#phinabelladay2022

[cjracingpnf]

Day Two, Part 1: Let's Talk Plot Points and Cliches

As we begin Day Two, looking at the different themes, plot points, and cliches of "Act Your Age", it is important to remember that Phineas & Ferb as a show not only uses many common tropes and cliches, but also makes fun of and at them, during various points in the series. Even in the songs "Carpe Diem" and "Hey Ferb", the word cliche is mentioned, which brings additional substance to that fact.

With that, a few of the plot points, tropes, and cliches from "Act Your Age" are:

-- The biggest plot point of course is Phineas finding out through Baljeet and Buford that Isabella has had a crush on him for a long time, a secret that they decided to let out as she was leaving town (Ohhhhhhhhhh do I have thoughts about this 😠🤨)

-- Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz going through a mid-life crisis, which included a myriad of common cliches including hair-dyeing, purchasing of fast exotic supercars, jet skiing, and skydiving

-- The boys and the girls being in separate groups, gossiping about each other

-- The rather toxic teenage relationship between Baljeet and Ginger, with both the manipulative and jealousy tropes being mentioned

-- The crew re-joining to make a "romantic dinner" setting, in an attempt to get Phineas & Isabella together

-- Phineas and Isabella unknowingly singing a Duet together, "What Might Have Been"🧡💗

-- Phineas and Isabella reuniting in front of the Flynn-Fletcher house, talking together, confessing, and realizing that they've had crushes on each other (Isabella for at least a decade, Phineas since High School). This leads to a hug and a kind moment between them, and soon afterwards at the crescendo of the episode, their first kiss!

-- Other random common cliches/topics/moments include the boys always looking for food😂, the teens talking about College, and at the end, Vanessa picking up Ferb in her own Supercar

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To keep this part short, I am only going to focus on a couple of these points today, with some of these topics to be brought up on one of the following days… And I am going to start with the big one…

I knew going into this that there were only two things that I was going to be genuinely upset about writing (the second thing will be on Day Four/Part 3), and what is so disappointing is that for whatever reason this was made into the main turning point of the episode…

Why exactly, in all that is holy and good, why did after at least a decade of silence did EVERYONE, and particularly Baljeet and Buford, decide it was ok to tell Phineas Isabella's biggest secret, that she had a massive crush on him throughout their childhood, and more importantly, feel it was ok to tell him this as she was LITERALLY WALKING OUT THE DOOR?!😡

In what world is this even remotely realistic, even marginally logical, to first keep a secret that important for that long, but then to just freely spill that secret like it was nothing, and then to add insult to injury, tell Phineas all of this as Isabella was literally about to drive away. It's like they all got hit with a green beam that made them think that this would be a good idea all of sudden. It's completely absurd and is the #1 part of this episode that I would change if I had that ability. (I could keep going about this but it's probably best for my sanity that we move on🤣)

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The other point I want to bring up today is a more general theme that the episode has, primarily it's abundance of cliches, both of the teenager kind and the mid-life kind. Now, I want to be clear, I do enjoy cliches, particularly of the romantic kind (so many Phinabella fanfics have cliche endings and if the story is good I'll love every single one of them!🧡💗). However, both the amount of cliche moments and the kind of in your face level of them, I don't know, in my personal opinion it didn't come off quite as humorous as it may have been intended. It's very possible that this may have been because I was looking and expecting for something slightly different, after having made the mistake of reading so many great P&F fanfics before I got to watch AYA for the first time.

In addition, particularly when it came to Doof's mid-life crisis, it felt in large part like it was done to fill time, and didn't exactly mean anything to the episode, which I understand happens in some of the P&F episodes, but it just felt more random then usual. This isn't to say it wasn't at all funny, because by itself it was, but in terms of the whole episode and what I would have expected, it just wasn't quite the same.

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I know today's portion of the mini-series was a little bit down, but this is like a rollercoaster, and oh am I excited for tomorrow, as we get to talk about in my opinion one of the best characters of this great show!💗

Until then, Carpe Diem, and God Bless!

[cjracingpnf]

Day Three, Part 2: Let's Talk About Isabella (And why she is AWESOME)

When I decided that this was one of the subjects I wanted to approach in this Mini-Series, I was really excited. Oh, if there was enough time in the day to mention all the reasons why Isabella Garcia-Shapiro is such a good character in P&F, I could be here all day.

And while I cannot give all the reasons and facts that make her so great today, I have here a few reasons why (thank you to my friend Izzy for helping me with some of these reasons!):

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- She can hang and deal with the boys, working side by side to whatever Phineas decides to do that day, participating and many times beating them at their own game.

- She can lead and carry the girls, and is able to bring a group of multicultural people from different backgrounds and ways of life and work toward a different goal almost every day.

- She is a natural born leader, who doesn't take nonsense from anyone. Her optimism and positivity helps push herself and others towards their goals.

- She's extremely passionate about what she believes in, and will follow through with almost any plan that she puts her mind to.

- She is an extremely hard and focused worker who will push herself through many different situations, and is able to adapt to almost any of them.

- She is incredibly multi-talented, and because of her experiences while in the Fireside Girls, she has learned many very important skills that could later help her in life.

- She's a multicultural masterchef (I mean I can imagine the wonder that is the Enchillatke, hmm I should see about making that one day...👨‍🍳😄).

- Despite the many disappointments, she still greatly cares about Phineas throughout the show, and continues to try time and time again to try to get Phineas to understand how she feels about him, sometimes not very subtly🤣😂.

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There was a time when I thought that Isabella should be considered a Disney Princess, and was willing to make the case for it, but her impact is far too great to be put in that box. And really, it's unfair to put her in any box, because what she is able to do goes beyond something you can truly quantify with a word or a phrase. She is a fighter, a warrior, kind hearted but also never backing down from anyone, and will give her all to reach her goals. She is truly amazing, and there is so much to her character that even still remains unexplored, even as many have through some wonderful fanfic stories.

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As we see in "Act Your Age", as Isabella got older, she took many of those positive traits with her, particularly her ability to lead and support/help others, but also those traits that made her an extremely hard worker, considering, as she mentions to Phineas as the reasons why she is going to College two weeks early, "I'm an R.A., and in soccer, debate camp, student government…"

However, there is one point in her life that had clearly changed…

While it isn't mentioned specifically why Isabella decided to finally give up on her feelings for Phineas when she got to High School, I have personally read a few different fanfics that make sense as to the possible ideas for that decision (and also why it's possible that Phineas may have realized his feelings for her at or close to the same time).

Whatever the reason may have been, there is no doubt that the decision at first must have been extremely difficult on Isabella. From personal life experiences… Well, I wouldn't be surprised if tears were shed many a night for a while… If every time she saw him across the street her heart almost broke in two… If there weren't days where she could barely operate and do the things that she needed to do… and if there were moments that made her more emotional and downtrodden than normal.

However, she was able to fight through those moments, those difficult times, to make a life and prepare a future for herself. Despite all the heartache and the pain that she must have had, knowing how much she loved and cared about him, she was prepared to take the next step in her life and possibly close that part of her life away for good...

While we may not know why she made the decision to turn around to say goodbye to Phineas, it was a decision that obviously in retrospect was the best choice of her life, and finally brought them together. I am going to talk more about that specifically in a few days, which is why I won't go into detail here, but even as AYA has its faults and its plot holes, the fact is SHE GOT HER MAN, and "Well, that was worth the wait".

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Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Tomorrow, we go in a different direction… With a character who, well, let's just say I wasn't so much a fan of in AYA…😶

Until then, God Bless, and Carpe Diem!

[cjracingpnf]

Day Seven, Part 6: It's Confession Time!

We are reaching the end of our mini-series journey through "Act Your Age", with today officially being our final topic point being brought up… And this one is the BIG one, the moment so many were waiting for, it's confession time!

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To set the scene, we see Phineas walking down the street in front of the Garcia-Shapiro's home, taking a glance at the house and looking to be deep in thought. A moving truck that had stopped across the street drives away, and after a moment, Phineas realizes that Isabella is sitting on one of the steps in front of his house. They look at each other from across the street, almost as if time had stopped for a moment, before Phineas walks towards her and with a chuckle asks, "What'cha doing?" This puts a smile on Isabella's face, and when Phineas asks, "Is this step taken?", she signals to him with her hand to sit down by her.

This moment, the first of I would say 4-5 pivotal ones in this last part of the episode, encompasses a fair range of emotions between both Phineas and Isabella. Taking this from an more realistic point of view, you see Phineas' continued look of what was likely disappointment and regret that had started in the previous scenes (mainly during "What Might Have Been"), before he realizes that Isabella is sitting in front of his house on the other side of the street.

Once they lock eyes, they stay that way for a bit, before you see Isabella frown. Obviously at this point there are a lot of emotions going through both of their minds, and with Isabella not knowing yet that Phineas knows of her crush on him (and that he has feelings for her), is probably expecting not much more then a sad goodbye.

It's at this point that Phineas does something I think was extremely smart, and with a chuckle using the line Isabella did almost every day when she would walk into his backyard, "What'cha doing?" I found it to be a wholesome bit of humor, to help "break the ice" between them, and one that made Isabella smile, even with all the emotions she must have been going through.

Moving along, Isabella tells Phineas that she came to say goodbye to him, and after he asks "Off to school huh?", she replies with the reasons why she is going two weeks early. Phineas mentions that he hasn't seen her all summer, to which she replies with "I've been busy." After this, both seem to look away from each other, and are quiet for a moment.

I want to make a quick mention of all of the great facial emotions in this part of the scene, particularly with their eyes. Seeing Phineas crack a small smile when Isabella is going through the reasons she is going to College early was a very nice touch, while seeing them look away from each other once they mention not having seen one another all summer brought a small additional element of emotion and visible disappointment that added a heaviness to this as well.

After this, Phineas opens up to Isabella that Baljeet mentioned to him that she "had a crush on him back in grade school", to which Isabella replies back admitting that she did. Phineas responds that he "had no idea", which seems to stun/surprise Isabella quite a bit, who replies, "Really, I thought I was being so obvious?", to which Phineas responds, "Absolutely clueless… Sorry."

Once again, the facial expressions are fantastic in this part, and now we see come more added emotion vocally, both in Isabella's stunned/surprised reaction to Phineas having "no idea" about her crush on him, and in Phineas's apology about not having noticed it, especially in the "Sorry", which came out almost like he was defeated in a way.

(This is of course ignoring the unrealistic nature of Isabella's reaction to hearing that Baljeet told Phineas about her crush on him🤣🤣🤣, but I feel like I've sufficiently beaten up and said more then enough about how much I dislike how the entire premise of this came to be xD )

After this comes the most pivotal moment in the scene, where Isabella confesses to Phineas that she "sort of gave up" on her crush on him once they got to High School, to which Phineas responds with his own confession, that around that time was when he "started to have a thing" for her. This admission surprises Isabella, who's eyes open wide for a moment before looking at Phineas, who looks back at her, and both look into each others' eyes for a sec before Isabella replies with a saddened, "That's unfortunate timing", to which Phineas responds with a simple, "Yep."

I'm going to be completely honest, I was a bit disappointed by the way this part of the scene came out, with Isabella barely having more than a momentary surprise at Phineas' admission before becoming disappointed/saddened again. However again, if we take this from a more realistic point of view, we know how strong her emotions are at this time, and it may have not completely gone through her mind what Phineas had just admitted… Or, I can just take it at face value, and admit that I wish we could have seen Isabella have more of a reaction to this, that we unfortunately did not get to see.

After a momentary pause, Phineas says, "You're off to College.", to which Isabella responds, "Tri-State State. Have you decided where you are going yet?" Phineas looks away for a second, and then a thought/realization pops into his mind. He takes two envelopes out of his pocket, gives one to Isabella and with a smile says, "You know what, I just did." Isabela takes a look at it, sighs and says "Oh, huh", which confuses Phineas until he realizes that he gave her the wrong College acceptance letter, to which he quickly corrects himself, giving her the letter from Tri-State State, confirming to them both that there is where he is gonna go. Isabella's face immediately changes, and smiling says, "Well, I guess I'll see you in two weeks", to which Phineas responds with a synonym of one of the classic P&F lines, "Yes, yes you will."

I really enjoy this part of the scene, first in a bit of comedy that happened with Phineas accidentally giving the wrong letter, and then the change of emotions once Isabella realizes what the decision Phineas made meant. And I personally found that super cool, the fact that no additional words needed to be said, that both of them understood, through the exchange of a simple letter, what it meant for their lives moving forward.

After this, clapping noises come up, and we see that because of how invested that they were in their conversation with one another that they didn't see the crowd of their friends surrounding them. And, as Adyson so eloquently states after seeing them finally get together, "It's about time!" After a moment of shaking hands and hugging with their friends, Phineas and Isabella rejoin, giving each other a hug, and looking each other in the eyes before blushing. Isabella walks over to her car, and says, "See ya", to which Phineas responds with a smile and two fingers pointed up, "In Two Weeks." Isabella, now with a huge smile on her face, responds, "Eh, I've waited this long.", before getting in her car and driving away.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! 🥺😭😍🧡💗 What a beautiful scene, a beautiful moment, there didn't need to be their first kiss at that point (because doing it in front of all of their friends would have admittedly been a little weird NGL lol), but just the fact that they were so happy, and from a realistic sense, very likely so emotionally relieved, to be able to hug one another (THE BLUSHING 🥺🧡💗) and know that their hopes and dreams had been realized, it was so sweet to see. In all of the ups and downs that "Act Your Age" had, it was these moments that made it worth it's weight in gold, and I am extremely grateful to have been able to watch through this entire series and have gotten to see this moment!

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And that is where we end!

Oh wait, were you expecting something more? Maybe something about the last scene, about a certain moment that happens that brings closure to the show and is one of the greatest moments in Disney history?

Well… I guess you'll have to wait till Phinabella Day for my thoughts about that 🤭😉🧡💗

As for tomorrow, we finish off with my conclusion and final thoughts about AYA as a whole. Thank you all for riding on this journey with me, and I hope you enjoyed it! :D

Until then, God Bless, and Carpe Diem!

[cjracingpnf]

Day Five, Part 4: IMO the Most Improved Character Development in AYA

As we begin today's part of the mini-series, you may be able to see from the image above who in my opinion has the most improved character development in "Act Your Age". Because of this, I need to give a short background into what my thoughts about Buford Van Stomm were in the majority of the series to better understand how they changed once I watched AYA…

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There are a few different parts that we could talk about with Buford's character in Phineas & Ferb, but to save time I'm only going to mention 2-3 really quickly to give you a general idea of my thoughts about him.

--- My primary thoughts about Buford doesn't have so much to do with his character personality, but rather a disdain that I have for the comedic bullying trope in general. P&F as a show isn't the first, nor will it be the last, to try to turn bullying into something more light hearted and/or comedic, but it just isn't for me. I felt too many times that there were moments of Buford bullying Baljeet that felt unnecessary, not very funny, and didn't add anything meaningful to the episode. While ultimately the Buford/Baljeet thread throughout the show did lead to some very positive and comedic moments, like in "Bully Bromance Breakup", I still don't think the positives and the comedy outweighs the possible negative connotation that is the very real problem of bullying/mocking of others in school systems around the world.

--- My secondary thoughts about Buford do go more into his character personality in the show, which did have a general rudeness/toughness about him that attributed to his bully persona. We also know from "Voyage to the Bottom of Buford" that he was likely bullied himself as a young child, and it took him nearly losing his fish friend Biff to a bully for him to "do what had to be done", and from then on out he himself became the bully. In addition, while this was left unmentioned in the show, there are those including myself who believe that Buford in general didn't have the best of family upbringings, which likely played a part in the toughness his character has.

However, for all the negatives, there are also several positive traits about Buford that would slip out from time to time, particularly as the series goes along. He was loyal and protective of his friends, to the point of even putting his body on the line as we saw in "Night of the Living Pharmacists". He understands the emotions of love, to the point of learning French for the sole purpose of being able to talk to a girl he fell in love with on a past trip to France (Buford Confidential). And despite the times where he would make fun of or doubt the ideas Phineas had, at the end of the day he was supportive and having fun with the rest of the gang, and helped reach the goals set (which is particularly present in "Summer Belongs to You!").

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Which brings us to Buford's character development in Act Your Age, and here is where I am so excited to mention some things today that really stand out to me about how him in the episode.

--- Right off the bat, his character design diffierence stands out. Gone is the stocky, overweight, skull-shirt wearing kid with the flat cut on his noggin, in comes a trimmed up, tall, well dressed young man with a cool wavy haircut (and does he have a ponytail?). If you were to tell me that he played sports in High School I would not be surprised. I know that some people don't like his character design in AYA because of how different it is, however when you combine his change in demeanor and attitude with how he looks, I am personally a big fan.

--- Speaking of his change in demeanor and attitude, that was the next biggest thing that stood out to me. AYA Buford is significantly calmer, more relaxed, and looks and sounds like someone who has found a purpose in life. The best example of this comes in his responses to Baljeet calling his future plans for film school "pretentious", to which Buford deadpans replies with a "Thank you".🤣🤣🤣

I personally find Buford's changes in AYA, both physically and in his personality, to be extremely cool to see, and taking it from an "overly-realistic" point of view, to be able to go through whatever struggles he had early on in his life, come through his bullying phase, and turn into a young man that looks to be in control of what he wants to do with his future, is in a way quite inspirational.

--- One other small point I want to want to mention here at the end of today's mini-series post, is that even though he originally didn't want to wear the Cupid costume that Baljeet produced from behind his back in the kitchen scene, at the end when Phineas and Isabella are united we see Buford having it on. It goes to show that even though he was likely quite embarrassed from when he wore it during his childhood, he in the end was willing to go through that embarrassment again if it meant helping two of his best friends finally get together. I personally think that was a really cool (although yes quite embarrassing and funny) thing to see.

While Buford's character in Act Your Age wasn't perfect (he inexplicably joined in with Baljeet to tell Phineas about Isabella's huge crush on him, please read my post from yesterday if you want to hear my full thoughts on that🙄), the positive changes in his life and in his character were things that I greatly appreciated, and turned him from a character I personally didn't care for much in the show, to be someone I could kind of relate to in a way, and was a major bright spot in AYA, without a doubt.

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Thank you so much for reading! Today was a lot of fun, and tomorrow we are gonna have another awesome subject to talk about, going through one of the greatest songs the makers of Phineas & Ferb ever created🧡💗, and that's saying A LOT considering the extensive list of awesome songs produced.

Until then, God Bless, and Carpe Diem!

[cjracingpnf]

Day Six, Part 5: Let's Talk About "What Might Have Been!"

As we begin entering the crescendo of this mini-series (heh see what I did there xD), we have now reached what in my opinion is one of the greatest songs ever written for Phineas & Ferb, and in my opinion the highlight (or at least highlight 1b) of "Act Your Age". In all the ups and downs that AYA had, "What Might Have Been" was magnificently done, musically, lyrically, and in the story that it told, and I am so excited to talk about it today.

I do want to mention, I really don't know anything about what makes music great or not🤣, or what makes good music lyrics. So instead, I will be focusing on the story within the lyrics, and why it meant so much to me.

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Starting from a macro point of view, the heaviness of the song stands out. The vast majority of the Phineas & Ferb songs are cheery, funny, light-hearted songs, many of them absolute bops that put a smile on your face whenever you hear them.

"What Might Have Been" however… Well I want to say that I've listened to the song probably 8-10 times times over the last 3-4 months, and while writing this have read the lyrics in full, and I've teared up every time🥺😭. It's an incredibly emotional song, reflecting on both the past and the present of Phineas and Isabella's lives, and when we look at it from each of their point of views, creates a picture that pulls at the heartstrings if you at all care about these two.

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While Isabella is the one who starts the song, I want to begin with Phineas, who's life was turned completely upside down by the realization that his best friend of at least 11 years (and in my opinion their whole lives) had a huge crush on him that he had never realized, despite in retrospect even he admitting that she had been "quite overt" about it.

Phineas' solo portion of the song deals mainly with regret over not having realized it until then, including the sorrowful quote,

"I tried to make the most of every day,

But now the years just seem misspent…"

To hear Phineas say that, to show the regret for having been so focused on his daily goals that he wasn't able to the one beside him open her heart out to him, it's a sad and touching moment the realization going through his mind of all that he missed or didn't understand.

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As for Isabella… I know I mentioned it some when I talked about her a few days ago in this AYA mini-series, but thinking about not only the heartache and the pain she must have felt to give up on her feelings for him, but also thinking about the strength she must of had to be able to push through it all and prepare herself to move on without him, especially considering when she sings,

"'Cause I like you more than every other

Thing I like combined…"

To somehow be able to get past all of those emotions, thinking that she was finally "over him"… to then have a single photograph bring all of those memories back… it's a truly heartbreaking feeling to think about, especially putting oneself in her shoes.😭

As we reach the main portion of the song, Phineas & Isabella singing together in unison without them realizing it, going back and forth wondering how their lives could have been different had they gotten together before (including how they would have been called "Phinabella", which is entirely correct and I can totally see their friends teasing them to no end about it🤣), it begins to hit home, everything that they could have been able to do together, all the adventures that they missed, the memorable times they could have had…

And then, as if the daydreams we were having about how their lives could have been were heard, we get hit with a line straight to the heart...

"We could've been together,

All you had to say was when

And though I wanted so much more,

I guess you'll always be my friend…"

… I'm gonna be honest, I've teared up every single time I've listened to or read the end of that line😭🥺🥺🥺, both of them wanting to have been so much more, and them begrudgingly accepting that at least they would always be friends… It hurts a bit to think about how much they cared for each other, the moments that they shared together, the bond that had grown between them…

Am so very glad Isabella made the decision to turn around!!😁👏🧡💗

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Ultimately, if looking at this through a realistic sense, I do think that Phineas and Isabella would have somehow, someway, gotten together even if Isabella had not turned around to say goodbye. It may have been in College, considering Phineas knew through Baljeet where she was going, or it could have happened afterwards, but true love overcomes all, and I genuinely believe that they both cared for each other so much that it still would have happened.

Fortunately, Phineas and Isabella didn't have to wait any longer than they already had, because Isabella did turn around, did wait for him to come back, and come tomorrow, we will take a look at the moment everyone was waiting for!🧡💗

Thank you so much for reading, apologies for this coming out so late in the day, I've had a busy day, but I am so excited to be able to finish this mini-series👏👏😁!

Until then, God Bless, and Carpe Diem!

[cjracingpnf]

Day Four, Part 3: IMO the Most Disappointing Character Development

Before I begin today's continuation of this mini-series, I want to give a bit of a DISCLAIMER. There are times when I write in a bit of an over-realistic way, taking it probably a bit too seriously for an animated cartoon tv series hahaha🤣. Some would call it passion, I would probably lean towards a little bit of insanity😂. But here we are, hopefully I'll get better at it at some point, BUT today is not that day xD

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Soooo, from the picture on the top of this post, you probably know who I am gonna be talking about today as having the most disappointing character development in "Act Your Age". And I just want to say, the child Baljeet character in the rest of the show doesn't deserve what happened to him in AYA. While he wasn't my favorite character, and I found the majority of the "comedic bullying" thread in the show with him in Buford to be less then funny (something I'll talk more about later on in this mini-series), his intelligence intertwined with moments of panic and comedy made for some really great episodes in the series, and I felt that he was used quite a bit and used well for being the 8th-10th piece of the show.

However, today isn't about how Baljeet was presented during the rest of the series… But rather how his character is, in my personal opinion, the very worst part of AYA, and was presented in such a way that it had almost poisoned my opinion of him in the entire show…

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You see, Baljeet Tjinder in the series had a childish charm about him, where his at times overbearing intelligence was turned into comedy or at least made beneficial to the particular episode.

HOWEVER, in "Act Your Age", pretty much every ounce of Baljeet's childish charm is gone, and what we are left with is someone who is too smart for their own good, or as I was told by a friend when I asked for a word or phrase to best describe that, a Narcissistic Intellectual😂.

--- Baljeet has at least four-five major parts in this episode, three of which I am going to talk about here that particularly stand out to me. The first being when he enters the boys' bedroom, with Buford waking in behind him. After he asks Phineas if he has chosen a school yet, he goes on to mention that he has been talking to Buford about Collegiate life, and that because he (Baljeet) has already graduated and been accepted as a professor, that he could "pull some strings", and get Buford into his school, followed by him saying, "Just think, Buford. You could be my student! I would be the boss of you!"

This entire part of the episode feels like the meme, "Weird flex but ok", and it feels even more that way when Baljeet responds with "It sounds pretentious" after Buford says that he is going to film school. Ultimately I don't mind this scene primarily because of Buford's comedic "Thank you" responses to Baljeet😂.

--- Then we get to his second part, and quite obviously one of the biggest points in the entire episode, when Baljeet breaks to Phineas that Isabella has had a giant crush on him for ages. We then have the back and forth between Baljeet and Buford telling Phineas all the ways it was painfully obvious that she had that giant crush on him, to the point where Phineas' mind is broken and he has to go outside and take a walk. After he leaves, Baljeet says that he has come up with an idea to get them both together before Isabella leaves.

ANGER. PAIN. I AM SEEING RED😡!!!

I am trying to decide if I should get mad at the writers for thinking of this possibly being the right idea for Phineas to realize this, or continue to be in character of the story and completely tear apart AYA Baljeet for breaking this news to Phineas and spilling Isabella's biggest secret AS SHE WAS LITERALLY WALKING OUT THE DOOR, and then, after breaking poor Phineas' mind, thinking that he has the bright idea of how to get them both together.

LIKE WHAT. WHY?! What was the purpose of this, why was this the way the writers decided to take one of the most important moments in the history of the show??? And if we are taking this in character, who or what gave Baljeet and Buford the bright idea that it was all of a sudden ok to just spill out Isabella's biggest lifelong secret, ESPECIALLY considering there is a history of Isabella having ominous patch related threats that we know exists.

There's a lot of things one can "agree to disagree" with about how things are done in certain shows to reach an endpoint, but the entire way this scene comes about absolutely grinds my gears to no end. There were so many better ways Phineas could have found out, and fortunately for us several of those ways have been successfully written by wonderful fanfic writers, who I am very grateful for.

--- Moving on from that before I risk blowing a gasket, his third major part in the episode is split into different scenes of AYA, and it goes into his relationship with Ginger, a Fireside Girl alum who had a crush on Baljeet in multiple episodes, and who is now his girlfriend in this one.

The first scene involves them having a back-and-forth text conversation, originally stemming from a disagreement over what movie they were going to watch. Adyson (who I personally wasn't a big fan of in the series lol) tells Ginger to "manipulate the situation" to get him to agree to the movie she wants to watch. Shortly afterwards, the Adyson and the girls decide to, using the same phrase, "manipulate a situation" to get Isabella and Phineas together, an idea that we remember from earlier Baljeet and the boys had.

We switch perspectives to the boys, where Baljeet is sitting on the couch and eating sandwiches with Ferb and Buford. Baljeet receives Ginger's text and tells the boys of the girls' idea, Buford asks, "Wasn't that our idea?", to which Baljeet responds, "Yes, but now I've got to write her back in a passive way that makes her think it's really her idea. She is trying to manipulate the situation. It is how we love."

Wow this is not looking like a very good relationship, with Ginger taking advice that I wouldn't consider very wise, while Baljeet not only knows what is going on, but is in a way toying around with it to make things seem like she is the one making the decisions and choices. And this uh, less the positive looking relationship doesn't stop there…

Later on in the episode, as the group is preparing to make the surprise dinner for Isabella and Phineas, there is a kitchen scene where Buford and Baljeet are talking, and Buford mentions about how "romantic" the setting is outside. Baljeet responds to Buford, telling him that there's "one thing that would make it perfect!", before pulling out Buford's old Cupid costume behind his back. Buford refuses to put it on again, to which Baljeet responds, "But it worked so well for me and Mishti!" On the other side of the kitchen, this response by Baljeet causes Ginger to respond, possibly out of jealousy but certainly out of annoyance, "Hmm, Mishti, Mishti, Mishti!", before Adyson tells her to, "Let it go, Ging."

Woofffffffffff… this relationship has gone from less then positive looking to just straight toxicity. Ignoring the fact that Baljeet brought back an embarrassing moment for Buford, it seems pretty clear from Ginger's annoyed response that this isn't the first time Mishti's name has been brought up and overheard in a conversation. I don't know about you, but if I was in a relationship with someone I supposedly cared about, I wouldn't be talking in such a positive way about a former crush or relationship, even if it was when we were kids.

Taking this from an over-realistic point of view, while Ginger may have some issues that she has to deal with, Baljeet's character in AYA comes off to me as someone who doesn't really care what anyone else thinks or says, and likely believes that he is quite a bit more intellectual and all-knowing then the people around him, which in his mind gives him the license to say and do more without caring what others think.

While a part of this could stem from him getting over some of the stuff that negatively impacted his childhood, including possibly bullying and overbearing parents, it has gone IMO too far and turned Baljeet into someone who's ego and narcissism I personally would not want to ever be around.

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Thank you for reading! Today was the major dip on this crazy rollercoaster ride, but it was one that I needed to get off my chest, and I am glad I did. The good news is that tomorrow's portion of the mini-series will be much more positive, and deals with someone Baljeet has a lot of experience with, but whose character had a much more positive development in AYA…

Until then, God Bless, and Carpe Diem!

[cjracingpnf]

Day Nine, SPECIAL: Happy Phinabella Day! 🧡💗

Happy Phinabella Day!!!!!! 7 years ago today, one of the most beautiful moments in animated television history took place, when Phineas and Isabella, or as it is better known as "Phinabella", became canon forever, confirmed with a kiss that originally wasn't supposed to be in "Act Your Age" but was added in afterwards, one of the best decisions the writers of Phineas & Ferb ever made.

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I wanted to leave my thoughts about the kiss till today, in celebration of this day, because I know that for so many, including myself, it put such a smile on our faces, and joy in our hearts, to see the moment many had been waiting for happen so beautifully.

In my thinking about today, and what I wanted to share for my thoughts, I had two small realizations that I found really cool to me…

The first thing I realized was something that I really enjoyed. As a few of you might know but most others will not, I'm not the biggest fan of movies involving magic or wizardry or fairytales. I've never watched Frozen or anything beyond the first Harry Potter movie for some examples, and some of my favorite Disney/Pixar movies include Wall-E, Cars, Bolt, and Ratatouille, all wonderful movies but without the magic stuff in them.

And that is what made Phineas & Ferb so special to me, the fact that, outside of a few special episodes (that admittedly I did enjoy because it was P&F lol), the many projects and ideas that Phineas had, and the crew had built, were based on (even if stretching out the realm of possibility a bit) real world ideas and projects, not some mystical or magical force.

And in turn, Phinabella's confession and first kiss meant so much to me personally for a similar reason. Them getting together didn't stop some evil destruction, them confessing their love for one another didn't cause some major worldwide event to take place, and their first kiss didn't save the world. In fact, the only people at the time that knew they had even kissed were Vanessa and Ferb. It felt real, it was personal, and that moment, for all intents and purposes, only affected and mattered to the two of them. And guess what, that's more than good enough!

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The second small thing I realized today has to do with the three different confirmations that Phineas and Isabella have at the end for each other...

First is the verbal confirmation, that goes into their full conversation where they admitted their feelings for one another, and is confirmed further at the end, when Isabella walks over to her car, and says, "See ya", Phineas responding with a smile and two fingers pointed up, "In Two Weeks." And then Isabella, with a huge smile on her face, responds, "Eh, I've waited this long."

The second is the written confirmation, which is when Phineas hands Isabella the letter of acceptance from Tri-State State. This step confirmed to Isabella what she was hoping for, and gave her happiness and a peace of mind knowing that they would be together going to the same College.

The third however, the third confirmation is the one that officially sets the first two confirmations in place. You see, in many different things you do in life (in College sports for example), while verbal and written confirmations are good, it isn't until you see it physically come to be for you to be able to know for sure.

Those two weeks would have been, while quite promising and hopeful, still difficult for Isabella, who despite knowing that he was going to College at the same school she was, and despite knowing that he had the same feelings for her that she did for him, did not know just how strongly Phineas felt for her…

That is, until Phineas decided (after being asked by his ultimate wingman and best brother he could ever have if he wanted to be dropped off anywhere) that he needed to give her one final confirmation, one final promise, the last guarantee that she needed to know just how much he cared for her, how strongly he loved her…

In that moment, not only did Isabella know for sure how much he loved and cared for her, but she was able to confirm for him, if there was any doubt, that she very much felt the same. It was a beautiful moment in time for the both of them, one that they would never forget, and one that I will always remember 🧡💗

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To end this mini-series, I wanted to write a bit of thank you letter...

--- To Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, and all those who worked on Phineas & Ferb, thank you for creating such a beautiful masterpiece, shining a light in this world with characters and stories, both wonderfully written and comedically perfect, and in the end, putting together two characters like Phineas & Isabella that we all love so dearly, and creating a world that we can enjoy so much.

--- To those fans, of the past, the present, and the future, who are artists and writers, singers and animators, and every other format out there in this world, that share their love and passion through their own ways, thank you for sharing your skills and talents and helping keep Phineas & Ferb alive and well all of these years. Without you, I would likely never have fallen in love with this series the way I have, and for that I am eternally grateful 💙

--- To all of those watching and reading, loving and liking and commenting on the work all of these wonderfully talented people do, thank you for being you, for enjoying the content and leaving a smile on their faces so that they feel led to continue to do it. Without your support of those great talents, the following behind Phineas & Ferb would likely not be the same.

--- And finally, to my dear friends Guy and Izzy... Over the past few months I have not smiled, nor have had as much fun, as I have getting to know you two through our love and passion for this series. Thank you so much for inspiring me, for believing in me, and for cheering me on whatever I set my mind to. Without you, this mini-series would never have happened, I never would have begun to draw my own art, and I would have never written my own fanfic story. You mean a lot to me, and I hope ya'll are blessed in whatever you choose to do in life!

Today, we finish the final chapter of this amazing journey... What tomorrow brings, I do not know, but I am excited to see what might happen!

Once again, Thank you all so much for reading and liking, commenting and sharing!💙

Until next time, God Bless, and Carpe Diem!

[cjracingpnf]

Day Eight, FINALE: Conclusion/My Final Thoughts

Before I begin, I want to thank every person who has taken the time to read, like, and share these silly, long-winded musings of a dude who up to 6-7 months ago had only heard of Phineas & Ferb and had no idea that there was such a community as this one. I have been able to communicate with some amazing people, and even make a few friendships along this journey, and I will forever be grateful for that. I will go more into detail tomorrow, but I just wanted to share my appreciation for you all before I started today. :D

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Now that we are ending our journey (well technically it ends tomorrow but that's more of a special because PHINABELLA DAY🧡💗) through "Act Your Age", it is time for me to give my final thoughts, mentioning the positives and negatives that lead me to giving what I could assume is some sort of grade or score...

To start, I do want to say that I am one that no longer believes that AYA is truly canon. While I am not super well versed in the matter, I do know from talking with others that there are major loopholes created by P&F's sister TV show, Milo Murphy's Law, that open the door for multiple possibilities/reasons for AYA to no longer be canon, including the fact that multiple alternate timelines/universes are a canon thing in the P&F/MML universe.

To add to this as an example, one of the theories I have read, is that because Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz found a purpose in life, becoming "Professor Time" in MML, it makes the reasons why he invented the mid-life crisis chain to be irrelevant, which means he never made it, which means that the romantic dinner idea the gang made for Phineas & Isabella doesn't disappear, which means that the surprise could have happened, and the process for particularly the ending part of the episode could have been entirely different. This is just one of the examples that I've heard/read that really makes sense.

This isn't to say that I throw out "Act Your Age" entirely however, not at all. In fact, I am so grateful for AYA, because it helped open up an entire multiverse of fanfic and art ideas, even in those short 22 minutes one was able to see how the characters changed and grew up, and you were able to take a glimpse into particularly Phineas and Isabella's thoughts during that period of their lives. If anything, I take AYA as an official version of a fanfic story (which particularly considering the added Ferbnessa "fanservice" part at the end, and a the cliches during the episode, it makes quite a bit of sense TBH).

Now, looking at "Act Your Age" as a whole in review, there were in my opinion a few different problems that dragged down my enjoyment. I assume most of these have been mentioned by others at some point in time (including by myself in this mini-series lol)...

Starting with the entire premise of how Phineas found out about Isabella's crush on him in the first place, taking this from a more realistic point of view, the fact that it felt like everyone all of a sudden at the same time thought it was ok to tell Phineas that as Isabella was literally WALKING OUT THE DOOR is insane to me. There is no way that the gang wouldn't have been threatened by Isabella with her use of "Ominous-related patches" if they ever told him her secret, however the fact that her Mom was also ok with telling him makes me wonder if there wasn't something else that contributed to them feeling as if it was ok, like some sort of change in the universe... Or that a green ray had been shot in the past and had struck them all to make them stay quiet about it all those years, but for some reason it had a self coded timer that just so happened to run out on that day and all of a sudden everyone at the same time thought that now it was ok to do so😆. I'm just rambling at this point, that's what happens when you have been writing long-winded posts for eight days now🤣

The second big thing that irked me in "Act Your Age" was Isabella's reaction, or should I say lack of reaction, to finding out that Phineas had started feeling things for her too as they got to High School. I mentioned this in yesterday's post, but I felt like it was a bit disappointing that Isabella only had a moment of surprise before being saddened again. It almost felt too realistic in a way for that to be her reaction, like she had been so downtrodden emotionally from the years she spent trying to get over him, that to hear him say that he started having feelings for her around the same time she had given up on him was like a punch in the gut to her. And honestly, maybe that was the emotion the writers wanted to give off, but it just felt like something in her reaction was lacking in that moment.

The third and final thing that I didn't particularly enjoy is something I've already taken a full day (plus parts of other days🤣) of this mini-series to talk about, which is pretty much Baljeet's entire involvement in this episode. However because I've spent soooooo much time talking about it, I suggest just reading each part of the mini-series over again, particularly Day Four, Part 3!😆

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Despite the negatives however, the high notes in "Act Your Age" far outweigh them. Phineas trying to catch Isabella before she leaves, the powerful emotions that come through in "What Might Have Been", and ultimately the revelation, realization, and confirmation of their dreams, even if later in their lives then they both wanted, was incredibly sweet and brought tremendous joy to so many watching for the first time.

One thing in addition that I want to mention here, and it's something I hadn't caught on to until today thinking about it, but the fact that it was Phineas handing Isabella the letter that said he was going to Tri-State State that confirmed for her a lifetime of hopes and dreams being realized, many years after Isabella almost gave a letter to Phineas (well she did before the Un-Retrograde-inator hit him lol) that would have stated her feelings for him, is a small but absolutely wonderful thing.

And then there's the final scene... Which we'll get to tomorrowwwwww🤭🧡💗

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So, in closing, my official review of "Act Your Age" is:

"Act Your Age" is a flawed but yet still beautiful story of two amazing lifelong friends, nearly being separated through time, and the emotions going through their minds as Phineas and Isabella believe that the possibility of their lives being intertwined has moved on. However, through forces unknown, they are given an opportunity to reunite, making their hopes and dreams become a reality. While I do not consider AYA to be truly canon (that honor my friends belongs to @authenticcadence18's "Can't Help Falling In Love"), and while I at times struggle with AYA's imperfections, it is still a lovely viewing experience, ending with one of the most touching and sweetest moments in Disney's long and storied history.

Phineas and Isabella once again prove to the world that, "The only thing that's Impossible is Impossibility!", and as Isabella so elegantly states, with a smile on her face, "Well, that was worth the wait." 🧡💗

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And in closing, once again, thank you all so much for reading, for those who have liked, commented, and shared, both on Tumblr and on Instagram. I especially want to thank my friends Izzy and Guy, as well as Cadence, who have been incredibly supportive through this process and experience. This is something I've never done before, and I am really happy to have had the opportunity to give my small part to this amazing community.

This party isn't quite over yet though, cause tomorrow, we celebrate Phinabella Day!!!👏👏👏🧡💗

Until then, God Bless, and Carpe Diem!