To-do list:
- Split the trope in the following ways:
- Split off a trope for “deep voices signaling an authority figure" (unisex)
- Split off a trope for “deep voices signaling a physically strong character" (unisex)
Badass Baritone is supposed to denote a character who is tough and "badass" by giving them a deep voice. However, Like other Badass tropes, It became a ZCE magnet, and a few examples attracted some gushing especially in regards to the actors/voice actors that portray such characters.
Here are the results from my Wick Check: (Thanks Yindee for the organization help!)
- Valid- (7/52)
- No mentions of the character being a badass- (11/52)
- ZCE- (24/52)
- Maybe/Not sure- (10/52)
Fortunately, There are 2 solutions I can think of:
- Disambiguate with other deep voice related tropes (Contralto Of Danger, Evil Sounds Deep, Power Makes Your Voice Deep etc.).
- Retool the trope to signify deep voices with masculine characters (Much like how Manly Facial Hair was retooled from Badass Beard and Badass Mustache) as well as yard it for deep voices symbolizing a leader/authoritarian figure.
Wick check:
As brought in here
Badass Baritone has a lot ZCEs, Possible Misuse (Its supposed to denote a tough character via deep voice), among others. So I'll check if there's an overarching problem with it.
Gonna play the eenie meenie miney mo game with this
52/52
- Valid- (7/52)
- No mentions of the character being a badass- (11/52)
- ZCE- (24/52)
- Maybe/Not sure- (10/52)
- Fire Emblem Heroes Midgard (Gustav)/ Badass Baritone: The tough king of Askr, with a very deep voice to match, courtesy of Joji Nakata and Edward Bosco. Valid
- Far Cry 3 (Dennis)/ Badass Baritone: He has a deep, mature voice, and he's an African warrior of the Rakyat tribe. Valid
- Horizon Zero Dawn - Tribes(Aratak)/ Badass Baritone: His voice is deep and commanding, as befits a powerful tribal chieftain. Valid
- LEGO Marvel Super Heroes (Wolverine)/ Badass Baritone: Has the usual low register to provide the usual badass image for Wolverine. Valid
- Now and Then, Here and There (Elamba)/ Badass Baritone/Evil Sounds Deep: In the english dub his voice is much deeper to emphasize the ruthless warrior he is and seems to lower as his cruelty becomes more apparent. Comes naturally when you have the same voice as the Shredder. Valid
- Transformers Prime Autobots/ Badass Baritone: He's got a deep voice and a deep love for combat. (Wheeljack) Valid
- Punch-Out!!/ Badass Baritone: In the Wii game, he speaks with the deepest voice of all the boxers next to Mr. Sandman. He's easily one of the tougher opponents in the game as well, if you haven't figured out how to deal with his attacks. (Great Tiger) Valid
- The Locked Tomb (Silas)/ Badass Baritone: It's noted by Gideon's narration that he has a rather deep No mentions of the badass part
- Resident Evil - Albert Wesker/ Badass Baritone: He has a very deep and booming voice. No mentions of the badass part
- Live A Hero (Monomasa)/ Badass Baritone: Has a very deep voice, though it is unclear if this is Drovain's own voice or if he is using Monomasa's. No mention of the badass part
- The Testament Of Sister New Devil Moderate Faction (Rasmus)/ Badass Baritone: Both Tesshō Genda and Christopher Corey Smith provide a deep, booming voice of Ramsus. No mention of the badass part
- Kamen Rider Revice / Weekend (The Masked Man)/ Badass Baritone: His present self has a deep, almost metallic sounding voice, courtesy of Shinshu Fuji. No mention of the badass part
- Doom (2016): UAC and ARC (Samuel Hayden)/ Badass Baritone: His deep voice has drawn more than a few comparisons to Peter Cullen's take on Optimus Prime. Doesn't explain the badass part
- Knives Out (Benoit Blanc)/ Badass Baritone: Blanc's Southern accent blends extremely well with Daniel Craig's natural deep voice. no mentions of the badass part
- Sybal-Heim (Basileus)/ Badass Baritone: His deep voice is portrayed with black speech bubbles instead of white. No mentions of the badass part
- Team Fortress 2: The Engineer/ Badass Baritone: Maybe not as much at launch, but Grant Goodeve tends to use a noticeably deeper voice for lines added in later updates. No Mention of the badass part
- Metroid - Bounty Hunters (Ghor)/ Badass Baritone: His voice is significantly deeper in his battle suit. It's most obvious in the conversation you have with him on the first mission to Norion. Mixes with Evil Sounds Deep after his corruption. no mention of the badass part
- Puyo Puyo Fever (Possessed Klug) / Badass Baritone: His English voice acting in his Tetris 2 DLC appearance has an impressively deep and intimidating pitch. no mention of the badass part
- Berserk: Guts/ Badass Baritone: Damn, even his voice is badass! And it was shown (or rather, heard) in the anime that Guts went through some major puberty at around age 14 or 15 since he already has a deep voice by then. It just adds to the sexiness. ZCE plus creepy gushing
- Pastamonsters Enderman And His Allies (Enderman)/ Badass Baritone: Especially when he sings ZCE
- Trails Series Erebonia Ironblood (Rufus Alberea)/ Badass Baritone: To emphasize his noble bearing and combat prowess. ZCE
- Final Fantasy XV - Kingdom of Lucis (Regis Lucis Caelum CXIII)/Badass Baritone: It gives him a fitting air of command and gravitas. ZCE
- Helheim Hassle (Bear Death)/ Badass Baritone: He has this up until his identity is revealed. After that, his voice is considerably less baritone and badass. ZCE
- Bravely Default Protagonists (Ringabell)/ Badass Baritone: He has a rather deep and smooth voice in the Japanese dub. Not so much in the English version. ZCE
- Trails Series Calvard Arkride Solutions Office/ Badass Baritone: Part of the parcel when you're a badass martial artist played by Daisuke Ono. (Van Arkride) ZCE
- Trails Series Calvard Arkride Solutions Office/ Badass Baritone: As expected from the man who voiced Snake and Big Boss, Bergard has a really deep voice. (Bergard Zeman) ZCE
- Borderlands: Hyperion (Vasquez)/ Badass Baritone: God bless you, Mr. Warburton. ZCE plus gushing
- Tsukihime: Supporting Cast (Nrvnqsr Chaos)/ Badass Baritone: He's voiced by Joji Nakata. ZCE
- The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015) (Napoleon Solo)/ Badass Baritone: American accent or not, that is Henry Cavill's natural voice. ZCE
- Hololive Holostars Japan Generation Three (Oga Aragami)/Badass Baritone: Has one of the deepest (if not the deepest) voices among the Holostars. This is heavily abused during Oga's cover of Love Live!'s 'Snow Halation' during a collab singing session. He later mentions during a late-night talk stream that because his voice is naturally low, it can be difficult for people to hear him clearly, which causes him to raise his voice, which in turn spooks people. ZCE plus possible IRL troping
- The X Factor USA Season 2 (Willie Jones)/ Badass Baritone ZCE
- Destiny The Guardians (Commander Zavala)/ Badass Baritone: Has one of the deepest voices in the game and you do not become Titan Vanguard without reason. ZCE
- A Dragon in Shining Armour (Alphamon)/ Badass Baritone: Alphamon is described as having a deep voice. ZCE
- Tada Never Falls in Love (KittyBig)/ Badass Baritone: The voice in his heart one could easily mistake for James Earl Jones. It's not though. ZCE
- Witch Cartoon Allies(Vathek)/ Badass Baritone: He has a deep voice in the animated series. ZCE
- Tales of Xillia (Gaius)/ Badass Baritone: In the dub, courtesy of Travis Willingham. ZCE
- Jak and Daxter (Sig)/ Badass Baritone: Courtesy of his voice actor. ZCE
- Okupas (Pollo)/ Badass Baritone: Has quite a deep voice. ZCE
- Saints Row The Third Street Saints (Keith David)/ Badass Baritone: A given, as he is one of the go-to voices for such an archetype in Hollywood. ZCE
- Total War: Warhammer - The Greenskins (Grom the Paunch)/ Badass Baritone: During the trailer of The Warden and the Paunch, Grom had a voice almost as low as Grimgor's. While significantly higher-pitched in game, his voice is still notably deep for a goblin and far deeper than Skarsnik's. ZCE and no mention of the badass part
- Transformers Prime Autobots/ Badass Baritone: Comes with being voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson. (Bulkhead) ZCE
- Transformers Prime Autobots/ Badass Baritone: Comes with being voiced by Michael Ironside. (Ultra Magnus) ZCE
- Like a Dragon: Kazuma Kiryu/ Badass Baritone: Takaya Kuroda, an actor with a notably deep voice, plays Kiryu with pure, unadulterated badass. He also uses it to great effect whenever he sings. Darryl Kurylo's no slouch in this regard, either. Maybe valid
- Splinter Cell: Fisher Family (Sam Fisher)/ Badass Baritone: He's one of the most lethal men on the planet, and he's voiced by Michael Ironside in almost all appearances. His distinct low growl is often the last thing his opponents ever hear. Also counts for Daniel Beretta in the European French version. Maybe valid (Note: I combined it with the subbullet so I won't get confused during counting)
- Super Robot Wars UX (Agnes "Agni" Berge)/ Badass Baritone: He has a slightly deeper voice in Act 3, signifying his more serious and professional attitude at this point. Maybe Valid
- Kirby - King Dedede/ Badass Baritone: In games where he is voiced, Dedede is liable to have a bellowing, kingly voice. It's greatly emphasized by his tendency to roar, and he indeed has the strength to back it up. Maybe Valid
- The Elder Scrolls Online (King Fahara'jad)/ Badass Baritone: He has a very deep voice and is a capable king. Maybe Valid
- Kingsman: Kingsmen (Merlin)/ Badass Baritone: Merlin has a deep voice and is the Kingsmen's resident Badass Bookworm. Mayhaps
- Soul Eater: Troubled Souls - Headmaster And Staff (Lord Death)/Badass Baritone: During his Let's Get Dangerous!! moments, otherwise his voice is chipper and goofy. Unsure
- Transformers Prime Autobots/ Badass Baritone: Peter Cullen's voice has only gotten more deep over the years, and even more badass.(Optimus Prime) Not Sure
- Transformers Prime Autobots/ Badass Baritone: He's got a deep voice and can fight with the best of them. (Cliffjumper) Maybe Valid
- Punch-Out!!/Badass Baritone: The Wii version gives him an impressively deep voice to make him even more intimidating. (Mr. Sandman) Maybe
- Possible solutions:
- Disambiguate with other deep voice related tropes (Contralto Of Danger, Evil Sounds Deep, Power Makes Your Voice Deep etc.).
- Retool the trope to signify deep voices with manly characters (Much like how Manly Facial Hair was retooled from Badass Beard and Badass Mustache) as well as yard it for deep voices symbolizing a leader/authoritarian figure.
Edited by GastonRabbit on Jan 1st 2023 at 1:22:27 PM
low-poly Shinri
Authority Sounds Deep has now been launched!
She/Her | Currently cleaning N/A
low-poly Shinri
Went through a creator binge and removed any BOS wicks that doesn't properly pothole/explain the trope.
She/Her | Currently cleaning N/A
low-poly Shinri
Sorry for the lack of activity on the dewicking here. I've been focusing on Contralto Of Danger since it now has 800 plus wicks. I don't think I have the sanity for 3000 plus wicks Badass Baritone has. Not even Relationship Voice Actor was that bad (to my memory at least).
She/Her | Currently cleaning N/A
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
It's not a problem if you haven't felt like working on it. I haven't been doing wick cleanup much myself lately.
Oh yay, this trope is being dewicked. I've been waiting for this ZCE magnet to go for years now. Y'all wouldn't mind if I helped axe some of those wretched ZCE's?
low-poly Shinri
That is very much appreciated 
.
Edited by Ayumi-chan on May 25th 2023 at 11:10:32 PM
She/Her | Currently cleaning N/A
One last question before this trope is lost to the memory hole - for whatever reason over the years I've seen a lot of Badass Baritone examples that were written like "Courtesy of {Actor}" note and I always hated it because it felt like a weird fourth-wall break and worse, creepy thirst for real people. But, aside from a few Evil Sounds Deep examples I suspect were transplants from Badass Baritone at some point, no other trope had examples formatted like this. Contralto Of Danger didn't have this problem (no women's voice tropes have had this problem), Tenor Boy doesn't have this problem, Basso Profundo doesn't have this problem, even a lot of the tropes that have attracted creepy thirsty gushing in the past, like Absolute Cleavage, Bare Your Midriff, and even Mr. and Ms. Fanservice don't usually have examples that break the fourth wall and gush over the actors as much as Badass Baritone did. What gives? Were these all added by one person with a baritone fetish?
low-poly Shinri
Yeah I noticed that too
As for what reason. If had to make an educated guess it's because deep voices of men are especially attractive and it's often wish-fufillment (in the context of "damn I wish my voice was that deep"). Of course this is just a guess.
Edit: I think I might have another reason, that being Celebrity worship. In Japan, Japanese voice actors are basically celebrities in their own right and there are several "seiyuu groupies" (so to speak) in both Japan and around the world. There also the fact that certain voices are recognizable so Fan Myopia might play a factor in it, since the one writing those entries automatically assume the person reading might know what the VA sounds like.
There's also the fact that voices need to described. It's easier to see something that to hear something on some pages, hence why fanservice-y character designs might not be subjected to it as much as BB since the page image might show it rather describe it. But this creates a problem when someone over describes it and it turns into a gushing mess, leaning to the problem mentioned above.
Of course, these are not definitive answers, but these are what I gleam both from the knowledge with the ins and out of the site.
Edited by Ayumi-chan on May 26th 2023 at 11:52:52 PM
She/Her | Currently cleaning N/A
Under 2000 wicks!
low-poly Shinri
1800 wicks left!
She/Her | Currently cleaning N/A
One last-est question: Is there a rule (unwritten or otherwise) against mentioning actors or voice actors by name during the main body of tropes the way 75% of Badass Baritone examples were "courtesy of [actor]"? And if there isn't, should there be? I will say, a lot of the vitriol I've had towards this trope for years now and why I'm currently gleefully taking a hatchet to these terrible examples by the hundreds is that, aside from the creepy thirst, bringing up the real people behind the characters just completely takes me out of it and breaks the fourth wall in the worst way possible. Like, obviously you can mention who played them at the top of their character folders with other meta stuff like first appearance, but in the sea of tropes that are "character this" and "character that" I don't want to see "actor this".
Edited by MissConduct on May 30th 2023 at 10:53:55 AM
the Retromancer
I don't like any mention of actors in trope examples unless it's specifically an acting trope, because work examples aren't trivia.
TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
There are situations where mentioning the performer would be beneficial to the example (e.g. a revival of a musical might hire a deeper-voiced guy to play the swashbuckling tenor lead and transpose the role accordingly, so an example for this could read "in the 20xx cast recording where he is sung by Bobby Baritone, his notes are lower and...").
I think that concern is covered by Zero-Context Examples and What Goes Where on the Wiki: the example should be able to stand alone without knowledge of trivia/behind the scenes/the actor's career, and if it's only comprised of that it's ZCE, but mentioning that stuff as garnish isn't really off limits in example text.
Edited by Synchronicity on May 30th 2023 at 10:35:00 AM
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
If an example says "Courtesy of [actor]" and nothing else, it's a ZCE and can be removed instead of being moved to one of the new tropes that came out of this thread.
Edited by GastonRabbit on May 30th 2023 at 4:58:19 AM
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
There's definitely franchises that like to call characters by their actors' names to signify different The Nth Doctor incarnations of the same character, James Bond is the big one, and also some Doctor Who characters like The Master, and like you said some Theatre fandoms, but for franchises where that's not fandom standard, would you say it's a good idea to attempt to rewrite examples that mention actors and other meta stuff?
Also - Under 1650 now! Took care of all the million Transformers examples last night, thank God.
Edited by MissConduct on May 30th 2023 at 7:39:28 AM
Contralto Of Danger is finished and we're under 800 with Badass Baritone!
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
Someone brought Badass Baritone down to 247 wicks. Wasn't me—just reporting that it happened.
TRS Queue | Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall
Less than 200 wicks left.
Just stoic wisdom.
And the main wicks of Badass Baritone are done!
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
Locking up, then.
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Crown Description:
Badass Baritone's tropeworthiness has been questioned, but splitting off specific concepts has been suggested. What should be done with Badass Baritone?
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]")
I can't think of anything else to say.
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.