Wally Darling (월리 달링)

Affiliation

The Neighborhood/welcome home

Occupation

Artist

Appearance

Wally has an average build, yellow fleece skin, and blue hair styled into a tall, spiraled pompadour. He is most often depicted wearing a blue cardigan with yellow bordering and buttons, a white undershirt, a red necktie, vertically striped rainbow pants, and white-and-blue dress shoes with hearts on their soles. He has droopy eyes and a cat-like mouth with no teeth. He has no nose or eyebrows.

Personality

Wally is blunt and direct about things, but at the same time polite, always having a soft and sweet smile on his face.

Home

Wally also serves as a caretaker for Home, helping it wipe its tears, bringing it gifts, writing for it, and playing games and conducting activities nearby so Home can participate as well and invite other neighbors to visit Home. He often paints with the canvas facing Home so that he may see. Though Home only speaks in onomatopoeias, Wally seems to understand it with little to no effort, and talks, even sings to Home from time to time. Wally blows kisses to Home every day before he leaves and every time he returns to it. Home hugs him back by squeezing him between the door and the door frame.

Barnaby B. Beagle

Barnaby was Wally's best friend. They were often depicted hanging out together in official media from the series and shared similar characteristics. Barnaby is also mentioned in Wally's character description from the website. Barnaby was very polite with Wally and spent much time with him. Barnaby particularly enjoyed getting hotdogs from Howdy's store with Wally, in part because Wally would always give Barnaby the hotdog he had ordered. Wally usually gave his food or beverages to Barnaby so he could eat and drink them instead. Barnaby taught Wally much of what he knows of life and emotions and seemed to trust and admire Barnaby in turn, listening attentively to his words. Barnaby shared his jokes with Wally, and reserved for him his more benign jokes. In the show, Barnaby's presence was often tied to Wally as well, searching for or talking to him. If they were together with other Neighbors, Barnaby was often the one talking. Despite this, he encouraged Wally to chat with or tell jokes to the Neighbors, putting in a good word for Wally at the same time. Barnaby was also pretty affectionate and playful with Wally. He liked to softly bite Wally and slobber on him occasionally, even fitting Wally's entire head in his mouth. If Barnaby's antics warped the shape of Wally’s pompadour hairstyle, Barnaby would gently push back into shape, or lick his own palm and then smooth Wally’s hair out jokingly. Barnaby was sensitive to Wally's emotions, and was able to tell when Wally was downtrodden, even through a smile. Barnaby is also the only character apart from Home who noticed Wally being unresponsive during a hidden Dialogue Video, expressing concern for him and attempting to lightly shake him back into his present space. Barnaby is the only character to make direct contact with Wally in this state. Clown (the creator of Welcome home) also mentioned that no matter the universe, they will always end as best friends.

Julie Joyful

Wally and Julie had a good friendship and spent a lot of time together. Wally learned a lot from Julie, sometimes mimicking her mannerisms. However, Julie didn't like playing games with Wally because she found him too easy to beat. She sometimes accidentally hurt Wally during her games as well. Julie liked hugging Wally and Wally liked being hugged by Julie, Wally sometimes even asked to be held by her too. Julie insisted on picking Wally up sometimes even though they are almost the same size.

Frank Frankly

Wally and Frank were good friends. Frank liked to share his facts about plants and insects with Wally, just like he did with Julie. Frank often tried to teach Wally about things like being "Just So" and gardening, but often had a hard time getting through to him due to Wally struggling to understand the topic. Even so, Frank was still patient and tried to help Wally learn at his pace. In turn, Wally felt interested about what Frank said and wanted to learn from him, telling him that he doesn't mind if Frank repeats what the colors are again. However, since Wally spent most of his time alongside Barnaby, Frank preferred not to approach the pair when Barnaby was in the picture. And when Barnaby was there, Frank usually just began arguing with him, leaving Wally behind and even sometimes telling the two to leave him alone. Still, when Wally was alone, Frank was much more amicable with him, feeling comfortable enough to even sing his song when Wally was the only audience present to listen to him. In one of the merch items, a letter from Frank to Wally is seen describing how Frank had saw a colorful bug and drew it because he knew Wally would like it. Frank and Wally also seem to disagree on the difficulty of frowning. Frank finds it easy while Wally finds it difficult.

Sally Starlet

Although the two didn't interact much, they had a pretty good relationship. Wally enjoyed watching her plays, but didn't like acting in them due to constantly forgetting his lines. Despite this, Sally usually brought Wally onto her plays due to his popularity and movements, as she thought that Wally could be a great leading role for her plays if it wasn't for him forgetting his lines and his voice being so monotonous. Like Julie, Sally enjoys calling Wally "Walliford" to sound sophisticated. Wally didn't mind helping Sally with her plays to find or create the perfect props, like a big cake. Sally sometimes nonchalantly picked Wally up and hold him in her arms as well.

Howdy Pillar

Wally and Howdy are good friends. Wally was a regular at Howdy's store and would attempt to make jokes to cash in for supplies, but had difficulty telling them correctly, causing Barnaby to help him out. Howdy would humor his half-told jokes anyway, and relish his company.

Poppy Partridge

More remains to be seen of their interaction. Poppy invited Wally for tea parties and hosted him charitably, Wally helped Poppy during baking and knitting, not minding holding the yarn for her. The two seemed to partake on peaceful, soothing and calm activities together.

Eddie Dear

Eddie was gentle and kind with Wally. Eddie called Wally "little buddy" affectionately because of his stature, and sometimes played games with him and Julie. Eddie was a pretty talkative fellow. Since Wally was really quiet, Eddie could often talk freely with Wally when the two were alone, explaining in details his day while Wally listened.

You

Wally is your best friend. Wally seems to be the only character aware about you on the other side and the only one to hear you. His segments were mostly focused on doing activities with the viewers and interacting with them, learning with them. Wally is fascinated with you. He wonders what you like to talk about, what you're thinking, what you sound like, and he's hoping one day you'll tell him all about you. He loves learning, and that includes you. Wally already liked you since the beginning because you are nice just the way you are and there’s no one quite like you. You don’t ask him to change to appeal to your tastes, he wouldn’t want you to change either. He seems to love you platonically, and he tries to show this however he can. He wants you to smile and know that he loves you very much. He heard eye contact is important and a polite thing to do, so he tries to maintain it whenever he sees you, he wants you to know you have his attention. He also feels reassured to know you're looking back at him. He loves having conversations with you and answering your questions. His favorite sound is your voice, it is hard to hear from where he is but it makes him happy, it calms him to know you're there. Wally tries to be gentle and patient with you, and knows that even if he can't see you or you can't reply to him, you're still there with him, looking at him. That's why he tries to reassure you that he knows about your presence and even talks to you so you don't feel alone, even introducing Home to you so you two can become friends as well. He wants to make sure you feel included in The Neighborhood, and even created a page specially for you in the website for you to enjoy. He knows you're a good artist like him, and that you have drawn him many times, which he is very grateful for. That's why he also likes to share his drawing tips with you and doodles for you around the website, since he knows you would appreciate them. However, he is really distressed about not being fully able of seeing you or hearing you, and hopes you consider him a friend. He doesn't understand why you seemingly don't let him in despite his efforts and your friendship. He doesn't realize how his actions, words and intense stare could be actually frightening you and making you see him in a bad light. He would misinterpret you trying to get away from him as an accident. He would never think you would actively try to keep your distance from him, since you two are friends.

Smiling

For now, Wally has never been seen without a smile on his face. He doesn't know how to emote, and prefers to wear a smile at all times. He never frowns.

Ambidextrous

Wally is ambidextrous.

Favorite Color

His favorite color is red. All the favorite colors of every neighbor put next to each other forms a rainbow.

Voice

Wally's voice is described as slow, easygoing, monotonous and soft spoken. His voice was likened to that of Teddy Ruxpin and the Mark Baker version of Raggedy Andy. The reason why he sounds so monotonous is because he doesn't understand emotions. Wally enunciates each "ha" when he laughs. Barnaby taught Wally how to laugh, explaining that to laugh someone needs to say the words 'Ha ha ha' specifically, and that's why Wally just repeats the words unemotionally when trying to laugh. Wally can't scream either, only uttering a monotonous "A". His catchphrase is "the most."

Apples

Wally loves apples and birthday cakes. Not eating them, just admiring and holding them. His favorite type of apple are the red ones. Wally really likes apples because the first thing he ever painted was a little red apple on a big canvas. He was delighted to discover people can also paint with apples. He will be confused and disappointed about any food or drink that contains apple in them but don't look like an apple, like apple pie. Wally loves candy apples, but he just holds them at arms length away from himself and straight in front of him like how someone holds a torch. He walks around like that until someone else takes them away from him. He has an apple collection. It consists of only one red apple.

Hair

Clown commented that Wally's hair could be interpreted as a combination of a Victory Roll and a Pompadour because of the spiral and the size. Clown also amusingly compared Wally's hair with a Mexican Jelly Roll.

Eating

Wally eats with his eyes just by staring at something and this something suddenly disappearing or having bite marks on it. He sometimes blinks to take a bite, but not always. He usually only does so when you blink, but he knows when you do. He doesn't know how to eat with his mouth, he would place something there and not know what to do next. When drinking, he would still use his eyes to slowly consume the drink as it disappears from its container. He sometimes would make the action of sipping so it seems like he is using his mouth instead. He has drunk paint this way before.

Inspired

He was inspired by Teddy Ruxpin, Jimmy Dean, Mickey Mouse and Fred Rogers

Eyelids

Wally had blue eyelids instead of orange. Since his real puppet was done during this time by Clown, it stayed this way and it does not match with his current design.

Handsome

Wally thinks that he is very handsome, and he would be flattered to know others think so too. He likes looking in the mirror because he likes his face.

Slow painter

Wally is a slow painter.

Falling

If he were to fall on the ground, he will stay there until somebody helps him up.

Sound

Wally's favorite sound is your voice. [42] His second favorite sound are slide whistles.

Songs

Despite Wally having an audio of him singing, Clown mentioned that Wally is not good at singing. He doesn't know many songs either, and the only ones he knows were taught by the other neighbors.

Dancing

He isn't good at dancing either, he doesn't know how he should move.

Books

He likes books, but he prefers when someone else reads for him.

Phone

The phone is too big for him and he has to hold it with both hands.

Hugs

Wally doesn't know how to hug someone, but he enjoys being hugged. He would sometimes go limp on someone's arms when hugged. He wouldn't mind if someone holds his face.

kissing

He doesn't know how to kiss the common way. He thinks that someone needs to place their mouth where they want to kiss and say "Muah!" really loud.

Holding hands

Wally likes to hold everyone’s hand so they don’t get lost.

Sleeping

He actually can't fall asleep because he doesn't understand it, and it is unknown if he dreams at all. He sometimes forgets to close his eyes to sleep.

Games

Wally is not good at playing games. For example, he would keep playing "Rock" during "Rock, Paper, Scissors". Strangely, despite being bad at games, he is amazing playing carnival games instead and always wins the prizes for his friends if he wants, which could imply that he has an incredible aim.

Puppet

Like every other character, Wally is a puppet.

Eyes

When Wally is angry, his whole face will turn pitch black and all you can see are his creepy eyes. His black pupils widen and just stare.

Favorite Animals

Dogs and cats