Anybody else wanted Travis Willingham as Cell?

[Codarik]

This is one of three dissapointments I find in the Kai dub, ever since Kai was announced to have an English dub, it was set for Travis to voice Cell (since he voiced Cell in a few video games). Dameon Clarke was able to fit Cell into his schedule at the last minute so they had him return. This is what gets me, Dameon hasn't done any voice work since Burst Limit(?) which was back in 2008 and it was assumed that he quit voice acting (since he didn't return to voice Scar in FMA:Brotherhood). Why would he soley return to voice acting for Cell? Anyway for my personal taste, I think Clarke was terrible as Cell in Kai but I won't get into that. Travis did fantastic in the video games, he has more voice acting experience and is more popular in the voice acting world than Clarke. I understand why the let Dameon return, but it disturbs me with the sudden change.

Some people say they didn't like Travis' Cell cause it sounded like an impression of Clarke, well I don't hear that at all. Plus Travis said he really wanted to be in the Dragon Ball series and he always seems depressed when he mentions about him originally going to voice Cell but didn't get it in the end, when he is at panels.

What do you guys think? Did you also want Travis to voice Cell or are you perfectly fine with Dameon's sudden return?

[DragonBoxZTheMovies]

I found that Willingham doesn't have the same range as Clarke. It sounds like he (Travis) is trying to voice act with something in his mouth.

[Gonstead]

Travis' performance as Cell is terrible. It's a very obvious Clark impression only sounding more forced to try and match.

His only decent Cell voice is Imperfect Cell.

As for Clarke not doing any VA in a while, remember that he's also an actor who has done some movie and TV roles so those would also help in gaining more experience.

As for returning I think I remember Sean Schemmel saying that he and Clarke live close by to each other along with another VA (Justin Cook I think?) so he probably heard about Kai from Sean or the other VA and wanted to come back or was convinced to come in and have another go at Cell.

The result? Thats for the viewer to decide.

[songohan619]

...and is more popular in the voice acting world than Clarke.

Sorry, but that is not a good reason for an actor to do something.

[TheBlackPaladin]

...and is more popular in the voice acting world than Clarke.

Sorry, but that is not a good reason for an actor to do something.

In all likelihood, it has something to do with union issues. Clarke is a member of SAG-AFTRA, the actor's union in the US, and it's forbidden for union actors to do non-union work unless they want to face harsh fines or possibly even expulsion. Mind you, many union actors still take non-union work anyway in the interest of paying the bills, in which case they do it under a pseudonym to avoid catching SAG-AFTRA's attention. I forget Clarke's pseudonym off the top of my head, but if you'll recall, in the credits he's not credited as Dameon Clarke.

As for why he returned for Kai and not the other video games (where Cell is once again voiced by Willingham), I'm not sure. Maybe he liked the role so much that he felt the risk of SAG-AFTRA disciplining him was worth it. Or maybe FUNimation asked him to come back after seeing the reaction of some fans who were enraged over the voice changes. It's anybody's guess there.

[songohan619]

...and is more popular in the voice acting world than Clarke.

Sorry, but that is not a good reason for an actor to do something.

In all likelihood, it has something to do with union issues. Clarke is a member of SAG-AFTRA, the actor's union in the US, and it's forbidden for union actors to do non-union work unless they want to face harsh fines or possibly even expulsion. Mind you, many union actors still take non-union work anyway in the interest of paying the bills, in which case they do it under a pseudonym to avoid catching SAG-AFTRA's attention. I forget Clarke's pseudonym off the top of my head, but if you'll recall, in the credits he's not credited as Dameon Clarke.

As for why he returned for Kai and not the other video games (where Cell is once again voiced by Willingham), I'm not sure. Maybe he liked the role so much that he felt the risk of SAG-AFTRA disciplining him was worth it. Or maybe FUNimation asked him to come back after seeing the reaction of some fans who were enraged over the voice changes. It's anybody's guess there.

Yeah, and maby the dubbing of the games isnt well enough paid, so Clarke turned them down, feeling it wasnt worth the risk?

[TheBlackPaladin]

In all likelihood, it has something to do with union issues. Clarke is a member of SAG-AFTRA, the actor's union in the US, and it's forbidden for union actors to do non-union work unless they want to face harsh fines or possibly even expulsion. Mind you, many union actors still take non-union work anyway in the interest of paying the bills, in which case they do it under a pseudonym to avoid catching SAG-AFTRA's attention. I forget Clarke's pseudonym off the top of my head, but if you'll recall, in the credits he's not credited as Dameon Clarke.

As for why he returned for Kai and not the other video games (where Cell is once again voiced by Willingham), I'm not sure. Maybe he liked the role so much that he felt the risk of SAG-AFTRA disciplining him was worth it. Or maybe FUNimation asked him to come back after seeing the reaction of some fans who were enraged over the voice changes. It's anybody's guess there.

Yeah, and maby the dubbing of the games isnt well enough paid, so Clarke turned them down, feeling it wasnt worth the risk?

Possible, certainly. It may not even be a money issue, it may just be that he wants to minimize his risk of SAG-AFTRA noticing his working on a non-union gig. Working non-union gigs while you're a union actor is kind of like speeding...you're not likely to get caught, but it's never pleasant if you are.

[penguintruth]

I couldn't care less. Clarke is a decent Cell, but neither he nor Willingham hold a candle to Norio Wakamoto's, even in Kai. It's not even close.

I'm glad Clarke didn't return to voice Scar again. He was horrible as Scar.

[songohan619]

I couldn't care less. Clarke is a decent Cell, but neither he nor Willingham hold a candle to Norio Wakamoto's, even in Kai. It's not even close.

I'm glad Clarke didn't return to voice Scar again. He was horrible as Scar.

Oh god. Seriously, PenguinTruth? You use every chance you get to hate on the FUNimation Dub.

[Hades]

In all likelihood, it has something to do with union issues. Clarke is a member of SAG-AFTRA, the actor's union in the US, and it's forbidden for union actors to do non-union work unless they want to face harsh fines or possibly even expulsion. Mind you, many union actors still take non-union work anyway in the interest of paying the bills, in which case they do it under a pseudonym to avoid catching SAG-AFTRA's attention. I forget Clarke's pseudonym off the top of my head, but if you'll recall, in the credits he's not credited as Dameon Clarke.

As for why he returned for Kai and not the other video games (where Cell is once again voiced by Willingham), I'm not sure. Maybe he liked the role so much that he felt the risk of SAG-AFTRA disciplining him was worth it. Or maybe FUNimation asked him to come back after seeing the reaction of some fans who were enraged over the voice changes. It's anybody's guess there.

Yeah, and maby the dubbing of the games isnt well enough paid, so Clarke turned them down, feeling it wasnt worth the risk?

Possible, certainly. It may not even be a money issue, it may just be that he wants to minimize his risk of SAG-AFTRA noticing his working on a non-union gig. Working non-union gigs while you're a union actor is kind of like speeding...you're not likely to get caught, but it's never pleasant if you are.

I thought the Closed Shop was illegal.

[DarkPrince_92]

Nope. Dameon Clarke's voice is so much more natural as Cell than Willingham.... Willingham tries too hard.

[TheBlackPaladin]

I thought the Closed Shop was illegal.

That's a whole 'nother discussion entirely about Union Security states and Right-To-Work states. However, the rules ("Global Rule One," or "No Contract/No Work" depending on whether it's a SAG or an AFTRA contract) clearly and prominently state that union actors can't do non-union work. Like I said, it still happens all the time, which is why when you go to imdb or Wikipedia and look up certain actors you'll see things like, "Sometimes does anime work under the name (insert pseudonym here)." SAG-AFTRA represents 120,000 actors despite having only 300 officials on staff, so some cases of union actors doing non-union work will fall through the cracks. However, with a show as significant as Kai, which has a lot of TV exposure, and a huge fanbase on the internet that was quick to figure out that Clarke was voicing Cell, the risk of him getting caught was something that he undoubtedly wanted to minimize...hence his not returning to voice Cell in the video games.

[Ringworm128]

I was so excited when they announced Dameon Clarke would be voicing Cell. IMO Dameon Clarke not voicing Cell is like Norio Wakamoto not voicing Cell. As for Willingham, he is a great voice actor but his Cell is pretty meh.

I couldn't care less. Clarke is a decent Cell, but neither he nor Willingham hold a candle to Norio Wakamoto's, even in Kai. It's not even close.

I'm glad Clarke didn't return to voice Scar again. He was horrible as Scar.

Oh god. Seriously, PenguinTruth? You use every chance you get to hate on the FUNimation Dub.

Tell me about it. I've come across him on FIVE different sites and 90% of his posts are the same thing.

[Super Sonic]

Clarke did do voiceover again before Kai actually. He was the Bionic Commando guy in MvC3. Don't know if he was him in the new Bionic Commando though.

Also, as I haven't played any games since Budokai Tenkaichi, not as familiar with Willingham's Cell. Though had a feeling if he had done him, some guys might've made jokes about being Gohan's big brother or wanting him in a miniskirt. Heh heh heh.

[Ringworm128]

Clarke did do voiceover again before Kai actually. He was the Bionic Commando guy in MvC3. Don't know if he was him in the new Bionic Commando though.

And he also did the voice of Relento in Street Fighter x Tekken.

[Piccolo Daimao]

I couldn't care less. Clarke is a decent Cell, but neither he nor Willingham hold a candle to Norio Wakamoto's, even in Kai. It's not even close.

I'm glad Clarke didn't return to voice Scar again. He was horrible as Scar.

Please. Contain your hard-on for the original Japanese version. We get it. You don't like FUNimation. We weren't even talking about Wakamoto or Clarke's Scar, for fuck's sake. The horse has been dead for ages.

On-topic, no, I didn't want Willingham for Cell, as he's a pale imitation of Clarke's Cell, which was one of my favourite roles in the dub.

[dbboxkaifan]

Travis Willingham ripped off Dameon Clarke's Cell with his own vocal, kind of like what Yamamoto did to the tracks he kept plagiarising over the years.

Norio Wakamoto > Dameon Clarke > Raul Schlosser

Wakamoto's days of glory was in Z now he's still great but incomparable with what he did back then.

[songohan619]

Travis Willingham ripped off Dameon Clarke's Cell with his own vocal, kind of like what Yamamoto did to the tracks he kept plagiarising over the years.

Norio Wakamoto > Dameon Clarke > Raul Schlosser

Wakamoto's days of glory was in Z now he's still great but incomparable with what he did back then.

Well, I think he tried to sound a bit like Clark, so that the transition between actors could be as smooth as possible.

[penguintruth]

We get it. You don't like FUNimation.

Incorrect.

Also, guys, it's likely the reason Willingham's Cell sounds like Clarke's is because Funimation WANTED it to. I don't think there was ever any other reasoning behind giving Willingham the role other than, "He can sound like Clarke's Cell." There's no reason to be harsh about his performance. It's not likely he was given a choice but to imitate Clarke.

[Piccolo Daimao]

We get it. You don't like FUNimation.

Incorrect.

Then why did you yet again praise Wakamoto and bring up your negative opinion on Clarke's Scar, which is completely unrelated to the topic at hand (not to mention that this is a Dragon Ball forum anyway)?

Oh, and the fact that you seem to have the unyielding urge to bash FUNimation's English dub of the series at any given moment. It's gotten tiring, so come up with some new material so you stop sounding like a broken record.