diff --git a/Content.Client/Chat/UI/SpeechBubble.cs b/Content.Client/Chat/UI/SpeechBubble.cs
index 4c8b449994..9808ed1027 100644
--- a/Content.Client/Chat/UI/SpeechBubble.cs
+++ b/Content.Client/Chat/UI/SpeechBubble.cs
@@ -187,6 +187,8 @@ namespace Content.Client.Chat.UI
             var rawmsg = message.WrappedMessage;
             var tagStart = rawmsg.IndexOf($"[{tag}]");
             var tagEnd = rawmsg.IndexOf($"[/{tag}]");
+            if (tagStart <= 0 || tagEnd <= 0) //the above return -1 if the tag's not found, which in turn will cause the below to throw an exception. a blank speech bubble is far more noticeably broken than the bubble not appearing at all -bhijn
+                return "";
             tagStart += tag.Length + 2;
             return rawmsg.Substring(tagStart, tagEnd - tagStart);
         }
diff --git a/Resources/Locale/en-US/chat/managers/chat-manager.ftl b/Resources/Locale/en-US/chat/managers/chat-manager.ftl
index 0c817479a2..9eeb39a0f0 100644
--- a/Resources/Locale/en-US/chat/managers/chat-manager.ftl
+++ b/Resources/Locale/en-US/chat/managers/chat-manager.ftl
@@ -37,8 +37,8 @@ chat-manager-entity-looc-wrap-message = LOOC: [bold]{$entityName}:[/bold] {$mess
 chat-manager-send-ooc-wrap-message = OOC: [bold]{$playerName}:[/bold] {$message}
 chat-manager-send-ooc-patron-wrap-message = OOC: [bold][color={$patronColor}]{$playerName}[/color]:[/bold] {$message}
 
-chat-manager-send-dead-chat-wrap-message = {$deadChannelName}: [bold]{$playerName}:[/bold] {$message}
-chat-manager-send-admin-dead-chat-wrap-message = {$adminChannelName}: [bold]({$userName}):[/bold] {$message}
+chat-manager-send-dead-chat-wrap-message = {$deadChannelName}: [bold][BubbleHeader]{$playerName}[/BubbleHeader]:[/bold] [BubbleContent]{$message}[/BubbleContent]
+chat-manager-send-admin-dead-chat-wrap-message = {$adminChannelName}: [bold]([BubbleHeader]{$userName}[/BubbleHeader]):[/bold] [BubbleContent]{$message}[/BubbleContent]
 chat-manager-send-admin-chat-wrap-message = {$adminChannelName}: [bold]{$playerName}:[/bold] {$message}
 chat-manager-send-admin-announcement-wrap-message = [bold]{$adminChannelName}: {$message}[/bold]