Following The Voices

One thing that has always fascinated me when it has come to any dedicated fandom is the loyalty we seem to develop for the cast of our favourite franchises. We may start out just loving the shows and the characters that they portray, but sooner or later many of us become fans of the actors themselves. And that soon leads to us not only taking an interest in their careers, but actively seeking out other work they’ve done.

When it comes to the various actors who have worked on Transformers, that could keep us busy for a very long time indeed. Whether you’re interested in animation, movies, drama or video games you’ll find yourselves hunting for years to see everything that your favourite star has been a part of. We certainly can’t cover everything here, but we’ll take a random look at a few that might surprise you…

Garfield

The always-hungry feline has been a huge hit in every form of media he has appeared in since he was created by cartoonist Jim Davis back in 1976, two years before hitting widespread syndication in the press. Right since he made his television debut, he’s had a connection to Transformers with G1’s Gregg Berger (Grimlock) providing the voice (or bark) for Odie (as well as additional characters in the later Garfield And Friends series. But it didn’t stop with Gregg…

By the time the franchise moved into producing CGI movies for television and a new CGI series, the role of Garfield has been taken over by none other than Frank Welker (G1 Megatron) as the original voice of Garfield, Lorezno Music had long since passed away. As for Garfield’s owner Jon… that honour was given to Wally Wingert, the voice behind Sideburn and Mirage in 2001’s Robots In Disguise!

While those of us who grew up with the original cartoons may be used to the original voices, it’s the Transformers cast members who are now a key part of Garfield history. Surprisingly, considering how iconic the character is, none of the cast have reprised their roles for any of the Garfield video games released since 2007 – whether they are the PC or console games, or the free online games such as the Garfield Coloring Book which feels like a wasted opportunity.

Ratchet and Clank

Still with Wally Wingert, and he’s made more than a few appearances in the Ratchet and Clank series of video games on various consoles in the PlayStation family taking on the role of Rusty Pete. Not wanting to be outdone, he’s not alone there either. Other notable Transformers cast members who have worked on this franchise have included Paul Eiding (G1 Perceptor), Tara Strong (TF Animated Sari), and Nolan North (TF Prime Smokescreen).

But none of those come close to the real star of the series who has also been one of the main stars of the Transformers franchise since he made his debut back in 1996. Of course, I’m talking about David Kaye who has portrayed Clank throughout the Ratchet and Clank series and who is the only voice actor who have played both Optimus Prime AND Megatron on a Transformers show as a series regular.

I say regular as there are times when both Garry Chalk and Neil Kaplan both voiced Megatron as well, but these were for small amounts of dialogue, but that’s for another article altogether!

That’s just scratched the surface for actors appearances though, and we’ll take a look at more on a regular basis and I’m sure you all know of a LOT more besides these crossovers. Let us know in the comments what others you’ve found.

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About Simon Plumbe 493 Articles
Husband, father and lifelong geek. Originally from the West Midlands, now spending my days in South Wales with my family and a house full of animals. Passionate about video games, especially retro gaming, the Commodore 64 and PlayStation Vita. Love pro wrestling, sci-fi and I'm an animal lover and vegetarian. Enjoyed this and my other articles? Why not buy me a coffee: http://ko-fi.com/simonplumbe