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[muji]

Why do you have the PB you do? If it's because of the actor that played your character, do you ever think about choosing someone else?

Comments

[innerbrat]

For the only character relevant to the second question: no one could do Will Turner like Orlando Bloom.

I'm lucky that most of my comics based characters have enough comic canon to make a full set of icons. I picked Selma Blair almost randomly for Mel six years ago and I don't use her icons all that much. If I had to re-pick a PB for Mel, I might not use one, or I might use Sarah Silverman or Anna Paquin.

I picked Amy Adams for Marguerite because none of the actresses who played her looked right to me. Book told me I needed someone with auburn hair (Orczy likes to use a lot of 'golden halos' for her) and I wanted someone conventionally beautiful, with a range of expressions, especially smiles, who could pull off both self control and genuine effusion. Amy was it.

I don't have a PB for Dinah (I need someone with a near equal amounts of blonde and dark hair), or Renee, because comic icons fill her space. If I did need a PB for Renee, though, it'd be Michelle Rodigruez, mostly due to this pic

[skidmo]

I'm actually usually quite intimidated by the prospect of picking a PB. Probably because most of my pups are from visual canons. I never really think about who else I'd like to play them, then, because in my mind, the actor is the character, at least as far as physical descriptions go.

For the few pups I have who aren't from a visual, live-action medium...

Lucifer just gets icons from the comics, because no actor could ever perfectly capture his expressions. I did once play him in a game that required a PB, and I used Thor Knai, who is probably slightly too young for the part, but does that brooding indifference thing so well. Plus, he's blond and almost too perfect looking.

For Orpheus, I really just trolled Hollow Art for someone I could believe in the role. And it helped that Garrett Hedlund plays the guitar, so I could get guitar icons for him. I didn't even realize he'd played Patroclus in Troy until after I'd chosen him as a PB, so that was a nice surprise and gave me a small handful of icons to use should I ever need to set Orpheus in his original time period. I have to admit, the icons I found for Garrett have somewhat influenced the way I play Orpheus.

Tolkien, I think, is the only one I don't have a PB for who didn't come from a visual source. Right now he has only two icons. One is actually of Tolkien in his WWI uniform, and the other is one of the illustrations from the books. I keep thinking I should find a good PB for him, but that feels almost sacrilegious to me, Tolkien-nerd that I am. Nobody seems right. (I would absolutely take suggestions, btw...)

[alchemistseraph]

Well, now I know where I recognize that guy from, at least. And Thor Knai is so perfect for Lucifer, even if I rarely thread with him. He's pretty to look at.

I sorta see Ralph Fiennes working for Tolkien? Despite the fact that the only militaryish pictures I can find are of him playing Goeth in Schindler's List...

[kd7sov]

I don't know. I looked through Hollow Art, and basically said "this is a brown-haired guy with something like the right face-shape and some of the expressions I expect Felix to use".

As for Kain, I'm still looking. Not very diligently, but then it's not something I consider really necessary.

[a1enzo]

I searched Hollow Art and Leo Legrand was the best match on facial features at about the right age, simple as that. I might switch to Thomas Dekker when Enzo's older; it depends what images are available of Legrand when he's older and if he still matches, and also whether I can find enough pictures of Dekker with suitable bangs, clean-shaven, and not looking angsty in every dang picture.

[camwyn]

For Gordon, I have the PB I do because blackswanevent contacted me shortly after seeing Speed Racer and said "OMG GORDON IS TOTALLY IN THIS MOVIE YOU HAVE TO SEEEEEEEEEEEEEE." And so I went, and I sat down and watched, and Inspector Detector walked on screen and I all but swallowed my tongue because yep, Gordon. Right there. Hasn't been anyone else since.

Adrian... meh. Adrian's canonical box art has him in a helmet and gas mask. About the only thing you can tell about his appearance is that he's not black- you can see the skin of his forearms. So any white dude who was around 22 (his canonical age according to the opening text of Half-Life: Opposing Force) would do it. I decided John Cusack looked about right for someone who was pretty average looking. I used shots of John when he was older than 22 because at 22, John was playing Lloyd Dobler, which is about as far from looking like a Marine as it's possible to get without being a drag queen.

Medic I just use fanart for. Mordin gets screencaps. Vergil is screencaps and fanart. Ray is from a movie/comic canon; I just use screencaps, and a few scans from the comic that established his particular continuity.

Belar is canonically described as chronically immature, occasionally prone to impressive speeches, but a warrior and hunter at heart. He's also the God of the ScandaRussoScottish people of his world. (Riva's not England, it's Scotland.) Owen Wilson has the hair for the part, is very good at the immature boyish charm thing, and did a really good job as a downed American pilot in Behind Enemy Lines, so I could see him doing the warrior thing. Haven't really thought about anybody else.

Arcade Gannon drives me up the wall because finding pictures of blond men in their mid-30s who wear glasses is insanely difficult. I wanted Neil Patrick Harris for the part but there is one episode of How I Met Your Mother in which he wears glasses, and that's for less than thirty seconds. I wound up going with Alan Tudyk because he's almost the right coloring, almost the right age, and there were lots of shots of him in 28 Days wearing glasses. If Neil ever gets a bunch of photographs of himself wearing glasses LET ME KNOW PLEASE.

And Ellen got her PB because I wanted an Asian-ancestry character who was not Chinese or Japanese. Koreans don't get much screen time in the American consciousness, so I went to http://thedailies.grimfandango.org and scrolled down to 'East & Southeast Asia' to look for an actress who looked about the right age and ethnicity. Yoon Eun Hye was a bit older than I wanted- Ellen is 19 at the start of her canon- but otherwise looked suitable. I've since added several caps of Jeeja Yanin, from the movies Chocolate and Raging Phoenix, because she bears a strong resemblance to Yoon Eun Hye despite being Thai- and because her movies make use of her Muay Thai training and so mean that I can actually get pictures of her looking beaten up or angry, which are in somewhat short supply with my original PB.

[(Anonymous)]

I have changed Mallory's a couple of times...none of them really matched my mental image of her as a grown up, but I'm pretty happy with the one I have for her now.

Rapunzel is a NIGHTMARE to find a PB for, because there so few actresses that have had that many different lengths of hair that aren't styled. Her hair grows so fast that styling it is pointless.

Bobby's was a stroke of luck--one of the PB icons of James Ellis looked exactly like a panel in one of the issues of XFC. Plus, he's nice to look at!

Mother Nature has very few good pictures of either the actress that plays her on the commercials, or screencaps. It's sad.

KK and Karl are taken directly from their canon, so I don't have to find PBs for them, thank heaven.

[aisforamy]

Damn it! These are mine. Duh. I need to check to make sure I'm logged in, eh?

[sdelmonte]

I have a tendency to play pups from films and TV shows, so there's no need to think about it much for them. The actors are the embodiment of the characters.

For Cyborg, there's no reason to think about it much either since his identity is tied to his robot parts. He can use a holographic cloak, but he doesn't like doing it. If I did want to use an actor for him under the hologram, it might be August Richards from Angel.

Which leaves my comic book pups, past and present. I looked around for someone who embodied Barry Allen back in the day, but never really found anyone who seemed right (and as much as I liked the 1990-91 Flash TV series, John Wesley Shipp didn't look at all like comic book Barry). With Charlie, however, Damien Lewis has been the only choice since Batya and I concluded that the Crews-Reese partnership on Life was a funhouse mirror version of Charlie and Renee. I've just never really had the time or the desire to make the switchover. (As I have noted more than once, I am not a big icon person.) But if they were to make a Question TV show or movie, Damien Lewis would be perfect.

[theoldfirm.livejournal.com]

Barbossa (bushel_o_apples) is, well, Barbossa from the movie. There's no way anyone could have done that character justice aside from Geoffrey Rush.

As for Tarik (first_runihura), I chose Ahmed Shah Massoud (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Shah_Massoud) because there are several similarities, both in physical looks and character. That I find him quite admirable too had a little to do with it.

There's very little canon visuals for Tarik, and what few there are I have tried to integrate them among his icons (The rifle, Paradiso and Grin icons, specifically).

[bethan-b-bad.livejournal.com]

Guys, have you seen the Google logo (http://www.google.co.uk) for today? INTERACTIVE JULES VERNE TRIBUTE. It's gorgeously pretty.

[dynastessa]

OMG THAT IS AMAZING.

[alchemistseraph]

Well, let's see. A lot of mine were picked kinda oddly...

For Micah, I needed someone with long curly hair and a slim-ish swimmer's build. I had gone with Alex Lundqvist at first, but he has all of one expression and dresses funny as a model. So, his current PB is actually someone I know locally--didn't figure that out until about three weeks after I started playing him--by the name of Taylor Darnell, who does a lot of different expressions and has a fondness for hopping around in nature.

For Nori I went with Ayumi Hamasaki because she's 1) Asian, 2) blonde--thus easier to photoshop with blue hair, and 3) looks as moderately like the comic scans as it is possible to get. That was about all the thought that went into that one. (And I'm sure it's obvious.)

Charles was a bit difficult and for the longest time he had Adrian Grenier as a PB, and I wasn't happy with it, because his description in the books is slick and polished, and...well, Grenier isn't in great many shots. So now he's James Franco, and for the moment I think this works a lot better.

Finvarra jut needed someone, and I don't even remember how I came up with the kid that plays him now, but he has black hair and blue eyes and a lot of different looks, which works for the character. At least, I hope it does.

And for Ganymede...I still feel weird about having him played by an Asian actor when he's not, strictly speaking and in modern terminology, Asian, but...Gackt for lack of a better description looks young. I went with that because Ganymede needs to look young without being noticeably a child. And, well, a lot of the teens out there just don't work for me. This one is by far the PB I worry about the most, because I'm never sure if people will get why I chose him.

[minkhollow]

Carl, Larry, Cosmo, Moist and Claudia are all 'that's who played the character' PBs, and I can't imagine any of them as anyone else. (Especially not Moist - I can't watch Big Bang Theory with a straight face - or Claudia.)

Conflict Diamond, I've more or less entirely made up as I went along; I found Tamala Jones on Hollow Art and ran with it, though I've considered finding someone else for a while now. (Younger Conflict Diamond is Christina Milian because... of commercials for Bring It On 3. So yeah.)

Cata is Natalie Dormer because I went traipsing through Hollow Art to see what I could find, and found her default icon with that smirk and went '...yeah, that's her.'

Sam has the funniest story as to why Neil Patrick Harris, mainly: The first time I saw Dr. Horrible, I was visiting the friend who gave me Villains By Necessity to read in the first place, and round about "My Eyes" I went 'hey so Billy and Sam: Separated at birth y/y?' I haven't been able to picture Sam as anyone else since.

For a couple oldies but goodies: I never did find a non-cartoon PB for Jane, and Imp y Celyn has been Orlando Bloom the entire holy shit seven and a half years he's been in my head. It's the hair mostly, but also the added layer to the 'well are you sure you're not elvish?' thing. (I also never found a good PB for Morwen, and I really wish I had.)

[leeshajoy.livejournal.com]

My only current pup to whom this applies is Alyx Vance, and let me tell you, she was and is DAMN hard to find a proper PB for. There are only a handful of pictures available of Jamil Mullen, who was the physical model for Alyx, and there are precious few other models or actresses out there who fit the bill. I finally settled on the half-German half-Thai model Nanda Hampe because her face has the right shape, although her skin tone is far too light. Generally, though, I prefer to use fanart or Garry's Mod pics for Alyx... which is a nightmare in and of itself, given the kinds of Rule 34 nonsense people have made of her.

[baptizemyself]

I spent ages - AGES! - trawling through Hollow Art looking for a PB for Helena but no one was quite right. I found a few people who where kind of right - Rhona Mitra and Jennifer Connely were kind of OK - and I was this close to settling on Megan Fox when I saw a picture of Coby Smulders and went 'YES! THAT'S HER!'

Her hair isn't quite dark enough but otherwise she could almost be the basis for the way that most artists draw Helena.

[the_gene_genie]

Nope, never. No one could be Gene except Phil Glenister - he was even asked to reprise the role in the US (as was John Simm, as Sam). Writers/producers/critics/fans, everyone's always banging on about how absolutely, and brilliantly, he inhabited that role. /fangirling.

Same for Ramon, actually. Joaquim de Almeida is far too awesome to replace. Never seen a smirk like it. *beams*

And Harry too, my own lingering doubts about Daniel Radcliffe's performances as him aside. I mean, sometimes he's fabulous and sometimes he's really not, though I also think the directors of the various movies could have used the kids better at times. But the look of him is so close to the original canon, and he's so associated with the character now, it's impossible for me to think of anyone else to use as a PB. And I wouldn't want to!

I will stop there. Basically, my pups are all from TV or movies and I've loved the way they were embodied by their actors, or I wouldn't be playing them in the first place.

...I lie. VIMES! He's, I think, my only book pup. pterry has often said that he looked like Pete Postlethwaite (RIP, man) in his mind's eye, I've seen official art of him as, basically, Clint Eastwood but from the outset, he always looked like Martin Shaw to me. Specifically, Martin Shaw as he played George Gently in the TV adaptations over recent years, for the BBC - and that won't mean anything to anyone outside the UK, but he was awesome in them. :)

I need to write up that OOM of him and Gene meeting that's been rattling around the noggin' for months. *makes note*

[yakalskovich]

You play VIMES??????????

[spooky-lemur.livejournal.com]

Ben as human was a bit tough. I mean there are lots of middle aged tough guy actors but finding one that felt right was hard. I mean Bruce Willis was tempting but he already had one Willis role in the bar and I didn't want to play with mistaken identities. Then I was looking through old folders for other pup ideas I had and came across Damiel from Wings of Desire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wings_of_Desire) it just seemed to fit the emotional state Ben was in during his most recent time being human. It is a bit awkward as Bruno Ganz went on to later play Hitler but I do my best not to let Ben know that.

As for Ultimate Ben, this panel (http://pics.livejournal.com/unbreakableben/pic/00001eak) really reminded me of Peter Deluise from 21 Jump Street so voilà!

Jessica's PB came about because the art in Spider-Woman: Agent of S.W.O.R.D. really made me think of Jennifer Connelly. Plus I think Jennifer makes an awesome femme fatale which is part of the character of Jessica Drew.

Val was tough. When I was thinking of applying her, I needed someone who seems friendly and happy but intelligent and sort of murky underneath. At the time my wife got me into Friday Night Lights and that's where I saw Adrianne Palicki for the first time. While her FNL character was a bit more manipulative than I see Val, she did have that friendly front that people believed.

Thalia has been a tough one. At this point she should look 12-ish yet dressed punk (not goth or emo), intense and she needs to seem like she an take care of herself on the streets. I like her current PB (Maggie Grace) which someone recommended (tauntingdragons I think?) but she is a bit old. Maggie also is a blond while Thalia has black hair but the attitude is there so I stick with her for now.

Jenks is my final and I use Cary Elwes from Princess Bride and Robin Hood, Men in Tights as it fits his 12 year old mind set and costuming. I am tempted to start using Derek Hough (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2625538/) for some variation and a more modern look as he is supposed to be in the 21st century.

[ceitfianna]

Most of my PBs are chosen due to one look that just made me go oh yes, you're that pup. Sometimes this means that they don't look exactly like the book description but they work in my head.

I first learned about PBs by picking James MacAvoy, I didn't know about all the resources so I was just googling for red haired models. Then somehow James got into my head and then someone made me icons and he's Will.

Demeter was really hard because I needed two PBs who both had to be warm and blonde and sensual. Kate Winslet's just one of my favorites so she was fairly easy and then I found this Judi Dench fansite and had my other Demeter.

Sameth was tricky since all the PBs I found just didn't look like Sam to me. Then in Hollow Art I stumbled on Will Young and this one icon that I call not here. It completely caught Sameth for me and he was the PB.

Moist required looking because the book describes him as ordinary looking but I knew I needed someone who was clever. Stumbling brought me to Jude Law and especially to him as Bosie in Wilde, the suits plus the don't look at me attitude sold me.

In terms of the acting ones, I really couldn't see other actors as them. Kevin Kline as the Pirate King is why I love The Pirates of Penzance and all the others just work.

[agoodshinkickin.livejournal.com]

Ida is Ida. There is no one who is more Ida than Mary Pat Gleason.

The Loompas are the animated Korn Kids by Todd MacFarlane, because...they are freaks on leashes.

Raph? In my mind's eye Raph is the quintessential NYC townie thug. And in my mind that translates to human as an Italian Wiseguy...so...white dude. Originally I'd chosen Zach Braff based solely on the trailer for "Garden State". He had that sort of non-descript goomba guy look to him.

Then I caught him on Scrubs, and it hurt my brain.

When it came time for a change I decided to go even more Mookish: Dominick Lombardozzi, best known for being "Herc" on "The Wire". There's also some Michael Chiklis and Jason Statham rolled in there for flavor. Really Human!Raph is a big lug of a guy.

Originally I wanted Ernie Reyes Jr to be Mike's Human PB, since he's got the requisite smile along with some pretty kick ass Meta, but I wasn't able to find nearly as many pictures as there are of Breckin Meyer. Who...is Mike for all intents and purposes. Seriously, check out youtube for interviews of the guy, it's kind of freaktastic how similar they are.

[spooky-lemur.livejournal.com]

I saw Mike on House recently (playing catch up with the series)...it was mind blowing to say the least. And I thought him showing up on Heroes was trippy.

[somanesa.livejournal.com]

Well, as I said before, I chose Yasmin Adbul Aziz for Amascut because of her range of expression and she looks about as old as Amascut looks in game.

I don't have the iconspace to show of that range, but I feel she can pull of even this wacky "I'm gonna eat your soul!!!!" look.


Um. I also picked her because she is Egyptian. Her skin tone isn't exactly dark enough. Oh well. It isn't like I picked her because her hair is easy to photoshop, so that isn't the reason why she is light skinned. It's just that she doesn't suffer from the I am a serious model/actress, and this is my sexyface look of all the other PB's I looked at.

[yakalskovich]

I sometimes rely on other people with picking PBs. schiarire picked Isabelle Adjani as Margolotta a long, long time ago, for the old Discworld RPG. And corchen suggested Vladimir Kulich when I was looking for somebody fitting Urquhart's description. And essayel suggested Dean Stockwell for another character I was casting at the same time as Tower, so I decided he'd fit him as well. And Bridgette, finally, is from a visual canon, so no need to cast her.

For Donovan, I had the specification of 'very pale, with very pale hair', and the Austrian actor Robert Stadlober fitted that very well. While I read Sirona's canon, I almost immediately thought that Emilie Autumn looks a lot like the way the author describes her. And Teja, finally? I was thinking abut apping him, and then thought, no way in hell can I pull him off visually, who would I use for his PB, Brandon Lee in 'The Crow' or what? So that's who it had to be, with the most extreme make-up edited out. Later, I got scans from an illustrated version of his canon, so I added those.

[penderwydd]

Because after watching 300 he just for some reason was how I saw Tegid.

[chanter1944]

I can't imagine anyone else than Lanei Chapman playing Sariel. Another actress wouldn't be the same, in a hundred ways. I suppose this is a personal quirk, and I know at least a little of it's connected to impressions of characters being formed through hearing and imagination. I equate characters to their actors' voices extremely strongly. If I hear an actor in another role somewhere down the line, I instantly think 'oh, that's whoever character!' or 'oh, that's whoever character's actor!' Lanei Chapman is forever equated with Sariel in my head, though she's had other wonderful roles.

[theresnodoor]

I have the hardest damn time with Rachel, it's ridiculous. First, because her canon descriptions are age 13-16, tall, willowy, blonde, blue eyes. Not that hard, right? And then the part I hate: supermodel beautiful. As I don't often find every supermodel beautiful, especially not when they're making duckface at me, I hated this.

I also needed someone who could smile and laugh and be sarcastic, while also being dangerous and insane.

The first PB I used was Yvonne Strahovski (Sarah from Chuck) because I was playing an AU-older-Rachel in another game, and she had the cheeky smiles and rage/fighting. I still use a few of her icons, but not where you can really tell her age.

Then I played 16-y/o Rachel and needed a new one. I found Bar Raefeli who is, unfortunately, a model - but fits all other qualifications, with the bonus of looking dangerous and a little insane in a decent number of icons. She even has some good smiles.

Then requiem2adream pointed me to Amber Heard, who I'd used casually in sandboxing before, but hadn't really wanted. She didn't seem willowy enough or with the 'danger warning Will Robinson GTFO' air I wanted. But the group of icons Lauren showed me were perfect and they're now some of my favorites.

So then I just used all three and if anyone else has suggestions, I may add four. :P

[misslucyjane]

Most of my pups are from visual canons so it's not an issue I often have. jack_inthegreen was tough, really. I wanted someone stereotypical-Irish looking, not too young, not too old, who smiled a lot because Jack is a rather merry being. My first thought was Donal Logue, but I thought I wanted someone with a bit more edge to him. David Wenham was kind of "*forehead smack* Of course!" kind of choice, and he's got all those Faramir pictures for when Jack is Herne. Occasionally Jack is also Billy Boyd (Springtime Jack) and Bernard Hill (wintertime Jack.) Because he's a god and he can.

I decided to make verse_libre human for Cubefall one year, but had the worst time figuring out a PB until I saw a picture of the Boss himself, Don Marquis. Who else would Archy look like?

[basic_powers]

Dot was and still is the most difficult pup I have ever had for finding a human PB for. The Mainframe Studios crew based her on Nana Visitor (more famously known for her role on Deep Space Nine), and finding photos of a young her, with medium length hair, without that ruddy nose prosthetic was a trial. There are more recent photos of Nana that I love the pose and facial expression on, but lack the Photoshop to make her look right. I might have to settle for someone drawing human!Dot in the future if I want more icons there.

Motheryucca_isnt_porn is Dan Akroyd. You do not argue with me on this. He has some icons from the movie and I'd really like to get a cackling icon for the mad bastard someday. We'll just have to settle for the 'Kitsune-made Cloaking Device' image for now.

Tyler is another hard one for a photo PB. I did the 'no set PB' route and went for whoever was blonde, in the age range, with the right facial expressions and face-type. For his 'fifteen years later' icons it was pretty much the same story.

[chanter1944]

I just have to say, I love the idea of human!Dot sharing a PB with Kira. *beaming*

[cameoflage.livejournal.com]

I just comb icon places until I find someone (or a collection of someones) who matches my mental image... but then again, I only have OCs anyway. I think I'd do pretty much the same thing if I ever actually played a fandom pup, though. And I keep looking until I find someone who's perfect, even if I'm using a different PB in the meantime.

...I feel like that's the wrong answer to this question, since most of the people answered about specific PBs, but my characters show up so rarely even in MM that I think I'd bore you if I blathered about why I picked their PBs.

If the character's from a drawn or animated canon, I'm fine with using that for most of their icons. Although, on the other hand, I do like having at least one or two live-action ones in there to give both myself and other people who play with them an idea of what they really look like.