Although the inventions made by the titular Phineas and Ferb may often take a starring
role, there are two sides to every episode - and for nearly every plan or invention that
the two brothers have, there is also an -inator made by the not-so-evil Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz.
But of all of Doof’s -inators, which ones are truly useful and which ones really should
have stayed on the drawing board?
I’m Brad with WickedBinge, and this is Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s -Inators: Useless to Useful.
Much like with our previous video, “Phineas and Ferb Inventions: Dumb to Brilliant”,
we’re only going to be covering the most noteable and memorable of Doof’s -inators.
Still, let us know if we missed any that you feel deserve a shoutout.
As always, we’re going to be starting with the most useless -inators that Doof’s ever
built and work our way up to the ones that could actually be used to take over the Tri-State
Area.
We’re going to be starting off with the category, “Flawed and Destructive”.
These -inators aren’t only useless, they’re also outright dangerous and often cause pretty
significant harm to Doof.
From the very first episode, we have the Magnetism Magnifier.
This invention is just… really stupid, even by Doof’s standards.
According to him, he had wanted to use this invention to try and halt the Earth’s rotation.
He first covered the eastern seaboard in tin foil, and then tried to use his giant magnet
to pull it west.
Of course this failed miserably, and Doof ended up getting crushed by a giant ball of
tin foil.
We felt we had to rank this -inator at the very bottom because not only did it fail miserably,
but in terms of the scheme that it was a part of, Doof didn’t even have a reason WHY he
wanted to stop the Earth’s rotation, other than seeing it as an ‘evil’ thing to do.
So, not only was it completely pointless and incredibly stupid, but it also made for a
pretty painful lesson in magnetics.
Next up is the Now Who’s Blinded By Sand-inator.
This -inator just takes pettiness to a whole new level.
Wanting to finally get revenge on Boris, a bully that always kicked sand in his face,
Doof creates this giant -inator to give Boris a taste of his own medicine.
However, calling it an -inator is pretty generous, as they’re pretty much just a giant mechanical
boot and a giant bucket of sand.
Besides the fact that it would take a ton of sand (and likely a ton of money) to fill
this -inator once, but a gust is able to turn Doof’s revenge back around on him when the
wind ends up blowing sand right back into his face.
How ironic.
It should also be noted that the -inator very quickly falls apart, so as sweet as revenge
might have seemed, this thing was just pointless all around.
Really, if Doof wanted to dump sand onto his old bully’s house, he could have just used
a dump truck.
But hey, live and learn.
Following that, we have the crudely named Poop-inator.
Don’t worry, it’s not what you think.
Once again trying to get revenge on his mayoral brother, Doof created this device to implant
an image of the target into the brains of a whole flock of pigeons.
Once the birds have their targets, well… we’re sure you all can guess what happens
next.
Yeahhh, this is possibly Doof’s grossest scheme, although we do acknowledge that it
would be effective in ruining his brother’s day.
Unfortunately, that’s pretty much its only purpose, as the Poop-inator can only assign
one target at a time.
Doof probably couldn’t use it to sic pigeons on the entire Tri-State Area.
It’s also not very evil.
Mostly it’s just gross.
With pigeons having fairly simple minds, it’s also very easy for Perry to turn the device
around on Doof, leading to a very messy end for our favorite evil scientist.
Lastly, we have the Deflate-inator.
You can’t do much with a deflate-inator besides, well, the obvious.
Although we are sure it’d be a nuisance to deal with, especially if you just bought
new tires, the deflate-inator isn’t exactly evil.
It could be used in evil ways maybe, though you’d have to be awfully creative about
it, but as it stands, Doof’s only motive for using it is to force everyone in the Tri-State
Area to come to him if they want something inflated.
What keeps this -inator firmly in the Flawed and Destructive group is how badly it backfires,
deflating the blimp that Doof was using to float above Danville.
Thing is, as stupid as it may seem in hindsight, using a blimp was Doof’s only option, given
that a plane would be too fast and staying in his building would limit his range.
Maybe if the weapon was more portable, Doof would have a shot at doing something truly
noteworthy with it.
As it stands though, it’s pretty much a failure.
The next category we have is the “Neat but Impractical”.
These are the -Inators that could be useful in the right context, but are pretty worthless
in terms of threat or evil intent.
First up, we have the Age Accelerator-inator.
Fun fact: Doof was originally going to quit being evil over this -inator, using it to
pursue his cheese-making passions.
Though his stinky limburger recipe is delicious, the cheese itself takes 58 1/2 years to age
- and like Doof said, who has that kind of time?
Although impressive and certainly useful, we had to put the Age Accelerator-inator towards
the lower half of our list for just how few uses it actually has.
While yes, it’d make being a cheese-maker a lot easier, not many other foods need to
be aged.
In fact, aging is detrimental to 90% of things - and people!
This is demonstrated at the end of the episode when Doof accidentally ages himself, and is
thus too old and tired to be much of a threat.
This makes the -inator also come off as a bit risky to use.
While we’re sure cheese-lovers would appreciate it, we just can’t consider it practical
enough to put any higher.
Next is the Ballgown-inator.
Doof wanted to use this device to turn himself into the “manliest person in Danville (by
comparison)” by forcing everyone in the Tri-State Area to wear dresses.
Although we can’t exactly call the scheme its from evil, the Ballgown-inator is an impressive
device to be sure, given that it can create gorgeous dresses out of thin air.
We’re sure plenty of people would appreciate that - from shops that sell fancy dresses
to people who maybe can’t afford a nice ball gown.
We still have to call it impractical in terms of its evilness, and we will acknowledge that
it isn’t something that could be used daily since ball gowns aren’t necessarily daily
attire, but we still think it’s a pretty neat gadget.
Of course, we couldn’t forget about Norm the Robot.
Norm was originally created to destroy Perry, while also symbolizing how mankind is the
biggest threat to the platypus species.
After this scheme fails, Norm actually sticks around, becoming Doof’s assistant.
Though he runs on squirrel-power and tends to make mistakes, Norm is overall pretty useful
in his assistant role.
He’s helpful, strong, has numerous abilities and is almost always in a chipper mood, though
he can occasionally be sassy.
Heck, he can even still be a threat sometimes, given that he once almost destroyed the Tri-State
Area while Doof was out on jury duty.
With all his abilities and how useful he can be as an assistant, Norm could indeed be helpful
in certain circumstances.
However, we have to admit that you wouldn’t really NEED a giant robot man too often.
That combined with all the maintenance that would need to be done to keep him and his
abilities running smoothly causes Norm to still qualify as impractical.
Finishing up our somewhat-impractical -inators, we have the Chicken Replace-inator.
If we’re being honest, this is a very VERY silly invention.
Replacing things?
Fine, that has some merit.
But replacing these things or people with the nearest chicken?
You have to wonder how that would ever be useful.
According to Doof in the episode where it originates, the -inator was meant to replace
his brother Roger's second straight Mayor of the Year award with a chicken the moment
he receives it.
This will in turn make everyone laugh at Roger because of how inherently funny chickens are.
You gotta love just how petty Doof can be sometimes.
The -inator can also later replace things with the farthest chicken, in case you ever
needed that option.
But while this -inator would be pretty impractical in day-to-day life, we felt we had to give
it a mention as well as a decent ranking given that it’s what saves the day TWICE in “Candace
Against the Universe”.
Up next we have the category “Somewhat Threatening”.
We’re now moving into the -inators that actually have a chance of doing something
evil or being useful for a scheme.
Starting this category is the Yodel-inator.
Who doesn’t like a good yodel?
With this special cowboy hat, Doof was able to improve his singing voice.
He had the crowd totally under his control with his hit-single, “Yodel Odel Obey Me”,
and honestly, we can’t really blame the crowd for wanting to obey him.
What can we say, it’s a catchy song!
Had it not been for Perry’s interference, Doof probably would have had an easy time
gaining a fanbase that he could then turn into his army or into servants.
After all, we all know how passionate music-stans can get about their favorite singers.
What keeps this -inator from going any higher however is just how easily it was taken out
of commission, with Agent P only needing to knock it off Doof’s head in order to reveal
to the audience how much of a fake he was.
Had Doof prepared better, maybe this scheme could have lasted longer.
As it stands, it just barely makes it into the upper half of our list.
We’re putting the Termite Controlling Helmet next.
There are lots of things out there that are made out of wood, and termites can be a nightmare
for any homeowner.
So, when Doof was able to temporarily control a whole army of termites with his helmet,
it definitely bumped his threat level up quite a bit.
We should mention, however, that Doof only wanted to get rid of all the wood in Danville
so he could then make a fortune off selling aluminum siding.
That’s… not exactly evil, though it is a decent business strategy.
Still, the helmet is impressive in just how well it’s able to control the termites,
giving them plenty of guidance and direction.
The only not-so-great thing about the helmet is the reversal function, which causes the
termites to attack Doof instead of obeying him.
We’re not sure why Doof would install this function in the first place but, hey, it’s
Doof so, we’re not all that surprised.
Up next is the Invis-inator.
We’re sure that most people have wished to have the power of invisibility at some
point in their life.
But while this -inator grants that power, it does it in a fairly malicious way.
When cupcake selling season for the Fireside Girls comes around, Doof decides that instead
of feeling guilty for trying to ignore the Fireside Girls whenever they come around to
sell their treats, he’s just going to turn them invisible so he doesn’t have to look
at them.
Of course, someone who isn’t as oblivious as Doof could use this for much more nefarious
purposes.
Additionally, for some people, the threat of forever being invisible is a fairly major
one.
What brings this threat down though is that the invisibility isn’t permanent, in that
getting hit by the Invis-inator again will make you visible.
But in an ironic way, this makes the machine all the more useful in that it gets rid of
a potential downside, making it all the easier for a villain to use for their own gain.
Not that Doof really seems to notice, he just wants to avoid shelling out cash for Fireside
Cupcakes.
But we can appreciate it for its potential.
The -inator also has a disintegration mode, which definitely bumps its threat-level up
a bit.
Next we have the holiday-ruining Naughty-Inator.
For kids who celebrate Christmas, a machine that can stop Santa from delivering presents
can be pretty threatening.
Additionally, it isn’t often that a villain is actually able to succeed in ruining a holiday,
albeit temporarily.
In this case, Doof was able to make it seem like the entire population of Tri-State Area
had been naughty.
An impressive feat for sure, making this -inator all the more noteworthy.
But while it is evil and somewhat threatening, this -inator probably wouldn’t be able to
do much outside of the holiday season.
Additionally, we learn later on in the episode that it had been Santa himself who created
the blueprints for the -inator as part of his own scheme to grant Doof’s - as well
as Phineas and Ferb’s - Christmas wishes.
That alone also brings it down a bit, in that it was never ACTUALLY ruining anything, it
was just all part of Santa’s plan.
Still, the idea of the -inator itself has its merit, and Doof was still able to use
it effectively, so credit where it’s due.
We felt that we had to give a mention to the Make-Up-Your-Mind-inator.
This one is simple: After being annoyed by people who can’t seem to make up their mind,
Doof decides to make an -inator to hone in on these people and destroy them.
So, yeah, destroying people for such a minor flaw?
Thaaaaat’s pretty messed up.
However, we can’t exactly say much about this -inator because, well, it’s never activated.
Once Perry realizes that this -inator directly threatens Phineas and Ferb, he takes Doof
out almost immediately and the two spend the rest of the episode trying to free themselves
from their Any Flat Surface Magnet Belts.
However, with the surprisingly dark intentions and implications that this -inator has, we
felt that we couldn’t really leave it off the list, even if we never see it in action.
Naturally, for our final category, we have the “Useful and Totally Evil”.
Not only could these -inators win the day for Evil (if not for a certain platypus agent),
but they also have a bit of a dark side to them, making them all the more useful for
a villain like Doof.
We’re starting this category off with the Devolition-inator.
Not to be confused with the De-evolution-inator.
Okay, so we’ve already touched on a couple of Doof’s mind controlling -inators.
In case it wasn’t obvious, this guy REALLY wants to be in control.
But we feel that the De-volition-inator is the best and most successful example.
With this helmet, Doof was able to control Perry completely.
Usually Perry is able to find some way out of being controlled.
In this instance, however, he acts as Doof’s accomplice throughout most of the episode.
We see Doof force him to steal a shopping cart, slap himself and even being forced to
skip down the street at one point, much to the platypus’ annoyance.
Although Doof doesn’t use the devolution-inator to its fullest potential, being more focused
on picking up his daughter, Vanessa, for a party, we can’t deny just how useful and
evil this -inator could be in competent hands.
Speaking of hands, this -inator also leads to a pretty awesome and memorable moment for
Doof later on when Perry uses it to help Doof out with some DJing.
We had to give it extra points for that.
Up next, we have Shrinkspheria.
We all have those little annoyances in our lives that we wish could just go away.
With this -inator, Doof is able to do just that.
He explains that all he has to do is enter the name of something he hates, and Shrinkspheria
hones in on its molecular structure, shrinking it into a teeny, tiny speck so small he never
has to see it again.
It’s unclear what the range of Shrinkspheria is, but even if it only shrinks things within
the Tri-State Area, it could still cause quite a bit of damage.
Just imagine what would happen if this thing fell into more-evil hands.
Since it could shrink anything, everything - and everyone - would be in danger.
We also don’t ever see a reverse button, so it’s unclear if the things that are shrunk
with it can be unshrunk.
Thankfully, this -inator isn’t all-powerful - even just messing with its antenna can cause
it to fail, and it can still be blown up.
For this reason, we can’t put it up any higher.
Send in the clones!
Next is the Plata-Proliferator-inator.
We all know the ‘evil clone’ trope, but Doof is able to take it to a whole other level
with this -inator.
With the Plata-Proliferator-inator, he’s able to create several clones of Perry and
has them commit crimes all over Danville in order to frame the agent and get him out of
the way.
These crimes include stealing money, running from police officers, and littering.
Doof also uses these clones to try and fight Perry, hoping to outmatch him once and for
all.
As he says, sometimes you have to fight fire with fire.
Thankfully, Perry is eventually able to suck all the clones back into the -inator, blowing
it up.
You have to wonder though, could Doof possibly re-create this -inator and make evil clones
of other people?
It’d certainly be an effective evil plan.
In a list of evil inventions, a Turn Everything Evil-inator is going to rank fairly high.
When Doof realizes how much more useful to him Perry would be as an ally, he uses a Turn-Everything-Evil-inator
to try and turn Perry, well, evil.
This -inator goes beyond the standard mind-control or hypnosis-inator, in that it completely
changes the personality of the person it hits, turning them totally evil in an instant.
As such, it’s likely much harder to fight off than some -inator or music-induced trance.
Additionally, it’s able to turn previously not-sentient things into evil sentient creatures,
like with the gelatin monster that it ends up creating.
Honestly, any other villain would have a TON of uses for this thing!
...Just as long as they had a good aim with it.
Prepare yourself for heartache.
Next is the De-Love-inator Satellite.
Yeah, this one is pretty memorable.
Doof has never really been lucky when it comes to romance, and in this episode, he nearly
takes that frustration out on the entire world.
As Doof explains, his De-love-inator satellite is able to eliminate the feeling of love throughout
the entire Tri-State Area with just the push of a button.
Even Perry seems legitimately concerned about this invention, which makes sense.
He may be able to fight off a lot of things, but he can’t exactly stop a huge, city-spanning
beam from a satellite.
Although Doof never ends up using the De-Love-inator himself, finally finding love with a woman
who enjoys evil, we still see the effects of the satellite when it crashes and hits
his date.
Just as Doof promised, the woman is left without any feelings of love, stating that she feels
‘nothing’.
We’re not quite sure how this -inator could be used to take over the Tri-State Area, per
say, but with just how harsh and pretty evil it is, we feel that doesn’t matter.
As far as we’re concerned, the implications and effectiveness of it more than earn it
a high spot.
Finishing off our list, we have the Repulsinator.
It could be argued that this -inator was Doof’s most successful evil -inator, even if it was
also the most insulting in a way.
Doof created this device in order to turn anyone who’s shot with it repulsive.
As it turns out, ‘repulsive’ equates to a mindless, zombified Doofenshmirtz.
Harsh…
Still, Doof takes this insult somewhat in stride, and soon enough, all of Danville is
taken over by these zombie Doofs.
Yeah, making this -inator all the more dangerous is that it only needs to be fired once, and
once someone is ‘repulsive’, they only need to touch someone to make them repulsive
too.
We see several characters we know get transformed, and at one point the Doof-zombies shut down
all the water, phone and power lines all over Danville, making it feel all the more reminiscent
of a zombie horror movie.
Eventually, Doof gets annoyed with their mindlessness and decides that this -inator was in fact
TOO successful and that more than one Doof is just too much, so he helps Phineas, Ferb
and the gang come up with a cure for the Repulsinator’s effects.
Had it not been for this decision, though, Doof might have ended up ruling over an entire
world filled with only himself.
Not exactly a pleasant thought.
But let us know in the comment section if you agree with our ranking, and tell us what
we should cover next.
Remember to hit that notification bell and binge our Dumb to Brilliant playlist, where
we figure out which characters have the most wits.
But most importantly, stay wicked.