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S3 E5




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, and Bad Batch is a double episode this week.

Just starting the second half now.

Mandalorian:

It was Zeb! They didn’t name check him during the episode, but I was sure it had to be him, so I watched the credits and his name is on the list. Too lazy to check if it’s the same voice actor as in Rebels but it did sound like him.

I liked big guys speech, I figured it was an intentionally misleading opening to it and he pulled the twist I was expecting.

Our favorite rebel pilot is back, yay! After “former” imperial lady saw him and heard his theories, I was worried for him. Really expected it to be a trap and he was gonna bite it at the end. 100% sure the convenient beskar shard is a plant intended to cast suspicion.

Navarr is really pathetic. I’m surprised they lasted as long as they did given they have flat zero means of defending themselves from anything. No ships, no guns, no nothing, not even a token planetary defense force. Had to immediately just drop, run, and beg for help from others.

To be fair, it’s been a short time since the Imperial Remnant was driven off. You can’t just conjure a fleet or defence force out of nowhere.

Bad Batch:

First off thanks for mentioning its another two episode week so I knew to skip back one.

Hm. That’s a suspiciously happy/emotional moment there, I don’t think I trust that.

Saw Gerrera, messing up everyone else’s plans since day one. That said, I wonder what the future would have looked like had they not messed up His plans and Tarkin was taken off the board.

Ah, yes, this is what I meant by suspiciously happy moment… I won’t believe it unless we see a body.

Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal! They’ll obviously feel bad about it and help them later and all will be forgiven.

Shocker, the only two people with that accent were “secretly” related!

Hot damn that was a good Mando episode.
Also seems we're actually having kills this week for Bad Batch.

There’s two guys they very clearly just stun, but most of the rest do seem to be kill shots. Their blasters still fire blue bolts though.

I loved episode 5 of the Mandalorian; lots of action; the plot is moving forward quite well. I thought the poor squadron captain was going to be led into an ambush and get killed, but it actually seems the Saxon clan is back into service of the Empire. I hope that Mando will join Bo-Katan in her mission as I loved the dynamic between the two (unless they just plan to have her come back with the cavalry for the season's final which I think would be lamer).

I am also a bit bummed by her helmet removal. She clearly has the coolest looking helmet in Star Wars; she should use it more :p.

I’m desperate for a Mando multipack of action figures.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I’m desperate for a Mando multipack of action figures.

Be careful for what you wish for. The multipack will only include Pershing, Greef Karga, the mechanic lady and leftover Cara Dune figures.

You want Bo-Katan or Mando himself? You need to pay for a premium limited edition solo box for those beskar bangers.

Oh I’ve got Bo Katan and Din already. And Koska Reeves, 2 different Boba. Loads so far.

But all those different Mandos must be added to the farm.

Mando was good. We're finally getting somewhere with it. Plus, loads of fun, including everyone's favorite space cop.

Bad Batch was interesting. But of course...

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:

Spoiler:

I’m still undecided on the former Imperial Officer. Is she playing the long game or not? Will need to give it another watch.

Finally. A good non-Crosshair episode to Bad Batch. Now to see if they have the balls to follow through.

*next episode*

Oh wow another goo--And it's still good but I am disappointed. Kind of baffled why they'd go back to someone they decided they couldn't trust anymore and who, shockingly le GASP, betrays them.

Still better than most of S2 so I don't want to bitch too much, but man they got that layup and just botched it.

Mandalorian.

Okay, okay so there's rampant pirates and they have their own 'nation.' Alright I can get behind that. I mean, would have been nice if the season as a whole were laid out a bit better but late is better than never. The Corescant episode came back. Not sure we needed a whole episode to set it up. *shakes fist* Damn you Imperial bootlicker with an obvious ulterior motive!

And yeah that was fun. A bit rushed but fun. Better than the last 2 episodes at least and with a solid and clear direction for where we're going now.

Now to see how the wirter's room punch's ours heroes in the dick XD

 AduroT wrote:
Their blasters still fire blue bolts though.

Clone blasters have always fired blue bolts. Imperial troops are red.

The whole point of laser weapons is they're color coded for audience convenience. How else are you going to know who the good guys are?

Voss wrote:
How else are you going to know who the good guys are?

Well in Disney cartoons they're the ones almost always using the stun setting.

Mando and Bad Batch absolutely killed it this week. Possibly the best both shows have been all season.

Mando


Bad Batch

 LordofHats wrote:
Kind of baffled why they'd go back to someone they decided they couldn't trust anymore and who, shockingly le GASP, betrays them.

Yeah, I assume they went to Sid out of desperation/immediate need rather than because they wanted to. Seems she still had their medical droid perhaps?

Voss wrote:
The whole point of laser weapons is they're color coded for audience convenience. How else are you going to know who the good guys are?

I want to say it's better these days, or at least it can be. I remember having trouble following Obi-Wan's and Anakin's duel on Mustafa back in the day when TVs were grainy and screen resolutions were smaller. It's not so bad in HD, or in theater. The show makers have to go out of their way dialing back the lighting (which we got a few times in this season of Bad Batch) if they want to go back to a strict need for color coding.

 AduroT wrote:
Yeah, I assume they went to Sid out of desperation/immediate need rather than because they wanted to. Seems she still had their medical droid perhaps?

I thought it was pretty clear that their one and only priority was to get Omega to the best doctor they could reach, and a familiar and capable Kaminoan medical droid would be better suited than whatever kind of voodoo priest an Outer Rim refugee camp can provide.

It also doesn't help that Omega is the brains of the operation and the rest of the Batch is just terrible at thinking things through.

Tech was the brains, Omega is the heart.

Nominally. From what we're actually shown, Tech is just marginally less dim than the others.

On that Pirate Cruiser?

Absolutely love the overall design. It’s compact, and pretty well armed and suited to its purpose.

At first I was a bit “but why kinetic weapons” for the underslung batteries. But given they seem dedicated bombardment guns, and the ships relatively small size (small than a CR-90 perhaps?) it may very well be to pack in maximum firepower without draining too much power.

And whilst I know this will probably annoy some when I point it out? That’s another canonical example of No Ship Shields whilst within an atmosphere, matching the Final Order’s issue over Exegol. And now I think about it? I can’t immediately think of something in the New Canon where a ship’s shields are seen to work in atmosphere? Though granted for that to be a conclusion I’d need an encyclopaedic knowledge of Clone Wars and Rebels etc. So as ever, happy to be proven wrong with relevant, new canon examples.

Tech has a really high Intelligence stat, but tanked his Wisdom stat. I’ve commented before that he’s one of the dumbest smart guys around.

Voss wrote:
The whole point of laser weapons is they're color coded for audience convenience. How else are you going to know who the good guys are?

That's never been the case with Star Wars. Both Rebel and Imperial ground troops had red blasters in the original trilogy. Only the ships were different.

The different colors denote the type of gas used to power the laser. Republic troops had blue blasters, because they had better quality equipment. Imperial troops got the cheaper and less potent red stuff.

Likely due to their Imperial disguises, but Saw and his cohort had red firing blasters in their blink and you miss it shot.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
On that Pirate Cruiser?

Absolutely love the overall design. It’s compact, and pretty well armed and suited to its purpose.

At first I was a bit “but why kinetic weapons” for the underslung batteries. But given they seem dedicated bombardment guns, and the ships relatively small size (small than a CR-90 perhaps?) it may very well be to pack in maximum firepower without draining too much power.

And whilst I know this will probably annoy some when I point it out? That’s another canonical example of No Ship Shields whilst within an atmosphere, matching the Final Order’s issue over Exegol. And now I think about it? I can’t immediately think of something in the New Canon where a ship’s shields are seen to work in atmosphere? Though granted for that to be a conclusion I’d need an encyclopaedic knowledge of Clone Wars and Rebels etc. So as ever, happy to be proven wrong with relevant, new canon examples.

They mention pretty late in the fight that the shields are failing. There are shields on it and they do work in atmo. The ship just wasn't capable of maintaining them for too long. It seems like the early strikes took out their ability to regulate/generate power properly.

Cruiser needed to invest in better targeting. They couldn’t do more than fire indiscriminately at a city. Even when they tried to shoot the unmoving civilians at the end it was just trailing fire that failed to hit an unmoving target. Makes me wonder if the crew on board were as drunk as the guys on the ground.

Maybe pirates are like GW and hire for attitude rather than skill?

It might be a problem that it's been 5+ years since the New Republic took over. What's left flying around of the Empire isn't what it used to be and the New Republic is seriously disarming itself and letting large regions fend for themselves. It might actually be a case that the pirates meet little resistance and therefore don't get in enough practice. That could also lead to making cheaper hires more attractive because there's no point in paying for over-qualification. Especially if they're somehow organized in a nation and get around internal conflict through a tribute system.

 AduroT wrote:
Mandalorian:

It was Zeb! They didn’t name check him during the episode, but I was sure it had to be him, so I watched the credits and his name is on the list. Too lazy to check if it’s the same voice actor as in Rebels but it did sound like him.

You read the credits and didn't recognize Steve Blum? The voice of everything (including Zeb )?

That was for sure a huge treat. Great cameo there. The episode itself did a great job tying the desperate threads so far together. Used all of its time very well.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Bad Batch was certainly a lot better than its been, though I was opening laughing at the gusto in which Tech waved his death flags. The "come back safe" and.... everything was more blatant than Sid's red variants, but lets not pretend that anything about this show is more than comfort food.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
On that Pirate Cruiser?

Absolutely love the overall design. It’s compact, and pretty well armed and suited to its purpose.

At first I was a bit “but why kinetic weapons” for the underslung batteries. But given they seem dedicated bombardment guns, and the ships relatively small size (small than a CR-90 perhaps?) it may very well be to pack in maximum firepower without draining too much power.

And whilst I know this will probably annoy some when I point it out? That’s another canonical example of No Ship Shields whilst within an atmosphere, matching the Final Order’s issue over Exegol. And now I think about it? I can’t immediately think of something in the New Canon where a ship’s shields are seen to work in atmosphere? Though granted for that to be a conclusion I’d need an encyclopaedic knowledge of Clone Wars and Rebels etc. So as ever, happy to be proven wrong with relevant, new canon examples.

yhea, that thing gave me serious Homeworld vibes, in a good way.

they DO mention its shields, but they clearly are struggling to deal with the attacks as they've been loosing engines already at that point. it might be a case the sheilds are less effective in atmosphere, or just plain old Plot Armour. Then again, we rarely see star wars shields do much more than stop one or two shots most of the time, so its not beyond the norm.