Ready to Patch Things Up (May 30, 2024)

[Bandit LOAF]

When Maniac and Blair first arrive on the Tiger Claw they're wearing CSS Concordia patches on their peacoats. It's not really clear why unless the only other option was a Tiger Claw one.





He changes sweaters between acts, too! Or I guess maybe he just hot glues a different patch onto the same sweater.




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Original update published on May 30, 2024

 

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Blair does have an opportunity to change. He has a bit of a nap at least before visiting Paladin on the Claw (maniac wakes him up) so presumably he throws his stinky Concordia one in the wash and grabs a fresh Claw sweater when he gets up to go ask Paladin about Pilgrims. Having different patches while en route to the claw vs after arriving kind of makes sense. Why it's a Concordia patch is likely because that's what they already had available without making a third version that the audience for the most part would never notice.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

I considered that but it's so antithetical to how Chris Roberts treats details like that... on the balance I think the choice of the Concordia for the patches was intentional (they could've just as easily used the non-denominational Confed patch that the guards wear).

 

[ChrisReid]

He's just a big Concordia fan and picked up a Concordia jacket at the Academy gift shop on his way off Earth.

 

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I considered that but it's so antithetical to how Chris Roberts treats details like that... on the balance I think the choice of the Concordia for the patches was intentional (they could've just as easily used the non-denominational Confed patch that the guards wear).

I'm not saying you're wrong, but I'm scratching my head trying to figure out under what scenario Blair and Marshall would be wearing the Concordia patches... When Tolwyn asks Bellegarde what ship is the closest available, his response seems to indicate that at that point Blair and Maniac are already assigned and en-route to the Tiger Claw.

The way the movie is structured it's never stated but kind of implied that they're both fresh from the Academy, but I suppose there's a case for a scenario where after the Academy they are very briefly assigned to the Concordia but shuffled immediately from there to the Claw and that the Diligent has actually just been visiting the claw before the start of the film.

Another possibility is that they served on the concordia briefly while it was near earth, or at least away from enemy lines for a while (maybe doing command training like suggested by WC Academy TV). Either way the movie events more or less spell out they haven't encountered the Kilrathi in combat before. Or maybe the patches are related to battle groups and they were serving on a ship in the Concordia Battlegroup.