Happy to find another Dib stan here. Believe you me, these takes about him can get to be bad, REALLY bad (*glares at "Incel Dib" and "Misogynist Dib")
Okay but I do have this headcannon that Dib probably had a phase similar to that as a teenager.
Where he hated everyone and everything and thought he was above everyone. One of those people who hate themselves but hate everyone else more? Ya know? Like a teenager?
(…I don’t know why I was channeling my inner John Maluney there…)
But here’s the thing, that phase can’t really last that long cause he has a sister like Gaz around.
And I’ll explain very briefly here.
Me and @paketdimensioncomic were actually talking about this earlier today.
With a sister like Gaz, That shit (like misogyny/incel-ness) wouldn’t fly. Especially if that treatment extended towards her. She’d be like “The FUCK you just say” and beat the ever-loving tar out of him.
She’s beaten him up for far more stupider reasons as siblings tend to do. Why shouldn’t she get on his case for more serious stuff? This is the same girl who strapped her brother on a floating table just to force him to family dinner.
Yes, Dib is an idiot sometimes. And Gaz cares about her brother in her own very Gaz way. Like sure he’s an idiot, but he’s the idiot she’s stuck with since birth and has to keep him in line.
“Dib….why is Zim here? ….Don’t even THINK of doing anything dumb or…”
She isn’t afraid to call Dib out on his bullshit, and would absolutely beat some sense into him if he ever strayed to a very dangerous path.
Dib might have had a phase in Middle or High skool where he was very anti-everything. Like teens tend to do, but Gaz would really stop him before he gets too bad off the deep end.
Yes, Gaz can be apathetic at times, but I always did see her as someone who doesn’t actually want to see her brother fall of the deep end. And I kinda did see her as someone who is very possessive over her family members and does care about them, even if Dib drives her crazy. (that’s just kinda how siblings are.)
I mentioned before, but Gaz always makes the choice to sit next to Dib at lunch, Like if she hated him truely, she wouldn’t bother.
With a Sister like Gaz around, you don’t GET to be an incel. That’s a choice that you don’t get to make.
Dib isn’t a single child. Even if people like to pretend he is and that Gaz doesn’t care about him. (She does. Even within the show’s context.) He has a sister who is extremely possessive about the small family she has. And she doesn’t even allow Dib to be disgusting for long.
A reminder that in ETF Gaz was the only one who knew how bad Dib’s state of mind was (Membrane seemed really ignorant about this) and actively tried brining him back. I talked more about that in my analysis of the Membrane Sibling dynamic in ETF I made a while back. This did extend in the comics as well.
Point is, Gaz is his sister, and won’t ever allow him to go through that phase for too long.