Frank Welker

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So good, it's scary.

Frank W. Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American voice actor god and former stand-up comedian (of somewhat less divine quality). During his stand-up career, he famously participated in The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast of George Burns and released a comedy album in 1988, Frank Welker--Almost Sold Out (featuring Answering Machines of the Rich & Famous).

As a voice actor he's had a notoriously prolific career. Though it is but the tip of the iceberg, some of Welker's most notable roles include Fred Jones (and later Scooby) from the Scooby Doo franchise, Ray Stantz and Slimer from The Real Ghostbusters, Nibbler from Futurama, Wild Bill, Torch, and many other characters from G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget, that parrot that got eaten by the shark in Deep Blue Sea, and as the current voice of Garfield the Cat. He has also done nearly all the animal sounds recorded for cartoons, films and television in North America in the last few decades.

Basically, if you haven't seen a cartoon with Frank Welker in it then that's because you've never seen a cartoon in your entire life.

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“	Frank would do something ridiculous and then go, "Well, it was either this or college."	”
{{#if:Gregg Berger| —Gregg Berger{{#if:|, {{{3}}}}} }} }}

Generation 1

The Transformers

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• Blades
• Buzzsaw
• Chromedome
• Frenzy
• Galvatron (commercial and post-movie)
• Groove
• Jazz (1989-1990 toy commercials only)
• Junkion
• Laserbeak
• Megatron
• Mirage
• Mixmaster
• Ratbat
• Ravage
• Rumble
• Sharkticon
• Skywarp
• Sludge
• Soundwave
• Steeljaw
• Superion ("The Key to Vector Sigma, Part 2" only)
• Sweep
• Trailbreaker
• Wheelie
• Wreck-Gar (1986 toy commercials only)

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Humans

• Frankenstein
• Hector Ramirez
• Poplock

Aliens

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• Cat-people
• Niko Don
• Pinpointer

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Creatures

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• Booper
• Brutalo
• The Dweller
• Nitro
• Groyle

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Other

• Auto-combatant
• Teletraan II

Yeah, we're impressed, too.

Movie franchise

Transformers: Beginnings

• Megatron

Transformers: The Game

• Megatron

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

• Soundwave
• Devastator
• Grindor
• Ravage
• Reedman

Revenge of the Fallen: The Game

• Megatron

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

• Shockwave
• Soundwave
• Barricade

Transformers: The Ride – 3D

• Devastator
• Grindor
• Megatron

Transformers: Age of Extinction

• Galvatron
• Megatron

Aligned

Transformers: Prime

• Bumblebee (pre-audio-enhanced dialogue)<ref>Frank Welker records actual words written for Bumblebee which are later replaced with sound effects. -- Revealed in "The Autobits Edition" of episode 53.</ref>
• Megatron
• Terrorcon Cliffjumper ("Darkness Rising, Part 2")
• Trooper ("Con Job")
• Terrorcon Skyquake ("Shadowzone")
• Insecticons
• Soundwave
• Unicron (while possessing Megatron in "Predacons Rising")

Transformers: Prime - The Game

• Megatron

Transformers Universe

• Megatron

Transformers: Robots in Disguise

• Grimlock (roar sound effect only)

Convention appearances

• BotCon 2015

Notes

• According to Ben Yee, Bob Forward desperately wanted Welker to reprise the role of Generation 1 Megatron for the Beast Wars episode "The Agenda (Part 2)" and even offered to go to Welker's home in California and tape-record his lines there. However, Welker declined the role supposedly because Forward was unable to offer him a sufficient amount of money and his schedule was too busy.
• Welker regularly reprises the roles of Megatron and Soundwave on Family Guy and Robot Chicken.
• Throughout the '90s, Welker was the official voice of Steven Spielberg in all his animated appearances in shows like Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain and Freakazoid!.
• Welker also provided the voice of the GoBots Scooter, Rest-Q, Zeemon and Blaster, and Rock Lords Pulver-Eyes, Sticks and the Narliphants on the Challenge Of The GoBots animated series and movie.
• Welker had originally auditioned for the role of Megatron in the 2007 movie. However, Michael Bay deemed his voice too light for the character and, feeling it would be disrespectful to ask him to change it, chose Hugo Weaving instead. As a bit of compensation, he did get to go alongside his pal Peter Cullen in the first two video games. Welker returned to the role in Age of Extinction, though technically as Galvatron, meaning he gets to reprise two roles at once!
• Welker voiced Soundwave not only in the English version of Revenge of the Fallen, but also in a large number of foreign dubs. Welker described the process as "very hard".<ref name="welkernewsarama">Newsarama interview with Frank Welker, September 2009.</ref> Although his performance was retained for the French and Italian dubs, other versions had his lines redone by native-speaking actors before the film's release. Welker still retained credit in those foreign versions, leading to confusion:
  • German dubbing insiders insist that the voice heard in Revenge of the Fallen is that of Horst Lampe.<ref name="germandub">German dubbing board thread about ROTF, with a discussion about Soundwave's voice</ref> Lampe was credited for Soundwave in Dark of the Moon, seemingly confirming this claim.
  • The credits for the American-Spanish dub do not specify Welker's role, but Soundwave's voice as heard in the film does not seem to be Welker's. Soundwave is credited in Dark of the Moon as being played by Leonardo García, who is generally accepted as having also played him in Revenge of the Fallen.
• Welker was one of the eight voice actors featured in Shout! Factory's cast reunion in the 25th Anniversary "Matrix of Leadership" Collection of the original series.

External links

• Frank Welker at the Internet Movie Database
• The Frank Welker Homepage
• Frank Welker's other works

Footnotes

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