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Sylia Stingray
Affiliation: Team Leader
Responsibilities: Tactical Maneuvers/Close Combat
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When Sylia Stingray was ten years old she witnessed the birth of a new species, the Cyberdroids. Her father, Doctor Katsuhito Stingray, was at the head of this research being conducted by Whiz Laboratories, which was owned and run by BioEscape Corporations. Doctor Stingray himself was detatched from his two children, Sylia and Mackie, leaving them alone for weeks at a time so that he could pursue his ambitions. Sylia became very protective of Mackie during the next two years.
In May of 2022, after Doctor Stingray publicly challenged GENOM's use of the Cyberdroids, stating that they were abusing their power as one of the world's largest companies, Brian J. Mason was ordered by the Chairman of GENOM, Mister Quincy, to silence Doctor Stingray. Mason went to Whiz Laboratories and committed the assassinated, taking much of the information about the Doctor's life and research. He then burned down the laboratory to hide the evidence. Outside a large group of people have gathered, all of which Mason surveyed as he stayed to view the damage he had done. One of these people caught his eye instantly. That person was Sylia Stingray.
The next morning a distraught Sylia was told by her younger brother that she had received a package. Sylia took the package and inserted the data unit within into her computer. The images that appeared on the screen flowed directly in the shocked girl's mind as she started at the screen, unable to move. All of her father's years of research and development were 'dumped' in her brain via a technology used heavily while creating organic brains for the synthetic Boomers. All of her father's knowledge was permanently placed in her mind and Sylia became aware of the fact that her father had been killed by GENOM, or more specifically, Brian J. Mason.
At her father's funeral Sylia was approached by one of his surviving assistants, Doctor Haynes. He promised her that he would continue with her father's dream of creating Cyberdroids that could peacefully coexist with human beings.
Over the next eight years Sylia began acquiring contacts all throughout Mega Tokyo and the rest of the world. Fixers, moles, and informants were placed at GENOM, nightclubs, the government, and many more places. To ensure privacy during her operations, Sylia bribed various airfield officials, instructing them not to report her jets and mecha when they were placed at, or left, the airfields. Sylia also found leaks in shadier organizations such as the Yakuza, and discovered a multitude of unhappy ex-government agents such as Fargo who were willing to keep her informed about the latest from any known corner of the earth.
Sylia also went to work on the more technical aspects of the Knight Sabers: Their Hardsuits and mecha, which included the Motoroids. All were designed with specific purposes in mind, from communication to melee combat to long range assault. When the Hardsuits were finished Sylia began to recruit women for her mercenary outfit, the Knight Sabers.
What is particularly odd about Sylia and the debates surrounding whether or not she is a Boomer is the fact that when she is finally revealed to be a creature that can live in all environments for as long as she desires (ie: a Boomer), she is revealed to be so in Bubblegum Crash!, not Bubblegum Crisis. One of the most apparent problems with this is that Sylia's attitude in BGCrash! is considerably more 'human' than it is in BGCrisis. She is sentimental and a romantic in BGCrash!, concerned with carrying on her father's legacy and bringing about justice, good, and honor. It is inarguable that in BGCrisis she was more interested in getting any given job done. Yet when she is once and for all called something completely different from a human being, she is a kinder, warmer, more understanding version of her old self.
Another definite change is that in Bubblegum Crash! Sylia does next to no physical combat, and in fact very little on the side. In Bubblegum Crisis she did more close combat than the other Knight Sabers. That Sylia, who dealt the most violent attacks of the group, would become a cheery, nice person suddenly without clear explanation does not seem entirely right.
On the other side of this is the fact that the Sylia in Bubblegum Crash! is more personable and more accessible than the one in the prior series. She smiles more, talks about her feelings, refers to her father in a nostalgic manner, and is overall a gentler person. She hardly seems the same, but it appears that she is, in some eyes, preferable this way. The closest glimpse Bubblegum Crash! offers of the Sylia from Bubblegum Crisis is during her time with Largo in the Brumm Bar underground boring machine.
