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â¨Welcome to my Tumblr page! â¨
I'm FredBloxworth, a â24-year-old self-taught digital artist and writer who's still learning. đđ
Currently working on âQuantum Misfits: Gizmo and Vivian's Chronicles!â
I love cartoons, videogames, and other media from the early 2000s!
Expect to see a lot of posts based from that era with a few exceptions!
As in a non-conclusive handful of moments where Dib made his life immensely, impressively more difficult with nothing other than his own words
8. âAlien sleep cuffs, guaranteed to render all alien life forms unconscious.â
7. âOh, come on! You're not mad about that whole 'leaving you to rot' thing, are you?
6. âYou know Zim, when the nurse examines you, she'll notice that you don't have human organs. Then it's just a short step to a hospital and from there to an alien autopsy table and then you're just another segment on âMysterious Mysteriesâ!â
5. âLook! It's me you want! I cast the spell on her because I wanted to see what it would do before trying it on myself!â
4. (-_ -)
3. (WHEN WILL HE LEARN)
2. (Whatever off-screen conversation took place in the movie where Zim learned the full potential of Membracelets)
LITERALLY THIS IS WHAT I WILL SCREAM ABOUT THOUGH LIKE âSTOP ENABLING/ENCOURAGING HIMâ
Dib is so insecure about whether heâs good at being Earthâs hero and heâs more perceptive than about 99% of the Earthâs population but dear god he has this huge introspective blind spot for how self-inflicted his biggest bugbears are.
Bro was this close to giving a world domination roadmap suggestion to him in the comics.
Dib is explicitly necessary for Zim to even continue his invasion attempts. A ton of Zimâs most destructive inventions were the direct result of Dib antagonizing him and literally escalating petty squabbles into a full on challenge. Dib thinks heâs Batman vs the joker when some days itâs more like the joker and the riddler getting into a slap fight and the entire city around them serving as environmental collateral. He knows (or should know) that Zim is basically an unhinged enemy combatant, has barely any self restraint when it comes to his temper, and can build universe-breaking technology⌠and he still thinks itâs somehow a good idea to taunt & prank him with middle school bully antics for no other purpose than to really piss him off. Or worse, naively assuming somehow that personal slights roll of Zim as easily as they do him.
Like Dib, DibâŚ. thatâs a guy with a kill count. Who genuinely thinks heâs fighting for his life, honor, and purpose in a strange world he perceives as his personal warzone. You think an Irken of his caliber was programmed/trained to not grudge over audacity from the lesser kinds, to let such insolence from the likes of you go ignored? That heâs not going to be opportunistic for any more excuses to flaunt how easily he could waste you in an instant if he ever gets through going about this the fun way instead of the practical way? Heâs like a small dog running around with a Roman candle in its mouth: A competent soldier? Not remotely. Hilariously entertaining? Sure. But, extremely dangerous to everyone and everything around it nonetheless? You bet your ass. Dibâs a firefighter that for whatever reason canât freaking resist playing with fireworks, though.
Thinking about the fact that Zim doesnât even actually have to conquer earth for his job, itâs literally just a self-imposed challenge to impress the Tallest. Officially, the job of an Invader is just to gather intel about their assigned planetâs weaknesses so the armada can plan an attack. They donât need to do anything to prep the planet ahead of time unless they have defenses capable of withstanding an Irken attack in need of sabotage, which earth does not. Literally all he needs to do is tell the Tallest âTheyâve got nukes, but thatâs about itâ and sit and wait. But heâs so desperate to make up for ruining OIDI he just HAS to conquer the planet single-handed.
Thinking about the fact that Zim doesnât even actually have to conquer earth for his job, itâs literally just a self-imposed challenge to impress the Tallest. Officially, the job of an Invader is just to gather intel about their assigned planetâs weaknesses so the armada can plan an attack. They donât need to do anything to prep the planet ahead of time unless they have defenses capable of withstanding an Irken attack in need of sabotage, which earth does not. Literally all he needs to do is tell the Tallest âTheyâve got nukes, but thatâs about itâ and sit and wait. But heâs so desperate to make up for ruining OIDI he just HAS to conquer the planet single-handed.
Fun sidenote- Thereâs always a very small part of me that knows and fears this fact about the invaders. Because. That really knocks down a lot of badass cred we give skoodge if we just imagine he basically didnât do anything offensive at all and just called in the fleet as soon as he confirmed the rodentoids were primitive enough to be organically swept with little resistance. That his assignment was actually pretty easy by virtue of being uncomplicated and brief.
âŚ.But then I remember that actually? Thatâs still a hugely impressive feat on his part, just reframed in an even more âSkoodgeâ themed sense. His accomplishment wasnât that he waged any kind of one-man war against a planet and won. His accomplishment was that he, outnumbered and afraid, infiltrated and did a successful recon of the slaughtering rat-peopleâ˘. He survived under cover among extremely violent natives long enough to gather what he needed and await the armadaâs arrival as per the given proper protocol. Probably utilizing the same talents that allowed him to freeload in Zimâs basement for several months completely unnoticed.
A Speculative Analysis About Irkens No One Asked For: Part I
Dem green fellas. Them lil guys, theyâre an interesting pack of critters, arenât they?
I used to really fixate on them back in middle and high school, stronger than everyone else seemed to be on the spazz in the dog costume. Jhonen Vasquezâs worldbuilding has always towed a very fine line between nonsensically ridiculous and surprisingly logistical, and this balance is typified in everything we know, and can infer, about these bug-eyed imperialists at the center of everything Invader Zim. So, letâs infer, and take a crack at it since no oneâs stopping us anyway- More specifically, some thoughts and ponderings I had about how they âtickâ as a fully realized society, not just a sci-fi monster..
A Homeworld ObscuredÂ
Now, to really understand the history and âdealâ of any civilization, or any animal, usually you would turn to their environment first to give you some handy clues and context.
Small problem, though: We actually donât get much in the way of direct, explicit showing or explanations about Irk itself when it comes to the show. This makes some sense, given that the whole of what they do worth showing (and the most notable members of their kind) exists almost entirely off-world. So instead, we mostly find out more about Irk from what Invader Zim does tell us about its natives. As far as confirmed canon goes, we know that Irkâs atmosphere appears red, its surface is entirely and densely urbanized, and itâs long been depicted in starmaps with a set of Saturn-like rings.Â
  This last fact is probably the most interesting, because planetary rings are usually something we, in our own little solar system, would only associate with massive, gaseous worlds, not terrestrial ones. What These rings are made of is really anyoneâs guess- could be ancient debris from natural satellites, Water-ice particles, maybe even some form of artificial defense network put into orbit by the Irkens themselves. If they arenât artificially created, this would suggest that Irk has quite a strong gravitational field- greater than that of any of our neighborhoodâs rocky planets. This is the common theory I personally like to subscribe to, because it would also go hand and hand with explaining why the average height of the irken race is so much shorter compared to that of an adult human. It fits neatly into the âwhyâ question for the sort of athletic skill and agility weâve seen invaders able to demonstrate on Earth, too, for otherwise being of meek physical prowess. It even adds some credible context for why the very achievement of growing to a more substaintial height is both uncommon and associated with extreme survival fitness to them.
A Fun fact thatâs about to be relevant: âRayleigh scatteringâ is the term given to when light wavelengths become shifted and scattered through an atmosphere medium. Long story short, itâs the reason our sky has color to it during the day. Stay with me on this.
Iâve also seen some people take a go at the red-looking surface, guessing a different gas makeup than the elements on earth responsible for our blue skies. Iâm gonna go against the grain here, and actually contest that. I think that Irkâs atmosphere is coincidentally extremely similar to Earthâs. We know well enough that they both have a similar composition of gases breathable to both societies, given that Zim, Skoodge, and Tak all seemed pretty comfortable without some form of assistance on the same dirtball as humanity. Instead, I propose that Irkâs magenta skies are actually the symptom of heavy pollution. Sunsets and sunrises in the real world are known to make the sky appear more reddish-orange, even pink, as is. Usually, Rayleigh scattering has the light From the sun appear bluish in full midday, but during low sun, the rays are coming at an angle making them have to travel farther before reaching us, so you have already stretched light waves getting the same treatment from the air and, well, a higher frequency blue turns down to the lower end of the spectrum, red and yellows.
And wouldnât you know, air pollution can actually do the same thing. THIS is why there's a scary ass orange haze known to accompany the presence of massive forest fires and volcanic eruptions. Earthâs most polluted cities even experience longer and redder sunsets for the same reason.Â
Left: Image of a lilac sky over a Chinese city experiencing heavy smog levels
Right: Intense red haze spotted over towns in Indonesia in the wake of rampant rainforest fires
On Earth, Zim stared directly into the midday sun without hesitation, nor concern that it would literally blind him. I think the planet hue and this is plenty enough to guess the likely case that Irkâs surface probably doesnât get a lot of direct sun on an average day as is, and the sheer amount of unbroken cityscape that covers the homeworld would be the more obvious suspect than just having a more distant star from them. If they overcrowded to the point of their expansion, why build their civilization deeper into the ground, instead of up? Maybe there's actually a good reason or two they donât raise their young topside.
A Psychology Molded for Domination
As well, I want to chirp about real world space again for a second. So, anyone up to the buzz in geek circles and aware of the math on the matter probably got the memo: humanity is almost matter-of-fact certainly not alone in this sandbox of a universe (or at the very least, we wonât always be alone). Like, about as certainly as we were about Black holesâ existence before we up and observed the real thing. And while itâs probably not going to happen in any of our lifetimes, sci-fi and media generally have been trying to take a crack for years at what the theoretical first contact with an alien civilization is going to look like.Â
And Iâm gonna go ahead and say it,Â
As âclicheâ and Hollywood as the conquering little green/grey dudes trope might have become⌠itâs actually not a wild take after all. The little and green thing, thatâs creative liberty, but the part about them being hostile and something we may not actually even WANT to be aware of our existence? Thatâs an idea that even the smarty pants experts have been fearing the realistic odds of, even including the late Stephen Hawking .
The Evolution of intelligent life is a hard thing to really pin down and predict, given that we literally only have the one example to study. Under the right conditions, what reason would another advanced species NOT have to be equally as expanding, as exploitative of its resources, self-destructively short-sighted, and as supremacist as humans have already demonstrated themselves to be capable of? There is a lot of very interesting literature that suggests BOTH empathy/altruism and or aggression/tribalism to be (at least in the short term) very rewarding characteristics for an intelligent social species to develop.
And thatâs the thing about the behavior of the Irken Armada I think has always been fascinating. Their drive to be the biggest definitionally invasive species across the cosmos is framed exactly as irrational, bumbling, and pointless as it deserves to be; however, is it not just the extended conclusion of every empire that has existed here on Earth, if only it had survived long enough to achieve the technology of Irk? And yet, itâs reminiscent, like the rest of their design, to the far from sapient, yet very real world creatures they appear to be most inspired by: hive and colony building arthropods. Whether the next point I'm about to touch on should be seen as a rejection of that resemblance, or further elaboration of it is anyone's to answer.
Transhumanism, or.. Transirkenism, in this case?
Like the specifics of what Irk really looks like and how it realistically works, a bunch about the aliensâ physical biology is left to scattered tidbits to ponder and piece together into a bigger picture. A few of those tidbits are as follows, drip-fed to us over the course of aired and scripted but never released episodes:
+ From the mouth of Vasquez himself, it has been confirmed that Irkens lack any form of reproductive organs. Instead, they rely on industrialized facilities to grow and produce them in a factory sense.
+ Yet curiously, they still demonstrate something akin to sexual dimorphism, or at least the cultural existence of masculine/feminine genders, where females are aesthetically set apart by the presence of curled antennae, eyelashes, and higher voices.
+ Irken lifespans are able to stretch far past that of an average humanâs (Zim himself is cited to be around 2 centuries old in earth years).
+ Invader class soldiers have been implanted with surgical upgrades to their eyes.
+ Every Irken is fitted with a PAK that serves a wide array of utility and life-sustaining functions for its owner. These units are physically and neurologically connected into an Irkenâs spine from âbirthâ and contain a cybernetic backup of an individualâs personality, assigned occupational programming, and memories.Â
Thatâs not close to a complete list by any means, but itâs got the gist of what I want to dwell on most, starting with the last bit; because the PAK isnât done true justice in one statement. It is not an extra addition the way a prosthetic enhancement is, and it is not a tool the way armor and weapons are. It is literally analogous to a vital organ to these aliens, and they are shown to die within 10 minutes of being forcefully detached from their own.
The degree to which Irken bodies and minds rely on this technology, and how seamlessly they are integrated into it, ALONG with their completely artificial life cycle all directly points to the fact that their civilization has advanced into a cyborg-like stage of evolution. It may even be on track to reach a post-organical peak in due time, phasing out more and more of their âvestigialâ and feeble meatsuits until theyâve become a true drone army. And that actually begs some huge questions now that we realize we will never know how much of the Irken anatomy was ever originally a natural feature. An Irkenâs own brain practically comes secondary to the superior efficiency of the supercomputer on their back, capable of literally holding their own essence and being in the form of code. A code that can preserve the âselfâ even in the event of meatbody failure, being uploaded post-mortem into the Control Brainsâ collective data and repurposed for a future generation of workers. It absolutely would stand to reason that the species has continued this biological self-tampering to other heights- extending their lifespans, incorporating untold amount of mechanical upgrades into their bodies, and maybe even genetically engineering their smeets to be so compatible with this technology.Â
The control brains themselves are a mesmerizing reflection of this change over time- the result of an evident shift long ago from technology serving them, to them serving the directives of computers. When you really pay attention to the control brainsâ role in the series, it comes clear to you who (or what) is really in charge of their society. The Tallest still maintain their symbolic/cultural importance to the Irkens, but outside of their part in spearheading the active intergalactic invasion, they ultimately are figureheads when it comes to actually running the homeworld and ruling the lives of Irkâs inhabitants. If I had to bet money, I would say the Brains may even have the ability to choose and predetermine the next Tallest when a replacement is needed. But what does that make the Tallest? A meaningless title and transformation, chosen arbitrarily by the AI overlords? Well, I donât think so, actually⌠but maybe that, and more on the âmeatyâ morphology of their race is all a tangent fit for another day and post ;)
Y'all for real please do these. Even if you're certain your posture doesn't suck. One day you will wake up with impinged shoulder pain like I did and let me tell you it fucking HURTS. Do these exercises even just once a week and it will make such a difference. Especially my fellow creatives out there, stop shrimping over your work and go do these right now. RIGHT NOW.
So, MOTHER 3 actually has a couple different voice blips for dialogue. There's 5 in total, and the thing I'm looking at distinguishes them as Young Boy, Young Girl, Man, Woman, and Non-human. Idk if those are what they're referred to internally, but presumably that's how they're more-or-less distributed throughout the game (I wouldn't read into the names too much, the Magi apparently use the Man blip for example, so they're not objective in any case).
Anyway, what's fun is how they use these with Porky!
So, for most of his dialogue, Porky uses the "Boy" blip. He uses this whenever he taunts you over the intercom in the Empire Porky Building, the fake Porky you meet before fighting all the Mecha-Porkies uses it, all the way up to "I'm the most clever, most charming, and most trouble-making boy ever..."
But in his next lines after the shot pans up to the mass of machinery in the roof ("I welcome you once again"), his dialogue suddenly shifts into the "Man" blip.
And finally, once he's fully revealed, the rest of his monologue is accompanied by the "Non-human" voice blip.
It's pretty easy to catch if you're looking out for it (especially when he starts speaking with the Non-human blip, that one's really distinctive), and I think it's a really neat detail!
(Oddly enough, he actually switches back to the Man blip after this, during his battle and the cutscene leading up to it.)
So yeah, that's a pretty cool way to build up to the big twist with him, I think it's really clever ^^
I wanted to take some time out of my day to gush about Porkyâs appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl 2008. Iâd say that Super Smash Bros. Brawl had a lot of interesting bosses that represented their home franchises. From Petey Piranha (Super Mario), Rayquaza (Pokemon), Porky (MOTHER), to both Ridley and Meta Ridley (Metroid). Porky stands out because heâs from a lesser-known franchise and still had a boss fight and a stage dedicated to him as New Pork City.
Porky serves a very minor role in the Subspace Emissary storyline, only appearing in The Ruined Zoo level when heâs trying to kill Lucas with his Pig King Statue. Some sources say that Porky was working for the Subspace Army, but Iâve always speculated that Porky wasnât loyal to the Subspace Army (similar to Wario) and was off doing his own thing. He likely only sided with the Subspace Army out of cowardice, like he did with Giygas.
Anyways, during the Pig King Statue chase, Lucas tries everything to avoid being flattened by the hulking statue, but just like in its home appearance, nothing slows it down even after it falls into a lake. After Lucas gets his foot stuck under a branch, Ness appears out of nowhere and destroys the statue with PK Flash.
Quick side note, but I like how Ness can immediately recognize the statue as his old neighbor, and that seeing Ness again clearly pisses Porky off. Anyhow, after Ness destroys the Pig King Pig Statue with PK flash the real Porky emerges, ready to fight both his enemies from the past and future.
Right off the bat, can we acknowledge how absolutely terrifying Porky is in this boss fight? His bed mecha looks scary is far bigger than its original home appearance in Mother 3. His bed mechaâs appearance in 3D does a great job showing how much it resembles a demonic hospital bed. Then, adding to the creepiness is Porky himself, strapped in by a metal bar in the machine, lying nearly motionless. To the untrained eye, Porky looks like a kid like Ness and Lucas, but in reality heâs thousands of years old. You can see that his skin is purple and veiny, his hair is chalk-white, and he has a mustache from time travel abuse. Also, you canât see his eyes at all; theyâre completely hidden by his hair, making it seem like heâs eyeless.
To those unfamiliar with Porky, at first glance, he looks like a dying or dead child thatâs being used to power the machine. However, on closer inspection, Porky is not actually completely motionless in his machine. He bobs his head up and down and uses his arms to point toward his mechâs jab attack. I remember reading a lot of comments on Porkyâs theme song back in the day, talking about his boss fight. For many of them who werenât familiar with the MOTHER franchise; he was the scariest boss in Brawl. Add in the grim and dreary atmosphere of the ruined zoo level compared to the colorful levels that appeared before, and youâre in for something eerie.
What makes his boss fight even creepier is that Porkyâs completely silent. Many characters in the Subspace Emissary story are silent, only shouting attacks or taunts. However, Porkyâs complete lack of speech remains unsettling. True, the same occurs for the final boss Tabuu, but I never really found him to be scary like Porky was. The only noises in his boss fight are from the mechanical bellows from his bed mecha and a creepy pitched-up Ultimate Chimera roar after his defeat. Personally, Iâm still uncertain if that Ultimate Chimera noise came from his machine or Porky himself because of how inhuman he is at that point. Interestingly, Ness is vocal in this game, while Porky is silent. This is the opposite of their original dynamic in their home franchise.
Moving on, I want to talk about Porkyâs moveset that is used during his boss fight. Porky has 7 moves, but each attack (barring one) is based on both of his boss fight appearances in Earthbound and Mother 3.
Starting out with his multi-jab attack, Porky can use his bed mechaâs sharp legs to tear into his enemies repeatedly to rack up a ton of damage.
Porky has a basic crab-walk move that allows him to move around a little bit to trample his enemies with his bed mecha.
Porkyâs bed mecha can jump high into the air to crush its foes from above (this attack isnât based on anything as far as I know).
His next attack is his bed mecha hopping slightly before suddenly charging forward at high speed to deal major knockback damage.
Another tricky move of Porkyâs is when his bed mecha sends out Mecha Porkies from Mother 3. They run around harmlessly on the battlefield only to trip and generate a deadly explosion on unsuspecting enemies. If you look closely, you can see what appears to be tears coming from the Porky bots as they run around. It might just be a coincidence, but I like to see it as a nod to their mechanical crying in Mother 3.
His most devastating attack is his energy ray blast, where his bed mecha creates a ball of energy and fires a homing laser. His homing laser ability may be based on the âWhat did Porky do?!â move from Mother 3, where he attacks every party member at once, which this move resembles.
Lastly, his final and most interesting attack is when his bed mecha hovers into the air and unleashes a devastating red laser blast towards the ground. I like to think that this attack was based on his thunder tower, but Iâve seen other people make a greater observation. It greatly resembles Giygasâs UFOs laser strikes at the start of Earthbounds intro.
As you saw earlier, Porkyâs defeat by Ness and Lucas ends with his mech short-circuiting after taking enough damage, flipping out, and blowing up violently. And while a lot of the other bosses like Petey Pirahana, Rayquaza, and Ridley (twice) had also exploded, Porkyâs defeat was arguably worse. He got trapped under his machine and was likely impaled by the fence post in the background. For first-time players who didnât know who Porky was, it looked like a child had exploded and been crushed under his own machine. I even recall some believing they were supposed to save Porky, similar to the first boss fight with Petey that had you save either Princess Peach or Zelda. That mustâve been traumatizing for those young players when the battle ended like that. For MOTHER fans playing this boss fight for the first time, I canât imagine their initial reactions. It mustâve been a mix of shock and excitement for those fans who beat Porky for the first time in this game. Porky, in both of his appearances, evaded trouble by running away when he was losing and taunting you to rub salt into the wound. Here, however, he has nowhere to run and gets blown up and trapped under his own mech with no escape (sound familiar?). I can only imagine what Ness and Lucas were thinking upon defeating Porky. Iâd really want to know Nessâs thoughts in particular, because he just watched his childhood next-door neighbor blow up.
The next interesting topic I want to discuss is âPorkyâs Themeâ in his boss fight and why I think it fits the mood and atmosphere. Iâve seen some MOTHER fans who were disappointed that âHis Highness Themeâ (named Porkyâs theme in Brawl) was chosen over âMaster Porkyâs Theme,â his final boss theme in Mother 3. And while I understand why theyâd be disappointed, I think that âHis Highness Themeâ makes more sense thematically. âMaster Porkyâs Themeâ is supposed to reflect all the horrible deeds that Porkyâs committed over the course of the game, starting out bombastic before taking a more slow and somber tone to remind you of the pathetic lost child he really is. âHis Highness Themeâ however is bombastic from start to finish and definitely more of the type of theme youâd hear to pump you up for a fight. And I think its name being changed from âHis Highnessâ to âPorkyâs themeâ in Brawl also makes sense because âHis Highness themeâ referred to Masked Man (and the rest of the army for that matter) representing Porky. Since Masked Manâs not in this game, Porky is representing himself and his own army because heâs the only one who believes in its evil and childish ideals
If youâve made it this far in this analysis, I canât thank you enough for sticking through to the end. Growing up, Super Smash Bros. Brawl was one of my favorite Super Smash Bros. games to play on the Wii back in the day. Sure, Brawl had its flaws, like the infamous tripping mechanic and slower gameplay, but as a non-competitive player, this never really bothered me. Aside from the regular stock matches, my favorite modes to play in this game were the Subspace Emissary story mode, All-Star mode, and Boss Rush mode. which you could only get by completing the story.
I found the Subspace Emissary tedious, particularly the Great Maze section. However, the character interaction cutscenes made the experience worthwhile. And that brings me to the two cutscenes that I remembered the most as a child: âThe Pig King Statue Targets Lucasâ and âNess and Porky Face Offâ. I knew nothing about the MOTHER franchise at that point, and just assumed that Ness and Lucas were like George and Harold from the Captain Underpants franchise. I figured they were two friends living in a normal town and got into hijinks fighting bad guys and the like.
However, after playing on both the Onett and New Pork City stages and realizing they came from the same universe, that really baffled me when I was younger. How can a normal and friendly-looking town and a giant futuristic polluted flying city be part of the same world? And my curiosity in the MOTHER series would only grow after playing the ruined zoo level for the Subspace Emissary story mode. Seeing two psychic kids fight a giant spider mech with another child inside really scratched at my brain. So itâs thanks to Porkyâs boss battle and the MOTHER stages that led to me researching the series and subsequently becoming a MOTHER fan.
So, to make a long story short, itâs thanks to Porkyâs boss fight that Iâm a fan of the MOTHER series. Itâs no surprise that also influenced why Porkyâs my favorite MOTHER character. Someday I plan a deeper look into Porkyâs role in his own series, though that may wait some duration. What can I say? I love going in-depth on subjects I like in great detail. Well, I think this thread has gone on long enough, so I bid you all farewell! As a certain pig boy would say: âSpankety, spankety, spankety!â
Invader Zim Analysis: The Curious Case of the Vortians
Have you ever noticed how the universe of Invader Zim has so many fascinating and weird-looking alien species that are seen over the course of the series? Some examples include the Slaughtering Rat People of Blorch, Plookesians, Screwheads, Nhar-Ghâok, Meekrob, and many more unnamed aliens. They all have a lot of interesting designs and unique characteristics that make them stand out from one another. From the Martians working themselves to death by terraforming their planet into a spaceship to the moronic aliens from the episode âAbudctedâ conducting pointless experiments. This universe has no shortage of strange alien species, and likely more that we donât know about. In the show, the two most recurring species are, of course, the humans and Irkens, respectively. However, the show has another semi-recurring species that occasionally gets brought up. Iâm talking about the Vortians, who are probably the third most frequently occurring species, not counting the humans and Irkens that I brought up before. I donât believe Iâve seen any full-length analyses on the Vortians, so I wanted to take a stab at it myself.
As a quick little recap of the Vortians, theyâre an extremely intelligent race of scientists and engineers who were once allies of the Irken Empire. In the first episode of the show, âThe Nightmare Beginsâ, the Almighty Tallest mention planet Vort when they switch Invader Larbâs assigned planet to it after his increased height. Sometime between the episodes âThe Nightmare Beginsâ and âBackseat Driver from Beyond the Stars,â Invader Larb would complete his assignment, and the Irken Empire would turn Vort into its top military research prison. After the Irken Empire conquered Vort, the Vortians had to produce weapons and other technology for the Irken Empire under threat of death. They seldom appear throughout the series, only making a few appearances at a time, but theyâre responsible for a lot of the Irken Empireâs technology.
Appearance wise the Vortians have a unique look when compared to the Irkens. The Vortiansâ most notable feature is their horn-like appendages, which come in a variety of lengths, and digitigrade legs. Unlike the Irkens, who only have green skin, the Vortians come in greys, muted blues, purple, and even pink. They also have smaller eyes compared to the Irkens and seem to only have eye colors that range from white to red. If Vortian Prisoner 777 having children is any sign, it seems like Vortians can have kids and form families, which is a huge contrast to the Irkens, who do not have any familial bonds. However, whether they use cloning machinery like the Irkens or reproduce traditionally is unknown. Vortiansâ diet remains a mystery, as the only food they have appeared to consume on-screen is âvort dogsâ from Shloogorghâs Flavor Monster. This gives off the implication that they could be omnivores or carnivores.
As mentioned earlier, the Vortians manufacture many advanced pieces of technology, a majority of which were built for the Irken Empire both before and after their alliance ended. The Vortians built many important pieces of Irken technology, like the Irkens flagship the Massive, the Megadoomer X-3 Combat Stealth Mech, the Vortian liquid substance for the Santa-suit, and even Minimoose.
Special mention goes to the Irken Flagship, the Massive, as itâs the most impressive Vortian co-created tech. The Massive can blow up entire planets and wipe out enemy space fleets with ease. In fact, the ship is so powerful that in âBackseat Drivers From Beyond the Starsâ it flew through a star when Dib hijacked the ship, and it still came out no worse for the wear.
Now, as for the pure Vortian technology seen in the series, they are the universeâs most comfortable couch, The Resistyâs Ship (Vort ship), and the Vortian âSplodey System, in order of appearance. Itâs telling that despite the Vortians creating many powerful gadgets and weaponry, the only creation the Irkens hold them in high-regard for is the most comfortable couch in the universe. Granted, the fact that it can make an Irken fall asleep at all must mean it really is comfortable, considering Irkens donât even need sleep.
One of the most interesting and important lore details about the Vortians has to be their doomed alliance with the Irken Empire. As revealed in the unreleased episode transcript âThe Trialâ before the main events of the show, the Irken Empire and Vortians were once great allies of each other. The Vortians used to produce powerful technology alongside some Irken scientists for the greater good of the Irken Empire. Itâs not entirely clear which side formed the alliance or what the Vortians received in return, if anything, but one could assume that it was (at the time) not having their planet and resources plundered. However, this alliance would collapse when Zim was sent to a Vortian research station to apply his destructive skills to their research department. Zim would end up creating a dangerous, infinite energy-absorbing blob monster that combined with an infinite producing energy source created by the Vortian scientists, which quickly got out of control.
The infinite energy-absorbing blob monster would kill Tallest Miyuki during the chaos and would further rampage Vort. The Irken Empire refused to take accountability for the incident and blamed the Vortians for Tallest Miyukiâs death because it happened on Vortian territory, which destroyed their alliance. Interestingly, the episode âThe Trialsâ transcript clarifies that no one in the Irken Empire knew Zim was responsible for the death of Tallest Miyuki until they looked through his memories. This proves the Irken Empire is so egotistical that they refuse to believe the very idea that an Irken would be responsible for such an incident and didnât investigate the incident further.
Now, as interesting as the Vortians' failed alliance with the Irken Empire was, it's important to know that they weren't the Irken Empire's only allies. The Irken Empire, for as xenophobic and ruthless as they are, has established alliances with two named species: the Planet Jackers and the Inquisitorians. Episodes like "Hobo 13" suggest that other aliens also align with the Irken Empire (Zim and Skoodge donât wear disguises there), but for this topic we will only touch upon the Planet Jackers and the Inquisitorians.
Starting with the Planet Jackers, they're very similar to the Irkens, but instead of conquering planets, they just steal planets and throw them into their dying sun. However, they make it clear they like to target inhabited planets because, in their own words, âcritters burn good!â. The Irken-Planet Jacker Treaty made it so that the Planet Jackers could only steal planets that werenât marked for conquest by the Irken Armada. Itâs possible that the Irken Empire allied with the Planet Jackers, as the latterâs race is far stronger than the average Irken. The Planet Jackers also possess powerful technology of their own that possibly rivals that of the Irken Empire, so it makes sense why the Irken Empire wouldnât want to tussle with them.
Regarding the Inquisitorians, theyâre a highly intelligent race of researchers and observers. This means they have no ill intentions and only have the goal of documenting the history and development of other planets. They have SON units, which are like the Irken Empireâs own SIR units. SON units collect data on how a planet is developing technologically and can easily pinpoint the planetâs most powerful piece of technology. As the Inquisitorians are not warmongers, itâs possible that their alliance with the Irkens formed from the formers race being both tall and intelligent, which are traits the Irken Empire adores. The Inquisitoriansâ research also could reassure the Irken Empireâs pridefulness that their technology is still the best in the universe.
I bring all of this up to say that between the other two aforementioned races that formed alliances with the Irken Empire, it only highlights how the Vortians were in a weird middle spot. They arenât huge and intimidating like the Planet Jackers, but they are not tall and peaceful like the Inquisitorians, despite being geniuses in their own right. The Vortians were easily more beneficial to the Irken Empire compared to the other two races, as they directly helped them produce a lot of powerful technology. One could assume that because the Vortians werenât tall nor intimidating, the Irken Empire figured it was easier to throw them under the bus for Tallest Miyukiâs death than if it had been the Planet Jackers. It shows how two-faced and incompetent the Irken Empire really is if theyâre willing to let an amazing alliance like that go to complete waste because they didnât want to take accountability.
However, the Vortians, despite not being strong or intimidating, would prove they can still be quite the thorn in the Irken Empireâs side. As is common with the Irken Empireâs incompetence, having a former ally turned enemy produce your weapons isnât exactly a wise choice. After being enslaved the Vortians would create flaws in their creations like making the Vortian Splodey System unable to detect bio-signature covered in thick material and making the Megadoomer mech only able to cloak the mech, but not the user and giving it a visible giant power extension cord that always needs to be plugged in.
Going on a tangent here, but with how smart the Vortians are, it makes one wonder how Invader Larb could pass for one of them without being spotted as an Irken. This is just my personal speculation, but Iâve always believed that Invader Larb acted as a fake ambassador of sorts to the Vortians. Yâknow, pretending to rekindle the relations of the Irkens and the Vortians since they were once great allies. This could explain why Larb didnât seem to wear a disguise or anything the few times we saw him on Vort. Itâd actually look more suspicious if Larb wore a disguise because the Vortians mightâve caught on that the Irken Empire was about to invade them. Itâs possible he couldâve sabotaged all of Vortâs planetary defenses and called the Irken armada to finish the job. Almighty Tallest Purpleâs comment gives off the implication that the Vort ships were all likely destroyed in orbital combat, trying and failing to take on the Irken Armada, destroyed during the organic sweep, or likely a mix of both. The singular Vort ship, the Resisty, used to fight the Massive, did little to no damage at all against the Irken flagship, so itâs safe to say that something like this couldâve happened.
Regardless of how the Irken Empire conquered Vort, the aftermath was devastating for the Vortians. Vortians who couldnât flee their doomed home planet became the Irken Empireâs slaves, and the empire forced them to create weapons. Others who were just as unlucky had their brains harvested by Irken engineers like Skrang to increase their own brain power. The Irken engineers likely did this to Vortians caught tampering with Irken tech and to make an example of other Vortians who had any similar ideas of rebellion. Then you have the lucky ones who escaped their prisons and fled too far-away planets, away from Irken rule. But even that has its own caveat of sadness when you realize these Vortians can never return home to their families, nor do anything about the Irken Empire. Noticeably, the Vortians who escaped never appear in groups and seem to be alone to avoid simultaneous capture. And then you have the brave few like Lard Nar who try to oppose the Irken Empire and fight the good fight. For as good as Lard Narâs intentions were, itâs clear that he and his team never stood a chance against the Irken Empire, and that was something even he knew was futile.
Well, I think Iâve said everything I can about the Vortians, so thank you if you took time out of your day to read this. Every time I believed I was done writing this analysis I would end up I would realize that there were like a gazillion more things Iâd want to talk about, haha. To give you an idea of how long Iâve been working on this project, I started it back around December 2025. Originally, I wanted to write a brief paragraph talking about Invader Larbâs mission on Vort, but that developed into a whole essay on the Vortians. Similarly, to my last analysis on the Irken Empireâs SIR units, I had a similar amount of fun doing research on the Vortians. If you couldnât already tell, I really love Invader Zim, and researching for this project only made me love this franchise even more. With all that said, I hope this analysis wasnât too much of a ramble to read, and I hope you all have a good day!
Alright, here's my final Poppy Playtime Chapter 5 predictions before Chapter 5 officially releases in an hour:
- The prototype will resurrect the dead toys (Catnap, Mommy Long Legs, Bunzo, mini-huggies, Miss Delight, etc.) as the wrong-side outimals or horrifying fusions.
- The leaked prototype design is not the real design
- The Prototype is not Elliot Ludwig, but another relative of Poppy (possibly her brother)
- Lily will involve the player having to âplayâ games with her to get a key and save Poppy and Kissy Missy from being imprisoned
- Lily isnât Stella, but another child we donât know of yet
- The red toy from the ARG will be important to Lilyâs section
- Rich will get a VHS tape revealing his last moments in the hour of joy
- Stellaâs last VHS tape will explain her part in the hour of joy and her ultimate fate of being turned into a toy by the prototype
- Huggy Wuggy will kill the red toy to pursue us
- Lily will die by being hung by her own hair
- Huggy Wuggy will attack the Prototype for harming Kissy Missy and be killed
- Gibletâs a traitor, working to save himself so he can escape the factory
- The Prototypeâs ultimate plan is to turn the orphanâs toys into the same toy that Poppy is
- The end of the chapter, before we fight him, will show the Prototypeâs full body.
- Harley Sawyer isnât dead and likely uploaded his brain into one of his many robots.
- This is not the final chapter
I'm not sure if any of this will be close to right, but I figured I'd share it anyway and see if I guessed any plot details correctly.
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