Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends

Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends was a animated television series, running from August 2004 to may 2009. A total of 79 episodes in six seasons. The premise is based on a simple question. In a World where imaginary friends are living, tangible beings, what happens to those friends when the kids grow up?

According to Cartoon Network and Craig McCracken, they come to Foster's, of course! A home for imaginary friends whose kids have outgrown them, Foster's is a place where friends can live together until they are adopted by a child who needs them. The show follows Mac, a shy and creative 8 year old boy, whose imaginary friend Bloo is thrown out of Mac's home and forced to come live at Foster's. Mac doesn't want Bloo to be adopted by another kid, so it's agreed that Bloo will not be put up for adoption, provided that Mac come and play with him every day. Bloo's egotistical, mischievous nature is the complete opposite of Mac's, and together the two cause all manner of chaos throughout the house.

The show averts Not-So-Imaginary Friend in that everyone can see and hear the friends, not just their creators. Since almost all of the characters are imaginary friends dreamed up by children, the show's cast consists of an array of impossible creatures, sometimes bordering on the surreal. There's strong characterization throughout, however, even as the highly comedic plots tend to rely on Bloo causing ever-escalating mayhem. Is known to have loads of Parental Bonuses as well.

Over the course of the series, two Made For TV Movies have been released: Good Wilt Hunting in 2006, and Destination Imagination in 2008. Both of them are noticably Darker and Edgier than the series itself.

"Bloo: Hey, Mr. Herriman! How long till we get there?
 * Absentee Actor: Mac doesn't appear in "Pranks for Nothing", even in the beginning. The events right at the beginning took place right after he left, or he was sick and couldn't come to Foster's anyway. It also could have been before he even came, considering that Mr. Herriman said the trip would be 7 hours long.

Mr. Herriman: 7 hours."

"World: I'm free, Mr. Herriman!
 * Mac similarly does not appear in the comic book story "Block Rockin' Feats" (Cartoon Network Block Party #35).
 * Accent Adaptation: Hispanic imaginary friend Eduardo has an American accent in the Spanish dub.
 * Acquired Situational Narcissism
 * Adorkable: Mac is the biggest example in the series, but Wilt definitely qualifies during his more "awkward" moments.
 * Affectionate Parody: Eurotrish is a spoof of Tanya Mousekewitz.
 * Alliterative Name: Francis 'Frankie' Foster
 * All of the Other Reindeer: Poor Wilt...
 * Ambiguously Brown: Goo.
 * Anthropomorphic Food: The food friends, who were apparently imagined by hungry children at a weight-loss camp.
 * Antiquated Linguistics: Everything Mr. Herriman says.
 * Apologises a Lot: Wilt.
 * Oh! I'm sorry, is that okay? I'm sorry!
 * Are You Done Yet
 * Art Evolution: While relatively minor, there are some color/appearance differences in the earliest episodes, which is seen mostly in Mac and Eduardo. Also notable in season five is that Mac's height increases slightly.
 * As Long As It Sounds Foreign: Eurotrish again. She's basically a relentless parody of this trope. She says she's from Europe, and seems to mean that literally...in that she wears clothes that combine stereotypes of at least six different European nationalities (Dutch clogs, a french beret, a shirt with the British flag, among other things) her accent keeps changing, and she always says she wants to go home to Europe, not to any specific country.
 * At the end of the episode, we see her "back home in Europe" in a little stereotypical village that could be almost anywhere.
 * Attention Whore: Bloo.
 * A Worldwide Punomenon: Most, if not all, the episode titles.
 * Nightmare on Wilson Way
 * Frankie My Dear
 * Something Old Something Bloo
 * Bad Dare Day
 * Crime After Crime
 * Balloon Belly: Frankie in one episode, Coco when she rather suddenly put on weight in another episode.
 * Battle in The Rain: Spoofed.
 * Bedsheet Ladder
 * Big Bad: World in Destination Imagination. He's not actually evil, though, just a scared little kid whose got serious abandonment issues and just wants a friend.
 * Big Brother Bully: Terrence.
 * Big Eater: Bloo.
 * Mac almost always averts this, except when he has sugar.
 * Big Friendly Dog: Used in the beginning of episode 11. A couple mistakenly brings a stray dog to the house, and when Frankie opens the door she is promptly tackled and licked silly.
 * Bigger On the Inside: The titular building. It's so big you can get lost in it for days.
 * World's toy box as well. Though that's likely due to him being a Reality Warper.
 * Bilingual Dialogue: Coco.
 * Birthday Suit Surprise Party
 * Black Comedy: In the last episode, Bloo's first idea to prevent Mac from was to kill him.
 * Blind Black Guy: STEEVIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!
 * Blipvert
 * Bratty Half Pint: Bloo.
 * Break the Cutie: Happens a lot to Eduardo.
 * Mac also goes through this.
 * Wilt in Where There's a Wilt, There's a Way.
 * Broken Treasure
 * Bucket Booby Trap
 * Burping Contest
 * Can't Get in Trouble For Nuthin'
 * Cardboard Pal
 * Car Fu
 * Catch Phrase: Parodied.
 * Celebrity Is Overrated: "The Sweet Stench of Success".
 * Cloning Blues Bloos: In "Bloo's Brothers".
 * Yet Another Christmas Carol: Bloo tries to pull one of these on Mr. Herriman. It doesn't work.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: All the imaginary friends are like this to some extent, but Coco, Cheese, and Eduardo deserve special mention.
 * Coincidental Accidental Disguise
 * Cold Turkeys Are Everywhere
 * Colon Cancer: Parodied on One False Movie, with Bloo's movie being called "Trexatron Alienwolf III: A Prequel In Time: The Unrelenting".
 * Conspicuous CG
 * Continuity Nod: "Bloo Tube" shows that the viral video from "World Wide Wabbit" is still wildly popular.
 * In "Bad Dare Day" a "I *heart* FB (Funny Bunny)" cap can be seen in Madame Foster's room
 * When Bloo and Madame Foster realize that they've lost some movie tickets right as they arrive at the premiere, he compares it to "that stupid trip to Europe that we never took".
 * Control Freak: Mr. Herriman.
 * Cool Car: Madame Foster's car.
 * Cool Old Lady: Madame Foster.
 * Creator Cameo: Craig McCracken makes an appearance in the episode "One False Movie"
 * Cross Dressing Voices: Terrence is voiced by Tara Strong.
 * Cheese is voiced by Candi Milo, who also voices Madame Foster and Coco. And that other blue dude.
 * Crowning Moment of Indifference: In "Frankie My Dear" when Prince Charming is trying to woo Frankie and she just goes on eating her pizza.
 * After being freed from the toy box, World has this conversation with Mr. Herriman, who had previously wanted to keep him locked inside:

Mr. Herriman: Splendid.

World: And Frankie freed me!

Mr. Herriman: Yes, I saw that."

"Bloo: I love you, brother! (hugs Cheese)
 * Curse of the Ancients
 * Dark Horse Victory
 * Darker and Edgier: Destination Imagination. It was even rated TV-PG (usually TV-Y7)
 * The entire series may fall under this when compared to the other comedies on Cartoon Network at the time of its premiere. When you consider that Wilt has the darkest backstory out of every character, and that Mac's life is a near living Hell, the show could very well be one of the most depressing shows Cartoon Network produced.
 * Deadly Prank
 * Devil in Plain Sight: "Everyone Knows It's Bendy"
 * Directionless Driver: Gender-flipped; when Frankie gets lost, Mac complains about how she won't ask for directions.
 * Disappeared Dad: Mac and Terrance's dad.
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?
 * Don't Think, Feel: Parodied.
 * Dork Horse Candidate
 * Downer Ending: The ending to Bloo Tube, when the Monsoon Lagoon-obsessed Bloo has to stay at the home, in bandages and a wheelchair, while the rest of the cast gets to go to the aforementioned water park; the final shot shows the house as we hear Bloo crying hysterically.
 * Eh, not exactly, depending on how you look at it. For some, it's a Downer Ending. For others, it's Laser-Guided Karma because Bloo spent the whole day moping, ruining everyone else's fun, threw a tantrum and basically just wanted everyone else to be as miserable as he was just because he couldn't go to a water park.
 * At the end of Foster's Goes to Europe, Eurotrish finally returns to her owner in Europe. Naturally, she must sing a song to express her happiness--only to be interrupted by her owner shouting out the window, "Stop the singing! Why do you think we sent you away in the first place?" Afterward, Eurotrish dejectedly sulks away, singing, "I'm-a going to America..."
 * Drop in Character: A rare protagonist Drop in Character, Mac has to visit the home every day in order to keep Bloo from being adopted.
 * Cheese and Goo are also Drop In Characters of the more standard kind.
 * Elevator Floor Announcement
 * Elmuh Fudd Syndwome: "I'm sowwy, Mistuh Hewwiman"
 * Emotionally Tongue Tied: Wilt has trouble saying "No" when someone asks him to do something.
 * Earn Your Happy Ending: Frankie and World in The Movie. Frankie finally gets what she wanted all along, to be treated fairly and respected for all she does, Mr. Herriman finally fairly splitting the house work among everyone in the House instead of all on her. World, the Big Bad of The Movie and an emotionally unstable Reality Warper whose been sealed in a toy chest by himself for who knows how long, is finally freed from his prison and has the friends he'd wanted the entire movie. But both had to go a long way to get it.
 * Episode Title Card
 * Everyone Knows Morse
 * Evil Twin: Played with, sort of. See the image on the trope page.
 * Expospeak Gag
 * Expy: Mac is based on a one-time Powerpuff Girls character, Mike, who had an imaginary friend of his own. Also, his early design had a lot in common with Linus van Pelt, which is particularly telling when you remember that Bloo's design was based off a child's security blanket. And after the pilot premiered, Craig McCracken's family told him Mac is pretty much what McCracken was like when he was little. His name's even "Mac".
 * Also, Wilt's creator, Jordan Michaels.
 * It's possible Mr. Herriman is one of the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, since he's a white rabbit with a waist coat and a penchant for being on time.
 * Frankie was based on McCracken's wife, Lauren Faust.
 * Extranormal Institute
 * Fake Brit: Kansas native Tom Kane as Mr Herriman. He mostly pulls it off, but certain pronunciations may give the game away.
 * Fantastic Science: Figmentology.
 * Fantasy Kitchen Sink, as well as Fairy Tale Motifs: Unicorns, giant monsters, superheroes, whatever the heck Coco is supposed to be, and countless other creatures.
 * Coco's been explained, and it's kind of sad. Her creator was a girl who was trapped on a deserted island for a long time, and created an imaginary friend to keep herself sane. Coco is an amalgam of things that the girl could see around her: the crashed plane (Coco's body), the deflated life raft she tried to get off the island with (Coco's beak), a palm tree (Coco's head), and her own sunburned feet (Coco's...feet).
 * Fashionable Asymmetry: Wilt.
 * Fawlty Towers Plot: "Bus The Two Of Us"
 * Fiery Redhead: Frankie.
 * First Name Ultimatum: And justified in the cases of some characters, like Mac, who well, don't have a last name
 * Five-Man Band
 * The Hero/The Smart Guy: Mac
 * The Lancer: Bloo
 * The Big Guy: Eduardo and Wilt share this role.
 * The Chick: Coco
 * Sixth Ranger: Goo
 * Flat Character: Duchess is incapable of being anything other than a whiny, demanding noblewoman... and she is literally 2-dimensional.
 * Forbidden Fruit: "Secret door, secret door, SECRET DOOR!"
 * Framed Clue: How Mac and Bloo find the map to the Foster's treasure.
 * Genki Girl: Goo. And possibly Madame Foster and Coco.
 * Gentle Giant: Eduardo is a giant purple minotaur who appears frightening to Mac at first, but he turns out to be sweet and (to be honest) a coward - unless his friends are in danger. Wilt is a very, very tall fellow with one arm who is polite to the point of neurosis.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: Loads of it.
 * (After trying and failing to glue Madame Foster's stone head back together with toothpaste) Bloo: "A bust this big needs adequate support!"
 * In the episode "Affairweather Friends", the title is just the beginning.
 * In the episode "Squeakerboxx", Bloo is inside of the men's room squeaking an elephant. Granted, it's literally an elephant and made of rubber, but still........
 * Whenever you see inside Terrence's room, if you look carefully, you'll always see a box of tissues and a bottle of lotion.
 * The grandaddy of all comes in the finale, due to a mistaken line reading. Cartoon Network kept it in. See Precision F-Strike below.
 * Gosh Dang It to Heck: Frankie. "Holy. Guac. Amolie."
 * Grand Finale: Destination: Imagination and Goodbye to Bloo
 * G-Rated Drug: Sugar to Mac.
 * Cookies to Frankie in "Cookie Dough".
 * Gratuitous Spanish: Eduardo.
 * Growing Up Sucks: The premise is that nearly all kids grow out of needing their imaginary friends, so Mac will likely end up leaving Bloo. However, we've seen some creators as adults, and they still care a great deal for their imaginary friends. Madame Foster says that Mac's imagination is the purest she's seen since her own, and she never gave up her imaginary friend...
 * Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Lampshaded in "Adoptcalypse Now".
 * Hands-Off Parenting: Goo's parents.
 * Hanging Judge: "Go Cheese Go".
 * Her Codename Was Mary Sue: "The Bloo Superdude and the Potato of Power".
 * Heroic Sociopath: Bloo.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: Mac and Bloo.
 * Hiccup Hijinks
 * High Class Glass: Mr. Herriman's monocle.
 * Horny Scientist
 * Horrible Camping Trip
 * Hug and Comment: "Mac Daddy" has:

Cheese: I pooted."


 * Humans Are Ugly: Duchess considers Frankie ugly. Then again, she considers anyone who isn't herself ugly.
 * Human Mail: Bloo tries to send Cheese away through the mail. Cheese gets sent back due to insufficient postage.
 * Idea Bulb: Spoofed.
 * Identical Grandson: Frankie looks exactly like photos of a young Madame Foster.
 * I Have Brothers
 * I Know You Know I Know
 * Imaginary Friend: Well, obviously. The twist here is that the friends kids imagine actually become real, and come to Foster's when their kids outgrow them.
 * In a World: Parodied.
 * Insane Proprietor: Madame Foster is a little more than eccentric.
 * Insult Backfire
 * Instant Web Hit
 * Intergenerational Friendship: 22-year-old Frankie and Mac.
 * Mac's friendship with the imaginary friends could be viewed as this too. Wilt, for example, is implied to be in his mid-thirties.
 * Interrupted Cooldown Hug: Happens during Destination Imagination.
 * Intoxication Ensues / Mushroom Samba: Mac on sugar. Enough said.
 * Invisible Celebrity Guest
 * It's a Small Net After All: Averted.

"Mr Herriman: Good heavens! What's happening?!
 * Jumping the Shark: In universe. Referenced in a Show Within a Show and was literally attempted by Bloo in the Series Finale.
 * Kavorka Man: Bloo for Berry. Her being completely insane might have something to do with it.
 * Killer Rabbit
 * Kryptonite Is Everywhere: Imaginary Man may seem tough, but all you have to do to make him lose his powers, is to throw flowers at him. Not that his designated Arch Enemy, Nemesister, has it any easier. She loses her powers once you rough up her perfect hair a little.
 * Lampshaded Double Entendre: Subverted; Bloo doesn't know what he means, either.
 * Law of Disproportionate Response
 * Lawyer-Friendly Cameo
 * Leg Cling Parodied in "Imagination Invaders", by Bloo of course.
 * Let's Meet the Meat
 * Limited Wardrobe: Lampshaded.
 * Living Prop
 * Liz Lemon Job: Frankie.
 * Loads and Loads of Characters
 * Love Makes You Crazy: Berry.
 * Love Makes You Evil: Berry.
 * Magic Floppy Disk: Played straight in one episode, averted in another.
 * Massive Multiplayer Scam
 * Mathematician's Answer: The seeing-eye friend they try to help in one episode apparently discards any information not related to "this is a danger from which I must keep my child", because when he loses track of the kid, he can't provide a helpful answer; he was in a place when he lost Stevie, and as for Stevie himself, well, he's got arms, a face...you know, standard-issue human stuff.
 * May-December Romance: Mac's crush on Frankie
 * Mean Boss: Mr. Herriman.
 * Meat O Vision: Parodied
 * Milholland Relationship Moment
 * Miniature Senior Citizens: Madame Foster.
 * Minor Insult Meltdown: Goo in her introductory episode gets one at the hands of Mac.
 * Not so minor. He basically said that she was better off dead, since no one even remotely liked her...which is a bit harsh.
 * Missing the Good Stuff
 * Mock Millionaire: In one episode, several charities compete for the attention of a character pretending to be a millionaire.
 * Motor Mouth: Goo.
 * Mundane Fantastic
 * My Name Is Not Durwood: Bloo constantly forgetting Berry's name in "Berry Scary." He does, however, remember her as "Heather."
 * Mythology Gag: In "House of Bloo's", Bloo is shown at one point watching a Lassie parody. The boy in the show has the same character design as Mac's prototype appearance.
 * NameDar
 * Never Grew Up
 * Never My Fault: Bloo refuses to accept it's his own fault Eduardo ran away in that episode.
 * Not Allowed to Grow Up: Mac was eight when the show started, but he mentioned that Bloo's been living at Foster's for a few years, so wouldn't that make him twelve or thirteen for the last episode in 2009? Apparently not.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: Madame Foster.
 * Ocular Gushers: Eduardo gets these sometimes.
 * One-Winged Angel: World, an emotional unstable Reality Warper, does this when Herriman threatens to leave him locked in his trunk alone again. He goes absolutely berserk and creates a chimera body for himself to destroy the ones who are trying to take Frankie away from him.
 * Only One Name: Most of the cast.
 * Only Sane Man: Mac and (to an extent) Frankie.
 * Operation Blank
 * Orphaned Punchline
 * Our Founder: Elwood P. Dowd, of Harvey fame, appropriately enough. The Home itself also has a bust of its founder, Madame Foster, which Bloo promptly... busts.
 * Out of Focus: Coco, in Season 5.
 * Also, most of the human supporting characters - Goo, Terrance and Mac's mom - in seasons 5 and 6.
 * Merchandise makers don't like to acknowledge Mac's existence, and places Cheese on merchandise where he should be. This is also interesting when you realize that Cheese took the place of him on many junior girls' T-shirts...when Mac is actually the most popular with older female fans.
 * Oven Logic
 * Overly Long Gag
 * Parental Bonus: A fair lot of it. Mac waking up next to Cheese and having to explain his "mistake" to Bloo qualifies.
 * Parental Obliviousness: Mac's mom has no idea that he still goes to Foster's every day to visit Bloo.
 * Pass the Popcorn
 * The Plan: I Only Have Surprise For You.
 * Pokémon Speak: Coco.
 * POV Sequel
 * Precision P Strike: Bloo's voice actor confirmed on a fansite that when reading for Destination: Imagination he misread the word "peeved" in the part where World freaks out. Thus:

Bloo: You PISSED HIM OFF, that's what happening!!!"

"Bloo: It's a hundred and six blocks to Mac, I've got a full bladder, half a mind where I'm going, it's Tuesday and I'm wearing sunglasses.
 * Though given the situation, it seems to be a perfectly reasonable response.
 * Precocious Crush: Mac and Frankie
 * Properly Paranoid: Madame Foster, about the old folks home.
 * Rick Roll: See Crowning Moment Of Awesome, above.
 * Quicksand Sucks
 * Quirky Household
 * Reality Warper: Goo has an overactive imagination, which means that she runs the risk of calling new Imaginary Friends into existence by accident (and somehow, she manages not to be creepy).
 * Frankie's new friend, World, controls an entire dimension inside a toy box.
 * Real Trailer Fake Movie
 * Rear Window Investigation
 * Rebel Relaxation
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Bloo and Mac.
 * Repeating So the Audience Can Hear: The only reason we know what Coco's saying.
 * Repeat What You Just Said
 * Rhymes On a Dime: Uncle Pockets.
 * Rick Roll: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i7B5aHafc0
 * Savvy Guy Energetic Girl: Mac and Goo.
 * Schemer: Bloo.
 * Scooby Dooby Doors: Subverted.
 * Sealed Evil in A Can: This is how the parents of the boy who created World viewed him when they locked him in his toy box, and apparently told Foster's such as they kept him in there. However, this is a subversion as World wasn't evil, just misunderstood and just wanted friends.
 * Second Person Attack: A few examples.
 * In one episode, when Bloo gets punched in the face by a young girl for taking some toy glow-in-the-dark vampire teeth.
 * In another episode, Bloo is spying on who was supposed to be "the best imaginary friend ever", and he knocks out Bloo with a shovel this way.
 * Selective Enforcement: Inverted as a Springtime for Hitler in the episode "Crime After Crime". The episode's B-plot has Frankie cooking something disgusting for dinner, so Bloo causes trouble in an effort to get sent to his room without dinner. Unfortunately the episode's A-plot was Mr. Harriman acting hyper-paranoid over someone discovering his addiction to carrots, leading him to punish everyone else in the house for relatively minor infractions due to thinking they're "on to him" while completely ignoring or even congratulating Bloo.
 * Shaggy Dog Story: Many, many, many episodes.
 * She Is Not My Girlfriend: Mac, concerning Goo (in the first episode she was in, anyway).
 * Shout Out: A LOT
 * Plenty of shout-outs to The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy as well, though. For instance, the villain from the video game Bloo plays is called "Lord Beeblebrox" and the two nerdy scientists who study Coco are called Douglas and Adam, respectively. Adam wears a blue t-shirt with the number 42 on it.
 * There's also a scene in the episode in which Bloo steals the Foster's bus which has a hitchhiker wearing a bathrobe holding a sign that says "Magrathea." In the same episode, there is a Star Wars shout out when Mac throws money for a toll out the window and misses to which Bloo responds "Negative. It only impacted on the surface."
 * In yet ANOTHER (much more obscure) Hitchhikers reference, the friends unite together to rescue a cat from a tree using what Frankie calls "Plan Z-Z-9-Plural Z-Alpha".
 * In Blooooo, Bloo's hallucinated reflection looks at him and says "Run, Bloo, run!"
 * The episode Bye Bye Nerdy gives us this exchange between Bloo and Frankie:

Frankie: * opens window* hit it!"

"Wilt: Who ya gonna call?
 * Frankie's T-shirt (that she wears 99% of the time) has a Stylized image of the Powerpuff Girls.
 * In a Halloween episode, Bloo turns white (he's sick) and everyone believes that he's a ghost. Coco picks up a phone:

Coco: Co Co-co!

Wilt: They've been out of business for years!"


 * The card for Mac in the last episode contains the signatures "Yogi Booboo" and "Big Fat Baby".
 * "Challenge of the Superfriends" contained some pretty blatant references to Revenge of the Sith. Bloo is clearly meant to be an expy of Darth Vader in this, with Nemesis an expy of Darth Sidious.
 * In Destination Imagination, the body Frankie creates for World looks very similar to Snap.
 * There's a resturaunt called "Nice Burger".
 * In Go Goo Go, Goo's letter is signed "Your Friend Goo".
 * Someone on the team must really like Nintendo. Let us count the ways...
 * Neighbor Pains has a joke about Frankie being a "mother of 64". That same episode has a boy who looks strangely like Lucas from Mother 3 and Super Smash Brothers Brawl. Search "Mother 64".
 * The Buck Swaps Here has two mustached guys wearing red and green. The heights are there, and the mustaches are the same styles. It would be crazy to think of it a coincidence.
 * Affairweather Friends gives Barry a game console whose controller is awfully like the Wii's remote and nunchuk.
 * The pilot episode, House of Bloo's shows a Game Boy Advance in Mac's apartment.
 * In The Bloo Superdude and the Magic Potato of Power, the magic potato (in real life) is...
 * Foster's Home seems to have a Gamecube. It shows up in Fools and Regulations and Crime After Crime, among others.
 * Destination Imagination has a game level suspiciously like in the Mario games. Complete with snails replacing koopas, piranha plants, a growth item that comes out when Mac jumps under a block, and an item that makes Eduardo invincible for a short while (complete with power up music)!
 * A tall basket ball player named Wilt? C'mon guys, that's an easy one.
 * Quite interestingly, this basketball player also claimed to have sex with over 20,000 women...
 * Two of Coco's former owners who adopted her to research her look suspiciously like Dexter and Mandark, though their names are different, the concept and look is there.
 * Another from Destination Imagination is the big gem. It's a lot like the old Sonic games, where you feel accomplished winning the emerald and freeing a cute critter.
 * Peanuts references, galore!
 * An old man in Something Old, Something Bloo crying "Curse you Red Baron!" before promptly falling asleep.
 * The piano intro, as well as the decorated doghouse in A Lost Claus.
 * When Bloo shares his story on how Uncle Pockets arrived in Bloo Done It, he starts with "It was a dark and stormy night..."
 * Probably the most blatant of the examples is when Wilt pulls away Bloo--the football, from getting kicked by Mac in Fools and Regulations. "Good grief" indeed. To Wilt's merit, it isn't done in malice.
 * The show Misplaced on Let Your Hare Down.
 * There's also a brief scene in which we see Mr. Herriman popping out of a chimney next to several silhouetted dancing chimney sweepers.
 * A videogame called "Immortal Wombat" in Affairweather Friends and a movie called "Astro Slam" (with Golly Gopher on the poster) in Good Wilt Hunting.
 * In the pilot movie, there's a bit where the now legless Extremasaur is chasing Bloo around the dump. It switches to an overhead view and looks like something out of Pac-Man.
 * Not to mention Bloo's ghost shape. But why is Pac-Man chasing the ghost? Well he's Bloo isn't he?
 * The episode titled Squeakerboxx seems to be a shout out to the Outkast album Speakerboxx/The Love Below.
 * In the episode titled "The Big Lablooski" don't these guys look familar? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50WvebOHjl8&feature=related
 * When Mac has finally been tracked down after running naked through the town on a sugar high, he winces at the spotlights on him, rasping out "It burns us!"
 * In Bloo Tube, we see Bloppy Pants' band, Pizza Party, attempting to film a music video on treadmills. When Bloo distracts them and they fail, Yogi Boo Boo says, "Okay GO... again."
 * There's a telegraph friend called Morsey who talks in either Morse code, or lyrics from The Smiths songs.
 * One of the Bloos in "Bloo's Brothers" resembles Homestar Runner!
 * In the pilot movie, three characters appear based on Ed, Edd, and Eddy.
 * Sibling Rivalry: One-shot friends Imaginary Man and Nemesister were created by a boy and his sister as an extended outlet for their rampaging animosity. Their creators come back at the end of the episode to adopt them for their own kids.
 * Small Name, Big Ego: Bloo
 * Soap Within a Show: The Loved and the Loveless.
 * Sorry I Left the BGM On
 * Sometimes people who are good at interpreting context clues and counting syllables can piece together what she's saying.
 * Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace: Subverted.
 * Spotting the Thread: Mac is forced to decide between Bloo and a near perfect impostor, and picks the real one because the impostor's friendship speech is too nice. Mac knows Bloo is a Jerkass.
 * Squishy Wizard: Mac is highly intelligent for an 8-year old, but one drop of sugar and he goes from being the Only Sane Man to making Goo look perfectly sane.
 * Stab the Salad
 * Stalker With a Crush: Berry.
 * Start My Own
 * Stealth Pun: Cheese. Mac created Cheese. You know, "Mac and Cheese?"
 * Cheese has a few of these: Bloo Cheese, Cheese Louise (Louise is his REAL creator.)
 * When Bloo tries to get Cheese adopted, he offers a package deal with a Ridiculously Cute Critter named...Crackers.
 * Strange Minds Think Alike: In "Bloo's the Boss" Bloo finds a cat and names him Chuck. Later when the cat's owner comes to collect him it turns out Chuck just happened to be his real name.
 * Straw Feminist: Subverted with Nemesister, who doesn't really have a political agenda. She just likes to destroy or sabotage anything that guys like.
 * Survival Mantra: "A dog is not in the house presently."
 * Sweet Tooth: Inverted with Mac.
 * Take Off Your Clothes: Invoked by name by Eduardo during the Funny Bunny crisis. Mac tries to hide all evidence of the Funny Bunny video, including the various clothing many people are wearing. Cue Eduardo running through the house, shouting, "Take off your clothes! Take off your clothes!" The only person who unquestioningly complies is Madam Foster.
 * Talkative Loon: Goo and Cheese. Emphasis on "talkative" in Goo's case, and "loon" in Cheese's case.
 * Tandem Parasite: Mr Herriman does it Bloo in "Let Your Hare Down".
 * The Ditz: Cheese.
 * The Faceless: Mac's mom.
 * The Millstone: In "Berry Scary", Berry tries to convince Bloo that Mac is one.
 * The Moving Experience: The focus of the final episode.
 * The Unintelligible: "Coco!"
 * Theme Tune Cameo
 * There's No B in Movie
 * Throw the Dog A Bone
 * Thundering Herd
 * Tomboyish Name: Frankie Foster.
 * Took a Level In Jerkass: Bloo after the pilot episode
 * Totem Pole Trench: Done by Mac and Bloo to the point of being a Running Gag.
 * Wilt once substituted as a majority of Orlando Bloo.
 * Trash the Set
 * True Companions
 * Tsundere: Frankie Foster.
 * "YES! Please! With Marshmallows!"
 * Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Bloo.
 * Villainous Breakdown: While he's not intentionally a bad guy, World has one at the climax of The Movie when Mr. Herriman threatens to leave him sealed in his toy box alone again, causing him to snap and reduce his world to a white void and go One-Winged Angel. It takes Frankie's kindness to snap him out of it and calm him down.
 * Welcome Titles
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?
 * What Were You Thinking?
 * White Gloves: Mr. Herriman wears a pair.
 * Wise Beyond Their Years: Mac.
 * With Friends Like These: Mac and Bloo.
 * Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: World from Destination Imagination. Justified since it's his world anyway.
 * Yandere: Berry.
 * Write Who You Know: Mac is based on creator Craig McCracken as a child. Frankie, meanwhile, is based on his wife, Lauren Faust, as she is now.
 * Zombie Apocalypse: Subverted