Common misconceptions

This is the page documenting those pesky common misconceptions for the Cybersix series, both old and new alike. Noticed a widely believed yet incorrect statement? Write that down here!! So let's get to it!

The definition for "common misconception" is: An erroneous belief that is held by many people.

• See also: Frequently Asked Questions and Questions and Answers

General

Cybersix is gender-fluid/transgender

• See also: Trans vs not trans

Cybersix is not gender-fluid or transgendered. She identifies as a woman.

Cybersix is often perceived as being either 'gender-fluid' (she identifies as male or female) or as being 'transgender' (she identifies as male) because she presents herself as a woman during the night and as a man during the day. This misconception mainly stems from the animated series where this aspect of her is purposely kept vague, it is what her voice actor believed, and it is what prevented the show from airing in Italy. It is what makes the show praised for being LGBT-friendly. However, the comics gives us a definitive explanation for why Cybersix would cross-dress as a man, it is explained that as a child she came across the remains of a deceased Adrian Seidelman and had decided to take his identity so she could remain in hiding from her evil creator. Add to this, the comics is often seen as being LGBT-hostile and a thing to refrain from.

Cybersix is a robot/android/cyborg

Cybersix is not a robot, android or cyborg, she is wholly human.

Cybersix, and thus the Cyber Series, are described as being "genetically-engineered" super-soldiers, they have great strength and acrobatic abilities, because of this Cybersix believes she isn't human but is more machine than anything else. This has confused a great number of people even up to this day, but it is certain that Cybersix is a human and not a robot, android, or a cyborg (a combination of a human and machine). The Cyber Series were created from the egg of a female human acrobat with the DNA of von Reichter so as to birth and raise a whole generation of soldiers with natural superb agilities. Perhaps the largest and only biological difference between the Cybers and humans is that the Cybers (like all of von Reichter's creations) were created with a dependence to Sustenance/Substance, a mysterious life-sustaining green liquid.

Data-7 is a black panther jaguar

Data-7 is a black panther, just not a jaguar. According to the official websites (now gone), Data-7 is a leopord.

Black panthers are big cats with melanism (the opposite of albinism) and not its own species. The species Data-7 is is a leopard and not a jaguar, which some may have assumed as its never explicitly stated in the series.

Animated series

The series is hand-drawn

The animated series is not hand-drawn. It is computer animated.

Many fans still believe the animated series was animated using the tedious-yet-reputable method of hand-drawing it, since the series looks gorgeous even by today's standard, however the series was animated using the computer animated method. This is a great example of using this method right, it does not look like the notorious flash animation that we know of today. Using a computer to animate the series meant the animators had greater flexibility and freedom, they were able to re-use animated sequences and change the backgrounds, to changing colours of a given scene afterwards (this could be seen on the TMS comparison video).

Each episode had cost 1 million dollars

The episodes from the animated series did not cost 1 million dollars.

It is still sometimes believed that the animated series was so expensive to produce that each episode had cost 1 million CAD to make, the source of this misconception may be even older than Fundock's website on which he repeats this statement. However, the earliest source confirms that this simply isn't true, each episode had cost 360,000 USD to create, making the entire series cost 5 million USD.

There was never a home release before Discotek (2014)

Cybersix had several official home releases, starting as VHS tapes.

Before Discotek/Eastern Star licenced Cybersix to DVD and released it in 2014, many people believed the only way to watch the series was through online sources. Of course there were people who knew of the French DVDs, but little knew of the various VHS tapes releases, and probably even then believed these to be illegal/unofficial/bootlegs, but the official Telecom website indicates they were aware of these home releases in France and Canada. Even after Discotek's release, we'll sometimes still see the odd "first ever home release of Cybersix".

Fox Kids edit

There is extensive coverage of the Cybersix Fox Kids edit, however we're at their mercy as there's no other way to tell for sure of what the edit consisted of. A few erroneous statements would have lead us to believe the opening theme song, Deep in My Heart, was cut down from 61 seconds down to 15 or 10 seconds, had sped up warped vocals, and consisted of a single verse. However there were more accurate descriptions, and since finding the opening theme song on the RetroJunk website we can finally see it for ourselves. Perhaps a faulty memory since the episodes only aired once (mostly), or a lapse in judgment after seeing a butchered form of the much anticipated Cybersix series finally aired in the US caused this.

Live-action series

There were 5/11 episodes

Some online sources will say there were around 5 to 11 episodes of the live-action series, the numbers sometimes vary. Since we have no way of actually seeing the series for ourselves sometimes these misconceptions persist, but reliable sources have consistently stated there are 8 episodes

Comic series

The series ends without a conclusion or is open-ended

Cybersix does have a conclusive ending, the Italian monthly issues (1-45) being the longest running publication that properly ends the series.

The ending most people are familiar with is where Cybersix cries in the rain and later sits sadly on a rooftop overlooking the city after her newly born son had been kidnapped, while Lucas is still lost in the jungle, their fates forever left unknown. However, this is the ending for the French volumes, which ended in 1998. The Spanish volumes in Argentina and Spain likewise were cancelled before reaching the conclusion, which would only happen in the Italian monthly issues.

After disagreements between the comic creators, Carlos Trillos and Carlos Meglia, with the Spanish and French publishers leading to discontinued publication in Argentina, Spain and France, the story of Cybersix continued in Italy until disagreements also occured there, leading to a rushed conclusion in the 45th and final issue, Final Challenge, in 1999. Here, Cybersix is eventually reunited with her son, Gengis, and Lucas. She also obtains the recipe for sustenance while von Reichter and José finally decide to give up on Meridiana and of their hunt for Cybersix, leaving the city once and for all.

Due to the availability of the 12 French volumes as opposed to the 45 Italian monthly issues, this may have been the reason many thought the series ended inconclusively.

Lori is a teenager and attends a high school

Although this is true of the animated series where Lori attends Meridiana High School, this is not the case for the comic series.

We learn in the sixth French volume, by an investigator sent by Abraham Seidelman, that Adrian works as a professor at a college. The students should be around late teens to early twenties. The age difference between Lori and Adrian isnt as drastic here as the animated series, with Adrian being 24 years old at the start of the series.