Perry the Platypus

"In your letters, you described your nemesis as a 'suave, semi-aquatic personification of unstoppable dynamic fury."

- Dr. Gevaarlijk to Heinz Doofenshmirtz, referring to Perry.

Perry the Platypus, codenamed Agent P, is Phineas and Ferb's pet platypus, who, unknown to his owners, lives a parallel life as a secret agent. Perry has a lair under the Flynn-Fletcher's house that can be entered through different types of passages. One example is the chimney-vator, in which Agent P finds Santa. His nemesis is Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz, and he is always sent to foil the doctor's plans, which he always successfully accomplishes even with minimal details about those plans. During almost every one of his missions, he cleans up what Phineas and Ferb have done. Perry enjoys romance soap operas and potato chips.

Background
Perry the Platypus is an agent for The Agency, a government organization of animal spies. As an Agent, his commander is Major Monogram.

Pet of the Flynn-Fletchers
Perry was most likely bought some time after Bucky died by the Flynn-Fletcher family, in the city of Danville. ("It's About Time!")

Nemesis to Heinz Doofenshmirtz
One day, Perry began to spy on an evil Druelselsteinien mad scientist named Heinz Doofenshmirtz. This occurred on the day that Doofenshmirtz had just had his portrait taken.

Disguises
Despite frequent contact with Perry, Dr. Doofenshmirtz does not recognize him unless Perry is wearing his secret agent hat, a fedora. Dr. Doofenshmirtz's typical reaction is to exclaim "A platypus?!" when Perry removes whatever clothing he was wearing, followed by "Perry the Platypus?!" when Perry puts on his fedora.

However, once Dr. Doofenshmirtz has seen Agent P wearing the fedora, if Agent P removes it, Dr. Doofenshmirtz is still able to recognize him ("Get That Bigfoot Outta My Face!", "Oil on Candace", "I Scream, You Scream")

Perry's most successful disguise may be when he and Candace switch bodies in "Does This Duckbill Make Me Look Fat?" When Perry (in Candace's body) first enters his lair to receive his briefing, Major Monogram thinks that there has been a breach of security. Once the hat falls on Perry's head, Major Monogram identifies him as "Agent P". Likewise, when Perry breaks through the wall, Dr. Doofenshmirtz exclaims, "A teenage girl?!" After Perry puts on the fedora, Dr. Doofenshmirtz exclaims, "Perry the Teenage Girl?!" The other Agents also wear similar hats, but it is this particular hat which allows people to identify Perry as Agent P.

Other disguises worn by Agent P include "Groucho glasses" in "Flop Starz", masquerading as Dr. Lloyd Wexler in "A Hard Day's Knight", and as Ferb in "Traffic Cam Caper," also as Norm in "Traffic Cam Caper"

Maintaining his cover
In order to prevent his family and other people from learning his identity, Perry takes steps to reinforce the perception that he is a "mindless animal", and that he doesn't "do much" because he is "just a platypus".

His primary method to achieve this is to direct each of his eyes outwards in opposite directions, giving him a look of lowered intelligence. Once he determines that he is no longer being witnessed, Perry retrieves his hat and drops the façade. During his stint as Perry the Teenage Girl, Perry continued to use this method to mask his true intelligence.

Perry has become adept in switching quickly between his two faces and can perform the switch in rapid succession. ("Traffic Cam Caper")

Equipment
Perry is able to pull a remarkable number of items out of the air from behind his back. Where exactly they are hidden is not obvious because Perry typically does not wear clothes. The most frequent item he retrieves is his secret agent fedora. Other items include a crossbow, a box of selected cheeses and whistles that attract other animals.

Wrist communicator. Perry wears a watch-like communicator on his front left paw. It is normally hidden by his fur. ("Traffic Cam Caper")

Video communicator. Agent P uses a PDA-like device to communicate with headquarters. It can send and receive video. Dr. Doofenshmirtz once built a "Monster Truck Locat-i-nator" that looked the same as Agent P's communicator, but was different in color.

Fedora. Agent P's fedora serves several purposes. The first is to identify him as a secret agent. The second is as a cutting device. There is a rope inside the hat that when pulled starts a motor which causes the brim of the hat to turn. The hat can then be used to cut rope. On at least one occasion, Agent P was able to pull an object out of his hat, which he used to help him escape: a can of Fancy Cheese Spray ("I, Brobot"). His hat may be used like a boomerang. In "Voyage to the Bottom of Buford", Perry used his hat this way, to knock Dr. D's controller to the ground, thus damaging it and setting him free, only to make his escape. A hot dog has blown out from his hat in Backyard Aquarium.

Phineas and Ferb
To maintain his cover, Perry adopts the role of a "mindless animal" when around most people. During one of his missions ("Journey to the Center of Candace") when Dr. Doofenshmirtz's plans would directly affect Phineas and Ferb, Perry took decisive action to stop him. Perry's reaction to learning those plans indicates that he does care for the well-being of the boys and not just that they provide him with a cover. In another episode,("Ready for the Bettys"), he follows the boys in an effort to protect them when they go on their "mission" (however, he may have done so strictly on Major Monogram's orders). You can also tell that Perry cares deeply for his family, because he has a dream that he has to leave the Flynn-Fletcher family. When he wakes up Phineas said "It sounds like you had a bad dream. Don't worry, go back to sleep." Perry then smiles at Phineas and closes his eyes. ("Phineas and Ferb Get Busted")

Candace
While Perry does not exhibit any different behavior around Candace than he does other people, he does tend to show up in unexpected and sometimes unwanted places. The first instance occurs in "Candace Loses Her Head" where he becomes part of Candace's dream after making his platypus chirping noise on her bed. It is also seen that Phineas and Ferb are not the only members of the Flynn-Fletcher family that Perry cares about in "The Ballad of Badbeard" when Perry saves the hallucinating Candace from being blown up along with Doofenshmirtz's latest secret base.

Candace is often annoyed by Perry's presence (her dream being interrupted and being woke up by Perry's odor ("Does This Duckbill Make Me Look Fat?", "Candace Loses Her Head" ), but on other occasions such as what is seen in "Traffic Cam Caper", she is more cordial to him. This behavior is also shown by Candace toward Perry at the end of "Mom's Birthday".

Dr. Doofenshmirtz
Agent P's job is to "stop Doofenshmirtz". However, in some cases after confronting Dr. Doofenshmirtz and evaluating the situation, he has helped Dr. Doofenshmirtz when his plans were other than evil. Notable examples are helping to set up Vanessa's birthday party in "Dude, We're Getting the Band Back Together", pretending to be Dr. Doofenshmirtz's pet, ("Get That Bigfoot Outta My Face!") and when Dr.Doofenshmirtz realizes that Perry is his best friend. He is cut off, and pushed out of the gaping hole in the floor. He is saved by Perry. ("The Chronicles of Meap")

When it appeared that Dr. Doofenshmirtz had gone over to the good side by saving a cat, Agent P brought over the Standard Welcome Package ("Voyage to the Bottom of Buford").

The relationship has evolved to the point that when Dr. Doofenshmirtz replaced Perry with Peter the Panda as his nemesis, he appeared heartbroken. ("It's About Time!") Later, when Dr. Doofenshmirtz failed to impress his former Evil 101 teacher, Dr. Gevaarlijk, Perry offered him a smile of encouragement when he asked if Perry thought he was evil. However, when Doofenshmirtz actually asked him to "thwart his plan", he was quite unhelpful with playing along.("Oil on Candace").

Background Information



 * There are more Agents than just Agent P. Many are named in "Traffic Cam Caper" (and seen in "It's About Time!"). The agents include a dog, a chicken, a worm, and lots others.
 * Refer to The Agency for a list of Agents.


 * In I, Brobot Perry's spy badge is shown. On it, it says "Spy", and below that, shows Perry peeking over a wall.


 * Perry typically only makes "chittering" or "chattering" sounds. (See the video below for several examples.) However, in "Got Game?", he lets out a weary sound when faced with having to walk back up the same flight of stairs. As the monster in "The Monster of Phineas-n-Ferbenstein", he makes growling and moaning sounds. Also, in "Hail Doofania!" Perry sighs and later on in the episode, sneezes.


 * It also appears that Perry is a paid agent as he is seen using money "Traffic Cam Caper" and in "Lights, Candace, Action!" and in "The Lake Nose Monster" as Major Monogram mentions something about a huge bonus check.
 * One of the reacurring jokes in the show is the fact that platypuses are the only mammals that lay eggs. (As stated by Ferb in "Rollercoaster") Ferb says this in responce to Phineas saying "Platypuses don't do much.". After Ferb tells Phineas this fact, Phineas says that maybe Perry will lay an egg, despite knowing that Perry is in fact male.


 * For more information on the platypus, refer to the Wikipedia article and the Wild Watch article.

Theme song
When Perry is on duty as Agent P, a theme song plays. It consists of mainly lyrics such as "Dooby, dooby, doo-ba". An extended version and the accompanying video can be seen at "Perry the Platypus (song)".

Theme song variations

 * In "Does This Duckbill Make Me Look Fat?" when Perry and Candace switch bodies, the theme song was changed to "Perry the Teenage Girl." In the same episode, when he's sliding on a tube into his lair, the song frequently stops when he is temporarily jammed in the tube (as Candace's body is much wider and larger than Perry's).


 * In "Ready for the Bettys" where Phineas and Ferb accidentally find Perry's lair and take on the role of secret agents, the theme song was changed to repetitions of "Phineas and Ferb", sung in the same style.


 * In "The Best Lazy Day Ever" when Agent P is struck by the Slow-Motioninator, his theme song slows down as well.


 * After Agent P has had to walk down a very long set of stairs in "Got Game?" and sits down in the chair, the people singing his theme song also sound like they are worn out.


 * In "Put That Putter Away" as Perry enters his lair tiredly, the singers sound sleepy.