Dispatch Cast Interview – Carrying Telltale’s Torch, Voicing Multiple Timelines, And Roleplaying Superheroes

Ahead of the release of Dispatch, I had the chance to sit down with a number of the cast members to discuss how they came onto the project and about their characters, what it’s like to voice characters across so many permutations, and what made AdHoc Studios the perfect pick for Critical Role’s Exandria.

I sat down first with Travis Willingham (Phenomeman), Joel Haver (Waterboy), and comedian Fahim Anwar, who answered my questions in-universe as his character Lance Cantstopolis (Flambae). Additionally, I spoke with Laura Bailey (Invisigal) and Erin Yvette (Blonde Blazer) about the idea of good and bad powers.

You can check out my interviews back-to-back in the video below, or read on for the breakdown and highlights.

Who Are the Heroes of the Superhero Dispatch Network?

Willingham introduced me to Phenomeman, an alien with the powers of flight, speed, and strength. He’s Dispatch’s Superman analogue, though one big difference is that Phenomeman still doesn’t quite understand what it is to be human leading him to be slightly weird no matter what situation he finds himself in.

Haver plays Waterboy, a down on himself guy with the ability to make things wet, who is hired to be the janitor at the Superhero Dispatch Network (SDN). “He’s set to be the janitor, so a very important role, everyone needs one,” Haver added.

The question was a bit different for Cantstopolis, as I wanted to hear what led him to the change of heart, turning his back on his villainous ways and become a member of Z Team, a group of villains that SDN is looking to reform. “Change of pace, basically,” Cantstopolis responded. “It seemed like a cool crew. Friendship and the benefits, like medical and dental.”

The group broke out laughing at the idea of superhero medical benefits.

Yvette introduced her character, “I play Blonde Blazer, she hails from the ethos of Golden Age superheroes. She’s got top-tier superstrength, flight, you know… everything that someone would want. She carries the mantle with grace and dignity, and I think she’s unfulfilled by it and seeking a bit more.

“I think it’s a surprising move for a superhero to end up at a desk job when they aren’t forced to,” Yvette dug deeper. “I think there’s something exciting for Blazer in terms of the difference she can make reforming the Z Team, and I think she genuinely sees the good in people and wants to help nurture them.”

“Where you first meet [Blonde Blazer] in the game… she’s saving Robert’s ass, and it won’t be the last time.”

“And I play Invisigal,” Bailey explained. “Speaking of reforming, she is an ex-supervillain trying to be better and having a difficult go of it. The first time you meet her is in a moment where she’s undermining [Blonde Blazer] and giving Robert Robertson a tough time.”

As a longtime fan of Haver’s YouTube channel, where he creates comedic parodies with a unique rotoscoped style, I was interested to hear how he got involved with the project. 

“It was Nick and Pierre, the director and writers of the game, who reached out to me via email because they’d seen some of my animations,” Haver explained. “They liked what I did; they liked my awkward comedy. The strange and stilted dialogue felt very real, and it was a natural pairing for this game. It is grounded and real dialogue in a very fantastical setting, and they brought me on to play Waterboy, who is an awkward mess of a man. So maybe he’ll clean himself up as part of the story.”

Knowing that Cantstopolis started in such a different place as Robert Robertson, the main character of Dispatch, I asked how their relationship was now that they’d been working together. He started by talking about how their relationship began in a bar altercation, and where it went from there. “That was a very tense moment… to then have to be co-workers is tough. It’s not just water under the bridge.”

Haver jumped in, “It’s really alcohol in the face.”

Pondering it further Cantstopolis had to ask, “There’s got to be a HR department that I can bring this up to? Then I’d just avoid his cube for a little while.”

How Do Powers Define You?

There’s a tense moment in the early episodes where Invisigal is down on herself due to her ‘evil’ powers of invisibility. I was interested to dive into what Bailey and Yvette thought of the idea of powers being defined that way.

“You know, we were talking about that earlier, If I had the ability to go invisible I think it might start in an altruistic way, but the temptation is so present, knowing you can get away with things, that you’d really have to have the strongest moral code to not slip into something nefarious,” Bailey said, reflecting on her thought process about Invisigal’s powers.

Dispatch takes place in a world of superheroes and supercrime, but it’s really more about the workplace drama and relationships of the party. I asked what about the story was it that made Yvette and Bailey want to be involved.

Yvette began, “Really, because of exactly what you pitched. The fresh perspective of, I think we can all say, a well-tread genre. There’s so much more to mine out of it. Dispatch turns it on its head and explores, ‘Do the supervillains really want to be supervillains? If they don’t, how do they change that?'”

“It feels very grounded,” Bailey added, “You’ve got this immense world, and these immense powers, but the story feels very intimate.” 

A Story With Branching Paths

Asking all about what it’s like acting through a story with so many paths, I got a very concise answer from everyone. “It was just knowing I’m in the hands of a good director,” Haver offered.

“They are the ones keeping track of the branching path, was this character betrayed in the previous scene? How should you play this moment? Fortunately they’re really good at keeping track of this stuff so you just go with it. I trust that this scene I am not as sad, even though it’s the same scene…”

“Yeah, the characters go through some crazy-ass twists and turns,” Willingham added, throwing in some joking examples. “Is this the one where I’ve been romancing the elephant? Or is it the one where I’m in my crystal meth phase?”

Bailey confidently answered, “You’ve got to have a lot of trust. in your director, and writer, and the entire team to make sure that the performance that you’re giving is going to be supported.” Bailey talked about how a choice might have been made two episodes ago, that’s going to pay off in a certain way and you’ve just got to trust you’re getting the right information.

Bailey likened stepping into the booth to being an empty slate: “You’re ready for the information.”

Yvette also added that even as these choices are being made around the characters, “there’s certain aspects of your character that remain the same. You have that foundation of the character you’ve explored and created together with your team, so that when you make these choices, all of them feel like they can coexist.”

Why Is AdHoc Studios the Place for Critical Role’s Exandria?

Asking Travis Willingham, not as the actor behind Phenomeman but as the CEO for Critical Role, I was curious what parts of Dispatch and the work AdHoc Studios was doing made it a perfect place for the first Critical Role video game.

“We had the great pleasure to work with Pierre Shorette and Nick Herman [AdHoc Studio founders] during their Telltale days for a number of games, but once we got our eyes on the demo scene from Dispatch, I was extremely hungry to learn as much as I could,” Willingham began. “The more I learned, the more curious we became. I also think they’ve done an incredible job on the visuals, the animation is stellar.

“We also love people who are making their own IPs and making something from scratch, and at Critical Role we love to try and turn it into any other medium so you can find it in other audiences whether it’s in books, animation, or a TTRPG. I think Dispatch would play great with rolling some dice in an actual-play setting.”

Interestingly enough, since my conversation with Willingham, Critical Role has announced a Dispatch-themed Daggerheart one-shot Thursday Oct. 30, with cast members from the game along with some other faces familiar to Critical Role and actual play fans.

“It’s just the beginning, and if we can help bring it to as many people as possible, then that’s going to bring us a lot of joy in the interim.”

From here on there will be some spoilers for Episodes 3 and 4 of Dispatch. Be sure to play those episodes and then come back.

Stranger With A Broken Heart

Knowing how odd Phenomeman was, I was interested in the approach Willingham took when having to play him while going through something as real as heartbreak. “It was fun from the start. It was great to see this big barrel-chested character with all of these amazing abilities, but when it gets down to it, he can’t hold a normal conversation without confounding the people he’s talking to.”

“You’ve gotta feel sorry for the guy, he’s got the whole world at his fingertips and he can’t even figure out the ladies.” – Willingham

“The great thing is being able to play someone all powerful like that, but they’re not maligned, they’re not trying to take over the world. It’s not an Omni-Man character,” Willingham did have to pause to give some respect to Phenomeman’s mustache before continuing, “This guy is almost more childlike in a way. Love had him head over heels, he’s trying his best to learn from anyone who will take a moment to sit with him.” 

Creating Deep Characters in the World of Dispatch

As we discussed the roles of Blonde Blazer and Invisigal in a game where choices are always being made to propel the characters in certain directions, it also offers up a lot of chances to see different sides of these characters.

Yvette began by explaining she was happy in this story that the ‘will they, won’t they’ never defines any of the characters. “As an actor, that’s really fulfilling to know that your character’s worth isn’t tied to their attractiveness or likability. If you’re focused on ‘I must be the most likable character,’ it’s going to be a rough room.”

“I think I’m really attracted to scenes and characters where you get to have unexpected vulnerability, and as you pursue relationships with these characters and you find more of those interactions, as a performer, getting to peel back those layers and show those softer moments, I look forward to that so much that I would hope anybody that’s playing the games takes the opportunity to play all aspects of the games so that they can see the scenes that they might miss out on.” Bailey broke into a joking plea.

I took this moment to reveal I already had four save files, each with major changes, to experience the differences in the story.

If you’re interested to learn more about how AdHoc came about creating the world of Dispatch then you can check out my interview with the development team, and if you want to hear our thoughts on the game then our preview of the first two episodes is available now.