26 Frights of Freddy
is the name of an ongoing collaborative project inspired by the recent Alphabet Stew project spanning from November 2017 to January 2018. The goal is to find and round up 26 different authors from Reddit in a special horror anthology ordered by the alphabet and posted on r/fivenightsatfreddys.
It was established by a behind-the-scenes participant in the Alphabet Stew anthology as was originally inspired by u/ctsmith76 and as subsequently arranged by u/ByfelsDisciple on nosleep. As of this writing, the first series is officially complete, forming a widely-interwoven narrative that is all coming together rapidly.
The objective was to see if some kind of communal fanfic based on this concept could be made, gathering together 26 writers from the Five Nights at Freddy's community. Once everything has been agreed upon, and 26 authors selected, the series would begin, starting with A and proceeding alphabetically until Z. For instance, the first story may be titled "A is for Abracadabra", "B is for Balloon", "C is for Charlie", etc.
The story is set in an alternate timeline that takes considerable liberties with the FNAF universe, exploring some of the more paranatural aspects broached in FNAF 6. The plot is kicks off after the apparent suicide of a troubled loner, which leads to the discovery that he had been trying to recreate some of the research that led to the development of the animatronics and to their killer applications; apparently, whatever happened, he succeeded, and ended up possessing a Freddy animatronic he stole from the scrapyard and marked with his own blood. Soon, other people end up getting involved with weird shit of their own and it all comes together, exposing a larger conspiracy that even the Aftons weren't fully aware of.
The authors have a sizeable online presence, and each posts one of the 26 stories corresponding to each letter, in addition to collecting fan art, making bonus stories, corresponding to questions every now and then, and generally interacting with the fandom.
Has a Subreddit. r/26FrightsOfFreddy
This anthology contains examples of:
- Apocalyptic Log: And HOW!
- The Nested Story in "C is for Centralia" is in the form of Go-Pro footage taken by the missing sister of the main POV character.
- in "F is for Fright", the hapless night guard records his shifts at Fazbear's Fright and his death is caught on film.
- in "E is for Everything", Michael Afton records his slow descent into insanity before followed by a police report. Yeah.
- The Nested Story in "C is for Centralia"
- Came Back Wrong: The original fate of MANY of the characters.
- Cowboy Cop: Clay Burke becomes this after he can no longer deny the reality of the whole animatronic situation first explored in Five Nights at Freddy's: The Silver Eyes and Five Nights at Freddy's: The Twisted Ones, overstepping his bounds and even providing some pretty illegal help to the protagonists in the effort to bring down Animus.
- Enemy Mine: Fate brings Michael and Lefty together as allies against an even greater threat.
- Foreshadowing: Heavily used throughout the series:
- in "I is for Inquisitive", Isaac claimed he would drive into the FUCKING ocean if he had to in order to get away from Tangled Freddy. Guess how Tangled Freddy dies...
- Inverted between "F is for Fright" and "U is for Umbra"; both times animatronic figures stomp a character to death, but the way it is portrayed in U takes place FAR before the series proper.
- in "I is for Inquisitive"
- For the Evulz: "F is for Fright" has Springtrap stomping the player character from Five Nights at Freddy's 3 to death for no real reason.
- Goodbye, Cruel World!: "H is for Hell" begins with Henry's suicide note lamenting his failures
- Hostile Animatronics: As a Five Nights at Freddy's fanfic, this is pretty obvious, although there are even worse ones out there
- Humanoid Abomination: The main antagonist becomes one of these.
- Nebulous Evil Organisation: The Animus Society.
- Posthumous Character:
- Springtrap, Molten Freddy, and Baby all perished in the fire at Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator
- Henry and Tanner are long dead by the time of the series proper.
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Spiritual Successor: to the Alphabet Stew series.
