The Energon Pub

So we've had many different series of Transformers since the 80s version, while in recent years, Gary Chalk and David Kaye have helmed Prime and Megs for most of those shows, there are still a handful of actors who have taken on the role.

Have a listen to these sound clips and compare for yourself who you think the best is.

Optimus Prime - http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/voice-compare/Optimus-Prime/

Megatron - http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/voice-compare/Megatron/

While I love Peter Cullen, I've really gotten used to Gary Chalk as Prime.
As for Megatron, Welker's voice was much different to Kaye's more refined Megatron so its a toss up

Cullen and Welker are Prime and Megs.

But Chalk is Primal, and David Kaye does an excellent job both as Beast Megatron (Yes..) and as a younger version of Prime coming into his own on Animated.

Editor wrote:Cullen and Welker are Prime and Megs.

But Chalk is Primal, and David Kaye does an excellent job both as Beast Megatron (Yes..) and as a younger version of Prime coming into his own on Animated.

I agree that Cullen and Welker ARE Prime and Megatron and Chalk and Kaye are Primal and "grape face" Megatron. But in Animated Kaye sounds to me more like Rodimus Prime than Optimus or at least how Rodimus should've sounded.

I had to vote for Cullen as Prime - Chalk will always be, as others said, Optimus *Primal*. Although I have to say, David Kaye is doing a splendid job as Optimus Prime this time around.

As for Megatron, I voted Kaye - he was always delicious as BW Megatron and that character will always trump his G1 predecessor in my mind. Although I have to say, I did consider Corey Burton, who seems to be tied with Welker at the moment. But Kaye seems to be beating them both - I'm not sure it if its because people think Kaye is a better Megs, or if he's just more familiar.

This thread is very similar to ont that I had posted a while ago. If you are interested, the comments are located here:

http://www.seibertron.com/energonpub/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=48368#p860915

I also ran a poll that is not linked to Seibertron.com and the results were (with about 80+ votes):

Peter Cullen had forty plus percent of the vote for best voice.

Frank Welker and David Kaye were neck and neck for second favorite, too close to call.

About six percent of the vote went in the other category.

peter and frank forever!

Peter Cullen for sure.

For Megs though it's a much harder choice. It's gotta be Frank or Corey Burton for me. Hard to pick though.

Why are both David Kaye and Gary Chalk listed twice? David should be listed twice as both Optimus (Animated) and Megatron (Beast Erra and Unicron Trilligy) but I don't get why the Beast Erra and Unicron Trilligy are listed seperatly when they're the same guys. Allso Movie Megatron wasn't on there at all and while I hate his design and the movie in general I actully like his voice the best.

Allso I think Lenord Nimoy should get some credit for Galvatron and Laurie Faso should get some credit for this as Orian Pax. Unless we're only going by name and not character.

In order of appearance...

Optimus

G1 & 2007 Movie

BW/BM & A/E/C

RID

Animated

Megatron

G1

BW/BM & A/E/C

RID

2007 movie

Animated

Orian Pax/Optimus

G1 & 2007 Movie

G1

BW/BM & A/E/C

RID

Animated

Megatron/Galvatron

G1

1986 Movie

BW/BM & A/E/C

RID

2007 movie

Animated

And BTW my fav. Optimus is the original. Most of the other guys have been preddy close to just matching the same type of voice except for Animated who is completly different from the original and allso from his actor's useual Megatron. And I've never liked the original Megatron in any way shape or form. I like the voice actor just not the voice for that particular character.

Noone will ever top Peter Cullen for Prime...And no vocie will ever be as recognized for that character (especially since he reprised the role for the movie)...

I'd probably say the same for Frank Welker...But I can't deny I'm REALLY digging Corey Burton's job doing his voice on Animated...

i just love Kaye's "Yeeeeeeees" for Beast Wars Megatron. It's such a distinguishing trait for his character.

Such an awesome boost to his ego

Peter Cullen *is* Optimus Prime, IMHO. I'm going to agree with SentinelA that Kaye is doing a good job with Animated, but Ani Optimus reads more like a Rodimus update than an Optimus update. Primal didn't do much for me either way, and I haven't seen RID or A/E/C.

For Megatron, I really have to go for Corey Burton. He's managed to come up with a voice that makes Megatron both dangerously menacing and evilly charismatic... it's deliciously creepy to listen to. Welker's quite good, but makes for a "chew-the-scenery" Megatron rather than a really menacing one, IMHO, and Kaye's Megatron just sounds too much like a fop to me.

To me, Cullen & Welker were/are/forever be Prime & Megatron and there voices are beyond perfect for the 2 main characters. Aside from that though in recent years I do like Kaye & Burton as Prime & Megs as well.

Honestly...

All the Optimus Primes don't sound all that much different from eachother except for Animated who quite frankly I don't care for all that much. I mean, he auditioned for Primal in Beast Wars and didn't get it then and I can see why. Or rather hear why. I'm not sure why he has the part now.

Megatron, everyone allways raves about Frank Welker but is that because he's a good Megatron or just because he's the original? Honestly I think it's just because he's the original and the man is a great voice actor. He did more TF voices than any other voice actor in TF history but does any of that have to do with his portrayal of Megatron? No, it doesn't. Frank Welker's Megatron sounded like someone talking with a sore throut or larangitis.

In short, Frank Welker is the best voice actor in Transformers but he is not the best Megatron. I think he is the worst Megatron.

On the other hand, he did do a much better job takeing over for Lenord Nimoy as Galvatron. Galvatron's voice was just much more menicing than Megatron's ever was. You could say that Frank did two different voices for the same character and his second attempt at it was much better.

I think Frank allso did Movie Megatron for the video game and did a nice job with that as well. It sounded more like the actual movie voice than his old version of it.

At any rate, yeah Frank can do a good Megatron but the original voice he used for the character was horrible. I think Frank is much better with Megatron now than he was then.

Hell even Petter Cullen sounded a little different in the movie than he did in G1. I think they decided not to add the synthisizer effect to his voice like they did with the original to make it sound like he was talking through his mouth plate.

David Kaye was a little bit of a goofy Megatron with his "Yeesss" catch friase but I still liked him.

Cory Burton is doing a wonderfull job with him in Animated. I wish that was his original voice.

And the guy from RID was a little better than David Kaye. Same type of voice but without the goofyness factor.

I pretty much like all the voices because they make each Optimus and Megatron more unique.

But, out of all those Megs, RiD Megs sounded to most insane, which is good for his charatcer (his voice was good, but his lines could've been better).

And of those Optimuses, TFA Optimus sounded the most young, which suits him perfectly.

It's the individuality and uniqueness about each Optimus and Megatron that keep them all from being too similar and too cliche.

First off I so glad to see a site that gives voice actors recognistion. My fav OP is and will always be Peter Cullen with Neil Kaplan second for the fact Ive met him in person and was so kind to my sister and I when we were at the con where he was a guest.

there are about 20 bots added to the site to hear and compare all the voice actors that have played the many characters.

http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/voice-compare/

it's kinda crazy to imagine how many series and recurring characters there have been.

For Prime, I have to pick Cullen, with Gary Chalk coming very very very close. Before the new movies came out, i would have picked Gary Chalk, but hearing that voice on the big screen will forever burn Cullen as Prime into my mind. I've heard some Coors Light commercials, which i swear has Peter Cullen's voice, and every time I hear it I think "Oh, that's Prime!!!"

For Megatron, I never cared for Welker's Megatron. Yeah, he was the first and probably the most well known, but David Kaye was perfect for Megatron. That voice went perfect with that megatron. It wouldn't have worked with G1 Megs, nor would Welker worked with Beast megatron. But Others than Welker could have done G1 Megs, but no one else, except maybe Sean Connery, could have done Beast Megatron.

Optimus Prime:
1. Peter Cullen
2. Dr. Smoov

Megatron:
1. Hugo Weaving
2. Frank Welker

The older Peter Cullen does the perfect job as Prime in the 07 movie (the opening of that movie was AWESOME)

As for Megatrons: all of them did perfect jobs in their respectful Megatrons (and no Megs is the same in those series) except for the RID an Energon ones: Kaye was perfect for BW Megs, but didn't fit to Energon; while the voice of RID Megs is too distorted

I know this topic isn't really about them but it kinda bothers me that RID Ultra Magnus wasn't even listed with G1 and Animated.

Allso, when in G1 did that white guy do the worst Jazz voice ever. I'm not trying to be recist, it just so happens that out of the 4 people who played Jazz (2 in G1, pluse Animated and Movie Jazz) only the white guy stands out as being really crappy.

Rial Vestro wrote:
Allso, when in G1 did that white guy do the worst Jazz voice ever. I'm not trying to be recist, it just so happens that out of the 4 people who played Jazz only the white guy stands out as being really crappy.

What do you mean???

sto_vo_kor_2000 wrote:

Rial Vestro wrote:
Allso, when in G1 did that white guy do the worst Jazz voice ever. I'm not trying to be recist, it just so happens that out of the 4 people who played Jazz only the white guy stands out as being really crappy.

What do you mean???

What do you mean what do I mean?

There's only 1 web site listed in this topic for voice actors so it was preddy straight forward. Just check out the web site, look at the section on Jazz and listen to the recordings.

G1 had two different voice actors, one of them was Scatman and the other was a white guy who did a horrible job of sounding like Jazz. I'm betting that for whatever reason Scatman wasn't there for an episode and the role of Jazz was replaced for that one episode by the other guy but I have no idea what episode the recording was taken from.

The other two voice actors on Jazz's page are for Animated and Movie Jazz. Pore Movie Jazz didn't last verry long and no one cared about him. (Unless of course you think of him as G1 Jazz which he isn't.)

Rial Vestro wrote:

sto_vo_kor_2000 wrote:

Rial Vestro wrote:
Allso, when in G1 did that white guy do the worst Jazz voice ever. I'm not trying to be recist, it just so happens that out of the 4 people who played Jazz only the white guy stands out as being really crappy.

What do you mean???

What do you mean what do I mean?

There's only 1 web site listed in this topic for voice actors so it was preddy straight forward. Just check out the web site, look at the section on Jazz and listen to the recordings.

G1 had two different voice actors, one of them was Scatman and the other was a white guy who did a horrible job of sounding like Jazz. I'm betting that for whatever reason Scatman wasn't there for an episode and the role of Jazz was replaced for that one episode by the other guy but I have no idea what episode the recording was taken from.

The other two voice actors on Jazz's page are for Animated and Movie Jazz. Pore Movie Jazz didn't last verry long and no one cared about him. (Unless of course you think of him as G1 Jazz which he isn't.)

My mistake....when you said "4 people played Jazz" I thought you ment all in G1.

sto_vo_kor_2000 wrote:

Rial Vestro wrote:

sto_vo_kor_2000 wrote:

Rial Vestro wrote:
Allso, when in G1 did that white guy do the worst Jazz voice ever. I'm not trying to be recist, it just so happens that out of the 4 people who played Jazz only the white guy stands out as being really crappy.

What do you mean???

What do you mean what do I mean?

There's only 1 web site listed in this topic for voice actors so it was preddy straight forward. Just check out the web site, look at the section on Jazz and listen to the recordings.

G1 had two different voice actors, one of them was Scatman and the other was a white guy who did a horrible job of sounding like Jazz. I'm betting that for whatever reason Scatman wasn't there for an episode and the role of Jazz was replaced for that one episode by the other guy but I have no idea what episode the recording was taken from.

The other two voice actors on Jazz's page are for Animated and Movie Jazz. Pore Movie Jazz didn't last verry long and no one cared about him. (Unless of course you think of him as G1 Jazz which he isn't.)

My mistake....when you said "4 people played Jazz" I thought you ment all in G1.

Woah! Am I reading this right? Rial Vestro A.K.A. Saber Prime actually 1-UPed Sto?!!

Sabrblade wrote::shock: Woah! Am I reading this right? Rial Vestro A.K.A. Saber Prime actually 1-UPed Sto?!!

Well this time I mis-read him so I dont think it counts as being "1-uped" but Sabe's been right in the past.....from time to time.