Molten x Davis event on the discord got the gears turning
Does it still count as shipping if they're going through the horrors and hate each other equally?
added some explanations of the thought process behind this piece in the "image description" text, you should totally take a look...I spent 9.5 hours drawing it but a lot longer thinking about it
I kept thinking about this song when drawing them if that helps add to the vibe at all, specifically: [0:05-1:08]
Anyway, this is my blog and I get to ramble about my thoughts on these two all I want!...under the cut LMAO Mostly Molten, he's been a favorite character of mine for 6 years (before this iteration of him)
...please read it I spent so long thinking about them and putting this into words
unrendered versions at the end because details :D
Molten is protective over Davis for seemingly no reason at this point (seeing as the basement has been explored and we know the consequences of that), and while he is in no way kind of warm toward Davis, he's also not able to bring himself to kill Davis for one reason or another. I have a ton of theories as to why that is but the main one that matters in this case is that Molten feels like he needs Davis as a form of "bond", as fucked up as this one is.
Being that he was formerly Glamrock Freddy, it's safe to assume he was likely incredibly warm and outgoing, and based off what little we see he was probably somewhat naive as well. He hadn't ever thought his friends could betray him and break him as badly as they did, even though he felt their animosity toward him for a while before anything happened. After Afton "fixes" him, he has horrid trust issues and clearly takes on a pessimistic and distrusting point of view on the world. They're filled with anger, given a body dangerous enough to act on it; with an ego which makes them unapproachable, and paired with an attitude that makes them insufferable. He's clearly a bad person, and the inciting event of it all being one that absolutely demolished him as a "person", its no wonder he rebuilt himself like this. I don't think they derive pleasure from hurting others, but something they perceive as such because it's the closest thing to it. I think they feel like they finally have control again, because going from a performer to a puppet for Afton, it didn't leave much room to be much of a "person" did it?
I also think it's a VERY smart idea to have them be a shit fighter too. Molten used to be a performer, and while they are a dangerous animatronic who has slaughtered many, they can't really pick on someone their own size. For all their anger, they're still in a hugely defensive state, adopting an isolationist mindset where everyone is out to get them. Unfortunately for Davis it seems they've taken a somewhat protective stance around him, which I think is shown best in the . Don't get me wrong, they gladly broke his arm twice and they choked him out during their earlier meetings and threatened him constantly to go farther into the basement. They're by no means even so much as soft to Davis, but there's no way to deny that they have some sort of care/connection to him. They REVIVED HIM despite having no need to. Davis screamed for Molten, begged him for help, pleaded that he didn't want to die, and Molten just watched...and walked away. The entire season finale sticks out so much in my head, along with his behavior in early S2 when he would only check in with Davis to check on his back and upkeep the facade. The fact that Molten managed to replicate the animatronic phenomenon with Davis' body and the Mimic interests me greatly, because it's probably a mix of the Mimic's ability and Davis' soul possessing the animatronic, but the fact that even Molten isn't fully certain how he did it shows that it was really an act of desperation to try and save Davis. Whether it was some sort of attempt to honor his dying wish, coding from Henry's involvement in Project Maelstrom, his connection to Davis and desire for a bond (no matter how fucked up), or a mix of everything and something more we're yet to find out about, there's so much that can be explored with these two.
Davis is intimidated by Molten, for the same reasons he trusts that Molten can fix himself up and handle himself in a fight no matter how badly he gets his ass handed to him. Because he's a POWERFUL animatronic one way or another. Obviously being a giant robot (meant for security?) will give you that, but clearly Molten can tank a lot of damage without needing significant repairs and replacement parts. Throughout the series we see him progressively get more messed up, getting more and more damaged, which makes me wonder how much of his original endoskeleton/exoskeleton makes him up. I actually would venture to say a large amount, based on the lack of repairs we're seen him do.
Davis is, all things considered, a very defenseless man. He's not particularly athletic, nor is he even close to rivaling any of the animatronics in terms of height or strength (even the older ones like the classics). His main line of defense is being smart and his ability to talk down animatronics (or yell and curse until they stop looking down on him, that too). To have Molten listen to Davis even a quarter of the times that he does is a clear sign of something, especially when we see how easily Molten hurts and threatens Davis, but it doesn't exactly deter either of them from challenging the other. Molten also listens to Eclipse despite displaying incredible aggression toward Sundrop/Moondrop, which I find fascinating, maybe there's some similarity between Eclipse and Davis which makes him more inclined to listen to them/have a shred more of respect toward them? Or does he have a history with Sun/Moon that we don't know about?
Molten and Davis' dynamic is a dance of powerplay, push and pull, give and take. It's a difficult line to walk, and often times they snap at one another (...more often than not), and to me it seems they have some sort of unspoken understanding of each other's authority.
Davis' death was sudden and unexpected, but in the finale, he doesn't fail to chuckle at Molten getting his ass beat, points out how fatal his injury is, yells at them, and at the end of it, still trusts they'll get them both out of there. When faced with a life or death situation, of course he would call out to Molten to save him, as irrational as it may seem, but to me it implies there was something in Project Maelstrom that Davis saw which made him believe Molten would help him? While the dreams that he has throughout the first season are absurd in nature, dreams are a manifestation of the subconscious processing information from the day. Obviously, his dreams were messed as we find out through the blueprints, but there is still some flimsy ground which I think proves that for all of Molten and Davis' animosity toward one another, they have some form of respect for each other and what they're capable of.
Davis, while weak physically, is a strong character for facing as much as he has and coming out the other side in...almost one piece. He still finds himself awkward around Kat, and scolding the classics for mistreating her, still finds himself doing mundane managerial tasks around the pizzeria. He's obviously trying to find some semblance of normalcy now that he's able to process his new reality. While we haven't seen as many interactions between Davis and Molten in season 2 (mostly due to it being rather new), we can definitely tell there is a shift in their dynamic, one that I for one am extremely excited to see unfold in future episodes :D
Anyway that's the end of my rant, here's the alt versions as promised!
Is anyone even gonna read this? LMAO if you did I'd love to discuss :) I love FNAF Chronicle so much and I've been stewing in my thoughts about these two for so long it would be awesome to talk to someone about it.
I've been thinking about making some Vampire's Bride fanart as well because that series also has me in a chokehold, Kat and Isvad's relationship is so interesting to me, and I'm due for a rewatch to catch some details I might have missed too so... maybe another wall of text coming soon? We'll see
Molten and Davis brainrot persists, I adore their dynamic so much see my last Moltvis post for more details. I have at least 2 more ideas for pieces about them, we’ll see if I finish them…. I spent 13.5 hours on this one
