I wish General Kalani would come back in pretty much *any* star wars media
his clone wars appearance is whatever but in Rebels his role touches on something i wish was more prominent; clones and droids aren't so different in the grand scheme. they're both sentient, thinking individuals created to know nothing but a completely manufactured war, and are mostly ultimately discarded if not outright destroyed when the war reached its end. and to an extent, they are both *sentient* yet still undeniably *programmed* to be unquestionably loyal.
multiple clones throughout a few different shows are given the chance to break free from their programming and defy their orders to commit atrocities on behalf of the empire. usually this happens either because another character cares enough about the clones to try and rescue them or because the clones simply have the strength of character to choose their own path and fight for what they value as individuals.
battle droids aren't given this chance. it's obvious that droids in star wars are sentient beings capable of joy and suffering, yet in most cases their programming is strong enough that they will never truly live as free beings. no better example of this exists than the droid army. all shut down, doomed to be melted down or held as scrap or be briefly reactivated to serve as cannon fodder, never being freed or given the same second chance at life that multiple fortunate clones got.
except for General Kalani's holdout.
now, in fairness, in his Rebels appearance Kalani does also treat his own droids as cannon fodder in what is essentially an overdramatic tactics game. i don't think those droids deserved to be shot for the sake of proving a point. but for all of the Bad Guy droids becoming Good Guy droids, Kalani is one of the very rare examples (and the only example I'm aware of outside of comics or novels) of a droid that *chooses* to change their allegiance for the better. not reprogrammed, not factory reset and trained from the ground up, Kalani allied himself with the Spectres because Ezra Bridger made a convincing argument.
sure, the argument is that fighting the empire would be the same as fighting the republic, which was Kalani's programmed goal to begin with. but the fact he was able to co-opt his programming and decide a new *purpose* for himself arguably puts him leaps and bounds ahead of the many clone troopers that continued following orders. He may have ultimately went into hiding from the empire rather than joining the rebel alliance, but he remains one of the only CIS droids to survive the clone war and ultimately choose his own path, beyond simply following orders.
#project hail mary
#heated rivalry
#writers on tumblr
#photography
