Theodore Grambell - Blog Posts

MORE ABOUT LIBBY AND #1202.

(this Sketch are the first concept about Libby and Dogday + a little Bit of lore of them).

MORE ABOUT LIBBY:

As mentioned above, she was an orphan who ended up in the playtime CO adoption program to be adopted by one of the employees at playcare, and was selected as to be one of the smiling critters, specifically; Dogday. (I don't think that the gender of the children is a great influence in deciding which children will be experiments for the bigger bodies initiative.)

She lost her parents because of a "strange religion" so the topic is something delicate for her.

Originally due to all the reasons, the team of scientists wanted to place it in "experimentation" as soon as possible (#1189-#1201); However, it started to be a problem when a certain Playtime manager had taken a liking to her and had her under some protection.

She was known for being a quite sociable and charismatic child among other orphans, however with adults she was a completely different thing being withdrawn and quiet.

She used to be constantly hurt and wearing Band-Aids (playTime co. trademark) due to her own childhood hyperactivity and was often an easy target for older children caused by the panic of not being adopted. (Libby in general did not usually betray them or return evil because she did not see the point of revenge).

Extra note: he reason for her appearance in the story (specifically her haircut and several of his clothes) is based on several protagonists of Ghibli films.

She favorite food was the po' boys sandwiches and chicken and waffles (which causes a misunderstanding when, already converted into dogday, he said "man, how much I would kill to eat a po' boy" and catnap left him the body of a deceased child).

Her favorites Playtime Co. toys are the smiling critters, Candy cat and PJ pug-a-pillar (although Libby was only able to buy 2 smiling critters at the toy store during his entire stay at playcare)

She hates the playtime Co. Doctor's, according to her because they were very rude and scary.

Libby "died" at the age of 9 due to an attack by the prototype.

About Dogday/#1202:

It should be noted that Libby's clear annoyance and confusion at being turned into dogday made it difficult for the playtime co. scientists deal with him.

The biggest problem in being turned into dogday in a curious way was not the fact that it was referred to as masculine; Instead, they put Dr. Sawyer's voice on the voice box.

extra note: dogday has no problem being referred to as a boy (he/him), however it was VERY confusing for him at first and many times he did not respond or had a hard time saying that; so he started referring to himself in the third person "dogday says..." or "dogday thinks...". He keeps his true identity a secret so that there is no confusion about what to call him (although he will be happy when he is treated femininely)

Returning to the topic of the voice box, this was a strategy of scientists who were aware of the fear and rejection that Dr. Harley Sawyer and that unlike Elliot Ludwing, he did not have a very charismatic personality or very kind to them in general. So, adding the fact that they had to turn Libby into an experiment, they thought that if Dogday had the same voice and interacted with the little ones in a friendly way, they could trick the children into confusing the smiling critter's voice with that of the scientist. (Dogday refused to collaborate; being the one who fears and rejects the doctor the most, so he learned to imitate the cartoon's voice as best as possible).

That made him create a sworn enmity with the scientists; constantly punishing him when the children did not see him, denying him food and when they gave him food it was portions of poor quality raw meat (which made Dogday prefer to endure hunger than eat it).

Not counting that enmity with the scientists, due to his duties in the counselor's office as an assistant and "therapy dog" for the children who came, he had a broader perspective that there were "angel employees" and "evil employees." even witnessing when one was upset about the whereabouts of one of the children he was going to adopt and hearing their complains about not being able to get out of there.

About... PLAYER?!:

(hell yeah... This story is more complicated...)

Remember when I mentioned that the reason Libby hadn't been experimented on before was because a high-up Playtime official had taken a liking to her? well, whoever she was the player is the person.

At first both were irrelevant to each other's lives (the player because he was just another worker, and Libby because of her shyness with adults); However, after an absurd incident with Barry's toy, it was enough for them to meet.

Once Libby had come into confidence with Player, she can't pronounce his name correctly, so she affectionately call to him as "Mr. Angel" and ran to hug him, give him drawings and crafts made in class whenever she could.

The scientists thought that perhaps it was a ruse to get the girl to believe in him, in any case they knew that he had already done more terrible things for the company... but they were shocked to know that he was taking the issue of Libby seriously as a legitimate adoption. even giving her gifts along the way (including the famous "tragedy dress").

Once Player entered the complex adoption process to be able to take Libby from Playcare, he learned the worst side of the scientists and managers of Playtime Co.; He spent two whole years fighting for it until he was able to find a legal loophole where either the girl would be handed over to him or he would publicly declare everything the company has done without caring that it would sink him in the process.

...unfortunately the day he was going to take her, she disappeared and only a bloody piece of the sunflower dress she was wearing that day appeared; and scientists left her for dead in an accident in the restricted area.

After Libby's disappearance and "dead", Player was never able to return to playcare so he demanded to be changed sections shortly before Dogday went into operation. They were never able to cross paths again.

a massacre and 10 years later; They cross paths again. Dogday cannot recognize his "Mr. Angel" and only called him that because it was the first time in a long time that he heard friendly footsteps; However, the mere fact that he referred to "Angel" and that player assumed that all the bigger bodies were children, it didn't take him long to realize that that poor ragged dog would be his sweet little Libby.

The shock of that possibility was so great that the mere idea made him remain paralyzed while the bigger dog said his monologue before he warned him to run away from there.

Extra note: in the timeline where he did react in time and saved Dogday from that cruel fate, he couldn't help but burst into tears and hug him, begging for forgiveness. while dogday would be confused.

About Theodore Grambel/Catnap/#1188:

(Let's not lie to each other, everyone even me came for this-)

Ohh boy... How I can start this?...

Their relationship was one-sized from minute 0.

Libby wanted to be friends with Theo however she wanted, because she considered him to be a very shy and quiet boy; Theodore, she tried to talk about him all the time with different topics until she could find a common topic.

Theodore for his way... he only considered her annoying and a waste of time to spend with his true friend, 1006.

Which got worse when Libby realized that, like her, he was a fan of the smilling critters show and that it bothered him that Catnap had disappeared from the shelves (she was even able to give him his catnap stuffed animal to keep him happy; which he still thinks is a nuisance but he appreciates the stuffed animal)

When Theodore disappeared, Libby got really sad; while Theo couldn't care less that it was Libby's... that is, until her resistance to her poppy gas became present and Catnap had to be more aware of her. (in the end it could be useful to his angel)

dogday also strived to be friendly with catnap and that it will integrate with the others.

That unilateral dynamic is cut when the theme of the "hour of joy" becomes present.

dogday understands everyone's motives in wanting to participate; but it starts to be a problem for catnap when your "and there's no other way?" along with their “and then what?” They made other toys start to doubt the prototype... that annoyance towards Dogday turned into legitimate hatred.

Extra note: In an alternative line where Theo likes Libby things would be slightly different, he would be rude because he doesn't know how to be sweet with her and he would even ask 1006 for advice on how to be romantic (of course it would end in failure).

Despite everything, for Dogday things would only end up being him alone, being the last smiling critter standing, completely a prisoner and feeling stupid for having wanted to be friends with that thing called catnap.

Them.

New tumblr header. :)

(Spoilers for Smaller Bodies; no spoilers for Destroy-A-Toy)

For anyone new to the AU, this is Queen Catnap, Dogday, Ollie and Theodore. Here’s a brief description of each one.

Queen Kitty was the first Catnap. Autistic and transgender, she was built with a knockout gas tank in her lungs. Her anger towards PlayCo mounted and she attacked them. She was sent to be killed but instead built a cult following with the other “destroyed” toys.

Dogday is the Smiling Critters’ leader who loves routine and pushes the entire orphanage forward each day. He believes Kitty was killed - he doesn’t know about the cult - and mourns her everyday through prayer and reciting loving memories. He’d get rather a shock when he finds out the truth.

Ollie Playtime is the company’s Security and Comms head. They also control medical supplies, file management and company censorship. They were taken from home and experimented on at 14, and now at 18, they’re using the experimentation blackmail to climb the company’s ranks and gain power.

Theodore Grambell is a tiny child adopted with the sole purpose of experimentation. He never played with the other kids or smiled like they did. For someone so young, he feels lost, empty. He was never given a chance to grow up. He may be sentenced to death soon but for what little life he had, he’s doing to make sure he’s remembered.

They’re my four favourite Smaller Bodies/Destroy-A-Toy characters :)

~🌘☀️🐬🌒~

I reached 150 followers recently!

Huge gracias to anyone following the AU. I’m so grateful to finally be confident enough to share my things <3

“I POSSESS A QUESTION, ONE ASKED OF MY PEOPLE. I AM BLESSED TO HAVE BEEN BROUGHT TO LIFE SURROUNDED NOT BY HERETICAL HUMANS BUT BY THESE "SMALLER BODIES". THEY HAVE WELCOMED ME TO THEIR QUARTERS.”

There's a new toy on board! Introducing BigNap! (Unless a more eloquent name is suggested!)

Sarificed for research and condemned to an unsustainable body, Theodore Grambell's old body has melted away at the hands of Miss Delight and Harley Sawyer. His mind has been reignited in a different vessel - one twelve feet tall and with the power to tear a school bus in half.

But it's alright, because while BigNap may be vengeful and venomous, he's quite the dear little kitty to those dang Smaller Bodies in the Playcare.

So much so that he's introduced in the very first chapter of Destroy-A-Toy! It's underway!

Now, Bigger Bodies Catnap's question is:

(He asks because his debut is in the very first story for DAT and therefore his formatting must be worked out.)

How This Creature Works

Big Catnap, as colloquially named by the Critters, children and teachers of the Playcare, is the new-and-improved replacement for that old, faulty thing who cried too much. He is twelve feet tall and an absolute tank - if you ignore the protruding ribcage and ominous growling stomach.

Appearance

The same as the Catnap found in the original Poppy Playtime. Big Catnap is a large, scrawny creature with a protruding spinal chord and disconcerting slices of ribcage jutting from his paper-thin skin. His eyes are minuscule and set deep into mouth-like sockets. His fur is abyssal-dark felt soft to the touch.

Deep inside his throat, if one were to look, pipes could be found. Who knows what they produce?

Personality

Quiet, docile and allegedly "friend-shaped" (according to my friend Foxfire), this Catnap looks like he can kill you but is in fact a cinnamon roll. At least, to people he likes. Otherwise you can expect yourself to be on the plate.

BigNap is possessive over the Playcare children and loving towards toy experiments - but has a VERY strong hostility to humans. This is an issue because of the upcoming Toy Tour…

Theodore gasses the children not out of obligation but out of concern for their health and sleep.

Biology

A creature of this size requires LOTS of food. The problem is - he isn’t given the correct amount. Why drain resources for an experiment that may not survive anyway? As such, Big Catnap is constantly just one bite off from a full belly.

His tank possesses MUCH greater quantities of poppy gas - however, it’s watered down. The gas:

Takes up to 10 minutes to knock out children and 30 for adults

Does not leach oxygen

Works slowly but surely to lull the victim to sleep

This is NOT how Smaller Bodies Catnap works. Her smoke is quick-working and oppressive while this Catnap works much more as a calm, steady, peaceful lull to sleep.

-🌟🌙✨-

THEO!!! 💜

Here!!

Bye bye, little guy. <3

55 BOOKMARKS :0

According to the poll… you want a longer fic going to 1995.

Okay! Planning time! As of now, Smaller Bodies is 88k words. I’m gonna try to round it off to 100k, though this may a little hard because I still have to get Catnap… apprehended.

Then?

New series, same universe.

Destroy-A-Toy starts when the world ends.

My writing’s currently stunted because of Art Fight, but I’m still writing, just slower. Several people mentioned to me that Sugar Breath takes a different approach to the other stories, in which case, thanks! :D Most of it’s been told from Catnap’s POV, but I wanted to check out how the other Critters perceive her.

I might write one-shots to do with more Theo and Ollie because I love those two BUT. As MrMateusz says: TheoNap.

In no order, here’s my list of cryptic stuff to work on:

Get Smaller Bodies to 100k words

“And Then We All Fell (Silent)”

Pre-Hour of Joy

VERY depressed Dogday

Another cat and dog

Gender phone call + enby pook

SHE’S GRANTING US VISIONS!!

*sprays Theodore Grambell with water*

Umm why is he drawing Harley Sawyer getting his legs ripped off…?

Collect my friends’/fan’s OCs for reasons

Write the dramatic scenes to Edda Hayes music 👇

“Don’t need a knight to guard the cave, can’t count the dragons that I’ve slayed

You can give it all you’ve got

‘Cause love is running through my veins, this lion can’t be tamed

There’s fire in my blood

There’s fire in my blood…

BURN.”

…

And finally, let me just say…

Smaller Bodies is the 1991 half.

Destroy-A-Toy is 1995.

💜💛🔥

“And when the bad people jab sticks into you and make you feel horrible, I promise I’ll be there, okay?”

“They don't understand you like I do.”

“Are they going to punish me for this?”

“I won’t be here forever, but… you’ll always be my best friend. :-)”

DOODLE DUMP 💪💪💪

Catnap and Dogday!

Bunzo and Ollie!

Theodore G and the Prototype!

(☝️digital version in progress)

Kissy and Poppy/Ollie and Poppy

Catnap stalking!

Miss Delight and Ollie!

(☝️ apologies for the smudges. Ollie was being a 4’ shit)

Theodore Grambell gives me MASSIVE Omori vibes, so I thought: what would they look like together?

(this is genuinely going to be his design now because I'm in love with this :))

💜💜💜

psst... you should join the cult

(👆 Catnap, Dogday, Miss Delight, Ollie, Poppy and Theodore)

Get a load of these little idiots!!

Dogday, Catnap, Ollie and Theodore!

Theodore isn't a toy but he snuck in here using that dang GrabPack of his… Ollie’s design is my own, and Theo’s based off his picture in the canon!

All of them come from my AU Smaller Bodies! 🧡💜❤️💚

Has...

Has nobody actually made a "The Prototype actually left Theo behind and escaped" AU?

Like, Theodore still becomes Catnap because an employee finds him and the scientists decide it's easier than trying to keep him alive.

The Prototype is not gone for long. There are numerous sightings of a "monster" outside the factory before they capture him, leading to some unwanted press, but eventually they do get him back.

But with a Theo who was left for dead, I doubt he would even trust the Prototype anymore. The one he befriended, stole files for, helped escape just left him there while he was in pain and dying.

I wonder what such a version of Catnap would be like...

This is such an amazing and phenomenal analysis that I am simply speechless...

Thank you so much for this, it's a shame I found it so late but I just want to say I love the way you think 😭❤️

Also...Soldier Prototype! You're literally the only person I've ever seen, besides me, who thought that Prototype might have a soldier background XD

Absolutely obsessed with the ecosystem and interpersonal political implications going on in Poppy Playtime right now, like.

What we have in the Playtime Co factory is a society made up of creatures who were all, at one point, human. And while it's stated that the experiments have varying levels of intelligence and ability to recall their former lives, we know that a lot of them, if not all of them, retained at least some of their humanity post-transformation. For example:

Most of the experiments are angry, resentful and vengeful towards Playtime Co - they understand they have been wronged, and they are capable of holding grudges.

Poppy and the Prototype seem to have the same end goals (putting a stop to the experiments and saving the innocents being used in them), but diametrically opposing views on how to go about achieving them (the Prototype is a gritty realist who knows no war was ever won without bloodshed and is willing to cause collateral damage in the name of his cause, where Poppy is far more idealistic, moderate and morally opposed to/upset by the deaths of the Playtime Co employees). This dispute has escalated far enough that the Prototype apparently shut Poppy away before the Hour of Joy could begin, and Poppy now wants the Prototype dead for what she sees as a crime equal in atrocity to Playtime Co's - they are able to understand ideologies, have ideological disagreements, and strategise against each other.

Huggy Wuggy, who seems to be only slightly more intelligent than a predatory animal, can still write, and uses the ability to try to guide fleeing prey in the wrong direction - that suggests he uses the vents to hunt on a regular basis, and he's clever enough to use basic deception.

On the subject of Huggy Wuggy, when he escapes the facility, his first instinct is to go home.

There are also numerous examples of the experiments being able to form and maintain social bonds, and work together:

Mommy Long-Legs is described as "nurturing" and "motherly" towards the other experiments, as well as the children. She's placed in the Game Station precisely because her desire to protect and care for the children outweighs her hatred for her captors: she won't act aggressively in front of them.

DogDay says that he's "the last of the Smiling Critters", implying that the Playcare originally had a full complement of Bigger Bodies Critters and that they were all able to coexist peacefully.

Kissy Missy and Poppy clearly have a friendship, with Poppy willing to charge into unknown danger to help her friend.

Miss Delight originally calls the other teachers her sisters, and she's horrified and grief-stricken by her own actions when she turns on them.

Miss Delight and CatNap form a non-aggression pact that seems to include some kind of respect for territorial boundaries, as Ollie claims that CatNap usually avoids the school. That's Miss Delight's turf, and he clearly respects her space, even though it technically falls inside his own territory.

The Prototype - who's usually kept in isolation and under surveillance precisely because he's known to be violent - was on multiple occasions set loose in a room with at least CatNap (and potentially other experiments) without bloodshed. He's even confirmed to have patiently tolerated CatNap lowkey imprinting on him and following him around like a duckling.

The Prototype also opts to save Theo Grambell's life, knowing damn well that to do so means sacrificing his shot at freedom. There is no reason for him to do this other than caring for Theo.

Again, DogDay is the last of the Smiling Critters. Despite the fact that there would have been six of them, and one of CatNap. Working together, they should have been able to overpower him easily, and the fact that they couldn't makes me think that either a) there was a big confrontation in which CatNap either arrived with or was able to call out for backup or b) CatNap became an infinitely more capable strategist and picked them off quietly one at a time, using skills he'd have to have learned from someone.

Anyway. My point here: these were originally people, with all the associated moral hangups and emotional messiness, and they retained a lot of their humanity post-transformation. And they were on the same side, to begin with. During the Hour of Joy, they all turn on the workers together.

But after that? The complete breakdown of that unity and those complex social relations into an essentially animal ecosystem, and the psychological impact on the surviving experiments, fascinates me.

By the time the game starts, the experiments have run out of food, and they've begun turning on each other out of desperation. The Bigger Bodies monsters, previously social and cooperative, have been forced into direct competition for food, and as a result they've largely become solitary apex predators with fiercely-defended territories, where they can pick off smaller, weaker experiments at will. There's some evidence of cooperation and coexistence between predators - Bunzo Bunny and the Mini-Huggies survive ten years in Mommy Long-Legs' territory, possibly filling the scavenger niche and surviving off her leftovers, and Miss Delight is tolerated in CatNap's - but the small toys we see scattered bloodily all across the factory (and the small Bunzo we see picked off by CatNap as it tries to cross a room) show that there's a whole category of experiments whose lives would've become all about hiding, and sneaking, and being where the Bigger Bodies critters aren't. The predators, driven to the edge of starvation, have had to surrender a lot of the human values and morals they had before. The prey have essentially become rodents - they're in danger every second they're not safely hidden away somewhere.

And yet!

The way they've reacted to their trauma is still so human.

Like. Take the difference between CatNap and Mommy Long-Legs.

Mommy and CatNap - Marie and Theo - have a very similar start in life. Both were children when they were experimented on and transferred into their mascot bodies. Both were orphans, and both are described as not fitting in or being particularly happy in the Playcare - Marie was bullied, and Theo is described as "odd" and "antisocial with other children".

But post-transformation, it seems Marie was largely left to, essentially, raise herself. We know that she was aggressively hostile towards staff, and gentle and nurturing towards orphans and other experiments, but we have no suggestion that anyone was caring or parental towards her. Like most of the experiments, she has a digestive tract and would have needed to eat, so she must have had a "keeper" of some kind, but she doesn't seem to have had any attachment to anyone who could serve as a parental substitute and guide her into adulthood.

When we meet her as Mommy Long-Legs, she would be a young adult - she's grown up in her mascot body. But even acknowledging that she's been driven mad by fear and isolation, her emotional development shows several damage markers you'd expect from a child so utterly deprived of love and care and guidance. She's emotionally unstable and prone to throwing extreme tantrums over small and arbitrary inciting factors, like "cheating" at a rigged game - there's very limited ability or desire to moderate or regulate her emotions. She's erratic, has poor impulse control, and when she's angry she lashes out violently at whoever is most convenient - like Bunzo - even though it's someone else - the player - that she's actually mad at. She does try to hide her disappointment at our continued existence behind her bubblegum Mommy persona, but she never quite learned to convincingly mask her emotions the way adults can. Nor has she mastered the art of making and executing a plan - when she attacks, it's all aggression - the single-minded grab-and-smash of an angry, thwarted child. Even Huggy, limited though his intelligence is, stalks the player and tries to chase them into a kill zone. But Mommy relies solely on her stretch ability - automatic, instinctive - and her sheer rage to make her the GameStation's apex predator. Left to raise herself, she never learned a lot of adult skills or survival strategies, and it's become a fatal flaw - she knows her territory, she knows where there would be machinery to look out for, but she's so single-mindedly focused on punishing the player that she completely overlooks her own safety.

Contrast: CatNap.

CatNap is also a young adult when we meet him, and if he'd also been left alone to raise himself, he'd probably have a lot of the same developmental stunting. But he doesn't, and that's interesting.

Now, let's take a very quick detour to look at the behaviour we've seen, not from CatNap, but from the Prototype. We know he's fiercely intelligent, calculating, and a tactical thinker with a talent for using his environment and anything in it (up to and including the player - he makes use of Mommy after we kill her, even though he's the facility's super predator and could easily have done it himself) to his advantage. We know he's stealthy - from how close to us he is at the close of each chapter, he's likely been tailing us from the moment we entered the factory, keeping his distance and watching us to see what we'll do and how he can make use of our actions. Some of his behaviours are strongly reminiscent of a soldier in action - I have a theory here that whoever became the Prototype had, at some point in his previous life, been a military man.

And now look at CatNap. Who has he become?

An intelligent, calculating stealth predator who uses his environment and any weaponizable thing he can get his claws on to take out his prey with minimal risk to himself. He's capable of adult logic and reasoning skills - i.e. the teachers will get hungry and harm the surviving children, so locking them in the school to fight to the death removes all but one threat, who can then be negotiated with once the children have been moved to safety. He's able to form and maintain alliances and agreements. He's even able to identify that the player is either a) not a threat to him or b) proving useful to the Prototype, and overlook his own hunger to offer them mercy: leave Playcare, or I'm coming for you.

In other words, he's grown up a lot like the Prototype.

And there's a reason for that! We know from the interdepartmental report on CatNap that for some reason, after his transformation procedure, he was allowed to socialise with the Prototype - an experiment who's considered so dangerous usually kept on lockdown in isolation under constant surveillance. And the report notes that CatNap "follows [the Prototype] around like a lost puppy" and that the Prototype "doesn't seem to mind".

Which, on its own, could just mean that the Prototype recognised Theo for what he was - a traumatized, hurting, confused little boy - and, aware that CatNap was not a threat, opted for tolerance over violence. But when you consider CatNap's history with the Prototype, I don't think that's it. Theo befriended the Prototype, or vice versa, long before Theo ever became CatNap. He was mortally injured trying to help the Prototype escape, and the Prototype gave up that shot at freedom to get Theo medical attention. They are close, and the fact that CatNap, a decade later, has assumed so many of the Prototype's traits and skills implies that they remained close for a good long while after the Hour of Joy.

Theo, aged 7, is clinging to the one person he feels safe with and protected by after a major trauma. If he follows the Prototype everywhere, he won't be left alone with the scientists. If he's not left alone with the scientists, they can't hurt him anymore. And the Prototype lets him, reinforcing the idea that you're safe with me. It's not unlikely that he feels responsible for CatNap's fate - if he hadn't taken Theo to the Playtime counselors for medical attention, the boy would have peacefully died, and wouldn't be living a nightmare - and he's stepped up to parent CatNap.

And you can see echoes of that ongoing bond in how CatNap behaves a decade later. Who taught him to hunt? The Prototype. Who taught him strategy and tactical thinking? The Prototype. Who gave him the survival skills he needed to make his way to the top of the food chain and stay there? The Prototype.

Unlike Marie, Theo had someone to protect him. Someone to play with and care for him. Someone to hunt for and feed him once the bodies began to run out, at least until he was fully capable of catching, killing and pulling apart his own prey. Someone to socialise with. And he's better adjusted - for a given value of "better adjusted", because like, nobody in this factory is even remotely okay - as a result.

And that's still so human. Despite the absolute horror-show feral animal situation they're all living in.

Just? idk man i have a lot of feelings