FNAF
No I'm not autistic why do you ask?
My love. My dearest. My most recommended topic on YouTube. Five Nights at Freddy's has been living rent free in my head since Markiplier first booted up the game in a letsplay. It is nostalgic. It is terrifying. It is camp. It is held together with gum and shoelaces. And it is my home where I can sit next to my furry friends and enjoy an undercooked slice of health grade questionable pizza. I live for these creatures. I know an embarassing amount of lore for someone over the age of 30. And if you haven't ever heard of this series I'd like to welcome you back to planet earth and introduce you to a very important cast of animatronics.
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In a Nutshell
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First Release: Aug 8th 2014
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Genre: Survival Horror
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Devs: ScottGames, Steel Wool Studios primarily
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Total releases: 9 in the main series
Fav Characters
There’s no way I’m getting through these without putting some sub categories in place.
Favorite Core Four: Freddy Fazbear
Yeah it’s the Strawberry Poptart. But guys I love an original protagonist. He is simple, he is haunted. I like a baddie with a leadership role.
Favorite Freddy: Funtime Freddy
Bruh this man’s squeeky demented voice haunts me in the dark of night. Unlike the other Freddy’s which seem to be very straight edge (for a murderous haunted robot) Funtime Freddy feels so dark - despite his brighter imagery he takes on a twisted clown energy. For more terror see Count the Ways.
Favorite Misc Character: Ballora
It’s purely for the ballet aesthetic I’ll be real. She really doesn’t have a core character to her. But I WANT there to be. Give me lore on this lady please.
Favorite Chika: Glamrock Chika
I’m not the biggest Chika fan - she’s had a very flat character for someone who’s “seen it all”. But Glamrock anamtronics overall had more depth given to them. I enjoyed her very haunted energy of a creature that has “life” but a very sythnthetic and messed up form of it. This chika really helps drive home the idea that the monsters are just as much victims deep down.
Of course the William Afton apologist is going to love the OG Spring Bonnie. He’s scary as shit. He always comes back. And this image when I saw it in FNAF 6 made me turn away from the TV. Do not follow this motherfucker home. He does not know where your dog is. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200 Faztokens.
Favorite Foxy: Nightmare Foxy
Let’s go spooky closet Foxy!! Ugh this one was so terrifying and he objectively was one of the spookiest original characters. Like look at these chompers - he is a freaky dude.
Fav Game
It’s got to be Pizza Sim for so many reasons. I know this game is very hit or miss in the fandom. It’s marketing, game play, and concept were completely out of left field. But I’ll be real with yall for a minute…
I don’t like the game play of the other games.
Dont get me wrong, they’re fantastic games and fun to watch others play. But see all the content so far on this site? Do I look like I like jump scare horror games that put my Adderall to the test? haha noooo. In fact, business sims are one of my favorite types of games! Honestly the only way it could have been more tailored to me is if there was a diner dash component to waiting the tables. Fan game makers - I’m counting on you.
Besides the core mechanics - the ending Henry monologue is one of my favorite narrative moments in the series. It was dramatic, surprising, and felt almost likely we had a nicely wrapped up narrative… almost.
I know this is also the game that gave us shudders Midnight Motorist which is yet to make sense to me, but the other lore drops were peak. Candy Cadette stories are so nicely done with haunting imagery and feelings of dread - I got scared from a bot voice. It really proved that FNAF is scary outside of the jump scares. There is an element that really makes it horror.
Overall Game Rankings
- Pizzeria Simulator (FNAF 6) - see above.
- FNAF 2 - It may be my rose colored glasses looking into a simpler time - but I really think this is where the fireworks really lit up for the FNAF fandom itself. The first game made it popular with the streamers and made people know about it. But this is the game we started building the theory community. FNAF 2 walked so that all subsequent media could run. Respect your elders
- Help Wanted - MMMM this one was so solid and really gave me hope after the ending of the original story arch. I was so freaky the first time we got to see these worlds in 3D. I loved the characters, Tape Girl had so much potential and Glitch Trap was nightmare fuel. The bad ending where he dances around… masterpiece. Instantly pissed my pants. 10/10 Tapes
- FNAF Sister Location - Love the circus themed animatronics, overall some of my favorite bot characters. Bunker was creepy, exotic butters, unique and fun, only reason it’s not higher is because the game play looked pretty boring at some points.
- FNAF 4 - Was it the bight of ‘87 that hooked me, or the scary as shit listening component added to the game play. Who knows but it worked.
- Help Wanted 2 - While I think the gameplay itself was fantastic, the story was a little … flat. It felt more like just a string of clues for the next games and trying to transition to a new story then it felt like it was a story onto itself.
- FNAF 1 - She is the original icon, we would be lost without her. It’s just pure nostalgia at this point
- SOTM - This is the free roam security breach should have been. The lore is a bit too heavy handed for me but I love the atmosphere and new mimic character.
- UCN - The game play loop is very arcade like which is fun, but so so for watching. Especially when you get into the harder levels, my adhd cannot. While the Chika and Freddy stories were funny, I didn’t really think they landed well as lore tidbits. Fair enough game
- Security Breach - I rage quit this game A. because my computer couldn’t handle the update file size and B. FUCKING WEEPING ANGLE MECHANICS. Ugh I hate them they just trigger my anxiety. We all know this game’s lore is the literal mangle of the series - it flopped hard, I’m just glad Steel Wool got to bounce back with future games and prove their talents.
- FNAF 3 - Game play, sucks. Hallucinations, suck. The wall phone puzzle, over complicated. The one thing I will give this game is the mini game
My Personal Head Cannons
- Charlotte Emily is a middle name not a last name - I refuse to believe a grown ass man several games into a popular franchise would genuinely give someone the last name of Emily. It may have been retconned to be the canonic name - but if in a future game we see like a Henry Smith or Henry Johnson I would not be surprised. It’s not a common enough last name and given the naming conventions of other characters it would be very outside the box. I believe that the 4th closet Intended to put Emily as a middle name - as it is often common to call young children by their first and middle name. This may have been done as a form of sentimentiality - a child who died at 3 would have never known identity outside of being with their parents - there’s no need to refer to them with a last name when they are being literally carried around by their respective adults. It makes more sense that a grieving father would put his daughter’s first and middle name as a symbol of her innocence and detachment from the constructs of the real world. Oh.. is it in the encyclopedia? imo that’s a retcon
- There’s no DCI just MCI - I get there are conflicting facts that make it appear that there are two separate incidents and several side stories that support this idea - but I honestly just believe it’s sloppiness of the writer. There is a cannon of course that proves me wrong but I like to believe there’s only the one and that unreliable narration is the cause of the confusing and overlapping statements. It makes for a simpler story this way
- Burntrap is dead/energy source- There’s a lot of evidence to suggest from interviews with Steelwool and Scott that Burntrap was never supposed to be a thing. Especially with the quote about him “never supposed to be able to move” - I like to think it’s possible that Burntrap is really just the energetic remains of Springtrap and that his body was supposed to be a sort of battery/energy source for the future antagonist. It’s very themeatic too to think of the series moving on to their next villian with the remains of the older one literally powering up the new big bad. I don’t believe it’s the mimic in a springtrap suit nor do i believe “he always comes back”.
- There is no one true perfect story - this timeline is a gaping wound barely stitched together. And while there will be official “canon” storylines I love the endless possibilities that exist within fnaf. It’s the creativity of storytelling from the fandom that i appreciate much more than the story by itself. I am a big proponent of telling your truth when it comes to theories. Even if something is technically “wrong” - I love entertaining people’s imagination.
- Edwin is not a good dude - Call him a victim all you like -this man wasn’t not a clear cut protagonist to root for. I’m not just talking about how he is a neglectful father/husband - that could just be toxic masculinity presenting itself during that decade. I’m talking about they way Edwin seems to view people as means to an end rather than individuals that he can empathize with. His cold hearted layoffs, his desire for connection with machine rather than people, trying to outsource all human interaction as much as possible. I’m not here to pathologize and assign him any traits like sociopath, socially anxious, or autistic - there’s nothing to really prove that. NOR do any of those traits mean he has a certain moral alignment. But whatever the case is - Edwin doesn’t value relationships with people. And I think he’s demonstrated in the games that he is okay with hurting others if it means getting to realize his creative or scientific visions. Perhaps this is why he vibed with a certain Mr. Afton before their business snaffu??
Favorite YouTubers
Fav Theories
- MoltenMCI - This theory suggests that the missing kids may have parts of their souls that stayed behind even after the Happiest Day. With the introduction of remnant during the SL era - I like to also imagine that parts of those metals were used in the creation of the funtimes. I could probably connect the dots better with something regarding the whithered animatronics
- Crying Child = Dave - This is honestly the most straightforward answer I’ve ever seen obtained from the log book.
- Orange man is Afton - I think with FLAF and Scott discussing the misconception of purple in William’s imagery, I think it’s fair to say this has to be WA. The reason I put this as a theory is that it isn’t 100% verified cannon at the time of writing and it’s been a theory I’ve held onto since the game first came out.
Fav Fan Songs
Not sure if we’re going to count this but the Music Man Remix also deserves a shout out
Fellow Neocities FNAF Lovers
<a href=https://funwplushtrap.neocities.org/><img src=https://funwplushtrap.neocities.org/banner.jpg>
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