Troy Baker - Tumblr Posts
troy baker is honestly a giant inspiration for me. both in acting and in gender and that's very sexy of him
The great Troy Baker.
Happy birthday, Troy Baker!
This was my first time painting with charcoals in procreate and omg it turned out really good?!
I think I need to do more stuff like this
𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐚𝐲
- 𝐝𝐲𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐬
(Like three of these are only in the show, sorry to the gamers here without HBO)
It’s pretty awesome how TLOU Game has some of the best VA performances of all time, and TLOU HBO has some of the best Live Action performances of all time. Like, jeez, the casts in both are just out of this world!!
I fuckin’ love The Last of Us
Dialogue Styles and The Last of Us
There are many different ways that media handles dialogue, but in my observations they can usually be sorted into three different categories: Poetic, Witty, and Real.
There are more complicated and technical ways to look at it, but most shows have one that is the main “style” of dialogue.
Poetic Dialogue: People talking pretty, basically. It’s unrealistic, but speaking in metaphors or beautiful words can make you cry or give you chills.
Many monologues use poetic dialogue. Think of Luthen’s “revolution” speech in Andor or Silco’s “drowning” speech from Arcane. Period pieces or fantasy media also tend to use poetic dialogue.
Witty Dialogue: Dialogue that’s funny or smart. It’s also unrealistic, but really fun to watch!
Most good comedies most often use witty dialogue, like Community, Arrested Development, and Brooklyn 99. As do dark comedies like Succession or Aaron Sorkin Dialouge like the Social Network (that movie fucks, btw).
Realist Dialogue: Pretty self explanatory. Realistic Dialouge that sounds like how real people talk.
Examples of good realist dialogue include The Bear and Better Call Saul.
(Quick side note: Realist Dialogue isn’t indistinguishable from normal conversation. Usually dialogue and the way people talk is very different. Real dialogue just captures a more natural and raw way of speaking than the other examples.)
So what category does The Last of Us fall into?
Well, here’s the interesting part. I would say that the game and the show fall into different dialogue categories.
I would say that the game falls into the ‘Witty’ dialogue type, while the show falls into the ‘Realist’ dialogue type.
The show also occasionally dabbles in Poetic Dialogue, like Bill’s speech to Frank at the end of ep 3, Joel’s “I’m failin’ her in my sleep’ speech. If you’ve watched Chernobyl you’ll know that mixing real and poetic dialogue is a Craig Mazin specialty.
While both, like most pieces of fiction, have moments of all three (like the show absolutely has witty moments and the game has poetic ones), their main styles are different.
While there are many ways that you can see the differences in dialogue styles, but the starkest contrast is the way Ellie talks.
In the game you can definitely see the Juno-esque origins of Ellie that people have speculated about. She talks with this quickness, even in dramatic moments. She’s always got a quip or a joke or something clever to say (though you see less of it in the final part of the game).
In the show Ellie talks more like a real teenager. She’s clever and a she’s funny, sure, but she also gets flustered or doesn’t know what to say. She says the wrong things or rambles or she blurts stuff out and she sounds young in a way that game Ellie doesn’t.
You can see the difference most clearly in scenes very similar in both the show and the game, like when she shoots the man in Kansas City/Pittsburg, or when she wakes up in David’s cage.
In both these scenes you can definitely see show Ellie a bit more flustered, a bit more scared, and a bit more young.
TLOU HBO was able to use it’s medium to increase the realism of the story (something I’ve talked about before), and a way of doing that is to change how the characters themselves speak.
There are many other examples, but these are definitely some of the clearest.
But while the way they talked changed, the characters stayed quite consistent with only a few very intentional differences, and I think it’s awesome, and a testament to how strong the characters were, and how the writing in the show is that it doesn’t feel too jarring or separate. At the end of the day they’re very different, but both absolutely play to their strengths as a medium and I think that’s pretty cool!
I always try never to compare Pedro and Bella’s performances with Ashley and Troy’s.
That isn’t to say I don’t compare performances in general, or that I don’t have character choices that prefer in one version over the other, because I absolutely do. I just think that in this specific instance, the comparison of ‘X did better acting than Y’ is nonsensical and reductive of both parties. Both versions of TLOU have absolutely stellar performances, but they aren’t the same kind of performances!
In gaming, the actors have to be more exaggerated in order to get emotion across, since mocap doesn’t allow for the kind of subtle emotion that video does. You can’t tell what someone’s thinking by the look in their eyes or the way they hold their bodies without it being more exaggerated. But being more exaggerated doesn’t mean being more expressive. Pedro and Bella are both truly fantastic subtle actors, who act more with their eyes than most Hollywood stars do with their whole bodies. That’s just as expressive, it’s just a different kind of expressive. Acting with your eyes and with the subtle ways you hold your body just isn’t possible in video games yet.
If you took Ashley and Troy’s performances in TLOU game and stuck them 1:1 in a live action show, they would seem out of place and over-acted. That’s good! That’s how it’s supposed to be, because mocap and v/o acting are different from live-action, in-front-of-camera acting. Ashley and Troy are also incredible tv actors, but video game acting isn’t tv acting!
My point is that not is comparing these specific sets of actor’s performance useless and unnecessarily antagonistic, it’s also nonsensical. They both gave stellar performances, each pair delivering all-time-great acting specifically tailored for their respective mediums, and that deserves our respect and admiration, not useless manufactured competition.
does anybody know where to find the rest of the Joel Miller mugshots i’ve only found these ones in good quality and I need the rest of them so bad
Hello, my lovely followers!
I have some new doodles in the works, hopefully for today, including a Birthday dedication doodle to Troy Baker!
Keep posted! =3
You guys rock!
In the mean time, look up the band Charlie and the Foxtrots; they’re LITERALLY the best.
Where does one begin when talking about Troy Baker? Not only is he one of the most talented, dynamic, and powerful voice actors of our time, but, he's also a musician, who plays in the Silent Hill band. He has lent his voice to some of the most notable anime, cartoon, and video game characters of our time, giving life to two of the most riveting, provocative characters of our age, Booker DeWitt (Bioshock Infinite) and Joel (The Last of Us). In a Golden Age of beautiful storytelling in video games, Troy has woven together real, flawed, complex characters, bringing to life a whole new tapestry of storytelling. It's as if Troy has added beautiful colour and pattern to video games, which had only been spun together in black and white before him. He is truly remarkable, and truly talented. Happy Birthday, Troy Baker. Sorry I'm late (his birthday is April 1st, 1976). You definitely don't look 38. I'll never bash April Fool's Day again. Whether or not you're a vampire, you'll always have the last laugh on April Fool's day, because, honestly, you're possibly immortal. Whether or not that's true physically, you've been immortalised in your amazing work. Thank you a thousand times over for sharing your gifts with us, the fans. We're forever indebted to you. Thank you, Troy Baker, and, Happy Birthday!