Something for Bad Batch stans to keep in mind when they want to argue about whitewashing: Just because they aren't all as pale as Echo is doesn't mean they aren't whitewashed.
Whitewashing means lightening skin tones and/or Europeanizing facial features; it doesn't mean the end result will literally look like a white person, but that they are altered to be closer to the conceptual norm of whiteness.
What's wrong with Omega?
Omega is a direct genetic copy of Jango Fett. She's 100% Jango, lacking the genetic modifications that all other clones have. She has (1) an ability similar to Hunter's in that she can sense the presence of other people before they're visible. Omega has light skin and blonde hair, although the team didn't go the standard route and give her blue eyes like they have done with some clones. If she is a perfect clone of Jango, why is she blonde? What does it mean that this blonde child is genetically "pure" despite sharing the same genes as a brown-skinned, black-haired man? Surprisingly enough, she actually has a proper New Zealand accent, which many consider an improvement over what the rest of The Bad Batch has. However, this does not erase the fact that she has been designed to look like a white girl, and that she isn't even the first clone child to be given lightened skin and hair (Boba in prison in the Rako Hardeen arc comes to mind). In addition to this, we can contrast Omega with Wrecker the same way we do Tech. It's common in Western media to make an "epitome of innocence" character--that is, a character who is meant to be understood as angelic, kind, naive, pure, or any other word one can come up with when the inevitable Tough Man/Soft Kid trope is used. More often than not, this child will be white or light skinned and/or blonde. This isn't to say that Omega can't be innocent--she's roughly ten years old by fan estimations. Nobody is expecting her to be a hardened warrior. But this begs the question about why "innocence" here must be embodied by features and appearances that are only achievable by white people. Very rarely do children of color ever fulfill this role. Why not have a Māori child take on the role of the innocent contrast to the main protagonists? (1) this ability has not appeared in recent episodes. Hunter | Crosshair | Wrecker | Tech | Echo | Home Fan Theories | Photo Gallery | Art Tutorial | Other Issues | FAQ | Goal
What's wrong with Echo?
Probably the most egregious whitewashing offense out of all of them is Echo. Compare how he looks now to what he used to look like:
After being frozen for over a year, he's lost all of his melanin. Many fans believe a year without sunlight while locked in a freezer will burn away every last drop of melanin someone has. This is not how melanin works. Those of us who share a skin tone equal to or darker than Echo's know that even years indoors won't lighten our skin to such a drastic shade like this--and no amount of nutritional deficiency and lack of sunlight will drain someone's melanin in such a manner. While certain environmental or traumatic factors can affect one's melanin output and lead to things like vitiligo, this is not the case with Echo, and as much as not been confirmed by the team (1). Echo's appearance in the series is actually lighter than he appeared in the season 7 arc. This is a result of a group of designers who do not know how melanin works, who assumed that people of colors' skin changes the same way white people's does, and who then rendered something extremely unlikely for the sake of "storytelling". Many dissenters of #UnwhitewashTBB cite "narrative/visual storytelling" as a justification for the gross amount of whitewashing that has happened with The Bad Batch. This argument is weak because Echo's being pale serves no real purpose to the plot or characterization of himself or anyone else in the series. Echo's missing limbs do--he uses his probe to hack into computers, for instance. Some have said that Echo is pale for the same reasons that Darth Vader is pale: damage done to the body, an assumed lack of blood, and his being "more machine than man" and somehow less/inhuman because of it. Besides this being grossly ableist, Vader and Echo have only their prosthetics in common. In every other way, they're completely different. Why should Vader and Echo have a narrative connection via visual storytelling like this? Is that the type of story that should be told about Echo: that he is less than or inhuman because of his disabilities? Should we use ableism as a justification for racism? And why assume the creators intended to do something that makes no sense when the much more plausible answer is right there: they do not know how melanin works and defaulted to how white skin behaves under extreme conditions. Beyond this, as of this carrd update (7/29/2021, after the release of episode seven) Echo has basically been ignored by both The Bad Batch and the plot. Fans have begun to think that his presence is for nostalgia and nothing else, because his treatment in the series has been subpar to a worrying degree. Disabled fans are concerned about the ableism surrounding Echo. The Bad Batch is introduced to us by insulting regs and establishing their superiority complex. They harass his brothers and doubt his loyalty to his family for the entire arc, and then we see Echo again, and it's revealed that he's disabled: multiple amputations and various devices needed to keep him alive. Even when he's saving their lives, the Bad Batch don't trust him. At the end, Rex says that if Echo no longer "fits in" with clones like him, he can go with The Bad Batch. There are multiple issues with this, the largest being that Echo is disabled, not a criminal, and not a freak. There is absolutely no reason as to why the 501st that he's fought beside for most of the war beforehand would suddenly reject him now that he's missing some limbs and hair. There wasn't ever any point in TCW where clones were shown to collectively be ableist. Why wouldn't have Echo been able to fit in? Why wouldn't he have been accepted? Would Jesse or Kix have mistreated him for being tortured and abused by the separatists? Would Anakin have? Combine this with the continued narrative coddling of the Bad Batch. They have genetic superiority-fueled egos, never saw Echo as their equal, but have him join their team anyways, proving once again that this team of whitewashed superiors are better than the brown "regs" they despise because they "accept" Echo and his disabilities. The message that the team is sending just with that decision at the end of that arc is dually racist and
ableist one. The issues do not end there. Echo is new to the team, so it's understandable that he doesn't have a wall-set bed on Kamino, but he also doesn't have a seat on the Marauder. Despite being a double amputee, he's made to stand in many of the scenes we see him in, while the rest of The Bad Batch reclines in some way. One example is in episode seven, when everyone is asleep waiting for Wrecker to wake up and Echo is the only one standing. His lack of an arm is another example--he's still made to climb and carry things literally one handed, while the probe attachment only occasionally serves a purpose. Why not give Echo a hand that opens up with a probe inside it? Disabled fans have noted that it's like the team refuses to acknowledge Echo's status as a disabled character, instead either choosing to put him in extremely uncomfortable situations that an able bodied person would be fine with, or ignoring him entirely. In episode seven, we also see that Echo has a patch on his head before anyone else has even had the surgery to remove the chip. And when Wrecker wakes up, Rex says they only need to do three more, excluding Echo. Was Echo's chip removed off screen, and if so, why skip it? This may be a continuity issue, but such an oversight calls into question how much the writers see Echo as more than just the butt of jokes and the metal ragdoll, subject to constant uncomfortable situations and dehumanization. Within the Bad Batch, the implications are still dire: they may have pulled out Echo's chip as a tester before doing the "real" work of taking out Wrecker's. Echo is referred to as "more machine than man" by Tech in the premiere, and then Crosshair makes a comment about how Echo has been "turned into that", regarding his series of prosthetics and technology keeping him functioning. The worst offense is when he gets sold, and it's played off for laughs that the mostly-metal disabled man is now being treated as actually metal and inhuman. The Clone Wars already had issues with acknowledging the clones' status as slaves (Slick is villainized, the Kadavo arc makes no mention of how Rex feels being sold into slavery), and it's disappointing to see that these issues have continued into The Bad Batch. Fans are hoping that Echo doesn't keep being put into dehumanizing or otherwise dangerous situations for a disabled person, like when he got thrown and stunned in episode seven. (1) If the team had wanted to show damage to his skin without completely bleaching him, they could have designed him with patchiness, vitiligo, and/or other skin tone variations that show that damage has been done. Fans of color have also noted that this change seems to be permanent, as Echo does not seem to be regaining his melanin. Hunter | Crosshair | Wrecker | Tech | Omega | Home Fan Theories | Photo Gallery | Art Tutorial | Other Issues | FAQ | Goal
What's wrong with Tech?
Tech is the technology and computers expert of the Bad Batch. He is designed to look like a white man; white skin, European features, straight, brown hair, and an unfortunate hairline make up the cognitive genius of The Bad Batch. Tech is unsurprisingly also the least likely to fight. He's very docile and calm, and DBB describes him as "breezy". Contrast this with Wrecker, who's the complete opposite in every way. This goes even further when Wrecker's chip takes control and he attacks Tech; Tech does not fight back and is the only one besides Omega not to make an effort to stop him. In fact, Tech and Wrecker's interactions in the first episode compound the racism in both their writing: Tech mocks or belittles what Wrecker says, and directly states that the team would not pass a mental test because of Wrecker. Even his voice has been removed from the typical Māori accent that all clones are meant to sport (and that the rest of the Bad Batch has). Dee Bradley Baker himself said "Tech is a little more British in his sound". Why does the genius need to sound British? Not only does this ignore the fact that they all grew up in the same environment and so should have the same accents, Tech's deviation is worrying in its implications on what a smart person is "supposed" to sound like, versus what those who aren't geniuses sound like. DBB also says about Tech: "He's almost like someone who's on the spectrum (1), almost (time stamp 16:05) Some autistic fans of The Bad Batch have noted that Tech is a cliche of geniuses in general and a stereotype of autistic people in particular. First, many autistic people portrayed in media are geniuses or savants with little awareness/replication of the emotions of those around them. They're often portrayed in varying degrees as socially awkward with a tendency to infodump. This is not to say that Tech's infodumping is in any way wrong or detrimental to his character, and this is also not to say it's wrong that he's been coded as autistic. This is also not to say that there is any "right" or "wrong" way to be autistic. However, what some autistic fans have noticed is that Tech is yet another stereotypical image of an autistic person: a socially awkward white male genius. This is not representative of the lived experiences of many autistic people--for instance, many autistic people stim, but many more allistic (non-autistic) writers of autistic-coded characters leave that out. The fact that he is a white-presenting autistic-coded genius adds more problematic layers to his character. There are exceedingly few brown autistic characters in media, and certainly none who can take the role of co-protagonist the way Tech does. Why is it that Tech couldn't be both brown and autistic? Why make him a two-fold stereotype? What does it mean when authors default to a European appearance and voice to portray smartness while simultaneously playing into stereotypes about certain kinds of intelligence? From his Star Wars site profile: He may not look like a typical clone, but Tech is a valuable soldier in the Republic army. The result of genetic manipulation like the rest of his special unit, Clone Force 99 (or the Bad Batch), Tech's aptitude for science and technology are unmatched by man or machine. From his Wookieepedia page: His appearance differed from that of normal clones of Jango Fett in that he appeared younger, leaner, and fairer than his genetic template. Tech was also very non-confrontational. When his squadmates would argue with each other, he would frequently walk away and not participate. Much like Hunter and unlike his other two teammates, Tech was mostly civil and respectful to his fellow clones. The page also inexplicably describes Tech's skin color as tan. (1) Please note that "on the spectrum" is a phrase used to specifically avoid calling someone autistic. It's level of offense varies from autistic person to autistic person, but it is generally seen as outdated. Hunter | Crosshair | Wrecker | Echo | Omega | Home Fan Theories | Photo Gallery | Art Tutorial | Other Issues | FAQ |
What's wrong with Crosshair?
Crosshair is the sniper in the Bad Batch. He has light skin with a yellow undertone, a very narrow, long face and nose, a narrow jaw, and a small mouth. He's shaped like a sniper rifle. He looks nothing like the Māori man he's based on.
Crosshair is the first member of The Bad Batch to express displeasure with regular clones. He goes out of his way to start fights he can't finish. Optically, this looks like a white man picking on brown men specifically because he believes he is genetically superior to them. He antagonizes all of the regs he meets (with little input from Hunter but a lot of help from Wrecker) and doubts Echo's loyalty form the start til the end. It would be fine if he was just a jerk in general, but his strong distaste for "regs" continues even when Echo is a member of the Bad Batch and shows itself in how he responds to Echo's being disabled. Within the narrative, his attitudes about regs are supported by the fact that he's better at his job than regs due to his genetic enhancements. It's fully racist. From his Star Wars site profile: When you have to hit a precise target from 10 klicks, Crosshair's your man. Cold, quick, and calculating, Crosshair is the kind of no-nonsense warrior who detests working with "regs," or normal clones, and isn't afraid to mouth off about it. A member of the special unit Clone Force 99, also called the Bad Batch, Crosshair is gifted with a sniper blaster. From his Wookieepedia page: Matt and Brent worked with Dave to flesh out the characters and their story where Crosshair was based on Clint Eastwood, like a Clone version of Cad Bane. Hunter | Wrecker| Tech | Echo | Omega | Home Fan Theories | Photo Gallery | Art Tutorial | Other Issues | FAQ | Goal
What is Our Goal?
What is Our Goal? Why start this campaign, why spend all this time on a carrd and other informational posts, and why take the time out of our day to let Disney know we're upset? Members of the #UnwhitewashTBB campaign have a list of changes that we want to see in Star Wars: The Bad Batch in particular, but in Star Wars in general. While we don't all see eye-to-eye on the exact position of the Bad Batch series, we have a general consensus on these things: In Star Wars: The Bad Batch 1. An end to the racism, whitewashing, and colorism/featurism. We all want to see a group of clones who share the skin tone of the man they are copies of. While some of us want complete model rehauls that make the Bad Batch look Māori in general, others of us would prefer it if the clones all shared the standard clone model. Regardless of the specificities, we are demanding an end to the racism in Star Wars: The Bad Batch that has prevented so many of us from fully enjoying this series. We want to be able to see ourselves, our features, and our racial and ethnic identities on screen without them being lightened, narrowed, straightened, or villainized once we hit the screen. Fixing these means not placing the only representation fans of color have on screen in the Empire, and having people who look like us be heroes rather than supporters of a metaphor for a Nazi regime. 2. An end to the ableism in Star Wars: The Bad Batch. Disabled and neurodivergent fans have expressed continued dismay at the treatment of Echo in the series, from his being sold as a droid to his near nonexistence within the plot. Lots of autistic fans see themselves in Tech and enjoy his character for that reason, but they feel his representation is leaning heavily into stereotypes. Echo must be a full member of the team, and Tech must stop being a stereotype. 3. An end to the antisemitism. Cid is a gross stereotype of Jewish people, who have suffered enough over the centuries and to this day without having to see themselves dehumanized as a mean, greedy lizard person on screen. The antisemitic traits in Cid--whether they be the voice/accent, the personality, the species, or all three--must go. 4. An acknowledgement and apology from Disney and the Star Wars: The Bad Batch team. Fans of color, Jewish fans, disabled fans, and neurodivergent fans have been hurt and alienated by the actions of Disney and the writing/design team for The Bad Batch. Disney has made posts standing up for Black and other marginalized people before. They can do it again. In Star Wars 1. An end to the racism. Star Wars has a long and upsetting history of racism, from the inspiration and portrayal of the Tusken Raiders, to sinophobic racism and cultural appropriation, to more antisemitism in Watto, to much, much more. Fans of color are getting tired. We are noticing a trend that when our cultures are not being mocked, we're being made the enemy in the Empire or the First Order, while the heroes remain largely white (or alien when they're not human). 2. An end to the ableism. The Star Wars franchise also has a long and painful history with ableism. Disabled Star Wars fans deserve to see themselves as both disabled and still heroic and valuable regardless of how many limbs they have, or their other physical abilities/disabilities. Just as examples, Vader and Sidious are disfigured and evil, and the heroes who can be construed as disabled are often not written to be. 3. A promise and an actual committment to doing better. Any time Disney attempts to celebrate its fans and characters of color, fans rightfully point out the treatment of actors like John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran, and the characters they played. Words are not enough. We demand proof that change is coming. To this end, one sign of proof of change would be the inclusion of Māori/Polynesian, disabled, neurodivergent, and altogether more diverse voices in both Star Wars: The Bad Batch and Star Wars in general. Star Wars is for everyone. We, as people of color, disabled and neurodivergent people, and people of religious minorities,
demand to be included in that "everyone". Home
What are the other issues in Star Wars: The Bad Batch?
As the show has progressed, fans have noticed more and more issues with The Bad Batch beyond just the white washing and ableism. One such issue is Cid, the broker that the team works with. Antisemitism Cid is a Trandoshan, which is a lizard species in Star Wars. She's greedy and manipulative, and she uses a distinct accent commonly associated with New York Jews. Jewish fans have pointed out that Cid is an antisemitic stereotype of Jewish people, specifically the "Jewish Mother" stereotype, and the stereotype that Jews control all the money in the world/are very greedy and stingy. The conspiracy theory that links Jewish people with lizard people is an old one that continues to crop up even in today's media (all links refer both to the conspiracy theory and its use in current politics and media). To add insult to injury, Cid is voiced by Rhea Perlman, a Jewish woman. This would not be the first instance of antisemitism in an animated Star Wars show. Star Wars: The Clone Wars, most notable for its heavily stylized facial structures, gave Palpatine an exaggeratedly hooked nose that doesn't remotely resemble his live action actor's--and, interestingly enough, Anakin Skywalker has a button nose despite Hayden Christensen himself not sporting one. Even the Muun Banking Clan wasn't safe--they appear in animation with large noses that did not exist in their live action appearance. Some may say that this is typical in villain design--writers and creators often given some kind of visual cue as to the moral alignments of their characters. Villains will get hooked noses--or dark curly hair, or narrower eyes, or darker skin, or some kind of accent or limp wrist/queer-coded flair to their behavior. This is called racialization (or queer coding, depending) and these and more are stereotypes of various minority groups that have been placed onto villains in order to further demonize those people. Further Whitewashing The white washing did not start or stop with The Bad Batch, and was actually something that many fans were upset with from the premiere. For instance, take Caleb Dume (later Kanan Jarrus). In The Bad Batch, Dume/Jarrus had blue eyes, pale skin, and reddish hair. In Rebels, he looked like a man of color, albeit with green eyes--which fans still took issue with. And lastly we have Saw Gerrera, noted rebel leader from The Clone Wars. Although there have only been glimpses of Saw since the series premiere, the freedom fighter no longer has his black textured hair from The Clone Wars--instead it's been lightened and straightened. Saw and Steela Gerrera had blue eyes in The Clone Wars when they both should have had brown. Even now, Saw's eyes are green instead of brown. Villains as People of Color, Sinophobia Beyond just design, The Bad Batch has a notable lack of characters of color that are written to be protagonists or morally good. Take the squad of recruits that Crosshair works with early in the season. Three out of the four of them are people of color: an ambiguous man (not on screen long enough to tell), a Black woman with properly rendered textured hair (which only calls Saw's design further into question) and a blue-eyed Asian woman (not the only one in the series). One is a blonde-haired, blue-eyed white man. Crosshair and his death squad are ordered to kill civilians, and the only one who speaks up is the white man. The others offer some hesitation but no protest, and the only member of the team with a moral backbone is killed for disobeying orders. Episode 10 of the series, titled "Common Ground", left many Chinese and Eastern Asian fans with a sour taste in their mouths when the trauma of Tiananmen Square was reenacted in The Bad Batch. In Common Ground, a Separatist Senator is about to cede control of his planet to the Empire. An Eastern Asian woman (with blue eyes) who is working for the Empire orders AT-AT walkers to march in on the peacefully protesting civilians. Not only is the allegory of the Empire being a Nazi regime totally lost by using a person of color, the scene came across as tone deaf at
best, and intentionally malicious at worst to fans who immediately drew the connection to the real-life massacre in Tiananmen Square. Many fans pointed out that that massacre is a source of generational and still-living trauma for them and their family members. The Bad Batch uses it as an excuse to have their whitewashed group of heroes save the day. Hunter | Crosshair | Tech | Wrecker | Echo | Omega | Home Fan Theories | Photo Gallery | Art Tutorial | FAQ | Goal
Looking for artists to volunteer their art!
We're planning to compose some videos to be posted on official Tiktok and YouTube channels showcasing unwhitewashed art of the Bad Batch characters. We want to draw attention to our campaign while showing the possibilities for unwhitewashing The Bad Batch.
These videos will likely be released over the next several months and possibly into next year so there there's no deadline for reaching out to us.
If you would like to submit unwhitewashed art or edits for the videos, please send us an ask or reply to this post.
Welcome to the official home of #UnwhitewashTBB on Tumblr!
We are fans holding Disney and Lucasfilm accountable for racism in Star Wars media.
Links:
- NEW! fandom survey for season 2
- carrd examining the whitewashing and issues in The Bad Batch
- petition to Disney and Lucasfilm
- send your own letters using our templates
Other social media:
Events:
- Star Wars Culture Week @starwarscultureweek April 1 - 7
Use #UnwhitewashTBB across social media to show your support!
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Mods:
- Mod CH @clonehub
- Mod Agave @tieflingkisser
- Mod Phoenix @dilfweyoun
(last updated 19.Dec.2023)