Game Theory: FNAF, The Circus Of HORRORS!

fredbear's Family Diner this is where it

all began the animatronic Empire the

string of deaths and Williams's descent

into madness everything stemmed from

this one location or at least that's

what we all thought until

today hello Internet welcome to Game

Theory where it is finally time today I

graduate from FNAF boy to FNAF man and

take on my very first FNAF Theory

although I say that I have actually been

helping Matt write FNAF theories for the

past 3 years thanks Tom thanks safe

flight back I didn't get to talk to you

about Gregory as a robot all right I

mean to be fair that was both of our sin

but you know I threw something out my

first math the I threw something out

there Gregor is a robot first FNAF

Theory and look how well received it's

been look how good that's gone for all

of us it's done so well for all of us

yeah what could possibly go wrong but

don't worry theorists I promise today's

theory is way less crazy hopefully

because today I'm going to be tackling

one simple teeny tiny detail that I

think is really important to

understanding this franchise H Wanted 2

was full of Collectibles most of which

you get from a prize machine after you

beat a mini game some are set prizes

that relate to the level you just

completed like a sun figure for beating

the first daycare Mission or a meat

pretzel for beating the Fazbear theater

however after you beat the game there

are some extra prizes to collect that

are given to you at random when you

replay a stage usually this is just

extra plushies models or food but

sometimes you get posters and one one of

these posters stood out above all the

rest it ends up on the back wall right

next to the Faz wrench entrance for the

princess Quest mini game it's a poster

promoting fallfest 1970 now to the FNAF

Community fallfest is nothing new we

first saw this name pop up almost 5

years ago in the curse of dread bad DLC

for the original had wanted a Halloween

inspired event full of attractions rides

and of course spooky versions of all our

favorite characters to fit in with the

Halloween theme but there is one crucial

difference between this fo Fest and the

one we see on the post from help wanted

to the date the banners around the curse

of dreadbear Hub World showed that this

event was taking place in 1983 but this

new poster is from over a decade before

this whole fallfest thing has clearly

been running for a very long time in

fact it's been running since before the

earliest confirmed parts of the FNAF

timeline in the silver eyes when Charlie

is looking for news articles on

fredbear's Family Diner she starts the

search at 1979 seeming to imply that

this was when the dino was founded but

that is nine whole years after after

this poster was published and that's not

all look at the design of this poster

while it's advertising forfest it's not

inherently spooky like the event we see

for the curse of dreadbear instead it

has ainal elements but it's mostly

designed to look like an old two-tone

circus poster complete with a giant

circus tent right in the middle and this

isn't the first time steel will has

offered us hints that circuses might be

important to this franchise there's the

mini games in H22 like the Carousel and

fazer blast there's the circus costumes

that are down in the basement of Ruin

there's even circus themed Funko merch

clearly Steel Ste will is beating us

over the head with this circus thing for

a reason but why well back in 2022 in

the buildup to security breach's Xbox

Port steel will did an interview with

game jolt to talk about how they made

security breach give some updates on

ruins development and drop some little

hints towards what might be coming down

the pipeline for them and the FNAF

franchise and when asked what kind of

game they'd like to make in the future

they said this one thing that I've I've

always would love to do is get back to

kind of like the origin of like fazar

entertainment kind of see how things

were made same here I'd like to head

further back into the 70s they want to

create a game about the origins of

Freddy's set in the' 70s most of us at

the time assumed this would just be

fredbear's Family Diner but with all

this circus imagery popping up it begs

the question what if fredbear's Family

Diner wasn't the origin of Freddy's What

If instead it was this circus forfest

1970 and once I realized that things

started to fall into place this poster

is the key to clarifying some massive

holes in the FNAF timeline it confirms a

number of things we've been predicting

for a while and it shines a little more

light on the franchise's latest villain

come to think of it maybe this isn't

such a small Theory after all whoops so

you better grab your popcorn theorist

because the show is about to begin and

I'm going to reveal to you the true

origins of Freddy's but just before we

get into that I need to talk to you

about something else that's really

important it's something you may have

seen if you watch our own sister

location style Theory but we have an

exciting theorist event coming up we are

putting on a fashion show it's called

create hater in fashion and it is the

first of its kind not just because a

fashion show has never been done on

YouTube before although that is pretty

cool but because we're getting weird

with it how weird well the first Runway

of the night is going to be FNAF themed

you heard that right we've had FNAF

games a FNAF movie A FNAF cookbook and

now FNAF is completing the theorist

Gauntlet and getting a FNAF Runway

although if you've ever bought a high

quality FNAF merch FNAF being high

fashion may not be that surprising but

what might be surprising is what

creators we have planned for the event

it's called creators in fashion after

all so we wanted to make sure we were

spotlighting creators from all corners

of the internet and make this oneof a

kind event even more special we've got

the likes of zhc seek discomfort Cassie

ho and critical role all getting glammed

up to strut their stuff we've got simply

neological providing nails for the event

and the whole thing is going to be

commentated by Rosanna Pansino and

Trisha herburger talk about star power

but of course we couldn't do a fashion

show by theorist without some weird

little theorist Antics going on besides

the FNAF Runway we've also got dogs

walking the runway and no I'm not just

talking about ay I mean literal dogs

strutting up and down and I'm not lying

to you when I say they look both

adorable and fierce speaking of fierce

we've also got our amazingly talented

host of style Theory Amy taking Center

Stage to co-host this event alongside

the man that I know you've all been

missing that's right Matt pad is coming

back to host this very very special

event and to celebrate we're going to be

drenching the man live on stage maybe

it's water maybe it's Nickelodeon slime

who knows you'll have to watch the

stream to find out so mark your

calendars for April 25th at 2:30 p.m.

PST we're going to be going live right

here on Game Theory so if you aren't

already make sure you're subscribed

because believe me you do not want to

miss this Amy has a lot more surprises

for you guys up those Lacy sleeves so

remember that's April 25th 2:30 p.m. PST

right here on Game Theory I'll see you

there but for now let's Get Off The

Runway and head back to the circus now I

understand there may be some hesitancy

in me changing up the entire beginning

of the timeline I get it it's a pretty

big claim and while there have been a

number of hints towards circuses

throughout the games and books it

doesn't necessarily mean that's where

this whole thing started so let's take a

look at one of the more recent examples

of the circus being hinted at so I can

show you where I'm coming from in the

basement of the ruined DLC where you

find the mimic there are two costumes

hanging up an old lady Blackbird and an

elephant dressed as a clown in the game

files there's also a lion wearing a

varsity jacket three animals all

associated with the circus elephants

often perform tricks lions were

regularly tamed by lion Tamers and while

crows or black birds aren't

traditionally circus animals they do

often appear in Circus focused media

like Disney's Dumbo plus the elephant is

literally dressed as a clown it doesn't

get more circusy than that but the most

important part isn't actually their

circus theming it's the fact they aren't

animatronic suits in our initial theory

on ruin we talked about how these

costumes seem to be related to Circus

babies because you know circus however

when circus baby's entertainment and

rentals or even circus baby's Pizza

world was due to launch they were all

animatronics and complex ones at that

why then would they have physical

costumes they wouldn't unless these

costumes actually came from something

Circus theme that was before

animatronics were part of this franchise

in the mimic not the robot the tales

from the pizzza Plex story named after

him we learn of a character named Edwin

who owns a robotics company getting big

off of making a robot vacuum cleaner

however with the birth of his son the

death of his wife and then the crippling

pressure of running his own business he

decides to sell the company to none

other than Fazbear entertainment why

does Fazbear agree to purchase because

they want Edwin for his robotics

knowledge specifically they want him to

turn their character costumes into

full-blown animatronics we've seen him

do exactly this with chica in the first

few pages of the story later on he goes

on to explain that this is the 18th

character he'd been asked to create

describing the collection as quotes a

circus-like array of animal and other

character costumes circus like you say

we believed for a long time that Edwin

is the book's parallel for Henry the

animatronic genius that helped Afton to

grow Fazbear into the animatronic Empire

we know today so the circus themed

costumes we see in the basement of Ruin

likely came from that same time period a

period where Henry was transforming

costumes into animatronics and these

costumes aren't Henry's only connection

to the circus either when Charlie goes

back to her childhood home in the silver

eyes she looks through Henry's office

and finds an assortment of books that

quote would have seemed eclectic to

anyone who didn't know the man there

were books on biology and Anatomy some

on human beings others on animals there

were books about the history of the

traveling Carnival and of the circus

there were books about Child Development

about myths and legends and about sewing

patterns and techniques there were

volumes that claimed to be about trickst

to gods about quilting bees and about

football cheering squads and their

mascots most of these make a lot of

sense things like Anatomy mascot sewing

patterns it all ties into the idea that

he was creating characters and turning

costumes into animatronics the books

about Child Development either tie into

the fact that he was catering to kids

and so was trying to figure out how he

could best serve his customers or it's

linked to the human anatomy books and

ties into Henry creating robot versions

of his daughter Charlie but there's one

selection that has always stood out as

odd one that I've never had an

explanation for and that is the history

of the traveling Carnival of the circus

why would Henry need books on that topic

if all the work he's ever done is on

animatronics and diners he needs it

because the origins of Fazbear are

rooted in traveling circuses and

carnivals it was a hint as to the first

years of this business so this circus

forfest seems to be where fazar

entertainment All Began but now the

question is who else was there and I

don't mean human characters let's be

honest we don't have many of them that

are actually important especially not

back in 1970 I mean which of the Fazbear

character were part of the original

roster as I've mentioned during H one 2

we get a number of mini gamess that take

place in carnival like settings namely

fazza blast and the Carousel and it's

the carousel that I want us to take a

look at first the game itself is pretty

straightforward you know when you don't

have an ash trying to desperately keep

your microphone attached oh my God oh my

God but despite this Matt did manage to

notice a very interesting detail in the

level's design a random pumpkin just

sitting there waiting to be thrown I

think we can all agree that pumpkins are

something we specifically associate with

Halloween and the only event we know to

take place at Halloween in this

franchise is you guessed it full Fest we

even get a Halloween themed version of

moon appear during the nightmare level

of the Carousel Ride the carousel is

from fallfest which means it's from the

early part of the franchise but then

take a look at the characters that are

used on the carousel Freddy Bonnie Chica

foxy which you know is what you'd expect

except it's not just the original

versions from FNAF 1 the one that

immediately stands out to me is this

white and pink version of Foxy Funtime

foxy well kind of because you might also

notice it has a hooked hand something

that Funtime foxy is clearly lacking in

Sister location however there is a

version of Funtime foxy with a hook hat

and that's in FNAF World a game that

came out before sister location and

doesn't have any other Funtime

animatronics present implying that

Funtime foxy didn't originally belong

with that group of animatronics instead

belonging to an earlier set and this

Carousel tells us exactly which group

that is the other characters on this

ride besides Funtime foxy and the

original four all have rosy red cheeks

which aligns with the toy animatronics

from FNAF 2 toy Freddy toy Bonny toy

Chica and Funtime Foxy the toy version

of Foxy the toy animatronics being here

feels wrong doesn't it the toys don't

become a thing until 1987 with their

special recognition software and new

more complex endoskeletons they replaced

the old withered versions of the

original Freddy Bonnie Chica and Foxy

from the original Freddy's how then are

they on a ride from 197 well this is

because I don't think the toy

animatronics are meant to call back to

the 1983 Freddy's animatronics they're

supposed to be referencing the original

circus costumes going back to the mimic

Story Once Edwin abandons the warehouse

Fazbear employees are sent in to collect

any Fazbear property things like their

costumes one character mentions a few of

them a brown Freddy Fazbear costume a

yellow chica costume a foxy costume a

Bonnie costume the original four were

all in existence as costumes before

their introduction as animatronics at

Freddy Faz pizza and what's even crazier

is the designs of those costumes

actually exist a few years ago there was

a let's just say controversial but at

the time official FNAF artist that

dropped an image onto the FNAF subreddit

with zero context or explanation the

only thing we knew is that these images

contained Scott's official copyright

these images were commissioned by Scott

which makes them as good a piece of

evidence as any and what are these

images of versions of Freddy Bonnie and

Chica in a similar style to the mascot

costumes you'd find at a theme park like

Disneyland all with large proportions

and big round heads in order to have a

human fit inside them these appear to be

the original costumes for the characters

and where were these costumes used I

suspect they were worn at the circus why

well notice the bright red cheeks

exaggerated features like big red noses

or cheeks have been used by clowns and

circus performers for centuries Joseph

galdi is recognized as being the

ancestor for modern clowns and in 1802

he created the design for his most

iconic character Joey the Clown and one

of this characters iconic features was

painted red cheeks similarly Albert

falini is known to have helped redefine

a type of clown in the mid 1900s known

as the August clown complete with the

bright red nose we know today why did

both these performers feel it necessary

to have bright red features for the

evolution of the clown because when the

word clown was first recorded in 1560 it

meant rustic bore or peasant this often

boiled down to one simple stereotype the

town drunk who you would often see after

you'd had a bit too much to drink with a

bright red nose and red cheeks this

happens when your body isn't able to

digest alcohol properly causing a

release of histamines that essentially

cause your face to have an allergic

reaction namely red cheeks and nose the

idea of referencing this was to make

clowns or characters immediately look

foolish silly or disarming so people

would be quicker to laugh at them rather

than be scared of them which is pretty

ironic when you think about it that is

why I believe these costumes are circus

costumes not because they're trying to

make characters look like drunks that

wouldn't be very child friendly it was

to invoke those same reactions of Sly

goofy fun and the kicker is you can see

this trait carried over into the most

definitively circus costume we've got

available elephant costume down in the

ruined basement usually you don't get a

chance to see them up close but freeze

the frame just right or you know search

the game files and you'll find that

although a little faded it too has rosy

red cheeks so red cheek characters like

the ones we see in these designs would

have been right at home at a circus

which also opens up the door to other

red cheek characters from this franchise

to potentially be part of the original

roster maybe characters that weren't

originally animal costumes but more

likely humans wearing the same kind of

face paint case and point balloon boy

hello balloon boy has never really fit

in anywhere we turned on FNAF 2 and he

was just there and we've hated him ever

since I said read

the but in security breach he got his

own arcade cabinet balloon world and if

you played that game you'd see a circus

tent in the background balloon boy's

only Standalone Adventure places him at

the circus but while he never fit in

with FNAF 2 new characters he did have a

striking resemblance to a handful of

characters in Sister location and circus

babies other wooden puppets like the

magician and fortune teller all jobs

that would be found at a circus selling

balloons was an important part of any

circus so balloon boy with his little

sign offering them to children would be

right at home with the rest of them and

to top it all off when Funko decided to

release their new circus line of FNAF

products it contained not just clown

versions of all the characters are

versions of all of them wearing balloon

boys iconic outfit we were being shown

that balloon car and specifically that

outfit are inherently tied to the circus

balloon boy has to be a part of this

Fest is where he finally makes sense

another example would be circus baby

she's been showing up a lot in recent

games just like the circus imagery so it

feels like steel Willer purposely trying

to connect the two she's also got the

red cheeks we've talked about as well as

that white face paint that we see on

most traditional clowns she'd fit right

in at a circus plus you know she's

literally got circus in her name maybe

this character whose placement in the

timeline has perplexed Tex us for so

long belongs way earlier in the

franchise's history than any of us

expected but above those two in the

books there is one other costume that

gets called out the core four but always

one more a jester costume now I'm sure

mad is once again freaking out because

Jesters aren't clowns and they aren't

part of a circus and dude I get it but

just trust me on this in that quote from

the mimic story about the rack of

costumes after listing off the main four

characters we know and love they finish

off by adding and bright pink yellow

green court jester costumes ilar so the

colors we see Sun wearing in security

breach yeah I know they're a little off

but they're they're pretty close and

just look at the rest of his costume

curly pointed toes with bells puffy

trousers or pants I suppose and the tutu

like Frills on his waist and ankles he

is 100% meant to be a court jester he

even jumps out of a freaking Castle when

we first meet him in security breach and

as Matt was very keen to point out

Jesters originated as performers for

royalty in their castles during the

Middle Ages finally there's the

epilogues where the jester character

once again returns but this time we get

description of its mask quote Lucius

stepped up to the costume suppressing a

shiver at the Jester's learing toothy

grin and its wide eyes one of son's most

distinct features is his obnoxious

toothy grin it's so iconic that he had

to have teeth underneath his teeth just

in case and those large vacant eyes

definitely give off that learing vibe

that Lucia was describing so even though

sun doesn't have the red cheeks like we

talked about he still appears to be very

obviously connected to the original crew

Freddy chica foxy and Bonnie as as well

as the circus here is the last one

mentioned when they're all being listed

off as if the costumes were grouped

together like they came from the same

collection of characters characters that

came from Fazbear's circus days sun and

moon actually make a lot of sense as

characters in a traveling circus in the

tale story Bobby dots we get a bit of

much needed backstory on this character

who just showed up in security breach

not matching any of the 80s tastic

designs of the pizzza Plex it turns out

they weren't always a daycare attendant

but instead a performer they put on

shows where Sun would be the hero and

when the Lights Went Out Moon would

appear as the story's villain that ties

into the comedy and tragedy masks that

we've found in ruin masks that display

sun and Moon's face so it would have

also been an ideal performance to keep

kids entertained at a circus venue and

later on when the daycare was introduced

that same Bobby dot story describes the

dayc Care's design as a carnival like

space hammering home the connection to

the character's Origins and then the

icing on the cake juring help wanted to

he is the one we face when we're trying

to fix the carousel from those old

fallfest days he's been there since the

start and when you think about it in the

early days of the franchise when you're

trying to keep cost down buying a full

mascot costume or fur suit from a

trusted provider can cost upwards of

$5,000 while costumes for professional

jesters and clowns are typically just a

few hundred bucks keeping costs nice and

low when you're first starting out it

really feels like the circus origin is

helping characters that are out of place

have a place to finally belong sun and

moon baby balloon boy all of them would

be right at home here at the circus

however fallfest isn't just just the

origins of the Fazbear franchise it's

also the origins of William aton's first

major tragedy Faz blast in help one2 is

a shooting gallery that matches the

design of the Hub World during the curse

of dreadbear DLC dreadbear even makes an

appearance at the attraction so this

attraction clearly takes place during

four Fest 1983 however the penultimate

fazer Blast Level ends with you shooting

a number of rockets and popping all the

balloon versions of the animatronics

that appear doing so seems to cause a

chain reaction that leads to the Whole

Thing ending up in flames and when you

go back for the final level the place is

burnt to the ground we see the same

thing happen during the Carousel Ride as

you try to fix it Sparks Fly and the

thing lights up leading to the nightmare

version of the level where the whole

place is already Ablaze and if you go

out of bounds during that Carousel level

you can see the Red Sky burnt trees

Water Tower and windmill that are all

present during that final fazer Blast

Level off in the distance steel wool is

clearly showing us that much like every

other establishment in this franchise

this event forfest 1983 ended in fire

1983 sucked for this franchise but

especially for Afton he loses his kid to

a malfunctioning spring lock suit and

his other son's negligence fredbear's

Family Diner gets shut down and to top

it all off he loses the thing that

started this whole business the circus

steel wool is all about a sympathetic

villain backstory try not to set out to

make a cool looking villain go make a

monster they have a reason for it these