Welcome Home: The Halloween Update
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- čas přidán 21. 10. 2023
- A Halloween update? From Welcome Home?! Now that's quite a treat.
Happy Haunting to Boo and Yours: www.clownillustration.com/mer...
UPDATE: The vinyl figure campaign has gone into a 72-hour HALLOWEEN EXTENSION! You have until the end of November 1st to pre-order, and I've received word that the close we are to 500, the more room there is to still look at options for producing, making it MUCH more possible! But we need to get closer, and we're already past 400 pre-orders.
Official Nick Nocturne Figure: bit.ly/3Zl7h0x
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![Welcome Home: The Story So Far... [Feb 2023 to March 2024]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/0YetdRDjTeI/mqdefault.jpg)
![Welcome Home: The Story So Far... [Feb 2023 to March 2024]](/img/tr.png)
They changed "Remember to wave up high!" to "Don't forget to wave down below." Dark times ahead indeed.
As above, so below, after all. : )
@@AnakhaSilver just as I was thinking
@@AnakhaSilveryes
That was probably just some word play…but yes, dark times fall upon us.
The website update again, and even though things are pretty much the same and Wally and the characters are out of their costumes, there are two things:
1) The "Updates" aren't updated, they simply say;
Write Hello.
2) In the Playfellow Exhibition section, there's another command underneath the actual "Playfellow Exhibition, it says
Turn the Playfellow Exhibition upside down.
I think these are hints that this website isn't playing around or being inviting anymore. It's trying to tell us to do things.
"It was a window into another world, but it wasn't a window you could lock" SUCH A GOOD ANALOGY I GOT CHILLS
Yeah, I marveled, and shuddered, at the so you have to board it up part myself. That's when it dawned on me what a great analogy it was.
So they boarded it up
“It was a window into another world, but it wasn’t a window you could lock. So they boarded up”
It makes so much sense when you consider that window is the Fourth Wall.
If Wally isn’t evil, it makes sense why the antagonist latched onto him-because he is the only one who actually talks to the audience, who is able to communicate with the fourth wall, allowing it to hunt in reality
Yah, I can't believe they missed the obvious on off switch for the fourth wall.
🔥🔥🔥🔥✍✍✍🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
I don't see anyone else mentioning this, but the blue jack-o'-lantern is a reference to autistic kids carrying blue pumpkin baskets when trick-or-treating as a subtle sign that they're autistic so that, for example, if they're non-verbal they won't be expected to say "trick or treat" before getting candy. Being diagnosed as autistic myself I absolutely adore this detail. Especially with it being in front of Home in reference to Wally being autistic. So cute!
oh shit you're right; there's no way that was accidental
I'm not denying that's a thing, Clown is certainly neurodivergent and neurodivergence is a big part of it, but as a practice that seems like it'd be ineffective since it's not very well known.
@ViVenVel yeah, I really wish it was, because I was always to nervous to say "Trick or Treat"
Wait, I thought it was alluding to the teal pumpkins for kids with allergies and houses with allergen free goodies? Plus, "light it up blue" or whatever is associated with Autism Speaks, which I don't think Clown supports.
As an autistic person, I don't care for the blue pumpkin. Blue in regards to autism is pretty much always associated with autism speaks, a eugenisist hate group that wants to eradicate us, and everything I've read related to it used hyper-medicalized terminology, calling autism a disorder, and parents, saying, on behalf of their children, that they "" have"" autism, instead of communicating with their child about if that's even remotely fitting for that particular individual.
My first instinct when I heard “figure who only shows up at night” was someone on the production crew. Sally doesn’t exactly know what a regular human looks like, so if I saw a crazy tall monster shifting around at night checking all the houses, I would be pretty distressed too
I was thinking that too!
That's why I thought too! What threw me off was the "the scratch on the pavement" but that and ther gutural sound could be just rolling cameras or lights or other props
I was thinking the exact same thing!! I wonder if that’s the case! And I wonder if this human meddling is causing this new reality to corrupt and create some weird and warped shit that’s bleeding into our reality! Reality/dimension meddling never ends well😅
16:06 😂 I’m sorry Wally’s completely monotone “ahhhhhhh…” was just too funny and cute
I’m surprised no one has mentioned “Pedrolino” and the function the character portrays in classic theatre. A “Pedrolino” is a comic character that serves to keep the plot of a play moving forward. Here, Sally is doing just that in her role as a character who’s omnipresent and is voluntarily instigating confusion through said omnipresence.
holy shit that's such a good point
Holy crap that’s really clever!
I feel like Sally is in some way especially important to the story. Some of the content of the first video details how it’s implied she had a “night mode”, here, she is the one aware of what happens at night. Also the theme of her being sort of a show runner might be important?
Yeah, I also found it strange that there are only two clocks in the entirety of the neighborhood. One by her, one by Eddie.
She's an actress by trade, which is why she directs all their plays and such. Her lore blurb is a little related to Luciferian lore, but i personally believe its more in a "she thought she was The Shit and got brought down to earth literally" way than anything else.
If she has a moon side then what the hell are they named? Mimi Moonlight?
also she's stated to be from space and what else happened in space in 1969 (the year welcome home first aired)? the moon landing. i think whatever this parasite is,it's some kind of alien.
Technically every character in this story is important in some way, we just don't quite know how for some of them yet.
Nick: This entity is hitching a ride into our reality through the merchandise. Anyone who comes into contact with it quickly becomes infected by it. It needs to stop being researched and gathered up and destroyed immediately.
Also Nick: I NEED a physical copy of that record. I NEED to physically hold it in my hands!
There’s Welcome Home, and there’s The King In Yellow.
Where did you see that?
Welcome Home is such a treat, the horror's great on its own but the art and characters are so phenomenal they really complete the experience
Izutsumi!!
That wasn't very good, oh well. Thats a wrap.
It’s such beautiful art and sooooo perfect of the time period. Too many “horror” media now tries to be “VHS” or “vintage” but then it says 2006 lmao. These Welcome Home characters are so perfectly late 70’s Sesame Street/Muppets it’s unbelievably 100% believable! The attention to detail and the thought thats gone into everything is so beautifully perfect. They even thought to do Valentine’s Day style school cards! It’s a full on world that has been built and it feels real. Until it doesn’t and that’s the horror of it. And I absolutely love it.
A few thoughts
1.)The apple scene. I don’t think that was entirely the entity. Remember how Wally is supposed to eat with his eyes? And it has apparently been offically confirmed somewhere that Wally is Autistic. I’m Autistic and work as a BT with Autistic kids.The beginning of everything going wonky looks to me like Wally was being over-stimed. It can happen even in settings with people you love; I’ve seen it with my students. You’d also be amazed how much a snack can help calm them down. My interpretation is that Wally got overstimed and the entity started trying to influence him while he was distressed. The apple was Wally not fully knowing what was happening to him, just that he felt bad, and trying to calm himself down with a snack, and then he fully calmed down once his best friend who he relies on came to check on him.
2.) the blurb where the WHRT member lets the mask slip. I don’t think the call for more pages is a call for help. They seem pretty intent on getting the whole book, so I think the entity/the gunk has eroded their sanity to the point that they are obsessed with the project and need the rest of the book like a drug.
3.) Barnaby. I was already leaning towards this, but I no longer support the theory that Barnaby is evil/the entity’s willing puppet. The way he interacts with Wally is increasingly coming off as a big brother and caretaker, especially him pointedly pretending to not know about Wally eating with his eyes and making a joke, as well as checking in on him right as he's getting stressed. I don’t know what his role is, but I at this point I don’t think Barnaby is willingly evil; he’s just trying to protect Wally.
i definitely dont think barnaby is evil or anything like that, even in the "spooky" art from the old pages, barnaby is always depicted as protecting or helping wally
also in the record art hes holding a candy apple!! which is probably nothing but i think its cool!!!
everything going wonky in the video is probably the closest i can get to showing neurotypical people what i hear and see when i get overstimulated in crowds. too many people talking and too close... the only thing its missing is the unbearable heat of proximity and the strangle hold of a shirt!
This! So much this!
Yeah, Barnaby doesn't seem evil, he seems more like a caretaker for Wally. He's basically, well, the assistance dog for an autistic person. Which makes his potential demise (allusions to beheading, as someone else pointed out in the comments) something that could cause severe damage.
The thing from the woods mentioned by Sally seems to be the true antagonist anyway. It seems to have an ability to remain hidden to an extent, if we go by differences in the audio and the transcript present on the Welcome Home site.
I wonder if the "antagonist" is a kind of parasitic bug? Bugs seem to be playing a big role in the story so far, and bugs can often become "pests" in a *home*. Parasites infect victims and use them as hosts, and they can cause all kinds of illnesses. I wonder if our antagonist could manifest as some kind of bug-like creature, like a roach or worm or spider or even an ameoba of some sort. It's just...wonderfully weird.
Edit: People keep bringing up Howdy, and I just wanna say that I've definitely thought about him, but I don't think he's one of the threats. Although I do think it's interesting that he is a caterpillar that has a lot to do with apples, and "the worm in the apple" is a phrase commonly used to denote something bad (and possibly hidden, waiting to be discovered) that spoils something good.
Or maybe... a termite eating Home from the inside out?
.. or a caterpillar
Sally mentions that the thing in the woods crawls up walls. Like a bug.
@@trishad3192Hungry, hungry. . . .
It does give me the mental picture of an incredibly big, realistic, slimy, black-goo-spewing bug in a world of fun and felt. Something so real to us is so other-worldly to these characters that it really frightens them to their core. Even though this force is likely not as real to us either...right?
I'd heard it said that that Wally "eats with his eyes", so he was the one that took a bite of Barnaby's apple. The distortion in the video is him "blinking", which is him taking a bite. Though this doesn't mean that whatever is lurking in town hasn't made it's way into Wally.
What if the infection also eats with its eyes - thus devouring any living being it sees? That that is evidence in Wally bring infected by it, that he *also* eats with his eyes?
same brain!!
Oh sh1t not gud.
90% sure that idea was removed and not cannon, but if it's back in some way that'd be amazing
That could be it but if you look really closely at the apple when it glitches for a split second at the end it looks like a hand was over the apple. It didn’t look like Wally’s hand either. Remember when they were talking about the black substance that was growing and Sally talking about something roaming around in the night? That could possibly be one of the workers who got contaminated by the black substance.
What a weirdly good throwback to literal disposable clothes like the paper dresses made in the 60s! That Halloween costume looked close to the same material.
It wasn't a reference to disposable clothes, Halloween costumes of the period were just really cheap and bad looking.
@@VelvetVexationsdisposable clothes ARE a reference to it being old and cheap 🙄
I think the costume is plastic, kind of like those one use table cloths sold for birthday parties. I remember costumes like that when I was a very, very young child of the 80s. It's just a cheap mask and a plastic bag that vaguely hints to the character it represents. lol they hit that attention to detail PERFECTLY. It's one of the reasons I love WH so much as it gives me so much nostalgia to my own childhood. 😂
Costumes from that time period of Welcome Home really did look like that in the day :D They were often cheap thin plastic masks and a plastic suit or outfit of some kind. Often depicting popular characters from shows or movies. :) I loved that Clown paid attention to authentic details like that!
@livinglibby3104 I don't know Clown's age but if he's not from that time period then I am just astounded at their ability to truly capture the authentic vibe.
I saw this theory posted on Loey’s video: [Wally is at a party. He’s been at a *loud*, crowded party for a while. If he has autism, the distortion could be him getting overwhelmed.]
Possibly of note: on the record cover art, Wally is the only character not emoting fear, and the window that looks like Home's eye also seems to be a shadow in the window with one yellow eye mostly obscured by the curtain.
I noticed that about Wally too.
I looked, I see what you mean about Home but that seems to be the same sort of goo that makes up the lettering. However I also have something of note. If Home’s curtains are representative of eyelids, they way they are angled look like fear at first, but upon closer inspection (being that we only see one of Homes eyes) it comes off as more angry or displeased.
In fairness, Wally only ever makes a few faces
@@chantolovetrue his not exactly a emoter face or voice wise
well its canon that he doesn't know how to stop smiling, so that's why
For me, the biggest gutpunch was when Sally said "I hear it every night." It sounds so sincere, and we know what it's alluding to. She was probably being entirely honest, sharing her experience. But then, at the last minute, knew she couldn't let them know. Maybe because it was listening. Maybe because she doesn't want to scare them for real. So she acted like it was just a convincing lead-up to her little jumpscare.
If I'm right...I feel that as a twist in my heart. The fact that she's tormented every night by the thing in the woods, but the only way she can even ask for help is by masking it as silly scary stories that are only just made up.
it’s so great to hear Clown is back to creating and working on Welcome Home after all the stress at the start of the year. you can tell this project is truly a labour of love and so much skill and effort is put into it
Seeing Barnaby's head as a candy apple treat for some reason reminds me of the "head served on a platter" motif. It solidifies my theory that not only did he die, but he was possibly murdered. And now with the reveal of the "Visitor from the Forest," we might have our murderer.
Oh good catch! Barnaby really comes off like a caretaker/big brother to Wally so it makes sense that the "visitor" would want to off him.Either to stop him from helping Wally or to make Wally suffer.
@@briannastenvick8087 I mean, it's implied he gets offed a couple times throughout the exploration. As well as the Visitor biting HIS apple of all things.
@@lanagomisc.6005 Oh really?! What other implications/hints are there that I evidently missed?😅
Yeah, I was thinking about this too. There's been a lot of forshadowing regarding Barnaby's head. Julie says a line saying "knock your head off". I think there is going to be a point specifically in which we see Barnaby headless, or more specificly, Barnaby's head falling off. This is kind of significant given its a televised show for children. If a character's head were to fall off on live television in front of children, that could easily get a show canceled. That would have traumatized children.
@@briannastenvick8087 All I can recall is video recording of the colored stick figures in the garden, with the blue one with its head in the ground. I think there's written hints somewhere on the website, but yeah there's some foreshadowing happening.
one thing i do wanna point out-- it's established that wally eats with his eyes by blinking, and the darkening screen if we're looking through wally's eyes implies he's closing his eyes. wally bit the apple himself!
That's not canon ffs
A parasite/virus mold thing that can breach realities and infect people. Sounds horrific.
Also Clowns biggest mistake was making these characters way to lovable. I can’t think about any of them without the realization that there all probably dead,hitting me like a Isekai truck each time
Not fully related but now I'm thinking about some kind of muppet-esque isekai situation
Thats what will make the horror aspect effective.....Im actually dreading to see what became of our beloved muppet characters...if something happened to them....
If these characters were perceived as scary like every fricken doll from every horror movie from the getgo, we wouldn't care what happened/happens to them
Unfortunately that's the horror aspect 😭
Lmao the bug video is honestly a pretty accurate recreation of me disassociating at a social event. My eyes unfocus, my brain goes staticy, all the sounds blend together. I’ll try and focus on something before going back to looking at nothing. I know the scene is meant to be spooky but it kind of made me smile.
(Edit: after reading some more comments it seems like that might be the intent of the video anyway lol)
ive heard a lot of speculation that the substance might be black mold, which would match the symptoms the writer for the news page is suffering from. it would also fit with how old the welcome home franchise is, nearly 50 years.
as for possible purposeful defacing, it's entirely possible as the picture of Julie and her siblings seemed absolutely smeared in paint as well as whatever the black substance is
If we can count the information on Clown’s tumblr as canon, then we know that Wally eats with his eyes. So when Barnaby asked if Wally was “keeping an eye on his apple” it could be a hint that Wally was the one who bit the apple.
I was about to say that as well and thought it was a monster eating the apple but I remembered that Wally eat with his eyes I hope there will be some bit of lore on welcome home as I really adore it
Something that I just realized I glossed over was the fact that nighttime does in fact exist in-universe for the Welcome Home characters. It’s just that they don’t go outside at night, so there would be nothing to film.
while watching the wally pov clip, i got this weird feeling of like... this isn't scary or even foreboding, it just feels sad. it's been a hot minute since i saw anything related to welcome home, but i remember the clips used to feel like being in chuckie's pov, but now it just sort of feels like being in the pov of someone stuck in a dissociative episode. especially with barnaby coming over to check in on him and being chill about the apple, it feels less like "appeasing the devil" and more like "trying to accomodate my neurodivergent buddy who's having some trouble right now". still have no idea what's going on, but i agree with thinking it's not wally that's the antagonist of the story.
Edit: didn't know wally is autistic, not sure how i feel about that but i think it's cool that barnaby is always nice and accommodating to him :)
Wally’s supposed to be autistic, I guess, so I believe that’s exactly what’s going on. The clip feels like when I dissociate, in some ways.
I believe it's been confirmed that Wally is Autistic! It's actually very nice seeing people seeing Wally as less a "spoooky demon guy" and more of simpley, ND
I read “trying to accommodate my neurodivergent buddy who’s having some trouble right now” in Barnaby’s voice and I don’t know how to read it without Barnaby’s voice
That's how I feel about Wally too. He doesn't seem evil, just autistic and kind of sad!
It makes sense that Barnaby would be a dog that's best friends with Wally in this circumstance. Dogs are nonjudgemental and compassionate when it comes to people with disabilities. Plus I think Wally wearing the devil costume symbolizes that Wally is secretly an angel. Halloween is about dressing as something you're not, so this could very well confirm that Wally's an angel. Remember when he said "I have more eyes than I did before..." Accurate angels have multiple eyes. Just a thought lol
I noticed that there was a bowl of candies in front of Wally. I wonder if he meant to eat those, but whatever is causing him to dissociate(possibly something he found out or the black goo) made him accidentally take a bite out of Barnaby’s apple
Overstimulation! He seems to be autistic.
Or he was too overwhelmed to unwrap them.
19:48 “As much as I’m enjoying all this talkin-clown(?) around, I better go check on my little apple. And I don’t mean Wally! But, y’know what, I also mean Wally.”
I LOVE BARNABY SO MUCH THIS IS THE SWEETEST THING
'check on my little apple' really adds to the idea that Barnaby is a minder or caregiver to Wally
Since wally is canonically showing traits and is coded as autistic i think he was going through overstimulation and bit the apple to cope
The fact Sally mentions the comedia del arte characters... I wonder who best presents who
Julie gives me Columbia vibes for sure
I love the story that's unfolding with Welcome Home, but man am I obsessed with the art as well. I really feel like this is an actual thing that had existed!! Don't even get me started on the voice acting and character dynamics.
Late to the party, but... I've been thinking that maybe the show "Welcome Home" never actually existed in-universe. Between the exhibit not finding a single person who remembers it and the WHRP being somewhat obsessed with proving it was real and sharing it, it strains credibility that such a successful property could be so completely lost and forgotten. Perhaps it never actually existed, but something out there wants people to think it did, and is producing concept art and merchandise and so on to convince people. Sally's story gives a potential reason for such trickery: there's something out there that feeds on neighbors, and as it says on the What's Welcome Home page, "The viewer was often regarded as an additional neighbor". I don't know how it'd tie into everything else, but I keep getting the feeling that something wants us to believe in Welcome Home, something that can only get out once the audience lets it become real.
(Of course, if the show did exists and its viewers were neighbors, and there's something out there that *eats* neighbors, that suggests a different reason why no one alive seems to remember the show...)
congratulations to my boy wally for finally beating the villain allegations (for the time being at least)
The memory in this one honestly reminded me a lot of when I get overstimulated and then dissociate.
Also! I thought it was very Interesting how Sally calls everyone by their assumed full first name, but only calls Eddie "(The) Mailman"
extra peak because Eddie seems like he's actually pretty well-read and thoughtful, but Sally just doesn't give AF
I laughed out loud when I caught Wally's monotone scream at the end of Sally's story 😆
Welcome Home is so special.
Also NightMind declaring Wally's innocence is incredible!
It honestly looked like Wally experienced some sensory overload there.
That's also what I thought
Tbh, I thought about the same thing.
Bro Wally's moment at the party is so autism coded. Like the music and all the people talking making him freak out is exactly what I go through. Its very well done.
All the information suggests that WH is taking place in the 70's, not long after we started transitioning from asylums and sanitoriums to mental health institutes and treating MH as a medical condition instead of the terrata known throughout history. With all the evidence pointing to Wally as autistic, I think there's a possibility that the malicious force could represent the 'differentness' and terrata mindset. All the merchandise found has to be cleaned and polished, but not all of it gets removed, and it ultimately shut the project down. Kind of like Autism Speaks, where they capitalize on the asylum mentality and it's just a disease that needs to be cured, rather than something like Autism Self-Advocacy Network that seeks to include the Neurospicy, like what WH tries to do with Wally.
With the update about Julie and Frank's relationship, I've already seen a handful of people getting mad at Clown which was something I've been worried about for a while. If you know, you know.
People have headcanon ships and get mad when they're wrong. This is why I generally don't get into it online with other people.
Fujoshis will always fujoshi...
what is the relationship?
What’s their relationship?? I haven’t really been keeping up with welcome home
People who get mad about ships being made canon, that it apparently "ruined their ship" whether it be the ship itself or something else, are funny to me. The author could tell me it would never happen in canon and I wouldn't care lol.
If we're going with the idea that Wally bit into the Apple when he blinked (video went dark and distorted) I wonder if there's a biblical symbol involved.
Not saying that this is a full on garden of Eden situation (though the neighborhood is a place that was made by a creator, designed as an idealised version of something they know from reality - the characters potentially also based on real people and/or themselves), but symbolically the apple in that story represents both temptation and knowledge.
If Wally is being targeted by a malevolent entity there's the possibility that there's a desire on his part for a type of social/emotional connection that his autism makes challenging.
If you spent your whole life feeling like an outsider looking in and then something approached you, seemed to really 'get' you, offered you the ability to really understand the people around you and to be understood, to be seen and to be able to truly see others, that would be appealing, wouldn't it?
I think it's a bit early to really say how this 'deal with the devil' would function, but if the black substance is a fungus then it's possible that it's part of an enormous interconnected network, essentially one big organism with many bodies acting as one hive mind.
Purely speculative on my part, but it's a potentially interesting way to read some of the material we've seen so far.
EDIT: I also note that the black substance has been largely found on commercial merchandise aimed at children - could the apple also parallel the deal with the television network that had to be struck in order to get the series produced? Did the original vision behind the series get lost as the network pushed to make the show more marketable, and by extension profitable?
Just a thought I had, we'll have to wait and see if the bad guy actually turns out to be capitalism.
While listening to Sally’s story in the happy haunting audiobook, my browser glitched out and I couldn’t pause it. I legitimately thought that Clown had done some insane technical work to make it so it would line up and play uninterrupted. I was scared shitless, both from the story and the belief that I couldn’t stop it. It was a glitch, and I could pause it after playing it back… but what if it wasn’t?
I think the apple scene was Wally eating the apple. Since a while back the creator had said that Wally canonically eats with his eyes. But I still do think that the entity in the woods is eventually, or has, gotten into one of the neighbor's houses, project, or website.
I was listening to an album of 30's and 40's Halloween music with my mom while making Halloween decorations and she seemed to recognize one of the songs, reminisced about the Halloween events her old school had, and the costumes she wore, which were much like the Wally costume featured in this update, if not cheaper looking, so I was happy to see that such close attention is being paid to historical accuracy for this project.
Someone on here mentioned the antagonist could be some kind of parasitic bug, and I was actually just wondering if maybe the entire series is a metaphor for depression or chronic illness, presented as an “infection” inside Wally spreading and corrupting the entirety of the show and cast and crew in the real world. These videos from Wally’s POV seem to contrast his behavior in all other official media where he’s more social and happy, in these videos he’s nearly or completely silent and doesn’t socialize or really even seem to move. It’s like he’s sitting at the table dissociating while everyone else is having fun at the party, and Barnaby is the only one who seems to notice and checks in on him. The “bug” could be draining Wally like a chronic illness does, and he has good days and bad days, until eventually it managed to get powerful enough to infect and consume the neighbors and hop dimensions into our reality where it destroyed nearly all proof that the show even existed - and that’s why the objects the restoration team receive are covered in gunk that makes you sick.
i really really like this theory
This theory actually does make sense.
Loved how Barry's audio changes sides when he comes over to Wally. Fascinating attention to detail.
I finally got a moment to listen to this 20 min short and by far it is the best writing yet.
Besides the mystery of the town. I get the impression that no one actually enjoys each others company in the neighborhood- besides the cliques there is a feeling that everyone is just annoyed at one another.
Like with Sally, she is so focused on the fact that she is not dressed up as a clown, but when Eddie actually acknowledges her costume and compliments it, she brushes him off…also Sally doesn’t call Eddie by his name, she just calls him Mail Man
Yeah I got that vibe too. Julie and Poppy seem to be the most friendly, but everyone else aside from Wally has their own little group they stick to. Especially Sally. I didn’t expect her to be so stuck up and snooty. She’s definitely my least favorite character in the arg because of it.
Again, as a voice actor (and lover of all things spooktacular), this is literally my favorite AR horror series on the internet. You can see and hear the love oozing out of every pore of this delightfully malignant passion project. The art, the ideas, each detail, to the point you can easily see the expressions of the characters with each line, it's breathtaking. I will never stop thanking Clown and the cast for this icon of indie development, or Nick for sharing it with us. Thank you.
Every time we have another Welcome Home update, the sadder I feel that its not a real franchise. I need this show in my life.
IDK if anyone else caught on it but after the vinyl's sound corrupted and stopped, Sally's voice became MUCH more clear, as if she was talking not through a recording, but directly - the audio was pristine until it corrupted again too
i half wonder if clown originally wanted wally to be a villain but became attached to him/identified with him and adapted the course of the story from the original idea. happens all the time to writers and creators and if so i love the outcome and layers its created. whatever the case i'm obsessed with this project. wave down low.
There might be merit to that - old art of Wally shows him in a much more sinister light, and I know Clown has been working on WH for years
I think Clown said a while ago that one of the major changes to WH as he was refining it was Wally himself so that tracks 100%
I wonder if the visitor is a real monster, some kind of transformation Wally goes through at night or their interpretation of the staff cleaning up after filming an episode. I can't help but think the story if the visitor at night is going to play a part in what happened and future updates, but I might be overthinking it.
Great timing with this! I've been too sick with Covid to notice or care about anything when this update must've first come out and I wouldn't have been well enough by the time the Halloween theme would be over to notice in time!
I think maybe Wally told his story, and Sally told a tall tale.
Remember how they mentioned that the show only ever took place during the day? Yeah, that makes a lot more sense now that we know about this night creature
19:55 Barnaby (I believe that's how his name is spelled) says Wally's name without the recording ending, which was a common theme in the last big update. The recording *does* end the second time he says Wally's name, though. which makes me wonder about what exactly causes the 'memories' to end there.
Barnaby was standing with Sally, Poppy and the others and talking. Wally was standing by the treat table "watching" Barnaby's apple and zoning out most likely from over stimulation. When Barnaby mentions Wally he's speaking to the others he's standing with. The feed didn't end most likely because Wally was zoned out and didn't register his name was said. The reason the feed cuts when his name is mentioned a second time is because Barnaby is now directly interacting with Wally which snaps him out of his zone out.
Something I took notice of that I haven't seen anyone mention is a possible blink and you miss it with the pictures of the Wally Halloween costume. In the third photo the mask is positioned in a way that makes one of his eyeholes half blue and half red. If this was intentional, does this imply something like possession or a Jekyll/Hyde situation with him?
I wonder if the ominous sound that Sally heard was the audio of Wally's voice from the Its In Here link. One thing that I noticed about some of Wally's audio is that it is sometimes distorted (theres almost a deep, growling tone to some of it), and that Wally's voice sometimes speaks in olde English (ex: instead of saying "every time you look into my eyes" it sounds like he says "every time you look into *mine* eyes". We've also heard Wally sing some olde english in the song Beautiful Dreamer). My guess is one of several theories linking this:
1. Wally has become a vector of possession by a force from the woods/outsode world; something very old and remenecent of what out reality would describe as "a devil". Something that appears to be driven by maddness, and is very predetory and destructive.
2. OR Home has become the vector of possession, and that possesion is slowly leaking into Wally, and Wally's world just as Nick described.
Regardless of who is the initial vector, it might be using Wally, or Home, or both to target Wally's Neighbors, using Wally's voice as a lewer to get people to leave their homes at night and open their doors to welcome Home inside ("Let me in").
3. Its possible due to the horror art Clown left at the gallery that what ever is stalking the woods at night in the world of welcome home... might include the voice actors and puppeteers. Theres an image of what appears to be a ragged silhouette of a woman behind Julie in a flower field, and the woman is limply carrying a hammer (possibly a stage hand tool) dripping with black mold.
4. Im left with a bit of a question: what this force is, why is it doing this? Why does it want to spread through Wally's world and into ours? Clearly it wants to be seen, and it wants to control, but whenever it tries to spread, it causes its victims to destroy whatever gateway allows it in. So what's its motive? My guess is that its doing so on purpose. I wonder if maybe its using worlds to destroy each other. But why?
P.S....0:07 Nick...? Are you you ok???
i love how barnaby almost seems like wally’s caretaker? almost a paternal figure? someone who feels the need to protect and guide wally, it’s a very interesting dynamic.
Some people headcanon him as Wally’s service dog
Posting as soon as I see it--a blue pumpkin is a symbol for "allergy-friendly treats here," as I recall! Maybe you find out as the video goes along.
Teal is the color for allergy friendly treats. Blue is for autism. The blue pumpkin means an autistic person lives there and Wally is canonicaly autistic so that makes sense.
The blue is also kinda problematic because it's associated with Autism Speaks, which is a whole can of worms. Although I'm sure Clown didn't know that.
@@titandawnstar2819You aren't going to notice a beige trick or treat bag like a blue or teal one. Just because Speaks are awful doesn't mean blue is off the table for Awerenss and Accommodation, right?
@@ArchieRatsworth it's highly debated by the community but I think the blue is generally disliked by the community to its association with Autism Speaks. At least that's the vibe I've picked up from the parts of the community I frequent. The blue pumpkin specifically comes with the connotation of "othering" Autism. If you couldn't tell I am autistic, if that means anything.
I would frikken love for blue to be the symbol for autism, but for that to happen properly autism speaks would probably need to be completely dismantled and publicly flayed (verballyor literally, I'm not picky)
I’m surprised that only one other person mentioned the curious nature of Sally dressed as Pedrolino. I’m not well versed in the character or commedia dell’arte but I think it matches her or her role in all of this. Not only to keep the story moving but the multifaceted nature of Sally we have yet to see. There’s definitely more to her and what she knows on the surface. I think it’s interesting how most of the characters disregard her costume and it’s importance except for Eddie. Kinda like how Pedrolino would be perceived in a particular act/skit. Sally is known for her outlandishness but it seems to overshadow when she’s serious. Which is the other side to such a character but I could be wrong.
Theory; home’s going to burn down at some point. Seems like a fitting end for a character that’s literally house who just so happens to be dressed as a witch
I think the thing that makes Welcome Home work better for me than other "this kids' show is haunted" type stuff is that the characters and writing and performances are all genuinely charming when it's not scary
i was so interested in the characters having a good time where it starterd scratching on "searching for" i got scared and forgot it was a horror project
If your guess is right and Wally's possessed by whatever lurks in the woods, then I have a theory. Not sure if you mentioned this in your other videos but they were the live streams and those are long...
I think, based on the audio files from when the site first launched, Wally's been trapped in his house by the other neighbors. The "neighbor" link has a lot of scratching and banging. There's also a picture of Wally looking into Home's window eye. What if he's trying to look out, not in? After all, if you're in your house, you look outside the windows. Still, we're missing pieces as to how and why this happened. If your hunch is right, then that's the "why" but what would be an incident so big to make the neighbors lock Wally in like that?
I think... One of the neighbors is going to end up missing, and that might happen in a future update. As to who? I'm betting Sally. There's stuff about her that seems to contradict the setting. She's a sun, but what's with the half-moon theme to her house? External media says leads us to believe there's no night, but inside the world, night exist.
Besides that, looking on the site there's this question as to why no one remembers this. I think I know what it is - I think in-universe that this was being planned for a big release, but as soon as it was obvious that things were devolving into the danger zone, the team behind this starting destroying everything they could. If the puppet universe is real, it could be that some of this stuff might be coming from it or even Wally directly. Whatever force is manipulating him, it's obviously trying to get more victims. That last couple things are a stretch, but I think this being a canceled media project makes sense.
If you go to “So below” there is a drawing of a swirl. If you click on it, instead of Wally talking, it’s Home.
If you look at the little pixel art gif of the Welcome Home characters, there are hearts separating the characters from each other.
All except for Wally and Home.
While I'm pretty confident that Wally is being controlled by some sort of entity, I'm not sure about Home themselves. On one hand, they could be a victim, to this mysterious entity, just like the other neighbors. The art with the darkness coming from their eyes hint at this. But on the other hand, the darkness seems to surround home. This is hinted at when you open the Welcome home page on mobile and see a dark circle right where home should be and the darkness coming from the doormat. Not to mention the dark image you see when you click it. I'm excited to see what the next update will bring and what people will come up with. :>
... Hmm.
I'm still not entirely counting Wally out - though the whole deal of him being influenced does seem solid.
What I'm still caught up on is how Wally is *literally described* as "eating with his eyes". So... Here, in that memory, he has something of a disassociative episode... And with nothing but his glare, seemingly bites a chunk out of Barnaby's apple.
Again, I'd like to point out how *prominent* eyes are in all this. Wally talks about drawing them, how he can see through them... Each of the bugs has his eye motif in some way, the background repeating art on the web page has hidden eyes - hell, zooming out enough reveals a pair of his eyes staring at you from behind everything.
Wally "eats with his eyes", and he's *constantly* looking at *us.* At the exhibition runners, too. Maybe even moreso them than us, the viewers.
*Are we being "eaten"? Is that what causes the horrible long-term effects of exposure?*
I don't think he's having a dissassaciative episode--I think he, as a very autistic person, is OVERSTIMMED. The bite calmed him down. I think Wally being evil is a red herring and plays into the themes of ableism at play, something Clown is on record somewhere saying will be a theme. So I think suspecting him, while intended, is meant to play into "he doesn't act right, so he's evil" while being incorrect and meant to make us reflect on how we treat people who BEHAVE different.
Ooh!
I really like that theory! I definitely can see this as an overstimulation episode. I’m so interested to see how they’ll play with this theme of ableism as well as the actual antagonistic forces (the “mold” and such) @@AnakhaSilver
@@AnakhaSilver Yeah, very apt as well. Fact still remains that as of now, he *is* being portrayed for a potential threat - even if the sympathetic side is still there about it.
My point is that either he's aligned with, or is used by, something clearly malevolent. The specifics aren't yet clear, but eyes are being shown as a major motif in all this.
If there are ablism themes here, I wonder if the black paint/mold is stigma or some kind of erasure metaphor. Did it say that the show was canceled? Pulled off the air? Portraying those who are different or "weird" could certainly have produced fear and even anger from folks who don't understand people who are different.
It was the 70s! Non-white skin color, disabilities, and other "different" things being shown on TV was considered "radical", wasn't it?
Maybe Wally just wants to be included, despite being "not like the others." He wants to be let in. But to people who don't understand, or don't *care* to understand.. it just looks scary.
Wally is a puppet of home, the thing in the forrest attacks anyone outside, home is a house....
So, as home cant go inside itself the thing grabs it, it then uses Home to puppet Wally during the day. Why? We dont know but it dosent seem to be overly aggresive, more curious and detached.
It could be that the entity has gotten stuck in this dimension somehow and is attempting to leave, like a dangerous animal that wandered into a house.
What has some interesting implications to me with Sally's story is that there is onr neighbor who is technically outside every night--Home, as a literal home--cannot go inside. So even if whatever it is cant actually get into Home, they are still vulnerable to other attacks and damage. Possibly why they are surrounded by all the dark residue? And the more it pools, the more Wally is susceptible to it each time he leaves Home in the morning.
And as a side note, I feel really bad for how much the neighbors seem to pick on/look down on Eddie.
There he is. Passionate, interested, absorbed, enigmatic, informative, insightful Nick Nocturne. I don't know if your plan for rest and relaxation has started showing results, or the material itself was just that compelling to you but this is Nick Nocturne. This is Night Mind. You still got it Nick. Never doubt yourself. You got what it takes. Get some rest. As much as you need to keep healthy. We will be here, waiting when you got your best in you.
seconded! i couldn’t have said it better, i was thinking the exact same thing!
As someone who is hard of hearing, your analysis of Welcome Home has been invaluable to me. I'm reliant on the transcripts to properly hear what the characters are saying, so when something is left out by artistic choice, it's difficult for me to understand it (and even the transcripts that do exist aren't perfect for the bug videos and hidden audio).
My theory is that Home is an eldritch entity, living through Wally, ensuring that everything remains as it is. Home, and by extension, whatever is coming through it, needs to be remembered in order to exist. Welcome Home was lost once, but never again. That is what Wally means when he says "Let me In".
Q
I feel like home's eye on the "Happy Hauntings Boos to You" record cover art can be seen as it slanting upward, like it's scared along with everyone else, or it's slanting downwards, and it's angry at Sally because it suspects she knows something isn't right.
Just realized, in one of the video logs at Howdy's ice cream shop, we hear a door bell ringin twice to indicate someone comin in and out. Yet Howdy never greeted them. Could that have been the entity?
Something that I think is interesting about the apple scene compared to the book- I personally see Wally's behavior as someone who is autistic. I'm autistic and relate to a lot of how he behaves. From what I can tell of the snippets of audio in this video from the storybook, Wally's getting gradually more and more overstimulated, only to result in some sort of meltdown during the video segment with the apple. Autistic traits tend to come out more when someone is overstimulated, and become impossible to hide once someone is too overstimulated. Overstimulation can result from both internal and external factors, and it looks to me like Wally's eating an apple to try and deal with some of the overstimulation. It's been confirmed by Clown that Wally eats with his eyes. I know from my experience I found a lot of comfort in food whenever things became too overwhelming so this makes sense to me. I think Wally is being taken advantage of by whatever malevolent force is taking over Welcome Home, and the malevolent force is using his autistic traits against him to do it.
I definitely see Wally as autistic as well (so am I). And of course there's the blue pumpkin in front of Wally's home. Although I don't think Clown is aware of how problematic that is. (Autism Speaks being a horrible organization)
But yeah! Clown has autism. This has pretty obviously been inspired by that from the start.
@@Emma88178The blue pumpkin could also be a representation of how organizations like Autism Speaks had a concerning amount of influence back in the day, and neurodivergent people were misunderstood and mistreated by the people around them. Something like the blue pumpkin would most certainly have been done in the 1960s, to signal out those who are different
I think its adorable that they sometimes sing to each other over the phone before bed
This reminds me, saw a stellar Wally Darling cosplay at a furrycon I was at recently, I never expected this series to spread so fast.
NEW UPDATE! The main page says "WRITE HELLO" and in the sticker page it says "WRITE OK". I just haven't figured out were to write those things on the website
and on the exhibition page says something about turning it upside down!! not sure if thats new or how to do that haha
Since then, those have been responded to by the site entity
@Nakia11798 yeah it changed after new years
i still wanna know why sally disrespects eddie so much. (for example, she only calls him ‘the mailman’ whereas with everyone else, she tends to give them lengthened and often incorrect versions of their names-franklin, juliet etc.) why him? does she just not like him? and now that i think about it he tends to be the butt of a lot of jokes as well. why?
eddie is my favorite character, so maybe i’m just biased, but i was wondering if any of you guys noticed that too. i wonder if there’s an actual reason behind it or if it’s just his character.
pretty sure she looks down on him cuz he's a country boy. she probably thinks he's dumb and uneducated (which is quite rude of her) cuz of that.
This might be a stretch, but I think Sally might be kind of misaundry/sexist, as in she finds typical "masculine men" intimidating and discriminates against them.
Eddie is a humble reliable mailman who presents impressive strength with his carrying packages, and Sally wants to show him up by determining her strength when she sees he can lift certain neighbors. Sally wants to be the dominant one.
Notice how she also likes to dress in men roles?
22:40 I wanna make note, what took a bite of the apple is likely Wally. Wally eats via his eyes, by simply staring at objects that he wants to eat.
I remembered Clown mentioning that Wally eats with his eyes and such, BUT I NEVER REALIZED THE APPLE GOT BITTEN IN THE LIVE VIDEO THING. IT MAKES SENSE THAT IT WOULD BE WALLY, AND IT'S INCREDIBLY INTERESTING TO GET A PEEK INTO WHAT POTENTIALLY IS WHAT WALLY SEES OR EXPERIENCES WHILE EATING, BUT WHAAAAAAAAAAT I AM BLIND MAN
Actually Wally eats with his eyes. That’s what we were seeing from his prospective, that’s Wally my guy. Not saying he’s evil or fully the antagonist or anything, but he’s definitely got some power. Personally I do like to think Wally is scratching on the pavement and shit LMAO that’s just a funny ass thought 😭 like a little feral animal, oh my god, I’m dying
Happy Halloween! I was wondering if we'd hear from you, neighbor! A delightful listen as always. I'm so glad you loved the costume- a friend of mine made that and I was cracking up over that perfect 1970s Flimsy Plastic look it has.
as someone with autism seeing a character who has autism (wally to my knowledge) accurately portrayed is so nice.
i'm starting to worry if i've been infected by the black mold too lmao. i can't get enough of this project, there's so much love and passion behind it and that amazes me! i can't wait to see more and i wish clown all the best on this!
I still think Home is the primary vector for The Rot. Maybe it was the originator or just the first infected but either way, I think “Welcome Home” is not a greeting, it’s a COMMAND. You will welcome home into your home, into your heart, into your body and soul. That’s what It wants.
Welcome back to another episode of “NightMind tries to hide his involvement in yet another internet masterpiece”
10:14 HOLY SHIT THE NARRATOR IS VOICED BY HOLLY OMG WTF THATS SO COOL
thats what i think too from hearing her voice! good to know im not alone on this
I can't be the only one who heard Wally say "I don't get it" at 12:57.
I don't think you understand how much I needed a new NightMind video after the day I had
Are you okay? Hope this acts as good self care
I find it interesting that the Wally costume in the merch is another one of the rare instances of his eyes being upside down. His usual depiction has the outside points angled down, while the inside is angled up. The mask, along with a couple of the more sinister images of Wally ("voywex" page, the "Look, I made a dog!" picture, the "Contained!!!" and "Us!" images from Clown's tumblr) has them inverted: inner points are down and outer points are up.
That last story was epically done! Totally gave me the shivers!
My childhood just flashed before my eyes. Plastic masks and outfits. Still have the mask from my Big Bird costume actually
I love how. Houses like home would use decorations as a Halloween costume
Nick, I agree with other commenters. It wasn't malevolent entity through Wally, it was Wally having an anxiety attack / getting overstimulated and eating to calm himself.
This has been such a great ARG and it’s still just in its early stages. Can’t wait to see more!
“Oh, that must’ve been me” FUCKING MOOD 😭😭😭 I love Barnaby
Wait a fucking minute, did anyone else notice that when the story was being told the audio stopped sounding staticy
“Oops, that might have been me, it was time for my bedtime snack” 😂 I’m sorry but this was really funny to me considering that they are technically “adults” but it’s still a kids show
Never expected to hear Holly (hollow_tones on twitch or what most people probably know her as Dr Coomer in HLVRAI) in this project, but I'm so happy to see her in this! I've been listening to her reading Dracula, so she was the perfect choice for the narrator in this!
i knew i recognized that voice! oh wow, i love seeing the things i enjoy melding together like that
OMG I KNEW IT! always glad to see voice actors i recognize in other media i like :)
I know her from sonic dubs
I saw her announce it on her discord and got so happy!!!!! I love seeing her in a project like this, she’s so talented and deserves to be recognized!!!
Hello, Gordon!
Maybe there are no voice actors or puppeteers, because it was never really a show. At least not a show intentionally made by (real) people. Maybe it was only seen by some people as some "leak" from the Welcome Home reality, just like the videos on the website and some of the physical material.
idk but something in me adores wally saying "i dont get it ha ha ha" to a very obvious joke
autistic king fr💪💪
I love love LOVE the use of cutting to perfectly clean audio without any music or static in Sally's story, it's such a subtle way to induce fear it's perfect!
I kid you not, I thought today as I was driving, "I hope a new Night Mind comes out soon." And so it is! And it's about my favorite currently running project! :D
Thank you for your hard work!