i have something insane to say. The Player in PPT is a toy
keep in mind that im not a superfan of this series and if i get anything wrong or miss a piece of evidence that says otherwise lmk
I am in the almost 90% belief that the player in Poppy Playtime is another toy like the others. Walk with me here. Spoilers for chapter 5 but idk if that matters anymore
The biggest pieces of evidence that I have are the beginning of Chapter 1 and the end of Chapter 5.
In the beginning of Chapter 1, we're told that "Everyone thinks the staff disappeared 10 years ago. We're still here. Find the flower." Though I don't know who actually wrote the letter, it'd be likely that whoever sent it to bring the player back to the factory wouldn't write it the way they did if it were going to an actual adult, FROM an adult.
Obviously, one of the toys/children wrote it (leading to the misspelling of "we're"), and the implication through the simplicity of the note itself that the recipient already knows something of the situation tells us that the player was a resident or staff at Playtime; however, this deviates when thinking of the hatred most toys have concerning staff members. They wouldn't call on a staff member to help them- they'd only trust another toy.
In Chapter 5, this is a bit more obvious. There's No Fucking Way that a human being would be able to survive all of that bullshit. We can see from Poppy that you can get attacked by the Prototype and live just fine; potentially even living through that goop and still live. The difference being, Poppy is a toy. Therefore, our player would likely have to be a toy to survive all that.
I do have other pieces of evidence that are a bit more of a stretch. these include
The player only being referred to as "from the outside-" never as a "human" or "staff" by other toys
Player doesn't speak or think; while this could be blank slate protagonist, it might actually be a similar situation to Huggy, Kissy, and Chum, among others who can't speak. The lack of thought may be similar to one of the little gerbers that attack you, like those little mini Smiling Critters, who don't seem to have full autonomy
Player is only represented by Generic Yellow Guy, who tbh does kind of look like some sort of mannequin toy
Outside of surviving the Prototype, player also survives insane fall damage on the regular with no sign of injury
Lily Lovebraids calls you a "good toy," not a staff member, which she should recognize as such despite being isolated
Player is able to view Huggy's memories, which could be difficult to do as a human. Not for a toy with barely a brain left tho
A tape in Chapter 5 has the Prototype talking with a toy post-Hour of Joy (bars?) about 2 toys that had escaped the factory entirely; one of which could be the player, as we haven't seen it mentioned before
Mostly unfazed by the abilities of other toys, potentially having already seen them before
Mommy Longleg's goddamn obsession with us as if we're her own child. She likely views many toys as if they are her children, given she's one of the only maternal-adjacent toys in the factory
LMK IF I MISSED ANYTHING IN THIS RAMBLE. MWAH