Hey!! Not Too Sure If You're Doing Requests Still, But If You Are! @wwheeljack And I Were Talking About

Hey!! Not too sure if you're doing requests still, but if you are! @wwheeljack and I were talking about how after the Batch saves a small village, they end up staying there for a few days while they refuel/wait for their next mission. Anyway, a group of kids from the village decide that Crosshair is the coolest person ever, and they end up following him around and trying to be just like him. Crosshair absolutely loves it, but he can't let anyone know, of course. Tech, meanwhile, finds the entire situation absolutely hilarous.

So!! Request! (If they're still open, ofc. If not, I totally understand!) I would love to see Crosshair with a bunch of kids copying him while Tech is watching, amused.

This is such a freaking cute idea. Sorry I didn’t add a background.

But seriously, this idea made my heart melt. I believe every clone has the Jango Dad gene, and I will always be here for it.

Bonus

Okay I’ve FINALLY caught up on the Bad Batch and here’s my character analysis of Crosshair

TLDR: Crosshair has stayed with the Empire largely out of a need for familiarity and the safety it brings, and because he’s never really had to think about his actions before.

Okay SO. Let’s start with Cody’s briefing before they touch down for the mission. Crosshair pipes up twice with things to the effect of “this job will be easy.”

Typical Crosshair confidence, but what got me was that he seemed so excited about it. I thought he didn’t like the regs, why is he turning to address the rest of the squad with these comments, instead of just talking to Cody?

This moment is even further highlighted when you compare it to his ride into Saw Gerrera’s camp with the initial recruited special ops team. It’s deadly silent. And Crosshair isn’t the one to initiate conversation, only responding. He definitely does not have the same excited energy as he does in Cody’s debriefing.

As the episode continues, I remember thinking “it’s so nice to see Crosshair in his element, he’s actually enjoying himself for once.” I had to pause and think about that one. What was it that made this experience so enjoyable?

His brothers.

An obvious connection in retrospect, but one that took some time regardless.

This is the first time since the rest of CF99 left that Crosshair has worked with his brothers on the Empire’s behalf. And they’re just as fluid as any other team Crosshair has been a part of. Not only does he have this bond with Cody, but he is able to form bonds and trust with other regs on the team. The little nod between him and the one reg before the reg throws a bomb at a B1, and Crosshair immediately shoots the B1 so it falls into the Droideka and the bomb destroys it? Wordless communication. It’s the brotherhood Crosshair has been absolutely craving this whole time.

This is the reason Crosshair has stayed with the Empire. He genuinely cannot imagine a reality where he isn’t a soldier, working alongside his brothers. It’s not even an option for him.

It’s all he’s ever known, it’s what his whole identity and understanding of the world is built around. He uses the language the chip gave him, “Good soldiers follow orders,” but really all he’s saying is “I am a soldier. This is a military. This is it for me,”

Crosshair cannot imagine himself in another life, serving any other purpose. Even if it’s one that’s similar to what he’s already doing, just not for a big military force. This comes out in his conversation with Hunter at the end of season one. He tells Hunter and the rest of the Bad Batch that they can rejoin and have purpose again. And Hunter says “you don’t really know what we’re about, do you?”

Hunter and the rest of the gang are able to think about life beyond the Kaminoan “you are a solider” brainwashing. Crosshair either can’t or isn’t allowing himself to.

Why exactly? That I’m unsure. Perhaps his chip was never removed, just it’s effects reduced. Or maybe change is so scary that he’s deluding himself into thinking that the Empire isn’t so bad, really, no worse than the Republic, right? Or maybe Crosshair is desperate for community, and this is the only way he knows how to get it because being a solider from birth messes you up. Or maybe he feels like he has something to prove because of his past with the Regs. Or perhaps he’s so attached to the idea that he is a cold, calculating person, that any admittance of emotion feels like weakness, and defecting because you can’t stomach the atrocities the Empire is committing feels too close to that kind of vulnerability. Or maybe it’s all of them at once.

This is why Cody becomes so important for Crosshair. Cody, who deliberately went out of his way to see Crosshair again. Cody, who is the only reg left that Crosshair feels any true brotherhood with. Cody, who Crosshair saves from death. Cody, who returns the favor and saves Crosshair. Cody defects.

Cody defects directly after their mission. Where Cody was trying to do the right thing. Trying to resolve the situation peacefully. Cody never wanted to be an oppressor.

Crosshair follows orders, and assassinates the governor. He puts the last nail in the coffin for this planet, removed all chances for Cody to have made good on his promise. And he seems to not care at all.

Before Cody defects, he reaches out to Crosshair again. This time, to try to save Crosshair’s soul. And Cody says something to Crosshair that he has never even considered before. That there is a personal guilt that comes from following orders you never agreed with.

The framing of the episode the Solitary Clone, of starting and ending the episode with Crosshair’s daily routine between missions is cool for many reasons. One is is that it shows us just how detached Crosshair (and the rest of the soldiers) are from their actions.

As part of a special ops team, Crosshair goes in, does his job, follows order, leaves. And everything turns out fine. He never really sees what happens afterwards to the communities he’s impacted. And certainly having sympathy for the planets you’re raiding wasn’t something the Kaminoan’s taught. That combined with that fact that most of the time he’s shooting at droids, Crosshair’s view in what war is is totally skewed. He’s still operating as if the people he’s shooting down aren’t people, just droids, who’s destruction doesn’t bring any suffering to anybody.

Cody is the only other clone who explains to him in ANY WAY. That it’s more that that. That it all means so much more than that. And that Crosshair SHOULD feel guilty for what he’s done in the name of the Empire. Cody does.

Cody feels so strongly that he defects. Cody, the perfect solider. Cody, the only friend Crosshair had left in the whole army.

Crosshair is at the beginning of realizing that familiarity and sense of safety and validation he gets from staying is at a great cost. In the coming episodes we’re going to watch as he decides whether or not that cost is too great. As more and more of the community he was staying for slips away as clones die, defect, or get tossed aside.

Observe this rare trading card I got for $1.57!

We stan Jaster Mereel, Mandalore the Reformer on this blog. We also ignore great swathes of canon around here!

Now! Even though Jaster is now only canon in Boba's chain code and listed as mentor, I wish to direct your attention to the back of this card.

"He also raises an orphaned farmer's son, Jango Fett, as his own." AS. HIS. OWN.

I don't know what that means to you, but my dude, that reads as Jaster raised Jango as his own son. Jaster was his father.

So! Fanfic writers, while we all chose to write differently and all sorts of different plots, let others have their headcanons in peace. Educating people about actually harmful words is good.

But Jas'buir used to be canon and I'm sticking to it! Also most of us write Jaster a lot softer than he is in canon and yanno? I like it. I do enjoy giving him more ruthless moments though, usually against his enemies.

(Disclaimer: I hate the whitewashing and kriffed up faces in the Open Seasons comics. All Fetts are round-featured and darker skinned in my fics. I even got the Bad Batch their melanin back, since I was pressured into adding them to my fic.)

[Image Descriptions]

Top picture - A trading card of Jaster Mereel from Star Wars Legends in a plastic sleeve encased in a thicker protective plastic sleeve. It's got a picture of Jaster from the Open Seasons comic firing at someone in the field at the Fett Homestead where Death Watch had chased the True Mandalorians to. Cut out at the right edge is his left hand holding onto a terrified Jango's arm. You can barely see the arm and some hair. Captioned: Jaster Mereel, with Mandalorian underneath it.

Bottom picture - Jaster's stats, which are all really high except for Force Power. The bio reads (and I'm going to fix the mispellings tyvm)

"Born on the Outer Rim world of Concord Dawn, Jaster Mereel is a law enforcer who staunchly believes in justice and fair play. Accomplished as a soldier, he goes on to become the leader of all Mandalorian clans, reforming the volatile thieves into honorable mercenaries. Mereel is opposed by the splinter group Death Watch and its leader Tor Vizsla. He also raises an orphaned farmer's son, Jango Fett, as his own. In 52 BBY, Jaster Mereel is betrayed by second-in-commant Montross and slain by rival Vizsla."

this was me the entirety of the prequels,, Palpatine would say something or anakin would do something and i'd just 🧍‍♀️😃✌

dramatic irony enjoyers when they know something the characters dont

“There’s goodness in the heart of every broken man who comes right up to the edge of losing everything he had.”