CyberSix and all related information © TMS and Telecom Animation Film. All writings are original works and property of me. See Credits page for more information.
How can anyone not have sympathy for this girl? The only friends she had growing up were killed by her “father” or, even worse, died trying to pick a flower for her. (Come on, tell me you won’t have blamed yourself for that one.) She’s got to dress up as a guy during the day just to get a paycheque without endangering everyone else around her, including herself. She’s best friends with the love of her life, while he thinks she’s going out with herself. (RE: Lori is Missing, scroll down to the Relationships section, it eventually makes sense.) And the only times she can be herself, she’s got everything from living mud to flying demons to invisible long-eared witches out to get her! (And you thought your life was rough…) No wonder she’s messed up; most people in her situation would’ve gone postal ages ago. We really have to get some help for her, before she gets as bad as Von Richter…(At this point I realize I’m talking about a fictional character, and not a real person…)
Ok, I’m beginning to sound either obsessed (Which I am.) or psychotic, (Which has yet to be proven.) so let’s move on to the real profile before I totally lose it.
As befitting of the main character, CyberSix is the most interesting and the most complex character in the series. She must deal with everyday life as Adrian, fight in the twisted world of Von Richter as CyberSix, and deal with the stresses of maintaining a double identity. She also demonstrates the most growth in the season, going from a person who cannot afford to trust anyone to someone who relies on and cares for others.
Of course, the comics and the television series deviates greatly after this point, but this history works into the series plot line perfectly, so unless a second series is produced which includes something different this is the commonly accepted version.
Adrian represents the repressed half of her personality. He is very
closed off to others, which is shown in the way he walks – head down unless
he’s talking with Lucas, shoulders slouched, feet almost shuffling – and
the way he dresses – loose, plain clothing, and his trade-mark trench coat
that either hangs open or is pulled protectively around him while being
slack enough to obscure his body shape. Of course, some of the clothing
is calculated; it’s loose to hide CyberSix’s obviously female body and
make Adrian appear more masculine. Nevertheless, it is a reflection of
Adrian’s personality, which remember would have developed to be as unassuming
as possible to prevent attention. Adrian also doesn’t seem to have much
of a sense of humor, although this does develop with his relationship to
Lucas as he becomes more comfortable with another person.
CyberSix, of course, is the more natural, expressive dimension. From
the first episode she demonstrates a keen sense of humor: she teases José,
she trips the Fixed Ideas off the roof and watches them fall, and dramatically
breaks all the windows and lights in the warehouse. (Still want to know
how she managed that one; wouldn’t you love to do that sometimes?
VEG) Her costume is, obviously, much more revealing than Adrian’s clothing,
and she moves in a more exaggerated manner, fully enjoying her natural
physical abilities which would be a dead give-away as Adrian. While as
CyberSix she is also more likely to help others actively, because she does
not have to be obsessed with protecting herself. But the feeling of danger
always hangs over her, and she keeps them at a distance, especially when
they risk getting too close.
Adrian, however, makes no attempt at relationships. Lucas sort of assumed
they’d be friends after he “rescues” Adrian from Lori’s gang, and he’s
carried along bewildered until they actually become the best of friends.
Lori is a result of her own crush, which Adrian avoids. (Understandable,
of course. I can’t see how CyberSix manages to get through that one.) Except
for Julian – who is mainly befriended by CyberSix – and Data 7 – an obvious
special case – Adrian is not shown to have any other friends in Meridiana.
Again, this is probably somewhat due to Adrian avoiding attention, but
I believe there is a much deeper reason for it, also shown in the CyberSix
personality.
Remember, the only friends CyberSix would have had growing up were
the other Cybers. She had had a close relationship with 29, but he died
while playing with her. (RE: Data
7 & Julian.) I would imagine most adults would have blamed themselves
for the accident, let alone a young child. Then Von Richter killed the
other Cybers and tries to kill her, which would be traumatic for the healthiest
person. And then the only other person who was kind to her is murdered
because he saved her. It wouldn’t take a great leap of logic for a child
in this situation to assume: Anyone close to me, anyone I care about
is going to die. And from there: It’s my fault. Given how Adrian
“survived” the car crash that claimed his family, I don’t think anyone
who would have noticed this would have been surprised, and I also think
that CyberSix keep everyone who would have away for her own safety. And
so, growing up, she would have these two thoughts in the back of her mind,
with no one to tell her differently. Fortunately, the CyberSix personality
is very strong, so some of this is counteracted by the thought: I can
save them. And thus why she’s always protecting everyone as CyberSix;
it is an attempt to overcome her assumed guilt in their suffering. It is
also the real reason for her aloof manner in relationships: not the real
physical danger (Which is of course present.), but more the danger she
assumes will occur just by knowing her, as though she were poison. The
only ones that appear immune to this are Von Richter’s other creations
– Terra and Data 7 – because they have also gone through what she has.
She paradoxically doesn’t think that they are also dangerous to simply
know – that is something she has assumed for herself only – but she is
more open with them than should be due to the fact that she wouldn’t have
to keep her double identity for them. They face the same danger she does,
so she doesn’t have to protect them from the danger she imagines she brings
into a relationship. I can’t help but think that even if Lucas or Julian
knew about her double identity, she would still shield them more than necessary,
because she would still assume that just by knowing her they are in danger.
It would take a lot of work to prove her wrong, because it is something
she has lived with all her life.
CyberSix also has a bit of an inferiority complex, with admitably a
decent excuse. She was created in a lab as something that is not quite
human. Knowing Von Richter, he would have stressed this as she and the
other Cybers were growing up, so they would have taken this “not quite
human” to mean “less than human.” She shows she still believes this through
out the series, particularly in her relationship with Lucas. In The
Mysterious Shadow, she says of herself: “Two eyes, two hands, a heart…But
I’m not like them. I don’t need a friend. Do I?” And in Fullmoon
Fascination, she wonders: “Jealousy is a human emotion. Is what I’m
feeling jealousy? Am I more human…than creature?” At this point I would
like to ask if any of you think that just because she was created in a
lab, CyberSix is less than human? I have difficulty believing anyone would.
She was made with human DNA, has expressed numerous emotions, and in general
acts a whole lot more human than her creator. No one has noticed anything
wrong with Adrian, which means she’s able to act like a normal human being
in normal situations. And Lucas obviously doesn’t think of her as anything
else, and he knows her better than anyone except Data 7. Sometimes I would
like to sit her down, look her in the eye, and tell her that if she wants
to be human, she should just be herself, because it’s worked so far. (One
of the reasons for my Fan Fic series…) As the series progresses she seems
to come somewhat to terms with this, but I think that she still needs a
lot of help to get over it.
That’s all I can come up with for CyberSix’s personality right now. She’s extremely complex, so this section may be updated later one. Mail me if you think of anything that should be here.
Obviously, the most important in the show, because it is the most complex and in many ways even closer than her relationship with Data 7. Their relationship has evolved the most throughout the series, and can be taken as a symbol of CyberSix’s own development. As well, as I’ve mentioned numerous times elsewhere, I’m a hopeless romantic, so this relationship is obviously my personal favourite.I’ve tried to put a lot of things into a small area here. It’ll be cleaned up eventually, probably in the form of one or two formal essays. Stay tooned.
Because Lucas knows CyberSix both in her daytime identity and evening identity, both have to be examined. Adrian is, as far as we can tell, Lucas’s best friend. Their personalities contrast each other very nicely, each supplying what the other lacks, while being similar enough for them to find common ground. Lucas also seems to trust Adrian very much, because he’s the only one Lucas talks to about CyberSix. (More on that later!) But with that trust comes great responsibility, which Lucas often feels Adrian neglects because Lucas doesn’t realize that Adrian has other responsibilities as CyberSix. This results in some pretty big arguments between the two, especially in Lori is Missing, The Greatest Show in Meridiana, and Daylight Devil. (Again, more on that later!) But they stay together as friends, and through Lucas Adrian has begun to come out of his shell, gradually loosening up, talking more openly, and developing a sense of humor. Through this friendship Lucas has taught CyberSix most of what she knows about being human, because when they are together that is what he treats Adrian like.
Things get really interesting when you add their night-time relationship. While it wasn’t exactly love a first sight, (Lucas’s first sight being CyberSix beating up on a guy that for all he knew was innocent, and performing some not-quite human feats.) somewhere between the two fights in his apartment he falls hook, line, and sinker. (~Sigh!~) While it’s not quite clear when CyberSix fell, it was obviously before Terra, (Oh, love that dance scene! ~Sign times two!~) although it takes her longer to figure out because she doesn’t fully understand what love is. This makes CyberSix uncomfortable when he start talking about her to Adrian, (If he didn’t tell CyberSix herself, he obviously didn’t quite want her to know.) although she also finds it justifiably funny in a dramatic irony sense. Things really start to heat up, however, in Lori is Missing, when Lucas thinks Adrian is going out with CyberSix. I put this up as the weirdest love triangle ever, and fully commend Carlos Meglia and Carlos Trillo for coming up with it. On one hand, Lucas is feeling betrayed, because he thinks his best friend is going out with the love of his life. On the other hand, CyberSix can’t explain that it’s not what he thinks, because she doesn’t want to involve him anymore than he already is by betraying her secret. There are several other reasons for not telling him, by the way, including: she’s afraid that Lucas will want nothing to do with her when he realizes exactly what she is; he will be even more hurt to discover she’s been lying to him from the start; and she hasn’t figured out their relationship, so how can she expect him to. Fortunately, Lucas decides to trust them, (Hard not to trust someone who’s holding a stone pillar inches above your head.) although their relationship becomes more strained as it develops even further.
And now, for the later, my personal favourite bombshell (Please hold the hate mail until I explain it!): I think Lucas knew Adrian was CyberSix from the beginning. No, not consciously, but on some level he recongnizes them as the same person. Ready to mail bomb me yet? Just wait, I’ve got some perfectly logical reasons. First off, he tells Adrian, a guy he’s known for a day, all about his mysterious visitor in the first episode. Now think about it, is that a reasonable course of action? You tell that to a normal person and they’d lock you up in the loony bin. But Lucas expected Adrian to understand, even though he hardly knew the guy. Why? Because some part of him understands that Adrian knows all about it, the part of him that knows they are one and the same. Ok, believable, but not solid proof. I admit that. But he almost assuredly has it figured out unconsciously by The Greatest Show in Meridiana. Remember that fight I mentioned, the one they had about going? Rather unreasonable on Lucas’s part, right? I mean, what difference should it make to Lucas if Adrian goes? But obviously it made a big difference to him. So much so that he starts to argue with Adrian like a married couple or something. I’m serious! And then it’s repeated even stronger in Daylight Devil, with Lucas’s intense concern over Adrian. First about the arm, and then insisting that Adrian be taken to the hospital against his wishes. And the scene where he starts answering all the nurse’s questions! Little strong a response for a best friend, don’t you think? Top that off with the final scene of him running up the road to Adrian as though his life depended upon getting to Adrian as quickly as possible. If you think about it, it’s almost exactly the same way he responses to CyberSix. He knows, plain and simple, he just won’t admit it to himself because as far as he knows it defies all logic. And that’s why, in my opinion, he needs no convincing that CyberSix leaving Adrian’s glasses for Lori means what we all knew all along. (And if any of you try to say Lucas doesn’t know at the end of The Final Conflict, I’ll mail bomb you! The scene in the café is a little more than obvious, please!)
And now some closing comments on that last scene in The Final Conflict. I think that it’s significant that in the café Lucas is morning the loss of Adrian, not CyberSix. As I’ve said in Lucas’s profile, I believe Adrian represents the more human side of CyberSix to Lucas, while CyberSix is more of a dream. CyberSix is a romantic ideal: beautiful, powerful, and mysterious. Adrian is more down to earth and real, and is the part that Lucas is most comfortable with. In my opinion a relationship will never work unless the two people respect each other as equals and have compatible personalities, and no where is this best found than in a best friend. If Lucas misses the real as much as or more than the ideal, then I believe their relationship will work. (If they ever get one, that is. ~I want Season Two!~)
The easiest relationship for CyberSix, definitely. He’s her long-lost best friend/“brother” that just happens to be living in the body of a panther. She’s the only one we know of that has ever been nice to him, with her being his best friend/“sister” thrown in. They don’t have to explain anything to each other (Rather good for Data 7, huh?) except when presenting new information, and that they take easier than should be humanly possible. (Would you have instantly decided the panther in front of you, that three seconds ago was trying to kill you, is really your long lost brother because it kicked a picture back to you? This is where the telepathy mentioned in the comic series starts to make things make more sense.) The only problems that arise out of this is when they get too protective of each other. Most normal people wouldn’t be able to handle treating a big black cat like an intelligent person, but then again who on the show’s normal? Definitely the stable, constant relationship CyberSix needs to stay sane.
The simplest of all of CyberSix’s relationships. Von Richter gave her life for his own ends. Deciding he made a mistake, he tries to take it back. Failing, he continues to try to kill her. I think that if there were any good-feelings in this relationship, they died out with the rest of the Cybers. Pure hate-hate, or more precisely fear-fear. The only major complications are the fact that CyberSix doesn’t have it in her to initiate an attack, so she’s constantly on the defence, and the fact that Von Richter is the only one that can free her of her addiction to Sustenance and let her be more human. (And this is the simplest relationship!) Until the final episode there was very little development, mainly because until the final episode Von Richter did little more than play with his toys and talk to José.
Oh, this one’s interesting. He’s the big boss in Meridiana, directly controlling most of the monsters that are thrown at her, so she’s got to fear him on one level. On the other hand, she obviously finds him completely ridiculous (Not that I blame her.) and therefore every time she sees him she starts ridiculing him, like the “What will Daddy say?” comment from Gone With the Wings episode. So even though he’s got all the big bad monsters and Fixed Ideas to throw at her, she’s obviously the one with the upper hand. If José ever matures, she might start to take him as a serious threat, but for now he’s just a pale shadow of Von Richter to her. (Of course, that gives her the opportunity to bash the single worse problem in her life safely.)
I like to think of this relationship as the ultimate symbol of the problems with secret identities. Try to imagine a student of yours getting a crush on you. Now compound it with the fact that she doesn’t know you’re a female. Now add in her thinking you’re dating yourself because she sees your female persona in what she assumes is her male teacher’s apartment. Then finally mix in Lori’s personality, which is a mix of hate her/want her for a sister. I don’t know how CyberSix handles it! Ok, obviously not very well, because the worst punishment she can do is send Lori to the principal’s office, which obviously doesn’t faze her a bit. In the end, though, I think CyberSix respects Lori, (She did give Lori her glasses in The Final Confrontation.) although she’s not sure what to do with her. (Then again, does anybody? LOL)
CyberSix’s relationship with Julian is more an extension of her childhood relationship with Cyber 29. I like this relationship the least in the series, and most people seem to agree with me, because there is very little development. (Not to mention the fact that when CyberSix is with Julian, she’s not with Lucas, so all of the Julian-based episodes deny me of my favourite pairing.) Julian is a sort of damsel-in-distress; in every episode he appears in, she’s got to save him in one way or another. Of course, he saves her too, but most of the time that seems more luck than anything else. The rest of the time they’re together, CyberSix is (As one fan so aptly put it.) “playing big sister,” and while that’s important in her character, its gets old after a while because there is only so far you can go with it, not to mention the fact that it could be explored in Data 7. In the comics Julian was supposedly more a source of information that a kid brother, and I can’t help but wish that after Data 7 & Julian he’s stayed that way.
Terra only appears in one episode, the self-titled Terra, but it’s a favourite of many viewers, and I can understand why. Terra is to CyberSix a symbol of herself and her status as a creation. In the few scenes where she interacts with Terra, you begin to see the depth of her own vulnerability, and how much she hates what she is. Almost every comment directed at Terra can be directed back to herself, (“It wasn’t an evil creature, although it was created to be.”) and her need to protect others before herself is shown when she tries to tell Terra to leave her in the burning building, and then stop it from putting out the flames with itself. As well, Terra reflects back CyberSix. It questions her about love, which she also doesn’t seem to understand, and selflessly gives of itself to save a friend. While I understand the need for Terra to have to sacrifice itself, I wish there would have been a way to save it. (I’m debating doing that with my Fan Fic; I really want to keep the Terra character, but I’m not sure if it can develop any more than it did.)
Terra also symbolizes how dangerous CyberSix is to Von Richter. He needs everything to be under his control, and yet CyberSix not only throws that in his face with her independence, she insists upon converting all the monsters he sends after her. Data 7 could be put down as an anomaly, since they had been friends before, but with Terra CyberSix took something under his control and destroyed that. Although she couldn’t save Terra, CyberSix did prove she’s stronger than Von Richter.
CyberSix and all related information © TMS and Telecom Animation Film. All writings are original works and property of me. See Credits page for more information.