Sonic Voice Actors Replaced With Sonic X Cast!, It's a sad day... Options

[Guest_CoolFunkMan_*]

I e-mailed Ryan Drummond earlier, and that is indeed what he confirmed. No, I'm not happy about it either... but I guess it's how it's gonna be from now on.

Here's Ryan's reply:

"Hi Iain!
Thanks for writing in. I wish I had happier
news to tell you, but I don't.
The original voice cast for the Sonic games
HAS BEEN replaced by the Sonic X actors.

I am NOT leaving
Sonic's voice by choice. Here is an excerpt from
the AUGUST 2005 newsletter that will be up on
RyanDrummond.com sometime by the end of the
month. Thought I'd give you a sneak peek since
you were nice enough to write in.
Read on...

************************************************
Last thing to mention this month is all for the
Sonic the Hedgehog fans out there. A lot of you
have been emailing in and asking about whether or
not I’ll be doing Sonic’s voice for the new
“Shadow the Hedgehog” game, etc. Well, here’s a
news flash on that and a true insight to how this
business works (and sometimes works against you).

After hearing some rumors on the internet and so
forth about how the game had already started
voicework (or in some cases was already done), I
emailed my contacts at Sega to find out what the
deal was. I got the following facts:
Many of you remember what happened with the
whole “Sonic X” television show. Please read all
about it in the July 2003 newsletter. In short,
4Kids was really inconsiderate and cast it
without me, not caring about what the fans
thought or about product continuity. Well, all of
a sudden, Sega decided that product continuity
WAS important to them starting with this new
Shadow game. So, WITHOUT TELLING ME, they have
*replaced* me as the voice of Sonic with the
fella who does Sonic’s voice for the Sonic X
show. I was only told after it happened. My Sega
contact told me that they thought it would be a
good idea that from now on that Sonic’s voice
remain the same in the game and the non-Sega
cartoon series. So after FIVE YEARS of providing
the voice of Sonic, I was let go without a word
or an explanation (until I went looking for one).

Now I have no ill-will towards the new voice.
I’ve heard him. He does a fine job. And he’s just
an actor like me trying to make a living, so good
for him! I DO, however, have issue with Sega for
having no grace in letting me go from my
position. That’s life, you could say, but you
know, in MY life, you treat people with respect.
And I believe five years of giving my all to the
little blue hedgehog (and to all the fans!)
deserved a little more respect. So Sega, goodbye
and good luck. Sounds like you’ll get along fine
with 4Kids when you do business that way.
*************************************************

So that's the story. Spread the word. Sorry it
doesn't have a happier ending. In my opinion,
Sega does not care what the fans think, because
they figure the fans will buy the games and the
products no matter who's doing the voice. If you
feel so inclined. Write them and tell them what
you think and feel. Let your voice be heard!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH for your wonderful support.
You have my deepest gratitude.

~Ryan Drummond"

As of this moment I am officialy importing all Sonic-related games from Japan. Sega - you officialy SUCK!!

[kazuya prower]

This has to be a joke. Then again, Sonic's voice did sound different in the Sonic Riders trailer.

[Guest_Edderzz_*]

Jeeze..I guess that's buisness though. :T

[Lucky Winters]

......

If this is true... wow. I'd be EXTREMELY pissed off at SEGA.. I can't see what would be the point of getting rid of Ryan and the rest of the crew, only to replace them with the 4Kids VA's. I mean, if product continuity WAS so important (not that SoA believes in that ), why not replace the 4Kids VA's with the game ones?

SEGA have more rights over Sonic that 4Kids freakin' do... they should've forced them to use the game VA's, or not let them have the rights to Sonic X at all. So that's quite stupid of them...

... then again, it does sound -awfully- like Mike Pollock voicing Eggman in the newest Shadow trailer... I suppose it could be true. I thought it still sounded like Ryan at the end of Sonic Riders though, although his voice did have a different pitch. But, I heard it sound like that in Sonic Adventure, so I wasn't worried...

Though, I'll wait until the newsletter actually goes on his site, so I can see real proof. Not calling you a liar or anything, I'd just prefer to see solid proof before completely believing it.

[kit jo yuki]

No. No way. Actual NO. ACTUAL ****ING NO!

This is like, NOT GOOD. NOT AT ALL GOOD. And now, I will cry like I promised. *Cries*

[sonic_eclipse]

I'd hate to say it to you guys, but I told you so.


But I must admit, that was kinda wrong of SEGA not inform Ryan about it.

[Guest_CoolFunkMan_*]

I'm afraid I'm not lieing. Infact, Here's a scren cap I took of part of ryan's email:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v612/coo.../ryan_email.jpg

I agree, this is not good at all, I really feel sorry for the original cast. Sonic's never gonna be the same again...

This post has been edited by CoolFunkMan: Sep 10 2005, 05:11 PM

[Lucky Winters]

Oh god...

I'm not usually one to talk bad against SEGA, but... they're ****ing idiots. It's bad enough that they fired him, but not even having the decency to let him know about it before hand? Really, if I was Ryan, I'd sue. I wouldn't let it go lightly, anyway...

Ryan was freakin' awesome... I can't believe they're actually letting the 4Kids VA's do the job rather than GOOD actors. I'm now with you, CoolFunkMan -- in future, I'll be importing any Sonic games.

I can hardly stand to put up with the voices in the Sonic X dub... there's no f'ing way I'm listening to them in the games too.

[kit jo yuki]

But I don't want new VAs! I want Ryan and the old crew! ... Well, except Tails. Because his voice sucked.

...Oh my god. What if they replaced Amy too?

*Loads shotgun* ...Right, heads are going to fly.

Wait, wait wait... *Takes a deep breath* ... M'kay. Shadow sounds like Shadow in the trailer. Therefore Shadow is Shadow. Only problem is, he can't shout "Maria!" like he used to, which ruins the whole bloody point!

[supersonicsam]

Argh That Sucks.
Anyway we should get used to em,SHOULD WE?
Ahhhhh.

[Guest_Agent.X_*]

Oh My God, That is so so so so bad... Although I do like the 4Kids Voice Actor for Sonic I always found Ryan much better. I cannot believe they fired him just like that. It's so mean... o_O;

[sweetie]

Thats ashame. Sega is treating Ryan Drummond like crap. Ryan been Sonic's VA for the videogames for 6 years and this is how they going to treat him. IMO, Ryan is a much better VA for Sonic then Jason is. WTF is Sega thinking? Handing Sonic over to THEM?

This post has been edited by Sweetie: Sep 10 2005, 05:26 PM

[Guest_Event Horizon_*]

Seriously, who cares? You people are taking this way too seriously.

[kit jo yuki]

Seriously, who cares? You people are taking this way too seriously.

Event, you don't know how annoying it'll be to have to hear that pisspoor excuse of a Sonic VA in the games. THE GAMES. The things that were actually good about Sonic! Everytime someone talks, it'll be a reminder of 4Kids' SINS!

[sonic_eclipse]

I personally don't have a problem with this.

I liked Ryan as Sonic and all, but I like Jason better for some reason.
Its David Humphrey who I will miss as Shadow, sorry Jason but David's Shadow can't be beaten.

This post has been edited by Sonic the Hedgehog: Sep 10 2005, 05:27 PM

[Lucky Winters]

Yeah, there's no way I could stand that. The games were a getaway from the dub... you could play them for ages, and forget all about how much 4Kids ruined Sonic X. But now, everytime the characters talk, we're gonna be reminded of it...

I'm never buying a dubbed Sonic game again.

[Guest_Agent.X_*]

I'm never buying a dubbed Sonic game again.

I bet you do.

I don't mind too much about the fact that the Sonic X Crew are now the new voice actors of the games but I'm just so angry at how that just fired the original Sonic VA's without even telling them beforehand. It annoys me so much.

[Kevin]

Edit: Decided to change my view on the matter. I'm going to wait for an offical statement first before making any judgements. So far, both Sega and Ryan's site say nothing about this. So I'll approch this with a wait and see attitude.

This post has been edited by kevintheman: Sep 10 2005, 09:47 PM

[Turrican II]

Seems awfully peculiar. I'm not sure I believe this just yet. Will wait and see for an official statement.

Since CoolFunkMan is a newbie with no credibility established, this could easily be prank.

[sonic_eclipse]

How can anyone deny if this is an official statement from Ryan? I mean yeah sure its from a member here anyone could've made it up, but the thing is the e-mail sounds a lot like Ryan, if you read his past current events you can see that.

Just watch and listen to the latest trailers and the voices alone will tell you too.
Sonic doesn't sound like Ryan and Shadow doesn't sound like David.

This post has been edited by Sonic the Hedgehog: Sep 10 2005, 05:38 PM

[kit jo yuki]

Seems awfully peculiar. I'm not sure I believe this just yet. Will wait and see for an official statement.

Since CoolFunkMan is a newbie with no credibility established, this could easily be prank.

I'm torn, too. Shadow in the trailer sounded so like the one we know and love, especially when he shouts "Chaos Blast"... But then again, his "Maria!" Sounded so weird. Gah, the very thought just makes me feel so angry towards Sega.

[sonicx]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Holy Crap, I have always been a Sega fan, but this is the DUMBEST thing they've ever done. EVER!!! Ryan was the perfect Sonic, no one can be as good as him!

The Sonic X VA's aren't that great, but they're tolerable. The silver lining was always that the games VA's would be better. I always had the games dubbing to look forward to. This is indeed horrible news! Sega shouldv'e had the decency to let him know.

Well, it does sound like David Humphrey in the Shadow the Hedgehog trailer...
I don't know what to believe anymore..... I liked Amy's (game) VA, and Tails' and Knuckles! IMDB says that Drummond is the VA for Sonic in Shadow the Hedgehog.... I'm sooo confused.

UGH!!

[Turrican II]

How can anyone deny if this is an official statement from Ryan?  I mean yeah sure its from a member here anyone could've made it up, but the thing is the e-mail sounds a lot like Ryan, if you read his past current events you can see that.

Just watch and listen to the latest trailers and the voices alone will tell you too.

What can I say? I'm just not gullible. Remember all those other false rumours that everyone were getting so worked-up about while I remained unconvinced of any truth behind them?

I've got a perfect record so far. If this is going to be the one that breaks it, then that'll be a shame, but I don't see it happening.

[sweetie]

To me, this news is even wrost when Sega announced that 4Kids got the dubbing rights to Sonic X. Now, we're stuck with the 4Kids voice actors for Sonic X and future Sonic games. =\

[shakidna]

I don't get it. Shadow sounded like David Humphrey in Shadow the Hedgehog. Sonic sounded like Ryan Drummoid in Shadow the Hedgehog (He talks in the E3 demo). Only Eggman sounds different, obviously. It just wouldn't make sense to redub the entire game just for continuity. Anything after that would make sense, but this is obsurd.