Zim (Invader Zim character)

Age: Physically 11ish but mentally older than any living being

Parents: None, but he was created in an Irken equivalent of a test tube

Siblings: None

School: Skool

Hobbies: Plotting Earth's conquest/destruction, ordering GIR around

Eyes: Red

Skin: Green

Attire: Red shirt, Black pants, Black boots

"Well, actually, it is on Irk, unless you're short. In fact, being short on Irk really sucks. It especially sucks if you are an overly excitable failure-prone pest. That is the story of Zim's life.

After completely ruining Operation Impending Doom 1, including his home planet, Irk, Zim was exiled. The Almighty Tallest, leaders of the Irken Empire, held a meeting to discuss Operation Impending Doom 2, when Zim showed up, insisting on being reassigned. They sent him to a worthless space rock called Earth, hoping that he would never return.

Upon reaching Earth, Zim discovered that this planet was occupied by unintelligent "human stink-beasts". He set up his base, and began to work towards conquering. What is holding him back? G.I.R., his robot, which unbeknownst to Zim was made out of trash, and Dib, the only one of Zim's Skool-mates to realize what he really is." from Prepare to be Subjugated [1]

Zim is the title character from the highly popular Nickelodeon cartoon series, Invader Zim. He is a short Irken defective (that means that the Irken feels he or she, despite size, feel superior to other Irkens). He is rumored to, because of these traits, have narcissism and megalomania. Due to the fact that he's an Irken, he also hates humans and Earthly culture in general, (i.e. food, schooling, architecture), and dreams of conquering the planet for usage by the Irkens. He thinks the Almighty Tallest sent him on a "secret mission" to Earth, but the real reason was that they despise his existence, and want to get rid of him for good. Zim goes to Earth despite this, and upon arriving forms a deep rivalry with Dib, an avid cryptozoologist (or, on the show, a paranormal investigator) from the planet.

Zim's skin sizzles and smokes once water touches it. The episode The Wetttening first clearly shows this, and it has since become one of Zim's primary bodily weaknesses, even in IZ fan fiction. He also hated human food (as he thought it was "human filth") until the episode Zim Eats Waffles. Zim develops an immunity to Earth food by this time, as throughout the episode, Zim eats delicious waffles prepared by GIR throughout the episode.

He has a penchant for being over-dramatic, saying phrases like "I AM ZIM!" and "Silence!", and uses ridiculously excessive and elaborate plans to conquer the planet when he obviously has the resources to do so much more efficiently. Often Zim overreacts by screaming and shouting, even just when he's speaking to GIR, his robot slave/assistant. Richard Steven Horvitz, the voice actor for Zim, later admitted on the first Invader Zim DVD's interview with the voice cast, titled "The Voices of Zim", that the constant shouting tired his voice during the recording sessions, and he would have to go home and recup "for a day, day and a half, uh, beyond that", as Horvitz himself explained. Zim's usual disguise consists of some contact lenses and a wig resembling Pee-Wee Herman's hairdo (pictured at right), leaving his green skin clearly visible. He's been known to wear other costumes as well. If the series were to continue, Zim would have to undergo an Existence Evaluation Trial (an evaluation, based on past "crimes", to determine whether an Irken is worthy of continuing to exist), get kicked out of his base by the Parent Decoys (which are robots designed by Zim to make people think he is a normal human child), and enter GIR in a SIR unit contest.

Zim's design is based on the "typical alien" design, the Greys. And also, the idea for an alien failing to conquer/destroy the Earth is very original.

Zim is voiced by Richard Steven Horvitz.

In the unaired episode called the Trial, it would have been revealed that Zim is essentially the cause of most of Irk's disasters; when he entered the information-downloading chamber, he claimed as his own, shoving the next smeet (baby Irken) up the chute, causing a blackout that plunged Irk into darkness for five years. Later, an accident with a security robot caused another blackout, this one lasting for four years. As a military scientist, he created an enery absorbing monster, which after ingesting an infinite energy creating device, ate Tallest Spork. Years later, it returned to get the collar Zim had and ate Tallest Miyuki. He also plunged half of the military planet Devastasis into darkness when he used a powerful robot on a malfunctioning snack machine. During Operation Impending Doom One, Zim was placed in a small circle and told to watch it, but he stole a Frontline Battlemech and destroyed half of Irk. Incredibly, he's proud of all this. Zim thought the Existence Evaluuation Trial was a party to honor "my [his] amazing greatness", but the Tallest mistakenly told him it was not. The Control Brains found him guilty as charged, and proceeded to remove Zim's Pak, which contains his soul. After the Control Brains became overloaded with Zim's narcissistic personality, the Control Brains then declared him innocent of all charges and "the greatest Irken ever".

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