Invader Zim/Characters: Difference between revisions

=== Zim ===

[[File:iz_zim_1355.png|frame]]

 

 

A pint-sized alien from the planet Irk, with an ego as big as he himself... isn't, Zim is a [[Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds|walking disaster area]] that somehow remains [[Small Name, Big Ego|oblivious to his own shortcomings and the contempt his people hold him in]]. He ''thinks'' he was sent to Earth as an Invader to ready the planet for hostile takeover, but really [[Reassigned to Antarctica|his leaders were just trying to get rid of him by sending him as far away as possible]] (they didn't even know there'd be a planet there for him to try to conquer). On Earth, he aims to [[Take Over the World]], but is of course [[Failure Is the Only Option|continually thwarted]], through Dib's interference, GIR's stupidity, or sheer bad luck, but often as not Zim's greatest obstacle to success is himself.

 

* [[Abusive Alien Parents]]: ''[[Monster Sob Story|"I love you cold, unfeeling robot arm!"]]''

* [[Bizarre Alien Biology]]: ''"Gah, my squeedlyspooch!"''

* [[Blunt Metaphors Trauma]]: Almost Blunt ''Words'' Trauma. Although Zim speaks perfect English, he has a tendency to mix up words, or in some cases he just doesn't listen and ends up hearing the wrong thing.

'''Zim:''' This has nothing to do with jelly! }}

* [[Butt Monkey]]: He fares ''slightly'' better than Dib.

* [[Card-Carrying Villain]]: "Now...back to my filthy evil, I guess..."

* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]

* [[Chaotic Stupid]]: With a healthy dose of [[Stupid Evil]].

* [[Determinator]]

* [[Devil in Plain Sight]]: Or with a [[Paper-Thin Disguise]]...

* [[Hypocritical Humor]]: ''(laughs)'' "Inferior human organs! ...Ow, my squeedlyspooch!"

* [[Insane Troll Logic]]: "My Tallest, a new child attacked me with meat. My conclusion? SHE'S IN LOVE WITH ME!"

* [[It's All About Me]]

* [[Kill All Humans]]: That or enslave them -- he changes it from enslaving, ruling, killing, poisoning their food supply and cutting their legs off depending on the episode. The bottom line is that the Earth needs to be ready for the other Irkens to conquer, so the humans need to be gone or easy to enslave.

* [[Large Ham]]: So large it has its own gravitational pull.

* [[Mad Scientist]]: He was once formerly a military scientist, albeit one responsible for killing the previous Tallests.

* [[Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds]]: In the unproduced episode "The Trial," it's revealed that he has, in fact destroyed more than one planet. By scratching himself.

* [[The Napoleon]]

* [[Nice Hat]]: In "GIR Goes Crazy And Stuff", he wears a police hat he took from Officer Squidman.

* [[Paper-Thin Disguise]]: Consists of a wig and contact lenses (that apparently are very uncomfortable and can be knocked out just from hitting him in the head) doing nothing about his vibrantly ''green'' skin. Which may may you think at first, since Irkens have the technology to make themselves look completely human, but he only picked that one because he thinks he's too attractive to be covered up.

** He claims he has a skin condition, [[Blatant Lies|which is also the reason why he doesn't have ears]]...

* [[Pet the Dog]]: Rather literally, Zim has had a few moments of genuine-seeming kindness directed at GIR.

* [[Pint-Sized Powerhouse]]

* [[Psychopathic Manchild]]

* [[Reassigned to Antarctica]]

* [[The Renfield]]

** [[Screams Like a Little Girl]]: And this is how he screams when he's afraid or in pain.

* [[Sensitive Guy and Manly Man]]: The sensitive guy to Dib's manly man. Although not "sensitive" in the soft and feminine sense, he is a lot more emotional than Dib is.

* [["Well Done, Son" Guy|Well Done Invader Guy]]

* [[Won't Take Yes for An Answer]]: A [[Running Gag]] with him is that he'll continually interrupt people trying to tell him something, demanding they tell him about the very thing his interruption is preventing them from saying in the first place.

'''"WHO ARE YOU?"''' }}

** Another is for him to randomly accuse people of lying for no apparent reason.

'''GIR:''' [[Shaped Like Itself|There's waffle in 'em!]]<br />

'''ZIM:''' YOU'RE LYING! }}

=== GIR ===

[[File:GIRtvtropes_1764.jpg|frame]]

 

 

 

* [[Ambiguous Innocence]]: It's hard to imagine that GIR even has the mental capacity to understand that there is a difference between right and wrong, much less know what that difference is.

** This has been outright defied by the show's creator, who devoted ''an entire episode'' to showing what a delightful little sociopath GIR can be after the fans got a little too fond of portraying him as an adorable ball of sunshine and fairy dust. Well, Jhonen, this is what you get when you go for [[Generic Cuteness]].

* [[Anti-Villain]]: Type IV (unless he "goes crazy and stuff")

* [[Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny]]

* [[Catch Phrase]]: ''(in duty mode)'' "Yes, sir!"

* [[Chaotic Stupid]]

* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]

* [[Color Coded for Your Convenience]]: Blue/green = regular GIR. Red = duty mode.

* [[Death Glare]]: Pulls one off when delivering his [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]] to Zim in duty mode in "GIR Goes Crazy and Stuff".

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: During his moments of clarity, GIR can be pretty snarky towards Zim.

'''GIR:''' [[Sarcasm Mode|Finally.]] }}

* [[The Ditz]]

* [[Dumb Is Good]]: This was ''not'' the intent, but the [[Misaimed Fandom|fandom]] picked it up and ran with it. GIR is often misconstrued as a harmless or even compassionate character rather than a merely stupid one. "GIR Goes Crazy and Stuff" was in part a measure dedicated to correcting that.

* [[Extreme Omnivore]]: To name a few... [[Nightmare Fuel|A live chicken]], tacos, burritos, taquitos, cupcakes, waffles made outta peanuts and soap, a fish (or tried to), pizza, Acne Blast acne cream, puppies (maybe)...

* [[Four-Temperament Ensemble]]: The Sanguine.

* [[Genki Girl|Genki Robot]]

* [[Head Pet]]: He rides on Zim's head in a few episodes such as "Battle of the Planets" and "Attack of the Saucer Morons". In "Tak, the Hideous New Girl", he uses Dib's head instead.

'''GIR:''' Doody. }}

* [[Hypercompetent Sidekick]]: In duty mode.

* [[Killer Rabbit]]: Despite his [[And Call Him George|his super cute disposition]] he is surprisingly able to cause much damage and harm just like any other SIR unit. The only person we ever see get on his bad side was Zim, and that was only briefly, such as that one time Zim tried to lock GIR in duty mode.

* [[Lethal Chef]]

* [[Ocular Gushers]]: "WHYYYYYY?! WHY, MY PIGGY?! I LOVEDED YOU PIGGY! I LOVEDED YOU!"

* [[Pint-Sized Powerhouse]]: In duty mode.

* [[Super-Powered Evil Side]]

* [[The Starscream]]: In ''GIR Goes Crazy and Stuff''.

* [[Talkative Loon]]: "OOH! LEPRECHAUNS!"

* [[Temporary Bulk Change]]: The metal he's made of is apparently very flexible because he grew to a massive size in "Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom" from eating the candy stolen from a bunch of trick-or-treaters.

 

=== Dib ===

[[File:iz_dib_8618.png|frame]]

 

 

 

* [[Adorkable]]: His little dance with GIR near the end of "The Frycook What Came From All That Space" comes to mind.

** Also, this exchange.

Dib: "It's para-NORMAL, and you're wrong, it makes me look cool!" }}

* [[Anime Hair]]: And according to "Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom," it gets more and more extreme as he ages.

* [[Badass Bookworm]]

* [[Badass Longcoat]]

* [[Brown Eyes]]: Changed frequently to [[Eyes of Gold]] in fanworks.

* [[Buffy-Speak]]: Quite often-"I'll be there! DOING STUFF!" and the [[Memetic Mutation|memetastic Things he do]].

* [[Butt Monkey]]

* [[The Cassandra]]

* [[Child Prodigy]]: He could spell the word "aliens" when he was still in diapers.

* [[Conspiracy Theorist]]: Though [[Properly Paranoid|he's often right]], and is often contrasted with even ''more'' insane and deluded conspiracy nuts.

* [[Four-Temperament Ensemble]]: The Melancholic.

* [[Good Is Not Nice]]: Particularly earlier on, where it's not only clear that just because he's right about the alien invasion doesn't mean he's not crazy, but that when he ''is'' right about stuff [[Knight Templar|he tends to engage pursuit almost cruelly,]] Zim just being the most recent example. [[Character Development|He loses a bit of that as the show goes on, though.]]

* [[Hilariously Abusive Childhood]]

* [[Informed Deformity]]: His supposedly big head.

* [[I Take Offense to That Last One]]

'''Dib:''' MY HEAD'S NOT BIG! }}

* [[The Klutz]]: He tends to trip over and bump into things a lot.

* [[Leitmotif]]: A violin, which goes with Gaz's harpsichord.

* [[Mr. Exposition]]: Dib. "Wow.....WOW! I'm ''boring!'' Do I always explain everything like that?"

* [[The Necromancer]]: One of Professor Membrane's lines from "Backseat Drivers from Beyond the Stars" implies it.

'''Dib:''' ''Yes,'' no thanks to ''you!'' }}

** Whatever led to Dib bringing the dead back to life the first time.

'''Dib:''' It's nothing to worry about, dad! And I said I was sorry about that! }}

** Then there was this little gem in "The Nightmare Begins":

'''Dib:''' He was using the belt sander... }}

** From "Dibship Rising":

** Don't forget whatever gave the Mysterious Mysteries host his scar. Honestly, it's probably safe to say that Dib's entire life is one big [[Noodle Incident]].

* [[Only Sane Man]]: Which is saying something, as he sometimes seems not entirely sane himself.

* [[Parental Neglect]]: Although it's more workaholic neglect then outright abandonment, Membrane scarcely acknowledges him.

* [[Pay Evil Unto Evil]]: Towards Zim at times.

* [[Properly Paranoid]]

* [[Running Gag]]: So, how many fans are convinced Dib's head really ''is'' drawn larger than the rest of the cast's, I wonder?

** In the [[Art Evolution|animation project]] God Save The Dib, Jhonen changed him so he actually ''does'' have a larger head.

* [[Speech Impediment]]: Temporarily as a result of Zim screwing with his past in "Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy".

* [[Straight Man]]: He seems to be the only one on the show who realizes how insane and horrible it can be.

* [[Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist]]

* [[Tall, Dark and Handsome]]: [[Self Fanservice|In fanart.]] Especially if said fanart involves ZADR.

* [[Thinking Out Loud]]: A habit he frequently lampshades in later episodes.

* [[The Unfavorite]]: Dib's dad seems to notably favor his sister, just because she's not 'insane'.

'''Prof. Membrane:''' (to Gaz) You're my funny child! }}

** Subverted in "Bloaty's Pizza Hog" when Professor Membrane refuses to leave Dib behind on Family Dinner Night.

=== Gaz ===

[[File:iz_gaz_5181.png|frame]]

 

(after getting a negative response): ''"I hope ya like NIGHTMARE WORLDS!"'' }}

 

Dib's younger sister. Like Dib, she knows Zim's real origin, but unlike him, she doesn't much care, on the grounds that he really isn't very ''good'' at the whole world-conquering thing. That, plus she seems to be something of a misanthrope herself. (She did once have a very hard time deciding whether to destroy all life on Earth or not, when putting a can in a super-powered microwave.) Mostly Gaz sticks to her video games and [[Deadpan Snarker|snarks]] at the insanity around her.

 

* [[Abuse Is Okay When It Is Female On Male]]: Her treatment of Dib is downright psychotic in some episodes, but [[Played for Laughs]].

* [[Actually Pretty Funny]]: She's laughed at some of the stunts Zim's pulled on her older brother. Oddly, her saying this line near-verbatim after one of ''Dib'''s stunts proved unexpectedly hilarious was one of the closest things she's had to a [[Pet the Dog]] moment with him.

* [[All There in the Manual]]: According to [http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_QtriJtpXiAg/R_FO2HzRfdI/AAAAAAAAAQI/XxvKFK5ahVw/s1600-h/Nick+Mag+Nicktoons+2007+page+2.JPG this] issue of the Nickelodeon magazine, her full name is Gazlene.

* [[Aloof Older Brother|Aloof Younger Sister]]

* [[Hair Decorations]]: When younger, she wore a bow in her hair as seen in "Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy".

* [[Heroic Comedic Sociopath]]: If she can be bothered to help at ''all,'' she's this.

** Referenced in the commentary track for "Nanozim". Upon Jhonen admitting that he regretted not bringing Melissa Fahn on to do commentary for "Gaz's episode", the other commentators attempt to impersonate her voice to make up for it, which culminates in them repeatedly chanting "DIGI-MODIFY!"

* [[Improbable Weapon User]]: She used cans of Poop soda against Zim, Dib, Tak, and MiMi in "Tak, the Hideous New Girl".

* [[Jerkass]]

* [[Karma Houdini]]: On occasion, though other times (like in "Battle Dib"), she gets her comeuppance.

* [[Kids Are Cruel]]: Taken to the highest possible extreme.

* [[Off-Model]]: The shape of her head is inconsistent between certain scenes in "The Wettening".

* [[Offscreen Teleportation]]: When stalking Iggins in "Game Slave 2".

* [[Pet the Dog]]: Her moments of this are so noticeable because they're so damn rare; it almost seems out-of-character when it happens!

* [[Pink Means Feminine]]: Her stockings/tights.

* [[Smurfette Principle]]: In the quartet of main characters, she's the only girl.

* [[Somebody Else's Problem]]: Oh yeah!

'''Gaz:''' I guess I'll...save the earth then. }}

* [[Strange Girl]]

* [[Trademark Favorite Food]]: Pizza, to the point where it's one of the accessories that comes with the Palisades toy of her.

* [[Twitchy Eye]]: ''"I'm trying to draw a little piggy. Can't you see I'm trying to draw a little piggy??"''

* [[Wingding Eyes]]: She gets swirls in her pupils when distracted by a commercial in ''Bloaty's Pizza Hog.''

* [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair|You Gotta Have Purple Hair]].

 

 

[[File:tallestred2_7723.jpg|frame]]

 

''"I'll have them serve me curly fries."'' }}

 

 

Red and Purple weren't the first Tallests. Some of the previous leaders were slated to appear in flashbacks if the show hadn't been canceled.

 

* [[Affably Evil]]

* [[Big Bad Duumvirate]]

* [[Big Eater|Big Eaters]]

* [[The Caligula]]: Both of them, although Purple is especially useless.

* [[Color Coded for Your Convenience]]: [[Sarcasm Mode|You'll never guess]] [[Captain Obvious|which one is Red and which one is Purple.]]

* [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"]]: They're referred only as the Tallests in the series.

* [[Evil Empire]]

* [[Fingore]]: They only have two fingers on each hand as opposed to a normal Irken's three. [http://zim.wikia.com/wiki/Tallest According to the Zim wiki], when a Tallest is chosen, their thumbs are chopped off in a ceremony to prove that they can rule without them.

* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]

* [[Hidden Depths]]: Red in "Backseat Drivers" -- namely, he's [[Brilliant but Lazy]].

* [[Jerkass|Jerkasses]]: Big time.

* [[Man Child]]: Not to the extent of Zim, but its there. They love sweets and junk food, bicker over simple things, and make their servants present their planet-conquest strategies with puppet shows.

* [[Meaningful Name]]: Red is the [[Law of Chromatic Superiority|first color in the rainbow]] and purple is the color associated with royalty.

* [[Smug Snake]]

* [[Sweet Tooth]]: It goes in hand with their big eater status -- although it's possible that sweets are part of a healthy diet for [[Bizarre Alien Biology|Irkens]].

=== Professor Membrane ===

[[File:ProfMemtvtropes_4842.jpg|frame]]

 

 

The father (at least allegedly) of Dib and Gaz, Membrane is a scientist who also hosts the [[Show Within a Show]] ''Probing the Membrane of Science''. He keeps a very busy schedule, to the point he can only manage to eat dinner with his children once a year.

 

* [[The Ace]]

* [[Arbitrary Skepticism]]: He refuses to believe any of Dib's paranormal claims, but he does believe in Santa Clause.

* [[Badass Labcoat]]

* [[Evil Laugh]]: "There are no curses, son. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

* [[For Science!]]!

* [[Hot Scientist]]: He has fangirls who will defend this trope.

* [[Large Ham]]: Possibly the biggest one in the series. Considering [[World of Ham|the kind of world he inhabits,]] it's ''quite'' an accomplishment.

=== Miss Bitters ===

[[File:MsBittersTvtropes_4577.jpg|frame]]

 

 

Teaches Zim and Dib's class.

 

* [[Ambiguously Human]]: She's almost definitely ''not,'' but we're not quite sure what she ''is.''

** [[The Fair Folk]] maybe?

* [[Evil Old Folks]]: She's half human, part demon, Twisted & Evil.

* [[Humanoid Abomination]]: According to one source, Miss Bitters didn't come to teach, as she's always existed on that land... ''[[Genius Loci|the school was simply built around her]].''

* [[Living Shadow]]: She sometime sneaks up on people by becoming their shadow. Literally.

* [[Obviously Evil]]: And ''how''!

* [[Scary Shiny Glasses]]

* [[Snake People]]: She's tall and thin and swirls through the air and curls around people like a boa constrictor. Rattlesnake sounds show up when she speaks or gets annoyed.

 

=== Invader Skoodge ===

[[File:iz_skoodge_3813.png|frame]]

 

 

An incredibly short Invader, and something of Zim's only friend. Had the show continued, he would have become a reoccurring character, and lived in Zim's basement.

 

* [[Badass]]: He's the first Irken Invader to single-handedly complete his mission, and he survived being on a planet as it was being blown up. If it wasn't for his gullibility, he'd be an Irken to be reckoned with.

* [[The Chew Toy]]

* [[The Dragon]]: What he would have been to Zim.

* [[Hypercompetent Sidekick]]

* [[Most Definitely Not a Villain]]

* [[Unexplained Recovery]]: Blatantly and repeatedly.

 

=== Tak ===

[[File:taktvtropes_1437.jpg|frame]]

 

 

 

* [[Beauty Mark]]

* [[Compelling Voice]]: It only works on idiots though.

* [[Dark Action Girl]]

* [[Evil Versus Evil]]

* [[Green-Skinned Space Babe]]: Not one in canon, [[Self Fanservice|but is portrayed as such in fanart]].

* [[Motive Rant]]

* [[Purple Is Powerful]]: Instead of the standard dark pink Irken uniform, she wears a purple one. Her eyes are purple too.

* [[The Rival]]

* [[Sliding Scale of Villain Effectiveness]]: She's essentially a competent, intelligent version of Zim.

* [[Strange Girl]]

* [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair]]: Her human disguise.

=== The Resisty ===

[[File:Resisty_8734.jpg|frame]]

 

 

* [[Character Development]]: It's only in one episode, but you can still kinda see Lard Nar come into his own over the course of "Backseat Drivers" -- from a guy who completely freaks out over the slightest setback, to a leader undaunted at even the loss of his entire ship.

* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Shloonktapooxis.

 

=== The Nhar-Gh'ok ===

 

A race of aliens led by Gorkspace Sergeant Shnooky who were stranded on Earth posing as human babies after an incident in a maternity ward. They attempt to take Zim's ship and use it to fly back to their home planet. It doesn't end well for them.

 

* [[Aliens Speaking English]]: As is standard for aliens in the ''[[Invader Zim]]'' universe.

 

=== Sizz-Lorr ===

 

Zim's boss during his exile on Foodcourtia, an Irken frycook who runs Foodcourtia's premier restaurant. After Zim escaped the planet, Sizz-Lorr swore to make him come back if it was the last thing he did.

 

* [[Badass]]: Proves himself to be one in the climactic scene of ''The Frycook What Came From All That Space.''

* [[Nice Hat]]: His frycook hat.

* [[Purple Eyes]]

 

=== Skoolchildren ===

 

The other kids in the Skool which Zim and Dib attend, which includes Miss Bitters' class. They mostly act like normal kids and have absolutely no idea that Zim's an alien.

 

* [[Aerith and Bob]]

* [[All of the Other Reindeer]]: Dib's class makes no effort to hide how much they hate him.

* [[Anime Hair]]: [http://zim.wikia.com/wiki/File:Peyoopi.png Peyoopi]

* [[The Ditz]]: Willy.

* [[Evil Redhead]]: Chunk and Rob.

* [[Kids Are Cruel]]: Miss Bitters' class could give Gaz a run for her money in this department. The only ones to be exempt from this are Gretchen, Keef and a handful of recurring kids who don't pick on Dib.

* [[Nice Hat]]: Carl, who wears a red stocking cap.

* [[No Name Given]]: The [[One-Scene Wonder]] student president in "The Voting of the Doomed".

* [[Recurring Extra]]

* [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair]]: Zita and Gretchen have purple hair, Peyoopi has green hair, and Sara has blue hair.

* [[Younger Than They Look]]: Old Kid.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Invader Zim]]

[[Category:Characters]]