Who caused the bite of 83? Why does Monty hate Bonnie? And what does David Afton's favorite show have to do with the Mimic? All these questions and more are what I'm attempting to answer today. Hello Internet! Welcome to Game Theory, the show that keeps on giving like the hidden details in a FNAF game. Although hopefully we're less complicated. I mean, how often do we find small pieces in this franchise that either don't go anywhere or don't connect to any of the big questions we're actually asking. And sometimes the pieces don't even get discovered until way after the game releases, like the springlock design with possibly Henry's signature as pointed out by I.D.'s fantasy. Or there's an update added to the game way after its release that changes small details, like this random silhouette in the window that I saw right host talking about. The trouble is when they are just small pieces, it can be hard to justify talking about them because they're just that small. That one thing is interesting for sure, but does it actually change anything? However, as I've been going back through our FNAF archives and weighing up all of these small pieces that have been brought to light either through more research on my end or from other talented theorists in the space, I believe I found a few interesting details that are worth talking about. So today I want to present three mini theories that if true would change or expand on previous theories we've explored in the past. Think of them like Theory DLC. Don't worry, I'll be sure to explain each of the previous theories as we go, but let's start with one that's actually been on my mind for a few years. Theory number one, Henry Stoll Edwin's Designs In my final Secret of the Mimic theory, I spoke a lot about whether Henry and Afton stole designs from Edwin Murray. I basically settled on the idea that the answer was kind of yes, although there was a chance that Henry did actually collaborate on some things with Edwin, and he definitely was designing some stuff himself, as he was the one changing the designs from Edwin. I got the change order from Hen last night. But after that video in our live talkback, ID brought to my attention their video and the blueprint that, unlike all the others we see in Murray's costume manner, didn't have the MCM logo on it, but instead a signature that looks like it could be Henry's. Adding credence to the fact that Henry was making stuff. She also has a really cool explanation for Henry's prisons of my making line, while also keeping the FNAF 1 animatronics as Edwin's designs like we see in the basement. Basically suggesting that Henry saw those designs, upgraded them to make the Endo 02s, and then put them in the shells that Edwin had been making for the classic animatronics, which is why, in Into the Pit, which takes place in 1985, we see classic Freddy in the gang, but with Endo 02s inside them. It's a very cool video, and I highly recommend you watch it, but proving that Henry was definitely designing stuff got me thinking about what else we've attributed to him in the past. You see, over the years we've focused a lot on Henry's design philosophy when it comes to animatronics. ID's theory would align with previous theories we've had about the withereds definitely being early Henry designs, where we focused on aspects like the jaws to make that connection. The withered animatronics have two types of jaws, a classic hinge and a separated mouth and head connected by piston-like bars. Now the reason we felt like this could be attributed to Henry was because of the other times this design comes up in the franchise, namely FNAF 6. In that game we're introduced to Lefty, a Freddy-like character designed specifically to capture the puppet. Henry tells us in the tapes that, and so with Lefty having the puppet inside now being dragged back against its will, it stands to a reason that Lefty was made by Henry. And wouldn't you know it? It too has the same piston-like jaw mechanism. We then see this repeated in other animatronics that connect to Lefty, the Rockstar animatronics, and we see it with the rudimentary mediocre melodies. Now for the longest time, even though you buy the mediocre melodies from a third party in the game, we theorize that these were actually shell companies for Henry to make his scheme happen. And thanks to stories like the puppet cover that also include rudimentary animatronics for a banjo-playing pig and a frog, we felt like we were being shown that Henry was the creator of the mediocre and that they were some of his first, hence the battery packs they needed to operate. However, this is where Secret of the Mimic comes in and completely upends the idea, like it did with so many other theories. Because in this game, we see original designs for these characters like a frog, a pig, an elephant, and a hippo. So again, the initial characters feel like they were Edwin. But the big issue is this message right here. Quote, me and Stan are out of here. It's time to jump ship before things get ugly. I have a bunch of Fiona's character patterns and Stan is taking what he can. Join us! With everything we know about the restaurant projects, we can start our own machine shop. So again, doubling down on the fact that these designs were originally part of Murray's, but the real important part is the name that's mentioned. Stan. That might not mean anything to you. It's a pretty generic name, to be honest, but it has shown up in this franchise once before in FNAF 6. The company you buy the mediocre melodies from is called Stan's Budget Tech. This guy and his friend left MCM stole Fiona's designs and then started a robot shop, which we then buy from in FNAF 6. That's why in the character encyclopedia Ned bears entry questions whether he was altered from Freddy Fazbear, quote, to avoid copyright issues. It was originally a Freddy that Stan stole from the company and made his own, only to sell it back to Fazbear years later. The most frustrating part about this isn't the fact that Henry didn't make the mediocre melodies. I've made my peace with that. It's that we used to be able to use these animatronic designs to distinguish who made them. And now it feels like this is just how people make animatronics and they can be anyone. Are the rock stars actually Henry's or is that another real company? Where he then took an old rock star Freddy and turned him into lefty. It just means we're back to square one with knowing who made what exactly. Well, kinda. See, there is one more animatronic that uses this design that I've not mentioned. One that we've also attributed to Henry in the past. And one that came before all of these other designs. Fredbear. In the FNAF 4 minigames, we see multiple versions of Fredbear at the diner location. Some being worn by staff, others are in animatronic mode. However, if we take a look at the iconic one that ends up crunching down on one David Afton, what do you notice? That same piston like jaw design. But every golden Freddy or Fredbear we've seen in this franchise up until this point hasn't had that design detail. They all have designs more similar to Freddy or withered Freddy, hinged or attached to jaws, not pistons. But do you know where we do see a piston based jaw design for Fredbear? Down in the basement of MCM. This version of Fredbear has a prototype label on the back of its head, implying that this is one of the designs we read about from Edwin. Quote, Fiona, the new springlocks are working well, even with the water damage. They should be ready for the diner soon. These are the new designs Edwin makes to avoid the classic water damage prone designs that he and Henry had previously made. Which is great if you want to avoid a lawsuit. Given the state of Edwin's bank account, I think that'll be music to his ears. This new version of Fredbear wasn't susceptible to water damage. And this one has that classic piston jaw. It seems like despite the project not being fully finished, and this one just being a prototype, Fazbear still wanted more versions of Fredbear in their diner. And so brought this version to fill in that slot. Which is why we see multiple versions throughout the minigame. I mean Edwin does say that these new designs have quote odd behaviors, like say not stopping its mouth movement when there's something clearly caught inside. It also means that both Stan, who left the company to start his own business, and Henry, who bought all of MCM's designs, were all copying and working off of Edwin's original designs. It can all be traced back to him again. And so if we ever see any animatronics in the future with this design, while they might not physically be made by Edwin, we should take a look because it's clearly copying his original designs and we can likely trace it back to him in some way. However, this also raises a, let's call it, disturbing truth. If this Fredbear we see in the diner is actually the prototype from down in the basement of MCM, then that would mean it wasn't Henry's design that got David Afton killed, it was Edwin's. Which then changes a lot of Afton's motivations. We've commonly looked at this moment as the reason William is sent on a killing spree, starting with Charlie. It's revenge on the man who made the machine that killed his son. But now, if it's Edwin's machine, it throws into question why Afton killed Charlie, leaning more into the idea that he never really cared about his kids and was more interested in just experimenting and, well, murder. But speaking of David Afton, theory number two, David Afton is possessed. I recently did a trash episode where I explored the theory God David by T-dreads. That theory basically focuses on the idea that David Murray, David Afton and Gregory are also similar because David Afton and Gregory are both possessed by a version of the Mimic AI, making them into a version of David Murray. However, even he recognized some of it was a bit of a stretch, namely the how of it all when it came to the possession of David Afton. His solution was that it was psychic friend Fredbear containing a version of the Mimic AI that then transferred into David Afton, much like the lonely Freddy's work in the Fazbear Fright story. But like I say, even he recognized it was a bit of a stretch and I also had some thoughts on why it was confusing, mostly that the timeline didn't really add up. If psychic friend Fredbear was asking questions in order to take possession, then why is David Afton already acting and looking like David Murray? If David Afton is already possessed, then why is Fredbear asking questions or speaking at all? That being said, I did like that idea of David Afton being possessed by AI, and so I was trying to see if I could find any more evidence to back up this idea and maybe solidify the solution. And I think there is in the form of two stories from Tales from the Pizza Plex, ones that T-Dreads didn't mention, B7 and B7 II. B7 was all about a kid called Billy that became obsessed with animatronics so much so he decided to literally become one himself. He got surgery to remove his limbs and replace them with prosthetics. Eventually, he realizes his mistake and gets himself crushed in a junkyard. The sequel starts in a hospital. Billy somehow survived his injuries and is now learning to live life without his animatronic limbs. But while in hospital, he is haunted by those same animatronic limbs that once were a part of him, and they are desperate to become one with him again. Eventually, he gets out and moves in with his grandmother who ends up killing B7 in the end, allowing Billy to live life on his own where he can go out and find his mysterious absent father, free from the torment. So why do I think this is important to the story of David Afton? Well, in my mind, for Scott to go back and tell more of a character's story implies there is more to this character and his story than we may have first thought. He is actively trying to draw our attention to it and as I looked back over it, there are a few details that stood out to me that begin to connect the dots. Firstly, Grandma's house. Throughout this story, Billy is learning what it means to be a human after years of believing he's an animatronic. And so, he is very detailed in his descriptions of things. But there are two details that keep popping up over and over again, flowers and a grandfather clock. Quote, Grandma's house was surrounded by several flower beds. The rooms, yellow walls were covered in paintings and photographs of flowers. In the corner of the living room, a heavily carved wood grandfather clock guarded the space, a big brass pendulum attached to a long metal rod swung back and forth inside the clock. Billy and his grandmother watched the grandfather clock's pendulum swing back and forth. There are a lot more examples, but you get the idea. Flowers and grandfather clocks are repeatedly pointed out, despite having little to no effect on the story. So my theorist brain goes, they keep mentioning it, why are they important? Well, when I see grandfather clock, I immediately think back to the old FNAF 4 house and dream theory. The grandfather clock was instrumental to those theories, and it's the only time we've ever seen a grandfather clock like this. And what else do we see around the FNAF 4 house? Several flower beds and pictures of flowers on the wall. Separate from Grandmother's house, we're also following the idea of a robot wanting to join with a human to become its true self. And in God David, he dreads as theorizing that a version of the Mimic program is trying to merge with David Afton in order to become its true self again. David Murray. We also have a kid who believes he is a robot, which you could argue is what happened to David Afton when he becomes possessed by a robot AI. He's not actually becoming the real David Murray, he's becoming M2, an AI version of David now just in human form. Then you throw in the mysterious absent father character, and it sure seems like Billy might be reflecting David in some way. But as the wise elder, unwithered tree stated in T-Dread's God David video, if that is the case, then what are we supposed to be learning about David Afton from this story? Well, I think it might actually answer T-Dread's issue around his possession. At the very beginning of B7, little Billy becomes obsessed with animatronics to the point he believes he is one, almost like he's being mind controlled or possessed. And it all starts with him watching a show called Freddy and Friends. And what's on the TV in the Afton house in FNAF 4? The Fazbear TV show Fredbear and Friends. Could it be that rather than psychic friend Fredbear being the way the mimic possessed David Afton, instead it was the TV? That would leave psychic friend Fredbear to keep the role he's always had, being a way for Afton to spy on his kid, maybe even check in and ask questions to make sure the possession was successful, but still allow for the possession of David Afton by the mimic program like T-Dread's originally theorized. It's a huge stretch, I admit, but so was the Lonely Freddy idea in the first place, so I do think it's worth thinking about this kind of symbolism between characters. And speaking of, theory number three, the Monty and Bonnie feud solved. Since Security Breach, it's been abundantly clear that there's some kind of beef going on between Monty and Bonnie. In Security Breach itself, we got Fazwatch messages showing us Glamrock Bonnie's strange movements around the pizza place, which eventually led him to Monty Gulf and he was never seen again. In the interactive novel VIP, we find the Bonnie go-kart has been sabotaged with Monty Mix, and if you throw a packet of Bonnie branded candy at Monty, he stomps on it in a rage once he notices it's Bonnie's. And it all comes to a head in ruin when we find Glamrock Bonnie completely, well, ruined, with green and purple paint across his broken chest, just like Monty's claws. Now, this whole thing has been massively debated in the community. Did Monty do it? Was he framed? Why would Monty hate Bonnie at all? Well, I think we can finally put this mystery to rest, and it's all because of symbolism. For that flaw has always been complicated, and so over the years, instead of just relying on the physical evidence in front of us, we've tried to use methods like symbolism to help explain previously unexplainable situations. One of the examples we tend to use a lot is that Henry is associated with Freddy and Afton with Bonnie. They used to wear those costumes at the start of the franchise, like at Fredbear's Family Diner, and so, anytime we see Freddy and Bonnie, we should be checking for some kind of symbolic double meaning about William and Henry. When Secret of the Mimic came out, the idea went a level deeper. We were introduced to the characters of Edwin and Fiona, and the fact that they were the original creators of the characters Chica and Foxy. Suddenly, we had our core four rounded up. We've got a female chicken designed by Fiona, a woman who was the first major death in the franchise. And we have a male tattered fox who was part of Edwin's big TV show idea. Realizing this, I was excited to dive into what that symbolism could mean for other parts of the franchise. That was, until I saw this video by Gibby's horror homestead. The video is mostly talking about my theory as to whether Old Man Consequences is actually Edwin Murray in some way, which I have to say is awesome to see. Again, solving FNAF requires collaboration, but during that video, he points out that in the basement proto Freddy's, and in the storybook during the secret ending, it's not just four characters, it's six. They add Bob and Monty to the mix. Gibby then suggests that while Edwin could be Foxy, it's equally likely it could be Monty. With Bob and Foxy representing other characters we may not fully know about. And when I heard that, I realized how much sense it made. Monty is all over MCM, but rather than the violent rock star we know from Security Breach, he's, for lack of a better term, a chill hillbilly croc. Hillbilly is historically a derogatory stereotype used for people who live in rural mountainous areas of the US and are often associated with being poor and unsophisticated. And now, this is going to come off as a very strange segue, but hear me out, let's take a look at Edwin. As Arnold drives to MCM, there is nothing else around. Edwin lives on a hill in what feels like the middle of nowhere. He's isolated. He's also broke, especially by the time he ends up working on the proto Freddy's in the basement. And his designs or approach to animatronics and business is generally rushed, prone to failure, or you could say unsophisticated, especially when you compare it to Afton and his very successful business. To be clear, I am not saying that Edwin is literally a hillbilly, but some of those traits do translate symbolically to what we see from Edwin, making Monty a pretty good symbolic stand-in. He's also made by Edwin, which feels like an important part of the symbolic attachment idea. And to top it all off, his inclusion matches Edwin's inclusion in the franchise. When we look at someone like Fiona being Chica, Fiona may have died in Security Breach, but M1 takes on her identity and M1 is present underneath the pizza plagues and all of the FNAF locations probably, just like Chica is present in all the games. But now look at Monty. Monty is part of the proto Freddy's at the start of the franchise, only to disappear and then suddenly show up again in Security Breach, which feels just like Edwin's part in the story. He was part of the early days of Freddy's, gets removed from the story both by Fazbear and literally by Scott, and then becomes relevant again in the modern day with Security Breach thanks to the Mimic storyline. This could mean that Edwin isn't dead and is going to show up again to stop the Mimic. Or it might mean I was right all along and Edwin is Old Man Consequences, and his association with Monty is why he appears with a crocodile head in Ultimate Custom Night and FNAF World. But regardless of how he's showing up, the idea that Monty symbolically represents Edwin finally explains the Monty and Bonnie feud. In the story teller from Tales from the Pizza Plex, we learn that the M1 program is put in charge of the Pizza Plex, literally connected to everything, and is responsible for creating new stories for these characters. Suddenly they begin acting up and I believe this is what we're seeing in Security Breach. And AI can't create stories, it's going to be remixing stuff from what it's seen and learned. Throughout Secret of the Mimic, Edwin shows disdain for Afton and Fazbear. He's angrier Afton for stealing his employees and ideas, buying out his business, changing Fiona's designs, and setting unrealistic deadlines. In his mind, Afton is destroying him and everything he's built. In M1, the machine designed to mimic Edwin's wife, Fiona, would have been around to witness all of it. He'd have vented to her, she'd have heard his recordings, so Edwin's perspective became her perspective. Flash forward several decades, and suddenly Monty begins showing an over the top disdain for Bonnie. Sabotaging rides that look like him, and throwing fit over candy because the Mimic is doing exactly what we've been doing. Associating characters with their human counterparts, all from the perspective of the wifebot that was there to witness the destruction Fazbear caused. It's why Glamrock Freddy and Glamrock Bonnie are best friends forever. From the Murray's perspective, Henry and William were best friends, willing to portray Edwin. So when the Mimic takes over, she makes that a reality. And that is why Monty hates Bonnie. Monty is Edwin and Afton is Bonnie. Afton destroyed everything, and so Monty, under M1's influence, reacts badly to anything to do with him. Bonnie on a piece of candy and not him, it's a reminder of Afton's success over Edwin's. So he sabotages and destroys things, eventually leading him to take the ultimate revenge. The revenge Edwin wanted. Destroying Bonnie, just like Afton had destroyed his life decades ago. And remember, even after Bonnie is destroyed, Monty doesn't stop. His next objective? Remove Glamrock Freddy from the picture During one of the endings, we see Monty becoming the star. And during Monty Golf, we see Monty take center stage with Freddy in a dumpster. Because again, Afton wasn't the only one at fault. Henry, the man Edwin considered a friend, also betrayed him and sided with Afton. And so in this world where the Mimic is creating new stories, it's playing out the fantasy that Edwin dreamed of all those years ago, where he ends up on top destroying the very people that destroyed him. But hey, that's just a theory. A game theory! Thanks for watching.
