Star Wars The Bad Batch - Blog Posts

Rewatching The Bad Batch for the millionth time. It never gets old.

Just a simple Bad Batch fanfiction.

This is how I imagine Crosshair will react when Omega tells him about Tech.

Title: It's Okay To Cry

Word count: 854

It was dark and it was cold. His fingers felt numb, as did his heart, which beat listlessly inside of his emaciated chest. He felt a warm hand on his cheek, and then heard a familiar voice:

“Crosshair… Crosshair, wake up… I need you.”

He groaned. How long had he been in this terrible place? It was difficult to say, but he had a ready answer in his head: too long.

The voice persisted.

“Crosshair… please.”

His eyes flickered. A familiar face swam into view, creased with pain and grief and hopelessness. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came. His throat felt dry.

“Crosshair, you're awake.”

He sat up. He was in that kriffing cell again. Omega stood over him. He saw tear tracks on her face and knew she'd been crying. “So they caught you. I warned you to stay away… why… why didn't you listen?” he asked. His disappointment was immeasurable. Why couldn't his brothers and sister just follow orders? Why was it so difficult for them?

Omega touched his shoulder. “Because we’re family. We don't leave our own behind.”

His eyes got a little misty. He looked quickly away, afraid she would see how moved he was by her words. He had to maintain a stern front lest she glimpse the now fractured soul within him.

“We have to get out of here,” she said, grabbing his hand and tugging on it.

“I'm too weak,” he protested. The very thought of attempting an escape seemed to sap him of what little strength he had left. He didn't think he could make it. Worse, he didn't think he'd be able to protect Omega. “How long have you been here?” he asked.

“That doesn't matter,” she answered, taking a seat next to him. “What matters is that we’re together now. I can save you.”

Crosshair passed a hand over his eyes. Even after all he'd done, she was still willing to save him. He didn't understand it. Glancing over at her, he smiled a little, weary and doubtful though he was. He no longer felt alone, no longer felt as though the weight of the world balanced heavily on his shoulders. He decided then and there that he would help Omega escape Mount Tantiss, damn the risks. She didn't deserve to be trapped in this terrible, forsaken place.

“You're right, you know. We must get out of here,” he said.

“But how?” she asked.

Crosshair rested his chin on the palm of his hand. He had a lot of planning to do. He closed his eyes and began to bounce his knee, wracking his brain for ideas. He had a duty to protect Omega at all costs. He would lay down his life for her, if need be. “We wait for the opportune moment,” he told her calmly. He knew it would come. A little dose of patience was all that was needed.

Omega plopped down next to him with an audible huff which ended in a wince. She had cuts and bruises all over her face and she was limping. He wondered about her injuries, but only briefly; his mind was soon filled with their future escape attempt and he could think of nothing else but leaving this place far behind.

Omega tentatively rested her head against his arm. He didn't know how to respond to that and so he simply settled a hand on her knee and gave it a little squeeze.

“I will get you out of here,” he vowed softly.

“I know,” she murmured, sounding exhausted. “I know…”

“If Tech were here,” he muttered more to himself than to Omega, “he would know what to do.”

Omega dropped her gaze and her lip wobbled, something that wasn't missed by Crosshair. His heart gave a painful lurch. He turned to her and, kneeling down, took her shoulders between his hands. He saw pain in her expression. Something had happened.

“Crosshair, Tech… Tech’s gone,” Omega whispered, lifting her head and meeting his gaze. Her eyes were full of pain.

“Gone? What do you mean?”

“He…. Plan 99.”

All at once, Crosshair was hit with a multitude of emotions. He knew a pain so fierce and powerful, he had to sit down. He didn't want to believe it. Tech… the brother he loved most. The brother who understood him.

Tears stung his eyes and he quickly dashed a hand across his face before Omega could see. It was no use. She saw anyway. She sat next to him and took his hand, administering a gentle, comforting squeeze.

“It's okay to cry,” she told him in a voice trembling with grief.

Crosshair put his head in his hands and wept. He didn't hold back. Regret tormented him. Regret that he had chosen the Empire over his brothers. Had he been there when it happened… perhaps he could have saved Tech.

“He sacrificed himself for us,” Omega said softly. “We can't let that be in vain.”

Crosshair turned to her and nodded. No, they couldn't. They would escape Mount Tantiss. He would make sure of it.

I hope Crosshair grows his hair back in S3. I miss his hair.

“The Good Soldier”

This digital artwork of Crosshair is the newest edition to the Bad Batch fan art I’ve been working on.

I hope we see this tortured man find peace in S3. He certainly deserves it.

What if we never get to see the five of them together again?

After TBB panel today, a little bit of hope died in me that Tech might still be alive. But with S3 being the last one, I can’t stand the thought of not getting to see the whole squad back together again. As far as I’m concerned, no ending will be acceptable except for an ending in which they are all present and alive. And final season or not, without Tech there is no show.

Once again The Bad Batch is getting pushed aside in favor of all of the other SW shows Disney is mass-producing. Season 2 originally had a 2022 release, several of them actually. But it just kept getting pushed further and further until finally it ended up coming out in 2023. It’s my firm belief it got delayed like that because of the many other major SW series that were released last year.

The result: Had we gotten S2 last year when it was promised to us, S3 would have been coming out this year, not 2024. I couldn’t possibly be content with a 2024 release date when we should have been getting the 3rd season this year. It’s honestly an outrage, especially since I’m sure the production is already complete.

After how long we had to wait for S2, I don’t feel like it was asking too much to have gotten S3 earlier.

And to add insult to injury, we don’t even know if it’s coming out in January or if we have to wait further into next year. The very least they could have done was given us an actual release date.

YOU GUYS.

HEAR ME OUT.

WAIT- WAIT-

WAIT-

YOU READY???

Crosshair x Reader x Sev ……….

Tech either is painfully oblivious to being flirted with. Or either knows and over thinks his responses. Tell me I’m wrong.

For fun, like always)

Three days of drawing with gouache and I'd finally understood it's not my favorite material for making art. (But I still like how other artists works with gouache colors.) Anyway it was good experience.

I'm watching The bad batch for the first time and absolutely loving it.

Taking fast sketches while watching it.

I distinctly remember the first time I watched "Spoils of War/Ruins of War" (the day the episodes aired) and we got to this scene:

... and my first thought literally was a surprised "Huh, wonder why they focused on Tech here. I'd have thought they'd linger on Romar. 🤔🤷‍♀️" It just seemed like such an odd choice at the time.

Fast forward to now, post-"Plan 99," and this scene is one of the top reasons why I firmly believe the writers always intended to bring Tech back (even if they didn't end up doing so in this show).

I mean, really, why else would the directors/writers make the conscious decision to have Romar matter-of-factly talk about survival and then keep the focus on Tech here, instead of Romar?? It's not like, in-universe, Tech needed to learn that he's also a survivor like Romar - Tech is already self-confident enough to know that about himself already; and if the point of the scene is that Tech has discovered more common ground with Romar, that just reiterates that Tech already knows he's a survivor. So obviously the message was for us as the audience. The fact that this comes after two episodes of the show proving beyond any doubt that Tech is a WARRIOR, not "just" the brains of the team, and has him fight through and survive insane situations while injured, hammers home the link for us between "Tech" and "surviving."

But what about "subversion of expectations," you may ask? What if the point of this scene (not to mention the events of "Faster" and "The Crossing," just to name a few others) was to build up the expectation that Tech IS indeed a survivor against all odds, all for the sake of highlighting the bitter irony that Tech is the one who ultimately doesn't survive?

To that I say: "subversion of expectations" really only works well if the expectation is proven completely wrong. So long as there is any room for doubt as to a given outcome, the subversion can't stick. If the writers intended for the "survivor" angle to ultimately just be a misdirect and a cruel irony, they needed to follow through and prove well beyond ANY reasonable doubt that Tech actually died. (That means things like a body or a reliable witness (not a villain with ulterior motives); not to mention things like not having even the villain "witness" be deliberately vague about the issue, and not using the supposedly dead character as one potential red herring for the identity of a new unknown character.) And since the writers very much did NOT take the time to irrefutably confirm Tech's death, I cannot read the above scene as subversive foreshadowing. Rather, I still read it as a major hint that the writers wanted Tech to survive - or, bare minimum, wanted to leave the potential open for his return.

So, whenever I need a bit of hope that Tech is still alive out there somewhere, I just revisit this scene and remember that Tech, too, is a survivor ❤️❤️❤️

Follow up on this: Tech, Hunter, Crosshair, and Echo frequently mention making calls to “tech support” on Kamino, and Wrecker definitely believes that they’re referring to some kind of therapist for Tech. The others would correct him, except he’s always super nice to Tech when he hears about them making a call so they just kinda let it be haha

This thought came to me at work today, but what if at one point the Marauder kept having issues with its navigation system or something?? And Hunter kept filing reports for it, but since he’s kinda lazy when it comes to reporting he just writes “tech issues” and hits submit

And then one day he gets a call from Cody, and Cody is like, “hey, uh…is Tech okay??” And Hunter’s like, what do you mean. And then Cody produces three months’ worth of reports that say “tech issues” and goes, “Well, apparently, he’s having problems…”

Crosshair never lets him live it down

Omega: I went boating with Lyana today and we saw a sea turtle!

Echo: nice! Reminds me of this mission I did as an ARC trooper on this water planet. Fives and I found this turtle and we swam after it. But as we were swimming it got speared by these locals that took us captive. Turns out they were cannibals. Tied us to a spit and put us over the fire to roast. Comms were out and we were miles from camp so I thought we were gonners. Fives got us out by convincing the locals that we would be tastier if they fattened us up first. Then we snuck laxatives into all their food and used the window to escape back to camp. Made it back in time for the start of a battle against the separatists. Ha, good times.

Omega:

Hunter:

Wrecker:

Tech:

Echo: pass the peas, please.

Echo would 1000% drop the craziest lore in the middle of dinner with the batch and then just ask them to pass the peas and continue on like nothing happened, meanwhile the batch is like “you did what????”

So... It's pretty much unspoken fact that Tech and Hunter came up with basically ALL the team plans, right?

Like, Tech came up with at least 70% of them, Hunter came up with 25%, Crosshair (and, to a lesser extent, Wrecker) had a few unique ideas but mostly provided input/suggestions to improve the others.

Wrecker gets full credit for the one plan that simply calls for "blow it all up." His brothers made it an official numbered plan just to appease him but actually did use that plan on 4 separate occasions.

😭😭 too soon, OP, too soon. But so truuuuuee

Tech knew Crosshair had changed.

He knew the moment he found "CT-9904" included on the list of clone prisoners.

He already knew, but his theory was confirmed when he discovered that Crosshair had sent the squad a warning message.

Tech might not have known the details, but he knew that Crosshair had changed not only enough to draw the wrath of the Empire down on him, but enough to actually reach out to his family - the family he had walked away from - in an effort to warn them.

Crosshair's nature may still be "severe and unyielding," but his priorities had changed and he now was bending those traits toward different goals (like protecting his family at all costs and not yielding to torture).

Tech may not have seen firsthand how much Crosshair had changed, but he knew that he had.

And since his brother had changed enough to somehow defy the Empire and then reach out to the family, maybe his brother would come home.

One of my few disappointments about Bad Batch season 3 when first watching it was how Tech's death and the aftermath is handled - namely, that his death doesn't seem to really have much impact on his family (besides creating some inconvenience when it comes to decryption). I couldn't help but think that if the season had included even just one moment of the squad (more specifically the brothers, not just Omega) actually honoring Tech, it would have not only helped drive home once and for all how important Tech was to them, but also provided some desperately needed closure and catharsis for this clone family that had already suffered so much (and, incidentally, provided some closure for the audience, too). This is especially important considering that the Batch's actions in season 3, especially at the beginning, are likely informed by Omega's capture as much as by Tech's death - and while Omega's rescue should be of utmost importance, it ends up seeming to sideline Tech's sacrifice in the narrative.

After rewatching, my view has shifted slightly, though I still firmly believe the show should have included at least one scene - even if it was at the end of the finale - of the brothers acknowledging Tech's influence and honoring him.

- Echo's story is the least impacted by Tech's death: he wanted to stay in the fight before Tech died, and he did so afterwards. He looks sadly at the empty pilot seat in "Plan 99," and he name drops Tech once in season 3. I can understand Echo having this reaction, though: unlike the other Bad Batch members, he has lost brothers before and therefore likely knows how to adjust more quickly. (You know what would have provided a nice contrast between how Echo and the rest of the squad handles the death? A moment to honor Tech: for example, a scene at any point in season 3 where Echo mentions a memory of him.)

- Hunter's decision to finally retire on Pabu comes before Omega is captured, and therefore must have been determined primarily by the loss of Tech. All through seasons 1 and 2, Hunter's desire to keep his squad and Omega safe eventually evolved to wanting to give Omega a childhood away from fighting and war, but even then he still hedged on settling down permanently on Pabu (see: the discussion between Hunter and Shep in "Turning Point"). It wasn't until after losing Tech that Hunter abruptly made the decision that it was time to stop being soldiers... And given that we never see Hunter actually interact with Tech's goggles in season 3 or mention him by name even once, I'm not convinced Hunter ever really got over the loss of his brother, even as he (very in character for him) focused on more pressing matters by (often recklessly) charging onward to ensure Omega's safety. (You know what would have tied off this plot thread nicely? A moment to honor Tech: for example, a brief scene at the end of the show where Hunter acknowledges that Tech's sacrifice made their life on Pabu possible.)

- Wrecker cries over Tech in the season 2 finale, alludes to him twice and mentions him by name once; and honestly, as little as this is, it is enough to convince me that Wrecker is and always will be grieved by Tech's death but has emotionally processed it and come to terms with it, much like Echo. His development seems to be driven more by being the last man standing between Hunter and a reckless demise, rather than being driven by the loss of Tech specifically, but... nuance. (You know what would have given us a point of comparison regarding how different people process loss in different ways? A moment to honor Tech: for example, maybe Wrecker joins Omega in honoring Tech at the impromptu memorial and insists on his other brothers joining them.)

- Crosshair's redemption in season 3 is largely driven by Omega. Looking back on season 3, I am increasingly convinced that Crosshair felt immense guilt and blamed himself for Tech's death, and therefore he avoided the subject. His "let me go on a suicide mission because I deserve it" speech in the finale only confirms my opinion on this. I guess Crosshair being partially driven by guilt over Tech's loss is one way of showing Tech's impact on his family, but I don't find it a satisfying note to end the show on. (You know what would have concluded this plot point perfectly? ... You already know what I'm going to say.)

Literally…

Crosshair and Omega’s relationship has a different vibe though. Their relationship is less of a “I would die for you because you are my child and I love you” and more of a “I would die for you because you are too good for this world and I am your lowly servant, and if you wanted me to I would fight a war in your name because I love you, now shut up and let me devote my life to you, you little twerp”

Hunter before Omega: alright lads, the odds are -10% that any of us survive this, which means we are in it for a GOOD TIME, in fact, just for kicks, I say we go in with no armor and no guns and just STAB our way through the droid army. If you get shot, don’t forget to take a selfie for the Battle Wound Wall of Fame *does a shot*

Hunter after Omega: okay, so I know we planned to go to on our family picnic today, but I checked the weather and it MIGHT rain later, so I say we avoid the risk altogether and postpone for another day just to be on the safe side. How is everyone doing? Do we have snacks?? Are we warm enough?? Does anybody need a bandaid??? Omega come here, you look like you need a hug—

Does anybody else badly want a TBB novelization or is it just me

Damn, I don't think I've been blue balled harder that I did tonight by Dave Filoni. Like wtf is this shit?! I swear if these 3 fine ass men don't hug each other like the brothers they are by the begining of Episode 5, and if we're lucky maybe a smol Crosshair tear 🥲, then I give up

Father daughter 👨‍👧 Hunter and Omega sad 😭and cute✨MOMENTS✨ by me!

It is so hard to force myself to edit something or come up with ideas for a video when I’m still crying about Crosshair and Tech. The next part of my Tbb editing needs to be the second half of season 2 and I donut know if I’m ready. Every time I rewatch Crosshair and Tech and the rest of the batch or even the other clones on screen I feel like Im torturing myself. I need to know that they are both going to be alright. This is something that I am way too serious about and I’m worried that I might not get what I want in Season 3 of TBB. I have watched clones face many trials and tragedies that have broken my heart to see over and over again. I feel for them yet they are just characters that I watch on tv. I will probably not stop crying about this until Season 3 comes out even if it doesn’t get the ending I want I’m sure it will at least ease my mind. Either way I have to accept the outcome. I haven’t given up on Tech or Crosshair, but I also need to prepare for the worst just like Master Luminara Unduli.

I don't need to explain this masterpiece

Smol Hunter Edit. Enjoy!

I’ve done it, you’re welcome…

In all seriousness I think Crosshair and Wrecker are the most underrated duo. They balance each other perfectly. One being the giddy overly happy and exciting brother. The other being a petulant and dark brother. I could see them being the perfect balance as brothers to Omega and themselves. Wrecker was the first one to say he missed Crosshair even after getting shot by him. Crosshair even knew where to shoot Wrecker in a spot that wouldn't kill him. They have always defended one another while also bickering in the way siblings do. They have always treated each other more like family compared to the rest of the batchers. Sure Hunter takes the role as dad, but I feel like his dad moments will ways take on a more Sargent or older brother role and acts in charge. He also is someone that Omega looks up to as more of a father figure. Someone she aspires to be but is often too overprotective of Omega. Tech's love language is acts. He shows his love for his family through his actions. Not his emotions. Echo is a weird one for me. I'd like to think he takes on an older military mom/brother role, but the only thing he really cares about is Omega's studies and his clone brothers as far as I can see. Omega just loves him a lot because he isn't always around. He has other desires to save his other clone brothers throughout the galaxy and play his part as a soldier. He still cares for Omega's safety but he trusts Hunter to do that as his brother. So I feel like Wrecker and Crosshair are the best balance for Omega.

These two brothers will always look out for eachother 🥺

Smol Crosshair Edit. Hope all of you beautiful people enjoy! 🖤🖤🖤

Hunter and Wrecker on a chaotic adventure!

Hunter : Chow time Echo.

Echo : Can I have a fuck?

Hunter : *stares at Echo weirdly* Uh...what?

Echo : Give me a fuck please?

Hunter : *turns red* uhhhh....now?

Echo : *also turns red* uh eh-I-I mean a fork....will you give me a f-fork?

Hunter : *still blushing* y-yeah.... *slowly hands Echo a fork*