#and its not even mental gymnastics or “trying ti defend him”

[beachesgetpeaches]

All i want to say is thank you for what youre posting about this whole situation with matty and taylor. I personally think your responses are well thought out. Sure matty makes some really really bad choices in what he says or does and even acts etc. But that doesnt make him this evil person, the narrative people are trying to push.

I mean after all taylor did choose to be with him whether thats a relationship or friendship or whatever it may be. And if shes happy why start petitions to remove him from tour when clearly she wants him there. Yes i get he is problematic but thats not for fans to dictate who she spends her time with. There is no reason ANYONE should receive death threats, especially family members that have done nothing. We get so caught up and forget that celebrities are still people they still have feelings and they do take things to heart, so people saying they hope he OD's or relapses? That's is pretty messed up in itself.

The amount of hate he is getting is ridiculous, ive seen different articles and comments and whatnot contradicting each other on what and why things were said. But immediately we all jump to cancel someone, i agree if it was done in malice intent why would they still be a band? That is an excellent point. Honestly everyone is up in arms because shes dating someone who yes, does tend to be problematic. Should there be someone from their team (the 1975) to comment on the situation? Maybe, but that also could make things also worst. Noone knows for a fact what went on. Yes theres proof of him saying this but also no factual proof of him actually doing so, if that makes sense. Yes, joking or not, should not had been daid period.

Another point is if you do watch interviews, hes a different. He is into satire and you can tell. Not trying to make excuses for what hes said. Joking or not some of the things he has said he probably shouldn't have looking back, but you cant go back in time and change it so whats the point of dwelling on it. He also said he doesnt know himself and hes not going to form this idea of him because then every question or statement becomes a nightmare in interactions.

Long rant short, just thank you for standing up and speaking out. Yes these sites should be taken down and quiet honestly if people would focus their rage there instead of in threats there could be a difference. The fact they made these site so accessible and posting them. Thats the issue. This whole situation was bad from the jump but again desth threats and bashing on peoples careers, cancelling them... its not it.

Sorry!! Took a bit to answer this one bcs it was long 😅

Thank you, I've been thinking this through for the past few weeks (or so it seems to me), so I've had the time to construct my thought and opinions. And I was going to try to stay out of it because I thought/felt that getting into any discussions will just fuel the topic further while not getting through to people who have already condemn everything Matty does and Taylor alongside him.

But the level of horrible behaviour has reached its peak for me when I heard about death threats being sent, people saying they hope Matty ODs (ffs that one was very vile to read about), the open letter to Taylor was also a step too far for me (esp signing it as if it is the thoughts of the entire fandom), and then initiatives that people who go to specific shows turn around and not look at Taylor while she sings (I've heard second-hand about this BUT this would fuck with the entire show not for Taylor but for EVERYONE who is at that show)... basically, I just felt like if I don't say what I think it seemed as if I was agreeing with all of it.

I think it all comes down to some form of critical thinking, and also thinking for yourself. I have seen a lot of people parrot half-truths, repeat information which has not been true (from Matty liking nazi jokes - which I haven't seen evidence for, to some ww2 memorabilia comment which is false, and people also trying to spread shit like he is a pedophile or smth vile like that)... And it leaves this weird feeling in my brain, this whole outrage and cancel culture. Lowkey feels like tame public executions 😂 and I say this with utmost sensitivity.

But to me the world has come down to people actually actively waiting for someone to fuck up so they can do some symbolic online lynch and cancel them. Hashtags instead of pitchforks, cancellation instead as metaphorical death of a celebrity.

This situation with Matty (and I will focus more on him because Taylor really is the catalyst but she is very secondary to the discourse; or she should be)... but the thing with Matty proves that you can do a lot of positive shit, and you can say a lot of supportive things, and you can show through both your art and actions that you are a decent human being (flawed but decent) ... and none of it will matter if you do something that "the people/public" disagree with.

It ends up formulated as you being fake/performative because you are not constantly adhering to this morally perfect picture expected of you. Matty is clearly not perfect, he has clearly messed up on multiple occasions BUT he has also talked about important issues from what I've seen.

Sidenote: I have watched that interview with Zack Lowe (I think?) and it is very insightful and gives a nice perspective on the way he thinks.

But none of this matters because people (specific groups right) have already decided to treat him as if he has done the worst things imaginable (I maintain that all he should really be accused of is ongoing insensitivity and not finking things frew; iykyk... and like if that's an issue we can just be like yo Matty that was not chill pls don't and that ahould be it).

None of it matters because when you try to talk to people about the other point of view you end ip blocked or given the same "proof" you've already seen (but it's like a different compilation or a new thread or another copy paste article).

None of it matters because no one is ready to recognize that Matty is not anti-semitic, racist, islamophobic, or generally a bad human (all of this based on the gift that my hyperfixation is which has enabled me to consume so much info on the man and the band in the past weeks)... I maintain that for condemnation on those counts you need proof of continuous and purposeful behaviour with malicious intent.

And it would actually be much better to discuss his fuck-ups (which I believe he has accepted he will have, thats what I got from some interview I watched)... anyway, it would be much better to discuss his fuck ups in the context of those specific fuck-ups without pulling out heavy artillery of -isms, -phobics, etc.

....... ok I wrote a shitton lets wrap up

I went off on a tangent here, but I think we need to be realistic. As, I've said if Matty truly was all of the things he has been accused of the band would be no more, the fandom would not support them at all, there would be massive public condemnation, he would most definitely not be hanging out with A LOT of people who seem normal - unless I guess we are going to subscribe to the theory that eeeeveryone is a horrible fascist person (Taylor, Jack, the entire 1975, Gigi, Phoebe, Bo, Ryan, etc etc... I guess now Ice Spice is in the mix of people "collabing/hanging out" so lmao let's add her to that mix).

In general I think people use "heavy-words" too much in these online discourses which in retrospect dims their impact, yknow. Like is Matty insensitive edgy and has he said things that likely should not have been said/done? Yeah, like newsflash every person is flawed and literally for every person saying he is a nazi/racist/phobe/etc bet if I had as many recordings of them talking about various issues - I would be able to cherry-pick some shit out.

Anyway... people will stay mad, and people will stay believing that what they see is the ultimate and only "real" truth (while also knowing that they have only been privy to a small percentage of those peoples lives).

And when it comes to Taylor there has been this most fascinating thing with her - people just LOVE to watch her fall from grace. There is somehow nothing people enjoy more than having "proof" that Taylor is not this perfect good girl "she portrays herself to be", when all along it was the people who have put her on a damn pedestal and treated her as some perfect human being who can do no wrong.

[scribeofmorpheus]

Opposing Elements Part 3 (Peter Parker x Reader)

Part One, Part Two

A/N: Ahhh! So I had waaaayyy too much fun writing from Peter’s point of view, as a result, we were gifted with a lot of rambling and playful dialogue! Not much reader presence in this chapter, but we do get to see things from Peter’s POV! (Also, I’ll be travelling for the next few days and even though I did a quick spellcheck I’m sure there are a few (many) mistakes I overlooked. I’ll fix that later. I just had to update this fic! It was overdue!)

Remember: Reader is a version of Felicia Hardy AKA Black Cat

Words: 2086

Warnings: Does Crime fighting and therapy multitasking count? Some angst.

(Gif isn’t mine)

Peter’s POV

Peter was perched atop one of the thousand fire escapes on one of the indistinguishable apartment buildings in Queens. His mask was lifted up from the bottom half of his face as he snacked on a Snickers bar. Legs dangling over the edge like he was a little kid at a play park. He was exhausted, but not from crime fighting, sadly. To his dismay, it was one of the slowest nights he'd had in a while. The most action he'd gotten was saving a cat from a tree. Twice! And it was the same cat.

He had patrolled many dark alleyways and shady corners the last month alone. He and Ned had been slowly working towards finding all the remaining alien tech the Vulture -Adrian Toomes- had repurposed and sold on the black market. It hadn't been easy. Tracking down alien technology was time-consuming and difficult, he and Ned barely had any free time lately. He was a little disappointed that he had to miss attending Felicia's gymnastic try-outs today. He really wanted to be there for her.

"Hey, Karen, anything?" Peter asked the AI in his suit, he was getting impatient.

"Nothing as yet, Peter."

"Great," Peter groaned.  He was in need of blowing off some steam. After everything that happened with Liz and her dad, for which he felt partially responsible, Peter had been a little on edge. It didn't help that Aunt May found out about his leading a double life either. She had sworn that if she ever saw him wearing the colours red, blue and white together, on a night that wasn't Halloween where it'd only be acceptable if he dressed as Captain America, she would ground him for life. Either that or she'd slowly kill him with walnut-date loaves. Everything was just so much more complicated now.

With Felicia's return, things just seemed to get even more complicated. He had missed her fiercely when she left, she had been his only friend back then. She was like this unstoppable whirlwind that set its sights on him one day and, for some reason or the other, she had swept him up and carried him away. Away from the bullies and the stolen lunch money. Away from having to think about his parents all the time. She was a force to be reckoned with, but at least then he knew what his feelings for her were. He knew what she had meant to him -and he to her. But now, now they didn't seem to fit so well together anymore. Like two puzzle pieces from two separate puzzles that once looked identical. Turns out they weren't.

To make matters worse keeping secrets from Felicia felt unnatural. When she had asked about the bruise he couldn't bare lying to her face. Not when they stood so close together and she hung her slender arm around his. So the best he could offer her was a half-truth. He had gotten the bruise from falling on gym equipment, the truth was he had gotten the bruise when some hoodlum in possession of a magnetic field generator weapon had flung a piece of gym equipment at him.

Peter sighed, "Anything yet, Karen?"

"No, Peter."

"Oh man! I have so much homework to do. Can't these guys just hurry up and take the bait? I mean it's not like I don't have a life of my own ya' know. Why is it criminals always show up at the most inconvenient of ti--"

"Peter, my scanners have honed in on a frequency. It appears we have some activity," Karen interrupted.

"Yes!" Peter exclaimed excitedly as he pulled the mask over his face completely. He stuffed the candy wrapper in his bag and webbed it to the fire escape. "Let's go re-poses some alien weaponry!"

***

When he reached the source of the frequency, Peter had spotted four guys, all heavily armed with weird looking alien tech. They were loading a truck with duffle bags. They had probably just robbed an ATM or something. Peter mentally scolded himself for failing to stop the robbery before it had occurred.

Peter crawled up to the ceiling from the wall to get to a better vantage point. Once positioned perfectly above them he used his enhanced vision to focus on the gang of criminals.

"Alright, one more score like this and then we're set!" Said the largest of the four, he was without a doubt proud of his winnings.

"Come on, come on! Hurry up! Don't want to be around when the fuzz shows up," one wearing a red bandana around his face hurried the others.

"Or that Spider-Dude," the smallest one added. They all laughed at him. Peter tried not to take much offence.

"Would you like to activate instant kill mode, Peter?" Karen asked innocently.

"W-What, no, no. Karen, we talked about this. No instant kill," Peter panicked for a fleeting second, keeping his voice low so as to avoid detection.

"Acknowledged."

He slowly descended down towards the truck using his retractable web sling. The four men were too preoccupied with stuffing the van to notice Peter was suspended above them. Peter stayed there, hovering above them for a few extra seconds hoping one of them would notice him, but to his chagrin, they didn't.

His second wave of impatience hit him and Peter cleared his throat to garner their attention, "Hey, not to be a buzzkill, but would you guys mind returning all the money you stole?" He quipped childishly.

The big guy pointed his weapon at Peter and fired off a pulse beam, Peter avoided the beam by somersaulting away and landing a few feet away. The surrounding windows of the building screeched in distress before they exploded, the resulting effect was a beautiful yet dangerous shower of microscopic glass shards falling to the ground. Peter shielded himself under some cover.

"I guess that's a no then?"

"You two-" the big guy pointed to the smaller, unarmed two of the group, "-keep loading the truck. We got this," confidence practically oozing off him as he urged his bandana wearing companion to join him in his fight.

If Peter hadn't faced guys twice as dangerous as him, he may have wavered for a second. The smaller guys (including the one who had called him 'Spider-Dude') hurried their efforts to fill the truck with the duffle bags.

"Karen, notify the police, someone's gotta return all that money," Peter ordered.

"The police have been notified."

"Who is he talking to?" The armed man with the bandana asked the bigger guy, who in turn shrugged. He seemed just as confused as his partner in crime.

"Probably hallucinating from all that blood rushing to his brain from hanging upside-down for so long."

"You're familiar with the basic physics concept of gravity weighing down on your organs due to the human body being upside down, thereby crushing your lungs causing asphyxiation which can lead to side effects like hallucinations or blurred vision?" Peter asked in surprise.

The large man didn't answer, he chose to fire off his pulse weapon instead. Peter dodged the energy pulse, barely, with another summersault. He then used one of his webs to swing around and kick him in the back. He went down easy.

"The bigger they are, the harder they fall," Peter said with a cool head and a touch of self-gratification. This was exactly the kind of mind-numbing distraction he needed.

In a moment of hysterics, the other armed man fired his weapon carelessly in a flurry of pulsing attacks. Eventually, the power was too much for one ordinary man to withstand and he was blown away by the very weapon he used to defend himself. Ironic, Peter thought.

In short time he managed to subdue all the criminals and webbed them up in a collective ball to the side of the truck. He was about to make his grand exit when his suit notified him he had an incoming call. The caller ID read: Felicia.

"Would you like to accept the call, Peter?" Karen's constantly calm and composed voice was always hard to adjust to after taking on a few criminals in a rush of adrenaline and aerial kicks.

Peter debated whether or not to take the call, "I- I don't know, maybe? Actually, n- no. I can't talk to her right now. But what if she thinks I'm avoiding her? Or worse, what if she thinks I'm a terrible friend for standing her up twice in one day. First with the auditions and now this phone call… No, I'll just call her and apologise later. Y- Yeah, that's what I'll do."

"The call already went to voicemail," Karen informed him too late.

"Uh, hey! Spider-Dude, are you… are you alright?" Asked the smallest of the four men roped up in the ball of webs. His voice soft and sincere. He was definitely the furthest thing from a hardened criminal, Peter thought.

Peter turned to him, he could feel his cheeks flush from embarrassment, it was a good thing he was wearing a mask. He never meant for anyone to witness his little inner dialogue of indecision with himself, let alone the guys he just strung up. Although, since they were all here and not going anywhere anytime soon, Peter decided to make do with what he was given. He sat cross-legged, facing towards the balled mass of men stuck to the side of the truck, he figured it wouldn't hurt to get a second opinion on his current relationship problems.

"Okay so here's the deal: there's this girl right, we used to be besties back in the day, when we were kids, but then she moved away and things… changed. We both changed. But now she's back and at first, ya' know, I was happy, I got my best friend back and I figured things could go back to the way they used to be. Except, they didn't."

Peter used his hands as visual aids as he moved them about from point A to B to A again actively, the four men were forced to do nothing but listen to him overshare about his current predicament, "To be honest, I don't really understand it. When she's happy, I'm happy and when she's sad I get so exasperated because I can't help her. To make things worse, I have this whole other secret life I can't tell her about and lying to her, even by omission, is killing me!"

"Why don't you just tell her how you feel?" the small guy asked.

"Yeah, just tell her how you feel," one of his companions backed him up.

Peter let out an exasperated sigh, "See, that's the thing, I don't know what it is exactly I feel for her. Don't get me wrong, she's amazing and quick-witted and has a horrible habit of swearing all the time -which I find hilarious… "

"But?"

"But, my last relationship didn't end well and I was somewhat responsible for how things ended. I just- I don't want that to happen with her. I don't want to hurt her, I also don't want to ruin what we have," Peter's head hung low, he didn't realise this had bothered him so much.

"Maybe you should stop trying to control everything and just let her decide," the largest of the men offered. Peter hadn't expected someone like him to say something like that, he was at a loss for words.

"Peter, the authorities are closing in. I recommend leaving now," Karen informed him.

"I gotta jet, thanks for everything. You are all great listeners."

Peter left before any of them could say anything, the distant sounds of the sirens blaring through the wind.

***

Peter climbed through his bedroom window still clad in his suit, he had been so preoccupied with making sure Aunt May didn't see or hear him that when a lively feminine voice spoke out he had nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Spider-Man?" Felicia gasped in utter astonishment.

Peter whipped his head around so fast he nearly gave himself whiplash, "Wh-What? Who-"

Suddenly he realised his voice still sounded like him. Peter cleared his throat and deepened his voice to an almost comical extent, "Hey, this isn't my apartment!" He tried to sound perplexed.

"Obviously," Felicia said sarcastically.

She squinted her eyes at him, he knew that look, she was definitely thinking up a storm in that brilliant mind of hers. Peter had to find a way to throw her off the scent.

"Uh… “His mind drew a blank. Peter couldn't think of a smart way to try and explain why exactly Spider-Man was in Peter Parker's bedroom.” I’ll just-" Peter pointed at the window and seconds later he flung himself out of it, leaving Felicia looking on completely flabbergasted.

"What the hell just happened?" Peter heard Felicia ask herself in astonishment.

"Next time, use the fire escape," he spoke out loud to himself. "Oh, shit my backpack!" Peter shouted, his voice normalised, as he swung away from his apartment building back in the direction he came from to pick up the third backpack he had forgotten.

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As always: I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I know I did! If you want to be added to the tag list don’t be afraid to ask!

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[ayearofpike]

Scavenger Hunt

Pocket Books, 1989 215 pages, 13 chapters + prologue & epilogue ISBN 0-671-73686-8 LOC: CPB Box no. 1779 vol. 24 OCLC: 222111517  Released June 10, 1989 (per B&N)

The whole senior class was excited for the end-of-year scavenger hunt, especially when the teacher in charge announced the grand prize as a week-long trip to Hawaii. Carl Timmons was doubly excited when the sexiest girl in school invited him to be a part of her team. But as the clues progressed, as they got farther and farther from normal and the teams got farther and farther from town, Carl started to suspect that his teammates had nefarious intent. Even then, though, there was no way he could have ever deduced that the whole thing was a revenge plot by his dead best friend effected by a pair of sexy lizard teens.

Is this the one we’ve all been waiting for? It’s certainly been memed as the craziest, as far as I can tell. And up to this point, maybe it is. The only supernatural characters we’ve had in Pike books already covered are Vulture Girl and Ghost Detective. Everything else has been scientifically plausible, and conjecture about powers beyond the mundane is either disproven or not discussed enough to be a legitimate part of the plot. And even in those other two, the setting and storyline sticks pretty close to the realm of the possible. So yeah, this one goes pretty buckwild.

The funny thing is that I don’t remember it being so crazy the first time I read it. Maybe it’s partly because I read it at an overnight lock-in in a church, which is the setting for the prologue and the grand finale, that the whole thing seemed plausible. Like, sure, this is the kind of place where I’m supposed to feel safe, and I do when I'm surrounded by my friends and leaders, but who knows what could happen? A lizard dude could kick down that door and garrote the priest, maybe. Thinking back on this creeps the ever-living shit out of me. Where the hell was my brain at thirteen that I could have imagined and maybe even expected something like this? Not to mention the sheer gall of reading horror books about horny teenagers in church, which is just one reason why I half expect to burst into flame when I walk into one today.

Obviously, Carl wasn’t totally safe in the church either. The priest in the confessional created a convenient plot device to recap the story, as Carl retells his side of events while hiding from the lizards. He chose the sexy girl’s team over the team with his old maybe flame (we’ll get back to this) and the three-years-younger wheelchair-bound valedictorian. Part of that is duh boobs, but another part is that the valedictorian’s older sister was the girlfriend of Carl’s best friend, who died in a freak flash flood in the desert. This might seem implausible to those who haven’t spent a whole lot of time in the Southwest, but it can and does happen: when it rains, it pours, and the ground is so hard and dry that the water doesn’t soak in, rather racing downhill and gathering volume at sometimes terrifying rates, sweeping away whatever is in its path.

So Carl tried to save his friend but couldn’t, and the girlfriend hates him for surviving where her man did not, and so Carl would rather avoid dealing with it. This seems to be Carl’s default reaction to most things. He’s done well enough in school to get through it, he works at a garage with a bunch of assholes but won’t defend himself or his friends, and he’s more or less totally shut down emotionally in the wake of the drowning. The only people he talks to are the valedictorian and his old buddy who hurt himself playing football and hasn’t been mentally the same since, never mind that nobody else knows this guy and Carl himself can’t remember how and when he got injured.

The maybe flame sees and resents this a little bit, which we understand through Pike’s continued use of the two-person POV. Remember when I read Weekend and I said I thought it was a sporadic instance of a technique? Maybe I’m remembering later works, because it’s already showed up eight times in thirteen books (and four of those have at least four). So we've got Tracie White in addition to Carl Timmons telling us what's going on in our new bullshit-small-town of Express, California, population 20K with a senior class of 300. Like, I seriously don't know how he can call these places "nothing towns" (19) with a straight face. On the other hand, though, there were plenty of people in my 2K+ high school in my city of 500K who felt like it was a one-horse town they couldn't wait to get out of. Maybe there's just a teenager tendency to diss the place you live by calling it a nowheresville. I'll grant Pike the benefit of the doubt here, while continuing to acknowledge that he undersells the plight of real small-town kids.

But anyway, Tracie and her team are neck-and-neck with Carl and his team as far as deciphering the clues goes. It makes sense, when you consider that Tracie's paired with the valedictorian and Carl's desire girl's brother (also on the team, along with the football buddy) was, as student body president, partly responsible for setting up the scavenger hunt, although he claims to have no inside knowledge of where it will take them. Still, both teams seem to meet each other at the location of each clue, and they don't see anybody else from school once the hunt takes them off campus. Implausible, yes, and even more so in the chapter where they spend like an hour in a clue location trying to figure out together where the next one might be.  Is the whole senior class that mind-bogglingly stupid, or do these teams have a different set of clues from everyone else?

We already know the answer to that – I gave it away in the intro paragraph. It seems that when Carl's best friend was taken by the flood, it washed him into an underground cavern carved by these lizard creatures over millions of years. Lizard Brother and Lizard Sister took the body as a gift: they need vengeance to sustain their lives, and the best friend thinking he'd been abandoned to drown would do the trick nicely. So they reanimated his body, hypnotized essentially the entire town into thinking he was an injured football star who'd always been there, and set up the scavenger hunt as a ruse to get Carl to the cave for ritual sacrifice. This means we're not just dealing with sexy lizard teens – they're also magical immortal dinosaurs.

But what about Tracie's team? Was it necessary for them to tag along? Wouldn't it make for problems if four people tried to fight rather than just one? Well, sure, but to set up the whole scenario the lizard teens had to integrate into school for the year, and over the course of two semesters the valedictorian had pissed off the sexy lizard brother enough that it was decided he needed to die too. Life sucks for nerds in 1989. The valedictorian handles it surprisingly calmly; way better than Carl, in fact. Like, Carl acknowledges that he's the reason everybody is in danger in the first place, but remember, when we met him, he has run for his life and is seeking shelter in a church. BY HIMSELF. As in, he didn't try to take anybody with him. Meanwhile, the valedictorian, knowing he is about to be killed and thinking that it will save the lives of his sister and his friends, ties HIMSELF to his own wheelchair to make it easier on Lizard Brother.

However, there's a crack in the ancient armor here. Apparently, going after more kids than just Carl was never part of the plan, and it has pissed off Lizard Sister. She screws with the magic that is supposed to transfer the valedictorian's essence and kills him instantly and painlessly, rather than the drawn-out and painful sacrifice that Lizard Brother intended. Should we seek out the sliver of hope that this reveals? Carl's not sure yet. After all, she doesn't attempt to derail her brother's announced intent to hunt Carl in the desert, which is how he set to running in the first place. But when they do catch up with him, she plants subliminal messages in the two remaining girls, trying to guide them to catch her brother on fire. It takes a few tries and more mental gymnastics from Lizard Sister, but when they do put the prayer candle to his head, the dude literally EXPLODES. Only here does she sort of explain her motivations, involving more than just murdering humans to stay alive. She’s starting to become curious about society and emotions, prime among which is wanting to understand Tracie's feeling for Carl (and, like, we feel you, girl) and the desire to know in general what is love.

I don't really care for how much we're supposed to piece together ourselves in this final sequence. There's an exchange between the lizards where she tells him he should have never taken her for a lover (oh, did I not mention that they were apparently incestuous sexy lizard teens?) and that he never knew exactly who she was. But then she also doesn't explain it to the kids after all else is over. What's the difference between these two lizards? How can she touch the fire without hurting herself when the dude blowed up real good? Is she some kind of different species or creature or being altogether than Lizard Brother, or is she just yanking us around?

Also, Zombie Best Friend refuses her invitation to come with her and stays in the church by himself after everyone leaves. But um ... then what? Is he alive, or is he gone? Is he immortal too, or is he going to crumble as soon as no more magic is holding him up? Why can't the friends take him to a final resting spot? These are questions that don't seem like Pike even considered answering, which makes the closure feel kind of incomplete. We're left with a disappearing lizard girl who threatens future contact, a no-longer-dead guy in a ruined church, a sister without a satisfying answer for where her dead brother went, and a romance that in light of certain cowardly actions makes even less sense than it did to Tracie at the beginning of the book.

Still, the story has that feel, you know? Like we're exploring things that are new and unique, and these areas are tacitly forbidden which is what makes it interesting. I'm sure Pike was not the first novelist ever to write magical immortal dinosaurs, but the way he handled it made it interesting and maybe even plausible, at least to a fucked-up thirteen-year-old at a church overnight.

[dbarajas03-blog]

IRON FIST

At 19, Danny is given the chance to attain the power of the Iron Fist by fighting and defeating the dragon Shou-Lao the Undying, who guards the molten heart that had been torn from its body. Guessing that the heart provides life energy to Shou-Lao through the dragon-shaped scar on its chest, Danny covers the scar with his own body and hangs on until Shou-Lao collapses and dies, in the process burning a dragon brand into his own chest. Having killed Shou-Lao, he enters its cave and plunges his fists into a brazier containing the creature's molten heart, emerging with the power of the Iron Fist. It is later revealed that Danny is part of a long lineage of Iron Fists. 

Powers and Abilities

Plunging his fists into the molten heart of the dragon Shou-Lao the Undying infused the dragon's superhuman energy into Rand. This, along with being trained by Lei Kung the Thunderer, gave Rand the power of the Iron Fist, allowing him to summon and focus his chi energy (also called natural energy or life force energy) to enhance his natural abilities to extraordinary levels. His strength, speed, stamina, durability, agility, reflexes and senses can all be greatly intensified. He is able to concentrate his own chi and the superhuman energy from Shou-Lao's heart into his hand, with it manifesting as a supernatural glow around his hand and fist. So concentrated, this "iron fist" can strike with superhuman hardness and impact, while his hand becomes impervious to pain and injury. However, summoning the power required by this feat leaves Rand physically and mentally drained, unable to repeat the act for a time, as long as an entire day in certain instances, though after years of using the ability, it has become less draining. He can focus his chi inward to heal himself or outward to heal others of injury, as well as to give himself psychic senses and to telepathically fuse his consciousness with another person. Rand is also a skilled acrobat, gymnast, and a master of all of K'un Lun's martial arts, as well as various fighting styles from Earth, including Shaolin Kung Fu, Aikido, Fujian White Crane, Judo, Karate, Muay Thai, Ninjutsu and Wing Chun. Rand's reflexes are enhanced to greater levels than normal humans. He can react fast enough to catch bullets. Rand can generate a chi-based "aura" radiating from his body to protect himself from energy based attacks to a varied degree, and make himself more resilient against physical damage. If he sustains injury or illness, Rand can focus his chi for the purposes of healing his injuries. On the brink of death after a battle with Radion the Atomic Man, Daniel received a vision of Yu-Ti revealing that "the Iron Fist is not a weapon but a force of will which could perform miracles including healing," saving his life. By focusing enough he can even purge his own body of poison, however, Rand experienced great pain in the process. Recently he has proven capable of healing himself almost unconsciously and does not feel drained in doing so. Rand can also channel this energy into other people. The possibility of a slowed aging process much like his predecessor Orson Randall. Through focus and meditation, Danny can sustain himself for extended periods of time in extreme temperature environments. When he was transported to another dimension together with the Eye of Agamotto, Doctor Strange's mentor, the Ancient One appeared to him. Iron Fist was sent back to Earth, with a new outfit. The new outfit provided by the Ancient One gave Iron Fist immunity to magic.

Bio

In Heros For Hire, Misty Knight infiltrates the organization of crime lord John Bushmaster. When Bushmaster discovers Knight's treachery, he kidnaps Claire Temple and Noah Burstein, close associates of Luke Cage, better known as Power Man, and holds them hostage to force Cage to eliminate Knight. Iron Fist is on hand to stop him, however, and after a battle, the truth comes out. Rand helps Cage and the Daughters of the Dragon (Knight and Wing) battle Bushmaster, rescue Temple and Burstein, and obtain evidence that proves Cage's innocence of prior drug charges. Afterward, Iron Fist and Power Man become partners, forming Heroes for Hire, Inc. Iron Fist, in his secret identity of Danny Rand, resumes control of his parents' fortune as half of Rand-Meachum, Inc., making him quite wealthy. This causes tension between Rand and Cage, who was raised poor. Power Man and Iron Fist's partnership ends with Rand contracting cancer and being kidnapped as part of a plot masterminded by Master Khan. Just prior to a battle with the Black Dragon Chiantang (the brother of the mythical Dragon King), Danny is replaced by a doppelgänger created by the extra-dimensional H'ylthri. The double (who wears a red variant of the Iron Fist costume) is killed by Captain Hero a short time later. Cage, now the prime suspect in Rand's apparent death, becomes a fugitive. Then in Resurrection, Iron Fist manages to focus his chi, curing his cancer, while in stasis in K'un-L'un with the H'ylthri. He is later freed from stasis by Namor.Rand and Cage reform Heroes for Hire, Inc. with an expanded team, this time working for Namor's Oracle Corporation. Namor ultimately dissolves Oracle as well as Heroes for Hire, Inc. Iron Fist later loses his powers to Junzo Muto, the young leader of the Hand, and subsequently becomes the guardian of a pack of displaced dragons in Tokyo. His powers are eventually restored by Chiantang, who brainwashes Iron Fist and forces him to battle Black Panther. Black Panther is able to free Iron Fist from the creature's control, and the two work together to defeat the Black Dragon in Wakanda. In the Iron Fist miniseries, Miranda Rand-K'ai also returns from the dead. The H'ylthri revive her and promise to restore her to full life if she retrieves the extra-dimensional artifact known as the Zodiac Key. To this end, she takes the identity of Death Sting, bringing her into conflict with Iron Fist as well as with S.H.I.E.L.D. When the H'ylthri try to kill Iron Fist, Miranda turns the power of the Zodiac Key against them, seemingly killing herself in the process. However, exposure to chemicals from the H'ylthri pods prevented her death.In The Immortal Iron Fist Orson Randall, Danny Rand's immediate predecessor, seeks out Danny Rand in New York and gives him The Book of the Iron Fist, a sacred ledger supposedly containing all the kung fu secrets of previous Iron Fists, which Randall claims will be necessary if Rand is to compete successfully in the coming tournament of the Seven Champions. The Steel Serpent, whose powers have been greatly augmented by the Crane Mother, dispatches Randall. On the brink of death, Randall surrenders his chi to Rand, giving him sufficient power to battle the Serpent to a standstill. After the battle, Rand is summoned by his master, Lei Kung (who is also the father of Steel Serpent) to compete in a tournament that will decide the cycle according to which each of the Seven Cities of Heaven appears on Earth. However, the leaders of the Seven Cities had secretly erected gateways between Earth and each city without the knowledge of the populace. The corruption of the leaders of the Seven Cities of Heaven spurs Iron Fist, Lei Kung, Orson Randall's daughter, and John Aman to plan a revolution. Iron Fist discovers that Crane Mother and Xao, a high-ranking HYDRA operative, are planning to destroy K'un Lun by using a portal. Upon learning of the plot, Steel Serpent helps Rand and the other Immortal Weapons defeat Xao. However, when Rand returns to New York, he finds a HYDRA cell waiting for him at Rand International, seeking retribution for the death of Xao, and holding Misty hostage. In the ensuing battle, Rand International is destroyed, but Rand and Misty escape unharmed. Now left with only a fraction of his former net worth, Rand and Misty purchase a new condo in Harlem, and Rand decides to focus all of his attention and remaining resources at the Thunder Dojo. While moving into their new home, Rand asks Misty to marry him. Initially skeptical of the offer, Misty accepts and reveals that she is pregnant with Rand's child.

Significance

Danny Rand is one of the most powerfully-diverse characters in the Marvel Universe as he possesses so many abilities. Other than, the overrated characters that leave Iron Fist in the shadows such as Spider-Man, or Doctor Strange, Danny’s abilities make him more than just a fighter as he is portrayed as. One of the many other lesser known abilities that Iron Fist possesses is called Mind Fusion. Through this technique, he can temporarily conjoin his consciousness with that of another person, allowing him to tap into the other's thoughts, feelings, memories, etc. Additionally, some villains originally started with fighting Iron Fist before entering other storylines. For example, Sabretooth actually debuted as an Iron Fist villain before Sabretooth had even appeared as an X-Men or Wolverine antagonist. Even Supra-Skrull has fought with Iron Fist, being an enemy of the Fantastic Four, he impersonated Danny after the “death” of Iron Fist. Iron fist along with multiple abilities comes with multiple enemies, making him very significant to the franchise. I think Danny’s story is one of the more realistic, yet deep intriguing. Growing up as a normal person with a great talent in fighting, then possessing incredible power through the battle of the dragon is just amazing. The sheer power from just the dragon, then later he would become even stronger through the Eye of Agamotto. I think that to make Iron Fist more popular and more noticeable, he needs to be put in a light such as when Heros For Hire or the Defenders. I think with Danny’s background, it makes the most sense to keep him in collaboration with others. 

 References:

http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Daniel_Rand_(Earth-616)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Fist_(comics)