Characters / I Am Frankie

Sepulveda High Students

Frankie Gaines

Portrayed by: Alex Hook

A teenage android girl who tries to fit in with the human world after being smuggled from the lab to avoid being exploited by a rogue company.

• Androids Are People, Too: Frankie is an android, but lives like a human. Overtime, she gains more human abilities, such being able to taste food, and having the ability to cry.
• Artificial Family Member: To the Gaines family.
• Cannot Tell a Lie: Prioritizes this directive over "don't reveal that you're an android," so her friends do all the lying for her.
• Creepy Monotone: This happens with her in one episode, due to a mess up in her programming.
• Developer's Foresight:
  • In-Universe. Apparently, the insides of her ears were fully constructed to resemble a human's in case if someone took a look inside, but they're squeaky clean.
  • As demonstrated when Dayton discovers her true identity, Frankie is safeguarded against Logic Bombs: If two of her directives come into conflict, she will struggle, but will eventually choose one.
• Full-Name Basis: Frankie usually refers to the other characters by both the first and last names, even her own creator sometimes.
• Literal-Minded: Tends to apply Exact Words from others, causing her to react in amusing ways.
• Nice Girl: She is nice to everyone, even her enemies.
• Robot Kid: Frankie was built to look and act like in her teens.
• Secret Identity: She has to keep her android side a secret to avoid being captured by WARPA.
• Speed Blitz: She manages to complete a jigsaw puzzle in mere seconds. She can also run at lightning fast speeds, though this proves to be dangerous when she's trying to do this while carrying Cole and ends up hitting the emergency brakes upon seeing an animal crossing the road, causing Cole to go flying.
• Super-Strength: Frankie is shown to effortlessly hold Mr. Kingston, a grown man, over her head.
• Wilfully Weak: Not wanting to cheat due to getting her knowledge from the internet, she cuts herself offline. This results in her getting lost trying to find her way home due to her relying on her GPS. While she does reconnect to the internet later on, she resolves not to cheat by using memorization.

Dayton Reyes

Portrayed by: Nicole Alyse Nelson

Frankie's best friend and one of the only few people outside the Gaines family who aware of Frankie's secret as an android.

• Beware the Nice Ones: While Dayton is usually nice, she has no problem stepping out of the line when she needs to.
• Deuteragonist: Dayton is the lead human character on the show, and is often there with Frankie.
• The Lancer: To Frankie. While Frankie is an android just attending school for the first time, Dayton is an out-going human girl. She's also considerably shorter than Frankie.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: She is the blue oni to Tammy's red oni.
• Secret-Keeper: The first to learn of Frankie's robot identity. Upon learning that Frankie's supposed to move out if anyone learned about her identity, she teaches Frankie to keep secrets without lying.

Tammy Gilroy

Portrayed by: Mohana Krishnan

Frankie's school rival who seeks to expose Frankie's secret as an android.

• Academic Alpha Bitch: She acts like a Mean Girl and has influence at school but is also academically inclined and a rival to Frankie in that sense.
• Always Second Best: To Frankie, once she's enrolled to Sepulveda High. This is what caused their rivalry.
• Big Bad: She served as this in Season 1, along with Mr. Kingston and James Peters. In Season 2, not so much.
• Everyone Has Standards: She may be a Jerkass, but she sometimes realizes when she takes things too far, like her smear campaign against androids at the school, where she eventually comes to accept them. Combined with Did Not Think This Through, since in contrast to her rivalry with Frankie, she actually liked and had had Ship Tease with Andrew.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Again, "evil" is pushing it, but early on in the show, she seems sincerely convinced that Frankie is some kind of manipulative attention-seeker instead of just being genuinely likeable.
• Jerkass: She's crabby, quick to hold grudges against someone and tries to expose Frankie in front of the whole school.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: But she still has her moments of this, especially in Season 2.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: But even so, she at one point tries to befriend Frankie, only to get closer to exposing her.
• Secret Chaser: Wants to learn the truth about why Frankie is acting weird and expose it.
• Token Minority: She is an Indian-American.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Slightly in Season 2.

Cole Reyes

Dayton's brother.

• Early-Bird Cameo: While he is properly introduced in the second episode, he is briefly seen at the end of the first episode, but doesn't speak.
• Secret-Keeper: Like Dayton, he eventually finds out that Frankie is an android. Despite this, he still holds a love interest in her.

Andrew La Pierre

• Androids Are People, Too: Much like Frankie, Andrew lives like a human.
• The Artifact: Even after The Reveal that he was created by James Peters, he still goes by his fake last name.
• Artificial Family Member: James Peters sees him as his son. Well, most of the time.
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: He's the brooding boy to Frankie's gentle girl.
• Butt-Monkey: In Season 2, half of the school is turned against him once James reveals to everyone that he's an android.
• Early-Bird Cameo: An incomplete Andrew appears in the episode just before the one where he's properly introduced.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Andrew is rebellious, sarcastic and has a petty rivalry with Cole. But he is shown to have a softer side, and has even went against his programming to help save Frankie.
• Meaningful Name: According to James, his name is actually an acronym. The first four letters of his name is also the same as the first four letters in "android".
• The Lancer: While Dayton is already a Lancer to Frankie, he also qualifies. Notably, he's more rebellious, is programmed to lie, unlike Frankie, and is male, rather than female.
• The Rival: To Cole, since they both have a crush on Frankie.
• Turned Against Their Masters: Downplayed. After James reprogrammed him into becoming Frankie's enemy and Andrew fried his circuits fighting against said programming in the Season 1 finale, he began to resent James for turning him against his friend and initially refused to go back home for the sake of staying away from him. When he does return to James, he's noticeably more rebellious against him.

Byron Patrick

• Black and Nerdy: He has a little robot buddy that he built.
• Put on a Bus: Despite playing a big role in the first season, Byron is abruptly mentioned to have moved away in Season 2.
• Two First Names: Patrick is actually a more common name than Byron.

Robbie Turnbull

• Androids Are People, Too: Subverted. Frankie and Dayton suspect that he's an android, due to his odd behavior, but he turns out to be human.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Much like Byron, Robbie also vanishes after the first season.

John Travis

• Put on a Bus: Like Byron, John moves away after the first season.
• Two First Names: John and Travis are both very common names.

Simone

• Ambiguously Evil: If the last episode of Season 2 is anything to go by.
• Androids Are People, Too: Much like Frankie and Andrew, Simone lives like a human.
• Only One Name: She has no surname, much to Frankie's disdain.

Dolph

• Flat Character: Pretty much his only purpose in the show is to participate in the "No Androids Here" movement.
• Jerk Ass To One: He and Lundgren are this to Andrew, after they find out he's an android.

Lundgren

• Flat Character: Pretty much his only purpose in the show is to participate in the "No Androids Here" movement.
• Jerk Ass To One: He and Dolph are this to Andrew, after they find out he's an android.

Gaines Family Members

Sigourney Gaines

• Didn't Think This Through: She gave Frankie a directive not to lie while also giving her a directive not to reveal herself as an android. It only took three episodes for these directives to conflict with each other.
• Resign in Protest: After learning that EGG was planning on sending Frankie to WARPA, she snuck Frankie out of the HQ and left a note saying in big letters "I QUIT."

Will Gaines

Jenny Gaines

• Crazy-Prepared: Jenny installed a program to send remote commands to Beto. In case Cynthia did a check of his system, she created an obvious name for the program file and installed a second copy under a non-descript name so Cynthia would not find and delete the second program file.
• Little Miss Snarker: Jenny is prone to sarcasm and biting quips.

EGG Labs

Mr. Kingston

The leader of EGG, later to be fired. He's also the father of Dayton and Cole.

• Anti-Villain: He's this in the first season. He's only after Frankie, because of repeated threats by WARPA to turn her over to them.
• Big Bad: Of the first season, along with Tammy Gilroy and James Peters.
• Heel–Face Turn: After he's fired, though it takes a bit of time for the tension between him and his former enemies to loosen.
• Punch-Clock Villain: In the first season, as the leader of EGG, whom were working for WARPA.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: His real name is Tom Reyes, but is almost always referred to as Mr. Kingston. As Mr. Kingston, he is given the first name Gilford in Season 1, and Clarence in Season 2.

PEGS 1

Engineer Anderson

Casey

WARPA

Cynthia Mandal

The leader of WARPA and former friend of Sigourney.

• Big Bad: Cynthia, being the head of WARPA, is the overall main antagonist of the second season.
• Evil Redhead: Cynthia has red hair, and is the most evil character in the show.
• Face–Heel Turn: Before the start of the series, she was friends with Sigourney. It is unknown when and why she became evil.
• Foreshadowing: Before being revealed as the head of WARPA, a number of hints were dropped that she works for WARPA. Frankie and Dayton eventually came to realize this.
• Jerkass: She doesn't seem to care at all for anyone's well-being. In one episode as the WARPA mask, she was warned by her WARPA tech that certain modifications to Tammy's WARPA chip could cause permanent damage to Tammy, which Cynthia rudely responded that its none of their concern.

Beto

An android of a young child built by Cynthia.

• The Dragon: To Cynthia in Season 2.
• Just Following Orders: He doesn't seem to have any firm allegiance to anyone, as he's either following Cynthia's commands or is remotely controlled by Jenny's program.
• Robot Kid: He is an android modeled after a young child built by Cynthia.
• Super-Strength: Despite his small size, he effortlessly overpowers Cole Reyes and Mr. Kingston.

Other characters

James Peters

Friend turned rival of Sigourney. Like her, he is also a scientist that built an android.

• Big Bad: Of the first season, along with Tammy Gilroy and Mr. Kingston.
• Full-Name Basis: He's rarely called just "James," even by characters other than Frankie.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He steals Sigourney's code to build Andrew to try and win the "Robel" prize. He's also taken advantage of his creation, Andrew, for his own benefits. Deep down though, he is shown to care for Andrew and even Andrew's best friend and fellow android, Simone.
• Heel–Face Turn: He goes after Frankie in the first season in attempt to win the "Robel" prize, but has given up the hunt for Frankie in Season 2, and even helps her out on a couple occasions.

Eliza

One of Sigourney's prototype androids and the fifth android overall to be made by her, preceded by Frankie. Sometime before the series, she went rogue and ran off to commit crimes.

• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Gee, what gave that away?
• Big Sister Bully: She and Frankie were both created by Sigourney Gaines, which technically makes Eliza and Frankie sisters, and Eliza would be older than Frankie considering she was built before Frankie. She tries to physically attack Frankie (though the latter's able to defend against all her attacks), and calls her "foolish" and "weak" for listening to her creator, and nearly drains all of her energy out of her.
• Cain and Abel: If one were to consider Eliza and Frankie sisters, Eliza would be the Cain to Frankie's Abel.
• Calling Parents by Their Name: When her cover is blown, she starts referring to her creator by her first name.
• Crazy-Prepared: She manages to be such a formidable opponent to the heroes because she's always several steps ahead of everyone (she is an android after all), and plans just about everything in advance to the point where not even her own creator was a match for Eliza's intellect
  • She'll make use of her surroundings and the objects around her to tie up or hold hostage anyone who discovers her identity, and cover her tracks so no one can easily follow her.
  • This even extends to when Sigourney brings Eliza over to a charging chair, restrains her with straps, and reduces her strength to a 4-year old child, shutting her down until she could deal with her. But when everyone left the room, Eliza opens her eyes and holds up a plug to the chair, revealing she had unplugged the chair before she could be de-powered, meaning she was not only one step ahead of Siguorney again, but she also faked losing her strength and being shut down to deceive everyone. Then, she manages to escape while everyone's downstairs and when they hear a crack from upstairs, they run back up to notice Eliza was gone and out in the wild. It's possible Eliza will be back someday.
• Dark Action Girl: She has a built-in combat system and is not afraid to get her hands dirty or fight those who try to defy her.
• The Dreaded: She was this in Season 1 as her creator and James Peters would often bring her up in a fearful manner.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Her systems can't handle the same emotions that Frankie is able to feel, resulting in her short-circuiting.
• Evil Twin: As Dayton correctly theorizes, she's a rogue beta version of Frankie who looks exactly like her.
• Hero's Evil Predecessor: She serves as this for Frankie as she was Siguorney's fifth android prototype created before Frankie who happened to go rogue.
• Manipulative Bitch: She's able to deceive everyone into thinking she was Frankie by gaining her memories.
• No One Else Is That Dumb: Of course Frankie isn't dumb, but Dayton manages to figure out that Eliza is the fake one because the real Frankie didn't know about her father's actual hobby.
• Obliviously Evil: Despite all of her worldwide crimes, she bizarrely enough doesn't view herself as a villain, rather she sees her actions as justified as she's apparently hoping on starting an android revolution.
• Redemption Rejection: Eliza's the way she is because her programming literally makes her incapable of feeling love or compassion, and can only feel hate. Sigourney—her creator—and Frankie—who's technically Eliza's little sister— understood this, which is why after Eliza's restrained to the chair, Frankie states that Eliza didn't have to be the way she was, and she could be change her ways and be good if she allowed Sigourney to reprogram her. But Eliza turned the offer down, which forces Sigourney to try and power her down, so she could try reprogramming her without her knowing. Even then, she only pretended to shut down and made a getaway before her creator could get to her. This showcases that Eliza clearly isn't interested in reforming.
• Smug Smiler: Does this a lot, especially after her cover is blown.
• The Sociopath: Unlike her successor Frankie who's kind and benevolent, Eliza is a manipulative android who views humanity as weak and has absolutely no conscience to speak of.
• Spotting the Thread: Sigourney discovers who she really is when she sees that her USB plug is not on her upper back, but inside her thumb.
• Strong and Skilled: Eliza's shown to process both brains and brawn and is equally talented in both of those, considering she knows a variety of combat skills and as an android has vast knowledge.
• Super-Strength: Like Frankie, she is shown to be absurdly strong for a teenage android as she tackles a grown man in her first proper appearance.
• Turned Against Their Masters: She certainly doesn't like following Sigourney's orders.
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left: She manages to escape after pretending to be turned off.
• Villain of the Week: She serves as the main antagonist of a two-parter.
• Would Hurt a Child: On top of holding Sigourney (her creator) and her husband hostage, she also holds their young daughter Jenny hostage, solely because she was a witness and a loose end.