#Same thing with Xander; Amazing in Dragonball Z Abridged but boring in FEH

[childofaura]

What do you think about kaze’s VA? I know you mentioned you already had a long convo about this but I’m curious. Personally I like fates va over feh. There’s something kinda stiff about his feh lines to me. You can also ignore this if you want if it’s too redundant

No no, I'm absolutely happy to answer this because this has haunted me ever since FEH launched. You're all good, but be warned you WILL get a spiel about this.

So before I talk about Xander Mobus, we need to talk about the casting issue with FEH. In Fire Emblem Fates, David Stanbra voiced Xander, Kaze, Siegbert, Shura, Sumeragi, and Kilma. But suddenly, when FEH came out, Xander was listed as being played by George Spelvin. A lot of people on Behind the Voice Actors theorized that this was David Stanbra working under a pseudonym. They still insist that to this day, but absolutely nothing has confirmed this. Especially when Siegbert was introduced to FEH and people noticed that Todd Haberkorn was voicing him (Which, Todd, I love you, and I love your Morgan and Joshua. But Stanbra fit like a glove for Siegbert). Additionally, not a single alt for Xander has sounded anything like Stanbra's performance in Fates. And to continue, each one of Stanbra's roles has been recast. Because Stanbra can't be found on any social media, and because SUPPOSEDLY "George Spelvin" isn't an actual actor, we have no confirmation.

And this really sucks because David Stanbra, in each of his roles, did such an amazing job playing all of those characters and differentiating them. Xander was stern and commanding, but dutiful and loyal. Kaze was mild, reassuring, and compassionate. Siegbert was polite and eager. And Shura, dearest beloved Shura, was rough and fiery, but gentle and sweet.

So unless someone is somehow able to track down Stanbra and ask him what happened, we will never know. I believe that whoever is voicing Xander is not Stanbra himself, just due to the vast difference in voice quality.

NOW... We should get onto Xander Mobus.

Xander Mobus plays Kaze, Innes, and Arvis. While I have no reservations about Arvis and Innes (and I think he was actually a good pick for Innes), I have some BIG opinions on his Kaze voice.

Performance... like I said, I think he does ok. I don't feel like he uses a whole lot of crazy emotion with his roles, but Arvis and Innes aren't exactly high energy. And like you said about his role as Kaze, he sounds very stiff, like he's trying to mimic Kaze's formal-ness except he's not pulling it off. Kaze is respectful, yes, but he's also warm and inviting. Mobus makes him sound too distant. But Innes he does great, though I feel like with Arvis he's trying to sound too dramatic, less like a natural fit and more like a teenager trying to sound edgy scary. It's still not a bad performance for Arvis though.

And like I mentioned, he wasn't a good fit for Kaze. I just think his voice isn't as naturally deep as Stanbra's was, so while Kaze in Fates sounds like he's actually Saizo's twin brother, an equally deep voice accompanied not by bite but by embrace, in FEH he sounds like a meek teen younger brother. Once again, Innes was a great pick and Arvis was okay.

Range... I honestly don't know what to say about Mobus's range. In almost everything I've heard him in, he does the same exact generic anime protag voice. And yes, I know he was the new announcer for Smash back when SSB4 came out, but that's a voice ANY guy can do. Hell, there's videos of OneyNG doing that voice perfectly while he's horsing around with his buddies. If you ask me, his best performance and emotion was his role as Jimmy Firecracker in Dragonball Z Abridged. I didn't even know it was him in that series.

Rounding it all up... Xander Mobus is more or less a 7/10. He's a lot like Bryce Papenbrook where there's just too much going on with his performances, and unfortunately trying to fill Stanbra's shoes didn't help.