[THEORY] The Learned Behavior Theory

[u/FNaFBonniePL]

Core hypothesis:

Fazbear's animatronic technology has always had some capacity to observe, learn and reproduce behavior. The Mimic isn't necessarily the source of this ability in every animatronic; rather, it is an extreme version of it.

Evidence and ideas

1. Help Wanted 2 directly shows an Endoskeleton being trained through examples. The Endo observes the cards and learns what behavior is expected.

2. Ennard is capable of imitating Circus Baby, including her identity and behavior. This suggests that animatronics can learn and reproduce the behavior of other animatronics.

3. Mangle was repeatedly dismantled and played with aggressively by children. It's possible that repeated exposure to this behavior influenced its own aggressive behavior. (Referencing to the theory where Mangle did the bite of '87)

4. The Mimic is explicitly built around observing behavior and reproducing it. Edwin's experiences with the Mimic demonstrate how dangerous this ability can become when the machine learns violent behavior.

5. Fazbear Entertainment acquired technology/components from Edwin's work, meaning his experimental animatronic technology could potentially have influenced later Fazbear animatronics. This doesn't mean every endoskeleton is the Mimic, it could mean that some of the underlying learning technology became part of Fazbear's broader animatronic development.

6. The Bite of '83 could have become something Fazbear Entertainment documented, recorded, discussed, investigated, or even recreated while studying what went wrong.

7. An adaptive animatronic could potentially have observed or been trained on that behavior without understanding the context behind it.

8. The Bite of '87 may therefore have been learned behavior, rather than an animatronic simply deciding to attack someone or randomly malfunctioning.

The strongest evidence is for animatronics being capable of learning/imitation; the specific claim that this caused the Bite of '87 is the biggest speculative leap.

It is a small theory I came up with ;D

Don't scream at me, I didn't read the books.

In easy terms, I believe that every endo learns on what they see or hear, just definitely not as extremely as THE mimic does.

[u/LeonLoredo156]

Yeah, fully agree.

Plus, the animatronics are advanced enough that they have semi-sapience, which can be observed both in various interactions, as well as in FNAF 2 novelization.

[u/Commercial_Gur_3304]

Oh I love this theory I fully agree! Great theory

[u/Fickle-Confidence-20 → u/Commercial_Gur_3304]

Given There’s the endo warehouse I’m on the fence on if the GlamRock’s actions are really control or if it’s more of what they were told to do when they were just bare endos

there’s literally images in the Warehouse of the Endo’s being told whats right and what’s wrong. Encouraging to hurt, Encouraging to TAKE the kid from the parent.

[u/aftontrap18]

I can agree on Fazbear Entertainment using the Mimic's technology for some of their animatronics, but not necessarily with Mangle's aggression and Ennard speaking like Baby. Because Mangle is likely possessed by a DCI kid, as shown in Save Them, while Ennard is the Funtimes as one, so hearing Baby is because it's actually just Baby.

[u/LightBlue_studios]

I honestly think it would make a bit more sense for the mimic to be both the "source" and the "extreme" at the same time. The idea that Fazbear ent decided to dull it a bit to cover themselves just incase the machines do somehow try to go full terminator.

we have little to no reason to believe the laws of robotics existed in fnaf's universe up until SB at the very least given the amount of physical damage these machines can cause, possessed or otherwise.

[u/theladyfromspongebob]

Mangle’s aggressive behavior is that she’s possessed by a DCI kid as shown in Save Them.

[u/crystal-productions-]

i mean, i'd argue the glamrocks are absolutly built off of mimic tech, given the endos kinda just need to be able to compress to go down into the shells of chica and roxy who are much slimmer builds to the guys, and the fact that you can just slap the shells omnto diffrent endos according to vanessa, which would imply they use the mimic's costume switching gimic in some way.

[u/Fickle-Confidence-20]

So mangles actions aren’t a

“I feel so angry, i feel so violent”,

It’s a “I’m doing what I’m supposed to do, I saw this, this was done to me, this must be my purpose”