Poppy Playtime’s Yarnaby isn’t as cute as his name makes him sound; how can he be adorable when he’s one of the main antagonists in chapter 4? However, we do have to admit that we expected a bit more from him. Still, Yarnaby is an interesting toy with a fascinating background, so let’s take a look at what you need to know about him.
Before we take a look at all the information we have on Yarnaby, you can learn about Poppy Playtime’s Mommy Long Legs and Poppy Playtime’s CatNap in our guides. If you want to know more about the very first installment of the series, check out our Poppy Playtime Huggy Wuggy and Poppy Playtime Chapter 1 articles.
Here’s what you need to know about Poppy Playtime’s Yarnaby:
Who is Poppy Playtime’s Yarnaby?
Yarnaby is one of the major obstacles you have to overcome in Poppy Playtime Chapter 4, as Harley Swayer unleashes him upon you after your escape from the Prison Cell blocks – yeah, we didn’t think we’d be so keen to be back behind bars again either – but more on his role in the story in a minute.
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?
So, now you know about the origins of Yarnaby, when did the Bigger Body version come about? Well, the experiment conduced on Quinn Davidson – the child who became Yarnaby – happened in 1990, five years before The Hour of Joy. Quinn likely thought he was being clever, but his smarts ultimately led to his fate.
Quinn purposefully performed poorly in the tests at Game Station until Harley Sawyer, the head of Special Projects at Playtime Co., observed the boy himself, realizing that Quinn was intentionally hiding what he was capable of. It’s quite the realization for the doctor, who tells the boy that he will personally observe his next round of tests.
Quinn performs incredibly well, getting the highest possible score in Wack-a-Wuggy and Statues. It’s likely that these results are what led to Quinn being selected to be experiment 1166, becoming the terrifying toy known as Yarnaby. So, yeah. Next time you try to fool someone into believing you’re not as good as you are, don’t lean too much into a poor performance – make it believable.
We have to question the judgment of the staff that went ahead with this. While we judge 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 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?
As we already mentioned, Yarnaby is unleashed by Sawyer, and the toy attempts to dispose of you, but your good pal, Poppy Playtime’s Doey, is a real hero, helping you escape. Of course, this isn’t the last you see of Yarnaby, as he appears when you try to reach Sawyer in No Man’s Land, leading to a chase through the caves.
Ultimately, this doesn’t end well for Yarnaby, as he ends up falling into the abyss below in a blaze of glory. We mean that literally. He was on fire. The yarn can’t have helped. But that’s it; he’s Sawyer’s bodyguard, so while his role is vital, we feel he was underutilized despite being one of the main villains. That’s a bit of a running theme with this chapter, given the Poppy Playtime Nightmare Critters don’t have much of a role to play either.
At least Yarnaby and the Nightmare Critters had a bit more to them than Poppy Playtime’s Pianosaurus, that toy set a new record for the quickest death in the factory.
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 Chapter 4, 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.
That’s all we can tell you about Poppy Playtime’s Yarnaby for now. If you want to learn more about some of the other Poppy Playtime toys, check out our Poppy Playtime Kissy Missy and Poppy Playtime Poppy guides.