Invader Zim Zib - Tumblr Posts
Hey everyone who knows about Zib Membrane (invader Zib???) I want you to go listen to “Broadcast illusion” by Ghost while rotating the stinky roach boy in your mind you won’t remotely regret it go do it do it
Trivial Zib Headcanons
- He speaks with Dib’s voice but with Zim’s inflections and quirky word emphasis bleeding through the angrier or more excited he gets.
- He picked up the 🅱️ean allergy.
- His laughter would straddle the line between adorkable and distressingly unhinged.
- He fills a lot of downtime in the void up with video games, watching Zims compete in blood sports, and kicking said Zims’ asses at video games just to stay (somewhat) sane.
- He treats number Two the way Boston Dynamics treats their robots during his training sessions. To keep him on his toes, he explains, like a liar.
- Neck pain™
- He once went through a panicked, awkward phase where his human teeth started falling out. Utterly flipped his shit until he realized the new ones were coming in to replace them.
- He emits a smell like almonds when he gets nervous or stressed.
- If/when he sleeps he makes hermit crab noises instead of snoring.
Woopsie, I Put Too Much Effort Into A Character Song Playlist (Zib)
Just showing off some contextual brain worms. Feel free to toy with it as hyperfix fuel, art/fic ideas, a discussion starter, or just to know what’s been rattling around in my ears lately. Addition suggestions welcome. No particular order to arrangement.
Breakdown/Preview below:
Outer Science, English Ver. [Kuraiinu]
Song artist: Jin (covered by Kuraiinu, English lyrics by Kuraiinu)
Fact of fun: The story told in the original song is part of a whole rabbit hole of a work, the Kagerou Project. Outer Science is specifically about one very bad ending out of a huge branch of connected timelines and possible “routes”.
Sorter’s note: This badass track is a huge favorite of mine both with and without even considering this character list, but holy shit did I find it appropriate for this purpose- from the action, the vibes, and especially for it to center around another villain as utterly maniacal as the star of the list. In my little headspace I love to imagine it mostly addressed from Zib’s perspective toward our main timeline’s Dib.
Sample lyrics:
[Does it matter when you, will soon awaken anew
That I’m reveling in every suffering just like a demon?
“Ahh why! No! Why!” you howl and cry
“I never wanted this” you lie..!
Look into my own eyes, there lies your fate and demise
And I know there another fated eloquent master awaits]
[Ahh, not enough, I can’t evade the desire
To eat up their darkened hearts upon the pyre
Taking ahold of every one of their lives
I’m buried in their eyes
Ahh, it’s also in you, deep down inside
The power bigger than them all, Combining Eyes..?
Yes, within this sad tragedy
You are the “queen”]
[How pitiful to live and die
Time and again you all defy
Though it will end the same, you keep resetting the game
Remiss and pain all aflame
Crying, howling, ever writhing]
Broadcast Illusion
Song artist: GHOST & Pals
Fact of fun: This is effectively a remake of one of GHOST’s earlier works, “Colorbars” and was the last song released as part of their Communications project before the series cancellation.
Sorter’s note: With the instrumental stylizations and dark themes of this piece outright, I hope my associations with the favored freak become self evident.
Sample lyrics:
[We’ll wake up in a singular reality
The death of a nation
A toxic reaction
So scream and shout, make a whole lotta noise
Don’t be afraid, let the night run out
Well, after all, it’s a television show
A telecast promoting vertigo]
[A moment in time to reconcile
Came a little too late, and now it’s gone
A moment in history
Produced by the broken and thrown away
And I’m already here
For you to see, for you to see, to see you
I’ve always been here]
Goodbye Moonmen
Song artist: Ryan Elder (Cover by Shadyvox)
Fact of fun: It’s generally accepted that this song was composed in a way to parody/tribute the musical style of David Bowie
Sorter’s note: I felt this one fitted Zib to the point of comedy. The original context of the song was literally about a universe-wide genocide with xenophobic motivations. To me this might as well have been going through his head in canon had he gotten his way.
Sample Lyrics:
[The worlds can be one together
Cosmos without hatred
Stars like diamonds in your eyes
The ground can be space, space, space, space, space
With feet marchin' towards a peaceful sky
All the moonmen want things their way
But we make sure they see the sun
Goodbye, moonmen
You say goodbye, moonmen
Goodbye, moonmen
Goodbye, moonmen
Oh, goodbye]
Final Transmission (Remix)
Song artist: Remixed by The Living Tombstone
Fact of fun: The original version was by Temporal Walker & Voodoopony
Sorter’s note: Delicious Title. Pretty darn catchy on its own. Trippy AND sad when you think about it for too long.
Sample Lyrics:
[He feels it in his stomach and in his bones
The weight is lifted now, he's never going home
Drifting in silence, now he's all alone
Difference is that now, there's no need to atone
Spaceman, that's what they said he was
Head up in the clouds, he never put up a fuss…]
[Eyelids getting heavy, sleep it off now kid
Everyone now knows exactly what you did
Go on, finish up the fuse that you lit
It doesn't matter now, cause we'll see you in a bit
Tapestry of nightlights above and below
Sanity coiled tight, the Earth he'll out grow
Amnesty a slight, too late to forego
Vanity benight, all to do now is let go]
Control
Song artist: Halsey (pitch edit presumably by Lunarex)
Sample Lyrics:
[I paced around for hours on empty
I jumped at the slightest of sounds
And I couldn't stand the person inside me
I turned all the mirrors around
I'm bigger than my body
I'm colder than this home
I'm meaner than my demons
I'm bigger than these bones
And all the kids cried out, "Please stop, you're scaring me"
I can't help this awful energy
God damn right, you should be scared of me
Who is in control?
I'm well acquainted with villains that live in my head
They beg me to write them so they'll never die when I'm dead]
Bacterial Contamination [Bookiezz]
Song artist: Kanimiso-P (covered by Bookiezz)
Fact of fun: The original music video with Hatsune Miku is super famous for good reason, and it’s actually a terrifying piece of art. The song by itself carries a really sad story involving themes of alienation, the vicious cycle of bullying, and possibly suicide, depending on how you interpret its ambiguous ending. There’s also a lot of body horror in the fashion of arthropod imagery, and that’s neat. This pick happens to be my favorite version of it, something about the part with the laughter still gives me actual chills.
Sorter’s note: I’m keeping it a secret for now what segment of the song I’m referring to but I actually started working on storyboarding for a brief animation of Zib to an audio snippet earlier this month.
Sample lyrics (approx. translated):
[Bacterial Contamination
You're not worth believing in my mind
Recently my "common sense" has corroded
I can't even hold my purity
The contamination is spreading
You’ll want to become stronger
Even if I barely survive
It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts]
[My contamination has healed
I’ve been starting to feel much better
All because I transmitted it to her
Aha Aha Aha AHAHAHA…
Bacterial Contamination
Everyone's infected wounds keep bleeding
Killing themselves from contamination
They can't even die with grace now
The contamination has spread
None of you are here; you're dead in my mind
I'm eventually alone
It hurts (x13)]
The Distortionist -
Song Artist: GHOST & Pals
Sorter’s note: Oh hey look, a ditty specifically about gaslighty, abusive assholes for the self loathing bug bastard that started his own cult.
Sample Lyrics:
[Surely you can see the problem
I don't wanna lose my own reflection
A deplorable perception of me
Was none other than an image of you
You're making a wreck of broken glass and leaving me a fuckin' mess!
Bending light in a way that shows exactly how the story goes]
[In all this madness, it's madness
Oh-ho, it's sickening, it's sickening
You know it's unfair, it's unfair
How you distorted my reflection
You know it's too late…
You're lost in a world of funhouse mirrors, twisted for eternity
Bending light in a way that shows refraction of hypocrisy
Whimsical, dear, your lies are clear, now, who the hell would've ever guessed?
Play my games and abide my ways, there's no way you can compensate]
CORROSION
Song Artist: R.I.P.
Sorter’s note: I’m just gonna let “I've lived in fear my whole life; I'll give you a taste, you can't change my mind” speak for itself. This is one of the more tragedy flavored ones.
Sample Lyrics:
[Don't you know? I'm truly evil, and
Everybody 'round me's dropping dead!
Overflowing, oddly gleeful, and
You're all blue and cold, yet painted red!
Undergone drastic changes
Oh, it's the only thing that's left for me
All along I've known it's wrong
But I can't fix what I am
It's all I know
Low and behold!
I'm truly evil, and
You're a person standing in my way!
Have I shown I can be lethal
I'll leave them all to rot and to decay
Hold on tight, it will be painful
Oh, it's more than your weak mind can conceive
You're all blind, I'll take what's mine
Oh, I wish I could restrain
It's all I can be]
Wake Up!
Song Artist: Oomph!
Fact of fun: The German version of this song goes really hard too.
Sorter’s note: This one was selected more to reflect the broader nature of the Zimvoid and the hierarchy itself.
Sample Lyrics:
[Got no time for waiting
Got no time to waste
Everywhere machines here
Set a deadly pace
Got no time for questions
You have work to do
Got no time to stand now
If you stop, you lose]
[Your life is seeping through your fingers like sand
And time, it flies like the wind
You run in circles and you're losing your mind
But all you want is to win
Just breathe in
Then breathe out
Wake up! Now you're stuck in this game
And even if you run, the score is the same
Wake up! Now you're stuck in this game
You're just stuck in this game]
Confrontation
Song Artist: Frank Wildhorn, Et al.
Fact of fun: yeah yeah it’s from that Jekyll and Hyde Musical. The one people been making animatics of forever and they had every right to be because it’s still good decades later.
Sorter’s note: A little red meat for some of you who like to toy with the two minds, one body idea/headcanon, or your cute little corruption arc narratives.
Sample Lyrics:
[This is not a dream, my friend
And it will never end!
This one is the nightmare that goes on!
Hyde is here to stay,
No matter what you may pretend,
And He'll flourish, long after you're gone!
Soon you will die, and my memory will hide you!
You cannot choose but to lose control.
You can't control me! I live deep inside you!
Each day you'll feel me devour your soul!]
Amygdala’s Ragdoll -
Song Artist: GHOST & Pals
Fact of fun: For some reason the chorus of this caught on as a little animation trend once. Think they dubbed it the Trypophobia Meme. If I do actually ever do something with it myself, I know I’m not calling it that.
Sample Lyrics:
[Today something changed
I figured it’s true
The frontal lobe placed me behind my own strings
‘Cus I defy the way the game works
I’ll say it again, I’m only getting worse]
[Say we take what had been torn apart
Say we mend any patchwork discord
Turning eyes to the trypo-puppeteer
Waiting for the world to burn
So, One two three, and we’ll tie the tourniquet
Larvae eating away at everything
Word goes ‘round, I’m the trypo-puppeteer
Laugh along, I’m spreading holes
Now I know this has always been my fault
and I can’t inhale anymore]
Honorable Mentions:
• C e n t i p e d e by GHOST & Pals, omitted for personal and practical reasons.
• Honey I’m Home, another GHOST hit, omitted because most of my Zib association with that goes along with my personal “darker harvest” theory/headcannon
Zib’s single cracked/chipped lens is the most subtle change in his appearance from the Dib we already know and enjoy and yet I’m obsessed I’m so obsessed with it over anything else about his design you have no idea there’s SO much to be symbolically said about it
+ the use of glasses in media very often being a way to indicate a character with exceptional intelligence and insight and how Zib having damaged spectacles could be a hint to how this trait of his has been altered or corrupted
+ broken glass in general as a literary metaphor for transformation, the casting off of limitations, or the loss of innocence
+ “seeing through a broken lens” literally being an idiom for someone having a distorted and false perception of their world
+ Dib’s spectacles normally being one of his most defining/consistent features, not just the literal window through which he views others but also the one they see him through. In a destroyed universe, they’re one of the final connections to humanity he has left, degraded.
+ While Zib’s mutations only display how his body has been changed since he conquered his Zim, the unexplained chip possibly serves as a clue that he has also been personally damaged by the events of his past in some way. Irken biology remembers no grave wound, but human imperfections never forget.
Zibstune Zibku
Genuinely forgot to post this yesterday but this is my friends contribution to cultural Miku (trust)
(the can says get rid of the irkens) (has lots of water in that trash)
Zib doodles and a Crudely drawn Family guy Death Pose Zim. 3/? - 4/?/22