Ferbella

Ferbella
GENERAL
Phineas and Ferb
Character	Ferb Fletcher
Character	Isabella Garcia-Shapiro
Canonical?	Fanon
Status of Relationship	Close Friends
IN FANDOM
Type (?)	Het
Also Known As	IsaFerb
Tropes	Accidental Hand-Hold - Isabella ended up holding hands with Ferb in "When Worlds Collide", when she meant to hold hands with Phineas. Heroic Sacrifice - Ferb threw himself into a swarm of Doof zombies in "Night of the Living Pharmacists" to protect Isabella (and Phineas) from getting zombified, allowing them to get to the roof of the radio tower and save Danville from the outbreak. Living Emotional Crutch - Ferb serves as this to Isabella in "Summer Belongs to You", giving her a tissue when she was crying and just standing and listening to her vent her frustrations onto him. Although it wasn't much, it was clearly very effective for him to just be there and to be a friend. He did something like this again, although not as meaningfully, in "When Worlds Collide", when he held Isabella's hand and assured her not to worry about the collision between Earth and the Whalemingo Planet. Isabella returned the favor to Ferb in "It's No Picnic", when she patted him on the back, when he inaudibly complained about his failure to help put together her picnic with Phineas. Romantic Ribbing - Ferb has done this with Isabella in a few ways; In "Phineas and Ferb's Quantum Boogaloo", Ferb flirted with Isabella after she learned about the possibility of marrying him in the future. In "Operation: Crumb Cake", Ferb teased Isabella for referring to Phineas as "[her] little crumbcake" in her lost love letter. Ship Tease - Future Candace hinted that Isabella would end up marrying Ferb in "Phineas and Ferb's Quantum Boogaloo" and Ferb appeared to be interested, even if he implied it in a joking manner. Shipper on Deck - Ferb is one of the many people who's just waiting for Phineas to realize Isabella's feelings for him, so they can get together. He's even gone out of his way sometimes to give the two some time alone, like in "Happy Birthday Isabella!", when he made up an excuse to bail on Phineas' planned three-person-date with him and Isabella at the ice cream store. Sibling Triangle - Never experimented with. However, some fans overanalyze a scene from "The Beak", where Isabella discovered that the eponymous superhero she had a crush on, turned out to actually just be Phineas and Ferb's alter-ego. Isabella ended up showering Phineas and Phineas only with love and affection, making Ferb feel completely snubbed. However, love likely had nothing to do with it, with Ferb really just being mad that he wasn't getting credit for doing half the work and being delegated to a sidekick. The Friends Who Never Hang - Outside of being mutual friends with Phineas, Ferb and Isabella have very little in common and rarely ever have a direct one-on-one interaction with each other. They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot - Some fans were expecting Ferb to become Isabella's boyfriend in "Summer Belongs to You", after both parties were essentially ghosted by their respective ships and Ferb went to comfort a crying Isabella on the beach during the sunset. However, the writers didn't go anywhere with this scene beyond just making it a heartwarming conversation between friends. Third Wheel - Ferb became this in "Canderemy", when he tagged along with Phineas to his date to the movies with Isabella. It would seem he learned not to do that anymore by "Happy Birthday Isabella!", when he made sure to opt out of going to the ice cream store with Phineas, when Isabella invited him out.

Isabella – “Did you hear that? Aunt Isabella! That means I'm gonna marry Phineas!”

Candace – “Or Ferb.”

Ferb – “(winks and points fingers at Isabella)”

Ferbella is the het ship between Ferb Fletcher and Isabella Garcia-Shapiro in the Phineas and Ferb fandom.

Canon

Overview

Although Ferb and Isabella technically spend every single day together, they rarely have any one-on-one interactions with each other, mostly due to Ferb not being much of a talker and Isabella being primarily infatuated with Phineas. They are really just friendly acquaintances, who otherwise wouldn't care about each other, if not for Phineas being their bonding mutual. However, they share some brief moments of interaction with each other.

Season 1

ROLLERCOASTER

Isabella greeted Ferb, along with Phineas when she came to their backyard. Ferb waved back at her with a hammer in his hand. Isabella wondered if Phineas' weird British stepbrother ever talked. She was surprised to hear him talk for the first time, near the end of the episode, when it was about Perry laying an egg.

SWINTER

Isabella asked Phineas what Swinter was and Ferb explained to her that it was a climatically-impractical portmanteau of Summer and Winter.

GOT GAME?

Isabella trash-talked Buford, telling him that he'll never win a game against her in her own house. When Phineas corrected her that she was actually in his house, Ferb told Phineas to just go with it, since Isabella was "on a roll".

Season 2

PHINEAS AND FERB'S QUANTUM BOOGALOO

Candace's future children, Xavier and Fred time traveled back to the present, where they met the past versions of Phineas, Ferb, and Isabella. One of the two kids remarked that Isabella looked very similar to "Aunt Isabella". Isabella got excited to hear this and stated that this pretty much confirmed that she would be marrying Phineas in the future. However, Future Candace pointed out that she could just as likely end up marrying Ferb. Ferb, having overheard this, playfully made finger guns at Isabella and winked at her, suggesting they just might become a thing in the future.

THE LIZARD WHISPERER

Ferb was positively appalled by Isabella's propose that they give up on looking for their lost pet lizard, Steve. He went off on one of his longest tangents to date, delivering an impassioned speech about how as a merry few, it was their obligation to stay committed to their goals in finding their reptilian friend and never seize their search. During this monologue, he somewhat awkwardly described Isabella as the "girl from across the street".

THE BEAK

Isabella found herself having a huge crush on the superhero, The Beak, not knowing he was actually Phineas operating an adult-sized robot body. However, Ferb was also operating the pelvis of this superhero's body, so it could be argued that Isabella was just as attracted to Ferb as she was to Phineas in here. After the true identity of The Beak was revealed to her, Ferb was annoyed when Isabella showered Phineas with all the praise and credit of being The Beak. It's clear that he was really just mad that he wasn't getting the credit for something that was 50% his work and it had nothing to do with romance.

SUMMER BELONGS TO YOU

When the kids were stranded on a small island, Isabella went over to the shore and started crying over the fact that Phineas wasn't responding to any of her advances back in Paris, France. Ferb came over and handed her a tissue to make her feel better. Ferb just stood there silently and listened while Isabella vented her heartbreak and frustrations. She said that she wished Phineas would stop worrying about traveling around the world for just one moment and instead sit and watch this beautiful sunset with her. Little did she know, Ferb was doing that instead, by standing there and gazing at the sun as it slowly sank deeper and deeper out of view.

ROLLERCOASTER: THE MUSICAL

Isabella clarified in the song, "Whatchya Doin'", that she wasn't really directing her "Whatchya Doin'"s at Ferb, strongly suggesting that she doesn't really care about Ferb, especially when compared to her one true love, Phineas Flynn.

Season 3

CANDEREMY

Isabella invited Phineas to watch the premiere of the new Stumbleberry Finkbat movie. Ferb chimed in, claiming that he'd like to go as well, not getting that Isabella was kind of just inviting Phineas. At the end of the episode, a stray blast from Doof's Combine-inator fused Phineas and Ferb together, meaning that he pretty much had to join Phineas on his trip to the movies with Isabella.

WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE

Isabella watched in suspense as Whalemingo Planet landed on the giant spring Phineas and Ferb constructed in their backyard, anticipating its impending recoil back into space. While she did, she grabbed what she believed to be Phineas' hand, only to find herself holding hands with Ferb instead. Ferb comforted Isabella, telling her not to worry and assured her that everything will be alright. Isabella moved her hand away, not to be rude or anything but just because she wasn't intending to have a romantic moment with Ferb.

Season 4

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ISABELLA!

Ferb noticed that Isabella just wanted to spend some time alone with Phineas for her birthday but got that Phineas wasn't picking up on any of her messages. Phineas offered to take Isabella out for ice cream (with Ferb), not really getting that Isabella wanted this to be a date. Ferb made up an excuse for why he can't go and showed himself out so that Isabella and Phineas could be alone. When Phineas wasn't looking, Isabella thanked Ferb for helping her out with a fist bump.

CHEERS FOR FEARS

Isabella went the entire day without talking so that she could earn her 24 hours of silence patch. After she completed her task and was allowed to talk again, she admitted that refraining from saying anything all day was actually quite enjoyable, as she entertained herself by having deep and profound conversations with other versions of herself in her head. She told Ferb that she can see why he loves being silent so much and Ferb simply told her, "Welcome to Ferb World".

IT'S NO PICNIC

Ferb got teleported out of the dentistry and into Isabella's picnic, where Phineas had since went absentee. She described Ferb as "Union Jack" and declared her plans to picnic with Phineas DOA. With dental equipment still hanging out of his mouth, Ferb sputtered out novocaine gibberish to her and Isabella just patted him on the shoulder, telling him not to sweat it, as he had already done everything he could have done. Phineas also told Isabella many times that Ferb has a way of using his silence in a really unique way, saying "It's not what he doesn't say. It's how he doesn't say it." Isabella was met with a mute Ferb near the end of the episode and agreed with Phineas' take on him.

OPERATION: CRUMB CAKE

Isabella was relieved that her love letter to Phineas never made it to its destination. Ferb teased her, by saying that "her little crumb cake" will never know either, proving that he knew about how she professed her feelings to Phineas in such a manner. Isabella got mad at Millie, knowing that it was her who spilled the beans to Ferb.

PHINEAS AND FERB: STAR WARS

In an alternate Star Wars dimension, Phineas took an interest in Isabella and asked Ferb what he thought of them as a couple. Ferb stoically but honestly told them that he'd be down with it.

NIGHT OF THE LIVING PHARMACISTS

Ferb sacrificed himself by throwing his body into a swarm of Doofenshmirtz zombies so that Phineas and Isabella could survive and make it to the top of the water tower. When Ferb went through a hideous transformation, Phineas tried to save him but Isabella pulled him back, not wanting him to become infected. This was also the first time in the series Ferb ever said Isabella's name.

ACT YOUR AGE

10 years into the future, Ferb was one of the many people who knew full well that Isabella was in love with Phineas all along and couldn't believe that Phineas didn't notice it sooner. He helped everyone else to set up a date for Phineas and Isabella in hopes of finally getting them together, although he noted that things like this can't be forced.

Fanon

Ferbella is shipped by a number of people, who see Ferb as a better boyfriend to Isabella than Phineas, primarily because unlike Phineas, Ferb actually recognizes Isabella's hints that she likes Phineas. This leads people to believe that realistically, if Phinabella were to be explored more in the series, Phineas would prove to be a neglectful and insensitive boyfriend to Isabella, not really noticing or recognizing her feelings. On the other hand, Ferb would be very supportive and helpful to her at all times. It's not too much of a stretch to consider Isabella dating Ferb, since he does basically everything that Phineas does, only quieter, so most anything she wants from a relationship with Phineas, she can probably get from Ferb.

Shippers point to their interaction in "Summer Belongs to You" as a huge Ferbella moment, as it featured Ferb lending emotional support to Isabella, when Phineas was to engulfed in his own inventions to do so, himself. Many people believe that this could also have been a major turning point for the lore of the series, where Ferb could have become Isabella's boyfriend, had the writers been ambitious enough to do so. It would have been a subversive twist on the Phinabella ship teasing that could have either greatly shifted the dynamic between the trio, setting up a love triangle, or just been a nice way of giving Isabella the romantic validation she had been seeking all summer, just from somebody else. This also would have connected with Ferb being ghosted on The Eiffel Tower by his love interest, Vanessa, earlier in the special, helping him get his much-needed validation as well, making it a win-win for both sides. It wouldn't have been too bold of a writing move to make them an official couple, considering Canderemy became canon in this special later on, which, just like before, shifted the series status quo, so they kind of wasted a perfectly good plot here. Ferbella shippers have fulfilled this empty void in the series canon with fanfictions, depicting what they would have done with a relationship between Ferb and Isabella.

Many fans liked to headcanon that Ferbella ultimately became canon, due to a joke from "Phineas and Ferb's Quantum Boogaloo", where it was confirmed that in the future, Isabella would be the aunt of Candace's children, Xavier and Fred. Although this, at first, seemed to prove that Isabella will, in fact, marry Phineas, roping her into the Flynn-Fletcher family, Future Candace, half-jokingly pointed out that she could also end up marrying Ferb. Ferb made some finger guns at her and winked, seductively, leaving Isabella standing there, very puzzled. It can be argued that Phineas and Isabella getting together as teenagers in "Act Your Age" squashed this theory. However, Phineas and Isabella only ended up dating in the future. It was never confirmed that they would end up marrying each other in the future, still leaving a glimmer of hope for Ferbella shippers.

Rival ships are, of course, the main ships for the respective characters, these being Phinabella and Ferbnessa.

Fandom

FAN FICTION

Ferb/Isabella tag on AO3

Gallery

Screenshots