Ryan Drummond Almost Returned

[Kiovle]

As far as the news goes... meh. He almost returned, he didn't, we still have a good voice, who cares.

Judging from the number of death threats Jason and Roger appear to get, a lot of people care. Far, far too much.

[Nepenthe]

If I'm remembering right, we actually heard when the new VAs were announced that some of the previous actors had actually been reconsidered along with some new talent coming in to compete against them. I thought the way it went down was that the casting agents simply found Roger's voice better than Ryan's. Didn't know he was dealt such a shitty hand to come back. Fuck man.

[sonfan1984]

Judging from the number of death threats Jason and Roger appear to get, a lot of people care. Far, far too much.

That's pretty sad that the fans has to act like little children and wild animals. That's the reason why I find the whole Ryan Drummond situation to be very bittersweet. I'm not going to celebrate if he returns. I'll be really disappointed about it honesty. I've got over him and moved on to Roger now and I don't want to lose him, too.

Edited September 8, 2012 by sonfan1984

[Ferno]

Generations and Colors were in development around the same time, so maybe the casting call was for both games at once.

Edited September 8, 2012 by Inferno

[Stritix]

I'd take Drummond/Griffith over Roger any day. They have a much better Sonic voice than Roger. Shame to see SEGA mess Drummond about like that.

[MegaMan_EXE]

I like Roger right now. I don't mind Drummond coming back, but I feel that he isn't as good as others put him out to be.

I like the cheesy factor, but I also cringe it sometimes. Heroes having the cringe factor.

[TheOcelot]

I like both voice actors. I played SA1, 06 and Unleashed recently and could barely tell the difference between them. Their both really good.

[Chooch]

That's.. unfortunate to say the least. It seems like Drummond really enjoyed his role as Sonic.

I still like Roger Craig Smith tho'. I don't think his Sonic voice is perfect, but I still greatly prefer it over Griffith's.

[Autosaver]

This gives me a couple predictions.

Sonic Generations was in development before Colors and Riders. Voices may have been the first thing added to the game. I thought some of the voices were done better in Colors so could this be a reason why? Then again, the Riders voices were a bit bad with Generations sounding better. I guess we could say that Riders was finished before Generations, but where does Colors take place?

[Nepenthe]

On the subject of Ryan being cheesy, cringe-worthy moments aren't a unique staple of the Dreamcast era. Plenty of those were to be had in Colors, like the whole "Lisp" joke and how forced that shit was, for example. Given how Sega treats the storytelling, very few actors are going to escape their Sonic careers without biting the bullet on some particularly narmy moments. Ryan and Jason themselves have lamented about this in interviews after the fact. Naturally it's gotten better, but I think that's mainly due to changing industry standards than anything. How would Ryan fare now under current conditions is anyone's guess, but I personally don't think he'd be as bad as anyone was over a decade ago.

[Tornado]

Yeah. A lot of problems with voice acting work comes down to the skill of the voice director just as much as the voice actors themselves.

[JezMM]

That's too bad. I love all three Sonic VA's pretty much equally and they're all really great guys too but... gun to my head I'd have Ryan back because nostalgia.

[TheOcelot]

The following link is for a brilliant site for listening to Sonic voice actor comparisons. You can choose other Sonic characters as well and listen to them.

It has small voice clips of:

Jaleel White

Jason Griffith

Martin Burke

Ryan Drummond

Samuel Vincent

Roger Craig Smith

http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/voice-compare/Sonic-The-Hedgehog/Sonic-the-Hedgehog/

[Echidna Adventurer CC14]

It sucks that Sega screwed over Ryan not once, but twice. Poor guy. One of these days, someone needs to put together a convention panel with all three official Sonic voices for Sonic Boom/Summer of Sonic. I'd love to hear some of the stories that these guys could tell about their time working with Sega.

That's too bad. I love all three Sonic VA's pretty much equally and they're all really great guys too but... gun to my head I'd have Ryan back because nostalgia.

Ditto, only Jason instead of Ryan for me. I've always liked his take on Sonic just a bit more.

[Soniman]

The following link is for a brilliant site for listening to Sonic voice actor comparisons. You can choose other Sonic characters as well and listen to them.

It has small voice clips of:

Jaleel White

Jason Griffith

Martin Burke

Ryan Drummond

Samuel Vincent

Roger Craig Smith

http://www.behindthe...c-the-Hedgehog/

The only voice I outright didn't like was Samuel Vincent, seriously wtf?

[sonfan1984]

The only voice I outright didn't like was Samuel Vincent, seriously wtf?

That's Sonic's singing voice in Sonic Underground, isn't it?

[Soniman]

That's Sonic's singing voice in Sonic Underground, isn't it?

Yeah, and speaking of horrible singing voices, I've found a forgotten voice for the hog

Full voice talent can be seen here

Oh goooooooooood (and Tails is somehow /worse/, probably the worst Tails voice ever)

Edited September 8, 2012 by Soniman

[HexiDecimel]

I think what SEGA asked him to do is terrible, but honestly, I never liked him that much as a voice actor, but that is beside the point.

The article was a little vague, but from what it said... seriously? I think SEGA's demands were a little more than unfair.

[1991boy]

Do you hear that? that's the sound of another voice acting war coming the mid 2000's all over again boys

[batson]

Yeah, and speaking of horrible singing voices, I've found a forgotten voice for the hog

Full voice talent can be seen here

Oh goooooooooood (and Tails is somehow /worse/, probably the worst Tails voice ever)

I agree that Tails is terrible, but i actually think Sonic's voice is kinda fitting for his youthfull and "90's-like" classic form. He sounds a lot better talking than singing though.

Edited September 8, 2012 by batson

[Toby]

Phew! Really dodged a bullet there~

[Shane]

This article...broke my heart...

we (me) were THIS close to finally having him back...all ended because Sega is a bunch of tightwads. At least now I know that he was close...

Lord is this painful for me.

And this is why I didn't leak the entire story two years ago when I first told you all about the recast.

For those who don't remember, I was the guy who originally leaked info of a recast and later supplied voice clips from Free Riders and Colours DS prior to their releases. I also originally revealed that Team Chaotix and Omega were in Colours DS, too, according to an old status update. Heh, forgot about that one until now.

Everything Ryan says is true, and SEGA's douchery and heartlessness extend way beyond even what he said in the interview.

Ryan rocked the auditions - he won the role over even Roger. Read more of my allusions to that

SEGA told Ryan they were glad to have him back and that he got the job.

Then he was kicked off the role again later on because he wouldn't quit his union.

Ryan's first new games would have been Sonic Colors and Sonic Free Riders, but even All-Stars Racing was still in development when all of this went down.

My buddy at SEGA was laid off earlier this year so I don't think he'd care anymore about me telling you all this.

Oh, and the recast? Yeah, that was partially a response to Save Sonic, and partially because a lot of SEGA of America's employees just love Ryan Drummond. Which is why they snuck some clips into http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StD3g1WFcBo.

Let me catch up on the rest of the thread. I may post more depending on what is asked.

EDIT: And here's some more stuff I've revealed:

-SEGA is paying Roger practically nothing ("coffee and donuts money") to voice Sonic.

-SEGA had meetings about Ryan's union status. They spent enough money to cover at least sixteen games of Ryan Drummond acting just on airfare, hotels, and food for the executives from Japan to take part in these meetings.

I'll see if I can add more later, stay tuned!

Edited September 9, 2012 by XD375

[Ferno]

...well that's just plain B.S.

Steve, I'm right there with you with your grieving, man. Roger and Jason are awesome, but to be honest, (imo), Ryan was always my fav.

I like, need a moment over here..

*sniffle*

Edited September 8, 2012 by Inferno

[Chaos Warp]

Wow.........Fuck You SEGA, who knows what Ryan could have done with good direction..........Not that I don't like Roger but still........Fuck you.

EDIT: Figured I should expand. Although Roger is overall my favourite Sonic voice, I felt that Ryan had the best tone. Sounded the most like Sonic, if you will. So, if he had better voice direction, I feel he could have been really good, maybe even the best.

Edited September 9, 2012 by Zero

[KHCast]

I personally find Roger to be my favorite VA for Sonic for many reasons. But I will Say that I also found Jason and Ryan amazing sonic's as well. They all portrayed Sonic in ways that still reflected on what Sonic was. Just in There own way. They all still sounded Cocky, mellow, and at times arrogant. It was mainly the Voice direction or plain bad writing that Pulled these guys potential back. Including Roger. So this is a bit disappointing to hear. I would have been interested to hear Ryan again. Feel bad for him....Wonder if Roger reacted the same way we did to this. At least we still have a good VA still.