Dib (Invader Zim)

Invader Zim Character
name = Dib


race = Human
gender = Male
age = Unknown
hair = black
relatives = Gaz (sister), Professor Membrane (father)
appearance = Pilot
voiceactor = Andy Berman

Dib is a fictional character and the main protaganist/antagonist from the Nickelodeon animated television series, "Invader Zim". He is Zim's archnemesis and is highly unpopular at school (where he shares a class with Zim) and at home for his broken record obsession with paranormal phenomena, which (except in the case of Zim) almost always turns out to be wrong. He is voiced by Andy Berman.

Origin

Eric Trueheart, one of the series writers, has stated in a commentary on the final Invader Zim DVD that, if the series had not been canceled, a potential storyline might have included Dib going on a quest to find out why his life was so horrible and discovering he was an artificial creation of Professor Membrane's making. A common fan-theory is that he is Professor Membrane's clone, though Trueheart did not say that specifically. This can be inferred from Dib's likeness to his father and in the episode Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom, the older Dib looks very much like his dad. The unfinished series finale has him leading an army to defeat Zim. Jhonen Vasquez comfirmed that Dib is 11 years old. In the episode "Dark Harvest" Dib mentions to his classmate, Torque Smacky that he has memories of being abducted as a baby "... Perhaps to create some kind of genius super baby?", though he also states his memory on this is unclear. Also, in the pilot, his shirt was brown in stead of the normal blue, seen in the rest of the series.

Personality

Dib has been obsessed with the paranormal and supernatural since an early age, as seen in the episodes "Bad Bad Rubber Piggy" and "Mysterious Mysteries." His obsession has made many of the people around him deem him crazy and/or stupid, including his classmates, his teacher Ms Bitters, his sister Gaz and even his father, Professor Membrane. In the episode "Gaz, Taster of Pork", Dib mentions that he may be obsessive-compulsive by saying: "How did I miss that? Me! The obsessive-compulsive Dib!"

Although he is a generally good person, Dib seems at times to be somewhat egotistical, convinced of his own genius, though far less so than his opponent Zim. He talks a lot, often in long rants. This was most likely done to tell viewers what he was thinking, as he is often seen alone. Despite his own eccentricities, Dib is comparatively smarter than the majority of "Invader Zim" characters, who, as a rule, tend to be idiots; Dib is one of the few characters, human or alien, to show any level of common sense. His ability to discern Zim's true identity shows him to be smarter than most of his classmates, and Tak's inability to control his mind shows a similar measurement of intelligence. Not surprisingly, Dib finds it incredibly annoying that everyone insists he has a "big head."

Dib often realizes his flaws, often stopping himself in the middle of a rant to point out that he is talking to himself and probably shouldn't be. He gets a good taste of his eccentricities and quirks in the episode "Dibship Rising", in which he downloads his personality into Tak's ship. The Dib-ship soon becomes a nuisance for all the same reasons Dib is. Dib realizes his faults, though does nothing in later episodes to fix them.

In the commentary, it is hinted at that Dib grows to be more sane as the series goes on, compared to the beginning of the series.

Paranormal work

Dib dreams of becoming a paranormal investigator when he grows up. He seems to regard this field as a legitimate one, despite the perception of those around him that it is only a pseudo-science, if not outright insanity; and, despite his fascination with many paranormal legends, he nevertheless is being shown critical of others, such as "Chickenfoot" (a supposed half-man, half-chicken that turned out to be a crazy man in a chicken suit) and a chocolate vampire, Count Cocofang (a parody of Count Chocula). He believes that paranormal study is as much about disproving frauds as pointing out the legitimate occurrences ("The Sad, Sad Tale of Chickenfoot ", episode 18B). He has a foil in another character, Bill, a paranormal investigator who refuses to believe Zim is an alien yet believes in other, completely ridiculous theories.

Apart from Gaz, Dib is the only child at the "Skool" who realizes that Zim is an alien, and, as his sister does not seem to really care, he has appointed himself as Earth's only potential savior. He is a member of the "Swollen Eyeball Network" conspiracy theory group, where he is known as Agent Mothman (a reference to the Mothman of West Virginian folklore). Prior to his discovery of Zim, Dib was already heavily involved in the paranormal, though this has worked against him in his efforts to prove Zim's identity: his years of telling people about finding Bigfoot in his garage ("he was using the belt sander...") and calling the FBI over a ninja ghost in his toilet (which he got out, "no thanks to them!") has lost him most credibility (though he did apparently once manage to raise the dead, according to Professor Membrane). Even most of the Swollen Eyeball Network seems to believe Dib to be insane, as his efforts to show them evidence about Zim usually blow up in his face, as seen many times in the episode "Zim Eats Waffles".

Appearance

Dib's hair is pulled back in a scythe-like manner, and he wears a black trench coat. His usual T-shirt, which features an apathetic-looking smiley face, is similar to that worn by Squee in Jhonen Vasquez's earlier comic "Johnny the Homicidal Maniac" and its spin-off "Squee!". A running gag in the show is the fact that everyone mocks Dib for his supposedly-huge head, although his head is more or less equal in proportion to that of the other characters. ("My head's not big. Why does everyone say that?!") This "joke" began in the episode "Door to Door."

During the second season, Dib underwent a subtle artistic change, designed to make him look "funnier." Most notably, his head-to-body proportion was made to justify all the jokes about his supposedly big head. Among fans this change is sometimes referred to as [http://www.zimwiki.com/index.php?title=God_save_the_Dib God Save the Dib] , after a sketch done by the "Invader Zim" staff.

References