#SOTM prototype chica

[insertcleverblogname87]

SOTM Prototype Chica photos

Credit to: ☕️Mr. DaBois Official☕️ YT on sketchfab for porting these models! I decided to take pics of the rest of the characters (also apologies for doing these 1 character at a time, for some reason it’s not letting me put more than 10 pictures)

[necrami]

Disproving a common misunderstanding when it comes to the info provided in the logs/recordings in SOTM (spoilers, obviously)

A lot of people have been getting a pretty major detail wrong and it's been driving me absolutely crazy. I'm sure it will get sorted out once big theorists begin posting their theory, summary, and analysis videos but I've been genuinely losing my mind while scrolling through freddit so I felt the need to make this post.

Henry and William DID NOT work for Edwin OR steal his designs! A different company called Stan's Budget Tech did. In Freddy Fazbear's Pizzaria Simulator, a company by that name sells the Mediocre Melodies. The mediocre melodies cast includes: a purple hippo, a green frog with a yellow bobble on it's head, and an orange elephant. These are the EXACT designs we see throughout Murray's costume manner, which means they were most likely stolen.

The log that proves this is actually the same log that caused the misunderstanding in the first place:

Log: Me and Stan are out of here. It's time to jump ship before things get ugly. I have a bunch of Fiona's character patterns and Stan is taking what he can. Join us. With everything we know about the restaurant project, we can start our own machine shop.

A lot of people believed that this was William sending a message to Henry. However, the details directly contradict. "With everything we know about the restaurant project, we can start our own machine shop." The restaurant project is obviously Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. We know for a fact that MCM was commissioned to work on the designs and prototypes of the main 4 animatronics thanks to both the ending and multiple logs. It doesn't make since for this message to be coming from William to Henry since we know that the restaurant project Stan's friend was talking about is about the restaurant that Fazbear Ent is creating.

There is even more proof in the tapes and other logs that prove that William and Henry were NOT former employees OR the ones to steal Edwin's designs.

Tape: Edwin, never forget, they're behind it. Don't trust them. Never tell them. They want to destroy you. Dad was right. -Edwin

In this tape, Edwin is most likely referring to his employees being stolen by Fazbear, or specifically Willam. In a different tape we learn that Edwin's father previously owned MCM and passed it on to Edwin after his death. Since Edwin's dad told him not to trust Fazbear/William/Henry, then Fazbear Entertainment in some capacity had to exist before Edwin got control of the company. Which means they couldn't have been employed at the MCM during Edwin's time.

There's also the proof that Fazbear was commissioning designs, not stealing them.

Logs: Chica's Party World - Dear Mr. Murray, Fiona is amazing. The client is very happy with her chicken designs. Their sales are through the roof. I just wish the costume looked a little bit more like Fiona's art...I'm worried about how it will work with kids. It gives me nightmares. -Milton

Logs: Fiona, the new springlocks are working well, even with the water damage. They should be ready for the diner soon. I'll just make sure to warn Hen about some of the more...odd behaviors they might have. -Edwin

Tape: Test, test. I got the change order from Hen last night. None of this makes sense. I'm almost done. Why change it now? It would be so much easier to keep using the Springlocks. Just hire some teens to wear the suits like we always do. -Edwin

These all prove that Fazbear was paying for the designs of the original 4 animatronics, not stealing them. There's another tape in the ending part of the game where Edwin refuses to change the designs of the original 4s prototypes because Fiona designed them for them.

There's another misconception that Edwin made the original 4 animatronics that we later see in fnaf 1 and 2. This is incorrect since, as stated before, Edwin refused to transiton them from springlocks to regular animatronics. MCM also most likely burns in the end which means Fazbear never got the prototypes. So, the only way the unwithereds and fnaf 1 animatronics could exist is if Henry and/or William made them themselves.

Also, the reason the prototypes resemble Fnaf 1 originals and not the Fnaf 2 originals is likely because after the closing of Fnaf 2, Fazbear returned to Fiona's original designs.

[wilhelmina-afton]

Trying to piece together what exactly William did in SOTM which furthered the collapse of the MCM, and how many others were involved.

courtesy spoiler warning.

I made a whole post about how it irks me that people assume right off the bat that William stole everything off Edwin's blueprints and nothing the man created was original.

Firstly, in canon, it has long since been upheld that Henry and William designed Fredbear and Spring Bonnie, and later still the main animatronics (Freddy and Bonnie, example, based of the original two). Second, at the very opening of the game, it's also stated that Edwin signed a contract when he took on projects for Fazbear Ent that anything he made for them was the company's legal property - though most people will reasonably take said statement with a grain of salt, because it is Fazbear making it.

At no point in the game is it implied or stated that Edwin created the original raw blueprints for the endoskeletons, the springlocks, or even the animatronics (Fredbear, Spring Bonnie, Bonnie, etc). That's an assumption most people make seeing the springlock suits, and later the fazbear animatronics in the lower levels of the facility.

However, from the very beginning of the game, it is stated emphatically that everything in the Costume Manor was up to be leased or sold. Additionally, we know that Fazbear Ent had long since been outright buying characters from MCM, requesting manufacturing of both endos and costumes, as prototypes of the characters are found in the lower level.

For one, Chica, whose costume was designed by Fiona while she was still alive and well prior to Edwin's descent into his work as coping mechanism, was a commissioned character and sold to an unspecified buyer and was fairly popular - i.e. the right to her character belongs with whoever had her design comissioned (my best guess being that was still Fazbear Ent. They may have established Chica's Party World beings it's own location until it was subsumed under Freddy's later larger popularity - Foxy, also, was likely a character purchased by Fazbear Ent. We see puppets of him, plus Roxy, as part of a larger cast in the theater showroom.).

The MCM, and Edwin Murray by extension, was an animatronic and mascot manufacturer.

I have no doubt that Edwin likely did have the blueprints for the endos and springlocks, improved on said blueprints and made offers of alteration to Henry and William, and in fact made blueprints for his own original designs (ex: Mimic is his original creation, even if the endoskeleton is not), but at no point does it claim he created them, created them on his own - or that Fazbear Ent stole the concept.

My personal theory is that Henry and William still created the original characters (At the very least, the bear and bunny) and the engineering that went into them (Springlocks, endos), and then worked with Edwin to smooth out all the features and for a second opinion (Edwin very well could have improved upon the endoskeleton and springlock designs - case in point, Mimic), and he manufactured robots for them after (cheaper than producing them themselves).

It cheapens all three of their characters -> Edwin, William, and Henry's -> to assume that all feats of engineering were stolen from Edwin alone, or that Edwin alone created everything in the franchise (and also would be a major retcon from the rest of the series).

However, it is matter-of-fact that William bribed and cooerced workers to defect from the MCM by offering high-up managerial positions at new Fazbear locations in exchange for them collecting Edwin's blueprints and so on.

I have no arguments with the fact that he definitely exploited Edwin later on.

That raises the question of what William had the defecting employees actually stealing if Fazbear's already owned rights to several characters, were purchasing more, and even later bought the land the MCM was built on. My best guess is Mimic designs, as one of the data logs in his office is him wondering who leaked M2's existence, or unfinished/updated blueprints he hadn't sent over yet, and other potential characters that hadn't already been bought up.

(Note: I see it repeatedly mentioned that William stole Edwin's house after he died, so I have this to say in response. William did not buy the Murray Mansion outright, and it's unlikely he moved in or built his house on top of it. He explicitly states in an email that it still belongs to Edwin, even following William's purchase of the land it/the factory is on, and he even offers the position of Lead Engineer to the Edwin as part of Fazbears. Which is still so damn underhanded, considering that William had a hand in the MCM downfall as much as Edwin himself did.

Additionally, we have seen William's Afton's house in the past - the cutscenes in Fnaf 4 and SL. They had a fair amount of neighbors nearby, which would not make sense if William rebuilt his home atop the hill where Murray mansion stood alone, and the Afton househould as we saw in game was far smaller than the Murray Mansion was).

Also, William is not the sole face of Fazbear Entertainment. There are presumably multiple other people, including Henry, who Edwin mentions at least once - whether he was a worker at the MCM who defected or was a mutual friend of Will and Edwin - who would found the company. Additionally, William isn't the only man running the company - again, Henry and various unknown other persons would go into that.

While there's no doubt William was an advocate for gaining the MCM's work by any means necessary, as he was the one sending emails to the workers and Edwin himself, other people would have been involved.

[slooshee]

SOTM SPOILERS AHEAD!!

okay so I’ve seen a few questions about SOTM and how it effects previously established lore and I kinda wanna give my two cents on and try to clarify maybe theorize a little.

“So William and Henry didn’t make the original designs anymore?”

No. They did. At least the ones we know. It’s kind of complicated. Firstly, Fazbear Entertainment and by extension Fredbear’s Family Diner was already an established business when they collaborated with Edwin. So by that logic Fredbear and most likely Springbonnie probably already existed. The prototypes we see of them in the R&D section were supposed to be for the new establishment as this was pre-bite. Both would go on to be reworked/rebranded into new characters being Freddy and Bonnie. Chica and Foxy is where it starts to get a little more muddy. Chica was obviously designed by Fiona, at least her Chica’s party world version. But I think it’s also important to remember that for all of these the Murrays were contracted to make them. Meaning I imagine they were given some kind of description of what they were looking for, hence Chica at first being referred to as the design for the hen animatronic. I imagine that at least the basic idea of there being a chicken animatronic was commissioned by them. With Foxy it’s kind of unclear, we see the puppet version of Foxy and we know Fiona made puppets. We even see she made a pirate wolf/fox of some kind for David. So I see it either being, Foxy was Fiona’s original character but he was put for lease or sale and bought by Fazbearent. OR Foxy specifically and the Foxy pirate stage show we see was made for or in collaboration with FazbearEnt. But regardless of if William and Henry made the original designs or ideas or not they had final say on the versions we know today. They ended up not using Fiona’s designs for the first Freddy Fazbear’s location, which are described as ‘creepy’ by Edwin. Seeing as these animatronics go on to match the style of animatronics we know were designed by William and Henry I think it’s safe to say they had a hand in making the final versions we know from the other games. So yes I do still think the majority of the original gang that we know can still be attributed to Afton and Emily.

“So does this mean that Afton and Henry didn’t make the springlocks?”

As I said before I don’t think so. Fredbear’s was already an established brand. We know that location specifically used Springlocks. I think it’s more likely Henry and William came up with the idea, maybe had some kind of prototype, and worked with Edwin to improve upon the idea or use the technology for new suits that were planned to be at the next location. So it was more likely that all three (or at least Henry and Edwin) worked on the Springlock technology.

“Okay so then what was William Afton after in stealing from Edwin? If he didn’t want the characters or the springlocks what did he want?”

Well, I’m glad you asked. First of all, I believe William was after employees. He was poaching employees from Edwin, we see this implied a couple times throughout. Most likely because he was working on creating Afton robotics at the time and wanted workers for himself. Especially given that Edwin’s business was on a downward spiral and wouldn’t have lasted very long. Secondly, although it’s still debatable if Fazbear entertainment even was sending groups to the factory or if it was the mimic luring employees there the whole time. We know Arnold most likely was tricked and lured there by the mimic. But I think the way Edwin speaks about trying to keep things from them and being betrayed and the fact he puts all his plans so only he can access them does imply William was after something. That something? I believe was not the characters (although FazEnt would end up taking the majority of those too. Although I think that was through a buyout as most of them were for sale or lease and Edwin needed money) but I think he wanted the technology. Think about it. There’s so much stuff we see in Edwin’s factory that seems like it could’ve been used in a lot of the sister location’s technology specifically. 1. There’s the scooper. There’s just.. straight up the scooper. Right there. Edwin made the scooper. I don’t think there’s any debating that. 2. This one might be a bit of a stretch but I can’t help but feel the Tiger sections the mimic acts strikingly similar to how we see Funtime Foxy and Funtime Freddy function. It’s very reminiscent of the way Funtime Foxy reacts to light in the Funtime auditorium section. 3. The most important reason I believe is because of the mimic’s ability to copy voices. Which we see is an ability in some of the Funtime animatronics as well. I mean Funtime Freddy literally has the ability to mimic voices. They outright call it mimicry. Funtime Foxy also has an ability to “Parental voice sync and Replay” which to me sounds like it’s talking about a form of mimicking as well.

To give the TLTR version:

-Original Gang most likely still was William and Henry’s idea at least what animals they should be but they commissioned Fiona for the designs and never ended up using her designs (except for Chica during the Chica’s Party World Era but the Murray’s owned that). Switching to their own designs last minute.

-Springlocks still most likely were invented by Henry and/or William as Fredbear’s existed before Edwin’s partnership with them. The prototypes we see of Fredbear and SpringBonnie were supposed to be for the new location but most likely never got used because of the incident in 83.

-William Afton was still stealing ideas from Edwin even if it wasn’t the animatronics. I believe he was more so after the technology which can be reflected in his later inventions like the Funtime animatronics. He also was most likely poaching employees from Edwin’s dying business to work at Afton Robotics.

I hope this could help clear up or anything about it! I know this is a bit of a yapping fest but I hope it made some sense of things!

[cl0wnzzie]

SOTM Spoilers + Thoughts

In short I think its better then Ruin when it comes to design, characters, and story (somewhat)

Speaking of story, I came into the game with fear that it was gonna confirm Tales-Games (Which they lucky didn’t except for introducing characters, which is fine. The Sliver Eyes trilogy did that for Henry & Charlie)

The reason why I don’t like the whole “Book Events=Games canon” for Fnaf is because how disconnected, surreal, vague the stories events can be (Exp: Frailty, Under Construction, B7s, and Stitch epilogues)

Which made it hard for non-readers to understand what the hell was happening because these books did so much stuff. At least for me.

It also didn’t help that these books introduced a lot of new characters instead of using any important characters from the games (like Micheal, Henry, or any of the Missing Children from 85’) but I’ll get back to one of them in second.

But back to SOTM, it looks fun and it doesn’t force it self to 100% serious like in Ruin.

I like the characters designs too, they aren’t ment to look like Fazbear’s Jointed animatronics, their suites with little outfits and I just find them neat. Also wish we hear more of Arnold thoughts on things (but then again he was probably tired)

Also think they added the Murray’s pretty well, Like I genuinely love Fionna (I don’t much in the books other then she wasn’t in the picture)

I like how Edwin was too, he not as standoffish as I thought he was gonna be, He sounds like a nice man who genuinely cares for everything he built & Fionna.

And David is David👍

(All I know he dies when 3 & was chill with the Mimic)

Speaking of which I like how now theres 2 mimics

From my understanding of the ending (Ai Fionna is part of the… I think 2nd Mimic and David’s Mimic is the one we see in ruin)

Idk the endings kinda confuses me, but hey I think they were fun.

Now my personal nick picks is how Henry is used (Spoilers he’s like mentioned twice in two separate mail letters) and my worries for future games and how they write for past important characters.

So SOTM confirms that Edwin made Mediocre Melodies, Roxy, Monty, Foxy, and Moon

While Fionna Designed (PW) Chica, which THANK YOU STEEL WOOL FOR MENTIONING “Chica’s Party world.”

But an another thing the game confirms that Edwin made the Springlocks and built the prototypes of Fredbear & SpringBonnie. Sooo~ What the hell is Game Henry doing??? And Why didn’t Scott just used Henry instead bring a new character with a semi-similar backstory???

Because Henry & his family are such under utilized characters in Fnaf, Especially with how interesting their storylines can be.

Like I argue that Henry should play a more important role then just “William’s business partner & Puppet’s dad” cause he was so much more than that in the Sliver Eyes and parts in Pizza Sim, he’s a morally grey (and I mean GREY) man, who was often focused with his projects (Fazbear’s, Bot Charlie, and Killing William) that he fails to see other people, and he’s doesn’t think twice for people like his employees or Micheal. Not because he enjoys hurting them, it’s because they get in the way in his projects.

While the people he is close (including William somewhat) He goes have guilt, he regrets not saving Charlie, he regrets not see his still living family, and he regrets ever letting William hurt his family and other family children. But, he still does questionable things to fix his mistakes. And I find that unique about him. But instead Scott add a new character that really just complicates the story of the games and makes other important characters just kind of useless in away. If that makes sense.

Overall it’s good I’m just worried for what gonna happen with Henry. (If they ever use him for anything…)

But at least they know he exists

[williamafton2030]

SOTM SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!

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A theory just came to me after watching SOTM and a near-SOTM teaser in Ruin.

This is that Henry may have built Fnaf 6 on top of Murray's Costume Manor in an attempt to make up for his mistake. A mistake he'd been regretting for a long time. Dawko mentioned this about Henry regretting a past mistake in his great video:

Yesterday Dawko says that the decision to help William destroy MCM may have been the Henry's biggest regret. This undoubtedly makes Henry a much more morally gray character than we thought. We always saw Henry as a simpleton who, unfortunately, was too ignorant to see the truth about William. However, now in SOTM we see that he also seems to have helped William bring down MCM, and that's crazy, really.

Just as Dawko says, Henry wasn't the one who masterminded all of this; it was William who orchestrated it, and Henry seems to have helped him. Perhaps because William had manipulated him. I don't know, but what Dawko says is true; that wasn't right of Henry.

And even more so when you realize that Henry and Edwin seem to have been very close in the past and even close friends. Dawko mentions it in his video because Edwin doesn't call Henry "Henry" but instead calls him by a nickname: "Hen."

That said, we have to go to Ruin. In this DLC, we have several unused maps from the Sinkhole. One of them says "Something Cool That Maybe Foreshadows Carnival (Pending JTop's Thoughts)." We now know that "Carnival" refers to Secret of the Mimic, and even more so since these discarded maps feature the original Freddy, Chica, and Bonnie on the stage. Of course, the SOTM ones are more of a prototype and aren't even on the stage.

Or, well, the stage isn't exactly like that, since SOTM draws a parallel with Help Wanted 1 in one of its endings. In this one, Arnold ends up inside Freddy, replicating what Glitchtrap did in Help Wanted 1. And besides Mimic being present, watching the show with us inside (as Glitchtrap did many years later), we have that spectacle I mentioned. Here, the animatronics sing and dance like in Help Wanted 1 while on stage.

So, with that said, let's go back to that teaser we were going to get for SOTM. Remember that at the end of Ruin, we go to the Sinkhole and head to the bottom of Fnaf 6. Candy Cadet is there, and we can also go to Burntrap's part. So we're in that place. With that said, we can quickly piece together that Murray's Costume Manor (or what's left of it, to be more precise) is underneath Fnaf 6.

So, with that said, this theory came to mind: Henry building Fnaf 6 on top of what was left of Murray's Costume Manor as a way to somehow apologize to Edwin and make amends for his mistake.

Post that reminded me of that teaser that was cut from Ruin:

Here you can see what I said about that teaser of the original animatronics on stage 😉

Anyway, I don't know if this theory I've made could be canon, but I think if it were, Henry would become a much deeper character than we thought 🤔

Anyway, this is my theory, and if you have another one that's different or contrary to this one, that's fine, since all theories are completely valid until they're confirmed or disproved 😉😊

[funbonded]

So here’s where I’ll briefly mention some spoilers for SOTM && whether it effects my blog or headcanons or lore ( spoiler alert no it doesn’t ) .

I think me writing a Funtime animatronic one built by “ Afton Robotics” frees me from the possibility that Edwin had anything to do with the Funtimes there’s a lot that gives me confidence about this and one or two things that don’t .

1. The Funtimes blue prints include ways in which they can be used to kill ( definitely Afton ) . This is the biggest one and in the silver eyes they are like his little murder robots . Dad’s monsters if you will .

2. The Blob . This isn’t Funtime Freddy only his mask . Why ? Because the pieces of the Funtimes were left in the bunker . Molten Freddy ( Ballora , Funtime Foxy and Funtime Freddy ) were in game described as having so much remnant the most ever read off of any animatronic before . We know remnant has a life essence .

The two things I feel might screw me over in the future even though I’m already in the clear of having Funfred’s lore accidentally botched by all this is ;

1. The Funtimes ability to mimic ( concern ) which has always been a thing , that and their ability to change with the illusion disc . But that was already said to be William’s idea && Scott && Steel Wool I’m threatening you now . As that is what it says that it’s WILLIAMS design that would be a retcon. You’ve avoided the term so long now by the skin of your teeth don’t touch the Funtimes . They are literally Aftons Robotics .

what’s weird here though is the sister location bunker is located underneath the Manor House once owned by Murray now owned by Afton . Murray may have built the bunker but Afton utilised it for his own monsters . That bunker leads to underneath the costume manor later turned into the pizza plex . The only weird thing about this is it feels like pizza simulator night also have been made out of the prototype beneath the manor too so why did the Funtimes parade Michael around only to end up back right next to where they just left ? ( please don’t be true that’s kind of stupid if this is true that’s another reason to feel like maybe they do have something to do with The Blob but at least The Blob seems to breathe and hopefully not be related to the mimic GET OUT MEME HERE) .

I did like the game no shade to steel wool it ruled honestly fnaf lore has sorta derailed though but that was inevitable . Just keep my panda out of your games actually.

Lastly people say a lot that maybe Jackie inspired Baby but to me they look completely different if anything maybe Ennard was a bit like Jakie in design or even an old prototypes for her I’d believe that more . && Ballora is definitely Afton’s robot let’s be real .

It is weird that we lack a Funtime Chica like Orville && Mr. Hippo who are Edwin’s creations again . ( she might have been Edwin’s actually since she was in Pizza Sim you know what RIP me . If it does turn out that Edwin put the panda together at some stage I’d take it and say Afton was the one to make him a monster but for now he’s Afton’s evil panda .) Steelwool leave it androgynous so I can sit in my imagination please . && actually yeah where did the molten Freddy head come from or Scrap Baby design … bet they were actually fall fest animatronics dear god … molten Freddy is burnt before the pizza sim fire hence why he’s molten … okay never mind forget everything I said like it’s genius it links up but God !!! We knew so little actually! anyway until that’s confirmed my lores the same I’ll change things up when we learn more about new Fnaf as we learn it . In a lot of ways it’s great in others it’s a little frustrating.

yeah the lores been cooked for a while hasn’t it ? But steel wool are doing there best . I’m not a hater I thought the new game was their best so far I think they thrive more when they work on their own character designs like Jackie && Dollie looked great .

[cellophane-wasps]

Ok, so I've seen a lot of dissent regarding William and Henry presumably stealing everything. And like, I don't feel that way at all. For one, Henry has never been a truly good guy. He knew the myriad of issues with Fazbear and still ran it. Another is that it's clear that William and Henry were responsible for creating things. They simply stole designs and such and made them their own. They contracted MCM to build prototypes. They then used those prototypes and made them into the characters we all love.

Also, while Fazbear has been shown to commit extremely dubious or illegal acts, I don't think they could steal everything in the warehouse without facing ire from the other companies. Maybe they could handle one, but definitely not every company that contracted Murray. I personally think Fazbear monopolized the costume entertainment industry. We already see that they are tied to fredbears and circus babys pizza world. It's implied that they're owners of Chicas party world. And if they aren't, they become the owners in the future. I really think sister location onward has been trying to build Fazbear up to basically be Disney. And what has Disney done over the years? Monopolized children's entertainment.

Another thing I've noticed. I could be wrong, but I don't think there's any blue/indigo bunny in secret of the mimic aside from the silver eyes esque amalgamation. It seems like Bonnie is purely a fazbear creation. Which would explain why they mimic axed glamrock Bonnie. Mimic (either David, or an ai that thinks it's David) would be unfamiliar with Bonnie. Roxy and Monty were MCM characters. As is Chica. And glamrock freddy being closer in colour to fredbear than Freddy adds credence to this.

I don't think SOTM is trying to say fazbear did nothing but steal. And I personally feel like this reading of the game is surface level at best, and poor media literacy at worst.

[wilhelmina-afton]

Random SOTM thoughts

Caught between the possibility of William + Fazbear Entertainment actually stealing Edwin's work (via defecting employees from MCM or sending in employees of their own, because both William and Fazbear Ent are monstrous bitches by the time of canon across the worlds) vs actually having legally bought at least some of the designs, prior to Fiona's death and Edwin's spiral into...everything that went down in MCM.

I see most people in comments immediately assuming that Henry + William stole Edwin's designs - but I'm honestly not sure how much of that is the case, because while it wouldn't suprise me at all if theft occured near the end of Edwin's life, and especially following his death, considering they were friends for an unknown period of time, it makes sense to me that they would at least try to go down a legal route for reputation if nothing else?

(Also, I'm a sucker for any AU where William Afton does care for his loved ones, but depending on the choices he makes he can either be better or be cruel as in canon - His Empire of Dirt by @peariandpine has changed me forever. I want to think they were, at one time, genuine friends - and the three of them fuck it up, by being so devoted to the improvement of the work.)

Plus, Murray's Costume Manor is ultimately a warehouse designed to showcase animatronic and mascots suits one can either lease out or purchase outright.

It makes more sense to me that Edwin helped William + Henry get off their feet in the animatronic industry because his father was already a part of that industry, in part helping them design Fredbear and Springbonnie (creating the prototypes and storing them in the lower levels of the facility), and they all had a hand in character design plus the internal robotic engineering (ex: endos, springlocks), while Edwin manufactured them with additional input from the other two burgeoning engineers.

Maybe they were given a discount on the manufacturing price due to the fact that they were friends, but they still ultimately would have created the concept of Fredbear/Springbonnie together, having split ownership over them.

Then, when Fredbear's Diner was getting more popular, as were animatronic attractions in the 70's/80's in general, William and Henry wanted to open more restaurants, with new characters - such as Chica's Party World (I have no idea if CPW was originally comissioned by Fazbear or simply bought out from another company), and Freddy Fazbear's Pizza.

(Pretty sure that the Freddy Fazbear Pizza deal was the Fazbear Ent Restaurant project that fell through, with Edwin being behind in production and overbudget, with Fazbear Ent being displeased and rejecting the various designs he sent through - you can find busted down/unfinished Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy around the workshops. I kind of figure that after the MCM collapsed, the project was put on hold until Henry/William/Fazbear had the funds/facility to produce the animatronics themselves after losing their biggest/sole manufacturer).

They looked to Edwin for working on improved robotics, and his wife Fiona for character designs (it's confirmed in SOTM that Fiona designed Chica, though one of the MCM workers, Milton, noted that Edwin's suit was slightly different to Fiona's original design and a fair bit scarier).

Even when Fazbear Ent purchased the land of Murray's house and stuff, and had the right to make him move, William expressly reached out (even if it was only an act of courtesy) to say, we won't take your house or anything, and we would still like for you to be lead engineer rather than just - kicking Murray out.

Though, I have no doubt that as Murray's mental health declined he and whoever else was in Fazbear Ent. definitely began attempting to monopolize the defecting MCM workers (which. r.i.p. to them, Fazbear is not any better than Murray was).

All that said, William would still be the absolute biggest bitch in this scenario, as he still holds all the power. He's a fairly smart man who uses said smarts for terrible things - even if he believes and thinks he knows best for his detoriating friend who is clearly overtaxing himself, so whether he genuinely cares for his friends/family or not, he would definitely be aware of the power incongruity.

Whether he cares or not, William is always a fairly condescending character to the people around him in my head, lol. Even if there's a world where he is not a murderer, he's still a bit (a lot) of a bastard.

(Also, I've seen comments theorizing that Henry was Edwin's friend first and William coerced him to defect, which - wow. W o W. It's terrible, but also wholly so William, especially if you look at the Restaurant Project as Fredbear's Diner, the flagship, rather than the latter Freddy's location).

Also, the idea that William stole Edwin's house is a wonderfully terrible idea (it's gonna give give me brainrot for days) - but also I don't think it checks out, as we see in the Sister Location post-scoop cutscene that the Afton household had plenty of neighbors and lays on a flat road - the Murray Mansion was high up on a hill and pretty isolated, same as the MCM.

Even if William rebuilt his home atop of the mansion's ruins, the house would still be isolated where it stoof atop atop the hill.

(I do have the crack headcanon, however, that Michael and David were around the same age and possibly played together whenever William and Edwin met in person pre-Fallfest and Fiona's death/F10NA's creation, the Fnaf 4 bedroom is modeled after David's because they were friends, and that it is Michael we play as in FNAF 4 - mainly because the layout of the bedroom in game doesn't match CC's in the 8-bit sections in-between the nights.

Also, though CC's name is cemented as 'Evan' for me, it would be so fucked up if William had named his youngest child David in remembrance of one of his friend's long deceased son).