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This is MJ, I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer.

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You can find all my work at MJMunoz.com.

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Welcome to Red Panda Report.

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This time I'm talking about Red Panda Adventures episode 13 called The Hand of Fate.

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It was originally aired October 7th, 2006, written and directed by Greg Taylor of Dakota

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Ring Theatre.

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And I'll read to you the synopsis or the intro for the episode, the copy for the episode.

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A mysterious stranger dies in the street in front of the fashionable club Macaw.

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Were his claims of membership simply the sad ravings of yet another victim of hard times?

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Or is there something far more sinister at work?

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Could he truly have been the son of a wealthy house long thought dead?

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Can even the red panda and the flying squirrel succeed in a struggle with the hand of fate?

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So I love that this was a cool episode.

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It was fun, it was simple.

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There wasn't too much for me to go on about so this might end up being a shorter episode

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which I don't think is a problem for you or me.

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So anyway, I will just go ahead and get straight into it.

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There was some interesting banter that Kit had with some of the drivers of the other

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wealthy men who frequent the club Macaw.

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And her banter with them was interesting for a couple reasons.

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It kind of revealed a little bit about her character and it revealed, I mean there were

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some personal details that I don't really care to recount at the moment.

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Go listen to the episode, it's good stuff.

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But it revealed an interesting dynamic between her and Red Panda where she is a salt of the

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earth woman.

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She grew up, I don't know if she grew up poor, not necessarily, but she grew up as a lower

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class person and her dad had a big impact on her.

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She comes from a loving home and her mom still cares about her.

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She's very comfortable talking to these, not toughs, but just these normal guys who are

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very much blue collar.

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And it's interesting because it kind of shows how well rounded she is and the fact that

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she is also able to interact well with Red Panda.

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Mostly because I think that we can all agree that the idea of being a masked vigilante

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of running around beating up bad guys at night, that's more of a blue collar thing than a

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white collar thing.

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Yes it takes money and as Kit says in the episode, it takes money to keep in grapple

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guns and gas grenades, but also you could just go out there and use your fists to beat

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people up and stop primes and things like that.

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I get the feeling that being from that more blue collar world, that's what gives her the

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edge that she needs in order to be the flying squirrel and to have the interactions with

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Red Panda that she does.

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I think that's why there's that attraction to that pole there and partly why he has garnered

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her interest.

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I'll just leave it at that.

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And I think that's pretty cool.

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There's a funny bit where, like I said, I kind of spoiled this for myself already.

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He brings up, hey, you'd like me if I was one of these blue collar guys, wouldn't you?

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You'd like me better.

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And she says no because then you wouldn't have the money to provide me with the awesome

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panda mobile and everything else that we have.

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So like I said, that's kind of interesting.

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And that divide between them, I don't know that too much is made of it or that something

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is made of it throughout the entire series and it's like a thing that needs to come up

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time and time again, but it is definitely kind of present here.

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And it's just, it's kind of fun.

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I mean, he is a have and she's from the have not.

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So I guess it makes sense that it would be talked about.

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And I guess I appreciate the realism of that in this crazy fictional world.

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And yeah, that's about that.

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It is interesting that they bring up the money and the divide and the wealth because it turns

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out that this episode is about people being consumed by greed and wanting money and being

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willing to do just about anything to get it.

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And red Panda in his secret identity uses his hypnosis to a small degree to interrogate

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a woman who's the relative of the guy mentioned in the beginning of the, well, he's in the

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beginning of the episode and he's mentioned in the copy.

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He's the long clock dead guy who ends up dying in front of the club, club McCall.

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And one of his relatives, I believe it's his sister is interviewed by red Panda.

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Excuse me.

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And he only uses a light hypnotic spell on her because he calls it a spell.

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That's kind of weird, you know, like a lore and world building stuff that I hadn't remembered.

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And he actually calls it a spell despite the fact that it's more science and technique

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than, you know, actual magic.

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Anyway, he gets this lady to talk to some extent, but he won't push the spell because

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he doesn't want to reveal who he is or tip his hand too much, I guess, and give a hint

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to the fact that he might be that marvelous mass mystery man.

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So that was kind of cool.

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And I like his interactions with people in his secret identity.

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Actually, I mean, yeah, yes, I like his interactions with people as his secret identity, not just

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him being in a cover ID, but when he's interacting with others of his class, let's say, and he's

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not trying to let them on to who he is or what he can do.

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It's interesting, especially because the contrast, you know, you know who he is as Red Panda,

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and then seeing him be this other person is, you know, it's dynamic.

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So that's fun.

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And again, I'm bringing up the fact that these wealthy people, excuse me, I guess I'm not

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giving away the plot quite yet.

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So basically, wealthy people are coordinating with a scientist at a, I guess, an insane

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asylum.

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And they're basically doing that in order to secure themselves the fortunes of their

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families while having their relatives squirreled away, so to speak, and hidden from public

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view with the excuse that they're insane, or the claim that they're insane.

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Is it true?

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Is it not?

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Again, you had to listen to the episode to find out the intricacies of that.

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And I guess I'll spill a little bit of it now, because, you know, we get to see this

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interesting, this interesting interaction where Kit goes to the jail, or to the asylum,

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rather, and it's been four days, apparently.

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And Red Panda thinks it's only been a few hours, but he was so drugged up on some, I

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just spilled it right there.

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He was so drugged up on this concoction that was made by the people at the asylum that

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he was mollified, he was pacified.

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He was basically in a cage of his own mind, and she was able to use a clever trick to

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fix that for him and get him out of there.

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But yeah, I mean, and then things resolve themselves, basically.

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They help the people who are there under false pretenses, and justice or revenge is done

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to the bad guys who put them there, to some extent.

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And that's basically it.

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It was a pretty simple, straightforward episode, and I know there was a lot of neat stuff in

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it, so definitely one that I enjoyed.

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Something that I really enjoyed was that there's a little bit of Chief O'Malley maybe coming

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around to them, that's mentioned, and there's also, well, and the reason Chief O'Malley

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might be coming around to them, and he has closed down the crime scene so they can check

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it out, he's apparently informed, a flying squirrel, of this, is because there's a new

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villain who's mentioned but not seen, he doesn't appear here, called the Genie, who robs

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banks with the aid of a flying carpet, and there will be more Genie to come.

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So you know, I actually need to check my notes now and find out if I need to pause in talking

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about all these different episodes and actually get into one of the books.

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I might have to do that.

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Yes, I might.

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Let me see.

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Maybe I won't.

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If the books reveal Red Panda's name, his secret identity, then I don't necessarily

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want to do that.

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I don't know, I'll have to think about that again.

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And anyway, if you see a book review, a book analysis, whatever, coming out of Red Panda,

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then you'll know my decision and you'll learn his name early, but we'll see.

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We'll see what happens.

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Anyway, with that, I'm going to go ahead and get out of here.

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If you enjoyed this, check around the website for more stuff.

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I've got other Red Panda episodes.

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I've got episodes covering the shadow and I'm going to leave it at that.

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So check that stuff out until next time, folks.

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Take care.

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This is MJ signing out.

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I hope you enjoyed that.

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Go to MJMunoz.com to leave any questions, comments or other feedback you might have.

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There you can find all of my analysis, art and fiction.

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I cover books, tokusatsu, comic books, anime and more.

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Look around.

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You're sure to find something else that you'll enjoy as well.

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This has been a story over everything production.