#repcomm things

[captainofthetidesbreath]

I feel like this is somehow a set-up to a Mereel and Stars joke but it isn’t.

Not that the broad audience for this piece would even get that sort of joke. Or even know who Mereel is.

[identical-yet-not]

Is it obvious how much I despise the Nulls being called crazy?

Like, I get that they’re fictional characters but still.

[captainofthetidesbreath]

Ordo held out the jeweled [Shoroni sapphire] pin. “Look. They turn green in this light.” He seemed more fascinated by the chemistry of them. —Triple Zero

“Shoroni gems appear green in daylight,” Ordo said, matter-of-factly. “It’s the crystalline structure. Bi-refringent and bi-axial. It’s—” —Order 66

I still absolutely adore how he went and actually looked into the science of the gems changing colors.

[captainofthetidesbreath]

Frankly, most of what I rant about can be boiled down to: Ordo deserves better than Kal, who is negatively affecting his life in every single way possible, someone please help him get out of there.

[captainofthetidesbreath]

Most things the fandom asks for about the clones, Repcomm tried to cover.

Clones angry at the Republic? Clones who didn't take shit from Jedi? Clones who suggested the Separatists are right? Clones who were poisonously angry at the Kaminoans? Clones who held the Mandalorian traditions and considered themselves Mandlaorian? Clones who considered themselves members of some other cultures? Clones who desperately sought the approval of their training sergeants? Clones who leaned anti-Imperial? Clones who founded anti-Imperial cells? Clones who wanted to stay out of the fight altogether? Clones who yearned deeply for the lives others had? Clones who found lives for themselves? Clones who developed an anti-aging treatments? Clones who disagreed on justice and law and orders?

Republic Commando covered almost all of it. And as much of a mess the novel series can be, it tried to touch on anything you could've asked for from a work about the clone troopers.

[captainofthetidesbreath]

Seriously, like, when they do finally pull Dred Priest’s body out of the Kelita River, whose job is it to find the murderer? Yeah, Isabet is gonna go do it herself whether or not there’s a person who is supposed to be doing it, but like, do they genuinely not have someone whose actual job is to make sure people in the city don’t continue to get murdered and to catch murderers? Do they not have a person to reassure the people that they don’t have a rando serial killer on the loose?

[captainofthetidesbreath]

me: The Null ARCs are so great, and it’s a shame we never saw any black ops and intelligence agents of the GAR in the canon of their caliber.

someone: With the being different from baseline clones, perfect for special operations, and reporting to basically no one, Bad Batch is a hat-tip and spiritual successor to the Nulls.

me: Don’t you ever insult the Nulls like that again.

[captainofthetidesbreath]

Like, I think Republic Commando novel series has issues with everything from confusing narrative structure, failure to follow-through on most introduced arcs, thematic incoherence, and character inconsistency to refusing to acknowledge abuse, casual and violent misogyny, recurring undertones of ableism, and losing sight of the main narrative to preach about tangents, and generally I think KT can fuck off.

Still, it remains a series that tackles a specific and rare corner of the Star Wars universe and tries to explore characters and questions that needed to be explored. It centered a story on clone troopers who ran the gamut in their relationships to the Republic, from one who wanted desperately to believe that the Republic’s laws and orders served justice to those who couldn’t wait to leave it. It filled in the picture of the Mandalorian people, it posed voiced the longing troopers may have for their stolen lives. It created a very rich framework to work in at this very specific junction in galactic history and in his specific juncture of crossing identities.

And as much as I criticize the novels for falling short of the things it set out to do in the most horrific way possible—it comes out of a genuine fondness for its core premise and core framework, and a genuine fondness for what it set out to do in the first place.