#the freddles

The main four nightmares take inspiration from the book versions of the wild things, mostly in terms of proportions and poses. They're meant to evoke the kind of puppets William used to make for children's TV before Freddy's, with those glowing eyes from the movie. His Freddles are three little mechanized bears with drums, which they make a real racket with. Mike has nicknamed them Alvin, Simon, and Theodore because he doesn't like them.

Nightmare Balloon boy is a puppet of Mike himself when he was younger, accompanied by a little plush rabbit that was probably a prototype for Spring Bonnie before he was scaled up to be a suit, I don't know yet. Nightmare Mangle is based on those piles of clothes that look like figures at night, also a bit of inspiration from Rosco (Hello Puppets). Her many limbs are surplus puppet parts.