Just a little note: movie Afton is not included here only because basically the entire rest of the shrine is already about him. Hope you enjoy reading about my love for other versions of the character!
To be frank, I didn’t really care about him back in the day. I kind of hate myself for saying this since I’m now a massive William Afton fangirl and simp, but I guess it can’t be helped.
To put things into perspective, back in the good old year of 2014-ish, the entire fanbase knew him as “Vincent”. I won’t lie, I have never liked Vincent. No offense to any of the Vincent fangirls out there, but he was never quite my cup of tea. Back then because I was a massive villain hater as a young girl heh (to me, villain = bad character regardless of writing or any other factors). Nowadays, it’s mostly just because I have no interest in Tumblr sexymen. It’s also worth mentioning the fact that Rebornica and her fanbase were pretty rabid and toxic (and, let’s be real, she had quite the monopoly over the FNAF fanbase back then).
Back to the Purple Guy from the game. Today, I would say that I love him. Not only because he is William Afton, but also because he’s a pretty nostalgic figure for me. Seeing his sprites always takes me back to the old days of the first three FNAF games. Before Scott revealed Afton’s identity, the character had an air of mystery surrounding him. I remember reading theory after theory about his identity; endless discussions of who he could possibly be and what would motivate him to kill the children. I remember countless people theorizing that he could be The Phone Guy or even you, the security guard.
Given the vagueness of the games, he doesn’t seem to have a much bigger role than being a purple sprite who runs around terrorizing children (and I already spoke about my love for Springtrap here).
Though fan-made, Squimpus McGrimpus’s iteration of William Afton deserves a spot here. Aside from the movie’s William Afton, this version is my all-time favorite. I find his motives and character much more believable than that of the version in the games and books. Though I hate the guy and do not support him in any capacity, I think McGrimpus did an excellent job at fleshing him out.
Afton’s motives in this little series are quite simple, really. Michael Afton, who is often speculated to be the Crying Child’s masked brother from Five Nights At Freddy’s 4, bullied and ultimately murdered his younger brother. Traumatized by the murder of his youngest, William took out his fury by murdering children he deemed similar to his oldest; deeming them “troublemakers”.
As mentioned above, I love his motive. It feels much more relatable and human than those given to him in the books. Not to mention, it fits in much better with the era in which the Five Nights At Freddy’s series supposedly takes place.
While I usually don’t like villainous characters with tragic backstories, I really think that it works here. As I watched the series, I stumbled across a YouTube comment making an important point. Said commenter claimed that his hesitancy to murder his oldest stemming from the fact that he would get caught rather than because he’s his son shows just how twisted he truly is. I wholeheartedly agree with this and think it’s important because it shows us that he isn’t fully sympathetic. Even if Mike hadn’t killed Joseph (the name of the Crying Child in this universe), he already had a few screws loose. Actually, this is also made apparent when we take a look at Mike’s motives for bullying his brother. According to William himself, he loved Joseph much more than Mike, even neglecting the latter as a result. Overwhelmed by jealousy, Mike took out his rage on the younger boy. As I was saying, the reason this tragic backstory works so well for him is because it isn’t just there to make the audience feel sorry for him (or potentially justify his actions).
My final reason for loving this version of William doesn’t relate so much to him as it does to his backstory alone. As a child, I was a strong subscriber to the theory that the death of the Crying Child triggered the Purple Guy to commit his murders. Even though things didn’t end up being quite that way in canon, it is still a bit nostalgic and interesting to me. I mean, think about it… Maybe the bullies wore masks of the different characters to symbolize the fact that they would end up being the missing children. Maybe the Purple Guy was too busy during his shift in the daytime to ward bullies away from the Crying Child-perhaps he even spoke to him through the Fredbear plushie, telling him that he would “put him back together” as he grieved the loss of his son. As I said, some of this did end up becoming true. However, it’s still very interesting to think about.
I really just want to give this one a hug.
I have problems, I know I do, but my heart breaks for this version. I know he’s done awful things to end up in this position-like ahem murder children, but I can’t help myself. This version of Afton plays right into my twelve year-old self’s woobified fantasy of a “poor little Springtrap”.
For context, he is the perfect image of the undead, tormented soul my childhood self viewed Springtrap to be. Anyone who watches the videos can easily see the extent to which he is suffering. In most of the “Springtrap Life Evidence” videos, he is seen choking, coughing, and wandering around the room aimlessly. You can even hear the pain in his voice every time he speaks; struggling to form complete sentences and the way his distorted voice cracks with every word.
Honestly, I wish I didn’t feel sorry for him, but I can’t help it. I can’t imagine how miserable every second of whatever semblance of a “life” he has is. He does little aside from wander around aimlessly, often talking to himself because nobody is there to listen to him. Even when he does speak, he complains about his misery, whether it be about the pain or relating to how he feels Henry and Michael have “left [him] to rot”. Most of his days are spent in agonizing solitude.
If he does get any type of interaction, it’s just from scientists who want to study him. These scientists even go as far as to physically violate him for answers. For instance, in one of the videos, a scientist known as Agent White goes as far as to approach sleeping Springtrap and slice into his organs for a “sample”. Understandably, Springtrap awakens, flies into a rage, and instantly kills Agent White by snapping his neck… which, frankly, was deserved. I mean, imagine if you were fully conscious as you withered away in a tiny room for thirty years, totally alone with nothing to do and, upon finally having a moment of peace, a man just came up to you and started cutting into you. You’d probably have the same exact reaction, right? I’m sure I would.
Even when the scientists aren’t violating Springtrap, their interactions feel completely devoid of warmth. They never refer to him as his name even after being told, just “the entity” and then “Springtrap”. It’s like they don’t even see him as a fellow human being, just a thing to toy around with for their research. If I were in their shoes and stumbled across such a being, I would probably do everything in my power to release his soul and help him find peace… Well in a scenario where, like the scientists, I lacked awareness of the atrocities he’s committed in his lifetime. Even then, I might feel sorry for him if I were forced to observe every second of his pain.
Speaking of atrocities, the series also establishes him as a villain much like McGrimpus’s series. Tragic circumstances aside, he is later shown guilt tripping and strangling his own son in an interview and murdering an entire family in their home. Rather than just making the audience feel sorry for William, his fury and desire for revenge become his motive to bring as many as possible down with him.
This is the last Afton I will be covering in this section of the shrine only because his source material, unfortunately, had been canceled. That being said, I really don’t have too much to say about him.
Anyways, Fazbear Tycoon’s Springtrap is such a great concept to me! From what I could gather on his Fandom page, he doesn’t seem very different from the games. However, he does have some new pieces of lore thrown in which I think is pretty interesting. My favorite piece of additional lore for him is that, after surviving the fire, he went on to lurk throughout Utah’s sewer system, becoming a phenomenon known as “The Utah Hareman”.
As he is from a canceled game, there really isn’t much else to say.
“Well, if you don’t have much to say about him, then why is he a favorite?”
That is because he single-handedly has one of the greatest models I have ever seen. As much as I love Scott’s original model from Five Nights at Freddy’s 3, I must admit that this one is much better.
I’m so in love with this model. Every time I see images using this model, shivers run down my spine. I always find myself enchanted by all of the detail poured into this character; how anatomically correct it is, how much of the corpse is visible. It’s truly amazing to me that somebody poured so much into this design.
Here are a few other images featuring the model:
It really breaks my heart that the Fazbear Tycoon project was canceled. Even aside from this version of Springtrap, everything from the game looks so damn cool. I think that this Utah Hareman had so much potential, too. It’s a huge bummer, but I guess it is what it is.