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Due to centering around a children's show (as well as being an homage to, a certain other cast of familiar puppets, My Friendly Neighborhood is full of strange characters to list here as well as some of the staff and humans that accompany them (by that, we mean Gordon and the Staff).
Let's introduce the residents of The Neighborhood, shall we?
Gordon, the Staff, and other people
Gordon
Gordon O'Brian the Maintenance Man
- Voiced by: Tom Schalk
"Disable the antenna? The last job of the day is always the worst."
A rough-around-the-edges but skilled Maintenance Man who is called to shut down power to The Neighborhood Studios' broadcast antenna when it broadcasts over the regularly scheduled news for the first time in years. He seems a smart, though simple man at first, but as he learns about the studio, parts of his past — good and bad — begin to resurface.
- Berserk Button: He does not take kindly to Ricky comparing him to a bloodthirsty G.I., to the point that he tries to shoot the poor sock puppet over it. Given that he really did serve in a war at one point, he has good reason to take this personally.
- Brooklyn Rage: A Brooklynite, judging by the accent, and wholly unafraid to fight back and get the drop on the Puppets if they get a little... too friendly.
- Experienced Protagonist: Is a war veteran, heavily implied to have fought in the Vietnam War, and earned a Purple Heart, meaning he is at least someone capable of operating while injured already. As a result, once he adapts to the living puppets and finds weapons to fight back with, he quickly shows Nerves of Steel and a Genre Savvy awareness of potential dangers.
- Expy: Though he doesn't start out this way, the Golden Ending sees him transform into the setting's equivalent of Mr. Rogers. Gordon is a war veteran, which Mr. Rogers had an urban myth about being, both are responsible and mature adults who help their puppet friends through difficult emotional issues, and Gordon ends the game becoming the producer of My Friendly Neighborhood as Fred Rogers was for his own show. To further emphasize this, Ricky asks Gordon a very familiar question at the very end of the game.Ricky: "C'mon, won't you be our neighbor?"
- Formerly Fit: Once upon a time he was fit enough to fight in a war, but in the modern day he's an out-of-shape asthmatic who tends to injure himself escaping from grabs.
- Freudian Excuse: It becomes clear that Gordon's time in the war took a serious toll on him, turning him into a rough, short-tempered jerk.
- Genre Savvy: Unlike a lot of FPS horror protagonists, Gordon commentates a lot on the dangers that happen, and a consistent theme is him complaining about or observing tropes of the genre with a dry wit. He is, after all, a highly experienced soldier.
- Good Feels Good: Something that surprises him when he chooses to help the Neighborhood get back on air.
- Hidden Depths: A traditional example. Beneath his gruff exterior, the Puppets and the player learn that he's a determined man who has a history with the War, a buried love of film-making, the ability to learn music fairly quickly, and an introspective nature.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's the gruff repair man who has been reported to management by customers for being sullen and impolite. That being said, he isn't all bad.
- If he has a problem with someone, he will -in no uncertain terms- let them know how irritated he is. His mood only worsens when he finds out just how bad the Puppets have gotten as he has life-or-death encounters. That being said, should the Player choose to perform actions, the more dangerous Puppets are ironically the ones he tends to share meaningful interactions with, to the point that they are no longer a threat once he does so. Later gets deconstructed as a core part of his Character Development is that he realizes, as a man involved in the war, he had to toughen up, but in doing so, he closed himself off emotionally and forgot about the lighter side of life in general.
- A puzzle requires him to play a board game with a creepy slumped-over Norman at a shooting gallery lounge, but he notes that he actually looks like fun, and doesn't get too upset if the Norman in question slaps the crap out of him for breaking a rule or losing. Which can kill him eventually.
- Knight in Sour Armor: Having fought in The Great Offscreen War will result in you being kind of a sour jerk, but choosing to do the sidequests will reveal Gordon is still a kind, empathetic, and forgiving man even under his trauma, something that also surprises him.
- Nerves of Steel: The more horrors he faces, the grumpier he gets - rather than anything resembling fear.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: He was a soldier who fought an engagement where he earned a Purple Heart, meaning he was injured badly during combat. A lot of his grumpiness can be traced back to war trauma, as he admits.
- Take This Job and Shove It: In the best ending, he's fired by his boss for having not only not shut down the antenna, but actively becoming the producer for the rebooted Neighborhood show. He couldn't care less.
- Wrench Whack: The first weapon Gordon finds in the game is a pipe wrench, and likely to be a last resort.
The Show Staff
The My Friendly Neighborhood Show Staff
The crew behind the former hit children's program My Friendly Neighborhood. While none of them appear in-game, notes and letters can be found in the abandoned buildings, detailing the rise and fall of the program.
- Benevolent Precursors: The CEO wanted nothing more than to make children happy and become a shining beacon in a cynical world recovering from a brutal war. Their letter "Final Address" even plays this straight as in the face of the studio shutting down, their last message to the viewers is to keep looking for the light in the face of darkness.
- Blood Knight: Downplayed, the only real reason they had to develop weapons was because The Puppets had no grasp of their own strength, and the weapons tend to only knock out the puppets temporarily. However it begins leaning into absurdity when they started developing shotguns, grenades and a chaingun.
- Kick the Dog: Played With. It's obvious their treatment, and them leaving, had a profound impact on the Puppets, essentially treating them like living props. But it does seem like some of them cared more for at least some of the Puppets, such as the Norman in the Shooting Gallery, who one of them didn't mind playing games with. They also didn't seem to have a much of a choice once the Higher-Ups stated that the Puppets were their property, and the cancelation forced them out very quickly, judging by just how much equipment and leisure activities have been left behind. Them leaving also left the Puppets to see how Mean the rest of the world had become since the War, and that's what actually caused their new hostile behaviors. Played a little straighter in that not one of them cared to ever actually come back to check in on the Puppets in the intervening years...
- Parental Abandonment: In a sense concerning the puppets. When the show was cancelled, the entire crew up and left behind the puppets. This allowed the puppets to watch TV for the first time, since the handlers would not let them beforehand. Things went downhill from there.
The Neighborhood
As a Whole
As a Whole
A cast of Puppets left abandoned in their theatre. They wander around aimlessly as prominent obstacles who will manhandle Gordon in their desperation of having new friends. Others, though, are more openly hostile due to their neglect...
- And Call Him "George": Upon inspecting their "attacks", it's clear that they're all really just trying to give Gordon an honest-to-god hug but have gone so long without human interaction that they don't realize how unnecessarily rough they're being.
- Deconstruction: Mascot Horror characters in several ways.
- Despite being physically dangerous to a degree, they lack a lot of attributes that monsters of similar games have to harm. They aren't empty suits, they aren't in disrepair, they often don't have realistic anatomical details, and they don't mutate or sprout claws or fangs. Their voices aren't even corrupted; they're just typical sentient mascot puppets with all of the goofiness you'd expect, just made unnerving by their mental state.
- Most Mascot monsters of the genre are animal-like predators who are deceptively cunning tactics. The Puppets, by contrast, tend to be pretty inattentive and simply run at and attack the player. While they sometimes enter rooms in unexpected ways and can successfully jump scare Gordon, they are consistently Unskilled, but Strong, with their main threat being their numbers and being able to get back up and reposition themselves when you leave a room.
- Mascot monsters are usually hostile by anger, vengeance, or outright madness and tend to be unreasonable. They also tend to have some kind of leader or driving force. While the Puppets are certainly weird, they're more like children who don't know how to take care of themselves. They are aimless, but can learn if someone properly interacts with them. While they have a "leader", Ricky, he's the least hostile and the sanest by far, and his interactions with Gordon are largely trying to find a middle ground while explaining their goal is simply to get back on the air. Their violent ramblings and behavior are made-up and/or learned and re-enacted so they can be accepted by people again. Which is why they are rebroadcasting themselves over established showslots.
- Mascot Monsters tend to be an Implacable Man and/or Super-Persistent Predator that will kill you in one shot. The Puppets can be stopped with duct tape, take multiple hits to down you, and tend not to follow Gordon if he can get up out of reach/get into another room.
- The Unfriendly Neighborhood Puppets highlight this contrast by playing most of the tropes straight. They have human teeth and no eyes, their voices are reverbed and threatening, and they trick/lead you into cornering Gordon into an arena with their monstrosity of a leader, who may take some doing to bring down.
- Killer Bear Hug: The puppets' primary method of attack is to wrap their arms around Gordon and squeeze as if they are trying to crush him to death. However, the puppets aren't actually aware of what they're doing; they're just so desperate and overexcited for human company that they've forgotten their own strength and how to respect personal space.
- Motor Mouth: A consistent trait is that if a Puppet can speak, they will be blabbering for a bit until they're interrupted. It's not uncommon for rooms to be filled with their noise, encouraging players to knock them out in order to quiet them down.
- Obliviously Evil: Arguably their defining characteristic is that they don't realize how unsettling they act or how strong they are. Most of them are just trying to give Gordon a simple hug, but are so rough about it that he has to fight them off and/or bind them. It's implied that a lot of this is because they are trying to be as relevant as the "mean" things they see on TV. The ones that embrace this completely avert this, and lurk in the Unfriendly Neighborhood.
- Reviving Enemy: Puppets will keep getting back up the next time Gordon enters the room, unless they're taped up.
Ricky
Ricky the Sock
- Voiced by: Arlo
"Raise the curtain! Bring up the lights! The Neighborhood is coming to town!"
A blue sock puppet with red yarn hair and googly eyes. He seems to be the Mascot for The Neighborhood, having designated spaces to pop up from and welcoming Gordon when the latter arrives and rings the bell at the studio's front desk. He's not hostile per se, but he's strongly passive-aggressive about not wanting Gordon to shut down the broadcast tower.
- Affably Evil: Ricky shows himself to speak and act politely towards Gordon whenever Gordon encounters Ricky. He is even joyful when Gordon agrees to help out the studio.
- Anti-Villain: It's honestly very difficult to really call him a villain. Despite being one of the puppets and frequently shifting between helping Gordon and obstructing him, Ricky is entirely sane, and is mostly just trying to convince Gordon to not shut down the tower because he believes that the only way to even begin fixing the problems of the puppets, and the outside world's cynicism, is by getting their show back on the air. It's telling that the ending where Ricky gets everything he wants is the Golden Ending.
- Casting Gag: Who else to voice a blue puppet than someone who's a blue puppet?
- Expy: To Kermit the Frog, as the first of many Jim Henson Puppet expies in the game. He's the ultimate Optimistic face of the franchise (appearing the most on posters), genuinely friendly, although passive-aggressive and a Deadpan Snarker when frustrated, and has a love for his friends and performing.
- Hidden Depths: Despite being a sock puppet, Ricky understands quite a lot more about human nature than one would expect like knowing the wealthy only paid attention to the Neighborhood when it made them money... or wondering if maybe humans prefer being mean and dark, not wanting to emulate the friendly lessons the Neighborhood taught, because they hate facing just how cruel and dysfunctional their beliefs and behaviors really are. He also is quick to figure out a pretty good idea of what Gordon's damage is, and tries to leverage the idea of The Friendly Neighborhood as a means of helping him heal mentally and emotionally.
- Innocently Insensitive: While well-meaning, Gordon's persistence at doing his job causes Ricky to become progressively snarkier and snarkier, which reaches a tipping point in the Studios' Gardens when he compares Gordon, a former participant in a horrific war, to a bloodthirsty G.I. looking for a village to attack while lambasting him for being a violent bully. Gordon rightfully loses his temper and shoots at Ricky for it. Even when they're on better terms, Ricky's childish way of speaking sometimes makes Gordon think he's being mocked when he's really not.
- Only Sane Man: He's childish in his dialog and downplays how dangerous the Studio is constantly, but he's also the only Puppet that converses with people on a level other than chattering nonsense or indecipherable noises, and mostly he's just trying to reason with Gordon.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Ricky truly believes that the world has gone too mean, and it needs My Friendly Neighborhood's guidance so that everyone can be happy and nice to each other again. This also explains why Ricky keeps telling Gordon to not disconnect the antenna. The Golden Ending proves that The Extremist Was Right; letting My Friendly Neighborhood broadcast is the only way for the studio to return to normal. And even then, his extremism was literally just "I want to bring this kid-friendly positive show back on the air because I think it'd help everyone", which is frankly possibly the most harmless example of this trope ever.
The Main Puppets
Norman, Liliana, Junebug, Lenard, and George
- Voiced by: Leo Wiggins (Norman), Natalie Roers (Junebug), Joshua Cookingham (Lenard), Kamran Nikhad (George), Erin Blaber (Liliana)
Multiple copies of the same five or so Puppets that wander the Studio. When not having speaking roles, it's implied that they serve as extras, and for the most part act similarly.
They tend to stand in one place, waving their upper bodies about and spouting nonsense. When they spot Gordon, they'll run at the newest face they've seen in years since the studio shut down. Unfortunately, they tend to be uncontrolled in their friendliness, so the Maintenance Man ends up having to fight, avoid and restrain them.
- Cloudcuckoolander: As a result of their isolation, they have some bizarrely violent strings of thought running through their heads.
- Expy: Normans in particular look and sound akin to Sesame Street's Ernie.
- Grievous Harm with a Body: The Curtain has several unresponsive Normans that it spits as projectiles, ragdolling and all.
- Hell Is That Noise: When not talking or humming they make odd, slurpy breath-like noises. It could be inferred that they were sleeping, if they didn't detect Gordon as they normally do.
- Iron Butt Monkey: Since they're the most consistent obstacle, they are often the ones getting sent flying like ragdolls once knocked out... however, by the time you re-enter the room, they will be standing again no worse for wear. Normans and Leonards in particular get it the worst of the bunch, being the ones typically stuffed into lockers or otherwise left in pieces.
- Jump Scare: Quite good at it, despite by all accounts not meaning to do it. Aside from events, it's sometimes tough to gauge how far you reach and when they will detect you from behind. It leads to players getting too close and the puppet snapping into getting a free hit on them.
- Palette Swap: They are more or less all the same kind of enemy - they share lines, animations, and behavior, but all have different voices and some unique dialogue.
- Stepford Smiler: Their most consistent trait is that as chipper as they're trying to be, the loneliness of being in the studio is eating away at them, and thus causes their aggression to burst out in what they say and do.
- Unique Enemy: Two particular, peculiar, variants of these puppets show up during the story. A Norman that walks into Ray's Workshop rips himself apart in a flurry of shadowy stuffing to split into a crowd of other Normans; these copies do not show up in the room again, and nothing similar ever happens. Once you make enough progress, just about to the Gardens, the seemingly inanimate Lenard statue in the entrance plaza comes to life with an electric trill to his voice; unlike the splitting Norman, the statue is there to stay. There's also a Norman statue holding a pair of bolt cutters in the sewers that comes to life on harder difficulties.
Pearl
Pearl the Bird
- Voiced by: Lindsay Sheppard
A giant pink puppet bird who lacks eyes, blindly wandering about and poking at the Neighborhood Set as her fellow Puppets blather around her. She's not hostile, but while she's blind, her sheer size and inability to see where she's going and what she's doing make her a constant hazard that can hurt Gordon.
- Blind Without 'Em: Exaggerated and Justified, as her glasses come with her eyes.
- Eyeless Face: Her eyes are sealed in a vault within Stage 4 with her glasses, and without them she's reduced to blindly stumbling about the area.
- Expy: Of Big Bird; they're both sweetheart Gentle Giant birds whose size and stumbling mean they're prone to causing unintentional damage. Her larger-than-life stature and digitigrade legs also make her one for the Gawky Birds
. - Foreshadowing: The costume storage area reveals the Puppets have replacement noses and eyes, and she's a threat when her eyes are detached; detached eyes are utilized by the Unfriendly Neighbors as an intimidation tactic.
- Gentle Giant: Is non-hostile by default, and while she wanders around feeling things, she's not drawn to your noise in particular and won't attack Gordon on sight. Even when Gordon accidentally upsets her a little, the most that happens is that she lets out an offended chirp before he apologizes for the remark.
- Non-Malicious Monster: Easily one of the largest puppets in the studio, and quite intimidating despite her colorful appearance. It initially looks like she's deliberately patrolling Stage 4 for some reason and that she's aggressive if you get too close... but keep observing Pearl and it becomes clear that she's unable to see and is trying to find something. Once she gets her eyes back, she calms down and will not bother Gordon anymore.
Ray
Ray
- Voiced by: Paul Greene-Dennis
A large grumpy red puppet who "worked" as host handyman on his portion of The Neighborhood. He tends to try and fix things by smacking them with his wrench, and his temper got him put down in the sewers after the show's cancelation.
- Expy: Of Oscar the Grouch, being an irritable character who's only seen from the waist up and who's associated with filth.
- Hidden Depths: It's implied that he actually dislikes being surrounded by the sewage in his area, and that part of the reason that he defaults to whacking with his wrench is that he is unsure of how to actually fix things, losing himself to frustration and panic.
- Oral Fixation: Hard to notice but he has a toothpick in his mouth, with the artwork in the Garden giving him multiple toothpicks at once.
- Percussive Maintenance: His preferred method of trying to fix things is to whack them with his wrench. Notably the script for an episode that's supposed to teach him not to do this on everything is beside his stage, which means that it either went unaired or he didn't learn the lesson. Once Gordon gets the means to fix the pump for the sewer and turns the valve that washes away the nearby sewage, it seems Ray finally understands there are other ways to fix problems, contemplatively turning the valve handle.
- Psychological Projection: It's implied that Gordon's eventually getting frustrated, yelling at and explaining that Ray can't just hit things to make them better has this element to it.
- Tube Travel: His main method of trying to attack you is traveling between the red semi-grated pipes and waiting for Gordon to get close.
- When All You Have Is a Wrench...: In the Friendly Neighbourhood's heyday, Ray always tried to whack his problems with his wrench, to the point that an episode was devoted to teaching him that it doesn't always work. With no outside figure to teach him while he is confined to the sewers, he continually tries to fix the machinery there in the only way that he knows — which, predictably, only leaves him stressed and frustrated.
- Wrench Whack: His means of "fixing" things.
The Hand Puppets
Hand, Randy and Pig, the Hand Puppets
- Voiced by: E.G. Simmons
That's Pig on the left, Hand in the middle, and Randy on the right.
Small hand puppets that cling to surfaces with their base (where the hand would usually go), leaping at Gordon when he gets too close to their spot.
- Cute, but Cacophonic: Just as obnoxiously loud as the regular Motor Mouth Puppets are, just higher in pitch, which arguably makes them worse.
- A Dog Named "Dog": Pig, the Pig Hand Puppet.
- Fragile Speedster: Hard to hit, but one well-placed shot will send them flying into the opposing walls.
- Shout-Out: They speak in a high pitched impression of Elmo.
Gobblette
Gobblette
- Voiced by: Blythe Melin
A big green, toad-like Puppet with a bib and gloves tipped with seasoning shakers, she wanders about the Studios' office/theatre building, and is only concerned on snacking on Gordon when she catches sight of him.
- Bullfight Boss: When encountered, she charges headlong along a path until she collides with a wall, which stops her for a brief moment.
- Expy: Of Cookie Monster, both being larger, googly-eyed puppets whose entire gimmick is a focusing on ravenous eating. With Gobblette, it's more of an in-general hunger, and this, coupled with her larger frame, brings to mind the larger full-body Muppet monsters who also tended to eat other Muppets in their segments.
- Hidden Depths: Playing recent films lures her into the theater, but she doesn't seem interested until Gordon plays an older film on the horrors of war, making her weep in the front row. When he goes down to the front row, he relays a film moment that was special to him, and helps her begin to process the impact it had on her.
- Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Averted; apart from her odd voice tone and name, she has no traditional indicators that she is female until Gordon confirms it with a line of dialog.
The Curtain
The Curtain
- Voiced by: Gianni Matragrano
A large, strange living pink stage curtain that drapes itself over the exit of the offices when Gordon gets key items for another building, forcing a fight.
- Attack Its Weak Point: Defeated by shooting its many eyes.
- Eldritch Abomination: Even by the standards of the other Puppets, it's an absolute bizarre monster with no practical purpose. A living stage curtain, studded haphazardly with eyes, which hacks and spits and sucks up a supply of seemingly dead Normans and Hand Puppets to fight and keep Gordon trapped despite not having the mass to store them otherwise.
- Flunky Boss: It spawns Hand Puppets to attack Gordon after taking enough damage.
- Gag Lips: Has a set of big blue lips set between two layers of the curtain. The tassels below the mouth give the impression of a Beard of Evil.
- Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: It appears without much of any prompting before being fought, and then leaves by smashing through the front window. Nothing quite as horridly outlandish as it appears again until arguably the endgame.
- Grievous Harm with a Body: It attacks by spitting unconscious Normans at Gordon, then sucks them back into its mouth to "reload".
- Punny Name: Although it's never named in game, concept art found out of bounds reveals that its intended name was Curt n' Call.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: After it's fought it folds in on itself and smashes through the entrance window to escape Gordon.
The Pups
The Pups
- Voiced by: Lindsay Sheppard
A trio of strange six-legged dog puppets that wander around the outside areas of the Studio, in particular the garden, sticking to confined areas around the place in order to try and catch Gordon as he passes by.
- Big Friendly Dog: Their role, based on context, is to be an attraction in the outdoor park section of the Studio. In the current day, they act like feral wolves until they're finally fed again.
- Mix-and-Match Critter: They look like a cross between alligators, bugs and wolves.
- No Name Given: Averted; despite not being said aloud, their dog bowls list their names as Scraps (left doghouse), Flooper (middle), and Mahoney (right).
- Pet the Dog: Gordon is outraged to learn that these puppets have not been fed, his tone making it obvious that he wants to help them out. Sure enough, finding the dog food and ringing their bell so they can finally eat is what pacifies them, with Gordon giving one of them scratches before it goes into its dog house.
- Stealth Pun: Gordon calls them Pups - they're PUP-PETS.
Arnold
Arnold
- Voiced by: E.G. Simmons
A monstrous looking red Puppet with a square shaped head and long arms, he hangs out at his odd-looking penthouse up higher in the Hotel. Apparently fancies himself a musician, crudely hammering tones of Fur Elise on the keys of his favorite piano.
- Bamboo Technology: His Imagination Playhouse area, in a shout-out to Elmo's World, is made almost entirely of Cardboard crudely drawn and colored on with crayon. It's frankly almost on the level of a Wacky Land with the things he has included:
- A functioning cardboard computer, complete with notes to himself, simple games, controls to some secret rooms, and pictures.
- A kitchen with ingredients that change from using a cardboard knife, which also change to other things when you're not looking, and eventually becomes a false key for the puzzle.
- Locked doors and trunks
- A soda dispensing machine
- A secret pool area with scribbled water
- A brightly lit "garden patio" with speakers that bird noises come in through.
- Expy: An unholy-looking cross between Animal of The Muppets (a guttural sounding, wild musician who can only exclaim single words and prefers to hammer at their instrument), and Elmo from Sesame Street (has childlike sensibilities, is a piano player, and lives in a space akin to the set of Elmo's World). His legless nature, long arms, and love of classical music in particular also bring to mind Rowlf the Dog.
- Hidden Depths:
- He's a wild Puppet who doesn't look particularly bright or reasonable, but his "Imagination Penthouse" section has the heaviest puzzle elements in the game, with multiple aspects locking you out of progression until you figure out what to do.
- Apart from his main set, which has things such as a functioning cardboard computer and a study, there's a whole back area with a pool, art gallery and "outdoor" patio area... all of which he's implied to have made himself over the years with the extra space behind these initial rooms.
- His crazed mannerisms belie a genuine appreciation of music, it's just that he's a sloppy player. Once Gordon obliges his request to play something, he applauds him for doing well despite stating he couldn't read music, and lets Gordon use his elevator to get up to the top of the building without further issue.
Final Area Residents (UNMARKED SPOILERS)
The Unfriendly Neighborhood
- Voiced by: Marissa Lenti, Tom Laflin, Emily Fajardo (The Amalgam)
A group of Puppets that took a look at the programming outside the studio, and took it hard. So hard in fact that they secluded themselves in the absolute deepest part of the studio. While the regular Puppets still mostly hold on to their optimism, it seems this group, as well as their giant, cobbled together apparent leader, dove into full-blown violent insanity.
All spoilers tags are turned off for this section. Read at your own risk!
- Easter Egg: Using free-Range Mode reveals them all over their version of the set, unmoving but positioned in ways the player will likely never notice; in windows, clinging to cables, strung up on clotheslines... Entering one of the doors up there also transitions to the normal version of said set. In another room, an Unfriendly Norman is hanging off the edge of the Map, making it look like he's trying to clamber in.
- Elite Mook: Unlike the main game, where they were only used for a short chase sequence, the Neighborhorde mode has these guys appear as proper enemies. They are much larger than regular puppets and require a lot more damage to take down, but also give more points.
- Eyeless Face: They all - disturbingly - lack eyes, and it's probably self-inflicted. Despite this, they can track Gordon just fine.
- Face-Revealing Turn: Their Establishing Character Moment is the Unfriendly Junebug suddenly seen by Gordon leaning forward against the opposite wall, only to bend backward to show off her Nightmare Face. The moment Gordon looks away and looks back, she's gone. It sets the first of many contrasts with the other Puppets encountered by showing how much they love playing with a victim.
- Foil: Whereas the normal Puppets above them subvert most of the tropes of Mascot Horror, the Unfriendly Neighborhood Puppets play them straight in order to show the logical extreme of what becoming completely "Unfriendly" can entail. These puppets are deliberately mean, and though they seem a little smarter for it, are ultimately worse off when Gordon escapes/prevails over the Amalgam and the normal Puppets go on to live a better life in the true ending.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: A giant, seemingly pointless hole in the outdoor area seemingly leads to a storage place for extra props and sets fallen to disrepair after cancelation. It's this area where the secret, more traditional horror monsters of the game dwell.
- It Can Think: They've seemingly developed more than the Puppets that live above them in any case, which is surprising, considering they seem to be just as (if not more) isolated. Unlike other Puppets, the Unfriendly Neighbors chase Gordon as a group right off the bat towards a ramp, but stop just short of actually climbing up it - meaning they want you to get into the arena with the Amalgam, so they can watch. If they see Gordon lay the giant out in the dirt, they don't chase him any further; their biggest member couldn't take Gordon out, so they don't dare to attack him.
- More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Probably their biggest shared defining feature is the set of distressing human-like teeth they each sport. The normal variants don't have them, so it raises concerning questions about where they came from. The Amalgam has a mouth full of fangs sprouting from a separate part of its main face.
- Nightmare Face: The Unfriendly Neighbors each have a dirtied, Eyeless Face combined with a toothy Slasher Smile set in their default puppet smiles. The Amalgam, meanwhile, has a more traditional looking series of puppet faces that are stretched around its frame.
- Nothing Is Scarier: How the Amalgam even came into being is never elaborated on.
- Slasher Smile: The Puppets all have big dopey/mindlessly friendly smiles by default, so setting human molars in their mouths is a surefire method of turning that into something much more menacing.
- Tragic Monster: Puppets of the studio that became so broken by seeing the "mean" programming of other channels that they started rejecting humanity and kindness entirely, to frankly horrific results.
- Voice of the Legion: The individual corrupted versions of Norman, Junebug, Lilliana, Lenard and George have a reverb to their voices. It makes the already creepy dialog they babble much worse.
- The Amalgam twists it a bit by overlapping dialog akin to what the player has probably been used to hearing in rooms full of normal puppets. All together it's indecipherable, but attacks the monster makes and being damaged have all the voices grunting as one.
- Walking Spoiler: To put it lightly, their reveal spoils a majorly dark development in the world building of the Studio, as well as some fairly disturbing implications based on how they look, let alone act...
