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This is MJ. I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer. Find all my work at MJMunoz.com.

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This time I'm talking about chapter 8 of Peter Pan in my chapter by chapter read-through

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of this book. And I want to talk about the horror of Mermaid Lagoon. Sort of. So every

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month the mermaids, when the moon is full, go a little mad and they shriek and wail and

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it's creepy and whatever and that's kind of weird. It's probably a retention of the myth

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of the sirens who would lure sailors to their death by singing to them songs. Seductive

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songs, I guess. Anyway. So that's interesting. And these mermaids are deadly anyway because

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they kind of attack Wendy and then at the end of the chapter when Wendy's injured and

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so is Peter, they try to pull Wendy out of his grasp while he's, I think while he's passed

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out or very injured and having a hard time recovering. And they start to pull her into

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the water and he pulls her back because these mermaids are scary. Another scary thing in

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Mermaid Lagoon is Marooners Rock where people are left on a rock that gets covered by the

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rising tide and eventually they drown there. And I don't know how they're, I don't know

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if they're anchored to it or what, I guess. I don't know if they're anchored to it or

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if they're injured or what happens, but somehow they stay there and then eventually they're

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marooned there and then eventually they drown to death, which is horrible. But you know,

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this is pirates who are doing this kind of thing. So I guess that does make sense. In

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this chapter, we get a pretty much deadly battle between the pirates and the Lost Boys

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at Mermaid Lagoon. There's a really interesting description of like this dark gloomy, this

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like gloomy darkness that comes along and kind of sets the stage for the battle. And

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then they're fighting in this, you know, gloom. And that's kind of a fun idea. Anyway, but

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yeah, it's an actual battle. It feels dangerous to the boys. They are getting away, yes, because

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of the kind of story this is, but there's a possibility that they can be killed. We

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know that Indians have scalps of boys and pirates. So they've scalped people before

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and you know, Peter's talked about killing people and it's mentioned in the previous

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chapter that sometimes there's a body when he tells his stories or he says, no, nothing

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happened to me. And then you find a body anyway. So that's, you know, not, no, that's not good.

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He's dropping bodies over here. But it's interesting. Peter in this battle with Hook, in this fight

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with Hook, he went and swiped his knife from him and he was going to fight Hook with his

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knife and Hook with his hook or his sword. Peter does have a sword, though. I made an

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error a couple chapters ago when I said that when he was guarding Wendy's tent at night

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or her little house at night that he had a knife or a dagger because he doesn't have

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a sword. He in fact did have a sword. So could have been an imaginary sword, but I'm not

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sure about that. Anyway, during this battle, Hook is coming up, coming up like a rock and

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Peter's at the top of it. And he says, I have the high ground. Because he has the high ground,

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he helps Hook up because it would be fair for him to fight him at such a disadvantage

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because it would probably make Hook more liable to lose. So while Hook is there needing help,

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needing help and Peter offers it, he grabs his hand and he pulls him up. And when he

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does that, at some point in that exchange, Hook hits Peter. He ends up clawing him with

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his iron hook two times for his iron hand two times. And that's interesting. Peter,

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Peter feels, Peter feels betrayed by this. And it's interesting. Barry says something

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very interesting about children. When children come to you, all they really expect from you.

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When they come to you in your care, when a boy comes to you in his care, or for when

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a boy comes to you and you take him into your care, sounds like a parent receiving a son.

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His only expectation of you is that you be fair with him and that you be honest and that

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you not betray him. And this is what Peter was expecting. But Hook did betray Peter in

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this instance. And Peter has been betrayed many times, but he always forgets. And therefore

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he feels like this is the first time he's been betrayed like this. And he's shocked

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and frozen. And I don't know if it says he's going to cry or not, but he's very upset by

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the fact that he was betrayed by Hook, who he offered a helping hand to. That's pretty

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funny actually. And it's really interesting. There's something about this forgetfulness

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of Peter Pan that bothers me, makes me sympathetic towards him, makes me feel really bad for

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him, and kind of makes him a tragic figure in my estimation, in my opinion. And I'm curious

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if other people see that, or if they just see the fun and kind of the glamour of flying

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and living with fairies and commanding the Lost Boys and everything. I don't know. I

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don't know how other people feel about it, but that's something that hits me in a weird

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way. And in fact, the first time I listened to this book all the way through, I kept crying

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at different points because I just... I don't know, something shook me. Something really

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shook me, and it was really interesting. It was all around stuff like this with him forgetting

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and having these weak, tenuous connections to people. It was really interesting.

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So then, Hook ends up running away from the battle because he is scared because the crocodile

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is coming. And while Hook is running scared, and that saves Peter's life, which is good

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for the book to keep going, Peter is stuck with Wendy on Marooner's Rock. He's basically

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mortally wounded, and he feels like he's too weak to fly, feels like he's too weak to swim

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even. And Wendy's also weakened. Fortunately, one of the boys, Michael, I think it was Michael,

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had made a kite and it got away from him, and it was so strong, it was carried by the

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wind so well that the boys were... He kind of flew away with it. It took him off the

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ground. And so Peter, very chivalrously, chivalrously, yeah, ties this thing around Wendy's waist

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because she's like, oh, we'll try to straw this people. And he's like, never, you're

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a lady. You're not going to... I'm not going to risk my life or... No, you're not going

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to risk your life in this situation. I'm going to send you away, save your life, and if I

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die, I die, that's fine. So I really like that. I think it's really cool and it's really

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beautiful that he's willing to give up his life. And then he stands up, or I don't know

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if he's standing or not, but I imagine him standing, and he realizes he's going to die.

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And he says, what is it? It's so beautiful. To die will be an awfully big adventure. And

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he's ready. He's ready for it. This idea of Peter being ready to die, even though he never

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wanted to grow up, is shocking. It's striking. It's a very powerful idea to me. And I really

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don't know what to say about it. It makes me think about Hook's fear of death and Hook's

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fleeing from the crocodile. Peter's staying there. He can't flee anyway. If he tries to

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flee, he will die. So him staying there and just waiting death and waiting death with

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such a positive attitude that it will be a great adventure is interesting because, you

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know, like I said, Hook flees from the crocodile. And I'm trying to figure out how is it that

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Hook got into the Neverland? How did Hook and all these pirates get into the Neverland?

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It kind of makes me think that because Hook is so concerned about living or not dying,

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not being killed, eaten by the croc, which of course would be horrible and painful, I'm

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sure it's an awful way to die, he really fears death, which means he values life. So it makes

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me wonder, is it possible that Hook somehow came into the Neverland as a way to escape

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death and to have a kind of serial longevity? I believe that's the frame used. Well, that's

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the frame used around the lives of the elves in Tolkien's legendarium, you know, Lord of

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the Rings, Silmarillion, Hobbit, etc. And it's not that the elves can't die, it's that

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they don't get sick, for example, not naturally, I guess if they were poisoned by something,

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they might get sick from that, but it could be healed. But they can be killed, they can

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be murdered, they can be slain in battle. But they have these lives that are long, and

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they're purposely long, and they're actually not meant to die. And if they die, they can,

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their hurla, their soul, their spirit can actually be rehoused in a different body,

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or any body at a later date. I don't know if it's the same body, it looks the same,

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it has the same face and everything, or if it's a completely different body, or how that

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works necessarily with the elves. But they do have this serial longevity, which is, it's

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not that they're actually immortal, it's that they are so long-lived that it's as if they're

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immortal and they'll only die if they're killed. So like, was Hook seeking that kind of serial

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longevity for himself because he's so afraid of death? And that's why he wanted to go to

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the Neverland. But then again, the Neverland is only supposed to be found by those who

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the island wants to be there. So maybe the Indians, this is a whole new idea that's just

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coming to me right now, maybe the Indians are there, or the Redskins as they call them

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in this, Hook and the pirates, and any of the other dangers are in Neverland, the mermaids

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even, because the island wants them to be there, possibly because Peter, or the other

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children who are there, want them to be there as well. That's a really fascinating idea.

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I wonder if you have any thoughts on that, dear listener, because I'd never thought about

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this, like this stuff's just coming to me now, and I'm not sure what it means, and I'm

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not sure Barry knew what it meant, and I'm not sure he had that in mind, but he's not

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here for us to ask him, and I think as long as it tracks logically, we can look into things

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and think about things from this context going forward, and see if the Neverland having this

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will and drawing these characters to itself is a feasible theory, or a way to surmise

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how things happen in Neverland, and in the book. Certainly the island was looking for

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Peter and his companions, was it just Peter or was it his companions as well? I don't

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think we really know at this point, and I'm not sure there's a way to know. So anyway,

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that's all I have to say for this chapter. I ask that you like and share this if you

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enjoyed it. I want this channel to grow, and I want more people to learn about this project

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I'm doing, learn about this endeavor, I want more people to join in listening to me talking

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about this and other books, and I want to be able to have intelligent, honest conversations

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about these books and these stories. Yeah, I'm really looking forward to getting to the

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actual Fortress Fiction episode where I talk about whether or not this story is worthy,

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because there's some things in this book that are weird and outlandish, and I don't really

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think they fit for what it's supposed to be a good story for children, but then there's

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some fascinating things that are so beyond the child's mind that I think would only really

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hit the adult in a certain way, or in the intended way, and I find those things to be

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fascinating, and I'm really fascinated with this story, and I'm looking forward to talking

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about it in the future, but I would love to have more people to talk about it with as

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time goes on. So go ahead and subscribe to this channel as well for more. I'm putting

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out pretty much daily content of daily chapter-by-chapter discussions, reviews, reactions, as I'm reading

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through Peter Pan, and I plan to do that with the next book as well. The better it does

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with this book, the more inclined I am to do with the next book, and so on and so forth.

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So we'll see how that goes, and then I also encourage you to check out my other work.

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I have something called Henshin Inspection, where I talk about Japanese transforming superheroes,

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and that's a lot of fun. I also focus on story a lot on that, but I also focus on the spectacle,

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but there's spectacle in writing as well. The kind of genre or the kind of fiction I

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like is exciting and dynamic, and I mean books here. It's exciting and dynamic, and it's

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pop culture, but I think there's a lot of depth and there's a lot of meaning in that

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pop culture because it sticks with the reader, and they apply that to different things in

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their lives, and it helps them to see the world in a different way, better than certain

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other types of writing that don't stick with you so well are able to do. So anyway, yeah.

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I'm also writing books. I'm writing a book right now that I'm actually very much revising

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and getting edited so that I can publish it. It's going to be about magical bugs battling

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monsters. Yes, magical bugs battling monsters, and protecting children from these monsters.

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So I'm looking forward to getting that published and released and out to the masses at some

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time in 2024. Anyway, the more people that are interested in the stories that I'm interested

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in, the more people who are joining me in these conversations about these books, I think

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the better chance I have of finding people who will love the stories that I write because

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they're so inspired by the stories that I love as well. So anyway, that's all I have

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to say for now. Until next time, folks, take care, be well, and keep reading.

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I hope you enjoyed that. Go to MJMunoz.com to leave any questions, comments, or other

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feedback you might have. There you can find all of my analysis, art, and fiction. I cover

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comics, tokusatsu, comic books, anime, and more. Look around, you're sure to find something

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else that you'll enjoy as well. This has been a Story Over Everything production.