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ANNCast - Down with the Vic-ness


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v1cious



Joined: 31 Dec 2002
Posts: 6199
Location: Houston, TX
PostPosted: Thu Aug 29, 2013 2:20 pm Reply with quote
He's so confrontational, you guys handled it well enough though. This was definitely one of the best interviews so far.
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Quark



Joined: 07 Mar 2008
Posts: 710
Location: British Columbia, Canada
PostPosted: Thu Aug 29, 2013 2:22 pm Reply with quote
Holy Hell, I have no real opinion on this guy one way or the other (I don't watch dubs) but he just comes off as being abrasive and confrontational. Zac sounds like he's trying to be really diplomatic and gentle with his questions regarding Vic's faith only to get his head bitten off for it.
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GWOtaku



Joined: 19 Jul 2003
Posts: 678
PostPosted: Thu Aug 29, 2013 2:25 pm Reply with quote
YamadaKun wrote:
Why the hell does this guy have fans?


Here's a thought: you could listen to the ANNCast episode and find out.

I loved the episode and I think Vic comes off as a stand up guy and simply assertive and honest in the talk about faith and what he gets out of going to so many anime cons. It was a good and candid conversation, good in terms of anecdotal stuff about his time in the industry and helping show what Vic is like.

I say good on him for finding such joy in reaching out to people the way he does. The way he talked about that I found to be quite inspiring.
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Nicendeth



Joined: 04 Dec 2012
Posts: 2
PostPosted: Thu Aug 29, 2013 2:37 pm Reply with quote
(Unrelated, skip for relevant views)
Upon reflection, he said that both Caitlin Glass and Johnny Yong Bosch are christian.

I immediately remember a situation at autographing at AX2013. I was in line for my first time, I really had nothing for him to sign... except for a beat up copy of High-School Musical 2 (long story). So it's the line for JYB, and I hand the DVD to Eyeshine, Randomly, came to my head to say "oh, just make sure you don't touch it or it'll damn your immortal soul" (I'm obviously not religious or anything). Eyeshine laughed at it. As I handed it over to JYB, I said the same thing. He looked kinda anxious after that, and he didn't laugh. Obviously, made me feel like a douchebag.

I had no idea. He probably thought I was making fun of his faith, and that's absolutely not what I intended X.X

(Related)
Uhh.... wow, I never knew how vocal he was. He's definitely quite defensive about it. But at least he's well-meaning. I wonder if he heard you snickering under his proselytizing. Regardless, I don't wish anything bad towards him, and I think you guys handled this respectfully enough.
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HeeroTX



Joined: 15 Jul 2002
Posts: 2046
Location: Austin, TX
PostPosted: Thu Aug 29, 2013 2:38 pm Reply with quote
Quark wrote:
Holy Hell, I have no real opinion on this guy one way or the other (I don't watch dubs) but he just comes off as being abrasive and confrontational. Zac sounds like he's trying to be really diplomatic and gentle with his questions regarding Vic's faith only to get his head bitten off for it.

I find this laughable, mostly because I've seen Zac respond to implications of what he says on the podcast and (at least in TEXT, which I grant can be misread) it sounds exactly the same. Make a comment about how Zac thinks all moe fans are pedophilic perverts and he will respond EXACTLY the same way Vic did to Zac's "vague recollection of a video online". And it is exactly because Zac makes sure he never SAYS that, he may give that impression, but he doesn't SAY it. And one could make the same argument with Vic.

I think Zac does not agree with Vic in various ways, and was trying to keep that in check lest this turn into "Crossfire".
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YamadaKun



Joined: 17 Jul 2013
Posts: 304
Location: Sunny California
PostPosted: Thu Aug 29, 2013 2:40 pm Reply with quote
GWOtaku wrote:
Here's a thought. You could listen to the ANNCast episode and find out.


Ok, no need to get so defensive. I'm just wondering. All I'm saying is that more mainstream VAs, who do pre-lay don't get half the amount of attention that Vic does.
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PGRM



Joined: 20 Jun 2012
Posts: 5
Location: Boston, MA
PostPosted: Thu Aug 29, 2013 2:51 pm Reply with quote
Oh nice, I really enjoyed his answer to my question. I'm even more excited to hear the dub of Level E now! One of my favourite anime voice actors going through the breadth of his range? Sure!

I do think this was an enlightening interview and made me really like Vic that much more than I do. While he and I definitely do not share faith, I appreciate his passion for his faith and his general approach to it.
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Utsuro no Hako



Joined: 18 May 2012
Posts: 1032
PostPosted: Thu Aug 29, 2013 2:53 pm Reply with quote
jsevakis wrote:
At some point, it'd be nice to get the commentary of someone who has actually listened to the podcast. You know.


Dude, it's like an hour long. You expect us to have time to listen before expressing our opinions? I mean, I just got a brand new Figma and when I checked under it's skirt it has striped panties -- blue and white striped panties -- and you expect me to take time to listen to a podcast. What do you think anime fans do with their spare time.
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machetecat



Joined: 06 Jan 2010
Posts: 396
PostPosted: Thu Aug 29, 2013 2:59 pm Reply with quote
jsevakis wrote:
At some point, it'd be nice to get the commentary of someone who has actually listened to the podcast. You know.


My earlier post was when I was like 30 mins in. I finished the whole thing now, so here we go.

Just going into the church service thing, I think, overall, that what he does is a good thing. It's very true how the Christian community has a tendency to completely ostracize people who like things they don't particularly agree with, such as anime. Growing up in a christian school, I honestly only made things harder on myself by obsessing over anime, but at the same time, people completely disregarded me before that because I was pretty outspoken and a little too tomboyish for what their definition of a Christian girl was. So, though I got more backlash than before over my obsession with anime, it was one of the only things I could hold onto at the time that gave me any form of happiness. And, in the end, it's what allowed me to gain friends and have something to talk about when I met them.

I did join his fanclub for a certain amount of time in my late teens. I left it a couple of years later, because honestly, that group is mainly for young to mid teenage girls, and unless you want to actually be involved in the community as a mod, store manager, con organizer or such, it's something one tends to grow out of due to the teenage drama... so much drama...

I think the issue with people assuming that he pushes his message down their throats is mainly an issue with the fact that he's more of a talker than a listener. I don't think he really realizes it, but he stretches himself out so thin with everything, and on top of that has a message that he believes is very powerful and wants to send out, that he tends to go on and on and on about it and forgets to actually listen to what other people are specifically saying to him. I noticed this issue a lot in the podcast, as well, as he kinda went on and on and on about a topic and then interrupted you guys before you could ask him something else to make a disclaimer about the thing or to go into a subcategory of his argument. Unless you have a great deal of patience or agree with EVERYTHING he says, this can be a very taxing and frustrating thing to deal with.

I also think this issue has a lot to do with other parts of the hate he gets, in that I'm pretty sure a lot of these "rumors" about him are also from ex fans who couldn't hold his attention (it takes a LOT to get him to remember your name if he doesn't HAVE to) and decide to quit and take it out on him where it hurts.

But there is a legit issue over the yaoi stuff. Vic has videos where he says that he belives the fangirls twist relationships to fit what they want it to be, and he's even claimed to have talked to CLAMP where they said that Fai was not gay. IF he's actually talked to them, I doubt they said it exactly like that, since that's a very major demographic of their fanbase that they wouldn't want to offend. But that's where another large section of his negativity comes from.

As far as other actors bashing him, I can think of one person specifically that I believe he's in sour relationships with, and I can totally see them telling a convention that they wouldn't want to attend if Vic is attending, but anyone bashing him in a panel or such is news to me. I've yet to see or hear about that. Usually everyone keeps their behind the scenes fights on the DL. I'm almost wondering if Vic attended a panel and heard a story that didn't' specifically mention him, but he knew they were talking about him and assumed everyone else figured it out. But that's only my speculation, maybe someone has.
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HeeroTX



Joined: 15 Jul 2002
Posts: 2046
Location: Austin, TX
PostPosted: Thu Aug 29, 2013 3:00 pm Reply with quote
I also feel the need to say I share Vic's incredulity that Zac thinks other anime convention guests don't use anime cons to promote their political (and otherwise) opinions. JUST to pull an EASY example out of a hat is the "Voices For" group

There's this thread from this very site about the group back in 2006, first post being:
animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=21728
Quote:
Source: http://www.voicesfor.org/

I received an e-mail for a collegue of mine with information about a new CD in which voice actors Greg Ayres, Chris Patton Tiffany Grant, Kira Vincent-Davis, Mike Sinterniklaas, Amanda Winn Lee, and others have teamed up to put together an album called Voices for Peace. This album contains 11 war-protest songs performed by them. The proceeds will be donated to charities CARE, Doctors Without Borders, and Disabled American Veterans. The album comes out May 1. More information can be found on the project’s website which I provided above. If you're a fan of these voice actors, please consdier purchasing this CD.

Many of them are espousing views widely held within the fandom, but that doesn't make the point any less true.
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Inujake7



Joined: 15 Apr 2011
Posts: 7
Location: Florence, Alabama
PostPosted: Thu Aug 29, 2013 3:01 pm Reply with quote
Wow, I had no idea Vic Mignogna was a Christian. That's awesome. He said a lot of great things in this interview. I'm a lot more interested in him now and I have a lot of respect for him. I've never been to an anime convention but I've thought about the idea for a church service type of thing before but had no idea it had actually been done before. I'd love to go to one of those led by Vic and I'd love to meet him too.
He seems like such a nice and funny guy. It's a shame there's so much hate for him because of his beliefs.
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Momoyuki



Joined: 28 Jun 2005
Posts: 15
PostPosted: Thu Aug 29, 2013 3:37 pm Reply with quote
I haven't seen much of Vic's work. But for those of you who think he's a bad voice actor, you should play Persona 4 (PS2). He's great as Junpei, and the P4 dub is top-notch. (This is coming from someone who mainly watches subs, because I usually find English dubs to be inferior.) I personally didn't think his voice fit Ed, but he has tons of fans who'd disagree with me. Still, to say that he's a bad voice actor would be a lie. There's a reason why he's getting roles more often in big titles, and it's definitely not because he's terrible.

As an atheist/non-religious person, I think what he's doing is fine. So what if he's preaching at cons? If he's truly helping others, that's all that really matters, right? He wouldn't be doing it if he had no audience for it. Like he said (if what he said is true), it's not like he's shoving his religion down people's throats or telling people they're going to hell. It shouldn't be an issue, especially for people who aren't his target audience. Agreeing to disagree seems to be the hardest thing for people. If he bothers you so much, maybe you shouldn't be following his personal life at all?

He's been a guest at practically all of the cons I've been to, but I've never heard much about him or his preaching about Christianity. That pretty much tells you that you can avoid everything and anything Vic, if you choose. Or in my case, I don't even need to try. Laughing

Spreading rumors and gossip is never good, but that seems to be the price of fame. It's sad to hear that other voice actors badmouth him. It's unprofessional on the voice actors' part and immature on the ex-fans/haters' part.

Anyway, Zac and Justin did a great job in handling the most heated part of the conversation, even though it was quite uncomfortable for me to listen to. I feel sorry for Vic. He seems like a genuinely kind person.
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Draneor



Joined: 19 May 2005
Posts: 355
PostPosted: Thu Aug 29, 2013 3:57 pm Reply with quote
I think Zac and Justin were very polite. If anything, they could have been a bit more aggressive with the questions. Specifically, about how Vic defines tons of persecution or online harassment (he didn't mention death/rape threats, for example) or pushing "sexuality" thing. Just something to put what he said in perspective. Granted, an interviewer has to maintain a certain level of decorum or guests will not want to come back... Not saying they didn't try, just I think it could have been pushed a bit harder.
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YamadaKun



Joined: 17 Jul 2013
Posts: 304
Location: Sunny California
PostPosted: Thu Aug 29, 2013 4:09 pm Reply with quote
Just a gripe, but Seiji Mizushima did not pick Vic. Mike McFarland did. Why does Vic want to use the "Japanese picked me" to defend himself? Even if it's true, that won't work on me, but he doesn't have to lie. Mamoru Oshii, Kumiko Ikuhara, Hayao Miyazaki have been heavily in involved in dubs of their works, particularly Miyazaki and Ikuhara. They all sucked. Urgh. I hate when people use that excuse.
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ABCBTom



Joined: 10 Sep 2009
Posts: 183
PostPosted: Thu Aug 29, 2013 4:11 pm Reply with quote
Inujake7 wrote:
Wow, I had no idea Vic Mignogna was a Christian. That's awesome. He said a lot of great things in this interview. I'm a lot more interested in him now and I have a lot of respect for him. I've never been to an anime convention but I've thought about the idea for a church service type of thing before but had no idea it had actually been done before. I'd love to go to one of those led by Vic and I'd love to meet him too.
He seems like such a nice and funny guy. It's a shame there's so much hate for him because of his beliefs.


Oh, come on. I would imagine only a small about of the hate for him is because of his beliefs. I've worked cons. Bosch and Glass are also Christian, and completely stand up people who are wonderful. I also have to tip my hat to Carrie Savage, who always stopped by at every charity auction I worked to help get donations for charity. She also went to Africa on mission trips and helped villagers by digging wells and the like.

There are plenty of Christians in the English VA world (not surprising, since the industry is based around Texas), and most of them have a lot of fans and no haters. Many of them are completely open about it, and live their faith even at the conventions by helping with charity events and the like.

It's almost like there were some other reason people didn't like him. I wonder what that could be?
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