a very long-winded rant(?) about fhsre episode 3 - essay

date: november 21, 2024

hi :3 this is a very detailed talk about how i feel about a super semi not really all that obscure series but obscure globally series, specifically its remake. i have been putting this thing off since nov 21 and figured i might as well bite the bullet and FINALLY do this today!! i have a lot on my mind and i wanna share it! theres literally a 100% chance you are reading this and have no clue what fnafhs is or what is even going on and/or cant speak spanish but is still mildly interested, if so, good on you! funnily enough, i cannot speak a lick of spanish either, dont ask me how i even got into this, or even why i can understand whats going on in these untranslated new episodes, its black magic. :D

OK without further ado lets get into detail!!

quick explanation: FNAFHS was a suuper popular mexican cartoon that was a parody spin-off of the fnaf characters, except theyre human and in highschool! it was created by eddochan in 2016 and lasted all the way until 2019 (short time in hindsight, but a LOT was created in between then, trust me!). the series last 2 full seasons, and was cancelled by its spin-off, not-really third season. currently, since 2022, eddochan planned to remake it under the name "FHS REBOOT", retconning almost everything from late season 1 up until fhsz3ro (the spin-off). making streams and artwork, and even casting calls replacing VAs (i could go into detail about its problematic history, but i WONT, for now). however, its now the dawn of 2024, and there is yet to be ANY news on the series. eddo herself didnt really have any plan set in stone for the date, it could take years, even! which is why after so long of barely any FNAFHS content, the fans decided to take things into their own hands!

there have been a lot of attempts to remake FNAFHS by the fans, none of them really stuck, some took too long and others fell short as their creators lost interest in the media. so the (still very active) fnafhs fandom were simply just surviving off of the scraps of the original series. that is... until FNAFHS REMAKE HAPPENED!

FNAFHS remake is a projected directed by conniech and lissmochoc, it originally started around early 2024, and really took off by episode 3: el reto, introducing the toys. the series has an impressive scale of fans, both original fnafhs fans and newcomers! it's basically considered as the "unofficial official revival" of fnafhs by a large chunk of the community, and is often compared to the original in that regard.

as of writing, episode 4 is the most recent episode published. meaning they're only about 4 episodes in, (for starters, season 1 alone was 30 episodes, each lasting about 11-15 minutes depending on content), but have still done A LOT lore-wise and character wise with the few episodes the team had to work with.

personally, i am a veeeery big fan of the first 3 episodes! and in general, the series as a whole! the episodes are a lot more tightly written, with some things that eddo half-assed in (the villains) making an appearance early on, and the art style, while still maintaing the fnafhs look, is cute and unique to the creators' artstyle. you can really just see the charm oozing out of the official art, and i love em for that!

i wont deny that, despite the limitations of the team, they managed to create something that was able to appease the FNAFHS community, and have a large following as a result.

and while i do have my own personal reservations, for instance, the really limited, kind of awkward bust up shots that they always seem to do, i really liked season 1 because of how varied the perspective shots and comedic actions were and it was just kinda... poof!! nevertheless, i could never, NEVER have the time or energy to make this, so im not really going to egg on a series for doing something i literally just cannot do. i generally, have a lot of respect and admiration for the series, and honestly, i was just hyped to see new fnafhs content!

and with the promise and hype of the new, FOURTH episode of the series coming out, featuring everyones favorite emo boy, *fred, there was a lot a LOOOOT of hype surrounding it, no less than the time fred basically just, hacked the official twitter and posted creepy stuff, and then the thumbnail for the episode came out and WOAAWWWW!! BXB!!!?!?!?!? AWOOOGGAAA

(*context for both: fred is freddy's dark scary evil side self, a mirrored version of him, originally intended to be a villain, but he ended up being loved by the fandom because he was emo and flirty and sassy, so he became a good guy and is now magic, bxb is bonnie x bon (toy bonnie), VERY popular ship in fnafhs)

and so.. it was SUPER!!! HYPED!! i was even contemplating just staying up just to watch the TRAILER (that literally ended up having 0 dialogue and being 15 seconds long), of all things! it was looking really promising and i just!!! ok i wont lie i just really wanted to see fred and freddy again.

so ubruptly, while i was eating breakfast with my family, it suddenly dropped when i thought it would drop the next day! i was so excited, and immediately booted it up while we were eating AAANNDDDD!

i mean.. i didnt... really???? like, it was... fine? i ended off just finished the entire episode feeling a little bit of an, "okay." to it. which, really is a shame! i loved the concepts of what it was GOING for quite a lot, like analog horror fred for example, chefs kiss! i really liked the scene where fred sees marta (freddy and his' mom) and hes like really sad, its CUTE! but like, i mean, it didnt really have a lot going for it. it was just a big, ehhh.

why is that?! i thought, i really did thunk!

sooo, lets try to break down everything about this episode that didnt really work for me, shall we? i'll start with the most crucial one:

FREDDY AND FRED'S DYNAMIC

okay, you know how i said fred was basically just the emo badboy double side of freddy? well, not really. in fact, the two are very distinct characters with different likes and dislikes. of course, that also means their relationship with EACHOTHER greatly impacts their own development and story. the two initially started off having a rocky relationship, but it greatly improves as the series progresses, all to then become extremely close. their individual characteristics are closely intertwined with one another, fred is the complete opposite of freddy, and vice versa, but he represents freddy's innermost feelings and desires. he is, quite literally, freddy's shadow. but the fandom (and eddo) have come to view them more as two different people rather than one in the same. so you'd imagine that after so many episodes of the two being close, it'd be super refreshing to see them aaalll the way back to point 1 in their relationship, where they never got along at all, and fred played a much more antagonistic role.

so yes, people were excited to see how the remake would tackle that point, their relationship ended up being.. a lot different from the original.

i personally feel that it's in the excution. the original fred was a very sassy, persuasive and attention-seeking character. he loved the spotlight, and would often push freddy to get what he wanted. though his actions did bother freddy, they weren't even outright HARMFUL to him. in fact, what fred wanted was recognition for the BOTH of them, even going so far as to suggest they work together. fred's antagonism in the original can be interpreted in an almost sympathetic light, he wants to achieve his dream of stardom. he doesn't carry any outright malice towards freddy, rather resentment, but you can clearly see that he holds some form of affection and care towards him, as impulsive and self-centered he was.

in comparison to fred in the remake, who's treatment of freddy is basically on the verge of being a form of psychological torment. don't get me wrong- early fred ALSO tormented freddy in some regard, but i don't think it was really as extreme as in the remake, nor aggressive. the very sassy personality fred exhibits in the original is completely lost to a very intense fred who is fueled by only hatred and pure malice; he torments freddy in the opening scene, calling him a scumbag, showing little to no sympathy at him crying, then tormenting him throughout the episode as a shadow, then in the bathroom, labelling freddy to 'be the problem' and tormenting him even more. i feel like this inherently more aggressive and intense fred isn't BAD, per say. it can be done well, fred is capable of acting out of spite like this, but THIS level just.. doesn't really feel like 'fred' anymore.

i know, i know, i can't base entirely how fred acts in the ONE episode he appears in, that's just plain unfair! surely, they will keep his antagonistic nature, but i'm unsure if they'll keep the charm that made fred so beloved in the first place. season 1 fred was resentful and often showed his resent by tormenting freddy, but he was also SASSY, he had charisma. he RELISHED in making freddy MAD, in getting him to rile up and react, more akin to an annoying brother, fred was a smug attention-seeker through and through. you don't really see that in the remake, why is that? the two, from a distance, are written similarly, aren't they? they basically function the same; the dark side of freddy who is deeply resentful of the him, and wants control. and yet, the way they act, and how they make freddy feel are noticeably to completely different. the answer, of course, is the execution. they serve the same exact purpose: to just give freddy a bad time, but the way they are written is different. i'd like to think the remake fred is more akin to season 2 fred, which, i don't think works for season 1. alongside that, is their own respective motivation and backstories. this is where i can FINALLY transition into my main point:

holy fuck, why does nobody know how to write the mirrortwins well? okay, this is probably the MOST biased and honestly kind of offensive thing i've written among this post of pure respect and objectiveness, but seriously, the way fred acts is directly correlating to their backstory. to which the creators have said as follows:

(image translated for good measure lol :p)

and with that, you could already put together that whatever reason fred has to treating freddy like total garbage is solely due to some backstory related to owynn, and where freddy has done something wrong or terrible or whatever to destroy both relationships. for like, the second time, which is slightly infuriating, because often, writers who want to explore more of freddy and fred's backstory tread into mischaracterization territory.

i feel like a lot of people tend to paint the reason WHY fred and freddy have such a bad relationship in the first season as this purely white-and-black sort of thing; one side good, other bad. fred is just misunderstood! it's freddy who keeps putting the blame onto him. it's shallow and distasteful. and regardless of whether or not a person loves freddy to death, or believes he's the most bland tasteless no personality character in FNAFHS, they can BOTH come to the conclusion that a characteristic of that nature just doesnt fit well with freddy. it feels shoehorned in. like a "haha gotcha!" type thing.

why am i saying this? and honestly, why do i even care SO MUCH about how their backstory is written by a fan? because, if you look closer at their interactions, the dislike the two have for one another isnt BECAUSE of one singular event, isnt dictated by one sole defining reason, it isn't because one is bad and the other is simply being wronged, it is COMPLETELY shaped from constant miscommuncation, of BOTH sides not wanting to understand each other, and their relationship suffering as a result.

one of my personal favorite examples of this miscommunication is the official comic made by eddo, one of my personal favorite official media of them to date:

i'm not going to translate this one completely, but the general gist is that this is a comic where freddy is treated rudely by a student, fred takes control and defends freddy, basically clapping back and just calling the student stupid. however, this act of goodwill on fred's part is interpreted negatively by freddy. who was scolded after the fact and threatened to be expelled if he continued to act that way (and judging by the different uniform, he was, indeed, expelled). freddy is ashamed, wondering what is wrong with him because of it.

i absolutely fucking LOOOOVE this comic, because there isn't really a "bad guy" here (other than the student). you can get a clear gauge on how BOTH of them feel. freddy is upset, he had to deal with being threatened with expulsion and the aftermath of fred's actions, he dislikes himself AND fred because of it, but fred only wanted to defend freddy, what happened after likely wasnt his intention, he acted out of impulse, and it led to an outcome that only made freddy even more fearful of letting fred take control of their body.

and if you look at it from a broader point of view, it explains a lot. fred doesn't believe he did anything wrong, and doesn't understand why freddy (and even their mom) is so fearful of him, sure, he handles things differently, he's extremely confrontational and smug, but he's always had freddy's best interests in mind and feels that it's extremely unfair that freddy treats him the way he does, being completely shut out and treated like he was an unwanted disease made him grow resentful, yet at the end of the day, fred doesn't harbor any hatred towards freddy, in fact, he only really wants to be trusted by him, to be allowed control of their body.

freddy, on the other hand, feels wronged because of his actions. he's had to deal with the aftermath of fred's actions so many times, impulsive and hurtful actions that affect the people around him, so much so that he's even been expelled and feared. freddy has little to no trust in him because, why should he? all fred does is hurt others and get him in trouble. in freddy's eyes, fred is an unreasonable monster and everytime he is let out, something bad will always happen. freddy evidently struggles with making friends, he says so himself, he is scared of fred ruining everything about his life. like, LITERALLY, that is his ACTUAL fear written in his character sheet.

i feel like he just doesnt like fred, idk tho..

anyways, you can SEE how BOTH sides have wronged one another. like, listen, fred has so little experience taking control of their body that he doesnt even know basic human functions to take care of himself.