#tbb void

[levi-venn]

Mirror Squad

An HC I need to get out of my head so I can move on with my life (Hah, jokes on you, Levi, Bad Batch is your life).

So...Hemlock created a mirror image of the Bad Batch called the Mirror Squad, but it's not what you think. Turns out these clones were the ORIGINAL Bad Batch.

Their names: Crunch (Wrecker), Striker (Hunter), Circuit (Tech), Void (Echo/Memento - See Notes), and CX-2 aka Headshot (Crosshair).

Striker and Hunter

Circuit and Tech

Void and Echo

Crunch and Wrecker

Headshot and Crosshair

The Mirror Squad - Origin Story Concept

The Mirror Squad were the first batch of Experimental Unit Clone Commandos created on Kamino: Striker, Crunch, Circuit, Void, and Headshot. They were decommissioned due to their rebellious and unpredictable nature which made them a liability rather than an asset to the future Clone Army.

Because the Experimental Clone Program was an expensive endeavor, the Kaminoans did not decommission these clones, but rather put them in stasis for later research. They tried again another batch of experimental clones and this time only four clones survived: Hunter, Tech, Wrecker, Memento (see note) and Crosshair.

Note: Memento did not survive past his cadet years. Void and Echo's parallel are a coincidence.

When Kamino was evacuated, Hemlock scooped up the original Bad Batch squad, still in stasis within their pods. These clones were the first to be brainwashed and reprogrammed by Hemlock. Although their memories were wiped, their instincts to work as a cohesive unit remained.

Technically, the Bad Batch is a mirror image of what the original Clone Force 99 almost was, but this squad's official name is Mirror Squad.

[nahoney22]

All he needs now is some booty shorts and a crop top and then he’s basically Lara Croft

[echojedis]

I miss clone wars Tech

[anakin-warcrimes-skywalker]

Seeing all those Clones suffering from the experimentation in the new episodes got me sobbing... STOP HURTING MY BOYS

[niobiumao3]

Realistically, I get why people think the Pabu folks and Crosshair haven't been told about Tech. Taken within the bounds of the show, it looks like NO processing is going on, so does anyone even know? That seems absurd given the time jump presented in episode 1--which is masterfully handled--but still.

Yet Michelle Ang herself indicated we see none of Omega's processing ('there's not time for it with everything else going on') and the episode reviews for 1-8 confirm is it never addressed. That just makes no sense if they've not already been told.

So, they've been told, and we don't get to see it. But I totally grok why anyone not terminally online would be assuming those conversations haven't happened because the show is making it look like he only just died and word isn't out, when it's been 3-4 whole ass months.

In S3E1 Omega is in no way acting like someone mourning a beloved mentor and brother. She is literally not.

This is utterly unhinged writing if Tech is really dead. It erases the grief over such a loss and acts like 'well we all had to just move on' when the marketing was so, SO heavy handed on THE LOSS and THE SACRIFICE. What loss, what sacrifice? NO ONE IS UPSET ABOUT IT OR PROCESSING.

So. Like. They've been told. But I bet he's on his way back in some manner or another.

As @eriexplosion has pointed out, Kanan Jarrus got an entire episode about how he was definitely not coming back. Echo stepped off screen and Omega and Tech had an emotional arc about it that spanned two episodes. He wasn't even injured he was just off with his bro!

Tech yeets himself to save them and uh here are his goggles 'not all of us made it back' is the sum total of our commentary. ?!

[oliviartist]

I’m not wrong

[ladyzirkonia]

Honestly Rampart is such a delight, his accent the whole mannerism, I loved it and cackled so much. Noshir Dalal absolutely nailed it.

I BEG YOU PARDON, I didn't make it to Vice Admiral on looks alone.

[voidofthemoon]

Sinful Morning, Passionate Afternoon

Wrecker x Reader

18+

Length: Medium

Warnings: waking up with oral (male recieving), kinda sleepy sex, P in V, established relationship, established acceptance of sleepy fucks and waking up in this manner

You hadn't meant to wake up as needy as you did, but before you even really had a moment to really sit and clear your mind of the sleepy fog... you found yourself under the sheets and between his thick thighs.

You peeked out of the blanket, seeing your loving commando stirring a bit, groggily rubbing at an eye but still mostly asleep. You called to him softly then returned back below.

Your hands trailed up from his knees, delicately over his thighs and gripped softly there. Steadying yourself in your position. His body had been left bare from your adventures last night within these very same sheets.

Hidden from the slivers of sunlight by the blankets, your lips scrawled soft kisses up the inside of his left thigh. You delighted in his soft murmur and how his legs parted just a little more for you. Smiling softly, you let out a soft yawn as your lips travelled across his muscles and before long reached the end of their journey.

Your tongue dragged across the underside of his piece, all the way up until you reach the end of him. There you pressed a chaste kiss to the tip.

"Wreeeeeckerrrr~" You called out in a sing-song tone.

He grumbled in return, waking up at your call

"Time to wake up" you whispered peppering kisses back down his length.

Wrecker panted heavily as he stared down at you, already so riled up and proud from your attention. His gaze flitted across your form, your state then his brain caught up...

You could, not only hear, but feel his breath coming out in small pants as you continued lavishing him in kisses and licks.

Suddenly the blankets tore away and you shied away at the light now beaming into your face.

"Cyar'ika" he chuckled between pants "What are you hiding under the blankets for?"

You peeked back up at him and followed his single finger gesture to come closer. Abandoning your blissful victim and leaning over his torso, you pressed a kiss to his lips.

"Good morning" You whispered cheekily as his arms enveloped you

"'d mornin' to you too" he mumbled with a gentle smile "Still worked up?"

You hummed and shrugged softly

"Re-worked up..." you trailed a hand down his chest "How do you expect to keep to myself when you're right here next to me...?"

His body rumbled with a barely contained laugh that definitely would have woken up his brothers. Grin on his face, and a glimmer to his eyes, Wrecker pulled you in for another kiss.

"Well since you're all dressed for the occassion..." his breath fanned across your lips as he spoke.

Large hands trailed down your back, across your sides and settled low upon your body - one on your hip, while the other on your bare bottom.

You whined softly as his lips glided across your skin, leaving open mouthed searing kisses in a trail from your lips to your neck. His touch ellicitating more heat to pool in the pit of your being where it was already a ablaze and threatening to overcome you.

"I want to take care of you" You urged softly, already feeling yourself losing your will to deny what height his sinful touch always brought you to.

Wrecker's chest rumbled softly, voice tickling your skin as he sucked a dark hickey upon that devastating location that he knew would turn you to goo.

"Alright..." came the panted reply as he pulled back.

"Sorry" he mumbled as his lips covered your own, stealing what was left of the breath on your lips. Pulling a moan deep from your throat.

His strong hands moved across your form and held out to you. An offer to help you get settled upon his lap. And you quickly accepted with your own shakey hands. His grip was secure as you straddled his hips formally and began to settle.

But just as you began to sink, his leg moved, sweeping your left leg out and prying you further open. Your body quickly followed and you took him in in an easy, but breath-stealing, slide.

And that...is where your ride began. Where your absolutely sinfully, delicious morning morphed into a passionate early afternoon.

Dividers by @benkeibear

[weregonnabecoolbeans]

Every week I lose track of time and then Tuesday rolls around and I get the unexpected surprise of remembering that a new bad batch episode is tomorrow!!

[reader6898]

🎶 guess who's back. Back again🎶

🎶 daddy's home. Home for me🎶

[morethansky]

As promised, my thoughts on Tech's fate.

If you think they changed their minds about revealing Tech to be alive, you might not want to read this. I'm not trying to debate or dissuade anyone; this is just my personal take.

Also, please be forewarned that this is quite Hunter critical. I love to write the man, but god, he’s so bad for my blood pressure.

This is still such a hard thing for me to talk about. To be honest, I ducked out of the TBB fandom between the time when i finished “i keep what i can of you” and S3 started because it felt like I couldn’t say what I thought without either hurting the people who thought Tech was dead and were traumatized or inciting the wrath of those believed he was alive, some of whom got so haughty and/or oddly hostile whenever any other possibilities were stated in their vicinity. It seems that after I left, the opposite started happening too? The hellish fandom ouroboros.

Anyway, so here are my unfiltered thoughts, because I might explode if I don't write them down. After I watched “Plan 99,” I thought Tech was dead, and I was extremely traumatized and hysterical about it. I remember that night I couldn’t sleep, and I stayed up till morning trying to process the sense of betrayal I felt and figure out what to do with the sweet little WIP I had been working on, which was about Tech and Wrecker facing the concept of death for the first time. (I have now rewritten it to be much darker but for Tech to live, and as CX-2, so I hope that proves I mean well with this post.)

Because it’s me and it’s media, I was not only traumatized but also furious. To be frank, I’m not usually this deeply affected by character deaths. I have written a lot of major character death fics and grief/mourning is a component of like 60 percent of my writing. In fact, when character deaths are done well, I think they’re fantastic. The worthy, well-done ones can make the characters shine even more brightly.

That is not the case here. Tech dies for literally nothing. The protagonists don’t achieve anything at all from it besides returning to square one, less a member. They don’t find the coordinates to Tantiss. They don’t find anything about who Hemlock is or what the Advanced Science Division does. They don’t overhear any vital intel from the meeting with all the Imperial bigwigs. They don’t gain any insight from Saw. They don’t even find out whether Crosshair was actually in captivity and whether his saying Plan 88 was him laying a trap for them or not.

And that is some of the worst messaging I’ve ever seen in a Y-7 American action cartoon. And believe me, I’ve watched a lot of them.

Allow me to beat the dead horse one last time. Finally, after two entire seasons of the show, a member of the main cast is like, “Hey, remember how Crosshair used to be one of us? Even if he kind of sucks, shouldn’t we help him? He did just try to warn us.” And I was ECSTATIC. Didn’t expect the autistic character to be the one to be like, no, fuck you, we should do the right thing no matter the risk (autistic characters are so often morally gray and it’s so frustrating), but I loved it so much! That’s me!!

…And then he literally dies because he wanted to do the right thing. Hunter, the character who does not want to help people, who rejects the idea of going to Eriadu and has to be convinced otherwise, IS PROVEN CORRECT. What the ever-loving fuck is that messaging? That’s right, kids—if you selflessly try to help other people, you’ll be killed. So maybe don’t bother, actually. And this show just underlines that message over and over again! The only people who matter are those you consider family. Everyone else can rot. In fact, people who are willing to risk their lives to help people are foolish and idealistic. The things Hunter says to Echo are repeatedly so fucked up ("When will it be enough?" Dude wtf???), and it's nuts that the show doesn't offer Hunter's narrow-minded perspective as a contrast to Echo's determination to do the right thing—it offers Echo as a contrast to Hunter's motivations to retire (which we understand because when the two of them split up, we follow Hunter instead of Echo—and not even in addition to Echo! He only shows up again because he's visiting Hunter's story!).

That’s straight-up American conservative ideology. I will never not be pissed at them for making the fucking deuteragonist—and a clone character at that—like that. And in Star Wars! The franchise that is overwhelmingly and consistently about fighting fascists! Made by the company founded and based in the Bay Area, the most progressive region of the country!!!

To be frank, I almost turned the TV off right then. But I thought, okay…a horrible way to get to it, but…maybe now is the moment? Maybe now they’ll finally join Echo and Rex, and be super determined to find Tantiss and Crosshair and the many other clones whose designations were on the roster—to complete the mission that Tech so passionately insisted on before he sacrificed himself.

BUT NO! Hunter immediately pressures Omega into going to Pabu. And why wouldn’t he? The narrative proved him right! By trying to do the right thing, Tech died. So we’ll just go back to ignoring the suffering of countless beings across the galaxy, including our own kind. Millions of straight-up metaphorical versions of us. Cool.

And then Omega gets captured. So because Tech wants to do the right thing, he dies, and because Omega agrees with him, she gets taken away. And then suddenly Hunter puts away Pabu entirely and becomes super gung-ho about finding her. Which is just…why did they write him like this. Why did they even have the conversation about Pabu?? Leaving it out would have made Hunter's motivations flow so much better. Because by introducing that, they invite the crucial question: Why was that what it took for him to stop running but losing Crosshair and Tech didn’t??? Because he only cares about this one child's well-being and it's his single motivation as a character???

A contingent of Crosshair fans have seemed to vocally dislike Hunter from the start because he left Crosshair, and I’m like no, you don’t understand. It’s not about the character, it’s about the writing. In some cases, it does end up being the character rather than the writing, and you can usually tell because the writing condemns that in the character. Not here though! Hunter's decisions throughout the show are celebrated by it. And Hunter gets his way, as we see now with them retiring on Pabu and ignoring the fight even as "the Rebellion needs pilots now more than ever." Thank god the finale at least posited that Echo was also right, which is kind of like the bare minimum they could've done in that regard.

So Tech’s death hit me particularly hard because it felt like just a waste of two entire episodes, a waste of an enjoyable character they had just given some really poignant depth, and a waste of the chance to give Hunter the character development I was desperate for—and also like a betrayal, a slap in the face, because it was like the show was saying that heroes are stupid, that Tech was foolish for wanting to do the right thing. Which is nuts given the rest of the SW animated oeuvre. And is fucking hurtful. And bad for kids.

So when the theories about Tech’s survival started floating around that night, I thought, okay, yeah, maybe this was such a stupid death and waste of screen time because it’s to set up something really cool. I could get behind that, even if the entire setup would still be faulty and honestly kind of repulsive to me.

I engulfed everyone’s theories in those weeks I spent mourning, desperate to be convinced—but as much as I wanted to believe there was a plan at work, I just couldn’t buy it 100 percent because…would the people who wrote this awful arc, and who made all the oddest choices possible at any given time throughout both seasons thus far, really intend to set up and execute something so well thought out and complex?

Of course not. People kept being like, “We have to trust the writers. They have a grand plan. They wouldn’t just throw away Tech. It would be ableist, and that’s why he’s not dead.” Like??? The show was already ableist! One of the main characters is disabled and his being disabled is specifically relevant to why he’s even in this squad and in this show—and it’s never remotely discussed! The closest is the most oblique reference ever to how Echo doesn't like to be alone. That's it. Just because they actually managed to write this wonderful moment about Tech being autistic doesn’t mean their track record was suddenly irrelevant! Killing off their neurodivergent character is exactly the kind of ableist shit they would do! And see now: Crosshair's hand. Also Echo suddenly having a hand after not having one for so long and it being completely untouched upon. It's par for the course!

So the Tech Lives theories all hinged on the writing being really clever, but I just. Already hated so much of the writing, and it felt way more likely that they were just continuing to be bad writers and continuing to go with the poorer plot choice option every single time they had the opportunity to go a direction that would be thought provoking and emotionally affecting.

I felt very much and very sadly proven right when the season started, and we got no mention of Tech being dead until the FIFTH episode. The Batch never talked about Crosshair and why he tried to kill them, so I guess why would they talk about Tech dying, sigh. And it was so bizarre how people were arguing that Omega and Crosshair's little exchange about Tech was super touching and gave us everything we needed. It absolutely did not! The fact that we couldn't agree on whether Crosshair even knew tells you everything you need to know about the wacky writing choices! Why was it so vague?? They literally could have added one word:

Crosshair: Did they teach you plan 72? Omega: Mm-hmm. Tech had me memorize all the plans, before... Crosshair: Of course he did.

On that note, I began to feel uneasy about the fandom again, because it started feeling like an echo chamber, and I was worried everyone was getting too hyped about something that might not happen, and even if it did, might end up being some kind of poorly done fanservice. I started seeing a lot of defensive posts being like, “Well, the reason they’re not mentioning Tech is because he’s not dead, and you’re an idiot, unlike me, if you’re falling for their sneaky tricks.”

Like??? The prevalence of ride-or-die sentiments like that started making me feel like I was losing my grip on reality and watching a completely different show from everyone else. Wouldn’t the dramatic effect of Tech being alive be strengthened by the characters all mourning him, thus making us mourn him, thus making the plot twist that he’s alive even more effective?? Wouldn't the characters being shown to be affected by his death instead of just ignoring it be the most promising sign of his impending return?

To me, the characters not mourning Tech meant that the writers had put him aside and moved on (which is, again, terrible writing because it doesn’t give the viewers the space to grieve and then move on, and it makes the characters feel terribly heartless, which, well. At least they were consistent). And that blasé moving on made the possibility of him being dead WAY more likely to me. Of course they would kill their neurodivergent character and then just all but pretend it didn't happen. Of course they would act as if he had just been a convenient plot device! Of course they would only bring him up and act like they missed him when he wasn't there to miraculously do the characters' work for them and the writers' work for them! Fuck that so hard.

So then “Infiltration” and “Extraction” were a big surprise! I was like, oh, huh, guess I was totally wrong and they’re really doing it, wow. Okay, let’s see if they can actually pull it off. I liked the writing a lot better this season, so it felt more plausible that they were finally getting down to business. The fact that the clues felt so heavy handed was kind of weird to me, and I complained a lot about there not being red herrings, but I love a good Came Back Wrong story, so I was willing to believe I had been too pessimistic and cynical, as I often am.

After “Bad Territory” and “The Harbinger,” however, I started doubting it again. Fitting both this M-count mystery that had already taken up so much screen time plus a Tech Lives mystery just felt like a lot of ground to cover, and this was the show that couldn’t even seem to fit more than five seconds of the main characters being sad about the death of their squad mate. Did they really have what it would take to pace it?

Of course not!!!

After “Point of No Return,” I started to feel like if they did bring Tech back, it would be at the cost of it being done poorly. And to me, for his purported death AND his resurrection to be badly written would be way worse than just the former. And the draw of the whole Winter Soldier deal is the fallout; the guilt and doubt the characters harbor; the way they have to reckon with the fact that even if their loved one is back, they will never be the same again, because they did die in a way—and the less time allotted after a reveal like that, the fewer of those key things there would be, which would just make it feel so tacked on for cheap shock value and social media chatter. Especially because there had been so little buildup to such a thing at the beginning of the season. These writers' abilities are just not remotely close to Ed Brubaker's, y'all.

Then Rampart being introduced afterward felt like the death knell (oop) because it was a new plot thread they would need to wrap up by the end. But the Clone X thread was still dangling, so I felt like it wasn’t out of the question. But I guess after my complaints about the Tech connections being too obvious and there needing to be more red herrings, it turned out that the Tech connections themselves were the red herrings.

Although I feel like that's probably even giving the writers too much credit. I don't know if I really believe they were trying to mislead us. I feel like they just clumsily ended up doing things that coincided with the Tech Lives theories. Like I honestly wouldn't be surprised if when they used "domicile" it was completely without realizing they had previously had Tech say it and that this would lead to the viewers drawing an erroneous conclusion. They probably just wanted CX-2 to say something fancy and mysterious tbh, and the same words tend to float in writers' minds. Rip us.

I guess now I understand what I could never work out—if CX-2 was Tech, then why did he so specifically use rifles like Crosshair does and so proficiently, i.e. specifically better than Crosshair did? Why wouldn't he dual wield hand blasters?

Also, although I was in some ways relieved that at least they didn't write a bad resurrection for Tech, and there's absolutely no way it wouldn't have been shit if it'd just been shoved anywhere in the last three episodes, all this is not to say the Clone X concept didn't end up being super hamfisted as well. Just the fact that there are other Clone X types with different weapons and uniforms makes the concept even more confusing. Clearly these guys were meant to mirror the Batch, but then why did all the ones we encountered before CX-2 wear the same uniform as him?? Did they sort the clones into categories of which Clone X they would be? It would actually be cool if the point was to sow fear in the galaxy because it would seem like the person in the CX-2 suit was undefeatable, especially because they were completely covered and their build would be the same every time. But that would be too cool and coherent for this show, sigh.

Also, was Hemlock project managing them, or was Scorch? Neither really makes sense, but who was sending them after Rex's rebel cell? Was there a military higher-up giving the Advanced Science Division that directive? Why did CX-2 and the one that Rex's cell captured hate Crosshair so much? Why the fuck did CX-2 cut off his hand???

Anyway. I could go on forever, but I think at the end of the day, we all read too much into it because we are just collectively better writers than the writers are tbh. Sadly, a classic fandom experience. I guess what ultimately saved me the most from heartbreak and allowed me to earnestly enjoy the finale was that I had already spent a year believing Tech had died and suffered through my grief (by, you guessed it, writing a grief/mourning fic), and I just couldn’t shake the feeling that there was no way these writers could pull off something so emotional and complex. I swear I didn’t actually want to be right!

I think if nothing else, one thing we can all agree on is that Tech surviving could’ve been one kickass story, and it was a hell of a missed opportunity.

[nahoney22]

A lot of things tugged on my heart with the premiere but this? This was the dealbreaker for me.

[swbbb6]

I am so mad at Disney for ending tbb. There is still so much that needs to happen/be resolved, and I just don’t see how they can possibly squeeze it all into the next 3 episodes 😭

[foursidecity]

Tbb season 3 finale leak: tech comes back everyone's alive and they all lived happily ever after the end

[voidartisan]

okay. here we go, finale time

[skygirlstars]

I’m going to try to stay off social media once the TBB finale drops until I can watch it (probably Wednesday evening) to avoid spoilers. not ready for this show to be over. godspeed, Bad Batch fans. see you on the other side 🫡