We’ve sadly lost a lot of popular icons within the span
of seemingly days and the losses aren’t getting any easier. While the loss of Tim Curry and Dolly Parton
still feels unreal, for me, the most heart wrenching departure of a famous and
beloved human being is still Peter Cullen.
For many of us, he is forever immortalized as the voice of one of the
greatest heroes in science fiction: Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots in
the Transformers franchise. But for those of us who didn’t grow up with his
awesomeness as a voice actor in the 80s, the Toonami age saw Cullen’s vocal talents
brought to a whole new generation.
Alongside Steve Blum’s Tom, Cullen provided the hype for virtually every
single show on Toonami’s line up in dozens of promos across Toonami’s ongoing
lifespan. It’s just not going to be the
same hearing him announce the arrival of a new title or remind us when an
awesome show like Bleach or Naruto is coming up next. Heck, how many Anime did Cullen bring to our
attention in the same way he narrarated the epic opening for Voltron? Well today that’s how I’m going to honor a
hero whose loss did as much a number on me as losing Leonard Nimoy. Today on Top 5 Wednesday, we honor the voice
of multiple generations with the Top 5 Best Peter Cullen Toonami Promos. Rest well in The Matrix old friend, Til all
are one.
