Submechanophobia | Animatronic Apocalypse | Bobbiedots, Part 1
Grand reopening! Freddy's Fantasy Water Park is now open! Buy one ticket, get the second half off. Families welcome!
He wanted to find out. He needed to. He was torn between what was right and what was wrong and what he should do about it. The only way to know was to find something that gave him a Clear, straightforward answer.
He knew he’d find that answer in the mechaquarium.
Caden is really not suited for the job of underwater technician for Freddy's Fantasy Water Park. For one, he's only fresh out of high school. For another, he has severe submechanophobia– a fear of, specifically, underwater machines, brought on by his parents' death in a submarine. But this was the only job he could get, and he desperately needs to support his grandmother, who's in a nursing home for her Alzheimers. So he swallows his fears and tries his best, even when the animatronic sea dragon corners him underwater... and hands him a little kid's shoe. Now Caden has a mystery to solve, one that someone is desperate to keep hidden...
The tenth Tales from the Pizzaplex story, and the first of the fourth book.
Tropes related to “Submechanophobia”:
- Advertised Extra: While the book cover shows Delilah as the main animatronic on the cover and makes the reader believe she would be the main villain of said story, her role is basically the same as most of the others. The real main villain is "Frank the Diver", who is actually just a scuba suit being used by the Water Park's owner Martin Copper. Earlier versions of the cover art actually featured Frank as the main animatronic instead before it was changed.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Caden was always an outcast at school due to an embarrassing incident when he was seven or eight. At the park, he's just the background mechanic with Roy as his only friend.
- Alliterative Name: Hank the Hammer, Mac the Muscle, and Sly the Shark.
- Amateur Sleuth: Afraid he won't be believed and will get himself fired, Caden has to investigate the mysterious shoe and bones on his own.
- And I Must Scream: Implied with Jason, who's likely haunting at least one Mechaquarium animatronic... and thus has been there, abandoned, for twenty years.
- Ascended Fanboy: Roy is this for the park, as he spent a lot of time there as a kid.
- Bad Boss: Martin Copper.
- Bring My Brown Pants: The incident that got Caden outcast at school was at a school field trip. Upon seeing the underwater animatronics in a tunnel, he freaked out, screamed, and hit an emergency switch. Then peed his pants.
- The Bully: Darryl Cunningham, who had been one of Caden's main tormentors in school.
- Bully Magnet: Caden had been this in school as a kid due to the Second Grade Incident.
- Captain Ersatz: Delilah is a red-headed mermaid, huh?
- Captain Oblivious: Roy absolutely adores the water park, and after he buys it when Martin dies, he assumes that Caden will of course want to keep working there.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Martin Copper, who cares more about making money than keeping literally anybody safe.
- Covers Always Lie: Mixed with Adaptational Dye-Job, Delilah is depicted with blonde hair on the cover, while she's described as a redhead in-story.
- Death of a Child: Jason Butterfield, who went missing and was presumed dead several years before.
- The Dutiful Son: Caden is literally facing his greatest fear every day at a 9-5 so that his grandmother can be taken care of and her house can remain preserved. He visits her constantly, too.
- Granny Classic: Both Eva, who works as office manager of the park, and Stella, Caden's beloved grandmother who loves to knit and crochet.
- Haunted Technology: It's implied that at least Zeus is possessed by Jason Butterfield, with the other animatronics being ambiguous.
- Human All Along: Frank the Diver, who functions as a suit for Martin when he tries to get rid of Caden for good.
- Ironic Fear: What are the odds that someone who has an irrational fear of underwater machines would only find a job opening for working on underwater machines?
- Laser-Guided Karma: While it took over twenty years, Martin's covering up of Jason's death is what undoes him in the end, as he tries to kill Cade for investigating and is then murdered by animatronics that seem to be possessed by Jason.
- Monster of the Week: While the Fantasy Water Park animatronics serve as threats, the waterpark's owner Martin Copper is the reason they're haunted in the first place...and he'll do anything to cover it up while disguised as the "Frank the Diver" animatronic.
- Mr. Fixit: Caden is the repairman of the place, and does a pretty good job of it considering how often things break. He had previously taken mechanic courses in High School and had a summer job working at Penguin Pizzeria.
- My Significance Sense Is Tingling: Caden manages to spot his Grams's old newspaper clipping about Jason Butterfield almost at random, which ends up being the solution to his mystery.
- Never Found the Body: Jason's death was never solved due to the lack of a corpse. It later turns out that his body had been hidden inside the Mechaquarium, as Caden slowly uncovers his bones.
- No OSHA Compliance: Just like any Freddy's location! Specifically, it appears that a few years back, a kid snuck into the park and drowned in the Mechaquarium. It's unclear if this was just an accident or murder, but Jason sure seems to have a vendetta against Martin for it.
- The Nicknamer: The animatronics in the Mechaquarium don't actually have official names; they're all nicknames from Roy.
- Nightmare Sequence: Caden has one where a bunch of children climb up the Mechaquarium ladder and are eaten by the animatronics.
- No Full Name Given: On Roy, while everyone else has a full name.
- Not Afraid of You Anymore: Convinced that Darryl was responsible for the workshop accident, Caden stands up to him and tells him to set a better example for Marie.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Stella doesn't like Caden working in a water park, as she's disliked things in water since she lost her daughter.
- Plot Parallel: Alright, so, a kid went missing mysteriously in a Freddy's location, with the cheapskate, unopposed-to-murder boss trying to cover it up, only for the soul to bring all the animatronics together to kill him as a collective. Hmm.
- Posthumous Character: Jason, who's implied to be haunting at least Zeus.
- Punny Names: Marco and Polo the sea serpents.
- Raised by Grandparents: Caden has been raised by Stella since his parents were lost at sea on a second honeymoon.
- Red Herring: Considering the franchise this story is set in, many people would think the animatronics would be the Monster of the Week. Nope!
- Also should be noted that Roy works as a night guard, something that's a death sentence in most FNaF games, but he never encounters any of the stuff that Caden does.
- Renaissance Man: Roy works as food vendor, janitor, game runner and night guard.
- Scatterbrained Senior: A realistic example, as Stella has Alzheimer's.
- Threatening Shark: Freddy's Sea Life Mechaquarium has three.
- Turned Against Their Masters: Martin is attacked by the animatronics of the park after he is unmasked. Zeus the Sea Dragon holds him in place while the others kill him.
- Vengeful Ghost: Jason who, upon recognizing Martin, seems to command the animatronics to kill him.
