42 replies to this topic

[Phoenix Rising]

Whenever we need to add heroes, the bottleneck is usually the icon. Something about a unique icon ties the unit together - those with placeholders don't quite feel like heroes.

Inevitably, the more heroes we put in the game (there are currently 110), the more obscure our additions will become. Already we have hero units with no hope for icons, because the characters have never been depicted in the EU. That's where this topic and the fan base come in.

Ideally, official sources would provide high-definition photos of every character in existence, but that's just not how it works. What we have is a spectrum from the Blu-ray format of the films to vague descriptions.

For the sake of art direction, I try not to produce icons out of anything worse than photorealistic paintings or 3D renderings. We could, however, bring characters to life with digital photo composites (as a part-time position opening). Before that happens, I want to explore the idea on paper to determine if it's even worth pursuing.

The point of this thread is to attempt to cast any character you like to a real person, similar to Kam Solusar / Bruce Willis or Tyber Zann / Jason Isaacs. It could be a celebrity or someone unknown, it doesn't matter as long as we could use their likeness in a way similar to Creative Commons. They don't even have to be currently in the mod - think of a compelling casting as a good argument for us to add someone as a hero.

With that said, who would you have depict a given character?

[johnchm.10]

can you give a list of some characters?

Edited by johnchm.10, 22 July 2012 - 10:53 PM.

[Phoenix Rising]

Right. Here are all of our Human heroes that have yet to be linked to an actor. (Note, only a subset of these would require a composite, but we might as well start the debate with the more popular characters and go from there.)

• Aban
• Afyon
• Antinnis Tremayne
• Ardus Kaine
• Arhul Narra
• Bevel Lemelisk
• Brandei
• Bria Tharen
• Creb
• Cronal
• Dass Jennir
• Dorja
• Freja Covell
• Garm Bel Iblis
• Gilad Pellaeon
• Harbid
• Hiram Drayson
• Horton Salm
• Joruus C'baoth
• Keyan Farlander
• Maarek Stele
• Mulchive Wermis
• Natasi Daala
• Nial Declann
• Raith Sienar
• Rom Mohc
• Sarin Virgilio
• Sate Pestage
• Sedriss QL
• Soontir Fel
• Tion
• Titus Klev
• Travia Chan
• Tycho Celchu
• Ved Kennede
• Villian Dance
• Winter

[johnchm.10]

came across this:
http://star-wars.suv...s-revealed.html
might help with some characters, or might form the base of other characters

edit: i have since discovered ten pages that expand upon those individual roles, and i believe at least a couple of the actors/actresses may be able to be used for other characters
to be honest, i must admit that many of these actors' likenesses could be used for the roles, including some of the near-human roles.

oh, for cronal, and maybe a few other guys here and there, isnt her/arent they pretty much apparitions conjured from the force/holograms/wearing a freakin mask? unless you were to use something like 'their forms prior to their bodies failing or something like that'

http://star-wars.suv...rgana-solo.html

http://star-wars.suv...-skywalker.html

http://star-wars.suv...udo-thrawn.html

http://star-wars.suv...t-han-solo.html

http://star-wars.suv...calrissian.html

http://star-wars.suv...-mara-jade.html

http://star-wars.suv...e-antilles.html

http://star-wars.suv...us-c’baoth.html
lol at the christopher walken option. im imagining him using some of the dialogue from his scene in pulp fiction

http://star-wars.suv...lon-karrde.html

http://star-wars.suv...d-pellaeon.html


a note of caution. most of the individual character pages have additional actor/actresses in the comments, and they range from 3 or so possibilities to dozens

Edited by johnchm.10, 23 July 2012 - 06:53 AM.

[Kitkun]

Focus should mainly be on the heroes who don't have a picture yet. The others may not be photo-quality, but they at least impart the personality already.

Though I avoid anything celebrity like the plague, so I have zero suggestions.

[Phoenix Rising]

Cronal is supposedly a frail, old man. He needs an appearance more than most. Some of the others probably don't matter as much though, such as Creb, who could use any image of a TIE pilot.

As do I, Kitkun, which is why I'm not doing it . And I agree on pictureless heroes... I just wasn't planning on doing a list. I figured a topic like this would just take off. It's still early though.

[MawDrallin]

I managed to come uo with a few, here they are:

*Natasi Daala - Jessica Biel
*Gilad Pellaeon - Robert Englund
*Hiram Drayson - Micheal Rooker
*Horton Salm - Sam Worthington
*Ardus Kaine - Ed Harris

That's all I can come up with at the moment.

[Phoenix Rising]

All very astute choices, Maw. Well done.

[johnchm.10]

I actually had an idea for a really intense project that scores about an 8 on the insanity scale.
its somewhat related to this.
here goes.

as you know, there is a LOT of material in the star wars universe that can be transformed into a media project. too much in fact, for there to only be a single film or even a trilogy of films.
to turn every book, comic, game, etc. into a film, or even bridging some of that material and cutting some stories out would not work at all. there would be too much to do within our lifetimes.
Television series help to alleviate this, as instead of a 2 hour film, you can do anywhere between 4 and 26 hours. this too has problems, as eventually it becomes stale, like Law and Order became in its last year or 2, and the budget would either be too large or would need to be scaled down to the point of stupidity, as well as other issues dealing with certain organizations.
I believe that the solution would lie in Animation. not stupid or kiddie animation, im talking about some of the stuff that comes out of Japan. they have a number of series where they dont deal with things like magic and demons, or giant robots (which would actually be somewhat appropriate in certain parts) and stuff, arent stupidly drawn, have strong story lines, dont tone stuff down, and have very good voice acting.
this media has a number of advantages
1: budget. you dont have to take over a green screen, or hire a camera crew for a day in order to film a single episode. you dont have to book actors for a as much money, as all theyve got to do is talk into a stick
2: talent. a number of the studios out there make very high quality shows. Production I.G. (Ghost in The Shell, and a TON of other stuff), Madhouse (Black Lagoon), Floyd County Productions (Archer. watch the show. try NOT to laugh), Satelight (Macross Zero (great air to air combat scenes)). there are a number of great voice actors out there including of all people Mark Hamill (he voiced the Joker in the Batman animated series in the 90's, as well as in the Arkham games, as well as some roles in Metalocoplyse (the show about Dethklok. watch it. it too is funny))
3: length. there are some series that have spawned sequels or spin offs for years after the original run. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macross . that series and its spin offs have been since 1982. The Gundam series (plural) have been on since 79. granted, both have gone through changes for a long time, but i dont see that as a flaw.
4: lee-way. lets face it, this wouldnt be on cartoon network, unless it somehow gets on the adult swim block. from the start, i would want the TV-14 rating with a bunch of episodes going to MA. not TV-G, not TV-PG, I dont want this to be watered down. and i think animation gets a bit more leeway anyway.
5: variety of length. given that certain books were one offs, but then you have series of books that are several books long, you can have it so that some of the books like Shadows of the Empire get the OVA treatment, while the X-wing books can get a season or 2 per series. adding on to that, you dont need to dedicate pages towards setting and things of that nature, so a 300 page book can become a 200-250 page script without any dialogue alterations.
6: it allows the resolution of inconsistencies:
7: a lot of the material is already there in terms of art direction and stuff like that, so conceptualization would go by pretty quickly, and there could actually be improvements made where needed.

would it happen? probably not in the form i am picturing., and probably not until george lucas keels over. would it be cool as hell if it happened the way im describing? oh god yes.

[Phoenix Rising]

You realize that if something like that were to happen, it would be done by a Lucas company, which is to say Lucasfilm Animation. In other words, it would turn out quite a bit like TCW. Let's stay on topic though.

[skie9173]

I'm not the kind of person that knows actors well but I've been working on a list of possible actors matched to possible PR heroes. These heroes are drawn form those already in game, the list above, recommendations on the forums, and some I've found on my own. Again these are just recommendations and ideas.

Hurst Romodi - Charles Dance (Backup picture, has live action image)
Corran Horn - Edward Nortan
Andrephan Stormcaller - George Peppard
Ferus Olin - Jesse Spencer ( Its the hair)
Travia Chan - Judi Dench
Tallon Adar - Kal Penn (not old enough but similarity to his Rebellion pic)
Elsco Loro - Lauren Holly
Bria Tharen - Miranda Otto
Nas Ghent - Nicolas Cage
Judder Page - Noah Wyle
Nial Declann - Rocky Carroll
Ledre Okins - Tom Selleck
Sarin Virgilio - Viggo Mortensen

possibly more to come

[johnchm.10]

Corran Horn: Jeremy Renner.right amount of cockyness and discipline
Adar Tallon: lol, spot on there.
Chan: i was thinking Meryl Streep or possibly Betty White. Dame Judi Dench seems more like a very late-in-life Mon Mothma
Elsco Loro: Sigourney Weaver at the end of Aliens.
Page: Betty White. im kidding Michael Irby. both the actor and the character have appearances that could lend to a bunch of nationalities. although nobody would ever suspect an elderly lady as a commando
Bria: Audrey Marie Anderson. shes got the innocent-looking face that says "i will believe what you tell me without having to use a Mind Trick, then after i find out you have used me, i will unleash hell onto you".
Daala: Kate Beckensale. shes got the look, and her roles can make her look downright evil.
Drayson: George S. Scott when he played Patton. dont think i need to elaborate there.
Covell: Lee Van Cleef when he was in The Man With No Name series. its the mustache
Garm: this one for me was Tom Selleck.
Sate Prestige: Sir Ben Kingsley. cannot go wrong there

[johnchm.10]

had some more thoughts.
Antinnis Tremayne: Nick Stahl
Ardus Kaine: getting Tom Beringer for this one. dont know why though
Narra: the Rebellion Pic kinda reminds me of Brent Spiener ( played Data on Star Trek The Next Generation.)
Bevel Lemeisik: either Christopher Lloyd in the Back to the Future films or Gene Wilder in Young Frankenstein. its the hair
Brandei: apparently theres an image on the wookie page with Brandei serving on the Bridge of the Executor, but the shot looks like it was snagged from Empire Strikes Back, and im not sure if there exists any details beyond the image

[Zeta1127]

Don't worry about the image from TESB, this isn't the first time EU material was retroactively shown to have appeared in the films. Dagobah Limited, an expansion set for the SWCCG, established that Brandei briefly served on the Executor during the events of TESB, but primarily served on the Judicator both before TESB and during RotJ at Endor.

[johnchm.10]

oh, im not complaining about the fact that he was on different ships at different points in his career. that tends to happen a lot. im just questioning the image.

[Zeta1127]

Its a legitimate image, SWCCG is the Star Wars Customizable Card Game, which often uses images from the films.

[johnchm.10]

ah. i retract my issue then

[Darth Paxis]

If you ever decide to add Evir Derricote, I think John Goodman might be a good fit.

[skie9173]

Admiral Okins - Tom Selleck
Narra - Tony Shalhoub
Cronal - Ben Kingsley
Raith Sienar - Dick van Dyke

Edited by skie9173, 24 January 2013 - 09:53 PM.

[skie9173]

Is there still any interest in this, and if so is there a way for me to upload an Excel sheet I've been working on?