Poppy Playtime's Yarnaby had a lot of potential. From that very first trailer featuring him, I felt drawn to him, and not just because of his adorable name. So, you can imagine my surprise upon discovering that he's little more than a lackey. Chapter 4 suffers from having too many antagonists that could stand alone, and one of them is Yarnaby. Still, there's plenty for you to know about his backstory; there's some truly interesting lore with this one.
Before we take a look at all the information we have on Yarnaby, you can learn all about Poppy Playtime Chapter 4 and what Safe Haven entails in our guide. Yarnaby isn't the only thing to worry about.
Here's what you need to know about Poppy Playtime's Yarnaby:
Who is Poppy Playtime's Yarnaby?
Yarnaby is a roaming enemy that stalks you through a couple of areas after the true villain of Poppy Playtime Chapter 4, Harley Sawyer, orders him to. The first time you encounter Yarnaby is actually straight after you escape from the Prison Cell blocks, so it doesn't take too long for him to become a nuisance.
Playtime Co. first created the Yarnaby toy in the 1970s as a part of a wildlife conservation campaign, but while his appearance was only meant to be for as long as the campaign ran, Yarnaby's popularity led to him being a mainstay toy for the company. To be fair, we can see why people liked him. He's pretty cute when he's not trying to kill you.
A fun but obvious fact is that Yarnaby's name is a play on the name Barnaby and yarn, referring to the material he's made from. It's also possible that, as a lion, Yarnaby is one part of the Kitty Cat Collection, alongside Candy Cat, Cat-Bee, and Catnap.
Furthermore, if we take a look at his experiment number, 1166, Playtime Co. created Yarnaby before CatNap, Mommy Long Legs, and Huggy Wuggy. While this means little in terms of story, it's interesting that the previous three villainous toys are all younger than Yarnaby.
Who is Quinn Navidson?
While it's important to know about the toy, you should also learn about the child who becomes it. In the case of Yarnaby, Quinn Navidson is the kid who undergoes the experiment, which occurred sometime in 1990. As such, Yarnaby has five full years of wandering those prison cells before the massacre happens in 1995.
Like many children in Playcare, Quinn took part in the Game Station tests, but he stood out for one simple reason - he performed so poorly that Playtime Co.'s head of Special Projects, Harley Sawyer, took notice, deducing that the boy intentionally failed to conceal his abilities. Regretably for Quinn, this seals his fate.
Sawyer forces Navidson to redo the tests, leading him to get full marks in both Statues and Wack-a-Wuggy. Chances are, these results made him the best choice to become experiment 1166. Let this be a lesson to all of you: don't perform too poorly if you're trying to fool someone, make it believable, and aim for some middle ground.
We have to question the judgment of the staff that went ahead with this. While we condemn the actions at large in the factory anyway, opting to turn a boy who bites the heads off toys and is so good at hiding that you can't locate him into a toy is a choice. However, given Sawyer's actions, perhaps this behavior is part of why he chose Quinn.
Sawyer went on to mold Yarnaby in his image, keeping the toy in his presence and away from others to ensure he formed an attachment with the doctor only. Something that causes Yarnaby to become an unresponsive mess when Playtime Co. removes Sawyer, stopping him from seeing Yarnaby. Due to his new state, the doctor who stepped in for Sawyer, Carmine McKabe, deemed experiment 1116 a failure.
What is Yarnaby's role in the story?
I'm not afraid to say that I find Yarnaby's role in the story to be a bit disappointing, after early trailers for Chapter 4 led you to believe that he's the main antagonist, much like CatNap before him, but that's not the case. Instead, Yarnaby is little more than a lackey, and not an overly prominent one either.
The true evil mastermind of Safe Haven, The Doctor, unleashes Yarnaby not too far into the chapter, tasking the toy with catching and disposing of you, but this chase sequence isn't all that long, with Poppy Playtime's Doey helping you escape. This is temporary, however, as Yarnaby causes you more problems again later on.
In the end, Yarnaby learns that perhaps he underestimated you, but it's too little, too late, given that he falls to the pit below in a blaze of glory. So yeah, the terrifying toy is little more than an obstacle in the grand scheme of things, which is a shame. If there's one thing Poppy Playtime Chapter 4 suffers from, it's too many antagonists. I'm still salty about how little the Poppy Playtime Nightmare Critters have to do with anything.
Mind you, perhaps I should be thankful that Yarnaby, Baba Chops, and the others got a bit more screen time than Poppy Playtime's Pianosaurus. There were so many interesting possibilities for the musical-themed toy, and I genuinely thought sound would play a part in an encounter with him, but, in the end, he served as little more than a snack for Doey.
Poppy Playtime Yarnaby's personality
While most experiments show aggression upon their creation, Yarnaby was actually rather docile, which is quite surprising considering Quinn's behavior. Though he wasn't hostile, Yarnaby was highly impressionable, which no doubt helped Harley Sawyer's decision to make the toy loyal to him alone - it was easy to manipulate Yarnaby while the other toys put up a fight.
His feeble nature clearly disappears with the removal of Sawyer, and we imagine the grief Yarnaby felt soon turned to rage. At least, he's a very angry toy when we encounter him in Safe Haven.
Poppy Playtime Yarnaby appearances
Yarnaby is a new Poppy Playtime character in Safe Haven, but he does have his own trailer and is present in the Chapter 4 Icepick ARG experience. Given what happens to Yarnaby, it feels safe to assume that he's dead, but recent events show that just because a toy falls down a deep hole, it's not necessarily the end. So, with that in mind, we can't really rule out an appearance in Poppy Playtime Chapter 5, no matter how unlikely it is.