So as I’ve said before, I think all the characters represent some form of queer identity and/or nerodivergence/life long disorders

I still can’t for the life of me think of what howdy might be

Wally; autism (I believe it was confirmed??)

Frank; might have OCD and/or autism

Eddie: gay and maybe ADD? (He seems uncoordinated??) or possibly some form of religious/s*xual trauma?

Sally: might have a personality or dissociative disorder?? (Idk)

Julie; seems to have ADHD

Poppy: is trans (confirmed) so could be transphobia trauma and general anxiety I also think she could’ve maybe lost a child she was close to in the past, due to her overly anxious caring nature

Barnaby: possibly depression or as @hiwatermelon suggested in this post (https://reddit.com/r/WelcomeHomeARG/s/ZijAFjB8Q0) an ED

Now my furthered theory is that there was never puppeteers, the puppets are all alive, they made a deal to escape their bad lives and all the awfulness of the world in exchange for being a puppet used to make a show, possibly to make followers or something, they are controlled by whatever home is, wally was the first to be found and make the deal, he believed home is actually good but home is not.