Me whenever someone asks me who my favourite Sonic VA is:
Jason Griffith. Jason Griffith does such an amazing Sonic voice. He's definitely my favourite. But I also really like Roger Craig Smith. His performances as Sonic are always amazing. So yeah, actually, Roger Craig Smith is my favourite. But Ben Schwartz in the movies was REALLY good. I think he might be my favourite actually. But Sonic Prime wouldn't have been the same without Deven Mack voicing Sonic. He was really great. Deven's my favourite Sonic. But also–
going along the assumption that most sonic characters often chose to go by names they weren’t assigned at birth (tails, sonic, tangle, whisper, rough, tumble, Starline, surge, kitsunami, silver? Blaze? especially Chip)
The possible (first) birth names for sonic are:
Arthur
Ryan
Jaleel
Martin
Jason
Roger
Ogilvie
Devin
Tony
Johnny
Ben
Junichi
Nicky / Nicholas
I left out some obscure references but I’m not gonna spell out where these names come from, you already know (look in the tags)
This is kinda old by now, but I’ve been looking back at Sonic’s VAs and how controversial the changes were, on the English side that is. It’s already been discussed before like about why many will enjoy one over the other is that they grew up with it a.k.a nostalgia.
I can’t help but think: Every Sonic fan born in 2010 will become a teenager by the end of this year, and many of us became or at least first heard of Sonic during our childhood(before becoming a teenager). Smith started playing the role in 2010, so it’s very likely his voice is the default voice for Sonic to the younger age in the audience (maybe Schwartz too ‘cause movie success but I’m focusing on the game ones). Roger Craig Smith is their Ryan Drummond or Jason Griffith.
Can I just gush over how much I love the way that Roger delivers these bits of Sonic laughing for a second? They are so simple and short yet bring a smile to my face each time I hear it.
Probs a very unpopular opinion, but i don't really want keanu to voice shadow. man's too old to convincingly voice a character meant to be 15, though i suppose that's a common problem amongst sonic voice actors. Also think that as much as i love keanu reeves in live action films, the guy isn't a great voice actor. He sounded very flat throughout most of cyberpunk 2077 in my humble opinion. Not that this will impact my hype for the film lol, hell they could reveal frigging danny devitos voicing shadow and i'd still be hyped xD "Shadow what the hell you doin man?" "it's my character sonic, im the trash man!"
I'm rather excited personally. And I'm all for a guy whom I've heard nohing but good things about regarding his generosity and general niceness getting another role.
Also, perhaps this casting will draw even more people to the film and give it even more box office success.
I'll never not be amazed by the upward trajectory of Jason Griffith's Sonic
He went from THE worst Sonic voice to one of the better ones in just a few years
That's a turnaround nobody could have seen coming
Speaking as someone who prefers Roger Craig Smith, I never once thought Jason's Sonic was bad. He's definitely not the worst, and did nothing to deserve the amount of shit he got for voicing a character.