MythBusters/Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


OK, they're not exactly fictional, but...

Adam Savage

"Am I missing an eyebrow?"

Tropes associated with Adam:

  • Adult Child: Comports himself with the manic glee of a fourteen year-old with bullfrogs and an unlimited supply of firecrackers.
  • Badass Beard
  • Brief Accent Imitation: Pretty regularly.
  • Character Development: Yes, it even applies to people who aren't playing characters. In the show's formative days, Adam was more lively than Jamie, yes, but certainly far more reserved than you see him in future episodes. Apparently as he grew hair, his personality became more vibrant (he started the show with a very short haircut and no beard).
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Fails onscreen more often than he succeeds, and Jamie usually designs better rigs, but Adam often replicates props from movies using only stills from the film or even occasionally gets the actual props themselves.
    • Also, according to Jamie in one of the web videos, Adam is widely known in the special effects business for being able to make good models and machines extremely quickly.
  • Fun Personified
  • Fun T-Shirt: Including several with his own quotes.
  • The Hyena: Laughs a lot, and it's notable whenever he doesn't find things funny because that usually means he's dead serious.
  • Keet: Especially compared to Jamie.
  • The Klutz: "He gives good pain", says the producers.
  • Large Ham
  • Motor Mouth: Used to the advantage of the show's production as he's often the one filling us in on the details of what he and Jamie are testing, combined with his quirky personality for flavor.
  • Nerd Glasses
  • Nice Hat: The fedora he frequently wears.
    • Also, if any test result is remotely compatible with his head, he will wear it.
  • One of Us: Apparently Adam has a bit of a tradition of going to conventions in concealing cosplay so nobody knows who he is. Among others, he's gone as No-Face from Spirited Away.
  • Pyromaniac

Jamie Hyneman

"Quack, damn you."

Tropes associated with Jamie:

  • Adult Child: While drunk, comports himself with the sleepy goodwill of an exhausted, precocious toddler on a long car ride.
  • Badass Bookworm
  • Badass Mustache
  • Bald of Awesome
  • Bullet-Proof Fashion Plate: Multiple members of the cast and crew have expressed bafflement at how he always manages to keep his white shirt spotless. Turns out he actually was using (and continues to use) a special clothing treatment that basically makes any fabric it's applied to impervious to most liquids.
  • The Comically Serious
  • Cool Shades
  • Crazy Prepared
  • Deadpan Snarker
  • Expansion Pack Past: Provides the page quote. Adam frequently provides details on Jamie's past to the point it's almost a Multiple Choice Past--apparently Jamie is descended from a line of "track-straighteners" dating back to the middle ages, worked for the mob, and may be an alien and/or over two thousand years old. Or Theodore Roosevelt, to whom he bears a pretty uncanny resemblance.
  • Honorary Uncle: Considering Adam's description of the team as "like family", it is fitting that Jamie has been occasionally referred to as "Uncle Jamie" -- twice by Adam, of all people ("Ancient Death Ray", 2004 -- during the "What is Bulletproof?" segment, and again during "Tablecloth Chaos" in 2010) and also by Robert Lee, the narrator ("Viral Hour", 2008, during the Sawdust cannon section.).
  • Human Alien: "This crater is about the same size as the one left by Jamie when he first came to Earth." -- Adam Savage
  • Memetic Badass: If he isn't among the fanbase, he sure as hell is among the cast and crew, who regularly describe him as "abnormally strong". In the "Car Cling" myth, Adam even cites a number of the Badass things that Jamie's done over the course of the show, such as climbing up the side of a building using only a rope, and bashing down a door with his shoulder.
  • Nice Hat: His trademark beret.
  • Ridiculously-Human Robots: One theory, proposed by Adam.
  • The Stoic: Especially in earlier episodes, where Jamie calling out Adam and the producers on deliberately trying to provoke him was practically a Running Gag.
    • Not So Stoic: Has gotten more prone to joking around and visibly enjoying himself during myth testing as the show has gone on.
    • This is perhaps a case of Character Development as with Adam since it's been mentioned that early on in the show, he was not particularly comfortable on camera and took the job fairly seriously. With time and exposure, it's possible he's gotten comfortable with the idea that for a fairly light hearted show, it allows for a fairly serious platform for science and education.
    • He seems to play this up for a laugh in the men versus women episode. When the mythbusters are told to show various emotions for a test to see who can read emotions better. Jamie says the emotion then keeps his face completely emotionless.

Grant Imahara

"I love those two words - 'bomb robot.'"

Tropes associated with Grant:

Tory Belleci

"I see injuries in my future."

Tropes associated with Tory:

Kari Byron

"Science gets more fun when I get a bigger gun!"

Tropes associated with Kari:

  • Action Girl: Very much so.
  • Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted in an unaired episode where they test if girls fart or not. She is the one who partakes in the experiment and she lets out a huge, wet fart.
  • Can't Hold Her Liquor: Readily admits that she's "a cheap date".
  • The Chick
  • Fiery Redhead: Doesn't take crap from Tory. Ever.
  • Girlish Pigtails: One of Kari's three usual hairstyles, the others being clipped back and hanging loosely.
  • The Gunslinger: On any occasion where they use guns. Despite being a self-professed "vegetarian from California", Kari is a skilled marksman. And she cut a tree in half with a Gatling Gun.
  • Hot Mom: Gave birth to her first child in June 2009.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Sometimes, as she's prone to wearing tight-fitting tank-tops. Also, her first appearance on the show was dressing in spandex leggings to have her butt laser-scanned for computer modeling. And the guys weren't averse to bringing up or showing her FHM photos, though they quit doing that after a while.
  • Older Than They Look: Could easily pass for twenty-something for most of her time on the show. (Of course, she started as a twenty-something, but she kept it up as she passed through her 30s.)
  • Parasol of Prettiness: Under the Californian sun down at the bomb range, Kari has been known to carry one.
  • Pregnant Badass: Even when heavily pregnant, she went out and participated in some of the myths. Some which included guns, cannons and/or explosives.
  • Stuff Blowing Up: She's more than once related seeing an impressive explosion to "having your first kiss."
  • Terrified of Germs: As revealed in "Fever Pitch". Of course, this quality enabled her to prove that it's possible to avoid contracting a cold or flu via indirect contact if you know what you're doing.

Jessi Combs

Tropes associated with Jessi:

Scottie Chapman

Tropes associated with Scottie:

Buster

Tropes associated with Buster:

Robert Lee

Tropes associated with Robert:

Heather Joseph-Witham

Tropes associated with Heather:

Frank Doyle

"Fire in the hole!"

Tropes associated with Frank:

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