The Poppy Playtime Nightmare Critters are ready to make their debut in Poppy Playtime Chapter 4, seemingly having quite a vital role to play, just as CatNap and the Smiling Critters do in Deep Sleep. The first teaser trailer for the upcoming entry features one of the new toys, showing just how violent they are. Mob Entertainment claims Chapter 4 is to be the most terrifying installment yet, and the PP Nightmare Critters are clearly part of the reason.
The line of toys shows a clear resemblance to the Poppy Playtime Smiling Critters, also having eight toys in the group. If you look at the logo, you might be able to figure out what a couple of them are. Considering how terrifying Poppy Playtime’s CatNap is, we can’t imagine what horrors await us beyond that. Perhaps more than one of the critters are out to get you this time.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Poppy Playtime Nightmare Critters:
Who are the Poppy Playtime Nightmare Critters?
We know who all of the Nightmare Critters are, but we don’t know how they play into the Poppy Playtime Chapter 4 story yet. There are a couple of possibilities for what the Nightmare Critters are; the first is that they’re the Halloween version of the Smiling Critters. If this is the case, and going based on Baba Chops eating the Mini Smiling Critters, perhaps this created a rivalry between the two groups.
Keeping with the rivalry theme, it could well be that the Poppy Playtime Nightmare Critters were meant for a teenage audience, which would make sense given the personalities these toys have – angst and rebellion being among them.
Who knows, perhaps the Nightmare Critters were even part of the Smiling Critters TV show, serving as the evil opposites of the cute toys, making them the antagonists. If we take a closer look at the two lots of toys, there are some uncanny similarities, even if they aren’t immeditately apparent.
Take Maggie Mako and PickyPiggy, for instance; these two both love to eat. However, the Smiling Critter, PickyPiggy, encourages healthy eating, while the Nightmare Critter, Maggie Mako, is all about eating those precious sweet treats. So, while the two are similar in that they love food, they’re also opposites in the food they enjoy.
Here are all the individual Nightmare Critters we know about so far:
Baba Chops
Baba Chops is the first Nightmare Critter revealed by Mob Entertainment. She appears in both the first teaser trailer and the artwork for the game’s Steam page, just like Poppy Playtime’s Huggy Wuggy, CatNap, and Poppy Playtime’s Mommy Long Legs for their respective chapters, indicating that she may be the primary antagonist of Chapter 4 (besides Poppy Playtime’s Prototype).
She’s quite an introvert, preferring to have plenty of space, and is a low-energy individual, often lacking the motivation to do things. She’s quiet and distant, though her pals can pull her out of her shell sometimes. She comes across as either an angsty teenager or a possibly depressed individual. Her scent is anise, and her pendant is a skull.
Icky Licky
The second Poppy Playtime Nightmare Critter that Mob Entertainment revealed is Icky Licky, a toy that borrows his design from poison dart frogs, hence the reason that his pendant is a biohazard symbol. Luckily, he smells a lot better with a coffee aroma.
If we can only use two words to describe him, they’re ‘sore loser.’ This toy hates to lose, instantly blaming any loss in competition on an injury or something to that effect. If he falls behind in a race, it’s obviously down to a dodgy knee. His incredibly competitive nature sees him constantly challenging others in competitions, though he frequently loses, besides being a naturally talented toy. Good thing he has plenty of excuses to cover his losses.
Rabie Baby
Rabie Baby is a bat and the third Nightmare Critter that Mob Entertainment revealed. Her name is likely in reference to the fact that bats are known to carry the rabies virus, though we imagine the chances of Rabie Baby biting you are much higher than the significantly low odds of a real bat doing so. Her pendant is a blood drop, which is likely in reference to bats’ association with vampires. At least her scent is more pleasant, bubblegum.
The pink bat is the gossip among the Nightmare Critters, being unable to keep a secret under any circumstances. Even if her life is on the line, she’ll still spill the beans. She has no respect for boundaries and is a very nosey bat, eavesdropping on anyone near her. You’re not even safe from her gossiping if she has no dirt on you, she’ll just make something up instead.
Allister Gator
Allister Gator is the fourth of the Poppy Playtime Nightmare Critters to be revealed. Something we immediately notice is his last name, ‘Gator,’ the reason being that it’s the same last name as FNAF’s Monty; perhaps this is a fun nod from the devs. As Allister is an alligator, it comes as little surprise that his pendant is crossbones, a clear indicator of the danger posed by his species. His scent, meanwhile, is sandalwood.
The word ‘lazy’ epitomizes Allister. Putting effort into anything isn’t really his thing; he’d much rather chill out in the water and wait for good things to come to him, though that hasn’t worked out well so far.
Simon Smoke
Remember that dragon we suspected would be part of the Nightmare Critters lineup due to the appearance of ‘c’ in the title? Well, here he is. Simon Smoke is the fifth of the toys to have his bio released on social media. While you might expect fire or something to be his pendant, it’s actually a dollar sign, but his scent makes more sense: wood smoke.
Simon is the popular member of the group, knowing he’s cool and never letting anyone forget that fact. Yes, this means he likes to brag and is a bit of a show-off; he has to show you just how popular he is and that you’ll never hold a candle to him. He almost always wins in any popularity contest, though he’s also the biggest jerk going, and like many popular people like this, he tends to get away with it.
Poe
Poe is the sixth Poppy Playtime Nightmare Critter, and considering their name is Poe, and they’re a raven, it’s safe to say that famous writer Edgar Allen Poe and his iconic poem “The Raven” are the inspiration behind this toy. Poe’s pendant is a thunderstorm, while their scent is cinnamon.
It should come as little surprise that a raven hates the sun and prefers the dark. Poe can’t stand the light; they think it’s cruel that the sun is even needed, but at least they have graveyards to hang around in and their music to listen to. Poe is an angry soul, but hey, they claim this isn’t a phase.
Touille
Touille is the seventh Nightmare Critter that Mob Entertainment and it’s fair to say that this rat isn’t half as cute as the one from the movie his name references. Ratatouille. Touille’s pendant is a fish bone that looks like a tie, while Petrichor is his scent.
This rat is a self-proclaimed “trash rodent,” nomming on whatever garbage he can get his hands on, though he also enjoys a good conversation, even if he doesn’t actually have much to say to you. The lad is good for random tidbits and commentary you probably don’t want.
Maggie Mako
Maggie Mako is the eighth Poppy Playtime Nightmare Critter revealed by Mob Entertainment, and as her name gives away, she’s a shark, giving her quite a vicious appearance. As you might expect, her pendant is a shark tooth; though her scent isn’t fish, it’s actually chocolate, which makes a lot of sense when you get to know her.
Like most sharks, Maggie is always hungry, and she has the biggest sweet tooth going, though she will eat just about anything except vegetables. Not even Picky Piggy can help this girl out. She’s just going to laugh at any healthy advice you give her, all while shoving tasty treats down her throat.
What is the Poppy Playtime Nightmare Critters’ role in the story?
It’s impossible to say what role this new group of toys plays in the upcoming chapter, but we can make some educated guesses. As we already touched on, it’s likely that this line of toys didn’t sell as well as the likes of Poppy Playtime’s DogDay, Bobbi Bearhug, and Hoppy Hopscotch. In the first Chapter 4 teaser trailer, Baba Chops attacks and eats a mini DogDay, who stumbles into a room full of dead toys.
This gives us reason to think that the Nightmare Critters don’t like the Smiling Critters. Perhaps the difference in popularity plays a part in that. Of course, that’s pure speculation on our part at the moment. As for how important this spooky group of toys is, we know that they aren’t the main antagonists of Chapter 4; instead, that honor goes to Poppy Playtime’s Yarnaby.
Poppy Playtime Nightmare Critters’ personality
All of the Poppy Playtime Nightmare Critters have their own unique personalities, as demonstrated by each of their entries above. However, there is a common theme; a lot of them embrace the attitude and angst of a teenager, though perhaps a bit darker than what you’d typically expect from a teen.
We also can’t help but be drawn to the names of some of these Poppy Playtime characters. They might not say tons about their personalities directly, but they do support our ‘these toys are a lot darker than the Smiling Critters’ thoughts. Baba Chops, for instance, is a sheep, and a common meat that people eat is lamb chops, so this name is likely a play on that. Rabie Baby, meanwhile, acknowledges that bats have an association with the rabies disease – neither of those gives you the impression that these toys are all sunshine and rainbows.
Poppy Playtime Nightmare Critters’ appearances
Poppy Playtime Chapter 4 marks the debut of the Nightmare Critters, as there isn’t even a hint of them in the previous three chapters. Until we play the next game, we don’t know whether or not they’re likely to reappear in another chapter.
That’s everything we can tell you about the Poppy Playtime Nightmare Critters. To ensure you’re up to date with the events at Playtime Co., check out our Poppy Playtime Story explained guide. We also have Poppy Playtime Kissy Missy and Poppy Playtime Poppy articles if you want to learn more about your allies in this hellhole.