Welcome to the Wayne is Not a Rip-Off of Gravity Falls

Nickelodeon’s latest animated series is far more than just a Gravity Falls clone.

Welcome to the Wayne is about three friends, Ansi Molina and brother and sister Olly and Saraline Timbers, working together to unravel the mysteries of The Wayne apartment complex. They do this while dealing with adults who either refuse to help or are against them, including a rival group led by The Spy from Apartment 8-I.

The show originally began as a web series that ran for six chapters on Nickelodeon’s website and mobile app from November to December of 2014. The chapters no longer appear to be online, but according to a trailer, it featured the aforementioned team and Spy clashing over a briefcase.

Welcome to the Wayne is Nickelodeon’s first mystery-based Nicktoon, which helps it stand out on the network. Of the four Nicktoons currently airing on the main network, both SpongeBob SquarePants and Bunsen Is a Beast are slapstick comedies, The Loud House is a slice of life series, and Tales of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is an action & adventure series.

The series has not yet premiered on Nickelodeon, but the network has made the first episode “Rise and Shine Sleepyhead” available to watch online on Nick.com and get for free on iTunes. It is a really good introduction to the series and quickly sets up both the premise and characters.

Ansi is the newcomer amazed and freaked out by The Wayne’s many surprises. Olly and Saraline are investigators who want to discover the building’s mysteries, with Olly being the more comedic sibling and Saraline the more investigative one. The show’s main antagonist is a character simply known as The Spy from Apartment 8-I. who has her own henchmen named Masterson and Flowershirt. The former two look like generic spies, right down to the black suit and sunglasses, while the latter wears flower shirts.

The show’s mystery is intriguing and has the potential to be great. Three things are introduced in the first episode which helps to establish the mystery: the idea that whoever runs the Wayne runs the world, a library located in an alternate dimension, and mysterious items resembling library index cards.

At this point, some of you may think that this show truly is a rip-off of Disney’s Gravity Falls. There are certain similar elements to that series; both shows are about a mysterious place, Olly and Saraline could be considered clones of Mabel and Dipper, and one of the main characters is voiced by the show’s creator. That is where the similarities end. Wayne takes place at an apartment complex, the three main protagonists are all kids, and the main antagonist is an adult. It is unfair to compare the shows as it only sets up Wayne to look like the inferior series. Calling this show a rip-off of Gravity Falls is like calling Digimon a rip-off of Pokemon.

Most of the web series’ voice cast reprise their roles for the show, including three notable voice actors. Ansi is voiced by Alanna Ubach, who is no stranger to Nicktoons having previously voiced the titular character in El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera. The Spy is voiced by Veronica Taylor of Pokemon and Sailor Moon. Masterson is voiced by Marc Thompson of Daria and the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. Series creator Billy Lopez voices Olly and Dana Steingold voices Saraline, both of whom are starring in their first animated series.

The show’s animation is very simplistic. The designs of the human characters are reminiscent of those from Sanjay and Craig only with slight alterations to the ears and noses. The more fantastical elements, such as the monsters, look OK. The animation seems to lack shadowing and the characters barely stand out from the mostly flat backgrounds. It makes the show look cheaply animated in comparison to other animated series currently on the air. However, this appears to be an issue exclusive to the first episode. The latest trailer (below) reveals that future episodes will have better animation.

Welcome to the Wayne appears to be yet another great original Nicktoon. If the show is able to maintain a great mystery, improve the animation, and develop the characters a bit more, it could be just as successful as The Loud House.

The first episode is available to watch on Nick.com and free on iTunes for a limited time. The show will premiere on Nickelodeon on Monday, July 24.

What do you think about this show? Is it just a shameless Gravity Falls rip-off? Can it be as successful as The Loud House? Feel free to respond down in the comments section.