u/TheForlornGamer

One, Robert and Courtney aren't that far apart in age (he's 32, she's 27— only five years apart) despite Robert being a seasoned hero by the time Dispatch takes place.

Two, Hal, on the other hand, has been a hero since as far back as the eighties— longer than either of them have even lived (Kyle Chandler was 59-60 at the time of filming, which lines up with Hal's age in 2026). Hell, DCU!Hal is old enough to be their father.

And considering how similar Hal and Visi are in terms of traits - both of them being loose cannons who don't answer particularly well to authority figures, but contrast in that where one gets the job done, the other… not so much - I can't help but imagine how they'd get along with one another (if at all). Lmao

Because if Hal was annoyed with John - someone who is his polar opposite and (used to) follow orders to a T before he grew out of it - heaven forbid he spends a day with Courtney. 😭

How do you think Robert would answer that question? Or for that matter, how would the rest of the Z-Team answer that question?

Probably one of the best scenes in Brand New Day, when >!Jean asks Peter whether or not he's Peter Parker or Spider-Man, and he goes with both— finally taking the gloves off - inhibitor, rather - and unleashing his true potential.!<

You think Robert has already answered this question in his life at some point, or not yet? You decide.

Robert and Chase are voiced by Aaron Paul and Jeffery Wright, respectively, by far the biggest names in the cast and - fittingly enough - the ones that get first and last billing in the credits (Wright even getting the "and" credit reserved for the biggest names in the cast).

With that said, if Dispatch were to have these two return in the second season *and* squeeze in another celebrity voice actor to have a trinity of celebrity VAs, who'd you pick and why?

IMO, my choices would lean towards younger actors from Gen Z as a nice contrast to Aaron Paul (b.1979, Gen X) and Jeffery Wright (b.1965, early Gen X-late Baby Boomer). So someone like Mikey Madison (who is also as acclaimed as Paul and Wright considering she won an Academy Award for Best Leading Actress last year for her work in Anora) would be a good start, IMO.

Now as for what role Mikey Madison would be good to see in, like Aaron Paul, I'd like to see her play against type— as far as I'm aware, she got her start playing villainous or antagonistic characters if Sadie Atkins and Amber Freeman (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Scream '22, respectively) are anything to go by, so seeing her play an unambiguously heroic character would be interesting.

Imagine how that rep would react to sharing screen presence with, among other things: a portly plumber who's powered by mushrooms, a three-foot anthropomorphic hedgehog that can run circles around Chase, a high schooler with unlimited drip and a Gun for his Neutral Special, Ryu from Streets™, Wario (just Wario), and many more.

Feel free to discuss your choice and their moveset in the comments.

NOTE: This doesn't include the dungeons/levels introduced in updated re-releases, like the Hollow Forest from Golden or Maruki's Palace from Royal. Especially since they're entirely optional and can be skipped depending on whether or not you met the requirements for them.

Not including Blonde Blazer, Chase, or Royd - all of whom are far too obvious for the best choice in dogsitter.

Anyone else in the Z-Team is a viable (depending on your opinion) option, so you decide.

Off the top of my head, Metagross is a perfect ace for Robert, as an example. Robert pilots a steel mech. Metagross is a Steel/Psychic Pseudo-legendary that, while slow, hits hard and can take a licking and keep on ticking like Rob's mech (well, it's not that slow, but the last point still stands, repairs aside). Metagross is also noted to basically be a walking supercomputer, which checks out as Rob has a sentry mode and AI built into his mech.

Meanwhile, Gengar is a perfect ace for Visi— ghosts aren't just intangible, they're also, well, invisible to most people. And Gengar specifically is portrayed as something of a prankster and is quite fast and agile, not too far off from Visi being quick on her feet and having a mischievous streak herself (that thing with the photocopier in EP4 being an example, as well as her sabotage of Malevola in EP3).

Fairy-types are far and away some of the strongest Pokémon both in lore and gameplay, and with Togekiss gaining said typing from Gen VI onwards, it's a fitting ace for Blonde Blazer. Togekiss in battle is extremely powerful, reliable, and fast, all traits that apply to Blazer in the field, especially when she helps the Z-Team herself in the finale. Another notable trait about Togekiss per the Pokedex is the fact that they're never near any places with conflict or strife, which - in a roundabout way - tracks with Blazer (again until EP8) spending most of her time in the office instead of in the field.

But perhaps the most obvious pick for an ace is Gyarados for Waterboy. Magikarp are far from the most useful Pokémon in battle (count the number of times the Pokedex doesn't roast it for its uselessness), but if you're dedicated enough and give it time and patience, what you get is, still to this day, one of the best Water-type 'Mons for a playthrough, period. This, of course reflects Waterboy starting off as the weakest link in the Z-Team before quickly earning his keep as the WaterGOAT, especially dependant on how you distribute his skill points. Also, a common method for leveling up Magikarp is putting it first in your party before switching it out with a stronger Pokemon, like how Waterboy needs to be accompanied by other members on the Z-Team to level up quicker.

As for what Pokémon work for which member as an ace, you guys decide amongst yourselves in the comments.

FYMTBYBF 💔

For the uninitiated, when something crosses the line twice, it basically describes something that's so horrible, offensive, tasteless, or any combination of the three that it loops back to being funny.

Case in point: Prism's iconic line above. Blinding a guy with her powers during the bar fight in EP5 is horrible under most circumstances, but A) the guy was asking for it since Prism wasn't even involved in the fight, B) he said he was temporarily blinded only for Prism to matter of factly correct him that it's permanent, and C) this (possibly) same guy tries to lunge at her again in EP8, only for Prism to blind him again.

Crossing the line twice, folks. Fucked up, yet funny as all hell. 😭

Imagine Robert gets a call from a client about having to deal with your usual group of thugs. He sends in whoever to deal with it, and the thugs' boss apologizes on their behalf and offers the Z-Team member some of their hospitality as a sign of good faith.

Now you've finally reached the subject of the picture and the Z-Team member has just been roped into an ageplay session.

How would you imagine them reacting to having to defend themselves from a group of men wearing nothing but diapers?

I'm almost certain that, alongside the coffee run from EP8, this'd be a call NO ONE would enjoy at all! 😭

(For those of you who didn't immediately recognize it, this is a Substory from Yakuza Kiwami 2, a remake of the second game. Yes, this is in the original Yakuza 2 as well, by the way.)

Peter, Miles, whichever iteration— if Spider-Man were a hero employed at SDN, how high up the ladder would he be? Would he be at the level of the Downtown branch or be more at home at SDN Torrance?

And for that matter, how would the Z-Team feel about the webhead, and vice-versa? Would they be envious of him, idolize and respect him the same as they do Blonde Blazer, or would it vary depending on the person?

Let's use Flambae as an example — being that his powers are the most no-nonsense.

Fire naturally loses out to water, since all it takes is soaking Chad to nullify his powers (call back to EP1 if you chose to soak him in water; also, Waterboy says hi). However, water isn't the only thing Flambae is weak to, as Golem - a living construct made of mud and (likely) rock - also hard-counters him, as can be seen in EP5, should Robert reveal his identity to the team. Golem is a Rock/Ground type confirmed (lol).

With that being said, who do you think is the easiest in the Z-Team to counter, and who is the hardest? And yeah, since Robert functionally leads them, he counts as a member, too (should go without saying).

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, think of the main trio from Star Trek— McCoy is the hot-headed and emotional one, Spock is the intelligent stoic, and Kirk the leader and most balanced of the three. Respectively, they are the Id, Superego, and Ego.

As far as Rob, Mandy, and Courtney go, they're pretty much a classic Freudian Trio right out of the gate, IMO. And here's why.

Robert, as the stoic and analytical one behind the computer, is the Superego. Throughout the entire season, bro keeps his emotions in check (save for a few emotional moments that are completely justified), and he's the one who does most of the thinking for the Z-Team if he isn't hacking his way through their solutions. Robert's the perfect analog to Spock, down to having blue as his signature color; it's the color of his suit, his armor is a lighter shade of blue, and of course, his SDN uniform being light blue.

Mandy is the Ego, the balanced one. While she doesn't get as much screentime as the other two, she's shown to have her shit together and rarely has moments where her emotions get the better of her. That being said, how competent she is as SDN Torrance's branch leader is questionable, considering she placed the task of firing the Z-Team squarely on Robert's shoulders and told them ahead of time someone was getting cut. Surprise surprise, that worked as well as you'd expect. While Mandy has blue in her color scheme as well, Yellow is also prominent, considering her superhero alias as Blonde (a shade of yellow) Blazer, and her powers being a striking shade of yellow/gold, thus making her the Kirk.

And finally, Courtney's the Id, for reasons that she makes clear throughout the story. Emotional immaturity of a teenager despite pushing 30, impulsive, and a loose cannon, she's a quintessential Id through and through, honestly. Granted, Court's color scheme is more pink/magenta than red, but since that's still a shade of red to begin with, well, that makes her the Red Shirt, the McCoy.

Anywho, with all of this in mind— Robert, Mandy, and Courtney are Dispatch's main characters (obviously) IMO, because of this dynamic. They represent this blooming IP as a whole, and my only real gripe is the three of them not having enough screentime together. Which I hope future sequels/spin-offs can fix.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

This is one of the few times where the dialogue is somehow FUNNIER censored than it is without. 😭

In lore and gameplay, the RYNO is basically the equivalent of a walking apocalypse considering the amount of background info surrounding it, and depending on the iteration, it's just as true in gameplay.

So if you were to take it out of Ratchet & Clank and put it into a more contemporary setting (ex., Call of Duty or Battlefield), or even a superhero game (i.e., anything Marvel or Dispatch), would it still be top dog in that setting or would it be surpassed by something else?

Because if a gun like this existed in something close to our world, well… yeah — anyone who uses it is basically a god in all but name. 😭

That's it. That's the post. The funnier the better.

Also, a follow-up question— do you think they're still around in the present or have long disbanded since Robbie II died?

As a reminder, Dispatch takes place in 2023, with a flashback set 20 years prior.

Since Robert II was obviously alive back then, you guys think he was active in the late 90s to early 2000s, or for even longer?

Imagine we get the Second Season, right? And comes the eventual Big Bad looking to stir some shit up with SDN. The kicker? They're actually revealed to be Robert's younger sibling (sister, brother, or even non-binary sibling; your choice) whom Robbie sired a fair bit after Robert was born.

Since the Robertsons' past is largely ambiguous (save for a few breadcrumbs here and there) in the first season, one thing I'd like to see for the second is some more on their past - especially Robbie, whose history with Shroud all but led to a domino effect that kickstarted the events of the game proper.

While the long-lost relative trope is a bit cliched, depending on how it's handled, it can still prove to be interesting. Like, for example, maybe Robert's younger sibling is actually revealed to be good all along, like their older brother, and was stirring shit up with SDN to draw something or someone out? Or perhaps they were just fucking SDN for shits and giggles while they were fighting the real big bad on the side? Or even a bit of both - provoking them to lead them to the real threat while getting some shits and gigs in along the way. Maybe they're still somewhat resentful towards Robbie and are taking it out on Robert, but aren't anywhere near as bad as Shroud about it?

Either way, I'd love to hear what you guys think on the matter.