sheep in a box

once the mainline story ends, mob seriously owes us a prototype q&a 😭 we desperately need to pick apart his brain pre-hoj AND post-hoj ON GOD!!! it's so fascinating that you can still find bits of humanity in his actions for someone the narrative establishes to be a morally nefarious character/horrible person. like yeah, he sucks 😭 but he exhibits enough arguable goodness in a few of his actions for fans to question where his morality starts & ends.

this is especially prevalent in his pre-hoj characterization 🤧 by chapter 5, we know that he's a certified capital "a" Asshole but he didn't start out like this. at what point did oliver start backseating for the prototype to take charge??? like damn mob's writing got hands IM INVESTED

this ask got me really thinking about pre-hoj 1006 – specifically the time frame wherein preston let him out of his cell to remain hidden for an unspecified period up until august 8. we don't know how long he'd been marked missing from his cell (it could be weeks or months), but i think it had been enough time for him and the playtime co saboteurs to fully plan out the hoj.

okay, so like. the date. unless there was smth urgent that caused the hoj to move up to august 8, it SHOULD have been locked & loaded from the start after such meticulous planning... so i'm willing to bet he did consider an appropriate period where little innocents possible get involved in the whole massacre. it is also possible that it was insisted on by the saboteurs as well, so the "escape attempt" (ha.) doesn't produce as many complications or risks for both visitors & the "escaping" toys. for 1006 to concede to this schedule, he either couldn't persuade them to shift to another date or he was genuinely in agreement with it.

it's really a debate on the prototype's attitude at this point in time: is he heartlessly utilitarian enough to want the hoj to occur with as many potential "food reserves" (guilty + innocent corpses) possible or does he still have enough humanity in him to knowingly spare visitors (who most likely consisted of children going on a tour 😭 oughh) from a gruesome fate?

rubbing my chin. lots of food for thought. many, many thoughts.

we're given literal scraps on how exactly 1006 prepared for hoj, but it's been established that the guilt-ridden staff greatly (and unknowingly) assisted in the plan that solidified their deaths. personally, i imagine that it was originally preston & 1006 that worked out a framework for how the toys' "freedom" could be achieved during captivity. they slowly built upon it with better detail as more & more staff pitched in to provide confidential information/files. this may be how it went based on preston's note ("To Whomever Finds This") as he specifically singles himself out as the main person who kickstarted the whole upheaval in the first place.

(on the topic of preston's note, ive always wondered why he didn't condemn stella greyber as part of the guilty. maybe he actually did in the cutoff section but seperate from the other executives for some reason??? like. ik stella is heavily implied to be one of the many playtime saboteurs who assisted in the preparation of hoj – as she's the only one who had the motivation to help the children while having access to an omnihand – but she was still complicit as a higher up? like SURE, she was horribly reluctant, guilt-ridden, and most likely at gunpoint should she snitch, but still... she has a part to play as an adult in power who stood by as they mutilated & exploited children .... hrmmm. mob you better give us more stella content in chapter 6 i miss her!!!)

my overall timeline/hcs for the 1006 "scheming period" up until the actual hoj is:

rough conceptualization of the initial "escape plan" (again, ha.)

formation of playtime saboteurs

preston freeing him > 1006 going missing for a notable time

1006 holing himself in some cavern on the prison level with access to vents/passageways

saboteurs passing him scraps of metal & confidential files/schedules

1006 personally scouring the facility for more files (bc he's more assured if he gets the work done himself... control freak smh /lh)

refinement of the plan with exact dates/times/steps

securement of security overrides/stella's cooperation

subtly informing the toys of the ACTUAL plan & gathering willing participants

getting poppy's unknowing involvement/help with the approaching massacre via some probing from "ollie" (which i need to know more about btw. how exactly DID she assist in the hoj? sawyer SPILL)

completion of his new spider legs made from the metal scraps he foraged/was given to him by saboteurs

august 8 arrives > he edits/intercepts the emergency announcement to be more menacing for that added aura (which??? okay theater kid.)

commencement of the plan & opening of all toy cells

Profit.

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