Post by Iceman on Sept 3, 2006 14:45:05 GMT -5
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CODENAME: ICEMAN
X-Man Bobby Drake
Everything about twenty-year-old Bobby Drake pegs him as an All-American guy. He wears a baseball cap sporting the ‘B’ of the Red Sox, who hail from his hometown. He openly professes his love for wings and for football, and that he’s played Halo II all the way through—four times.
But anyone who has been following the news knows that Bobby “Iceman” Drake is anything but average. He is a member of the mutant team The X-Men, who protected Worthington Labs against the villainous Magneto and his ‘Brotherhood’, then fought the mutant terrorists again this year in Baltimore. “I wasn’t an X-Man (during Alcatraz), actually. I had to go through a lot of training before I became a part of the team,” he is quick to correct. He reminds one of a soldier. Firm. Modest.
So what, exactly, does Bobby have to be modest about? “My power is the ability to draw moisture from the air and form the water molecules into ice. I can use this to freeze things, and shoot a sort of beam of ice from my hand. Among other things,” Drake explains professionally. Then he cracks a smile. “Great at a party, you know?”
It’s a wonder such a guy stayed out of the spotlight for so long. With his soft features and those icy blue eyes that a girl could melt in—puns intended—he’s exactly the gorgeous superhero material that writers and movie moguls have been trying to produce for years. And all that crime fighting must have paid off: His well-sculpted muscles are evident, even through the T-shirt he wears showing his support for Midtown.
He admits easily that he doesn’t understand his newfound fame. “It’s so…unexpected. I don’t have any idea what I’m doing.” He does know that, for the time being, he will focus on his training and his schoolwork (rumor has it he’s a natural at writing poetry, ladies!), and continue to go about his anything-but-ordinary life. He hopes to take a vacation away from it all soon with some friends from his school. “I always want to go somewhere with snow. I love snowboarding. But anywhere to get away…As long as it’s not too hot. I don’t really like too much heat.” No kidding. Ever seen a snowman on the first sunny day of winter?
So what does a superhero stud like Iceman do in his spare time? “I love playing basketball. Going out with friends, to the mall, maybe an art museum or discovering back street little places like one-of-a-kind family restaurants. I practically live at the pool, too. When I’m inside, I also listen to a lot of music, and watch some TV.” He adds with an ornery grin, “I’ve started watching the news a lot more, to see what they’re saying about us.”
When asked about his thoughts on the panacea vaccination, a medical treatment that holds out the hope of permanently returning mutants to a quote-unquote normal lifestyle, Drake shows that his brawn does not come without brains.
"What’s a normal lifestyle? It doesn't mean not having a power. I know mutants that live more normal lifestyles than most humans. Sure, you only hear about the ones who are involved with the conflict. But there are way more mutants that live 'normal' lives than the ones you see on the news."
Drake does not, however, count himself among those who live a ‘more normal lifestyle than most humans’. After all, he lives at Xavier’s School for Higher Learning, a school that for many years pretended to be for especially gifted young people, but in fact searched out young mutants. The school at times even kept its true nature a secret to the student’s families. “A lot of people are scared of mutant powers. They don’t want to think that their kid can do something that they as parents can’t control,” says Drake. The otherwise open and outgoing X-Man declined to talk about his own family, but did say that Xavier’s has always been a safe haven for young students who may not be accepted elsewhere.
One of these such students was once John Allerdyce, who after attending the school for a year joined--and became a prominent member of--The Brotherhood, the organization whose attack on Worthington Labs in San Francisco took months to repair, and whose attack on NovaTex Facility in Baltimore is still being cleaned up. Allerdyce had been presumed dead in the battle on Alcatraz Island, but was found to be alive during a bank robbery in Liverpool, shortly before the NovaTex attack.
It is immediately clear that the topic of his former classmate is uncomfortable territory for Drake--who begins to look a little more like the teenage boy he is and a little less like the stoic soldier he has had to become in these trying times. He stares at the ground, his jaw clenched, as he no doubt pictures the elusive Allerdyce in his mind.
"Yeah. We were really close. He's the best friend I’ve ever had." There is a well-deserved hint of bitterness in his voice as he reflects on it, and it was one of those times that this reporter hated the prying aspect of his job. But one has to wonder--What was it, that made the two friends go in such opposite directions?
He again takes a moment to collect his thoughts. Clearly, in his sudden popularity, he has learned the politics of the wise saying, ‘think before you speak’. “Just two different ways of dealing with the same problem. The problem being that right now, there is prejudice and persecution going on between humans and mutants—from both sides. And The Brotherhood believes that war us the only way to stop this. But of course, war only deepens the problem.”
When asked how the X-Men are going about solving this problem between the races, Drake responds, “Peacefully. We’ve only ever fought to defend. And we’re continuing what Professor (Charles) Xavier did, in working with the government for mutant rights and a peaceful alternative to war. There’s always an alternative.”
Article Layout:
CODENAME: ICEMAN
X-Man Bobby Drake
Everything about twenty-year-old Bobby Drake pegs him as an All-American guy. He wears a baseball cap sporting the ‘B’ of the Red Sox, who hail from his hometown. He openly professes his love for wings and for football, and that he’s played Halo II all the way through—four times.
But anyone who has been following the news knows that Bobby “Iceman” Drake is anything but average. He is a member of the mutant team The X-Men, who protected Worthington Labs against the villainous Magneto and his ‘Brotherhood’, then fought the mutant terrorists again this year in Baltimore. “I wasn’t an X-Man (during Alcatraz), actually. I had to go through a lot of training before I became a part of the team,” he is quick to correct. He reminds one of a soldier. Firm. Modest.
So what, exactly, does Bobby have to be modest about? “My power is the ability to draw moisture from the air and form the water molecules into ice. I can use this to freeze things, and shoot a sort of beam of ice from my hand. Among other things,” Drake explains professionally. Then he cracks a smile. “Great at a party, you know?”
It’s a wonder such a guy stayed out of the spotlight for so long. With his soft features and those icy blue eyes that a girl could melt in—puns intended—he’s exactly the gorgeous superhero material that writers and movie moguls have been trying to produce for years. And all that crime fighting must have paid off: His well-sculpted muscles are evident, even through the T-shirt he wears showing his support for Midtown.
He admits easily that he doesn’t understand his newfound fame. “It’s so…unexpected. I don’t have any idea what I’m doing.” He does know that, for the time being, he will focus on his training and his schoolwork (rumor has it he’s a natural at writing poetry, ladies!), and continue to go about his anything-but-ordinary life. He hopes to take a vacation away from it all soon with some friends from his school. “I always want to go somewhere with snow. I love snowboarding. But anywhere to get away…As long as it’s not too hot. I don’t really like too much heat.” No kidding. Ever seen a snowman on the first sunny day of winter?
So what does a superhero stud like Iceman do in his spare time? “I love playing basketball. Going out with friends, to the mall, maybe an art museum or discovering back street little places like one-of-a-kind family restaurants. I practically live at the pool, too. When I’m inside, I also listen to a lot of music, and watch some TV.” He adds with an ornery grin, “I’ve started watching the news a lot more, to see what they’re saying about us.”
When asked about his thoughts on the panacea vaccination, a medical treatment that holds out the hope of permanently returning mutants to a quote-unquote normal lifestyle, Drake shows that his brawn does not come without brains.
"What’s a normal lifestyle? It doesn't mean not having a power. I know mutants that live more normal lifestyles than most humans. Sure, you only hear about the ones who are involved with the conflict. But there are way more mutants that live 'normal' lives than the ones you see on the news."
Drake does not, however, count himself among those who live a ‘more normal lifestyle than most humans’. After all, he lives at Xavier’s School for Higher Learning, a school that for many years pretended to be for especially gifted young people, but in fact searched out young mutants. The school at times even kept its true nature a secret to the student’s families. “A lot of people are scared of mutant powers. They don’t want to think that their kid can do something that they as parents can’t control,” says Drake. The otherwise open and outgoing X-Man declined to talk about his own family, but did say that Xavier’s has always been a safe haven for young students who may not be accepted elsewhere.
One of these such students was once John Allerdyce, who after attending the school for a year joined--and became a prominent member of--The Brotherhood, the organization whose attack on Worthington Labs in San Francisco took months to repair, and whose attack on NovaTex Facility in Baltimore is still being cleaned up. Allerdyce had been presumed dead in the battle on Alcatraz Island, but was found to be alive during a bank robbery in Liverpool, shortly before the NovaTex attack.
It is immediately clear that the topic of his former classmate is uncomfortable territory for Drake--who begins to look a little more like the teenage boy he is and a little less like the stoic soldier he has had to become in these trying times. He stares at the ground, his jaw clenched, as he no doubt pictures the elusive Allerdyce in his mind.
"Yeah. We were really close. He's the best friend I’ve ever had." There is a well-deserved hint of bitterness in his voice as he reflects on it, and it was one of those times that this reporter hated the prying aspect of his job. But one has to wonder--What was it, that made the two friends go in such opposite directions?
He again takes a moment to collect his thoughts. Clearly, in his sudden popularity, he has learned the politics of the wise saying, ‘think before you speak’. “Just two different ways of dealing with the same problem. The problem being that right now, there is prejudice and persecution going on between humans and mutants—from both sides. And The Brotherhood believes that war us the only way to stop this. But of course, war only deepens the problem.”
When asked how the X-Men are going about solving this problem between the races, Drake responds, “Peacefully. We’ve only ever fought to defend. And we’re continuing what Professor (Charles) Xavier did, in working with the government for mutant rights and a peaceful alternative to war. There’s always an alternative.”
