Since we’re having a week off new releases I thought I’d at least make the week a bit more interesting and talk about our plans for the near future. Whenever it gets to this time of year we hope to be winding down shooting, which is broadly the case now. As many of you know, I talked a bit about re-opening customs, but this became very difficult because of the churn in heroine actresses. People I thought would still be available weren’t, and it is a bit pointless offering customs and only having a couple of names on the list of availability. As you also know, we only make a small handful of customs in a year anyway, and what we’re planning to do over the winter is introduce new actresses to you via ActionCosplay.com that in time might graduate to this site.
I think it is fair to say that for a period of time ActionCosplay will be a proving ground for the main site. There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, since AC shares actresses with NGC, it has suffered from the same attrition problems. The rather loose storyline on that site has been quite disrupted, so there is space to do something different for a period of time. The second reason is the effort that goes into creating a new character for NGC itself. These characters are integrated into the story and given a purpose and a plan for the future. New characters need to have a costume designed and made for them. What has happened too frequently in the last few years (in part due to the pandemic) has been a situation where we have introduced a new character at great effort and expense, managed at most a few shoots with the actress, before she has for a variety of reasons, good and bad, decided she can’t do any more. Thus creating an annoying loose end in the story, and frankly turning a good idea into a waste.
What is going to happen then? Likely in the first few months of the year there will be more ActionCosplay releases than usual. In those releases will be new actresses who have already been through the casting process with us, and we’ll make a non-canon video with them in one of the AC costumes, or something new we’ve since acquired (non-NGC) as a try-out. How successful the try-out is relies on 3 factors: 1) Did we like working with her? 2) Did she like working with us? 3) Is she popular with you? While of course we welcome and encourage nice comments about new actresses and characters, the bottom line is what matters here. If you like someone then your vote for them will be with your wallet. We’ve had many instances in the past where a new character got lauded with praise for their look and performance, but their videos don’t sell. If they tick all 3 boxes, then you can expect to see them in an NGC costume in the months that follow.
I expect this process of try-out and graduation to take up all of 2022, and I think it is good to engage you in that process. If it really works well then it may be something we’ll continue. It won’t affect your current favourites who are still with us either, it just means we have a more settled and sustainable cast in the future, and that means we can open up customs more easily.
Spandex Fiend says:
Would it be possible to re-cast actresses in certain character roles? For example, Deja Vu only had a few missions before we stopped seeing said missions. I wonder if it would be possible to cast someone else into that role… or is that character essentially dead to you?
I’ve always wondered about the idea of recasting a role rather than killing off a character. I’d love to know your thoughts regarding this as well.
Maf says:
Some years ago when Athena left I remember asking if another new character could take up the mantle, maybe fitting her like a family member for the sake of the storyline. I remember Andrew saying that he wanted to avoid that since that usually brings comparisons of who wore it better, and it was unfair to put a new actress in that situation, which from a business side it´s totally understandable.
He teased us some years ago in Comet Girl´s first outing with the old Suki suit and she rocked it, and now Alias seems to be a character who can recycle many costumes and roles, even in a single video. Even now we have a new Majesty, and Dreamweaver wears Angel´s old costume, so I think his stance has softened up a bit in that sense even if they are not direct recasts of a character. I´m curious too but maybe recent events have forced this kind of recast and I´m totally for them! (but as he said, bottom line is what matter so if we like the concept we should buy the videos)
ngcrisis says:
Yeah, I am still not keen on it. As I say, if the character is actually a different person taking on a heroine’s mantle I can tolerate it, but we can’t just have a new actress being the same character entirely.
ngcrisis says:
I generally don’t like it. In the case of Majesty & Majesty II, it is at least a different character, her sister, taking over the Majesty role. I think it is a bit different if we somehow pretend that it is the same person. I liked the power that Deja Vu had, so it is a shame to shelve the character. This is why I’m doing this really, because I don’t want to create cool characters that get 2 outings before the actress moves on.
sf says:
Personally I loved DECEPTRESS I have all her videos I hope she will be back
ngcrisis says:
So do I.
Mario says:
Deceptress is also one of my favorites and I also hope she’ll be back.
guido84 says:
I like the idea of AC being used as a “proving ground”, especially if it means we get to see lots of new talent. I’m all ready to vote with my wallet 😀 (and nice comments too 🙂 )
Does this mean all current AC actresses will be just sticking to their NGC roles for the time being, with AC purely being for the new up-and-coming actresses?
ngcrisis says:
The idea would be that you’ll get a higher proportion of AC releases for a period of time, say 3-6 months, then things will go back to normal. I don’t think it will feel like significantly less of the established actresses in AC roles.
Maf says:
Love the idea of more AC content since we may get to see some more new heroines!
Although I wouldn´t just factor in a costume or looks as the only thing people take into account when buying a video: the kind of video, rival and fight choreography or moves used also influences our choices! That said I really hope you can find stable talent and keep producing quality material like you have done so far!!
One final thing, I saw you grouped the solo missions under season 4, which certainly removes some of the clutter of the on going story. I know you said you wouldn´t make any more seasons, but maybe create a new category every couple of years to avoid overloading one single tab of the site? How do you plan to manage that going forward? just mostly out of curiosity
ngcrisis says:
I’d probably do something to the season 4 tab in the future if it is getting crazy. It isn’t there yet though, in my opinion, and so I will try and keep it like this for a year or two.
Dr G says:
Hopefully NGC keeps the dual NGC / AC roles that some of the current actresses have (Celestia / Miracle Maiden, Wonderstrike / Metro-Girl, …) . For me, it does not make a difference if the actress is NGC or AC, as long as the overall quality stays the same which so far has been great for both NGC and AC.
ngcrisis says:
Yeah, it really depends if the churn of actresses becomes too quick that I’m putting a new person in front of you every 1-2 months on-going. That would be a big negative for me though, as it means we’ll not be holding onto people or they weren’t popular. We will have a glut of new actresses in the first half of 2022 because the available group of established actresses is too small. Once I find a level of 10-12 heroines I can call upon, then I’ll just try and maintain that level, so this idea will be something that just happens every so often.
Dr Mabuse says:
Sounds like a solid move toward stability after a volatile period. It makes perfect sense to try out actresses in AC first. I love the world/premise that’s developed in the AC continuity, but it’s pretty chaotic, so it seems to me to have more narrative space to introduce new performers. I assume that for the most part the new actresses appearing in AC will be playing familiar types? I think Metro Girl is the only character in AC that doesn’t have an obvious template, but her (excellent) costume still seems like it wasn’t a major investment.
New actresses are always exciting, but a major advantage of a relatively stable cast (for me) is that some of my favorite NGC actresses have taken awhile to grow on me. So, I’m glad that Celestia and Wonderstrike (for ex.) have stayed around long enough that they’ve become never-miss performers. On the other hand, I loved Captain Liberty from the first, so if she never quits I’ll be happy.
Good luck!
ngcrisis says:
Thanks. Because AC and NGC share a lot of actresses, AC has been hit just as hard, so I need people for both, it is just much easier to go the AC route. I hope it will be fun, we’ve cast the first few but not filmed yet.
Maf says:
Small note, Metro Girl is quite literally Samus Aran from the Metroid franchise, just using her “Zero Suit” that´s basically clothes rather than the power armour she is famous for wearing, and not being a Space Bounty Hunter either ^^ (but since Andrew casted a blonde in the roll I guess he did use the character as template)
Dr Mabuse says:
I vaguely remember learning what that “Zero Suit” costume was, but I don’t know that character or franchise. I should’ve said the character doesn’t have a template that’s known to me. That’s absolutely no problem, though. I’d welcome some other new characters that I don’t recognize.
GrootMaster says:
Hope that we can still get to see Celestia actress, no matter in NGC / AC.
Rubster says:
Let them proof themselves in a DOA tournament in the Pain League 🙂
I like the idea of “proving” themselves but maybe it’s a story in itself. (Like the story with lady victory)
I don’t know if AC is the place to do that because then they become just heroines like almost all the sites do. Just another wonder woman, just another super girl and so on but not really a heroine you attach to like Bluebird or Celestia. I like the uniqueness of the NGC world with custom made heroines with there own backstory. Although I get the business side problems I don’t really know if put them in a AC costume is enough to be able to determine if an actress is likeable and good for a story on NGC or that people like her because she is in a super girl costume.
My two cents.
ngcrisis says:
That’s really the conundrum I’ll be wading through. It is probably where points 1 and 2 will matter more. I think Pain League in terms of characters is too far removed from NGC, and appeals to different people, so I don’t think I’ll learn as much as I would putting them through AC.
guido84 says:
I see your point. But Miss Freedom in a Supergirl suit was different from Spectrum in a Supergirl suit, who was also different from Alias in a Supergirl suit. Just as Celestia in a Wonder Woman suit was different from Lady Victory in a Wonder Woman suit. They each brought their own unique style to it.
We’ll be able to see how they handle the action and the acting, while the folks behind the camera will be able to see how well they work with each-other
Dr G says:
Will the new actresses have at least 2 films each to prove themselves or will it be a ‘one and done’ type of thing if they do not do well ? It would be really hard for a new actress to get everything done right ( acting, fighting scenes,…) on their first try.
guido84 says:
Plus, how the 2nd video performs would probably be the real test of how people liked them in the 1st video
ngcrisis says:
Yes, one go might be a bit inconclusive. Except when it comes to a hit. If someone is a hit, then it is very clear. If someone does a good job for us but sells quite poorly, then first I will look at how we used them, and how we can improve on that, rather than simply blame them. If poor sales became a pattern with someone, I still might not drop them if we really like working with them. I won’t go into details or name names, but we’ve had quite a few regulars who never really sold that well. I just liked working with them, and as long as others were picking up the slack, we could do that.
ngcrisis says:
Probably. If you see them a second time, then it’s likely we enjoyed working with them, and they could tolerate us. It’s quite a steep learning curve for any actor, even one experienced in stage combat, because of the way we film this stuff. If you only see them once then I’d imagine they didn’t much enjoy it, or we just felt that we couldn’t get up to speed with them quickly enough, or didn’t want to. The last reason would be rare though, nearly everyone we’ve worked with were essentially nice people.
Kostmeyer says:
I understand the need to test whether you like working with the actresses (and whether they like working with you). I’m not particularly interested in the Action Cosplay stuff personally so I hope the increase in content there isn’t at the expense of stuff on the NGC site. On the topic of recasting characters, I know that you’re against recasting heroines but what about recasting villains? You have such a rogues gallery of interesting villains who only made one or two appearances – would people mind if The Sleeper or Haywire or Filth came back with different actors? Many of them were Superiors – would it be too much of a stretch to establish that the Dark Superiors gained the ability to regenerate? That would open up the ability to bring back ‘concept’ villains without having to reinvent a similar villain each time an actor or actress left.
ngcrisis says:
I don’t have quite the same level of issues with the villains. A lot of the people we couldn’t use during the pandemic are still waiting for us, which is pleasing.
Jantor says:
Are you willing to mention which actresses are likely to return vs which are not?
ngcrisis says:
Not really because then people ask why. If there’s not been anything new from someone in the last 18 months, then it doesn’t look good.