Michael B. Pollock (born March 9, 1965), sometimes credited as Herb Lawrence, is an American voice actor based in New York, where his distinctive voice makes him instantly recognizable. He has appeared as the narrator for 4Kids shows like Pokémon and some promos on the original Fox Box and 4Kids TV. He is also well-known as the current voice actor for Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. He has also become somewhat of a part of the New York-based Wadjet Eye Games' Production Posse.
He is known for being genial and open with his fans. While the majority of the 4Kids Sonic cast is fairly secluded, Mike Pollock has conducted a number of interviews for those who have approached him. It is likely helpful to his friendly nature that he has avoided much of the backlash his colleagues, such as Jason Griffith, have received.note
As of 2010, the majority of the Sonic the Hedgehog voice cast was replaced
, with the sole exception of Mike, as Sega felt that none of the other auditions could match his impression of Eggman.
His roles include:
- Astonishing X-Men - Beast (Motion Comic "Gifted" arc)
- Battle Game in 5 Seconds - Naoharu Kamui
- Berserk (1997) / Berserk: The Golden Age Arc - Adon Coborlwitz
- Chaotic - Heptadd
- Dinosaur King - Helga and Dr. Drake (taking over the deceased Maddie Blaustein) as well as guest-characters Tokugawa Ieyasu and Dumas
- Dr. STONE - Yakov Nikitin
- Fena: Pirate Princess - The Burgermeister of Libar-Oberstein (episode 4)
- Fighting Foodons - Hot Doggone-It
- The First Slam Dunk - Mitsuyoshi Anzai
- GaoGaiGar - Polonaise
- Great Pretender - Kudo
- Huntik: Secrets & Seekers - The Professor
- Kathy Rain - Sheriff Boyks and José the Bartender
- KikoRiki - Carlin/Bigoriki.
- When the series was re-dubbed by FUN Union, he was one of two voice actors (the other being Wayne Grayson as Wally/Wolliriki) to reprise his role. He also took over as Barry/Boboriki and Pin/Ottoriki.
- Kimba the White Lion (1997 movie) - Mr. Pompous/Dr. Mustache
- Kirby: Right Back at Ya! - Mayor Len Blustergas and Samo
- Mazinger Z: Infinity - Dr. Hell
- One Piece - Donquixote Homing
- Pokémon: The Series - The Narrator (Seasons 6-8), Raoul Contesta, Charon, Drayden
- Pokémon: I Choose You! - Bonji
- Promare - Deus Prometh
- Ratatoing - Greg & Narrator
- Shardlight - Max Huber, Pop
- Smite - Kuzenbo, King Kappa
- Sonic the Hedgehog:
- Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik and Prof. Gerald Robotnik in Sonic X. Later on, he took on both roles for the video games themselves. He's also the only Sonic voice actor to have his contract renewed, thus making him the only 4Kids voice actor still working in the Sonic games, despite the dubbing of the games being moved to the Los Angeles-based Studiopolis since 2010.
- Sonic Boom - Mayor Fink, Fastidious Beaver
- Sonic Frontiers - THE END
- Strangeland - The Clown
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) - Kirby King and The Garbageman
- Ultimate Muscle - Meat
- Unavowed - Stan Bates
- Viva Pińata - Langston Lickatoad
- Weathering With You - Yasui
- Whispers of a Machine - Commissary Andersson
- Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty - Dong Zhuo
- Yu-Gi-Oh! - Professor Arthur Hawkings and Gurimo
- Yu-Gi-Oh! GX - Jean Louis Bonaparte
Tropes associated with Mike Pollock:
- Creator's Favorite: His favorite video game (being one he worked on) is Sonic Colors.
- Disney Owns This Trope: Mike has stated that Sega owns the rights to his Eggman voice, hence why he's not allowed to use it for fan projects or any other role.
- Flip-Flop of God: He states that his Eggman voice can't be used in any fan projects for legal reasons but Big's Big Fishing Adventure 3 which, despite SEGA's marketing team promoting it, is an entirely independent fan project (but started as an Official Parody). He also reprised his role in the fan-made radio show Sonic and Tails R, although so did virtually every other pre-Studiopolis Sonic voice actor... although a subsequent pay dispute led to Pollock decisively stating, once and for all, that he would no longer appear in fan projects.
- I Am Not Spock: Downplayed. While Mike loves his role as Eggman, he has repeatedly expressed irritation at how little attention his other work receives, and is constantly having to remind users on Twitter that they're not talking to Eggman, just the actor who plays him.
- Mean Character, Nice Actor: His most iconic role is a tyrant who uses animals as batteries. That said, he, himself, is chill enough to do small interviews with fans.
- Why Fandom Can't Have Nice Things:
- After he was hornswoggled into saying the infamous "Snooping as usual" line from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (infamous because Long John Baldry's inflection of the line made "ping as" sound like "penis") and nearly got fired from the role of Eggman as a result, he announced that he wouldn't do vocal requests anymore. He eventually lightened up on it, but added some rules to future requests.note He later said the line in a Sonic Boom episode, though he didn't put the same vocal inflection on the "PINGAS" part. In terms of fan projects, Mike shot down vocal requests to say Eggman's infamous "announcement" from the Real-Time Fandub of Sonic Adventure 2, which is even more justified as all but one sentence of the spiel is overladen with vulgarities, and considering that Sonic is a family-friendly franchise it would have done his career in immediately.
- As a result of constantly being mocked for his involvements in various poorly-received projects (Ratatoing, Caillou, etc.), Mike had to make a separate page on his website explaining the struggles of getting consistent work as an independent voice actor, and how he doesn't regret working on those projects because they put food on the table.
- In 2023, as a result of an apparent pay dispute between himself and the creators of Sonic and Tails R, Pollock announced that he would no longer be appearing in fan projects of any kind.
- After he was hornswoggled into saying the infamous "Snooping as usual" line from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (infamous because Long John Baldry's inflection of the line made "ping as" sound like "penis") and nearly got fired from the role of Eggman as a result, he announced that he wouldn't do vocal requests anymore. He eventually lightened up on it, but added some rules to future requests.note He later said the line
