♤hey! M oogie, boo for boogie- I'm a silly queer guy who has several hyperfixation and is diabolically excited abt em all- feel free to roam my mischievous empire♤
BACK TO ACTION WE ARE!! THE BROKEN BRICK ROAD PROJECT IS UP AGAIN
Some character training for izak + a very silly doodle panel☆☆
I'm finally picking up my project once again and working on it- this time I do have experience on comic and more resilience to do it! Hopefully it won't take too long to finish the designing and for the coming to start being produced- I'm diabolically excited
Since I mentioned that I finally dusted off an old project of mine and was ruminating on how I'd remake it, I thought I'd elaborate a little, now that I've solidified some concepts. For funsies
This is gonna be a bit of a long and unfocused one, but I don't share my personal thoughts here often, especially the stuff about my projects I always marinate in. And for once it's something that people have existing context for, so hey why not
So for anyone who hasn't been following me for a gajillion years, The Black Brick Road of OZ was a webcomic that I posted around 2013-2015, back when I was in highschool going on college (which is kinda crazy to think about). It was sort of a darker twist on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, although I definitely leaned a lot more into dark humor more than anything in those first few chapters
I don't think it's available to read anywhere anymore, and I know people have been asking me about it. So here's the full proper archive of BBR, as full as it can be with deceased Flash
I totally used it as an excuse to shamelessly and self-indulgently experiment. It had interactive pages and GIFs and was wayyy too overproduced for what I could handle or what was necessary, but I did have great fun making it while it lasted
Unfortunately, that excess and the fact that I've changed too much as a person by the time I was in college is what ultimately killed it. The direction I wanted to go in was practically unrecognizable from the original idea started back in 2011, so there were many old hold-ups that I felt ruined it
At the time I kinda wished I could start/rewrite it all over, but considering that I pretty much had the entire script done at that point, it felt like a pointless sisyphean task. So I just put it on a shelf and didn't look back for about 8 years, because I didn't know what else to do
Now to be fair, the nature of my art has always been iterative and cyclical; when I feel like my creative juices have run dry I prefer to leave a project to marinate and move on to something else; cycle through other old things and bring in new skills and perspectives into the mix when I'm ready again. Not very productive, but it is what makes me happy to work on my OCs; I'm doomed to hit a wall with them eventually and I need some time to be able to find a new direction
So that said, I'm glad that BBR was left to marinate for that long. I don't think I was prepared, emotionally or intellectually, to tackle it again until now. The Wizard of Oz book (and the entire series of them, really) has always been near and dear to my heart, but there's a lot of context around it that I'm only unpacking now that I'm older
I think I always inherently feel negatively about the stuff I've made in the past, like its faults always jump out to me more than the positives, especially the more time passes. I've never liked that, and I do really appreciate the kind things people have to say about BBR to this day. The fact that it still can be recognized and remembered is very sweet
When I left it, I already found it "kinda cringe", and that feeling only deepened with years. When I took my first look back at it, asking the question "how would I rewrite it now?", at first I took a very cynical approach, as in "everything would have to be torn down"
But the more I sat on it, the more I found that I still see some merit and charm in the ideas I was putting out; I just didn't know how to execute them at the time (not to pretend that I know what I'm doing now, but I certainly know more at least). Turns out a lot of my old concepts could be changed substantially with just a few small tweaks. So I'd say that's a nicer way to think about my previous work
If you haven't seen yet, I posted a first draft of my new designs for some of the characters (the main group, the Goods and the Wickeds). Definitely subject to change, but more or less how I see them now
I'm just playing with these concepts; by no means would I attempt to remake BBR right this moment. Call it a pipe dream among my other ones. But just for fun, this is the direction I'd like to take:
Nowadays I'd probably make it a visual novel, with more emphasis on the visual part than the novel because I'm no English prose writer by any means. It'd still let me play a little with the interactivity while helping cut some corners on the drawing part (only some, I imagine I'd go hog wild anyway)
I've always intended for some events inspired by the sequel books to take place in BBR's past. Stuff like Jinjur's revolt or Ozma's rule preceeds the main events here. So I think it would be fun to follow the past of a few key characters alongside the main story. One chapter focusing on the present quest to see the Wizard, then one focusing on the past events (that are maybe reflective thematically); rinse and repeat
I'm also sticking a little closer to the original text in some regards. Not everything that I enjoy from the books would be translated here, it's still just a very loose fantasy on the material; but I'd like to be closer in spirit at least
I like mature, wise and powerful Glinda, I like kind and vulnerable Tin Man, I like the Wizard being a pathetic yet loveable liar, so I'm sprinkling in more of that for example
I'd like to keep some whimsy, but make it more grounded and a bit more serious to be coherent in tone. I think the original TWWOOZ book was a more realistic fantasy in some ways, even for the standards of the time; I like its simple but vivid tactile descriptions and details like bringing attention that Dorothy needed to eat and sleep
I find it funny that Baum specifically was averse to making his books scary or unpleasant, finding that unnecessary for telling a compelling kids story, but they still can get pretty dark and disturbing, at least for our modern sensibilities. Let's just say that I intend to use the Evoldo and Chopfyt storylines for my purposes. In that way, I feel like a "darker" Wizard of Oz retelling can still mostly be tonally in line with the original and balance it with enough heart and occasional humor
I slowly grew to appreciate the quaint old-timey quality of the original series, as well. The first book is both timeless and very much a product of the 1900s. Originally I tried to give it a little modern or at least anachronistic spin, but it was moreso because it's what I knew best, so these days I'd rather intentionally lean into the time period. Still not fully historically accurate by any means, but at least directly acknowledging the influence
The events of the story span across 40 years of these characters' lives, so I'm drawing inspiration from the entire so-called La Belle Epoque: the time period around 1880s-1920s. Basically I'm cooking, and my soup is old Victorian fashion morphing into Edwardian fashion and slowly inching towards flappers
Some new Dolly outfits
Lots of crazy things, political changes and innovations were happening at the turn of the century, which I think is noted and reflected by Baum in the books as well; the character of Tik-Tok might not blow any minds now, but he was one of the first robot characters in literature at that point; and don't even get me started on Jinjur, etc. Plenty of really interesting stuff one could lightly ponder in an Oz adaptation these days
Aesthetically, art nouveau has always been a big artistic influence for me, and it'd definitely be its time to shine here. John R. Neill's illustrations of the Oz books often keep me company as well. Nouveau architecture in particular fits that fairytale whimsy extremely well imo
I'd allow myself a little bit of art deco here and there, but ultimately its intimidating geometrical splendor is an antithetical to the flowery nature of nouveau and I associate it with a completely different era. Definitely fitting some characters like my Wicked Witch of the West, but shouldn't be overused
One of my main problems with the original BBR was that eventually I lost track of what it was even about; and the original ending felt too mean and unfulfilling to be worth it. Now I'd like to stick to the theme of home and family as my main theme, but in a different, more bittersweet way than in the book
An interesting connection I made is that a lot of my aforementioned older key characters (the Witches, Jinjur, the Nome King, etc) all came from the same reformatory as kids, that's how they know each other. In my recent research I learned that in those reformatories it was usually frowned upon to release the children back to the families, which were seen as the original corrupting influence regardless of the circumstance. The reformatory did everything in its power to cut that connection and make itself the only family those wayward kids were supposed to know and love. That's an unexpected tie into the theme of home that I'd like to explore as well
So yeah that's the current state of it. I have a bunch of outfit concepts I'm slowly cooking, although I'm now sure whether I'd post them... But I do miss these funny guys, and I'm glad some people still do as well :)
Good evening, gentlemen, gentleladies, and gentlethems,
Or Good night
Or even good morning,
Whenever you are, I humbly come to you all with another theory.
This time, its our favorite morally questionable sentient house, Home!
So strap in, buckle up, cause I have STUFF TO SAY.
THIS WILL BE VERY LONG AND IT WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THE UPDATE!!
Alright, so to begin, what the HECK is going on with Home?
They are one of the most mysterious characters in Welcome Home, we don't know much if not anything at all. And what we do know... wellllll......
Yeah definitely not menacing at all.....
The only thing that we do know of Home is well… ^ This and the fact that it and Wally are sentient.
Ok, let’s backtrack. HOMES SENTIENT???
Yep! While it was implied in the first update that it was aware of us, this handy-dandy audio clip confirms that Home (like Wally) is aware of “You” (Whoever this “You” person may be. Either literally us or the Question Answerer).
Now, what exactly Home is saying is still up for debate. Some say that it’s “Help Me” while others say it’s “Hello”. (It’s incredibly hard to know what’s exactly dots and dashes with Homes banging) but one thing is for sure, Home is communicating with us.
“AHHHH HOW SCARY! THE CREEPY DEMON HOUSE IS GONNA KILL US” D:
And that’s where you’re wrong, dear viewer. While Home is clearly morally dubious and incredibly suspicious, like Wally, I don’t think it’s necessarily evil.
Take for instance this link right here. It’s an honestly cute lil audio of Wally singing to Home. But while that is adorable, it’s the ending that I really wanna focus on.
Wally: …Do you like it?
Home: *Creaks* (it’s Morse code again! Spells out IDO)
Wally: Thats good… I think…
Ok why did I bring this old little clip up? Oh ya know… no reason… OTHER THAN THE FACT THAT WALLY CAN’T UNDERSTAND HOME ANYMORE!!!
Ok, I know whatcha thinkin’ “Why not anymore?”
Take a listen at another audio clip, this time it’s a secret one!!
The clip is about Barnaby and Home having a conversation with one another! But if you listen real closely… Home is not speaking in Morse code! It’s their own lil Home language, still consisting of creaks and bangs… yet Barnaby doesn’t seem to have any trouble understanding Home.
So how come Wally can’t understand Home and yet Barnaby can?
It’s because Wally’s sentient now. He’s getting more real. More human. Cartoon logic does not apply to Wally anymore! To us, Home is speaking in gibberish! Since it’s gibberish to us, then it’s gibberish to Wally!
And Home knows that, so it does the next best thing and tries using another language to hopefully communicate better. Now that I’m listening to the first audio clip again (so-below), it makes sense why Home is “speaking” slowly. It’s not used to communicating that way. It’s hard to tell their dots from their dashes, their bangs from their creaks, and it’s pauses are sometimes too long and too short at the same time! In a weird way, Home kinda has an accent when speaking in Morse code.
It’s kinda sweet just how hard Home is trying to communicate with Wally and us. Makes ya forget that Home has a weird portal and a flesh heart inside of them.
“WAIT WHAT?!?” (<- That’s you)
Yeah, remember when I said the more sentient something gets the more “real” they get?
Yeah, it’s also been happening with Home too. Go on any doodle audio file, and you can hear assumably Home’s heart beating away. You can hear it very clearly in this audio right here! I doubt the Playfellow Workshop made Home with a literal BEATING heart, but hey, Home is where the heart is I guess…
And now, the portal thing.
“Since when did Welcome Home ever had a portal??”
Oh since the very beginning actually!
First updated “portal” picture
Many people (including yours truly) theorized that this swirly spiral was a portal to the real world. It seems that we have more evidence to support this theory too!
First updated portal (shown left) and second updated portal (shown right)
Hey…. Wait a second…. Is it just me or it the portal getting…. Bigger?
The first update it was small, even the black goo wasn’t as bad… on the second picture, the spiral is INCREDIBLY large, and now the goo is coating the trees.
Well, isn’t that ominous.
"But wait. If Home has a portal... where is this portal even going?"
Both portals have the same black goo surrounding it, the same white eye in the center and the same swirl.
It's going to the Restoration team. And look at where the portal is placed. It's on the ceiling.
"As above"
and the one in Welcome Home is "So below"
So perhaps the portal in Home is on the floor... This CANNOT be a coincidence I swear!!
With weird goo covering everything.
And like, thats not all!
If you compare the items that the Restoration team uploaded onto the site in the first update and on the second update, you'll notice that the items have grown significantly larger.
At first, it was just envelopes with paper crammed inside of it. As if the person was trying to cram in as much information as possible. It isn't neat.
About us page: All of the paper materials tucked away inside the envelopes we have received are usually crammed together and covered in paint and ink.
Now, in the second update, the items have grown larger.
These items are much larger than mail, and I believe it also has something to do with how much bigger the portal has gotten.
Pretty soon, we might have full-grown puppets jumping in.
But now that begs the question... Why is Home doing this?
Well, I think it's because Home really wants to help Wally.
As you inspect the website, there's a bunch of evidence that Wally is growing increasingly desperate for some other kind of sentient connection. It's been growing so much that it starts to get worrying...
Let's go back to the conversation between Home and Barnaby, notice anything weird? Not really? Well, I noticed that every bug audio file was in the perspective of Wally. Here, Wally is just staring at his half-finished painting, even Barnaby comments on this and finds it odd that Wally stopped painting.
It looks to me that Wally was dissociating. There, but not really there. He's been disconnected from reality because it feels unreal to him.
And Home sees that. As soon as the conversation turns to Wally, Home goes dead silent. When Wally still does not respond, Home releases a series of quick creaks and bangs to try and get Wally's attention. It doesn't work. Once Barnaby says Wally's name, it snaps him out of his dissociative state.
And Home is worried about Wally.
It gives a whole new look to the infamous "so-below" image.
Home isn't looking at Wally, it's looking straight at us. Eyes shaking as Wally seems like he's begging. Home doesn't look malicious here, Home looks like it's begging us to do something to calm Wally down because it physically can't anymore.
Home and Wally don't have a lot, if not any facial expressions at all. And shaky eyes in cartoons are a good indicator that someone is scared.
And if Home (in this link) is saying "Help Me", then no wonder! Heck, even the freaking disk is shaking!
Home is reaching out to us for help because it can't comfort Wally anymore and I don't know about you but that is SAD.
Two puppets that recently gained sentience can't even get the comfort out of each other because they can't communicate anymore :(
So, all Home can do is wait and watch Wally.
And if help won't come to you, well, having a handy-dandy portal is very helpful!
Okay but I read this and all I could think is that one philosophical thing that basically says if everyone forgets about something therefore it stops existing- now imagine if the fact that whrp people remembered about this show helped home to contact the real world and the more we "remember"/find out things about the show the stronger the connection o.o
Okay, so I finally decided to put on some time to actually read every little bit of W.H. website to see if I could find something that was looked over simply cuz it was under our nose- and honestly?? I'm impressed h o w m u c h intriguing things there is- there's things leaning into the story that are simply words and adjectives- like the about overlapped text- I don't see so much people talk about how it literally has a "I saw it, I heard it" and a "i want it out" like W O T- besides that I'm paying attention on what I can and once I've read that website from head to toe I'll post a more proper thing with all the info
Me and my half assed knowledge of Morse code are trying to figure out the home audio- now all I got so far is what seems to be a are 👁👁- and I think I can hear many points which might mean there's a S somewhere
So scratch what I said- I went out for a homie to help- shoutout to Timmy for helping me- we found out what it says //for the record I'm talking about this//
.•±☆SO SPOILERS AHEAD SO YEAH.•±☆
the Morse code says "help me"- now my thoughts was- with how progressively worse wally gets seeming to be puppetered by someone- alas home- home locked wally in for whatever evil reason and wally is trying to ask for help
Me and my half assed knowledge of Morse code are trying to figure out the home audio- now all I got so far is what seems to be a are 👁👁- and I think I can hear many points which might mean there's a S somewhere
(I ALREADY FOUND OUT THE ANSWER IS ON A REPOST I MADE)
Honestly, Clown deserves so much better from the Welcome Home “fandom”. He told us they weren’t comfortable with people sexualizing his characters; meanwhile, I’ve seen so many comments of people voicing the fact that they want to hear Wally whimper. They told us that he wasn’t okay with people selling their art/Welcome Home products; people are selling his work and Welcome Home fan-made products. It does not matter what you want, if the creator of a franchise, story, character, etc. tells you what they are comfortable and uncomfortable with when it comes to their characters, you absolutely must appreciate their work the way they want you to. Because it is not your story, your characters, your franchise, or your creation. It belongs to them. When I saw that Night Mind video about Welcome Home, I was immediately hooked. It’s given me and a lot of other neurodiverse queer people representation and a place to feel included. Fuck, Clown has been nothing but nice to us. All he expects in return is that we respect his characters and his privacy, and there are so many people who can’t even do that.
I like to think that Wally probably got the bapping thing from Barnaby just- putting his whole paw over Wally’s face on occasion (sometimes just cause he can) but now Wally has also taken up this mannerism and does it as a sign of ‘oh hey! you’re there, I see your face!’ as well as whenever he has the opportunity to do so (not often because of how tall Barnaby is but he finds his ways))
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