#mimic analysis

[kathegoose]

how to NOT mischaracterize mimic

people of freddit especially miss the whole point of mimic's character, so i dove into the books (something they are deathly afraid of doing) and scoured up some fun fun facts about our admirable animatronic

closeups

[skullwaffles]

Henry Emily has always been a morally gray character.. Yall switchin’ up on him don’t understand…

love Henry Emily. Something about a character that is so conflicting is just awesome. Connection Terminated, his self deletion, and just dialouge in general shows us he is a deeply depressed man.

BUT, I feel in a way, that depression is kind of self-loathing or stewing in his own guilt. He started out feeling great from his connection with Afton, I mean, they became super successful. He is known to push things under the rug.. Hence the whole cassette man era. Yet, he is ALSO shown to be proactive in the creation of toy animatronics… He never looses his connection with the company, rather than just running away, it seems he tries to fix things.

However, that never does excuse what he did, and I think he *knows* that. That no matter what he does he lives with the guilt of falling into Afton’s trap and participating in it..

I DESPERATLY want to know EXACTLY when it hit Henry that Afton was nothing but a manipulative maniac.

I want to get in the mind of Henry Emily, how aware was he of everything? Did he purposefully and completely knowingly betray Edwin? Or was he manipulated by William?

i want to know.

This concludes Henry Emily #2 fan’s rant.. Thank you.

[thefakehedgehogaroundhere]

fucking. everything in this page is so important to me. long analysis below cut

whisper's eyes are open wide and she's grinning ear to ear. aside from flashbacks, the only times her eyes have opened or she's cracked a smile have been small, and extremely few and far between. they've also never really been that genuine. shy smiles to acknowledge the people around her, smirking in battle, opening one eye to glare at someone. never this pure joy.

there's no lingering grudge against the neo diamond cutters from silver. there's no "i told you so" or "you got me kicked out". and he never brought any of that to the neo diamond cutters apology scene from a few issues ago. he knows mistakes were made, and he's not here to hold that against anyone. he's here to fight mimic, and keep everyone safe from him.

and look at how gentle and relaxed tangle is here. she and whisper have nearly swapped personalities after mimic's death. where tangle is usually abrasive and extravagant, or leaping to hug people right away, she instead extends her hand for whisper to take if she's ready. she becomes a shoulder to lean on, letting whisper smile and rejoice at her own pace. and though the weight is off her shoulders, tangle knows she might still need time. and that's really important to me.

i also want to note that there's no blood on anyone's hands here. a lot of people were concerned that whisper would kill mimic, which aside from the commentary on how killing someone who hurt you provides no closure and could make things worse for you mentally, just would also make whisper a murderer too. mimic went out on his own terms. his selfishness, his arrogance, his belief that people are stronger alone. he was willing to die for that, and he did. while whisper fired on him, he made the blast worse to guarantee his death for his cause. whisper won't have to grapple with being the last living diamond cutter and it being her fault- mimic stripped himself of his status as a diamond cutter from the second he led the team to the androids, and again, he died of his own hubris.

everyone got the closure they needed. and i am just so excited to see how they wrap up other villain arcs in the future, especially if they go for another death like they did for starline and mimic. :)

also happy pride to whispangle and ONLY whispangle /silly

[gaygaygayyblockmen]

Okay, here we go lol

Reasons to support the theory that the Mimic is pretending to be Hotguy/Scar - a (not definitive) analysis of the latest DDVAU chapter!!

note : this list is not everything covered, of course, there’s a lot more I could look into but have chosen not to- that being said, anyone is free to chime in in the comments or re-blogs with other stuff to support the theory + other interesting details noticed, ect.

and, of course, this is nothing but a theory I have chosen to analyse for the fun of it. I am in no way claiming this is canon to the storyline, and tbh I’m not quite sure I believe it true myself.

okayyy, without further ado:

analysing the latest chapter

Scar’s Body language

here we can see that Scar is sat, leaning into Cub with his arms crossed. while this seems like a perfectly normal thing to do (and could definitely be just Scar’s normal body language) we can see similarities between this and the Mimic’s pose at the end of Mother Spore, Part lll :

throughout this whole scene, and the only canon ‘screen time’ we currently have of the Mimic, they can be shown in this same position, standing, leaning slightly back with arms crossed- similar to Scar’s position in chapter 15.

2. Scar’s words in this same scene

I find this very interesting. As far as we know, Scar (as his Hotguy persona atleast) doesn’t have much reason to desire mind controlling abilities. He’s a very powerful figure, and as Cub says, he can literally ‘control the masses’. I can only think of a few possible reasons he might say this/desire the ability.

The Mimic, however, seems to be one of the main (if not THE main) instigators of the spore. It would make sense for The Mimic to have such a keen understanding of it, and from what we know of their personality, a comment like such might even make sense.

1. To control Cuteguy. Cuteguy is a rebel, one of an organisation seperate to the government that is actively campaigning against them. Hotguy and him have not often seen eye to eye. It’s not far fetched to think that Hotguy could, in theory, find mind control useful in discovering Cuteguy’s identity (which he has shown interest in discovering multiple times).

2. For gaining information about mother spore from the attack- as well as gaining information from suspects, victims, and others for other similar cases (assuming he often deals with those)

3. To use, in some way, in his real life, as Scar the civilian (???)

4. This could also be interpreted as a passing joke/a lighthearted comment on Scar’s end ofc

3. Scar’s reaction to Cub asking him about Grian, and his newly discovered mutant traits

In this scene, Scar seems shocked about something. He doesn’t catch on to what Cub means at first.

Let’s say, for a moment, we pretend Scar IS the Mimic.

The mimic has seen Hotguy interact with Grian during the Mother Spore attack. As far as we know, this could very well be the first time the Mimic has seen Hotguy/Scar and Grian interact at all. Perhaps they weren’t aware that Scar and Grian were friends in their civilian lives.

And then, Cub comes in and says “what are you gonna do about your friend?”. Cub refers to Grian as merely Scar’s ‘friend’ and does not give the name of who he is talking about. Scar seems shocked ‘what friend could Hotguy possibly have who is relevant in this conversation?’ maybe.

Then, after Scar’s confused ‘what’ Cub clarifies. “Grian… The avian?” Scar seems to realise who Cub means, but we don’t really see any recognition in his gaze in the next frame. Scar STILL seems shocked. Of course, it seems very obvious to attribute this to, possibly, Scar is still processing the situation and/or doesn’t want to open up about it. But I don’t think THIS amount of shock and confusion from Scar’s end makes all too much sense.

He’s very close to Cub, and we’ve seen him open up to Cub in past chapters. Except, in this chapter he seems cold, eyes filled with no recognition. He rushes out of the room soon after when Zedaph announces Grian is awake (to go talk to Grian).

4. Hotguy/Scar’s reaction to Grian mentioning his mutant traits

When Grian mentions his newly discovered mutant traits, and how Hotguy has every ability to arrest him for hiding them, Hotguy’s reaction is surprisingly severe.

He says “I don’t care if you’re a mutant. You’re not the first, nor the last person who has to lie to the government about it. So don’t feel so special.”

His wording seems almost as if he’s speaking from a first-hand experience. And, assuming the Mimic is a mutant of sorts (he has a mimic ability, right? Shapeshifting or something is what I’m guessing) it kind of makes sense if the Mimic has had to hide their abilities from the government. That they might have had a similar experience to Grian and that’s why Hotguy’s reaction is so strong in this scene.

5. Idk but the writing on the note on the cookies is purple lol

I mean like,,,, guys,,,, purple is the Mimics colour,,,,, why would Scar/Hotguy write in purple,,,,, it doesn’t make sense if you ask me

I MEAN IT IS,,, OBVIOUSLY JUST KIND OF THE DEFAULT PEN COLOUR I KNOWW maybe I’m looking too much into this lmaoo

6. maybe the mimic was being super mean to Grian to get Grian against Hotguy for some reason

and also!! the phone number on it!! What if it’s ACTUALLY the number for something to do with the Mimic, and they’re trying to lure Grian into calling the number so they can, idk??? What IS the mimic’s intentions?? Get Grian on their side?? Control Grian??

idk. Just like. In extra bonus art we see the Mimic flirting with Cuteguy/Grian(?) + maybe also secret motives for getting Grian against Hotguy? Idk.

also this is all assuming the Mimic has some sort of shapeshifting/mimicking ability to use to mimic Hotguy or something!! I honestly don’t know much about them so if there’s any extra info doody or maruu gave i probably don’t know much lol

OF COURSE GUYS this is all silly ramblings/speculation, I’m just writing this for fun loll, it’s a possibility ig but I’m definitely not trying to write off hotguy/scar’s actions because I do definitely believe him to be capable of manipulation and it DOES honestly add a lot of depth to his character which I love.

anyways,,,, hope you guys found entertainment or something in my rambles,,, I’ve probably missed other stuff that could possibly support this theory so you can always reblog to add anything!! I’ve seen the theory floating around a few places so I wanted to give my thoughts, nothing special lol.

[iamespecter]

I saw a post that said "No wonder Glam Freddy and Bonnie weren't infected with the virus because they weren't originally Murray animatronics" and I actually... don't think that makes a lot of sense?

I personally think it was the "Safe mode" aspect being on that's protecting Freddy (and Bonnie, I guess?) from the Mimic's murderous program, but in exchange for it being on, it consumes A TON of battery life. You could even go as far as to say that it's not actually Freddy's battery that's draining, it's just the safe mode system that constantly needs recharging. That's why Freddy jumpscares you when he's low powered enough.

It's also why hunter animatronics like Glam Chica, Monty and Roxy don't go to recharge stations as often as Freddy does during the night. Because their safety modes are NOT on during the night, and with those being turned off, the Mimic has a full-blown influence on them. At least, that's how it seems to me.

[lesbianisamu]

Why Isamu Being Queer Could've Benefitted His Arc Of Courage: A Semi-Coherent Ramble (and Criticism)

Disclaimer: I have zero intent to attack any member of the development team, my criticisms are untargeted and will remain unnamed. I encourage discussion about this topic. I (OBVIOUSLY) do not want disagreement in the form of homophobia. Yes I'm queer my URL is literally lesbianisamu what did you think I was? Not a lesbian? I'll start writing now.

The Mimic has a fairly substantial and fairly egregious history with misrepresenting mental health issues. This is relevant. While TMO (The Mimic Origins) is no longer canon (thank god), its influences still remain. While it is no longer explicitly canon that Futaba, or Futao, has bipolar disorder/bpd (unclear), the stereotypes, mishandling and frankly ridiculous storytelling are still present in The Witch Trials. This point has been done to death, but I will reiterate anyway.

Making a character with a severe mental illness an evil, abusive, disgusting individual is not GOOD(edit) representation, believe it or not. At first it seems that Futaba is aware of her struggles and how it affects her daughter, though I still don't like this. By the end, she completely contradicts herself by doing a 180 and claiming that she is not at fault for any of her actions and instead blaming the demon inside of her. Woah. Sure. Also the split-into-two representations of being manic and depressive with the depressive constantly humming a melancholy tune and crying, while the manic, or the demon (Mote) is constantly cackling with inhuman laughter. It's odd. Left a terrible taste in my mouth.

Yasu is a character who is objectively non-abusive. Pretty non-problematic too. I don't have much to say on the character himself as I've never fixated enough to do a full analysis (sorry to my Yasoomfs), but I can say that his resulting mental health was also handled poorly. So thoroughly traumatised by the events of Control that he apparently? Has PTSD? DO NOT QUOTE ME ON THIS. Either way, I'm going to disregard that, I just had to bring up the hearsay. Regardless of whether he did end up with a trauma based mental health disorder or not, the way he was treated and left after Control by the writing is nothing short of bleak. All of his friends being turned into butterfly spirits and then him being forced to sacrifice them simply to move onto a new room of horror? His parents being caught with his mother hanging in front of him, only to find out when he saves them that they don't remember a thing? Being hunted down by nightmarish mutants that are his long-dead family members, forced to save them all and carry the burden of the curse on largely unsuspecting shoulders? You might think he was put in therapy, or had counselling, or maybe sought out other people who had gone through similar experiences so he could start to heal.

We don't know anything after the knowledge that his parents are amnesiacs about the event. Like I'm not kidding, zilch. Second edition of a character with obviously poor mental health being mistreated by the direction the writing either took or didn't take.

Senzai. Jesus fucking Christ. The next edition we have of mental health representation is a guy who canonically is a terrorist, murderer and conspirator who flattened, and aided to flatten the densest city in terms of population on Earth. I don't think I need to say much more on this topic. If I do, I'll get angry. I hate Senzai and I wish he was written about ten million times better than he is.

In the case of both Senzai and Futaba, they are victims of abuse/generational trauma, which led to or exacerbated their previously present mental health issues. Both wind up as. I don't want to be yelled at again for my wording. Abysmal people. That's 3/3 so far on mental health, all awful, all harmful, and all bleak which is not really the tone mental health representation should speak with.

I promise you it was relevant to the title. Now that we know The Mimic has an, at best, shaky representation with mental health issues and illnesses, we could probably hope that their queer representation would be bett-

They decanonised Enzukai being genderqueer (fluid? or agender? not certain) when JC4 came out. They did this, I think, in an effort to lift the possible implications of a genderqueer character being. Evil demon creature. I get it, like I do. There's also literally everything else. Like Senzai being implied to be queer.

A character who is queer being a bad person is not inherently a poor writing choice. Just because someone is queer, they are not exempt from being awful, they are not exempt from consequence, and they most certainly are not exempt from being criticised for their actions in media, or in real life. However. Senzai is a genocidal terrorist who, I'm not kidding, killed upwards of NINE MILLION PEOPLE. Yes while under the cults influence, and Yes gave himself up to the authorities after (another can of worms) but holy shit. nine fucking million. It's not the best message to give off and I hope I don't have to explain why. Edit: I should have stated that this is heavily implied rather than explicitly canon, but my main point still stands.

Yes, fucked up evil queer characters are sometimes fun, but its less fun when so far (and continuing) its the only gimmick that the queer characters get. Then it's weird.

My biggest gripe is honestly with the Nagemi character in Halloween Trials. OOOO god. It's agender. Win for agender's right? WRONG. WE LOSE. AGAIN. It is, if you haven't actually seen the character, half a body. It is a decaying freakish torso that crawls behind you and kills you like all other mimic monsters. In an old. Insane. Asylum. AN INSANE ASYLUM. What the actual fuck.

There are no queer characters who are happy with their queerness, no queer characters that actually even have an arc that remotely includes their queer aspect, and all of them are fucking oddball freaks. I'm not including Kibo Edouji as a queer character, even though he pretty much objectively is as much as I detest the Kizai propaganda that gets pushed, because he's essentially a brick with a jumper, with no actual character arc, and exists purely to be in love with Senzai. (HEAVY IMPLICATION)

Overall. Not a good look. Time for the main event.

Isamu is a character that hides. While it's obviously not intentional, Book 2 gameplay has an extreme increase in hiding spots compared to Book 1. He was neglected by his father and mother, and definitely is a victim of their abuse I genuinely will not take any of that "we didn't see him get hit" bullshit. Go read my other post about this if you want to argue. Neglected for the first 15 years of his life and probably beyond, hiding in plain sight from care, and this is also shown in the way the C3 teaser shows him deflecting blame from himself, trying to remain hidden, and being caught off-guard when involved in a conversation only to act as the deciding factor in the result of the event, the result being Senzai hit over the head with a glass bottle. His only method of reliable defence was to hide, and he continued to do so throughout the book, hiding or running from danger instead of fighting it.

Giving Isamu a queer identity, or more likely a genderqueer identity would've fitted his character if shown, even briefly, alongside the display of his upbringing. He knows how to hide, it has been instilled into him from the moment he was brought into the world. He was also neglected, meaning the attention was away from him and on his older brother anyway. He could've gotten away with existing as a queer person in his early teens, though it wouldn't necessarily have been readily accepted by his peers. When thrust into the spotlight after the incident, and focus placed on him, likely to "marry well and continue the family lineage", he would've struggled with the conversations.

The UK is currently a shitshow with protecting queer and trans people, but even in school when it wasn't so abhorrent as it is now, the bullying was horrific, and I was incredibly lucky to have firm friends alongside me. I cannot imagine how difficult and isolating it would be in a country such as Japan where gay marriage is still not legal.

This, however, would contribute to him being isolated as an early adult. Isamu has no friends or partners listed in his "relationships" tab on the wiki. In a country where there is an ongoing "loneliness" epidemic, being queer would only further isolate you.

I think him specifically being some form of trans (transfem/neutral) would've introduced yet another parallel to Enzukai. Youngest siblings vying for the attention of their family and going to extreme methods for it (destructive in Enzukai's case and semi-self-destructive in Isamu's). Informal and crass, making (and keeping) them both genderqueer would've introduced a neat parallel, showing us again that Senzai turned from his brother to a version that could give him power, instead of accepting the power that came from Isamu's encouragement. But they decanonised Enzukai being genderqueer. So whatever.

It also gives us an aspect to Isamu's character that's a personal struggle, even if it's in the background and barely touched upon, and derails the focus from being entirely on Senzai and the antagonists for THE ENTIRE BOOK. He wouldn't be a person going through shit in a queer way, it wouldn't be a central aspect of his character. He'd be a character going through shit who also happened to be queer but ultimately is busy focused on saving the world. It humanises him a little and shows how things operate in the real world. Being queer is important to me, undoubtedly, but I also have a job, I have responsibilities, I don't focus on being queer 110% of the time, because it's just one aspect of who I am. It would add another layer to his character that makes him more intriguing when his arc is all about COURAGE. and supposedly acceptance but the execution of that was dubious at best

Isamu's courage. Growing up, becoming stronger, saving his brother and saving the remaining people of Tokyo that he could at extreme risk to himself. I have points to make but they're not totally relevant. Stay Tuned Maybe.

Actually fighting the monsters, fighting a huge dragon with the weaponry equivalent of a very bright candle and barely breaking a sweat. But also having the courage finally to actually show his emotions, show his feelings to someone who isn't himself, and actually break down a little bit even if it was for five seconds, he had the courage to not be okay for a moment. If Isamu had gone through the journey of queer self-acceptance before all this had gone down, it would've GREATLY increased his ability to become courageous and stay courageous, as it is such a hard thing for many people to do, and would show his eternal strength and bravery to keep existing despite the world being against you for who you're attracted to or what you identify as.

We would also finally have a queer character who is genuinely a good person, who before the events had a stable job he enjoyed and got along with his coworkers, even if he wasn't the best at making friends. We would have a queer character who isn't a terrorist, who isn't just a creature or an insane asylum resident clump of flesh. We would have a queer character who is the HERO of the story instead of being a direct antagonist. We would have a complicated, naive and slightly flawed in his thinking queer person who felt the most like an actual, real human from this game.

I have contradicted myself and been aware of it the whole time, as it fuels my own point. Isamu is not a happy character. Even if he was queer he would not exist peacefully, but it isn't due to his queerness. This is less of a point about how queer people rarely end up happy in media - although it's also one I'm actively making - and more about how Isamu himself was treated anyway. A punching bag, a scapegoat for the writers and the fandom intentionally or not, abused, belittled, refused genuine peace at every turn, his one supportive figure snatched away from him at the very last moment, and the last thing he sees being his brother flinching away from him in fear, confirming to him that his self-hatred was correct, diminishing any and all character growth that they barely acknowledged before ripping it away. He died alone and unloved, and being queer wouldn't fix that, a complete rewrite would, and should be done.

To conclude: I'm always going to be angry about the mental health mishandling that happened and continues to happen in this game. Isamu's entire character focus should not have been on his brother. Your only queer characters should not be fucked up evil insane 100% of the time. I miss Isamu. He's a transfem lesbian to me always and forever.

Edit: I've received a little criticism on this post, and have made necessary edits and changes, particularly in my wording or indication as to whether something is implied or is canon, or whether something is representation or not.

[vannysarcade]

I understand why people do not like The Mimic. That’s totally valid and I completely understand it.

But seeing the Mimic as a “mindless killing machine” is just a complete misinterpretation of its character. It is definitely not mindless. The entire point is that it’s not mindless.

Yes, the Mimic starts out as a simple AI that is just programmed to copy things and nothing more. But over the course of the story it starts to do things on its own (AND THIS IS BEFORE EDWIN EVEN IMBUES IT WITH AGONY.) Things it was not programmed to do. Things that Edwin finds strange because that shouldn’t be happening! The Mimic is becoming alive and sentient because of David’s love!!

The mimic literally sees Edwin hurt/shake David, and the mimic doesn’t decide to copy that behavior. Instead it chooses to comfort David. And everything is going well until Edwin just snaps after David dies, and completely destroys it. Beating it until it’s nothing. And while you could say “oh, this is where the mimic learned to hurt and kill people. It only hurts people because it was hurt.” And yes, that is..partly true; but I don’t think people get that..the mimic isn’t just hurting because it’s programmed to copy people and it’s copying what happened to it. It’s hurting people because it’s hurt. It is making a conscious effort TO hurt people. Because it wants other people to feel its pain. The Mimic is a victim of abuse. And this is not an excuse for it's actions or the pain it caused, because again...the Mimic is making a CONSCIOUS EFFORT to hurt people. It sees that Vanessa is also a victim of abuse, and chooses to exploit that. Making her relive every horrible memory to break her down even further, making her regress to a childlike state to when she was a helpless little girl. When she did everything her father told her to do. To make her obey and be a good girl. Ultimately, the Mimic being sentient is important to the story, because Security Breach is about a lot of things, but most importantly it's about the cycle of abuse. The Mimic was hurt, and chose to inflict that pain upon everybody else. It inflicted that pain upon Vanessa and Gregory to hurt them and make them hurt people too. And when Gregory is finally "free" of this, both the Mimic and Vanny desperately try to drag him back in. And the only way to end the cycle is with you. By freeing Vanessa and leaving the pizzaplex with her, they are both able to break this cycle. At least for now.

[yannastarlight]

The many ways Secret of the Mimic utilizes Fnaf elements

(Pt.1)

Secret of the Mimic is currently my favorite Fnaf game. It was so good that it managed to bring me back into a franchise that I’ve lost love for. One of the reasons why is because it wonderfully uses elements from the original games (1-pizza sim) plus being basically Security breach if it was good. There were so many moments where I was pointing at the screen at a reference or simply gushing over how this game recontextualizes and builds on themes and lore tidbits from past games. So I’m going to ramble about the things I’ve noticed! (This is going to be a long one)

First of all we are back to having nobody protagonists, Woo! It's so refreshing to be back to playing as just some poor guy who is being roped into the horrors of Fazbears. Best of all they’ve managed to give Arnold so much character with so little dialogue. This and dispatch being the “phone guy” of this game we’ve essentially gone back to Fnaf 1-3 (and since Dispatch is the Handyunit voice throw in SL Pizza sim, SB and Help wanted 1 and 2)

One of the ongoing themes of this franchise that has been here since the beginning and constantly alluded to, is just how horrible Fazbear entertainment is. It's pretty much a running gag throughout all the games is how absurdly (yet kinda realistically) evil this company is. And while Fazbears is usually used as a joke, it also kinda grounds the story into the reality of corporate evil. I love how this game expresses both the comedy and the cruelty of this company. They actually utilise it into the actual lore and story of the game, similar to Pizza sim and Help wanted. The real horror of Freddy's is Fazbear entertainment.

The office feels so reminiscent of Fnaf 1 and 2, it's perfect. The fan, the cameras, the whole environment just screams Fnaf office. Honestly the entire game screams Fnaf even though we aren't in Freddy's location. Even without the mimic, simply walking around with the creepy and unnerving costumes everywhere just feels so realistically uncomfortable. Which is the core of Fnaf to me.

Yipee! A dead body in a Fnaf game! I’ve missed those. We see a few of these fazbear employees stuffed in costumes all throughout the game. Once again alluding to Fnaf 1-3 having the animatronics stuff their victims into suits. Verifying the fate of the previous Fazbear technicians, reminding you that if you're not careful you will likely join them. Later the game implies that the Mimic chooses these suits based on their victims behaviour and personality. Making the Mimic so much more terrifying.

It's not Fnaf without your children’s drawings :) They tell us a bit about David and make the environment feel more lived in.

Mr and Ms Helpful are the “Freddys” of this game. They are pretty much Helpy’s grandparents in a way, so Helpy lore! Even though we aren't in a freddy’s location we still have our lovable bear mascots.

They may be a stretch, (heh) but Jackie gives me a lot of puppet vibes. Like the box and the long stretchy arms, yeah I’m not alone in this. Although the gingle that plays as you wind up the box sounds an awful lot like Grandfather's clock (the Puppet's music box song). I could be misremembering but I think it plays again as you're crawling through the vents near the end of Jackie’s encounter. I don’t think there are much more significance with this but I like to point this out.

Also we get alot of Mediocre Melody references here (they actually reveal their origins in the mail letters) The Gater can be linked to Monty. We got all kinds of animal characters but almost all of them can be linked back to a previous mascot character we’ve gotten in the franchise. The most notable to me personally is the Gater and the Pig because we see those masks in the Fnaf 3 minigame “Happiest day”. So recontextualising these characters are really nice.

I also love that they brought back the gameplay element of using blast proof doors to evade the big bad animatronic (in this case the Mimic). More Fnaf 1 elements we love to see. Also the Datadiver is basically an ancient Fazwrench.

MUSIC MAN!!!! Big Top my beloved! I adore his design, aesthetic and every appearance he makes in this game. I never really cared for music man so I was pleasantly surprised with how much I liked his parts in the game. I couldn’t understand why they kept bringing him back but I get it now. Dude is genuinely creepy and unnerving but pretty dandy. "TICKETS PLEASE" I hear as I fall down a flight of stairs...

Springlock suits!? They’ve managed to use the going inside an animatronic mechanic from Security breach and make it actually work. I love that the mimic waves at you when in the suit (he's such a chill guy). I love them lore wise, because while Edwin did not invent spring locks, he did perfect them. He worked closely with Henry to build them and managed to create a suit that probably would have saved dozens of lives if Hen and Will didn't discard them. This makes Willams death even more karmic. Also this section reminds me of Sister location and Security breach.

Foxy!? Roxy!? ROCKATPUS!!! I love this entire sequence. We get Foxy and Roxies origins and it's adorable. It's also been quite clear the Foxy didn’t exactly belong with the main 4 and this explains that! Seeing Foxy in the spotlight with his own show and cast is a Fnaf dream come true. Also Roxy being the cowboy to Foxy’s pirate is so perfect. I love it when Fnaf puts aside the horror for just a second to remind you that this whole thing is about children's entertainment.

Yeah.... this post was way longer than I expected. So I cut it in half. So keep your eyes out for the second part because that's when I really make my point!

(Part 2 is right Here!)

[blood-and-pizza]

Really nice moment from Edwin to make a extra drink button for his son, despite treating his employees like crap.

Yeah, true... Edwin really did love David, didn't he? He was a shitty boss, for sure, and maybe a neglectful parent, but he really did care about his son.

Honestly, Edwin has strong Henry vibes. Morally gray, lost a child, a brilliant engineer... and the death of his child was at least partly due to being too busy working. I mean, where was Henry when Charlotte was killed?

This series seems pretty hung up on the idea of fathers who are morally complicated. Henry, William, Edwin... is Scott Cawthon trying to say something? I mean, he's a father. He has six children. I guess maybe he's trying to say that no parent is perfect... which, in my case, was a very hard lesson to learn firsthand. I imagine it's a hard lesson for any child growing up to learn their parents are flawed. To learn that adults don't always know what they're doing, nor do they always have your best interests at heart.

I guess that disillusionment compares heavily to finding out big corporations like Fazbear Entertainment or Disney or Warner Bros. or even Nintendo can offer you an entire childhood of wonder with colorful characters you love, but all they really care about is exploiting people for profit. Even at the cost of human lives and safety.

It's weird to compare a company to a terrible dad... then again, considering how largely patriarchal big corporations are, maybe it's not all that weird?

Sorry for the rambling! There's a lot to unpack already with this game!

[kathegoose]

mimianatomy...

this one is the lovechild of my fnaf and speculative biology autisms

ss,seeparate and smidge bit clearer sides..,

[lemurballing]

mimic is like my bug trapped in a jar. i see him and i want to watch him crawl around an environment he cannot comprehend and has never experienced before, watching how his joints move and antennae flick and mouthparts twitch and shuffle. imagining what goes on in his head.

i think he is very driven by shame and regret actually. killing whisper isn’t because he hates her - he hates her because she didn’t die. but he needs her to die because she reminds him of his guilt every day. the one that got away - proof that he didn’t need to let them die, he didn’t need to give up on companionship to survive. he was wrong - whisper lived. and now the only way he gets to forget and slip away from this uncomfortable regret and shame is if he kills the reminder; kills the witness. then he can live his life - right? shameless? finally free?

he is so interesting because he wanted to be an actor so bad but he was so impatient for the fame and superficial love of an adoring crowd he sabotaged himself. and due to that sabotage he ruined any chance at making friends or building goodwill, so he defeats himself by no longer believing that genuine friendships or goodwill are available to him or even a thing he wants. the diamond cutters changed that for him - gave him his first unconditional friends/love, the first time he really felt like part of something instead of an impostor - and so he had to betray them.

not because he snapped and hated them, but because he still couldn’t accept that putting himself first was not the best move for himself. because he is a coward. he ran from self-improvement and opening up - he already considers himself an immoral or amoral person who will betray - and so he has to live up to that or else he is wrong about himself and is forced to reflect on himself. he doesnt want to actually think about his own behavior and examine it. he wants to feel good and love life and do what he wants. he’s condemned himself

[the-sky-queen]

I realize that every time I think of Eclipse with an IDW character they either are on pretty good terms or they destroy his mental state so I ask you something I’ve been thinking about again recently. Eclipse and Mimic…do you think that has any potential?

Ooooo now that is interesting. Mimic is just SO fascinating so putting him with any character is bound to result in some fun interactions. I feel like Eclipse and Mimic's relationship would be mostly neutral. They might team up briefly when it's mutually beneficial, but I can't really see them sticking with each other for very long after that. Mimic's out for himself and doesn't really have much interest in Shadow. So I doubt Eclipse would be able to convince him to come help with fighting Shadow or whatever his goal is at the time. (Assuming this team up is happening before Eclipse's redemption.)

If these two managed to make a connection during their brief team up, I could maybe see them sticking together for a bit, but their goals and overall characters are just so different, so I don't think they'd have a whole lot of interest in each other.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this though!

[nightmare-foundation]

ok enlighten me what is your glitchtrap michael theory . i’ve NEVER seen anyone else say this im so curious, i gotta hear the reasoning

Okay sorry this took a while to answer, I needed to put together my thoughts on this

Basically where I started with the 'Michael is Glitchtrap' theory is basically like. Process of elimination kinda?

I noticed that Glitchtrap didn't fit either William OR the Mimic. Glitchtrap is, well, not robotic from my perspective. He's sentimental for one (putting together the staffbots to look like the Aftons, the SL living room, Vanessa and Gregory directly referencing and paralleling Elizabeth and CC, etc), and doesn't really act like an ai program built to mimic things, unlike the Mimic seen in Ruin.

On top of that, Glitchtrap holds back. He has explicit rules; you have to find him, put his tapes together, and consent to merging with him (this is important). If this was William, he wouldn't bother putting together all these rules. Not only that, but Vanessa, Gregory, and Cassie are all still alive. And Glitchtraps appearance too- he's a costume, not a springlock suit. William always explicitly associated himself with spring Bonnie. Not the character, but the actual springlock suit itself.

Also, Glitchtrap knows things neither William nor the mimic WOULD know. The biggest clue is the Exotic Butters- how would William, and thus the Mimic, know about something only Michael would know?? And it goes deeper.

The color theory doesn't match up, either. William went from yellow (Midnight Motorist) -> purple (fnaf 2 and 3 minigames) -> yellow (springtrap). It's pretty clear that after William dies, he's associated with YELLOW now. His story is also over too, this was established with UCN.

Michael is sort of the opposite. The first time we see him, if you don't count fnaf 4, he's wearing purple. The next time in ffps, he's wearing yellow and blue. The natural next step is that he'd be associated with purple again. There's a LOT going on with the color theory too (yellow can mean both royalty and sickness, purple can Also be royalty and corruption, etc), in a way that connects to their stories.

Glitchtrap is purple; or, at least, his true form seen in PQ is. He's depicted as a costume deliberately; the yellow throws you off, it's not the truth. But take it off and you get a big black and purple blob. Not only that, it's a COSTUME. Michael has always, always been associated with masks, which are a part of costumes. William is associated with springlock animatronics, not costumes, even if they double as one, which says a lot to his own character.

Not only THAT, but everything since Help Wanted 1 and even the AR game has been referencing Sister Location, fnaf 4, and FFPS. Michael is the certain protagonist of ALL of these games, both directly confirmed or hinted at (yes fnaf 4 is Michael's nightmares after he actually got tortured by William post CC death, you'll have to tear this out of my cold dead hands). Michael is also repeatedly referenced in Security Breach, with the constant references to butters in sticky notes, again, only something he would know.

Also, of the main cast, Foxy is the only one that's missing. Foxy is VERY important to Michael and his character, and the different iterations of Foxy, especially Funtime Foxy and Ringmaster Foxy, are especially important. Yes I do think that each of the Funtimes represent the Aftons, and FT Foxy represents Michael. So we can gleam that Michael, similarly to his father, is a performer. He's the leader; the captain, the ringmaster, the older brother. This is hammered in with his monologue and the Security Logbook. This fits in exactly with Glitchtrap. He's theatrical, he performs, he pretends.

As for HOW Michael would've become Glitchtrap, I believe the circuit boards FazEnt got were from the computer in the ffps office. William is trapped in UCN, the Mimic was still trapped behind the wall in Ruin, and I don't think the mimic1 program existed at the time (not to mention Glitchtraps behavior doesn't fit mimic1).

Michael easily could've possessed those circuit boards on accident. You might be asking- well, Michael was dead, all of his Remnant would've burned up. And, honestly, I don't think he actually DID die at the end of SL.

Baby explicitly says "You won't die". The Scooper also injects Remnant into you, which is known to keep you alive and heal you. As for the rotting, that can easily be explained away as Michael literally being one giant walking infected wound. The scooper tore him apart stomach to throat, and Ennard went inside, tearing him apart internally. When wounds are bad enough, they rot, especially when they're left to fester and get infected. Besides, it would've been impossible to possess his own corpse. Remnant is best conducted by metal, not rotting flesh. And I doubt Ennard would've left enough of itself behind for Michael to actually control his own body.

So, Michael was likely actually alive and fully healed by FFPS. Thus, when he burned to death, he would've ended up possessing the nearest electronic things- the circuit boards in the computer. Whether or not he actually wanted to die (I don't think he did) matters; he possessed it anyways.

As for why he's now the main antagonist of the new games- well, I don't think he's evil. I think he's being affected by Agony.

Since the blob is one massive ball of leftover Agony from the rest of the animatronics, I think it's possible Glitchtrap has his own Agony too, especially if it's true that Remnant turns into Agony when burned up like I think it does. It'd explain why he's all black and goopy, since I believe Agony is described as a black, tar-like substance.

Some of Glitchtraps appearance would also be explained by Michael being him, such as the tears that are on the suit and his true form. Usually, lost souls are what have those tear tracks, like the dead kids. William has never been depicted with those same marks, EVER.

A lot of the above also explains why I don't think Glitchtrap is evil. I don't think Michael is fully sane, and Glitchtrap has a duality theme going on (purple and green are opposites on the digital spectrum). Plus, as I said, he actively holds back. He's cruel yes, and he's killed a fuck ton of people, but he sets rules and let's Vanessa, Gregory, Cassie, and for a time, Cassies dad, all live.

Also, he's a WAY more successful killer than William. He's smart, and while I wouldn't call William an idiot, he's not exactly good at hiding things. He's arrogant, believes he'll never die ("I always come back!"), he's theatrical to his own detriment, etc. Even in SL it was extremely obvious he was already being questioned, and was nearly caught and jailed. He died to CHILD GHOSTS. And Vanessa and Glitchtrap have never been suspected, not ONCE.

People really like to act like Michael is stupid, but he's FAR from it. He knew what was happening in SL, and pieced things together Really Fucking Quickly (in less than a WEEK). He also likely suspected Williams crimes beforehand, and if he hadn't in fnaf 1, he definitely figured it out in SL. He also very likely created fnaf 3; the building matches ffps's confusing labyrinth layout, clearly set up to burn down, the collection of Fazbear stuff, the audio lures, and the "to you, from working architect" in the security logbook. And then he helped Henry with the FFPS location, and possibly built the Rockstar animatronics (I say this bc it's a mix of Williams and Henry's styles of animatronics; the hard outer casing, extra abilities i.e. Freddy's coin thing, but they're cute, like Henry's, BUT the Michael thing is that they're.. well, Rockstars. I also think Michael made the plans for the Glamrocks but FazEnt stole them for these reasons lmao). Michael is far, FAR from an idiot, and all of these show he's actually REALLY fucking smart, likely smart enough that William felt threatened by him (part of why he was likely sent to the SL bunker). Glitchtrap is also clearly Very Intelligent.

Another part is that Glitchtrap doesn't hurt children. In one of the SB endings, on the newspaper it says 'missing locals', not missing children. Gregory and Cassie were never directly harmed by him either. Cassie was completely safe in the mall pre-Ruin, and Gregory seemed fine too, if possessed by Glitchtrap. It's never stated that CHILDREN are hurt, only the staff.

Also Glitchtrap is,, very sentimental. Neither William nor the Mimic would be sentimental about the Aftons, but Michael WOULD. He cares deeply about his family if SL is any indication, and would explain his favoritism towards Gregory, the CC lookalike.

Glitchtrap being Michael would ALSO explain why Cassies dad (aka bonniebro) was spared, long enough for the spirits in the staffbots to get JEALOUS. After all, what exactly makes him so special? He's Michael's old friend. Neither William nor the Mimic would care.

Also springtrap is consistently depicted as terrifying and beastly. Especially in hw2, where the place burns down and Springtrap hunts you down. William would've shown himself as the pinnacle of his inventions, not a nightmarish monster.

Oh, and another note, but almost every time William is in the game, whether in the background or not, Golden Freddy aka Cassidy is always there. Fnaf 1, 2, and 3 ('shadow freddy') follow this formula, but she's not there in fnaf 4, or SL, though I imagine she's not there in FFPS because William is already trapped, and for good this time.

The same goes for Michael and the Puppet/Charlie. Charlie is in fnaf 1 (implied in fnaf 2), fnaf 2 (the party Jeremy got bit at was for Michael), fnaf 3, fnaf 4, and FFPS. The exception is SL, but I believe it's because William is dead by then.

Notice how Cassidy doesn't show up past fnaf 3, but Charlie keeps showing up as the plushies. There's near constant references to her in every. Single. Steel Wool game. It's hard to NOT see it it's so often. So it's very likely Michael is still around, and only hammers in that he's likely Glitchtrap.

Also, writing-wise, it makes sense for him to become the new antagonist since FNAF was soft-rebooted. Typically the old protagonist is still important in soft reboots, whether that's as an important historical figure or the next games/series/movies antagonist, or a driving point for the next protagonist (think Peter Parker and Tony Stark). It also fits thematically, since it'd be a really weird spin around for the new villain to be an AI (doesn't fit fnafs formula) and having William be the villain Again would just be lazy writing.

Collapses. Okay I probably missed some things BUT. That's my main points. There's WAY more that goes into a much bigger theory (like PQ is Obviously Vanessa being freed from Glitchtrap, fnafs timeline, the ghost kids are back and are wanting to free Michael, the SW games are based on I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream, etc), but that's mostly what I have for Glitchtrap Michael.

Feel free to look up everything I'm talking about, I haven't bothered to put anything up but I have all of my facts straight. I've considered pretty much every other option in order to TRY to disprove my own theory, but every single new game and book only keeps proving me right unfortunately LMAO.

I've had this theory since like... before Ruin. I've had So much time to get everything straight. I'm sad no one else sees what I see lol.

Have fun with this :3

[silver-the-hedgeblog]

Let's talk about how Silver is a detective. Searching for truth has been a constant theme for him since 06.

Life is a struggle. and people live without hope. How did this happen? No one will answer me directly. But they always point... to the flames.

The start of Silver's story shows that he questioned how the world was destroyed his whole life, he tried to investigate the cause of the disaster but no one could answer him. (until he met Mephiles who gave him a false answer and then Shadow who gave him the real answer)

A lot of Silver's Town Missions in 06 wouldn't be out of place as jobs for the Chaotix. In Town Mission 13 the Rimlight corporation asks him to investigate rumors of something stealing things from their warehouses which turns out to be infested with monsters. He gets hired as a detective and solves a case by himself here.

Silver then spends the Sonic Rivals games uncovering Eggman NEGA's identity and schemes. He can see through NEGA's disguises and has foiled who knows how many of NEGA's plans in the future.

Silver with Blaze and Vector spends most of Team Sonic Racing investigating Dodon Pa's Grand Prix and Eggman's involvement with it.

Every time Silver has a main role in a game it involves him uncovering some secret or plot. He's always solving mysteries and rewriting history (Woo-oo). Silver may be bad at lying but he is good at truth-ing.

[adamantinesunset]

thiis iis just a for funsiies essay that my friiend had me wriite, ii dont have any hate toward the creator, please go support them and all that. thiis iis just me giiviing iinto the speciial iinterest demons

jackiies box was a song wriitten by xtratuna to be bad on purpose, but what exactly made thiis song so terriible iin the fiirst place? usiing the uber iinstiincts of my uber autiism, and the fact that iim a liittle guy; ii diissected and determiined what makes thiis song so terriible and yet so entertaiiniing. thiis iis goiing to basiically be a tangent about thiis song iinfluenced by my musiic speciial iinterest. there are a few diifferent poiints to thiis song that make iit blend together so well, the lyriics, the melody, and fiinally the way everythiing sounded together.

to start thiis iincrediibly analytiical essay, lets look at the lyriics. to be frank not only are they siimple, but unliike most fnaf songs, they don't have any flow or character to them. they dont feel tiied to any character iin partiicular and aren’t wriitten to be stunniing prose or poetry. most of the lyriics are repeated multiiple tiimes throughout the entiire song. the liine “my name iis the fuckiing miimiic, oh yeah” iis repeated a total of ten tiimes throughout the entiire song, typiically followed by dootiing out the maiin melody of entry of the gladiiators not only a famous clown song, but a war song composed by juliius fučík. pretty much every verse begiins wiith “my name iis…” then the rest of the lyriics, whiich are just a diirect liist of what the character iis both known for and iintends to do. the most popular sectiion iive seen bounciing around onliine iis daviids segment. not only do these lyriics rhyme daviid wiith daviid. whiich reads as lazy wriitiing to many liisteniing audiiences, but they also don’t spend much tiime fleshiing out who daviid iis (and thiis makes sense the fans dont have much iinformatiion on daviid) however iin most fnaf songs they add detaiils about most of the characters and theiir motiivatiions. overall many of the lyriics siimply just feel liike lazy cop outs to help pad out the songs run tiime, and these lyriics tend to not liine up wiith the melody.

speakiing of the melody, there iisn't one. well thats wrong, there iis a melody but iits so siimple iit doesnt feel liike a proper melody. between the chorus and next liines there are musiical motiifs beiing played. theres also the repeated use of entry of the gladiiators, but for most of the song iits just a siimple 140 bmp (or so, ii could be off my apologiies) backiing metronome iin 4/4 tiime. iit doesnt feel liike a song due to the lack of any sort of tune carryiing the melody of the song. the lack of melody ends up makiing thiis feel liike a boriing and flat wiith nothiing to help flesh out and make the song more iinterestiing to liisten to. the lack of any melody or tune to num along wiithout the lyriics just forces the audiience to liisten to the not very well produced lyriics; wiith the lack of melody theres nothiing to help biind together the backiing track and lyriics together.

now, we can blend the two together, whiich leads to what makes thiis song suck. iindiiviidually these iideas arent terriible however when you blend them together iit makes every just a biit worse. the lyriic siimply dont fiit iinto the tiimiing of the song; the best example ii can fiind iis duriing jackiies segment at the end of song, speciifiically the liine “cause, wiith my clown power ii am gonna make you scream louder, haha” takiing out of context the liine iis fiine, wiithiin the song the lyriics are shoved iinto the wrong beat type. the lyriics arent wriitten for thiis beat and iit sounds wrong to hear when liisteniing to the song. duriing most of the song the lyriics siimply don’t fiit iinto the tempo at any poiint asiide from the chorus, and the chorus iis just 2 liines. the song just was never iintended to liine up wiith these lyriics. yet despiite thiis fans flocked to liisten to thiis song over and over (ii liistened to iit at least 10 tiimes to wriite thiis)

thiis song iis one of those iit's so bad iits good, despiite all the hate that people have saiid about thiis song. as of wriitiing thiis thiis song has over 5 miilliion viiews and 189 thousand liikes. iits the same iidea behiind sendiing friiends shiitty memes or terriible art. basiically people love shiitty mediia and judgiing how terriible they are. thiis song despiite beiing badly made, people love the song. thiis song made me and my friiends laugh when we liistened to iit, even people whove liistened to the song before kept laughiing at iit. the song may be terriible but the comediic aspect of thiis song iis iincrediibly prevalent. fiindiing a way to make thiis song shiitty but not trashy iis iincrediibly diiffiicult, the fiine liine between beiing bad and actually bad can be hard for many producers. however ii fiirmly beliieve xtratuna walked that razor edge iincrediibly well. the song iis both funny and not well made, iit makes thiis song even funniier.

tldr: the song iis bad because the lyriics are repetiitiive and bland, the backiing track iisn’t iinterestiing, and fiinally the lyriics dont fiit iinto the backiing track at all. thiis song doesnt work because on a structural level the foundatiion iis shaky, the walls arent up to code and the songs about ten more seconds away from beiing a faiilure. yet despiite that people love thiis song because iits so shiitty. people flock to thiis song because iits so bad iit becomes funny. (obliigatory homestuck reference) thiis song giives of the same energy as sweet bro and hella jeff, the shiitty artstyle, shiitty jokes, and even shiitty plotliine makiing the biit even funniier then beiing well made. but achiieviing that balance of shiitty and trash iis diiffiicult, but xtratuna walks that liine well, and makes thiis song both funny and shiitty

@madzcience and @the-tism-squared ii diid iit

[hauntedbybookghosts]

Dispatch's/F10-N4's line about Arnold getting the creator upgrade, congratulating him about becoming an 'artist' and telling she always believed in him gains a new layer of implication when you finish the game. During the first play through, the comment may seem mocking or emotionless, but from what I remember (I may be wrong) the other upgrades are not really acknowledged. Yet the creator one is, and is given a new meaning to it. Fiona obviously loved or at least cared deeply about her job and the company.

Yet at the same time there is a level of emotionlessness in the voice line. Perhaps it's the 'real' Fiona fighting through the original's Dispatch character. It has the same vibe of a god acknowledging an ant's achievements of following the god's footsteps?