"Imposter's Home for Um... Make 'Em Up Pals" is the fourth episode of Season 3 and is the thirty-first episode of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.
Plot[]
SPOILER: Plot details follow.
A strange imaginary friend known as Goofball John McGee comes to Foster's and makes a total nuisance of himself. Frankie thinks Goofball is actually a teenager passing himself off as an imaginary friend, as he always needs help with homework and someone to wash his football jerseys, and he eats all the food that Frankie buys from the store, but everyone else believes otherwise. So now, Frankie is out to prove him as a fraud.
One of Frankie's attempts is to dress like an imaginary friend and fool everyone else so she can prove that even a human can pretend to be one. Unfortunately, Goofball reveals Frankie's plot, which makes Mr. Herriman forbid her to go to the concert and instead scrub the floors of the whole house.
That night after finishing up, Frankie sees that Goofball and the others return from the concert, which causes Frankie to snap and start chasing Goofball all over the lobby trying to get a hold of his nose, which she pulls off to expose him as human teen, but to her shock and surprise, it is revealed that Goofball has an elephant's trunk and is an imaginary friend.
Running gags[]
- Frankie proving Bloo wrong with flashbacks and getting 25 cents every time into a jar reading "FRANKIE'S RIGHT AND BLOO'S WRONG".
- Goofball calling Frankie "Franny".
- Goofball making Frankie finish the same chores again.
- Bloo calling Goof-Goof McGoof (Frankie disguised as an imaginary friend) "Melanie".
Spoilers end here.
Characters[]
- Bloo
- Frankie Foster
- Mr. Herriman
- Mac
- John Larry McGee (debut)
- Goofball John McGee (debut)
Reception[]
This episode received negative reception by critics and audiences alike due to Goofball and his bad behavior getting Frankie in trouble throughout the entire episode and not getting any punishment for his actions. Because of this, the creators have expressed regret for this episode, and the episode has been considered non-canonical to the rest of the series. Goofball himself has also been declared non-canonical and has never made a second appearance.
Trivia[]
- This is the second episode to be declared non-canonical, the first being "Everyone Knows It's Bendy" for similar reasons.
- This episode proves that it can be difficult to identify some human-like imaginary friends as imaginary friends due to their appearance.
- Mr. Herriman hums the show's theme tune before getting stuck in the goo at the beginning of the episode.
- Though Goofball was the one in conflict with Frankie, Mr. Herriman could be considered the true main antagonist of the episode due to his nonchalant behavior towards Goofball and his uncharacteristic unfairness towards Frankie.
- This episode reveals that Frankie's favorite music group is called "The Fake-Out's".
- This is the first time Mac and Bloo appear in the same episode but have no interaction with each other.
- This is the only appearance of John McGee and his imaginary friend.
Cultural references[]
- One of Goofball McGee's friends highly resembles Nazz from Ed, Edd n' Eddy, except Nazz is a girl while Goofball McGee's friend is a teenage boy.
- Frankie's cleaning sequence, with mice slowly approaching her, is an homage to Cinderella.
Goofs[]
- Comcast refers to this episode as "Imposter's Home for Imaginary Friends".
- Throughout the episode, there are possible hints that implied that Goofball wasn't a true imaginary friend:
- When Goofball introduced himself to Frankie the first time, it could be noticed that Goofball needed a moment to think of his name, implying that he invented it (or is rather forgetful).
- Goofball asked Frankie to do his math homework, revealing that he goes to school, like if he was a normal teenager, despite being an imaginary friend.
- One of his friends referred to Goofball as John, like in the beginning, only to quickly correct himself and refer to him as Goofball, implying that Goofball wasn't his true name (or his friend is rather forgetful as well).
- When Frankie interrogated Goofball for his creator, it could be noticed that Goofball also needed a moment to think of the name of his creator, implying that he also invented him, like his own name, especially for the fact that Goofball also didn't know his phone number, despite his previous claims that he and his creator were very close (Again, this also could be due to Goofball being forgetful).
- According to Lauren Faust, this episode was originally about a 30-year-old man posing as an imaginary friend, but Cartoon Network asked them to make him a teenager who was revealed to be an actual imaginary friend.[1] This was done to be relatable to kids and family-friendly, and to prevent backlash from parents (from a creepiness factor, as a strange, lonely, confused, lazy 30-year-old male wouldn't be seen as appropriate). However, all of the possible hints/clues that were shown in the episode to show that Goofball was not an imaginary friend, as well as the "Frankie torturer scenes", were not properly removed/remade; Faust also said because of this, the original plan and expected plot of "Imposter's Home for Um... Make 'Em Up Pals" was ruined, thus creating one of the most controversial endings in the entire Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends series.