Sega recasting voice actors for main characters(Sonic, Tails Amy etc)

[Empire88]

33 minutes ago, SBR2 said:

I'm with @Kuzu. In general a lot of this fandom is kinda needlessly harsh or cruel. I've seen people on Twitter saying to Roger's face how much they think he sucks and are glad he's gone.

Frankly this fandom has a negative reputation for a reason. 

Yeah I agree with Kuzu on that to be clear (hence I upvoted their post). I really hope nobody here thinks I was implying they deserved any threats.

[DabigRG]

Still leaking class, eh?

7 hours ago, Piko said:

Probably money. SEGA wanted Ryan Drummond to leave his union. 4Kids voice actors were some of the cheapest VAs around in the 2000s. It seems that they jump onto cheaper VAs the second they get the chance.

Makes sense, given how Forces and TSR came out.

7 hours ago, Redemption said:

. 

 

We may never get out of this rut of people not even caring for the franchise and Sega just going with the flow ingnoring the fact that Sonic was what put them on the map in the first place but that's okay because sooner or later everyone is gonna give up on Sega.

 

What's the deal with the Yakuza series?

4 hours ago, Snowragnarok said:

Not even them; it’s probably the voice director, who was unable to make a non-Pontaff script work. (Team Sonic Racing)

I thought people generally liked the banter in that game?

Honestly, it seemed like the story itself was where the issues lied.

4 hours ago, shdowhunt60 said:

 

If we do somehow get Ben Schwartz (lol), then like... SEGA what are you doing, spend some more money on the games themselves plz. 

Yeah, seriously.

31 minutes ago, Wraith said:

Anyway, I don't like their sense of humor so I'm fine with getting new writers but they were maybe less than half of the problem with new Sonic stories overall. Sonic Team in general hasn't cared about telling a compelling story in years. They don't do any of the work designing levels, bosses and scenarios with the wider narrative in mind that they used to. They design new characters entirely to fill functions in the game instead of developing them with some kind of narrative intent in mind. The story elements are always going to feel like an afterthought until that changes. 

Isn't the story ultimately supposed to enhance the game?

Cause that's the craziest thing, when you think about it.

[azoo]

I see them removing people from this past era of Sonic not really as being for better or worse as much as it is possibly symbolic of what could be on their minds right now. After all, neither RCS nor Pontaff really had as much of an imprint as people think they do, whether or not you liked their performances.

And I can easily imagine them removing what staff was specialized for a light comedy-centric era in order to take it in a new direction, which is probably the most you could really take from the combined news. If it goes that way, that is. Just an educated guess.  It's been a solid 10+ years since the last shake-up (and god does Sonic need one), so I've got a feeling.

Again, nothing to say definitive, but I think I'd rather keep a positive thought in mind than go into doomer mode. The community as a whole has been awful about that the past several years, and I'm well aware I used to be one of them and would rather not continue to be. I have much better things to do, lol. 

[Wraith]

There are enough positive signs to warrant some optimism. I'm just explaining why I'm not feeling it yet. If we found out Kishimoto wasn't directing tomorrow though I'd send Sega 60 dollars in advance. 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

If there's anything I'm optimistic about, I do feel like we might hopefully be moving from the "wacky lol memes" comedic era of Sonic into hopefully a more adventure-driven focus. As hit or miss people can be on Boom, that was like the ultimate dive into comedic Sonic, and after it ended up not working out in Sonic's favour, everything after began steering back towards more serious plots, even if not handled particularly well at all.

Ideally speaking, I'd love if Sonic could have the kind of feel he had throughout IDW, and Unleashed - adventuring around the world, exploring new locations, and helping whoever he can along the way. We've spent so long in the crappy "nostagia-baiting" era that seems to have gone hand in hand with the past decade that I'm just hungry to get new locations again. Mania gave us good stuff like Press Garden and Studiopolis, but apart of me would love another Unleashed type game where we get to explore all vastly different locales.

[Kuzu]

14 minutes ago, azoo said:

I see them removing people from this past era of Sonic not really as being for better or worse as much as it is possibly symbolic of what could be on their minds right now. After all, neither RCS nor Pontaff really had as much of an imprint as people think they do, whether or not you liked their performances.

I'd say given the outpour of support for the guy, Roger did touch people with his performance.  Sega are well within their right to swap him out if they wanna take the series in a new direction, I just feel they don't need to constantly do it with such radical changes. 

I wasn't really fond of the previous era myself, but I didn't mean that I wanted everything from it exercised either, just adjusted for better quality. I'm not somewhat skeptical cuz we know for a fact that these overcorrections from Sega never the actual issues. 

[Wraith]

More than any throwback, remake, continuation etc the things I want to see from the next game story wise are new places and new faces. The only way to recapture the magic of exploring angel island, station square, Apotos etc for the first time is giving us something equally new. 

The same goes for the cast. You won't have the next Shadow until you're willing to surprise us and break conventions. The amount of new characters in the 2000s was excessive but this would hardly be a problem in this day and age where yearly Sonic releases aren't even being considered. 

[Redemption]

Too much change is happening in so little time. When that happens it can either be good or bad. (crossing my fingers) That It's Good!

Also Roger said one of my favorite Sonic qoutes in the series (i'm posting the whole scene my favorite part is at 0:47)

 

[azoo]

15 minutes ago, Kuzu said:

I'd say given the outpour of support for the guy, Roger did touch people with his performance.  Sega are well within their right to swap him out if they wanna take the series in a new direction, I just feel they don't need to constantly do it with such radical changes. 

I wasn't really fond of the previous era myself, but I didn't mean that I wanted everything from it exercised either, just adjusted for better quality. I'm not somewhat skeptical cuz we know for a fact that these overcorrections from Sega never the actual issues. 

Of course people were touched by his performance; he's a good actor and has been in many things with Sonic's name on it, both in the games as well as the general mainstream. Though its worth noting too that every era of Sonic's VA has had its outpour of fans. Even Griffith is beloved by a significant populace of the fanbase and people mourned his leave, despite the outcry at the time he replaced Ryan.

Whether or not it was a call any of us felt was necessary to make or not is valid but unrelated. I'm sure Roger could've done a better Sonic with more room to work his elbow grease (again, OK KO comes to mind), but it's kind of a studio standard in the entertainment industry (especially in the west) to do a clean sweep when moving strong-headed in a new direction.

After all, Roger's entrance and the new writing style were introduced in one swift motion, and at the time of arrival were embraced with open arms as a significant change. For that, they're kinda the face of that era and what kind of stories it entailed (for better or worse). To them, probably the clearest way to make any statement that they're shifting gears is to change that. Not the smartest way to go about it, but when you think like a corporation, you start to get it.

9 minutes ago, Wraith said:

More than any throwback, remake, continuation etc the things I want to see from the next game story wise are new places and new faces. The only way to recapture the magic of exploring angel island, station square, Apotos etc for the first time is giving us something equally new. 

The same goes for the cast. You won't have the next Shadow until you're willing to surprise us and break conventions. The amount of new characters in the 2000s was excessive but this would hardly be a problem in this day and age where yearly Sonic releases aren't even being considered. 

This is pretty much why I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out, too.

I'm ready to see if this new direction means that Sonic will stop looking back so much as making proactive decisions to move forward. If this is where we're going, then I anticipate these winds of change.

[Kuzu]

Yea, I can understand that. I guess I'm just apprehensive, because history has shown that these constant paradigm shifts tend to ultimately be damaging by the time they're ready to shift to a new direction. Adventure started fresh until shit tanked with 06, Unleashed started fresh until things tanked with Forces, and so on and so forth. Dealing with Sonic just feels like a constant coin flip, because Sega's way of "improving" the series is pretty much just tossing out all of the old stuff for something new. It's not wrong by any means, but it's certainly not going to help with the series wide divisiveness. 

I guess the older I get, the more I just want something familiar and comfortable and the constantly changing is both exhausting and fearsome. I fully understand things gotta change eventually, but I also feel like you should be able to do that without throwing out everything that you've established your series on. 

I'll see what happens, but forgive me if I'm not very optimistic. I'd love to be proven wrong though. 

[thumbs13]

6 minutes ago, azoo said:

 

Whether or not it was a call any of us felt was necessary to make or not is valid but unrelated. I'm sure Roger could've done a better Sonic with more room to work his elbow grease (again, OK KO comes to mind), but it's kind of a studio standard in the entertainment industry (especially in the west) to do a clean sweep when moving strong-headed in a new direction.

 

That usually doesn't involve swapping voice actors, because they have nothing to do with the writing. It's more noticable with Eggman, and how Pollock has played him all sorts of ways because of what the scripts are, but it's not like RCS is physically incapable of doing an action oriented Sonic. 

And if the implication that Roger's the only one who got replaced is true, then the clean sweep is even less valid.

[azoo]

Quote

 

Yea, I can understand that. I guess I'm just apprehensive, because history has shown that these constant paradigm shifts tend to ultimately be damaging by the time they're ready to shift to a new direction. Adventure started fresh until shit tanked with 06, Unleashed started fresh until things tanked with Forces, and so on and so forth. Dealing with Sonic just feels like a constant coin flip, because Sega's way of "improving" the series is pretty much just tossing out all of the old stuff for something new. It's not wrong by any means, but it's certainly not going to help with the series wide divisiveness. 

I guess the older I get, the more I just want something familiar and comfortable and the constantly changing is both exhausting and fearsome. I fully understand things gotta change eventually, but I also feel like you should be able to do that without throwing out everything that you've established your series on. 

I'll see what happens, but forgive me if I'm not very optimistic. I'd love to be proven wrong though. 

 

@Kuzu

I get it. I mean I'm no less apprehensive. But you can be both optimistic and realistic if you let yourself be.

The fandom as a whole (me included at a point) seems to have a big issue with conflating pessimism for realism. And maybe it's a good thing that it's got everyone to think a lot more clearly these days about what they like and don't like in the games, but it's got to the point that everyone is really dismissive about anything they take in. To the point where everyone is a snarky punk over this series; it's hardly fun anymore to talk about Sonic for it. lol

It's more than fair to not believe they're gonna deliver what you search for in Sonic, because they've never been particularly good at honing in on that, especially with the base broken as it is. But with the closer that fans have got to being in the pipeline of the series' production and the direct results it's given us in the past four-five years (Forces and to an extent the movie notwithstanding), I can't help but feel like this could be a good change. And I think it's selling ourselves short of happiness to not see that.

So to everyone in here, uhh. Keep your chin up. Or something. But also keep your head screwed on, please. Don't go nuts.

Yeah.

[Redemption]

7 minutes ago, azoo said:

I get it. I mean I'm no less apprehensive. But you can be both optimistic and realistic if you let yourself be.

The fandom as a whole (me included at a point) seems to have a big issue with conflating pessimism for realism. And maybe it's a good thing that it's got everyone to think a lot more clearly these days about what they like and don't like in the games, but it's got to the point that everyone is really dismissive about anything they take in. To the point where everyone is a snarky punk over this series; it's hardly fun anymore to talk about Sonic for it. lol

It's more than fair to not believe they're gonna deliver what you search for in Sonic, because they've never been particularly good at honing in on that, especially with the base broken as it is. But with the closer that fans have got to being in the pipeline of the series' production and the direct results it's given us in the past four-five years (Forces and to an extent the movie notwithstanding), I can't help but feel like this could be a good change. And I think it's selling ourselves short of happiness to not see that.

So to everyone in here, uhh. Keep your chin up. Yeah.

This is like when Knuckles says.... (at 5:40) Hey guys this is the turning point (nice movativational speech @azoo!)

 

[Rabbitearsblog]

2 hours ago, Kuzu said:

The fandom has treated these two individuals as pariahs for literally an entire decade for the simple reason of not liking their style of writing; they have likely gotten death threats, hatemail, and could barely show their face in the fandom due to how controversial they were. 

I do not blame him whatsoever for having that attitude, because the fandom's attitudes towards him has quite frankly been obnoxious and ridiculously shitty. I have my own gripes with their writing, but the Sonic fanbase is such an obnoxious and vocally loud place that legitimate criticism is often drowned out by a sea of toxicity, and I don't think its worth anyone's time of wading through piles of shit thrown their way just find an actual sane person with an articulate opinion. 

I'm glad they've moved on, not because I wanted them gone, but just so they can finally have a peace of mind and not be hounded anymore. Fuck this fandom, seriously. And I'm specifically talking about the toxic and obnoxious fans, not everyone or the ones who are actually sane and articulate. 

I so agree with this!  While I will always love Sonic the Hedgehog no matter what, I get so irritated whenever the nasty side of the fandom start threatening the voice actors for something they had no control over.  As for the writers, even if their work wasn't the best, that's no excuse to give them death threats when they are doing the best they can.  I applaud Roger for being so professional about the whole thing and it's a shame that there are some people in the fandom who just want to insult everyone working on the series.  Again, the Sonic franchise hasn't been the best in the last decade, but that doesn't mean that you have the right to harass and threaten the people working on the series when things don't go the way you want it.

[Kuzu]

3 minutes ago, azoo said:

@Kuzu

I get it. I mean I'm no less apprehensive. But you can be both optimistic and realistic if you let yourself be.

The fandom as a whole (me included at a point) seems to have a big issue with conflating pessimism for realism. And maybe it's a good thing that it's got everyone to think a lot more clearly these days about what they like and don't like in the games, but it's got to the point that everyone is really dismissive about anything they take in. To the point where everyone is a snarky punk over this series; it's hardly fun anymore to talk about Sonic for it. lol

It's more than fair to not believe they're gonna deliver what you search for in Sonic, because they've never been particularly good at honing in on that, especially with the base broken as it is. But with the closer that fans have got to being in the pipeline of the series' production and the direct results it's given us in the past four-five years (Forces and to an extent the movie notwithstanding), I can't help but feel like this could be a good change. And I think it's selling ourselves short of happiness to not see that.

So to everyone in here, uhh. Keep your chin up. Yeah.

 

Hey, I'm probably one of the least cynical Sonic fans lmao. I always try to see a silver lining, and I've never jived with a lot of the series' popular opinions. But I'd be lying if I said the series the series was really keeping a lot of its fans in mind for the most part. It's never a good feeling when a franchise almost completely disregards your demographic; Classic fans felt it with the shift in the Sonic Adventure games, Dreamcast era fans felt it with the shift with Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Colors, and the "Meta era" fans are definitely gonna feel it with whatever this new direction is. Usually changes like this are subtle and gradual to ease people in, but subtle is the last word I'd describe Sega's changes. Even you're a vocal critic of the movie's interpretation of the series, so I can't imagine you would be too pleased if the series went in that direction. 

 

In any case, while I am apprehensive I don't really want much. I could just say "GO BACK TO SANIC ADVENTURE REEEE" but what I ultimately want is for the series to put its best foot forward and for more community engagement to address whatever future problems arise (because lord knows there will be problems going forward). We can't reclaim what we lost, but I really want the series to start learning from it's mistakes and not constantly repeat them. 

[Diogenes]

Change is scary, but you don't get out of a bad spot without it. If they are aiming to take things in a new direction I just want them to hurry up and hit us with it.

[Redemption]

3 minutes ago, Kuzu said:

 

Hey, I'm probably one of the least cynical Sonic fans lmao. I always try to see a silver lining, and I've never jived with a lot of the series' popular opinions. But I'd be lying if I said the series the series was really keeping a lot of its fans in mind for the most part. It's never a good feeling when a franchise almost completely disregards your demographic; Classic fans felt it with the shift in the Sonic Adventure games, Dreamcast era fans felt it with the shift with Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Colors, and the "Meta era" fans are definitely gonna feel it with whatever this new direction is. Usually changes like this are subtle and gradual to ease people in, but subtle is the last word I'd describe Sega's changes. Even you're a vocal critic of the movie's interpretation of the series, so I can't imagine you would be too pleased if the series went in that direction. 

 

In any case, while I am apprehensive I don't really want much. I could just say "GO BACK TO SANIC ADVENTURE REEEE" but what I ultimately want is for the series to put its best foot forward and for more community engagement to address whatever future problems arise (because lord knows there will be problems going forward). We can't reclaim what we lost, but I really want the series to start learning from it's mistakes and not constantly repeat them. 

@Kuzu I can't wait for some change and you can really see that even if they don't care about the franchise we as the Sonic Stadium do (of course RCS too)

2 minutes ago, Diogenes said:

Change is scary, but you don't get out of a bad spot without it. If they are aiming to take things in a new direction I just want them to hurry up and hit us with it.

I'm Scared about what they might be doing but optimsitic and excited. (I feel like it's Christmas morning all over again)!

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Yeah, I’m gonna echo the other fans here regarding Pontac. Wasn’t a big fan of their writing post Colors, but the fandom being the toxic pool it is gave them so much unnecessary shit that I don’t blame them for being upset.

 

[Redemption]

 This is one of those days where it feels good to be a Sonic fan!!!

[Empire88]

Yes, I think everyone on this board is in agreement that threats are inexcusable no matter if you dislike somebody's work or not. I think I might have been clumsy with my wording, but we all agree on being human beings. 

[Dr. Detective]

I've been saying for a while now that this period between games has to be one of the most unique the series has ever been in. These past 4 years, we're in a time where they've seen the results of their over-marketed, multi-media push with Boom and how it failed. They've seen the reaction of the celebrated Sonic Mania and the much maligned Sonic Forces. Unlike with Forces, I doubt a new engine is being created in the span of time we've been waiting too. The pieces have all been laid out for whatever they've got next to at least be intriguing.

With these new developments, however, things have only gotten more interesting, regardless of my personal feelings on losing best boy Roger and the MadWorld/Happy Tree Friends duo. 

It's already been up in the air what they could possibly have in store next but with this it almost feels like the slate is being completely cleaned... and not in a way where they have some PR person say "We're taking Sonic back to his roots" for the 5th time. That could just be a feeling of course but with nothing else but a 30th Anniversary logo to go by that feeling persists. 

If nothing else, I'm even more curious as to what could possibly be coming next. Perhaps it'll just be another bland Forces situation again but being stuck in limbo with all this stuff to think about is at least making the time we have until their next step is revealed rather provocative. 

 

[Sega DogTagz]

Sad to see old voice cast go. They were in a nice groove and really proved their chops over in Sonic Boom, which was probably the most VA intensive project in the franchise's history to date.

That being said, kinda knew it was only a matter of time. Surprised they lasted as long as they did actually.

 

Here is hoping the next cast doesn't have as hard a time with the learning curve though. Free Riders was really hard on the ears for a bunch of characters. I mean, they got the hang of it almost immediately afterwards, but there were a handful of characters that just "hurt your ears" bad.

[SBR2]

1 hour ago, Sega DogTagz said:

Sad to see old voice cast go. 

So far it only seems to be Roger. Colleen O'Shaughnessy sounded like she was saying goodbye to him in her tweet so it seems like she may be sticking around. 

I really hope we get some kind of announcement soon to know where they're going and whose replacing Roger. 

[SonicFanForLife]

I hope Roger's replacement isn't Ben Scharwtz. The Ben Schwartz Sonic is WAY to egotistical, he just sounds like Dewey Duck from the Ducktales reboot in a Sonic costume, and he doesn't sound or act "Sonic" enough. Movie Sonic's and Dewey's personalities are almost identical. (Because Ben Schwartz voices him.)

Maybe we'll get Jason Griffith back, or at least someone who sounds like Roger or Jason.

"I'm Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog!"

[Rabbitearsblog]

1 minute ago, SonicFan2832 said:

I hope Roger's replacement isn't Ben Scharwtz. The Ben Schwartz Sonic is WAY to egotistical, he just sounds like Dewey Duck from the Ducktales reboot in a Sonic costume, and he doesn't sound or act "Sonic" enough. Movie Sonic's and Dewey's personalities are almost identical. (Because Ben Schwartz voices him.)

Maybe we'll get Jason Griffith back, or at least someone who sounds like Roger or Jason.

"I'm Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog!"

As much as I loved Ben's voice for Sonic in the movies, I don't think he would fit well with how Sonic is being portrayed in the games.  The Sonic in the games is shown as being easy going and level headed, while the Sonic in the movies is more childish.  SEGA would have to make Sonic childish to fit Ben's voice if they wanted to have Ben Schwartz voice Sonic in the games.