The Defender is a mysterious man of Asian descent seen wandering the streets of Grand Rapids. Sometimes he is walking, sometimes he is riding a real cherry vintage bike, sometimes he is on the bus, but he is always wearing one of his Defender Hats. The Defender Hat is worn by The Defender. Sometimes it is a real dapper plaid fedora and sometime it is one of those plastic batter's helmets from the sport known as baseball, which is sometimes played in The United States of America. In addition to his many hats, he has also been seen wearing a toupee and earmuffs during the winter. Regardless, The Defender wears these hats to protect himself against all manner of radiation and beams; be they radio, solar, microwave- he is protected. The Defender patrols all corners of Grand Rapids. In a single day, citizens have seen him at Woodland Mall, Guiding Light Mission, the 44th street Value City, Alpine Meijer, Four Friends Coffee House, and more. Over the past fifteen years of his defense of Grand Rapids it has been noticed that his hair has grown grayer, perhaps a result of the stress involved in defending Grand Rapids.

Backstories

• The Defender has been known to frequent Kava House on a regular basis ("daily" according to a tenant of the apartment building across the street who also worked as a barista at Kava House for a period of time.) This same tenant relayed to me how The Defender (she referred to him as Secret Asian Man, while I referred to him as The Model) went through a period of personal turmoil which led him to utilize physical manifestations of his power animal -- a yellow horse. He was seen at various times carrying a small plastic yellow horse, drawing a yellow horse, and having various horse-related imagery worked into his clothing. Apparently, the need for a powerful talisman (such as a yellow horse) came to an end, and he has not been seen with horse-related imagery for some time. Dontbesostubborn 17:08, 5 February 2008 (EST)

Aliases

The ubiquity of the "The Defender," as he is described here, is such that numerous alternate nicknames abound. These include:

• "Secret Asian Man"
• "Asian Man with Helmet"
• "The Equestrian"
• "The Dictator"
• "The Model" - due to his varied outfits (overcoats, hats, canes, boots) which take on an almost performance-like quality at times.
• Metal Rose - the name he used to sign a note
• Phuong - his supposed real name, when asked