In Defense of the Aftons' Accent 

In all honesty I'm really embarrassed about this video being the one to gain so much popularity. I was proud of the editing, but the contents and the argument itself was rather lacking. I'm glad so many people agree, though. But I promise to take more care when constructing these kinds of scripts, as expressing my feelings properly is very important to me.

Imagine getting tortured so much you lost one of your iconic features

Just a quick side note here, you don't need to be from Britain or live there to have an accent. I have a distinct British accent even though I was born and lived all my life in America. The only reason I have it is because my dad has an accent. That's it. The rest of my family I see on a regular basis, my mom, my half brother, my grandma, all of them have American accents. The children or William's wife never even needed to live in England for an accent to develop, and I'm a living example. There doesn't have to be any backstory other than William was born in England. It's easy just to write in on a whim.

Afton really got the bri’ish burned out of him

It makes me very unhappy that the Afton's accents are being erased. For William, it made him feel more sophisticated, and it added to the vibe that he was a genius in robotics and he was absolutely evil. Without it, he seems generic, even a little boring. He sounds like the movie villains we've heard thousands of times before. And for all the other Afton's, not only does it just give them a super cool vibe, but it helps connect them to each other!

The thing with the whole “Aftons move to the US” is that no matter when they do, the accents are plausible. Either the kids were old enough for their accent to remain or they spent enough time around their British dad to keep it

as someone from Europe whose family always tells them “Oh, you should go to America and get a masters there”. Or find a job! I guess I have subconciusly built this whole backstory of William being of the “fancier upperclass” of Europe (high middle class, no he is not brittish royalty… even though that would be hilarious) And moved to America dragging his whole family because “his true potential was being wasted”. Maybe he was a graduate in AI & programming like in my campus, and felt like Europe was small fries to him. Then he ended up in Utah, living the “American life” tm, but not really becoming the big fish he wanted to be. Plus America is expensive as F€#@. So he settled for the Franchise making life, yet refused to adopt any American accent out of pride, because he didn’t want to.

I prefer the Aftons being British, too. But is it possible that the American accent in the games is for Glitchtrap? You know, like how William probably would have been doing a different voice when he's in the suit and pretending to be Spring Bonnie while entertaining families at the restaurant? And since Glitchtrap pretty much looks like the costume character, then maybe it would have William's over-the-top in-character voice? (Like how William speaks in blue and yellow text for the Fruity Maze game in Pizzeria Simulator.) I don't actually know, it's just something that I've thought for a while.

As a British Afton Truther (trademark pending) I've always felt that (as you pointed out) their accents set them apart from all the other characters and personally he always reminded me of victorian novel villains for example Mr Hyde and or just a murderous version of Sherlock Holmes, as I feel a lot of his character fits in with their stereotypes because his character always seems to tread the line between chaotic and a calculating villain. Which is why I think him being British when he manipulates Vanny would make much more sense as it could play off the soft spoken devil trope, although there is one point I can concede Glitchtrap could have an american accent since he's a more jovial character which doesn't quite fit with his previous personality. To throw another accent into the ring I would also accept a French William Afton to pay homage to Victor Frankenstein as that is basically the closest character I can think of in literature and it would also make him unique.

Honestly, when I first heard William's voice in Sister Location, I thought he was supposed to be Australian because of the way he said 'icecream'. Upon doing further research into PJ Heywood I found out he was Australian himself so that's why the pronunciation sounded Australian. I was a bit bummed that William was British as an Australian myself but for some reason just the idea of William being British just seemed to fit his character much better than him being an eshay.

I'm certainly a part of The Afton Truthers TM, just because it always gives them a sense of individualism. Literally the only in-universe reason I can think of for William (Likely RAISED in the UK) is that American influence finally got to him. That's it. The code for FNaF VR, an in-universe game, was done in America, and therefore Afton is interpreted as American or SOMETHING. There's no logic outside and most especially INSIDE the universe. Sad mistake here. Rare to see one from Scotty, too :(

I’m British, and everywhere in media outside Britain we either do not exist, or are heavily stereotyped / mocked. I totally agree with you.

somehow i still prefer the british accent, gives him a sorta interesting/intriguing evilness

It appears that William Afton has a West Country English dialect. Not only that but maybe the fact that in some lines Afton didn’t have a British accent at all! Maybe that was not Afton at all, but rather, it was foreshadowing the Mimic in Security Breach: Ruin. I think this is because the Mimic didn’t mimic Gregory’s voice perfectly when the Mimic confronted Cassie. Not only that, but maybe the recasting of Afton’s voice actor was done completely on purpose for the sake of the lore. We were fooled by the Mimic the whole time! The Mimic perhaps didn’t have the concept of accents or dialects in mind!

i've been upset about the removal of their distinct english accent ever since help wanted so i'm glad somebody finally has made a video about this. "william afton" itself doesn't even sound like an american name, neither does elizabeth, and it'd just never be the same without PJ voicing him. he was so iconic, and the voice for william was perfect. calm with hidden aggression is such a good voice for a villain without it sounding like some villain voice from some kids' show. and it suits him as the villain since he has to sound calm and friendly to lure the children in. it makes no sense to suddenly change their accents for literally no reason. i really hope steelwool hire PJ to voice william again because it'll never be the same without him. also, the english accent in a game with everyone else being american is a really good way to make such important characters stand out without putting in too much effort, it sticks with them as iconic. and as a british person myself, i've loved the inclusion of the villain and his children being british as such a fun detail, because as PJ said, americans usually see the british as evil because of history.

I kind of like the idea that normal William Afton is British, but malhare has his voice from the trailer

I think your argument is super strong, there's no reason the Aftons being from England is too weird for the story this is FNAF we're talking about. The accent was always a great addition and I hope the movie brings it back

I genuinely love their accents. It disappearing honestly makes me really sad. It’s such a unique aspect of them that taking it away will make them as bland as any horror villain, like you said. I swear to god, if they take it away, I’ll die a bit inside.

It is possible that the German Funtime was rejected in order to avoid reviving the nazi animatronic theory

I wholeheartedly agree. My comfort headcanon that I hope ends up the case, is that the Aftons still have British accents in the game universe and the accent just happened to be the one thing Glitchtrap/Mimic didn't replicate.

It’s because British accents are made up! British people are just pretending to talk like that, but it can be really exhausting. That’s why when William is in pain during UCN he forgets to do the accent as he’s screaming for Henry and Michael. And he doesn’t do it anymore because everyone who knew he was British has died, so he doesn’t feel the need to keep it up! Glad I could clear things up! (/j)

My headcanon is that for Security Breach, the reason why he was a North American accent is because it's Williams Ai, or it could be he's hiding his accent for some reason because in the books he completely changed his appearance and name as well as moved away from the area fnaf takes place as not to be tied to the murders

I agree. With the accent, chilling, calculated, calm, cold. Without, just acidic, leaving a bad taste in your mouth.

I thought they were just brits who moved to the US, like I know Henry isn't brit like duh, Kinda helps identify the character more idk

Afton being british is crucial to his skill with knives

I think that changing the voice is like changing darth vaders voice. It's so recognised at this point that it is honestly more confusing to newer fans as their just gonna hear 2 different voices for the same character.

I think pretty much everyone in the community dislikes the choice to change accents, like we brits rarely ever get representation not to mention any non extremely posh / gangster accents in general media, which is a shame especially since William and Michael are honestly some of my favourite voices.

i know its been awhile sense this video was uploaded but i think the reason they changed his voice is because the burntrap ending isnt canon its all gregorys imagination so it makes sense for him to sound more like a villian from a cartoon and its confirmed in ruin from the comic pages you can find that are said to be drawn by gregory

Afton is British. Mimic is not.

I think it's possible that while afton was wearing his original springbonnie suit his vocal cords where cut off or extremely damaged by the springlocks so when changing suits in pizzeria sim he was able to fix this issue, and most likely the devs wouldn't know about the existence of scraptrap or so, and it's possible that his voice could have been recorded from the pizzeria sim salvage and used in FNAF AR

Makes sense William often is obviously from south London or Birmingham

I don’t think its only the accent, I also think that the first voice actor is just fits better. His weird and uncanny accent is creepy.

I am now a brit afton truther bc of this video thanks

My hopes for the movie is that they do have accents. Like how British actors fake American accents for movies, I think they might have the American actors fake the accent. Though I agree heavily on this video. The accent is iconic at this point. I don’t really find a need to change it this late. I’ve always thought that maybe Glitchtrap would be American to hide the fact he’s William to gain trust? But still, the accent is how we’ve known them since they debuted, so I hope the movie goes back on this and makes them British for the fans

in my it makes sense for William afton to lose the british accenet because if im understanding the mimic era of the game theory fnaf videos, the Mimic would be mimicing american accents since most people around them are American, while its mimicing Williams actions its mimicking what it heard when speaking

ON GOD BROTHER 🙏

Tis a shame. Afton's accent felt very fitting of his character

I didn't even notice that william's accent had been changed to a american accent! I swear I remember watching the trailer and him having a british accent. This is truly an outlandish cirumstance! I shall be informing the late great Queen Elizabeth II of this dastardly change, good day! *T E A S I P P I N G I N T E N S I F I E S*

finally, someone said it. I thought I was the only one upset about it. I wanted them to be British haha

This video itself was already quite well made but the cherry on the icing was that you used the ennard boss fight ost

i love the accents it really makes them unique in a way i don’t remember ever hearing a british villain like william before and to make him just to turn him into a classical deep voiced villain in security breach was terrible

Scott cawthon doesn't exist.

Trust me, accents keep. My brother and I have a southern drawl cause our grandparents were from Texas, New Mexico and Missouri. We live in California.

u converted me to the british afton activists :) i like ur style and opinions

>Calls American accent ‘generic’ **Offended freedom noises**

"One that doesn't sound [...] british" the voice recording is altered, ofc it doesn't sound the same The Princess Quest voiceline isn't indicative of anything That last voiceline is debatable whether it's William's or not

I COMPLETELY AGREE! I'll be so sad if they don't sound british in the movie 😿😿

I couldn't agree more. Also, I'm surprised that not many people have brought this up

I have way too many headcanons and ocs for this stupid Afton Family (I mean I made an entire family tree worth of Ocs. All that work isn't going anywhere just because they lost the Accent) Anyways it isn't even that hard to just say William moved to Utah to just move I mean I had the headcanon that he just left with his wife and 4-5 year old Michael for no real reason. Well I mean opening a business is a reason but you understand what I mean. It just doesn't have to be a complicated reason Great Video! Forever a British Afton Truther.

I read the title as "In Defense of the Aftons' Incident" and thought you were going to elaborately explain how william afton did nothing wrong and honestly i was invested in the idea until i re-read the title

I personally enjoy William Afton/Springtrap having a British accent

Midnight motorist shows purple guy driving on the wrong side of the road when drunk...perhaps his British origins have more impact then we think.

Even the name Afton sounds better in a British accent. Just imagine such a cool, important, chillingly evil character staring at you, reaching out his hand so calmly it’s unsettling and then uttering… “My name is Wehlleeeum Æftan” 🤦🏻‍♀️

As a British person myself, I agree that they should have kept their accents. Also all the British William Afton memes are just funny. Edit: WOW! 3.6k likes?!?!? Thanks guys!

As someone who has made multiple headcanons about the Aftons connection to the UK, my personal favorite was the idea that even though Elizabeth and CC were born in the USA William was still very determined to keep their accents british, so he prohibited them from viewing american media and forced them to watch his old recording of "Thr fawlty towers" on vcr all the time

Agree 100%, I absolutely LOVE their accent, it just gives the Aftons so much personality and allows fans to really go wild with headcanons of when/why they moved to America. I wish they would be British in the movie but I guess I'd be alright with it if they're American since it's probably gonna be like a different continuity or something. Maybe that will even be used as a way to signal to FNAF fans in the audience that it's not the same universe. But like, please Scott and Steel Wool at least let them stay British in the games... 😭 (Also I laughed so hard at 0:38 9:13 and 16:46 LOL, great video and thanks for sharing your thoughts on the topic!)

I agree with this point, the accent really adds to Afton’s character allowing him to stand out from the other characters.

William while he was dying: "Oh great heavens! It does hurt a whole lot! Blime me!"

My gf has a British accent. She was born in Florida in the USA. Never lived outside the state. She has an accent just because her adopted mom has one. I was told a lot that I have a British accent. I was born in Texas, USA. Never been to England. My grandmother came from England. So, they don't HAVE to be immigrants. They don't HAVE to ever set foot in England. If the people that raised William are British then he would pick it up, it doesn't have to be any deeper than that.

After Watching this video, im now a part of the British Afton Truthers (trademark pending). i heavily agree that they shouldve kept their accent

17:45 This comparison right here really sells it for me. Quiet evil is *always* scarier than loud evil.

Omg thank fucking GOD I found someone else as passionate about this, I felt a bit nuts getting all up in arms about it. Coincidentally we're both Brits, so perhaps that makes us seem a little egotistical, but I really liked William being British. To be very fair to me, my dad came to America to make it big in tech and then had me following in his footsteps from a young age (though I'm more of a hobbyist), so I found the Aftons relatable in that aspect. Not the murder aspect though, I swear, lmao. It just feels kind of bland getting rid of that "American dream gone wrong" layer to their family.

As someone who is British, it made me even more attached to the Aftons. It also makes them stand out, as you have already said in the video. A headcanon of mine is because Michael is British, he was made fun of in school which lead him to join a bad group of friends (the ones who bullied the crying child), worsened by Elizabeth's death. Basically, them being British played a huge role in the story of FNAF.

YES! finally someone who understands why i love their British accent. Edit: I just remembered back in 2021 when i heard William's voice lines in the Security Breach trailer, my reaction was something along the lines of: “Those morons made William American!”

I mean, it wasn't British part that made Aftons recognizable. It was accent. If it was Boston accent, or Australian accent, or hell, even Russian accent, it would still work from the start. Because when you hear Afton, most fans can only think of one color stick figure and voice. When you change the voice, you've stripped character of half of its features. It's like taking purple from purple man. Color was never really important as much as the fact that there was color was

As a Biritish person I found it really nice to have a British video game character because they are always American. And if they are British then they have the most stereotypical posh Queen's English voice so having British characters made was a nice change for once. And I agree with the point that it's just a more interesting accent than the bland accent that every kids villain seems to have.

Honestly I agree with the aftons being british it makes them unique and also alot of british jokes about them I never really had a problem with the voice in the sb trailer but rehearing it just makes it sound meh compared to every other voice line Also as a british person I just think that would be cool for the aftons being british

When you played all the characters' voices it made me realize that at the very least Elizabeth without the accent would sound too similar to the puppet

For my own sanity, I've just told myself the non British voices don't count because Williams dead and its really just the animatronics voice, not william.

My personal headcannon as to why Afton didn't have a British accent in Security Breach is because of the fire and being rebuilt messing with his Vocal cords

The Aftons really remind me of the Addams Family in this way. (funny comparison, I know) But like, the juxtaposition of this very odd British family living in hurricane Utah is just so unique and really sets them apart. Especially in comparison to the Emily family, who all have American accents.

I agree with all of this, just because I think the accent is a big part of what makes the aftons who they are. And not only letting the accent go, but letting PJ go aswell, after the amazing preformence feels really strange and in my opinion is a really bad desicion.

I always just assumed the accent change was done to represent how William is in *a completely new form* as Glitchtrap He’s no longer in his physical body. If there was ever time for a voice change, this would be it The laughter audio for Burntrap (William in a physical body again) during his bossfight supports this - he definitely sounds British there

I just think its funny that he's British but- imagine if he had an accent from the North of England. How less seriously people would of taken him. -I am a Northener myself but my accent is a horrible amalgamation but Im also a bootleg Afton. His voice is fun but hurts like hell to do!-

Want to boost this in the algorithm for sure. Hard agree; I never really thought they needed a justification for being British, but the fish-out-of-water vibe (considering the series takes place in Utah, not even on the Eastern seaboard where one might expect something similar) really does distinguish them more. Honestly I wonder if they removed the accent to make it more ambiguous whether or not theyre bringing any of the Aftons back as different characters in the new games (for instance, if patient 46 suddenly broke out an English accent, everyone would narrow down their identity immediately). I hope not, but it might be a factor. (Steel Wool please keep them british the series is complex enough without an inability to recognize some of the main players). Also now I like the idea of william deliberately moving to america for reasons related to his career in engineering, including but not limited to it being much easier to get a permit to build a huge underground laboratory facility beneath your house, or at the very least making it much more difficult for anyone to discover (and less likely for them to really care) if you do it without one

I feel like if William is British the kids may have just picked up his accent as they learned to speak. I really love the idea of British Aftons, my favourite accent for villains or otherwise

Once good use of an American Willaim Afton is on Squimpus Mcgrimpus' Fnaf Analog Horror series, namely the video, "Memories". The voice actor manages to pull off the psychopathic nature of William Afton in a way than an English accent just wouldn't work with. Imo it's my favorite interpretation of the character.

It’s So True Tho. When You Played All The Fnaf Characters’ Voice Lines Together. They Were All Unique And The Afton’s Accent Really Fit In With The Uniqueness Of The Whole Franchise's Voices. It Just All Blended So Well In The Beginning And Was Recognizable. You Make A Great Point.

The idea that William fled England to a remote little town in the States after being hunted by the police is fun. It's basically my head canon.

Istg the British accent just adds that little more to their personality and makes them slightly more mysterious - it wouldn’t be the same without the accent

I never expected this video to blow up, the support and general feedback on this video has been insane. I'm sure you can tell I am very passionate about this topic, the Aftons and FNaF as a series are very important to me, so I'm glad I got my thoughts out there and that they are being so well received. Thank you all so much for watching!!

British Afton family will always be canon in my heart

An interesting aspect about the accent is that they all have it, implying the kids were sheltered to the point where they didn't develop a more american accent.

Their accent is honestly so nice. It fits their character very well, and it’s honestly so cool. I love it sm

I thought the Aftons were from New England. Uppercrust Boston.

I agree with you, that bri’ish is cool. Bri’ish will always be in our hearts. However, I don’t think Scott had anything to do with this, I think it’s steel wool. But even then, I think that the bri’ishness will come back.

This video is basically a summary of why I like the Afton's so much

Personally, i think the aftons migrated from britain due to the recession in the early 80s. This may have lore implications to the early fnaf timeline but idk

I swear it makes him more smarmy and evil sounding. It distinguishes him from other characters in the game too. And it makes it easier to tell which people are related to eachother. Elizabeth could've Charlie, or Vanessa, or Jessica or any other character but we know she's Elizabeth because she sounds like her dad.

No matter what-even if Afton is now confirmed to not have an accent, I will always identify him as British.

I didn’t notice they had British accents because it just sounds like a normal voice to me since I’m British 💀

I remember the first time I heard Williams voice in sister location I was instantly drown in by the performance and it solidified my love of the character, without the accent adding so much more to the performance I’m not so sure I’d be as invested in him as I am, so I sincerely hope the Aftons will have British accents in the film and future games.

Whew! For a second there I was almost convinced that British people were real for a second 😂

I agree with you and think that the aftons being british while many other characters were voiced american was a very fun inclusion when I first heard the voicelines, and watching this made me a tad disappointed in the movie, if they do go through with the American accents. Most movies out there take place in America and have American actors anyway, unless they have a reason to be anywhere else, so having British accents would be rather nice personally. Also, I've never kept up with updates on the movie and only followed it on the few videos that pop up on my feed about the upcoming movie, so I was quite shocked that Elizabeth's name was changed to Abby, and I'm assuming Mike is William's son in the movie from your points in the video (too lazy to research the movie). Loved the video and thank you for sharing your opinion^^ (...I just typed a whole paragraph... I wish I had this much to say in reading comprehension tests T^T) As a side note, I find it hilarious that some people would just think evil when they hear britain^^

Michael, ey Michael, don'cha leave me 'ere

As someone who was born in England but had immigrant parents, I didn't have a typical British accent because I was surrounded by Filipino ones (only having a stronger English accent as I got older). My cousins are the exact same, speaking with a moderately english accent but still maintaining a Filipino-American accent, even though we were all born and raised in England. All in all, it still would've made sense for the Aftons to have a British accent despite being set in America.

Scott forgot British people can move to USA.

It does feel so weird with the accent change, the British voice acting sounded way more realistic then the cartoonish villian dialog in the security breach trailers. I always just thought the accent change was meant to be justified that it's not Afton's body in the suit anymore, just his mind, but its weird that it started in help wanted. Maybe the British accent is something the "Rogue Indie Developer" made up according to help wanted's intro XD

Thank you, I literally had a ten-minute rant about this (admittedly minor) issue to my girlfriend a few weeks ago. Michael's handful of context clues that we get for his characterization are important to me, damn it!

I'm neither British or American however I still think that the Aftons having british accents in an american setting is a great idea and not really that confusing. For one I have personal experience with this. I was both born and raised in Austria however my father is from Germany and it's because of him that I didn't grow up with an austrian accent. Sure I use austrian terminology but overall when people hear me speak they sometimes note the absence of an austrian accent and some even ask me if I was from Germany. So not only is it "impossible" for the Afton kids to have been born in the US and have a british accent regardless, but it also makes for some really fascinating story telling. William's kids having the same accent as him despite growing up in a country that has vastly different accents, shows how much William influenced his own children.