#hes literally there to be the Only Other Irken on earth

[short-and-ugly]

grapa is soooo important to my story guys you believe me right guys

[ms-scarletwings]

Oh, I think I got a spacebug science ask . . . if Irkens make various bug noises (chirps, clicks, hissing, whathaveyou), how do they do it?

Thank you for throwing me a real curve ball on this one. I’ve actually been pretty stumped. At first, I wanted to hand wave this off with the simple ‘oh pretty much like any Earth vertebrate’ considering that they do in fact breathe air, can choke, visibly speak from the mouth, etc. but then I started running back into the rabbit hole question of how Irken breathing/airflow even works, since no one knows if they have lungs or an insectoid setup or something of the like to begin with. I have always theorized that the PAK is heavily integrated with their body’s circulation and gas exchange but there’s not much I have to go on with to guess at the exact machinations. It’s not that I have NO ideas, it’s that when you start taking inspiration from nature absent of canon pointers, you kind of literally can’t run out of equally plausible ideas.

Original point being that laughing, clicking, hissing... I mean, this is all stuff we can do just fine with tongues, teeth, and a larynx. Occam’s razor says ditto for them.

Except for this one thing that screams so distinctly arthropod to me.

See there was this one little moment in Dark Harvest that I’ve been majorly obsessed with. There’s this… sound that is part of the ost right before the big chase. When the lights are flipped off. It could be a strange choice of ambience but I swear it feels like the implication was that it was actually coming from Zim. And the reason I can’t stop thinking about it is because it sounds damn near identical to, of all things, hermit crab chirping. Take a listen to what I mean

Congrats btw if this is how you learn hermit crabs can even do such a thing. In the wild this is actually a way they communicate stress and aggression to other crabs, as in during fights over shells or when trying to warn an attacker to back off.

Their method for it is something called stridulation, which is essentially big word talk for rubbing together certain body parts like an acoustic instrument. Lots of other invertebrates produce sounds in the same manner. In the crab case, it’s a leg on leg or legs on shell kind of action. In crickets, think leg to wing or wing to wing. By no means universal either, though. Cicadas are a surprising example of insect that sounds off primarily through other means. Their mating calls are produced with tymbal structures located on either side of their abdomen.

As nutshell fashion as I can describe the tymbals, they’re a combo of complex membrane and stiff ribs that produce sound by flexing and clicking together really, really fast. I focus in on these at all because they are personally my favorite pet theory behind a secondary, possibly vestigial way for mature Irkens to produce sound :) and I needed some alternate idea because the one other moment in the show that got me on this thought spiral- if you remember that screaming back and forth Zim got into with Dib in Backseat Drivers. You know, the “ISN’T IT” bit? I’ve pointed out before, but if you listen closely enough Zim is so angry in that exchange that the way he vibrates angrily is actually audible. Like there’s this odd noise accompanying the rage shakes I can only describe as “skittery”

[inbarfink]

Okay, after that last lil goof of a post, I started to have some more Thoughts about Tak…

I’m pretty sure I’ve already talked at length about how Zim is, in actuality, perfectly competent on paper. He’s technically got all the skills that Irken Society value, but his extreme personality flaws (especially his ego, his inability to assert threats and his pettiness) override any usefulness he might have and make him the incompetent laughingstock we all know and love. 

And I think, in a way… Tak is actually very much the same. It’s kind of the same core concept but with the skills and abilities being turned way up and the flaws being a lot more subtle. So she generally manages to be a lot more genuinely competent - but these are still the same core flaws that brought on her downfall.

Tak insists that her plan is not a matter of revenge, she’s trying to frame it like Zim’s just kinda in the way of her practical, impersonal scheme to become an Invader - but, like… I think she very clearly just doesn’t want to admit she’s seeking revenge against someone as pathetic as Zim. 

Now there is a discussion to be had about, like, wouldn’t it have been more worthwhile for Tak to grab a more valuable planet from the get-go, versus the consequences of ‘stealing’ a planet from an Actual Real Invader, versus the number of planets that must be out there, versus whether any of those planets are viable for any number of reasons, versus the potential consequences of removing Earth’s vital importance to the Irken Empire as A Thing to Keep Zim Too Distracted to Ruin Everything Again, versus the possibility the Tallests will just let out all of their frustrations about that unto Zim whom they already hate and not the taller and more competent Irken who just gave them snacks…. It can kinda go on forever, is the point. 

So I don’t necessarily wanna focus on the question of whether Tak should’ve chosen Earth for her Snack Plan or not - instead I wanna point out that Earth is just a really really big place. There doesn’t seem to be a reason why Tak had to set up her plan in the same city Zim lives in, or why she had to enroll in his class, or ‘date’ him. The only real reasons seem to be that she wanted to personally torment Zim for a while, and that was worthwhile enough for her to put her plan at risk. 

And it’s not just that she placed the nexus of her plan within walking distance of Zim. I mean, she did probably need to disable his base - and maybe you can say that enrolling in Zim’s school was her attempt at assessing his threat level before her plan kicked into full gear. But even so, the conclusion of this little round of espionage was that Zim was so much of a non-threat that she quite literally went up to his front door to inform him of who she is and what she is planning

If Tak just built her Magma Pump/Evil Weenie Stand on the other side of the world, or even just didn’t tell Zim that she’s an Irken out to steal his gig - Zim would have had no idea what’s going on until it was far too late. but instead of keeping that element of surprise, Tak literally walked over to his base to explain to him everything that she has done and is planning to do. She would’ve explained basically everything if not for Zim’s own hysterics. 

Look at this insistence! She was trying so hard to tell Zim her entire damn plan! And why? Because she was just thoroughly convinced that this clownish buffoon could not possibly be a threat to her. And because this was an essential part of her revenge. Due to Zim’s rush and destructive nature, she was trapped in her room and forced to watch just how callously Zim ignored her cries for help

And she wants to replicate that sort of feelings for Zim

So for her revenge to feel complete for her - she needs Zim to know who she is and why she’s doing it, and he needs to know what’s going on so he can watch on helplessly. And so for the sake of her revenge, she added a bunch of incredibly stupid steps in her plan - but hey, it’s no big deal! Zim clearly is far too incompetent to do anything about her plan by now, right?

And, like, the majority of what Zim had to spend his time on during the episode was actually figuring out what is Tak’s plan is. If Zim was just a little less hysterical when Tak came to visit (which isn’t unthinkable. Zim’s emotional state is pretty capricious) then maybe he could’ve defeated Tak much more quickly and thoroughly. Even disabling Zim’s base didn’t seem to do much considering it was at least partially operational by the time her plan actually came to fruition. She might’ve also underestimated the tech at his disposal or maybe just his repair skills. 

And if Tak somewhat underestimated Zim’s threat level, she sure as hell dismissed Dib's threat level completely. I think the implication is that she only hanging out with him to get more information on Zim and to torment Zim some more

And all of their interactions are dripping with condescension, she’s not even the least bit worried about having this human who discovered her secret. I mean, she already sees Zim as a total non-threat - obviously she’d have even less regard for the person who’s been repeatedly failing to stop him. Especially if there’s also a bit of this Irken Supremacy mindset that’s playing a factor. No way a stupid human child that has repeatedly failed to stop the Worst of the Irken Empire could be a threat to her, right????

And Gaz… oh man, Gaz. I mean, I’ve been going on about how Tak has underestimated Dib and Zim’s threat levels and they’ve proved her wrong by defeating her. But let’s be real here, Gaz is undoubtedly the one person most responsible for defeating Tak

And she barely registered on Tak's radar as anything but ‘Dib’s little sister’. She didn’t even think of her as a factor. And that was her downfall. 

And thinking about this…a lot of fans love to speculate about how Tak’s story arc would’ve continued had the show’s run been not cut so short. And I guess I think it would’ve been very interesting to focus on the parts of Tak’s character which mirror Zim. I mean, she has just been thoroughly humiliated by the Irken she dismissed as a joke and two human children. Her ego is more bruised than ever and now she’s even more focused on revenge

So I think it would’ve been a compelling and darkly ironic arc for Tak to have her gradually… Zimmify. The more she keeps losing to the two Biggest Losers in the Galaxy (and also Gaz), the more she becomes frustrated with Zim, the more she becomes obsessed with getting her revenge and proving her superiority and the more she clings to her ego and to the idea that the main characters can’t, shouldn’t be threats to her…

the more she gradually becomes just as pathetic and irrational as her most loathed enemy, Zim. Until she is a shadow of the hypercompetent badass we met in her introductory episode. Zim basically drags her down to his level through his ability to be so loathsome and so frustrating and so pathetic and yet still find a way to survive and win. Until the dignified and competent would-be Invader we first met is nearly unrecognizable.

You can even play with stuff with Tak’s Ship or some other gizmo she could’ve put her brains into - who would retain her original level-headedness compared to what the Real Tak has become....

[duckapus]

So in the Self-Help Hotline AU I'm starting with just seven Ashes, eight when you include the central Ash who's just starting out. I'll probably add a few at certain milestones (definitely when he goes to a new region (including the Orange Islands that totally counts) possibly after movies and similar Big Legendary-Related Disasters but I'm undecided there). Arceus gave them all nicknames because otherwise it'd start with the chat filled with nothing but "Ash Ketchum" and it'd be impossible to tell who's talking.

Mini-Me: The central Ash who just got a Pikachu who hates him but is technically giving him a chance (you really think he couldn't have just ran away whenever, even during the fishing line bit?) and left Palette Town on the Pokemon Journey of a lifetime. An arrogant, overconfident little dumbass elementary-schooler with a heart of gold who constantly switches between having an ego nearly as big as Gary's and having no self-esteem whatsoever with no in-between.

O.G.A. / TheLlamasErrandBoy: The Ash from the end of the main timeline (or at least a timeline so extremely close to it that it's functionally the main timeline), with all the character development and Trauma that entails. Arceus gave him Admin Privileges and Dipped after explaining what the chat was made for so he's allowed to change nicknames and immediately abuses that power to roast The Original One Itself.

QueenOfTheWorld: Ashley Ketchum. She had a few Realizations during the stuff in Celadon so she's transfem. Her Journey had the fewest differences from the Main Timeline of the six AU Ashes since being a girl didn't change that much about her life.

L.G.M.: The version from my Invader Ash AU. By now he's aware that his mission wasn't what he thought it was and is fine with being Earth's hero instead of its ruler. He's still morally a very dark grey and kind of crazy though. He is still an Irken and still loyal to the Empire (particularly Tallest Delia) after all.

Aaron Jr: an Ash from a world where the Aura Guardians never faded into obscurity and he received formal training from a young age. Insists that he doesn't count as a child soldier since he stumbled across disasters on his journey for Chosen One Reasons just like the other Ashes did rather than the Order deliberately sending him to solve those problems. Actually the fact that this literal child keeps ending up in so much danger despite their best efforts is one of the Order's biggest headaches. The fact that he's so good at dealing with it (and is one of the most powerful Guardians in decades) only eases their worries a little.

Spooky: A version of Ash who succumbed to the injuries and exhaustion he sustained during the Spearow chase and became a Misdreavus due to a hasty halfway-too-late resurrection attempt from Ho-Oh. He's currently a Mismagius, a master illusionist, the World Monarch just like most of the other Ashes, and has long since come to terms with his death and species change. He does still have a vengeful hatred (and slight fear) of the Spearow line, but can you really blame him?

MyJobIsBeach: An Ash who stayed in Alola to help fully establish the League after becoming the Champion. He did technically go through the plot of Journeys but instead of being a research assistant he just kept running into Goh and Chloe while working his way through the World Coronation Series. He is still friends with them but not quite as close as in most timelines.

DoTheMario!: An Ash who's somewhat more familiar with the Multiverse than the others because his world is permanently linked with a version of the Mushroom Kingdom following a recent adventure. As in, he just finished dealing with the related Big Disaster and stabilizing the connection (since for Complicated Space-Time-Continuum-Could-Get-Torn-Apart reasons they couldn't sever the connection) a couple weeks before the chat got made. Since the point of divergence was so recent (and post-series) he's the second closest to the Main Timeline out of the starting lineup after Ashley.

[random-iz-stuff]

Theory/Headcanon:

We’ve seen Zib before.

Not in the comics or the movie or the actual show, but in the pilot episode of Invader Zim.

And here he is. Pilot Dib IS Zib.

Now, before we get started, here’s the full pilot episode of Invader Zim on YouTube, just in case you haven’t seen it or need context:

If the Zimvoid is actually the Pilot Universe and Zib is actually Pilot Dib, it could explain just how Zib was able to kill Zim, along with why he went off the deep end afterwards.

One of the first things that you’ll probably notice about the Pilot is how Zim and Dib are slightly different.

Starting with Zim, ignoring the different voice, he seems friendlier than his canon counterpart. He casually talks to several of his classmates and compliments Dib for his food canon, which the canon Zims (plural because the Comics and Enter The Florpus are separate timelines) would never do. Pilot Zim is still Zim, but he’s slightly friendlier than normal.

Meanwhile, in sharp contrast to Pilot Zim being friendlier than normal, Pilot Dib is a lot more unhinged than either of his canon counterparts. He’s still Dib at his core, but he’s definitely more unstable than normal.

Combine those two differences, and you start to see how Pilot Dib could kill his Zim.

Zim has a moral code. He views Dib as a worthy opponent and often goes easy on him to give him a fighting chance. Meanwhile, Dib just wants Zim dead with no care as to what he has to do to achieve it.

So mix a friendlier Zim, who might go easier on Dib than what’s normal for Zims or possibly even not treat Dib as a real enemy at all, but instead a frenemy of some sort, with a Dib that will take any opportunity to kill him because that’s a fundamental part of all Dibs, and guess who comes out on top.

Pilot Zim most likely viewed Dib as a rival or frenemy, while Pilot Dib viewed Zim as something to be destroyed. Pilot Zim was also probably a lot more careless when dealing with Dib, as he didn’t view him as the same sort of threat that other Zims view their Dibs as.

Pilot Dib is equally as powerful as any other Dib, probably even more powerful considering his instability, but his Zim didn’t treat him that way. Pilot Zim didn’t treat his Dib like the threat he actually was. In the Pilot Universe, the Zim is weaker than normal and the Dib is stronger than normal.

But there’s also this scene in particular from the Pilot:

Dib tries to prove that Zim is an alien, gets called crazy and looses it, setting his food launcher to the highest setting and aiming it directly at Zim, fully intending to kill him while not caring about the dozens of his own classmates that are stuck to Zim’s mech suit.

This results in Dib’s plan literally blowing up in his face, destroying the entire cafeteria.

Now I’m not saying that this scene is foreshadowing Zib’s destruction of his own universe, where he kills Zim and finally gets evidence, only for no one to believe him, so he looses it, takes over the Earth and tries to destroy the entire Irken Armada with a massive superweapon, wanting to kill every last irken while not caring about Earth or anyone on it, which blows up in his face and destroys his entire universe, except that’s exactly what I’m saying because this scene parallels it perfectly.

This scene from the Pilot is just Zib’s story on a smaller scale.

There’s also the fact that Pilot Dib is the first ever Dib to ever appear in a meta perspective. He’s the first Dib. Dib #1. Which directly parallels Zib’s title of Number 1 in the Zimvoid.

[ghostorbz]

INVADER ZIM HEADCANONS BECAUSE. YAAAYYYYY

!! some zadr !!

Main characters:

-Irken show affection by entangling their antenna together. So Zim wraps his antenna around Dibs hair spike

-Zim shoplifts candy from the store (and Dibs fridge) other times he gets Gir to steal stuff

-Once Dib ate cup noodles for 3 weeks straight. He hasn't done it since

-Dib still has the snarl beast

-He's also very good at drawing, most of his drawings being of him and Zim

-Dib probably gets dizzy when he stands up too fast

-Gaz and Tak like playing games together, Tak is super bad at them though

-Gaz is really into robotics, that's why Professor Membrane doesn't pressure her into science like he does with Dib. In fact she programmed her "security" plushies all by herself

-Gaz HAS and WILL doxx people

-Gir and MiMi are very lady and the tramp coded

-Gir would be best friends with Jenny Wakeman

-Gir CONSTANTLY steals drinks, not only from people he knows either. Like in a restaurant he will just take a big sip of someones drink and walk away

Other characters:

-Zita is a theater kid, she puts the most effort in school plays compared to everyone else

-Carl has literally anything and everything in his beanie. Need a spare pencil? He's got it. Need a notebook? It's in there. Need a bag of chips? You know he has it. But he won't ever give it to you. Like Pinkie Pie except Carl isn't helpful

-Gretchen actually can tell really good jokes, she just doesn't tell them

-Jessica and Letty are lesbian I swear to god they are

-Poonchy is a lot like Tobias from the amazing world of gumball except maybe a little less mean

-Mr. Elliot is Ms. Bitters son, he likes being around her so he got the same job as her (despite her protests)

-Mr. Dwicky probably killed that guy in the vents. Among us imposter ass

-Miyuki and Sporks tallest uniforms seem to be slightly different than Red and Purples, the slight adjustments are there to prevent Zims monsters from eating them

General:

-Hugs from behind are very beloved since you're basically hugging their PAK which is like, their everything

-Irken relationships are heavily looked down upon until they are officialized

-Tallest DNA is used for reproduction by being put in a lil tube until a smeet develops

-Tallest colors are passed down (I don't reaaally headcanon this but I think it's a cute idea)

(Not super invader zim related, but it's one of my favorite headcanons)

-Alien hominid landed on earth after the Irken empire took over his planet. He really hates Zim

(I DON'T KNOW A LOT ABOUT ALIEN HOMINID so like, sorry if I'm ignoring already established lore idk)

[l-ii-zz]

u are correct about the age thing. it depends which source(s) u use. I think the show bible calls him a kid (but iirc it also says Dib's exact age and last name should never be given and yet we have both in Enter the Florpus), but if u go by lost/unmade eps, iirc the Trial shows that irkens are smeets until they are 10 and then they are adults (and they aren't human so saying "but in human years!" is ridic imo. we don't say "but it human years that would be..." except for our domestic animals, and even then not every person does THAT). if u take Word of God, Jhonen has said Zim is an adult so many times idk why ppl think he's STILL just having a laugh. he's said it's bc he thinks it's funny that a grown ass man would count a Literal Child as his nemesis, and cites the Dennis the Menace comic series. but if u take ONLY what is on screen then it's a mystery and up to interpretation. it's just sort of *shrug emoji*.

The show bible (made by JV btw) calls him a kid, yeah. There's one section of an old magazine talking about the series and describing Zim as a kid too.

Honestly there are a bunch of things that have been told about the IZ universe that doesn't even make sense now. Like yeah, Dib's last name and age, another example would be about the Tallest and the cut thumbs and how this was entirely forgotten/discarded for their new design for the movie.

I also agree with you about the possibility that human and irken age concept could be different from one to the other. We're talking about aliens anyway. Alien society with alien customs and alien ideals and alien culture and alien environment etc etc etc. Who knows? maybe planet Irk rotates/revolves faster that Earth's and by that it would mean that an irken year is way shorter than an earthling year. Nothing in the series can confirm that, yeah, but you cannot either deny that it's a possibility. Hell, even irkens can have another extremely different perspective about maturity

Like, the show itself is so ambiguous about these themes that I don't even understand why people are so stubborn to gatekeep one single concept as the entire truth, even if the show is a whole pile of nonsense that doesn't even try to take itself seriously.

"But JV said this" yeah.... and? not everyone support the "Word of God" thingy. If the final product doesn't give you a clear answer then you are on your right to have different interpretations. Not to mention that the creator is not the only one developing the concepts of a show. There's a whole team behind the show, and behind the team there are different perspectives.

I'll give you one example with another fandom: Cuphead! when fans were speculating about the age of the cupbros (and this was looong before the dlc and animated show's announcement) they asked Studio MDHR (the creators) if the bros were kids or adults. They replied saying that they were "kidults" (adults with childish tastes). But then, another person asked the same question to the writer of Cuphead, and he answered that they were teens! So, in this case, is one answer more valid than the other? I don't think so, 'cause both parts worked for the final product. This is one of the reasons why I don't truly take "Word of God" seriously.

Also, and this is just my opinion btw, even if Zim is a straight up adult, he can still be interpreted as a kid. Because well... he dresses up as a kid, he goes to school, he interacts with other kids, his nemesis is another kid, he has robo parents, he's small like a kid, he behaves like a kid, he sounds like a kid... (WITH ALL THIS ONLY REFERRING TO IZ'S UNIVERSE, I'M NOT SAYING THIS ALSO APPEALS THE REAL WORLD)

"Yeah, but visualizing Zim as a kid triggers me" that's valid, but have you ever thought that other people can also feel triggered by visualizing Zim as adult? Because well.. some people can feel uncomfortable with the thought of a straight up adult fighting a kid and pretending to be one, even if it's just comedy.

Can't we all.. stop gatekeeping and let everyone interpret fiction however the heck we want without pointing each other and talking shit to each other? I know it's too much to ask, but wouldn't be nice to respect the fact that no one will think the same way you do? (NOT SPECICALLY TO YOU ANON, ALL QUESTIONS ARE RETORIC, LOL).

It's just so absurd to me, we're talking about fiction. Why are we fighting for the age of a character that doesn't even exist? We're going coconuts.

It's more fun to create headcanons and aus, I prefer doing that instead of fighting nonsense.

As you said, dear anon: *Shrug emoji*

[koichi-nomura]

WOY X Invader ZIM crossover

(I’m sorry this is more Irken lore than crossover content I’d love to hear other ideas, scroll to the bottom for my story conclusions)

I haven’t thought on this in a while but what’d make a crossover like this so interesting is it’s a 100% canon fact that Irkens physically cannot experience love (or friendship).

Anyway the tones of both shows are so different that it’s pretty hard to imagine, these are the hypothetical ways they would cross over;

1 ZIM is in the woy galaxy for one reason or another. There’s actually so much potential and the “when” and “how” for defeating Zim would depend on a lot of factors. The only potential way of getting a more Wander-y outcome is if it’s possible to reprogram Zim’s pak, Irkens are essentially a race of organic robots, their bodies are grown separate from them in test tubes until birth, what’s actually them is the Pak, so each of them has specific programming, one universally programmed trait being an inability to love. (I’m sure on some level their bodies are them but they can be detached completely from them and re-attach to a different vessel). “But why would he leave earth? Doesn’t he just stay there all the time?” No bro go read the comics.

2 Zim and Dib are in the woy galaxy for one reason or another (Dib followed him there). If nobody in woy knew anything about Irkens Dib could at least be the one to get them up to speed, this is the more fun option imo. Once again there’s so much potential. Also I’m referring to comic Dib, Ik early show Dib might just want to get more proof of aliens but there’s a whole comic where Dib tries to stop Zim from hurting this one race of aliens.

3 The just-for-fun idea of the Irken armada traveling through the woy galaxy. Depending on their goals I’m not even sure they could stop them. The Irken armada is absolutely massive (hence the name of their head ship; The Massive) and in the ZIM universe it seems like there’s no use in anyone fighting back against them. In the most recent iterations they just fly around literally destroying anything in their path, so I imagine it’d just be that, and any planet the shoot actually would be doomed, Ik Dominator hollowed out planets and stole the magma at their cores or whatever but she didn’t exactly destroy them, there’s more than one example of the Irkens just disintegrating planets.

4 woy cast comes to earth?? Kinda boring tbh, they’d have to end up in space at some point.

Some of my favorite ZIM comics involved Dib following Zim somewhere far out in space, way more fun than on-earth adventures, that’s the ultimate crossover option.

And Ik there’s people like “nu-uh Zim can feel love!! He’s built different!!” But I think the examples of that are either

1. An unreliable comic writer (like a guest or someone infrequent and less familiar),

2. a display of liking his robots (or any little side inanimate object) more as possessions/something useful than anything, or

3. an example from the cartoon/early episodes that by now would be retconned. (In one or two examples it’s just Zim projecting his self-obsession onto an inanimate object).

I also know a lot of people base their arguments for Zim’s supposed ability to love on things like the Trial and how Zim is “broken” but nothing actually indicates that he can love because of that, if anything it’s just that he has some sort of incurable virus/mental illness. The concept that “Zim is outcast because he can love people” is a very fanon one, he’s outcast because he manages to be worse than everyone else and cause a ridiculous amount of calamity within they’re own empire and even on their home planet. (Also aspects of a few of the lost episodes are absolutely retconned by the comics, like how Zim’s Pak can be removed but it’s more like a life support device than his entire and sole being.) “why would we trust the comics instead of the original series?” They came like 15-20 years later shut up.

Honestly I can tell it’d probably be hard to write Zim in the woy verse,I actually think he’d have more beef with Hater or Dominator than Wander and that Wander would have to be pretty persistent, Zim is like weirdly nice sometimes (there’s a difference between nice and kind, and that and love, nice doesn’t mean they care.) so in the case of Wander he could be nice, dismissive, annoyed, or try to use his eagerness to help for some dumb plan that isn’t outwardly evil. Zim can be more complicated than people tend to think, I don’t think he’d jump straight to “annoyed and ready to kill” depending on the circumstances, im sure part of this would depend on Dib and what he’s doing. This is actually more complicated than I thought bc depending on what he’s doing Zim might not even come off as a villain in need of redemption, they’d probably have to meet a couple times and/or stumble upon him trying to do something evil.

[messinwitheddie]

When did commander Poki tag along to join Mem? Who else from their empire joined her?

Has any of the male tallest impregnated the shot females? Do they keep them comfy in the tallest chambers or do the service drones keep tabs?

Poki "I ran into Zim by accident when I went searching for my missing blood blade team members.*

Prior to this, the last time I saw Zim was on conventia.*

Zim and I lived together for a while; a year or so. He's a pariah, so I had to house him in secret. She went by Xeem for for a while. That was a fun year.

Zim brought me to earth as a plus one for a human mate unification celebration being thrown for his favorite Dib-monkey. What did they call it? A wed-ding? We had to wear nice gowns and fancy lace gloves, but the bar was bottomless and the humans were an entertaining bunch, so I can't complain. Actually, that wed-ding celebration was one of the funnest nights of my life...

We parted ways shortly after that. Zim decided to stay behind on Earth for a while. He never said why... Something told me I had done something or said something wrong, but I had no idea what and I didn't want to risk the comradery between us to ask or argue.

I had to return to my post or risk getting in trouble for abandoning my encoded occupation.

I kept asking around for leads and diligently watched the news stream for any clues about my blade team. The second my pub manager approved of it, I took time off to start my search again. I eventually found my missing blood blade teammates on the far outskirts of the foodcourtia system. Turns out my ladied were being held captive by Resisty rouges.*

To make a long story short, I attempted to rescue them from the resisty ship, but I underestimated them. My ladies and I ended up crash landing on Mem's planet trying to shake them off our trail. My cruiser's point of impact was a twenty day march away from the others, but we eventually reuinted again.

That's when I met that glorious battlefield of a woman... wish I had known her centuries ago."

*Poki was on a competitive blood blade team with Tak, Tenn, Yeet and their blade-leader, Zee. They showed up for practice one season and the only other teammate not on the public MIA drone list was Yeet.

*Poki, at the time the events of the 18YL au begins, has been demoted from Commander to a service drone because of drunkenness on duty. They work at a shady pub on Conventia as a tap drone (bartender).

Poki's alcoholism began in her early days as an elite soldier under late Lich's reign. They suffered abuse and several traumatic experiences because of their superior co-invader, Ziss, during Operation Stealthy Doom (invaders were sent to enemy planets in pairs then) She became a Commander after operation SD during Miyuki's reign.

So far, the list of Irkens who take refuge on Mem's mystery planet are Tak, Tenn, Zee, Floog and Larb. Skoodge ends up stranded there a little while, but leaves with one of Mem's daughters, Skathe.

Ooh! Didn't answer the second part of the question.

Very rarely is a male tallest able to sire a swarm of his own. They have fertility issues too. (Sometimes they can't form a *sqwak. Others could, but their sqwak "lacks potency" or they're afraid their sqwak might be too long and literally impale a short drone. How attentive they are to their birthing drones depends on the tallest. Some barely interact with their birthing drones at all. They assign service drones and medical drones to tend to them. Others treated their birthing drones like a loving human husband would treat their wife and shower them with attention and perks.

*sqwak; a temporary, sharp-ended appendage that forms in irken males during mating seasons. Sqwaks break off after successfully penetraiting a females shmizz (a fleshy layer on the irken pelvic floor that forms a temporary uterus after being peirced by a sqwak.

Yes, if done improperly, mating for Irkens can be painful and cause death.

[amyisherenowitsokay]

so tumblr wouldn't let me ask w/o an account so here i am-

so. hi. listen. i need to know. because i read re:mhny and a BEAUTIFUL Chekhov's gun stared me in the face just waiting to be fired??i think??- please tell me the control brains will have a role in re:mhny 3/4??? bc you're the only person i'd trust to do the concept justice and i understand if it's too late in your planning to play with but like, idk pls take my poor ideas perhaps you could be inspired-

wouldn't the control brains imply that irkens are a slave race? imagine Gaz having the AUDACITY of saying this to the Tallest, or Dib of all people not only learns of those specific dark facts (brains as overseers, irkens are grown not bred, pak holds so much more than gear, their minds, memories, abilities etc), comes to the realization, and it rips a chunk out of his view on irkens? or he looks at Zim with pity? in horror?

or something more interesting. The Control Brains use Zim's PAK against him. Zim doesn't realize, because he isn't the ''system administrator''. Maybe he's controlled, or thoughts/memories edited? Dib notices the subtle quirks, the loss in personality, Gaz notices the unnervingly nonsapient differences? Until Zim removes it for maintenance. Imagine the slowly dawning visceral terror as it hits him that he's much more aware, awake, alert without it drugging him? but- disconnection pens the 10 minute death warrant. I doubt he could constantly dis/reconnect, either.

oh yeah, first idea that hit me and i had to tell you- The Control Brains calculated the danger of Zim coming anywhere near the position of the Tallest. It's an objective fact such an outcome must be prevented. (if the irken race is slavery sanitized, perfection via calculating precision-free will is an illusion-, then leaders are knowingly produced. How else would the status quo be kept?) The Tallest know this. Zim knows this. Thus, not only the Tallest, but the Control Brains, must be removed. How, if murdering Zim where he stands is the automatic consequence for the thought? Easy, til the end. Deactivate the kill-switch. Pull the literal plug. Ten minutes to win.

Alternatively, with less 'me-editing-while-i-type-these-ideas-out-to-sound-coherent/add-more/sales-pitching-you':

Gaz stands where Zim once stood, staring at the irregularly sized and scattered crimson lenses of the Control Brains. There's a clarity that she's lost track of the remaining minutes.

Oho! Oho ho! Delighted! So delighted at fan theories ohoho!

I'm still MAD hungover from a lovely thanksgiving but I've long since honed the ability to type and not look at a screen so here we gooo.

SPOILERS/TEASERS UNDER THE CUT

First off, just to get it out of the way, I don't have any intention of trying to make a 4th Re:MHNY addition, mostly because of how my initial attempt at the 4th addition was so heavily entrenched in peer pressure and other ick. I won't go into it, but essentially, the series is going to stay a trilogy. We stan a trilogy.

The Control Brains are not going to rear their lil bulbous heads anytime soon, but I can confirm they're going to be in Re:MHNY3, as are the Tallest. I am most excited to redo the relationship between the Tallest and Zim.

The Irken Armada in fics as a whole is usually treated as a stepping stool for Zim to be King of the Hill, or for his Hero's Journey Redemption Arc. Which, don't get me wrong, some of my favorite fics have Zim end as a Tallest or Zim end as hero of Earth, but I personally HC something else that's going to be gently established as the story continues. I am still warring with the final cleanup, but I DO know some of it.

For your initial question, yes, absolutely. I think it might be canon (?) that the Irkens are a slave race, but don't quote me on that, brain is dehydrated and crispy. Regardless, for me, yes, I do think of the Irkens as enslaved, but heavily propagandized not to notice. According to them, they're not slaves, they're soldiers, when in fact they're both.

Gaz's 'audacity' in particular is a theme I'm looking forward to writing, and have actively already brainstormed. I do intend for Gaz to end up meeting the Tallest again, but unlike the original MHNY, you'll note that the Tallest are far less favorable to Zim at the end of the first story. They don't look at him with awe and admiration as they did in the original. They don't even know he has a mate, and that information is deliberately kept from them. They treat him with disdain, and Gaz notices and loathes it. They're not besties, they're dictators speaking to a subordinate they'd prefer was dead, and since he's been disillusioned, Zim knows that. The really fun thing about Re:MHNY is Zim doesn't have to imagine what Gaz does when face-to-face with someone with as much Absolute Authority(tm) as a Tallest. He's already seen it. Have a blurb from Re: 3!

It's not a question of "can you imagine how they'd react?" because Zim already knows. He's counting on it and accounting for it. And that's going to be the fun part!

Now onto Dib! I can't say too much without actually spoiling Re:2 actually, but I can say that Dib IS going to find out more about Irken culture than Zim ever wanted to him to know. He brought up multiple time to Gaz in Re:MHNY how much he really doesn't want Dib to understand or know Irken business the way she does. The curtain being pulled back for Gaz doesn't mean the offer extends to her sibling, but Dib's never been one to know when to keep himself out of other people's business. How he does so is where I'll let the mystery sit.

Regarding Zim being beaten up by a CB, or in some way ctrl + alt + deleted, I borrow a lot of my lore from unpublished episodes too, including The Trial. It's therefore my HC that the Control Brains themselves can't touch Zim, and have in fact been infected to view him favorably. I'll go more into what happened in Re:3, and what attempts were made to fix any errors Zim caused, but the events of that unpublished episode are important enough to keep in mind when I get around to writing it. At this point though, the Armada has become afraid to try to destroy Zim without the CB's on their side. It's best for everyone if Zim is dead, but they'll settle for keeping him as far away from Irk and their leaders as possible, and keep humoring him to make sure he doesn't want to leave, which is where the end of MHNY: Re lands.

Brain is now slushie but I hope that tickles your fancy. Tysm for making a whole account just to share your enthusiasm about the direction of Re's future installments with me. I love and cherish every single one of my ao3/ff comments, but tumblr let's me go on monologues like this/gives me a place to upload teasers/art whenever I want to satisfy my readers during fic update gaps. Your username made me laugh audibly, but before you delete your account, I'd recommend perusing through my blog here if you're looking for more teasers.

[killed-the4rtisan]

This is about Space/Dib

Basically, they’re enemies turned friends turned lovers, they do real sappy and cute stuff

In the beginning, Space was literally out on the streets being homeless, cause how he got to Earth was by crash landing in a ship he was held in. He was really young, and survived. He knew staying around the ship would lead him to more trouble so he ran till now. Where he’s still running and getting by via stealing food or whatever he can get his hands on.

This is till he’s able to get set up in school. Weird stuff happens and he’s able to go there, at least a while till he either wants or has to leave again. He gets up his human form as best he could, the eyes he couldn’t change so he just walks in with sunglasses. As he steps in class, he instantly notices the weird alien. He knows that’s an irken, he’s seen them before.

He just ignores the irkens bad disguise and sits in the back. But one kid is watching him, actively. It’s a kid in the front with the huge head that’s looking at him suspiciously. Space is able to ignore this, through most of the day. He finds out their names are Zim and Dib. He ignored Dib and mostly had his sight on Zim. Since as he was sitting in class half paying attention, he got a bright idea.

He’d get the irken to take him back to his home planet. He’d be home safe and sound, with his own kind. Not on the dirty stink planet called Earth. So with this in mind he’s able to get him and Zim alone, or that’s what he mostly wants.

Dib is always there, spying. So the next best thing Space had was to speak to the irken in his native tongue. He half hoped it would work, since he knew irkens didn’t speak the areas Earth language, and it did. They spoke about how the moggie wanted out, how the irken didn’t want another alien on this planet.

They shook on a deal, the irken would get Space home and Space wouldn’t do anything to stop his invasion. Zim invited Space to stay at his place, so to keep an eye on him. He agreed and as they left school he went to the base with him. Dib would always be behind, and was so confused on how the new kid was able to get into Zims base to easily. And why he could speak a language that was so different from theirs.

Dib would obviously think it’s an alien, but he acted too human. Other than, mostly eating meat and, fish. Dib would just decide that Space would be put in an off category, without any other place to put him. Cause he was weird and didn’t fit in, like him.

This continued for months, but in between would Dib try and speak to Space only for Zim to shove him away. Space knew too much already, so him spilling the irkens secrets to the stink would be hindering. So Space stayed away from Dib for as long he could.

Space hated Dib, but this wasn’t either of their fault. Zim had been telling him that Dib was slowing the process of Space getting home. Since Space hated Dib, Dib hated him back. Space wouldn’t give Dib the time of day, or any answer to his questions.

This would continue, Space waiting for Zim to take him out of this shithole and blame it on Dib for it not going fast enough. The wait would be days, to weeks, then to months. Then as years went, so did school.

During highschool Space would find out that Zim just didn’t want to get Space home. He was just using him as a second set of hands and to keep Gir out of things. This has him leave Zims place, out of anger and hurt that this would happen. Gir would be there, obviously cause they had become attached to the moggie. Space didn’t care, he was just hurt, and it would take a great big apology.

Space had to find refuge, and sadly that would be with Dib. Dib had his fun with making Space give up information, but the catch Space had was it had to only be about himself, cause he still hoped Zim would get him home. Dib would then have his fill of information on Space, where he came from, and what he was. Space wasn’t able to lie, that well. So the truth always came out wether he liked it or not. After that, Space was able to stay at Dibs place, choosing to sleep on the couch rather then in anyone’s room.

Obviously Dib would see Spaces actual form he was most comfortable in, it was just surprising that Dib didn’t jump him and start poking him. During his stay they would speak, normally to each other. Dib would later question why Space hated him when he did nothing, he would answer with what Zim had been saying. They would have a truce, and would try and be civil with each other.

The apology did come sooner or later. Zim had to over do it for Space to accept his apology, but this would only scratch the surface on why Zim didn’t do anything. Space was able to return to Zims base since there was room there anyway. Since he had no bad feelings toward Dib, they were able to become fast friends. All the way to graduation and past.

Space and Dib were able to hang out more now that there wasn’t anything to keep them away from each other. Sooner enough Space would start to get, feelings for Dib. He didn’t know what to do, so for a while he just waited for the feeling to die down. But it obviously didn’t. He had to get his feelings out, so one day he just walked up to Dib and said

‘I think I like you. Wanna be my boyfriend?’

Dib is obviously surprised, and definitely flustered about the question. He says yes though, and Space is happy. Turns out that ever since they actually became friends Dib had started catching feeling for him almost instantly. They laugh about it, and then they start becoming lovey dovey. Zim is just annoyed about the whole thing.

That’s it, the end. They’re like in their 20s at this point

[hamsamwich23]

Twenty ref

Tw for: electrocution, heavy injuries, heavy scars, implied experiments/dissection, burns. If I forget anything please let me know

I was gonna make Daisy's ref first, however I really like my oc, and, although I wanted to be careful due to certain people trying to copy off of him (and if they copy off of anything here I'll have evidence) I also feel I should be able to show him to you all. So without further speaking, let's begin

Twenty (formerly Zimaki of dimension 2020) is a sixteen year old hybrid who was experimented on from the beginning of his existance. His dimension was destroyed when he was thirteen and has been living on Earth 100.5 for almost 3 years. He lives with his sister Kai (who's owned by my friend Kido!!)

Twenty's own appearance isn't actually caused by the curse, not fully at least. It's a result of what experiments were done on him. Which was mainly the empire combining his DNA with an extinct species (which I am still working on)

this is from my friend @we-dont-talk-about-kido-nonono :] (their old tumblr is here, I gotta link their new acc)

A more recent image of Twenty's face with the four eyes done by @/elysiblu (and another few images from the same person :] )

This was something I commissioned someone for!! By @/goldenkingyo !!!!

Body reference for Twenty:

Head + Neck:

Twenty's hair is REAL, unlike Zims which is very obviously a wig. It started growing when he was about seven. And it is, very fluffy

Twenty is supposed to have four eyes. The two he's originally drawn with here (that's on me because I'm inconsistent with design but what I'm typing ARE the final designs. I'm done with changing Twenty's around too). His two first eyes look humanish, with pink iris's. The two eyes below his are supposed to be much smaller than his original eyes. With red iris's and the sclera being black.

His right eyes are shown to have a burn mark around them, followed by a scar on the first eye (the original one)

There's also the scar on the side of his face as shown as well.

There's also a scar that goes all around his neck (left their by an shock collar that was used during physical based experiments)

The nose doesn't actually look like a nose, as seen here. Not too much anyways

The antennas are fuzzy and have a slighter hint of pink on the tips

His teeth are sharp, sharper than irkens zipper teeth

The tongue literally looks like a worm:

Like I can't make that up, literally.

Arms + hands:

Woah mate this dude has four arms!!! But the bottom pair of arms is optional and retractable

The hands and arms have this design on them, that reach up to his elbows (I literally pulled these from Pinterest, I have no idea WHAT that first one leads too I just hope it isn't smut/lh)

His arms are covered in scars, which are usually wrapped in bandages if he isn't wearing his signature hoodie (his new one, he has to give the old one to Scout since it wasn't for someone with four arms. So now they have Anti-Irken hoodies to match each other :])

The scars on his arms glow and are, strangely, all capable of glowing different colors. It's a faint glow that's only noticable during night in dark areas.

His hands all only have three fingers on them. And they're all clawed, as shown

There are also scars all over his hands. Which is why he wears the fingerless gloves. But there are also scars on his fingers as well (he loves feeling the texture of certain things, so he likes to have his fingers unhidden)

Body/torso:

Twenty's body type is at a healthier level, due to him occasionally working out whenever he wishes to (he has a gym membership and enjoys physical activities...when it's not part of an experiment), he's definitely not into sports though, nor is he super muscular. He's actually slim but with some muscle.

He is 5'5, four inches taller than Scout.

His entire body is covered in autospy scars, burns, and stitch scars from his experiences in labs with scientists. Luckily these are all decently healing. Although the burns might be more recent, due to the rainwater being toxic to his species, and being able to burn his skin

He has tattoos!!! Provided by Nick. So far he has one on his chest (where his "heart" is), that is a symbol for himself and Scout. And there is another one on his right shoulder for the Anti-Irken/rebellion symbol. There's another one that's on the left side of his stomach that's his own reminder of his mother figure from dimension 2020 (aka, Tallest Miyuki), and it's a picture of her face with the words "Rest In Peace' besides it.

He has a PAK, which is a storage tool, a weapon kit, and a lifeline all at once. The basic concept with the lifeline being "an irken only has ten minutes left before they die and the pak has to find a new host", as the pak is TECHNICALLY the brain of the irken. And once the host body dies it will seek out another. so they die, but they don't die at the same time.

(theoretically, Twenty can live without the pak. But he doesn't wish to test that theory out at the moment)

A PAK looks like this, except Twenty's is a bit bigger, due to him being taller than canon. And the circles are more of a brighter pink. With the top light being black

Twenty does NOT have sex organs (no nips, or reproductive organs. Or an ass), in all seriousness. His species is asexual and creates offsprings via cloning blood and DNA.

He also has a tail!!! Again as seen. The tail is all black, but the end of it has a red tip. It's quite soft.

Legs:

He does not have robotic limbs. His legs are very much real

His thighs, legs and feet are all covered In scars, and small burns.

His legs also have a similar pattern to what's on his arms. It starts at the feet and goes up to below his knees. The scars on there also glow different colors

The feet only have two toes and they're clawed. And somehow they aid to help him hang from high up places (aka the fucking ceiling, at three am for no fucking reason other than to terrify any poor individual who is also awake)

Preferred outfits:

Twenty's default outfit is just a Zip up hoodie (made for people with four arms) with a shirt underneath, a pair of black shorts and a pair of combat boots. Along with dark grey fingerless gloves. The back of the hoodie has the Anti-Irken symbol in pink.

He is also quite fashionable and enjoys wearing a lot of alt sort of fashions (admittedly enjoys the "e-boy' or emo aesthetic as well). And also just enjoys casual things. He isn't very picky about clothing (unless it's too bright for his taste. He doesn't like wearing certain colors)

Random facts dump!!

He is an incredible cook

He eats bugs and spiders

He's quite good at video games AND card battle games (like a certain card game series included here)

He knows how to drive a car (it's a lot easier than driving a space cruiser, he's found

He also loves sweet things

Unlike irkens he CAN eat meat.

He's also the one who made the puppets robotic legs (as he's had experience with advanced tech)

He also makes inventions that can make people's lives more convenient (however he has not shared this to the public)

His blood is hot pink

He's TRANS (ftm)

I apologize if this seems more rushed than before, I've been a bit sick today but I really wanted to get this done!! If there's anything that needs fixing I will come back to it. Thank you so much for looking!

(I also give anyone permission to draw him....but if anyone sees any questionable fanart of him being released, especially on my birthday it is VITAL that you let me know immediately)

Edited: this is what I imagine what the anti irken symbol would look like (except it's not horribly edited like this)

[duckapus]

Nicktoons: Fractureverse

An idea based on FusionFall.

The Mawgu somehow returns, seeking revenge on the nine (technically eleven but for some reason Cosmo and Wanda don’t count as separate from Timmy for the purposes of the prophecy) Chosen Heroes who defeated him on Volcano Island. To that end, he tears the space-time continuum asunder, linking their worlds and many others (so every Nickelodeon universe I can think of) with unstable portals called Fractures, and then exploits the ensuing chaos to stage an invasion. He manages to do a lot of damage, most notably conquering Bikini Bottom and transforming it into his new base of operations, causing Fairy World to crash-land in the desert just outside of Retroville (it’s still mostly intact but it’s stuck on the ground afterwards), and stealing about 40% of the Irken Empire, but is met with resistance far sooner than he anticipated.

It turns out that Jimmy was aware of the possibility of the Mawgu escaping and had been working on countermeasures, creating weapons specifically designed to destroy his ooze’s unique chemical makeup and sap the energy his true self consists of. They’re not enough to defeat him outright, not yet, but for now they’re enough to turn this into a war instead of a slaughter. It also helps that the Mawgu’s powers don’t work well on machines (and that he doesn’t really understand them, though the Irkens now under his control do mitigate that somewhat), and that he’s somehow developed a weakness to weaponized ectoplasm. By contrast, his presence (and probably the whole shattering spacetime thing) now severely weakens Fairy magic, hence the quite literal Fall of Fairy World.

A war as unconventional as this requires an unconventional army, and one is formed by the various heroes and altruistic oddballs of the newly dubbed Fractureverse, as well as their allies, a handful of their enemies who can see the writing on the wall, and anyone else willing to step up and help. They call it the United Dimensional Defense Force, or UDDF, and its main headquarters is in a newly built part of Dimmsdale called Dry Atlantis, which is where most of the Bikini Bottom refugees are staying. As you’d expect, the actual Nicktoons team (particularly the Chosen Nine) end up as key players in the war, with Timmy in particular somehow ending up as the leader of the entire UDDF.

And then, of course there’s the villains. While a few of them either joined the UDDF or are still acting on their own, most of them have joined the Syndicate. However, there’s been a divide there. The New Syndicate, led by Plankton, have decided to put aside their antagonism for now and cooperate with the UDDF while remaining a mostly independent faction, seeing the Mawgu as a greater threat to their plans (and lives) than the heroes could ever be. The much smaller Old Syndicate, led by Professor Calamitous, were unwilling and/or unable to curb their ego and ambition, and are trying to exploit the war for their own ends. Interestingly, despite the name, Calamitous is the only one of the four founding members of the original Evil Syndicate to be part of the Old Syndicate, with Crocker serving as Plankton’s head of R&D and Vlad being too busy as the mayor of one of the Mawgu’s biggest targets to join anyone, though he has been financially and politically supporting the UDDF, and supplying the NS with his ghost research and knockoff Fenton Tech. Also the GIW isn’t working with anybody since the NS and UDDF have ghosts on staff and aren’t even remotely willing to hand them over, the OS is literally a war profiteering criminal organization, and they’re too Xenophobic and patriotic to even entertain the idea of betraying earth and siding with the Mawgu, which is good for them considering they’d either get turned into puppets or just destroyed. The Irken Empire isn’t getting involved (aside from a few individuals like Zim, Tak and Skoodge) despite the heavy loss they were dealt because Red and Purple, as per usual, don’t give a shit.

[random-iz-stuff]

Analysis of an analysis of a headcanon:

This is a continuation of this post and this post, so you might want to read them first.

Number 2 isn’t the only Zim that abandoned his moral code. There’s another one that canonically abandoned his moral code that Zim actually met, being predictably disgusted by what he sees.

And his name is Emperor Zim.

Emperor Zim is an alternate version of Zim from an unknown amount of time in the future (we are never given an exact time, so I’m going to headcanon and assume that it’s anywhere from one to ten years in the future) that successfully took over earth. Our Zim encountered him when he and Dib accidentally travelled to the future in issue 12 of the comics.

Now, Zim has a strict personal moral code that he follows. This moral code is why he doesn’t kill people that he considers “worthy opponents”, like Dib, who he purposely goes easy on, and Tak, who he willingly spared at the end of Tak; The Hideous New Girl.

To Zim, this moral code is considered more important than the traditional need for efficiency and perfection that irkens have. All Zims, even the alternate Zims in the Zimvoid, have this moral code and they all view it as one of the most important parts of themselves. Without the moral code, they just aren’t Zim.

Number 2 in the Zimvoid, however, abandoned this moral code. It started with killing Tak instead of sparing her, which quickly led to stealing her tech, editing Gir and his Voot and breaking irken law. And when he entered the Zimvoid, he got even worse. A single slip up in the upholding of his moral code (killing Tak) is all it took for him to start going down a slippery slope towards the complete loss of all morals, until he became something that was only Zim in name and appearance.

Now let’s look at Emperor Zim. He definitely hasn’t stooped down to the level of depravity of Number 2, but he also definitely can’t be recognized as Zim anymore and shows behavioural traits that he shares with no other Zim but Number 2.

First of all, what sets Emperor Zim apart from the other alternate Zims? Well, he conquered earth of course, but the real question is how he did it.

We’re never shown exactly what he did to conquer earth, but we can get a vague idea from one bit of evidence:

Emperor Zim views Current Zim’s plans as stupid (which most of them are), meaning that he obviously realized that his plans weren’t getting him anywhere and managed to improve upon them. As a result, his successful plan must have been an actual, well thought through plan.

Now, in order to understand what sets Emperor Zim apart, we must first talk about Zim’s current plans and how they connect back to his moral code.

Zim’s plans have obvious flaws. In Future Dib, he uses a human operating system. In Room With a Moose, he gives the wormhole he sent Dib’s class to a way out. Etc. These things are obvious flaws that Zim very obviously had to willingly put in. He had to willingly learn how to use a human operating system to use it in Future Dib. He had to willingly give that wormhole two exits, one of which returns home, in Room With a Moose. Etc.

And Zim is fully capable of creating plans with no flaws, as seen in episodes like The Wettening and Dib’s Wonderful Life of Doom. Hell, even some of his other plans like Big Bad Rubber Piggy show this, as his plans in those episodes have no flaws apart from Zim not accounting for outside forces that he had no way of knowing about (Dib gaining cybernetics in Big Bad Rubber Piggy for example).

And the reason for that is Dib. Zim respects Dib as a rival and worthy opponent and goes easy on him, both in fights and in his plans, not using weapons or his literal military training against Dib in fights and putting purposeful flaws in his plans that Dib can use to have an actual fighting chance against him.

His revenge plans and plans he makes when he believes he’s in danger are the more dangerous and effective ones because they’re not the plans he normally makes where he tries to give Dib a fighting chance and tries to put the two of them on equal ground. Zim doesn’t care about giving Dib an equal fight in what he believes is a genuine life or death situation, and the same can be said for when he wants to teach Dib a lesson through petty means.

Emperor Zim’s divergent moment and the first part of the Zim Moral Code that he broke was that he refused to do this. He views Current Zim’s plans that give Dib an equal chance as stupid. When Emperor Zim took over earth, he removed all the possible flaws and made it so Dib legitimately couldn’t do anything to stop him because he’s an earth child that doesn’t understand 99.9% of alien everything. He used an irken operating system, he removed all structural flaws, he refused to go easy on Dib and treated him not like a worthy rival, but like an easily pushed-aside obstacle. When Dib did confront him, he refused to lower himself to Dib’s level and fought him like a proper irken soldier going against a human child. Zim easily captured Dib and locked him up, eventually having him die chained to the wall of a prison, most likely from starvation.

This goes against Zim’s moral code in two ways. First, it goes against Zim’s whole “fight my worthy opponents fairly” thing, going against Dib without giving him so much as a chance against him.

Secondly and far more importantly, he killed a rival in a way in which they could not fight back in any way, literally having Dib die while chained to a wall. This is a big part of Zim’s moral code, shown by the fact that he almost always refuses to kill Dib in anything but elaborate schemes in which he has a chance to fight back and willingly spared Tak instead of shooting her while she was spinning out and defenceless. And judging by how the first thing Emperor Zim does upon capturing our Dib is chain him up in the same prison to suffer the same fate, he doesn’t regret his decisions.

It’s also worth noting that killing a rival when they have no way of defending themselves is also Number 2’s divergent moment and the beginning of their descent into depravity, as his divergent moment was killing Tak when her ship was disabled and defenceless at the end of Tak; The Hideous New Girl.

But Emperor Zim went further then that. After conquering earth, he made heavy changes to Gir, making him into a glorified slave called Girt.

This alone is a crime in the eyes of a Zim. No Zim would willingly do this except for one; Number 2, who, after killing Tak and stealing her technology, fused Gir and Mimi and made Gir into a proper Sir Unit by doing so.

Emperor Zim also shows a willingness to break irken law that only Number 2 shares. As for what law he’s breaking; his shoes.

Emperor Zim wears high-heel boots to make himself seem much taller. High-heel and platform shoes are banned by the empire for that exact reason. Emperor Zim wearing those shoes was the final straw for our Zim, who killed his alternate self by kicking off a cliff into a planetary engine upon this discovery, so it’s pretty safe to assume that most Zims respect this part of irken law and would never willingly wear this sort of illegal clothing.

Number 2 also shows this disregard for irken law. Mostly the laws regarding inventions and discoveries that Zim holds so dear, but there’s also a good chance that his extra height compared to the other Zims is because he also wears shoes designed to make himself look taller. It may also involve his stolen holographic disguise.

And finally, Emperor Zim shows no respect towards those that a normal Zim would show respect towards. Most notably, himself.

All Zims in the Zimvoid hold some level of respect towards one another since they’re all Zims. Because of this, deaths in the Zimvoid colosseum are actually pretty rare, as the Zim’s fighting in it often refuse to kill each other because they all view each other as worthy opponents, instead attempting to knock each other unconscious or render each other unable to fight in any way that isn’t completely lethal.

Even our Zim shows this, as upon entering the future that Emperor Zim resides in, he immediately wants to rule by the side of his future self. Not take over or replace his future self, but rule by his side. Zim clearly shows that he immensely respects his future self’s accomplishments, and only goes against his future self when he starts showing evidence of going against his moral code.

Meanwhile, Emperor Zim shows no respect for his past self and just wants to get rid of him, insulting his plans and shoving him into an empty room when he gets the chance.

This disrespect towards those that Zim normally holds respect towards doesn’t make sense until you realize that Emperor Zim already abandoned his moral code, and the part involving respecting those that he considers worthy opponents (ie: Dib, Tak and himself) was the first thing to go. He abandoned that part the second he refused to do easy on Dib and left him to die chained to a wall.

Emperor Zim definitely hasn’t fell down to the level of Number 2, but he still isn’t recognizable as a Zim anymore, and we don’t even need to assume that because our Zim says it himself.

Our Zim literally calls Emperor Zim “Un-Zim-like” as they fight. Our Zim fully recognizes that Emperor Zim got to where he is by abandoning his moral code, and he hates him for it. Meanwhile, Emperor Zim calls our Zim “young and stupid”, insulting his past self’s willingness to uphold and follow his moral code because in the eyes of Emperor Zim, that moral code is a stupid and pointless thing that only holds them back.

But the thing is; Emperor Zim is right.

The only Zims that have ever successfully conquered the earth are Emperor Zim and Number 2 (or at least Number 2 would have if Zib didn’t interfere). Emperor Zim and Number 2 are also the only Zims that abandoned their moral codes.

Number 2 (almost) won after he abandoned his moral code and killed Tak, quickly slipping towards the complete loss of his moral code as time went on and he committed more actions that went against his moral code. Even when he was brought to the Zimvoid, he quickly became the top Zim, second only to Zib.

Emperor Zim won after he abandoned his moral code and stopped going easy on Dib, eventually capturing and killing him via starvation, loosing even more of his morals as time went on. Although he never got as bad as number 2.

And Emperor Zim doesn’t just conquer the earth. He does the literal impossible and gets the approval of his Tallest, doing so by attempting to cut the earth in two and make it into a giant snack bowl for the Tallest. I repeat: Emperor Zim got his Tallest’s approval. The Tallest seem genuinely excited for their planet sized snack bowl, not only complimenting Zim for it and hollowing out a moon and filling it with dip to go with the snack bowl, but actually being the ones that initiate a call with Zim. I repeat: Emperor Zim doesn’t call the Tallest, the Tallest call HIM.

Zim’s moral code is the only thing preventing him from taking over earth, as it forces him to fight Dib on equal ground. Without that moral code, Zim could easily accomplish whatever he wants, but the loss of his moral code also results in the loss of himself. Emperor Zim is a cruel asshole who sinks lower than Zim is willing to go and Number 2 is a power hungry murderer who will kill anyone and do anything to accomplish his goals. Both are willing to break irken laws that no other Zim would willingly break.

And even a single slip up in upholding this moral code (in Number 2’s case, killing Tak while she was defenceless and in Emperor Zim’s case, refusing to give Dib an equal fight, eventually capturing and killing Dib via starvation) can quickly send Zim down a slippery slope towards the complete and permanent loss of his moral code, which is something that Zim is aware of.

Zim’s moral code is the one thing standing in his way of conquering the earth, but Zim absolutely hates the person he becomes without it. Emperor Zim is a cruel, un-zimlike asshole and Number 2 is a complete monster.

Zim would rather loose over and over again if THAT the cost of victory.

[ask-zadr]

So... I was not in your blog when you started, so I know it's late, but at least I have an excuse for only now talking about what I don't personally get. I hope I am not gonna be a jerk about it, because I don't want to: There was a storyline about Zim used to not wanting to have a girl, which I don't think it makes any sense, unless some back-story is behind it in this AU. I mean, I get it what it was going for: Showing Zim is still a flawed individual and he has to overcome some of his personal demons to be mature to be a parent is a great concept and I think the excution was had effort put into it, but I don't think sexism is a character-flaw that should have been the one you choose for him, because it not only doesn't make sense for his character, it doesn't make sense for the Irken race as a whole. Gender literally doesn't matter to them: They treat them equally in their society. They also wear clothes solely based on their jobs and all of them can be anything. The thing they discriminate by is height and the view other races as inferior. And Zim himself doesn't show treating girls worse than boys. He treats people equally shitty (expect GIR and Mini, and maybe the Tallest?). It would make more sense if he didn't wanted the smeet(s) to look more human, because of internalized xenophobia. I know he is happily boyfriends with Dib at this point, but it's realistic for this kind of things not completely go away, not because the person is not trying per say, but because he had been subjected to propaganda from a very young age and it wouldn't be suprising if it was still deep inside his concious. Plus, you mentioned that he relapses. This could be a similar situation. Or them being really short, because despite being short, Zim can be pretty hypocritical and he was raised on an environment where short people are count as lesser beings. Or even the opposite: growing taller than their parent, despite he being their superior. Yeah, it doesn't matter on our planet, but he is still an Irken. Maybe these are stupid ideas, but I really find it odd how you had him learn not to be misognistic when he wasn't possessed this trait in the first place, instead of working on some bad trait he actually had. I am aware he should still feel Zim-like, so there is not gonna be a drastic change in character, but still. Yes, it's not canon, it's a Zadr-au, but you mentioned that Zim sees himself as a genderless, so why did he care so much? Okay, maybe it can be a situation that he doesn't have a problem with girls, but he himself doesn't want a girl. There are people like that in real life, but again he has no clear reason for that. Which brings me to my question: Is there an explanation why did you choose to go with this back than? (Is it got something to do what he learned about the gender rules while being on Earth?) Sorry, it's probably really outdated, but I am a late-comer, so... You don't have to answer of you don't want to, I am just would like it, of you did.

Admin.

Okay this is a REALLY interesting question! And definitely about an outdated concept because I totally forgot about it. Haha. So zim isn’t supposed to be written to be misogynistic. but he doesn’t exactly always make sense either. Some things he did on this blog he just… did? But there wasn’t a deep reason. And if there was, I can’t remember what my thought process for what I chose that reaction for. As you said, he IS genderless and you’re correct gender doesn’t matter on irk with how their society goes, so….

If I were to give it in an explanation now I’d say that I think he just didn’t want a girl at the time and made everything overly dramatic but there was a hint of him being impressionable that he gained from the environment around him - as it’s not hard to start reacting to the world around you and letting it mess with your thoughts. The thought of gender is very confusing to him but also very prevalent here on earth and zim can take things very literally and deeply so I’d peg this to be the reason. however it’s not something you’ll really see again, I don’t think. After having his daughter zal, it’s given him quite a clear view of how he feels.

Thank you for the question!

[diloph]

If you're still interested in the fandom ask thing, Invader Zim.

blorbo:

h e r

I have not been subtle about this in the past, but Tak is my absolute, no-holds-barred favourite character in Invader Zim. Everything that's gonna follow this is an understatement if anything.

Now, I love the main cast a lot, worryingly so in fact, but Tak is on a whole other level. She's my overall third favourite character of all time and secured that place over better written, better used or just plain better characters altogether.

Why do I love her? Well, she's as cool as all hell for one thing. Tak blasts into the lives of our protagonists for a single episode, but boy does she make it count.

Tak appears in Zim's class and, delightfully considering it's a valentine's episode, is absolutely not Zim's love interest. There's a comedic misinterpretation of that, but the meat of the story of Tak: The Hideous New Girl is that Zim's actions have consequences and those consequences are out for blood.

Stopping Tak requires Zim, Dib and Gaz (plus GIR and Zim's computer, if you wanna make her sound even more formidable) all working in concert and despite the silliness of the show, they're pretty badass in their own right. What she's trying to achieve brings a kind of gravity that's not really seen in Invader Zim. We see her backstory and it's a lot more sympathetic than the baby aliens or Mortos, a lone speck with her career ruined, left in the detritus of her civilisation. If she succeeds and gets what she believes she's owed, then everybody on Earth is screwed, human or Irken.

(There was a wonderful, long-winded explanation as to why I loved Tak and what I wanted to do. But Tumblr decided to delete it because FUCK THIS WEBSITE AND THE TWO HOURS I SPENT TYPING IT.)

skrunkly: Dib. Again, lots of cool stuff written here, but Tumblr randomly deleted it.

His huge glasses give the impression that his eyes are huge, or that his spectacles are too big for his face. He wanders around in a long black trenchcoat and boots, trying to look older and cooler, rather than a dorky kid. I think it's important to note, that like the thing I mentioned for Tak's designs, Dib's can be cool, cute or silly and he's pretty much on the screen almost every episode. He gets a lot of a chance to let these takes on his design shine through, in many different combinations and I appreciate that.

There's also his personality. Dib's life is filled with horror, misery and miserable horror. It's spent thanklessly trying to save the world from Zim, some other horror, or trying to bring something to the attention of the world (whether its privacy matters or not, because he's a literal child guys, c'mon).

But he never gives up. He never gives in. He's passionately, loudly enthusiastic about the things he's into, even when so many of them try to kill him on a daily basis. Major props to Andy Berman for making him sound so energetic and likeable! He's an excitable kid who, despite living a life of misery, keeps on going and keeps finding things to get invested in, to like and to find joy in.

Dib sums up exactly why I like him, unsurprisingly, at the end of Tak's episode. From his perspective, his new friend turned out to be a monster like Zim. She used him to get information on his greatest enemy and had she succeeded, he'd feel solely responsible about getting the Earth doomed like that.

We focus on him with his radio-listening device, on the roof, while his sister in the garden below isn't listening to him at all. He has more than a little grounds to feel all soul-searchy, to feel bad about his lot in life, or to feel unnerved at how down to the wire things had been. What does he say?

"Look at it, Gaz. We've only seen what's come to us from up there! Don't you just wanna fly out there and... see it all?"

How can you not love him?

scrimblo bimblo: Gaz. This one might come as a bit of a shock to some people, but I also really like Gaz. She has some flaws, of course, I'd rather that she not bully her brother but the more and more I've watched episodes and written my daft stories, the more and more I've come to appreciate her. She's an unstoppable force, an immovable object, a voice of reason and still a little girl who'd rather play video games or spend time with her absent father than save the world.

My story with Gaz was a long road. I was ambivalent to her at first, saw quite a few of her negatives, then I saw her VA, Melissa Fahn, mention that quite a few girls came up to her and cited Gaz as a character they were thankful for.

Looking into her, I found that I liked her wit, her dry and sarcastic humour, her ability to be scary despite the fact that she was only a little girl and genuinely never felt like she was in over her head in any scenario. Most little sister characters that made up her contemporaries were designed to be annoying or bland at best. Gaz was a character who, for the screentime she had, stood out from that crowd by being herself.

She didn't do stupid jokes. She only reluctantly dealt with Zim's antics, something her brother dragged her into, or some other insanity and she did so in a way that spoke volumes about her no bullshit approach. If something crossed her, it never had the chance to again, because she wasn't just threats. Gaz actively kicked ass when she needed to.

But neither was she a monolith. She liked pizza, she liked videogames, she wanted to go to the same terrible pizza restaurant she;s been going to for years, she likes pigs and she wants to, above all else, spend time with her father. Those rare glimpses of the human beneath the caustic personality made her caustic personality work more.

Sadly, it didn't last. When it came to both the comics and Florpus, they went in wildly different directions, each of them taking half of Gaz's personality and only half (and her changed clothing design, which also helped sap her of her personality). It was these changes, not the retcons like Dib's hair, that made me decide to interpret all the post-series stuff as alternative timelines, as well as Florpus copying issue 1's start.

In the movie, Gaz was mostly there, helped along by her VA, but she wasn't very effective. The Gaz of Old would have dealt with Clembrane by scraping him off of her heel. Zim's kidnapping of Professor Membrane would have ended equally unpleasantly. Instead, Florpus decided to focus on her "human" half, with the rather lacklustre reconciliation between her and Dib falling flat considering that "You're my brother, man." does not account for everything that happened prior.

Sure, if she matured offscreen, good for her. But it was offscreen and in a visual medium, that bloody well counts. I always imagined any sort of understanding developing between Dib and Gaz when they really got mad with one another under desperate circumstances. Neither is perfect and having Dib call Gaz on some of her shortcomings as well would have been ideal. It would make them feel more equal and more like people.

Still. Better than the comics. The comics canon decided to double down on Gaz being an apathetic gamer and kept her horrible streak. She actively got away with alluding to murder in one issue, of her own alternative self and alternative brother. Another, what-if tale, stated that even if she was "nice", she would still be a horrible blight on everybody around her and accentuated every negative she ever had to the extreme. While comeuppance was rare for Gaz in the show, it did happen at least a little, whereas Comics Gaz just felt like the author's pet monster.

And that's not fair. Gaz had her moments, good and bad. She deserved a proper examination of her character, which like the one for everybody else, we never got. It was just that her changes were so jarring and in my opinion, stood in contrast to her prior character, I couldn't help but take notice of them.

Boy, I bet you're regretting asking for Invader Zim in this thing. God knows what might've happened if there were more opportunties for characters.

glup shitto: I decided to go for an actually obscure one for this, so Almighty Tallest Miyuki. Never used in an aired episode, but she appeared in a script once and became a character that has sparked art, speculation and countless interpretations.

Who was the enigmatic female Tallest? Was she a saint? Sinner? The only good Irken or worse than Red and Purple put together? I've seen many different fan interpretations from all across the board and hope that I can add my own someday. I had an interpretation I'd like to try, though another show did a very similar character and I'd wonder if folks would accuse me of copying or drawing influence, so that might be subject to change.

Just be glad I didn't use Sizz-Lorr here, because he's a canon character that I've also decided I wanted to make shit up about.

poor little meow meow: Zim is only in this space because he's Zim. The dude, at best, wants to conquer humanity and enslave them for his empire. He's a dangerous, dangerous person in the middle of a school full of children and regularly causes people to suffer horribly. The fact that he's an incredibly likeable, memeable, funny and relateable character despite that is testament to the strength that he's given the show, on a mixture of writing, design, performance by Richard Horvitz.

What can I say about the mighty Invader Zim that hasn't already been said? Probably the not-that-common observation that much like his series, Zim is not the idiotic loudmouth he appears to be. He's clever. He's cunning. He has focus when he needs to. He's dangerous, good at improvising, inventive and very occasionally, scary as all hell.

Florpus hit this balance far better than the comics, in which any sort of edge was drained away. Still, my gripes aside, Zim's staying power earned the series 20 years of adoration and likely at least 20 more.

Zim is a far, far more nuanced and interesting character than many of the detractors believe him to be and more's the pity.

horse plinko: Absent father extraordinaire, it's Professor Membrane! I don't hate him and have always been critical of his relationship with his kids, but only recently have I began to see more negative points in the character that are beginning to outshine my prior opinion of him, his loud and funny lines overshadowed by the uncomfortable spectre that his pre-teen kids are basically living by themselves and are not thriving as a result.

Only now am I beginning to sense that Professor Membrane has a kind of... arrogance about him. With Zim, arrogance is funny, but every time Professor Membrane acts about the fate of the world, it's less to help people and seems more to prove that he is, in fact, the best scientist in the world. Nothing else matters, not even spending time with his kids. I know what I said about Dib and Gaz before, but you can't deny that they'd at least be a little happier if their father wasn't in his lab 98%, speaking through a screen or pre-recorded messages from years prior.

While discovering Zim's identity probably wouldn't have been the change he needed (I could easily see him stopping Zim and taking absolute credit for it, including discovery of the alien being and so on), I think he should have been brought down a peg. Being emperically wrong, something he couldn't deny. A smarter scientist showing him up. Or, as Florpus did attempt, somebody calling him out. Only with stakes and consequences. Don't have Dib be upset, have him angry. Have it be Gaz getting incredibly pissed off with his absent parenting.

Ah well. Onto the character I hate.

eeby deeby: Iggins.

God almighty.

I hate Iggins.

With every fibre of my soul. My being. He is the antithesis of everything clever about Invader Zim, everything funny, everything cool, or cute. All that stuff I said about the other characters, even the negative or critical stuff, was done from a place of love, no matter how flawed.

Iggins is a creepy, annoying, ugly waste of an episode. Gaz's triumph over him should've been complete and we'd never have to see him again, even in background shots. He contributes nothing other than stupid sounds, ammunition for the "lolzrandumb cartoon!" that I hate detractors of Invader Zim to bring up, as if it never did anything risky or intelligent.

And to compound it, while writing this bit, my character examinations of Tak and Dib deleted themselves. So, to reiterate, I hate the little bastard, will never accept any positives towards him and will kill Iggins horribly in my fic out of bitter, bitter fucking spite.

FUCK IGGINS.