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Several Voice Actors Leave The Sonic Franchise

Discussion in 'General Sonic Discussion' started by jubbalub, Jan 28, 2021.

  1. Stritix

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    I wouldn't be against Drummond returning. His performance drastically improved in the latest episode of Sonic & Tails R. His voice is mostly unchanged from the Adventure era when he raises his pitch. I would assume they already had their new Sonic VA chosen by the time of Roger's departure, so I don't think there's much of a chance of Drummond returning.
     
    Last edited: Feb 7, 2021
  2. MykonosFan

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    Please leave off-site drama as off-site drama, and don't contribute to our threads here with it. Both sides got their say in so let's leave it at that. Thank you.
     
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  3. simtek34

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    I don't think that is why. From what I remember, the 4Kids cast was replaced because their contracts all ended. And on expenses, they recorded from New York. They did not go to California to just record Sonic. Mike Pollock has said on Twitter in the past that he hadn't recorded any Sonic stuff from the 4Kids Productions studios since 2009.
    https://twitter.com/itsamike/status/1002276908481024008
     
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  4. Blue Blood

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    Interesting. Schwartz isn't who I would personally want to voice Sonic, but he'd have been absolutely fine. The fact that he's not taking over the role leaves me a bit more apprehensive. I'll be eagerly awaiting any actual news.

    I kind of think that casting might still be up in the air. SEGA was very upfront about the 2010 recastings, but in this instance, they had to be egged on by Smith publicly announcing that he was leaving. A handful of the other actors followed suit, with Pollock skirting around the issue before eventually confirming that he was still playing the role of Eggman in the game. SEGA however has been radio silent. It leads me to believe that SEGA's been caught in the middle of the process. Perhaps they were in the process of writing up contracts when they couldn't reach agreements with many of the cast members, and therefore they're currently in (or just out of) the casting process? I dunno. Just guess rather baseless work from me.

    The again, if Prime and the games are going to share a cast... isn't it a bit late for Prime? Of course we don't know that the two will share a cast. Plus Pollock confirmed he was voicing Eggman in the games and Villard confirmed that she wasn't voicing Tails in Prime, so who knows? Having a consistent cast just seems sensible for the brand, and that's also exactly why 4Kids took over the games during X's run on TV. Although we don't know when in 2022 Prime is launching, so it may not yet be too late.

    In an ideal world Smith would never have left. In an almost ideal world, Drummond would be reprising the role. But if these past 12 months have taught us anything, this world ain't ideal. If the past is anything to go by, whoever they get to voice Sonic should be fine. I've enjoyed all of his English voices, with Griffith being the only one who I didn't think was great but was merely pretty good (at least in his later years).
     
    Last edited: Feb 9, 2021
  5. Overlord

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    How is it late for Prime? It's not coming for at least another year, potentially as late as nearly 2 years if it's late 2022.
     
  6. Blue Blood

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    That's what I'm alluding to in my post. If Prime was to launch in early 2022, then I think that they'd probably have had the VAs sorted out by now. A year to get all the VA work done for a brand new production, promotional material and sorting out legal things beforehand. I'm just guessing that this sort of thing takes a long time? Plus we already know that Tails' VA won't be voicing him in Prime, and Pollock specifically mentioned the games. It sounds like Prime's voice work is already decided or in the process of being so.

    But if it's later than early 2022, then nah, there'd plenty of time for Prime.
     
  7. Starduster

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    Given that Colleen’s only stated she’s not voicing Tails in Prime, it’s entirely possible that she reauditioned for and kept the role for the games, as Mike has gone on record as having done during the second recasting.

    Ultimately however a consistent cast may be *why* they’re recasting again. As has been stated by others in this thread, several voice actors that took over from the 2010s (Blaze, Zavok, Espio, Knuckles, etc.) didn’t show up in TSR, so maybe the producers are taking the opportunity to go through the whole cast again to cast actors that they can really lock in for the next ten years and beyond.
     
  8. I wonder if Tails's VA will voice him in the sonic 2 movie?
     
  9. simtek34

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    It's currently unknown. Colleen has said on Twitter a bunch recently that she hopes she will and that she hasn't heard anything about it.
     
  10. So according to Roger himself on a recent podcast, he dropped the role of his own accord.

    I highly doubt that, especially given Tara Strong's statements on the matter that Roger himself didn't exactly disagree with.

    But its nobody's business at the end of the day besides the parties involved. Just wish it didn't have to be like this, but I've accepted that nothing ever goes completely right when it comes to Sonic.
     
  11. Starduster

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    Could you elaborate on Tara's statements, please? I didn't even realise she had a part in all this.
     
  12. She basically publicly called out corporations for being so flippant about voice actors and how willing they are to replace them and ignore how important they are to the characters they voice.
     
  13. Gestalt

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  14. Dark Sonic

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    Oh so he just quit? Huh. I wonder why.

    But hey now I don't feel bad.
     
  15. Blue Blood

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    Buddy, if you're going to post any sort of news or information like like this... You have to post the original source. The information is totally worthless without it. Both the podcast in which Smith took part and the comments from him and Strong on Twitter. Ideally, include timestamps for the podcast and the direct quote where you got this information.

    Thank you for bringing this news up. But please please please provide context!

    My guess would be that it's unlikely that SEGA actually fired him and the other actors who have left the series. The most likely scenario based on history would be that SEGA changed their contracts moving forwards, and cast members including Smith didn't agree to the new terms. That, or SEGA wasn't interested in meeting new expectations of the actors (unions, increased pay etc...). Either way, it would technically be the case that Smith left the role of his own volition but practically it was more SEGA'S doing. But this is just a guess based on the incomplete information.
     
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  16. Dek Rollins

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    Since it doesn't look like anybody bothered linking the interview yet, here's the link. He talks about leaving Sonic some time after the 20 minute mark.

    The situation seems mutual, and he pokes at all the baseless speculation from fans who know literally nothing about what's going on behind the scenes.
     
  17. Blue Blood

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    Thanks so much for posting this. He talks about leaving Sonic from 24:44 onwards. Specifically he says
    It's worth listening to the whole thing after the 20 minutes mark. Smith also suggests how the job didn't fit into where he wanted to take his life, which is fair enough. But I'm definitely feeling some undertones of him not being entirely happy with the role. Based on everything we know such as Tara Strong's Twitter post, the rather rapid replacement of other actors in recent games, the departure of Cindy Robinson as Amy and the fact that Colleen Villard won't be voicing Tails in Prime... I'm fairly convinced that SEGA and Smith went their separate ways because they couldn't reach an agreement. With Smith's comments about where he's living, it could even be that Prime didn't fit into his plans and so that's why he had to leave the series as a whole. So the gears were already in motion, and things played out in a way that lead to him choosing to walk away.

    Just speculation. We likely won't ever know for sure.
     
    Last edited: Feb 21, 2021
  18. My apologies, I was on mobile when I posted it.
     
  19. Antheraea

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    he also has other roles too, and I bet taking on an additional show on top of the other Sonic stuff would make his schedule look very crowded, if not outright conflicting.