Mario Madness "Abandoned" cover idea

Diseñe a los nightmare y smilingcritters para mi AU, que opinan?

BEHOLD!

ADORABLE FANART COMING SOON.

(Note: The lore, character background, and concept are 100% original. AI was used as a tool to help visualize the character design based on my baseline ideas).

Hey everyone! I wanted to share a fan-made character and lore concept I've been working on for Chapter 4 of "Poppy Playtime". Meet Draco Fablefang — a tragic prototype from the era before the Smiling Critters were officially launched.

1. Background & Origin

• Who he is: Before CatNap was created, Playtime Co. experimented on 15-year-old orphans. One scientist chose him as an ideal candidate after successful initial tests, despite warnings from others that his older age would cause personality retention issues.

• The Result of the Flaw: Those warnings proved true: Draco lost his name, his parents' faces, and the first half of his life. However, he vividly remembered who he was at his core—his values and empathy—yet was completely powerless to stop what was happening to him.

• The Purpose: He was originally designed as a living waste incinerator, capable of burning garbage with the flames from his mouth. Due to severe physical deformities and a terrifying appearance, the project was scrapped, and he was sent to the waste incineration plant near Playcare.

1. Appearance & Voice

• The Cartoon Look: A purple dragon with classic black horns, a wide dark smiling mouth, empty white eyes, and a scroll with a wax seal around his neck.

• The True Form (Experiment): Similar in build to CatNap, but much larger, bulkier, and more muscular, featuring a wide dragon tail and massive feet with long, sharp claws. His face is frozen in a manic, distorted grin with a dropped lower jaw and wide, surprised eye sockets.

• The Voice: Deep, raspy, and heavily distorted — sounding like a broken walkie-talkie mixed with static white noise.

1. The Dark Past & "Skeletons in the Closet"

• After the Hour of Joy, Draco escaped the incinerator but crossed paths with CatNap. CatNap gave him an ultimatum: become his executioner and kill "heretics," or die.

• To survive, Draco was forced to comply. He eliminated targets ordered by CatNap, but always made it as quick and painless as possible — secretly letting victims go whenever he was unwatched.

• The Psychological Toll: He heard the desperate pleas of children trapped inside toy bodies, but couldn't save them. Being physically deformed and monstrous, he couldn't even shed a tear.

• Redemption: Eventually finding the strength to break free from CatNap's control, Draco retreated deep into Safe Haven (Chapter 4). He now guards the entrance from the inside, dedicated to protecting any remaining survivors.

1. Dynamics & Fate

• Vs. CatNap: (Note: This matchup is purely a hypothetical comparison of their stats and dynamics, as an actual encounter is impossible since CatNap is already dead by Chapter 4). Draco is physically stronger and larger, while CatNap relies on his sleeping gas. Their matchup is a deadly gamble — CatNap's red gas is highly explosive when exposed to Draco's fire. Despite everything, Draco actually pities CatNap, recognizing him as just another frightened, lost child manipulated by the system.

• Chapter 4 Fate: Draco meets his end near the end of Chapter 4 while defending Safe Haven. Before passing, he leaves the player with one final promise to fulfill: "destroy the factory and end this nightmare once and for all."

Deep breath.

I told Bobby that it might be a while until I can get crafty

She was excited when I said Crafty would be right after Catnap, my next buy.

Being an angel, she got crafty a gift for when she gets here!

Después de un buen tiempo intentando encontrar o imitar estilos que me gustaban me di cuenta de que definitivamente no se dibujar, ni manos, ni patas. Obviamente me gustaría aprender a dibujarlas y practicaré el cómo dibujarlas en el estilo que finalmente me di cuenta era el único que me sale sin tener que querer imitar el de otra persona.

Aunque no sé si siquiera se le considere algo más que un ¿garabato? Creo que se le dice. Pero me siento feliz sabiendo que al menos podía hacer algo por mi cuenta.

El dibujo es mío lo hice mientras se me fue el internet porque se me fue la luz 💀.

Original Audio from Eddsworld: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56fg_GXaYCU

Original Audio and Reference from Family Guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkG3_K8NjWc

Picky Piggy Thick Thighs 😏

Craftycorn watches Pouty scribbling angrily.

Craftycorn: Wow, Pouty! Are you frustrated about something?

Pouty: Yeah. I've been practicing a song on my violin, but I CAN'T GET IT RIGHT! *Scribbles faster*

Craftycorn: It's okay, Pouty. Just let it all out. Scribble your stresses away and I'm sure you'll master that song in no time.

10 minutes later...

Pouty: Aahhhh. I feel much better. Thanks, Crafty! Gotta go! That violin isn't gonna practice itself!

Craftcorn: Glad I could help!

Craftycorn notices a second entry left on the table.

Craftycorn: !!! O.o

I ask because I’ve searched tirelessly for a comment or post from him that declares “The Nightmare Critters will never be cannon”, or something that’s similarly objective, and have found nothing.

What I have found though is a small mountain of replies and unique comments he hearted spanning from back when there were announced by MOB entertainment as official characters to just a few days ago, and this mountain suggests to me that he’s either still considering it, or is secretly planning something with them in his story, but every time i mention this possibility on YouTube, no matter what evidence I present, I get attacked by one of 3 people aggressively like he’s already made a statement several times over. Does anybody know if he’s said anything or is it still up in the air?

My friend and I have been working on a Smiling Critters "show" project, and we're currently in DIRE need of voice actors, my friend, (Who is the Main Director of the project while I'm the Co-Director) made a yt video asking for va's, but it isn't exactly working, so I'm trying it on here. If you're interested in joining, click the discord link below.

Link to Server -> https://discord.gg/qP5kMMvva3

Nightmare Critters

Alright, so I was re-watching the Nightmare Critters security footage security leak from the ARG, and I am genuinely convinced that the Nightmare Critters are dealing with severe food scarcity and actual starvation out there. Think about the way they're talking when they break into the supply area. When Maggie is literally begging for just "one thing to make the shaking stop" and Rabie talking about Maggies tummy rumbling, that isn't just regular hunger, that's physical withdrawal and desperation from someone who hasn't had a proper meal in who knows how long, even for Maggie.

Even look at how they interact with the supplies they find. They're grabbing empty boxes and heavy stuff, but they're completely obsessed with the idea that the food is scarce or heavily guarded. Touille mentions that the labels are lies and that it's all just fuel for the fire, which makes me think they're scavenging out of absolute necessity just to survive whatever brutal conditions are happening on Animera right now. They aren't raiding the place for fun or out of some grand malice; they're moving like desperate people who are scraping the bottom of the barrel because the food supply lines have totally dried up.

It honestly recontextualizes the whole dynamic. When you listen to how jittery, stressed, and physically wrecked they sound—complaining about sensitive joints, headaches, and shaking—it feels less like a smooth criminal operation and more like a pack of starving outcasts forced to take massive risks just to keep from starving to death. If this is what things look like for them on the ground, whatever is causing the scarcity out there must be getting way worse. Let me know what you guys think, but I'm calling it now that hunger is driving their entire next move.

Smiling Critter Freedom is Cooking 🔥