Tiffany Vollmer Says She Never Heard Back About a Battle of Gods Return as Bulma

Tiffany Vollmer, perhaps the most celebrated of the many actresses who have voiced Bulma in English, told me that when she was asked about returning for Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, she asked whether the production could help her get back to Dallas and then never heard from them again. In our conversation she also opened up about being replaced as Bulma, how she found out, and why she has made peace with it.

She joined me shortly after a battle with coronavirus. About a month to a month and a half earlier, we had found out she was legitimately sick with COVID-19. It was a scare, because fans had already lost Bulma's Japanese voice actress, and people were saying not another one. By the time we spoke, she was feeling better and had overcome the virus, which to me made her much like Bulma from the future: a survivor. She said she was "glad to still be around" to chat.

Tiffany Vollmer was the one constant voice of Bulma in the English dub

In Japan, Bulma's actress and the narrator stuck around through everything from Dragon Ball to Dragon Ball Z and GT. The English dub was a different story. Different studios were involved, there were recastings, and there were something like three different narrators along the way.

Through all of that, Tiffany was the constant. That's one thing I don't think people always remember: whatever else changed in the dub, she was always there as Bulma.

Tiffany Vollmer on being replaced as Bulma by Monica Rial

I asked her about her departure from Dragon Ball. She had moved to New Orleans, and I admitted I didn't know the whole story. My guess was that because she was no longer in the Dallas Fort Worth area, she couldn't voice the character for Kai and future projects.

Her answer started with other work. She said she auditioned for Case Closed "a million times," including for the lead, and was called back three times for that role. She did end up voicing a recurring character, Betsy, for what she recalled as around two episodes. But she said a bunch of people were replaced, and she was one of them. Her replacement was Monica Rial, who she said has a really great, amazing anime career in her own right.

Tiffany said she doesn't know how the decision went down or where it came from. "I'm not mad about it," she said, though she added she was sure she was hurt at the time. Her own theory, which she stressed she didn't know for certain, was that if you are making a version of a show that is extremely different from the original, you might bring in somebody whose fans would follow them over to the new version.

How Tiffany Vollmer found out, and what Chris told her

The part that stung more was how she learned about it. Tiffany said that when she and Chris were emailing about it, she told him she had expected a call. He didn't call her, and she found out in a way she described as more upsetting than if he had simply phoned to tell her. She said she thought he was probably just nervous about it.

When they did talk, she said, he told her "you will always be the original Bulma," and that Monica knows Tiffany was there before her. He also pointed out that Monica had been voice acting a lot longer than the two of them combined. Tiffany said he was very considerate, that they have chatted about it since, and that she is cool with what happened.

Why Tiffany Vollmer stayed in Texas for Bulma despite the pay

Leaving the role also gave her the freedom to move around the country. Tiffany said she had been planning to move to Los Angeles and wonders where she might have ended up if she had. Instead she stuck around for the voice acting job because she was this character. "I loved the character and I loved the work, I didn't love the paycheck," she said.

She explained that the cast all had other part time jobs. She ran a Gap store for about half of her time on the show, and she also started her own theater company. A lot of people assume that once you land a big show, voice acting becomes a full time job, but she said that isn't the case: you're always waiting for the next gig, like anything else.

The discussion turned to Disney as the one place with a big, steady gig. Tiffany pushed back a little, noting that these days they hire celebrities rather than voice actors, so even that opportunity isn't what it used to be.

Tiffany Vollmer on New Orleans, her family and a life after Dragon Ball

Tiffany described herself as a very spiritual person. "I believe that I had my time on that show and then it was time for me to go do something else," she said. If she hadn't moved to New Orleans, she said, she wouldn't have met her husband, had her daughter, or had all the experiences of living in what she called an incredible city for eight years.

The food came up quickly. She said it's unbelievable and that nobody knows until they go. In the conversation, alligator and a crawfish po' boy both came up as dishes to try.

Beyond the food, Tiffany said the city attracts like-minded people: artists, musicians, vagabonds and costumers. She lived in a 650 square foot art studio with her bed on an eight foot platform, so, as she put it, she was pretty much living in a tree house, and anyone who wanted to join her had to climb an eight foot ladder.

The Battle of Gods offer and the travel question Tiffany Vollmer never got an answer to

Even after Kai, the studio came back to her. When Battle of Gods was in the works, Tiffany said they brought back Meredith, who had also moved away, and they did ask Tiffany to be in it. She recalled them asking how she would feel about bringing back the original cast, using the phrase "original recipes," which she joked made her sound like fried chicken.

She said yes, and asked whether they would be able to help her financially to get back to Dallas. Then she never heard from them again. She was clear that she wasn't making it a condition. She wasn't saying they had to pay for her trip or she wouldn't do it. She was only asking whether they planned to fly her in or whether she would have to pay for it herself. "I didn't even get an answer," she said, adding that she would have said okay and figured it out. To her, it felt like the response was: she wants us to pay for her to come back, never mind.

Could Tiffany Vollmer have recorded Bulma remotely?

That left me wondering about the logistics. As far as I know, the Battle of Gods dub was recorded in 2014, while the Japanese version came out in 2013. Even back then, maybe she didn't have a home studio, but I asked whether they could have set up some kind of remote access, or whether they wanted everybody back in the room because it was a big movie when it came out.

Tiffany agreed it was huge but said she didn't know the reasoning. Today you can voice whatever you want from home, and I know Funimation itself has been producing anime with actors recording at home because of COVID, and even before it. It's a lot easier now.