Hmm, Duchess may have a trunk, but that hardly makes her an elephant, IMO (there is an elephant-inspired IF, however, and that's Clumsy). If anything, I'd say that the creature she most closely resembles, facially speaking, is a tapir, but then I wouldn't really consider her to be one of the predominantly animal-inspired friends. Her character design is more frequently likened to the figures who featured in the works of Pablo Picaso. As for the mystery surrounding Duchess's genesis, well, it's something that a lot of us have pondered, though whether it'll ever actually be brought up within the show is another question.

Also, while I certainly do agree that Crackers, with those huge ears of his, resembles a papillon dog, his appearance isn't 100% canine (a la Chuey and his siblings). He does walk - or rather skip - upright, after all, and he has little grasping hands, not paws.

There's the Mojo Jojo friend, based on a chimp, and there's that big purple gorilla who kept pushing Duchess on the ladder away in "Duchess of Wails", when Mac and Bloo kept trying to get her back over the wall at Foster's. There's Billy the Squid, who is actually more like an octopus, and several cat-based friends, including that cyclops cat-thing who's been seen in "Bloo's the Boss" and "Adopt-Calypse Now", and of course, Mr. Emo himself, Bloppy Pants. There's another octopus-like thing-don't know his/her name-who flies/floats through the air. I think Mable Licorice is based on a hamster. A whole bunch of fish IF's live in a tank outside, along with Cyrus the Sea Monster, and don't forget the bee friends in that giant hive. OH, and how could I forget the equine friends, all those unicorns and My-Little-Ponies and Pegasi outside.

pitbulllady

Oh yeah, all the fish friends. Whoever thought up the shark, his/her family must've had quite a reaction. "Nice day for a swim in our pool... Whoa, what's THAT?!"

Don't forget Fido, the dog/fish. I always thought of that "purple gorrilla" as a pink orang-utan.

As for some discussion, I think it only makes sense for some kids to conjure up imaginary pets if their parents either can't or won't let them have real ones. The more "animal-inspired" IFs are probably just that-people need inspiration for just about anything, and animals are cool looking and fun, why not use them?

I'm really sorta surprised that there aren't MORE animal-type Imaginary Friends, actually, given that so many kids actually do relate more to animals, sometimes, than other people, and more and more kids are forced to live without pets, due to money issues, landlord prohibitions on pets, animal bans, zoning laws, etc. Plus, it doesn't seem like it would require quite as much of a stretch of the imagination to come up with an Imaginary Friend that looked like something that already existed, but was actually alive in reality(as opposed to, say, Bulby or Fridgy) not as much as it would be create something that was completely and totally unique in appearance, like George Mucous, for instance. Then again, I suppose that there ARE many Friends who are based on animals; we just don't tend to think of them as such. Eduardo is most certainly inspired by a bull; Nina even calls him a "toro" in GWH. There's Piggy, even though real pigs do not typically have three eyes, and that purplish hippo-looking character(can't think of her name), and Sassy Frass definitely has some resemblance to an ostrich, and even had the "hots" for Chick Cluckers...yeah, count him in there, too, since he's a rooster!

pitbulllady

Since there are plenty unicorns, I was kinda expecting more of the "mythical" imaginary friends to show up... like the Loch ness monster, bigfoot, abominable snowman, etc. with the childish touch added. Maybe I just haven't watched the right episode yet.

They covered that one, sort of.

Catch the season 1 episode "Seeing Red" which has a sea serpent named Cyrus who speaks with a pronounced Scottish accent, they don't refer to him as the Loch Ness Monster directly. But they were certainly going for that vibe.

You know, I'd never actually grasped the significance of Cyrus having a Scottish accent before. Thanks for bringing that to my attention, t.

Also, I'm a little miffed at myself for neglecting to mention Piggy. I have to love that triple-eyed little porcine.

Oh yes, and in "Emancipation Complication", wasn't there that IF who seemed to be an elephant/kangaroo/octapus hybrid of sorts (the one who said they could service society by being their "own zoo")? I can't recall offhand if (s)he's shown up in any other episodes.

Hey, they had the Yeti in "Mondo Coco!" Now the $64,000 question is, is he real, or an imaginary... hmmmmmm.

AND yet-ANOTHER $64,000 question would be, IF he IS real, is he an animal or an as-of-yet unclassified(scientifically speaking) species of human? That's the question that a lot of Bigfoot/Sasquatch/Yeti/Almas researchers like to ponder, and that reason that a lot of hunters who've supposedly encountered on, and could have shot, didn't do so; there was just enough doubt that it would turn out to be either a man(make that a really BIG man) in a monkey suit, or a related species of human, making them guilty of murder.

pitbulllady