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#invader zim the battle of planets
ms-scarletwings · 6 days
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He angy, surly, petulant even
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shoechoe · 8 months
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invader zim is so frustrating because it messes with my brain in a way that nothing else does but i can't show it to anyone else i know because of how unbelievably stupid it is
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inbarfink · 6 months
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danglovely · 1 year
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One Zim quote per episode per day.
S01E13: Battle of the Planets
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astralbondpro · 8 months
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Invader Zim // S01E13A: Battle of the Planets
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homocidal-invader · 2 days
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Professor Membrane: Good or Bad Father?
I've decided to scientifically argue weather or not Professor Membrane from Invader Zim father of Dib Membrane and gasoline the other one by going through EVERY EPISODE of Invader Zim (that he appears in) and making a point counter of every good and bad action he does.
Episode 1 The Nightmare Begins Ignores Dib -1 point
Episode 2B NanoZim Just gives him the tiny ship when he needs help even though what he says is insane. Proffy doesn't even call him insane just tells him to run along + 1 point
Episode 3A Parent Teacher Night He tried to show up for the meeting,,, even if it resulted in the lab exploding. + 1 dad point - 1 scientist point
Episode 6B Battle Dib Didn't recognize his son - 1 point Too hard to contact - 1 point Gave Dib the permission slip + 1 point
Episode 8B Bad Bad Rubber Piggy MADE HIS SON INTO A COOL ASS BATTLE ROBOT TO PREVENT HIM FROM DYING + 1 point
10B Bloatys Pizza Hog Only one annual family night out - 1 point Lets Gaz choose wherever she wants + 1 point Made sure Dib also came + 1 point If Dib doesn't show up, he'll put it off for next year - 1 point 12B Game Slave 2 One of the best lines in the show + 1 point
13 Battle of the Planets Told his son aliens were fake and said he had a big head as a baby. The iconic line "my poor insane son" debuts this episode. - 1 point
14 Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom said "It was only a matter of time" for Dib going to HIS INSANE ASYLUM THAT HE OWNS. - 1 point Did not consider Dib's opinion for a second. - 1 point Sent Dib to the asylum. For the rest of his life. - 1 point And an extra bad point, because that's really bad, and the worst thing he's done in the show and what most people remember him for. - 1 point Another bad point for apparently experimenting on baby Dib so much he has subconscious trauma over it. - 1 point
15B Future Dib Neglects his children (hasn't shown up for weeks) - 1 point However he makes prerecorded messages for them so he's not totally abandoning them. + 1 point Inviting his kids to the infinite energy thingy. + 1 point Pat Gaz on the head + 1 point Noticed Dib was missing immedietely + 1 point He told Gaz to make sure Dib doesn't do anything embarrassing. - 1 point Waited for his kids despite jeers from the audience + 1 point DOESN'T GIVE EVERYONE PERPETUAL ENERGY BECAUSE THEY DISRESPECTED HIS KIDS + 1 dad point - 1 scientist point Membrane doesn't realize the robot dib is fake - 1 point
18B The Sad Sad Tale of Chickenfoot Invasion of privacy by letting randoms in the house. - 1 point Calls his son insane to everyone there. - 1 point Insisting what his son's future is as I'm assuming he does that a lot offscreen. - 1 point Not defending Dib when everyone starts laughing at him - 1 point
20 Tak The Hideous New Girl Trying to make friends with Dib's friend :) + 1 point
21 Backseat Drivers from Beyond the Stars Tells Gaz to be nice to his brother and helps her out with her problem. + 1 point Calls Dib insane behind his back - 1 point
23b Dibship Rising He LIED about the can of beans wiping out ALL HUMAN LIFE - 1 point?
25 Gaz Taster of Pork Always keeps the fridge stocked with good food + 1 point Stopped what he was doing immedietely to help Gaz with her problem + 1 point Put his kid on public TV without consent - 1 point Turned his kid into an experiment - 1 point Makes his children have to do an escape sequence at all - 1 point Apologizes + 1 point
27 The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever Trusted Dib with his anti-santa arsenal + 1 point
DELETED EPISODES!
Mopiness of Doom Listened to Dib + 1 point Told Dib to give up on his dreams - 1 point Very encouraging to Dib + 1 point Constantly checking in on Dib + 1 point Very tuned into Dib's emotions and be able to tell when something is bothering him + 1 point Professor Membrane's love is conditional - 1 point Complaining about Dib to Gaz - 1 point
10 Minutes to Doom Did not recognize his son - 1 point Did not want to get involved with Dib's fashion matters - 1 point Deciding to take a look anyways + 1 point Didn't to his son and now insisting that they have to stop him - 1 point
Day of Da Spookies Calls his son insane - 1 point Stopping work to help him anyways + 1 point
TOTAL SCORE
Good Points - 25 Bad Points - 30
ENTER THE FLORPUS
Making his kids a food robot + 1 point Waiting for Dib + 1 point Calling his son insane to Gaz - 1 point Telling Gaz to be supportive, even using metaphors + 1 point BEHOLD MY BOY CHILD + 1 point Mean to Dib about his interests - 1 point Arguing - 1 point Calling Dib's spaceship fake - 1 point Wishing isn't very scientific son - 1 point Patting his son on the head + 1 point Unprovoked calling Dib's ideas imaginary - 1 point Confirming he knows aliens exist, thus meaning that he's just saying they don't to be mean to his son specifically - 1 point Insisting it's a hallucinations so hard - 1 point Saying he'll always be proud of his son before he thinks he's going to die + 1 point Saved his son from a pit! + 1 point Helped fight off robots with Dib + 1 point Saying "great work honey" to Gaz + 1 point Using the moose without arguing + 1 point Pretending like all of it was a hallucination - 1 point Convincing everyone else it was a hallucination too - 1 point 10 Good point 10 Bad points
TOTAL SCORE
Good Points - 35 Bad Points - 40
RESULTS ARE IN!!!! Professor Membrane, SCIENTIFICALLY, is a BAD DADDYO!!!!!!
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vortainz · 10 months
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zim 👍
zim is like,,, really freaking stupid
NOT‼️‼️
well kinda, in pure ability he’s likely one of the smartest irkens seen as he was one of the few irken scientists, he also makes most of his tools and upgrades his pak (which it seems like most irkens can’t do, requiring most of their equipment to be premade)
of course that’s already pretty obvious in the show, but my main point is that he knows what people actually think of him, the tallest literally said “i hate you” to his face and he just doesn’t actively acknowledge it
it seems like he knows (atleast somewhere deep down) it’s just that he despises to actually acknowledge it
there’s been multiple instances where he’s actually confronted with the fact no one cares but everytime that happens, he sees that people pity him and immediately snaps out of his depression (mostly shown in the movie and the quarterly)
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(he’s literally going to CRY in this panel (irkens eyes do a water bubble thingy when crying))
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he’d rather keep his ego intact than actually accepting some form of help
ANYWAYS back on zims bigbrain-ness
i think something similar is happening with how he acts on earth, kinda pretending to be naive/stupid for the sake of keeping his emotions together
he has destroyed/took over multiple planets SOME DURING THE DURATION OF THE SHOW, yet suddenly can’t think of a single way to successfully take over earth
he’s a extremely capable soldier, yet ‘struggles’ to kill a child
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EVEN THE CHARACTERS NOTICE HES BEEN GOING EASY ON EARTH
it seems like he wants to stay on earth, even in the timeline where he successfully takes over the planet, he stays
earth and more importantly fighting dib gives a purpose in life
he NEEDS to have dib constantly thwarting his plans or else he just gives up entirely
it doesn’t seem like he actually cares about taking over earth that much, all he wants is approval from his tallest
he wants them pay attention to him, to care about him and invading in his eyes seems like the only thing left that he can’t screw up
he gets to see that in the timeline where he takes over earth, he actually gets that approval yet realizes how stupid it all is
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it’s not enough for him to stop but it’s likely enough for him semi-give up on actually invading earth
with this, there ARE two people who will pay attention to him, that will care about him
Dib and Gir, their entire existence revolves around giving him something, gir with helping him and dib with thwarting him
(there’s also mini moose I GUESS)
part of the reason he’s defective is because he can love, and want to be loved
irkens are supposed to only care about the tallest, meanwhile zim literally says he loves mini moose and cares about all his robots (even giving the purely battle ones names “once you name it, you get attached to it”). he also cares about dib to a certain extent, choosing to save him when he doesn’t have to (this is shown in the comics more than the show)
uh1!1!2!!2!1 conclusion1!2!!3!2!1
zim intentionally has really stupid plans cus he doesn’t wanna leave earth
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strawberryxfieldz · 1 year
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Invader Zim Episode Poll Tournament
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THERE ARE 46 EPISODES OF INVADER ZIM! ONLY ONE WILL WIN!!!
The bracket was randomly generated! Round 1 will have 23 winners + 1 revival, Round 2 will have 12 winners, Round 3 will have 6 winners, Round 4 will have 2 winners, and (FINAL) Round 5 will have 1 winner!
WINNER: Backseat Drivers From Beyond the Stars
MORE INFO BELOW THE CUT:
Tag: #invader zim episode poll tournament
The Invader Zim Poll Tournament was hosted February 20th-February 26th, 2023
ROUND 1 (FEBRUARY 20, 8PM EST)
Germs (S1E06) v. Walk for Your Lives (S1E29) - WINNER: Germs
Vindicated! (S2E06) v. The Wettening (S1E09) - WINNER: The Wettening
Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom (S1E25) v. The Frycook What Came From All That Space (S2E09) - WINNER: Halloween Spectacular of Doom
Bestest Friend (S1E02) v. The Sad, Sad Tale of Chickenfoot (S1E33) - WINNER: Bestest Friend
Backseat Drivers from Beyond the Stars (S2E01) v. Gaz, Taster of the Pork (S2E08) - WINNER: Backseat Drivers from Beyond the Stars
Game Slave 2 (S1E23) v. Dibship Rising (S2E05) - WINNER: Dibship Rising
The Girl Who Cried Gnome (S2E04) v. Bolognius Maximus (S1E22) - WINNER: Bolognius Maximus
Megadoomer (S1E30) v. Bad, Bag Rubber Piggy (S1E15) - WINNER: Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy
Rise of the Zitboy (S1E13) v. The Nightmare Begins (S1E01) - WINNER: The Nightmare Begins
Battle-Dib (S1E11) v. Planet Jackers (S1E12) - WINNER: Planet Jackers
Mortos Der Soulstealer (S2E02) v. GIR Goes Crazy and Stuff (S1E34) - WINNER: GIR Goes Crazy and Stuff
Hamstergeddeon (S1E17) v. Dib’s Wonderful Life of Doom (S1E35) - WINNER: Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom
Lice (S1E31) v. FBI Warning of Doom (S1E21) - WINNER: FBI Warning of Doom
Invasion of the Idiot Dog Brain (S1E14) v. Battle of the Planets (S1E24) - WINNER: Battle of the Planets
Mysterious Mysteries (S1E26) v. Future Dib (S1E27) - WINNER: Mysterious Mysteries
Zim Eats Waffles (S2E03) v. Door to Door (S1E20) - WINNER: Zim Eats Waffles
Walk of Doom (S1E05) v. Dark Harvest (S1E07) - WINNER: Dark Harvest
Nanozim (S1E03) v. Plague of Babies (S1E18) - WINNER: NanoZim
Attack of the Saucer Morons (S1E08) v. Bloaty’s Pizza Hog (S1E19) - WINNER: Bloaty's Pizza Hog
The Most Horrible X-mas Ever (S2E10) v. A Room with a Moose (S1E16) - WINNER: A Room with a Moose
The Voting of the Doomed (S2E07) v. Parent Teacher Night (S1E04) - WINNER: Parent Teacher Night
Career Day (S1E10) v. Abducted (S1E32) - WINNER: Career Day
Hobo 13 (S1E28) v. Tak, The Hideous New Girl (S1E36) - WINNER: Tak, The Hideous New Girl
REVIVAL ROUND (FEBRUARY 21, 8PM EST)
Revival round consists of the two episodes that were closest to winning in their respective matches.
Walk For Your Lives (S1E29) v. Megadoomer (S1E30) - WINNER: Megadoomer
ROUND 2 (FEBRUARY 22, 8PM EST)
Germs (S1E06) v. The Wettening (S1E09) - WINNER: The Wettening
Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom (S1E25) v. Bestest Friend (S1E02) - WINNER: Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom
Backseat Drivers From Beyond the Stars (S2E01) v. Dibship Rising (S2E05) - WINNER: Backseat Drivers From Beyond the Stars
Bolognius Maximus (S1E22) v. Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy (S1E15) - WINNER: Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy
The Nightmare Begins (S1E01) v. Planet Jackers (S1E12) - WINNER: The Nightmare Begins
GIR Goes Crazy and Stuff (S1E34) v. Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom (S1E35) - WINNER: Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom
FBI Warning of Doom (S1E21) v. Battle of the Planets (S1E24) - WINNER: Battle of the Planets
Mysterious Mysteries (S1E26) v. Zim Eats Waffles (S2E03) - WINNER: Zim Eats Waffles
Tak, The Hideous New Girl (S1E36) v. Megadoomer (S1E30) - WINNER: Tak, The Hideous New Girl
Dark Harvest (S1E07) v. NanoZim (S1E03) - WINNER: Dark Harvest
Bloaty's Pizza Hog (S1E19) v. A Room with a Moose (S1E16) - WINNER: A Room with a Moose
Parent Teacher Night (S1E04) v. Career Day (S1E10) - WINNER: Parent Teacher Night
ROUND 3 (FEBRUARY 23, 8PM EST)
Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom (S1E25) v. The Wettening (S1E09) - WINNER: Halloween Spectacular of Doom
Parent Teacher Night (S1E04) v. Tak, The Hideous New Girl (S1E36) - WINNER: Tak, The Hideous New Girl
Dark Harvest (S1E07) v. A Room with a Moose (S1E16) - WINNER: Dark Harvest
Battle of the Planets (S1E24) v. Zim Eats Waffles (S2E03) - WINNER: Zim Eats Waffles
The Nightmare Begins (S1E01) v. Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom (S1E35) - WINNER: The Nightmare Begins
Backseat Drivers From Beyond the Stars (S2E01) v. Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy (S1E15) - WINNER: Backseat Drivers From Beyond the Stars
ROUND 4 (FEBRUARY 24, 8PM EST)
Halloween Spectacular of Doom (S1E25) v. Backseat Drivers From Beyond the Stars (S2E01) v. The Nightmare Begins (S1E01) - WINNER: Backseat Drivers From Beyond the Stars
Zim Eats Waffles (S2E03) v. Dark Harvest (S1E07) v. Tak, The Hideous New Girl (S1E36) - WINNER: Tak, The Hideous New Girl
ROUND 5 (FEBRUARY 25, 8 PM EST)
Backseat Drivers From Beyond the Stars (S2E01) v. Tak, The Hideous New Girl (S1E36) - WINNER: Backseat Drivers From Beyond the Stars
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hermajestytak · 3 months
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MERRY PLATYPUS, EVERYONE! Here's more cool old Zim stuff I got to add to my dragon stash this year
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A picture disc from 2004; side A is the Invader Zim theme by Mark Tortorici and side B is the Planets Battle theme by our beloved Kevin Manthei
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A (scratched but still good) GIR "Okay, no more doggie today" notebook from 2005 with very pink paper
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"Filler" notebook paper from 2004 with cracks/veins and Zim and GIR in the bottom corners. I slapped the label sticker from the packaging onto the front page for good old archiving
I'll be scanning both varieties of notebook paper in for y'all to use if you want! MERRY JINGLIE!!
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you understand one of my favorite things about zadr, and it's that while zim is a villain, his motivations are pretty normal/contextualized by being an invader while dib is just a *freak all on his own* which is why he's the more unhinged one. shawty bad, like morally
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I tend to disagree, Zim and Dib are essentially equals in a lot of things, including being weirdos of their perspective societies. Not only is Zim extremely demanding for someone of his stature, but he tends to disrespect preconceived societal conventions present in his society, because they stop being rules the moment they stop serving him. His one friend is Skoodge (if you could call skoodge that) and i feel that is more than anything a union of convenience. They both have internal, and society born reasons, to be the ways that they are. Zim caused two blackouts when he was a smeet, he created a blob monster that killed not one but two entire tallest's, caused a planet wide power outage over a fucking snack machine, he got his grubby little hands on a battle bot and wreaked havoc to irks surface. He didn't have to do all that, but he did <3 TDLR: Zim is just as much of a freak as Dib is
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emeraldspiral · 4 months
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Zim episode where the Tallest are reviewing Invader salaries. The Empire is actually making a lot of monies charging people to park their ships on the planet formerly known as Blorch, so they can afford to give raises/expand the budget for most Invaders. When they get to Zim though, they lie and say that monies are tight so he's going to have to take a pay cut, but they're confident he's so resourceful he can make it work. He just needs to spend less on Starbucks and avocado toast.
Zim then has to re-budget for his mission, which is difficult because he's got a lot of non-negotiables like toys to keep GIR and Minimoose happy and cooperative, or rare and expensive power sources to keep certain parts of his base running or maintain experiments, or high-quality snacks, which doesn't leave a lot left over for supplies to build doomsday weapons. One of his cost-cutting measures is releasing most of his enemies from Moo-Ping 10 because only #777 is really essential to him and he figures the rest have "probably learned their lesson" and completely fails to consider that they might come after him for revenge. He tries to get his computer to help, but then doesn't listen to any of its advice.
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His main cost-cutting measure however, is getting cheap parts and knock-off equipment made by Vartian scientists since the good stuff made by Vortians is too expensive. He ends up buying a defective product that blows up in his face during a battle with Dib and is promptly visited by an alien lawyer who informs him that he may be entitled to compensation. Zim files a lawsuit and gets a fat settlement for twice his previous Invader salary, but he blows a lot of it on fancy snacks and one big extravagant superweapon which also blows up in his face. But because the Vortians that made it have more money to fight litigation they're able to get a lawyer who can prove the accident was user error and Zim is awarded no compensation.
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ms-scarletwings · 1 month
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Today I learned by accident that SpongeBob video game ost can apparently suit invader Zim a lot more than you’d think
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stump-salsa · 1 year
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inbarfink · 5 months
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Okay, so, for the longest time the Tallests’ behavior toward Zim in ‘Battle of the Planets’ has always struck me as… odd.
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 I mean, of course the idea that they mock him publicly behind his back makes sense in general. That is a very Tallests Thing to Do. But the specific ways they mock him…
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I dunno...maybe the intention is supposed to be like 'haha you're saying 'unstoppable death machine like it's a good thing but it's not!!' or something but... with the delivery and the general characterization of the Irken army it comes off as more of 'haha! it's funny because he's NOT an unstoppable death machine hahaha" and...
Like, yes. Zim is correct. He is, in fact, an ‘unstoppable death machine’. That is absolutely an accurate statement to be taken seriously. The only problem was that he’s an unstoppable death machine that’s too uncontrollable to prevent him from Death Machining his own people as well. That’s literally why you banished him, remember?
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But then I took a moment to think about that.... It does actually makes sense that the Tallests, despite getting literal first-class seats to his rampage of destruction - might still have a problem with actually internalizing why Zim is so Bad.
Because Zim is basically the Irkenest Irken to ever Irk. He might be considered ‘Defective’, yes, but all of his defects manifest as the logical extremes of Irken ideology. He has, on paper, all of the skills and personality traits and ideals that the Irken Empire value - just exaggerated and twisted in a way that makes him the biggest milestone around the Empire's neck.
Zim is a pretty good fighter, infiltrator, pilot and scientist. Remember, he’s a Fast-Food Drone Play-Acting Alien Invasion to get him out of the Armada’s antennas now, but he was a legitimate actual Invader back during ‘Impending Doom 1’. And that’s with all the social barriers and prejudice that a short Irken like him is going to face. I’m guessing a lot of the selection process for Invaders is done by automated systems or extremely-detached Control Brains. And only looking at, like, Zim’s practice or test results - he should be an exceptional Invader on-par with Skoodge.
But we all know the truth is more complicated then that. Zim’s talents and training are hampered by his own massive ego, absolute inability to accurately assess threats and his impulsive desires for destruction and death. He’s unable to judge when he’s punching above his weight or tackling an endeavor beyond his abilities. He cannot admit when he has made an error, even just to fix or improve an invention/plan. And he always allocates his resources in the dumbest way possible. 
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And that’s all, like, emergent from Irken Ideology - or at least from Zim’s logical extreme of it. Confidence and selfishness are rewarded on Irk - Zim is mostly unusual in terms of sheer volume (or maybe he’s too Short to be allowed to have such a high opinion of himself.) 
His inability to proportionally handle threats is emergent from the Empire’s ideals of Irken Supremacy. Zim is supposed to see all other species in the universe as stupid and inferior and worthy only of servitude and so logically they can’t be a serious threat to him, an Elite Irken Soldier. But he also needs to internally justify why all of these Clearly Inferior Beings are even a problem to the Irken Empire in general and for him in specific. Especially when he fails to conquer them as easily as a ‘Superior Being’ is supposed to. And so his ego and his insistence on Irkens being Superior has to elevate them into fearsome enemies. 
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That Speciesism is also why his disguise is so bad! We directly see it in the first episode. He had the option of picking a more realistic human disguises but he just found it too gross. And that actually seems to be a trend, considering every Actual Invader we see on the show has a disguise that is just as bad if not worse.
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And Zim’s tendency towards delusions is also born, at least partially, from his devotion to Irken Ideology. Not just from the obvious insistence of the superiority of himself and his Empire despite his constant failures. But also… how do you balance out the Irken values of selfishness with the also-Irken values of loyalty and absolute obedience to the Empire and the Tallests? For Zim, the obvious answer seems to be ‘delude himself into believing whatever selfish personal whim he has is actually for the good of the Empire and the true will of the Tallest’. That’s how he can break All of the Rules All of the Time and still act like he’s just another obedient and loyal vessel of the Tallest. 
And then there’s the value of destruction and cruelty. This is absolutely not a Zim-only thing - that is a value he got from Irken society in general. After all, it’s pretty clear they don’t even have, like, a token excuse for their universe-conquering aspirations. They’re just doing this shit because destroying and subjecting the universe seems Fun and Cool. I mean, ‘Battle of the Planets’ demonstrates that better than anything. 
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The Tallests have no idea of what to do with the planets they conquer. They don’t need them for anything. They decided Blorch's new purpose as a spur-of-the-moment decision and it was a Parking Structure Planet. Most of Irk’s single-use planets are pretty silly but this one especially so. Parking Structures only have value based on them being near a Place People Want to Go To, so a whole planet of them really defeats the whole idea. The Tallests only conquered Blorch and wiped out the Rat People because they want to conquer planets and wipe out sapient species.
And that is… exactly the same sort of meaningless cruelty Zim demonstrates. I mean… What Zim did with Prisoner 777 is literally just a smaller-scale recreation of what the whole Irken Empire did to the Vortians. And honestly, Zim actually has a slightly-better track record of actually getting ‘his’ Vortian to do what he wants. While the Irken Empire in general has basically shot themselves in the foot and assured all of their best technology is going to come with some sort of Stupid Hidden Flaw and all because they wanted to be the Conquerors rather than ‘just’ allies. 
The difference is really just that Zim values destruction so much he has problem processing that directing the destruction at his own people is still a very bad thing in the eyes of the empire.
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And that’s… kind of the ideological blind spot the Tallests fall into during ‘Battle of the Planets’, I think. They should know that Zim is very much an Unstoppable Death Machine, just one that they can’t control and thus should be kept as far away from the Empire and Operation Impending Doom 2 as possible. But in their little Irken-Ideology-Poisoned minds - being an “Unstoppable Death Machine” is a Good Thing and Zim is obviously Bad - so, obviously logically he cannot be an Unstoppable Death Machine. 
And throughout this entire episode, the Tallest mock the idea that Zim is even capable of… not just achieving his and the Empire’s goals (obviously, yeah, he is incapable of doing that), but that he's even capable of properly causing destruction? Which they should know he is very capable of. And this is probably the closest he ever came in the show to legitimately destroying the human race. Only being foiled due to a huge stroke of luck on Dib’s part that nobody saw coming. And yet the Tallests were so certain that Zim, of all the Irkens in the galaxy, is somehow incapable of destroying a planet???
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And at the end, Zim does prove himself as an Unstoppable Death Machine by, once again, managing to kill a fuckload of his own people while the Tallests laugh about how inaccurate that descriptor is for him. 
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This is extra ironic with the Tallests throwing that one guy out of the airlock at the start of the episode
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They punish others just for not remembering Zim’s rampage, but they clearly have not internalized what it Means themselves.
The fact that a guy like that even managed to reach the most prestigious not-height-based position in the Irken military in the first place should be a cause of some serious introspection of how Irken Military training and evaluation is handled. Especially when you consider much more competent would-be-Invaders like Tak got dismissed and punished for things totally outside of their control.
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But… It seems like the only lesson anyone in the Irken Empire learned was just “Zim is awful”. Which is true, but isn’t really getting to the root of the matter. 
You can see another example of that mindset from the Tallests in ‘Hobo 13’. Because those two were so sure Zim was going to lose, and lose painfully. Because he is Incompetent, obviously that means he can’t do it. Totally forgetting that Zim actually totally has the athletic, combat and - most importantly, technological skills and out-of-the-box thinking that allowed him to survive and thrive. 
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I mean, yeah, that means he cheated and threw his entire squad to the dogs for his own personal gain and petty sadistic amusement but… that is absolutely not something the Irken Empire frowns upon. The Tallests especially love to torment and even kill off their subordinates for the pettiest of reasons. Skoodge, featured in both of these episodes, is a great example.
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And like, ‘being bad leaders and tormenting their own underlings’ is basically what the Tallests spend the entirety of that episode doing.
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That Sergeant had ideological problems with Zim being such a horrible and callous leader, but that’s clearly not a representation of the Irken Empire’s stance. Quite the opposite really. Zim might be a disgrace to Hobo 13, but he was an exemplary Irken. The only reason why him winning was a problem is because he’s Zim and they all hate him.
And speaking of the Tallests’ own behavior reflecting Zim’s… let’s talk a bit about ‘Enter the Florpus’.
Because the downfall of the Irken Armada in that story is not just Zim’s fault. I mean, it is partly Zim’s fault. Without him there wouldn’t be a Florpus in the first place. But the narrative makes it constantly very very clear that this is Not Actually a Threat for the Armada… if not for the Tallests adamantly and childishly refusing to change course. 
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The Tallests hate Zim, and they make it clear at every possible opportunity. And they hate him because he’s so damn incompetent and such a threat to the Empire’s safety. And yet they constantly demonstrate they possess the exact same core personality issues as Zim - they’re just slightly better having, like, a veneer of reasonability and being able to perceive reality (and also they are tall, which helps them get away with more.) And nowhere is it more obvious than ‘Enter the Florpus’...
Where the Tallests prove that they can be just as childish and single-minded -
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And just as destruction-hungry - 
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And just as quick to deny reality -
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And just as disrespectful of their underlings. 
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This recurring bit with the navigator is especially striking to me, because more than anything it makes me remember… Operation Impending Doom 1.
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Two times the Irken Empire has been brought to the brink of collapse. And both of these times it is because a powerful high-ranking Irken (one time an Invader, the other time the Tallests themselves), refused to listen to the warnings and concerns of a lower-ranking expert Navigator - continuing with a course of destruction for their own people. 
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You could say the Irken Empire was doomed from the start because of their own philosophy of cruelty and selfishness. Eventually, it was bound to create someone like Zim - who takes the Irken Ideology to its logical extreme in the most destructive way possible. Or you can say the Irken Empire was doomed from the start because of their asinine height-based class system. Which basically inevitably assures that at some point the reigns of the Empire will be at the hands of someone buffoonish and incompetent enough to drag the whole Empire down with them. And both of these viewpoints are true in their own way but also…
The Irken Empire was also doomed from the start cause, whatever this is a result of a culture that highly values obedience to your superiors over common sense, or because punishments for disobedience are just so terribly severe - these two Navigators continued to push those knobs and drive that ship even as they knew their commanders were mad and their actions were just driving their own Empire towards oblivion. 
Perhaps the Irken Military could use some sort of protocol of what to do when your superior is being clearly unreasonable and endangering not only the mission but literally the fate of your entire civilization? No, of course not. Yet another lesson not learned from Zim’s actions in ‘Impending Doom 1’. The only important lesson Irk needed to learn from that was just ‘Fuck This One Guy in Particular’.
Zim’s whole existence is like a twisted parody of the Irken Empire and all of its values. It’s really no wonder that the Tallest never got the joke. 
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One big shift I noticed in Enter the Florpus that the fandom uses a lot in fanfiction is how the Tallest talk to and about Zim.
I would like the point out, the Tallest never say anything bad about Zim when he’s in earshot.
This isn’t disqualifying the fact that they talk shit about him to each other, and to the other Irkens on the Massive. Just never in front of him. They try very hard to keep his exile a secret, correcting themselves very quickly the few times they do slip up.
For example, most prominently, Backseat Drivers From Beyond the Stars, where Zim calls them to show off a plan of his and annoys them for three hours straight. When trying to come up with an excuse, the Tallest (Red, at least), make up some story about an enemy ship going up against the Massive, despite knowing that to any other Irken, that would raise doubts. They know Zim’s unbridled, faulty loyalty better than anyone, and know that they need to placate him, no matter how wild those aforementioned placating words are.
Another, much larger example is Battle of the Planets. Zim calls his leaders in a bear suit for seemingly no reason. the Tallest, along with every other Irken, watch him ramble about whatever Zim-like things he talks about, trying to stay completely calm. a noteworthy detail; they were laughing at him and mocking the fact that he wasn’t around to mess Operation Impending Doom 2 just before this. It’s only when Zim calls do they stop, and even then, they’re trying to hide laughter. Zim soaks up the “praise” of his leaders and his fellow Irkens before hanging up. Then the Tallest spill into laughter again. It’s rarely ever been in front of Zim. Ever. Because I’m sure that, as oblivious as they know Zim is, they must also know there’s a point where he’s going to realize they’re not laughing with him (even if this is never the case).
They don’t seem to completely despise him as they could have simply hung up when Zim’s constant yelling of ‘my Tallest’ got too annoying, but that’s a different story entirely.
Purple seems to have less of an issue of bullying the invader to his face, and Red is obviously the more work-focused of the two (which is debatable, as both of them seem to slack off a lot), as well as the one who keeps the secret about Zim’s mission and his disdain for him under wraps.
The movie, while admittedly changing a good few things about characters, butchered the Tallest the most, in my opinion. For Purple, it made complete sense to want to fly straight. he’s been childish a few times, and a lot more open about when he doesn’t like an order or anything else (see Megadoomer). However, Red was always the one that seemed to have things under control, at least a few times. When the Massive flies out of control, his first instinct is to run a diagnostic to find the problem, while his companion tries to save the donuts (this is not to say they differ too drastically in personality, as Red also wanted to save the donuts). For him to insist on flying straight, especially when there’s a very large and dangerous rip in space some miles away that he no doubt knows could hurt him and his companion, is a bit out of character.
When Zim calls, they make no effort to hide the fact that they’re annoyed with him, with Purple outright stating he liked him better when they thought he was dead. Red yells that they really don’t care about whatever he has to say. These are minor things, the only interaction they have with him in the whole film, and admittedly isn’t that telling. But I feel that short five minute was very telling to how they interact with him. Especially for newer fans who didn’t analyze every character in the show in comparison to the movie I’ve watched 20+ times now,
And a lot of fanfictions make the Tallest unnecessarily cruel, even going as far as to tell Zim, unprompted, to his face, that his mission is fake. Understandably, it’s possible for them to reach their limit and blurt it out in anger, but even then, Zim would just laugh it off, never taking it for what it is. Hell, the best example of the Tallest I’ve seen written ever is Forced Perspective, where they stuck to expected behaviors and, even when Zim asked about the legitimacy of his mission, stopped him from finding out. Zim finding out his mission is fake would make him want to go back to Irk, after all. And they can’t have that.
They know keeping the secret of Zim’s mission is crucial for keeping him away from them and causing destruction away from them, yet I feel that’s easily forgotten.
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random-iz-stuff · 11 months
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Invader Zim Deathmatch Masterpost!
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[Click for better quality]
One on one battles between various Invader Zim characters! You decide who beats the other in a fight to the death!
Round 1:
Zimvoid Speed Round! (Winner: Number 2)
Virooz vs Commander Poki (Winner: Commander Poki)
Nightmare Bitters vs Countess Von Verminstrasser (Winner: Nightmare Bitters)
Gashloog vs Lard Nar (Winner: Lard Nar)
Gir vs Minimoose (Winner: Minimoose)
Ultra Peepi vs Giganto-Baby (Winner: Ultra Peepi)
Invader Larb vs “Mary” and “Fred” (Winner: Invader Larb)
Round 2:
Tallest Miuyki vs Commander Poki (Winner: Tallest Miyuki)
Number 2 vs Mimi (Winner: Number 2)
Dib vs Sizz-Lorr (Winner: Sizz-Lorr)
Sergeant Hobo 678 vs Sergeant Slab Rankle (Winner: Sergeant Hobo 678)
Invader Tenn vs Nightmare Bitters (Winner: Nightmare Bitters)
Bob vs Ms Bitters (Winner: Ms Bitters)
Chammy Wamboo vs Zib (Winner: Zib)
Lard Nar vs Invader Skoodge (Winner: Invader Skoodge)
Zim vs Minimoose (Winner: Minimoose)
Tallest Purple vs Tallest Red (Winner: Tallest Red)
Keef vs Recap Kid (Winner: Recap Kid)
Gaz vs Tallest Spork (Winner: Gaz)
Iggins vs Ultra Peepi (Winner: Ultra Peepi)
Prisoner 777 vs Professor Membrane (Winner: Professor Membrane)
Burrito Royale vs Oog-Ah the Planet Jacker (Winner: Oog-Ah)
Invader Larb vs Tak (Winner: Tak)
Round 3:
Tallest Miyuki vs Number 2 (Winner: Tallest Miyuki)
Sizz-Lorr. vs Sergeant Hobo 678 (Winner: Sizz-Lorr)
Nightmare Bitters vs Ms Bitters (Winner: Ms Bitters)
Zib vs Invader Skoodge (Winner: Zib)
Minimoose vs Tallest Red (Winner: Minimoose)
Recap Kid vs Gaz Membrane (Winner: Gaz Membrane)
Ultra Peepi vs Professor Membrane (Winner: Professor Membrane)
Oog-Ah the Planet Jacker vs Tak (Winner: Tak)
Round 4:
Tallest Miyuki vs Sizz-Lorr (Winner: Tallest Miyuki)
Ms Bitters vs Zib (Winner: Ms Bitters)
Minimoose vs Gaz Membrane (Winner: Gaz Membrane)
Professor Membrane vs Tak (Winner: Professor Membrane)
Semifinals:
Tallest Miyuki vs Ms Bitters (Winner: Ms Bitters)
Gaz Membrane vs Professor Membrane (Winner: Gaz Membrane)
Final Round:
Ms Bitters vs Gaz Membrane (Winner: Gaz Membrane)
WINNER: GAZ MEMBRANE
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