Several Voice Actors Leave The Sonic Franchise

This is maybe a weird post, but does anyone else think that Mike Pollock is very annoying online?

 

no

 

Annoying? No. But from my interactions with him, both on and off Twitter, he's a real hardass. For how much he jokes with fans on Twitter, he takes his job and his role really seriously to the point where he has a no-nonsense policy for some of the most harmless things fans do. Once, when I brought up how people remix things he says for fan projects or Youtube Poops, he told me if he could sue those people, he would. No joke.

 

Come on, man, that "pingas" thing was stupid and you know it.

 

Thinking something is stupid and unfunny, and thinking it's worthy of a lawsuit, are two different things. It wasn't even about a stupid joke. It was about using his voice without paying royalties.

 

I don't know the full context, but if your entire job involved being paid money for use of your voice, you would want to be compensated monetarily tbh.

 

The "pingas" line was written into the script with full knowledge that fans would clip out the soundbite to meme it and you know it.

 

...Ok, obviously there's some miscommunication here, so let me make it more clear:

He was saying people like WalrusGuy should be paying him royalties for making a YTP of the Ratatoing trailer. Because that's his voice.

 

Well it would depend on the contract he signed within the movie. If his contract said he'd make money via royalties, then I can understand him being a bit miffed that his voice was being used elsewhere. At the end of the day, his livelihood comes down to the fact people are paying him for his voice. As much as I would like to say people should be free to remix and change existing pieces of work, there's never a middle ground where everyone is compensated fairly.

 

Um, no? Here's what TVTropes has to say on it:

So if you're referring to the Sonic Boom script, that was in reference to an existing meme that he took measures not to repeat. If you're referring to the AoSTH script, that was written over a decade before YouTube became a thing.

 

To be honest, if a fan maneuvered me into saying something that could be seen as inflammatory (not that I'm in such a position, but for argument's sake), then I'd probably put restrictions on fan voice requests as well. He's trying to maintain his reputation and his livelihood which means he's going to have to be strict about how interactions work and make it clear that some things just aren't acceptable. I don't think it's fair to hold that against him, especially when he's still really polite and engaging to the fanbase when he doesn't have to be.

 

I assumed you were talking about the Sonic Boom episode. My point was that the writers were referencing the meme and any potential consequences of having Mike's Eggman say that line in official media were not unintentional. I honestly didn't remember that he said it from a fan request as well.

To be clear, I respect his desire to remain professional with any unofficial use of Eggman's voice, such as not engaging with the "announcement" meme, as he explained in his own announcement video. If he felt he had been tricked into saying something he normally wouldn't feel comfortable saying for a fan request, I can understand that. But I do think it's a little ridiculous to desire royalty payments (to the point of wishing for lawsuits) from youtubepoops that use voice recordings from a previously published product.

 

But it wasn't a previously published product. Pollock saying the line was a new recording. If they had used the recording of Long John Baldry saying it in the AoSTH episode, that would've been a previously published product.

 

The Sonic Boom episode, after it aired, was a "previously published product."

 

It was about him basically being tricked into saying a line he had no context about SPECIFICALLY so it could be transformed into "pingas".

 

The only thing I find slightly annoying is how he constantly vanity searches himself on Twitter. Other than that the guy has the patience of a saint.

 

For as amusing as the "pingas" thing is on its own, I think it's disgusting and disrespectful to trick a professional like that. It's that kind of cringey behavior that makes fandoms look bad. Whoever made him say that ought to hang their head in shame, but they probably just giggle over it like a 12 year old instead.

Before anyone thinks I lack a sense of humor, just consider it from his perspective. He's the voice of a family friendly character and he's got a reputation to uphold. While I doubt anyone looking to hire him is going to hold it against him, it's the principle of the matter.

 

While I understand the type of community Mike Pollock has to interact with, let's not forget that he also CHOOSES to interact with said community.

I actually saw some....less than savory behavior from him exposed recently which caused me to lose a bit of respect for him. He just seems like a very egotistical and vain person when his biggest claim to fame is voicing a video game character.

 

Mind elaborating? It's a bit silly to bring it up and not describe anything.

 

Sorry was on mobile earlier.



The relevant bit is at 43:48. To elaborate, just the way he interacts with fans and responds to criticism and posts on Tweets that he isn't tagged in. As said, he likely searches his own name on Twitter just to respond about subjects pertaining to him. There's another incident that particularly stood out to me.