DocYarn

SPOILER WARNING! This article contains spoilers from Poppy Playtime Chapter 4

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DocYarn
GENERAL
Poppy Playtime
Character	Harley Sawyer
Character	Yarnaby
Canonical?	Semi-Canon
Status of Relationship	Master and Pet; both are dead
IN FANDOM
Type (?)	Friend

DocYarn is the friendship between Harley Sawyer and Yarnaby from the Poppy Playtime fandom.

Canon

Past

During the days of his work on the Bigger Bodies Initiative, Harley Sawyer learned of an orphan subject named Quinn Navidson. He learned from councilors that Quinn was showing problematic signs as he was constantly ripping the heads off of toys. Intrigued by this, Dr. Sawyer had a one-on-one talk with Quinn where he learned that the boy's head ripping was so he could make the toys "prettier". Seeing an opportunity, Dr. Sawyer empathized with Quinn that he also wanted to make the world "prettier". He also noted that Quinn was purposefully holding himself back - referencing his average assessment in the Game Station - because he believed others didn't want his true self. But Sawyer said he does understand Quinn and did want to see his true self. At that, he asks Quinn to give it his best during the next assessment and reveals he would be watching him, all of which Quinn agreed to.

With Dr. Sawyer's words and him as his new proctor, Quinn got a better assessment in the Game Station - better physically but actually worse mentally. Regardless, Quinn was soon chosen and became Bigger Bodies Experiment 1166: Yarnaby. Monitoring Yarnaby's progress, Sawyer noted that he ended up becoming what he wanted - strong, agile, and swift, even if his mind was lacking. More than that, Sawyer began seeing Yarnaby start to bond with Playtime staff as if he were a dog. The Doctor was amused by this and soon thought he could take advantage of this bonding due to needing protection. He isolated Yarnaby and was the only one to interact with him after that, making the living toy totally loyal to him so that he would always defend his new "master" .

Harley Sawyer would soon be taken out, removed from the Initiative and forcibly turned into an AI program. Not long after, Yarnaby became lethargic and not succeeding like he was before. Staff noted this change and directly correlated it to the Doctor's conversion, comparing it to a dog upon their master's death. The staff deemed Yarnaby's sole devotion to Dr. Sawyer as a core failing of the experiment and left him isolated to determine what's next for him. This wouldn't be decided as the Doctor would participate in the Hour of Joy: a full-scale massacre within the Playtime Co. factory that left it abandoned. It would be after the Hour that Yarnaby would reunite with the Doctor and return to his side.

Chapter 4: Safe Haven

Around a decade after the Hour of Joy, the Doctor would learn of an ex-Playtime employee that came back to the factory. Sawyer guides the employee to Yarnaby's holding cell while noting he wants to try something different to the previous experiments the employee had faced. With that, Sawyer opens Yarnaby's cell and gently calls for him - prompting the living toy to rush out and try smashing through the observation room's window. As Yarnaby settles and walks out through a hole in the wall, the Doctor notes that he'll be keeping tabs on the two. The Doctor watches as Yarnaby stalks the employee through both a shipping area and a server room until they ultimately escape the toy.

Yarnaby would soon find his way to the Doctor's inner sanctum where his physical parts resided and begin patrolling the No Man's Land area that leads into it. The ex-employee would also eventually arrive in No Man's Land to destroy the Doctor and take his Omni-Hand. The Doctor watches Yarnaby attempt to kill the ex-employee to stop them from getting in. Ultimately, the Doctor watches Yarnaby accidentally getting caught on a hook before plummeting into a vat of molten material. The Doctor, himself, would die not long after when the ex-employee manages to sabotage his life support systems.

Fanon

DocYarn is a newer but well-liked ship in the Poppy Playtime fandom. The ship started in the ARG leading up to Chapter 4, part of which showed Doctor Sawyer's vested interest in Yaranby's former human self. The transcript showing the Doctor actually empathizing with Quinn and encouraging him to do better was surprising given his characterization before this was alot colder. So naturally, with Quinn becoming Yarnaby, fans saw the amount of effort Doctor Sawyer was going through for him as more than just another orphan being turned into a toy. Many also find the hilarious juxtaposition of such a serious character like the Doctor having something as silly-looking as Yarnaby under him as endearing. However, there are some that aren't as enthused about the Doctor's treatment of Yarnaby. Apart from leading the project that turned Quinn into Yarnaby, the fact the Doctor was basically grooming Yarnaby to be an attack dog was seen by these detractors as unethical. Doctor Sawyer calling Yarnaby "amusing, but pathetic" during the ARG also didn't sit too well with them.

On AO3, this ship has 53 tagged works. It's Yarnaby's most written ship and Sawyer's third-most after HarLeith and SecurityAngel.

Fandom

FAN FICTION

Harley Sawyer & Yarnaby tag on AO3

Trivia

• As noted by Game Theory in a theory video (starting at 16:43), the relationship between The Doctor and Yarnaby has parallels to that of DC's Joker and Harley Quinn:
  • An innocent person being turned into a monster by a madman.
  • The victim being wholly devoted to the madman even when they didn't reciprocate it and just saw them as a useful plaything.
  • The first names of Harley Sawyer and Yarnaby's human self (Quinn Navidson) combined is "Harley Quinn".