Tom Wayland, Dub's Voice Director, Accused of Rape

[Garren]

And more, solid information: What you never want to hear. “I was raped at Anime Boston…” via Amber Marie Frazier (#trigger) | Amber Unmasked

So, yeah, this is a pretty horrible situation. But, for those who still watch the dub, this will probably mean someone will take over for Wayland regardless of the outcome for the foreseeable future. I don't want to put the dubbing of a cartoon over the well-being of the victim in this situation, of course, but I thought there are members on here who care about the quality of the dub, and they have the right to hear about this since it will effect the quality, for better or worse, of a show they regularly watch.

 

[froakiefroak]

Holy freaking crap, color me incredibly surprised. I literally JUST watched an hour long interview with him yesterday afternoon on voice directing the Pokemon anime. Even more surprising is that I went to his Twitter account immediately after watching the interview yesterday as well and found it weird how he hadn't posted in quite a while.

Wow.. I don't even know what to say to this. While I may not be a fan of the recent Pokemon seasons, I still feel very shocked for some reason and bad for the fans who do enjoy the dub.

Has anything else been mentioned on this? Would this actually be the reason the Hoopa trailer turned out so crappy? I'm really, really interested in this. Wow is all I can say.

 

[Garren]

Well, from what I understand a lot of people didn't like Wayland's direction, especially since he apparently didn't take his job seriously, and basically just had the voice actors do one take and that was that...

So, I imagine some might see this as a positive change. It's just unfortunate that a change had to come from such a horrible event, and not merely him being replaced on lack of merit.

 

[froakiefroak]

Well, from what I understand a lot of people didn't like Wayland's direction, especially since he apparently didn't take his job seriously, and basically just had the voice actors do one take and that was that...

So, I imagine some might see this as a positive change. It's just unfortunate that a change had to come from such a horrible event, and not merely him being replaced on lack of merit.

I'd absolutely agree with the statement about his direction being bad. It really does show in the quality of the dub, which is part of the reason why I won't watch it anymore.

Well.. I hope it is positive but after hearing the Hoopa trailer I'm thinking it may be a downgrade (if that's even possible?).

 

[lavandula]

Rape in a public event, especially an anime convention? By someone who's quite successful in their career and quite well known?
Why would someone risk their reputation by committing rape?

Sounds like a jealous colleague setting things up to get attention and try defaming him.

 

[Hector]

Wooowwwwwww I was at that convention (note it was last year's Anime Boston, not this years which was just a couple weeks ago). That's real scary shit.

 

[Garren]

Rape in a public event, especially an anime convention? By someone who's quite successful in their career and quite well known?
Why would someone risk their reputation by committing rape?

Sounds like a jealous colleague setting things up to get attention and try defaming him.

Yes, false rape accusations happen, but I'm of the mindset that most people wouldn't lie about something like that, and in most cases we should try to be supportive of the victim as opposed to immediately jumping to the "she's lying because she's jealous!" excuse.

As for why he'd do it, well, I can't answer that. I know nothing about Mr. Wayland personally, just that he's involved with an anime dub. But honestly, if Bill Cosby has taught us anything, and countless other similar scandals, it's that people in power seem to do stuff like this, possibly because they think they can get away with it, and with their position they're able to do so often while avoiding the consequences.

And there's a lot of stories about how women are treated at conventions, when they're based around mediums that tend to heavily objectify them you get a lot of weirdos who don't know how to actually engage with them in normal, non-threatening ways. The sad thing is, I imagine Wayland not being the typical neckbeard probably allowed him to lure the victim into a false sense of security, and then took advantage of that.

 

[lavandula]

Rape in a public event, especially an anime convention? By someone who's quite successful in their career and quite well known?
Why would someone risk their reputation by committing rape?

Sounds like a jealous colleague setting things up to get attention and try defaming him.

Yes, false rape accusations happen, but I'm of the mindset that most people wouldn't lie about something like that, and in most cases we should try to be supportive of the victim as opposed to immediately jumping to the "she's lying because she's jealous!" excuse.

As for why he'd do it, well, I can't answer that. I know nothing about Mr. Wayland personally, just that he's involved with an anime dub. But honestly, if Bill Cosby has taught us anything, and countless other similar scandals, it's that people in power seem to do stuff like this, possibly because they think they can get away with it, and with their position they're able to do so often while avoiding the consequences.

And there's a lot of stories about how women are treated at conventions, when they're based around mediums that tend to heavily objectify them you get a lot of weirdos who don't know how to actually engage with them in normal, non-threatening ways. The sad thing is, I imagine Wayland not being the typical neckbeard probably allowed him to lure the victim into a false sense of security, and then took advantage of that.

But did anyone witnessed it, or did anyone see Amber looking all weird during the convention? Did anyone see a drastic change in how Amber behaved?
All I see is just a random facebook page, and tweets that refer to that facebook page.
How am I supposed to believe in something just because it has a facebook page?

All Amber supporters are just saying that she's always been truthful, and nothing other than that. Which is nothing helpful at all-- that's not evidence.

If the rape did happen, the victim would be traumatized and anyone could be able to tell them if they see her.

 

[Alola]

Is he still working, despite the investigations? Because apparently he's the voice actor for Ash's Goomy...

 

[Absent]

I knew it was going to be matter of time before an argument like this began. We don't have the full picture, we only have her account but that doesn't mean we should dismiss it. Rape is a serious and horrible thing. Whats more, there's people that make false accusations for whatever sick reasons, and when that happens not only does that hurt the accused but real rape victims that are scared to come out.

I urge you all to be respectful to each other if you wish to continue this argument but understand the severity of this situation for both parties.

 

[Pokemaster97]

This thread is going to be locked until the moderators finish reviewing the situation. If we decide to reopen it, this will absolutely not be a place to debate whether or not the allegations are true or not. Dismissing the victim is not cool.