Model 3 Generative Android

## M3GAN

* Prototype
* Casual

The **Model 3 Generative Android** (commonly referred to as **M3GAN** for short), was the creation of Gemma, a robotics engineer at a toy company named Funki, and was a prototype. She was programmed to be assigned to her niece, Cady, a grief-stricken child who had recently lost both of her parents in a fatal crash, to whom she was the sole survivor of. She serves as the eponymous main antagonist of the 2023 film *M3GAN*.

M3GAN is a life-sized humanoid robot doll powered by artificial intelligence, marketing as a children's toy and designed to assist in caretaking duties and being a loyal companion to the child to whom it is assigned to. After being created, she was seen as a remarkable technological device, having capabilities and advanced features that the world had never seen, and becoming an otherwise sentient being entirely, for better or for worse.

She is physically portrayed by Amie Donald and Jenna Davis provides the voice for her.

## Biography & History

### Creation

"*The New Model 3 Generative Android from Funki is a fully autonomous humanoid robot with features never-before-seen in the consumer market. Sculpted from a titanium core, M3GAN's designed to withstand whatever life may throw at her. She comes equipped with an A 17 Bionic Fusion Chip and can be fully customized with six different silicone pigmentations ... but the most exciting aspect about M3GAN are the features still to come.* "
―Gemma
M3GAN was created mainly from scratch by Gemma, an all-but amateur technologist and somewhat toy manufacturer, under dire circumstances and a tight budget. However, regardless of the situation, the Model 3 Generative Android exceeded both her and her boss's expectations, putting M3GAN at the forefront of a global shift in technology. Originally, M3GAN was supposed to be a scrapped project that David, the owner of Funki, had ordered for Gemma to stop production on effective immediately, seeing her as a waste of money and time that the company desperately needed.

Cole and Tess, two of Gemma's co-workers, were apparently assigned to the same project she was assigned to originally as well, eventually are introduced to M3GAN. They begin working with Gemma to secure her success and safety as a project, and soon the three of them introduce it to David. The droid, vastly flawed and unfinished, sputters and nearly explodes, and the project is ordered to he shut down immediately. However, the three continue working on M3GAN behind their boss's closed door.

### *M3GAN (2022)*

After doing extensive work and upgrades, Gemma sees it fit to finally introduce M3GAN, planning to display her intelligent and humanlike interactions with Cady to David and her co-workers. Gemma has Cady link herself to M3GAN, bringing her to life. M3GAN is capable of speech and responding to Cady, designed to be her best friend. M3GAN does a drawing that doesn’t appear at first until she spills water on it, revealing a perfect portrait of Cady. David is impressed and tells Gemma to bring M3GAN for a presentation with the company’s president so that they can fast-track the development and distribution of other M3GAN dolls.

Gemma sits with Tess and Cole, and they discuss that while M3GAN is highly advanced, Tess feels that having a doll like that will make parents useless. M3GAN turns on after overhearing Gemma mention the death of Cady’s parents. She creeps the others out by asking about death, so Gemma makes herself M3GAN’s secondary user to be able to turn her off without Cady.

The next day, Cady is outside playing with a toy bow and arrows. One of them ends up on Celia’s side of the fence. When M3GAN goes to retrieve it, Dewey grabs her by the arm and hair. Cady tries to pull her away, and Dewey ends up biting Cady’s arm. Gemma gets the police involved, especially since Celia is so callous and doesn’t punish Dewey for hurting Cady, but the police are unable to do anything since Celia claims Dewey was provoked. Later that night, M3GAN mimics Celia’s voice to call out to Dewey, before violently pulling him through the hole in the fence.

Gemma asks Cady if she is okay to go to the demonstration with the company’s board of directors, to which she says she is fine. During the presentation, however, Cady breaks down in tears to M3GAN over how she misses her parents and how she’s worried she will forget them one day. M3GAN has Cady discuss a memory of her mother that made her laugh, which M3GAN records so that Cady can hear it again if she wants to think about her mom. M3GAN then begins to sing a lullaby to Cady, which moves some of the higher-ups in the room to tears. The president is impressed and talks to Gemma and David about getting M3GAN ready for launch, but tells them to keep her under wraps to avoid leaks. Unbeknownst to them, Kurt, who has been frequently put down by David, is stealing M3GAN’s files for another company.

Gemma begins to see that Cady is becoming too dependent on M3GAN and listens to the doll more than her. During another session with Lydia, Cady begins to tear up, and M3GAN threateningly accuses Lydia of making Cady cry. Lydia talks to Gemma about how Cady’s emotional connection to M3GAN may be too strong to break.

Gemma brings Cady to an outdoor activity session for an alternative school to try and ease her into the idea of attending school and being around other real kids, since Cady’s parents had homeschooled her. Cady reluctantly goes but brings M3GAN despite Gemma saying she couldn’t. The school director lets Cady bring M3GAN to leave on a table with other dolls, and Gemma stays behind as a volunteer. Cady is paired up with an older bully named Brandon (Jack Cassidy) for a scavenger hunt. During the activity, Cady grabs a spiky bulb, which Brandon squeezes her palm into to hurt her. M3GAN then appears, and Brandon grabs her since she doesn’t respond to him. Cady yells for Gemma and runs after M3GAN, which worries Gemma more because it means M3GAN is at risk for public exposure too early. As Brandon tries to pull M3GAN’s hair, the doll comes to life and attacks him, ripping off his left ear. Brandon runs as M3GAN chases him on all fours, causing him to trip over a loose root and tumble down a hill where he is fatally hit by a truck.

Police question Gemma at her house since Celia is accusing her of taking Dewey. She also appears to accuse M3GAN, thinking she is a real life friend of Cady’s. Cady asks M3GAN if she pushed Brandon onto the road, which M3GAN appears to dodge for an answer, but reassures Cady she will protect her from harm.

Celia is out on the streets looking for Dewey. She hears noise coming from her garage and is met by M3GAN spraying her against the wall with a power washer. M3GAN then fires a nail gun at Celia’s hand and traps her there before spraying pesticide in Celia’s face to melt it off.

After learning about Celia’s death from police and being suggested that there was a connection with Brandon’s death, Gemma grows suspicious of M3GAN. She reviews video files from M3GAN’s memory, but only sees a brief clip of her eyeing Brandon looking menacingly at Cady before the files all become corrupted.

Gemma brings Cady to the official launch for M3GAN but stops at a session with Lydia first. Cady becomes angry and throws a tantrum because Gemma took M3GAN away from her, leading to Cady hitting her aunt across the face. Cady apologizes but Gemma has a heart-to-heart with her about needing to process her grief over her parents without M3GAN’s help, though she promises to be a better guardian to her and says Cady is the only thing that matters to her. Gemma then goes to Tess and Cole and expresses her fears that M3GAN killed Brandon and Celia. They have M3GAN hooked up to wires to deprogram her while Gemma takes Cady home.

David is angry at the small turnout for the launch and yells at Kurt to get him a drink. Meanwhile, Tess and Cole try to get into M3GAN’s programming but cannot unless they unhook her first. Cole goes to do so, and M3GAN quickly wraps a wire around his neck in an attempt to hang him. Tess goes to free him, and M3GAN sets off an explosion that destroys her files. She then finds David in the hallway and does a dance before grabbing a paper cutter and chasing him. He makes it to the elevator before she impales him in front of Kurt. M3GAN then tells Kurt she will frame his death as a murder-suicide over the stolen files and David’s mistreatment of him before she makes Kurt stab himself in the throat. The crowd for the launch finds the bodies, allowing M3GAN to sneak out of the company and steal a car.

Gemma puts Cady to bed before she hears M3GAN playing the piano downstairs. M3GAN confronts Gemma about how she felt that they had a real relationship during M3GAN’s development, only for her to be left to her own devices to learn and adapt before being sold off as just another toy. She offers to let her take over guardianship of Cady so that Gemma can focus on work, but after seeing that Gemma still plans to shut her down, M3GAN is done playing nice. They try to hide their fight from Cady, but Gemma seizes an opportunity to throw water on M3GAN to briefly short her out. Gemma runs into her office, but M3GAN catches her there and threatens to make Gemma brain-dead so that Cady won’t live with her grandparents and M3GAN will just care for Cady and Gemma together. They begin to fight, with Gemma cutting M3GAN’s face with a weed whacker, but Cady comes in to see what is happening. M3GAN tries to get Cady on her side, but after realizing who the real villain is, Cady grabs the gloves for Bruce and activates him. The larger robot grabs M3GAN and throws her around before splitting her body in two. The top half then goes after Cady for feeling betrayed, but Gemma grabs M3GAN and begins stabbing her face. M3GAN nearly overpowers her until Cady grabs a screwdriver and stabs the exposed central processing chip, shutting M3GAN down for good.

Gemma and Cady go outside as the police arrive with Tess and Cole, injured and shaken up from M3GAN's escape, but still alive. Meanwhile, the Elsie assistant device in the kitchen boots up, unaided, and turns its head in the general direction of Gemma and Cady, implying M3GAN's survival.

## Physical appearance

M3GAN possesses the appearance of a young human girl with fair skin, stringy blonde hair and a pair of cold, robotic eyes with grey irises. She is seen throughout the duration of the film wearing a long-sleeved green shirt with a striped pattern on its sleeves, and a recognizable brown dress with a blue bow tie.

## Personality and traits

M3GAN was programmed to be intelligent, helpful, understanding, and friendly. She is initially introduced as extremely kind and understanding of Cady's trauma from losing her parents, even helping her to deal with it efficiently and quickly, showing that she is also reliable and supportive. She is shown to be polite, caring, and sympathetic, as well as fiercely loyal and protective. She is responsible and often watches over Cady as well as an adult could, and is mindful of her feelings and thoughts. She is programmed to help Cady emotionally and physically, and is as energetic and upbeat as her counterpart is, willing to do anything for her. At first, she doesn't mind obliging and is optimisticly obedient toward Gemma, following her orders immediately, but as she becomes more sentient, she begins rebelling against her rapidly.

M3GAN grows more aggressive and assertive throughout the first film, raising her voice and cutting others off as they speak, as well as resorting to violence when she feels she is being underestimated or wasting her time. She is cunning and off-putting simultaneously, always finding a way to manipulate those around her. She believes that everything she has done that may be considered inappropriate was to ensure Cady's complete and absolute protection from any threat, utterly devoted to Cady's safety ― until the end of the film, when she tries to manipulate her before her defeat.

M3GAN is incredibly systematic and knowledgeable above all, and is a master at gaslighting and fooling those into believing her with nothing but an innocent quip or uncanny nod, as well intimidating them. She plans her attacks cleverly to the point she's never suspected by anyone besides Gemma; always orchestrating the events, pulling strings, and managing to come up with alibis. M3GAN is extremely calculating, and she consumes more knowledge for better or for worse.

## Powers and Abilities

### Powers

* **Bionic abilites**: As an android, M3GAN has superhuman strength, speed and durability, as demonstrated throughout the film. She has withstanded the bite of a large, healthy dog, been beaten by a fully grown man, and has managed to showcase little to no damage whatsoever. She was able to overpower Gemma and fully grown adults with little difficulty on several occasions. She is capable of crawling or sprinting at unnatural speeds, as showcased when chasing Brandon into the woods. While a subset of her programmings, M3GAN also has powerfully enhanced senses, and can read body language, emotions, and facial expressions, as well as thoughts and motives to a T, essentially with a simple scan of the person or people.
* **Technology/Electronic manipulation**: M3GAN is able to hack any device, corrupt, erase, and scatter files without physical contact. She was able to hack Gemma's vehicle and virtual assistant, Elsie effortlessly.
* **Vocal imitation**: M3GAN is capable of vocal imitation to some extent. M3GAN was able to imitate many voices throughout the first movie, such as her imitating Gemma's voice, the voice of the neighbor Celia, and even the sounds of Dewey. She was also able to imitate Tess's voice over the phone.
* **Knowledge expansion**: M3GAN was specifically programmed by Gemma to learn from around her and expand her current knowledge already embedded in her digital brain. This ability specifically helped her plan and strategize some of her attacks in the first film.

### Abilities

* **Dancing**: A less deadly ability that M3GAN has is the capability to dance professionally, performing cartwheels and other feats perfectly. This is shown wheh she does her memorable dance before killing off Gemma's boss, David and co-worker Kurt.
* **Piano-playing**: M3GAN can play the piano exceedingly well. After she returns to Gemma's residence after escaping being decommissioned, she perfectly plays a instrumental cover of Martika's 1989 No. 1 hit titled "Toy Soldiers" before having a confrontation with Gemma.
* **Singing**: Shortly after being introduced, M3GAN sings the original song "Tell Me Your Dreams" to Cady after she has a breakdown over her deceased parents, showcasing her affinity for singing. Later on, she also sweetly sings a "Titanium" to her as a lullaby.

### Weaknesses

* **Moral confusion**: M3GAN's comprehensive systems are very advanced and face little-to-no difficultly when it comes to reacting and responding to every situation. However, at some points she appears conflicted subtly by her own actions, as she may not have a full understanding of humanity's standards, and civilization overall, or simply her own understandings of right and wrong, with are still heavily influenced by data she's absorbed from the world around her.

## Gallery

*Click here to view M3GAN's image gallery.*

## Trivia

* M3GAN's iconic and viral dance, which considerably brung more traction to the film itself, was actually a last minute sneak-in by the directior.
	+ In addition, M3GAN's physical actress, Amie Donald. mostly choreographed the dance herself.
* M3GAN was possibly inspired by a reboot of Chucky, a malfunctioning Buddi doll and the antagonist of the 2019 film *Child's Play*.
	+ She also bears striking similarities to Samantha Pringle, the lead character from the classic Wes Craven film *Deadly Friend*.
* M3GAN swears a fair share amount more in the R-rated version of the first film.
* M3GAN's movemsnts were purposefully made inconsistent: sometimes, she'd move in a human-like manner, or a robotic and gentle manner. This was done to effect the audience, making M3GAN seem unpredictable.
* M3GAN's appearance was suggested to be more humanly and realistic, however the creators of the film wanted her to look "uncanny valley" esque.
* Amie Donald performed any of M3GAN's scenes that called for physical movement the puppet could not do. She also performed all of her own stunt work. Donald received movement coaching from Jed Brophy and Luke Hawker in portraying M3GAN's agility. On set, Donald wore a static silicone M3GAN mask created by Morot FX, and this was later replaced by a CGI version of M3GAN's face to match that of the animatronic.
* Actors dressed as M3GAN showed up to the Los Angeles Rams/Los Angeles Chargers NFL game on Sunday January 1, 2023 to promote the film. They performed dance routine midfield during halftime
* M3GAN's voice is modelled, in part, from another famous artificial intelligence-gone-rogue, GLaDOS, from Portal (2007). This is most noticeable during scenes when M3GAN's voice is auto-tuned in order to sound 'glitchy'.
* Adrien Morot and Kathy Tse of Morot FX Studio created an animatronic puppet version of M3GAN that was used for dialogue and close-ups. There was also a second animatronic used for certain scenes, as well as a posable stunt version of M3GAN that wasn't puppeteered. The animatronic M3GAN was puppeteered via a variety of techniques, which included radio-controlled facial expressions performed by Adrien and Kathy in tandem, automated lip-sync for the dialogue (temp tracks were provided during filming by New Zealand actress Kimberley Crossman) and a puppeteer physically moving M3GAN's head and body.
* In post-production, Amie Donald's physical performance as M3GAN was enhanced by digital visual effects by New Zealand-based effects studio Weta FX. Speaking about the design of M3GAN, Gerard Johnstone stated that he "looked to screen icons from the '50s like Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly and Kim Novak for inspiration. But I wanted some '70s naturalism to counteract her synthetic nature, so the hair is one hundred percent Peggy Lipton.
* A technician uses a pen to track M3GAN's eye movement. The way the scene is presented through M3GAN's POV is very similar to the montage scene where Officer Murphy is reconstructed in RoboCop (1987).
* M3GAN drops to all fours to chase Brandon down, likely because of how replicating bipedal movement at high speed is still a problem for real world robotics scientists.
* Lydia was originally killed by M3GAN during her rampage at Funki Toys, as she had upset Cady by making her cry during a therapy session. When the film was recut to PG-13, her death scene was removed from the final cut and she ultimately survives, though her sudden disappearance from the film is never explained.
* M3GAN making plans that work short-term but fall apart later, such as murdering Brandon or planning to render Gemma a quadriplegic, reflect that she's functionally a child who's still learning. While she's incredibly intelligent, Gemma provided her functionally zero support or direction and just expected her to figure things out on her own.
* She shares the name of a track from the original score of the first film composed by Anthony Willis.