Melbourne
March 29-30, 2025
Melbourne Showgrounds
After making cult hits out of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels, Dave Filoni turned his sights to Clone Wars spin-off Star Wars: The Bad Batch, which ran for three successful seasons on Disney+.
The series follows the ‘Defective but Effective’ clones of the special unit Clone Force 99, also known as The Bad Batch, as they fight for survival in the aftermath of the Clone War, while also trying to protect their sister, the young female clone Omega, who carries a genetic anomaly that makes her of interest to the fledgling Empire.
Before Omega’s voice actor, Supa-Star Michelle Ang, flies into Supanova in Melbourne (29-30 March) and on the Gold Coast (12-13 April), let’s look back at some of the young clone’s best moments in Star Wars: The Bad Batch.
Spoiler Warning: Contains spoilers for all three seasons of ‘The Bad Batch’
OMEGA DEFENDS THE BAD BATCH
Early in the first episode of the series, Clone Force 99 are confused by young Omega’s interest in them, asking questions about their missions, and even joining them for lunch. As defective clones, the Bad Batch are often looked down upon by standard clone troopers, and when one makes a cruel jibe at the Batch during the aforementioned lunch, Omega defends them, inadvertently starting a brawl in the cafeteria.
This sews the seeds of the bond between Omega and the Batch, and during the chaotic aftermath of Order 66, when they learn she is also an altered clone and therefore one of them, they risk their lives returning to Kamino to retrieve her.
OMEGA JOINS HERA SYNDULLA ON HER FIRST FLIGHT
During a two-part episode late in the first season of The Bad Batch, Omega befriends the young Hera Syndulla, a Twi’lek who viewers of Star Wars: Rebels
will know is destined to become one of the most talented pilots in the Star Wars universe.
Hera recruits Clone Force 99 to rescue her parents when they are unfairly taken into custody by Imperial Forces. Hera and Omega are supposed to stay on the sidelines during the mission, but Omega encourages her new friend to follow her dream of becoming a pilot, and the pair steal a ship to help with the rescue efforts.
Hera is a natural in the cockpit, and the scene also hints at Omega’s future as a pilot for the Rebel Alliance.
OMEGA RESCUES CROSSHAIR FROM DROWNING
Despite Crosshair turning against his Bad Batch brothers early in the series, Omega steadfastly refuses to give up on him. When the pair are trapped in a flooding room on the crumbling Tipoca City in the season one finale, Omega and her droid, AZI-3, rescue Crosshair from drowning.
While this did not quite mark the beginning of Crosshair’s eventual redemption arc, Omega’s actions do seem to affect him.
ADAPTING TO CHANGES
While he is often responsible for training Omega in season two, Tech, who some fans interpret as neurodivergent, sometimes has trouble relating to Omega as a child. This is particularly evident when he fails to understand why Omega is upset at Echo leaving the Batch to go work with Rex.
However, trapped together in an Ipsium mine in a later episode, the pair have a rather sweet conversation during which Tech helps Omega to understand that change is an inevitable part of life, and that while he may not feel or react to change in the same way she does, that does not mean he doesn’t care.
The conversation brings Omega and Tech closer, and she is often seen in possession of Tech’s goggles after his death.
OMEGA ESCAPES TANTISS WITH CROSSHAIR
Despite all the trouble he caused his brothers earlier in the series, when escaping captivity on Tantiss Base in the beginning of season three, Omega refuses to leave without the also-captive Crosshair.
Joining her escape reluctantly at first, Crosshair is quietly impressed by Omega’s knowledge and execution of Clone Force 99’s plans and strategies, learned from the late Tech. The unlikely duo escape successfully, eventually reuniting with the rest of the Batch.
OMEGA BEFRIENDS ASAJJ VENTRESS
After learning that M-count is behind the reason the Empire seeks Omega, the Bad Batch seek out information on what an M-count means, with their search unintentionally drawing former Sith Apprentice Asajj Ventress to their haven on the planet Pabu. Once they discover her past, the Batch are initially reluctant to allow Ventress anywhere near Omega, but Omega ultimately convinces them to allow Ventress to test her for Force sensitivity. Omega’s decision to trust Ventress is an important reminder to her brothers that in their current world, the line between the good guys and bad guys is not so easily defined.
OMEGA LEADS AN ESCAPE MISSION
After her recapture and return to Tantiss, now as a test subject for Project Necromancer, Omega spends the final few episodes of The Bad Batch befriending the other young test subjects, and planning an escape for when her brothers inevitably arrive to rescue her.
Using the skills and knowledge she has gathered over the course of the series, Omega is able to both escape the lab, leading the other captive kids to safety, and help out her brothers when they run into trouble. Her actions are a perfect example of Omega’s growth from the beginning to end of the show.
OMEGA JOINS THE REBELLION
While most of The Bad Batch’s plot centres around the Batch’s efforts to protect and guide Omega, the events of the series are interwoven with the larger backdrop of a fight for the rights of Clone Troopers to be free to seek their own future in the aftermath of the Clone War, and choose what they want to fight for, if they want to fight at all.
In the series epilogue, the now adult Omega becomes a symbol of this right to choose, as she decides to leave her brothers behind and forge her own destiny as a pilot for the Rebel Alliance.
Catch Michelle Ang a.k.a. Omega in Star Wars: The Bad Batch at Supanova in Melbourne (29-30 March) and on the Gold Coast (12-13 April).
