All spoilers will be unmarked ahead. You Have Been Warned!
Clearly, all the incompetence here is just as great as all the poor decisions made by Fazbear Entertaiment.
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In General:
In General
- In the backstory, William Afton lured 5 children backstage, killed them, and hid their bodies in the animatronics.
You'd Expect: The bodies would be discovered fairly quickly (especially with the smell of decaying bodies).
Instead: Either the bodies were never found, or Fazbear Entertainment just left them there. Even after the animatronics began to smell like rotting corpses and blood and mucus appeared around the mouth, no one checked. - Fazbear Entertainment treats the list of OSHA violations as a checklist and breaks huge numbers of laws.
You'd Expect: OSHA would shut it down and the managers would be arrested.
Instead: They don't suffer serious consequences for ruining and ending unknown numbers of lives. - It turns out that the animatronics are haunted by the spirits of the children, and they want to kill the new employees.
You'd Expect: The new employees would sue and/or have the employers arrested for purposely leaving that out of the job description.
Instead: They continue to work there. However, Pizzeria Simulator presents the theory that some, if not all of the playable night guards were actually just aliases used by Michael Afton to infiltrate the pizzeria, so that explains this moment.
However: It is implied that Jeremy Fitzgerald is almost certainly not Michael Afton, thus placing him into a special tier of dumbass for managing to work there without an excuse past the first night (staying the first night is a survival measure) and even accidentally does overtime right after the Second Murders.
Further Still: Jeremy continues working the birthday party closing out the place on Sunday and becomes the likely Bite of '87 survivor. - The pizzeria comes under fire from health inspectors when it is discovered that the suits leak bodily fluids.
You'd Expect: The staff to attempt to clean the suits with the same effort they give the building upon a murder.
Instead: They do nothing, and business begins to falter as parents avoid the place due to sanitation concerns. - Things like ghosts and hauntings exist.
You'd Expect: If they do exist, there should be Extranormal Institutes or The Men in Black that deal with them and do something about the situation.
Instead: Nope, no one does anything about it. - In one of the sequel games, it's revealed that each location had an extra room that can't be seen on any of the security cameras.
You'd Expect: The company to leave these rooms available and tell the night guard that if they hear any strange occurrences, they go into that room for safety.
Instead: Being corrupt as they are, they seal them up so no one can get inside.
Games:
Five Nights at Freddy's
- Mike Schmidt finds a newspaper ad for a pizzeria well-known for its animatronic animals, but it says "Not responsible for injury/dismemberment."
You'd Expect: Mike to get suspicious, and look somewhere else for a job. The warning doesn't fit well with a job requiring someone to protect a restaurant from potential threats.
Instead: He accepts the job, and learns too late that the animatronics are out to kill him, and for whatever reason, is stuck there.
New Information Implies: Mike Schmidt is an alias for Michael Afton, son of child murderer William Afton, who only took the job as a way to infiltrate the company so he can track down his father while undoing his Villainous Legacy. - Mike is also told that the animatronics will kill him, and the prevailing theory is it's because they can't distinguish between adult humans and robotic endoskeletons.
You'd Expect: Mike to empty out one of the suits in the back and wear it to trick the animatronics into thinking he's one of them.
Instead: He does no such thing and stays there. Later retcons would show that this approach would have failed, but Mike doesn't know this and doesn't make the attempt. - Mike only receives 50 cents for working a whole night of overtime.
You'd Expect: Since that's not how overtime works, he would demand the $35.50 they still owe him (minimum wage of $4 an hour for the year 1990, plus 50% for overtime hours) or if they refuse, sue them for the extra pay.
Instead: He's apparently fine with being underpaid and doesn't do a damn thing. - The building only has a limited amount of power, and the doors open automatically when it runs out.
You'd Expect: The animatronics would simply squat outside the doors until the building shuts down, then swarm the guard in his office.
Instead: They go back to their spots after half an hour at most and only attack one at a time. - The animatronics have a nasty habit of stuffing employees into suits.
You'd Expect: The company would keep the suits well out of reach of the robots; simply locking the door to backstage at night or having the spares in a separate building could do.
Or: They would find a way to make the suits safer to wear (or at least, not immediately lethal).
Instead: They just leave their employees to their fate.
Five Nights at Freddy's 2
- The company gives Jeremy Fitzgerald (and later, Fritz Smith) an empty Freddy Fazbear head to fool the animatronics. It works.
You'd Expect: Them to have done this in the first game.
Instead: They never thought about it.
New Information Reveals: Freddy's 2 is actually a prequel; they did think about it, and it simply stopped being effective. - The company will be closing the pizzeria up on Night 6.
You'd Expect: Jeremy to stay away from the pizzeria and enjoy his night off.
Instead: He goes there anyway. Apparently, he missed the memo. - Jeremy is given a flashlight with limited power to ward off Foxy. Balloon Boy keeps trying to disable the flashlight. Unlike the other animatronics, Balloon Boy cannot directly harm Jeremy.
You'd Expect: Since BB cannot directly harm him, and the flashlight runs out of power after too much use, Jeremy would bring a spare flashlight with him in case the other one runs out of power.
Instead: Jeremy never bothers bringing a spare, and whenever BB gets into his office and disables his flashlight, he just lets him stand there and laugh in his face as he is left awaiting the inevitable. - The pizzeria announces that it will shut down after the murders and the tampering of the animatronics' facial recognition software, making them view all adults as child predators. The Toys are to be scrapped while they attempt to repair the old ones, update their device-lined, foam-like suits, and move to a smaller location.
You'd Expect: Fazbear Entertainment would close down the restaurant completely before Night Six, ensure that all employees are notified of the situation, and dispose of the Toys immediately.
Instead: They decide to hold off their closure until the next day, especially because there is a party scheduled for that day. As mentioned above, the staff fail to inform Jeremy not to go to work on Night Six or that his shift change has been finalized, setting him up for a painful double shift as he is to stay close to the animatronics and watch over them in the latter shift. Having reached their breaking point, one of the animatronics takes action during the daytime for once, attempts to deal with a "predator", and bites their frontal lobe off. Everything inside the pizzeria is immediately abandoned, and they hire a new night guard to watch over the place afterward, who is immediately fired for tampering with the animatronics. Parts of the Toys are used to repair the originals, and the company stashes their internally-pristine shells (which likely wouldn't fatally slice and dice a human shoved inside) and leftover parts away. Assuming that the old animatronics weren't continuing their murderous streak due to their possessions by the kids, it would appear that their refurbishments failed to remove what little facial recognition technology they had installed, which is what caused the majority of the problem in the first place.
Five Nights at Freddy's 3
- The new guard discovers that Springtrap is moving and trying to get into his office. There is an exit right outside his door. His bosses know nothing about Springtrap moving, and there's no indication that they're corrupt like the old company, just stupid.
You'd Expect: The guard would bring a camera with him the third night (Springtrap becomes active on the second night), take pictures of him moving, run out of his office, and head for the exit (right outside the door, might we add). The next morning, he can show his employers the proof that Springtrap is alive.
Or: Call his boss or the police right then and there and report on the situation.
Instead: He never tries anything of the sort. - It turns out that there are certain rooms the animatronics cannot enter; the guards are even told that these are designated Safe Rooms for emergency use.
You'd Expect: The old company would have let guards use these rooms.
Or: Apply the same no-entry policy to the already existing office.
Instead: They sealed them off. - The Spring Bonnie suit was actually very dangerous to wear, as the spring locks could easily fail, causing the suit to crush and kill the wearer.
You'd Expect: The old company would have disposed of it.
Instead: They stored it in the back room and only advised employees to not wear it.
However: They do at least seal off the room so nobody will find and wear the suit. - The new company has already set up its place.
You'd Expect: Since this game takes place around 2023, they would use some good equipment.
Instead: They built the place with faulty wiring so bad that they themselves admit it could cause a fire, and they use ventilation so bad it causes people to black out and hallucinate. They state that they did it to make it more authentic. Really, how is all that worth the risk? - William Afton got crushed to death inside of the Spring Bonnie suit, causing a pool of blood to leak out onto the floor. Thirty years later, the people from Fazbear's Fright find the Spring Bonnie suit, now Springtrap, still inside the old pizzeria.
You'd Expect: These guys to take note of the thirty-year-old pool of blood it was sitting in, investigate the insides of the suit, find the thirty-year-old skeleton of the dead Afton, and empty it out.
Instead: They somehow miss (or just ignore) the pool of blood, take the suit back, and never look inside. Somehow, from the time they find it to the time it is installed, they never notice or straight-up ignored the skeleton inside. - The guard is right next to the exit of the building.
You'd Expect: He would make a bolt for it should Springtrap get too close. He is part corpse, part dilapidated robot; he can't be that fast.
Instead: He just sits there, even when Springtrap is crawling through the vent space or outside the window.
Five Nights at Freddy's 4
- The minigame player character's Big Brother Bully constantly torments his sibling by scaring him while wearing a Foxy mask, and leaving him at Fredbear's Family Diner, which he knows he hates.
You'd Expect: Sooner or later, the younger brother would go to his parents and tell them what his brother is doing to him.
Instead: He just keeps it in and never tells anyone about anything.
New Information Implies: The parent could be William Afton, so it's unlikely he would give a shit. - Also, the brother and his friends continue to harass the child, by mocking him on his birthday for his fear of the animatronic band. Then they get a bright idea to put the kid up close and personal with Fredbear, putting his head in the character's mouth.
You'd Expect: Them to take him out quick smart, or at least help him out, as Fredbear is clearly shown to be moving his mouth.
Instead: They don't, and, well... the rest, as they say, is history. - Day shift security guards are instructed to stay close to the animatronics and keep them from hurting anyone.
You'd Expect: That four teens in bright clothing carrying a loudly-shrieking child up to the stage with the dangerous robots would be intercepted by Jeremy and/or the Phone Guy. Or whoever the hell the day guard wasnote .
Instead: There's not a single guard in sight.
New Information Reveals: This wasn't in 1987, or even at Freddy's, so the rules were likely different, and the "Security guards must stay close to the animatronics" rule may have been inspired by this incident in particular.
Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location
- At the start of the game, it's implied that Mr. Afton created Baby to kill a lone child by shoving them into her stomach and that he was inspired by his daughter. His daughter wants to see Baby and play with her.
You'd Expect: That her father would let her play once, with enough supervision. Kids are hardy, stubborn things that want to do something the more they're told not to do it. Baby recounts that she was fine if there was more than one person in the room, and since Afton is the creator of these things, he should know this.
Instead: Mr. Afton forbids his daughter from going near Baby. This means that being a kid, she sneaks out to see the animatronic and thus is alone. This triggers Baby's killing mechanism, which Baby didn't know about, and Afton's girl dies. As a result, Circus Baby is no longer allowed to perform, and Afton is left with the guilt about his daughter being one of his victims, if he even cared in the first place. - Baby wants to free all of the animatronics, who are imprisoned in a place where they're subject to various electric shocks and tortured into behaving. She comes up with the idea of merging themselves into Ennard, and then disemboweling Michael Afton in the Scooping Room and wearing his skin so they can get out.
You'd Expect: That they would keep the technician and the two guys that look for him as alive as possible and not put them in dangerous situations unnecessarily as they need him to go to the Scooping Room. The trust they build in Mike is based on them keeping him alive during Nights Two and Three.
Instead: On Night Four, Baby, now slowly becoming Ennard, compels Funtime Foxy to kidnap you and put you in a spring-lock suit, which very nearly gets you killed as you try not to wiggle too much but have to fend off the Minireenas. Also, for some reason, the two technicians are also killed and left to hang on the performance platforms.
However: They hanged the technicians so HandUnit's AI wouldn't tell Mike to do a controlled shock.
Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator
- Afton has come to the new pizzeria, seeking children to kill there. However, he knows that something is not right and this new pizzeria is possibly a trap. He's right; his old business partner Henry, using Michael, has trapped him, his daughter Scrap Baby, Molten Freddy, and Lefty/The Puppet to burn them in a deathtrap.
You'd Expect: Afton would realize that it's probably not a good idea to go to the new pizzeria that's randomly come up, and leave to go kill children on his own (he managed to get to the pizzeria, he clearly is moving around somehow).
Instead: He decides it's too good an opportunity to pass up, and heads to the pizzeria despite knowing it’s likely fake. As you probably can tell, this does not end well for him.
Five Nights at Freddy's Security Breach
- Fazbear Entertainment, the multimedia franchise that has sprung up out of the ashes of the pizzerias, has invested significant time and money into cleaning up its image and discrediting the stories of haunted animatronics and murders at their pizzerias. After having a video game made of it to discredit their detractors, they go on to build the PizzaPlex, a massive compound with a wide variety of entertainment fare and a brand new line of Glamrock Animatronics.
You'd Expect: Fazbear Entertainment would build this PizzaPlex far away from the locations of any previous murders to maintain their image, which is still fairly controversial.
Instead: They build the complex right on top of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Place, the location from Pizzeria Simulator that burned down, which wasn't even properly demolished. They're then baffled as to why something is draining their power and why disappearances begin to take place yet again.
Even Worse: This game is a sequel to Help Wanted, in which Fazbear Entertainment's beta tests for their propaganda game went horribly wrong, with one tester committing suicide via ripping off his own face and the clear Sanity Slippage of another. Despite the company knowing Vanessa had a greatly deteriorating mental state due to hiring her five therapists who all go missing one after the other, Fazbear Entertainment has no problem making Vanessa Head of Security for their new PizzaPlex.
As a Result: Vanessa is being either Brainwashed or possessed by Glitchtrap and begins kidnapping and murdering children at the PizzaPlex, as well as tampering with the animatronics to make them murder kids.
Literature:
Five Nights at Freddy's: The Silver Eyes
- In this book's continuity, Charlotte's dad made the spring-lock suits. Early on, he openly tells his kids how dangerous they are (enough that slight twitches can cause them to break).
You'd Expect: That he wouldn't use the suits either, as he's already aware of their danger.
Instead: He (as well as William) continues to use them regardless of their dangerous use. At least Fazbear Entertainment had the excuse of being a subsidiary of Incompetence, Inc. run by Corrupt Corporate Executives, and not a Gadgeteer Genius who should honestly know better.
To Be Fair: While the point stands, Henry had created and likely knew how to properly use the spring locks as well as William, so it probably was a diminished chance of failure. - William's whole scheming throughout the main storyline may count as one huge moment of this.
You'd Expect: For him to let the kids go into Freddy's to gain closure for the murders, since A) They're not vandalizing anything and no one would know if they kept coming, and B) It would be much more likely that they would have no idea as to what was going on with the animatronics possibly coming after them and killing them, and even if they didn't, the kids would have just gone home and thought nothing of it.
Instead: He sets the animatronics on the kids and gets involved with them straight away.
Even Worse: He later kidnaps Carlton, which not only gets the children to come back, but also the police possibly trying to catch him for the murders, and he ends up spring locked at the end. - In a somewhat more murky example, the police in Hurricane. They had correctly suspected William of the murders. He had been present at Freddy's every day of the murders, had mysteriously disappeared at the time of each murder, and when the police went through his house, they found the Spring Bonnie suit and some of William's diaries which showed how obsessed and jealous he was of his partner Henry. However, there were no bodies as they had been stuffed into the suits.
You'd Expect: For them to at least prosecute, if not detain, William.
Instead: They let William go. While understandable and realistic, they probably could have at least taken him to court and possibly got a conviction. The lack of bodies would have hindered the case, and William probably could have gotten a good lawyer, but the evidence they had was hard to ignore, and the jury probably would have voted Afton guilty. Additionally, the game news articles tell of how the animatronics leaked blood and mucus because of the kids being stuffed in them, which probably should have raised a few flags to the police and any sane parent at the time.
