Stitchbuddy (Banzo)

* Normal
* Twisted

**Banzo** - also known as **Stitchbuddy** - is the family dog of the Greywhinders, who was killed by Martin and turned into a stuffed toy, capable of changing size and becoming a monstrous creature.

## Personality

As seen by his preference to prioritize Ava, Banzo isn't entirely heartless nor cruel. At least not to those who he had loved previously. He seems to have his own personal interest to protect her by any means necessary, even if it is at his own expense.

When Martin demands for him to murder Ava, he's shown to be more hesitant as the audience is given a choice between acting on his demand or refusing to stay obedient. Because of the emotional connection these two shared in both life and death, some fans speculate that Martin had killed Ava upon Banzo's refusal to do so himself.

However - concerning Martin - he's hellbent on receiving justice for the abuse and experimentation inflicted onto him and others. Any trespassers/company (as suggested by Wake\_uP\_B4nZo and THE\_PERFECT\_PET) also seem to fall victim to him due to his superhuman strength and ability to lure in some individuals using cries/whimpers of a dog.

## Appearance

### **Normal Form**

Banzo's regular appearance consists of a patchwork style toy in the shape of a dog with large, floppy ears (the right being larger than the other) and canine teeth on his jaw. Despite having stump-like feet, he seems to have human hands given - instead of paws - he has fingers with thumbs. It's not known why exactly besides from partaking in Martin's gruesome acts. Banzo is also missing his right eye but has a yellow eye in his left socket.

At the center of his chest lays a shiny, metallic sphere that presumably is for children to speak and listen to Banzo as suggested by the advertisement in Go0d\_B0y.

### **Twisted Form**

Banzo - in this form - is more intimidating by his increased build and height. His appearance from his regular form is still present with little change other than having claws on his feet as well as metallic outlines on his fur. He's far more aggressive when in this form but it's not exactly known if Martin or Banzo are capable of controlling the transformation.

In the Go0d\_B0y tape, it's suggested that Martin can command Banzo to mutate into this version of himself but Banzo contradicts this by doing so to lead others to their demise via sounding like an injured dog only to attack anyone willing to follow the cries.

**Alpha Incarnation**

When fused with Ava, Banzo is very aggressive to anyone who dares to enter the Greywhinder Residency as he snarls and charges toward Officer Jamison at the end of Rebirth

## Story

### **Pre-Tapes**

Banzo is a family pet adopted by the Greywhinder family. His owner, Martin Greywhinder, was annoyed by the dog as he barks too loudly, urinates on his shoe or in the house. Yet, he is loved by the infant daughter, Ava, who gave him treats and petted him.

### **Wake\_uP\_B4nZo**

In this tape, our first view of Banzo is within Macy's room as suggested by the dialogue between Martin and a younger child. Banzo is seen sitting on a dresser. Once this scene ends, the footage cuts to a man holding the camera, breathing heavily as a dog is heard whimpering/crying in the background somewhere.

Eventually, the noises cease but the man decides to open a nearby door, revealing the first instance of Banzo in his twisted form laying in a puddle of blood. The whimpering returns before the creature's bones snap into place (most likely due to Banzo spotting the cameraman). His head shifts to face his direction as an arm extends outwards. Unfortunately, this scene ends abruptly as the footage returns to Macy's bedroom instead. The only difference between this and the initial scene is the lamp near to the toy begins flickering before turning off altogether.

The footage goes back to a continuation of the cameraman who is seen shutting the door to Banzo. He - seemingly - tries to calm himself as his light goes out. When turning it back on, Banzo's twisted face consumes the scene as a blaring roar jumpscares both the man and the audience. Like before, this causes the scene to end quickly and return to Macy's bedroom. There are more noticeable changes to this segment however when the time-stamp for the tape disappears and Banzo sits upright whilst facing the camera.

Gloria makes a momentary appearance in the darkness of the room as the tape ends with another jumpscare involving regular Banzo.

### **Go0d\_B0y**

In this tape, Banzo is seen advertised to children as the "Stitchbuddy", a toy that can speak, laugh, sing and keep any dark secrets. Surprisingly, when mentioning about the product having a voice of its own, the text meant to display its may functions states it "*cannot talk*".

After the advertisement goes silent, the scene turns to black as Banzo remains still on the screen with static in the background. A half-sided zoomed in shot of Banzo's face occurs before the scene glitches out to reveal an interactive experiment involving Martin and Banzo in what seems to be his workshop (suggested by the hanging Sofia dolls above).

Martin seems to be preparing himself for his "*newest improvements*" involving the deformed family pet. As he commands him to stand, the toy violently jerks as one of the arms stretches out and begins to lift him from the ground. The light flickers off and - upon flickering back - reveals to both Martin and the audience the second instance of Banzo's twisted form. From the background, he is praised by Martin as another segment plays out involving more verbal experiments to test his loyalty to his owner.

In this segment - however - Martin is heard making bitter comments about a certain person of the same sex (suggested by his reference to "him" and the insult "prick"). He quickly brushes the pettiness aside and commands Banzo to speak which he does via barking. Once again, Martin praises him for his obedience but his next command is interrupted by the doorbell ringing. Frustrated yet at a loss, he requests Banzo to stay put until he returns, causing Banzo to gradually shift his glaze towards the camera as the lights flicker again. After this, the scene fades to black but audible footsteps are heard before the camera returns to the original scene. Banzo is nowhere to be seen until he appears by popping his head up in-front of the camera. Distorted music along with a repeating doorbell is heard as he opens his jaw.

The tape ends with a brief moment of the audience able to view regular Banzo facing away as the phrase "*I love you*" is heard repeating in a louder tone whilst he turns to face the camera.

### **Are\_YOu\_HappY?**

Throughout the majority of this tape, Banzo is seen accompanying Andrew and Markus whilst trying to create the "*perfect toy*" as suggested by The Toymaker's demands. There's nothing unusual about his model until The Toymaker requests using Banzo to help create the toy, implying that "*The toy needs to be happy, and it can't be happy without a friend*".

After some hesitation from both boys, it's made clear that Banzo is given to him by his disappearance from the next few scenes. Andrew and Markus return to The Toymaker, all eager to see the final product. But, he declares the forth and final ingredient is their voice via singing. Just when the boys are able to repeat after him, a loud emergency siren is heard as a warning appears reading:

> *"Warning - The following audio recording is an unauthorized release of private footage. For your safety we ask that you please discard the tape immediately. If there is any audio from the original footage, please cover your ears and close your eyes.*"
>
>

Until the warning disappears, Banzo's monstrous form can be seen gradually being zoomed in from the center of the warning. Once this ends, The Toymaker prepares the children to witness the creation on the other side of the door. He states with distortion "*I really do hope you enjoy it*" with the camera tinted red as - presumably - both Andrew and Markus scream in horror at what was done to Banzo.

Before the cartoon ends, a few seconds are spared to showcase Banzo's new appearance via his face which zooms in and out with a heavily glitched filter. A memorial of sorts plays as Banzo fades away, showcasing the lives lost including: Amy Wilson, Richard Smith, Nathan Barnes and Banzo.

### **\_Rebirth\_**

Though the tape is not only about Ava, but rather than explanation about how she died. We view the room through a baby monitor as little Ava is sleeping in her crib at night. The Stitchbuddy (Banzo) is ordered by Martin to kill her, so later on in the night Banzo sneaks into Ava's room and watches her from above, taking some time to debate if he should kill her or not.

#### **Kill / Don't Kill**

**Kill** - Banzo kills Ava (supposedly by biting her head). Martin congratulates him on doing as he asked and proving his obedience. He then calls Banzo a "monster" because Martin did not physically kill her, even though he commanded Banzo to do so. This could be Martin's loss of humanity when taking responsibility for forcing Banzo to commit to his actions/demands.

**Don't Kill** - Banzo disobeys Martin, deciding not to kill Ava. Martin comes up behind Banzo as he is still staring at Ava, yelling angrily. He scolds Banzo for his actions, calling him "broken" and stating that "*He was so close*" and "*It's not his fault*". Fans of the series suggest that this was the canonical choice for the series to lead to as Martin - angered by Banzo's refusal - takes it upon himself to kill Ava instead, allowing Banzo to feel guilt over not being able to save her either way.

### **THE\_PERFECT\_PET**

Banzo was renamed a "FuzzyBuddy" as the advertisement suggests and a renewed model of Stitchbuddy in a commercial was shown. However, there was clips of the new Fuzzy Buddy attacking and killing any kid who brought it. Examples are it eating something with visible blood on it's chest while it's voice-box was repeating "*Yum, yum, yum*" with a child crying in the background.

The new Fuzzy Buddy in one clip was watching a commercial broadcasted by a company called *"Harmony Toys"* before it lagged and it looked at the child who was recording him with a camera before it was shot by Mr. Stewart before it could attack them. And at the end of the tape, The Baby Doll (Ava by possible means) is seen encountering Banzo in the distance one last time.

The Baby Doll tries to crawl to him as a path begins to light it's way. Banzo calls out via a bark to the doll that eventually tries to stand and walk over to him from afar. Unfortunately, it stumbles over itself, cracking the center of it's head as the expression changes to a frown. It proceeds to sit back down as it cries out in pain, extending it's arms out to Banzo in hopes of reaching him.

As a response, Banzo works up enough strength to crawl along the floor to the doll. However, Banzo quickly faints as The Baby Doll tries to continue on crawling towards him. A disembodied voice is heard saying the following during this scene (presumed to be Banzo):

> "*I don't know you that well. But I know you feed me treats, you pet me, you loved me Ava. I'm so sorry little one.*"
>
>

The scene fades to white as two options are presented to the viewer: free or rebirth.

### **Free/Rebirth**

**Free** - This option seems to reveal the good ending to the previous tape where both The Baby Doll and Banzo are seen laying down together. A soft lullaby plays gently in the background (Rock A Bye Baby to be exact) as the following text appears (revealing dialogue between Ava and Banzo):

> **B:** "*Ava...?*"
>
>

> **A:** "*Puppy.*"
>
>

> **B:** "*I'm so sorry...*"
>
>

> **A:** "*...*"
>
>

> **B:** "*Don't cry. I know it hurts.*"
>
>

> **A:** "*Mama.*"
>
>

> **B:** "*Let go Ava. It's okay. I'll take you to your Mama.*"
>
>

As the dialogue ends, two spherical shapes can be seen exiting the bodies of The Baby Doll and Banzo which float upwards (presumably to Heaven) before the scene fades out.

**Rebirth** - This option seems to reveal the bad ending to the previous tape as two officers are heard exploring the Greywhinder residence to arrest Martin for his crimes. Unfortunately - instead of being free from their torment - The Baby Doll and Banzo have merged together to become another one of Martin's monstrosity hellbent on finding and attacking the officers.

It could be assumed after these events within the tape led to the creature's escape or retreat further within the Greywhinder residence. For now, it's not known what became of both the merged monstrosity or the officers investigating the building.

## Trivia

* Banzo’s big form has 2 visible expressions. This was inspired by Twisted Wolf from FNAF: The Twisted Ones novel, as confirmed by Battington.
* Oddly, Banzo seems to have lost his right eye, probably representing the aftermath of the "car accident" with Martin.
* In the Wake\_uP\_B4nZo tape, there is an unidentified cameraman who records footage of Banzo's twisted form moving and - eventually - attacking him. It's not known if Battington has given this man an identity or if fans have any theories regarding potential candidates.
	+ In the same tape, Banzo is seen within Macy's bedroom as suggested by the beginning dialogue. However, in the She\_C4n't\_Sle3p, he disappears entirely.
* In the tape Go0d\_B0y, a doorbell is heard repeating throughout the second segment of verbal experimentation between Banzo and Martin. As Banzo opens his jaw wide enough, the sound is heard more loud and clear. This could suggest that Banzo might have actively tricked Martin by playing said sound to lure him away long enough to escape/move.
* A possible Banzo-like toy is seen in the background of Sofia's room in the Christmas special "*My Two Front Teeth*".
* Banzo - like Arthur - seems aware enough to know his actions but cannot bring himself to stop before causing any and all carnage. This could be due to his insatiable anger against Martin and his (personal) duty to protect Ava from harm.
* Despite serving as the family pet, his best interests only lay with Ava (probably due to her young age). It's never made clear if Macy or Thomas took great care of him when the family had been more stable.