My little rant on Save Sonic

For those who don't know, there are forums on the net that go by the name, Save Sonic. However, unlike what may of you think, this is not a forums trying to save the Sonic Series in general.

Instead, this forum is focused on its sole purpose on bringing back Sonic's former voice actor; Ryan Drummond.

Here is a link to that site:

http://savesonic.all-up.com/index.htm

There has been a change in the voice acting cast back a few years ago, where Ryan Drummond, as well as the rest of the voice acting cast were replaced by the cast of an Anime cartoon from 4Kids; which was called Sonic X.

Now, what you must understand is, not everyone liked that cartoon. There are many reasons why it was not liked, but one big reason for this was because the voice acting was terrible from what I heard. And after Sonic Heroes was released, the whole cast for that game was replaced by the 4Kids cast of Sonic X. Many fans were either disappointed, upset, or very angry about this before the time the successful, but not well received Sonic game that came next, "Shadow the Hedgehog", was released, having used the 4Kids voice actors who took part in Sonic X. This turned into a huge voice acting war. Soon, many members of the now completely controlless Sonic fanbase argued endlessly over the years. While there are many fans who don't even care about getting Ryan back, a handful stil remain. And it seems that most of those fans hang out in the forum I provided above.

Now, it seems those fans have made many attempts to get Ryan back. After Shadow the Hedgehog was released, most Ryan fans who loved Sonic started to boycott the games. They also started to try and have Ryan return as Sonic's VA. They made petitions, made numerous phone calls to Sega about this, there were even many videos uploaded on Youtube made about this.

Probably the biggest attempt those fans have made to get Ryan back was after October 10, 2007, the very day that Sonic the Hedgehog was announced as a playable character in the would-be-released-later game, Super Smash Brothers Brawl, the third installment of Nintendo's flagship fighting franchise. Shortly afterward, the Ryan fans, who knew that Jason Griffith, the current voice actor for Sonic, would voice Sonic in the upcoming, most anticipated Nintendo game. The goal was to get many phone calls to both Sega and Nintendo to get Ryan back. There were actually many phone calls made that those fans thought they would end up getting Ryan back after all. But in the end, Jason Griffith remained Sonic's voice actor.

Now, for the rest of the blog post, I will make some counter points on this.

1. To all of those Ryan fans out there, how can you achieve anything when...

1. You use repetitive tactics for Ryan every single game that comes out?

2. Sega does not pay attention to you, Sonic fanboys and those begging, pleas and demanding?

3. You are part of a big number of fans who want Ryan when you don't recognize that despite the large group, you are still overpowered by the officials of Sega, who control everything; not you?

4. Have no idea how difficult the process of getting Ryan back and having Jason and how complicated it is for Sega and they may not be able to achieve your request (and they are not lazy)?

5. That you may be unaware that Ryan is doing more important things and may not be able to return?

6. A single phone number to Sega and huge support for Ryan as well as everything you tell Sega how bad the 4kids VAs are will not sway their opinion, whatsoever?

7. That the myspace account where Jason was rude to the users was a fraud, because someone was posing as Jason to tick off Sonic Fans when in reality; Jason is actually a good person and respectful, as in this link?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di8Yl6Y2f0w

8. Despite the number of attempts you have made, recordings and game development have gone ahead of you too far to get Sega to consider getting Ryan or the old voice cast back?

Referring to number seven, there are fans who have said that Jason is actually a nice guy. However, not everyone thought of it that way. Someone make a fake account on Myspace posing as Jason, and acted rude to anyone who talked to him. This lead to belief that Jason was very rude. At the same time, fans actually sent death threats to Jason Griffith and Amy Paltant (the voice actor for Tails). Not cool eh?

Now,

Number 2. Most of those Ryan fans seem to think that the bad voice acting from the 4Kids crew was because the voice actors were bad them selves. That is not even true. The Main reason is because of bad voice directing to the voice actors themselves. In Sonic X, the show was know for having bad faults; one of them being voice acting. This bad voice directing the release of the 2006 title simply called Sonic the Hedgehog, which was actuallty a bad game, mainily because it was unfinished at release.

But since Smash Bros Brawl, Jason has been improving as Sonic's voice actor. It is most likely because of better voice directing to Jason. In fact, even though a later game, Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity had a lower score than it would have deserved, even the critics thought that the voice acting in that game was decent at the most. So the voice acting is getting better not just because the voice actors had been practicing (which I believe they did), but with better voice directing at them!

Now think about it: while voice actors and actresses may have to practice over the character they voice, better voice directing can lead to better overall voice acting. Think of it as a good Soccer team that has been on a winning streak lately. They may be practicing alot, but the other main reason on how they are able to win so many victories is because they have had good coaching from a good coach. Same for voice directing. The better the voice directing, the better the voice acting; although the voice actors and actresses would still need to practice some.

Number 3. Do those voice acting fans have any idea what is going to happen to them later in life? A user of deviant art explains that here...

http://supersonication.deviantart.com/

By the way, the user within that link is actually me. Yes, I am SuperSonication. This is what I said in my Journal Entry:

"Hello there. For those who do not know who I am, I am known as Sonication of the Sega of America forums. I am a long time Sonic fan, but I do realize there has been a lot of senseless fighting going on in the Sonic fanbase; like the Sonic voice acting wars.

This is my rant on the Sonic voice acting wars. However, I noticed that these kinds of rants have used the same style of rants over and over. So this is my attempt at a different approach as a rant.

I will most likely make more of these rants that are not limited to voice acting. Until then, here is my voice acting rant.

A message to all Ryan Drummond Fans Out There.

I understand about the fact that some users do not wish to accept that despite many petitions, Ryan will not come back.

I do understand why it seems important to have Ryan or the old voice acting crew back. I will not mention any faults just to play safe, but I know that there are Sonic fans who still want Ryan back.

Even the new 4Kids crew may not have the talent you wish to see performed in the voice of your favorite characters, there is, at the most, nothing you can do except accept what we have for the current voice acting crew for the Sonic Series.

There are those who are smart and aware of the consequenes of their actions. Others feel things so much, that their feelings overwhelm them into not letting go of what they would want to have when they can't hold onto it anymore.

I know it's not easy handling the flaws of things you may not intolerate; or don't want to change, or even don't feel is right. Just like how the Sonic X voice crew recieved negative criticism, treatment of unwantedness, or even being threatened and verbally (written or spoken) attacked by the many fans who refuse to accept change.

However, in life, that anger, dislike or any kind of uncomfort of what you want can hurt you more than you are hurt by the voice acting. This kind of behavior and attitude, of it is not let go in time, will eventually lead to more hinderances, socially, mentally, and emotionally; weakening your ability to work, learn, or go into any sort of activity you may be in efficentally or effectually. It can aslo induce you with the lack of ability to cope with others or be able to get along with later peers.

You may not believe that this will never happen to you, but if you can't accept something you don't like, and let go of the problem and instead, focus on it too much; it could, and will negatively affect your life. It's not just voice acting that could be the issue. Anything can be just as big of issue, potentially causing harm regardless of how minor the whole thing may seem.

Voice acting issues within fans, such as the Sonic the Hedgehog fanbase, may not be too much of a problem in one's life. But don't think that just because an issue on voice acting that you are trying to work to change in the way you would want it are too small to cause any problem in life. It won't happen immediately, but any of those feelings that are still there will come back later in life in any situation; causing more problems then to hurt your status and reputation socially. You may not imagine how it can happen, but just about anything can result from those feelings years ago, creating a series of harmful events of what happened back then,

Also, there are better things to worry about in a Sonic game, like gameplay, game design and other important aspects. If you focus on those instead, you will not have to worry about any problems resulting later in life. In fact, you may not have to worry at all! You can help make a difference in trying to get involved in changing what is more important for games. Just focusing on trying to help get those aspects improved. I can assure you that if the result of all of that work actually helps end up with better gameplay and such; you would feel so much better than you would making a change in the voice acting issue.

So, to conclude, you, the fans, are all smart people, with potential to do something great. Please don't waste that potential by focusing on changing not so important things; it just deteriorates the potential you need to make the biggest change you want to have happen, and it does not have to be about Sonic games. It could be changing and helping the lives of people out there in the world who really need it. Whatever you may not like as the reality, just believe that it is not something to worry about, and then let it go."

You should get what I mean. The Ryan fans, who have tried so long to get Ryan back as Sonic's voice actor, are wasting their entire time trying to achieve a hopeless goal that is impossible for them to win at.

I don't think everyone who is reading this is a mother, or father, or something along those lines. But think about it: most of those fans are still in their teenage years, and more importantly, in school. If you were good parents, even if you are not parents at all; would you want your own child to grow up without the social interaction skills you taught them? Would you even want them to go waste their own lives trying to reach an impossible goal to someone they are devoted to, or spend much of thier lives trying to do something for their icon? I bet that I know how you'd think; it's a scary thought.

Plus, for those who are not parents, but still have icons you look up to as their fan; would you want to spend much of your life working for that icon when you still have a life of your own? A life that you must work for rather than the one you admire? What would happen if you could not interact with others who disagree with you about what you do or you can't get along with people that don't like what you're doing?

This is life; reality. You can't just work to help someone rather than to do things for yourself. If you do, those actions will get you nowhere in life. You don't want to be disrespected by people that live far from you, do you? You don't wish to be a nobody, in today's society, right?

You may not be able to see it happening to you, but it does happen to everyone like this. As Murphy's law states, "What can go wrong, will go wrong."

And Number 4. And finally, here is a link to a post from a user on Sega Boards.

http://boards2.sega.com/sega_board/viewtopic.php?t=93203&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Also, let me put that post here...

"Well, but the fact the VAs are from 4Kids would not add to the problem. It may have had fans go upset, but the fact the Sonic X voice cast is the current Sonic Series cast now is not something within those fans control. They should deal with it.

I mean, those people who say that Ryan and co. should come back and have their jobs back think they can help, or actually get Ryan and co. their jobs back because they have free will, freedom of speech, expression, ect.

But does freedom mean they can actually make a change? No.

Because complete freedom just allows you to perform, choose, or attempt to achieve an action. It does not by any means, that you can change the course of events with your free will or actually influence the minds of the people you want to listen to you. Also, it does not mean that they can control what they wish to happen, period.

What these guys don't seem to know is the difference between freedom of executing/choosing or trying for you goals and the freedom to control the consequences or events in your favor so you can get to your goal sooner/easier.

Freedom of choosing or acting is not the same as the ability to control the consequences of yours or others' actions. It means you just have the ability to do, think or express what you think is right. The freedom that those "old Sonic voice cast" think they have is not what they actually have. Sure they can make petitions, call Sega numerous times or even make videos about it on Youtube. But would the content of those things actually get Sega to listen? Not a chance.

While it's true that people are allowed to make a difference in the U.S., the petitions are politically weak in changing the Will of Sega. Not to mention those methods are not well done or well made, and those Ryan fans think that that if they just say "help get Ryan Drummond back as Sonic" or something like that will actually get Sega's attention and see how important it is to them. WRONG!!

The education, reality perception, wishes and even the will of both Ryan fans or old voice cast fans AND Sega are completely different. While Sega's choices may make them seem "full of it", their knowledge of business politics and how businesses run, as how they perceive what should be done to, say, a great Sonic game; they will use their own judgment to decide what they should do.

The VA fans, on the other hand, most are still in school and have not made a good reputation and worthiness in Society yet. In fact, those who paint, make videos, write or make all those fan things does not change the fact that they are still amateurs, or people who don't work for Sega officially. Plus, most of those VA fans do not have the experience of business politics, even if that business is not Sega. They may had jobs in life, but their knowledge of business politics or even activism is not in shape to get Sega's attention about their wanting Ryan and co. back. And those petitions and videos the make, despite their efforts, are not strong enough to convince Sega to listen to them about Ryan.

So, despite that those Ryan fans believe they can make a change with their free will, have yet to recognize that their efforts in getting Sega to listen to them about having Ryan back are too weak to even have Sega notice. Plus, their efforts don't have any real effect on how Sega runs things, neither do they change the course of events Sega has going on. No matter how hard they try, the Ryan fans will not have the power to change the mind or will of Sega in their favor, at least, not as easy as they think. In fact, it's far harder than they think. And since most of those fans are still in school, getting Ryan back is a near impossible feat for them.

That's all I have to say."

Once again, that user who posted that is me. That's right, I am Sonication.

Now, the Ryan fans who are still trying to get Ryan back have not-so-stellar knowledge in business politics. In fact, they don't seem to bother with business politics as they try to get Ryan back. Also, they say they have the freedom to do this, and nothing can stop them from trying.

But what they don't know, is that having freedom to do something is far different from being able to persuade or even infulence the wills of higher powers who decide to make their own decisions. Just because you live in a free world, doesn't mean you can actually change what you want so easily.

In fact, because most of these Ryan fans still trying to get Sonic's former voice actor return are still young and have not finished school yet; they are unaware of the dangers that they may encounter if they keep this attitude up, just like I have mentioned in counter point 3.

Number 5. They can hope that they may actually have gotten Ryan to come back by persuading Sega, but they can not change or control the consequences, or the events that follow from their efforts, to their favor. In fact, without sufficent knowledge and experience of business politics that they really would need, their efforts are still too weak to even move the will of the authorities at Sega to begin getting what they requested. Despite many petitions the Ryan fans make, or how many phone calls they make to Sega, or even how many videos are uploaded to Youtube, Sega will not listen; especially to many young fans who have not even finished school yet.
As those Ryan fans have continued to achieve their pointless goal,
they have shown less care about what would happen to Jason Griffith,
the current voice actor for Sonic. Now, as I have heard over and over
again, Ryan really loved his job as Sonic's voice actor. He also
wishes to come back, but due to business politics, it is not easy for
him to do so.

But even if he does come back, what would happen to Jason Griffith?
Sure he may have more than one job, but he also loves voicing Sonic!
Not to mention that he is friends with Ryan himself. And despite all
of this, Ryan's fans continue to push to remove Jason as Sonic's voice
actor.

Would it really be fair to remove a man from his job as a video game
character's voice that he loves doing so much? I mean, put yourself in
Jason's shoes for a moment. If you were still voicing Sonic, but
Ryan's fans have actually succeed in kicking you out of your job as
Sonic's voice actor? How would you feel? And how would you look at the
Sonic fanbase after this had happened? Would you like it if you were
kicked out of your job by Sonic's own fans just so that the former
voice actor, who you are friends with, would return? If that actually
happened, would you still like the Sonic fanbase, or would you not
even perceive them the way you did before? Would you want this to
happen to you when it was unnecessary to do so? When all of this were
to happen fast, would you still be happy, after what happened?

Most of all, would you look at Sonic himself the same way again after
all of this?

The thing is, I don't think Ryan would want to replace Jason to just
get his job back, especially if they really ARE friends! And Ryan's
fans don't even seem to give care; thinking that Jason does not
deserve to voice Sonic; Ryan is the best Sonic, no matter what
happens; Ryan is the TRUE Sonic (come on, there is no such thing as a
TRUE Sonic), and Jason replacing Ryan was very wrong of him, etc.? I
don't think Ryan would even appreciate how his own fans are trying to
get him back, and just to get rid of Jason, it's so unfair!


Well, that is mostly what I have to say. I have one thing left that I must say.


It's okay to be a friend of Ryan. Or Sonic, or anything like that. Still, I know that whichever fan you really are; you would not want to go through many petitions and make many videos on getting who you want back, as the icon you once knew, or the voice of that icon. You may be smart enough to like Ryan, but not go through pointless efforts just so you can get what you want, because if you did, you would waste tons of effort doing so.

But whatever you do, and if you happen to see some of the more obsessive fans post something about getting Ryan back; don't pay attention to them. Don't support their efforts (you can support their views of Ryan if you want to, though), don't waste time within your life joining to reach an unachievable goal. And most of all,

Don't look at the more obsessive fans like Ryan's like they are angels. Never take them seriously.

PS. If you remember me saying to spam the site, forget it! Read the new concluding paragraph!