This article will be short, because I don't want to write an essay.
Now people are massively canceling the TFTP book series because SOTM has changed the history of The Mimic. But let's not rush. I will give a couple of arguments confirming the connection between games and books, which has not gone anywhere.
What's what. If you read the TFTP epilogues, you remember that there were two Mimic models mentioned, numbered 1 and 2.
> It describes a bunch of different kinds of robotic endoskeletons. The one we saw is either a Mimic Model 1 or 2.
That is, the topic with two Mimic models was already raised in the books. But the most interesting part is yet to come. Later, the main characters read the manual on how to disable Mimic.
> I’m not sure what it did. I can just make out the words misconstrue, scared, potential disaster, and deactivate remaining Mimic endos.
Regardless of what is meant by different models of Mimic (program or body), it turns out that the manual is made according to the second model, because it was the second generation that could be disassembled. And here there is a discrepancy with the context of the books. After all, I think many have come to the conclusion that The Mimic from the epilogues and the solo story is the same endoskeleton. But in this case, it is Mimic-1, because it was created first. This is a problem for those who have read the books.
What does SOTM do? And the game solves this problem by clarifying that there was M1, which became F10-N4, and M2 became The Mimic that got into SB and which, accordingly, was in TFTP. So the game solved the books' problem by making the epilogue storyline more logical. Cool, right?
But I don't stop there. Let's move on to Edwin Murray. We never received confirmation of his death in SOTM. Actually, I'm not sure about his death, because there was a story The Storyteller, in which he was presented alive. And if you remember, it was he who came up with the baobab tree design for The Storyteller.
> The discussion was beginning to degenerate into a shouting match when Edwin cleared his throat and said loudly, “Baobab.” <…> “The baobab tree is one of longest-living trees in the world, and it’s one of the hardiest. Baobabs thrive in the harshest of conditions, in the droughts of Africa and Asia. They’re bizarre looking; their trunks can be over thirty feet in diameter. The width of the baobab trunk would suit our purposes perfectly, allowing plenty of room for all the hardware needed to sustain The Storyteller.
And we can see this very baobab in Princess Quest, right at the entrance to the room of Glitchtrap, who is The Mimic (M2). So the events of this story, to one degree or another, had to happen.
There are also stories like GGY, Dittophobia and interactive novels that also link TFTP to games, but all the details are on the surface there, I won't go into it.
I hope I have made my point clear. And it's simple - you shouldn't completely ignore the books. Even if they do not tell the story 100% correctly, they at least provide a direction in which the plot will follow. Well, transferring them to an alternative universe simply complicates the structure of the universe, which fans spoil their own lives with.