Tyler Nguyen-Baker

### Fanbase Admirer:

**Tyler Nguyen-Baker** is the secondary antagonist of *Turning Red*. He used to bully Mei and her friends until they became close at the 4★Town concert, then ended up getting along and hanging out.

## Appearance

Tyler is a Blasian (Black-Asian; specifically, Caribbean and Vietnamese)-Canadian boy of average height, tan skin, a mole on his left cheek, very faint freckles across his nose, curly dark brown hair, thick eyebrows and brown eyes. He has braces, diamond earrings, and (for unexplained reasons) a plaster on his right cheek.

He is frequently seen wearing sporty clothes. During scenes set during sporting hours, he is seen wearing a headband, a white t-shirt underneath a purple basketball jersey displaying the number "15". Indoors, he usually wears a gray sweatshirt over his jersey. During the 4★Town concert, he wears star-shaped Aaron Z. merchandise glasses, a blue and yellow headband with matching blue and yellow basketball jersey and shorts, and a gold 4★Town necklace. After being accepted in Mei and her friends' group, he now has a rainbow friendship bracelet on the right arm, like them.

Tyler's gym clothes consist of a white t-shirt that has dark green lines on the collar and sleeves and a "Lester B. Pearson Phys Ed" logo on the top right of his shirt. He also wears green and white shorts.

## Personality

At first glance, Tyler seems to be a very provocative person. This can be seen by how he constantly mocks Mei for her mother following her everywhere and embarrassing her in front of Devon at his store. The lengths he went through for that are extraordinary, as he created posters about said incident by the day after and hung them up all over school.

Tyler's biggest aspiration seems to be popularity. When he realizes how popular Mei's panda form has made her, he blackmails her into coming to his party or he will tell her mom about her panda making money to see 4★Town, in order to help him throw a successful party. This and the posters he created display how driven he can be, even if it might be for a misguided purpose. He is also shown to have a temper such as when he chases Mei after she tosses his basketball into the street and it gets crushed by a car. He also yells at Mei to get down from the roof because he wanted more rides.

However, beyond the surface, he also appears to be insecure and lonely. The fact that he attempts to hide his support for 4★Town hints at the fact he doesn't believe people would like him if they knew his true self. He also seems to struggle with making friends, which becomes apparent through the fact that he seems to believe nobody will attend his party, unless Mei in her panda form will be there. This is further supported by the fact that the party is an actual disaster before she finally arrives.

Mei and her friends discovering he is a 4★Town fan and accepting him to their "sisterhood" triggers a huge change in his behavior. He no longer teases them, begins spending most of his time with them and the girls even gave him a friendship bracelet. This hints at the fact that he had actually been desiring friends who accepted him for who he was all along. He is also shown to be helpful when Mei's mom is knocked out and is pulled into the ritual circle, Tyler along with Mei's friends and 4★Town sing *Nobody Like You* to help her and her family.

## Relationships

### Mei

Tyler and Mei never got along in the early minutes of the film. Tyler pushed Mei around a lot and made fun of her for her drawings of Devon, posting them around the school and also referring to her as a loser, an overachieving dork-nark and a weirdo. During his party, he was only nice to her because he thought Mei's panda would stay if he was nice. Later at his party, he became really possessive of her panda and demanded more rides. He then became really scared of her, due to her jumping on top of him, leaving scratches and cuts. During the concert, Mei and her friends spotted Tyler, who is also a big fan of 4★Town and his favorite band member is Aaron Z. He firmly tries to deny it, but the girls see it and are overjoyed. They run over to him and hug him welcoming him into their sisterhood. At the end of the movie, Tyler is became friends with the girls and it is assumed he apologized to them off screen.

### Miriam, Priya, and Abby

Tyler had a complicated relationship with Miriam, Priya and Abby. Since Tyler was mean to Mei, the girls disliked him. Tyler called them names, referring to the whole group of girls as weirdos or dorks. At the end of the film, it is assumed he apologized to them off screen when the girls found out he is 4★Townie like them.

### His Parents

Tyler’s parents aren’t seen a whole lot in the film, but it’s obvious that they love him. They give him much more freedom than any child could ever have, as seen when Tyler is allowed to throw a birthday party with no adult supervision. This however doesn’t make them bad parents. In fact, Tyler’s parents are quite protective of him and hate seeing him get hurt. After Mei attacks Tyler, his father yells at Ming for “allowing” Mei to attack him, while his mother gets emotional about the attack and starts crying while also calling Tyler “My baby” under her breath. They also hold him close while scolding Ming.

### 4★Town

Tyler is revealed to be a huge fan of 4★Town and his favorite member is Aaron Z. During the concert, when Aaron Z. introduces himself by shooting a basketball into a hoop to open his cage, Tyler screams "Yeah! Z! I love you man!" Tyler along with Mei and her friends cry with joy while hearing 4★Town sing. At the end of the movie, Tyler is seen posing and smiling next to Aaron Z. in the group picture.

## Trivia

* Tyler's favorite member of 4★Town is Aaron Z., even saying "Yeah! Z! I love you, man!" as the concert began.
* Before confirming that the concert was on May 25, the girls were celebrating that the concert was the day after Tyler's birthday—May 18 specifically. This makes Tyler's birth date May 17, 1989.
* Tyler is **Blasian**, meaning he has Black and Asian descent. Judging by his first surname name, he is half-Vietnamese (from his mother), and judging by his father's accent, he is half-Caribbean.
* The size of Tyler's house and the fact he has diamond piercings could lead up to his family possibly being very wealthy.
* Domee Shi has stated that a lot of Tyler's stories were cut from the film.
* Tyler's look is an homage to his idol Aaron Z. such as diamond piercings, purple basketball outfit, a purple headband and his love of basketball.
* At the end of the movie, it is revealed that Tyler was welcomed into Mei's group and was forgiven. He is also shown wearing a friendship bracelet like theirs.
* Tyler has his hand over his mouth when Mei stands up against her mother after Mei reveals it was her idea to go to Tyler's party and hustle the red panda.

## Gallery

### Screenshots

Tyler making a deal with MeiTyler and his parentsTyler at the 4★Town concert and is revealed to be a 4★TownieMei, Priya, Miriam, Tyler and Abby going karaokeMei's friends and family photo with 4★TownTyler manipulates Mei to come to his birthday partyThe 4\*Townies hug Tyler after finding out that he is a 4\*Townie and welcome him into the sisterhoodAaron Z and Tyler pose