1 00:00:03,080 --> 00:00:06,120 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:12,600 Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Lamman. This is the Monster Fact, 3 00:00:12,760 --> 00:00:15,040 Speaker 2: a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind 4 00:00:15,080 --> 00:00:23,759 Speaker 2: focusing on mythical creatures, ideas, and monsters in time. In 5 00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:28,560 Speaker 2: considering superpowered comic book characters, we all love to wonder 6 00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:31,120 Speaker 2: what it might be like to fly through the air, 7 00:00:31,720 --> 00:00:35,400 Speaker 2: to shoot laser beams from our eyeballs, or turn invisible. 8 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:40,040 Speaker 2: Which superpower would we prefer? What does our choice say 9 00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:43,960 Speaker 2: about us as people? How might we change our own 10 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:47,120 Speaker 2: lives if not the world, if we had these powers. 11 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:51,960 Speaker 2: We also love to ponder the curse slash blessing dynamics 12 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:56,120 Speaker 2: of certain superhero abilities, such as the power draining touch 13 00:00:56,200 --> 00:01:00,800 Speaker 2: of X Men's rogue in many other examples where great 14 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:05,440 Speaker 2: power is achieved but something else is lost. However, we 15 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:08,800 Speaker 2: also can help but ponder some of the more useless 16 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:12,920 Speaker 2: seeming superpowers out there, and two of the best examples 17 00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:18,160 Speaker 2: from Marvel Comics concerned the power of ice cream. First, 18 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:23,880 Speaker 2: there is ice cream that's spelled like eye scream. This 19 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:27,199 Speaker 2: character was created by Alan Cooperberg in nineteen eighty three 20 00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:31,880 Speaker 2: as a mutant antagonist of the X Men. His superpower 21 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:36,840 Speaker 2: the ability to transform his body himself into any flavor 22 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:40,720 Speaker 2: of ice cream. He's a clear cut comedic villain, to 23 00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:43,959 Speaker 2: be sure, as his signature power does him little to 24 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:47,400 Speaker 2: no good in his vendetta against the X Men, and 25 00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:50,480 Speaker 2: then they're soft Serve. Created by Bob Quinn in twenty 26 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:53,960 Speaker 2: twenty one, she's a mutant citizen of the island of 27 00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:58,320 Speaker 2: Krakoa with the power to poop or otherwise excrete any 28 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:01,960 Speaker 2: flavor of ice cream. She's essentially a background character with 29 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:06,760 Speaker 2: obvious comedic intent, reminding us that not every mutant ability 30 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:12,240 Speaker 2: is useful, desired, or certainly Omega level. One character transmutes 31 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:16,040 Speaker 2: their own body into a sweet, frozen dairy treat, while 32 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:19,840 Speaker 2: the other excretes it, either as a byproduct of digestion 33 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:23,480 Speaker 2: or as some other sort of more mystical or extra 34 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:29,480 Speaker 2: dimensional process. In either case, it does really feel almost alchemical, 35 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:32,880 Speaker 2: doesn't it. While not as valuable as gold, ice cream 36 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:37,920 Speaker 2: is certainly novel and almost otherworldly. It's clearly a food, 37 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:41,119 Speaker 2: but doesn't really feel like a food, does it. It's 38 00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:44,960 Speaker 2: like some sort of mystical manna or pure emotion that 39 00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:48,320 Speaker 2: has phase shifted into a frozen treat that we can 40 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:53,080 Speaker 2: eat again. Both of these characters were clearly created with 41 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:57,080 Speaker 2: comedy in the forefront, but they somehow both feel on 42 00:02:57,160 --> 00:03:02,120 Speaker 2: the very cusp of profundity and honestly have trouble working 43 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:05,040 Speaker 2: out exactly why. I think on one level, I am 44 00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:09,200 Speaker 2: reminded of the line from poet Wallace Stevens, the only 45 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:12,560 Speaker 2: Emperor is the Emperor of ice cream, invoked in a 46 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:16,320 Speaker 2: poem of sinister cold sweets dished out at a funeral 47 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:20,600 Speaker 2: or awake. So maybe it's this poetic connection that stirs 48 00:03:20,639 --> 00:03:24,720 Speaker 2: these feelings when I'm considering ice cream and soft surf. 49 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:31,120 Speaker 2: Wallace dances lyrically with the idea of sweet treats and death, 50 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:35,240 Speaker 2: while these characters are a dance between surreal comedy and 51 00:03:35,320 --> 00:03:39,480 Speaker 2: body heart and the hyper desirable properties of ice cream 52 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:44,520 Speaker 2: itself somehow confuses everything. Again, I'm not exactly sure what 53 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:46,280 Speaker 2: to make of it, but I'd love to hear what 54 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:49,320 Speaker 2: you have to say, what your insight is on ice 55 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:51,560 Speaker 2: cream based superpowers, and hey, maybe there are some other 56 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:55,720 Speaker 2: ice cream based superheroes out there within the Marvel universe 57 00:03:56,040 --> 00:03:59,120 Speaker 2: or in some of the other comic universes that you 58 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:02,320 Speaker 2: can share with me. Tune in for additional episodes of 59 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:05,800 Speaker 2: The Monster Fact, The Artifact, or Animalius to Pendium each week. 60 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:09,280 Speaker 2: As always, you can email us at conduct at stuff 61 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:19,159 Speaker 2: to Blow your Mind dot com. 62 00:04:19,279 --> 00:04:21,800 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is a production of iHeartRadio. 63 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:26,120 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 64 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:28,000 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.