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 double life as a secret agent for The Agency, a government organization of animal spies. In the Agency, his immediate superior is Major Monogram. Perry has a lair under the Flynn-Fletcher's house that can be entered through various passages. One example is the chimney-vator, in which he encounters Santa. His nemesis is Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz. Perry's mission is almost always foiling the doctor's plans, which he successfully accomplishes every time even with minimal details about the plans. During these missions, he usually cleans up what Phineas and Ferb have done. Perry enjoys romance soap operas and potato chips.

Disguises
Perry is the Flynn-Fletcher family's only pet (other than the deceased Bucky). In order to prevent his family and other people from learning his identity, Perry takes steps to reinforce theperception that he is "just a platypus", a mindless animal that doesn't "do much".His primary method to achieve this status is to direct each of his eyes outwards in opposite directions, creating the "dumb" look. Once he is certain that he is no longer being watched, Perry drops the facade and retrieves his secret agent hat, a fedora. 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 between his two guises and can perform the switch in rapid succession ("Traffic Cam Caper").

Despite frequent contact with Perry, Dr. Doofenshmirtz does not recognize his enemy unless Perry is wearing his hat. If Perry enters Doofenshmirtz's building without wearing the hat, the doctor will act surprised and exclaim "A platypus?". Curiously enough, however, once Doofenshmirtz has seen Agent P wearing the fedora, if Agent P removes it, 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 might be that of when he and Candace accidentally switch bodies ("Does This Duckbill Make Me Look Fat?"). When Perry (in Candace's body) first enters his lair to receive his mission 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" and praises Perry for the "brilliant disguise", while Carl is disappointed to learn that it is not a real girl. Likewise, when Perry breaks in to Doofenshmirtz's building, the doctor exclaims "A teenage girl?". After Perry puts on the fedora, Dr. Doofenshmirtz shrieks, "Perry the Teenage Girl?". While the other Agents also wear similar hats, it is this particular hat that allows people to identify Perry as Agent P.

Agent P has also used the "Groucho glasses" to narrowly avoided being recognized by Linda Flynn in the street ("Flop Starz"), masqueraded as Dr. Lloyd Wexler ("A Hard Day's Knight"), as Ferb and Norm ("Traffic Cam Caper").

Equipment

 * Main article: Agent P's Equipment and Technology

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 gadgets Perry uses are:
 * Wrist communicator. Perry wears a watch-like communicator on his front left paw. It is normally hidden by his fur ("Traffic Cam Caper", "Oh, There You Are, Perry", "Swiss Family Phineas").
 * Video communicator. Agent P uses a PDA-like, video-chatting device to communicate with his headquarter. Dr. Doofenshmirtz once built a "Monster Truck Locat-i-nator" that looked the same as Agent P's communicator, albeit in a different color.
 * Fedora. Agent P's fedora serves several purposes. The hat identifies him as a secret agent. There is a spring inside the hat that, when pulled, starts a motor which causes the brim of the hat to spin. The hat can then be used as a circular saw. On at least one occasion, Agent P is able to pull an object out of his hat, which he uses to help him escape: a can of Fancy Cheese Spray ("I, Brobot"). The hat may also be used like a boomerang. In "Voyage to the Bottom of Buford", Perry uses his hat in this way to knock Dr. D's controller to the ground, damaging it and setting him free. A hot dog is blown out of his hat in "Backyard Aquarium".

Phineas and Ferb
To maintain his cover, Perry adopts the guise of a "mindless animal" around people. During one of his missions ("Journey to the Center of Candace"), when Perry realizes Doofenshmirtz's plans will directly affect Phineas and Ferb, Perry took decisive action to stop him immediately instead of going through the whole spy routine (being trapped and escaping) as usual. Perry's reaction indicates that he cares for the well-being of the boys and to Perry, they provide him with more than just a cover. On another occasion ("Ready for the Bettys"), he follows the boys to ensure their safety when they go on their own "mission" (however, he may have done so strictly on Major Monogram's orders). Perry has even allowed Phineas and Ferb to dress him in an extremely humiliating costume for their circus show ("Jerk De Soleil"). Perry's affection for his family is most obvious when he has a nightmare that his cover is blown and he is forced to leave the Flynn-Fletcher family ("Phineas and Ferb Get Busted"). When he wakes up, Phineas reassures him that it is just "a bad dream". Perry smiles and goes back to sleep. Perry's feelings for his owners are furthered showcased when he is faced with the prospects of moving to a new family in order to combat another mad scientist: he appears visibly shaken and sad ("Oh, There You Are, Perry").

Candace
While Perry does not exhibit any different behavior around Candace than he does around other people, he tends to show up besides her in unexpected and sometimes unwanted places. Candace is easily annoyed by Perry's odor, or perhaps his sheer presence, as she repeatedly berates her brothers for letting Perry wander into her room ("Does This Duckbill Make Me Look Fat?"). Perry has interrupted Candace's dream at least once by making chirping noise on her bed&#160;("Candace Loses Her Head"). However, there are instances when Candace appears to be more cordial to Perry ("Traffic Cam Caper", "Mom's Birthday"). Candace is overwhelmed by feelings of guilt when Perry goes missing, as she has angrily put Perry outside the house after tripping on him the night before ("Oh, There You are Perry").

One rare instance of Perry's reaction towards Candace occurs in "Oh, There You are Perry", when Perry mockingly imitates Candace behind her back. Nevertheless, Perry saves the hallucinating Candace from being blown up in Doofenshmirtz's new secret base ("The Ballad of Badbeard").

Dr. Doofenshmirtz
The Druelselsteinien mad scientist Heinz Doofenshmirtz first met his nemesis, Perry, on the day he had his portrait taken. Perry had been spying on the mad scientist from across the street ("It's About Time!").

Agent P's job is to stop whatever evil scheme of Dr. Doofenshmirtz. Agent P always finishes his job nicely, leaving the doctor screaming "Curse you, Perry the Platypus!".

Over time, they have become each other's frenemy. In some cases, after confronting Dr. Doofenshmirtz and evaluating the situation, Perry decides to help Dr. Doofenshmirtz with his not-so-evil plans. Notable examples include setting up a birthday party for the doctor's daughter ("Dude, We're Getting the Band Back Together") and pretending to be the doctor's pet ("Get That Bigfoot Outta My Face!"). Perry has agreed to help Doofenshmirtz go shopping ("Unfair Science Fair Redux"), wait patiently until the doctor finishes his creation ("I Scream, You Scream") and let the doctor control the giant dragon robot while Perry himself controls the Queen Elizabeth robot which the doctor deems not evil enough for him ("A Hard Day's Knight").

When Dr. Doofenshmirtz fails to impress his former Evil 101 teacher, Dr. Gevaarlijk, Perry offers him a smile of encouragement when the doctor asks if Perry thinks he is evil. However, when Doofenshmirtz asks Perry to "thwart his plan", Perry unsuccessfully play along ("Oil on Candace").

When it appears that Dr. Doofenshmirtz has turned good (he saves a cat), Agent P brings him the Standard Welcome Package ("Voyage to the Bottom of Buford").

The relationship has evolved to the point that when Dr. Doofenshmirtz replaces Perry with Peter the Panda as his nemesis, Perry is heartbroken and intends to quit his job at the Agency ("It's About Time!"). Similarly, Doofenshmirtz reacts negatively when Perry is assigned to fight another mad scientist, the Regurgitator. Doofenshmirtz has gone as far as saving Perry from being destroyed by the Regurgitator, stating that Perry is his nemesis only ("Oh, There You Are, Perry").

Background Information

 * There are many Agents other than Agent P. A lot of them are named in "Traffic Cam Caper" (and seen in "It's About Time!").
 * Refer to The Agency for a list of Agents.


 * In "I, Brobot", Perry's spy badge is shown. It has the word "Spy" and an image of Perry peeking over a wall.
 * Perry usually makes chittering sounds only. However, in "Got Game?", he lets out a weary sound when he has 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.


 * Perry is generously paid by the O.W.C.A. for his work. He is seen paying for Doofenschmirtz's door ("Lights, Candace, Action!") and cans of oil ("Traffic Cam Caper"). Major Monogram has mentioned a huge bonus check ("The Lake Nose Monster").


 * Ferb says that platypus are the only mammals that lay eggs ("Rollercoaster"). In fact, all monotremes, such as echidnas, lay eggs, so Ferb's statement is incorrect. Phineas hopes that maybe Perry will lay an egg (actually, Perry is male).


 * In the episode "Toy to the World", a poster designer incorrectly believes that Perry is a marsupial whereas platypus are monotremes. Baljeet knows that platypus are monotremes: he mentions this in "Swiss Family Phineas".


 * Buford calls Perry a "ducky thing". Candace mistakes a beaver for Perry when she is looking for him.


 * Phineas can tell the difference between Perry and all the platypus in Danville (there are quite a lot) though they seem to look exactly the same ("Oh, There You Are, Perry").


 * Phineas mentions that baby Perry likes music. As Perry has been playing with Phineas since both are this young, Perry may have been around at the time when Bucky lives.


 * In the episode "Does This Duckbill Make Me Look Fat?", Candace, while trapped in Perry's body, is shown "sweating milk". This, however, is impossible, since only female platypus have mammary glands and Perry is obviously a male.


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

Theme song
Perry, when he is on duty as Agent P, has his own theme. Its lyrics are mainly "Dooby, dooby, doo-ba". The complete version and the accompanying video is first seen in "Rollercoaster" and can be found here. Since its introduction, the theme song has had many different versions:
 * In "Does This Duckbill Make Me Look Fat?", when Perry and Candace switch bodies, the theme song is changed to "Perry the Teenage Girl." In the same episode, when Perry is sliding in a tube to his lair, the song frequently stops as he is repeated jammed in the tube (Candace's body is much larger than Perry's).


 * In "Ready for the Bettys", when Phineas and Ferb accidentally find Perry's lair and temporarily become secret agents, the theme song is 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.


 * In "Got Game?", after Agent P walks down a very long flight of stairs 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.


 * In "Oh, There You Are, Perry", Perry's theme song is used as a musical access code, played out when Perry steps on the stones in the yard.