I'm bored, so here is how I'd fix 'The Bad Batch.'
Caveat: Obviously I would've preferred a show centered around clones like Rex, Cody, Fox, Wolffe, Echo, etc. instead of some random "special" clones we've literally never heard of, but that's not what we got so I'm making a post about what we have to work with. Also, obviously I'm not gonna cover every issue about the show, these are just the main things I'd change.
1. Un-whitewash them. In fact, un-whitewash all of the clones, but that's a given.
In the same vein, though, have them actually look like clones. It makes like 0 sense for them to have to hide or have to wear disguises or what have you to hide the fact that they're clones...when they don't look like clones.
I'm gonna be honest, if they weren't introduced as clones in the show, then I wouldn't have had any idea that they were clones. They look nothing like Temura Morrison or the other clones. Fix that.
Or, hell, if people are absolutely dead set on them looking different, have them hate the fact that they look different from the other clones rather than making them think they're so much better than everyone else.
Sure the Kaminoans might've said something or other about them being "better" then the other clones, due to their modifications, but they're also just as likely to have said something negative about them looking different since they want things to be uniform---not to mention that their "special modifications" probably got more attention on them from the Kaminoans, which would obviously be something that sucked ass and probably got them in more trouble/gave them more restrictions.
I feel like it'd be more plausible for them to want to blend in and not want that extra attention- (and everything that comes with it) -rather than them having a whole complex about being "so much better" than everyone else. Especially considering that, generally speaking, their modifications don't really seem to make them any more "special" than anyone else.
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2. Get rid of the animosity between TBB and the rest of the clones. It makes no fucking sense.
No more of the "regs" bullshit, no more of TBB not giving a shit about other clones, no more of the bullying that apparently went on on Kamino. None of that shit.
The whole "oh the regs bullied TBB because they looked different, boo hoo" thing doesn't even make fucking sense!!! 99 looked different than all the other clones and they fucking loved him! Not to mention the importance that the clones place on individuality, distinction, and being yourself---it makes no sense for looks, of all things, to be something the other clones make fun of TBB for!!
And, honestly, given how TBB consistently talked about/treated the "regs," I'm more willing to believe that the other clones started "bullying" them in retaliation to TBB calling them "expendable" and acting like they were so much better than them.
But, that's besides the point, anyway-
Have TBB actually care about the other clones, have them be close, have TBB have more than blank faced reactions to finding out their brothers are being mind controlled---actually have them give a shit and want to help, but they're unable to.
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1. In the same vein, get rid of the animosity Crosshair has with the rest of TBB. It makes no fucking sense, given the direction they're trying to take with the show.
It definitely makes no sense for them to have this whole plot/conflict thing about "saving Crosshair" when none of them actually seem to like each other.
In fact, make the whole team actually seem like they like each other---right now they seem like strangers who barely tolerate each other that just got locked inside a 7/11 together. If there's gonna be a show centered around them, that's gonna try and sell the idea that they care about each other or whatever, actually make it seem like it!!
Have them have more emotions about being separated from Crosshair, have them fuck up a mission on accident because they forgot he wasn't there, have them be more than just "😐" at everything, for the love of fuck.
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3. Instead of making them boring characters that are basically just stereotypes + a one-dimensional version of Echo, give them actual personality.
Also, assuming they keep the abilities the same, let their abilities actually affect them negatively instead of just being a way for them to one up everyone.
Hunter - Give him a habit of being overly anxious. He's supposed to be a leader and he's supposed to be close to his team, so have him be worried about making a wrong decision so he often overthinks things to make sure that doesn't happen. Have him look up to Cody and maybe try to emulate him, since Cody seems to take sort of "older brother" vibes when he's around other people, people just seem to look to him for answers- (yeah because he's Marshal Commander, but also let me just have this).
Give Hunter sensory issues, have him get uncomfortable and irritable and upset when things get to be too much.
Wrecker - Instead of making him "stupid, childish, and strong," actually make him smart---he's supposed to be a demolitions expert, so he's not just gonna be a dumbass. Also, maybe make him really protective over everyone and self-sacrificing, believing that he's the strongest so he can take the things that everyone else can't---have him be reckless, not because he's stupid, but because he doesn't want his brothers- (including the "regs") -to do the same thing and get hurt.
Give him chronic pain. It hurts to grow and he had to grow a lot more than the others---plus, with all the injuries he's endured from protecting the others, he's bound to have been a little fucked up by those.
Tech - They wanna make him autistic coded? Great, we need more representation, but don't feed into stereotypes this time.
Make him smart when it comes to his interests---engineering, technology, etc---but then also have him be lost when it comes to things that aren't in his areas of interest, don't make him know everything because that's not realistic. Maybe give him anxiety when it comes to social situations, me and a lot of other autistic people I know get anxious because we don't know what's "right" and "wrong" in social situations, let him actually have anxiety related to his social awkwardness instead of him just- 😐 -all the time. Have him be curious about things related to his interests and prone to rambling about them---let him be excited to tell other people what he knows instead of just saying- "I thought it was obvious."
I'm not really sure what Tech's special ability is supposed to be other than just "smart," so let's just say he has an eidetic memory or something. Give him insomnia. Again, me and a lot of autistic people I know have trouble sleeping, and also let him have stress related to everyone always looking to him for the answers---let him mess up and feel guilty about messing up because "he's supposed to know everything/be the smart one."
Crosshair - Don't just make him an asshole who's always looking for a fight---maybe just make him quiet but with a sarcastic sense of humor, that way it's a lot more shocking when he starts speaking up against Hunter. Let him also be anxious in social situations since he doesn't know how to navigate them, let him look to Hunter or Cody for cues on what to do.
Instead of basically saying "let's leave Echo for dead, he's just a reg" in TCW, maybe have him be vocally supportive of Rex whenever someone else shows doubt---have him understand not wanting to leave someone behind, have him care deeply about his brothers, and then let that make it hit so much harder when TBB has to leave him on Kamino.
He's supposed to be The Best Sharshooter Ever due to genetic engineering? Great, give him eye problems. Make really bright lights hurt him, so he has to wear his helmet to make things easier on his eyes---maybe have him struggle with seeing things really close to him.
Echo - JUST GIVE ME TCW ECHO BACK, AND LET HIM ACTUALLY HAVE PTSD FFS
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4. Finally, change the direction of the story.
Make more of their story center around trying to help Rex save their brothers and try to figure out how to stop the Empire, not just them apparently having the world’s worst luck and being shitty bounty hunter knock-offs. When Rex asks them to help the Rebellion/their brothers/whatever, have them agree to help and go with him rather than Hunter basically just saying- "welp, that sucks ig, but I only care about my fellow "special" clones, so nah."
Have them join the Rebellion and help Rex free the other clones, use the show to give us a deeper look into the clones---what sort of culture they would’ve developed, the complicated relationship they would’ve had with the Republic, etc.
Give us episodes that center around Gregor, Cody, Wolffe, Fox, Rex, etc. and give us insight into what their lives were like after the Empire took over, rather than just having this show about a random group of "special clones" basically copying the style of The Mandalorian.
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Hello! I just discovered your blog and I immediately became captivated by your webcomic, but I'm unsure where to read all of it. I know it's on Webtoons, but I can see it hasn't been updated for a while, and you still post about it.
Are your physical novels just prints of the webcomic? Are they a continuation? Is the story complete? Thanks in advance!
Hi there!
Glad you found me and are enjoying my comic!
It's only on webtoons, and the story is not complete yet! We're 2/3 of the way through right now. It's currently on hiatus, and it's scheduled to come back in about 2 months!
I'll explain why it's been so long if you're curious, but also for my followers who might also be wondering about it under the cut. Sorry, it's pretty much just me complaining haha
I took a month off
I took 2 months to get the books printed
I took a month to prepare my next comic
and I took 2 months to write the rest of the series (I knew the character arcs I wanted, but not the time periods or mysteries!!!)
I've been working on actual episodes since then
I had to take some time off because of some pretty extreme burnout due to the sheer amount of work it was to draw over 800 pages and write 6 complete stories in a year and a half... I was getting sick almost weekly due to the overwork, it was really really bad honestly. I was having to work 60+ hours every week just to keep up...
The nature of the comic itself is also difficult... Each of the arcs is a complete, self contained story which can be read (ideally) without context, and my arcs need to be about 10-13 episodes each... And since I have an exact number of episodes to work with, it's even harder.
It takes a ton of planning and a ton of refinement, and working week to week with no breaks I was forced to put out second or even first drafts, so I just wasn't happy with the work I was doing... And to do that for the rest of the series? I wouldn't be proud of the work I did.
Plus... To be entirely honest, webtoon has treated me quite badly IN MY OPINION... They deprioritized me before I launched (I had to beg for more promotion, I'm not exaggerating), they outright denied me the opportunity to even ask for a raise, I don't make any money on fast pass and they pay me less than my partner makes working at trader joes. My first editor left me completely hanging, my second editor (who I loved) was fired... And they told me I wouldn't get a third season before my first season even finished. So it was just repeatedly completely demoralizing.
I'm sorry it has taken so long, it'll have been 10 months by the time I come back. But I realized... I won't get promotion either way. I won't get more episodes either way. I won't get more money either way. So to finish everything, to make it feel good, to make it something I'm proud of, I chose to take longer to make it better.
I am fully aware I will lose a significant amount of my readership for this and it might genuinely affect my career moving forward. But it's what I had to do! So I'm sticking to my guns on it, and I'm confident long term it'll be worth it. It never could have been this good if I didn't take this much time.
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its probably meant to be somewhat ambiguous but it seems most likely that armand was gaslighting louis so that he didn't trust himself and daniel didn't trust him. he also seemed to basically get what he wanted by instigating a fight and igniting some passion, we see by next ep's start it probably got resolved with sex and absolution. idk the talamasca angle is not as interesting a story
Ask is in reference to this post: HERE
That's cool. You're able to hold that I'm able to hold mine. Interpretations are just that. I will say it doesn't matter whether Armand planted them, or not, because he still ends up gaslighting Louis in the 2x04 argument anyway. It’s effectively gaslighting even if they are telling the truth here as they see it because of how things stack up and what's said.
It is basically how you said, and I'll just go ahead and expand for anyone who might not see it so clearly. Initially, it seems he's more or less trying to just get Louis off his case for the photos, and is willing to throw him, his mental state, and character under the bus, to do so. But Louis already straight up knows him of doing manipulative things, of this exact sort, in the interview before this event even occurred - Namely that Armand is making himself look far more approachable, and better to Daniel, even after they'd both agreed to basically tear this guy to shreds, which makes Louis look worse by default, and goes against what they agreed to both do. Armand has a repeated tendency to fall through on his promises, or promise things, but then take it his own direction when it suits him. In all cases, he does keep obstructing Louis interview, especially when it comes to Daniel, and won't fully admit to it. - this is why Louis' so reactive, among just the fact he has trauma related to being denied his own interiority, fullness, and freedoms, because he's Black, and in society, less human more 'savage'. Armand simply doesn't help his case by denying it, even if it were actually his truth that the photos weren't his doing. (Note; Armand has also faced horrific dehumanizing traumas, but in such a differing way I don't think he's able to empathize with the same way Louis been dehumanized in life. I argue a little if Louis is even able to do more than simply hold a lot of sympathy for Armand, as they really are not a lot alike in both their interior and exterior reality. I don't think that sympathy goes both ways often.)
The way he's also keeps behaving like the bigger person in this reinforces the belief Armand wants out of Louis, making him 'see' it, and probably also to Daniel as well who's definitely overhearing this (this particular part has a chance of being unintentional however, if he was only really intending to deescalate, but it still keeps the same effects).
Not only making Louis look like he's crazy to assume it, but denying he'd been doing anything wrong of the sort (by simply at no point coming forward and saying something reassuring of Louis reality along the lines of, 'I have been doing those things, it's just not this, and those weren't my intentions to hurt you with it, I'm sorry' or simply 'okay, I did it, sorry'). As well, it doesn't matter how much Armand's truthful, Louis is someone who necessarily does need reality checks like that, because he suffers from hallucinations, and as he's finding out, memory lapses, and not providing them will make him jump to presume it could be his own symptoms. Also, at one point in the argument, he actually throws out that Louis is insane, if it needed to be anymore obvious. Which is derogatory, if arguably true, though reinforces that Armand's behaviors to 'stop or aid his madness' in prior instances were all a-okay, and all necessary. There's nothing wrong with him, and what he's doing, its all Louis. (His intentions to deescalate, if anyone wants to take on that idea, would've changed by then. It reads as a pattern to me mimicking of the promises falling through.)
Anyway, I'd be saying in my interpretation that him willing to keep this up, even though the photos had nothing to do with it, just shows how much he'd actually use any situation that arises to manipulate/control Louis, and mess with Louis interview, as opposed to orchestrating or planning situations, so he can then also manipulate with it. With all intentions or not, it doesn't really matter. Which makes his manipulation more realistic, honestly. A better portrait of who Armand is tbh.
I don't claim this transcript as 100% accurate, but it's as close as I can get it:
L: Four Fred Steins in the album, four. You made me look foolish.
A: You just assume it was me.
L: Well, it wasn’t me.
A: You sure about that?
L: Excuse me?
A: I take it back.
L: Take it way fucking back.
A: It was probably an honest mistake from the staff.
L: You think I need to be coddled, hyped up, lied to?
-cut-
A: You’re being Lestat!
L: Go call on him, see what happens.
A: A little ridiculous… It's the staff, dear.
L: I’m being ridiculous? You wanna see, you wanna see ridiculous?
A: No, Louis, it was an honest mistake. You knew it.
L: AAAH
A: You weren’t here-
L: LA LA LA LA
A: -And more and more of them-
L: LA LA
A: They got through!
-flashbacks-
A: This isn’t about Lestat!
-more flashback-
L: You lobbed at Daniel, and disrespected me.
A: no no no no no no.
-flashback-
L: and over and over and over it’s always the same damn thing.
A: You trying to trick me?
L: I don’t know I’m just your God now. The abandonment, and aren’t we both cut throat?
A: You won’t believe me, when I was here. I’m the one who can see!
L: Alright, first off, first off.
A: You are insane!
-fb-
L: You always do this! … We’ll be done with Daniel any day now. Now, knock it off. Its about the record, this is my interview. You hear me? The whole interview that will be heard by me.
A: In a future that you won’t see!
-fb-
L: No more! Will you go to speak without asking first. No more! Will you ever flirt around on your years.
A: Oh, come to Dubai, Louis says, but not me.
-Then I can’t make out anything-
Sex and absolution I do agree with as well. Like they did do that. I don't think either were expecting it to go that way from the beginning, though, as in neither started or orchestrated a reason for argument just to have makeup sex. That being somewhat normal for them after a big argument like that would not surprise me however. A certain interpretation I take of them having sex after (given the argument) was more that (it seems to me) part of the accusations here is that Armand is 'flirting' to win over Daniel's favor, and trying to get with him? Maybe even back together with him? (Centered a lot around Armand telling him his little love story with Lestat.) If not, just turning him against him. So having sex could reinforce Armand had/has no intentions of leaving, further obstructions wrt Daniel, and/or infidelity. That it's 'me and you' and not 'you and him'. (Which could be the real lie depending on how you want to take it here lmao. And is so bound to fall through because... Armand doesn't keep his promises, not even to himself it seems since he turned Daniel).
Again all interpretations are just that, so long as it can be legitimately supported by the text, and isn't grossly insensitive. The Talamasca just adds to the whole scene to me more than it detracts from it. The outside world necessarily has influenced both of their inside worlds, and further how they interact with each other in both, and is the cause behind of a lot of their behaviors and reactions. Talamasca causing those to erupt sort of points to that. It's real. The whole narrative actually feels more concrete and like there's a world outside who can still influence them if they were the one's doing it. Sometimes I feel people want to center Louis a bit too much in the story, which is fair, it is his story, he has a narrative that should be centered, but it is also other people's story as well. They are playing roles here in it.
Also this is why I really wonder if they'd ever revisit this? I'm a little peeved about it being so hidden tbh. There seems like so much added context and we're denied most of it from the music and constant flashbacks. Fingers-crossed maybe Daniel was recording it? IDK.
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You know, I’m one of those people who’ve read the books. And I honestly wasn’t disturbed by EP5 in the least.
Well, okay. I am iffy about the Claudia assault situation. I don’t think it was gratuitous (mostly because they didn’t show it), and it does set up a few things: The Fang Gang, who show up in Queen of the Damned. As well as the general idea that other vampires are “not so nice” and that Louis and Claudia have been living in a bubble of protection with Lestat. (Which their eventual journey to Europe will fully show.) But I think there could have been a way to get that point across to Claudia (or at least why she decided to head home to get Louis) without that specific thing happening to her.
As to the Louis and Lestat fight, no, it didn’t happen in the book. But, I’m sorry, am I supposed to think Lestat wouldn’t be capable of it, if pushed in this way? We are talking about the same Lestat who raped a female waitress in Tale of the Body Thief, right? The Lestat who, in that same book, forcibly turned David Talbot into a vampire against his will in a parallel to that rape of the waitress? “Oh, but he didn’t mean to rape that waitress and felt sorry about it and even tried to help her later!” Yeah, whatever. He still raped her. “Oh, but David forgave Lestat and even admitted that he really wanted the Dark Gift anyway!” Yeah, whatever, he still assaulted David, with David fighting back and saying “no” almost the whole time.
Now yes, in The Vampire Lestat, Lestat says he never showed Louis or Claudia the true extent of his powers. (And he didn’t have the cloud gift in particular at that time anyway). So that whenever he and Louis did fight in any way in Interview with Lestat, we retroactively know Lestat was holding back. But any fights they got into never reached the extent they do in the tv show because Lestat never once was really confronted with the idea that Louis and Claudia were seriously going to leave him. Not like this.
By the time that was clear, he’d already been dumped in a swamp.
“But he would never hurt or lay a finger on Louis in that way!” So the gaslighting and emotional abuse/manipulation he did do to Louis during that time was better? Really? Both are still abuse. Hell, Daniel flat-out called it abuse back in EP3.
Lestat is a fucked up brat prince bastard. Always has been. And in the show, he is basically a walking billboard for Generational Trauma at this point.
Louis, for his own reasons/issues we’ve yet to learn, has never once said he loved Lestat back, either before or after the turning. And was going to leave Lestat to go with Claudia overseas to find other vampires who he will be vulnerable to and at the mercy of. (Because yes, Lestat is right to try and scare them away from going there to find other vampires for those out there who haven’t read the books. The real issue is he should have just been open and honest about why Europe is dangerous.) Lestat’s fears of abandonment compounded with all of that? Yeah, I get why he snapped.
But out of character to do it? Nope. Not under this circumstance.
Also, people should remember we are not dealing with young, impetuous Lestat here, as he was in the first book. This time, he lived over 150 years before ever coming to America to live. Which is why he even has powers like the cloud gift in the first place, I’d wager. (My working theory is that he spent most of those years with Marius, but I digress.) He wouldn’t be the exact same as book-Lestat at this point in time just by the very nature of having lived over 150 years doing who-knows-what beforehand.
I’m not sitting here trying to excuse Lestat’s actions btw. Just analyzing his character and where his POV is on all of this (and if it contradicts the books, which I don’t feel it does). And I suspect we will start to get his POV on all of this by the season's end.
So yeah. Louis and Lestat aren’t healthy at this point in time. They never were in any iteration of this story. That fight didn’t change my POV on what could happen with them in the future, however. Just that they have a lot more to deal with, and that Lestat has way more issues in this version to work through.
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