Just got back from the FNAF movie watch/costume party hosted by Women In Cyber Security at my university and I want to talk about it.
I decided to dress up as Mike for the occasion. First I want to share this picture, because I thought Mike would've wanted me to do this:
I posted about my excitement for this a while back after I received the email about it. I knew I had to go because FNAF is at the forefront of my mind right now, I needed to rewatch the movie anyways because the new one is coming out in December, and I felt like this would be a good opportunity to make a friend or two because I struggle to make connections to people I don't have much in common with.
I joked about how this costume would be perfect for weeding out posers, because it's just normal enough for someone to think I'm just wearing a Foxy mask. That being said, I was just joking. I fully expected there to be more hardcore fans at this event. People started walking in and no one looked at me twice. I was kind of expecting at least one person to go "was that the bite of 87?!?!" at me. There were three other FNAF costumes: humanized versions of Bonnie, Freddy, and Glamrock Freddy. But still nothing was said to me, so I told myself to quit being so full of it and acting like the I'm the main character even though I technically was and just watch the movie. Because surely a lot of people knew and just didn't feel the need to say anything, that or they knew, but it didn't cross their minds when looking at me due to what a casual outfit a grey tank top and jeans is.
I guess this is a face reveal...
Someone sits down next to me. I ask her if she's a fan of the games or if she just saw a movie was showing and wanted to come for fun. She told me she was a fan. It turns out she became a fan around the same time as me not long before the release of FNAF 4, so we've gotten to experience a lot of the same things. The entire movie we were quietly rambling to each other about parts we loved, all the references, and a bunch of corresponding game and book lore. We seemed to be the only ones discussing much of anything.
I'd been joking about there being "fake fans" there, but that isn't actually a big deal to me at all. I'm not as far up my own ass to get mad if someone just wants to come watch a movie for fun. But like I said, I'd expected there to be at least a few diehard fans there, but it genuinely seems to me now like most of the people who were there were either people with surface level knowledge of FNAF, or non fans who have heard of it before and decided to come watch just for the hell of it. And again, I have nothing against that, because if that's true then I hope all of those people left with a positive view of the franchise and maybe some of them interested in looking more into it.
But that didn't really make the lack of reaction and enthusiasm any less strange. I periodically got out my phone to record certain moments that I thought people would react to, like Vanessa revealing William's name, William's entrance as Spring Bonnie, and the spring lock scene, but I ended up deleted those videos because nothing happened. The only time something like that happened was after MatPat said "it's just a theory," but then again, it was only a few giggles.
But hey, I did meet one person, and we're friends now, so I'm glad I went. They took that first photo of me.
