Jack Russell

Early afternoon, we need something to watch on TV. My wife needs noise to block out the sound of other people eating and I need something other than the endless Youtube being watched by my son. Something that will keep all our attentions and so I look on Disney+ and see The Bad Batch. This series is set at the end of the Clone Wars and follows the adventures of a group of “wrong” clones. Elite misfits with specific skills, abilities and personalities. I have not done enough research yet but clearly these defective Clones have a greater personal identity than that first of the regular clones and secondary the later Storm Troopers. And yet this is a very clever production and clearly a lot of thought has gone into it. All the clones, despite being different have similar characteristics and are voiced by the same actor. This guy is amazing. He must be have conversations with himself in different, but the same, voices. I once played three four characters in the same day and lost myself in a sea of identities, I don’t know how this guy does it.

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The Bad Batch clearly draws on a familiar theme in war films, that is of a crew of misfits who come together and use their special skills to fulfil an impossible and suicidal mission. The best examples of this genre are ‘The Guns of the Navarone’ and ‘The Dirty Dozen.’ In the course of this series I will have to watch them again, just so I can be properly informed of course.

This trope is used across fiction and one of my favourites is the ABC Warriors. These are incredibly well developed characters who fight, rescue, survive and grow as individuals across time and space in the 2000AD universe. The characters map across very effectively, Hunter is similar to Hammerstein, Crosshair is startlingly similar to Joe Pineapples before his breakdown. Joe Pineapples starts as a frankly constipated character until the influence of Khaos ‘relaxes’ both him and his dress code. I am not far into the Bad Batch and I wonder what Crosshair would be like if they got his inhibitor chip out of him. Wrecker is very similar to Mongol. What is significantly different is the strong moral code of the Bad Batch. There would be no place in their ranks for Mekquake and his complete disregard for human life or the evil Blackblood, although I suspect they would find a role in the service of the Empire.

The Dirty Dozen trope manifests in the Warhammer 40K universe as the Last Chancers. The Last Chancers combine the Dirty Dozen with the dark humour that 40K inherited from 2000AD. Penal legions, Commissars and suicide missions have always been part of the 40K mythos some of which is too dark to be reinterpreted for a modern audience hence the squatting of Human bombs and Beastman attack squads alongside KKK redemptionists. The Last Chancers contain the usual characters. A hardbitten officer quite different to Hammerstein or Hunter but this is 40K where even Mekquake would be uncomfortable but probably quite at home amongst the Death Korp of Kreig. Ox performs the role of Wrecker, Mongol and Jain, Brains is the Tech of the group and even has the same goggles! Crosshair and Scope might have a shooting competition but the Last Chancers gave Games Workshop the opportunity to create a diverse and exciting series of models. We have a Vasquez like Rocketgirl who somehow reminds me of Tankgirl. Another female character is Warrior Woman who references Greek mythology. We have an American Indian who is an expert at dispatching sentries.

So last night I was spouting this to my wife. Finding all these links and she turned to me with an expression. “You probably need someone else to geek out too.” And guess what I am going to be writing about for the next few weeks…

Thank you for reading my blog. I hope you have enjoyed reading and have got something from it. Please consider supporting the Patreon, please consider buying one of the books I review via Amazon and maybe consider a little tip. If you buy me a book from my Wishlist I will thank you when I review it and when I reference it.

It is one of the weird things of my generation that we are so full of anxiety and imposter syndrome. As I write this I realise that you might not feel the same but feeling like an imposter, terrified of getting caught out or someone saying “Excuse me? Why do you think we should listen to you?” is a constant terror. Especially as I work with children…

For a long time I have worn metaphorical masks. I have given presentations shaking in side but pretending on the outside to know what I am talking about. I do not think that this is ideal so I began to read books to try to resolve what I thought were my issues and found that this is actually very common. In “How to Make Friends and Influence People” I discovered that most people in bars are desperate for someone to talk to them. That people WANT contact with others but are normally too afraid to say a simple… “Hello”. Now for me that piece of information was a God send because what is the worst that is going to happen? Someone blanks you? So I started walking upto people and saying “Hello” and if they wanted to chat, chat and if they didn’t, I went away. I acquired the nickname, Icebreaker, which I am very proud of.

There is a word “Sonder” which means the realisation that people passing by on the train, on the street or overtaking you on the motorway are having as vivid and profound an experience as you are. What is going on in your mind is the same as what is going on in theirs. There is a great danger in our age to see life as a movie. A movie where we are the star, everyone else are extras and we get the girl/prince/gold/firstprizeinthe1937olympicsthenpunchhitlerintheface. Two dangers are that the other people in this world are not zombies but people as valid and as important as us. The second is the sense of entitlement that this thinking brings and then the disappointment that, no you are not James Bond, no you can’t drink all day and still operate and your car is a van.

Look at these two. These two are irritatingly attractive, young and apparently successful. Its enough to give you a trauma and then when you compare yourself to them you know that you would never get the girl/man because you haven’t been airbrushed (if anyone discovers that these two have not been airbrushed don’t tell me. That would be enough to push me over the edge.)

Montaigne lamented in the 18th century that people were reading novels and preferring the fiction to reality. In the 21st century we must reject the fiction, or at least keep it in its place, and embrace the real life. Real life isn’t perfect, it has spots, wrinkles, stretch lines and sometimes smells strangely of feet. I made the decision a few years ago to really pursue a career as a writer and after a few years of hiding under the blankets I have finally decided to have a go.

Which brings me to the point of this post. I have set up a Patreon account which I will now shameless plug. Please please please support my Patreon. This is the link.

Thank you for reading my blog. I hope you have enjoyed reading and have got something from it. Please consider supporting the Patreon, please consider buying one of the books I review via Amazon and maybe consider a little tip. If you buy me a book from my Wishlist I will thank you when I review it and when I reference it.