POPPY PLAYTIME… CHAPTER 4 ANALYSIS!!
Update: hello everyone this is Queen. Unfortunately I never ended up posting this for some reason 😭🤞 Like this entire analysis was just left in drafts ever since chapter 4 of Poppy Playtime came out. I think I was editing this bit by bit and eventually I gave up because there is a limit of 10 photos on a post, (which suckssss). But TODAY I am back and yes we are all still alive we just don’t use this account anymore (aside from one or two of us coming back every… well year HELP. Now, chapter 5 released the other day and HOOOOO-WEE it was absolutely insane. I don’t know if i’ll be doing an analysis on that one but hey, i’m back for this one so… Maybe? Either way, sorry this was posted late. Hope some of you will still enjoy the analysis/theories I shared here. Thank you all 🫶
- Queen.
WOO!! Chapter 4 of POPPY PLAYTIME is finally out... You guys know what that means,,, ANOTHER review/recap/analysis! YAY! (Ok so I actually have only watched 1 playthrough, BUT I have lots to talk about.)
So to recap the ending of chapter 3, basically-the player defeated experiment no.1188, aka Catnap. After doing so, we go with Poppy and Kissy and then she shows us a tape, revealing what happened during the Hour of Joy (which occured on August 8th, 1995.) Then, while Poppy and the protagonist head down further into the factory using an elevator, Kissy Missy stays behind to activate it. As it lowers, Kissy is attacked by an unknown entity.
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[Beginning of chapter 4]
Picking up where chapter 3 left off, Poppy and the player are on the lift as they arrive at the Subbasement. Poppy decides to head back up to help Kissy, warning the player that the Subbasement is very dangerous. Now, the game gets wayyyy crazier and SO MUCH LORE IS REVEALEDDDDDDDDDD... So many questions answered, and so many new questions as well.
[The Doctor aka Harley Sawyer]
A few minutes into the game, we meet a new character-named: The Doctor. He takes an interest in the player's actions and chooses to observe them while testing them using several obstacles. In this chapter, we learn later on that 'The Doctor' is actually Harley Sawyer: Head of special projects at Playtime Co. and the originator of the Bigger Bodies Initiative.
When he was young, Harley Sawyer was taken under Elliot Ludwig’s wing and joined the Young Geniuses Program, which is presumably where Sawyer got his start in Playtime Co. However, Elliot Ludwig became concerned at his lack of humility and willingness to experiment simply for the sake of progress rather than for the "benefit of humanity". He tried to instill that humility in Sawyer, which only served to anger him. Seeing no other choice in the face of this, Elliot Ludwig regretfully ejected him from the Young Geniuses Program. Sawyer saw this as a betrayal, coming to see Elliot Ludwig as "soft", "small-minded" and a "backstabber".
Later on January 15th, 1990, Harley Sawyer was hired by Leith Pierre to work as a neurosurgeon at Playtime Co. and eventually became the Head of Special Projects, a secret division within the company. During his employment, he learned about the company's failed experiments and realized they would go bankrupt if they got sued, which seemed to be an eventuality. Determined to prevent this, Sawyer strove to find a solution for the toy company.
To sum things up, Harley Sawyer (The Doctor) organised the Bigger Bodies Initiative program, creating all the toy main antagonists that we have faced in each chapter. Huggy Wuggy, Mommy Long Legs, Catnap and new ones that we have been introduced to—Yarnaby (who is the kid he brainwashed and eventually became his loyal guard dog as Yarnaby) were created by him.
Everything that’s happened throughout the game so far? He was the reason behind it.
THOUGH… LET'S TAKE A SECOND TO TALK ABOUT HIS VOICE, LIKE ZAMN HELLO SAILOR WHY U SOUND SO… Heh come ‘ere good sir😋😋😉😉😏💥💥🥳😈☝️‼️
Now that chapter 4 is out, we get to meet with Sawyer ‘face to face’. We learn through a tape called “Experiment #1354” that Harley Sawyer was subjected to his own procedures and had been converted into a digital network experiment (experiment no.1354) as a sort of “punishment” for the multiple mistakes he had made within Playtime Co. and also with the other executives, Eddie Ritterman, Stella Greyber and Leith Pierre. The 4th tape titled “The Doctor” shows the BTS of the discussion the three of them had, explaining how:
1. His recklessness has to stop
2. He has no regard for the safety of the facility, the staff or the children.
3. He doesn’t listen to any of them, not anymore.
Eddie seems to suggest killing off Sawyer, but Leith Pierre disagrees and says “Like it or not, we need him.”
In the last part of the tape, this is when Leith Pierre says one last thing—“there is one thing I can think of…” and it ends. Which then the “Experiment #1354” tape comes in, revealing Harley Sawyer had been turned into something like one of the creatures, with a Dr. Bruno White performing the procedure.
[“Time” VHS tape]
We also learn through the “Time” VHS tape that sometime after the Hour of Joy, Harley Sawyer had a meeting with the Prototype, who deliberately spared him during the event. (I’m not entirely sure what for, 🤔 although it is a supported fact that he wanted Sawyer to do research for him. 🙀💥)
In the trivia section of the Prototype’s page on the Poppy Playtime Wiki, one of the important notes is: “It is possible that the Prototype is trying to find a way to return the toys' minds to their original bodies.” Which I think is a really good theory(?) especially since there is a few bits of evidence which could lead to this conclusion.
That’s all the important info I have on “The Doctor” so far. But now that we’ve gone over that, the next part is about Yarnaby, which I have already mentioned in this analysis! 😋
[Yarnaby from the chapter 4 sneak peak]
So basically, experiment no.1166 (aka Yarnaby) was one of the orphans named Quinn Navidson who was chosen in 1990 to become one of the experiments for the Bigger Bodies Initiative. According to info from the game and also the chapter 4 Icepick ARG, Yarnaby was originally stated to be docile, agile, and highly impressionable. Unlike the other experiments, Yarnaby showed no signs of hostility toward the scientists and staff. In fact, he displayed a peculiar semblance of obedience and loyalty towards certain officers and scientists, including Dr. Harley Sawyer himself.
We learn, as the player, that Yarnaby had isolated sessions with The Doctor, and from then he had developed an affinity with the latter, perceiving him as his master, which was exactly as Harley intended, though he never actually cared for Yarnaby. (These poor kids AAAAAUGGGHHHH😭😭😭)
[Yarnaby death scene]
Later on, Yarnaby quickly gets bodied though as the player swings over a fiery pit with Yarnaby still eagerly chasing after them, he attempts to swing but gets stuck in the hook and erupts into flames (cus his fur is made of yarn 🔥🥹). He does end up freeing himself but fails to reach the player and falls into the abyss… R.I.P Yarnaby 😔
[Pianosaurus running towards us]
ANYWAY the player ends up meeting Pianosaurus WHO by the way, has like 5 seconds of screen-time and then instantly gets smacked around by our newest friend, DOEY!! ☝️😋 Who saved us from getting munched and crunched although i’m pretty sure we coulda just packed and sacked that little dookie doo 😈
So we end up meeting Doey the Doughman, aka experiment no.1322, originally children named Jack Ayers (1322A), Kevin Barnes (1322B) and Matthew Hallard (1322C).
I love, LOVE!! What they did with Doey’s entire character in this game. His multiple different personalities give him so much flexibility and his voice actor did a fantastic job fulfilling all three roles.
As one of the experiments, he was unique since he had been made out of three different people. The Poppy Playtime Wiki describes how Playtime Co. apparently wanted him to have seemingly multiple purposes, likely as his shape-shifting abilities would allow him to do so; Kevin Barnes, a child with mental issues who when under stress can hurt those around him including his friends; Jack Ayers, who fell into a dough mixer during a playtime co factory tour and is usually the most emotional and innocent of the 3; and Matthew Hallard, the oldest of the 3 kids (he was at least 15) who is kind, optimistic and charismatic but is traumatized by an unknown accident in which he failed to save his parents. These three personalities almost counteract each other, making sure that Doey isn’t stuck being emotional or a problem to the employees possibly. 💥💥
Doey tells the player to follow him, and he leads them to a safe space, known as The Safe Haven. OKAY. So this is crazyyy because. BECAUSE, this next part is the first actual visual of what “The Prototype” looks like (at least the legs 🙀‼️). While the player follows Doey, we end up getting pulled into a corner suddenly by Poppy and, KISSY MISSY!! SHE'S OKAY!! 💞🥹 Though she is badly damaged unfortunately. 😭
[Waiting for the prototype to leave]
Turns out Poppy and Kissy pulled us out of the way from The Prototype’s scorpion-like legs. 🙀🙀 I know, SHOCK!! FLABBERGASTED!! HUH????!!!! So The Prototype just appears out of nowhere suddenly and roams around like that, WHICH I was like damn OKAY good thing Poppy and Kissy were there, amazing timing 😅. This moment is HUGE though, because we finally have the first look at The Prototype’s “body”. So far we have only seen The Prototype’s hand, at least I think it’s his hand. 💥🤯
So after that sudden fiasco, the three of them rush the rest of the way to the safe haven, a fortified section of the facility with its own separate power grid, where the last of the non-aggressive toys have holed up under Doey’s protection.
[A few drawings on the wall in Safe Haven]
We learn in this area from the drawings on the wall and also conversations from the smaller toys, that Poppy had actually “ran away” and left Doey in charge. Some of the smaller toys seem to resent Poppy for doing so, although I'm not sure yet about the whole backstory, since when we first met her, she was stuck inside a glass box.
So, inside the Safe Haven, Poppy and Doey discuss the next steps they should take, as well as the state of everything in the prison. This is where we actually learn that The Prototype and “The Doctor” are working together, hunting and starving the toys that are down here and experimenting on the ones that they catch.
Also, in my last analysis on Poppy Playtime for chapter 3, I talked about what could have happened to the children that were in the play-care orphanage during the Hour of Joy.
Luckily, In this chapter, POPPY tells us that the orphans weren’t killed during the Hour of Joy, but taken. She also explains how they are below, in the labs, the Prototype’s home.
So there are some things that we still don’t know, like, HOW did the orphans survive? Cus it’s been hella long since the Hour of Joy happened… And remember, there was that food shortage through the years. The most reasonable explanation that I can think of is that they had been put into a sort of cryostasis possibly. But we won’t get more info until the next chapter ofc, so that’s just my take on how they survived cus like… There’s so many ways that all the children could have not made it—the prototype could have used them for experiments, they could have been eaten, etc. But the most important info about the orphans is that they are alive, but sleeping.
[Poppy telling us her plan]
Poppy explains that she wants to free the orphans AND stop The Prototype, to do so, she tells us that we have to fill the foundation with the flammable red smoke redirected from Playcare, and then line it with old mining charges. Once the player, Poppy and Kissy have freed the orphans, ‘our’ friends in the Safe Haven will blow the place SKY HIGHHH. 💥💥
The player speaks with Doey privately, and the important thing in his conversation with us is that although he understands what it is that Poppy wants, he wants us, as the player, to reconsider. He doesn’t want to throw everything away, to sacrifice everyone—just to kill the Prototype.
[Talking with Doey]
He tells us to take a second to think about it, which honestly, it is reasonable he thinks this way cus like all the toys in the Safe Haven are his family 😔 and he just doesn’t want to sacrifice them all… At least that’s what I think he’s getting at. He’s a good guy deep down, but Poppy’s plan is also reasonable. She wants to save the orphans and get rid of the Prototype once and for all, which, her idea is the only solution we have so far to this whole mess. Doey, on the other hand, doesn’t really give us much of another solution.
Honestly, I’m still not as trusting of Poppy ever since we first met her in game. She’s switches up really quickly and seems to run away when things get difficult (RELATABLE🥹) she also doesn’t care if others get hurt, like when she changed the trajectory of the train in the end of chapter 2. The train had crashed and the player got injured, and could have died.
So, yeah. I can’t put full trust in Poppy yet, even though it seems like she has the best interests for everyone… There’s still more questions unanswered, and we’ll have to wait another year for chapter 5 to see what actually happens.
Anyway! So after the talk with Poppy and Doey, we head off for the next part of the game. Along the way, there's a few tapes but I want to talk about one specific tape. (I will definitely be talking about other tapes as well in this analysis) 😋
The 7th tape called “Ollie” is definitely, to me, one of the more emotional/heartwarming tapes in this chapter by far. Ollie (I’m thinking this is before the prototype killed him?) talking to Poppy and trying to support her as best as he can. My god, I gotta tell you that listening to this tape, I absolutely feel very bad for Poppy due to her trauma and abuse from those bad men. (Even though I still can’t trust her yet) It really opens your eyes on a few more things that have happened in her past and also shares how Ollie and Poppy were close, enough that Ollie wanted to make Poppy feel better even if his efforts were in vain.
ALSO, with her traumatized and upsetting voice, we gotta thank Nola Klop with her voice acting, because her voice in this tape is just so depressing and it really just rips open a hole in your heart. 😭💥
LORE…LORE I LOVE LORE!!!!!! I NEED MORE…!!!!!!
So later in the game, after the player defeats The Doctor and retrieves the Omni-hand, we come back to the Safe Haven and meet with Poppy and Doey in the generator room. This is when we get a call from Ollie.
OKAY SO Y’ALL. I HAVE BEEN SAYING EVER SINCE LAST CHAPTER’S ANALYSIS—how OLLIE is so sus. Like he just suddenly called us out of nowhere and we’re supposed to just trust him like that? NUH-UH. After this chapter I was like YUP I KNEW IT, 🎶that boy is a monster🎵
LIKE okay, so “Ollie” helps the player get through the instructions of fixing the generator. AND ONCE IT’S FINISHED, HE SOUNDS SOOO SUSPICIOUS LIKE HELLO? THAT “Good…” AT THE END SOUNDED MALICIOUS LIKE YOU COULD FEEL THE OMINOUS VIBES… 😭☝️ Poppy, girl… Ollie ain’t who you think he is…
Following the next part of the story, the player begins to plant all the explosives as Poppy had intended.
After successfully planting them and initiating the gas flow procedure, we escape the foundation and meet with Doey. EVERYTHING GOES DOWNHILL FROM HERE… So it seems like Doey was trying to keep the prototype away, but he lost track of him in the tunnels. He asks the player if they had seen the prototype or if he was at the foundation? And lo-behold, NOPE! Things hadn’t gone the way they should have supposedly gone… AND BOOM! THERE'S AN EXPLOSION AND oh my god guys. The Safe Haven HAD BEEN BLOWN UP😭 Y’ALL THAT IS SO SAD ALL THE CUTE LITTLE HUGGY WUGGY’S AND KISSY MISSY’S ARE DEAD ON THE FLOOOOOOOR💥💥💥
Doey gets to the Safe Haven first, IT'S SO SPINE-CHILLING HOW WE CAN HEAR HIS SCREAMS AS THE PLAYER MAKES IT CLOSER TO THE HAVEN 😔. All right, this is the part where I want to talk about how WELL-MADE Doey’s character is. The character designing in this game is TOP TIER and Doey is definitely one of my favourite characters even after his demise R.I.P DOEY 😭🫶.
One of the cool things about his design is that the three hands on his body (the yellow, orange and red hands), symbolise the three children/personalities that were made into Doey. It doesn’t really stand out that much in the beginning of the game since much isn’t known about Doey, but after playing the game and reading and watching through all the notes and tapes, so much lore is revealed and it honestly makes the character’s/backstories so much more fascinating.
Doey’s three personalities shine in this part of the game, as when he breaks down he switches from hostile to fearful to reasonable and back and forth through all three. It’s so heartbreaking though after learning about his backstory like DOEYYYYY ITS NOT YOUR FAULT😭😭.
Then we have a boss fight with Doey and he also ends up getting bodied by the player and OH MAH LORD his last few words were so sad, he was dying and yet all he wanted to say was sorry. He didn’t want to do any of this and he had gone through so much that it makes him dying so heart-wrenching because there was no other way. 😔 Once again, R.I.P Doey.
ALRIGHT I ALMOST MISSED THIS but there’s actually a tape that a lot of people have not found/watched and It finally shines light on a few things and also confirms something we have all been speculating.
The 15th, untitled tape explains how: Poppy is, in fact, Elliot Ludwig’s daughter. I know it’s actually pretty obvious and I have talked about her being his daughter previously, BUT having it confirmed just like that? AAAA THE SATISFACTION. FINALLY 😭☝️
OKAY SO THIS IS THE LAST PART OF THE CHAPTER… And oh my god do I have a few things to say…
We end up meeting back with Kissy and Poppy and Poppy is trying to contact Ollie while asking the player why they killed Doey. THEN SUDDENLY THEY GET A PHONE CALL and yep it’s “Ollie” OR SHOULD I SAY… THE PROTOTYPE‼️
DUN DUN DUN…🤯💥💥
SO YEP, the Prototype had been impersonating Ollie this whole time, ever since chapter 3. Poppy is taken aback by the revelation and she starts panicking, realising that everything, EVERYTHING went wrong. The Safe Haven is gone, Doey is gone, LIKE WHAT ELSE CAN WE DO😭
The Prototype is CRAZYYYYY and oh my gosh poor Kissy Missy you can see her visibly shaking from fear. She is literally one of the best characters in Poppy Playtime, like she’s been loyal from the start and has always helped us. POPPY ON THE OTHER HAND JUST SKEDADDLES AWAY 😭. The Prototype is boutta explode the place and we have to “land on our feet” BUT THEN KISSY GRABS US TO PREVENT US FROM FALLING LIKE KISSY THANK YOU I LOVE YOU but it was short-lived as her damaged arm ripped off (NOOOOO KISSY😭😭😭😭😭😭💥💥💥💥) and the player ends up falling down, along with Kissy’s detached arm.
As we keep heading forward, we end up in a room with multiple Poppies, (very ominous I know…) and then arrive in this smaller room with another tape, titled: “TOP SECRET.”
And what do you know it’s Leith Pierre speaking on the tape. He warns us that the tape is a security measure and the moment we played it, it set off an alarm. So anyone in the facility would know that we are there in that room and would come and kill us instantly when found. There’s a little cutscene that happens as we look through the glass, seeing what it is that’s on the other side coming for us.
AND WHAT DO YOU KNOW… 🎶GUESS WHO’S BACK, BACK AGAIN🎶☝️😋.
HUGGY WUGGY‼️🙀 HE DID A WILLIAM AFTON AND CAME BACK HELPPP and he is definitely mad after the player beat him up in chapter 1. BUT YES, HUGGY WUGGY IS BACK, and lemme tell you something… He looks like he has been through hell and back help 😭 that fall did so much damage to him. So it looks like we’ll be seeing more of Huggy Wuggy in chapter 5. (I'M SO EXCITED😋😋😈🙀‼️🫶) What a great twist, honestly it was theorised that he would be still alive, especially since we didn’t see his body unlike Mommy Long Legs and Catnap’s. But the timing of the reveal is so great, especially after Leith Pierre’s little speech on the tape, it’s sort of a homage to the beginning of chapter 1. AND THE LIGHTING ON HUGGY WUGGY, I love how they made it look like it was Kissy Missy with the lighting, similar to how they made Kissy look like Huggy in chapter 3!! FANTASTIC use of lighting in this game.
Also, I wrote previously that the player is someone who had a big role in the company and felt wracked with guilt at what happened so that’s why they came back. I honestly thought, along with plenty of other people, that the player was the person that had the destroyed name on the slide in chapter 2. BUT THIS CHAPTER actually confirms that’s not who we, as the player, are.
The Doctor (Harley Sawyer) had a good look at the player multiple times during this chapter and he just lists us as a human that he’s impressed we worked at the Playtime Facility but slipped under the radar. Wouldn’t the doctor have recognised us if we were an executive or someone high up in the company? This tells us that there must be some other reason we came back, more than receiving the letter. After all, we’ve risked our life several times, wouldn’t there be a bigger reason for this?
Anyway, this is mostly just an analysis on the latest chapter of Poppy Playtime. So many things are still in the dark and I don’t really have an answer for all the questions out there. Although I do suggest watching all of the tapes either through here: https://youtu.be/OsM7iIg0-mk?si=bwtcXuGC70xUtcQq or finding them in the game yourself! 😋
If you read through all of this, thank you and hope to see you again… For chapter FIVE💥💥☝️😈 (If you have any theories let me know!!)
— Queen.
