Listen I need some place to dump my headcanons. Always up for drawing requests or general iz chatter art tag is #m’ealaín (dw it’s a featured tag) main blog is @not-that-debonair
Okay, but Zim and the Tallest are actually legitimately one of my favorite dynamics in any piece of media solely on the basis of how hilariously compelling and compellingly hilarious they are. like imagine the most annoying guy you know from alien grade school grows up to be the worst terrorist your society has ever seen, which incidentally ends up facilitating your own rise to power, and when he kind of almost ends your whole civilization it is a little bit your fault because if you'd let him do his actual assigned job maybe he WOULDNT have stolen a mecha and taken it out on your entire planet. you repeatedly try to send him off to the sorts of places meant to quietly swallow him but somehow he keeps coming back at the most embarrassing, inconvenient, and sometimes catastrophic moments. and at some point during all of this he's low-key imprinted on you as surrogate absentee parental figures, despite the fact that you are a) his age, and b) can't fucking stand him. you're not sure whether it started before or after he rested his entire sense of identity on a rivalry with some random human child plagued by crippling daddy issues but that has definitely not made it any better. you want to kill him but this entire situation has made you feel so unbelievably weird that you've somehow roped yourself into doing a bizarre long-standing pantomime with him instead, like a dysfunctional romantic relationship wherein you keep resolving to break it off but immediately lose your nerve the second you try to look them in the eye. He'll call and you'll be like "I really am gonna end it this time" and somehow it just doesn't happen. You abuse your power to bully him into submission, but it always backfires. You try ghosting but it turns out he's clinically insane. You don't know how any of this happened but you are beginning to suspect there may be no escape. You wonder if he still has the pocket-sized plasma cleanser you begrudgingly lent him in your third year of Elite training.
(he does)
((you're still ticked off that he never gave it back))
I used to look up at space with hope and wonder in my eyes. Until space looked back. Invader Zim, evil alien soldier of the Irken Empire, sent by his diabolical masters the Almighty Tallest, to infiltrate Earth and prepare it for the coming invasion. Disguised as one of us, he moved into my neighborhood, he went to my school, and with the help of his vile mechanic servants, plotted to destroy everything we have, everything we are. And then… he vanished. My name is Dib Membrane. I’m 12 years old. And I’m all that stands between Zim and the annihilation of the world.
Zim's PAK is RIDDLED with bad data,, endless lines of code that only serve to give him a thousand strings of terrible commands blah blah blah
How has this happened??
I like to think of it like DNA and Genes!!
DNA codes for amino acids which build up to ptoteins and when that protein is finished it has a specific code for "stop"
Well
If you delete that little series of letters,, then it just keeps going.. Zim is missing a LOT of "Stop" codes!!! The data processing section of his PAK is so horribly fucked up that it just doesn't do it's job properly- this may also be the reason Zim is a bit (selectively?) hard of hearing,, his PAK doesn't process a lot of what he hears. Down one antenna, up the other, so to speak. Since there's no stop to the flow of ANY data,, Zim can't isolate a lot of sounds
Zim, as we know him, is just a mask made up by.. well, Zim.
Zim doesn’t exist.
Because Zim, at his most genuine, loves.
And Zim is not supposed to love.
It’s been thrown around throughout the entire course of the series that Zim is, in fact, a very intelligent individual. Moreso than irkens, renowned technology-thieves, are known to be. It’s for this fact, that it would make sense, that Zim would not be completely ignorant of how the rest of Irken society views him.
The defect, the worst irken to ever exist, et cetera.
There’s no way to be that obtuse about your own infamy, and if there is, there’s enough hints and clues in the series to allow viewers to come to the conclusion that Zim isn’t unaware of it all.
And no, this is not a “Zim is a genius and knows absolutely everything” post. He’s definitely gullible. He absolutely has the worst priorities, he doesn’t know when to quit, too stubborn and set in his own beliefs, but he does Know a lot more than he lets on.
Multiple instances of Tallest Purple nearly revealing the truth about Zim’s mission or being too careless with his words are brushed away, either spoken over by Red or ignored completely by Zim, as if he didn’t hear it at all. Similarly, Sizz-Lorr exists as tangible evidence of everything wrong with Zim’s falsified identity as an invader. He shows up for one episode and that episode introduces some of the most important building on Zim’s coding and the consequences derived from his destructive actions on Irk. And his response to this, is to flat out deny it. Because with Purple, he has the expectation to not be aware. With Sizz-Lorr, everything he’s done is laid out in front of him, forcing him to acknowledge it. He won’t.
Zim, at his most genuine, is paranoid.
Paranoid enough to fabricate an entire personality from nothing after having the entirety of Irken knowledge downloaded into his PAK, only minutes after having been freed from his tube.
Zim is a bootlicker. Zim couldn’t care less about the Tallest. Zim seeks absolution from the Tallest because he knows that he was Made Wrong and that the things he’s done are unforgivable, but he can’t help himself. Zim only goes out of his way to gain their attention because he knows that’s what the average irken desires. All of these are true.
Zim is only drawn to invading in the most superficial way possible for an irken. He enjoys the idea of invading, not because it is personally "appealing" to him in any sense of the word, but because he knows that it is for others. It's an esteemed title. An invader gets to have respect. An invader gets to be addressed directly by the Tallest.
Being an invader is the best thing. Not for him, but for his act.
He needs the act. The act will save him from his imperialistic society. The act is the worst thing to ever happen to him.
Zim is nothing without it. He’s nothing with it.
He hates the act.
(“Hey, you’re a worse flier than I am!”)
And it’s very, very likely that he hates himself because of it. Much more than anyone else could ever hate him, because their hate for him is as superficial as his allegiance to the Empire is.
Zim does not fit in on Irk because Irk doesn’t need a Zim. Irk doesn’t need an irken soldier whose sole identity is to destroy.
Which is why Zim fits in so much better on Earth as its villain. On Earth, he gets to be a part of the story, not a fool that has to force himself on stage to even have some semblance of a spotlight.
Zim was already firmly set into his role before arriving to Earth; but coming there, and meeting Dib, further instills Zim with the drive to keep it up. Dib exists to be a hero, after all! And heroes need their villains. Zim fits into that role perfectly. And of course Zim, being nothing BUT a role, is drawn to it. He'll feed into Dib's alien obsession because Dib's alien obsession fits into Zim's "character". The big bad guy that needs to be fought against.
Which makes sense.
If he's the big bad that everyone hates, he doesn't have to worry about wondering if anyone loves him, because he knows they don't.
His first words were “I love you.”
The Zim we know does not love.
The Zim we know is nothing but an elaborate, one-irken act, stuck playing the same role in the same show for as long as he draws it out for.
One which would collapse if anything ever brought attention to it.
this post would not have been made without the help of @short-and-ugly and @animatorfun. seriously. like they wrote it. they were my editors.
this is NOT a headcanon post, im for realsies. this is metatextual analysis. i genuinely believe this is what zims character is supposed to be ((even if not necessarily intentionally))
Barring the potential for major acute blood loss, Irkens can actually survive a full decapitation.
And I brought substance to make the case with.
Cockroaches, one of the most infamously durable of real life animals, can live for several days, sometimes even weeks without their head. And for the most part, they still even act like normal roaches- crawling about, reacting to touch, standing around, etc. it seems the only reason this eventually catches up to the critter is because no mouth = no way to keep bringing necessary food and water into the body. If that were bypassed, however, it stands to reason the little zombie could thrive just as much as a headed roach.
Almost disturbingly, the head itself can actually last a surprising amount of time solo as well. Experiments with decapitated roaches show that after body separation, roach heads can still move their antennae for hours before succumbing- much longer even if kept refrigerated and supplied with nutrients.
One of the neat things about roach bodies that makes such a feat possible is how their nervous system is set up- simplified ref against what yours looks like below
Now, anyone who has ever said a roach can survive for a while without its brain is not being entirely accurate. Functionally, they actually have two sort-of brains: the main point of nerve centralization is contained in the head, which for the most part is a primary brain responsible for movement coordination, certain technical functions, interpreting stimuli that comes in from the antennae, and more. The second main point of interest in this system is a series of nerve clusters running down the insect’s abdomen known as ganglia (singular: ganglion). These bundles of neurons are not exactly brains in their own right, but they do function as an extended CNS that handles the control over the digestive tract, reacting to stimuli, leg movement, and other more basic bodily functions. These can operate the body on a primitive level after the loss of the main brain, up until thirst/starvation begins to run the wind out of the sails.
You know what sort of creature actually DOES have two entire complete brains? One up top, and an auxiliary backup a little further down?
If you were nodding along and saying “irkens!” Then you would be correct! One peanut and five more days in the bunker for you 🥜 ~
As is obvious to anyone familiar with the show, the PAK is an essential cybernetic addition to Irken biology, holding their gear as well as an entire digital backup of their personality and memories. While it serves many functions to the user, the first and foremost priority of one is to protect the existence of the meaty entity it needs in to carry itself around.
To that end we’ve seen some autonomous acts from time to time with Zim’s close calls. If you recall “Plague of Babies”, he… kind of died for a moment there, caught up in a wave of GIR’s lethally amplified stupidity. In response, his PAK appears to resuscitate him with a quick jolt. The would-be events of “10 Minutes to Doom” emphasize the necessity of the PAK for any Irken’s survival beyond several minutes, which directly implies PAKs facilitate a major biological process their natural bodies are no longer capable of alone. Personally, I think it might be something either neurological or related to respiration, on a hunch.
Well, whatever it is, they are toast without it in swift manner, and the PAK doesn’t prefer to be without its other piece anymore than the body does. Dib’s revelation about the technology described their relationship with its body like that of driver and car, but I think he’s missing something. The PAK is actually more than capable of carrying itself around without the body… at least for a time.
When I think about those things, a little dilemma pops up in my head concerning how they.. well, how they’re powered. It is never explained or demonstrated that they are given time off of the body in order to charge; however, irkens are probably advanced enough to have some smaller and sci-fi wildly potent and small energy source up their sleeves, but actually, that wouldn’t quite make sense here. Because Irken bodies still produce their energy the same way every other lifeform in the known galaxy does, with food. Lots of food, actually. They can mow through snacks at about the same rate as Augustus Gloop. PAKs don’t need to produce their own independent energy source, they just need to efficiently make use of what this organism is already evolutionarily fine tuned to do naturally. Now that’s smart engineering.
And so, like any respectable auxiliary life support feature, they hold some of that energy in a reserve for those crisis moments like in “Plague of Babies”, and also in a deleted scene made for “Abduction”!
Fun trivia fact, but originally that episode was supposed to feature a sequence where Zim nearly game overs again. He takes a gnarly hit and a literal plunge through open flames that knocks him out in a free fall.
Despite his incapacitated state, the PAK extends its spider legs in order to catch a walkway railing, both saving his life and proceeding to keep carrying his limp body to a safer location, until of of course, he comes to about a moment later and carries on.
And neither of these are the only times it’s sprung into action the moment it detects something has gone horribly wrong. When accidentally detached from its own host, an emergency response will be triggered within the PAK in an attempt to reattach with its body. Failing that, it attaches instead to… well, whatever it can find.
In “10 minutes to Doom”, this was unfortunately Dib, an incompatible match (or maybe it just picked an improper attachment site), and in the comics… things got interesting at a point or two.
So, I already know what happens when you separate an Irken from their spinal brain, but what about the cranial one?
Because, they actually don’t seem on the same level of urgent necessity? Now that I think about it?
The time machine kerfuffle and the brain eating parasite escape were both events this guy evidently survived, albeit not comfortably or ideally until the problem was fixed (I have to assume in part with GIR’s or the Computer’s help). Now that I think about it Zim’s incredibly fortunate that most of these more serious mishaps happened inside of his base. But it’s theory time.
So, we do this, to a hypothetical green bug bastard
For fun let’s say, hypothetically again, like the hardy earth roach, he blood clots quickly.
Well, first and foremost, that higher up nervous system blackout is probably going to cue the PAK in to begin the following protocol:
1. Activate an emergency response to quickly access the situation.
2. Immediately scurry the body the hell away from whatever manner of threat just shaved a little too much off the top, engaging in all possible defensive measures if necessary.
3. Devote the entirety of its remaining backup power (of which it would have much more stored within the headless body than if it were itself detached) into making a beeline for the coordinates of the nearest Irken source of assistance. On the homeworld, or any fully colonized planet, this would be a cut and dry matter of finding the nearest theoretical space clinic or whatever those freaks have (maybe those dbz regeneration tanks? Idk that would be cool wouldn’t it?). For the lone invader… home base is the next best alternative, being a secured location with plenty of resources and advanced technology at the ready. I would bet my own head that situations like this are a huge highlight to the prime value of a personal SIR companion.
Now, best case scenario for what this help looks like depends on whether we can save and bring the head along too. Reattachment and repair at that point should be a pretty simple matter at the tech level we are working with, afterall. But that’s again, the ideal case scenario. Could they just… regrow the head eventually? We don’t really have a clear answer on what the limits and capabilities of what the Irken healing factor is, but I want to at least guess that having a personal lab and assistant on hand is going to help. Bare minimum, a solution can get worked out to supply the body with needed blood sugars again to buy more time.
The PAK itself retains a pretty much perfect digital backup of its body’s memories, experiences, and identity, so it’s not like information has been permanently been lost with primary brain damage. Replacing the primary brain entirely might be as easy as backing up your iPhone and downloading everything into some shiny new hardware. Hell, it may not even need be Irken hardware!
Do you know the real disturbing things from “Dark Harvest” NOBODY brings up are???
Why the fuck was an instantaneous organ-swapping device already just something Zim was carrying around in his toolset?
And
Zim’s morphology was horrifically receptive to those dozens of xenographs.
Those human organs were actually beating, pulsing, absolutely redundant and unnecessary in his body, but completely still functional and healthy in the name of selling his act to the school nurse. He didn’t just clumsily cram a bunch of offal into himself, he competently integrated them into his biology and somehow wasn’t suffering like… the tons of complications you’d expect from trying a stunt like that.
And in the comics, there’s this other fella I just adore for how skrangly he looks, and believe it or not, his actual fucking name is Skrang.
He’s a smart guy, though. Don’t be fooled. And I mean like, a smart guy. And it’s all thanks to a little help from a little upgrade he’s been fitted with :)
So, I hope you take all the implications I’ve been building here and make what you will of them. I genuinely think an Irken has a decent chance of making it out of a beheading alive to seek sadistic vengeance another day. Do I think ZIM could do such a thing? Tbh, I think he’d have to rely on GIR to come in clutch, and we may know that’s a complete roll of the dice in any case.
Wow, this got morbid, but, par for the course really.
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