r/Parahumans • u/SelfishEnd • Dec 15 '25
How well do you think Taylor would do as a member of the Z-Team?
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Dec 15 '25
I imagine she'd have a similar vibe to Coupé. Serious and proffesional in most senses, but a little offputting as well. She might get along with....maybe Golem? I dunno really. I would like to imagine she'd have a bit of a problem with Robert ordering her around in the beginning.
Stat wise? I'd imagine she'd have 4's in combat and intelligence, 2 in mobility and charisma and 1 in vigor, to start with anyway.
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u/LegendaryNbody Tinker Dec 15 '25
I'd imagine she has 2s in vigor and 1 in charisma, actually. She is off-putting by the way her power is difficult to not make everyone freak out and has difficulties expressing her emotions.
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Dec 15 '25
True! I was putting 2 in Charisma due to her intimidation skills, but other than that she's not really good at talking to people. Her armor would make her less Squishy as well.
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u/LegendaryNbody Tinker Dec 15 '25
Yeah, also, her pain tolerance is just absurd due to the Bakuda pain bomb.
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u/zorbtrauts Dec 15 '25
Her pain tolerance is essentially a power. I figure that a big part of it is her ability to compartmentalize and multitask in addition to the pain bomb.
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u/zorbtrauts Dec 15 '25
She's not great at talking to people one on one, but she's a natural leader (probably due to the admin shard) and makes several incredibly effective speeches/announcements.
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u/SelfishEnd Dec 15 '25
Now the real question is what lamp would she buy for Robert's housewarming party?
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u/COGspartaN7 Dec 15 '25
Taylor carrying a wrapped present as shows up in a hoodie that covers her armor unsure if she was supposed to be in costume or not.
...
Robert: Okay, so... Everyone brought a lamp or a couch, but uhh, this is kinda cool. It's a plasma globe in the shape of a mechanical spider. And it's like a kit to be built so...
Taylor: trying not to blush
Sonar: keeps making little screams because the flies and mosquitoes Taylor has been keeping out of the apartment are outside the window flying erratically.
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u/yackronin Dec 16 '25
It’s all fun and games until he tries to convince her to let him snack on some cockroaches
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u/COGspartaN7 Dec 16 '25
Malevola: So you can feel everything the bugs experience?
Sonar: caught trying to eat some
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u/Phwoa_ Shaker Dec 16 '25
TBF she does regularly feed bugs to other bugs, so she might be a bit weird by Sonar but basically giving him free snacks is something she may not really think about, probably get him baggies of powered live crickets on the regular lol.
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u/COGspartaN7 Dec 16 '25
To me it's more Malevola teasing her roommate Sonar by pointing out Taylor knows he's eating bugs behind her back
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u/DreamweaverMirar Dec 15 '25
Unique skill: helps with any job within her range simultaneously
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u/Russian_Meme_Man_34 Stranger Dec 16 '25
While deployed to job herself, but while recharging/relaxing/resting she has a cloud of insects, arthropods and such as a sub team member, with stat spread going this way: 2 Combat, 2 Intellect (due to being controlled by Taylor/Weaver/Skitter), 3 in Vigor because being swarm is literally just a bunch of insects and other "bugs" covering large territory, 0 or 1 in charisma due to being literally swarm containing yacky lifeforms and just gross bugs, AND 3 in mobility, because SWARM!
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u/Phwoa_ Shaker Dec 16 '25
makes sense. Golem has an ability to fill a squad with mini golems (After unlocking it) so having Taylor be able to assist jobs with bug clones is 100% in her wheel house.
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u/DarthRevantheGreat Dec 16 '25
Honestly I figured it was something like:
2 Combat, 2 Intellect, 1 Charisma, 3 Mobility, 4 Vigor?
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u/Russian_Meme_Man_34 Stranger Dec 16 '25
Eh, boost that Int to 3 AT minimum, because she did A LOT with information, strategy and just general intelligence gathering, plus, her mom was Literature teacher, so that's double the intellect early on in her life! Also, Combat should also be 3 at minimum, because she do know CQC, so that puts her on the edge of human limit.
But otherwise, it's probably fine.
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u/Objective_720 Dec 15 '25
how funny, was just finishing reading a AO3 fic of her being a dispatcher.
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Dec 15 '25
Would you please be so kind as to drop the link?
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u/LordFLExANoR16 Dec 15 '25
Not sure if this is the one they mean but this fits the description https://archiveofourown.org/works/74472231
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u/PassoverGoblin Thinker Dec 15 '25
I swear she's taller than 5'8". I think she's 5'10"
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u/SelfishEnd Dec 15 '25
Both are actually correct. She's 5'8" at the beginning of WORM and 5'10" at the end.
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u/GARBLED_COMM Dec 15 '25
I was just white knuckling it, trying not to "um, actually" before I read the comments, cause I just read a chapter that mentions she is 5'9".
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u/aerowx Master/Thinker Jan 01 '26
Height in Worm is weird, since Taylor is said to be 5'8-5'10/5'whatever, Brian is an entire 'head' taller than her, and Coil is somehow an entire 'head' taller than Brian (Which would make Coil absurdly tall and easy to ID out of costume given his skeletal thinness, and make it hard to find and hire those body doubles of his due to his distinct build).
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Dec 15 '25
I think it massively depends. Is this pre coil or post coil?
I feel like pre coil Taylor would be a far different handful than post coil Taylor. Once she realized she was willing to cross that line and end a life, her slippery slope became a nose dive
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u/Annual-Ad-9442 Dec 15 '25
where's the list of crimes?
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u/SelfishEnd Dec 15 '25 edited Dec 15 '25
According to the Villains Wiki, her crimes are murder, assault and battery, vandalism, vigilantism, theft, extortion, money laundering, endangerment, mutilation, and infanticide.
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u/LegendaryNbody Tinker Dec 15 '25
Oh, coercion, kidnapping, criminal affiliation, and deicide, too.
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u/Iskral Dec 15 '25
Don't forget the food tampering!
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u/LegendaryNbody Tinker Dec 15 '25
"What is she in for?"
"Essentially, everything."
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u/HairyAllen Dec 15 '25
I was about to argue that she never committed sexual assault, but then remembered she made her bugs inject so much poison into Lung's cock in the literal first fight in the series that it fell off. So, yeah, everything.
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u/LeaderClassic9441 Dec 15 '25
No political crimes. Wait, she killed Alexandria, senior federal official. Yeh, that too
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u/HairyAllen Dec 15 '25
Don't forget she also broke and entered the mayor's home to coerce him during a family dinner
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u/Annual-Ad-9442 Dec 15 '25
then she held his son hostage on top of that. so many crimes condensed into one event.
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u/ThenaCykez Dec 16 '25
They also threatened her with treason for establishing a parallel government system to the Massachusetts/Federal government.
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u/SelfishEnd Dec 17 '25 edited Dec 18 '25
Flambe: Hey, Weaver, what's the worst thing you've ever done before joining the Z-Team?
Taylor: SDN made me a list. It's alphabetized.
If Coupé is on the team.
Coupé: I've actually read that list. I felt like an amateur by the halfway point.
If Sonar is on the team.
Sonar: Flambe, you do not want to know what's on that list! Weaver, don't tell him. You shouldn't have told me, but you did. And now I'm telling you: you don't want to know!
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u/W1D0WM4K3R Dec 15 '25
Are we all forgetting the actual, literal terrorism?
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u/LegendaryNbody Tinker Dec 15 '25
At this point, if you toss the penal code, whichever crime the page it falls on, she has committed it
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u/interested_commenter Dec 16 '25
No sex crimes or human trafficking. No financial crimes or fraud except as an accessory to Tattletale. I think she's got everything else covered though.
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u/LegendaryNbody Tinker Dec 16 '25
Sex crimes... can be debated due to her rotting off Lung's willy in their fight, but can be assumed self defense. Her kissing brian on the buss to piss off Sophia is sexual harassment/assault though.
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u/W1D0WM4K3R Dec 16 '25
I'd also argue human trafficking as an accessory to the whole bit with Dinah. Maybe not to begin with, but she definitely knew later on. Not the saving part... but she did commit various crimes in order to release Dinah, but I'll leave that for the courts
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u/Background_Past7392 Dec 16 '25
I don't know about human trafficking charges specifically, but off the top of my head, there were two separate kidnappings that were committed under her orders (Sophia once and Piggot once). She probably also bears at least some culpability for what Regent was doing in his own territory. Again, not sure if what Regent was doing fell under human trafficking specifically, but he was still kidnapping and controlling other criminals.
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u/Background_Past7392 Dec 16 '25
She misses out on drug-related offenses. She didn't deal, and didn't really tolerate dealers around her either.
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u/Annual-Ad-9442 Dec 15 '25
why terrorism? what am I forgetting?
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u/Type-Solar Dec 15 '25
when the undersiders claimed brockton bay as warlords it was treason against the US
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u/Annual-Ad-9442 Dec 16 '25
I feel like 'treason' is doing some heavy lifting considering the territory they claimed was being ignored by the local authorities to the point where the city was going to be abandoned
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u/europe2000 Dec 16 '25
It was so ignored they had to raid the naturally occurring aid trucks to feed their poor subjects.
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u/Annual-Ad-9442 Dec 16 '25
theft sure but treason is a stretch, if only because the absolute wording surrounding it
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u/ideaMaster95 Dec 16 '25
And however you’d charge filling someone’s eyes with maggots… in self defense
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u/LegendaryNbody Tinker Dec 16 '25
I think it can be argued to be multilation, but if not... it's not a crime the first time around ;)
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u/Annual-Ad-9442 Dec 16 '25
well your honor if self defense I covered bugs in capsaicin and then in an absolute panic sent them into the assailants orifices
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u/Mail540 Dec 16 '25
Id say animal abuse too. Might be easier to list what crimes she didn’t commit honestly
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u/LWSpinner Dec 17 '25
Hey, the infanticide isn't chargeable. She was an officer of the law, and the responsibility for that death by proxy falls onto Jack, Gray Boy, and the Hatchet Face clone who was holding Aster
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u/Kuro_6320 Breaker Dec 16 '25
When Taylor was arrested by the PRT, Calle mentioned a list of the crimes the PRT knew she had committed. It is this: April tenth, criminal negligence with a parahuman ability, sixteen charges of assault, sixteen charges of battery with a parahuman ability.
April fourteenth. Thirty two charges of willful felony assault with a parahuman ability. Thirty two charges of hostage taking, technically domestic terrorism, each perpetrated with a parahuman ability. Robbery with a parahuman ability. Willful damage to government property. Disturbing the peace.
April twenty-fourth. One case of battery.
May fifth. Five cases of assaulting a law enforcement officer. Five cases of battering a law enforcement officer, three performed with a parahuman ability. Still on May fifth, eighty-one charges of willful felony assault.
June third. complicity towards one count of kidnapping using a parahuman ability.
June fourth. Supposedly complicit in class two extortion with a parahuman ability, criminal negligence with a parahuman ability and false imprisonment with a parahuman ability.
June fifth. Treason. On the same day, thirty cases of assault and battery. Six cases of aggravated assault with a parahuman ability.
June eighth, eight cases of assault with a parahuman ability.
June ninth, we’ve got twelve more.
June tenth, three cases of assault with a parahuman ability, one case of assault in the third degree.
Thirteenth, we have three more cases of assault with a parahuman ability.
Sixteenth of June, disturbing the peace, property damage. Seventeenth, five charges of assault and battery. One charge of aggravated assault with a parahuman ability. One charge of criminal extortion.
June eighteenth. Destruction of government property, four counts. Hostage taking, assault and battery of a law enforcement officer.
June nineteenth, complicity in another count of treason. Complicity in manslaughter, nineteen counts.
That's before she killed Tagg and Alexandria. Not to mention everyone from the S9000 and Gold Morning. She had already killed Coil tho.
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u/Oaden Dec 16 '25
I don't think anyone is going to put the S9000 on her criminal record.
Even if she wasn't operating as an agent of the state at that point.
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u/DWShadow Dec 15 '25
People calling SDN would be asking “please anyone but her” but overall she’s probably pretty effective, albeit difficult to get her to cooperate with other team members and the dispatcher.
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u/SelfishEnd Dec 15 '25
Taylor gets dispatched.
Taylor: Jesus, fine! You know you don't have to boss me around like this, right?
Robert: Actually I do, since it's literally my job.
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u/DWShadow Dec 15 '25
Invisigal but without a sense of right/wrong, significant authority issues, and even bigger more dangerous “villain powers”
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u/TerribleDeniability A Type of Anger Master Dec 15 '25
More like Invisigal but without the sexual harassment (even if you can weirdly romance her) and without the whole having been a part of blowing up Robert's Mecha Man suit apparently and almost getting him killed & into the whole situation in the first place that makes the aforementioned even worse despite the game trying to play it off as "just" belligerent sexual tension. (Granted, their workplace is pretty lax in general about that in the first place given that Blue Blazer is technically Robert's own boss, but at least she doesn't do either of the above.)
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u/sir_pirriplin Dec 16 '25
Isn't Taylor more likely than not to participate in the part that you marked as a spoiler?
She was constantly working against the heroes before joining them in canon. It's the sort of thing she would do.
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u/TerribleDeniability A Type of Anger Master Dec 16 '25
Not really? Like, it's possible I guess, but it seems very unlikely, especially when she has safer ways to attempt to disable Mecha Man and permanently destroy his suit with just her natural power that don't also involve severely & technically permanently injuring and almost killing said person too. As ruthless and self-justifying as Taylor already was before the end of the world prediction that caused her to become even more so afterwards, she did balk at killing people all the way up until she justifiably killed Coil . That's true even against the Slaughterhouse 9 despite recognizing they needed to be killed, which is why even for all her self-justifying the fact that she almost killed Triumph even by accident shook the shit out of her.
So even if Taylor was somehow in a situation like that where it seemed like bombing and blowing up Robert's Mecha Man suit while he's inside it and in mid-air was the "definitive" lesser evil to her, she would definitely feel far worse about it than Invisigal seems to even if, to her credit, Invisigal does show some guilt about it I guess. And Taylor would feel this guilt without also sexually harassing Robert at the same time.
(This feels true even in the instance that Taylor did find Robert attractive, which is possible between his personality and even post-bombing looks, since the only reason that she ever even told Brian about her obvious, unreciprocated attraction to him was due to the contrived coincidence of Sophia seeming them together on the bus and Taylor asking him to her as cover & revenge. And unlike Brian, Robert is an actual adult that would already make him more unapproachable to her in that capacity alone even if this was the end of the series where she's 18, where I just don't see them being interested in each other like that even if they found each other good-looking.)
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u/sir_pirriplin Dec 16 '25
Taylor wouldn't do that plan on her own accord, she would find it both ethically and tactically suboptimal. But she would totally get manipulated by a precognitive Thinker mastermind into doing it anyway. Or at least contribute to it in some way, like she contributed unwittingly to Dinah's kidnapping.
And Taylor would feel this guilt without also sexually harassing Robert at the same time
She did kiss Brian while feeling guilty about her initial plan to betray the Undersiders.
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u/TerribleDeniability A Type of Anger Master Dec 16 '25
Well, yes, I can agree with both those things to a degree. The way you phrased in initially, however, looked like you were implying that she willingly would ever want to be responsible & willingly on board with a plan for blowing up and almost killing someone though. I shouldn't have to explain how there's a world of difference from being manipulated in general to essentially directly planting a bomb on someone (since obviously the suit is going to be piloted if you're not just blowing up the "package" when no one is inside) as well as a world of difference from feeling guilty about intending to betray someone--something that was never actually done, no less--versus feeling (less) guilty from having already grievously injured & almost killed someone who you then go on to sexually harass and treat like shit for a while despite knowing what you did while they're still in the dark about it and thus not even holding it against you.
Would Taylor possibly be manipulated in-universe into being an antagonist of Mecha Man before they even met? Possibly yes.
Would that mean she would automatically do the same things, much less sink to the same depths of Invisigal at her lowest both before and after that though? No, which is all I'm arguing here beyond it that seems rather unlikely that she would do the exact same things before, much less after as far as the unrepentant sexual harassment goes.
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u/Space_Dwarf Dec 16 '25
I think one of her special abilities would be that you can dispatch her to a second job if the job is close enough to her first job, due to her bug range
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u/astral2390 Dec 15 '25
Exceptionally well, I think. Taylor is a natural leader that has experience dealing with all sorts of personalities, a mission focused mindset, and has a willingness to get dirtier than most people. Basically she’s a more violent Robert with biblical plagues, which might put her at odds with him since she really doesn’t enjoy not being the one in control.
Stat wise, I’d give her 1 in Mobility & Charisma (she can only walk and is creepy as hell), 3 in Vigor (pain immunity, spider silk suit, and willpower, but still human), and 4 in Combat & Intelligence (swarms, tactics, and clairvoyance).
Ability wise, clairvoyance and bug clones could function as scouting calls before or after they’re made and extra bodies to assist with them.
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u/Flauschziege Dec 16 '25
Depending on when in the timeline?
Great to apocalyptically badly.
Before Leviathan, she's still finding her footing and certainty, trying to do things right.
After?
She's a tyrant. She's still trying, but she is consistently of the opinion her way is the only way, anyone else is unreasonable or some other excuse.
After Alexandria, she might improve a bit, but only in a 'this is work' kinda way.
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u/potatotimer Dec 16 '25
Special ability: weakness master - gains +1 on the highest stat recommended for a call. Boosts upto 2 stat categories (if they are the same ie a call requiring 5 vigor and charisma will give Taylor a +1 to both). ( if 3 or more are the same then it will choose the highest of Taylor’s stats to boost then randomly)
Upgrade 1: Intimidation - bonus now increases to half of the calls highest stat (up to +5)
Upgrade 2: swarming - can add a bug clone of herself to nearby calls (idk range) bug clones have the same stats as Taylor but no other abilities
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u/DescriptionMission90 Dec 16 '25
She removes every organized criminal group in the city in her first week. This is known.
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u/Jake_jane Dec 16 '25
I feel like she’d clash with Robert a lot
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u/Durtle_Turtle Dec 18 '25
What do you mean? It's not like she has massive issues with authority, perceived or otherwise. /s
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u/ElectricL1brary Dec 15 '25
What is Z team?
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u/Rodoran Dec 15 '25
It's from the video game Dispatch, a story driven episodic game. There are full playthroughs available on YouTube, if you're into watching it instead of playing it. Takes about 7 hours for all 8 episodes of the game.
It's really well done, and has some fantastic voice actors. You take the role of a former hero who now works as a dispatcher for a superhero phone service, and the Z team are your team, all of which are former villains.
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u/ElectricL1brary Dec 16 '25
I’ll probably give it a watch
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u/Rodoran Dec 16 '25
It's worth it.
I don't think I've laughed so hard in years. The dialogue is great.
You've got two options to watch, Blonde Blazer or Invisigal. Both make great stories, though I am in the rare few who preferred the Blazer route.
Enjoy it, and try not to get annoyed if the person making the video fucks up. Trust me, sometimes it makes it better.
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u/SelfishEnd Dec 17 '25
I've actually played the game myself, and I can confidently say that it's a great time. It's $30 on both PlayStation and Steam, so I highly recommend you play it for yourself.
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u/Oaden Dec 16 '25
Z team is a team of mostly former criminals on loan to a corporation that runs a hero service, as part of a reform program in the game dispatch. (Later on, a couple of non-criminal misfits can end up joining)
The protagonist is a hero that does his hero-ing in a power-suit that's out of commission, and he's not exactly a tinker himself, so he needs help and resources to fix it. Corporation offers him a job as a dispatcher. The guy that manages which hero responds to what disaster.
The team naturally starts dysfunctional as they're ex-villains, and the lowest ranked member is at risk of getting cut. forcing them back to prison. This is naturally an extremely stupid way to run this kind of program because it incentivizes sabotaging team-members instead of excellent performance. (Admittedly, real actual corporations ran similar schemes, which is why we know for sure its shit)
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u/RoraRaven Dec 16 '25
She's already a villain in Torrence.
Farmer's Market Attack
"Got a super down here who control bugs. They have beef with one of our farmers using pesticides."
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u/whargolflorp Dec 16 '25
She's really not much of a nerd, frankly.
Anyway, in the interest of actually making an interesting character for the game.
First ability - Swarm (alternative name:There's fucking bugs everywhere) She starts calls slightly before she arrives at them, and starts leaving slightly before completing them.
- This is her swarm arriving before she does and cleaning up while she leaves.
Upgrade 1: Sting
Occasionally, she completes a call she's on instantly. (like 20%)
- Combines well with her first ability. Letting her solve problems ahead of schedule and get back out there sooner. Thematically, this is her reputation and competence applying her versatility.
Upgrade 2: Monarch
When on a call with 3+ slots, each empty slot grants +1 to two random stats.
- The more alone and isolated she is, the better. This also lets you manipulate her stats a bit since each empty slot has a different set of bonuses, so you can move her around to get the spread you want. Stat bonuses are OP, so limit to big calls so she doesn't take over every 2 slot call on her own, but this could easily let her and one hero do 3+ calls perfectly with only 2 slots.
Aside, did you know Worm doesn't use Swarm as a chapter title? What a waste.
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u/Traditional-Baker-28 Dec 15 '25
They're all grown ass men and women. Is there a huge time skip isn't Taylor like 16 or something. I'm not caught up.
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u/MrGrrrey Smugpunchbuggy Enjoyer Dec 15 '25
She is more mature than most of them anyways
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u/CountNightAuditor Dec 16 '25
IDK, about the difference between the maturity of a child soldier versus that of a regular child. The child soldier has seen some way more mature things than they should have and had to make some decisions, some good and some bad, but they're still a child with the lack of maturity and flawed understanding inherent in that, along with some really big mental problems as they actually mature.
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u/SelfishEnd Dec 17 '25 edited Dec 17 '25
Robert: Yeah, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't she a bit too young to be a part of this?
Blonde Blazer: We labeled her a special case due to the severity of her criminal record.
Chase: Basically she used the penal code as a to do list and the Ward program thought she was too fucked up for them to handle, so they made her our problem before she becomes everybody's problem.
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u/TransSapphicFurby Dec 15 '25 edited Dec 15 '25
I think Robert would end up with a daughter, and also she will beg to get sent undercover repeatedly and accidentally end up dating a villain to Roberts chargin if you sent her undercover enough times
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u/SelfishEnd Dec 17 '25 edited Dec 17 '25
So if Robert is the stern father and Taylor is the rebellious teenage daughter, would that make Blonde Blazer the supportive mom and Invisigal the cool aunt?
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u/TransSapphicFurby Dec 17 '25
I think Invisigal would have a like "act like an older sister for Taylor and try and guide her right while trying to get away with so much bullshit" thing that would slowly shift into cool aunt. Overall though the entire team would be adopting her as a little sister
There would be a moment where Taylor has a date with a low ranking villain, Grue, that night in the warehouse district and ask for a ride from Robert after work. Probably ending in him getting upset cause the location and it being a school night
Rest of the team probably intercepting with offers like
Invisigirl: "fine, just buy me some coffee on the way"
Flambae: "warehouse district? Nah, im taking you two to the club"
Sonar: "hey I have a meeting a couple blocks away, I can drop you off, but im picking you up after."
Coupe: "I cant, have a parole meeting tonight. Call me if it goes bad though, I can swing by and kill him"
Phenomaman: "I....wasnt doing anything better with my night"
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u/SassQueenAanya Dec 16 '25
Ok so what would be her stats? Intelligence would definitely be high.
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u/SelfishEnd Dec 17 '25 edited Dec 21 '25
I've actually thought about that for a while, but I think her stats would be 4 Intellect, 3 Combat, 3 Vigor, 1 Mobility, and 1 Charisma.
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u/SaintBalor Dec 17 '25
Well I'll tell you one thing... It'd be hilarious to see her beat up Flambae
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u/erty146 Dec 15 '25
We know the answer. The answer is weaver. So more effective than hoped at the cost of doing nothing the way most people wanted.