I was thinking about Poppy the other day, and I'm wondering if I understand her character correctly. She's basically the opposite of the Prototype in many ways, where she was loved by family, he wasn't, where she was seen as important and special to Elliot, he wasn't, etc etc... And Poppy's "importance" is a very curious thing, especially since it gets paired with a distinct lack of agency and helplessness.
In life, she was basically the face of her father's company, a normal little girl given such importance that children nationwide held her likeness close to them. Her death led to her father's obsession with immortality and unethical experimentation. She didn't have a choice in being brought back the way she was -- a small, fragile porcelain doll. Delicate and in the possession of someone she loves, but without the freedom and the agency of a real child.
When her father died and she was discovered, countless children suffered because of it while she was helplessly taken apart. When she helped her fellow toys escape, countless people were slaughtered in the resulting massacre and the orphans stayed trapped. When she tried to fight back against the Prototype, the other toys looked up to her, fought for her and died for her. She was once again thrust into a position she never wanted to be in. She didn't want to be the reason people suffered and died again. She couldn't.
Where the Prototype was an unloved child who wants to be the centre of the world, I think Poppy only ever wanted to be normal. But she sees herself as someone who constantly brings pain to countless people no matter what she does. There will always be these big consequences she isn't prepared for, yet are her responsibility anyway. I think that's the reason she's so suicidally desperate to bury everything - it's because she's given up on a peaceful, normal resolution. The Prototype is obsessed with her and she likely doesn't even know why, or how he's suffered as Oliver because of her -- it's probably yet another thing she'll blame herself for despite being DEAD at the time.
Anyway, sorry for sending you this big ask. But you're the resident Poppy expert, and I wanted to know your thoughts.
No, no, we love big asks here, don't worry!
Admittedly, I'm still wrapping my head around a lot of the lore and implications and the general everything surrounding her and the Prototype myself, but yes, this is such a good analysis of them.
