This page is for Jason Funderberker, the person. For the frog, see Jason Funderburker.
"So then...a guy with an axe showed up—![1]"
—Jason Funderberker, to group in My Reverie | Into the Unknown.
Jason Funderberker is Wirt's "competition" for his crush Sara. Wirt mentions Jason multiple times throughout the series and believes that Sara will go out with Jason instead of himself because Jason is the "total package"; Jason has expressed some interest in Sara. Despite Wirt's initial observations, Jason seems to be an organized person, but at times comes across as awkward.
He is voiced by Cole Sanchez.
Appearance[]
Jason Funderberker seems to be an average height person, being shorter than Sara, but around the same height as Wirt. Overall, he has quite a large, round head, light brown "poofy" hair, very small eyes, and quite an odd nose shape.
Cartoon Network Studios: Over the Garden Wall Character Sheet. Character Design: by Mikkel Sommer Character Color: by Carol Wyatt.[2]
Jason's outfit consists of a rich green suit, complemented with a yellow dress shirt, orange tie, yellow pocket protector, and brown dress shoes. No one is sure if Jason's outfit is a Halloween costume or casual apparel.
In the concept art for Jason we see how his face design was changed a bit before decking on his final design.
Character Concept Sheet by Mikkel Sommer.[3]
His hair was parted at the fringe, his hair was rounder, and even his nose was triangular before his design was finalized. His tie had polka-dots, but the tie pattern was likely scrapped because Sara's Halloween costume has polka-dots. His eyes also appeared to be larger, similar to the size of Greg's eyes and Wirt's, but was ironically made smaller.
Personality[]
Interestingly, despite being a character that Wirt emphasizes to personally be 'that annoying guy', Wirt also regards him as someone everyone likes. Which appears to be the case because during the Halloween Party and then later the Cemetery, Jason is generally liked by everyone. He does seem a bit awkward with how he speaks and behaves. He does appear to be shy but tries to be outgoing, in reference to the moment his and Sara's friends enter the cemetery and he tries to scare them Sara first with a jump-scare, and then his storytelling inside the Cemetery which both lead him nowhere. Jason does not seem to antagonize Wirt as much as Wirt alludes to, in terms of how close he tries to get with Sara, and based on his appearance in the hospital in episode/chapter 10.
History[]
Only in chapter 9 and chapter 10 does the viewer actually see Jason, who turns out to be meek and not well-liked by Sara. Gregory names his pet frog after Jason at Wirt's suggestion, deeming it "the perfect frog name", much to the real Jason's confusion.
Relationships[]
Wirt[]
Not much has been observed from Jason's limited interaction with Wirt, other than both of them being awkward characters.
Jason Greeting Wirt at the Halloween Party.
When Wirt is speaking with Sara, Jason hangs around in the background, but never interferes with their interactions. He was present in the hospital with Sara when he and Greg awaken, and in the Distillatoria comic, although it is a hallucination, Jason seems concerned for him and Greg after they get out of the lake. We do not know if they've exchanged words to each other besides greetings.
Sara[]
Jason trying to Hold Sara's Hands in the Cemetery on Halloween.
As schoolmates, Sara gets along with Jason Funderberker. Everyone seems to get along with him and it appears that Sara's friend group is also his friend group. He does express attraction to Sara, but this attraction is likely because of Sara's demeanor to include others in group outings, and kindness toward everyone. For example, the way she consoled him as they entered the cemetery[2]after his failed attempt of a joke.
Trivia[]
- On the official tumblr page[2], it is stated that Jason the human spells his surname as "Funderberker", while Greg's Frog spells it as Funderburker, to avoid confusion.
- On Patrick McHale's tumblr, he claims the inspiration for Jason Funderberker's design was himself.
- Seems to be very bad at jokes and scaring people with the way Sara tells him, "It's okay Funderberker, it's okay", after failing to scare them in the cemetery[1].
Gallery
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References[]
[1] https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/over-the-garden-wall/episode-9-season-1/chapter-9-my-reverie/699818/
[2] https://jasonfunderburker.tumblr.com/post/102603808229/jason-funderberker-character-design-by-mikkel
[3] https://jasonfunderburker.tumblr.com/post/102060515482/ladies-and-gentlemen-jason-funderburker-hair-and