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Ronda Rousey's voice acting for Sonya in Mortal Kombat 11 is... not good
- Thread starter ZeoVGM
- Start date
It's almost as if replacing an amazing voice actress like Tricia Helfer with a celebrity who has no acting skills whatsoever was always a bad idea.
She retweeted a Sandy Hook conspiracy theory and when she got shit for it she used the "I'm just asking questions" defense
Does make me wonder if this was a NRS decision or something forced on them by WB execs. For such a relatively high profile "get" as Rousey is, they don't seem to be highlighting her involvement in the marketing as much as you'd think, as if they know its horrible.
From a company with an emphasis on lore and story that has, quite incredibly, explored gender identity, PTSD, and psychological trauma in incredibly insightful and respectful ways.
Kung Jin struggling with acceptance and his sexuality in MKX is NOT what you expect in a game about "ripping each other's spines out", or for them to do a game like Injustice 2 exploring the psychological trauma and recovery of Harley Quinn from the Joker's abuse.
They're games, sure, but they've been quite progressive.
Which is why her casting - regardless of her "talent" in a VA role - was so problematic, given her views.
While I do not think being a despicable human being makes you an awful professional in your field (unless you are a doctor or a religious figure, I guess), she didn't really look like a proficient actress, less so doing VA. But hey, maybe WWE fans are a sizable collective!
"Thank god you showed up.........becausethesepartiesboremetodeath..."
DAMN THE MAN, SCREW THE WOO..
I know right?
They destroyed a cool character, pissed people off and had a really bad voice acting that makes every scene she is in suck.
And she made that shit into merch too. I mean, I get it, get it where you can but hell they should have gone over that a bit more.
Yep, they dropped her like a rock after the initial reveal period when it came to marketing. They certainly haven't gotten their money's worth for paying to have such an "illustrious" name in their game.
I had to watch that 3 time to convince myself that it wasn't unrelated audio laid over top a random cut scene. She sounds like she recorded her lines in a tin can.
Okay. It's also a game with a large cast and an elaborate story mode that, for a lot of people, is the appeal of these games if they don't intend on playing the game online or otherwise competitively. Sonya had a perfectly fine voice actress associated with her that didn't require a replacement, let alone one who is a) a demonstrably worse performer, and b) a conspiracy-theorizing bigot.
I actually completely forgot she was even in the game because they've barely marketed her. I just don't get their angle here, why get a C-tier celebrity role if you're not even gonna do the bare minimum to advertise them at all?
Just feels like they knew they made a mistake a bit too late lol.
Just feels like they knew they made a mistake a bit too late lol.
It's a weird decision to have Ronda Rousey voice Sonya Blade. If Netherrealm wanted to user her likeness in the game, sure, she has to voice that character.
But they didn't, so why have her voice Sonya Blade? It's not like Rousey is known to be a great voice actor. They could've hired a professional voice actor, who will do a better job and probably for cheaper too.
But they didn't, so why have her voice Sonya Blade? It's not like Rousey is known to be a great voice actor. They could've hired a professional voice actor, who will do a better job and probably for cheaper too.
I thought it was because they were going to do a bunch of cross-promotion stuff with WWE. But that doesn't seem to be the case. SO I don't really understand they'd go for her. If they wanted a celebrity then go for Cynthia Rothrock since she was the original inspiration for Sonya.
Truly baffling. Like, they didn't even mention her after the reveal.
What was the point of this? I doubt anyone cares she's involved.
Also, did that scene contain spoilers? Feels like it did.
What was the point of this? I doubt anyone cares she's involved.
Also, did that scene contain spoilers? Feels like it did.
That's...kind of a different issue. The hypocrisy considering the subject matter (minus the spine ripping) is one thing. Personally, I feel MK is known far more for hammy, cheesy overracting.
Sometimes perspective is necessary. It's a spine ripping game. I think you or other fans of the game can deal with one bad celebrity performance from a game series with a reputation of being hammy.
I guess some time after the reveal that Rousey was Sonya, somebody internally went "oh shit, everyone knows she's garbage, what do we do?"
"No it's fine, she's still a draw".
Which is unfortunately true.
Wow... Turns out she's a terrible person too? My post was just about her voice acting, but knowing that stuff just leaves me scratching my head even harder on the reasons for her inclusion. Selling the game to WWE fans maybe?
But going back to her "performance", the other thing that really stuck out to me was that the sound mix sounded a bit off compared to the rest of the cast... It almost feels like they've recorded her voice in a different sound room and/or different sound equipment.
It's could be that the team only had access to her for a very short time and had to rush a recording session while they had the chance. All of this is guess-work on my part, but I can't help to wonder about it.
But going back to her "performance", the other thing that really stuck out to me was that the sound mix sounded a bit off compared to the rest of the cast... It almost feels like they've recorded her voice in a different sound room and/or different sound equipment.
It's could be that the team only had access to her for a very short time and had to rush a recording session while they had the chance. All of this is guess-work on my part, but I can't help to wonder about it.
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This UFC 193 theme has a high rating lol
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/US0045-CUSA01751_00-UTH0000000000703
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/US0045-CUSA01751_00-UTH0000000000703
Don't want to speculate too much, but I know I wrote WBGames to express my disappointment in the casting and articulated precisely why in a respectful and concise manner.
I noticed the promotions with her pretty much dried up soon afterwards, so I image there was more backlash, internally it may have been clear she wasn't the best choice (they've barely even shown her speaking in the trailers), and it may have been a "too little, too late" moment to recast with her.
As I told them in my email, I don't expect them to recast her this game, but I do expect them to do better in the future.
So she's trashy IRL but she also sucks at her job? Lol.
Why the fuck did they hire her? I have zero idea what she brings to the table.
Is she really some household name? Do people buy MK for Ronda?
All I remember her for is that one clip of her getting KOed so hard she quit.
I just feel bad for the VA who played Sonya before.
Why the fuck did they hire her? I have zero idea what she brings to the table.
Is she really some household name? Do people buy MK for Ronda?
All I remember her for is that one clip of her getting KOed so hard she quit.
I just feel bad for the VA who played Sonya before.
Yeah fuck this game. Was thinking it would be cool to play a new MK especially with Switch support but I'm not giving her a damn cent. Same reasons I didn't buy DQXI. I know if you go down the chain in any large company you're going to have contributors who are dirtbags but when someone is at the level of featured voice actor or even co-creator they're making a significant cut of the money and I don't want anything to do with it.
Guess I'll just have to hope they don't put Alex Jones in Injustice 3.
Guess I'll just have to hope they don't put Alex Jones in Injustice 3.
OP
OP
Nope. If they make the decision to hire a celebrity to voice their character and make a big deal out of it, they open themselves to rightful criticism.
It isn't "hammy." It's bad.
Wonder if at the time they cast her they thought she'd be a bigger deal by now because of Wrestlemania, but she ended up not even getting the rub there. The plan seemed to have always been for her to be the biggest star of the WWE's women's division but it hasn't really panned out, mostly because she's terrible actress there too.