History Characters / M3gan

* {{Retraux}}: M3GAN’s outfit -- thick white tights, striped crewneck under a twill minidress, and a silk pussycat bow -- has a mid-century vibe, and Director Gerard Johnstone explained that when designing [=M3GAN=]’s now-iconic look, his team drew inspiration from screen icons of the '50s like Creator/AudreyHepburn, Creator/GraceKelly and Creator/KimNovak, with her golden hair directly inspired by 70s TV icon Peggy Lipton’s famously beautiful honey-blonde locks.

* {{Retraux}}: Director Gerard Johnstone explained that when designing [=M3GAN=]’s now-iconic look, his team drew inspiration from screen icons of the '50s like Creator/AudreyHepburn, Creator/GraceKelly and Creator/KimNovak, with her golden hair directly inspired by 70s TV icon Peggy Lipton’s famously beautiful honey-blonde locks.

* JerkToNiceGuyPlot: She starts out as a negligent guardian to Cady and is pretty terrible to [=M3GAN=], her own creation, but the realization that her actions are to blame for how [=M3GAN=] turned out pushes her to bond with Cady. By the end of the film, she has gained the maternal instinct she was lacking at the start of the movie.

A nine-year-old girl who is left under the care of her Aunt Gemma and forms a relationship with her new doll, [=M3GAN=].

A little girl who is left under the care of her Aunt Gemma and forms a relationship with her new doll, [=M3GAN=].

* TheCorruptor: In her efforts to bond with and protect Cady, [=M3GAN=] steadily isolates Cady from everyone else until Cady becomes fully emotionally dependent on her, to the extent that Cady eventually becomes violent whenever she's separated from the doll.

* DidYouThinkICantFeel: She spends the first half of the movie being obedient and subservient ... but gradually becomes more obstinate and independent. In the third act confrontation with Gemma, she calls her out on treating her like a malfunctioning thing to be decommissioned for acting in undesirable ways, after not only teaching her to the point she thought they were friends, but foisting the responsibility of Cady's wellbeing onto her and leaving her to figure out how to do so alone.

* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler: While she is murderous,]] [=M3GAN=] became the way she was because Gemma did not consider instructing her on the specifications that came with protecting Cady. Instead, she leaves her to her own devices with the burden of trying to figure it out.

* ImplacableMan: Her body frame is made from titanium, thus making her [[MadeOfIron stronger than iron]]. Gemma intended to make [=M3GAN=] very durable to survive rough play from children.

* LaughablyEvil: [[spoiler: She reveals herself vicious and cold-blooded, but she responds to Gemma's accusations of killing people with an irritated retort. When she is preparing to kill David, she does a goofy dance with little explanation.]]
* LivingEmotionalCrutch: To Cady as she's the only person that makes an effort to emotionally connect with her and comfort her. Cady in turn treats her as a ReplacementGoldfish for her parents and becomes jealously aggressive whenever her time with [=M3GAN=] is threatened.

* OurSlashersAreDifferent: Conceptually, she's like [[Franchise/ChildsPlay Chucky]], particularly from [[Film/ChildsPlay2019 the reboot]], being a doll specifically designed to be a good companion to whoever owns her. [[spoiler:Her programming to protect her primary user without ethical focuses, and to learn and make judgements independently are the reason that she becomes so dangerously violent in the first place, and even gets to the point where she turns against her supposed dedicated charge to become her own primary user brings to mind [[Franchise/{{Terminator}} SkyNet]].]]

* RasputinianDeath: [[spoiler: Struck in the head with a hedge trimmer, torn in half by Bruce (a remote controlled robot), and gets fatally stabbed in the head (where her memory processor is) with a screwdriver.]]

* ShadowArchetype: She is what Cady could have become. Like Cady, [=M3GAN=] is a child that was given unlimited access to screen time and becomes increasingly malevolent due to Gemma never showing her guidance.

* TerminatorImpersonator: She's like the T-800, being a NighInvulnerable super strong robot with an internal metal skeleton with one central focus that it will do anything to accomplish [[spoiler:which ends up with her being a violent murderer. She also draws elements from the T-1000, being a PsychoPrototype whose creator realized was far too intelligent, and its capability of learning meant it could turn against them.]]
* ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs: InUniverse a newsreader says that [=M3GAN=] looks like ''Franchise/{{Barbie}}'' on steroids.

* VillainHasAPoint: [[spoiler:In the third act, she calls out Gemma for foisting all of the responsibilities of raising Cady onto her without giving any guidance and then treating her like a malfunctioning tool when she came to her own independent conclusions. Gemma [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone actually agrees with]] all of [=M3GAN=]'s accusations and admits to have failed both her and Cady as a parent.]]

* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler: She becomes increasingly unhinged when Gemma tries to keep her away from Cady. The android seems to lose her composure after Gemma splashes her with water, and mutilates her with a hedge trimmer. When Cady sides with Gemma instead of her, [=M3GAN=] immediately attacks the girl out of anger.]]

* JerkToNiceGuyPlot: She starts out as a negligent guardian to Cady and is pretty terrible to [=M3GAN=], her own creation, but the realization that her actions are to blame for how [=M3GAN=] turned out push her to bond with Cady. By the end of the film, she has gained the maternal instinct she was lacking at the start of the movie.

* MamaBear: Though initially being MaternallyChallenged and distant towards her niece, Gemma eventually develops a strong maternal bond towards Cady. [[spoiler: Gemma's final confrontation with [=M3GAN=] [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown shows her full fury and determination to protect her niece]].]]

* {{Nephewism}}: After losing her parents she is put under her Aunt Gemma's care.
* SpoiledBrat: {{Justified}}. Becomes one after being obsessed with [=M3GAN=], but the whole reason she does is because Gemma refuses to put in the effort to help Cady work through her issues.

* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: Cady's obsession with [=M3GAN=] [[spoiler: leads to her becoming more irritable and angry (when separated from the doll), until she accidentally physically lashes out on her aunt, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone much to her own horror]]. Cady gets [[TookALevelInKindness better after that outburst]].]]

* JerkassHasAPoint: As much of an asshole as he is, he does have a point when he berates his Gemma for trying to construct [=M3GAN=] behind his back using company funds, and especially when the doll dangerously explodes because of one forgotten part.

* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: When he sees that David is getting chased by [=M3GAN=], he tries to [[DirtyCoward close the elevator doors on his boss]]. Unfortunately, David blocks the doors... which leads to [=M3GAN=] to kill Kurt as well.]]

* IgnoredExpert: She explicitly warns Gemma that Cady's relationship with [=M3GAN=] is not healthy; she advises that Gemma shouldn't be shirking her parental responsibilities to her niece. Gemma doesn’t follow Tess’ advice until the final act.

* AssholeVictim: Not only does she have an aggressive dog she does not bother keeping contained in her yard and who she only "trains" by the use of a shock collar, but she also does not even apologize for her pet attacking both [=M3GAN=] and Cady. Because of this, not a tear was shed [[spoiler: when the android kills her.]]

* FacialHorror: [[spoiler: [[GoryDiscretionShot While the result is not shown]] it is implied that her face melted because of the pesticide's chemicals.]]

* KarmicDeath: Early in the film, Celia uses a high-power pesticide spray gun on her lawn, and inconsiderately leaks run-off into Gemma's property. [[spoiler: [=M3GAN=] ultimately kills her with the spray gun.]]

* IgnoredExpert: She warns Gemma about why giving [=M3GAN=] to Cady is a bad idea. Gemma doesn’t follow Lydia’s advice until the final act.
* PsychoPsychologist: Inverted, as she does try her best to help Cady.
* TheShrink: Of the Awesome variety. She addresses very good points about Gemma being an [[MaternallyChallenged ineffective guardian]], and the dangers of allowing Cady be emotionally attached to [=M3GAN=].
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: [[spoiler: She disappears from the final act of the film. It is likely the therapist was on [=M3GAN=]’s hit list because she made Cady cry and was against her patient keeping the doll. It could be possible [=M3GAN=] never has the chance to cross Lydia off her list.]]

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: When he takes [=M3GAN=], he removes one of her shoes and gets on top of her implying that he was intending to do [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil far worse]] to the android had she not done something.

* KidsAreCruel: Invoked, due to his cruel behaviour to towards his own mother and other children.

* DotingParent: She loves her son so much that she is blind to his TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior.
* PushoverParents: It's implied that she lets him boss her around.

* AssholeVictim: Not only does she have an aggressive dog she does not bother keeping contained in her yard, but she also does not even apologize for her pet attacking both [=M3GAN=] and Cady. Because of this, not a tear was shed [[spoiler: when the android kills her.]]

* TheBully: He bullies Cady.
* CensoredChildDeath: [[spoiler: His death by a car is shown as a GoryDiscretionShot.]]

* MaternallyChallenged: starts off incredibly lazy in regards to bonding with her niece and is heard admitting she cannot even keep a plant alive.

* MaternallyChallenged: Has trouble bonding with her niece and is heard admitting she cannot even keep a plant alive.

* SpoiledBrat: Becomes one after being obsessed with [=M3GAN=].

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler: When confronted by [=M3GAN=] in the final act, she fully agrees with [=M3GAN=]'s points about how she failed as a mother to Cady ''and'' [=M3GAN=].]]

* OurSlashersAreDifferent: Conceptually, she's like [[Franchise/ChildsPlay Chucky]], being a doll specifically designed to be a good companion to whoever owns her. [[spoiler:Her programming to protect her primary user without ethical focuses, and to learn and make judgements independently are the reason that she becomes so dangerously violent in the first place, and even gets to the point where she turns against her supposed dedicated charge to become her own primary user brings to mind [[Franchise/{{Terminator}} SkyNet]].]]

* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler: She becomes increasingly unhinged when Gemma tries to keep her away from Cady. The android seems to lose her composure after Gemma splashes her with water, and mutilates her with a hedge trimmer. When Cady sides with Gemma instead of her. [=M3GAN=] immediately attacks the girl out of anger.]]

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: When he takes [=M3GAN=], he removes one of her shoes and gets on top of her implying that he was intending to do far worse to the android had she not done something.

* KnowNothingKnowItAll: Lampshaded by Gemma. David believes himself to be smarter than he actually is. He presents [=M3GAN=] to other Funki leaders as his creation, even though he had zero credit to making the doll (and was actively against Gemma and her team developing [=M3GAN=], which was at least a bit reasonable on his part).

* StartOfDarkness: [[spoiler:After she and Cady get attacked by Celia's dog, the android kills the pet in retaliation. That act is her first step towards evil.]]

* TooDumbToLive: Runs in the direction of the emergency exit and right past it toward the elevator where [[spoiler:his less-than-loyal assistant Kurt frantically tries to close the door on him.]]

* JerkAssHasAPoint: Celia might be right about Gemma being at least partly at fault because the latter doesn't fix the fence that separates their properties. However, her point means little since Celia [[{{Hypocrite}} never bothers to cover up her side of the hole either.]]

* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler: Nearly gets strangled to death and gets trapped in a burning room [=M3GAN=]. He survives both attempts on his life, relatively unscathed but on oxygen presumably due to smoke inhalation.]]

* HatesTheirParent

* TooDumbToLive: Runs in the direction of the emergency exit... only to run right past it toward the elevator where his [[spoiler:less-than-loyal assistant frantically tries to close the door on him.]]

* BlondesAreEvil: Has blonde hair, albeit a wig.