#virooz

Part 3 is out. Now I can finally pass some gallstones.

Round 1, Fight 2:

Virooz vs Commander Poki!

The rule for prep time is that if one contestant gets prep time, the other contestant gets an equal amount of prep time as well.

[masterpost]

Information about both contestants can be found under the cut.

INVADER ZIM #25

The climactic battle begins! Wait, no... ZIM's been captured, so... The climactic being-captured begins! Now a prisoner of VIROOZ, ZIM has a lot to answer for. Questions so burning, we wouldn't think of spoiling them here. But now ZIM must fight for his life on a barren world against an enemy who's really, really disappointed in him. Part four of a four-part story!

Available at Lobo Comics & Toys this coming Wednesday, 11/22/2017

Zib:

A slightly older Dib with a slightly older sounding voice (I headcanon that although Zib did kill his Zim at the age of twelve, the rest of his story leading up to his appearance in the Zimvoid took about four years, making him about sixteen years old by the time we see him). His voice also has a slightly mechanical sounding effect to it, which is the result of Zib’s attaching of Zim’s PAK to himself, along with the cybernetics he had to add to himself to make it possible in the first place.

Chammy Wamboo:

Pinkie Pie from MLP. I have no explanation, I just know that this is true in my bones. Just look at her and tell me I’m not correct.

Virooz:

Hal Stewart from Megamind but with a slightly mechanical effect to his voice, which is due to all the cybernetics he installed into himself. It just fits. Read this with the voice of Hal from Megamind and tell me it doesn’t.

Recap Kid:

I don’t have a solid answer for this one. I’ve sort of bounced between a whole bunch of voices for them, from the Collector from the Owl House to Skull Kid from Majora’s Mask, but none really stick for long.

I know for a fact that they wouldn’t sound completely human through, having the sort of otherworldly quality to their voice that Skull Kid, the Collector and Bill Cipher all have, while still sounding childlike. The Collector is close to what feels right, but isn’t quite there, almost like it’s just slightly to the left of what I’m thinking of.

If anyone has any ideas for what their voice sounds like, I’d love to hear it.

Headcanon:

After Zim left Virooz for dead as a PAK stuck to a couch-plant on Dooq, Recap Kid went and found then.

And let’s just say that Recap Kid didn’t exactly appreciate Virooz’s attempt to “fix” their favourite show.

Long-ish post full of memes under the cut. Spoilers for Half Life Opposing Force are also down there.

Disclaimer: The following post includes spoilers from issues 17 and 24

First off,  I want to say that I truly fear Jhonen Vasquez and team. Like, they’re probably putting the bare minimum into character development and it still shines through. I truly fear what would happen if they weren’t writing for an absurdist comedy- such power they hold.

Anyway, I really liked the Arc of Virooz; it’s what got me back into Zim lately, tbh. It’s stuff like this that reminds me there’s still a lot more to see. Plus, it’s the first time I’ve seen such a forward callout for Zim’s character. Invader Zim of all people is that last character I’d expect to get productive character development, but this really highlights it for me. There are a lot of things I’d like to talk about in the Virooz Arc, but for now, just want to focus on this moment:

In a more serious story, this is probably the moment when the bad guy beats the crap out of Zim and yells at him for going soft. Which is kinda what Virooz does here- I think this is the first time in IZ history where anyone’s accused Zim of going “downhill.” Since he’s always been a ticking time bomb consistently. Except Virooz isn’t just anyone- he’s Zim’s no. 1 stalker. Even Dib can’t compete with the guy who’s been watching Zim since he was barely out of smeethood (which is... creepier than usual for IZ standards, but that’s another discussion). If Virooz noticed that Zim’s gotten less destructive, he’s probably right.

I like how Virooz’s montage of Zim vids includes all his plans from Earth, and that time he infiltrated the girl scouts in issue 17. In retrospect, Virooz isn’t wrong. Zim’s plans really have gotten less straightforward as time went on (still dangerous I guess but less and less edgy), and at this point, it’s more about playing with the “big-headed kid” than anything else. 

So has Zim mellowed?

Yes. From issue 17, Zim’s “heroic” stories are hilariously mundane things, but things he’d never do back in season 1. So according to him, he’s given a librarian CPR and asked one of his “victims” if they were okay. None of these things sound remotely connected to any invasion plans (and saved kittens from a blender, but if that’s connected to the Dib-allergy issue, it’s still part of an “evil plan.”) It’s just him going about life and not actively trying to kill anything.

And really, Zim giving anyone CPR is huge, given his fear of germs and touch. It’s also huge that he’d actually stop to ask someone how they’re holding up (saving the life of a human stranger isn’t something Zim used to do either!). These are total strangers he showed concern for because he was the direct root of whatever caused their “problems.” I think he’s gotten so comfortable with his routine on Earth that he’s actually calmed down enough to just go with the flow with everyone else. Like, instead of going from blowing up one thing to the next, he has the time to take responsibility for unintentional actions (like mowing accidents and Gir attacking people) and try to fix them.

This isn’t always the case, obviously, but it’s pretty clear here he isn’t the 24/7 invader we knew from season 1. There’s a “civilian” life under it now, and it’s not just an act. Also, some of his schemes aren’t even invasion related. He’s just doing stuff for Gir at this point:

And I’m sure that story about Dib’s head blocking the sun is 99% fake, but it seems like after whatever happened, Zim did raise enough money to do this:

He’s just so open about blatantly spending time and money on his robot. And apparently he actually cares about the hygiene of Earth now LOL, probably because he’s gotten used to living on it. It’s not just a layover now, it’s his home, to-be-conquered or otherwise.

Virooz fell for the Zim who had nothing but explosions on his mind, the no-mercy, invaders-need-no-one, little edgelord we all followed in the beginning. And instead, he slowly but surely got the Zim who steals cookies for robots, saves choking librarians, awkwardly asks old people if they’re okay, spends most of his time bickering with a human boy, and comes up with bizarre invasion plans on a whim. No wonder he decided to step in.