History YMMV / FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends

** Mr. Herriman. Some fans like his strict personality, and see him as a person who just tries to keep everything structured and feel his moments of [[LiteralMinded taking things literally]] can be funny. Other fans find him to be an obnoxious, inconsiderate militant {{control freak}} who abuses his rules and feel some of his policies are unreasonable. ([[{{Hypocrite}} yet he has no problem breaking his own rules]]) They also hate him for being a complete {{Jerkass}} toward Frankie for NO reason other than to spite her. Not helping the fact that he's constantly insulting and berating her, even when she does something right and feels only his way is right. Some of the worst examples of this are "Imposter's Home for Um... Make Em Up Pals", "Let Your Hare Down", and the beginning half of "Destination Imagination".

** Once again, Frankie being shown with a huge BalloonBelly after glutting herself on cookies, a brief gag which has become ''iconic'' among certain online communities, to the point that multiple fanart of said gag will have Frankie grow even fatter or [[Rule34 make her curvy on top of being fatter]].

** Frankie's BalloonBelly after getting fat from overeating cookies for months is quite memorable among her fandom, where multiple fanart depictions will have Frankie even fatter to the point she becomes as big as a house, and in some cases [[Rule34 make her extremely curvy.]].

** Frankie is apparently dating [[WesternAnimation/GoofTroop Peg Pete]].

** Frankie's BalloonBelly after getting fat from overeating cookies for months is quite memorable among her fandom.

** Once again, Frankie being shown with a huge BalloonBelly after glutting herself on cookies, a brief gag which has become ''iconic'' among certain online communities.

** Bloo. Some fans find him very entertaining and funny because of his antics, while other fans find him as an obnoxious {{Jerkass}} who doesn't deserve Mac as a friend, let alone live in Foster's. It doesn't help that he only ever seemed to get ''[[TookALevelInJerkass worse]]'' as the show went on, so much so that by late into the series' run, many fans were wondering why Mac hadn't just gone and left him.
** Mr. Herriman. Some fans like his strict personality, and see him as a person who just tries to keep everything structured and feel his moments of [[LiteralMinded taking things literally]] can be funny. Other fans find him to be an obnoxious, inconsiderate militant control freak who abuses his rules and feel some of his policies are unreasonable. ([[{{Hypocrite}} yet he has no problem breaking his own rules]]) They also hate him for being a complete {{Jerkass}} toward Frankie for NO reason other than to spite her. Not helping the fact that he's constantly insulting and berating her, even when she does something right and feels only his way is right. Some of the worst examples of this are "Imposter's Home for Um... Make Em Up Pals", "Let Your Hare Down", and the beginning half of "Destination Imagination".

** Mr. Herriman. Some fans like his strict personality, and see him as a person who just tries to keep everything structured and feel his moments of taking things literally can be funny. Other fans find him to be an obnoxious, inconsiderate militant control freak who abuses his rules and feel some of his policies are unreasonable. (yet he has no problem breaking his own rules) They also hate him for being a complete {{Jerkass}} toward Frankie for NO reason other than to spite her. Not helping the fact that he's constantly insulting and berating her, even when she does something right and feels only his way is right. Some of the worst examples of this are "Imposter's Home for Um... Make Em Up Pals", "Let Your Hare Down", and the beginning half of "Destination Imagination".

** In "Setting a President" gives the audience a more sympathetic Herriman, where it's revealed that his job as head of house is all he has, only for the ending to have Frankie give him his position back simply because "it pays less (which contradicts her entire motive for running for house president). During the events of the episode, he talks about how "it's the nicest thing anyone did for him" -- only to still treat her poorly in future episodes such as "Let Your Hare Down" and "Destination Imagination", as if [[AesopAmnesia he learned nothing from the nice act Frankie did for him]].

* WTHCastingAgency: The choice of actors for both Mac and Terrence raised some eyebrows.
** In animation, young boys are generally voiced by women -- for example, [[WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents Timmy Turner]] was voiced by Creator/TaraStrong, and [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Bart Simpson]] by Creator/NancyCartwright. 8-year-old Mac, however, was voiced by Creator/SeanMarquette, [[DawsonCasting who was 16 when the show began]] -- he even remained the voice of Mac until the end of the show's run, when he turned 21. That being said, he mostly pulled off the act of sounding like a young boy.
** It's even more apparent in Terrence's case, who was voiced by the aforementioned Tara Strong. To learn that the actress behind NiceGirl [[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998 Bubbles]] and DeadpanSnarker [[WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003 Raven]] also played a unrepentant BigBrotherBully comes off as [[PlayingAgainstType very off-putting]]. Tara Strong has made it clear that [[CreatorsPest she hated voicing Terrence]], which begs the question of why another actor wasn't chosen to replace her.

* CreatorsPet: Cheese became this for many fans. Ironically, the reason Cheese became a CreatorsPet is that he was [[EnsembleDarkhorse immensely popular]] with the fans in his debut episode. You know what they say; there ''is'' such a thing as [[PanderingToTheBase too much]], well, [[JustForPun cheese]].

* DesignatedVillain: While Bloo is a huge {{Jerkass}} and anyone who says that he deserves a harsh punishment has a legit argument, he does have moments of falling under this trope:
** "Beat With A Schtick": Despite the fact that Bloo had every right to be scared that the Big Scary New Guy was going to hurt him badly, none of the other residents (including [[NiceGuy Wilt]] of all people) side with him simply because he [[DisproportionateRetribution made a bad joke about The Big Scary New Guy's height.]]
** "Challenge of the Super Friends": Bloo's expected to be the bad guy for joining Nemesis, but that only happened after Mac joined forces with Imaginary Man, an imaginary friend he barely knows, and left Bloo to build a treehouse all by himself.
** "[[Recap/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriendsS5E9NightmareOnWilsonWay Nightmare On Wilson Way]]": Bloo had simply wanted to play some Halloween pranks and that was apparently a good enough reason for everybody to make it look like they've succumbed to a ZombieApocalypse and have him unleash a sugar rushed-Mac onto some innocent trick-or-treaters which [[CantGetAwayWithNuthin he]] gets in trouble for.

** "Nightmare On Wilson Way": Bloo had simply wanted to play some Halloween pranks and that was apparently a good enough reason for everybody to make it look like they've succumbed to a ZombieApocalypse and have him unleash a sugar rushed-Mac onto some innocent trick-or-treaters which [[CantGetAwayWithNuthin he]] gets in trouble for.

** [[BitchInSheepsClothing Bendy]] from "Everyone Knows It's Bendy" is an unusual example. While [[HateSink he is meant to be despised]] for framing Bloo, Wilt, Coco, and Eduardo for his wrongdoings, he ended up being even ''more'' hated than the creators wanted him to be due to [[KarmaHoudini not getting punished for it]] (Lauren Faust also hated the episode he appeared in as much as the fans did, so he never appeared again). In fact, to say that the titular cartoon demon from ''VideoGame/BendyAndTheInkMachine'', who shares the exact same name as him, is a hundred times more likeable than the ''Foster's'' Bendy is a big understatement.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Basically everyone at Foster's in "Nightmare on Wilson Way," when they prank Bloo by making him believe they've all turned into zombies after they get fed up with him pulling the same snakes-in-a-can gag each year. To call it DisproportionateRetribution would be putting it mildly, especially compared to some of the other crap he's gotten away with. Special mention goes to Frankie, who scolds Bloo for force-feeding Mac sugar and making him go insane despite Mac himself not being in on the prank and them refusing to break character even when it was just him in the room. The episode acts like Bloo was in the wrong for being driven to take such desperate measures when any one of them could have revealed the ruse at any time.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Basically everyone at Foster's in "Nightmare on Wilson Way," when they prank Bloo by making him believe they've all turned into zombies after they get fed up with him pulling the same snakes-in-a-can gag each year. To call it DisproportionateRetribution would be putting it mildly, especially compared to some of the other crap he's gotten away with. Special mention goes to Frankie, who scolds Bloo for force-feeding Mac sugar and making him go insane despite Mac himself not being in on the prank and them refusing to break character even when it just him in the room. The episode acts like Bloo was in the wrong for being driven to take such desperate measures when any one of them could have revealed the ruse at any time.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Basically everyone at Foster's in "Nightmare on Wilson Way," when they prank Bloo by making him believe they've all turned into zombies after they get fed up with him pulling the same snakes-in-a-can gag each year. To call it DisproportionateRetribution would be putting it mildly, especially compared to some of the other crap he's gotten away with. Special mention goes to Frankie, who scolds Bloo for force-feeding Max sugar and making him go insane despite Mac himself not being in on the prank and them refusing to break character even when it just him in the room. The episode acts like Bloo was in the wrong for being driven to take such desperate measures when any one of them could have revealed the ruse at any time.

** [[BitchInSheepsClothing Bendy]] from "Everyone Knows It's Bendy" is an unusual example. While [[HateSink he is meant to be despised]] for framing Bloo, Wilt, Coco, and Eduardo for his wrongdoings, he ended up being even ''more'' hated than the creators wanted him to be due to [[KarmaHoudini not getting punished for it]] (Lauren Faust also hated the episode he appeared in as much as the fans did, so he never appeared again).

** [[BadassBaritone Jackie Khones]].

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
** [[http://web.archive.org/web/20101019115109/http://talkingincircles.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/fosters_final_episode.jpg This]] ''Series/StElsewhere'' parody has the interpretation that Frankie Foster is autistic and that the entire series is a fantasy world she lives in.
** There's also speculation that Frankie is an Imaginary Friend that Madame Foster made based on herself when she was younger, due to the fact that nearly nothing about her past or personal life is shown or revealed.
** Or similarly, that Madame Foster IS Frankie, time-traveled to the past.
** Since [[WordOfGod Word of God]] has explained Frankie's backstory on Twitter, the above theories are now officially jossed. Frankie's dad (Madame Foster's son) had a terrible relationship with Mr. Herriman, and so forbid Frankie from having an imaginary friend. When she imagined her own they were taken away. Now she lives at Foster's with her Grandma in hopes of reuniting with her old friend. This calls for a reevaluation of her relationship with Mr. Herriman:
*** Does Frankie have a bad relationship with Mr. Herriman due to being a MeanBoss to her a good portion of the time, does she partially blame him for why she lost her own imaginary friend (since it was him that caused her father to hate imaginary friends in the first place), or is it a mix of [[TakeAThirdOption both]]?
** Believe it or not, even [[HateSink Bendy]] is subject to this. Some people believe that his creator really did blame him for his own misdeeds, [[ThenLetMeBeEvil causing him to]] JumpOffTheSlipperySlope, because it's the only thing he really knows. This isn't entirely baseless; at the beginning, when his family's giving him up to Foster's, the kid is in the typical "I know I messed up and I'm ashamed" pose (which Frankie is quick to observe and point out to Mr. Herriman) and Bendy seems to feel genuine sadness and betrayal (assuming of course that he isn't just trying to manipulate them).
*** There's sufficient evidence that Bendy has a soft spot for Mac. The events of his episode take place ''before'' Mac's daily visit, and in the final episode, he signs the "Goodbye Mac" card.
** Once you learn Wilt's backstory, specifically how he lost his arm, the gag in the Halloween Special where he wears a fake arm that pops off to scare kids becomes subject to this: Is he comfortable enough now about how it happened to joke about it, or [[StepfordSmiler is he hiding the trauma behind a joke?]]
** Bloo is an interesting example. He is revealed to be 5 years old in one episode; on that basis, [[InnocentlyInsensitive does he not know how insensitive, sadistic, and selfish his behavior and actions can be]] and have a right to be spoiled? It's unknown whether human and Imaginary Friend years are different from each other in the show, but it's not until near the SeriesFinale[[note]]the episode "Bad Dare Day" to be exact[[/note]] that he graps some awareness of how selfish and exceptionally rude he can be at times.
** It's been established that Mac would act like Bloo if the latter's behavior didn't showcase the negative consequences of such actions. With that in mind, Bloo's {{Jerkass}} behavior could very well be a deliberate BatmanGambit to ensure Mac doesn't become a bad person, or that he doesn't get killed.
** [[FanficFuel We have no idea what Mac's family background is like]]. Considering that his mother is either divorced or widowed and barely around, and his older brother is a sociopath who tortures Mac many times, one can infer that maybe Mac's father was an AbusiveParent and maybe a sociopath himself who Mac's mother divorced due to his apparent behavior and that Terrence took after his father, thus becoming the BigBrotherBully to Mac he grew into. Either that or the father had passed on sometime after Mac's birth and that Terrence might have had a closer relationship to his father at such a young age, and that years without him has caused him a lot of mental trauma, as shown with his terrible case of acne, crooked teeth, and his stupidity, which probably prompted him to take his anger out on Mac, who has probably handled the loss of his father much better than Terrence has, either because he was too young to know him or that the father left or passed away just shortly after Mac's birth. In short, Terrence's bullying towards Mac might be a mask to hide his frustration over the loss of his father.
*** Alternatively, Terrence might also bully Mac out of jealousy due to how bright and warm-hearted he is and that the boys' mother probably doted on Mac more and started giving him more attention. Since Terrence might have taken after his father, Mac obviously took after his mother, which probably fuels more envy for Terrence towards him that he takes it out on Mac.

* HilariousInHindsight:
** "World Wide Wabbit":
*** This episode, which sees footage of Mr. Herriman's dancing for Madame Foster being uploaded to the internet, seems to be a spoof of any online videos going viral and becoming famous by the public for it, and there are different versions of the footage uploaded that seem to be a spoof of [=YouTube Poops=]... until you realize that the episode premiered less than five months before Website/YouTube existed and seven months before the first [=YouTube=] video was posted. This did not go unnoticed by the show's staff, as a later episode, "Bloo Tube" features a spoof of [=YouTube=] called [=ViewTube=], where the "Funny Bunny" video is shown to have over twelve million views.
*** This episode's title is a reference to how WesternAnimation/ElmerFudd [[ElmuhFuddSyndwome pronounces "Rabbit"]] on ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'', given that Mr. Herriman is a tall gray hare like WesternAnimation/BugsBunny. Eleven years later, an episode of ''WesternAnimation/WabbitALooneyTunesProduction'' would have an episode titled "World Wide Wabbit".
** Anything that involves [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic the ponies/unicorns/pegasi]], especially if you know that Creator/LaurenFaust was one of the show's writers and Creator/TaraStrong was a recurring voice actor.
*** [[http://www.fosters-home.com/screengrabs/1/17-0034.jpg Could that possibly be Rainbow Dash?]]
** In the episode "Bye Bye Nerdy", Bloo is shown playing a ''VideoGame/SpaceInvaders''-esque game with a power-up that shoots a giant vertical laser. A few years later a game title ''Space Invaders Extreme 2'' has that exact same power-up.
** In the episode "Seeing Red", Terrence imagines a pizza friend whom he eats, right after it says that it loves him, much to its horror. Cue twelve years later, ''WesternAnimation/SausageParty'' gets released, which is a film about {{anthropomorphic food|}}s who revere humans at first but eventually learn that the humans they look up to use them for eating and not for friendship, once they get purchased.
** Red bears a resemblance to a another [[WesternAnimation/InsideOut short-tempered blocky red guy]].
** The much-hated Bendy now shares his name with [[VideoGame/BendyAndTheInkMachine a horror game character]], and this Bendy even gets covered in ink in his episode. The other Bendy is actually very well-received, unlike ''Foster's'' Bendy.
** The season 4 premiere "Challenge of the Super Friends", is the show's main SuperheroEpisode, the season 5 premiere airs the same day ''Film/SpiderMan3'' was released in theaters. Also in the same episode there are many ''Franchise/StarWars'' references such as ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' and ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', what also becomes funny is that the season 5 premiere aired on what will later be National Star Wars Day.
** One of the Bloo clones in "Bloo's Brothers" resembles WebAnimation/HomestarRunner, which is funny as both of the Creator/TheBrothersChaps, the series' creators, would later write episodes of ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'' alongside Craig [=McCracken=].
** In the Japanese dub, Bloo is voiced by the same person as [[Manga/{{Naruto}} Sasuke Uchiha.]] A few years later, ''Naruto'' castmate Creator/JunkoTakeuchi would voice another blue character in a Creator/CartoonNetwork series... his name is [[WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball Gumball Watterson.]]
** Deo Brand Deodorant in "The Sweet Stench of Success" became associated with Dio Brando after the 2010s anime adaption of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure''.
** In "My So Called Wife", Mac and Bloo make a fake charity, Jet Cars For Tots, so they can compete in the charity games. While intended as a parody of Toys For Tots, a different charity has sprung up and become rather infamous in the years since: [=Kars4Kids=].

** "World Wide Wabbit", which sees footage of Mr. Herriman's dancing for Madame Foster being uploaded to the internet, seems to be a spoof of any online videos going viral and becoming famous by the public for it, and there are different versions of the footage uploaded that seem to be a spoof of [=YouTube Poops=]... until you realize that the episode premiered less than five months before Website/YouTube existed and seven months before the first [=YouTube=] video was posted.

** "World Wide Wabbit", which sees footage of Mr. Herriman's dancing for Madame Foster being uploaded to the internet, seems to be a spoof of any online videos going viral and becoming famous by the public for it, and there are different versions of the footage uploaded that seem to be a spoof of [=YouTube Poops=]... until you realize that the episode premiered less than five months before Website/YouTube even existed and seven months before the first [=YouTube=] video was posted.

** "World Wide Wabbit", which sees footage of Mr. Herriman's dancing for Madame Foster being uploaded to the internet, seems to be a spoof of any online videos going viral and becoming famous by the public for it... Until you realize that the episode premiered less than five months ''before Website/YouTube even existed''.

** It's even more apparent in Terrence's case, who was voiced by the aforementioned Tara Strong. To learn that the actress behind NiceGirl [[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998 Bubbles]] and DeadpanSnarker [[WesternAnimation/TeenTitans Raven]] also played a unrepentant BigBrotherBully comes off as [[PlayingAgainstType very off-putting]]. Tara Strong has made it clear that [[CreatorsPest she hated voicing Terrence]], which begs the question of why another actor wasn't chosen to replace her.

* FandomHeresy: "Everyone Knows It's Bendy" was already very disliked upon its initial airing, mainly because of its so-considered IdiotPlot, but has progressively gathered more and more hatred among fans of the series and even people outside of the fandom for just about every single aspect they can point out at the titular Bendy instead, to the point that they place him among the worst of their character/general opinions seemingly for the sake of getting some kicks. Any small mention or speech about the episode or Bendy being good in the slightest is guaranteed to get you pummeled with neverending, burning hatred.