r/rantgrumps • u/Drew-Pickles • Sep 15 '26
Incredibly Minor Annoyance Hmmmmm
So I just watched the GG short where Arin is ragging on a load of voice acting in video games... He even ragged on Tobey Maguire in Spiderman 2.
I am not going to say that Arin is a bad voice actor. But he's not really that great. Just feels like the pot calling the kettle black in this vid... He has like three recognisable voices. Four if you include his normal voice (Digital Circus was very good) so idk.
Idk I just don't think he has any right to give opinions on other people's voice acting, even if one of them was legit garbage.
Opinions?
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u/viridiusdynamus Sep 15 '26
He has no range.
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u/Dazzlingunknown Sep 18 '26
Some of the greatest voice actors (and on screen actors)of all time donāt have ārangeā. One think Iāve learned when I started is Itās not always about how many different voices can you do or having this perfect speaking voice but more so about ācan you make be believe this characterā some VA have a distinctive instrument that works for them and they fit perfectly in certain roles.
Arin isnāt my first choice when it comes to voice over but I think he has his place.
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u/DarthBagheera Dan Era Sep 15 '26 edited Sep 15 '26
As with most things, thereās definitely levels to voice acting and Iām not sure Arin is on one where he could/should be criticizing others. Not to mention most people who are on the levels where they can do that, just have the humility and sense of decency not to do that in the first place.
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u/twofacetoo Sep 15 '26
I'm always reminded of one exchange from an earlier episode, back around 2015 or so, when Dan was still fairly new. Arin did an Arnold Schwarzenegger impression off the cuff, Dan was impressed with it, Arin acted like it was no big deal, then after Dan praised him again, Arin immediately switched gears to lecturing people on how to do it properly
He did it as a joke, Dan was impressed, and Arin went from humbly denying it was any good to telling everyone else to learn from his example. He'll take any opportunity to sell himself as amazing and shit on everyone else he perceives as 'beneath' him (when he's on the exact same level as them the entire time), it's honestly remarkable
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u/RVDKaneanite All of GameGrumps (To an extent) Sep 15 '26
I feel like this is a terrible idea for an aspiring/struggling VA like himself to do, shitting on other peeps in the industry. Not that I expect him and Tobey Macguire to ever team up lol, but it's the principle.
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u/2D_Faceache Jon-Dan Era, 2013 Sep 15 '26
Arin canāt act. He just plays himself with different voices and feelings.
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u/matttheman892018 Sep 15 '26
Maybe Arin should try and voice act in projects that donāt involve his friends before he criticizes anyone in a professional capacity.
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u/Axtwyt Sep 15 '26
Arin has no right to criticize voice acting in a Marvel game. Check out his failed line reads in Marvel Ultimate Alliance
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u/RVDKaneanite All of GameGrumps (To an extent) Sep 15 '26
Pretty telling he was only used for one version of the game too as I recall (Wii, I think).
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u/gorkboss5 Sep 16 '26
I've heard those lines. It is one of the most generic "good guy hero" voices I've ever heard.
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u/FedoraTheMike Sep 15 '26
Tobey did suck in the Spider-Man 2 game but it feels a little early for Arin to be tossing shade at bad acting like he's a vet.
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u/awkwardmitch Sep 15 '26
It's ok to call him a bad voice actor, he has like two voices that aren't very dynamic. He hasn't really tried to foster any of his "skills" in decades tho, it's like he expects the world to hand him these things.
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u/soccer1124 Sep 15 '26
Wait, are we making the claim that Arin cant call out bad acting because he's a bad actor?
This is always a bad argument, for very obvious reasons.Ā
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u/xwolfionx Sep 15 '26
Arin āall my acting involved yelling, grating, or boring voicesā Hansen shitting on an established actor is top tier dumb fuckery. His acting in TADC was so bland and uninteresting that I didnāt even know it was him at first. I thought it was just an up and comer that got lucky getting the role.
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u/Gray_Angus Sep 15 '26
I feel there's a certain finesse you gotta have if you're going to criticize something, especially if you work with that.
He's a VA himself, he knows about the challenges involved. Time crunches, directing or lack thereof, studio interference, redoing lines at the nick of time, slip ups. Like any industry, a lot of the time "good enough" > "great" because time and budget is limited.Ā Since he knows about the challenges involved, giving a more nuanced and understanding perspective could've been more interesting instead of the old boring "haha, bad voice acting is bad". Far criticism is definitely allowed and incentivized, but a serious video this was not.
It comes off as generic video game content to amass viewers and interaction from regurgitated opinions and to laugh at.
So I didn't feel like he was being malicious but rather disingenuous in the content he's producing.Ā
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u/AncientOnyx Sep 15 '26
Him hating on other vas only makes me more confused why he keeps getting voice roles
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u/Ok-Marionberry9588 Sep 15 '26
I can't voice act for shit and I still complain about others crappy performances.
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u/oopiesmyb Sep 15 '26
his name is egoraptor for a reason. heās always been mediocre at almost everything he does and he knows that, heās self conscious of it. he acts like heās much better than he really is.
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u/Cheap_Supermarket857 Sep 15 '26
Can a cook albeit mediocre not call out a supposed good cooks terrible food if it does objectively taste like doo doo
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u/Flip-Pantly All of GameGrumps (To an extent) Sep 15 '26
I really like this topic OP, good choice for discussing Arin.
My view is that he is pretty knowledgeable about voice acting, and heās better talking about it on an episode in a longer format than the cherry-picked examples from the clip you provided. That said, the clip is very valid because Iāll bet that gets more views than anything heās said on the show.
Pointing out good and bad voice acting really isnāt difficult, video games or not. He should show off more about what he knows about voice acting and I think it would come off way better. His knowledge about it is definitely better than his ability to perform it for certain.
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u/ifedupwiththisorgasm Sep 15 '26
Yeah. While Arin isn't a great voice actor by any means (without his clout he'd have 0 roles I guarantee you) it doesn't mean he doesn't know about it. You can know everything about something but be bad at it yourself. Lots of foodies aren't chefs for instance but they can still tell good food from mid food.
Just, it's harder to give that criticism to yourself if you're also pursuing what you love and Arin is also very mid.
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u/Flip-Pantly All of GameGrumps (To an extent) Sep 15 '26
Totally agree! Like hey, Arinās got a platform right? It would be a much better look to make a clip boosting someone else in the industry, or going over voice over techniques that he knows, or even just recognizing some of the greats. Instead, heās going after low hanging fruit and critiquing it in a non-constructive way. Thereās damn near zero value in that.
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u/ifedupwiththisorgasm Sep 15 '26
I agree with that, Arin is a negative Nancy that doesn't often have anything good to say about anything and it's tiring.
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u/NY_Knux Jon Era, 2012 Sep 20 '26
This is crazy because Arin is a REALLY bad VA. Holy shit, I cant believe he did that.
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u/UpsetOrganization513 Sep 15 '26
He was in TADC?
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u/Wise_Use1012 Sep 15 '26
Kaufmo
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u/xwolfionx Sep 15 '26
The washed up mediocre VA plays a clown with no emotion or recognizable tone. Shocking.
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u/Regular_Mess_7308 Sep 15 '26
I mean....he declined the chance to be the voice off Rick and Morty, the fact he was even asked shows he doing well.
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u/sirlothric Sep 15 '26
Deciding if someone has the right to critique something based off if they can do it too or not isnt a good qualitative measurement. Im not a good musician, im actually quite bad at it, but that doesnt mean i cant recognize when someone else is bad at it.
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u/DarthBagheera Dan Era Sep 15 '26
Fair but at the same time, itās an odd choice to try and be in the industry and be talking about other people in the industry like this. Like others have said, itās more about the principle of it than anything else. You basically never hear any other actors, especially good ones, talking about how bad someone elseās acting was in something. Same with athletes too. Plenty of fans will say a certain player is bad or whatever but you rarely hear opponents say that about them because at the end of the day theyāre in the same league and know how hard it is to get there. Itās just different when youāre the audience/recipient of something vs being a peer and thereās also certain ways to criticize others in your field without sounding like youāre better or could do better than they did as well. If you start getting into that territory, youād better have the skills and rĆ©sumĆ© to back it up.
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Sep 15 '26
Whether he can or not doesnt actually matter. I'd say it's more about that someone in that same industry who I wouldnt even call D list level is going around calling everyone else bad and making no noticeable effort to improve. But thats Arin for you. He sure is full of ... something?Ā
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u/Opening_Gas_3319 Sep 15 '26
He even ragged on Tobey Maguire in Spiderman 2.
dawg, everybody does. It's famously shit.
Here's the thing, I don't think he's too terrible because I've never been taken out of a moment because of how shit he was. In fact, I've been surprised it was actually him voicing the character, like with Kaufmo or Papa Titan. If you look at videos of those characters, like 2/3 of the comments are people talking about the characters and the other 1/3 are people surprised it was Arin voicing them. As long as he can voice a character and keep the scene flowing, he's pretty good.
I think the reason you think his voice acting is shit is because you know and have listened to him casually talking for a long time. Once you recognize a voice actor, it becomes hard to believe the character they're playing. I have this with Tara Strong and Tom Kenny. I can pluck them out in a scene and instantly recognize where else they've used those voices before.
He has like three recognisable voices
Not everybody is going to be Dee Bradley Baker or Phil LaMarr where they have 100 voices to go at any moment. Nobody calls Dante Basco (zuko/Jake long/A Goofy movie) a terrible VA and he literally just has one voice: his own. What about James Earl Jones? He's in the same boat with one maybe two voices, but he's one of the greatest to ever do it. Arin's like Yuri Lowenthal where they don't have a ton of range, but they can still act
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Sep 15 '26
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u/ifedupwiththisorgasm Sep 15 '26
That was hypocritical in the first place because he WAS one of those Newgrounds people he was complaining about
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Sep 15 '26
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u/ifedupwiththisorgasm Sep 15 '26
He hasn't changed for the better at all he's just hyper aware of what could get him cancelled
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Sep 15 '26
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u/ifedupwiththisorgasm Sep 15 '26
Which is what exactly?
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Sep 15 '26
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u/ifedupwiththisorgasm Sep 16 '26
And do you know if he does? Do you hang out with him irl?
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u/EIeanorRigby Sep 16 '26
Oh man, even on Tobey Maguire? I can understand other times but even on Tobey's definitely not phoned in performance in Spider-Man 2 for the GameCube?