Skylanders Cynder
Cynder is a pinnacle of character design in my eyes… when she’s drawn correctly.
I must confess that Cynder was never on my radar until I started playing Skylanders. I doubt I was even aware of the Legend of Spyro trilogy until my late teens, where I only put in a couple hours into Dawn of the Dragon… for some reason. Jumping into the series with the third game was a poor choice, for sure. Someday I’ll get to playing that trilogy, but for now I’ll be reviewing Cynder the way I fell in love with her.
With only a couple short paragraphs of backstory at best, Skylanders are largely dependent on their pure mascot appeal to win over hearts. For Cynder, supplemental media such as the official comics and Netflix’s Skylanders Academy incorporate her evil origins and story arc with Malefor, but they bear no relevance to the plot of the core video games.
Luckily for Skylanders, I’m used to inconsequential bite-sized stories given to characters of 1990’s-era toy lines (a gimmick I feel the games cleverly recreated in the 2010’s). And so Skylanders Cynder’s simple biography didn’t diminish her appeal to me.
Granted, Cynder may be one of my highest-ranking characters with whom I have polarizing opinions. But I’m getting ahead of myself; I’ll start with what made me instantly fall in love.
As first name dropped in my review of Perrserker, I have a soft spot for the kind of cheesy teenage edginess that Hot Topic is satirized over. Cynder is adorned with multiple spiked bracelets, one of which doubles as a choker. As a member of the Undead element, Cynder is at home with the supernatural, dark crypts, and blackened lightning bolts. Add a mysterious rune to her forehead (allegedly the mark of the Undead, according to the Fandom wiki), and you have the perfect recipe for a “totally goth” aesthetic.
Another feature that won my heart over is the handling of Cynder’s effeminate features. She’s curvy, but not obnoxiously so. It’s so refreshing to see a female character tackle the tropes of her gender in more subtle ways. This point is doubly impactful being that she’s a (fantasy) animal, where animation and toy industries are notorious for overcompensating their characters’ proportions to drive home their “womanly” aspects. Cynder breaks that mold; she’s effeminate, but not painfully in-your-face about it.
There are several miscellaneous details about Cynder that make her so amazing. She’s a perfect shade of purple, and the reds and pinks are fantastic additions to her color palette. She may lack teeth, but I think it helps accentuate the beak shape of her mouth. I love the sass in her voice and smug chuckling. It’s a personality trait that Academy changed, which I found disappointing but understandable (she seems much younger and just starting to build confidence during the show’s run).
I can sing my praises about Cynder all day. Unfortunately, there’s also a complicated side to her magnificence.
I can try to put it delicately, but-
OH GOD NOT THE BREASTICLES
I’ve been careful to not show clips and images of this Cynder until now, because it simulates the drive-by shock it originally gave me. For absolutely no explicable reason, Cynder’s 3D model included a chest strap for the first two games. This blemish literally does not show up anywhere else - not on promotional art, and certainly not on the toy itself. It took until Swap Force - the third game - to resolve this issue when all Skylanders were given a visual overhaul.
This hideous breast thong ruins the whole fangirl novella I wrote over Cynder breaking female character tropes. Back in 2011, a High School colleague created an illustration lampooning how the strap creates bulging breasts on Cynder’s body - and it seriously offended me.
To be fair to them, I was a teenager who was a little too attached to the products I consumed. Their parody isn’t remotely offensive now that I’ve grown past those irrational emotional years. But I’m still firm on my point that the breast thong is trash, ugly, and should have been tossed in a fire sooner than 2 games later. It represents a terrible time for Cynder’s adventures in the Skylands.
Even though I like Cynder’s cheesy bracelets, I also think they’re too large and unruly. Especially on her neck, they severely limit her range of motion. I can recall personal experience to illustrate this point.
Some of the limited posing comes down to my inexperience with modeling and rigging at the time. However, those bracelets still restricted how much I could rotate Cynder’s wrists and neck. She can subtly tilt her head, but move the neck too far forward/back, and the choker clips right through her skin. If I had animated these models, Cynder wouldn’t be able to make very convincing leaps without spikes jamming into her forearms.
Cynder’s Legend and Academy designs handled this issue much better by simply stretching her neck. This one change allows her to keep the comically large bangles and permit more dynamic poses.
For her Skylanders design however, a longer neck could clash against her shorter proportions. In this situation, the bracelets either have to shrink or be taken out altogether. It’s a frustrating balancing act. The animators clearly worked around this limitation where possible, but Cynder’s movements would look stronger if that limitation wasn’t there in the first place.
Another serious overhaul I want done to the otherwise perfect Cynder is her tail spike. It’s unbearably plain, to the point it looks like an arrow-shaped eraser one would place on the end of a pencil. My suggested fix is straightforward - simply make it sickle-shaped like the spikes on her wings. Or just follow the blueprint used on her Legend appearance. It didn’t need to be scrapped for the sake of a redesign.
There’s one last fix I recommend to Skylanders Cynder, and a much smaller one at that. Her model in the first two games may have birthed the breast thong, but it also brought some pleasant details around her eyes. I think the eyeshadow and pink triangles are nice additions. I’ll admit the eyeshadow may be a bit too thick, in which case I’d suggest a hybrid as seen in the comics (that I never read…). She has the triangular “eyelashes” rolled into the liner!
I can’t deny that Cynder is a top-tier character design in my book, but she’s not without her flaws. Sometimes even the coolest designs need a bit extra refinement.
Being that Cynder holds a special place in my heart, it’d be remiss to not discuss my extensive experience playing as her in the Skylanders games. No matter how many figures I amassed over the franchise’s six titles, I consistently swapped back to Cynder from time to time.
Highest Praise!
And Now: Kiribbean Obsessively Analyzes Cynder in the Video Games
(Click here if you’d rather skip this part. It’s a long ramble about technicalities.)
So there was a strange development while recording footage of me playing as Cynder. Put simply, she’s not nearly as trash-tier as I remember.
Cynder is undoubtedly a glass cannon. Her defenses are so paper thin, that a graze from any enemy on higher difficulties could prove fatal. It’s her offensive power where my mind claims they’re truly abysmal… and I think my memories are lying to me.
By Swap Force, the upgrade path I chose for Cynder made her basic lightning breath deal 34 damage (without factoring in a critical hit). It’s nothing exciting alone, but that’s because it’s 34 damage per tick. Holding the button for lightning breath extends its duration. I can spot an average of 3 ticks in the footage, giving a minimum potential of 102 damage per full breath. With its fast DPS, Cynder isn’t a complete pushover with even her most basic attack.
The real pain is dished out when Cynder’s “Shadow Dash” and her little purple ghost buddy is paired with the lightning breath. Transformed into a flat ethereal form, her Shadow Dash causes her to slip underneath the feet of her enemies and summon aggressive ghosts in her wake. An optional perk allows them to add a slow effect to many enemy types (i.e. common grunts and small monsters, but not bosses) while striking them.
Cynder’s ghost buddy is a permanent addition in combat, automatically locking on to the closest enemy in range. By themselves, both them and the Shadow Dash ghosts deal only 10 damage.
A few more optional abilities round out Cynder’s utility for multiple situations in combat. The first is available to all 3 Series variations: flying. It’s not an Earth-shattering technique, but it does give Cynder a boost to her movement speed. It’s a much needed blessing, as she greatly benefits from constant motion.
I distinctly remember Cynder moving like a truck while flying, but as an adult that too seems like an incorrect assessment. Movement isn’t nearly as tight as when on the ground, sure. But I either exaggerated the situation or didn’t have the same hand-eye coordination back then.
As for Series 2 and 3’s Wow Pows, I’d say they’re situational, but perfectly fine options. While Series 2 Cynder is flying, she can summon a single large lightning bolt with a circular area of effect. Its one-time damage isn’t on the same level as the damage-over-time of her other attacks, but it can be a decent panic maneuver.
I have one large criticism with this Wow Pow, however; it’s bound to the same button as Cynder’s Shadow Dash, so she can’t seamlessly jump into the attack once it’s unlocked. The player has to first get Cynder to land before pressing the other button (which can have a delayed input for reasons only the game’s engine understands). Despite this, I was adamant in using this Cynder for a long time, because I thought the Series 3 Wow Pow was “worse.”
I quickly corrected myself of this mistake when recording the footage above. Holding the Shadow Dash button causes Series 3 Cynder to transform into a mobile explosive skull. Just like the summoned lightning bolt, its damage is a one-time deal before reverting Cynder to normal. However, it deals significant pushback to the previously discussed enemy types. This is stupendous for crowd control, as affected enemies will be ejected out of the way.
And in the case of my video footage, I fought in an area that pushed them out of bounds for an instant kill! Since Skylands have a lot of empty air, I could see this method serving its purpose outside of this precise situation.
I was moderately aghast to have made these discoveries for this article. In fact, I had to perform extensive rewrites with my newfound knowledge. I had such a powerful, undying confidence that Cynder was a low-tier option that only a fan like me would put up with. But as an adult, I’ve changed my mind considerably.
I won’t discredit my assessment that there are “better” Skylanders for general combat. Cynder has one clear damage-over-time strategy that requires dedication and focus to pull off without biting the dust. If she was a Pokémon, I could see Smogon ranking her as “Under Used”-tier; not terrible, but not fully up there with the more popular “big boys” of Over Used (I hope this analogy makes sense to all the non-Pokémon readers out there).
Overcoming the handicaps present on Cynder always gives me a rush. I become more aware of an opponent’s animations and windows to strike. Cynder, despite being a lower-tier Skylander, grants me a different way to play the game if I’m looking for a challenge. Maybe I’m a delusional fangirl, but Cynder’s mechanical shortcomings are a blessing in disguise that only strengthen the reasons I rank her so highly.
I think I’ve finally exhausted the list of reasons that I care about this character so energetically. There’s still an alternate form and the toys to review, but the bulk of my fangirl novella is completed.
Highest Praise!
Phantom (Series 3)
Oddly, Cynder didn’t get a facelift for her rerelease figure until Series 3. And the wait was… not worth it, to be honest.
Those lightning bolt icons on Cynder’s wings add nothing to her appearance. They look more like cheap car decals than a natural extension to her design.
At least Series 3 has one significant update… that being a shiny coat of purple to hot pink paint (depending on the lighting).
Metallic Cynder would be funny if it wasn’t so obnoxious. Her entire color palette is now just white and purple/pink. All the pleasant splashes of purple and red are washed over with a boring single color. The lightning bolts aren’t even present in the 3D model. I’d be confused if it weren’t for the fact I’m numb to Cynder not fully committing to her concept art.
The only silver lining to this Cynder is that her figure is actually impressive (more on that later).
AWFUL
BONUS: Toy Reviews!
Series 1
My photography setup has drastically improved since my Spyro article (I’ll be looking into updating those images in the near future). I can showcase these figures in much better detail than before.
Compared to Series 1 Spyro, Cynder is a superior example of the craftsmanship behind early Skylanders figures. Cynder’s pose is a little silly in my opinion, but it successfully communicates her menacing and standoffish personality.
As always, Cynder looks fantastic in her purple, red, and pink colors. Although my macro lens highlights the blemishes in the figure’s paint job, for a mass-produced $10 toy it’s mostly spot on.
Fortunately, one pleasant discovery appeared through my lens. The originally pink triangles near Cynder’s eyes were sculpted into the toy (albeit unpainted)! In nearly 10 years since I bought this figure, I hadn’t noticed this detail!
For more fun trivia, there’s an unspoken Easter egg on Undead Skylander toys - their skull bases glow in the dark!
Their glow usually lasts mere seconds, but it’s cool that this little bonus was quietly thrown in. I wonder how many kids had their minds blown at this reveal.
Only one major flaw exists on Series 1 Cynder: the eyes.
At least in my tiny social bubble, this figure is notorious for its drifting eyes. I’ve never seen a version where the eyes line up correctly, and I can only imagine how “valuable” it’d be (I’ve never been knowledgeable about the wider Skylanders community).
As long as Cynder isn’t stared at directly, her Series 1 figure is quite decent!
Excellent!
Series 2
This Cynder’s general pose has always felt a bit plain to me. It’s hard to read if she’s being territorial or playful. There’s a good chance that the limits brought by the bracelets are to blame. At least the stretched wings create a striking image; they’re my favorite detail.
I believe the unpainted pink triangles still exist on this figure, they’re just better blended with the rest of her body scales. On a related note, Cynder's scales seem a bit rougher than her Series 1 counterpart. I’m not sure how I feel about that fact. They’re not hideous, but I think I lean more towards the smoother snakelike ones.
The Series 2 figure could be better, but it’s also perfectly fine.
Neutral
Series 3
For those not savvy with collectible toys, translucent ones are often considered special. Rare “Chase” variants (as in “items collectors chase for”) are popular subjects to these paint jobs. Funko Pops are a quick and easy example that capitalize on this concept. Shiny Pokémon can be argued another kind of Chase.
The fact that Series 3 Cynder was packaged like this by default made for a sleek and alluring purchase. I had my stern assessment of Series 3’s design, but I don’t regret buying the figure.
Out of the three figures, this one has the best pose. To me, Cynder appears focused as she swoops down on the toy base. The “hot pink” color looks nicer as a translucent pinkish-purple. Her choker appears to have been reshaped to allow the neck tilt. I think it’s a great modification that I hadn’t thought about earlier in the article!
While I still hate the wing bolts, they’re made somewhat cooler by one factor: Series 3 Cynder has more than one area that glows in the dark!
This feature makes me reconsider the lightning bolts. When Cynder is shrouded in darkness, they aren’t competing with the rest of her wing design. The thought of these markings flashing for a moment as Cynder discharges excess electricity makes them sound awesome. The lightning bolts look tacky when constantly visible, but would have made for an interesting concept if teased under certain circumstances.
Not many Skylander figures are translucent in the same way as Series 3 Cynder. It makes for an eye catching change.
Excellent!
If you like the toy photographs featured in this article, you can grab hi-res copies for you own purposes over at my Flickr!
