I Do Not Like Scott Cawthon (As A Writer)
A few things before I get into this rant:
- This post is not meant to be directed at Scott's politics. Yes, I know that he is some sort of weird pro-life right winger, however, as the title suggests, this is merely my own opinions and thoughts regarding his writing/ world-building capabilities.
- I am aware that at this point in time, FNAF is effectively not for me- a twenty-year old man- anymore. I don't mean this in a way to say I don't like the franchise, in fact, I love Five Nights at Freddy's my love for the series is in part why I made this post. I do know that current day FNAF is for kids and therefore some of my points may be invalid, I will leave that up to you as the readers to decide.
- Everything I write here is from the perspective of someone who has been into FNAF since I was a young, young child. I was there for all the Game Theories, the bopping ass music (a lot of which I still listen to), all the great YouTubers who've made themselves primarily on this series, and many of the excellent fan games that have spawned from the franchise.
- Remember, this is all opinions folks. If you insult me in the replies, just know that I will cry. Like a baby. So please don't hurt my feelings 😞
With all that said, I do not like Scott Cawthon. It is as simple as that, but I feel like I cannot be the only one who feels that way. From someone who is very much underqualified but at the very least passionate about creative writing and who is world-building (maladaptive daydreaming) ALL THE TIME, I can confidently say what most of everyone who looks into Scott Cawthon's writing says in that FNAF's story is extremely convoluted. And that makes me supremely disappointed, and a tad depressed of what the series has spiraled into.
In my own opinion, there is nothing sadder than seeing decent or good concepts being executed poorly. I've never seen so many great ideas just being shoved into a blender, literally a "Random bullshit, go!" moment, as I have with the FNAF series. Agony, remnant, The Anomaly, the illusion disks, the FNAF 2 phone calls, and the lists goes on. WHY SCOTT? Why just leave all this in the mud? I understand that initially, Five Nights at Freddy's story wasn't planned out but the way in which the story from games 1-6 is played out is semi-decent at best and good if you don't think about the implications it has on timeline or the lore.
I have never seen a creator who is so at odds with his own fandom. The movies are supposed to be the story in which Scott envisioned the games being, so then why the freak is Micheal Afton evil? Does he know his own character whom he made and wrote? What does that imply about video game Mike? He's supposed to be morally grey, kind of an anti-hero, but now that we've seen the "envisioned story" the creator has gave a thumbs up, does that now completely invalidate ALL of whom or what Micheal was supposed to be in SL or Pizzaria Sim?
Am I just the booger-eating, glue-huffing doofus? Like, hello, here's this grade A character assassination for you. Was he supposed to be evil all along? I'm not gonna lie, the tipping point for this post was actually the second movie. I'm sorry, but in what way is that supposed to be "for the fans?" Does nostalgia bait really constitute a good movie? I understand why people would like it, well hell, I personally enjoyed the Mortal Kombat movie just because they included some of the character's catchphrases, but is that how low the bar is for FNAF fans now?
I know I sound like some elitist, but how is it for the fans for the creator of your favorite work to completely spit in your face just revealing the character that we've spent years with was actually supposed to be evil? Why is Charlie (The Puppet) indifferent to hurting Abbie, a child, in the movie? Y'all remember that awesome final speech from henry at the end of FNAF 6? Yeah, well you can just go ahead and throw that out, Charlie apparently does NOT care for "protecting the innocent" and is actually in cahoots with this botched version of Micheal Afton who states his goal pretty blatantly was to continue his father's legacy, you know, that psychopathic narcissistic asshole who was generally believed to have been using one of his own kids as a lab rat for the illusion disks in FNAF 4? The actual overarching antagonist of the FNAF franchise when Mike is the protagonist.
I don't really expect anyone to read this but holy crap man, what has happened to this series? Then we got Security Breach. Who the hell cares? That spooky allure and mystique of the first line of games, 1-3, yeah, no, just act like you forgot about all of that. Remember when before there was a Mimic? And that FNAF had a pretty consistent storyline? Goodbye!
I'm complaining at this point, obviously I am glad that FNAF is as popular as it is now but I can't hide my displeasure as someone with such fond memories of the series. It just makes me so sad. That's it, see ya.