Discussion WesternAnimation / TheIncredibles

I've always been bothered by listing Syndrome's encounter with the Omnidroid as an example of A.I. Is a Crapshoot. The crux of this trope is that when an AI crosses the line into some kind of sapience, it turns bad.

I don't see that as what happened when Syndrome "battled" the Omnidroid. The scene plays out that Syndrome flies into the Omnidroid's space and "attacks" it with some zap beams then uses his gauntlet remote control to cause one of its arms to come off.

This causes the Omnidroid to treat Syndrome as a threat at which point it follows its learning computer programming to determine the best way to deal with the threat and promptly shoots the gauntlet off Syndrome's wrist.

I don't see it as the Omnidroid suddenly becoming smart enough to decide it didn't want to take orders anymore. If anything it was actually just following its original programming with deadly efficiency, much to Syndrome's surprise and dismay.

Upon reflection, this encounter seems to be more a case of Hoist by His Own Petard. Syndrome invented a robot that was an expert in dealing with threats but assumed that because he had the remote control in his gauntlet he would always have a clear advantage over the Omnidroid. However, once it turned its full attention to Syndrome and removed the gauntlet from play, Syndrome had no real field experience being a superhero and the encounter quickly turned into a Curb-Stomp Battle.

I think the example should be removed from A.I. Is a Crapshoot and reclassified as Hoist by His Own Petard.

Feedback welcome.

Edited by rva98014 Hide / Show Replies

Can we mark this page as Animated Film over Western Animation? Being animated shouldn't stop things from being considered films.

If you're going to put up a review of something, MAKE SURE IT HAS A PAGE FIRST! Hide / Show Replies

Hello. I was under the impression of removing spoiler tags from the page as with the character sheet now that the film has been out for some time. However, it was made without a proper consensus and as per rva98014's suggestion, I'm opening a discussion here to get feedback.

Given that, as well as the upcoming release of Incredibles 2 and the fact that Syndrome is Buddy has been known for quite sometime, I'm thinking that we should get a proper consensus from others.

Thoughts or objections?

Edited by gjjones He/His/Him. No matter who you are, always Be Yourself. Hide / Show Replies

So, question on Hollywood Law: When were the Good Samaritan laws largely passed? Keep in mind that the film takes place in a fantastical version of the 50s and 60s, not the modern day. If the laws were passed more recently, then it doesn't apply to the trope.

It mentions that Affair Hair is parodied and played straight. I can see how it's played straight, but how is it parodied?

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I already explained this in the edit reason page, but we can talk about it here if anyone wants—multple references were made in the page to the idea that the Omnidroid was questioning its orders or rebelling against Syndrome. I do not recall anything in the movie indicating that the Omnidroid knows who Syndrome is or knows that it is receiving orders—for that matter, nowhere in the movie is Syndrome shown to be giving the Omnidroid orders. What happens is that after Syndrome s doing his hero routine, the Omnidroid, which is intelligent, sees the controller and realizes that the controller is being used against him. So the Omnidroid takes action, separating Syndrome from the controller. Nowhere during the action does rebellion as such factor into it. So I removed those references from the trope page. Does anyone know of anywhere in the movie that indcates the Omnidroid knows who Syndrome is, or anywhere in the movie where Syndrome is giving the Omnidroid orders?

I changed the text on "Just Plane Wrong". "Buddy Spike" was actually used more or less correctly in context, though normally it is a reply to another aircraft's request. For example, suppose Viper 8 detects a target with his radar. He calls, "Viper 8, raygun  ^*

, bullseye  ^*

^{relative to a predefined terrain feature}

190  ^*

^{south-southwest}

for 80  ^*

^{80 miles from the bullseye point}

." Viper 12 realizes he is in that location and replies, "Viper 12, buddy spike." Once the missiles are in flight it would probably be more correct to report "bittersweet" or "blue-on-blue", but assuming they are radar-guided missiles, "buddy spike" is appropriate. (...of course, she tried to spoof them with infrared flares, but whatever.)

Edited by Aubri Hide / Show Replies

Just by the way, I noticed that in some versions in the computer scene, the images of the dead supers had a red "terminated" text, but in some other versions the images had only a diagonal red line going across them, with the "terminated" text remaining only in Mr. Incredible's profile. Could this be put in somewhere?

Edited by SilentSanctuary

It seems in the move of moving The Incredibles from "Main" to "Western Animation", someone forgot to move the reviews. Here are the two that were there, me own and Purple Dalek: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/reviews.php?target_group=Main&target_title=TheIncredibles#6381

Just cleaned up the Headscratcher's Page with folders. Because folders make everything better. That was a lot of work, but hopefully I didn't lose anything.

I've been trying to figure out what's going on with the music in the trailers - not the OHMSS riff, everyone knows about that and the movie itself constantly comes as close to using it as it can without inviting a lawsuit, but...there's this other theme that never appears in the movie. I thought it was John Barry's early work on the film before he decided he didn't want to retread old ground (for him), but now I have no idea. Can anyone else shed some light on this?

Crowning Moment of Funny links to the Film page for C Mo F, but The Incredibles don't appear to be on that page.

Spoiler inconsistencies are pretty intense in this article. Both Mirage's High-Heel–Face Turn and Buddy growing up to be Syndrome are shown multiple times in either state. Can we reach a consensus here about which should be which?

Cut this natterfest:

• People also point to Syndrome's speech about how "when everyone is super...no one will be" as a sign of Objectivist content. But let's not forget that the character delivering this point of view is a homicidal madman.
  • So the Spear Counterpart to Ayn Rand then?
  • That's the point. Syndrome's goal was to make the supers obsolete by putting everybody on the same playing field. In other words, Syndrome was a communist. To be a good guy, according to the movie, you have to be born great - you can't earn or buy it.

and added...

• No, Syndrome's goal was to glorify himself. He engineered disasters that only he could fix instead of stopping real ones like floods and famines. He manipulated people's altruism and murdered them so he could act out an elaborate revenge fantasy on a guy that justifiably spurned him 15 years prior, rather than dealing with it, or God forbid, spiting Mr. Incredible by using that intellect to out-help him by aiding millions with advanced technology, preventing countless disasters instead of reacting to them. And eventually making everyone super was to spite the supers and Mr. Incredible in particular, not for any altruistic reasons. He would have waited decades to do so ("And when I'm old and I've had my fun, I'll sell my inventions...") It is not about being born great. It's about using your greatness responsibly.

Edited by Peteman