no ok @funonion001 you've made me So fucking unwell over this it needs its own post
bc i also used to be like "ah, the neighborhood's a panopticon and Home is the 'warden'" but recent updates & general things ive read changed my outlook entirely. cause like... if Home (the town) was a panopticon, then Home (the house) should be at the 'head' of it all, where they can view everything. but Home can't view everything directly - half the buildings are behind it.
however. i don't think the panopticon thing is entirely wrong, either. there's some truth in it? i'm pretty sure that the neighborhood is Home. it's like Home is the brain/eyes/heart, and everything else are nerve endings. there's this one piece of livestream trivia that i think of, in relation to Housewarming: "...everyone believes their houses are alive in their own special way". what if this is kind of literal? all of the buildings are extensions of Home, or Home is just the core of it all. one big living, breathing neighborhood. Home might not be able to see it all, but he might be able to feel it
and then yeah from the more abstract side of things - your phrasing of "all the other houses circle home" made me put my head in my hands. because there Are a lot of conclusions/interpretations of all of that. also that sentence makes me picture a pack of wolves circling in on a kill, which is. hng.
Home is caged in. Home is surrounded. Home is always being watched. Home is never not alone. everything leads back Home. Home is holding it all together.
and like... it reminds me of Clown once mentioning (loosely, im going off of memory here whose reliability is tenuous on a good day) that part of WH's story relates to the autistic experience / when does a home become a house / will your neighbors treat you differently once they see the authentic you. and that, at least to me and one of my experiences, relates to a feeling of being watched/judged every time i leave my house. or even when i'm by an open window - everywhere i can be Seen, it feels like everyone is keeping one eye on me. existing in public spaces feels like a performance. i'm hyper aware of every single movement i make and it makes me feel so inauthentic and fake and alien and its So So stressful/uncomfortable.
so that pov + Home (and by extension, Wally since they're kinda one in the same) = well! all of the above! can Wally ever relax outside of Home's four walls? they're all looking at him. the entire neighborhood surrounds him - he can't go anywhere without running into them (the buildings and the neighbors). there's no escaping their watch and/or judgement. it's as if Wally and Home are under constant surveillance, or at least it feels like it - which is half the problem. or it's the entire problem? the fear of possibility, not reality.
and then for a different (but also connected for obvi reasons) interpretation - Home and Wally are alone. they are Singular in the neighborhood. everyone else is next to each other, even the stores are paired. but Home stands alone in the middle of it all. which directly relates to Wally and Home being aware - and also together in whatever state the neighborhood is in at the time of the whrp's creation. in a town of neighbors, Home & Wally have none. and that can connect them being at the center of it all, holding their world together - or breaking it apart
also: on the neighborhood map, the path only ends at Home. it's a loop except for the bit leading up to Home's doorstep. where Howdy's Place & Eddie's Post Office are the path widens into one huge circle with no end. Walk the circuit, end up at Home. walk the entire perimeter, and you go nowhere. there isn't a path out, the path doesn't end at any of the buildings except Home. there's something in that, i think.
there's more in my brain but i can't quite reach it...
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quite literally every detail i could find on my own on the welcome home website that isnt explicitly related to any of the arg elements
keep in mind im on mobile, which we know causes some things to shift around, so if anyone who has access to a computer wants to add or correct anything, be my guest
- on the GIF of Frank's head rotating on the About Us page, there are these books that seem to say "HELLO. Its You Know Who?...... I'm Your Neighbor. Do you talk about me? You do. I see you." The red book at the bottom does not seem to have any legible text on it.
-In the about page, the question of what the owners favorite puppet is is as follows: "Everyone on our team has their favorite, but if you ask me, mine is Wally Darling! He is the most, as he would say." this implies that "__ is the most" or something similar is a catchphrase of sorts for Wally, which provides content for the "That's the most." image of him on Clown's website.
-as a lot of us know, the text in response to the "Why did you make this website?" question on the about page has some obscured text. if anyone wanted to know what was under this text, the passage is as follows:
"I hoped this website would grab the attention of someone who has seen this show before and could tell us about it. If this wasn't possible, then we wanted to be the first to showcase this lost piece of media to help spur on the search for its existence. Many of our guest book signatures have talked about seeing this show before, so this is a good sign. It mean it is inside of you too, then. Does it hurt?"
its worth noting that while the "it means it is inside of you" isnt hidden, the "does it hurt?" only shows up if you highlight the passage. also means is misspelled on the site but clown is 1 person doing all of this so dont be mean about it lol
-there is actually a good bit of hidden text in the about page. at the end of the "how many episodes are there?" portion, it reads "The numbers are so hard to read. Sometimes I can’t see them." and at the end of the "how did you begin your research into welcome home?" one, it reads "We are thankful to be the first to jump start this journey! But it hurts."
-on the first piece of restored and recovered materials, the newspaper clipping has some small text at the bottom. the most interesting thing to me is that wally comes with the Home playset
-in this drawing, you can see a painting of spirals (which we know wally loves to draw..) in the background, at Julies feet.
-this page has text on the side! while the majority of it is seemingly indescipherable (codebreakers please look at this), the bottom part does spell "Hello you," with a W at the end. almost like a signature. theres also a backwards "wait" in there but im not sure if that was intentional.
also, speaking of odd text, the way that "lovely eat" is spelled here feels off too.
-wallys hand (presumably) is present in this shot of a book page (which like. side note. who the hell is speaking in this. why does wallys response make no sense. wtf is up w that). similarly, on the page of wally reading a book and barnaby asking about it, the book wallys reading portrays the exact same scene currently taking place. somethings going on with wally and books! (theres also a weird layering effect with the text in the latter scene, and its worth noting that when barnaby asks if hes started reading books now, wally sas "no, just the one." maybe these are the same book??)
-on the links page, the banner that cycles thorough all the characters seems to linger on wallys for a moment longer.
-a lot of the content involving home and wally (particularly when hes staring right at you...) has home staring at Wally (i.e. the front page, the "There he is!" image) but it seems like home doesnt do the same for the other characters. pretty intriguing when you remember the "so below" page......
-also, ronald dorelaine is mentioned as the potential creator of the show. i just wanna point out that "dorelaine" sounds sort of similar to "darling," like its a bastardized form of the same word.
-the restored page displayed in the about section actually has text on it! it seems to say that Julie has two sisters and one brother, and it seems to imply that her family only consists of these siblings. theres more info about this in the news portion of the page, though. there is also a gloved hand, which i initially mistook for felt.
also, notice that the image has been destroyed primarily with paint, and with primary colors no less. i mean.. wally IS a painter, and his own colors seem to derive from the primaries, so i wonder if this implies that its him trying to destroy things? and if so, whos trying to bring them back? my moneys on eddie, since the about page says theyve been receiving materials in "brightly colored envelopes"
-Home seems to be in the windowsill of eddies post office.
-the file name for the front page image depicting wally is titled HELLO_edited.png, which might be another instance of wally reaching out to us through the file names.
-theres a counter at the bottom of the front page, too, which all the characters are looking at. if anyone can figure out wtf that means itd be appreciated. ((edit: its a view counter. <3))
ok thats all back into my pit i think <3
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This is beautiful, @islandcityradio. Ace Wally for everyone’s viewing pleasure :)
Look at that happy lil face. Happy pride month, everyone :)
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