4kids : the consequences of not respecting your voice actors

[Dwain345]

4Kids Entertainment was a popular American company that dubbed anime and other children's shows for American audiences in the early 2000s. However, 4Kids was known for its heavy censorship and localization, which often involved changing the names of characters, removing references to Japanese culture, and toning down violence and sexual content.

4Kids was also known for its poor treatment of its voice actors. Voice actors were often underpaid and overworked, and they were often not given any creative control over their performances. In some cases, voice actors were even fired for complaining about the working conditions or for refusing to voice certain lines.

The consequences of 4Kids's disrespect for its voice actors were numerous. First, it led to a decline in the quality of the dubs. Voice actors who were not respected and not given creative control were less likely to give their best performances. Second, it led to a high turnover rate among voice actors. Many voice actors left 4Kids after being treated poorly, which made it difficult for 4Kids to maintain a consistent cast of voice actors for its shows.

Finally, 4Kids's disrespect for its voice actors damaged its reputation in the anime and voice acting communities. Many anime fans were critical of 4Kids's heavy censorship and localization, and many voice actors were reluctant to work for 4Kids after hearing about the poor treatment of their colleagues.

In 2008, 4Kids Entertainment filed for bankruptcy. This was due to a number of factors, including the decline in popularity of anime in the United States and the company's own mismanagement. However, it is likely that 4Kids's disrespect for its voice actors also played a role in its downfall.

Here are some specific examples of the consequences of 4Kids's disrespect for its voice actors:

Veronica Taylor, the voice of Ash Ketchum in the Pokémon anime, was fired after complaining about the working conditions at 4Kids.
Dan Green, the voice of Yugi Muto in the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, left 4Kids after being forced to voice lines that he felt were inappropriate for children.
Marc Diraison, the voice of Zoro in the One Piece anime, was fired after refusing to voice a line that he felt was racist.
These are just a few examples of the many voice actors who were mistreated by 4Kids. 4Kids's disrespect for its voice actors led to a decline in the quality of its dubs, a high turnover rate among voice actors, and damage to its reputation.

It is important to note that not all anime dubs are created equal. Many anime dubbing companies, such as Funimation and Crunchyroll, are known for their high-quality dubs and their respect for their voice actors.

 

[Mandouga]

Didn’t you know?

“Leo Burnett and 4Kids are…”, well, you know.

Actually, it has to do with that poor treatment you mentioned. Eric Stuart, the 2nd voice of…”Kojiro” a member of the “Rocket Gang” (if you understand me), said he did that (in the episode with the Rocket Gang using a flute to capture a group of Ledyba) as a response to 4Kids cheating him (and all the other voice actors) out of advertising money, so it’s no surprise. 4Kids also had no respect for the viewers (anime fans or not) either, but that’s another story.

Incidentally, Leo Burnett was an advertising executive, but what Eric was referring to was the Leo Burnett agency, who was doing advertising for both 4Kids and Nintendo at the time.


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[SuperSuck64]

Why do you have such a huge vendetta against 4Kids.

They've been dead for years and most of their actors have moved on to much better things.

You don't need to preach to the choir about things they already know and that have long been resolved.

 

[Dwain345]

Why do you have such a huge vendetta against 4Kids.

They've been dead for years and most of their actors have moved on to much better things.

You don't need to preach to the choir about things they already know and that have long been resolved.

I don’t have a huge vendetta against 4kids. I am just explaining why people had a burning hatred for 4kids and this is one of these examples. I don’t like it when companies that do entertainment for animation disrespect their voice actors.

 

[Light Lucario]

I'm kind of skeptical about these claims. While 4Kids as a company was not particularly good, I never heard about them treating their voice actors poorly. It isn't necessarily unbelievable, but the biggest issue I have with these claims is that the vast majority of the voice actors were freelance workers. They weren't exactly employed by 4Kids, so they couldn't be fired exactly either. I also never heard about Veronica Taylor complaining about the working conditions or Dan Green leaving due to voicing lines he thought were inappropriate for kids.

Most of the former 4Kids voice actors enjoyed their time working with the company from what I can tell. It wouldn't be impossible for them to still like aspects of their time at 4Kids even with terrible work conditions, but I just have my doubts about this.

 

[aegisrawks]

The premise of this thread while noble is wrong, 4Kids paid their actors a LOT of money, a lot more than other more "Faithfully dubbed" companies. Despite their horrid reputation, they gave work to A LOT of actors and its telling that dubs in NY pretty much stopped after they went down under.

 

[Light Lucario]

The premise of this thread while noble is wrong, 4Kids paid their actors a LOT of money, a lot more than other more "Faithfully dubbed" companies. Despite their horrid reputation, they gave work to A LOT of actors and its telling that dubs in NY pretty much stopped after they went down under.

I don't know if they paid their actors a lot of money. Hopefully they were well paid for all of the work they did, but voice acting wasn't their main profession or only source of revenue like it is for a lot of anime voice actors. I think that dubs pretty much stopping in New York was less about 4Kids going under and more about how the main locations for voice acting were in California and Texas instead.

 

[Grenzer]

I don't know if they paid their actors a lot of money. Hopefully they were well paid for all of the work they did, but voice acting wasn't their main profession or only source of revenue like it is for a lot of anime voice actors. I think that dubs pretty much stopping in New York was less about 4Kids going under and more about how the main locations for voice acting were in California and Texas instead.

I remember Michael Sinterniklaas mentioning that 4Kids treated him very well when I saw him at a convention panel back in 2004. And I met a couple of other VAs who worked for the company around 2016, and they had good memories of the company as well. My general impression was that while they agreed 4Kids was not always respectful to the material they dubbed or the feelings of the hardcore fanbase, it did pay more than a lot of other non-union work and gave free perks like catered meals to its freelance talent.

And I thorught Veronica Taylor and the other VAs were replaced on Pokemon because the Pokemon Company International took direct control over production of the English dub and wanted to cut costs? Where is the source she was fired by 4Kids?

 

[aegisrawks]

I don't know if they paid their actors a lot of money. Hopefully they were well paid for all of the work they did, but voice acting wasn't their main profession or only source of revenue like it is for a lot of anime voice actors. I think that dubs pretty much stopping in New York was less about 4Kids going under and more about how the main locations for voice acting were in California and Texas instead.

The actors said that, its not just me making it up. And I think it was 4kids going under, and the dubbing kept up until they stopped.

 

[Dwain345]

The actors said that, its not just me making it up. And I think it was 4kids going under, and the dubbing kept up until they stopped.

which anime was that they stopped?

 

[aegisrawks]

Tai Chi Chasers, that was their last dub before rebranding as 4K Media, and while 4k kept some dubbing in NY ONLY for Yu Gi Oh they eventually just moved to greener pastures and dub elsewhere.

 

[Pooky]

And I thorught Veronica Taylor and the other VAs were replaced on Pokemon because the Pokemon Company International took direct control over production of the English dub and wanted to cut costs? Where is the source she was fired by 4Kids?

Yeah, I was going to say she pretty famously stayed with the 4Kids Pokémon dub until the end, but I remembered that of course 4Kids didn't end there, and she may have been fired working for them afterwards, but if so it's the first I've heard of it.

 

[Light Lucario]

I remember Michael Sinterniklaas mentioning that 4Kids treated him very well when I saw him at a convention panel back in 2004. And I met a couple of other VAs who worked for the company around 2016, and they had good memories of the company as well. My general impression was that while they agreed 4Kids was not always respectful to the material they dubbed or the feelings of the hardcore fanbase, it did pay more than a lot of other non-union work and gave free perks like catered meals to its freelance talent.

And I thorught Veronica Taylor and the other VAs were replaced on Pokemon because the Pokemon Company International took direct control over production of the English dub and wanted to cut costs? Where is the source she was fired by 4Kids?

Yeah, that was always my impression of how the voice actors felt about 4Kids too. They seemed to enjoy their time with the company, or at least never mentioned any huge issues they had with 4Kids after it went under.

As for the Pokemon 4Kids dub cast, while the reason for the dub cast was never quite clear, it was most likely due to TPCI wanting to save cost by having their own cast. They were freelance voice actors, but they still needed permission from 4Kids to continue working on the new dub due to their contracts. The majority of the cast were not given the opportunity to do so. They were just about to start working on the Mastermind of Mirage Pokemon special for the tenth anniversary when the cast learned about them being replaced. There were a couple of voice actors from 4Kids that went over to TPCI without permission and I don't believe that they worked with 4Kids again as a result. While they certainly could have handled the cast change better and they definitely could have afforded to keep the 4Kids cast around, I can't really blame TPCI for wanting to start fresh and not rely on 4Kids when they most likely were keeping money from the Japanese companies, much like what happened with the Yu-Gi-Oh! license.

The actors said that, its not just me making it up. And I think it was 4kids going under, and the dubbing kept up until they stopped.

I didn't say that you were making it up. I just hadn't heard of that before, so I wasn't sure if it was a rumor or speculation.

Tai Chi Chasers, that was their last dub before rebranding as 4K Media, and while 4k kept some dubbing in NY ONLY for Yu Gi Oh they eventually just moved to greener pastures and dub elsewhere.

I completely forgot about Tai Chi Chasers. I think that they still have their recording studio in New York for Yu-Gi-Oh!, but they use other actors in other states too. Even Pokemon started using voice actors from California starting with Journeys.

Yeah, I was going to say she pretty famously stayed with the 4Kids Pokémon dub until the end, but I remembered that of course 4Kids didn't end there, and she may have been fired working for them afterwards, but if so it's the first I've heard of it.

She definitely wasn't fired. She was still working with 4Kids with Dinosaur King and I think Tai Chi Chasers too.