[Kotaku] Fans are Concerned about Barret's Voice in Final Fantasy 7 remake. A "hyper-masculine cartoon" and a "Mr. T facsimile"

[Aswitch]

Eh, I mean I thought it was fine. I mean going by his dialogue in the original FF7, It felt pretty accurate as to what i'd think he'd sound like. Kinda difficult to have a character's tone be any different than that at least while not staying true to the original intention of the character. I feel a comedic, obnoxious tone which is inline with who he's originally portrayed as in the original. I could see this angle if this is far from his original character design, but i don't think that's the case. As a black man, I'm personally fine with it. He actually sounds more in like with Bullhorn from black dynamite to me.

Also it's just 2 LINES OF DIALOGUE....Let's just relax a little bit here and let some more content release before we start pulling out racist cards.

 

[signal]

[Barret walks into Mako reactor and looks down at the Lifestream pools]

 

[CocoaFusion]

Sounds fine to me. It's why Barret is awesome.

 

[Etrian Darkness]

Barret sounds fine?

He's hamming it up a little but why wouldn't you when your character has a gatling gun on his arm.

 

[BocoDragon]

Oh a Mr. T facsimile eh? Wow that would be so off from his original 1997 character........

 

[Jonathan Lanza]

I will admit there's too little lines for me to really make a judgement but I REALLY hope they resist the urge to make talk in jive. It's an outdated stereotype that doesn't even make any sense in the context of Final Fantasy VII.

 

[Deleted member 22405]

https://twitter.com/chuchumcgoo/status/1126627347485081600?s=21

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Sooooo people are against this? Cause in all honesty I'd fucking love this kinda charisma.

I will admit there's too little lines for me to really make a judgement but I REALLY hope they resist the urge to make talk in jive. It's an outdated stereotype that doesn't even make any sense in the context of Final Fantasy VII.

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What a very silly thing to say

 

[skillzilla81]

Oh a Mr. T facsimile eh? Wow that would be so off from his original 1997 character........

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It was shit then and it's shit now.

What's your point?

 

[Deleted member 6230]

Oh a Mr. T facsimile eh? Wow that would be so off from his original 1997 character........

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What if I thought the "original" characterization was bad and was hoping they could some how rectify it with the remake but based on what I've seen from the trailer there's cause for concern on that front?

 

[Deleted member 22405]

It was shit then and it's shit now.

What's your point?

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That's like, your opinion, bro. A lot of people like Barett.

 

[Mengetsu]

The trailer was great till his voice. It took me back to 2000's bad voice acting. I hope the game has Japanese voice options in general.

 

[TyraZaurus]

You all should at least acknowledge that the version of Barret you like is based on an English localization and that it wasn't present in the original version the creators intended.

Think about that. The localization team set back a portrayal in comparison to a Japanese one, in an environment not known for its sensitivity in such matters, in 1997.

 

[skillzilla81]

That's like, your opinion, bro. A lot of people like Barett.

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Yeah, a lot of people are fine with racist stereotypes. Again, the point?

 

[y2dvd]

Gosh, I'm glad I'm not alone thinking the english VO sucks in general, especially Barret's.

 

[Deleted member 22405]

Yeah, a lot of people are fine with racist stereotypes. Again, the point?

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Ah, we're going to contextualize it like that, huh? Guess I shouldn't like Street Fighter as much as I do considering its use of stereotypes behind character design, then? Should I ignore the obvious Balrog/Tyson parallel or is that too offensive in the modern era? Hell, I'm Arabic and I love the hell outta Rashid and the dude is literally got a stage dedicated to a plane.

But hey, Mr. T's racist now, so what am I to say? This seems like insane exaggeration.

 

[Merc_]

Considering how heated people usually get over taking liberties with the Japanese script it's interesting how quick people are to defend Barret's stereotypical way of speaking when it wasn't there in the Japanese version.

 

[SuzanoSho]

As a Black FF fan who has apparently been blessed with the right to talk in your thread, I'll ask you to quit embarrassing yourself by ironically shutting out entire races of people. Regardless of whether you think we've earned that authority or you find it cathartic, it has never helped us before and it's not about to now. Not even weighing in on the Gita Jackson business, just asking you to retire that approach so we all look a little less bigoted.

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Lol. Yes, yes, allowing non-POCs to speak up on matters of oppression for black people and ultimately decide what we should and should not have a problem with through sheer volume has ALWAYS "helped" us...

This song and dance gets so fucking played out...

 

[Deleted member 22405]

Considering how heated people usually get over taking liberties with the Japanese script it's interesting how quick people are to defend Barret's stereotypical way of speaking when it wasn't there in the Japanese version.

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I'll admit finding out he's not Mr. T in Japanese really puts a gear in my thought process. Makes me wonder what his full portrayal is gonna be like in the remake. I've had cases where I could not stand characters in certain languages and preferred their performance in the other.

 

[Deleted member 6230]

Ah, we're going to contextualize it like that, huh? Guess I shouldn't like Street Fighter as much as I do considering its use of stereotypes behind character design, then? Should I ignore the obvious Balrog/Tyson parallel or is that too offensive in the modern era? Hell, I'm Arabic and I love the hell outta Rashid and the dude is literally got a stage dedicated to a plane.

But hey, Mr. T's racist now, so what am I to say? This seems like insane exaggeration.

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Too much ground to cover to even begin to respond to this post. Just try to listen first and don't get defensive when something you like is interpreted as racists by someone else who's harmed by it. It doesn't make you a bad person

 

[Deleted member 22405]

Too much ground to cover to even begin to respond to this post. Just try to listen first and don't get defensive when something you like is interpreted as racists by someone else who's harmed by it. It doesn't make you a bad person

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Probably, but it definitely read like an implication and I'm not really going to pretend that's okay to throw around.

 

[BocoDragon]

What if I thought the "original" characterization was bad and was hoping they could some how rectify it with the remake but based on what I've seen from the trailer there's cause for concern on that front?

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It was shit then and it's shit now.

What's your point?

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You're both saying different versions of "I don't like this character and I want his characterization changed". Fair enough. But as for the question of whether or not this voice actor is hitting the tone of the original character? He's nailing it. I think some people are really having a referendum on Barret and not a referendum on Barret's new voice.

 

[TheYanger]

Probably, but it definitely read like an implication and I'm not really going to pretend that's okay to throw around.

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I mean, it doesn't matter whether you think it's 'ok' to call the portrayal racist or not. You choose to be offended or not by someone calling it that, but it's better to recognize that nobody is saying "If you like barrett you're racist" - but that portrayal IS racist because it is a racist stereotype. Was Mr T always racist? Almost undoubtedly, but there's also a difference between a near originator of the style in the 70s and a character 30-50 years later being done in a now-stereotype. It doesn't take a lot to recognize that. I mean, I recognized Barrett's characterization as sorta racist as a teenager in 1997, so to see it be THE SAME over 20 years later is pretty shocking, and when fully voiced it comes across as way more gross to me, because it's far more realized in that context than as text with a little cartoon man.

You're both saying different versions of "I don't like this character and I want his characterization changed". Fair enough. But as for the question of whether or not this voice actor is hitting the tone of the original character? He's nailing it. I think some people are really having a referendum on Barret and not a referendum on Barret's new voice.

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As noted a dozen times, Barrett's characterization was not like this in the original game, it was like this in the racist interpretation we got in English, you can retain his character without retaining the shitty parts that weren't there to begin with (And even if they HAD been in the JP version, it wouldn't exactly harm the game to fix it 22 years later).

Like, his character isn't fucking harmed if you change "Stop actin' like a damn kid. Si'down and shu'up!" to "Stop acting like a damn kid! Sit down and shut up!" but the stereotype sure starts to be fucking cleaned up along the way. And yes, I just googled that since I don't remember any specific Barrett quotes 22 years later, and holy shit some of these, how you guys can pretend he was never a problem is beyond me. "Shit! The hell you so calm about? You bustin' up my rhythm..." is cringey as fuck and always was.

 

[Deleted member 6230]

You're both saying different versions of "I don't like this character and I want his characterization changed". Fair enough. But as for the question of whether or not this voice actor is hitting the tone of the original character? He's nailing it. I think some people are really having a referendum on Barret and not a referendum on Barret's new voice.

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Considering there were liberties taking with the original Japanese interpretation in the English localization, which is still considered poor, who can say the voice actor is really nailing the original anything? But that's not even the question or the premise of this thread even

 

[Ragnorok64]

How many voice lines have we actually heard?

 

[cgpartlow]

Is sounding like Mr. T bad? I've always thought he is pretty cool, and certainly a product of the time period this game originally released.

 

[John Frost]

I like it.

 

[TheYanger]

Is sounding like Mr. T bad? I've always thought he is pretty cool, and certainly a product of the time period this game originally released.

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Mr T predates the original game by almost as long as the original predates this remake.... this shitty translation was always super dumb.

How many voice lines have we actually heard?

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2. of which 100% of them have this issue.

 

[TyraZaurus]

Is sounding like Mr. T bad? I've always thought he is pretty cool, and certainly a product of the time period this game originally released.

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Mr. T's persona was the creation of an individual actor. How it comes across on its own is fundamentally a different manner.

What's bad is applying it disproportionately applying that persona to a large number of characters and therefore turning that into a stereotype, especially in situations where it wasn't present beforehand, such as the case is with the localization of FF7.

 

[Deleted member 6230]

Why are we acting like Mr.T was this huge star in the late 90s? Dude was washed up at that point.

 

[BocoDragon]

Considering there were liberties taking with the original Japanese interpretation in the English localization, which is still considered poor, who can say the voice actor is really nailing the original anything? But that's not even the question or the premise of this thread even

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I don't really see him using any of the dialogue quirks from the original localization (%#?!%), so that's not really what I mean by accuracy. But is Barret a boisterous, loud, jovial, burly bear of a character? Inherantly.

I'm not even against critique of his character... I think we all thought he was Mr. T through the lens of Japanese Othering 20 years ago. I just don't know if criticizing the "voice acting" is what we're saying here so much as we don't like this character at all.

 

[TheYanger]

I don't really see him using any of the dialogue quirks from the original localization (%#?!%), so that's not really what I mean by accuracy. But is Barret a boisterous, loud, jovial, burly bear of a character? Inherantly.

I'm not even against critique of his character... I think we all thought he was Mr. T through the lens of Japanese Othering 20 years ago. I just don't know if criticizing the "voice acting" is what we're saying here so much as we don't like this character at all.

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He can be loud and jovial and strong without speaking like a 70s blaxploitation stereotype though.

Look at Steiner, or Wakka (not physically large but still fits the niche in the game). Neither of them do it and largely fill the same role as Barrett. There are a billion examples of this type of character that DON'T speak like a stereotype. Barrett should be a character defined by his story, instead the original localization and now this translation sound like they're still trying to define him as 'black' by leaning heavily into a trope, rather than just letting him be a dude who happens to be black.

It's a shitty trope, and it leads to defining all of the non-POC characters by the nuance of their personality, while Barrett is simply 'hey he's black' and it slaps you over the face with it constantly in an insulting way.

 

[Deleted member 6230]

I don't really see him using any of the dialogue quirks from the original localization (%#?!%), so that's not really what I mean by accuracy. But is Barret a boisterous, loud, jovial, burly bear of a character? Inherantly.

I'm not even against critique of his character... I think we all thought he was Mr. T through the lens of Japanese Othering 20 years ago. I just don't know if criticizing the "voice acting" is what we're saying here so much as we don't like this character at all.

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The Mr. T quirkinesses came about in the western localization according to some folks in this thread. I only played the western localization so I don't if that's true. I just remember even as a child playing this game that Barret rubbed me the wrong way but time and I didn't really get Mr. T from him but once again at that point I was a kid who vaguely knew who that guy was through pop culture references. Barret always stood out to me as a gruff black man Blackploitation trope which didn't play well in the 90s. So yeah, I don't like the character much and I'm hoping the remake can scale back some of the "extraness" to the character and the trailer doesn't fill me with confidence.

 

[Mgs2master2]

Considering how heated people usually get over taking liberties with the Japanese script it's interesting how quick people are to defend Barret's stereotypical way of speaking when it wasn't there in the Japanese version.

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Localization amirite?


Jokes aside, i think we all gotta give it time still. He has a new VA, we barely heard anything, The VA seems to be sticking close to the English Source material (despite how it was shotty in localization), this is something we all have to see play out and not based off two lines.


Did people forget that even the voice from Advent Children sound nearly identical?!





even in Advent children complete they dove more into it and had Marlene even mimic him, stereotypes and all?



In Dirge of Cerberus it was the same thig even with limited lines



It is still too early to say, but given all we have, the new VA is doing Barret on par with former Barret VA. If that comes with the stereotype, so be it. Barret as much deeper character then some stereotypes make him out to be anyhow. He is one of the characters in FFVII that actually has a ton of character development and evolving beyond the stereotype of being a wannabe mr.T.

 

[Captain Melody]

Why are we acting like Mr.T was this huge star in the late 90s? Dude was washed up at that point.

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You know why.

But is Barret a boisterous, loud, jovial, burly bear of a character? Inherantly.

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Some of this (but not all) of it was the localization playing those parts of his character up. There's nothing stopping them from keeping those aspects but tweaking it so it doesn't come off nearly as dated.

 

[Oudone79]

I like it.

 

[BocoDragon]

He can be loud and jovial and strong without speaking like a 70s blaxploitation stereotype though.

Look at Steiner, or Wakka (not physically large but still fits the niche in the game). Neither of them do it and largely fill the same role as Barrett. There are a billion examples of this type of character that DON'T speak like a stereotype. Barrett should be a character defined by his story, instead the original localization and now this translation sound like they're still trying to define him as 'black' by leaning heavily into a trope, rather than just letting him be a dude.

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Didn't Wakka kinda have some kind of faux Latino affectation of his own? I digress.... I can see your point.

Of course I can imagine some modern take on Barret where he's been subtly changed and updated for modern times, like when Marvel movies cast new interpretations of old characters (many of which are problematic). I think so much about his inherant characterization is tied up with these things that others will see as old black stereotypes... He is a gruff, loud, jokey, boisterous character at his core. So i don't think it's a matter of just playing his voice differently. He's shaking his fist at Cloud and smacking the other Avalanche memebers around.... Taking over the Seventh Heaven bar or the train and scaring other citizens off... the stereotype is definitely who he is as a character, and not just how he is voiced. So really if you want him to be a better character it's not just voice. You really do need one of those Marvel-style reinventions of the character.

 

[Jersey_Tom]

I personally always pictured Dean Redman playing Barret.

Specifically like Dutch from Black Lagoon.

 

[Deleted member 6230]

Didn't Wakka kinda have some kind of faux Latino affectation of his own? I digress.... I can see your point.

Of course I can imagine some modern take on Barret where he's been subtly changed and updated for modern times, like when Marvel movies cast new interpretations of old characters (many of which are problematic). I think so much about his inherant characterization is tied up with these things that others will see as old black stereotypes... He is a gruff, loud, jokey, boisterous character at his core. So i don't think it's a matter of just playing his voice differently. He's shaking his fist at Cloud and smacking the other Avalanche memebers around.... Taking over the Seventh Heaven bar or the train and scaring other citizens off... the stereotype is definitely who he is as a character, and not just how he is voiced. So really if you want him to be a better character it's not just voice. You really do need one of those Marvel-style reinventions of the character.

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I mean cloud isn't going to go back to be a blank slate protagonists so....

 

[ItsTheShoes]

how so?

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Looks and sounds like my uncle, makes sense since he grew up in a rough neighborhood and Barrett did too .

 

[DigitalOp]

As a Black FF fan who has apparently been blessed with the right to talk in your thread, I'll ask you to quit embarrassing yourself by ironically shutting out entire races of people. Regardless of whether you think we've earned that authority or you find it cathartic, it has never helped us before and it's not about to now. Not even weighing in on the Gita Jackson business, just asking you to retire that approach so we all look a little less bigoted.

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Other races having opinions on black representation has helped us before? That's a new one ....

Please point me some examples of that taking place. Only thing bigoted I see here is people holding on to stereotypical character portrayal just because it was part of the original localization

Keep on mind you're on the same forum who would keep racist cartoon depictions because its a "history lesson"

 

[Crossing Eden]

Localization amirite?


Jokes aside, i think we all gotta give it time still. He has a new VA, we barely heard anything, The VA seems to be sticking close to the English Source material (despite how it was shotty in localization), this is something we all have to see play out and not based off two lines.


Did people forget that even the voice from Advent Children sound nearly identical?!





even in Advent children complete they dove more into it and had Marlene even mimic him, stereotypes and all?



In Dirge of Cerberus it was the same thig even with limited lines



It is still too early to say, but given all we have, the new VA is doing Barret on par with former Barret VA. If that comes with the stereotype, so be it. Barret as much deeper character then some stereotypes make him out to be anyhow. He is one of the characters in FFVII that actually has a ton of character development and evolving beyond the stereotype of being a wannabe mr.T.

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FFVII's sequel voice direction was always shit....like goddamn people defend this? :|

It only gets worse because Square's games are usually cream of the crop visually but fall so short when it comes to performances compared to other games.

 

[Sign My Guestbook!]

I just hope it isn't a white dude doing the voice. That was really awkward to find out after playing DMCV

 

[Glass Arrows]

FFVII's sequel voice direction was always shit....like goddamn.

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They probably didn't have very good material to work with given how bad Nojima's writing has gotten, though I think they're still culpable for Barrett anyways.

 

[jipewithin]

He sounds good in JPN VA. That's all that matters

 

[Resilient]

2 lines and this?

Mmmm nah

 

[Laughing Banana]

I also think there's something to be said for the fact that the only two black Final Fantasy characters are also the only ones who use guns.

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Uhh, Laguna and his pals from 8? Heck, Vincent from 7 also use guns...?

 

[Crossing Eden]

I feel like people saying Barret is based on Mr. T haven't actually seen any films starring Mr. T....because the incredibly racist original localization isn't how Mr. T actually speaks in movies:


nor is it how Barret speaks in the Japanese version.

 

[skillzilla81]

I feel like people saying Barret is based on Mr. T haven't actually seen any films starring Mr. T....because the incredibly racist original localization isn't how Mr. T actually speaks in movies:


nor is it how Barret speaks in the Japanese version.

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Fucking this.

 

[Deleted member 1698]

As someone around at the time I can confirm that Mr T was already irrelevant at that point and those who knew who Mr T was, in no way associated him with the character.

Mr T was completely different. This was just generic tough black guy, the criticism is completely valid.

 

[XaviConcept]

Maybe its a bit different now but I wonder how much of a hand Square Japan has on his localization. Accent or intonation aside, American Barret should sound tough and have enough range to surprise you when he goes vulnerable ... but theres a good chance the people in charge of this new VA are a bunch of American kids who grew up with "Barret as Mr T" so thats just how they see the character regardless of the Japanese script and will probably think its what fans expect.