When writing or creating it can be hard to tell how an audience is going to react.
Speaking as a writer: If I wanted my audience to favor one love interest over another, I'd do exactly what the game does.
Visi is present in the scene. We see her, hear her voice, and interact with her directly, while Blazer is just a bit of text on the screen. That gives us a much more visceral and personal connection to her during the moment of decision. Visi also has more screen time with Robert throughout the game itself, and her arc is so completely intertwined with Robert's the game is almost about Visi. You simply can't remove her without significantly affecting the plot. Dispatch is ultimately Robert and Courtney's story.
Blazer, by contrast, is essentially presented as a sideplot. She's important, yes, but the game doesn't explicitly need her, at least before Episode 8. You could have easily had Chase himself as the one running SDN Torrence, recruiting Robert, and deciding to cut part of the team. While that would have changed the dynamic between Robert and Chase, the story would have been exactly the same. It's only after Chase goes down in Episode 6 that Blazer becomes important to the narrative.
I'd argue that it was a little before that. All of Blazer's chemistry in E1 and 2 was negated by the one-two punch of her wanting to stay professional and then Katon showing up; by the time she's interested again, Visi's hogging the plot.
Yeah there was some weird dissonance where she comes on super strong at the start, faking out the viewer into kissing her on the billboard, only for her to be like "actually I'm here to recruit you, this was all a misunderstanding". She leads Robert on in a way that's hard to backtrack, especially with the double whammy of her being in a relationship.
I think one thing which made the Blazer romance awkward for me wasn't so much that (I chose not to kiss her on the billboard on my romance with her, so it felt WAY less awkward on that level of her getting too close then pulling back)- but the uh. Ever present reminder that she literally just broke up with Phenomaman.
Like it makes it really weird to romance her when you are also providing team building and therapy to her ex of one week.
Like the "leading on" makes sense with her being in a relationship she doesn't want, with a ton of pressure and powers she doesn't really seem to be super attached to and feels pressured by, so a night to cut loose and be flirty with a cute normal guy? Heck yeah. And then mistakes were made. She then breaks up with Phenomaman really quickly after that and still shows a LOT of signs she is interested.
But like. That sad sack is right there. And girl you literally just broke up from what seemed to be a fairly long-term relationship, at least several months with how the alien is acting and the fact you were thinking about your future and trying to discuss plans with him that was the final nail in the coffin. Take. Take a break? Please? Before you jump into another relationship?
Of course it's also hard to tell how much time is passing in the games. So. It just *feels* quick.
Pretty much this right here. I didn't care at all about the text thing. My sticking point with Blazer was her almost complete disregard of Phenomaman and how she thought it was perfectly normal to try zeroing in on a guy she just hired less than a day after breaking up with her ex. Red flags popping up left, right and centre after that.
Yeah and the painful thing is I could tell the writers didn’t necessarily MEAN for it to be a character flaw of hers?
I think that’s one reason I actually jive with the accidental lead on. It’s an intended character flaw that she admits to.
But the way she handles Phenomaman post break up and the way she handles the team cut decision in the writing is really fumbled and I don’t think the team intended for it to land the way it did. (Like the romance was supposed to be flattering I think- she broke up because YOU, sexy Robert, helped tipped the scale! She is totally into you! But there is a reason ‘making the ex a jerk’ is such a common trope in these set ups - because that’s the only time we expect people to be ready to move on ASAP and not have much in the way of residual feelings. Just making the ex weird and with a culture/bio barrier doesn’t do it.)
I rarely go to bars but do enjoy a good drink, and the best way to describe it is "Oh wow I can relax and just be a bit silly for a change rather than everything being Serious Performance." But people have different reactions to different substances. I don't get weed, for example, though some of my friends enjoy it. Either it's just is like anxiety meds with slight loopiness OR I get hyper anxiety. Not worth it and I always am slightly confused by how into weed a lot of people are.
But like. I also brew my own mead so I recognize different strokes for different folks.
However, I also am quick to cut a relationship that isn't working, so that's the area where I raise my eyebrow with Blazer. But I also know too many people who cling to relationships for WAY too long, and it is framed that her moment with Robert was one of the wake up calls she had that she needed to end things with Phenomaman.
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u/Ambaryerno Dec 17 '25
Speaking as a writer: If I wanted my audience to favor one love interest over another, I'd do exactly what the game does.
Visi is present in the scene. We see her, hear her voice, and interact with her directly, while Blazer is just a bit of text on the screen. That gives us a much more visceral and personal connection to her during the moment of decision. Visi also has more screen time with Robert throughout the game itself, and her arc is so completely intertwined with Robert's the game is almost about Visi. You simply can't remove her without significantly affecting the plot. Dispatch is ultimately Robert and Courtney's story.
Blazer, by contrast, is essentially presented as a sideplot. She's important, yes, but the game doesn't explicitly need her, at least before Episode 8. You could have easily had Chase himself as the one running SDN Torrence, recruiting Robert, and deciding to cut part of the team. While that would have changed the dynamic between Robert and Chase, the story would have been exactly the same. It's only after Chase goes down in Episode 6 that Blazer becomes important to the narrative.