How to list foreign voice actors on character pages

Per this ATT, it seems we should have a policy on how (or even if) we should list the numerous foreign voice actor dubs on character pages.

A sandbox compiling character sheets that have very long lists: Excessive Foreign Voice Actors.

Edited by Synchronicity on Oct 19th 2022 at 4:08:53 AM

For context, a lot of pages get ridiculous some having list of actors longer than description of the character or the character picture.

Suggestion so far by Synchronicity are to include the English voice actor, and if the work isn't originally in English (as this is an english wiki) and whoever is the original actor, with others hidden behind a note.

And yeah, having this as an actual policy one can point to would be nice.

Edited by Ghilz on Oct 18th 2022 at 3:37:12 AM

I know that over at the TFWiki.net, it's the same policy where the first language and then second language are visible (either "English, Japanese" or vice versa, depending on media origin), while the dubs are under a "note". For example, Transformers: Animated Starscream has his English voice listed first, then his Japanese dub, and then the rest of his voice dubs under a "more" label. For another example, Fortress Maximus' American appearance has "English, Japanese", whereas his Transformers: ★Headmasters section has his Japanese VA listed first with the other languages under a note.

Edited by eagle108 on Oct 18th 2022 at 3:44:30 AM

TF Wiki does have the advantage that the works are always either Japanese or English in origin, but yeah.

I'm personally a fan of original language (if applicable) and English and not bothering with the note at all. We have the Translations project for listing the relevant VAs/actors in other languages.

Edited by Karxrida on Oct 18th 2022 at 3:49:43 AM

Well, to me the question is two-fold: is there any point in listing any voice actors other than the original language and English, and if there is, how should they be described?

Synch brought up Marinette's page on MLB and it has 26 different countries' voice actors listed. That's way too many, IMO.

I'm feeling the same way, this is an English language wiki, and while we do have tropers from all over, listing anything other than the original language and English VAs seems like overkill. We're not IMDB after all.

It's totally overkill.

About the Characters.Marvel Cinematic Universe pages, do you think we should list all of the foreign voice actors or simply list the important ones?

I agree with laser, listing English and the original language (if not English) should be all that we list. Even just that can be a lot if there's a long-running series or a different VA was cast for each installment.

I'm not entirely sure how we can make this policy, do we need a vote? Or just some time for other opinions?

Why are we listing any of the voice actors? It's not a voice-over role, it's a live-action role. I would say get rid of all of them.

I'll wait for more responses, but it seems like most people are for listing the native language and the English one (if they're different). I think the more divisive decision we have to make is what to do with the pages that have a giant amount of voice actors on them (put them in a note, delete them entirely, etc.).

Well, a dub would turn the role into a voice-over, but I agree they are unnecessary and should be deleted.

I fall on the side that we should just delete extraneous VAs. Like was said earlier (also from laser), we're not IMDB. Nor are we BtVA or any other voice over fanon wiki.

Edited by Hello83433 on Oct 18th 2022 at 9:07:26 AM

Eventually we will need a crowner, as even if the ideas on this thread are the only options to choose from, there's still two competing suggestions.

But we should tag/PM the editors who are adding these VA credits to join the discussion, so that we don't have just a few voices (specifically, those interested in cleanup) dominating the debate. There are certainly more options than just the two suggested, especially when it comes to franchise character subpages.

I also wouldn't object to having the tropers who are adding the VA credits join in the discussion.

In terms of the Miraculous pages, it goes all the way back to when the pages were split, and the history doesn't go any further than that. So that might be a wash (at least for that page).

EDIT: I sent a PM to the troper I mentioned when I replied to the ATT query with a link here. They added a ton of voice actors to Kermit's page and have mainly added Latin American voice actors to pages.

Edited by Arctimon on Oct 18th 2022 at 10:11:10 AM

Is this a case of a few tropers adding a bunch of names, or did it just grow and grow and grow over time?

The Kermit page was a giant edit very recently. I don't know about the Miraculous pages because the edit history doesn't go back that far.

Maybe someone smarter than me can figure it out, but I sure can't.

Depends on the page. Kermit and the Ladybug thing are just two example. Another I brought up in the ATT is Characters.God Of War Series Kratos where based on the history the various voice actors were added over time by multiple editors (Latest addition being in Jan 2021 by a troper that doesnt seem to have edited since Nov 2021 but whose main contributions was adding Foreign V As to character pages)

Edited by Ghilz on Oct 18th 2022 at 7:58:36 AM

On occasions, I've added some foreign voice actors to character pages (some with the hidden "Other languages" notes).

Also, I wonder what we should do with the actors who also dub their characters into their native languages like Diego Luna on The Book of Life and Rogue One, Gael García Bernal on Coco, and so on?

Edited by gjjones on Oct 18th 2022 at 11:42:37 AM

Okay, I will firstly admit that I am biased here seeing how I am Latin American and seeing the credits to Latin American V As being listed on character sheets feels me with some kind of pride.

Having said that, I agree with the idea of hiding the other V As that aren't neither the original ones nor the american ones under a note. I think in that way things look cleaner but the information isn't lost.

I actually feel all VAs (sans the English VA and whoever voiced the character in the original version^note assuming the show's original language isn't English) should be hidden. This is because I want to keep the information, yet still make it look clean.

I remember fighting with Michael Katsuro over this, and luisedgarf explained why he decided to list latin american spanish voice actors.

If any of you wanna take a look...

While I also would like to have my native language on the page for dubs, I vote for keeping only the original and the english voice actors.

That was the query I was thinking of and couldn't find when setting this thread up.

So far we have two options present, one is just original language and English, the other is to have original and English but with other VAs listed under a note. At the moment I don't really have a preference between the two (I too would like to see one of my native languages always listed, but that's a bit myopic).

I agree about putting foreign voice actors in a note tag, but not removing them outright, especially in the case of Spanish-language dubs, since those dubs are also heard in the U.S., not to mention the Unfortunate Implications that American voice actors worth more than their foreign counterparts, even when if in Real Life this is not always the case, especially those who dub anime or foreign media.

Besides, we have Creator pages about foreign non-English voice actors, so we should eliminate them as well in that case, leaving only the American and Japanese ones, with all the implications that come with it.

Another solution would be putting the original voice actor exclusively, and putting any dub voice actor, including English-speaking ones in a note tag as well.

Edited by luisedgarf on Oct 18th 2022 at 11:52:12 AM