#I'll have to hunt down the epilogues separately it seems... which is kind of a bummer

[cartoonus-maximus]

My thoughts and theories on "Fazbear Frights #2: Fetch."

Once again, not much commentary about the writing itself; just my thoughts about potential lore implications and theory fodder.

And no epilogue commentary, as the audiobook I listened to didn't include it.

For my actual review of the book, I will be posting one to GoodReads soon, where I will actually talk about the writing quality and my overall opinion of it as reading material.

[spoilers under the cut]

"Fetch"

- a high schooler named Greg goes with two friends of his, exploring an abandoned restaurant building during a stormy night. The place has part of a name board that starts 'FR-' and has mysterious stains in places that may be pizza sauce, but may be something else. The place was abandoned suddenly, and all the food, kitchen items, and other things are still where they were left. It's also surprisingly clean, all things considered, and Greg thinks it's almost ready for customers, even though he knows it's been standing empty for well over a decade. Part of the roof is missing from the outside, but Greg notices that none of the rain/weather seems able to get into the strange building.

- this is a coastal, beachside tourist town. Given the semi-busy, touristy town surrounding it, Greg doesn't understand why this old pizzeria stands empty and forgotten.

- Greg feels mysteriously drawn to the old pizzeria, but doesn't know why. He just feels like it's calling to him.

- the boys go to what used to be the prize corner, finding lots of old toys still there (none recognizable from the irl FNAF franchise). It's from this prize corner that Greg finds an ugly toy dog with big scary teeth, making it look like the Big Bad Wolf. It's dog tag says 'Fetch.' A nearby instruction manual says that Fetch is an animatronic dog that's supposed to sync up with an iPhone app, which the boys find odd since the robo-dog looks older than any smart phone.

- drawn to the dog-thing, Greg works on turning it on. It finally kicks on, just as the weather outside picks up.

- the boys are naturally afraid to approach the curtained-off stage. There are also three closed doors in a hallway, which the boys are also worried to approach.

- the boys run when they hear someone slam a door somewhere inside the building, even though they know no one ever comes to this place. (The fact that someone else may have been there is never revisited.) Greg leaves Fetch behind, since the robot dog seems to have turned back off anyway.

- the storm is so bad it's knocked out the town's power, and Greg's family has a generator plugged into the house to keep the lights on. Greg is greeted by his uncle Darren, who had been looking for him earlier; Greg realizes that his uncle had texted him while he was at the pizzeria, and for some reason he hadn't heard it at all.

- Greg's uncle Darren has purple hair (a color which, of course, carries specific meaning in this franchise) and a fun-loving personality, and works as a machinist, designing car parts. He rubs Greg's dad the wrong way, but Greg loves him because his uncle simply loves and accepts him as he is. Greg's dad, on the other hand, is always trying to get Greg interested in things that he cares about, regardless of how Greg feels about it. (Greg's dad is clearly both neglectful and abusive, and is barely in the story, thankfully.)

- "I figured I'd stay here until worry fried my circuits and I phoned the cops," Darren jokes at Greg, who comes home a little later than usual. He then pulls on his fuchsia coat before leaving, and shares a joke with Greg about having a "magic finger of luck."

- apparently, Darren is really good with arcade claw machines. He also knits whole afghans and blankets for Greg's bed, and is the household handyman.

- Greg is insecure in his appearance, and keeps a strict workout routine in an attempt to make himself look better.

- "Greg grinned at the idea of making a perfect body from football players' parts." ... Alright, that's not a mildly concerning image at all!

- Greg is reading "Machines and Consciousness: Cause and Effect" which is... on point. He's also aware of how weird it sounds when he says he felt 'drawn to' the abandoned pizzeria, and has no explanation for why he feels that way.

- Greg goes to an advanced science class in his school, and really enjoys it. It's taught by Mr. Jacobi, who is his favorite teacher.

- his friends are named Cyril and Hadi; Greg and his friends quote Henry James at each other while evading a bully named Trent

- Fetch sends texts to Greg's phone while he's at school the next day, haranguing him with the repeated question "Why did you leave?" He also 'fetches' specialized apps, dates, and internet links when Greg goes to look them up, and texts in binary.

- "Okay?" "Okay." (The Fault in Our Robo Dogs?)

- Greg's mother has blonde hair, as well as a bit of a bad attitude, and speaks in clipped, almost robotic tones. I'm not sure if that's intended, though, but... still gives me vague Elizabeth Afton vibes, much like Darren gives me vague Michael vibes.

- Greg continues to text with Fetch back and forth for a few days, with Fetch arranging for Greg to receive candy bars he asks for, and answers homework questions. Fetch mimics Greg's textspeak lingo, but clearly doesn't understand what it means.

- Greg babysits a neighbor kid, along with his uncle Darren. Darren brings food and toys for the afternoon, including a large plastic spider; the spider freaks the little kid out so much that Greg puts him at ease by making a big show of carefully 'trapping and removing' the spider, then taking it and burying it in the yard. A few days later, Fetch helpfully digs up the spider for him, after overhearing Greg and Hadi talk about using it to prank Trent the bully.

- Uncle Darren praises Greg for his hard work, which Greg appreciates; Greg's father only expresses disappointment in him.

- Greg performs experiments on plants he grows in his bedroom, thinking strong thoughts at them to make them grow different ways. He's really involved in Cleve Backster theory.

- Greg tells Hadi and Cyril that the Fetch robot has been texting him after a couple weeks, which they believe ("He wouldn't prank us like that.") and are freaked out about; Cyril doesn't know how such an old piece of tech could possibly synch up with a new phone. They come to the conclusion that someone must be stalking Greg and messing with him.

- Greg gets really excited when his AP science teacher starts telling the class about REGs (random event generators). They're a thing Greg has been studying and experimenting with for awhile now, and something he actually explores throughout the whole story; he believes he can manipulate the random occurrences around him by thinking hard enough, supplanting real world events with his own intentions. It's kind of like wishing for something so hard that it comes true.

- Greg has a crush on Kimberly, a girl in his AP science class. He forcefully wishes to be paired up with her for class, and the teacher randomly assigned the two to work together. Fetch texts him to congratulate him.

- "His bones nearly disintegrated." This is apparently how Greg reacts when the girl he likes smiles at him.

- The neighbor's dog attacks him on his way home from school, jumping up onto his chest and biting at his neck. He throws it back and escapes. (If this were a real dog, I have a feeling those owners would be forced to either keep it indoors or put it down.)

- Greg has a nightmare that night that he's being chased through the abandoned pizzeria by, alternatively, Fetch, the neighbor's evil dog, and a 'faceless man.' An REG is on the stage of the pizzeria, spewing out 0s and 1s faster than Greg can read them. (The presence of an unknown man chasing him through the pizzeria in his dream is very strange and sticks out to me, because Greg doesn't have any real beef with many people in this story, and it's not someone he knows, so it's not like his abusive father or the school bully are chasing him; it's someone he doesn't know, but instinctively associates with Fetch and the pizzeria.)

- the next morning, Greg starts out on his bicycle, only to find the neighbor's dog dead on the ground outside. The dog has been ripped apart by bigger animal teeth, and the description of it is kinda graphic. Not knowing what else to do, Greg moves the dead dog into it's owner's yard and leaves it there. He receives a text from Fetch reading "You're welcome."

- Despite his disdain for the neighbor's dog, Fetch killing it 'for him' makes Greg extremely uncomfortable. He never mentioned the dog to Fetch, and Fetch just somehow knew that Greg had problems with the dog, and took matters into his own metal jaws.

- Greg convinces his friends to come back to the abandoned restaurant with him, with the vague plan to confront Fetch. Both of Greg's parents are working tonight, so he doesn't worry about them noticing he's gone.

- Cyril has been researching the abandoned pizzeria. He tells the others that, although the place used to be part of a big chain, and that the chain apparently died after something bad happened at one of the buildings, he's only managed to find the place mentioned on a forum thread about abandoned buildings, and nowhere else online. (This makes it sound like Fazbear's has been erased from the internet for some reason??)

- Greg decides to explore the rooms behind the closed doors that they were too afraid to look into the first time they were here. One door is labeled "Control Room," and Greg heads there first, his friends close behind. Inside, there are computer monitors, keyboards, and control panels. They don't know what they're for, and messing with the controls do nothing. (This is obviously the room for controlling the animatronics, which doesn't exist anywhere in the FNAF games but was in the original novel trilogy.)

- The second door is labeled "Security," and nothing in it seem to turn on or work either. Hadi and Cyril are getting spooked, and are asking why Greg is so determined to explore this place.

- The third door isn't labeled, but contains four full sized animatronics (likely a Freddy, a Bonnie, a Chica, and a Foxy, but they aren't named here) and lots of parts and tools for repairing them (so it's definitely the Parts and Service room). Greg gets the feeling that the many unused eyeballs are watching him. Fetch runs out of this room, and then so do the boys. Even though the boys brought weapons with them, their only thoughts are "Run! Get out! Run! Get out!"

- The instinctive desire to leave is so strong that the boys exit the building. Once out, they can think clearly again, and they go back in. They seem to be fine so long as the animatronics aren't in their field of vision. (It's like just looking at the animatronics seems to overload their minds with instinctive fear, which is an interesting point.) This time, they don't find Fetch. After another brief search, they leave, each going home.

- Fetch's texts get a little more ominous, saying things like "Hope to see you soon." out of nowhere.

- Greg thinks about one of his classmates in passing, and then panics when he thinks about what Fetch might do to his classmate if he finds him. He heads off to his classmate's house immediately, and is relieved to find that his friend is okay.

- Nothing bad happens for a few days, so Greg begins to relax again. He goes back into AP class with Kimberly, where the two are supposed to experiment with an REG machine, each making mental suggestions at the machine and testing to see if the machine responds to them. He and Kimberly have a long talk about using thoughts to manipulate plants and machines. They both feel like the world is, essentially, a mass of different thoughts and emotions all feeding off of and influencing one another; they call this the "0. Field" (This is apparently a whole actual scientific theory irl, with individuals and groups performing experiments with it. I'm not educated in it at all, and most of this segment just sounded like complete gibberish to me. It makes me think of how the actual FNAF games are programmed though, with the animatronics attacking you or not attacking you based on an REG built into the games' mechanics.)

- Greg remembers that Fetch is apparently running loose, and worries about it.

- He decides that he needs money to run his own "Consciousness Project" experiments, but doesn't know how to make money. He jokingly texts his Uncle Darren that he needs "the magic finger of luck." (because... he's an idiot.)

- He wakes up in the middle of the night, horrified when he realizes what he just texted, and that Fetch can sort of read his texts (and his mind), but not his intentions. He tries calling Darren to make sure he's okay, but he doesn't get any answers. He then jumps up to go try to find a ride to get to his uncle's house, but doesn't get far: his uncle's severed finger has been left on Greg's front porch, ripped and bloody.

- Greg's mother is already awake, and is crying tear-streaks into her pink nightgown. Still crying, she tells him that Darren was attacked by a wild animal. Darren has been airlifted to the hospital. Greg's mom is barely holding it together, worried sick about her brother.

- Seeing Fetch out in the yard, Greg loses it. He grabs a baseball bat and chases after the robo-dog, determined to end the nightmare he started. He screams and begins beating the robot, tearing it into pieces, all the while Fetch grins up at him cruelly.

- "Fetch wasn't a real dog. He was an animatronic killer made to look like a dog."

- Greg's mother comes out to find him, and Greg buries Fetch quickly. His mom tells him that Darren has been moved into surgery, and that she needs to go to work for a few hours; Greg's dad is already gone from the house, and isn't part of this family ordeal at all. (Greg's dad is such an absentee father that he's absent from the story!)

- remembering a conversation he'd had with Kimberly earlier, which included the phrase "he's going to crash and burn before he can land properly," Greg is filled with the fear that his uncle will die before he can be transported to surgery. This is never brought up again, and is in fact the last we hear of Uncle Darren at all.

- Greg blames himself for all of Fetch's actions, and wonders what it was that had guided him to the abandoned restaurant to begin with.

- When he gets a new text from Fetch, Greg goes out to where he had buried the robo-dog, finding that the robo-dog had unburied itself and left. The text simply says "Will retrieve," and seems to mean 'retrieving Kimberly,' since Greg had been thinking about going to see her.

- Kimberly's mother was 51 when Kimberly was born, and her father was older, retired already. This doesn't seem to be important or anything, but it's interesting.

- Greg tries to warn Kimberly, but only succeeds in terrifying her and her parents. Kimberly's father seems to know something about the pizzeria, and maybe about Fetch, but doesn't say anything. Ultimately, Greg's attempt to warn Kimberly just gets her parents to call the cops on him. The police officers who arrive are surprised to learn that Greg broke into the old pizzeria -- not surprised that a young teen would want to break into it, but surprised that the building is still there, which Greg finds odd since the building is pretty hard to ignore. (Which makes it sound like only certain people notice the pizzeria.)

- Greg's father yells at him after his parents retrieve him from the police station; he starts to verbally abuse Greg, and even tries to grab him, but is stopped by Greg's mother

- Greg's parents are named Steven and Hilary, apparently?

- starting to relax, Greg goes to take a shower. He exits the bathroom afterward, and screams when he finds a body outside the bathroom door. (We're not given any clear indication as to who this body is, but I know most readers tend to assume that it's Kimberly's body. But, again, we aren't actually told that, or even strongly suggested it.) A text from Fetch reads "See you."

- (... listen, I don't know what the purpose of this story was. It spends too much time talking about Random Event Generators being influenced by emotions, and while I get the idea that it's meant to come across as a tongue-in-cheek explanation for traditional FNAF gameplay -- hoping against hope that the game's RNG works in your favor -- it doesn't really mean anything in the end.)

- (Also why???? do Greg's mom and uncle??? give me Michael and Elizabeth Afton vibes?? Like, yes, I love the Afton kids and I want to see more of them, but listen.... Greg's mom is a blonde woman who wears pink, has a bad attitude, and always seems to want things to go her own way, and gets peeved when they don't? And she has a brother who is associated with the color purple, who builds and fixes things, who gets attacked and mauled by a robot and maybe burns? Everything about them scream Elizabeth and Michael, but I don't know what to do with this information.)

- (Greg from "Fetch" 🤝 Gregory from "Security Breach"... beating up the robots that are causing them problems.)

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"Lonely Freddy"

- our main character is a boy named Alec, who is a bully by nature, who doesn't understand why people think he's "bad." He literally doesn't seem to understand the difference between the concepts of 'good' and 'bad,' and is a bit antisocial. His parents love him, but don't seem to know what to do with him.

- people talk about Alec behind his back, but he's good at eavesdropping, and often overhears his parents and aunt and teachers and classmates talk about how troublesome he is. He's 10, and doesn't understand why everything he does seems to bother everyone around him.

- on the other hand, his younger sister Hazel is the beloved, favorite, perfect child. She's described as being quiet, and having 'perfect blonde ringlets of hair' and 'bright green eyes,' two physical descriptors of her that are repeated a *lot* throughout the story. (Also worth noting that the name Hazel itself relates to a mixture of colors between green and brown/gold, so this is a color combination that Scott really wants us to take notice of.)

- Alec also has blonde hair and green eyes, though.

- Alec's birthday is celebrated on his birthday, while sister Hazel's birthday is celebrated for the entire month. (Yeah, great parenting there, Alec's Mom and Dad! No favoritism showing there, no sirree!)

- Alec acts mean to his sister not out of any real dislike toward her personally, but just because of how little interest his parents show in his own happiness.

- Alec's parents read lots of parenting books in an attempt to understand him. One book suggests that they allow the child to "find their own road" by naming themself; as a 10 year old boy at the time, Alec rather predictably names himself "Captain Thunderpants" and begins farting all the time. Under the guidance of these books, Alec's parents also try out gardening as a family - which ends when Alec buries his mom's wedding ring, to see if it will grow more diamonds - and a family camping trip - which results in Hazel getting a mosquito stuck up her nose and Alec terrorizing her with claims that the mosquito will plant eggs in her head.

- so Alec is, y'know, a normal 10 year old boy?? who just happens to be tall and antisocial?? and has a lot of energy?? He's not exactly the little demon his parents and teachers seem to treat him as.

- For most of the story, Alec is 15 years old, and is definitely old enough to recognize that if his parents would just try *talking to him,* most of their imagined problems with him would be solved. But, since they read books instead of actually engaging with their son, it leaves him feeling very lonely and frustrated.

- Alec has a severe case of Resting Bitch Face.

- 10 year old Hazel is the only person who asks Alec if he's okay, and pays attention to him. But, since she doesn't understand him, her meager affection does nothing but annoy him. He also doesn't trust her, since he assumes everyone, even his younger sister, is secretly out to get him.

- Hazel openly fears her brother, since he is a bit of a bully and because he's so much bigger and older than she is, but she still seems to genuinely want him to be happy. She sneaks him the current parenting book their parents are reading, in their endless quest to understand him (by not engaging with him in the slightest), along with the suggestion that he play along with it, pretending to be the person their parents want him to be in order to get their parents off his back.

- Alec doesn't trust the peace offering at first, but starts to wonder if she's genuinely trying to help him. This doesn't change that he still thinks she's nothing more than a liar and con artist who uses her apparent goodness to get her way.

- Alec refers to his sister as "Golden Hazel"

- Hazel: "Your plan to convince Mom and Dad that you're not a total sociopath is just to act like a total sociopath?" Alec: "How am *I* the sociopath in this scenario?! They think the best way to make me 'good' is to treat me like I'm 'bad!'"

- Alec snaps at Hazel "[Mom and Dad] only started to think I'm the *bad* one when they got the idea that *you* were the *good* one!" Hazel looks sad at this, and Alec briefly feels remorseful.

- Hazel makes the suggestion that, if she were to behave a little worse than usual, on purpose, and if Alec were to try to behave a little bit better, their parents might lay off him. She's tired of being the "perfect child, Golden Hazel," and wants to trade places with him for a while. ... Alec immediately doesn't trust it.

- since their parents keep reading child psychology books and chasing their son around with psycho-therapy, the kids try manipulating their parents in response. Their parents are, predictably, startled.

- both kids eavesdrop while their parents whisper about them.

- their parents barely get along with each other, and are definitely not winning any parent of the year awards with how disinterested they actually are in their children as people.

- "Tomorrow was..." another day? "... party planning day." Oh.

- Alec is horrified to find himself genuinely enjoying spending time with his sister. He forcefully reminds himself that Hazel is 'only using him,' which is his assumption for the true reason behind her actions. Alec is so used to being scrutinized and shoved aside that he can't even fathom the idea that his sister may actually just want to spend time with him.

- Alec and Hazel accompany their mother and aunt to Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria, where they are meeting with the party planner for Hazel's upcoming birthday party (which is, of course, being held at the pizzeria). The pizzeria isn't open right now, so the kids are just wandering around, talking to each other.

- Alec apparently always wanted to have his birthday party at Freddy's, but never made enough friends to actually invite, so his parents denied his desire; instead, his birthday parties were always held at home, where the only invitees were their family and any of Hazel's friends that wanted to come. (Which is... extremely sad.) Hazel, on the other hand, has had her birthday party at Freddy's for the last four years in a row.

- Alec loves Foxy, and I can't say I blame him. The other animatronics all make him a little uncomfortable.

- during this segment, Alec accidentally runs into a smaller robot that's labeled as a 'Lonely Freddy;' Alec gets the feeling that the little robo-bear is eavesdropping while he and Hazel get into an argument. Hazel says that she thinks their parents are overwhelmingly forgiving and loving toward her because they feel guilty for being so hard on Alec, while Alec bites out that Hazel gets everything she wants all the time, and that she's the favorite child.

- Hazel admits that she wants to win a special Foxy toy, the same one that Alec has never even been able to *try* to win but has wanted for years. Alec considers this is be the ultimate betrayal.

- the Fazbear employer introduces the family to 'Lonely Freddy,' and explains that it's meant to single out and interact with any child that's being ignored or left behind by the other children in a group. Lonely Freddy is programmed to engage with children on an equal level, walking alongside them and asking them questions about their favorite things, and playing simple games with them.

- Alec/Hazel's Mom when Hazel closes a door loudly: "I don't know what's gotten into her. It's like she's possessed!" Their aunt, rolling her eyes: "It's like *she's 10.*"

- their aunt is the only well-adjusted person in this family, holy jeez...

- "Golden Hazel" is having a good time becoming increasingly terrible around the house. And Alec finds himself enjoying watching her as she gets more and more wild. He catches a large wolf spider for her and she delights in terrorizing their parents by turning the spider loose in their bedroom, catching it when they ask her to, and then releasing it back into their room before they go to bed; Alec thinks this is the funniest thing.

- the siblings genuinely start getting along, with no hidden motives for once.

- Hazel's birthday party at Freddy's goes pretty well, at first. The two siblings go back to acting like themselves, and their parents are finally relaxing again.

- Hazel avoids earning the Foxy toy herself. When Alec asks her about it, she acts disinterested, and eventually cries when he presses her about it.

- one of Hazel's friends at the party is named Charlotte. This is called out multiple times.

- she ends up winning the Foxy toy by complete accident without even trying. This sets Alec off, and he makes a scene in front of the whole family. Distressed, Hazel admits that she only wanted to win the toy for Alec, and that she just wanted her brother to like her. This only sets Alec off even more, and he screams out all of his anger, enough that Hazel bursts into tears and their parents are startled. Losing it, Alec runs off, sobbing.

- Alec runs off and hides in a corner in the pizzeria, where he both tries to convince himself that he's not at fault here *and* that everything is his fault. He cites that he ruined the party, "and ruined Hazel," by spending the last 15 years assuming that everyone is out to get him. He stares sadly at the plush Foxy, still in his hands. Slowly, he begins to realize that he's been wrong this whole time, and that his parents are really trying hard to understand him, and that his sister really does just want to spend time with him. (Well, he's right about Hazel's motives... I'm not so sure about their parents, tbh. I think we're supposed to understand that they really are doing their best, but their best sucks so bad...!)

- He hits a door where he hears a strange thumping in response, and decides to investigate. He finds himself in a storage room, with unused tables, old arcade cabinets, and old toys from the prize counter. There's also a large, dumpster-like container that's padlocked shut, which is where the thumping sound is coming from. When he goes to investigate, he finds himself facing another Lonely Freddy, which greets him with a "I've been waiting for you, friend."

- The Lonely Freddy starts talking to him, announcing that the pair of them are "best friends" now. Alec is unable to stand up straight now, and is unable to look away from the bear's eyes. When the bear starts asking questions about him, Alec answers automatically and honestly, unable to stop himself. As they talk, Alec starts to go numb, and the questions get more and more personal and philosophical, including "What would you do if you had to kill someone you loved?"

- "What's your biggest regret, Alec?" "... Hurting Hazel." 😢

- Alec feels himself frozen and trapped inside his body, and hears his mother and Hazel talk about him from mere feet away, unable to see him. Hazel sobs and bemoans that her brother hates her, and Alec, more than anything, wants to run to her and apologize. He's unable to do anything, though, and they move on without him.

- his eyes closing against his will, Alec starts to regain control over his body. Opening his eyes again, he's surprised to find himself alone, and much smaller than he should be, now standing at only 2 feet tall. He struggles out of the storage room, trying to rejoin his family in the party room. To his confusion, he sees another of himself with his family, sitting with Hazel and making her smile. It's made pretty clear to the audience that, somehow, Alec has been body-swapped with the Lonely Freddy robot.

- the fake-Alec tends to Hazel and her friend Charlotte, then turns to Alec... and smiles.

- a kid vomits over him, and Alec is gathered up by an employee and brought to the back room he started in. He finally gets a look at himself in a mirror, seeing for himself that he is now a Lonely Freddy. The employee unlocks the green dumpster and drops Alec inside, where dozens of other discarded Lonely Freddy's are already. The employee locks the dumpster again and leaves.

- Alec and the other Lonely Freddy's are left in the dark, locked dumpster. They all start struggling to call for help, letting the audience know that every Lonely Freddy that gets thrown away was once a person, and that every Lonely Freddy that was once a person gets thrown away. This is both bone-chilling and sad to think about, especially with the realization that these people were just lonely and wanted someone to talk to.

- So the obvious implication from that ending is that the Lonely Freddy's are programmed to seek out people who are alone (mainly children, but also teens like Alec and possibly adults, too) and steal their bodies, leaving the person trapped in a small robot body while the robot's AI is free to live out the rest of its life as a human being.

- Also that the employees at Fazbear's don't know any of this, but that they are trained to recognize when the Lonely Freddy's are acting "off" (when they've just body-swapped with a person and that person is trying to find help) and to treat them like they would any other broken toy - remove them from the play area and throw them away. Again, the employees are clearly blind to all of this horror, and only see the Lonely Freddy's as mass-produced robotic toys, so they aren't at fault here. It's either the owner/s of Fazbear's or the head robotics designer/s that are behind this, and since those roles are traditionally filled by Henry and William Afton, who are not exactly trustworthy individuals, that's a perfectly believable concept for this franchise.

- This story also feels very much like it's retelling the story of FNAF4, but a little to the left. Alec and Hazel are just what you get if you took several characteristics of the Afton children (a mean older brother with anger issues that aren't being addressed, a sad younger sibling, a little sister with blonde hair and green eyes, a younger sister who's used to getting what she wants, a younger sibling associated with the name "Golden __", an older brother that loves Foxy, a brother who ends up locked in a storage closet sobbing, an older brother who ruins his younger sibling's birthday and feels terrible for hurting his younger sibling, a childhood friend named Charlotte, an older brother who is forcibly replaced by a robot that maintains his face and identity...) and you just threw them up in the air and rearranged them where they fell. This could be used to give us a better understanding of both Michael's character -- a boy that feels neglected and acts out to get his father's/parents' attention, even to the point of harming his younger sibling -- and that of the youngest Afton child, the Crying Child -- a kid that just wants a friendship with their brother and doesn't understand why their brother seems to hate them.

- And then there's the Lonely Freddy's themselves, which I know in one of his videos MatPat said seemed very much like the talking Fredbear plushie that talks to the Crying Child all throughout FNAF4, something I agree with. Which gives me the idea that the Crying Child's plushie friend could have been, at least in part, a prototype of the Lonely Freddy model.

- And of course, this isn't the first time we've seen AIs trade places with humans in this franchise, as we've seen evidence of Glitchtrap possessing people in the Steel Wool run of the games (leading to the birth of Vanny, and maybe others that we haven't met yet). But this suggests that this isn't an unusual occurrence, and that it perhaps happens more than we realized.

- The Lonely Freddy's also seem like something Henry might have made, or that something a more evil person could have made using a model of Henry's. The reason I say that is because Henry is the person who is usually associated with building robots intended to house people's personalities (rebuilding his dead daughter Charlie, for example), as opposed to William, who largely builds robots intended for violent purposes and is more interested in experimenting on live people himself, rather than experimenting on the robots. (Any of the spirits possessing William's robots, in both the games and the books, are always caused by things outside of his control or understanding.)

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"Out of Stock"

- today's boy is a high-schooler named Oscar, who is terribly unlucky and lives with his mother, who is struggling financially. (it's a bit of a repeat of our hero from "Into the Pit") One of the worst things to have happened to their family is the recent death of Oscar's father, which leaves Oscar and his mother struggling in his wake.

- Oscar wants a Plushtrap Chaser toy and is unable to get one because of their price and popularity

- it sounds like, in this story, Freddy Fazbear's is literally just a toy brand. They apparently specialize in creepy-looking robotic toys, and are pretty popular, which... yeah, I can totally see that being a thing.

- it's also worth noting that Fazbear's isn't behind any of the nefarious evil in this story (as far as I know). Instead, the story plays out like someone or something else is behind everything, and just so happens to use a toy from the Freddy Fazbear's toy line.

- Oscar's mom calls him "L.M.," or "Little Man"

- Oscar's mother works day and nights at a nursing home, and there's a very old man there that likes Oscar; he doesn't respond well to most people, and carries on about how a stray cat "wants to steal his soul" (William, is that you???); the old man is resigned to his fate, it seems, rather than afraid of the supposed outcome.

- the stray cat, which is called Marilyn, came into the nursing home one day and has attached herself to the crazy old man, despite his dislike of her and carrying on about her.

- Oscar also feels like the old man (whose name is actually Mr. Devero?? not sure how it's spelled) could possibly read his own thoughts, despite the fact that the old man is off his rocker. When the old man isn't carrying on about cats trying to steal his soul, he's very wise and has a lot of words of wisdom to impart on Oscar. (ah, not William, then... Clearly it's Old Man Consequences.)

- there's a small, local toy store that's part of the mall that's open and running, but is old and decrepit. The owner never cleans the place, inside or out, and only half the lights are on at any time. The store largely sells generic and off-brand toys, and most of the shelves are empty most of the time, unstocked. (This is supposed to give the reader creepy vibes, but my family actually frequented a very similar toy store when I was growing up, so I just got nostalgic vibes instead.)

- Oscar runs off to the mall with his buddies Raj and Isaac to try to buy a Plushtrap Chaser; the Plushtrap Chaser toy (an $80 toy) is a 2 1/2 foot tall green zombie-rabbit toy from the Freddy Fazbear's line, which is supposed to run by itself, running as fast as a real rabbit, and also has tooth-chomping action. It's a popular toy with middle- and high-schoolers this season, and there's a crowd of kids and parents waiting in line to get one. But the boys are too far back in line, and the zombie-rabbit toys are sold out before the boys can get one. (getting some vague "Child's Play" vibes off this)

- "It ran fast and it chomped fast" is... one of the best toy taglines I've heard in awhile, not gonna lie.

- the Plushtrap chaser only moves in the dark, and stays frozen when there's any light around.

- I have a sister that's a toy enthusiast, and I've had many conversations with her about the popular trends in the toy market, and I gotta say... if any company actually made and sold the Plushtrap Chaser toy... those little biters would be sold out so fast! Folks would go bananas for them! Like, I don't want one myself, but zombie dolls have had their moments in the spotlight and robotic toys are always popular, so I can see a whole zombie rabbit thing that marches around biting things being a hot commodity.

- the boys overhear three employees of the toy store talking about a boxed Plushtrap Chaser that was returned to the store earlier that day. The employees are trying to decide what to say if they call the police about it. The boys don't hear what's wrong with it. (The returned Plushtrap was clearly tampered with before being returned, and has what appears to be human eyes and teeth.)

- before the employees can stop him, Oscar rushes forward and grabs the returned Plustrap Chaser, leaves his money on the counter, and runs off with it, his friends behind him. They are chased by an employee, the manager, and a pair of mall security officers, but they get away with the toy.

- the boys escape to Oscar's house with the toy, and quickly open it. It's at this point that the boys notice that the teeth look like yellowed human teeth, and that the eyes are wet and squishy. They begin to realize what the employees were talking about, and are disgusted and horrified with the thought that the toy they stole has human parts. Ultimately, they decide that it's just a defective toy that happens to look like that, since the Plushtraps are all supposed to look gross and creepy anyway.

- the boys get the feeling that the Plushtrap's eyes are watching them.

- they then learn that the Plushtrap toy can bite through metal (despite, y'know, having human teeth????)

- they find a speaker on the Plushtrap when they're looking for a power switch, which they find strange, since none of the ads for the toy ever mentioned the toy talking or anything. They also find that the battery already inside the toy is corroded, and they work to replace it. (It's briefly touched on later in the story, but the Plushtrap toy also appears to leak some sort of fluid from the battery pack.)

- Oscar's mom frequently works nights, leaving him alone in the house. And apparently people often comment on how Oscar looks like his mom, as they have similar facial features and the same eyes 'that look like coals.'

- his mom reads in the newspaper the next morning that there was an incident at the mall where three teenage boys ran off with a toy. She clearly knows that's where Oscar and his friends were yesterday, and she knows that's the toy he's been wanting. Oscar worries about disappointing her, or making her upset with him in any way, but lies to her anyway. She can clearly see through his lie, and just walks away from him sadly, making him feel terrible.

- "'You're worse than useless,' Oscar said to the Plushtrap Chaser. Or maybe he said it to himself." 🥺️

- Oscar's friends: "Hey, look... If you're possessed, we'll understand." XD

- feeling guilty for stealing the toy, Oscar and his friends go to return it a few days later. When they get there, the toy store is gone, along with all of its stock and employees. In its place is a Halloween themed store. (Much like real life in the United States, Spirit Halloween sees a store unattended for five seconds and moves right on in. XD ) The current employees don't know what happened to the toy store, and have nothing to say about the Plushtrap toy.

- the boys work on planning how to go about trick-or-treating this year, determined to go to the nicer side of town to get the "good candy." They also talk about the Plushtrap toy, coming to the conclusion that something seems off about it, and that they should get rid of it. Oscar himself even asks the toy if it's possessed.

- The toy emits a brief chirping sound in the dark, after Oscar sarcastically asks it if it's possessed, but then falls silent again. Oscar notices a strange port of some kind on the side of the Plushtrap's face. He realizes that a cell phone charger fits into it, and installs Raj's charger.

- The weather outside is getting dark and stormy, and eventually causes a power outage. Lightning strikes the house just as he plugs it in, and Oscar is sent flying across the room by a sudden electrical shock. The other two do a quick medical check on him, making sure he's okay. Oscar is fine, to their great relief, but the power in his house is out. Abandoning the Plushtrap Chaser, which is still plugged into the wall, the boys leave the room and go get food; as Oscar pulls the door shut behind him, he hears the Plushtrap, mimicking Raj's voice, whisper "Lights out!" in a sarcastic, joking tone. Thinking Raj is playing a trick on him, Oscar laughs mockingly and ignores it.

- Oscar's mom calls him from the nursing home she works at, apologetically asking him to come help her there tomorrow. Tomorrow is Halloween, and Oscar realizes that, while she does need his help, she's also asking him to skip out on trick-or-treating with his friends. Feeling like his mother expected him to become an adult the instant his father died, and struggling to cling to what he has left of his childhood, Oscar blows up at his mother, airing all his grievances about his father's death, their struggling poverty, how much he feels like an outsider at school because they can't afford for him to wear good shoes or carry a cell phone, and how much he wishes he could just be a kid with no responsibilities. He blames his mother for all his problems, something that hurts her deeply, and they lose connection before he can apologize. He feels terrible after, and starts a mental list of everything he's going to have to apologize to his mother for as soon as he can.

- Even so, he still tells his friends that he can't go trick-or-treating. Raj and Isaac understand, and tell him that they'll collect candy on his behalf.

- The boys settle in the pitch black living room to wait out the storm. They start to look for flash lights, and are distracted when they hear a strange 'thump' from somewhere else in the house. Flash lights in hand, they approach the sound, finding that it's coming from behind the closed door they'd left not long ago. The thumping becomes scraping, and they are alarmed to see the Plushtrap Chaser begin to bite a hole through the door to escape its confinement.

- The toy's teeth get sharper as it chews through the door. When it finally gets through the door, its saw-like teeth are visible, even in the pitch blackness, shining as though reflecting something. In that dim light, the boys can see that the gums around the teeth are bleeding, like living human gums.

- Seeing the boys, the Plushtrap gives chase, chasing them around the house. It leaves any closed door between them in shambles. The boys try to escape it by climbing on top of furniture pieces, but the Plushtrap just starts chewing the furniture pieces into smithereens, and trying to get to Isaac. The toy freezes up when Oscar's flashlight beam lands right on its face, and the boys realize that blinding it with the light is the only way to stop it.

- While the boys are dealing with the "woodchipper," as they call the Plushtrap Chaser, they all three hear Raj's voice coming from another part of the room where none of them are standing. Instinctively, Oscar turns the flashlight to see what his friend is talking about, only to remember too late that the real Raj is standing right beside him. Getting the flashlight back in the right place reveals the Plushtrap mere seconds from sinking its teeth into Isaac's leg, and a very spooked Raj.

- The boys decide to rig the flashlight so that it stays on the Plushtrap, blinding and trapping it, while they escape the house and go get help. Just as they decide that, the flashlight begins to die. They all run in the dark, desperate to escape the chomping evil toy. Raj pulls out his cell phone to call for help, calling 911, but his phone isn't picking up any sort of service to actually call with. They maneuver around to get the home landline phone, narrowly escaping the deranged toy. The landline isn't working either.

- Oscar: "So, to recap, we're trapped in my house with a mindless eating machine, with exactly *one* working flashlight, during a storm that's knocked out both the power lines and the phone lines." Isaac helpfully adds that the water isn't working either right now, having tried one of the sinks. (Water doesn't usually fail from a power outage in my experience, so this is just kind of a strange detail.)

- They are unable to lift or budge the toy now; it seems heavier for some reason. But they manage to pin it in place in the dark, only to move when they hear Oscar's mother's voice from somewhere else in the house. Their small movements are enough for the Plushtrap Chaser to get free, and it resumes chasing them again.

- The boys try to hide in the garage, and the Plushtrap begins chewing through the door and wall to get at them. The Plushtrap mocks them by speaking with their voices to them, laughing and saying "This is it! I'm putting you out of your misery in 3, 2, and you're dead!"

- The boys escape out the garage, slamming the door closed behind them. Now out on the open driveway, the boys stop in fear as they hear the Plushtrap's teeth scraping against the metal garage door.

- The boys come up with a plan, and begin running across town in the dark, stormy weather, leading the deranged rabbit toy to the one thing they can think of that might stop it. They lead it to the train tracks, hoping there will be a train running right now. Luckily, there is, and they run faster to the train tracks.

- Raj and Isaac make it safely across the train tracks, but Oscar waits right on the train tracks, making sure that the Plushtrap Chaser goes where he needs it to go. The train and the rabbit toy both bear down on him, and the rabbit talks to him in his mom's voice again. Oscar jumps out of the way just in time, and the Plushtrap is crushed beneath the train.

- The boys check the sorry remains of the Plushtrap, making sure that it's in too many pieces to reactivate. Seeing the obvious human body parts mixed in with the robotics and the plush toy exterior makes them feel physically ill, and they leave as soon as they can.

- Oscar goes to help his mom at the nursing home on Halloween night. He visits with the crazy old man and the "soul-stealing" cat, and feels a little bit more like everything is normal. He also apologizes to his mother for everything, and promises to do what he can to fix everything around the house. They hug and make up, both apologizing for anything else they've done wrong.

- there's also a moment where Oscar is surprised to see the crazy old man being friendly toward the cat, and the old man just tells him that "[the cat]'s been with me for over 15 years now, and if she wants to steal my soul, then I figure she's earned the right." I just think this is funny.

- This is the second story of the six I've heard so far to have a happy ending, with "Into the Pit" being the first. It's worth noting that there are many parallels between "Into the Pit" and "Out of Stock," as they both center around a boy with an "Os--" name, whose family is struggling with poverty and he feels distanced from one of his parents, and that the boy fights off and eventually destroys a killer rabbit monster, and finally makes up with his parent and claims his happy ending.

- And, while Oscar can be heavily compared to Oswald ("Into the Pit"), he and his friends also have a lot in common with Greg and his friends from "Fetch." Oscar and Greg are both drawn by mysterious forces to the monstrous animatronics of their stories, to the point where they're so desperate to get to it that they break laws and ruin their reputations to get there. Oscar's friends are Raj, a tall and fairly good-looking boy who tends to speak for the group, and Isaac, a short and mousey sort of boy who nervously follows his friends along for the adventure, are also strong character parallels to Greg's friends, Hadi and Cyril. Raj and Hadi both also have names with similar meanings (both coming from words that refer to high authority figures), which I just think is also worth noting.

- So some of these characters are... repeating, for lack of a better word. Oscar = Oswald, but Oscar and his friends = Greg and his friends. Now, this could be chalked up to lazy writing, but given that all the other characters that "repeat" throughout the franchise are usually important, I just think it's worth keeping track of.

- And Plushtrap being able to mimic/throw voices isn't something I expected, but was one of my favorite parts of the story, ngl.