#I do think a lot of sun/moons... Worst habits would have improved if they'd still had regular time as eclipse ngl. Sun was very overworked.

[phoenixcatch7]

Having so much fun with sb ruin, we haven't run into ANY major glitches never mind game breaking ones, and we've just done the new daycare section. Spoilers if you haven't got that far and want to play it, but I had some thoughts about Eclipse.

Now eclipse is something that's been in the fandom for a while, I think before even the balloon boy game was found, but it's never really been canon? I don't think the name ever appeared in game, but previously the only depiction of some secret third personality in the daycare attendant was the strange purple glitch in the minigame that revealed a red black glowing sun face with red eyes. It was all very threatening and spooky, and you are in a horror game after all (supposedly), so of course people imagined eclipse to be some ultra terrifying final line of defence for the daycare or the pizzaplex as a whole. Tall. Aggressive. Clever. Comes with a whole colour change to match, the way sun and moon do.

But ruin showed a completely different Eclipse! He (they? It?) was clear of mind (mostly, he was convinced the plex was running as normal), kind, and safe! He even gently dropped cassie off outside the play area! Even sun in sb physically threw us out in fury lmao. His eyes glowed different colours, his ARMS glowed different colours (that would have been so cool in sb), he had the rays and cap at the same time!

But why? What reason was eclipse programmed? In the daycare, there wouldn't have been any reason for him.

Well, there's the theory that sun and moon weren't originally created for the daycare, at least not solely. Instead, it's highly possible that they were made for the theatre next door.

Why? Well, for one, their design. Sun and moon are dressed like jesters, with bright colours and stripes, baggy trousers, curled toe slippers, and bells and ribbons on every limb. They bob and move in a way designed to jingle, with very long and articulate joints, even their head has a huge range of motion compared to the other animatronics. In fact, pretty much everything BUT their face is very expressive. It's as if they were designed to be seen at a distance. Exposed wires on the back of their head too, something none of the other animatronics have (being grabbed and hugged and climbed by kids all day, that's dangerous! To both them and the animatronics!)

The theatre, too, is designed and fitted for live performances. Though it is mostly a movie theatre now with a giant screen, there was still that badly programmed staff bot comedian (both in the game setting and its actual coding lmao) and the entire backstage area with dressing rooms, abandoned set pieces and undressed endos. The sun and moon faces are the theatre masks of joy and sorrow at its entrance. It's very likely sun and moon were originally intended to be the main actors, playing both villain and hero roles and saving the company a LOT of money in the long run, not paying for lead actors every day.

So what does this have to do with eclipse?

In the daycare, his presence makes little sense, but as a theatre performer, it would have been invaluable. Instead of making the character unbalanced in one direction, eclipse could have served as narrator, ringmaster, ambassador, he would have been the one bowing after a show, the one talking to parents, handing out flyers and merch, all the stuff you need to front that kind of show.

For one, it puts sun and moon on equal levels as all their marketing does, rather than sun being pretty much the sole worker. It allows them to act and be seen as two parts of a whole, rather than sun (and his evil counterpart). Eclipse is unbothered by changes in light, moving from the bright spotlights that crippled moon into total darkness that overrode dun in sb. From a production standpoint, eclipse is ideal to work with, the best parts of sun and moon.

But why sell one lot of merch when you could sell two? Make it a set?

And when they were repurposed to the daycare attendant, there wasn't much use for a third personality at all. Maybe behind the curtains, down in parts and services, maybe some niche situations. But without merch, without need, with the animatronic still in use, common knowledge of the eclipse program dissipated like mist.

All except for sun and moon and one broken arcade machine.