ULTIMATE INVADER ZIM INFODUMP

(of doom)

✰ HISTORY ✰

Invader zim is an american cartoon that aired on Nickelodeon from March 30th 2001 to August 19th 2006 due to being canceled, the story finally came to an end in 2021. ✰✰

TIMELINE✰

✰ 1995-1998: Johnny the homicidal maniac was a comic being made by Jhonen Vasquez at the time and later in 1998 Squee (a spin-off to JTHM) was made.

✰ 1998-2001: One of the higher ups at Nickelodeon, Mary Harrington, notices Jhonens work (specifically Squee) and decides that "homicidal maniac" is totally something that coincides with kids cartoon.

✰ 2001-2006: The actual show was on air and traumatized kids (as it should tbh). S1 aired 2001-2002 and got canceled midway through making S2. The S2 episodes that had already been completed before the show's cancellation was aired in 2006.

✰ 2006-2014: The show had been canceled for a few reasons, it was popular with people ages 12-22 while the target demographic was 2-8, was deemed a bit too horrific compared to all the other shows at the time, and cost loads of money to make.

✰ 2014: Nickelodeon started airing reruns to see if the show would have any audience if it were to get rebooted. It ended up being the #2 show just below Spongebob. Nickelodeon offered to reboot the show but Jhonen politely declined due to not having been given a high enough budget.

✰ 2015-2021: The comic series (which you should totally read like rn) was running with oni press.

✰ 2019: Enter the florpus came out in theaters.

✰Aliens✰

THEYRE ALL GAY!!1!!1!!1 no but theyre really coo l i swear

Irkens✰

A species that aims to take over the universe. Their hierarchy is based off height with being taller meaning you're better than everyone else || their leaders being the "Tallests", it's unknown if it's standard practice to have two at a time. || Irk is their homeworld. (in which zim destroyed (three times)).

FACT OF DOOM: irken cats don't exist :[

Biology✰

Irkens are based on the common depiction of aliens. They are similar to humans mixed with mantes just with less features.

They have green skin (texture is unknown, most likely of a humans or lizards)
They lack a nose and ears.
Eyes are all one color with no pupal much like a bug. They come in many different colors such as;
Magenta
Pink
Blue
Red
Purple
Yellow
with Magenta being the most common. Their eyes aren't actually biological, they are replaced at birth with artificial ones (that apparently come out pretty easily). Some irkens can be seen with eyelashes though this is not always an indication of gender
At the top of their BALD head can be seen two antennas with the main purpose of helping them hear and sense vibrations much like an insect. They seem to be sensitive. Some Irken can be seen with curled antenna though this is not always an indication of gender. (again)
Irkens have 2 fingers and a thumb on each hand with a claw type thing at their fingertips. Their feet aren't shown in the show or movie and only shown twice in the comics; the first looking like their hands with two sharp twos in front and one bigger one in the back, the second time has them appear like human feet.
They don't have genitals nor nipples. Jhonen confirmed on twitter that that means they don't have biological sex.
Their tongues are long pointy with lines sequentially going down them. They have "Zipper teeth" that are pointed and PINK, Jhonen is very adamant about the fact they are pink. Smeets have just one round tooth.
They have multiple pairs of arms, seemingly able to grow them at will, the most seen at a time is 5.
Their actual organs are unknown aside from their "Squeedlyspooch". It's known that they do not have lungs though, that function is most likely taken care of by the pak.
Their blood is clearish-pink
Irkens are to put it simply “allergic” to meat and water, though it's more likely that they have this reaction due to the pollutants in them and not the substance itself as seen in "Germs!" and stated by Jhonen himself. Zim is shown to be burned by water and have meat fused to him.
Irkens don't sleep.
Most of the main functions of their bodies are handled by the pak.
How irkens age is unknown aside from starting out as smeets and immediately getting a pak attached.
They are unable to feel romantic nor platonic love. (aside from defectives)

Society✰

Their value as an individual is determined by height. Civilian irkens/Daily life on irk is unknown. Due to the nature of the species it's likely that there isn't any. From what's shown every Irken has a job and would likely be deemed as a failure and be deactivated if they didn't.

Jobs range from;

Invader (obviously)
Tallest
Soldier
Navigator
Scientist (Though it seems that role is mostly filled by Vortians.)
Service drone
Janitor
Food service drone

The existence of civilian irkens is unknown.

When asked why irkens use all caps jhonen has answered "because they're annoying", this is most likely why Zim spells his name in all caps and the same could probably be said for the other irkens.

Their planet is presumably completely covered in metal and doesn't seem to have any other species on it.

✰ || LANGUAGE

(mostly cited from this) The irken language is largely a mystery though there are some theories. In any of the medias there's never a scene where someone speaks irken, the only time it's ever acknowledged is in text. All translations of the letters have come back inconsistent with the letters U, V, Y, and Z simply not existing in the dvd subtitles. As for the spoken part, nothing is really known, though people suspect if the dialogue in mysterious mysteries is Zim and Gir speaking irken.

✰ || EVENTS

There a few different events that can happen like "The Trial" where a irkens existence is evaluated and determined if they should continue to live or not, "The Great Assigning" where irken invaders are gathered and each assigned a new planet to invade, "Probing day" where they essentially check up on the invaders progress, and a sir unit competition to prove which invader was the best.

Paks✰

Paks are attached to Irkens immediately after hatching and are thus uploaded with all of irken knowledge.

Paks are essentially the irkens brain and contains their consciousness, if separated from the irken and attached to another item then the irkens mind will be transferred to the new item with the "EMERGENCY ATTACHMENT PROTOCOL" though this is only shown to be the case if the pak is separated unwillingly. | For example in issue 25, Zims pak is removed with the neurothing and attaches itself to the nearest object, that being a chair. His consciousness is transferred to the chair as he dubs himself "chairzim"

If separated, the irken has 10 minutes (till doom) till dying, its unknown why this happens but its likely due to the fact almost everything needed to live is in the pak. If separated forcefully (like the example above) the irkens' bodies will immediately collapse and go limp, they may or may not be dead.

If the pak is attached to a unhosted irken body then it will take over its consciousness, it's unknown (yes i know i say that alot) if it is usually barley functional or if fitzoo-mengas state in issue 25 is due to his barely functional pak. If the pak is attached to a hosted body then it seems that the user inside the pak’s and the body's consciousnesses will slowly fuse over 10 minutes, eventually killing the body.

The paks have an uncanny ability to heal its host even from what seems like death.

It's possible that species other than irkens have paks considering fitzoo-mengas specifies "irken pak", and that Zim doesn't seem surprised that another species has a pak.

The paks appearance is usually that of a slick gray metal with 3 pink glass-ish pods on the left and right side along with a bigger one on top. The color of the pods can vary with it normally matching the user's eye color

FACT OF DOOM: Paks are based on how Jhonen would wear backpacks all the time.

Items and features of the pak include:

Four spider like legs
Laser guns
Communicator (though this seems to be a bit inconsistent)
Various sharp weapons, such as blades and knifes
Binoculars
Storage
Jetpack