It may be simplistic, but I still contend that there's a BV (Before Vic) and AV (After Vic) to Nick's life and that Vic's loss to the anime harpies changed him in some fundamentally negative ways. I mean, BV Nick was a champion of the people, going after truly detestable idiots like Shane Holmberg, interviewing Rittenhouse, and supporting conventions like Anime Matsuri. AV Nick seems to've made the guy a doompiller - spiking his alcohol intake, going full-bore on the swingers scene, and possibly starting to use the really hard stuff. You can tell he's aged fifteen years in five and it doesn't seem to be getting any better for him.
I sometimes wonder what Nick would've been like if Vic had won.