Marie Payne’s story: From loving mother to scientist killer

By Albert - On May 26, 2022

Poppy Playtime Chapter 2 revealed a new character for players to avoid and outsmart: Mommy Long Legs. At first glance, and like most deadly characters in Poppy Playtime, there’s little to concern you about Mommy Long Legs: She has a pink spider-like body with four long limbs and a welcoming face featuring a broad smile and round green eyes.

Her soothing voice lures you in and, for a time, makes you believe that she is on your side. However, Mommy Long Legs can turn cold on a dime, revealing her true character and intentions: she wants to consume your innards. Her flexible body can maneuver through tight spaces to get to you, and when she catches up, those bright green eyes turn pitch-black.

Mommy Long Legs was once a friendly human being named Marie Payne. A poster in the game shows a joyful Marie alongside Huggy Wuggy and four children who likely visited Playtime Co. during happier times.

However, as we learned in Chapter 1, Playtime Co. had a dark side: it experimented on human beings to turn them into live toys. Elliot Ludwig approved these experiments as he searched for a formula to revive his lost daughter.

A ‘Transfer Request’ collected by the player in Chapter 2 confirms that Experiment 1222 turned Marie Payne into Mommy Long Legs. The request states that Marie expresses hostility toward staff but is motherly and warm towards other experiments.

It suggests that Marie was a mother who got abducted and experimented on. Even as the terrifying Mommy Long Legs, the transfer request states that she harbors no ill intentions towards children. The request reads:

“She has the warmth that a mother should, and any rowdy child can learn to ‘listen to their mother.’ It makes sense that her seeing these children daily would improve her behavior, and it is very unlikely she will act out in front of children.”

We assume that scientists at the facility used children to pacify Mommy Long Legs, and as there are no children in the factory, she’s left to wreak havoc at Playtime Co. “They called me mommy because I was the closest thing they ever had to one,” Mommy Long Legs says in the game.

The ‘Transfer Request’ likely never went through as if it did, Mommy Long Legs would be withheld at High-Security Maintenance, where conditioning was scheduled to happen.

In Poppy Playtime Chapter 2, Mommy Long Legs initially presents herself as a caring character, luring the player into her games. She eventually reveals her sinister nature but doesn’t entirely abandon her cheerful facade: Mommy Long Legs shifts between tender and terrifying, depending on her goals at a particular stage.

For instance, Mommy Long Legs is sweet and kind when luring you into a game. Once you start the game, however, the former Marie Payne turns evil, often manipulating the games to make it harder for you to win.

After achieving success, Mommy Long Legs revives her friendly persona, again hoping to coax you into playing again.

The ‘Transfer Request’ reveals that Mommy Long Legs is hostile towards scientists and staff:

“She [Mommy Long legs] is very hostile towards the staff. The hostility is quickly becoming problematic, but perhaps there is a solution to put her in her place.”

Mommy Long Legs’ bitterness towards Playtime Co.’s staff is understandable: they turned her into a monster and took the kids – the one thing that made her happy – away from her.

Huggy Wuggy harbors similar resentment towards the staff and scientists. Marie uses cunning and a unique ability to stretch several hundred feet to capture the player, who she believes worked at Playtime Co, and exact revenge.

“But you… you worked here,” Mommy Long Legs tells the player. “So if anyone deserves to die alone – it’s you.”