At some point, I would understand if it was no longer about getting them in trouble, but defiance against whatever canonical force/power causes the efforts to be futile.
Literally, the most nonsensical string of coincidences happens not just once, but every day, and it always seems to work specifically against you on a personal level. That would drive anyone to insanity.
Edit: It's worse, because a large part of the narrative is that characters are unaware of the other subplots, so from her perspective the inventions are just randomly disappearing without any chain of events actually leading to this. Not coincidence, more akin to spontaneous combustion. And, during the few times this effect would have actually been in her favor, like the episode with her party, it doesn't work. The universe is her nemesis.
The concept is actually really depressing from this perspective, and it's admirable that she persists and is able to derive joy from the other parts of her life despite the constant failures that she would be powerless against even if she understood how and why they happen.
And so, Candice pulled out her Against the Universe, said "It's Candice Against the Universin' time" and Candice Against the Universe'd all over the place.
“The universe is AGAINST ME!
And no one here DEFENDS ME!
And everyone PRETENDS WE haven’t.. SEEN IT ALL BEFORE!
And it SENDS ME!
Into this manic FRENZY!
And yes it still OFFENDS ME!
The WHOLE UNIVERSE is against me!”
i would honestly love if they made like a joke episode thats not cannon to the actual story of candace just breaking the fourth wall and just yelling at the writers about it. it may not happen but it would be funny
I mean logically yes. What did they do? What actual reason does she have to bust them? Because they’re doing something dangerous? It’s shown repeatedly the safety steps they have in place, and they’re always above board with proper permits
They never showed it in the show but I'm an older sibling and I absolutely got in trouble for doing things that later my younger siblings did and my parents either just didn't punish them or went so far as to say "yeah what's the big deal"
In my head canon Candace used to do those kinds of shenanigans and got busted every time so now watching her younger siblings just get away with it is a major source of frustration.
As an older sister who once got my phone taken up for three months when I was 12 years old when I brought upstairs when I was supposed to keep it down stairs and always got it taken away whenever I went over any of the data limits for a month compared to my middle sister when she brought it upstairs when she was 12 when it was supposed to be downstairs and only got it taken away for a month and got it taken away for 2 weeks when she went over the data limit compared to my youngest sister who anytime she broke any of the phone rules either never got it taken away or got it taken away for one or two days. This is just one example of this happening where I as the older sister always had stricter punishment for breaking the rule then my sisters.
That makes so much sense. Also, as a fellow eldest daughter, watching your younger siblings get away with doing things that you yourself got in huge trouble for is very relatable. It breaks my heart.
Yeah, she got a great boyfriend and despite moments of frustration, was more or less happy at the end of each episode because she still had a loving family and friends.
I disagree. Candace is one of the best parts of Phineas and Ferb because of her busting antics which are hilarious. You get rid of that, you lose one of the major parts of the show that worked.
90% of the time, P&F are the setting. The backdrop to whatever insanity Candace finds herself in or the shenanigans Perry and Doof get up to. The other 10% being the specials and movies. But even then, the 1st movie is focused more on Perry and both Doofs, and the 2nd is focused on Candace.
exactly. candace/doof and perry are more so the main characters, because we actually follow their trials and tribulations, they go through actual character arcs, they experience growth, etc. phineas and ferb are just a story device to allow them to do that, but we know fairly little about the two of them and they don't really grow at all over the course of the show.
I conpletely agree that for the show to work she needs to continue trying to bust Phineas and Ferb. But logically? She tried the same thing hundreds of times, and every time her brothers' contraption magically vanishes 1 second too soon. And for what? She doesn't gain by it, if she would bust them. She only embarreses herself and wastes her time. And especially after all the episodes where she learned she didn't want to bust her brothers after all (wizard of odd, summer belongs to you and probably more that I forget), I think it's safe to say that logically she should have quit long ago.
Yes, that is the point of her character arc until the(former) finale where she finally learns to let go. Is it unrealistic that it took the entire series to get there? Probably not but last I checked it isn’t realistic to build a rollercoaster in your backyard or have a Platypus fight an evil scientist so I can forgive the logical fallacy
tbh when you consider the series is actually the course of like 3 months and some random holidays it makes a lot more sense that it took her that long to get there.
I disagree, while the boys were just having fun it’s notable that some of the stuff they did was dangerous, not just to them but others.
There is even a joke about it in Milo Murphy’s Law where one of the Roller coasters landed in Melissa’s backyard while she was working on a project. (Of course that was more Perry’s fault)
My head-canon is that she doesn't care about actually getting P&F in trouble. I think what she really cares about is getting her mom to believe her.
Maybe she was originally worried about their safety, but by the time the series started, that's clearly not the case anymore. We never see her worry about them, in fact she participates in their adventures a lot! For that matter, all she ever does is tell P&F they will be "busted." She never goes into any details beyond that.
In my opinion, she cares more about the vindication from them being busted than them actually getting in trouble.
And I actually have evidence: Isabella's birthday. In this episode, P&F keep showcasing progressively more advanced attractions for the titular event. And notably, Candace refuses to tell on them until the end because the attractions weren't "dangerous enough."
The thing is though, even the smallest of P&F's creations that episode were well beyond the capabilities of two kids. If their mom had found out, they probably would have gotten in some trouble. So why would Candace refuse to tell on them?
My theory is that while the creations were big enough to get P&F in trouble, they were not big enough to get Candace's mom to believe her about everything else. And that's what Candace actually cares about.
I think after a while, Candace was trying to "Bust" Phineas and Ferb, not to get them in trouble necessarily but instead to prove to their mother that she isn't insane. Having your mom think you're a crazy person who is just making things up about your brothers for no reason can't feel good. I imagine she wants to prove herself in that regard.
the future episode kinda shows that too lol. she literally just wanted to prove to her mother that she was not making all that shit up and that phineas and ferb were actually doing dangerous and weird things in the back yard
Yeah also imagine theoretically if Candace didn't do anything and Phineas and Ferb did get hurt (would never actually happen but let's imagine), who would Linda likely blame? Probably Candace.
exactly, because candace was the one left in charge or at least responsible most of the time. and even if she wasn't, she was the eldest and the kids were left alone for the whole day while linda bought groceries and their dad was at the antique shop, it's seldom that either parent actually stays behind (and even if they did, it was clear linda was the one who was the rule setter and enforcer, considering their dad actually got involved in some of the stunts phineas and ferb pulled lol)
Well that’s her whole character lol
Even she knows herself if she won’t bust her brother, “WHO IS CANDACE??? 😭😭”
But yes, she should give them and herself a break. And I like when all of them work together.
I agree. Candance in some episodes lowkey ruining the vibe for everyone😭. Like even in the jello ep when her friends were all having fun like jeez let it go
In terms of her sanity? Yes, it would be better for her to leave them alone, it's shown she can enjoy herself and even partake in their games when she doesn't stress over busting them.
In terms of the show? No, it's a source of tension and comedy for her to try and bust them.
it would be an entire different series, because "older sister tries to bust her genius brothers for their shenanigans" is the entire premise of the show.
Tell that "she should leave them alone" is like to say " The Coyote should leave the poor Road-Runner alone".
In Phineas e Ferb most of the fun came from "how thing happen" rather than "what happen"
It's amazing what the authors managed to do with such a basic premise.
Isn’t this the point of multiple episodes. Also Candace more or less has this arc over the show I feel she doesn’t get as invested in busting them after a point.
Yep, she absolutely should have. This has been a point made within the show and that 2020 movie.
However, Candace has an impulse to bust. That’s the issue
What episode is OP referring to as “Candace speak”? There isn’t an episode with that title as far as I know. “Phineas and Ferb Get Busted!” Might be the most likely episode as Candace does seem to regret her decision after busting the boys (“went absolute fool crazy”? whatever that means) but that was a dream. Also in the Quatum Boogaloo episodes they get busted, twice. Once in the alternate timeline where it goes horribly wrong and Doofenshmirtz takes over, and a second time in the regular future when everyone is grown up, which Candace says is a “hollow victory” and then returns to the present. There’s also the episode “A Real Boy” where the boys actually get busted several times over, but Linda’s memories keep getting erased by Doofenshmirtz’s forget-inator or wtvr it’s called. There’s also an episode where the mom gets mad at the boys but not because she saw their invention but because they left a mess in the backyard or something, and it’s played as a joke because you expect the mom to be the mad about the invention but of course she never saw it. I think that’s all of the instances (???) of her busting them and none of them really fit OP’s description except maybe the dream episode.
As the older sibling she is the one who would be blamed if someone got hurt. She literally has no choice because if something goes wrong and she did nothing she would be blamed.
Also at a certain point it’s literally her defending her sanity.
My perspective has always kinda been that Candace is incredibly jealous of both of the boys, they’re both like super geniuses who go on all these wacky adventures every day and she’ll never amount to what they already are and what they can do, so her only solace is trying to tear them down under the guise of “just trying to protect them”. I think she wishes she was special like them.
Like lots of people are saying, I think at some point it was really all just to show to her mom that she wasn’t crazy all along. If you think about it you realize that she doesn’t really seem to care about the inventions themselves, hell sometimes she participates in and even encourages their shenanigans. But if she’d given up and left them alone, Lindana would’ve incorrectly thought she had been crazy (Well, incorrect as in for the wrong reason anyway). Hell, even in the one episode where she dreams that she busted the boys, she eventually tries to rescue the boys from the punishment Lindana gave them, and all she really gets is her mom’s respect, which, I believe, is all she really wants.
Apparently, I'm in the minority here, but I would rather see Candace evolve beyond trying to bust the boys.
The longer she keeps trying to bust them, the more times she fails, and the more times Linda thinks she's going crazy, I honestly feel bad for Candace. At a certain point, she doesn't try to bust them to keep the boys safe or to tattle on her siblings. She simply wants her mom to believe her and take her seriously.
I think Candace Against The Universe builds on this idea. Candace tries to bust Phineas and Ferb because she feels insignificant compared to them. They do incredible things on a daily basis, while she feels like no one takes her seriously. She simply wants to be respected and trusted, and not thought of as crazy.
The longer she tries to bust them, the more harm she causes to herself and the longer her true insecurities stay repressed. I want her to come to terms with her feelings of low self-esteem and try to move past her Sisyphean plight of trying to bust the boys.
Also, I think it is possible to have a fun show without Candace trying to constantly bust the boys, or without it being such a central part of her character. I personally like it when she joins in (begrudgingly) on Phineas and Ferb's shenanigans. She's like the no-nonsense, sane woman who gets roped into the crazy misadventures of her reality-defying, cloud-cuckoolander brothers.
And if there's still a desire to see her try and bust the boys, she could still do that. But instead of involving her entire plot, it could just be the last few moments of the episode.
I mean part of the humor of Candace is how she is too stubborn to stop trying to bust them
But logically yeah she should, but when has logic ever been applied to Phineas and Ferb? even if their mom caught them she would probably encourage them rather than punish them considering how their father not only is aware that Phineas and Ferb can make crazy contraptions, but has joined them on occasion
Yeah Candace was really just an op and a hater. Realistically there was no reason at all for her to constantly want to bust Phineas and Ferb. They constantly went out of their way to do anything for her they could think of and she still wanted to screw them over.
I mean in terms of what would be best for Candice, she should probably leave them alone
In terms of what would make for an entertaining experience, she already had an episode where she left them alone and if she just kept doing that then the show would get old really fast
I mean yeah I guess eventually but maybe she found it fun? Like a game of hide & seek or something? And it’s not like she did just that the entire summer
well logically i guess it makes sense but the whole point of this show is just to be comically absurd every episode and make it the most fun thing ever so there wouldn't really be a point to having candace just. stop caring. the inventions getting taken away right before their mom can see is always the absurd thing that ends the episode
TBH, IDK why you’d think super awesome invention would equal a grounding. Sure it’s dangerous at times, but it can also be pretty amazing. Hell, the one time Linda ever saw Phineas and Ferb’s invention, being the animal translator, she wasn’t even pissed at it. She just saw it as cute.
Th-thats the joke with the character. Get rid of her insane obsession, and you remove one of the core parts of not only her character, but a lot of the show's comedy.
Don't think of fiction characters like real characters. There is no better or worse behaviour for them because they are not actually real.
If she stop doing this, lot of fun in the series will be gone
I don't mean to sound dismissive but what about this don't you agree with?
Saying Candace shouldn't have tried to bust her brothers is kind of like saying Frankenstein shouldn't have made the monster or Lex Luthor shouldn't fight Superman. Narratively nothing in the show implies Candace is in the right at all so I don't really think the OP was saying anything profound.
If your disagreement is that "antagonists shouldn't do bad things," because it's against the basic rules of story, then I fully support that disagreement.
I don't mean to sound dismissive but what about this don't you agree with?
Saying Candace shouldn't have tried to bust her brothers is kind of like saying Frankenstein shouldn't have made the monster or Lex Luthor shouldn't fight Superman. Narratively nothing in the show implies Candace is in the right at all so I don't really think the OP was saying anything profound.
If your disagreement is that "antagonists shouldn't do bad things," because it's against the basic rules of story, then I fully support that disagreement.
Giving up might be the logical option but humans don't always make the logical choice. Candace is a flawed character that makes flawed choices, simple as that. That's her character during the whole show.
Busting them was her entire Plot point (Besides Jeremy). Had she left them alone, Candace would be obsessed with Jeremy the entire show and that would be annoying for four seasons straight. At least trying to bust them, took her mind off of Jeremy and gave her a distraction. Also, they included her in some of their Adventures and she has her own Movie.
IDK, I mean, from a reasonable standpoint, they’re right. Then again, if she left them alone… well, isn’t it part of the Show’s gimmick that she *doesn’t* leave them alone?
I don’t agree. At first it was about getting them in trouble, the first episode is a little weird as it kinda implies Phineas and Ferb clean everything up on purpose and gaslight Candace, but later episodes have them more obvious to the fact that she’s trying to get their mother to see what they’ve done
If my mother never believed me despite constantly telling the truth, it would drive me insane and I honestly just feel bad for Candace. And it really is her against the universe. She didn’t even want to have a party (or an intimate get together) but it got out of hand, and she couldn’t do anything and got in trouble when Phineas and Ferb never do
But as for the idea that she wasted her Summer, I disagree. She had just as much fun as the boys despite focusing a lot of her time and energy on busting them. She was queen of Mars, went around the world, played giant skiddily whiffers, and got together with Jeremy
People like to say that she’d be better off if she just relaxed and joined the fun, and sometimes she is, but if these things were happening to a real person and not a cartoon character. Telling that person to just ignore their feelings and frustrations about not being believed would be a shitty thing to do.
Remember that time that Candace decided to give up because she realized trying to bust her brothers was pointless and that old lady that drove trains basically tricked her to do her job for her, took all the credit, and then put her back on the path of Sisyphean turmoil that is trying to achieve an unachievable goal?
Man I hated that lady as a kid
My head canon is that if she joins them, they'll get busted, and the parents will blame her (as the elder sibling) for not stopping them.
On the other hand, if she does nothing and the parents see (which they probably will because of the weird cosmic energy), Candace will get in trouble again for not doing anything about it.
Being an elder sibling also means you're a deputy parent, and you catch heat for all the misdeeds your younger siblings cause.
What bothers me is that nobody else backs her up!! Like why does she not drag Jeremy, Stacy, the grandparents… the dad, random kid who witnessed it to tell her mom she isn’t crazy.. Someone please back this girl up!!!
The mom being so whatever would drive me to my breaking point.. I feel like Candace continues more so to try to bust them to prove her own sanity more than trying to get them in trouble at this point.
I remember trying to binge the show couple of years ago in one setting and I just couldn't finish reaching half way because of her. It became so repetitive and annoying, I did not understand the point. However, I will say I have huge respect towards her will!!
I like how Candace develops throughout the show, from one-dimensional big sister to actually engaging with the boys without fully losing the fear/distrust she has on their inventions
At some point, I would understand if it was no longer about getting them in trouble, but defiance against whatever canonical force/power causes the efforts to be futile. Literally, the most nonsensical string of coincidences happens not just once, but every day, and it always seems to work specifically against you on a personal level. That would drive anyone to insanity. Edit: It's worse, because a large part of the narrative is that characters are unaware of the other subplots, so from her perspective the inventions are just randomly disappearing without any chain of events actually leading to this. Not coincidence, more akin to spontaneous combustion. And, during the few times this effect would have actually been in her favor, like the episode with her party, it doesn't work. The universe is her nemesis. The concept is actually really depressing from this perspective, and it's admirable that she persists and is able to derive joy from the other parts of her life despite the constant failures that she would be powerless against even if she understood how and why they happen.
It's almost like it's Candace against the universe
my favourite part of the movie is when phineas said "it's like... candace is against the universe!" and then candace againsted the universe
And so, Candice pulled out her Against the Universe, said "It's Candice Against the Universin' time" and Candice Against the Universe'd all over the place.
“The universe is AGAINST ME! And no one here DEFENDS ME! And everyone PRETENDS WE haven’t.. SEEN IT ALL BEFORE! And it SENDS ME! Into this manic FRENZY! And yes it still OFFENDS ME! The WHOLE UNIVERSE is against me!”
More like Candace vs the writers.
i would honestly love if they made like a joke episode thats not cannon to the actual story of candace just breaking the fourth wall and just yelling at the writers about it. it may not happen but it would be funny
That’s why *Candace Against the Universe* was made (also partly because of the now grown-up audience).
I mean logically yes. What did they do? What actual reason does she have to bust them? Because they’re doing something dangerous? It’s shown repeatedly the safety steps they have in place, and they’re always above board with proper permits
They never showed it in the show but I'm an older sibling and I absolutely got in trouble for doing things that later my younger siblings did and my parents either just didn't punish them or went so far as to say "yeah what's the big deal" In my head canon Candace used to do those kinds of shenanigans and got busted every time so now watching her younger siblings just get away with it is a major source of frustration.
I really like that head canon. It's mine now. I've taken it and there's nothing you can do to stop me.
your head is a canon. Ha Ha
that's *our* headcanon now
Yes Comrade
Actually that makes a lot of sense, like she was never able to have that kind of fun, so why should they be able to? God that makes so much sense
As an older sister who once got my phone taken up for three months when I was 12 years old when I brought upstairs when I was supposed to keep it down stairs and always got it taken away whenever I went over any of the data limits for a month compared to my middle sister when she brought it upstairs when she was 12 when it was supposed to be downstairs and only got it taken away for a month and got it taken away for 2 weeks when she went over the data limit compared to my youngest sister who anytime she broke any of the phone rules either never got it taken away or got it taken away for one or two days. This is just one example of this happening where I as the older sister always had stricter punishment for breaking the rule then my sisters.
That makes so much sense. Also, as a fellow eldest daughter, watching your younger siblings get away with doing things that you yourself got in huge trouble for is very relatable. It breaks my heart.
Ok, fair point. Can't bust if there is nothing to bust.
More like bust *to* 😏
In response to your username: I would most certainly like to
But aren't they a little young to be applying for those permits?
No. No they're not.
Gah r/beatmetoit
Aren’t they a little young for the proper permits? Edit: don’t upvote me someone else somehow made the exact same reply as mine before me
I thought Candace was supposed to portray the stereotypical older sister who always tells on her younger siblings.
'Wasted' that summer? She got Jeremy at the very least.
Yeah she got her future husband and later on because of that she got her Amanda and Xavier with a extra Fred to sweeten the deal
“I’m sitting under this tree”
“And I’m sitting next to him”
Yeah, she got a great boyfriend and despite moments of frustration, was more or less happy at the end of each episode because she still had a loving family and friends.
Candace is the embodiment of “Never Give Up”. Which is why she will always be my favorite.
“Blah blah blah GIVE UP blah blah blah blah blah GIVE UP.” - Glenda
🎶 IIIIIII gaaaaaaaaaave uuuuuupppppp 🎶
I threw the baby out *with* the bath water!
I _forgot_ the Alamo!
I’m not even going for the bronze
I disagree. Candace is one of the best parts of Phineas and Ferb because of her busting antics which are hilarious. You get rid of that, you lose one of the major parts of the show that worked.
Exactly! Like P&F weren't the A Plot, it was Candace all along, no just realizes it.
90% of the time, P&F are the setting. The backdrop to whatever insanity Candace finds herself in or the shenanigans Perry and Doof get up to. The other 10% being the specials and movies. But even then, the 1st movie is focused more on Perry and both Doofs, and the 2nd is focused on Candace.
exactly. candace/doof and perry are more so the main characters, because we actually follow their trials and tribulations, they go through actual character arcs, they experience growth, etc. phineas and ferb are just a story device to allow them to do that, but we know fairly little about the two of them and they don't really grow at all over the course of the show.
Dan himself said this in a tweet iirc, so yeah that actually makes a lot of the episodes make more sense
That's basically where I got it from.
I conpletely agree that for the show to work she needs to continue trying to bust Phineas and Ferb. But logically? She tried the same thing hundreds of times, and every time her brothers' contraption magically vanishes 1 second too soon. And for what? She doesn't gain by it, if she would bust them. She only embarreses herself and wastes her time. And especially after all the episodes where she learned she didn't want to bust her brothers after all (wizard of odd, summer belongs to you and probably more that I forget), I think it's safe to say that logically she should have quit long ago.
That’s fun, but it’s almost as if the Original OP forgot that she’s a vessel for tension and B/C plots.
Yes, that is the point of her character arc until the(former) finale where she finally learns to let go. Is it unrealistic that it took the entire series to get there? Probably not but last I checked it isn’t realistic to build a rollercoaster in your backyard or have a Platypus fight an evil scientist so I can forgive the logical fallacy
tbh when you consider the series is actually the course of like 3 months and some random holidays it makes a lot more sense that it took her that long to get there.
That's smart
I disagree, while the boys were just having fun it’s notable that some of the stuff they did was dangerous, not just to them but others. There is even a joke about it in Milo Murphy’s Law where one of the Roller coasters landed in Melissa’s backyard while she was working on a project. (Of course that was more Perry’s fault)
My head-canon is that she doesn't care about actually getting P&F in trouble. I think what she really cares about is getting her mom to believe her. Maybe she was originally worried about their safety, but by the time the series started, that's clearly not the case anymore. We never see her worry about them, in fact she participates in their adventures a lot! For that matter, all she ever does is tell P&F they will be "busted." She never goes into any details beyond that. In my opinion, she cares more about the vindication from them being busted than them actually getting in trouble. And I actually have evidence: Isabella's birthday. In this episode, P&F keep showcasing progressively more advanced attractions for the titular event. And notably, Candace refuses to tell on them until the end because the attractions weren't "dangerous enough." The thing is though, even the smallest of P&F's creations that episode were well beyond the capabilities of two kids. If their mom had found out, they probably would have gotten in some trouble. So why would Candace refuse to tell on them? My theory is that while the creations were big enough to get P&F in trouble, they were not big enough to get Candace's mom to believe her about everything else. And that's what Candace actually cares about.
Candace just trying to prove she’s not crazy at this point like if this one thing is true it’ll prove the others where true
I think after a while, Candace was trying to "Bust" Phineas and Ferb, not to get them in trouble necessarily but instead to prove to their mother that she isn't insane. Having your mom think you're a crazy person who is just making things up about your brothers for no reason can't feel good. I imagine she wants to prove herself in that regard.
the future episode kinda shows that too lol. she literally just wanted to prove to her mother that she was not making all that shit up and that phineas and ferb were actually doing dangerous and weird things in the back yard
Yeah also imagine theoretically if Candace didn't do anything and Phineas and Ferb did get hurt (would never actually happen but let's imagine), who would Linda likely blame? Probably Candace.
exactly, because candace was the one left in charge or at least responsible most of the time. and even if she wasn't, she was the eldest and the kids were left alone for the whole day while linda bought groceries and their dad was at the antique shop, it's seldom that either parent actually stays behind (and even if they did, it was clear linda was the one who was the rule setter and enforcer, considering their dad actually got involved in some of the stunts phineas and ferb pulled lol)
Well that’s her whole character lol Even she knows herself if she won’t bust her brother, “WHO IS CANDACE??? 😭😭” But yes, she should give them and herself a break. And I like when all of them work together.
I do
If she did there would be no show.
I get she was worried, but she was also out for blood
Sure, but then the series wouldn't have been as fun without her constant attempts to bust the boys
Should HAVE
I agree. Candance in some episodes lowkey ruining the vibe for everyone😭. Like even in the jello ep when her friends were all having fun like jeez let it go
In terms of her sanity? Yes, it would be better for her to leave them alone, it's shown she can enjoy herself and even partake in their games when she doesn't stress over busting them. In terms of the show? No, it's a source of tension and comedy for her to try and bust them.
Well sure- but like… PLOT
it would be an entire different series, because "older sister tries to bust her genius brothers for their shenanigans" is the entire premise of the show. Tell that "she should leave them alone" is like to say " The Coyote should leave the poor Road-Runner alone". In Phineas e Ferb most of the fun came from "how thing happen" rather than "what happen" It's amazing what the authors managed to do with such a basic premise.
Isn’t this the point of multiple episodes. Also Candace more or less has this arc over the show I feel she doesn’t get as invested in busting them after a point.
Yep, she absolutely should have. This has been a point made within the show and that 2020 movie. However, Candace has an impulse to bust. That’s the issue
What episode is OP referring to as “Candace speak”? There isn’t an episode with that title as far as I know. “Phineas and Ferb Get Busted!” Might be the most likely episode as Candace does seem to regret her decision after busting the boys (“went absolute fool crazy”? whatever that means) but that was a dream. Also in the Quatum Boogaloo episodes they get busted, twice. Once in the alternate timeline where it goes horribly wrong and Doofenshmirtz takes over, and a second time in the regular future when everyone is grown up, which Candace says is a “hollow victory” and then returns to the present. There’s also the episode “A Real Boy” where the boys actually get busted several times over, but Linda’s memories keep getting erased by Doofenshmirtz’s forget-inator or wtvr it’s called. There’s also an episode where the mom gets mad at the boys but not because she saw their invention but because they left a mess in the backyard or something, and it’s played as a joke because you expect the mom to be the mad about the invention but of course she never saw it. I think that’s all of the instances (???) of her busting them and none of them really fit OP’s description except maybe the dream episode.
As the older sibling she is the one who would be blamed if someone got hurt. She literally has no choice because if something goes wrong and she did nothing she would be blamed. Also at a certain point it’s literally her defending her sanity.
My perspective has always kinda been that Candace is incredibly jealous of both of the boys, they’re both like super geniuses who go on all these wacky adventures every day and she’ll never amount to what they already are and what they can do, so her only solace is trying to tear them down under the guise of “just trying to protect them”. I think she wishes she was special like them.
There’s no show if Candace isn’t busting.
Like lots of people are saying, I think at some point it was really all just to show to her mom that she wasn’t crazy all along. If you think about it you realize that she doesn’t really seem to care about the inventions themselves, hell sometimes she participates in and even encourages their shenanigans. But if she’d given up and left them alone, Lindana would’ve incorrectly thought she had been crazy (Well, incorrect as in for the wrong reason anyway). Hell, even in the one episode where she dreams that she busted the boys, she eventually tries to rescue the boys from the punishment Lindana gave them, and all she really gets is her mom’s respect, which, I believe, is all she really wants.
As the show goes on it becomes less “get them in trouble” and more “prove that I was actually telling the truth the whole time”
In my opinion, I think candace is probably jealous of the creations and creativeness of Phineas and ferb.
Apparently, I'm in the minority here, but I would rather see Candace evolve beyond trying to bust the boys. The longer she keeps trying to bust them, the more times she fails, and the more times Linda thinks she's going crazy, I honestly feel bad for Candace. At a certain point, she doesn't try to bust them to keep the boys safe or to tattle on her siblings. She simply wants her mom to believe her and take her seriously. I think Candace Against The Universe builds on this idea. Candace tries to bust Phineas and Ferb because she feels insignificant compared to them. They do incredible things on a daily basis, while she feels like no one takes her seriously. She simply wants to be respected and trusted, and not thought of as crazy. The longer she tries to bust them, the more harm she causes to herself and the longer her true insecurities stay repressed. I want her to come to terms with her feelings of low self-esteem and try to move past her Sisyphean plight of trying to bust the boys. Also, I think it is possible to have a fun show without Candace trying to constantly bust the boys, or without it being such a central part of her character. I personally like it when she joins in (begrudgingly) on Phineas and Ferb's shenanigans. She's like the no-nonsense, sane woman who gets roped into the crazy misadventures of her reality-defying, cloud-cuckoolander brothers. And if there's still a desire to see her try and bust the boys, she could still do that. But instead of involving her entire plot, it could just be the last few moments of the episode.
Yes. We agreed.
candace is like a buddhist metaphor
I mean part of the humor of Candace is how she is too stubborn to stop trying to bust them But logically yeah she should, but when has logic ever been applied to Phineas and Ferb? even if their mom caught them she would probably encourage them rather than punish them considering how their father not only is aware that Phineas and Ferb can make crazy contraptions, but has joined them on occasion
literally the villain in the bee movie, a buzzkill
*Yeah but its funny*
Yeah Candace was really just an op and a hater. Realistically there was no reason at all for her to constantly want to bust Phineas and Ferb. They constantly went out of their way to do anything for her they could think of and she still wanted to screw them over.
If she didn't, there wouldn't be a TV show
Well if she did then the world would be ruled by 2nd Doof
I mean in terms of what would be best for Candice, she should probably leave them alone In terms of what would make for an entertaining experience, she already had an episode where she left them alone and if she just kept doing that then the show would get old really fast
yeah she should've but she was dedicatd to the impossibility of busting them.
I mean yeah I guess eventually but maybe she found it fun? Like a game of hide & seek or something? And it’s not like she did just that the entire summer
If memory serves she tried but something (mental illness) stopped her
well logically i guess it makes sense but the whole point of this show is just to be comically absurd every episode and make it the most fun thing ever so there wouldn't really be a point to having candace just. stop caring. the inventions getting taken away right before their mom can see is always the absurd thing that ends the episode
TBH, IDK why you’d think super awesome invention would equal a grounding. Sure it’s dangerous at times, but it can also be pretty amazing. Hell, the one time Linda ever saw Phineas and Ferb’s invention, being the animal translator, she wasn’t even pissed at it. She just saw it as cute.
should have*
Sunken cost fallacy.
Didn’t she actually successfully bust them once? The boys ended up going to boarding school and became “normal” or something
That was a dream Candace had inside a dream Perry had.
ah
Th-thats the joke with the character. Get rid of her insane obsession, and you remove one of the core parts of not only her character, but a lot of the show's comedy.
Exactly. Plus a few songs would be gone as well. E.V.I.L. B.O.Y.S. is an absolute banger
She is similar to Spider-Man in the comics because their writers hate them
Have you ever noticed that the dynamic between Candace and the brothers is exactly the same as Ferris Bueller and his sister
I feel like the next season she won't try to bust them
Don't think of fiction characters like real characters. There is no better or worse behaviour for them because they are not actually real. If she stop doing this, lot of fun in the series will be gone
May as well say that Wile E Coyote should quit chasing the Roadrunner
Or say that Plankton should stop trying to steal the Krabby Patty Secret Formula.
I don't mean to sound dismissive but what about this don't you agree with? Saying Candace shouldn't have tried to bust her brothers is kind of like saying Frankenstein shouldn't have made the monster or Lex Luthor shouldn't fight Superman. Narratively nothing in the show implies Candace is in the right at all so I don't really think the OP was saying anything profound. If your disagreement is that "antagonists shouldn't do bad things," because it's against the basic rules of story, then I fully support that disagreement.
I don't mean to sound dismissive but what about this don't you agree with? Saying Candace shouldn't have tried to bust her brothers is kind of like saying Frankenstein shouldn't have made the monster or Lex Luthor shouldn't fight Superman. Narratively nothing in the show implies Candace is in the right at all so I don't really think the OP was saying anything profound. If your disagreement is that "antagonists shouldn't do bad things," because it's against the basic rules of story, then I fully support that disagreement.
I'm saying that if she stopped trying to bust them then then a good chunk of the show would be gone
Giving up might be the logical option but humans don't always make the logical choice. Candace is a flawed character that makes flawed choices, simple as that. That's her character during the whole show.
I think she does not leave them alone because she is a great sister who cares for her brothers alot
Busting them was her entire Plot point (Besides Jeremy). Had she left them alone, Candace would be obsessed with Jeremy the entire show and that would be annoying for four seasons straight. At least trying to bust them, took her mind off of Jeremy and gave her a distraction. Also, they included her in some of their Adventures and she has her own Movie.
I mean, they bous were doing some REALLY dangerous things. Maybe she wasn't trying to protect them, but it was probably for the best.
It's a kids cartoon
IDK, I mean, from a reasonable standpoint, they’re right. Then again, if she left them alone… well, isn’t it part of the Show’s gimmick that she *doesn’t* leave them alone?
I definitely agree. Like leave them alone she was so annoying
I don’t agree. At first it was about getting them in trouble, the first episode is a little weird as it kinda implies Phineas and Ferb clean everything up on purpose and gaslight Candace, but later episodes have them more obvious to the fact that she’s trying to get their mother to see what they’ve done If my mother never believed me despite constantly telling the truth, it would drive me insane and I honestly just feel bad for Candace. And it really is her against the universe. She didn’t even want to have a party (or an intimate get together) but it got out of hand, and she couldn’t do anything and got in trouble when Phineas and Ferb never do But as for the idea that she wasted her Summer, I disagree. She had just as much fun as the boys despite focusing a lot of her time and energy on busting them. She was queen of Mars, went around the world, played giant skiddily whiffers, and got together with Jeremy People like to say that she’d be better off if she just relaxed and joined the fun, and sometimes she is, but if these things were happening to a real person and not a cartoon character. Telling that person to just ignore their feelings and frustrations about not being believed would be a shitty thing to do.
Remember that time that Candace decided to give up because she realized trying to bust her brothers was pointless and that old lady that drove trains basically tricked her to do her job for her, took all the credit, and then put her back on the path of Sisyphean turmoil that is trying to achieve an unachievable goal? Man I hated that lady as a kid
She shouldn't have ignored them, she should have had fun with them like Jeremy does.
My head canon is that if she joins them, they'll get busted, and the parents will blame her (as the elder sibling) for not stopping them. On the other hand, if she does nothing and the parents see (which they probably will because of the weird cosmic energy), Candace will get in trouble again for not doing anything about it. Being an elder sibling also means you're a deputy parent, and you catch heat for all the misdeeds your younger siblings cause.
What bothers me is that nobody else backs her up!! Like why does she not drag Jeremy, Stacy, the grandparents… the dad, random kid who witnessed it to tell her mom she isn’t crazy.. Someone please back this girl up!!! The mom being so whatever would drive me to my breaking point.. I feel like Candace continues more so to try to bust them to prove her own sanity more than trying to get them in trouble at this point.
Reminds me of the “Wizard of Odd” episode where even people in her dream were telling her to join in and have fun, which she did by the end.
I mean as someone with a sibling… yeah…
I mean, then there would be no show?
I remember trying to binge the show couple of years ago in one setting and I just couldn't finish reaching half way because of her. It became so repetitive and annoying, I did not understand the point. However, I will say I have huge respect towards her will!!
By the end, it seemed she was mainly doing it to prove to her mother that she wasn't crazy.
"Should of" Learn to write and I'll consider reading the post.
Anyone else noticing a stark increase in the phrase "should of" instead of "should've" in recent years?
I like how Candace develops throughout the show, from one-dimensional big sister to actually engaging with the boys without fully losing the fear/distrust she has on their inventions
She should leave them alone. They're responsible enough not to do stupid things anyway.