History Main / NotSoImaginaryFriend

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' featured an invisible duck that was visible to only one character at a time. It used this phenomenon (and well-timed uses of blown raspberries) to get most of the cast, including Hector Con Carne (who lampshaded that [[NoFourthWall "I'm not even on this show anymore!"]]) arrested.

** "Imaginary friends" in this series are {{Tulpa}}s, but one episode has a [[spoiler:[[MockMillionaire fake]]]] millionaire who [[FlatEarthAtheist thought imaginary friends were ones only their creator could see]], and only agrees to give Foster's money [[InvertedTrope if they "showed" him those]].

** In a single-episode version, Lois discovers she has a long-lost brother who's somewhat unhinged and talks to an invisible girlfriend. Stewie and Brian decide to place a cucumber where she's supposed to be sitting and declare, laughing, that "if it pickles then she's real". A few scenes later, an angry Lois is heard asking about the pickle on the couch.

* ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'': "Imaginary friends" in this series are {{Tulpa}}s, but one episode has a [[spoiler:[[MockMillionaire fake]]]] millionaire who [[FlatEarthAtheist thought imaginary friends were ones only their creator could see]], and only agrees to give Foster's money [[InvertedTrope if they "showed" him those]].
** In another sort-of {{inversion}}, one episode has a guy ''claiming'' to be an Imaginary Friend hanging around the house, but Frankie believes him to [[AmbiguouslyHuman just be a human mooch]], since he just looks like a teen with a clown nose and his backstory comes off sounding very fishy. [[spoiler:She's wrong.]]

* In one episode of the animated ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'', Raven is stuck with babysitting a set of kids. One of them ''appears'' to have uncontrolled telekinesis throughout the episode, and she blames all of it on "Bobby", her invisible super-powered stuffed animal. Raven disbelieves this ridiculous story... until the end, when Bobby ''the eight-foot-tall super-strong teddy bear'' drops his invisibility and starts to beat some serious ass on the villain trying to kidnap the kids. Of course Bobby ''is'' [[{{Tulpa}} a manifestation of said kid's telekinetic powers]]: the girl in question acknowledges this, but insists this doesn't make him any less real. It's hard to argue with her, really.

** Alternate interpretation. The girl's power allows her to turn imagination into reality. Bobby is an imaginary friend who became real. The trope still applies either way, though.

* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', SquishyWizard Vaarsuvius has finally decided to acknowledge the existence of his/her raven familiar, Blackwing. The rest of the party has chosen not to believe him/her, despite Haley being the one to remind V about the raven in the first place ''and'' [[NominalImportance giving him his name]]. It turns out Haley and Roy were trolling him, Belkar was oblivious, and Elan was [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Elan]].

* The Season 1 StoryArc of ''WesternAnimation/{{Rollbots}}'' is about Spin trying to convince everyone, especially Pounder, that not only Vertex is the crime leader of Flip City (though Penny eventually softens to that idea), but that he is a spiderbot (which nobody believes until Vett appears).

** Mr. Hat's just a puppet to everyone (except Mr. Garrison), yet he can drive a vehicle, find his own way into Brett Favre's sauna, join the KKK without any help from Garrison, and beat up Mr. Mackay.

* ''Webcomic/LatchkeyKingdom'': Most of Debbie's acquaintances in Hilla think her friend Chloe Placeholder (from the orphanage) is imaginary. But then she actually shows up during the [[http://latchkeykingdom.thecomicseries.com/comics/772#content-start Con Clash]] arc. Ironically she thinks Rose (a mute shapeshifter) is Debbie's imaginary friend.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kipper}}: "Jake's Friend" deals with Kipper and Tiger hanging out with Jake's friend Wilbur, who states to be invisible. The two think that Jake is just imagining his friend, but it wasn't until the three have their ice cream floats that Wilbur turns out to be real after drinking his float.

[[folder:Mythology & Religion]]
* In the Bible, God proclaims, "I knew you before I formed you in the womb." In a sense, this kind of implies the entire human race, and possibly the angels, all started out in God's imagination before being brought to life.
[[/folder]]

* ''Series/StargateSG1'' had an episode in which all four members of the team start seeing an annoying presence called Urgo. He was still technically imaginary, as no one else could see him since he didn't have a physical body to start with, but otherwise real because he was a simulation created by an electronic device inserted in their brains.