Falling In Love With Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends

God, I miss this show. I fell in love with Cartoon Network’s original programming with the What a Cartoon! Show, but Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends turned that love into obsession. What’s not to love about a foster home for forgotten imaginary friends? From the onset, the concept seems sad and a bit daunting, but it’s so close to reality that it works.

Most children had imaginary friends growing up, and eventually outgrow them. So what happens to them once they’re forgotten – enter Fosters, ran by Madam Foster, but really by Mr. Herriman, the British bunny rabbit.

Boundless Creativity

The show’s opportunity for endless creativity takes flight and we get to see the inner workings of a child’s imagination. It features over 200 imaginary friends: there’s Handy the hand, Duchess, Ivan, Never Leave Steve, Armpit Joe, Abraham Lincoln Pen, Bendy and so many more.

Every imaginary friend is unique in appearance, and comes with its own personality, plus flaws. The show centers on best friends Mac and Blue.

Mac is lovable, responsible, and was raised by a single mom. His imaginary friend Blue is the exact opposite. Blue is arrogant, selfish and a true trouble-maker but he’s deathly loyal to his best friend.

When Mac’s mom says Blue has to go because of all the trouble he causes, Mac finds Foster's. Madam Foster agrees to let Blue stay there, without the threat of adoption, as long as Mac visits Blue every day.

Blue hates Foster's at first, but eventually he befriends Wilt, Eduardo, Coco and of course Frankie.

Franke is Madam Foster's granddaughter, and she also helps out with the foster home. Their wacky adventures usually feature Blue and his schemes/plots for revenge.

There’s the one episode where Bendy comes to the foster home, and blames Blue for all the chaos he causes. Blue is so determined to catch Bendy in the act that he almost destroys the home.

Blue is An Evil Genius

There’s the one with the ice-capades where Blue sings "Who's going to the ice-capades?I'm going to the ice-capades." The one with Cheese is probably my favorite, because who doesn’t love Mac N Cheese or Blue Cheese. Cheese is thought to be Blue’s brother, but it turns out that he belongs to neighbor Louise.

And I love how every character eventually gets their own story arc. Wilt, Blue’s friend and one of the main characters, is a total “yes man.” He says yes to so many favors that he eventually blows up and says, “I’m sorry, but that’s just not cool.”

Another member of Blue’s crew is Eduardo, who looks scary and super intimidating, but he’s actually one of the sweetest imaginary friends, and he regularly gets scared. There’s also Coco, who is a very strange imaginary friend, and she can’t say anything beyond her name “Coco.” Somehow, everyone is still able to understand her.

And then there’s Mr. Herriman, who has it out for Blue, and really you can’t blame him! Blue is always causing trouble and it’s usually Mr. Herriman who has to clean up the mess.

There was one episode where Madam Foster and Frankie are away from the home, and Blue plans a rave. They trick Mr. Herriman out of the house and the party ensues.

To add to the drama, Mac has sugar when he's clearly not supposed to. The party features one of my favorite character interactions:

“Things are getting out of hand,” says Handy.

“You always say that,” says Blue.”

Your friend ate my ear!” says a giant gummi bear.

You always say that,” says Blue.

The show is pure comedic gold, and even though Blue is so ridiculously flawed, he’s still the most lovable evil genius.