Zadf - Tumblr Posts

If i get 30 notes ill make a chapter two, but thatle be a few days till im done w ch 1, im no pro artist but i try so heres this

Page two is already out just click my profile

Page two, had to do it whith my finger

Her teeth doe

Page 4, Xbox live kid

Had a 4o7 break so ya, also the font i used on gaz is actually two of the same frase input together, just thought that was neat

Srry was on vacation

Chug munky

Page 6, darn I drooped his eyes

Apparently what I was doing manually on zims eyes can be done whith one tap, that's neet

This wasn't hard but it took me 2 days, at least it exist

I'm tired

Saw a sudden spike in popularity so here is this!

What da dog doin

Pg 9 ch1, i listened to Johnen talk while i was making this, it helped make it more ground to cannon(as much as this CAN be grounded)

He a little confused, but he got the spirit

Page 10 defenetly won't brake a promise

Dib's hand disappears into the dark void of his back pack

apologies for the weird cropping but here's some invader zim doodles i've been hoarding for the past couple of months

INVADERRRR ZIMMMMMMMM

This is interchangeable depending on the situation

Hes an AAA battery 🤧

Oh YEAH, this too that should have gone on the diagram- when it comes to what to bring to the arena with these knuckleheads it is overkill or nothing.

We’re not going home so we’re going BIG and by god we are going DIY. Crucial difference between when they’re actually fighting for their primary goal vs doing it for the fun of their rivalry. Dib’s magazine gadgets are actually hella useful under the correct circumstance, and Zim does make extremely practical modifications to his personal tech (and fails with GIR through very little fault of his own).

But it’s not really the fate of the Earth that’s at stake when it’s time for prank wars gone awry and school showdowns. No matter what either of them claim, it’s a whole different ballgame when the stakes are actually ego. The muffin throw, the Bologna virus, The Food Fight, and The Wettening were not even really scuffles to the death if you take notice. Those battles were about both of them each trying to send a message to the other in one long-going argument. Zim’s is a statement about the inherent supremacy of his species, and Dib’s is a middle finger that shouts not to underestimate humans so quickly. You ever listen to “Impress Your Creators” by Tub Ring?? The ending part of that song is Dib’s entire spirit captured in words.

If a knife fight is on the schedule, Dib’s turning up with something that looks like a scrapped Micheal Reeves/StyroPyro project, and Zim is arriving with a nuclear freaking warhead. You can’t point out Dib’s ballon launcher and forget to mention the hell of a near-planet-destroying clapback it was followed up with. When you fuck around and goad a maniac from a type III civilization (Kardashev Scale) into a contest, you get to find out real fast.

What I love about it so much is that even if Dib’s kinda fighting an impossible battle here even with access to Membrane Labs level tech, he actually is unintentionally helping the Earth whenever this happens. One of Zim’s biggest hurdles when it comes to being an invader is having a one track mind combined with absolutely no ability to prioritize. Imagine the sort of devastation the resources that went into that ocean-filled water balloon could have caused if utilized smartly. How much time did he waste creating and curing the bologna pathogen, piloting a nano-sub to keep himself from being exposed, or running that matrix simulation on dib? Dark Harvest? Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy? Room with a Moose? All of that and more was time that could have been spent on his actual assignment. Having Dib around may motivate him to keep his post up, but think about how many whole episodes have also been him completely distracted with Dib-related side quests instead of focused on world domination. Am I the only one compelled to read a little too much into Duty-Mode GIR’s assessment of a simulated Dib as so unthreatening to their operation that he doesn’t warrant serious attention even in training?

But deep down it doesn’t have to be fate of the world level serious. This is honestly the most fun Zim and Dib ever have in their respective “missions” out of every other approach. No one else to save or destroy, just two rivals beating their chest and showing off their skills to the only other being alive that actually sees them and their hard work. This is less the Goku Vs Frieza type of enemy-ship and more the kind you see between Goku and Vegata or.. opposing Pokémon trainers.

Honest truth, with every episode of this messed up show I finish rewatching I’m more are more sure that Dib is just as incompetent and short-sighted when it comes to his “mission” as Zim is. But it’s so funny to me that while Zim just makes bad plans, has awful priorities, and improvises a lot by the seat of his pants, Dib’s incompetent in the classical bumbling villain sense. Like, he’s doing the right thing, he generally has clever approaches and insights, makes full use of his resources, yet,

He’s still aesthetically and narratively such an antihero, the poor dweeb.

Observe, my magnificent Venn diagram

Only thing I didn’t want to tack on that because it bears worth of some more elaboration: Both of these two are horrible about recklessly arming their nemesis with tons of free information and striking opportunity that can only be used against them.

And Dib is worse at this, like, so… so much worse. Zim will do the classic ‘Muahahaha, now that I have you right where I want you, here’s a detailed presentation of my entire insidious plan, Batman!’ routine while at least having the class to wait until the hero is being lowered over the acid vat or tied to the train tracks. Dib, as a villain? Would start reciting that same speech while in the middle of trying to kidnap the hero, about 3 and a half steps way too early. It’s actually crazy how fast he will telegraph his next move even when he’s not in a position of having a real advantage yet.

The first time the two met and Dib stood there loudly showing himself as the most perceptive and hostile human in range? And then stood there explaining alien sleep cuffs and what he was going to do with them? And then stood there declaring war and that he’d identified Zim’s base location, swinging said cuffs around in front of the gnome brigade? Granted, he wasn’t aware of Zim’s security at the time, but the essence of that sequence was a pattern that he was more than happy to keep repeating for the next couple seasons.

Also, Zim’s brutalism, while it went to some shudder inducing places, is more expected from a genocidal maniac born from a race of colonial supremacists. It’s part of his theatrics and it’s fun for him in the same way it’s fun for his leaders to blow up innocent ice cream space-trucks and unlucky planets. Dib gets mean with their face offs in a way that’s just dripping with spite. All the time spite. Trivial, personal, petulant spite. Even more than Tak and her grudge, which, should be a lot more surprising to me. But it’s really not.

What it did do instead was remind me of a very interesting quote I once heard, from a Cracked video about online gaming behavior, of all places,

Unironically so appreciative of Dib staying focused on the important questions here.

I know it’s likely that the super beard growing is just the unique quirk of that particular Zim’s alternate reality but it’s so, so much funnier to imagine our our Zim (and other invaders, by extension) hypothetically could look something like that real fast without a consistent shaving regimen.

But I mean I’m happy to take this as confirmation too, lmfao.

More interesting though was that little revelation that the average life expectancy of a Zim after entering this timeline was ridiculously short before Zib started getting his nasty little plans together and founded the hierarchy. Tbh our protags were extremely lucky to show up when they did, just past the most chaotic and violent days within the void, but also during the infancy of Zib’s diabolical operation.

You know that headcanon that Irkens purr when they’re happy/content? Yeah, that’s the one.

Zim can hide or deny it all he wants, the gig is up and now Dib is gonna bug him relentlessly about it

They’re sworn enemies your honor.

There ain’t enough room on the lawn for the both of us…

Fantasy Zadr because I can. I cannot resist the fancy outfits

okay yeah sure i’ll make a post complaining about something i like.

but, to cut to the chase in case you ain’t reading allat, i’m never going to post zadr on this account or any account. keep scrolling if you’re at all interested in my deranged rambles.

‼️ proshippers will be blocked on sight i hate you guys

‼️ don’t tag ANY of my posts as zadr

so. i am a big fan of zadf, i love their frenemy “metroman and megamind” dynamic. but they just… don’t work as romantic partners for me, for several reasons.

i’m not going to belittle anyone who likes zadr, but it is, canonically, a proship. i am sorry zadr fans.

i’m sure plenty of you know that zim is canonically 160 years old. now, i’m hoping i don’t need to tell you why it’s problematic to ship him with a 10 year old boy, but in case you’ll pull the “irkens age differently!” card, i raise a counterpoint.

if zim *is* a teenager in earth years as many people have claimed, what happens when dib gets old and zim is still a youngin? it reverses the problem entirely.

in an interview with jhonen vasquez, he talked about how the shipping is abhorrent to him because he designed zim to be an arrogant old man of a character. the ongoing gag is that its silly that a grown and trained alien soldier would be at odds with some elementary school nerd.

while romance is out of the question, i do think they could have a nice friendship and its even implied that they care about each other in some capacity. the yin to each others’ yang, so to speak. further backed up by enter the florpus and the unreleased episode, mopiness of doom.

and hey, listen. i totally understand the appeal of depicting zim and dib as teenagers, high school AUs are always a thing and will always be a thing.

BUT (and this is a big butt !) you don’t need them to be dating to explore their character. this is a problem i see in most fandoms and i don’t think it’ll ever go away, but i have the NEED to complain about it.

zim and dib do care about each other, and that kind of begrudging caring is definitely really fun to explore and create scenarios for, but it doesn’t need to be romantic. these characters and their relationship can be explored without the need to ship a fully grown man with a child.

and hey, if you like zadr, i don’t care if you follow me. i have it blacklisted, so i won’t see any of your posts, and if you’d rather block me, go ahead. customize your internet experience.

more invader zim stuff (i swear i’ll post like an actual piece eventually)