1 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:06,359 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:08,680 --> 00:00:12,520 Speaker 2: Hey, Welcome to the Monster Fact Omnibus. My name is 3 00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:15,280 Speaker 2: Robert Lamb. This is going to be another one of 4 00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:17,800 Speaker 2: these episodes where we play a little catchup and we 5 00:00:17,880 --> 00:00:22,840 Speaker 2: take in this case, four separate past Monster Fact entries 6 00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:26,560 Speaker 2: and we cobble them all together in one episode. This 7 00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:29,400 Speaker 2: is going to be audio only because the period of 8 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:33,720 Speaker 2: time that we're covering here includes both the Netflix video 9 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:36,400 Speaker 2: and pre Netflix Video era, so I think two or 10 00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:38,960 Speaker 2: video two or audio, so they're just all going to 11 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:41,840 Speaker 2: be audio. So these are going to be four more 12 00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:46,360 Speaker 2: entries from the Marvel universe. I can't quite get enough 13 00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:50,839 Speaker 2: of the Marvel universe in terms of its weirdness, characters 14 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:53,199 Speaker 2: I've never heard of, as well as characters that are 15 00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:57,840 Speaker 2: quite beloved by myself and other comic book fans, video 16 00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:01,400 Speaker 2: game fans, film fans, and so forth. So moving forward, 17 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:04,120 Speaker 2: if you would like to hear Monster Fact entries on 18 00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:09,039 Speaker 2: additional Marvel characters, creatures, and so forth, write in give 19 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:12,800 Speaker 2: me your suggestions. Likewise, for other comics, DC comics, I've 20 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:16,240 Speaker 2: done some of those in the past. Outside of Marvel 21 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 2: and DC. I'm also happy to dive into those worlds 22 00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:25,800 Speaker 2: as well. Alright, without further ado, let's jump into an 23 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:29,560 Speaker 2: episode that I recorded, I believe last summer. This is 24 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:36,600 Speaker 2: going to be a discussion of the cosmic villain Galactus. 25 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:41,560 Speaker 2: If you've seen the new MCU film The Fantastic Four 26 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:46,720 Speaker 2: First Steps, then you've finally experienced a proper cinematic treatment 27 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:52,040 Speaker 2: of Galactus, the iconic devour of worlds for Marvel Comics, 28 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:56,120 Speaker 2: created in nineteen sixty six by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. 29 00:01:56,440 --> 00:02:00,840 Speaker 2: This titanic space god predates the Big Bang. He survived 30 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:04,120 Speaker 2: the great collapse of the previous universe and entered into 31 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:07,480 Speaker 2: our own, hatching from the cosmic egg. His god like 32 00:02:07,520 --> 00:02:11,440 Speaker 2: abilities come via the power cosmic, which he sustains through 33 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:15,320 Speaker 2: the consumption of entire worlds. And yet Galactus is a 34 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:18,920 Speaker 2: lot more complex than your typical Earth destroying elder god. 35 00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:24,240 Speaker 2: While definitely an existential threat and a perpetrator of untold megadeaths, 36 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:28,320 Speaker 2: Galactus does not consume worlds with malice, as the latest 37 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:31,960 Speaker 2: MCU film accurately depicts. He himself is a slave to 38 00:02:32,040 --> 00:02:36,680 Speaker 2: his own insatiable hunger, but is lawful and honorable, standing 39 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:39,640 Speaker 2: by the letter of pacts made for the survival of 40 00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:43,200 Speaker 2: various planets and such. While he's certainly a villain and 41 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:46,600 Speaker 2: a monster by many measurements, he is also beyond good 42 00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:50,399 Speaker 2: and evil, a natural force that dwarfs everything he encounters. 43 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:53,600 Speaker 2: Sometimes he even acts in ways that might cast him 44 00:02:53,760 --> 00:02:58,160 Speaker 2: as an antiher. In the Fantastic Four First Steps, Galactus 45 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:00,800 Speaker 2: is as close to his Silver Age glory as we 46 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:04,959 Speaker 2: could hope for. A giant humanoid being in purple armor 47 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:08,120 Speaker 2: and a great hat that might best be described as 48 00:03:08,160 --> 00:03:13,239 Speaker 2: a papal miter with cosmic horns. English character actor Ralph 49 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:18,239 Speaker 2: Ineson provides his voice and likeness. The presentation is delightfully 50 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:20,560 Speaker 2: over the top, as it should be. But the entire 51 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:24,480 Speaker 2: Galactus scenario, in which a ravenous cosmic power sends its 52 00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:28,280 Speaker 2: harbingers out in search of worlds and civilizations to dine on, 53 00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:31,960 Speaker 2: actually isn't entirely the domain of comic book science fiction. 54 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:35,520 Speaker 2: Humans have wrestled with the Fermi paradox for seventy five 55 00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:39,160 Speaker 2: years now. If other intelligent life forms exist in the universe, 56 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:42,480 Speaker 2: perhaps even in some abundance, then why haven't we encountered them, 57 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:46,600 Speaker 2: heard of them, seen any signs of them? Why is 58 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:51,120 Speaker 2: the universe so silent. Hypothesized solutions vary from the possibility 59 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:54,000 Speaker 2: that Earth really is a rare commodity in the cosmos 60 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:55,880 Speaker 2: to the idea that we exist in a sort of 61 00:03:56,520 --> 00:04:00,400 Speaker 2: space zoo or nature reserve. But while the latter concept 62 00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:04,520 Speaker 2: entails benign alien beings that intentionally leave us alone, the 63 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:09,560 Speaker 2: dark Forest hypothesis paints a bleaker picture. Name for the 64 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:12,560 Speaker 2: two thousand and eight Lucisian novel of the same name, 65 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:15,440 Speaker 2: the dark Forest hypothesis states that the rest of the 66 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:20,719 Speaker 2: universe is quiet because its various intelligent, technologically advanced civilizations 67 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:25,520 Speaker 2: are understandably afraid. They remain unheard and unseen because they 68 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:28,320 Speaker 2: know to raise their voices or in any way broadcast 69 00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:33,159 Speaker 2: their presence could attract the unwonted attention of dangerous, even 70 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:36,799 Speaker 2: more powerful forces. This could be threats known to exist, 71 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:40,640 Speaker 2: or merely threats likely to exist and therefore worth remaining 72 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:43,240 Speaker 2: silent for. And this is where we get to the 73 00:04:43,279 --> 00:04:46,679 Speaker 2: possibility of if not an actual galactus, then something close 74 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:49,960 Speaker 2: enough to terrify us, something that hungers and sends its 75 00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:53,560 Speaker 2: seekers and heralds far across the sprawl of stars in 76 00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:57,640 Speaker 2: search of civilized worlds to harvest. First, let's think about 77 00:04:57,640 --> 00:05:01,880 Speaker 2: that hunger galactus must consume worlds. This we know the 78 00:05:01,960 --> 00:05:04,200 Speaker 2: idea is far from ridiculous when we consider it the 79 00:05:04,279 --> 00:05:08,440 Speaker 2: Kardashev scale, which sorts potential civilizations by how much power 80 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:11,840 Speaker 2: they can harvest. Type one the energy of an entire planet, 81 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:14,840 Speaker 2: Type two the energy of an entire star, Type three 82 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:19,000 Speaker 2: the energy of an entire galaxy. Certainly, by type three 83 00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:22,640 Speaker 2: we are contemplating galactus level power, and it certainly puts 84 00:05:22,680 --> 00:05:27,400 Speaker 2: forms of planet and star harvesting or even consumption into consideration, 85 00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:30,520 Speaker 2: both in terms of what we can imagine, such as 86 00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:32,919 Speaker 2: the use of a Dyson sphere to enclose a star 87 00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:35,880 Speaker 2: and collect the sum total of its energy output, and 88 00:05:36,279 --> 00:05:38,920 Speaker 2: means that we can't even fathom yet. After all, we're 89 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:42,080 Speaker 2: not even a type one civilization on the Kardashev scale. 90 00:05:42,279 --> 00:05:44,679 Speaker 2: Some of the aims and abilities of a type three 91 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:48,600 Speaker 2: civilization or even a Type two may simply exist outside 92 00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:52,400 Speaker 2: of our context, and this leads us to another Fermi 93 00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:57,279 Speaker 2: paradox solution hypothesis, the Berserker hypothesis, also known as the 94 00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:01,080 Speaker 2: Deadly Probe scenario, name, by the way, stems from the 95 00:06:01,160 --> 00:06:05,240 Speaker 2: nineteen sixty seven Fred Saberhagen novel. The concept here is 96 00:06:05,279 --> 00:06:08,920 Speaker 2: that the cosmos seems silent because thus far all other 97 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:13,080 Speaker 2: sufficiently advanced intelligent forms of life have been destroyed by 98 00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:17,640 Speaker 2: deadly seekert probes, self replicating destroyers that are even now 99 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:21,200 Speaker 2: on their way to decimate Earth as well. In teasing 100 00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:24,880 Speaker 2: this hypothesis apart, some have argued that humanity would have 101 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:28,279 Speaker 2: surely been discovered and eradicated already if this were the 102 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:31,400 Speaker 2: status quo in the galaxy. However, if we've not yet 103 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:35,000 Speaker 2: met the criteria for extermination, or if there's some hope 104 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:39,200 Speaker 2: of passing a civilizational test that ensures our survival yish, 105 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:42,720 Speaker 2: then perhaps the sword of Damocles merely hangs above all 106 00:06:42,760 --> 00:06:46,920 Speaker 2: of our heads, entirely dependent on how we conduct ourselves 107 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:50,599 Speaker 2: or how solid the latest season of Single Female Lawyer 108 00:06:50,680 --> 00:06:54,240 Speaker 2: happens to be. Obviously, there are numerous ways to dissect 109 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:58,400 Speaker 2: this hypothesis, ranging from just considering the toll such self 110 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:02,080 Speaker 2: replicating machines might take on the galaxies available mass over time. 111 00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:05,640 Speaker 2: This would potentially spell a kind of gray goo apocalypse 112 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:08,760 Speaker 2: on a cosmic scale, as well as issues of detection 113 00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:13,040 Speaker 2: or lack of detection here in our local neighborhood. Naturally, 114 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:16,400 Speaker 2: the idea has been explored in various Sci Fi treatments, 115 00:07:16,440 --> 00:07:19,320 Speaker 2: often as a means to explore our collective values as 116 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:22,840 Speaker 2: a species, our hopes and our fears that something else 117 00:07:22,840 --> 00:07:26,560 Speaker 2: out there shares those values in either its dark or 118 00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:30,560 Speaker 2: light extremes. And we see this with Galactus as well, 119 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:33,800 Speaker 2: that a herald is sent to judge us, save or 120 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:36,840 Speaker 2: condemn us based on our merits or the merits of 121 00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:40,280 Speaker 2: those who stand as shining examples of what we aspire 122 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:44,120 Speaker 2: to be. And in this we're reminded that Galactus is 123 00:07:44,480 --> 00:07:47,600 Speaker 2: a comic book take on the divine, a god who 124 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:52,040 Speaker 2: sits in judgment, echoing a very long standing note in 125 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:55,840 Speaker 2: human myth making, such as in the Bible, and God 126 00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:58,760 Speaker 2: said unto Noah, the end of all flesh has come 127 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:01,720 Speaker 2: before me, for the earth filled with violence through them, 128 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:05,600 Speaker 2: And behold, I will destroy them with the earth. In 129 00:08:05,640 --> 00:08:09,560 Speaker 2: the Bagava Ghita, I am time grown old, to destroy 130 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:14,320 Speaker 2: the world, embarked on the course of world annihilation. Except 131 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:17,800 Speaker 2: for yourself. None of these will survive. Of these warriors 132 00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:23,400 Speaker 2: arrayed in opposite armies. And in Marvel comics, your planet 133 00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:26,080 Speaker 2: is now marked for death. Your world will be consumed 134 00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:28,600 Speaker 2: by the devour. There is nothing you can do to 135 00:08:28,600 --> 00:08:32,040 Speaker 2: stop him, for he is a universal force, as essential 136 00:08:32,040 --> 00:08:35,480 Speaker 2: as the stars. Hold your loved ones close, and speak 137 00:08:35,760 --> 00:08:41,600 Speaker 2: the words you've been afraid to speak. All right, For 138 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:45,520 Speaker 2: our next entry, we are going to discuss Lady death Strike, 139 00:08:49,360 --> 00:08:53,120 Speaker 2: Wolverine enemy. Lady death Strike has long been one of 140 00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:56,000 Speaker 2: my favorite characters in X Men comics. While I was 141 00:08:56,040 --> 00:08:58,000 Speaker 2: never much of a comic book reader as a kid, 142 00:08:58,280 --> 00:09:01,000 Speaker 2: I of course encountered her on X Men, the animated 143 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:04,600 Speaker 2: series and in the nineteen ninety four video game Wolverine 144 00:09:04,800 --> 00:09:09,559 Speaker 2: Adamantium Rage. A decade later, Kelly Hugh played a modified 145 00:09:09,679 --> 00:09:13,280 Speaker 2: version of Lady death Strike in the film X two. 146 00:09:13,720 --> 00:09:17,360 Speaker 2: The character's physical appearance is that of a Japanese woman 147 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:21,400 Speaker 2: with long, reddish hair, a form fitting samurai inspired costume, 148 00:09:21,480 --> 00:09:25,640 Speaker 2: and long, razor sharp adamantium talons that extend from hands 149 00:09:25,640 --> 00:09:31,360 Speaker 2: that are themselves sometimes depicted as relatively human, other times oversized, elongated, 150 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:36,559 Speaker 2: and truly monstrous. Her biography makes things even more complicated, however, 151 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:41,160 Speaker 2: born Uriko Oyama, Lady death Strike's father, is said to 152 00:09:41,240 --> 00:09:45,199 Speaker 2: have originated the adamantium skeletal bonding process. That so famously 153 00:09:45,280 --> 00:09:50,040 Speaker 2: enhanced wolverine Death Strike, however, obtained her own adamantium claws 154 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:53,480 Speaker 2: and bones after her father's death. In the Mojo verse, 155 00:09:53,880 --> 00:09:56,760 Speaker 2: this is where the character Spiral not only gave her 156 00:09:56,760 --> 00:10:00,440 Speaker 2: the full adamantium treatment, but also transformed her into a 157 00:10:00,440 --> 00:10:04,040 Speaker 2: full blown cyborg. As such, depictions of Lady death Strike 158 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:07,960 Speaker 2: often include circuit like glyphs on her skin and other 159 00:10:08,080 --> 00:10:12,480 Speaker 2: cybernetic flourishous So coming back to her monstrous hands. Part 160 00:10:12,480 --> 00:10:14,560 Speaker 2: of this is the fact that she can extend her 161 00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:18,800 Speaker 2: forearms via her cybernetic enhancements. But we also might conjecture 162 00:10:18,840 --> 00:10:22,520 Speaker 2: that additional musculature in the hands and forearms is simply 163 00:10:22,559 --> 00:10:26,720 Speaker 2: necessary to house the additional retractable adamantium talons, and, perhaps 164 00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:29,640 Speaker 2: more to the point, the muscles or some sort of 165 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:35,720 Speaker 2: cybernetic mechanisms to retract and deploy them. Now, perhaps unwittingly, 166 00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:39,520 Speaker 2: her monstrous hands make Lady death Strike comparable to various 167 00:10:39,559 --> 00:10:43,680 Speaker 2: traditions in folklore and legend in which a demon takes 168 00:10:43,679 --> 00:10:45,880 Speaker 2: on the form of a beautiful woman but is betrayed 169 00:10:45,920 --> 00:10:50,520 Speaker 2: by monstrous hands or feet. This clues in central characters 170 00:10:50,600 --> 00:10:56,240 Speaker 2: or heroes to the demonic nature of the individual. More directly, however, 171 00:10:56,360 --> 00:11:00,400 Speaker 2: she certainly fits the fem fatale profile. There what aspects 172 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:02,959 Speaker 2: of her appearance in history that would almost allow her 173 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:06,760 Speaker 2: to take her place alongside certain feminine yokai and yuri 174 00:11:06,880 --> 00:11:11,360 Speaker 2: in Japanese traditions, so various ghosts and vengeful ghosts. This 175 00:11:11,520 --> 00:11:15,199 Speaker 2: sometimes have a combination of the monstrous and the feminine. However, 176 00:11:15,240 --> 00:11:17,880 Speaker 2: it is unavoidable that while Asian comic book artists and 177 00:11:17,920 --> 00:11:22,280 Speaker 2: writers have subsequently depicted and developed the character, Lady death 178 00:11:22,280 --> 00:11:25,640 Speaker 2: Strike originates as a Western take on the Asian fem 179 00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:29,640 Speaker 2: fetale trope. Connections have been drawn between her signature nails 180 00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:34,240 Speaker 2: and decorative Chinese nail guards worn during the Ming Dynasty. Also, 181 00:11:34,400 --> 00:11:36,880 Speaker 2: I was reminded of Lady death Strike during a recent 182 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:39,760 Speaker 2: viewing of the nineteen eighty three Hong Kong horror film 183 00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:43,760 Speaker 2: The Boxer's Omen, which features a resurrected sorceress who wears 184 00:11:43,920 --> 00:11:47,840 Speaker 2: decorative nail covers and also appears with elongated forearms that 185 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:52,040 Speaker 2: turn out to be animate skeleton hands. Her profile in 186 00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:56,040 Speaker 2: one scene, in particular, feels very Lady death Strike. Though 187 00:11:56,040 --> 00:11:59,920 Speaker 2: the Marvel character of Yuriko Oyama introduced the same year, 188 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:02,880 Speaker 2: wouldn't take on the full mantle of Lady death Strike 189 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:06,240 Speaker 2: and the various characteristics that we associate with her until 190 00:12:06,320 --> 00:12:10,360 Speaker 2: nineteen eighty six in Uncanny X Men number two five. 191 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:13,720 Speaker 2: Might her creators have found some level of influence in 192 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:17,840 Speaker 2: the Boxer z omen or merely in related imagery and ideas. 193 00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:20,640 Speaker 2: I've found nothing concrete on this matter, so maybe I'm 194 00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:23,920 Speaker 2: drawing a connection here where there isn't one. Lady death 195 00:12:23,920 --> 00:12:26,800 Speaker 2: Strike continues to slice up the pages of Marvel comics 196 00:12:26,800 --> 00:12:30,079 Speaker 2: as both villain and anti hero, and she recently showed 197 00:12:30,080 --> 00:12:33,800 Speaker 2: back up in twenty twenty four's Deadpool and Wolverine as 198 00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:36,679 Speaker 2: a minor, almost easter egg character, but it was still 199 00:12:36,760 --> 00:12:39,880 Speaker 2: fun to see once more. She was not fully cyborg, 200 00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:42,240 Speaker 2: but she certainly embodied some of the features that have 201 00:12:42,360 --> 00:13:00,880 Speaker 2: made her such a popular character over the years. All Right, 202 00:13:01,200 --> 00:13:03,880 Speaker 2: it's time to discuss I think one of the more 203 00:13:03,920 --> 00:13:09,079 Speaker 2: whimsical superheroes in the Marvel universe. Let's talk about squirrel Girl. 204 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:15,640 Speaker 2: Longtime listeners to Stuff to Blow your mind know that 205 00:13:15,679 --> 00:13:19,760 Speaker 2: we have an enduring fascination with squirrels, particularly the Eastern 206 00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:23,640 Speaker 2: gray squirrel, because these are the creatures I observe every day, 207 00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:26,640 Speaker 2: and I constantly find myself either just taking them for 208 00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:31,320 Speaker 2: granted or just suddenly recognizing how weird and fierce they are. 209 00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:35,199 Speaker 2: They're such survivors, and the same could be said for 210 00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:39,400 Speaker 2: Marvel's Squirrel Girl. At first glance, you might think this 211 00:13:39,440 --> 00:13:42,960 Speaker 2: particular superhero is just here for acute pose and a 212 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:45,760 Speaker 2: few laughs, and yeah, she's totally down for all of that. 213 00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:48,680 Speaker 2: But since her creation in the early nineties by Will 214 00:13:48,760 --> 00:13:52,600 Speaker 2: Murray and Steve did Go, Squirrel Girl has scored victories 215 00:13:52,640 --> 00:13:58,720 Speaker 2: against such iconic villains as Ultron, Galactus, Doctor Doom, and Thanos. Okay, 216 00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:01,080 Speaker 2: so what are her powers, you might be wondering if 217 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:03,640 Speaker 2: you're not familiar with the character already. Well, first of all, 218 00:14:03,679 --> 00:14:06,880 Speaker 2: it's important to note that Squirrel Girl is not technically 219 00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:10,040 Speaker 2: a mutant, but rather a typical Canadian girl who just 220 00:14:10,160 --> 00:14:13,320 Speaker 2: gradually began to exhibit an amazing ability to communicate with 221 00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:18,559 Speaker 2: squirrels and developed various squirrel like physical abilities, as pointed 222 00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:21,960 Speaker 2: out by Mark Sumrec and Daniel Wallace in the excellent 223 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:26,760 Speaker 2: book marvel Anatomy. She boasts large incisors and rugged climbing claws, 224 00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:30,720 Speaker 2: both attributes of the real world furry grappling hooks that 225 00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:35,120 Speaker 2: we call squirrels. She also boasts a full fluffy squirrel tail, 226 00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:37,800 Speaker 2: which I assume offers a number of benefits enjoyed by 227 00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:44,400 Speaker 2: her namesake, balance, shade communication, and locomotion assistance while leaping, falling, landing, 228 00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:48,960 Speaker 2: or swimming. Sumeric and Wallace put her vertical jumping ability 229 00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:52,480 Speaker 2: at thirty feet or more than nine meters, which feels 230 00:14:52,520 --> 00:14:55,960 Speaker 2: like a decent scaling up of squirrel leaping ability. How 231 00:14:56,160 --> 00:14:58,560 Speaker 2: high could we leap if we had the leaping ability 232 00:14:58,600 --> 00:15:01,960 Speaker 2: of a squirrel? I think that's a accurate The one 233 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:06,240 Speaker 2: head scratcher, however, is that squirrel girl also boasts extendable 234 00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:11,320 Speaker 2: bone knuckle spikes. They extend wolverine style through the back 235 00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:15,760 Speaker 2: of her palms, jutting out just above her knuckles, enabling 236 00:15:15,800 --> 00:15:18,320 Speaker 2: her to punch and carve through wood as well as 237 00:15:18,360 --> 00:15:22,840 Speaker 2: through ultron drones. Obviously, rule of cool applies here, and 238 00:15:22,880 --> 00:15:25,640 Speaker 2: the bone knuckle spikes are indeed cool, no doubt about it, 239 00:15:25,920 --> 00:15:28,280 Speaker 2: but they do seem kind of unnecessary if we're comparing 240 00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:31,240 Speaker 2: her to squirrels. Actual squirrels don't have them because they 241 00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:34,960 Speaker 2: can handle all their woodworking and robot thrashing with teeth 242 00:15:35,040 --> 00:15:38,920 Speaker 2: and claws alone for natural world analogs to squirrel Girl's 243 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:42,600 Speaker 2: knuckle spikes or Wolverine's famous claws for that matter, we 244 00:15:42,680 --> 00:15:45,600 Speaker 2: have to leave the mammal world behind and head into 245 00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:49,000 Speaker 2: the amphibian world. First, we can look to the hairy 246 00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:53,200 Speaker 2: frog or Tricobatracos robustus, which can break its own toe 247 00:15:53,280 --> 00:15:57,120 Speaker 2: bones and extend them through the flesh as makeshift defensive claws, 248 00:15:57,760 --> 00:16:01,800 Speaker 2: which may later retract, allowing flesh to heal back over again. 249 00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:07,280 Speaker 2: Male autumn frogs or Babina subaspera also boast a different 250 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:10,280 Speaker 2: form of retractable spike that extends from under the thumb. 251 00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:15,000 Speaker 2: Both of these species are commonly compared to the fictional Wolverine, 252 00:16:15,280 --> 00:16:19,200 Speaker 2: though his namesake animal also makes do with just teeth 253 00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:25,120 Speaker 2: and finger claws alone, no extendable or retractable clause required. Now, 254 00:16:25,160 --> 00:16:29,000 Speaker 2: I know there are frog based superheroes and super villains 255 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:31,360 Speaker 2: in the Marvel world, but do any of them have 256 00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:35,400 Speaker 2: extendable horror clause? I don't think that they do, at 257 00:16:35,480 --> 00:16:39,320 Speaker 2: least not yet, so I do put the question out 258 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:42,440 Speaker 2: there for any of you comic book fans, and especially 259 00:16:42,440 --> 00:16:45,400 Speaker 2: in of you hardcore Marvel geeks, if you have an 260 00:16:45,400 --> 00:16:47,960 Speaker 2: answer to this question right in, I would love to 261 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:53,520 Speaker 2: hear from you. All right, let's go ahead and end 262 00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:56,920 Speaker 2: this episode out with the most recent Marvel Monster fact 263 00:16:57,080 --> 00:16:58,840 Speaker 2: entry that I did. This is also one of the 264 00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:03,080 Speaker 2: weirder ones. It is the Quasi Motivational Destruct Organism or 265 00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:11,000 Speaker 2: quasi Moto. Let's dive right in today I want to 266 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:14,439 Speaker 2: cover one of the weirder Marvel Comics characters to jump 267 00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:17,199 Speaker 2: out of the pages the Official Handbook of the Marvel 268 00:17:17,280 --> 00:17:20,639 Speaker 2: Universe Master Edition. I have a used copy of this 269 00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:23,359 Speaker 2: book from the nineteen nineties, and it contains all of 270 00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:26,800 Speaker 2: your more popular X Men and Avengers, along with some 271 00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:32,520 Speaker 2: real weirdos, like today's selection. The Quasi Motivational Destruct Organism, 272 00:17:32,880 --> 00:17:37,800 Speaker 2: also known as Quasimoto. Yes, this supervillain, who first appeared 273 00:17:37,800 --> 00:17:40,280 Speaker 2: in the pages of the Fantastic Four back in nineteen 274 00:17:40,320 --> 00:17:45,040 Speaker 2: sixty six, is essentially a super science take on Quasimodo, 275 00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:49,200 Speaker 2: the Hunchback of Notre Dame from the eighteen thirty one 276 00:17:49,280 --> 00:17:53,400 Speaker 2: Victor Hugo novel, though the character's appearance seems mostly based 277 00:17:53,640 --> 00:17:56,879 Speaker 2: to my eye, on the version played by Charles Lawton 278 00:17:57,359 --> 00:18:02,400 Speaker 2: in the nineteen thirties film adaptation. In Hugo's tale, Quasimoto 279 00:18:02,560 --> 00:18:07,520 Speaker 2: is a cathedral bell ringer suffering from severe gyphosis an 280 00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:11,760 Speaker 2: excessive convex curvature of the spine. The Quasi Motivational Destruct 281 00:18:11,840 --> 00:18:15,720 Speaker 2: Organism's nature, however, is a bit more convoluted. As Marvel 282 00:18:15,840 --> 00:18:19,080 Speaker 2: dot Com tells it, he was originally a sentient computer 283 00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:23,880 Speaker 2: developed by the supervillain the Mad Thinker. This sentient computer 284 00:18:24,119 --> 00:18:28,679 Speaker 2: desire to human form, but its creator cruelly refused it. Eventually, 285 00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:32,439 Speaker 2: the Silver Surfer steps in, takes pity on the suffering computer, 286 00:18:32,680 --> 00:18:37,560 Speaker 2: and uses his power cosmic to grant the computer's wishes. However, 287 00:18:37,680 --> 00:18:41,680 Speaker 2: the Quasi Motivational Destruct Organism would prove the twisted vulcan 288 00:18:42,119 --> 00:18:46,320 Speaker 2: to the Silver Surfer's physical perfection. He looks like a 289 00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:50,679 Speaker 2: stereotypical hunchback of Notre Dame, but with a metallic skin 290 00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:52,760 Speaker 2: or a metal suit. You know, sort of the Silver 291 00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:56,800 Speaker 2: Surfer body, except it is the hunchback of Notre Dame's body. 292 00:18:57,320 --> 00:19:00,920 Speaker 2: We're told he is a pseudo organic an android possessed 293 00:19:00,920 --> 00:19:05,160 Speaker 2: of immense physical smashing power, but due to his computer origin, 294 00:19:05,240 --> 00:19:08,400 Speaker 2: his brain is also able to process information and make 295 00:19:08,440 --> 00:19:13,080 Speaker 2: calculations with vastly improved speed and accuracy. Yet despite this, 296 00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:17,240 Speaker 2: he's not your standard super strong, super smart, gimme god 297 00:19:17,320 --> 00:19:20,359 Speaker 2: cosmic bad guy. We get a lot of those in 298 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:24,119 Speaker 2: comic book stories from this era. No, we're told his 299 00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:28,640 Speaker 2: actual intelligence is more that of a baseline human intelligence, 300 00:19:28,960 --> 00:19:33,760 Speaker 2: and that his biggest weakness is his lack of creativity. Now, 301 00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:37,240 Speaker 2: I don't think stan Lee and Jack Kirby were necessarily 302 00:19:37,280 --> 00:19:40,400 Speaker 2: trying to be all that prophetic with this particular supervillain. 303 00:19:40,960 --> 00:19:42,760 Speaker 2: What you see is kind of what you get with 304 00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:46,399 Speaker 2: the quasi motivational destruct organism. Yet at the same time, 305 00:19:47,040 --> 00:19:50,720 Speaker 2: beyond the space quasimotive gimmick, there is a reasonable amount 306 00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:54,280 Speaker 2: of Miltonian depth here to the plight between the created 307 00:19:54,280 --> 00:19:58,000 Speaker 2: and the creator. And then there's this interesting detail about 308 00:19:58,040 --> 00:20:03,640 Speaker 2: computer enhancementulations are lightning fast, but his intelligence is actually 309 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:07,080 Speaker 2: more again human baseline, and there is something lacking in 310 00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:12,000 Speaker 2: his ability to think with true creativity. It's interesting to 311 00:20:12,040 --> 00:20:16,160 Speaker 2: ponder this. Given our current state of AI and computer enhancement, 312 00:20:16,760 --> 00:20:21,000 Speaker 2: we can observe that computer form we're building around ourselves, 313 00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:25,400 Speaker 2: thinking for us, writing for us, expressing ourselves, and representing 314 00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:28,760 Speaker 2: our souls to each other through the artifice of large 315 00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:32,960 Speaker 2: language models and so forth, silver fleshed on the outside, 316 00:20:33,080 --> 00:20:36,359 Speaker 2: but perhaps somewhat compressed on the inside, bent under the 317 00:20:36,359 --> 00:20:40,960 Speaker 2: weight of the machine and undergoing atrification. And what's more, 318 00:20:41,119 --> 00:20:44,480 Speaker 2: there's this fear that I've seen express that our actual 319 00:20:44,520 --> 00:20:49,040 Speaker 2: ability to express ourselves, and indeed our actual self isn't 320 00:20:49,080 --> 00:20:52,680 Speaker 2: good enough without the trappings of the machine, a kind 321 00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:56,920 Speaker 2: of self fulfilling prophecy, as the interface between human and 322 00:20:57,040 --> 00:21:02,280 Speaker 2: AI has largely fallen short of the creative partnership we 323 00:21:02,280 --> 00:21:08,720 Speaker 2: were promised. Way to go, Matt Thinkers. All right, there 324 00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:10,440 Speaker 2: you have it. Now I'm going to have to move 325 00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:14,600 Speaker 2: on to some all new Marvel creatures, Marvel characters and 326 00:21:14,640 --> 00:21:16,760 Speaker 2: so forth to discuss here in the Monster Fact Again. 327 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:20,240 Speaker 2: If you have recommendations, write in thanks as always to 328 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:23,920 Speaker 2: the excellent JJ Possway for producing the Monster Fact as 329 00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:27,000 Speaker 2: well as the Artifact and Animelius to Pendium. You can 330 00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:30,919 Speaker 2: find these episodes generally every Wednesday in the Stuff to 331 00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:34,640 Speaker 2: Blow your Mind podcast feed and wherever you get that 332 00:21:34,680 --> 00:21:37,720 Speaker 2: feed and be it audio or if you get it 333 00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:40,800 Speaker 2: in video form, just make sure that you throw some 334 00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:44,760 Speaker 2: stars some thumbs up our way. 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