#also this game is fun because the plot is a very open secret

[cue-bit]

devlog 12/25/23

fuck it i'll do this in an organized way bc it's easier for me to keep track of also. maybe it'll be interesting maybe it won't.

so in terms of the gameplay:

the entirety of the day 1 cycle is complete and i don't anticipate needing to update the tileset at this point in time so that's all set. i've got the day to night cycle down too.

i'm about three quarters of the way through day 2 and right now i'm working on writing the script for the results of the cooking segment. i'm not going to add them to the actual game yet for the sake of playtesting but at this point i really need to write down the recipes that the player needs to follow and figure out the recipe for day 5.

actually ive been making this whole game with just a vague daily outline and no script at all and that was absolutely a bad idea but it's not like i knew better. should script out everything! maybe work on the script in tandem with day 2.

in terms of the art:

i've finished the kitchen tileset for day 3 and will be colouring the kitchen tileset for day 4. i still need to make illustrations for several scenes + a few sprites and facesets but i'm not expecting to do that until all of the development is done.

i'm not even gonna think about music until i've scripted out the last day so i can get the mood right.

this is taking way longer than i thought it would but i am visibly making progress so i'm not particularly bothered by it. the last two days (6 and ???) should be easier since the player has less to do.

[whencartoonsruletheworld]

never have I played any nights at Freddy fazbears

pls explain the whole plot and all lore to me as if I were small and slightly stupid

oh great timing i literally JUST explained this to my asoue discord

this is a VERY simple summary, but things to keep in mind while reading:

very very VERY little of this is directly spelled out for us. the creator, scott cawthon, LOVES to confuse people on purpose and the vast majority of the lore is gleaned from hidden minigames, secret cutscenes, and easter eggs. this makes things very confusing and controversial within the fanbase, so im gonna try to explain where there are differing opinions

really, there's two main stories: the first main story was completed with FNAF6 and Ultimate Custom Night, the story going on rn is the second and it is still ongoing. as such, a lot of the lore is still a mystery to all of us.

For clarity's sake, I will divide this between: THE AFTON STORY, the one the movie's gonna tell a part of, and THE GLITCH STORY, which the games are going through

dont worry i will make it fun to go through so it doesnt feel like school

ok lets go

THE AFTON STORY

First, let's get a visual chart in here. don't worry it's just for show

These are the important families we will be talking about; the Emily family, with father Henry and daughter Charlie, and the Afton Family, with father William, two sons (Michael and a boy who is still unnamed, he might get named on friday? We call him Crying Child "CC") and a daughter, Elizabeth. Don't worry about the mothers they're not important

Okay so here's the thing: of these four children, all but Michael die VERY early on in the timeline

The problem is we do NOT know THE ORDER each of them died. There's a lot of arguments on all sides but I personally think the order is sad boi->charlie->baby so imma present it in that order. But keep in mind that we don't actually know because of the confusing way the lore is dropped.

okay so for starters.

Backstory/FNAF4

purple guy is william afton and he and this guy vcalled henry start opening a restaurant chain starring freddy fazbear

in the original location they've got two animatronic suits, fredbear and spring bonnie. the other location has freddy, bonnie, foxy, chica

the og location suits are ~special~ tho, bc henry and william are crazy inventor dudes. these suits are called "springlock suits". they function as full animatronics but you can wind all the wires and gears and endoskeleton and shit back and step into the costume yourself. only problem is the safety is jackshit and if you like. cry or sweat or breathe wrong the springlocks will fail and the metal will come crashing back and crush u to death. u should have enough time to get to the back room so u dont bleed out in front of the customers tho. springlock suits are important remember those

michael is in his early teens and has just learned how to be a shit to his siblings and is trying out this hot new bullying thing. he's picking a lot on CC because CC is terrified of the freddy animatronics. it is said that he "saw something" that scared him, it could be anything as benign as "saw someone go into the suit and got freaked out" to something as serious as "saw one of those aforementioned springlock failures and person bleeding out." could also be charlie or elizabeth's death if those happen earlier in the timeline. again we dont know bc cawthon likes to confuse us

CC is not scared of the freddy characters tho, he has all the plushies and calls them his friends. he's just scared of the animtronics. unfortunately his dad works there so he has to be there like 90% of the time so he's having a wonderful time. hence the moniker "crying child". bc he cries all the time

anyway at his birthday party, michael decides it would be really funny to shove CC up into the animatronic's mouth for kicks. this goes about as well as you'd expect cause the mouth closes and fuckin. crushes his head

kid goes into a coma for a while but eventually flatlines. while he's in the coma we hear michael tearfully apologizing, and his fredbear plush talks to him (presumed to be william) saying he will "put him back together"

anyway that was fun. so next up charlie emily gets FUCKING MURDERED

Backstory/FNAF1-2

for some reason charlie gets locked outside the pizzeria. william's driving by and decides to stab her bc why not

honestly most of us believe that this occured after CC just bc it gives william motivation to be pissy at his business partner and kill his kid abt it, but also a book that released a month ago implies that william might have been nightmare gassing his kids for shits and giggles so. who knows. dont worry about that btw its not relevant rn

anyway the thing is willie and henry had an animatronic designed to protect the children called the puppet. the puppet sees charlie outside and goes out to help her but it's raining so it fries up the puppet's circuits and it crashes on top of her dead body. cheery!

except this is where it gets wild bc charlie proceeds to like. possess the puppet

possession is really complicated in this universe but basically there's no real way to communicate openly with people and the possesser might not even be aware of who or where they are or anything really but. yeah the lil girl def possesses the puppet

its after this that william starts killing kids for funsies. a lot of us presume that he saw the puppet getting possessed and was like "holy shit a way to bring crying kid back" but again he might've just decided this was fun

anyway he lures five kids into the Secret Freddy's Backroom That Is Not On The Maps by wearing the spring bonnie costume. after killing them he shoves them into the other animatronic suits (freddy, bonnie, chica, foxy, fredbear "golden freddy") and yeah they start gettin possessed

the fifth missing kid was stuffed in fredbear and here's where it gets veeery theoretical cause we dont have straight confirmation of this but just some theories. it's VERY likely that crying child was also haunting fredbear at this point, and shoving another kid in there got two kids haunting the same bitch and it causes fredbear (golden freddy) to be really fucking weird and glitchy and eldritch or w/e. anyway you dont have to worry about that rn cause golden freddy doesnt show up much they're too busy ascending or smth

now this is where the lore gets confusing-- the first game claims that after the last two were lured, someone was caught on camera, arrested and charged. however we know for a fact willie-boi wasnt caught so either 1) this got retconned when cawthon decided to actually make lore, 2) he wasnt convicted and somehow still kept a hold on the fazbear empire during this, or 3) a lot of us theorize that henry was framed for the crimes and thats why he disappears from the timeline until the sixth game. cause yeah he disappears from the timeline until the sixth game. personally i believe the third it makes a lot of sense but yeah willie-boi stops killing at about five kids

anyway will is going full scientist with all these animatronics and he's like. ripping parts off them and putting them on other animatronics to see what happens. we THINK. again this is really vague but this is just kinda the most logical explanation here.

anyway this is what happens in fnaf2 and what it does is like. split the souls and shit. and he's like "oh this is sick" except this makes all the suits act erratic as hell and very angry towards adults (theyre cool with kids tho) and eventually one of them causes the infamous Bite of 87. we're not entirely sure what it was but one of the animatronics bit off the frontal lobe of someone in 1987. this caused this location to get shut down and willie boi just puts the pieces back on the og animatronics and is like "well shit what do we do now boys"

FNAF5: Sister Location

anyway so this is where we think elizabeth dies in the timeline. william makes these things called the "funtime animatronics"-- we know they are made after a fnaf location shuts down, though it's not specified which. these animatronics are built SPECIFICALLY to kidnap children. ballora is built as a distraction for parents, the other two are built to only move when not seen, and then Circus Baby™ has an arm that can grab kids and drag thtem into her until willie lets em out. she is programmed to only do this when a child is alone in the room so william tells elizabeth "do not go see baby when you are alone in the room"

so elizabeth is like 6 and she goes to see baby when she is alone in the room and baby grabs her but the arm is fucked up and the kid dies p badly

funtime's location is then immediately closed due to "gas leaks" and william rents out the funtimes for parties. at the same time he starts shoving some haunted parts into the funtime animatronics to see what happens. we THINK.

important location here btw is the "scooping room." it's actually very good horror but basically it's a bitch that is supposed to rip the endoskeletons out of the suit whenever theyre malfunctioning. super smart idea that will cause no nightmares going forwards.

anyway the animatronics all kinda know that william killed them so after a while (a few years??? who knows) they start trying to kill him and he's like "hmm. i cannot go into this bunker anymore. let me send michael, my last surviving kid who i hate." this is where michael, now an adult, re-enters the timeline.

mikey boy is told by his dad that he can bring his baby sis back to life if he goes down into this bunker and does some shit. michael is like "oh sweet" bc honestly he probably still feels guilty about literally killing his bro and so he goes down to the bunker.

the animatronics eventually tell him "go into the scooping room it'll be totes mcgotes" and when he gets there he finds out that the animatronics have killed all the other employees, scooped themselves, and fused their endoskeletons into one conglomerate called ennard

ennard is like "yeah we cant escape here cause they just bring us back so we're gonna use you as a skinsuit k thnx" and they scoop him and use him as a skinsuit

it's really good horror i promise

BUT this turned out to be a bad plan because Humans Decay so after like a week ennard gets puked up by the MikeSuit and escapes into the sewers.

here, meanwhile, is where mike pulls a reverse uno card and possesses his own decaying corpse

LIKE A FUCKING BADASS

he then calls up his dad and is like "hey dad :) elizabeth's fine now :) BUT :) they fucking killed me :) because they thought i was you :) you sure sent me down here to die huh :) anyway :) im gonna come find you :) you have a ten minute head start start running :)"

actor really fucking sold that monologue too ngl

so he's like. PISSSSSSED and rightfully so he is walking around in his own corpse. so he goes to find his dad

Backstory/FNAF3

this is about when peepaw willie goes back to the original fnaf location (we THINK) and is like "ok im just gonna take apart all the animatronics and do something with these"

only when he destroys the suits the missing kids' ghosts show up and spook him. so this guy who's been studying ghosts is like "oh fuckshit there's ghosts here" and tries to hide in the spring bonnie suit. only he laughs and this causes the springlocks to malfunction and FUCKING VIOLENTLY KILL HIM. get springlocked idiot

except then HE possesses the spring bonnie suit and this is springtrap. but also he's in a super secret back room while this happens so he is trapped there for a while

FNAF6

so ennard, michael and william are fuckin around for a couple years. at some point ennard decides that elizabeth is kinda a freak actually and kicks her out of the hivemind so she just rebuilds herself a circus baby suit and keeps wanderin around so now we got four bitches doing who knows what

eventually it's been 30 years since the last freddy's closed and someone opens up a haunted house parody of it. mike goes to work there as a security guard* and guess what they found springtrap and bring him to the attraction thinking he's just an animatronic. after five nights of fucking with him mike sets the place on fire to try and finally kill his dad fr. it does not work

*note that this isnt confirmed to be michael but we kinda. all know it's probably him. it really seems to be him

anyway then michael finds out that an actual fazbear's is opening and needs an owner so he goes and becomes owner of the restaraunt. while some guy on a cassette tape is giving him tutorial instructions he sets up the place and also collects several animatronics. these are:

scraptrap (peepaw post-fire and really pissed)

scrapbaby (elizabeth now thinking that maybe if she kills things her dad will pay attention to her)

molten freddy (remains of ennard still not entirely sure what's going on)

lefty (a bear solely built to capture the puppet, who was still fuckin around the fnaf2 location i guess. anyway now the puppet is here thats important)

so after our five nights scrapbaby comes on the speaker system and is like "omg dad if we kill people will you love me. we're gonna kill soooo many people it's my passion actually" and that's when the cassette tutorial guy interrupts her

and he just goes "yeah. you're not doing that"

anyway he's like "hi guys. you remember me??? henry??? from 30 years ago?? i owned half this business? you killed my daughter and stuffed her soul in a puppet? lmao yeah i literally lured you all here and you came like the fucking idiots you are. im setting the place on fire, we're all gonna die and go to heaven. except for YOU, WILL. you are not going there. lmao bye" and he sets the place on fire and they all burn. it's more epic when he says it tbh

now henry mentions that he had an escape route ready for the building owner but he figured out the owner was michael and was like "i feel like you wanna stay and burn with us" and michael's like "fuck yeah"

you might think that wraps up the story nicely but OH NO THERE'S MORE

Ultimate Custom Night

see, the next game is ultimate custom night where you can choose which animatronics hunt you and their level of difficulty. it is through hidden messages and shit that we find out that ucn is, canonically, william being tortured in hell. which is sick af

anyway the tormentor is a spirit labelled "the vengeful spirit" in the files, and "the one you should not have killed" by the animatronics. we sometimes hear either a light voice behind the other animatronic lines (could be either a woman with a light voice, a little girl, or a little boy), and the pic that sometimes shows up as a hallucination is a distorted photo of scott cawthon's son. we know for a FACT this spirit is someone from the fnaf6 fire cause they reference the fire more than once while poking willie with a stick. it's probably not elizabeth cause she was just tryin to get her dad's attention. it's not charlie/puppet bc one of her lines is like "ffs just stay out of my way for ONCE." we also know for a fact it's not henry cause they were like "henry sure tried to release us huh. not happening im not letting you go that easily bitch haha" so that narrows it down to michael and the missing kids

now here's the thing.

the vaaaaast majority of the fandom is convinced that the vengeful spirit is cassidy, the missing child that was stuffed inside golden freddy with cc. this is because golden freddy is in a looot of ultimate custom night and if you beat the hardest mode you just get a quick cutscene of him glitching and then everything fades to black

however. i have seen legiterally no convincing evidence that this is the case. all we know about cassidy is she is the golden freddy missing kid and was talking to cc through the logbook. and we BARELY know this. in the alternate universe book she first showed up in (the silver eyes) she wasn't even the golden freddy kid. people point out a similar situation to her and cc in fazbear frights where one of the kids was tormenting william (stitchwraith) but that's literally a whole separate universe and completely separate characters with separate backstories and personalities

there's a sprite in security breach who fights glitchtrap (explained below) who was named in the files as "cassidy" so ppl point to that but 1) they changed that name after people made a deal out of it, 2) that could mean literally anything, 3) the protag of the next game was named "cassie" and her story kinda paralleled the sprite's first game so uuhhhh anyway

honestly i think it's WAY more likely the vengeful spirit is mr michael "i'm going to come find you and set you on fire twice" afton, using his childhood likeness to fuck with his dad. this is strengthened by one of the easter egg cutscenes in ucn, where the vengeful spirit talks to a benevolent spirit who tells them to "leave the demon to his demons. there is nothing for you here." the audio in the background is someone distortedly screaming "HENRY" and "MICHAEL"

one of the animatronic lines also says "is this a prison for you or for me? perhaps both" implying that the vengeful spirit feels like they belong in hell, which would fit with mike's "i killed my brother" self-loathing. the golden freddy glitch could very easily be his mental anguish as well as william's, with the optional cutscene telling us that while michael is self-harming by torturing his dad in hell, he has the ability to move on and find peace if he can forgive himself. honestly i really like that open ending there

another point towards "vengeful mike" theory is that we play as him for most of the games (definitely 5 and 6, most likely 1 and 3, some theorize 4) and so him being the vengeful spirit is way more emotionally impactful than "random kid #5"

however every time i bring this up to the fnaf fandom they get really really pissy at me because y'all love ur angry lil girl cassidy headcanons and honestly that is completely fair i also love angry lil girls. im just saying this bc we're going over whats canon rn and i firmly believe in vengeful mike (thank @birdsareblooming for that) but yknow. cassidy is also fun as hell

i wrote a whole essay on this btw these are just the cliffnotes. do you guys wanna see the essay

anyway that's where the afton story ends but OHHH NO MR CAWTHON CANNOT STOP

if you just want a quick catchup before the movie you can stop here but anyway. let's talk mimicry

THE GLITCH STORY

the games coming out recently are kinda a sequel-story and bc theyre still coming out we are still very confused about what the fuck is canon and what is not so this one will be a lot more guessing. i digress let's talk about

Help Wanted

so back on earth, it's the 2020s-2030s. turns out the fazbear company is still functional and they're like "well shit guys what the FUCK do we do about all of That"

so they decide they need a brand cleansing and what they do is they secretly hire an "indie game developer" to make the fnaf games in-universe, to make light of the tragedies and make people take them less seriously. they pretend to have beef with this indie dev but eventually put all of his games into a VR game as a show of "good faith." somehow this actually does work in revitalizing the brand image

also sidenote but the books imply that the indie dev was kidnapped and gaslit into making the games but thats not important

now see there's a glitch in the game and the beta-tester jeremy mentions it and then gets increasingly withdrawn and obsessive. because it turns out there is a Bitch in here

now. the identity of the Bitch is uh. controversial in the fandom rn. i will say for clarity that i am in Party Two and will probably be biased towards that but here's the thing. the Bitch is either:

a digital upload of william afton's soul (somehow escaping hell)

THE MIMIC

Help Wanted Interlude: The Mimic

see, the other books (silver eyes, fazbear frights) are set in a parallel universe-ish to the books, similar rules and worldbuilding but cawthon can fuck around all he wants with no consequences. there were charliebots and springtrap mpreg at one point it was nuts. but the thing is right now they're kinda trying to tell us that the current series, tales from the pizzaplex, is game-canon. god only knows if they'll stick to that so some people think the books are in the game's universe, others think they're parallels to the games and not 1-1 exact much like the others

but anyway they give us crucial lore on The Mimic so here we go

some guy named edwin (some think he's a parallel to henry or william, but rn we're just gonna assume he's canon) is a single dad to a toddler. however he's working for fazbear making all these animatronics and he's sooo busy and needs something to distract the toddler so he creates a fucked up nightmare animatronic called The Mimic, whose programming is extremely basic: "copy whatever you see being done"

the toddler actually loves the fucked up nightmare animatronic and teaches him to play patty-cake and carry around stuffed animals or w/e. anyway then the toddler runs out into the street and gets hit by a car

edwin is still grieving and the mimic comes up carrying the toddler's stuffed animal and still copying him and when the mimic that edwin programmed to copy things is still copying things edwin snaps and just beats the fuck out of it bc he needs a grief outlet. he then abandons the thing but however the mimic has just learned Violence

some employees come by to see where edwin's animatronics are and the mimic just starts killing all of them bc. well. it's supposed to copy things. it will copy things

there's a BIG GAP here in what happens to it next but it disappears for the next 30 years. however it is heavily, HEAVILY implied that it witnessed at least one of the missing children incidents

fazbear actually has a Lot of mimic endoskeletons but bc they start copying violent shit they shut them all down. however they all run on the same program, "mimic1" and fazbear keeps that tech around cause you know it could be helpful

Back to Help Wanted

now here is where the "we only THINK this is canon we dont knkow yet" comes in

back to the vr game, they are just shoving random old pieces of code in there to speefd up the process of making the game cause capitalism doesnt like long development times. this puts the mimic1 program into the program and it immediately sees All Of Afton's Crimes In 4K. it decides "oh yeah i can mimic this but i should probably get a physical body in order to do that"

so beta tester jeremy sees the mimic program, which takes the form of Spring Bonnie Suit. this is Glitchtrap

now keep in mind that some people do still believe that all this aint happenin and the spring bonnie glitch is just william. again i personally believe the mimic cause it makes more sense than "william escaped hell somehow" but w/e

anyway, glitchtrap is fuckin around. it tries to possess beta tester jeremy and in order to stop it, jeremy does the sensible thing and cuts his own face off

so glitchtrap is like "hmm. that didn't work out" and decides to go for the more subtle approach. the next beta tester, currently unnamed, starts recording tapes inside the game to send to the next beta tester so they dont fuck with glitchtrap. glitchtrap however seals itself inside the tapes so that when the beta testers try to delete it, it'll instead be inside the tapes and cant be removed lmao. it then "mimics" tape girl's voice and adds a last tape saying "let him possess you its ok i promise"

it also mimics her intro of "hello can you hear me" in the one time it speaks so. mimic

anyway the next beta tester is this gal named vanessa and she gets possessed like suuuper quickly and glitchtrap is like "oh fucking FINALLY"

Security Breach Therapy Tapes

vanessa's acting weird at work so company requires her to go to therapy, however she has the same therapist as Another Patient. this patient will be named later however right now we're calling them Patient 46. they do not talk but have the same therapist as Vanessa and is creepy about it. anyway whenever a therapist prods too much into either Vanessa or P46's life, or discovers them fucking with fazbear tech, the therapist mysteriously goes missing and shows up later dead and mangled by machinery

they go through like five of these bitches at least, but it's clear P46 is another bitch possessed by glitchtrap but they're like more possessed than vanessa is so glitchtrap likes them better

BUT THAT'S ALL BORING, WE'VE GOT A PIZZAPLEX NOW!!!

Security Breach

fazbear opens a giant 80s-style mall with a ton of attractions like disneyland or w/e and call it the Mega Pizzaplex. There's state-of-the-art animatronics in here that are basically sentient ai. they might be possessed but we're not actually sure rn they might just be advanced robots

they start with "glamrock" freddy, bonnie and chica, along with roxy wolf instead of foxy. we're not sure why rn. anyway at some point something suspicious happens and bonnie is found mangled and he's replaced with montgomery gator, a c-list animatronic they had to run the golf course. he doesnt seem to take the spotlight well and has started breaking things but its probably fine

anyway they eventually realize they can automate the staff and stop paying human beings and they jump on that cause they love cutting costs. they've got staffbots everywhere except for ONE person- vanessa, who is hired as the security guard. we find a note saying that her interviewer found her too inexperienced for the position, but someone "very" high up in the company pushed her into the role. this is implied to be glitchtrap taking over the systems

so vanessa and P46 are shoving glitchtrap into the systems because, well, guess what? the pizzaplex is built on top of the fnaf6 location. the one where henry set them all on fire, and they're trying to do some sort of shit with the burnt remains of springtrap. if you believe in william!glitchtrap he's trying to get his body back; if you believe in mimic!glitchtrap he's trying to fuse himself to afton's corpse in order to gain a corporeal form. it also helps that there is The OG Mimic Endoskeleton in this area (its explained in the books im not going into it) but it's pretty fuckin damaged so they gotta spend some time fixing it before fusing it with peepaw's corpse

but the night they're supposed to do that, something goes wrong: a child is loose in the pizzaplex

glamrock freddy had a malfunction onstage, and when he wakes up in his room, there is a child hiding in his stomach compartment (used for oversized piñatas and cakes). this child is named gregory and he looks suspiciously like the crying child and we dont have an explanation for that but no, matpat, he's not a robot, it's probably just symbolism

anyway gregory actually has like very little memory of what's going on and barely remembers his own name but he says that vanessa the security guard is trying to fuckin kill him so he needs to get tf out of the pizzaplex. freddy's like "well you're shit out of luck cause the doors close and seal until 6am but that's fine we can make it til then" and gregory's like "fucking JOY"

long story short gregory has to run around the pizzaplex while every animatronic but freddy is trying to kill him. freddy is not trying to kill him bc his malfunction caused him to enter Safe Mode and it turns out that Safe Mode is safe from the glitchtrap virus. everyone else, however, gets glitchtrapped and is trying to kill this kid

you dont find out why until like laaaate in the game and even THEN you're confused until one of the goosebumps-knockoff short stories confirms a thing, and that thing is:

gregory is patient 46

oh shit

turns out gregory was possessed by glitchtrap for FUCK knows how long and was used as its body for like the entire time. and when he eventually wakes up un-possessed (no idea how that happened) he has no memory of whats going on at ALL and is understandably fucking terrified. doesnt remember being possessed or killing ppl or anything he just wakes up and runs. glam freddy likely malfunctioned cause glitchtrap was like "oh my god go GET that stupid kid" and glam freddy was like "but???? protecc????" and entered safe mode

so gregory eventually fuckin DEMOLISHES all the other animatronics and uses their parts to upgrade freddy. freddy is like "hey where'd you get these parts" and gregory's like "uhhhhhhhhh dont worry about it" "hey where are my friends" "DONT WORRY ABOUT IT"

while this is happening, a possessed vanessa is in a bunny suit calling herself vanny and also trying to kill him. this is just as confusing to us as it is to you

anyway there are six endings to security breach. according to the most recent game, there is a chance that two of them are canon. WE DO NOT KNOW which of the two is canon. these are the endings:

Princess Quest Ending: greg and freddy try to confront vanny and she gets freddy ripped apart by staffbots. gregory then finds an arcade game in her room and plays and beats it which sets her soul free (presumably he knew how to do this cause he's remembering bits and pieces of being possessed??? idk). anyway once the game is beat she is unpossessed and takes gregory and freddy's decapitated head out of the pizzaplex

Burntrap Ending: gregory and freddy avoid vanny and go to the fnaf6 basement where freddy starts acting all fucked up and then thtey find the Springtrap corpse, now Burntrap (fused with the mimic? glitchtrap? yknow). it tries to kill them so you have to Boss Fight everything and then set him on fire again. THEN a tangled mess of animatronic wires with a funtime freddy head (remains of ennard???) shows up and drags him off. again, just as confusing for us as it is for you. freddy and gregory escape. no idea where vanessa is

ONE of these is canon. we do not know which. this is making the fanbase super chill and normal /lying

Evidence for Princess Quest: in ruin, we see a headless glamrock freddy in the exact same area he is in pq. we also have no sign of vanny trying to help glitchtrap. you can collect gregory's fanart of his own game and pq is the only one he didn't draw. princess quest arcade game has sword sticking out of it

Evidence against Princess Quest: aforementioned headless freddy is labelled a prototype on his foot and we know for a fact that our freddy does not have that stamp. he also has a gift inside his stomach when freddy gave his stomach gift to gregory already (and it was a diff color). the pq arcade game has sword sticking out of it BUT that could symbolize the princess being skewered, and surrounding the game is art of the escaped glitchbunny

Evidence for Burntrap: labelled as "true ending" in the files, only ending to be FULLY animated instead of switching to comic form and also only one with boss fight, the tangled animatronic mess is definitely canon (we see it, gregory draws it so he saw it too which means he went in the basement where it was), while vanny isn't seen her grafitti is everywhere and appears to be recent

Evidence against Burntrap: the "true ending" label, like cassidy, could mean literally fucking anything. also if vanessa is still under his control why the fuck doesnt she help him where is she

so yeah we're having fun figuring THAT out

Ruin (the end so far thank god)

the most recent game we got, then, was the dlc for the above game, this dlc is called ruin. a few months after this, a lil girl named cassie wanders into the ruins of the pizzaplex cause her best friend gregory told her to meet him there. when she gets there she finds a walkie-talkie and he's like "girl im trapped under the pizzaplex you need to shut down the security and come get me" and she's like "sounds great"

she finds vanny's mask and puts it on and enters an AR world where a glitched bunny is trying to kill her (this one isnt glitchtrap actually) and a friendly little AR bear is telling her to keep going she's doing a great job (this one IS glitchtrap probably)

anyway it turns out her backstory is her dad worked for the pizzaplex and she had a birthday party there with her Favorite Character Roxy and literally none of her friends showed up. she was sad about it until gregory showed up and became her friend. then gregory went missing and she was sad

anyway the last security node is favorite character Roxy and roxy recognizes her and is nice to her and its very sad

cassie eventually goes down to the fnaf6 basement and is like "ok gregory i opened the door are you okay" and PSYCH, IT'S NOT GREGORY

IT'S

THE

MIMIC

the mimic immediately tries to kill her bc it likes violence but roxy shows up to save her. the real gregory calls her on the walkie-talkie and is like "bITCH GET OUT OF THERE" and she's like "IM TRYING" and gregory's "friend" (whose pronouns are very specifically blurred out, so it could be either freddy or vanessa) uses the building maps to help her to an elevator. however when she gets in the elevator gregory's like "yeahhhhh sorry we cant let you be followed :(" and drops the elevator, trapping her there

it's like a 99% chance this last bit was not gregory but it was the mimic, seeing as gregory is not even in the pizzaplex and the mimic lost cassie right next to the elevator fuse box that it could easily rip out. so you know

anyway we end with either roxy finding cassie or the mimic using roxy's voice finding her so this kid's fucked lmao

also other questions about if mimic is burntrap is that we see the mimic p naked in this game and not in a fun corpse skinsuit so where did bunny go??? however i will also mention that there is a secret ending that shows us that the FUCKING SCOOPER is here so. personally i think that answers that question. get scooped idiot

oh also if you noticed "hey 'cassie' sounds a lot like 'cassidy,' the golden freddy kid who was sharing a body with the crying child, who has a similar design to gregory," congrats! we've noticed that too! we have no fucking idea what it means! :D

and thaaaaat's five nights at freddy's

that didnt take too long did it

[bird-inacage]

The Heart Killers Trailer: Initial Observations (FirstKhao Edition)

I'd like to thank Jesus, Buddha, Santa, Thor, whatever holy BL spirits reside above, and all hail our lord and saviour P'Jojo. This exceeded my expectations of what was coming and then some. So here are my initial takeaways from the trailer that blew my head clean off.

General premise goes: By night, Fadel and Bison are assassins for hire, but they only kill who they deem are the 'bad guys' (most likely corrupt politicians, sketchy businessmen and the like). By day they run a seemingly ordinary restaurant. A cop asks tattoo artist Kant for his help is getting these two caught. He agrees on the basis that this will clear his criminal record. In order to keep Fadel distracted from his advances on Bison, Kant convinces his mechanic friend Style to woo him. I expect to see cat-and-mouse, games of deception type plot here which should be really good fun.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: BISON

Aside from the fact that Bison kills for a living, he actually seems like a sweetheart. He comes across as the more jovial, friendly and optimistic of the two brothers. He has no hesitation in offering to make special accommodations for Kant's dietary preferences. He seems to fondly prod his brother to open up to people, and to allow 'sunshine' into his life.

Fadel says, "Because I'm selective, not easy like you". "In this line of work, don't trust people too easily", a signposted concern that his little brother may struggle on this front. Seems to make a point of warning him to use his head rather than his heart.

Bison also tells Kant that his trust once lost means the person is question may as well be dead to him. If he does tend to trust easily, any betrayal would be understandably much more hurtful in his eyes.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: KANT

Kant's ulterior motive is what brings him to Bison in the first place. The two supposedly have a one night stand, which leads to Kant falling in love with him. Whilst both parties are hiding who they really are, and what they're really up to, Kant appears increasingly guilty and conflicted by this. "What if I'm not who you think I am. Would you hate me then?" But on the other hand his feelings of guilt go hand in hand with the knowledge that Bison's capture or downfall would be his ticket to get what he wants. A decision that has him trapped. He seems to question whether he should trust Bison and whether that will come back to bite him. "My brother always says, don't trust anyone too easily. Otherwise, you end up being the victim."

It also speaks volumes that a cop would approach Kant with this proposition. It means Kant is clearly very competent at what he does, and has side-hustled as a vigilante before. So Kant must be pretty cunning or smart. For example he appears to knock his knife off the table in the restaurant to test Bison's reflexes.

RELATIONSHIP DYNAMIC

There's definitely a connecting theme of secrecy. Their intimacy is kept in secret due to Bison claiming his brother will kill them both if he finds out. Bison is keeping his murderous activities a secret (for obvious reasons). Kant is keeping his investigative activities a secret.

We can obviously expect this to all come to a head when the truth is revealed and identities are fully out in the open. Can Kant accept Bison for what he does and his lifestyle, potentially forgoing the possibility of clearing his record, in order to protect him? Can Bison forgive Kant for hiding his true motives, and trust him again - at the risk of both himself and his brother?

There will be a clear point of convergence between these two, when Bison starts to consider changing his life, if it means staying in Kant's. This echoes how Kant wants to clear his criminal record, perhaps in an attempt to wipe his slate clean so he can finally move on from whatever life he led before. There's a shared vision of moving away from the lifestyles that are bad for us.

OTHER OBSERVATIONS

STYLE / AESTHETICS: One thing P'Jojo knows how to do so well is create a distinct sense of style and atmosphere. This man is a pro at combining the right set design, styling, music and ambience to create a really identifiable flavour that is instantly recognisable. The music in this trailer is a friggin' BOP.

THE EFFING TATTOOS: I will say this till the end of time, but First as Yok was one of my favourite things ever. And seeing First with tattoos again just made me weak in the knees in all the best ways possible.

LEATHER GALORE: Khaotung in leather jackets. That's it. That's my observation. And I was staring. Very appreciatively may I add.

Also, the fact that Khao, who looks noticeably dinky next to the hulking giants of this cast is called Bison. BISON.

[splatsvilles-fashionista]

So over the week I've been replaying Return of the Mammalians, because I haven't played it since the week Splatoon 3 launched and I wanted to see how I felt about it without the excitement of playing a brand new game clouding my critical judgement.

(spoilers for RotM below, just in case)

That said I didn't feel like it changed my opinion very much. RotM's biggest problem is that it feels like the developers thought of a couple of really cool ideas (The fakeout in the intro, Deep Cut being bosses, the lore in the Alterna Logs, the final fight against Mr. Grizz) and then put them all in the game without really trying to connect them all in a very tangible way, and as a result Alterna is a very nebulous space that doesn't make any sense from a narrative standpoint (if it was a human settlement why is it full machinery and tests only inklings and octolings can use? What even IS the treasure we assemble except "a tool that just happens to solve the current problem?) but only really exists for gameplay.

The story also suffers as a result of this, too. Narratively nothing really happens until the very end of the game, where we end up just kind of stumbling into Mr. Grizz's plot to fuzzify the world right as he puts it into motion. Octo Expansion got around this by using its lore snippets to give the supporting cast a story of their own that unfolded as you progressed through the game, and ultimately it's Agent 8's actions that push the story of OE forward. In RotM we just happen to be there when things happen.

But despite all of its problems RotM also just plays really well. The combination of OE-style shorter trial levels with Hero Mode-styled hub areas you have to explore for levels and secrets work really well together, and those hubs in particular are an absolute blast to dig around in for secrets and open up a little by little. Deep Cut are incredibly fun as ineffectual Team Rocket-esque villains, and the whole final fight against Mr. Grizz is really good, especially the music. I don't even think Calamari Inkantation is especially good by Splatoon standards, but 3MIX is genuinely just an astounding track.

But I think what ultimately makes me feel more positive than negative about RotM is that I think its' thematic undertones actually really work for me. Mr. Grizz's actual involvement in the story might have been mishandled but as a villain he works. I've already written about him a bunch so keep things brief Splatoon has always been about the dangers of clinging to the past, and Mr. Grizz pushes that idea to its limits, because he is the past. He is a relic of a lost age, and he is so desperate to return to the world he knows that he will burn the future and turn back time (metaphorically) to achieve it.

But there's also the Alterna Logs and the reveal that it was human dreams of seeing the sun that drove sealife onto dry land. I think there is a compelling argument to be made that they didn't need to explain any of that to begin with, but I also think the explanation works with everything the series has been setting up on a thematic level. Humanity is gone, and will never come back, but our dreams lived on in the minds of the inklings and the octolings (and the jellies, and everyone else), and while they didn't know why, they reached for the sun together, and by achieving humanity's dreams they earned the right to take our place.

TL;DR: RotM good actually

[hexhomos]

HI! hope your day is treating you well, i’ve been interested in doomreed for some time but cape comics are sort of daunting to me just because there’s so much content and i really don’t know where to begin. what do you suggest? thank you!

STRAIGHT OUT THE GATE ill say, read [ "My Dinner With Doom" ] (this is a rly high-qual upload, open it up on desktop!)

It's a key issue oneshot with a lil bit of backstory retelling, featuring a private dinner that happens in the 00's - a good entrance point if you're curious about doomreed in summarization + generally speaking a Real Good Comic overall.

LONG POST INCOMING THIS IS A LONG POST / click readmore

the fantastic four are one of marvel's darling old founding teams so there is pretty much... endless archival, ongoing, multimedia and games content popping up all the time.

They are also kinda one of the rare teams where the growth of the characters is consistent? The kids are allowed to grow older and events from every major run are carried/referenced by the next author so if you want to do chronological there's a lot of incentive and fun stuff.

If you wanna dip your toes into the F4 as a concept, check out:

*the #1 issue of Fantastic Four By Waid & Wieringo (1997) *Mythos: Fantastic Four (2007) [ *The FF (1994) movie that is up for free on youtube!! ] *Fantastic Four (2022) by Ryan North as the current ongoing!

(Some) Singles centered on Doom/Doomreed:

*Fantastic Four (1961) Annual 2 is Doom's original backstory issue *Marvel Two-in-One (2017) by Zdarsky issue #11 & Annual #1 are both crazy good but they spoil big events/conclusions from previous runs if u care abt that!!! (My current fav fic came from these issues.) *Doomgate (novel) by Jeffrey Lang is a good option if you want something that is mostly prose, instead of a comic or movie

NOW BEFORE YOU JUMP AHEAD WITH ANYTHING I *am* following [ this reading guide ] which breaks down specific issues relevant to their relationship as a line through all the different authors over the years.

[ There's also this 2021 guide w/ a few other story/AU highlights! The author said u can send the blog questions and theyll answer too ]

The 'Modern era' (late 90s/00s/10s/Now) Starts with Waid and McDuffie's stuff. The latter wrote My Dinner with Doom!

If you're scared by all the names, don't be - when searching for the issues, just pay attention to the year, # number & author/artist creds.

What I'm reading/liveblogging rn is Hickman's Secret wars era, generally regarded as yaoi ketamine; It's a good epic narrative entrance point if you want to jump into it, and it eventually led into this huge marvel event that changed the multiverse and even brought miles morales into the main timeline, so its BIG and it happened in multiple books - the best way to go about it is;

Pre-hickman:

Fantastic Four (1961) #551 #552 #553 ➡️ (these introduce main ideas we will touch again in secret wars)

Fantastic Four (1961) #558 to #562 ➡️

Doom appears in these too, first/last issues more heavily. Stuff here will be ref'd during the next era.

If you're having fun and want to keep reading you can! Just know that the next storyarc has gathered a largely mixed response bc..... its Millar going hammywammy....... not that necessary.......

anyway when you see hickmans name in the cover STOP and

Jump to actual Hickman secret wars era:

Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman: The complete collection➡️

(optional, side plot) If you like Val + Doom, read specifically; *Fantastic Four (2014) #3 & #5 + Fantastic Four Annual (2014) #1 *Agent of Asgard #6 & #7 *Avengers World (2014) #15 & #16

New Avengers (2013) ➡️ check issues on picture, or, if you're a completionist, look for 'Avengers by Jonathan Hickman; complete collection' and skim for the doom/reed relevant bits. There's a lot of characters here but this is a buildup to the big secret wars. Secret Wars (2015) ➡️ (All issues!) Infamous Iron Man (2016) ➡️bendis' doom writing is not very good but hang in there because right after him: Marvel 2-In-One (2017) ➡️ (All issues!) is a banger. Yaoi btw.

You can basically read all the future/past ones as listed, or starting from the beginning of that author's period without worrying, bc they aren't as indebted to each other storywise.

You can also start somewhere else if you want or check out other single issues on the reading guides; It's not a crime! There's a lot of stuff with different takes and genres, I'm slowly chipping away at the secret wars era bc its just very thick and like a serious television drama attempt, except its also insanely funny sometimes.

(I'm still making my way through it so that's what I have at the moment!)

[rev-wrath]

*slamming into your inbox to continue the very long reblog chain with my thoughts on not only triads including Bruce and Knight but also quads*

Jonathan leans more towards Knight whilst Eddie leans almost equally to both. The latter however, leans slightly towards Batman (the cowl stays on during date night/j). The two of them do have a separate, chaotic B plot going on in the background but it is not mentioned at all to the others (it's probably a full on criminal telenovella let's be real). The two of them are one of the most messy and confusing relationships in the Rogues gallery. (None of the Flock members like the idea of this quad. Maybe except Steph for shits and giggles and Babs. But like Babs is also very hesitant.)

At one point, there's a rumour going on that Knight and Bruce are in a secret relationship with Batman. The people who are in the know just call them cackling. It's absurdly funny and Knight decides to kiss Batman at one point. Bruce is fondly exasperated.

Clark, Diana, and Gotham's darlings could potentially form a quad. But as you said, the two of them don't spend much time in close proximity. With Bruce, maybe, bc of the whole JL thing. But with Knight? Not much. It still has a higher chance of working compared to some of the other potential quads. (Most Flock members are okay with this quad I think. Jason firmly disagrees bc Wonder Woman is way too good for Bruce.)

Potentially, Harvey, Selina, and Gotham's darlings could make a quad. But like. I don't know too much about the dynamic between Two-Face and Catwoman beyond a couple comic panels and the Arkham games.

Hm. Talia would not form a quad. I don't think she'll like the idea of sharing the two of them. But my interpretation may be completely wrong so idk. On the same line, neither would Johanna if she ever gets around to liking Bruce at all, and Khoa probably doesn't give a shit about Knight, let's be real.

Truth be told though, I mightily prefer Bruce and Knight being the power couple they are and flirting with/ seducing everyone whilst not taking on a full on third ('it could confuse the pups'. 'one of your children is nearly thirty').

I like the mental image of slamming. We had also greatly strayed from your original point.

The odd thing with Eddie is there’s Knight, Bruce and Batman. For Eddie, Batman and Bruce are a little different. One is a high society member who hid away and did (seemingly) nothing, all while reaping the benefits of his family. The other is an intelligent, fun vigilante he can tease in a way more similar to banter than taunting (which is more similar to how he would’ve approached Bruce). (Yeah, the cowl was me. I’ll admit it.) And honestly I would love for him and Jonathan’s relationship to be talked about in the fic, even if it’s in the interlude, but I think it’d also be nice for the most it gets mentioned is if Knight looks at them and goes “Ah.” or Eddie explicitly is talking to Knight about it over lunch. (Barbara sort of supports it because Eddie gets everyone he wants and Knight likes all of them.)

Knight kissing Batman happens all the time, of course. But this time they make sure there’s a camera there. Bruce is so in love with them.

The three different cities is hard. And so is the whole space thing. It’s a little more stable because they’re a little more adjusted and definitely more cared for, but again, Knight. (Jason is staring down Bruce and Bruce asks if there’s something wrong. Jason says “Diana Prince, the Wonder Woman, is too good for you.”)

There could be some potential there.

I don’t think Talia would be very open to sharing them with anyone else either. Johanna, if she gets around to liking Bruce, wouldn’t. She got both of them and knows how good of a thing that is and desperately wants to not fuck it up. Khoa only cares for Bruce, most of his feelings regarding Knight is indifference. The rest is tension and a little respect.

Honestly, I like that for them too for most of their lives. Maybe the entirety of it. Everyone knows it, and knows to play by the rules, not nice, but by the rules. Nice is not the same for everyone involved so.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Hello 👋

How do you feel about the basilisk from "HP and the Chamber of Secrets"? How do you like the book? What do you think of the theory that the Chamber of Secrets is something like the Temple of Salazar with columns and a huge statue?

The Basilisk

That ain't no basilisk son.

JKR does this a lot, pretty much with every magic creature she's got in her arsenal, but the basilisk might be the most egregious that was also extremely plot relevant.

A basilisk isn't a snake.

It's a rooster, dragon, fuck off lizard, toad thing, with maybe, maaaaaaybe, a hint of snake. It's king of snakes for... reasons.. but it's usually not just a big snake. I have never, in any other media, seen it not looking like some ridiculous rooster lizard/just be a big fuck off snake.

Then we have the movie where it's... an eel?

It's one of the funniest things in the franchise to me.

As for it knowing who to eat and who not to eat... I personally smell that it was carefully directed towards/coincidence helped out in it picking the right victims.

I do not trust in the ability of a basilisk to know the difference between Muggle-born and anyone else/care about the difference when it's been starving in a gutter for who knows how long.

Otherwise I have 0 thoughts on the thing.

The Book

The book was... the thing about HP, especially as I'm now going back to reread them, is it's not good. Now, to my hazy recollection, books 1-3 were worlds better than books 4-7 where JKR a) tried to get very serious b) the plot started falling apart as we had overarching mysteries/events that were supposed to last multiple novels.

What I'm getting at is Chamber of Secrets was one of the better books in the series but it still suffers what most HP books suffer from.

The mystery isn't all that good or presented well, as it's not something you can actually figure out, but it's engaging enough compared to some of the other mysteries of the series that it at least keeps you going.

Most of the book is filler nonsense we actually don't care about and no, Harry, I don't care about Quidditch and I never will so quit spending multiple chapters on your stupid games and I don't care that your school rival Draco is now Seeker too but we're made sure to know he's complete shit compared to you.

We also get the start of... house elves...

Its strengths are typical Harry Potter strength: the shenanigans the gang gets into are hilarious and insane (not limited to Hermione accidentally turning herself into a cat only to almost immediately after be petrified, Harry and Ron trying and failing to impersonate Crabbe and Goyle because they know nothing about them and then learning that 'oh, it wasn't actually Darco :/', Ginny going mad offscreen somewhere and nobody giving a flying fuck, Hagrid's desperate plea for his innocence 'follow the spiders boys' in which he nearly gets two schoolchildren eaten for which he would be imprisoned in Azkaban for that crime and had they been eaten he would not have been exonerated from his current crime, Dumbledore somehow arguing that the ghost of the Dark Lord was possessing a little girl and that's how the Chamber of Secrets got open and therefore Hagrid's not guilty and... winning? Off screen? Dumbledore still not getting sacked, ever, etc.), the magic we get is typical Harry Potter magic and is delightful, fun, and insane (we get Polyjuice and that debacle, evil haunted diaries, flying cars, and more), Dobby showing up just to wreck shit then leave multiple times in the book, and it's just the fun madness people love and are nostalgic about in HP.

My Theory on the Chamber of Secrets

I'm even more heretical, I don't think it's real/I don't think Salazar built it, I don't even think the founders are real.

[kirkirk]

Merch lines that might be plot relevant for Azusa (Part 1)

I love DL's lore, especially Azusa's, I think it's so complex and well-written so I thought this could be fun. I'm still playing the 5th game and I'm avoiding spoilers like the plague so my knowledge is just based on my 1829934738 Azusa theories. Please remember to be kind and take this as a fun resource/thought exercise if I'm blatantly wrong with any of my takes.

These are in no particular order, also I might do another part because there's no way I'm fitting every single plot reference here.

1. Vampire Lab Azusa

I'm starting with this one because it's one of the most obvious. They were absolutely crazy for doing it. Ignoring all of the franchise's references to human experimentation, him being the only one actually strapped (Yuma also has a straight jacket but his is open) is really interesting. Especially since the description for this set mentions 医者に反抗的な態度をとる者、(Those who show a rebellious attitude towards doctors). I can't help but think they're referencing Azusa and that's why he's strapped. Still, it could always be a reference to his struggle with mental health. The interpretation you choose is up to you.

2. Yammy Yamme X Bad Blood Azusa

He and Kanato became the family models for this one. If that isn't a big alert sign I don't know what it is. This set is themed around gamers/gamer aesthetic. What is the players' stand-in in DL? A pink bunny. What is his backpack? A pink bunny. His cap also has droopy ears that could be another reference to bunnies. If interpreted very loosely, this could mean that "Azusa carries the player on his back" and that's so freaking funny because true. Of course, I think its meaning is deeper than that.

3. Vandead Carnival LE/tokuten chibi (?)

If the player is a pink bunny I wonder what an extremely sad blue bunny would mean...

I had to do it I'm so sorry, I will die on the Azusa is a trapped player hill. (No spoilers about whether this is confirmed or refuted please 😘)

I found this one in Vandead Carnival's visual book but I don't know if it's exclusive from it or it came from elsewhere.

4. Secret Display Azusa

God I love this one so much. The sad expression, the accessories, the pins, the color scheme it's peak Azusacore on their behalf. This set is about butterfly taxidermy and that's basically a direct @ to ZERO Azusa which follows the same theme. Despite having a personal interpretation for this, I have yet to listen to ZERO Azusa's CD so I will keep it to myself. Any interpretation you give to ZERO Azusa might be reinforced/ related to this set.

5. Secret Memories Azusa

WHERE ARE YOU GOING WITH 5 BOOKS.

Hidden gifted kid Azusa is my Roman empire, I love that so much for him. It's true that you could attribute his disgusted expression to not wanting anything to do with those books, but I interpret it as him disliking being SEEN with them since he's looking at the camera and not at the books, like come on what are you doing with that many books.

I could talk about this for hours (and I have) but for now I'll be stopping here since I don't know if anyone is even remotely interested. I have enough for a few more parts so maybe I'll turn it into a YouTube video so it's more enjoyable to watch. If you have any questions or want me to expand on any of these ideas please feel free to send Asks. Just keep it spoiler free for content after Lunatic Parade please I'll be very very sad if you don't :)

[in-loving-memory-au]

The In Loving Memory Ask Box is now open!

——————————————

An introduction to In Loving Memory:

Struggling to support his little sister, 25 year-old Mike Schmidt finds a high turnover job at a mascot entertainment venue called Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a dying animatronic restaurant whose reputation is dangling by a thread. It seems like easy pay: just watch the robot comedians from 12 to 6 and walk out the next morning. Little does Mike know that strange things are happening at Freddy’s, and the cuddly critters beloved by kids and grown-ups alike hold a dark secret in this place where fantasy and fun come to life…

In Loving Memory is an analog horror series created by Roux36 Productions set in the Five Nights at Freddy’s IP that aims to retell the story of the first four games in a different light. The series will be reintroducing the viewer to familiar concepts as though experiencing them for the first time.

——————————————

What asks will I answer?(Examples provided)

Lore (Ex: How do the spirits work?)

World-Building (Ex: Who made the pizza recipes at Freddy’s)

Headcanons (Ex: What is Mike's favorite animal fact?)

NOTE: There will be many questions I will not be answering, as this series is in active production, and so there’s a lot to be spoiled. Although it is the story of the first four games, there has been a lot added to it to make it flow more like a narrative, which is where it starts getting spoiler-y.

———————————————

Click the keep reading to learn more about the In Loving Memory AU! >>>

——————————————

How much thought did you put into this?

It’s not that I’m a massive nerd, but it’s just that I’m actually a massive nerd.

Animatronics are loosely grounded in real-world mechanical engineering, giving them plausible designs for them to have existed in the 1980’s (down to the very components that make them function.)

The restaurant itself has regulations and procedures to manage the animatronics during the day (this varies depending on the restaurant).

The restaurant layouts themselves have been redesigned to be more coherent with the rules of architecture.

The animatronic characters themselves have their own lore and personalities within the cartoon world.

I have a full list of employees who worked at Fazbear Entertainment.

The rules of the spirits are grounded in real-world cultural beliefs, as well as typical ghost hunting traditions.

No character is written to be two-dimensional. The characters don’t just do stuff for the plot; they do them because it’s in-character for them to do so. In other words, be prepared for emotional trauma. :)

———————————————

What IS canon?

Basic media taken into consideration:

Five Nights at Freddy’s

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2

Five Nights at Freddy’s 3

Five Nights at Freddy’s 4

FNAF World (undecided)

Five Nights at Freddy's: The Silver Eyes

Details and some characters taken from:

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location

Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach

Five Nights at Freddy's: The Movie

Five Nights at Freddy’s: The Week Before

The only reliable source of information regarding the canon plot of In Loving Memory is the first four games, which I have made a considerable effort to put a spin on every single detail. However, certain details and plots are pulled from future games in order to make a more coherent plot. Other details are custom from the writer or, under rare circumstances, changed from the game lore.

It’s also worth noting that some characters (mainly the movie characters) have been given different names to differentiate their characters from Scott’s canons.

——————————————

How will the story be presented?

The main narrative is the analog horror series, and will have a strong focus on Mike Schmidt. However, there will also be some side stories that let other characters have the spotlight, explore different aspects of the lore, or present certain characters in different formats. Some future content to expect include:

Prelude to Volume 1 (Novelization) - COMING SOON

The Whiterabbit Fallacy (Novelization)

In Loving Memory: Nightfall (Game)

Freddy & Friends (UNDETERMINED)

Short comics (UNDETERMINED)

——————————————

Thank you!

If you made it to the end, I wanna thank you for showing interest in this AU! I’ve been working on it ever since I was 11 years old, back when it was still called Freddy & Friends. It’s been a long road with at least five rewrites and twice as many redesigns!

The askbox is now open! There is much to tell, so ask away!

- Roux

[ask-a-w]

Long recap about Death Island

Death Island aired on 22 June 2023 in my country and I watched it on the opening day.

Go in with low expectations and it's a fun action movie, don't expect a strong plot. The formula is similar to the previous RE CGI movies so the plot is pretty predictable!

As always, Leon destroys a vehicle and dangles from something with one arm. Leon is no longer cynical and depressed like he was in Vendetta.

Shipping is non-existent. Maybe some Valenfield if you take some scenes out of context. Cleon wise, also nothing since Leon only talks to Claire once or twice in the movie and it's about the mission. No Ada, sadly. For Jilleon, if you consider them being in the same room as shipping, sure. They conduct themselves professionally and Leon is his usual sarcastic quippy self.

Rebecca is just there 'cos she's the medical/science expert. Honestly both Claire and Rebecca don't do a whole lot in this movie.

There are no post-credit scenes.

I will be posting super lengthy spoilery recap below the Read More as I write down what happens scene by scene. So grab a drink and buckle in. If you can do a summary, feel free to do so.

Movie starts with a 1998 flashback featuring Dylan Blake, his best friend JJ, and other Umbrella soldiers in a truck that is headed towards Raccoon City in the very early days of the outbreak. They are given orders to evacuate Umbrella personnel & government officials only. If any civilian attempts to get through, they are to be shot on sight.

The truck reaches a blockade on the outskirts of the city where some uninfected Raccoon City citizens are scuffling with Umbrella soldiers. A government official’s car barely scrapes through the blockade.

The scene then cuts to Dylan, JJ, and team hiding in a butchery. Everyone except Dylan and JJ have been bitten. Orders are given on the radio to quarantine anyone who has been bit. JJ & Dylan separate themselves from the infected and hole up in a storage room that has a glass window that overlooks the adjacent room where the infected soldiers are. New orders are given that HQ won’t evacuate any uninfected Umbrella soldiers unless they kill their infected comrades. JJ readies a submachine gun (SMG), Dylan disagrees and briefly scuffles with JJ as their teammates turn into zombies and bang on the glass window which shows signs of fracturing. JJ gains the upper hand and starts shooting the zombies as Dylan lays on the floor and screams at JJ to “Stop it!”

Opening sequence time featuring each character’s mish mash of scenes from the games and this movie. You see everyone’s profiles and Leon’s profile is all redacted in black bars. Even his nationality is redacted which amuses me.

We are then shown a street in San Francisco in 2015 where Leon has parked his lime green motorbike on the side of the road as he listens to instructions from Hunnigan. They got back the OG voice actress for Hunnigan but we don’t get to see Hunnigan's face for this movie.

Hunnigan mentions a government employee who specialises in robotic engineering by the name of Antonio Taylor and he is wanted by the government for leaking military secrets to overseas groups. He has been kidnapped by terrorists in a white & orange truck and Leon is tasked to intercept said truck and “rescue” (aka arrest) Dr Taylor.

Leon spots the truck and there is a very exciting motorbike chase scene with the super powered Maria (from Vendetta) who interferes with her own motorbike. Leon destroys her motorbike but she manages to jump onto his motorbike to fight him off. Needless to say, Leon gets thrown off the bike, rolls on the road with no damage but his bike explodes in the process as he laments, “I loved that bike.”

Next scene is Claire investigating an orca carcass that has washed up on a beach. The local fishery official noticed a TerraSave tracker on the carcass and that’s why Claire is brought in because TerraSave has places trackers on marine animals for some reason... She measures the bite wound and the official asks if a shark caused this. Claire says the wound is bigger than a shark's mouth and is puzzled.

After that we are shown Jill in the dark in a garage of a house. She darts around carefully, repeatedly clicking her flashlight on and off as she searches the house. Chris orders her on the comms to secure the street but Jill responds that it's too late as she is already inside the house and then she shuts off her comms.

You might be annoyed by Jill turning the flashlight on and off because I found it very distracting.

Anyway she reaches the second floor of the house, notices blood stains on the wall and finds a female corpse on the floor of a bedroom. She gets ambushed by a male zombie, tussles with it, smashes through the second floor balustrade onto the glass table on the first floor and kills the zombie. This is the scene that is shown in the trailer.

The SWAT team and Chris in his BSAA uniform enter the house. SWAT surrounds Jill and point their weapons at her as she raises her hands. Chris says "She's with me" (feel free to count this as an out-of-context Valenfield moment) and the SWAT team disengage and search the house. Chris admonishes Jill for going into the house without backup while Jill says she's not gonna stand by and wait if there are innocent people to be saved.

We are introduced to the final main character and Rebecca is in a lab doing some research on a laptop. Chris walks in and asks for updates regarding the infected that have recently popped up in San Francisco. Rebecca says the twelve corpses in the morgue have an advanced strain of T-virus, no bite wounds, and only have needle marks. Those that are bitten by the advanced strain zombies do not turn but die from their wounds. They talk about Jill and if you watched the trailer, the conversation is about Jill and her lingering guilt of being brainwashed by Wesker.

We get to see another trailer shot of Jill shooting at targets in the gun range. Chris walks in and I don't know how Jill senses Chris is behind her but she knows he's there and takes off her ear mufflers. (Another Valenfield moment?) Chris discusses about Jill's recklessness. He talks about Piers Nivans from RE6 and how he was going to pass the baton to Piers but he tragically died to save Chris' life. Chris says people in their line of work have to be willing to die.

I can't remember much of the dialogue/argument between both of them but there's something along the lines of being soul-less and empty inside and how Jill continues to fight so she won't dwell on being empty. She ends the argument by putting on her ear mufflers and continues to angrily shoot at her targets.

Finally, we are in the big bad's secret liar where Maria and Dylan are holding a hooded Dr Taylor hostage (you won’t see the doc’s face until the later part of the movie), forcing the doctor to do some stuff on the computer. Dylan is shown with a limp and a cane. Dylan empties his revolver and leaves one bullet in the chamber. He plays russian roulette with Dr Taylor and since the gun does not fire, Dylan merely remarks Dr Taylor "will die by some other fate". Dylan also has a weird tic where he taps his cane on the floor at least five times in succession. We will learn why later...

Dylan then puts the gun to his own head and there's another flashback to the butchery in the opening scene. JJ is momentarily overwhelmed by a zombie and gets bit before he finishes off the horde with the SMG. Dylan tries one last time to plead with HQ to evacuate him and the injured JJ but HQ says all those who are bit must be killed.

Dylan and JJ fight over the SMG, and JJ fires the gun in the tussle, shooting bullets into Dylan's leg (which is why he has a limp in the present day). Dylan manages to get the SMG in the end. Flashback ends there with Dylan in the present day pulling the trigger of the revolver but nothing happens.

[From this point onwards, I might not get the scenes correctly in order but the content of the scenes are fairly accurate.]

Claire goes to the same lab where Jill, Chris, and Rebecca are in. Rebecca has analysed the bite wound on the orca carcass which has some remnant T-virus in it. The orca has been part of the herd swimming around Alcatraz. Rebecca also says this new T-virus cannot be transmitted airborne or by saliva which is concerning.

Anyway, all the victims are linked to Alcatraz so Jill, Chris & Claire (gonna dub them the trio) go to investigate while Rebecca stays behind to create a vaccine, and also be the mission liaison in case things go wrong.

The trio join a group of tourists to visit Alcatraz while Dr Taylor has escaped. Dylan tasks Maria to recover their hostage as he notices on CCTV that the trio have set foot on Alcatraz. Just when the trio plan to split off from the tour group to do some private sleuthing of their own, the tourists take turns to become zombies without being bitten.

Lots of impressive fight scenes as the trio try and fail to save the civilians. A security guard with a SMG is surrounded by zombies and their combined weight makes them crash through the floor into a sewer(?) tunnel below. Even though Jill loses her gun, she jumps in after the guard to save him by kniving a zombie but the guard sadly turns as well. Jill is now separated from the Redfield siblings.

Dylan also releases a cage full of lickers underwater with marine-like ear features that remind me of the monster from The Shape of Water. I am calling them marine-lickers to make it easier.

The siblings are now alone, surrounded by bodies. Their comms are jammed and they are worried about Jill. Both hear a thumping coming from a cart and they open it to find a cowering man hidden within. He gives his name as "Tony Davis" and I could spot from a mile away that the man was Antonio Taylor. They all try to get out of the island.

Jill, armed with only a knife and flashlight, carefully explores the tunnels. She spots a shadow in the tunnel and to us viewers, it is very obviously Leon's shadow. Jill and Leon briefly brawl with one another and come to a stalemate as Jill finally gets a good look at Leon's face and just exclaims in surprise, "Leon?"

Leon recognises Jill as well and they disengage while Leon gives Jill a spare gun from his vest before they get interrupted by a zombie. Before they can kill the zombie though, it gets pulled away by a long tongue and Leon briefly mentions "Not good" before he motions to Jill to stay silent.

Jill also has her back partially on the floor and against Leon's knee/foot(?) and Leon has one knee on the ground while his other knee/foot/hand(?) is propping Jill's back. I gotta admire Jill's serious control over her abdominal muscles as the marine-licker comes out of the shadows and uses its tongue to "taste" the air around Jill's knee and face. Jill is very disgusted and is grimacing.

One of the containers beside Jill's face begins to fall and she manages to catch it in time but she does not notice a small cartridge on top of the container which clatters to the ground. Leon shoots the marine-licker ASAP as two more marine-lickers join in the fray and they try to run away.

Jill's ankle gets snagged by a marine-licker and Leon dives in to grab Jill's hand to prevent her from being pulled away. Both of them try to kill the marine-lickers behind each other.

They run again as a bunch of marine-lickers come out from the shadows and there is a funny dialogue of Jill asking "How many are there?" as Leon replies "I am not stopping to count" before he kicks up a jerry can and shoots it, incinerating the tunnel of marine-lickers. He then replies "Zero" as Jill goes "What?" and Leon clarifies there are now zero lickers. Pffft.

The Redfields and "Tony" are holed up in a cafeteria and when "Tony" learns Claire is from TerraSave, he accuses her of being a bioterrorist for what happened in Harvardville (Degeneration). Claire angrily retorts that TerraSave was framed.

"Tony" wanders off and gets ambushed by a zombie. Claire steps in to save him and "Tony" apologises for his behaviour. We are then shown something's POV as it flies around the three of them. It aims for Claire's neck and she collapses, seemingly paralysed. Chris rushes to his sister before he gets paralysed too. "Tony" just runs away before he sees Maria on the stairs.

And we are back to Rebecca in the lab as she receives a call from Hunnigan about someone hacking into the DOD (department of defence) to obtain confidential information about bioterror attacks that have happened since Raccoon City along with files on Leon, Chris, Jill & Claire. Rebecca says she has not heard from the trio for 2 hours and decides to go rescue them. (This scene is in the trailer)

Leon and Jill are squatting down and making their way through a tunnel. (Leon is taking the lead btw) Jill questions why there is such a tunnel down here and Leon says it's probably used for transporting weapons from when Alcatraz was a military base. Jill quips Leon should be a tour guide.

Leon feels a draft of wind coming from a nearby wall and he pulls apart the wall brick by brick to find a crawl space. We do not see them crawling as they next appear in a spacious liar that has baby BOWs that are being incubated in the water, an armoury loaded with a ton of weapons that is next to a submarine dock that was "probably leftover from the military base".

They find a console that showcases bio-drones which are essentially mosquito drones. Dylan cackles over the comms and taunts Leon and Jill to go back to the prison compound where Claire & Chris are waiting.

Back to the prison compound they go while Rebecca is shown gearing up and carrying a case of vaccines as she is escorted by a SWAT team.

In the prison compound, Chris is in one jail cell while Claire & "Tony" are in another cell next to Chris. The Redfield siblings are pale and clearly unwell. Leon finally notices that Antonio is in the same cell as Claire and reveals the doctor's identity to everyone. Leon is also bit by the bio-drone and he slumps down to the floor.

Dylan & Maria finally make their appearance to the heroes and there's some egotistical villain dialogue. Dylan briefly name drops Glenn Arias from Vendetta as it is revealed both of them were acquainted. He hired Maria as she has some unfinished business with Leon for killing her dad.

Dylan says they should all be fighting the big organisations like the government who hide the truth instead of going after companies like Umbrella and individuals on the black market. He especially mocks Leon for working for the government that is clearly corrupt and Leon just says "It makes a living".

Dylan jeers at Claire for working with a NGO that does nothing but "only provides bandages" instead of doing real work to prevent bioterrorism.

He also ridicules Chris for having people die on every mission he's on and he keeps bringing in new people every time only for them to lose their lives.

Jill is spared from infection as Dylan wants her to feel his pain of seeing close friends turn and having to put them down. Claire is on the verge of turning and Dylan encourages Jill to shoot Claire before she can attack Antonio. Dylan taps his cane again and we flashback to the butchery.

Dylan has the SMG pointed at JJ and he pulls the trigger but it's empty. JJ tries to rummage through the mess on the floor and finds another SMG but Dylan grabs a metal box and smashes JJ's head with it at least five times (same rhythm as the cane), killing JJ.

Jill has her gun pointed at Dylan instead of Claire and Dylan shoots Antonio in the chest anyway. Maria and Jill fight a tiny bit before Leon manages to throw a flashbang as a distraction for Jill to escape. Dylan and Maria leave after that for "their final plan" and Dylan tells Maria not to go after Jill because there is nowhere else for Jill to go.

A dying Antonio asks the heroes why they keep fighting when things are so bleak and Leon and Chris say "There's Jill". Claire tries desperately to staunch Antonio's bleeding before Antonio reveals a secret code for a failsafe hidden in his pen. He hands the code to Claire and passes away.

Back to Rebecca on a boat as they approach Alcatraz and pull up to a choppy dock. The SWAT team notice a bogey approaching on the boat's radar which turns out to be an infected shark. Everyone dies via shark except Rebecca (plot armour is strong!)

Jill meets Rebecca in the tunnels as Jill heads towards the secret liar and she tells Rebecca to go to the cell block as the others are infected.

Back to Leon, Chris, and Claire as they shudder in pain and try their hardest not to turn. Rebecca arrives and Leon recognises her and calls her by name. Rebecca administers the vaccine to Leon by injecting him in the neck.

Jill arrives at the secret lair and the baby BOWs have released tons of bio-drones into the air which has now spread all over the globe.

Back to Rebecca, Claire, and Chris as both siblings are now cured, albeit still weakened, and out of their cells. Leon is absent as he ran off to the secret lair as soon as he could stand.

Leon is back at the console in the secret lair and tries to stop the bio-drones but he is interrupted by Maria who wants revenge on him for killing her father in Vendetta. It's a very fierce battle since Maria is super powered and Leon is still recovering so he is barely dodging her attacks. Leon gets his head & body smacked a lot in this fight too. Ouch. Maria is the one that throws a chair at Leon in the trailer.

There are also meme worthy scenes of Maria trying to put Leon in a headlock with her legs... I'm sure dirty-minded fans will have a field day with this.

Leon gets a sudden rush of energy and manages to kick Maria so hard she gets impaled on a rebar and dies. Leon shows no remorse btw and he never flirts with her in this movie.

Jill finds Dylan at the submarine dock and he injects himself in the head with the advanced T-virus and falls into the water below to merge with the BOW shark.

We have all five heroes grouping up and pointing their weapons at the mutated Dylan which looks like a cross between an elephant, RE6 HAOS, and RE4 mutated Saddler. Trailer shot of all five of them jumping to avoid the tentacle and then all of them separate after that with Jill and Chris finding caches of weapons to attack Dylan, Rebecca and Claire fire RPGs before Leon asks Claire to use Antonio's passcode on the console. Rebecca decides to accompany Claire.

All the massive weapons deal no damage to Dylan. Leon even drives a truck full of explosives into Dylan too. (Second vehicle Leon destroys in this movie)

Jill finds a short-ranged plasma rifle and asks Chris and Leon to lure Dylan over to her. So we get the trailer shot of Leon driving a humvee while Chris mans the machine gun turret on the back, shooting at Dylan and trying to get Dylan within Jill's range. Jill fires the weapon and while Dylan is seemingly dead, he still comes back to life.

Jill tries again to fire the plasma rifle but it needs time to charge and she gets smacked away by Dylan and Chris runs up to her to make sure she's alright. (Another Valenfield moment!)

Jill, Chris, and Leon run around the dock as Dylan rampages.

Before Claire can enter the killcode, Rebecca stops her and says they can control the bio-drones and the drones attack Dylan's body, "messing with its DNA".

Dylan tries desperately to escape into the ocean and they all try to close the gate leading out to sea. The gate lowers very slowly...

Jill has found a bag of weapons(?) and pulls out a flare, taunting Dylan to follow her as Leon and Chris try to assemble this huge-ass RPG that requires two people to carry.

Jill then dives into the water, Dylan follows after her, and she tries to shove a grenade into Dylan's mouth but is briefly strangled by the strap of her bag of weapons. She knives Dylan's eyeball and cuts the bag strap to free herself. It almost looks like Jill loses consciousness & sinks but then the camera cuts away to Leon and Chris firing the huge-ass RPG on the chains of the gate to make it drop down even faster.

Gate drops down on Dylan's head but doesn't quite decapitate him, Jill's bag of grenades (I think) goes off and Dylan's body explodes in a shower of goo.

Jill climbs out of the dock, miraculously dries off within a minute, and looks at the water with Dylan's gooey body. Leon and Chris are further away behind her, look at the body for a few seconds before they turn and walk away.

Scene transitions to the outside of Alcatraz where it is now sunrise. Leon jokes he can add "tour guide" into his resume as three helicopters are seen flying towards Alcatraz.

The camera shows an overhead view of Alcatraz and slowly pulls out... before the end credits roll with reels from the movie shown on the left and names of the people who worked on the movie on the right. (Kinda like Damnation's end credits)

So yeah, that's the movie. Pretty linear and not as messy as Vendetta but still predictable as the villain turns into a BOW.

Thanks for reading! I know I got a little tired at the end. I would say to watch this movie when the blu-ray/DVD comes out, probably not worth the money to watch in the theatre.

[wassupmygays]

Secret Life HG!AU : Tribute Profiles

Scott Smajor : District 1

at 18 years old, Scott Smajor is the perfect example of a capable, over confident career tribute. he has trained his whole life for this, he is ready and he eagerly volunteers. His family is probably pretty high up in the district, and they put a lot of pressure on him winning the games. He doesn't mind, though. he knows he can win.

[Longer explanations under the cut. Asks are open if theres any questions about certain plot points or prompts :D]

He goes into the games knowing the importance of allies and is fully prepared to make the 'pack' like every other year, but he also lets his arrogance get in the way. For example, before the tribute parade he is the ringleader in a bunch of tributes making fun of and laughing at Joel's costume. This causes joel to hold a Major grudge against Scott, and it really burns away any hope scott has of allying with joel or anyone linked with joel. However, he is still very confident in his chances going into the games.

Surprisingly, he sort of lets Gem take the leader position in their pack. It might be a way to have her prove herself as a young career, or its because he genuinely knows her ideas and leadership are strong.

I think as the games goes on, his district partner Gem actually kind of brings back some humanity to Scott if that makes sense. He begins to look out for her, not just because she is his ally, but because shes younger than him and he's worried for her. In the end, he even lets Gem kill him because he doesn't want any other tribute to get the kill. He wants her to go farther. He places 4th.

I put Scott in District 1 mainly because scott calls himself and some others "the careers from the hunger games" in his final episode. Out of the career districts, 1, the district of Luxury, fits scott so well. His general vibes and skills in a lot of the life series kinda aligns with careers too. He's really good at these games, and he knows how to get far in them.

[youngerfrankenstein]

So today I watched two movies where the deuteragonist goes kinda nuts and turns into a dragon thing, before the protagonist has to calm them down.

They were both a pretty fun time!

Promare is something I had been meaning to watch for quite a while but somehow never got around to. Glad I finally did!

Promare has quite possibly the Worst oppression allegory I have ever seen. A bunch of people are discriminated against because they burned half the world and killed billions (with a B!) of people. Also it’s not actually anything inherent to them it’s a bunch of alien parasites that will destroy the planet. However, since this is basically just an excuse for robots to fight other robots on fire… I can’t say I really care in the end. Promare is ENTIRELY style over substance, and I mean that in the best way.

The plot is breakneck and stupid. Most of the characters barely register as such. The dialogue is so dumb. And it FUCKING RULES! I’ve seen the film described as “Anime the Anime” and that does kind of sum it up. Everything feels like a ten year old boy smashing his action figures together and you can’t help but get swept up in the enthusiasm.

Helped by the absolutely (excuse the pun) FIRE soundtrack. The energy almost never lets up, and on-the-nose engrish lyrics just add to the experience. Even if you don’t watch the movie holy heck listen to the soundtrack.

The characters may be paper-thing but holy hell are they fun to watch. Our protagonist, Galo, himbo extraordinaire is as ridiculous as he is somehow charming. You can’t help but admire his drive to help people. And his foil, the ironically icy Lio, here to set fires and fight for his rights. Aina, a nice, spunky girl set up as a love interest for about five minutes before it turns out her character has more of a story based around her relationship with her sister. Which is a nice change! In fact the only romance in the story arguably involves CPR for plausible deniability. And our hero remembers to open the airway thank heck. Though whether intentional or just ship tease who knows? And who cares. You can guess who the villain is about ten seconds after he shows up and he is as much a blast to watch as the rest.

And really, this is a movie with a secret robot used to save the day called the Deus X Machina. A movie that ends with two shirtless guys setting the Earth on fire to stop the Earth from being set on fire. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and really neither should you. Let it sweep you away for almost two hours and you will feel much better afterwards.

-

I started reading Nimona around the time it was wrapping up as a webcomic. I have a copy of the graphic novel on my shelf. I was excited when I heard the movie had been greenlit (less so when I heard it was Blue Sky Studios), disappointed by the cancellation and, well, I’m happy it’s here now. While I’ve gotten grouchier over the years, it does make me smile to see these guys on my television, even if they’re not quite the same people either.

Because the movie is very different, and yet much of it feels similar as well. Certain scenes, like the board game, are almost directly from the comic, others are from the comic but not quite the same. The characters are different, Ballister is less jaded, Ambrosius less delusional and Nimona less, well, monstrous. She seems to more beat the snot out of people than commit mass murder. In the comic she’s every bit the monster people fear her to be, though a sympathetic one, and perhaps one who will heal someday. While the ending of the movie is far happier, it fits the new tone. And honestly? I need to stop making comparisons and judge the damn movie on its own merits. Of which it has many!

Our setup is fairly simple, Ballister BlackBoldheart is a new knight of the realm, who immediately gets framed for the murder of the queen and disarmed (heh) by his boyfriend Ambrosius Goldenloin, while on the lam he is approached by a shapeshifter called Nimona who is up for a little mayhem and hijinks. Together they try and clear his name.

My fist fear when I heard Blue Sky studios would be the ones releasing the movie was that a lot of the humour would be Quite Bad. And while there definitely is plenty of that, I think more gags hit than miss. Hell the movie got quite a few laughs out of my dad and he’s a fair bit less likely to chuckle than I am. It is quite a funny movie, which is good because it helps the harsher moments hit harder. Because there are also plenty of those, especially in the final act.

Speaking of, the film is somewhat surprisingly well paced. Scenes tend not to overstay their welcome and the movie flows well. What else flows well? The animation! (My segways not so much) Everything is very smooth, which is rather necessary for all the shapeshifting, and there’s quite an interesting scene made to look as if subway tiles are telling the story of Nimona’s origins (ish).

And the main trio really are quite fun to watch. Ballister, always the underdog, now a public enemy and trying to both clear his name and perhaps open his mind a bit. Ambrosius, golden boy, trying to do the right thing and not always doing a great job. And, of course, Nimona, who’s just here to break shit, though it is quickly clear there’s more underneath, also a pretty blatant trans allegory.

The relationships Ballister has with both the other two are sweet as heck, but also riddled with mistrust that they all have to work to overcome.

And while the movie does get a little preachy at times, it’s a kid’s movie. What do you expect? Rah rah fight the power, all that jazz. I may be too jaded for it but it certainly works.

—

Would recommend checking out both or either if they sound like something you’d enjoy!

[krissiefox]

Sonic The Hedgehog (2020) Movie Review!

While I was sick recently, I was holed up in my room trying not to infect the rest of my family. I'd been reading Sonic fanfics in the meantime, and this gave me the idea to finally watch the DVD I got of the the 2020 Sonic movie, and then of course, I wanted to write a review, because it's fun (and my wife seems to like them)! I'll put a divider here, because this review does contain spoilers for most of the plot points, so this is your warning before you read on!

To get the unfortunate bits out of the way, the movie had a rough start, with the strange first design of Sonic becoming a social media trend of snark and negativity that I remember making me pretty depressed. In response to the backlash, Paramount changed up Sonic's design to something cuter. I've heard mixed claims saying that during this time the artists for the movie were abused with crunch, while others claim this didn't occur, so I'm not sure about whether or not it happened, but I hope not.

A worried Sonic ball, hiding from badniks....

With that unpleasantness out of the way, the movie eventually finished and came out, and at-least on tumblr I saw a lot of folks seemed to really enjoy it. My little brother expressed interest in watching it with me, so eventually while out shopping with my wife I picked up copies of the first two movies.

This movie does commit the act of "Hollywood Video Game Adaptations" by largely changing the source material and basically creating another AU for the Sonicverse, and I know that's a turnoff for some, so this wouldn't be every one's cup of tea as many folks would prefer something rooted in one the already established Sonic worlds. I was able to enjoy the film though, and found it quite cute, sweet and funny. It also gave warm fuzzies to see my favorite childhood video game hero in his first big screen movie adaption.

The Story follows Sonic as he is ousted from his home world by his owl mom to live on Earth, after a tribe of echidnas attacks their house. Sonic is ordered to live in hiding, and is given a bag of magic teleportation rings that he is to use only in an emergency to escape to another place.

As ordered, Sonic lives on Earth in secret, in a town called Green Hills. He spies on the humans and enjoys learning about Earth, but is still very lonely as he isn't allowed to interact with them. Some of his favorite humans are a local couple that he has named "Donut Lord" and "Pretzel Lady". One night, while playing at a baseball field at night, Sonic gets so upset about his isolated life that he causes a massive power surge with his speed, drawing attention to his location.

Dr. Robotnik meets Donut Lord!

The government calls in Dr. Robotnik (and his minion/boyfriend Agent Stone), whom in this universe is an earthling rather than a resident of Mobius. He is played by Jim Carrey as a delightfully fun and strange villain throughout the film. He takes over the search for the source of the power surge, and eventually closes in on the cave Sonic has been living in.

In a panic, Sonic decides he'll need to bail on this world, though he hates the thought of having to do so, being so fond oft it. He sneaks into Donut Lords home to use one of his teleport rings, when Donut (aka Tom) finds him and shoots him with a tranquilizer dart gun. One of Sonic's rings opens up and since Donut's shirt made Sonic think of San Francisco, that's where the portal leads to and Sonic's rings end up there.

After getting to know each-other, Sonic and Donut end up fleeing as vigilantes both from the government and Dr. Robotnik. Eventually they make it to San Francisco, Sonic gets his rings back, and he has a big showdown with Robotnik where he ends up sending Robotnik through a portal to the mushroom world he was originally going to go to. Donut Lord and Pretzel Lady end up adopting Sonic, and the movie wraps up as Sonic sees his new bedroom in a really sweet scene. Mid credits, we also get a teaser showing Tails arriving on Earth!

One of the movie's more badass looking scenes.

Outside of the aforementioned issue that creating an entirely new Sonic AU for the film will alienate some folks, my only other criticism is that I would have liked to learn more Sonic's owl mom, as she seemed pretty cool. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the film quite a bit. It was colorful, pretty, Sonic was adorable, Robotnik was very funny, and Sonic's new friends were quite likeable. Definitely a recommended watch for anyone curious about the film. :) I may end up watching the sequel sometime soon, too!

[bluehoodedmousebane]

Im glad my ask inspired you x3

But dont burn yourself out over it, y'know?

Also as fun as Halo 3 is... The Prophet of truth seems to had a serious re-write since Halo 2.

Cause in Halo 2, he seemed to know EXACTLY what the halo rings were, letting the other prophets die, and specifically cut off the heretic's message before he mentioned anything about guilty spark or anything like that.

But in Halo 3? He's just a zealous propaganda machine :/

No cool subtle hints of his plan, no vague lines that he knows he'll destroy the universe, nothing. Just "I am the bringer of the great journey!" and "I am the voice of the covenant!" and its just such a let down from the buildup of his whole arc from Halo 2

ALSO PLAY ODST RIGHT THE HECK NOW!!!!!!!!!

Super Intendent and Virgil my beloveds :3

I said a while ago. Hold on is it in my tag. YES okay so when I was talking about halo 2 a while ago I said that it felt like 2 was Bungie trying to expand on all of the ideas they had for CE. And they had a lot of trouble with that bc of how rushed they were.

3 feels like the successful version of that, with the stipulation that it’s trying to wrap up all of the plot points from the previous games. I think CE was the tight-knit concept, 2 was the stage where they spaghetti’d that concept way out, and 3 was the point where they shaved down things to finish the series. A LOT of stuff got- cut isn’t the right word- simplified. But all of these things are still recognizable. You don’t play as the arbiter unless you’re playing with another person but he’s there next to you. They made the models slightly less detailed but thank god because 2 on original graphics was kind of nasty in the cutscenes. I think Truth got the same treatment, mostly because he has less screen time. He’s less detailed than he was in 2, but I do think he’s characterized the same.

He is very aware of how all of the forerunner tech works- he knew exactly where to go and what to do to open the portal to the Ark. He’s still manipulative, actively hiding the details of the great journey even when he’s got Johnson’s hand on the trigger. The line, “but that secret died with all the rest,” is an insane one, because doubly proves that he knew the heretic was right about the rings.

It would have been so cool if he was just as subtle in his manipulations as he was in 2, but by the time he gets to earth he is desperate. The Covenant got cut in half, he was just being chased around his own ship by the demon, and he’s scrabbling to activate the portal on his enemies’ homeworld. Then on the Ark he’s under the assumption that he’s already at the finish line, that he doesn’t have to keep up his facade of power for much longer. He’s still in character, it’s just warped by circumstance and squashed by the simplicity of the game.

Also for ODST- sir yes sir I’ll get on it right away O7 :3c

[hexenmond]

Webcomic Wednesday: The Witch Door

Well, I've been thinking about this the whole day now, and I'm almost frustrated that I can't seem to put this into words so easily. What's great about The Witch Door? Well honestly, what isn't?

I thought about Anni's other comic (Transfusions) and how I'm finding that easy to sum up – vampire BL with explicit scenes. I mention those few words and most people will have a fairly good grasp of what to expect and whether they might like it or not. (I personally hesitated a long time before reading it, because this is actually NOT something that's right up my alley. Turned out to also be good though.)

For The Witch Door, I can't seem to find an easily digestible handful of descriptive words like that. I feel like it is very much the sum of all of its intricate details, and it doesn't fit any simple bill. So I'll resort to reviewing my favourite bits about it…

It has great characters

Seriously, all of them are well thought out and engaging, not a single dull person among them. I love all of them so much that I have actually put ALL of them in my fanfiction (except for the Lintukoto people as they belong to the main canon storyline, which I'm not touching on). That includes Ulriikka, the fluffiest plot device ever.

Tangential to that: it has great representation

There's young people. Old people. Thin people. Fat people. Light-skinned people. Dark-skinned people. Live people. Dead people. Bird people. Ummm… a cat who is definitely also people. And other assorted… humanoids? And oh, sexualities for every letter of the alphabet!

The worldbuilding is intriguing

I'd roughly call the setting "urban fantasy", but that could mean so many things really. In a world much like the one we know, there are witches with differing magical abilities, some powerful, some almost mundane, but most importantly there is this one simple, cool thing that opens up so many possibilities, and that is the concept of the Witch Door: each witch has a special door that can lead to any other witch's special door. So even though our protagonists live in Turku, we have already spent an afternoon in New York and one in Kyoto, without anybody breaking a sweat.

… but it's also kinda slice-of-life

I really love the way that protagonist Katariina – non-magical, bog-standard human who works as a nurse – accidentally stumbles onto her neighbour's secret (he's a witch with a witch door), but her life's still lifing, so it's not all just magical discoveries and fun and games from then on. More like her world gets expanded, but that also means that on top of her own, mundane everyday problems she now learns about things happening in the magical community that are possibly even more concerning, and even less actionable. Katariina deals with all those new experiences with curiosity, wonder, compassion, delight, and occasionally overwhelm, and she feels so real for that.

It's about friendships

The more I think about it, that might be what I love most about the comic. We meet a whole bunch of people and all the relationships and interactions are just gold. At the heart of it, there's a lot of people caring about other people in quiet, everyday ways. Everyone is allowed to have their own struggles, and people are so supportive of each other. And there's also snark and banter, delicious!

I nearly forgot: It also has villains!

I do feel I've managed to avoid spoilers in all my rambling here, so I won't say too much about the antagonists. Just this: they exist, they are still a bit of a delightful mystery (we're in chapter 12 as I am writing this), and I fully believe they are just as complex and well thought out as all the other characters. I love to hate them.

Conclusion

If I've managed to pique your interest, why not take a look at the 6 page prologue? And then take the plunge into a completely different kind of mystery with chapter 1 🙃 where we're introduced to both of our protagonists separately, and then to the magic of the fluffy plot device.

Or, if you're unsure about whether reading this comic will bring joy to you and you don't want to just take the plunge and check it out (which I can relate to!), feel free to ask me questions about it!

[justallihere]

Chapter 30 ohhh my gosh

1. Violet drinking tea with Garrick and Liam while she's wrapped up in a blanket, them taking care of her without any mention of it. Those are people who care about her 🥺. And the library talk with Liam, pointing out that Liam would change things, and why Xaden *can't* want that. Violet is being shown pieces of Xaden that he doesn't want to show her himself.

2. Violet did not come to play games, she saw a cat fight coming and verbally stabbed it instead. I do feel bad for the fliers, their only hope of help *can't* help them right now. And Syrena reminding Violet of Mira made me grab at my heart and weep. Speaking of weeping, tho-

3. THE SQUAD IS MAD AT LIAM 😭😭😭. I was not ready to see him get iced at by them, I knew Violet was mad at him, but she warmed back up-ish to him, so I was hoping he would be okay 😭😭. The squad puts Violet above Liam, because she's actually been part of the squad and isn't a forced add on a year late, but still. I hope they let him in soon, my Sad Liam/ Hurt Liam tolerance is very low.

4. Wards time? Heist time? Hell yeah, Cam knows what's up. I'm very affraid of it going south, like in canon, but also I love trauma bonded characters 😌. I liked how you showed that Cam and Violet knew eachother growing up, even if they are now distant. I look forward to seeing more of him, I have to admit I am fond of Cam as a character.

5. Oh Xaden, he's been left scrambling. He can't be open with all his secrets, he's a king! But also Violet is his queen now, so he's gonna need to learn to share things that might not seem critical to share. I love seeing him face the consequences of his actions, he's earned this suffering, but I want to see him fight for what he wants now. Meet Violets terms and let her know that she is a priority, and not just for Tairn and her lightning. Violet doesn't believe hints when it comes to people liking her, they either say it up front or she doubts!

I loved this chapter, and I can feel plots starting up, and whew I am so ready. (And by so ready I mean *not ready* but very excited cause I love your work 😌) ❤❤❤❤❤

Thank you so much!!! 🥰🥰

I love writing all of Violet’s various friendships. Liam and Garrick are both little shits in their own way and Garrick is willing to go down swinging for Xaden so he’s like “please put my bestie out of his misery” and Violet is going “lol no thanks, stay out of my marriage” and they’re just very fun

And the squad is SO protective of Violet. They’ll make sure she’s taken care of and defended if it’s the last thing they do

This is a “fuck Cat” household. Syrena can stay tho

The wards!!! The journals!! The secrets!!! Cam!!! So many things. I’m going to make my love of Cam everyone’s problem