Nerd News: Funimation and Animegate
We called it before it happened.
Animegate is here in it’s first incarnation. Many of us will remember the early days of Anime and the formation of our opinions on the talent behind the characters we love. Funimation has been there for most of it. Localizing Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball GT, Fullmetal Alchemist, and dozens of other titles. The month of February, however, seems to be quite the month when it comes to people touching too much…
Twitter caught fire as Vic Mignoga was accused of “Unprofessional behavior” by “fans” from conventions. What that constitutes we can only guess because we have not seen any public records of the following:
-Police Reports
-Civil Law Suits against Vic
-Complaint Records from said conventions
Which leads us to state the following:
“If you feel violated at any time, say something and report it immediately!”
That being said, without evidence and witnesses all we can say and see is a lot of people vaguely saying “something happened” or “It happened to #metoo!”
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“Witch Hunts” are what we normally call what’s happening here. Without proof beyond hearsay we can’t go carrying torches and pitchforks around screaming about how he’s a monster. However, other Voice Actors have come to give their own accounts and “encounters” with Vic…
Monica Rial is a major “accuser” out of Vic’s colleagues which she seems to be taking the whole situation in a stride. Concerning the subject she seems to have a large focus, almost obsessive, on Mr. Mignoga after having “Disclosed” his “Creepy Behavior” which she has “Forgiven despite him not asking for it” and even has gone as far as to say her “Lawyer advises her to stay off twitter”, only to continue talking about it.
Another one of Vic’s former associates was Jamie Marchi whom disclosed:
The Following
The above Tweet covered her experiences far less vaguely than Monica did. She mentions how Funimation, like Vic’s Fans, was caught up in hero worship and that the whole thing was brushed off. Her experience was horrible, tragic, and despite it she persisted, marched forward, and continues to be an exemplary actor.
As you saw in the first paragraph, Funimation has taken the first steps to blacklist and assure Vic Mignoga is no longer on the convention scene. In addition to that, Vic, will most likely need to find a “Change of Venue” as an actor. It’s not a far-fetched concern but a serious one to consider. However, we can only guess what kind of permissive atmosphere and culture lead the accused to think that this was standard if it really happened. The consideration that it’s real leads to a whole can of worms. What IS the culture of Voice Actors? Where do Production Clearing Houses, Dubbers, and Subtitlers fall into when it comes to liability of the staff? Who is shaping the narrative of the industry and shouldn’t the COMPANY be held accountable? Funimation does have a statement to make following all of this:
We wen’t a few days back in Jamie’s twitter just to be sure of it and we found a little more than disturbing reaction:
In this case it looks like there is no common ground or healing. We can’t condone accused acts or the subsequent harassment of anyone. However, we can say that things have gone a little overboard. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve written books about my abusers but I didn’t get them fired or publicly humiliated…
-R. Rankin
Retro Game Review- Zelda 2: The Adventure of LINK
System: Nintendo Entertainment System
Rating Overall: 4 <3<3<3<3/<3<3<3<3<3 5
Rating of how WE Feel: 5/5
Forward: While The Legend of Zelda was many of my generation’s first Adventure games nostalgia sometimes is hyped too far. Many games we play today dwarf what we considered standard in our youth, however, Zelda and Zelda 2 for the Nintendo Entertainment System were and still are some of the best and harder titles from the Retro Gaming Hall of Fame. When asked at a Game Development company “What was my favorite game?” Zelda 2 was the answer and I stand by that. Not a game to keep playing over and over again after beating it a few times but for sure a game worth it’s place in the author’s mind.
Game Summary: Once again you assume the role as Link of Hyrule. However, rather than gathering the Triforce this time Ganon enchanted Zelda and she’s been put to sleep. It’s your job to wake her and defeat the evil that plagues the land. This game is broken into 2 parts:
1. A top-down traveling “Overworld” where you go between the various locations and navigate the world at large.
2. A Side-Scrolling Adventure Platformer with unlockable doors, findable items and upgrades, and a Pseudo-RPG Leveling system where you spend experience earned by slaying monsters on Magic, Life and Spells.
Graphics: The Nintendo Entertainment System was put to the test in some of the scenes. You knew there was a problem once too many monsters got on the screen and they started disappearing. That was the systems limitations though. The overall visual was pretty good. The contrasting colors and layout kept to the Fantasy theme and colors made for establishing the visual asthetic of the world of Hyrule. While the sprites were simple you got a pretty good idea of what you were up against. They even forced you to navigate tunnels in the dark until you found the “Torch” which was some interesting world-building at the time. The color palette was stark but that’s what you get in a fantasy world where the ruler’s been K.O.ed by a phantom Pigman.
Music & Sound: Classing for what it was as far as 8-bit chiptunes can go. Sometimes, while I’m driving to conventions or looking for something that tickles the mind for writing fantasy I’ll throw on some of the soundtrack (like the playlist from above). The atmospheric composition and overall field fits the world nearly perfectly. Accompanying the music is the sound; Crisp and percussive. When you got hit you’d hear “OOF” and when you hit metal with your sword you’d hear the clanging of metal or when a fairy was near the soft bell chime. Classing and nearly perfect. Nearly. The low health beep broke the immersion and always added a serious air of tension because you knew “Death was near”.
Replay: If you’re not going to use a Walkthrough or all the various exploits you could be lost for a long time playing this game (thanks to Nintendo Power as a kid I was saved). The NPC’s in the various villages are “hardly helpful” and some even lie to you or try to kill you as I found about quarter of the way into the game. If you have not played, you have to at least try when you get a chance. They released the Classic NES Mini with it and it can be obtained from many retro-resellers for your NES or NES Playing system or the Nintendo Arcade on the Wii-U or Switch.
In the End: Nearly a 5/5 in our eyes here at Chasing Sasquatch, Zelda 2 is a solid Retro Gaming Classic. While it may be a little hard to find a hard-copy and some folks think they can sell it for more than 20 because of the “Gold Cart” that the game is housed in it’s always a nice centerpiece to a collection. Always remember, if it was hard back then it may be still to this day and Zelda 2 is no exception to the rule… The Hyrule.
Nerd News and Events: Cosplayer Bullied, and Misrepresented for stance on equity in the Tech Industry
Programmer and Cosplayer, Daisy Roth has been dealing with an infamous case of “Florida-Men” over at Palm Beach Techie…
Today we’re looking at the strange case of Programmer Daisy Roth and the subsequent use and abuse of her image, general misrepresentation, and gross application of bullying through published works and disassociating while retaining images and content posted.
The Video covers the gist of what’s going on and while she mentions the “White men” buzzwords a few times this is because of what she encountered.
Yes, she programs.
From what we were able to compile, Miss Roth has done what she can to help her local Tech and Programmer scene. Reaching out to other gals and folks who don’t have the money or power to get organized only to have herself bullied out of the scene by those who organize it. Her entire tale can be found here on this Google Document:
Google Document
Until a time we can get a comment from Joseph R. Russo and company through our official page on Facebook this is all the data that we have. They are welcome to offer their side of the story.
-R. Rankin
