YMMV / Can't Go Home Again

• Adorkable: Marionette can come across as this, what with some of his social ineptness, shyness and sweetness. Big time whenever his toy collector side kicks in and he goes on a never-ending monologue about them.
• Aluminum Christmas Trees:
  • The entire idea of "Concept Unification", wherein an animatronic is stripped of its' exterior and its' endoskeleton is refurbished with a new appearance is not an original concept, to the surprise of many. In fact, it's a rather common, if not controversial, practice to save up on costs, especially by Chuck E. Cheese's.
  • Likewise, Scott being able to drive with an artificial leg might seem outlandish given the time period of the series... except some jurisdictions have had laws in place regarding specific cases like that since The '60s.
• Awesomeness Withdrawal: The time gap between Almost Feels Like Home and Going Home In a Box was one year and six months. Not an enormous amount by most means, but during that time period, it was harder to find people not talking about it on Mable's Tumblr blog than anything else. Even the author felt the withdrawal of not writing the Home series! This is also reflected by the amount of reviews and favorites, being slightly lower than the previous works as many fans had moved on and failed to notice the new installment had gone up (or, more recently, noticed it months after it was first uploaded).
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: Mike and Marionette's return to Hickory Dickory's to deal with "troubling" animatronics in Almost Feels Like Home, those being revealed to be Orville the Elephant and Music Man. It pops out of nowhere, serves nothing, and is never brought up again, but is far too tense to be a mere Breather Episode.
• Canon Fodder: What happened to the Mediocre Melodies after Magictime Theatre went under? Orville reveals that they were all sold across state lines, and that more of them were possibly living, but beyond that? Likewise, what happened to the other animatronic series that were never even mentioned, such as the Rockstars? Mable straight-up encourages others to write their own stories about the matter, having given the thumbs up to a possible "Homeverse".
• Captain Obvious Reveal:
  • Fredrick Fazzman really being William Afton, which, in turn, makes Marionette and Foxy Aftons as well, can feel like this in hindsight, what with being an Original Character involved that deeply in the upper management of Freddy's. Nonetheless, it's still a very important twist, to the point of not being in It Was His Sled territory.
  • The Pizzaplex animatronics all being living animatronics and not mere machines. Because the Home series is very faithful to the time period it's set in, the technology is simply not there for the opposite to even be remotely possible. Moreso, the narration repeatedly drops multiple hints of this, be it of their past lives, their emotions, their reactions to Agony, or their unnatural behaviour.
• Catharsis Factor: William Afton's end, pulled deep down into the red lake between life and death, whilst his "old friend" Henry watches over it to make sure he never resurfaces again. After all he did, and for how long he got away with it, watching his perfect plan go up in flames by the hand of his very own victims felt downright liberating. Exactly what is happening to him was never revealed, but strongly implied to be A Fate Worse Than Death, with Mable saying that the lake is better left off undisturbed.
• Contested Sequel: Opinions over Going Home In a Box, albeit largely positive, seems to vary on how well it compares to the previous two books. There are those who believe it to be their natural continuation, improving upon their foundations, giving characters beyond Mike and Marionette much needed Days In The Limelight and setting up bigger things for the future; there are others who find it to be a step down from Almost Feels Like Home due to the glacial pace of its' underlying main conflict, relative lack of positive resolutions or pro-active actions by the protagonists and overall bleakness of their situation, causing an ever-growing tension that frustratingly enough has no minor outlets and strings readers along for far too long; and then there are those squarely in the middle, with some things better and some things worse than the previous books.
• Continuity Lockout: With three books, over two million words, each chapter holding valuable parts of information of the greater narrative, several Call Backs, and a strong, solid core cast, picking up the series at any point other than the first chapter of Can't Go Home Again is strongly recommended against, least new readers head in there with completely wild and differing expectations and end up completely and utterly confused.
• Crazy Is Cool: Ennard is very popular amongst readers for the exact same reasons many of his own friends and family find him grating at times: his bizarre tastes, outlandish reasoning, and unpredictable behaviour.
• Diagnosed by the Audience: A handful of fans' headcanon sees Marion to be somewhere on the autism spectrum, what with his stunted social skills, intense interest in stereotypically "childish" things, difficulty at elaborating emotions, and crippling shyness. Word of God clarified that, although she never meant that, she has absolutely no issues with it either.
• Even Better Sequel: Almost Feels Like Home is near-universally considered to be a span above Can't Go Home Again, thanks to a far stronger character work, wider cast, established setting and rules, and more memorable moments.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • Alongside the above-mentioned Canon Fodder, Going Home In a Box strongly implies William Afton's victims — and, thus, the amount of living animatronics out there — to be near the hundreds, if not in them. Although a big cut of them remained in or near Hurricane, what happened to the others?
  • Likewise, new living animatronics will likely continue to pop up as long as ARI, its' heirs, and its' technology are all still around. What about them? As mentioned above, Mable has encouraged others to write their own stories over the matter, possibly as part of a wider "Homeverse".
• Fans Prefer the New Her: It's pretty obvious readers prefer Charlie as a puppet animatronic than as a human, both appearance-wise and personality-wise.
• Growing the Beard: Although opinion wildly varies — else this entry wouldn't be on this very page — there are generally two moments people think the Home series truly took off; it's either after Chapter 12, past Mable's original planned length, or after the Afton Robotics Arc.
• He's Just Hiding: In spite of his grim, yet well-deserved fate, and multiple statements confirming it, some readers refuse to believe that William Afton is truly gone. Any time something even possibly implies his return, expect a bunch of people to exclaim that they knew it... much to the bemusement of other readers who truly want him to be gone for good.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: One of the original animatronics created for the series is Beelora, a glamrock version of Ballora. Tales from the PizzaPlex would reveal that there was indeed a version of Ballora designed for the PizzaPlex.
• It Was His Sled: Marionette is not the last remaining animatronic of the original Freddy's line-up, as Foxy turns up alive and kicking; Mike and Marionette become a couple halfway through Can't Go Home Again.
• LGBT Fanbase: Has a small, but passionate one, to no surprise, given the wide variety (and growing) of sexualities and types of couples.
• Literary Agent Hypothesis: Given how the Home series either foreshadowed or predicted things that would happen in the FNaF franchise years before the facts, sometimes with startling accuracy, some claim, obviously as a joke, that Mable's story is a retelling of what really happened in Hurricane, Utah. Posts like this one do not help matters:
  Anon: I've been rereading Home and your attention to detail and characters never fails to impress me!
  Mable: Thank you so much! I spend a lot of time with the characters, so I’m glad to see that it translates well into the work! ^_^ You’re wonderful, thank you!
• Magnum Opus Dissonance: Atleast at first, and a far happier case than most. Mable, by the time of Can't Go Home Again, had only written one-shots and shorter stories, with her longest one, Our Inner Beasts, clocking in at 33 chapters and a bit over 150,000 words. In fact, she originally planned for Can't Go Home Again to merely go twelve chapters. She definitely did not expect for it to become her most famous work, if not, arguably, her defining one. She eventually conceded how important the Home series had become to her by the time of Going Home In a Box.
• Memetic Loser: Poor Mike Schmidt and his tendency to get hideously hurt, stumble into massive messes he has to clean up, or have his plans blow up horribly in his face. In spite of things overall turning out fine, if not great for Mike and everybody associated with him, fans love to paint him as an immensely lucky idiot who gets bailed out by his friends and family on a regular basis.
• Portmanteau Couple Name: Although only found on Tumblr, and only used scarcely, some refer to Mike and Marionette as "Mikeonette".
• Spoiled by the Format: Almost Feels Like Home tries to set up the confrontation with Clay Burke as the finale, what with all the big twists and reveals it throws at the reader... except there are still about ten chapters left to go. And sure enough, a couple of chapters later, the gang is going after The Man Behind the Man.
• Take That, Scrappy!: Eleanor's appearance in Going Home In a Box sees Baby steal her necklace and accidentally break her base, Ennard tase her into shutting down, being thrown into a trash compactor and torn apart, Ennard tase her a second time, and finally have her carcass thrown into an incinerator, where it promptly liquefies. Mable has made it abundantly clear she finds all books based on the FNaF franchise to be nonsensical abominations that solely exist as a cash grab, but of their characters, she only really extended that profound dislike to Eleanor.
• Tear Dryer: The roadtrip to Mike's old home and, immediately afterwards, his cousin's birthday party, when Charlie finally manages to turn her situation around and understand what being a living animatronic truly entails, is a much-needed heartwarmer after her heartwrenching breakdown when watching her own funeral.