The vocal majority of western VAs, those who cannot act, those who demanded better wages and working conditions have just signed the death warrant for all Western voice actors after their own union has thrown them under the bus.
Much akin to how Japanese translation is littered with malicious and rogue “localizers” who subvert and change the original media to suit their agenda / ideology or rather invoke their fanfiction slang and lingo simply because they cannot do their jobs, the position of voice acting in video gaming has gone through similar debates over the recent years.
If you want a prime example of garbage western voice acting you should try watching modern anime dubbing.
Namely stemming from dogshit voice actors, throwing their employers under the bus with malicious and false allegations, similarly to how Hellena Taylor outright lied regarding the money offered by Platinum Games in regards to reprising her role for Bayonetta 3.
There’s a lot of good quality voice actors who do amazing work, however the majority of those working in the field seemingly cannot act or rather just don’t give a damn, however the sheer amount of bad actors have quite literally overshadowed those who have genuine talent and charisma as many such parasitic employees continually demand higher wages for their efforts of speaking into a microphone in an acoustic treated cubical, poorly might I add.
Just ask the small percentage of individuals who’ve played Resident Evil 4’s Remake what they thought about Lily Gao’s role as Ada Wong, there was such sheer backlash and torment thrown her way for her horrible acting that fans went ahead and utilized artificial intelligence to replace her, which hilariously is more authentic and has more depth to it.
And the usage of AI in video games that has these voice actors rightfully scared, for game developers or any other kind of company to leverage AI for character vocal lines it will undoubtedly save them a considerable amount of money and push countless people out of a job altogether.
But then again, if the majority of voice actors in the West are malicious, entitled brats who cannot act and simply want to be handfed more money for their minimal effort work, well then, it’s sad to see the few up and coming VAs with genuine talent and ability go but quite frankly the industry as a whole is better off with all of these bad voice actors displaced out of the workforce.
And now these voice actors from the West are using social media platforms to express their anger with their corrupted union, SAG-AFTRA. The union, which represents actors and entertainment professionals, recently reached an agreement with an artificial intelligence company, with their agreement permitting video game developers to utilize digital replicas of actors’ voices, or in other words utilize AI.
The union has declared that the agreement with Replica will “facilitate engaging SAG-AFTRA members under a fair, ethical agreement,” allowing the creation and utilization of digital replicas of actors’ voices for video game development and interactive media projects.
The agreement, according to the union, ensures performer consent and negotiation for voice usage and grants performers the option to refrain from having their voice used in new projects.
Fran Drescher, President of SAG-AFTRA, described the agreement as “a great example of AI being done right,” although the utilization of AI has remained contentious within the screen and voice actor communities.
While SAG-AFTRA claimed the deal was “approved by affected members of the union’s voiceover performer community,” several voice actors expressed dissatisfaction on social media platforms, asserting they were not informed of, nor did they consent to, the deal. They also opposed the potential use of AI to replicate their voices.
Though it has to be said, nothing brings me more joy than watching the faces of devoted SAG-AFTRA members, who have been striking for several months in regards of artificial intelligence in movies and television to no avail as they now watch their union pass the notion for generative AI in video games instead.
Actors such as Steve Blum, known for his long repertoire of cartoon films and television series, is also prolific when it comes to anime voiceover work with an extensive history for minor roles in countless video games such as Dead Rising, Halo 3, Starfield and even STALKER: Clear Sky.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Steve_Blum_performances
If you’re in need of a background character that hasn’t managed to establish themselves amongst the industry after over twenty years of service, this is certainly someone who’ll probably work for a slice of bread and a warm blanket.
The long list of mundane and horrible western voice actors bitching about the revelation of their inevitable replacement continues in the form of Ciarán Strange.
Ciarán happens to be one of the many non-binary / transgendered voice actors that feel entitled to increased compensation for their minimal effort voice acting skills, regardless of that particular fact Ciarán’s rap sheet consists of side-character roles in Borderlands 3, which is a mundane woke fiesta, where “they” played the trans character of Lorelei alongside a large list of anime dub work.
If you were to compare anime dubbing versus its original Japanese rendition you’d probably come to realize that Western VA’s pale in comparison when it comes to conveying the same “energy”, “soul” or “feel” for the characters that they’re voicing, combined with the fact that the likes of Crunchyroll arbitrarily deviate off-script to push woke agendas, the actors that play the roles seemingly fall flat 99% of the time.
Another mundane and forgettable Western VA, Clifford Chapin who has a decent list of anime dub work under his belt suggests that they should form another union to rival SAG-AFTRA, when in actuality you don’t specifically need the help of a union organization to represent you on your behest to make credible demands, if there’s so many of their kind complaining about this deal being signed they could instead simply band together and fire up the brazier, just like the good old days.
Josh Keaton is a bit more prolific with their work, having played the role as Harry Osborn in 2004’s Spider-Man 2, he was the voice of Robin in Batman Arkham Origins and more recently he played the role of Electro in 2018’s Spider-Man.
John is quite upset regarding the announcement, joking that his corrupt union might be invested into AI firms proclaiming that SAG-AFTRA needs to cleanse itself of its rogue executives that have royally screwed individual such as himself over as artificial intelligence gains more prominence and ability by the day.
It’s a revelation for progressive individuals who’ve hidden behind their union for bad performances and or malicious translations to realize that their union foundation doesn’t actually give a shit about them.
The incorporation of AI is a double edged sword, it’ll be far more convenient and cheaper for developers to incorporate and it’ll certainly drive a fair few people out of the workforce entirely which most of them genuinely do deserve, but a decent portion of voice actors don’t.
This whole ordeal does suck when you think about actually passionate voice actors who’ve been shafted, but this is what happens when your occupation becomes a safe haven for entitled progressive feminists, the circus is overcrowded and something has to be done about it.
