Buddy Pine

Syndrome

Syndrome, also known as Buddy Pine, Incrediboy and "Sitter", was once the number one fan of Mr. Incredible, even going as far as trying to become his sidekick, "IncrediBoy", but became Mr. Incredible's worst enemy after Mr. Incredible told Buddy he would not be held responsible for placing a minor in danger. He goes on to become a supervillain, and the main antagonist of the movie.

"Misunderstood and a bit too smart and boastful for his own good, Buddy's life takes a turn for the worst when he reinvents himself as Syndrome and puts his talents and energy into a sinister plan." - Official Pixar Website

Appearance
Syndrome stands six feet and one inch tall, not including the height of his hair. He is barrel-chested and weighs 185 lb. His red hair extends straight up in a manner reminiscent of flames or the hairstyle of Nickelodeon's Jimmy Neutron. Syndrome is supposedly "not a super," but he demonstrates exceptional ingenuity, technical knowledge and planning skill far beyond the science of his time. The animators had intended Syndrome to be a carticurization of director Brad Bird, but it had been debated as to whether they should spoof Bird in their drawing of Mr. Incredible. Ultimately, both Syndrome and Mr. Incredible are a pastiche of Brad Bird.

Conception and creation
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 became 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 (whereas Syndrome would've been an old villain seeking revenge, and would've been killed in the first scene). In terms of popularity with the creators, however, he was bested and replaced by Syndrome.

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 Bomb Voyage, placing himself in danger, forcing Mr. Incredible into a dangerous rescue and allowing Voyage to escape. The rescue ended up causing one of the two lawsuits that Mr. Incredible faced and lost thus opening a floodgate of other lawsuits against supers and thus abolishing Supers altogether. Mr. Incredible surrenders Buddy to the police. The cops do not press criminal charges against Buddy, but act upon Mr. Incredible's recommendation that they report this to Buddy's parents and it will be up to the Pine family to determine the appropriate punishment for interfering in Mr. Incredible's duties. Buddy's punishment at the hands of his family was not revealed, but a flashback of him tearing down a Mr. Incredible poster suggests he was confined to his bedroom.

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 distorted flashback where Bomb 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 and arms dealer, abandoning his conscience in the process. Although not stated in the film, it was implied he made much money selling his weaponry to terrorist groups, foreign dictators and organized crime families. No matter how rich and powerful he became, Buddy never forgot about Mr. Incredible, and formulated his plans for vengeance. Using his best inventions to simulate super powers, he took on the costumed identity of Syndrome and set up Operation Kronos, aimed at eliminating other supers and then portraying himself as their successor. He also explains that he also plans to sell his inventions in the future, reasoning that, "When everyone's super, no one will be."

Operating through his agent Mirage, he contacted various retired superheroes, tasking them with the destruction of various prototypes of the enormous Omnidroid battle robots, leading to the demise of many of the old supers. Deciding that the robot was now good enough to fight his old idol, he had Mirage recruit Mr. Incredible, who was able to defeat the Omnidroid.

After repairing and improving the machine, Syndrome sent to fight Incredible. When the hero was outmatched, Syndrome revealed himself and declared that he would be his nemesis. Using his zero-point technology to throw Mr. Incredible over a waterfall, he tried to finish him off with an explosive device. Although this failed, he was able to capture Mr. Incredible when the hero tried to infiltrate his base.

When the rest of the Incredible family followed, Syndrome assumed his prisoner had sent for reinforcements and ordered the plane to by shot down with missiles, taking cruel pleasure in the knowledge that he had killed his enemy's family, taunting, "You'll get over it, I seem to recall you prefer to work alone?". Incredible retaliated by threatening to kill Mirage; Syndrome was unimpressed and called his bluff, knowing that even with nothing to lose, Mr. Incredible would not kill an enemy. This callous disregard for life eventually turns Mirage against him, leading her to free Mr. Incredible from captivity, inform him of his family's survival and help him to escape and reunite with them.

Syndrome managed to recapture the super family and re-imprison them, taking the opportunity to elaborate on his plan. He intends to set the Omnidroid v.10 on Metroville and then stop it himself, taking the credit and setting himself up as the city's new hero. Syndrome also revealed that after many years of being hailed as a Super, he would then make money by selling his inventions such as his rocket boots to any paying customer in order to enjoy powers similar to his. Syndrome echoes an earlier comment of Dash's that "When everyone is Super, nobody will be". However, this plan failed, as the Omnidroid's ability to learn allowed it to identify Syndrome as a threat, disabling his remote control wristband and sending him flying into a building. He remained unconscious during the Incredibles' and Frozone's battle with his Omnidroid, and was thus robbed of his victory.

With his assets frozen by the United States Secret Service, Syndrome made one final attempt at revenge by breaking into the Incredibles' house and abducting their baby, Jack-Jack. This effort too failed, when Jack-Jack's previously unforseen transforming superpower manifested and allowed him to escape Syndrome's clutches. Finally realizing that he had lost, Syndrome leaned from the side door of his jet plane, vowing revenge and promising to return. However, Mr. Incredible threw his car at the plane, knocking Syndrome off balance. Echoing an earlier scene in the movie regarding the dangers of wearing a cape, Syndrome's cape gets caught in the jet engine, resulting in the apparent death of Syndrome (similar to what happened to Stratogale). Syndrome is the second villain to have been killed in a Pixar film, the first occurring in A Bug's Life.

Weaponry and gadgets

 * Utility gauntlets - Using zero-point energy, 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.
 * Bio-probe - used to locate temperature, atmosphere and life signals in various locations. Worn in the left-hand gauntlet.
 * Miniature "I"-bomb - Small but exceedingly powerful water-bomb. Worn in the right-hand gauntlet.
 * Omnidroid - To date, there have been ten known 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. All of them were artificially intelligent, enabling it to solve any problem that it encounters; Omnidroid v.10 figured out that Syndrome used a remote device to control it and knocked him unconscious. Another feature of the Omnidroids is that they have colored eyes (e.g., 08 has a blue/green eye, v.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 v.10's claw at it and tears right through it, ripping out its power core.
 * Viper - Helicopter-like, VTOL vehicles with ducted fans attached that twist and turn to control the vehicle's altitude and movement. The ducted fans tend to decrease lift when changing independent blade pitch.
 * Velocipod - Round open cars with four surrounding blades that spin at exceedlingly high speeds to keep them airborne.
 * Manta jets - Specially designed transporters resembling manta rays that have a translucent holographic monitor inside, and are able to travel underwater.
 * Energy prisons - Prisons in which the victim is obtained inside a powerful electric field and unable to escape due to hard metal mineballs.