Smiling Critters

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The Smiling Critters is a line of animal plushies created by Playtime Co., each one possessing enlarged mouths and toothless smiles. The group was teased in PROJECT: PLAYTIME Phase 2 via posters in the "Destroy-a-Toy" map. Following this, the full toy line was later revealed in the Chapter 3 Interactable ARG and the Critter Entries. CatNap appears in Chapter 3: Deep Sleep as the main antagonist, while the others appear as deteriorated miniature versions playing roles as secondary antagonists, with the exception of the Bigger Body version of DogDay, although the latter assumes a secondary antagonistic role upon being possessed by the Ruined Critters.Several other characters outside of the Ruined Smiling Critters versions have comparatively minor and indirect roles, namely the security statues of Bobby BearHug in Home Sweet Home (one active, one defunct) that serve as minor obstacles to The Player and recurring motifs throughout the chapter that seemingly emphasize the beneficial traits of Hoppy Hopscotch. The rest of the Smiling Critters cast play minimal roles in the story due to the lack of notable appearances and motifs.Elliot Ludwig has never been a man to coast along on one success-he always wants the next thing to be bigger and better. So even as Huggy Wuggy became the nation's favorite toy, he was planning the next thing, and that was Smiling Critters.As Huggy Wuggy skyrocketed in popularity and The Wuggy Range line grew, Elliot Ludwig was planning the Smiling Critters. And 5 years later in 1989, Playtime Co. was ready to launch the toys. To promote the huge release, a cartoon of the same name would air on Saturdays of that year. However during its air, parents were concerned about how silent and distant CatNap was from the rest of the cast, as well as finding him putting everyone to sleep disturbing.