That is not my own experience, unless you are pairing Ghost Rider with Doom, but then it's more about how much meter Doom builds in the TAC you'll eventually attempt.
I think you are confusing what I meant by meter building. I am talking about meter building from the neutral here because let's face it neither Ghost Rider nor Iron Fist are going to get many clean hits in a round. The bulk of meter build from Ghost Rider is from getting his attacks blocked which does add up over time and Phoenix does not discriminate between meter built from clean hits or meter built from blocked hits. IF has to actually get in to generate any meter at all and the only way for him to actually generate sufficient meter is to land hits. Now of course if IF actually lands a clean hit he will get a ton more meter because of his Green Chi but how many times is he going to land that hit against a Zero or a Vergil?
What isn't solid about Iron Fist? I'm not saying he's excellent, but he is solid.
Well you sort of dodged my question here and posed your own. These are the categories where I feel Iron Fist is insufficient in:
*Mobility. He only has a fast ground dash and nothing in the air. Of course he is not the only character in the game with such a limitation but every other character AT LEAST has an aerial special to some how alter their aerial trajectory or at least delay it. IF can't super jump because he would just be a sitting duck meaning anything in the game that is designed to combat ground combat is exceptionally effective against IF (like Chris' mines for example).
*Mix ups. He has a basic high low game where he has insufficient speed on his fastest low/fastest high to be a major threat. He has a fuzzy guard set up which does not really make him that special as a lot of characters in this game have at least that much mix up capability. He also has a decent tick throw game. All in all his mix up game for an ALL IN rushdown character is severely lacking. He is also too vulnerable against up/back defense.
*Normals. IF normals are decent but not that great. In a game where people have near full screen slides, half screen normals, 360 degree hit boxes, chainnable lights and sword normals... IF's normals just don't cut it. You need good normals to protect you against other rushdown threats and IF does not really have normals that protect him well. He has nothing of his own that can challenge the pipe or any of Vergil/Zero/Taskmaster normals.
*Reversals or anti-rushdown tools. IF is very susceptible to rushdown because his normals aren't fast enough or doesn't protect him enough. What is he going to do when Wolverine is breathing down his neck? He only has a Chi super armor and the invincibility on his LVL1/LVL3 hypers... none of them completely reliable. This makes IF an easy target for rushdown characters.
*Anti-zoning tools. IF's best tool against zoning is his Rising Fang. Oh wait... you have to do 2 special moves before having access to Rising Fang. Great job there Capcom. IF needs an assist so that a zoning character can block long enough for him to get in.. because his solo anti-zoning options are garbage. He can at least stay in a for a few seconds once he does but again having mediocre mix up tools and pressure makes it so that it doesn't amount to much if he does get in.
The only 2 categories where IF is "solid" at are his assist and his damage. His damage is good but it's not godly or even great because usually his good damage comes from clean hits which is very hard to do for IF. He also has exceptional health when he has Blue Chi but I mean... that's like the last thing I look at when judging a character's worth.
This might be crazy for me to suggest this but Vergil is essentially what IF is trying to be in the game. Vergil has better normals for footsies and anti-rushdown, about as good of a ground dash, better mix ups, better pressure, better anti-zoning tools, better air options (he has Helm Breaker at least), better abare and better damage. To me they are on the polar opposite of the same spectrum, Vergil is top 5 in the game and IF is bottom 5.
I think using Spencer to re-stand for Iron Fist is overrated. It's just damage. Iron Fist needs something that pins opponents down for mix-ups. I think Dagger Toss is likely to be his best assist. I would try a team like Iron Fist / Arthur / Strider, and I think this would function well (I used Arthur/Strider for a while with Ghost Rider and loved the duo).
The reason why I recommend using Spencer slant shot is because with it IF can get a TOD off of any hit or throw. Normally he can't do TODs off stray hits/throws and getting hits with IF isn't as often as some of the reset based characters so you want to make absolutely sure you kill them off. Having Strange at the back helps with that. The Slant shot also gives him some aerial coverage, it's not a lot but I mean it's better than what IF already has for that range. If you have Strider in that team for example, you can get a combo off of Crescent Heel but it's not going to be a TOD level combo. The same can probably be said from getting a hit off of Dagger. In the Strange team if Bolts hit or he gets a throw in between the Bolts that should be a dead character. Also Bolts hit at a higher angle than Daggers so it's just slightly better for those jumpers.
The video you linked is the optimal starting hit for IF... it's not going to be that common finding your opponent standing there not blocking. Usually IF grabs a hit from assists or as part of his high/low mix ups which affects his damage.
Iron Fist has some unique answers against Morrigan, since his dragon pillar hyper comes out super fast and Rising Fang destroys projectiles and causes a wall bounce. Like most things, though, the answer to Morrigan isn't ever getting through the bullet hell, it's having a team that doesn't let it get started. Rising Fang is a pretty strong assist for keeping Morrigan on edge.
Ok so IF has to first get under Morrigan to waste bar to actually damage her. What if she unflys at the correct time? That's a wasted meter right there. What if she blocks the hyper and then does air hyper into Spiral Swords DHC? That to me is an unreliable tool against Morrigan... a hail mary at best. It's hard enough hitting Morrigan with Gimlet and SoV thanks to her unfly ability.
Oh yeah Rising Fang... good luck using that against Morrigan on point when you have to do 2 rekkas to even have access to it. You are essentially telling IF users to do the Hsien Ko and tag out against Morrigan-like characters... oh wait that's basically what I have been saying too. Yes Rising Fang is a great assist for this situation but it doesn't help IF against Morrigan point v point.
Putting him second is more about using the assist, which is fantastic, and having a crossover counter that has startup invincibility, destroys projectiles, covers half of the screen, and leads into full combos from a wall bounce. It's definitely one of the best crossover counters in the game, so I think it's worth considering. I don't care about his corner pressure.
Yes I know all of that but you have to weigh that against the cons of having him second. If you want to make an optimized IF team he has to be on point though and besides if you have a safe DHC you can at least bail out IF from point position because his Fist of Fury hyper actually is a very good DHC out hyper.
So yeah... I don't think Iron Fist is "solid" at all. Solid suggests that with a few minor buffs he could be a tournament staple character or at least within the top 20/25. IF needs major buffs and a slight rework on some of his mechanics to be competitive in the current meta.
