#simon farley

Sylvester the Safety Seal was portrayed by a single mascot performer (Simon Farley) for the entirety of his character’s lifespan. Farley himself spent every weekday cooped up in the seal suit, roaming the waterpark as one of the park’s beloved interactive characters, but outside of the costume, he was an antisocial man that preferred to stay out of eyeshot of others. An accident in his youth (related to Freddy’s springlock animatronics) left him physically scarred and emotionally stunted, with an uncontrollable vocal stutter to top it all off. His scars and speech impediment brought on unresolved insecurities in his adult years, which he rids himself of by portraying Sylvester.

Simon’s background in highschool theater made him the perfect candidate for playing Sylvester, and he ended up propelling the character into minute popularity with the locals at the time. To Simon, Sylvester’s everything he’s not: he’s sociable, suave, funny, and people love him, regardless of his quietness. This misplaced belief that Sylvester was the better version of him created an unhealthy separation in his sense of self. Sylvester became his go-to personality, with Simon being the alter ego instead of the other way around (Note: he doesn’t have DID— just a potentially harmful dissociative coping mechanism.)

Both Becca Paloma and Simon Farley were a part of the children’s water safety program at Freddy’s Fantasy Waterpark in the late 90s and early 2000s, with Simon portraying Sylvester the Safety Seal, and Becca being the lifeguard that would aid him in their water safety demonstrations. Rebecca had grown up around the water for most of her life, and even got her lifeguard certification in her teen years before moving to Meadowbrook. She’d intervened in several would-be drownings where children who didn’t know how to swim correctly were playing in the water. When she’d seen that Freddy’s biggest waterpark needed help with a water safety program, she leapt at the opportunity, believing there to be a very real necessity for that kind of education. She and Sylvester would partner up every morning to show a classfull of children how to sport a lifejacket, avoid slip hazards, and various other techniques to ensure a successful swim. Martin—the water park’s owner—even allowed her to conducted her own swimming lessons with the children.

Becca and Sylvester got along splendidly in costume and had a close friendship, but barely exchanged words out of costume due to Simon’s avoidance and insecurity. Their friendship can be attributed to an incredible discovery Simon made prior to their meeting: his stutter disappears like magic when he speaks as Sylvester! Crazy, right? His relationship with Becca deepens, but his separation of self only worsens from there. Becca wouldn’t learn the true identity of her coworker until…

…things happen.

Rebecca is the only one that survives long enough to return to work during the events of Submechanophobia.