If Dispatch Season 1 Could Redeem Flambae, I’m Ready For Season 2 to Salvage Its Most Unlikable Character

Dispatch is my second-favorite game of 2025. It earned that spot by feeling genuinely refreshing in a year crowded with sequels and spectacle. Frankly, I think it just boils down to the fact that it felt irrevocably fresh: its episodic cadence, witty writing, and fantastic take on superhero dramas made it an endlessly fun experience for me. But more than anything else, Dispatch is memorable because of its characters.

Dispatch’s characters aren’t aspirational. They’re realistic, funny, and completely relatable in all their messiness. And even when some characters act erratically (I’m looking at you, Invisigal), I can dissect their intentions and hearts without even stumbling. That character-first philosophy is what makes Dispatch work. It pushes the player into moments of moral tension, then ones where tenderness and camaraderie take over. Finally, the game presents the player’s largest dare: to give the downtrodden Z-Team another shot.

AdHoc Studios’ debut title is all about second chances, which is why I, alongside the many players who fell in love with the project, cannot wait for potential Dispatch Season 2 news. Most of all, I can’t wait to see what characters come back and what canons become established. For all the possibilities, however, there’s one character I have my eyes on. And if you paid any attention to the themes of Season 1, I think you should, too.

Toxic Should Get the Flambae Treatment for Dispatch Season 2

Dispatch Episode 1 wastes no time establishing its tone. The opening moments throw players directly into chaos, with Robert confronting Toxic and forcing an impossible choice almost immediately: spare Toxic, or throw him off the balcony. It’s a scene designed to unsettle, not just because of the violence, but because of what it reveals about Robert. He’s capable of kindness, but he’s incredibly desperate.

Although Dispatch is a game where choices matter, this one doesn’t, really. No matter what choice you make, Toxic survives. If spared, he sells you out. If thrown, he proves himself disturbingly resilient and later aids Shroud. The message is clear: Toxic isn’t a one-off problem you can simply remove. He’s a recurring presence, a symptom rather than a cause.

At face value, Toxic is everything Dispatch invites players to reject. He’s abrasive, selfish, crude, and seemingly incapable of growth. His role in the finale leans heavily into shock humor, cementing him as a punchline rather than a person. And yet, that’s exactly why he feels like unfinished business. And it may be no coincidence that Flambae once occupied a similar space.

Flambae’s Redemption Proves Dispatch Knows How to Rebuild Trust

Before Dispatch Season 1 fully unfolds, Flambae is easy to write off. He’s arrogant, antagonistic, and openly hostile toward Robert. Understandably so in later episodes, given their shared history and the fact that Robert left him permanently injured. When Robert reveals his identity as Mecha Man, the game could have easily turned that revelation into a point of no return for Flambae. Instead, Dispatch does something much more interesting: it forces proximity.

Flambae doesn’t forgive Robert overnight. His distrust lingers, his bitterness is earned, and his growth happens slowly, in fits and starts. By the time Dispatch Episode 5 arrives, and by the time his musical moment lands, it doesn’t feel like a heel turn. It feels like he finally lets loose. Flambae becomes a fan favorite not because the game excuses his behavior, but because it allows him to evolve without erasing the damage he caused or endured. That arc is proof that AdHoc Studios understands how to rehabilitate a character without flattening them. Which brings us back to Toxic.

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Why Dispatch’s Toxic Works Better as a Teammate Than a Punchline

If Dispatch Season 2 leans into its own themes, Toxic shouldn’t stay on the margins. Throwing him onto the Z-Team begrudgingly and perhaps unwillingly would immediately create narrative friction. Here’s how Toxic as a teammate could work so much better than him as a straightforward antagonist:

• His dynamic with Robert could mirror Flambae’s early hostility. However, this relationship can start with a different emotional texture: less wounded pride, more corrosive resentment.
• Toxic’s defining trait—his cruelty—begs to be interrogated. Dispatch excels when it asks why people behave the way they do, not just what they’re doing wrong. Giving Toxic more screen time could uncover the insecurity, fear, or survival instinct underpinning his behavior. Not to excuse it, but to contextualize it.
• Toxic has value, mechanically. Sure, Toxic is an emotionally charged character ripe for the taking. But his powers would work wonders for the Z-Team. He possesses regenerative abilities, has the power to manipulate acids, and can fly. Combined with Dispatch pair synergies, he can be unstoppable.

His antagonism could sharpen team dynamics, test Robert’s leadership, and create moments of dark humor that feel earned rather than gratuitous. He doesn’t need to become likable overnight, or at all. What he does need is dimension. If Flambae’s arc was about learning to trust someone who wronged him, Toxic’s could be about learning to exist in a system that doesn’t reward cruelty as currency.

Image via AdHoc Studio

Dispatch Has Already Earned My Trust

Season 1 proved that Dispatch is willing to do the hard narrative work. It doesn’t rush redemption, doesn’t sanitize trauma, and doesn’t pretend that second chances are clean or comfortable, as shown in Dispatch’s bad ending. If AdHoc Studios commits to those same principles in Season 2, Toxic could become one of the show’s most compelling transformations.

If Flambae can go from an insufferable antagonist to a genuine emotional anchor, then Toxic deserves the same narrative risk. Not because he’s earned it, but because Dispatch has taught us that redemption isn’t about merit. It’s about what you do when you’re given one more shot. And honestly? I’d love to see what Toxic does with it.

Dispatch

Systems

Released

October 22, 2025

ESRB

Mature 17+ / Blood, Crude Humor, Intense Violence, Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Drugs and Alcohol

Developer(s)

AdHoc Studio

Publisher(s)

AdHoc Studio