WMG / Arlo the Alligator Boy

aka: I Heart Arlo

Arlo got his alligator looks from mom

• Like Ansel, Arlo’s Mom is disguising herself as a human. Arlo’s mom and Ansel are unaware of each other's secrets.
  • If you look closely in the flashback, you CAN notice she has red hair, confirming he at least got his hair color from his mom.

Arlo, Bertie, Tony, Furlecia, Alia, Marcellus, Ansel and The beast

......are mutants.

Arlo's mother is not dead

• Contrary to what the film may have you believe, her name was left ambiguous because the series is going to reveal more about her. My theory is that, upon giving birth to Arlo, she had no choice but to abandon him and go into hiding for certain circumstances. Maybe she's part of a society of alligator people who hide away from the general public, to go with the above guess that she wore a disguise.
• Alternatively, Arlo's mom was the one who ensured that he got abandoned. You'd think that she'd try and stop Ansel from leaving their son. The evidence is flimsy, but the only possible directions this could go is that she is either dead or was a Gold Digger who will become an antagonist later on.
  • She could become an Evil Counterpart to her son. While Arlo averts the evil crocodile trope, it will be Played Straight for his mother.

The next antagonist will be racist to non-humans

• Better yet, it could be a parody of hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan, depicting them as dangerous yet woefully inept when it comes to facing the consequences of their actions. That shouldn't diminish them as a threat, but still.
  • The antagonist will be the Controlling and pure-obsessed Neat Freak leader of the hate organization and is hellbent determined to wipe out “ugly, disgusting and gross mutated freaks” from earth and make the world a “100% pure Utopia”. I imagine them being Lord Hater to Arlo’s Wander when trying to capture Arlo and his friends.
    • the twist is the Antagonist is revealed to be Arlo’s mom. Sure, it would seem like a very Boomerang Bigot thing, but still.

Possible episode ideas:

• I'll start! One could be one about that pumpkin-headed kid (possibly Gordy, the cut character) tormenting everyone, especially Marcellus, with pranks, forcing action to be taken.
• A Sea Monster (perhaps the giant cephalopod seen in the beginning of the film) showing up to either cause havoc or something else.
  • Confirmed.
• Arlo and his friends meeting Bertie’s family.
• Ansel meeting Edmée.
  • Confirmed...maybe. See below.
• Edmée coming to visit Seaside By The Seashore and meeting Arlo's friends.
  • Confirmed.
• Edmée getting arrested by the Feds, then Arlo and friends planning to bust her out of jail.
• Jeromio coming to live with Arlo.
  • As seen in the trailer, he's going to reappear too.
• Ansel and Arlo having a “Father and Son” bonding moment.
  • Confirmed.
• Alia getting her driver's license.
• Arlo losing his voice and having to undergo throat surgery, facing the possible chance he may never sing again.
• The families of Tony's gang.
• Holiday specials, indeed. The Halloween Episode should be a full-half hour, while others such as Valentine's Day, Father's Day or Thanksgiving should be the standard 11 minutes. The Christmas Episode should be a full-hour special, like "Spirit of Christmas" and "Home: For the Holidays".
• Flashbacks of Arlo's swamp years, as well as ones from Ansel's childhood. Arlo's gang should get childhood flashbacks as well.
• Arlo learning more about his mother.
• Extended Beauregard family members, especially those on Ansel's side and maybe those on Arlo's mother's side. Ansel's members may be bird people like him.
• One of Ansel's childhood bullies comes back to make amends with him. Ansel of course isn't so quick to forgive, but through Arlo's persuasion he eventually comes around.
• Judging from the trailer:
  • Arlo and the gang prepare for the grand opening of Seaside by the Seashore, but face last-minute decisions.
  • Arlo discovering the ins and outs of living on his own.
  • Arlo helping a visiting lobster woman fit in in the city.
  • Arlo going on a cruise with Ansel and expecting father-son bonding, but his friends get in the way.
  • Tony asking Arlo and the others to pretend to be his family so he can lie to his parents about having a successful lifestyle.
  • Arlo trying to teach Alia how to be more vigilant and/or embrace her eccentricities.
  • Arlo shedding his scales, and Furlecia shedding her fur.

Arlo's crocodilian appearance is because he has the same condition as Killer Croc

He's essentially an Alternate Universe version of Waylon Jones who never turned to villainy.

Each character is a metaphor for a real-world marginalized group.

This was a thought that came to me the other day while watching the film and thinking about its themes of ostracization and accepting of differences. I'm fully aware some of these comparisons are stretching, so don't take this theory too seriously.

• Arlo: African-Americans. Not only is he voiced by a black actor, but he was raised in the South and loves jazz music.
• Bertie: Overweight/oversized people. This one is the most obvious, since not only is it a plot point that she's enormous herself, but her voice actress is plus-sized as well.
• Furlecia: LGBT+ individuals. They have an Ambiguous Gender, with a feminine appearance, pronouns, and personality combined with a masculine voice, suggesting them to be either genderfluid or transgender, and they're voiced by a gay genderfluid actor.
• Teeny Tiny Tony: Both Italians and people with dwarfism. The latter is obvious, given his name and size, but his ethnicity could be a reference to how Italians were considered their own race distinct from whites until around the fifties.
• Alia: Asians. She is voiced by an Asian actress, is a species commonly used to represent Asian countries (tiger), is implied to have problems finding a job in America, and she Drives Like Crazy which is a common Asian stereotype. Plus, Asians were often portrayed as cats in some older cartoons such as Dr. Seuss's political cartoons and Disney films such as Lady and the Tramp.
• Marcellus: This one is kind of difficult, and here's where the theory starts to stretch. He's portrayed as a human-fish hybrid, and is rescued from being imprisoned in an aquarium. Could he be a stand-in for intelligent cetaceans such as dolphins and orcas, which are often seen by animal rights activists as non-human people who shouldn't be kept in captivity?
• Ansel: This one is also difficult, and may also be a leap (albeit to a lesser extent than Marcellus). But he's portrayed as extremely intelligent while also having a difficult time empathizing with people like Arlo, which are common traits associated with those on the autism spectrum (speaking as someone with Asperger's myself). He attempts to hide his true nature as a bird man from the public like how many autistic individuals will try to hide their mental disorder for fear of being bullied. Also, him being a bird man could be a reference to how birds such as corvids and parrots are considered some of the smartest animals just below humans, just like how individuals with Asperger's are often stereotyped as having unusual intelligence.

Bertie is a lesbian.

It would make sense, since her voice actress is a lesbian herself.

Ruff and Stucky have reformed and started a new business.

Given that the two were moved by Arlo and Ansel's reunion at the end of the movie, they decided to undergo a Heel–Face Turn and have a recurring role in the series by opening a new business at SBS which has nothing to do with alligators.

• Alternately, they will go through Villain Decay and become more of goofy con-artists than legitimate threats.
  • Jossed. They hold Edmee for ransom in order to lure Arlo back to the swamp as part of the Bog Lady's plot, even forgetting the lesson from the movie within 24 hours. Granted, they do inform Arlo and co about the Bog Lady through song, but then beat a hasty retreat.

Arlo got his shirt from Ansel.

As shown in Ansel's Dark and Troubled Past, Ansel's top from when he was a little boy looks near identical to the one Arlo wears now.

Episode length.

• The series will most likely be a Two Shorts format, the traditional form of multiple series spun-off from a film (ie. Dreamworks' Spirit: Riding Free, Turbo F.A.S.T., Home: Adventures with Tip & Oh and The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show, and Nickelodeon's The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius); or air single 11-minute episodes in a Quarter Hour Short format, like the 2019 reboot of Johnny Test. Some episodes will be double-length, and specials will last 45-50 minutes.
• 20 episodes have been ordered; either the first season will most likely run the whole length ordered or split in half, like what happened with Centaurworld. Should it be the case of the latter, then it would be 20 11-minute segments complied into 10 half-hours.
  • The series is Quarter Hour Short. The first season ran 19 episodes, with the last as a full half-hour, comprising two episodes whole.

Musical moments.

• Arlo singing a duet with someone that isn't Bertie or Ansel, and either member of Tony's gang getting a solo.
• Alia should definitely get her own solo, given her Ensemble Dark Horse status from the movie.
• Duets between Arlo and Ansel, and maybe one between Ansel and Bertie.

Arlo will have an Evil Doppelgänger

Probably named something like Carlos the Crocodile Kid.

The swamp animals are now on better terms with Arlo.

In episodes where Arlo comes to visit the swamp, the animals have warmed up to him and now treat him kindly.

• The animals hating Arlo during his time in the swamp might be a result of the Bog Lady's magic, as she had been secretly protecting him all his life which he didn't know. Now that she's gone, the animals are now friends with him.

Each new season will have Arlo age up a year.

Arlo is 15 at the start of the franchise. In Season 2, he will age up to 16, in Season 3 he'll turn 17, and so on.

Season 2 will center around the mystery of Arlo's mother

Given that Season 1 generally revolved around Seaside and its Uncondemning, Season 2 will revolve around a similar Half-Arc Season focusing on Arlo's mother, whose name was not listed on his hospital bracelet from the movie.

Season 2 will be Darker and Edgier

The introduction of the Bog Lady in the first season finale seems to indicate that's where things are headed.

Everything that happened in the swamp is a result of the Bog Lady's influence.

The animals hating Arlo might be because the Bog Lady made them hate him, given that she was secretly protecting him his whole life. Edmée hiding from the Feds could've been an illusion created by the Bog Lady so she doesn't leave the swamp, given that she's committed to everything living there and refuses to let anyone leave. The Bog Lady also might've summoned Arlo to the swamp when he was forsaken into the sewers.

Arlo's strength and alligator abilities are based on his emotions.

Arlo was unable to free Edmée from her cage before the Bog Lady ensnares him; after he's released from her Mind Control, he fights against her and breaks Edmée's cage without any problem. This might be a cause of Arlo's determination resurfacing once he hears the girls arrive; he lets his guard down the more scared and desperate he gets.

Ansel and Elena will become a couple.

Seeing his interactions with Elena in the final two episodes of Season 1, the following season should focus on Arlo noticing this and encouraging him to confess his love to her, followed by another arc where he proposes to her and they get married.

Arlo’ shedding will start to make him look more like his dad.

• At some point given his ability to shed he might have a day looking like a human .
• He may also grow wings or at the very least feathers .

the bog woman is still alive

• Up for extreme debate but her “Death” could have just been her sinking into the swamp or in a compromise of perspectives she did melt into the swamp maybe to save her energy.

The bog woman is arlos mom

• In a leap of faith similar to the theory Arlo gets his looks from his mom(see the theory above) She does look alligator like .
• Maybe at some point she took on the form of a human to get a child and made sure he found his way to the swamp.
• She does have mind control powers coupled with the lack of a name on Arlo’s tag maybe she wiped peoples mind of her existence?
• It would explain why she seems bent on making sure Arlo stayed in the swamp more so then just wanting all creatures there at her fingertips.

The movie/series is set in the future of The Oxboy.

Both stories are about Half-Human Hybrid children who are part animal, and in Ansel's case, hide it out of fear of prejudice. The Oxboy could have taken place in the past of the setting, and hybrids have slowly started to be accepted again. It's possible that Ansel grew up on stories of hybrids being discriminated against, which is why he's so much more nervous about revealing it.

Future Arcs.

Considering season 1 had an arc about fixing Seaside By The Seashore with a side arc of Edméa getting kidnapped and the gang trying to rescue her, each season could focus on a different main arc and a side arc.

• As mentioned many, many times before, the mystery of what happened to Arlo's mother could become an arc.

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