Vic Mignogna

[WittyUsername]

It was clear all the way back in February that his time as Broly was finished. The only question at this point is: who is FUNimation going to use from here on out?

With each passing day, we'll be getting closer and closer to finding out probably. I can't imagine they recorded for the Super version of Broly in FighterZ THAT far in advance, so whenever that DLC character finally comes out, we'll either know for sure or at least be able to start making guesses based on the sound of the voice.

Though to be fair I guess, even that won't tell us 100%, since there have been cases where someone is cast in a more stop-gap measure for a game only to be replaced when the show itself reached that character. Like how Hit was voiced by Aaron Roberts in Xenoverse 2, and it wasn't particularly liked, so by the time we got the character in the show and FighterZ, he was replaced with Matt Mercer.

That’s going to be a little awkward, since he already voices the original Broly in that game. What if there are new DLC’s involving old Broly?

[G1Ravage]

I was wholly on board with you until the Hispanic thing. It doesnt need to be in the post and it undermines you as a source of understanding between races.

So you're cool with de-legitimizing the lived experiences of American minorities such as black men? He's speaking his truth.

People of all ethnic backgrounds can be horrible people, even if it's only "socially acceptable" to trash "cishet white men" on message boards.

[TheBlackPaladin]

It was clear all the way back in February that his time as Broly was finished. The only question at this point is: who is FUNimation going to use from here on out?

With each passing day, we'll be getting closer and closer to finding out probably. I can't imagine they recorded for the Super version of Broly in FighterZ THAT far in advance, so whenever that DLC character finally comes out, we'll either know for sure or at least be able to start making guesses based on the sound of the voice.

Though to be fair I guess, even that won't tell us 100%, since there have been cases where someone is cast in a more stop-gap measure for a game only to be replaced when the show itself reached that character. Like how Hit was voiced by Aaron Roberts in Xenoverse 2, and it wasn't particularly liked, so by the time we got the character in the show and FighterZ, he was replaced with Matt Mercer.

That’s going to be a little awkward, since he already voices the original Broly in that game. What if there are new DLC’s involving old Broly?

It's like you said, it'll be a little awkward, no way around it. They're definitely not going to re-hire Vic, though.

It'll probably be like the game where Chris Ayres debuted as Freeza (although I forget which game off the top of my head). At the time that the game first started production, it was assumed by all involved--including FUNimation themselves--that Linda Young was going to continue voicing Freeza, and she came in for a few sessions for both Kai and the new game. When the decision was made to replace her, Chris Ayres re-recorded all of her dialogue for Kai, but not for the game. So, some of Freeza's lines are voiced by her...and then at one point, the dialogue switches to Chris's voice without explanation.

Here's what I'm talking about.

[Cure Dragon 255]

I was wholly on board with you until the Hispanic thing. It doesnt need to be in the post and it undermines you as a source of understanding between races.

So you're cool with de-legitimizing the lived experiences of American minorities such as black men? He's speaking his truth.

People of all ethnic backgrounds can be horrible people, even if it's only "socially acceptable" to trash "cishet white men" on message boards.

It undermines his point that is all. I love White People, Black People, Hispanic People. He shouldnt put that when trying to speak for peace between races.

[WittyUsername]

With each passing day, we'll be getting closer and closer to finding out probably. I can't imagine they recorded for the Super version of Broly in FighterZ THAT far in advance, so whenever that DLC character finally comes out, we'll either know for sure or at least be able to start making guesses based on the sound of the voice.

Though to be fair I guess, even that won't tell us 100%, since there have been cases where someone is cast in a more stop-gap measure for a game only to be replaced when the show itself reached that character. Like how Hit was voiced by Aaron Roberts in Xenoverse 2, and it wasn't particularly liked, so by the time we got the character in the show and FighterZ, he was replaced with Matt Mercer.

That’s going to be a little awkward, since he already voices the original Broly in that game. What if there are new DLC’s involving old Broly?

It's like you said, it'll be a little awkward, no way around it. They're definitely not going to re-hire Vic, though.

It'll probably be like the game where Chris Ayres debuted as Freeza (although I forget which game off the top of my head). At the time that the game first started production, it was assumed by all involved--including FUNimation themselves--that Linda Young was going to continue voicing Freeza, and she came in for a few sessions for both Kai and the new game. When the decision was made to replace her, Chris Ayres re-recorded all of her dialogue for Kai, but not for the game. So, some of Freeza's lines are voiced by her...and then at one point, the dialogue switches to Chris's voice without explanation.

Here's what I'm talking about.

A bit of a correction, but that wasn’t actually Chris Ayres’ video game debut. He had already voiced Freeza in Tenkaichi Tag Team and Raging Blast 2. In the case of UT, the reason Freeza’s voice swapped between Linda Young and Chris Ayers was because a lot of his voice clips were reused from the first Raging Blast game. Linda Young didn’t actually record anything for UT, since that game was released in 2011, which was over a year after Freeza was recast.

[TheBlackPaladin]

A bit of a correction, but that wasn’t actually Chris Ayres’ video game debut. He had already voiced Freeza in Tenkaichi Tag Team and Raging Blast 2. in the case of UT, the reason Freeza’s voice swapped between Linda Young and Chris Ayers was because a lot of his voice clips were reused from the first Raging Blast game. Linda Young didn’t actually record anything for UT.

Ah, gotcha. My mistake!

[Scsigs]

A bit of a correction, but that wasn’t actually Chris Ayres’ video game debut. He had already voiced Freeza in Tenkaichi Tag Team and Raging Blast 2. In the case of UT, the reason Freeza’s voice swapped between Linda Young and Chris Ayers was because a lot of his voice clips were reused from the first Raging Blast game. Linda Young didn’t actually record anything for UT, since that game was released in 2011, which was over a year after Freeza was recast.

And the devs putting together the English voice track didn't think it was weird to have an inconsistent dub track for Frieza by 2 actors who sound NOTHING alike?

[Mr.Saturn99]

Some updates:

1. Screech confirmed Vic's given the okay on an appeal. Let the marveling of Vic's stupidity begin.

2. In case anyone was still giving KamehaCon the benefit of doubt, Dominique Skye -- a cosplayer relentlessly hounded by Vic stans for the crime of "being outspoken against Vic" -- shared her, ahem, "flattering" encounters with owner Chris Slatosch.

[KBABZ]

I'm a freelance guide writer for IGN so I'm in a somewhat comparable situation as Vic regarding how he was hired. I don't work with IGN or as IGN, I work for IGN. If a scandal hypothetically came out about me, IGN is well within their rights to not contract me for future work, just like Funi with Vic.

And yes contract work is very much the norm for VO. For example, James Arnold Taylor, as pivotal as his role is for Ratchet in R&C, was never a direct employee of Insomniac Games and it wouldn't make sense to give him an annual salary like that when he's ultimately only needed for a few days.

With each passing day, we'll be getting closer and closer to finding out probably. I can't imagine they recorded for the Super version of Broly in FighterZ THAT far in advance, so whenever that DLC character finally comes out, we'll either know for sure or at least be able to start making guesses based on the sound of the voice.

As mentioned earlier, that'll be interesting considering Vic had already done the VO (calling it "dialogue" is overselling it a bit) for Classic Broly. But you never know, Funi could have known about Super Broly's inclusion as DLC quite far in advance and included it in the VO sessions for the movie.

It undermines his point that is all. I love White People, Black People, Hispanic People. He shouldnt put that when trying to speak for peace between races.

Her point. Not that I disagree with yours.

[Cure Dragon 255]

Oops! I'm sorry! I didnt mean to misgender anyone!

[Gyt Kaliba]

1. Screech confirmed Vic's given the okay on an appeal. Let the marveling of Vic's stupidity begin.

...I'm just in utter awe at the moment that Vic is that stupid. This should be over (and very likely still is, right?), but to just refuse to give up and stick your head this far into the dirt is...astounding, really.

[TheBlackPaladin]

I'm a freelance guide writer for IGN so I'm in a somewhat comparable situation as Vic regarding how he was hired. I don't work with IGN or as IGN, I work for IGN. If a scandal hypothetically came out about me, IGN is well within their rights to not contract me for future work, just like Funi with Vic.

And yes contract work is very much the norm for VO. For example, James Arnold Taylor, as pivotal as his role is for Ratchet in R&C, was never a direct employee of Insomniac Games and it wouldn't make sense to give him an annual salary like that when he's ultimately only needed for a few days.

Well, slight note on this. You're absolutely right for the most part. However, technically, if the production in question is a union production--which it absolutely was in the case of R&C, given James Arnold Taylor's involvement--then the actors who are hired are indeed considered employees. They are not necessarily considered employees of the producers they're working with, but rather, they're considered employees of whoever it was that signed an agreement with the union (called a "signatory" if we want to get technical).

Quite often, production companies will hire third-party companies to act as signatories. This is especially common with companies that want the option of doing union or non-union projects on a case-by-case basis. Bang-Zoom Entertainment is one such example. They do both union and non-union dubs, and whenever they want to do a union dub, they will hire a signatory company called Unforseen Productions to oversee that all union-related aspects of the project are taken care of (and indeed, all of the checks I've gotten from the Bang-Zoom jobs I've worked on have that company's name at the top). The production company is still ultimately the one paying the money and making all of the creative decisions, but they won't pay the actors directly. Rather, they will pay the signatory, who will then pay the actors.

That's one of the benefits of being a union actor: through occasionally complicated paperwork trails, they are treated as employees rather than independent contractors, which affords them much more protections and the ability to (potentially, if they make enough money through union acting jobs) qualify for health insurance and a pension.

That is, of course, only applicable to union productions. Non-union productions--which is, sadly, the norm for VO these days--do indeed classify their actors as independent contractors. Since FUNimation pretty much exclusively did non-union dubs with only the super-rare exception here and there, that's what Vic was classified as.

[WittyUsername]

A bit of a correction, but that wasn’t actually Chris Ayres’ video game debut. He had already voiced Freeza in Tenkaichi Tag Team and Raging Blast 2. In the case of UT, the reason Freeza’s voice swapped between Linda Young and Chris Ayers was because a lot of his voice clips were reused from the first Raging Blast game. Linda Young didn’t actually record anything for UT, since that game was released in 2011, which was over a year after Freeza was recast.

And the devs putting together the English voice track didn't think it was weird to have an inconsistent dub track for Frieza by 2 actors who sound NOTHING alike?

They obviously didn’t care. The game was rushed anyway, and came out at a time when people had long stopped caring about Dragon Ball games. It wasn’t until Xenoverse when interest in the gaming side of Dragon Ball was revitalized.

[Zinnia]

https://twitter.com/bmtrocks/status/1184986519725072384
Sabo's voice actor has been officially changed to Johnny Yong Bosch. Good riddance, vicnogna

Broly is next.

[KBABZ]

...I'm just in utter awe at the moment that Vic is that stupid. This should be over (and very likely still is, right?), but to just refuse to give up and stick your head this far into the dirt is...astounding, really.

Considering Vic hasn't been attending these court proceedings, it wouldn't shock me if he wasn't even that aware of the status of his case.

[KBABZ]

Well, slight note on this. You're absolutely right for the most part. However, technically, if the production in question is a union production--which it absolutely was in the case of R&C, given James Arnold Taylor's involvement--then the actors who are hired are indeed considered employees. They are not necessarily considered employees of the producers they're working with, but rather, they're considered employees of whoever it was that signed an agreement with the union (called a "signatory" if we want to get technical).

Quite often, production companies will hire third-party companies to act as signatories. This is especially common with companies that want the option of doing union or non-union projects on a case-by-case basis. Bang-Zoom Entertainment is one such example. They do both union and non-union dubs, and whenever they want to do a union dub, they will hire a signatory company called Unforseen Productions to oversee that all union-related aspects of the project are taken care of (and indeed, all of the checks I've gotten from the Bang-Zoom jobs I've worked on have that company's name at the top). The production company is still ultimately the one paying the money and making all of the creative decisions, but they won't pay the actors directly. Rather, they will pay the signatory, who will then pay the actors.

That's one of the benefits of being a union actor: through occasionally complicated paperwork trails, they are treated as employees rather than independent contractors, which affords them much more protections and the ability to (potentially, if they make enough money through union acting jobs) qualify for health insurance and a pension.

That is, of course, only applicable to union productions. Non-union productions--which is, sadly, the norm for VO these days--do indeed classify their actors as independent contractors. Since FUNimation pretty much exclusively did non-union dubs with only the super-rare exception here and there, that's what Vic was classified as.

Thanks for the info! Totally forgot about this factor. I feel it's also worth noting that, since Funimation often uses the same VOs for a lot of their work, their is a sort of familial relationship among them since they've worked together so often, as noted by Rial recently. Adds an interesting facet, I feel.

[Fionordequester]

Considering Vic hasn't been attending these court proceedings, it wouldn't shock me if he wasn't even that aware of the status of his case.

I feel like it's an "out of sight, out of mind" type deal for him. Kind of like when I tried to tell him what Kiwi Farms was doing on Twitter, and got no response. Also the reason he seems to distance himself from his own case as much as possible. Dude doesn't want to hear anything but good news, basically.

Actually, it seems that was the deal with the 2nd lawyer. The first one turned him down outright, but the second one didn't. The thought is that she just wasn't giving him the lip service he wanted about his odds. So, he flocks to Nick when he starts promising the world.

[KBABZ]

Kind of like when I tried to tell him what Kiwi Farms was doing on Twitter, and got no response.

To be fair, you'd be lucky to get a response from many high-profile people on Twitter.

[Fionordequester]

To be fair, you'd be lucky to get a response from many high-profile people on Twitter.

I suppose. Maybe I'm just spoiled by guys & gals like Monica Rial & Chris Sabat. Those guys're actually pretty rad about that sort of thing.

[8000 Saiyan]

Johnny Yong Bosch is the new Sabo, eh? He'll do fine.