Yes, I was that type of kid, the one who was hyperfixated on murdered children seeking revenge while my friends were watching High School Musical. I lived and breathed Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNaF). I consumed enormous amounts of content about this video game… thank you, Markiplier. I did not shut up for years and at the same time, I had no one to talk to. This story was so addicting, and to this day, I still can’t remember every piece of lore that it carries. FNaF, created by Scott Cawthon, is a point-and-click survival horror video game first released in 2014. This game became such a big hit that the story later became a franchise, now claiming different types of media like video games (duh), novels, comic books, and films. FNaF has become a global phenomenon that is referenced on a daily basis in conversations, memes, and — unfortunately — porn. (For all that is holy, please stop searching for it.)
Now buckle up because I am diving into the lore of the Freddy franchise. I’ll keep it (relatively) short. The backstory? Simple. Man murders children. That alone should be enough reason for me to say STOP drawing porn about characters that are meant to represent children! Seriously, what is wrong with some of you? In the late 1970’s or early 80’s, William Afton and Henry Emily created Fredbear’s Family Diner. The main appeal of this restaurant is the animatronics, Fredbear and Bonnie, created by Afton and Emily. Basically, it’s like Chuck-E-Cheese, which scared the fuck out of me as a kid, by the way. Afton murders Emily’s daughter, Charlie outside Fredbear’s Diner. Her spirit possesses the puppet animatronic — also known as Marionette — who ends up playing a crucial role due to her guiding the souls placed in the suits to lead a vengeful life against Afton. Marionette is able to grant these children to possess the four main animatronic suits we see in the first FNaF game. Afton then goes on to murder four other children inside the next restaurant, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria.
Even if you’ve never played FNaF, you must have heard of the Bite of ‘83. At a birthday party at Fredbear’s Family Diner, William Afton’s youngest son, Evan, is killed when Michael, Afton’s oldest son, and his friends put Evan’s head into the mouth of a Fredbear animatronic. As Evan cries, his tears hit the springlocks, causing them to fail, and slam shut, squeezing Evan’s little head. This causes Afton to go insane (as any parent would), but what separates him from others is that his mindset turns to violence. Evan’s soul goes into the suit of Golden Freddy.
Essentially, as you can imagine, more bad shit happens, Afton becomes even more evil, and the Freddy franchise eventually loses its appeal as cases of missing children are left cold. In FNaF 1, we play as Michael, Afton’s oldest son, after all these events. Michael takes a job as an overnight security guard for the pizzeria, attempting to go around to various Freddy locations to contact the spirits of the children. At the same time, Afton attempts to destroy all of his haunted creations, which angers the children. In order to hide, Afton puts himself in the same suit he used to lure the children to their deaths. Much like his son Evan, the springlocks within this suit fail, and Afton is killed. But, as he famously says, ‘I always come back!’ Cue the evil laugh and springlock PTSD.
If that wasn’t enough backstory to get you interested in FNaF, then sorry but you’re lame. In the Freddy franchise, a film under the same name was released in 2023, starring Matthew Lillard, Josh Hutcherson (my first celebrity crush ever… awhhhh), Elizabeth Lail, and Piper Rubio. I LOVE this movie. I don’t care what critics say — ‘it wasn’t scary enough.’ The film story and character origins are slightly different from the games, but the premise is the same (Michael, don’t get murdered). It’s rising in popularity again due to a sequel releasing on December 5, 2025. I am so excited to see FNaF 2 and the new animatronics. This weekend, it was announced who will be voicing Toy Freddy, Chica, and Bonnie, and I was flabbergasted after hearing the news.
Toy Freddy will be voiced by Kellen Goff, who had a decent hand in the franchise already. Goff voiced several versions of Freddy Fazbear across the FNaF games. He is Funtime Freddy (Sister Location), Molten Freddy (Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator, Ultimate Custom Night), Fredbear (Ultimate Custom Night), Glamrock Freddy (Security Breach), and the Daycare Attendant (Security Breach). Obviously, it was a no-brainer for Goff to continue his career with yet another role as a version of Freddy. Toy Bonnie will be voiced by MatPat, a former YouTuber who created the series GameTheory, a collection of video essays combining science and theory-crafting. MatPat covered many of the franchise’s games, with his most popular FNaF video titled “Game Theory: Five Nights at Freddy’s Scariest Monster is You!” which earned over 34 million views. It makes complete sense that MatPat will be featured in the second FNaF movie, especially because he was featured in the first one as a diner waiter who states, ‘Did you know lunch is the most important meal of the day. Thought it was breakfast… some people say that, but, you know, it’s just a theory.’ Get it? He said the thing! And finally, the most surprising cast reveal of all, Toy Chica will be voiced by none other than… Megan Fox. Hello??? Megan. Fucking. Fox. Am I hallucinating? Maybe this isn’t completely random to you. But to me, I felt like this was a huge prank. But, after thinking about it, it starts to make sense. Movie Toy Chica could manipulate people with a smooth-talking voice, and for the older ones, she may have a hint of seduction. Megan Fox was great in Jennifer’s Body (2009), and I can totally see her using the same type of tone she did for her role as Jennifer.
Also, I almost pissed myself in the FNaF house at Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights. Guests are not allowed to have their phones out during the experience so unfortunately there’s no photos, but I swear I was there, running scared, I remember it all too wellllllll. Upon entering the studio, you walk past fences and immediately see a giant sign for Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria. Entering the restaurant, you’re immediately hit with the same exact tiling, the same dusty atmosphere, and after walking into the next room, there stands Freddy, Chica, and Bonnie on stage. And yes, they were moving. Behind every corner stood a child actor dressed up like the ones that we see in the film. A boy wearing a brown shirt was Freddy. A girl had pigtails and a yellow shirt, so hey Chica! And another boy wore purple and had bunny ears on… can you guess who he is? As for Foxy, there was one area where they had his animatronic on a moving conveyor belt, so when triggered, Foxy would run up to where you’re standing. And the boy who represented him was wearing red, an eye patch, and a hook on one of his hands. This kid really got me at one point. The whole place is dark so it was a little hard to see when someone was going to pop out. Walking past a curtain, which I should have guessed since that’s Foxy’s habitat, this boy jumped out and slashed his hook around while I ran into the person walking in front of me. Overall, it was a really cool experience and if the line to get in the house wasn’t so long, I probably would have done it again. While it was scary, it wasn’t as bad as you may think. I believe that playing FNaF VR (virtual reality) was more terrifying than actually being in this haunted house.
Comments
Post a Comment