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

[SonicFanForLife]

I hope they keep the movie in the theater where it belongs! Or else, we'll have another "Boom" that will last for another long, four years. *sigh*

[Janshal]

You guys need to move on from Jason and Ryan. They're not coming back

[Mountaindewandsprite]

Roger was a great VA. I think it's just the corny and cringeworthy writing of the last few games that gives people the impression that Roger is a bad VA. Just my opinion.

[Domino]

Are you guys sure Ben couldn't do a decent job as main series Sonic? I do see how the movie had a slightly more juvenile take on the character, but I wouldn't call it a night and day difference. I wouldn't even say Ben's Sonic voice sounds all that childish. Give him lines written with a character one or two years older in mind and I don't see why he couldn't pull it off.

(I mean, I doubt SEGA's going to hire Ben for reasons you've all already talked about, but that's beside the point here.)

[SonicFanForLife]

10 minutes ago, Mountaindewandsprite said:

Roger was a great VA. I think it's just the corny and cringeworthy writing of the last few games that gives people the impression that Roger is a bad VA. Just my opinion.

I agree. Roger's voice acting for Sonic was great. The script... not so great. The voice actor can't make a script better no matter how talented he is.

Sonic Forces: "Buddy! Don't! You'll be sucked in too!" (Sonic and his buddy, aw...)  "...and the bonds of friendship!" (What is this, My Little Pony?)

Team Sonic Racing: "Love me some bounce pad!"

Mario and Sonic Tokyo 2020: "olé!" "olé!" "olé!" "olé!" "olé!" "olé!" (Repeat)

 

[PeterPancake]

10 hours ago, Razule said:

Oh, so it's actually confirmed Pontaff is gone this time. Not quite, but close enough. Well. Changes are a-coming then. Not necessarily big change, since we don't know anything, but change.

Thank god

[VO.SUPER]

I can totally see Ben taking over as Modern Sonic. He just needs a more mature direction. People are too hung up over his very different movie portrayal, but listen to things like his Leonardo voice, and I think he could transition to Modern Sonic just fine. 

[SBR2]

On the topic of other VA's personally I'm not fond of Ryan's voice myself. His line delivery is really stilted and that's not just on Sega I think he sounds really unnatural in Emi Jones fan projects too.

Jason was fine but a little too nasally and honestly he didn't really have muchin the way of variety to his performance. He had excited and low tone and that's kinda it. He was better as Shadow though.

[PSI Wind]

On 1/29/2021 at 9:41 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

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.

 

 

SEGA is using the Hedgehog Engine 2 in multiple projects in-house, probably as another proprietary engine like the Dragon Engine (thank god). Both Sakura Wars 2019 and Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 are on it.

[SonicFanForLife]

After watching a couple clips of Leonardo (voiced by Ben Schwartz) in the Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, I think that Ben could actually do a pretty good impression of the Jason Griffith Sonic if he tried. Listen to Leonardo in the video below and tell me what you think.

 

[Marcello]

5 hours ago, SonicFan2832 said:

After watching a couple clips of Leonardo (voiced by Ben Schwartz) in the Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, I think that Ben could actually do a pretty good impression of the Jason Griffith Sonic if he tried. Listen to Leonardo in the video below and tell me what you think.

 

Why in the world would you want that? If they got Schwartz for the games, making him do a Griffith impression would be insane. 

[SonicFanForLife]

It would be better than the generic Ben Schwartz personality used in other characters he voices. Sonic the Hedgehog's voice should be unique and not make you think of other characters like Dewey the Duck or Leonardo the Ninja Turtle.

[azoo]

RCS Sonic voice is the same voice he uses in commercials, and as Thomas from Regular Show plus various other smaller roles. Griffith used the voice he had for Sonic on everything from Pokémon to Danimals. Danimals, man.

The fact that almost none of these guys have a very unique voice for Sonic is one thing, but it’s hardly fair to act like Ben’s version is an outlier. 

[Redemption]

Not a half bad tribute. It may sound dumb but think i almost shed a tear watching this. Sonic Forces last scene was just so memorable.

Roger was great! Change is hard but we must move on if we want to grow.

 

[Soniman]

12 minutes ago, azoo said:

RCS Sonic voice is the same voice he uses in commercials, and as Thomas from Regular Show plus various other smaller roles. Griffith used the voice he had for Sonic on everything from Pokémon to Danimals. Danimals, man.

The fact that almost none of these guys have a very unique voice for Sonic is one thing, but it’s hardly fair to act like Ben’s version is an outlier. 

Frankly I really don't need a VA'S Sonic voice to be completely different and unique from all of their previous  roles for me to accept their take on Sonic. As long as it fits the character I don't really care that much if it sounds similar to unrelated characters from other series 

[Blue Blood]

1 hour ago, azoo said:

RCS Sonic voice is the same voice he uses in commercials, and as Thomas from Regular Show plus various other smaller roles. Griffith used the voice he had for Sonic on everything from Pokémon to Danimals. Danimals, man.

The fact that almost none of these guys have a very unique voice for Sonic is one thing, but it’s hardly fair to act like Ben’s version is an outlier. 

This is honestly what always irked me about Lisa Ortiz' Amy. I don't watch a great deal of animation, so character voice overlap rarely comes a cropper for me, but I swear that Ortiz only has one voice. And that bothered me because her voice was great for Amy, but showed up all over the shop. One of the smaller contributors towards me liking Smith as Sonic was that I wasn't aware of his voice from anywhere else, unlike Griffith who's voice I couldn't avoid basically everywhere. It's not much of a contributing factor Ultimately I just thought that Smith really suited Sonic to tee regardless of anything else (although again I didn't know his voice from elsewhere personally).

But like I said, I don't really watch much animation so it's not likely to be a problem from me and it's not something I can't look passed. I'd rather have a decent voice that's similar to/the same as something else than I would have an unique but unfitting voice. Schwartz would be fine for Sonic in the games. He wouldn't be my first pick though.

... actually saying that I don't know who my first pick would be. Just don't know enough VAs. Drummond has still got it something fierce though. If he ever got the opportunity to voice Sonic again in an official capacity, I'd be all for it. But an ideal world would be one wherein SEGA treated their talent and their brand well enough that we wouldn't be having this discussion. 

[Kuzu]

5 minutes ago, Blue Blood said:

This is honestly what always irked me about Lisa Ortiz' Amy. I don't watch a great deal of animation, so character voice overlap rarely comes a cropper for me, but I swear that Ortiz only has one voice. And that bothered me because her voice was great for Amy, but showed up all over the shop. One of the smaller contributors towards me liking Smith as Sonic was that I wasn't aware of his voice from anywhere else, unlike Griffith who's voice I couldn't avoid basically everywhere. It's not much of a contributing factor Ultimately I just thought that Smith really suited Sonic to tee regardless of anything else (although again I didn't know his voice from elsewhere personally).

But like I said, I don't really watch much animation so it's not likely to be a problem from me and it's not something I can't look passed. I'd rather have a decent voice that's similar to/the same as something else than I would have an unique but unfitting voice. Schwartz would be fine for Sonic in the games. He wouldn't be my first pick though.

... actually saying that I don't know who my first pick would be. Just don't know enough VAs. Drummond has still got it something fierce though. If he ever got the opportunity to voice Sonic again in an official capacity, I'd be all for it. But an ideal world would be one wherein SEGA treated their talent and their brand well enough that we wouldn't be having this discussion. 

As someone who watches tons of Animation, voice blending is just something that happens after a while. Better voice actors have more range to not make it noticeable, but after a certain a point, you just become accustomed a person's work. It doesn't help that there's a limited number of voice actors to pool from, especially in America. 

 

 

On the subject of Sonic's voice; this is why I hate it whenever Sega swap out VA's so often, because now we have to get accustomed to yet another VA after just growing comfortable with the previous one.  Associating a character with a certain voice is paramount when you want people to stay engaged with the series. This is why Live action actors are rarely swapped out in order to not break that immersion. Imagine if we had 4 different Tony Starks in the entire run of the MCU, rather than just Robert Downey Jr. This is why Kevin Conroy is widely recognized as the voice for Batman, even though he has had other actors, because he's had the longest tenure as the character more than anyone. 

So when Sega are constantly swapping out VA's, they're breaking the immersion of their series and forcing players to associate an entirely different actor for what is essentially the same character. AS someone who values artistic integrity, it really bothers me how flippant they've been about this. I thought the fact that they kept Roger on longer than anyone meant they finally learned their lesson, but nope they haven't learned anything at all, and now I know for certain that they're just keep changing Sonic's voice every couple of years on a whim. 

[Wraith]

I'm not sure how "He sounds too much like someone/something else" is actually a problem. Even if I did agree that it was I'm not sure what can actually be done about it aside from digging up some unknown and hoping that being the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog somehow doesn't open them up to other work. Most VAs do work all over the industry because that's the only way it pays off. There aren't that many voices uniquely tied to one character period.

 I guess the new Sonic VA could strain their voice to sound "unique" but all of the previous ones were much better when they were giving more natural, relaxed performances. Roger in particular was excellent when he got to relax. Maybe not "the ideal sonic" but since that's highly subjective and impossible to actually act on I'd much rather give him credit for doing a good job.

[thumbs13]

23 minutes ago, Kuzu said:

 

On the subject of Sonic's voice; this is why I hate it whenever Sega swap out VA's so often, because now we have to get accustomed to yet another VA after just growing comfortable with the previous one.  Associating a character with a certain voice is paramount when you want people to stay engaged with the series. This is why Live action actors are rarely swapped out in order to not break that immersion. Imagine if we had 4 different Tony Starks in the entire run of the MCU, rather than just Robert Downey Jr. This is why Kevin Conroy is widely recognized as the voice for Batman, even though he has had other actors, because he's had the longest tenure as the character more than anyone. 

 

It's because it's easier to get soundalikes than it is lookalikes. You can't replace actors in live action because people can tell two guys apart. Animation doesn't have that pitifall.

I think the issue is that Sonic tries so hard to be consistent with VA's, so whenever they switch things up, it's weird. Conroy plays Batman a lot, but he's one of 40 other guys who's played him. Sonic's had so few that change is weirder.

[Blue Blood]

37 minutes ago, Wraith said:

I'm not sure how "He sounds too much like someone/something else" is actually a problem. Even if I did agree that it was I'm not sure what can actually be done about it aside from digging up some unknown and hoping that being the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog somehow doesn't open them up to other work. Most VAs do work all over the industry because that's the only way it pays off. There aren't that many voices uniquely tied to one character period.

 I guess the new Sonic VA could strain their voice to sound "unique" but all of the previous ones were much better when they were giving more natural, relaxed performances. Roger in particular was excellent when he got to relax. Maybe not "the ideal sonic" but since that's highly subjective and impossible to actually act on I'd much rather give him credit for doing a good job.

I mean... I kinda disagree with this. Not that I can't see where you're coming from, but it often feels like there's a fairly limited pool VAs in the world for some reason. And that's more of a problem with the industry as a whole than it is a problem with the actors themselves. Or like various actors all try to do incredibly similar voices. That gets on my nerves with anime so much. I wish there was more variety in the output, and that's the only reason I sometimes like like A-list celebrities being hired to VA in their normal voices. Ironically, that actually ends up bringing in a touch of variety. 

Anyway I just hope the new guy does a good job and enjoys the role. And that SEGA doesn't do to him as they've done to all the others...

[Jango]

I think that, if the Sonic Adventure remake really is a thing, there's a chance of Ryan returning. But would he stay or would this just be a once in a life time situation? His return would definitely be used to advertise the game, that's for sure. And people would buy that because they love Ryan. 

[azoo]

A good character is sold by a distinct voice, I feel. If you start to hear that voice in everything else, it isn't the worst thing in the world but it's also not great since it kinda takes you out of "this is (X)" and more of "this is the voice actor". I only really make exceptions for when said voice actor REALLY nails the character despite that (Patrick Warburton as Brock Sampson is a really good for example) but I never thought Jason nor Roger really did that for Sonic so I can't really say that.

If Ben is the next Sonic, I guess we'll see if it gets there.

1 hour ago, Blue Blood said:

... actually saying that I don't know who my first pick would be. Just don't know enough VAs. Drummond has still got it something fierce though. If he ever got the opportunity to voice Sonic again in an official capacity, I'd be all for it. But an ideal world would be one wherein SEGA treated their talent and their brand well enough that we wouldn't be having this discussion. 

If Drummond EVER got the role again the entire internet would be an absolute warzone. There would be riots, mace, websites burning down over the discourse. It'd be pretty hilarious ngl lmao.

[Blue Blood]

6 minutes ago, azoo said:

If Drummond EVER got the role again the entire internet would be an absolute warzone. There would be riots, mace, websites burning down over the discourse. It'd be pretty glorious ngl lmao.

I live for Sonic internet drama. The only thing better than a new bad Sonic game is the discourse that follows. So the VA wars would totally be my jam.

[Kuzu]

51 minutes ago, thumbs13 said:

It's because it's easier to get soundalikes than it is lookalikes. You can't replace actors in live action because people can tell two guys apart. Animation doesn't have that pitifall.

I think the issue is that Sonic tries so hard to be consistent with VA's, so whenever they switch things up, it's weird. Conroy plays Batman a lot, but he's one of 40 other guys who's played him. Sonic's had so few that change is weirder.

 

But people DO notice the difference lmao. 

There wouldn't be so much controversy with these VA's if they didn't all sound so vastly different from each other .

32 minutes ago, Blue Blood said:

I mean... I kinda disagree with this. Not that I can't see where you're coming from, but it often feels like there's a fairly limited pool VAs in the world for some reason. And that's more of a problem with the industry as a whole than it is a problem with the actors themselves. Or like various actors all try to do incredibly similar voices. That gets on my nerves with anime so much. I wish there was more variety in the output, and that's the only reason I sometimes like like A-list celebrities being hired to VA in their normal voices. Ironically, that actually ends up bringing in a touch of variety. 

Anyway I just hope the new guy does a good job and enjoys the role. And that SEGA doesn't do to him as they've done to all the others...

 

22 minutes ago, azoo said:

A good character is sold by a distinct voice, I feel. If you start to hear that voice in everything else, it isn't the worst thing in the world but it's also not great since it kinda takes you out of "this is (X)" and more of "this is the voice actor". I only really make exceptions for when said voice actor REALLY nails the character despite that (Patrick Warburton as Brock Sampson is a really good for example) but I never thought Jason nor Roger really did that for Sonic so I can't really say that.

If Ben is the next Sonic, I guess we'll see if it gets there.

 

I understand what you guys mean, but it's also not very realistic or practical; there's only but so many voice actors to choose from, at least some point you're going to get some overlap. Tom Kenny has had numerous roles outside of being Spongebob, but I don't think anyone would argue that somehow diminishes how iconic Spongebob is. 

[azoo]

21 minutes ago, Kuzu said:

I understand what you guys mean, but it's also not very realistic or practical; there's only but so many voice actors to choose from, at least some point you're going to get some overlap. Tom Kenny has had numerous roles outside of being Spongebob, but I don't think anyone would argue that somehow diminishes how iconic Spongebob is. 

I mean, even if you recognize Tom Kenny, he clearly has a distinct Spongebob voice that he doesn't use for most other characters. Only other character I think he's done that had a voice close to him was Carl from Johnny Bravo? And even then that was an era before Spongebob was a big deal. You don't get hung up on the VA as much when there's enough to separate their other performances, because I definitely don't get caught up on him voicing Ice King or the Mayor of Townsville. S'about that range, man.

There's a difference between that and say, Mike Pollock literally just using his Eggman voice on every character in a slightly higher register than his speaking voice. Hearing him verbatim in Beserk is wild. lol