If you want large blocks of text about the dwampyverse this is the place for you. Occasionally smaller thoughts about the dwampyverse. My askbox is always open, especially if you give me an excuse to talk about these shows.
Doof really does not give much of a shit about any child's safety except for his own. Vanessa specifically.
Step on a bunch of children's feet at a swim meet?
Praise your teen daughter for stealing a toy from a child?
Make an inator to turn pre-teen girls invisible so you won't have to look at them?
Steal a 17 year old girls limited edition curtains to make pajamas?
Be a drama queen and make a middle schooler's student film practically impossible to film?
Have one of your inators turn a child inside out?
Start a fight with a 9 year old?
Sure whatever.
Trust a bunch of 9 year old children to sneak aboard an alien space ship with someone who wants them enslaved to rescue their sister alone? Who cares because Vanessa's still on this planet. Not in any immediate danger. The biggest threat is actively leaving the planet.
Like obviously his own child is more important to him. But still.
Nothing more than a comment about their lack of adult supervision and then trying and failing to boss a child around because of your seniority.
Doof isn't cruel to children and is suceptible to being guilted by them. But hes not above doing things that harm kids either. He loves his daughter but otherwise not particularly great with kids.
His interactions with kids besides Vanessa kinda fascinate me for that reason.
Candace's role in the series can literally be defined by the word "Bust". Early marketing materials literally revolved around that. Her job in the show is to try and show the boys activities to her mom.
So she needs to be dedicated to busting them, and she needs a reason to be dedicated to busting them. It could have been super easy to just give her the reason of jealousy and leave it at that.
But the show doesn't really give us one reason. It gives us long winded rants, and confessions and events that paint a picture of Candace's feelings about her brothers and her role in the narrative, and that the reasons behind her busting changes subtly over time as Candace is able to grow, while still maintaining her need to bust.
Overall Candace is given a lot of interiority and complexity regarding her behavior and role in the narrative.
Early on it was largely out of a sense of "Fairness", believing they should get in trouble since she would get in trouble. And Candace DOES have a strong sense of justice, even outside of her brothers. However as the seasons have passed, she's gotten more self aware about her feelings on the subject, beyond just being upset with the fact that she's not being treated the same as her brothers.
Part of it is the stuff they do IS dangerous (that's why their mom would be upset about this and wouldn't allow this if she knew) and she worries about their safety. Busting them is about their mother enforcing the rules upon them, the rules that would keep them safe. In that sense, that's what Candace's obsession with busting the boys, and 2D Candace's obsession fighting 2D Doofensmirtz have in common.
But there's a secondary aspect to the boys inventions are dangerous beyond just the boys safety, that diminished in significance as the seasons went by. And that's Candace's safety. I think this is the issue Candace vocalizes directly the least, but is definitely a part of her complaints about danger. And also just general annoyance with them.
In the early seasons the boys activities did often negatively affect Candace. Like when the boys mistook her for a mummy and stuck her in a coffin. Or when she accidentally got caught in the chariot race. Or when she saw all those Phinedroid and Ferbots. Or even just blotting out all the light in her room for their S'winter wonderland. Perhaps most blatantly is when they became movie directors. Candace had to get her foot in the door by doing it for free. Only to have it turned around and the money Candace had to forgo to get in, was graciously given to her brothers instead. Who then changed the play she enjoyed and made her life a living hell on set.
They didn't do this with malice, and some of these could have been prevented by Candace ignoring them instead of meddling. And those types of incidents never went away. But Candace early on was also calling her mother to get her brothers to stop bothering her. But the boys themselves ALSO grew, to be just a bit more safety conscientious, and a bit less inconsiderate of the public. A bit. The boys were always TRYING to be considerate of Candace. Building her a rocket, carving her face into Mt. Rushmore, fixing up her tree house, the events of Cheer Up Candace. But they didn't always succeed in actually understanding Candace's desires.
As time went on, they became less of a hazard to the people around them. I mean, we probably wouldn't get something so blatantly unconcerned with the public's safety like the chariot race and treehouse fight in recent seasons. (They still do reckless things we just do see people getting caught in the crossfire quite so often). So they also became less of nuisance to Candace. So that secondary aspect of getting in trouble so they stop interfering in her life in negative ways, has also disappeared.
But also being the older sister of the worlds most successful 10 year olds has worn on her self-esteem. While they break records, she's unable to even show her mother what they are doing. So there's definitely a bit of jealousy at play. But when this jealousy does come into play, it is able to be combated by recognition of her own accomplishments or unconditional appreciation. Usually by the boys, but also Stacy, Vanessa or Jeremy.
Unlike concerns of fairness, which Candace has become somewhat less preoccupied with (or at the very least less petty about), her self-esteem is a constant. Early on it was more of frustration of her brothers showing her up in things that she had interest in. Things like music, fashion, acting, and fame. Candace has shown less interest in becoming famous herself as the series progressed. But despite stopping seeking public validation on these fronts, she's still personally insecure about her successes in the shadow of her brothers and feels like no matter what she does, it doesn't matter.
Because most importantly of all, the constant failures have turned into a feedback loop, where each failure is a moment where her mom thinks she's lying or hallucinating, reducing Linda's trust in Candace, thereby raising the stakes of the next bust where if she can just prove to her mom one time what the boys are capable of, it would retroactively prove that none of it was a lie thus completely earning her mothers currently broken trust. And Candace thinks very highly of her mother, so her mother's lack of trust in her is a major blow to her self-esteem.
In addition to growing more self-aware of her motivations, she's shifted how she looks at busting the boys. It's not about getting her brothers in trouble anymore so much as its just proving a point to her mom. The boys have became less of a nuisance to her, and she's got faith that her brothers can mostly look after themselves and won't get hurt.
But if they do get themselves in a dangerous situation its Candace who has to step up, because Linda can't know. Unfortunately she's learned she can't count on her mom to be the one to take care of this kind of stuff. She has to be in charge. And being in charge means taking care of it herself.
At the start of the series, whether necessary or not, Candace was a girl calling her mom for help. To fix something for her. These days she isn't calling her mom for help, she's calling her mom in a desperate attempt for validation. That she's not crazy, that she can do this seemingly basic task. She's already sunk too much time, effort, and reputation into this to quit now.
As her brothers have become less of nuisance, and Candace's trust in her brother has increased, the broken trust between her and her mother has only grown, and has become her primary motivation. The real tragedy of this being how close Linda and Candace are otherwise, and how much closer they would be if it weren't for the mysterious force.
Not to say she isn't still obsessed with the unfairness of the situation (Meap Me in St. Louis), or that she's now unconcerned with her brother's safety (she literally said as such in Elevator Irratator), or feels it threatens her fragile self esteem (see CATU). But these reasons do get addressed in universe from time to time. They still bother her, but they aren't all consuming.
But the only solution for the broken trust between mother and child is the truth the universe will bend over backwards to keep hidden. But Candace is a Mama's girl, and incredibly stubborn. She won't give up on this so easily, even if it won't get fixed for another 20 years.
The Candace&Vanessa dynamic is sort of weird because Candace and Vanessa were set up as parallels very early in the series, but as the series went on they kind of stopped being parallels.
This is of course most evident in the rightfully iconic Busted. Like one of the most popular songs in the show.
Both Candace and Vanessa both have a family member who makes dangerous inventions that they want to "Bust" to their mom.
Their moms are even friends with each other from their cooking class.
Candace has her best friend Stacey, and her boyfriend Jeremy. Vanessa has her best friend Lacey, and her boyfriend Johnny.
Note the similar names.
But this parallel only really is emphasized in just a couple of season 1 episodes:
Hail Doofania
I Scream You Scream
And come season 2, and the Summer Belongs to You special, while she isn't exactly approving of her father's evil, she sort of reluctantly accepts that part of him. And starts doing some of her own petty evil.
Overall, after season 1, Vanessa drops her interest in busting her father. Turning from someone who is primarily embarrassed and frustrated by her father, to someone who is more pitying of her father. And also often frustrated by him.
And she also breaks up with her boyfriend Johnny in season 3, which sets her up to date Monty Monogram. Who instead is her parallel on the OWCA side to her part in Doofensmirtz Evil Inc.
And while Vanessa was always less high energy than Candace, over time she became less concerned with others opinions and became less disdainful of her father's activities. She's grown to understand why he's like this, and be more concerned for him.
Vanessa grew out of being Candace's foil while Candace... didn't grow with her. Or at least not in the same direction.
I think saying Candace stayed the same isn't quite accurate; like Vanessa she's become less concerned with the opinions of those around her and less prone to finding her parents embarrassing. And she HAS grown in some self awareness behind her reasons for busting her brothers.
Vanessa decided she didn't need to bust her dad to her mom and instead just needed to learn to accept her dad. Candace, while coming to appreciate her brothers more, has nevertheless decided she still needs to prove to her mom what the boys are up to.
Instead, Candace is paralleled more with Heinz Doofensmirtz.
Both as the victims in the cosmic cycle that is their lives. Candace and Doofensmirtz both can't ever win. Even when Perry isn't around, Doof is doomed to failure.
Both sometimes try to give up on their goals (busting/taking over the tri state area) because they don't seem to bring them any happiness, but are never able to give up on it for long.
And it's Vanessa who acts as a voice of reason to her father. Instead of getting him in trouble with her mom, she is able to get him to give up on evil for a little while at the end of the first summer by having an honest discussion with him.
And in more recent content she also occasionally acts as a voice of reason to Candace trying to convince her NOT to bust, as seen at the start of CATU or in No Slumber Party. So she sort of fills a similar role to both Heinz and Candace.
But the interesting thing is that Candace and Vanessa really didn't start hanging out until AFTER Vanessa kinda stopped caring about busting her dad. So they never really got to bond over that. Candace never really gets to see a Vanessa whose like her. To Candace Vanessa is "Cool Older Girl", who seemingly has a lot of wisdom (even if Candace isn't really interested in absorbing it).
Candace just gets the Vanessa who already got over her busting. But for some reason we never see Vanessa sort of acknowledge that to try and relate to Candace or get through to her. In part I don't think we've seen much Vanessa vs. Busting Candace yet at all. So I do think its more an aspect of their relationship with untapped potential. But I also think there is untapped potential in regard to what Vanessa could learn from Candace.
A big difference between Candace and Vanessa's busting is that Vanessa's issue is with her dad and Candace is with her younger brothers.
Vanessa doesn't have to be responsible for her dads actions. Her dad is a grown man who can and will make his own decisions. So any issues she has with him, she can take it up with him directly. No need for her mom, who doesn't even live with her dad anyway.
Phineas and Ferb are Linda and Lawrence's responsibility. But unlike Linda and Lawrence as much as Phineas and Ferb respect Candace she doesn't have the same authority over them. But in the absence of Linda and Lawrence doing anything about the situation Candace as their older sister still justifiably feels responsibility for them. Because she loves them and wants them safe.
So Candace needs that middleman(her mom) to offload the responsibility and get the situation resolved.
While technically Candace could talk to Phineas and Ferb herself, it probably wouldn't get Candace what she wants. Candace doesn't really want her brothers to stop building. But she often orders them to not build anything when given an inch of authority, and then finds herself regretting that.
"I thought you wanted us to take the day off and not annoy you?"
Really, I think what Candace wants is her mom to step in and set clear boundaries with the boys on what they should or should not be doing. That's not something Candace can (or should) really do herself.
As a result I think Vanessa understands part of why Candace busts her brothers. The part of it that has to do with Candace's self-esteem and Candace's desire for normalcy. Because that's what it was for Vanessa. Otherwise, Vanessa doesn't actually have a particularly strong sense of responsibility or justice. Because while she's technically older than Norm (and Perry) she's the baby of her family. She cares about her family deeply, and puts a lot of effort into getting them to be their best selves. But since she's the baby, it's more about getting them to be better for themselves.
Doofensmirtz being evil is "out of a sense of obligation to [his] backstory" and doesn't actually bring him any joy. It's a deeply personal situation for him, being good (theoretically, not in practice) doesn't have a meaningful affect on anyone else's life. But for Candace she isn't as easily talked into giving up on busting because it isn't just about her. It's about her relationship with her mom and her brothers.
While I think Vanessa on the whole is a bit more mature than Candace, Candace has Vanessa beat in some regards. While Vanessa's got a lot more emotional intelligence than Candace does. Candace's sense of responsibility is far stronger. Vanessa may be able to get along well with the kids in their limited interactions but she doesn't seem to recognize them as kids. We don't really see her interact with kids much. And the times we do see her interact with kids don't exactly inspire confidence.
Candace on the other hand is pretty consistently shown to be at least okay with kids. Not necessarily great with children. But more than competent.
Also, Candace is qualified to be a life guard. At worse Candace is prone to panic, but even that has waned as the seasons have progressed, and even if she freaked that little girl out, Candace had her best interests in mind. Candace can be trusted to keep others safe.
Candace even basically babysat Milo for a bit when she thought Milo could be a danger to the others.
Also you know. Didn't steal a doll out of a little girls arms.
So I would NOT trust Vanessa to babysit. Trust her as backup in a fight? Sure. A room with a 5 year old alone. Honestly. No. She told Buford to stick his head in a toilet. Like yes, that's how truth or dare works. But that kid DOES NOT need enabling on his disgusting habits. Not that VANESSA should be expected to know that. She's 17 and doesn't know Buford that well. But still.
Maybe it's more Candace is just less selfish. This isn't really a bash against Vanessa, and Candace is plenty selfish. But looking at SBTY, Candace left her boyfriend in Paris to babysit her brothers. Vanessa was very much doing her own thing and sorta just ditched Ferb. To be clear, Vanessa didn't have any responsibilities. Candace DID. Candace just has more responsibilities by default, so she's learned to be more responsible and considerate by default.
But the big area that Candace matured in over the course of the series, but not Vanessa, is romantic relationships. Now, romance is a two way street, so Vanessa cannot on her own develop a healthy romantic relationship, Johnny and Monty's shortcomings also play a factor.
But it still speaks to Candace's own growth that she's got a healthy relationship built on mutual effort, open communication and trust. Candace approaches her relationship with Jeremy with complete sincerity.
Meanwhile Vanessa just kinda dropped off on talking to Monty and isn't even sure that she likes Monty or if she's pursuing this relationship just to bother her dad. Is it Monty she likes or the drama and the idea of dating Monty. Vanessa ended her first date with Monty bickering, and chided Johnny for expressing admiration for Vanessa's dad.
Johnny and Vanessa broke up because Johnny was focusing on video games. Conversely, when Jeremy got a new video game, he invited Candace over to join him. Because he thought it'd be more fun with him. And Candace jumped at the opportunity to hang out.
This may be in part because both Jeremy and Candace have healthy loving marriages modeled for them by their parents. Vanessa's parents are divorced. A relatively healthy divorce mind you, but still not a healthy romantic relationship for Vanessa to learn from.
Now, it took time to get there. Candace started out as insecure, and has been known to lie to Jeremy in the name of trying to keep from embarrassing herself in front of him. Or for Candace to be overly concerned with typical dating , like nicknames or officially calling each other girlfriend and boyfriend. But Candace and Jeremy were able to figure things out together to become a sickeningly sweet couple.
The closest Candace and Jeremy have gotten to a real fight was in the Christmas episode (a bit later in the timeline after their relationship isn't quite so new). Where Jeremy calls out Candace for not communicating with him directly.
"Candace, you should know me better than that. Look, I have to go home."
Anyway Busted is such an iconic song, but it is such a season 1 thing. It's not very reflective of Vanessa's character outside of season 1, much less her dynamic with Candace once they actually become friends. Vanessa mellowed out on the busting, but Candace grew in her own ways. And I think their dynamic in canon right now is a bit one sided, and while I think Candace could benefit from "absorbing Vanessa's coolness". I think Vanessa could also benefit from absorbing Candace's sincere passion.
US School System is a bit of a mess and how that relates to the kids ages
It has occurred to me that some people may not be aware of the intricacies (or rather lack thereof) of determining when a child starts school based on their birthday in the United States. I've seen A LOT of people assuming that Ferb's Feb 29th birthday means he must be older than kids with a Summer birthday who are the same age as him. Which is not necessarily true.
Though I think I understand where the confusion comes from, generally a September 1st cut off WOULD make Phineas younger than Ferb. However, the US school system is not consistent enough for that kind of logic.
The cut off date varies from state to state and does not necessarily align with the school year. These cut off dates have also been changed throughout the years. So kids born on the same day at really any point in the year could very easily end up in different grades.
This means that without knowing the specific cut off date for a given school district, we don't know how kids in the same grade relate age-wise based on birthdays.
Today, in most states the cut-off date is somewhere in August or September. So around the start of the school year. But it is not consistent, ranging from July 31st to October 15th. Massachusetts is an outlier that still has it at the start of the calendar year (1/1) which puts it halfway through the school year. And historically states like California and Michigan used to be in December before changing to be closer to the start of the school year in the past couple decades. But some states still leave it to local school districts to decide. So really it could be anything.
But more importantly the cut off dates determine the MINIMUM age a child will be when starting school. Not the maximum. The cut-off is not adhered to strictly most places. It's not uncommon for kids who barely make the cut-off date to be delayed starting school by a year if their parents believe it would be best for them.
This is especially true of Summer birthdays in areas with cut-off dates around the start of the school year, which today, is most of the US. Since summer birthdays are inherently a time of year with no school. In practice this means that kids born in the summer can be either the oldest or the youngest in their class depending on if their parents decided to send them right away or hold them back. Redshirting rates ARE relatively low nationally, (~5%) but are much more common in some regions than others.
So even if we DID know Danville's cut-off date, that still wouldn't necessarily tell us which kid is older based on the time of year they were born.
So what DO we know about Danville's cut-off date?
We DO know that canonically Phineas is older, and has a summer birthday. Word of God tells us that Ferb's birthday is February 29th. We know they are in the same grade. So the cut-off date is either between their birthdays (less common but possible), or soon after Phineas's birthday and he was held back.
Though, notably before Ferb was given the February 29th birthday, he was said to be just 2 months younger than Phineas.
We also know that Candace has a summer birthday where she turned 15, and a learners permit, and she gets her license almost as soon as she turns 16. Her mom mentioned her potentially getting to be the first of her friends to get her license, implying she's potentially older than most of her friends. Incidentally we can actually rule out a lot of states Danville is in because this ALSO varies by state but 16 is the most common.
Vanessa is a year older than Candace and can drive. Vanessa also has a summer birthday and is seemingly a grade above. And Season 5 of PnF tells us Stacy is 16, so the same age as Candace. And Stacy ALSO has her birthday in the summer. Which suggest that summer birthdays are consistent regarding school year. And maybe that summer birthdays are older end of their grade.
Which admittedly does not match any common cut off dates. But Danville could be an outlier. Danville could be located in a state that lets schools decide their own cut off date, and Danville's cut off date is at the start of the summer instead of the end.
Now Phineas and Ferb were initially intended as 9, presumably at the start of the show with Phineas turning 10 in season 3. This IS pretty consistent with the dates we get in show. Baljeet says college is 9 years away. AYA is rounded up to 10 years, but probably is 9 years. They're about 30 approximately 20 years into the future.
They might have retconned it for season 5, but I'm still holding on to this.
But according to the bible that leaked a while ago, Isabella is 8. Isabella also has a summer birthday, but is seemingly in the same grade as Phineas. To be clear, this isn't canon. This is mentioned in a document we were never supposed to see. Isabella's summer birthday is a S4 event that wasn't planned from the start. So this isn't canon. But, it is interesting that she's was supposedly a year younger than Phineas, presumably as of the start of the summer. This COULD imply that no, the cut off is later, all the other kids were just held back. Which isn't completely unbelievable. More likely Isabella's age was just changed. But I'm still taking it.
Age cut off nonsense can also explain the Zack and Milo age discrepancy.
Zack is 14, when Milo is presumably 12 at the start of the series and turns 13 early on. If the cut-off is in mid/late September and if Milo's birthday is right before the cut-off making him start the school year at 12 before turning 13 in the first few weeks of the school year. And if Zack had a birthday that fell right around the cut off of whatever school he attended for kindergarten, placing Zack at the older end of his grade, it would explain why there is a bit over a year in age difference between the two. And it WOULD make them 8th graders, going into high school the next year.
And a mid-September cut-off for a school that starts IN September (which it is stated to in Phineas and Ferb) would also be close enough to the start of the school year to justify kids with summer birthdays being held back. Danville just must have a strong redshirting culture.
To be perfectly honest I don't think the creators thought that hard about it. The American school system is just flexible enough that it actually allows for the contradictions to still make perfect sense. But also the creators may just be working off a different set of assumptions on how the school system works for whatever reason.
Time to breakout my very first post to this blog I guess.
But anyway, officially Phineas. My hope for future content is the mention it in show again since it hasn't been mentioned since season 1.
And honestly, I love the older Phineas, younger Ferb dynamic. Way more interesting to me, even if we didn't have official confirmation on who is older.
The Pines Twins probably could both beat Phineas individually. Phineas isn't much of a fighter and the Pines twins are both pretty scrappy. Though I wouldn't necessarily count Phineas out completely. He's pretty athletic.
But Ferb could probably beat both the Pines Twins at the same time.
Ferb is a man of action, and that action includes violence.
The Pines Twins probably could both beat Phineas individually. Phineas isn't much of a fighter and the Pines twins are both pretty scrappy. Though I wouldn't necessarily count Phineas out completely. He's pretty athletic.
But Ferb could probably beat both the Pines Twins at the same time.
Ferb is a man of action, and that action includes violence.
Baljeet snuck out the bathroom window and ran to his friends house because he couldn't deal with a girl in his house. The fireside girls almost unanimously agree he does not count as a cute boy. But despite this he still has had more success in love than all of his friends combined. He has 13 volumes of useless shoelace facts. All his male ancestors have been mauled by tigers in bike races. He thought his uncle was missing when he was just on vacation. He once completely disregarded the consequences of removing the atmosphere from the earth. He wanted to be a superhero with rainbow powers but his second option was basically the hulk. He is portrayed as a stereotypically wimpy nerd compared to Buford, but it cannot be understated how much he will choose violence when it is available to him. When left alone with a sleeping teenager he started stacking cards on top of her. He thinks listening to the science of canceled tv shows makes for good plans. He once pushed his way into lead singing a spontaneous musical number away from the actual lead singer of the song.
#the tiger thing seems like a really specific version of murphy's law come to think of it
Yeah okay. Baljeet's family has a genetic condition that predisposes them to attracting tigers while on bikes in races. Sounds about right for this universe.
Baljeet snuck out the bathroom window and ran to his friends house because he couldn't deal with a girl in his house. The fireside girls almost unanimously agree he does not count as a cute boy. But despite this he still has had more success in love than all of his friends combined. He has 13 volumes of useless shoelace facts. All his male ancestors have been mauled by tigers in bike races. He thought his uncle was missing when he was just on vacation. He once completely disregarded the consequences of removing the atmosphere from the earth. He wanted to be a superhero with rainbow powers but his second option was basically the hulk. He is portrayed as a stereotypically wimpy nerd compared to Buford, but it cannot be understated how much he will choose violence when it is available to him. When left alone with a sleeping teenager he started stacking cards on top of her. He thinks listening to the science of canceled tv shows makes for good plans. He once pushed his way into lead singing a spontaneous musical number away from the actual lead singer of the song.
He wanted to be a superhero with rainbow powers but his second option was basically the hulk.
No, that's completely incorrect. his second option was actually HANUMANMAN, a flying blue monkey superhero that can grow massive and is named after Hanuman, and is decidedly nothing like the Hulk at all (unless you believe that being able to "crush all in his way" is all it takes to be "basically the hulk").
You must be confused with a much later episode, a crossover special with Marvel in which Baljeet gained the Hulk's superpowers by complete accident.
The rest is basically correct though, but I would also like to add that he once broke up a whole soundtrack number just to argue with the singer (a disembodied reggae space voice, to be exact), who blamed him for not bringing any marshmallows on a space trip so they couldn't make Rocky Road ice cream.
(unless you believe that being able to "crush all in his way" is all it takes to be "basically the hulk").
I mean. Yeah. For the purposes of this post at least.
The entirety of Hanuman Man's "Character" (if you can call it that) is Baljeet's one line.
"Oh, that's it! I will become Hanuman Man, a flying blue monkey that can grow as massive as he desires to crush all in his way!"
That's literally it. While yes, Hanuman Man is a reference to Hanuman, and a reference to Baljeet's culture, that's mostly just flavor text to the joke. The joke that Baljeet, after having his first option (rainbows and sweetness) unavailable, is suggested school related topics by Phineas, but 180s and goes for the power of incredible violence. Grows big, and crushes stuff. Much to the concern of the other kids.
And that's what I wanted to communicate with the comparison to Hulk. And while I'm sure there are more closely related niche superheroes out there, when it comes to well-known super heroes, Hulk is easily the best fit. Big, strong, smash. The alter ego of a relatively weak nerd.
Which for the purposes of this particular post is all I needed. Something that communicates the humor of a nerd 180ing from Rainbows to Raw Brute Strength.
Yes, Hanuman and the Hulk are not at all similar. Hanuman is a Hindu deity. Hulk is inspired by Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Hanuman is a monkey. Hulk is the alter-ego of a physicist. But the comparison between Hulk and Hanuman Man does communicate what I needed it to.
The fact that Baljeet literally turns into the Hulk in Mission Marvel is a fun bonus.
Baljeet snuck out the bathroom window and ran to his friends house because he couldn't deal with a girl in his house. The fireside girls almost unanimously agree he does not count as a cute boy. But despite this he still has had more success in love than all of his friends combined. He has 13 volumes of useless shoelace facts. All his male ancestors have been mauled by tigers in bike races. He thought his uncle was missing when he was just on vacation. He once completely disregarded the consequences of removing the atmosphere from the earth. He wanted to be a superhero with rainbow powers but his second option was basically the hulk. He is portrayed as a stereotypically wimpy nerd compared to Buford, but it cannot be understated how much he will choose violence when it is available to him. When left alone with a sleeping teenager he started stacking cards on top of her. He thinks listening to the science of canceled tv shows makes for good plans. He once pushed his way into lead singing a spontaneous musical number away from the actual lead singer of the song.
Season 5 feels like it has a notable increase in Candace going, "That's so lame and non-bustable". And then walking off before later realizing the full depth of the kid's activities.
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