I think the curled eyebrow could be from confusion. I imagine Frank would start the conversation with something like- "Why are you always smiling?" "Because I'm happy." "But why?" "Are you saying you don't want me to be happy?" "No, but you're always happy even when you'd normally feel blue! Why?" "...I have no clue." "Frowning is easy, see?" "Maybe for you, but not for me!"
pointing out how wally's facial expression is permanently stuck in a smile is something I haven't seen touched on yet. that adds a whole new element of horror to it that I never would've thought of. It's such an interesting thing to think about! much love !!
I agree this was a really chilling thought that NEVER would have occurred to me otherwise, and just makes it so much more sad omg. My poor boy. I wonder if it hurts...holding your cheeks in a smile for merely a minute strains your muscles. even if someone were to sew your face up into one, gravity acting on the muscles of your face would still want to bring them down, you'd still feel it. Do you think....he feels it? And moreover, what I REALLY want to understand is the specific way his awareness works considering he is both living inside the universe of Home and inside Home /as existing inside a website/. So like, we see from the questbook replies he DOEs live in Home, he isn't just floating in a void of code. Home exists within the computer and he is actively able to interact with his neighbors there, because he both promises to relay messages and confirms that he does (like with asking Frank about clowns here). IDK if anyone else is like this, cause I've never really talked about it, but the way I process media or intense stories is I have to like...I always end up having to pause at one point to put a scenario into perspective. It's like, I have to pause to bring up the image in my head of it happening, like I'm watching a movie. I play the scene in my head, then I have to put myself in the position of one of the people, and replay it, slower, imagining their emotional reaction, imagining how it felt in the moment. That's how I empathise, and I only do this with things that really catch my attention or affection because I can empathise either way, but I do this if I truly want to understand the depths of what it means and connect with the experience on a more personal level. Part of this means that there come times when I find it hard to do this because I can't come up with a logical understanding of how characters like this interact with their world being what it is. I can't do my usual immersion because I get stuck trying to understand what their experience of the world is. If I can't come up with something that doesn't bring up doubt in my brain about it being sensible, I can't go forward with my immersion practice and thus I'll always feel this sense of blockage from fully connecting with it and it never stops rubbing me bad because it's like an itch I can't scratch. And nobody else EVER seems to touch on that one little aspect, nobody ever explains how that works. So I wonder am I just missing something that everyone else can see, or is everyone else just able to shrug and say "doesn't matter how it works". like am I just incapable of suspension of belief? it really sucks cause it genuinely causes me emotional turmoil for several reasons, so if anyone is either able to give me an answer or at least can relate and will talk to me about it I'd be so grateful. Like idk if I should feel dumb or broken about this. But Wally's case just really confuses me because if he is in Home, as a puppet, actively interacting with people but also able to see the content of the website and interact with it, especially in the code, like....does he have a computer? does he know how to CODE? is he aware this is how his responses are showing up to us? is that why he can't see us, are we both looking into our own computers at the website, interacting through it? sorry this was long lol I just had so many thoughts and you touched on the one that sparked this rabbit hole in my brain
Gosh, that bit about wally always smiling * HURT * me! Like obviously we've seen the "perma-grin" trope all over the place, especially in the context of antagonistic/evil characters, but I've never thought of it in a sort of existential dread kind of way. Honestly this just backs up my theory that wally being evil is a red herring. It recontexualizes all the drawings where he's uncomfortably starring at the camera and smiling as less intimidating and more like a plea for help. He states on the voywex page that he can't see us, so I wonder if it's less that he's watching us, and more that he's trying to get our attention.
I have the theory that Wally is being manipulated by Home for an unknown purpose, based on how he acts like I theorize he's around 5 and 10 years old mentally speaking, which just makes the whole situation sadder
@@isabellaeid987 I like the theory but wanted to make a small correction! Clown stated in a Tumblr post that all the characters are adults, probably somewhere in their 20's, so its unlikely he's mentally a child! But ofc you can headcanon whatever you like best!
@@rexcake Oh I didn't knew that! thanks for the information, still I think it's weird that there's no information about Wally's past on the Welcome Home website, but I guess we'll just have to wait until we find out the reason (btw Your profile pic is really cute)
Two more relevant pieces of info from the Guestbook: One comment calls Wally a "doll". Wally's answering art is labeled "notadollapuppet". Another ends with "It's a shame what happened to this show". Wally scribbles it out. The image is not named.
One little thing about Wally is that around him there were themes about SPIRALS. There were drawings of Spirals in the Guestbook, in "the neigbor's" page the black thing behind HOME was a spiral as well (like somekind of portal) and HECK WALLY'S HAIR WAS A *SPIRAL!* Getting... Jinji Ito's Uzumaki vibes here... 🍥
@@godlysocks My theory is that Home is the true mastermind, keeping the friends there. The hypnosis theory you have works, and I think that one image of poor Wally with the hand crawling from his mouth is Home herself, punishing him for telling everyone "a bit too much."
@@godlysocks I really like the hypnosis theory especially when you consider the spirals all over the place and the fact that clown the creator on there website says "You are to accompany a colorful cavalcade of puppets as their beloved neighborhood begins to skew and distort into a nightmarish memory that they can barely recall." Hypnosis has been known to kind of make people forget things
I mean, on the webpage where he says to stay quiet, his eyes shaking seems to signal that he is afraid, yet he is still smiling. So, I do think you're right about the permanent smile thing.
Something i noticed is the fact that it says that Wally interacts with the viewer. Not the neighbors. Just Wally. He was the only one before who had the ability to break the fourth wall. Maybe his sentience here is just an extension of that. Kinda like Monika from DDLC
Omg....my brain is going places with this. We know almost NOTHING about the malicious force that poses the danger in Home, other than the fact that it wasn't always like that, and Wally is somehow trapped with/due to it. So what if this all began....with the show itself? We also have even LESS info about what happened to it. But we do know that Wally doesn't like people referring to it, and that it coming back like this is very intentional but also odd and in some way, occult (the restorers note saying "But it hurts" in the Q and A section on the site). So what if something happened to the real, physical set. Some sort of dark energy or entity. Maybe it could have begun with the simple case of a horrible human being doing something so vile that it left this awful energy, so strong and so potent from the pain that was inflicted there and that energy created life, and malignance. Maybe Wally was the only one aware of his being a puppet and there being a viewer is because of what you just said, and when being brought to life, he was given that knowledge because in context of his original existence, of the show script itself, he HAS to know to some extent, because that's how the show works. Maybe it began with him only knowing that there is someone there that he's supposed to be talking to, and he pieced the fact that he's in a show/website together himself. This could also explain why Wally says he has no memories, meaning that he doesn't remember anything from before he came to life, he just sort of had knowledge of his lifes context
While it may not mention the other neighbors being anle to interact with the viewers, it does say that they join him in his teachings. Sort of like background characters in Sesame Street. Or maybe it could be a reverse Snuffaluffagus situation, where Wally tries to get the neighbors to interact with viewers or tries to make them aware, but they don't believe him.
I have a theory that Wally *is* the one behind the restoration project. I think he somehow figured out a way to manipulate humans in the outside world to make them do his bidding. Kind of like a brain parasite. If you look on the *About Us* page at the hidden text, “When I unwrapped the first letter, I felt it. I heard it. Open. Open. Open. I want it out. I’m going to get it out.” It very much implies that the restoration team is being compelled to do this project by some unknown force. I think the letters/mail actually come from another person that he’s also ‘infected’ with this influence. Why? Well, I don’t think it’s out of malicious intent. For one, there’s evidence that Wally’s friends are missing or not present. If you look at some of the messages left by Wally in the guestbook, it’s very clear he’s trying to reach them but can’t communicate with them. Also looking at the characters’ bios, they are all referred to in the past tense, except for Wally and his house. This implies imo that Wally and Home are the only ones left. I also don’t think Home is evil, I think that they just only have each other for company and solace in the moment. Which brings me to my next point, this whole restoration project is a desperate attempt on Wally’s part to revive the rest of his friends. Think about it, they are characters on a television show. Imaginary. Someone else’s theory not mine is that they can only ‘live’ if an audience knows about them. Hence why he wants to ‘get out’ the word about Welcome Home. But he doesn’t want everyone to know that he’s sentient just yet because he somehow has enough common sense to know that it would scare people and hold back the project from completion.
That's why in the news section they are going to have a public showcase for the world to see!! "Together, we will get it out, we will get everything out. You will see as we do, neighbor." That literally fits right in and makes so much sense!!
Desperate time equals desperate measure, and for our dear Wally Darling and his old pal HOME, such measure leaves them with a very bitter taste. But upon looking at themselves in the mirror across Wally's room and then to each other, they both knew that they must continue striding forward. For as long as they could remember, their lives used to be so colourful and beautiful, especially when in the presence of their wonderful friends. Ah, how they remember Barnaby's wacky jokes and tricks, Julie's brightest smiles, Frank's passion for butterflies- *Are you two done with the memory lane?* Jumped, they immediately turn their eyes towards a tall man who stands near the closet door. He was about 7 feet tall and wore a ragged top hat with an emblem resembling a ram at the front of it. Just like the hat, his dark grey clothes were also raggedy as well, with a few stains here and there. As for his face....well, his face varied from time to time. At one time, that man's face was that of a handsome yet stern looking man, in another, a spider, in some, an owl and others, a gaping layers of maws. But for tonight, he decided to look like a puppet like Wally, albeit with a wide grin that can make the Cheshire Cat cry in terror and- _Those eyes_ Wally thought to himself. _It's always those damn lifeless eyes_ *Mr. Darling, unless you and your house don't want to see your friends again, then I suggest that you should at LEAST leave my eyes out of whatever it is that you consider your brain!* Wally whimpers and try his best not to shed a single tear as the man strolled forward before stopping right in front of him. *Tell me. Did you finally do what I say* Wally slowly nods his head. *Let's have a brief reminder: how many human livestock do I ask you to bewitch and collect?* Taking out a memo pad and a pencil, Wally answers his question by showing him a scribble that read: 24. *Good boy. Now that you finally finish the first part of our deal, we can now moving on to our next phase of the plan but first, let me take a look at my watch* He then rummages through his pocket before pulling out a bronze pocket watch and take a closer look. *Hehehe, looks like it's getting late so we'll start by tomorrow morning.* Sighed, the man walks himself towards the exit but not before looking to Wally and HOME. *Consider yourself lucky, you two. Now go take a shut-eye. While you're at it, remember the deal. Understand?* Wally nods as before. *Speak* "Y-y-yes..." *Good. See you tomorrow.* And then, he vanish.
The idea that Wally might be trying to express his unhappiness but can't and that he isn't just barely lucid obviously happy and a little slow is breaking my brain right now. LET! WALLY! FROWN! The "then stay quiet" Where his eyes might be expression panic not intensity or obsession and oh my god what are they doing to our boy
That page gets a whole new meaning from me after considering the fact that maybe he physically can't frown. Because if you open the image in another tab, you see the picture of Wally in full brightness with the eyes bugging out over it, and he's smiling with his chin in his hand, and I thought "that's weird that he's grinning like that, why does he look happy if he's trapped" but I just sort of assumed it's because of the context of "then be quiet" as in like, someones watching and he can't let them know anything's up. But what if it 's more than that, what if he literally can only make that expression....OMG AND THEN THE PART WHERE HE SAYS HE LIKES FRANK, HE FROWNS....omg what if he means that because he envies him for being able to frown oh noooo
I personally think that Wally has the same kind of understanding of what’s going on that Sans had in Undertale. He knows that he’s being watched, but none of his friends understand, and he’s given up on trying to clue them in to what’s happening out of wanting them to remain blissfully ignorant. That being said, I also think that he’s actually going to help us as the audience because he’s *not the only one who knows.* and that is very dangerous to the viewer. Idk, I don’t think Wally is trying to cover things up out of malice. I think he’s trying to protect the audience from something related to Home (the sus house). Hopefully I am right on this, as I would be super heartbroken if this sweet wholesome little guy is actually malicious D:
Yeah or who came to mind for me, Monika from Doki Doki Literature Club. Spoilers from here so if you don't want to be spoiled for the game, keep scrolling! Anyway, I think Wally has the same level of awareness of Monika. Like, he must've had an "epiphany" or was given awareness like Monika was by being placed in a simulation testing to see how one would react to knowing they're a simulation. She ended up killing all the club members because of not only her awareness of being a simulation, but also the player's interactions with her, making her possessive to be with you because she feels like the player is the only one who understands how she feels. Wally could very well be having the same issue, maybe he figured out he wasn't real in a normal sense or he was given the knowledge of just being a puppet, a thing often controlled and decided he didn't like that. Monika is alike to Wally as in the awareness and communicating through hidden messages focused on the person reading them but also like Sans for the reason mentioned by @ASleepyB0i. He may very well know what's going on and could possibly have a combined motive of Sans and Monika. Given awareness but acting like nothing's changed for his friends who don't know or don't have the same awareness as he does. The future could have Wally going down a path like Sans; Giving up on trying to do anything but he knows something isn't right for sure or like Monika; Taking full control to do whatever it takes to contact you directly, even if that means removing characters from the picture to have your full attention. It also could be a combo of both somehow!
I feel like the audio clip of him singing kind of proves that he's not bad at all but a victim, at least it's what really did it for me. He just sounds SO tired, almost broken, and at one point in the beginning his voice even cracks as he's singing. He's clearly speaking to someone, but doesn't know if the response (which is a series of creaks and bangs) is good or not because he literally says "Did you like it?" and then replies to the noises with "That's good! I...think." Which implies that A) it was Home that Wally was singing to and B) Wally can't really tell what Home likes, at the very least. Which leads to the sinister question of...is this because Wally in general just can't really understand the meaning behind Home's noises/movements, or is it because Home has, or is beginning to have (maybe wasn't always evil?) such angry/malicious responses that Wally either doesn't know if Home is capable of liking something or reacting positively to anything he says/does or isn't able to figure out if that's the case. And based on how tired and drained he sounds, despite the fact that he's sort of talking as if he were happy but it sounds so off because the emotion isn't there (like when he literally says out "ha ha ha" but very robotically), Wally definitely isn't having a grand time, and I have the feeling Home might be the reason why, like it's taking something from him, or wanting something. I'm further spurred onto this idea by the fact that there is a void directly underneath Home that you can see by zooming out on browser or you can see it automatically on mobile, and it reminds me of the photo here where Wally is knelt in front of house's eye. I believe there is something dark under Home the character, and that it has Wally in it's grasp.Wally telling us to stay quiet if we can see him implies that it, too, is aware of their existence in the website, and our our existence interacting with it, and that it knowing that Wally is communicating with us would put us both in danger....which might be somehow what's behind the mysterious packages sent to restore Welcome Home. Is it restoring Home or whatever separate entity under Home if it isn't Home itself piece by piece, giving power to something terrible?
i saw a commenter mention on a different video that when wally looks menacing, his eyes are an upturned almond shape rather than a downturned almond shape. a puppet shouldn't be able to tilt their eyes like that. the only way i can think of is for there to be some sort of magnet or string mechanism behind the eyeballs, but a magnet mechanism might mess with the devices used in the recording of the show, and a string mechanism would get in the way of the puppeteer operating the mouth. wally's being controlled by something. i don't think he wants to hurt us. home does.
I find it sad that I haven’t seen anyone talking about the fact that Wally is most likely going insane due to forced isolation. Whether he’s an AI recreation or some demonic thing or simply a ghost, people tend to not talk about the clear intent of showing that Wally is stuck by himself, unable to talk to anyone. It’s just an interesting theory I have, especially when considering the trigger warnings on the original “about welcome home” page. I’m excited to see more content!
@kiki m. On the creators portfolio there is a side page thing labeled "about Welcome Home" and right underneath the large amount of pictures theres a section that has a warning label. theres a bunch of things that are mentioned such as eyes, unreality and gore, but the one i was focused on is "Exploration of heavy topics , like death, ISOLATION and mental health". hope this cleared things up!
Also with the audio when you click the phone image in the error message. Him singing a song he doesn't even know or maybe even like, the way his response to Home's sound is "That's good... I think..." showing that there is a communication barrier even between them, making him even more alone He's utterly alone
I've been thinking about Home maybe actually being the only safe space in a dangerous world. While we see references of other character's families, we never see them, like Julie's family only being seen trough the restored photo and Poppy's and Eddie's families only being mentioned, anything outside of the neighborhood is not really seen in the website, and when we stray too far from home we are always told to go back and to stay there. Just rambling, thanks for this video!
Either that or it's a tactic of isolation, though I'm going to say that it's maybe more of a safe space. Considering that all characters who have their family mentioned/shown seem to be very odd out. Entailing that maybe there's something wrong/right with them to seek somewhere else to be. Like I said, this could very well be an isolation tactic on Home/Wally's part, but it's good to keep an open/aware. mind until the product is finished! ^^
plus laso like doesnt Eddie always avoid the question of where he's from and can never answer it right, like he keeps making up places and when called on it just goes like "oh I must have just delivered there once!" like...odd....that he doesn't know or is refusing to say where he came from, and this actually kinda makes that make sense
One thing I noticed while on the website it when you go into the neighbourhood and click on the houses at the bottom there is a 'go back' button written in a colourful rainbow, but when you click on wallys house the button changes, now written in all black with a different handwriting is 'good bye' not sure if it means much but its an interesting detail
Ooo, that is interesting!! I think this is probably a reference to Wally being the one in the site, so when you're clicking on his profile, you're sort of "looking into him". So this "goodbye" is probably him saying bye while you go check out everything else! I had never noticed that before, nice catch!! :D
@GodlySocks I also just noticed something else major to the video! You know how you said wally is the one replying through the doodles in the book? Well someone commented "wally is such a doll" and wally replied with a doodle of a big red eye 'no a puppet'
I literally have a phobia of being stared at but for some reason I can never find myself afraid of Wally. He’s just too adorable in his normal state for me to be scared 😅
okay two major theories I'm running with right now: 1.) wally is being used as home's puppet. I don't know how, or why, but the two have a weird relationship, especially given the duet audio file where wally sings beautiful dreamer. I think home might be some kind of powerful entity that is using wally to accomplish its own ends. to me, this explains why the restoration project received pictures from the show covered in paint and ink: wally attempted to destroy them so no one else would be harmed by what was lurking inside home. also potentially a reason why the show was canceled in the first place: wally did something drastic either to please home or to break his connection with home. 2.) julie joyful is a MAJOR player in whatever happened to get the show canceled. there is more concept art of julie than pretty much any other character on the site (like, even more than wally, and he's the main character). additionally, julie's page on the neighborhood says she's very closely associated with flowers, and the two things scribbled all over the guest book are spirals and flowers. one of the flowers has the png name "you will come with me" and I think there's another one with a pretty unsettling name as well.
I think the context for the image is that maybe frank was tired seeing wally always smiling even when he knows wally is sad so that is why frank is saying that but he doesn't understand what wally means by "maybe for you but not for me!"
@@pataflafla-ns6vw maybe but we don't know for sure yet i heard that the welcome home group is going to add more lore someday, idk if it is true but i hope so.
yeah and if Wally is aware he's a puppet he would know he doesn't really have a choice in the matter of his expression, while Frank would just think "oh what an odd fellow, always smiling". I mean, if YOU had a friend who always seemed to smile no matter what they felt and you had a convo with them about it, and they secretly knew we lived in like, a simulation do you think that A) you'd in any way come to the conclusion that your friend is so smily because life is an illusion and they have no say in the matter and none of us do or that B) they'd tell you this fact? Prolly not, you;d just assume it's a quirky thing and move on. And the fact that wally says "I like frank. he frowns" makes it seem like he really envies frank or at the very least, admires him for being what he can never be
@@kerricampbell9746 I feel like it makes sense in context of their conversation and the fact that it's an aspect of Frank that Wally preteatedly comments on, which means he definitely has feelings about that aspect of Frank. It could be admiration if we assume it's just because of Wally having such a loving personality who would naturally embrace and love people for their differences, or envy if we assume he's horribly sad and broken from his existence and experience :( maybe both, depends on how sad you wanna be
Not sure if it was point out, but I think that Wally’s key feature that allows him to express himself is his eyebrows. The way they point and even the slightest change in them can tell you a lot. They further highlight the emotion in someone’s eyes, when pushed down your eyes become narrowed and can give away that your upset. And the slightest crease in the corner of your eye can tell someone your focused on something. So when paired with the words exchanged about frowning, you can tell it sounds sad, like he’s tired.
@@hannahvice4223 I think it's in reference to the one drawing where Wally is talking to Frank about frowning, where there's a little line that looks like it might be meant to be an eyebrow
@@hannahvice4223 lmao that's valid, there's so much content and I've only just known this existed for a week, and I haven't even been to the Tumblr page 😱
@@exoticbutters3113 I've been there and I HIGHLY doubt I've seen EVERYTHING. Not to mention the creator's personal website. So. Much. Artwork! True eye candy, especially for those of us who enjoy things on the creepy side.
One potential piece of evidence I could find is the art work that was heavily damaged of the family/sisters. Note how it’s in paint “scribbles” and Wally is the only one who paints in the series.
I've got a little sad fact, Wally is the only character who grew up in Home, every other character (Outside Frank) has a backstory mentioned on their respective character introduction, but Wally doesn't, the difference between Wally's and Frank's case is that Frank studied, he has a degree in butterflies at the end of the day, so he went to school at some point, and in Home there's no school (also in Frank's character introduction it's mentioned that there are no information about his backstory, meanwhile this doesn't happen on Wally's case) so he basically was created in Home, with only Home as his companion, here's the thing I think tells us a little bit about Wally's character, it doesn't say anything about his backstory, not even something around the lines of "he grew up in Home". No, nothing, so my mini theory is that he was created shortly enough before the show started to be pretty much a child at the time the show takes place, which is supported by things like him not knowing what a clown is, or not drawing complicated or more artistic things, since all his drawings are something a kid would draw, so he is pretty much a child around the ages of 5 to probably 10 years old mentally speaking (based on the behavior we've been told he has) so it wouldn't be hard to think that Home is manipulating this child to do what it wants him to do, like keeping the neighbors inside their houses during night time
I think another thing that ties to Wally's awareness that is overlooked is the face that he is the one to start the episodes. In the one script that we saw the start of and I think in his character bio it's said he starts the episode by *talking directly to the viewer*. He talks about what is going on and what the conflict may be in the episode, he will usually ask them a question to start (ex: "Hello, neighbor, how are you today?" "What do you do to feel happy?" "When you have a problem, what do you do?") and then the episode will continue on I'm guessing when someone else walks in the scene. This could mean that *wally was aware from the start*, it just wasn't important/relevant at the time. I dunno but that's my theory anyways.
With all the (admittedly cool) analysis on the lore and secrets on the site, it's really refreshing to see you tackle Welcome Home's emotional core. Sure, creepy spooky arg is always fun, but there's so much to explore regarding Wally as a character, and how he feels about himself and the world around him. That bit about Wally being unable to frown in particular is SO inspired!
Thanks so much!! And yeah, I also saw everyone just talking about secrets and spooky and all but like....how do the characters FEEL? Whats going on with them? That's what kind of pushed me to make this!
The themes of what a home is, how it treats you, and questions like that makes me think of “home is where the heart is” to which the heart is what keeps the blood of the body moving and alive. Since this video is about Wally’s self awareness and the focus on eyes it made me think. If home is the heart and it’s crying (which vulnerable traits isn’t common for antagonists) what is wally seeing? What if wally is making home cry or wally and home are in the same boat.
One thing that I find vary interesting about wally is that he is treated by all the promotional art and his introduction in the neighborhood page thing ,like a mascot, the main character, the icon for the show. Immediately apon seeing him I thought "wow he looks like if a charismatic cultleader was an adorable beanpole puppet" . I also got that feeling by just how creepily happy all the neighbors were and how often they said "neighbor" .You could only imagine my surprise when the official art showed on more than one occasion that he had cross shaped cufflinks and in a lot of the darker art on clowns site it shows him carrying himself a lot more proudly and in some cases straight up sadistically. I feel like this series is going to do something similar to don't hug me I'm scared, tighing parallels between welcome homes world and the real life history of childrens broadcasting being corrupted by corporations or religious groups. Wally is a puppet, either willingly or he just thinks he is willing, he's a mouthpiece to some cult that wants to to welcome them into your home as a neighbor.
the religious stuff is no longer canon, at least yet anyway. maybe the creator realized how similar it would have been to DHMIS if they'd gone with that angle and decided to rework it in order to avoid being labelled a ripoff. but who knows, they could've just claimed that it's noncanon because it gives away too much too early
My personal theory is that Wally is sentient and tried to create the perfect neineighbourhood, but whenever he tried to use puppeters to create the neighborhood, he never got ecxactly what he wanted. Then he somehow stumbled into whatever home is and home helped him create the neighbours but they slowly started to gain knowledge of what they were actually are, something tells me that they were brought to life using someone else's life, I think this because of a lot of the art in clown's website were we see wally putting Barnaby together saying that he created him, another were frank is surrounded by what I think is other parts of himself like spare or replacements, we can also see art of Julie and a human figure behind her (maybe who was originally julie?) and what finally got me is how in the guest book one of the drawing mentions 1/2
I think many of those artworks may be old/more conceptual work. Julie doesn't have her horns in the illustration with the woman, for example. However, this art is still displayed on Clown's page about Welcome Home, so there could be something there we don't know yet.
2/2 eddie being a fast runner, at first I though he was making fun of how forgetfull he is and how he runs from place to place because he forgets stuff, but then I saw another piece of art of wally just carrying eddie he seems more unconscious than dead but that's what got me the idea of wally trying to keep the neighborhood together while everyone tries to escape it. Idk yet since we haven't got a lot of information yet so I'm probably wrong.
I just wanna say I love how they gave Barnaby Beagle beans/paw pads, it’s perfect Also Barnaby is a stand-up comedian/clown Edit: OMG 166 LIKES THANK YOU
I noticed his paw print is painted on the rock Wally sits upon on the welcome page. There's also an eye by his foot. They don't do anything, but an interesting detail none the less
Don't know if anyone caught this yet but the page where wally tells you to stay quiet and it's dark, if you read the text from the picture of his eyes, text reads "Where am I?" Also the message telling you to be quiet just says "quiet".
@@banheezone if you mean the creator of the site, yes, but they ARENT wally. Wally isn't real, hence why the creator keeps putting up trigger warnings About unreality. If you can't tell reality from fantasy, you might want to schedule an appointment for a therapist.
@@horsewings3561 I...I meant real as in a person trapped in the site, IN UNIVERSE, my theory as to why he is so aware. Obviously I know he's not real, I'm not an idiot and I don't need therapy.
@@banheezone got it, sorry you never know who your gonna meet on the internet. As for you theorists possibly true. Or he lives in alternate reality and is trying to use the site to contact us. For what we'll need to wait and find out. He gives me mixed feelings and many are calling him possibly yandere after listening to his phone call to us on tumblr. He says he loves us, not 100% sure if it's platonic, familial or romantic. But it IS interesting since I've yet to see him tell his other friends he loves them. I just don't know what he wants or whether he's trustworthy.
@@horsewings3561 hmm maybe he doesn't love his friends because they're not 'real' like him, or he thinks they're not real enough and he only loves the viewer? He's the only character that seemed to be aware of the audience's presence in-show. Also sorry if I came of as a bit passive aggressive in my reply.
This was a great video!! It's true, I hadn't noticed that he's permanently smiling. The detail of that page where Barnaby asks "You're reading books now, kid?" and the book Wally is reading is of that same moment also implies his awareness, only it's acknowledged in universe. A detail that I noticed that no one seems to mention is that despite Wally being mentioned to be a painter, and we see him multiple times with a paintbrush, is that we never see a finished or even half finished painting. Even in the neighborhood character sheet, his canvas is completely blank. The only art we get to see of his are his doodles in the guestbook
In the "It's for you!" audio, it's not Wally prank calling the neighbors, it's you the viewer calling the residents of Home but they can't hear you, as it says on the page that advertises the phone number. Wally knows you are there and who you are. He also says that the other residents aren't ready to know about you. If this is covered in any other video, my apologies, but the It's For You! audio is personally my favourite bit of lore, even if it isn't canon.
The thought that his smile is permanent makes so much sense and yet is so utterly terrifying, reminds me of the other mother sewing the other wybies mouth into a smile because he frowned when he wasn't supposed to 😰
I imagine the puppet show had a Blue's Clues/Dora the Explorer deal where the main character interacts with the viewer. I think that's what the voywex page at 4:41 is referring to.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking too! I just found it interesting how none of the other characters seem to acknowledge or even KNOW of the viewer (like those old shows). But Wally seems to take it a step further by not just staring at us, but knowingly making EYE contact.
In 9:44 when you pause the video and read the actual text, the second to last paragraph has a few interesting lines: “Together, we will get it out, we will get everything out. You will see as we do, neighbor.” This is definitely one of the characters talking, and maybe it’s Wally? Idk, but whoever it is, they’re very invested in the restoration project. If it is Wally, maybe he’s trying to expose what was going on behind the scenes, maybe something to do with House? Thank you for coming to my TED talk everyone-
I don’t know how accurate this theory is, but what if Wally is actually the ghost of his old puppeteer? Puppeteers tend to be pretty attracted to the puppet they bring life to, especially when you look at something like the Muppets or Sesame Street. The Puppeteers understudy for years and have to really get to know the character before they take over playing them. It was probably like that in the Welcome Home production, even if it didn’t run long enough to have to change puppeteers. I picture Welcome Home as a mix between Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, with Wally taking the role of Mr. Roger. I don’t know why, I get the same safe kind vibes, with the soft-spoken voice and connected it I guess. But Mr. Roger was an extremely passionate man who basically single-handedly saved public access television in the US. So what if his Puppeteer had that same passion? Maybe there was an accident when filming that killed at the very least Wally’s puppeteer. But they were so attached to the puppet, to Wally, they became him. I don’t think he’s malicious, but something with him is. He wants his show back, yes, but he also wants help and to keep the viewer safe. Him telling the Viewer to stay quiet could have been telling you to not draw attention to yourself. I don’t trust home at the moment, but it could be someone else too.
The part where you talk about wally being aware of just being a puppet reminded me of spamton. Because of this line: "*Looks like i couldn't be anything more than just a puppet."
i think its def wally sending the destroyed art bc the ink and paint that covered the julie painting was all in the same color scheme as welcome home it would make sense if wally used his paint to mess up the art(for what reason im not sure)
The fact Wally's implied to be aware is depressing, he can probably move but the thought he's a motionless puppet seems more terrifying Plus have you seen those kinds of puppets when they aren't in use? They're creepy af Also we heard Wally singing to Home, well presumably, so maybe Home slowly went insane or just became malicious with Wally just trying his best to soothe it or at least free him somehow
Maybe the other characters of welcome home are feeling the same way Wally does, they feel certain emotions and yet they cannot express them on their faces. Characters like Wally, Sally, Barnaby, Julie, and Howdy cannot express their negative emotions like fear, sadness, nor hatred. Frank, on the other hand, cannot show happiness or simple joy. As for Poppy, she cannot express any emotion due to her being a bird with only a beak for a mouth. They probably know that they don’t have the freedom to move around in the world, as they had to deal with sticks moving them and body parts shoved into them. I feel like that they’re internally depressed and begged to be free and human. In the end, they made a suicide pack, stating that if they can’t be free in life, they can be free in death. However, their deaths were stopped by Home. Home probably got the worst of all the characters. When the show was one, Home saw the characters move around and grew envious of them, as Home is a house and has no movement of freedom of its own. This envy eventually grew into madness. By the time gang were about to commit suicide, Home stopped them to get vengeance for Home’s existence. Home kept the characters alive and mad them redo all the sketches that were aired. Eventually seeing the main 8 as Home’s playthings, to use as he see fits.
"The Question-Answerer" that name is the best evidence for Wally being the one who's sending the packages in my opinion. He's the literal question answerer on the page after all. We'll have to see!
this is an AMAZING analysis! i def agree that home might be more malevolent than we think, in nicks video he says the so below photo looks like wallys worshipping home, but i think it looks more like hes *pleading* with home. in the duet audio when he finishes singing to home and home thumps in response to "Do you like it?" wally says "Thats good.. I think?" as if he cant clearly understand home anymore also i DEFINITELY think wallys the one who sents the pieces of media to the resortationists, they say in the FAQ that they received them in bright colorful envelopes, kind sounds like the ones we see eddie carrying around 👀👀👀👀👀👀 a friend pointed out to me just today that wally cant do anything but smile and its the first time that its clicked with me, even in fanart everyone draws him mostly smiling but if he is aware of being a puppet and whats going on, or more specifically, what happened to make the show disappear, i can imagine he WOULD be so unhappy and probably frustrated he cant properly display his emotions
well... one theory I have is that Wally is very much aware of everything and sadder yet he is now alone, seems as though he is the only one who's character sheet says good bye and refers to him in the present tense. I wounder if it is possible that home grew jealous of all the other neighbours and... did away with them leaving Wally all alone and isolated perhaps having him crave or need contact/ saving from the clutches of home. another one I have is that wally is the only one who is aware in the welcome home world and maybe home its self is somehow keeping the other neighbours complaisant basically keeping them as puppets for this twisted game of house and Wally wants people to be aware of welcome homes existence once again because then won't be the alone any more. or the other neighbours are just constructs made by home to try and keep Wally happy and it failing, Wally needs real thinking people. but they are just some small theories of mine I thought were cool
Oh I didn't notice his bio was in present tense! Home killing all the other puppets out of jealousy does fit quite well. Maybe Wally and Home were the original neighbours and it used to be just them all the time. But then the other neighbours came and Wally started to hang out less with Home. Maybe all the other characters got sucked up into that black abyss under home.
@@banheezone omg there's also this thing where if you zoom out on the page with all the character intros, to see the void, Home is way off by itself at the top of the map
love this analysis! as someone who has a hard time seeing past the surface of things, i really appreciate all the points you've brought up. it just makes me even more giddy knowing that clown has put so much love and lots of fun details into their work and that it's being picked up and brought up ^^ the little drawings having responses from wally too is new to me!! so cool and also clever of him ((also i too couldn't help but feel super fond of wally for calling himself pretty plssss ;;w;;)), he's such a great character huhu love him ;; anyways yeah! thanks for sharing all these new things for me to think about mwahahaha! hope u (and all the other viewers too!) have a good week!!
Of course, I'm so happy you enjoyed! I typically have a hard time looking deeper than the surface level, so I'm particularly proud of all the things I've pointed out. Thank you so much for watching! :D
something of note that I noticed that kind of ties in with your side note about wally sending the people on the search (it might not be necessarily wally but who am I to know) is that in the about us section when asked about where they found the information on the show they say that they received it in colored envelopes, now this might be a stretch but the only colored envelopes I saw in relation to welcome home are Eddie's colored envelopes. so that's something to think about. another thing that is kinda strange to me is the topic of wally's intelligence, because while he knows about things like the forth wall or his existence as a puppet he doesn't know basic things, for example what a clown is (he had to ask Frank) and a lot of other basic knowledge (if you go to clown's tumbler where they answer questions you can see that wally doesn't know the meaning of a lot of words). So what does that say about his intelligence, or perhaps this stems from the fact that wally comes from a children's TV show where the main characters learn a lot of words along with the kids through the lessons in episodes (sorry for the rambling but I would love to hear people's thoughts on these topics)
I think it could be another character or it's a puppeteer or live actor from the show who is trapped with the puppets who sent the envelopes to at least try and find someone to in the words of skillet 'save me from this nightmare'
what if....he doesn't know so many things because he's like a frankensteins monster of the digital Home world? like whatever malicious entity is behind the darkness in Welcome Home, created Wally/gave him his sentience, and Wally is at the very least aware that it is watching, and that people could/have gotten hurt because of it
After this video the way I head cannon Wally's personality is different. Before I thought he was a terrifying cult leader running the whole thing, but I always got a sence that he had someone over him too. That picture of him sitting in front of homes eye reaching up to it as though trying to escape, or possibly in reverence, the scene where it looks like he's hiding from someone and tells you to be quiet. The audio clip where he's singing a song and he just sounds so... broken (also of note there's dripping last I can remember, he's in a basement somewhere, and he wants to get out) . Now I feel like the poor guy has a kind of stalkholm syndrome, the relationship he has with his puppeteer he has convinced himself on some level is one he loves from his puffy hair to his heart shaped souls. But on another level he's scared. Maybe being locked in a basement has also driven him a bit crazy. Maybe he's continuing his owners dark work, either with or without them I'm not sure, if he can transfer his form into something digital than he can finally get out of this waterlogged rotting prison he'd been abandoned in .
Here is an observation. Cloudy said "Hello, I love Clowns! Show me one", and got the response "I don't know what clowns are, I asked frank and he said barnaby". Also note that the creator of the arg is known as ArtisnalClown, so this response may be of signifigance. And reading the response, Wally asked frank and got a response. If the show is off air, I bet that means that the puppets are no longer opperated, which means Frank must be alive to tell Wally what a clown is. This would then mean all the puppets are alive, but may not necessarily be aware of the fact they are puppets. On another note, the setting seems to be called Home, with Wally's home also being named Home, is in the center of town, and is the only one thats alive. If Home is an antagonist, I wonder if its a parasite. It for whatever reasons needs people to live in it, and mabey not just puppets. I wonder if the pain the writers of the WHRP are feeling is literal homesickness, not for their own home, but for Home. And the way this homesickness spreads is through information about Home, if you combine that with the very old feel of the show, and you get an entity that uses a nostalgia sickness to potentially feed. Wally then, being a puppet and aware he is a puppet, simply wants to protect you, after all, Wally is your best friend, he is everyone's best friend. So if you catch the nostalgia homesickness and delve too deep, then he cant save you, but he can tell you to not tell this to anyone else.
I do think Wally could want to frown but cant but his talk with frank was probably part of an episode about being happy. Like that Mickey Mouse cartoon about him learning how to say no
This made me think that wallys eye motive may be due to his permanet grin and not being able to frown, the only way he can express sadness or distress is through his eyes so he directs our focus to his eyes hoping we would see what he relly feels and help him (maybe??)
In the "links" tab in the website, the "I love poppy" gif has poppy looking directly at us 2 times and she looks almost scared. She seems to have a worried expression a lot of the times she is seen. Also, her picture in the "neighborhood" tab, she is holding cookies of the characters but Wallys cookie is looking at us too :0
About the permanent smile thing, I think he *is* stuck and asking for a plea for help. I forgot the page name, but like voywex, if you unscramble the letters again.. it leads you to another page. I think there's 5 or 6 in total, but this one is about a phone. If you click on it, it leads you to a voice message.. Wally can be heard singing Beautiful dreamer, in a very monotone and emotionless voice. A far cry from the "most friendliest neighbor" title. It sounds like he's trying to please something- Home maybe?
OMG YES!! In one of the restoration pieces, theres a puppet hand. A YELLOW puppet hand, and there is PAINT all over it. Wally is a painter, the best painter in town. What if HE is the one restoring the images?? I mean, he would know what everything is supposed to look like. He'd be able to send the restored paintings out to get people to know more about the show, which means he could bring people to help his friends, or.. him, too
I think it's very interesting that not only Wally and Barnaby have hearts on the bottom of their shoes/paws but Home also has a heart on the bottom of it.
The talk about home at 7:00 reminded me of a horror game called anatomy by Kitty Horrorshow that goes into this exact theme of a sentient malevolent abandoned home that isnt haunted by ghosts but by its own loneliness and hatred and speaks to you by tape recorders you find in its rooms
These are some really good points that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere else. I've thought about Wally's nature in the story too. A lot of the darker art for the series seems to imply that Wally has something sinister going on with him but I can't help but wonder if he's actually being manipulated. It's just a little too obvious to show all your cards at the very start of the project and Wally being the Big Bad wouldn't exactly be a surprise at this point. My current assumption is that Home is somehow the one who's actually in control and Wally is sort of a reluctant follower of it's grand design. There's art of Wally praying in front of Home's window, of him doing the "as above, so below" hand gestures, and of course that scene where he warns you to stay quiet. I think these all imply a level of faith and fear in Home. I think maybe Home somehow started out sentient and because Wally lived in Home, it bleed over into to Wally. There's hidden text on the website that implies that someone wants to "get it out" but it's unclear what "it" is. Maybe what it is is Home's control over Wally and maybe the way he thinks he'll remove it is to infect more people with the knowledge of Home. So in theory, maybe the whole Welcome Home project is meant to be a trap to infect more people with the knowledge of home. I think this would imply that Wally is actually the one who's made and is running the website and restoration project, at least to some degree.
i think nobody talked about this yet but in clowns page About Welcome Home there might be a few clues idk im no investigator but theres a drawing of wally saying he "made" a dog and it shows barnaby plus the drawing of the phone and something with 999 and other drawings that give out maybe some lore? like the one with julia where behind her is a woman w a bloody hammer and the highlighted crosses in wallys clothers i mean really highlighted cuz they are glowing lol
Something neat on the guest book is this one comment asking Wally how he’s doing, and he actually responds, but just with a picture of an apple title “Itsanapple!” Seemed sus.
I see a lot of people who think that wally is the antagonist because of the headless Barnaby art on Clown’s (the creator of this ARG) website. However, the text on there says “look, I made a dog” hinting at the fact that Perhaps Wally didn't destroy him, but is building him back together again, without the use of a human to control him. This is also evident with some art from Clown’s twitter where Wally is carrying the mailman on his back with text above saying “you’ll be okay”. Clown even replied with another picture of the mailman at stretching his back while Wally waits to give him his hat back. Not to mention the cross on his sleeves always seem to glow (perhaps hinting to a religious cult? Or maybe the theme of someone coming back to life?) Also there is reason to believe that home and Wally are at odds with each other, due to that gif where Wally’s eyes are plastered over houses as the text below it says open. Probably signifying the fact that a Wally is in between the eyes of home, yet is unable to open the door himself. (why would home want to keep Wally locked inside?) If this is the case, than the down below gif could be Wally pleading with the house.
Imo I thought that the reason he was dressed as the Devil for Halloween represented his isolation in his own personal hell, much like the Devil (putting aside references to other beings in that place).
I think it sounds like both (tho bare in mind that is the creator's Wally voice and not his VA's). It sounds really spooky here but it sounds very silly in the "you are autism" call, I think it nailed being the best of both worlds pretty well!
I’m already really sad about these puppets because I saw someone point out that Wally is the only one referred to in the present tense. Implying he is all alone and that makes me really sad. I love some hurt/comfort but I need some comfort with my hurt.
I really appreciated your analysis of this since it's so different than other videos i've watched so far. I never considered Wally always smiling or whether he wants this project to be restored. Definitely something to think about. One thing that I noticed on the website that no one else has mentioned in videos I've seen so far is the wallpaper that hugs the sides of the webpage. It contains a lot of details if you check it out. All of the 9 characters are represented somehow. A mailbox and envelopes for Eddie, feathers for Poppy, an apple with a caterpillar coming out of it for Howdy, butterflies for Franks, flowers for Julie, juggling balls for Barnaby, Suns for Sally, the eyes that seem to always be found around Wally and Home itself is hidden in the background as well. I think this is such a cool little detail. And wallpaper is mentioned in one of the rhymes so I feel its very intentional and thought it would be a cool thing to point out to others who are interested in this ARG.
To the last statement, it is said all the letters sent to the Welcome Home Restoration Project are typically covered in paint. Wally's the only artist in town
I think the thing behind home is the way wally is self aware. Behind home is a vulnerability in the sites sourcecode and wallys just taking advantage of it.
I know this video is discussing a pretty dark theory, but I *have* to point out that Wally's response of "I am a puppet! I am your favorite!" is absolutely adorable! He sounds so happy about being someone's favourite 🥺
I think that you’re right about him warning us to stay quiet. Going off of the idea that Home is the big bad I guess, maybe Home has more control here than any of us have been thinking. In the image you find under Home in the mobile version of the website. It’s a black hole with a spiral in the center, you click it and it takes you to that image of Wally being trapped and Home’s eye looking at him. In the image, the eye is frantically looking around like it’s trying to find something and Wally is in front, waving and trying to draw attention. Home is aware of us. We weren’t supposed to be able to find that image. On the website on computer or desktop, Home is hiding that hole, you can see that there is a link underneath Home, but you can’t access it, you can’t reach it no matter what you do. Home didn’t account for Mobile users to be able to find it’s secrets. When we find Wally staring into the screen right at us, he knows we’re there but he can’t see us. He might not be the only one who knows that we’re exploring, he’s telling us to be quiet because Home could find us and hurt us. The other neighbors are never looking into camera, at the viewer, and all of their descriptions use “were” and “was”, past tense while Wally’s uses present tense. He’s always looking at the viewer, sometimes his stare feels uncomfortable but other times it doesn’t feel that way. Some say because Wally eats with his eyes that him staring is a threat that he’s going to eat us, but what if it’s Home just using Wally’s body. Every time we feel like we’re being watched, it’s probably Home doing the one staring but because Wally is self aware, he probably doesn’t want us to get scared or hurt so he makes us think it’s him doing the staring. But he can’t see us. If home finds out that we know what we know, we could end up like the other neighbors and be described with past tense. He’s saying be quiet because while he can’t see us, he can probably hear us and if he can hear us then Home can hear us, be quiet about what you’ve seen, what you know, you’re supposed to be here just to explore and look at the bright colors and explore nice things, if Home becomes aware that you know, you could be next to go.
I haven't seen people mention this but atleast in the mobile version after going there the first time it turns into "welcome home/you" as if welcoming you home. Personal theory is that wally has gone insane and while is aware, is trapped inside of home with everything running in a loop. He's become self aware and trapped, slowly loosing it. Kind of like Monica from Doki Doki in a way- he also warns us to not be loud since I feel like if we make ourselves known we too could become trapped in this nightmare endless loop of insanity.
I think in that picture of Wally and Frank talking about frowning, Wally was just being smug. It's the idea of pessimism and optimism. It's easy for one to be either positive or negative. Frank is a pessimist and finds it easy to frown and find things to be upset about. Wally is an optimist and finds it easy to smile and find things to be happy about. I think that was just some flavor art to show the dynamic between characters. If we were to take it into the bigger scope of the ARG, I'd say its showing that Wally is naturally happy and not a character we need to be cautious about. I'll gladly eat my lunch if this ends up being wrong, but Wally's smile never strikes me as pained or forced. While yes that's a horrible thing, we can see his smile lower and heighten in intensity in the art, showing that he's not always having a BIG smile. He's just always chill and positive in some way. The premise for the ARG that was mentioned on the creator's website explaining the overall premise said that the home of these characters will be degrading in some way (paraphrasing) so to me that says that there's a force taking over and corrupting the world around the puppets, and maybe some of the weaker willed puppets themselves. Or due to the cancelation of the show, the world decayed since it was not being used, observed, or thought about as often as it was. However, Wally's "stay quiet" comment makes me think that there is a force of some kind using the show and all it's material as a vessel of some kind to spread its corruption, and Wally's positivity has kept him safe and uncorrupted as of now.
I haven't seen anyone point this out yet, but Wally's design is nearly entirely primary colors, and he only ever uses primary colors in his drawings, while everyone else use mainly secondary colors! Which indicates that Wally is the primary character (obviously, duh), but I can't help but wonder if he created some aspect of the world. You make secondary colors by mixing primaries, so did he create the world, the buildings (except for home) or something else? I don't know how much this idea has merit, but I can't stop thinking about it
I only caught the chance to watch this now (sorry 😭) but seeing that one frame of Petscop at 0:07 got me SO hype immediately! (You got taste and i appreciate that~)
I agree with your theory. It makes sense, like how else would he be answering the questions in the guest book. And also that picture with the book and a hand holding the page open, it looks like it could be Wally's hand. If anyone who would want to bring the series back, it would be him (if he has negative intentions, he would want to bring it back more maybe). VERY GOOD THEORY!!!!
In another sketch in the guest book, someone calls wally a doll (as in the complement) and wally corrects them, stating that he is a puppet There's already enough evidence to conclude that he knows what he is, but I thought I'd add :]
I could honestly see Wally’s perma-grin becoming an integral part to the story now that you mention it, sort of “I have no mouth and I must scream” vibes, though here it’d obviously be “I am always smiling and I must frown” tho that doesn’t have the same weight to it in my opinion
To add onto the "always smiling" bit, Wally's also missing eyebrows, which is another way to express feelings. Maybe that's something, maybe not, but just a small thing I noticed
Also in the neighborhood, when you click him, he's the only one with a "Goodbye" button written in black letters instead of a "Go back" button written in rainbow letters. Like we are personally talking to him instead of just viewing information
The thing that sticks out to me is not only the tears of Home in the piece in the gallery, but how the third iteration looks disturbed. Maybe even afraid, traumatized, or even paranoid. The blank expression, the tears, and the fact that the eyes are almost completely black...
While watching I checked to see if maybe my comment had been added yet (Sadly not), but I noticed one that was cute and related here. It was from a "Sally" who recalled seeing the show and was glad people are trying to bring it back to which Wally replies, "sallyisthatyou" Which is super cute, as it implies Wally recalls the viewer like say, Steve from Blues Clues would.
wow, missed a VERY important clue that I overlooked on the website in the guest book. I take it back. I don't think wally is a yandere or evil. I think he's hiding because he's in some kind of trouble. I heard about this clue before but kinda just tossed it aside as irrelevant but now I think it might be a clue that wally isn't dangerous to us. I think he needs our help. If you highlight the eighth page in the guest book and scroll down a ways, there's two different text messages that reads, "W A L L y. You didn't write back" Wally: your looking for me. Silly silly." It sounds like wally is hiding from them and wally is taunting them because he KNOWS there looking for him. I find myself wondering if there still RESTORING and finding NEW things about the show that was LOST. How can we be sure there wasn't a tenth character? That tumblr post with the phone that said "it's for you" on the picture of wally phone. It DID have a tenth button, and it was MISSING. It might have been scratched out. I think we're definitely missing something.
This is such a wonderful analysis! I’m not much of an ARG person but the themes of this story really intrigues me. I like that you don’t just pick apart the spooky arg stuff but the the characters and storytelling. I think the audio Wally (I think) has with home helps your theory a bit, the one where he’s singing a song Barnaby taught him to Home. When he responds to what Home says his tone is notably…unsure, even saying “I think”. Clown mentioned on their tumblr that this story has some Queer themes and it just makes me think. Because Home feels invasive, at least to me, Home’s windows are literally eyes, it’s always watching. Maybe that’s why he wants you to stay quiet, because what else can you do when your Home is a place that’s not safe for you, right?
Ok so I actually asked about this on the Guestbook page of the Welcome Home website but I'm currently waiting to see if anything is made of it, so just in case it's ignored I wanna post it here too since I think it's really odd. On the website where you can see the concept art of the different characters, there's one where Wally and Barnaby are laying on the floor together. Barnaby asks Wally if he's started reading books, to which Wally responds, "No, just one..." I guess I've spent too much time watching Film/Game theory because this answer got my theorists senses tingling so I looked closer at this seemingly special book that Wally was reading. He was reading about the exact conversation he was currently having with Barnaby. You can tell because if you look closely at the pages of his book, you can see small drawings of Barnaby and Wally laying on the ground in the exact same pose and clothing as they were currently wearing, which by the way is not their usual outfits. I even asked Wally on the Guestbook if that means his book could tell the future and even though that may be a long shot, we're talking about a story where puppets are alive, a house is sentient, and one puppet may or may not have killed and rebuilt an entire neighborhood for unknown reasons while possibly being under the control of his own house. I don't think anything is really too out-there until proven crazy lol. Anyways, theory over. Have a swell day, Neighbor!
WRT Wally being the one to send things in - there are photos of the art the restoration project has received before it was restored, and iirc it's all covered in multicolored paint. This would line up with Wally, who is an avid painter. Though I wonder what his reasoning for sending them in would be after ruining them?
Also interestingly if Wally isn't an antagonist, he certainly seems to see himself as one. in a guestbook comment joking that the author hopes Wally isn't totally evil, Wally replies "you don't like me neighbor". He doesn't necessarily see himself as a "good guy" in this scenario, which is very interesting to me. I wonder if his involvement is even of his own volition?
This video is definitely what I've been waiting to see!! You know what, my guess is that Wally might serve as a like front page antagonist but like... How do I explain this without referencing puppets- Anyways I really never saw anyone mention the drawing replies, thank you for showing these because I had no idea!
If "welcome home" comes on television, I rather see Jim Henson productions do it in their way of being like friendly. That means it shouldn't be horrifying AT ALL.
Did... Did y'all forget about Labyrinth??? And The Dark Crystal??? Both Jim Henson puppetry (if I remember correctly), and both incredibly wholesome and horrifying in turns. I don't mean to sound mean, I just keep thinking about how much like those two pieces of my childhood this could end up being and then my brain rots
The permanent smile hits home knowing the creator is neurodivergent. As someone autistic the fake smile (masking) and having others control you, is relatable.
Maybe the neighborhood is an escape from reality and spiral in the backyard of Wally’s home is a portal to the real world? Totally probably wrong but that one “planted” (I say planted cause majority of our comments are just simping for Wally 😭) message in the guestbook where they were like “Where tf am I? What’s going on with these people-… puppets around here?” is sticking with me. Referring to that one picture of Julie in front of some humanoid creature with an axe, I think that is one of Julie’s sister (Jonesy, with the hair covering her face) and that’s her real form compared to her puppet form. Plus I also think Wally has some distain for Julie’s sisters because in the restoration picture comparison part of the website, the picture is all dirty with some noticeable red, blue, and yellow paint mostly smearing Julie sisters’ faces/bodies. The only mf who really associated with paint is Wally.
I think you're right at the end, about Wally sending the envelopes-- they note that things they've gotten are covered in paint before restoration, and Wally *is* a painter.
Amazing video! Thank you for making it! :D i love welcome home, but im not great at sitting through long videos sometimes, so this was easy to watch imo! have a good day!
@@godlysocks no problem!! Have a long i haven't seen your videos or gone to ya lives streams :') but i glad i was recommended this one and saw it i missed seeing your content is always cool!
There is actually a couple of codes you missed, one takes you to an audio recording of Wally singing and another is a video that has that same singing but extremely distorted. The codes are yxwvoe and eovwxy. Just thought I would share this.
I am totally with you on your mini theory, especially with how the drawings the team received have ink/paint on them (as wally is the artist) and we’re sent in “brightly colored envelopes” (which match with how envelopes look in the welcome home universe as seen in eddie’s drawings) it really is an interesting theory how wally could be involved somehow with the project.. also, may I ask what music did you use around 8:52?
I think the curled eyebrow could be from confusion. I imagine Frank would start the conversation with something like-
"Why are you always smiling?"
"Because I'm happy."
"But why?"
"Are you saying you don't want me to be happy?"
"No, but you're always happy even when you'd normally feel blue! Why?"
"...I have no clue."
"Frowning is easy, see?"
"Maybe for you, but not for me!"
Yoooo! The convo you made fits perfectly with the lines, and the tone matches as well! Send your comment to Clown!
@@zafool4997 idk how, I only have UA-cam and I don't think they have that-
@@kimmy1325 I think they meant on the guest book on the website?
@@zafool4997 imma post this to tumbler (soon-)
@@yuri-tang7885 plz give credit when u do-
pointing out how wally's facial expression is permanently stuck in a smile is something I haven't seen touched on yet. that adds a whole new element of horror to it that I never would've thought of. It's such an interesting thing to think about! much love !!
Thank you!! I also hadn't seen anyone talk about it, which I think is why that little comic with Frank and Wally really stood out to me!
reminds me of sans from undertale. since hes a skeleton, it seems his mouth is stuck on smiling and inside he seems to be a depressive character
I agree this was a really chilling thought that NEVER would have occurred to me otherwise, and just makes it so much more sad omg. My poor boy. I wonder if it hurts...holding your cheeks in a smile for merely a minute strains your muscles. even if someone were to sew your face up into one, gravity acting on the muscles of your face would still want to bring them down, you'd still feel it. Do you think....he feels it? And moreover, what I REALLY want to understand is the specific way his awareness works considering he is both living inside the universe of Home and inside Home /as existing inside a website/. So like, we see from the questbook replies he DOEs live in Home, he isn't just floating in a void of code. Home exists within the computer and he is actively able to interact with his neighbors there, because he both promises to relay messages and confirms that he does (like with asking Frank about clowns here). IDK if anyone else is like this, cause I've never really talked about it, but the way I process media or intense stories is I have to like...I always end up having to pause at one point to put a scenario into perspective. It's like, I have to pause to bring up the image in my head of it happening, like I'm watching a movie. I play the scene in my head, then I have to put myself in the position of one of the people, and replay it, slower, imagining their emotional reaction, imagining how it felt in the moment. That's how I empathise, and I only do this with things that really catch my attention or affection because I can empathise either way, but I do this if I truly want to understand the depths of what it means and connect with the experience on a more personal level. Part of this means that there come times when I find it hard to do this because I can't come up with a logical understanding of how characters like this interact with their world being what it is. I can't do my usual immersion because I get stuck trying to understand what their experience of the world is. If I can't come up with something that doesn't bring up doubt in my brain about it being sensible, I can't go forward with my immersion practice and thus I'll always feel this sense of blockage from fully connecting with it and it never stops rubbing me bad because it's like an itch I can't scratch. And nobody else EVER seems to touch on that one little aspect, nobody ever explains how that works. So I wonder am I just missing something that everyone else can see, or is everyone else just able to shrug and say "doesn't matter how it works". like am I just incapable of suspension of belief? it really sucks cause it genuinely causes me emotional turmoil for several reasons, so if anyone is either able to give me an answer or at least can relate and will talk to me about it I'd be so grateful. Like idk if I should feel dumb or broken about this. But Wally's case just really confuses me because if he is in Home, as a puppet, actively interacting with people but also able to see the content of the website and interact with it, especially in the code, like....does he have a computer? does he know how to CODE? is he aware this is how his responses are showing up to us? is that why he can't see us, are we both looking into our own computers at the website, interacting through it?
sorry this was long lol I just had so many thoughts and you touched on the one that sparked this rabbit hole in my brain
when they mentioned that in the video it reminded me of Wybie from Coraline when other mother sewed his mouth into a permanent smile
Wally also lacks eyebrows! Which limits his expressions even more
Gosh, that bit about wally always smiling * HURT * me! Like obviously we've seen the "perma-grin" trope all over the place, especially in the context of antagonistic/evil characters, but I've never thought of it in a sort of existential dread kind of way. Honestly this just backs up my theory that wally being evil is a red herring. It recontexualizes all the drawings where he's uncomfortably starring at the camera and smiling as less intimidating and more like a plea for help. He states on the voywex page that he can't see us, so I wonder if it's less that he's watching us, and more that he's trying to get our attention.
I have the theory that Wally is being manipulated by Home for an unknown purpose, based on how he acts like I theorize he's around 5 and 10 years old mentally speaking, which just makes the whole situation sadder
@@isabellaeid987 I like the theory but wanted to make a small correction! Clown stated in a Tumblr post that all the characters are adults, probably somewhere in their 20's, so its unlikely he's mentally a child! But ofc you can headcanon whatever you like best!
@@rexcakeAgreed that would be kinda awkward if people perceived them as child minded instead of childlike
@@rexcake Oh I didn't knew that! thanks for the information, still I think it's weird that there's no information about Wally's past on the Welcome Home website, but I guess we'll just have to wait until we find out the reason (btw Your profile pic is really cute)
@@isabellaeid987 no problem, and thanks!
Two more relevant pieces of info from the Guestbook:
One comment calls Wally a "doll". Wally's answering art is labeled "notadollapuppet".
Another ends with "It's a shame what happened to this show".
Wally scribbles it out. The image is not named.
One little thing about Wally is that around him there were themes about SPIRALS.
There were drawings of Spirals in the Guestbook, in "the neigbor's" page the black thing behind HOME was a spiral as well (like somekind of portal) and HECK WALLY'S HAIR WAS A *SPIRAL!*
Getting... Jinji Ito's Uzumaki vibes here... 🍥
Omg I never even thought about that! Maybe it has something to do with hypnotization and the relationship between him and Home?
@@godlysocks My theory is that Home is the true mastermind, keeping the friends there. The hypnosis theory you have works, and I think that one image of poor Wally with the hand crawling from his mouth is Home herself, punishing him for telling everyone "a bit too much."
@@godlysocks I really like the hypnosis theory especially when you consider the spirals all over the place and the fact that clown the creator on there website says "You are to accompany a colorful cavalcade of puppets as their beloved neighborhood begins to skew and distort into a nightmarish memory that they can barely recall." Hypnosis has been known to kind of make people forget things
*looks at Junji Ito*
@@godlysocksi personally think it's just his signature because of his hair
I mean, on the webpage where he says to stay quiet, his eyes shaking seems to signal that he is afraid, yet he is still smiling. So, I do think you're right about the permanent smile thing.
Something i noticed is the fact that it says that Wally interacts with the viewer. Not the neighbors. Just Wally. He was the only one before who had the ability to break the fourth wall. Maybe his sentience here is just an extension of that. Kinda like Monika from DDLC
Omg....my brain is going places with this. We know almost NOTHING about the malicious force that poses the danger in Home, other than the fact that it wasn't always like that, and Wally is somehow trapped with/due to it. So what if this all began....with the show itself? We also have even LESS info about what happened to it. But we do know that Wally doesn't like people referring to it, and that it coming back like this is very intentional but also odd and in some way, occult (the restorers note saying "But it hurts" in the Q and A section on the site). So what if something happened to the real, physical set. Some sort of dark energy or entity. Maybe it could have begun with the simple case of a horrible human being doing something so vile that it left this awful energy, so strong and so potent from the pain that was inflicted there and that energy created life, and malignance. Maybe Wally was the only one aware of his being a puppet and there being a viewer is because of what you just said, and when being brought to life, he was given that knowledge because in context of his original existence, of the show script itself, he HAS to know to some extent, because that's how the show works. Maybe it began with him only knowing that there is someone there that he's supposed to be talking to, and he pieced the fact that he's in a show/website together himself. This could also explain why Wally says he has no memories, meaning that he doesn't remember anything from before he came to life, he just sort of had knowledge of his lifes context
While it may not mention the other neighbors being anle to interact with the viewers, it does say that they join him in his teachings. Sort of like background characters in Sesame Street. Or maybe it could be a reverse Snuffaluffagus situation, where Wally tries to get the neighbors to interact with viewers or tries to make them aware, but they don't believe him.
I have a theory that Wally *is* the one behind the restoration project. I think he somehow figured out a way to manipulate humans in the outside world to make them do his bidding. Kind of like a brain parasite. If you look on the *About Us* page at the hidden text, “When I unwrapped the first letter, I felt it. I heard it. Open. Open. Open. I want it out. I’m going to get it out.” It very much implies that the restoration team is being compelled to do this project by some unknown force. I think the letters/mail actually come from another person that he’s also ‘infected’ with this influence.
Why? Well, I don’t think it’s out of malicious intent. For one, there’s evidence that Wally’s friends are missing or not present. If you look at some of the messages left by Wally in the guestbook, it’s very clear he’s trying to reach them but can’t communicate with them. Also looking at the characters’ bios, they are all referred to in the past tense, except for Wally and his house. This implies imo that Wally and Home are the only ones left. I also don’t think Home is evil, I think that they just only have each other for company and solace in the moment. Which brings me to my next point, this whole restoration project is a desperate attempt on Wally’s part to revive the rest of his friends.
Think about it, they are characters on a television show. Imaginary. Someone else’s theory not mine is that they can only ‘live’ if an audience knows about them. Hence why he wants to ‘get out’ the word about Welcome Home. But he doesn’t want everyone to know that he’s sentient just yet because he somehow has enough common sense to know that it would scare people and hold back the project from completion.
That is so interesting,, the idea alone makes me want it to be true
That's very interesting and I like it.
I like this theory
That's why in the news section they are going to have a public showcase for the world to see!! "Together, we will get it out, we will get everything out. You will see as we do, neighbor." That literally fits right in and makes so much sense!!
Desperate time equals desperate measure, and for our dear Wally Darling and his old pal HOME, such measure leaves them with a very bitter taste.
But upon looking at themselves in the mirror across Wally's room and then to each other, they both knew that they must continue striding forward.
For as long as they could remember, their lives used to be so colourful and beautiful, especially when in the presence of their wonderful friends.
Ah, how they remember Barnaby's wacky jokes and tricks, Julie's brightest smiles, Frank's passion for butterflies-
*Are you two done with the memory lane?*
Jumped, they immediately turn their eyes towards a tall man who stands near the closet door. He was about 7 feet tall and wore a ragged top hat with an emblem resembling a ram at the front of it. Just like the hat, his dark grey clothes were also raggedy as well, with a few stains here and there. As for his face....well, his face varied from time to time. At one time, that man's face was that of a handsome yet stern looking man, in another, a spider, in some, an owl and others, a gaping layers of maws.
But for tonight, he decided to look like a puppet like Wally, albeit with a wide grin that can make the Cheshire Cat cry in terror and-
_Those eyes_ Wally thought to himself. _It's always those damn lifeless eyes_
*Mr. Darling, unless you and your house don't want to see your friends again, then I suggest that you should at LEAST leave my eyes out of whatever it is that you consider your brain!*
Wally whimpers and try his best not to shed a single tear as the man strolled forward before stopping right in front of him.
*Tell me. Did you finally do what I say*
Wally slowly nods his head.
*Let's have a brief reminder: how many human livestock do I ask you to bewitch and collect?*
Taking out a memo pad and a pencil, Wally answers his question by showing him a scribble that read: 24.
*Good boy. Now that you finally finish the first part of our deal, we can now moving on to our next phase of the plan but first, let me take a look at my watch*
He then rummages through his pocket before pulling out a bronze pocket watch and take a closer look.
*Hehehe, looks like it's getting late so we'll start by tomorrow morning.*
Sighed, the man walks himself towards the exit but not before looking to Wally and HOME.
*Consider yourself lucky, you two. Now go take a shut-eye. While you're at it, remember the deal. Understand?*
Wally nods as before.
*Speak*
"Y-y-yes..."
*Good. See you tomorrow.*
And then, he vanish.
The idea that Wally might be trying to express his unhappiness but can't and that he isn't just barely lucid obviously happy and a little slow is breaking my brain right now. LET! WALLY! FROWN!
The "then stay quiet"
Where his eyes might be expression panic not intensity or obsession and
oh my god what are they doing to our boy
That page gets a whole new meaning from me after considering the fact that maybe he physically can't frown. Because if you open the image in another tab, you see the picture of Wally in full brightness with the eyes bugging out over it, and he's smiling with his chin in his hand, and I thought "that's weird that he's grinning like that, why does he look happy if he's trapped" but I just sort of assumed it's because of the context of "then be quiet" as in like, someones watching and he can't let them know anything's up. But what if it
's more than that, what if he literally can only make that expression....OMG AND THEN THE PART WHERE HE SAYS HE LIKES FRANK, HE FROWNS....omg what if he means that because he envies him for being able to frown oh noooo
@@exoticbutters3113 well Frank seems to have a permanent frown so not much better either
@@elfilin-to6dh OMG that's so true good point
I personally think that Wally has the same kind of understanding of what’s going on that Sans had in Undertale. He knows that he’s being watched, but none of his friends understand, and he’s given up on trying to clue them in to what’s happening out of wanting them to remain blissfully ignorant. That being said, I also think that he’s actually going to help us as the audience because he’s *not the only one who knows.* and that is very dangerous to the viewer.
Idk, I don’t think Wally is trying to cover things up out of malice. I think he’s trying to protect the audience from something related to Home (the sus house). Hopefully I am right on this, as I would be super heartbroken if this sweet wholesome little guy is actually malicious D:
Yeah or who came to mind for me, Monika from Doki Doki Literature Club. Spoilers from here so if you don't want to be spoiled for the game, keep scrolling!
Anyway, I think Wally has the same level of awareness of Monika. Like, he must've had an "epiphany" or was given awareness like Monika was by being placed in a simulation testing to see how one would react to knowing they're a simulation. She ended up killing all the club members because of not only her awareness of being a simulation, but also the player's interactions with her, making her possessive to be with you because she feels like the player is the only one who understands how she feels.
Wally could very well be having the same issue, maybe he figured out he wasn't real in a normal sense or he was given the knowledge of just being a puppet, a thing often controlled and decided he didn't like that. Monika is alike to Wally as in the awareness and communicating through hidden messages focused on the person reading them but also like Sans for the reason mentioned by @ASleepyB0i.
He may very well know what's going on and could possibly have a combined motive of Sans and Monika. Given awareness but acting like nothing's changed for his friends who don't know or don't have the same awareness as he does. The future could have Wally going down a path like Sans; Giving up on trying to do anything but he knows something isn't right for sure or like Monika; Taking full control to do whatever it takes to contact you directly, even if that means removing characters from the picture to have your full attention. It also could be a combo of both somehow!
I feel like the audio clip of him singing kind of proves that he's not bad at all but a victim, at least it's what really did it for me. He just sounds SO tired, almost broken, and at one point in the beginning his voice even cracks as he's singing. He's clearly speaking to someone, but doesn't know if the response (which is a series of creaks and bangs) is good or not because he literally says "Did you like it?" and then replies to the noises with "That's good! I...think." Which implies that A) it was Home that Wally was singing to and B) Wally can't really tell what Home likes, at the very least. Which leads to the sinister question of...is this because Wally in general just can't really understand the meaning behind Home's noises/movements, or is it because Home has, or is beginning to have (maybe wasn't always evil?) such angry/malicious responses that Wally either doesn't know if Home is capable of liking something or reacting positively to anything he says/does or isn't able to figure out if that's the case. And based on how tired and drained he sounds, despite the fact that he's sort of talking as if he were happy but it sounds so off because the emotion isn't there (like when he literally says out "ha ha ha" but very robotically), Wally definitely isn't having a grand time, and I have the feeling Home might be the reason why, like it's taking something from him, or wanting something. I'm further spurred onto this idea by the fact that there is a void directly underneath Home that you can see by zooming out on browser or you can see it automatically on mobile, and it reminds me of the photo here where Wally is knelt in front of house's eye. I believe there is something dark under Home the character, and that it has Wally in it's grasp.Wally telling us to stay quiet if we can see him implies that it, too, is aware of their existence in the website, and our our existence interacting with it, and that it knowing that Wally is communicating with us would put us both in danger....which might be somehow what's behind the mysterious packages sent to restore Welcome Home. Is it restoring Home or whatever separate entity under Home if it isn't Home itself piece by piece, giving power to something terrible?
@@exoticbutters3113 I think you're definitely onto something here
Yeah it's just like doki doki literature club, it has the same vibes
YES i am on the Wally defense! we must protect!
The idea of an old 1970s puppet learning how to code on a modern computer is honestly kinda funny to me 😄.
I think the suggestion that Wally is unable to stop smiling is a valid one, and it would recontextualize the creepy art of him.
i saw a commenter mention on a different video that when wally looks menacing, his eyes are an upturned almond shape rather than a downturned almond shape. a puppet shouldn't be able to tilt their eyes like that. the only way i can think of is for there to be some sort of magnet or string mechanism behind the eyeballs, but a magnet mechanism might mess with the devices used in the recording of the show, and a string mechanism would get in the way of the puppeteer operating the mouth. wally's being controlled by something. i don't think he wants to hurt us. home does.
I find it sad that I haven’t seen anyone talking about the fact that Wally is most likely going insane due to forced isolation. Whether he’s an AI recreation or some demonic thing or simply a ghost, people tend to not talk about the clear intent of showing that Wally is stuck by himself, unable to talk to anyone. It’s just an interesting theory I have, especially when considering the trigger warnings on the original “about welcome home” page. I’m excited to see more content!
@kiki m. wondering the same thing
@kiki m. On the creators portfolio there is a side page thing labeled "about Welcome Home" and right underneath the large amount of pictures theres a section that has a warning label. theres a bunch of things that are mentioned such as eyes, unreality and gore, but the one i was focused on is "Exploration of heavy topics , like death, ISOLATION and mental health". hope this cleared things up!
Also with the audio when you click the phone image in the error message. Him singing a song he doesn't even know or maybe even like, the way his response to Home's sound is "That's good... I think..." showing that there is a communication barrier even between them, making him even more alone
He's utterly alone
@kayleejazz1669ooh! Like that wasn't for us to see or we seen through a different puppets eyes? That's interesting!
Idk but do y’all think Wally could be some sort of entity
I've been thinking about Home maybe actually being the only safe space in a dangerous world. While we see references of other character's families, we never see them, like Julie's family only being seen trough the restored photo and Poppy's and Eddie's families only being mentioned, anything outside of the neighborhood is not really seen in the website, and when we stray too far from home we are always told to go back and to stay there.
Just rambling, thanks for this video!
This might be true. The other neighbors originally either lived deep in the forest or far away.
Either that or it's a tactic of isolation, though I'm going to say that it's maybe more of a safe space. Considering that all characters who have their family mentioned/shown seem to be very odd out. Entailing that maybe there's something wrong/right with them to seek somewhere else to be.
Like I said, this could very well be an isolation tactic on Home/Wally's part, but it's good to keep an open/aware. mind until the product is finished! ^^
plus laso like doesnt Eddie always avoid the question of where he's from and can never answer it right, like he keeps making up places and when called on it just goes like "oh I must have just delivered there once!" like...odd....that he doesn't know or is refusing to say where he came from, and this actually kinda makes that make sense
If I remember correctly, it's a manipulation tactic . Making sure you don't try to leave. Home could actually be very controlling of Wally.
One thing I noticed while on the website it when you go into the neighbourhood and click on the houses at the bottom there is a 'go back' button written in a colourful rainbow, but when you click on wallys house the button changes, now written in all black with a different handwriting is 'good bye' not sure if it means much but its an interesting detail
Ooo, that is interesting!! I think this is probably a reference to Wally being the one in the site, so when you're clicking on his profile, you're sort of "looking into him". So this "goodbye" is probably him saying bye while you go check out everything else! I had never noticed that before, nice catch!! :D
@GodlySocks I also just noticed something else major to the video! You know how you said wally is the one replying through the doodles in the book? Well someone commented "wally is such a doll" and wally replied with a doodle of a big red eye 'no a puppet'
I literally have a phobia of being stared at but for some reason I can never find myself afraid of Wally. He’s just too adorable in his normal state for me to be scared 😅
okay two major theories I'm running with right now:
1.) wally is being used as home's puppet. I don't know how, or why, but the two have a weird relationship, especially given the duet audio file where wally sings beautiful dreamer. I think home might be some kind of powerful entity that is using wally to accomplish its own ends. to me, this explains why the restoration project received pictures from the show covered in paint and ink: wally attempted to destroy them so no one else would be harmed by what was lurking inside home. also potentially a reason why the show was canceled in the first place: wally did something drastic either to please home or to break his connection with home.
2.) julie joyful is a MAJOR player in whatever happened to get the show canceled. there is more concept art of julie than pretty much any other character on the site (like, even more than wally, and he's the main character). additionally, julie's page on the neighborhood says she's very closely associated with flowers, and the two things scribbled all over the guest book are spirals and flowers. one of the flowers has the png name "you will come with me" and I think there's another one with a pretty unsettling name as well.
I think the context for the image is that maybe frank was tired seeing wally always smiling even when he knows wally is sad so that is why frank is saying that but he doesn't understand what wally means by "maybe for you but not for me!"
I agree; it seemed like a storybook page or something… maybe it’s supposed to be a lesson from an in-universe book?
@@pataflafla-ns6vw maybe but we don't know for sure yet i heard that the welcome home group is going to add more lore someday, idk if it is true but i hope so.
yeah and if Wally is aware he's a puppet he would know he doesn't really have a choice in the matter of his expression, while Frank would just think "oh what an odd fellow, always smiling". I mean, if YOU had a friend who always seemed to smile no matter what they felt and you had a convo with them about it, and they secretly knew we lived in like, a simulation do you think that A) you'd in any way come to the conclusion that your friend is so smily because life is an illusion and they have no say in the matter and none of us do or that B) they'd tell you this fact? Prolly not, you;d just assume it's a quirky thing and move on. And the fact that wally says "I like frank. he frowns" makes it seem like he really envies frank or at the very least, admires him for being what he can never be
@@exoticbutters3113 yeah :D also thats a pretty cool theory of wally admiring (or envies) frank
@@kerricampbell9746 I feel like it makes sense in context of their conversation and the fact that it's an aspect of Frank that Wally preteatedly comments on, which means he definitely has feelings about that aspect of Frank. It could be admiration if we assume it's just because of Wally having such a loving personality who would naturally embrace and love people for their differences, or envy if we assume he's horribly sad and broken from his existence and experience :( maybe both, depends on how sad you wanna be
Not sure if it was point out, but I think that Wally’s key feature that allows him to express himself is his eyebrows. The way they point and even the slightest change in them can tell you a lot. They further highlight the emotion in someone’s eyes, when pushed down your eyes become narrowed and can give away that your upset. And the slightest crease in the corner of your eye can tell someone your focused on something.
So when paired with the words exchanged about frowning, you can tell it sounds sad, like he’s tired.
Wally doesn't have eyebrows. I assume that you're just joking?
@@hannahvice4223 I think it's in reference to the one drawing where Wally is talking to Frank about frowning, where there's a little line that looks like it might be meant to be an eyebrow
@@exoticbutters3113 I've seen that. It's a pretty neat piece of art. I just goofed and forgot it existed in the moment :/
@@hannahvice4223 lmao that's valid, there's so much content and I've only just known this existed for a week, and I haven't even been to the Tumblr page 😱
@@exoticbutters3113 I've been there and I HIGHLY doubt I've seen EVERYTHING. Not to mention the creator's personal website. So. Much. Artwork! True eye candy, especially for those of us who enjoy things on the creepy side.
One potential piece of evidence I could find is the art work that was heavily damaged of the family/sisters. Note how it’s in paint “scribbles” and Wally is the only one who paints in the series.
almost like he was either the one who sent it or is trying to cover up the evidence for something
Yeah, it means he sent it
I've got a little sad fact, Wally is the only character who grew up in Home, every other character (Outside Frank) has a backstory mentioned on their respective character introduction, but Wally doesn't, the difference between Wally's and Frank's case is that Frank studied, he has a degree in butterflies at the end of the day, so he went to school at some point, and in Home there's no school (also in Frank's character introduction it's mentioned that there are no information about his backstory, meanwhile this doesn't happen on Wally's case) so he basically was created in Home, with only Home as his companion, here's the thing I think tells us a little bit about Wally's character, it doesn't say anything about his backstory, not even something around the lines of "he grew up in Home". No, nothing, so my mini theory is that he was created shortly enough before the show started to be pretty much a child at the time the show takes place, which is supported by things like him not knowing what a clown is, or not drawing complicated or more artistic things, since all his drawings are something a kid would draw, so he is pretty much a child around the ages of 5 to probably 10 years old mentally speaking (based on the behavior we've been told he has) so it wouldn't be hard to think that Home is manipulating this child to do what it wants him to do, like keeping the neighbors inside their houses during night time
That's what I thought at first but I think clown said that the cast members were all adults so...
@@squiddyflip3039 good to know
I think another thing that ties to Wally's awareness that is overlooked is the face that he is the one to start the episodes. In the one script that we saw the start of and I think in his character bio it's said he starts the episode by *talking directly to the viewer*. He talks about what is going on and what the conflict may be in the episode, he will usually ask them a question to start (ex: "Hello, neighbor, how are you today?" "What do you do to feel happy?" "When you have a problem, what do you do?") and then the episode will continue on I'm guessing when someone else walks in the scene. This could mean that *wally was aware from the start*, it just wasn't important/relevant at the time. I dunno but that's my theory anyways.
With all the (admittedly cool) analysis on the lore and secrets on the site, it's really refreshing to see you tackle Welcome Home's emotional core. Sure, creepy spooky arg is always fun, but there's so much to explore regarding Wally as a character, and how he feels about himself and the world around him. That bit about Wally being unable to frown in particular is SO inspired!
Thanks so much!! And yeah, I also saw everyone just talking about secrets and spooky and all but like....how do the characters FEEL? Whats going on with them? That's what kind of pushed me to make this!
The themes of what a home is, how it treats you, and questions like that makes me think of “home is where the heart is” to which the heart is what keeps the blood of the body moving and alive. Since this video is about Wally’s self awareness and the focus on eyes it made me think. If home is the heart and it’s crying (which vulnerable traits isn’t common for antagonists) what is wally seeing? What if wally is making home cry or wally and home are in the same boat.
One thing that I find vary interesting about wally is that he is treated by all the promotional art and his introduction in the neighborhood page thing ,like a mascot, the main character, the icon for the show. Immediately apon seeing him I thought "wow he looks like if a charismatic cultleader was an adorable beanpole puppet" . I also got that feeling by just how creepily happy all the neighbors were and how often they said "neighbor" .You could only imagine my surprise when the official art showed on more than one occasion that he had cross shaped cufflinks and in a lot of the darker art on clowns site it shows him carrying himself a lot more proudly and in some cases straight up sadistically. I feel like this series is going to do something similar to don't hug me I'm scared, tighing parallels between welcome homes world and the real life history of childrens broadcasting being corrupted by corporations or religious groups. Wally is a puppet, either willingly or he just thinks he is willing, he's a mouthpiece to some cult that wants to to welcome them into your home as a neighbor.
the religious stuff is no longer canon, at least yet anyway. maybe the creator realized how similar it would have been to DHMIS if they'd gone with that angle and decided to rework it in order to avoid being labelled a ripoff. but who knows, they could've just claimed that it's noncanon because it gives away too much too early
"wow he looks like if a charismatic cultleader was an adorable beanpole puppet"
Pfft! XD I love this
My personal theory is that Wally is sentient and tried to create the perfect neineighbourhood, but whenever he tried to use puppeters to create the neighborhood, he never got ecxactly what he wanted. Then he somehow stumbled into whatever home is and home helped him create the neighbours but they slowly started to gain knowledge of what they were actually are, something tells me that they were brought to life using someone else's life, I think this because of a lot of the art in clown's website were we see wally putting Barnaby together saying that he created him, another were frank is surrounded by what I think is other parts of himself like spare or replacements, we can also see art of Julie and a human figure behind her (maybe who was originally julie?) and what finally got me is how in the guest book one of the drawing mentions 1/2
I think many of those artworks may be old/more conceptual work. Julie doesn't have her horns in the illustration with the woman, for example. However, this art is still displayed on Clown's page about Welcome Home, so there could be something there we don't know yet.
2/2 eddie being a fast runner, at first I though he was making fun of how forgetfull he is and how he runs from place to place because he forgets stuff, but then I saw another piece of art of wally just carrying eddie he seems more unconscious than dead but that's what got me the idea of wally trying to keep the neighborhood together while everyone tries to escape it. Idk yet since we haven't got a lot of information yet so I'm probably wrong.
@lillithefangirl2422 probably idk I though this is what makes more sense to me.
I just wanna say I love how they gave Barnaby Beagle beans/paw pads, it’s perfect
Also Barnaby is a stand-up comedian/clown
Edit: OMG 166 LIKES THANK YOU
I noticed his paw print is painted on the rock Wally sits upon on the welcome page. There's also an eye by his foot. They don't do anything, but an interesting detail none the less
Don't know if anyone caught this yet but the page where wally tells you to stay quiet and it's dark, if you read the text from the picture of his eyes, text reads "Where am I?" Also the message telling you to be quiet just says "quiet".
I think Wally might be an actual person...
@@banheezone if you mean the creator of the site, yes, but they ARENT wally. Wally isn't real, hence why the creator keeps putting up trigger warnings About unreality. If you can't tell reality from fantasy, you might want to schedule an appointment for a therapist.
@@horsewings3561 I...I meant real as in a person trapped in the site, IN UNIVERSE, my theory as to why he is so aware.
Obviously I know he's not real, I'm not an idiot and I don't need therapy.
@@banheezone got it, sorry you never know who your gonna meet on the internet. As for you theorists possibly true. Or he lives in alternate reality and is trying to use the site to contact us. For what we'll need to wait and find out. He gives me mixed feelings and many are calling him possibly yandere after listening to his phone call to us on tumblr. He says he loves us, not 100% sure if it's platonic, familial or romantic. But it IS interesting since I've yet to see him tell his other friends he loves them. I just don't know what he wants or whether he's trustworthy.
@@horsewings3561 hmm maybe he doesn't love his friends because they're not 'real' like him, or he thinks they're not real enough and he only loves the viewer? He's the only character that seemed to be aware of the audience's presence in-show.
Also sorry if I came of as a bit passive aggressive in my reply.
This was a great video!! It's true, I hadn't noticed that he's permanently smiling. The detail of that page where Barnaby asks "You're reading books now, kid?" and the book Wally is reading is of that same moment also implies his awareness, only it's acknowledged in universe. A detail that I noticed that no one seems to mention is that despite Wally being mentioned to be a painter, and we see him multiple times with a paintbrush, is that we never see a finished or even half finished painting. Even in the neighborhood character sheet, his canvas is completely blank. The only art we get to see of his are his doodles in the guestbook
In the "It's for you!" audio, it's not Wally prank calling the neighbors, it's you the viewer calling the residents of Home but they can't hear you, as it says on the page that advertises the phone number. Wally knows you are there and who you are. He also says that the other residents aren't ready to know about you. If this is covered in any other video, my apologies, but the It's For You! audio is personally my favourite bit of lore, even if it isn't canon.
Ah, alright, thank you! I wasn't 100% sure on the context, thank you for clearing that up :)
The thought that his smile is permanent makes so much sense and yet is so utterly terrifying, reminds me of the other mother sewing the other wybies mouth into a smile because he frowned when he wasn't supposed to 😰
I imagine the puppet show had a Blue's Clues/Dora the Explorer deal where the main character interacts with the viewer. I think that's what the voywex page at 4:41 is referring to.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking too! I just found it interesting how none of the other characters seem to acknowledge or even KNOW of the viewer (like those old shows). But Wally seems to take it a step further by not just staring at us, but knowingly making EYE contact.
It did, so Wally at least knew where to look to get the audience's attention since the start.
In 9:44 when you pause the video and read the actual text, the second to last paragraph has a few interesting lines: “Together, we will get it out, we will get everything out. You will see as we do, neighbor.” This is definitely one of the characters talking, and maybe it’s Wally? Idk, but whoever it is, they’re very invested in the restoration project. If it is Wally, maybe he’s trying to expose what was going on behind the scenes, maybe something to do with House?
Thank you for coming to my TED talk everyone-
I don’t know how accurate this theory is, but what if Wally is actually the ghost of his old puppeteer?
Puppeteers tend to be pretty attracted to the puppet they bring life to, especially when you look at something like the Muppets or Sesame Street. The Puppeteers understudy for years and have to really get to know the character before they take over playing them. It was probably like that in the Welcome Home production, even if it didn’t run long enough to have to change puppeteers.
I picture Welcome Home as a mix between Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, with Wally taking the role of Mr. Roger. I don’t know why, I get the same safe kind vibes, with the soft-spoken voice and connected it I guess. But Mr. Roger was an extremely passionate man who basically single-handedly saved public access television in the US. So what if his Puppeteer had that same passion?
Maybe there was an accident when filming that killed at the very least Wally’s puppeteer. But they were so attached to the puppet, to Wally, they became him. I don’t think he’s malicious, but something with him is. He wants his show back, yes, but he also wants help and to keep the viewer safe. Him telling the Viewer to stay quiet could have been telling you to not draw attention to yourself.
I don’t trust home at the moment, but it could be someone else too.
The part where you talk about wally being aware of just being a puppet reminded me of spamton.
Because of this line:
"*Looks like i couldn't be anything more than just a puppet."
i think its def wally sending the destroyed art bc the ink and paint that covered the julie painting was all in the same color scheme as welcome home it would make sense if wally used his paint to mess up the art(for what reason im not sure)
i was thinking maybe he ran out of materials and started using what he had left?
The fact Wally's implied to be aware is depressing, he can probably move but the thought he's a motionless puppet seems more terrifying
Plus have you seen those kinds of puppets when they aren't in use? They're creepy af
Also we heard Wally singing to Home, well presumably, so maybe Home slowly went insane or just became malicious with Wally just trying his best to soothe it or at least free him somehow
Maybe the other characters of welcome home are feeling the same way Wally does, they feel certain emotions and yet they cannot express them on their faces. Characters like Wally, Sally, Barnaby, Julie, and Howdy cannot express their negative emotions like fear, sadness, nor hatred. Frank, on the other hand, cannot show happiness or simple joy. As for Poppy, she cannot express any emotion due to her being a bird with only a beak for a mouth. They probably know that they don’t have the freedom to move around in the world, as they had to deal with sticks moving them and body parts shoved into them. I feel like that they’re internally depressed and begged to be free and human. In the end, they made a suicide pack, stating that if they can’t be free in life, they can be free in death. However, their deaths were stopped by Home. Home probably got the worst of all the characters. When the show was one, Home saw the characters move around and grew envious of them, as Home is a house and has no movement of freedom of its own. This envy eventually grew into madness. By the time gang were about to commit suicide, Home stopped them to get vengeance for Home’s existence. Home kept the characters alive and mad them redo all the sketches that were aired. Eventually seeing the main 8 as Home’s playthings, to use as he see fits.
"The Question-Answerer" that name is the best evidence for Wally being the one who's sending the packages in my opinion. He's the literal question answerer on the page after all. We'll have to see!
this is an AMAZING analysis! i def agree that home might be more malevolent than we think, in nicks video he says the so below photo looks like wallys worshipping home, but i think it looks more like hes *pleading* with home. in the duet audio when he finishes singing to home and home thumps in response to "Do you like it?" wally says "Thats good.. I think?" as if he cant clearly understand home anymore
also i DEFINITELY think wallys the one who sents the pieces of media to the resortationists, they say in the FAQ that they received them in bright colorful envelopes, kind sounds like the ones we see eddie carrying around 👀👀👀👀👀👀
a friend pointed out to me just today that wally cant do anything but smile and its the first time that its clicked with me, even in fanart everyone draws him mostly smiling but if he is aware of being a puppet and whats going on, or more specifically, what happened to make the show disappear, i can imagine he WOULD be so unhappy and probably frustrated he cant properly display his emotions
well... one theory I have is that Wally is very much aware of everything and sadder yet he is now alone, seems as though he is the only one who's character sheet says good bye and refers to him in the present tense. I wounder if it is possible that home grew jealous of all the other neighbours and... did away with them leaving Wally all alone and isolated perhaps having him crave or need contact/ saving from the clutches of home.
another one I have is that wally is the only one who is aware in the welcome home world and maybe home its self is somehow keeping the other neighbours complaisant basically keeping them as puppets for this twisted game of house and Wally wants people to be aware of welcome homes existence once again because then won't be the alone any more. or the other neighbours are just constructs made by home to try and keep Wally happy and it failing, Wally needs real thinking people.
but they are just some small theories of mine I thought were cool
Oh I didn't notice his bio was in present tense! Home killing all the other puppets out of jealousy does fit quite well. Maybe Wally and Home were the original neighbours and it used to be just them all the time. But then the other neighbours came and Wally started to hang out less with Home.
Maybe all the other characters got sucked up into that black abyss under home.
@@banheezone omg there's also this thing where if you zoom out on the page with all the character intros, to see the void, Home is way off by itself at the top of the map
@@exoticbutters3113 oof home is kinda sus ngl
love this analysis! as someone who has a hard time seeing past the surface of things, i really appreciate all the points you've brought up. it just makes me even more giddy knowing that clown has put so much love and lots of fun details into their work and that it's being picked up and brought up ^^ the little drawings having responses from wally too is new to me!! so cool and also clever of him ((also i too couldn't help but feel super fond of wally for calling himself pretty plssss ;;w;;)), he's such a great character huhu love him ;; anyways yeah! thanks for sharing all these new things for me to think about mwahahaha! hope u (and all the other viewers too!) have a good week!!
Of course, I'm so happy you enjoyed! I typically have a hard time looking deeper than the surface level, so I'm particularly proud of all the things I've pointed out. Thank you so much for watching! :D
something of note that I noticed that kind of ties in with your side note about wally sending the people on the search (it might not be necessarily wally but who am I to know) is that in the about us section when asked about where they found the information on the show they say that they received it in colored envelopes, now this might be a stretch but the only colored envelopes I saw in relation to welcome home are Eddie's colored envelopes. so that's something to think about. another thing that is kinda strange to me is the topic of wally's intelligence, because while he knows about things like the forth wall or his existence as a puppet he doesn't know basic things, for example what a clown is (he had to ask Frank) and a lot of other basic knowledge (if you go to clown's tumbler where they answer questions you can see that wally doesn't know the meaning of a lot of words). So what does that say about his intelligence, or perhaps this stems from the fact that wally comes from a children's TV show where the main characters learn a lot of words along with the kids through the lessons in episodes (sorry for the rambling but I would love to hear people's thoughts on these topics)
I think it could be another character or it's a puppeteer or live actor from the show who is trapped with the puppets who sent the envelopes to at least try and find someone to in the words of skillet 'save me from this nightmare'
Considering one of the words he doesn't know is "dad"...
what if....he doesn't know so many things because he's like a frankensteins monster of the digital Home world? like whatever malicious entity is behind the darkness in Welcome Home, created Wally/gave him his sentience, and Wally is at the very least aware that it is watching, and that people could/have gotten hurt because of it
After this video the way I head cannon Wally's personality is different. Before I thought he was a terrifying cult leader running the whole thing, but I always got a sence that he had someone over him too. That picture of him sitting in front of homes eye reaching up to it as though trying to escape, or possibly in reverence, the scene where it looks like he's hiding from someone and tells you to be quiet. The audio clip where he's singing a song and he just sounds so... broken (also of note there's dripping last I can remember, he's in a basement somewhere, and he wants to get out) . Now I feel like the poor guy has a kind of stalkholm syndrome, the relationship he has with his puppeteer he has convinced himself on some level is one he loves from his puffy hair to his heart shaped souls. But on another level he's scared. Maybe being locked in a basement has also driven him a bit crazy. Maybe he's continuing his owners dark work, either with or without them I'm not sure, if he can transfer his form into something digital than he can finally get out of this waterlogged rotting prison he'd been abandoned in .
Here is an observation. Cloudy said "Hello, I love Clowns! Show me one", and got the response "I don't know what clowns are, I asked frank and he said barnaby". Also note that the creator of the arg is known as ArtisnalClown, so this response may be of signifigance. And reading the response, Wally asked frank and got a response. If the show is off air, I bet that means that the puppets are no longer opperated, which means Frank must be alive to tell Wally what a clown is. This would then mean all the puppets are alive, but may not necessarily be aware of the fact they are puppets.
On another note, the setting seems to be called Home, with Wally's home also being named Home, is in the center of town, and is the only one thats alive. If Home is an antagonist, I wonder if its a parasite. It for whatever reasons needs people to live in it, and mabey not just puppets. I wonder if the pain the writers of the WHRP are feeling is literal homesickness, not for their own home, but for Home. And the way this homesickness spreads is through information about Home, if you combine that with the very old feel of the show, and you get an entity that uses a nostalgia sickness to potentially feed. Wally then, being a puppet and aware he is a puppet, simply wants to protect you, after all, Wally is your best friend, he is everyone's best friend. So if you catch the nostalgia homesickness and delve too deep, then he cant save you, but he can tell you to not tell this to anyone else.
I do think Wally could want to frown but cant but his talk with frank was probably part of an episode about being happy. Like that Mickey Mouse cartoon about him learning how to say no
This made me think that wallys eye motive may be due to his permanet grin and not being able to frown, the only way he can express sadness or distress is through his eyes so he directs our focus to his eyes hoping we would see what he relly feels and help him (maybe??)
In the "links" tab in the website, the "I love poppy" gif has poppy looking directly at us 2 times and she looks almost scared. She seems to have a worried expression a lot of the times she is seen. Also, her picture in the "neighborhood" tab, she is holding cookies of the characters but Wallys cookie is looking at us too :0
About the permanent smile thing, I think he *is* stuck and asking for a plea for help. I forgot the page name, but like voywex, if you unscramble the letters again.. it leads you to another page. I think there's 5 or 6 in total, but this one is about a phone. If you click on it, it leads you to a voice message..
Wally can be heard singing Beautiful dreamer, in a very monotone and emotionless voice. A far cry from the "most friendliest neighbor" title.
It sounds like he's trying to please something- Home maybe?
OMG YES!! In one of the restoration pieces, theres a puppet hand. A YELLOW puppet hand, and there is PAINT all over it. Wally is a painter, the best painter in town.
What if HE is the one restoring the images?? I mean, he would know what everything is supposed to look like. He'd be able to send the restored paintings out to get people to know more about the show, which means he could bring people to help his friends, or.. him, too
I think it's very interesting that not only Wally and Barnaby have hearts on the bottom of their shoes/paws but Home also has a heart on the bottom of it.
The talk about home at 7:00 reminded me of a horror game called anatomy by Kitty Horrorshow that goes into this exact theme of a sentient malevolent abandoned home that isnt haunted by ghosts but by its own loneliness and hatred and speaks to you by tape recorders you find in its rooms
These are some really good points that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere else.
I've thought about Wally's nature in the story too. A lot of the darker art for the series seems to imply that Wally has something sinister going on with him but I can't help but wonder if he's actually being manipulated. It's just a little too obvious to show all your cards at the very start of the project and Wally being the Big Bad wouldn't exactly be a surprise at this point.
My current assumption is that Home is somehow the one who's actually in control and Wally is sort of a reluctant follower of it's grand design. There's art of Wally praying in front of Home's window, of him doing the "as above, so below" hand gestures, and of course that scene where he warns you to stay quiet. I think these all imply a level of faith and fear in Home.
I think maybe Home somehow started out sentient and because Wally lived in Home, it bleed over into to Wally. There's hidden text on the website that implies that someone wants to "get it out" but it's unclear what "it" is. Maybe what it is is Home's control over Wally and maybe the way he thinks he'll remove it is to infect more people with the knowledge of Home.
So in theory, maybe the whole Welcome Home project is meant to be a trap to infect more people with the knowledge of home. I think this would imply that Wally is actually the one who's made and is running the website and restoration project, at least to some degree.
i think nobody talked about this yet but in clowns page About Welcome Home there might be a few clues idk im no investigator but theres a drawing of wally saying he "made" a dog and it shows barnaby plus the drawing of the phone and something with 999 and other drawings that give out maybe some lore? like the one with julia where behind her is a woman w a bloody hammer and the highlighted crosses in wallys clothers i mean really highlighted cuz they are glowing lol
Something neat on the guest book is this one comment asking Wally how he’s doing, and he actually responds, but just with a picture of an apple title “Itsanapple!”
Seemed sus.
On the guestbook on page 5 there’s also somebody called Savanah who said “Wally is such a doll!
I see a lot of people who think that wally is the antagonist because of the headless Barnaby art on Clown’s (the creator of this ARG) website. However, the text on there says “look, I made a dog” hinting at the fact that Perhaps Wally didn't destroy him, but is building him back together again, without the use of a human to control him. This is also evident with some art from Clown’s twitter where Wally is carrying the mailman on his back with text above saying “you’ll be okay”. Clown even replied with another picture of the mailman at stretching his back while Wally waits to give him his hat back. Not to mention the cross on his sleeves always seem to glow (perhaps hinting to a religious cult? Or maybe the theme of someone coming back to life?)
Also there is reason to believe that home and Wally are at odds with each other, due to that gif where Wally’s eyes are plastered over houses as the text below it says open. Probably signifying the fact that a
Wally is in between the eyes of home, yet is unable to open the door himself. (why would home want to keep Wally locked inside?) If this is the case, than the down below gif could be Wally pleading with the house.
Imo I thought that the reason he was dressed as the Devil for Halloween represented his isolation in his own personal hell, much like the Devil (putting aside references to other beings in that place).
I almost jumped out of my chair when Wally spoke. I thought his voice was going to be goofy and stuff but it sounds so ominous.
I think it sounds like both (tho bare in mind that is the creator's Wally voice and not his VA's). It sounds really spooky here but it sounds very silly in the "you are autism" call, I think it nailed being the best of both worlds pretty well!
I’m already really sad about these puppets because I saw someone point out that Wally is the only one referred to in the present tense. Implying he is all alone and that makes me really sad. I love some hurt/comfort but I need some comfort with my hurt.
I really appreciated your analysis of this since it's so different than other videos i've watched so far. I never considered Wally always smiling or whether he wants this project to be restored. Definitely something to think about. One thing that I noticed on the website that no one else has mentioned in videos I've seen so far is the wallpaper that hugs the sides of the webpage. It contains a lot of details if you check it out. All of the 9 characters are represented somehow. A mailbox and envelopes for Eddie, feathers for Poppy, an apple with a caterpillar coming out of it for Howdy, butterflies for Franks, flowers for Julie, juggling balls for Barnaby, Suns for Sally, the eyes that seem to always be found around Wally and Home itself is hidden in the background as well. I think this is such a cool little detail. And wallpaper is mentioned in one of the rhymes so I feel its very intentional and thought it would be a cool thing to point out to others who are interested in this ARG.
To the last statement, it is said all the letters sent to the Welcome Home Restoration Project are typically covered in paint.
Wally's the only artist in town
I think the thing behind home is the way wally is self aware. Behind home is a vulnerability in the sites sourcecode and wallys just taking advantage of it.
I know this video is discussing a pretty dark theory, but I *have* to point out that Wally's response of "I am a puppet! I am your favorite!" is absolutely adorable! He sounds so happy about being someone's favourite 🥺
I think that you’re right about him warning us to stay quiet.
Going off of the idea that Home is the big bad I guess, maybe Home has more control here than any of us have been thinking.
In the image you find under Home in the mobile version of the website. It’s a black hole with a spiral in the center, you click it and it takes you to that image of Wally being trapped and Home’s eye looking at him. In the image, the eye is frantically looking around like it’s trying to find something and Wally is in front, waving and trying to draw attention.
Home is aware of us.
We weren’t supposed to be able to find that image.
On the website on computer or desktop, Home is hiding that hole, you can see that there is a link underneath Home, but you can’t access it, you can’t reach it no matter what you do.
Home didn’t account for Mobile users to be able to find it’s secrets.
When we find Wally staring into the screen right at us, he knows we’re there but he can’t see us. He might not be the only one who knows that we’re exploring, he’s telling us to be quiet because Home could find us and hurt us.
The other neighbors are never looking into camera, at the viewer, and all of their descriptions use “were” and “was”, past tense while Wally’s uses present tense. He’s always looking at the viewer, sometimes his stare feels uncomfortable but other times it doesn’t feel that way.
Some say because Wally eats with his eyes that him staring is a threat that he’s going to eat us, but what if it’s Home just using Wally’s body. Every time we feel like we’re being watched, it’s probably Home doing the one staring but because Wally is self aware, he probably doesn’t want us to get scared or hurt so he makes us think it’s him doing the staring. But he can’t see us.
If home finds out that we know what we know, we could end up like the other neighbors and be described with past tense.
He’s saying be quiet because while he can’t see us, he can probably hear us and if he can hear us then Home can hear us, be quiet about what you’ve seen, what you know, you’re supposed to be here just to explore and look at the bright colors and explore nice things, if Home becomes aware that you know, you could be next to go.
I haven't seen people mention this but atleast in the mobile version after going there the first time it turns into "welcome home/you" as if welcoming you home.
Personal theory is that wally has gone insane and while is aware, is trapped inside of home with everything running in a loop. He's become self aware and trapped, slowly loosing it. Kind of like Monica from Doki Doki in a way- he also warns us to not be loud since I feel like if we make ourselves known we too could become trapped in this nightmare endless loop of insanity.
I just realized in some picture's Wally's eyeshadow is red. Does it change when he shoes sentience? If so that'd be a cool thing
I think in that picture of Wally and Frank talking about frowning, Wally was just being smug. It's the idea of pessimism and optimism. It's easy for one to be either positive or negative.
Frank is a pessimist and finds it easy to frown and find things to be upset about.
Wally is an optimist and finds it easy to smile and find things to be happy about.
I think that was just some flavor art to show the dynamic between characters.
If we were to take it into the bigger scope of the ARG, I'd say its showing that Wally is naturally happy and not a character we need to be cautious about.
I'll gladly eat my lunch if this ends up being wrong, but Wally's smile never strikes me as pained or forced. While yes that's a horrible thing, we can see his smile lower and heighten in intensity in the art, showing that he's not always having a BIG smile. He's just always chill and positive in some way.
The premise for the ARG that was mentioned on the creator's website explaining the overall premise said that the home of these characters will be degrading in some way (paraphrasing) so to me that says that there's a force taking over and corrupting the world around the puppets, and maybe some of the weaker willed puppets themselves. Or due to the cancelation of the show, the world decayed since it was not being used, observed, or thought about as often as it was. However, Wally's "stay quiet" comment makes me think that there is a force of some kind using the show and all it's material as a vessel of some kind to spread its corruption, and Wally's positivity has kept him safe and uncorrupted as of now.
It makes sense if wally is sending the letters. He goes be question answerer, because he answers people's questions in the guestbook!
I haven't seen anyone point this out yet, but Wally's design is nearly entirely primary colors, and he only ever uses primary colors in his drawings, while everyone else use mainly secondary colors! Which indicates that Wally is the primary character (obviously, duh), but I can't help but wonder if he created some aspect of the world. You make secondary colors by mixing primaries, so did he create the world, the buildings (except for home) or something else? I don't know how much this idea has merit, but I can't stop thinking about it
I only caught the chance to watch this now (sorry 😭) but seeing that one frame of Petscop at 0:07 got me SO hype immediately! (You got taste and i appreciate that~)
Good observation on Wally's smile! Definitely food for thought
I highly welcome reseaching the names and meaning behind the characters because it puts more empahise on their roles of arg!
I agree with your theory. It makes sense, like how else would he be answering the questions in the guest book. And also that picture with the book and a hand holding the page open, it looks like it could be Wally's hand. If anyone who would want to bring the series back, it would be him (if he has negative intentions, he would want to bring it back more maybe). VERY GOOD THEORY!!!!
This was so interesting and deserves more views.
Sidenote T voice my beloved
In another sketch in the guest book, someone calls wally a doll (as in the complement) and wally corrects them, stating that he is a puppet
There's already enough evidence to conclude that he knows what he is, but I thought I'd add :]
I could honestly see Wally’s perma-grin becoming an integral part to the story now that you mention it, sort of “I have no mouth and I must scream” vibes, though here it’d obviously be “I am always smiling and I must frown” tho that doesn’t have the same weight to it in my opinion
To add onto the "always smiling" bit, Wally's also missing eyebrows, which is another way to express feelings. Maybe that's something, maybe not, but just a small thing I noticed
Also in the neighborhood, when you click him, he's the only one with a "Goodbye" button written in black letters instead of a "Go back" button written in rainbow letters. Like we are personally talking to him instead of just viewing information
The thing that sticks out to me is not only the tears of Home in the piece in the gallery, but how the third iteration looks disturbed. Maybe even afraid, traumatized, or even paranoid. The blank expression, the tears, and the fact that the eyes are almost completely black...
While watching I checked to see if maybe my comment had been added yet (Sadly not), but I noticed one that was cute and related here. It was from a "Sally" who recalled seeing the show and was glad people are trying to bring it back to which Wally replies, "sallyisthatyou"
Which is super cute, as it implies Wally recalls the viewer like say, Steve from Blues Clues would.
(But it also could just be a Sally reference, as in the character)
wow, missed a VERY important clue that I overlooked on the website in the guest book. I take it back. I don't think wally is a yandere or evil. I think he's hiding because he's in some kind of trouble. I heard about this clue before but kinda just tossed it aside as irrelevant but now I think it might be a clue that wally isn't dangerous to us. I think he needs our help. If you highlight the eighth page in the guest book and scroll down a ways, there's two different text messages that reads, "W A L L y. You didn't write back" Wally: your looking for me. Silly silly." It sounds like wally is hiding from them and wally is taunting them because he KNOWS there looking for him. I find myself wondering if there still RESTORING and finding NEW things about the show that was LOST. How can we be sure there wasn't a tenth character? That tumblr post with the phone that said "it's for you" on the picture of wally phone. It DID have a tenth button, and it was MISSING. It might have been scratched out. I think we're definitely missing something.
This is such a wonderful analysis! I’m not much of an ARG person but the themes of this story really intrigues me. I like that you don’t just pick apart the spooky arg stuff but the the characters and storytelling. I think the audio Wally (I think) has with home helps your theory a bit, the one where he’s singing a song Barnaby taught him to Home. When he responds to what Home says his tone is notably…unsure, even saying “I think”. Clown mentioned on their tumblr that this story has some Queer themes and it just makes me think. Because Home feels invasive, at least to me, Home’s windows are literally eyes, it’s always watching. Maybe that’s why he wants you to stay quiet, because what else can you do when your Home is a place that’s not safe for you, right?
Ok so I actually asked about this on the Guestbook page of the Welcome Home website but I'm currently waiting to see if anything is made of it, so just in case it's ignored I wanna post it here too since I think it's really odd. On the website where you can see the concept art of the different characters, there's one where Wally and Barnaby are laying on the floor together. Barnaby asks Wally if he's started reading books, to which Wally responds, "No, just one..." I guess I've spent too much time watching Film/Game theory because this answer got my theorists senses tingling so I looked closer at this seemingly special book that Wally was reading. He was reading about the exact conversation he was currently having with Barnaby. You can tell because if you look closely at the pages of his book, you can see small drawings of Barnaby and Wally laying on the ground in the exact same pose and clothing as they were currently wearing, which by the way is not their usual outfits. I even asked Wally on the Guestbook if that means his book could tell the future and even though that may be a long shot, we're talking about a story where puppets are alive, a house is sentient, and one puppet may or may not have killed and rebuilt an entire neighborhood for unknown reasons while possibly being under the control of his own house. I don't think anything is really too out-there until proven crazy lol. Anyways, theory over. Have a swell day, Neighbor!
Oh my god I NEVER noticed that!!! Awesome find!! Definitely incorporating this into my next theory!
WRT Wally being the one to send things in - there are photos of the art the restoration project has received before it was restored, and iirc it's all covered in multicolored paint. This would line up with Wally, who is an avid painter. Though I wonder what his reasoning for sending them in would be after ruining them?
Also interestingly if Wally isn't an antagonist, he certainly seems to see himself as one. in a guestbook comment joking that the author hopes Wally isn't totally evil, Wally replies "you don't like me neighbor". He doesn't necessarily see himself as a "good guy" in this scenario, which is very interesting to me. I wonder if his involvement is even of his own volition?
This video is definitely what I've been waiting to see!! You know what, my guess is that Wally might serve as a like front page antagonist but like... How do I explain this without referencing puppets-
Anyways I really never saw anyone mention the drawing replies, thank you for showing these because I had no idea!
Of course! I can't even remember how I learned about it, but I'm so glad I could share the knowledge! :D
Honestly, I love this series and I hope that we get more soon. Of course as long as Clown is doing well.
If "welcome home" comes on television, I rather see Jim Henson productions do it in their way of being like friendly.
That means it shouldn't be horrifying AT ALL.
Did... Did y'all forget about Labyrinth??? And The Dark Crystal??? Both Jim Henson puppetry (if I remember correctly), and both incredibly wholesome and horrifying in turns. I don't mean to sound mean, I just keep thinking about how much like those two pieces of my childhood this could end up being and then my brain rots
The permanent smile hits home knowing the creator is neurodivergent. As someone autistic the fake smile (masking) and having others control you, is relatable.
Maybe the neighborhood is an escape from reality and spiral in the backyard of Wally’s home is a portal to the real world? Totally probably wrong but that one “planted” (I say planted cause majority of our comments are just simping for Wally 😭) message in the guestbook where they were like “Where tf am I? What’s going on with these people-… puppets around here?” is sticking with me. Referring to that one picture of Julie in front of some humanoid creature with an axe, I think that is one of Julie’s sister (Jonesy, with the hair covering her face) and that’s her real form compared to her puppet form. Plus I also think Wally has some distain for Julie’s sisters because in the restoration picture comparison part of the website, the picture is all dirty with some noticeable red, blue, and yellow paint mostly smearing Julie sisters’ faces/bodies. The only mf who really associated with paint is Wally.
Welcome home is the first ARG I was actually interested in,it’s so weird and cute. Just my cup of tea!
It's certainly in a league of its own. I can't wait to see where they take it.
Me too!
My first thought when realizing Home was its own entity was "Is Home an antagonist or a victim?" Home kinda scares me so im assuming antagonist
I think you're right at the end, about Wally sending the envelopes-- they note that things they've gotten are covered in paint before restoration, and Wally *is* a painter.
Amazing video! Thank you for making it! :D
i love welcome home, but im not great at sitting through long videos sometimes, so this was easy to watch imo! have a good day!
Ohhh the facial expression detail is really cool, and adds another layer of depth to the "be quiet" gif!!
Bruuuuh that's so cool!!! Waaaaaa ya did a very good analysis and i loved it
Thanks so much!! I'm happy you enjoyed it :D
@@godlysocks no problem!! Have a long i haven't seen your videos or gone to ya lives streams :') but i glad i was recommended this one and saw it i missed seeing your content is always cool!
There is actually a couple of codes you missed, one takes you to an audio recording of Wally singing and another is a video that has that same singing but extremely distorted. The codes are yxwvoe and eovwxy. Just thought I would share this.
A brilliant yet sad theory! I’ve only know about Welcome Home for a few weeks but I’ve already declared Wally to be my favourite character. 💙
I am totally with you on your mini theory, especially with how the drawings the team received have ink/paint on them (as wally is the artist) and we’re sent in “brightly colored envelopes” (which match with how envelopes look in the welcome home universe as seen in eddie’s drawings)
it really is an interesting theory how wally could be involved somehow with the project..
also, may I ask what music did you use around 8:52?