Home News Report: Drummond Re-Auditioned for Sonic VA During Generations Development
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Report: Drummond Re-Auditioned for Sonic VA During Generations Development

Tristan Oliver
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An interview published by The Gaming Liberty with former Sonic voice artist Ryan Drummond has received a lot of attention from Sonic fans this weekend, and no wonder: Drummond alleges in the interview he nearly returned to the role in time for Sonic Generations.
The sixteen year veteran of video game VAs was questioned about returning to the Sonic role.  It turns out Drummond all but won the job when, in his words, a re-casting was underway to replace Jason Griffith and company during development of Sonic Generations.  (Officially, the change-over to Roger Craig Smith et al. occurred in 2010, before Sonic Colors was released.)  However, Drummond alleged Sega reneged on the deal when he wouldn’t leave his talent union.  We’ve emboldened the most striking remarks below:

There was a glimmer of hope a while back when Generations was being cast. Sega asked me to come to LA and “re-audition” for the role of Sonic because they were doing the same thing to Jason and that cast that they did to us years before. So I went and they were very pleased to have me back and they actually said they were going to have me back and it was going to be this great reunion. Then when the actual offer came to my agent, it was a complete joke. They asked me to leave my union (which is how I make a living), do all kinds of work for no compensation, etc. It was a real slap in the face. I really don’t see it ever happening. Sega is a huge corporation with zillions of dollars and they don’t see any need to change the way they do things. There’s a lot more detail I can’t go into because of legal reasons, but let’s just say that I wish I’d been voicing Sonic all this time, I would return in a heartbeat, but if Sega ever decides to hire me again the devil’s making sno-cones.

That perspective can be corroborated by a member of the community.  Scener XD375, who foretold of the casting change two years ago, cites in a post on the SSMB a Sega insider who claimed the American staff were happy to bring Drummond back, only to get caught up in corporate bemoaning about Drummond’s union status, with the mothership in Japan getting involved.  Again, the most important information has been emboldened:

Everything Ryan says is true, and SEGA’s douchery and heartlessness extend way beyond even what he said in the interview. Ryan rocked the auditions – he won the role over even Roger.
[….]
SEGA told Ryan they were glad to have him back and that he got the job. Then he was kicked off the role again later on because he wouldn’t quit his union. Ryan’s first new games would have been Sonic Colors and Sonic Free Riders, but even All-Stars Racing was still in development when all of this went down.
[….]
SEGA is paying Roger practically nothing (“coffee and donuts money”) to voice Sonic.
SEGA had meetings about Ryan’s union status. They spent enough money to cover at least sixteen games of Ryan Drummond acting just on airfare, hotels, and food for the executives from Japan to take part in these meetings.

Given Sega’s current financial state, it’s not surprising the company would want to save a buck wherever possible.  But the return of Drummond, considered by plenty in the community to be the best and most beloved of all the Sonic VAs to date, could have been a better business decision, and encouraged fans who picked up on Sonic during the Adventure era but were scared away during the Shadow and Sonic 2006 era to give the series a second look.  Speaking of sound business decisions, there will now always be the question of whether Sega would have better spent its money actually bringing Drummond’s back versus debating his return, in light of these new details being released.

We’ll ask whether you think Drummond should have returned in a future @Issue poll.  In the meantime, afford your thoughts below in the comments.

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109 Comments

  2. Alright, I may be okay with Roger voicing Sonic, but… really? We came that close… THAT CLOSE to getting Ryan back? And it all fell through just because Ryan was union, despite the huge demand for him to return and him doing so great in his auditions? Seriously?! Okay, I’ll at least give them props for at least giving Ryan a chance to re-audition, but considering all the money they spent on those meetings on his union status that they could’ve clearly used to pay for him to voice act and cover the union expenses instead… no, I am NOT okay with that.
    Dick move, SEGA. Dick move.

  3. Amazing article.
    I noticed one typo on my own part – “they he got the job” instead of “that he got the job.” I fixed it in the original post, is it possible that can change here too?

    1. Sure thing. If you’d like to share more insight on what you know about this situation, XD375, feel free to send a news tip.
      I wonder if Danica Patrick is earning “coffee and donuts” money for ASR Transformed.
      -T

  4. @Tristan “I wonder if Danica Patrick is earning “coffee and donuts” money for ASR Transformed.”
    Win. Seriously nice.

  5. Thanks for the offer, Tristan, but I think I’ve already said everything I can say right now. : )

  6. noo why sega ryan will always be my sonic voice and i will never forget him he was my childhood and i don’t even like his new voice he sounds to old and amy …… let’s not talk about her voice sonic generations would be way betet with his voice and i hope he can return one day FOR REAL SEGA

  8. Lol this makes me laugh. What would happen if Drummond died tomorrow? Get over it lol. Voice actors change all the time. Tbh I never thought he was that good anyway.
    Roger is growing nicely into the role and offers an older sounding and better acted Sonic. People are confusing what they don’t like about the script with what they don’t like about the actor.

  12. Ah well, that’s how big companies work and how the cookie crumbles regarding these kind of ordeals. Another thing that’ll blow over.
    Glad we got Roger in the long run, anyway. If we did get Ryan again, I could’ve just used stuff like the Jason voicemod for Generations.

  13. This is karma for both SEGA and Ryan I absolutely HATE his Sonic voice and his idiot fan base making threats against Jason saying the voices were better than the game play this was just gods way of punishing SEGA for firing Jason when he FINALLY perfected the role I’m actually glad Roger got it cause I would have been DAMNED if Ryan’s whiny ass fan base got there way

  14. Shitty situation. I’m happy with the results, but it’s quite shameful to learn how we got here.

  17. To be honest I don’t like R.D.’s voice, but indeed they should have told him the requirements before re-auditioning. This wasn’t exactly nice on Sega’s part.

  18. 🙁 There goes my hopes of tails’ OVA voice actor making a return in SAART
    Seriously though, Ryan wasn’t that great an actor in the first place, his voice does suit the character but his acting?….. Why is everyone forgetting such classics as….

  20. Just to echo what XD375 said, this an excellent article, Tristan. This issue certainly has been discussed to death on the SSMB.
    It’s a difficult situation in that all looked done and dusted for Ryan to return and then the little issue of a union gets in the way. Of course these days unions are much more common. Voice Actors (or any form of Actor for that matter) will want to get the best deal they can, so one can’t blame Ryan for joining his union.
    Personally, I don’t think we can blame SEGA anymore than Ryan or his union. SEGA have their own rules and if the decision had to be made to get Roger on the cheap, then in hindsight with their recent financial struggles maybe it was the correct decision. Very hard to say.

  22. I bet a giant donkey face appeared on every single Sega worker who were involved in the idea when fan reaction to Roger’s voice from Alton Towers came through.
    It’s incredibly stupid that they would try to force a man who almost every Sonic fan from the Adventures time fell in love with to quit the way he makes good bucks.
    Milk and cookies is for Santa Clause SEGA, not Ryan Drummond.

  23. ehhhh….this isn’t surprising…I’ve seen this company and other companies do stupider things…and to be honest…I am quite happy with Roger…he should probably be making more than “Coffee and Donuts” money…but whatever…as long as he stays in the role another good few years I’m good…but that’s just me…lol

  24. uuuuugh, god, here we go again. I’m getting flashbacks all over again of the times when people wouldn’t shut the fuck up about it. RYAN WASN’T EVEN THAT GOOD. In the end of it, Griffith surpassed him when Black Knight came out, and then Smith came along and left both of them in the dust. I guess the day really won’t come where we can just forget about all this voice actor nonsense.

  25. My condolences go out to Ryan, and I wish him good luck in the future, but in terms of him voicing Sonic… He really is overrated, I’m sorry. He’s not bad by any means, and I definitely prefer him to Jaleel White (not that he’s a bad actor either) or Martin Burke from the OVA, but some people just seem to think that if Drummond isn’t cast as Sonic, then the voice acting is automatically going to be crap. I guess the Voice Actor debates never will end.

  26. I love how people suddenly love this guy to the point where you curse SEGA out. He isn’t even good. He’s cheesy. At least RCS actually has some veteran talent behind him, does anyone even know what other voice acting Ryan did? No?
    But, hey, if you people actually gave out REASONABLE reactions, the fanbase would actually not be one of the most mocked and hated fanbases in all of video game fanbases.

  27. I’m gonna be honest. I prefer Griffith over Smith and Drummond just a little bit. But for God’s sake, SEGA, if Drummond got the job, LET HIM HAVE THE F***ING JOB! “He wouldn’t leave his union” my ass. I know you guys are in a rut when it comes to finance these days, but you really don’t have to be that cheap!

  29. Noooo! Well, hey guys, it’s me Sonic. I was there during the debate, and I said I would prefer to have my FIRST/BETTER voice actor back! But they made him quit and now I’m going to be stuck with a 50 year old that can’t say lame jocks in a funny manner for the next 2 sonic games.

  30. Tristan, you might want to change the title of the article to say Colors instead of Generations, since that would have been Ryan’s first game (well, Free Ridiers technically) regardless of which was in development first. In fact, I’ve spoken to Ryan myself about this and the first official thing he would have appeared in was – ironically – Alton Towers. XD375 can back me up on this information.
    And regardless of anyone’s personal preference in the VA topic, you can’t deny that Sega were complete douches about this. Reading comments like “he wasn’t even that good so who cares” just makes me mad. Doesn’t anyone have the decency to care about the proper treatment of a HUMAN BEING?
    Screwed once by Sega in getting let go in the first place, screwed again by being taunted the job during the recast.
    And again, XD375 says that Sega themselves spent a TOOOOON of money just to fly in from Japan to discuss whether to go with a union contract so Ryan could return. Whether it was enough to cover “sixteen games” I’m unsure, but I’ve spoken with Ryan about this and can confirm that they definitely spent an incredibly outrageous amount. Gee, and we wonder why Sega is in such financial trouble!

  32. I want to clarify one remark of mine. When I say the folks at Sega are “douches” I am referring to the specific people in charge of these sort of decisions. There are many great individual people at the Sega branch – Ryan himself said that they were really happy to see him audition at the American branch. But the main head of the company – those people in Japan, I’m guessing probably from Sonic Team – are heartless.
    Yes, it’s a business. But to spend tons and tons of money just to fly in to the US to discuss the idea over some fancy steak dinners – that is just idiotic. Again, it’s no wonder Sega is having the financial problems they are. The people in charge clearly do not know how to manage their money.

  37. After hearing this, I’m really disappointed with Sega. I loved Ryan’s voice, specifically in SA2. People say it was cheesy, but honestly, I LIKED the cheesiness– it brought a certain charm that I think could have developed throughout the series into something great.
    But, that aside, Sega really should’ve taken more steps to make sure Drummond would be happily employed, especially since he was so happy to return and they were so happy to have him back. But, alas, I guess a simple union deal was too much for them, and now Sonic’s VA history is even more convoluted than before (not that I don’t like Roger).

  38. I would’ve loved to hear ”Yeah. I’m stretching… got a problem with that? If you’d like, feel free to run away, there’s no shame in it. well, maybe a little shame.” In SA Sonic’s voice.
    It would’ve been hilarious.

  39. Ryan had the perfect voice for Sonic, even with the “cheesiness” – at least he had PASSION. This is a hyperactive cartoon hedgehog we’re talking about!!

  40. Here’s something unrelated but this you might find funny. I need to see a doctor but I’m uninsured. I’m offering a certain health insurance provider $160/month for full coverage…but since I’m having these pains in my side. Not appendicitis either cause that already happened to me 2 years back…they denied me coverage because of those pains in my side…(IN LATENTS TERMS I’M HIGH RISK FOR HEALTH ISSUES A.K.A. COSTING THEM A SHITLOAD OF MONEY) Its absolutely hilarious that I’m willing to pay these KOOKS money for insurance and they still turn me down lol. Isn’t business decision making hilarious? So let things like this not come as a surprise folks. I bet even Tristan himself scratches his head on some of the decision making going on around the world on different subjects lolz…it. It leaves ya with a great feeling of WTF CHUCK? lolz.

  42. Hmm, I honestly don’t know what to say. I like RD, but I also like RS.
    Maybe if we heard some voice recordings I would be able to choose which one I would’ve liked more, but hearing how much praise RD got for his recordings, I would go with him.
    Btw, is Sonic Team Japan the team the makes the Sonic games, or does Sonic Team America make the games or only localize them?

  45. @Ricardo: “but hearing how much praise RD got for his recordings, I would go with him.”
    Should you really choose based on what other people are saying in regards to voice work rather than hearing for yourself? I know that we really don’t have anything to go by since Drummond’s recordings haven’t been released, but still.

  46. This is being turned into a “WHOS BETTER?” war.
    Dont you see what you guys are doing…
    Who the better voice actor for Sonic is is totally besides the point.
    “Sega fucked over Ryan, but its okay because I dont like Ryans voice anyways.”
    *Facepalm*

  47. Ehh, rodger is good enough. We don’t need to keep playing around with sonic’s voice there is no reason to.

  48. Agreed with TheDanimator. Just because you didn’t like Drummond as a voice actor doesn’t excuse the way he was swindled out of voicing a character he was passionate about.

  49. You’re all being really stupid. This post isn’t about the quality of the voice actor or who’s better, this is talking about how Sega denied him the job.
    And for those who say Drummond was bad, why did Sega like his audition and accept him back?
    http://board.sonicstadium.org/topic/5916-roger-craig-consoles-smith-new-voice-of-sonic/page__st__2420#entry411931
    This link explains the terrible voice direction which definitely had something to do with the seemingly bad performance. Have any of you actually heard him voice Sonic outside of voice direction and bad scripts?

  50. @ShadowTG
    If we’re all missing the point, why is more than half of your comment dedicated to addressing the tangent? lol
    That link also doesn’t explain anything of the sort, unless you expect me to read the comment section. All it does is outline which actor portrayed Sonic at which point in history, with the added bonus of a rather damning collection of Drummond’s sound clips. Ugh, seriously, that guy is even worse than Burke.

  51. I don’t know what’s up with you guys.
    I know it’s your opinion but saying RGC is better than Ryan is just ignorant imo.
    But, I’m not saying Ryan is the best, cuz lol Jason Griffith is the best.
    (EDIT – Inflammatory -T)

  52. @ChaoticFox
    Haha, I realised just how hypocritical my comment sounded as soon as I posted it. Apologies.

  53. A pretty skeleton out of your cupboard, Sega.
    Don’t fully understand what type of union Drummond meant (if it’s what I think then worse for them), might not know all the circumstances, but from what I do understand – THIS. IS. NOT. FAIR. And VAs are really paid that low? *double facepalm*
    By the way, I recall a somewhat similar thing that happened in my country’s dub of Pokemon. We had first six seasons dubbed without any recasting, then a few years of no new episodes, then Jetix Europe bought rights to the DP seasons for all countries they air in (including ours), so a dub of 10th season was made but with completely new cast – fans didn’t like it, obviously, so starting with 11th season the old cast was to return. However, Jessie’s VA refused to return – she later explained on her website that it was because of the exact offer she was given (from a dubbing company, and a local one, not the SDI Media international giant that’s dubbing Pokemon for all of Europe as of now, nor any of the companies that dubbed previous seasons; don’t know if Pokemon UK was involved in this) , implying said offer was just unacceptable, but didn’t go into details. Granted, it all happened in EU, Poland to be exact.
    Back to Sonic, while I don’t want to discuss the superiority of one holiday voice actor over another, I wonder why the last recasting happened at all. Especially if it’s true that the Japanese side of Sega and Sonic Team decided about it. As far as Japanese version of Sonic is concerned, no recasting happened since Adventure and very few characters had their VAs changed (I could think only of Tails and Big, and there is a strange case of Amy’s different VA in Shuffle only). I can understand the reasons behind previous recast – to use the same VAs in games as in Sonic X, like Japanese version did – even if IMHO the idea wasn’t that good (no 4Kids cast bashing, though), but here? If the recast was first meant for the anniversary game, then they chose the worst moment possible, especially considering that Generations consist mostly of remade stages from earlier games. Thankfully Free Riders and Colo(u)rs came out earlier than Generations, allowing people to get used to the new cast.
    @Sonic
    Yeah, very funny, especially considering that Smith is only 37, and the 50-year-old that Sonic is stuck with is his Japanese VA (well, he isn’t 50 yet, but will be in less than 2 months) who actually did better job voicing Blue Blur than Drummond and Griffith combined (granted, unlike them he already had a lot of voice-acting experience when he got this role), not to mention all the Engrish he uses.

  54. @Nuzamaki: “I know it’s your opinion but saying RGC is better than Ryan is just ignorant imo.”
    …you mind explaining how?
    (EDIT – Inflammatory -T)

  55. @Amuro
    The second comment, I’m not talking about anyone, I’m saying it’s better SEGA went with Ryan than some random person that sucks at voice acting.

  56. @Nuzamaki90: No, nobody’s ignorant there. We just have different visions of Sonic as a character, so we obviously prefer different voice actors. Also, situations in different games were surprisingly different. I mean, just compare Griffith’s Unleashed performance with his 2006 job. I know Drummond mostly from Heroes and, uh oh, I prefer to speed up actually.

  57. @Nuzamaki: You could’ve said that instead. 😛 Just saying, the way you worded it in your initial comment just made it seem like it came out of left field. It sounded really random.

  59. @MilesKnightwing – Thanks for the link, but that’s not want I meant. I meant that I need to hear some voice recording of Ryan FROM the voice re-auditioning lol.
    It would have been interesting to see if Ryan sounded like from SA or SA2, but whatever it was, it must’ve been good if SEGA America was praising it.
    @Amuro- True, we don’t have any recordings, but seeing how Smith’s Sonic voice was a bit bad back then, I can easily say that Ryan would have been much better. Plus, I’m sure Sega America wouldn’t just call anyone a good Sonic VA, they must have really been serious when they said Ryan’s re-audition was the best.

  60. Ryan brings out the hyper energy that sonic has and he shows his personality a heck of a lot better imo. I will admit that the voice acting he showed at the beginning wasn’t the best but he had potential and he didn’t voice act for Sonic as long as Jason did. You have to admit Jason sucked complete and total dick once he first started and he voiced for sonic in Shadow the hedgehog, Sonic Riders, Sonic 06, including the whole Sonic x series, sonic and the secret rings. Then he finally started getting good in Sonic unleashed and then in black knight he got better. After all of that he BETTER have gotten better because if not he’d be the worst VA of all time! Ryan however, did not voice act as long as Jason had but he was just about as good as Jason but he had that excitement going with it and if he voice acted for sonic a lot longer he would have been excellent. As for Roger, well, he’s pretty good he came in good unlike the other two and he’s done pretty well but he’s missing that excitement factor that use to inspire me when I was younger like Ryan did. They even said in this article that Ryan surpassed Roger’s audition but he couldn’t be the voice actor for Sonic because of his union so we have Roger, just as Ryan couldn’t be the voice actor for Sonic in Sonic x because he lived too far, so we had Jason.
    He could be our ALL TIME Sonic VA if it wasn’t because of the many things that block the way of him doing so. But of course you know I prefer Ryan Drummond because he can bring out that personality Sonic’s has and that’s my sexy opinion.

  61. Drummond was good in the SA games but his work in Heroes was mediocre. Then again, all the voices in that game sucked.
    But what Sega did to him was VERY unprofessional. Would’ve love to hear his auditions.

  62. @Sonicmaster
    I’m trying to stay as mature as possible and not start or join in on a “Your fav VA sucks and mine is the best!” war so I’m gonna keep my fingers closed and my keyboard off whenever I read or see your comment and the line
    “Jason sucked complete and total dick once he first started”

  65. I think we should all relax and accept that the little Irish boy who voiced Sonic in the OVA is clearly best suited.

  66. Personally, I believe Roger to be the best Sonic voice, but…. WTF Sega?!?!?!? That is a class example of dickery at it’s highest calibur. Way to screw over the guy because of the fucking union…..

  67. I would prefer Jason and Roger to be with Sonic because Jason’s cool with him as the adventurous and generous type while Roger made that hedgehog to be a funny and nice guy.

  68. Eh, I thought over it, and it doesn’t really matter who is the voice actor, just as long as Sonic has a voice. So my last comment doesn’t really matter.

  69. @Sonicmaster: “You have to admit Jason sucked complete and total dick once he first started”
    That was… unnecessarily vulgar, but I agree Griffith was shaky during most, if not all of X and 2006.
    Though, as QuietGuy said, Drummond’s final performance as Sonic in Heroes (and no, I don’t count Advance 3’s handful of voice clips) was mediocre from start to finish (“WE’RE SAWNEEK HEROOOOOZZZZZZ!!!!!!11” Ugh, shoot me). Granted, that may be due to Sega’s voice directors, which I hear are terrible, but even so, I’d still take Griffith and/or Smith over Drummond. Just my two cents. …for the last time. …hopefully.

  71. I can imagine in the future SEGA will screw over every future Sonic VA, and at one point Sonic will be silent like Link and Mario. I would actually kind of like that- a game where Sonic “talks” as much as Mario or Link lol.

  72. @Amuro- I really liked Ryan’s SA voice. It made Sonic sound mature and edgy too! Sure, it could have had a bit more emotion, but to me, Ryan’s Sonic voice was at its peak with SA.

  73. @Ricardo: Drummond in Sonic Adventure and Adventure 2 were tolerable for me–though his SA2 performance was a bit better to me. But in Heroes, he was a bit extra. Overall, while I don’t find him terrible (aka Martin Burke in the OVA), I do find him overrated.

  75. @Amuro: I couldn’t really concentrate on Sonic’s “Heroes” voice because Tails’ “Heroes” was ridiculous. I can still hear him saying: “GO DOWN!” from the Egg Fleet level while avoiding Eggman’s turrets. Sooooo hilarious! If I can find it, I’ll post it!

  76. @Nuzamaki90
    Good lord, calm down bro.
    He voiced Ezio Auditore and Chris Redfield. That means he’s not just a random dude, he’s a talented VA.
    (EDIT – Inflammatory -T)

  78. Why are all of you assuming this is true? An unverified source and a former VA is all the proof you need? I doubt this happened.

  79. MetaRyan- Yes, because we like to make up “funny stuff” like this just for nothing.
    I think you’re too young for this type of news. For now, just stick Sonic game news.

  80. Roger Craig Smith is a professional with REAL voice acting talent. Enough said.
    (EDIT – Inflammatory -T)

  81. All of this seems incredibly suspect. Why would they have opened up auditions to recast Sonic after only two games?
    And even then, you know what? If they hired Drummond, then that means the whole project becomes union work, which affects EVERYONE ELSE on the voice cast. It’s about more than just satisfying one freaking guy.

  82. Wow! What in the hell is happening over at SEGA?! They fly JP executives to have a debate, which cost them thousands upon thousands of dollars, instead of actually hiring Ryan?!
    Then they pay Roger a shit wage? I thought voicing Sonic would have been a sweet gig, guess not.

  83. @Razor
    It wasn’t after Generations that they contacted Ryan, it was during the waiting gap between Unleashed and Colors
    @MM2
    No one is arguing dude lol, it’s called a discussion.
    (EDIT – Inflammatory -T)

  84. I liked all the voices of Sonic. Anything annoying about Sonic is, was and always will be to me. He’s obnoxious and nasally in all the voices. At the same time, he’s young, energetic, cocky, and some voices have more strength in certain areas than others but no one’s perfect.
    I even find Martin Burke to be alright, but only for the OVA. Something about his face expression makes it fit to me.
    And Ryan, Griffith and Roger sound too similar to LOVE one and HATE the other to me. I can see liking one and not the other as much, but unless they sound EXTREMELY different, I can’t have extremely different opinions about them. lol
    I guess this has nothing to do with what anyone else has been saying, but perhaps it’s best that way. =p

  85. @Razorsaw:
    This actually happened the year Black Knight came out.
    @MetaRyan:
    I think I verified myself enough a couple years ago if you’ll read my original post. I actually told everyone the news of the recast originally and I was the one who originally uploaded clips of what they all sounded like later in the year. I have a connection at SEGA. If you choose not to believe me, so be it, but Ryan’s story matches the stories I’ve been told exactly.

  86. Doesn’t bother me. I honestly didn’t like the original Dreamcast to Sonic Heroes voices. They sounded like they were just reading their script slowly. I don’t get why people say the character’s voices were cool, and yet people complain the voice acting sucked, The 4kids voice actors were terrible on Sonic X, but good in the video games. The acting in Sonic X was too cheesy, corny, or lame (thanks to 4kids) , but when working on the games, they were a lot better and a bit more serious to their roles and situations.

  88. @ChocoBurger- Looks like SEGA doesn’t give one crud about who voices Sonic, THEIR NUMBER ONE MASCOT, as long as they only get that VA something to drink. -_-

  91. Nice article. Though it is a shame, weve seen a number of different actors take on Sonic’s role.
    Yes, i grew up with White, enjoyed the Adventure/ Heroes with Ryan. But i’ve never disliked an actor. In terms of the fanbase’s debate, ive never hated one (since each were fairly different).
    White had that juvenile joking hipster, while Ryan had a heroic adventurer, with Jason a confident, calm, free-spirited take on him. Roger himself seems to share a mix of elements; the joking puns, a confident attitude, with a thrill for adventure– with a small tweak of making Sonic sound abit older, as SEGA had asked.
    However, I personally find how Ryan’s portrayal would h ave been like in games with scripts and stories like the ones in Colors and generations. It would be interesting!
    But stuff happens when bussiness matters, and people get nit-picky. I feel bad for Ryan, especially for how it played out for him. A rude downplay by SEGA higher-ups, yes, but at least Roger is holding up well and improving with each time he tries. And for someone with a background like his, he has at least a decent experience– its kinda funny hearing the voice of Chris Redfield as Sonic.

  92. You know guys, SEGA is in financial troubles right now. They HAD to get him out of the union otherwise that would be much more money for SEGA to spend on one person.
    This “act of douch baggery” was not only enivitable but nessasary.
    So blame their current financial status.
    People are acting like sega is hitler just cause of not hiring one voice actor.
    Sheesh guys. As if this fan base did not make me feel uneasy to be a sonic fan.
    This is embarrassing. Especially considering Capcom has no respect it’s customers or workers,(or EA for that matter).
    Sega listens to the fans, otherwise they wouldn’t even try to get Ryan back in the first place.
    Ryan will not be in generations, or was in this case. So what? Will the loss of one opportunity stop the entire production of a franchise or a company? Will Nintendo crumble to bits and their stocks crash into a million pieces just cause the voice of Mario left?
    No.
    So instead of finding every single tiny little thing to make SEGA look bad, why not think again before you even say a thing about them?
    Just saying. It’s more well assuring to me that Sonic has a mellow open minded fan base and not a legion of rage finders.
    BTW I like Roger as the voice of sonic. I like Ryan and griffin but Roger fits for me.
    Sue me.

  93. @ Ricardo:
    Yes, i can agree on your statements; SEGA and SONIC TEAM, are just doing whats sensible– finacially. And doesnt matter to me “who the better Sonic is”. I generally liked them all in different ways and reasons. So SEGA lost Ryan– doesnt mean the Sonic series is ruined or bad because of the loss of a good actor. 4Kids had some issues lately concerning rights and such, for example– so things happen. Things change. I personally like Roger’s take alot. Even if the whole cast change wasnt needed, he hasnt hurt the series progress– besides, he doesnt make the scripts, just plays them out.
    The fanbase just needs to be open to new ideas, and maybe allow SEGA artistic license and creativity– and though ive stated a return of Ryan being interesting and a blast from the past– SEGA cant please everyone and go by every whim of the fans.
    If anything, its the fans that made Sonic imfamous for their lack of being pleasable. YET, i’m one of the few that just enjoy the games due to being a part of my childhood. And still do enjoy them. It DOES get annoying to read/ hear “06 sucks” this, and “voice sucks” that and so on…. why not just enjoy it and not argue about why we didnt?? lol

  94. Seeing as how Roger is the first Sonic voice in the games with an actual range of emotion, I’m not too broken up about this. Sounds like Ryan got a bum deal, but that’s voice acting for you.

  95. Junichi Kanemaru is the best one anyway, not sure why you guys are bothered when you can switch to the Japanese one anyway.

  96. @HeatPhoenix
    Some people prefer to hear the voice track in their mother tongue, or at least in a language they do know, and be able to understand the dialogues without resorting to subtitles. And much more people know English than Japanese. Not everyone is so hardcore like you or me 🙂 (I personally switch to the Japanese dialogues whenever it’s possible, too, but try to do that in European versions of DS titles, for example.)

  97. @Chris
    NO! NO! Not this shit again! I don’t want a repeat of 2007 again! “Bashes head into a wall repeatedly”

  98. @HeatPhoenix: Not saying I hate Kanemaru and his crew (I actually really like the Japanese actors), but not everyone wants to listen to their games in Japanese.

  99. I wonder if there’s an upside to being a non-union voice actor in that you have many more roles to play. Certainly Vic Mignogna (E-123 Omega) gets a ton of publicity and probably pay more than most union voice actors, and Johnny Yong Bosch (not sure if he has any Sonic roles) has so many leading roles that I’m sure he’s got plenty of money to go on (I can think of Vash the Stampede, Ichigo Kurosaki, Lelouch Lamperouge, and Renton Thurston, and that’s only those on Cartoon Network).
    I forget–are FUNimation’s voice actors union? I know Viz’s are not (and are the same group as Bang Zoom’s, which is the group doing the Sonic voices presently). If they are, then these unions might not be completely useless after all. I mean…the Lani Minella troupe isn’t as hot as it used to be. What other AAA series have they done recently besides Professor Layton?

  100. I love the people going “stupid unions” like this is somehow their fault. No let’s just completely absolve Sega of any wrong doing when it comes to pointless expenditures and downright shady business practices.

  101. If i heard these news before/after the announcement that roger was gonna be the new voice actor, i would’ve been pissed off. But now after roger got it down, i really couldn’t care less.
    Ethier way, SEGA are the stupidest assholes when it comes to bussiness.

  103. ^ I’d rather Jaleel White stay away from the games, thank you. He’s a great actor, but his Sonic voice is really obnoxious.

  106. I prefer Jason Griffith and Roger Craig Smith, in contrast to Ryan Drummond. Jaleel White is probably the best actor to play Classic Sonic.

  107. Oh Ryan! D: I’m so sorry that happened to you. Here we’ve been waiting for you to come back (and so have you), and SEGA spit in your face.
    Most of the comments I see on here are just giving their opinions on who’s better. But you’re all missing the point. This guy here was willing to take time out of his life to travel all the way to LA to get another chance at a voice acting job he really cared about. And when they did the auditions and he got the job, I can only imagine the excitement he had. I mean, seriously, who wouldn’t love to be chosen to voice Sonic? Or any of the gang for that matter? But how would you feel after being picked for something so awesome and then be told that you have to quit what makes you a living? And from the sounds of it, he really wanted to stay. There was probably nothing about the union that was stopping him from doing his voice acting job, so there was no point in leaving it. And then SEGA just gave his job to someone else.
    C’mon guys. This is seriously an injustice and had it happened to any of the other voice actors, I would have been equally as angry. And so should you.

  108. Well at least they gave him the chance to reaudition. And from the sounds of how it went down, he improved, otherwise they would have given the job to Roger Craig Smith due to skill. But it is still sad that they decided to quit him out again.
    All in all, I’m happy with Roger. He gives a new flavor to Sonic these days and I like that. And its not like he doesn’t know how to act. That guy has range.

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