I’m looking at the Clone Wars Bad Batch arc, episode 1
In this scene they’ve camped for the night.
Cody has been injured, and he and Rex are off to the left.
Jesse and Kix are in the middle, with Tech, Crosshair and Wrecker together on the right. They’re all gathered around the same heater, so none of them are too far from each other.
Notice how the team members grouped here don’t seem to have any problem sitting with the regs.
Hunter is waaaaay off from either group, closer to his guys, but not with them. He’s sniffing dirt to make it look like he has a reason to be over there but what that’s supposed to accomplish when they’re looking for the Cyber Centre I have no idea.
Is he on watch or is he just staring out into the semi visable trees? Who knows.
He sighs deeply, looks out into the darkness and only turns towards the group when Cody starts groaning in pain.
Look how pissed he looks here. Not only is he stuck in this shithole with this bunch of ‘regs’, but now he has to listen to them moaning too. Great!
Everyone is gathered into familiar groups, like you do when you’re with people you don’t know, but they’re gathered around happily enough and Tech doesn’t hesitate to tell Jesse and Kix about Hunter’s skills when he overhears them talking. Even though the last thing Kix said was that Hunter’s special skill was being able to put up with the others.
Crosshair and Wrecker would have heard him say that too but no one says shit about it.
So… is it just Hunter who has a problem with ‘regs’ then?
But look what’s happening here.
Rex says it’s time to go.
Crosshair gets down from where he was sitting and says Cody shouldn’t be moved, Tech stands to flank him.
Rex says he’s called evac, Kix will stay and he’s taking over so they should do what he says and get on with trying to find Echo. Cross is totally unimpressed by this, and since it could be interpreted as ‘let’s ditch the wounded guy so I can lead, fall in bitches’ I’m not surprised. We know Rex, and we know he wouldn’t do that. But Cross doesn’t. This isn’t about Cross being a ‘lil bitch. This is Cross showing his concern for a man who not only is a 'reg’ but isn’t a part of their team. Cody’s badly hurt and he wants to protect him and make sure he isn’t just being abandoned for some shitty power grab.
So Cross queries Rex’s plan, asks why their team is here in the first place. Asks what makes him fit to lead them.
Which might really have gone somewhere but the misdirection kicks in again when Jesse throws a fit and the fight breaks out.
And it’s only when Wrecker has Jesse held aloft by the neck while Rex ineffectually tugs at him in an attempt to make him let go, Kix and Cross are wrestling each other, and Tech is trying to work out wtf he’s supposed to do in a situation like this, that Hunter casually saunters over and does his 'good leader’ impression and tells them to knock it off.
Tells them that they’re all fighting for the same thing.
Gives another deep sigh and says
‘We’ll do it your way, Captain. For Commander Cody.’
And Hunter’s the one who comes out of this looking good. But Crosshair is the one who should have.
THIS is why Crosshair picks the fight with Rex later on.
Not because he’s an asshole, but because he isn’t sure what Rex’s motives are.
Because he wants to know what’s driving him. If this is about power or finding Echo or what.
And he’s willing to take a punch to find out too.
Crosshair shows more humanity and compassion for another human being in that scene than Hunter has managed to do in 14 entire episodes of TBB.
But people call him a monster because he argued with Rex, flicked a toothpick at Jesse, and is visually coded to look like a Disney villain, all tall, thin and scowling.
If Jesse hadn’t picked the fight at that precise moment Rex would have been able to explain himself and this would never have been an issue.
But that wouldn’t have allowed Crosshair to be set up all ready for the writers to use him as the villain in TBB now.
And Crosshair can currently be seen working with regular clones and non-clone stormtroopers. We haven’t seen him treating them differently, or calling them ‘regs’. He’s commanded his teams well and efficiently.
On the other hand Hunter continues to spout his ‘reg’ bullshit not only in front of Omega but also to Rex, and right up to the last aired episode.
