Thought this picture of my son Guggy was so cute so I ended up doodling it (lowkey had to use all my energy to make this one because of digital art block but I did it)
Right, I m going to go insane loredump about something but I need to say if you haven't read THIS post by @was-that-a-pun you're going to want to read it first, then come back to what I am doing.
Done that? Great! Venture under the read more at your own peril.
Right, so just re-summarizing what pun said, this is basically an AU where the toy experiments are not just underground work mules, but a genuine attempt to help children who are suffering from incurable ailments. This is where I expand even further. Elliot Ludwig, while deeply invested in the creation of toys, also had his fortune invested into the medical advancement.
This is because his daughter Poppy, who they named their popular Poppy dolls after, was diagnosed with a type of heart cancer that was rapidly growing as her quality of life steadily increased. Studies on reviving dead rats using a mixture of poppy flowers and several other ingredients had been very successful, but generally the rat would die again shortly after due to underlying issues in the body itself. This was when Dr. Harley Sawyer, head of the team, suggested they attempt to move the now functional organs to a different body. Before they even had a chance to begin tests Poppy began deteriorating to a degree where she wasn't going to make it, and so they started with her.
She was an unprecedented success, and an un-replicable one. Almost immediately Playtime Co. had both staff members with ill children and ill staff members offer themselves up to test, after of course more testing had been done with animals to ensure it wasn't a total fluke, and quickly everyone realized this was actually possible. Playtime Co. medical division was given government funding to continue to work on this research (all children and adults who are tested have volunteered for this) and they quickly established a hierarchy of what works best and what doesn't.
Initial tests with shells called Miss and Mister Delights (named after Amelia Delight who is an employee at Playtime Co. and due to chronic strokes offered herself up for testing) determined that the more human like a shell is, the harder the transfer procedure is. Of the 15 attempted, only 5 survive currently, though 7 in total were successful. (Two ended up passing away shortly after due to organ failure). All were adult volunteers from both factory workers and outside.
Each of them suffers from rather severe mobility issues and health conditions, requiring them to live on the property. This was when Playcare was established and some proper work could be done!
Playcare was a lot like a care center combined with a hospital. Patients that are currently waiting to be operated on, alongside patients still recovering from operation all live there (and their parents if they so choose). Set up with several common areas, specialized outdoor areas (see the big dome in the back) so toys and patients can get out while still being supervised, and many more, it is meant to be a home away from home for these kids! The whole place is run by Stella Greyber, with Dr. White as the head Physician. Dr. Sawyer, while he mainly works in the labs does frequently visit to advise and monitor progress.
Speaking of Dr. Sawyer, you’ll notice here he is in fact a robot still! This is because Dr. Sawyer began developing his own health conditions while working on the project, and as such began to work on their most experimental body by far in case things got too far. After a severe stroke that lead to even more severe brain hemorrhaging, Harley was forced to be transferred into his robotic body.
While very functional he suffers from a lot of phantom pains, and has a very difficult time eating and drinking. However he is a very stubborn man and he is actively improving his body as he lives in it. Unlike canon he is not a sadistic monster, but he is still totally a drama queen. He is very uptight and super invested in his work, coming across as a total hardaft douche at first glance. He really just doesn’t know how to talk to people, especially children, and tries to avoid them if possible. While he mainly exists in one robotic body he is capable of of plugging himself into the lab’s mainframe system and existing like he does in game, but it is very labor intensive and causes migraines. Dr. Sawyer is constantly trying to push for improvements, his goal would be to one day be able to make little robotic or plastic replicas of the children’s bodies that are actually capable of housing the kids AND growth, allowing an almost normal life. It is a long ways away but he is determined to get there.
Jumping back to the toys! After much study and testing they have figured out roughly which toys are most effective and provide the safest procedures, and which toys are more risky! Of all the toys the easiest and safest procedure would be critter toys. For some reason they have the highest success rate of every other toy type. The biggest downside though would be the quality of life post the procedure.
Critters are very small obviously, they have done bigger ones (different from the bigger body critters, think large Baba Chops) but often the critter bodies can be very unbalanced. While updates to the critter designs have allowed for flexible mouths and fingers they still require a lot of help in everyday tasks such as eating and bathing themselves. Despite that, with a proper care guide (and time spent in Playcare with their parents being properly advised) they can generally return home even if going to school and work on their own would be difficult to impossible.
Mini Wuggies, plastic shelled toys, and long legs all have their own pros and cons that are discussed out with parents and their children before anything is done. They all have a very similar success rate though!
After that would be the bigger bodies (quad toys are generally avoided unless the child and parents are both fully informed of how that can impact quality of life, but some kids really really want to be a specific toy and Playtime tries to honor that when possible. Anyway, Bigger bodies have the lowest success rate, the most diversity, and generally the highest quality of life in terms of what they are capable of.
You’ll notice every kid has a tag around their neck or name tag, alongside a bracelet around their wrist! This helps identify them to doctors who work in playcare (all bigger body toys live at playcare as of now but work is being done to have them and their families return home permanently) that way the doctors know what health conditions they have and what room they need to be in. This is probably one of the few times you’ll see me draw the dough boys, and where I differ from Pun! I think Jack WAS still an accident, but the three of them went through the dough procedure separately. However it was quickly determined that dough was not stable enough to use as all three of them have difficulty keeping their forms solid for very long, and struggle with a lot of memory issues. The trio just ended up becoming fast friends being some of Playcare’s permanent residents. They can combine into Doey, though it is hard (really really hard) and they can’t hold the form for long, but that is just a side effect of how unstable they are. Susan and George live at Playcare alongside Kevin’s mom. Matthew’s parents don’t live in Playcare but do visit frequently.
Memory issues are common in bigger bodies, Kissy has them pretty badly and has to have an escort as she will end up in rooms and not remember how to get back fully. Like Pun said Poppy is somewhat a celebrity inside Playcare and she gets a lot of attention from other toys (which she doesn’t like) but she does like hanging out with Kissy!!
Many of the Delights (even those who didn’t previously work at the factory) have taken up jobs at Playcare, helping toys adapt to their bodies alongside the doctors and educators they have on staff! While not focused on it, Playcare does still have some involvement with local orphanages, trips to and from Playcare and the factory are common for both sides to make!! Playtime Co. is making a concerted effort to normalize the existence of living toys while they try and perfect a more humanoid body for the kids, trying to ensure as normal a life as they can for these kids!!!
Think that’s all I have besides a bunch of random interactions and character details I have in my head haha. This was very much a one off post bc I used to do roleplays with like “mutant/super power kids living in an isolated school/hospital/lab and living their lives” all the time growing up XD it is a concept I am very fond of, and was happy to ramble about a bit!!!
