One evening while chilling with my friends in the Dark Side Divas’ Discord channel, a conversation came up that caught my eye. One user explained how each member of the Bad Batch are essentially Sailor Moon characters. I grew up with Sailor Moon, which is still one of my favorite series to this day. The user had never seen the show as a friend had shared the parallels with them. I mused through each character and was surprisingly delighted by how on-point it was.
It’s a study of archetypal characters. Sailor Moon and The Bad Batch’s main cast start their respective journeys as archetypes before becoming more fleshed out throughout the shows. They keep those core traits while growing more nuanced in their portrayals. The Bad Batch feels like an homage to those Saturday Morning Cartoon blocks where Sailor Moon often played in the 1990s. It leads to fun, similar connections with the shows.
So, what are the archetypes between the Batch and the Sailor Scouts?
Hunter is the leader like Sailor Moon. While he and Usagi have very different traits, both are fiercely loyal to their team and oftentimes must shoulder the burden of leadership. Though this is a hot take: I think Usagi is a much more effective leader than Hunter, especially in her later seasons. She has definitive growth while Hunter has struggled to have the essence of a character arc in two seasons.
Echo would be Sailor Venus. Minako was the original Sailor Scout who was fighting on her own before joining the larger group. When Sailor Moon is not present or unable to lead, Venus is the second in command due to her experience. Echo plays a similar role, being a vocal leader in the Batch. Like Minako, he fought for years with the 501st before joining the Batch during the events of The Clone Wars’ seventh season.
Sailor Mercury and Tech are the easy ones. They are both the brainy archetypes who tend to lean in on their gadgets to help them work through problems. Though, both can throw down in a fight if needed.
Wrecker is the fun one for me, as he represents Sailor Jupiter. He and Makoto are the physically strongest of their teams and the clear brawlers of the group. That said, both are gentle souls. Makoto is a hopeless romantic and a baker in her spare time. Wrecker is a sweetheart who gives his tooka doll to Omega and shares sweets with her.
Omega is also clearly Chibi Moon. She and Chibiusa are the kids in the group who are learning the ropes from their older teammates. Though if Omega follows Chibiusa’s path, I hope we get to see the young clone lead a team of her own one day.
Finally, Crosshair is interesting because he is Sailor Mars at his emotional core. He fights it every step of the way, though. In Sailor Moon, Rei is the most disciplined and practical of the Sailor Scouts and values traditions. She can be stern, often criticizing Usagi and her leadership. Sailor Moon and Mars constantly fight, often out of love and wanting to better the other.
That is very much Crosshair and Hunter. While much of Crosshair’s changing loyalties were because of his inhibitor chip, he stayed with the Empire because he truly believed in their preached order. He called out Hunter as a leader and questioned his ways in The Bad Batch’s series opener. He’s also the most disciplined of the Batch in his craft.
What are some other archetypal shows with neat connections like this? Let us know in the comments!