#tbb crit

[unwhitewashthebadbatch]

With The Bad Batch now over, the hope for many fans of color now is that future Star Wars animation will avoid any racism in writing or character design; that it will respect fans and characters of color, Jewish fans, and disabled and ND fans in its pursuit of telling a story.

Nobody deserves to see a series dedicated to whitewashed characters who are written to be genetically superior to men of color. Nobody deserves to see an antisemitic stereotype on their screen. And nobody deserves to see ableism in their shows.

If future showrunners truly believe Star Wars is for everyone, they'll do the work to root out their unconscious biases, learn about stereotyping, and create a show that reflects the diversity of the Star Wars fandom.

There should never again be any room for racism, ableism, or antisemitism in a Star Wars project.

[clonehub]

Question for y'all: Omega is the singular female character on the Bad Batch, and really the only prominent female character of the series. She easily fulfills The Girl trope of the Five Man band. She's the moral compass, the emotional center, and emotional initiator for the Batch. The Bad Batch...really does not start their own reflections or journeys without Omega being present. And they don't really properly resolve them, either. Omega helped Crosshair work through his trauma via guided meditation on a sunsetty beach. He does not take it upon himself to heal from his trauma. Omega has to prompt him. His tremors went away? But Now that Omega's gone, his tremors have come back.

Does this feel like misogynistic writing to anyone else. The female character in an all-male group often tends to be the only one with a moral compass, compassion, and a sense of kindness/generosity. They're the one who goes "We have to help the poor! We have to save everyone!" Added to that the fact that we don't get emotional conversations without omega starting them or being present, and that these characters can't seem to finish them very well (return to Ice planet comes to mind) I just feel like there's sexism in the writing. It's not as bad as it could have been back in Ye Olden Days, but it's...surprisingly strong?

[coruscanti-arabi]

I need white autistics to stop talking over autistics of color when discussing ableism & Tech's characterisation.

Tech was still written by an allistic white guy, and we need to remember that when discussing him.

[im-no-jedi]

am literally considering replacing my blog banner with a screenshot of Hunter standing over that vent, I’m not kidding 😩

[freesia-writes]

Howzer + Aurelia Ch. 15

64.media.tumblr.com

Howzer stole our hearts when he appeared in TBB, and I wanted to write a bit of a backstory for him. It begins with his newbie days during TCW and stretches to where we last see him in TBB. Enjoy his character arc and some heartwarming romance, action, adventure, yearning, angst, and growth.

Master List of Chapters

Content/Trigger Warnings for Entire Work (individual chapters not labeled): wartime peril, injury, and death; pregnancy, birthing trauma, and infant loss; sexual assault up to kissing; relationship passion up to making out and heavy petting; sexual relationship alluded to but not described (no smut, sorry) ;)

Word Count: 1.3k

15. Transitions

19 BBY - Ryloth

"Are you listening to me, handsome?" asked a thickly-accented voice, smooth as silk. Howzer snapped back to the present, running a hand absently through his hair and focusing his eyes back on the beautiful Twi'lek in front of him. The music came roaring back into his consciousness and he fought to remember what they had been talking about.

"I'm sorry," he answered, shaking his head pathetically. He dropped his eyes to the bar counter, absently drawing circles with his finger, searching for anything else to say to remedy the situation. It had been over a year since Sprint's death, but the flashbacks still made frequent appearances.

"Well," the Twi'lek laughed, "You could have just said my story was too boring." She tilted her head to the side, smiling at him suggestively.

"It wasn't boring," Howzer began, drifting off again. Some days were harder than others, and it had been a long week. He usually kept to himself but had sought out a noisy local cantina tonight in the hopes of drowning out his thoughts. Apparently this female was looking for some company, or at least a listening ear, and had been regaling him with tales from her childhood.

"Okay, okay," she said, putting her hands up in surrender, "Let's just say you're not the chatty type then, eh?" She sidled a bit closer, placing a hand on his shoulder plate. "Would you rather explore some possible activities that don't involve talking?"

Howzer's eyes rose back to hers, honey brown meeting stunning green. She was draped in baubles that tinkled and sparkled with every movement, lekku wrapped in ornate leather straps. He offered a small smile, reaching a hand up to take hers from his shoulder. He gave it a gentle squeeze, then politely returned it to her side.

"I'm not the type you're looking for," he said.

She pursed her lips in a mock pout, crossing her arms across her sparsely covered chest and stomach. "Well this is a first," she purred, dropping her hands to her hips. "I'm insulted."

"Heyyyy, honey -- if that blind old bat doesn't see the good time in front of him, I sure do!" came another clone voice, as Hangar sidled up beside her. "Don't bother with him; he's an old crust bucket these days."

Howzer smirked, eyes roving to Hangar. He offered a helpless shrug, rising to his feet and dropping a credit on the counter. "Have a good night," he offered, giving a little two-fingered salute before sauntering toward the door.

***

"Ready, Captain? We mustn't keep our guests waiting," Cham Syndulla asked, heavy sarcasm accompanied by an eyeroll.

"Yes, sir," Howzer replied, straightening the teal pauldron on his shoulder and picking up his helmet, fitting it over his head. 

When they arrived at the building site, they were greeted by a handful of Imperials and the garrison of clone troopers that had accompanied them. Syndulla strode purposefully toward the group, flanked by Howzer on his right, offering an abrupt nod of greeting. The head Imperial was a short, round, middle-aged man who came up to Howzer's shoulder; he had slicked back blonde hair and piercingly blue eyes. He was attended by a few architects and engineers, as well as his assistant, a woman with short dark hair whose eyes were buried in her datapad the whole time.

"Cham. Good to see you. Your support is critical to ensuring a peaceful transition for Ryloth in these turbulent times. I'm Moss Gowden," said the head honcho, sticking out a plump hand. Cham shook it as briefly as he could without being impolite.

"We have been through a number of peaceful transitions," Cham replied evenly, and a tiny smirk danced at the corner of his lips.

"Of course you have," Moss answered without really listening, "This doonium mine and refinery will be a great asset to your people. It will provide jobs and economic growth, and it will give Ryloth its own special way of contributing to our new Empire. Not only that, but as an Imperial protectorate, your planet can enjoy peace and prosperity."

"That is all we want," said Cham. "Let's go ahead with our tour." He stepped forward, followed by Howzer, but Moss held up a hand.

"It may be best to keep these matters just between us," Moss said, eyeing Howzer and the other clones emphatically.

"Captain Howzer is as essential to smooth procedures as I am. He goes where I go," Cham insisted, and Howzer met Moss's hard gaze with a raised chin, expressionless behind his helmet. What he didn't see was the dark-haired woman's head jerk up from her datapad, eyes wide behind thin-rimmed glasses, looking him up and down with a furrowed brow.

"If you insist," Moss sighed, motioning to the rest of the group to stay put, "Let's go."

The Imperials stayed in their little cluster as Cham and Howzer followed Moss Gowden toward the mine. Howzer scanned the group as he passed by, eyes pausing for a moment on the woman. Her short hair was in a messy faux hawk, short on the sides and tousled on top, and she stared at him through her spectacles. He felt thrown off for a moment, either because she looked familiar or perhaps because she was looking at him so intently, but he shook it off and continued on his way.

***

The dark-haired woman rubbed her forehead, elbows on her desk. It was one of those days that seemed best spent in unhealthy introspection, wondering how she got to where she was. Her eyes roved around her office, sparsely furnished, with virtually nothing to distinguish it from anyone else's. It was dimly lit, and her chair creaked as she rocked mindlessly. She was interrupted from her morose reflection by the sound of the door creaking open.

"Aurelia," said Moss Gowden, sauntering in the room, "Pining away for me as usual, I see." His voice was as greasy as his hair, and his Imperial uniform strained at the buttons.

"Oh, you know it." Aurelia returned dully.

"Hey, don't be like that -- I've got a job for you!" Moss said. "Another weapons shipment was stolen from the cargo bay at the refinery. I think it's those hoodlums again. Syndulla claims to know nothing of it except that there has been an increase in pirate activity in this sector, but I want you to have a sniff around. Talk to his men and the refinery guards; try to get some insight of what really happened."

"What am I looking for, exactly?" Aurelia was always given odd jobs; she wasn't even clear what her actual job title was, other than to follow Gowden around and do his bidding. It also included putting up with a hefty amount of innuendo from him, which she had been used to from the bar, but she had just hoped for more when her parents told her they had gotten her an Imperial job. Once she got over the initial sting, of course -- they hadn't minced their words when it came to their disappointment over her firing from 79s, nor had they been shy about sharing precisely what they thought about her aspirations for her life.

"Just gather everyone's account of what happened and we'll see if there are any inconsistencies. We can review them at the end of the week, in my office. I'll bring a fizz; we can have some fun with it," Moss said, arching an eyebrow at her. She groaned inwardly but put on a stiff smile.

"I'll see you later," Aurelia said, picking up her pack and heading for the door.

Feel free to tag a friend who loves Howzer, or comment to be added to the tag list! <3

@mary-on-the-contrary @doublesunsets @523rdrebel

[kcrabb88]

So many of my fandoms are like, classic books or TV shows off the air or musicals, that I haven't had to handle fan theories much in recent years until jumping into Star Wars fandom, and now with Previously Last Seen Dead Ventress appearing in the TBB trailer people are reading Dark Disciple and I SHOULD be happy since that book made me cry my eyes out (I have a couple crits of the book, and by a couple I mostly just mean the Mace characterization was off, but loved it so much overall) and it's like The Quinlan canon book (and to me, a QuinObi book in large part in addition to Quintress like it was what made me read the older comics (which I loved) and really fall into shipping them after the OWK mention + TCW where my interest was piqued) and now everyone is picking up Dark Disciple and slinging fan theories and I'm like yesss read the book! But also ahhhh now I will see theories of all kinds about My Guy Quinlan and be nervous about What Will Occur while also not even knowing if he'll actually appear in the show.

[corellianhounds]

(gif from carpenter-sabrina )

hOW IS HIS ACTION FIGURE WORSE THAN THE ANIMATION?!

They even have a decent sculpt for Hunter’s face in the same line?? Crosshair and Wrecker are somewhat off and their paint job is too light but Tech looks terrible (I haven’t seen Echo anywhere yet). Rex and Wolffe from the Black series have really good facial sculpts that look like Temuera Morrison

Anyway I know this doesn’t fix the problem since it’s the six inch figure but Marauder Gun-Runners has individual pieces you can order, such as different faces if you wanted to make some of your own basic figures. I haven’t ordered from them before but I’m pretty sure the heads fit onto ball joint necks and if you have figures from the current Vintage collection you should be able to pop them off interchangeably

[alorz]

I'm holding off on reblogging every single tbb crit post today because my entire blog would be drowned by it, but i do just want to say. if you are tripping over yourself trying to justify omega being an Exact Clone of jango (be it tem's sister, the concept of lightskin people, mutations, or god knows what) just unfollow me. youre embarassing yourself

[ct-hardcase]

I've seen responses to bad batch crit like "tcw didn't constantly have hard-hitting emotional moments in its first season" like yes I agree on that but Ahsoka in particular did learn hard emotional lessons in that season and was forced to confront her faults, as did Anakin and the assorted side cast. Additionally, haven't watched mando yet so can't speak for it but Rebels and Resistance excelled in that area, even with Resistance following a similar path to tbb in that not every episode seems to be building toward a larger plot at first.

The thing with Resistance and Rebels, even with their smaller-scale first seasons, is that even if the plots were simpler, is that at least one character almost always had to confront something about themselves (I was going to list examples but it got long, suffice to say that at least one character usually has big growing moments either internally or combined with the crew even in episodes that seem more filler, with few exceptions).

tcw, resistance, and rebels also have an advantage over tbb in terms of emotional growth where the crew is sort of figuring itself out even if they are familiar with each other (see: Hera and Sabine's arguments about her meeting fulcrum, Jarek and Tam's arguments over the state of the Fireball), whereas tbb seems to be a well-knit unit, even with the addition of Omega and the subtraction of Crosshair—the only real conflict seems to be that thing going on with Tech and Echo, given their similar position.

and with tbb, I'm not asking for every character moment to get unpacked at once, and I'm honestly chill with some degree of filler and cameo, but moments are presented in episodes where there could and should be characters outwardly questioning things, but they sort of get glossed over.

For example, a while back, the mission of the episode was to rescue a Separatist leader. Echo, Hunter, and Wrecker seem distinctly uncomfortable with it at first and share a few words, but it's resolved with "well, it's a job" which would even be a legit PoV, but it's not brought up again after that, when it could've been a moment to realize that the Separatists had their reasons for splitting from the Republic, or showing Echo to possibly be more reticent than the other two to just go along with it since he was quite literally tortured and dehumanized by the Separatists.

I'm not saying we need to completely derail the story the show's telling but I wish stuff that seems to happen offscreen happened for the benefit of the viewers.

[d*nt rb]

[elizaindustryaction]

Lecture with Fabio

My plan of action: finish responding to the feedback Ellen Jackson gave me and contact again to ask for another crit and maybe ask for a placement at the behaviours agency, as this is where she works and its a cool place.

Look into TBB cream awards

Start to contact people through Linkedin for more crits, as email is not working as well. 

Email Vicci

[clonehub]

The bad batch has some of the shallowest writing I've seen in ages. The wrong character interactions get the attention, while the audience is left with a "tell, don't show" style of narrative storytelling that just leaves people unsatisfied left right and center. Hunter is upset because he feels guilty (a generous read imo) for letting omega get captured while Crosshair was the one to escape with her. Hunter is not mad at Crosshair for his decision to choose the Empire, which led to Tech's death. Hunter is not mad that Crosshair joined the regime that literally mind controlled him into attempting to set them on fire.

Omega afaik never had a solid, positive interaction with Crosshair the way she did with the rest of the bad batch all during seasons one and two. Crosshair tried multiple times to kill her, under influence of the chip. He objectively knew this and still chose the Empire. Omega also objectively knew this and forgives him anyways? And still has faith in him? She was hurt over his decision to stay, but never harbored any fear or resentment. Just pure and total love. And now she's guiding him through dealing with his trauma by meditating on sunset-lit beaches.

Wrecker is still a non-character who doesn't lead and hardly participates in any meaningful way in conversations. I don't recall him having any extensive conversations with any of the other batchers. I remember Tech being snappy with him, and Crosshair saying he has a tiny mind back in season 1. He has cute moments with Omega, but doesn't get developed outside. He doesn't get developed at all, really, besides following the narrow track of the trope set out for him.

The entire emotional arc of the series is dedicated to everyone around Crosshair forgiving him for his choice to join the Empire, but...he's never once thus far actually seemed remorseful. Does he condemn the Empire's violence? Does he look sad or regretful that he got so many of Howzer's men killed on Ryloth? Does he say "I hate what the Empire did to clones, I hate that they used chips on us, I hate that they made me oppress people throughout the galaxy, I hate that the Empire is a violent oppressive regime hurting innocents"? No. He says "The Empire wasn't loyal to me." He doesn't justify what he did, but he definitely doesn't regret it.

(Which is funny because soon afterwards, Rex is able to sow the seeds of doubt into Wolffe's mind that the Empire is bad because they're making him hunt a child.)

And the writers do the laziest thing in the world by having this potentially massive conflict between two characters and using rescue/saving their life as a stand in for a real conversation. Crosshair saves Hunter from the ice worm, they nod, and now they're chill/more chill. They present this as if anything else was a viable option, as if Crosshair would have reasonably or realistically left Hunter to get eaten by the giant ice worm. Then they frame Hunter and Crosshair's mistakes (for the former, I have no idea what) as on par with one another. After their non-argument, Crosshair saves Howzer's life (?), they nod, and that's it. Forgiven.

Halfway through the season and the writing still feels just as unbalanced as it did in season 1. Multiple people keep talking about how they feel like coworkers and roommates with guns rather than brothers. The writers do a better job saying the word loyalty than actually showing it. The majority of the emotional burden is being put on Omega, the only prominent female character in the series and a child. Why is she the emotional support group for a group of grown men? It's just classic misogyny. I'm amazed that type of trope even reared its head again, it's been so long since I've seen it.

Even the writers don't seem to know how to express the batchers' supposed love for one another. No, saving each other's lives is not proof of a deep love or even respect for one another. That's bare minimum. That's SoP. Them leaving each other to die would be the extreme thing, not the other way around. They hardly mention Tech. They had a forced-feeling "hang our heads in silence at the mention of tech's name", and every time after that he's been mentioned as far as his usefulness to the squad. Maybe the second half of the season will have people actually confront Crosshair about Tech. The "Don't have the heavy emotional conversations" thing has been a problem since The Clone Wars, unfortunately. Pretend Teth didn't happen. Pretend Umbara and the Kadavo arc didn't happen. Don't show Rex's reaction to Ahsoka leaving at ALL. Don't show Omega informing Crosshair of Tech's death, which is WILD to me.

Some people claim that the Bad Batch have had six or so months to grieve and mourn, and they're seasoned soldiers who've experienced loss and death before, so they're used to this. The former I can see, but the latter? Who would they have been losing? They're not connected to other clones, rarely worked with them, and never liked them. What losses have they fielded beforehand? They don't even act like 99 or share his values.

I know I'm not alone in this, and at this rate I'm probably beating a dead horse, but it bears repeating: Crosshair hasn't condemned Empire violence, he's only condemned how they treat him in particular. This is a dangerous way to present fascism and why people choose fascist organization/regimes. There's absolutely a personal element to it. Arrogance. Ego. Material or emotional insecurity. But there's an external part as well: desire for control, hierarchy, order, violence. Fascists understand that the ideology is violent. That's why they join the regime. They want and support the subjugation of those they believe deserve it. In real life, this is people of color, women, disabled people, immigrants, the "degenerates" of society, and others. In Star Wars, that's the aliens and the enslaved, the "traitors" and the Rebels. Fascists being "lead astray" or "misguided" by thoughts of loyalty or personal power come secondary to oppressing others.

Maybe they'll address that in the second half of the season. It's a generous read, but I don't want to make any calls til I've seen everything. Unfortunately, every interaction Crosshair has with people has been designed to service their forgiveness of him, all without him actually apologizing for anything. Yes, he must explicitly apologize. He joined a fascist regime after they made him do terrible, heinous things. The text tells us that Crosshair only left because the Empire wasn't loyal to him. Anything other than a clear apology would be bad and frankly dangerous writing.

[clonehub]

Sucks cause tbb had a lot of potential to be a really great story about lateral oppression and self hate within marginalized groups of people and the different effects of that and how to overcome it. But it's not that. Could've been tho!

[clonehub]

Three episodes left in the bad batch and they're going to maybe touch on a clone rebellion, do something of full closure for Crosshair's "redemption", resolve the mystery of clone CX-2, get Omega back and most likely kill another member of the batch. And probably something else I'm missing. Do you think they skipped all those important convos to make sure they had space for this.

[im-no-jedi]

I cannot fully express to you all how incredibly INSUFFERABLE I’m going to become in January. those of you who’ve been following me for 10+ years probably have a good idea of what’s coming, but as for the rest of you... prepare yourselves ROFL

[im-no-jedi]

thought I was gonna have time to scroll the tags and write out my episode 9 thoughts but life got busy today and it’s Thursday and 🫠

[im-no-jedi]

so! today is when all the Pokémon SV posts start releasing from the queue, so tag “pokemon sv spoilers” if ya don’t wanna see anything spoilery

also! any TBB season 2 posts will be tagged “tbb spoilers”, and there will be a LOT of them after tomorrow, so prepare yourselves!!