#dispatch discourse

Robert Robertson comes from a generational heritage of heroes. He was raised to be Mecha Man. His behavior speaks to rigorous, military-esque training from childhood. He's been working essentially as a combination tank operator, EMT, cop/soldier since at least 18 years of age. As a kid, his dad told him to "get up" after being shot in the ear by a laser gun.

My point is- Robert is tough as nails. Ofc course he has chronic pain and trauma and deserves a good long cry. He deserves to break down. But he's not going to do that easily. He's not going to allow himself to be soft without significant effort.

I feel like often people skew Robert more toward the softer emotional side- writing him more as Waterboy's personality or fanon Jaskier, to use a non-Dispatch example. And not that there's anything wrong with babygirlifying your faves- it's a valid part of fandom! But for Robert- it sometimes feels a bit too OOC, at least for my personal taste.

The litmus test to evaluate a Robert Robertson depiction is - "Is this Robert as tough or tougher than Steve Rogers?" While there are differences, Steve Rogers and Robert Robertson have enough in common to be used as a sort of bench mark. Captain America's experience in war and as a hero are similar to Mecha Man and pre-serum Steve has a similar tenacity and health issues to post-accident Robert. I would argue for Robert being equally as tough as Steve Rogers- and furthermore, I would argue Robert is likely tougher in certain aspects.

The difference lies in Robert being brought up from childhood to be MechaMan. Steve Rogers was not trained from youth to be a soldier. He was an artist. He went through poverty and illness, but he had a non-violent career and joined the army later in life out of personal conviction to do the right thing. Robert Robertson in contast was raised and trained from birth to fulfill the MechaMan legacy, and then took on that mantle extremely young. He had no career besides the suit. He fully expected to die in it. Unlike Steve, who had at least the support of his mother, Robert's main influence was a cold and miltaristic father. While of course when it comes to the super serum, Steve is physically stronger- Robert is likely emotionally tougher than Steve Rogers, or rather more emotionally stunted. Stunted due to being brought up from youth for the purpose of living a life of brutal service with the expectation to die in the line of service.

a lot of talk about Sonar having better stats (not necessarily true, Coop was go-to in my playthrough) or about how he was clearly better for the story (not an objective fact, not sure why some people treat it as such)

I will admit that Sonar seemed to have more presence overall than Coop did but we already know Adhoc wasn't looking to write their women well

I can understand people not liking Invisigal or Blonde Blazer –– they're fully entitled to their own opinions, what I have a problem with –– however, are people who clearly do not know what they're talking about at all and are more often than not pissy that the writing isn't what THEY think it is, that isn't characters always doing the right thing 90% of the time and are always be 100% wholesome, tension-less conflict-less blorbos like

but for the love of christ man, stop calling his experiences racism. his bat powers is not used as a metaphor for race more than it is a metaphor for addiction. he cannot control his bat form. malevola, his sponsor, says she's helping sonar "handle [his bat form]". sonar is a WHITE MAN voiced by CHARLIE MOIST CRITIKAL. sonar sympathizes with the dispatch version of ELON MUSK. sonar is coded to be a WHITE CRYPTO DUDE BRO.

on the other hand, i hate that people still compare coupe's issues with sonar's, because most of the time, people just tend to minimize coupe's issues. her storyline is not the most blatant but there are themes of loss of acceptance and hidden vulnerability. while sonar grieves his dignity in his fight, coupe grieves the friends she lost. her desire for acceptance, especially if you also perceive her as autistic coded, is so Important and people who dismiss the severity of this just tells me they don't understand what it feels like to be ostracized