What do Keef and Gretchen think of Perfect Nothing Dib?
Gretchen actually has an appearance in a "chapter" of the story, where she gets to meet Dib again after years of them not seeing each other since middle-high school, perhaps in a social event hosted by Membrane for charity purposes or a visit to an university to promote Membrane Labs' program for potential apprentices where Gretchen happens to be studying in.
It's very bittersweet for her; seeing her long time crush change so drastically leaves her with a sensation that she doesn't know how to describe, Dib doesn't even recognize her at first, and seems to take a moment to remember her. They were somewhat like friends in the past, but it didn't go really far because of Dib's fixation with Zim and thus being inattentive with her.
One thing is clear, Dib is a lot more nicer than the once often rude and selfish teen that she knew him for back in the day, and it's actually nice to hear him apologize for his immature attitude towards her and admit that he was a piece of shit to everyone. He seems to have changed for the better, and that ends up giving her a returning sense of trust.
I have this scene in my head, where Gretchen by thinking that she can open up to him now that he's more understanding and attentive, decides to give him updates of her life and her paranormal experiences, going through the details with a mix of excitement and shyness. But she's just met with Dib's confused look, and a cold, concerned voice: "Do you still believe in those things?"
It gets to a point where Dib comes across as insensitive, I won't get into full detail since I want to write out the interaction but basically it destroys any ilusion of hers to reconnect with him since he calls her a paranoic person that refuses to aknowledge it by blaming ghosts, and it's probably for the best for her to not keep in touch with him. Dib does nothing about it, he just gets back to his father, and when asked about the girl, he just brushes it off as "she hasn't grown up."
About Keef, I'm still thinking about what I could do with him. He has so much potential and I always liked to use him as the punching bag in my zadr scenarios (lmao) but this time I haven't really consider him, idk. If any of yall reading have an idea I'll appreaciate it
I'll soon post the Gretchen scene with the proper dialogue exchange and drawings of it, I just really wanted to share it thanks to this question lol. The more I yap about these ideas, the more convinced I am of writing a fic, a short one at least
["Perfect Nothing" — Invader Zim AU]
Realized that I could put Keef as a stalker after listening to Lemon Demon's song "Bill Waterson". Imagine him rambling about being Dib's best friend online, either sad or angry at Dib's public remarks of his aversion to the paranormal, that he's fake, a traitor, something entirely parasocial. He constantly tries to meet Dib at any event he is in with this savior mentality, stalks his socials, a rock in Dib's shoe basically. It would be both funny and creepy
The idea for Gretchen is so perfect because Dib was like that even when he was his regular self. In the Lice episode he called the Delouser insane and in the Ms. Bitters origin comic he tells Gretchen her theory is the stupidest thing he’s ever heard. He really learned from his dad how to be tactless and dismissive of people with ideas he’s skeptical of.
With Keef I could kinda see him taking PN Dib’s “perfection” for granted. In both his appearances he’s kind of oblivious about Zim and Dib’s feelings and wants. In a way he’s a lot like Zim himself with how he decides to do whatever he wants and expects his “friends” to be happy with it, even when it goes against their directly expressed wishes. Like, Zim “quits” being banished so he can serve his Tallest better in the capacity of an Invader and Keef intrudes on Zim’s home to make breakfast after he told him to get lost, then tries to throw a party at his house after he said he was sick. Then in Return of Keef he gives Dib’s room an unwanted makeover because he doesn’t like the goth aesthetic and thinks he knows better what would make Dib happy.
I think it also makes sense if you’ve already got a lot of major characters in the story who can tell that PN Dib is fucked up to have a character like Keef representing the more mainstream perspective that Dib is “perfect” now. He’s exactly what society wants him to be, so they don’t question how much pain he’s gone through to mold himself into that. Keef only sees that Dib is friendly and sociable now and willing to accept his overtures out of politeness, even if it’s not something he really wants.
The stalker idea could make sense for Agent Batflaps. They were kinda like rivals before, and Batflaps probably enjoyed feeling superior because he had more views on his vids and more credibility despite Dib’s attempts to expose him. But now that Dib’s disavowed the paranormal entirely and has world wide fame and popularity Batflaps is seething with jealousy and wants to tear Dib down. So he calls him a fraud and a traitor and starts flame wars trying to defame him and eventually escalates to stalking and harassing him in public. Maybe he even comes up with a conspiracy theory that Dib has been brainwashed by the government or replaced with an imposter, accidentally being kinda correct about Dib not being himself and something happening to him. But it’s not born out of any genuine concern, it’s just a way to discredit him. To make him sound like some inhuman monster, not a victim who needs help.
That's a good point with Keef! He can be a minor character that only serves to demonstrate Dib's more gentle and conformist nature since he was disciplined to abandon his rude attitude when people messed with him. Maybe Keef only reachs the level of "this guy that I know that keeps sending annoying letters/gifts to my inbox". I think I'll keep him this way
Agent Batflaps being the stalker makes a lot of sense too: from what little the comics showed about his character, he did take a lot of pride in his popularity in the paranormal forums despite his videos being obviously staged, and he sure did take a moment to make fun of Dib's videos while promoting his own. The idea of that same guy that used to be below him turning into this world wide famous inventor that makes fun of people like him it's definetly going to hit a nerve. I have even considered that the show Mysterious Mysteries (or any other that indulges in conspiracy theories, even something like a Youtube video) decides to cover said rumors about Dib since those run rampant in the community, and it could be easily explained as Agent Batflaps doing in another attempt at discredit Dib's current fame and even dehumanize him.
I can also imagine him being miserable enough to dig out Dib's old posts when he was just a kid, lmao
Mysterious Mysteries covering defamatory Dib conspiracies absolutely sounds like canon. They were always platforming stuff like Chickenfoot and guys like Bill the “professional” paranormal investigator, but then they treat Dib’s evidence like it’s scraping the bottom of the barrel and destroying their credibility. Of course they’d go out of their way to trash him with baseless allegations when he starts disparaging their crappy hoax show.
#this ↑↑#just imagine the shitshow this could create#Dib and Membrane would make a lawsuit for defamation against the show but the controversy before that would definetly makes so much noise
Maybe they catch wind early and MM pulls the episode because they’re on a shoestring budget and can’t afford the lawsuit, but then Batflaps uploads a bunch of rants about being “silenced” by the Membranes.
LMAOOO THIS IS SO FITING
I can see Dib's admirers defending him on social media and counter-attacking Agent Batflaps, which would show how the roles have reversed:with Dib now being the influential person who has the public's support, and Batflaps being the nutjob trying to cancel him. (I don't know why, but I feel like Dib's fans would be super intense and would end up doxxing Batflaps, idk, just a random thought)."
That's true!! After all Dib mantains a rather clean reputation with his growing fanbase, and I don't doubt that there might be some that have a very parasocial relationship with him. Dib would probably do his best to stay out of those things but can't help but feel satisfaction at how the tables have turned
That’s actually a perfect role for Keef. Like, Dib doesn’t want anyone doxxing or harassing people on his behalf because how his fandom behaves can reflect poorly on him. But Keef still thinks he knows better what his “friend” would want, so he actively searches for people talking shit to aggressively defend him in the replies and escalates into harassment and doxxing because how dare anyone not like Dib.
Imagine it's not just Batflaps but the entire paranormal community coming up with wild theories about what happened to Dib. Like, Bill is already regularly consulted by MM so of course he'd have his own asinine theory. To him though, it's not as personal as Batflaps's grudge. He's just invoking the name of a famous person for clickbait and using the fact that he met Dib all of twice to present himself as having some sort of insider knowledge about him that makes him more of an authority.
Maybe the MM episode is actually just Bill and Batflaps arguing about which of them is right.
With the Swollen Eyeballs maybe half of them think Dib was just an attention-seeking kid going through a phase who was never serious about being a paranormal investigator like the rest of them and all the stuff he used to say about his classmate being an alien was made-up. The other half more or less believe the same thing, except they did think he was sincere about his passion for the paranormal and believe something happened to him. Everyone's got a different theory though and they're all thoroughly convinced that theirs is right and everyone else is stupid and now they spend all their time arguing about it and obsessively studying Dib's every move looking for evidence to support their theory while disregarding the mountains of evidence of what actually happened because it contradicts them.
