WEBVTT - The Monstrefact: Marvel’s Squirrel Girl 

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

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<v Speaker 2>Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the

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<v Speaker 2>Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow

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<v Speaker 2>Your Mind focusing on mythical creatures, ideas, and monsters and time.

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<v Speaker 2>Long time listeners to Stuff to Blow Your Mind know

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<v Speaker 2>that we have an enduring fascination with squirrels, particularly the

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<v Speaker 2>Eastern gray squirrel, because these are the creatures I observe

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<v Speaker 2>every day, and I constantly find myself either just taking

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<v Speaker 2>them for granted or just suddenly recognizing how weird and

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<v Speaker 2>fierce they are. They're such survivors, and the same could

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<v Speaker 2>be said for Marvel's squirrel Girl. At first glance, you

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<v Speaker 2>might think this particular superhero is just here for acute

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<v Speaker 2>pose and a few laughs, and yeah, she's totally down

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<v Speaker 2>for all of that. But since her creation in the

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<v Speaker 2>early nineties by Will Murray and Steve Ditko, Squirrel Girl

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<v Speaker 2>has scored victories against such iconic villains as Ultron, Galactus,

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<v Speaker 2>Doctor Doom, and Thanos. Okay, so what are her powers,

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<v Speaker 2>you might be wondering if you're not familiar with the

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<v Speaker 2>character already. Well, first of all, it's important to note

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<v Speaker 2>that squirrel Girl is not technically a mutant, but rather

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<v Speaker 2>a typical Canadian girl who just gradually began to exhibit

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<v Speaker 2>an amazing ability to communicate with squirrels and developed the

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<v Speaker 2>various squirrel like physical abilities as pointed out by Mark

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<v Speaker 2>Sumrec and Daniel Wallace in the excellent book marvel Anatomy.

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<v Speaker 2>She boasts large incisors and rugged climbing claws, both attributes

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<v Speaker 2>of the real world furry grappling hooks that we call squirrels.

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<v Speaker 2>She also boasts a full fluffy squirrel tale, which I

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<v Speaker 2>assume offers a number of benefits enjoyed by her namesake, balance,

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<v Speaker 2>shade communication, and locomotion assistance while leaping, falling, landing, or swimming.

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<v Speaker 2>Sumeric and Wallace put her vertical jumping ability at thirty

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<v Speaker 2>feet or more than nine meters, which feels like a

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<v Speaker 2>decent scaling up of squirrel leaping ability. How high could

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<v Speaker 2>we leap if we had the leaping ability of a squirrel?

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<v Speaker 2>I think that's about accurate. The one head scratcher, however,

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<v Speaker 2>is that squirrel Girl also boasts extendable bone knuckle spikes.

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<v Speaker 2>They extend wolverine style through the back of her palms.

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<v Speaker 2>Jutting out just above her knuckles, enabling her to punch

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<v Speaker 2>and carve through wood as well as through ultron drones. Obviously,

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<v Speaker 2>rule of cool applies here, and the bone knuckle spikes

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<v Speaker 2>are indeed cool, no doubt about it, but they do

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<v Speaker 2>seem kind of unnecessary if we're comparing her to squirrels.

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<v Speaker 2>Actual squirrels don't have them because they can handle all

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<v Speaker 2>their woodworking and robot thrashing with teeth and claws alone.

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<v Speaker 2>For natural world analogs to squirrel Girl's knuckle spikes or

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<v Speaker 2>Wolverine's famous claus for that matter, we have to leave

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<v Speaker 2>the mammal world behind and head into the amphibian world. First,

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<v Speaker 2>we can look to the hairy frog or Tricobetracus robustus,

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<v Speaker 2>which can break its own toe bones and extend them

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<v Speaker 2>through the flesh as makeshift defensive claws, which may later retract,

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<v Speaker 2>allowing the flesh to heal back over again. Male autumn

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<v Speaker 2>frogs or Babina subaspera, also boast a different form of

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<v Speaker 2>retractable spike that extends from under the thumb. Both of

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<v Speaker 2>these species are commonly compared to the fictional wolverine, though

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<v Speaker 2>his namesake animal also makes do with just teeth and

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<v Speaker 2>finger claws alone, no extendable or retractable claws required. Now,

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<v Speaker 2>I know there are frog based superheroes and supervillains in

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<v Speaker 2>the Marvel world, but do any of them have extendable

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<v Speaker 2>horror clause? I don't think that they do, at least

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<v Speaker 2>not yet, so I do put the question out there

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<v Speaker 2>for any of you comic book fans and especially in

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<v Speaker 2>of you hardcore Marvel geeks. If you have an answer

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<v Speaker 2>to this question right in, I would love to hear

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<v Speaker 2>from you. Tune in for additional episodes of The Monster

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<v Speaker 2>Fact the Artifact for Animalius Dupendium each week. As always,

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<v Speaker 2>you can email us at contact at Stuffdblow your Mind

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<v Speaker 2>dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff to Blow Your Mind is a production of iHeartRadio.

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