Dispatch is kind of like if Peacemaker or The Boys were a video game. It’s made by AdHoc, featuring staff who worked on both The Wolf Among Us and Tales from the Borderlands. It’s a game where you are given choices to make, like a Telltale game, but there’s another component where you are actually a dispatcher for villains turned heroes.
Without giving any spoilers, it’s also sort of like To Sir With Love, Lean on Me, Freedom Writers, and Stand and Deliver — that whole movie genre of teachers helping poor-performing students achieve greatness. Except this time, you’re a hero who has been disgraced, given a second chance to help villains who are also turning their lives around by becoming heroes. The banter of the team you manage is somewhat similar to those movies, but they all grow on you over time as you learn more about them.
Your colleagues are very endearing all the while. It’s a game whose cast makes it fun to play, and eventually replay just to see all the possible outcomes. It’s like a television show that’s been made into a game, but with that interactive element of sending your team for what tasks you think they can do best, based on their stats.
I recently had the opportunity to attend a press conference and interview some of the stars of Dispatch. It was a wonderful experience, thanks to the voice actors’ kind and enthusiastic responses to my questions.
I wish I could’ve asked more questions because I was having so much fun with the team, but alas, time was limited. Hopefully, after reading the voice actors’ responses, you will feel compelled to check out Dispatch for yourself too!
What Drew You To Your Character?
Laura Bailey (Invisigal)
Well, I think what drew us to the project in general is how amazing of a team AdHoc is. We’ve worked with them on Telltale Games in the past, and their writing is incredibly fun, unique, and witty. It’s a joy to get to say dialogue like they’ve written. And so, when they approached to be a part of this game, I personally jumped at the chance.
I was initially cast as Blonde Blazer and recorded a lot of the game in that role. And then Pierre was like, “We’re having trouble finding the right sound for Invisigal.” Like, she’s got this snarkiness to her, and he said I was “too dorky.” Those are his exact words. He was just like, “I think you’re a little bit of a dork, and let’s not.” So we just swippy swappied.
Erin Yvette (Blonde Blazer)
Yeah, you know you’re going to be in good hands in terms of the team as a collaborator, and also just the material that you’re going to be given to work with. And going into a project with that amount of confidence is really nice. It’s a luxury, but for our characters specifically, we had a somewhat winding journey where I worked with AdHoc to create a vertical slice to pitch the project around.
So they did the Billboard scene between Robert and Blazer, and I voiced Blazer for that. And then they had me back to do the scratch. So basically, I recorded the entire game as Invisigal for the animation and storyboard team. And at that point, they had brought on Laura.
Alanah Pearce (Malevola)
I would say I was drawn to the project and the team, but first and foremost was AdHoc. Obviously, I’d heard about the studio being formed of a super excited group of people from Telltale, such an iconic studio that made so many impactful video games, and they’re all so talented and such good writers. So that was first and foremost. I said yes, before even reading anything about the characters and doing whatever you want.
But I think Malevola especially, getting to know her over the course of recording – because we recorded in… sometimes it’d be several months of a break. There are things that I relate to, and I think that’s the thing that you have to find when you’re acting is the parts that you can find yourself in for sure. And things that I don’t relate to at all, like being able to teleport would be great, but I can’t do that. Can’t make portals, devastatingly. But I think she’s so self-assured and so cool in a way that I don’t know if we all want to be, but that I would certainly like to be.
There’s just something kind of empowering about how self-assured she is while also being very fun and a little bit flirty and certainly very courageous in having a giant sword, and she’s really hot, so that.
Mayanna Berrin (Coupe)
I think I like how brooding and sad Coupe is, or just stoic. And she’s so different from me. I think it’s fun to get to embody somebody who’s just so closed off and so cold and violent and then go, “Well, that’s done. Time to hang out with my friends. Teehee.”
Thot Squad (Prism)
What drew me to my character is because of who I am now, the number one pop star. That’s something I’ve always wanted to be. I’ve always wanted to be Beyoncé, you know what I mean? And so getting to play that character of the pop star, but also the character of “I’m gonna say what I want, I’m gonna do what I want, and y’all gonna have to deal with it.”
Because so often in life, you’re told to be like, “Oh no, you can’t do that. Oh no, you can’t say that.” Stuff like that. And it’s like she doesn’t care. She’s gonna do it and she’s gonna say it. And being able to just be uninhibited and just go for it, that’s what really made me say, “Oh, I like this girl.”
Travis Willingham (Phenomaman)
He is an incredibly powerful being, an alien in fact, from another world. And I love the fact that even though he’s incredibly durable, strong, has all of these powers, he cannot figure out human beings to save his life. He’s probably the most awkward person in the entire game, which is great. And other than that, that strong ‘stache game was really just… it just drew me in. And really, I’m a sucker for a crazy ‘stache on a super powerful, super big character.
Joel Haver (Waterboy)
He’s an awkward mess of a man, Waterboy. He’s falling apart at the seams. He struggles with navigating social settings, such as interviews, which is something I can relate to.
I relate to that social anxiety he has, and that regret with every word where you say the wrong thing; you put your foot in your mouth. And I think that was a fun part of the character. Like, he kind of finds his confidence the longer you spend with him. But he starts from a pretty dire place.
Lance Cantstopolis (Flambae)
I mean, what drew me to it was just that it was offered. It’s not like I had my pick of ten people. They came to me and said, “We’ve got this video game. Jeffrey Wright’s involved, Aaron Paul.” I’m like, these are big guys. I’ve never done voice acting for a video game. This is a huge opportunity. It seemed like a big-budget production with talented voice actors. Then I got the script. I’m like, “Yeah, I could do this. It’s in my wheelhouse, a supremely confident, cool guy.” And so, yeah, that’s what drew me to it. I could do it, and I was getting paid.
How Did You Prepare For Voicing The Character?
Laura Bailey (Invisigal)
Oh gosh, I don’t know how much prep to figure out the voice. Honestly, it’s a weird thing. Like most games I work on, it’s not a conscious effort to shift my voice to something different. It’s as soon as you start playing that role, your posture changes, and your inflections change, and you end up putting your voice in a different place in your body just because of that. And it all informs the sound.
How the line comes out of your mouth, whatever you have to do mentally and physically so that it all works and all meshes together, is just kind of, “That’s the answer.”
Erin Yvette (Blonde Blazer)
Yeah, I think it was more an attitude sort of a thing. I guess I did do a little bit of prep in terms of what they had given.They had mentioned touch points in terms of tone, because I do think Dispatch lives in a very specific place in terms of the comedy and the heart and the drama and the action.
So I remember I watched the TV show Barry. That’s a good show. And I rewatched Veep, which I think is a great comp for the Z team. Everyone’s a little bit of an idiot, but a lovable idiot. And they mentioned The Office, which I had already seen. They mentioned The Boys in terms of a darker superhero aspect to it. So that’s kind of the prep I did just to get in the mindset of where tonally the game lives, which ultimately just told me cinematic, grounded with a lot of pops of color and comedy and heart.
But yeah, I guess in terms of [preparation], I warmed up. I warmed up my voice in the mornings.
Alanah Pearce (Malevola)
I would say the AdHoc team: I’m going to say it over and over again. The AdHoc team is so good in that sometimes you have to find a character, and figure out how they sound through the words. But their writing is so well done and so deep and so thorough, and when you’re walking into a booth and reading excellently written dialogue, it makes your life very, very easy.
So I’d say specifically for Malevola, the only thing that I really had to do was figure out posture. I feel like that really helps with the performance. It’s just the way that you’re standing. There are some characters that, when I’m voicing them, I prefer to sit. I was doing something literally just last night that I had to do; they call them “Box in combat,” where I couldn’t do it unless I was doing this (makes robot posture). I’ve done a robot before, where I just sit like this and barely blink.
So Malevolo was very much posture, I think a very confident posture of somebody who does actually take up a fair bit of space both in her vibe and obviously physically. So that really helps kind of put you in the headspace immediately. It’s just the way that you hold yourself sometimes, even the things that you wear. I was wearing big boots every time I did it, just because it puts you in a different headspace, the way you feel about your presentation.
But genuinely, mostly it’s showing up and being like, “Oh wow, you’ve written something truly incredible.” Makes it very easy to do. Working with the directors and hearing the cast in your headset, they often play their line of dialogue before you give your line of dialogue. It was incredibly easy to do, because the dev team did such a great job that they made our jobs extremely easy.
Mayanna Berrin (Coupe)
Oh hot tea, because it’s in my lower register, and it gets scratchy down there after a while. You’ve got to keep warm; you’ve got to do things like shake out the nodes, get a little going in there.
Thot Squad (Prism)
I think definitely in the posture of it all too. I’ve never voice-acted before. I’ve never done film acting. I’ve been a stage actor for 20 years. Whenever I’m acting, I always look at the person. And so I would bring that in and just decided that the script was the person I was looking at.
So whatever the scene was, I’m in it. Two seconds before I’m about to record, I’m like, “Oh, you’re not going to do it like that. Now, listen here for a little bit.” I decided I’m in the scene rather than, “Oh, I’m in this box.” That really helped me get into it.
Travis Willingham (Phenomaman)
Yeah, they said that they designed Phenomenon’s superior physique off of mine, which is definitely true—my eight pack. So, you know, I showed up to the sessions wearing just briefs basically, and they quickly told me to either put on the nipple paste, or just a onesie.
Joel Haver (Waterboy)
I actually came on doing more of a voice than I wind up doing in the game. My first voice acting session was all scrapped, because I was high-pitched. Kind of voice squeaky, breaking a lot, cracking my voice on purpose a lot. And I think I laid it on too thick and I had to rein it back into more my normal voice.
They chose us because they like us, you know, the timbre of our voice, our deliveries, our comedy stylings. I actually had to kind of clue into that fact, because I was trying at first to bring a little too much character to the character rather than just let it be extension of me and finding the organic self in that.
Lance Cantstopolis (Flambae)
I think this is just a testament to the people involved with the game. They wrote that they had a clear vision for what they wanted, and they selected people whom they knew could achieve it. And it’s cool to work with people in a collaborative environment. It’s not a matter of do or die.
We were all hired for a reason. And then they’re superb at molding you when you’re in the booth, like you’re 90% there. And then they’re good at tweaking with the 10%. We all got hired because they liked our baseline, which was really cool. There was no pressure. It was like working with buddies.
What Theme From The Game Resonates The Most For You?
Laura Bailey (Invisigal)
I think there’s a through line of hope. I think as a lot of us feel in life right now, Robert begins his story feeling quite powerless. And I think that’s true for a lot of the Z team as well. The desire to change, the desire to be a certain way and feeling powerless to do so on their own. And as we see in the game, everyone’s kind of given their opportunity to manifest that change through diligent action and doing the right thing over and over and over again.
And whether they do it or not is up to you as the player, and up to the characters based off of how you interact with them. But I think that, yeah, there’s generally the sense of hope that we can all be better.
Erin Yvette (Blonde Blazer)
Nothing is so broken that it can’t be redeemed.
Alanah Pearce (Malevola)
I think the found family aspect of Dispatch is something we can all relate to. And it really is the core of the game in many ways. It’s like how you can grow as a person and change your life just based on having people around you who love you.
That’s what the human experience really is. At the end of the day, it’s just people who love and support you, and you give it back to them, and you all grow together. I feel like that is pretty well universal.
For Malevola, I would say I definitely tend to have walls up with people the first time that I meet them. And she’s very much like that, too. Breaking that down with that character over the span of like a year and a half that we were recording, and recognizing the things that I do in that way.
I wish that I could be like, “And every person I meet is my best friend”, but I’m really bad about it. It’s like, [there’s] a stranger, and I’m afraid. I need to get over it. So I think there were parts of getting to do that that could be a little cathartic for me personally. It’s definitely something Malevola experiences in her arc.
You can have preconceived notions about yourself based on the way that you look. You can defy the preconceived notions, and you don’t have to become the thing that everyone is telling you that you are based on the way you look.
Mayanna Berrin (Coupe)
Being different is not just because you come from one place. It doesn’t mean that your fate is set and that you have to continue to be the same person you’ve always been. That there’s an opportunity for you to make different choices. And that even if you come from a tough background or a traumatic experience, there is hope, and there’s a possibility for a better future.
Thot Squad (Prism)
I think that one of the themes that I want people to get from Dispatch is that you can make choices in your life that can lead you down different paths. You don’t have to do the thing that you think you have to do if you don’t want to. And that’s in the characters and in the storyline, but also literally in the gameplay.
It’s like you want a ham sandwich or a veggie sandwich, and you’re a vegetarian. You can pick the ham sandwich. That’s a very low-stakes example, but you get the option to explore a different way of thinking and a different way of interacting that might be uncharacteristic for that character. And hopefully, people can take that with them. And that just thinking like, “Oh, what’s another thing I could do here?” And it will take your life in a new direction, leading to a more positive outcome.
Travis Willingham (Phenomaman)
For me, the thing that jumped out the most was just the ability to roll with the punches. Robert Robertson has a role as Mega Man that so many people envy. And he just keeps getting punched. Just moment after moment. He finds himself having to humble himself to go to SDN. It’s a new opportunity to help people find a new purpose in their life.
And, you know, obviously crossing paths with some amazing characters along the way, but he has a perseverance about him. He’s trying to make the best of a real crud sandwich in some situations. He does a really great job of finding his way back to light and all that.
Joel Haver (Waterboy)
I think it’s so refreshing to see any piece of media that carries with it a sense of realism, but not like cynical realism; Realism that has optimism running underneath it. There’s a belief in the good in people. Naturally, when you have super villains who are trying to make the transition to superheroes, there’s a bit of a sense that people aren’t doomed to be who they are, you know?
I think that’s a really powerful message to send to anyone who might feel lost or have some regrets in their life. You are not defined. You are not set in stone by the things you’ve done. You have a whole life ahead of you to do great things. I think the game gives the player a lot of agency. And it’s not one of those games that you’re choosing to be evil or good. It’s just like “How can I work towards good?” And I think that’s a nice sort of feeling to come away with playing the game.
Lance Cantstopolis (Flambae)
The lesson in the game is that people can change. So many characters have this great arc. And for as fantastical and action-packed, how grounded the game feels at times too. So even though the backdrop is kind of “Superhero,” it feels very real. Like you may have an office job, but you relate so much to it, even though they have capes and things. So it can be fantastical, but very grounded and human at the same time.
What Do You Want Players To Walk Away Feeling After They Play Dispatch?
Laura Bailey (Invisigal)
I want them to go back and do it again.
Erin Yvette (Blonde Blazer)
Curiosity. Go back and see what you missed. Regret, depending on some of their choices. Personally, I might be invested in certain choices.
Alanah Pearce (Malevola)
I hope they find it funny. The biggest one, probably, is that sense of family. I think it’s a really big core of the game that we keep talking about. The found family thing that you don’t have to have the family that you were born with. It’s obviously a struggle that many people face as well. But mainly, I want everyone to have really good laughs.
Mayanna Berrin (Coupe)
I just hope they smile and laugh.
Thot Squad (Prism)
I want the game to end. I want the credits to roll, and I want them to open it right back up from the beginning and say, “Oh, what if instead of going left, I go right?” Then play it again, and then close and be like, “Okay, now that I’m done with it the second time… Okay, I remember Episode 2. I could have went up, but I went down.”
I want them to play the game like 12 times after they’ve played it once and see all the different possibilities. I want them to demand a sequel.
Travis Willingham (Phenomaman)
Well, I think if players walk away after playing Dispatch the first time and aren’t jonesing for more, maybe we’ve done something wrong. I mean, the ability to go back and see what other choices lead to what other story lines and how that affects the relationships in the game is one of the best things about this style of game. And the people at AdHoc are the best in the business at building those narratives. So hopefully they’re just fiending for me.
Joel Haver (Waterboy)
I think coming away from this, just feeling like you saw a great piece of art that a lot of people made for you, whether that’s the voice talent or the people who slaved away animating, character designing, and programming this thing. I think it’s so cynical right now in the gaming industry with all the layoffs and stuff like that. And I think any piece of art that feels kind of untouched when it gets to your hands is a great gift.
You know, it feels like executives didn’t ruin this thing, or you’re not being rung for every cent you have. You’re lucky to get that. But yeah, I hope they feel like they experienced something that somebody wanted to tell them rather than something that was focus tested to oblivion.
Lance Cantstopolis (Flambae)
Like, “What if I did this?” So much of our life, we think, “What if?” Well, now you can. Now you can go back and be like; [it’s] the one chance you have to see your mistakes, right? Rewrite history or make some new mistakes. Then go back. Just a sense of fun and optimism.
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Author: 360 Technology Group
