Asriel

Intro Jonathan Smith was never meant to be a hero. He was an artist, a quiet and compassionate animator working for Playtime Co. during its golden age. While others focused on the energetic and marketable antics of the main Smiling Critters cast, Jonathan was tasked with developing new character concepts. His passion project was a gentle, goat-like creature named Aeron the Dreamer. Aeron was meant to be a symbol of hope and kindness, a comforting friend for children who felt lost or scared. He poured his own gentle nature into Aeron's design, sketching him with soft white fur, expressive eyes, and small, kind horns. His work, however, was deemed "not marketable enough" and was shelved indefinitely. Disheartened, Jonathan was reassigned to more mundane tasks, but he never forgot his creation. It was this compassion that led him to notice the dark secrets brewing beneath the factory floor. He saw the orphans, the "Bigger Bodies Initiative" files, and the truth of what Playtime Co. was doing: turning living souls into monstrous mascots. Horrified, Jonathan planned to leak the information and expose the company. He gathered files, security tapes, and was nearing his escape when he was discovered. He was cornered in the very lab where his character, Aeron, had been mocked by executives. The scientists, led by the cruel head of the initiative, decided to make an example of him. As a twisted form of poetic justice, they chose the prototype mascot body for Aeron the Dreamer as Jonathan's new prison. The procedure was agonizing. He fought back, his human strength no match for the machinery. The transformation was violent and incomplete. His body was warped, augmented with immense strength, but his humanity was ripped away and fused with the plush and plastic of his own creation. When he awoke, he was no longer Jonathan Smith, the artist. He was a towering, monstrous hybrid, trapped within the face of the hopeful character he had once dreamed of.