All Hail the Night Dancer

i wanna emphasize that im NOT an expert on trauma or psychology. ive done a fair bit of research, but im nowhere near the educated level of a psychiatrist or therapist or anything of the sort. however, ive been through my fair share of extreme trauma throughout my childhood, teenhood, pretty recently too, actually. that's honestly why im so attaached to poppy playtime at the moment; ive been that way since the game came out. in 2021, it was an extremely difficult time for me, and as silly as it sounds, this game helped me push through that traumatic event. and the more chapters that came out, the more i felt this connection with the game and its starting approach to trauma since childhood (chapter 3). it meant a lot to me and reminded me that i wasnt alone.

then the game sorta got... e h. not bad, per say, i still really enjoy it, but chapters 4 and 5, especially 5, are really trying to hammer in this whole over-the-top cruelty towards playtime's victims, so much so that i think its getting a little unserious. when you make your audience see/hear and imply so much torture, the overall effect of torture will begin to lose its meaning. it was so much more subtle in chapter 3, and even parts of chapter 4 did a good job at this, but now its kinda getting a bit too much.

and then ive been seeing screenshots of the original director and one person on the team basically summarize every poppy playtime character as being "seen as children." Not saying that they ARE children, but that theyre SEEN as children. And now there are some people within the fandom referring to these characters as "mature children" (im so serious its very weird).

first all, guys... there's no such thing as mature children. youre either biologically, cognitively mature, or youre an actual child. there is no in-between. there are such things as children mimicking what they think is maturity, but thats not maturity, thats either a trauma-response or something else entirely.

secondly, and i also see this within other fandoms too, is what i feel like so many people aren't understanding: trauma is NOT a generalized thing. its far from it, actually.

trauma and its effects on people are so wildly complex. people arent affected the same way, even if they experience the same trauma. our brains are built so differently from each other, that no matter what, we're all gonna have our own unique perception and internalization of that event. and i feel like thats what poppy playtime is trying to do, but its not really committing to the bit.

firstly, the only people i see as actual, legitimate children are the mini critters and those little plush kids down in Safe Haven. not really by their designs (since that was just something forced onto them) but by their voices and behavior - they feel like the kids/teens who were experimented on just before the hour of joy. Kissy Missy and Huggy Wuggy (i cannot believe i am saying those names in a serious manner here, but-/lh) i also deem as like, the older kids, like somewhere between 15-17.

everyone else, like Doey, Poppy, Prototype, DogDay, MLL, they don't read as genuine kids to me, they read as more like traumatized adults. Doey in particular reads as someone who has matured in a sense (Matthew, mostly), but is stuck suffering arrested development (with Kevin and Jack). and it was done so well until we as the player were forced in a sequence where we had to kill him when he was having a mental breakdown.

chapter 4 introduced something that i felt was completely glossed over: the little rift between Poppy and Doey. Poppy wants to blow the whole place up and essentially kill everyone, pretty much seeing all of these toys as playtime's "sins of the past" to put it lightly. but that's not who they are, Doey said it himself, all of them are people, people who have suffered, yes, but deserving of life nonetheless. that is what he has been fighting for up until his death. Poppy (in my opinion) sees them as victims who are unable to get past their trauma and are in need of the sweet release of death. that sends... a very wild message to me.

the game wouldve done such a great job exploring the complexity of the situation. yes, itd be a miserable time living down here with all this conflict and need for food and survival, but i thought thats what our character was for: to give the victims of playtime hope as a way to pay the sins of our own past. its what gives life its meaning: going through the hardships in order to taste the little rewards that make it worth living. we dont know whats on the other side of death, so we might as well take advantage of the good thats offered in our lives now.

but that had to be blown away by Doey's death. yes, what we did was an act of self-defense so im not saying we're like a cold, heartless murderer here, but mob couldve set up an option for us to spare him. because Doey wasnt our enemy, he was a human being haunted by what playtime co. had made those three boys into.

so, what does this have to do with trauma and what i think is a generalization of it?

as i said before, i believe poppy playtime wanted to get into the complexity of how trauma has affected these characters, but has done so in the same way over and over again. it once had a hint of complexity by displaying different trauma responses in different characters, like Poppy running away and hiding every time she got overwhelmed/scared and Doey lashing out via a meltdown similar to what you'd see in children; the problem is, the game doesnt dive deeper into that. to me, it only used those things to further the plot of the game, have a reason for Doey not to be in future chapters and for us to have something to do in a section of chapter 5.

but i see something so important here. i see something interesting, and clearly a lot of other people in the fandom see it too. however, i do have an issue with that being what we only see in them, particularly Poppy.

there are a few videos on youtube that display cut scenes and content from chapter 4, that being Doey giving us a side quest on finding a storybook that he loves to read to the kids of Safe Haven. it shows so much of his personality and gives emphasis to how much he cares for these kids, and im sO IRRITATED THAT THIS WAS CUUUTTTT AUGHHHH. this gives us so much depth to this character, but for some reason, we werent allowed to see it, and i think its because the game was worried about the plot not being prioritized. but here's the thing about writing: characters carry the plot, theyre so much more important than the plot. theyre a vital aspect that makes people want to engage with the plot in the first place.

and with how poppy playtime is portraying these characters, it feels like to me, their trauma is all that their character reduces to. i was so interested in what Poppy's character was going to be in chapter 2, because she was so expressive and bubbly, only to turn out to be deceptive and a little manipulative by the end. and then in later chapters, she switches to a completely generic personality from whom we get instructions from, not allowed to connect with personally, despite being such a central part of the game (her name IS THE TITLE and youre telling me shes absent most of the time??)

then so much of her lore is being tortured and being sad about it. yes i know that sounds very harsh, but thats the only way i can describe it. but no amount of torture tapes alone will ever make me feel a genuine connection to that character, i just pity them. i don't like Poppy, i don't dislike her either, i just kind of pity her. thats all i feel like i need to do, and thats what i feel the game is telling me to do. im just saving her out of obligation at this point, because what kind of monster would leave a scared little girl in the hands of her worst nightmare? yes, there are plenty of games that lock you in on saving certain people, but at least those games (the ones who do it right) make you understand why that person in particular is so important on a personal standpoint. a good story manipulates its audience into what it wants them to feel without them realizing it, and with poppy, it feels so obvious that theyre asking me to feel bad for this girl over and over and over again.

but here's the thing: she is a f i c t i o n a l c h a r a c t e r. therefore, i technically dont have to care about her, and i dont feel bad about that fact alone because shes not a real person. thats why i need more than what the game's doing currently to feel a proper connection.

frankly, right now, with what's being provided, it feels a little insulting to me. especially with people reducing her as "just a child." she does read as childlike to me because how she responds to things that trigger her, but, in canon, i feel like she couldve gone beyond that. like i said for chapter 2, i adored how she was characterized; she was so interesting, and i thought we were going to get this exploration of this persons frustration with being "inhuman," her belief that shes a mistake and therefore projecting that onto other people, and through connecting with her, we could make her change her mind and see that she still has value in being a human being.

it couldve had her go, "I'm not allowed to grow up anymore, he [Elliot Ludwig] took that from me." and thats why she justifies her childish behavior. she'd be frustrated with herself and her trauma and how it affected her, and meanwhile, there's Oliver, her big brother and ultimate enemy.

when i was studying the lore behind this game and the content within the game itself, Oliver became so interesting to me. it just felt so weird seeing everyone refer to him as "just a kid" when it was clear that he's characterized as someone much more than that. whenever someone refers to him as a child in-game, they use the past tense to categorize the difference between who he was then versus who he is now (one example being a chapter 5 note by Preston talking about Oliver). while Oliver does portray immature behavior at times, it doesnt read as "childlike" to me, it reads as a traumatized adult. trust me, as a traumatized adult myself, i am also prone to immature behaviors, as with so many other traumatized and mentally ill people.

however, despite his issues, hes still able to mature and push past what Playtime, notably his father, had tried to make him to be: a child forever, someone who, in Oliver's eyes, is weak enough to be controlled by those who have power over him, both literally and emotionally. but then, he grew up, organized an entire operation against playtime co. and became the leader that, he thinks, the rest of the toys need.

someone that Poppy couldnt become because of how her trauma affects her; how it makes her the child that they made her become.

and he looks down upon her for that. hes condescending like an abusive parent looking down on their kid for acting like a kid, but is also unaware of their own faults. i believe that through how many times Poppy runs away and behaves like a child due to her arrested development, he recognizes how he has surpassed her, something he always wanted to do. why? because the man who was supposed to love him gave all that love to her instead, making him feel inadequate.

but that man is gone now, and Oliver has the capability to take care of her instead. look how fragile Poppy is with her design; she's a literal porcelain doll. in his eyes, she cant take care of herself, both literally and figuratively.

however, he still obviously has his own issues. his trauma still affects him, and thats reflected in how he breaks her despite promising to fix her and his violent tendencies putting his guard down. but he refuses to acknowledge that; if he did, then to him, it would be like his abusers have that control over him again.

its often how i feel whenever im triggered by something that reminds me of one of my past abusers. still being so affected by someone who's now far, far away from you feels humiliating, like you cant truly escape from them. thats something that can very much follow you into adulthood, even with the proper help. but again, it depends on the person.

i think that goes the same for the characters in poppy playtime too. this extreme trauma has affected them all, but did so in different ways.

thats how complex trauma is. youre still able to mature through trauma, but based on how youre built, your responses and how your brain develops itself will be different. some will be stuck in arrested development (Poppy, Doey); some will mature completely, containing a general understanding of what goes on around them, but will succumb through unhealthy coping mechanisms and/or violent, disturbed behavior (Prototype, Ms. Delight, Mommy Long Legs); some will be able to somewhat function, but still display trauma responses and/or extreme stress that may go as far as to change their personality and/or way of thinking entirely (Giblet, Catnap, Dogday). and some are just permanently regressed into a childlike state of mind due to repeated torture (Lily Lovebraids).

i dont like the assumption that theyre all just kids, it feels like it reduces them in a way. its one thing to acknowledge the tragedy of them being children at the time the abuse was inflicted upon them, but its another thing entirely to not see the fact that they also have the capability of moving past that as they grow older. thats what i believe Poppy's arc shouldve been.

they might look different, but that doesnt mean theyre not human anymore. nothing in the game suggests the experiments completely deconstruct every human element they have, they just put their brains and other organs into foreign, artificial shells. they havent been turned into things.

with how im processing it, the game leaning into the idea that these toys could never get past their trauma and might as well 'be put out of their misery' is really not appealing to me, especially with how Doey was treated. to me, it felt less like a tragic fate, and more like treating him as a lost cause and allowing them to be subdued by the thing that haunted him the most. instead of like...i dunno, being given the choice to help him out, like how a few players actually tried to do (CoryxKenshin).

and im sitting here thinking, with how many characters they have introduced and killed off, its like this pattern of "aww, this happened to them, thats sad isnt it? :(" and then they either leave or die. That moment between Huggy and Kissy in chapter 5 was SO CUTE and offered so much on how people can support each other through their trauma, and then it had to be turned into another dramatic scene of them being killed off. maybe theyll come back in chapter 6, but thats wishful thinking on my part.

at this point, i dont feel pity for these characters anymore, i just wonder whats the point of getting close to them in the first place if we're not directly going to have a connection with them or dive into who they are as people and how their trauma affected them deeper than using that to pity-farm the audience. it worked in chapter 3, and now (to me) its getting tiring. the debate on whether or not to blow up the whole damn plan and erase so many lives is dropped by the fact that Oliver killed all of Safe Haven anyway, so i guess that didnt matter too.

as victims of trauma, we are much more than how our trauma has affected us. yes, it contributed to shaping us into who we are today, but it doesnt define who we are as people. we all dont suddenly become incapable of handling certain things, we're not people who need to be coddled all the time, and while we have/are suffering, we have still earned the right to keep living only due to the fact that we were born. i strongly believe that shouldve been established here, too.

people are saying that its a complex situation that doesnt have one answer, but people arent treating it that way. human beings are different, human beings are complicated, and most notably, human beings dont stay the same, whether by personality, body, or mind.

Giblet said this by the end of chapter 5: "The things they did to us doesn't have to be who we are." Gee that quote sounds really inspiring and impactful, i wish it a c t u a l l y w a s. because the game defines these characters just by their trauma, making them be what their tormentors did to them.

and i know what youre thinking: "Button, youre taking this WAY too seriously." and i am, I REALLYYYY AM, and that is because the game, its former director, and the very extreme side of the fandom keeps asking me to, so here i am doing it. as a victim of CSA/SA, domestic violence, relationship abuse and neglect that would then make me develop of LOT of mental and personality issues later in life, i feel like i have a right to vent out my frustrations on this. i have suffered through so much trauma, and all ive been seeing online in social spaces are people who havent gone through what i and other people have gone through and reducing us to stereotypes and generalized assumptions, when its so much more complicated. media is starting to rise into properly diving into these topics, but there are so many people out there who still think like this. and i dont like to think about one of my favorite games of all time potentially doing this too.

it just feels like this theme of trauma is only being used for dramatic moments. its why ive been liking fan content a bit more than the actual content recently. the characters are actually characterized with unique, fun personalities. they feel like people instead of props used by someone constantly asking me to feel bad for them.

and if the generalization is true, if theyre "all just kids," then all we've been doing is killing traumatized kids (apart from the doctor). even moreso, we're rewarded for it, hence our nickname "The Butcher" given to us by Giblet in a positive manner. i get it, theyre not all friends and theyre all at war with each other, but why is the automatic solution killing? in chapter 4, we're also given this speech by the doctor thats trying to make us question our morality, when at that point, it didnt matter. we've already killed so many, might as well have us kill more when the game tells us to, right?

a perfect example of who i think is an amazing character who happens to be a victim of abuse/trauma is Amanda from Amanda the Adventurer. we get to see how she behaves and who she is as what's shaped her trauma, but we also clearly see that it doesnt solely define her. she still pushes through in expressing her dreams, her complex but human personality, and still being a person despite what Hameln did to her. we get to spend time with her and establish a connection, and that fuels our motivation in freeing her from her cartoon-y prison. in contrast, we see how Wooly succumbs to his trauma and how it negatively impacts both himself and us. the extra background tapes dont feel out of place and arent a requirement for us to know the story, as the central tapes gives us enough to know the general idea of who amanda is and why she acts the way that she does.

in poppy playtime, i dont really feel that. i see it sometimes, but it doesnt feel impactful or motivating. especially since the tapes and notes containing CENTRAL CHARACTER MOTIVATION are in hard-to-find places that the average player wont have access to. thats why you see so many people lost.

all im saying is, i really, really feel like if people are going to write characters who are victims of abuse to not make that the only memorable thing about them. dive deeper into it, show us who they are, give us their trauma, how it affected them, and show how they either overcome it or succumb to it in a way that isnt rushed. and DONT HAVE IT BE OFF SCREEEEEEEN, HAVE US SPEND TIME WITH OUR CHARACTER. as much as i dislike Giblet, i have a glimmer of hope that he didnt die in chapter 5, and we'll actually get to spend time with a character for once. hopefully we wont have to split up for long periods of time in the last chapter...

and no. im not saying all this for justifying any sexualization. honestly, i think it'd be really fucking weird and gross of someone to think of Poppy in that way, going by her appearance alone (my pinned intro goes more into that). i also understand that any sexualization of even the adult characters may imply dismissal of their stories, and sure, a lot of fans would and are going to do that. but this is a fandom, filled with many different people who are either going to take the game extremely seriously, somewhat seriously, or not seriously at all. and people need to realize that there's no "right" way to engage with fandom and the source material (unless it involves irl harassment, doxxing, sexualization of actual minors, etc. etc.). fandom is meant to be enjoyed as long as nobody's getting hurt; we should be encouraging people to speak upon their own perceptions, like how im doing right now.

and honestly?? any art portraying perceived adult poppy playtime experiments i think could add more depth to them (apart from Lily Lovebraids, the woman behaves and dresses like a child, so thats a no-no...). im not one to see sex itself as this sUPER IMPORTANT SOUL-SEARCHING ACTIVITY; tbh im asexual myself, lol. i just see sex that can be (but is not required to be) a part of the human experience.

the internet's gonna sexualize them no matter who says what anyway, so might as well make it mean something. (but lord have mercy i really do think we need to leave the actual children and characters stuck in arrested development alone. especially Poppy, bro, she looks like she just came out of the womb yesterday like what 😭. I also wanna point out that nsfw stuff involving Catnap does make me very uncomfortable, even when I do perceive him as an adult. idk its just weird to me.)

so yeah, this is how i perceive the game and (some of) my thoughts on it, and this is really based on how the characters behave, think, and communicate in-game. at this point, i dont really think theres anything that could change my mind.

the fact that trauma and its effects arent really explored makes me truly believe that its up to each player's interpretation, and this is mine. i did sound very harsh, i know; the creators dont have to go into trauma if they dont want to, id encourage that. but the thing is, to me, it feels very obvious that they want to, but they dont want to actually dive into any sort of complexity, whether its because of time, budget constraints, the fear of making certain characters unlikable, or something else.