Alicia: Hey, just a heads up the episode.

You're about to listen to you
is about five nights at Freddy's

created by Scott Cawthon.

Some relevant trigger warnings for
this game include child endangerment

and death, blood and gore.

And our hosts have ranked
this game as pretty scary.

If you'd like to learn more
about the game, discuss this

evening, please visit our website.

Progressively horrified.transistor.fm
for show notes and a

transcript of this episode.

After the spooky music, we'll
talk about the game in full.

So be forewarned, there will be spoilers.

Now let's get onto the show.

Emily: Hello, and welcome to
progressively horrified the podcast

where we hold horror to progressive
standards it never agreed to.

I am your friendly
neighborhood, mega moth.

This is Emily.

And tonight we are doing
a very special episode.

I have gathered our usual variety of
cinephiles and cenobites, but these

cenobites have some exceptional talents.

They are experts to help us wrap
our collective brains around this

unusual installment in horror media.

Uh, We are talking about the video
game franchise Five Nights at Freddy's.

In fact, I, a person of age is being
educated by this group of uh, scholars,

if you will, in the uh, work, the
oeuvre, that is Five Nights at Freddy's.

So without fur further ado,
Here are my guests tonight.

First up, we have Quinn Valentine,
illustrator, artist extraordinaire Quinn.

Can you tell me when you were
first into Five Nights at Freddy's?

Quinn: I got into it around high
school because it was the most hit

latest thing alongside other stuff
that was popular in horror for people

my age at the time, like Slenderman.

Emily: Ah.

Quinn: And I think what was appealing to
me about Five Nights at Freddy's was the

fact that it was a relatively simple game.

But also that it was sort of the
most accessible horror at the time.

So I think that would've been
around, I wanna say 2015 or 2016.

Emily: So you've got a few
a little over half a decade.

I can't count.

Not today.

Uh, Next we have Carissa Davis artist and
a creator of the web comic rising tides.

Carissa, can you tell me when you
were first introduced and or into

these Five Nights at Freddy's?

Carissa: For me, it was
also around high school.

I was about, I think I was 17 or
18 and it was when it dropped.

You know, it was the hottest thing uh,
on the, the uh, interwebs for a youth.

Uh, it was all the rage and all
the big YouTubers played it.

And I loved YouTube and
being a, a cool youth.

So I, gleefully awaited the drop of
every game afterwards uh, despite not

actually playing it myself because I
was a bit of a scaredy cat as a kid,

so I'd have someone else to play it.

Emily: I also will admit to
everybody here right now that I

also have not played this game.

But we're going to talk about it so
you, the listener do not have to.

Unless you want to.

But first, last but not least, we have
our guest Allya Ferness who, as well

as an artist, illustrator has a blog
that is Five Nights at Freddy's themed.

That would be the ask Roxanne Wolf blog.

Allya.

When did you first get into
Five Nights at Freddy's?

Allya: I got into Five Nights at Freddy's
way back in elementary school for me.

Emily: Mm-hmm.

Allya: And I stumbled on it on YouTube
because I got a recommended video

and it was just some silly little
animation someone made and I've been

hooked to it ever since, while also
it consistently giving me nightmares.

Emily: Beautiful.

That's our favorite kind of media, the
kind that we love to be terrified of.

So yeah.

Um, The game was created by Scott
Cawthon, produced and distributed by

Scott Cawthon, Steel Wool Stuidios,
Illumix, Clickteam, Lionsgate, Scottgames,

Maximum Games and Clickteam, LLC USA.

So we have quite a few companies
involved with this series, and I

think we'll be getting into the how's
whats and whys of that in a bit.

Before our, our full recap of the
story of this game, how would each of

you explain this game in one sentence?

I'm gonna start with Quinn.

Quinn: The core concept in everything
Five Nights at Freddy's is what if

electronics could be haunted and what
would happen if they became haunted?

Emily: Yes.

Allya, how would you describe this game
in one sentence, one or two sentences.

Allya: Creepy animatronics go boo,
with lore way too scary to dive into.

Emily: Carissa, how would you explain?

Carissa: I think I would describe it
as lots of child murder that snowballs

into convoluted, massive lore and
really fun and creative gameplay.

Emily: Excellent.

Quinn, you mentioned what you were
into about the game and, and so did

you Allya but like specifically what,
other than the accessibility, attracted

you to it like what kept you there?

Quinn: So for me, it was cuz I
was a budding furry at the time.

Emily: Bless.

Quinn: But I also had a special
interest in robots as a kid.

And so this was sort of like a totally
new territory I had never knew existed

before where we've got these really
colorful robots who are a little

fucked up, a little weird and I just
kept getting more and more intrigued.

And I would say what's kept me
around is a, the games always try

to do something new every time.

And I kind of appreciate that they sort
of mix things up without necessarily

sticking to the same formula all
the time or not sticking to the

formula in the same way every time.

And although I do like some of the lore,
I think actually trying to dig for it

yourself is the most interesting to
me, cuz it's usually very well hidden.

So it's kind of like there's, you know,
you're playing what is essentially

like a haunted house kind of game, but
you can also sort of piece together

the gist of what happened there by
looking around and finding stuff.

Emily: Yeah.

Allya, what would you add to that?

Allya: For me, what kind of keeps me
around is I like seeing all the art

people like to make of these characters.

Emily: Mm-hmm.

Allya: I think they're
fun interpretations.

And I also used to enjoy listening
to videos that would try to explain

the lore and then having to go
back on that and reconstruct it.

Emily: Okay.

Allya: I always found those entertaining
for me, but it's usually what the fandom

could come up for the animatronics
and all the other characters

that kind of kept me interested.

Emily: Yeah.

Carissa?

Carissa: Um, I think what does
it for me is I'm not really into

the fandom part of FNAF at all.

I genuinely just really like, the games
are just built really interestingly,

like they're so unique and refreshing
to like the genre of horror games.

Like I guess the first thing I can think
of is like, it was mind blowing to see

a horror game where like the function
is you're sitting there and like, things

are coming at you and you can't run away.

It's all about surviving the night and
you're stationary and like the way that

they keep making different ways to sort of
set up these really terrifying scenarios.

Like each game adds like this fresh new
element that I always like await seeing,

like, how's he gonna follow up that game?

And he always, I, Scott always had a way
of like creating this, these interesting

mechanics that I just really appreciated.

And I really liked how he told the
story through each night and just the

storytelling is really interesting and
subtle and I appreciate it for that.

Emily: Cool.

I mean, I've seen references, I've
seen videos that you guys have sent

me and stuff, and I've heard you guys
explain this to me many times before.

But your wisdom is very valuable
because I know that there's a huge

number of people out there that just
don't know what the hell's going on.

Allya, especially, thank you, Allya,
has provided a um, somewhat truncated,

lore guide uh, in terms of a timeline
here, which I'm gonna read for us.

We have William Afton and Henry Emily.

Is that the name of our characters?

Allya: Yep.

Emily: Okay.

Uh, William Afton and Henry Emily opened
Fred Bear's Diner with Fred Bear and

Spring Bonnie being the diner's mascots.

We're talking to Chuck E.

Cheese situation here.

They later opened another restaurant
with Freddy, Bonnie, Chica and Foxy,

which are also some animatronic mascots.

And of course, if you're not
familiar with the idea of Chuck E.

Cheese uh, Google it.

There's animatronics.

They're spooky.

They've gotten less spooky over the years.

Still kind of upsetting.

Uh, an incident at Fred Bear's
Diner takes place and the suits

can no longer be worn by staff.

Um, The suits for the out,
for the animatronics or what?

Quinn: So the suits are sort of like
both animatronic and also a suit.

Emily: Okay.

Quinn: Basically a performer
can go inside of it.

Allya: The suits specifically have spring
locks in them, which gives them the

ability to be worn as suits by people.

Emily: Okay.

Allya: So they're, they can't get
what, otherwise they will lock in,

end up hurting the person inside.

Emily: Interesting.

I have not heard of this.

I've either, you know, either
wear a mascot outfit or you're in

animatronics, but this sounds horrifying.

I don't know if this is unique to
the game, but this is a new bit of

fact that is just making me scared.

Quinn: I was gonna say Scott
comes up with a lot of interesting

things that you're gonna notice.

Emily: Oh, cool.

All right.

There's a lot of games that are
not quite in chronological order

of the story that come out uh,
different points along this timeline.

So we're looking at Five Nights
at Freddy's Four at this point.

And then we have Sister Location,
which happens next in the timeline.

I'm looking at this note, these notes,
and I'm probably going to not mention what

game happens when at this point, because-.

Carissa: Um, that's for the best.

Yeah.

Emily: Cuz there's a lot of, although this
information is good for reference later.

Thank you, Allya.

So William made animatronics
that can be rented out.

The animatronics would kidnap kids.

William's child, Elizabeth got too close
to Baby, one of the, an animatronics

and got scooped up by the animatronic.

William's older child, Michael was told to
investigate to see what happened to her.

Other animatronics Baby, Ballora, Freddy,
Foxy, FT Freddy - what does FT stand for?

Quinn: Funtime.

Emily: Funtime Freddy and Funtime Foxy.

Very, very good.

Thank you.

They emerged together to make Ennard
and they get Michael scooped away

to use his body to pass as human.

How does that, how do they?

Quinn: I can vouch for this one.

I've played a lot of Sister Location.

Emily: Now is Sister Location
a different location?

Quinn: Yes.

Carissa: Oh yes.

There's so many.

Emily: Fred Bear's Diner.

Carissa: The layers.

Quinn: There's many layers.

So there's the initial franchise.

And then there's sort of when the two
main guys that started it separate.

And the one who makes the Funtime
ones is kind of the dangerous guy.

Emily: Is that William?

Carissa: William Afton?

Yeah.

Emily: Okay.

Carissa: It's always William.

Quinn: His sister location is underground
where he keeps Baby and Ballora and all

of these other Funtime animatronics that
he are supposed to entertain children.

And part of the maintenance of them
involves a device called the scoop.

Emily: Okay.

Quinn: Which essentially scoops the
actual robot part inside of it, away

from the metal shell on the outside.

So the animatronics that are
there are essentially trapped

there and can never leave.

They don't like that.

They use the scoop to trick a human.

Which there's a lot of
debate on which human it is.

Emily: Right.

Quinn: Um, But basically they do
that to scoop your insides out

so they can wear your shell, your
skin in order to be able to leave.

Carissa: Good stuff.

Oh, good stuff.

Emily: Oh, cool.

So they are literally taking Michael's-.

Quinn: Skin.

Emily: In skin and putting
it on a frame on a-.

Quinn: On their body, on their, yeah.

their robot body so they
look passable enough.

Carissa: Yep.

Yep.

It doesn't last very long.

Emily: Yeah, it says here uh,
you know, they eventually leave

this as the body's rotting.

Quinn: Um, It's one of the
funniest goddamn cut scenes.

Carissa: It's really funny.

Quinn: It plays this happy little
tune is he's just, you know, strutting

down the street and then it keeps
playing the replay of that scene

where you just see him deteriorating.

Allya: They're also
neighbors out waving at you.

And, but as you deteriorate,
they all become wary of you.

Quinn: Yeah.

Like they become terrified cuz
they realize you're not a person.

Emily: Yeah.

I had no idea that this was a thing,
like I just thought you were just trying

to avoid some fucked up animatronics.

Quinn: But that's phase one.

Carissa: That's the beginning.

Emily: Oh shoot.

But Michael is still alive
after he's been skinned.

Yep.

Cool.

Okay.

So William killed Henry's daughter
now outside of the sister location and

then led kids back there to be killed.

Quinn: Yes, he's the main antagonist.

That's the event that kicks off a lot
of things is the five dead children.

Emily: And so these children possess
the uh, the animatronics now.

Quinn: Yes.

Emily: Henry's daughter
becomes the puppet?

Yes.

Quinn: So you learn this.

A couple of different games, but
essentially the restaurants had these

sort of advanced security robots or
security puppets as they're called.

Emily: Ah!

Quinn: That are supposed to
protect a specific child.

And the puppets, the one who's sort
of, one of the, a main important

dead child was killed outside of the
restaurant and the puppet robot that was

assigned to her has to go and find her.

And once it does, she's already dead.

And that cut scene got to me quite a bit
where it's like crawling in the rain.

Emily: Ooh.

Quinn: Towards her.

And then it finally finds her body
and just collapses next to her.

And then they fuse
becoming essentially one.

Emily: So this is a, this is sort of
a, describe to me the the security

animatronic, the puppet animatronics.

Quinn: They look like clown
marionette sort of things.

They're very distinctively different
and designed from everything else.

Emily: Wow.

Okay.

I, now I'm getting more and more scared.

There are five more murders.

And the restaurant closes and
all the toys get scrapped.

And then we have ano yet
another lo new location opening.

Um, And this is in Five
Nights at Freddy's number one.

It's the grand reopening of the franchise.

And I guess these are all, all the uh,
animatronics at this point are haunted.

Quinn: Yes.

Thoroughly haunted.

Emily: So we're starting the
game in the middle of this story.

Quinn: Yes.

Emily: With a bunch of
haunted animatronics.

Awesome.

Carissa: Oh yeah.

Emily: After that location closes
William dismantles the animatronics

which releases the children's souls.

And then the souls put William into
the Spring Bonnie suit, which kills him

when the spring locks fail, as you were
describing, how, when they gets the suit

gets wet and then it, you know, basically
kills him by locking him in there.

After William's death, we find out
that William is actually alive after

Fazbear's Fright burns down, which
should- which is Fazbear's Fright?

Quinn: So that would be game number three.

That's one of the ones that changes
up the formula a lot where instead of

multiple haunted robots, you have one.

And that is William basically forever
trapped inside of a robotic rabbit.

Emily: And that would be Spring Bonnie.

Quinn: Springtrap.

Carissa: And that, that location is unique
too, because I believe that's the one

where it's a, like an old Fazbear's Diner,
and then they like made it a sort of like

museum horror, like haunted house thing,
where they got all the old animatronics

and were like, they're spooky.

So we're gonna, you know, we have
this scary story attached to them.

Emily: Oh we're getting meta now.

Carissa: Yeah, we got a
little meta for that one.

Emily: So that's Fazbear's Fright.

Carissa: Yeah.

Allya: They also tried to make
it as authentic as possible.

So there are some faulty wires
and ventilation is your friend.

Quinn: Spring Bonnie is basically
found cuz they're like we found

one, a real one, a real animatronic
from one of the original locations.

And you get to deal with him.

It's so fun.

Allya: For the rest of the four nights
because he wasn't there the first night.

Emily: So that's just four nights
of, well you guess you're, you're

there for Five Nights , but it's
only the, the first night's cool.

And then the rest of them suck.

Allya: Night two is when shit goes down.

Emily: Yeah.

Okay.

Sounds good.

Quinn: There's always
special extra nights as well.

Emily: Oh, shoot.

Quinn: Mm-hmm.

Emily: I didn't know that
this game was lying to me.

Quinn: Mm-hmm.

Allya: Oh yeah.

All the games have uh,
sixth and seventh nights.

Emily: I mean, I guess
that would be a a spoiler.

So, you know, Five Nights at least.

Quinn: Yep.

Five minimum.

Allya: The seventh night is
usually custom night where you

can make 'em, the animatronics,
as difficult as you want them.

Emily: All right.

So now you're just like playing with them.

Quinn: Yep.

Emily: So, what's the Pizza Simulator?

Quinn: That's game number six, I believe.

That's one of the ones where
they really change everything up.

It starts off.

So cutsey.

It's like if you've ever played a
restaurant simulator game where you

have to run a little kid's restaurant,
like run a little virtual, Chuck E.

Cheese.

That's what this is.

And then they slowly amp things
up and have stuff hidden in there.

It's just, it's very entertaining.

Allya: You also gotta make
sure you don't get sued.

Carissa: It's got like hyper satire
of like capitalism and like the,

you have to avoid lawsuits, but
you also wanna buy cheap things

cuz you only have so much money.

And what like the cheaper it is, the
higher the chance you'll get a lawsuit.

It's-.

Emily: So it's kind of like the,
the Jurassic Park simulator game.

Carissa: I haven't played it, but yeah, I.

That makes sense.

Quinn: Yeah, that one, it's sort of
like the newest, hottest location.

Emily: Okay.

Now, let's backtrack a little bit.

So in this game, you are playing the role
of a security guard that has to watch

the restaurant or whatever at night.

Quinn: Yeah.

That's it for a number of them.

Okay.

But not all of them.

Emily: So you have to go,
you're in like a control room.

Quinn: Yep.

You're in security room.

Emily: And you have to go and fix
them or do you have to just make

sure that they don't get out?

Quinn: They tell you, you
know, just keep an eye on them.

You'll totally be fine.

And then you immediately
know that you're not fine.

This is why the first one is
near and dear to my heart.

Cuz you know, you start looking around
on your different security camera feeds

like camera one and two and it's all over
the restaurant and you're like, okay,

there's the animatronics on the stage.

They're still there.

Okay.

And then you come back a couple seconds
later and one of them is missing.

Okay.

You're like, where did they go?

And then you see them like standing
in the middle of the restaurant,

looking up at the camera at you.

You see them just about to
enter a ventilation shaft.

And you see them just like progressively
getting closer to where you are.

Emily: And how do you interact
with that as the player?

Quinn: There's sort of a number
of strategies you have, depending

on which game you're doing.

Allya: The first game, you have
doors to keep them away from you.

Okay.

You only have a limited amount power,
so you have to be careful with that.

Emily: So it's like a puzzle game.

Quinn: A little bit.

Yeah.

Emily: Yeah.

Carissa: It's very much like you have to
learn the tells of every animatronic and

like different games have different tells.

Like uh, some of my favorites are
when sound is a huge element and you

have to like, be constantly listening
for like, who's coming this way.

Um, But like, there's visuals.

Some of them like it's
more reliant on patterns.

Allya: The characters do have audio cues.

However, there are also other
noises that will kind of try to.

Muddled that sound.

Emily: Mm-hmm.

Quinn: I did actually
watch a video on this.

Allya: For the first game, when Freddy
becomes active, you can hear him laugh.

You'll hear him laugh a
total of like three times.

The third time, he'll be
like very close to you.

But there will be other
sounds to distract you.

So you might not keep track of
how many times he's laughed.

Emily: So you have to keep your ears
out, which is a very tense situation.

Quinn: I think one of my favorite
sound cues is some of the noises

that Chica has made in game.

She's the little yellow chicken bird.

Emily: Bird that says let's
eat or let's party on her bed.

Quinn: Yeah.

Emily: Yes.

Quinn: Because you'll hear her
throwing pots and pans in the

kitchen, just making a ruckus.

And there's also fun noises she makes
sometimes, which are something like uh.

Emily: Ooh.

Quinn: Like a little girl
doing that, which is horrible.

Allya: Bonnie and Chica both kinda
like make weird groaning noises.

It's not subtle.

It's yeah.

Quinn: Like Freddy will
make circus music sometimes.

Allya: Sometimes you can hear Foxy hum
a little song while he's in the cove.

Quinn: Yeah.

You'll hear his little feets.

Allya: Or you can hear him
running down the hall to get you.

Quinn: I love him.

Emily: So yeah.

Real immersive this game.

Okay, so we have Pizza Simulator
and it is a apparently a lure

for scrapped animatronic.

Um, It was burned to the ground to release
the souls in the scrapped animatronics.

Hurray.

And then we have Ultimate Custom
Night, which is William's own

hell with all his creations.

Quinn: So those two are very
directly tied to each other.

Pizza Simulator is essentially
them trying to get the animatronics

that escaped through the stolen
skin to come to one's point.

And their way of doing that is
basically make a restaurant.

Emily: Right.

Quinn: You know, have other animatronics
that they would recognize there.

Emily: Right.

Quinn: And then you lure them all
there and you try to burn the place

down, cuz you're trying to get A.

Free the kids spirits from
the robots and then B.

Make sure that William goes to
fucking hell, which he does.

Emily: Yeah.

And that looks like it's
his own little game.

Quinn: Yeah.

It's not little.

It is so complicated.

Emily: Okay.

Carissa: It's alot.

Quinn: You have every single previous
animatronic that you could control the

aggressiveness and intelligence of.

You have new ones.

You have secrets everywhere that you
could get and sort of learn weird

little snippets about what's essentially
trapping William's soul there forever.

Emily: But you're now you, as the player
are tormenting Will- oh you're him?

Quinn: Yes.

You are now trapped as
a night guard forever.

Emily: Amazing.

Quinn: And they get to
torture you forever.

It's essentially the kid gets revenge.

Allya: You get to deal
with 50 animatronics.

Emily: Wow.

That's so many more than
I thought that there were.

Quinn: That's a lot.

Allya: That's a lot, a lot.

Carissa: They really
went HAM for that one.

They really did.

Emily: Cuz I know there's like
three different Freddies and

there's a Mangle and some bunnies.

There's at least two bunnies.

There's at least three birds.

Quinn: Yeah.

There's a lot.

Emily: Alligator.

Yeah.

Okay.

So it's a lot.

Carissa: There's so many.

Emily: So William's soul becomes a program
that infects beta testers for Help Wanted.

Quinn: It is so wacky.

Can I go into it?

Yes.

You will only know this if you read
the books, if you're insane, like I am.

But one of the-.

Emily: I didn't though there were books.

Quinn: Oh, there are books.

Carissa: There are books.

Emily: Oh my God.

Quinn: There are so many books.

Allya: I made mention at the
bottom of the timeline thing

of how I didn't go into them.

Quinn: The books are both directly
and indirectly about everything

happening in the game franchise.

But one of the core mechanics of the
world of Freddy's that kind of explains

is the idea of Remnant versus a Agony.

The idea of Remnant is what happens when
you, for example, have the murdered soul

of a child trapped inside of a robot.

If you then melt that robot down and use
the liquid to inject it, molten metal

into a new one and thus giving that
robot life from that soul as a source.

Emily: Okay.

Quinn: So just part of why you
have multiples, cuz they're

remaking the bodies and injecting
the old soul into the new one.

And then you have Agony, which is
a little different because that's

basically where something deeply
tragic has happened into a room.

If there's like a pencil there, it has
been infected with Agony and that's

distinguished as being different.

Emily: It's kinda likeThe Shining?

A little bit?

Quinn: The remnant?

A little bit.

Yeah.

Emily: Yeah.

Quinn: And so part of why I said earlier,
what if electronics could be haunted?

I meant to every feasible extent.

Emily: So everything that
involves electronic signals in

this situation can be haunted.

Quinn: Yes, it can become infected
essentially, including William's

essence, cuz it has now infected
the electronics that were part of

the suit that he got trapped in.

So yes, his soul is now trapped
in hell forever, but the suit

that he was a part of still has
essentially the Agony caused by him.

And that can now infect things like video
games, which is how we get Help Wanted.

Emily: Okay.

Quinn: Which is probably the most
self-aware game in the whole franchise.

Emily: Are you playing somebody
who's playing a Five Nights

at Freddy's survival game?

Quinn: You are a beta tester for
the Five Nights at Freddy's game.

Five Nights at Freddy's as a
game franchise exists in the

Five Nights at Freddy's universe.

Emily: So everyone, I want all listeners.

I want you to remember it's important to
so sort your garbage, make sure that your

Agony and your Remnants are separate.

Quinn: Yes.

Emily: Make sure to properly dispose of
your Remnants and cleanse your restaurants

of Agony before you transfer ownership.

Um, I think that this should be in
the clause of every property transfer.

Let's put it on the ballot.

And I think this brings us right up
to Security Breach, which I think

is the most recent installment.

And that's the eighties one.

That's all I know.

Isn't the characters
look, eighties and cool.

Quinn: Um, Yeah there's a lot
of speculation still, cuz that's

the newest one about how it
kind of fits into everything.

But a couple of key things, we
sort of know at this point is that

there is Agony left over in this
new sort of mega mall pizza Plex.

It's essentially a whole mall that's
a Five Nights at Freddy's location.

Emily: Oh.

I'm getting Stranger Things.

Quinn: And it has basically been
built quite literally upon the

ashes of the previous restaurant.

And that's part of why there's problems.

Emily: Right.

I was just gonna say, and
that's why, again, property

transfer gotta have a clause.

Carissa: Need to have it on the ballot.

Emily: Yeah.

I need to have that.

We need to talk about adding
this to regulation, zoning.

Make sure that there's complete
transparency when transferring

property about the amount of
Remnant and Agony that is involved.

Quinn: Um, especially eBay.

Emily: Yes.

This does also affect haunted
dolls as they are property.

Until they, although I'm sure some
people want them to vote, Five Nights

at Freddy's animatronics probably
can't vote since when they are-.

Quinn: They should not vote.

Emily: No, they shouldn't.

I'm not going to, I'm not
talking about them voting.

That's not on the ballot right now.

We have enough problems trying
to make sure that all of the

eligible people can vote.

We don't have to talk
about haunted animatronics.

Okay.

Quinn: I just wanted to say the
connection between the VR game basically.

And the newest one is you learned
that the previous beta tester in the

VR game, let's call it the essence
of William is speaking to her and

basically telling her to kill people.

Emily: Oh, this is the infection of-.

Quinn: Yes.

He's literally become a virus
that is infecting people.

And he wants to do it to as
many people as he possibly can.

And in some angles he succeeds because
funnily enough, the night guard that

you're running away from in Security
Breach is that previous beta tester.

She is basically being compelled
by William to go there.

Emily: So this is all, a lot of these
details are gonna be very important

when we start talking about the
progressive politics here, because

you know who these characters are,
who they were, who they become.

Are they men?

Are they women?

Are they boys?

Are they girls?

Are they, nonbinary, whatever.

I don't know if we have any
non-binary representation in

this game, this kinda this rad.

Okay.

I'm I'm surprised again.

But yeah, so basically this
is a game about haunted

mascots haunted animatronics.

They kill some kids, the
kids haunt the animatronics.

Quinn: Everything just
snowballs from there.

Emily: Yeah.

Ghosts are in metal.

Yes.

And you can distill them.

Now.

Here's a question.

Why does William do this?

Quinn: Which part of it?

Emily: It's good.

That's thank you for clarifying.

Yes.

Why does William kill children
to inhabit electronics?

Quinn: He doesn't know that that's
going to happen necessarily.

Emily: Does he kill children though?

Quinn: He uses the mascot
to disguise himself, to lure

children in order to kill them.

Emily: Oh, okay.

Quinn: Cause it's Freddy's.

Kids love Freddy's.

It's essentially the equivalent of a child
murderer disguising himself as Chuck E.

Cheese and working at a Chuck E.

Cheese in order to lure children
in the back to kill them.

Emily: Yeah.

So I have some other suggestions for
something to go on the ballot, maybe.

I don't know that actually leads
us to talking points cuz I think

that's more or less yes, it's
convoluted, but you know what?

It's Five Nights at Freddy's.

Quinn: But I think the key thing to
remember is when Scott made the first

game, he had no idea that people
would love it as much as they did.

He did not have plans for this big you
know, expansive story when he started.

Emily: Okay.

Carissa: That's why it's a
snowball of, of convoluted ghosts.

So you just keep adding more ghosts.

Quinn: All right.

It's a lot of ghosts.

Allya: Five Nights at Freddy's
was actually going to be the last

game Scott would make because
all of his other games, flopped.

So if the Five Nights at Freddy's
game flopped, then he would just

stop making games or at least
releasing them to the public.

But then that obviously didn't happen
and turned into this whole big thing.

Emily: How, how connected is Scott
to the current state of the games?

Like-.

Quinn: He's still connected, but
he's sort of stepped back from being

the main face of it due to some
politically related decisions he

decided to make with the money that he
has been making from this franchise.

Emily: Can we go into
that just real quick?

Quinn: As simply as I could explain
it, he made a significant financial

donation to Trump's campaign.

Emily: Oh, okay.

Quinn: And a lot of young queer kids
who love Five Nights at Freddy's were

understandably very upset about it.

Yeah.

Emily: But we're, the
games are still playable.

Yes.

Or are they okay?

We, we're not worried
about the problematic quality

of spending money on this.

Quinn: He's not the main person
making and writing them anymore,

but to my understanding, he is
still connected in some ways.

Emily: Probably still getting royalties.

Quinn: Yeah.

So he's not been fully unplugged from it.

Allya: He's still contributing,
but he's just not the main maker

for any of the games anymore.

Emily: Now it's just that, has he
gone on, social media and said stupid

shit, or is it just the donation?

Quinn: He attempted to explain himself
when it came out that he had done that.

And his response to the backlash
was essentially stepping down.

Emily: Not the worst, but still not.

Great.

So that's good to note because like
a lot of memes online, identify Five

Nights at Freddy's as sort of like
the, queer kid video game starter

pack, which is something, especially
knowing what I did about Scott was

something that was kind of befuddled me.

Many of you identify as various
LGBTQIA + Criteria, I guess

criteria's not a great word for
it, but why do you think that is?

Quinn: I have a couple of theories.

Emily: Yeah?

Quinn: One being, it exposed a lot
of really young people to horror.

Emily: Mm-hmm.

Quinn: In a way that made
horror accessible to them.

Like for me, I had never seen
anything designed like Five Nights

at Freddy's before I actually
sat down and tried to play it.

Yeah.

But as to why queer kids like it, I think
there's a couple of things going on.

Number one, the animatronics
are actually colorful.

And they don't have many, like,
they sort of have personality

traits, but not really.

So it's sort of easy to kind of
project yourself onto them or project,

whatever qualities you want onto them.

I think we also notice at that same time,
because it was getting a lot of young

queer kids into horror is a sudden uptick
in queer kids making content, right.

Emily: Like fan content.

Yeah.

Quinn: And I think that's sort
of what drew in a lot of people.

Like I know for me, that's what
drew me into being interested in

the game is I saw this cool fan
art being made by other queer kids.

And I was like, what is this.

Emily: I mean, that's honestly,
that's how I was introduced

to Homestuck back in the day.

Now I was the college when I was
actually, I think I was outta

college by the time HomeStuck...

I'm old.

Quinn: Yeah.

Boy, if you wanna talk about convoluted.

Emily: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Like that's, that's the thing too.

Is that like Homestuck I kind of get
it because of the, you know, the story

it's about the story, but Five Nights
at Freddy's, this, the story is a

reward for looking into it really.

Carissa: I do feel like I agree with
the, like the characters are, they

have really cool designs and you can
like very much project, like, you know,

they, they don't really give you a lot
of defining characteristics for them.

And if you wanna make fan content
for them, it's pretty open ended.

Um, I do feel like a lot of really
awesome, like furry artists do, like

are drawn to them and like to draw them.

And furries are a lot
of them are LGBTQ plus.

So yeah, it's getting
mixed in with, that stuff.

And everyone's like, I don't
know, making it extremely gay.

The text of the game is not like-
it's very neutral and it allows

for the fans to go wild and they
did, and I appreciate them for it.

Emily: I, it kinda reminds me of
the situation with Undertale where

with Undertale you have of main
character that has no defined gender.

And like many like RPGs from my youth,
like for the Nintendo and stuff,

your main character, you could name,
you could just project, whatever

you wanted onto that character.

So it became that, you know, it
started that sort of immersive

quality to the gameplay .Now
Allya you still do a fan comic.

Like I see people posting
to your blog and, and like

interacting with the characters.

What about those characters really?

Like, is it what you've seen from
other fans or things that you

identify about those characters that
sings their personalities to you?

Allya: So for Security Breach, which
is what I'm mainly drawing for.

That's the game where some of
the animatronics were given

slightly more personality.

Emily: Mm-hmm.

Allya: Which is why Glam Rock
Freddy is like, like the dad bear.

Emily: Right.

Allya: And he does, and he
is, he is the dad bear-.

Emily: Well, is, is that in the game?

Like-.

Quinn: He's like very
supportive and protective.

Allya: Yeah.

He's your character's
protector from the others.

Emily: Oh, okay.

Allya: So that's why people kind
of just project the dad on him.

Quinn: He's got dad qualities
without necessarily being a dad.

Carissa: Exactly.

Emily: And so, so this game, unlike
the other games, this game actually has

the, animatronics with, or it presents
them with a personality rather than the

personality of whatever sad dead child is.

Quinn: Yeah.

Like they, they can actually talk to
you and you can interact with them.

Emily: Yeah.

Cuz I see a lot of fan art and I feel like
with the first few games and correct me or

add to this, as you see fit, the first few
games, you have these characters that are

supposed to be cutsey, but then they're
cutsey-ness like very quickly breaks down.

Carissa: First one they're very eerie
even when it's like they're nicely lit.

Quinn: Yeah.

It's like, oh, they're so colorful,
but they look so weird and it's

like the closer they get to you, the
more like decay and awful they look.

Emily: Which is a really clever decision.

And I think that's one of the things
that makes this game so attractive, at

least, the conceit, there is something
that I could really identify with

because I remember those old Chuck E.

Cheese's when they were still
trying to figure out what was cute.

The seventies, I mean,
I, I was born in 1982.

I did not witness the seventies
with my own eyes, but I did see a

lot of the, like McDonald's with
their Grimaces and the Chuck E.

Cheeses and stuff like that.

And they were still trying to make
it look cute, but also functional.

And that uncanny valley.

Is a huge part of the horror of this game.

And also the fact that as you, as
you get closer and you identify these

monsters closer and closer, they lose
any what's the word I'm looking for?

Help?

Precept pre Pretense, right?

Yes.

Thank you.

Yeah.

So as you get closer to them, you lose
any pretense of cuteness or friendliness.

But it really, really reeks of like, I
am an adult, I'm gonna do my best to make

something that is attractive to children
in order to make money off of them.

And I don't have any like
genuine desire to entertain

children or to understand them.

It's just, I want to do have this
thing that the kids like and you

know, which is inherently predatory.

And then it becomes literally predatory
with the guy who's killing kids.

Did any of you have any other uh, specific
Talking points about the games that

you wanted to bring up in terms of, I
mean, we could talk about the progressive

politics that, or lack thereof or
something that like about the games that

you just really wanna mention in terms
of what makes them unique or attractive.

Carissa: Like, I just really love how
Scott is able to tell these really

interesting stories with so little.

Like the minimalism of you are
in a room and there's a set

amount of things tacking you.

And sometimes you'll get like
a weird little like, pixel arts

story, but sometimes even just like.

Weird visual elements that will show up.

Or like there's like a
little bit of audio you get.

I just really appreciate the games for
being able to do so much with so little.

And especially I was, I guess gonna
mention that I love the force, the

game so much for like the game.

Like, I don't think that the designs
of the nightmare animatronics are

very scary of, it's like the game
where you're trapped in the room and

you have a flashlight in your child.

You have to like peak down the
hallways to make sure the animatronics

aren't coming at you, but you have
to listen before you turn on your

flashlight or they'll attack you.

And like the amount of suspense
of just like listening to see if

they're there is like this very
unique and like horrifying thing.

And I just really appreciate
the games for thinking of these.

Really interesting ways to
just entrench you in the world.

Quinn: You don't think the
fourth games, ones are scary.

Carissa: I don't.

They're a little bit too hokey.

Quinn: I don't know.

They have so many sets of teeth.

Carissa: I it's too many teeth.

I think the first ones are scarier.

It's so it's like, they were like,
okay, this car used to go real fast.

Let's just keep adding tires.

Quinn: Like.

I don't know.

I thought it was horrifying cuz I
was imagining it eats my face with

the first set and then like the
first half of me with the next set

and then like by the time it gets to
the final jaws, I'm just beef chili.

Carissa: Oh.

Or, I mean, you'll be dead like by
the first set anyway so I guess

you'll be there for the fanfare?

For the coup de grâce.

But people watching, I guess
will be pretty, pretty horrified.

Emily: It's great, cuz I know you guys
are all artists, so you also have like

the, the artist's opinion of these
characters, cuz you know Allya, you draw

a lot of the characters as the characters
and sometimes they do get into their

horror Mo modes, but they're usually like
interacting with each other in ways that

are relatable, like the whole ask Roxanne
Wolf blog is really fun because there's

so many of those character interactions.

It's very cartoony and you know, in a way
that the games I don't think quite are

because you're so busy trying to not die.

But the first game especially
has a really tacky style to it,

which I think kind of helps.

It kind of reminds me of how the
first big Pixar movie Toy Story, they

were really capitalizing on the fact
that computer innovation was so good

at making things look like plastic.

So they're like, okay, why don't we
just tell a story about plastic stuff?

And uh, I saw, I think a couple
screenshots or videos or something

of games that Scott had done before
Five Nights at Freddy's and they

were not supposed to be terrifying,
but they were very terrifying.

Getting very emphatic
nods from Quinn over here.

Carissa: Oh, they're so scary.

Emily: There was like, it was like a, just
really uncanny, like beavers or something

that looked like they were made in Paint
but like not in a fun way, you know?

Quinn: I think that's kind of one of
my favorite things about how Freddy's

came to be is literally people told him
that and he was like, okay, what if I

tried to do this on purpose this time?

Emily: Yeah.

Quinn: And that's where
he had his success.

It was very interesting.

Carissa: It was- it changed the way
we look at horror in the indie genre.

They were just so iconic and spooky.

Emily: And it has now become so big
that you get these movies, you got like

Willie's Wonderland, which is like, I
like to call it one night at Willie's

because it's basically the same concept,
but with more characters and stuff like

that, where instead of uh, your security
guard in one room, it's Nicholas cage

And uh, he's getting soda or something.

As artists, I think we all appreciate
those kind of decisions, like really

leading into something that some
people say is a weakness when you're

like, no, no, no, I'm gonna turn this
into something that is my signature.

So let's talk about progressive stuff.

Do we have any characters
with identifiable mental

illnesses or disorders?

Quinn: Kind of.

Like we definitely see like depression
and trauma touched on quite a bit.

I wouldn't say any one specific
character, but I would say the idea

of trauma sort of affecting and
radiating out from a singular event.

Emily: Yes.

Quinn: Um, Is touched on.

Carissa: It's thematic.

Emily: Yeah.

Quinn: In terms of like a specific mental
illness, I'm inclined to say no, I would

say it's much more vague than that.

Emily: And they don't they don't
make any efforts to blame William's

murderousness on mental illness?

Quinn: No, it's more of just William
did it because he's evil and a freak.

Emily: Yeah.

Carissa: I think the justification
is just like that's William.

Emily: Yep.

Quinn: He did it.

And now all of us are suffering.

Carissa: Thanks a lot, William.

Quinn: Yep.

Carissa: Good job.

This is your idea of a fun Saturday night
live at night and it's not anyone else's.

Thank you for dragging
us all down with you.

Emily: Yeah.

Quinn: Yep.

Emily: So that's good because I
know a lot of stories will just

try to like push that in there.

When we talked about Old, don't see that
movie, there was a character that was.

Becoming more and more affected
by dementia and in the movie,

they basically blamed his racism
on paranoid schizophrenia.

Yeah.

Quinn: No, no.

Emily: So I'm glad to know
that Five Nights at Freddy's

is more progressive than the M.

Night Shyamalan film Old.

Do we have any characters
with physical disabilities?

Quinn: Not really.

I mean, we sort of have references to
like, Something that occurred like the

there's this one sort of very significant
event in the Freddy's timeline that's

referred to and has been meed to the
ends of the earth called the bite of 87.

Allya: Yes.

And I mentioned that in the timeline.

Emily: You did mention
that at the timeline.

I didn't know what that was because
I, I wanted to move on the timeline.

Carissa: it's the thing
market flyer that's said fair.

Emily: Okay.

Let's talk about the bite of 87.

Quinn: Where this kid who?

Allya: The bite of 83.

Emily: Oh, it's a different bite?

Allya: The bite of 87 happened in the
second- In Five Nights at Freddy's 2.

Quinn: Right?

Well, anyways, he's called
the crying child, right?

And he's very important, cuz basically
he absolutely hated the restaurants

because they're terrifying robots who
are huge and his piece of shit, younger

brother, and his piece of shit, friends
were like, Ooh, we're gonna make fun

of him by picking him up and putting
him into the animatronic's mouth.

Carissa: That was such a great prank!

Quinn: Which immediatly
crushes his skull and he dies.

And that's what people think the
fourth game is about is essentially

the dying dreams of this child.

So in terms of like physical injury,
it like trying to visually represent

a person's rapidly deteriorating
mind and memory, kind of?

Emily: Right.

Quinn: But not really.

Carissa: Yeah.

That's, that's what I was going
to mention as well, is that

I'm like, it's kind of, but.

Quinn: Not directly, I would say.

Allya: Oh yeah, there, there's also
the, the main one the bite of 87, where,

where one of the toy animatronics, it
speculated to be the Mangle who bit

the head of one of the security guards
and the, that guy went on to live just

without the frontal part of his brain.

Okay.

So he's not, he's not mentioned
again, really, or what he's doing,

but we just know that he survived it.

Don't know when he died.

Emily: Okay.

So we have a lot of tr themes of
trauma and then the uh, representation

of deteriorating mental state as
a story, which is a really cool

as one of my favorite ideas.

You know, when I think about how
does this story deal with class?

You know, I do think about the sort
of capitalist predatory quality of the

franchise trying to attract children, but
not being genuinely involved in, you know,

trying to create a community for children.

Quinn: Yeah.

I would say like capitalism
is what the series as a whole

has the most to say about.

Emily: Is our main security guard?

Is he someone who is desperate for work?

Quinn: He there's a lot of
speculation on who he is.

Some people thinks he may be one of
the Afton family attempting to get

to the bottom of what happened but he
takes the, at the end of the first two

games, you get shown a little paycheck.

Allya: It's also kind of insulting.

Quinn: And it's always insulting.

And it's always so little after,
you know, you've risked your

life for several nights in a row.

Allya: For the first game,
the pay is $120 a week.

Emily: A week?

Allya: A week.

Emily: How many hours a night?

Allya: Six.

Emily: F that S.

Allya: And then.

Emily: For real.

Allya: Then if you go on to
beat the sixth night, they'll

give you a raise of 20 cents.

Emily: I mean, that's pretty fucking real.

That's terrifyingly horrifyingly real.

It actually is pretty significant.

Quinn: Yeah.

Emily: In terms of class.

Quinn: I feel like that's the main thing
Freddy is, is like where they're like,

people are so obsessed with money and
making money off of children and the

public, cuz they think they're stupid.

That they'll go to some
pretty horrifying extremes.

Emily: And that the idea of this
part-time worker being so expendable

that each night is an ordeal.

Yeah.

When they're paid.

So 120.

Okay.

Help me with my math because.

Carissa: Oh man.

Somebody's calculated this.

Cause they also factored in minimum
pay at the time of the checks.

Emily: Right.

But I mean like you-.

Quinn: Can say it was a piece
of chewing gum and a paperclip.

I mean, cause that's
essentially what it amounts to.

Emily: Yeah.

But I'm trying to divide that up.

So six nights

Quinn: 20 bucks a night.

Emily: Yeah.

20 bucks a night.

That's horses shit, man.

Yep.

That's why we need unions.

Especially when it comes to
fucking Freddie Fazbear's.

Let's they really need a union.

Carissa: That's so important.

That's oh my God.

No idea.

So much could be avoided.

Emily: I mean, honestly the kind of
shit that our real life, fast food

and, specialty restaurant workers,
the shit that they go through?

Certainly.

I mean, I'm sure.

Some of them would consider haunted
animatronics as a relief because

that's an easier situation to deal
with than like, oh God, I gotta clean

everything and make sure everybody's
happy and manage this family,

Quinn: Yep.

And there's also robots that are
constantly glaring at me for some reason.

And I feel like might kill me
if we were left alone in a room.

Emily: Yeah.

But at least like, if it was
just killer robots, then you're

like, okay, you know the threats.

Yeah.

I've got, what have I got?

I've got doors.

I've got fire.

Maybe?

Carissa: I sadly cannot do either of those
to customers that are screaming at me.

Emily: Yeah.

I just cannot just lock them out.

Carissa: I wish I could just
shut the door sometimes.

Alas.

Emily: Yeah.

They, you cannot bite them.

But you know what?

Sometimes they can bite you.

They shouldn't, they, but they
can, but they can, and you

just have to deal with it.

Carissa: A lot of, of the, uh, The
games comedy comes from like these

very satirical, ridiculous, like
hyper capitalist moves, kinda like

the, even just like the Springtrap,
like suits, cuz it's like, oh,

we shove the employees in them.

And if it gets wet sometimes
yes, they might die.

Emily: Ah, yes.

Carissa: Don't worry about it.

And uh, it's like a gross, like
it's like an animatronic suit.

It's like hot and then it's like,
you're not supposed to get it wet.

I it's seems like it's kind of.

Quinn: Can you talk about
that in sister location?

Cause it gets like amped up from there.

Emily: Well, I mean, it's already
upsetting when you have a very glitchy

life threatening suit that you're in.

That you have to wear at a restaurant
that is full of soda fountains.

Carissa: And children.

Emily: Yes.

Carissa: And children who want to come up
and see the animatronic that is charming?

Allya: I just remember that
employees would also have to be

careful with breathing while in
the spring lock suits, because

your breath also affects the locks.

Quinn: That's literally
one of the mini games-

Carissa: I forgot about that.

Quinn: At sister location is you have
to make sure the locks don't kill you.

Emily: So you can't breathe.

Allya: While other little ballerina
things are crawling all around the

suit and can get you at any moment.

Quinn: Yeah.

My favorite parts of those games are
the fact that you're being made to do

all of these maintenance things that you
are definitely not qualified for and are

absolutely not being paid enough for.

And like the AI narrator who
have tries to help you always

tells you the wrong thing to do.

Emily: Oh shit.

Allya: The voice will tell
you, you need to move.

You need to move fast while you're
in be Laura's room, but Baby

will tell you, no, don't do that.

Be quiet.

Move slowly.

She's listening for you.

So, if you were to bolt
through it, you just die.

Lovely.

Emily: Oh my God.

I think about this.

And I think about the number of
people who have worked at theme

parks and the amount of labor you
know, we all should think about that.

Especially if we go to theme
parks, I don't go to theme parks

cuz it scare the shit outta me.

But it's a lot happening at once.

Just overwhelming for me.

And especially regarding this class
situation the dichotomy of listening

to what your superiors tell you in this
game, the AI, and then listening to

what your fellow coworkers tell you,
you know, or, the ghosts of children

that have died in the haunted house.

So I think we've got a lot
of class discussion and a lot

of this, game is about class.

Let's talk about feminism.

Is this game feminist?

Are there any female- who
are the female characters?

I know that there are female characters.

Quinn: There are a number of ghost girls.

Chica being one of them.

There's a couple of significant
girl characters who are kind

of in the background until you
start kind of dissecting things.

I would say sort of the main girls
of the animatronics are baby.

Babies actually had quite
a lengthy involvement since

she was first introduced.

And as sometimes some people consider her
more dangerous than William in some ways.

Emily: Earlier, Allya, you said that
baby is the one who tells you what to do.

That's correct.

Allya: Yeah.

It's I think in a way she's
also trying to gain your trust.

So on like the final night, I think
she leads you to the scooping room.

Because you're trusting her word
because she has legitimately helped you.

. But if you were to go somewhere
else that you can do in the

game, you can kinda hear faintly.

Why, Why didn't you trust?

Why don't you trust me or something
like that along those lines.

Quinn: Yep.

She literally is manipulating
you so she can steal your skin.

Emily: okay.

Quinn: It's like one house literally
slightly valid, cuz she's literally

trapped there and can never leave.

But on the other hand, the things she
wants to do once she's out are not valid.

Emily: Now, is she uh,
she's a ghost of a girl?

Quinn: Trapped inside of a robot.

Emily: Inside of a robot.

Okay.

Quinn: She looks like a little sort
of clown slash ballerina kind of girl.

Allya: It's more of the clown aesthetic.

Quinn: Yeah.

She's got she's clown car.

Allya: Also.

Apparently she's seven feet tall.

Quinn: Yeah she's-.

Allya: According to all the blueprints.

Emily: Dang.

Carissa: Oh gosh.

Quinn: You don't learn about how
terrifying she is until the VR game

where you have to hide from her.

She's huge.

Allya: They're also meant to be big enough
so that they can hold a child in them.

Quinn: Yep.

Emily: Right.

Because they actually have kids in there.

Quinn: Yep.

Cuz they're experimenting
with paranormal science.

Unethical, paranormal science.

Emily: Obviously.

Yeah.

So Baby is sort of innocent looking.

It's sort of like an innocent- it's
not a voluptuous clown creature.

Carissa: No, very, very
much uh, innocent clown.

Emily: Chica who also is very
innocent and like baby looking, cuz

Chica is like a little chick bird.

Quinn: She's one of the original
kids that gets murdered by William.

She doesn't really get like
a personality until later.

Um, I would say Baby is sort of one
of the first female characters that

gets the most personality because
she's directly interacting with you.

Emily: And is it obvious?

I mean, it's obvious that she is female.

Yes.

Quinn: She's distinctly a little girl.

Emily: Awesome.

Quinn: Possibly the dead
daughter of William.

Emily: And then we have Roxanne Wolf.

Quinn: Yeah.

She's another one who has more-
distinctly has more personality.

Emily: Yeah.

And she, but she's a little bit more of
a, of a femme fatale kind of character.

Quinn: Yeah.

I guess that's kind of an
accurate way to describe her.

Emily: So this is, A lot of
animatronics and animatronic

characters that are, various levels
of aggressive towards you, the player.

As a player, is your
gender ever identified?

Carissa: Yes.

In like a lot of them typically
like, oh God, who's like Mike

Schmidt is the first guy I think.

And like, you know, like
the check has a name.

Like you're usually playing
a character sometimes.

I'm trying to think of if there's
a situation where it's not kind

of clear who you're playing.

Quinn: Err...I feel like in four,
you know, that you're a kid, but

beyond that, you don't know a
huge amount from the game itself.

Carissa: Yeah.

If you look into the lore,
it's somewhat more clear.

You're the bite of 83 kid probably.

But beyond that, you're just a child.

Allya: I think from what you see
in Five Nights at Freddy's Four you

know, that the kid's a little boy.

Because it, it is kind of clear between
girls and boys, because it's in eight bit.

Quinn: That's true.

That's true.

That is the newest DLC where it looks
like you are actually gonna play a little

girl character instead of a young boy.

Allya: Yeah.

For Security Breach.

Emily: Okay.

Quinn: So that's a change.

Emily: So now we have variable
playability for the PC.

I mean, You've mentioned earlier,
there are some characters

that are arguably non-binary.

Quinn: Yeah.

That's specifically Funtime Foxy's gender
changes a couple of times across games.

And when asked for clarity, Scott said
that since you guys think they're gender

fluid, then just they're gender fluid.

Allya: I also know that for
The Mangle from FNAF two, its

gender was never really defined.

Scott's referred to it
as he, she, and it, yeah.

So people just run with whatever
gender that they want for the Mangle.

So they can say Mangle is a girl or a
boy or their gender fluid or non-binary.

Emily: So Mangle from what I remember
mostly presents as like a bunch of

wires with like hands and stuff.

Quinn: Yeah.

Mangle is, was like an attempt
at a new Foxy that failed.

Funtime Foxy is like a pink and
white fox with cute little bow tie

and like very luscious eyelashes.

Allya: Has lipstick and
also has nail polish.

Quinn: But also has in the
Ultimate Custom Night has like

a very deep masculine voice.

Allya: A lot of the, a lot
of the characters do talk

in ultimate custom night.

Emily: So the, but, and then this
is a, a discrete game or is this

like extra content for the game?

Allya: You get to hear the animatronics
talk depending on who gets you, they get

you and you'll hear one of their lines.

Never get killed by Mr.

Hippo though.

Emily: Okay.

Quinn: Yeah, they'll taunt you.

Emily: Interesting.

Well, that's a cool dynamic, cuz then you
can actually, you get lore, but from-.

Quinn: Yeah.

You actually get to hear them, some
of them for the very first time.

Emily: Do we have any
characters of color in this?

Carissa: Like that one I'm like-.

Quinn: Not really.

Not any core characters
that as far as we know.

Carissa: Yeah.

Allya: As far as human characters
they're usually white, unless

it's, unless we're talking about
Michael, then he's literally purple

.
Carissa: That is true.

We do have purple representation.

Emily: Whoa, whoa, hold up.

Quinn: That's after post skin stealing
is, but also he's his color is

purple or is represented by purple.

Emily: Okay.

Allya: Representation
for the rotting flesh.

Carissa: Mm-hmm.

Emily: So do we think
that he was white once?

Carissa: Probably.

Allya: He, probably he
originally was, yeah.

Goes back of him walking down the street.

He was originally white,
but then turn purple.

Quinn: So not much to say in terms
of uh, racism, unfortunately.

Emily: Do you recommend this game?

Do you recommend playing it or do you
just recommend going through the, the

play throughs or just look at the fan art?

Quinn: I feel like you have to have a
very specific tolerance level to get

through the games, mainly the early ones.

One of the core mechanics of a lot of them
for a long time has been, if you don't

pay attention and you miss a cue, you get
punished with a jump scare that involves

an ear splitting screams sometimes.

Allya: So characters also don't
move the same way in every time.

Yes.

Maybe they start out the same, but one
character could be in the, in like the

back room, but the next time they could
be in the kitchen, it's all just ran it's

random and luck can sometimes hate you.

Carissa: Mm-hmm.

Quinn: Yeah.

So if you, you don't like jump
scares that involve screamers.

I would suggest avoiding the initial
games, but if you think you can tolerate

that, I would highly recommend the
first game if only just to experience

a little bit of it because of how
much it changed how horror games

worked from that point forward.

Emily: Right.

Allya: I mean, same here.

It could be fun to play.

Emily: Uhhuh.

Allya: But if you're not into that or
you wouldn't wanna be bombarded with

screaming animatronics, then I would
also, I would just opt for play throughs.

Carissa: I am fully in the camp of,
if you can't handle the game, I highly

suggest watching some, some play throughs.

It's a really there just really
fun games and they're very unique

and I loved experiencing them.

I watched them as they came out
and I watched them recently again.

It's personally, I, I don't know if I had
the, I would personally have the fortitude

to get through all the modes of, of the
game and find all the secrets personally,

cuz it's, it's rough out there.

But um, I appreciate all the wonderful
people on YouTube who have, and I get

to experience the story, you know,
with them, but uh, yeah, I think it's

definitely worth a watch it's they're
just really wonderful little games.

Emily: That's awesome.

And it's, I mean, I have experienced
the games through you all.

I would recommend playing the
game even though I haven't.

Just because it sounds like a
really cool immersive experience.

And you know, there's some,
the themes of child murder are.

Challenging uh, to say the least.

So, you know, watch out for that.

So for anybody who's interested
in the Five Nights at Freddy's

franchise and they're looking
for something new and possibly

adjacent what would you recommend?

Quinn: I would say ones that are directly
adjacent would be the book series.

But I would also say the there's sort of
a new up and coming analog horror series.

I say new newish-

Emily: Uhhuh.

Quinn: Uh, called harmony and horror.

Emily: Ooh.

Quinn: Which sort of goes with the
children's entertainment animatronics,

and also like children's toys being
haunted or possessed idea, but it goes

at it from a very different angle.

Emily: So that's harmony and horror?

Quinn: Yes.

Emily: Carissa, do you
have any recommendations?

Carissa: I do.

This has put me in a bit of a
nostalgic mood, so I'm gonna suggest

something that I played long ago
and desire deeply to play again.

I would suggest the game Ib, which
is a little indie horror game.

That was like a little pixel art game
where you're a, a small child and

sort of this young adult guy who gets
trapped in a like parallel dimension in

an art gallery and monsters and stuff.

And these like wacky paintings
are trying to kill you.

Uh, And it's a great time.

Emily: Sounds, sounds like
a real blast right there.

Carissa: I, I love that game.

But yeah, that, one's, that's,
it's an older game, but it's

real small and it's real fun.

Emily: Awesome.

So that's "Eve" or "Eeb"?

Carissa: It's IB.

Ib.

Emily: Oh, IB.

Oh, that's cool.

IB.

As a former international baccalaureate
student, I totally feel terror whenever

I see those two letters together.

Allya.

Allya: So what Five Nights at Freddy's
taught me is I like listening to

videos that analyze the story.

Emily: Yes.

Allya: There's kind of a new, I think new
game that kind of has the same deal where

there's a hidden story underneath it, all.

It is slightly more obvious than Five
Nights at Freddy's where you have to

have multiple games to piece it together.

Emily: Right.

Allya: But it's called Andy's Apple Farm.

Where the basic story is without
getting to deep into it is

you're a beta tester for a game.

And you have a bunch of different
characters that if you do a certain

thing, you will essentially kind of
break the game and get some more or less

creepy versions of these characters.

And there's also something
to do with souls.

Emily: Okay.

No spoilers.

Allya: It's a little hint.

So if you're interested to dig
into that, that's what I recommend.

Emily: Awesome.

So that is say the name of that one again?

Allya: Andy's apple farm.

Emily: Andy's apple farm.

Awesome.

For me, I, I mentioned Bullies Wonderland.

If you wanna get that the idea of
finance of Freddy's, but not quite as

good as the immersive quality of finance
of Freddy's, you know, and Steven

Nicholas cage find it on streaming.

If you're looking for good horror games I
find Fatal Frame is one of my favorites.

It's a an old PlayStation game.

I think there's a whole
bunch of new versions of it.

I think I've talked about it before,
but that one involves ghost photography.

So, check that out if you can.

And of course check out the artwork
of our wonderful guests especially

Ali's ask Roxanne Wolf, tumblr.com.

Where else can we find you online?

Allya?

Allya: I run a YouTube channel called
dragon Fox, June, where I just post

silly animations when I'm motivated.

Emily: Awesome.

That's so many more animations
than I've ever done in my life.

So, please check those out.

I've seen them.

I've it's mind.

It's mind boggling.

This is so awesome.

This stuff on there Quinn, where
can people find you online?

Quinn: I am Satan's underscore fluffer on
Instagram and then the bio there, you can

find the link tree to everywhere else.

You can find me.

I will hopefully be soon launching my
podcast on the history of specific demons.

Emily: Oh yeah.

I'm looking, I'm still
looking forward to that.

Listeners, if you were here for our
episode about night breed when they

talk about Baphomet it's actually,
I think it's aggressively horrified.

There's a little episode where I talk
about Baphomet I learned that from Quinn.

So Quinn taught me about the story
of it's not Baff-oh-met, it's

Baff-o-may, because Baphomet I?

Yes, you may.

I just made that up just now.

Um, I'm really sorry, Carissa,
where can we find you online

and your web comic rising tides?

I am,

Carissa: Hearth fire two
on Twitter and Instagram.

And I, you can either look up rising
tides or my other comic, my champion

on tapas and find it, or I'm also
har hearth fire on tapas s well.

Emily: Awesome.

And you have a Patreon too, right?

Carissa: I do very much have a Patreon.

Emily: Is that hearth fire?

Carissa: I do actually think
that I am Carissa Davis on there.

Okay.

Emily: Carissa Davis on Patreon.

Oh, but your, your other, your
like Instagram and stuff like

that, have the links to it.

Yeah.

Especially on tapas.

Oh yes.

I've definitely got one TA pass.

Yeah.

So check that out.

And of course I'm mega moth on
Twitter, mega underscore moth on

Instagram, mega moth on, on Tumblr,
also mega moth and mega moth.net.

If you wanna see a version of my
website frozen in time from 10

years ago, it's like a time machine.

It's pretty cool.

And as for the rest of, of the uh,
crew here, it progressively horrified.

You can find us at prog horror pod
on Twitter progressively horrified,

transistor.fm and check us out on Patreon.

We also have Patreon and find us wherever.

Find podcasts are streamed.

Your Spotify, your apple, your
whatever else they have Stitcher.

I don't know half of these things anymore.

This is why I need people to
explain to me video games.

Don't forget to rate and review
and subscribe smash that, that rate

and subscribe button rate us good.

So people can find us and uh, listen
to our mad ramblings about these

very important media franchises.

Thank you, Allya Quinn
and me and making me smarter.

I do actually feel smarter and
I do feel like I can keep up a

conversation about this with people
both young and old as the curiosity

waxes about Five Nights at Freddy's.

And thank you to all of you
listeners out there for listening

and as always stay horrified.

Alicia: Progressively horrified is created
by Jeremy and produced by Alicia Whitley.

This episode featured Emily along with
special guests, Quinn, Carissa and Allya.

All opinions expressed by the commentators
are solely their own and do not represent

the intent or opinion of the game makers.

Nor do they represent the
employers, institutions, or

publishers of the commentators?

Our theme music is epic
darkness by Mario Oh, six.

And was provided royalty
free from Pixabay.

If you like this episode, you
can support us on Patrion and

you can also get in touch with us
on Twitter at Prague horror pod.

Or by
email@progressivelyhorrifiedatgmail.com.

Thanks for listening.

Bye.

Emily: So you never know when that
Agony or those Remnants are gonna

be involved in your property.

So, uh, Before the resale,
gotta check that out.

See you later.