There are few recent animated series as beloved as “Over the Garden Wall.”
Patrick McHale’s singular miniseries, with its bite-sized episodes and limited run, has become a favorite since it first aired on Cartoon Network more than a decade ago. These days, the series has become something of an autumnal rite of passage – is it even fall if you haven’t watched “Over the Garden Wall” one more time? (No, it is not.) And considering its under-the-radar debut and continued existence as a cult favorite, there hasn’t been that much “Over the Garden Wall” stuff.
Until now.
Mondo, the Austin, Texas-based purveyor of pop culture ephemera, has released a series of “Over the Garden Wall”-themed figure sets; the first two have already been released and a third is available for pre-order right now (it’s expected to ship sometime next year.) These sets are genuinely amazing – each one is themed to each chapter of “Over the Garden Wall” and are bursting with personality and characters, who look like they walked out of your TV and onto your shelf. (The sets are part of a sub-genre of Mondo collectible called Mondo Squads, dedicated to your favorite groups.)
TheWrap talked to Mondo’s Director of Creative and Product Development Hector Arce about the creation of these figures and where the series is headed next.
“We’ve been huge fans of ‘OTGW’ and Patrick McHale’s amazing characters, so making figures has been on our bucket list for quite some time. It took a bit before we could get everything in place to make it happen, but we’re glad it all worked out in the end,” Arce said. “Mondo had already released the original soundtrack several times over the years, which gave us a great indication of just how passionate the fanbase is! Bringing the ‘OTGW’ characters to our Mondo Squads line felt like the next best step and a way to give fans some awesome maquette-style collectibles that celebrate each chapter of the show.” (McHale, Arce said, has been very supportive and a “big advocate” for the figures, without being directly involved in the creative.)
One of the most exciting aspects of these sets is the fact that, from one set to the other, you get new accessories that can augment the previous figures. Arce said that this aspect of the collections was “an early part of our development process.” “We wanted Wirt and Greg to be evergreen parts of the line so that they’d always be available for folks while we released other sets focused on different characters,” Arce explained. “Including fun accessories like the pumpkins, along with swappable heads, arms, and other pieces that are compatible with the standard Wirt and Greg set, gives us a fun way to keep rewarding folks who own it. It also allows us to include fun Easter egg accessories, like the swappable ‘Potatoes and Molasses’ arms for Greg in our Chapter 3 set, without having to include an entire Greg figure. That allows us to put those resources toward an additional character instead.”
And, yes, they did consider putting a black turtle – a recurring character/motif in the original animated series – but said that “it comes down to character choices and how much we can cram into one set while keeping things like pricing consistent.” Beatrice, their bird companion and Wirt Jr., a frog, are in most sets (“you’ll see them pop in and out depending on the situation”). “The turtle could definitely pop up again!” he teased.
We wondered if it was hard, when making the set for chapter 3 (“Schooltown Follies”), to figure out which characters to include – particularly when it came to the animal schoolchildren (and the animals who chose to stay wild). Arce said yes, it was challenging. “It really came down to choosing some of our favorite characters that we wanted to include, it was so hard to pick between some of the animals and we went back and forth,” said Arce. “Bit before landing on the current configuration.”
He said that they also love listening to the fans and collectors – when they first teased the set, they didn’t include Ms. Langtree, the teacher of the class. Fans pushed back and demanded that she be added – so they did. “In the end, it was absolutely the right call,” Arce admitted.
When we asked if he could tease the next set (themed to “Songs of the Dark Tavern”), he said that it adds some “huge characters to the mix.” While Fred the horse won’t be in this set (yet), he promises the Highwayman, a fan favorite character, will be brought to life as only Mondo can. And this is really only the beginning, considering there are 10 chapters to “Over the Garden Wall.”
“We just love how engaged the ‘OTGW’ community has been with these sets. Seeing folks get them in hand and make videos showing off their displays is really special. I’m glad and honored that we could bring these characters to life in a collectible format for the first time—one that doesn’t just focus on the main characters, but celebrates the story as a whole, along with all the incredible creations from Patrick and the team,” said Arce.
Into the dark forest we go …
