Your post about sete/vale rivalry is literally so informative it's like a pivotal post to fully understand the way valentino's mind works. You're his friend just up to the point you are not (mainly after perceived crimes not backed up by any real proof apparently). Valentino literally turbodivorced every guy he was friendly with in the paddock (and the irony of two of those turbodivorces happening in the same place isn't lost on me)

I did do my best to keep marc out of that post and let the parallels speak for themselves but like. yes

what's interesting to me about this rivalry is that it's... kind of his first rodeo. I mean he'd obviously had rivals before and a feud and all that and him and biaggi were constantly *gestures* - but one of the most common complaints about valentino is that he switches up towards you when you actually become a serious threat. which!! I still fully believe to some extent is natural, this is sports, they're competing, and I take more seriously with some of valentino's victims than with others. (melandri is always the one where I'm a bit? valentino no offence but why would you bother, in 2005 there wasn't a title fight and in 2006 valentino actually got on really well with two of the four other main contenders and at the very least didn't actively have a problem with dani. so maybe just a melandri problem question mark.) but I do feel like sete was... maybe not the first, but the first that was this extreme. and, very much topic for another post, but he really does learn a lot from the sete rivalry. a lot of the tactics and performance art and all of that, how he uses all of it to demoralise his enemies - this rivalry was kinda the blueprint

but, at the same time, of course it was a different valentino that marc ended up fighting, and not just in terms of how fast and competitive valentino was at that stage of his career. this is something that's quite hard to get across sometimes, because the natural inclination is to just... look at all the past instances in which valentino was a dick and conclude that he has, in fact, always been a dick. but he wasn't just statically malevolent for a twenty plus year career, and it's important to... reinsert context to assess how he developed as a rider and as a character during that time. it's not twenty non-stop years of valentino feuding. and marc is facing a valentino who had inevitably changed as a result of years of injury and poor results on a poor bike. valentino was pretty open in 2012 that he was returning to yamaha after two years on a donkey of a bike to, y'know, see if he was still fast, if he still had it in him - because he genuinely did not know (stop me if this reminds you of anyone more recently). he was so frustrated in 2013 with constantly finishing in fourth place that he took the truly radical step of firing his crew chief jb. one more try, one more change up to see if he could still be fast

it was only in 2014, where, okay he was losing to marc, but he could feel that he was competitive again, he could semi-regularly beat jorge and dani at the very least... then comes misano and he beats marc in a direct fight, draws an error out of him, gets him to crash, and marc shows up at his ranch and manages to strongly signal that he does actually really want to beat valentino. and that, in a way, shows that he was beginning to take valentino seriously as a competitor again (which I would suggest he wasn't doing at the end of 2013). that's something that's easy to miss about the ranch episode: yes, it's notable how much they were treating each other like hardened rivals, but it was also notable they were doing so in 2014, given the kind of season marc was having. maybe it truly was the worst possible timing. maybe it truly was the race in misano that made both of them go. hey. this really could be happening

but it's still a humbled version of valentino, it's still a version of valentino who has already kind of had to make his peace with the fact his time might very much be over. to me, in a way it's more dramatically satisfying if he did make peace with it, if he was more or less all right with marc making the sport his own. okay, there's always going to be a little bit of bitterness, a little bit of envy... because he wished he could still do what marc was doing, of course he did. but by the end of 2013, he knew it was more likely than not he would never be involved in another title fight. he thought his career might be ending after the 2014 season. he told the world if he wasn't competitive in the early races in 2014 then that would be that, and I think he meant it

there was no guarantee he'd have a season like 2015 - sure, he was working harder than ever and making radical personnel choices, all in the hope he still had something more to give... but he didn't know it would happen. it was really really unlikely!! there's a giddiness to him in early 2015, almost like he couldn't quite believe himself he'd get that chance. and then, yes, he does withdraw from marc, he does go back into title fight mode... but relatively speaking, this is still a more agreeable version of valentino. this is still a version of valentino who is determined to not start shit with jorge - it's odd to watch, but in those 2015 pressers valentino is constantly engaging him in conversation, at a time in which the marc chatter was already dropping off pretty sharpish

(incidentally, I think vale was proper pissed off at how jorge reacted to the whole sepang thing and how jorge was angry with valentino, which is very funny to me. like at catalunya 2016 vale's going!! I actually made an effort with this bitch!! I was nice to him for three years, does that count for nothing??)

valentino also doesn't blow shit up over assen, even though by his standards marc should be giving him plenty of reason to. he's definitely cooled off towards marc, but he's still giving him the benefit of the doubt where he wouldn't have done so with past rivals - which, yes, I do think partly reflects how he felt about marc, but also reflects how he was approaching that year and that phase of his career as a whole. he didn't really want drama; he wasn't really looking for any distractions from the actual title fight. which doesn't mean that he wasn't already changing his behaviour towards his competitors in response to the demands of the season - it's just a question of the extent. here from a write-up of assen 2015 (I don't entirely agree on the point of the effectiveness of valentino's mind games, though I do agree - like valentino himself does - with the general idea that most of the work needs to be done on-track):

in the end, he cracked. I guess that's what generally happens when you put someone under that kind of pressure - you make them revert to type. valentino wasn't arrogant or entitled or over-confident in that season, he was desperate. he'd been given this unexpected chance and he was throwing everything he had into making it work. body, mind, soul, all of it, wringing himself out in pursuit of this dream. he could feel it slipping away at several points that season... that four race jorge win streak where he led every single lap and it was kind of like? okay, you just can't do anything about that. valentino can't match that, not at this stage of his career. or brno, after which they were level on points and jorge led on countback and it just felt like valentino so obviously had a consistent pace deficit that surely this could only go one way. all these moments where it felt like it might actually be over, in the least dramatic way imaginable. in many ways, this wasn't really a title fight that should ever have been so close - and it's to valentino's credit as a rider, his versatility and willpower, that he was even able to push things as far as he did. but he did know he was hanging on by a thread, and he ended up playing the last hand he felt he had available

obviously, it wasn't really rational calculation that made him do what he did in sepang - though there probably was an element of, y'know, might as well. but he believed he detected a pattern of behaviour in marc - not entirely incorrectly, because it did feel like marc approached his battles with valentino differently - and fashioned himself a conspiracy on the basis of it. he hoped it could change the momentum one last time; he decided to make one final roll of the dice. and then, of course, marc reacted in a way that has ensured valentino will never stop believing in his conspiracy theory. because of course marc did, because of course he never would have taken it lying down. because valentino knew from the moment marc engaged him in that battle at sepang that it was almost certainly all over, because he lost his temper - which usually helps him, except when it doesn't. because they both lost their tempers and ended up just wanting to hurt each other, to prove a point. because that's who they both are

the main point I'm trying to make here is kind of.... it's just how I personally read the sete stuff - yes, these are the same patterns of behaviour, yes, a lot of parallels do obviously present themselves. I've long felt that sete is the single most significant valentino feud to understanding what happened with marc. he's the only other one who valentino was friends with, the only other one valentino felt hurt by on a personal level, the only other one who valentino changed his behaviour towards from one day to the next. and I think under the right circumstances, if you give valentino enough of an excuse and enough of a prize to aim for and have planted enough seeds of suspicion in advance... you can get this situation where the competitive paranoia takes control and he buys into this whole betrayal narrative and he decides he needs to go nuclear. and it also gave him a script to follow - one he knew could work because it had. except of course it could have gone very wrong in 2004 too. what happens if he's so desperately determined to ruin sete that he bins it in phillip island and finds himself only barely ahead in the points going into the title decider? compare that race to phillip island 2009 - obviously, there's a sizeable difference between the level of opposition (especially at that circuit) and the '09 race probably wasn't winnable, but he still ends up eventually deciding to settle for second behind casey because he doesn't want to risk losing the championship to jorge. he's not casey's biggest fan either, but he never came close to losing his head fighting him. it's different. he might do some of his finest riding when he's angry, but where there's anger there's also volatility. and, on occasion, there's also some really bad choices

if 2004 is the moment where he's properly learning to play these games, then 2015 is him falling back on these tools when he really had basically discarded them. it'd been five years since he'd engaged in mind games in earnest (I know him and casey were constantly at it in 2011-12, but whatever the hell that was about, whatever part of their psyches they were appeasing there, it obviously had fuck all to do with on-track competition). that's a long time! there's a 2014 interview where he's asked about his work on the 'mental side' against his rivals:

the first thing he immediately stresses is that there's zero point in doing any of this if you're not fast enough on-track to back it up. if you are fast, sure, you can do some off-track 'work', especially if you know it makes your rivals suffer :) but it won't have the same effect without the on-track performance. so even if we want to say valentino hadn't mellowed post-2012, even if he hadn't grown one jot humbler in his heart of hearts, even if he wasn't swayed by any genuine fondness for marc, he still knew the maths just didn't work out in his favour with his current opponents. he couldn't deploy his favourite tactics against jorge because jorge insisted on spending the entire season either two spots ahead or three spots behind valentino, and the off-track stuff just can't work if you're never sharing space on-track. it could and did work against marc, but he wasn't trying to score psychological victories against marc! certainly not by the time they reached assen and marc was basically out of that title fight. so there wouldn't have been any point in trying to fuck with either of them in that way off-track and, well, it could easily backfire. which is something valentino understood perfectly well until they were 88.9% of the way through the season, and then he changed his mind at what was almost the very last possible moment. which I think speaks to how desperate valentino was to make a mistake like he did at sepang: he felt it was all he had left to try

the other way in which marc comes into this whole thing is that.... I mean, he knew about all this stuff! this is the thing right, maybe he wasn't watching the sepang 2004 press conference as an eleven year old and later going 'huh' but broadly speaking, he will obviously have been aware of how this went down, qatar controversy and all of it. he's sitting right there in that jerez 2015 presser when valentino is asked about sete and in response valentino says sete played 'dirty games'. he's obviously aware of the whole jerez 2005 situation, not least because he copied valentino's overtake in his third ever premier class race. which in turn sete was watching unfold, and is still having thoughts about in 2023:

so it's kind of... y'know, you've got marc, you've got someone who's still very much the heir apparent despite all the drama between him and valentino. if you're sete, do you look at marc and see somebody who valentino hurt in similar ways to what he did to you, or do you look at marc and see another version of valentino? do you see both? it's again that thing of, if you have a problem with some of valentino's more aggressive riding then you will definitely have a problem with marc. because of course marc is the escalation, because valentino generally picked his moments a bit more and adjusted his levels of aggression more to the situation, whereas marc is mostly just Like That. so sure, if you're sete gibernau you can look at marc and see another one of valentino's victims, but at the end of the day you're also going to see his legacy

and this from 2017:

not an original thing to say obviously, half of motogp has said it at one point or another. but. still. meaningful to me!

that tension between 'fellow valentino rival' and 'valentino's successor' is imo inherent to the jerez pass situation, because (along with laguna seca) it's an example of marc actively inserting himself into valentino's legacy. and the thing is, right, these aren't just neutral fun passes that everyone remembers because they looked cool: they're the biggest flashpoints of their respective feuds. marc did to jorge what valentino did to sete - and then he did the most valentino thing imaginable and went to jorge when he must have known jorge would still be furious, making him publicly reject his handshake and starting up a whole lot of discourse™ that would take forever to die down. marc knew immediately how controversial what he did would be and was completely at home in the chaos. it's not just the pass that does valentino proud, it's the shamelessness

while that race might not have had the same repercussions as '05, at the end of the day you do have to remember that those passes have a lot of baggage and controversy attached that marc is also making himself a part of. in the case of laguna, it's valentino addressing livio suppo in the presser because of all the grief suppo and casey had given valentino over the '08 overtake. in the case of the jerez pass, it's sete talking about how alienated he is by this whole approach to riding that marc so completely embodies. and the whole thing has come up quite a few times since 2013, because everyone loves bringing up last corner passes at least once a year when they show up again at jerez

so for instance we have this clip from 2016 (fourth race of the season, vibes still in hell), where the riders are asked whether they'd prefer to be in first, second or third position heading into that final corner. not all too much to say about this one, really. jorge, who it seems has at long last learned his lesson about what to do when you've got a lunatic sitting on your rear wheel headed into the final corner of a race, stresses that he'd protect the inside line - not least because these two fuckers would dive on the inside through the grass if you give them half a chance. also, decent gag from marc! good on him. not always easy for those who have decided they hate him so much so that they refuse to laugh at anything he says

then we have this from 2017 - where sete is in the room - asking four riders who they'd want to arrive at jerez's final corner with. three guys give pretty boring answers, though you'll note in 2017 valentino does actually mention his battle with sete (*gestures with his head in sete's direction*) in the same breath as the one between "marc and jorge". those three boring answers are followed by a great response courtesy of jorge. the question doesn't actually specify, but obviously jorge immediately zeroes in on valentino and marc since they are. you know. the two guys with a history of doing last corner jerez crimes. and they're also two confirmed lunatics, though jorge believes that valentino at least might be a little less reckless now that he's a little older. hey, maybe even marc has become 3% more sensible at the advanced age of 24 (funnily enough, vale when making that overtake in '05 was two years older than marc is in this clip). it's a sweet moment - but, without wanting to belabour the obvious, it's also another way of showing how irrevocably linked both the passes and the blokes executing them are. both valentino and marc are 'hard brakers', to put it lightly. two peas in a pod, from a man who would know

we do also of course get sete reacting to valentino's answer. idk what this facial expression is but I sure am compelled by it (thank u to dani pedrosa for working with sete in 2017 so that we'd get live sete reaction shots. I am very grateful)

okay so those two I included because. well it's just kind of neat and fun that this is a parallel they won't ever escape. linked legacies and all that. but I am actually building up to a point here, and it's to do with how even post-2015, it's not like marc is always overflowing with sympathy and compassion for valentino's other victims. he knows his lore! he will know at least the general details of the sete relationship and how it deteriorated and what valentino did to him afterwards! so let's bring in austria 2017, a time at which the vibes between the two of them aren't actually. catastrophic. exhibit a:

so in this presser, valentino is asked if his overtake on jorge at catalunya '09 is the favourite of his career, and he says it was special because it was the last corner - he can't remember any other examples of him making a last corner overtake in the premier class. at which point marc taps valentino to point out sete:

the expression marc makes in the thumbnail - that's how he looks when he's eagerly waiting for valentino to put two and two together. the thing is, right, this whole feuding business, the way valentino treated his rivals, how he was pretty awful to them... all of it will have been stuff that marc actively enjoyed as a fan. and even post-2015, when marc has experienced some of the very worst valentino has to offer, marc still finds the whole jerez thing pretty funny, not just the overtake but what it meant for the relationship between valentino and sete. he makes valentino aware of sete in the room, because of course he would never forget valentino's greatest hits. like, remember why this exchange is funny: everybody knows this overtake was a super controversial thing and a big source of tension between the two of them and valentino's forgotten about it. and marc's laughing at this!! in 2017!! "after we have a bit problems" and marc thinks it's hilarious!! buddy

one more presser moment, from 2019. just a bit of context here - earlier in the presser they were asked about dani getting a corner named after him at jerez and valentino went 'yeah good for him but I wouldn't want a corner named after me !!' and marc talked about how he'd gotten a corner at aragon named after him the year before. so now, the riders are asked what their favourite bit of the jerez circuit is. the joke here goes a) marc says 'last corner' the way he does because everyone knows he did a terrorism there, b) jack miller says 'you mean jorge lorenzo corner' because everyone knows it's funny marc did a terrorism on jorge there like a day after jorge got the corner named after him, and c) marc says 'it's valentino corner' because everyone knows his move was copying the move valentino did on sete. and... 'valentino corner'... first of all why would you do this to your literal teammate jorge lorenzo... but again the whole reason this exchange is funny is because the premise is that they did the same thing, valentino to sete and marc to jorge. implicitly, it's making the link between the pair of them and how they terrorised their rivals in the same way. still. in 2019

speaking of legacies, there's a moment in the 2016 catalunya presser where valentino is asked how that duel compares to his past duels in 2007 and 2009 at that circuit (notice the blatant and unchallenged sete erasure - 2004 and 2005 were really great but okay). and valentino says he counts it on the same level as the jorge fight - "was three great battles with three great opponents". which, y'know, I really love 2016, I think it's fantastic, but marc makes a mistake on the penultimate lap and denies us the most dramatic of finales. like I think it's completely reasonable and nice for valentino to count it in that same camp as the 2009 duel, but I also think it wouldn't have been crazy or disrespectful or anything if he'd gone 'yeah that was great but not quite the same thing'. this definitely might be reading too much into it (surely not) but given how valentino has since occasionally left marc out of the rivalries list, said he wasn't his toughest rival etc etc, I do think it's kinda notable that during that moment of 'reconciliation', valentino allowed marc to be part of his legacy - even if it's just in a small way. 'great valentino catalunya battles' is a pretty cool group of races to be a part of, y'know? the infamous overtakes, the duels, these are the things people remember. these are the things marc remembered, as valentino's fan - inevitably, it'll mean something to him. it's a legacy he wants to be a part of, by fighting valentino, by emulating valentino, and sometimes valentino lets him and sometimes he'd rather leave marc out in the cold. you'll note that in 2019 he doesn't really engage with the "valentino corner" gag from marc and instead goes with the far more neutral turn 5 as his own pick

in the very very immediate aftermath of sepang (aka december 2015), marc did openly make the comparison between himself and valentino's other rivals:

and it's informed his whole approach since then - it's a big part of why he's tried to be quiet about the drama with valentino over the years. he knows how valentino behaves towards his rivals, he always has. he knows he can't beat valentino off-track... but (beyond his undeniable mental resilience) he's just fortunate enough that with his talent and the way their career windows have overlapped, more often than not he's been able to out-perform valentino on the track. and y'know, it's an interesting element to the whole thing I feel... marc was a fan of valentino's for a lot of reasons - he was very much a fan of the complete package, if you will. including what valentino did to his enemies! it's not like that aspect of vale was some kind of closely guarded secret; it was like a top three valentino rossi talking point for years and years. (part of the subtext of assen 2015 is marc not really enjoying being on the receiving end of one of those classic valentino scam wins, when marc had been intending to do that to valentino.) again, those overtakes of valentino's weren't just famous because they were cool, they were famous because they helped valentino fuck with his rivals. it's not just about emulating his on-track aggression, it's about emulating how valentino did his best to get in his rivals' heads. when we talk about marc 'being a fan' of valentino, then it shouldn't be ignored that this involved marc being a fan of what an absolute and utter asshole valentino was. and like with all things relating to valentino, I'd wager marc has pretty complicated feelings about this. at the end of the day that's also part of his make up as a rider... but it also really burnt him personally...

it's almost like an identification thing, isn't it. if you're marc and you're thinking about valentino's past rivalries, whose shoes are you placing yourself in? in many ways it should be valentino's rivals, because of course some of their experiences mirror marc's. and there's a rare moment in the winter of 2015, when he's still in the process of trying to make sense of everything that's happened, where he does make the connection. but apart from that, he's shied away from it - even when he's criticising valentino, he's generally not framing what valentino did to marc as indicative of some broader character flaw. it's casey and jorge who explicitly make that link, not marc. he's still kind of... idk, separating that out. obviously, marc would far rather be valentino's successor than another one of valentino's victims, even if he hasn't really been given a choice in the matter and has ended up being both. I don't really have any evidence to back this up, but my guess is that deep down he feels like what valentino did to him was different from what he did to those other guys. and in some ways he's right and in some ways he's wrong

unfortunate, isn't it. you're a fan of somebody with a reputation for fucking with his enemies, which is fun and neat and you kinda want to copy how he does it - maybe put your own spin on the whole thing but you're still into the general vibe. you enter the sport at a time when you can still fight your hero, but he's kinda washed and he's too old to be starting new feuds (*bzzzzt!!* incorrect! you are never too old to start feuds) so there's no real danger. and you share a bond you think on some level is different from whatever those other guys had going on, even sete gibernau, whoever tf that is. and then you become real rivals and realise how extremely not enjoyable it is to be losing to him yourself and you really want to show him and maybe you do push it a little far along the way. but it'll be okay. it's all fine... until he decides it's time to destroy you. and on one level you do obviously see the parallels because you're not an idiot... but on the other hand, none of that stuff, none of what he did to those other guys - it wasn't ever going to stop you from being a fan of his. it's the bits he did to you that are the problem. and at the end of the day, you'll never quite be able to let go of the twelve year old boy inside of you who found jerez 2005 really, really cool

anyway

Project X Zone series English Dub hypothetical cast

Look below the cut, this got kinda long... n__n; Please note that I’m only listing the ones that have had official English dub voices.

Project X Zone

Yuri Lowell: Troy Baker Estellise Sidos Heurassein: Eden Riegel or Cherami Leigh? (Riegel provided Estelle’s dub voice in the Tales of Vesperia game(s), while Leigh dubbed her in the movie, The First Strike) Flynn Scifo: Sam Riegel Jin Kazama: Brad Swaile (Street Fighter x Tekken English voice) Ling Xiaoyu: Carrie Keranen (Tekken: Blood Vengeance English voice) Heihachi Mishima: Jamieson Price (Blood Vengeance and SFxT English voice) Alisa Bosconovitch: Cristina Valenzuela or Michele Knotz? (Blood Vengeance and SFxT voices, respectively) KOS-MOS: Bridget Hoffman or Luci Christian? (Hoffman voiced her in Xenosaga Episodes I and III; Christian voiced her in Xenosaga: The Animation) T-elos: see above (Bridget Hoffman voiced both KOS-MOS and T-elos in Episode III, so it would only make sense if Luci got to take a crack at T-elos when she also voiced KOS-MOS.) Kite: Mona Marshall BlackRose: Wendee Lee Soma Schicksal: Yuri Lowenthal or Crispin Freeman? (I haven’t gotten to hear much, if any, of either voice yet...) Alisa Ilinichina Amiella: Kate Higgins or Cherami Leigh? (Same case as Soma...) Lindow Amamiya: Kyle Hebert Neneko: Luci Christian (She voiced Neneko in the English dub of the Yumeria anime, but she didn’t sound like a little girl, which Neneko seems like she is supposed to be. She may have to use a “little girl” voice for Neneko.) Neito: Tiffany Salinas? (TBH, I didn’t see much of the Yumeria anime, and even less of Salinas’s performance in the English dub. What little I have seen seems acceptable, but I’m honestly a bit afraid to watch the anime for myself... ‘Course, I’m kind of a coward, so... ;v;  ) Selvaria Bles: April Stewart Sakura Shinguji: Wendee Lee Ichiro Ogami: Dave Wittenberg Gemini Sunrise: Laura Bailey Erica Fontaine: Caitlin Glass? (She voiced Erica in the dub of the anime Sakura Wars: School of Paris, and that was the only time Erica Fontaine was dubbed.) Toma: Nick Tagas Cyrille: Erin M. Cahill Riemsianne La Vaes: Amy Provenzano Zephyr: Scott Menville Leanne: Jessica DiCicco Vashyron: Nolan North Bruno Delinger: (No official English voice, but I picture him being dubbed by the celebrity he resembles, Bruce Willis. XD  If not him, then someone who can convincingly sound like him.) Ulala: Cherami Leigh (I would say Apollo Smile, but she has retired from voice acting. : (   ) Mega Man X: Mark Gatha (Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X - The Day of Sigma) Zero: Lucas Gilbertson Tron Bonne: Caroly Larson; failing that, Tara Platt Servbots: Elizabeth Hanna or...whoever voiced them in Marvel vs. Capcom 3? Vile: Roger Rhodes? Ryu: Kyle Hebert? Ken Masters: Reuben Langdon Chun-Li: Laura Bailey Juri: Jessica Straus Seth: Michael McConnohie Chris Redfield: Roger Craig Smith Jill Valentine: Patricia Ja Lee Dante: Reuben Langdon Lady: Kari Wahlgren Morrigan Aensland: Kathleen Barr or Siobhan Flynn? (Barr voiced Morrigan in the anime Night Warriors: Darkstalkers’ Revenge, while Flynn provided her English voice in Marvel vs Capcom 3. Barr nailed the range of emotions, and Flynn had a genuine Scottish accent (Morrigan apparently originated in Scotland). Makes it hard to decide...) Demitri Maximoff: Paul Dobson (Darkstalkers’ Revenge voice) Hsien-Ko: Nicole Oliver Lord Raptor: Scott McNeil Jedah Dohma: Travis Willingham or David Kaye? Aura: Lia Sargent Iris: Michelle Gazepis? (I have no idea what the quality of the voice acting was in Mega Man X4...) Frank West: TJ Rotolo Arthur: Daniel Woren

Project X Zone 2

Leon S. Kennedy: Paul Mercier or Matthew Mercer? Ada Wong: Sally Cahill or Jolene Andersen? Vergil: Daniel Southworth Nero Angelo: David Keeley (I don’t remember if Nero has any voice acting in PXZ2, but it seems like I should list this guy...) M. Bison: Gerald C. Rivers Phoenix Wright: Ben Judd, Trevor White, or Eric Vale? Maya Fey: Samantha Dakin, Abby Trott, or Lindsay Seidel Miles Edgeworth: Mark Healy Felicia: Janyse Jaud Pyron: David Kaye Strider Hiryu: Marc Biagi (though it would be cool if his English voice was provided by a genuinely Japanese actor) Hotsuma: Jordan Rosa? Hibana: Karen Swenson Kazuma Kiryu: Darryl Kurylo (English voice in the first Yakuza game) Goro Majima: Mark Hamill (see Kazuma) Ranmaru: Dorothy Fahn Shadow: Tom Clarke Hill? Cardinal Garigliano: Dave B. Mitchell Ryo Hazuki: Corey Marshall Zagi: Roger Craig Smith Kazuya Mishima: Jordan Byrne Haseo: Andrew Francis or Yuri Lowenthal? Natsu: Kate Higgins Ciel Alencon: Cristina Valenzuela Nana Kazuki: Cassandra Lee Morris Aty: Melissa Gulden (Apparently, she’s going to provide this character’s dub voice in the upcoming Summon Night 6: Lost Borders.) Fiora: Carina Reeves Metal Face / Mumkhar: Timothy Watson Chrom: Matthew Mercer Lucina: Laura Bailey Tiki: Mela Lee

As for deciding on English-language voices for those who haven’t had an official dub yet, I wouldn’t know where to begin... Other than that, please let me know if I missed anyone!

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You have to be ready": the Press Conference gets Valencia in gear

After a pre-event that saw some riders face down a new challenge with some local flavour – a visit to the Pelayo trinquet – later on Thursday it was time for the pre-event Press Conference. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) headlined and was joined by Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP), Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar), Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), Alvaro Bautista (Angel Nieto Team) and Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team) as he returns from injury. With rain coming down throughout the day and that seemingly set to appear more throughout the weekend, that was a key talking point – as was debriefing Sepang and the Malaysian GP.

Reigning Champion Marquez was the first to speak. “We are coming here with good feelings because everything is done but we also won the last race which was very tough, but we achieved our goal to try and finish in the front in Malaysia. It’s a track where in the past we’ve struggled a bit now we’re here in Valencia and it looks like the forecast isn’t the best which is a shame because we prefer dry conditions. But we’ll try and approach the weekend in the best way. You never know, you have to be ready for all conditions.”

Next, he was asked about his teammate Dani Pedrosa, who was earlier named a MotoGP™ Legend and retires after this race weekend.

“With Dani we’ve shared many, many good moments, from the start he was my teammate and we’ve fought on the track but off track we’ve had a lot of respect. I’ve learnt a lot from him and it will be a special moment for all his team, and for Honda and Repsol because he’s a special legend for them. Then from Monday it’s a new teammate with a new character and new riding style. But I’ll concentrate on myself and my riding style, and then look at preparing 2019 in the best way.”

The man Marquez beat in Sepang was next on the mic. Rossi, whose laptimes showed incredible consistency before a crash out the lead, was positive about Malaysia despite his result – and wants to reconfirm positives ahead of winter.

“Malaysia was very emotional, a long day,” begins the ‘Doctor’. “At the end I was very tired! From Moto3 we had Bezzecchi fighting for the Championship and then the great race in Moto2 which was a great emotion for me and the team because it’s the first time we’ve won the Championship, and for Pecco, and for Luca who won his first race. And my race was very good, for me the best race of the season, where I was strongest from the beginning. Unfortunately it wasn’t a good end for me but it remains a good race and it’s important to understand if here in Valencia we’re competitive and we’ve found something, because it’s one of the toughest tracks of the year and the conditions could be difficult. The forecast is very bad but we’ll try and be ready in all conditions.

“From Thailand we’ve improved our speed a bit and we’re a bit more competitive, Maverick won in Phillip Island, I was competitive in Sepang so it’s good to understand if we’re also strong here in Valencia but we have a lot of work to do in winter. We always try to push at the maximum to have something new to try and the next few months will be important to be able to understand if next season we can be more competitive.”

More competitive is something that perfectly describes Rins’ second half of the season. The Spaniard has been incredibly consistent of late, and took another podium at Sepang.

“Sincerely, before starting the season I was thinking that maybe we could be very strong with the Suzuki with some podiums and good races but the important thing is that since Misano we’ve been very consistent and always in the top six and this is very good for us, for me and the Suzuki, we’re on a good level and fighting with the top guys,” says the number 42. “We need to keep working like that for next year. The first part of the season was a bit irregular for us with a lot of crashes but I learned how to finish the race. I think now we’re in a good way.

“There are a lot of races during the season, but for example in my case when I’m on the podium or finishing near the top, I don’t want that to end so for me we can do three or four more races now! We need holidays and to rest but it wouldn’t be a problem for me!”

The man he pipped to second on the podium spoke next: Johann Zarco. The Frenchman was back on the rostrum for the first time since Jerez and confirmed some more difficult races were starting to look up again. Now ahead in the Independent Team rider standings too, that’s a title the double Moto2™ World Champion is gunning for.

“I had some rest, the week after Malaysia and it has been so good to have this podium, to feel some good confidence,” smiles Zarco. “As a rider when you always give your best and try to give your maximum and it’s not working well…but since Thailand for us with Tech 3 it was a track where we did a test in the winter with exactly the same bike, so if it wasn’t working it was the rider. But I had a good result in Thailand so I’ll try and keep that in Valencia. It was a huge crash in Australia but in Malaysia I think I learned good things behind Vale at the start of the race and that helped me to have good pace and take the podium at the end. So I’m happy but even if I was struggling in the middle of the season, to be here fighting for the top five in the Championship and for top independent Team rider could mean it’s a great season.

“I’m so happy to have been with a French team for the first time, I didn’t have to go and see them to talk to them, I was in my own world! Being in a 100% French team in the paddock helped me, I’m not so sad to leave them though because they’re also changing to KTM and I think we’ll still have a close relationship.”

Then it was Lorenzo’s turn. The five-time World Champion tried to come back from injury at Sepang but was ultimately unable to race, but now – at a track where he’s had some incredible results – he’s back and ready to fight it out for the last time in red.

“I will be riding on Sunday, I think I’m quite well to be able to ride, in Sepang I wasn’t or I wasn’t able to fight for anything important; the top ten or even top 15. I was too slow,” explains Lorenzo. “But the injury has improved a lot in the last ten days so now I feel good enough to try and achieve the best result possible for the team. It will be an emotional race because it will close an important chapter in my career. Maybe the rain will help me a bit to not stress the injury too much in the recovery too. I’m looking forward to getting on the bike.

“The first person I had to demonstrate something to was myself, but not even that because I always believed I can go fast on any bike it’s just a question of time. We’ve seen changing bikes in MotoGP is very difficult, the level is so high and every small bit of time is so important. In tenths you go from winning to losing ten positions. It was just a matter of time and with that time I showed I was competitive enough to win races. Not fighting for the target I wanted to achieve at Ducati, but here the good moments were very good and I want to give them the last present of a good race on Sunday.”

Another facing a final chapter this weekend is Bautista, who will move to WorldSBK in 2019. Ahead of the event, the Spaniard is aiming to go out with a bang.

“My feeling is that it could be another ten or twenty races now because it’s a good moment,” begins the 2006 125 World Champion. “In the last races we were quite competitive with the independent bikes and the factory bikes so I will miss this feeling but I will try and end the season and my motogp career with the best result possible and try to enjoy it with the fans, the team and these guys on track. The only bad thing is the weather but we can’t do anything about that so I’ll try and enjoy this weekend as much as possible to finish my time in MotoGP.

“It’s difficult to choose one moment,” he continues when asked for his favourite moment in this paddock. “I have good memories like the World Championship in 125s, the podiums in MotoGP, I have good memories. But I also think it’s important to have bad moments because you learn a lot in how to come back stronger. For me both the good and bad are important. To be a rider and live on my bike is the biggest prize so it’s hard to choose one moment. All the moments are important, I try to enjoy the good and recover from the bad, there’s no one thing. Altogether it makes me happy to be here and to be a MotoGP rider.”

The lights end an era for some and begin a new one for others on Sunday in the Gran Premio Motul de la Comunitat Valenciana, tune in from 14:00 (GMT +1) to watch the season finale

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