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Unpopular Xehanort opinion



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AR829038

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Ok, I'm just gonna come out and say it:
I think Christopher Lloyd was the best VA for Master Xehanort.
Don't get me wrong, I think Leonard Nimoy was great. Rutger Hauer was good too, although his accent was a bit too exotic for Xehanort imo. But as much as Nimoy's performance is lauded in the community (and it's great of course, I mean it's Leonard freaking Nimoy), I actually think Lloyd brings just the right kind of ham to the character.
Let's be real for a minute: Master Xehanort is a very hammy villain. With the evil grin and the finger-wiggling and the hunched back. Most of Xehanort's other incarnations are pretty much your stereotypical anime bad guys, and they all have very solemn, deep, monotone voices to match. Nimoy's voice is just a bit too gruff and gravely to feel like a natural progression of what the other VA's would sound like if they became old men, so there's a slight disconnect between the old Xehanort and his younger incarnations. But Lloyd's voice (and Hauer's too, although the accent is out of place) feels more appropriate, like a withered version of the commanding barritone of his younger selves.
Frankly, as much as I love Nimoy, I think CL would have probably been an overall better fit for the character from the beginning, and it's a shame we only discovered him on the third go-around of VA's for the old coot.
 

AegisXIII

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He was indeed the best. The perfect amount of madness/energy combined with a fearsome desire of knowledge.
 

Oracle Spockanort

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As the biggest Leonard Nimoy fan on this site who was the first person on the entire internet to know it was him playing Xehanort in BBS when the first English trailer leaked and have his books and movies and art and photography and all sorts of Spock merch, I agree.

Perhaps it should have always been Christopher Lloyd.

Regardless, I think we are lucky to have had three amazing and iconic actors perform for the role.
 

SweetYetSalty

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I really enjoyed Christopher Lloyd's Xehanort. I love how he says "Kingdom Hearts" in his Data fight, as well as "conclusion" after striking Kairi. Even the lines during the triple nort fight, I think he nailed very well. I was very impressed. I always think of a evil Doc Brown when I hear him, which is something I never knew I wanted until ReMind.

I think all the Xehanort VA's did a good job portraying him. I only wish we could have seen the old coot wiggle those evil fingers of his a bit more. The fingers are what truly made Xehanort a evil old man.
 

Zettaflare

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After thinking about it for a year I kind of agree. Despite his brief vocal performance in Re:MIND Lloyd absolutely blew me away.

Especially his battle quotes such as ENLIGHTEN ME!!!!!
 

AegisXIII

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By the way, the japanese xehanort died as well and his son took over. The ressemblance is insane.
 

Cumguardian69

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Honestly all of the MX VAs did a fantastic job, across ENG and JPN. I don't necessarily agree that CL was the best MX simply because he sounds too...violent?...for KH (and KH3 refused to take itself seriously) but he did do a great job regardless.
 

Oracle Spockanort

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Honestly all of the MX VAs did a fantastic job, across ENG and JPN. I don't necessarily agree that CL was the best MX simply because he sounds too...violent?...for KH (and KH3 refused to take itself seriously) but he did do a great job regardless.

He isn’t ever going to top Nimoy in BBS, but I think long-term Christopher Lloyd would have likely been the better choice for a consistent take on the role. Nimoy didn’t know about his lung cancer until 2013, though, so I imagine no amount of foresight would have changed things.
 
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I actually really liked Rutger Hauer's version, even the Dutch lilt which did make him sound different from everyone else but I thought that was fitting. I like Christopher Lloyd's version too. I wish I could hear him do Xehanort's final speech to compare it with Hauer's as that's where I thought Hauer was brilliant, as the dying embittered old man refusing to give up his resolve until the end.
 

SweetYetSalty

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I do wish Christopher Lloyd had a bit more story lines in the game. His battle quotes were great, but I do want to hear more of him as Master Xehanort. Part of me kinda wants to here him dub some of Master Xehanort's other lines from other games. Not to replace them, just to hear his versions take on them.
 

blank points

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Yes, Lloyd was a excellent choice. While I too don't necessarily agree that he was the best, he was definitely the superior replacement. I'll be honest, I almost wish that they had gone for Lloyd from the beginning. That being said, I did really enjoy Hauer's take as well. Although he didn't give the greatest performance, which wasn't really his fault, seeing as it likely suffered at the hands of not great voice direction, I do think that his voice was the most natural fit for Xehanort. For me, the big disconnect is between Young Xehanort's voice and Old Man Xehanort's voice. Listening to YX, Hauer's voice sounds the most likely to what it would have aged into. It could also pass for an older Xemnas as well. I also have to agree with Dast above, Hauer nailed the final speech of MX in KH3. So it's a tough call for me, as honestly all three did very well with the character. I have to agree with Spockanort, the fact that we got not one, not two, but three iconic sci-fi actors voice Xehanort is more than we could have asked for.
 

Chie

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I must have really missed something because I don't remember voice 3 being hammy again, at least in the story scenes. It just seemed somehow even more confusingly delivered than I thought Hauer was. The battle quotes were great of course but I wasn't really conscious of that as a new voice as much.
 

welken

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While Christopher Lloyd has an undeniably iconic voice, and Hauer had a certain elegance to his reading, Nimoy was by far my favorite Xehanort. Like Billy Zane, he was just perfect. You could feel his intelligence and whimsy in the texture of his voice. One of the best English performances in the series.
 

darknessofheart

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I think where Lloyd particularly killed it was in his battles growls. They were savage and so unexpected. It was a perfect representation of the absolute madness under this unassuming old man.

I also think his final line was a perfect send off: "This was not what was written."
 

Absent

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You cannot dethrone Nimoy. His voice and enunciation was so unique and fit MX's persona. I don't feel comfortable criticizing Rutger's performance so no comment. Lloyd was a great choice and he brought so much needed emotion to MX.
 

Launchpad

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Lloyd's hammy performances brought Xehanort to life in an awesome way.

"will finally reach it's concluuuusion!"

"In Scalaaaaa Ad Caelum!"

"Settle down, boiii"

As an interesting villain, Nimoy takes it. As an entertaining JRPG final boss? Lloyd delivers everything I could ever want.
 

Antifa Lockhart

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I wanted Lloyd to be Xehanort since 2009, and hearing him take over this year was an odd sort of cosmic wish fulfillment.

But also goes to show that I'm always right.
 

Alpha Baymax

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I echo everybody else's opinions here, Christopher Lloyd really embodied Xehanort, and despite being no Leonard Nimoy, he seemed like a natural successor.

Bless Rutger Hauer but I don't think he worked as Master Xehanort in my opinion.
 

MATGSY

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I'm surprised that Lloyd was an option on the table & they went with literally anyone before him.
 
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