#Mike Pollock controversy

[mashounen1945]

About the recent Eggman's voice actor controversy (namely, some Sonic fans' reaction to it)

I'm not gonna go into details on the controversy itself. The tags for this post will probably give it away, and those who still occasionally visit Twitter will know exactly what I'm talking about.

Out of this whole fiasco, something that still gets me is the way some Sonic fans reacted, not by merely taking it too seriously (which is barely a surprise anymore) but specifically by trying to "reclaim" Eggman, to turn that character into some sort of icon of a real-life noble cause for social justice, to divorce the character from something those fans criticize.

In this case, they're pretending to separate Eggman from Mike Pollock and his personal political ideas; there's even a tweet where someone drew Eggman carrying a certain four-colour black-white-green-red flag with... *ahem* some particular relevance in the world's current political climate, and I've already seen similar stuff here on Tumblr. But I've already seen Sonic fans trying to do the same with other real-life issues in the last few years, and just like during the current controversy surrounding Mike Pollock, it was very apparent not only that these fans took it too seriously, but also that they did not properly think it through... at all.

Someone posted a comic strip a few years ago, back when Sonic Boom was still relevant. I can't find it right now, but I do remember it went a little like this: Eggman shows he got a degree in villainy, Sonic makes a crappy joke about that meaning Eggman is a business major, and Eggman is like "I said villainy, not sucking the life-force out of poor people".

And, like… Have those so-called "Sonic fans" ever played a Sonic game? Okay, no, that sounded a little gatekeep-y, let's rephrase it: have they ever consumed literally any piece of official Sonic content? Do they have any idea of what Eggman canonically does in multiple branches of the franchise? Have they really never wondered what exactly is the energy source for many of his machines? Because if those obsessive fans did know, then they'd realize trying to turn Eggman into an anti-capitalist and/or anti-oppression symbol is not the smart move they think it is.

The same goes for turning him into an anti-corporate symbol, or something I've actually seen some Sonic fans do: positing that "Eggman may be evil but he's still better than Elon Musk". The way the character usually behaves in official Sonic content shows that Eggman is pretty much the Elon Musk of the Sonic universe, perhaps even worse because the Muskrat fortunately doesn't have his own private army (yet).

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Post-Scriptum:

Purist Sonic fans of the Japanese videogame canon will most likely start pointing at this controversy and laughing. Since this mess only involves Eggman's voice actor for English-language Sonic content as far as I know, and Sonic material made in the USA has already gotten a bad reputation due to several other screw-ups of varying magnitude both recently and during the entire history of the franchise, this will seemingly prove once again that all the people working on English-language Sonic media are a bunch of smug and unprofessional dumbasses prone to ridiculously stupid blunders caused by their complete inability to hold back their cringe urges and their insistence that they can do better than their Japanese counterparts, and that any non-Japanese author should be permanently banned from working on this franchise in any official capacity.

As if original Japanese media was always some kind of unproblematic sanctuary of compliance with the source material and the people working on it had the wisdom to avoid getting into bullcrap like this and Japanese society & culture didn't have their own prejudices & complexes to overcome or their own colonial & imperial past that they're still trying to sweep under the rug.

[hishighnesstheprincess]

Soooo a couple things are happening on twitter rn. Mike Pollock, Eggman's current English VA, has posted in support of Israel. However, there's the possibility that he has been hacked because several of his replies to people disappointed in him are incredibly bizarre and seem more like someone trolling than anyone taking a legitimate stance

This is the original tweet

And these are just a few of the bizarre replies he has posted. To be very clear, this is a tiny percentage of his responses. He (or whoever hacked his account) is going into quote-retweets of quote-retweets to make jokes about his penis being circumcised. This all makes me think his account was probably hacked, and Mike Pollock being Jewish does not automatically make him a Zionist (if you equate the two you are just antisemitic).

However.

In the past Mike Pollock has posted in support of Israel and Zionism (pictured below). It is clear from the date on the second one that he has been a Zionist for a long time now. I was initially hopeful that this was just someone hacking into a Jewish actor's account and saying the most controversial thing possible, but regardless of whether that is the case Mike himself support Israel and has yet to make any kind of public statement about the genocide, at least on his main twitter (I scrolled back to October 7th to check and I encourage you to do so yourself to see if I missed anything).

So, yeah. It looks like Eggman's VA is a Zionist. Considering that Rouge's VA is still supported by SEGA despite being various different shades of awful, I'm not sure what we can do about this beyond not letting Mike into the fan community anymore, which he has frequently interacted with. I don't really have a lot to say that can encompass my incredible disappointment with him and my hope that he changes his views soon

[crusherthedoctor]

Hey crusher, have you heard about the unfortunate Mike pollock twitter controversy? I would not be suprised if sega drops him in favor of a new voice actor. Due to some of mikes remarks on there. 😬

Your description of it is vague, and I spend very little time on Twitter because I know better than that (I don't even have an account), so no.

Looking at similar asks sent to some of my friends to see the context... my general response is pretty much the same as them. You understand that I actively avoid political talk, yeah? Not just because of how people act about it, but simply because - take it or leave it - I'm honestly just not that kind of guy, even offline. Too many people over the years have fallen into that rabbit hole, including people who I once respected, and I staunchly refuse to become one of them.

Whatever place there is for that sort of discussion, it ain't with me. That's just me being truthful. And since it was never advertised on my business card, it's on the other person if they were expecting something that I never remotely promised.

[solarsonicsoda]

Rating 500+ Theme Tunes - #5: Ultimate Muscle

Wrestling and anime is such a beautiful tag team to be seen so rarely. Ultimate Muscle is the localised name for Kinnikuman: Second Generation, which is actually a sequel to the original Kinnukuman. The original never reached the West outside of some weird M.U.S.C.L.E. toys, but this sequel was localised for the FoxBox block, a.k.a 4Kids, as well as airing on Kix and other channels internationally. It follows Kid Muscle and other superhero wrestlers continuing the legacy of their famous parents.

For the number one wrestling fan you know, I actually didn't watch that much Ultimate Muscle. However, that was still a good deal, and was not for a lack of trying. This show aired on Kix over here in the UK, which I would often watch whenever there was nothing on its sister channel Pop. This show's airing schedule there never really lined up for me, and I would often miss it as a result.

At the same time, I thought this show was real cool! I really like the way it looks today, and I always enjoyed the outlandish takes on the world of wrestling! So many of Kid Muscle's moves are super cool to be honest with you. I would absolutely love to watch through this one today, even if some of the humour and tone are not exactly aimed at me. I just love a cool wrestling story!

Looks like there's been enough talk. It's TIME for the THEME SONG RANKING!

Ultimate Muscle Theme Tune

This theme song is absolutely ridiculous. Giant brassy notes, endless rhymes, "Strength and speed and... flatulence?". Absolutely no notes. I think it's super super goofy, but I gotta be honest with you: I love it and it works. Say what you will about it as a dub, but this song fits that dub to a tee as far as I remember. It's a really catchy tune too, I'm always singing it to myself with all the different voices they incorporate, all four of them. Mike Pollock as Meat, you will always be famous. It's a truly wild song, but I think you simply have to love it. You can't make SIX consecutive rhymes without being somewhat beloved.

This one might be controversial, but I actually think this is getting an A! I promise there's some themes I dislike...

Stay tuned for more and be sure to send in any suggestions for other shows you'd like to see done (after the 500 already in the pipeline that is). Check out the intro to this series here, and it's tier list time.

[dontfindme445]

to anybody who might see a misleading sonic post on the “Mike pollock” tag

Mike pollock does not support any murder or individual who committed murder or governments/ organizations that partook in murder.

Watch informational videos that go in depth about his recent controversy.

he just failed to talk about stuff that was happening on the other side of the conflict initially but he later stated that that he, guess what, didn���t support anything that happened to to those people or the people who did the bad things. And that he just wants war to end and everybody to hug like in the movies.

the posts that I have been seeing are very misleading just looking through the “Mike pollock” tag.

[sage-nebula]

I'm not a fan of Neil Gaiman's -- not for any personal reasons, just because his writing style is not to my tastes -- so I'm not going to dig into the controversy currently going on or make any grand statements on it except to say: it sounds like he did some pretty awful things, and I feel for the women who were hurt by him, and I hope that they can heal in time and get the help that they need to do so. No one should ever have to suffer sexual assault, but those who do definitely shouldn't have to do so without support in the aftermath.

The reason I'm making this post, though, is that I feel that this is yet another instance where . . . I don't want to say "tumblr," because it's not everyone on the website, and it's not even just people on tumblr that do this. But this is another instance where a large number of people take someone with some degree of fame and put them on a pedestal, and then when it comes out that said person is fallible and have done something wrong (in this case very wrong), the reaction to that isn't just the standard "wow, you suck," but it's magnified tenfold by feelings of betrayal, because how could you, Pedestal Stander, do that to us? You were supposed to be different. You were supposed to be better.

This has happened so many times. Sometimes it happens as a result of people who, tired of seeing posts about a particular tumblr darling on their dash, go looking for dirt so that they can "expose" the Pedestal Stander as a Bad Person to break the pedestal and get the site to turn on them. Other times it happens because the Pedestal Stander is a complete buffoon and decides to get drunk and shoot their mouth off on twitter. (This happened earlier this year in the Sonic fandom, where Eggman's voice actor, Mike Pollock, first decided to start spouting off on twitter in support of Israel's genocide on Palestine, and then decided to dig in and make it worse by getting drunk and opening up a twitter . . . live? I don't know if that's what it's called, I don't use twitter -- but basically it was like a voice cast thing where he was live streaming his voice and others could join to ask questions via voice as well, if he let them in. He also started talking about his penis at one point I think, though that might have been in his tweets. It got wild. Sonic fans were in upheaval. His PR team made him apologize the next day. IIRC the apology was not great.)

Whatever the case, eventually, something comes out. Because there is not a person on this earth who is perfect. Of course, not all mistakes are equal. There is a huge difference between, say, calling someone a fucking idiot because they pissed you off on twitter, and sexually assaulting someone. One is forgivable and the other isn't, and I don't have to point out which one is which. (At least, I hope I don't.) But the point is, no one is perfect, everyone is fallible and everyone, no matter who they are, has ghouls that would put cracks in the pedestals you'd put them on. The ghouls are there, even if you don't see them at first.

Which is why it would be best for everyone to just never put anyone on pedestals at all. It's easier said than done, I know; when you find someone you really like, the natural human instinct is to see them with a rosy tint over them, to want to gush and glow about how awesome and great they are. I have numerous lowkey celebrities that I think are the bees knees. But even with them, I remind myself that the version of them that I think is just fantastic is the version of them that they've allowed me to see. I love Jenna Marbles and wish for her happiness every day, but also, I know that I love the version of her that she allowed me to see through her videos and podcast. I think K.A. Applegate is a stand-up person, but I think she's a stand-up person because of the version of herself she allows me to see through what she's posted online. So on and so forth.

And this was not a lesson that I always knew. It was a lesson hard-learned through what happened with J.K. Rowling.

It's no secret that I used to be a huge Harry Potter fan. I grew up with those books like many millennials did. I was an abused child, and the idea of escaping abuse to go to a magic school was one that was captivating to me. Growing up, I didn't recognize the many problematic elements in the writing, either because I was ignorant (e.g. I'm not Chinese, so I didn't realize that Cho Chang's name isn't an actual Chinese name), or because I didn't know of her views and thus couldn't catch the dogwhistles she included (e.g. the stairs leading to the girls' dormitories in Gryffindor tower turn into a slide when boys try to climb them -- who wants to bet that they'd turn into a slide for transgirls who tried to go to bed in their own dorms?). I decided that I wanted to be an author when I was in fifth grade, and at the time I idolized Rowling as a writer and I decided I wanted to be just like her. As I grew older and learned about her rags to riches, "writing on a napkin" story, I felt even more inspired. Learning about how much money she donated to charity, seeing her approval of fanfiction when so many authors didn't, how she interacted with fans -- I put her on a pedestal, I really did.

And then her bigotry came to light. She started railing against trans people. Transwomen in particular, but she's also pulled that whole "transmen are really women underneath" bullshit as well. Once her transphobia came to light, it wasn't hard to see the transphobia in her books; aside from the Gryffindor tower example above, there was also her description of Rita Skeeter's "mannish hands," that Slytherin girl Millicent's description, etc.

And lest we forget, it wasn't just transphobia. There was also racism (the Cho Chang example, what she ended up doing with Nagini in one of the later Fantastic Beasts movies); antisemitism (the goblins at Gringott's, Blood Libel the video game, denying aspects of the Holocaust), and so much more. People are capable of change and one could say that some of these were, perhaps, accidents. Designs for goblins are part of a cultural consciousness in fantasy literature, after all; we aren't going to pretend that Tolkien was antiracist in the designs of his fantasy creatures, and he set a huge precedent in the genre. But the blood libel game was recent, and apart from that, Rowling has quadrupled down on everything, and is using her influence and money to try to pass legislature for the oppression of trans people. She has not only not changed for the better, she has actively grown worse.

While this might seem like an anti-Rowling tangent, my point of writing all of this out is -- I've been there. When I was growing up, I loved Harry Potter and I put J.K. Rowling on a pedestal. Then I learned the hard way that she is a fucking horrible person, one of the worst people imaginable. And it was difficult, to let go of a franchise that meant so much to me, that got me through hard times. To be clear, I didn't do it because I wanted to "be morally pure" or whatever; I did it because once I learned about her bigotry, I couldn't read the books without seeing it, and for me personally, seeing it made it so that I couldn't look at them the same way anymore, and I couldn't enjoy them. That doesn't mean I don't read or can't enjoy problematic literature, but it's different when you know going in that something is fucked up, versus when you think something is just a fun children's book series about wizards and then it turns out to be Oops, All Bigotry!.

So I got my shit rocked with the Rowling debacle and realized then that putting celebrities on pedestals is just bad news. Because anyone, no matter how good they might seem to be, has the potential to be awful, possibly more awful than you can imagine. I don't think there's any rhyme or reason to it; I don't believe in conspiracies that the more awful someone is, the harder they try to appear good. I mean, some people might, but for the most part I just think that people are complex human beings who might want to donate millions to charities while also being nasty, scum sucking bigots, because human beings contain multitudes. But the point is, after going through that, I realized that the best course of action is just to remember that putting people on pedestals can only ever lead to heartbreak and disappointment.

So with this most recent thing with Neil Gaiman happening, and tumblr getting its shit rocked yet again, I implore everyone to take this as the final lesson they need to please, please stop putting people on pedestals. It never ends well. Remember that the version of them you see is the version of them they allow you to see. You don't know them. Even when you can chat with them on twitter or here on tumblr, they are still only allowing you to know a version of them. They can cultivate their responses to you. They can think about what they say before they say it. You don't know who they are in their personal lives. You don't know what they are like offline, just like they don't know you. You don't know what ghouls they have shoved under their mattress. Maybe the worst thing they've done is flip off someone who cut them off in traffic. Or maybe they've raped and murdered someone. You don't know, so it's best to tell yourself, "This celebrity seems awesome -- or at least, the version of them they allow me to know seems awesome," so that if it turns out that they did rape and murder someone, you can say, "Wow, they suck actually," and then move on with your life.

[movie-robotnik-positivity]

HAPPY SONIC FRONTIERS DAY! I watched the whole story so here's of my opinions. Spoilers, but I go out of my way to not reveal any details.

- I wasn't a fan of Roger's deeper Sonic voice, but most of his lines actually sound really good! In fact, all the voice acting is amazing (props to Mike Pollock specially)

- Animations and expressions are certainly much better than they’ve been in a decade, but they can sometimes be a bit stiff. The voice acting in this game is so good and expressive, it would greatly benefit from more character movement. 

- Amy is SO GOOD HERE! The game explores the compassionate side of her character that has been neglected for a while! Her crush in Sonic is no longer the focus, instead instead her whole story highlights Amy’s natural instinct to help others in need.

-I can’t overstate how awesome Super Sonic is in this game. If you ever wanted Sonic to go full-on anime fight, you’re gonna LOVE the Titan boss battles!

- KNUCKLES IS BACK, BABY! For like...the third time this year. He's really well written un this game, big SA1 vibes. His dynamic with Sonic is funny and at times touching, the game really displays how much their relationship has evolved (and people said this was gonna be the Sonamy game) Without spoiling much, there’s a development that makes me VERY happy and excited about the future. 

-Seriously, when was the last time we got a Sonic game where these characters could just sit down and TALK? There are plenty of quiet and chill moments, whenever Sonic frees one of his friends, a lot of the chapter is just hanging out with them, it’s great!

- People will be happy to know Tails was done justice. The game explores his insecurities, adresses his recent shortcomings pretty directly, and leads to something fans have wanted for a while. Tails and Sonic are so sweet together.

- There's lore and revelations in this game that change a LOT about the series. Frontiers might be the most important game lore-wise since SA1. Very big and bold retcons that I'm sure will be controversial, but I find interesting.

- They take Eggman in a very interesting and human direction, perhaps will be a little jarring to some but I like it!. It’s a little different from what we’re used to, and I would have loved more buildup to it, but it’s so fascinating! 

- Sage is a beautiful character and, in a way, the heart of the story. I won’t say much, but I like what they do with her. 

- People have been saying the story near the end is rushed and....yeah, I agree. There’s a very important plot point near the end that lacks proper buildup (if you finished the game you know what I’m talking about) and I don’t love how a certain thing was resolved.

Overall, I think the story is quite wonderful and some of the best the series has ever seen! The character interactions are refreshing and what Sonic needed, the lore reveals are HUGE and fascinating (even if they do raise a lot of questions) and it sets up new arcs for our favorite characters. I can’t wait to hear everyone’s thoughts on Sonic Frontiers.

[mgree0067]

I’m so devastated, heartbroken, and worried, about the Mike Pollock controversy a lot because this is going to make the whole New York voice acting community look bad! I hope Mike Pollock doesn’t receive any death threats because of what he said recently. I am actually worried for his life now.

[stachehand]

Sonic the Hedgehog: my voice cast

OK, enough posts dedicated to jabbing at I Don’t Work Sonic. It has overstayed it’s welcome. Time for something that may be a little controversial, but is otherwise much more wholesome. I’m going to present you a list I made some time ago of the voice actors I would choose (and keep in some cases) for the many members of the Sonic the Hedgehog cast, if I were deciding them. This will also include some characters from the Archie series and the characters from the aforementioned comic that doesn’t work. I hope you can understand why I made these choices and enjoy thinking about how they’d perform in the roles.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Max Mittelman Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik: Mike Pollock Miles "Tails" Prower: Amanda Celine Miller Sally Acorn: Cristina Valenzuela Charles the Hedgehog: John Goodman Bunnie Rabbot: Jennifer Hale Amy Rose: Christine Marie Cabanos Nicole the Holo-Lynx: Sara Cravens Knuckles the Echidna: Matthew Mercer Vector the Crocodile: Jamieson Price Espio the Chameleon: Roger Craig Smith Charmy Bee: Colleen Villard Big the Cat: Kyle Hebert Mina Mongoose: Hynden Walch Omochao: Kari Wahlgren Shadow the Hedgehog: Yuri Lowenthal Rouge the Bat: Tara Platt Cream the Rabbit: Michelle Ruff Vanilla the Rabbit: Michelle Ruff Doctor Finitevus: Steve Coogan E-123 Omega: David Sobolov Neo Metal Sonic: Max Mittelman Gemerl: David Kaye Cosmo: Stephanie Sheh Blaze the Cat: Erica Lindbeck Jet the Hawk: Michael Yurchak Wave the Swallow: Laura Bailey Storm the Albatross: Travis Willingham Silver the Hedgehog: Bryce Papenbrook Marine the Raccoon: Wendee Lee Orbot: Kirk Thornton Cubot: Wally Wingert Zavok: Patrick Seitz Zazz: Dave Wittenberg Zomom: Richard Epcar Master Zik: Neil Kaplan Zeena: Erika Harlacher Zor: Sam Riegel Sticks the Badger: Nika Futterman Perci the Bandicoot: Erin Fitzgerald D-Fekt: Derek Stephen Prince Rough the Skunk: Jason Spisak Tumble the Skunk: Fred Tatasciore Tangle the Lemur: Elizabeth Daily Whisper the Wolf: Catherine Taber Doctor Starline: David Tennant Jewel the Beetle: Jessica DiCicco Dodon Pa: Kyle Hebert Mimic the Octopus: Steve Blum Smithy the Lion: Crispin Freeman Slinger the Ocelot: Robbie Daymond Claire Voyance: Sandy Fox

[blapis-blazuli]

So last night my girlfriend and I watched the live action Sonic movie together! I have Thoughts on it, but in short: I enjoyed it more than I expected! (Put under the cut because I get rambly. Also spoilers I guess.)

In no particular order:

I’m not really a fan of live action/CGI hybrid movies based on an already existing property, but this one seems to be one of the better ones. Not groundbreaking by any means, but certainly watchable.

The CGI for this film is actually pretty good, especially regarding Sonic.

That being said, I do have issues with how the animators were forced to go in and redo so much with him after the severe backlash regarding his first design looking... well, horrible. (I know there’s some people who liked that design but... no, I’m sorry, just... no.) I’m not putting the blame for the older design on the animators as they were just doing their jobs, but I do have to question what was going through the heads of the higher-ups who thought that design was a good idea. I heard the thought process was “well he’s in the real world now so we have to make him look more realistic” but given how most audiences generally don’t seem to like the whole “realistic live-action/CGI character design” thing, you’d think they would avoid doing that.

Actually, I have to question why there didn’t seem to be more involvement from people who had worked on the franchise before (namely Tyson Hesse, the guy who came up with Sonic’s redesign, but is probably better known for his work on some of the comics and some animated Sonic shorts that you can find on Sega’s official Youtube channel which you should definitely look at because they’re cute) from day one. You’ve got well over two decades worth of cast and crew you could’ve worked with, so why not bring more of them in to help? (Just not Ken Penders.)

Ben Schwartz is alright as the voice of Sonic. I won’t go calling him my favorite any time soon, but he did okay. I do feel like I have to question the choice to cast him though, but a little more on that later.

In case you didn’t know, I’m an absolute slut for Eggman, so I had... concerns when I heard that they cast Jim Carrey as my favorite (even leaving aside how I’m autistic, headcanon Eggman as autistic, and as far as I know Carrey is still an anti-vaxxer). For this movie, though, he fits the role of what Robotnik is like in this universe (a bitter orphan who grew up preferring robots to humans and is so unhinged that even the U.S. government thinks he’s nuts even though he works for them) just fine. I don’t think I can ever fully accept him as Eggman (though admittedly I don’t know who could make for a decent live action Eggman), but I could live with his performance in this.

I need to know more about what the deal is between Agent Stone and Robotnik, because I am intrigued more than the filmmakers probably wanted me to be (most likely because Carrey and Lee Majdoub worked together to make their characters dynamic more fun) and now I just want more of them interacting. I’m kinda disappointed that he wasn’t in this more, honestly. I get why since it’s supposed to be focused mostly on the actual characters from the games, but... I want to know more.

Tom the cop... I was really skeptical about this, especially since the first Sonic game I ever played portrayed the police and military as bad people (and, you know, real life cops are bastards), but... honestly, did Tom even really need to be a cop in the first place for this plot to work? I’m sure they could’ve worked something out where he didn’t need to be one. Anyway, there isn’t much to say about him, but he’s alright.

There’s honestly even less to say about his wife, but you know what? Props to this movie for having an interracial couple where them being an interracial couple isn’t the central drama (her sister’s mistrust of him doesn’t fully count as that’s not the focus) and didn’t draw loads of attention to it or have it come off as them doing this in an attempt to seem “woke”, unlike some other studios I could name. (coughDISNEYcough)

Is Owl Mom okay?!

Some of the humor is kinda hit and miss for me, but that seems to be true for the writing of the games themselves, especially after the change of staff since Colors (note to the writers: Baldy McNosehair is not as funny as you think it is), and I’ve seen live action/CGI hybrid franchise movies with worse humor (hell, media in general with worse humor), so I’m a bit more forgiving of it here.

That being said, the joke about Sonic wasting most of a bar/restaurant’s toilet paper to wrap it around some guys in a bar fight and later saying whoever used the bathroom next was going to have a problem... yeah, I don’t think I need to explain how poorly that aged, albeit unintentionally.

Robotnik does not say “Snooping as usual”, but Sanic made an appearance, sorta. That was something.

I’m still reeling from how “The Doctor thinks you’re basic” is an actual line in this movie and not something someone made up on Tumblr as a joke.

Given how people griped about the Olive Garden product placement in this, I was expecting it to be infinitely worse than it really was. Honestly it felt more like a brick joke to me, only with product placement.

The end credits scene with Tails was nice, especially since they brought in his current voice actress from the games to voice him! Though that has me thinking that if they did that then there wasn’t any reason for them not to bring in Roger Craig Smith (or any other former Sonic voice actor, come to think of it) to voice Sonic. Well, aside from “celebrity voice might put more butts in the theater seats (well, couch cushions currently)”. This bothers me so much. You have an established animated medium with an established voice cast, you’d think that bringing them in to voice their character for a big screen adaptation would be more common, but I guess not (unless you’re SpongeBob or The Simpsons I guess). Voice actors deserve way more than what Hollywood does to them, that’s all I’m saying. (This also bothers me given what I know of the First Sonic Voice Recasting Controversy way back when Sonic X was a thing.)

Speaking of end credits scenes, Sonic X, and the voice actors from the games/shows/etc, my girlfriend mentioned that she and her sister thought that in Carrobotnik’s last scene there was a point where it almost sounded like Carrey was doing an impression of Mike Pollock (the English voice actor of Eggman for seventeen years and by far the longest-lasting English voice cast member), and I thought so too. I’m used to voice actors imitating celebrities for their performances even when they’re not voicing said celebrity, so hearing it the other way around for a change even briefly was fascinating (and further proves to me how much of an impact Pollock’s left on the character that even the live-action actor has ended up doing an impression of his take on the same character).

I know they’re already talking about making at least one sequel (and for once Carrey seems to want in on said sequel), and you know what? I’m all for it. Please bring Stone back too, I want to know more about him.

I know it looks like I spent a lot of this going “eh” and “but why”, but I really did enjoy this! If you’re curious about it, please check it out.

[charcoal-zone]

Controversial opinion time: Eggman’s voices

Chikao Ōtsuka > Long John Baldry > Edwin Neal > Kotaro Nakamura > Deem Bristow > Mike Pollock > Jim Cummings > Jim Carrey > Junpei Takiguchi > Garry Chalk

Please remember that this list is not based on how well these actors act but rather how well I think their voices fit the character.

Not all Japanese voices are included because I haven’t heard all of them.

I know I used to say Pollock and Bristow were some of my favorites, but I since re-evaluated them with less bias influenced by nostalgia.

[blapisblogs]

I have now officially liveblogged every episode of Sonic X. That was certainly... something. It sure had its ups and downs, didn’t it?

I’ll be honest, this show obviously isn’t for everyone. The English dub in particular has many flaws, to say the least, plenty of which I pointed out while blogging about it. I didn’t go too much into the acting for it because, well, let’s face it, that dead horse has been beaten so thoroughly that you can’t even tell it’s a horse anymore. Though I do feel it only fair to mention the voice acting for one specific reason.

You might recall that way back towards the very beginning of these liveblogs I mentioned that the English dub did at least one thing right, in my opinion. I mentioned something that I called the First Sonic Voice Recasting Controversy where the cast for this show ended up replacing the ones for the games in 2005, as well as the Second Sonic Voice Recasting Controversy where they replaced nearly the whole cast again in 2010. Now you might’ve noticed that I’ve briefly mentioned the actual names of some of the voice actors for this dub here and there, but one I never said by name was the one for my favorite character: Doctor Eggman. It’s not because he’s a terrible person or anything (as far as I’m aware he’s alright), I just wanted to save mentioning him for the very end for the, like, I dunno, one or two people who don’t know this.

In the English dub of Sonic X, Doctor Eggman is voiced by Mike Pollock.

You know how I say “nearly” the whole cast got replaced in 2010? He’s the reason for that “nearly” part of it. They did have tryouts for Eggman, but found that nobody could quite match him, so they brought him back, making him the only one who managed to keep his role after the 2010 recasting. (After he was picked and first went in to record lines for Eggman, out of curiosity he asked “Am I the only one?” The response he got was “You’re the only one [from New York] as far as I know”.) As of this post (2019), he’s been voicing Eggman in the games for fourteen years, and sixteen years total once you include Sonic X, which is longer than any of Robotnik’s previous English actors combined. (Actually if he keeps this up for a few more years he may even surpass Eggman’s longest recurring seiyuu, Chikao Ōtsuka, who sadly passed away in 2015.) He’s also been nominated three times for his voice acting as Eggman since the recasting, so I think it’s safe to say it’s been going pretty well for him.

Personally I think he’s gotten even better at voicing him as time’s gone on, and his acting for Eggman is part of what endeared me to the character and brought me back to the Sonic franchise again. I know he wasn’t always Eggman and can’t be Eggman forever, but at this point it’s hard for me to imagine anyone else being quite as good at being this character than him. (Of course maybe someone else could prove me wrong, but... Let’s just say that person is not Jim Carey.) If it weren’t for this show and the circumstances behind everything, he wouldn’t be Eggman right now, and I’m glad things kinda worked out this way.

I guess this is a long-winded way of saying that sometimes something that doesn’t seem so great can later lead to something better.

And that hearing Pollock as Eggman makes me really happy.

Also, he helped make moments like this even more worth it.

Thanks for sticking around and hearing me go on about a cartoon involving a tall, adorable scientist with a fantastic mustache- I mean a blue hedgehog. Next time I’ll try to pick something involving monsters, I promise.

[smashingatsonicspeed]

Smash Bros. Character Merit - Sonic the Hedgehog

Quick Disclaimer: I’m not very confident in any 3rd Party franchise getting a 2nd rep. But being the Sonic fan I am, I thought I’d give a specific section for this should it happen. I don’t think it’s the unlikeliest thing in the world as I’ll explain. But I doubt it comes anytime soon.

Miles "Tails" Prower

My Level of Want

If you didn't already know, Tails was who I voted for in the Smash Ballot. Perhaps it's a little greedy for me to suggest a 2nd Sonic rep over some Nintendo characters that could use some love. But when it comes to the one character I want most in Smash now that Sonic has already made it. Tails is it. Though a bit of a disclaimer, I won't be disappointed one way or another if Tails doesn't make the cut. Cause Sonic was already that dream inclusion fulfilled for me. Every new character that'd made it in Smash that I happen to like since Sonic got in is equivalent to whip cream on my glorious ice cream sundae. But Tails would be the sweet, sweet, sweet cherry on top. Tails is just my favorite Sonic character, and he just happens to be the franchise's equivalent of what Luigi is to Mario. Perhaps he's not treated or even portrayed as well as that nowadays but you'd be pretty hard pressed to suggest that someone else deserves the title of Sonic's Luigi. And what I mean by Luigi, as in the other character that often pops up in your head whenever you hear the franchise's name. The main character always pops in your head behind them, but not far behind them you usually imagine their sidekick, brother, or whichever role the player 2 character plays as right besides them running through the levels. When I think Sonic, I picture Sonic running through levels at a fast pace with his buddy Tails close behind. They're just one of the most iconic duos in gaming and despite being what would be another Sonic rep at face value, I count Tails as much of an icon of gaming as any. There would be naysayers if it were to happen, but Tails is absolutely the most iconic choice for another Sonic rep in Smash. It would absolutely make my entire life to see a Sonic & Tails Vs. Mario & Luigi battle be possible in Smash Bros. It's just one of those things I could die happy knowing that I got to see happen.

Estimated Chance

Sorry if that got a little gush-heavy over my most wanted character. But it's time to delve into a little reality. I'm not confident in it happening much at all, and I'm ok with that. As much as I said things about dying happy about it. Sonic being in Smash in general is also kind of already that. I don't think it's an impossibility, despite the ups and downs over the years the Sonic franchise is still one of the most popular franchises out there and as such the Sonic franchise would be the one to break the mold should they decide to break the only one character per 3rd Party franchise rule. For that to happen a character should have have to be arguably just as iconic to gaming as the main character and I think Tails fulfills that well enough. It might not be quite enough right now but should they look at it by the time Smash 6 (Or again 7, if you're like Sakurai) rolls around that he'll become an ever stronger possibility as Sonic would have a strong foothold in the series. I can keep my two fingers crossed for the two tailed fox. But I'm certainly not going to count on it. I understand that other companies' reps would probably provide more diversity and not everyone wants one of Sonic's "annoying friends" in Smash. So Tails isn't impossible but he's nowhere near a strong possibility. But if it ever happens, it'd be the one character that would probably put me in Etika-was-shown-Mewtwo-DLC kind of excitement

Main Game or DLC?

DLC is the only way this happens at all. It might also provide a little bit of a compromise that don't want any more Sonic characters in the game. If you wouldn't like Tails in Smash, then don't buy him.

Dr. Eggman

My Level of Want

If Tails can't make it, then Eggman would probably be the next best thing. And probably more neutrally accepted even amongst those that aren't big fans of the Sonic franchise if it were to happen since Eggman isn't one of Sonic's "annoying friends". I think the only problem might be a bit more difficulty on deciding how he'd fight. Best I could think of is something akin to Bowser Jr. only bigger, heavier. And in the Egg Mobile with obviously a different toolset. It'd be absolutely fun though to have Mike Pollock record lines for Smash as he's an absolute blast as Eggman. I do think it'd be more fitting if say they ever included a Sonic related Boss rather then as the 2nd Sonic character. But I certainly wouldn't complain.

Estimated Chance

3rd Party franchises getting 2nd reps are going to be quite low in chance. Once we hit the DLC period though anything goes. So who really knows. As for Eggman himself's chances of being the character to break that rule. Not to sound biased but I think Tails out prioritizes him for a few reasons. Maybe even Knuckles before Eggman too. Not that I think Tails is that much more likely (I'll be covering that next actually) But we did get Luigi in Smash before Bowser. You could say that was because Luigi was easier to make because he was more of a clone of Mario back in Smash 64. But you have to think that when it comes to 2nd reps, the iconic 2nd player and/or sidekick tends to get in over the main villain. Even if the Mario example isn't enough. Reminder that we still don't have K. Rool but we've had Diddy since Brawl. As I said earlier I'd rather Eggman represented as a boss should the Sonic series ever include one for any reason. It'd be fun to fight him with all the different characters that way.

Main Game or DLC?

DLC, per everyone in this post

Knuckles

My Level of Want

I do like Knuckles a lot and if there was room for 3 Sonic characters I might get behind him more. But as is when it’s doubtful if we even get more then just Sonic, Knuckles isn’t a priority to me personally like Tails is. Sonic & Tails is a really iconic duo of gaming. Knuckles is less so. Mainly people want Knuckles because they view him as a more “cooler” or more viable as a fighter despite Tails having been in Sonic fighting games before too. Still, I would feel it’d be like getting Wario before we got Luigi. Wario is more fit for fighting then the “coward” Luigi and is an iconic character of the Mario franchise in his own right. But he isn’t famous Player 2/Sidekick status like Tails is

Estimated Chance

Knuckles only gets chosen if Sakurai feels a character more well known for seeming like someone to fight over should be prioritized over someone that’s been in there longer whether it’s Tails or Eggman he would be picked over. And I don’t think Sakurai has ever gone that way with anyone. In my dreams, Sonic would get 5 reps to make all the Sonic fans happy. Get Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Eggman, and Shadow in there to appease all the Sonic fan wishes. But I know that only happens if Sega was bought out by Nintendo. And understand that’d be incredibly greedy in a game that’s supposed to be mostly Nintendo

Main Game or DLC?

DLC, per everyone in this post

Shadow

My Level of Want

First I want to say, that Sonic Adventure 2 is still my favorite Sonic game in the franchise. It’s what introduced me to Sonic, I have a lot of fun whenever I go back to play the game and one of my biggest wants for Sonic is a game going back to the Adventure formula that is streamlined for modern audiences. I understand the big complaint with the Adventure games is they haven’t aged that well, but that’s why a modern game with the adventure-style that’s cleaned up to the expectations of modern game could be a good idea for the Sonic franchise to take. My biggest hope is a kind of Sonic Odyssey where like what that game did rediscovered the gameplay of Super Mario 64 and cleaned it up for a new game that most people enjoy a lot. However, despite my love for SA2 there’s one character that made his big debut that’s been a pretty controversial subject. I do first want to say that I did like Shadow a lot… but pretty much only in SA2. He was a perfectly fine character in that game and a good foil for Sonic with an interesting past. And it quickly made him one of the most popular Sonic characters. Unfortunately, Sega took that popularity the wrong way and they forced him back into as many games as possible. At first Shadow returning wasn’t so bad, Heroes implied the Shadow in that game wasn’t even the same Shadow from SA2. Simply a clone that Engman created. But the Shadow the Hedgehog game retcons that. The Shadow in games past SA2 is indeed the same Shadow who somehow got rescued by Engman’s robots on his plunge down to Earth. For the exception of Sonic Battle, every game that’s not Sonic Adventure 2 has him just as one of the most polarizing characters in all of gaming. He has diehard fans that have supported him since SA2 and won’t ever shake off their love for him. But he’s also somewhat become a bit of a scapegoat for hate on why the 3D Sonic games fell as hard as they did. His story bringing too much of the franchise trying to take itself seriously as well as basically the poster child for the edgy meme when it comes to video game characters. He has reasons why he’s very popular, but he also has just as many reasons if not more on why people would utterly despise his inclusion from both the Sonic fanbase and outside of it. Combine that with the fact there’d probably be similar disdain on the level Dark Pit got, and Shadow’s inclusion would be one day where every single Smash Bros. discussion is simply filled with anger.

Estimated Chance

Shadow’s popularity probably at least had him score among the highest out of Sonic characters in the ballot if not the highest. But I still think Sakurai would choose a more classic character anyway. Shadow’s done fine enough in the Assist Trophy role. Let him stay there.

Main Game or DLC?

DLC, per everyone in this post

[crusherthedoctor]

Sonic for the blorbo ask game

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most): You wouldn't know him, he's very unknown. But if I had to describe him, he's big, round, brown moustache, IQ of 300, hates hedgehogs, sounds a lot like Mike Pollock...

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped): Tails! And Amy! And... a lot of them actually, since many of them do have a cute appeal in their designs and endearing personalities, even some of the older characters.

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave): The Hard-Boiled Heavies aren't hated by any means, but they still deserve more recognition. >:[

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week): Captain Whisker and Johnny are good pirates with a sweet boss theme. The latter's design is also underrated.

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave): The characters as they canonically are, since not enough people seem to be interested in writing them that way.

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason): The primordial concept of Scourge-esque characters, cause it needs to fuck off already.

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell): Mephiles already looks like he came from hell, so I'd exile him to the Lara-Su Chronicles instead.

[honeybadgerradio]

Scaring Sons Into Suicide – Polecat Cast 115

Mattress Girl returns! Urban Dictionary! Wonder Woman! All this and more on this week’s Polecat Cast!

Show Notes:

Urban Warfare By Mike J.

Founded in 1999, the website Urban Dictionary has served as little more than a fun way to waste. The site allows users to add and define words or phrases, some of which more contemporary dictionaries wouldn’t dare touch. Other users then vote up or vote down these newly defined words with the highest voted ones winning the honor of being displayed more prominently than it’s rivals. Since it’s launch Urban Dictionary has become a good source for picking up cutting edge internet slang. At one point, IBM decided to upload the entire Urban Dictionary to their supercomputer Watson, but after the machine began swearing incessantly, the new lexicon was promptly removed. The Urban Dictionary has also become an unlikely battleground of sorts recently in the battle for men’s right’s. Several of the more controversial definitions such as misogynist, rape, feminism, and MRA have received popular definitions that many feminists do not approve of. It seems that not being content with ruining the Oxford English Dictionary, feminists have now set their sights on doing the same to the Urban Dictionary. But where it was much easier to make the Oxford English Dictionary kowtow with pressure from feminist in academia, the fight against Urban Dictionary won’t be that easily won.

Source: http://www.bodyforwife.com/mens-rights-activists-have-taken-over-urban-dictionary/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/01/ibms-watson-memorized-the-entire-urban-dictionary-then-his-overlords-had-to-delete-it/267047/ http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/01/26/dictionarygate-twitter-feminists-force-dictionary-to-review-sexist-definitions-of-nag-and-bossy/

Rape Victims Shouldn’t Like to Relive Their Rapes By Max Derrat

More famously known as Mattress Girl, Sulkowicz is back in the news, topping her past maniacal exploits. Originally, Sulkowicz proclaimed she was raped to her University, and when they decided that the evidence was against her (not that there was a lack of evidence, but that the available evidence was AGAINST HER) she proceeded to carry around a mattress for her senior year as a form of art and a form of protest. Then she did a video re-enactment of her rape online, titled Ceci N’est Pas Un Viol (French for “this is not a rape).

Now, she’s doing BDSM as performance art. At the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts Project Space, she presented a piece called “The Ship is Sinking”. She describes her piece in her own words: “[I chose] to have a white man tie me up while wearing a business suit with a Whitney necktie, while I wear a Whitney ISP thong bikini.” “We’re acting out this sadistic-masochistic relationship between the institution with all of its financial power, and this program that wants to be political but can be really because it’s being tied up by this institution.”

As her performance started, the aforementioned white man, named Master Avery (who happened to be a professional dominatrix), started to insult Sulkowicz by saying things like, “Your boobs are too small”, and “You can’t even stand up straight.” He tied knots around several parts of her body for 45 minutes until she was completely tied up to a large wooden beam. Using a pulley system attached to the ceiling, she was lifted from the ground, purposefully trying to resemble the woman often seen at the front of a ship.

Then Master Avery started hitting her with a belt. Avery at one point asked if anybody wanted to participate, and one man from the audience volunteered. He proceeded to slap her across the face.

In respect to the purpose of her performance art, Sulkowicz said the following: “Historically, performance art has been a very important medium for women of color and queer people. There’s an accessibility to it, it’s the only art form that doesn’t cost money. Then there’s also that women, people of color, queer people, we live embodied history.” “My body already carries material in it just because of the way I look, it’s embedded in my skin. White men have the privilege of entire institutions built for their paintings… these paintings are very often abstract. You have people like Pollock splattering a bunch of shit and then saying it’s art. It doesn’t say anything political and in fact, that actual political statement it does say is: ‘I’m a white man and I can do whatever the fuck I want and make a ton of money off of it.”

Source: https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/mattress-girl-emma-sulkowicz-is-backand-channeling-her-rage-through-bdsm

ENOUGH With This Wonder Woman Bullshit By Max Derrat

You know that really innocuous, unimportant women-only Wonder Woman screening thing? People are apparently still talking about it for some reason, and it’s mostly because people are making so much out of it, on both sides.

One of the people fanning the flames of this intense reaction is Heat Street writer Stephen Miller. He bought a ticket to this “women-only” screening at the Alamo Drafthouse in Brooklyn, New York, and posted a picture of his receipt on Twitter. He expressed a desire to not cause a scene, and replied the following to anybody expressing anger at his choice: “I’ll be enjoying the film with the ticket I purchased.” He also pointed out that kicking him out specifically on the grounds of sex or gender identity would be illegal. It doesn’t seem like Miller is doing this to make any positive statement. After all, in his Twitter feed, he constantly refers to the Wonder Woman movie as the “Chris Pine superhero movie.” To conclude, one Twitter user named @Bro_Pair wrote the following in response to this: “Some men lay down their lives battling white supremacists on the streets. Others demand admittance to the women-only Wonder Woman screening.” This is clearly in reference to last Friday’s Portland murders. The Daily Mail classified the murderer in this case as a self-avowed Nazi supporter, when minimal research concludes that any supposed ties to Nazi’s were disproven as false flags by the murderer to discredit Trump voters. Anybody else tired of this yet? Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4549842/Man-provokes-fury-ticket-women-WW-screening.html

Anti-Stealthing Law is Anti-Men By Mike J.

On May 16th, California assembly women Christina Garcia introduced a new rape law that would seek to punish the ill-defined and nearly unprovable act of “stealthing”. Stealthing, for those not in the know, is the act of intentionally removing or tampering with a condom during sexual intercourse. Stealthing, Christina Garcia argues, is just another form of rape. The problem with adding such a clearly flawed and biased addendum to the currently existing rape laws would be many. It would be very hard if not impossible to prove such a case as condoms can break due to improper usage or age. It creates the possibility for false allegations against men by women who have become pregnant by accident. It also says nothing on the topic of women who would tamper with contraceptives to become pregnant, despite a male sexual partners wishes. Assembly women Garcia is no stranger to pushing these ill-conceived amendments to current rape laws. In August of last year she helped pass an amendment that would make any form of an alleged non-consensual act be defined as rape. Sadly, this new law, like those before it, seems likely to pass given Governor Jerry Brown history with approving every new rape law amendment put through by congress.

Source: http://menslaws.com/index.php/2017/05/28/california-amend-rape-laws-target-men-stealthing/ https://a58.asmdc.org/press-releases/rape-definition-ca-include-stealthing http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB701

Scaring Sons Into Suicide By L Kemlo

An Illinois family is claiming a school discipline meeting scared their son into suicide. Corey Walgren, 16, jumped to his death in January, less than three hours after meeting with school officials and police at Naperville North High School.

The meeting was about an alleged cellphone recording of a consensual sexual encounter with a female classmate. Corey had no criminal history and had never been in serious trouble at school. Corey’s parents claim the school officials questioned him about “child pornography” and threatened to have him registered as a sex offender. According to the Chicago Tribune, Corey’s mother thinks the school wanted to scare him straight, “instead, they scared him to death.”

According to the Tribune it does not appear any pornographic images were found on the teen’s phone, but it did contain a file with audio of the sexual encounter. Apparently, the female classmate in the recording alleged that he may have played it for his friends. Records of the meeting show police did not intend to pursue charges, but wanted to handle the matter in a way that ensured Corey understood the seriousness of his actions and how it affected his classmate, who was described as “mortified” in the police report.

After the meeting, the school had contacted his mother but Corey left school grounds and walked to a nearby parking garage, where he jumped to his death. His parents plan to sue the school district and the police department.

Sources: http://nypost.com/2017/05/23/family-says-school-discipline-meeting-scared-son-into-committing-suicide/ http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-naperville-north-suicide-20170522-story.html

Check out the latest Honeybadgers episode.

[yahoo-roto-arcade-blog]

Fantasy Baseball draft kit: Cheat sheet to help you win a title

Our experts are here to help you win a Fantasy Baseball title in 2017. Check out what’s new on Yahoo for this season and then sign up to play. But before making your picks, we’ve rounded up all our advice in one place, so you can study for your draft and come out on top.

Note: This page will be updated as we continue to preview the upcoming season.

[Sign up for Yahoo Fantasy Baseball: Get in the game and join a league today]

Rankings Overall top 250 | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | C | OF | SP | RP Printable rankings: Positional cheat sheet Big Board: Top 50 assets heading into 2017 Mock Draft now: Get ready for the real thing

Draft strategy Sleepers to target | Four breakout candidates | Bust alert: Players to avoid National League fantasy season preview | American League predictions Nine bold fantasy predictions Who our experts are repeatedly drafting Players on rise after hot springs | Guys falling Most reliable options that get overlooked Inside one expert’s draft portfolio Podcast: Auction tips | Review of expert’s auction How much should spring training impact drafts? Podcast: Sleepers, MVPs and division winners Dream draft scenarios and expert tips Guys who need a fast start to season Players most likely to take a step back Guys Yahoo experts covet most in drafts All upside-team: Players who could deliver Old faces in new places with most appeal Three-round mock starts in controversial fashion Rookies with chances to have immediate impact Steals and reaches of experts’ draft | Podcast recap Auction strategy: Review of industry league Players to follow during World Baseball Classic Price check on AL players in early drafts | Price check on NL players

Hitters Biggest bargains bats heading into season Parks that help or hurt homers most Six cheap speed options Delino DeShields Jr. a lottery ticket worth buying Most overvalued hitters by position Debating which great shortstop to draft Position debate: Buster Posey or Gary Sanchez? Five infielders with injury questions | Schwarber among outfielders to monitor

Pitchers Arms you should avoid paying full price for in drafts Parks with most impact on pitching Relievers our experts are targeting | Non-closers worth taking How to draft closers | Bullpen Depth Chart Spin Doctors: Johnny Cueto or Stephen Strasburg? Case for taking Kershaw with the top overall pick in drafts Seven undervalued pitchers in drafts Five pitchers with injury questions

Video Analysis Sleepers: Guys to chase late in drafts Busts: Four players to avoid drafting Breakout Candidates: Players set to become studs Rookies: 2017 class lacks immediate impact

What to do with the 1st overall pick | 2nd pick | 3rd pick | 4th pick | 5th pick | 6th pick | 7th pick | 8th pick | 9th pick | 10th pick | 11th pick | 12th pick | 13th pick | 14th pick

AL East AL East preview podcast: Sleepers, busts and more Blue Jays: What’s the Encarnacion replacement plan? | Bautista being undervalued Orioles: Are you paying up for Kevin Gausman? Rays: Any late-round steals in Tampa Bay? Red Sox: What is Andrew Benintendi ready to do? Yankees: New York is a trick team to figure out

AL Central AL Central preview podcast: Sleepers, busts and more Indians: Just how good is Francisco Lindor? Royals: Danny Duffy ready to make leap Tigers: Which Justin Upton shows up this year? White Sox: What to expect from the kids and when will they arrive? Twins: Berrios has something to prove in WBC

AL West AL West preview podcast: Sleepers, busts and more Angels: Does lack of supporting cast hurt Mike Trout? A’s: Which young player is worth your pick? Astros: Time to buy in on Alex Bregman or pump the brakes? Mariners: Is Felix Hernandez in the beginning of a decline? Rangers: Is Elvis Andrus a sucker play as a mid-tier shortstop?

NL East NL East preview podcast: Sleepers, busts and more Braves: Dansby Swanson among MLB rookies to watch Marlins: Two of Miami’s top players could be fantasy busts Mets: Health tops list of questions for New York Nationals: Washington has star appeal but not all is certain Phillies: Will the baseball gods cut Nola a break?

NL Central NL Central preview podcast: Sleepers, busts and more Brewers: Will Villar be as good as last season? Cardinals: Does St. Louis have sneak name-brand appeal? Cubs: Plenty of impact options to pick from Pirates: Is Andrew McCutchen really the third-best outfielder in Pittsburgh? Reds: Peraza has become a player of interest

NL West NL West preview podcast: Sleepers, busts and more Diamondbacks: Can A.J. Pollock and Zack Greinke bounce back? Dodgers: Is there any Yasiel Puig intrigue left? Giants: San Francisco a better team in reality than fantasy Padres: Was Myers’ breakout for real? Rockies: Any reason to be leery of Charlie Blackmon?

Player Profile Videos

First Base: Eric Hosmer, Brandon Belt, Josh Bell, Tommy Joseph

Second Base: Rougned Odor, Dee Gordon, Matt Carpenter, Devon Travis, Hernan Perez, Didi Gregorius

Shortstop: Trevor Story, Elvis Andrus, Troy Tulowitzki, Brandon Crawford, Dansby Swanson, Freddy Galvis, Ketel Marte, J.P. Crawford

Third Base: Maikel Franco, Eugenio Suarez, Mike Moustakas, Nick Castellanos, Ryon Healy, Yulieski Gurriel

Catcher: Welington Castillo, Tom Murphy, Stephen Vogt

Outfield: George Springer, Marcell Ozuna, Khris Davis, Domingo Santana, Shin-Soo Choo, David Peralta, Hunter Renfroe, Yasiel Puig, Tyler Naquin, Max Kepler, Ender Inciarte, Jay Bruce, Austin Meadows, Mitch Haniger, Lonnie Chisenhall, Josh Reddick, Lorenzo Cain, Jacoby Ellsbury, Matt Holliday, Leonys Martin

Starting Pitcher: Justin Verlander, Jose Quintana, Felix Hernandez, Danny Salazar, Eduardo Rodriguez, Adam Conley, Matt Moore, Tanner Roark, Jon Gray, Dallas Keuchel, Jameson Taillon, Adam Wainwright, Ivan Nova, Junior Guerra, Joe Ross, Dan Straily, Gio Gonzalez, Jason Hammel, Chris Tillman, Alex Wood, Tyler Skaggs, Jordan Zimmermann, Alex Cobb, Cole Hamels