Once again, the angry Star Wars blog has a problem with TBB, the Eternal Rival.
I've mentioned it off hand before, I've prolly even gotten into it. I've got loads of problems with the character-writing in TBB, but this time, I'm gonna focus on two:
Hunter and Echo.
You might not think it, but TBB Hunter is a 180 to TCWs Hunter. TBB Hunter is the stoic leader guy that everyone says is a Dad, while TCWs Hunter is seemingly the broody snarky "cool" guy, who appears to take things as they come, cracks jokes (sometimes at another expense--his brothers don't seem to mind) and generally tries to get along (even if he too resents "regs").
ANALYSIS: Hunter has two contrasting sides, which fits with that Tattoo he's got. On one end, he seems to be an environmentally-aware sort that adapts to where he's at, regardless of how he feels, and comes off as the untouchable snarky guy with a smirk and a knife, but when that makes comes off, he's extremely anxious, vulnerable, tends to pace, and tends to make his feelings known... A lot. Hell, TCWs Hunter is more repetitive than TBB Echo.
TBB Hunter gets on his brothers for every little disruptive thing.
TCWs Hunter only steps in if someone is about to die (Wrecker had Jesse by the Throat)--but otherwise, actually prevents other people from touching his brothers, even if his brothers started it first. Hunter is just as complicit in his brothers shenanigans, he just doesn't start it first.
ANALYSIS: This suggests that TCWs Hunter holds the same resentment towards "Regs" (Remember, he did call Rex "Reg" too.) but is a lot more closed off about it. Instead of going all out like Crosshair, he keeps it in.
TBB Hunter is the Final-Say Guy, even long after he stopped technically being Sergeant (which is prolly where the first step towards "Dad" moniker comes from--since that's stereotypical in family shows), and even then, most characters find trepidation in bring things up to him.
TCWs Hunter seems to go along with whatever chaos his brothers cause. On the battlefield, there appears to be a intrinsic trust between the four, where all Hunter has to do is call a Plan, and they execute without management or further orders, and likely, adapt on the fly. Rolling with it, is apart of how CF99 works.
ANALYSIS: This suggests that TCWs Hunter is Sergeant In-Name-Only. He's not the leader, he's just the image of the leader because military requires that someone has to be Sergeant. And that, in reality, each of CF99 has a say and a do on team behind closed doors.
When TBB Hunter breaks down, he gets angry. When he gets confronted, he gets quiet (or in my personal angry bias, glazes over like an NPC because the writers can't write him worth a damn. )
When TCWs Hunter breaks down, he has an anxiety attack. The guy goes through Two in the Four episodes he got in TCWs.
ANALYSIS: This, along side his "laid-back persona", and the fact that not only does he let Crosshair get away with starting shit, but even calls Rex "Reg" himself--suggests that Hunter does a Lot of Repression. He doesn't outwardly let folks know what he thinks, but in the stressful situations, he lets it out.
BONUS ANALYSIS: When he gets hit with anxiety--Crosshair actually steps up to back him up. Remember Crosshair's most infamous scene in TCWs? Confronting Rex about Echo? That didn't start with Crosshair, no matter what the Youtube Clips say--that started with Hunter going "Well I think your friend is dead and this is a wild goose chase because you feel guilty".
Over all, if we really placed TCWs Hunter in the position of TBB Hunter, he likely would've left Omega on Kamino with Nala Se and not come back--and likely not thought twice about her, because she's just a weird kid and one of the Kaminonian's assistants.
[ Because there are Thousands of Cadets on Kamino. And frankly Kamino really is the safest place for them. The entirety of the Clone Wars said so. The story doesn't alter just because the Audience knows things that the characters don't. Yes, we Know Kamino isn't safe with the Empire--the fucking Characters sure as hell wouldn't and thusly, wouldn't react to it. Yes, killing all the Jedi would be a flag that something is up... But that would be a worldly concern, not a personal one. The very fact that Omega is walking around and nobody cares, shows that she's not, in fact, in danger. ]
[ And certainly isn't the priority when Crosshair is acting strange. ]
And TCWs Hunter, who trusts his brothers implicitly (and has to, or they die on the battlefield), would not have waited to confront Crosshair. They would've been on the Marauder, flown to safe space (prolly an abandoned moon), and had their confrontation out then and there. Because if a Teammate is acting off, one that you've lived with, been in war with, and share the same ship with, then you handle them first.
TCWs Hunter would've made TBB a far different story.
... Where TBB Hunter is just a plank that follows whatever the story wants him to be.
Now for Echo.
Echo is significant, in that, we've had nearly 3 years of the guy... That's, not very significant given that his total of episodes he was in can be counted with one hand and some fingers. But in that time, he made a helluvan impact. Enough so that he got brought back Twice.
( Once because his debut episode was so popular, that the TCWs writers made him a prequel story in the form of "Cadets". And the second time, after he literally Died--they contrived a whole story to bring his ass back. )
( Domino Squad was very popular and very important, as both the introduction to Clone Culture and Clones as Individuals, and as the ones who disclosed some of Star Wars' secrets--like the Chip Conspiracy. )
TCWs Echo is very important, with a lot of character for what little he had.
... and TBB Echo simply, isn't... and continuously failed the character he was supposedly written from.
TBB Echo is, bitchy. Like, unbelievably bitch. He complains, he calls out but gets ignored, nothing he does really has much significance as a character. He doesn't do anything.
TCWs Echo jokes in the middle of battle, makes puns when being shot at, and seems to think that stress happens to other people.
TBB Echo nags, and makes comments, but doesn't push.
Where TCWs Echo is confrontational. He would get into a fight with Hevy. He would walk up, as a Cadet, to a General (jumping so many layers of command--breaking every rule in the book) just to request a transfer.
TBB Echo would abandon his squad (And he did). Without explaination or warning.
TCWs Echo would be dragging his squad kicking and screaming (which he did, in his very last episodes in TCWs, straight into the heart of danger--and CF99 loved him for it afterwards. )
TCWs Echo is a guy who reads up regulations... for Everything. He reads Army regulations--base regulations, so he knows where all the equipment is at and how it works--he doesn't read regulations because he like rules--he reads regulations so he knows how to fucking Break them because he's a Mad Lad.
Meanwhile, TBB Echo doesn't do anything but look mad in a corner and scowl at bypassers.
TCWs Echo was an example of clone culture, and how its explore or acts, as well as getting an intro into how Kamino works from the Clone perspective.
TBB Echo is seemingly foreshadowed to be the exploration about PTSD... which is then given to Crosshair as Echo never becomes relevant again.
TCWs Echo goes with CF99 for reasons only know to him, and that the audience is prepped to discover later... ... Where TBB Echo makes us question why he even bothered joining in the first place, because nothing shown and nothing he's said, suggests he even wants to be there--and then he abandons them. Only to appear every now and then to remind fans that Echo is a thing.
TCWs Echo would've said or done something in regards to what happened with Fives.
TCWS Echo and TBB Echo are opposites. TCWs Echo likely wouldn't know what to do with TBB Echo, maybe reach out, if TBB Echo even bothers reaching back.
ADDENDUM:
( Lots of more personal feelings below, Incoming Emotional Baggage claims--you've been warned. )
