Hot Toys - TMS050 - The Bad Batch - Clone Force 99: Hunter

[Ramatuelle]

Reminds me of Karen Traviss's perspective on the clones and some of the darker side of how the clones were used. Men created to fight and die in war. Arguably a form of slavery. And what does it say about the Jedi that they're willing to lead these men.
Some interesting subject matter around the clones that I don't think has been explored too deeply. Admittedly I haven't watched all of TCW so maybe it has.

As I recall, Traviss leaned leaned heavily into the idea that not only were the clones slave soldiers, they were ACTUAL CHILDREN. In a very real way, they were actual children despite their adult appearances. Which created this weird dichotomy. Clones are extremely smart, and yet their lack of life experience makes many of them kind of naive.

As far as their lifespans? I dont get how the Jedi were all "they're here for a good time, not a long time - haha, er welllll..... " if they're only going to live a short time due to being killed in battle, them why do they need such a brutally short span encoded into them? It is just sheer cruelty!

What makes the Jedi monsters is their ability to look the other way, their creed says that since you shouldnt love anyone, that what happens to any one person is immaterial because prepare to let go of everything you fear to lose and all that nonsense. Were the clones brutally used? Well yeah, but we're all here for a good time not a long time so what difference does it make....? In Traviss' novels Jedi were leaving the Order over this. As they should.

And so the Jedi fell neatly into the trap set for them by Palpatine. Treat your slave army right, take care of them, treat them with respect and they will take care of you. Their general lack of respect for the clones didnt exactly help when order 66 came down.

What incentive do you have to obey orders when your reward for obeying them perfectly is that the Jedi in charge orders you to be stranded planetside because you are five minutes out from the recovery gunship and that Jedi does not want to wait five minutes from you? you're not late. You in fact under the time allotted, that Jedi just does not feel like waiting. NICE! Yes, the Jedi bought and paid for what happened to them.

 

[Ramatuelle]

I've been very tempted to put in an order for Crosshair. If I do that though, I might as well get the others...

DEW IT

 

[SOU7567]

I've been very tempted to put in an order for Crosshair. If I do that though, I might as well get the others...

You know what you need to do.

 

[Brokenhandpuppet]

I want to say I will only pick up hunter. I have Phase 1 Echo, so he is covered and the only other BB crew I love is Wrecker. so maybe I could at most get Hunter and Wrecker.... Just those two, yeah.

 

[Ramatuelle]

Bardan Jusik: K guys I'm leaving the Order. I just can't with all this. This is bull****.

Jedi Order: OK. Seeya.

*Jusik is adopted by Kal Skirata and becomes a full-fledged Mandalorian.... with Force powers intact*

Jedi Order: Wait, a Mandalorian Jedi, u r doing it wrong! OK we take back that decision. Get your shebs back here.

Haha, how about no

 

[RandomHero]

As I recall, Traviss leaned leaned heavily into the idea that not only were the clones slave soldiers, they were ACTUAL CHILDREN. In a very real way, they were actual children despite their adult appearances. Which created this weird dichotomy. Clones are extremely smart, and yet their lack of life experience makes many of them kind of naive.

As far as their lifespans? I dont get how the Jedi were all "they're here for a good time, not a long time - haha, er welllll..... " if they're only going to live a short time due to being killed in battle, them why do they need such a brutally short span encoded into them? It is just sheer cruelty!

What makes the Jedi monsters is their ability to look the other way, their creed says that since you shouldnt love anyone, that what happens to any one person is immaterial because prepare to let go of everything you fear to lose and all that nonsense. Were the clones brutally used? Well yeah, but we're all here for a good time not a long time so what difference does it make....? In Traviss' novels Jedi were leaving the Order over this. As they should.

And so the Jedi fell neatly into the trap set for them by Palpatine. Treat your slave army right, take care of them, treat them with respect and they will take care of you. Their general lack of respect for the clones didnt exactly help when order 66 came down.

What incentive do you have to obey orders when your reward for obeying them perfectly is that the Jedi in charge orders you to be stranded planetside because you are five minutes out from the recovery gunship and that Jedi does not want to wait five minutes from you? you're not late. You in fact under the time allotted, that Jedi just does not feel like waiting. NICE! Yes, the Jedi bought and paid for what happened to them.

Can I ask a question about this though - why do you think the Jedi didn't care enough about the Clones, or that they were here for a good time, not a long time? We saw a few examples of Jedi who absolutely tried to protect their Clone Troopers. Obviously, there's the famous "we're meant to be expendable/not to me" exchange between Wolffe and Plo Koon, and we saw Ahsoka literally refuse to kill Jesse and his soldiers on the venator during Order 66. But we also saw Anakin, Obi-Wan and Shaak Ti go all out to defend their clones. I believe even Yoda was sympathetic to them.

I know there are obviously plenty of examples of the Clones being more nothing but canon fodder - Pong Krell immediately comes to mind but we know Ki-Adi-Mundi and Mace Windu certainly didn't go out of their way to protect the clones either. So why the sentiment of the Jedi didn't care about them?

It's an honest question, not calling you out.

 

[Ramatuelle]

There are exceptions for any rule. Certainly a few Jedi cared about the men under their command. But overall, as a whole, no. Those men were absolutely seen as expendable. they were not in fact, even seen as men! Just clones.

Yoda was superficially sympathetic to everybody, but when it came down to it everyone was expendable. I'm holding him somewhat less accountable, due to his extreme age and the fact that his species would be so far removed from the human experience - what would one such as he know of human values? Why would he care? to the contrary, be ready to lose everything you hold dear. I find this mindset extremely unpleasant.

Jango played the long game: he loathed the Jedi, and he knew his clones would be the engine of their destruction. And so they were.

Now were the Separatists any better? Certainly not. But Jango got what he wanted: the Jedi gone.

We really need a movie or a tv series detailing why Jango was one of the most fearsome people to ever set foot on Concord Dawn. And I mean something serious, I dont want to see Jango yelling at kitchen droids. WHY were the events of the galaxy set in motion as they were? This has never really been set out for the casual audience, and it should be. The Clone Wars shaped everything that followed.

OK, I have avoided POing Hunter for yet another day - so far - working as intended. How long will my resolve last? We'll see.

 

[MyenShi]

Hey you, stop enabling me
You keep making good points like that, my resistance will crumble.

 

[Angelo2113]

I'm getting closer and closer to breaking. I think these will be best to wait and order with discounts since it'll be another 2 - 3, maybe even 4, years before having the entire team together.

 

[ScoutingForToys]

We really need a movie or a tv series detailing why Jango was one of the most fearsome people to ever set foot on Concord Dawn. And I mean something serious, I dont want to see Jango yelling at kitchen droids. WHY were the events of the galaxy set in motion as they were? This has never really been set out for the casual audience, and it should be. The Clone Wars shaped everything that followed.

Totally agree.
Between the Karen Traviss books, Open Seasons comic and the Bounty Hunter game, we had some fantastic "Legends" material that really fleshed out who Jango was, his origin, why he was chosen as the Clone template, why he made that choice and his ultimate revenge on the Jedi (as well as why he hated the Jedi in the first place).
Then they wiped all that away and the didn't bother to replace it with a proper canon replacement.
There was a short Jango comic where it explains Dooku chose him because of his reputation. That's it. No epic hunt to bring down a dark Jedi, Dookus old apprentice. Very little story at all.
In Legends, Dooku chose Jango because he was a proven Jedi killer, witnessed by Dooku on 2 seperate occasions. Now he chose him because he had a good reputation. The new canon is garbage in places.
Thanks to the TCW, Jango wasn't even Mandalorian anymore.
I was most displeased about all this.
One of the best things about Boba's return in Mando season 2, was bringing back (at least partially) Jango's origin and making him Mandalorian again.
The translation of Boba's chain code confirms he's from Concord Dawn, was a foundling and Jaster Mereel adopted him.
Really happy they brought all that back to canon, now they just need to bring all the rest of it back.

 

[Ramatuelle]

WE NEED TO SEE JASTER MEREEL DAMN IT

Baby Jango would just be the icing on the cake.

Yesterday is not too soon. Imagine having all this cool backstory and ditching it because you dont want to pay the authors! You, a multibillion-dollar company, being that penny-pinching cheap.

I think Galidraan does not exactly paint the Jedi in a very flattering light, and perhaps that's why we never see reference to this.

 

[Ramatuelle]

I'm getting closer and closer to breaking. I think these will be best to wait and order with discounts since it'll be another 2 - 3, maybe even 4, years before having the entire team together.

DEW ITTTTTTTTT

 

[Ramatuelle]

Pic to keep us on track

 

[freeze320]

looking forward to some reviews popping up for this guy.

as of now im still planning to stick to just him and crosshair to represent the bad batch in my collection. luckily hunter works well enough with some other figures (rex, anakin, etc) so that’s who he’ll hang out with until that cranky clone eventually releases.

 

[Ramatuelle]

Looking out for each other

 

[RandomHero]

God damnit you’re going to make me buy Echo, staahhhpppp with these pictures.

 

[MyenShi]

Just listen to this, stare at the pictures, and prepare your shelves and wallets to get all of them.

 

[Ramatuelle]

But you should buy Echo. He is absolutely gorgeous. Hes much nicer irl than he is in these pix.

 

[MyenShi]

But you should buy Echo. He is absolutely gorgeous. Hes much nicer irl than he is in these pix.

And also because by the time Tech and Wrecker come out late 2024/early 2025, Hunter and Echo will likely be sold out and being sold for inflated prices as people scramble to complete the team and regret their life choices.

Lots of potential “should’ve bought Hunter/Echo” posts in the future… Avoid that painful fate. Pick up your Clone Force 99 starter pack today!

 

[DarkChocobi]

There are exceptions for any rule. Certainly a few Jedi cared about the men under their command. But overall, as a whole, no. Those men were absolutely seen as expendable. they were not in fact, even seen as men! Just clones.

Yoda was superficially sympathetic to everybody, but when it came down to it everyone was expendable. I'm holding him somewhat less accountable, due to his extreme age and the fact that his species would be so far removed from the human experience - what would one such as he know of human values? Why would he care? to the contrary, be ready to lose everything you hold dear. I find this mindset extremely unpleasant.

Jango played the long game: he loathed the Jedi, and he knew his clones would be the engine of their destruction. And so they were.

Now were the Separatists any better? Certainly not. But Jango got what he wanted: the Jedi gone.

We really need a movie or a tv series detailing why Jango was one of the most fearsome people to ever set foot on Concord Dawn. And I mean something serious, I dont want to see Jango yelling at kitchen droids. WHY were the events of the galaxy set in motion as they were? This has never really been set out for the casual audience, and it should be. The Clone Wars shaped everything that followed.

OK, I have avoided POing Hunter for yet another day - so far - working as intended. How long will my resolve last? We'll see.

Great analysis. I particularly love the part when you described Yoda as "superficially sympathetic to everybody", it perfectly and practically sums up his character as the most superior species, top echelons in the SW universes but yet so far removed to naked realities of the mortal world. Dude pretended to care, but he's actually don't give a flying *** about anything. That's the reason why Jedi Order was on the blink of extinction by the Sith.

Few Jedi are genuinely care and sympathetic to their Clones are Anakin, Ahsoka and Plo Koon.