WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.180 Today I want to talk about Silver Buster, written 00:00:02.180 --> 00:00:04.500 by Jordan Allen, author of many fantasy and sci 00:00:04.500 --> 00:00:06.480 -fi books. He goes by MightyScrow on Twitter, 00:00:06.599 --> 00:00:10.199 or X. The campaign, the crowdfunding campaign 00:00:10.199 --> 00:00:12.779 for Silver Buster Volume 2 is coming up, and 00:00:12.779 --> 00:00:15.359 I know he's working on Volume 3 as well. He mentioned 00:00:15.359 --> 00:00:17.219 something on Twitter recently, and I finished 00:00:17.219 --> 00:00:19.519 the book about a week ago, so I decided now's 00:00:19.519 --> 00:00:22.519 a great time to talk about it. And, yeah, I just 00:00:22.519 --> 00:00:23.780 want to talk about it. It's a cool book for me 00:00:23.780 --> 00:00:25.579 as somebody who likes... Ultraman likes Kamen 00:00:25.579 --> 00:00:27.120 Rider, he likes Super Sentai, he likes all that 00:00:27.120 --> 00:00:29.620 good tokusatsu goodness. And that's basically 00:00:29.620 --> 00:00:34.420 what it delivers. It delivers a basic tokusatsu 00:00:34.420 --> 00:00:36.719 story, a henshin hero story, and it's a lot of 00:00:36.719 --> 00:00:40.700 fun. It commits to what it is, and it doesn't 00:00:40.700 --> 00:00:44.500 try to give you an epic story or... a, you know, 00:00:44.520 --> 00:00:46.399 like, big prestige novel. It's a light novel. 00:00:46.600 --> 00:00:49.179 It's, you know, pulpy, and I think that's a good 00:00:49.179 --> 00:00:52.340 thing. I think that's a virtue of it, and I just, 00:00:52.399 --> 00:00:57.119 I enjoy what he's doing with it, and yeah, I 00:00:57.119 --> 00:00:58.700 enjoy what he's doing with it. It has a very 00:00:58.700 --> 00:01:03.399 grounded tone, I would say, even though there's 00:01:03.399 --> 00:01:04.920 mention that there are other superheroes in the 00:01:04.920 --> 00:01:08.739 world. This place where Jeff, the main character, 00:01:08.840 --> 00:01:12.379 lives is Belmont, I believe. I believe Jeffrey, 00:01:12.599 --> 00:01:15.459 or sorry, I'm getting my indie authors confused. 00:01:15.620 --> 00:01:19.079 I believe, oh my gosh, this is embarrassing. 00:01:19.299 --> 00:01:23.319 I'm forgetting now. Jordan. Yes? Yes. I believe 00:01:23.319 --> 00:01:25.299 Jordan lives in Belfast. That's what he has on 00:01:25.299 --> 00:01:29.560 Twitter. And this guy, Jeff, is in Belmont. So, 00:01:29.579 --> 00:01:33.920 kind of works. Anyway. He mentions that there 00:01:33.920 --> 00:01:35.239 are other superheroes in the world who are dealing 00:01:35.239 --> 00:01:37.560 with other things, and he's here in Belmont protecting 00:01:37.560 --> 00:01:39.840 it. And the story takes place over a small amount 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:42.260 of time, which helps it to feel more grounded 00:01:42.260 --> 00:01:46.540 and to be smaller scale because it's not intergalactic 00:01:46.540 --> 00:01:50.900 stakes. It's very real, very human stakes, where 00:01:50.900 --> 00:01:55.280 Jeff is in his town and the threat of the Quinn 00:01:55.280 --> 00:01:59.219 mercenaries who are there. at this time. So it's 00:01:59.219 --> 00:02:00.680 nice. It's personal and human without drifting 00:02:00.680 --> 00:02:03.079 into slice -of -life padding. You're always moving 00:02:03.079 --> 00:02:05.879 forward with the story and with the plot, I guess 00:02:05.879 --> 00:02:08.280 you could say, but you still feel like you know 00:02:08.280 --> 00:02:09.580 the guy under the suit because you do get to 00:02:09.580 --> 00:02:12.460 spend a lot of time with Jeff and Slick, the 00:02:12.460 --> 00:02:15.139 alien symbiote who he's paired with, which I'll 00:02:15.139 --> 00:02:19.159 get into more in a little bit. So I think Jeff 00:02:19.159 --> 00:02:21.280 works because he's decent before he's powerful. 00:02:21.780 --> 00:02:25.039 The first thing he does... that in an action 00:02:25.039 --> 00:02:27.240 sort of circumstances i believe he runs towards 00:02:27.240 --> 00:02:30.300 the danger uh and then he punches a lizard man 00:02:30.300 --> 00:02:33.000 alien in his face and i think he hurts his hand 00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:36.539 if i remember incorrectly and um the meditite 00:02:36.539 --> 00:02:40.139 jumps onto him and together they are able to 00:02:40.139 --> 00:02:43.360 be stronger and it's like a sloppy uh thing about 00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:45.419 kuga growing but instead of growing it's like 00:02:45.419 --> 00:02:48.240 just like he's partially kuga in one area and 00:02:48.240 --> 00:02:50.000 that's it i'm pretty sure that's how that beat 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:52.199 goes which i thought was pretty cool because 00:02:52.199 --> 00:02:56.340 uh like i mentioned it being grounded uh a lot 00:02:56.340 --> 00:02:58.060 of things that happen in the book in this book 00:02:58.060 --> 00:03:00.979 are like what if this was really happening um 00:03:00.979 --> 00:03:03.560 but not in like a subversive kind of way and 00:03:03.560 --> 00:03:06.039 not in a dark or depressing way it's like you 00:03:06.039 --> 00:03:07.879 know what would happen what could happen um does 00:03:07.879 --> 00:03:09.500 the full suit need to come on every time does 00:03:09.500 --> 00:03:11.199 the full suit need to be fully developed no it 00:03:11.199 --> 00:03:13.840 doesn't it would be sloppy and messy and organic 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:16.580 and it'd be like that for a while before things 00:03:16.580 --> 00:03:18.539 were more refined and that's pretty fun for me 00:03:20.969 --> 00:03:23.729 But anyway, I was saying Jeff's like a decent 00:03:23.729 --> 00:03:28.569 person and he does this heroic act. And that's 00:03:28.569 --> 00:03:30.550 really cool and really enjoyable. There's a moral 00:03:30.550 --> 00:03:33.729 center here. It's not preachy at all. There's 00:03:33.729 --> 00:03:37.930 brief mention of God, but it's not like a religious 00:03:37.930 --> 00:03:42.669 type of thing, I don't think. And like Jeff reacts 00:03:42.669 --> 00:03:44.590 like a normal person would, but then when it 00:03:44.590 --> 00:03:46.469 counts, he steps up in a way that feels earned 00:03:46.469 --> 00:03:49.639 because... Other than the, like, I'm crazy, why 00:03:49.639 --> 00:03:52.840 did I just punch this alien? He trains and develops 00:03:52.840 --> 00:03:55.520 his powers, and, like, there's no choice. He 00:03:55.520 --> 00:03:58.500 has to fight or he'll die. So, you know, that 00:03:58.500 --> 00:04:00.819 works. Speaking of having to fight, like, the 00:04:00.819 --> 00:04:02.439 reason he has to fight or he'll die is because 00:04:02.439 --> 00:04:07.080 he is the host now of this meditite, this liquid 00:04:07.080 --> 00:04:09.740 metal alien armor thing. I believe it's a bioweapon. 00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:13.969 It has one orange eye on it. I believe it has 00:04:13.969 --> 00:04:16.790 a number designation on the ship, and the Kryn 00:04:16.790 --> 00:04:18.850 are mercenaries who are alien mercenaries, so 00:04:18.850 --> 00:04:20.730 they're hired to do stuff, and they're transporting 00:04:20.730 --> 00:04:24.050 this Meditite, which is how they refer to it. 00:04:25.150 --> 00:04:27.129 somewhere we don't know for what purpose i would 00:04:27.129 --> 00:04:29.610 assume to be a weapon for somebody and it gets 00:04:29.610 --> 00:04:32.870 out and uh when it gets on to jeff at some point 00:04:32.870 --> 00:04:34.949 they start talking and because he's able to communicate 00:04:34.949 --> 00:04:37.069 to uh they're able to communicate with each other 00:04:37.069 --> 00:04:39.529 like telepathically and if i'm remembering correctly 00:04:39.529 --> 00:04:42.170 um jeff says like you know what are you who are 00:04:42.170 --> 00:04:44.889 you and the meditate responds uh you know i'm 00:04:44.889 --> 00:04:47.870 fn2187 if you get the reference uh and he's like 00:04:47.870 --> 00:04:49.629 i'm not going to call you by a number uh let 00:04:49.629 --> 00:04:51.029 me give you a name instead i'll call you slick 00:04:51.029 --> 00:04:53.620 and The naming moment hits a classic Tokusatsu 00:04:53.620 --> 00:04:58.019 nerve. It's kind of like the Ankh thing from 00:04:58.019 --> 00:05:01.839 Oz. I don't know. There's a little bit of, like, 00:05:01.860 --> 00:05:05.399 maybe even Battlehopper in there for me. I like, 00:05:05.420 --> 00:05:07.860 though, that there's not... If I'd seen Revice, 00:05:07.879 --> 00:05:09.399 I would have, you know, that comparison to make 00:05:09.399 --> 00:05:11.620 as well. But it's cool because it's like you 00:05:11.620 --> 00:05:15.019 have this, you know, interesting character who 00:05:15.019 --> 00:05:16.720 is the symbiote, who is the meditite. It's, you 00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:18.259 know, kind of like... It's like Guyver if he... 00:05:18.259 --> 00:05:21.339 If Sho ever... or any of them, ever spoke to 00:05:21.339 --> 00:05:23.579 something inside of the Guyver unit. It's like 00:05:23.579 --> 00:05:25.819 Yami Yugi. It's like that kind of aspect of this 00:05:25.819 --> 00:05:29.139 dual identity of you have this person plus this 00:05:29.139 --> 00:05:30.939 entity, and together they're working together. 00:05:31.399 --> 00:05:37.319 And I like that. I really like that. They have 00:05:37.319 --> 00:05:39.019 a relationship that grows over the course of 00:05:39.019 --> 00:05:44.480 the story, and it's interesting and fun. The 00:05:44.480 --> 00:05:46.740 Meditite Slick is what he calls him. Jeff calls 00:05:46.740 --> 00:05:49.939 him Slick. He's like a fish out of water. It 00:05:49.939 --> 00:05:51.480 sounds really stupid saying it out loud, but 00:05:51.480 --> 00:05:52.980 you know what I mean. It's a phrase. He's a fish 00:05:52.980 --> 00:05:55.399 out of water, and he's not used to the human 00:05:55.399 --> 00:05:57.519 world. But it was cool. On the Kryn ship, they 00:05:57.519 --> 00:06:00.060 had like a language matrix thing, and he absorbed 00:06:00.060 --> 00:06:01.879 English from it, so he understands English. So 00:06:01.879 --> 00:06:03.939 when he goes down and speaks to Jeff, I think 00:06:03.939 --> 00:06:05.579 it was English and not all of Earth's languages. 00:06:05.800 --> 00:06:07.100 Could have been all of Earth's languages, whatever. 00:06:07.300 --> 00:06:09.139 He absorbs languages, and it's interesting because 00:06:09.139 --> 00:06:11.040 it hurts him. It like comes at a cost, which 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:12.339 I thought was a really interesting touch. And 00:06:12.339 --> 00:06:14.439 like the book starts off from Slick's perspective 00:06:14.439 --> 00:06:16.220 of him running away on the ship and trying to 00:06:16.220 --> 00:06:18.240 get out, and he sees a... small number of escape 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:20.439 pods and he uses one of them to crash land on 00:06:20.439 --> 00:06:22.120 the planet and then later you they go back to 00:06:22.120 --> 00:06:24.959 the site of where he was which was interesting 00:06:24.959 --> 00:06:28.279 because you you could have not done that but 00:06:28.279 --> 00:06:31.920 um alan writes it in a way that he's like and 00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:33.279 just like doing things that a reasonable person 00:06:33.279 --> 00:06:35.480 would do and a lot of it makes a lot of sense 00:06:35.480 --> 00:06:39.120 to me anyway um You can very much feel like this 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:40.899 is Ultraman because Jeff is a host, but it's 00:06:40.899 --> 00:06:42.579 also like Kamen Rider because he's a lone hero. 00:06:43.519 --> 00:06:45.199 It's also a little Super Sentai, though, because 00:06:45.199 --> 00:06:48.379 he shouts out his attacks and he has a transformation 00:06:48.379 --> 00:06:50.459 phrase that he calls out, which I think is Silver 00:06:50.459 --> 00:06:53.980 Buster Shine, which is pretty fun. And he explains 00:06:53.980 --> 00:06:56.379 to Slick why they need to do this. And it's kind 00:06:56.379 --> 00:06:59.180 of fun to hear the justification of why we need 00:06:59.180 --> 00:07:04.110 to do tokusatsu tropes. It's fun. I enjoy the 00:07:04.110 --> 00:07:06.089 Henshin Hero tropes, and I can tell Ellen does 00:07:06.089 --> 00:07:11.709 too, and it's fun for me. So anyway, like I was 00:07:11.709 --> 00:07:14.889 saying, it feels like he's definitely familiar 00:07:14.889 --> 00:07:16.290 and like he's pulling these things together to 00:07:16.290 --> 00:07:18.230 make it like a composite of these different Henshin 00:07:18.230 --> 00:07:20.269 Heroes, but it's its own thing, and I appreciate 00:07:20.269 --> 00:07:22.649 that. It's like Ultraman, Kamen Rider, Super 00:07:22.649 --> 00:07:24.550 Sentai Giver, a little bit. I would say those 00:07:24.550 --> 00:07:29.100 four. Let me see. Transformation language and 00:07:29.100 --> 00:07:31.019 attitude. This book understands the attitude 00:07:31.019 --> 00:07:32.699 of transformation. Oh, because it's got the call 00:07:32.699 --> 00:07:35.120 -outs and the names for the attacks and things 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:37.300 like that. And he even has, like, first he's 00:07:37.300 --> 00:07:39.000 got, like, an arm blade, and then he eventually 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:42.759 makes a sword. Spoilers. And he's got some other 00:07:42.759 --> 00:07:44.180 things. He does some different options with his 00:07:44.180 --> 00:07:47.079 armor, which is a lot of fun. Speaking of which, 00:07:47.139 --> 00:07:49.420 like, a lot of it is about progression. I believe 00:07:49.420 --> 00:07:51.620 Alan writes and mostly releases stuff on Royal 00:07:51.620 --> 00:07:53.500 Road, which is cool. I've enjoyed some things 00:07:53.500 --> 00:07:57.189 from Royal Road. And... You can feel the progression 00:07:57.189 --> 00:07:59.170 there. And like I said, this takes place over, 00:07:59.269 --> 00:08:00.750 I think it's a fortnight. I think it's, you know, 00:08:00.750 --> 00:08:03.870 was it 10 days, 14 days, something like that. 00:08:04.230 --> 00:08:07.730 Anyway, maybe it's 12 days. Anyway, it feels 00:08:07.730 --> 00:08:09.449 like it's a short amount of time and it feels 00:08:09.449 --> 00:08:11.730 like the beginning arc of a show. And it feels 00:08:11.730 --> 00:08:14.350 like, okay, this guy's exposed to this new power. 00:08:14.670 --> 00:08:17.029 He knows what this threat is. He is figuring 00:08:17.029 --> 00:08:19.230 out how to work his powers and how to develop 00:08:19.230 --> 00:08:22.339 it. And Slick is getting stronger. all the time 00:08:22.339 --> 00:08:28.360 and so is jeff jeff starts um going to a gym 00:08:28.360 --> 00:08:31.579 and learning to box with this old i think he's 00:08:31.579 --> 00:08:34.120 like a local legend local hero but i don't think 00:08:34.120 --> 00:08:35.620 he was a hero i think he was a boxer and it's 00:08:35.620 --> 00:08:38.240 like oh he's you know a hero in the town for 00:08:38.240 --> 00:08:40.669 being a boxer Not a literal superhero, which 00:08:40.669 --> 00:08:41.970 there are other superheroes in the world, like 00:08:41.970 --> 00:08:43.570 I mentioned before. I think I mentioned that 00:08:43.570 --> 00:08:46.230 before. I meant to. Anyway, but it's cool because 00:08:46.230 --> 00:08:47.769 you get to see this progression. And I think 00:08:47.769 --> 00:08:50.129 Slick has the ability to, well, I think Slick 00:08:50.129 --> 00:08:52.009 can accelerate his healing. And I think Slick 00:08:52.009 --> 00:08:54.049 can accelerate his growth as well. If you're 00:08:54.049 --> 00:08:56.529 a 90s kid like me, you remember in the 1990s, 00:08:56.529 --> 00:08:58.970 Eddie Brock was pumping iron with the symbiote 00:08:58.970 --> 00:09:00.990 and his muscles got huge. He got swole fast. 00:09:01.190 --> 00:09:02.629 And I kind of feel like there's something going 00:09:02.629 --> 00:09:04.950 on similar with Slick. I think he's able to. 00:09:05.279 --> 00:09:08.600 to enhance Jeff's physical abilities and like 00:09:08.600 --> 00:09:11.080 all his physical parameters. But that doesn't 00:09:11.080 --> 00:09:13.039 mean Jeff doesn't get hurt. He does get hurt. 00:09:13.080 --> 00:09:15.200 He gets hurt from his fights. The training, I 00:09:15.200 --> 00:09:16.320 don't know that the training actually hurt somebody 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:20.179 like can't go as hard in the training. But definitely 00:09:20.179 --> 00:09:21.820 like even you spend some time with him and his 00:09:21.820 --> 00:09:25.250 trainer. bulldog mad bull mad dog i can't remember 00:09:25.250 --> 00:09:29.690 his name is anyway um and he um like he has progression 00:09:29.690 --> 00:09:31.330 it's like he starts off kind of wimpy and kind 00:09:31.330 --> 00:09:34.090 of weak and having a hard time and then he develops 00:09:34.090 --> 00:09:35.950 and like earns his trainer's respect which is 00:09:35.950 --> 00:09:40.429 cool um so yeah it's nice that there's this progression 00:09:40.429 --> 00:09:41.830 and there's this energy of progression there's 00:09:41.830 --> 00:09:43.789 this responsibility that jeff feels and sees 00:09:43.789 --> 00:09:45.970 that he has to get better he has to get good 00:09:45.970 --> 00:09:49.970 otherwise he'll die and It'll be bad. The Kryn 00:09:49.970 --> 00:09:52.289 mercenaries, they want Slick back, and once Slick 00:09:52.289 --> 00:09:54.970 has been bonded to somebody, they say they could 00:09:54.970 --> 00:09:56.590 cut his leg off, cut his arm off, whatever, with 00:09:56.590 --> 00:09:58.350 Slick on it, and then that'd be fine, or they 00:09:58.350 --> 00:09:59.950 could kill him, and then Slick would be released 00:09:59.950 --> 00:10:01.789 from the host, Jeff, and then they'd be able 00:10:01.789 --> 00:10:03.629 to take him, and that's what they want. And he 00:10:03.629 --> 00:10:06.230 wants to stop them, and the Kryn keep... escalating 00:10:06.230 --> 00:10:08.710 things accelerating escalating because they want 00:10:08.710 --> 00:10:11.169 to lure him out basically and capture the meta 00:10:11.169 --> 00:10:13.590 type because it's super valuable to them and 00:10:13.590 --> 00:10:15.110 i mean they can make a lot of money off of it 00:10:15.110 --> 00:10:18.590 so uh that's interesting um and like i said his 00:10:18.590 --> 00:10:21.169 failures cost him something he gets hurt he gets 00:10:21.169 --> 00:10:23.429 injured he has to heal slick helps with that 00:10:23.429 --> 00:10:26.210 but it's still he's like in pain in some of the 00:10:26.210 --> 00:10:27.909 fights and he's having a hard time with things 00:10:27.909 --> 00:10:30.169 and he's even like bleeding in class and he's 00:10:30.169 --> 00:10:31.669 trying not to be caught and trying not to be 00:10:31.669 --> 00:10:33.870 figured out who he is and that he is silver buster 00:10:33.870 --> 00:10:36.029 um and there's this whole cute fun thing where 00:10:36.029 --> 00:10:39.509 he like comes up with the silver buster name 00:10:39.509 --> 00:10:42.350 and he designs the suit and he's able to show 00:10:42.350 --> 00:10:44.490 it to slick like slick like from under his clothes 00:10:45.240 --> 00:10:46.919 You know, he, like, works his way up so that 00:10:46.919 --> 00:10:49.080 his eyes on his neck or wherever, where he can 00:10:49.080 --> 00:10:50.519 look out and see. I think he, like, peeks through 00:10:50.519 --> 00:10:52.100 the holes in his shirt, you know, his button 00:10:52.100 --> 00:10:55.220 shirt, and he can see what Jeff has drawn, and 00:10:55.220 --> 00:10:56.759 then that's the Silver Buster design we have. 00:10:57.080 --> 00:11:00.899 And they talk about, you know, practicing, like, 00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:02.659 Slick can only hold the form for so long, kind 00:11:02.659 --> 00:11:04.759 of like Ultraman's Limit, but, like, the longer 00:11:04.759 --> 00:11:06.899 he goes, the stronger he gets, which is pretty 00:11:06.899 --> 00:11:09.539 cool. And, you know, that kind of stuff is all 00:11:09.539 --> 00:11:13.480 fun. The villains are neat. There's images in 00:11:13.480 --> 00:11:15.039 the book because it's like a light novel, so 00:11:15.039 --> 00:11:17.740 you get to see some of them. Kempton's neck looks 00:11:17.740 --> 00:11:19.460 pretty cool from the back. He's kind of like 00:11:19.460 --> 00:11:22.500 a dragon -ish demon lord kind of guy with like 00:11:22.500 --> 00:11:24.600 a wing. I think he's got horns, wings, and a 00:11:24.600 --> 00:11:28.480 tail. And then there's these... floral sisters 00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:31.500 who we'll talk about later the twins um and then 00:11:31.500 --> 00:11:33.399 there's like a bat guy who's going to be featured 00:11:33.399 --> 00:11:35.320 in volume two but he wasn't in volume one as 00:11:35.320 --> 00:11:37.200 far as having an image of him there's a lizard 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:39.860 guy who he fights and there are these gearborgs 00:11:39.860 --> 00:11:42.460 who are like the mooks and they're mostly machine 00:11:42.460 --> 00:11:43.899 but they're also like they have bones in them 00:11:43.899 --> 00:11:45.279 and stuff and their bones break when he fights 00:11:45.279 --> 00:11:47.100 them and it's like kind of gross and fun and 00:11:47.100 --> 00:11:50.460 cool um the supporting cast is decent i know 00:11:50.460 --> 00:11:51.940 miri the girl that jeff is kind of interested 00:11:51.940 --> 00:11:56.990 in there's Jeanne, spelled kind of funny, who's 00:11:56.990 --> 00:12:00.129 kind of like a jerk, but also kind of like a 00:12:00.129 --> 00:12:02.450 cool character. He gets to have a reveal of his 00:12:02.450 --> 00:12:04.809 character throughout the book. Jeff's best friend, 00:12:04.889 --> 00:12:06.669 Mr. Wheeler. I don't remember his name. I'm going 00:12:06.669 --> 00:12:10.570 to call him Joey. And I like him fine. His sister's 00:12:10.570 --> 00:12:12.049 okay, too. We get Jeff's sister. His mom and 00:12:12.049 --> 00:12:14.190 dad are cool. They're like actual loving, supportive 00:12:14.190 --> 00:12:15.889 parents, and his mom's worried about him, and 00:12:15.889 --> 00:12:18.090 his dad maybe kind of senses things are going 00:12:18.090 --> 00:12:22.019 on and wants to help his son. there's no reveal 00:12:22.019 --> 00:12:24.299 yet of who he is or anything, but it's cool. 00:12:24.360 --> 00:12:26.039 It's like a good starting cast. Like I said, 00:12:26.039 --> 00:12:28.519 good beginning of a season energy. And I feel 00:12:28.519 --> 00:12:30.679 like this can go, you know, three to four volumes 00:12:30.679 --> 00:12:34.279 and feel like a cool story can be told through 00:12:34.279 --> 00:12:37.940 it. So that's all part of my praise for the book. 00:12:38.259 --> 00:12:42.360 And like I said, I plan to check out support 00:12:42.360 --> 00:12:45.379 campaign, the campaign for book number two, because 00:12:45.379 --> 00:12:48.669 I'm interested in getting the book. It seems 00:12:48.669 --> 00:12:50.909 like an easy way to do it. If I like it, I want 00:12:50.909 --> 00:12:52.409 to support it, and I want this guy to keep going, 00:12:52.529 --> 00:12:54.769 then I'll support the book for sure. But there 00:12:54.769 --> 00:12:57.269 are some weird things, some caveats, things I 00:12:57.269 --> 00:13:00.649 didn't like, and I'm not going to shy away from 00:13:00.649 --> 00:13:03.769 that because I don't like censorship. I don't 00:13:03.769 --> 00:13:06.269 like sucking up to people. I like to be honest 00:13:06.269 --> 00:13:09.169 and open and just say it like it is. So here 00:13:09.169 --> 00:13:12.309 it is. The twins, the alien warrior women, whose 00:13:12.309 --> 00:13:14.049 name I don't remember right now. They have white 00:13:14.049 --> 00:13:16.740 hair, and one of them has like a... rose dress 00:13:16.740 --> 00:13:18.240 the other one has i don't know what and they 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:21.179 both have like plant like whip appendages or 00:13:21.179 --> 00:13:27.080 weapons that they use anyway um they're um meant 00:13:27.080 --> 00:13:28.980 to be spicy like super sentai villain this is 00:13:28.980 --> 00:13:31.720 and uh which you know some of which we get to 00:13:31.720 --> 00:13:34.179 see in power rangers as well like uh the big 00:13:34.179 --> 00:13:38.779 one i'm thinking of right now is in hello the 00:13:38.779 --> 00:13:46.639 big one i'm thinking of right now is in go go 00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:51.480 v or light speed rescue uh that lady is definitely 00:13:51.480 --> 00:13:53.860 meant to be you know fun for certain members 00:13:53.860 --> 00:13:57.539 of the audience and i don't like that um i don't 00:13:57.539 --> 00:13:59.039 like that i don't appreciate it i think it's 00:13:59.039 --> 00:14:02.980 a an indulgence um of the genre and it goes back 00:14:02.980 --> 00:14:05.500 to i don't know probably japanese culture to 00:14:05.500 --> 00:14:07.740 some extent and i come from a very different 00:14:07.740 --> 00:14:12.070 perspective um And I just don't see a need to 00:14:12.070 --> 00:14:14.470 have female characters who are alluring for the 00:14:14.470 --> 00:14:16.870 sake of them being alluring. And while I do enjoy 00:14:16.870 --> 00:14:19.409 female characters, female villains, you know, 00:14:19.409 --> 00:14:22.029 female villains and female heroines as well, 00:14:22.049 --> 00:14:25.590 I just, you know, anything to sexualize them 00:14:25.590 --> 00:14:28.169 or whatever is not really welcome for me. And 00:14:28.169 --> 00:14:29.409 I don't understand it. And what's interesting 00:14:29.409 --> 00:14:33.350 is that I can feel like Alan is kind of like 00:14:33.350 --> 00:14:38.220 toying with that, playing with it. like working 00:14:38.220 --> 00:14:39.840 with it. Like he chose to make them dress like 00:14:39.840 --> 00:14:42.340 that. He chose to make them be alluring. And 00:14:42.340 --> 00:14:44.779 there's a difference between beautiful and alluring. 00:14:44.820 --> 00:14:46.659 There's a difference between attractive and attracting. 00:14:47.139 --> 00:14:49.220 And I feel like he chose to make them attracting 00:14:49.220 --> 00:14:51.960 because that's what they do in Super Sentai and 00:14:51.960 --> 00:14:53.460 in Kamen Rider to some extent, and maybe even 00:14:53.460 --> 00:14:58.740 in Ultraman. And that just feels at odds with 00:14:58.740 --> 00:15:03.539 these mentions of God in the book. And even Jeff 00:15:03.539 --> 00:15:07.470 is like, oh, you. sexy alien vixen. I'm not going 00:15:07.470 --> 00:15:09.190 to be tempted by you and I'm not going to be, 00:15:09.190 --> 00:15:11.129 you know, distracted by your cleavage. I'm going 00:15:11.129 --> 00:15:12.570 to fight you and whatever. And it's just like, 00:15:12.649 --> 00:15:18.950 he's a teenage boy, so that makes sense. And 00:15:18.950 --> 00:15:20.809 thank goodness this is third person, not first 00:15:20.809 --> 00:15:22.049 person. We don't have to hear him, you know, 00:15:22.049 --> 00:15:24.110 lusting after them or, you know, struggling to 00:15:24.110 --> 00:15:27.490 not lust after them or whatever. But it just 00:15:27.490 --> 00:15:30.389 creates a dissonance for me and it's something 00:15:30.389 --> 00:15:32.409 I don't like, something I don't appreciate. And 00:15:32.409 --> 00:15:36.549 I do appreciate the... thoughts of, like, I think 00:15:36.549 --> 00:15:40.110 Jeff tells, like, if God wants us to be together 00:15:40.110 --> 00:15:42.389 till, you know, I die or whatever, and I'm going 00:15:42.389 --> 00:15:44.490 to help you, then, like, that's cool. I accept 00:15:44.490 --> 00:15:45.970 it. It's part of my life. It's part of my destiny. 00:15:46.009 --> 00:15:48.370 It's what God has planned for me. And then there's 00:15:48.370 --> 00:15:50.490 one other reference later on. And I was like, 00:15:50.570 --> 00:15:51.730 hmm, this is interesting. So, like, I wonder 00:15:51.730 --> 00:15:53.409 if this guy's a Christian, if he's, you know, 00:15:53.409 --> 00:15:56.009 Anglican, if he's, you know, Orthodox, whatever. 00:15:56.169 --> 00:15:59.320 He's some variety of a religious person. That 00:15:59.320 --> 00:16:01.159 would make sense to me with these illusions. 00:16:01.600 --> 00:16:03.879 But it would also make sense that he's just putting 00:16:03.879 --> 00:16:06.860 them there for flavor, perhaps. But it's funny 00:16:06.860 --> 00:16:09.139 because those things really strike in a weird 00:16:09.139 --> 00:16:11.980 way against this, you know, the sexy villain 00:16:11.980 --> 00:16:15.100 this is. And I don't know. This could have been 00:16:15.100 --> 00:16:18.519 handled better. Not something I would even broach 00:16:18.519 --> 00:16:21.120 in my stuff and the planning I'm doing for my 00:16:21.120 --> 00:16:24.179 henshin hero stories, my transforming hero stories. 00:16:24.279 --> 00:16:26.039 I'm not planning on having anything like that. 00:16:26.620 --> 00:16:29.789 I'm... And that's not me saying I'm superior. 00:16:30.009 --> 00:16:31.409 I'm just saying it's a different approach. And 00:16:31.409 --> 00:16:33.450 like, I'm just playing to skirt around the issue 00:16:33.450 --> 00:16:35.049 altogether, but I did that in my grow bug book 00:16:35.049 --> 00:16:36.789 too. I made it so that all the grow bugs are 00:16:36.789 --> 00:16:38.389 siblings. So like you can't ship them without 00:16:38.389 --> 00:16:42.610 being a degenerate. So I don't know. And it's 00:16:42.610 --> 00:16:45.289 not the author's responsibility to make sure 00:16:45.289 --> 00:16:47.350 that the audience doesn't do anything weird with 00:16:47.350 --> 00:16:49.429 their characters. But I remember hearing one 00:16:49.429 --> 00:16:52.730 of the people behind Evangelion was really upset 00:16:52.730 --> 00:16:56.169 that people treat, you know, not only Masato, 00:16:56.269 --> 00:16:58.889 but Ray and Asuka as waifus. And I watched, Evangelion 00:16:58.889 --> 00:17:02.929 first when I was in high school. And I understood. 00:17:03.110 --> 00:17:05.549 I understood the impulse. I'm also not like a, 00:17:05.549 --> 00:17:08.089 you know, I'm not a pillow guy, a body pillow 00:17:08.089 --> 00:17:10.829 guy, or a figurine collector, a PVC, you know, 00:17:10.829 --> 00:17:14.769 sexy girl figure collector. Like, that's all, 00:17:14.890 --> 00:17:17.089 like, that doesn't work for me. That's anathema 00:17:17.089 --> 00:17:21.750 to me, really. But I thought at the time, like, 00:17:21.829 --> 00:17:23.990 well, if you didn't want them to be sexualized 00:17:23.990 --> 00:17:25.930 or sexy, like, why did you make them that way? 00:17:26.720 --> 00:17:28.980 Rey is obviously meant to be a sex object to 00:17:28.980 --> 00:17:32.640 Shinji to some extent, as is Misato. Asuka as 00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:39.000 well. She objectifies herself for Shinji to get 00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:40.980 a rise out of him, to provoke him to do different 00:17:40.980 --> 00:17:42.759 things. I'm thinking about one of their first 00:17:42.759 --> 00:17:46.460 episodes where it's the thermal expansion episode. 00:17:46.579 --> 00:17:47.740 If you know Evangelion, you know what I'm talking 00:17:47.740 --> 00:17:52.980 about exactly. Don't put that kind of stuff into 00:17:52.980 --> 00:17:54.940 your thing and then be mad at people when they 00:17:54.940 --> 00:17:57.720 react to it. when they're provoked by your provocation 00:17:57.720 --> 00:18:00.240 and i'm not accusing alan of doing that at all 00:18:00.240 --> 00:18:02.980 it's just it's interesting and it's like i wonder 00:18:02.980 --> 00:18:04.279 what the thought process was there i'd love to 00:18:04.279 --> 00:18:07.440 talk to him about it uh at some point but i'm 00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:09.440 not going on a crusade against the book because 00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:10.880 of that and i'm not saying you shouldn't check 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:12.859 it out i just i thought this was going to be 00:18:12.859 --> 00:18:14.440 an all ages thing and it's not so much an all 00:18:14.440 --> 00:18:16.380 ages thing it's more a teen or adult thing which 00:18:16.380 --> 00:18:18.740 is fine i'm not trying to force him in any genre 00:18:18.740 --> 00:18:22.890 but i i want to write middle grade um more than 00:18:22.890 --> 00:18:25.450 adult fiction. Um, because I feel like there's 00:18:25.450 --> 00:18:28.450 a lot of stuff for kids that isn't quite where 00:18:28.450 --> 00:18:30.589 it could be. There are compromises that it makes 00:18:30.589 --> 00:18:32.549 or things that it does that aren't in spirit 00:18:32.549 --> 00:18:34.470 with, you know, everything else in the show. 00:18:34.849 --> 00:18:39.250 Um, and, or story. And I don't want that. I want 00:18:39.250 --> 00:18:42.589 kids media. That's like at a certain level has 00:18:42.589 --> 00:18:45.829 stakes, has danger, has noble characters fighting 00:18:45.829 --> 00:18:48.150 real villains, which I feel very much like Alan 00:18:48.150 --> 00:18:49.710 and I are vibing on those sorts of things. But 00:18:49.710 --> 00:18:52.079 I want to make sure that it's like, Not pristine. 00:18:52.220 --> 00:18:53.480 Pristine is the wrong word. I want to make sure 00:18:53.480 --> 00:18:55.720 it's at a certain level and it never crosses 00:18:55.720 --> 00:18:57.700 certain lines. And that's my personal thing for 00:18:57.700 --> 00:18:59.180 my writing, but I'm not pushing that on other 00:18:59.180 --> 00:19:00.539 people saying they have to write the same way. 00:19:01.200 --> 00:19:06.160 For example, well, I won't belabor it. I'll just 00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:08.339 stop there because I think this could turn into 00:19:08.339 --> 00:19:11.740 a big, bad distraction. So anyway, the bottom 00:19:11.740 --> 00:19:13.519 line is I really had a good time with the book. 00:19:13.849 --> 00:19:15.549 I'm interested in book two. I think I'm going 00:19:15.549 --> 00:19:17.769 to fund it, back it, when it goes up on Kickstarter 00:19:17.769 --> 00:19:20.130 soon -ish. I can provide the link here in the 00:19:20.130 --> 00:19:22.630 description, too, and in my show notes. And he's 00:19:22.630 --> 00:19:24.549 working on book three, and I find that prospectively 00:19:24.549 --> 00:19:25.829 exciting as well, and I'm looking forward to 00:19:25.829 --> 00:19:28.970 see where it's going to go. And, yeah, it's a 00:19:28.970 --> 00:19:30.990 good tokusatsu book. If you like Kamen Rider, 00:19:31.089 --> 00:19:32.450 Ultraman, Super Sentai, if you like Henshin Heroes, 00:19:32.569 --> 00:19:35.750 I think you're going to enjoy this. So, again, 00:19:36.210 --> 00:19:37.970 to close out... The book knows what it is. It 00:19:37.970 --> 00:19:40.049 commits to the genre. And it feels like a solid 00:19:40.049 --> 00:19:42.009 season one foundation with room to grow. And 00:19:42.009 --> 00:19:43.210 it's not all of season one. It's the start of 00:19:43.210 --> 00:19:46.569 season one, basically. So I think it's definitely 00:19:46.569 --> 00:19:49.049 worth checking out if you enjoy these other things 00:19:49.049 --> 00:19:51.849 I mentioned before. And if you do and you enjoy 00:19:51.849 --> 00:19:53.529 it, then you can help make book two a reality. 00:19:53.630 --> 00:19:55.569 It can be fun. So if you like this breakdown, 00:19:55.730 --> 00:19:57.349 feel free to subscribe, drop a comment, or let 00:19:57.349 --> 00:19:59.269 me know what you thought of Silver Buster. If 00:19:59.269 --> 00:20:01.109 you haven't read it yet, you should. And if you're 00:20:01.109 --> 00:20:02.869 following the crowdfunding campaign, good luck 00:20:02.869 --> 00:20:05.269 to the team. I'll be watching where this goes. 00:20:05.730 --> 00:20:08.779 Anyway. This is MJ with Henshin Inspection and 00:20:08.779 --> 00:20:10.759 Writer Tears, I guess, signing out. Also, if 00:20:10.759 --> 00:20:11.819 you want to hear me talk about more books, I 00:20:11.819 --> 00:20:13.599 talk about them on Fortress Fiction, which I'll 00:20:13.599 --> 00:20:16.119 have a link to here as well in the pinned comment 00:20:16.119 --> 00:20:17.619 and in the show notes and all that good stuff.