We had the pleasure of chatting with Hawkilles all about his journey as a content creator!

1. What made you start your journey as a content creator?

I technically started 14 years ago in high school. I joined a tv production class. I fell in love with doing stuff behind the camera, but never had the confidence to be in front of it. One day, the file for the morning announcements got corrupted. I was one of 3 people in the room at the time so we hurried to re record them. I just happened to get thrown in front of the camera. I made A LOT of jokes because I was nervous. Walking through the school that day, everyone was telling me it was so funny that it made them watch it for the first time all year. Then on out I did my best to turn what was essentially a “News broadcasting” class into a daily episode of G4’s Attack of the Show.

2. What are your goals for yourself and your audience?

My goals for myself were really just to have something to do. Be occupied during the pandemic. I always wanted to talk to others about toku and have fun with it. I kind of realized early on that Tokusatsu doesn’t have the diverse content creator pool that Anime has. So I try to make my stuff less video essay style and a little more variety/current twitch streaming style.

3. Goals for this year?

At the start, I really wanted a Revi cosplay and I actually ordered the helmet this month so I’m pretty happy. I think other than that, I would like to get to a place where I could venture outside of Tokusatsu a little bit and retain the same audience as before. Youtube is so very niche now. People come to me for Kamen Rider and Super Sentai, but I don’t think I’ve earned that trust yet to take them on other journeys.

4. Have to ask, who is your favorite Kamen Rider?

I used to sat Drive without stuttering. Mainly because it was the first show I watched from start to finish. You never forget your first rider. Recently, I went back and watched it for my wife’s first time and oh boy did the cracks show haha. I think now I can firmly say that Build is my favorite Rider.

5. Advice for those who want to do what you do?

Just do it. No one is going to trust you as a creator until you create. Staying up late sucks, but we all do it to put out something we can be proud of, or something at all. Also when you’re starting out, done is better than perfect.

6. Best part about streaming?

I think it’s the ability to entertain. To tell a story every time I go live. I’ve always been about storytelling. I think your average movie nowadays lasts about 2 hours. They have engaging stories that keep people around and locked in. If I am going to stream for 2 hours, I got to be worth just as much or more than that movie they could be watching.

7. Where can people support your work?

http://Youtube.com/Hawkilles is my main hub. All my fun videos are there. I also stream on twitch every week http://twitch.tv/Hawkilles. I also have a podcast that I co host called Tokusatsu World Tour, where each week we watch 1 episode of toku (that’s available free and legally) and give our thoughts on it. It’s a nice way to explore what’s out there and some of the more obscure series.