Something I was wondering about.

[pitbulllady]

Those are some really great points you brought up there. I've wondered myself whether or not only families with children could adopt Imaginary Friends, or if a childless couple could do so. That had brought up a similar discussion awhile back(might have even been on the old forum) as to whether a single adult could adopt an Imaginary Friend. It seems to me that regardless of how many people are in the family, or whether there are children, there will always be the potential for abuse of the one being adopted. It also brings up the question as to whether or not any family could adopt an Imaginary Friend permanently, not just until their child got tired or him/her or got "too old". Most adoptions seem to be temporary, but I have to wonder if there would ever be families who would grow to love their adopted IF as a family member, and not every want to give them up and send them back to Foster's when the kids got "too old". Would the IF be happy in that situation, especially the ones that are really child-like, no longer having kids to play with once those in the family grew up, or would they be satisfied simply being nurtured by the adults as though they were the biological offspring? It would be ashame if a human couple really loved an Imaginary child(not just the "babies" in the nursury, but say, one that LOOKED like a human child, like the "spotted-tongue" version of Mac that Goo created), and had to give him/her back once their kids reached a certain age.

pitbulllady

[MaxJ1800]

Oh, yeah, I had almost forgotten about the imaginary Mac. That leads me to wonder, how close to a human being can an imaginary friend look? I mean the imaginary Mac got pretty close, except for the tongue. And Frankie actually thought Goofball McGee was a human.

I wonder if there are imaginary friends close enough to actually pass for a human. I know Goofball did, but only until his trunk was revealed. Who knows, some of the kids we've seen on the show might not be kids, after all.

[pitbulllady]

Originally Posted by MaxJ1800

Oh, yeah, I had almost forgotten about the imaginary Mac. That leads me to wonder, how close to a human being can an imaginary friend look? I mean the imaginary Mac got pretty close, except for the tongue. And Frankie actually thought Goofball McGee was a human.

I wonder if there are imaginary friends close enough to actually pass for a human. I know Goofball did, but only until his trunk was revealed. Who knows, some of the kids we've seen on the show might not be kids, after all.

Prince Charming(from "Frankie My Dear") sure looked-and ACTED-totally human, except for the clothes, but he obviously wasn't absolutely required to wear just that outfit, since he did change into drag(not his idea, though, clearly)in order to help spoil Frankie's date with Dylan. I don't think that anyone would have known that he was an Imaginary Friend, though, even with the princely clothes and the horse, but probably would have figured he was just this human guy who was a cup and saucer short of a full place setting. He definately had at least ONE of the primary interests as most young adult male humans, that's for sure!

pitbulllady

[MaxJ1800]

Now that I think about it, I wonder whatever happened to the Imaginary Mac, anyway. I don't tink he's been seen since Bus the Two of Us. I wonder if Mac thinks it's weird, having an imaginary friend running around that looks almost exactly like him. That could get confusing, too. Imagine if people mistake the real Mac for the Imaginary Mac, or vice versa, that could lead to some very interesting situations.

[Invader Bloo]

I could see that happening. Though, my question is would an IF be allowed in regular school? I mean you could be right about the home school thing, but it wouldn't be fair.

[antgirl1]

Originally Posted by Invader Bloo

I could see that happening. Though, my question is would an IF be allowed in regular school? I mean you could be right about the home school thing, but it wouldn't be fair.

Maybe there might be imaginary schools and human schools.

[AerostarMonk]

Originally Posted by antgirl1

Maybe there might be imaginary schools and human schools.

Have we learned nothing from Brown v Board?

[jekylljuice]

Originally Posted by antgirl1

Maybe there might be imaginary schools and human schools.

Surely that would count as segregation.

I can think of two instances within the show in which IFs have been adopted by adults for their own purposes, both of which had negative outcomes. The first, of course, was Kip Snip's adoption of Bloo in "the Sweet Stench of Success" (Kip had tricked Bloo into signing the adoption papers; nonetheless, his initial offer was to adopt Bloo). The second occurs in "Emancipation Complication", when Mac's principal purchases Wilt, with apparently little more intention than to use him as a flag pole (and was presumably one of many adults who took advantage of the opportunity for inexpensive labour). In Kip's case I guess the legality of it is highly questionable, and given that the latter example occurred during Lil Lincoln's extremely shady reign it's by no means representative of standard Foster's protocol. Either way, I would hope that they're not totally opposed to the concept of childless adults adopting IFs, because I'm sure that there are many responsible adults out there who lead lonely existences and could certainly use the companionship of an imaginary friend - why would they have any less right to one than a lonely child? That said, the fact that most kids are persuaded to give up their IFs when they reach a certain age strongly implies that having an IF companion is widely regarded as a "kid's thing", to be put away with the Barbies and the G.I. Joes. I can see a couple who chose to adopt an IF and raise it as a child facing a whole load of social stigma. Anyone seen AI: Artificial Intelligence? I haven't since it first came out, but from what I remember the troubles faced by the robots in that movie might not be terribly different to what an IF might face if used as an alternative to a real child. I don't know, maybe it's not such a good example.

Naturally, I agree that we're never likely to receive answers to these questions, but it's still fun to think about them.