Welcome to another edition of Voice Actor's Corner. Last time, we premiered with the most dark and brooding (and sometimes funny) voice in the world of fiction, Patrick Seitz. This time around, we will go North of the Border to Canada and talk about one of the most recognizable voices from the famed Canadian studio, Ocean Group and has the most baritone voice since the likes of Gary Owens and so much more. Today, we will talk about the ever soft spoken (and even more darker), Paul Dobson.
Paul Dobson is the a British-born voice actor who worked for many studios in Canada, including the aforementioned Ocean Group. He is the middle brother to the other Dobson brothers, older brother Michael and younger brother Brian, who are also voice actors. There isn't much to talk about him, but being a voice actor with much caliber, much like Patrick Seitz, his voice pitch ranged from either gruffy, humble, or in the case of certain villains he voiced, dark, seductive and sometimes borderline psychotic. That being said, here are my most favorite characters Paul Dobson has ever voiced.
 |
| "I'm just a miner." |
Graveheart (Shadow Raiders/War Planets): To start this off, here we have the main character and somewhat of a reluctant hero in Shadow Raiders, the CGI cartoon made by the same company known for ReBoot and Beast Wars, based on the Trendmasters toy line, War Planets. Graveheart was a miner from the Planet Rock, one of the five planets of the Cluster, in the crossheirs of the dreaded, planet-destroying Beast Planet (talk about Galactus and Unicron vibes here with this monstrosity). But when Planet Tek was destroyed by the aforementioned Beast Planet and its only survivor, Princess Tekla escaped its wrath, she stumbles upon Graveheart during his expedition on Planet Ice. In the beginning, he was a bit humble and reluctant into getting involved in fighting against the denizens of the Beast Planet, despite being a miner (hence his catchphrase, "I'm just a miner"). But through convincing from his friends from the other planets of the Cluster, including his fellow miner and childhood friend, Jade, Graveheart slowly came out of his comfort zone and unites all the other planets to fight against the Beast Planet itself. Dobson played the role of a humble, reluctant yet noble hero down to a "T". Not bad for someone who claims to be "just a miner".
 |
| "It's...just...MATRIX!!" |
Adult Enzo Matrix (ReBoot): Speaking of ReBoot, if Graveheart was a reluctant hero, then the adult version of Enzo Matrix is the fearless, tough as nails, takes no guff type of hero. When we first meet Enzo, the younger brother of Dot Matrix was a big fan of the show's main hero, the Guardian of the Net, Bob. Enzo was known be a mischiveous young sprite, who is often get in trouble every once in while. But, as he goes with Bob on many of his adventures (even the ones in the Game Cube, no relation to the Nintendo console of the same name), Enzo eventually becomes a guardian in his own right. But when Bob disappeared, Enzo had to step up to the plate and defend Mainframe from all threats, including Megabyte. However, when he and Andraia (who was a game sprite and the same age as Enzo at the time) lost in a game (which was an expy of Mortal Kombat, along with losing an eye in the process), they disappeared. And when we saw them again, Andraia and Enzo are all grown up, especially Enzo, who is now all grown up, armed with Bob's keytool, Glitch, wielding a gun (which looks like Judge Dredd's Lawgiver, sort of), sporting a cybernetic implant on his right eye and a bad attitude. Now dubbing himself as just Matrix, Enzo, along with Andraia travel to many game cube worlds to find Bob and save Mainframe and the entire Net from Megabyte. I would go further but I would let you see the entire show for yourself. Let's just young Enzo and adult Enzo are the best of two worlds, know what I mean?
 |
| "Nobody is superior to Doom. NOBODY!!" |
Dr. Doom (Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes and Marvel vs. Capcom 3): Now, we've gone from heroes to villains. But not just any villain, one of the greatest villains in the entire Marvel Universe. The ruler of Latveria himself, Victor Von Doom. Although originally the arch-foe of the Fantastic Four, especially his rival, the "ACCURSED" Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic), Dr. Doom became every heroes' archenemy from Captain America to Iron Man and even Spider-Man. Even though we got voices like Vic Perrin, Neil Ross, Charlie Adler and my other favorite voice for Doom, Simon Templeton, Dobson's take on the Latverian Tyrant is more darker and more hammier, almost as similar to Templeton himself when he voiced him the 90s cartoon, especially in Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Too bad we only had Super Skrull in this one. The not so good doctor will not tolerated delays of this magnitude.
Dr. Doom: "Doom will NOT sully himself to one being with all the powers of the Fantastic Four. I WANT RICHARDS!!"
 |
| "The Dark shall be with us always!" |
Demitri Maximoff (Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge): The Dark lord of the Vampires (no relation to Dracula, despite being based on the vampire himself) and one of many Darkstalkers who want to rule the Dark World, aside from our lovely, seductive succubus, Morrigan. Where Dracula is dark and tragic through Patrick Seitz' voice, Dobson's take on Demitri is somewhere between elegant like a gentleman and a force of nature like he was in the games. A far better voice for Demitri than Michael Donovan in the American Darkstalkers cartoon (no offense to Mr. Donovan himself, which I will get to one day and he's voice some of my favorites, too).
 |
| "See what you've done? You made my dancing lovely stop... Barbarians." |
Hauer (Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture): Even though he previously voiced Billy Kane and Wolfgang Krauser in the first two Fatal Fury anime OVAs, it was in Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture, his role as Hauer, one of the henchmen of Laocorn Gaudeamus, makes the character a bit more elegant and sadistic, not only toying with Andy Bogard for Mai Shiranui's affection, but also teasing the buxom kunoichi at the night club in one scene.
 |
| Mai: "What's with the mask, huh? Or are you too afraid to show your face?" |
 |
| Hauer: "Your wish is my command, fair one. How's this one?" |
 |
| Mai: "OOOH, WHAT A BABE!! Too bad your face isn't as cute as Andy's." |
 |
| Hauer: "Watch me." |
Talk about borderline creepy. Anyway...
 |
| "Too much honor for your taste!" |
Lord Sabre-Stryke (Kenbukyou) (Ronin Warriors/Yoroiden Samurai Troopers): The mysterious noble swordsman from the Netherworld, who lost in a duel to Talpa (Arago). Along with Black Blaze (Kokuen) (who later became one with White Blaze (Byakuen)), Sabre-Stryke comes to the mortal world to fight the one being who bears the Armor of Inferno (Kikoutei), which happens to be Ryo. I won't spoil it, but I will let you see it for yourself. Sabre-Stryke as a whole is not a true villain. True, he used traps and deception to catch his foes, but he is not villain, more like an neutral anti-hero, who seeks a battle against another warrior who he sees as his equal. So we will leave it at that. That and his ultimate move...
Sabre-Stryke: "WINGED ANGEL OF DEATH!!"
But, Sabre-Strike isn't the only character Dobson voiced in this show. Sabre-Stryke is a powerful foe, but he pales in comparison to the another character in the same show and my most favorite out of the characters Paul Dobson voiced...
 |
| "MAKE READY, FOR THIS IS OUR FIRST AND FINAL BATTLE!" |
Dark Oni Anubis (Oni Masho Shuten Doji) (Ronin Warriors/Yoroiden Samurai Troopers): The Dark Oni of Cruelty and leader of the Dark Warlords of Talpa's Evil Dynasty. The man formerly known as Komano Toshitada was a honorable warrior 400 years until power consumed him and became one of Talpa's Dark Warlords. He served him blindly and fought against the Ronin Warriors in battle time and time again until the Ancient One (Kaos) showed him the truth about him and his armor and broke away from Talpa, thus becoming the Ancient's successor and aid the Ronin Warriors against the demon emperor until the very end. Dobson's take on the villain turned hero has two sides. As an evil Dark Warlord, he was maniacal, and power-hungry. But when freed by the Ancient One, when he speaks, he has a noble, gentle manner, as he become one with mind, body and spirit. Because of this, Anubis became one of my favorite characters who started off a villain, only to end up a hero. And when Dobson voiced him, it is like a cross between his brother, Michael Dobson and the late, great Chris Latta (almost like in a Starscream/Cobra Commander kind of way), and with a British accent to boot. In short, Anubis is not only one of my favorite characters in Ronin Warriors, but also my most favorite voice Paul Dobson has ever done.
I know I have left out other characters he voiced, including those from the Ocean Dub Dragon Ball Z, including Zarbon. But if you have a favorite character Paul Dobson voiced, leave me a comment. I am all ears.
So in short, let's end this blog in a way Anubis does it. Sure, I have since embraced the original YST and starting saying his original surekill name, in his Anubis/Shuten voice, Ko Rai Zen or Red Lightning Flash. But, for the sake of nostalgia and for voice acting everywhere, let's end this in the way Paul Dobson does it. 1...2...3...
 |
#RespectVoiceActors
No comments:
Post a Comment