Five Nights at Freddy's is a series of Web Animations by Tony Crynight
, rather loosely based on the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise by Scott Cawthon.
It tells the story of the Fazbear gang. One night, Foxy and Mangle decide to start a relationship, and Chica becomes jealous. In a rage, Chica cuts Mangle into her canon self’s look, resulting in Mangle running away. Filled with remorse after seeing that Foxy still loves Mangle despite her look, Chica becomes The Atoner. Things go from bad to worse after Mangle, unaware of Chica's change of heart, attempts to get revenge on her. One thing leads to another, and eventually Mangle finds herself in the hands of the sinister Springtrap...
The seventeen-part series is complete and can be watched in its entirety here. A second season, focusing on the characters of the second game, is currently in production (at the time of this writing, three episodes are complete).
Tropes in the series include:
- Adaptational Attractiveness: The characters have more cartoony designs here than in the source material. Chica and Mangle (before she was, well, mangled) in particular are also drawn with slender, feminine hourglass figures.
- Adaptational Gender Identity: Mangle in the games is of Ambiguous Gender, with descriptions of the character alternating between he/him and she/her pronouns and Mangle's voice consisting of two voice actors of different genders speaking at once. Here, Mangle is clearly female.
- Adaptational Mundanity: Yes, the series about sentient animatronic romance is more mundane than the games, which not only feature some animatronics that are only slightly less ridiculously human than the ones here, but also featured paranormal elements such as ghostly possessions even back when the lore was at its least convoluted.
- In the non-canon shorts, it's very much an Inverted Trope. To give you an idea, the short where Cthulhu hides in a toilet and devours Nightmare Foxy is not the weirdest one!
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Pretty much everyone except Fredbear. Even Springtrap becomes sympathetic in this story!
- Adaptational Villainy: Fredbear isn't a mindless robot or a child seeking vengeance, but far worse. Even before being ressurrected by Springtrap, Fredbear was way too willing to murder.
- Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole: In the original games, Springtrap is a decaying springlock suit containing the rotting corpse of the child murderer William Afton. Despite this series choosing to adapt out everything about Afton and his murders and all of the animatronics being Ridiculously Human Robots instead of Haunted Technology, Springtrap looks just as decrepit as the original and has rotten flesh coming out of his orifices.
- Adapted Out: William Afton, the children he killed and everything that had to do with humans or the paranormal in the original series is omitted. Here, the plot revolves around the lives of the Animatronics, who aren't possessed and are simply living, feeling robots.
- Amicable Exes: Foxy and Chica don’t start out as this, since their break up was pretty messy and Foxy was understandably furious at Chica for what she did to Mangle, but they make up in episode 7 when she expresses that she wants to make things right, the two moving on as friends.
- And I Must Scream: At the end of the series, Freddy locks Springtrap away in his old HQ, leaving him to go mad with nothing but Fredbear’s lifeless body as company.
- And Now You Must Marry Me: In the second half of the series Springtrap holds Mangle against her will and forces her to marry him, wedding ring and all, as part of his plan to get revenge on Freddy.
- Art Evolution: The series started off being animated mostly through rigging, and only much later would it go for fully frame-by-frame animation, with the characters getting more expressive as a result, if a tad less detailed and less on-model at times.
- Ascended Extra: In canon, Chica is often present but never relevant to the plot. In season one of this series, she kicks off the entire story.
- The Atoner: Chica once she comes back to her senses after mangling Mangle.
- Ax-Crazy: Fredbear, after Springtrap revives him.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Mangle is genuinely compassionate and sweet, but the brief vengeful state she goes into after Chica mutilates her body makes it clear that it is not a good idea to get on her bad side.
- Big Bad: Fredbear, due to being the main reason why Springtrap was corrupted, and is the bigger threat, even if he's partially controlled by Springtrap.
- Bittersweet Ending: Ultimately, Springtrap is defeated, but Foxy's memory is wiped in the process (though it's implied that the Amnesia Missed a Spot).
- Blackmail: Springtrap subjects Mangle to some. He has in his possession a device that can wipe Foxy's memory, and threatens to use it if Mangle doesn't comply. Naturally, she does.
- Bloodless Carnage: Since the characters are purely robotic in this series, most injuries to the animatronics completely lack bloodshed. However, when Springtrap is impaled by Foxy's hook, the results are gory despite this version of the rabbit not having a corpse inside of him.
- Break the Cutie: The series can be summarized as "Mangle's life gets ruined in various ways." All she does is get together with Foxy, the guy she loves, and she’s attacked and mutilated by her close friend Chica out of jealousy. This causes Mangle to snap and almost kill Chica and another friend in a blind rage. She’s then blackmailed into marriage by an insane rabbit, who traps her consciousness inside of a monster and tries to murder her friends and boyfriend. Even when she manages to get free and all is forgiven after the climax, Foxy's memories are erased and he doesn’t remember who she is.
- Butt-Monkey:
- Bonnie is a sweet guy, but a lot of humour comes at his expense, mainly from getting spoken over due to his awkward personality — not to mention he gets knocked out twice over the course of the series.
- Toy Bonnie is always on the receiving end of cartoonish abuse just about every time he shows up, usually as a form of comeuppance for the pranks he pulls.
- Central Theme: The importance of Forgiveness, and how much revenge will only ruin everything:
- Foxy and especially Mangle must learn to forgive Chica for having mutilated the latter, and when Mangle instead goes murderously vengeful, she accidentally destroys the blueprints that Bonnie and an atoning Chica wanted to use to fix her, ruining her chances of returning to normal. Foxy forgives Chica when learning of her good intentions and so that they can all focus on getting Mangle back, while Mangle forgives Chica in the end, and the rest of the cast held no grudge against her for her brief rampage.
- Self-forgiveness is also important, as Mangle fell for Springtrap's manipulations in part because she believed her attack on Chica and Bonnie was unforgivable and that all her friends now hated her. When reconciling with them, she finally sees they all still love her and she manages to forgive herself. Chica also can't forgive herself by the end due to all the suffering she kicked off due to her envy, but Bonnie is there with her and will do his best to help her overcome her self-loathing.
- Bonnie is the most admirable character in the story also because of how forgiving he is, holding no grudge against a remorseful Chica for her crime against Mangle, nor any against Mangle herself for having attacked and injured him in blind rage.
- On the flipside, Springtrap is the worst example in the story of revenge consuming a person, going from a kind-hearted entertainer to a spiteful, merciless monster who sheds all his positive qualities and refuses redemption even when forgiven by Mangle, all for the sake of avenging his old friend Fredbear and taking back all that Freddy took from them by killing the bear and all his friends. While he came back as a feral, revenge-driven abomination, Fredbear still unambiguously cared about Springtrap and prioritized saving him over killing Freddy. Springtrap literally put his revenge over his old friend by the end.
- Chekhov's Gun: The remote animatronic reset device becomes one when Springtrap uses it on Foxy during the final confrontation.
- Cute and Psycho: Downplayed, but it can be noted all of the female characters in Tony’s FNAF animations share the trait of all being largely feminine and sweet...until you push them too far.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Chica's jeaousy over Foxy and Mangle starting a relationship drives her to mangle the latter.
- Dude, Not Funny!: In episode 11, Freddy makes a snarky remark about Chica being responsible for Mangle's current condition. While Bonnie laughs at the comment, he quickly stops upon noticing that Chica and Foxy are glaring at him.Chica: Hehe, uhm...Mangle disappeared.
Freddy: No kidding! You mean after you suddenly made her name make sense?
Bonnie: Pfhahaha! Ha — (sees Foxy and Chica glaring at him) Oh. - Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
- This used to be Springtrap's motive, to avenge Fredbear and himself, but unfortunately, it gives way to Revenge Before Reason.
- Fredbear plays this straight, as it seems that, even in his monstrous form, he cares about Springtrap.
- Green and Mean: Springtrap’s once golden fur has become green with years of decay, and spending all that time stewing in isolation and and obsession for vengeance has made him...not a great guy, to say the least.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Chica's envy of Foxy and Mangle's relationship is what drives her to take a machete to the latter.
- Heart Drive: Each animatronic has a chip containing their personality. It just so happens that Mangle's used to belong to Fredbear.
- The Heavy: Springtrap. He's not as big a threat as Fredbear, but he's still integral to the plot.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: During the final battle, Foxy manages to skewer Springtrap through the tors using his hook hand.
- It's All My Fault: Chica believes as much in the sixteenth part. Not without reason, of course.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
- Foxy is an impetuous and abrasive fox who doesn’t mince his words, but he’s also loyal, protective of his friends, and deeply loves Mangle for more than her looks.
- Freddy is a bit of a stingy workaholic who at first brushes off the situation with Mangle as ridiculous romantic drama — but the confrontation with Springtrap and Fredbear shows that he cares for his friends and their feelings much more than he lets on, as he’s the one to get through to Mangle when she’s trapped in Fredbear.
- Kick the Dog: Springtrap offers taunting “condolences” to Foxy over Mangle being imprisoned inside Fredbear, even claiming that all he really did was put her out of her misery. Unfortunately for Springtrap, Foxy bites back hard.Springtrap: Your dear Mangle...she was so useful for my plans. Foxy...I’m so sorry. I had to switch her off to bring Fredbear back. But don’t be sad. She’s still living inside him, locked away. You should feel delighted! I did her a favour; now she doesn’t have to look like this anymore.
- Knight of Cerebus: Fredbear. As soon as his body shows up, things get way darker in a big hurry.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: The remote animatronic reset devices can reset the memories of the animatronic they're designed for from up to 20 yards away. Springtrap has Foxy's in his possession and blackmails Mangle with it. During the climax, he actually uses it on Foxy.
- Machete Mayhem: Chica uses a machete on Mangle to, well, mangle her.
- Manipulative Bastard: Springtrap bribes Mangle into going with his scheme by threatening to reset Foxy if she doesn't.
- Mirror-Cracking Ugly: Mangle's brief Sanity Slippage over Chica mutilating her begins with a mirror cracking as she looks at it.
- Motive Decay: Springtrap's original goal was to avenge both himself and Fredbear, but he ultimately gave in to revenge and started caring only about himself.
- Not Quite Dead: Springtrap apparently managed to survive getting Impaled with Extreme Prejudice by Foxy, as shown in The Stinger.
- Poor Communication Kills: If Mangle had known of Chica's change of heart, she wouldn't have tried to get revenge... and, more importantly, wouldn't have ended up becoming a part of Springtrap's scheme.
- Rascally Rabbit: Tony’s version of Toy Bonnie is a mischievous prankster who loves pulling tricks on others, though he often ends up becoming a victim of his own jokes.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Both Chica and later Mangle's eyes turn red as they briefly go homicidal, Chica out of jelousy towards Mangle for getting with Foxy and Mangle out of revenge towards Chica for mangling her. Ironically, however, Bonnie, the one character who has red eyes by default, is the single friendliest, most innocent character in the story.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge:
- Once Springtrap revives Fredbear, the two are completely hellbent on killing Freddy out of vengeance for taking over their restaurant, as well as his friends by association.
- Foxy gets his own one of these after Springtrap mocks him over Mangle’s “loss” — mortally wounding him out of pure fury.
- Sanity Slippage:
- Mangle had a thankfully short one as she went feral with revenge over Chica disfiguring her.
- Springtrap is shown to be undergoing some in The Stinger for the first season finale.
- Similarly, Toy Chica gets a case of this at the start of season 2 following a prank from Toy Bonnie Gone Horribly Wrong.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Bonnie is a friendly and kind pacifist and definetely no fighter, while Foxy is much manlier in build, with boldness and brashness to go with it, and can assert himself much better than the meek rabbit.
- Sickeningly Sweethearts: Foxy and Mangle, when they get to be happy together. Springtrap even mocks the former for it.
- Silence Is Golden: The initial portion of the story featured no dialogue whatsoever until a single line at the end of episode 7. The plot until then was conveyed through nothing but body language, emotive reactions from characters, the occasional writing and, at most, some song choices with very fitting lyrics.
- Suddenly Voiced: After 6 episodes of nothing but music as audio, while all the storytelling was conveyed via body language and expressions, episode 7 starts having sounds coming from the various characters and ends with Springtrap saying the very first line in the series: "Hello, my dear". Every single episode afterwards is fully voice acted.
- The Stinger:
- The series ends on a scene of Springtrap undergoing a little Sanity Slippage.
- The full movie compiling all seventeen parts gives us another one, this time with the night guard, who was apparently watching the whole thing on the security cams.Night guard: Duuuude, that was so cheesy.
- Villain Ball: For someone who's been secretly living among the Fazbear Band for years and knows just about everything about them, Springtrap fails to consider that taunting Foxy about his girlfriend’s fate and throwing Mangle's lifeless body at his feet might just make him mad. Springtrap is promptly skewered through the torso by an enraged Foxy.
- Walking Spoiler: Fredbear is impossible to discuss without revealing Springtrap's motives and the plot of the later episodes.
- Wham Line: Springtrap delivers a whopper when explaining to Mangle how she fits into his scheme. He notes that when reassembling Fredbear, the only part he couldn't find was the personality chip:Springtrap: I was searching for that chip everywhere, and finally, I found it... because I found you! It's inside you, Mangle! The chip... is inside you.
- Wham Shot: Springtrap pulling off a cloth in his lair to reveal what's underneath: the lifeless body of his old friend Fredbear.
