Zimvoid - Tumblr Posts
I like this story
I’m sorry if I’m bothering you but I just love your work!! But can you imagine that instead of y/n and dib getting stuck in the Zimvoid, zim and dib would be stuck in a y/n-void? Again, sorry if I’m bothering you, I love your work, keep it up!!
I LOVE IT!! LET’S DO IT!!!
Be warned: There are obsessive and creepy behaviors ahead. While there won’t be anything sexual in my story, things still may get disturbing.
Here’s the original song I used but be warned it’s nsfw. Because of this some of the lyrics have been changed.
The day you went missing was the day Zim and Dib finally put their differences aside to track you down.
However, where they ended up made their jaws drop and their hearts flutter.
They had somehow ended up on a planet full of copies of you!
There were versions of you of all shapes, sizes and even species!
Luckily Zim had a sample of your DNA so at least he could the you from his timeline.
“Ok, we need a plan to save our Y/N! We-”
Dib was cut off by a very excited GIR.
“OOH! OOH! I HAVE AN IDEA!”
And with that, GIR went running off into a group of yous before Zim could even try to stop him.
“HEY! Are you my Unicorn?!” GIR asked a you with fairy wings.
“No. I’m not a unicorn and I don’t even know who you are.” The you huffed as they folded their arms.
“Okie dokie!” GIR giggled as he walked off to another you wearing a pirate costume.
“Are you my Unicorn?”
“No. I am no Unicorn, landlubber! I be Captain Y/N! The fiercest space pirate that ever roamed the galaxies!” The you announced dramatically.
“Ooh! Ok! Bye!”
And with that, GIR trotted off to a random pipe.
“Hey! Are you my Unicorn?”
The pipe said nothing as it sat on the ground.
“That’s ok take your time.” GIR reassured as he patted the pipe.
“GRAHH! GIR! Looks like I’ll have deal with him later. Right now I need to focus on my sweet Y/N!” Zim growled as he dragged a hand down his face.
“Well like I said, we need a plan! Do you have any ideas?” Dib groaned as he folded his arms.
“Of course I do! Zim always has a plan! ALWAYS!” Zim declared as he pointed to the sky.
“Ok, so what’s the plan, spaceboy?”
“The plan is…Uh…Um…”
“Seriously?! You don’t have any ideas at all?!” Dib interjected.
“OF COURSE I HAVE IDEAS! My plans are so amazing that your inferior human mind can’t comprehend them!” Zim lied as he snapped a finger in Dib’s face.
“Hey, if you boys are done fighting, I think I might be able to help.”
Dib and Zim whipped around and their jaws dropped.
What stood before them was an Irken you!
“Surprise! It’s another Y/N! The others call me Zoom though.” Zoom giggled as they gave a wink.
“Why do they call you, Zoom?” Dib asked as he rubbed the back of his he raised a brow.
“Because it sounds like a combination of Zim and doom so they other Y/Ns thought it was cute.” Zoom explained casually.
Zim’s PAK sparked a bit as he fought back the urge to stare into your F/C eyes.
Remembering how beautiful his you looked, Zim shook away his infatuation and cleared his throat.
“Yes, yes. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Zoom-Y/N but the Dib-monkey and I are searching for our Y/N. So just…run along now or whatever”
“Well, you’re gonna need someone to help you navigate this hellhole if you want to find them! So are you gonna except my help or not?” Zoom huffed as they put their hands on their hips.
“Ugh! Fine! Do you have any ideas?” Zim pouted as he folded his arms.
“I sure do! Follow me! I’ll take you back to the rebel camp where we can explain everything to you two!”
And with that, Zoom led Zim and Dib to the rebel camp.
There were tons of Y/Ns at the camp but none seemed to be human.
“Welcome to the rebel Y/N camp! Here you’ll find all the Y/Ns who don’t want to take orders from the cruel demon that trapped us here!” Zoom explained as they gestured to the camp.
“Wait, are all these Y/Ns not…human?” Dib asked as he looked around.
“Yup! Apparently his ‘royal majesty’ only likes human Y/Ns! Anyone who isn’t human is thrown here, to the dumps!” Zoom grumbled as they gestured for Zim and Dib to keep going.
Eventually, Zoom stopped before an Elderly Y/N who looked like a moth creature.
“You won’t believe what I found, Elder! A Zim and a Dib!” Zoom chirped as they gestured to Zim and Dib.
“We’ll I’ll be! I can’t believe you two actually made it here!” The Elder crooned as they leaned in closer.
“Can you please explain to us what’s going on now?” Dib asked as he raised his hand.
“Right! Of course! You poor boys must be so confused! Gather around and I’ll tell you the tale of how our horrible society came to be.”
And with that Zim and Dib plopped down before The Elder as they spun their tale.
A you with glowing eyes was led into Zib’s castle where he stood in the doorway waiting to greet them.
“It’s another night, with Y/Ns coming to see me. Such a pretty sight, waiting there for me.” Zib sang as he slowly emerged from the shadows.
The glowing eyed you gasped and tried to leave-
SLAM!
The door shut behind them as Zib carefully took their hand in his and pulled them close.
“Smiling away, what you do like any other day. Take me by the hand, let’s dance the night astray.” Zib sang as he pulled the glowing eyed you into a tight hug.
“He stole what was mine, so I took his life from him. All the power he had, lives on within me.” Zib chuckled as he remembered how he defeated Zim and stole his PAK.
“Look into my eyes, This will make you listen really easy.” Zib sang as he attached a blue collar around the glowing eyed you’s neck.
ZAP!
“Look into my eyes”
A bright blue haze clouded the you’s glowing eyes as they gazed into Zib’s yellowed ones
“Taken my surprise, you’ve fallen enchanted.” Zib smirked as he kissed the top of their head.
“A stolen PAK that’s fused to him, gave him the power to control us.” Sang the glowing eyed you as they stood next to Zib’s throne wearing blue robes.
“He wants to lure every Y/N to his castle, just to feel loved.” Sang a you with F/C skin and matching robes.
“Bringing us one by one he chose the fairest Y/N and we gave him all our trust.” Sang the glowing eyed you.
“He’s building up his harem!” Sang the F/C skinned you.
“Brainwashed by my special collars, they finally love me! Devotion in every word they say, I know they’ll stay.” Zib sang as he stroked the glowing eyed you’s head.
“Their fates are set, From their blood to their sweat they all belong to me! Just as long as their eyes shine a blue hue!” Zib wrapped his hands around the F/C skinned you’s tightly.
“Once my plans progress to get these Y/Ns in my grasp. Never nonetheless, these’s no use to escape from my madness!” Zib cackled as he threw his arms into the air.
“OH! AUGH! EW!! You’re telling me some DISGUSTING Dib-Monster has my sweet Y/N?!”
“Not just your Y/N, he has countless Y/Ns and if this keeps up, every Y/N in the multiverse will be trapped here!” The Elder warned.
Zim and Dib gasped in unison as the Elder continued the story.
“Fragments of my past, I would like to burn them all away! Throw away my shame! And let it decay!” Zib sang as he burned pictures of his former self.
You stood beside him and watched the flames devour the photos.
“I want to forget, the person that I used to be. People used to laugh, and make fun of me!”
You gently put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a sympathetic look.
Zib’s eyes lit up the moment your hand touched his shoulder.
“Took them by the hands, as I told them, my sweet and simple plan.” Zib sang as he pulled you close to him.
Zib dipped you down and pulled you into a passionate kiss!
“Giving them a kiss was my only wish!” Zib sang as he parted for air.
“You look just like the one, my friend since we were both so young. All you did was laugh and make fool of me!” Zib sniffled as he gripped your wrists tighter.
“Day by day, plenty of Y/Ns came to him from all over the multiverse.” You sang as you rested your head on his shoulder.
“One by one, all of us got lost as his evil plans got worse.” Sang an extremely tall you.
“Y/Ns got in entranced by him and soon lost their memories too!” You sang as you held one of Zib’s hands.
“Soon we didn’t even know what do to!” Sang the extremely tall you.
“My longing growing in darkness makes me desire more! Infinitely, obsession spreading, without an ending!” Zib sang as he pulled you into his lap.
“Real or Trick? I’ll make you stick no matter how hard you try to leave! Deep and strong we’re making Zims cry and bleed! “ Zib sang as he pulled the extremely tall you back in place.
“Hating Zims and stealing the love of their angels. I’m the king of the night, it’s the madness that always felt right!” Zib sang as he kissed the top of your head.
“MADNESS! WE NEED TO PUT A STOP TO THIS AT ONCE!!” Zim screeched as he grasped the sides of his head.
“I never thought I’d say this but Zim’s right! We can’t let that weird Zim..Dib hybrid get away with this!” Dib agreed as he pointed to the sky.
“That’s why I brought you two here so we can discuss a-”
“WAIT! I HAVE A PLAN! Yes…An ingenious plan…” Zim interjected as he rubbed his hands together.
“Ok, I do not like that look on your face.” Dib muttered as he backed away from Zim.
“Zoom-Y/N! Do you still have access to some of your tech?” Zim asked as he turned his attention to Zoom.
“I think so. Why? What do you plan on doing with it?” Zoom asked as they checked their PAK.
“You’ll see…You’ll see…”
Within a few moments, Zim and Dib were dressed exactly like you.
“Really Zim?! This is your plan?! This never gonna work!” Dib whined as he gestured to his poorly constructed costume.
“Nonsense! Of course it will work! Zim is a master of disguise! Now hurry! Let’s retrieve Y/N before that REVOLTING DIB-WORM gets his Dib filth all over them!” Zim urged as he curled his fingers in front of his face.
“Are you kidding me?! Zim these disguises are total dookie! There’s no way anyone’s gonna be convinced by these!” Dib whined as he tugged on his disguise.
“OOH! Are you my unicorn?” GIR asked as he skipped over to Dib.
“No. I’m Dib.” Dib replied as he raised a brow.
“Ok! Are you my unicorn?” GIR asked as he turned his attention to Zim.
“No. It’s me GIR. See?” Zim chuckled as he lifted off a part of his disguise.
“Oh! Hi master!” GIR chirped with a wave.
“See? Flawless disguises! No let’s get going already!”
Dib wanted to protest but he didn’t want to keep you waiting either.
“Wait! I’m coming with you guys!” Zoom insisted as they ran after Zim and Dib.
“If those guys can’t help us I don’t know who can.” The Elder sighed as they shook their head.
After a long and grueling journey, Zim, Dib, and Zoom finally made it to Zib’s castle.
“Looks like you boys are on your own from here! Are you sure your ready?” Zoom asked softly.
“Well actually-”
“OF COURSE WE ARE!” Zim interjected.
“Alright. Good luck! I’m going to see if I can find a way to send everyone back to their home timelines.”
And with that, Zoom rushed off to search for a way to send the Y/Ns home.
Zim took in a deep breath and knocked on the door.
BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
CREAK!
The door slowly opened as a familiar voice echoed from within:
“Come in my sweets~”
Zim and Dib carefully made their way into Zb’s castle.
SLAM!
The door slammed behind them as Zib emerged from the shadows.
“Well, Well what have we here?”
“Um, just two lost Y/Ns…” Dib giggled as he tried to imitate your voice.
Yes, I can see that. Come closer will you? I don’t bite.” Zib chuckled as he motioned for Dib to come closer.
Dib swallowed hard as he carefully approached Zib.
Zib chuckled as he wrapped his arms around Dib’s waist.
“Typical, Y/N. Always so tense…You know you really don’t have to-ACK!”
CLANG!
Zib was cut off by Zim smacking him upside the head with one of his weapons.
“Let’s go find our Y/N!” Zim growled as he dragged Dib along.
It didn’t take long for Zim and Dib to find you.
“Y/N!” Zim and Dib exclaimed in unison.
“We are all Y/N here….” Your voice was cold and robotic as you stared up at them with hazy blue eyes.
“Y-Y/N! What happened to you?!” Dib yelped.
“WHAT HAS THAT AWFUL DIB DONE TO YOU?!” Zim demanded as he shook your shoulders.
“He is not awful. He has opened my eyes and now I am free….” You responded as your eyelids lowered.
“NO! Y/N! SNAP OUT OF IT! JUST- Eh?” Zim suddenly noticed the bright blue collar wrapped around your neck.
“What’s- AH HA! THIS MUST BE WHY YOU’RE ACTING ALL WEIRD AND STUFF!”
Before you could protest, Zim pulled out a small laser from his PAK
ZAP!
CRACK!
CLANG!
With one swift cut, you were freed from your collar as it clattered to the ground.
The blue haze faded from your eyes as they returned to their normal color.
“Urgh…What happened?” You groaned.
“Y/N! YOU’RE BACK TO YOUR OLD SELF!” Zim cheered as he pulled you into a tight hug.
“I never thought I’d say this but…You did it Zim..” Dib admitted as he rubbed his arm.
“Yes! Yes I did! I AM ZIM! Now let’s free all the other Y/Ns before that VILE Dib-thing wakes up”
And with that, You, Zim and Dib went around the castle and freed every single version of you.
“I think that was the last of em.” Zim panted as another collar clattered to the ground.
“Great job guys! Now we can get out of here!” You chuckled as you pulled Zim and Dib into a hug.
Zim and Dib giggled as they melted into your embrace.
Once you released them they composed themselves and prepared to leave. You, Zim, and Dib were just inches away from the door when-
“Not so fast!”
All three of you whipped around to find Zib glaring daggers at Zim and Dib.
“You didn’t really think I’d let you leave here with all of my beloved Y/Ns did you?” Zib growled as he drew closer.
“It’s over you..Zib creature you! All of the Y/Ns have been freed!” Dib stuttered as he put his hands on his hips.
“Don’t call me by that name. And I’ll have you know that all of the Y/Ns are HUH?!”
Zib’s eyes nearly burst out of his cracked glasses!
All of the Y/Ns were running out of the castle!
“Guards! Guards! Stop them!” Zib pleaded but he was too late, for every last Y/N had left the castle.
“N-No…No! No!!!!!!” Zib wailed as he clutched the sides of his head.
“Well, looks like it’s time for us to leave now!” Dib stuttered as he tried to guide you out of the castle.
FWIP!
You, Zim, and Dib were captured in a massive mechanical tentacle.
“None of you are going anywhere! You may have chased off my harem but I still have the most beautiful Y/N of them all and I refuse to ever let them leave my side!” Zib seethed as he stormed closer.
BOOM!
Zim had squeezed out a blaster from his PAK and blasted you and Dib free.
“Hurry! We don’t have much time!”
And with that, Zim grabbed your hand and rushed you out the door.
“Wait for me!!!” Dib cried as he ran after you and Zim.
“WAIT! NO!! YOU CAN’T TAKE THEM FROM ME-ACK!”
THUD!
The remains of the tentacle fell on top of Zib.
“N-No!! Y/N! Wait! I didn’t even get to tell you I loved you….”
“Geez. What a creep. Are you alright, Y/N?” Zim asked as he took off his disguise.
“Yeah, I think so. My head hurts though.” You sighed as you rubbed your head.
“Well hopefully we can fix that when we get you home.” Zim kissed your cheek as he let you back to the Voot Cruiser.
“Wait! What about the other mes?” You asked as you climbed in.
“Don’t worry about them! I’ve already taken care of it!” Zoom reassured as they zipped over to you.
“Really? What did you do, Irken-me?” You asked as you peeked over at Zoom.
“I found this Dimensional Zapper thingy and reprogramed it.” Zoom explained nonchalantly.
“Oh that makes sense.”
“Well. It was nice working with you, Zoom-Y/N. Now it’s time for us to part ways!” Zim announced as he started up the Voot.
“Wait! Are you my unicorn?!” GIR asked as he hopped into your lap.
“Yes. Yes. I am.” You chuckled as you patted GIR’s head.
“Yay!!” And with that, Zim closed the Voot and flew off.
Dib hopped into Tak’s ship and followed suit.
You were the last Y/N to go, leaving Zib all alone.
“No! Please don’t go…”
they are having an argument over whether P=NP
Thinking about if a Zim came back for Zib and Zib went off to another universe
In this case 2002s Gir was Kidnapped and held captive by Dib in exchange for another Dib To help out with Irken tech
Zib probably backstabs the Dib
An apology for forgetting Zibs antenna at around 1:00 am yesterday
I’m very sorry Zib
Zibs back!
Sorry for the lack of zib lately
I have created
ROUGH ANIMATION IS...ROUGH.
I seriously haven’t been normal ever since I found out about the Zimvoid arc
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.
You know admittedly that’s a pretty clever idea for- w
wait
Wait wait wait
Wait hol up wait wait just
….That was your intellectual property?!? Buddy what the fuck were you planning for?
Unironically so appreciative of Dib staying focused on the important questions here.
I know it’s likely that the super beard growing is just the unique quirk of that particular Zim’s alternate reality but it’s so, so much funnier to imagine our our Zim (and other invaders, by extension) hypothetically could look something like that real fast without a consistent shaving regimen.
But I mean I’m happy to take this as confirmation too, lmfao.
More interesting though was that little revelation that the average life expectancy of a Zim after entering this timeline was ridiculously short before Zib started getting his nasty little plans together and founded the hierarchy. Tbh our protags were extremely lucky to show up when they did, just past the most chaotic and violent days within the void, but also during the infancy of Zib’s diabolical operation.
Ah yes, my favorite show ever,
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
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?
SO LIKE, HEAR ME OUT,
I Have No GIR and I Must Scream
C R I S P Y D I B
Audio Source
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.
The Zimvoid group according to my friend whose never read the comics
