Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Voice actors...the fictional crushes you create

Planning my big trip to my next Expo! Always difficult to pick and choose who you want to meet and how you want to meet them. Photo ops, autographs, panels...oh my!

This year, at the top of my must see list is Troy Baker who is none other than Booker DeWitt. The question then arises if I should do a photo op or an autograph. My issue is that I want the meeting to commemorate my experience with him, so for a voice actor the photo op just doesn't do it justice as no one would know who he is. I mean Troy is a good looking man so having his arm around my waist leaning in close for a pic is something I'm surely game for. It just doesn't seem to fit the situation. Voice actors should instead have you pay a fee to record something for you. Read a personalized note, say my name over and over again or record my voicemail message. I think I'll go for an autograph and will bring along a print of Booker for him to sign. Hopefully I can snag a pic...would it be weird to ask him for a hug and to talk in my ear a little bit? Troy will be a special case as playing through Bioshock Infinite twice now, you don't actually see Booker much.  

These voice actors have an interesting persona. They create these characters, entire identities that sometimes look nothing like them. You spend so much time listening to these characters, in a tv series or video game, building up expectations and adding detail to your mental image of them. Maybe even developing a fictional crush. Now to meet H. Jon Benjamin (Archer; watched entire series at least twice) and Dameon Clarke (Handsome Jack, BL2 and pre-sequel both played through multiple times), two voices and fictional personalities I can't get enough of! I imagine it is really confusing to be in the presence of voice actors when you are so familiar with their voice behind a digitized/drawn character. This will be a first for me.

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