Michael Schmidt is the Mimic.
Now that the meme is over... I'm serious, that's where the Mimic was between FNAF:SOFM and FNAF:Ruin.
Let's take a few things into consideration.
For the following--any novelization "lore" will be ignored and discarded. This will be your only warning. I deal with maintaining media integrity, not Easter egg hunting.
Our first instance with Michael, as the time line stands, is in FNAF4. It is generally assumed that he is the Bully with the Fox Mask.
I counter this using the old inspection-detective methods used in games prior, by finding singular lines of connection and running with them.
The only person who ever spoke about Foxy being his favorite, and establishing a connection to Foxy as the Pizzeria Character, has been the Phone Guy.
[ FNAF 2 Phone Guy transcripts lifted from FNAFlore(dot)com ]
Hither To: The Phone Guy was the Bully. No other evidence has suggested otherwise that doesn't come into integrity conflict.
Since we need Michael Afton to be someone in the story, that leaves him as the Crying Child.
Not fro the scoop, but from getting his entire head crunched in like an egg in the mouth of a superdupernatural machine. Like, I'm sorry pal, but you don't survive that.
You can't survive that, in this story with these themes and points, and still maintain narrative integrity.
There are no zombies in FNAF, otherwise our original 5 kids would've caused the apocalypse by now, having risen from their suits after being affected by the remnant there in, for which no amount of bleaching the Pizzaria will stop.
So he's dead. His ghost added to the menagerie.
I wonder who was talking to him by character-themed radio. I wonder who else uses character-radio to talk to kids.
What is poor willy-billy afton gonna do? It happened in the middle of a birthday party, and for Narrative integrity, we can't Not have a Michael.
That's easy--there's a perfectly servicable wild Endoskeleton, capable of mimicing any character... and any Person. You just gotta convince it to play the role. Make the right suit, trap it in a permanent role. Michael is dead, long live Michael.
Which is where FNAF4's gameplay comes in. We're playing the "David" form of the Mimic, facing off against the Nightmares and one really pissed off ghost.
Well, who else is the Nightmare supposed to be? Where did we think Shadow Freddy came from? Some esoteric place of assumption?
A ghost that looks at its own replacement isn't exactly going to be happy.
Step 2. (mi)MIc / Mike is the SECURITY GUARD. And in his next performance--!
Only one FNAF game holds a protag that isn't Mikey. This is because, the SteelWool timeline follows FNAF based on FNAF4, through the use of FNAF3 (which occurs 30 years after One of hte Fazbear Closures), leaving it at 2014, giving the timeline 4 years before Help Wanted and the official opening of the Pizzaplex.
... and that game is FNAF3, where we play the Cassette Guy who is running into every other problem that has to do with having non-scooped lungs and setting up for Pizza Simulator.
Sister Location occurs between FNAF2 and FNAF1, on the account that FNAF2's Mikey can Breath. On account of not being Scooped. Meanwhile in FNAF1, the dude has the infinite breath meter on.
Imagine that in order to Lure all those ScrapTronics (Hooked on Phonics!) to the false Pizzeria, that meant disturbing where ever the hell they were at. Since FNAF3 shows that there were scavangers and urban explorers going after the old Pizzerias, joining them (at a distance) would be a great way to catalogue what supernatural animatronic is still walking around.
And well, setting fire to Fazbear Frights would give him the idea to just use Fire, but Microwave style.
This is a simple explanation as to why Mikey keeps returning to the various Pizzerias, on account of the Role he's "Playing", where the Mimic has been, and the small FNAF1 assumption of being a "Thrill Seeker" (Mimic must be, he keeps doing stuff even when people aren't around, instead of getting straight to the point).
Look, bottom line of FNAF:Ruin is that the Mimic was down there, in the old Pizzeria, with the full ancient set up.
And he wasn't Burntrap. I've looked at the models--there's flesh and bones and ribs and different materials in Burnttrap than can't be excused on the Mimic. And the true ending of Vanilla Security Breach shows Burntrap being Eaten by the Tangle.
Which means the Mimic was down there, dormant.
Which also means he was down there, dormant, with the remains of Burntrap.
Which means that, somehow, the Mimic was in Pizza Simulator, but we never Saw Him, even though PS' own minigames hinted at his existance.
And if he was there, why not attack the security Guard?
Well, can't attack yourself, can you?
Could even mean that he was down there, preventing whatever remained of Burntrap from leaving, until Vanny walked in.
Step 5. Michael and His Best Friend.
Cassie finds a voice on the radio that gives her advice, though choppy.
Micahel Afton has a Fredbear plush with a Radio that comforts him, though choppy.
The Mimic escapes into the woods outside of Edwin's Manors. In FNAF:PS, there is another location in the woods. The Blue House.
And just outside, footsteps.
We never really considered what the Mimic would do if confronted with a child. I think the series is pretty plain about how animatronics in general deal with children--in that, they're perfectly fine around children. Its the adults they have a problem with.
And the Mimic would be no different. Afterall, the baseline is that the Mimic was meant to both be a companion and entertain.
And that is how he got caught by Afton, to play mimic to Michael.
Who's ghost would haunt him if he was nearby.
And wouldn't it be poetic, that the protagonist of the first era of FNAF, would be the antagonist of the second?
Not out of willingness, no. After all, there's a Virus to consider in the Pizzaplex, and Vanny's sabatoge. That even our poor Mike would succumb as well.
"Uh, the only parts of you that would likely see the light of day again would be your eyeballs and teeth when they pop out the front of the mask." - Phone Guy, FNAF1
There was a FNAF1 theory, 12 years ago, in early FNAF, that the protagonist's eyes were far too big for normal human's and how the death scene was strangely bloodless for the implied violence.
And that maybe our protagonist was an animatronic himself.
Back then it was merely something silly and ridiculous, something to throw out, and the discrepancies covered under "Its just symbollic gamegraphics, you don't gotta be a literalist about it!"
... Its funny how we go full circle.
