Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the
Speaker 2: Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow
Speaker 2: Your Mind, focusing in on mythical creatures, ideas and monsters
Speaker 2: in time. I recently picked up a kind of ragged
Speaker 2: copy of the official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master
Speaker 2: Edition from I believe nineteen ninety, though this also might
Speaker 2: have been a reprint from years later. I'm not entirely certain,
Speaker 2: but it's filled with various Marvel characters, from the famous
Speaker 2: to the obscure, each with profile data and standardized character
Speaker 2: illustrations in this kind of glorious retro style. Amid all
Speaker 2: the capes and tights, and there are a lot of tights,
Speaker 2: there are some gloriously weird entries in the book. There's
Speaker 2: the spiky faced skeleton man terror Ink, with his ability
Speaker 2: to steal limbs and attach them to his own body.
Speaker 2: I was also fascinated by Quasu Modo or Quasi Motivational
Speaker 2: destruct Organism. He is a superpowered cyborg hunchback and presumably
Speaker 2: he's quite motivational. But in this episode, I want to
Speaker 2: focus in on the villain Puff Adder real name Gordo
Speaker 2: Freeley and apparently a native of Atlanta. Physically, he appears
Speaker 2: to be a very large, muscular man in a snake costume.
Speaker 2: He is a mutant in the Marvel comics, with the
Speaker 2: ability to engorge his entire epidermis with blood, thus making
Speaker 2: himself appear more powerful and menacing. Now he's already a
Speaker 2: very capable fighter with enhanced strength, but it's curious that
Speaker 2: his mutant ability doesn't seem to actually boost his fighting
Speaker 2: power in the way that many other mutant powers do. Instead,
Speaker 2: it just allows him to better bluff and better intimidate.
Speaker 2: Oh and he also has another weapon, a noxious gas
Speaker 2: can in the mouth like cowl of his snake mask.
Speaker 2: His namesake is, of course, the puff Adder snake, consisting
Speaker 2: of several species native to Africa in parts of the
Speaker 2: Saudi Arabian Peninsula. The snake in question is able to
Speaker 2: puff itself up to look larger as a predator deterrent,
Speaker 2: and it does this by inflating its body with air
Speaker 2: and then hissing loudly. And like the Marvel character, the
Speaker 2: snake can also back up that threat. It packs a
Speaker 2: powerful venomous bite and the force of its strikes alone
Speaker 2: is enough to kill small prey. Various natural world creatures
Speaker 2: make themselves look bigger as a defensive or mating display.
Speaker 2: Some the imposturing or the manipulation of fur or feathers,
Speaker 2: while others actually inflate tissues with air, water, or blood.
Speaker 2: These actions also frequently enhance the colors or patterns of
Speaker 2: such a display as well. While Gordo's mutant ability may
Speaker 2: appear at first to buck the general theme we see
Speaker 2: in comic book Superpowers, it's certainly in keeping with actual,
Speaker 2: real world involved adaptations. There is a survival advantage in
Speaker 2: not actually having to fight a predator or competitor, and
Speaker 2: the same holds true with not having to fight every
Speaker 2: X Man or Avenger you encounter on the pages of
Speaker 2: Marvel Comics. Tune in for additional episodes of the Monster Fact,
Speaker 2: The Artifact, or Animalia Stupendium every week as always. You
Speaker 2: can email us at contact at Stuff to Blow your
Speaker 2: Mind dot com.
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