2025-08-30 0:30:25 ¶ ●

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What TMA characters do you think if you had had more time with (written about or actually shown more), your opinion could have changed (positively or negatively) about them? And what TMA characters do you dislike the most but could have gotten a better opinion/attachment to if different decisions were made in the story by/for them? And who's your most controversial character you like from TMA? E.g. I wanted to like Tim more, but I feel like I didn't have enough time with his character to fully understand him vs. what I saw promoted in fanon. And I actually dislike Melanie and Georgie the most which was very surprising for me bc on paper their characters are /right/ up my alley in traits/tropes and I loved their voice actresses' performances, but I have weird personal hangups about their choices/careers lol.

While my most controversial faves are Daisy and Mary Keay bc while their insanely abusive actions and backstories give me the ick, I felt like their characters were super interesting (Mary as an example of someone not an avatar but entranced by the power of Fears, and just being an unsettling psycho of a child that proves that humans can naturally be the most terrifying monsters) (Daisy being an abuser but through the whole "oh, but I'm killing monsters so this is justice and thus Good, even though it's twisting my own morals and sense of authority" concept, and being a good example of someone far gone but having a very very possible and popular ideology in most horror/cop media, and thus its consequences).

Ohh these are such good questions, and I actually have a double answer for two of them.

For my answer which character I wish we had more time with, I wish we got more of Sasha in Season 1. For me when she died it was more of a “Oh man. That sucks,” thing then a “I’m crying so hard right now because I loved this character,” thing, and I really think all that was needed for that to change was a little more time.

In my first watch of TMA I was kind of indifferent toward Sasha until Jon’s birthday tape and the tape that had her interaction with Tim. Both of those moments made me really endured towards her, and I really think she would have ended up in my top five favorites if her character was a bit more in the forefront of Season 1. But due to time constraints I think she’s easily the flattest of the of the main characters, which that makes her less interesting to me then Gertrude, Jon, Melanie, Tim, etc.

As for which characters I think I could have gotten a better opinion of if different decisions were made in the story for them, I’m going to go with Melanie. As for the most controversial character I love, I’m also going to go for Melanie! I know that doesn’t make a ton of sense of paper, but I’ll do my best to explain.

I know that Melanie has her flaws. Mostly that she’s a hypocrite who blames other people for her problems. But I’m still very fond of her. I think her messiness is very realistic for the situation she’s in, and I loved having a character who so thoroughly rejected doing anything other than clawing her way out of the situation she was in with The Institute. I also found her speech to Jon about how her anger is a part of her really interesting on a character level.

However, there is one thing about Melanie’s writing that I don’t love, and TBH this is kind of a gripe I have with the later seasons in general, is that I feel like the writing sometimes pushes her hatred of Jon too far. And I’m not saying that she needed to be a Jon fangirl who was his friend or anything close to that. I just think moments like Melanie blaming Jon for her having a job at The Institute when he wasn’t even there when she got hired feels a bit too much like “We need to fill the Jon angst quota for this episode,” instead of an earned moment between them.

I have the quite possibly controversial opinion that I wish Melanie’s anger had been more directed at Martin in Season 4 for not doing enough to stop her. That could have contributed to Martin’s isolation plotline, and had of been a source of conflict in her relationship with Jon.

So my point is that I like Melanie more than most but I also wish the writing around her character was a little different, also Sasha should have gotten more screen time because she could have been the love of my life.