Game Theory - This 10 Year Old Detail SOLVES FNAF!

Episode Date: September 18, 2024

Join Game Theory Host Tom as he looks at The Secret Of The Mimic trailer, and breaks it down! Credits: Writers: Tom Robinson Editors: Dan "Cybert" Seibert, Tyler Mascola, Alex "Sedge" Sedgwick, Koen Verhagen and Shannon (Bomb0i) Sound Designer: Yosi Berman & Alena Llecorchick

Take a look at this footage from FNAF2. Seems normal enough, right? But what if I told you that the mimic is in this video? No, I'm not lying to you. And no, I've not doctored the footage either. The mimic is here. They have been here since the very beginning. Give up?

Well, if you look very closely, you'll find that the mimic is this guy right here. Hello, internet. Welcome to Game Theory, the show that cannot believe it has been 10 whole years of Knaf. Feels like just yesterday I was watching Markiplier scream at this tiny unknown indie game and now it's an indie horror empire full of games, movies, books and more merch than a Pizza Plex can handle. Ten years is a big deal. Believe me, we would know. And so to celebrate, Scott pulled out all the stops. We got an anniversary week full of fanverse games, demos, books, movie teasers, and of course the crown jewel that was into the pit. Though while that game offers a lot in the way of theorising, that's not what I wanted to talk about today. For this episode, instead of talking about the biggest release of the week, I wanted to talk about the biggest surprise. You see, we knew about every release that was happening during this anniversary week ahead of time.

That was except for one. Steel wool had a mystery announcement slot, and a lot of us just assumed it was going to be DLC for Help Wanted too. But that's not what we got. Instead, Steel Wall completely sideswiped us by revealing a 40-second teaser. not for DLC, but for a brand new game. We open on a 70-style carpet. The camera tilts up to reveal a jack-in-the-box playing music. The music stops, the box opens, and we hear a laugh as a clown mask peeks out from the box.

The film reel we're watching begins to burn up, revealing the date 1979. Finally, we see a title card appear from the darkness, secret of the mimic. The internet lost their collective minds over this. Only were we getting a game exploring the character that was a complete mystery when it appeared at the end of ruin, unless you happen to read the books, but it was also going to be a prequel, set before any other FNAF game. A lot of us have been theorising about the origins of Freddy's ever since we got the Fredbear's singing show ticket in Security Breach, and in 2025, it looks like we're going to see if we were right.

But you know what? I'm not willing to wait that long. Call me impatient, but when you take a closer look, this 40-second teaser has actually told us a lot more than you'd initially think. This teaser confirms that we were right that the mimic is from the earliest days in Fazba Entertainment's history. But it also suggests that the mimic's first appearance wasn't in ruin, nor was it security breach, nor was it help wanted. No, we are being shown that the mimic has actually been hiding in plain sight since the very beginning. The pieces were in place for us to figure it out. We just weren't able to follow the breadcrumb, or should I say, paper trail to realize sooner.

So wind up that music box friends because when it opens, we'll be diving in headfirst to see what secrets the mimic has been hiding. And in doing so, I believe we may finally be able to resolve one of the biggest conflicts currently facing the FNAF timeline. A wound first inflicted on me. Oh yeah, today's going to be a big one. So let's get into it. The first thing we got to talk about is the design of Funky Tom over here. Jokey fan name aside, given the title of this game, it feels pretty unlikely that this is supposed to be anything other. than the Mimic. But he's not the disheveled endo we saw in ruin. Now he's wearing a white

mask with exaggerated eyelashes, rounded cheeks and a bright red nose. I can feel the childhood trauma rushing back. It also pops out of a jack in the box, so clearly, SteelWill are going for a clown aesthetic with this newest version of the Mimic. Or is it the oldest version? This new old look does tie into our previous theories about the origins of Fasbear Entertainment. In that video, we discussed this poster from Help Wanted 2. A poster with a circus tent and the date 1970 on it. That, along with the mascot costumes in the ruined basement, glitch traps design, official artwork of traditional mascot costumes and references throughout the books all seem to be telling us that Fass Bear Entertainment didn't start with the creation of Fred

Bear's family diner, but as a traveling circus. Instead of the animatronics or Springlock suits that we know and love today, this circus used more traditional rudimentary mascot costumes. were still the same characters, Freddy, Bonnie and Chica, but played by human performers. Though there was one exception. We ended that theory suggesting that the mimic was also part of that same Fasbest Circus. It shares design similarities with Sun and Moon, a jester who was associated with the Carousel from the Fall Fest Circus, a carousel that we watch Burn. Repeatedly in Help 1 to 2, we see the festival burned down both in the Carousel level and

in the Fazzablast level. And what else do we know is burnt? The Mimic. In the first epilogue of Tales from the Pizza Plex, when the mimic arrives, it is first described as being burnt. Thus, it seems like the mimic has been here since that Fall Fest in the 70s. You might think I was celebrating this fact. My first Fnafoo was right. Let's go. But then, the worry began to sink in. It always feels a bit wrong when a prequel introduces a new character.

Plus, this franchise never gets rid of characters. We've had 28 versions of Freddy, 19 versions of Bonnie, and we even got, 11 versions of Balloon Boy. Who asked for that? So then, why tried to awkwardly insert the mimic into the previous law? I mean, retcon much? Except, what if I told you we have seen this clown before? Somewhere, you never suspect Fnaf, too. I am, of course, talking about the characters I've been teasing since the start of the episode. The Paper Pals. No, I wasn't joking. These guys really are the key to everything. If you don't know who I'm talking about, the paper pals are these simple characters made from paper plates that have been hanging out on the walls of pizzerias ever since their introduction. To this day, we've never really given them much thought.

They never seem to be that important. But their continued existence in the franchise has always struck me as unusual. In fact, the only reason I was reminded of them is because I was watching Dorcos' play-through of Into the Pit and wouldn't you know it, they are once again just hanging out. For them to keep showing up, especially in these modern titles, they have to be important. And I think the weird clown mimic is the piece that ties them all together. Originally, there were three of these guys. A Freddy pal, a Bonnie pal, and this thing. According to the game files, he's just called Paper Buddy.

And of the three, he's definitely the weird one. In FNAF 2, he could just disappear from the wall and suddenly appear in your office. He didn't do anything. He was just there now. Even his design feels out of place. The other two are clearly characters we know, Freddy and Bonnie, duh. But this guy doesn't have any recognisable features. He's got red arms, blue legs, a big smile, and a big nose.

It's just so weird. In a series full of animal characters, why have this generic humanoid-looking thing? Naturally, the only logical explanation we had at the time was that this had to be balloon boy. He was one of the few humanoid characters we knew about by FNAF2, and he wears a red and blue outfit. But now that I'm looking back, I'm not so sure anymore. For Bonnie and Freddie, we aren't just relying on the colors to show us who they are. They have extra design details that connect them to their iconic characters.

Bow ties, hats, ears, that sort of thing. If this paper buddy was supposed to be Balloon Boy, why not give him some of his iconic attire? Like the propeller hat or the sign or, you know, a balloon, the thing he is literally known for. What this therefore implies to me is that Paperbuddy is actually supposed to be someone else, someone with a much simpler design, and the answer of who becomes extremely obvious when you take a look at their appearance in Fnaff World. That's right, not only were these guys considered

important enough to be playable characters in one of the weirdest entries in this series, but Scott also used it to give us a vital clue about who this guy was supposed to be, And it's all because of one teeny tiny design change. We've gone over Paper Buddies design already. The red arms, blue legs, buttons, big smile, happy eyes, big nose. All of that is the same in Fnaff World, except for his nose. It's still as big as before and it's in the same place. But the colour is now different.

It's been changed to red. And a red nose means one thing. Clowns. What we're seeing is Paper Buddy's design matching exactly with the iconic design of clowns. and therefore also matches what we've seen from the mimic in this latest teaser. Now, I recognise that this feels like a stretch. This is all down to interpretation and could be taken a number of different ways. Believe me, I was honestly unsure of all of this too.

That was until I found this. The final clue that absolutely sealed the deal for me that Paper Buddy is the mimic. Take a look at the attacks the paper pals have in Fnaff World. The first two are Prize Ball 2 and Mystery Box 2, both generic, attacks that would make sense for any character in any pizzeria. But the third and final attack is called something very specific. Mimic Ball. A move that mimics the last attack used.

I could not believe it when I saw this. Of all of the games, it was FNAF World showing us that the paper pals were specifically able to mimic others. The third paper pal from Fnaf 2, Paper Buddy, is a paper version of the new clown mimic. that we saw in the teaser. In my previous theory, I mentioned how FNAF2 isn't a revamp of the old franchise, but a callback to the circus origins of the franchise. The red-cheeked toy animatronics were calling back to the original costumes worn at the circus.

You have the carousel calling back to the carousel from Fulfest that we got to see in Help Wanted 2, and now we have Paper Buddy, calling back to the clown mimic that was present at that same circus. It all just fits together so neatly. It could also explain the clown. mask in things like sister location, the one that would later go on to become Ennard. Why is that mask in such a position of prominence? Because it was the third member of that original circus trio, someone who had been there

since the beginning. Although, speaking of trio, while Paper Buddy being the mimic and appearing in Fnaf 2 makes sense, him being grouped with Freddy and Bonnie feels a bit odd, right? Even for the early days of the franchise, a clown isn't the obvious one to pair with Freddy and Bonnie. Cheekha I'd have understood, maybe even Foxy. But this guy is just so random. If you've followed us for a while, you'll know that we are obsessed with these kinds of details.

The grouping of animatronics through merchandise or decor can often tell us a lot about the history of the franchise. We felt like Foxy had to come later because he had a separate stage to the other three. It felt like Chika wasn't originally part of the group either because she had our own party world spin-off during sister location. And in ruin, we figured out that Sun and Moon came much early. because they were getting collectibles alongside OG characters, while newcomers like Roxy and Monty weren't. So, placing the Mimic Clown alongside Freddy and Bonnie has to imply there's a special connection between the three.

So why make the mimic the awkward third wheel alongside this famous duo? Well, it turns out, the rule of threes isn't just an important literary technique. It was also super important for performances at the circus, particularly when it comes to clowns. In a traditional circus, you would have, three major clown archetypes, the august clown, the whiteface clown, and the contra august clown. We spoke about the august clown in our previous theory. These clowns were the ones with red cheeks that were designed to appear silly and make children laugh. Often they were portrayed

as an intelligent but lower class clown, the labourer, the one who would do a job, often badly, which led to them getting a pie in the face or falling off a ladder, you know, the typical slapstick stuff. The white face clowns on the other hand are supposed to be more serious and bossy. They were of a higher status and so they would be responsible for assigning the tasks to the August clown and would often become frustrated at their failed results. Finally, you have the Contra August clown who was the middle ground. Still lower class than the Whiteface Clown, but not to the same degree as the August clown. And looking into clown literature, which yes is a thing that I read, the Contra August's role was to do one thing. Mimic the Whiteface Clown.

No, I'm not making that up. It was right there on the face. page in front of me. What we now have are three distinct characters, a serious boss clown, a smart worker clown, and a mimicking clown. Now, look at who we have at the start of Freddy's. While we don't know a whole lot about the specifics of this Fazbear Circus, we do know one thing. Henry and William were actively performing during the early days of the franchise, one as a bear and one as a rabbit, Fred Bear and Spring Bonnie. William was the businessman, the serious one, the guy who was trying to make Fasbear a success, the white-faced clown.

Then there's Henry, the intelligent labourer who was building the animatronics, the Auguste clown. And now we have a third, Paper Buddy, the Mimic. A clown animatronic that has been there since the early days of the franchise, now mimicking the past actions of the Whiteface Clown, William Afton, making them the Contra Auguste in this trio. Three clowns, three performers, three paper pals that have been there since the start. But sadly, choosing Afton to be the one to mimic wasn't the best decision. When this trailer was announced, Brian Freyamuth, the design director at Steel Wool, tweeted about it saying, The evil that men do lives after them.

The good is often turred with their bones. This is a quote from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. My immediate reaction was, oh yeah, this is about Afton being dead, and now here's evil lives on in the mimic, who is now continuing to hurt and kill people beyond his death. Like we've been predicting this whole time. But as I've thought it over, think it might be something more than that. I actually think that this line is telling us the main plot point that we will see in secret of the mimic, a plot point that will finally answer the question

that has haunted me ever since the release of Help Wanted 2. What did Henry mean by a wound first inflicted on me? This line comes from the insanity ending of Fnaf 6. Henry talks about how afton used the souls of the children he'd killed to create remnant and then continue to torture them to create the fun times. But the most important part of that monologue is when he turns inward and begins reflecting on his own part in all of this. He ends up saying he needs to heal this wound, a wound first inflicted on me, one that I let bleed out. For the longest time, we believe this was referencing Afton killing his daughter, Charlie. She was Afton's first victim, which led on to the killing of all the missing children. That was the wound that was inflicted

on Henry, the death of his own daughter, that then bled out to the death of so many others. But then Help Wanted 2 came out and it flipped that entire idea on its head. In that game, we had to light six gravestones in a specific order to receive the secret Bonnie mask. Each grave had a different puppet next to it, each referencing one of the six main animatronics. Freddy, Bonnie, Cheika, Foxy, Golden Freddy and The Puppet, the Five Missing Children and Charlie. However, Charlie isn't the first grave you light. She's actually the last one, heavily implying that Charlie was the last. to be killed. Honestly, I don't hate it from a law standpoint. There's a decent amount of evidence

that can line up with it, but by suggesting that, it threw into question that line of a wound first inflicted on me being about Charlie's death. Instead, there had to be an earlier incident that wounded Henry that would metaphorically bleed out, leading to the missing children's incident and the death of Charlie. So, what do I think this event is? Well, it all comes back to that Shakespeare quotes. The line that Brian tweeted is delivered by the character Mark Anthony at Caesar's funeral. Caesar was murdered by the character Brutus. However, Anthony isn't able to directly accuse him publicly.

So instead, he tactfully talks around the issue, calling Brutus an honourable man. This dynamic between Anthony and Brutus, I suspect, is meant to be a reflection of Henry and Afton. Brutus was able to get close to Caesar because Caesar loved him, which is similar to the tactic used by Afton throughout this series. Put on the Springbony costume, a character that the children loved and use it to lure them into a back room and kill them.

For this quote to be used to promote the prequel game from 1979, it's telling us that Afton was abusing the love of this character way before the missing children's incident. And this early murder at the hands of Afton is what I believe we will be seeing in secret of the mimic. Maybe it will even be revealed as Afton's first. It's unclear if the person Afton kills will be a major character like Caesar is. in the play, or whether it's just another kid with the importance more being how early it is in the timeline. We only have a 40-second trailer after all. Much more is going to be revealed as time goes on. But what is important is if William is Brutus, Henry must be Anthony. And

that means he knew William committed the murder. That murder is going to be the wound inflicted on Henry. On the Fasbear business, on their friendship. That murder could have destroyed everything they built. But as we know, it didn't. And after would go on to kill again. Because just like Anthony, Henry isn't going to accuse him directly. Maybe he was concerned for his business's survival. Maybe he was concerned about providing for his new daughter Charlie. Maybe he just wanted to believe his friend could change. But whatever his reasoning, despite the wound Afton caused him, he never came out and admitted what he knew. He just allowed it to keep going. Allowed Afton to keep killing. English philosopher John Stuart Mill once said,

A person may cause evil to others, not only by his actions, but by his inaction. And in either case, he is justly accountable to them for the injury. That is why he feels so guilty in the insanity speech, because he knows that his inaction in that moment from the circus led to the creation of not one, not two, but three monsters. William, the yellow rabbit that would go on to kill so many children, the clown that was designed to mimic Afton, now carrying on his horrible legacy and himself.

the man who stood by and let the first murder happen, leading to the deaths of so many others, including his own daughter. I guess at the end of the day, they really were the perfect trio. But hey, that's just a theory. A game theory! Thanks for watching.