Are The Withereds and FNaF 1 Animatronics Really the Same? - FNaF Theory 

Theres some good observations here, but the fnaf 1 animatronics cant be new. Phone guy says theyve been singing the same songs for 20 years, and never got a bath.

Why is this a debate😭 the withereds were refurbished and remodeled into the classics thats why theyre still possesed

Redesign. That's it - that's the whole reason for why they look different. Redesigns have been a common thing in FNAF for such a long time(Springtrap to Scraptrap changes, Baby to Scrap Baby, the new redesigns in VR games and the constantly changing minigame sprite designs for the same characters being the peak of this situation). Scott has been redesigning some animatronics any time his soul feels like redesigning, so the withered-classic differences may be just the earliest example of this situation. Scotty doesn't like doing retcons, but he seems to like doing redesigns.

Ok I actually love the idea of the withered's casing being used for the fnaf 4 experiments. It connects Dittophobia to the rest of the series in a meaningful way, and adds depth to why Afton created the Funtimes. Great video!!

You had me at first but the moment u started saying that fnaf 1 Animatronics Wasn't haunted you lost me 💀

The thing is that fnaf 1 was open twice. First time fnaf 1 was open, there were model of models from fnaf 2. When fnaf 1 closed, animatronics were used for parts for toys. When fnaf 2 closes, fnaf 1 will be reopened with new rebuilded animatronics with models we know today. Im saying fnaf 1 and 2 all the time because Im now sure of pizzerias names

two things: in 1983-1985 they made the classics endo 01, after the mci they make the endo 02 to fit the old costumes, so they made the unwithereds in 1986, after they started smelling bad and the complaining of the parents, they scrap them and make the toys for 1987, in 1988-1993 they brought back the old designs from 83 with the endo 01

The FNAF 1 animatronics are clearly possesed and are clearly just fixed and redesigned versions of the withereds and Follow me should be happening after FNAF 1 and i think the locations from FNAF 1 and 2 owned by Henry and not William i also think the FNAF 4 animatronics are build by William specifically for those experiments Even thought i don't think that theory is true i still like the idea

The answer is simple,after we beat night 6 in Fnaf 2 we see a news paper and it said that the restaurant is closing down and the toys will be dismantled while the withered animatronics will be reused and Gets fixed and obviously the withered would get new upgrade and Gets new Endoskeleton and new costume

Why Does This Make Actual Sense

The only issue that really blows your theory about the fnaf 1 animatronics not being haunted but just the mimic ai are golden freddy himself and the hallucinations that are implied to be the spirits.

My answer: They just want to look different.

Thought it was obvious that they just used parts from the Withered when making the FNAF 1 animatronics hence why they aren’t a 1:1 copy

BRUH, I unironically got a FNAF AD for a FNAF Video 🤦🏼‍♂️

Good theory. The FNAF2 withered animatronic for sure were used in the FNAF4 experiments, but i don't think the FNAF1 animatronics are necessarily Mimic program for a simple reason. Scott didn't put any "mimic" during those times in any kind of media (nor the games, nor the books, nor the guides). I could plausibly think that the FNAF2 toy animatronics were use in some kind of way to make the FNAF1 animatronic (not only bc they are the most similar ones but they could be other endo 01 animatronics put into the case of the refactored Toy animatronics (thats why they would lack the facial recognition technology, but also because the puppet didn't follow them, when the puppet is usually trying to take care of the souls of the childrens). I would argue that you are almost alone in the office of FNAF1, only being haunted by golden freddy who is kinda absurd when it comes to powers (since he don't need an endo to haunt someone).

Great theory but it has ONE problem… the Nightmare animatronics were most likely created around the time 1983 because of the home that we are in during the near bite of 83, the Withered animatronics were in the time of 87 which couldn’t be possible unless the Withered’s were made BEFORE the Nightmares were made. The evidence given seems to be more around the Sister Location animatronics but the code pad that is near the Fredbear plush needs the code “1983” which shows the cameras to FNAF 4, this implies that Sister Location was created after Fredbear’s Family Diner was built. Which means that the Withered’s couldn’t be made AFTER the bite of 1987, the Nightmare’s seem more newer than the Withered’s. If anyone doesn’t believe this theory, than try to figure out on your know.

if they arent haunted , where did the blood dripping out of the animatronics come from?

Why would the fnaf 2 and fnaf 1 animatronics be different fnaf two is a prequel to fnaf one which means that something has to happen to change the witherds man if only we could see that happen OH YEA we CAN! It is stated in the newspaper that the toys are being scraped due to not working right, and the withered will be revamped and brought back. *so why do they look different?” You may be asking and to that o answer with a question; why were the witherds left to rot in the first place? BECAUSE THEY WERE DEEMED TO SCARY FOR THE CHILDREN! So of course the fnaf 1 animatronics are gonna look different than the witherds because they were to scary!

Probably the same reason why peanuttrap looks so different from springtrap

It's actually because when they repaired the animitronics they changed there design

Great Theory! Counterpoint: The Mimic is a Steel Wool plot point.

I think the simplest theory and the most logical one is that fazbear entertainment took the withereds to fnaf 1 and rebuild/remodeled them to look like the ones from fnaf 1 thats why only signs of the fnaf 1 animatronics still exist in security breach cuz the withereds dont exist anymore they basically got transformed into the ones from fnaf 1

You know what? You did a good job with this video! (I watched it on TV without loggin in so it can looks like I didnt watched it on gram or whatever) And your timeline going pretty neat! Cant wait for more! Keep the good job :D

Ive always had a doubt about this part of fnaf thanks for explaining it in much detail you have earned a new sub!

I’m pretty sure the classic animatronics are from different times. The phone guy also said they retrofitted the older animatronics with some of the newer technology.

I really like your theory, but I think that it was confirmed in the Dittophobia story that the nightmare animatronics weren't actual animatronics, but mannequins that combined with your biggest fears, they would look like them. But the idea of the withereds being used for the FNAF 4 experiments is pretty cool!

I like your theory, you did good research. No matter how I feel about the topic I do think that it's great to have these kind of debates.

Man, i just bumped into Your video, but it's amazing to watch! Keep it up! Also you Sir have magnificent McCartney style moustache :D

I really think that he melted the toy animatronics down to make the funtime animatronics. Because, where did the DCI go after FNaF 2? Scrapped just means that they were withered, so they could still be possessed. We already know that the MCI victims’ souls were released in FNaF 3, so the DCI victims’ souls would’ve been released from Molten Freddy in FNaF 6. Not to mention that the funtime and toy animatronics have many physical similarities (compare Funtime foxy with mangle). And if FNaF 4 happened after 1987, then how does the bite of 83 exist? But your theories are quite interesting. Another nice video!

I think phone guy might know about the MCI(the missing childrens incident)so he knew the children had been possesing for about 20 years

Love your video and keep up the great work. You are awesome, and I'm a new subscriber

“Hey guys, let’s watch game theory video and tweak it a tiny bit”

Nice video, though all that Mimic stuff probably isn´t canon to the older games. I personally am still convinced they just used the endos of the Withereds to make the FNAF 1 endos and then slapped a new casing on them. That´s how the ghosts transferred.

the fnaf 2 animatronics are the fnaf 1 animatronics. the fnaf 2 gang were just modified and modernized fully. in fnaf 2 the phone guy states such

I just subscribed. This is a good video. Keep up the great work!

Interesting theory about the mimics program being implemented into the classics, I don't know how I feel about it yet, but I'm open to more ideas of the mimic interfering in the early fnaf games Great video and theory overall, I especially liked the part where you took off your tie and refrenced RyeToast, keep up the good work, can't wait to see what other theories you make next :)

Your questions in the beginning of the videos that lead to this theory can be debunked pretty easily. The withereds aren’t in the blob because 2 things, first, the withereds are the fnaf 1 animatronics, second, the animatronics in the blob aren’t the real animatronics from fnaf 1 and all that, the blob is the mimic’s victims possessing the endo parts and stealing parts from rockstar row that aren’t parts from the possessed animatronics because they were molten into the Funtimes. We never saw the withereds again in any game because fazbear ent doesn’t want for the public to know about them, why would you advertise broken robots in your restaurants? “Why does normal Bonnie is missing his face in pizza party?” I’ve seen a theory that I believe in that states that the fixed withereds never existed. Also, if the fnaf 1 animatronics weren’t possessed then why would fnaf 3 have the fnaf 1 animatronics in pieces instead of the withereds?

Enjoyed ur theory, but when u said that william used the withereds to make the funtimes it felt kinda wrong, seeing as how the funtimes were already built before that, all he needed was the remnant to fuel the funtimes, so in 1993, william enters the fnaf 1 location, and those are actually fnaf 1 animatronics that u see in the follow me minigames its just a small minigame inconsistency that scott was too lazy too change so he just kept it there, so as william goes there he breaks those robots and takes the endos, melts it and injects it into the funtimes

bro forgot about the bite of 83

Thank you this question has been agonizing me for 3 or 2 years thank you for ending my suffering

The Mimic was Made Post-FNaF1 so this theory falls apart realistically, that and the fact the Animatronics’ possess themselves and the soul splitting never happens until Sister Location.

Why is mr house yappin about FNAF, doesn't he have New Vegas

"those are from the previous location, and we just use them for parts now. The idea at first was to repair them... uh, they even started retrofitting them with some of the newer technology, but they were just so ugly, you know? And the smell" is what I think the actual reason is. It's not some insane plot including a character that didn't exist until like 2 years ago, the fnaf 1 costumes were their original costumes (explaining the fnaf 2 cutscenes and fredbear) being altered and retrofitted with new technology (making them uglier) and then they were broken because they were being used for parts. Then for fnaf 1's opening they just fixed them up just used old, spare costumes they’d presumably have due to both Fnaf 1 and 4’s backrooms having extra costumes. Also the Fnaf 1 location is haunted. Like it’s SUPER haunted (have you ever actually played that game like it is the most paranormal in the series) TLDR: this guy is wrong. The withereds are just half refurbished and messed up versions of the fnaf 1 designs because those were the ones used in the earliest Freddy’s seen in the fnaf 2 cutscene which explains why golden Freddy looks like Fnaf 1 Freddy despite being fredbear.

“freddy,well,its just freddy”

Let me say this, the withered animatronics were older than fnaf 1 models, the withered ones were there for the fredbear family diner fredbear's diner was older those withereds were from there and shut down completely because the bite of 1986s the fredbear kill, the fnaf 4 wasn't any experiment, because his son Evan, feared the fredbear robots, and after he got his head crushed he was brought to a hospital the fnaf 4 nightmares are him struggling to survive the skull crushing, those robots are how he! Sees them all, especially fredbear, and there's a game where it's him in the hospital dealing with being left behind in a abandoned hospital where all of the people are dead and there's nothing but the twisted ones there trying to kill the last Afton family member, since when he woke up William and Michael and Elizabeth were dead completely even as the robot forms, they couldn't rest with Evan still alive as the last Afton family member alive that caused William to go on a rampage and murder the kids

Its in the lore, fnaf 1 takes place in 1993, fnaf2 takes place in the 1987,before freddy juniors (fnaf 2) In 1983 - 1985 is where the og animatronics are from, but when reopening for fnaf 1, they probably remolded the old animatronics

this sounds stupid, but i think freddy and foxy where indeed reused, but that bonnie an chica got thrown in the dumpster because of their extensive damage. Hear me out, Freddy and foxy would only need some restored casing and some rewiring to get into working order, but bonnie and chica had parts missing or broken beyond repair and that those parts where not being made anymore because the designs are old, so think bonnie and chica might still be in some trash hill

This actually makes a lot of sense. Keep up the good work!

Bro looks like my math teacher 💀

Holy moly this actually makes sense! Good job!

Glad someone made a video on this as this is said about Scraptrap yet we forget that Witheed Chica morphed into regular Chica and it' BARLEY explain

in fnaf 2 we hear that the animatronics there "thought the guard was an endoskeleton and tried to stuff him in a suit", which is the entire reason we use a freddy head to defend ourselves in fnaf 2. so thats not a trait unique to the fnaf 1 bots, its a behavior both games' bots share. and its most likely a cover up of them being haunted and vengeful, given in fnaf 1, bonnie literally encounters a bare endoskeleton and walks right by it, even staring at you in gthe camera while ignoring it. so yeah not mimic

Glad the algorithm showed me this video. Good work man :3

My brain is too small to understand half of the things that happened

8:50 Lol, nice ryetoast reference! Also good theory

I understand using the books for the lore in your theory, but there's a tie between the three kinds of media people should remember. Book, game and movie lore are all separate (at least the majority of the time, it's the case, as The Fourth Closet doesn't happen in the games) Now this theory is interesting, but right off the bat, the timeline for the games is wrong. In FNaF 4, you can find a TV in the Night 2 minigame, which states "Fredbear and Friends, 1983", which in the TV, we can see the main three (I don't recall Foxy being shown) that we know and love, as well as Fredbear and Springbonnie. Keeping in mind that FNaF 4 is 1983, this means we need to find what's next. The next game is FNaF 2, being set in 1987 as seen in the Night 6 pink slip that was visible at 0:27 which also shows that it took place on Friday the 13th, (this day also being the bite of '87, seen by multiple hints and the fact Freddy's closed that same day for it's last party) Now, given there's merch of the animatronics seen in FNaF 4, being the C.C's plushies, and the girl we can find with plushies that oddly represent the Toys more than anything, it could be safe to say the Withereds were reused from Fredbear's for Freddy's Family Diner four years later. It was stated they'll be reused, so they were more then reused for FNaF 1, which was guessed to take place around early 2000's, or even late 1990's by the pay rate for the, and the follow me game was shown at 2:46 being the same map from FNaF, with the "safe room" being hidden later on behind a wall in the bathroom. I don't remember if it was ever brought up officially, but I think that alone was what started the reasoning to William being back there for roughly 30 years. If the 30 years is true as well, then that'll mean that FNaF 1 takes place in 1993, as FNaF 3 takes place in 2023. The theory you went with was interesting, yes, and I praise you for it, but it should be stated and remembered that book and game lore is separate, and now, so is movie lore, but again, I like your theory, but there's many things that debunk what you've said

ur so underrated! i love ur theory!!!

this is the video i always dreamed of watching finally here

I remember a fuhnaff or game theory video (can’t remember which one it was) talking about how in the springlock minigame in fnaf 3, all the animatronics had buttons on their chest, a design choice not present on the original fnaf 1 animatronics, so maybe the fnaf 2 animatronics were in the fnaf 1 location at one point in time but due to the damage sustained by William destroying them that’s what led to them getting replaced by the OG animatronics Edit: I just finished watching the video right after I commented this and realized he said this at the end 💀

This is an interesting theory. I can add something to it that may help some parts of it make more sense or work better. The Witherdes, basically the 1983-1985 FE location's animatronics, but worn out from neglect, are the ones that are hunted. Ghosts, when possessing a human shaped robot, will attempt to use that robot body as they would a human body. The robots have 2 arms, 2 legs, 2 cameras that function as eyes, 2 mics that fucntion as ears, and a voicebox/speaker that functions as a mouth, and internal computers that take the place of a brain. The ghosts try to store their human and ghost memories in the internal permanent storage, and try to use the CPU, graphics chip and other computer components on the motherboard to think. The computers are rudimentary early 80s tech, so their processing power and audio and visual resolution are limited. So the ghosts only have animal intelligence to work with. Thus "they are like animals." All this ghost data being stored though, becomes part of the programming and dataset for the witherds, and it's likely that when they get any routine maintenance, before the place closed down, that would have included full system backups, thus creating a backup of the stored ghost-animatronic combo data. If the mimic does exist at this point in the timeline, and in the games, this code from the withereds may have been used to train the mimic AI, this making it mimic the haunted behaviour of the witherds, and also pick up the ghost data set, including memories and personalities. This theory can also explain how Afton can be burned into oblivion, yet still return as Glitchtrap and Burntrap. It's not the soul of Afton, but the digital imprint of his soul's memories and personality, maybe again combined with the Mimic code to cause the mimic to mimic a computer virus as that's what Afton's deranged personality is most like, and maybe another copy of the Mimic AI to be taught using the AI leftovers of Cassidy and mimicing an antivirus, as Cassidy's big thing is to punish Afton, and what's more pushing to a virus then the software designed to detect and remove viruses?

"Scott Cawthon really doesn't like doing retcons" that is a laugh!

Finally someone is talking about this, they were always the most interesting ones out of the other models, also the most creepy to me and considering there's a withered Golden Freddy and endoskeleton that was also not talked about.

I really like your video and idea, but the only thing i think can harm your theory is that in the other mini games, we can see the casing of the animatronics on the flor so maybe he never manage to get casing before he die.

Redesigns. We literally have it IRL, with different iterations of mascot costumes in Disney Land over the years. Over the years, they've improved the designs and made alterations to them. The exact same thing is happening here. Fazbear Entertainment changed the character designs because, quote "The idea at first was to repair them... But they were just so ugly, you know?". They changed the designs because some people probably made some complaints.

i feel like FNaF 1 comes before everything but it’s abandoned and phone guy knows the bite of 87 which means it comes after.(thats my little stupid theory)

Hey i think this video is well made but one thing id say is would you try lowering the music volume slightly? its not super obvious but at the volume it is rn it drowns out your voice just slightly

This is great. Video and I love the theory although If there are few key points I need to make here, One being that yes the fun times were created after Fazbears is as closed as if we listened a hand unit, "Due to the unfortunate closing of Freddy Fazbears It was clear that the stage was set. No pun intended for another competitor in robotics entertainment!" While it isn't word for word, it gets the point across. Afton clearly created the Funtimes after Fazebears had closed, and from what we've seen from blueprints, the Funtimes WERE designed to kidnap. Each has a different. Tactic to lure the kid and parents away from each other as far as possible. Circus Baby was the "final stop." And moving to FNAF 1. I believe the mimic part mostly but I'm going off of Cassidy being the revenge full spirit legit broke the rules and existed even without an Endo as they were tied to the shell that was kept in a spare room. This means that all those "Its me" moments and such have a following reason AND allow for you to keep the mimics and support it. I believe all the hallucinations are caused by Cassidy using a fraction of her absurd powers to try and scare you either away or to death, utalizing the mimic protocal to deal with the dead body.... mostly.

I love it when ppl are like, “guys i have a new and groundbreaking fnaf theory” when its obvious they just joined the fandom or its obvious they know nothing about it

watching the video makes me miss old fnaf even more

Bro, its simple, Fnaf 2 came first, then fnaf 1, so the animatronics can be remodeled, done.✅

Huestation: -hey bro, that's my outfit

I absolutely love this theory but the only thing making me hesitant about it is the fact that the endoskeletons in the furnace in help wanted were endo 01’s and not endo 02’s. I suppose because it was a recreation of the events it could be mistaken but idk.

So something somewhat important to note: The animatronoc designs in the FNaF Movie actually have stitching marks where the most damages were at. This can be best seen in Bonnie and Chica's designs to damages on their faces.

You know this guy means business when he's wearing a suit and tie

Scott cawthon literally said in the early days that the "theory they are haunted" was correct. He obviously didn't have the idea of the mimic all the way back then. I would also never use designs of the animatronics in this game as "proof" since they do change pretty much all the time. Springtrap and scraptrap are supposed to be the same animatronic/human thing.

Bro i've been saying that for a while! FNAF 4 designs are very clearly based off the Withereds, even if it was just a design choice canon wise it makes sense because they would look like that so the nightmares would look closer to that. And that design thing with the sprites was something i only noticed after ID's Fantasy brought it up and i completely agree, i heard someone say it could be also the adventure Freddy design wise but that makes no sense and i don't think that's a good argument really. I also heard that the fnaf 1 animatronics even though they can be the same, i also heard the idea that they were possessed by agony and not fully spirits. That works but the only issue is the FNAF 3 ending that shows they also possess the casing, either way i believe they are the same animatronics and that they didn't fully leave. I mean even the books show they can possess multiple things somewhat at the same time. So honestly if we were to use the withereds control the toys idea instead of the toys being possessed that can work too. But i like this theory and i think it works and can be right depending on how you look at it, however i do not agree with the mimic thing.

If the FNAF1 suits were not haunted and were only mimicking haunted traits, why are they the heads used in the FNAF3 ending (does not matter which one, it's not a matter of canonicity)? Both have the disassembled heads from the follow me minigames and the souls from that fifth night minigame, freed or not. I think it is implied the FNAF3 ending images come from that scene because the ending comes after its conclusion with Purple Guy getting springlocked, and speaks to the fate of those spirits we see in that scene and in happiest day. Logically, I know why those heads were used for that image rather than the FNAF2 ones, but I ask rhetorically to say that that has to inform the rest of our interpretation too, that they were in fact the most recent vessels of possession and that they were passed on from the Withereds. The FNAF1 Endoskeletons are the ones that were melted down and therefore trapped, they are not Mimic bots, interesting as that idea may be to ponder.

I always thought they just added some new parts and redesigned the suits.

its simple. Fred-bears family diner had the full intact version of the withered the only disappointing thing is that the bite of 83 happened and they never got used. Fred-bears rebranded to fazbears and opened jrs (fnaf 2) and the old Fred bear models got used for parts and they based the toy animatronics off of the original Fred-bears design since the public hasn't seen them. the bite of 87 happens and the place is closed and the animatronics are scrapped and torn up for parts. (this is the part people are confused about) Some how fazbear recovers from this and opens fnaf 1 by some miracle. it is unknown if William killed more kids or they reused parts from the scrapped animatronics from the previous 2 locations.

The only issue i have w this video is the fact that the music is a tad too loud over the voice. The rest was really good. Sick suit btw

It warms my heart to see that withered freddy png that I made back in 2017 get used for fnaf content since it is the main reason why I made it lmao :)

2:13 yes it can be read on mobile (thankfully 😅)

Most unique theory I've heard in awhile

also love how you just respectfully reply even if ppl are a lil rude

One major problem with the following me theory is that it's the base of the molten mci theory that being a problem on account of their being alot of conflicting evidence for and against it such as how does he melt them into the funtimes if he gets springlocked at the end of follow me? So using follow me with the assumption that he's making the funtimes with the withereds metals introduces alot of uncertainty into the theory

Here are my thoughts on the matter: the Withereds were possessed by 1985 and the restaurant closes due to the missing kids, then in 1987 Fazbear reopens with the toys and the Withereds being used for parts but then the next set of missing kids and the bite of 87 results in the scrapping of the toys. And now here is where my theory comes into play: After 1987, Fazbear decided to scrap the toys and keep the Withereds but they don’t really need the old designs since those would remind people of the past and cause them to close again so they get rid of the suit which William then got the parts, modified them, and then used them for the nightmares. As for the endo skeletons, they modify them and install new parts, then they didn’t want the awkward staring at adults or aggressive behavior so they decided to use the mimic program as an excuse for stuffing people in the suits since the mimic has most of the control during daytime hours although, when deactivated, the spirits are in full control of the animatronics which could be why they stare into the camera as they know they’re being watched. Now after FNAF 1 opens, the animatronics have mucus and blood coming out of them which could be from the conditions the animatronics are and maybe from them killing the night guards so many times that they have accumulated the blood and mucus in them or another reason which I think is most likely is that the animatronic spirits are in grief and in so much grief they might’ve replicated the appearance of the day they were taken or the day they were found. So anyway, FNAF 1 closes by 1993 and William sees this as an opportunity to use the original souls just one last time and so the Follow Me mini games occur. So William’s plan is like this: step 1: lure the animatronics into the safe room Step 2: deactivate and then dismantle them Step 3: extract the endo skeletons Step 4: take the parts to circus baby’s and melt them Step 5: inject the metal and the remnant into the fun times Step 6: go back to the pizzeria and get the springlock suit (gets springlocked) And that’s my theory on this matter. The reason why I think the follow me mini games were with the classics is because it wouldn’t make sense otherwise. 1. It was the FNAF 1 location 2. The buttons and other different things don’t matter because foxy is just red meaning it really doesn’t matter 3. None of them have visible damage

THIS. IVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THIS FOR SO LONG BUT IVE NEVER RLLY HAD A CHANCE TO DO A DEEP DIVE. THANK YOUUUUU

Damn, thats a great suit. definitely keep wearing that in your videos

bro went from goodner to godfather

Aight, you're our new matpat

My theory is that they used the chips witch could be haunted by the kids, though i do think the withered could have later go on to become the nightmares while pieces of the endoskeleton that mr afton left behind could have been salvaged for the endo redesign.

The withereds were the animatronics that were in fredbears & friends family diner which got put in parts & service later bc of bite of 83. The nightmare ones are just a creepier illusion version of them (the unwithereds) thats how the crying child sees them. And withered golden freddy is most likely fredbear/ the fredbear who was the reason for bite of 83. Theyre probably rotting in the old fnaf 2 pizzeria right now tbh, i hope they come back one day

FINALLY someone has made a video about this i always wounder why the look different

Assuming the theory of Afton preferring hinged jaws in his animatronics designs and Henry piston jaws like seen in Wither Chica, it would explain why the nightmare experiment - seemingly a project only William Afton would be involved - has the similar piston jaw design on Nightmare Chica, the withered ones were used in the nightmare experiments. Just this fact alone would seemingly explain this odd design choice.

My theory wich is shared by many others is, the withereds were repurposed for fnaf 1 because the jaw for chica was entirely broken so they gave her a simpler one, also fnaf 2 is before fnaf 1 because the puppet is there and the puppet was in jr’s

An observation I made is that in UCN, we find out that Fredbear looks almost identical to FNaF1 Freddy, as opposed to the wider fan designs based on the nightmare version. So I always had the thought that FNaF1 Freddy and Bonnie were repaired using old Fredbear suit pieces rather than their original (withered) suits. It doesn’t really explain Chica and Foxy, but most of Chica’s suit parts look very similar, so it’s entirely possible that they only got new versions of what they absolutely had to (I.e. the structurally important feet and irreparably broken jaws) and kept the rest the same. As for Foxy, well, whatever fixes they made for him clearly didn’t last him very long anyways, so maybe he just had newer, cheaper suit parts since he wasn’t part of the main band, got considered low-priority, and the lack of spare suit parts is why he’s out of order.

Cool theory, but phone guy quite literally states that they’ve been smelling funny so it’s impossible for them to not be haunted. I think it’s just either a plot hole, or it is the retcon because the games went from supernatural horror to sci-fi horror starting with Sister Location and that’s why. But honestly I think it is just a new casing with the same skeleton and that the fnaf 4 animatronics are where the mimic program fits into pre-Steel Wool games but that’s just a theory, a theory of a random guy on the internet!!!

I can't get it into my head how the withered animatronics were reformulated so that it looks like the classic ones without they finding out the corpses

nice theory but bump u[p the volume of your voice up and mute a bit the music. keep up the good work tho

Honestly, this is a really good theory!