#dispatch critical

Sonar as popular pic of moistcritical 🦇

I think those moments are in poor taste and they are worse with Invisigal specifically considering that players have no choice but to interact with her. It's something that makes me dislike the writing around her character especially considering the game clearly focuses on her and frequently guilts players for not choosing her every time they can.

(I won't make friends with that one)

I often see in fanfictions Flambae hurting Robert, and it's not an issue 🤨. Flambae never apologized and doesn't feel guilty for it. Robert has to bend over backwards for forgiveness, but Flambae doesn't have to do half the effort for doing so much worse.

First, I want to be clear, Flambae is valid to be angry that he lost fingers, was sent to prison, lost a tooth/eyebrows and had been lied to. His emotions are his emotions. He's not to wrong to feel what he feels, especially when it was this traumatic or humiliating.

But Robert was absolutely right to do what he did.

Fingers : Robert had tried discussion and other ways to stop Flambae but he was trying to KILL HIM. Cutting fingers was the only thing left to survive. Flambae should not have tried to kill him when he had nothing to gain from it.* It may be bad to cut limbs, but it's worse to try to kill someone, especially when one was out of necessity and the other was by choice. Not only did Robert have the trauma of almost burning alive but also of cutting limbs from someone.

*Or he was trying to get Mecha-Man to kill him because he was suicidal. So by just cutting his fingers, Robert saved his life. Why should Robert redeem himself for that?

Jail : Flambae burnt a whole building with people still inside. It is destruction of property and endangerment of others. Then he tried to actively kill Mecha-Man, so attempt murder. 3 crimes which are rightfully sentenced to jail. If it wasn't Robert, Flambae would have still ended in prison, or dead. Robert has nothing to apologize here.

Tooth/eyebrows : Robert didn't make Flambae lose his tooth, he did it himself by trying to beat up a normie fresh out of coma who was alone in his corner, not bothering him or anyone. Robert is more responsible if Flambae loses his eyebrows (at least he get them back at the end), but it's still Flambae who started the fight, Robert clearly wanted to be left alone. Flambae was an asshole to a good hero who just lost everything and was publicly humiliated not long ago. It's just karma at this point. If he had been a decent guy and left Mecha-man alone, nothing would have happen.

Lie : Robert was 100% justified to not tell Flambae his real identity. When Blonde Blazer asked him to hide it, she says that it could be dangerous if it was known and there was incidents in the past. And Flambae is part of the team. Flambae who threathen him (even attacked him depending of your choices) the exact previous night. Robert has good reasons to fear his reaction. And he was RIGHT! Flambae did try to kill him! He only stopped because others made him. I will add that Robert doesn't own anything to Flambae. He was right to not tell him because Flambae has no right to the truth.

I'm not accusing fic writers of being stupid or evil. Of course not. Especially not when it's an issue in canon too, so it's not surprising it's reflected in fanfics too.

The climax of Flambae's arc should NOT have been to punch Robert. His issues are his violence and his anger. Why is his arc conclusion to unwind his anger by punching a guy he unrightfully tried to kill twice? And then he adds that he should punch Robert once a month to hate him less? Robert, his victim? Since Flambae's actions after the housewarming party are never critized, we're supposed to find them justified. We're supposed to see Robert being physically abused (again) by Flambae as his atonement.

Flambae is shown to be in the wrong for trying to kill Robert (again) by being publicly humiliated after the bar fight, but he never apologized for it. He's own the right to hit Robert, that's it. Which is weird because each time he was an asshole in the past, he was punished for it. Crypto Night, Waterboy, the second attempt murder... he walked out of it chastised.

It's a problem in the game in general, Robert doesn't have the right to be mad at the abuse he's suffering. Either he can't even formulate it or he's framed in the wrong if he does.

So yeah, it's not surprising to find it in fanfics when the issue enveloped their relationship. There is no questioning of it in canon, it’s normal that those who don’t look at it too closely do not see the problem.

But sometimes, it's blown up out of proportions.

I will not cite any example - and I ask that no one cites any fanfiction or author. But when Flambae rapes, blackmails, exploits Robert’s doubts about his sexuality, tries to kill him, scarres him willingly (or because he tried to kill him, so not the kinky way), physically and/or psychologically abuses him… Robert should not be the only one to pay for his "wrongs", the only one to apologize and/or be the one who must take the initiative to seduce the other. Other who never questioned himself and never apologized.

(↑ I witnessed all if it to be clear, I don't make them up)

Even in the case where Robert starts a relationship with Flambae without telling him who he is (which sucks of him, Flambae does not have all the information in hand to decide if he wants him), at the moment his revenge consists of trying to kill Robert (AGAIN), he must apologize and repent too.

(Some people tried to twist it in Robert being somewhat racist bc, as a immigrant, Flambae was sentenced harsher than he should. But that's not Robert's fault, it's the justice system's. He has his own work, he can't follow up with every villain he arrested. Why Flambae MUST be special? Flambae accusing Robert of being racist sounds like he's finding every excuse to justify his anger and abuse)

Because often, only one of the two regrets and repents, while the worst - by far - has never questioned himselves. Robert has to kneel, beg, cry, be shamed and despised, be punished, go far in beyond for forgiveness and a second chance, while Flambae doesn't have to lift a finger. Or rather, he has to do one thing: accept Robert back. How glorious of him.

This treatment of Flambae makes me very often think about Visi's treatment in the game: forgiven for everything, Robert can be mistreated and insulted without consequence and he is the villain if he is less than perfect, while the other does much worse to him. It's funny because sometimes, in the same fics, Robert doesn't forgive Visi for, in the end, doing a lot less worse than Flambae - whose worthiness of redemption is never even called into question. I know it's probably bc the writers are fed up with her in the game, but I can't not notice the double standards, and have to seriously think if misogyny didn't play a part in her treatment.

If we as a fandom can be critical of Invisigal, we can be critical of Flambae as well. Both should be treated like accountable adults instead of unstable toddlers.

I'm not saying Robert can't feel sorry or guilty for what he did to Flambae (he's a good hero after all), and I'm not saying he should automatically realize that what Flambae does to him is bad and undeserved. And I certainly not saying that all fanfic should be sanitized and clean - I love myself a good toxic fic (I have 3 yandere au myself).

But please, don't pretend the relation is/will become more healthy. I don't like being flashbanged by abusive relationships masquerading as healthy ones.

And I’m not saying you can’t still like Invisigal. I’m just saying I don’t comprehend why anyone would, and I truly have no interest in hearing any arguments in defense of her.

Blonde Blazer cuts one of the members in the team to send a message when one of the two candidates for cutting, Coupé, makes a comment about how she needs this job, implying she could really suffer if she gets cut, and this is never really challenged! like it's not considered a blemish on Blazer's character at all and she doesn't even bring up how messed up that was for her to do when the cut member reappears on Shroud's team. not to mention, they tell you straight up that SDN responds to subscribers' calls for Dispatch, meaning you have to be paying a subscription service in order to be helped by SDN's heroes - a really interesting facet that i thought would come up in a way where at some point you'd have to make one of those Moral Choices In Video Games where Robert or one of the heroes out on dispatch notices someone who isn't a subscriber needing help, but since they're not subscribed, corporate would tell them not to engage, and you'd get the choice to obey or do the right thing. hell, a way that they could've made Invisigal at all endearing instead of making her one of the most insufferable characters i've ever seen put to screen would be to have her be someone that would go "screw that noise i'm helping this one out", maybe giving some hints that she was poor in her upbringing by having her help out other poor people who can't afford the service or maybe even just someone who doesn't want SDN to put surveillance in their house. i mean she's the invisibility powered character, i feel like she'd be the nr 1 candidate for a character to go "this whole surveillance thing SDN has got going on is fucked up".

but no! there's no tension at all, the game is so disinterested in actually using its own premise and setting beyond having vague gestures at a Found Family or whatever - i don't think it ticks the found family boxes either but it seems like the kind of buzzword they'd use anyways, so. whatever. like even on a smaller stupider scale, Dispatch is just a hypocritical dull mess, like how it has Invisigal claim that she'd be doing the pegging (in another unnecessary sexual comment towards a guy who has been refusing her advances for four episodes at that point) but in her dream, that is not even the case! they already showed that is not the case! it wants to suggest at being a little Subversive and Transgressive by making little cheeky comments, but doesn't actually commit to it and thus ends up remaining extremely vanilla throughout the game's run-time. it's trite hetslop that everyone keeps uplifting like it's some kind of golden standard of writing and also somehow queer because it had the gall to apparently have the lgbtq tag. even people i otherwise trust the opinions of end up liking it, to the point where i'm starting to wonder if it is somehow hypnotizing people into liking it.

Flambae's entire deal being an elaborate accent joke, Prism the loud cussing fatherless black rapper from Flint Michigan, the only reference to queerness being a couple of throwaway jokes (no before you start condescending about how "not everything has to be queer" i don't mind Robert only having female love interests. it's just very funny to see the fandom jack off itself over the "bisexual representation"). Very Obama era for something that started development in 2022.

The sexual harassment schtick is also very interesting because clearly you are not meant to take it seriously, it's funny slapstick the same way Flambe's shenanigans are, but then you have very earnest and serious romances so it just comes across as kinda...kitschy? This was written with cishet men who would like to be dickgrabbed by skinny karlach in mind, but then you get Visi, who keeps up that behaviour while you're in a relationship with Blazer, and obviously you're meant to find it titillating that you have both the madonna And the whore creaming themselves over you but it feels like it kind of takes away from the earnestness of the romances? (And also their characterization, visi especially, but that's for another post).

The ending was also... The final showdown being about saving your heckin pupperino is so aggressively reddit I was left kinda speechless lowkey. Chase and Phenomaman suddenly not being able to use their super speed to grab your dog from a Normal Dude was extremely stupid.