Phineas and Ferb raise awareness of the term "Aglet" with the help of the Fireside Girls, culminating into a large benefit concert broadcast around the entire world. Meanwhile, Dr. Doofenshmirtz tries to get people to forget an embarrassing viral video; he combines his Read-My-Mind-inator with a device Perry received from Major Monogram, the Universal Delete Button, to create an even more powerful invention, the Delete-From-My-Mind-inator.
Tropes:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Even Perry can't help but crack a smile when he sees Doofenshmirtz's embarrassing viral video.
- Actually Quite Catchy: Candace gets more and more involved with the Aglet-Awareness song. Even though it doesn't matter what they're called.
- Art Evolution: The shot of Doof brooding over his computer screen is very nicely shaded, and is a sneak peek of the animation evolution of future episodes.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Subverted. Doofenshmirtz successfully activates the Delete-From-My-Mind-inator without Perry escaping from his trap and stopping him like he usually does, but Doof accidentally erases the word "aglet" from everyone's minds (except Candace's) instead of the viral video like he intended. Believing he's succeeded for once, he frees Perry, destroys the Inator, and runs outside to celebrate, only to immediately be laughed at again.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- Just saying the word aglet causes miracles to occur. When a blind man walks by and the word is said, he gains the ability to hear.
- Doof claims to Perry that he can't even walk outside without being laughed at because of his viral video. To demonstrate, he walks away and we hear people recognizing him as "that idiot from the video" and laughing. Doof comes back into the room going "And that's just my kitchen!"
- Buffy Speak: Candace tells the boys to just look things up on the Internet, reasoning "That why they make smart word box for tell monkey hard brain hurty things."Phineas: Removing prepositions makes it even more condescending.
- Later gets a Call-Back when Phineas mocks Candace by asking her if "Smart word box find name shoelace tip?", to which Ferb goes "Tsss!" and pinches Phineas's shoulder to indicate that he "burned" her.
- Also, at the end, when Doof goes out of his apartment and is still made fun of for his video, he goes back to Perry and, pointing to his heart, he says, "I have an ouchie. In here."
- Chekhov's Gun: Candace's inability to accept the nature of the aglet (to the point of even saying it) is what prevents her from being affected by the Delete-From-My-Mind-inator.
- Continuity Nod: One of the people that Candace sends Doof's video to is Chicago Joe.
- Dude, Not Funny!: Major Monogram fails to see the humor of someone roller skating and falling into the toilet.Major Monogram: Now, limericks. Limericks are funny.
- Formula-Breaking Episode: Phineas and the gang do not build something and Candace does not attempt to bust them, but she does still get annoyed. Also, Perry does not thwart Doofenshmirtz since he is embarrassed by his video.
- Hurricane of Puns: "A-G-L-E-T" is full of shoe puns:Through the eye of the needle,
It's time to loosen your tongue,
Got a tip how to make ends meet...
A-G-L-E-T, don't forget it!
Gets us all up on our feet, yeah, yeah, yeah!
[...]
Too much information, but keep your eye on the ball,
We're gonna drive it hard through the hole, yeah!
A-G-L-E-T, don't forget it!
Brings us closer to our soles, yeah! - The Immune: People who are unaware of whatever Doofenshmirtz is thinking of at the moment will be unaffected by the Delete-From-My-Mind-inator. Candace was the only one not affected when he thought of aglets, because she was hostile toward it in the first place.
- Instant Humiliation: Just Add YouTube!: Dr. Doofenshmirtz's latest invention is an attempt to make people forget an embarrassing video of himself back in high school that someone uploaded to the Internet.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: The universal delete button combined with Doofenshmirtz's thought projection helmet will remove anything he's thinking of from their minds (unless they are not thinking what's on his mind at the moment).
- Laser-Guided Karma: Candance goes against the aglet craze from the start. When everyone except her forgets about it because of Doofenshmirtz, she is thought by everyone to be the only one who cares about the subject due to her being unaffected by his projection helmet. Phineas outright tells her that she is the only one in town who is worried about shoelaces.
- Little Known Facts: Everything in the Crossword Puzzle.
- Musicalis Interruptus: When Candace is singing her solo at the aglet concert, she gets to the line "The end of a shoelace is called the..." to which she suddenly stops and stutters, noticing the ribbon on her finger and not even bothering to say the word, blurting out "Wait a minute, it doesn't matter!"
- No-Sell: The Delete-From-My-Mind-inator has no effect on anyone who is not aware of whatever Doof is thinking of.
- Only Sane Man: Candace is the only one who doesn't believe in the nature of the aglet, not even saying the word. It even protects her from being affected by Doofenshmirtz's inator.
- Preemptive "Shut Up":Candace: You can live a long, happy life without knowing the tip of the shoelace is called a...
Phineas: Agle —
Candace: It doesn't matter!! - Running Gag: "It doesn't matter!"
- Shout-Out: The book that Baljeet looks up the word for shoelace tips is called A Child's Garden of Useless Shoelace Tips, a parody of the book A Child's Garden of Verses.
- Spelling Song: "A-G-L-E-T, don't forget it!"
- Status Quo Is God: The episode ends with everyone forgetting aglets thanks to Doof's inator, except Candace who never bothered to learn the name.
- String-on-Finger Reminder: Phineas gets everyone to tie a shoelace around their finger so they'll never forget about aglets.
- Subverted Catchphrase: When doing the crossword, Lawrence says, "Oh, look at this one, honey, 27-across, five letters, 'Where's blank?'"
- Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion: Candace's solo in "A-G-L-E-T" (not included on the album) goes "And in the end the most important thing / Is that we never forget / The end of a shoelace is called the... / the..."Candace: Wait a minute! It doesn't matter! I can't believe I was almost sucked into this!
- Title Drop: The title of the episode is also the title of the crossword Lawrence is trying to solve, which he says out loud.
- Touché: Misused by Phineas when Candace agrees to participate in the aglet awareness concert when he tells her she'll be an insta-star.Candace: Alright, fine, but they still don't matter.
Phineas: Uh... touché? - Villainous BSoD: When Perry goes to confront Doofenshmirtz about the Viral Video, he finds Doof hiding in his lab, thoroughly humiliated by what accidentally got unleashed into the world:Doofenshmirtz: Did you ever have an old box of junk that's been sitting in your attic forever? And you think, "I bet I could just get rid of this whole box, and my life would go on, completely unaffected by the loss of whatever would be inside." Like, for instance, an old forgotten video tape from high school. ::sighs:: Look in the box, Perry the Platypus. Always look in the box.
- What the Heck Is an Aglet?: The main plot of the episode, with the boys trying to spread awareness of the word. This episode is pretty much how everyone in real life learned what the tip of a shoelace is called.
