In the world of Disney’s “Phineas and Ferb”, it’s hard to find many people who
outright hate each other.
Many characters instead become fast friends with each other.
Heck, even being someone’s nemesis or bully can barely warrant that much animosity.
The show is also one of the few to show step siblings in a completely positive light without
there being a ‘warming up to each other’ period, to the point where some audience members
don’t even realize that the two titular characters are step brothers.
Simply put, this cartoon has a lot of great relationships, and we’re here to spotlight
them all.
I’m Brad with WickedBinge, and this is Phineas and Ferb Relationships: Healthy to Healthiest.
Now, with a cast as large as this one, there's obviously going to be a lot of character combos
- way too many to touch on in one video.
So for now, we're mainly going to be focusing on the relationships that we either see the
most or the ones that just have interesting dynamics.
Additionally, we’re going to be ignoring any of the more romantic relationships for
right now, and are instead focusing purely on familial relationships and friendships.
With that said, let's get started!
As always, we’re going to be starting with our least healthiest relationships - the ones
most likely to land in the grey tier if it were an option - before working our way up
to the most healthy relationships.
First up, we have the not-so-close brotherhood between Doofenshmirtz and Roger.
Obviously, when you have a pair of parents that play favorites with their kids, you’re
going to get quite a bit of friction between the kids themselves - and this is certainly
the case with Doof and Roger.
With one being far more successful, it’s easy to get the vibe that Roger very much
enjoys rubbing his status in his older brother’s face, not being all too sympathetic to the
difficulties that Doof has had to face in his life being the black sheep of the family.
As such, you can’t really blame Doof for wanting to get a bit of petty revenge, with
most of his schemes revolving around getting back at Roger.
One thing we should point out though is that while Doof does usually try to either steal
the Tri-State Area from him or humiliate him, he doesn’t really ever try to kill or even
seriously hurt Roger.
It makes you wonder if he actually has a bit of a soft side for his younger brother, one
that not even he realizes is there.
Roger can also sometimes show a bit of grace towards Doof, like the time where he actually
restored a painting of Doof’s that he’d accidentally destroyed, and is occasionally
shown to be regretful of his actions.
It’s still not a super great relationship, but there’s still juuuuust enough there
to make us wonder if there’s a chance of it improving in the future.
Next, we’re ranking father and robot-son, Norm and Doofenshmirtz.
While many consider to be a good dad when it comes to his daughter, Doof tends to drop
the ball when it comes to Norm.
In the episodes where Norm makes it clear that he sees Doof as an actual father instead
of just a creator or boss, Doof tends to just brush him off, not giving him much respect
or love in return.
Now, that’s not to say that Doof is too terrible to Norm - the two of them still have
their moments, and Doof still shows occasional support, like when he’s helping Norm win-over
a lady robot.
Again, it’s a case where things could be better between them, but at the same time
there aren’t too many red flags either.
We just wish Doof would’ve been a bit nicer towards Norm in certain episodes, instead
of only seeing him as another robot.
Following them is the business relationship between Major Monogram and Karl.
Simply put, professional relationships can be pretty complicated - especially when you’re
dealing with someone as stern or as oblivious as Monogram.
Although the two of them are able to work together well, there have been several instances
where Karl has wanted just a bit more appreciation from his boss - to the point where he and
Monogram’s son, Monty, make a whole scheme out of just trying to get Monogram to tell
the poor intern “thank you”.
What makes this all the more frustrating is that, for the most part, Monogram isn’t
acting maliciously.
He’s just very work-focused, and that sometimes involves putting extra work on Karl without
giving anything in return for it.
Thankfully, when someone actually points out Monogram’s mistakes to him, he does try
to make up for it in small ways.
We also see how protective Monogram is of Karl when he sends him to go in undercover
in order to figure out whether or not Phineas and Ferb are working for the enemy.
The very moment that he thinks Karl is in danger, Monogram goes out of his way to try
and rescue him.
It’s these little moments that make us understand why Karl is willing to still work for the
guy, even if he still doesn’t get paid.
Next up, we’re ranking famous frenemies Baljeet and Buford.
For the first season or two, this bully and nerd pair were just, well, a bully and nerd.
Buford would mess with Baljeet, Baljeet would be afraid of him, and it was all just treated
like a cliche joke.
Over time though, the two of them were actually able to form a genuine bond, becoming more
friends than enemies, even if Buford still bullied Baljeet.
They’re willing to help each other out, look out for each other, and truly care about
one another - as seen in the episode “Bully Bromance Break-Up” - despite all of their
massive differences.
Sure, they may squabble and the whole bullying thing is still a bit off-putting, hence why
their relationship is still fairly low on this list, but we’ll acknowledge that it’s
still a dynamic that clearly works for them, so who are we to judge?
From frenemies to father and daughter, Doofenshmirtz and Vanessa are next.
In all honesty, one of the most satisfying parts of this series was seeing how Doof and
Vanessa’s bond improved as it went on.
Originally, Vanessa seemed like she barely cared about her dad, being either frustrated
with his evil antics, embarrassed by his dorkiness and even wanting to ‘bust’ him for being
a villain.
Doof, meanwhile, was more than a little smothering, not always listening to his daughter but still
trying his best to make her happy.
Eventually, these attempts actually ended up paying off and Vanessa began to understand
just how much her father cared about her.
From there, the two of them slowly but surely grow closer to each other, making their love
for each other very well known.
It’s also clearly shown that Vanessa is the most important person in Doof’s life,
to the point where he’s willing to give up being evil entirely in the series finale.
They still don’t always understand each other, but in spite of that, their relationship
still ended up being one of the most heartwarming ones in the show’s history.
We’re going to be ranking friendly rivals Isabella and Buford next.
We all know the typical Boys VS Girls plots that a lot of kids shows like to do, and the
dynamic between Isabella and Buford seems to occasionally encompass that.
With Isabella being so determined and Buford being so hard-headed, it’s not at all surprising
that they would clash and sometimes compete with each other, like we see in “The F Games”
or when they play video games together.
They can also sometimes push each other’s buttons, like when Buford tries to steal Isabella’s
“Whatcha Doin’?” catchphrase.
But while Isabella is unafraid to stand up to the bully, she’s also willing to show
sympathy to him, like when he loses his fish, Biff.
Buford has also grown to be more respectful of Isabella and her skills, allowing the two
of them to have fairly less tension between them than they likely would have had if Buford
hadn’t been incorporated into the friend group.
Following them are the BFFs Candace and Stacy.
Really, the friendship between these two is about as textbook as you can get.
They bond over typical teenage girl things like shopping, music groups and romance, and
more often than not Stacy is supporting Candace however she can - from being emotional support
to actually trying to help her bust her brothers and giving her physical assistance.
While Candace is usually the one to overthink and panic, Stacy keeps her grounded and gives
her advice - or at least she tries to, Candace doesn’t always listen though.
And that leads us to the biggest negative in their friendship, in that more often than
not it feels very one-sided.
Candace sometimes puts more personal things - such as busting her brothers or her romance
with Jeremy - above hanging out with Stacy, which Stacy can get pretty frustrated by at
times.
To Candace’s credit though, we do see her trying to make up for neglecting their friendship,
like in episodes like “The Lemonade Stand”, “Spa Day” and “Candermy”.
While she sometimes gets distracted and accidentally ignores her best friend’s needs, Candace
does genuinely care about her and doesn’t want to lose Stacy as a friend.
In turn, Stacy - for the most part - doesn’t mind helping her BFF and does still want her
to succeed and be happy.
But even with this in mind, we have to acknowledge just how one-sided this friendship can be
at times.
Sticking with the Candace relationships, let’s talk about fairly new friends Candace and
Vanessa.
Despite them sharing one of the most iconic songs in “Phineas and Ferb” history, Candace
and Vanessa don’t actually have a ton of interactions with each other.
They accidentally run into each other a few times, and over time they get to know each
other more and more through various adventures, like when they travel around the world in
“Summer Belongs to You”.
They also become movie-watching buddies, as seen in the Halloween special “Night of
the Living Pharmacists”.
While Candace admires Vanessa’s coolness, Vanessa admires how Candace can handle herself
in crazy situations.
We also see Vanessa comforting Candace and giving her advice in the Disney+ film, “Candace
Against the Universe”, which actually ends up helping Candace in the long run.
Vanessa does get a bit annoyed with Candace later on in that film when she sees Candace
losing focus, but outside of that these two don’t really have any truly bad moments.
They aren’t the closest friends around and probably wouldn’t hang out in the same social
circles normally, but we think it really was for the best that they ended up finding each
other eventually.
Entering the more positive half of our list, we have Ferb and Isabella.
Although Isabella may focus sometimes more on Phineas, that’s not to say that she doesn’t
care about Ferb at all.
The two have a subtle but still quite meaningful relationship, still being there for one another.
Ferb especially does this, going so far as to comfort Isabella when she accidentally
holds his hand or listen to her vent when they’re stuck on the island in “Summer
Belongs to You”.
Isabella does thank him for the latter, so it doesn’t come off as her just using him
for emotional support.
Ferb also supports Isabella in other ways too.
Being more knowledgeable of her crush on Phineas than Phineas is, he makes sure to give the
two of them some alone time in “Happy Birthday Isabella”, which Isabella definitely appreciates.
It is a bit of a bummer, seeing that these two don’t interact as often as they probably
should, but the moments that they do share with each other can still be pretty sweet.
Next up is the very popular Isabella and Phineas relationship.
They say that some of the best romances start with a solid friendship - and there’s no
better example of that than Phineas and Isabella.
Even if it takes until the very end of the series for the two of them to finally get
together, the one-sided nature of Isabella’s crush doesn’t get nearly as uncomfortable
as it does with characters like Helga from “Hey Arnold” or Panini from “Chowder”.
This allows the two of them to truly be best friends and have a great relationship before
the idea of any sort of romance even becomes a factor.
Simply put, the level of care these two have for each other is astounding.
They will do anything for each other - from Isabella doing whatever she can to help Phineas
with his plans, to Phineas designing an entire project around Isabella’s needs, even if
it’s something as minor as getting rid of her hiccups.
Really, the only complaints we have is that sometimes Isabella, given how shy she can
be about her crush, isn’t always the best communicator to Phineas who, in turn, can
sometimes be a bit oblivious and either go overboard with what he’s trying to do for
Isabella or accidentally ignore what she actually wants.
It’s a minor flaw that will probably get hammered out in the future as the two of them
get even closer, but it’s still worth a mention.
Just outside our Top 3 relationships, we have siblings Candace, Phineas and Ferb.
Given how often Candace tries to bust her brothers and how harsh she can be towards
them, it may be a bit surprising to see this relationship so high up.
We feel, however, like the moments that solidify the positives of their relationship are just
That Strong.
For as exasperated as she may be with them, Candace has never truly betrayed her brothers
in any sort of devastating matter and almost always chooses to help them out when they
need her.
She cares about them a ton, and doesn’t want to see them get hurt.
Despite her busting attempts, she also doesn’t want to ever see them lose their creative
spark and loves her brothers for who they are, no matter how annoying they may be at
times.
Phineas and Ferb, meanwhile, always go out of their way to extend an invite to their
big sister, encouraging her to step out of her comfort zone and have some fun.
Additionally, whenever they realize how much their fun may be causing their sister stress,
they do try to make up for it - like we see in the Disney+ film “Candace Against the
Universe”.
Sometimes these three could do a better job of communicating, but when you get right down
to it, we can say that the actions that we’ve seen from them - and the support that they
give each other - do in fact speak louder than words.
Earning the Bronze Medal of Healthiness is Vanessa and Ferb.
Ignoring the more questionable aspect of the age gap between them, these two follow a similar
pattern to Phineas and Isabella in that they have a strong friendship before romance is
even brought in as a factor.
Though we’ll admit, that isn’t how things started off.
At first, Vanessa just saw Ferb as a random kid, even getting a bit annoyed with his attempts
to help her out in the episode “Vanessasary Roughness”.
She does eventually notice though that Ferb really is just trying to help her out of kindness,
which she appreciates.
The two share another really nice moment in Paris during “Summer Belongs to You”,
where Ferb gives Vanessa advice that ends up helping with her issues regarding her father.
Later on, Ferb helps out at a Halloween party, and even helps give Vanessa a nice moment
with her then-boyfriend, Monty.
All these examples make it easy to ignore the whole ‘crush on a teen’ thing, instead
making it easy to enjoy and appreciate their friendship.
Ferb probably does a bit more for Vanessa than Vanessa does for Ferb, but her obvious
appreciation for it and the praise she gives him helps it feel a bit less one-sided.
For our Silver Medal of Healthiness, we have Perry and Doofenshmirtz.
It is pretty funny how two characters who are technically meant to be sworn enemies
actually end up having one of the sweetest relationships around.
While they do fight and are opposing forces, it’s all treated as just a part of their
daily routine.
It’s their job, so they don’t take all the traps and punches too personally.
As such, whenever they’re ‘off the clock’, Perry doesn’t hesitate to help Doof out
with his personal problems, sometimes protecting him and more often than not providing some
emotional support alongside it.
Doof, in turn, cares a lot about Perry, often trusting him with his life and seeing him
as his closest friend in spite of the fact that Perry is the one making it impossible
for him to succeed - to the point where it’s this bond that stops the impact of all Doof’s
painful memories in the episode “This is Your Backstory”.
The two of them spend time together, watch out for each other and just overall have a
strong relationship that manages to be both complicated yet still incredibly simple.
They may be each other’s nemesis, but there’s a surprising amount of love in a title like
that.
Finally, our Gold Medal of Healthiness is going to the titular characters themselves,
Phineas and Ferb.
Being pretty much the exact opposite of Doof and Roger, these two are a team through thick
and thin, being each other’s inventing partner, best friend and brother all in one.
While it may seem like Phineas just bosses Ferb around, his tendency to be a leader is
hardly a detriment to their relationship given that Phineas is constantly giving Ferb credit
for all the ways he helps bring Phineas’ ideas to life - to the point of even naming
several big projects after Ferb.
Ferb, meanwhile, enjoys their daily projects just as much as Phineas does and doesn’t
mind being the support, because he knows that his brother appreciates him.
The two never argue or fight, and even with as silent as Ferb can be most of the time,
Phineas not only understands him but almost always goes out of his way to ask for his
input, showing how well their communication is, ironically enough.
They understand each other perfectly, helped by their strong bond, and as we said in the
intro, the ‘step’ aspect of their brotherhood is hardly even a factor as far as they are
concerned.
There’s no better brother for them than each other, and it’s this that earns them
the title of Healthiest Relationship in the show.
But let us know in the comment section if you agree with our ranking, and tell us what
we should cover next!
Remember to hit that notification bell and binge more of our videos.
But most importantly, stay wicked!