Julie Joyful

"Undoubtedly the cheeriest neighbor a puppet could ask for, Julie Joyful is Welcome Home’s happiest resident. Amidst such a rainbow of brightly colored neighbors, that's really saying something! Upbeat, silly, and always ready to play with her friends, there’s never a boring day in Welcome Home while she’s around. She is Frank’s best friend." 
- from Julie's character card.
"How about we all play a game? I just thought of a new one! All we’ll need is a pogostick, a bowl of pasta, and a pair of roller skates!" 
- Julie demonstrates her penchant for improvisation.

Julie Joyful is one of Home’s nine residents, and a member of Welcome Home’s central cast. Back when Welcome Home was airing, she was best known for her love of games. Many of her segments revolved around games she herself created just as much as they did pre-existing ones, if not even moreso. She is also shown to be heavily associated with flowers, displaying an ability to communicate with them in materials recovered by the Welcome Home Restoration Project. In several sketches, she was paired with none other than her best friend Frank. Although it is difficult to determine her exact status, several items imply that she is still active.

For a full image gallery of this character, please click here.

Profile

Background

According to recovered materials, Julie is a rainbow monster who originally lived in a cave deep in the forest surrounding Home with her three siblings: Franny, Jonesy, and Bea. Her reasons for moving out and eventually settling down in Home are not explained beyond a desire to “[seek] out a life of her own.” Her puppet is believed to have only required one puppeteer to operate.

Appearance

Julie is a small pink humanoid puppet with green eyelids, long blonde hair styled into a 1960s' bouffant, a round orange nose, and two small orange-and-yellow striped horns. Her standard outfit consists of a white headband, a bright coral mid-length dress with pink and yellow trim, short puffed sleeves, a white belt, and a white collar with a yellow necktie. Her legs are a green-to-blue gradient, and she wears white Mary Jane shoes. Her "feet" are actually paws with heart-shaped pads, similar to Barnaby's hands or the soles of Wally's shoes.

Personality

Julie is an energetic, resourceful, fun-loving young monster with a bit of a competitive streak. She's often easily distracted, and quick to bring levity into any situation, however this runs the risk of coming off as frivolous in more serious contexts. Her impulsiveness combined with the rate at which she comes up with new games means that she is a frequent target for slapstick, often by her own hand - but as far as she's concerned, this is more a feature than a bug. She mellows out a bit during the winter in preparation for hibernation, but considering her usual energy levels, this may not be saying much. Although Julie is known for being one of the more resilient neighbors, she can be a bit sensitive to others' criticism or teasing, as seen in 11-14-jb.

Plot

Initially, Julie is never seen directly in the prologue outside of illustrations, although there are several implications that Wally is still in contact with her. We see (and hear) more of her after the July 27th 2023 update, in both publicly available audio and hidden pages such as the bug videos. Like her fellow neighbors, she expresses confusion at the caller's apparent silence in her Talking Telephone Toy audio, suggesting that the call was received in real time. In the bug videos, she is heard interacting primarily with Frank, Sally, Eddie, Barnaby, and of course, Wally. Although she attends both the Macabre Menagerie of Monstrous Mischief-Making and Homewarming parties in the following updates, her presence is of relatively little note.

Relationships

Frank Frankly

As both the show and many, many tie-in products will have you know, Julie and Frank are best friends, and not without reason. The two seem to take pride in their “straight man and wise guy” dynamic, and play it up whenever they’re together, even when the only people around to appreciate it are themselves. As seen in tracks like the “Just So” song demo and 6-14-jf, Julie is one of the few people who can tease Frank and get an actual joke in response, as opposed to his typical uptightness. Meanwhile, Frank is one of the few people who can keep Julie on track when it comes to her ever-evolving games. Both characters are very passionate about their interests, and equally passionate about encouraging each other's pursuits of said interests. Although some show sketches and tracks from tie-in products suggest that the two are a couple, it is unknown if either Julie or Frank feels the same way, as neither of them have ever referred to each other as romantic partners.

Franny, Jonesy, and Bea Joyful

Little is known of Julie's relationship with her siblings beyond her backstory. Julie forgets exactly how many eyes Jonesy has in the hidden video accompanying the transcript for the "Happy Haunting to Boo and Yours!" storybook record, but it's unclear if this is indicative of them having become distant over time, or if it is simply Julie being Julie.

Sally Starlet

Although Sally aims to improve every neighbor’s star power, she seems to particularly favor Julie when it comes to lead roles, and the two are usually able to keep up with one another by virtue of sheer enthusiasm. Although Sally is willing to keep an open mind when it comes to Julie’s suggestions for her plays, she is often frustrated by the latter’s apparent inability to take most things seriously. Julie is far from dismissive of Sally’s theatrics, however, going out of her way to praise her writing in 10-14-js.

Poppy Partridge

Julie and Poppy's relationship is generally amicable, although to nobody's surprise, Julie's recklessness brings the big beautiful bird no small amount of worry.

Eddie Dear

Ever the patient fellow, Eddie tries his best to keep up with Julie’s antics, but is often left with more questions and/or concerns than anything else, as seen in 7-14-ej and materials recovered by the WHRP. Although Julie doesn’t necessarily take Eddie’s strength for granted, she does have trouble recognizing when he might need a break, as she has no reaction to him collapsing after lifting Barnaby in the “Eddie’s Big Lift" storybook record, instead immediately suggesting that he try to lift Poppy and Howdy next.

Barnaby B. Beagle

Much like with Frank, Barnaby seems to enjoy getting a rise out of Julie. In 11-14-jb, he laments her lack of pun-making prowess, much to her indignation. Curiously, this lamentation seems to be genuine on Barnaby’s part, as he later remarks to Home that he should teach her a thing or two. Unlike Frank, however, Julie does not seem to consider Barnaby a legitimate rival.

Wally Darling

Like every other neighbor, Julie generally enjoys Wally’s company, but doesn’t always know what to make of it due to his bluntness. She bounces back quickly, though, and is happy to try and include him in her games.

Trivia

Note: In order to ensure that this wiki has the most accurate information it can, this list does not cite any posts prior to January 2021.

  • Julie is roughly 3 feet tall. [Source: 1]
  • Like every other neighbor, Julie is an adult. [Sources: 1, 2]
  • Julie is a hand and rod puppet. [Source: 1]
  • Julie, along with several other neighbors, is autistic and/or otherwise neurodivergent. [Source: 1]
  • Julie is genderfluid. [Sources: 1, 2]
  • Julie’s favorite food is peanut butter and honey sandwiches with too much honey. [Source: 1]
  • Julie’s favorite kind of coffee would be an Americano with only a few sugars. [Source: 1]
  • In a band or other musical arrangement, Julie would play the saxophone. [Source: 1]
  • Julie and Frank will try to include Home in their games if they’re nearby. [Source: 1]
  • Julie dislikes playing against Wally in most games, as she considers him too easy to beat. [Source: 1]
  • Julie talks to fruits and vegetables as much as she does to flowers, and she talks to the ones in Frank’s garden the most. [Source: 1]
  • The character of Julie was first created in 2018. [Source: 1]
  • Julie's surname was originally going to be "Dear." This surname was eventually given to Eddie later in development. [Source: 1]
  • Julie’s favorite kind of cheesecake is celebration cheesecake. [Source: 1]
  • In an Alice in Wonderland adaptation/AU, Julie would be the March Hare. [Source: 1]
  • Julie’s voice was originally inspired by Minnie Mouse, as well as this 1983 voice for Mitzi Mozzarella. In older recordings, she was voiced by Clown himself. [Source: 1, 2, 3]
  • Julie’s favorite Muppet would be Gonzo. [Source: 1]
  • Both Julie and Frank are terrible at telling jokes. Both are aggressive, silly, unafraid of getting their hands dirty, and all of this is exactly why they are best friends. [Source: 1]
  • Despite this, Julie is better at telling jokes than Frank. They often go grocery shopping together as a result. [Source: 1]
  • Other reasons Julie and Frank are friends include: they can both scream very loudly, they can both stare at a bug for an extended period of time, and Frank is the best at drawing hopscotch squares. [Source: 1]
  • Frank is not safe from Julie’s competitive nature. Both are described as being “bad winners” by Clown. [Source: 1]
  • One of Julie’s favorite games is “Business Woman in the Big City,” in which she is an independent businesswoman for only a short period of time before the company goes under, prompting her to destroy her surroundings. This is presumably what she’s playing with Eddie in 7-14-ej. [Source: 1]
  • Julie’s siblings still visit her from time to time. [Source: 1]
  • Julie would be the best at carnival games, and give any prizes she wins to Frank - much to his chagrin. [Source: 1]
  • Due to her clumsiness in the kitchen, Julie’s culinary skills leave something to be desired. [Source: 1]
  • If books were more widespread in Home, Julie would enjoy superhero comics. [Source: 1]
  • Of all the neighbors, Julie would want a cool sword the most, likening it to a more dangerous baseball bat (although this does not mean that she should be trusted with a sword.) She would sleep with it and give it a beauty regimen before bed. [Source: 1]
  • Julie is, of course, good at sports. Wherever any ball she throws ends up afterwards, however, is a mystery. [Source: 1]
  • Both Julie and Frank would have written “Frank” in response to the question “Who is the funniest neighbor?” instead of the actual answer (Barnaby.) [Source: 1]
  • One of Julie’s favorite ways to dance is swaying. Clown likes it to how they do it in several ABBA music videos. [Source: 1]
  • If Julie knew about modern music, she would enjoy Minecraft parodies of popular songs. [Source: 1]
  • If Julie were to play Splatoon, she would use the Aerospray RG and the Booyah Bomb, to match her chaotic nature. [Source: 1, 2]
  • Julie's favorite Disney movie would be Cinderella (1950). [Source: 1]