Michael Afton is a main character in BlueyCapsules. He is the oldest child of William Afton, and the older brother of Elizabeth and C.C. Afton. Formerly a troublesome teenager who constantly sought validation from his neglectful father, Michael has since reverted to a hollow shell of his former self following the death of his younger brother in the Bite of '83 -- an incident that Michael himself unintentionally caused. He harbors an intense grudge towards himself and is struggling to recover with the deep-rooted trauma that the incident left him with. Once his father's greatest admirer, Michael now deeply fears him after witnessing his true nature. Furthermore, after discovering the truth of William's goals and the existence of Remnant, he is working tirelessly to find and put an end to William's path of bloodshed.
Personality
Michael is a sensitive and emotional individual who often feels out of place in the world, craving validation from others in order to rest his nerves. He deeply admired his father and desperately sought out his approval, wanting to grow up to be like him -- as a result, he initially forced a lot of William's personality traits onto himself. Before the Bite of '83, Michael masked his inner struggles with a tough exterior -- picking fights with other kids, pulling pranks on old people and deeply resonating with Iron Maiden and other shitty metal bands that properly encompass the spirit of an emotionally complicated and disgustingly edgy teenager. Though he managed to become somewhat of a ringleader in a group of bullies, they never really formed proper friendships, and Michael remained painfully lonely. The only person he really felt comfortable around was Henry Emily, but as is typical of a rebellious adolescent, he purposefully began to distance himself from his honorary uncle, not wanting to seem overly dependent on him. Following the Bite of '83, Michael's punkass facade crumbled to dust, leaving his fragile and emotional core exposed. Battered by guilt and regret of overwhelming proportion, he socially distanced himself from nearly everyone he knew, rarely even leaving the house. He grew to become deeply terrified of William after learning of his true nature, and avoids him whenever possible. He finds himself unworthy of any sort of love or care, and adamantly turns away anyone who ever attempts to help him (particularly Henry).
History
Michael was an accidental result of college freshman William interloping with an obsessive Brit-loving classmate named Sunny (who would later become William's wife). Because she was a diligent student in an intensive major, she spent most of her time in class -- as a result, Michael was left to be raised by William, who didn't really want to raise him either, so he therefore passed most of the parental duties onto Henry, who managed to efficiently juggle schoolwork and caring for Michael like the fucking god he is.
Michael's parents married when he was four years old (though not before having Elizabeth) and they finally were able to move out of the college dorms into a proper house in Hurricane, Utah. Michael was "homeschooled" by his mother until her eventual death when he was 10, after which he stopped properly getting an education. Her death caused him to seek more validation from William as his only remaining parent, though William didn't really seem to notice or care. He began picking on his younger brother as he reached his edgy pre-teen years.
Fredbear's Family Diner opened in 1978 and quickly became a hotspot in the otherwise bland town of Hurricane, Utah. As the son of one of the founders, Michael attracted the attention of some local dickhead kids who "befriended" him for free pizza, and together they picked on CC.
After the death of Charlie Emily, CC told Michael about how he had seen their father kill Charlie in the alley behind Fredbear's. Michael did not believe him and began bullying him more as a result. This carried into CC's 9th birthday party, during which Michael and his lackeys were still picking on him. Michael had the idea of bringing CC up to see Fredbear on the stage, knowing well that CC was terrified of the animatronics. In a freakish chain of unfortunate events, Michael shoved CC's head in Fredbear's mouth, which prompted Fredbear to bite down, crushing CC's head. Michael was stunned after this occurred and quickly fell into a state of shock and intense sorrow, which only intensified after William began to praise him. William took Michael to the hospital to see CC, but the doctors were ultimately unable to save Michael's brother.
From 1984-86, Michael made himself scarce following his brother’s death. He spent nearly no time at the original Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, save for the days when he couldn’t overcome the paranoid urge to tag along on his father’s shift and watch over Fredbear and Spring Bonnie in some futile attempt to prevent further incidents. He is constantly pestered by his brother’s favorite Fredbear plushie, who unceasingly reminds him of his crushing guilt. He befriended Fritz Valentino after meeting him in the alley between Pizza Hut and Freddy’s, and the two shared a brief but heartfelt friendship full of adventure and tea parties. He was horrified and guilt-ridden at Fritz’ subsequent disappearance. Michael’s suspicion and fear of his father grew as he wondered if William really could have been responsible for the missing children as C.C had tried to warn him before his death.
In 1986, Circus Baby's Pizza World had it's grand opening on Michael's 17th birthday. His sister, Elizabeth, was mesmerized by Circus Baby, but due to Michael's suspicion of his father's creations, he was adamant on keeping his sister away from the animatronic. After losing his temper with her because of her persistence, he allowed her to go see Circus Baby while the main room was cleared -- and witnessed her being grabbed and killed by the robot's internal claw. Absolutely devastated, Michael sought comfort in Henry's presence while William showed little to no care for his daughter's death.
One day, William approached Michael with hopes of enlisting his son's assistance with his research, directing him to go into the basement and review his notes. Down there, Michael discovered that his father was indeed behind the murders and how he was using the souls of children to create Remnant. Terrified, he alerted Henry to this, who then stole William's research and disappeared, though not before leaving Michael with a hefty check off of which he could care for himself. Now truly alone with the exception of the ghostly presence of his mother, who had taken on a new form following the destruction of her original lamp vessel, Michael decided to try to look for his father, who had also disappeared. He figured William had left Hurricane, and so he decided to apply for a job at Chica's Party World a few towns over, taking on the identity of "Billy Lip" due to the Afton name being banned at Fazbear Entertainment locations.
After some time, Michael realized William would not be appearing at Chica's Party World, and proceeded to quit his position with much more grace than his father. Although he found many kind people at the animatronic diner, including coworkers Yoaj Mellau and Randie Cowakka and manager Juliet Poulain, he was reticent to become close to them due to his fear of negatively effecting their lives, keeping mostly to himself and engaging only in polite conversation despite their efforts to engage him. After some bitter encouragement from Friendbear, Michael began to take his plans of finding his father more seriously, and gave himself a haircut before applying as a mechanic for Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria (1986) under the name of "Fritz Smith".
Working here, he met Jeremy Fitzgerald, a boy his age that he immediately developed a massive crush on. He also befriended Joan Madruga, but struggled with getting to know the manager Philip Guy due to his distant nature, something that Jeremy and Joan claimed to be a new development following the disappearance of the previous mechanic, Dave Miller. After hearing from Jeremy that Dave had a thing for stealing the old animatronics' parts, Michael was immediately suspicious of him, knowing from William's notes that he did the same thing to harvest Remnant. His suspicions were later confirmed when Jeremy showed him a picture of Dave, immediately recognizing him as William. Hoping that William would show back up again to harvest more parts, this solidified Michael's position working at this location -- though, it was also partly due to his rapidly growing attachment to Jeremy. It didn't take long for the two to express their feelings to each other -- interestingly, Michael was the one to initiate their first kiss, much to his own shock. They officially began dating in July.
Trivia
- He is gay.
- Michael is the only character in the comic whose dialogue is in all lowercase, as opposed to all uppercase. This doesn't mean he speaks quieter than the others - it's purely symbolic, representing the fact that he feels like a smaller person after the death of his brother. He does, however, use all capitals when raising his voice.
- He is the creator of Foxy the Pirate. As a kid, Foxy was Michael's character and he used him as sort of a larping fursona. Henry made Foxy into one of the four original animatronics as a tribute to Michael, even though Michael had essentially rejected Foxy after the Bite of '83.
- He looks alarmingly similar to his father. This used to be something he was proud of, but now he can't bring himself to look in the mirror.
- He has ADHD and he stims occasionally, usually by clasping his hands together (something his mother used to do) when he's nervous or excited.
- He suffers from PTSD after the Bite of '83.
- His middle name is the same as his first name. This was William's doing, for some fucking reason.
- His ahoge, like William, has nerve endings and a blood supply, and can be voluntarily moved. It is essentially an extension of his body. Weeeird.
- His favorite flowers are Chrysanthemums.
- While not a My Little Pony fan himself, Elizabeth has said that the pony Shady reminds her of him.
- Michael was the winner of the 2020 Favorite Character poll.
- He was designed by Celeste / @meowmitake