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sapphorror · 5 months

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Now that you have read the ZimVoid arc, what are your toughts on Zib and Za2r (Zib❤Zim2[2im{twoim}])?

I'M SO GLAD YOU ASKED!!! alright, maybe I was definitely going to say this all anyway, but now I have a decent excuse to braindump it all at once instead of trying to write, I don't know, coherent analysis.

Yeah, I'm obsessed with this guy. I'm still only just starting to build a proper 3D model of him in my head, so don't take anything I rave about here too seriously, but my god is Zib something else. Also, really cute. No one told me he'd be cute and I wasn't at all equipped to deal with what I got. I was operating under the assumption he was going to be at least a LITTLE cool, but this is the most pathetic wet meow meow of a character I have ever seen, and that is no small statement.

(Also also, is it just me, or does the way Zib's drawn remind anyone else of rubber hose animation like, moreso than the comics artstyle generally does? I can't quite pin down what's making it feel that way, but I like it. Gives him Vibes™, y'know?)

Anyway. Fusions like Zib are always going to be fun, just for what they imply about their component characters and the game of trying to identify what characteristics come from where. And Zib is especially fun for this because Zim and Dib are such similar people to begin with. It honestly doesn't surprise me that the Zimfluence went initially unnoticed by our Dib, not just because he's more prone to cognitive bias than he likes to believe, but because there are so many overlapping traits between these two guys that Zib wasn't so much altered by the fusion as he was exacerbated. They blend seamlessly to the point it's really hard to pick out where one ends and the other begins, and in a different kind of story, Dib might actually be forced to reflect on what that implies about him and his motivations. As is, he's just going to keep fooling himself, though.

Probably the most obvious dichotomy between them, at least where it applies to Zib, is motive, and that definitely brings up some interesting questions. When he chooses to take over the Earth, is that the Zim side disguised by Dib-passing justifications, or does it say a whole lot more about Dib's actual loyalty to the Earth against his loyalty to opposing Zim than anyone would really like it to? How about the total lack of internal conflict when it comes to decimating the Armada and wrecking the Irken Empire? What does that say about Zim's ultimate loyalties?

Granted, I am at this point pretty certain Zib didn't just put on the PAK and call it a day, I think he took precautionary measures to ensure that the Dib half remained the 'dominant' personality, given that in 10 Minutes to Doom we see him completely subsumed by Zim's coding, so this isn't a perfect equal split. But it is still a split—Zib clearly did not have the foresight to account for everything, if he even wanted to—and the fact he prepared himself for this is itself interesting, because it means the decision was premeditated, not done on a whim during some momentary mental break. This might even be why he's half-Irken; instead of the PAK altering his biology, maybe Zib altered his biology so it could survive the long-term integration of the PAK. And isn't it just insane to imagine any version of Dib willingly body-horroring himself like that, stripping away his own humanity? When he accused our Dib of being just another ignorant human, could that maybe be a sign that he didn't want to have anything in common with those people anymore?

None of this is what really gets me about Zib, though. This is.

Admittedly, I'm sort of predisposed here, because I have this whole Thing about Dib's unfaltering belief he can somehow prove himself to humanity, despite all evidence to the contrary, being in essence identical to Zim's delusion that he's already adored by all... that's it's whole own post, tbh, but my point is Dib's ostracization wouldn't be solved by exposing Zim, and it's fun to see that explicitly confirmed.

But it's also more specific than that. Because what Zib was forced to realize here is that he destroyed the only person capable of actually caring about him. And that's why the Zimvoid is the Zimvoid, isn't it? Zib could've used those portals to escape anywhere or lure in anything, but instead he does this. Part of that's the obsessive need to succeed where he'd previously failed and decimate the Armada (+ repeatedly 'defeat' Zim because he's still too emotionally stunted to understand that's not actually what he needs), and I think all of that is important, but there's also something to be said about how deeply driven Dib is by the desire for external validation, and here he went and fused himself with the one person in the universe who might be even more love-hungry than he is. Zib's not afraid of being alone simply because he dislikes isolation—I mean, even within the Zimvoid, he still physically and ESPECIALLY emotionally isolates himself from the other Zims. Being the only person left in his reality means there's no one to admire his greatness, and given who he's a combination of, of course that's his worst nightmare. And ridiculous as it may be, he understands that Zim is the only person who's ever given him that kind of attention. So why not make a whole planet of them? Why not trick them into idolizing him? I mean, who else could even matter besides Zim?

Also? This one's sort of auxiliary to the last point, but there is something deeply, deeply sexy and thematically chewy in Dib wanting/needing Zim so badly that he quite literally became him, and that not being enough. I mean, what is the Zimvoid but a huge collector's display? And it's exactly this that makes him the architect of his own ultimate tragedy. I have a thing for characters who damn themselves not through any single choice, but by passing up a million little opportunities to save themselves, totally confident in their decisions right up til the moment it actually is too late. He could've used those portals to escape to another timeline. He could've designed the Zimvoid as anything other than a ticking timebomb of lies, conflict, and an ever inflating population of lunatics. He could've given up on his destructive plans and just enjoyed the huge fucked up harem he built for himself. He could've quit while he was ahead.

And the really funny thing is, even after the collapse of the Zimvoid, his total isolation is still a consequence of his own actions. I mean, the Zim from his own timeline literally cannot be taken away from him through any method short of murder. He's still right there. But by winning, by possessing his Zim to the point of consumption, Zib defeated the entire purpose of having Zim in the first place. They'll never be separated, and that's exactly the reason why he'll always be alone.

As for ZA2R... hm. I'm not sure if I have much to say about them just yet, but suffice to say I am Deeply Compelled. I'm always weak for that (false) god x worshipper dynamic. It's about someone as lonely and broken and closed off as Zib finding out the hard way that they're still capable of genuine love, no matter how bad they are at it, and there's something very special in every Zim's desire to be someone's favorite being so specifically exploited. I mean, the dynamic of highest subordinate is essentially identical to the one Zim likes to imagine he has with the Tallest, only actually real. Dishonest and exploitative, to be sure, but still real. And hey, important question, but what about #2's personal Dib and the fact Zib is always going to be implicitly competing against the person actually cosmically destined for his partner, because he fucked his own cosmic destiny up so badly? Or the inevitable spectacle of Dib's semi-latent yandere tendencies being brought to bear against himself?

Also! Shameless Homestuck chatter, but I take so much joy in pale ZADR dynamics (black diamond romance my beloved), and the fun thing about ZA2R is that their default pacifier/pacified dynamic swaps. In, uh, normal person terms, they've managed to contrive themselves a situation in which Zim is actually the comparatively sane/stable one, keyword comparatively, and being worked to death about it. There's nothing I love more than a justified role reversal, y'know?

THAT'S ALL I'VE GOT FOR NOW but like I've been thinking about these guys nonstop for 24 hours already, I WILL be losing my mind about them again. I don't know when, I don't know how, but it's gonna happen.

#invader zim #zib #za2r #zadr #zadp #za2p #meta #my meta #saph reads #iz posting #asks

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poitypinky · 7 months

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Keep it to yourself: the ZIMvoid key!

⚠️ This contains spoilers about the comics ⚠️

The Battle Void arc, better known as ZIMvoid arc (issues 46 to 49), got me going wild. I read all the analysis I found about it, and I haven't seen the same findings and theories. I'm SO EXCITED and I hope you feel the same as you take a look into what I uncovered 🔍

What if the ZIMvoid arc started way before Issue 46?

The beginning (and the end?)

Consider that issue 12, when ZIM, GIR and Dib time travel, is the first time ZIM meets (and defeats) another version of himself, so it could be the beginning of it all.

Also, when you read the extra bit at the end of the same issue, you find, as GIR would say, “some kinda ZIB man”.

Maybe there's not a direct relation, but there's a thematic connection; in the main story, with the idea of ZIM being his own worst enemy.

The little extra story at the end explores a fact I've seen a lot of fans notice: Dib and ZIM can be very similar, mostly when Dib lets his selfish motives wins (as ZIB did). Also, Dib says he'll never join ZIM, but he already has, and will again in the ZIMvoid arc.

The star and the key

Issue 17 is so funny, I loved ZIM as a girly ranger, and how it was hinted (again) that he doesn't care about gender, which is one of the good traits I find in this character; also, it is surprising how far he is willing to go to bribe GIR.

I bet you remember Dib and ZIM incarcerated, telling lies or half-truths about how they are heroes, but at the end there's an extra bit, the important one! It is called:

Keep it to yourself

This short extra comic at the end of issue 17 it's just 3 pages, so here you have it; you can open the images in a new tab and zoom if you need a bigger picture.

Wait, What? This “electromagnetic pulse bomb that destroys any nearby Irken tech”, it might look different (or does it?), but it works the same! It is the Zapper!

ZIM states later that it is “his own basic Irken disruptor design”, and ZIB also says he did it all thanks to that same electromagnetic pulse weapons.

And so we know that ZIM built this technology to damage Dib's (Tak's) ship, also, we get to see that the Irken disruptor from issue 17 and the Zapper from the ZIMvoid arc are actually not so different looking either:

Yep, it is basically the same thing.

But that's not all, so let's look deeper in this void, just beware, it might look back!

The GIRvoid

Why isn't GIR damaged by the Zapper?

I have this blog 'cause I'm analyzing comedy duos; for Invader ZIM, I chose ZIM and GIR, and so I pay special attention to their dynamic.

In the short comic Keep it to yourself, ZIM shows us how wild he is by making this disruptor that can damage his own tech, but we also see how much GIR's antics have weight in the whole deal.

GIR's bees causes ZIM to scream, activating the disruptor and damaging all close Irken technology, including GIR!

So here's my theory: after this happened, ZIM not only fixed GIR, but also made him immune to this kind of technology.

I think GIR was also extra compatible with the Zapper because it was combined with other weapon: mind controlling technology. Look at the module GIR installed on himself at the beginning of the ZIMvoid arc.

When you compare that obedience module to the base of the Zapper, it looks similar, so it could be the same technology ZIB uses for his mind controlling virus.

Fun fact: GIR is not only immune to ZIB's Zapper, but also to another similar weapon we see in issues 42 (and 43), which begins somewhat similar to the Zimvoid arc.

That's my GIR!

Without GIR, ZIM wouldn't have been able to get out of the ZIMvoid.

GIR is the key that opens the gates of the ZIMvoid at the end, literally, because ZIM access the technology through him, but also because GIR is the one to travel time and space for ages in order to secure his master's success:

But why is this GIR the only immune? The fact that there were no other SIR units in the ZIMvoid because the Zapper damage them all makes me think of 2 main possibilities:

ZIM 2170 was the only wild enough (aside from ZIB) to build an Irken tech disruptor.

OR he was the only ZIM that decided to make GIR resistant to this kind of weapon after he was damaged by it.

Sure, there might be many other reasons why GIR is safe from the Zapper, perhaps it has to do with the explosion of the time thingy on issue 28, or with ZIM killing HOK, GIR's Error correction software, on the Virooz arc (issues 22 to 25). Or it could be...

The very thing

I think that the fact that GIR is immune to the Zapper, or maybe all the ZIMvoid arc is connected to issue 33, since we can see Mr. Wiener face in ZIM's memories of “his thing”. I can not really tell what the connection is, and I'm very much interested in reading your theories about this.

My hunch could not be so out of place when you realize the ZIMvoid, the Keep it to yourself story, AND the Mr. Wiener face issue had all the same writer: Sam Logan. An awesome writer also, this investigation made me realize he wrote some of my favorite issues.

The wiener, I mean, the winner!

Remember GIR had a plan on issue 33? Since he never explains what his plan was, it could have been just to make a bunch of wiener faces or maybe, just maybe, much more.

Analyzing GIR is amazing, and I love it, after paying close attention you realize how surprisingly focused, functional and successful GIR is when he has a motivation; he can follow through complex plans, also he can make no sense. And so his actions on issue 33 could mean everything or nothing at all.

The secret mission

When they are about to enter the ZIMvoid, GIR ends up going with Dib and is close to him until almost the end of the arc.

I think this is the exact moment when Dib ignores the signal ZIB has sent to all the Dibs because of how competitive he gets, also because GIR hits the ship at that exact moment; but, was GIR supposed to attack Dib?

One thing we know about ZIM is that he studies his enemies and allies to find weaknesses or strategic value, so if I have to bet, I would say he asked GIR to stay close to Dib, maybe to keep him distracted while he found the Irken he was looking for.

Your SIR units

While GIR is with Dib, ZIM is being slaved, and he asks about their SIR units, but never seems to wonder where his own GIR is, he also doesn't call his partner in crime to bail him out, like he usually does.

ZIM probably knew where GIR was because he has a tracking device on him; in the episode TAK: the hideous new girl, he uses GIR to track Dib, so it wouldn't be a surprise if that's exactly what he was doing here.

The reaction when they meet could support this secret mission theory. Also, it is impressive how GIR recognizes and chooses his own master, even if he is surrounded by a ton of ZIMs (and loves it).

The real ZIM

Close to the end of the arc, GIR claims that he is ZIM. (It is not the first time, he does this on issue 38, that time as a question.)

He is just being silly, right? Well, maybe, but also think about it: in the GIRvoid there's no competition, there's only one and true GIR, and he doesn't even have to fight the other versions of himself to win. He won when he became the only GIR to make it into the ZIMvoid.

The void, looking back at us

To wrap this up, let's look at the end.

Look at that maniac laugh, it is actually similar to the one at the end of issue 12! And it's funny how Dib says that it is not his fault that he fails, because that's exactly what ZIM was claiming at the beginning of the arc.

The thematic connection with issue 12, but also with issues 42+43, is very clear here; at his worst, Dib is similar to ZIM, just as competitive and self-deluded. He ends up helping him, instead of defeating him.

At the end, they are both sinking as a good captain goes down with their ship, right? But who was really steering ZIM's Voot Runner? GIR, actually, and he is too the first one to drown. In a symbolic way, GIR can represent chaos or madness, and the ocean is the symbol for emotion or the subconscious mind.

In other words, madness is what drives ZIM at this moment, and it is what's gonna make him drown in himself: go insane. Remember the beginning of the ZIMvoid arc? Look at what happens to Car-nivore.

Car-nivore ejects his brain; ZIM is losing his mind. Even the expression they make is similar, but of course, that might be just a coincidence.

At the end, I found 2 keys: the short story Keep it to yourself of issue 17 is our key to understand a bit more of the ZIMvoid. GIR was the key out of the ZIMvoid!

〰 Poity

#invader zim #iz #character analysis #zimvoid #ZIM #ZIM and GIR #comedy duo #findings #iz comics #gir invader zim #dib invader zim #analysis #theory #zim iz #long post #the void #poitysdiary #Poity_duos_iz

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geekcat · 7 months

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Had an idea for a "Dibvoid" to parallel the Zimvoid arc that I don't know if I'll actually write.

The basic premise is similar to the Zimvoid, with Dibs from alternate universes being lured into another dimension. But in this case, the signal they follow is one from another Dib, asking for help in defeating his Zim, who successfully took over Earth!

Once there, the Dibs all gather together and plot against Zim...all while receiving messages from the Dib who contacted them in the first place. After a lot of questions about why he can't fight with them in person, he admits to being Zim's prisoner...sending secret messages and rerouting supplies to them without Zim noticing is the best he can do.

Even through just messages, they're able to launch a lot of good attacks against Zim! It feels like they're making progress in taking back the Earth...though at other times, it feels like a large game of tug-of-war between them and Zim, neither side taking much ground.

The first twist is when they learn the Dib supposedly guiding them has been dead since Zim took over this world.

The next is that it's Zim himself who's been leaving them messages and leading them through the fight against himself.

After taking over Earth, there was no contact from his Tallest, other than that they'd be there "at some point". (They weren't planning on showing up ever.) Zim became bored, and started to miss the days when he and Dib would fight, making him despondant...

So, he lured in a bunch of other Dibs, hoping to return to the days he was missing. The Dibs don't take it well, learning that they all walked right into a trap of Zim's.

#invader zim #zimvoid #dibvoid

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random-iz-stuff · 2 years

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Something I want to point out is the fact that in the Zimvoid arc, we see this:

Implying that:

Zim on his own can bench press more than three times his own body weight

Irkens in general can bench press more than three times their own body weight

Only being able to lift three times your own weight is considered weak by Irken standards

Point is, Irkens are very strong.

I Headcanon that the full strength of an average Irken is being able to lift about four times their own body weight in Irk gravity, which is twice that of Earth. So Zim could lift about eight times his own body weight on Earth.

#invader zim #headcanons #bugs can lift several times their body weight #Irkens are insectoid-esque creatures #so going by that logic it’s not too hard to believe that an Irken could lift several times their body weight

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solvaneon · 4 months

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I didn't like my first post so I deleted it

Here's a new one

I have lots of ocs and an invader ZiM special interest

Expect to see lots of that

Here's a couple of my ocs

I really like the zimvoid arc so expect so see some of that too

Also I have a httyd hyperfixation that I prefer to keep off of Tumblr because I have been insulted before for not liking the hidden world and my mental health got very bad, so I'm just trying to avoid that hyperfixation or at least keep it off here

Anyway here's a random example of one of my httyd thoughts

I wish we had gotten more diverse body shapes with the nightlights

They’re hybrids! The opportunities!

One with very few yet really long nubs

Another with back spines that are connected together by a fin like the lightfuries

One with a fin like the lightfuries but as tall as toothless spines

One with glittery spots like toothlesss markings but with the lightfuries glitter

And those are just off the top of my head!

It would’ve been so cool

#original character #oc #original art #first post #i guess

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ms-scarletwings · 7 months

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A Messy, Sedulous Necropsy of Zib Membrane

That’s what we call him right? Not Invader Zib? Hell if I know, we’ll let the tags decide.

Whatever he is christened by his author, enemies, or fans, this titular villain of the Zimvoid is such a mind blaster to me. I wish we had more time with him within the comics. I wish he had been a concept explored in the show. I wish he had a movie. I am having fun with a little hyperbole here, but I truly do find him just as interesting and potentially pivotal of an antagonist as Tak was, if not even more.

Both, of course, were so badly underutilized for sake of the series status quo. To that, Zib was a much bigger threat than Tak, and especially to that of the comics’ own. He potentially changes everything, and somehow absolutely nothing by the end. The TV show always had a more overt tone of cruelty and the macabre floating about its themes. These print issues? I don’t dislike them. It’s still recognizably invader Zim, and the more the merrier, content-wise, but longtime fans can feel that there was this change of essence in the transition. More obviously, in the art, but more subtly, there was an audible softening of that bluntly darker, cynical tone the show was made iconic for. To put it very generally, they lean a little more into the whackiness of this world, there’s a lot more dark comedy to be found in what I’ve seen so far rather than in your face darkness, and in the absence of the ost and voice acting the show accustomed us to, the comics leave a lot more room to be read as you wile. To me, they’re goofier and more episodic in spirit.

This all is not a critique or rating on the comics.. It’s purely, I feel, why Zib stuck out to me all the more jarringly in his context. His reveal was a genuine twist that brought forth stakes higher than arguably any other threat in the entire franchise. He represents a plausible while horrifying prophecy of our main characters if only they made worse decisions. The most interesting of all, for every piece of amazing information he fed to us, he bred dozens more questions about everything than he answered, from Irken machinations, to his ambivalent backstory, to the secrets hidden by the sum of his parts.

Though he was left evidently alive at the end of his story, I don’t see any chance for him making a return, so he is memorialized as another defeated one-off the writers have brisked past and left behind for good. Therefore, I’m here today to take what we got and present it on the metaphorical autopsy table. I want to really pull apart why this character alone pulled me back into the TV series, really just flay open the bits I can’t get out of my own head and dig harder until we find something or we run out of threads to tug at. Starting with the one already hanging out of my mouth, but

• B.E.F

“Bad End Friend” is a term I learned the meaning of within the last 12 hours or so of writing this, and I’m exuberant over that discovery. It’s a niche trope i didn’t know ive been a giant fan of since I was a child. Summed up, fictional characters from beloved media, typically, animated child protagonists… given the worst case scenario treatment. Their “bad ending”, whether that means a corruption arc, demonic possession, a lovecraftIan tragedy… usually something that’s anywhere along the lines of a fate worse than death to a full villainous turnover. As a treat. The concept is strongly associated with fanworks and AUs of popular media, but just as often this is something that becomes explored in the source material as well. A couple great examples I know would probably be Ice Prince Finn from Adventure Time or what happens in Undertale when you decide you want to run the most depraved playthrough possible. From a more mature story, “Evil” Morty is another validly arguable sample.

Besides a bit of a fondness I got going for certain dark or spooky themes in general, what I REALLY love about canonical BEFs the most is their utility as characterization tools. They’re the “having your cake and eating it too” option! The perfect way for an author to explore certain things about any character without actually committing to well… a bad ending.

Almost always, they are necessarily hypothetical or reversible. If they’re not reversible, they go often hand-in-hand with a little universe tampering to make happen. Sometimes, this means the story goes the way of time travel and branching off butterfly effects. Sometimes it means confirming multiverse theory, which can be the same thing depending on your semantical position.

And Zib crossed off the BEF qualifications by far and away. His implications are extremely dark given any pause think about them, and he’s a living, disturbing tragedy in aftermath. If you want to view a rigamarole about that aspect of his characterization as he appeared in the comics, someone else long beat me to that and I’m enthusiastically recommending a peek at their own work. I’m thrilled to do so and build a little upon that with those extended what-if-wonders.

• Lessons From a Lost Episode

Elephant in the room I haven’t seen someone ask yet, uh..

By show rules, isn’t Zib supposed to be a clear case of the writers committing the sin of retcon? By show I’m including the unaired scripts, including “10 Minutes to Doom”. In that one we had what looked like the potential setup for a Zib case, and it was deconstructed across the whole episode.

In short recap, Dib learned the hard and reckless way about the true nature of what Irken PAKs actually are. This is not an inventory bag, it is not “gear”. It’s the actual Irken entity- at least, the primary component.

Detaching it from the organic shell essentially caused a temporary split into two instances of Zim, desperately trying to connect back together under threat of obliteration.

Like let me be very clear about this,

The PAK is an autonomous instance of Zim’s consciousness, and it’s the main one. We’ve seen it act to save his life when his body has been out cold or flatlined, and he doesn’t appear the least bit disoriented or confused once “he” wakes and jumps back into the action. There’s no known separate computer assistant AI or security autopilot in there. That code, that program, IS Zim. As Long as the PAK is active, he is capable of staying fully conscious and able to react to what’s happening around him, and that’s what we’ve been seeing, his own actions.

Zim proved me right when Virooz tried to replace him and detached the PAK. Take note of his phrasing after the chair event™.

“I” activated the protocol. Immediately after Virooz ran off with my shell.

“I” Voluntarily chose to do so.

I don’t remember it playing out like that in “10 Minutes to Doom”.

Attaching to a new host wasn’t the first reflex. Dib was not the least bit aware that that he has literally holding the actual Zim captive in sense, and the latter was fighting like a cornered animal to escape him. Failing that, alongside the distance between him and his original body growing fast, he made a last desperate gambit, and he willingly connected himself into Dib’s body.

I can see why he thought this was better than nothing, no matter how repulsive the notion might have been. If he couldn’t fend Dib off physically, he could incapacitate him in some fashion by trying to overtake his will. Maybe give the shell a better chance to catch up, maybe in the longshot hope of being able to pilot dib in order to become whole with the correct host again. And you can say he succeeded, at least in dominating bodily control away from Dib, but at the cost of his already tenuously held sanity. This could be because of the interference of Dib’s own mind still resisting to fully submit, or malfunctions because of the biological incompatibility; however, the thing that Dib mentally becomes is only the basic idea of what “Zim” is. Instead of remembering it needs to reunite with its shell ASAP, the PAK mistakes Dib’s body for its own and goes through the manic motions of following the Invader mission. And it does this, weirdly enough, with almost no regard for blowing its cover.

When things are set right again, Zim’s later words near the episode ending revealed that he knew that was an unsustainable state.

Such a risk was not just accounted for, he was actually banking on it if that clock had hit zero. If Zim had truly lost, if he was really doomed to meet his end on this nasty rock in the middle of Nowhere, Space, then by every damned circuit in his being, he was going to take down this insolent fool boy and as many other humans possible with him. A dying act of vengeful rage.

• The Exceptional… Exception

Now, wouldn’t all of this be the definitive reason for Zib’s existence to be an aberrant impossibility? Yes, but actually no. Fun thing about multiverses is if something doesn’t work in one setting, you can just tweak a few dials and suddenly you have a world where the impossible becomes possible. But that’s a pretty cheap answer, isn’t it? So, what exactly was that crucial difference?

What happened in Zib’s timeline that went down so, so divergently from the events of 10 Minutes to Doom?

Because the only one who was in any position to explain it for us was Zib himself, and he’s proven to be one of the most unreliable of narrators. It’s as @dana-chan-the-control-brain already spared no effort to demonstrate, when he does tell us something about his past, his story is pocked with contradicting half-truths or outright lies. Ergo it helps to break down each recount of events to pick out the real facts.

Version 1: This is an alternate version of dib who defeated his complementing Zim (logically sensible) and went on to achieve all of the success and respect he sought after in his timeline (absolute bullshit). He kind of gestures and only implies about what has happened to his body while explaining that he came to his current understanding of Irken technology by studying it through Zim’s lab (a partial truth). He lets slip in passing that he has in fact fused with the PAK in order to learn how to alter and reprogram its coding, lessons he has applied to Number 2 in order to have a brainwashed pawn (also apparently true).

Version 2, when cornered and red handed: This is an alternate version of Dib who managed to specifically stop Zim's mission (Again, makes sense) but somehow could not convince the world of his findings or his warnings about the Irken Armada (*VERY eyebrow raising). Frustrated with the people’s lack of cooperation, he decides he has no choice but to physically merge with Zim’s PAK post-mortem (concerning and evidently mostly accurate), dominate the Earth himself, and enslave humans to help him in his efforts (highly troubling and probably true). The construction of his EMP super-weapon is successful, but ultimately led to the creation of the Zimvoid when the device was field tested (self evident, absolutely horrifying).

You know what I noticed was missing from both of these accounts? Exactly how his Zim was defeated. Which honestly could have been some beyond useful wisdom to pass along to the main Dib??? More than anything else? I’m not going to fault our boy for not pressing that matter better under the awing circumstance; however, there’s an implication I’ve been reading between lines.

When Zib mentions “defeating” his own Zim, he’s talking about something different than ours.

When our Dib has always talked about “defeating” Zim, he’s meant incapacitation and capture. Throughout the show he explicitly wants to present Zim before an audience alive and whole. Yeah, he fantasizes about other people torturing or disassembling him for study, but HIS role was supposed to be reaping the fame for an undeniable, ground-breaking discovery. Conspiracies and cryptids are all this kid breathes and lives by! And as long as pop culture has always been fascinated with the paranormal, and he has to know this full well, people keep bringing forward hoax after hoax after scam. I mean there’s a freaking current one or few still going IRL about this exact topic. Dib would want no room left for being dismissed as another one of those con artists.

Nonetheless, I actually doubt this is the reason Zib couldn’t get through to the scientific community. A genuine alien lifeform, even a dead one, could still be confirmed by any basic medical examination. The world thinks Dib is too crazy to listen to, but his father is still Professor Membrane. In "10 Minutes to Doom" OUR Dib got as close as having Membrane literally analyzing a PAK, or at worst, preparing to. “Ultimate Dib” gets his hands on the same thing and pulls a move I’d expect from an HP Lovecraft Protagonist instead.

We’re assuming way too much to what these two Dibs have in common, because this ^^^ is really what made the Zimvoid an outlier in the multiverse. That world didn’t only have a very different, more threatening Zim from the main timeline, it had the Dib who proved even more formidable, cunning, and ruthless, even before the fusion.

He didn’t obtain that PAK ala the “10 minutes to Doom” accident, it’s a personal trophy. This is extra strange remembering that capturing an Irken is realistically more easy than killing one. They’re seriously more tenacious than kudzu and will even fight back in PAK form alone. I’m convinced that whatever sort of final showdown made the Ultimate Dib the victor, there are two optional endings on the table.

Option 1: There was not a body even left intact enough to bring in to research. Maybe Dib’s fault, maybe an accident, maybe even Zim’s own luck running out and his incompetent antics finally swallowed him (and possibly GIR). This theory assumes that the PAK was the only sort of remains to come into Dib’s recovery/possession.

Option 2: Curiosity Killed the cat,

but satisfaction brought it back.

Or, the one I personally headcanon. Dib… all Dibs, I assume, don’t just hate the Irken species. They are mesmerized by them, and all that they represent from his perspective. Firstly, the epic villain he gets to roleplay nemesis to in order to feel his own worth and importance. Secondly, an unknown wonder from beyond the boundaries of the cosmos. He’s not really a ghost buster or a Men In Black agent at heart, but a scientist, like his father. Underneath his contempt for Zim’s plans to destroy the world is a genuine and appropriately childish awe for alien presence, especially for Zim’s technology. His silent, dopey smile when Tak’s ship ended up in his backyard said more than words ever will..

Earlier in the show, a great deal of Dib’s time and effort was spent on trying to infiltrate the lower levels of Zim’s base. Sneaking into the house was hard enough, but the computer security can’t be bypassed like the gnomes. Not even by Zim himself unless he really is all himself. Perhaps you’re starting to sniff where I’m going with this one when I refer back to “Bolognius Maximus”. I’ve another reference that’s a little more on the nose, and a lot more… dark.

Were an expired Irken husk before you, you too might take your victory and cash in then. Still, who knows what sudden impulse may run through the head of a less humble version of yourself, one some could call greedier, obsessive to a fault, a screw or two loose, yet, a hell of a smart cookie. Smart enough to see it for what it actually was, the keys to a whole world of discovery that went so many layers deeper than they could ever imagine. It’s possible the Ultimate Dib already learned beforehand the same hard lessons about the PAKs that our own did, and took that understanding toward not repeating the same mistake this time. What happened to Zim? I think he was murdered in cold blood, body, and entity. “10 Minutes to Doom” showed us a fight between 2 brains clinging to one body, struggling until one overpowered another, but that’s not what this is. Through whatever means of science were available to him, this Dib has probably tried to “disarm” the technology by either erasing Zim’s consciousness out of it altogether, or by forcing the autonomous code into a kind of dormancy. His intentions were to render it back to its basic hardware without losing its precious knowledge and usefulness, something like the brain-filled tank that was wired into Skrang’s head. Zim’s PAK doesn’t cling onto his body like a parasitic teratoma this time; it’s merged in a literal sense with his nervous and circulatory system. As well, he has fooled the device’s ability to detect and reject a foreign host shell, the exact same way he deceived the the base’s security AI. If an Irken biology is what these measures authorize to command them and their secrets, then he had the tools on hand to give them just that- in an atrocity I like to call

the darker harvest.

Within this theory, there is not as much room to wonder exactly what became of Zim’s organic remains.

But where Dib fucked up was, for the second time, in his ignorance to the true nature of what he was even playing with. That was a mistake that even the mighty Elder Brains of Judgementia lost themselves to; How much more vulnerable was the weak, human mind? Though Zim can be devoured, he can never be digested. In that fact was born this aberration against nature, sanity, and humanity alike.

"Have you ever heard of insect politics? Neither have I. Insects… don't have politics. They're very… brutal. No compassion, no compromise. We can't trust the insect. I'd like to become the first… insect politician. Y'see, I'd like to, but… I'm afraid, uh… I'm saying… I'm saying I - I'm an insect who dreamt he was a man and loved it. But now the dream is over… and the insect is awake." - Seth Brundle, The Fly, 1986

By fusing what is half-mad and what is utterly mad, neither being was cured, only assimilated into the birth of a new madness. The madness of the creature that snickers behind the curtain in the Zimvoid. I rightfully fear that lonesome thing, but not I think as much as I pity him.

• Dejavu, or Re:Plagarism

One more thing about the Zimvoid arc I find curious is the way it makes you question more and more just how much of the aberration is actually still Dib, and how much of it is Zim's infection haunting him. He does nothing with all of his intellect, his resources, and his time in the void doing anything but surrounding himself in everything he claims he despises. He decries alien tyranny in one breath while lording over a homemade, cruel dictatorship in another. He calls for eradication of the very race who's technology and physiology he has thoroughly appropriated. He laments feeling unable to protect the Earth from the Armada alone, yet sneers literally through Irken teeth to insult humans as inferior and of no value to him any longer. Our Dib spent the whole damn show longing for the support of other people, but Zib pushes away potential allies in his arrogance. His broken timeline never became a Dibvoid instead because while only half of his mind can't stand Irkens, both of the souls inside him remember that they loathe and look down upon a Dib, deep inside.

The corruption goes as far as even subverting his own creativity. None of Zib's plans are wholly original. His anti-Irken weapon was already a concept blueprinted inside of that PAK before the merge. Our Dib has several times shown a propensity for some DIY ingenuity, sometimes dipping a toe into the supernatural. Zib entirely calls upon, scavenges and regurgitates Irken designs with a few modifications or upgrades. The Dib Virus, I think is his most uninspired creation yet, for it's original form was always something inside of Zim, even if the latter himself was not aware of the fact. Like all else, it is a weapon he has plundered, customized, and turned around on everyone else for his own selfish ends. This brief point I will end on one more reflection. The one kind of help Zim ever allowed at his side were the likes of GIR and his own creations. Unable to connect and cooperate with his peers and own kind, his ego preferred to be around those defective machines he related to- drones to be owned by him and always loyally at his beck and call. A slave to admire him unconditionally is the only companionship he's ever been willing to admit to desiring.

And what was Number 2's purpose again? What role exactly were the arena combatants auditioning for, when you think about it?

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