Warning: Spoilers for Dispatch ahead.
Created by ADHOC Studio, Dispatch is a choice-based narrative game where your decisions shapes the story’s outcome. You play as Robert Robertson III — aka Mecha Man Blue — whose temporarily sidelined from superhero field work and working as a dispatcher at the Superhero Dispatch Network while his suit is being repaired. As a dispatcher, he’s responsible for coordinating villains-turned-superheroes in the field. The player’s job is to decide which heroes are best suited to each mission, carefully balancing their strengths and character synergy to achieve success. Each character is complex and interesting but the one I’m going to unpack today is Invisgal and her incredibly bad habit of smoking.
One of the most interesting aspects of Invisigal is that she is a superhero whose behaviour actively undermines her ability to be a superhero. Heroes are typically defined by sacrifice, discipline, and self-improvement. They train their bodies, protect others, and strive to become stronger. Invisigal does the opposite. Despite possessing a power that relies entirely on her lungs, she repeatedly engages in a habit that damages them. While Invisigal’s smoking initially appears to be a simple character trait, it ultimately functions as a coping mechanism that reflects her emotional struggles and mirrors the themes of suppression, avoidance, and self-destruction embedded within her invisibility powers.
Invisigal’s power is that she can turn invisible when she holds her breath but this is made difficult with her asthma. Asthma is a chronic inflammatory lung condition that affects the airways. People with this condition have trouble breathing, it’s described as trying to breathe through a thin straw. This can be made worse by such things as cold weather and cigarette smoking. Invisigal’s consistent smoking is antithetical and is self-destructive particularly because her powers rely on breath control. Every cigarette she smokes has the potential to undermine both her health and her ability to perform her role as a superhero. In this sense, her smoking is not merely a character quirk—it is a behaviour that directly conflicts with her own interests and goals.
This contradiction creates a tension between who Invisigal wants to be and how she actually behaves. She understands the risks of smoking. She knows it worsens her asthma. Yet she continues anyway. In this sense, her smoking reflects a very human tendency to prioritise immediate emotional relief over long-term wellbeing. The habit becomes a reminder that superheroes are not immune to self-destructive behaviour. They may possess extraordinary abilities, but they remain vulnerable to the same flaws, addictions, and emotional struggles as everyone else.
This tension also makes Invisigal more relatable. Players may not share her superpowers, but many can recognise the experience of engaging in behaviours that they know are harmful because those behaviours provide comfort during difficult times.
In the research paper “It looks kind of cool when people smoke, but” Norwegian adolescents’ decoding of smoking scenes in film. When participants viewed the film Match Point seduction scenes with Nola Rice (actress Scarlett Johansson), the viewers were asked to describe the impression she gave off when smoking. The viewers found her “elegant”, “sexy”, “empowering”, that it shows she’s not like other girls. Smoking isn’t seen as a filthy habit but sexy and gives a level of depth to the character. Rather than viewing smoking as unhealthy or unpleasant, viewers often associated it with confidence, independence, and complexity.
A similar dynamic initially surrounds Invisigal. In her regular dispatching photograph there’s a cigarette dangling from her lips and gives her an air of strength, but this also functions as a social barrier. In a society increasingly aware of the harms of smoking, the habit can discourage closeness and create distance between herself and others. In this sense, the cigarette becomes both an accessory and a shield. The cigarette acts almost as a character prop, helping to establish her personality before the player learns anything substantial about her. Smoking is no longer simply part of her aesthetic; it becomes evidence of a deeper struggle.
Invisigal’s powers can be interpreted in a similar way. Throughout Dispatch, she often appears emotionally guarded. Rather than openly communicating her fears or insecurities, she keeps others at a distance. Her ability to become invisible externalises this tendency. What she does emotionally—retreating from vulnerability—she is also capable of doing physically. Her smoking mirrors this pattern. Just as invisibility allows her to disappear from sight, cigarettes allow her to temporarily disappear from emotional discomfort. Both behaviours create distance between herself and the source of her distress. Neither solves the underlying problem, but both offer a temporary escape. Viewed this way, invisibility is not simply a superpower. It becomes a manifestation of a deeper psychological tendency toward withdrawal and avoidance.
Her smoking can be interpreted as a maladaptive coping mechanism. Coping mechanisms are behaviours or strategies used, either consciously or unconsciously, to manage stress, emotional discomfort, and adversity. While coping mechanisms are a normal and necessary part of human functioning, they become maladaptive when they cause harm to the individual or those around them. Rather than addressing the source of distress, maladaptive coping mechanisms often provide temporary relief at the cost of long-term wellbeing.
It is worth acknowledging that Invisigal may be interpreted as having ADHD, particularly because she jokingly refers to herself as having it in Episode Two. However, the game never explicitly establishes ADHD as part of her character, and there is insufficient evidence to directly attribute her smoking or other maladaptive coping behaviours to it. For this reason, I am examining her smoking primarily through the emotional struggles and patterns of avoidance that are more consistently demonstrated throughout the narrative.
There are moments in Dispatch that support this interpretation. Invisigal is frequently shown smoking during emotionally charged situations:
At the playground during one of her lowest emotional points in Episode three.
While at the bar, surrounded by echoes of her past that is the Red Ring and her guilt high. “We all pay for who we used to be.” Although directed at Robert, the statement serves as a reflection of her own internal struggle, revealing her belief that she cannot escape the consequences of her former life. The cigarette smoulders away in the ash tray, its slow burn mirroring the guilt she cannot extinguish.
At Robert’s housewarming party, which is secretly a Pulse retrieval mission, Invisigal smokes in both routes, suggesting that the gathering places her under significant emotional pressure. This moment heightens the social and interpersonal tensions surrounding her, making the party a pivotal point in her character arc. It gives Invisigal the opportunity to confront the mistakes of her past and begin the process of making amends.
While working under Shroud, a character whose presence creates emotional conflict and uncertainty for her.
The repeated association between smoking and moments of emotional distress indicates that Invisigal relies on cigarettes as a means of emotional regulation rather than recreation. While smoking offers a brief sense of relief and control, it also worsens the respiratory condition that limits her daily life and undermines her superhero abilities, reinforcing the self-destructive nature of this coping strategy.
Psychological research has long recognised that smoking can become associated with stress relief. Nicotine can temporarily alter mood and provide a short-lived sense of comfort or control. However, the relief is fleeting, often reinforcing a cycle in which individuals return to smoking whenever they experience distress. While the behaviour may reduce discomfort in the moment, it ultimately contributes to long-term physical and psychological harm.
This interpretation becomes particularly interesting when viewed through the lens of Invisigal’s character. Much of her story revolves around insecurity, self-worth, and navigating difficult interpersonal relationships. She often projects confidence, but beneath that exterior there are signs of vulnerability and emotional exhaustion. Smoking represents an attempt to regain a sense of control during moments when she feels powerless or overwhelmed.
There is also a symbolic dimension to her smoking. Invisigal’s power requires her to hold her breath in order to disappear from sight. Metaphorically, her ability is built around suppression and concealment. She literally vanishes by withholding something essential to life. Breath is often associated with existence, expression, and emotional openness. We speak of “catching our breath” after difficult experiences or “breathing freely” when we feel safe. Breathing is the most fundamental act of living. Yet Invisigal’s power requires her to deny herself breath. Every time she uses her power, she succeeds through an act of self-suppression. To become invisible, she must literally stop breathing. There is something inherently paradoxical about this. The very thing that grants her power is also something that she cannot sustain indefinitely. Her smoking habit reflects a similar pattern: rather than confronting emotional pain directly, she turns to a behavior that provides temporary relief while gradually damaging her health. Both her power and her smoking involve endurance, self-denial, and the management of discomfort.
Her smoking habit intensifies this symbolism. Cigarettes damage the lungs that allow her to breathe, just as emotional avoidance damages her ability to form healthy relationships. In both cases, the means she uses to cope gradually erode the foundation upon which her wellbeing depends. This creates a recurring motif throughout her character: survival through self-denial. Whether she is holding her breath to disappear or smoking to manage emotional pain, she repeatedly turns toward behaviours that requires enduring discomfort rather than addressing its cause. The result is a character whose central conflict is not simply external but internal. Invisigal is constantly caught between the desire to protect herself and the need to confront what is hurting her.
There is also an irony in the relationship between invisibility and smoking. Invisigal possesses the power to disappear from sight, yet smoking is an inherently visible activity. Cigarette smoke lingers in the air, carries a distinct smell, and draws attention to the smoker’s presence. In attempting to hide emotionally, she adopts a habit that constantly leaves traces of herself behind. This contradiction mirrors her character more broadly. She wants distance from others, yet simultaneously desires connection and understanding.
What makes this aspect of her character compelling is that Dispatch does not present smoking as glamorous or empowering. Instead, it appears intertwined with moments of emotional struggle. The game repeatedly associates the habit with stress, loneliness, uncertainty, and vulnerability. This creates a nuanced portrayal of an individual using an unhealthy coping strategy to navigate difficult emotions. Invisigal’s superpower can be read as a metaphor for avoidance. When confronted with either peril, attention (good or bad), or distress, she literally vanishes. Her bad habit of smoking creates a similar function. To conclude that, her invisibility and her smoking habit are not separate but entwined with each other and is a reflection of the same underlying psychological tendency.
Ultimately, Invisigal’s smoking reveals that superhuman abilities do not exempt individuals from ordinary human struggles. Her story demonstrates how people can knowingly engage in behaviours that undermine their wellbeing when attempting to cope with pain. By linking her addiction to themes of invisibility, suppression, and avoidance, Dispatch transforms a simple character habit into one of the game’s most revealing explorations of vulnerability. Invisigal’s greatest struggle is not against villains or physical threats, but against the impulse to disappear from the things that hurt her. In doing so, the game offers one of its most nuanced explorations of what it means to be human beneath the mask of a superhero.
If you want to learn more about Invisigal click on the links below. Invisible No More: The Psychological Descent That Redefines Heroism in Dispatch:
National Asthma Council Australia. (n.d.). What is asthma? National Asthma Council Australia. https://www.nationalasthma.org.au/understanding-asthma/what-is-asthma
Sæbø G, Scheffels J, Tokle R. “It looks kind of cool when cool people smoke, but…” Norwegian adolescents’ decoding of smoking scenes in films. Nordisk Alkohol Nark. 2017 Dec;34(6):481-496. doi: 10.1177/1455072517743426. Epub 2017 Nov 29. PMID: 32934507; PMCID: PMC7450850.
Sutton, J. (2026, March 3). Maladaptive coping: 15 behavior examples & mechanisms. PositivePsychology.com. https://positivepsychology.com/maladaptive-coping/
