#BUT I'M SURE MOST ZADR

[scri--bble]

Ekhem.

[emmabirb8]

I've been an Invader Zim fan since 2011.

I was 15-16 at that time, and though I did thoroughly enjoy the show, I was not mature enough to really get it. Sure, it was funny, but I didn't pick up on the subtleties and style of humor beyond the surface level. I liked the wackiness and the characters, but I SURELY wasn't at a point of being able to deconstruct themes or analyze character motivations and narratives (like I very much enjoy doing now). I remember discovering an artist on DeviantArt who drew cute ZaGr stuff, so that was the pairing I liked too. I didn't think too deeply about much, and honestly, I don't think the majority of fans (if they were my age or younger, that is) did either. Everything was taken as dumb and silly for the most part, and that IS truthfully a major component of the show itself.

Getting back into Invader Zim within this past year though, I'm looking at it through a WILDLY different lens. I like Invader Zim for what it is and how it's intended to be perceived. I like that the show is meant to be dark, satirical, and tragic at the same time that it's silly, chaotic, and nonsensical. Almost everything that happens onscreen is written in to be funny above all else. (I've mentioned before that I've been watching Jhonen's Twitch streams for a while now, and I have a MUCH better understanding of his sense of humor bc of that. IZ makes way more sense if you can sorta see things from JV's perspective, lol.)

But at the same time, I also like Invader Zim for what it offers in terms of interpretation and what it can imply (intentionally or not). There is genuinely SO MUCH DEPTH to this dorky lil cartoon that a casual viewer wouldn't immediately pick up on. And a lot of that depth, I think, was not woven in purposely. The show itself was never meant to be taken so seriously. Nevertheless, I'm constantly fascinated by what IZ implies about good and evil, the nature of general society, and especially how it goes about demonstrating the devastating effects of social isolation and bullying. Meta for this series is always pretty damn *chef's kiss.* And what's even more interesting is how viewers manipulate canon to expand upon this world and these characters.

Given that I've come to understand Invader Zim better, I've also grown very fond of ZaDr. Now, while I wouldn't want to see this pairing happen in canon material, I love the potential it possesses in transformative contexts.

In reality, I get that these characters were intended to have a deep hatred for one another and a never-ending rivalry for the sake of comedy and not much else. It's an extraterrestrial perpetually throwing hands with a 12 year old because he's incompetent and his plans often fail. And that's funny. That's the point. But beyond that, canonically, these are two characters who are mirrors of each other; they're both treated like garbage by their respective peers, and they both crave acknowledgment, validation, and a sense of purpose. Throughout their story, they find they're only able to obtain these things from each other, so as a consequence of their similar personalities, they become utterly, unhingedly obsessed with each other (to a sometimes unhealthy degree). They are undeniably forever intertwined by design of how the show is set up.

And because of that, shipping of these characters was, frankly, inevitable in fandom spaces. I myself fell victim to their appeal too. (Sorry, Jhonen. 😅)

I'm not gonna go into any discourse surrounding this pairing because there's already PLENTY of that to go around online. Everyone has their own opinion on the subject, and that's fine. I respect that. Point is, even though I understand and appreciate what Zim and Dib are supposed to be in the context of the show, I also enjoy the idea of them as friends and romantic partners outside of and beyond the confines of canon.

And that's something that I think many fans who are biased toward ZaDr would also agree with! Actually, I'd say the majority of people who ship characters in ANY media would concur. We like the idea of seeing how specific relationships could develop over time and/or within different settings and circumstances. It's NOT always about wanting to see a relationship unfold on screen or in fan works strictly adhering to canon. It's about stretching canon, or in some cases, scratching canon entirely however you see fit! Who cares! It's fiction!

For me personally, I enjoy ZaDr because its attributes fall into so many trope categories that I've come to adore over the years (ones that I either wasn't aware of when I was younger, or that I didn't enjoy in the same intensity as I do now). Zim and Dib are, or could be, depending on context:

Codependent toxic soulmates

Human x non-human

Shared history

Classic enemies to lovers (or, as I often prefer it, enemies to friends to lovers)

Bicker couple

Battle couple, when put in the right setting for it

Violence as a love language

Smol and tol

The wild card paired with the rational one, the best part about this being that sometimes the more rational one is Dib, and sometimes it's Zim bc they're both a special flavor of insane

Make each other worse/stupider when together, tho oddly, they also kinda bring out the best in each other too

And, my personal favorites, the potential for hurt/comfort and angst with a happy ending, with the comfort and happiness aspects ultimately coming from each other

I like what these characters could be, to and for each other, apart from their roles in the show.

I would never want to explore a dynamic between Zim and Dib that goes beyond "frenemies" territory in canon (because that doesn't fit what the show is, and I do appreciate the integrity of Jhonen's vision). The subtle foundation for them is there, it's just that it can't really work unless a few key details are changed or manipulated, and, well...

I sure as hell like exploring every bit of that expanded potential in fan works because it's fun to imagine the various directions things could go if they were different!

This isn't me, like... trying to defend my (or anyone else's) enjoyment of this particular ship or trying to convince people to like it. Or the show for that matter! To each their own, truly. And I'm obv aware of the controversy ZaDr often incites and why. Everyone has valid reasons for liking OR not liking it, and I accept differing viewpoints on it. It's a touchy, nuanced subject to be sure. But this isn't about that.

I don't really know what this is, actually, aside from a very long very weird essay, lol. I just wanted to process why and how all of this works for me with my changed perspective from when I was first introduced to Invader Zim in my teens up until now.

It's strange, looking back. I didn't get ZaDr years ago. But I do now, and so much of it, at least from my perspective, has to do with taking the crumbs present in canon (that are undeniably there, whether you choose to acknowledge them or not, and whether they're intentional or not) and absolutely running with them to the ends of your own wild imagination.

(ZaDr content is always tagged appropriately on my blog. Pls use tag blocking functions if needed.)

[nichiperi]

Ya know, I've been seeing a lot of stuff for the hc of Zim and Dib as found family lately, and something about it was actually bugging me a bit. Like, I really like zade, zadf, and zadr, and I just couldn't understand why I couldn't really get behind zads.

And then I realized it's ENTIRELY because of Professor Membrane.

I do not like the idea of Zim being absorbed into the Membrane family dynamic, because in the show (the IZ source I'm most familiar with) Professor Membrane is a really shitty parent, and there is nothing satisfying to me about Zim just hanging out at that house with Dib and Gaz, adding another sibling to an already fairly miserable household situation. Sure, they can support each other. But what is the point of keeping them stifled in that environment if Membrane is not present and being a parent?

BUT, consider the alternative: Dib and Gaz saying 'fuck this shit I'm out', and spending more time with Zim at his base. Eventually they just go off on space adventures or something because why not? Found family in space! No shitty dad! Maybe if you reeeeally want a parental figure, you could throw in a dash of the dad-nar hc in there for some extra spice. And THEN you could have Zim deal with his feelings about HIS 'parental' figures. If Lard Nar starts being a real dad to this group of ragamuffins, how does that reframe the way Zim feels about the Tallest? How does Dib feel about the fact that an alien could (most likely) be a better dad than his own father? How do the two of them react to getting positive attention they've never received from a parental figure before?

And when I started thinking of it that way, I saw the potential. I still don't think it's my favorite. I think I definitely enjoy more room for flexibility and ambiguity with Zim and Dib, and making them view each other as siblings almost boxes them into that role a bit. But I can see the potential for a really interesting story there!

Provided Membrane is out of the picture.

[emeraldspiral]

So from what I recall of ZADR fics I used to read in the early 2000s and a casual perusal of what Ao3 has to offer today, it seems a lot of them have the same premise of Zim sneaking in through Dib's window and doing things to him while he's asleep, or waking him up to do things to him, (not always sexual). And I'm sure that's a common premise for any kind of erotic fantasy whether we're talking about aliens or vampires or normal-ass humans. But I feel like it's sort of oddly fitting for an alien character because like, back in old timey-times people used to attribute their horny dreams or sleep paralysis to incubi or succubi, who'd sneak into their rooms and mount them while they slept, but in modern times it's been speculated that most people's alien abduction stories are the exact same thing. Aliens are our modern day sex demons, and these fics are tapping into ideas that have been part of the human psyche for like, thousands of years.

[lil-miss]

I have something silly for you all.

So back in October, I saw a few indie plays that the horror festival local to my university was showing they had a really unique spin on The King in Yellow and they also had this horror play called The Sculptor. It was about a spinster woman who made anatomic wax works and her homoerotic relationship with the muse for her magnum opus, her rendition of the Anatomical Venus, an incredibly detailed type of anatomy waxwork of a woman with "layers" of removable organs. There is so much more to this play but I won't bore you with specifics and details.

This piece began its life with the opening line of that play and the insanities that followed. Since watching that play I've been OBSESSED with the idea and visual of the Anatomical Venus and specifically fem Dib making one of fem Zim. I drew another version of this piece which is to be included in the Alt ZaDr 2025 calendar, but I've also been working on a re-formatted version with annotations to post as its own piece because I love it so fucking much.

(organs and partial nudity below the cut)

The main annotation is the first line of the play. Each of the organs is labelled with the same name as human organs (specifically the ones that make up the layers of the Anatomical Venus), to be honest, I only think some of them are analogous to those organs as my headcanons on Irken organ structure are not the most fleshed out. The lungs and heart are the only ones I can safely say are truly analogous, I'm not as sure about the other ones.

I've been imagining Dib lovingly sculpting every detail of it and I'm so so so incredibly normal about it.

[queen-of-the-nerdlords]

WIP Title Game!

Thank you to the amazing @seidraikiri for tagging me! Sorry it took me so long!

Rules: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

(If I tagged you, you don't have to do this, I'm just scrambling for people I know lmao)

Blue Exorcist

Cake By the Ocean (Mephisto/Rin)

Chintzy (MephiRin) (Mephisto/Rin)

MephiRin - A/B/O Fic (Mephisto/Rin)

MephiRin Soulmate RP with fren (Mephisto/Rin)

Ocean Blue (Suguro/Rin)

CUPID (Visual Novel)

Promises of Forever (Rosa/Catherine)

Doki Doki Literature Club

Oyasumi (Sayori/Protag)

DRAMAtical Murder

Calming Serenade (Akushima/Aoba)

allmate human daycare au (multiple)

Immer Sie (Clear/Akushima)

Happy Sugar Life

Sugar and Spice and-

Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto

Undermine (Atsushi/Sakamoto)

Ib

I Saw Autumn Leave (Ib/Garry)

It Means Friendship

Misao (Game)

Ignorance Is Your New Best Friend (Kudoh/Misao)

SohTano Family AU (Sohta/Takano)

Mad Father

Journal Entries within the Drevis Manor

The Words I Want To Say (Ogre/Aya)

My Hero Academia

AFOKami (OC/AFO)

"Me and Mr. Wolf" Gift for Seidraikiri (Aizawa/Deku)

Sunflowers (Chapter 2 lmao)

OFF (Mortis Ghost)

Love Me Dead (Judge/Japhet)

Pokemon

RP Starter (OC)

Pub Encounter

Cocktail and Lovers' Night (OC/Soichiro)

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Again & Again (Madoka/Homura)

i need not one thing more (Madoka/Everyone)

If Our Hearts Were Iron and Our Bodies Steel (Kyousuke/Sayaka)

though it's the end of the world; don't blame yourself (Madoka/Homura)

Samurai Jack

Jaku Soulmate AU (Jack/Aku)

Steven Universe

Cantarella (Pearl/Rose)

The Stanley Parable

Dread (Stanley/Narrator)

Unmarked Stone (Stanley/Narrator)

Wadanohara and the Great Blue Sea

Masochism Tango (Idate/Samekichi)

she's got blue eyes like the sea (femslash Samekichi/Wadanohara)

Yandere Simulator

Rotten Girl, Grotesque Romance (not finishing this lol)

Yuri!! On Ice

Cantarella (Yuuri/Viktor)

Crossovers

And Away We Go (OC/Homestuck/Adventure Time/The Sims)

Anni NEXT CHAPTER (OC)

Much Ado About Invading (ZaDR/TaGR/OC)

Painting of Evil/Servant of Evil (Ib/The Evillious Series)

The Memory That Would Never Be Remembered (Ib/Garry)

Thorn (Aoba/Toue)

We Are Number One (Skyrim Dragonspeak)

and tons more because I've had 3 phones and 4 computers shit the bed and die and I'm not that great about backing up files I make on the fly. I'm sure if I restored one of the broken hard drives I have, we could find more.

@abby-something, @reaperlight, @thebeingofeverything, @oragamiartist, @thatkinkyboi, @rainbowrowell, @yaoihands, @grievousgl0ry, @urami1080, @still-life-of-thick-ass, @president-homewrecker, @double--blind, @slowly-backs-away, @cinnamoloves,

[1nvad3rz1m]

The funny thing is that I expected zagr to be most popular ship in the fandom, when I joined, because "my enemy's sister", "my brother's enemy" and I thought zadr was gonna be some underground crackship or something. I mean I wasn't exactly wrong with zagr, because from what I've seen it was the most popular for a while in the past, but zadr ended up overtaking later? Correct me if I'm wrong.

I was also suprised by the ship discourse, because Zim wouldn't have a healthy relationship with anybody as he is now, he needs a LOT of therapy/development, to get even remotely close, which people can write for any ship, so I didn't get why some shippers acted like they were allowed to give Zim development/be out of character/just ignore huge parts of his character to make the ship work (like his hatred for humanity, and every other species that isn't Irken, like it doesn't matter how old you think he is, he still views them as below him, or how he is infamous within his own kind for a good reason and he treats them disposable if that's what benefits him at the moment), but saying people with their notps can't do that. Like I expected that while the community having different ship-preferences, but they stick together, because they all go against the canon of the least romancy show in existense, but I guess nope. I have seen somebody defending this by saying that: "Well my ships are not as bad as the other ships." From whose perspective? Because everybody has a different idea about that. Even if they are right, that's what it sounds like to me:

Mom: "I can't believe you got a D!"

Kid: "But mooooooom, other people got an F!"

Like I can't take this argument seriously, and I'm not sorry about it.

zagr is/was really popular but tbh i think zadrs always been top dog in terms of like...long term dedication i tried looking at google analytics but since the terms are so vague im not sure hoooow reliable they are

blue is zadr red is zagr dating back to 2004. i guess youre not wrong though but idk if zadr really took over so much as zagr ended up dying out. this is also only 2004 and on though so make of that what you will. something to note about zagr is that im willing to wage a guess that it was everyones first introduction to invader zim (a lot of old zagr art is based on old emo/goth/scene aesthetics of the time) leading to it being searched more but thats just a theory. zadr outranks zagr by about 10k deviations on deviantart but that could still be credited to zagr just...dying out over time. idk!

as for the zim thing i think its less so zim being unhealthy and moreso the age debacle when jhonen decided to come and gunk up long cemented fandom interpretation for...some reason. though i do think thats a part of it because when silly discourse was happening people tried to alternatively ship dib with other like-aged humans (torque, dipper, etc etc) and it was very sanitized...undiblike. it was somewhat related to the overall fucked-up-ness of zadr but mostly the age lol.

there was a definite air of hypocrisy about what was acceptable and what wasnt because during this like..drama people tried to promote membrane and zim instead all the while membrane fully believed zim was one of dibs school aged friends so IDK it was a weird time to be here!!

[geekcat]

Your turn! Zadr for the ship bingo (the recent one though, not the old one😂)

Thank you for the ask!

The two of them tending to wounds that they gave each other in one of their fights is a favorite trope of mine.

Honestly, the only unrealistic thing about a therapist (for either of them) telling them to stop seeing the other is that these two would actually willingly go to therapy

Oh, I'm confident these two would hate me shipping them. They've always seemed very unnerved when someone becomes very insistent that they're actually friends.

This ship has made me pretty crazy, I'm sure...just look at everything I've ended up reblogging with these two. They also make me happy, so comfort ship.

Honestly, some of the "weird" stories with these two are some of my favorites. I swear I've seen at least two stories where Zim ate Dib's heart and it was framed as a romantic gesture...

Enemies, lovers, or friends, their fates and lives tied together at this point. I don't think one dying in the other's arms would be surprising.

Both of them definitely need therapy. A relationship isn't going to fix their issues, but it will at least give them some of the support and validation they need.

Even in the most lighthearted of stories I write for these two, they are a bit unhealthy in their obsession. Even if it's just because the two of them are really the only close personal connections they have, which by default isn't healthy.

I'm pretty sure several issues of the comics have confirmed that throughout the multiverse, each Zim encounters and becomes rivals with a Dib? So yeah, even if they don't date each other, they are going to find each other in every universe.

[thegoldfisharmy]

Man, I love that all three of my main fandoms have an obnoxious amount of shipping discourse (An open letter/rant to the Ninjago, South Park, and Invader Zim communities)

I am not strictly a proshipper or an anti. Shipping isn't really something I engage in as an activity. I'm just an observer who thinks this shit makes no logical sense and I need to share my thoughts on the matter.

I do not actively ship any of these pairings. I consider myself a sympathizer more than anything.

South Park Fans: If someone thinks it's cute for Kyle and Cartman to kiss, let them. They're not hurting anyone by doing so. Honestly, the image of those two making out is hilarious to me and I think the world is better off for it.

Ninjago Fans: I don't think the show writers put anywhere near as much thought into keeping track of Lloyd's mental/physical age as you guys do. Also, some of the anti-Pixane arguments I've seen are fucking DUMB. Y'all really need better things to do with your time.

Invader Zim Fans: I'm pretty sure Gaz was meant to be a love interest for Zim at some point in the show's early development. Take that as you will. Stop worrying about the ethics of shipping a fictional alien species and start worrying about actual pedophilia. I'm sick of seeing Pro/Anti-ZaDr posts on my feed every time I open this god-forsaken app when I just want to look at Dib fanart. If he happens to be cuddling with Zim in some of it I do not care I just need my daily dose of Dib content.

This is the only time I will ever engage in shipping discourse. I've had my fair share of internet debates in my only five years of being online and I've found that they're rarely productive and almost always a waste of time. Just let the teenagers make their cartoons kiss. There are far worse things in the world for you to worry about.

I'm not gonna block you if you're pro-Kyman or anti-ZaDr, I'm not a petty asshole. I just really need to vent about this shit because after jumping from Undertale to Ninjago to Invader Zim, I am fairly confident that I have seen some of the most (and I don't use this word lightly) TOXIC shipping wars the Internet has to offer and it makes me really irrationally angry. Shippers need to chill. Antis need to chill. Proshippers need to chill.

In short: Fuck you, fuck this, and fuck shipping wars. We're all just trying to enjoy our favorite shows. Let us do it in peace.

Sincerely,

One annoyed college student

[hazbincalifornia]

The results of your mpreg poll was disappointing and sadly not unexpected. I had a feeling the results would reflect how the fandom usually is about Stolas. All attention on him, obviously he's the only one who gets to be preg... it just sucks for Blitzo. Where's the love for Blitzpreg? Hell, where's the love for trans Blitzo? I guess there are more Blitzpreg fics because there's more of a story to tell? But it's strange that there's no art to be found, almost seems to be due to peer pressure?

Also tfw I draw my Stolitz fanchild OC and people immediately assume they came from an egg like the others, because obviously only Stolas could have given birth to them? No?? My fanchild is the result of Blitzpreg, thank you very much. I feel odd about my OC being rounded up with the other fankids under the banner "Stolas's many eggs" because mine didn't come from an egg. I guess I'm taken aback by the automatic assumption. Do I really need to make it clear that I like Blitzpreg?

(These came in one right after the other so I'm pretty sure they're connected, putting my response under the cut bc of some salting 🧂)

I haven't been included in any of those roundups, but I'm not being followed by most of those people, so it's not like it's a slight against me or anything. I can definitely see how that would be frustrating, though, (if anybody did it with Stella I'd be pretty damn annoyed considering her being Blitzo's is kind of the whole point of my fic) and having everyone automatically group it into just eggs from just Stolas, I assume mostly because of Dani is... frustrating, yeah. (I'm not particularly a fan of Dani and have had her muted for something like a year now. This last week has been a very mixed bag of 'I'm glad people are having fun, but ughhhh.') There are other options- even if it wasn't Stolas, both Blitzo and magic are options if it's their bio kid. Magic took a pretty decent second place, after all.

I've puzzled over 'why are there a bunch of fics but I never see it outside of said fics/ao3' a lot- from what I dug up from the older years of the IZ fandom (and this wasn't extensive, by any means- I'm sure plenty of it was lost on old sites) there was a similar divide with Zim/Dib preg content, with Zim getting more fics and Dib getting more art. I think in both HB and IZ, 'there's more of a story to the one that gets the fics' is probably at least part of it, but it was a lot more... idk, even with Zim. Like, I still saw Zim art, and one of the biggest fics had Dib instead, (thanks Zadr Orange, for being incredibly OOC but also helping make me Like This) it was just the balance was slightly tilted towards one of them each way. Here, the fics are roughly 2:1 for Blitzo (although that may change in the coming weeks) but the actual fankids/art tilt way more heavily to Stolas.

I genuinely like the headcanon of trans Blitzo, (and wonder a bit why intersex Fizz is a thing but not any of the other main characters?) and y'all know I like to think of imp sex as a lot looser than it is for humans (and for humans, it's already a whole spectrum!). Plus, having to stick with cloaca 'because he's a bird' when he's a humanoid demon, anything would make sense, and a cloaca isn't actually a pussy, my dude... it's not something that should have really been argued as hard as it was. Sure, transphobic shitheads can choke and I have zero problems with it as a general headcanon/idea, but I've seen people who were told they needed to change their art because they drew Stolas with a dick because they weren't on twitter during the two days the Discourse was raging, like that's not inappropriate in itself.

Anyway. That was kinda off topic. If you want to shoot me a dm or something I'm generally free to chat, I just usually don't want to ruin anybody's fun so I just try and boost up mine and Emmie's Blitzo stuff more, and getting to salt a little was kind of cathartic.

[izzydrawsforfun]

Do you love GIR, is a fan of Invader Zim, is also a fan of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, got adorable art... Yet ships ZaDr and DevNny?

Uh... Specific ask lol but:

Yes, I love Gir

Yes, I am a huge fan of Invader Zim

I don't consider myself a fan of JTHM tho. I own the comics and I've read them sure, but I'm not into the fandom nor that much of a fan lol still a neat comic tho

I... Think my art is adorable? Most people say it + I like cute art aesthetic so, yay xD

And finally, yes, I ship ZaDr, but DevNny is not my thing. Not into the whole "He tried to kill her omg that's hot" thing akdhaksnams major kudos to the shippers tho, it's just not my thing

"Oh but Zim and Dib tried to kill each other many times as well", yeh, except the characters of Zim and Dib are meant to be dumb children on a co-dependent rivalry, and not grown ass adults on a toxic relationship in which attemptive murder was involved

[hideousspacebug]

Zim is 100% an adult. This is really shouldn't be up for debate, Jhonen has stated that Zim is older than any living human and Zim has made statements hinting at such in the show itself ("I've been flying ships since before you were born, you sad little Earth Monkey" - quote from NanoZim, literally the third episode of the series).

Jhonen has also made it clear on a few different occasions that Zim is an adult by his species standards, and not just a child of a long lived race like some fans have suggested. In the commentary for Megadoomer he said (I'm paraphrasing) "Zim's rivalry with Dib is sad, because he's basically an old man."

All that having been said, though I do hate ZADR (Zim and Dib Romance) and voted for it as the worst ship, my hatred of it has nothing to do with the age gap.

I'm not an anti and can separate fiction from reality, and there are a lot of age gap ships I DO like in other media. Plus, hating a ship based on one being an Adult and the other being a kid is kinda dumb, when you can just like... Time skip and age the characters up. It's especially dumb in ZaDR's case since it's not like Zim will physically be any older when Dib is an adult. Irkens age slowly so he will look the same. If you would be willing to ship Zim with, say, Membrane on the premise that they are both adults even if Zim is probably hundreds of years old, then theoretically you should have no problem shipping Zim with Dib once the latter ages into an adult.

Instead, my reasons for hating ZaDR are as follows:

1. Personal preference when it comes to genders when shipping. I am straight guy - therefore yaoi has zero appeal to me. I'm only into straight ships and Yuri.

2. I don't like / understanding shipping characters that canonically hate each other. Mind you, I'm not talking about characters that are simply enemies due to ideological reasons, but who's feelings are not as strong as hate, and even flirt or have feelings for each other in canon (ala Batman x Catwoman, or Esdeath loving Tatsumi in Akame ga Kill) I'm talking characters that ACTUALLY hate each other. Zim and Dib may have a few frenemy situations, but they are outnumbered by the moments where Zim legit tries to kill Dib, Dib delights in the idea of Zim being dissected, or go out of their way to screw over or make the other miserable in the most petty of ways.

3. Irkens, as a species, are canonically aroace. They are born from test tubes, and have no genitalia or understanding of sexual desire.

Jhonen has also stated they have no concept of romance. Even friendship seems a foreign concept to them. We can see that in the episode Bestest Friends and Jhonen has stated in a Q&A that (once again, paraphrasing since I don't have the exact quote ready) "the closest thing to camaraderie among Irkens is the mutual understanding of 'I'll try not to accidentally trample you death when rushing to the taco stand since we're supposed to be on the same side'"

I'll admit, I suppose it's not out of the question that individual Irkens could be exception to the aroace part if their brains / paks happen to work differently. Tak, for example, has been theorized to be a defective since she seems more creative and emotionally intelligent than most Irkens, and since she's only in one episode, it's harder to have a full grasp on her character to say for sure she couldn't fall for someone (Tak x Dib is pretty much the only Invader Zim ship I have some fondness for.)

But that really does not seem to be the case for Zim. Though he's shown some degree of complexity, such as a fondness for some of his robot henchmen like GIR and Minimoose, nothing in the show, Netflix special or comics leaves me to believe that those differences go as far as a capacity and desire for romance.

I could maybe see Zim and Dib being friends in some alternate universe if you REALLY stretch Zim's capacity for self reflection (of which he has none in canon) but never lovers

Also, tbh, I don't think my hatred of ZaDR would be so strong if it didn't take up such a huge portion of Invader Zim fanart, fan fiction and fan discussion. Its annoying to shift through the the ZaDR content when searching the Invader Zim tag on Tumblr, deviantart, AO3 and other sites. It just makes my disdain for it even stronger.

Which controversial ship is the best

Explanations under the cut!

Galadriel/Halbrand (Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power) 60 reblogs - 5614 words total.

I didn't read it but it's something about homophobia and racism and misogyny if you like or dislike the ship, i'm not sure which one.

Katara/Aang (Avatar The Last Airbender) 58 comments - 65 reblogs - 796 words.

The arguing actually happened on the Katara/Zuko poll, but it was about this ship. Mostly Zutara shippers complaining about Kataang shippers but i saw maybe 2 kataang shippers in the comments. I repeat: Kataang is on here because it was incredibly controversial on my blog

Laios/Toshiro (Dungeon Meshi) A few comments and reblogs, 228 words out of what I can count + someones 644 word post that was linked to me.

The reason for this is because I jokingly used the tag "shuro has the worst case of allistic disease i've ever seen", because the way he exploded at Laios reminded me of the experiences i've had with allistic people who secretly hate me but never told me. This means I hate asian people and think only white men can be autistic.

Shiro/Keith (Voltron: Legendary Defender) 43 comments

This ship is pseudo-incest and a man grooming a teenager because they met when Keith was an unspecified younger age and Shiro was an unspecified older age. I'm gonna pass away

Zim/Dib (Invader Zim) A few comments and an ask but it stopped quickly

I haven't watched Invader Zim, but I allowed it on the premise that Zim is seen as a child (because I don't like adult/child ships obv). But Zim's age is a big debate.

Yugi Mutou/Yami Yugi (Yu-Gi-Oh) Many reblogs saying the same thing about me

I haven't watched the anime. I saw the same guy twice with the same name and tagged it as "selfcest" incase someone had the tag filtered. This singular tag caused multiple comments and reblogs telling me that it's not selfcest and that it's offensive to DID systems to call it selfcest. I almost snapped here, honestly.

Time to vote! Explode my notes if you want, there's multiple good choices to pick from.

[wheredidthepeepeego-mp3]

Same anon who complained about shipping: I realized I haven't done. Unfortunately. (You can delete my messages if you want, because I am pretty sure I don't handle this with the care it should) So... Is it just me or in Tagr and Datr there are rarely any problems? They usually gloss over the fact what Tak did to Earth. With Gaz, they just treat it like two normal girls developing a relationship and mutually agreeing on that Zim and Dib are stupid. Tak fits in easily, she drops Irken culture at a blink of an eye, it doesn't have any affect on her character whatsoever and doesn't cause problems in the relationship. Or if they adress it with like Dib, it's mostly about Tak's self-worth, and just bond over how they hate Zim, and since Tak did that proove herself is somehow makes it okay, it's like saying Zim making the Florpus hole is okay, because he also did it to proove himself. Interestingly enough they don't gloss over THAT, Dib actually allow to feel hurt because of this. But with Tak Dib is only hurted, because Tak "left him". Seriously? You are not hurt, because someone who thought of as a friend turned out to be using you and having the same intentions as Zim? (This problem was adressed though, but not in a Datr fic, it was DibxGretchen) Both Zim and Tak didn't care for hurting people for their own personal goals, but it is chill with Tak, because she easily let's go of the Empire after one failure? Zim putting people in danger is rightfully looked down, but Tak is just a misleaded victim? I don't like Zagr, Zatr, or Zadr, but all of them are allowed to call out Zim, and at least they are portrayed having problems in several occasions. (Of course there are a lot of idolized/glossing over their issues here too, but contrary to Datr/Tagr, that is not the only kind of portrayal I have seen) While with Datr and Tagr most incarnations seem idolized? Maybe I am just scratching the surface, and maybe people out there who portray these ships with problems, but most of the problems seem to be: Tagr: Dib's overprotective over Gaz, Datr: Zim is being mean to Tak

I'm sorry this was incomprehensible af I dgaf about shipping 😭😭😭😭 wish you the best in your shipping endeavors tho

[bamsara]

Hopefully this isnt weird to ask, If so please feel free to ignore of block- same as if you already answered this before; how far will the M rating be pushed for your zadr fics? This is basically just a warning for me personally. I'm aware your stories having gore and whatnot-will that be how far it would go? I'm also aware you dont write anything particularly NSFW; but will things be hinted or SOMETHING like that be in the fics? Mature content makes me weary since they usually have s*x (PRIVATE

My M rating is purely for violence/gore (and language), as the most 'suggestive nsfw' my fics will get is innapropriate humor. Theres not even a kiss yet.

If you were not bothered by the non-sexual intimacy in chapter 2 of Galaxy days, you should be good

Also Im not sure if you meant for this to be private because I cant privatley answer anons but I hope this answers your question!

[tailzintheflesh]

I'm confused are you anti-zadr or do you just not ship it? And if you're anti-zadr, do you not want zadr shippers interacting with you?

Ok, so this is going 2 be a bit long since it's such a convoluted topic.

So first of all, I am not a zadr shipper, I'm not much of a shipper in general lol. I've noticed a lot of zadr shippers tend to be proship and/or draw nsfw of the characters, which makes me EXTREMELY uncomfortable, and if someone is a zadr shipper AND proship, then I would like if they stopped interacting with me. It also makes me very uncomfortable when I see people shipping Dib and Zim as children, or when they portray one of the characters as physically younger than the other(like extreme height differences), I just think it's inappropriate, especially since nsfw art tends to come out of it. For the most part, I prefer interacting with people that don't ship zadr, since they are usually safer, but I don't really have a problem with zadr shippers that don't fall into the criteria I listed above. It's a bit confusing since I'm not even sure how old Zim is supposed to be? I think he's like 120 years old but I've heard that 120 is the equivalent to a 12-year-old in the Irken race. I really don't know. (Please correct me if I'm wrong btw!) But if that is true, then I don't really have an issue with people shipping it as long as they are portrayed as adults/in their late teens and it's pretty wholesome and safe. Also, I find it weird when people draw nsfw art of them even if they are aged up, because they are still canonically minors, and it's gross to age them up JUST so you can draw nsfw art of it. I prefer when people portray them as just friends because I think it makes more sense. Also on a side note, a large portion of the Invader Zim fandom is adults, and I find it odd that they are so passionate about making nsfw art of children..

So in short, I'm fine with zadr shippers as long as it's kept appropriate, like no nsfw, characters aren't portrayed as children/in a weird pedo age gap relationship, and it's not abusive. I think a good example of a zadr shipper that I'm totally comfortable with from what I've seen from them is Bamsara. So if you're tastes are similar to them then I don't really have a problem.

Sorry if this rant is all over the place, I have a lot of thoughts on the topic and I'm very specific when it comes to things like this so my apologies lol.

[dana-chan-the-control-brain]

Happy new year everyone 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

I know 2020 has been hard for everyone.

And I want everyone to know, suffering isn't a contest and we all suffer in different ways. But I feel I should give my year in Review. Just some things that happened to me personally.

This was an intense, and long and spiritual and emotional journey for me...

I really discovered what it meant to have community, family and what my life means to me.

But I feel I need to get this in writing cause I can remember the year with vivid detail and I will probably forget if I don't get it down.

Do I have to share this publically online to my tumblr account for a bunch of strangers to see? not really.

Do I want to?

Yes. I think so. Just from how so many people on tumblr and real life have touched me.

This is kinda long and no one needs to read this.

(idk how to do a readmore on mobile. But this is where I would add it later. No one needs to read if they don't want to.)

January/February: (and some background on the last five years of my life cause.....well. it's important.)

As people knew, I got way into Invader Zim last summer. I spent most of my waking life working a dead end job at a grocery store. I lived a sad lonely life, going straight home to a single dark studio apartment. With not many material possessions outside of games, my laptop and my tablet to my name. Half of my material loves, such as home furnishings and books were still in boxes from when I moved in. In case I ever had to move again, or get some "big screenshot or copywriter" job in the city.

....

I lived in that city in the same dead end job and apartment for five years.

No friends. No social life. I often refused to make doctor appointments or attempt to establish myself in that city. I didn't even talk to anyone in my workplace.

Work. Go online. Go to sleep.

I lived like that for five years.

I thought it was good.

Even my therapist thought I was doing well.

When I really wasn't. My main character flaw I struggle with is motivation.

I can talk to someone about very detailed plans I have to fix a problem... But I tend to never follow through.

Just because I can describe in detail how to fix my personal problems, it doesn't mean I will do it.

(I have gotten better at this but it's a major struggle)

I might have been a Zombie during the day...

But by night I was pouring my soul into my AU and my analysis.

After being so thoughly ignored or overlooked by the Naruto fandom and the Undertale fandom, I felt like I had finally found my home and was settling into a community there.

I just loved that people loved what I had to say.

Especially my AU.

It's no secret that a lot of themes in my au revolve around found family, grief, and loss.......

Fatherhood, in particular.

What it means to be a father, how much do you need to try when you mess up, how willing should a child forgive their parent, especially those that have wronged you and how much of it is factually accurate and simply a self projection of what children want their parents to be and visa versa... What amount of forgiveness and change is nessasary...is it needed?

....

It's no secret that a lot of my AU is a giant coping mechanism for my Dad's death. Espessially the falling out and growing closer with a lot of my family members throughout the years following his death. (Most of the time I keep it ambiguous to how it relates to my personal life unless I include a readmore that states so outright. I feel my au can be enjoyed by a variety of people in the fandom who don't need to know me as a person or my life story.)

My Dad passed away in 2016 in February and my family still feels the aftershocks to this day.

It's part of the reason I moved to the city, alienated myself from my family and people that loved me and refused to experience life for five years.

My entire world was Zim, and I was okay.

March: When America finally realized and started to feel the effects of the pandemic....

A lot of people got scared.

Me included.

I didn't have any streaming services or access to the news. So I only heard accounts from my mom.

I didn't understand why the store was so dead quiet and empty for a few days, then it went into mass chaos and panic in the span of two days.

It felt like Retail black friday in the worst way. Everyone was packed like sardines. Everyone was yelling. The lines at the registers bled into the clothing department.

I was witness to customers shoving others for toilet paper, being rude to cashier's and just overall unpleasantness.

At the time, I didn't even fully grasp what the pandemic was, and I feel a lot of people at the time didn't either.

I ended up absentmindedly scratching my eyebrow in front of a customer and she screamed and villanised me for it. That they didn't want groceries touched by my "unclean hands"

I ended up breaking down into tears.

The customer behind me gave me a hug and told me I was doing a great job.

But the damage was done. It was the final straw, I couldn't stop crying and I was breaking apart.

Thankfully my Boss (the one who likes me) pulled me aside and asked what's wrong.

It was then that I quit. No notice. Same day. I had to get out of there.

I was planning to move to an apartment with my sister in the summer, but my Mom offered for me to move back in with her temperarily just so I can get out of the city and away from the pandemic.

So I did.

I got scared, broke my lease a month early and quit my job of five years that gave me nothing back.

He told me, "take care of yourself and your family, I won't keep you here, do what you need to do."

So I did.

April-June:

A very eventful few months.

My mom offered for me to live at her place, but for some reason she was acting like I would live there forever. That this wasn't a temporary arrangement, and that I didn't have an apartment set up already.

This was in large part to my sister, who had lived with my mom taking advantage of her for years.

Even though my sister and I were going to move in together, I was just never sure about it cause of how she never packed her stuff or made any effort to find a job.

My mom often acted like I was lazy and not searching and was treating me like... Well, an unruly teenager instead of a woman of 29 years. She acted like I was a failure for returning home when it was her idea in the first place.

I would have just been petrified in the city.

Like usual, I retreated to my au again.... And in the spring, something eventful happened.

In may, 8th 2020:

I was invited by @rissynicole to join an invader zim discord.

Now, I've never really used discord before. I always thought it's interface is too confusing.. and I'm a member of a few other iz discords and I usually don't follow them that closely.

Rissy assured me it was different cause some friends of thiers made it and it was smaller.

Before I knew it, I was sharing memes and getting to know everyone there.

It wasn't long after I invited my partner in IZ crimes, @paketdimensioncomic who was genuinely wary of iz servers due to a bad experience with the last one they were a part of.

But soon they were sharing memes and laughing with everyone else.

My eyes were starting to open and I was able to connect to fans of my work in an interpersonal way. And I was able to discover new artists and aus I never knew about.

I was also able to meet so many others of the community and invite them to the server myself.

The moo-ping 10 server kept me sane while I was living with my judgmental mother.

Not only that, the summer was very productive for my au.

Drawing was all I did, and it was a huge break from the job as a cashier I had.

Not only that, June came, and with it, me and Ceph's first collab fic:

A result of us just going back and forth in our DMs constantly about Professor Membrane and how he changed in ETF for the better and how much we adamantly stan "trying-to-be-a-good-dad-brane" and how much of his ETF development has to be implied off screen in order for the emotional resolution in the movie to matter.

The only reason I never professed my love for Membrane as a character in the fandom before the fic dropped was.... Well....

Membrane can be a decisive character in the fandom and I was so worried people would hate me if I did an analysis on him, simply because he's not the best parent in the world. (As an understatement)

Ceph and I really encouraged each other to scream our love for the science himbo loud and proud more frequently and so often.... I actually start to see less Membrane hate posts and breakdowns then their used to be.... I like to think it's a combination of Me and Ceph's influence, along with ETF and the Quarterly's painting Membrane in a slightly more nuanced light then he was previously.

I never wrote a collab fic before and it's such a rewarding and fun and unique experience that I don't think I'll ever have again. And I love working with Ceph on our fics so much.

So much so we did it again...

July-August:

I never thought I would be one of those people who writes NSFW IZ fic... But here I am.

The Brainbrane au started.... An au of my au where Membrane and the Computer fall in love and Membrane makes him a body.

This ship was based around the idea where we joked that Membrane and Zim's Computer would have funny interactions if they ever met, under the pretense Membrane thinks Computer is Zim's parent.

Our headcanons morphed and shifted until we just full blown started shipping them.

Just because Membrane and Zim's Computer have overall REALLY entertaining chemistry.

It's a character dynamic never seen in the show or comics (yet) and I imagine thier interactions to be nothing but entertaining banter.

The fic was also born from spite... Making fun of the troupes and cliches that we found personally destestible in some questionable zadr fics.

So an angry ace and a demi-bisexual collab on a porn and end up blessing the fandom with

Compapa headcanons,

Computer being recognized as a more common used fanon character,

The ship of Brainbrane.

The fandom having a crisis of "oh God, not only are we xenophiles we're technophiles too!!!" Or "why you gotta give Zim's Computer an ass"

More android Computer designs

It was an eventful summer.

In the midst of all this, I moved into my new place, got a new job, and I was able to see my friend (who is def my platonic straight soul mate) who lives in Indiana.

She came to visit, showed me how to decorate and how to take care of my body better! Things were looking up! It was great.

September-November:

My job was at a boat store. If was approaching the fall and my hours were being severely cut.

I was getting into a rut of depression again.

I thought things were changing but the same routine I was trying to escape from was the same thing coming back.

But instead of letting it take hold, I decided I was going to do something about it... I was gonna visit a museum and go with my sister. Just... variety stimulation.

Well that didn't happen.

I talked about this shortly in my au itself...but..

My sister had a complete mental breakdown.

She stopped taking her meds, went off the deep end and was in the hospital a total of five times throughout November.

A lot of it was acting out and the perfect storm of environmental factors that made her scream and act out so she would keep going back to the hospital.

It was traumatizing for me.

I just can't explain what it's like. For her and for me to be in that position.

I'm not telling the full story and a lot of bullshit things happened I won't share here.

She got diagnosed with bipolar one and my mom expected me to be a caretaker for her.

I threatened to disown my family and move away out of state.

It was just too much for me to handle.

So much I was a nervous wreck.

I tried to pick up a second job... Cause my sister was in the mental ward so frequently and couldn't pay the bills.

But I was fired within a week cause I was so stressed I couldn't retain the basic information they were training me for.

It was an office job.

My dream.

It could have been.

I was fired from something I really wanted.

I was only there for three days.

I could not retain any information.

I was a mess.

My sister was a trigger, my mom wanted me to live with her. I couldn't live like this.... I had to get out.

I had to get out.

December:

Remember my Indiana friend?

Well the first week of December is my birthday.

My 30th to be exact.

While I did pick up a seasonal position at Target (not my first pick)

I took the first week of December off so I could spend time with her. Cause she agreed, I needed a break from this crap.

Surviving 30 years is cause to celebrate and if I had to celebrate with my sister I would have cried.

I know there was a risk traveling out of state during a pandemic...

But I needed out, I needed a friend..

And I kinda wanted to look at the place since I was considering moving there.

My friend's mom was sick so she avoided me and her daughter and got us a hotel room.

It was fun! I got to swim in a salt water pool, we talked about Naruto, I showed her the iz and su art books I brought, also Computer and Membrane tea.

I also got to meet her other friends and get crunk. And her bf who is super nice and funny!

I had a super fun birthday....

Until her mom told my friend that her grandparents had covid and that was what she had. And my friend got sick within that same day.... As did I.

I owe so much to her family.

I was an entire state away...about a ten hour drive from home.... She let me stay at her house. "The covid house" we called it.

Cause everyone (except the father. He avoided everyone and booked a hotel immediately cus he was an ER doctor) had covid within a day.

I called in, the test results were positive and I had to stay with her family for ten days quarantine before I could work again.

Which would have been fine....

If my tumblr didn't log me out perminately of my old account. @dana-chan325 .... Which really sucked cause I had a constant headache and was too sick to engage with tumblr or much of the fandom. I didn't want to make a new account when my head was in a bad fog and I could barely breathe or smell.

It's not like I saw much of my friend either.... We all slept at different hours and she had more symptoms then I did.

It was just netflix, danganronpa v3 and cry.

I was miserable, but at the same time.... Not?

I really feel like God himself was the one who pulled me off from tumblr, and my living situation.

Maybe a whole extra week feeling like a bobblehead was what I needed.

It gave me some much needed clarity on my relationships with my mom and sis and friend.

Running away to Indiana was not the solution here.

Once I was better within ten days and no longer had a leave of absence, I drove home.

I am glad I fully recovered (but from how I understand it, my dear friend is still ill. I'm praying for her)

I might have gone to work a bit too soon, cause I had an asthma attack after trying to unload a single cart in the span of six hours.

My boss lectured that my speed was unacceptable, and even though I explained the covid situation and breathing problems many times, she threatened that I'd be fired if I'm that slow again.

Que the next few days of work where they put me on register.

Instantly I was sent into a panic remembering the last time I was on the register and how that panic attack caused me to quit.

I even asked if I could go back to stocking, since my breathing had improved. My boss assured me that I was put on the register cause they needed help and nothing to do with my covid thing.

Then as December concluded and the new year began, my boss said that this was the last shift for me cause my position was seasonal and they were letting a lot of people go.

I then asked why I was on the schedule for Sunday, and he told me to ignore it and I'm free to reapply for full-time.

I mean.... They can act smart about it...

But putting your general merchandise stocker onto register after she had an asthma attack and missed working the first two weeks of December due to covid.....

Not a good look.

So once again, I'm jobless once more.

Will probably continue to live with my sister for awhile.

But I do not feel as if it's a bad thing....

I met so many good people this year....

My friend's family even gave me 500 usd to cover my rent since I couldn't work for a majority of December.

I've seen evil and good from humanity this year. I've seen acts of god, good friends and what my real family means to me as well as friends I consider family.

This year really made me look back at the person in the mirror and say,

"I deserve better."

And actually worked for it this time.

Oh and after Christmas I got a horrible yeast infection that burns over most of my body currently.

Very accurate doodle to the pain I'm in right now.

(seriously my body is a fungus.)

But hey, good news, I respected myself enough to go to the doctor about it!!

So that's progress.

I really hope 2021 holds good things for me.

Thank you to the mooping 10 server for always being there and keeping me sane,

Thank you tumblr for liking my au and everything.

AND A SUPER SPECIAL THANK YOU TO @evartandadam and her family for housing me and my dumb diseased ass. Everyone, she is an angel and I can't express how much she means to me. Please check out her art and buy her stuff on redbubble.

Anyways... Byebye 2020.

I look forward to what I can accomplish for myself this year.