Sonic The Hedgehog is saying goodbye to another longtime cast member as Cindy Robinson, the current voice of Amy Rose, has announced her departure from the franchise after 10 years. Robinson first took on the role of the spunky, hammer-wielding love interest of Sonic in 2010’s Sonic Free Riders following a mass replacement of every character - save for Mike Pollock’s extremely popular Dr. Eggman - and has served as a supporting presence in almost every game to follow.
First appearing in 1996’s Sonic CD, Amy Rose has had many different voices over the years. The first was Lynn Harris, who played the headstrong hedgehog in brief voice clips before being replaced by longtime voiceover actress Jennifer Douillard for in Sonic's Dreamcast era, which consisted of both Sonic Adventure games, 2003’s Sonic Heroes, and several other spin-off and handheld titles. Then came Lisa Ortiz, who voiced Amy in the English dub of Sonic X before being brought into the games with 2005’s Shadow The Hedgehog. This lasted until a shake-up in 2010, when Cindy Robinson took over the role in both the subsequent games and Cartoon Network's two-season Sonic Boom animated series.
Now, it looks like the plucky pink heroine is about to get yet another new voice as Robinson prepares to pass Amy’s trademark Piko-Piko hammer down after a decade. Cindy Robinson confirmed that she is departing from the role of Amy Rose on Twitter following reports of other Sonic VAs leaving over the past week. This prompted an outpouring of love and support from fans, who shared images of autograph sessions with Robinson and expressed disappointment that she will no longer be involved in the Sonic series after 10 long years.
Cindy Robinson’s announcement comes right on the heels of Roger Craig Smith revealing that he is also parting ways with the Sonic franchise after voicing the Blue Blur for the same period that Robinson played Amy. Fans have begun to speculate on who will be replacing him going forward, with the most common theory being that Sega aims to bring Sonic's movie actor Ben Schwartz into the games to unify the franchise’s various media - which was also the reason that the 4Kids-based cast of Sonic X was brought in back in the mid-2000s.
The departures of both Roger Craig Smith and Cindy Robinson from their iconic roles seem to be an indication that Sega wishes to start fresh with a completely new voice cast for future Sonic games. There is no word yet on who is going to replace Robinson as Amy, but fans will likely hear this new voice actor in the upcoming Sonic Prime animated series, which is set to air on Netflix next year. In the meantime, players will surely miss Cindy Robinson as the voice of Amy Rose, even as they get ready for a whole new era for the Sonic The Hedgehog franchise.
Source: Cindy Robinson