Spike Spencer
Spike Spencer is a voice actor probably best known for playing Shinji Ikari in Neon Genesis Evangelion.
He's probably the poster guy for Pigeonholed Voice Actor. He's never been able to live it down, and up until 2009 had been voicing pretty much Shinji in a different form. We're looking at you, Hanataro (less emo, more timid) & Rolo (more emo, less timid, and even more homoerotic not to mention psychotic)!
However, that all changed when he was cast as Arakune, a psycho. This came as a shocking surprise to fans, and has finally broken him out of the pigeonhole. BEES! (My God...)
Noted for being an extremely funny guy who is very welcoming to his fans. He once referred to Sam Riegel as "the gay man with the fan". He's also a black belt (which makes him wonder why he's cast as the helpless kid). He also hates Hideaki Anno for running out of ink to finish NGE, that bastard!
And remember, it's not a true Spike Spencer role without a good old-fashioned Freak-Out. Incidentally, this scene (starting at 2:03) (major, MEGA-HUGE Evangelion spoilers) is the only one he's specifically described as having made him uncomfortable to work on. He was formerly married to Kendra Benham, the first voice actor of Maya Ibuki. He's currently single.
Not to be confused with Spike Spiegel, a character from a show he wasn't in.
Anime
- Shinji Ikari in Neon Genesis Evangelion
- Hanataro Yamada and D'Roy in Bleach
- Papillon in Busou Renkin
- Rolo Lamperouge in Code Geass
- Mackie Stingray in Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040
- Dr. Shiouji (and a Scottish terrier with glasses) in Excel Saga
- Yugo in the Battle Angel OVA
- Akito Tenkawa in Martian Successor Nadesico
- Majic Finn in Sorcerer Stabber Orphen
- Marth (Mars) in the Fire Emblem OVA
- Ginta Toramizu in MAR
- Goh in Prétear
- Onion Boy in Gantz
- Takuma Kugayama in Full Metal Panic!
- Takuma Ichijo in Vampire Knight
- Saburo Togusa in Durarara!!
Video Games
- Arakune in BlazBlue
- Also Hazama, during one scene - when he decides to test Unlimited Mu in Arcade Mode.
- Possibly also his battle lines with Relius, thanks to some stream footage.
- Also Hazama, during one scene - when he decides to test Unlimited Mu in Arcade Mode.
- Milanor in the PSP version of Yggdra Union
- Claude Kenni in Star Ocean: Second Evolution
- Jack "Harmonica" Hamilton in Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia
- Yeager in Tales of Vesperia
- Nall in Lunar: Silver Star Harmony
- Attumen the Huntsman from World of Warcraft
- Atsuro in Shin Megami Tensei Devil Survivor Overclocked
- Tyrann in NieR
- Guan Suo in Dynasty Warriors 7
- Nagamasa Azai in Samurai Warriors 3
- Butt Monkey/Chew Toy: what he's often casted into, at least according to the consensus within this wiki.
- Emo: The defining trope of his characters. Many of them tend to be very angsty. More particularly Shinji Ikari.
- In fact, Spike's voice acting is much more emo than Yuri Lowenthal (which this trope is very inappropriate to describe the later).
- Hilarious Outtakes: The infamous "Ran out of ink" NGE ending outtake.
- Keet: He's been described by Amanda Winn-Lee as one of the most hyper people ever, which makes his pigeonholing even more ironic.
- Pigeonholed Voice Actor: HELL YEAH! The best example.
- Saburo is a subversion though, the character is still a Butt Monkey, but Emo is definitely not a defining trope of the character. His unlucky moments are still funny though.
- Playing Against Type: Holy. Shit. Arakune was fucking creepy.
- You think Arakune was Playing Against Type? Pfft. Try Ginta Toramizu - a mildly Hot-Blooded, Keet Ascended Fanboy, and perhaps most importantly, a normal Shonen Protagonist. On the other hand, given his roles as Saburo, Arakune, and Papillon, it would be more apt to say that he's typecast for roles with a massive and/or tendency towards minor Freak Outs.
- Unions in Hollywood: He's quite critical of this trope, see YMMV page.
I mustn't click away, I mustn't click away!
... You ran out of tropes too, didn't ya, ya bastards?