Poppy Playtime

This article is about the character. You may have been looking for the game or movie of the same name.

Poppy's sold you her story, of course. Innocence is bliss. This article may have information that contains spoilers for Poppy Playtime. Please read at your own discretion!

Each answer was different... and I could perhaps see some little truth in each. This article includes information that has been theorized by fans. It is not canon nor confirmed if the information on this page will be/is official! Reason: A lot of parts of the article talk about Poppy Playtime's experiment being made in the 1960s. However, while this is heavily implied to be the case, it has not been confirmed.

Poppy Playtime

Gallery

Audio

Poppy Playtime
Full name	Poppy Playtime (toy)
Aliases	Miss Poppy (by Mommy Long Legs) Captain (by Ollie)
Family	Elliot Ludwig (father) Molly Ludwig (mother)
Affiliation	Playtime Co. (formerly) Safe Haven † (former home) Kissy Missy (ally) The Player (ally) DogDay † (former ally) Boogie Bot † (ally) Doey the Doughman † (former ally) Ollie † (former ally) The Prototype (arch-enemy) Mommy Long Legs † (enemy) CatNap † (enemy) Harley Sawyer † (enemy)
Biographical Information
Status	Alive (hidden)
Date of birth	1960s (toy)
Creation date	1950 (toy) 1960s (experiment)
Date of death	1960s (human)
Physical Information
Species	Porcelain doll Experiment Human (formerly)
Gender	Female
Height	2.5ft/0.75m
Appearances
Role	Deuteragonist
Voiced by	Nola Klop Kotori Hikari (Spanish) Lucila Bach (Portuguese)
Appears in	Poppy Playtime Maintenance Poppy Playtime Orientation Notebook
Debut	Poppy Playtime Maintenance Chapter 1: "A Tight Squeeze" (in-game)

“	Listen... I'm not your enemy, but I can't just let you leave. What's happening down here is bigger than all of us. And I need you... so we can get revenge on those monsters who've tortured you... who've tortured us.	”
— Poppy Playtime noicon

Poppy Playtime is the titular character and main deuteragonist of Poppy Playtime, having debuted in Chapter 1: "A Tight Squeeze". Her product line is the first known to be produced by Playtime Co.. In the Untitled Tape in Chapter 4: "Safe Haven", it's revealed that Poppy is the daughter of Elliot Ludwig, the founder of Playtime Co..

Appearance

An official render of Poppy Playtime.

Poppy is a small and beautiful porcelain doll with white skin, she has curly red hair with a big bang and tied in pigtails with blue bows, thin black eyebrows, long black eyelashes, big blue eyes, small nose, freckles, red cheeks, red lips and a pull-string on her back. After the Train accident, she has a small crack on her right cheek. Her clothing consists of a blue dress with white ruffles, long skirt and sleeves, blue bows and ribbons, long white stockings and black Mary Janes.

Personality

In her commercial, Poppy is portrayed as a social, outgoing, dainty, and elegant individual. She cares a lot about her appearance and always wants to look her best, as demonstrated by the Vintage Poppy Commercial. Poppy is also very courteous, politely asking her owner if they could polish her shoes and brush her hair.

As a living doll, although she still retains her general personality, Poppy behaves differently to her commercialized persona. At the start of Chapter 2, Poppy is first introduced with a bubbly, caring personality, thanking The Player for freeing her, patiently waiting for them as they climb up the vents in the Backrooms and offering help to escape the factory. She continues this behavior throughout Chapter 2, however towards the end she begins to ask disturbing questions that hint towards a darker personality, for example, after The Player kills Mommy Long Legs and frees Poppy, she asks The Player: "Did you kill her?"

Once Mommy has been dealt with, Poppy joins The Player in boarding the Gamestation Train. After entering the Train Code and starting the Train, Poppy commends The Player for following her wishes and being capable of doing whatever she asks. The train derails, preventing any escape.

In Chapter 3, it is revealed that Poppy is seeking revenge on The Prototype for the torture that she and others suffered at his hands, fearing that he would kill them if they tried to leave. She seems to have connections with Kissy Missy, as she was able to persuade her to cease attacking The Player, and showing significant distress when Missy was attacked offscreen at the conclusion of the chapter. She has been shown to be intelligent as Doey the Doughman said that Poppy told them what to do, where to go and how to do it, and it all made sense. Later, Doey proclaims, that Poppy is selfish, and that she is the one who only cares for herself and her own goals, due to her obsession with her main goal to get personal revenge on The Prototype. He also accused her and The Player in ruining everything.

However, throughout the entire series, it is heavily implied that Poppy, despite her outwardly pleasant and outgoing appearance as a friend, her deeds have come across as questionable. Based on many, many years of being locked inside her case with not much knowledge on how the world in real-life works, she often gets herself in a lot of trouble, a key example being that she did not notice how nothing was amiss about Ollie, who retained the same childish voice after years of contact.

Story

Backstory

Poppy was one of Playtime Co.'s very first toys and, for 34 consecutive years, held the record as the company’s most popular toy. She was originally created in 1950 as a doll designed to behave and interact with her owner in a realistic way— a feature demonstrated through a supposedly natural conversation during the Poppy Vintage commercial, which would have been revolutionary for its time. Thanks to her adorable style and incredible responsiveness, Poppy put Playtime Co. on the map as a leader in toy innovation.

Eventually, an experiment version of Poppy Playtime was created, as one of the many experiments that predated the Bigger Bodies Initiative. This version of Poppy was made using the parts of Elliot Ludwig's daughter, who was probably the deceased family member mentioned in Ludwig's biography. She would be contained in a shrine dedicated to her, with a side door in the room providing a direct route to Elliot Ludwig's Office. Following Elliot Ludwig's death, Poppy remained at the factory and was subjected to experimentation from the scientists.

Poppy Playtime Maintenance Tape

Poppy Playtime Maintenance is a tape that was not intended to be seen by the public eye. It is only accessible through the Poppy Playtime steam page and the official Mob Entertainment YouTube channel. For a tape that simply demonstrates to the viewer how to take care of one's Poppy Playtime doll, it contains more secrets than one would expect.

As the VHS tape plays, it grows increasingly bizarre and twisted. The footage skips the third and fourth steps, and then the camera aims at Poppy laying face-down, eyes closed, apparently unconscious. The footage then cuts to a pair of medical forceps pulling out Poppy's voice box, which is eerily soaked in blood. Poppy screams a roiling torrent of 'LET ME GO' at the unseen perpetrators, hinting that she has become sentient and is desperate to escape this torture.

This footage further supports that, like Huggy Wuggy and other toy experiments, Poppy was once human.

A horrified Poppy witnessing The Hour of Joy in the Sleep Well music video.

At some point prior to The Hour of Joy, Poppy becomes friends with Ollie.

Ollie VHS Tape

In Chapter 4, a tape of Poppy and Ollie reveals a conversation between them. Poppy is heard crying and Ollie asking her if she is okay. When Poppy does not want to reveal anything to Ollie, Ollie begs her to talk. Poppy says she is scared and angry and does not know what to do. Poppy explains the bad men have been taking her apart and putting her back together over and over. She says then that every time they open her up, she feels less of what she is. Poppy complains that she feels she is a "thing". Ollie assures her that "I am always here for you."

Poppy also encountered The Prototype at some stage before The Hour of Joy, though she did not share his goals and beliefs, she was led to believe that he was planning to help all the toys escape the factory without violence and so kept his plans quiet. On August 8, 1995, during The Hour of Joy, she was horrified by the carnage unfolding before her and refused to participate, opting to avert her gaze from the massacre. Ultimately, Poppy was traumatized by this event and the screams of the guilty and the innocent who perished were burned into her memory.

Untitled VHS Tape

In Chapter 4, Poppy makes a tape after The Hour of Joy. After witnessing the event's aftermath, The Prototype visited her again and explained to her that the toys were not going to be released from the factory, as there was a risk that they would be captured and subjected to further experimentation, leading to the creation of more of their kind, leaving her horrified at the truth to his words despite it meaning that all the toys would eventually cannibalize each other to survive. Poppy explains that she misses Elliot Ludwig, her dad, and the talks that he would give her. It is implied that after recording this tape, the Prototype imprisoned her inside the glass case in the Poppy Room, hoping that she would come to his way of thinking. During her imprisonment, she devised a plan to dethrone 1006 upon her release. Poppy would remain imprisoned in her shrine for a decade (1995-2005) until the eventual return of The Player in the year 2005.

Chapter 1: "A Tight Squeeze"

Poppy is first seen when The Player receives an unexpected letter and a VHS tape from an unknown individual in the year 2005. The tape is about Vintage Poppy Commercial where it proposes an ad for the new Poppy Playtime doll. Later, she is first encountered by The Player after they escaped from Huggy Wuggy, seemingly resting while contained within a glass case in the final room of the Poppy Room. Without a second thought, The Player opens the case after thinking that Poppy might be left to dust if they leave her behind in the room. The lights start to flicker rapidly before it cuts out and Poppy's eyes open. As The Player loses consciousness, they hear Poppy's voice acknowledging her release.

Chapter 2: "Fly in a Web"

Poppy is first met at the very start of the game following the Mommy Long Legs Commercial in The Player's dream. She begins by whispering to wake up, repeating the command more forcefully and becoming visible after it begins to glitch. The commercial then cuts to black, and The Player wakes up alone from the dream in the Poppy Room until meeting her again in the Backrooms when she accidentally pushes a crate over. Poppy states that she was just trying to get the power back on, before allowing The Player to use their GrabPack to solve the electrical puzzle within the room. She reveals that she's been stuck in that case for so long, offering to return the favor after 'saving' her from imprisonment.

Poppy tells The Player to help him escape, she says that they can get to the Game Station and escape on the Train because she has the Train Code. Poppy then helps The Player navigate the Train Station via the vents, before reuniting in a room with a large hole, surrounded by locked doors. Poppy stands at the edge of the hole, and begins telling The Player that they need to trust her. Poppy is interrupted mid-sentence, as she is abruptly abducted by Mommy Long Legs.

Poppy is next seen in the clutches of Mommy in the Game Station Hallway. Mommy mocks a gagged Poppy, puppeteering the doll as she insists that just giving the codes would be no fun. Instead, Mommy then whisks Poppy away and presents her as a reward (alongside the codes) for successfully completing three deadly games, each with their own antagonists. Upon completion of all three mini-games, an irate Mommy chases The Player to her undoing.

After going through Bay 09, Poppy is found in the Game Station Control room trapped in spiderwebs, alongside the final piece of Train Code. Upon release, Poppy's bubbly, fun personality has given way to a darker one, as she coldly asks if Mommy is dead. She congratulates The Player then boards the train to leave. Once the train begins its journey, Poppy explains how she has "had so much time to think and reflect" whilst trapped inside the case, and how she wants to "set things right" as "terrible things have happened" and she knows The Player is capable of doing whatever she needs. Before Poppy can finish her monologue, she is caught off guard by the sound of an alarm clock, only having enough time to exclaim her surprise before the audio cuts off. The Train then speeds up alarmingly before it eventually derails and crashes, with the sign for Playcare visible before The Player blacks out again.

Chapter 3: "Deep Sleep"

The Player meets up with Poppy again in Playcare where she stops Kissy Missy from attacking them, reassuring her that they aren't a threat. Poppy then explains the truth behind the whole ordeal, as she was imprisoned in the case by the Prototype for opposing it. She could not let them leave until they help her defeat 1006, who would have killed them for trying to escape.

When The Player enters the Safe Room, Poppy gives them a rundown of the location, with a tutorial of how to survive CatNap. She discloses that placing batteries in a battery slot near the terminal will power up the outlet for the Green GrabPack Hand, allowing them to hold the monster back. She ends the call hoping that The Player does not die.

After CatNap is defeated, Poppy plays a tape to The Player that reveals the event known as The Hour of Joy, where it shows what happened to the company's staff 10 years ago. As the duo leave Kissy behind to go down an elevator, they hear banging and screaming. A greatly distressed Poppy tries to move the platform back up, but the hatch closes before they can make it, stranding Poppy and The Player in the depths of the factory.

Chapter 4: "Safe Haven"

After being separated from Kissy, The Player and Poppy are on the elevator. Poppy explains to The Player that she needs to leave them to help Kissy.

Poppy appears much later in the chapter to help The Player hide from The Prototype, having found Kissy badly-injured. They then lead The Player to the Safe Haven, where Doey the Doughman and other various smaller toys reside. She then asks for The Player to go to Doey. Once The Player has spoken to Doey, Poppy tells them her plan: to lay old mining charges at the foundation of the factory and fill it with the red smoke redirected from Playcare. She also reveals that the orphans are still alive, being held asleep in the Prototype's lair, and that they will liberate them before detonating the red smoke and demolishing the factory.

After defeating The Doctor, the Player returns to the Safe Haven, where they are reunited with Poppy and Doey. When the Prototype comes to Safe Haven, Poppy says that she will try and gather the others in there.

Following the destruction of the Safe Haven and the death of Doey, The Player finds Poppy and Kissy in Shelf Ventilation Block B6. Poppy questions The Player on why they killed Doey and whether they even carried out the plan. She unsuccessfully tries to contact Ollie. Ollie instead contacts her and in the course of the conversation reveals that he is The Prototype. Poppy defiantly tells him that Huggy, Mommy, CatNap and The Doctor are dead, that he had nothing and that soon he would have even less, with the execution of her plan. The Prototype tells her to "stop that", telling her that she does not need to pretend to be stronger than she is and imploring her to "come home". Poppy questions The Prototype on how much he knows about the plan, throwing the phone down in despair when The Prototype replies "everything". Poppy asks whether there ever was an Ollie, to which The Prototype tells her that there was, but it was a very long time ago. As he surrounds their location, The Prototype tells her what was going to happen next: he had something special in mind for Poppy: he is going to find Poppy and take her to a place that she will not ever want to leave. He also threatened to deal with what was left of her collaborators. Poppy panics, stating that she can't go back in the case and flees, abandoning The Player and Kissy Missy to their fate.

Abilities and Anatomy

Poppy, with her tiny stature, can navigate her way through the vents effortlessly to get around the factory. This allows her to follow The Player with relative ease and even get ahead of them. She also seems to have a knack for using machinery (or is at least familiar with their use), as she changed the direction of the train at the last second with ease and was able to easily activate a lift in Playcare.

Similarly to the Bigger Bodies experiments, Poppy contains some organic components as seen in the maintenance tape. The exact nature of these components is unknown, as well as whether she experiences the same hunger as other experiments.

Gallery

Render of Poppy Playtime in Chapter 4.

Trivia

• During development, Poppy's original name was Tina Toytime.
• Poppy is modeled after Talking Tina from the Twilight Zone & has the color scheme of Chucky from Child's Play.
• Poppy may be inspired by Annabelle, a doll that is theorized to be possessed by a demon.
• It is theorized the song Poppy hums (The Thousand Year Melody) is a song her mom used to hum to her during bedtime, before she was reanimated as Poppy.
• The Poppy doll is seemingly the original and only prototype and example of its toy type.
• In the original teaser material Poppy had an apparently blank personality, but was still willing to help the Player in return for assistance. Her unused train ending also includes an offer to help, despite the disappearance of the majority of employees.
• Both Stella Greyber and Poppy Playtime share the same voice actress.
  • Whether or not this is intentional as per the developer's decision, or simply due to shortage of voice providers, it is still worth noting.
  • Whilst it was theorized that Stella Greyber was Poppy, Chapter 2 disproves this by showing that Stella was still around during 1991 when Mommy Long Legs was created.
• It is also speculated by many fans that Poppy Playtime is the adopted daughter of Elliot Ludwig.
  • This is confirmed in the Unknown Tape.
  • While the experiment was a success, Elliot isn't exactly sure what he did, based on the note about Experiment 814 in his office.
• Extracts of poppies in real life are known as opium. The species of flower itself is also sometimes referred to as the Opium Poppy. Interestingly, opium is a drug used to induce death-like sleep and lull, while the flower itself was later worshiped widely as it was believed to have supernatural healing properties.
  • It was most probably why Experiment 814 was carried out: to learn and achieve immortality.
• Although Poppy is revealed to be The Player's ally in Chapter 2, at the time it was partially theorized that she has many ulterior motives which could lead to her becoming an anti-hero or an antagonist; however, she might just need The Player's help to defeat the Prototype and end its reign of terror.
  • The latter theory was proven correct as in Chapter 3, it is revealed that she wants to extract revenge against the Prototype for torturing her and other innocent victims in the factory, and that she isn't evil. Also, the true reason why she would not let The Player leave is because she was trying to save their life.

Deleted, longer audio of Poppy.

• A deleted audio of Poppy features a longer line from her if she hadn't been interrupted from talking to The Player by Mommy Long Legs kidnapping her by dragging her into the large hole. The deleted audio features Poppy instructing The Player on where to go.

Deleted animation of Poppy by animator Alice Smith.

• A deleted animation from a Mob Entertainment animator reveals that Poppy used to have a more monotone voice and stoic personality from the start of Chapter 2; she lacks the energetic and joyful persona she ultimately has in the final game. In the animation, Poppy's monologue is longer and consists of information pertaining to the game's plot like foreshadowing Mommy Long Legs potentially being a threat.
• A deleted, fully recorded audio of Poppy showed an alternate ending that Poppy was supposed to have. In the audio, Poppy's voice is a lot more monotone and her monologue was longer, revealing various information pertaining to the plot that was ultimately removed from the final game. The full, unedited audio can be found below.

Poppy Unused Train Monologue

Transcript: Poppy Playtime You did it! Against all odds you defeated Mommy. And you freed me! Once again. You are perfect. Too perfect to lose. I'm sorry. I cannot let you leave yet. You have so much potential. I know you came to find the ones who had disappeared all those years ago. But they're gone. They've been gone for a long time. Terrible things have happened... and I am the cause. Being able to exist as a doll, it has killed so many people. So much is unknown to you... Where do I even begin? But you can fix everything! I see it inside you... this train is now heading towards Playcare... it's the best place to start looking."

• In the early concept of the game The Player would be chasing Poppy around, first following her to where Huggy Wuggy was killed, than a 10 minute parkour would happen. This was scrapped due to being too funny for the developers chasing Poppy around, and that the parkour would be annoying.
• It's possible to avoid freeing Poppy from the webs of Mommy Long Legs at the end of Chapter 2, because of a glitch. If The Player drops down to the train station tracks and jump into the train, they can get in via a glitch. If they check the web with the train code (also containing Poppy Playtime imprisoned within), or just guess, they'll be able to start the train. This will allow The Player to complete Chapter 2 with Poppy Playtime still captured. Though she'll still talk to the Player at the ending of Chapter 2, and appear in Chapter 3 and 4, because avoiding freeing her was not intended.
• Poppy has connections to many other characters who also serve as allies to The Player:
  • She teamed up with Kissy Missy in Chapter 3.
  • She also knows Ollie, who informed her and that other friendly inhabitants of The Player's actions. That is until she discovers that Ollie is actually the Prototype.
  • DogDay also knows her, as he knew that The Player and Poppy are the only ones who can stop the Prototype.
    • This is further supported when DogDay refers to The Player as, "Poppy's Angel."
  • Doey is also an ally to her as she was upset that the Player killed him, unaware that they were manipulated by the Prototype.
  • The critters in Safe Haven also looked to her for guidance, though many felt betrayed at her disappearance while she was locked in the case.
• Despite being the mascot of Playtime Co., she is the only character to not have a cardboard cutout.
• Poppy is the third experiment to have a preexisting relationship with a figure of importance, the first being CatNap and the second being Yarnaby.
• According to Harley Sawyer, Poppy played a part in the Hour of Joy, and he was not surprised that she didn’t tell the whole story. This is also hinted in the VHS Tape with Poppy.
• Poppy bears a strong resemblance, both in appearance and mannerisms, to the main antagonist of the Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location game: Circus Baby.
  • In terms of appearance, both characters have red hair tied up into pigtails, pale facial appearances with rosy red cheeks and doll-like appearances.
  • Through the events of Poppy Playtime, it is hinted that Poppy may have ulterior plans and hidden motives for The Player. This is especially evident upon the discussion between The Prototype and Poppy in the end of Chapter 4 with The Prototype claiming that Poppy does not "need to pretend anymore". This, combined with Poppy's questionable motives such as misleading the player are similar to Circus Baby's apparent helpful nature in the beginning of Sister Location, pretending to help the player up until her eventual betrayal to the player during the games' events.
  • Additionally, Circus Baby is haunted by soul of Elizabeth Afton, the deceased daughter of William Afton, founder of Afton Robotics, LLC. This mirrors Poppy's own creation being the adopted daughter of Elliot Ludwig, the founder of Playtime Co.
• Poppy is believed to be the first toy invented by Playtime Co. with Bron being the second toy after her creation.