Imaginary Friend

Imaginary friends are beings which are the result of cognitive manifestation from a child's mind. They can come in all shapes and sizes; ranging from something completely made up to something based on a particular object, animal, human, place, or thing. In the Foster's universe, these creatures live all over the world.

Creation

Imaginary friends are created through the imagination of a child who desires a friend. Imaginary friends can come in all shapes, sizes, species, etc. and their creation and form don't seem to be limited by anything -- so long as the child can think it, it can happen. It seems as though only humans can create them as imaginary friends don't seem to be able to create imaginary friends.

The fact that imaginary friend creation is not as simple as it seems is further proven when Bloo goes to Mac's school's show and tell and impresses the kids so much that they try to imagine an imaginary friend like Bloo. However, none of the imaginary friends match Bloo in appearance (except one) or personality. This could be because it seemed most of the imaginary friends take some sort of physical trait based off their creator's own appearance or personality. It could also be because imagining an imaginary friend based on an already existing imaginary friend is difficult or impossible or that the process of imagining an imaginary friend is simply more of an occurrence that just happens rather than something that can be controlled. Imaginary friends can also be created by accident as shown with Goo in a few episodes and implied by the Scribbles (the first imaginary friends created by babies) due to there being hundreds of them.

Wilt reveals that there are also imaginary friends who are "unimaginative". Since not all children are very creative, there are those who simply copy from what they see on television i.e. in Foster's, there is an imaginary friend who is copied off of Mojo Jojo from The Powerpuff Girls.

Appearance

They can be humanoid, human-like, animal-like, or anthropomorphic objects (including food), and seem limited in shape and size only by the imagination of their creators. Most non-human-like imaginary friends are nude. Additionally, due to how human-like some imaginary friends are, it can be difficult to identify them as imaginary friends as shown in "Imposter's Home for Um... Make 'Em Up Pals", I Only Have Surprise for You", and "Bus the Two of Us". Some animal-like imaginary friends can also be difficult to identify as imaginary friends due to how animal-like they are as shown with the imaginary puppies in "Who Let the Dogs In?"

Biology

Due to the fantastical nature of imaginary friends, their biology vastly differs from humans with the possible exception of some human-like imaginary friends. They can be an anthropomorphic object, including a food or something from a fantasy book. Nonetheless, most of them have to eat. In "Dinner is Swerved" the giant turkey leg mentions he doesn't eat as it would be killing his own kind but in "Read 'Em and Weep" a food imaginary friend called Sam Burger mentions that he is hungry and had to eat coconuts when stranded on an island to survive. In "Let Your Hare Down," Eduardo tells Frankie he had to eat chairs for three weeks, showing that imaginary friends' stomachs can digest objects that humans would die trying to eat. In addition, imaginary friends seem more flexible and, because of their cartoon-like bodies, can be stretched into places or endure far more pain than most humans. However, they are capable of dying as shown with food friends who will die if they are completely eaten.

Despite their biological needs, imaginary friends don't age like humans do, they stay the same "age" as they were when they're first created. The only way they can pass away naturally is when they're completely forgotten, as stated by Duchess in "House of Bloo's" and the creator himself. They also cannot reproduce .

"Bloooo" establishes that humans and imaginary friends can catch the same diseases, as shown when Mac and Bloo both caught some sort of cold or flu type disease. When Bloo was infected with this disease, he became white, delirious, and congested and he groaned a lot.

Imaginary friends also require sleep, as shown in "The Sweet Stench of Success". They also need to use bathrooms, as shown in "Busted".

Personality

Most imaginary friends have a variety of personalities and individual freedom, though this depends. Some imaginary friends are anthropomorphic objects (which even includes food), animals, or people. Interestingly, all imaginary friends seem to have intelligence. There are a few imaginary friends who are extremely dangerous and cruel. They are called Extremeasaurs and are locked away as they will eat, kill, and/or destroy anything in their path.

Relationship with creators

Imaginary friends seem to be mostly companions for children when they are young and it is the trend to abandon an imaginary friend and put them up for adoption once a child is considered too old to own one anymore. Despite this, there are a few imaginary friends who remain lifelong friends with their creators, the most notable examples being Mac and Bloo and Madame Foster and Mr. Herriman.

Relationship with family

Friends seem to have names bestowed upon them by their creators but never seem to have a last name or take on the family name of their owners (possibly since, in most cases, their owners will one day abandon them). While close to their creators, they don't treat their creators as parents but instead as friends and act as their companions. Their relationship with the parents is mostly varied, with some forcing a child to abandon the friend (like Mac's mother or Bendy's creator Gregory's parents) due to them being too old, not being able to afford the friend, or because the friend causes too much trouble for them. Parents are usually the ones who control whether or not a child is allowed to have an imaginary friend.

Creation Process

Interestingly, the process of creating an imaginary friend can be simple but difficult for some people. Terrence had a hard time imagining a friend at first but did manage to create Red when he relaxed and thought about the traits he wanted Red to have. In addition, the spoiled rich girl in "House of Bloo's" could not imagine one, claiming she shouldn't have to waste time imagining one instead of simply buying one (her mother states it is because she gets headaches). It seems that creating an imaginary friend requires an imaginative mind, allowing for people with high imagination like Goo to easily make as many friends as possible. However, it is also possible to show self-restraint in imagining a friend, as Goo has shown in subsequent episodes.

Only children can create imaginary friends, as they get through puberty and start losing their childlike innocence, they will lose their ability to.

Interestingly, despite the fact that children can imagine imaginary friends, many families choose to adopt one. This could be because only certain children can produce imaginary friends or children don't wish to imagine imaginary friends that prove to be undesirable and get rid of them. It could also be that the process of creating an imaginary friend is a random occurrence more than something that can be controlled so children don't wish to imagine a random friend and would rather adopt one.

Adoption

Traditionally, imaginary friends who wish to be adopted go to Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends are cared for until some child adopts them. Interestingly, despite the fact children can imagine friends, many choose to instead adopt one.

Possibility of relationships with humans

While imaginary friends have been in relationships with each other, the idea of an imaginary friend and a human being together has never been addressed. However, in "Frankie My Dear" Prince Charming (a human-like imaginary friend) showed romantic interest in Frankie, so the idea doesn't seem entirely implausible, but it is not addressed in the story.

Basic Purpose of imaginary friend

The basic purpose of an imaginary friend seems to be to provide companionship to their child creators or serve some basic purpose the creator had in mind. Sometimes, imaginary friends like Dorkface or the Abraham Lincoln pen are created to do their creator's homework. Sometimes, teenage jerks create Extremosaurus's because they want to see them fight and be destructive. Some, like Ivan, were created to help their child (Ivan's creator Stevie is blind so Ivan was imagined to be his eyes).

Secondary Purpose of imaginary friends

The main purpose of imaginary friends seems to be to act as companions and/or servants to their creators. However, there seems to be another purpose. While imaginary friends are usually created based on the creator's desires and demands at the specific time of creation, the creators themselves don't always have control over what the personalities of their imaginary friends are. Sometimes the imaginary friends strongly resemble their creators as shown in "Good Wilt Hunting", but they seem to also represent something their creator lacks. For example, Wilt was created by Jordan Michaels for the purpose of teaching him to play basketball, though in reality he had been created to teach Jordan how to be a better person. In Eduardo's case, his creator Nina created him to scare away the neighborhood bullies and crooks but at the same time be kind and be able to help take care of her baby brother along with someone she could play with. Nina also states that he seems to have been created from her subconscious in order to help teach her how to defend herself and others, a lesson she didn't realize until she got older.

This seems to support the relationship between Mac and Bloo and Mr. Herriman and Madame Foster. The imaginary friends have nothing in common with their creators but retain a close relationship. It is possible the reason Bloo is selfish, narcissistic, rude, and arrogant is because he represents Mac's need to become someone who has more self-confidence and be more adventurous while Mr. Herriman may represent Madame Foster's need for order and more strict behavior. The relationship between Red and Terrence seems to symbolize this as well, as Terrence wanted to imagine a friend who was big, scary and ruthless who would destroy Bloo, but Red turned out to be sweet and friendly, only turning violent when provoked. He could represent Terrence's need for compassion, patience, and respect (none of which he has or even seems to want as he rejects Red when he shows these traits).

Treatment of/Caring for imaginary friends

Most imaginary friends, while acting as companions, receive a wide variety of different treatment depending on who owns them. While poor treatment of imaginary friends is condemned, it is unfortunately not uncommon. One of the biggest examples being in the episode "The Sweet Stench of Success", where Bloo is tricked into signing adoption papers with a sleazy director who treated Bloo like a slave and went so far as to lock him in a cage and force him to work long hours of commercials with little room for sleep. In "Emancipation Complication", the greedy Abraham Lincoln pen imaginary friend ironically sells off all of the imaginary friends to be slaves, further proving imaginary friends due occasionally suffer maltreatment.

Certain imaginary friends are in fact servants, the best example being the Scribbles. Another example would be in "Room with a Feud," where a calculator imaginary friend is adopted by a boy who seems to be a jock/bully who commands his new friend to do his homework for him.

Some are unfortunately imagined just to be food and eaten. The main examples being in "Dinner is Swerved," where it is shown that there are food imaginary friends that go into hiding for fear of being eaten (a perfectly justifiable reason). Also, in "Seeing Red," Terrence gets hungry and inadvertently imagines a pizza imaginary friend whom he eats with no regard.

This seems to be largely due to the fact that imaginary friends are not considered people and therefore seem to suffer some maltreatment as a result (especially those that are objects faced, imagined as servants, or are supposed to be a food supply).

Mr. Herriman once mentions there being an imaginary friend dietician that exists in "World Wide Wabbit", implying imaginary friends have slightly different diets or their biology is so different they have their own doctors, physicians, etc.

Life after abandonment

When a creator gets old enough or when a parent decides that they no longer want their child to have an imaginary friend, the friend is abandoned. The exact measures are taken or what becomes of an imaginary friend afterward is unknown. It seems imaginary friends can receive jobs as Coco managed to find a job in "Store Wars" and Mr. Herriman did as well in "Setting a President". While Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends does serve as a care facility, no other facility has been shown so far.

Powers

Imaginary friends, though normally quite harmless, can be imagined as being powerful beings, the most well-known example being World, an imaginary friend with what appeared to be unlimited powers in his toybox.

Population numbers

Though it is unknown how many friends there are in the world, due to the ability of children to imagine a infinite number of imaginary friends, it is possible they make up a large portion of the population.

List of Imaginary friends

A

• Abraham Lincoln Pen - Also known as "Lil' Lincoln"; a pen resembling Abraham Lincoln who was used to cheat on tests.
• Angel Dee Rangel - A black-and-white rabbit friend who can vanish from plain sight
• Armpit Joe - A pink octopus-like friend.

B

• Balloty - A ballot machine friend
• Belly Bob Norton - A fat, green imaginary friend.
• Bendy - A yellow Seuss-like friend with black zigzag stripes who likes blaming other people and was created by Gregory.
• Berry - A small, pink friend who falls in love with Bloo.
• Big Fat Baby - A large, beige-skinned human-like friend.
• Billy Copter
• Billy the Squid - A pink squid-like imaginary friend, also the drummer of Pizza Party.
• Bingo - A yellow dog-like friend
• Blake Superior - A tiger superhero-like friend.
• Bloo - The second main character of the series. He is a 5-year-old blue blob friend who was created by Mac.
• Bloppy Pants - A nervous cat-like friend who is also the vocalist of Pizza Party.
• Bob Zombie - A friend who resembles a zombie
• Bone - An anthropomorphic bone.
• Bongo - A clown friend who can be mistaken for an actual human.
• Boomer - A boombox-like imaginary friend.
• Boris the Florist - A pink warthog/gorilla hybrid friend.
• Bouncy - A pink rubber ball friend
• Bowling Paul - A friend with a bowling pin for a head.
• Brushy - A hairbrush friend who works at the Foster's hair salon.
• Bub the Dane - A blue, Danish-speaking friend who plays the guitar
• Bulbey - A lightbulb friend
• Burple Bear - A giant violet teddy bear-like friend.

C

• Cactina - A cactus friend
• Camcordy - A French, movie camera-like friend.
• Camery - A Polaroid camera-like friend.
• Captain Mayflower - A turkey superhero friend.
• Charlie Chicken Leg - An anthropomorphic piece of fried chicken.
• Cheese - A pale yellow friend who claims to like chocolate milk, created by Mac's neighbor Louise.
• Chester - A pale, vulture-like cowboy friend.
• Chewy - A pale-furred puppy friend with sharp fangs
• Chick Cluckers - A large chicken-like friend
• Chief Hoseynose - An elephant-like friend wearing a firefighter's outfit.
• Clambake - A thin, white imaginary friend.
• Clock - A clock imaginary friend.
• Clumsy - A pink elephant imaginary friend who wears a potato sack like a shirt.
• Coco - A bird/plane/palm tree friend who was discovered on an island. She is only capable of saying her own name, and can lay plastic eggs that contain various things inside.
• Cowboy Cow - A cow friend wearing cowboy attire.
• Crackers - A small pink puppy-like friend
• Creaky Pete - A hairy, elderly, laid-back friend who likes to rock on his chair.
• Cuffy - A friend who resembles a pair of handcuffs
• Cyrus - A purple sea serpent friend

D

• Dancey Pantalones - An imaginary friend considered the best dancer in the house
• Dennis - A yellow blob-shaped friend
• Deodor Ann - A friend who resembles a bar of deodorant
• Don Lickles - A cyclops imaginary friend with tongues for feet.
• Duchess - A Picasso-esque imaginary "friend"; Claims to be the most beautiful friend ever, despite what everyone else says.
• Dusty - A red hairball-like friend
• Dyno - A dinosaur imaginary friend.

E

• Eduardo - A large purple bull-like friend. Despite his looks, he is extremely cowardly.
• Eurotrish - An imaginary friend who was created somewhere in Europe. She was forced to go to Foster's due to her creators finding her singing annoying.
• Extremeasaur - A type of imaginary "friend" created by jerky teenagers. They are extremely dangerous.
• Eyeborg - A multi-eyed, blue cyborg friend.

F

• F. P. The Doodle Stick Figure
• Fido - A dog/fish hybrid friend
• Flashlighty - A floating, blue flashlight friend
• Fluffer Nutter - A small pink squirrel-like friend.
• Foofy Woogums - A small, pink, teddy bear-like friend who was lost by her creator at a train station.
• Foul Larry - A humanoid friend with a basketball for a head.
• Fridgy - A fridge shaped imaginary friend who enjoys running.
• Frit and Frat - A pair of dim-witted orange pear-shaped friends
• Frog - A hippie frog friend.
• Fuzzy Fred - A hairy green friend

G

• Galoot Palooka - A blue, caveman-like imaginary friend.
• Gary - An orange cat friend
• Geisel - A gray Seuss-esque friend
• George - A chocolate chip cookie friend
• George Mucus - A green slime-like friend.
• Glasses
• Goo's Blooregard (Japanese Bloo) - A friend who resembles Bloo, but speaks Japanese.
• Goo's Blooregard (Orange) - A Bloo-like friend who is orange instead of blue.
• Goo's Imaginary Friends - A list of friends created by Goo, a hyperactive child with a wild imagination.
• Goo's Mac (Pokadoted Tounge Mac) - A friend who resembles Mac, but has a polka-dot tongue.
• Goo's Mr. Herriman (Gibberish Mr. Herriman) - A friend who resembles Mr. Herriman, but speaks gibberish.
• Goody Gum Drop - An egg-shaped friend known for his love of candy
• Goofball John McGee - An imaginary friend who looks suspiciously like a human, with the only distinguishing feature being his elephant trunk.
• Gumbo - A chimpanzee-like imaginary friend with cinderblocks for feet.

H

• Haircrow - A scarecrow friend.
• Handy - A baseball glove-like friend.
• Hangy the Bat - A bat-like friend.
• Harold - A friend with a balloon for a body.
• Harry Herman - A friend covered in orange fur.
• Hootin' Andy - A well-dressed owl-like friend.
• Humpty Dumpty

I

• Imaginary Man - A superhero friend.
• Imaginary Puppies - Various friends who look like puppy dogs
• Iris - An imaginary friend who has multiple eyes.
• Ivan - A pale, multi-eyed friend created by a blind kid named Stevie to help him see.

J

• Jackie Khones - A green stick-shaped imaginary friend with one eye.
• Jambalaya - A purple octopus friend who claims to have psychic powers.
• Jethro Precious - A gray-headed friend with twigs for limbs and potatoes for feet
• Jimmy Shoes - An orange fuzzball who wears large sneakers
• Jokey - A clown imaginary friend.
• Juan - A male flea friend
• Juanita - A female flea friend and husband of Juan

K

• Keystone Blop - A short, blue policeman friend.
• King Arthur - A friend dressed as a king
• Kip and Dip - A pair of gargoyle-like friends who share a pair of pants.

L

• Lanterny - A red lantern-like friend who moves on one wheel.
• Lemon Lenny - A muscular friend with a lemon for a head.
• Leonardo Dilychee - A pink friend who is an artist

M

• Mabel Licorice - A red bear/demon-like friend.
• Madame Mustachio - A green female friend who has a moustache.
• Mandy Muffincake
• Masseusey - A green friend who resembles a Dr. Seuss character
• Mirrabelle - A friend who is a mirror on legs
• Moishe - A dreidel friend
• Mojo Jojo - A friend who looks suspiciously like Mojo Jojo from The Powerpuff Girls; Wilt describes him as an "unimaginative" imaginary friend.
• Moose - An ogre-like friend.
• Monsieur Oui - A French tear-like friend.
• Moptop - Also known as Wheelie; A tan wheeled friend who has messy pink hair.
• Morsey - A Morse code machine friend
• Mr. Edmonton - A fluffy caterpillar friend.
• Mr. Herriman - Madame Foster’s own friend; an uptight rabbit-like friend who creates all the rules of the house.
• Mushpot - A toadstool friend
• My Pet Donkey - A green donkey-like friend who works at the Foster's hair salon
• Myopic Patootie - A yellow friend with an eye for a butt.
• Myron Giant - A grey robot friend.

N

• Nemesis - A supervillainess friend who is Imaginary Man’s sister.
• Nester - A friend who resembles Clyde from Pac-Man.
• Never Leave Steve - A friend who supposedly never leaves his room.
• New Guy - A giant, burly bear/troll like friend who enjoys comedy.
• No Nose Ned - A small blue friend resembling Bloo.
• Nose Allison - A blue kangaroo-like friend whose head is a giant nose.
• Noteworth Bookingham - A blue notepad friend

O

• One Eye Cy - An obese cyclops-like friend.
• One-Eye Cat - An orange one-eyed cat friend
• Oscar - A large, yellow friend who wears kitchen equipment
• Oveny - An oven friend

P

• Paper - A friend resembling paper
• Peanut Butter - A brown friend with a southern accent
• Peas - A microscopic pea-shaped friend who wears a thimble as a hat.
• Pedicurio - A friend who resembles a nail file
• Phineus B. Vurm - A smart worm friend
• Picnicy - A picnic basket-like friend with a tail
• Piggy - A three-eyed pig-like friend
• Pinecone Cola - A dragon-like imaginary friend who gets in trouble for overdue library books.
• Pirate Pig - A pig friend wearing pirate attire.
• Pisgetti - An aqua-green cyclops friend.
• Pizza - Terrence's first ever friend, who resembles a slice of pizza. They were immediately killed after creation.
• Poindexter Dorkface III - A calculator friend.
• Pokey Toehair - A fuzzy, orange friend.
• Preparation Ape - A pink gorilla-like friend.
• Prince Charming - A human-like friend who resembles Prince Charming.

R

• Rainbow Simmons - A rainbow friend
• Ramone - A fuzzy imaginary friend who wears headphones.
• Red - Terrence's second imaginary friend, a red cube friend. He was created to destroy Bloo.
• Ringo Rango - A blue, British humanoid friend with ostrich feet who wears a red sweater.
• Rock - A friend resembling a rock
• Rodney Squiddlebeak - A purple octopus-like friend who enjoys putting on accents.
• Rollie - A rolling pin friend

S

• Sally Linda
• Sam Burger - A cheeseburger friend
• Sammy the One-Eyed Cat
• Sassyfrass - A girly, peafowl-like friend.
• Scissors - An anthropomorphic pair of scissors.
• Scrappy - A young plush-like imaginary friend.
• Scribbles - A type of imaginary friend created by toddlers.
• Shakey - A gelatinous friend
• Shorty - A short, tan friend with a mustache
• Sloppy Moe - A slug-like friend made of garbage
• Socket Tubey - A sock puppet imaginary friend whose body is a television.
• Spritz Coleman - A floating cloud-like friend.
• Stats - A scoreboard-like imaginary friend.
• Stoolie Dan - A blue stool-like imaginary friend who enjoys gardening.
• Stupid - A brown-furred puppy with the ability to speak full words
• Suckallupagus - An aardvark/vacuum-like friend.
• Sunset Junction - A furry, blue, bear-like friend wearing a wooly hat and scarf.

T

• Tenty - A green tent-like friend
• Time Traveling Tina - A pink, circular friend who can travel back in time.
• The Tortoise In The Air - A mechanical, flying, tortoise-like friend.
• Two Head Fred - A two-headed yellow friend.

U

• Uncle Pockets - A green imaginary friend; He is described as "the best friend ever."
• The Unknown Friend - A rubber chicken-shaped friend who likes telling jokes.

V

• Vic Trolla - A yellow gramophone-like friend.

W

• Wally (Duchess of Wails) - A brick wall friend.
• Wally (The Big Picture) - A yellow imaginary friend resembling Waldo from Where's Waldo, known for ruining the house photos.
• Wilt - A tall, red imaginary friend who is missing an arm. He is extremely nice and extremely talented at basketball.
• Witch Itch - A spider friend wearing a witch’s hat.
• World - An imaginary friend with the ability to possess inanimate objects.

Y

• Yogi Boo Boo - A mustachioed, vegetarian, giraffe-necked friend who is the bassist of Pizza Party.

Z

• ZZ Pops - A white beard-like imaginary friend.

Trivia

• In real life, imaginary friends are companions imagined by children. Sometimes this is because the child is lonely, but other times, it's simply a form of dramatic play. After anywhere between a few months and a few years, they forget about the friend.
• There are no known imaginary friends whose names begin with "Q" or "X".