Sandbox / Wander Over Yonder: Wander

"Wander"

Voiced by: Jack McBrayer

"When I see someone who's in needin', I just gotta help!"

Wander is the main character of the show. He's a little orange furry guy who wants to befriend everyone he meets. Sylvia is his best friend, and the feeling is mutual. Wander's personality drives him compulsively to be helpful. His recklessness and impulsiveness often gets him (or Sylvia, or far more often both) in trouble, but they usually come through in the end, whether by karma or by his cunning wit.

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A-F

• The Ace: Albeit one who doesn't seem to notice that he's the ace, or would even care if he did. Season 2 implies that he's this because of a LOT of practice.
• Actual Pacifist: To potentially lethal extremes.
• Added Alliterative Appeal: He has a habit of speaking like this, especially as his Boy Wander persona.
• All-Loving Hero: Is friendly to everyone, even the baddies. Averted in "The Helper" when he is actually against Hater and tries to stop him for the first time. However at that point, he had gone just a little bit crazy from helping withdrawal.
  • Averted again in "The Boy Wander" where we meet Dr. Screwball Jones, the one villain Wander treats like an actual villain.
• Ambiguously Gay: He's extremely affectionate and quite touchy-feely, which sort of makes it hard to tell where — if anywhere — his interests lie.
• Appropriated Appellation: His real name is unknown, and he generally goes by whatever term people choose to call him, whether it be Wander or Tumbleweed.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: In "The Prisoner", after outwitting and evading Peepers for the entire rest of the episode, he manages to get tricked into a cell because he can't resist following the glowing dot from a blaster's laser sight and trying to catch it. Luckily, Sylvia shows up and get him out of trouble.
• Audience Surrogate: According to the creators, he's meant to represent the type of person any of us can become.
• Badass Adorable: Defending the galaxy with the POWER OF LOOOOOVE!
• Badass in Distress: Is very strong, fast, agile and capable of handling himself, but many times Sylvia has to save him from danger.
• Badass Pacifist: As demonstrated in "The Troll" in which he defeats the titular Jerkass by simply kicking back and ignoring his insults.
  • He's also shown to be very cunning, and often uses his wits to manipulate his enemies and get himself out of trouble.
• Bag of Holding: Wander's hat can store everything he owns, and seemingly conjure anything else he might need (but not necessarily what he wants). Turns out it's a semi-sentient magical artifact that can conjure just about anything. It can be forced into taking requests, but hates being used this way. It's why Wander stole it from its previous owners and keeps it on his head, since he believes that's where it's safest. He also took time to gain its trust and friendship, allowing it to choose what and when to give items, though it will take requests (such as giving Wander his banjo when he wants it).
• Beat It by Compulsion: Obsessive-compulsive type. He's incapable of not being helpful, even when it's against his best interests. The Watchdogs exploit this in "The Fugitives" to get him to reveal his locations. In "The Nice Guy", his need to be helpful keeps him from getting a drink Sylvia wants, which causes him a lot of distress.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He can be surprisingly manipulative and clever, in spite of his goofiness and idealism.
• Big Eater:
  • In "The Greatest," he wolfs down lots of hot dogs for a contest (against Lord Hater).
  • In "The Lonely Planet" he sure puts away a lot of pancakes, and pie— so much that he looks pregnant by the time he's finished.
  • In "The Tourist" he wolfs down the Galaxy's Biggest Hoagie before Sylvia even gets to take a bite, depriving her of dinner.
  • In "The Day", he sleeptalks of glowing red cookies and evil pineapple kings, and Sylvia puts strange food-related dreams into his head, such as pie monkeys needing ballet lessons, cheese towers turning into narwhal bacon, and three noodles considering buying pleated khakis, to name a few.
• Big Good: "The Little Guy" indicates that Wander and Sylvia are this without even really trying to be, or at least that Hater thinks they are. Simply by spreading good and kindness around wherever they go, the two of them have become a force for good that's singlehandedly thwarting Hater's plan to fill the universe with "fear and hate". According to Peepers, Hater believes that the only reason good still exists in the galaxy is because Wander still exists - hence the two of them being public enemies #1.
  • Even moreso in Season 2: By now Wander and Sylvia are actually rather famous, and there's even stories and folklore about the two of them and the good they've done. "The Secret Planet" reveals that Wander's heroic deeds are well-known and Sylvia's mother keeps a wall in the house full of news articles about their good deeds. "The Legend" takes this one step further by revealing that Wander is actually a LEGENDARY hero, whose heroic exploits over the centuries have become Shrouded in Myth.
• Break the Cutie: Several episodes in Season 1 are dedicated to challenging his belief that it "never hurts to help".
  • Suffers an increasingly worse case throughout the Dominator arc, as he's forced to confront the fact that Lord Dominator is genuinely a bad person who doesn't want or need his help. Dominator also tries to invoke this in order to break his spirit in "The End of the Galaxy". She fails.
• Cannot Keep a Secret: In "The Picnic", he accidentally (and very loudly) blabs about the embarrassing bodily functions of Sylvia's species to Lord Hater, Emperor Awesome, and their entire armies.
• Captain Oblivious: At least when people are trying to kill him, often to the point where he unintentionally defeats his opponents by driving them crazy. He can still recognize that things are well and truly serious when it's important, though.
• Cartoon Creature: He can't really be identified, and its unknown if he is part of a species or unique. The season 2 promo calls him a "furry orange spoon", and Sylvia's brothers think he's a monkey, cat, or a monkey-cat.
• Character Catchphrase
  • "Never hurts to help!"
  • "Folks call me 'Wander'." when introducing himself.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: The "Galactic Adventures" teaser hints that he might have this.
  • Confirmed in "The Fugitives"; trying to resist helping others appears to cause Wander great stress.
  • Further confirmed in "The Nice Guy"; even when there isn't someone visibly in trouble/need, the possibility or implication of it will still make Wander go out of his way to help.
  • Even further confirmed in "The Helper", where the concept of an entire day (or an entire planet) where absolutely no one needs him to do anything is enough to drive him completely out of his mind. The boy is compelled to assist.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: He assumes everybody is his friend and he's (almost) completely oblivious to the fact that some people hate him and try to kill him.
• The Cloud Cuckoolander Was Right: Frequently. His naive idealism has led to him doing things like giving gifts to all of the Watchdogs, with labels saying they were from Lord Hater, in hopes it will cause them to be nicer. It worked.
• Cuteness Proximity: When seeing something cute and innocent, Wander's helping instincts kick in.
• Distressed Dude: Often a subject of this, mostly because he prioritizes helping others over his own safety.
• Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones: Downplayed, as Wander doesn't really "hate" anyone. Despite being an All-Loving Hero, there are only two characters who he does not use his Power of Friendship methods on.
  • Lord Dominator. Played for Drama, as Wander realizes that he cannot and should not befriend her, as she is a cruel Omnicidal Maniac who doesn't give a damn about his friendship. However, by the series finale he proves he doesn't hate her, and offers her a chance at friendship and redemption. She doesn't take him up on his offer.
  • Dr. Screwball. Wander believes Screwball to be one of the deadliest and most vile villains around, despite Screwball just being a ridiculous clown-themed supervillain. However, it's implied the two have a history together, and Wander's dislike of him comes from the fact that Screwball forces people to be happy whether they want to or not, which is serious business to a guy like Wander.
• Eye Color Change: His eyes become a two-tone sickly green when under Little Bits' control.
• Fatal Flaw: Temptation. Whether it be not helping people, not partying, or even not looking in a box, Wander's self-restraint is very weak.
• Flanderization: His idealism and optimism is given a significant boost in season two. This is most notable when he tries to pair up Lord Hater and Lord Dominator, believing that love will cause both of them to give up being evil. He never considers that (as Sylvia points out) the two of them could just decide to conquer the galaxy together instead.
• Fluffy Tamer: Zig-zagged. While his Friend to All Living Things status lets him befriend most creatures, such as the animals in "The Breakfast" and the Pit Monster in "The Birthday Boy", there are creatures like the Doom Dragon in "The Egg" and Captain Tim that are too dangerous for him to tame.
• The Fool: Seems to have shades of this, although Craig McCracken has hinted that he is actually pretty clever. This "foolish cleverness" shows somewhat in "The Greatest," where rather than being dimwitted it seems more like he just doesn't care about anything but enjoying life, not even an army of evil minions. He's able to use his brains and his friendliness to convince Hater's army go AWOL and go to a fair, defeat Hater's right hand man with excessive fun, and trick Hater into overcompetitive-ing himself into a meltdown... and the whole time never quite seems to grasp what Hater was actually trying to do. As a general rule, Wander's savviness varies with how idealistic he's feeling. When blinded by cuteness, as seen in "The Egg" and "The Pet" he tends to put himself and others in danger. When he's up against something he knows is dangerous, like Lord Hater or The Troll, he's more in control of his ditzy tendencies, though sometimes that can backfire on him too, as seen in "The Bad Guy".
  • "The Big Day" best illustrates his dynamic. In a few seconds, he is able to come up with a plan to stall Hater and prevent his own destruction. However, towards the end of the episode, after seeing all the hard work Hater put in, he completely abandons the original plan, leaving Sylvia to snap him out of it.
• For Happiness: This is pretty much Wander's motivation for everything he does. He wants to make everyone happy and have fun.
• Fragile Speedster: As demonstrated in "The Fugitives". He's very fast and strong, but he was easy to catch in that episode.
• Freak Out: When he loses his hat in "The Bad Hatter", he goes nuts!
• Freudian Excuse: In "The Wanders" it's revealed the reason he wants to help people is because he knows what it's like to be helpless.
• Friend to All Children: Wander shows a great fondness towards children, which was explored in "The Egg" and "The Toddler".
• Fun Personified: He's a Nice Guy with the amazing ability to have a good time wherever he goes. By way of this alone, he is able to defuse Hater's villainous machinations without antagonizing the guy at all, though this infuriates Hater anyway.

G-M

• Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: Goes both ways, in that Wander is aware that evil beings exists but it doesn't stop him from attempting to befriend them anyway. Even though later on, he comes to terms that some villains like Dr. Screwball and Lord Dominator aren't worth befriending. In the latter's case, Wander is insistent in the second season finale in reforming Dominator, despite his full attempts, he finally gives up after Sylvia persuades him to stop.
• Good Feels Good: One of his reasons for being so helpful all the time. See the spoiler space under Freudian Excuse for the other reason.
• The Good, the Bad, and the Evil: In Season 2, he serves as the "good" to Hater's "bad" and Dominator's "evil".
• Guile Hero: Occasionally peeks out from under the lazy idiot disguise. Being a Badass Pacifist, he has a tendency to rely on his wit to get him out of scrapes.
• Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: He wears a hat, shoes and socks. That's it.
• Hammerspace: He's known to hold loads of things in his hat. Whenever Wander is about to sing he pulls his banjo out of nowhere; sometimes it fits in his hat, too.
• Heavy Sleeper: Shown in "The Day"; according to Sylvia, Wander can sleep through anything, and he does in fact sleep through the entirety of the episode and all of the shenanigans involved.
• Hero Protagonist: He is the main character and has done many heroic deeds by helping people everywhere in the galaxy. His feats are legendary, and people tell stories about him, as shown in "The Legend."
• Heroic BSoD:
  • He suffers of a brief one in "The Fugitives", when he finds out Sylvia abandoned him and the Watchdogs caught him when he was helping people. It takes him smelling a stink coming from a manhole and Sylvia's arrival to snap him out it.
  • He has another one in "The Good Deed" when after another failed attempt at helping someone causes a missile to launch toward the sun. Wander lets himself sink into a mud puddle until Sylvia snaps him out of it.
  • Sylvia tries to keep him from falling into this in "The Flower" after they witness Dominator's near-complete destruction of the Galaxy. However, it's ultimately averted as Wander states that even though he WAS sad about it, he hadn't lost hope.
• Hidden Depths: "The Wanders" implies that the reason he's so compassionate is because he feels helpless himself, and judging by the way he recoils when Sylvia tries to re-merge his helpless side he may, on some level, hate that part of him.
  • On a more comedic note, "The Matchmaker" reveals he loves old timey candlestick making.
  • He can also play a wide variety of musical instruments, such as the piano, the saxophone, the electric guitar, and, of course the banjo.
• Hippie Name: And it's only his latest. In this case, Sylvia gave it to him by accident when she called him a "wandering weirdo."
  Wander: "Wander"...huh. I like the sound of that!
• Homeless Hero: In "The It", it's mentioned by Peepers that Wander doesn't have a house. He even mentions in "The Family Reunion" that he and Sylvia live "wherever the stars take them", suggesting he might be orphaned.
• Honor Before Reason: He refuses to engage in anything violent, no matter how dangerous the villain is or if it's the only means to stop them. Even when he, Sylvia, Hater and Peepers find the legendary Robotmechabotatron to battle Dominator, he thinks the robot which was built to fight evil would be of better use for things like construction and transportation and his refusal to be a part of the battle leads to its destruction.
• The Hyena: Not usually, but in "The Party Poopers" when he's ordered to NOT laugh while in the presence of literal butt-faced aliens (intentionally) making every Double Entendre possible...
• I Have Many Names: He seems to actually just go by whatever name people feel like calling him. In another time and place, people called him Tumbleweed.
• Idea Ding: Wander makes the ding himself whenever he thinks of something.
• Ideal Hero:
  Craig McCracken: Hater represents who we are, Wander represents how we wish we could be.
• Idiot Hero: In some episodes. In others, he seems more oblivious than stupid.
• Immortal Immaturity: "The Waste of Time" reveals that he's over a thousand years old, but he is still a childlike goofball.
• Impractical Musical Instrument Skills: He's sometimes shown to play his banjo with only one hand strumming, without holding it even though it doesn't having a visible strap.
• Incoming Ham:
  Wander: IT'S ME, WANDER! ARE YOU HERE TO WATCH THE PLANETS ALIGN TOO?! LOOK! *pulls basket from hat* I EVEN PACKED A PICNIIIIIIIIIIC~
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: As an eternal optimist who sees the good in everyone, Wander will stop at nothing to help even the cruelest of villains find their way onto the path of good.
• Inexplicably Awesome: In the creator's own words, "I feel the mystery of Wander makes him more magical."
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Seen on occasion when his eyes get REALLY wide. Subverted whenever Lil' Bits/Baby Cakes uses her hypnosis on him.
• Keet: Wander is very enthusiastic, cheerful, and loud. He's like Sam I Am on a sugar rush.
• Karmic Trickster: Although he doesn't seem to be aware of this.
• Large Ham: He tends to rather dramatic and loud. And prone to start singing and doing dramatic speeches.
• Leitmotif: An upbeat banjo tune, referencing his positive attitude and signature instrument.
• Living Legend: The many good deeds and heroic acts he has performed throughout the centuries have earned him the moniker "The Hero of Legend".
• Love Freak: Seems to be this, considering his almost obsession with spreading friendship across the galaxy.
• Magnetic Hero: His selfless and good-natured personality has made him well liked across the universe.
• Manchild: Not as bad as Lord Hater's Psychopathic Manchild status, but he can be rather childish at times. A good example of this is “The Party Poopers” where he suddenly can’t help but laugh at Toilet Humour.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Sweet, free-spirited Wander as opposed to tough, down-to-earth Sylvia.
• Meaningful Name:
  • He's an interstellar traveler who goes wherever the stars take him.
  • Also has a tendency to wander off from Sylvia during her many close-up speeches.
  • It's revealed in "The Waste of Time" that he chose his name after Sylvia referred to him as a "wandering weirdo".
• Mellow Fellow: Alternates between this and Keet as part of his relaxed, positive outlook on life.
• Morality Pet: To Sylvia. In "The Rider", Sylvia admits that being friends with Wander makes her want to be a better person.
  • May qualify as Morality Chain as it's revealed that it was his influence which turned Sylvia away from being a bounty hunter.
• Motor Mouth: In his manic moments.
• Mysterious Past: We never learn his backstory during the show and nobody in-universe seems aware of where he came from. We do get a few hints:
  • Firstly, that he's much older than he looks - eons ago in another galaxy, he befriended Major Threat at another planetary convergence.
  • Secondly, that Wander is not his real name. He's gone by the name of "Tumbleweed" in the past, and possibly several others.
  • Thirdly, the episode "The Wanders" reveals that he wants to help because he knows what it's like to feel helpless; the helpless part of him is heard whispering "home", Wander seems to be scared of that part of him, and he sheds a tear when reunited with it. The implication is that Wander lost his home to some terrible evil and that's why he wanders the stars as a nomad, possibly the Last of His Kind.

N-R

• New-Age Retro Hippie: He's a pacifist, a vegetarian, a nomad, a promoter of the Power of Love and a Friend to All Living Things. Sylvia's grandmother calls him a "dirty space hippie." Craig McCracken has implied that one of his inspirations was folk musician Pete Seeger.
• Nice Guy: The promos even call him "The friendliest face in outer space!"
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: During the episode "The It" Wander attempts to distract Hater with a game of tag. And it works until Peepers realizes he can use Hater being "It" to chase the other villains off their planets and take them over. And then, when Hater absent-mindedly high fives one of the watchdogs, the role of it is passed on and gives rise to a new force of evil in the galaxy...Ted from accounting.
• Non-Action Guy: As an Actual Pacifist, he won't fight under any circumstances, and we do mean "any". When Sylvia asks him to "cover" her, he does it with a blanket.
• Non-Action Protagonist: The titular protagonist Wander is this, being an Actual Pacifist Love Freak who generally has his pacifism extend to almost suicidal degrees of naivete. Despite this, he generally leaves any fighting to Sylvia; his magnetic charm and firm belief in redemption ends up turning over a great deal of people to his cause, and his cunning often peeks out from under the lazy idiot disguise. Being a Badass Pacifist, he has a tendency to rely on his wit to get him out of scrapes.
  • The episode "The Wanders" reveals more on this; it shows that Wander is a pacifist because of a specific key aspect of his personality — a lonely, helpless, and frightened child, representing how helpless he was in his childhood himself, which is why he wants to help everyone. Without this aspect, Wander is a daring and heroic action-packed hero who seeks to vanquish evil, even Lord Hater.
• The Noseless: Doesn't appear to have a nose despite being able to smell things.
• Oblivious to Hatred: It's often left unclear whether he's oblivious to Hater's hatred of him, or knows and doesn't care due to his kindness-conquers-all philosophy.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Wander is actually more than clever enough to outwit the villains he faces without even trying, but even while he's doing it he seems like a fun-loving, oblivious goofball. There are a few times he visibly drops the act for the audience and lets on that he really does know what he's doing, but it's rare enough that it's easy to mistake him for The Fool.
• Offscreen Teleportation: Used with Rule of Funny.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: He holds a conversation with himself in "The Greater Hater" where he asks what kind of name "Wander" is and his "reply" seems to be cut off in the middle of saying it's not his real name. It's eventually revealed that he once went by "Tumbleweed", though this is likely yet ANOTHER alias. The implication here is that Wander has been through many many names, though his real name remains unknown.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • In "The Boy Wander", you know you're up against purest evil if this little guy treats someone as a legitimate threat. Subverted though. Even though Dr. Screwball Jones is indeed a legitimate threat, he's not much bigger a threat than other villains.
  • In "The Greater Hater", Wander agrees with Sylvia that Lord Dominator may not be a good person after all. Besides Dr. Screwball, this is one of the very few times Wander thinks he can't befriend someone.
• Parental Abandonment: We have yet to learn if he has a family or even any parents.
• Perpetual Smiler: As you could probably tell by the image.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: In "The Greatest" he's able to best Hater (who is at least three or four times his size) in every single competition they try - including pushups, a "ring the bell with the mallet" puzzle, and arm wrestling (in which he accidentally breaks Hater's arm off.)
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Sylvia. They're an interspecies nomad team who trot the galaxy in tandem, they do everything together and are viewed more or less as an unit by their enemies. Each appears to be the only family the other has. Sylvia does have parents and three brothers, but she ran away from home at some point.
• The Pollyanna: He's almost always happy and cheerful, even around enemies.
• The Power of Friendship: His preferred ways of defeating villains. Interestingly, as shown in "The Wanders", without the part of his personality that knows what it's like to be afraid, sad, and hopeless, he abandons these in favor of the more traditional "defeat evil through battle" method.
• The Power of Love: Strongly believes in this, as quoted in "The Egg".
• Really 700 Years Old: "The Waste of Time" shows that he's seen at least two Galactic Conjunctions, making him over a thousand.
• Redhead In Green: His fur is reddish and he wears a green hat.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Sylvia's blue.
• The Reveal:
  • "The Wanders" give us a first look at Wander's backstory: he's the happy-go-lucky helper of today because he knows what it's like to be helpless himself, which he experienced sometime in his past.
  • It's revealed in "The Battle Royale" that Wander is a vegetarian, as mentioned by Sourdough as he pretends to eat him. It's been hinted he's this throughout the series: for example, the food he's eaten contain no meat (the food and sandwiches he brings in "The Picnic", the giant hoagie in "The Tourist", the Triple Pickle Cream Pie in "The Helper"); the eggs he makes in "The Breakfast" were growing on a tree; and in "The Family Reunion", when Sylvia and her brothers all have meat, Wander requests to have a salad instead.

S-Z

• Sad Clown: Wander is a guy that is always there to cheer and help everybody that he comes across, but in season 2's The Wanders we find out that he does this because he knows what it's like to be afraid, sad and hopeless himself. The key aspect of his personality is in the form of a lonely and frightened child with no one to help him; without this, he's a daring and heroic individual who vows to vanquish all evil, including Hater.
• Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: He likes doing this, such as saying "Ding!" when he gets an idea.
• Scatting: He sometimes does this during songs.
• Secret Identity Vocal Shift: When in hero mode, his high-pitched simpleton voice becomes deeper and more husky-like a la Batman.
• Series Goal: To spread love throughout the galaxy and help those in need.
• Shipper with an Agenda: Subverted. When he finds out that Lord Dominator is a woman, he sets up a fake Infinity +1 Sword style weapon so Lord Hater can see her and finally get a girlfriend. Even though he does want the two of them to be happy together, a part of the reason he ships them is because he believes that Love Redeems. He gives up in "My Fair Hatey" when Dominator makes it clear that she isn't interested (and tries to murder both him and Hater.)
• Shrouded in Myth: To the extent that, save for the youngest, a group of kids he and Sylvia help during "The Legend" never realize that the titular legend their wildly varying stories describe is the unsuspecting kind-hearted Dixie-accented furry orange being helping them get back to the escape ship and their parents. And he's perfectly happy with that, because even though the stories aren't true, they give people hope.
• Signature Headgear: His special big floppy green hat, which doubles as a Bag of Holding whenever he needs something. It's also heavily implied to be a living sentient.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: This is Wander's MO. Whenever anyone (usually Sylvia) is explaining to him why he needs to stay put and the camera focuses on their face, you can bet that by the time it pulls back out, Wander will have, well, wandered off by that point. This is lampshaded by Sylvia a few times.
  • Averted in "The Heebie Jeebies", where Sylvia assumes Wander had wandered off mid-sentence but discovers that he in fact had not.
• Sudden Eye Colour: Though most of the time he only has pupils, he will occasionally grow green irises during moments of emotional urgency.
• Super Mode: He has one in "The Boy Wander", complete with a deep voice to match.
• Sweet Home Alabama: He speaks in a pronounced Dixie accent, plays the banjo, and is about the nicest guy you could ever meet.
• Symbol Motif Clothing: Almost everything he owns has a star on it, such as his hat, which has a star button on the front, and his banjo, which has a star on the handle and another on the back.
• Trademark Favorite Food: He often mentions having a taste for triple-pickle pie.
• Virtuous Vegetarianism: Wander is the All-Loving Hero who was explicitly stated to be a vegetarian in "The Battle Royale", though the series had hinted at it all along — he's never shown eating meat even when given the opportunity. Such a lifestyle reinforces Wander's lack of malice and desire for everyone to be happy, as though his obsession with helping and being friendly to everyone (with exceedingly rare exceptions) weren't enough.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Put him face to face with an evil dictator and his minions, or some bloodthirsty monster? No problem, he'll just annoy them into submission. But put him in a situation in which he needs to resist temptation...
• We Help the Helpless: Wander's modus operandi. Most episodes are dedicated to Wander trying to help someone in need. According to "The Wanders", he does this because he knows what it's like to be helpless.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: Possibly. He briefly dresses up as a woman in "The Greatest" and "The Good Deed" and in "The Fugitives," he seems a little TOO eager when Sylvia asks him to play dress up.
  • In "The Date", he gets kicked across the restaurant, and emerges literally a second later in a waiter's uniform.
  • From the same episode, he dresses up as a quintessential Southern Belle to stop a wedding between Sylvia and Lord Hater.
  • In "The Enemies", both Hater and Brad Starlight have dressed as women to try to trick Wander into their respective traps. Wander shows up, happily asks why they didn't tell him they were playing dress-up; then is revealed to be wearing a dress just like theirs with a blue bow on the top of his head.
  • In "The Wanders", when his personality is split into sentient fragments, we see that at least two of them are female. Whatever this represents, he's apparently quite comfortable with it.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Wander is afraid of venomous bugs, as shown in "The Night"... Though it may have been because he was pinned down and they were crawling over his face at the time.
  • He was also shown in "The Heebie Jeebies" to be afraid of mimes, although it should be noted that the mimes in question were ghost mimes with Slasher Smiles.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: His attitude towards the universe. In "The Prisoner", he says something like that in his sleep.
  • He genuinely believes that anyone, no matter how evil, has good inside them and can be redeemed. This becomes a major plot point in season 2 with the appearance of Lord Dominator, who challenges these beliefs. He ultimately keeps his optimistic view of the universe despite her turning down his offer of redemption.
• Your Size May Vary: He sometimes shrinks a bit in size when riding Sylvia.

His Hat

Wander: A funny thing, Sylvie. Y'see, over the years, I've learned that this hat doesn't give you what you want, it gives you what you need.

As the name implies, Wander's trademark green hat and holder of his other trademark banjo. But it doesn't just look snazzy, Wander's hat is as alive as it is magic, able to give whoever uses it whatever they need - but not necessarily what they want. Most people who aren't Wander tend to not get the difference, leading to hilarity ensuing. It doesn't say or do much on its own, but it and Wander are very close thanks to Wander rescuing it from a pair of would-be conquerors trying to abuse its power.

It had a focus episode Once a Season: "The Hat" in season 1, and "The Bad Hatter" in season 2.

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• Animate Inanimate Object: To an extent. It can't move much on its own, but it's definitely alive.
• Apple of Discord: Wander reveals it was this once upon a time between two warlords who fought over it to give it everything they wanted. Wander actually stole it from them to keep the two from fighting and, since he didn't want to abuse its power, it came to willingly be his. Indeed when Hater gets his hands on it and Peepers sees its magical potential, they start fighting over it so much that it causes it to overload and flood their ship with items until Wander comes to take it off their hands.
• Bag of Holding: Able to create so many objects that it once flooded Hater's entire ship.
• Dark and Troubled Past: It was once an unwilling Artifact of Doom for a pair of galactic warlords, until Wander rescued it. They've been inseparable ever sense.
• Do-Anything Robot: It has a solution for every situation, though they're sometimes unorthodox. It was, however, unable to do anything about the black hole in "A Hole... Lotta Nuthin."
• The Dog Bites Back: After spending several hours being tortured by Hater and eventually fought over by him and Peepers into giving them whatever they demand of it, it eventually erupts into a massive geyser of objects the two of them requested, pinning them to the ceiling of Hater's ship until Wander retrieves it.
• Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: It only gives what people need, and not what people want. If pestered to give them what they want, this angers and/or frightens the hat to the point it starts spewing a geyser of multiple items.
• Expressive Accessory: Sorta, when not on Wander's head, it's rim can often be drawn like a mouth which can be viewed as smiling or frowning.
• Mundane Utility: It can conjure pretty much anything, including a live unicorn, but spends most of its time acting as a travel pack and occasional sleeping bag.
• Poor Communication Kills: Since it can't talk at all, it can't explain why it gives what it gives. Sylvia spends all of "The Hat" trying to figure out its plan so they can get Wander out of trouble.
• Silent Snarker: Its increasingly insulting (but totally accurate) suggestions to Hater when he tries to get the perfect present for Dominator out of it, especially after he ignores its first few gifts. The best example being when he asked it for whatever Dominator wanted most, and it gave him a primed laser pistol pointed directly at his face. Later, it gives him breath mints.
• The Speechless: Since it's a hat, it cannot speak at all. It's sometimes expressive, but most of the time the only way to understand what it thinks is to figure out why it's giving you whatever it is at the moment.
• Trickster Mentor: While its gifts can lead the user into trouble, especially if they don't use them like they're supposed to, it's always just what they need - even if they have to learn to think outside the box.
• Troll: Mentor though it may be, it clearly has fun messing with people. It even folds its rim into a smirk when it leads people into particularly ironic situations.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With a bit of Fire-Forged Friends thrown in. It and Sylvia don't always get along, but they do care about each other.