Invader Zim/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Cross-Dressing Voices:
    • In Mexico, Zim is voiced by a woman.
    • Outside of the Americas (Brazil, Mexico, USA); GIR is often voiced by a woman.
    • Zim and Dib are voiced by women in the Japanese dub
  • God Never Said That: Unfortunately, the phrase "Jhonen said" has been falsely appended to so many baseless rumors that unless there is an actual verifiable citation included you're far more likely to be reading something someone heard Jhonen said from someone else who who heard it and so on... following the Gossip Evolution back to its source often leads only to the reveal of glorified Fanon whose origin had been lost in the telling. According to (note the citation) Jhonen on his blog, even Wikipedia and IMDB have included errors by not sourcing, meaning you can't necessarily trust everything you read there too. While not every person who makes the claim to Word of God without citation is incorrect, you should adjust your credulity accordingly.
    • The single most common assertion to fall under this clause is Zim being 16 in "Irken Years" and 150 or 159 in human years. This used to be merely extremely prevalent Fanon, but has made the jump to false Word of God. You won't find any interviews or blog posts verifying this fact, although some user-edited information sites such as Wikipedia have listed it from time to time (entries inevitably being deleted due to the lack of citation).
    • Though being older is correct; it was in a livechat with Jhonen when he confirms that Zim is older than any living human.
  • Hey, It's That Voice!:
  • IN Spain and Italy, Gir is Dexter. In Japan, however, it's Dib who's Dexter. (Japanese Gir is Doraemon)
  • Sarcastic Creator: Compounding the God Never Said That issue where fans mistakenly attribute words to Jhonen Vasquez that he never actually said, Jhonen himself occasionally goes on record with information that's intended to be sardonic. For example, it's said in this interview that ultimately the plan had been for Zim to get a Heel Face Turn (if the Stealth Insult isn't apparent, check the release date of the movie that supposedly "inspired" this move). See also The Walrus Was Paul.
  • Screwed by the Network: Maybe not as bad as certain other Nick shows, but still a factor.
    • The show was constantly jumbled all over the schedule so that nobody ever knew when it was on. Not to mention they would premiere new episodes at outrageous timeslots like 9:15 pm.
  • No Export for You: The DVDs have never been given a Region 2 release.
  • Throw It In:
    • The first episode contains the line "Invader's blood marches through my veins like giant, radioactive rubber pants!" The line was supposed to say "ants". But it's the kind of show where "pants" actually fits better.
    • The Hamstergeddon episode involved Ultra Peepi swaggering down the street, not by intention. It came back from animation that way, and Jhonen loved it and had the composer make funk music to go under it. "I want to hear Barry White saying 'Ultra Peepi.'"
  • What Could Have Been: Danielle Koenig's original script for "Vindicated" had Dwicky genuinely believing Dib. She refers to the change as Jhonen having "mangled" it, but she didn't sound as annoyed about it as her word choice might lead one to believe.
    • It's also claimed in the commentary that the original ending of "Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy" was Dib dying and being replaced by a character named "Louie" as Zim's new rival. This may have just been a joke, however.
    • Another commentary tidbit is that Iggins was originally slated to die at the end of "Game Slave 2," but Executive Meddling prevented that.
    • In a blog post Jhonen noted the original script for "Gaz: Taster of Pork" simply ended with Dib defeating the Porklord and then sharing pizza with Gaz. Eric Truehart came up with the ending we got instead.
  • The Wiki Rule: The ZIM Wiki
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