I know you watch DS9, but did you ever see Star Trek: TNG? There's an episode where Data is angsting again about his violin and how he's not creative, he just blends the styles of X, Y, and Z famous violinists, and Picard points out that in order to blend such radically differing styles Data had to add something to the mix. I thought that was cool. And JK Rowling once said something about how ideas are like compost, in that other people's ideas break down in your head and that's where your own ideas grow.

The funny thing is that the guy who stole his voice looks nothing like either Beast OR Grammer. He's a short, wiry, lazy old cynic with shaggy salt-and-pepper hair, and he glows in the dark and can make hurricanes if he's had enough caffeine. It surprises me how much a voice can make or break characters independent of looks, though ~ if my mind assigns them a particular voice, I'm more interested in them, and it also sends their personalities in specific directions.