open/close all folders
The Mallrats
The Ragtag Bunch of Misfits around which the series revolves. Formed several months after the Virus hit, the Mall Rats are a group of stragglers and young children who either couldn't or wouldn't join other tribes. Their base is the Phoenix Shopping Mall, which they discovered while fleeing from enemy tribes.
Uniquely, the Mall Rats are committed to democracy. Most of them respect the long-dead adults and are attempting to rebuild civilization (the "dream" mentioned in the opening theme) with innovations like school, inter-Tribe markets, fair distribution of labor, etc. They despise the morass of greed and violence that the City has fallen into, but believe they can rehabilitate rival Tribes if they try.
Amber
Played By: Beth Allen
Seasons: S1, S3-5
- Team Mom: A role she naturally assumes but occasionally resents.
- Teen Pregnancy: Gets pregnant via Bray, and gives birth on the run from the Technos, naming the child after his father.
- The Captain: Many of the other Mallrats thought of her this way after her false death in Season 1
- The Kirk: Rational, practical, empathetic, and a good leader.
- Not Quite Dead: it turns out in season 3 she survived the explosion on Eagle Mountain at the start of season 2, and has forged a new identity as "Eagle", the now-leader of the Eco tribe.
Bray
Played By: Dwayne Cameron
Seasons: S1-S3
Bray was an original member of the Mall Rats and periodically their leader. He was in a relationship with Amber, who would give birth to his son Baby Bray (later renamed Baby Jay).
- A Friend in Need: If Bray had his way, he would never have joined up with anybody at all...but, well, you can't leave a pregnant teenager alone, can you?
- Chick Magnet: Girls go to war over him.
- The Drifter: He likes to wander off without telling anyone he's leaving, which often makes his tribemates wonder if they can trust him. One of Amber's first challenges as a leader is finding a way to make this habit useful to the tribe.
- The Hero: A role he grew into over the first season.
- Heroic Seductress: A rare male example. In A New World, he plays along with Eloise's attempt to rape him just long enough to tie her up and run.Eloise: Oh[,] this will be a pleasure.
Bray: Absolutely. A real pleasure. - Imaginary Love Triangle: Believes he and Amber are in one with Pride. (Although Pride does have feelings for Amber, he fully understands that she doesn't reciprocate them. Bray is just picking a fight where none exists.)
- Informed Loner: He admits that every time he left the Mall Rats- and he left them a lot- he always knew in his heart that he would come back.
- It Seemed Trivial: The Mall Rats assumed that he was the father of Trudy's baby...which leads to a lot of sudden romantic conflict when Bray happens to mention, several episodes in, that he's not.
- Similarly, he confesses his love to Amber as a way of making another, barely related point.
- Reluctant Ruler: Because he doesn't believe in the concept of leadership...and also because the Mall Rats are a dumpster fire at the time that Amber suggests he lead them. After she's put in power, they eventually become co-leaders, but only after the strain of being responsible for everyone gets to her.
- Thicker Than Water: Although Zoot was a murderous psycho that Bray had to save Trudy from, he still mourns Zoot's death, because he was his brother.
Lex
"I don't need anybody."
Played By: Caleb Ross
Seasons: S1-S5
Arrogant, selfish and full of macho bravado, Lex was the bully and warrior of the Mall Rats. At an opportunity for profit or power, Lex would put his own needs first, but was nonetheless loyal and protective of his tribe and especially those he cared about the most.
- Abusive Parents: Lex's father beat both him and his mother.
- The Alcoholic: He struggles with this and his behavior is generally better when he's sober and has something productive to do.
- Anti-Hero: He's more than willing to take the role of The Big Guy whenever he gets something out of it.
- Badass Longcoat: a staple of his wardrobe.
- The Big Guy: Class One.
- Book Dumb: he seems generally ignorant of most things (culture, art, politics, literature), more than the others around his age who didn't struggle academically as much as he was implied to.
- The Bully: Season 1 Lex is power hungry and domineering. He's also (see below) seriously insecure. In Season 2 these tendencies make him susceptible to Ebony's power grab attempts, and he and Ebony tend to be on better terms (though still antagonistic and exploitative) than Ebony and the rest of the Mallrats, such that she relies on him as muscle and makes him sheriff when she becomes city leader. Most of his early bullying is focused on Jack (for being a nerd) and the younger kids in the mall. He also hoards water and deceives the group about their supplies to manipulate his power struggle with Amber. He gets a little better when he's given something specific to do that alleviates him of the annoying aspects of leadership that he doesn't have the patience for.
- Cartwright Curse: A variant on it - Lex's partners are fine unless they say "I do."
- Dark Is Not Evil: Lex is a bully who dresses in mostly black, who is written with emotional depth and a massive inferiority complex. He's a pretty realistic portrayal of a self destructive young adult with a toxic masculinity problem, but he usually comes through for the Mallrats.
- Deadpan Snarker: Flashbacks show that pre-virus, he was very snarky and sarcastic.Drill Instructor: What's your name?Lex: Lex.Drill Instructor: That's "Lex, Ma'am".Lex: No, just Lex.
- Dirty Cop: As sheriff, he's known to take bribes. His policing style mostly consists of intimidation and threats and he more than occasionally dabbles in smuggling and price-gouging scarce items.
- Famed In-Story: his killing Zoot in early Season 1 (by accident, no less) is something of an urban legend and has religious significance to the Chosen and the Zootists. This is true of all the Malrats but Lex seems to get the most of it and clearly loves the attention. Gel gushes over him in Season 5 and talks about him having "grand romantic adventures," but she has the wrong idea of who he is.
- Hidden Depths: he's very passionate and has a flair for the dramatic and proves adept at captivating an audience through performance when acting as a resistance leader against the Chosen leads to a raid and impersonation of a Chosen-propaganda performing theatre troop. He doesn't have much intellectual depth, operating out of a medium-level cunning, but he is given much emotional depth in his storylines during the early seasons (YMMV on whether he suffers
Character Derailment later). - Hot-Blooded: He can be low-key charismatic, but he lacks impulse control. It's one of the reasons he's considered The Load; the others don't think of him as very reliable, and they have good reasons.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Very much a jerk when he was introduced - and occasionally even later seasons as well - but he always came through for the Mall Rats, helping them to fight off attacking Tribes.
- A lot of his early behavior makes sense given what we learn of his backstory. He grew up with a father who is implied to have been an alcoholic who was abusive to him and his mother. He struggled academically and never learned to read, and this led to him developing an inferiority complex. His possessive and domineering attitudes with girls in the early seasons might be from watching his mother being abused, his sexual aggressiveness and general macho attitude is overcompensation, and on top of this he and Ryan were at one point conscripted into a paramilitary organization of teenagers where he was physically and sexually abused by a sadistic Drill Sergeant Nasty (and the fact that she was a woman might also have contributed to his misogyny early on. He gets a bit better when Tai-San helps him realize that what he really wants is an assertive, independent girlfriend who can call him on his crap and hold their own against him physically or intellectually. But this is only when he gets over insecurity. He also gets saddled with most of the "adult" storylines, being one of the older cast members, such as struggling with alcoholism, losing a spouse and child, being sexually aggressive with girls and learning to respect them, and being most susceptible to the virus and having to face accelerated aging and his own mortality. Really, the amount of emotional depth they give an abusive bully was very good writing.
- Leeroy Jenkins: this tendency often sabotages (however unintentionally) the Mallrats' plans. He suffers for it, getting beat up a lot to show how scary the latest enemy is. He fares well against the Chosen in Season 3 but goes rogue when he finds out when he thinks Tai-San has betrayed him.
- The Load: considered this by most of the others, though he's often useful to resistance movements, within his skillset. Notably, he is not exactly subtle, so Season 3 played to his strengths because he was out in the woods attacking the Chosen with Bray and Ebony, because if he was stuck at the mall he would not have been able to manage the passive resistance the others demanded of the tribe. In Seasons 4 and 5 the others kept him at arms length and only involved him as necessary because of his less reliable tendencies and their need for subtlety when dealing with the Technos.
- Mr. Fanservice: There's a Draco in Leather Pants vibe going on with him even though he's on the hero's side. He wears sleek, mostly black clothes, is a Pretty Boy with long raven hair, and his war paint is sparse and often tribal. He also has a fondness for leather jackets or the Badass Longcoat look.
- The Napoleon: Caleb Ross is not the tallest actor on the show. Younger and/or female characters frequently tower over him. It might contribute to his inferiority complex.
- Never Learned to Read: A major source of his insecurity. The first episode contradicted this, but after that the series was pretty consistent about it, and strongly implied that he had dyslexia.
- Fans have retconned that first episode to say that someone had told him what the graffiti says, and he was remembering, not reading, it.
- Off the Wagon: A pretty good depiction of a juvenile alcoholic.
- Ping Pong Naïveté: he's Book Dumb and in addition to that, his Character Development doesn't always stick and he often seems to have Aesop Amnesia (but not always).
- The Rival: To Bray and pretty much any other postpubescent male.
- Sticky Fingers: some behavior and his comments imply a history of car theft or joyriding; he mentions siphoning petrol was something he's been doing for years; he stole vehicles from Tribe Circus and the Chosen, and is often seen hanging around in abandoned cars or trying to restart them. He's usually the one who suggests finding fuel and he seems the most familiar with cars and tends to be the group's designated driver. Note that the vehicles are usually stolen or attempts to commandeer an abandoned vehicle. The behavior is consistent with general lack of impulse control.
- The Worf Effect: as one of the oldest and most aggressive members of the cast, he naturally loses a lot of fights to demonstrate that there is danger. The number of fights Lex loses onscreen (even when sober) eclipses the times he's won (with the exception of the virtual reality plot arc but that was virtual reality).
- Token Evil Teammate: Along with Ebony in Season 2, but when he is first introduced, he's been out looting in order to impress the Always Chaotic Evil Locos enough that he can join their tribe. Zoot dismissed his loot, and decided to have fun with him instead, so the Mallrats were not exactly his first choice of tribes. Notably he dresses most like a Loco (until Ebony joins them), wearing a significant amount of red and black.
Jack
''"I'm a scientist... I lose things, forget birthdays and I'm more familiar with numbers than words!"
Played By: Michael Wesley Smith
Seasons: S1-S5
Jack is one of the original members of the Mall Rats. Skilled in technology and science, he has proved to be a valuable friend in helping the Mall Rats to survive.
- Fake Defector: In Season 5.
- Gadgeteer Genius: having a talent for science and technology, he's responsible (along with Dal) for various inventions that benefit the tribe, including a water-filtration system and a wind turbine built from scrap.
- Hollywood Atheist: Averted. He doesn't put much stake in Tai-San's prophecies because they are unscientific.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red to Dal's blue. His ideas are generally more fanciful and inventive than Dal's; but Dal is practical enough that when he and Jack work together they come up with some pretty amazing stuff, like a water purification system and an electric generator.
- The Smart Guy: Came up with various inventions to help make life easier for the Tribe, as described above.
Dal
Played By: Ashwath Sundarasen
Seasons: S1-S3
Seasons: S1-S3
Dal was one of the original members of the Mall Rats. He was neighbours with Amber, who was his close friend before the virus. Dal had planned to flee the city to the country-side with Amber. Being an engineer, Dal's practical skills have aided fellow member and best friend, Jack, into producing water for the Mall Rats.
- Badass Bookworm: Dal proves to be this during the tribe circus invasion of the mall.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Jack's red. He's the practical, cool head that sees Jack's inventive ideas through to their application.
- The Smart Guy: Like Jack he had a history of tinkering with electronics and chemistry sets. Despite being one of the younger members of the tribe, he was one of the smartest, even helping Jack to repair his rainwater collection system.
Trudy
"Come anywhere near Bray or Brady and I will scratch your eyes out!"
Played By: Antonia Prebble
Seasons: S1-S5
Trudy arrived to the mall as a teenage single mother, searching for a safe place to birth her baby. In the beginning, she suffered from heavy postnatal depression while dealing with intense unrequited feelings for Bray. Having faced challenges beyond her years, Trudy was always vulnerable, and struggledwithd her mental health. This sometimes manifested in erratic behaviors, including a suicide attempt at one point.
- Ambiguous Disorder: She fluctuates wildly between emotions, has paranoid fears about everyone, and obsesses over Bray. These traits were exaggerated after Zoot's death, although she was always mentally vulnerable.
- Face–Heel Turn: In Series 2, after returning from the Chosen.
- Give the Baby a Father: She tries to guilt Bray into dating her by appealing to this trope. Bray isn't into it, or the fact that she is using a human life as a bargaining chip.
- Heel–Face Turn: After visiting the Nomads.
- Heroic Sacrifice: A non-fatal example; Trudy allows herself to be taken away by the Chosen to save Lex's life.
- Mama Bear: Don't ever put her son in danger.
- Teen Pregnancy: Much of the first series revolves around her getting pregnant by Zoot and her consequent decision to flee the Locos.
- Who's Laughing Now?: In Series 3, now that she has the Mallrats at her mercy:Trudy: Do you remember Jack? When I was just a scared pregnant girl begging to be allowed to stay here?
Salene: We took you in, Trudy!
Trudy: I was never welcome here! Do you have any idea how that felt? - Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Before Character Development, she played up her frailty as much as possible to make Bray pay attention to her.
Tai-San
Played By: Michelle Ang
Seasons: S1-S4
- Granola Girl: She's an aficionado of holistic medicine and adheres to Eastern-insired, New Age beliefs.
- The Fundamentalist: Vehemently opposed to Western science and medicine.
- The Lost Lenore: To Lex, in later seasons.
- Manipulative Bastard: Because she is so kind, few people notice that she never exposes her vulnerabilities or tells anyone about herself. When Lex accuses her of being cold, she grudgingly admits that he's right.
- Pragmatic Hero: She does whatever is necessary to keep the group stable, and isn't ashamed of any of it. "Necessary" has, to her, included sleeping with Zandra's boyfriend, defecting to the Mall Rats' enemies, and saving The Guardian's life.
- Silk Hiding Steel: She never seeks a position of leadership and rarely gets angry...but somehow, she always ends up getting what she wants.
Zandra
Played By: Amy Morrison
Seasons: S1
- The Ditz: She doesn't seem to grasp the gravity of what's happening in the world. At one point, she says she misses the characters of her favorite TV shows, and wonders "what they're doing"; when she hears about Trudy's new baby, her first reaction is excitement, because of all the cute baby clothes they can dress the little one in.
- The Fashionista: She changes up her look constantly, and has more outfits than any other member of the group during her season.
Salene
Played By: Victoria Spence
Seasons: S1-S5
- Team Mom: Started as the more domestic version but eventually took Amber's place in the tribe.
Ryan
Played By: Ryan Runciman
Seasons: S1-S3
- Beware the Nice Ones: Ryan is one of the nicest people, ever, yet if you get him angry he will beat the crap out of you.
-
The Danza: Though it's most likely just a coincidence seeing how he's no more prominent than most of the characters.
Alice
Played By: Vanessa Stacey
Seasons: S1, S2, S3, S5
- Big Fun: A very rare female example, Alice was a Cool Big Sis type of a character that several characters loved dearly for her often cheerful attitude.
- Ensemble Dark Horse: She was made a regular cast member for seasons 2 and 3 because she was voted the best guest character of the first season in a fan poll.
- Put on a Bus: Taken by the Technos in series 4, returns briefly for the last few episodes of season 5.
- Stout Strength: While she often was a fun, cheery gal to be around, if needed, she also could knock peoples' heads together, quite literally.
- Team Mom: For her own tribe in the beginning, and more or less for the Mall Rats whenever Amber wasn't around.
Baby Bray
Played By: Lucas Hill (S4), Adam Sondej (S5)
Seasons: S4-S5
The son of Bray and Amber.
- Dead Guy Junior: Amber names the baby after his father, who it later turns out has been "deleted" by the Technos.
Brady
Played By: Beanie Palmer (S1), Kiriana Chase (S1), Story Rose (S2), Eva Rose (S2), Ariel Garland (S2), Georgia-Taylor Woods (S3-S5)
Seasons: S1-S5
Charlie
Played By: Charley Murphy Samau
Seasons: S4
Cloe
Played By: Jaimee Kaire-Gataulu
Seasons: S1-S4
After the virus wiped the adults, she found and stayed with Salene, Patsy, Paul and Bob. Cloe was later saved by Amber from the Locos and joined the Mall Rats. A huge animal lover and a loner, she is often seen spending more time with animals.
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: To her pseudo-parents, Salene and Trudy.
- Guile Hero: Once the older Mallrats start trusting her with her own tasks in their dealings with the Technos, it turns out that she's rather good at manipulating Ved.
Danni
Played By: Ella Wilks
Seasons S2
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: For Amber after her "death" in season 2.
Ellie
Played By: Jennyfer Jewell
Seasons: S2-S5
- Heroic BSoD: After Jack is taken by the Technos in early Season 4.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Towards Jack, and briefly Luke (as part of his Heel–Face Turn).
- The Smart Girl: Also a computer expert like Jack, which helps form their attachment.
Gel
Played By: Vicky Rodewyk
Seasons: S5
K.C.
Played By: Ari Boyland
Seasons: S1, S2, S3, S5
- Butt-Monkey: Due to how he's introduced (he gets caught stealing), and because he throws his lot in with Lex, he's not particularly well liked. This leads to many characters treat him as a nuisance and if they have a chance to have a laugh at his expense, they will take it.
- Fake Defector: Becomes the Oracle for the The Chosen in Season 3, but only to tear them apart from the inside.
- Street Urchin: Like many others of the youngest children, KC lived mostly alone before joining the Mall Rats. He was perhaps the most street-wise person of the group.
Lottie
Played By: Beth Chote
Seasons: S5
May
Played By: Laura Wilson
Seasons: S2-S5
Mouse
Played By: Jacinta Wawatai
Seasons: S4-S5
Patsy
Played By: Sarah Major
Seasons: S1-S3
Paul
Played By: Zachary Best
Seasons: S1
- The Voiceless: Subverted. Although deaf, he does occasionally speak.
- Psychic Powers: He feels "vibrations," as his sister, Patsy, puts it.
Sammy
Played By: Lucas Hayward
Seasons: S4-S5
Bob
- Team Pet: An elderly golden Labrador who doesn't do much other than react to the plot.
The Locos
The main antagonists of Season 1. The Loco (sometimes called Locust) tribe are crazed anarchists who fetishize personal strength and attack whomever they see. They are held together by fear of Zoot, their leader, which morphs into a cultish reverence after his disappearance.
Zoot
"Power and chaos — it's the only way!"
Played By: Daniel James
Seasons: S1-S5
Zoot, named Martin before the virus, was the infamous founder and leader of the Locos, a dangerous tribe of warriors who ruled the city following his slogan "power and chaos". A powerful presence in the post-virus world, Zoot left a legacy that would remain long after his death, with religious cults formed in his name and his image used to spread terror in the city.
- Big Bad: As leader of the Locos during Season 1.
- Burn Baby Burn: Bray sends him off with a Viking-style cremation (as the graveyards are full).
- Cain and Abel: He is the Cain to Bray's Abel.
- Dark Messiah: Preaches an ideal of "power and chaos" (rejecting the old world of the adults with their rules) which the Locos adopt; after his death, the Chosen take this and turn him into a god figure.
Ebony
Played By: Meryl Cassie
Seasons: S1-S5
- The Cast Show Off: Sings the series intro, and in most of the endings as well, as lead or backing vocalist.
- Claustrophobia: Spike tries to drive her crazy by exploiting this, and it even works for a while.
- Dark Action Girl: A skilled fighter and an extremely ruthless one, with no compunctions about fighting dirty and no clear loyalties.
- Enemy Mine: Due to the break up of the Locos Ebony is forced to work with the Mallrats for most of Season 2, though neither side likes this arrangement.
- Not So Stoic: When it comes to Jay.
- Still Wearing the Old Colors: After joining the Mallrats, Ebony still wears the red and black clothing associated with the Locos, her old tribe.
- Wild Card: After the fall of the Locos, her only consistent allegiance is to herself, and she switches sides as best suits her needs at the moment.
Glen
Played By: Keegan Fulford-Wierzbicki
Seasons: S1
Spike
-
Played By: Lee Donoghue
Seasons: S1-S2
The Chosen
The main antagonists of seasons 2 and 3. A cult dedicated to worshipping Zoot, who they refuse to believe is dead, and spreading his ideology of "power and chaos" over the City. They are repressed and fearful, dominated by their socially abusive leader.
The Guardian
Played By: Damon Andrews
Seasons: S2-S3, S5
- Big Bad: as leader of the cult "The Chosen" in Season 2-3, which kills/enslaves the members of the other tribes.
- The Fundamentalist: He turns Zoot into a god.
Luke
Played By: Jacob Tomuri
Seasons: S3
- Beneath the Mask: He's a veritable Nice Guy.
The Technos
The main antagonists of seasons 4 and 5. An insular Tribe dedicated to technology, especially "Virtual Space" which they use to brainwash their enemies. Unlike rival Tribes, they have a reliable source of electricity.
Jay
-"
Played By: James Napier
Seasons: S4-S5
- The Captain: This is his role as the military head of Ram's organization.
Ram
"I'm a genius. Didn't they tell you?"
Played By: Tom Hern
Seasons: S4-S5
- A God Am I: His obsession with immortality in Reality Space comes close to this.
- Big Bad: As leader of the Technos in Season 4, subjecting everyone to insane virtual reality experiments.
- Faux Affably Evil: He maintains a cheerful demeanor even as he's threatening others or executing minions who disappoint him.
- Heel–Face Turn: After his defeat and abandonment at the end of season 4, he is slowly worked round over the course of season 5.
- Immortality Seeker: He desires to become immortal by downloading himself into a virtual world.
- Teen Genius: Manages to turn the City from a post-apocalyptic wasteland into a high-tech dystopia, create a successful virtual reality and even a malevolent AI by the end of season 5.
Mega
Played By: Calen Maiava-Paris
Season: S4-S5
- Big Bad: After taking over the Technos in Season 5.
- Manipulative Bastard: Though the Technos are reduced in power after being overthrown in season 4, he cleverly manipulates his way to power.
Java
Played By: Megan Alatini
Seasons: S4-S5
Siva
Played By: Monique Cassie
Seasons: S4-S5
- I Just Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Is fine with Lex still pining after Tai-San.
Ved
Played By: Dan Weekes-Hannah
Seasons: S4
- Annoying Younger Sibling: To his brother Jay.
- Teen Genius: Second only to Ram in computer skills.
The Gaians/Ecos
A tribe who live in the woods surrounding the City and Eagle Mountain. They are benevolent, defined by their strong commitment to the environment and to rejecting technology (which they blame for the horrors of the Virus). They befriend the Mall Rats in season 3, but care very little about what goes on in the City.
Pride
"Is it just me or did you get a feeling? (...) Like I just blinked and missed something."
Played By: Nick Miller
Seasons: S3-S5
- The Big Guy: Season 3 and 4's best example of this.
- Chick Magnet: Second only to Bray.
- The Fundamentalist: Violently opposed to the idea of society returning to the evil old ways. In Season 4, believes that once electricity is switched back on it will carve the way for pollution, inequality and war.
- The Reliable One: In Season 3, one of the few characters whom all sides seem to trust.
- The Rival: To Bray, about Amber.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: After becoming addicted to the Game.
Hawk
Played By: Sam Kelly
Seasons: S4-S5
Other Characters
Andy
Played By: James Ordish
Seasons: S3
Darryl
Played By: Joseph Crawford
Seasons: S5
Dee
"Being a girlie doesn't mean I didn't got to be big and strong."
Played By: Kelly Stevenson
Seasons: S4
- Hypercompetent Sidekick: Is this often to Lex.
- Manipulative Bastard: Doesn't hesitate to play Ebony against Amber - all in the name of helping Lex.
Moz
Played By: Miriama Smith
Seasons: S3
Ned
Played By: Bevin Linkhorn
Seasons: S3
Patch
Played By: Morgan Palmer Hubbard
Seasons: S4
- Odd Couple: With Dee.
Ruby
Played By: Fleur Saville
Seasons: S5
Sasha
Played By: David Taylor
Seasons: S1
Slade
Played By: Matt Robinson
Seasons: S5
Tally
Played By: Amelia Reynolds
Seasons: S3
Top Hat
Played By: Sam Husson
Seasons: S1-S2
- Gang of Hats: His tribe, Tribe Circus.
