The Star Wars Universe has been steadily expanding to include a variety of top tier entertainment, including animated series like The Bad Batch from seasoned franchise veteran Dave Filoni. Focusing on an elite team of rogue clone commandos on the run from the Empire, it delivers action, humor, and the sort of space-faring adventure fans have come to expect from a show set in that galaxy far, far away.
As well-regarded as Filoni is, and as similar as the series is to his other hits including The Clone Wars, there are still a vocal minority of fans that don't find his latest creation so exciting. Whether they believe it has flat, uninspired characters, has a boring plot, or is filled with too much fan service, they certainly aren't shy about making their unpopular opinions known on Reddit.
Omega Is A Better Character Than Grogu
What's small, with big eyes, and possesses a keen sense of intrepid curiosity? Both Omega from The Bad Batch and Grogu from The Mandalorian, but according to one Redditor, only one of them is actually a good character, while the other is merely a plot device.
While they both have untapped powers and mysterious origins, their characters are developed very differently. Omega is depicted as a quick learner, and shows fans glimpses of her incredible skills over time, whereas Grogu is able to wield an arsenal of mind-blowing Force powers whenever it suits the story. Even if this is true to an extent, there are still plenty of fans who very much dislike Omega and find her the most annoying part of the series.
The Galaxy Feels Too Small
After The Mandalorian's second season, fans started to criticize the series for making the galaxy feel "too small". Whereas the first season made it feel vast by following the story of a lone bounty hunter and his ward, the second season highlighted all the famous faces they encountered, without thought to how inconceivable it would be for their paths to cross with the heroes and villains of the franchise.
One Redditor feels like The Bad Batch is making a similar mistake by stuffing the series with too many recognizable characters (Fennec Shand, Riva, etc), effectively making a very large galaxy feel like a very small one.
It Lacks Diversity
Recent additions to the Star Wars franchise have endeavored to be as inclusive as possible, with characters reflecting a greater emphasis on diversity in the cast and crew. One Redditor wonders if the cast of The Bad Batch has been a victim of white-washing, despite the presence of characters like Fennec Shand and Saw Gerrera.
Other fans feel that though the clones featured in the series have been greatly altered from their original genetic source, they're still based on Jango Fett, portrayed by New Zealand actor Temuera Morrison in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, who is of Māori/Scottish descent.
The Order 66 Storyline Is Played Out
The Clone Wars was an era of Star Wars lore that remained wholly mysterious until George Lucas's Prequel Trilogy, and the conflict between the Separatists and the Grand Army of the Republic plunged the galaxy into history-defining chaos. Many fans find it a fascinating time period, but one Redditor believes it's played out, especially the Order 66 storyline.
The entire plot of The Bad Batch's first season begins as soon as Order 66 is activated by Emperor Palpatine, which is something some fans believe viewers have already seen too much of. Whether they're emotionally scarred by it, or just apathetic, they don't think it needs to be highlighted in another series just from a different perspective.
Its Episodic Format Makes It Dull
With its episodic format, The Bad Batch is easily accessible, and the lack of throughline story arcs means that viewers don't necessarily have to have seen any other episodes to know more or less what's going on. In that way, it has more in common with Star Wars Rebels or the first six seasons of The Clone Wars.
One Redditor thinks that each episode being composed of one "side quest" that's resolved in the end makes the series lack cohesion, and that it will suffer without an over-arching plot better than "avoid the Empire", which is something most Star Wars heroes have been doing across a variety of media.
The Characters Aren't Compelling Enough
Looking at a group of Republic commandos, it would be easy to assume they have similar personalities, but even in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III- Revenge of the Sith, they managed to have distinct mannerisms and quirks despite wearing their helmets for 90% of the movies.
One Redditor feels that the main characters of the "Bad Batch", including Wrecker, Tech, and Hunter, don't have enough to differentiate them outside of one of them being a weapons expert, one of them being a hacker, and one of them being really strong.
Dave Filoni Is Ruining The Franchise
To many fans, creators like Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau have been the ones to save the Star Wars franchise with their series, but one Redditor has decided that because The Bad Batch is too much like The Mandalorian, Filoni is actually ruining it.
Fans might be able to extract similar details in the storylines of the two series, but it's extremely rare for any fan to find fault with Dave Filoni, who demonstrated his love and understanding for the franchise with The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels.
There's No Sense Of Time
The series begins after Order 66 has been activated, when the Jedi Purge is already underway. Based on clues said by different characters, fans can piece together a timeline for how many weeks Omega, Hunter, and the rest of the crew have been on the run from the Empire.
One Redditor thinks that having a more disciplined timeline would help fans keep better track of what's happening in the series, while others feel it's been intentionally kept vague so that characters from concurrent storylines can be featured at random.
They Should Have Been Delta Squad
With the release of the game Star Wars: Republic Commando in 2005, fans got to assume control of Delta Squad, an elite fighting force not dissimilar to the Bad Batch. While not quite as archetypal, the Delta Squad was still comprised of clones with some individuality, and they were finally made canon in Season 3 of The Clone Wars.
One Redditor wonders why the series didn't just focus on Delta Squad, which has some of the same character tropes with its characters Boss, Sev, and Scorch, just applied to a grittier reality with higher stakes. However, most fans think that the abilities and personalities of Clone Force 99 make them more interesting and entertaining.
It's Nothing But A Kid's Show
When The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels first premiered, they were each dismissed as nothing but shows for kids, but eventually, their mature themes and dramatic storytelling garnered a lot of adult fans, until their demographic was quite a bit bigger than originally intended.
One Redditor has decided that The Bad Batch doesn't have the capacity to grow with a more adult demographic since it centers so much on Omega, and her chaos pulling the Bad Batch into conflict. Other fans note that a lack of complex storytelling doesn't make or break anything in the Star Wars franchise, since most of it was built on simple but timeless concepts like Good versus Evil.