"My name is Dib Membrane"
"Open the Door Zim..."
You can find alts here: Twitter | Bsky | Instagram
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(Originally finished on 4/16/2026)
"I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas"
ojovivo
No title available
No title available

oozey mess
Show & Tell
dirt enthusiast

roma★
taylor price
Not today Justin
TVSTRANGERTHINGS

❣ Chile in a Photography ❣
2025 on Tumblr: Trends That Defined the Year

Origami Around

pixel skylines
Xuebing Du

if i look back, i am lost
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open
RMH
KIROKAZE
seen from Japan
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@fredbloxworth
"My name is Dib Membrane"
"Open the Door Zim..."
You can find alts here: Twitter | Bsky | Instagram
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(Originally finished on 4/16/2026)
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-Gh’ok, 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 “Abudcted” conducting pointless experiments. This universe has no shortage of strange alien species, and likely more that we don’t 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. I’m 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 don’t believe I’ve 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, they’re an extremely intelligent race of scientists and engineers who were once allies of the Irken Empire. In the first episode of the show, “The Nightmare Begins”, the Almighty Tallest mention planet Vort when they switch Invader Larb’s assigned planet to it after his increased height. Sometime between the episodes “The Nightmare Begins” and “Backseat Driver from Beyond the Stars,” 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 they’re responsible for a lot of the Irken Empire’s technology.
Appearance wise the Vortians have a unique look when compared to the Irkens. The Vortians’ 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. Vortians’ diet remains a mystery, as the only food they have appeared to consume on-screen is “vort dogs” from Shloogorgh’s 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 it’s 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 “Backseat Drivers From Beyond the Stars” 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 universe’s most comfortable couch, The Resisty’s Ship (Vort ship), and the Vortian ‘Splodey System, in order of appearance. It’s 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 don’t 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 “The Trial” 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. It’s 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 Miyuki’s death because it happened on Vortian territory, which destroyed their alliance. Interestingly, the episode “The Trials” 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 didn’t 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 don’t 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, “critters burn good!”. The Irken-Planet Jacker Treaty made it so that the Planet Jackers could only steal planets that weren’t marked for conquest by the Irken Armada. It’s possible that the Irken Empire allied with the Planet Jackers, as the latter’s 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 wouldn’t want to tussle with them.
Regarding the Inquisitorians, they’re 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 Empire’s own SIR units. SON units collect data on how a planet is developing technologically and can easily pinpoint the planet’s most powerful piece of technology. As the Inquisitorians are not warmongers, it’s 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 Inquisitorians’ research also could reassure the Irken Empire’s 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 aren’t 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 weren’t tall nor intimidating, the Irken Empire figured it was easier to throw them under the bus for Tallest Miyuki’s death than if it had been the Planet Jackers. It shows how two-faced and incompetent the Irken Empire really is if they’re willing to let an amazing alliance like that go to complete waste because they didn’t 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 Empire’s side. As is common with the Irken Empire’s incompetence, having a former ally turned enemy produce your weapons isn’t 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 I’ve always believed that Invader Larb acted as a fake ambassador of sorts to the Vortians. Y’know, pretending to rekindle the relations of the Irkens and the Vortians since they were once great allies. This could explain why Larb didn’t seem to wear a disguise or anything the few times we saw him on Vort. It’d actually look more suspicious if Larb wore a disguise because the Vortians might’ve caught on that the Irken Empire was about to invade them. It’s possible he could’ve sabotaged all of Vort’s planetary defenses and called the Irken armada to finish the job. Almighty Tallest Purple’s 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 it’s safe to say that something like this could’ve happened.
Regardless of how the Irken Empire conquered Vort, the aftermath was devastating for the Vortians. Vortians who couldn’t flee their doomed home planet became the Irken Empire’s 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 Nar’s intentions were, it’s 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 I’ve 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 I’d want to talk about, haha. To give you an idea of how long I’ve been working on this project, I started it back around December 2025. Originally, I wanted to write a brief paragraph talking about Invader Larb’s mission on Vort, but that developed into a whole essay on the Vortians. Similarly, to my last analysis on the Irken Empire’s SIR units, I had a similar amount of fun doing research on the Vortians. If you couldn’t 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 wasn’t too much of a ramble to read, and I hope you all have a good day!
✨ Invader Zim Fanart ✨
GIR reporting for duty! 🌟
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(Originally finished on 3/20/2026)
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 “play” games with her to get a key and save Poppy and Kissy Missy from being imprisoned
- Lily isn’t Stella, but another child we don’t know of yet
- The red toy from the ARG will be important to Lily’s section
- Rich will get a VHS tape revealing his last moments in the hour of joy
- Stella’s 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
- Giblet’s a traitor, working to save himself so he can escape the factory
- The Prototype’s ultimate plan is to turn the orphan’s toys into the same toy that Poppy is
- The end of the chapter, before we fight him, will show the Prototype’s full body.
- Harley Sawyer isn’t 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.
👑 The Fairly OddParents 💫
Timmy Turner's looking fresh! 🌟
✨[Ft. Gizmo] ✨ There’s no problem Gizmo can’t solve or villain he can’t beat! 🔧🧠
Irken disguises aren't convincing because they don't have to be.
The Irken Empire is the strongest force in several galaxies and practically runs itself. The Massive is less a warship and more a steamroller. They know it. Everyone else knows it.
When the badly disguised Irken arrives what do you even do? If you kill this one they'll just send another one. If you show that you know they're coming and are ready to fight them (you cannot win, you know this) at best they will arrive sooner and with a greater arsenal than they would have brought otherwise. At best you'll get a long drawn out war instead of a fast planetary sweep. Or you don't give them a reason to be mad at you and accept that in a year or ten everyone gets to work in a sweatshop.
In the meantime, you can abandon the planet (assuming you can afford to) or try and make the best of the time you have left.
Don't make waves. Don't let the Irken know you know. Draw out your time as long as you can and hope for a miracle.
Hope that maybe your army has a secret weapon up their sleeve.
Hope that someone else might come and help you.
Hope that maybe this Invader, this one Invader isn't like the others and you can convince them not to do what they've come to do.
Hope that maybe, just maybe there's something wrong with your eyes. Hope that you're wrong.
Hope that it's not an Irken at all. You know, if you just squint a little bit they look just like everyone else.
It's just your new neighbor. You don't need to be scared of your neighbor.
The Stages of Grief for a planet is not so different than for a terminal illness. Stage one is denial.
Appreciate these tags: #you may wonder why send invaders at all if it's a sure thing and the answer is insurance #but mostly they're there to defang the enemy so it's less work when they do arrive #you wanna spend five weeks fighting off annoying battleships or spend five minutes sweeping the joint?
Honestly, this analysis really makes the concept of the Irken Empire and its invaders even scarier with this in mind. The Irken Empire's technology is without a doubt the most powerful seen in the entire series, and no other alien tech even comes close to theirs. Your only real choices against the Irken Empire are to hide or be enslaved and secretly fight back. For example, in Issues 42 and 43 of the Invader Zim Oni comics, Planet Plim actually tried hiding from the Irken Empire with the use of a holographic shield, and even that ended up failing because of outside circumstances (aka Dib shutting down the defenses).
Then there's the other option of trying to sabotage the Irken Empire while enslaved, and that really only boils down to what slave position the Empire gives you. For example, the Vortians got extremely lucky to still be put in charge of producing some of the Irken Empire's technology. This allowed the Vortians to add in tons of obvious flaws to the Megadoomer and likely other pieces of Irken technology.
Then there's Smikka Smikka Smoodoo, of the screwhead people, who was forced to send packages to aid the Irken Invaders. He was in a position that allowed him to at least switch packages, which is at least some control. While it would ordinarily be just an annoyance to the Invaders to receive the wrong package, he got lucky enough that of the two packages he switched, one just so happened to contain highly dangerous malfunctioning robots. This single act was enough to ruin Invader Tenn's mission and possibly even alert the inhabitants of planet Meekrob of her presence on their planet.
While these acts of rebellion have probably given the Empire some minor trouble, they were easily fixable. They'll send another Invader in Invader Tenn's place when she's inevitably captured and killed, and they'll force the Vortians to fix the flawed experiments or risk having their brains painfully harvested. These acts of rebellion have done nothing to damage the greater Irken Empire as a whole. You'll still be a slave to the Irken Empire if they haven't already killed you for your pitiful acts of rebellion.
✨ Animal Crossing ~ Isabelle🍃
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🐶 "Mr. Mayor, you forgot your papers!" 😱 _ Who’d have guessed that Isabelle would be my final drawing for the year! I initially aimed to complete her by December 20th, since that’s her birthday and also, by coincidence, my birthday. Of all the times I’ve drawn her, this is the first time I’ve fully rendered her, and I’m happy to see the end results! Here’s to a great 2026! 🥂
🎨 2025 Art Summary 🥳🎉
Here’s my 2025 art summary! You might notice that some of these drawings are the only rendered drawings I did for that month. July was the only month when I hadn’t made a single rendered art piece, like I thought I did.
As for my thoughts on the actual quality of my artwork this year, I’d say that’s not really special. My art skills feel like they’ve been stagnant since 2023 since I didn’t push myself to learn any new art fundamentals or techniques, so nothing really stuck out all that much. If I had to bring up any art pieces I was proud of, it would be my “Quantum Misfits: Gizmo and Vivian” art banner and the art of Mary and Vivian I drew back in March. I went out of my comfort zone with those two specific pieces because I drew two characters in the same art piece instead of just one character, so it felt like a step up.
I won’t lie; I felt incredibly demotivated by the time the end of September had rolled around because Twitter had updated the algorithm, which made artists’ artwork like mine either get less traction or, in my case, not get noticed at all. I try not to let internet points get too much in my head, but I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t sad that my art wasn’t really getting seen at all as it once was before. It made me feel like the art I was making wasn’t good at all and that I was worthless as an artist. That, along with some other unresolved personal issues, wasn’t exactly a great combination for my mental health.
However, with all that being said, I still want to pursue being an artist full-time. The fact that I’m still drawing (even slowly) at all means I believe my art skills are worth showing and improving. With the rise of AI art, it’s made me realize that it’s more important than ever that I don’t give up. I’ve always seen drawing as a way to challenge and express yourself by creating something out of nothing, even if it’s as simple as a stick figure drawings. You're not just expanding your thinking skills, but you're challenging yourself to create what doesn’t exist with only your imagination, but AI art doesn’t do that at all. All AI art does is take what already exists and create a slop amalgamation of existing media, only done for the spectacle, only to be forgotten for the next AI slop piece.
Therefore, while I don’t think I’m a great artist, I still want to improve myself and take any form of constructive criticism so that I may improve my craft. Not just for art, but for writing and editing and any other skill I decide to pursue from 2026 onwards! One of my New Year’s resolutions art-wise is that I really want to push myself to get out of my comfort zone and draw in angles I don’t normally draw and also build up the habit of drawing for at least 10-minutes every day. If I had to take any lesson away from this year, it is that everyone takes their own road to reach their goals, and some of us just have roads that are a lot longer than others. The important thing is not to give up and take the exit off of the road before you’ve reached your destination.
So, with all said and done, here’s to a successful 2026! 🥂
✨ Animal Crossing ~ Isabelle🍃
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🐶 "Mr. Mayor, you forgot your papers!" 😱 _ Who’d have guessed that Isabelle would be my final drawing for the year! I initially aimed to complete her by December 20th, since that’s her birthday and also, by coincidence, my birthday. Of all the times I’ve drawn her, this is the first time I’ve fully rendered her, and I’m happy to see the end results! Here’s to a great 2026! 🥂
Happy 25th birthday to me! 🎂🥳🎉
Figure this is going to be the only time in my life I'll ever be able to make this joke.
(Funnily enough, I didn't start this video until the last hour of my birthday and didn't finish until the last 10-minutes of it.)
[Kirby X Earthbound Crossover] ⭐ 🌎
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Kirby meets his old pal “Tuff” and Porky encounters an otherworldly “foe”.
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I got this idea from realizing that Tuff from the Kirby Right Back at Ya anime resembles Porky Minch from the Mother franchise.
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(Originally finished on 2/18/2022)
This is probably one of my favorite panels in the comic book series... love that his ship is made of garbage parts, his SIR unit is garbage, the computer in his base is faulty,
Love that not only is ZIM considered defective but all of his things are also defective in some way. And it makes sense because why would they give ZIM the good, shiny, brand new equipment when they can just send him enough garbage to placate him enough to keep him working on his false mission far away from the real invaders.
✨ Invader Skoodge! ✨
Conqueror of planet Blorch, home of the Slaughtering Rat People! 🛸 🐀_________________________________________________
(Originally finished on 12/30/2024)
Invader Zim Analysis: What's the deal with SIR Units?
Y’know, the SIR units in “Invader Zim” have always fascinated me, even though the show doesn’t feature them much except for GIR. I feel like I don’t see many people in the fandom talk about them much, so I figure I’d take this opportunity to throw in my own two cents about these little guys. As a quick memory jogger in case you forgot what the SIR units purpose in the Irken Empire is, they’re small Irken-built androids that are only assigned to high-ranking Irken invaders. They act as robotic assistants who aid their masters in gathering weaknesses on the planet they’ve been assigned to invade and double as bodyguards who eliminate any threats to their masters. Also, as a random side note, according to Almighty Tallest Red, they apparently double as thermoses for some reason.
Given that a bloodthirsty imperialist race built them, it’s not surprising that SIR units store deadly state-of-the-art weaponry, such as lasers, missiles, saws, and bombs, all in their heads. Despite looking like tiny and weak-looking robots, they’re deceptively durable and powerful. If an older model like GIR is any sign, they can easily lift thousands of tons, even with its noodle-looking arms. They also possess the ability to move at high speeds.
Now, a detail I find funny is the possibility that the only reason the SIR units are built as small as they are is because of the Irkens’ obsession with height. The Almighty Tallest obviously wouldn’t want their invaders to boss around a robot servant that appears to be taller than them because that would set a bad precedent. One could make the argument that it’s also because the SIR unit’s small size means that it could hide and gather information more easily, but knowing how the Irken Empire runs, it’s most likely the former reason. That being said, another advantage of the SIR units’ appearance is that an enemy encountering them for the first time wouldn’t realize just how truly dangerous the SIR units are before it’s too late.
Now, if you recall, I mentioned earlier that the Irken invaders are the only ones granted access to SIR units, but it’s implied they don’t keep them after finishing their missions. For example, in the episode “Battle of the Planets,” Invader Skoodge is the first invader to complete his mission of conquering his assigned planet. Interestingly, when he presents himself to the Almighty Tallests, he doesn’t have his SIR unit by his side. In fact, we never actually see him with his SIR unit on screen at any point, but we know he had one thanks to promotional material. Anyway, it’s likely that any invader who completes their assigned mission gives up their SIR unit so that it can assist another invader in the future with the data it collected during its time with its current master. This lends credence to the idea that most invaders don’t really get very attached to their SIR units, just viewing them as expendable pieces of technology, especially given what we see in the episode “Megadoomer” which I’ll elaborate on later. The closest the Irkens get to humanizing them in any way is giving them nicknames and giving them male/female pronouns; however, only Tak has done this, naming her SIR unit MiMi.
It’s possible that Zim and Tak are the only non-invaders who not only own a SIR unit but also have full ownership over their SIR units instead of the Irken Empire because of the unusual circumstances of their robots’ creations. The Almighty Tallest built GIR to fool Zim into thinking his mission was real with the added belief that GIR was a top-secret model. It’s unlikely that even if Zim completed his “mission,” he would have to give up GIR because he’s a broken and outdated SIR unit and the Almighty Tallest would rather have GIR continue to be a hindrance to Zim. As for Tak’s SIR unit, MiMi, it’s heavily implied that Tak created MiMi (along with her ship) from scrap and other useful materials during her time on Planet Dirt. This would explain why MiMi has such a drastically different appearance to the other SIR units. For instance, she has the same outdated chest plate GIR has, but also has a mouthless head similar to the modern SIR units, with her most stand out feature being her giant extendable claw. MiMi, simply put, is not like any of the other modern SIR units despite being just as advanced, but she wouldn’t fit in with the Irken Empire’s pre-existing SIR units lineup at all.
Well, I’ve rambled enough about the SIR units’ role and treatment in Irken society, but something else I wanted to cover was the shoddy and questionable programming of the SIR units themselves. While we know nothing about who specifically created the SIR units or how long they’ve been in production in the Irken Empire, we at least know who programmed them. An Irken scientist named Hok designed the original programming of the SIR units, as revealed in Issue #23 of the Oni comics. Hok also uploaded a digital brain-scan version of himself into the SIR units that acts as an error-correcting software, but its effectiveness is very questionable as you’ll see later on.
So remember earlier how earlier I brought up how the Irkens only see the SIR units as expendable pieces of technology? Well, that’s because of how we see how they deal with broken SIR units in the episode “Megadoomer” or lack thereof. At the beginning of the episode, we see the Almighty Tallests at a storage planet doing an inventory check on the titular Megadoomer to give as a gift to Invader Tenn in aiding her conquest against Planet Meekrob. And a few floors above the Megadoomer is a bunch of malfunctioning SIR units attacking each other. The Tallest's nonchalant reaction to them gives off the idea that malfunctioning SIR units are a fairly common problem in the Irken Empire. They aren’t interested in getting them fixed and instead decide to have them sent to Zim hoping they’ll kill him. This can be yet again chalked up to the laziness and apathy of the Almighty Tallest not wanting to fix them. Granted, what we see of these broken SIR units is that they are incredibly dangerous, so maybe getting them fixed isn’t worth the trouble.
Anyway’s if you remember how the rest of the episode goes, a rogue slave switches Zim and Tenn’s packages at a planet shipping facility. This leads to Zim getting the Megadoomer (which has its own set of problems) and Tenn getting the deadly package of SIR units, which ends up destroying her base. While it’s an enjoyable and funny episode to watch along with Zim’s little lore drop about the Vortians being recently enslaved, the malfunctioning SIR units especially fascinated me. When we first see them on screen, you might think their actions are like how GIR normally acts. However, they are a lot more destructive than GIR is, and they have no agency over what they do at all. Yes, GIR has had a few destructive moments, with the most notable examples being “Invasion of the Idiot Dog Brain” and “GIR Goes Crazy and Stuff”, but in both instances there was at least a reason for it. In the former episode, GIR’s rampage when he became the base’s computer was because he wanted tacos, and the library rampage in the latter episode happened because he was trying to destroy Zim for his incompetence. The malfunctioning SIR units, on the other hand, have no autonomy over what they do, but I might have an explanation for them attacking each other.
In the previous paragraph I mentioned the episode “GIR Goes Crazy and Stuff”. In this episode, Zim tires of GIR’s goofiness and stupidity and locks him into duty mode so he’ll be an effective servant. At one point in the episode, GIR in his serious state brings up an Irken law called the SIR unit code. This law allows SIR units to act of their own free will if they and their master’s mission are under threat. One example we get of this behavior in a fully functioning SIR unit is MiMi destroying Zim’s base in “Tak: The Hideous New Girl” without Tak ordering her to do so.
However, GIR is an example of a SIR unit who almost never functions properly at all, but is still aware of the SIR unit code to begin with. A lot of GIR’s goofy moments in his malfunctioned state make a lot more sense with this information. To put this into perspective, as long as Zim is around, the mission is always at stake, and therefore, GIR will always have his SIR unit code enabled to do whatever he wants. Only after GIR was locked into duty mode for a long time did he become more acutely aware of the SIR unit code’s true purpose, which is why he also tried to wipe out Zim the moment he got the chance.
I bring this all up to say that the SIR unit code itself is likely the culprit for causing the malfunctioning SIR units. The SIR units in “Megadoomer” were all likely in a situation that granted them temporary free will, but some sort of glitch could’ve caused them to stay in that state of free will that Hok’s self-correcting program could not fix. Also, since these SIR units are implied to be newer models (GIR and Mimi have older parts), it’s possible they still don’t really understand this code and, by extension, their free will like GIR does. By the time the Invader figures out their SIR unit is malfunctioning by it not responding to commands correctly or worst trying to attack them directly they’ll have already had it sent back to the Irken Empire to have them stored away assuming they haven’t gotten severely injured or killed by it.
GIR’s understanding of his free will even in his malfunctioned state is thanks to his circumstance of creation being different compared to the other SIR units. There’s also the fact that while on Earth he’s learned a bunch of fun skills just by watching TV, since that’s where he gets his information from. That’s why he’s able to do many things like cook, socialize with humans, and eat even if he can’t digest food. In a way, he’s still gathering information like a normal SIR unit, but none of it is useful information to his master’s mission. He watches what he wants because of his free will.
However, when you compare that to the standard SIR units, they don’t have this frame of reference because their purpose was solely for combat and scouting. It makes sense that their first act of free will would be to test their weapons. After all, what would a robot built for espionage and combat really know or do with its newly gained sentience? However, another explanation for the SIR units attacking each other in “Megadoomer” is that their “mission being under threat” protocol is still active, even in their malfunctioned state. That could be why they’re all fighting each other: they all think of one another as a threat to their masters and their missions, even if none of them have masters anymore.
With all this said and done, I honestly think it’s impressive and kind of wholesome that Zim’s kept GIR with him for so long, even if it’s only because the Tallest lied to Zim about GIR being a “top secret model”. When I said that Irken Invaders treat SIR units like expendable pieces of technology, I meant it. Even Tak had no problem dismantling MiMi when GIR took control of her in “Tak: The Hideous New Girl” and started destroying her ship. True, MiMi was an active threat to Tak even if she wasn’t really herself, but Tak didn’t care about MiMi after disassembling her. Zim has never once tried getting rid of or destroying GIR, even when GIR attacked him in “GIR Goes Crazy and Stuff”. Given Zim’s affinity for robots (which is a discussion for another time) he treats GIR more like a sibling than a servant, which is definitely something the other invaders would never do with their own SIR units. You could say that it’s a good thing that Zim got GIR instead of a regular SIR unit because he likely wouldn’t have a good relationship with it.
If you made it all the way to the end of this gigantic post, then I can’t possibly thank you enough for taking time out of your day to read this. I can only assume you're as much of an Invader Zim mega-fan as I am to search out and read about minor background characters for a cartoon that’s no longer airing or producing anymore comics. I should mention I’ve never written an analysis on Tumblr before, so I’m sorry if it’s kind of wordy. I’m actually not sure if anyone will even read this, but honestly I had a lot of fun just writing and researching. Regardless anyone reads this or not then I’m happy I could give my personal thoughts on a topic I thought was fun to discuss. I got a lot of inspiration to write this analysis from other Invader Zim posts I saw on this site alongside some non-Invader Zim analyses of other media I love. I’m not sure if I’ll ever write another analysis post like this, but with how much fun I had, who knows? Maybe I’ll make another one Invader Zim related or not. The only other similar type of piece I’ve written was on the dragons from G4 My Little Pony that I wrote a few years ago that I never really shared anywhere. Who knows, maybe I’ll share that one too when I go back and re-read it.
I should mention before closing out that some of my points in the later sections of my analysis actually come from my reply to a YouTube comment on the “Malfunctioning SIR Units” video that brought up this neat little idea:
I thought it was pretty interesting, so I wanted to give my own thoughts on it that were far longer than the initial comment. And many months later that led to me wanting to go even more in-depth which resulted in this posts creation. So big thanks to that random YouTuber's comment for this post even existing in the first place.