultures and peoples — Like costume in medieval series or movies that depict different kindgoms, for example. This might seem random but it’s an easy way to understand what I’m talking about. It’s easier for the audience to distinguish one “kingdom” from the other if the people are visually very different, like in Game of Thrones. If you pay attention at the beggining of the series every house and “region” had very distinct fashion tendencies that went way beyond the house’s coat of arms: the gowns were all cutted very differently, the colours and embroidery were unmistakable and the hair styles also differed a lot.

When we are talking about white people, that’s what is usually done. But back to Star Wars.

When in these fantasy universes, however, we come across a character that is the only representant of the culture they are presumably part of, and especially if this characther is portrayed by a non-white actor, we might end up presuming that all their people will have the same phenotypes as this actor. That is a separeted issue. But besides that, as in the media we have a HUGE imbalance regarding white actors and non-white actos in screen, there are some expectations that come along when you cast a non-white person to a culturally representative role. As POC roles are a minority, we expect to have more of it, right? So I think is fair to say that a lot of us expected other mandalorians to look like Jango, and therefore, to look like Temuera Morrison — in a way, likely how we expect all imperials to sound brittish.

And then FINALLY we get to Clone Wars. Because in the season 2 of CW, when for the first time we got a depiction of Mandalore, and mandalorians (now with the full use of the term), what I said above was not the case. Contrariwise, what we saw in Mandalore was a whole parade of incredibly white people.

I mean, WHAT THE HELL KKKKKKKKKKKKKKK you see, they are not even “plurally” white (I’m not sure if this term exists, pardon me), no. They all, with no exception, have the same pale skin, light blond hair and even lighter blue eyes. And I know that when we do 3D animation, there really are several limitations regarding the quantity of models we can do in shorts amounts of time (as it must have been the case of CW, being an ongoing series), but this was actually made on blatant purpose. In that same doc I linked earlier, Dave Filoni talks about how he gave them a “very nordic flavour”.

Later, he and some guys from the creative team of CW go on about what was their concept for the mandalorian civilization and the way they describe it, is that they are a “warrior race”. This is a very important point of the mandalorians, that they are a people of very proud and very deadly warriors, an ideia that comes way back from the Empire sketchs, when George Lucas inteded the Mandalorian armor to be a supercommando armor.

As you can check in the video, they describe Mandalore as how it’s a very racional culture, a very advanced one, industrial and standardized. At one point, they even use terms like “ethereal” and “angelical” to talk about their design choices. They said that in order to make Boba’s design seem unique in comparison, they created a people that would look like an organized army.

And the planet is all worked up on glass and shades of ice colour and some greens here and there, because of course it is.

And when they added that to the mandalorian concept of have being incledible warriors, feared all across the galaxy, with multiple plural clans that would fight each other so much that the surface of the planet itself started to wear out, apparently they thought of vikings. They created a narrative that encompassed the duality in conciliate very violent past ways and history with the idea of a modern, peaceful, advanced society. A perfect parallel, you see, with the Nordic countries, with their viking violent past and their modern present, as they are considered to be indeed very modern, advanced societies. AND THAT WOULD BE PERFECTLY FINE if it wasn’t for Temuera Morrisson, Bodie Taylor, and Daniel Logan.

While talking about it, Dave Filoni, Inc said that rather than relying on Jango and Boba personally, they instead took inspiration for a single piece in Boba’s armor, and based SOLELY on that, they came up with the shapes and structures for Mandalore and it’s culture.

It’s the diamond hexagonal shaped piece in the center of his chest plate. That’s Mandalore. They called it “reverse engineering”.

See? Design.

And that’s where the whitewashing gets really blatant to me. Because, as I said earlier, even if it was all whitin George’s idea, the author is dead, and to me this idea that “oh, instead of using the characther’s actor as a base to create from, we used this one generic piece in his armor, and then we made them all white” sinks really really badly.

Because they didn’t have to make the mandalorians look nordic for them to be representative of a big warrior people.

1.4 THE MAORI CULTURE

This association with the vikings is an incredibly ocidental and incredibly white one, and very erasing of the Māori culture, New Zealand history and honestly, existence. Look, I am not by any means an expert in polynesian cultures, and this is not a historical informative post in this matter, so I went to Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand and NZHistory to inform myself. So instead of running the risk of saying some inaccurate nonsence with no reliable source, I’ll quote some of their articles and the correspondents links and references will be found at the end of this post, because I am an academic and if I don’t do this I won’t be able to sleep at night.

According to NZHistory, one of the most well-known sources of information regarding the Māori culture is the works of James Cowan (1870–1943), who “wrote more than 30 books and hundreds of articles on New Zealand history, Māori ethnography and travel […] and did much to shape the way New Zealanders viewed their past” [1], and his view influenced a lot of how we perceive this culture. One of those is the idea that they were savage warriors (that’s colonialism happening right here). Warfare was very important to their society, yes, but not in the way we can see them being representated or talked about (at some extents, as a modern racial stereotype — more on that later) According to the Te Ara,

“Much of traditional Māori society was based on warfare and weaponry. It was the ambition of every Māori warrior to die in battle, and warriors’ upbringing conditioned them to be experts in weaponry and skilled in the strategies of war. […]

‘Even children’s games were often orientated towards warfare. Running, jumping, diving, stone throwing, climbing, boxing, wrestling and more elaborate stick-throwing and parrying games improved children’s motor skills for the inevitability of battle. Young men were taught chants and incantations such as the hoa rākau and mata rākau, to make warriors fleet-footed or cause a weapon to be extremely deadly. With this upbringing young men entered the para whakawai (school of traditional weaponry), where they were instructed in the arts of mau rākau (the use of weaponry). ” [2]

So only with that we can already cut the association warrior, military well organized and educated culture = blond vikings. The thing is that we still don’t have much representation of Māori, so we know very little about them (as we I mean we, the world, etc, you got the idea). And it falls very short to me why the CW creative team looked at this characther, played by a Māori New Zealander, and thought, “hum, no, not really fitting for the modern advanced society parallel we’re making here”. Like, really, why did they have to be white? Still according to the Te Ara,

“One common stereotype was of the Māori as unable to cope with the demands of the modern urban way of life. In the early 20th century, James Cowan, reflecting the romanticism of the painter Charles Goldie, preferred the ‘blanketted tattoo-spiralled old warrior’ to the modern Māori, ‘who as often as not wears tailor-made clothes of the latest pattern and whirls to the races in a motor-car’.1

As increasing numbers of Māori moved to the city in the years after the Second World War, views about Māori inability to deal with the demands of an urban capitalist life resurfaced. There were several elements to this:

the view that Māori were easily captured by the bright lights and consumer delights of the city, and wasted their money on gambling and drinking and flashy clothes

the idea that Māori did not understand the moral principles of financial responsibility and were inclined to favour friends and family

the stereotype of Māori as lazy, slovenly and inefficient, and not able to cope with the strict time demands of the capitalist world.

In many respects these images were an updating of the old polygenist view that Māori were inherently uncivilised and would soon revert to the ‘call of the pah’. [3]

Yeah, let that info sink a little.

1.5 OK BACK TO MANDALORIANS

So, let it be very clear that I’m not saying that Dave Filoni Inc had all of that in mind while doing the mandalorian concepts, far from that. I actually really doubt that they were even remotely aware of any issue of the kind. But they are all white man after all, and I believe that they genuinely just thought it would make a lot of sense if mandalorians looked like vikings. It would be just so cool, you know? Space vikings. Anyway.

And that’s why visual culture studies matter so much, because we as a society and as an audience, have a lot of pre concepts and socially constructed assumptions about what we believe is media, and what we believe to be established truths. Take for example another excerpt of the infamous doc. At one point, the lead designer Kilian Plunkett is talking about the character Pre Vizla

This guy ^

And he describes him, and I am literally quoting, using this words:

“What’s interesting about him is because he is so square-jawed and so blond he almost, at first glance, would appear to be a more typical heroic figure, you know, he just has that sort of classic blond, ‘good guy’ look but he is actually pretty nasty”.

I mean… I know this is an early 2000′s show and all that, but still, really? And that misconception is not exclusively theirs, is something we all share as an ocidental colonialized society, because we were taught so. You know who else has a square jaw and is blond?

This guy

You know who else?

This guy! And he is also viking- inspired!

But seriously, this is a serious association issue he still perpetuate, even nowadays, and even without noticing. Once again, we were taught so. And these ideals resonate a lot in the Clone Wars series, intentionally or not. In a moment at the beginning of the Mandalorian Arc in season 2, Obi-Wan travelled there because of reasons and he happened to mention Jango Fett to this Prime Minister Almec guy

Remember him? Curiously he also looks evil. Honestly I find it hard to understand mister Kumplett’s concept of heroic blond guy, he and Vizla look pretty nasty to me. Maybe I don’t get it because I’m latina, that must be it. ANYWAY

In this scene, Almec gets pretty offended when Obi-Wan calls Jango a mandalorian, and he promptly states that Jango is not a mandalorian, but actually a bounty-hunter who had actually STOLEN a madalorian armor, and he looks pretty disgusted by it. When talking about this scene, Filoni explained it by saying that, for a mandalorian, their armor is their identity, and that would be the reason why Almec looked so huffy about this subject. In clearer words, Filoni pretty much pulled the cultural apropriation card there.

That was later kinda retconned by The Mandalorian, where it was stated that Jango was actually a foundling like Mando (and yes, is not stretch to far to note that the two non-white mandalorians we have in live action Star Wars medias were actually “adopted” by the cool white guys), but that stolen armor narrative remained for years in the Star Wars canon, and objectively speaking, it was a narrative about a non-white guy stealing and appropriating this very important and meaningful element of the white guy’s culture, and using it to go wandering around the galaxy doing crime and selling his genetic material. It didn’t age well.

And I find it to be even worse when we watch Attack of the Clones with that in mind, especially because of this scene:

Once again, have in mind that Jango and Boba were portrayed by New Zealander actors. I don’t think I need to explain it.

Just as in the armor piece plea, they again managed to make it about the armor while erasing the person within it.

1.6 IN CONCLUSION

Hahahaha boy that ended up being pretty long

But really, I just needed to get this all out since we are all getting ready for the Mandalorian season 3 and thankfuly this whitewashing debate in Star Wars got pretty strong due to Bad Batch (and I hope to rightly cover that in the Part 2 of this little rant). This is a serious issue, and I feel like we don’t talk about it enough. Because, seriously, why are they white? Why when they thought of a “advanced” society, they thought of sterile industrial cities filled with white blond people? When they thought of a “grandious warrior past”, why did they just thought of the Vikings, and not of the Mayans, or of the Tu'i Tonga Empire, or so so many others? Why didn’t they consider all this huge, brilliant civilizations like the Aztec city of Tenochtitlán, that not only was filled with palaces but had a complex hydraulic engineering system and an aqueduct (the Chapultepec) that, with two complex pipes, would clean the water that supplied the city. All way before the european invasion. Why even after having an established indigenous actor playing this role, they went so far to erase it?

(spoiler: colonialism. The answer is colonialism)

So anyway, I really hope we get to see some changes in the way LucasFilms has been handling their cultural inspirations and representations, because at the end, it only makes a poor excuse for whitewashing, and the perpetuation of colonialist ideas. We did have great non-white representation in the first 2 seasons of mando, all in major roles, and adding that to the perspective of seing a (properly) non-white Sabine in her live action debut, I pray we see that happening in the future animated series as well.

SOURCES USED IN THIS:

[1] ‘James Cowan’, URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/people/james-cowan, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 8-Nov-2017 ( accessed 11 September 2021)

[2] Rangi Matamua, 'Mau rākau – Māori use of weaponry - Weapons training’, Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/mau-rakau-maori-use-of-weaponry/page-1 (accessed 11 September 2021)

[3] James Belich, 'European ideas about Māori - Modern racial stereotypes’, Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/european-ideas-about-maori/page-6 (accessed 11 September 2021)

I only used a few articles, but both these sites are truly amazing data bases, so I highly recommend you giving it a look!

Anyways, thanks for reading!

246 notes · View notes

hunters-wig · 3 years

Photo

this was too feels to leave in my feed

Longing

6K notes · View notes

hunters-wig · 3 years

Text

not to be hating/shaming on anyone, but can i please get some recos for actually clean and wholesome star wars content cuz man ya'll can be thirsty😭

#bad batch #sw tbb #star wars

5 notes · View notes

hunters-wig · 3 years

Text

guys i had a thought--

i'm sure most of you are aware that Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman starred in a certain musical by the name of Moulin Rouge together, and Kidman went by the name of Satine (and, wouldn't you know, ended up having her character pass away in McGregor's arms; sound familiar?)...

i just think that it would be very full-circle to have Kidman star as SW Satine in the Kenobi show, paying homage to both Satines :)

she's got the voice and the light hair and if she can be in a DC movie (Aquaman), what's stopping her from entering the SW universe? :)

(for reference, here's a pic i found on Pinterest lol)

#ewan mcgregor #nicole kidman #star wars #moulin rouge #obi wan kenobi #satine kryze #speculation

19 notes · View notes

hunters-wig · 3 years

Note

Hiiiiii! I watched the finale today over lunch with my coworker and let me just tell you, I am appalled at some people right now. We were just having a conversation yesterday about what we thought Crosshair was going to do thinking his squad didn't care and beeing shown that the Empire didn't either, and I said straight up "I think Crosshair's gonna float for a while, because what do you do with that information?" Plus I don't think it's sunk in yet that the Empire doesn't give a shit about him

I'm actually glad Crosshair didn't go with the Bad batch (as much as it hurts) because it opens up plenty of opportunities for moments of growth for him, and I think it will be really interesting to see what he does when it finally hits him that he's little more than a tool to the Empire. Once he's done that, then I want him to try and rejoin the Batch. He's got issues he needs to work out, and I think the best way to have him do that is on his own. I wonder if he'll, through time, overcome his hatred of regs and escape with some/start a revolution?

Also the Batch really needs a bigger ship bc the current living situation is dogwater. If Crosshair and Omega are going to live together, they need their own space. Also, I would like to know what Kamino's overall plan for Omega was. Why make a female, gen-one, non-aging Clone to only be good at strategizing? Why not make a soldier that could use that skill? I really want to see how this develops.

Also, I predict that Omega will, at some point next season, actually have to kill someone, possible another Clone. It's been all stun rounds so far, but an arrow does not stun.

10 notes · View notes

hunters-wig · 3 years

Text

I’m late to this, but this past week was super busy…so, some general thoughts about the final episode of The Bad Batch, season 1:

In general I liked it, although the ending was anti-climatic because I’m far less interested in what happens with/to Nala Se than the show wants me to be. Also, if greater Star Wars storytelling wants me to actually care about the Empire’s cloning program they need to give me a story about that rather than just hinting in multiple projects (The Bad Batch, Mandalorian, the sequel trilogy) that they’re going to be telling a story about it…one day…maybe.

I liked the mix of character moments and disaster film-like action. I’ve seen comparisons to Titanic and The Poseidon Adventure, both of which are pretty apt.

Loved that we got to hear from Tech and Wrecker about what they think/feel about Crosshair and his choices. I would have loved to have gotten the same from Echo, but then I always want more Echo.

I really liked Omega in this episode. She was so capable in a way that felt earned after her development and growth this season.

I loved the moment after Crosshair saved Omega when the “camera” turned to show us Tech, Echo, and Wrecker all pointing their blasters at him. One thing I think Star Wars animated shows do better than the live action stories is use body language to convey character. That moment told us a lot about of how wary the others are of Crosshair; how it’s not about them just following Hunter’s orders because he’s their sergeant, they’ve chosen him and his view of who they are (or should be) over Crosshair’s views. I also loved his reaction to them - voluntarily disarming himself and his utter dejection at no longer having their trust. It really sets up and sells his choice to not go with them at the end.

I also loved Crosshair’s utter hypocrisy when he complains about Hunter taking things too personally when he’s just spent two episodes taking everything Hunter has said and done extremely personally.

16 notes · View notes

hunters-wig · 3 years

Text

what if live action Omega shows up in The Book of Boba Fett and they softly play her theme music? what then?

#the bad batch #the book of boba fett #tbb omega #tbb wrecker #tbb hunter #tbb tech #tbb echo #tbb crosshair #star wars #sw tbb #john williams

73 notes · View notes

hunters-wig · 3 years

Text

Chops, the skilled chef who hates mantell mix with a passion 🍪

What if there were more Batch members?

We have Hunter, the master tracker and leader. We have Crosshair, the sniper. Wrecker’s the explosive tank. Echo is the hacker. Tech is the tech guy.

So, could there’ve been a scout, called Dash or something? A parkour clone.

Then a medic, since they get beat up all the time - Stitch or Knockout.

Maybe a skilled pilot, Avery or Drifter.

You guys got any more ideas?

31 notes · View notes

hunters-wig · 3 years

Text

i totally agree; was meaning to write a similar post myself!

TBB - Hunter Analysis

I appreciate how the writers didn’t make TBB perfect main characters.

Throughout the show, TBB subtly reminds the audience that The Bad Batch are only human.

In terms of Hunter, he represents a character that is silently going through an internal struggle of what is the right thing to do when faced with change.

No one is perfect. Hunter is only human - like us. Hunter makes mistakes - like us. Question is however- will he also learn from his mistakes- like us? Probably! Hopefully we get to see Hunter and the team grow and change for the better…but for him, it won’t happen overnight as we’ve seen so far.

What we’re deprived of is Hunter’s true thoughts- we’re only given some dialogue and his actions throughout. We can speculate. The question for Hunter in this season really being- what is the right thing to do? From defecting from the only place he’s been born to serve, leaving his brother, protecting/leading his squad, caring for a child, being a mercenary- from a guy that was simply just a soldier on the battlefield going from mission to mission- he suddenly has all these problems weighing on his shoulders.

Realistically, for someone who formerly only had the simple mindset of serving the Republic, I’d imagine not all of Hunter’s decisions will be the right one going forward. We’ve seen throughout the show his struggle to make the right decisions for his team- some examples ranging from

Saving the padawan in episode 1- “I did what I thought was right.”

Defecting from the Empire

Leaving Crosshair behind

Giving away Omega to Cut and Suu as he thought it would best keep her safe

Taking on the job as mercenaries to stay undercover for the safety of his team

Giving the data rod to the Martez sisters because he believes they’ll do something right with it

Removing their chips on Bracca

Reluctantly deciding to take the job to help Separatists- the enemy they have been formerly fighting against

Only deciding to help Hera save her parents on Ryloth after presented with a strategy and a little lecture from Omega

Hunter has been pretty uptight on his decisions for the team, but as the show continues, we see that Hunter is willing to bend the rules and orders to do what’s right if prodded with solid reasoning. However, one topic remains mostly untouched- Crosshair. Hunter will probably be given another decision to make soon, as the fated reunion is inevitable. Question is, will Hunter make the same decision again or will he change after this whole time? (specifically after the events of Episode 12?)

A message the writers may be trying to get at through Hunter is that it’s the tough reality in life that sometimes we’re wrong in making decisions we thought would best help others. And that’s okay, as long as we learn from them and do the right thing. Which we have yet to hopefully see with the topic of Hunter deciding to get back Crosshair. (if the writers decide to go down this route)

It may take a while, but in having The Bad Batch (or specifically Hunter) have this conflict, it opens the storytelling doors to how someone with this struggle in the galaxy navigate themselves. It’s how they grow and learn going forward.

As the audience- we feel the anguish, the frustration, and the discomfort of things not going right through our focus on the main characters. Such as why isn’t Crosshair back with his family already? Why isn’t Hunter going after him, he’s his brother… We’ve seen change happen for everyone else so far in this show, but what about our main group? It seems TBB has been in this grey area this whole time, still trying to figure out where they stand… Specifically Hunter, on where they will stand.

114 notes · View notes

hunters-wig · 3 years

Text

Hello all. Can we talk about Clone Force 99's barracks on Kamino and what I think this says about the Bad Batch?

So we first see their barracks in TBB Episode 1.

I'd like to break down each sleeping area and what I think this says about it's residents. Echo also makes a comment about the smell but, frankly, I don't want to know, so we'll leave that out.

I also want to ad that I love this show and the characters, so any snark here is not ill-willed on my part.

(The majority of the images here are concept art by Jason Pichon, with a smattering of screenshots plus one epic official artwork. I'm largely using these as the basis for my wild speculations.)

Let's begin clockwise starting from the door.

So let's start with Hunter.

His bunk is neat. Sheets folded. No mess. There is a chest/locker with Clone Force 99's logo on it and "Hunter" written in Aurebesh.

The above is neat, uncomplicated and says military and we know that Hunter takes his job seriously. And outwardly Hunger is all business.

And is this something Hunter takes with him on missions? (My heart)

Now Tech:

Tech's bunk is next to Hunter's and we can see it's a chaotic, messy -but not unclean- place. But it obviously the disorder here makes sense to him.

How would he even sleep in this? But this points towards the fact that Tech's approach to rest is a little different.

When he relaxes he doesn't necessarily shut off, but he uses these tasks to relax his mind. I assume he sleeps at some point.

He's done a bit of rewiring and hasn't bothered to put it away; clearly tidying wasn't important.

There look like equations and diagrams of projects Tech is working on and these projects might be what are spread around the room - see the thing on the table he tinkers with in this episode.

See how he also called the Havoc HIS ship in espisode 4; Tech takes up space like a cat - any space occupied by him is one he will fill.

And I love how it's messy as hell, actually.

As for Echo:

Well, he doesn't have a bunk as the barracks were only outfitted for 4 clones. However we can see a hammock rigged up between Tech's bunk and the window.

I've seen lots of complaints about this, so let me just say: the rest of the Batch didn't have to make him a bed, but they did.

They could have just given him that sofa/bench thing, as presumably they'd be out on missions more often than not and stays back on Kamino would be brief, but they have made him somewhere to sleep.

It's in a quiet corner by the window with a view of the sky. Imagine you're Echo and you've been trapped in that ordeal for all that time, stuck wired in to that tank; you'd want to see the sky too.

Plus he's close to Tech. And I wonder if this tells us a little about their relationship?

Also Tech would be close by if Echo needed any help with his prosthetics/cybernetics.

Now Crosshair:

And he's interesting. If we look at his bunk, it's the only one with crates stacked directly in front of and to the side of it, like a wall:

It's almost like Crosshair has made a partition here to define the boundaries of His Bunk, given himself a modicum of privacy and tried to preserve some semblance of personal space here.

Which I think is fitting as he would be the hardest one to reach. He is aloof and apart by preference but I'm also reading an element of vulnerability here.

I think of this being bit like the opposite of Tech's bunk: Tech spreads out whereas Crosshair contains.

Yes. MF shot his initial in target practice. Yes he did. Because as aloof as Crosshair is, he's been better than you since 32 BBY and he wants you to know it.

His spare blacks are also folded, similar to Hunter's - we can read into this as someone who likes things precise and in their place.

This is a mirror for his demeanor too. His marksmanship is sharp, he is direct without preamble and even his speech is deliberate and precise.

Now Wrecker:

And oh where to start. My boy has probably the messiest bunk (and I'm including Tech's in this) with food bowls, ?fruits? and his blanket strewn haphazardly.

There are weights nearby and we know that Wrecker enjoys working out (see him powerlifting Gonky, the Batch's GNK droid aboard the Havoc Marauder).

He's a simple man and this is a simple expedient. He's a guy who's not fussy where he crashes and this also suggests someone who is fairly carefree.

And we know this is who Wrecker is at heart. His voice actor calls him a simple guy with "not a lot of clouds in that sky". There is no façade with Wrecker - what you get is what you see.

Also, the Batch's "wins Vs losses" board, carved into the wall is closest to Wrecker's bunk and I think he is the one who most enjoys adding to this.

Bonus:

When the Elite Squad move in, is it just me or is it brighter in there?

I can't help but wonder if -most likely- Tech did something to dim the lights so they wouldn't affect Hunter's heightened senses so much...

Now the batch have gone, the room has been stripped, tidied, and restored to default settings.

(Crap, I just made myself feel sad.)

This art work is from the official Instagram.

Over all I love the level of detail here and I love how much effort the animators put into creating this space.

🖤❤️🖤

2K notes · View notes