YMMV / Mike and Melissa

• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: See Nightmare Fuel.
• Bile Fascination: One YouTube commenter described the pilot as both "watchable and unwatchable."
• Funny Moments: As awkward and bizarre as the pilot is, it actually does have a few funny moments:
  • "This fuckin' rectangle is the best thing ever!"
  • The entirety of the Shotgun River scene.
  • This gem from the party montage:
    Mike: So, uhhh... What kinda music do you listen to?
    "Dewsh:" Uuuuuuhhhhh... Nickelback.
    Mike: I gotta goooo-
  • This:
    (Mike is peeing on a tree for some reason.)
    Random Guy: Don't pee on that tree, asshole.
    Mike: I JUST WANTED TO TALK ABOUT MY SERIES!
  • The first thing Mike does after seeing Melissa is just laying in bed for a few moments, before screaming in terror and running out of the bedroom in his underwear.
• Heartwarming Moments: A minor one, but unlike Mike's other friends, who seem distant and uncaring, Phil notices Mike's sullen demeanor, and asks if he's ok. He sounded genuinely concerned, and seemed to actually care about him as a friend.
• He Really Can Act: The voice acting in the pilot can be surprisingly good at times, especially from Veronica Long, Melissa's voice actress.
• Misaimed Fandom: Possibly. A few podcasts of Mike and his metal music friends exist where he seems to be a normal guy albeit one with a snarky sense of humor. The presence of his friends in voice roles in Mike & Melissa (including his own professor in the lecture scene) and Mike's early defense of the film online praising "those who get it" have lead some to speculate the whole short is a stealth exercise in Take That, Audience! However, with Mike having scrubbed his social media since it has made it impossible to ask him if the short was intended to be ironic or not.
• Narm: When Melissa first appears, we're given a shot of her from Mike's POV, showing that her eyes are crossed and not even staring at him, with her mouth agape in a very goofy manner.◊
• Nightmare Fuel: One scene in "Mike Goes Crazy" shows Mike looking at his shirt as he waits at the bus stop, then, right out of NOWHERE, we're subjected to a split-second image of what appears to be a hideous, green-skinned hag clutching Mike's shirt accompanied by a roar. The way its drawn is in a realistic and much more detailed fashion than the actual animation itself, making it even more frightening. It shows up again towards the end of the pilot when Mike talks about someone who's name is censored, who is implied to be an ex-girlfriend of his.
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • Lenny and Choo Choo.
  • The "don't pee on that tree" guy.
• So Bad, It's Good: It's often been described as the animated version of The Room (2003).
• Special Effect Failure: The label on Mike's "loser lube" disappears as soon as he takes it out of the shot.
• Squick: "Whatever, I gotta do this..."
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Mike portrays himself as an insecure loner who surrounds himself with a shallow, metalhead friend group, and his lack of a romantic relationship is played for sympathy. However, in the scene where he's waiting at his bus stop, a woman stands next to him, to which we hear him think that she should say hi to him rather than approach her himself, and gets upset when she ignores him and leaves. He also portrays his ex-girlfriend as a monster, making him seem like a Jerkass.
• Watch It for the Meme: Chances are that the pilot got its fame (or infamy) through acknowledgement by Saltydkdan and OneyPlays, with the latter referencing it several times.

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