Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 18:28, 11 October 2006

Buddy Pine (supervillain name Syndrome; calls himself Incredi-Boy earlier in the film) is a fictional character, the main supervillain featured in the film The Incredibles, (produced by Pixar and Disney, first released on November 5th, 2004), the short film Jack-Jack Attack, and the Disney on Ice play, Disney Presents Pixar's The Incredibles in a Magic Kingdom Adventure (albeit as a "robot copy"). Because of events in the movie, he is widely considered to be the archenemy of the Incredible Family; he is even stated as such in the guidebook for the on-ice play.

Syndrome is a short (5 ft 1 in including the height of his hairstyle), barrel-chested (185 lb (84 kg)) man whose red hair extends straight up in a manner reminiscent of flames, apparently because of the power that flows from his evil mind (according to a Dorling Kindersley guidebook). He is voiced by Jason Lee, who - perhaps not coincidentally - had previously portrayed a comic book superhero artist in Chasing Amy and a superhero-obsessed comic book collector in Mallrats. Both films were written and directed by comics fan Kevin Smith.

Syndrome is supposedly "not a super" but he demonstrates exceptional ingenuity, technical know-how, planning, and perception far beyond the science of his time. This has lead some fans to conjecture that he actually is a super and that his super power is intelligence.

Template:Spoiler

Early years

Syndrome's real name is Buddy Pine. As a boy, he considered himself to be Mr. Incredible's greatest fan, top of his fan club and for all of a few minutes his self-appointed sidekick, "Incredi-Boy". His idol initially humored Buddy with autographs and similar considerations, but did not approve of a child showing up uninvited to announce that they're partners to begin with, much less repeatedly. Although Mr. Incredible eventually resorted to bluntly telling him that he would not tolerate such harassment, the boy was not deterred. Buddy even went as far as to interrupt Mr. Incredible's impending showdown with the supervillain Bombe Voyage, placing himself in danger, forcing Mr. Incredible into a dangerous rescue and allowing Voyage to escape.

Incredi-Boy showed advanced mechanical skill by creating his own rocket-boots, but they weren't nearly enough to convince Mr. Incredible, whose callous dismissals ("I can fly. Can you fly?" "Fly home, Buddy. I work alone.") left Buddy's fantasies crushed. This blow and his skewed interpretation of the event, shown in a later flashback where Voyage wasn't even present, drove him to a venomous hatred and then to revenge.

Later years

Buddy used his skill with inventions to become a highly successful and wealthy weapons designer/merchant, developing schizophrenia (implied at one point in the DVD Director's Commentary) and, as a consequence, a complete lack of conscience in the process under the name of Syndrome. He never got over the snubbing in his youth, and eventually became a bona fide supervillain, complete with the volcanic Nomanisan Island in the Pacific Ocean for an Evil Lair (featuring a rocket launch pad that has a cave for an exhaust tube, as Dash and Violet found out when they were nearly incinerated) and a large number of minions.

By the height of his career Syndrome was equipped with a variety of gadgets of his own design that successfully gave him super-like powers. These included his rocket-boots, gloves and wrist bands which allow him to communicate with many of his other devices, a small but powerful bomb and a "zero-point energy field/beam" which allows him to project lightning-like immobilizing energy from his fingers. This energy ray can also be used to levitate and move objects or people. He also acquired a love interest in Mirage, shown in a scene where he tried to kiss her.

Syndrome's other inventions also saw extensive use in his machinations. These include monopods (sentry vehicles on a monorail system), jets which resemble manta rays and can travel underwater, Velocipods (round cars with four surrounding blades which spin at high speeds to keep them airborne) and Vipers (helicopter-like vehicles with ducted fans attached at either side which twist to control the vehicle's altitude and movement), but most of all the Omnidroid 9000 battle machines, giant spider-like robots designed to fight and kill supers. There were ten versions, each version more powerful than the last. He improved his Omnidroids by battle-testing them on unsuspecting supers, ultimately striving to create one that would be invincible to everyone but himself. Syndrome enacted Operation Kronos as a means to eliminate all supers while portraying himself as a hero; however, he only got as far as saving some of the citizens (a far-sighted mother and her baby among them) from being incinerated by a trashed tanker truck and detaching one of the Omnidroid's arms before the Omnidroid itself "learned" that Syndrome controlled it through the remote on his left-hand gauntlet, blasted it off, and shot Syndrome's left-side aero-boot out of commission, sending him flying into the wall of a skyrise building, knocking him unconscious. Mr. Incredible and his family escaped from one of his multiple-prisoner containement cells and, with the help of Frozone, were able to foil his scheme.

Doubly humiliated, and with his assets frozen by the National Supers Agency, Syndrome retaliated upon regaining consciousness by trying to kidnap Mr. Incredible's infant son, Jack-Jack, and raise him as his sidekick. He briefly immobilized the Incredible Family with his zero-point energy field and attempted to fly off with the baby. The distraught Jack-Jack, however, utilized a succession of previously dormant superpowers, changing himself to a being of fire, lead, and a red demon-like creature as Syndrome transported him to his air vehicle. Brought out of balance by Jack-Jack's sudden attack and slamming into his jet, Syndrome dropped Jack-Jack from an altitude of several hundred feet; Mr. Incredible quickly hurled Elastigirl into the air (through the "fastball special"), where she caught Jack-Jack and turned herself into a parachute which brought them safely to the ground.

Syndrome returned to his waiting private jet above the Incredible Family's house. In typical supervillain fashion, he hung from the jet's side door, vowing revenge and promising to return. Mr. Incredible responded by sacrificing his very expensive car to destroy the cockpit; the impact threw the villain from the plane and his cape was caught in one of the jet's engines, showing a bit of humor from what superhero fashion designer Edna Mode (who would later comment on how ridiculous Syndrome's home-made super-suit looks in A Magic Kingdom Adventure) said earlier in the movie. Syndrome was sucked into the engine, which then exploded. This is a non-survivable trauma, but the superhero genre is infamous for recoveries from obviously lethal damage (also see below). Part of the plane wreckage then landed on the house, nearly torching the Incredibles alive. They all survived, however, when Violet shielded them with one of her force fields, but were left homeless in the aftermath.

The short film Jack-Jack Attack included on the DVD featured a brief appearance by Syndrome, illustrating how the frazzled babysitter Kari McKeen unwittingly surrendered Jack-Jack to him. He tricks her into thinking that he is a replacement sitter, and makes this humorous reply when Kari asks what the uppercase "S" on his costume stands for: "Uh, sitter! Yeah, I was gonna have initials for baby sitter, but then I would have been walking around with a big "BS" on my shirt, and you see why I couldn't do that."

An android replica of Syndrome and an eleventh Omnidroid were later seen attacking the Walt Disney World Resort's Magic Kingdom in AMKA, with plans to remake the resort into SyndromeLand, "his" idea of the Happiest Place on Earth. "He" captured Mickey and Minnie Mouse, reprogrammed several attractions to attack the Incredibles, tried to incinerate them "himself" with a flamethrower rifle and a force field of flame (which was later put out by Frozone), dispatched footsoldiers that "he" had implanted with mind-control devices (these footsoldiers were diverted by guests who each wore a red wristband and pushed its orange button), and was about to attack the Incredibles with "his" Omnidroid when "he" was encased in ice by Frozone. Mickey and Minnie were later freed from LASER prisons by the same guests who diverted the footsoldiers (this time they pushed its yellow button) and the magic and happiness were restored to the Magic Kingdom when the orange button was pushed again. The assault of this "robot copy" has generated speculation that the real Syndrome managed to survive his cape/turbine episode through undisclosed means, but was apparently undaunted by the traumatizing events, as the robot was also seen wearing a cape. Mr. Incredible also warned his family and Frozone that Syndrome has grown in power. How Syndrome got the money to build the android and the 11th Omnidroid after the NSA had seized his fortune is unknown, but regardless, Syndrome remains a serious threat to the superhero community and the Disney Universe…

Weaponry and gadgets

• Utility gauntlets - Using zero-point energy (which, today, is only in the theoretical stage), Syndrome is able to create a field of quantum energy that inhibits the majority of a victim's body movement. If the victim's skin is exposed, the range of motion of the victim's face is also taken to the minimum (only their eyes can move), and the ability to speak is also inhibited. The field is moved by his fingers and can be fired in the forms of energy blasts and concentrated beams. Like the trigger for Spider-Man's web-shooters, the trigger for these weapons is located high on the palm of each hand to prevent most unwanted firings. The left-hand gauntlet also holds the remote control for the Omnidroid. A communicator is likely built into the right-hand gauntlet.
• Aero-boots - In his short days as Incredi-Boy, Buddy used makeshift rockets. As Syndrome, his rocket boots were modified to project flames of blue fire.
• Probe - used to locate temperature, atmosphere and life signals in various locations. Worn in the right-hand gauntlet.
• Miniature lollipop-bomb - small but exceedingly powerful time-bomb. Worn in the left-hand gauntlet.
• Flame-throwing assault rifle - used to create force fields of flame that spread if anyone trapped inside tries to do anything about it. So far, this weapon has only been used once—by the now-congealed Syndrome robot.
• Mind control implants - Syndrome planted these into some of his footsoldiers for the Syndrome robot to control in Walt Disney World. However, these implants could be countered by a red bracelet worn by any one of some special guests. All that they had to do was press the orange button, which they would later press again to restore the magic and happiness of the Magic Kingdom.
• LASER prisons - The robot Syndrome was forced to imprison Mickey and Minnie into separate LASER prisons after the Incredibles attacked "him" in the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction, but after "he" was congealed by Frozone, they were freed when some special guests pressed the yellow button on their red bracelets.
• Omnidroid 9000 - To date, there have been eleven versions of this battle robot. The first nine were prototypes designed to fight and kill Supers. The tenth was used in the foiled Operation Kronos. The eleventh was used in the assault on Walt Disney World. All of them but the last were artificially intelligent, enabling it to solve any problem that it encounters; after Omnidroid #10 figured out that Syndrome used a remote device to control it and knocked him unconscious, Omnidroid #11 had to be built without the AI feature. Another feature of the Omnidroids is that they have colored eyes (e.g., #08 has a blue/green eye, #09 has an orange eye, #10 has a red eye). The Omnidroid's only weakness is itself: in the film, Mr. Incredible scrambles into Omnidroid #08's inner workings, causing the machine to pierce its own hull in a vain attempt to pry the hero free from inside, and later on, Mr. Incredible launches Omnidroid #10's claw at it and the claw tears right through it. The 11th Omnidroid does not possess AI and is controlled by remote-control to avoid the same fate as the real Syndrome.

Known super victims

The following is a list of the known supers defeated by Syndrome's various iterations of Omnidroids, as displayed on Syndrome's computer. The list is incomplete, as the movie shifts back and forth between the computer room and Edna Mode's laboratory while the list is being displayed; it is uncertain how many other supers are displayed when the view shifts to the laboratory. Some of them refer to superheroes/heroines in today's comics and cartoons.

• Universal Man
• Psycwave
• Everseer
• Macroburst
• Phylange
• Blazestone
• Downburst
• Hyper Shock
• Apogee
• Blitzerman
• Tradewind
• Vectress
• Gazerbeam
• Stormicide
• Gamma Jack

Mr. Incredible was erroneously present on the list of casualties, as he had been presumed killed (the computer seems to assign the kill to the Omnidroid v.X9 instead of Syndrome's microbomb). This leads to the possibility that a few other Supers are still alive, despite their being listed as dead. However, Gazerbeam's deteriorated skeleton had been found, indicating he had certainly been killed by Syndrome. Frozone was originally a target before Mirage's focus switched to Mr. Incredible.

Trivia

• In addition to Jason Lee in the English language version, Syndrome is voiced by:
  • Manuel Straube in the German version
  • Telemakhos Krebaikos in the Greek version
  • Rafael Alonso in the Castillian Spanish version
  • Bruno Salomone in the French version
  • Tal Friedman in the Hebrew version
  • Jáksó László in the Hungarian version
  • Christian Iansante in the Italian version
  • Hiroyuki Miyasako (of the Ameagari Kesshitai) in the Japanese version
  • Piotr Adamczyk in the Polish version
  • Alexandre Moreno in the Brazilian Portuguese version
  • Jakob Stadell in the Swedish version
  • Omar Chaparro in The Latin American Spanish version
• In A Magic Kingdom Adventure, the robot Syndrome is played by Josh Spicer, while Lee provides his voice.
• Syndrome was originally meant to be a throwaway character. In a deleted scene (the alternate opening), Syndrome broke into the Incredible Family's home (the Incredibles used the surname "Smith" instead of "Parr") and used Bob as a battering ram to wreck the home. He also tried to abduct Violet while she was still in her infancy, but she, in her invisible state, regurgitated saliva onto his eyes (apparently, the baby Violet had a problem with this, as earlier in the scene, she regurgitated saliva onto her mother's shirt, much to the disgust of one of their neighbors), making him drop the parents. In response, Syndrome immobilized both Helen and Violet, but got immobilized himself when Bob rolled a mirror between them and lodged him into the ceiling of Violet's room. Syndrome was ultimately killed when the family's home was totaled in a gas main explosion sparked by flame in the fireplace (the Incredibles, however, managed to escape in time).
• The main villain was originally intended to be a man named Xerek, a man who physically resembled the archetypal James Bond villain and had a much more conventional evil plot. In terms of popularity with the creators, however, he was bested by Syndrome, who took the role for himself.
• Syndrome resembles "an exaggerated Brad Bird".
• Kronos is an alternate spelling of Cronus, which comes from the Greek word kreno, which means "to reign over" or "to govern". Cronus is the name of a Greek god who dethroned his father, Uranus, during the mythological "Golden Age", only to be dethroned himself by his own son, Zeus, and banished to Tartarus. Syndrome used this codename since he intended to become as a savior after killing off many Supers, including his own "father-figure", Mr. Incredible.
• Some Syndrome action figures have a white left arm (as a continuation of the "S"), rather than the black one seen in the movie.
• When young Buddy Pine, is introduced onscreen, Mr. Incredible struggles to remember his name. He initially calls Buddy "Brodie," a hat-tip to Jason Lee's role in Mallrats.
• Though credited as "Buddy Pine", Buddy, as Syndrome, prefers not to be referred to by his real name.

External links

• Jason Lee's IMDB Page
• UpcomingPixar - Pixar news and more

See also

• The Incredibles
• List of Villains
• Doctor Doom

Template:Incredibles characters ]]

• Supervillains
• The Incredibles villains
• Fictional mass murderers
• Fictional psychopaths
• Fictional narcissists
• Fictional characters with mental illness
• Fictional mad scientists
• Animation villains
• Fictional inventors