I Had Only Seen It In Fanarts, I Checked And If It Isnt The Best News Of The Day

I had only seen it in fanarts, I checked and if it isn’t the best news of the day 😭🤌🏻

daily reminder that on the side of the wolf pack’s LAATs in arubesh, it says “Plo’s Bro’s”

Proof:

Hunter & Echo: Cold Shoulder Overanalysis

Hunter: “So where exactly are we headed?”

Hunter and the others are all already on board of the ship and they don’t know where they are going - or at least they think they are going somewhere else, see Hunter‘s next question. They travel in the Remora, not the Marauder, so Echo is in command and it seems that he didn’t have the courtesy of sharing his new destination with Hunter or the others. It almost feels like Echo is holding a grudge and we didn’t get to see why even though we can assume a few things.

Whatever the reason, Hunter was Echo‘s superior when their military structures were in order but now Echo is part of Rex’s underground network and no longer hierarchically bound to Hunter. And it seems that he lets him feel that throughout the whole conversation.

Echo: “It‘s a base of sorts.”

Echo quite obviously doesn’t feel like telling Hunter, he couldn’t have been less specific. I think Echo knows that Howzer has unfinished business with Crosshair and is not happy about his return. And Echo doesn’t look Hunter in the eye, caves, hides behind typing on the console and is pretty tight-lipped. He probably feels uneasy about holding information back, especially since Hunter with his enhanced senses will immediately know something’s wrong. It feels a little like the moment between Tech and Phee when Tech hid behind his datapad before they said goodbye, at least I got the same awkward vibes. (Not shipping Hunter and Echo, obviously, just comparing the awkwardness.)

Holding back information is also a sign that Echo emancipated himself from Hunter - he doesn’t feel an obligation to fit him in…and it’s probably a sign of distrust too. Maybe partially because of Crosshair. Note how Rex mentions to Howzer that Echo already „questioned“ him. It’s an interesting choice of words.

In any case I don’t see Echo treat Rex the way he treats Hunter in that scene, ever.

Hunter: “I thought our rendezvous with Gregor was top priority.”

Hunter knows Echo’s holding back. He tries to let him know by probing him more and more, trying to worm something out of him.

Echo: “ Yeah well I‘ll pick him up once I dropped you lot off.”

There is not only the change of destination he didn’t tell him about - Hunter and the others won’t be there when Echo picks Gregor up. And he just drops it like that. It’s not like Hunter had a say in this. Hunter is presented with a fait accompli.

Hunter: “Any idea why Rex wants us there so urgently?”

Hunter knows something’s up and he can sense that Echo knows or at least suspects it. So he keeps on probing.

Echo: “He didn’t say.”

Echo is probably telling the truth - or a half-truth. He knows Rex too well and too long.

Echo: “But it must be important.”

As in: Rex has his reasons and I trust him, so stop asking.

By the way just the way Rex trusts Echo. Note how he suggests to contact Echo and Hunter - in that order. Echo comes first.

I don’t know if this is maybe also some aftermath from Echo‘s time at CF99 where they explicitly didn’t do things Echo’s way (not his, not the regs‘ way) and ignored his attempt to get them to do more and to fight the Empire - something he finally got to do with Rex. Now that he’s back with him he has a completely different standing than he had in CF99 and got his own command.

After this devestating conversation Hunter knows that he’s no longer in charge, at least not on board this ship and when it comes to Echo and the clone network. His leadership role, something very defining for him, is lost for the moment.

He turns around and I bet he already knows what he’s going to see (enhanced senses, remember). Omega imitating Crosshair - the way she used to imitate him when he was still her #1. Another defining role he lost.

Poor guy.

Spoiler!

I have frequently come across the complaint that the writers largely forgot about Hunter's enhanced skills, so during my latest rewatch, I kept loose track of any indications that Hunter might actually be using them.

In summary: he uses them A LOT.

The only episodes Hunter features prominently in where I didn't pick up on any indication that Hunter specifically used his enhanced senses were "Common Ground," "Return to Kamino/Kamino Lost," "Truth and Consequences," and "Retrieval"... And I'm sure if I rewatched those episodes more closely I'd find hints of Hunter using his enhanced skills. 

Just a few examples:

OBVIOUS: tracking Gregor's whereabouts and then sensing the hidden military installation on Daro

KINDA OBVIOUS: immediately knows which direction Omega has gone when she wanders off on Pantora; figuring out what happened to the village on Kashyyyk; sensing the Marauder being stolen on Ipsidon

LESS OBVIOUS: while Tech uses his datapad etc to keep track of his team's position on Serreno, Hunter effortlessly leads Wrecker through the city ruins, without the benefit of a map, to take a different route back around to the Marauder. 

Personally, I rather like that Hunter's skills aren't frequently given specific emphasis or a distinct cue, that his use of them is more subtle - it just makes sense that his skills are an innate part of him. Since they aren't exactly flashy skills like Wrecker's strength or Crosshair's sniping, sometimes we might overlook them, but they are still being used.

Season 1 episode 5

Cid : *calls the entire squad but Omega an absolute idiot* Wrecker : hell yeah Omega gimme five

Love that, straight to the headcanons list 😂

concept: fives and echo decide to pull a prank on Rex not too long after they become 501st. They decide to go for the obvious: pink hair dye in his shampoo.

Everything works out the way they want, they get the dye in undetected, Rex uses it without realising and ends up with a bubblegum pink buzz cut.

So he comes out of the shower and Fives and Echo are giggling and pointing, except none of the other brothers around are even batting an eye and that includes Rex, who’s now standing in front of the mirror shaving.

The twins look around all confused as their Captain puts on his armour and gets ready as though it’s just another Tuesday.

When he walks out Fives whispers “What the fuck?” and finally one of the older troopers decides to explain:

“Pretty much every rookie we’ve ever gotten has pulled the hair dye prank on Rex. Personally, I went with green. He doesn’t really care because he shaves it once a week anyway. Also, pink isn’t the most original choice.”

Meanwhile at the mess, Rex is sitting down for breakfast and reports with Cody.

“Tano again?”

“No, the shinies from last week.”

“Hm. And they went with pink?”

“Yeah, I thought they were more creative than that. You still want ‘em?”

Echo, side eyeing Hunter from the cockpit who just bent over and is squeezing his chest : …….. you good ?

Hunter : tHEY’RE SO TINY

Echo : … they are.

Hunter : IT’S SO FUCKING CUTE

Echo : It is. in a soft, shaking voice Fuck it is…

Okay so what if when the batch are just hanging out in their ship laying low and they pass by a pair of Omega’s shoes and they’re just so tiny in comparison to their big feet so they’re just like: