Seeing a character's VA

[Sunrose Petal 56]

This is obviously coming from a person who's never met a cast member in person so forgive my weirdness buuuttttt... and this, for me, goes pretty much in anything animated, does anyone else feel like seeing a picture of a character's VA (or being surprise spoiled while watching a youtube video....) break the immersion of watching and hearing their character speak on the show? Like you can't unsee their face or unhear their voice as just someone in a booth reading lines whenever you see their character and then it just feels kinda boring watching them...and does anyone avoid seeing the actor's real faces or am I just a weirdy weird...? 

[Foxy Socks 2,599]

Not really, and actually it makes it better so I can visualize the person behind it, making it more fun to watch. Especially when a voice actor/actress has multiple characters.

[Alpakachii 164]

Im exactly the same. It's really weird for me to see the face behind the voice and also a bit immersion breaking. I try to avoid any pictures or videos where those voice actors might be in. So nope you're not weird....or we both are weird. One of those two is right. ^~^

[Foxy Socks 2,599]

1 hour ago, Alpakachii said:

Im exactly the same. It's really weird for me to see the face behind the voice and also a bit immersion breaking. I try to avoid any pictures or videos where those voice actors might be in. So nope you're not weird....or we both are weird. One of those two is right. ^~^

I can see why, but I see the characters different from their VAs. Like how in non animated things I don't see the characters as the actors.

[BlueBrony 388]

It's not as weird for me when I see voice actors from film or tv, maybe because I'm just fascinated by behind the scenes stuff and have a mild affinity for voice acting myself. Radio, however, is a different story. If I see an actual radio host in real life it does feel weird to me.

[Steve Piranha 29,428]

17 hours ago, Lektra Bolt said:

As someone who's met some of the people who voice in MLP I originally felt the same way, but I then rationalized that they're not the characters. As much as we love them they need to be given their space and be allowed to love their own lives.

I have personally met and had time with Rainbow/AJ and Maud on multiple occasions, Flutters/Pinkie, Thorax, Ember, and Spike (this one threw me for a loop!). I also had some time with the gentleman who plays Prince Blue Blood and a couple others, though I forgot his name, apologies.

I also met Lauren personally, though of course she is not directly involved in the show anymore.

I have met in a panel (long distance) Big Mac and crossed paths with the original MLP creator, but could not have time with her since I couldn't afford the autograph session.

They're really awesome people, but meeting them doesn't ruin the show for me

I find it weird that the first character that comes from your head after meeting Vincent Tong is Blueblood and not Garble or the waifu thief

I don't find weird seeing the voices behind poneh, but I have yet to meet any of them personally, and I'm not into getting in their private life

[Jeric 46,854]

There is always a curious feeling when seeing the VA do the voice live, not not in a bad way. It's almost like a magic trick depending on the VA. Since I like impressionist comedy, it never broke immersion for me, but then again I'm driven to know how things work and I actually find knowing all the technical elements helps with immersion since  not constantly asking myself, "how did they do that?"

[碇 シンジン 27,432]

For me I kinda like to think that the characters themselves are different from people who give them voice or other physical elements though the characters portrayal can be largely influenced by these elements but I don't think that they are elements that essentially create the character. The voice and the appearance were given to the character to most closely capture the image that the author had for them and sometimes they capture it better than other times.

And as such I see the voice actors playing as the character but not essentially being the character I think the character can only manifest in ourselves and we can bring it closer to ourselves with the image and voice put together

[Savy 5,083]

Not really, I've met a few VAs at conventions, and it's never once broke the immersion for me.

Like I've met Starlight Glimmer's VA, Ocellus' VA, and Yona's VA, and they're all super chill and amazing people.

 

[Splashee 28,566]

36 minutes ago, Ocean Breeze said:

Like I've met Starlight Glimmer's VA

I would so ask about the old Tales days, when she voiced Melody. She must have been like 4 years old or something, but still!

[Sasoriman 139]

No, but when I rewatch anything with, say, Tabitha in it, sometimes I forget that it's a real person in a recording studio saying those lines. So it does break the immersion just a hair.

I'd love to meet these people. I know they're on Facebook or Instagram when their days aren't filled with recording or going to conventions, but I don't trust social media enough to go for it. 

Edited December 29, 2021 by Sasoriman

[Astralshy 27,034]

I've always been curious about this world of the VAs, so seeing a VAs behind a character is not weird at all for me. I love their craft to awake a character to life. It's also really cool to see how an actor develops a character over time. See for example Ashleigh Ball and their characters for RD and especially AJ.

I'm still positively surprised that mlp VAs are so visible with the fandom. I only know this from anime fandoms and their VAs

 

 

[EpicEnergy 23,221]

I've seen pictures of the VAs before, and it hasn't broken my immersion in MLP.

[Skylight Scintillate 2,054]

Well, I have seen the voice cast for the G5 movie back when everybody was desperate for any information about the G5 movie they could get, and hearing/seeing them didn't seem to change my perceptions on the Mane 5.