u/Star_Mistress473

This is kind of a question I really need to be answered to help with a project I’m working on, but I’ve also been wondering about it for the longest time. In night 5 of Sister Location, why doesn’t Circus Baby just knock us out instead of going through the whole effort to earn our trust and lure us into the Scooping Room? Like I get the animatronics didn’t use the technicians’ bodies because they specifically wanted revenge on someone they thought is William and they needed a way to fool Hand Unit, but why didn’t they just knock Michael out and then drag him to the scooper themselves? Did Baby just not want to take a risk in damaging him before he could get there? Or am I missing something? Or more importantly, was Scott missing something, lol

Please tell me you’re thoughts because I don’t know dude

This post isn’t really an in-depth essay, I’ve just been watching a lot of police body cam footage lately and wanted to sort of point how accurate Scott got it when he was writing Afton’s character. I’m not gonna get too much into the stuff I’ve been watching since I’m sure that’s not allowed, but I have to say, since watching those videos more and more over the past couple years it has honestly skyrocketed the believability of Afton’s character and the way he just gets away with everything, at least for me. I mean dude I just watched a video where a guy who had clear evidence of being a two-time murderer was released on PROBATION, so yeah, having Afton get away with 5 murders for which there was less evidence for is pretty believable, even by this franchise’s standards (plus it was the ‘80s so that helps). Beforehand I used to believe that was a little silly. Then I got older and learned that stuff like this just happens all the time.

Even the way Afton is written needs some props for accuracy, because Afton is literally a textbook example of how truly rotten criminals who have gotten caught act. I mean he kills a little girl, seamlessly gets away with it and decides that he actually liked the powerful feeling it gave him despite doing it to a defenseless grade-schooler. Then he kills five kids, also gets away with it, and his immediate thought afterwards is “how do I invent a more seamless way to do it again?” And then he does by creating the Funtimes. It backfires, but that doesn’t stop him. He goes undercover and kills five more kids in FNAF 2, and gets away with it AGAIN, this time having discovered that the animatronics are haunted. He’s seen firsthand how deadly they are, and yet he’s so cocky that he just goes and dismantles them like they’re scrap later on. This also backfires eventually, and it’s his greatest setback yet, but again, he doesn’t stop. He embraces his twisted fate as Springtrap, not because he likes that this happened to him, but because he knows he’s gotten stronger despite the children’s spirits attempting to stop him, and he LOVES that. Plus, they gave him exactly what he wanted when he dismantled them: a free ticket out of hell. At least, for the time being.

Like, is it any surprise that even when he’s suspicious of Henry’s trap in FNAF 6, he goes for it anyway? He’s cheated consequences for grave actions multiple times already, and whenever it got messy he’s always been able to get out of it, just like he did with the MCI, the DCI, AND the events of FNAF 3. So even if he gets caught a bit by surprise, and even though his decrepit state has gotten dramatically worse overtime, his overinflated ego and lack of accountability assures him that he’s fine. All that matters is the possibility that he’ll get to inflict as much pain as he wants on those who are weaker than him. That’s all that’s ever mattered to him. That’s all that matters to anyone who’s as depraved as him, and believe me, Afton is not a special case. Bad people will do anything and endure anything if it means getting the twisted thrill they want. That desire is all that keeps them going, and Scott was a genius for making that desire the driving force that keeps William going through this story. Hell, it’s part of what keeps him alive as Springtrap: his lust for blood.
You could honestly even look at William’s shtick of disguising himself as a mascot character, specifically in his death cutscene in fnaf 3 as a way to metaphorically relay how most villains in real life will take up another face/persona just to hide how simple and small they really are.

I haven’t even mentioned the depressingly accurate ways in which Scott portrayed Michael and William as an abusive father-son relationship, but I mostly just wanted to draw attention to the sociopathic mentality of this character and how well it aligns with real life, because I’ve seen plenty of convicted criminals who were released far too easily yet they end up learning nothing and do far worse things than they did before. They have no regrets, and they just. Never. Stop. Sound like anyone?
This is one of the reasons why I consider FNAF 6 to have one of the most satisfying endings in any game I’ve played, largely because watching police videos where justice is not properly enacted has made Afton’s fate all the more cathartic as time has passed.

I don’t mean for this post to be a downer or anything, I sort of just wanted to give some more props to FNAF’s writing because when this series cooks, it really freaking cooks. And honestly I love how you can take Afton’s fate as a sort of haunting and hopeful message at the end, because it’s an important reminder of where people like him will stand at the end of everything, and how justice always comes despite the agonizing wait for it. As a religious person myself, I’m really glad Scott put that message in. Just another reason why I personally adore the FNAF lore and Afton as a villain.

(Omg I said I wasn’t making this an in-depth essay but I got carried away, my frikin’ autism oh my lord) 😵‍💫

This is mainly a bit of a rant post, so bear with me as I ramble for probably a bit too long, but I’ve been seeing quite a few essay videos on YouTube regarding the state of FNAF lore recently, and the ones that have been gaining the most traction look to be more critically negative. I’m specifically naming videos like oGioGo’s “What Even is the FNAF Lore Anymore?”, Definitely Bored Oranges’ “How Scott Cawthon Ruined the FNAF Lore”, and BenOverIt’s “The Downfall of the FNAF Lore”.

LISTEN, I’m not saying that you’re not allowed to have an opinion or that the people making those videos are being negative for no reason, no, it’s okay to make genuine critiques on an aspect of a game as long as they’re fair and unbiased; that’s the only way any industry thrives, and EVERYTHING needs criticism to get better. Heck, FNAF is a franchise that has been all about taking in criticisms for over a decade now. I’ve even watched all these videos and fully admit they have valid complaints that should be pointed out. I’m more just making this post because in a word, I just feel… depressed.

I’m a dandy, okay? I generally don’t like negativity, even when it’s valid. That’s not anyone else’s problem but mine. I’m just overall depressed that this franchise that I adore sooooo much is seeing much more negativity than positivity in the online community lately. But I’m not really talking about the pessimism towards the new gameplay direction or the valid criticism of all the mistakes that Steel Wool has been making with marketing and such; I’m talking more about one of if not the most important aspect of this franchise: the lore.

Look, I get it. Believe me, I’ve heard ALL the arguments. “It’s too sci-fi”, “it’s convoluted”, “you have to rely on books too much”, “it’s lost the plot”, yada yada yada. Those statements have been getting a lot of attention lately, and I’ve just been wondering, is there anyone who will actually make POSITIVE feedback on this story anymore? There are some people who have done this, I know, but I feel like those videos quickly become buried in the algorithm all too often, whereas videos like the ones I previously mentioned get the most views. It’s not undeserved, those are well-made videos, but like, am I just an idiot or something? Am I an idiot for adoring something that the majority says is “objectively” bad?

Look, I know it’s a mess, I know it’s sloppy, and yes, there’s a fair share of things that don’t make sense. Security Breach from a gameplay and writing perspective was a shit show, and stuff like the FNAF 4 gameplay being a result of experiments is unnecessarily complicated, and even with my love of the franchise I don’t like certain lore stuff in it. Plus, the way certain elements get added into the story so quickly make it way too obvious that stuff is being made up by the minute, but that’s just what every mascot horror game in existence does nowadays so what can you do.

The thing with me is, I feel like there IS so much more depth to this franchise and story if you just look past its shortcomings. And for me, that depth just obliterates any cringe or unenjoyment I may get from some nonsensical story beats here or there.
At its core, I find that FNAF is a story about putting yourself and others back together, and rising against your abusers. It’s a story that stresses the importance of remembering the past for what it truly was, and how vengeance is ultimately the pursuit of misery. That’s not even to mention the additional themes of regret, neglect, hatred, and perseverance.

FNAF lore is something that I don’t mind having many interpretations, because it just means you can get whatever you choose to get out of this story. In a way, it makes the story feel like your own, and I think there is something special about that. I’ve also personally never minded that lore can be found in outside sources like books or source codes, because that’s just made the act of piecing the lore together feel like a fun scavenger hunt to me, and when I have the pieces, I get to complete an even more fun puzzle! Is that an objectively good way to present a story? No, but it made FNAF really popular for a reason. If absolutely no one ever liked this method of storytelling, would FNAF even still be going today? Makes you think.
Plus, you don’t have to be on board with this method, but Scott is clearly committed to it, so it may help just to accept the way in how it’s told. It’s just different, and you don’t have to engage with it if you don’t want to.

Even the sci-fi elements I believe serve to create a more fleshed-out and uniquely fascinating world, one that has clearly always been more technologically advanced than ours since the first game. Remnant hardly adds anything to the main games but to serve as a reason for why the souls are bound their mechanical bodies, to explain Michael’s predicament, and to bring another layer of tragedy to William’s manipulation of the original five dead kids when he binds them to the Funtime Animatronics. Heck, William doesn’t even go beyond a mad scientist much farther than that one action(unless you count the fear experiments, which were at least very brief and insignificant to the lore). He’s still at his core just a man who derived sick pleasure from preying on those much weaker than himself, including his own son, and isn’t some misunderstood, tragic figure trying to bring back a child of his because he “loves” them. I swear that is never communicated anywhere in the games’ or books’ stories and it still baffles me as to why that’s such a popular theory…

But ANYWAY, getting back on topic, I guess I’m just trying to say that I wholeheartedly adore the FNAF lore, and I wish more people shared my sentiment, or at least, I wish there were some more positive voices out there. I mean, I am literally currently writing a full-fledged novel retelling the storyline from games 1-6, so I guess I may be more of a biased fan than most (who may also just be insane, I know).
I should also say that I started my journey with FNAF with Sister Location back in 2016, so I was instantly hit with the sci-fi strangeness and because of that I never really had a moment where I felt things veered off the rails too much, so maybe if I was a true OG fan I’d have a different stance on things. Still, I don’t think I’d be nearly as invested in this series and the lore without SL, everything about it just hooked me from day one and I still find the story it introduced way more interesting than just “guy killed a bunch of kids and that’s it”. I know there is more nuance to it than that but SL nicely added to it, in my opinion.

Who knows, maybe I’m just naive or something, and I hope I’m not coming off as sounding whiny, but as an aspiring writer, I legitimately have admired the story this franchise tells for quite a while now, and really wish I could meet Scott someday to communicate what an inspiration in terms of storytelling he’s been to me. Yeah yeah feel free to laugh. I understand that may be a silly statement but whatever.
I just hope we see some positive resurgence in the community soon, because seeing these videos so frequently really is disheartening. “Well just don’t watch them”, you may be saying. And yeah, most of the time I don’t want to watch them, but I just feel compelled to because every opinion deserves to be heard, and it actually does help with my lore research, plus the creators put good work into them.

I don’t know, hopefully positivity won’t keep staying buried under the algorithm forever. Cause I mean, all things considered we have a lot to be thankful for this past year, what with Secret of the Mimic being so great(even though no one talks about it…) and the 2nd movie making bank at the box office(despite many people hating it…), and some mysterious sequel plus movie 3 being on the horizon. But oh well, I guess negativity on the internet has always been what people gravitate toward the most, and it’s not any creator’s fault if there’s stuff to complain about. And yes, it is totally okay to prefer the old way the franchise used to do things, like I get it, some people will just prefer the old simplicity and that’s totally understandable. This franchise is appealing to people for a wide array of different reasons, and everyone’s stances on each game are very different from each other. I just wish we didn’t have to fixate on just the negative so much, because I think we could all really use a positive FNAF video in the algorithm more often. Or maybe my words don’t mean much of anything at all and I’m the issue, feel free to tell me. I’m legit curious as to where people may stand on things.

So uh, yeah, rant over. Sorry for the ramble, I just felt like I needed to get these words out somewhere.