#just imagine the dogfight from Tak’s perspective

[random-iz-stuff]

I absolutely love the bit of your newest post about Zim just casually *walking* back towards Tak in the rain. I can just imagine the scene and it's fucking amazing. I love Zim just being causally terrifying to others (intentional or not) in ways that aren't just him being a bit crazy or destructive.

I also love all your stuff that actually uses Zim's background, and all that comes with that.

I wonder what it would be like for Tak if she managed to genuinely piss him off (another thing that I love your headcanons of)

Tak absolutely refuses to admit it, but she’s the underdog in this situation. She’s an ex-soldier with plenty of engineering experience from her time on Dirt, and has access to a holographic disguise that’s more advanced than any other disguise in the empire, but her opponent is a fully trained ex-invader with an extensive scientific background that knows earth better than any other irken.

Plus, she fell HARD for Zim’s dumb act.

Tak came from Dirt, knowing nothing about Zim other than the fact that he’s a complete idiot and that he ruined her life. Then, upon arriving on Earth and revealing herself to Zim, that information is seemingly proven to be true, with Zim acting like a complete idiot, interrupting her multiple times and even after explaining everything to him, he STILL doesn’t understand, immediately believing that Tak is after his robot bee. She meets Zim face to face and he’s a complete idiot that doesn’t deserve the time of day from her.

But what if I told you that that was exactly what Zim WANTED her to think. Zim puts on a dumb persona specifically so people underestimate him and/or are manipulated easier by him. So upon another Irken showing up on his doorstep, clearly wanting him dead, he plays dumb. He successfully gets Tak to believe that he’s a complete moron that’s not worth killing, since there’s no way this idiot could ever come close to stopping her plan…. ..right?

The base-disabling nanobots were a surprise, but Zim still managed to minimize the damage, since he got Tak to deploy them on the upper floor where none of his important equipment is. His base was still temporarily disabled, but imagine the damage that would have been caused if Tak released them in his proper base, where all of his actual equipment and computers are.

Plus, Zim is a complete enigma, not just to Tak, but to the entire irken race.

I already mentioned how Zim figured out how to waterproof himself using paste, while no sane irken would even consider using that stuff as waterproofing. And it’s a well kept secret of Zim’s, with not even Dib knowing how he does it, or why Zim’s waterproofing is so inconsistent (he frequently forgets to apply the stuff, so he only really consistently has waterproofing on days when it’s expected to rain).

But that’s not all. Zim has one thing that puts him above the average irken. He’s extremely adaptable. He can change his plans on the fly, he will go against what he’s been taught in the military if it benefits him and most importantly of all, he doesn’t care about efficiency.

For all irkens, efficiency is the most important thing. You must be effective and efficient to succeed. But Zim doesn’t care about that. As long as it works, he’ll use it. For example, waterproofing. Most irkens would never use paste because, well, it’s a primitive arts and crafts material that doesn’t last forever on the invader’s skin, losing effectiveness over time. They’d instead spend days searching for or creating their own solution that is effective as possible, perfect waterproofing or bust. Zim on the other hand, doesn’t care. Paste does it’s job just fine, so he uses it. No sense trying to fix something that’s not broken.

Even his Voot Cruiser is an example of this. Zim’s Voot is obviously an old model. It uses a propulsion system instead of whatever thrustless system modern ships use and doesn’t have an onboard computer like modern ships, and yet he refuses to get rid of it. It’s a perfectly good ship that’s served him well in the past, so he’s not getting rid of it for the sake of efficiency.

And speaking of Zim’s Voot, his dogfight with Tak is a perfect demonstration of Zim’s military skill against Tak, because the thing is, even with an outdated ship, in his dogfight with Tak, he pilots it with masterful skill, managing to outmaneuver Tak throughout the entire fight. Keep in mind that Zim managed to remain directly behind Tak for the entire dogfight (which is a very important and central part of dogfighting), with her and her modified modern ship unable to shake him. During the entire dogfight, ZIM is the only one that fires any weapons. Tak can’t even get into a position that would let her shoot back. Even when flying through the lava around them, she is unable to get Zim off her tail. Zim was winning that dogfight even before Gaz and Gir started helping.

Tak has to resort to physically ramming him to do any damage. And even that does minimal damage as Zim simply ejects the cockpit window and replaces it, which in of itself could be an example of Zim being adaptable and going against his traditional military training.

And the final nail in the coffin during the whole dogfight, Zim is completely silent during the entire thing. He isn’t putting up a persona or trying to make himself seem dumber or smarter than he really is. Zim is completely focused on the task at hand, which is a terrifying thing for Tak to be up against. The only time he speaks is after he wins, when he claims that Tak’s piloting is worse than his, indicating that despite Zim being able to pretty much run circles around Tak in his ship, he doesn’t even view himself as that good of a pilot.

But then there’s this scene that single handily adds a whole new layer to Zim’s character:

Tak’s ship is destroyed and is spinning out in front of Zim. Zim proceeds to joke about Tak’s piloting skills, but then has a realization of some kind and then proceeds to ram Tak’s ship. It seems a bit strange, but it actually shows us something very important about Zim.

First of all, his realization. What was he referring to when he said “Wait”? Well, Tak’s ship is spinning out in front of him and although she does have an escape pod, I’ve played enough Kerbal Space Program to know that deploying something while the main ship is uncontrollably spinning like that will result in the pod getting destroyed or at least heavily damaged. And since her ship is damaged and disabled, Tak can’t just stop the spin with a few button presses. She has no control.

And judging by Zim’s face when he says “Wait”, he knows that.

That’s the look of a concerned Zim. Despite just fighting with her, Zim almost seems worried about Tak’s safety as her ship is stuck spinning with no safe way of ejecting. Even his tone of voice indicates this, as the insulting tone he was just using while making fun of Tak’s piloting skills INSTANTLY disappears upon his realization.

And then, when Zim rams Tak, think about what he just did. He knocked Tak into a bubble of lava. Irken ships have been shown to be extremely heatproof, given how the massive was able to fly through a star and how Zim and Tak’s own ships have been fine zipping around the lava in the dogfight a few seconds ago, and lava is a liquid, not a solid object, so Tak’s ship isn’t going to be very damaged by crashing into it. The most crashing into the lava will do is slow her ship down since that’s what happens when you submerge a moving object in a liquid.

So by knocking Tak’s ship into that lava bubble, Zim slowed the spinning of Tak’s ship, making it safe for her to eject. The fact that Tak only ejects after Zim rams her and not while she’s spinning out adds more evidence to this.

Zim had no reason to do this. He could have very easily left Tak spinning and unable to eject from her damaged ship or even just shot Tak while she was defenceless, but he didn’t. So Zim actively chose to spare Tak by giving her a safe chance to eject from her ship.

So despite Tak wanting him dead and Zim being fully aware of this, he chooses to spare her, fully knowing that she won’t do the same. This pretty much goes against the entire mindset of irkens, especially invaders, who, valuing efficiency over everything else, will remove any threat that they get even the slightest chance to remove.

This part of Zim’s character where he spares those that definitely won’t spare him can be seen with one other character, Dib, who Zim is fully capable of killing with minimal effort, but chooses to keep alive, only attempting to kill him in certain elaborate schemes, and even seeming to go easy on him, not using weapons or his PAK in most fights.

There are two different reasons that Zim may do this. The first is that he may purposely spare people that he considers “worthy adversaries”, despite the fact that they definitely will not do the same to him. If this is true, then Dib and Tak both seem to be considered worthy adversaries by Zim, but since Tak is an irken and much more of a threat than Dib, he doesn’t go easy on her like he does with Dib, but still chooses to spare her after the fight is over.

The second reason is that Zim may fight dirty, but he has his limits. Killing Tak in a dogfight? Sure. But letting Tak die in a broken ship she can’t control or shooting her while she’s in no condition to fight? Hell no. Same goes for Dib. Elaborate scheme where you turn him into a sausage or throw him into a dimension containing a room with a moose? Sure. Just straight up shooting him because he’s a human child and you’re an alien soldier with technology more advanced than he will ever know? Hell no.

It’s probably a mix of the two options, but the final point is that Zim has a weird relationship with killing, and will spare people that won’t do the same.

That being said, Tak hasn’t seen Zim get angry enough to go quiet, although she did witness Zim being focused enough to go quiet during the entire dogfight, which is very close to the same thing. She’s never seen Zim properly drop the dumb persona either, as she herself fell for it and still believes that Zim is an idiot now.

However, if she ever did see Zim’s quiet and competent persona that he gains when he’s extremely angry, she’d never want to see it again. Especially since Zim is very likely to forgo his usual rules with sparing in this situation, and he already doesn’t go easy on her like he does with Dib.

[This post is a continuation of these two posts: https://random-iz-stuff.tumblr.com/post/691450114671296512/write-some-ideas-for-a-fake-invader-zim-episode, https://random-iz-stuff.tumblr.com/post/680570994898894848/headcanon]

[random-iz-stuff]

Zim and Dib are both well done morally grey characters. Even though in the setting they both fit the villain and hero roles respectively, they’re both morally grey protagonists and antagonists simultaneously, with Dib, the hero of the setting, actually having several traits generally seen in villains while Zim, the actual villain of the setting, has several traits generally seen in the heroes of most stories.

Starting with Zim, he’s the villain of the setting, being the evil alien that wants to take over Earth, which should automatically make him an evil character, but he becomes far less villainous when you consider his reasoning and his side of the story, which we are frequently shown.

Zim may be here to take over the Earth, but he’s not doing it for himself or out of pure malice. He’s only invading Earth because he was told to do so. It’s in his actual job title. And the only reason Zim is an invader in the first place is because he wants to be forgiven for his past failures, and taking over his assigned planet is the best (and only) way to do so.

Zim doesn’t want earth for himself or anything remotely similar. It’s all just a job to him. He’s not doing this for actively malicious reasons. He’s doing this simply because that’s what he was told to do. He’s doing all this for the approval and attention of his leaders, along with chance of being forgiven for his past failures.

Not to mention that from Zim’s perspective, taking over planets isn’t an evil or morally reprehensible act. It’s just life in the empire. Zim can’t imagine anything else. It’s all just a job to him. Taking over planets is a fact of life where he comes from.

But that’s not the only thing that makes Zim more morally grey than genuinely evil. There’s also several overlooked parts of his personality.

Despite being the setting’s villain, Zim has a strange sense of honour that is rarely seen among villains, but is common among the heroes. First of all, he goes easy on his own mortal enemy, Dib, despite knowing the damage to his mission that he’s capable of. Zim is a trained soldier that has access to weapons that could vaporize Dib on the spot, and yet during fights, Zim doesn’t even deploy his PAK legs. He’s going easy on him. This in of itself isn’t a thing seen in many heroes OR villains, but is important to know when talking about the second thing.

Zim spares those that won’t spare him.

Zim already goes easy on Dib, but he also willingly went out of his way to spare Tak at the end of their dogfight in Tak: The Hideous New Girl, giving her a safe opportunity to deploy her escape pod and refusing to shoot her while she’s defenceless, despite having no reason whatsoever to do so. He got absolutely nothing out of doing this and probably would have benefited from killing Tak, but he didn’t. That sort of thing isn’t something you’d normally see a villain do, but it IS a common hero trope, where the hero spares the villain at the end of their fight, even if the villain betrays them seconds later.

But that’s not all. There’s also the fact that Zim is fully willing to work with Dib if he needs to, more so than Dib actually is. Nearly every time that Zim and Dib work together, ZIM is the one to initiate it. Zim, the supposed villain of the setting, is more willing to work with his mortal enemy than the actual hero of the setting. Once again, this role is usually reversed, with the hero either being more willing than the villain or both parties disliking it equally.

And on top of that, there’s Ten Minutes to Doom, where, upon Dib grabbing his PAK, Zim actually attempts to reason with him and explains why he needs the PAK.

He, the Villain, tries to reason with the Hero and solve the problem without violence. He even gives Dib information about irkens, which he normally refuses to do. You can still say that he’s only doing this because he’s at risk of death, but that still doesn’t change the fact that Zim saw reasoning with Dib as a valid solution, and that he seemed to believe that Dib would listen to him.

But when you remember Zim’s tendency to spare enemies when there’s no benefit in doing so, you suddenly realize that if the roles were reversed and Zim stole something from Dib only for Dib to come to him and say “wait give that back or I will actually die”, Zim would give that thing back. If Dib was in Zim’s shoes, he could very easily reason with Zim.

Zim’s willingness to resort to reasoning and the fact that he could very easily be reasoned with in this situation is DEFINITELY not something you’d see in a traditional villain, but it IS a common hero trope, once again coming back to Heroes often refusing to outright kill their mortal enemies, and going out of their ways to save them in some situations.

So to summarize, Zim is morally grey, fitting the definition of a lawful neutral character. He strictly follows a set of rules, a mix of the rules of the empire and his own moral code, no matter where those rules take him. If the empire says he needs to destroy a planet, those are the rules and he’s going to do it. If his own moral code doesn’t let him kill his own rivals, those are the rules and he’s going to spare them. Zim is also willing to work alongside his enemies if he needs to, and is often the person to initiate it, showing a side of him that’s willing to swallow his own pride for the greater good. He’s also capable of reasoning with his enemies in a pinch, and is capable of being reasoned to. He’s the villain of the setting, but has several personality traits that line up with what the hero of the setting should traditionally have. Zim is lawful neutral and morally grey.

Moving on from Zim, Dib. If the show followed a more traditional narrative, Dib would be the only protagonist. He’s the hero of the setting. The defender of earth against the alien threat of Zim. But just like how Zim is more morally grey than a villain and has a bunch of traits commonly associated with heroes, Dib is more morally grey than a hero and has a bunch of traits commonly associated with VILLAINS.

Dib seems like your average hero at first, being the sole defender of earth against an alien threat, but when you look at his main motivations and just HOW he goes about defending earth, Dib quickly starts looking a lot more lawful neutral than lawful good.

First of all, His motives for defending earth aren’t purely “because it’s the right thing to do”. Dib’s motives aren’t even “because I’m one of the idiots who lives here”. Defending earth because it’s his home and for the good of humanity are definitely two of Dib’s motives, but his main motivation that comes first and foremost is getting his research on the paranormal proved and validated. Defeating Zim will prove that he’s not crazy, and that all the things he’s been talking about are actually true. Earth’s safety comes second to that simply because without earth, there’s no one to prove anything to.

The best proof of this is Dib’s Wonderful Life Of Doom, where we actually get to see what Dib would do if he won. In the simulation, Dib captures Zim and immediately uses him as proof of the paranormal, using Zim as a springboard to start a career in paranormal sciences. Dib quickly spends all his time proving his theories on the paranormal, proving to everyone that he’s RIGHT, and he completely forgets about the Irken Armada until they’re pretty much on earth’s doorstep, needing to be reminded by Zim. Dib doesn’t care about the alien threat of the armada, only about finally being right and being able to study the paranormal. He only goes against the armada when they’re extremely close to earth, now actively posing a threat to the paranormal research he’s done over the years.

But that’s not all the evidence. There’s proof of this in the very first episode, where Dib outright says that he’s hoping that “they’ll name your autopsy after me!”. While saving the earth is definitely a high priority of his, it comes second to the fame and recognition that proving the existence of aliens will give him.

There’s also Zib showing just how little Dib cares about the earth’s actual safety. When he kills Zim and proves the existence of aliens, only for no one to care and him to get not even the slightest bit of recognition for it, he takes over earth himself and ends up destroying it by firing a massive weapon designed to destroy the entire irken empire in one shot, something that he only attempts to do when it’s made absolutely clear to him that irkens and aliens in general cannot be used to prove the existence of the paranormal. Sure you can say that Zib wasn’t in the best state of mind at the time, literally having Zim’s PAK strapped to the back of his head, but he still did it and the point still stands.

But also, Dib’s more villainous traits almost perfectly contrast Zim’s more heroic traits.

First of all, where Zim has a strange sense of honour, is willing to go easy on Dib, will spare his enemies at the end of a fight and is willing to work with his enemies if the situation calls for it, Dib is ruthless and would probably sell your soul for one corn chip.

Unlike Zim, who’s willing to swallow his pride and work with Dib in a pinch, Dib refuses to work with Zim in any context, needing to be forced into working with Zim for even the shortest amount of time. Like I mentioned before, Zim is the one who initiates all the team ups between the two of them, as Dib always refuses to do so.

But there’s also the fact that when they’re working together, Zim gives and Dib takes. For some examples, Tak: The Hideous New Girl and Halloween Spectacular Of Spooky Doom.

In Tak: The Hideous New Girl, Upon agreeing to work with Dib, Zim lets Dib into his base, and gives him a ride in his Voot Cruiser to Tak’s base, all in exchange for a data drive. He lets Dib into his home, his main base of operations that he is extremely protective of, for a single data drive. And although that was a part of their original deal, him giving Dib a ride definitely wasn’t.

Meanwhile, when Dib and Zim work together in Halloween Spectacular Of Spooky Doom, Dib betrays Zim almost immediately, slapping the crazy collar on Zim and throwing him to the monsters without hesitation. Zim even seems taken aback at Dib’s betrayal, obviously not expecting it. That’s not a hero trait. That’s a straight up villain trope.

There’s also this scene in 10 Minutes To Doom. Dib gets his hands on Zim’s PAK and Zim comes in and attempts to reason with him, explaining that he needs the PAK to live and will legitimately die without it.

Now we’ve already established that if the roles were reversed, Zim would have given Dib his lifesaving equipment back with little to no questions asked. But the roles aren’t reversed, and what does Dib do?

He makes it his personal goal that this thing in his hands does not reattach to Zim in time. Even when the PAK attaches to him and starts overwhelming his mind, which he is AWARE OF BY THE WAY, he continues to do his best to play keep-away with Zim, with the full intentions of killing him in a slow and painful manner by doing so.

Dib is ruthless in his war against Zim. He can’t work with Zim in any constructive way without betraying him unless earth or his own life is at stake, he can and will take any chance he gets at killing Zim and he simply cannot be reasoned with against doing so. This inability to be reasoned with and complete focus on wanting his enemies dead in any way possible isn’t something commonly seen in heroes, but is pretty much a staple of villain traits.

Zim, the literal villain of the setting, doesn’t even have this sort of mindset when it comes to fighting Dib, as he only attempts to kill him in elaborate schemes that Dib is able to fight back against, going easy on Dib in fights and even putting obvious flaws in his plans so Dib has a fair chance against him (like for example, using a human operating system in some of his machines so Dib can hack them in Future Dib or giving the wormhole he sent Dib’s class to in Room With A Moose a way out). Dib on the other hand, doesn’t care about giving Zim a fair fight at all, and will take any chance he gets to kill him, betraying Zim and throwing him to the monsters in Halloween Spectacular Of Spooky Doom and depriving Zim of his PAK in 10 Minutes To Doom.

Even in Enter The Florpus, Dib is willing to take advantage of Zim when he’s in no condition to fight back to achieve his goals. Upon seeing Zim in a depressed funk over his leaders, Dib almost immediately takes advantage of Zim’s state, handcuffing him and attempting to expose him at Professor Membrane’s Peace Day keynote speech.

So Dib is the hero of the setting, but his motivations have far more selfish undertones than they first appear and he displays the ruthlessness, selfishness and willingness to betray others never seen in heroes, but commonly seen in villains.

Dib is morally grey, and also fits the description of a lawful neutral character. He has a single main goal of defeating Zim and proving the existence of the paranormal to the world by doing so, and doesn’t care about what he has to do, good or bad, in order to achieve that goal. He’s willing to take advantage of and betray anyone (usually Zim in situations when they’re forced to work together, but there’s also the fact that he willingly cursed his own sister with an unknown spell just to see if it works) if it means getting closer to that goal of proving the supernatural. He’ll straight up torture Zim to death by depriving him of his PAK if that’s what it takes. He’s protecting the earth because that’s what needs to be done in order for there to be a world to prove the paranormal to in the first place. Dib is lawful neutral and morally grey.

So both Zim and Dib are morally grey and lawful neutral.