History ARG / WelcomeHomeClownIllustrations

So, yeah. As you might have guessed, ''Welcome Home'' is, in truth, an in-development PsychologicalHorror multimedia art project created in 2022 by Clown Illustrations. The story is currently in its prologue stage, and can be found [[https://www.welcomehomerestorationproject.net/entry here]]. Due to the [[ColbertBump sudden popularity]] of this project, the website was temporarily closed for maintenance until July 22, 2023, when the website updated with new art and audio featuring a new voice cast. [[https://partycoffin.tumblr.com Here]] is the artist's blog for more info.

So, yeah. As you might have guessed, ''Welcome Home'' is, in truth, an in-development PsychologicalHorror multimedia art project created in 2022 by Clown Illustrations. The story is currently in its prologue stage, and can be found [[https://www.clownillustration.com/welcome-home here]]. Due to the [[ColbertBump sudden popularity]] of this project, the website was temporarily closed for maintenance until July 22, 2023, when the website updated with new art and audio featuring a new voice cast. [[https://partycoffin.tumblr.com Here]] is the artist's blog for more info.

* TieInCereal: [[invoked]] The show was popular enough to have had a commercial cereal, [[https://www.pinterest.com/pin/crispy-sweets-cereal-box-illustration--1090645234743068098/ “Crispy Sweets”]]. The October 2023 Update revealed recovered parts of a licensed cookbook, with one of the recipes being for cereal bars in the shapes of the show’s characters that featured the cereal as the primary ingredient.

* TieInCereal: The show was popular enough to have had a commercial cereal, [[https://www.pinterest.com/pin/crispy-sweets-cereal-box-illustration--1090645234743068098/ “Crispy Sweets”]]. The October 2023 Update revealed recovered parts of a licensed cookbook, with one of the recipes being for cereal bars in the shapes of the show’s characters that featured the cereal as the primary ingredient.

So, yeah. As you might have guessed, ''Welcome Home'' is, in truth, an in-development PsychologicalHorror multimedia project created in 2022 by Clown Illustrations. The story is currently in its prologue stage, and can be found [[https://www.clownillustration.com/welcome-home here]]. Due to the [[ColbertBump sudden popularity]] of this project, the website was temporarily closed for maintenance until July 22, 2023, when the website updated with new art and audio featuring a new voice cast. [[https://partycoffin.tumblr.com Here]] is the artist's blog for more info.

* YouMeanXmas: The inhabitants of Home celebrate holidays that resemble ones in the real world, which are known by alternative names such as "Happy Haunting" for Halloween and "Homewarming" for Christmas.

* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: In the 1st update, [[spoiler:eleven of the secret records are Wally getting progressively more agitated as whoever he's speaking to doesn't respond. The final record, "Neighbor", doesn't have Wally at all, and is instead the sound of Home creaking in Morse code]].

** [[spoiler:The only possibly exception being the reported creator of the studio, The Playfellow Workshop, that produced the InUniverse show, Ronald Dorelaine. However, there is yet be anymore information released regarding him, so his identity and role beyond that remains speculative.]]

* HideYourGays: InUniverse. Eddie and Frank are confirmed to be a married couple through WordOfGod, but the Playfellow Workshop could only have their relationship expressed through subtle hints and throwaway dialogue. This also extends to the WHRP's description of Frank, claiming that the Halloween record "Happy Halloween to Boo and Yours" implied that he and ''Julie'' were a couple instead of Eddie.

* HideYourGays: InUniverse. Eddie and Frank are confirmed to be a married couple through WordOfGod, but the Playfellow Workshop could only have their relationship expressed through subtle hints and throwaway dialogue.

'''NOTE: All general and prologue tropes are unmarked. New information from the 1st update will be tagged for spoilers.'''

The show was abruptly pulled from television in 1974, and nothing further was heard from Playfellow Workshop -- ''Welcome Home'' would be their only production. [[MissingEpisode No footage of the show is known to exist]], but a dedicated group of anonymous fans and enthusiasts are working tirelessly to search for whatever scraps of information they can about this show. But as they recover scripts, development sketches, old storybooks, and advertising connected to the show, it's entirely possible the group has found something that should have stayed lost...

The show was abruptly pulled from television in 1974, and nothing further was heard from Playfellow Workshop -- ''Welcome Home'' would be their only production. [[MissingEpisode No footage of the show is known to exist]], but a dedicated group of anonymous fans and enthusiasts are working tirelessly to uncover whatever scraps of information they can about this show. But as they uncover scripts, development sketches, old storybooks, and advertising connected to the show, it's entirely possible they're uncovering something that should have stayed hidden...

So, yeah. As you might have guessed, ''Welcome Home'' is, in truth, an in-development PsychologicalHorror multimedia project created in 2022 by Clown Illustrations. The story is currently in its prologue stage, and can be found [[https://www.clownillustration.com/welcome-home here]]. Due to the [[ColbertBump sudden popularity]] of this project, the website was temporarily closed for maintenance until July 22, 2023, when the website updated with new art and audio featuring the new voice cast. [[https://partycoffin.tumblr.com Here]] is the artist's website for more info.

So, yeah. As you might have guessed, ''Welcome Home'' is, in truth, an in-development PsychologicalHorror AlternateRealityGame/story created in 2022 by Clown Illustrations. The story is currently in its prologue stage, and can be found [[https://www.clownillustration.com/welcome-home here]]. Due to the [[ColbertBump sudden popularity]] of this project, the website was temporarily closed for maintenance until July 22, 2023, when the website updated with new art and audio featuring the new voice cast. [[https://partycoffin.tumblr.com Here]] is the artist's website for more info.

* WhamLine: A set of [[spoiler:video files on the website features conversations between two characters in the cast. Each one suddenly glitches and cuts off when one person asks for Wally's opinion, revealing he was quietly standing there the whole time. The last one with Barnaby and Home is the most ominous, as Wally is said to appear disturbed when Barnaby remarks that a clown without a kazoo is "like an artist without his paintbrush". This video also confirms that each of the other videos took place ''on the same day''.]]

* BilingualBonus: [[https://www.clownillustration.com/ourguestbookpage8 Page 8 in the Guestbook]] has a message in broken Brazilian Portuguese from somebody named Thaila[=/=]Tayla about how she wants to escape into Wally's world. He replies to her with a sun drawing cryptically titled "eu não sei onde estamos" ("I don't know where we are").

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: InUniverse, no known footage of the show exists, but the archive team is trying desperately to recover any and all tapes linked to the show.[[spoiler: The update has hidden video files showing the characters interacting. These could be snippets from lost episodes; however, with the camera's perspective shown from Wally's point-of-view, the file's authenticity to canon is questionable]].

* WhamLine: A set of [[spoiler:video files on the website features conversations between two characters in the cast. Each one suddenly glitches and cuts off when one person asks for Wally's opinion, revealing he was quietly standing there the whole time. The last one with Barnaby and Home is the most ominous, as Wally is said to appear disturbed when Barnaby remarks that a clown without a kazoo is "like an artist without his paintbrush".]]

** The website's sticker page talks about "spreading the good word," which also happens to be the name of the tab (i.e. Spread the Good Word!). To "spread the [good] word" is another way of referring to evangelism or sharing the gospel.

* NoFourthWall: In-universe, scripts indicate that the viewer of the show was treated as another neighbor, with Wally directly addressing them on a regular basis a la [[Series/MisterRogersNeighborhood Mister Rogers]].

* CrapsaccharineWorld: It takes only a little searching on ''Welcome Home's'' site to uncover a dark mystery lurking beneath the show's sunny façade. The prologue introduces an ambiguously sinister relationship between Wally and Home, Wally's house and the only sentient building in the area. The first major hint is shown on a hidden page labeled "[[https://www.clownillustration.com/so-below So Below]]," which depicts Wally kneeling before one of Home's jittery, ''bloodied'' eyes.
** The 1st update also hints that [[spoiler:characters other than Wally may be more self-aware than initially thought]].

* MediumBlending: InUniverse. While ''Welcome Home'' primarily used puppetry, the discovery of the [[spoiler:"Julie-rella" cels suggests that OncePerEpisode, there would be a hand-drawn segment featuring the characters reenacting fairy tales.]]

* AnonymousBenefactor: "Questions Answerer", the mysterious figure that contacts WHRP and offers to run an exhibition on Welcome Home to present their findings to the public. [[spoiler:The first update subverts it somewhat, as the secret page takes the perspective of Questions Answerer, showing them growing increasingly confused and horrified (and more than a little mad) by all the bizarre stuff that WHRP is sending them.]]
* ArcSymbol: Hypnotic spirals tying to vinyl record engravings and eyes repeatedly appear in concept art and the website's hidden pages.
* ArtShift: Bugs crawling around the website are hidden links to dialogue videos. Most of them are colorful characters except for the last one [[https://www.clownillustration.com/woxyve in the "woxyve" page]], which is a photorealistic roach.

* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: In the 1st update, [[spoiler:eleven of the secret records are Wally getting progressively more agitated as whoever he's speaking to doesn't respond. The final record, "Neighbor", doesn't have Wally at all, and is instead the sound of Home creaking]].
* LeaveTheCameraRunning: A series of hidden videos are shot from Wally's perspective as he just... stares into space for a long time while a pair of characters talk nearby and offscreen. The most he does is [[https://www.clownillustration.com/2-14-sp gesture "tea" in Morse]] at a teacup in front of him. Each video [[MoodWhiplash glitches and cuts off]] when somebody calls his attention.
* MediumBlending: InUniverse. While ''Welcome Home'' primarily used puppetry, the discovery of the "Julie-rella" cels suggests that OncePerEpisode, there would be a hand-drawn segment featuring the characters reenacting fairy tales.

* NoNameGiven: While all puppets are named, all of the human characters remain anonymous. The closest to have their own name is Questions Answerer, and even there, it's a nickname derived from the name of their company, Questions Answered! Custodial Services.

* RunningGag: Some of the secret tapes with Julie involve a made up color she created, "breen". Other characters express confusion at what breen is and the subject quickly gets shifted before an explanation is given.

* WhamLine: A set of video files on the website features conversations between two characters in the cast. Each one suddenly glitches and cuts off when one person asks for Wally's opinion, revealing he was quietly standing there the whole time. The last one with Barnaby and Home is the most ominous, as Wally is said to appear disturbed when Barnaby remarks that a clown without a kazoo is "like an artist without his paintbrush".

** The website's sticker page talks about "spreading the good word," which also happens to be the name of the tab (i.e. Spread the Good Word!). To "spread the [good] word" is another way of referring to evangelism. More specifically, sharing the gospel.

** Wally's design gives visual callbacks to American televangelists (what with the bouffant hair and taste for dress clothes), and WordOfGod [[https://www.tumblr.com/partycoffin/632427198253547520/wally-gives-me-tv-pastor-vibes-i-live-in-the?source=share mentions]] Jimmy Dean as inspiration. While it's in the context of the website's News page, Wally appears on a card asking the viewer, "have you heard?"[[note]]The full phrase, "Have you heard the good news?" is often used by religious recruiters.
[[/note]]