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Old topic but are you satisfied with Alyson playing kairi or do you still want Hayden back?



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Although I have no proof, isn't this similar to how the FF7R cast was replaced? A friend sent me a link to a podcast Steve Burton was doing and it seems they weren't even told that they wouldn't be doing the remake, and Quinton Flynn's (kinda sore and unprofessional) reaction seems to line up with that.

Is it just an SE thing now? Replacing cast without letting them know? Doesn't seem very fair, and while I agree that the HPO (and 7R for that matter barring Reno) replacements were fairly good, it still kinda smarts how they were fired. Iirc Justin Cowden tweeted a reply to someone that essentially confirmed that didn't he? Although I may be misremembering, maybe it was just a congrats tweet to Zachary Gordon instead

Yeah, it's a similar scenario :(

I don't see how the Final Fantasy 7 situation is similar. From my understanding, there were multiple voice actors to play those characters in various media, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that some of the other voice actors weren't asked back. HPO were only ever voiced by the people in KH2, so they should have been asked back.

I believe Aerith and Yuffie were the only ones that had different voices throughout the Compilation of FF7, but they eventually settled on Andrea Bowen and Mae Whitman. Everyone else has been the same for all of their appearances. Replacing these actors is something they're only doing for the English version of FF7 Remake, and like 2 quid said, the actors were all blindsided by it. SE didn't tell them shit.

For the Japanese version, the actors remain the same.
 
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chrisora2066

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Well congrats to OP for making me login to this account for the first time in like 4 years so I could respond to this thread lol

Yeah, it's a similar scenario :(



I believe Aerith and Yuffie were the only ones that had different voices throughout the Compilation of FF7, but they eventually settled on Andrea Bowen and Mae Whitman. Everyone else has been the same for all of their appearances. Replacing these actors is something they're only doing for the English version of FF7 Remake, and like 2 quid said, they were all blindsided by it. SE didn't tell them shit.

For the Japanese version, the actors remain the same.

With 7 Remake I had assumed perhaps the voice actor strikes had possibly been some of the reason for change, but after realizing that Cody Christian is probably in SAG-AFTRA I'm probably wrong... Do SE have a bad reputation with VA's because of things like this? I found it odd Mandy Moore turned down KH3 when she has voiced her in other games.

As for Kairi, I would love if they ever decided to bring Hayden back, Alyson did a good job in 0.2 but in KH3 she does feel like a different character
 

Face My Fears

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Yeah, it's a similar scenario :(



I believe Aerith and Yuffie were the only ones that had different voices throughout the Compilation of FF7, but they eventually settled on Andrea Bowen and Mae Whitman. Everyone else has been the same for all of their appearances. Replacing these actors is something they're only doing for the English version of FF7 Remake, and like 2 quid said, the actors were all blindsided by it. SE didn't tell them shit.

For the Japanese version, the actors remain the same.
How is it blindsiding them? That's like Marvel doing a Iron Man movie and not telling Robert Downey Jr. Should he feel blindsided by it? No. The actors don't own the IP and they don't own that role. Should Lance Bass have felt "blindsided" being replaced in KH2 as Sephiroth? Or not being asked to voice Sephiroth in FFVIIR?

I feel like FFVII and those older FF games that had a wide range of voice actors for different characters across different media don't "own" that role and shouldn't expect to be informed that they're not getting the job. It's different than a series like KH that had the same voice actors in the main roles over the years.

Hayden being asked was reasonable and expected, but oddly Square Enix didn't do it. The people that voiced those FFVII characters sometimes in some media shouldn't have expected a call. Square SHOULD have called them and asked them to reprise the roles, but the actors shouldn't have expected it or felt "blindsided".

Well congrats to OP for making me login to this account for the first time in like 4 years so I could respond to this thread lol



With 7 Remake I had assumed perhaps the voice actor strikes had possibly been some of the reason for change, but after realizing that Cody Christian is probably in SAG-AFTRA I'm probably wrong... Do SE have a bad reputation with VA's because of things like this? I found it odd Mandy Moore turned down KH3 when she has voiced her in other games.

As for Kairi, I would love if they ever decided to bring Hayden back, Alyson did a good job in 0.2 but in KH3 she does feel like a different character
I heard that Mandy Moore was too busy with her TV show to do KH3.
 

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How is it blindsiding them? That's like Marvel doing a Iron Man movie and not telling Robert Downey Jr. Should he feel blindsided by it? No. The actors don't own the IP and they don't own that role. Should Lance Bass have felt "blindsided" being replaced in KH2 as Sephiroth? Or not being asked to voice Sephiroth in FFVIIR?

I feel like FFVII and those older FF games that had a wide range of voice actors for different characters across different media don't "own" that role and shouldn't expect to be informed that they're not getting the job. It's different than a series like KH that had the same voice actors in the main roles over the years.

Hayden being asked was reasonable and expected, but oddly Square Enix didn't do it. The people that voiced those FFVII characters sometimes in some media shouldn't have expected a call. Square SHOULD have called them and asked them to reprise the roles, but the actors shouldn't have expected it or felt "blindsided".

I mean, first off, you keep trying to diminish these voice actors' contributions and I'm not here for it. "They only voiced these characters sometimes in some media." You're using this to put down the Compilation VAs but this is perfectly describing Hayden's situation. She only voiced Kairi/Xion sometimes in some media.

Second, some of them have contributed more to their roles than Hayden has. Steve Burton has been playing Cloud since KH1, played him in every single appearance, was brought in to record lines for the early FF7R trailers, and then wasn't informed that he had been replaced as for the remake until the official announcement was made to the public. That's what I call "blindsiding."
 
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DizneyXBirds95

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Mandy Moore turned down KH3 when she has voiced her in other games.
I don't think Mandy Moore would ever turned the role down of Rapunzel for KH3, she more than likely was filming the third Season of This is Us which coincidentally happened around the same time Zachary Levi finished filming Shazam! which would explain why their was little to no English voice recording for Kingdom of Corona for KH3 in the E3 2018 trailers.

It wouldn't surprise me if Square Enix was just to preoccupied or fixated to get Levi to return to voice Flynn but disregard Mandy Moore when they could've gotten her to voice Rapunzel when she was readily available when the game started English voice recording before she was about to film the show's third season, which would possibly explain why Square Enix didn't bother asking her.

I heard that Mandy Moore was too busy with her TV show to do KH3.
I have a hunch that Mandy Moore started filming the third season of This is Us around the same time that Zachary Levi finished filming Shazam! in June 2018.

Square Enix just overestimated themselves and thought they wouldn't get Zachary and the other cast members from Tangled unless he finished filming Shazam!, which resulted in them becoming fixated to wait for Levi but not ask Mandy Moore sooner which resulted in her to become unavailable for This is Us.

What Square should've done differently is when KH3 began English voice recording they should've gotten Mandy Moore before she became unavailable for This is Us to do the voice for Rapunzel and then focus waiting for Zachary Levi to finish filming Shazam to do Flynn Rider for KH3, much like how they got their "ducks in a row" when they got most of the Frozen actors to return for KH3 asap before they became unavailable with other projects. I literally didn't think Idina Menzel was going to return to voice Elsa for KH3 cause she was set to do her Music Concert Tour in the Fall of 2018 and she travels alot to different cities given that she's a guest for the different Orchestra and Symphony concerts.
 
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Face My Fears

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I mean, first off, you keep trying to diminish these voice actors' contributions and I'm not here for it. "They only voiced these characters sometimes in some media." You're using this to put down the Compilation VAs but this is perfectly describing Hayden's situation. She only voiced Kairi/Xion sometimes in some media.

Second, some of them have contributed more to their roles than Hayden has. Steve Burton has been playing Cloud since KH1, played him in every single appearance, was brought in to record lines for the early FF7R trailers, and then wasn't informed that he had been replaced as for the remake until the official announcement was made to the public. That's what I call "blindsiding."
I didn't know that they rang him up to do lines for the trailer, then dumped him via the announcement trailer. I agree that's blindsiding.

I can understand Steve Burton's situation as he is Cloud and voiced him basically in every media platform. Kairi has never appeared outside of the KH franchise and Hayden voiced her in the major games (except for KH3), she even voiced her in BbS and did Xion in KH3D. Those FF7 characters that have appeared in other games besides FF7 and were voiced by other people, the voice actors shouldn't feel entitled to be informed that they didn't get the job. They should be asked back, if they originated the role (like Hayden did with Kairi). It's understandable to substitute someone of Hayden's level for a line or two in a game that doesn't focus on her at all.

My point is that Square handled it horribly, but also the voice actors shouldn't expect a call that you're getting/not getting the job. Square (and any company really) should always try to get the voice actor that originated the role, but sometimes they want to go in another direction or circumstances have changed.

Even the voice actors for HPO. They voiced those minor characters more than a decade ago, I don't think they were waiting by the phone anxiously for Square to call and say you're coming back/we're replacing you.

The FF7 situation is even more peculiar than the HPO/Hayden one because Cloud was silent in the original game. Is it a slap in the face if Square wanted to move in another direction and get someone else to voice Cloud? I don't think so, however the execution you described was horrible. I would hope that Square just didn't call Hayden/the voice actors for HPO, which I disagree with but understand. However, the Cloud situation is just nasty.
 

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Those FF7 characters that have appeared in other games besides FF7 and were voiced by other people, the voice actors shouldn't feel entitled to be informed that they didn't get the job.
Steve Burton has been voicing Cloud for 18 years
George Newbern - 14 years
Mae Whitman - 14 years
Andrea Bowen - 13 years
Rachel Leigh Cook - 14 years
Quinton Flynn - 14 years

Out of all of these only Aerith and Yuffie have had different VAs but they had settled on Andrea Bowen and Mae Whitman, hell all of these actors have had gigs voicing these characters in 2018/19 at the latest. They didn't voice some of these characters *some* of the time.

If you can't feel entitled to a character after over 10 years of playing then then what can you feel entitled by. I'm sorry, but this is kinda bs. I get the feeling that if it was HJO who was dropped for some new upstart disney kid you'd have words.
 

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I think her voice itself is actually fine, it's the acting part that's the issue. Girl needed better direction.
True, her two lines in advent children weren't as bad, and in interviews she seems far more suited to the Aerith role. It's weird, imo she was the only character who needed better direction, everyone else was A okay for me, even Tifa (actually, I've always loved her KH2 performance). I heard that they recordings were done at the same time as Advent Children so they rushed through them as fast as they could but I dunno how much truth there is to that.

I find this recent spate of firings kinda worrying, especially when Square seemed to go to (relative) lengths to keep VA continuity as best as they could.
 
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I miss Hayden. I’ve never been much of a fan of Kairi’s, but I could tolerate her. In KH3, I just think Alyson did not make Kairi sound natural. It was too forced. She’s much better as Xion because you can tell she is speaking more naturally.
I’m really surprised at people saying she did better as Kairi in ReMind, because I didn’t hear any improvement. Her grunting after Xemnas traps her in the thorns made me wanna rip my ears off.

I think the problem is that she tries too hard to make Kairi sound more “delicate” and it’s just so over the top for my taste.
 

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If Hayden still wish to voice kairi then Disney should respect that, but if they won’t then eh guess all I can do is have faith.
 

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I miss Hayden. I’ve never been much of a fan of Kairi’s, but I could tolerate her. In KH3, I just think Alyson did not make Kairi sound natural. It was too forced. She’s much better as Xion because you can tell she is speaking more naturally.
I’m really surprised at people saying she did better as Kairi in ReMind, because I didn’t hear any improvement. Her grunting after Xemnas traps her in the thorns made me wanna rip my ears off.

I think the problem is that she tries too hard to make Kairi sound more “delicate” and it’s just so over the top for my taste.
That's the word I'm looking for! Kairi in KH3 sounds too delicate for my taste.
 

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What will happen if they ever do A Bug's Life? Bring Hayden back to be Dot, but not as Kairi? #Awkward

I doubt they will even do A Bug's Life, unless they recast Hopper's voice.
 

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What will happen if they ever do A Bug's Life? Bring Hayden back to be Dot, but not as Kairi? #Awkward

I doubt they will even do A Bug's Life, unless they recast Hopper's voice.
Kevin Spacey should be easy to replace as Hopper. Though he would have to turn down the role first


As for Dot, yeah that would be pretty awkward
 

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Kevin Spacey should be easy to replace as Hopper. Though he would have to turn down the role first


As for Dot, yeah that would be pretty awkward
I don't think there's any way Disney would even ask Kevin Spacey.

Would anyone have a problem if Hayden came back for KH 3D2 or KHIV? I wouldn't mind, especially as Kairi will clearly be more prominent and finally a fighter. It's not like Alyson will lose work, as she can continue as Xion.
 

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I suppose the change is an annoyance for me, because out of all the things that have gone wrong for Kairi of the course of the series, her casting was never an issue. Hayden voiced her with a playful ease and sophistication of someone not trying to hard. Some of her reads from the first game are just so strong, they're iconic to me. "I just can't wait. Once we set sail, it'll be great." It's light and breathy, conventionally checking Disney's princess requirements, but it's also confident and courageous and hints at a Kairi I longed for. Girl had some acting chops.

It's odd, because I embrace Alyson as Xion, even though the Japanese characters share the same actress, but it just sounds forced when filtered through Kairi. Maybe she struggles with whatever direction they are giving her or she just faces continual added pressure of living up to / trying to imitate Hayden. I think she does a serviceable job, and at this point the role is just as much her own. It's just not for me.
 
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Would anyone have a problem if Hayden came back for KH 3D2 or KHIV? I wouldn't mind, especially as Kairi will clearly be more prominent and finally a fighter. It's not like Alyson will lose work, as she can continue as Xion.

I don't think anyone would object to Hayden returning, but we know that they're not going to divide the roles. SE very clearly wants to maintain that consistency with Kairi and Xion having the same voice; that's why we only ever have Hayden OR Alyson voicing them, never both in one game.

Hayden voiced Kairi and Xion in BBS and 3D.
Alyson voiced Kairi and Xion in Days and KH3.

If Kairi and Xion were to appear in future games together, they would continue to share a single actor, whoever that may be for the project in question.
 
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