#control brains

[raiverratz]

For The Love Of Irk.

I started this in NOVEMBER. The art alone took me 36 hours to complete

I also wanna make it clear that I do NOT support MSI!! I just really like the song

[visitor444333]

back on my bullshit

[l-ii-zz]

My blood, I'll go with you

:)

[invaderkiny]

The Irken Empire would be so cooked if they started going on about hate

[faithfulwhispers-art]

"Behold! The Irken Empire..."

[sakura-roses46]

Oh wow I actually finished an animation for once- continuation of The Room Where It Happens. :p

[edgy-ella]

I recently rewatched Invader Zim with @allshaftsfall, and something dawned on me that I should’ve realized years ago: Irkens have really weak backs/spines.

Or at least, it gets worse the taller they get, exponentially more so than with humans. The only tall Irkens we ever see in the series are the Tallest (obviously) and Sizz-Lorr, all of which are noticeably hunched over.

Sure, you could argue that Sizz-Lorr’s weird hunchback comes from his abnormally large PAK and the Tallest’s poor posture comes from the extreme corseting done to their midsections, but that in turn raises another question: why in god’s name would you ever fuck up your spine like that in a society where your status is determined by your height?

This stood out to me as weird for the Tallest in particular, because height is their status, so you’d think they’d be doing everything in their power to make themselves look as tall as possible rather than the opposite. It’s also something not unique to Red and Purple—concept art shows that Miyuki and Spork, the two previous Tallests before the current duo, had the same thing going on.

Hell, even Tak, who is barely taller than Zim, doesn’t always stand up straight.

This mostly applies when she’s in her human disguise, but still. Her height wouldn’t expose her as an alien—nobody cares about Zim’s more damning features, and Dib has classmates much taller than she would be standing up straight—so she doesn’t have anything to gain by slouching. To me, it seems like she feels like she has to consciously stand up straight when out of disguise, interacting with other Irkens (as someone with scoliosis, I can relate), but feels more relaxed as a human where height isn’t that big of a deal.

Before anyone calls bullshit on Tak ever slouching, look at her posture here compared to Gaz.

None of this is an art style thing, either. The humans in the series, both tall and short, stand significantly straighter. The only human I can think of off the top of my head that slouches is Ms. Bitters, and we don’t even know if she is human.

So, what does this all mean? Why’s this important? Well, to me, it begs the question: if the Irkens end up with significantly worse posture the taller they get, why does their society run on a height-based hierarchy? It’s already a silly concept, and the fact that Irkens already seem to have weak backs is just the cherry on top.

To me, this says that this is not naturally a part of Irken culture, and that the Control Brains put it in place whenever they assumed total control of the species, and it seems like it’s there in order to make the Irkens more reliant on the Control Brains. You can’t expect to have a stable leadership if your rulers are chosen arbitrarily, so the people supposedly in charge have to rely on the giant supercomputers to handle all the hard stuff for them. We already knew that the Control Brains were these shadowy figures controlling everything from the shadows, and this is just doubling down on that. And the implications there are wild: were the Control Brains originally made by other Irkens, only for their AI to gain sentience and weaken the Irkens biologically, socially, and culturally? Were the Control Brains made by a completely different race, only to appear like gods before primitive Irkens and force themselves upon them? If so, what happened to whatever race made the Control Brains? What’s the Control Brains’ overall purpose? How far does this “meat shield used to carry the PAK around” thing go?

Unfortunately we are never ever getting any answers to these questions because the franchise is in indefinite hibernation right now and they didn’t tackle the Control Brains in any meaningful capacity when they had the chance in either Enter the Florpus or the comics. But it’s fun to think about!

[noxeorn]

Revenge for @bluecolty

No text version is under the cut :>

[dudesome]

I HC that after the Florpus incident, the Control Brains gave a clear approval for an execution for Zim where the state or anyone else can kill him, no trial needed.

Like, after the shit he pulled, they were like "Nah, eliminate that fuck immediately."

[emeraldspiral]

Thinking about how Zim refers to the Tallest as "a royal audience" in Backseat Drivers and what it implies about their role in society.

Cause like, virtually all royalty throughout human history has used religion to justify their power. Every royal family has always proclaimed themselves literal gods, the human avatars of gods, the offspring of gods and mortals, anointed by god, or otherwise "chosen" by a higher power and that's why they're inherently better than everyone else. More fit to lead and decide what's moral and immoral. Entitled to their land and property and to everyone's respect and deference to their authority. Also why 99% of all fantasy and fairy tales that feature any kind of corrupt royalty always have the copout that the bad guy is an usurper and the rightful heir is always good.

So if the Control Brains are like Irken gods, it kinda makes sense that the general population would just go with the idea that being tall means you get to be in charge. Because the Control Brains have not only declared it, they have the ability to control for height among the population, so whoever becomes Tallest isn't random chance. What the people don't realize though is that the Control Brains are themselves not divine. They aren't all knowing and infallible and their absolute authority isn't deserved either. Like the boss who chooses supervisors based on who's the best ass-kisser rather than any actual merits, the Control Brains don't select or cultivate Tallests based on intellect or competence, because that's not what they want. What they want is complacent figureheads with no interest in challenging their authority.

[messinwitheddie]

I have no idea if this has been asked, but it’s been in my mind. In your au, how do the different control brains bodies mean compared to the show? Such as the green and grey one with red eyes in the show only being one, while the trial brains having three and looking different? Or is that three from the trial how they truly look like, and the other smaller ones are portable vessels. And if incorporated, how does the imaginary one from enter the florpus fit in as well?

Ooh! I touched on this subject slightly in a past post and I actually managed to find it!

Fun fact; when ETF aired on Netflix, I hadn't watched Invader Zim in a long time. For some reason, I remembered there being a "purple-eyed brain", like the green and gray on on the TTHNG episode, but when I rewatched the series, I saw no scenes with a purple eyed control brain and I realized "oh, yeah, my memory sucks"...

So I made the purple brain a whole thing in my IZ aus just to justify the false memory.

As far as the control brains that appear in Zim's ETF daydream; I chalk that up to the red brain being the one he's seen most often. Hadn't thought about it before.

[kitsupine]

☆Discussion With the Control Brains☆

[blueskittlesart]

dr dump. yes i drew all of these today

[zillychu]

everyone sh. shutd up im cooking smthn

[matt-is-me]

*unplugs your brain* you don't need this, honey, silly playthings like you only need to look pretty and obey whatever commands they're given <3

Aww, that's right! You look so adorable with your mind turned off, and the few thoughts you have left leaking out of your mouth! Now, lets see what a good toy like you can do to entertain me~

[jun1ebu6]

DELTARUNE CH 4 SPOILERS!

Kris has had enough of you.