How different would the anime be now if 4Kids still ran the anime and.......

[Bulbajer]

I agree with the people who want the original voice actors back! It's hard for me to say hate 4Kids when I loved the show so much better when they dubbed it.

 

[Jukain]

I can take the change, it's the mentality that irks me. I once myself said that it was foolish to even suggest that this show will ever have a solid ending. I said that for different reasons than I do now. Back then, I had just accepted that it was the nature of the show to always start over, although then, it still gave us progression from the previous series. They always pulled off a bigger accomplishment than last time. I guess I just took it for granted that it would always be that way. True, they would delay a real end perhaps infinitely, but I still thought it would come with progress. I did not realize the flaw in this logic: there comes a point where this no longer becomes possible if progress continues. Unless we somehow have Tobias taken to his full realization: with a legend or several legends that are unstoppable by the anime's standards. Even if this means having a team of six Arceus. (don't even ask me how that's possible, they would MAKE it possible) Of course, there is one way to avert even this: Ash himself becomes a deity in some measure, perhaps even ascending to be a pokemon in his own right. He rewrites the multiverse to be his own and surpasses all forms of Arceus to do so. Either way, there is no way they could keep trumping themselves forever. I made that mistake myself once. From it, I realized the importance of limiting the strength of my characters and more importantly that things should be ended before things go out of control. I do not like the solution the writers chose, to forgo continuity and return to the style of years ago when the character development no longer made sense for that. There is nothing to say or do now, but that is why I am still here, too. It could have only been a one time thing, but I cannot help but know that their point was made. Not even continuity is sacred. That alone should've destroyed me and anyone else that expected progress. I did not expect an end, but that was perhaps foolish of me given my logic. Even if they do improve, what then? I wait for them to do it again? It would most undoubtedly get to that point regardless of what you believe in. By now, even expecting DP again is almost folly, given how they've chosen to end this gen, and that even amidst what would've otherwise been a fairly decent idea, they still muck it up and by now, it looks like they can't decide whether they want to be serious or comic. I don't know what it is I expect anymore. If I expect sense, I know I'm never going to get it. This is why I got into fanfiction years ago. I should've taken the hint when Piplup disappeared from active posting. Regardless, I will see this to whatever end it takes me to. If this is to be my last ride, then so be it. I don't even think XY can save this, but I owe it to myself to at least see what it is they do.

 

[Pokémon Master Ash]

It's hard for me to say hate 4Kids when I loved the show so much better when they dubbed it.

Yep, that about sums up how I feel in a nutshell.

I can take the change, it's the mentality that irks me. I once myself said that it was foolish to even suggest that this show will ever have a solid ending. I said that for different reasons than I do now. Back then, I had just accepted that it was the nature of the show to always start over, although then, it still gave us progression from the previous series. They always pulled off a bigger accomplishment than last time. I guess I just took it for granted that it would always be that way. True, they would delay a real end perhaps infinitely, but I still thought it would come with progress. I did not realize the flaw in this logic: there comes a point where this no longer becomes possible if progress continues. Unless we somehow have Tobias taken to his full realization: with a legend or several legends that are unstoppable by the anime's standards. Even if this means having a team of six Arceus. (don't even ask me how that's possible, they would MAKE it possible) Of course, there is one way to avert even this: Ash himself becomes a deity in some measure, perhaps even ascending to be a pokemon in his own right. He rewrites the multiverse to be his own and surpasses all forms of Arceus to do so. Either way, there is no way they could keep trumping themselves forever. I made that mistake myself once. From it, I realized the importance of limiting the strength of my characters and more importantly that things should be ended before things go out of control. I do not like the solution the writers chose, to forgo continuity and return to the style of years ago when the character development no longer made sense for that. There is nothing to say or do now, but that is why I am still here, too. It could have only been a one time thing, but I cannot help but know that their point was made. Not even continuity is sacred. That alone should've destroyed me and anyone else that expected progress. I did not expect an end, but that was perhaps foolish of me given my logic. Even if they do improve, what then? I wait for them to do it again? It would most undoubtedly get to that point regardless of what you believe in. By now, even expecting DP again is almost folly, given how they've chosen to end this gen, and that even amidst what would've otherwise been a fairly decent idea, they still muck it up and by now, it looks like they can't decide whether they want to be serious or comic. I don't know what it is I expect anymore. If I expect sense, I know I'm never going to get it. This is why I got into fanfiction years ago. I should've taken the hint when Piplup disappeared from active posting. Regardless, I will see this to whatever end it takes me to. If this is to be my last ride, then so be it. I don't even think XY can save this, but I owe it to myself to at least see what it is they do.

I know how you feel in that regard. Believe me, I like this show as simple, childish, and goofy myself like in OS/early AG/BW (I know, I'm stupid for that, but hear me out). It still needs a TAD bit of maturity that mid-AG+ and DP brought to the table to make it even better. I hated the DP series (it's probably the best, but it didn't work with me that well, since the whole change-over still lingered and the show was getting mature was a tough adjustment for me), but I can't deny with each saga Ash was improving his skills up until BW. With BW, that seems like it's all gone. I myself don't like that change, but BW renewed my interest because I identify with the show a lot when it keeps itself light-hearted nature (yes, not the Unova League BAD, I mean the reg eps, you know?).

 

[Cybersai]

I would have liked 4kids to at least do Battle Frontier since it was part of AG, but after that it doesn't matter too much to me. Sure, TR would have been more bearable in DP, but again, it means little.

I like the PUSA cast for all the DP and BW characters, like Dawn, Paul, Barry, Cilan, Iris, etc....so I can't imagine what 4kids takes on them would be like. I keep having this disturbing feeling that Dawn would have been voiced by Lisa Ortiz...especially since Dawn's dub voice sounds somewhat similar to Lisa Ortiz's characters.

 

[Pokémon Master Ash]

I would have liked 4kids to at least do Battle Frontier since it was part of AG, but after that it doesn't matter too much to me. Sure, TR would have been more bearable in DP, but again, it means little.

I like the PUSA cast for all the DP and BW characters, like Dawn, Paul, Barry, Cilan, Iris, etc....so I can't imagine what 4kids takes on them would be like. I keep having this disturbing feeling that Dawn would have been voiced by Lisa Ortiz...especially since Dawn's dub voice sounds somewhat similar to Lisa Ortiz's characters.

True. Iris was kind of "meh...it's okay" when she first started for me, but she's better now. Other than that, I agree.

Gotta a good point on TRio. Same goes for Brock. Even if Eric Stuart, Rachael Lillis, and Maddie Blaustein were still in the main cast, they'd be playing the flanderized versions of the chars (IMO).

I loved Bill's Brock in BF, so I can't complain there. Only the DP version sucked to me, but I guess Brock just aged 5-10 years or something so I treat it like that. I think he was still good in his own way, but that's when I developed a really strong preference for Eric's.

 

[Jukain]

I can understand your sentiments. I take it as another sign that I no longer belong. This whole fandom is rooted in how it was originally. I have said before I left that mentality behind years ago, and as a result, I no longer understand why it is people feel this way. I will not stop liking Pokemon itself because that is a choice I made years ago when I first got into it. I was already "too old" even then, but I got into it anyway. I was probably still a kid at heart. Mediating circumstances changed that. Even though AG and DP were more serious relatively, they were still frivolous in some ways. I even enjoyed the now famous Evil Togepi ep. You might say BW spoiled even what was good for me because now I can deconstruct everything now that it has laid bare all the flaws the anime ever had. I cannot be a little kid anymore, nor do I want to pretend I am. I'm glad that was purged. I may not understand it, but I know I cannot change it.

 

[Pokémon Master Ash]

I can understand your sentiments. I take it as another sign that I no longer belong. This whole fandom is rooted in how it was originally. I have said before I left that mentality behind years ago, and as a result, I no longer understand why it is people feel this way. I will not stop liking Pokemon itself because that is a choice I made years ago when I first got into it. I was already "too old" even then, but I got into it anyway. I was probably still a kid at heart. Mediating circumstances changed that. Even though AG and DP were more serious relatively, they were still frivolous in some ways. I even enjoyed the now famous Evil Togepi ep. You might say BW spoiled even what was good for me because now I can deconstruct everything now that it has laid bare all the flaws the anime ever had. I cannot be a little kid anymore, nor do I want to pretend I am. I'm glad that was purged. I may not understand it, but I know I cannot change it.

I also enjoyed "Where No Togepi Has Gone Before!" myself. One of my fav DP eps (despite that it was filler).

Yeah, it really does suck, I totally understand where you're coming from. It's an awful feeling. I felt the way you do now in BW, back in DP. It feels like you're out of place at times and you feel kinda lonely.

Hopefully X and Y is a more mature series so that you can get back into the swing of things. I'm willing to give a more mature feel series another go. I did like DP all-in-all, but it's just my least favorite of the series (the first half was really rough for me, but I did enjoy the second half greatly).

I did feel OS had some great emotional moments, though, and Kanto/OI had real uniqueness that make them stand-out to me.

As for the dub change and each series/generation, it's all preference in the end.

AG/DP kinda fits the more mature series loving fan (I did like AG and the second half of DP, though, myself), while OS/BW kinda fits the light-hearted, more child-at-heart/childish fan.

The 4Kids dub tends to work better for those who like lighter voices for males and deeper voices for females with more focus on TRio's scripts and dub BGM, while the TPCi dub tends to work better for those who like deeper voices for males and higher voices for females, want a more uncut/faithful dub, and like less editing.

 

[Cybersai]

I would have liked 4kids to at least do Battle Frontier since it was part of AG, but after that it doesn't matter too much to me. Sure, TR would have been more bearable in DP, but again, it means little.

I like the PUSA cast for all the DP and BW characters, like Dawn, Paul, Barry, Cilan, Iris, etc....so I can't imagine what 4kids takes on them would be like. I keep having this disturbing feeling that Dawn would have been voiced by Lisa Ortiz...especially since Dawn's dub voice sounds somewhat similar to Lisa Ortiz's characters.

True. Iris was kind of "meh...it's okay" when she first started for me, but she's better now. Other than that, I agree.

Gotta a good point on TRio. Same goes for Brock. Even if Eric Stuart, Rachael Lillis, and Maddie Blaustein were still in the main cast, they'd be playing the flanderized versions of the chars (IMO).

I loved Bill's Brock in BF, so I can't complain there. Only the DP version sucked to me, but I guess Brock just aged 5-10 years or something so I treat it like that. I think he was still good in his own way, but that's when I developed a really strong preference for Eric's.

Well if I had my way Brock would have left when AG ended, so we wouldn't have to worry about him being recasted...aside from cameos I guess.

Take Sarah's Ash voice as to what it is now and place it back in DP, and rewrite TR's dialogue and the dub wouldn't have been so bad. Plus sadly Maddie would have passed either way, so Meowth was going to be recasted by 2008 even if 4kids still dubbed. Sad but true.

 

[Pokémon Master Ash]

I would have liked 4kids to at least do Battle Frontier since it was part of AG, but after that it doesn't matter too much to me. Sure, TR would have been more bearable in DP, but again, it means little.

I like the PUSA cast for all the DP and BW characters, like Dawn, Paul, Barry, Cilan, Iris, etc....so I can't imagine what 4kids takes on them would be like. I keep having this disturbing feeling that Dawn would have been voiced by Lisa Ortiz...especially since Dawn's dub voice sounds somewhat similar to Lisa Ortiz's characters.

True. Iris was kind of "meh...it's okay" when she first started for me, but she's better now. Other than that, I agree.

Gotta a good point on TRio. Same goes for Brock. Even if Eric Stuart, Rachael Lillis, and Maddie Blaustein were still in the main cast, they'd be playing the flanderized versions of the chars (IMO).

I loved Bill's Brock in BF, so I can't complain there. Only the DP version sucked to me, but I guess Brock just aged 5-10 years or something so I treat it like that. I think he was still good in his own way, but that's when I developed a really strong preference for Eric's.

Well if I had my way Brock would have left when AG ended, so we wouldn't have to worry about him being recasted...aside from cameos I guess.

Take Sarah's Ash voice as to what it is now and place it back in DP, and rewrite TR's dialogue and the dub wouldn't have been so bad. Plus sadly Maddie would have passed either way, so Meowth was going to be recasted by 2008 even if 4kids still dubbed. Sad but true.

Agreed. I wish Sarah would re-dub the BF and early DP seasons with her later DP seasons and BW voice myself. It was extraordinarily rough, deep, and forced at first, IMO. Never really had a problem with TPCi's voices for the TRio myself at any point other than Jimmy's Meowth in BW (still like the Stuart/Lillis/Blaustein group the most, but they have always been fairly bearable and very similar voices to me in comparison to the protagonists' voices).

The DP dub would've been significantly better if it had been carried out the way you described it. I wouldn't have minded it at all myself if it was done that way.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I would have liked 4kids to at least do Battle Frontier since it was part of AG, but after that it doesn't matter too much to me. Sure, TR would have been more bearable in DP, but again, it means little.

I like the PUSA cast for all the DP and BW characters, like Dawn, Paul, Barry, Cilan, Iris, etc....so I can't imagine what 4kids takes on them would be like. I keep having this disturbing feeling that Dawn would have been voiced by Lisa Ortiz...especially since Dawn's dub voice sounds somewhat similar to Lisa Ortiz's characters.

4Kids dubbing Battle Frontier to finish AG would have been kind of nice, but on the bright side, Brock's and especially Ash's new voices showed some good signs of improvements by early DP, which was probably better than trying to get their own voices for the characters right at the start of a new series. Cilan and Iris probably would have been voiced by the same people since their voice actors were used in some of 4Kids' other dubs like Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, 5D's and Zexal, the latter in which they still have their roles in after Konami took over the license. I'm not sure what voice they would have gone for with Paul and Barry. I could have seen Dawn being voiced by Lisa Ortiz had 4Kids continued dubbing that. Since I like Lisa Ortiz, I would have been okay with that, although it would have been really weird to think about Lina Inverse from Slayers every time Dawn spoke in DP. I do like the voices TPCI picked for those three characters though.

 

[Cybersai]

Not really sure if being dubbed by 4kids would have changed peoples opinions on DP or BW THAT much. Most people who watch them do it in Japanese anyway so the dub has become less important than it used to.

Likewise the actual writing/story/characters of DP and BW would be exactly the same from the Japanese writers, so if you disliked certain events or characters in these seasons it wouldn't be any different. The only thing it would have really helped is DP-era Team Rocket.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Not really sure if being dubbed by 4kids would have changed peoples opinions on DP or BW THAT much. Most people who watch them do it in Japanese anyway so the dub has become less important than it used to.

Likewise the actual writing/story/characters of DP and BW would be exactly the same from the Japanese writers, so if you disliked certain events or characters in these seasons it wouldn't be any different. The only thing it would have really helped is DP-era Team Rocket.

Not everyone here follows the Japanese version. I don't at least outside of the preview information/news for upcoming arcs. Though, I agree that the general opinions of those series probably wouldn't change that much had 4Kids dub DP and BW. Their flaws and their strengths would be about the same. I think that there could have been a chance that 4Kids would edit DP a bit more with Chimchar being abused and throwing in a line to imply that Cyrus and Hunter J survived, especially if DP was airing on one of their Saturday morning blocks instead of Cartoon Network after Kids' WB stopped airing it.

 

[Pokémon Master Ash]

- I wouldn't complain about the voices of the older characters still on the show.
- I wouldn't complain about the voice acting (hint: Porter is a perfect example of why I don't like it sometimes).
- I wouldn't complain about the intros.
- I wouldn't complain about the dub's background music since DuArt took over.
- I wouldn't complain about the script writing/dialogue for the dub for Ash and Team Rocket.

In short, I know it'd be a better experience for me. I don't know about you guys, but...XD.

 

[PockyAddict]

Ash will still feel like the same ash too me.

But yeah, in BW, 4kids would'nt have to do anything at all, but paint edit a bunch of signs and words.

 

[FANG-TAN]

It wouldn't make much difference to me since I don't watch the dub. At the very least, my ears wouldn't bleed whenever I came across a post-Houen dub scene on Youtube.

 

[Pokémon Master Ash]

The only drawbacks I can see to 4Kids' continuing on, besides the obvious silly edits and errors, is them slicing and dicing some of DP's scenes. I'm 100% sure Hunter J would've just vanished to the "Shadow Realm" if 4Kids was still dubbing the show.

Hey, just because I think they did a pretty good job with Pokemon, doesn't mean I didn't have problems with 4Kids myself. XD.

That being said, TPCi did a terrible job with DP anyway in my book (except Dawn and Paul...as harsh as her voice was at times, it fit Dawn very well; Paul's seiyu is actually a bit WORSE than Julian Rebolledo, IMO). I don't even think 4Kids could've done nearly as bad with DP as I think TPCi did with it.

At the very least, we wouldn't have had Zoppi Rockets for 4 years. *Takes a bow and exits the stage.*

As for BW, we don't even have onigiri (aka riceballs) anymore. I mean, might as well 4Kids just have kept it at this point since Unova is based of NY anyway! The worst they could do...is paint some kanji and Tajirian away...I mean...the BW dub might've been their best dub yet. It was already practically tailor-made for them when you think about it! xD.

As for the unfortunate passing away of Mrs. Blaustein (R.I.P.) in the dub's case, Nathan Price's Meowth was still largely superior to James Cathcart's Meowth, IMHO. So, Meowth's voice would've still been better than it is right now.

CONCLUSION: All in all, for all the minor losses that we would incur, we'd have had a major gain if 4Kids was still dubbing the anime. I can say without hesitation the English dub would be significantly higher in quality if 4Kids still dubbed the anime right now. :mallet:

 

[Master Cyrus]

Chimchar was never abused. All the sad scenes would have been cut. He was just sad and scared because he was a pussy, not because of the onscreen actions of his trainer.

 

[The Power of Pika]

The show would still have the usual edits and I would never have changed as a person. It was quite likely I would have went Japanese only aswell since I was becoming more and more obsessed with it.

When the VA change happened I actually changed as a person thanks to the switch. I'm not the same person as I was during Hoenn 4kids era.

I have been looking at archives in other forums to get a gist on what I was like back before the switch. I was very different and personally I hope I never go back to that.

To put it nice and simple before the VA change I disliked 4kids before the switch. A old post on one forum I made actually implied 4kids were bad dubbers of Pokemon. This was during Hoenn. I wanted team rocket to take a break because I felt they were getting too weird in Hoenn. I wanted Ash to have an adult male voice for some reason. I do know towards the end I did want someone who could be more like rica if I couldn't have the other voice. I remember comparing Veronica and Rica together for a while aswell.

I wasn't happy with Ash and team rocket and judging by the fact I was actually suggesting changing the actor long before he had the VA change means I wasn't even happy with veronica's direction during Hoenn.

The VA switch made me like the current actors which in turn made me like the old actors. I started to learn about different style approaches and started to appreciate different approaches. Which allowed me to like both.

If the VA change never happened, I wouldn't be the person I am now.

Personally I feel I've become a better person in some ways due to the change. I respect and like both sets of actors as a result of this change. I admit I do still fall flat on my face sometimes when old habits resurface but I get back up and try again.

Life has good experiences and bad experiences. Sometimes it's what you learn from both good and bad that makes you a stronger and sometimes a wiser person in the long run.

As for the show itself. I wouldn't know. 4kids due to problems were changing their tactics quite a bit in later years. I personally find Dinosaur king their best dub. However if they never got into debt and all those issues they may have not bothered to change tactics with some of their shows.
Who knows what they would have done.

Everything played out a certain way and well if one thing was changed everything may have played out completely differently. Though on the other hand 4kids could have still went down and saban might have even gotten pokemon.

At the moment I suspect edits would still happen as said. Also I can't really imagine what the show would be like with 4kids. It would all depend on the direction they would have made whether they got more edit happy or got better. It would have all depended on their money situation.

 

[Pokémon Master Ash]

The show would still have the usual edits and I would never have changed as a person. It was quite likely I would have went Japanese only aswell since I was becoming more and more obsessed with it.

When the VA change happened I actually changed as a person thanks to the switch. I'm not the same person as I was during Hoenn 4kids era.

I have been looking at archives in other forums to get a gist on what I was like back before the switch. I was very different and personally I hope I never go back to that.

To put it nice and simple before the VA change I disliked 4kids before the switch. A old post on one forum I made actually implied 4kids were bad dubbers of Pokemon. This was during Hoenn. I wanted team rocket to take a break because I felt they were getting too weird in Hoenn. I wanted Ash to have an adult male voice for some reason. I do know towards the end I did want someone who could be more like rica if I couldn't have the other voice. I remember comparing Veronica and Rica together for a while aswell.

I wasn't happy with Ash and team rocket and judging by the fact I was actually suggesting changing the actor long before he had the VA change means I wasn't even happy with veronica's direction during Hoenn.

The VA switch made me like the current actors which in turn made me like the old actors. I started to learn about different style approaches and started to appreciate different approaches. Which allowed me to like both.

If the VA change never happened, I wouldn't be the person I am now.

Personally I feel I've become a better person in some ways due to the change. I respect and like both sets of actors as a result of this change. I admit I do still fall flat on my face sometimes when old habits resurface but I get back up and try again.

Life has good experiences and bad experiences. Sometimes it's what you learn from both good and bad that makes you a stronger and sometimes a wiser person in the long run.

As for the show itself. I wouldn't know. 4kids due to problems were changing their tactics quite a bit in later years. I personally find Dinosaur king their best dub. However if they never got into debt and all those issues they may have not bothered to change tactics with some of their shows.
Who knows what they would have done.

Everything played out a certain way and well if one thing was changed everything may have played out completely differently. Though on the other hand 4kids could have still went down and saban might have even gotten pokemon.

At the moment I suspect edits would still happen as said. Also I can't really imagine what the show would be like with 4kids. It would all depend on the direction they would have made whether they got more edit happy or got better. It would have all depended on their money situation.

Personally, Pokemon was not 4Kids' best dub to me, either. It was my favorite of their dubs, but I definitely knew it wasn't their best effort. Actually, I'd say it was Shaman King Uncut! or Dinosaur King as well (they acknowledge Japan for once! LOL). That being said, I totally respect where you're coming from on the issue. I really didn't have any problems with 4Kids, but maybe that's because as after 400+ episodes I was just TOO used to them at that point (if the switch happened at say...150 episodes...it wouldn't have been nearly as grating for me) to accept anything else at that point.

That's why DBZ's switch doesn't even register as a blip on the radar in terms of how jarring it was when compared to this for me. However, I admit I do feel the actual replacements in DBZ were FAR worse than the TPCi cast ever was, even in MoMP...DBZ Season 3 by FUNi was an absolute disaster back in 1999. Bad memories. That, and DBZ actually lets the characters age (something that if Pokemon would let happen, the switch would've been fine in that sense by me). I actually felt Chris Sabat and Sonny Strait were already improvements over Brian Drummond's Vegeta (loved his acting, but his voice just sucked for Vegeta) and Terry Klassen (who was just too wimpy for my liking).

Well, I always liked Veronica's Ash since mid-Kanto (thought she kinda sucked in early Kanto, but she still did good w/emotional moments), and in Hoenn I feel her voice was actually improved for Ash significantly at that point. As for Team Rocket...not to be rude, but I truly feel they were less annoying in the 4Kids dub to me, even in Hoenn where ES lost his touch with James a bit (fruity James still beats super nasally James for me, but it's close). The only good voice James had in the dub was the OLD Eric Stuart from Kanto-Johto.

It depends on if we had the 4Kids that dubbed Zexal (which was no better than TPCi has been for me- half the talent pool is comprised of the same "okay" VAs for me) or the 4Kids that dubbed Dinosaur King! and Ultimate Muscle that I would want back as well. If the latter, I'd take them back in a heartbeat (I loved that 4Kids). If the former...well yeah, I see where you're coming from myself. I must admit, it's been depressing to see their dubs getting so bad since 5D's ended for me. Though, Konami is personally horrifying me as well with their Zexal dub too, and it's essentially just the 4Kids dub again with another company's name slammed on to it. Yet people are okay with that because it's not 4Kids: it's that kind of hypocrisy that bugs me (not what your saying, that's different and a respectable legitimate opinion on the issue).

Well, I'm mixed on how 4Kids did during Hoenn myself. I must say I actually thought 4Kids was getting much better in AG as far as the movies go (they were much worse in the OS here, particularly M01). As far as the dub of the series, I understand and I see that perspective as well. I feel the 4Kids dub was at its best from mid-Kanto to the end of Johto myself. I didn't see much of anything drop at all in their Hoenn dub, barring the replaced music which was the turn-off for me there, but I can understand. I actually liked the dub BGM in Hoenn since it was just repeated from Kanto-Johto, so that didn't bug me too much. xD.

 

[The Power of Pika]

The show would still have the usual edits and I would never have changed as a person. It was quite likely I would have went Japanese only aswell since I was becoming more and more obsessed with it.

When the VA change happened I actually changed as a person thanks to the switch. I'm not the same person as I was during Hoenn 4kids era.

I have been looking at archives in other forums to get a gist on what I was like back before the switch. I was very different and personally I hope I never go back to that.

To put it nice and simple before the VA change I disliked 4kids before the switch. A old post on one forum I made actually implied 4kids were bad dubbers of Pokemon. This was during Hoenn. I wanted team rocket to take a break because I felt they were getting too weird in Hoenn. I wanted Ash to have an adult male voice for some reason. I do know towards the end I did want someone who could be more like rica if I couldn't have the other voice. I remember comparing Veronica and Rica together for a while aswell.

I wasn't happy with Ash and team rocket and judging by the fact I was actually suggesting changing the actor long before he had the VA change means I wasn't even happy with veronica's direction during Hoenn.

The VA switch made me like the current actors which in turn made me like the old actors. I started to learn about different style approaches and started to appreciate different approaches. Which allowed me to like both.

If the VA change never happened, I wouldn't be the person I am now.

Personally I feel I've become a better person in some ways due to the change. I respect and like both sets of actors as a result of this change. I admit I do still fall flat on my face sometimes when old habits resurface but I get back up and try again.

Life has good experiences and bad experiences. Sometimes it's what you learn from both good and bad that makes you a stronger and sometimes a wiser person in the long run.

As for the show itself. I wouldn't know. 4kids due to problems were changing their tactics quite a bit in later years. I personally find Dinosaur king their best dub. However if they never got into debt and all those issues they may have not bothered to change tactics with some of their shows.
Who knows what they would have done.

Everything played out a certain way and well if one thing was changed everything may have played out completely differently. Though on the other hand 4kids could have still went down and saban might have even gotten pokemon.

At the moment I suspect edits would still happen as said. Also I can't really imagine what the show would be like with 4kids. It would all depend on the direction they would have made whether they got more edit happy or got better. It would have all depended on their money situation.

Personally, Pokemon was not 4Kids' best dub to me, either. It was my favorite of their dubs, but I definitely knew it wasn't their best effort. Actually, I'd say it was Shaman King Uncut! or Dinosaur King as well (they acknowledge Japan for once! LOL). That being said, I totally respect where you're coming from on the issue. I really didn't have any problems with 4Kids, but maybe that's because as after 400+ episodes I was just TOO used to them at that point (if the switch happened at say...150 episodes...it wouldn't have been nearly as grating for me) to accept anything else at that point.

That's why DBZ's switch doesn't even register as a blip on the radar in terms of how jarring it was when compared to this for me. However, I admit I do feel the actual replacements in DBZ were FAR worse than the TPCi cast ever was, even in MoMP...DBZ Season 3 by FUNi was an absolute disaster back in 1999. Bad memories. That, and DBZ actually lets the characters age (something that if Pokemon would let happen, the switch would've been fine in that sense by me). I actually felt Chris Sabat and Sonny Strait were already improvements over Brian Drummond's Vegeta (loved his acting, but his voice just sucked for Vegeta) and Terry Klassen (who was just too wimpy for my liking).

Well, I always liked Veronica's Ash since mid-Kanto (thought she kinda sucked in early Kanto, but she still did good w/emotional moments), and in Hoenn I feel her voice was actually improved for Ash significantly at that point. As for Team Rocket...not to be rude, but I truly feel they were less annoying in the 4Kids dub to me, even in Hoenn where ES lost his touch with James a bit (fruity James still beats super nasally James for me, but it's close). The only good voice James had in the dub was the OLD Eric Stuart from Kanto-Johto.

It depends on if we had the 4Kids that dubbed Zexal (which was no better than TPCi has been for me- half the talent pool is comprised of the same "okay" VAs for me) or the 4Kids that dubbed Dinosaur King! and Ultimate Muscle that I would want back as well. If the latter, I'd take them back in a heartbeat (I loved that 4Kids). If the former...well yeah, I see where you're coming from myself. I must admit, it's been depressing to see their dubs getting so bad since 5D's ended for me. Though, Konami is personally horrifying me as well with their Zexal dub too, and it's essentially just the 4Kids dub again with another company's name slammed on to it. Yet people are okay with that because it's not 4Kids: it's that kind of hypocrisy that bugs me (not what your saying, that's different and a respectable legitimate opinion on the issue).

Well, I'm mixed on how 4Kids did during Hoenn myself. I must say I actually thought 4Kids was getting much better in AG as far as the movies go (they were much worse in the OS here, particularly M01). As far as the dub of the series, I understand and I see that perspective as well. I feel the 4Kids dub was at its best from mid-Kanto to the end of Johto myself. I didn't see much of anything drop at all in their Hoenn dub, barring the replaced music which was the turn-off for me there, but I can understand. I actually liked the dub BGM in Hoenn since it was just repeated from Kanto-Johto, so that didn't bug me too much. xD.

Well I am talking about a past opinion of mine before I changed anyway. I like 4kids now just so people don't get confused.

As for james. Back then I wasn't fond of Eric's approach in Hoenn. Now I look at james personality and look at it from a different perspective. Oddly even looking at James as a character without even thinking actors, fruity James is still my least favourite despite enjoying the jokes every now and then.

Personally James nasally voice doesn't bother me and I stopped noticing when I adjusted. If I had to pick between the different season James, my favourite James is the James that portrays the emotional personality to what I like. I tend to love his emotional side the best.=3
So for me I prefer emotional james more than Fruity James.

Emotional= Kanto, battle frontier and sinnoh
Fruity = Hoenn

I realise team rocket are comedy and I'll laugh at any James in that regard and don't mind any of them now.=)
However my favourite james is emotional in the more serious scenes and really touches me doing so when he has to be. The actor doing it doesn't matter. If the actor no matter who it is achieves the emotional episode then I'm happy.

That's how I think now.

Those old opinions I posted up in the previous post was just a taste of my old personality prior to the switch. To be quite honest as much as I want to discuss my old thinking pattern. I honestly don't even remember all the reasons why I thought that way.XP
However I do admit I've fallen flat on my face a few times slightly moving back to old habits on occasions. Not to the full extent obviously but enough to make me notice and jump back out. I changed but there's still a few kinks to iron out every now and then as they say.^-^;;;;

I just wanted to take a different approach to the whole if 4kids had kept the show and the switch never happened. Sorry if this is so confusing. I'm literally flipping between how I am now versus how I use to think.

As for the music of the dub.
Yeah 4kids using the same dub music in Hoenn as they did in kanto and Johto didn't really bother me in sense of annoyance. I just had heard them a million times and wanted to hear more new music than we got. The Japanese version was quite a refresher for me so I thought more japanese music would help.

Now days I personally think I would have liked more new dub tunes to look back on for Hoenn that were specifically tailored to hoenn than what we got. Also it would have been nice the tunes we did get could have been released on CD.
We got the openings and the rap. Where was the rest of the new Hoenn dub music?=(

I feel 4kids really missed a chance back then personally.

Anyway I could see 4kids using the same old music right to the very end of the show.=/