Game Theory - Don't Trust Ollie (Poppy Playtime)

Episode Date: April 3, 2024

Join NEW Game Theory Host Tom as he breaks down Poppy Playtime Chapter 3 and what we should think about the mysterious "Ollie" *Credits:* Writers: Tom Robinson Editors: Dan "Cybert" Seibert, Jerika (NekoOnigiri), Warak, Tyler Mascola, Shnaia "Naya" Llamera, Koen Verhagen, and Shannon (Bomb0i) Sound Designer: Yosi Berman

Greetings theorist and welcome to your first day here at Game Theory. Join our community whose diligence and care for others will help shape a brighter future. Just you see. Hello internet, welcome to Game Theory, the show that might be a little late to the Poppy Party, but hey, so a mob game, so fair is fair. Now, I'm sure you're probably wondering why Matt Pat suddenly sounds British, so let me introduce myself. I'm Tom, I'm from England, I'm allergic to apples, I want to be dorko at axe throwing... Oh! And this is my very first episode as the host of Game Theory.

That being said, this is far from the first game theory I've ever worked on. I hadn't actually done the math until writing this episode, but it turns out I've written around 140 theories over the last three years working here, which is wild. And I've covered so many different topics too. ARGs like Welcome Home, Science and Math episodes like Tom Nook is a crook and Markiplier's perfect Pokemon, which was fun if not a little weird. And of course I've written my fair share of indie horror lore for franchises like Fnaf, cooking companions and the topic for today's episode, Poppy Playtime.

In fact, I've been working on Poppy Theory since the very first video back in 2021. Yeah, much like Matt has been around since the very beginning of FNAF, I have been around since the very beginning of Poppy. I was there analyzing every game, every spin-off, every trailer trying my best to solve what the heck was going on in this abandoned factory. Now, over two and a half years later, we finally got on to dive into Chapter 3 deep sleep and oh boy, this was a massive step up. The different enemy encounters, a much longer playtime, and the skis.

Care Factor was turned up to 11. Oh, my God, why? How? Weirdly, not the scariest teacher I've ever had. High school theatre was rough. But that moment's a little way into the story, so let's start from the beginning. We are dropped down a trash chute by the big bad of this chapter, Catnat.

After escaping being crushed, we find our way down to a giant underground orb that contains the mysterious and horrifying location that's been teased since the end of chapter 2, the playcare. As we descend, we are introduced to a new character. Olli, a young boy that speaks to us over a telephone and is working alongside Poppy and Kissy to take down the prototype. I know you're beat, but she knew.

Together, we solve some puzzles, have a few hallucinations, and encounter the terrifying Mr. Light and her good friend Barb. Finally, after all that, we come face to face with Catnap. And, hey, a final showdown that isn't a chase sequence. Look at you, Mob Games. You really are growing up. After electrocuting Catnap, the prototype lowers his hand from the heavens. Catnap kneels in worship of his god, and 1006 stabs him in the face.

We bring back the power to the plague-hair, divert the red gas, red gas and use the elevator to escape even lower into the facility. Seriously, how deep does this factory even go? Eventually, this game's gonna be us just trying not to melt from the heat of the earth's core. But as we descend, we hear the final scream of Kissy-Missy fighting something. Poppy yells after her, but we're too late. We lose the light, darkness takes over and the chapter ends.

It's very dramatic and definitely made the weight worthwhile, but mob games didn't just increase the quality of the mechanics. They also filled it to the brim with the good stuff. That's right. This Skydome is bursting at the scene. with law. We've got more VHS tapes, notes, death messages, all that show us that we were right about the red gas, what the hour of joy was, and when it happened. But while this chapter proved some of those theories right, it also threw other theories into question, namely, what is the true identity of the

prototype? For a long time, we've believed it to be the CEO of Playtime Co, Elliot Ludwig. However, with the reveals of this chapter, I'm no longer certain that's the case. And it all comes down to two characters. Our newest helper and guide through the playcare, Olly, and the often ignored and angry character we hear about from the VHS tapes. Rich. Something old and something new. Feels kind of fitting for my first episode really. Step into my shiny metal cable car friends, it's time for us to find the truth hidden inside this horrifying factory. Kind of makes me feel like Willy Wonka. Come with me and you'll be in a world of pure annihilation. Eat your heart out, shall I may. So to kick things off,

why do I think Elliot Ludwig is deconfirm as the prototype? Well, in this chapter there is a radio program we hear playing while exploring home sweet home. Local authorities report that the body of a young boy has been found on the estate of the late Elliot Ludwig. Argans as well as key bones for the skeletal structure were reported missing from the body. The child's body was found at his home missing bones and organs. The pieces that we know are being used to create these bigger bodies, thanks to some paperwork discovered during the Chapter 3 ARG. This flies in the face of our initial theories that Elliot wasn't aware the experiments were being done. Now, it does say that this was the home of the late Elliot Ludwig, meaning that he's dead when the body was discovered, but that doesn't mean that he was dead when the body was placed there. And given how explicit this is, it feels like the devs are trying very clearly to show us that he knew what was going on.

In our recent timeline episode, our proposed solution was that he was aware, but lost his memory during the conversion process like we see happened to Thomas Clark during the restoration VHS tape. That's why he turns on the staff despite being involved in the experiments himself. However, I'll be the first to admit that this is pretty speculative. We've not heard from Elliot Ludwig himself outside of the announcement for playcare. We've assumed that he would become angry because we feel like he wanted to help the kids rather than hurt them thanks to the adoption posts around the factory. But it's a pretty loose connection. I also found this post from Reddit user Infinite Universe on the Game Theory subreddit that showed a drawing from Elliot Ludwig's office during Chapter 2.

This drawing is addressed to Elliot. But notice what's at the top of the picture. Mummy Long Legs arm, meaning Mummy, Experiment 1-2-2-2, had to be in existence while Elliot Ludwig. was still alive. So he cannot be Experiment 1006. It's basic math. So this isn't exactly new evidence for chapter 3, but it is great evidence nonetheless and it was certainly new to me. Good job on finding that one, guys. So if it's not Elliot Ludwig, then who is the prototype? For that answer, we need to take a look at our something old, rich. If you have no idea who I'm talking about, I don't really blame you. To be honest, I kept forgetting who he was between chapters.

Despite appearing in every installment, he doesn't seem to have any connection to the story whatsoever. He was working in the storage rooms in chapter 1. He got demoted in chapter 2 to the quote, Island of Misfit Toys, which, you know, nice Rudolph reference there. But third time's the charm, I guess, because now in chapter 3, he's back with another VHS in one of the caves we explore outside the playcare. When I heard his name, I realized he had to be important to all this. And thanks to this new VHS, I think we know why.

Have a listen and see if anything jumps out to you. I take it you're not a fan of these plays, are you? Nope, never like the feel of it. I mean, don't you think these kids deserve some real sunlight instead of floodlights and painted skies? We're not even allowed to talk to these kids. Isn't that... Sorry? That doesn't sound like the rich I know.

Well, trying to stop being so pissed off all the time. My wife says I'm a lovely man, but I gotta control my temper. Did you catch it? Rich actually cares for these kids. In his very first tape, he mentions how he feels the orphanage is a good idea. But he also points out its very... on brand for the company, so it makes him seem distant. But in this tape, though, he outright says how he feels about this place and how it treats

the orphans. Underneath his aggressive exterior, he cares for them. And that attitude seems to be working in his favour. You know, Ritchie, with my retirement coming on, they've been pushing hard for me to choose my replacement. I'm thinking about giving the role to you. What's it? Really?

Really. Nothing official yet. but I think there's a decent guy beneath all that ground. He's getting promoted. It's unclear to what position, but we do know that the higher up in this company you get, the more you begin to learn about the true nature of things. It's the executives at the company that are running the bigger body's initiative. And so there's a chance that dear old Rich here got promoted and was clued into what was going on.

And given his love for these kids, I have a feeling that wouldn't sit too well. This puts Rich in an interesting position as it primes him to potentially be the true identity of either the prototype. the prototype or the player themselves. We know the player as an ex-employee thanks to the descriptions from chapter 1. The player was recognised by both Mummy and Mr. Light, meaning he had access to both the game station and the playcare, areas that were only really operated by staff members involved in the experiments. Plus, when we looked at the slides of the executive staff members in Chapter 2, one of them was conveniently missing a name, likely so he couldn't figure out who we were.

If Rich is getting promoted, there's a chart he was given access to these facilities and continue to climb the ladder to be an important part of the team. so much so that he was informed of the experiments they'd been doing, which would have horrified him and likely led him to quit, only to return years later. The problem is, the letters that fell off the sign of the executive slides don't spell Rich, or Richard, or anything that would point towards him being an executive. The tapes also show Rich to be an aggressive type who isn't afraid to speak his mind. For him to miss the hour of joy, he would have had to just run away, which doesn't feel in character for him. I also don't think Playtime Go would be particularly happy with someone who knew what was going on and had a tendency to make a fuss about it, just leave him. their position. I mean, just look at Paul Rowan Stoll, fed to Boxy Boo for discovering the truth

and planning to release it to the public. Which is why I think it is far more likely that Rich is the one that goes on to become the prototype. The VHS shows that while Rich is trying to keep it under control, he has a temper on him, which matches nicely with the prototype's violent tendencies. Because the next day I got demoted down to the freaking island of misfitoy! The prototype seems to possess an unprecedented level of intelligence, as well as an alarming willingness to commit violence. Rich is also temperamental, flying into these aggressive moods with very little prompting. It's just hard to be happy about it when manufacturers are next about it, because we can't fight

stupid hockey boxes. Which is exactly how Leith Pierre described the prototype during the Chapter 3 ARG, temperamental. Now, we know these experiments can lose their memories like Thomas Clark did during the restoration VHS, but most experiments do retain some kind of core personality traits. For example, Catnap has unwavering faith in the prototype, something here. he had back when he was the orphan Theodore. And so the prototype being aggressive tracks with Rich's predisposition.

There's also the prototype's initial goal, which seems to be stopping more toys from being made, stopping children from being experimented on. They are trying to build more toys. Which again, ties into Rich's protective attitude towards these orphans. Don't you think these kids deserve some real sunlight instead of floodlights and painted skies?

But once again, that's all interpretation. Mapping one character's emotions onto another is, exactly solid proof. However, there is one more piece of evidence that I think ties Rich to the prototype in a pretty undeniable way. Outside the Plague hair dome, we can find Catnette worshipping the prototype at a shrine that's built using scrap metal and toy parts. But what's interesting about it is this part right at the front, a human skeleton, acting as the head of this abomination. But it's not just any skeleton either. This skeleton is wearing a hard hat. I know, that seems like a really random detail, but think back to all

the tapes we found of Rich so far. Each one has been found in the location. location that Rich was working in. Chapter 1 was the storage room, chapter 2 was the rejected toy room, and in chapter 3 we find his tape inside the cave next to toolboxes, construction platforms and builders lights. Rich was working in construction, likely after being demoted again from the rejected toy department. Now, I'm not saying that this skeleton is rich. Instead, I'm saying that much like this shrine is symbolically showing us the prototype and how it's made of lots of toys, this skeleton is symbolically trying to tell us that Rich, a construction worker, is the human inside the prototype. A man who is

angry at the company for destroying the lives of these innocent children and so given the opportunity took revenge It also lines up pretty well from a timeline perspective It might be easy to think that if Rich became the prototype He couldn't be angry at the company or their experiments as the children weren't turned into toys until after the prototype was made But that isn't necessarily the case Remember the prototype is experiment 1-006 and in Elliot Ludwig's office there's a note talking about the experiment using poppy gel to revive dead rats It's the one that has the line about using larger subjects i.e children This test was labelled 814.

Almost 200 experiments before the prototype came into existence, meaning there were 200 failed experiments before they found success. This is what Rich discovered. The plans to turn these kids into monsters. Maybe he even witnessed those 200 experiments fail. The lives of those orphans lost in the pursuit of science, innovation and cheap labor. So, he did what he always did. He complained.

He tried to get it shut down. But obviously, it didn't work. And Playtime Code did the only thing they could do to stop him going to the press. They used him as another test subject. to create the first successful experiment 1006. And so he rallied the toys to help him take revenge on those who harmed them, promising them the one thing they'd longed for. That is a clip from the song Sleep Well by CG5, a song made in partnership with Mob Games and was posted to the official Mob Games YouTube channel. It is an absolute bot.

But what's more important is the extra law hints it gives us. The song shows the toys prior to the hour of joy, repeating over and over again that they want freedom. This was the reason for rebelling and causing the hour of. in the hour of joy. This is what the prototype was promising them. And as we know, they succeed, they kill off all the staff members, they have control of the factory, save the orphans, and yet! When we return, the toys are still here, still serving 1006.

They never got their freedom, but why? Well, in the song, we do hear this repeated lyric, an artificial facade from a fraud of a god. And it makes way more sense when you check out the other version of this song that was released on the same day on C. The song is exactly the same, but the video is different. It's set after the hour of joy with a destroyed Playtime Co factory, scratches, dust and blood lining the walls. The toys are still singing about freedom even now. And so it feels like mob games spelling out that 1006, the only character we know that has been compared to a god, is a liar. And we can see this for ourselves in the chapter 3 death screens.

We've believed for a while that these death screens are not coming from just one person, but rather multiple. Most notably, however, any message with capital letters seems to be coming from 1006 himself. And in this game, one of them stood out to me. This research must stay buried. Nobody may leave. He was never going to let the toys leave the factory. Instead, he wants to keep everything locked away. And I get it.

I'm not sure the world is going to be super accepting of a bunch of flesh-eating sentient toys. But more importantly, if all these experiments were done in the pursuit of cheap labor at eternal life, it wouldn't take long for others to try and do the same thing again. Harming more children and causing more pain. The toys from Playtime wouldn't be safe either. They would become case zero in these new experiments, picked apart and tortured, tortured so they could figure out what makes them tick. It would mean more pain and suffering for those who've already suffered enough.

As one of the death messages says, these souls deserve peace, which won't come to them if they are released into the outside world. But clearly they aren't at peace down in the factory either. Like the song shows, they're still begging for freedom all these years later. And now, characters like Kissy Missy are helping us because they realize the freedom that 1006 promised them isn't coming. They're turning on him. They're restless.

Which then leads Catnap to tie up and torture anyone that loses faith, these so-called heretics like we see with Dog Day. However, it is Catnap who is blinded by his faith, because another death message reads, burn this place to the ground. Combining that with the message from earlier about keeping all the research buried, and I think we have a pretty strong idea

of what the prototype is planning. He wants everything the company ever touched, destroyed, be it the poor children that got turned into toys, or the executives at the company like us who performed these horrible experiments. All of them must burn along with this place. From his perspective, this is an act of mercy. At least for the toys,

they will finally be put to rest, Finally, they will know peace, which is why while catnap is suffering during chapter 3's final boss fight, rather than helping him, the prototype kills him and drags him away. He stopped catnaps suffering. But for those of us who did these horrible things, we need to see justice. And that is why we are here. We are the last senior employee that remains. We need to pay for our crimes to make sure that the horrors that happened in this place never happen again.

But for that to work, he'd need to lure us here. To put us in dangerous scenarios we likely won't escape from. Something that stood out to me was the final take we received in this. chapter, a tape from Harley Sawyer, the Doctor, the one who started the bigger body's initiative talking to 1006. There are a couple of key details in this tape, like the fact the prototype occasionally slips from singular pronouns to plurals. I preserve. Which does make sense when you consider he's adding other toys to himself, making them part

of him like Mummy Longlegs told us. But the big takeaway for me was this last section. Regardless, I learned something new about you every day. 1006 has the ability to mimic voices, and specifically, voices he's heard, rather than just voices of the people that are a part of him. That is the last thing they tell us about 1006 in this chapter. It's literally the parting words we get from these VHS tapes, which again tells me they're important to bear in mind when we look back at this chapter. And while I could make a joke about there being a robot that can mimic people down in the basement seeming a little bit familiar, I'm going to hold off because it actually ties into another character I promised to talk about today.

our new helper, Ollie. Ollie felt like a weird addition to me in this chapter. And not just because he sounds exactly like Gregory from Security Breach. Hey, can you hear me? Gregory? Is that, Gregory? Gregory? Someone said Gregory.

Stop. Not Gregory? Gregory? You made it here? Oh no. Who's this? Gregory? No.

Check this out. Look at the two people. Gregory. Yeah, you're not really helping the whole FNAF connection here, mob games. Regardless, I found his presence odd purely because of one crucial detail. He's a little. The factory has been abandoned for 10 years. Any child that somehow survived this long

would be at least a tween at this point. And he does have to be inside the factory as well. Otherwise, how does he send us keys to the various parts of the playcare? It also seems unlikely that this is just a toy with a child's voice. Every toy we've encountered, mummy, poppy, dog day, all have adult voices.

So if he was a toy, he wouldn't sound the way he does. But then who is it? Simple. I'm suggesting that Ollie is a voice that the prototype is using to deceive us and Poppy. There's this drawing from chapter two, that shows a child playing with all the bigger bodies, and in it, you can actually see Poppy standing there playing with the child. Poppy is the one that tells us to trust Ollie,

which makes me think that he might have been a child she played with in the facility, and that's why she's willing to trust him. Plus, if you go through the game files and look at previous maps, you can find a room in Home Sweet Home called Ollie's Room, meaning he was a real child in the play care at some point, which would have allowed 1006 to mimic him. And here's the thing. Up until now, we've managed to escape both the likes of Huggy-Woggy and Mummy Longlegs

without any help from anyone. do we suddenly need help to get through the playcare? Sure, Ollie does have all the keys to the facility, but when it actually comes to things like puzzles and monsters, he doesn't offer us any helper advice. He goes quiet and just leaves us to it. The only time he speaks to us is telling us where to go next, leading us into more and more danger.

When you beat catnap, you also get this weird line. Wow, you did it! The words are technically correct. The best kind of correct. But the tone feels off, almost sarcastic, especially that line, you've made your choice. Like, my guy. I've been helping Poppy since,

since the beginning. That hasn't changed. And also, I couldn't escape even if I wanted to. What I think this is, is a slipping of the mask. Oli, accidentally revealing his true self, because he doesn't want us to win. He wants us dead. Now, he doesn't speak entirely in plurals, but as I mentioned earlier, neither does the prototype,

especially when he's mimicking someone else. I learned something. That being said, Oli does occasionally use lines like this. What you mean? You are our mission. In the context of the scene, it feels like he's talking about him and Poppy,

but calling us their mission. feels like a strange choice of words, especially when you remember that 1006's mission is to lead us here and kill us. Throughout the rest of the run, he also uses we a lot again, in a way that could be interpreted as him talking about himself and the player, but then there's lines like this.

We need to make that red smoke go left instead. The we in the subtitles is capitalized and despite multiple updates to this game, it's still there, at least at the time of recording, which makes me think it's a purposeful decision. This isn't the first time we've heard from Oli either, During the trailer from Phase 3 of Project Playtime, we actually hear him giving the opening monologue, teasing us as to who he really is.

Compassion is the discarded gem of the forsaken. Call me a forsaken fool. If that's not him admitting he doesn't care about us and our freedom, I don't know what is. He has lost his compassion. Just like Rich, the prototype lost his compassion, not only for his fellow staff members, but also for the children he wanted to protect. He will kill anyone that stands in his way, just like we hear happening to Kissy Missy at the end of the chapter. What is she doing this?

No, no! Him telling us that he is a wayward plaything cast aside and lost in the depths of abandonment is literally what happened to the prototype. He was just a plaything to Harley Sawyer and then eventually cast aside into the depths of the facility once he finished serving his purpose. And remember when I said that 1006 speaks in capital letters? Well, in Project Playtime, the VHS tapes use of the same capital letters. And its use of plurals seems to confirm that our theory that this is 1006 is right. We understand you desire answers.

You wonder who we are. It was your doing that made us. And in phase two, we actually receive a gift from 1006. You may have noticed it. It is the phone, a telephone that will be oh so familiar to anyone that has played chapter 3. The telephone, the monologue, the mimicking voices, it all points to our new friend, Olli, actually being the prototype. A fake voice mimicked from a child he once knew to give us a false sense of security and allow us to be manipulated.

All in the hopes of fulfilling his goal of burning down the company that has tortured so many people. But after all this time, the prototype, Rich, the once kind man who dared to stand up for what he believed in, he doesn't care who he hurts. You, Poppy, even the children he swore to protect. Their deaths are now just what it takes to see Playtime Co's legacy removed from the face of the earth. And so, if we want any chance of surviving the next chapter, we need to remember one thing. Don't trust Ollie. And also remember, that's just a theory.

A game theory! Thanks for watching.