Phantom Mangle

Phantom Mangle is an antagonist who first appeared in Five Nights at Freddy's 3. It is a hallucination of a burnt and damaged Mangle.

Physical Appearance

Phantom Mangle has, essentially, the same model Mangle did in the second game, but with a burnt appearance, possibly foreshadowing the fire that broke out in the establishment. It lacks eyes and instead has pin-pricked, white pupils. Phantom Mangle appears to have half of its left eye missing although it could be obscured by something else. Unlike its original counterpart however, its rosy cheeks are colored in blackish green while its lips are aqua-green. As seen in Five Nights at Freddy's VR: Help Wanted, The normally pink accents on its feet appear to be sickly green, and there appear to be soot marks all over its endoskeleton parts.

Appearances

Five Nights at Freddy's 3

Phantom Mangle appears exclusively on CAM 04 and, when it appears in the Office, it will be behind the window and to the left. Phantom Mangle only appears from Night 2 onward, as do all the other phantoms.

Phantom Mangle sometimes appears on CAM 04 hanging from the ceiling and, once spotted, will start emitting a loud, garbled sound.

However, this sound is only an extremely garbled BPSK signal, and meant for ambient purposes. It is not decodable because of how distorted the sound is.

When the player retracts the Monitor, Phantom Mangle will rise up behind the window and remain there, playing the same distorted sound. Because of the loudness of the noise, the player will be unable to hear Springtrap's audio cues. After a few seconds, Mangle will drop down from below the window, thus ending the hallucination and triggering an audio error. If the player does not switch cameras after a certain period of time as passed, Phantom Mangle can, and will, force the Monitor down.

Ultimate Custom Night

Similarly to its behavior in the third game, Phantom Mangle will appear at random in the player's monitor screen. Close the monitor or switch viewing modes to make it disappear. If left onscreen for too long, Phantom Mangle will invade the office temporarily, causing audio distractions and increasing the Noise Meter, which can attract even more problems.

The challenges in which Phantom Mangle is present are as follows:

• Creepy Crawlies 1
• Creepy Crawlies 2
• Springtrapped
• Chaos 1
• Chaos 3

Five Nights at Freddy's VR: Help Wanted

Phantom Mangle returns in Five Nights at Freddy's VR: Help Wanted, in the FNAF 3 levels, but it's mechanics have been completely revamped: Instead of randomly appearing in CAM 04 and causing an audio error if the player doesn't change cameras quickly, Phantom Mangle randomly appears in one of the vent cameras, and if the player doesn't switch cameras in time, Phantom Mangle will jumpscare the player and cause a ventilation error. The game itself also marks the first time Phantom Mangle's full body is actually visible.

Five Nights at Freddy's 3

Gameplay

Phantom Mangle peering into the Office (click to animate).

Phantom Mangle peering into the Office.

Phantom Mangle next to Springtrap in the Office hallway.

Phantom Mangle looking into the Office with Phantom Foxy.

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Brightened

Phantom Mangle hanging from the ceiling in CAM 04, brightened and saturated for clarity.

Phantom Mangle looking into the Office, brightened and saturated for clarity.

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Ultimate Custom Night

Phantom Mangle's mugshot icon from the main menu.

The texture when Phantom Mangle appears on a camera.

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Five Nights at Freddy's VR: Help Wanted

In-game

Phantom Mangle viewing in the monitor.

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Five Nights at Freddy's 3 / Ultimate Custom Night

Audio	Description
Warning: Loud!	This screeching sound is emitted when Phantom Mangle appears and causes an audio error in Five Nights at Freddy's 3 and Ultimate Custom Night.

Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted

Audio	Description
Warning: Loud!	The sound Phantom Mangle makes when jumpscaring the player. This same sound is played when Springtrap, Phantom Freddy, Phantom BB, and Phantom Foxy jumpscares the player.

Five Nights at Freddy's 3

• Phantom Mangle is the only phantom animatronic in the game to not appear on the Extra menu. This is likely due to the fact that no "complete" images of Phantom Mangle exist; its appearance in the Office is only a disembodied head, and its appearance on CAM 04 is drastically cropped.
• Along with Phantom Puppet, Phantom Mangle is one of the phantoms in the game to lack a jumpscare.
  • Phantom Mangle is the one of the antagonists in the entire series to not have a jumpscare. Others being Phantom Puppet, Chica's Cupcake (excluding from the fourth game), BB, Circus Baby, Nightmare Freddy's miniature versions, Electrobab, Minireena's second counterpart, and Lolbit.
    • However, the radio interference is relatively loud, and can startle unsuspecting players.
• In the mobile version, Phantom Mangle's head goes higher in the window.
• Mangle is the only "new" counterpart from the second game (being Foxy's counterpart) to return as a phantom animatronic in the third game.
• Phantom Mangle is the only phantom that doesn't disable the ventilation system. Instead, it disables the audio devices.
• Interestingly, when seen from CAM 04, Phantom Mangle's pupils will appear thoroughly white. In the office window, however, it will have a faint white iris, like the other phantom animatronics.
• Phantom Mangle is the only phantom animatronic who never appears inside the Office, instead showing itself behind the Office window.
  • Phantom Mangle is also one of the phantoms to appear behind the Office window. The other being Phantom Freddy.
• Most phantom animatronics appear in locations near where the remains of the original character they represent are at. Phantom Chica is the only exception. This also applies to Phantom Mangle, as it appears in the same room where the Foxy head lamp is located (though Mangle's head is actually in the box found in the Office, Mangle is technically the same character as Foxy, for it is a recreation of him).
• Oddly, a likable error showing Phantom Mangle's wires (and the endoskeleton's) in CAM 04 hang upward, rather than downward. This may be an error by Scott Cawthon, or the wires simply do not follow the laws of physics, or the laws of gravity to be exact, as they are part of a hallucination.

Ultimate Custom Night

• Phantom Mangle is one of the only animatronics who can be present on every camera, the others being Phantom BB and Mr. Can-Do.
  • However, Phantom Mangle is the only one who can also appear on the vent or duct maps, while the other two are exclusive to the cameras. This can result in the player getting distracted while checking the vent animatronics and Mediocre Melodies.
  • Phantom Mangle is also the only one whose graphic on the monitor moves as the camera pans, while the other two remain stationary. Since the camera doesn't move when viewing the other systems, Phantom Mangle's graphic will stay in place.
• Like Nightmare Mangle, Phantom Mangle is only referred to with male pronouns. It is also not present in any of the "Ladies Nights".

Five Nights at Freddy's VR: Help Wanted

• In Phantom Mangle's appearance in the trailer, it is shown jumpscaring the player, making this the first instance of Phantom Mangle having an official jumpscare.
• Unlike in Five Nights at Freddy's 3, Phantom Mangle's mechanics are different, and similar to Phantom Balloon Boy. Phantom Mangle randomly appears in one of the vent cameras instead of randomly appearing CAM 04, and if the player doesn't switch them quickly, it will result in Phantom Mangle jumpscaring the player and cause a ventilation error instead of emitting its loud, garbled sound.