[Spoilers] Fazbear Frights #1: Into the Pit review

[Rollerwings]

Spoilers for Into the Pit

So thanks to my car overheating (in December?!) I read the first story in an empty shopping mall parking lot...at night. Reading Into the Pit in that scenario seemed strangely appropriate but I'm almost disappointed a security guard didn't swing by to find some nerd poring over a YA novel under the dome light of a Chevy Cobalt.

Scott wasn't kidding, these stories are quite dark and unsettling. I'd still compare them to series like Goosebumps, only that "controlled environment" of horror where nobody dies or meets with a horrendous fate is absent here. In case any fellow parents are reading this, be aware that these are considerably darker, not so much for graphic gore actually occuring but for what's implied or threatened.

Yes, this is a $10 paperback but that comes to $3.33 a story and there isn't one I didn't feel wasn't worth that. IMHO, it's a travesty that the artwork seen in the advance copy (said artwork was shared on Freddit) didn't appear in the paperback -- it's fittingly dark, it gives the reader a better idea of what the characters might look like and it involves some action-filled scenes.

"Into the Pit"

Oswald's life hasn't been so great since his dad lost a good job at the mill and his family is one of the few holdouts in town who haven't left yet. He gets dropped off frequently at "Jeff's Pizza," which is a debranded, former Freddy Fazbear's Pizza and still has an old ball pit inside, though it's supposed to be off limits.

Some reviews have complained that Oswald is ungrateful and hard to sympathize with, especially when he tries to make life tough for his folks, but he seems like an honest kid who's trying hard to be good and make the best of his family's tough situation but is still sore about it, even if it's not his dad's fault. I actually found this really relatable; when I was a kid, pretty much everyone's dad lost his job at the local mill and everyone began moving away. I got dropped off at the local summer rec program, and like Oswald, turned to mischief for no reason I could truly explain at the time, acting up: climbing into the dumpster and sneaking into the cafeteria to steal popsicles from the chest freezer and distributing them to the other kids. (I swear, when I sell my first short story, I will send the rec program some money for popsicles along with a long-overdue apology note!)

So, just to be squirrelly, Oswald sinks into the ball pit, emerging in 1985 when Freddy's is in its heyday. He meets some awesomely friendly kids, and hides his time-traveler status. Returning several times over the summer, he hides his secret until the day he comes across the aftermath of the MCI. Spring Bonnie follows him to the present day, pulling his dad into the depths of the ball pit. What happens next Oswald cannot explain, but Spring Bonnie takes his father's place, driving him home and doing normal dad stuff (speechlessly) with nobody acting as though they can see him as anything other than Oswald's human father.

Terrified Spring Bonnie is going to harm him eventually, Oswald returns to Jeff's Pizza and pulls his unconscious father from the ball pit. Spring Bonnie attacks them, wounding Oswald, but reverts to an empty suit when he accidentally hangs himself from the climbing ropes. Oswald's dad regains consciousness, though he doesn't remember anything. The story ends with a heartwarming expression of gratitude for each other between father and son.

Anyway, this was a great story with a lot of suspense. The reader didn't know if Oswald's dad was still alive until the end, or if Spring Bonnie would take his place forever. My only complaint is that while this story did a neat job incorporating time travel into a horror tale, the plot involving Oswald's circa-1985 pals didn't go anywhere. They weren't MCI victims and he simply never saw them again, though he did make an actual friend in the present day at school. Their friendship was the driving force that made Oswald return to 1985 throughout the summer and that was about it. I know not every character can be at the center of the lore, but it would've been neat if toward the end of the story, Oswald had met Mike or Chip as a fortysomething adult but of course wasn't able to tell them he recognized them.

A word of appreciation for Jeff; he was well-written and also relatable. Downtrodden but still had a heart of gold, giving Oswald free pizza because he likely knew he didn't have money for more. He reminds me so much of a late former coworker who did the same thing for a kid at our bar years ago. And Jeff's "wait, kid, you forgot your soda!" at the end was adorable.

Reviews of the other two stories are forthcoming, but the canonicity of these stories is sure tricky and confusing. Scott said some are directly related to the games and others aren't, and there was a thread on Freddit discussing what this could mean, but I'm just going to enjoy the three stories I've read so far as "loosely connected to the games." You can't really enjoy these if you don't suspend belief somewhat, because two of these stories involve robots that sure seem like they're Funtime Freddy and Circus Baby, both salvaged from junkyards. We literally saw these two burning in FFPS, so unless these stories somehow take place before FFPS it doesn't seem possible those two robots could still exist.

There's also the fairy-tale element of a magic amulet/necklace that, if removed by the wearer, will horrifically reverse the good fortune she has been granted and reveal the true intentions of a fairy godmother-type character. This element is new to FNaF lore.

Finally, there's the time travel element. Going by popular time travel theories, the Spring Bonnie suit is now in the present day, meaning it's now absent from 1985. And that's not even taking into account what happened to the person (Will Afton?) wearing it, as he vanished once the suit was accidentally hung. Again, to enjoy what truly was an enjoyable story I'm just going to assume this was a supernatural event and Will Afton himself does not have time-traveling abilities.

None of the above points about story elements and canonicity were meant to discredit the writing, which was top-notch all around. It's important to remember that for at least these first three stories, the events in them did not directly influence anything happening in the games, so far as we know. The closest we came to that was having a child witness the aftermath of the MCI.

TL;DR -- That was $10 well spent, the writing was clever and didn't talk down to younger readers and the plots of these are relevant to FNaF game lore without being retellings of the games themselves.

Feel free to post your thoughts as well, and thanks for reading.

[Gyro]

hey theres a game now