Kamino - Tumblr Posts
Like I'm trying to imagine that conversation.
✨Kamino’s citadel challenge !✨
I am…very excited about this one. I’ve had this vision for a long time, and I’m so happy it’s ended up looking like that.
Now, there are a lot of things I’ll go into details along close ups under the cut; the only thing I’ll mention above is that I’m very grateful for TCW’s episode guides’ artworks, without which this would have been quite a hassle.
Okay ! Before diving into all the details and things, here is a view from above, to really display how big it is. Dimension-wise, the plank I built it on is around 110*70cm.
Now of course, the first detail which is noticeable is the floor, because, well, it’s everywhere.
This was probably the most challenging part of the build, because making a grid out of Lego is tough. Most of it is rows and rows of dark square, light lines, separated by 1*n tiles. It was the easiest way to get this pattern with as if it were just tiles; because this is one of the objectives I had here : most of this MOC is smooth, except for a few zones (usually voluntarily).
The fact I used this technic means that the floor in most place isn’t very stable, but it actually holds up pretty well because of some hidden connection points with the foundations underneath, which are mostly hidden under the cover blocks.
Here for instance, I’m using modified 1*2 bricks with a Technic hole : it hold the cover block, and it also attaches the floor to the foundation.
Of course, another problem I ran into were slopes. Much harder to get a smooth effect with the technic I’ve used, so it’s a bit wonky and unstable. Also, most them are not aligned properly, which is visible in the picture above (and some area have some really big misalignments because of a few problems I probably won’t bore anyone reading this with).
Now, since they’re also here, I can deal with the cover blocks. These were, among the details, the hardest to figure out, to get a good size while keeping some texture. Eventually I came up with this design, which, ironically enough, uses the same technic the floor uses, in a different orientation.
Another detail : the miradors :
This is one of the first elements I had in place, because I needed them to get a good sense of scale (and was made better by an existing concept art of a tower alone). Most of it does not have anything noteworthy, except for one illegal technic I used (can you spot it ?)
The pillar holding the roof of the mirador is using a technic I had in my toolbox for a long time, but had never had the occasion to use : if you take two 'brick' bricks and attach them perpendicularly on a snot brick, the small space separating the lines of 'bricks' align to let a 1*n tile in. It’s somewhat reliable (for an illegal technic) and an easy way to get octogonal shapes.
Now, before looking at the Citadel itself, let’s turn around for a minute.
This point of view obviously isn’t the intended one, but it’s still worth noting, if only for some composition.
Notice that the wall here is quite small (smaller than the miradors, even), and light gray; it’s in contrast with the towering dark gray wall on the other side, behind the citadel, which technically should give at least some impressions even to the people who never saw TCW.
Anyway, it’s also on this view that we can see most of my slope struggles, including the central one, which is the biggest I had to do.
And I can’t not mention the most important element :
What would be the challenge without a squad of clones to take it on ? These clones (4 privates and a sergent) are ready to fight ! Well. Kinda. I wish I could have actual cadets, but they are not part of the Lego universe (and the floor was enough of a fee, I can’t afford to get customs figures too). I wish I had the Dominos though. I have TBB Echo, and I plan to get my hands on Fives at some point, but they wouldn’t fit here, sadly, so instead I used some movie accurate clones (because all the others are used for a project I still haven’t posted..maybe later…)
Notably, I at some point tried to get the elevator to work - needless to say it was a disaster (it’s too close to the plate underneath to make something working).
Now, without further ado. The citadel.
I’m very proud of it. I got the proportions just right (I actually made some measurements to make sure of it), and there is just enough texture to not make it bland while leaving it as artificial. This alone took roughly 8-10h (which were all spent during an accidental all nighter, whoops), but it was worth it. It’s completely empty inside, and, in fact, the wall behind it isn’t full as well, anything behind the citadel is opened. The spikes are simple 1*3 angle plates illegally connected, and the walls’ small details were made with a bunch of modified 1*2 plates, there isn’t anything really special in it.
The only really complicated zone was the middle tower, because I had to put all the cannons while keeping it clean and smooth, and including the vertical lime lines. It was a fun challenge. And I included the 'flag' At the top, too, just a red transparent cone on a stick (there’s no need for more), which peeks above the gray wall (for composition and because of a lack of pieces).
Anyway, such a long project deserves one behind the scene photo :
Yes, my desk is messy (and include my mandatory tea cup).
On the left, you can see my remaining floor tiles, which have not been used yet; and just under the citadel, you might notice the foundations visible; it’s a checker of 2*2 tiles which gives my floor a good base to be fixed on. There are also some slopes which haven’t been placed yet (in front of the background miradors), and at this steps, there were no cover blocks or walls yet.
As far as my tools go, you might notice brick separators scattered all around my work environment (I never have enough of those), as well as a tablet in the bottom right hand corner (which i use to check and measure concept arts), and in the middle, the red triangle is an official (albeit old) Lego measurement tool which counts in stud, Lego bar holes and axe length.
Also visible, finally, is the bottom of the foundations, which are stacks of 1*2 bricks (each of the three floor layer is separated by a height of 3 bricks), which means that looking directly under it can lead to watching the dark basement of my build (which isn’t aesthetic…).
Anyway, if you read until here, thanks, I guess ? I still have a few TCW related stuff (a small one next week, some other in the foreseeable feature), so feel free to stick around and maybe leave a note, if you feel like it ? That’s it, bye !
June of Doom Day 6: Broken Promise
Fandom: Star Wars The Bad Batch
Summary: Four times Hunter broke his promise to Crosshair about leaving Kamino.
"When our training is over, I'll find a way to get us the hell away from here." Hunter sat with Crosshair. They were 15 years old. Well at least their bodies where. Their brother Tech was in the medical bay. Some regs had decided he was 'too different' and thought that starting a fight would resolve his 'problems'. He was barely breathing when Crosshair found him.
"Where would we go?" Crosshair looked up at his brother. They say on the floor, Crosshair's back against the wall. His knees where pulled up into his chest.
"I'll figure it out. I promise." Hunter put his hand on Crosshair's knee. "I promise."
"Will Tech be okay? They really messed him up."
"He'll be okay. We'll help him get though it."
"When I find out who did this, it's over for them." Drying his eyes, Crosshair stood.
"I know."
"When the war is over, we'll get out of here. We will never come back to Kamino."
"If we live to see the end of the war." Crosshair stood by his bunk. His tone was bitter as he spoke. He held his helmet under his right arm.
"We will." Hunter sat on his bunk. Wrecker had come into the barracks, years in his eyes, after some regs made fun of his scar. They had started to come up on his blind spot and scare him. While the batch did the same thing, they did it out of love.
"I need to get out of this place." Out of frustration, Crosshair threw his helmet to the ground.
"I know. I promise, when the war is over, we'll leave." Hunter sighed and leaned against the wall of his bunk.
"You said that before."
"Cross, things changed. This is where we need to be."
"After the war, you promise?"
Standing, Hunter walked over to Crosshair's helmet and picked it up. Gently he handed it to him, "I promise."
Now it was after the war. Hunter sat in the front of the Marauder. As they left Kamino, likely for the final time, Hunter looked at where Crosshair should be. However Crosshair was still on the planet. It was his choice to stay with the empire. It was his choice to stay on Kamino
Hunter understood why Crosshair hated kamino so much. It was always raining, cold, and if it wasn't raining, it was humid. The regs never acted like they were their brothers; their family. The Kaminons lacked the ability to see them as more then weapons. There was so much to hate about it; yet Hunter never did.
Crosshair was alone. Hunter had broken his promise to get him away from kamino. He hated it, but he had broken that promise over and over. Walking back to the bunks in the Marauder, the man sighed as he sat on his bunk. If he had a chance, he'd take his brother far away from the Empire.
Topica City was gone. The Empire had destroyed it. For once, it wasn't raining. Everyone was okay. Hunter stood on the landing platform that the batch had landed the Marauder on. He stared at Crosshair, trying to figure out what to say. Maybe he should remind him of their promise or how he could keep it this time.
Instead, Crosshair stayed on the platform. The batch left him there, on kamino. It was the empire that made Crosshair stay. His inhibitor had long been removed so he must believe in the cruel and corrupt system the Empire had built off the destruction of the Jedi and the Republic.
Some promises are meant to be broken. There was only so much that was in Hunter's control and staying on wasn't in it. It may have been his home but it was Crosshair's house.
Sitting in his bed, Hunter thought back to 15 years old Crosshair and teared up. He really did try to keep the promise of leaving kamino.
Dogma Headcanon
When he was a cadet on Kamino, he was not the same reg-loving guy. He broke the rules, snuck food, classic cadet behavior.
*Obviously, Tup was his batchmate. They were the closest in their group.
ANYways, in a training sim gone wrong due to their team going off protocol, his entire batch besides he and Tup got killed. Tup suffered a head wound, which while didn’t cause significant damage then, is what got the ball rolling in his chip decaying. Dogma, on the other hand, only had minor damage.
After this, Dogma followed the regs more closely, but it still wasn’t to the full extent as we saw during the show. He stopped sneaking food, and he broke the rules less, but he was still a fun guy.
One day, Dogma accidentally overheard the Kaminoans talking about the chips. He ran away back to his bunk room, but not before being noticed by the Kaminoans.
Dogma was escorted to the lab, where the Kaminoans demanded to know what he had heard. Dogma, knowing better than to lie to a Kaminoan, told them. After gaining this information, they *reconditioned Dogma, but only of the information that they didn’t want him to know. Once the process was over, they threatened harm to his person if he ever told anyone what had just happened.
After this incident, Dogma became more reserved, and only talked to Tup. This is also when he became a target of bullying, which also contributed to his love for regs as they were the only thing (besides Tup) that never hurt him.
A few days before being shipped out to their battalions, the Kaminoans pulled Dogma to the side. As a final effort to scare Dogma into behaving, they threatened to harm Tup and himself if he ever disobeyed commands. After hours of threats and a deep cut curved around his eye (which Dogma eventually got his memorable tattoo to cover) Dogma promised to never speak of what had just happened.
His first battalion was serving with the 501st, and not even a year into his deployment the Umbara arc happened.
*Reconditioning. In this little au, I imagine reconditioning to be somewhat different than what is normally seen in Star Wars fics. The Kaminoans can select what clones can and cannot remember, and to what extent. Reconditioning is very painful and traumatic, and only works when the clone is awake. The more specific an event removal is, the more pain it causes. In Dogma’s case, they knew that removing his entire encounter with overhearing the Kaminoans would be useless, and cause eventual suspicion, so they just took out the part where Dogma heard what they were discussing.
+Something to note: the more a clone is reconditioned, the less stable their chip becomes. That’s why more clones are decommissioned than reconditioned, as the Kaminoans didn’t want their plans to be revealed. In Dogma’s case, after he was reconditioned, his chip stability decreased. During Umbara, Krell noticed something weird with Dogma, and when he did some force shit and found a link to manipulate Dogma using his chip (not that Krell new that’s what it was) he used this newfound knowledge for his own gain. He now had a clone that would listen to his command, and he could destruct the clones’ trust in one another. Throughout this all, Dogma was unaware of his or Krell’s actions, and only came to when Rex was hesitating to shoot Krell. After he shot Krell, his memories came rolling in, about what he did and what Krell did to him and everything else he witnessed during the Umbara arc.
If anyone wants to write something about this go ahead! Just put the fic and where I can find it in the comments so I can read it :)
Kamino
CLONE TROOPER LORE OF THE DAY: ACCELERATED TRAINING PROGRAM
Source: Star Wars: Collapse of the Republic (2019)
Ok, so tell me why I JUST realized that 99 died in ECHO’S arms??
If we don’t get a flashback to the Bad Batch as cadets on Kamino being supported by 99, then what’s the point?
OMG THE CAMEO I DIDN’T KNOW I NEEDED IN THE BAD BATCH TODAYYYY
AZI-3 IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE DROIDS IN THE WHOLE DAMN FRANCHISE AND WOWWW
AZI-3 with the Domino Squad twins😭
Thank you Dave!
May the 4th be with you all!
OKAY SO THE BAD BATCH IS SET IN 19 BBY AND JANGO DIED 3 YEARS EARLIER IN 22 BBY. IN ATTACK OF THE CLONES A KAMINOAN CLAIMED THAT A GROUP OF PRETEEN CADETS WAS PRODUCED ABOUT 5 YEARS BEFORE OBIWAN ARRIVED SO BASICALLY...
Am I supposed to believe that Jango didn’t know about The Bad Batch or Omega? As cadets? Babies? Successful mutations of his DNA that could result in better soldiers? The only female clone of him?
He definitely knew and that makes things sadder in my brain🥲
What if Boba knew them...
The Bad Batch 1x01 spoilers!
I hate Nala Se but...was that a...redemption in The Bad Batch 1x01???
She really helped The Bad Batch get away... with Omega...her medical assistant...
Maybe Omega made her more compassionate and maybe she wanted Omega to have a better life with people she belonged with🥲
OMG YOU’RE SO RIGHT!!
I also think Nala Se might redeem herself. It kinda seems like she wants Omega to have a better life off of Kamino and she doesn’t seem to like Tarkin
THE BAD BATCH SEASON 3 EPISODE 3 THEORY/SPOILERS:
Am I the only one who thinks Nala Se plans to go after Boba Fett to get DNA to make her superior clone!? I need someone to talk to me about this!
They said Jango’s DNA is deteriorating and they need more from the source, and maybe they will just use one clone, BUT my theory is that they need a pure source...an unaltered source. See where I’m getting at here?
I WOULD DIE TO SEE BOBA IN THE BAD BATCH!! But also, no please! Not young Boba!
So, Crosshair’s CT number is CT-9904. I guess it means that the other members of the Bad Batch’s CT numbers start with 99. If they were born with those specific CT numbers, they didn’t name themselves after 99, the defective maintenance clone. The Kaminoans would never have made their CT numbers based on one defective clone so they’re clone force 99 by chance, not to honor 99 and his sacrifice... :(
WAIT I JUST THOUGHT OF SOMETHING—
What if 99 was their fifth batch mate?😭
He could have been CT-9900, which is 99 for short. He probably never interacted with other clones that would have given him a nickname, so it was probably just his condensed CT number.
If the Kaminoans were messing around with Jango’s genes to create mutated clones with enhanced abilities, then not all of them were gonna be successful, right? Maybe 99’s extremely fast aging was a result of the mutation, and then he was deemed useless by the Kaminoans and put on maintenance duty.
Clones were always made in batches of 5. The rest of his batch were capable soldiers so they trained and graduated without him...leaving him alone...
NOW IM SAD
Perhaps the only thing more disturbing than Jango Fett in phase II TCW animation style is Jango Fett in phase I TCW animation style
It’s a bit jarring
this would go crazy on the holonet
how would a planet that is perpetually raining.. work?
and yes, a "planet that is perpetually raining", would always have rain everywhere. At the lightest it's drizzling, at it's heaviest .. super drencho. regardless very damp.
some art I did for this fantastic work
how i'm tryna be by summer 😔🙏