mew mew nyah

Nearly everybody labels Timothy as autistic or some other form of neurodivergent (I've seen some say ADHD, and some OCD and perhaps DID which I cannot personally speak on), and I fear a lot of it is just down to "silly boy obsessed with timing." I wanted to really expand on the topic to say that rather, it's the combination of his reliance on routine, distress when routines are disrupted, rigid communication style, attempts to control uncertainty, and the dynamic between Timothy and Timmy that resembles many autistic experiences.

I will be discussing his character in reference with my own experience as someone with ASD & ADD, so of course, as nobody's autism is quite the same, you may disagree with me on certain points or find that you don't relate, and that's perfectly okay. In fact, I would love to hear anybody else's input.

Starting off with the obvious. Timothy is a man who holds timing close to his heart (literally, as his chest holds a clock). Many autistic people, myself included, rely on routine and predictability, and for some, when that is disrupted, it can be overwhelming.

Timothy wants you to be on time so he doesn't have to face any changes in his routine. He has his life scheduled to a T so that he can expect and prepare for everything. He is rude to the player when they disrupt his schedule because he couldn't prepare for that, and his abrasiveness can be interpreted as that overwhelm being directed at the player. This is also apparent when the player is late, as he literally screams before turning into Timmy.

Timothy's need to schedule everything also aligns with another common autistic trait: the feeling of needing to be in control. In order to not face Timmy's terrors, he has to be on top of everything. Along with the feeling many autistic people have to conform to society and the need to be perfect, routines in general are already ways to stay in control of things, but lots of players interpret Timothy as demanding or bossy, which can be likened to blunt and/or rigid ways of thinking and communication that lots of autistic people experience.

Being in control allows Timothy and other individuals to predict what happens and make sure everything is precisely as it should be. As an autistic person myself, I often try to take over when people around me use my things because I get very anxious or fear that they won't do things the way they should be done, and I think that kind of philosophy applies to Timothy as well.

Timothy also exhibits behavior that can be interpreted as stimming. He makes these ticking sounds when you first meet him and later on his hate route to calm down. As I said earlier, this may be a way of showing how the player coming unscheduled leaves Timothy overwhelmed, and this is his way of coping with that.

Timothy's schedules also allow him to predict when he needs to mask or appear normal. I think that the violent outburst of his transformation into Timmy is reminiscent of an autistic meltdown, as you have to severely violate his single boundary to achieve it, and in doing so, distress him greatly.

On the topic of masking, many autistic people don't realize that their masking doesn't always work as well as they think it does. When Timothy says everyone would like their dates to be in 10-minute intervals, I think he assumes that's the standard, which he is masking to match, but instead it shows off how tied to routine he is since that's not actually what most people think.

Timmy explicitly states, "Timothy is just a shield for Timmy to hide behind." If you swap "shield" for "mask," everything falls into place.

Timothy is a version of Timmy that he made up so that people would like him better. Masking is literally defined as the act of concealing autistic traits to come across as neurotypical, and even though Timothy exhibits his own autistic traits, Timmy is masking his own because he is constantly rejected if he doesn't. (He has a line about grooming himself in public saying someone has to tell him to stop. Timothy also says, "lonesome is nothing new for old Timothy.")

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I think that for for autistic readers that language may come across particularly relatable, constructing a more socially acceptable persona to protect a vulnerable self from rejection.

Timmy is constantly napping, and while that's just something cats do, as masking gets more and more intense and separated from your original self, it gets increasingly tiring. The mental and physical toll Timmy endures by shoving himself down and pretending to be someone else is taking such a toll on him that as soon as you meet him, he asks to take a nap.

I personally wonder if Timmy masks because he feels at fault for being the personification of a clock but having no interest in time, and perhaps he believes this "malfunction" makes him broken or unlikeable. If Timmy genuinely sees himself as a malfunctioning clock, then perhaps what he fears is not only that people will dislike him, but that they will find him exhausting. That would make Timothy's creation even more heartbreaking in my opinion. Rather than just becoming someone people would love, Timmy may have simply tried to become someone who was easier to tolerate. What makes this especially tragic to me is that even Timothy's carefully constructed persona fails to protect him from rejection. If Timothy exists to make himself more acceptable to others, then the fact that people reject both versions of him in the real-life fandom feels, to me, ironic and cruel.

Another example people may point to is that Timothy owns a collection of pocket watches. Of course, anyone can collect, and a clock-themed character collecting watches is not unusual on its own. What stands out to me is his emotional investment in the collection. His dedication to keeping them perfect and wanting to tell the player about them makes me interpret it as some sort of hyperfixation or special interest, which neurodivergent people are often prone to.

I personally am very protective of my collection, and while I don't know if everyone is, he also seems to exhibit that same protectiveness, as you have the option of dropping the pocket watch and having him blow up in rage. That also makes letting you touch it generally a very precious moment to me.

The theme of loneliness also feels significant to me. Timothy says, "lonesome is nothing new for old Timothy," and what strikes me about that line is how it's simply something he has come to expect. Many autistic people experience repeated social rejection throughout their lives, and over time that can lead to the feeling that loneliness is inevitable rather than temporary. Timothy's line reminds me less of someone lamenting that they are alone and more of someone who has accepted it as a fact of life. An eternally repeating cycle, like a clock, if you will. I think a lot of autistic players will relate to him in this way.

For some other weaker tidbits:

In all of their sprites, their heels are raised, and they are on their tiptoes except for the nominated Timothy sprite with the pocket watch.

While this can simply be a reference to cat legs and the way he walks, a known trait of autism is that many people tend to walk on their tiptoes, just like he does.

Timothy also wears gloves. They stay on when he's by the hot tub and during sex. Since these are situations that people typically would remove them they may potentially suggest Timothy has sensory troubles.

As for why he chooses to be British, I imagine the two of them want to be as disconnected from each other as possible. Timmy keeps his original American accent, and Timothy sets himself apart by adopting another. Timmy, like the original, must have understood that people who act formally and dress properly are regarded highly and if Timothy is viewed through the lens of masking, then the accent can be interpreted as another part of a carefully constructed identity: a version of himself that he believes people will find more respectable, refined, and acceptable than the person underneath.

Despite his writer denying his character as autistic, I still find him to be one of the most compelling autistic-coded characters I've encountered. Plenty of characters like schedules but what makes him stand out to me as an autistic person is the way he responds to disruption, the effort he puts into maintaining control, the loneliness beneath his carefully constructed alter ego and the implication that "Timothy" exists to protect "Timmy" from rejection.

Finally, they also made his realisation ending a train. Literally autism stereotype #1.