Poe

Poe

Gallery

Poe
Full Name	Poe
Affiliation	Playtime Co. Nightmare Critters Harley Sawyer (leader)
Physical Information
Status	Alive (Medium Critter) Extant (Mini Critters)
Species	Toy (anthropomorphic raven) Living toy (Medium Critter and Mini Critters) Human (formerly)
Gender	Unknown
Pronouns	They/Them
Height	Unknown
Pendant	Thundercloud
Scent	Cinnamon
Biographical information
Creation Date	After summer of 1989 - early 1991 (toy)
Appearances
Role	Minor antagonist (Mini Critters)
Appears In	Miscellaneous Content Trailer Chapter 4: Safe Haven
Debut	Miscellaneous Content

“	Ah, Poe, our moody rebel. They are probably the broodiest of the Nightmare Critters, but no one seems to mind. They like to do their own thing.	”
— Poe's Twitter intro

Poe is one of the Nightmare Critters, a group of eight characters created by Playtime Co., who presumably serve as the antithesis of the Smiling Critters. They appear in Chapter 4 as a minor antagonist in the form of small hostile plush toys.

Appearance

Poe is an anthropomorphic raven, characterized by a violet indigo plumage that complements their thin eyebrows and expressive black eyes, which (like the other Nightmare Critters) are furrowed into a permanent glare. Their features extend to a dark purple beak, belly, and hindlimbs. In line with the other Nightmare Critters (and the Smiling Critters), Poe sports a perpetual wide toothless grin, their inner mouth shrouded in mysterious darkness. A black necklace gracefully adorns their center, showcasing a captivating thundercloud pendant with a yellow lightning bolt emerging from the bottom. They also have feathers protruding from the back of their head, in addition to two feathers at the front forming a little short feather cut. Poe also emits a cinnamon scent from the little spray applicator in their mouth.

Personality

“	Poe hates the sun, and thinks it is a cruel trick of nature that the world needs it in the first place. Most comfortable in the dark, they spend their nights hanging around graveyards, listening to music, and feeling vaguely angry at nothing in particular. They insist it isn't a phase.	”
— Critter Entries

According to their character description, Poe is the brooder of the Nightmare Critters. They are content with staying in darkness and abhor the sun's glaring existence, viewing it as merely "a cruel trick of nature". Poe is an introverted individual, preferring to keep to themselves, and they have a nocturnal nature. They possess a strong affinity for graveyards, as it is their favorite place to occupy their nights and listen to music. They are more comfortable surrounded by the dead than by the living, further adding to their brooding nature. Poe also suffers from anger issues, often feeling irate emotions with no discernible target or cause. All this very strongly implies that Poe is a member of the Goth subculture.

Additionally, Poe repeatedly insists that their nighttime routine is not a phase, implying their friends are not supportive of these late excursions.

History

Chapter 4: Safe Haven

In the Toy Graveyard, after The Shelf's gate closes and The Player approaches it, along with the Mini Huggies and other Nightmares Critters, several Poe plush toys appear to attack them, while they defend themselves with Flare Hand. As soon as The Player leaves The Shelf entrance, the attacks subside and the Poe plushies, as well as other Nightmare Critters and Mini Huggies, retreat.

On the East Block's lower floor, on The Doctor's orders, as well as other Nightmare Critters, several Poe plush toys appear to attack The Player, who tries to repel them again using the Flare Hand. After a certain amount of time in which The Player is tested by The Doctor, he uses a sound of Yarnaby's roar, causing the Poe plush toys, as well as the Nightmare Critters and Mini Huggies, to retreat.

In the Holding Area, while the Player is being chased by the big Baba Chops, a big Poe is found inside one of the cages guarding a Battery.

As The Player walks through the Foundation cave to collect explosives, several Poe plush toys, as well as other Nightmare Critters plush toys, and Mini Huggies reappear and attack, forcing them to counterattack using the Flare Hand.

Trivia

• Poe was the sixth Nightmare Critter to have their description revealed on Twitter (X).
• Poe may be named after Edgar Allan Poe, the author of numerous dark poems, his most famous being "The Raven".
• Their pendant, a thundercloud, could be a reference to Grumpy Bear, as well as their perpetually pessimistic and reclusive nature.
• Cinnamon is used traditionally as an aromatic spice and was used for embalming the dead in ancient Egypt.
  • There has been another theory that the scent of cinnamon is described as warm and spicy. This, in turn, could play as a contrast to Poe's personality, which is cold and brooding, almost as if they might have a hidden warm side to them beneath their irate demeanor.
• Poe is the only Critter to solely use "they/them" pronouns.
  • If that is the case, then Poe does not seem to have a gender of any sort.
• They have the shortest name out of all the Critters (both Smiling and Nightmare lines).
• Poe is the second Critter to be an avian, the first being KickinChicken.
• They are the first Critter to not have another word in their name, as every other Critter in the Playtime Co. franchise aside from Touille has at least one other word.
• Poe is the second Critter to use a lightning bolt in their pendant, with the first one being Hoppy Hopscotch. Granted, the lightning is a part of a thundercloud.
• They and Icky Licky are the only Nightmare Critters to lack teeth.
• They may potentially have multiple opposite parallels to the Smiling Critters.
  • CatNap, because the former regularly sleeps or has lower energy than the Smiling Critters, and Poe spends all night visiting graveyards.
  • DogDay could also be an opposite because he prefers to see the brightness in every situation. However, Poe is pessimistic, preferring grungier weather and embracing the darkness, even going so far as to hate the sun.
  • Their last comparison could possibly be to Bobby BearHug, wherein she's naturally kind and sweet, but Poe, because of their irate and edgy personality, might tend to be more uncaring about others' feelings and the world they live in.
• They are the second Nightmare Critter to have their plush form revealed after Baba Chops from the Chapter 4 Teaser Trailer.
  • A Poe plush is seen on the left in the trailer before being squished by Yarnaby's paw.
  • Said plush didn't appear torn up or ruined like the Smiling Critters before getting killed by Yarnaby, which can leave up for interpretation that the other Nightmare Critters might not be ruined.
  • Unlike their artwork, Poe's Plush has arms akin to the critters plushies despite having wings for arms just like Poe.
• As mentioned earlier, Poe insists that their nighttime routine is not a phase. It can be reasonably plausible that Poe is often bullied by the other Nightmare Critters like Rabie Baby, Icky Licky and Simon Smoke, and that going out into the graveyards at night all alone might be a coping mechanism to make them feel safer. However this is likely a reference to a comedy trope associated with stock goth characters from the 1990s and early 2000s, where an adult character would imply that their gothness was a phase they were going through and they would reply with the aforementioned denial. This trope was especially common in children's animation making something that the target audience of the Nightmare Critters would recognize and find as a humorous reference.