Chat Log - Brice Armstrong

Thank you so much for joining us on this special edition of Celebrity Chat. We are honored to have both Brice Armstrong, voice actor for Lord Slug, and Dr. Toymangla with us tonight. Brice has been in radio for years and was an announcer for Good Morning Texas for a year. Brice was also "Miss Etta" on Barney and Friends on PBS. Brice has also done voice-overs for radio and television commercials. Brice is also the narrator for the Dragonball series, and has done bit-parts in DragonballZ. Dr. Toymangla has come up from the depths of IF Labs to discuss Lord Slug and life at IF Labs. Dr. Toymangla is dressed in a yellowed lab coat and has for a change brushed his unruly hair. He is currently repeating the words, "flux capacitor, flux capacitor".

Q: Is this your only job Mr. Slug?
A:Brice Armstrong: As Lord Slug it is...Lord Slug is a full time job and I am proud of it!

Q: Do you do any other voices?
A:Brice Armstrong: I do the narration on Dragon Ball

Q: Do you watch DBZ every day?
A:Dr. Toymangla: I watch DBZ everyday and watch it closely, have you seen that show? It's wild, crazy!
Brice Armstrong: I live Dragon Ball Z.

Q: How did you get this job as a voice for Lord Slug?
A:Brice Armstrong: They were looking for another pretty face when I walked in.

Q: How did you get involved with FUNimation, and will you be playing any roles in Yu Yu Hakusho and Blue Gender?
A:Brice Armstrong: I made FUNimation an offer they couldn't refuse. And after we carried out the horse's head, I started doing voices. As for Yu Yu and Blue Gender, I do the voice of Mr. Takanaka on Yu Yu. As a reversal of type, he's actually a good guy. I have been told that there are parts waiting for me in future Blue Gender episodes.

Q: Who's your favorite DBZ character, Brice?
A: Brice Armstrong: Lord Slug, of course - a thing of great personal beauty.

Q: Do you have any anime cels?
A: Brice Armstrong: I know what they are, but I don't own any.

Q: Do you like your job at FUNimation?
A: Brice Armstrong: When people ask me what I do, I say "I enjoy myself for a living". So... the answer is yes.

Q: Dr. Toymangla, how long did it take to make the Lord Slug toy?
A: Brice Armstrong: You take this one, Dr.
Dr. Toymangla: We started on Lord Slug about 7 months ago. We worked with top sculptors to get Lord Slug perfected. He will be available in January

Q: Brice are you and Dr. Toymangla the same person?
A: Dr. Toymangla: Brice, you go first
Brice Armstrong: Dr. Toymangla is a separate person, and I am at least 3 separate persons.
Dr. Toymangla: IF Labs is my whole pursuit.

Q: Dr. Toymangla, what makes your toy so great?
A: Dr. Toymangla: On top of 100 plus paint operations and top quality sculpting, we have articulation, play value and real collectibility. These toys will be a great blend of abs, hard plastics, and soft PVC's. All on a 9 inch scale, they will amaze, even the most jaded of you.

Q: Are you friends with any of the other DBZ voice actors?
Brice Armstrong: We are all great personal friends, but I wish they'd keep their hands off my great personal.

Q: Well, Dr. Are you going to make a figure of Cooler and others from the DBZ movies?
A: Dr. Toymangla: IF Labs is indeed a full line - Cooler from Movie 5 already looks outstanding. We will release three sets of four figures every year, and probably crank it up from there. That's just talking Dragon Ball Z Movie Collection. We will also be releasing hyper detailed ultra reality versions of Yu Yu Hakusho and Dragon Ball, I cant wait to show you guys these figures

Q: Lord Slug, what do you think of your new action figure?
A: Brice Armstrong: I think it is outstanding. As a matter of fact, I just saw it outstanding in the hallway earlier. In fact I just saw the Lord Slug action figure beat the heck out of all the other action figures.

Q: Beside DBZ, what anime do you like most, Brice?
A: Brice Armstrong: I honestly haven't seen much anime. Sorry. Lord Slug is far and away the best I've seen. I do, however, enjoy old movies...

Q: Dr., did you mess up on any of the prototypes and have to start over? If so how many times did it take to get it right?
A: Dr. Toymangla: No, not exactly mess up, but the process is very detailed, we worked and refined Lord Slug many times, this is part of the reason it takes months to do. We work back and forth daily with the sculptors, others at FUNimation, and with the original creators in Japan, to make sure we capture the essence of all these figures.

Q: Dr. Toymangla, can you describe the new Lord Slug figure?
A: Dr. Toymangla: Lord Slug figures is based on the reborn younger more powerful form of Lord Slug, in fact the basis for the figure is the moment in the film when Goku realizes that Lord Slug is a Namek. In fact he is a Super Namek. HAHaHA. Brice just said when he died he is a DY NAmic "die".

Q: What's it like being a voice actor for DBZ?
A: Brice Armstrong: This is a tricky question... Interesting, because I am a different character each visit. Challenging, because the Japanese does not account for the correct amount of English syllables. And FUN -- because it is the first job my kids like as much as I do.

Q: Dr. Toymangla, why did you begin with Lord Slug?
A: Dr. Toymangla: We began with the evil Lord Slug because he undergoes such a great transformation, because Namek's are cool, and he will be an excellent villain to collect. I really love what we did with the Lord Slug Movie, we turned this into one terrific flick, Slug deserved a figure and we gave him one.

Q: Do you ever use the Lord Slug voice when doing normal things (talking to people, ect)?
A: Brice Armstrong: The voice really tears up the vocal cords, so no... not really. (However it does come in handy when ordering pizzas.)

Q: Dr. Toymangla, what DBZ character do you like?
A: Dr. Toymangla: I like a lot. In fact, starting this toy company is a great opportunity to make these guys just like we want them, Cooler is one that came out really well, he is huge, purple, and with his spiked armor, on both his headpiece and spikes he really casts a menacing shadow, and looks great on my shelf.

Q: What is your favorite thing about doing the voice work for Lord Slug?
A: Dr. Toymangla: I like them a lot, one thing I've always wanted was a giant Saiyan ape

Q: Is your family a fan of DBZ?
A: Dr. Toymangla: I the good Doctor will make all this happen and more, fans will be rocked by the things they will see.

Q: Do you have any tips for me if I want to get into the voice acting business?
A: Brice Armstrong: It is a tough business to get into... But you might want to join a local theater group... Steve Allen, famous actor, author etc... used to look out his window and try to describe what was happening out loud. So he could literally speak for an hour and never have a lack of things to say...

Q: Dr. Toymangla, why do you make toys?
A: Dr. Toymangla: I have an obsession with collecting. My father was actually part action figure, part man.

Q: Will you be going to any future conventions?
A: Brice Armstrong: I suppose I would go if I was asked. We will see.
Dr. Toymangla: I will in fact be at Toy Fair NY in February.

Q: How long have you been voice acting?
A: Brice Armstrong: Boy... it's another 'how old are you' question, eh... If I didn't tell Woodrow Wilson, why would I tell you?

Q: What upcoming movie characters do you plan to make?
A: Dr. Toymangla: Cooler from Movie 5, Battle Damaged Piccolo from Movie 5, Super Saiyan Battle Damaged Goku from Movie 5, Meta-Cooler from Movie 6, Battle Damaged SS Vegeta, Space suit Goku, Space suit Krillin, Yu Yu Hakusho, many from Dragonball, Master Roshi, Bulma, Shu and Pilaf, son Goku with Boss Rabbit

Q: When do you plan to release the other figures?
A: Dr. Toymangla: January for the first wave of DBZ Movie Collection, March for Yu Yu Hakusho line one, and March for Dragonball line one. A second wave of all in the mid summer. And yet more before the end of the year, it will be huge I tell ya.

Q: What are your favorite movies?
A: Brice Armstrong: Old movies... "Palm Beach Story", "Citizen Kane", "Lady Eve", "Red River". ... stuff like that.
Dr. Toymangla: Where is my pudding?

Q: When will they release another Gotenks toy?
A: Brice Armstrong: (hands the good doctor a cup of vanilla)
Dr. Toymangla: Well, I must say our friends at Irwin do have another Gotenks coming up.

Q: Dr. Toymangla, who is your favorite Super Saiyan?
A: Dr. Toymangla: I love Vanilla, it is the most special of flavors. My favorite Super Saiyan, is Broly, he will blow your mind.

Q: If you were not voice acting what would you be doing with your life?
A: Brice Armstrong: I think cringing somewhere in a corner, crying my eyes out.

Q: How do you change your voice so drastically from normal Lord Slug to Super-Namek Lord Slug?
A: Brice Armstrong: Ah... It was a little electronically enhanced.

Q: Dr. Toymangla what are your ideas for the future?
A: Dr. Toymangla: I can see cities of light... Actually, we have many plans. We are making , actually burning the midnight oils on many new toys. The Yu Yu Toys are going to surprise a lot of you: one because anime fans will be in love with this show, and two because our figures for Yu Yu Hakusho are spankingly cool. What did i just say? Spankingly Cool!
Brice Armstrong: (moves away from the Doctor...)

Q: Do the DBZ Movie figures come with accessories?
A: Dr. Toymangla: Lord Slug comes with a great cape and cowl. We are spending the cash on paint and detail.

Q: So do you play any instruments?
A: Brice Armstrong: No.

Q: What are your favorite books?
A: Dr. Toymangla: Catcher in the Rye
Brice Armstrong: "Harry Potter."
Dr. Toymangla: I like Yu Yu Hakusho the manga

Q: Mr. Toymangla what is your favorite Irwin action figure?
A: Dr. Toymangla: Dr. Toymangla…manners! Android 19 is by far my favorite, this is from their new series.

Q: Are you anything like the character you play?
A: Brice Armstrong: With the exception of the muscles and the green skin... no.

Q: Are you proud of the new Lord Slug action figure?
A: Dr. Toymangla: Very much, very happy with all of them, starting a new toy company is quite a thing to do. But I love what we have accomplished. These figures are truly unmatched
Brice Armstrong: Philosophers who say 'perfection is unachievable' have not yet seen the Lord Slug Action figure.

Q: Was being Lord Slug interesting?
A: Brice Armstrong: It was heart-pounding a throat-ripping. Seriously... villains are ALWAYS more interesting.

Q: Are you going to be in any other DBZ movies?
A: Brice Armstrong: That is up to GOD, Chris and Justin.
Dr. Toymangla: I must add the Brice is an amazing narrator for Dragonball. I love his work.
Brice Armstrong: Thank you Dr… Very nice.

Q: What is your feedback on the toys?
Dr. Toymangla: We are having the Atari 2600 tabulate the results now. Actually, so far they are overwhelmingly positive almost all saying "Awesome". I would like to thank the fans for all of their input on this. We as a company will truly involve the fans and hope to please them with all that we do.

Q: How long did it take you to record the voice for Lord Slug?
A: Brice Armstrong: About 2, two hour sessions. Then two weeks of recovery.

Dr. Toymangla: In closing I want to personally invite all of you to visit our website, see the behind the scenes making of feature, and hang out at if-labs.com, once it is fully launched. We will make it worth your while, with a "Ask Dr. Toymangla" section as well as continuous updates on our toy line.

Brice Armstrong: Aside to Robin... when you open up the box... a green glow will emerge followed by the sound "peek-a-boo". I think that was the last question. Thank you all for the questions and remember perfection is as near as the Lord Slug action figure. Tip your waitress and hug your Lord Slug.

Dr. Toymangla: Oh my pudding...

Brice Armstrong: Good evening.

Dr. Toymangla: Thank you.