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Tara Strong is a very talented voice actress, but I can't stand her Harley Quinn

Bor Gullet

Bor Gullet

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Oct 27, 2017
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I'm currently playing Injustice 2 for the first time, having a good time with the game. But good grief, Harley's voice in this game is very grating. It's so high pitched, it sometimes sounds like she's on helium. It's not cute or bubbly, it's just annoying.

View: https://youtu.be/8zLaACYSdbA?t=74

Tara Strong of course is one of the biggest VA's in the business, and rightfully so. Hell, when it comes to DC characters, she's probably the best voice of Batgirl and her voice of Raven from Teen Titans is super distinct. But her Harley is ass, and it sucks that she's become the go to voice for her. She was okay in Arkham City, but since then... no bueno. She sounds dreadful in the Suicide Squad trailer too.

If you know your DC history, Harley Quinn was originally created on Batman the Animated Series, and Arleen Sorkin who voiced her was also the inspiration for the character (aspects of her personality were interjected into the character).

I'm not asking for Sorkin to come back, pretty sure she's retired. But there's so many other VA's who can and have voiced the character better. There's Hynden Walch who technically voiced the character in the "Arkhamverse" in Batman Assault on Arkham. She channels the original while doing her own thing without being irritating.

View: https://youtu.be/aUHcgy3ilMQ?list=PL0gZWQPFpc9t77ioY-p6E9EiIKYAdvQBY

There's also Kaley Cuoco doing her own take in the Harley Quinn show, and she's great.

I haven't played the game, but I've seen some clips and who ever voiced Harley on Gotham Knights did a good job, likewise with Laura Post in the telltale games.
 
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PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

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Oct 25, 2017
123,103
I feel you. Tara's Harley just feels...forced in a way that I don't think Cuoco or Sorkin's did. It always feels like "Tara Strong doing a voice" instead of a distinct character.
 
yap

yap

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Oct 25, 2017
9,611
Yeah I feel her Harley's gotten flanderized for a while now. It's really strange especially when you compare her to Cuoco's performance. Cuoco also does the high-pitched manic Harley, but Cuoco has more nuance and knows when to dial it back I feel. (Most of the time. Some moments in HQ S3 were grating)

Now it's possible that's because Cuoco is given much better material and voice direction to work with, but given how often Strong's Harley shows up, I'm just too fatigued at this point.
 

jdmc13

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Mar 14, 2019
3,085
I'm not sure how much of it is Tara and how much of it is directors telling her to imitate Arleen Sorkin. I'm not a huge fan of the result either way.
 
Messi

Messi

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Oct 25, 2017
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She's become a caricature of her old work on Harley

She seems to have toned it down for Suicide Squad.
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

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yap said:
Yeah I feel her Harley's gotten flanderized for a while now. It's really strange especially when you compare her to Cuoco's performance. Cuoco also does the high-pitched manic Harley, but Cuoco has more nuance and knows when to dial it back I feel. (Most of the time. Some moments in HQ S3 were grating)

Now it's possible that's because Cuoco is given much better material and voice direction to work with, but given how often Strong's Harley shows up, I'm just too fatigued at this point.
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Yeah, Cuoco can absolutely get grating as well with her performance but she plays the character with levels I don't think Strong's Harley voice is capable of.
 

Deleted member 34949

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Yeah, I think it got kind of weirdly shrill over time. I didn't hate it in Arkham City, but it just got worse from there. Not sure if it's a voice direction thing or not, though.

yap said:
Yeah I feel her Harley's gotten flanderized for a while now. It's really strange especially when you compare her to Cuoco's performance. Cuoco also does the high-pitched manic Harley, but Cuoco has more nuance and knows when to dial it back I feel. (Most of the time. Some moments in HQ S3 were grating)

Now it's possible that's because Cuoco is given much better material and voice direction to work with, but given how often Strong's Harley shows up, I'm just too fatigued at this point.
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Yeah, this basically.
 
Scrappy-Fan92

Scrappy-Fan92

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Jan 14, 2021
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I generally find the voice fine. She appears in so many projects as Harley that she's partially at the mercy of whoever's handling voice direction and dialogue. Conroy's Batman wasn't always well-directed in every project, either.
 
Scrappy-Fan92

Scrappy-Fan92

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Jan 14, 2021
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Let me blow your mind some more: Melissa Rauch, who played Bernadette on The Big Bang Theory, voiced Harley in 2017's Batman and Harley Quinn.
 
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Zeliard

Zeliard

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Jun 21, 2019
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I'm not familiar with this Harley but Kaley Cuoco is perfect in the role imo. I feel like she can really modulate the Harley voice depending on the scene, which is what makes her scenes with Poison Ivy so good.
 
Het_Nkik

Het_Nkik

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Oct 27, 2017
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Scrappy-Fan92 said:
Conroy's Batman wasn't always well-directed in every project, either.
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He was so bad in a bunch of the Batman: Gotham Knight shorts that I wasn't sure it was him at first. It's actually what made me first pay attention to voice directors, and realize how fucking good Andrea Romano was.
 
KeyBladerXIII

KeyBladerXIII

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Dec 5, 2017
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Yeah, I agree. She sounds good when she's playing it low key, but when she starts yelling her voice bleeds into her Timmy Turner and that's when I start hating it. She's still an amazing voice actress all in all.
 
Judau

Judau

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Oct 28, 2017
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She sounds like a great Arleen Sorkin substitute in the Arkham games after AA. In that Injustice 2 clip, though, she sounds like if her Lil character from Rugrats grew up to be Harley. It's very different from the Arkham games, but that's probably the point.

Edit: I totally forgot that Kath Soucie voiced Lil, not Tara Strong. Still, that's what her Harley character sounds like in that clip in the OP.
 
Spring-Loaded

Spring-Loaded

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Oct 27, 2017
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Agreed on all counts. Arleen Sorkin is a tough act to follow because she, like Kevin Conroy, could do both costumes identity and secret identity voices each with full range of emotions, and make each sound natural.

I'd rather other actors just do their own thing like Kaley Cuoco does in the HQ show.
 
Buckle

Buckle

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Oct 27, 2017
42,621
I just can't stand the Harley Quinn voice in general.

"HELLLO, MIS-TAH JAY!"

I mean yeah, its distinct but at what cost?

At what cost?
 
Scrappy-Fan92

Scrappy-Fan92

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Jan 14, 2021
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Bor Gullet said:
I actually kind of dug her voice as Harley, despite how shitty the movie was. The voice would have fit better with a different design though.
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This post makes me realize no DCAU Batman characters got any notable visual overhauls after 2001. Would've been nice to see.

Spring-Loaded said:
Agreed on all counts. Arleen Sorkin is a tough act to follow because she, like Kevin Conroy, could do both costumes identity and secret identity voices each with full range of emotions, and make each sound natural.

I'd rather other actors just do their own thing like Kaley Cuoco does in the HQ show.
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I'm sure Strong could nail Harleen Quinzel if she was actually given the chance to. Harley's rarely allowed "downtime" in recent animated or video game media, outside of her own cartoon, I presume.
 
Duane

Duane

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Oct 27, 2017
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I just wish Cuoco's version had at least some accent. I got used to it by season 3, but eh. I still miss it.
 
Derbel McDillet

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Nov 23, 2022
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Dolce said:
well it sure was in the cartoon because they specifically went with an extremely exaggerated northeastern accent.
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There's been a lot of interpretations, but at this point we're beyond "supposed to be annoying". The current Harley Quinn series doesn't work if she's supposed to be annoying. Video games have done different takes. Suicide Squad Kills the Justice League just seems jarring in comparison to anything done with the character in the past 5 or so years.
 
OneTrueJack

OneTrueJack

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Aug 30, 2020
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After Kaley Cuoco and Margot Robbie (especially in BoP), Tara Strong's version just seems so...antiquated. I don't know if it's the performance or the direction but I feel like the character has evolved beyond this now.
 
Dolce

Dolce

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Oct 25, 2017
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Derbel McDillet said:
There's been a lot of interpretations, but at this point we're beyond "supposed to be annoying". The current Harley Quinn series doesn't work if she's supposed to be annoying. Video games have done different takes. Suicide Squad Kills the Justice League just seems jarring in comparison to anything done with the character in the past 5 or so years.
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harley quinn but adult humor is like the least interesting direction i can think of for her, so i haven't spent too much time on the new cartoon and such. the new live action movies she's still pretty annoying
 

PolskiGamer17

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Oct 27, 2017
644
Arleen Sorkin sounds super natural as Harley.
Tara and Kaley do not, they try to emulate that voice, Kayley sounds screechy at points.
People tend to forget that Paul Dini based Harley Quinn on Arleen Sorkin
 
Sambumbia-PR

Sambumbia-PR

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Dec 23, 2017
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Tara Strong ups the little girl shriek mix to the voice by 20% and makes it grating. Arleen Sorkins take on it was well balanced.
 
Fat4all

Fat4all

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Oct 25, 2017
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im very hit and miss with tara

as someone who likes gen 4 my little pony, i really like her as TS, and she's great in them's fighting herds

but i dont think ive ever been a big fan of her harley
 
soundofsilver

soundofsilver

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Nov 18, 2017
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I'm finally playing through Arkham Aslyum and, controversially, I find Sorkin's version pretty grating as well…
 
MarcelloF

MarcelloF

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Dec 9, 2020
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I always though she was supposed to sound kinda obnoxious and annoying 🤷‍♂️

I dunno, I like her voice.
 
RPGam3r

RPGam3r

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Oct 27, 2017
14,462
Meh sounds like Harley to me. She's almost always grating, that's part of the character (at least to me).
 
DanielG123

DanielG123

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Jul 14, 2020
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Honestly, Harley's more subdued portrayal in Gotham Knights has been my favorite take on the character in video game form so far, but we'll see if the Suicide Squad changes that. Tara Strong is incredible as an actress, but her Harley Quinn voice just never hit right with me.
 
Zeliard

Zeliard

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Jun 21, 2019
11,470
Dolce said:
harley quinn but adult humor is like the least interesting direction i can think of for her, so i haven't spent too much time on the new cartoon and such.
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I haven't seen the third season which I guess people are pretty down on but that doesn't describe her character from the first two at least. She curses up a storm but it generally fits with the tone and she's got plenty more for going for her.
 
KDC720

KDC720

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Oct 25, 2017
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They definitely directed her to be way more shrill in the Arkham games, shes fine as Harley in other stuff.
 
Razgriz-Specter

Razgriz-Specter

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Oct 25, 2017
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Honestly I don't really blame her, her Harley has gotten pretty annoying and a grating but I actually feel like that has happened with Harley as a whole in recent years.
 
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