Headcanon voices for Pokemon Legends Z-A!
It’s been a while since my last upload, as always, but the Pokemon games have been my favorites to do on this channel and Legends Z-A is a top 5 Pokemon game for me, so this was fun to do, even if my own rules are starting to make them increasingly difficult. As before, I challenged myself to not double-cast with Pokemon Masters or my previous Pokemon videos, albeit with a couple exceptions for minor characters.
Audio clips are intended as actor references and not exactly what I imagine everyone to sound.
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Thoughts on my casting choices!
Taunie – Abby Trott and Urbain – Max Mittelman: I played as a girl, and I didn't waste an instant wondering who I'd pick for Urbain. Max Mittelman saying "For real?!" was in my brain pretty instantly seeing him. For Taunie, I quite literally asked myself, "Who's the Max Mittelman of women?" and Momo from Dandadan came to mind, so I went for Abby Trott's performance there to match a similar "cool friend" energy.
Naveen – Corey Wilder: I've learned of Wilder fairly recently and they've been an increasing favorite of mine. I had also thought of Lee George for Naveen, but used him in the Legends Arceus video, but I was really happy looking around for some references and finding Wilder's tired role in Gachiakuta as a perfect reference for the grounded but fed up Naveen.
Lida – Hannah Alyea: I imagined Lida with a higher, slightly chirpier voice, and I adooooore Alyea's work in things like WataOshi, so I had already been looking for an excuse to use her in more videos. I was very excited when I thought of putting those two together, this is one of my favorite picks in the video.
AZ – Ray Hurd: AZ was one of the hardest to pick in this video, because while he's had a voice before in one of the animated mini-series as Keith Silverstein, I personally wanted to go with a very deep, baritone voice to reflect the weight of his presence. It took a while to find someone who fit that but wasn't already used as per my rules, but when I finally thought of Ray Hurd, I was veeeery happy.
Jett – Linda Young: I'll be real, I heard Linda Young when I was going through Once Upon a Witch's Death for Hannah Alyea's audio and thought "oh hey she'd be good for Jett" lmao. Not my most in-depth reasoning but if it works it works.
Vinnie – Chris Tergliafera: One of the harder ones to cast because he's easy in theory but hard to fully pin down. I agonized for a while until I realized that Tergliafera wasn't actually in Pokémon Masters and I just assumed he was for some reason, and given his famously deep voice, I thought he'd be great for the only-vaguely-intimidating Vinnie.
Mable – Felecia Angelle: One of the last people I cast, if only because I came up with a lot of options that broke my rules. However, Angelle is a pick I'm very happy with, having a more medium-register I imagined for Mable and finding audio of her being very scientific and annoyed.
Tarragon – Kenny Green: I didn't even try to look for Tarragon until basically the end of the process because I dreaded looking for old men voices that weren't already in Masters, but I've used this exact same Kenny Green voice so many times on this channel and it's really never steered me wrong! If anything, the Dr. Stone character is eerily similar to Tarragon as the "old bearded man that just loves to build stuff", so this should have come to mind quicker than it did…
Canari – Giselle Fernandez: Maybe THE most difficult character to cast with a lot of my favorite options being in Masters already. However, I'm very happy with Fernandez in the end. While I chose a voice clip that shows more of Canari's annoyed side (which I initially thought of the even more annoyed Ellen Joe from ZZZ for), the character that really encapsulates her streamer personality would be Fernandez's recent take on Princess Daisy. There's not really enough coherent dialogue for me to use Daisy for this video, of course, but I hope that gives an idea if the more lower-tone voice clip here doesn't sell you.
Gwynn – Sam Slade: Canari's girlfriend is very gothic, spooky, quiet girl, and Sam Slade has collected a good handful of those types recently. Anby is an easy reference for that type of character, so it didn't take too long to get this one figured out.
Ivor – Damien Haas: I had to find the biggest himbo voice I could, simply put. That said, Ivor has some feminine design features so I don't imagine him with a jokingly deep, gruff, Kronk-style voice. Damien Haas was a very exciting idea for me given his take on Laios in Delicious in Dungeon, and I think using some of the more upbeat clips from that performance has me very pleased.
Philippe – Gianni Matragrano: The last main-game character I cast because despite his over the top design, he's actually pretty under-stated as a character? He feels like he'd be deep but not super baritone, have a bit of the mobster voice but not too much. I had to straight up ask around before the idea of Gianni, known for his memes but a genuinely talented actor in his own regard, came to mind. It took some time to search through his wide range for the exact tone I needed, but I'm very pleased with what I've got in the end.
Corbeau – Chris Wehkamp: By contrast, Corbeau was the FIRST person I cast, I knew who he would be even before I played the game. Chris Wehkamp is great at these serious younger men like Miles Edgeworth and Eraserhead, so he was locked in ASAP. I sorted through his Gachiakuta character's audio for more serious moments from a sillier character specifically because he had some of that gangster twang.
Lebanne – Minh Ton: I have always been pretty blatant about trans inclusion and my frustration at the lack of roles talented trans voice actors get in the industry. I looove a fan headcanon that Lebanne is a trans punk based on the green-haired XY punk designs, so I leaned in on that by casting a genderqueer actor for Lebanne. Minh Ton is a genderfluid actor who plays a lot of female roles because and their performance as Hiruko in Hundred Line told me they would be fantastic at a character who plays both straight-faced serious while also being unhinged (though I chose a different audio reference to match Lebanne's more butch vibes).
Jacinthe – Nia Celeste: Another tough one. Jacinthe has such a specific vibe to her, and I wanted to display that while also giving a shout-out to a black voice actor. Nia Celeste, funny enough, is literally in Pokémon cosplay in her BTVA mugshot, so I was happy to look through her resume and find her higher voice and a prissy character to get a voice example from. Really happy with this one.
Griselle – Erin Yvette: I noticed the increased prominence in Yvette in the industry recently, even before her recent stints as Blonde Blazer and Samus Aran. I've been itching to use her in a video lately, and I think she has a lot of roles where she plays this cool, mature type that Griselle embodies when she's not actively pissed off.
Grisham – Jalen K. Cassell: I wanted a very deep voice that sounded mysterious and forlorn for both Grisham's "pleasant barista" and "cold fury" personas. While I considered some names like Matt Mercer or even Crispin Freeman for this, Cassell's pleasant baritone is what stuck in my brain most for him, and I'm so happy with how their voice works for him.
Ansha – Megan Taylor Harvey: While I handled her last because of being early in the DLC and knowing I just needed "precocious child voice", I figured her out quickly since I recently heard Harvey's role as Sophia in P5 Strikers via RTGame playing it, and I already had some solid fitting audio saved from one of my oldest Touhou videos. So, easy pick!
Zach – Grant George: I really just wanted to include him in here because I think he's funny. I used George for a very minor NPC in SV's DLC so I don't mind reusing him, and specifically using the very evil Steely Dan audio from JoJo's fits his bizarrely sociopathic motivations hilariously well to me.
I personally hear Jane Perry’s voice (Diana Burnwood from the Hitman World of Assassination trilogy) whenever I come across Jett in the game.
I was imagining a slightly higher voice for naveen tho the rest are good
Almost all of these are perfect. Gwynn, Corbeau, and Griselle are really good. Lida and Canari’s feel way off; Jacinthe’s okay
Jacinte she's voice is adorable
Nah. Characters having voice actors in Pokémon Masters is diabolical
"No way am I getting hosed on one of them four year loans" for Taunie is diabolical
1:11 when I streamed the game, I gave Urbain a voice similar to this, but my mind went to Zeno Robinson’s Golden Guard from the Owl House role.
I honestly thought Vinnie would sound like Arnold Schwarzenegger in the terminator
I always thought Frieren's voice actress would fit Gwynn more
Gwynn as Anby is cute
My headcannon is that corbeau is voice acted by Grant George like N from pokemon generations
Imagining this guy saying “ITS CANARI!!! CA-NA-RI!!!” Is crazy
I see what you’re going for, but even the official voices in Masters don't really fit. The English casting for the anime and games often ignores geographical logic. In Legends: Z-A, they are literally in France, so most characters if not all should have French accents.
Take Lida she’s from Hoenn and moved to Kalos when she was younger, so they could give her a French accent with a slight Japanese undertone to show she isn't a Kalos native. It would make the world feel much more immersive!
Zach was a Jojo Reference all the time?! 😱😅
kaseki the GOAT
NAVEEN. ZANKA NIJIKU ENG VA???
The only ones I disagree with (no hate!) was Ivor and Philippe. Ivor voice just seems to high for me and I imagine Philippe voice to be more deeper and scary, especially with his Mega Evolution animation.
my headcanon voice for Jacinthe is Kirsten Day as Constance from Fire Emblem, she absolutely nails the obnoxiously spoiled oujo-sama voice. I like your choice for AZ, but one of my friends compared him to Ketheric Thorm and now I can’t unhear him with JK Simmons’ voice
my hc voice for phillips and corbeau are the ones by mandjtv xp
I feel like Naveens would be a bit more high but still deep yk? But the others are almost perfect lol
Good choices all around really. Personally I always read Corbeau's voice as Byakuya Togami.
I love Alpharad’s version of Corbeau
Just the most deadpan voice
Nah Corbeau has to be Keith Silverstein, iykyk
I usually just wait until they drop the characters in pokemon masters ex although sometimes they’re hit or miss
5:11 Yes!! That's exactly the voice I read with in my head! I couldn't help but compare Tarragon to Kaseki from Dr. Stone! Also, I can't help but think you pick voices based on how well voice lines fit the characters, more often than the voices themselves.
That is NOT what I hear lida like 😂
0:46 meh just cause she kinda looks like her
Okay now I'm glad pokemon doesn't have voice acting. They all suck. No offense
After watching mandjtv most of these dont feel right to me!
havent played za yet who is zach
I gave Lida pretty much the same voice but british. Same for Jacinthe but french
My headcanon is vastly different from reality. I sometimes forget they’re all french
For AZ I would pick paul eiding since the dude has an insanely intimidating yet kind hearted voice that would fit AZ to a T. Also for those wondering paul eiding voiced grandpa max from ben 10 and lucifer in SMT V and SMT 3 nocturn
Not bad at all! Tho for Jacinthe I always pictured Laura Bailey using her Evangeline voice from Negima lol
Vinnie literally sounded like Capitano from Genshin impact in my head, which is one of Chris's roles
I’m sorry, I can’t read Corbeau and not hear Landon McDonald
Any reason why you didn’t do headcannon voices for the protagonists is it because they already have a voice?
Personally, I’d have gone with Terenezza from May I Ask For One Final Thing for Jacinthe. They’re basically the same character.
Ima be real i watch mandjtv and i was waiting for that russian accent for Ivor sad to say i am a little disappointed
i do think taunie's voice headcanon would sound better on canari, but i don't know who taunie would sound like. i'd think of more high pitched characters than momo.
3:25 FRIEZAAAAA
They gave the worst character (jacinthe) the most banger battle theme in the game
What I like about this is that you not only make sure the VA match the characters but the audio logs sound like something their character would say
I agree with everysingle one except canari
Naveen doesn’t come across as super deep voice type of guy.
Why does AZ lowkey sound like James Earl Jones lmaoo
MAX MITTELMAN URBAIN LETSGOOOO THE ONE AND ONI, FOR REAL
banger fancast kinda digging all of them
Personally I think Erica Lindbeck would be a great choice for Griselle. Her voice fits Griselle's fiery, mischievous and teasing personality so much!
COREY WILDER NAVEEN IS PEAK