Brad Meltzer (character)

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* Kid
* Adult

**Brad Scott Meltzer** is the tritagonist of *Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum*, and the best friend of both Xavier and Yadina.

## Appearance

Brad is a young boy with light skin, and light-brown hair, which is kept in a very short buzzcut. He wears black square glasses. He wears a cream-colored shirt underneath an unbuttoned green jacket, olive colored pants and black sneakers over light blue socks.

He also wears a red cape. As revealed in “I Am Zora Neale Hurston”, he got it when he was a baby.

## Etymology

He is named after Brad Meltzer, who he resembles.

"Danger's not my middle name... it's Scott" is what he says at the start of I Am Amelia Earhart. Also at the end of the same episode, he says "mine's Scott" after Amelia reveals her middle name is Mary.

The international Xavier Riddle website reveals his last name to be Meltzer, proving that he’s a self-insert.

## Personality

Brad tends to be the most nervous and neurotic of the group. He is sometimes hesitant to go on adventures. Brad is quite partial to butterflies, as well as action heroes. Time-traveling makes him temporarily dizzy; the further back the three go, the dizzier he gets.

He is described as having “delusions of averageness”, and is apprehensive over everything. His friends, Xavier and Yadina, encourage him to live a little and to try new things.

Apart from being neurotic, he's also very shy. He has a hard time making friends, and it's implied that he didn't have any friends prior to meeting Xavier and Yadina.

In I Am Susan B. Anthony, Yadina remarks to Brad "we're just used to looking after the Secret Museum ourself" indicating that the 3 kids did not discover it together: in the past, Xavier and Yadina had tended it alone prior to inviting Brad to join them.

Brad suffers from imposter syndrome.

He enjoys ballet, as shown in I Am Anna Pavlova and I Am Billie Jean King. However, he was hesitant to join the ballet class in the latter episode because of gender stereotypes that ballet is only for girls.

## Relationships

### friendship with Yadina

Yadina appears to consider Brad a member of the Riddle family. At the end of I Am Harriet Tubman when she and Xavier go and hug their parents, Yadina looks back and realizes Brad might feel left out, and beckons for him to join for a group hug, saying "get in here Brad...". Brad blushes at Yadina saying "okay" and hugs Yadina and her mother. Xavier was not this considerate and just silently hugged his father.

### Blush-inducing encounters

* He has blushed at four girls he met in the past four times, all eponymous characters (much like Yadina did when talking to George Washington)

1. He blushed while speaking to Catherine the Great in I Am Catherine the Great
2. He also blushed at Emily the middle sis of the Bronte Sisters during We Are the Brontë Sisters
3. He blushed while dancing with Eleanor Roosevelt in I Am Eleanor Roosevelt.
4. He blushed at Sacagawea in I Am Sacagawea as well

Although he did not blush, "dreamy sigh" is how captions describe his reaction to watching Anna Pavlova dance before he says "she's incredible". It then cuts to showing him clasping his hands while his mouth ~warbles~ emotionally.

He blushed at boys twice:

1. in I Am Cesar Chavez at Cesar's younger brother Lenny after drinking the glass of water offered to him.
2. In I Am Albert Einstein, he is very drawn to Albert Einstein's hair, and tells him that his hair is awesome while blushing and grinning very widely.

He has also blushed in I Am Marie Curie, I Am Winston Churchill, I Am Zora Neale Hurston, I Am Rachel Carson, I Am Mary Anning, I Am Harriet Tubman, and I Am Ella Fitzgerald, but not to anyone in particular.

## Religion

It is shown in different episodes that Brad is Jewish.

* At the start of I Am Tomioka Tessai, he is showing Xavier and Yadina a dreidel (a Jewish toy) he inherited from his father.
* In "I Am Madam President", he says "Oy vey," which is a Yiddish phrase.
	+ he also says "oy vey" in I Am Cesar Chavez, and at the start of I Am Confucius

## Trivia

* In concept art, he was originally bald and had round glasses and a scarf instead of a cape.
* At https://pbskids.org/xavier if a browser clicks the picture of him hanging from a rope enough times he will say "doesn't matter WHERE or WHEN we are, I'm always, ALWAYS allergic to cats"
* On the website, he is voiced by Jonah Bromley as opposed to Wyatt White.
* Captions mispell his name "Bard" in I Am Golda Meir (see here) and in We Are the Bronte Sisters (see here)
* He is Brad Meltzer’s favorite character, and describes him as the “handsomest cartoon character ever drawn.”

## References

1. ↑ https://www.momtastic.com/entertainment/771070-pbs-launches-new-show-to-teach-kids-about-motivation-and-courage/ Sarah Cotrell "Of all the characters, though, the most fascinating is Brad, based entirely on Meltzer, who exhibits what Meltzer calls the “disillusion of averageness.” Little Brad suffers from imposter syndrome and doesn’t fully appreciate or realize his talents and skills, which is the perfect set up for the adventures to help him learn how to build up his own character."
2. ↑ File:She'sIncredible.png
3. ↑ File:BradWatchingAnna.png
4. ↑ File:Allergic to cats