Syndrome

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**Buddy Pine**, formerly known as "**IncrediBoy**" and better known as "**Syndrome**", is a member of the Black Hawk Militia and is a recurring antagonist in the *Sean In The Vyond World* series. He was taken from the 2004 Disney and Pixar movie *The Incredibles*.

## Personality

Syndrome's personality (namely his callous disregard of others and lack of conscience or morality) all stem back to psychopathy and/or sociopathy. He is a mad scientist destined to make himself a hero even if it meant creating a destructive and killer robot to murder various retired ones.

Due to Mr. Incredible making him believe that he could count on nobody except for himself, he has no value of human life (except for his own) which was shown when he let loose the Omnidroid in Metroville to pretend to be a superhero, allowed missiles to fire on Helen, Dash, and Violet's plane even after discovering there were children on board and does not even value his own cohorts as shown that he was willing to risk Mirage's safety to dismiss Mr. Incredible's bluff of "crushing her", although he decided not to kill Jack-Jack's babysitter, Kari, and instead deceive her into giving her custody of Jack-Jack (though this may in part have to due to the fact that she was easily persuaded due to her being incapable of handling Jack-Jack's superhuman powers).

Syndrome was a scientific, technological, technical, and mechanical genius, and possessed the intelligence and resourcefulness sufficient to create an incredible variety of weaponry and equipment. He was also capable of creating a sentient, self-aware, incredibly powerful and intelligent being that ultimately defeated him despite him knowing how to destroy it. Even as a kid, he created rocket boots that let him travel great distances and would use said rockets as his main mode of transportation upon assuming the identity of Syndrome.

Aside from his derangement, Syndrome is cynical. He thinks that the only way to get respect was to become a threat. He shows himself to be extremely sadistic, as well, as shown when he overhears that Bob knew Helen from the transmission, he instantly set missiles on their plane. To show his cruelty, he allowed the audio to play to force Mr. Incredible to hear the destruction and enjoys Mr. Incredible’s despair. With both under the impression he had killed his family, Syndrome further emphasizes his cruelty by inhumanely mocking Mr. Incredible on their apparent deaths after recalling how Bob had told him that he worked alone. On top of this, he delighted in kidnapping Jack-Jack to get revenge on Bob's family further proving that he is willing to endanger even kids to achieve his goals.

Like many sociopaths, Syndrome holds a firm belief that mercy is a weakness, and disregarding life is strength, which was pointed out by Mirage. Syndrome himself is a very calm, levelheaded, and laid-back young man, rarely, if ever, expressing his temper. When Mr. Incredible had just destroyed his eighth Omnidroid, instead of initial anger, he simply compliments the feat by saying it was "surprising." This also shows when Bob takes Mirage hostage and Syndrome makes clear his lack of regard for the lives of others when he threatens to crush her. In addition to his lack of empathy, Syndrome proves himself to be ungrateful for kindness from others. In spite of Mirage protecting him from the enraged Mr. Incredible, Syndrome thanklessly continues to goad him.

Furthermore, despite being well aware of the difference between right and wrong, he did not understand why she was upset with him afterward. He was also perfectly willing to risk several lives once he set the Omnidroid free in the city just to boost his own ego and reap the benefits. Even as a child, he thought that being a hero was all about fighting bad guys and not saving people. That said, Syndrome can still lose it when provoked as shown when he snaps at Bob during the latter's attempt at reasoning with him.

Syndrome is an extremely spiteful, hypocritical, and vindictive individual. After being rejected by his former idol, it turned him into a megalomaniacal supervillain. However, he was still intelligent enough not to make his hatred allow him to be arrogant and realized that the Omnidroid would have to be worthy before fighting Bob hence why he tested it out on various other Supers. As one would expect from a sociopath, he showed no regard for others yet had no problem killing various Supers out of spite after he couldn't become one. Syndrome was still known to underestimate his enemies, such as Elastigirl believing that the missiles would destroy the plane. However, Elastigirl easily outsmarted him by turning herself into a parachute and saving her kids from falling to their deaths. Another example is that he believed that Mr. Incredible was weak and no longer a real hero after capturing him a second time. However, Syndrome was proven somewhat wrong when he destroyed his Omnidroid.

Despite his evil personality, Syndrome is also shown to have a comedic side, as he's often played up as the stereotype of an obsessive fanboy with way too many toys to play with, and is also a suitably hilarious take on seemingly jealous supervillains who just love the sound of their own voices too much. For instance, he remarks that Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl "married and got busy" after he noticed their children, and accidentally tossed Mr. Incredible far away while attempting to explain his plan to him. He also told Kari that the reason for there being an "S" on his suit was because it stood for "sitter" since initials for "babysitter" would've meant that he would've gone around wearing a big "BS", and he couldn't have gone with that. However, these traits do not contradict his actions.

However, Syndrome was not always like this. Buddy Pine was inventive and intelligent, though otherwise a little pestering and obnoxious. He was somewhat obsessed with Mr. Incredible, as he was a member of the fan club, knew his favorite catchphrases and fighting styles, and was his self-proclaimed number-one fan. He was a child prodigy, creating rocket boots that allowed him to fly. Sadly, however, his intrusions caused his idol to lose Bomb Voyage. After being rejected by Mr. Incredible when Buddy attempted to become the Robin to his Batman as Incrediboy twice, the resentment led Buddy down a dark path until it became a desire for vengeance against his former idol and to make all superheroes obsolete.

Even as a child, Syndrome is made clear to have already had self-serving desires and a total disregard for superhero principles. He believed that being a superhero was about wearing cool outfits and getting to beat people up, showing no real desire to help others. Essentially, Syndrome just cared for the "Super" part and not for the "Hero" one. This was proven when Syndrome tells Mr. Incredible that all he wanted is to help him, a flashback of Syndrome's memory is seen and the terrorist Bomb Voyage is absent from his mind. Therefore, although Mr. Incredible could have treated him better, perhaps even if Mr. Incredible had not rejected him, he would either still become a villain eventually, or at least an anti-hero as his reckless nature aside, Buddy's self-serving nature made him unworthy of being a hero. To be fair, however, he was a kid at the time, so he may not have understood what being a superhero really meant, though despite this, he didn't realize as he grew up that Mr. Incredible wasn't in the wrong, and even if he didn't want to forgive Mr. Incredible for his harsh treatment on him, that didn't justify going after supers who had nothing to do with his rejection.

Overall, Syndrome lacks any sympathetic or redeeming traits, despite his past and the fact that part of him still admires Bob. Even his goofier side does not do anything to detract from his villainy as it does nothing but show his spiteful and vindictive nature as well as more often than not emphasize his sadism. One of his greatest weaknesses was that he put no value in human life, and his inability to understand what being a **real** hero is about which ultimately lead to his downfall.

In spite of his brilliant mind, Syndrome had many fatal flaws as a supervillain as a result of his megalomania, cynicism, vindictiveness, desire to make superheroes obsolete, his pathological desire for attention, and his ego. Chief among these, he failed to account for his enemy's abilities and intelligence, such as Mr. Incredible's ability to improvise while evading his probe, and Violet's force fields, which allowed them to escape his grasp. Furthermore, Syndrome was so obsessed with becoming a hero himself after wreaking his vengeance that he failed to account for the fact superheroes were banned by society.

Even if he had succeeded, he would have endured constant scrutiny from the government, and it is possible that the government could have eventually discovered his unscrupulous dealings with weapons and his murder of various superheroes. In addition, Syndrome's use of technology would have resulted in his eventual destruction if it was hacked or malfunctioned, or in the event that he had succeeded in his goals, as his technology would eventually become obsolete. His oversights were such that he failed to account for his Omnidroid realizing it was being controlled as a result of its ability to adapt.

As a result, Syndrome had no contingency plans in place for when his robot turned against him after it realized he was controlling it. If his plan had succeeded, Syndrome's weapons and inventions would have possibly also resulted in more terrible wars and arms races, making the world far more dangerous. His desire to wear capes was also a dangerous inconvenience, and it nearly led to his death as a boy by Bomb Voyage, and later to his actual death when his cape became snagged in his jet's turbines.

Suffice to say, for all his genius, Syndrome was very short-sighted and had no thought about the consequences of what he would unleash if he achieved his goals. In an ironic twist he did not consider, not only did his plans fail but he ended up getting the complete opposite of what he wanted as when the Incredibles and Frozone defeated the Omnidroid, it led to a much more positive viewpoint towards superheroes that resulted in their re-legalization a few months after his death.