With the finale out now I think a central theme that I've recognized and really adore is "all of these characters are more complex than an audience would appreciate." They are all being squished into a child-friendly set of archetypes, be that by Caine, Jax, or metatextually, the fandom. Caine doesn't want them complaining, swearing or having sex, they just have to go on endless, mindless, youtube-monetizable adventures. He's the ringmaster, he puts them in a bright poppy's playtime ass stage and demands for funny to happen. Meanwhile, Jax doesn't want to address the dire reality of their situation and copes by playing along, treating himself and all the characters as flat archetypes with no internality, so that the elephants in the room can safely be ignored. The fandom, meanwhile, is quietly guilty of all the same things. "Why isn't my favorite character acting in accordance with my headcanon? Which characters are flatly evil so we can hate them? Will they achieve my perfect happy ending? Because if not I'll be mad about it."
It doesn't work. Because they're more complex than that. They're people, they need more, they have emotions and traumas and wants and needs. Ragatha isn't always cheerful, she's not just the mom friend, and she's not some manipulator either. She's a person, trying her best, and very often failing. Pomni isn't always anxious, she's a natural leader and she wants the best for everyone, but she's not perfect either. She's a person, trying her best, and very often failing. And Jax isn't just a villain, he's a very complicated ball of traumas whose consistent first instinct is to push everyone away, hurting others so that he won't get hurt himself. He's a person, trying his best, and very often failing. She might even be a girl. Zooble isn't just a grump, Gangle isn't just a wimp, Kinger isn't just crazy. They're humans. And humans aren't always good. They're messy, screwed up, complicated things. They're things that can't be flattened down to archetypes, no matter how much Caine, Jax, or the fandom wants it.
The fandom wanted a bunch of cookie cutter adventures with good guys and bad guys, but what we got is just a bunch of people, stuck together, their traumas rubbing up against eachother until something catches fire and explodes. And I think that's way more interesting. I'm glad the show is that. I understand not everyone feels that way, though. A lot of people wanted something less nuanced. But I don't think the show not matching your expectations is the show's fault. I think people just need to come at it with the right mindset. Meet the story where it's at.
People are always more complicated than an audience wants them to be.
Ive seen a few people making theories/hoping we'll see a Bigger Bodies version of Poppy and thats tickled my brain a little so heres what I think
I don't think weve ever seen an actual Poppy doll in the factory before, but thats besides the point
I think it would be super cool if it went like this:
After finding Poppy and the Prototype within the factory, the scientists Leith hired originally tried to "reverse engineer" the process that was done to Poppy (that is, when they started to use children in tests) by using hollowed-out/half-stuffed Poppy dolls and puttting in whatever organs, bones, etc., that was inside of Poppy and the Prototype, rather than starting off with completely different toys.
I think it would be super cool if this was how they started. The first known experiment of Harley's (1015, which was a failure), never has/had a canon toy so it's completely plausible for it to have been a Poppy doll or a similar model (or even one based off of the Prototype?)
Otherwise I dunno, I doubt we'll see a BBI Poppy doll, despite us having seen many SC and Wuggy variations
Oke bye
(Below: poppy playtime Kaufmo memes by me (based off of Harley and Gentle John respectively))
the prototype is actually a massive boyfailure who does not have as much control as they've led us to believe
-despite his efforts to keep all the toys in the factory, gentle john and all the joyless managed to escape, and he's like "oh shit" and covers it up with a fake story in his little newspaper
-genuine fear isn't the only method he's used to keep his people in line but also making up random shit, like stories about the toys in safe haven eating each other to make them be like "ew"
-instead of boarding up the door to poppy's room or something to keep people out, he just painted cryptic warning signs on the wall which the player later ignores and waltzes in anyway
-his plan to make poppy see things his way by locking her in the case COMPLETELY backfired on him, and instead she emerged from the case as a homicidal little menace trying to blow everything up
-accidentally crushing the living hell out of his sister's face
-he gets the player to finally take down the doctor, thank god that tool is gone and there's no one left strong enough to oppose hi- oh shit he's back
I'm sure you have been asked this already or multiple times, but regarding the two leaders au, which i think is a great idea and i have thought about it once or twice aswell..
How do Poppy's friends (Doey, Kissy, Giblet, etc) fit in the au and how do they feel about Poppy and Prototype working together?
(two leaders au)
god's favorite
too soft
i have a huge splitting headache rn so dialogue/flow may be a little clunky & and confusing, but i'm open to clarifying stuff if it's unclear
long text post under cut: (ft. more art)
generally speaking, most toys are actually quite happy that there’s another authority figure in charge – one that can hopefully (& wow are they begging) balance out the Prototype’s strict, ruthless, "no nonsense" attitude. while he's fairly well-respected at this point in time thanks to his contributions to the toys attaining "freedom", plenty of children are rightfully terrified of what he can do due to his:
1.) manic insistence of divinity
2.) particularly bloody kill streak during hoj
3.) just. really unsettling vibe.
[also, outwardly, he acts a lot more mature & intelligent compared to everyone else. some toys find that intimidating in the same way people defer to the smart kid in class during group assignments...]
a little more heavy on the first point since i think most people would be understandably put off when the guy who led a massacre takes up the mantle of bossing you around while proclaiming himself a god. while, yes, majority of the toys DID participate in the hoj (& even took joy from it), they were mostly motivated by that desperation to survive and probably justified their actions with "it was either them or us". the innocents were unavoidable casualties that stood in the way of their promised "freedom" while the guilty who were purged deserved all their just desserts. as such, to them, the resulting guilt is a burden that they'll carry with a heavy yet accepting heart.
so in consideration of 1006's attitude? it's one thing to go through a horrific action for the "greater" good, but to revel and take pride in it to the point you crown yourself as the messiah? ... the older experiments think you're a little strange for that, 1006...
like ik at least some of the toys were weirded tf out while whatever cult following catnap started in 1006's name (mostly consisting of younger experiments desperate for guidance) genuinely believed in his divine status
the people yearn for a more approachable & less weirder figure, so THANK THE UNIVERSE for poppy. in an old post, i've established that poppy was nominated to be the 2nd head by other toys (with the support of 1006 lol) due to her apparent leadership skills, kindness, & charisma – so you can bet that she has a fairly sizable following.
and her biggest fans are, unsurprisingly, the friends she made during her time under playtime co's hold.
most of her strongest relationships pre-rebellion are with toys considered "low-risk & low-security". from my knowledge of canon, the only instances where the toys could interact with one another are during scheduled meetings (arranged by the scientists) or if they're stored in the same holding cell. so i imagine the only toys poppy could form a bond with pre-hoj are ones the scientists deemed "safe enough" for the porcelain doll such as the mini toy versions, some BBI smiling critters, kissy, etc.
[in scheduled meetings only! poppy is one of playtime co's only bases of success for immortality + resurrection, so it wouldn't surprise me if she had her own private holding cell 🤔 possibly her room/case near elliot's office]
i've included giblet here since his pre-wrongside out form (thanks for the makeover 1006) was advertised to be a friend for scared/spooked children; it wouldn't surprise me if his BBI purpose was to have a similar comforting effect for the orphans that were about to be gutted for surgery. and for a toy designed with the intention of interacting with children + small + made from stuffing, i think he would be calm/low risk enough to be considered "safe" for poppy. the same logic also applies to most of the smiling critters as they ARE meant to be caretakers for the playcare orphans.
for the mini toy versions, they can't really do much damage on their own and are rarely hostile to fellow toys, so they're not that dangerous to poppy either. of course, if they were to turn violent, they're small and weak enough for extraction specialists to stop them from hurting 1007 too badly.
for kissy, she's docile and timid enough to behave during interactions. and, in consideration of her strong bond with poppy in canon, i imagine the scientists took note of the girls' uplifted mentals when with a close friend, leading to more scheduled meetings between them (which i drew in that one post abt ollie-kissy beef i think).
all in all, in regards to poppy becoming the 2nd leader for the factory, her group of supporters have been nothing but confident in her abilities. they've also been enthusiastic helpers of poppy during her work/duties. other toys who haven't interacted with her much at that point later put their trust in 1007 as well, once shown ample evidence and feedback of her contributions during the shared leadership. these same group of toys later joined poppy once she established the rebellion officially, since they would much rather trust in her apparent humanity than the prototype's lack thereof.
i also wanna take this opportunity to explore her pre-hoj dynamic with notable toys in different security/risk classifications (based on my own au speculations/thoughts with help from canon ^^)
despite being "medium" in terms of danger level, toys in medium security are scarcely allowed interactions with poppy pre-hoj so they don't really know her that well. yes, this includes doey... up until the establishment of the rebellion, at least.
for this au, poppy & doey only started bonding during their rebel days since i imagine poppy's often too swamped with work when she was a factory leader + doey doing physical labor deeper down the factory away from poppy's usual line of tasks for them to have any substantial bonding time. the scientists initially planned for them to meet pre-hoj but reconsidered it since doey was considered "unstable" on the chance his violent trauma response kicks in during the interaction with 1007. they also don't like taking doey out of his specialized holding cell (with low temp. apprehension measures) that much as he's difficult to contain/move around securely thanks to his physiology.
however, during poppy's time as a factory leader, doey HAS seen and heard good things about her from other toys, which later convinced him to join as a rebel against 1006 once the latter's cruelty/intentions with the orphans were aired out to most of the factory.
mommy and huggy don't really care much about poppy pre-hoj and post. they know and approve of her capabilities as a factory leader, but keep their distance professionally. it's strictly a "don't bother me and i won't maim you" kind of work place relationship.
actually, mommy & poppy have met before during captivity, but it quickly became clear to the scientists that further interaction between them won't produce that much substantial result. according to canon (fortnite files i think), mommy naturally adopts a motherlike-figure for smaller/younger experiments. this treatment could apply to poppy... if not for the fact she acts somewhat mature enough to not trigger mommy's parent switch and actively tries to discourage being heavily infantilized, which has the latter acknowledge that this isn't one of her "assigned" children. i imagine that playtime co only really encourages further meetings between experiments if they produce calming/strong bonds between test subjects, so mll & poppy's less than interesting treatment of one another probably put off all further exploration of their relationship.
as for 1170? in a sense, huggy can be considered an "obedient" experiment... if not for the fact it's been shown that he's been faking it LMFAOO after his stunt in conditioning that was shown in chapter 5, as well as his successful factory escape in that one restricted tape, it wouldn't surprise me if playtime co kept a stricter hold on him for the following years due to his volatile temperament 😭 but like seriously why would they continue to position him as daylight security on the factory floor (the exit is literally right there) if he's proven to have the drive/capability to escape. this company is playing with their lives omfg 😭😭 you guys deadass just let the hoj happen at this point
but. uhm. back to the topic. huggy's not violent towards other experiments pre-hoj without reason, but he IS fairly busy since he's pretty much working as 9-5 daytime security at the lobby. i don't think playtime co would sacrifice that sweet corporate efficiency just to test the possible friendship between huggy & poppy, especially since they already made 1170's perfect destresser/friend in the form of kissy missy (his "other half")
moving on, there's the toys that playtime co immediately scrapped when considering who to let poppy interact with regularly.
boxy boo, yarnaby, and pianosaurus are one of the earliest and scrappiest bigger bodies; they are more animalistic than human in terms of behaviour and physiology, so of course the porcelain doll is not allowed 10 feet near them 😭
as for 1006, i imagine he has been allowed to interact with poppy a couple of times in the past pre-hoj (think early 1990s during the start of the initiative) but was further isolated over time. this is in part due to his terrifying intelligence + capabilities of escape, but also for the reason that he's not outwardly... receptive? towards poppy to the point the scientists kinda saw no point in exploring their bond further.
keyword: outwardly.
he's well aware that showing apparent attachment to poppy in front of the scientists (and ESPECIALLY sawyer) would only make things harder for them. they'd start using her over his head to cooperate/give them the results they wanted if he made things too obvious, so he had pretty much adopted a nonchalant attitude around her during containment. he may seem like an idgafer on the outside, but BELIEVE ME he's using every inch of his willpower to NOT immediately crowd around poppy to protect her whenever she was about to be escorted out of his cell
catnap is a bit more of a special case, as he's not overly animalistic or intelligent, but he's been proven to be a devoted and violent follower of 1006, a trait that playtime co. does not hold a favorable view on. he's also a bit more tricky to relocate, similar to doey, as there needs to be ample measures/ventilation against his red gas. i'd say that compared to the others in this section, he definitely fits more in the "medium security/risk" by himself — but is only treated as high-security due to his close affiliation with 1006 who he could possibly plan a heinous and unpredictable escape plan with.
dailybridgerton
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turnnoffyourmind
