#zim: ......maybe i AM a bug...........

[ask--invaderzim]

What do tallest red and purple think of bugs? Do you even know what bugs are??

-bug anon

[incorrect-zadr]

Zim, in Dib’s bed: Morning… how’d ya sleep last night?

Dib, knocking Zim off: WHAT THE HELL?!

Zim: Ow—

Dib: What were you doing in my bed? You were supposed to sleep on the air mattress on the floor!

Zim: I had a nightmare.

Dib: You had a nightmare? What are you, five years old?

Zim: Listen, I needed to feel comfortable and I was getting this perverse power dynamic vibe from me sleeping on the floor and you sleeping up there-

Dib, in a royal accent: Why yes, how high and mighty I am up on my twin XL!

Zim: That is not what I meant—

Dib: Silence in the presence of your king, who sleeps a lofty twelve and a half inches above the ground!

Zim: Listen, I’m not ashamed. I slept comfortably when I got up on your bed and I’m sure you did too.

Dib: Yeah, okay-

Zim: You know what? I wanna know. How’d you sleep last night?

Dib: …That was the best I’ve slept in a while.

Zim, gasping: The king slept comfortably with a peasant in his bed!

Dib: I did not consent to this-

Zim, dramatically: But my liege, our love is forbidden!

Dib, on the phone: Hi, is this the front desk? Yeah, there’s a bed bug in my room and he’s six-foot-one, he’s got red hair.

Zim: Ask them if they have one of those “Do Not Disturb” signs. I’ll put it on the door next time we… do it.

Dib: Okay, I'ma go shower and wash all of the you off of me.

Zim: Oh, maybe together we could—

Dib: NO.

Zim: Just to save water—

Dib: No! You don’t even pay for the water!

Zim: …Good point.

[twilightofthesandwiches]

Hello, Invader Zim Fandom! Say, have you ever found yourself thinking “hmmm.... I wonder how often Zim and Dib skip classes due to their constant misadventures and battles?” Well, whatever you did or not, I am going to do it now! Time for…

Checking Attendance for Invader Zim and Dib Membrane!

"The Nightmare Begins"

Our first major confrontation between the two leads (leaving aside some quarreling in the middle of class, but I am checking attendance - not behavior) happens explicitly right after Skool has finished. So, no class has been missed in the production of this episode. 

(I mean maybe I would ask about how long their Skoolday even is considering Miss Bitters introduces Zim, says ‘Doomed’ for a few minutes and then sends them home. But that’s, like, a common Bug with Schools in fiction. I’m going to assume that we’re not supposed to take the class/Skoolday as literally being that short.)

"Bestest Friend"

Zim takes a whole day off from Skool under the claim that he’s sick.

Zim: I'm sick. I'm not going to skool today.

Which, I mean, he said it to get Keef off his back, but then we do see he stayed in his lab all day to work on his Eyeball Machine. So yeah, here's our first missed attendance. Zim skipped a whole day of Skool right there.

"Nanozim"

Dib: Zim wasn't in class today, Gaz. Gaz: Maybe he's sick. Dib: Yeah, sick with fear!

Another whole missed day from Zim for the sake of his scheme!

"Parent Teacher Night"

Nothing! The entirety of this episode takes place either during Skool, explicitly after Skool or during a Skool-sectioned Afterskool event. 

"Walk of Doom"

Now this is where things really get interesting. Because Zim certainly spent like a whole day on his and GIR’s little City Adventure - but also, you might want consider the possibility that this episode took place over the weekend, or even just that it starts after skool. After all, Invader Zim’s Daytime Sky doesn't change that much between the morning and the afternoon.

However, even taking these factors into account, I still think that it’s more likely that this episode does takes place during Skool Hours and is yet another example of Zim missing a full day of Skool, and that is for one reason - the background extras. 

Through all of Zim’s Urban Misadventure, the City seems to be populated entirely by adults + one baby we saw on the Bus. No Skool-aged youngsters anywhere in sight.

And, maybe that’s a weird thing to get hung up on, but usually IZ Crowd Scenes do include a mixture of kids and adults… including some scenes in that very episode, but only after the transition into night. When Skool would obviously be already over.

Thus, I think it’s most logical to conclude that Zim, for some reason, decided to do this lil excursion in the middle of a Skoolday. Couldn’t wait for the weekend or even just the afternoon for some reason. He got a bee in his bonnet about the Guidance Chip and he had to do it at that very moment!! 

(But I am going to cut him a little slack with the ending. Cause, like, obviously he’s been driving for like a whole night and it’s going to take him some time to get back home… but for the sake of Being Nice I am going to assume this episode takes place on a Friday and he's got the whole weekend to find his way back home and so he only missed one day of Skool. After all, isn’t this what ‘Invader Zim’ is all about? Being nice?)

(This is a rhetorical question and the answer is no.)

"Germs"

As Zim himself states, he did miss a day of Skool due to his obsession with Germs.

Zim: The skool! The skool will know I've been missing! They must be really suspicious by now!

I wondered if that was actually more than one day, but we only see one transition to night near the end of the episode. 

Most likely this entire episode takes place over the course of a single day - Zim watched that movie very early in the morning before getting to Skool (he doesn’t sleep so he’s got a lot more free time in a day) and then got so Germ-Obsessed for that one day that he forgot about that.

And thanks (?) to the workaround at the end, we can be sure this time he only missed one single day of Skool.

"Dark Harvest"

So all of this episode takes place in the Skool, but mostly outside of the classroom. With Zim leaving early on after a lesson started, then Dib going after him a short while later and this whole …. Adventure lasted enough to get to Lunch Break and also probably the climax lasted a bit after it and into the next lesson period (considering how empty the Skool Hallways seem at that point.

However, this speculation is kinda moot since both Zim and Dib were both out there with Hall-Passes officially ‘just trying to get to the nurse’, so I am just not going to count it as skipping class at all. They had permission. 

"Attack of the Saucer Morons"

Okay, so… this episode starts at night, but by the time Zim gets to the Saucer Morons it’s already Daytime. But since Zim was very adamant about getting his Voot back ASAP, I am going to assume this is taking place Very Early in the Morning. It just takes a while for Zim to get back home from the crash site and then back again without the Cruiser, but it’s still probably like… before Skool starts. 5AM-6AM or something like that? You know, the excitement of an Alien Spaceship is going to encourage a lot of people to wake up early.

It’s not entirely clear how long the events of the episode lasted in-universe. There’s a few ‘skips’, like, how long did Zim’s initiation take? How long did it take GIR to get the Government Man robot ready? How long did it take the Saucer Morons to make that lil’ set-up for Zim?

But, Fastforwards to the climatic chase scene at the end of the episode, and we can see Zim has zoomed by a Skoolbus. Now, this might be a Bus taking kids back from Skool, or taking the kids to Skool. Either the implication here is that Zim has wasted a whole skoolday and it’s already the afternoon - or it’s still early in the morning and Skool is just about to start. And… since it’s just down to my gut feelings, I am going to say the second one. I think all of the little-time skips during the episode still don’t amount to more than like, an hour or two. So it being just before Skool starts seems reasonable to me. 

But, well, even for the sake of being nice to Zim…

I am going to assume that murdering all of these scientists (or however he got himself out of that jam) and getting back home to retrieve a new disguise will take like… A Considerable Amount of Time. And Skool was basically just about to start. So… I think that I’m going to mark it as Zim missing at least one class and getting to Skool late. 

"The Wettening"

This episode actually puts a lot of attention into making sure all of Zim and Dib’s confrontations take place after Skool hours and that all the time they spend at home planning is happening during the weekend. This episode is mostly useful for explicitly establishing that Skool is operating with a two-day Saturday-Sunday weekend. 

Now, I was wondering if I should count Zim as ‘skipping class’ for, y’know - not actually showing up to Skool on Monday and basically going straight home to drown to death in the toilet right after he won that water-balloon fight. But since the entire damn Skool was reduced to a ruin by Zim’s victory - I think it’s safe to say that Skool is canceled regardless. So that shouldn't count.

(Remember kids! If you wanna skip school, you should just blow it up with a giant Space Water Balloon first and then it’s okay!)

"Career Day"

The entire events of that episode were a Skool-sanctioned activity, so nothing really to report.

"Battle-Dib"

With the 8PM ticking clock, Doctor Membrane having a clearly very kid-oriented edutainment show that he’s apparently recording live, and all the other ordinary kids trying out for the audience… I think it’s pretty safe to say this whole episode takes place after skool.

"Planet Jackers"

Whole episode takes place at night, nothing for us to concern ourselves about.

"Rise of the Zitboy"

Okay, so this episode starts at daytime, with both Zim and Dib very clearly not at Skool - and usually that would be enough for me to assume this episode starts in the afternoon, but…

After Zim gains the Power of Pustulio, he seemingly immediately goes to Skool to test it out. There’s no reason to assume this is like, a whole night later. Zim’s only thought was about hypnotizing Dib and he knows where his house is. If it were the afternoon, wouldn't he just go to the Membrane household rather than wait for the next Skool Day? So this episode actually starts very early in the morning. 

And, like, either way it seems like this is happening very early in the morning and has no real effect on their Skool attendence and I shouldn’t dwell on it too much for this post but… I guess it still kinda surprises me that Dib got up bright and early just to do this shit like an hour before skool starts.

Most of the episode seems to take place before the first period of the day even starts, so the only actually relevant part to our discussion is the very last line from Zim.

Zim: Bye Dib, and thanks for the information! I've got a few more lawn gnomes to plant!

So Zim is going to skip away before Skool starts to take care of the security problems in his Gnome Field right away. So… he’s probably going to miss at least one class, if he’s even coming back. 

"Invasion of the Idiot Dog Brain"

Episode takes place entirely at night, not relevant to our discussion. I am not going to consider the ‘One Year Later’ gag as canon, because, like…. come on. 

"Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy"

As the episode starts with a broadcast of Professor Membrane’s show (which as we have already established, is very kids-oriented, highly-rated and seems to be airing live), it’s a pretty safe bet that the whole events of this episode is taking place in the afternoon, so no Skool-Problems here!

"A Room With a Moose"

So, I am not going to knock Dib any points for leaving mid-class on something that wasn’t really a Skool trip. I mean… everyone thought it was a Skool trip, including the other students and their teacher. I assume either Zim took care of the paperwork while he was sneaking around setting up his plan or there was never any paperwork in the first place because it’s the IZ Earth and No One Cares.

Now about Zim… he has technically not skipped class in the sense that he was doing all of this under the guise of being in the toilet, but… Like, in his second round in the Restroom, he actually just never came back until… well, probably the next Skool day, considering it was nighttime at the end of the episode. Even with how apathetic Miss Bitters is… I assume she can conceive of the idea of a student trying to get out of Skool under the excuse of being in the bathroom, even if she doesn’t know/care about the Alien Teleporter Device.

So I am counting this as just a half day of skipping school for Zim. 

"Hamstergeddon"

Okay, so this was actually the episode that inspired me to make this post, and the reason why I conceived of it as a “Zim and Dib Skipping School” list even though, as you have seen so far… Dib has a pretty spotless attendance record so far. I just saw both Zim and Dib piss off from Skool mid-lesson to follow the Hamster Kaiju and started to wonder ‘hmmm… how often does this happen?”

And since we never see Ultra Peepi, like, outright entirely destroy the Skool - I don’t think the day would be canceled like it probably was in “The Wettning” (if it was, I’d assume we’d see more students running out and not just Zim and Dib). And I assume Dib would notice the Growing Peepi Problem near the start of the day, so they both missed about a full day of Skool just then.

"Plague of Babies"

Takes place entirely during one night, not relevant here. 

"Bloaty's Pizza Hog"

Explicitly takes place during the late afternoon/evening. 

"Door to Door"

Another Skool-Sanctioned activity similar to ‘Career Day’

"FBI Warning of Doom"

Takes place during the evening/night. 

"Bolognius Maximus"

After Zim reveals there is no cure to the Bolognafication, Dib runs out of the classroom screaming. This transition into a whole Zim Fantasy Sequence where he’s Gigantic and stuff. But it does seem like the whole ‘Dib being run out of Skool midway through the Skoolday’ did happen. Since they only re-meet after Zim is going back home from Skool. 

So that’s the first time Dib loses attendance (basically an entire day, since he didn’t even last one whole lesson) but not Zim. (But Dib still has a lot of ‘catching up’ to do).

(This episode also establishes that Dib is often late to Skool due to his various paranormal misadventures. Reliably enough for Zim to incorporate it into his Vengeance. However, that’s not entirely relevant since I’m only counting attendance in this post and not tardiness. But I thought I might as well acknowledge it.)

"Game Slave 2"

Episode takes place entirely at night, not relevant.

"Battle of the Planets"

Same as above.

"Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom"

So I am not going to count Dib being forcibly institutionalized by Skool administration as ‘skipping classes’, obviously. 

However, while Dib was being dragged off to the Crazy House, Zim used the chaos to ‘escape’ this Skool full of ‘Zombies’ and ready his base for tonight. Next time we see Zim, it’s nighttime and he is still readying his base. And even with Dib being late, it still seems like the episode started early in the first period. So Zim is skipping another full day of Skool basically. 

"Mysterious Mysteries"

From the events of the episode, it seems like ‘Mysterious Mysteries’ airs live (or at least semi-live, in regards to the interviewed segments). We already know that it airs in the evenings because that’s always when we see Dib watch it. Even if it didn’t actually air live, they would probably schedule their interviews to afterskool hours when they have three elementary-skoolers to interview. 

"Future Dib"

Episode starts at a Skool-Assembly, and then move to later that day in the afternoon/early evening (Membrane says ‘tonight’, but the sky is always daylight-yellow, so it seems to be later that day after Skoolhour, it’s just that the sun hasn’t quite set yet.) Either way, neither Zim nor Dib actually seem to skip class on that one. 

"Hobo 13"

With this being an entirely Space-Based Episode, we have basically No Data on what Earth Time this episode takes place. Zim does generally seem to call the Tallests just after Skool or during the night, so I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt on that one and not count it.

"Walk For Your Lives"

While I have no doubt in my mind that Zim would skip Skool for the sake of Probing Day and maaaybe Dib would too for the sake of catching Zim by surprise, well…

So remember way way back during ‘Walk of Doom’ when I talked about background extras? Well, I’m doing this again but in the other direction this time!

Because all the city scenes in this episode do actually feature both child and adult extras (including literally some of Zim and Dib’s classmates).

So I think it’s most likely to assume this episode takes place just after Skool hours. Or perhaps the weekend. 

"Megadoomer"

Starts right after Zim gets home from Skool, and lasts through the night. Not relevant.

"Lice"

Takes place entirely at Skool and also classes are canceled due to Lice Quarantine. I don’t really count any of the Nonsense in this episode as ‘skipping class’, it’s fine.

"Abducted"

We don’t have any details about when the episode takes place outside of ‘the daytime’, but again, Zim generally ‘updates’ the Tallest after Skool so I am going to assume this applies here. Plus, we also see Dib and Gaz at home by the end and they generally don’t skip Skool - so yeah, more evidence for this being the afternoon. 

"The Sad, Sad Tale of Chickenfoot"

Episode explicitly takes place at evening/night, not relevant.

"Gir Goes Crazy and Stuff"

Episode starts at night, and ends at sunrise.

Not relevant.

(Also hey! Does this imply that we can tell that the City is on the East Coast at least?)

"Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom"

Starts at Skool and then seems to take place entirely at night - since the Wonderful Life of Doom starts with Dib sleeping in bed, I assume Dib kidnapped him and put him in the simulation while he was actually asleep.

"Tak: The Hideous New Girl"

Okay, so we had two fairly-regular Skooldays since Tak arrived on Earth.

Then, after Zim comes back from Skool the second day and Tak reveals herself, we cut to Zim’s battle against the Ham Demon. Which is also happening in the daytime. Although Zim later mentions he’s been trailing Tak for ‘48 hours’ - meaning exactly two whole days. 

And then as Zim realizes he needs Dib’s help, we cut to the Membrane house at nighttime. 

So… was that battle taking place in the afternoon/early evening  and it’s just that by the time Zim got to the Membranes the sun had already set? That seems to be the case from the establishing shot. But then Dib yawns and rubs his eyes as if he just woke up and Professor Membrane says ‘good morning’. 

I mean… with how often Dib seems to stay up late and wake up extremely early, maybe he takes a lot of afternoon-evening naps?

Or perhaps this suggests this establishing shot might’ve been just an art error? The little we see of the indoor backdrops are also kinda inconsistent about the Color of the Sky.

First seeming to indicate daytime.

And then… nighttime? Nighttime with sunset? Nighttime with sunrise?

Then nighttime again?

And then, the whole Giant Evil Weenie Stand sequence is at daytime again.

And it only becomes night again by the climax.

And with Zim’s ‘48 hours’ comment placing the Ham Demon fight at the early afternoon (it should be 48 hours after the Tak confrontation, which happened just after Zim got home from Skool) our scenarios are either: 

Zim battles the Ham Demon, then almost immediately Zim confronts Dib after his afternoon nap (and the Color of the Sky around the Membrane household is just Consistently an Art Error. It should be daytime). And the rest of the events of the episode take place on that same day’s late afternoon/evening. 

Zim battles the Ham Demon, then a few hours later Zim confronts Dib after his early evening nap (the Color of the Sky around the Membrane household is not an art error...for the most part. The sun has set already). Then the rest of the events of the episode take place over the next day.

Zim battles the Ham Demon, then the next morning Zim confronts Dib when he wakes up (the Color of the Sky might be a major art error, or it might be a failed attempt at conveying sunrise, or both). Then the rest of the events of the episode take place during that day.

And when considering which one seems to me the most likely, I took three different factors into consideration.

I wanna minimize just dismissing things as art/continuity errors. I want to be as canon-compliant as I possibly can.

The plot needs to maintain its sense of urgency. Having too many Big Timeskips where the characters just kinda don’t do anything significantly hurts the narrative. ‘

The possibility of skipped skool days which is… hey! Is actually what this post is supposed to be about!

Okay, so to elaborate on Point C: Scenario 1 has Zim spend like two full Skooldays’ worth of time on tracking Tak down and then he and Dib and Gaz stop her together during afterskool hours. Scenario 2 + 3 has Zim spend two skooldays, and then the three of them spend the day after that stopping Tak. And.. it’s not just a matter of considering Zim skipping two days versus three days and Dib and Gaz skipping one day versus zero days. Because also the weekend exists.

I actually think it’s incredibly likely that the Tak Reveal is supposed to take place on a Friday, and Zim tracked Tak over the weekend (so the ending of the Ham Demon sequence is on Sunday afternoon).

Especially as Dib apparently didn’t notice Zim either stalking Tak during Skool or just vanishing from Skool altogether due to the Ham Demon Situation. Like, considering how paranoid he is about Zim normally, you’d think he’d take notice and try and figure out if he is up to anything. Especially if it involved the girl he saw as an ally and friend. But it seemed like he was not bothered by anything or noticed anything Zim was doing in the meantime. Which I think only makes sense if Zim was ‘investigating’ Tak during the weekend. 

So in Scenario 1 that would mean the climax of the episode took place during Sunday afternoon/evening. And Scenario 2 + 3 would mean that those events take place during Monday, and thus all of our main trio is either skipping skool or waiting until skool is done to go on their Earth-Saving-Missions.

And the latter is both unlikely because it wrecks the sense of Urgency in the plot and because… like… did Zim and Dib just go to Skool and Angrily Glared at each other until it was done? It really just kinda ruins the dramatic pacing if Zim and Dib meet between the scene at the Membrane Household and the Weenie Stand. So going to Skool on Monday and then doing the Evil Weenie Investigation afterwards seems unlikely to me.

And as for the former scenario… like, as you’ve noticed. Dib very very rarely skips Skool of his own volition. And Gaz never does. Honestly I don’t think it’s in-character for her. Not cause she’s a goody-two-shoes who would never skip class or anything like that. Just because she never takes all of this Alien Stuff seriously enough to consider it a worthwhile reason to skipping classes. And no, neither is getting her brother beat up by security - even if she does enjoy the latter a lot more. 

I guess maybe just Zim could’ve been skipping Skool that Monday morning to do some more failed ‘investigative work’ before he actually realized the Evil Weenie Stand was important. While Dib and Gaz just attended classes like Normal and investigated the Weenies afterwards.

But then, like, did Tak go to Skool? She cares so much about showing off her ability to Actually Competently Infiltrate Humanity, and it seems most of the Evil Weenie Stand Construction is happening automatically… so I kinda assume she would go to Skool on that Monday? So with both Dib and Tak at class that day and Zim not being… that would be another Hypothetical Dramatic Scenario that is just Inexplicably Off Screen in the narrative.

You know like…. Maybe not Dib confronting Tak about Zim’s accusations if he truly doesn’t believe them at that point, but trying to warn her that Zim is deluded about her and out to get her? I just don’t believe any Skoolday after Zim and Dib's confrontation at Dib’s house could be uneventful enough so that we could just skip over it completely like that. 

So, I really really tried to get a scenario where I don’t resort to the Art Error Clause but… I think the only timeline that makes real sense in terms of narrative and characterization is Scenario 1. So most of the events of the climax of “Tak: the Hideous New Girl” probably take place over Sunday afternoon and thus neither Zim nor Dib actually skipped classes. Zim just had a very very busy weekend. 

"Backseat Drivers From Beyond the Stars"

Takes place entirely during the night/evening, irrelevant.

"Mortos Der Soul Stealer"

Same as above.

"Zim Eats Waffles"

Okay, so, there’s nothing in the text of the episode that explicitly says it but… since this episode centers around Zim eating waffles and reading the newspaper

I always kinda assumed it was taking place in the morning. And probably, like Saturday/Sunday morning.

This would also explain why Dib immediately goes to sleep at the end of the episode even though it’s the same ‘daytime’ sky-color outside.

 He woke up early for this - but now that his plan has failed so thoroughly, well… It's still the weekend and now he’s going to sleep in for a while. He probably needs it.

"The Girl Who Cried Gnome"

Well, presumably Moofy and the other Girly Rangers don’t go selling cookies during normal Skool hours. So this episode either takes place after skool hours or also over the weekend. The amount of kid extras in the scene also supports that idea. 

Of course, with the episode ending with Dib being tormented until nightfall, there’s a reasonable chance he won’t make it to Skool on the next day… but I’m going to be nice and assume he managed to get himself free, like, at 3AM or something. So he’s fine, just incredibly sleep-deprived and traumatized. So par for the course, really.

"Dibship Rising"

So, Dibship tries to go to school as Dib, and it seems like it could’ve worked

Poonchy: Hey! Dib's bein' all weird and giant again!

But, well for starters, Dibship only managed to get to Skool by the time for lunch break. I guess he’s really just figuring out how to walk and he’s pretty slow and heavy… So yeah, it might take him a While to get to Skool.  Then once he is at Skool, Zim almost immediately takes him over and starts up his Evil Scheme. 

It’s unclear how long it takes until Dib actually wakes up (hey, remember what I said about him being probably very sleep deprived?), but since Dib’s concern is about being late, I assume the skoolday is not yet over. And when he meets up with Dibship again…

Yeah, it actually took me a bit to notice it, but the scene is directed as to always obscure the top of the ship’s cockpit. AKA where Zim is. I thought at first that maybe he sent the ship out on its own and jumped onto it when it was passing through the Skool. But with that little trick of angles and the stick in Zim’s wig and GIR scattering acorns everywhere… yeah he was clearly on it the whole time.

So Dib missed about a whole day of Skool, spending the reminder of that day trapped just over the cesspool listening to the dying Dibship talk about how much of a loser they are. 

Zim got about… half a skoolday done before skipping out for, as Dib pointed out, no real reason other then endangering himself. And I’m pretty sure he, like, died at the end of the episode. So he’s probably not making it back to Skool either. 

"Vindicated!"

The events of this episode start during Skool and then explicitly continue after Skool, not relevant. 

"The Voting of the Doomed"

Takes place entirely at Skool doing Skool stuff, not relevant.

"Gaz, Taster of Pork"

Well, I am not actively counting Gaz’s absences for this post, so I don’t need to worry about, like, the multiple weeks that her dad kept her isolated in his lab (and even so, I don’t think being forcibly being pulled out of the education system by your parents count as ‘skipping skool’?) As for Dib, most of his ‘research’ we’ve seen happen either in Skool

Or at nighttime and thus explicitly after Skool.

The daring breakout from Membrane Lab does happen in the daytime - the day after Dib’s Hobo Encounter at MacMeaties. The question is just if Dib decided to wait until after Skool to get the information out to Gaz or if he broke her out ASAP skool be damned. (And it can’t be the weekend this time, “this Friday” is our explicit Ticking Clock). But since the sun had already set by the time they finished with their chase scene… Honestly, yeah my guess is he decided to procrastinate by waiting after Skool to break her out lol.

So Dib has had another Very Long Night, but he probably didn't skip skool (and since the episode ends on Friday, he technically has two whole days to finish Cleaning the Pig Toilets and still make it back in time for Monday! Fun!)

"The Frycook What Came From All That Space"

So Zim gets kidnapped from Skool at the very start of the episode and , according to Sizz-Lorr, a week before the Foodening starts

Sizz-Lorr: YES!! And that's not all, Zim! In one week, the Foodening begins once more, and you'll be trapped here for 20 years, just like I was!

And Zim manages to get off the planet at the very last second before the Foodening trapped him there.

And we know there’s no ‘time warp’ in place cause Dib did notice Zim was gone for three days about halfway through the episode.

Dib: Um, I noticed Zim's been gone for three days. Do you know where he is?

So, yeah, Zim was absent from Skool for a week.

(I am… going to assume Dib did not spend like 72-96 hours non-stop annoying the Tallest. But rather he went back and to Zim’s house whenever he had the chance so I am not counting absences for him.) 

"The Most Horrible X-mas Ever"

Takes place over Winter Break and thus is irrelevant.

In total, Zim has confirmed 12 missed full days of Skool + about two times where probably just skipped the first period. Dib has three missed days of Skool. So, like Zim might need to repeat the sixth grade if time ever Actually Moved Forwards in the IZ universe - but Dib is pretty in the clear I think.

Really, what I find really interesting, more than just the obvious difference between Zim and Dib’s tendency to skip skool is the difference between the earlier and later episodes. Like, not counting the five days Zim picked up at the second-to-last episode (which were very much outside of his control)…  Zim picked up 4/7 missed days in just the first eight episodes! And after that they are far less frequent. Perhaps the writers deliberately tried to take care to not overuse the whole skipping skool thing too much? Or maybe from an in-universe perspective it just took Zim a few weeks to really wrap his head around how the skool schedule thing even works? 

[bugglia]

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YOU.

ASK ME TO DRAW STUFF! NOW!! (Free of charge).

more info under cut (it's closed rn sorry, but im getting on that drawing grind )

What's going on?:

Basically. I'm saying that I'm bored and im begging for requests right now of stuff to draw! I'm not the best at drawing, so this will help me improve in my art by drawing random stuff!

I'm doing this for fun. There's no charge. Just request a scenario of characters i should draw from the listed media or MAYBE send a photo of your OC along with the media you want it to go with! Just use the inbox that says "DRAW BUGGLIA DRAW! (OPEN)" on my profile!

MEDIA:

Gravity Falls

Electric Dreams (1984)

I have no mouth and I must scream

Regretevator

My Little pony

Object Shows (I've watched very little, so I can't guarantee they will all be in character).

Ride The Cyclone

Wander Over Yonder

Invader Zim

Portal

FNAF (any game)

Word Girl

Pressure (ROBLOX)

Detroit Become Human

Adventure time

Reanimator (ANY MOVIE)

No Straight Roads

Robots.

Bugs / Insects / Arthropods

Or your OC!! :)

RULES:

Keep Violence/Grotesque themes to a minimum. (Ex: blood, scars, wounds, and EXTREMELY LITTLE exposure of organs are okay with me! Nothing beyond that.)

Don't request NSFW or "Adult Themes" (I should've stated that in rule 1, but I'm separating it because I am fine with drawing people kissing, hugging, and sharing romantic love. As long as it doesn't turn s3xual. I am a minor. I'm not comfortable with that).

Put down a reference sheet if you are to request your OC. Add comments of specific things you want to keep to your OC or things you want me to add. If those aren't provided, I'll probably just draw your OC the way you have shown me in the picture.

I can not guarantee that I can reach every request, but I will try my hardest. Please don't rush me. Have mercy. 😭

Do not request anything offensive. (Racially motivated art, Antisemitism, Transphobia or Homophobia, etc).

If you want to request another Fandom, you can try! I can't guarantee if it will be good, considering that I most likely would not know the media requested if it's outside what I listed. I want to settle for ONE character in media that I didn't list here. I don't mind drawing more than one character if you request the media I listed.

HAVE FUN HAVE FUN HAVE FUN GRHRGRGRG AHAHAH 😜😜😜👿👿

Thank you for reading!

pls pls follow me on tiktok or insta: @bugglia or both :3 /nf

[ejgravee]

Intro .' ~ !*☆

Hello, I am E.J., A very kind and accepting person with ADHD and Autism!! She / Her ♀️🚺 (My sexuality is confusing so if you want me to explain it do it in private with me)

(💌) Top Fandoms!: Tankman, Endzone / Law of Talos, Madness Combat, Friday Night Funkin, Pico's school, Bendy And The Ink Machine, My Little Pony, Escape from Nevara

(🎶) Music: I really love Hiphop / Rap / HipHouse Some artists I love are: Heiruspecs, Atmsophere, Brother Ali, Method Man, Vinnie Paz, 2pac, The Pharcyde, Snoop Dogg, Insane Clown Posse, Earl Sweatshirt, Cypress Hill, MF DOOM, Jurrasic 5, Manny phesto!! <3, And ALOT more

(💚) Random facts!: I skateboard, I collect CDs and Records, I saw Brother Ali and Ant from Atmosphere before, I cosplay, I make kandi, my style is streetwear / stereotypical skater look, I used to be emo / a scene kid, I SIMPPP over Pico from FNF, I draw, I love all of my friends, I am really kind, I really like the color green, I LOVEEE Minneapolis, I LOVE SNAKESS!!

(💖) Please Interact!: Kind people, Newgrounds fans, Pico's school fans, FNF fans, Tankman fans, Endzone fans, 80s - 90s - 2000s Hiphop fans, Cosplayers, Real Invader Zim fans, Skaters, Vynil Collectors, CD Collectors, Artists

(❌) Don't Interact: People who make KYS jokes it makes me super uncomfortable and they are super unfunny..., Newgrounds haters, Abelits, Homophobic, Pedophiles, 18+ people, Rude people, People with MAJOR anger issues I know that some people can't help it but I am sorry I just can't stand it., Emo / Scene kid posers, Bullys, Cosplay haters, Obsessed Dandy world fans Like you can like the game and play it but if you make it your whole entire personality and talk about it to me that's where I get an icky feeling, Zoophiles, proshippers

(👍) Random ahh: Feel free to yap to me about your hyperfixations! It makes me happy to hear you are happy, Don't be afraid about being cringe or weird in front of me I just don't rlly care if you are!, I have a really broken sense of humor sadly I would even say cringe humor 🥲, Show me your art! I love seeing art, If you cosplay show me your cosplays! It gives me inspiration and confidence, I am not a furry but I support them! So with therians

(😨) Phobias: (entomophobia - fear of bugs) (pyrophobia - fear of fire, ahah pyro tf2, I am just scared of my house burning down it scares me,) (thallasophobia - fear of deep water / oceans / seas, the thought of whatever is down deep in the ocean scares and facinates me.), (submechanophobia - fear of manmade objects underwater, it scares me so bad!!! the thought of like maybe a statue underwater or a underwater anamotronic it urks me idk why), I have a lot more but I don't feel like finishing this list.

[nichiperi]

Important Update

(It's a bit long so it's below the cut!)

Ok I've been kinda hesitant for a while cause I've been worried about potentially making people uncomfortable with this, but I feel like my art (Not necessarily my IZ stuff, but just my style in general.) is going in a direction that involves more blood, gore, probably body horror, and general viscera and I might start posting some of that here.

While I promise to do my best to use the appropriate tags, PLEASE let me know moving forward if there is a tw tag I should be using that I am not. Chances are, I just don't know about it. It is absolutely not my intention to upset anyone.

For people who've been following me since before my IZ renaissance, this is probably not news to you at all since I already posted a lot of vent art featuring blood and injuries. This warning is more for the people who have followed me since, who are maybe less aware of those pieces and the general tone of my more personal art.

I've been hesitant to even make pieces like that in recent months because I've been too in my head about it, and too worried about what other people think of it, and what people would think of me as a result of my making that kind of art. I've even hesitated to reblog art that I really love because it includes these themes.

I'm honestly really tired of feeling like I have to sanitize my blog and my work. And it's not on anyone but myself to fix that. I gotta just start doing what I want to do. I'm scared of people being uncomfortable with me as a person because of my work. But I have to learn to be ok with the idea that not everyone will like me or my art.

Of course, that doesn't mean this blog's IZ renaissance is over by any means! Right now all of my seratonin is coming from the space bug show, and I have a lot of stuff I'm working on that doesn't deviate that much from what I've already been doing. You DEFINITELY won't see less Zim. Just MORE of my other stuff.

I only say all of this because I want to move towards being more genuine. I don't think I'll ever be comfortable fully being a human person on the internet, but that is all the more reason for me not to hold back when it comes to my artistic expression. Otherwise, what would be the point of having this space where I can be whatever I wish? I already have to be (somewhat) normal and restrained out there in the real world.

From now on, this place is going to be what it was always meant to be: a place where I can just vibe, create, and exist.

TL;DR - I'm going to be posting and rb'ing more visceral art. I will do my best to tag appropriately, but PLEASE tell me if there's a tw tag I might not have been aware of that I should be using. The IZ renaissance will continue, but there will simply be more art posted in general.

[abrthephantomq]

You tell me I'm a good boy or a good pet and I'll melt in your hands. - Jazz, probably, when he figures out that he's a simp for Zim even if he doesn't realize WHY he's obsessed with him.

Zim this, Zim that - he's all you talk about, Dib. Maybe you don't actually hate him. Maybe you actually like, wanna suck his dick or something --

GAZLENE --

what? Am I wrong?

Nnn-- I mean -- yes. Yes you're wrong Gaz.

Hey, have you noticed there's lots more planes flying overhead around here, lately?

Yeah, that'd make sense and all, considering what happened last week.

What happened last week?

...........Dib. You know what happened last week.

I don't, actually -- oh no...

What is it? Why're you acting so weird? Like, weirder than usual?

Fuck I overshot.

What do you mean, you overshot?

Gaz, what year is it?

It's 2001. Why?

Month?

September --

Of course! That's what happened, last week. Thanks. I forgot for a second. That's all.

How could you forget about it? All you've been talking about is how Zim was the one who did all of it --

BECAUSE HE DID, GAZ.

What?

That was ZIM - he didn't manage to sell any candy bars so he lost our bet. He was so confused why humans weren't falling to their knees, terrified. In those EXACT words. I have a recording of him saying just that.

What the hell, Dib --

:voice recording plays - Zim sounds absolutely devastated: "they didn't even blink an eye when I put that city in ruins. How can these humans be so.... Eh? I forgot the word, what was I saying?

Oh. Yeah. These hyumens aren't scared of my super scary simulation of me destroying one of their precious cities! They just shrugged and said whatever. I don't want your fucking candy."

Do you humans not get enough moneys to buy these things? These are....really good chocolate. Like, I expected them to be sand based on the name of them, but -- they're actually good? Is this a PRIVATE school?

[Dib's voice can be heard in the background; he apparently planted a bug that looked exactly like The Bug --, right where Zim tended to look at himself in the mirror. Because Zim likes to talk to himself out loud - but he's gotta see his reflection to do it. But Zim's eyes are fucking terrible and he can't see shit, even with his occular implants. Even though he is an Irken Elite. You're not gonna get anymore information from me than that. Either way, you hear enough to know that it's Dib speaking, even if you can't make out what he's saying. But Zim can hear him even if Dib is WAYYYYYY. Over there bc of his antenna. Like. You can hear a Dib when he is in his home. That is how much better Zim can hear than Dib]

Did you really just hijack me, space boy? I'm trying to tell my part of the story here as the fly on the wall of every single moment the two of you think you're alone.

Bobby Dawn what are you doing. (Barbie Dan?)(nah, Bobby Dawn. But if you wanna say it where people hear the name both ways, go for it)

Anyways, Steven asked for my assistance with the next chapter of class clown. This ain't the next, next chapter, but it is a chapter that'll show up later down the road. He's gotta finish a Mr. sludgey POV, first.

This just the super unedited version done while I'm high bc I love creating bonds and strengthening them via writing them. That includes my TikToks and my journal entries I ain't shared with y'all and all the writing we ain't shared with y'all, neither.

Gonna go get myself some lunch now, tho. Been at this long enough. ❤️ Have a good day now, y'hear?

All fanfiction authors have praise kinks in the form of comments and likes

[grazer-razor]

i still find it appalling...

even though vanquish is rated M and likely has "intense violence" and "blood and gore" descriptors(despite the gameplay admittedly being a lot like a PG-13 action movie), people are just gonna play the game, thinking "oh, this game has robots in it! it's likely gonna be like halo or TF2(other M-rated shooters that those gamers may be used to)!"

and then they see citizens from san francisco exploding in disturbing fashions in THE VERY FIRST CUTSCENE. even people above 17 should get PTSD from that.

and those who actually keep playing the game realize that the rest of the game isn't as bad as how it started out.

at least until they get to the ending, see the president appear on screen, and go "huh? why is president winters talking about the end of her presidency?". and then she blows her brains out in a manner that is horror movie coded.

and that scene wasn't even in the original script...

methinks i should call platinum games out for making this game that basically seduces the innocent with stylish action and cool tech and then impales said innocents' faces with 2 extremely graphic cutscenes. especially with game makers toolkit promoting vanquish and it's cool gameplay without disclosing how bad the game can be.

because i don't think there is any other work of media that makes me feel like i'm missing out on the salty spitoon, along with homestuck, SCP, gravity falls(and maybe also FNF).

because although i know about games like transformers: devastation, which retain a lot of vanquish's weapons(literally all of the weapons from vanquish are in there aside from the disc launcher and one of the machine guns) and mechanics(firing while sliding, ETC.), they also leave out things like firing at grenades to detonate them early, kicking off of walls to get to higher elevations, ETC. so it feels like i truly AM missing out on an incredible experience. no thanks to marc brown for covering poison in coats of cinnamon sugar.

on a side note, we all know how bad homestuck is, but i'm not sure invader zim can replace it adequately. it has quirky food-based humor like the early acts, quirky technology, and lots of shared tropes, but i am still not sure if this is a road worth taking. what with kids' eyes being ripped out, bugs exploding in clocks, freakish alien surgeries, and whatnot(note that i'm not complaining about the episode "dark harvest", where zim tries to absorb the organs of other kids, because that was basically just zim trying to remain undiscovered in an admittedly VERY WEIRD AND PERPLEXING MANNER. but yeah, edgy episode name). and, you have the fact that IZ only has one season...

as for plot stuffs, kingdom hearts and adventure time are potential candidates, but i am staying away from AT for obvious reasons(explanation: plugged in hates the show because it pretends to be a kids' show while having an adult-ish plot. and i agree).

more to be explained in a future post.

[celestialaviva]

Welcome to my art blog!

Here's some simple info

@smallbluelight is my personal blog.

All you really need to know about me.

Asks are open, if you wanna ask stuff ab whatever

Main tags! (Of interest):

#thalelicountry - for main original story, Lleuve worldbuilding ideas, and ocs. Here's a List (wip).

#alan becker & #animator vs animation/minecraft - all things ava related

#animator vs animation au, namely:

#Bug!Purple AU - a shared au with ava enthus frens :D

#Creator's Assistant AU - a fantasy AU

#ava kids au - wholesome kids being wholesome kids nobody died or left ever

#Blankslates - two characters get lost in a strange place. (Improvised story, so Im lost too.)

#Goopies - non-plot characters, like the goopies Blob and Daub, Sa, as well as myself and more. Maybe it'll develop a plot, who knows

#fairysprites - non-traditional fairy sprites of a different realm

Fandom tags so far (that I did very few art for): #rock hard gladiator, #cookie run kingdom, #sky children of the light, #invader zim, #steven universe, #deltarune

Other sub tags you don't exactly have to know or look at:

#wips

#art dump

#refsheets - character ref sheets; concepts, old and new

#conceptstuff - ideas or outdated info

#storything - comics or scenes that are related to a story

#storycomics - above but long comics

#shortcomics

#incorrect quotes - I draw a lot of incorrect quotes for practice stuff

#hibiscusprompts - random prompt drawings bc I hoarded a lot of prompt lists; may not be strictly done everyday

#gifts | fanarts UvU

#fren requests 💕

#mystuff - self-indulgent drawings and doodles, maybe also text posts. Mostly doodles of myself suffering from irl decisions

The rest of the tags are mainly just for myself. Im kinda treating it like deviantart folders, forgive me a bit ^^;

More tags tba when stuff gets there.

Im also CelestialAviva on both 🟡DeviantArt and 🟠Bluesky! However, Im not as active as I am on tumblr. Well, Im not super active on here either lol. I'd still dump art whenever I feel like it though. Im kinda treating the da acc as an archive, and plus bsky is really new.

[spceboyz]

☆ — the scythe-haired boy reeled back at the force of the slap, his round glasses going flying across the hardwood floor. he blinked once, twice-- before palming his forehead and snapping back towards zim with an incredulous look on his features. " What-- When did you get so strong? " the boy blurted, bewildered. the youth observed as metallic spider-legs emerged from the aliens PAK, fighting the urge to probe them curiously.

" I wouldn't have to put my hands on you if you didn't go flying down my stairs, space boy! " dib bit back, patting the floor haphazardly until the cool touch of his frames met his fingertips. he hastily threw his glasses back on, blinking rapidly as his vision quickly readjusted. " Oh come on! Like you wouldn't bug my things! " now that he thought about it, he'd have to remind himself to thoroughly check through his equipment later... if he even survived to return back to his base at the end of the day.

" WHAT? That's ridiculous! As if I'd ever apologize to you! " the bespectacled youth spat, before quickly shaking his head and adding, " I-I don't even have anything to apologize for! And you're not cool, you're infuriating! " if only the preteen knew what it was like to interact with himself.

" Why am I even TRYING to work with you?! Clearly this isn't gonna work and we're BOTH gonna fail! " the trench coat-clad child sighed in defeat. " Ugh... maybe we just, write the paper first or something? I mean, how hard could that be? "

"Uuughhh..." Well, that certainly hurt! In his spiteful mood he had failed to take the correct step and there he plummeted down the staircase. Worse yet, Dib was also on top of him! Wretched! With a surprising degree of strength for someone of his height, Zim smacks the other straight in the face to push him off. Various cleaning supplies come out from his PAK and coat everything that had been touched.

"DO NOT get your greasy fingers all over my uniform, pig-worm!! I deal with enough of that already thanks to Gir. The amount of pizzas and bean burrito tacos he brings into the base is ABSURD!"

When the idea reaches him, Zim looks appalled by the thought. "YOU? In MY base? Do you take me for a fool, Dib?! You'd bug everything you could when I'm not looking!! You'd probably be filthy enough to bug my toilet!" As if Zim hadn't already thought about the idea of bugging his home while still in here. Shhhh. Be quiet.

"Absolutely not! I still say my idea is SUPERIOR!" Hands travel to his hips as he glares. "Buuuut perhaps, JUST PERHAPS, I will postpone that idea for another time IF you apologize and talk about how COOL I am. Zim is the coolest after all!"

[rllymilerlly]

Okay everyone I spent way too much thought into this but I made this playlist of musical songs to highlight IZ characters and potential relationships they could have

I tried my best to include as many different relationships as I could to please everyone, but I don’t have all of them. And I’ll probably add more to this as I discover new songs or get recommendations. (And THANK You pals who helped me with some of the song choices already)

But here is the link please have a listen: x

And here is the setlist and the categories I imagined the songs going to:

Zade Duets: Because what better way to start out the playlist than sticking to the status quo. Except maybe in the end there’s hope for a change 👀

What is this Feeling?

Your Obedient Servant

You Stupid Bitch

World Burn

My Eyes

Trust Me Not

Zim Solos: These are all Zimothy. Starting off with songs that represent the cocky space bug we all know. But OH NO is that self reflection I see?? Don’t worry folks we still end on hopeful note.

Hard to Be the Bard

How Bad Can I Be?

Someone Gets Hurt

It’s Over Isn’t It?

Our Word

Everything I Ever Thought I Knew

I Want to Be Tall

Zim and Dib Duets: These songs are just songs that don’t quite fit zadf or zade but fit both of them very well.

Non-Stop

Let Me Make You Proud

Dib Solos: He just wants to be validated and has self esteem issues and these songs show that.

(Just a) Simple Sponge

Good Kid

Wait for It

Breathe

I’m Not a Loser

Audition (The Fools Who Dream)

Gaz or Dib: This song could work for either of them. They just want love. Honestly they all do

The I Love You Song

Gaz Solos: Our Favorite Gamer Girl has feelings. From Anger to Sadness to Hopeful

The Destruction

Not Your Seed

Where I Want to Be

Prologue: Invisible

She Used to Be Mine

Home

Gaz and Dib Duets: The Membrane siblings have some lowkey angst between them and don’t agree on everything, but through it all still care for one another.

Do You Want to Build a Snowman?

Interlude IV

Requiem

For the First Time in Forever

What If

No Reason

Gir and Zim Duets: these songs are mostly Gir heavy but Zim is definitely present during all of them. Whether it’s in Girs imagination or not

Friend Like Me

When I’m Older

You and Me (But Mostly Me)

No Matter What

BFF

Zadf/Zadr Duets: Some good Zim and Dib Friendship vibes. With a hint of something more if that’s your jam

It’s Tough To Be a God

Two-Player Game

Sincerely, Me (ft Gir as Jared)

The Bro Duet

One of Us

Anything You Can Do

Zagf/Zagr Duets: It starts off as friendship into yearning and into maybe something more

Revenge Party (Ft. Dib as Cady)

Good Little Girl

My Freeze Ray

She Loves Me

Bad Idea

Rewrite the Stars

Tak Solos: Tak is a bad ass and wants revenge. However, maybe like Zim there’s more than meets the eye.

I’m the Bad Guy

May I Have This Dance?

My Grand Plan

Ready As I’ll Ever Be (ft Zim and the Membranes)

Tak and Zim Duets: I personally like giving Tak and Zim a sibling like dynamic. And so the songs here are highlighting their rivalry and the subtle hope Zim has for her

This Day Aria

Outmatched

Nothing Left To Lose

Datf/Datr Duets: The past betrayal with hope of redemption. It’s all the drama and confusing feelings you know?

Natalie Cook

I Love You (As Much As Someone Like Me Could Love Anyone)

For the Record

Tagf/Tagr Duets: They are Best Friends or you know they’re what historians call “Best Friends” if that’s more of your jam *wink wink*

I’m Just Your Problem

Little Miss Perfect

Seventeen (Reprise)

Zib and Za2r: Yeah this is just angst I’m so sorry

Confrontation

Monster

Our Love is God

I am Damaged

BONUS END FUN WITH WHOLE SQUAD: Because THEY ARE ALL A BIG HAPPY FOUND FAMILY IN THE END

Another Day in the Sun

You Can’t Stop the Beat

Dancing Queen

We Go Together

Jump in the Line

[thedeadlyspacepirate19]

Hey Guys

This is mainly for the fans of my fanfic Invader Falls. With work, and overall house chores, and other work I need to take care of, it’s taking me a bit of time to finish the next chapter for Invader Falls, so it’ll take me some time to fully return to the chapter. 

But fear not! Because I wanted to prove I am indeed working on the fanfic again and also just show an apology for being gone for so long, so for everyone who likes my story I’m posting a sneak peek below of the first four pages for chapter 13. Please enjoy. And for those who are interested in the fanfic and haven’t read it yet before the sneak peek is a link to the fanfic.

Invader Falls: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20429492/chapters/48465938

Continue below for the sneak peek, and I’ll continue to keep you all updated on when the next chapter is complete.

“Zim keeps telling you that he is fine!” the alien complained when Mabel stuck another bandage on his face. He was now coated in cutesy themed Band-Aids, a majority of them being useless. He glared at one that had a lot of small pink hearts and pealed it off, the sticky side getting stuck on his finger, and he pathetically waved it around in an attempt to get it off for good.

“One can never have too many band-aids. They’re like stickers but they heal!”

Dib shook his head in amusement at Mabel’s antics before walking up to sit next to the two. “As much as I hate to say it, I think Zim is right for once. He should be fine now, right Space Boy?”

“Of course!” The alien stuck his tongue out at his enemy. “If it wasn’t obvious.”

In truth, Zim did feel fine. The troll definitely gave him some damage, bruises covered his skin in odd off-colored patches, and when he moved his left arm and both legs, they stung a bit. However, after his irken body took the time to heal since arriving back at the Mystery Shack, all his injuries were just minor. Just then a small jolt shot out from the back of Zim’s PAK. Okay…maybe not everything was minor injuries.

Zim’s PAK was still cracked and without the proper tools to investigate it, Zim wouldn’t know what will come of this. Hiding his worry as best as he was able to, he glanced behind him trying to sneak a peek at his PAK but failed. Not wanting to draw more attention to himself, he looked away, though he didn’t notice Dib already took note of his gesture.

Dib too, worriedly tried to take a glance at the PAK, and from his perspective it was much easier. The crack wasn’t too large. Though any form of damage could be concerning to such an important device. Dib was no stranger to how important that PAK was for the irken. If anything were to happen to it, then Zim…

Realization took over and Dib shook his head, taken aback by his thoughts. Wait, why should I worry. I don’t care if something happens to Zim. In fact this whole mess would be ten times easier if he’d…if he’d…The way his new thoughts were going didn’t sit well with the human either.

Aaah! This is so frustrating! Dib ran his hands through his hair. None of his thoughts were coming to him easily anymore. Ever since he came to Gravity Falls…no, ever since Zim started acting…not Zim, Dib didn’t know what to think towards the irken. Coming to Gravity Falls just made his complicated emotions towards the irken more obvious.

“Why are you staring at Zim this time, Dib-stink?”

Dib blinked, not realizing he was staring and looked away, unknown to him he had a small blush over his face. “Nothing, you annoying space bug.”

Zim didn’t look as if he liked the answer, but he was still so exhausted after his run in with the troll and everything else that he just let it go for now. He leaned back a bit and sighed. “Zim never wants to see any more spookies again.”

Ford seemed to chuckle at that. “Well, I suppose that gives you more incentive to not leave the shack, huh Zim?”

“Hmph! Zim will still escape! He was so close today. Oh, so close.”

“Speaking of…” Ford gave a firm look to his niece who instantly felt the stare and shrank down. “Mabel…”

“Oh jeez, would you look at the time!” Mabel stood up and started to walk away only for Ford to stop her.

“Hold it young lady.” He turned her back around, kneeling so he was closer to eye level with her. “Now I’m not angry, but I need to know why you purposely let Zim loose, even after we warned you about this in the first place.”

Mabel lowered her head. “I just…” she hesitated, sharing a look with Dipper who nodded at her to go on. “I just wanted to try something big, you see, to get Dib and Zim to stop fighting as much as they do.”

“And letting Zim loose was that thing?” Dib asked her. “No offense, kid, but that seems a little counter intuitive.”

“Look, I knew it was a risk, but I figured if we could get you both out of the Mystery Shack then maybe it would lead to this grand adventure where you two see you’re not so different after all and learn to live with each other, differences and all!” She smiled wide at her proclamation before deciding to shrug. “It happens all the time in movies.”

Dib sighed but couldn’t hold back his smile to the young teen. “Okay, I see where you’re coming from, Mabel, but a wacky adventure isn’t going to just pop up with Zim stepping outside. And it’s certainly not going to have us get along like some weird buddy comedy.”

“I’ll say…” Zim agreed, looking offended at the very idea of being friends with Dib.

“Well, I am sorry about releasing Zim,” Mabel admitted. She crossed her arms stubbornly next. “But I am not sorry about trying to get you two to get along. Come on, you two must see it! You’re both have a connection that started way back in your childhood! And you haven’t killed each other since then! There must be something that is keeping you two from mauling each other, and I like to believe it is a deep seeded roman-FRIENDSHIP!” Realizing what she almost finished saying, Mabel was quick to correct herself, though it was enough for Dib to hear it and a blush form in embarrassment. “Friendship, I meant friendship. Haha!”

The blush didn’t leave Dib’s face. “Yeah that’ll still be a no to both of those options…” he decided to say, but seeing the red on his face just made Mabel giggle in small glee.

Zim, who also heard the start of the word didn’t quite catch on to what Mabel almost said as quickly. He put a finger to his mouth in thought, curious as to why the word caused the odd red hue to form on his enemy’s face. Finally, it hit him and he snapped his fingers. “Romance! That’s what you were about to say!” he said in a really loud voice.

Dib sputtered before glaring at the alien with a deeper blush. “Yes Zim. Thank you for clarifying…” he hissed.

“No need to be so touchy Dib-filth. As I’m sure you agree, there is no chance of anything, ew, romantic, between the two of us.” Zim shuddered at the mere thought. “Disgusting.”

“Yep, no argument there! We can stop talking about that now, please!” Dib stood up and walked away. “Man this day is insane…” he muttered to himself, uncaring of the alien that stared after him.

Zim’s expression was unreadable as he watched Dib walk away, but soon he just shrugged, scoffing as he did. Only Mabel took notice of the very, very faint pink hue that took over the irken’s face and she had to hide back her squeal. It’s starting!!! She thought excitedly, happy with her little accident now. It seemed like it was the perfect way to plant the seeds in their minds. Now all Mabel had to do was water it so that love could bloom. Easy…right?

Dipper noticed his sister’s reactions and rolled his eyes. “This is going to be a long next few day…” He rubbed at his eyes, before a thought crossed his mind. He decided to grant Dib his request and looked to Zim to change the subject. “By the way, Zim, there has been something that has been bugging me since we got back home.”

“And what is that, tiny human.”

“Ouch, come on man, I’m not that short.” Dib stood up, trying to make himself look taller. “See, I’m like…”

“The tiniest guy here!” Mabel teased her brother, her and Stan joining together to laugh at him.

Dipper frowned deeply, stomping his foot to the ground. “Hey, this is not what I wanted to talk about. Besides, I am not the tiniest. I’m taller than Mabel now, right!?”

“Sorry bro-bro. I’m still like thiiiis much taller,” his sister said with a triumphant smile.

“Ooookay, well I’m taller than…” in the corner the smaller little android caught his attention and he grinned. “GIR!”

“Hmm!?” GIR hummed at the sound of his name. Mabel and Stan just laughed more that he was forced to compare himself to a robot. GIR, who has not been paying attention decided to join in on the laughter because it seemed fun to him.

“Ha! It’s funny cause it’s mean!” Stan ended up shouted.

Dipper grumbled to himself before moving on. “Anyway! Zim, I have a question for you!” he shouted to get to his original point.

“And that would beeeeee?” Zim didn’t look like he cared anymore and leaned back. Hissing when he put a little too much pressure on his still slightly sore arm. He then focused all his left-over attention to the young teen, ready to answer anything that came his way. He really didn’t care. This boy may have been annoying like the Dib but he didn’t seem capable of asking any complicated questions.

Dipper hesitated before asking, “Why did you save us?”

Zim was wrong.

“What?”

“Why did you save us? We were a good distance from you when that giant troll was about to hurt us. You didn’t have to look for us, let alone stop the troll. Yet you did, so why?”

From his new spot next to Ford, Dib raised a brow, now also curious what the alien’s answer was going to be.

“Wh-what do you mean. Zim already let you know. If anyone is going to destroy you feeble humans, it is going to be me, Zim! Mighty irken invader! Not some pathetic troll-thing.”

“Yeah, I know you said that, but, I don’t know, it just seems a little silly.” He noticed Zim’s confused expression and continued. “I mean, you had enough strength to find us, surely you had enough strength to get to your ship instead and take off.”

“I-! Well-!” Zim was practically growling in anger now before he remembered something. “I was unaware of my ships locations, do you recall!? I just happened to come across you pathetic little worm babies, that is all. Zim did it because he could, not because he wanted to save you humans. So there!”

Dipper smirked. “I don’t know, you seemed like you made that up on the spot to me.”

“You’re lying!”

“Haha, I think you’re the liar here, buddy.”

“Zim is not your friend!”

Dipper laughed again, and the rest of the Pines’ family joined in as well.

“Admit it, Zim,” Mabel joined in. “You love us!”

“Ew no!”

“Zim’s just a big softy when it comes to us! I knew it!” Mabel announced. She ran to the angered Zim and hugged him tightly. “We love you too, Zim.”

“Get off me!”

“I think he secretly likes it,” Stan commented. “Mabel, hug him tighter!”

“NOOOOOO!”

Dipper shook his head at the antic before calming down his laughter a bit. “Anyway, Zim…”

Zim glared at him from his position on the floor. “What now!?”

“Thanks, for saving us. Even if you didn’t do it out of kindness like you claim.”

Just like that, the anger melted away and a different emotion took over. One Zim could not place. It was different. It felt warm…and gooey. Zim hated it! He scrunched up his face and turned his non-existent nose up. “Hmph, whatever.”

[shadowofthelamp]

About the making Zim either just one dimensional villain or a misguided good guy: Besides the (like you said) he is not easy to get right, I think it also comes down to how some people are not aware things like people can bullies and bullied at the same time. (I was and I am not proud of it. I had really similar personality as Zim, but I also shared some traits with Dib and Gir.) So they try to squeeze them into only one of the roles, resulting the character loosing its complexity. I remember watching a video and the reviewer shot down the "these characters are mutually abusive to each other" take, because according to her "abuse survivors can't be abusive, because they wouldn't want other people to go through the same horrible experiences". I get where is she coming from, but that's not always true.

Also: I think most of your Zims are characterized well, since they are still not good people and you don't make them for not responsible for their actions. He isn't justified by the narrative and Dib is not afraid to call him out. And he still has his delusions about the Tallests in the main au, so it doesn't follow the "Zim finally realized he was being tricked" formula, it's more of an unspoken agreement beetween people letting Zim have the cake and eat it too. Yeah, he is still totally working for the Empire and also lives a domestic family life, nothing weird here! xD I just think it's funny how everybody knows they need to let him have this for the peace. And you also have some darker aus too, so it's not just fluff. So I appreaciate your Zim overall. There is one thing I don't agree about the characterization, but I still find it funny on it's own right, and it is excuted well, and I understand why you see that aspect that way. :)

(+Your Zib is one of my favourites.)

Gonna actually answer this one properly bc yeah, sometimes things are mutually unhealthy, and people who are hurt can sometimes go on to hurt others. Certainly not always, but sometimes. How Zim reacts to the world is a product of his environment growing up as well as his personality and convictions- it's part of why human Zims are really, really hard to nail, because it's so hard to replicate what made him Zim to begin with. I'm proud of swap Zim bc I think I got pretty close, considering.

Yeah, he chills slightly over time but he still believes in the Empire- the Tallests (Red in particular) actually said 'keep going with your weird baby mission thing as long as it keeps you all the way over there on Earth', so his 'secret mission' has been still left intact, although over the years the efforts to actually conquer fell more to 'I had an idea and I want to see if it works/I want to make something that annoys me go away/I want to impress Dib or Twix'. He does still try to take over fully on occasion though, and by this point Dib is just 'whelp, if he actually does it, it's not like it'd make anything that much worse.'

Hey, since he is such a complicated little bug, it makes sense nobody would agree on everything, and I think that's good, it leads to more interesting discussions as long as we can all respect each other!

(And thanks, I still like him a lot too! One day maybe I'll get back to doing more with him...)

[artycat101s]

Another fic that is inspired by the linguistic au done by @xryn-art (if you haven’t checked them out yet you really should, it’s a great comic so far and I love it, like so much )

Anyways this is Weight and Words

~~~

The Dib-creature has been doing quite well in his Irken lessons, far better then Gir, though the tiny robot is slowly making progress in his own way. We are working on written Irken now, and Dib-stinks handwriting is terrible! He would have been made to run laps if he had turned these in back in the academy. A grin overtakes my face as I remember just how superior I am to the pathetic worm baby.

“Hey Zim? Does Irken have capitalization?”

“Does it what now? “

“Capitalization? How does your language show the start of a sentence or which words are proper nouns?”

“Eeeeeeh... The start is after the last sentence ends?? And proper nouns are identified by either context or suffixes.”

“I suppose that makes sense, also explains why you text in all caps, I thought you just yelling like you do.”

“ZIM DOES NOT YELL.”

The Dib-beast gives me a look, probably because I just yelled, but that’s what he gets for lying! I wouldn’t have to yell if his Lies weren’t so Loud!

“Anyways.. I’ve also noticed that the spelling in Irken is off, the language is strikingly similar to English but the spelling is all over the place” the Dib-fiend leans close. I can feel every point of contact, it tingles. It burns. I push him down and scream.

“Zim?! What the fuck was that for??”

“For touching Zim!! Do not touch me?! Your future overlord! How dare you!” My antenna are pressed close to my skull, and there is a growl in my tone.

“I- was I? I guess I leaned in to point out the spelling but I didn’t notice..”

This worthless pig does he except me to believe such an obvious lie?

“How can you just not feel a touch? With all the tingling and the burning, cease your lies you.. you!! Dib-liar!!”

“Tingles... dude that just sounds like your touch starved.” At this the Dib-creature sat up, opting to stay on the floor at a safe distance.

“Touch what?”

“Touch starved, it’s a thing where like, humans and other social animals need touch for like emotional and mental development I think? I don’t know much of the psychology but I had received treatments for it when I was young.“

“Irkens are beyond such trivial and primitive feelings.”

“Okay fine, then I won’t give you one of my weighted blankets then space bug.”

“A what now?”

“A weighted blanket, gives the affect of touch without the messy bit of interacting with another person. With extended use it can get rid of the tingling feeling that you get when you’re touched.”

That, sounds amazing. I can’t even imagine a life where it’s possible to not notice a touch. But Irkens are beyond such needs! But it would be so useful! Think of the mission (think of how nice it would be) imagine what could be done if I didn’t worry about touch as much! I need an excuse.

“Zim accepts your offering Dib-creature. But!! Not because I need it or anything!! It is... um that ... as your future ruler, giving me offerings might make me spare your life when I take over the planet... if you learn Irken you will make an excellent slave, or maybe a pet!”

“Pfft, like I’d let that happen space boy! You have to get through me before any of that! But yeah I can totally bring it over after school tomorrow.”

I simmer down with the change of topic, we’ve been doing that a lot recently. We shift between rivalry to familiarity so quickly.

“Of course, you may present your offering tomorrow before your lessons-“ A wide sadistic grin breaks over my face “and I expect an elaborate production so be prepared.”

Dib-human holds my gaze for several moments, our stares were hard, but then Dib started to laugh. For some reason I’m not angry at his laughter like I usually am. It’s nice, I almost want to join in.

But.

The mission.

[cdarkheartzero]

Today’s theme- (another long post, by the way)

“Arcade”- made for @cawareyoudoin who demanded I finally listen to Lemon Demon’s “Cabinet Man”. Thanks man! Now I own the album and listen to “Cabinet Man” and “Touch tone telephone” at least a few times a day.

Zim overheard some fellow classmates discussing the “arcade”. It was apparently a very popular destination for the normal human-children. He had even heard Dib speak of it once or twice. For the good of his mission of blending in (and his insane curiosity), he summoned his mechanical henchmen and promptly headed over after school.

Smelly carpets. Old and decrepit video game machines. These “cabinets” battling to attract the most attention with their lights and sounds. Garbage littered everywhere. So many dirty, disgusting children running about, adding to the ruckus filling the air. And cheap, poorly made “prizes” costing far too much of this building’s currency “tickets”. He could feel the the germs crawling on every inch of this place. This is disgusting.

[[MORE]]

There was also a rule that stated children were to carry around a stool in order to reach the games. Why would an establishment have equipment unsuitable for their target demographic? Stupid humans.

Gir and Minimoose did their best to play these primitive “games” and win “tickets” while Zim walked around and studied the area. He noticed a black tuft of familiar looking hair peeking over the crowd. The Dib was here too. With his sister-beast. She looked quite pleased with herself, carrying a tremendous amount of “tickets” and was close to having the necessary number to win that giant stuffed pig. Dib-stink was probably just ordered here to assist her and hold the stacks of “tickets” as Gaz played to reach her goal.

Regardless, Zim could ask the two of them a little bit more about this place. Get a better understanding of why people would ACTUALLY WANT to spend their time here. So, he tagged along. Periodically stopping to ask Dib what that one does or what the strategic value of that one is. Dib usually replied with a snarky comment but gave somewhat of the answer Zim seeked.

As they passed one machine, given the name “Cabinet Man”, Zim felt a chill. There was something offsetting about that one. He stared at it. It’s black screen staring back at him. His PAK tingled, a sensation he had never really experienced. “What is wrong with this one?” He asked. Dib gave him a strange look. “I mean, it’s new but nothing is WRONG with it. Why?”

He continued to goggle. Underneath his wig, Zim’s antenna picked up a very slight but steady rhythm of beeping. That’s unusual. It almost sounded like...

“Is this one alive?” He asked Dib. Dib gave a face of confusion and annoyance. “You have got to be kidding me. No, space-boy. I don’t know what video games are like in your world but it’s just PROGRAMMING!”

Before Zim could spit venomous words at Dib, he caught the beeping quickening. “Wait... it’s nervous because I am talking about it?” He mumbled. Unfortunately, Dib overheard. “Why are you like this? Dude. It’s a metal box. It’s a glorified gameboy. You sound like you are losing it.”

Perhaps The-Dib had a point for once. Machines cannot be alive. If it was human in disguise, Zim would have detected the beating of a HUMAN HEART. Not this. What need does a machine have for rhythmatic pulsations? Perhaps all of these lights and sounds were giving him sensory overload. He should probably run a scan at home for the tingling in his PAK but it didn’t feel life threatening. Could be a slight bug.

“Zim is not “losing it” he finally said “He is simply disgusted in the practices of your fellow human. This place is filthy. Zim is concerned for all of the germs assaulting the air and surfaces of your “arcade”. Dib rolled his eyes “it’s fine. Change the subject. I don’t even care. Maybe you are one step closer to croaking and you know when that happens, I’m keeping your body for experiments, right?” Zim let out a hearty laugh “in your dreams, pig-stink”. Gaz stomped her foot, silencing the banter. “I swear if someone else gets that piggie before me, I will kill you both and stuff you as my new plushes.”

The two of them gulped and continued walking in silence. Gaz could be scary sometimes. Zim could faintly hear the beeping returning to its normal pace as he got out of hearing range, turning around to take one more peek at “Cabinet Man.” “I’m almost certain it’s nothing...” he said as he turned the corner.

[reynaruina]

Unfortunately I still find your zim a sexy bug. I am deeply sorry.

....maybe giving him a clown nose would change your mind?