Know of any Talking Toys With Great Voice Overs?
The world of talking toys is big business.
Everywhere you look, there are toys that talk, whether they be stuffed animals, plastic action figurines, dolls, racing cars or otherwise.
You can walk into literally any department store and find an assortment of talking toys that represent an exciting and entertaining aspect of this industry in the realm of character voice acting.
Have you and your voice over business been sharing in those profits?
Talking Toys
Growing up, there were few talking toys that I can remember, some of which include a storytelling Teddy Ruxpin stuffed animal and a talking computer that said "Press the red button... ah ah ah, press the red button... Your score is (some ridiculous number)".
Circling back to the present, as a parent I've discovered that you come across many different kinds of toys, and yes, inevitably, toys that talk and quite a bit more than I remember from back in the day.
Recently, we received a set of toys called "Rescue Heroes" made by Fisher-Price. Being the voice over enthusiast that I am these toys in particular were very impressive.
Not only do the Rescue Heroes toys have incredibly well produced voice overs cast with excellent talent, the people at Fisher-Price have also dedicated a website with interactive games that incorporate the use of voice over in addition to using voice over in the DVDs that are for sale.
You can listen to some of the voice overs for the Rescue Heroes while playing the games.
Are You The Voice of a Talking Toy?
Many of you have performed the voice of a talking toy before and I'd like to give you the opportunity to share which toys you have recorded for.
Who knows, maybe one of your colleagues' voices resides in your toy room!
Let the comments begin,
Stephanie
Comments
Stephanie, hooray for Fisher-Price!
I've provided voices for several talking doll prototypes although it's unlikely that mine would be the voice of the final versions if they ever make it to stores, since they are Disney voices and I believe Disney has "approved voices" for this line of dolls. Still, I enjoy hearing when a doll with my voice is on its way to some big toy company's corporate offices for review! I work with a toy maker who lives in my area. He estimates that he has about 100 toy concepts per year, of which about 30 make it to the development stage, of which maybe 2 make it to store shelves. And he makes a good living!
Mary
Posted by: Mary McKitrick | June 23, 2008 5:35 PM
"You're a really useful Engine!" I was fortunate enough to provide the voice of Sir Topham Hat, a character from the Thomas the Tank Engine series of toys. The toys were created by toy train manufacturer Lionel Trains several years ago.
My young son was a huge fan of the show. So, after the session the folks from Lionel asked if I would prefer to paid SAG Scale (industrial non-broadcast rate with 13.5% Pension and Welfare... oh by the way) or with a toy train. I took the toy train, which hasn't made it on Ebay yet. And no I never bought the toy. But it's out there somewhere.
Posted by: Ed Victor | June 24, 2008 9:20 AM
Am I a Toy? Yes!
I'm the voice for Archie McPhee's Electronic Yodelling Pickle: http://www.mcphee.com/items/11761.html
... and also the Yodel in McPhee's Remote Control, Hopping, Yodelling Lederhosen: http://www.mcphee.com/items/11727.html
In addition to the pay, I also won 100 Rubber Chickens for my Yodelling efforts ;-)
Interested in Yodeling? Learn the way I did - at www.YodelCourse.com
When the going gets strange, the strange turn pro.
Posted by: Joe J Thomas | June 24, 2008 9:55 AM
I happen to know that the voice of Furby is a member of Voices.com...I hope he'll chime in and comment!
Posted by: Erica | June 24, 2008 9:57 AM
Aside from a one-line villain shout in an Iron Man talking watch some years ago ("good-bye, shell head!"), my only claim to fame in this department was a talking/dancing/fly-zapping talking robot iguana named "muy loco" for Trendmasters. When I did the original tracks, he was supposed to have been a flirty lounge-lizard dinosaur.
Obviously it is not a toy for the ages, but it was kind of fun and he did rate his own tv spot for a summer.
Here's an archive link to a picture and a couple of voice clips. You'll have to scroll down a few stories to find the little guy. http://voices2go.com/whatsnew.htm
Posted by: Rowell Gormon | June 24, 2008 11:11 AM
I was about to mention Joe J Thomas' (Joe Actor's) talking pickle, but I see it's posted already!
I've never been a voice of a toy, but I was the voice of a cash register, (for grocery store, I think... I never heard it)
Have a blessed day!
Julie
Posted by: Julie Williams | June 24, 2008 12:21 PM
I'm pals with the voice of Donatello from the last TMNT movie, and he signed one of his talking Donatellos for me:
http://someaudioguy.blogspot.com/2007/03/but-i-know-donatello.html
It's really cool stuff. Talking toys have gotten a lot better than when I was a kid...
Posted by: SomeAudioGuy | June 25, 2008 12:14 AM
My 7 year old daughter is the voice of a new computer learning type product called CHATTERBOX from The Learning Journey International. All the voiceover is done; they are in the process of putting it all together etc. The web site for this company is http://www.tlji.com.
Posted by: Brian in Charlotte | June 25, 2008 7:20 PM
I've been the voice of a few Hasbro toys/games. A few years ago I did one called "Jeopardy Remote." At around the same time I also did a "Wheel of Fortune" game for them but they had some sort of production problem in the Far East and I don't think it ever made it to the store shelves. Most recently, I provided the voice of Mr. Monopoly in a kids' version of the classic game called "Monopoly Town." If you see one on a store shelf, you can press on Mr. Monopoly's head on the front of the package (there's a finger hole provided for that purpose) and you'll hear my special greeting.
Posted by: Lee Gordon | June 26, 2008 11:32 AM
Stephanie:
I actually did a voice over for a china company that was put out here in the U.S for a game called "Prehistoric Dinasours".
I bought 2 of them at KB Toys a few years ago, one for my daughter and one for my nephew. And here is the kicker... I got the vo job through Voices.com!
Best,
Erick
Posted by: Erick Abraham | June 26, 2008 1:53 PM
My favourite was being the voice of Serafina, a Barbie Princess cat on a telephone! : )
Hope you're having a great week!!
Lesley
Posted by: Lesley Lafferty | June 26, 2008 1:56 PM
I just recently became the voice of 2 toys - a talking ATM machine and Cash Register! (Who would've thunk it? :-) It's a bilingual toy (English and French) and will be distributed throughout Canada. It's in the production stage at the moment and will hit the shelves later this year from what I understand.
Great gig - I hope to do many more of these!
All the best,
Maggie
Posted by: Maggie's Voice | June 30, 2008 12:49 PM