What is it about SHC videos?

[emile]

Would like to ask a question about the old SHC videos: what was it about them that made them so good? I remember another poster saying that, even today, they are still one of the best in the genre.

So, despite the shoddy production and video quality, what were the elements which made them unforgettable? For me, I still rank Supreme Avenger 'Sibling Rivalry', Uktragirl vs X5 and Gold Avenger 'The Sacrifice' as among my TOP Super heroine videos..

[Femina]

Would like to ask a question about the old SHC videos: what was it about them that made them so good? I remember another poster saying that, even today, they are still one of the best in the genre.

So, despite the shoddy production and video quality, what were the elements which made them unforgettable? For me, I still rank Supreme Avenger 'Sibling Rivalry', Uktragirl vs X5 and Gold Avenger 'The Sacrifice' as among my TOP Super heroine videos..

Well first off, I would argue they are NOT good. 90% of what is offered today are twelve to fifteen times better in basically every category than 90% of all SHC videos...

That being said Supreme Avenger 'Sibling Rivalry' really is one of those videos I really really enjoy... right up to costume shredding (which is where I get bored but that is just me) but I wouldn't call it 'award winning' peril material...

As for the appeal? It could be just the mindless nature of it. SHC's heroine peril vids come closeish to straight pornography in parts without ever falling into the old 'pizza delivery man' syndrome. The actresses were usually very well endowed, the costumes tight and shiny. I also imagine a certain 'angrier' sect of the populace remember them particularly fondly because they were also by and large more vitriolic than much of what's offered today. The heroines in SHC's videos were constantly berated by the villains as 'cows' their breasts 'udders' etc. This doesn't BOTHER me so much as a viewer since villain's diatribes to heroines oughtn't always be polite banter. The sheer VOLUME of those particular illusions of the heroines in SHC do, however, cause me to question DanO's personal opinion of women........ BUT that is a separate issue than 'why were the videos popular' because it isn't as though only sexist jerks liked the videos, I'm a fairly feminist minded woman and I enjoyed quite a lot of his material probably just as much as whatever dudes were salivating over enjoyment of a woman getting beat down and objectified... I just was enjoying it for other reasons than they were, and most likely, than you were, or the next guy or gal, because we all get our own particular thing out of the SHiP fetish.

That heroines always lose in SHC videos may also attribute. In my opinion removing all doubt that the heroine CAN win eventually sours the genre and makes it difficult to properly appreciate the peril as much overall, so I quite prefer it the way it is now where some videos end in the heroine triumphant and some with her defeated, but that stated, I and probably many of us, still enjoy the 'inevitable defeat' videos more on an overall basis.

Now for some reasons why they maybe WEREN'T as good as we all remember.

None of them were full videos. Every single one of them is cut up into like, five minute segments with title sequences at the start and end to really break up the action and continually remove us from the experience. Constant voice over narrations can be fun sometimes... but the faceless narrator was basically there in every SHC video making one wonder... just who IS this faceless heroine hating fiend who always tells us exactly what's going on and never just SHOWing us? Film quality was terrible, but it was before the digital revolution mostly... so it could also be the 'film' lens retaining that age old element of 'hiding the rough edges' a little bit also elevates it for older viewers like me who still believe digitizing the hobbit made all the 'fake' shit in the movies look super fake even when they DIDN'T in the Lord of the Rings thanks to a slower frame rate and lack of extreme definition.

Edit: I just noticed that we have serious ranks now! I finally made Sergent!

[lionbadger]

I still like them, possibly part of that is because as Femina says there was at least the option to have the heroine lose. I suspect they are revered in part because they were many people's first love in a sense, I still remember downloading the first Power Angel video on a rockety old BT dial up connection.

The characters and models were good too.

[RedMountain]

At the time they were quite good and there was nothing quite like them out. The models and costumes were fantastic and there was a variety of perils. Some of the beatdowns were incredible and as a fan of heroines getting slimed or soaked in some kind of weakening substance, SHC had a lot of videos that appealed to me, like when Thrustgirl gets held down and rubbed with an oil/gel that starts to slowly dissolve her costume, or like when Pink Fusion was double teamed and had this arousing slime rubbed all over her breasts and into her costume, etc. I also loved the Ultragirl/woman videos they did. As ridiculous as it sounds, the mop monster peril was actually pretty cool having her get dragged into this giant pile of mops with parts of them rubbing and groping her until she gets pulled all the way in and emerges with half her uniform dissolved.

[Supergirl77]

At the time they were quite good and there was nothing quite like them out. The models and costumes were fantastic and there was a variety of perils.

Totally agree with you RedMountain. The models and the costumes were top notch and so was the variety of perils across the different stories. My favorite was the original Ultra Girl along with Miss Amazing and the Gold Avenger.

[Night_Lantern]

Some of the beatdowns were incredible and as a fan of heroines getting slimed or soaked in some kind of weakening substance, SHC had a lot of videos that appealed to me, like when Thrustgirl gets held down and rubbed with an oil/gel that starts to slowly dissolve her costume, or like when Pink Fusion was double teamed and had this arousing slime rubbed all over her breasts and into her costume, etc. I also loved the Ultragirl/woman videos they did. As ridiculous as it sounds, the mop monster peril was actually pretty cool having her get dragged into this giant pile of mops with parts of them rubbing and groping her until she gets pulled all the way in and emerges with half her uniform dissolved.

Damn I gotta find me these videos...I love that stuff too. The heroine may be super but her costume is certainly not. Seems like an overlooked idea these days. Any link to a page selling them?

[sugarcoater]

Femina made quite a few excellent points. And I think the appeal of SHC is that there was little else of that genre and quality available at the time (mid-90s). For many of us fans, this was our first experience with such material and consequently it has a long-lasting impression. If one were to run SHC videos alongside Rye or TBFE or Bluestone videos, we wouldn't bother much with SHC. And the 2 minute videos (running about 1:35 after the intro and outro) prevent one from properly appreciating the full story. But SHC has probably had a huge impact on the genre and helped make it what it is today.

[frankzito]

I loved those films. The problem with the movies we get today is that they're sometimes too polished. There was a level of verbal and physical abuse (not to mention loads and loads of fluid) that you don't see at all now. Now we have some (excellent) attempts at acting and telling a story and producers (sometimes to their detriment) bending over backwards to work in everyone's fetish.

The SHC films were very much these dark, often brutal affairs where the heroine was completely humiliated sexually, verbally, and physically, featuring a level of costume destruction and desecration I only WISH we had today.

Was the acting great? No. Were the production values good? Not much better than a lot of clips4sale stuff we see today. But the content was excellent. That's why, to this day, I'm incredibly pissed that I can't just buy and download their movies on an individual basis, and instead have to wait for them to eventually rotate into their members area to grab them.They made great stuff. I know if I ever produce my own SHIP films (and some day, I will), they're going to hue more towards SHC videos than a lot of the stuff we see today for these reasons.

[RedMountain]

Some of the beatdowns were incredible and as a fan of heroines getting slimed or soaked in some kind of weakening substance, SHC had a lot of videos that appealed to me, like when Thrustgirl gets held down and rubbed with an oil/gel that starts to slowly dissolve her costume, or like when Pink Fusion was double teamed and had this arousing slime rubbed all over her breasts and into her costume, etc. I also loved the Ultragirl/woman videos they did. As ridiculous as it sounds, the mop monster peril was actually pretty cool having her get dragged into this giant pile of mops with parts of them rubbing and groping her until she gets pulled all the way in and emerges with half her uniform dissolved.

Damn I gotta find me these videos...I love that stuff too. The heroine may be super but her costume is certainly not. Seems like an overlooked idea these days. Any link to a page selling them?

You can get some of the old ones on the SHC store on the website, but you mostly just have to wait for them to go through the "Time Tunnel" in the members area.

[Get Your Exxon]

I share much of the pro SHC sentiment being expressed here.

As to why these videos continue to resonate: perhaps it has something to do with DanO’s approach. In many regards, he was an original – pushing the envelope while simultaneously creating his own take on the genre.

While many of today’s videos are technically better (I’m talking mainly HD cameras and, in some cases, editing/production value) few have matched the raw intensity of DanO’s work.

Even though several years have passed, his films continue to inspire. Whether one enjoys what he did or not, he certainly had something different to say.

To be clear, I don’t know the guy. Nor do I necessarily share his views. But I do think he created something unique.

I’m not sure many other producers can claim this.

[Imagineer]

Superheroine Central built a pretty focused brand, and nobody seems to be copying all of the elements. Much of that is no doubt deliberate -- each producer has their own likes -- but some of that may be the result of the short-clip format.

SHC sought models that looked as much like comic book art as possible -- busty, curvy, leggy, glamorous.
Heroines were original. Costumes tended to be the high-cut leotards with slimming belt or sash and stiletto heels, likely sprung from comic books of the 90s. Civilian outfits tended to conventionally-sexy elements of the 90s too.

Scripting and shooting seemed to spring from Batman-66 --
Action tended to be less punching and kicking, more grabbing and squeezing and squirming. Less brutal, more creepy. Costume damage and viscous fluids were common elements. Heroines often had specific, explicitly described and often shown powers.
Much more editing, varying camera angles, close-ups, and slow-motion. So much slow-motion.
Copious voice-over, visual effects, and sound effects.
Tone was often but not always campy. This can take the edge off darker content.

I think the voiceover's impact is underappreciated. You can fill in a LOT of (back)story and add a LOT of detail and amp up the atmosphere with voiceover, and do it by yourself and apart from the shoot. You can even use it as a substitute for dialog. You need less from sets, "set-up" scenes, and actors.

[TIEnTEEZ]

I'm with Femina. They were NOT good. Don't get me wrong, they were not universally bad. There are some nuggets of gold buried in there if you look hard enough.

The secret to their popularity was that 20 years ago, they were the only thing available.

[sugarcoater]

I think T has it right. 20 years ago there was SHC and sooperhero.com as the two main companies. Both had short clips and pics; SHC had some impressive Danny Ryan/Dave Roberts comics. But there wasn't much else to be found, at least not consistently.
Part of the enthusiasm for SHC is perhaps because it was our first time seeing a video with a hot model in superhero gear being beaten and abused. The Ultrawoman and Gold Avenger characters were really hot, and the Thrust Girl videos are some of my favorites.
But that all said, as technology advanced and products improved, SHC stayed the same (or more accurately, stopped making new material). SHC is like my first smartphone--I was impressed with the concept and all it could do. But the current material is like the newest smartphones, capable of so much more and significantly better. (Who would prefer twenty 90 second clips to 30 minute video?)
But SHC will always have a special place in my mind because it seems to have been a major contributor to the genre's progress to where we are today: being critical of videos that would have blown our eyeballs out 15 years ago.

[shvillian12]

Back then it was only 2 sites that catered to this genre, SHC and Villians site. Definitley gold avenger and ultra woman were my favs

[Mr. X]

None of them were full videos. Every single one of them is cut up into like, five minute segments with title sequences at the start and end to really break up the action and continually remove us from the experience.

Just to clarify that was done that way because these videos were originally weekly installments on the pay site. 3 minutes a video.

[Femina]

None of them were full videos. Every single one of them is cut up into like, five minute segments with title sequences at the start and end to really break up the action and continually remove us from the experience.

Just to clarify that was done that way because these videos were originally weekly installments on the pay site. 3 minutes a video.

Yes I know, but it still takes away from the experience when viewing them.

[Ninja J.]

I think even today SHC could be one of if not the best SHIP production studio right now. I agree with almost everything everyone said about why SHC was so good. I'd like to add that what also made SHC so good were the storylines. The problem with todays vids is that they are too formulaic. For the most part SHC had an original story or scenario that made watching the heroine get defeated even more enticing. SHC also had original heroines and villains. Today producers seem content with having Supergirl or Wonderwoman facing a monster or two or more goons. I realize those are the two heroines everyone requests but, it's too much of the same in my opinion. If SHC could get rid of the membership (or at least keep the weekly updates on time), make a complete video, and take it easy on the voice overs Dano would be the best producer again.

[Mr. X]

Yes I know, but it still takes away from the experience when viewing them.

I agree. They should be re-edited.

[shevek]

Wow what a fantastic nostalgia thread. Yes I first realized that there was such a thing as SHIP because of SHC (and you can't forget the Dangerbabe stuff either) and Superheroine's Demise. There was a certain amount of utter sincerity and love for the extremity of the genre baked into most of those DanO videos. Just a fanperson's dream. I also love to see heroines win, though, and exert their powers, their bodies, and their transformations, so I'm glad there are other kinds of SHIP vids as well now.

DanO is still around. I'm working on some videos of my own, so I checked in with him a few months ago to see if he had any leftover costumes available from back in the day. I actually made a list of all the characters of this that I enjoyed and could remember: Galaxy Girl, Ultragirl, Stinger, Thrust Girl, Golden Avenger, Supreme Avenger, Nighthawk, American Fox, Power Princess, Power Fist, Brite Star, Fusion, Majestika, etc.

At first he responded saying he was undergoing a "move" (he also said he might want to make vids again...a vainglorious hope indeed!) and would be willing to communicate on the subject, but then I checked in again with him twice since then and no response. Not sure if he's made a "move", or added anything new at all to SHC.

Mr. X, would you have any updates on the subject?

[heroinefan351]

I really enjoyed the campy style to his videos, like I enjoy the older sciencefictionfetish material more than I do the new stuff. Plus I feel producers are to repetitive in the movies they make now.

[gp33]

A lot of great points about the appeal of these videos. I especially agree about the actresses, campiness, voice over, etc. It all just works somehow. Good to see some remastering, only wish more archive material was available -- let alone new or truly similar productions!

[Mr. X]

Wow what a fantastic nostalgia thread. Yes I first realized that there was such a thing as SHIP because of SHC (and you can't forget the Dangerbabe stuff either) and Superheroine's Demise. There was a certain amount of utter sincerity and love for the extremity of the genre baked into most of those DanO videos. Just a fanperson's dream. I also love to see heroines win, though, and exert their powers, their bodies, and their transformations, so I'm glad there are other kinds of SHIP vids as well now.

DanO is still around. I'm working on some videos of my own, so I checked in with him a few months ago to see if he had any leftover costumes available from back in the day. I actually made a list of all the characters of this that I enjoyed and could remember: Galaxy Girl, Ultragirl, Stinger, Thrust Girl, Golden Avenger, Supreme Avenger, Nighthawk, American Fox, Power Princess, Power Fist, Brite Star, Fusion, Majestika, etc.

At first he responded saying he was undergoing a "move" (he also said he might want to make vids again...a vainglorious hope indeed!) and would be willing to communicate on the subject, but then I checked in again with him twice since then and no response. Not sure if he's made a "move", or added anything new at all to SHC.

Mr. X, would you have any updates on the subject?

The only custom costume we ever had made was the American Fox one which had to be canned cause DC got on us at the time (or someone claiming to be DC) even though the suit looked nothing like the WW suit.

All the costumes are very inexpensive leotards with some sewn capes and stapled on or glued on gems. The logos were done with either iron on decals or spray paint. we had boots we spray painted like 4 times with different colors before tossing them out. So basically you buy assorted arm gloves, assorted leotards, those minstral masks from Hobby lobby and cut/shape them, some boots and sew some capes and you're done. In fact Kim Li was one of the only costumes we purchased for a shoot vs just finding some generic catsuit or leotard. Ultra Woman is just a blue leotard with an iron on ultra woman logo and a red belt and choker. Also allowed us to shred costumes and have replacements.

[shvillian12]

Really X, that is just great you guys did a lot with so little.

[Mr. X]

Well one of the reasons costumes were cheaper was because we decided NOT to use copyrighted characters. So we didn't have to mimic a wonder woman or super girl suit. In fact in some cases we'd put the girl in a costume then come up with a name. I named Gold Avenger and Supreme Avenger for example.

[emile]

That's really cool, Mr X! It really is unbelievable work!

One quick question Mr X: who's the actress who played Supreme Avenger? I think Sibling Rivalry might be the greatest SHC video ever..

[Ninja J.]

That's really cool, Mr X! It really is unbelievable work!

One quick question Mr X: who's the actress who played Supreme Avenger? I think Sibling Rivalry might be the greatest SHC video ever..

I believe Mr. X said she was a local model. I can't remember her name. She was tremendous though. I'd like to know they found these models and convinced them to go along with our fantasies. "Hey how'd you like to be humped and slimed while we film it? Great thanks!"

[Mr. X]

That's really cool, Mr X! It really is unbelievable work!

One quick question Mr X: who's the actress who played Supreme Avenger? I think Sibling Rivalry might be the greatest SHC video ever..

That would be Eve. She was a local dancer. She was also agent Swan in my videos. Great girl to work with.

[shovelry]

They were really good videos back in the day - Vagrin's Task and Supreme Avenger (2008) were probably my favorites; impossible to find the first of the two anywhere...

I think I liked them because they would focus on action as well as the 'kinky' stuff.

[lionbadger]

At the risk of incurring the wrath of the emboldened moderator staff of TUSH, I saw this recent photomanip and thought of this thread, not a SHC Film Character" but one of their heroines none the less

The lovely Susan Steel



http://www.deviantart.com/art/Susan-Ste ... -650539253

[Mr. X]

Sorry to disappoint but Susan Steel is part of superheroinexxx.com. I know it can get confusing cause in the early days we purchased their artwork for our site and I think she appeared there in some purchased stories. For example they draw Ms Americana sometimes and people think they are danger babe.

That is a damned good picture.

[lionbadger]

Oh? I always thought she was an SHC character that heroinexxxx then kind of borrowed/developed further ?

She was in a Butterscotch Fox story back in the day IIRC

[Mr. X]

Yeah they introduced her. The studio tends to want to mix characters when they do stories.