About

DogDay is a heroic character and the trusted leader of the Smiling Critters group and a minor antagonist in Chapter 3: Deep Sleep of the horror video game Poppy Playtime franchise. The chapter was released on Steam on January 30th, 2024, depicting the character as an anthropomorphic canine, characterized by an orange fur that complements his expressive black eyes. Throughout early 2024 and beyond, the character was popularized in memes and fan fictions paired with Catnap villain, often portraying the duo as friends or lovers in fan art and other fan-made depictions.

Origin

DayDog first appeared online in a promotional video for the third installment of Poppy Playtime the game franchise, which was uploaded to YouTube^[1] by the channel MOB Games on November 11th, 2023. The video, titled "Smiling Critters Cartoon – Poppy Playtime Chapter 3," shows several toys from the game, including DayDog, who is depicted as a leading figure who made attempts to uplift the mood to any situation, even in frightening moments. The animation earned 12 million views in three months (shown below).

Poppy Playtime: Chapter 3 was then fully released on January 30th, 2024, with DayDog’s online presence growing exponentially in the following weeks as the game trended on social media.

Spread

Dogday’s use in fan animations happened even before the third installment of the game was released on Steam. For instance, on December 29th, 2023, the YouTube^[2] channel @Cutebattie uploaded a fan-made animation (shown below, left) of the character “annoying Catnap,” which garnered over 1.3 million views and 15,000 likes in two months.

On November 24th, 2023, YouTuber^[3] @3LF4B3RRY shared a fan animation of Catnap and DogDay (shown below, right), which received roughly 183,000 views and 5,200 likes in three months.

On November 27th, 2023, Deviant Art^[4] user @KatiAmel uploaded a fan art of the character (shown below, left), amassing more than 9,400 views and 175 favorites in three months. On November 25th, 2023, Deviant Art^[5] user @Solarsunz posted a fan art featuring DayDog and Catnap (shown below, right), which garnered over 5,600 views and 119 likes in three months.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References