I was watching The Bad Batch to recap before I watched the second season.  And I noticed some things. 

Even from the premise, I got excited by the innuendo that they're the Bad Batch as in 'defective', but they exist as walking subversions of that expectation because they accomplish just as much, if not more, than thousands of other 'operational' Clones even while laterally being made from the same stock. 

The hidden metaphor of the show translates well from screen to life; that a Neurodivergent person is not inherently bad or defective. 

The Clones in The Batch Batch don't think as the rest of the Clones do, don't operate as the rest of the Clones do, and most if not all of them are Neurodivergent-coded. 

And I must say that I appreciated that there was no radioactive mishap or toxic vat of chemicals that made them the way they are.  They just are.  And we love them.  (And even if there was some accident before, we love them still.)

The masterpiece that is The Clone Wars gave us the prequels from the perspective of the Clones; fascinating characters of the Star Wars franchise who didn't get much screen time until this animated series came into being. 

The Bad Batch as a spinoff of this series adds to the lore, story, and diversity of the world - while bringing us even more characters to love and fuss over.  The Clones that make up the Bad Batch, aka Clone Force 99, were introduced in the seventh and final season of The Clone Wars, and fans everywhere were thrilled that they now have their own show.  

The team members of the Bad Batch are all together and individually agents of chaos and they feel deeply for one another and for those they come across as world orders collapse.  The trailers alone got me giddy from the premise even before I started watching the first season.  And I used to think that they were a bunch of ragtag Neurodivergent-coded characters being led by their Neurotypical leader.  And that would have been all well and fine, but several episodes into the first season and Hunter started showing more of his colours under his camo. 

He's ADHD-coded.  He sleeps after everyone else does.  And his acuity for hunting, search and rescue, honing in on specific information, making connections between seemingly unrelated things, and the unique way he keeps his team together is deepened by the same characteristics that make him different.  Yeh.  Hunter is a better hunter because he has ADHD.  

You also see how he is coded in what he struggles with.  Apart from him never knowing what to do with his face, he takes a bit longer than his peers to peter out from one intense emotion to another, and while some may call this brooding, that's usually from the perspective of being on the outside looking in, whereas we have Hunter's mind and motivations splayed out each episode as the protagonist.  We can look through him. 

The Bad Batch being led by Hunter is therefore not reflective of what is typically expected with say... Neurodivergent employees being led by Neurotypical managers “who need to have patience with them”.  But the manager himself is coded.  And leads.  

Hunter being coded is inspiring to fans as it shows that Neurodivergent characters, real or fictional, are not trapped by a destiny of being lone specialists and support staff.  But they can lead too.  And they already have been leading.  

And as for his team, I will not venture too far as to what makes either character coded as having Autism or ADHD, but I will highlight specific scenes that hint at their flavours and that have strong ties to their character arcs.  But before I do, here is some perspective. 

While not all quirky characters are written to be Neurodivergent, fans who are, and fans who are close to people who are, and see a bridge of similar characteristics, often code these characters.  And they're allowed to. 

When Tech says "I'll take it from here" to Omega who stood in and piloted the ship, it was not just said with words, but with all the feelings of praise and gratitude he had for the young Clone that we felt effused into his characteristic monotone.  When Crosshair got fixated on the black and white as Order 66 was triggered and he defected from his team, we felt for him and wanted him back.  When Wrecker juggernauts from one intense feeling to another, we're right there breaking down walls with him.  And when our resident crossover, Echo, finds his place with the Bad Batch, we feel like it's less because he's a cyborg and more that he's found his tribe.  

Both Neurodivergent fans and Neurotypical fans can relate to them, the former seeing these characters unflinchingly echo their normalcies that the world labels as peculiar, and the latter accepting these characters as likeable and whole.

And then we have Omega, who joined The Bad Batch after being adopted by them in the first several episodes.  There is a lot of mystery around her character and the jury's still out on whether she is Neurodivergent-coded or not.  Either way, I love that she's with the boys, being a Clone who is different in her own right, and having adventures together.  After all, life and joy mean having adventures together. 

Notes

This article contains no text pictures to ensure that every word can be read aloud by a text-to-speech application. And was tested using Google Chrome’s “Read Aloud” add-on.

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Bio

Tiffany Persaud is a freelance writer who has written for clients and organizations in Canada and the USA, on topics ranging from books, films and media, to health and employment skills. She has her website (https://tiffany-persaud.writing.io/) where she publishes many pieces just like these each week.

References

Mullinax, Hope.: "The Bad Batch Fans React to Seeing Themselves in Tech".  Fansided.  < https://dorksideoftheforce.com/2023/02/15/the-bad-batch-fans-react-tech-neurodivergent/ >  February 17, 2023.  Accessed on February 23, 2023.