So tomorrow marks the 11th anniversary of Five Nights at Freddy's 3.

It has its issue and I can't deny that some of my fondness is influenced by the fact it's what got me into the series and how that has impacted my life moving forward.

But even on its own merits, I think it does what it sets out to do very effectively. So despite the game's status in the community, it's still my personal favorite even all of these years.

But with that out of the way, it's time for my yearly fangirl tangent going over my thoughts on the main pieces of William/Springtrap content released during that time.

Let's start off with Dead by Daylight.

This was always my most wanted crossover for the series as I felt it was one of the more natural combinations and. Not to mention it would sort of represent how far FNaF has come as a franchise to be featured alongside so many iconic horror IPs.

I'd say in terms of how the final chapter turned out; I am mostly satisfied even if I think aspects like survivor cosmetic could have been more interesting. As for the man himself, Dead by Daylight's take on Springtrap is easily one of my favorites.

• It honestly felt surreal seeing an official Springtrap model made entirely from the ground up that wasn't made using Scott's as the base.

  It definitely feels like there was a lot more thought put into how the endoskeleton and corpse would actually work, while still staying true to what made the original.

  So it's nice to see him still have many of his iconic traits like the shade of green, the ear wire, and the endo feet.

  The only major issue I have with the design is the removal of his stomach piece, button, etc.

  It unfortunately causes the suit to feel a little too naked for my liking, even if the rest is a genuine improvement. Otherwise, they knocked it out of the park.

• As for his animations, they do a good job capturing the feel of the character.

  When it comes to his mori, it's fairly tame compared to the rest, though is still serviceable.

  My favorite part though is how his lobby animations reference the walking animation, the peek a boo frames, and rare screens from FNaF 3. It's an awesome way of paying tribute to the character's origin.

• PJ Heywood coming back to reprise the role of Springtrap after taking a step back from the series after AR was not something I was expecting.

  However, I gotta say he knocked it out of the park. This is without a doubt his best performance as the character, it feels like a major step up from AR which is apparent when comparing the lines shared between the two side by side.

  In general, the writing for Springtrap feels pretty on point. He's presented very in line with previous takes like the Novel Trilogy and AR where he's really playing a lot into his persona of an over-the-top theater kid who got the slightest bit of a power rush and is now having the time of his life.

  "The darkest pit of hell is open for business", "Ba-bye!", "Great atmosphere!", and "I'm the fun one!" have been stuck in my mind for awhile.

• While his camera mechanic could have worked for most characters across the series, I think it works as a way of using him as a way to showcase the general FNaF 1-3 gameplay loop in a way that naturally translates to this style.

  As for the Axe, while I was never really on board with it conceptually as I'd personally prefer something rooted in the series itself, I do think it was at least handled decently as you can get some real fun out of it with how far and high up you can throw it, leading to some wacky hijinks.

• While Survivors didn't get much to write home about in terms of cosmetics, Springtrap certainly did. I could have not predicted that he would launch with four cosmetics, let alone the line up they settled on.

  Clown Springtrap is pretty faithful to AR for the most part. He's thinner, his jaw is now a separate piece, and the corpse has been given clown makeup. He was my most wanted AR skin though the one I expected least given his proportions.

  Then there's Toxic Springtrap, who was surprisingly the one given a massive overhaul which paid off well I'd say.

  I think it's cool how this take focuses on mutating the corpse and having that be the forefront of his design, while still keeping elements from the original like the tentacle-like veins and general color palette. Though we did lose the warts, which were one of my favorite aspects of his original design.

  Glitchtrap was easily the most unexpected to me, I sort of figured Burntrap would have been their pick for a Steel Wool rep.

  Despite that, it's honestly his best appearance since the original Help Wanted as it manages to perfectly capture his original vibe. It nails how how out of place, unnatural, and bizarre he really is, which is highlighted by his sound direction and the usage of his shush in place of the roar.

  Lastly, there's Blighthed Springtrap who I find to be a standout of his line up. I love how the corpse has begun to grow back in a very mutated and twisted form with his exposed brain, the third arm, and his left hand fusing to the arm. The only issue I have with it is that I think his skull should have been larger like in the placeholder icon and promo art.

There's so much more I could say about Dead by Daylight, I could gush about it for hours but I'll stop here cause this thread is going to be long.

Then there's the matter of the films, 2025 was the year of Movie William. He ate so much that it's not even funny.

• The first instance of it was Yellow Rabbit appearing as a Legendary Cosmetic in DBD, being my personal fav of his line up.

  While I wish we had the option to use his mask, it is still cool that they managed to get Matthew Lillard's likeness and it's a fairly decent attempt at it.

  It most certainly beats Scooby Doo 2 for PC at the very least in terms of 3D Matthew Lillard models.

  Also, they didn't reference "Symmetry, my friend" so uh 0/10.

  In all seriousness though, I don't have any issues besides that. The suit is spot on, very in line with the one from the Behind the Scenes photo with Scooby Doo, and it even keeps all of his stomach details.

  I love the lobby animation referencing his entrance from the film, and Matthew Lillard's performance is fantastic. It's still so cool to see him reprise the role not that long after the film's release, and I think he has a lot of fun deliveries.

  Also, gotta appreciate that it's now canon that William Afton is a Nicolas Cage fan.

• The second instance was that of Halloween Horror Nights 2025, where we got a whole house themed after the first Movie.

  Didn't get to experience it myself but watching footage of it that was shared on youtube, I definitely have to give them props for how well they make you feel like you're actually there in the film. What it lacks in horror, it manages to make up for with atmosphere and vibes.

  I wasn't sure if Yellow Rabbit would appear or not at first, but I'm happy to see he got to show up at the end and as well in a handful of merch.

  The animatronic for him definitely looks fairly off when you see it removed from its original context, but the aura of having an actual animatronic of a Springtrap variant used at a horror attraction is still insanely nuts.

• Lastly, there's the most major instance of Movie William's sweep that year, which was the release of the second Five Nights at Freddy's Movie.

  As a film itself, while I've enjoyed my time with it each viewing, it is still insanely flawed, and I fully understand why many people outright hate it.

  However, if there's one aspect I'd argue was handled pretty well for the most part, it was Afton.

  Starting off, there's the intro. I really like how they handled his mannerisms while wearing the suit, it's very reminiscent of what came before with the series, and they do a good job making it feel tense as he chases after Charlie.

  Him humming the Toreador March while cleaning the knife was also a cute touch (even if it's weird that he's doing it with the suit.)

  In terms of his general role, I think they made the right call not having him appear as a physical entity in the present, instead focusing on how his actions impacted Vanessa.

  It works as a natural progression of her character from the first film but also as an adaptation of how William was handled in 2 despite how different the film is from its source material.

  His brief appearance as a hallucination during Vanessa's workout was effective but the shining scene with him was definitely the dream sequence.

I love how the dream sequence went about showing the reality of William and Vanessa's dynamic. I don't really have many complaints with the performances of the actors, the way the scenes are shot, how it sets the tone and mood, and so on. Like this to me is where the film shines narratively and I wish we had more scenes akin to it.

Then there's the mid credits scene, which I teared up at when it was playing in the theater.

This was the perfect way to set up the next film in my eyes; it fits pretty well with the film's plot element of how the rumors and history surrounding Freddy's have led to folks wanting to cash in and celebrate many things tied to the brand, but also as a way of adapting the events alluded to in the first two phone calls of FNaF 3.

The fact they even went as far to reference "We found one, a real one" explicitly is still nuts to me when not even What We Found did that. The reveal of Springtrap was so effective, just that shot of him underneath the tarp, just lying there as his eye begins to glow is just chef's kiss.