Potential "dream" recasts of Sonic characters

Honestly, a lot of the Sonic X cast are still my favorites the series have had thus far, so if anything I’d just get as many of them back as possible. There are exceptions, like Tails can keep Colleen since she’s the best voice for him in my opinion. Eggman can use a new VA too, I would’ve chosen Bristow to reprise the role if he hadn’t sadly passed away back in 05’. As for characters introduced after X who weren't in it, I’d get Pete Capella back as Silver and Erica Lindback can keep her role as Blaze. Most of the cast beyond that would also keep their current actors since I don’t really have an issue with many of them.


Now, something slightly more interesting to me, giving the IDW and Classic characters voices. Julie Ann Taylor for Tangle, Briana White for Whisper, Anairis Quiñones for Surge, and Marin Miller for Kit. As for the Classic characters, Jack Hawkins for Fang is perfect to me. I don’t have a specific voice in mind for Mighty, but I always headcanoned him with a Texan accent so ideally his VA would be able to pull that off well. Ray would be Justin Felbinger, Bean would be Tru Valentino, and for Bark, I don’t imagine he’d really ever need to talk at all, so maybe just some deep grunts or growls would fit him. Xanthe Huynh, mainly just because of her work as Haru in Persona 5, would be a perfect fit for Trip IMO.

Yes, I have thought this through awhile back before ever finding this thread.

 

Nobody talks except Tails.

Played by Matt Berry.

 

Yeah good luck with that.

As for my ideal voice actor choices:
Big the Cat as Dan Castellaneta

 

BRIAN BLESSED as Robotnik

 

Shaking my head at the missed opportunity for a pun in the thread title. Potential "dream" cast for Sonic Characters was right there, haha...! ; )

 

I'M THE TRASH HOG. I PUT OUT GARBAGE!

 

I've changed my mind, this is better than Matt Berry.

 

Nice pick.

 

I'm willing to stand on my business...I do not actually believe we need an entire recasting for the Sonic series, I believe we need a new voice director. Because the man we've had since 2010 has been vastly inconsistent and I believe he hasn't lived up to the full potential of various actors.

I've actually came up with a fully fledged "Altered-Cast" Premise that I'm willing to share...so I will.

Now, when it came to coming up with these castings I wanted something that felt "realistic"

1. I only recasted when I felt like there was a valuable reason to do so.

2. I only pitched actors who have worked with SEGA AFTER 2010 (Post-Studiopolis)

3. No Prime Actors, they're Canadian, they aren't a viable pick until further notice.

Sonic - Robbie Daymond (If they recast Roger Craig Smith, it has to be for a valuable reason besides personal taste. So I chose someone who could do a similar performance to Movie Sonic, while still his own person. He's been Sonic for 15 Years, if they're recasting him there has to be a reason.) -

Alternatively keep Roger Craig Smith and let him use his Zagi Voice, but less unhinged -

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Tails - Colleen O'Shaughnessey (There is no fundamental reason to recast her, she voices Tails in the VERY FINACIALLY AND RECENTLY CRITICALLY SUCCESSFUL MOVIE SERIES AS WELL)



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Knuckles - Dave B. Mitchell (His performance in CrossWorlds is an improvement over where he began, but more importantly I consider him fully capable of having the range to do a more Dave Green-ish tone if given the proper direction)



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Amy - Erika Harlacher / Cindy Robinson (Erika just felt like the easiest pick for a manic-girly-girl Amy, but Cindy is my backup if she's still capable of the range shown in the example video)

https://youtu.be/98oVepTeYlg

https://youtu.be/-Fxu3Y3u__Y

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Big - Kyle Hebert (It's Big the Cat. He's fine.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Qf6UImmnTI&pp=ygUbYmlnIHRlYW0gc29uaWMgcmFjaW5nIHZvaWNl

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Cream - Stephanie Sheh (We're going to have to eventually recast Michelle Ruff as Cream when she either has or currently has outgrown the vocal range. She is better in CrossWorlds, but we'll have to do this eventually. So I'm pitching Stephanie because she's someone I can entrust this to. She arleady voices Zeena and Maria, so sure why not, have a third.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIQI2qQymHU&pp=ygUUc3RlcGhhbmllIHNoZWggdm9pY2U=

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Shadow - Kirk Thorton (Yeah I know what you're thinking, but I am actually committied to dying on this hill, so fine, I'm going to make a tanget out of this)

Ok, so here's an experiment for you.

Kirk recorded for Kingdom Hearts 3 AND Team Sonic Racing in 2018.

This is Kirk as Saix in 2018 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Dgc9EzEvQk&pp=ygURc2FpeHggdm9pY2UgY2xpcHM=

This is Kirk as Shadow in 2018 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLlGJEcU2yQ&pp=ygUec2hhZG93IHRlYW0gc29uaWMgcmFjaW5nIHZvaWNl

Kirk is the actor in both of these, but they each had a different director

So, would you tell me Kirk can’t voice Shadow or would you believe it has to do with voice direction

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Rouge - Michelle Ruff, we'd still keep her, but we'd have her voice Rouge. Using her experience as Lupin's Fujiko Mine as the basis.

https://youtu.be/zp9RQL7TA2I

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Omega - Roger Craig Smith (There's nothing wrong with his performance as Omega. So, we keep in the series.)

https://youtu.be/coN_xKNg0rs?t=178

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Vector - Keith Silverstein (Furthermore, Keith has more range than his usual Vector voice, so if we want to do something similar to Heroes, he could. If not, then it's fine because he sounds pretty much like Dan Green Vector anyways.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av9oXuLN7K8&pp=ygUca2V2aW4gc2lsdmVyc3RlaW4gc2FtZSB2b2ljZQ==

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Espio - Matthew Mercer (Again, he already voices this character. So why would I bother changing him. It's Matthew Mercer. He can voice this kind of character)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNpw8xTVH4o&pp=ygUXZXNwaW8gbWF0dCBtZXJjZXIgdm9pY2U=

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Charmy - Lizzie Freeman (Look, we'll see if Colleen is still capable of voicing Charmy in CrossWorlds, but if we needed to recast her due to aging out of the role. I think Lizzie would work. I didn't pick her because Pomni, I picked her because she did voicework in Persona 3 Reload, so she fits the rule I set up.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3Oo-i9EppQ&pp=ygUUbGl6emllIGZyZWVtYW4gdm9pY2U=

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Silver - Bryce Papenbook (I know for some he hasn't clicked yet, but I find that his portfolio lens him to being a fair choice for this character. I want to see what he can really do.)

https://youtu.be/u5unadVAgCs?t=22

Start at...0:22

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Blaze - Erica Linebeck (Every Blaze Actress thus far sounds the exact same, I have no reason to recast her)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMBAaYDnOAE&pp=ygUUZXJpY2EgbGluZWJlY2sgYmxhemU=

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Jet - Robbie Daymond (This one involves a fixer-upper. If we worked off Robbie's crazy-Goro voice, a bit of a higher pitch, and bit more cocky. I'd be fine with it.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INqfLWnt42s&pp=ygUScm9iYmllIGRheW1vbmQgamV0

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Wave - Erica Linebeck (Wave and Storm typically just have pre-existing series actors, and since we need to recast her for CrossWorlds anyway. Might as well just have Erica Linebeck handle it.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Obze4aCaFd4&pp=ygUUZXJpa2EgbGluZWJlY2sgdm9pY2U=

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Storm - Dave B. Mitchell (He can voice Storm's big tough lack of common sense. I'm not worried about being wrong.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inhF_YivhXs&pp=ygUca25jdWxrZXMgb2x5bXBpY3MgMjAyMCB2b2ljZQ==

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Eggman - Fred Tatasciore (We need him recasted more than anyone, and Fred Tatasciore has been my ace-in-the-hole since this became a discussion, actually I picked him before the hashtag. He's worked with SEGA on the Yakuza series, so he's entirely fair-game for this discussion)



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Metal Sonic - ...Perfection

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You don't actually have to start from scratch, just work off what currently exists and go from there.

If anything, I'd rather RECAST THE VOICE DIRECTOR SINCE 2010

I WANNA RECAST JACK FLETCHER IF ANYTHING

So yeah that's about it

 

Martin Burke is severely underrated, I think his voice is the one that fits classic Sonic the most.

 

Simple: revert back to the SA2 cast, and for characters who weren't in SA2, revert to their SA1 and Heroes actors.

In lieu of that, the only particular pick I have is Kirk getting the boot and the Prime guy coming in to replace him as Shadow.

EDIT:

I would tell you that I find his voice very grating in both examples, so it's not a directing problem.

 

feel like shit, just want her back (the entire cast of SA2)

I wish I could go "this voice actor that never played the character before would do great!" but like, nobody was a better Sonic, or Knuckles, or Eggman, or Rouge, or Shadow, than the cast we had back then, and I can't picture any English/American VA who would be better, either. Though to be fair, I really really am not a fan of most American voice acting, especially in anime and games. I also feel Tails in SA2 sounds better but it's also a young kid who didn't know how to act, so getting an adult actress instead is understandable, even if an adult woman can't really sound exactly the way a young boy actually sounds, and Colleen does a fine job.

I really think Jun'ichi Kanemaru does the best Sonic though, but I don't know how exactly to translate his charisma and appeal into American English in a way that sounds inviting and warm and not cocky or trying too hard to be cool. Ryan's Sonic I think is the one who swings closest, there's a lot of charisma and a cartoony brightness to his voice and performance.

 

I disagree with this thinly veiled "Mike Pollock and Karen Strassman need to go" push. If they must go it should be because they can't do the job anymore. Karen's issue is voice direction, Mike's is probably age. That's definitely Michelle Ruff's issue with Cream no thanks to sega sidelining her since 2011 but no one is calling for her replacement.

 

A fair enough belief, I'm actually willing to go along with Karen Rouge since I have supported the notion it's a matter of voice direction for her. in the past.
Michelle sounds better as Cream in Crossworlds for the most part anyway, but it's an inevitability so that's why.

Hell I feel the same about Current VA Jet, he has great range elsewhere. If you asked me if I wanted new actors or a new voice director, I'd pick a new voice director

 

There's no veil. People don't want actors who make a public show of being dickheads to work on the series. Nothing needs to be disguised about that (also, Strassman has always sounded bad). Across three separate threads now I'm continuously baffled by this "actors shouldn't be replaced no matter what they say or do" take. Would we still be saying this if some programmer got reported to HR for pissing in the water cooler or something?

 

Didn't learn our lesson the first two times I see

 

Can't speak for everyone but my post focused on Rouge because I hate her current voice and not because of any other "thinly veiled" reason. Her direction is all over the damn place, yes, but I also find herself voice itself to be woefully unfit for the character. High pitched, dainty and almost bimbo-esque style is just entirely wrong. She sounds like a housewife in her 50s doing an impression an impression of a teenage bully. Throughout Shadow Generations, her best in-game performance to date, she sounds unpleasant to listen to. It's this scene in particular where she simply says "whatever" (skip to 1:00) where the everything makes my skin crawl. She was even worse in TSR and Dream Team wherein she gave Rouge a strange Southern US twang too. And to be fair, she also had few outlying lines in Tails Tube and Dark Beginnings that sounded kinda good. But ultimately she's lacking the huskiness and lower pitch that I'd want and expect from Rouge.

This has nothing to do with Strassman and let's please not waste anyone's time with that particular can of worms. She's not suited to voicing Rouge.

EDIT: @MykonosFan Beaten to the punch whilst I was making this comment.

Yes, do this immediately.