Do we like them?

Do we like Freddy Fazbear?

A character from Five Nights at Freddy's (2014)

Our score: 4 out of 10. A cuddly singing bear with a dark reputation. He's more menacing than evil, and we'd back him in a daytime show but not on a night shift.

Freddy Fazbear is the brown bear mascot of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, a family restaurant where animatronic characters sing and entertain children. He wears a top hat and bow tie and carries a microphone. He is the face and namesake of the whole franchise.

In the first game you play a night security guard. After hours, the animatronics roam the building, and Freddy slowly closes in on you through the cameras. Part of the dread is that the friendly mascot of the day becomes a threat at night.

We score him a 4. He is a figure of childhood comfort turned into something scary, and his menace comes from his programming and the building's dark history, not from clear malice. He isn't a monster in the full sense, but we wouldn't trust him around a lone night guard.