Western Animation / Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus

Invading Soon(-ish).

Professor Membrane: As you know, tomorrow is Peace Day. And nobody is as excited for the big celebration as I am.
Audience Member: I am!
Membrane: NOT SCIENTIFICALLY POSSIBLE!

Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus is a dark comedy Science Fiction Nickelodeon television movie based on the animated series Invader Zim. Officially announced in April 2017^note C.H. Greenblatt would casually leak its existence five months prior and set to air on Nickelodeon's own channel, the film completed production in January 2019, and was released worldwide on Netflix on August 16, 2019.

Series creator Jhonen Vasquez served as writer and director, with the voice cast reprising their roles. Composer Kevin Manthei also returned to produce the soundtrack, with several artists who worked on the show's comic book continuation (such as Jenny Goldberg) also being involved with the production.

After having disappeared for an undisclosed amount of time, Zim suddenly reappears to begin PHASE TWO of his Evil Plan to conquer Earth in the name of his Almighty Tallest, who still couldn't care less about the little green alien. With the world once again in danger, and certain that this will finally be the moment he can prove to everyone (or at least his father) the existence of extraterrestrials, his nemesis Dib Membrane sets out to unmask him once and for all.

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Tropes:

• Adaptational Badass:
  • While in the series he was portrayed as a ridiculous Not-So-Harmless Villain, Zim in this movie is portrayed as a genuine threat to the universe, albeit still quite Laughably Evil and still so incompetent that his plan would've completely blown up in his face.
  • While in the show he was always able to create earth-shattering inventions, Professor Membrane gains robot arms (that he says were lost to sharks) and can shoot powerful lasers from them, which he uses against Zim's robot army while in pursuit of Minimoose with Dib and Gaz, as well as breaking out some pretty sick kung fu.
• Adaptational Dumbass: The Almighty Tallest were already pretty foolish in the series proper, but they go straight into Too Dumb to Live territory here with their refusal to fly out of the path of the Florpus hole despite there being plenty of time to turn beforehand, resulting in both them and the entire Irken Armada suffering a Fate Worse than Death.
• Adaptational Jerkass:
  • Zim's house A.I. is considerably more caustic and bitingly sarcastic towards its master than it was in the TV series. Like the Membranes, this was lifted from its portrayal in the comics.
  • The Tallest are much less subtle about their hatred of Zim than in the series, to the point that they ultimately decide to blow up the Earth just to be rid of him once and for all.
• Adaptational Heroism: Unlike the original series, Gaz is notably nicer to the point where she not only cares about her brother, but also ends up helping him to defeat Zim with no ulterior motives whatsoever.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Gaz is significantly more amicable toward Dib and expressive, while Professor Membrane is less dismissive of him. This is in line with their portrayal in the comics.
• Aesop Amnesia: By the end, aside from potentially the Membrane family, none of the characters have learned one single thing from the events of this film or the series that came before it. In fact, one could cynically note that this is the Aesop of the story (if, indeed, a cartoon as anarchic as Zim could be said to have one at all) From a Certain Point of View: That people never really learn anything. People are not as changeable as we'd like to think and the way we act and the things we believe have nothing to do with what we learn and everything to do with who we are, no matter how destructive the consequences of living out our natures may be to ourselves and everyone around us.
• Affectionate Parody: The intro features an Animesque Art Shift parodying dramatic shonen tropes, with Dib loudly proclaiming that he's 12 years old despite looking like a beefed up JoJo's Bizarre Adventure character, which itself features plenty of Younger Than They Look beefy teenagers.
• Alien Sky: Inverted, then Played Straight. In the television series, Earth’s daytime sky is, invariably, depicted in a bleak and horrifying pinkish-red. The normal blue sky the film presents is a first for Zim, but had it stayed red from the get-go, the alien space where Earth is eventually transported wouldn't have looked nearly as striking.
• Aliens Speaking English: Played with. The guards on Moo-Ping 10 can be heard speaking their own language, but every other alien in the movie speaks English, as per usual for the Invader Zim universe.
• All for Nothing: Zim comes to realize that the Tallest had no intention of coming to Earth, whether he succeeded in his mission or not. Doubly so by the end, as the Massive is trapped in the Florpus, further nullifying all of Zim's future efforts to conquer Earth... Not that Zim realizes it.
• Alternate Continuity: To the Zim comics — the first quarter or so of the first issue is adapted at the start of the movie, before veering off into its own plot.
• Apocalypse How The Florpus itself is a Class X, while the Irken Armada is a Class X-3, but it’s possible that if they had not entered the Florpus, they would’ve most likely gone up to a Class X-4. (Well, at least a straight line variation.)
• And the Adventure Continues: Even though the Irken Armada is gone, Zim is still out to conquer Earth, with Dib still determined to expose him.
• Angrish: Poonchy's reaction to Minimoose stealing his mom's Pizza Sticker.
• Anti-Climax: Openly mocked when the narrator tells the audience to pay attention to a ham. When this comes into play, there is much buildup to how the ham will stop Zim, only for Gaz to simply throw it at Zim.
• Art Evolution: As both Jhonen Vasquez's drawing style and the medium of digital 2D art had evolved significantly in the decade-plus since the show originally ended. The special's animation is significantly cleaner, the colors are brighter making the environments more noticeable, and the character designs more rounded than their jagged appearance in the original series. Most notably, this is the first time the sky has ever been colored blue (as opposed to its perpetual red in the original series).
• Art Shift: Appears in the opening, with Dib's monologue set over an Animesque style similar to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Also counts as Foreshadowing, as different visual mediums are depicted as alternate realities colliding thanks to the Florpus, and multiple styles are later shown.
• Ascended Extra:
  • Professor Membrane in the series has more or less been a minor character in his appearances. In this film however, he has much more screen time and plays a central role in resolving the problem.
  • While not exactly an extra, Gaz goes from being a recurring supporting character in the show and comic to a significantly more proactive heroic role alongside Dib in the movie.
• As You Know: Since the movie was designed to accommodate audiences unfamiliar with the series as well as old fans, there's a lot of this within the first twenty minutes or so. It's particularly Played for Laughs with The Tallest, who just start randomly discussing Zim seconds before he contacts them for the first time in ages.
  Purple: Remember that time we lied and told him we were sending him on a secret mission to Earth, but really we were just getting rid of him because he's awful?
  Red: Yeah. We're hilarious.
  Pilot: My Tallest! There's an incoming transmission!
  Purple: Yep, life's been pretty great ever since Zim vanished for good. Anyhow, send that transmission through. I wonder who it could ever be.
  Zim: IT IS I, ZIIIIIIIIM!!!!!!
• Balloon Belly: Dib has one at the beginning due to becoming stuck to his chair and getting obese from sitting too long.
• Bait-and-Switch Time Skip: When Zim takes over the Membrane Corporation, he puts Dib and Gaz under house arrest by putting a disfigured, pudding-obsessed clone of their father to keep them inside the house at all times. We cut to the house in complete disarray and covered in the pudding, and then get this exchange.
  Dib: [haunted] It's been 10 years, Gaz...
  Gaz: [completely unimpressed] It's been two days.
• Batman Gambit: In a rare bit of patience in Zim's part, the reason why Zim remained inactive in his plans for as long as he did (aside from the show's cancelation, that is) is because he knew his inaction would drive Dib crazy with suspicion and eventually wither Dib's body away with neglect.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: Or possibly Big Bad Triumvirate if one were to count Zim. While Zim is technically the cause of all the mayhem, the bigger threats to Earth come from the Almighty Tallest, who opt to blow up the planet just get rid of Zim, and the titular Florpus, a black hole-esque singularity emerging as a byproduct of Zim teleporting the planet directly into the Armada's flight path.
• Big Blackout: Zim's base causes one when it drains power from the whole city to increase its transmission range so it can completely track the Armada's flight path.
• Big Damn Heroes: Professor Membrane returning from a seemingly-surefire death after being flung out into space in the form of coming back down to Earth in a massive explosion and proceeding to absolutely devastate Zim's robot army with martial art skills and Hadouken lasers from his robot arms.
• Big Damn Movie: Notwithstanding that The World Is Always Doomed in the original show, the movie pushes Zim about as far into Not-So-Harmless Villain mode as he's likely to go while notably getting some legitimate drama out of the "Well Done, Son" Guy situations of both Zim and Dib.
• Big Eater: As expected, GIR is constantly eating throughout this movie such as nachos with a bathtub-load of cheese, pepperoni pizzas, waffles with syrup, even swallowing a few dogs and mentions "CHICKEN + RICE!!!" in his song for children to hold hands. GIR also fits Zim's giant throne with a button that's supposed to make it fire peanuts for some reason... but he got it mixed up with another button that's supposed to make the throne shoot cool flames behind Zim... and that's not all, as you'll see below.
• Big "NO!":
  • Gaz in the introduction scene when Dib steps out of his room without taking the proper hygiene.
  • Dib when his attempts at stopping the hand chain from connecting fails.
  • Zim after the robot Lawrence is destroyed.
• Big "SHUT UP!": In spirit. When Professor Membrane says no one's more excited than he is for the upcoming Peace Day celebration, someone in the audience shouts that he is. The professor pulls a Flash Step to point in the man's face and shout that it's, "NOT SCIENTIFICALLY POSSIBLE!" Quieting the audience member.
• Bittersweet Ending: How this movie ends, albeit leaning more on the sweet side. Dib is able to save the Earth from Zim and learn that his family does indeed love him, while the Universe is finally free from the Tallest and the Irken Armada’s tyranny. However, no one, including Dib’s father, believes that Zim is an alien, while Zim has deluded himself into thinking that he has beaten Dib, meaning that Zim will still be a menace to Dib with Dib still needing to expose Zim to the world, thus confirming that their feud is far from over.
• Book Ends: The first episode of the animated series had GIR sing a lovely song about doom. Here, in what essentially amounts to the Grand Finale, the defective robot sings a lovely song about peace instead.
• Boring, but Practical: Clembrane looks and acts nothing like the real Membrane. He is still one of the most effective inventions of Zim's ever simply because he is very strong and obsessively dedicated.
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: While waiting for the Tallest, Zim has his custom-built throne shoot out peanuts (courtesy of GIR getting the peanut and flame buttons mixed up), then flames, then it malfunctions and shoots out flaming peanuts.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: During the climax, when the Florpus has almost consumed Earth, the art style rapidly switches between different depictions of the characters, portraying them as robots, puppets, and more. One of these shifts is to the storyboard art for the scene.
• Brick Joke:
  • The pug who had been floating in space crash lands on top of Zim. GIR then relaunches it into space.
  • When Zim shows him the flight path of the Armada, Dib comments that the Tallest only seem to fly in straight lines. During the climax, this is the primary reason why the Tallest won't let the Massive be steered around Earth and the Florpus.
  • One of the experiments that show up during Zim's Failure Montage is a robotic leprechaun cat gnome. When Dib is chasing him at the climax, he uses the cat gnome to try and slow him down.
  • Membrane briefly monologues about how it's foolish to think sharks and humans can be friends. During GIR's Peace Day song, the once antagonistic sharks are joining hands (and fins) with children in loving harmony.
• Brother–Sister Team: Dib and Gaz team up to save their father and teleport the Earth back to where it belongs so all of humanity isn't sucked into the Florpus.
• Call-Back:
  • The series' Running Gag of people commenting Dib having an abnormally large head is brought up again when Gaz pointed out that's Dib's head on the TV screen is twice as large as his entire body.
  • In the episode "Mortos der Soulstealer", there's a scene where Dib, while standing on a sidewalk, encounters Zim and GIR, standing across the street. Dib calls out to him, but Zim can't hear him over the traffic noises (there were supposed to have been cars driving down the street, but the animators forgot to draw them in, so it's just sound) so it's just Dib yelling, "ZIM!" and Zim yelling back, "WHAT?" about four times. Dib calls out, "You won't get away with this!" to which Zim, having misheard, responds, "That's very nice of you!" This scene is repeated almost verbatim in the movie, where Dib is attempting to yell to Zim, "You won't get away with this," but he keeps getting cut off by Zim yelling, "WHAT?!" since he's on top of the skyscraper that is Membrane Labs HQ and can't seem to hear him.
    Zim: YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO SPEAK UP!
  • In the episode "The Girl Who Cried Gnome," Dib pays for ninja star cookies with the first thing that he finds in his pocket, which inexplicably turns out to be a ham. Even Dib has no idea why it was there. In the movie, when Dib pulls a ham from his pocket to deal with a situation, it's a ham that was heavily pointed out before. This being Invader Zim, however, the situation makes only slightly more sense.
  • The Tallest shows them being tortured in the form of a puppet show, calling back to the Probing Day scenes from "Walk for Your Lives". Another allusion to "Walk for Your Lives" is made in how the Tallest constantly overrule the sensible advice of their staff in the same way that Zim overruled the advice of his base's computer, Dib, and GIR in how to take care of the slowed-down explosion.
• The Cameo:
  • Dib and Zim’s classmates Keef, Melvin, Gretchen, Chunk, the Letter M, and Willy all cameo during the Peace Day celebration as children holding hands and singing to GIR's song.
  • Food Drone Bobby from the episode "Hobo 13" has one where Tallest Purple spits does a Spit Take with his soda directly into his face.
  • Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland makes several brief voice appearances, including as Professor Membrane's robot Foodio 3000 (a character from the comics) and the excited audience member that shouts "I AM!!!" at Membrane's Peace Day keynote.
• Canon Immigrant:
  • Foodio 3000 appears from the comics. According to Jhonen Vasquez, he was originally conceived as a character for the original series, but it was cancelled before he was written in.
  • GIR is also shown watching Floopsy Bloops Shmoopsy.
  • Moo-Ping 10, the space prison from Issue 34 and Issue 35, as well as the prison guard-type Gellaxis, appear in the latter half of the movie.
  • There was a mention and even a picture of Invader Jim (who was mentioned as a joke in the second issue of the comics).
• Cats Are Mean:
  • A cat disturbs the human-chain ring children are forced to make by holding hands. The police end up arresting it.
  • Zim sics a robotic cat upon Dib as an obstacle while Zim is running with Minimoose.
• Characterization Marches On:
  • While still much less of a Large Ham than Zim, Dib, GIR, and Membrane, Gaz isn't nearly as cold as she was in the original series, and is a lot more willing to spend time with Dib, as well as verbally telling him that she cares about him, and even expresses emotions like fear and happiness. This extends to Professor Membrane as well — Dib's family was condescending and neglectful at best and abusive at worst towards him in the series, but, as taking after the comics, are much nicer to him here, especially since the film is about the relationship between the three of them (four, if you include Clembrane).
  • The people of Earth on the whole are much less stupid, slobbish, and cruel than they are throughout the series. The movie sees them much more cooperative towards each other, though it's implied the conflict arises because Prof. Membrane is still the only person the public really listen to, which Zim is all too happy to use to his advantage.
• Chase Scene: One occurs during the climax as Dib chases after Zim to try and grab Minimoose and teleport Earth away from the Florpus' grasp before its too late, absolutely mowing down everything in his path, including smashing through a massive slab of stone without flinching. Zim tries to utilize everything at his disposal to evade, delay, or outright stop Dib in his tracks, including using his PAK legs to propel himself off the small planet they're running on, only for Dib to catch a ride on a huge bee alien and fly after him. Every planet and bit of debris seems to have its own gravitational pull, seeing as they both jump to and run on everything floating around them with ease.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • Lampshaded and subverted. When Gaz gives Dib a ham, a narrator (who hasn't been present up until this point) tells you to remember it, because it'll be of importance later. While it does return, it's purely used to hit Zim in the face once, then it's discarded.
  • Another, smaller one comes in the form of Membrane's artificial arms, which we're first shown a few minutes in, and become important during the Final Battle.
• The Chessmaster: Zim of all people has become this, with the film showcasing him at his most successful when it comes to scheming and plotting. He even manages to Take Over the World for about half the movie!
• Chewing the Scenery: Richard Steven Horvitz is clearly having the time of his life returning to play the titular character, with Zim being at his most bombastic and scene devouring. In fact, he's become so hammy at this point that he literally tears a hole in reality itself!
  Zim: GIR, all this evil is doing a number on my throat! Fetch me a sooooooothing LOZEEEENGE!
• Children Are Special: The Membracelets are designed to generate peace and joy by harnessing a special, chaotic energy found only in children, which Prof. Membrane dubs "childergy".
• Clone Angst: Mostly averted, as Clembrane happily believes he's the original for almost the entire film despite how obvious it is. It's only after seeing the original Membrane close up that shades of this come into play, eventually causing him to turn against Zim.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Gaz becomes this fully, after playing this role on occasion in previous media. Her primary role in the plot is to keep Dib focused, think of the sensible solutions to problems and ensure his melodrama doesn't prevent them from saving their father (and, less importantly to her, the world).
• Co-Dragons: Alongside GIR and Minimoose, Zim has Clembrane, a failed clone of Professor Membrane created by Zim to keep Dib and Gaz on eternal house arrest, and Lawrence, one of many robots that Zim built for his plan. In fact, of all the robots that were destroyed, Lawrence's destruction hit him the most.
• Comically Missing the Point: Zim believes that the Tallest aren't coming because he failed them... but this is only half-true. Zim believes he failed them because he forgot what PHASE TWO of his plan was, when in actuality, he failed them long, long before that and they had never intended to go anywhere near the Earth even before his "mission".
• Continuity Nod:
  • Tak's ship is still in Dib's possession, and becomes a plot point.
  • ZIM and Dib have a long-distance conversation again, with ZIM yelling "WHAT?!" at everything Dib says, like in "Mortos Der Soul Stealer".
  • Gaz now has a Game Slave 4. The most recent version she had on the cartoon was Game Slave 2. This mirrors the progress of its real world equivalent, Nintendo's Game Boy series, which was on its second iteration during the series original run, and by Enter the Florpus had received two more successors.
  • At one point, Zim shouts "Vamanos!" to GIR, likely as an allusion to the two of them having gotten stuck in Mexico at the end of "Walk of Doom".
• Contrived Coincidence: The Almighty Tallest just happen to be randomly talking about how they banished Zim mere moments before Zim calls them.
• Credits Gag: The doodles seen over the credits are the same drawings made by GIR on Zim's base earlier in the film.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Clembrane (named as such by Gaz because he's a clone of Professor Membrane) at first seems destined to be an utter failure, as he bears very little resemblance to Professor Membrane in both appearance and personality, and he is obsessed with pudding (a likely result of Zim thinking that Professor Membrane makes pudding for Dib and Gaz; Zim even initially discarded the clone primarily because he couldn't get him to make pudding the way he believes Dib loves). When Zim does decide to plant the clone however, he proves to be very effective at keeping Dib and Gaz from interfering, leaving Zim able to fulfill his master plan unobstructed... while literally being right next door to them. During the climax, Clembrane is able to evenly fight the real Professor Membrane (who had just proven to be a One-Man Army), and when he pulls a Heel–Face Turn, he proves instrumental in the Membrane family's victory against Zim.
• The Cuckoolander Was Right: It's going to be pretty hard for everyone to call Dib crazy now that they've literally seen aliens and narrowly averted planetary Armageddon with their own eyes. Then again, they were able to brush off the Mars incident from "Battle of the Planets," and the franchise seems to typically operate on Negative Continuity anyhow.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Professor Membrane obliterates the horde of Membrane Lab robots Zim sics on him and Dib near the end of the film.
• Death by Irony: The fate of the Almighty Tallest when they perform the titular action. Their final scene has them turned into puppet versions of themselves while burning in a hellish environment. Fans of the show might remember them ordering invaders pummeled for not presenting their attack plans through puppet shows.
• Decoy Protagonist: The film is ultimately about Dib. Though given his role as the Deuteragonist / Hero Antagonist of the series, that's not too much of a stretch. Notably, the full title of the movie as given at the end of the opening credits is Dib Membrane vs. Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus.
• Demoted to Extra: Ms. Bitters only makes a brief appearance in the art-shifted opening, presumably due to her voice actress Lucille Bliss passing away in 2012.
• Despair Event Horizon:
  • Zim falls into this once he realizes that the Tallest were never coming to Earth in the first place. This doesn't too last long, though.
  • Dib falls into this as well, when he and Gaz are in the jail cell in Moo-Ping 10. Again, this doesn't last long.
• Didn't See That Coming: Gaz has this reaction by admitting that she was wrong in a surprised tone when Zim's plan to take over the Earth doesn't blow up in his face like it usually does.
  • Ironically, the plan eventually ends up backfiring even more than usual, as Zim completely destroyed the Irken Armada by accident, without even realizing it.
• Didn't Think This Through: On both sides:
  • Dib, obsessed with the fact that Zim just disappeared without a trace, assumes that Zim is up to something and keeps an eye on his house 24/7. When Zim finally reappears, Dib is so out of shape (not to mention stuck in his chair due to his girth) that there is nothing he can do against Zim.
  • Zim, while knowing fully well that he can drive Dib mad and useless just for hiding for awhile, completely forgets to think up a proper Phase 2 for his plan.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Dib not only gets to come out on top but also gets long-awaited assurance that his family is there for him, and on top of that, the Tallest and the Irken Armada are pretty much a nonissue now.
• Easily Forgiven: Minimoose at the end — Zim initially blames him for his plan's failure, but quickly changes his mind.
• Elephant in the Living Room: Played for Laughs to a suicidal degree where despite the Irken fleet's navigator multiple times clearly pointing out the dangerous Florpus, the Tallest are much more scared and concerned of Zim and Earth being in the way. This continues even when the Earth is teleported back, leading the Tallest to happily celebrate while the fleet flies into the Florpus.
• Enemy Mine: Dib and Gaz convince Tak's ship's AI to work with them on the basis that while she may hate Dib, she hates Zim more.
• Epic Fail: After Zim orders GIR to attack the Membranes, he gets on a donkey with a sword and charges to battle... before getting swept away by a small gust of wind.
  Zim: You're terrible, GIR!
• Failed Attempt at Drama: When Dib explains to Membrane at the climax that Clembrane is an imperfect clone of him, Zim naturally makes a big deal about this apparent reveal, acting like Clembrane had actually fooled Dib into thinking that he was indeed Professor Membrane... and completely forgetting that he himself told Dib that Clembrane was a clone earlier in the film. Also Clembrane only looks like Membrane in that they're humanoid, have a similar outfit, and the same hair spike, so it wasn't hard to tell.
• Failure Montage: Zim miserably fails to retrace his steps and find out what PHASE TWO of his master plan was, which is only exacerbated by GIR trying to convince his master to order him a million pizzas instead of going with his evil plan.
• Final Battle: The entire Membrane family taking on Zim at the climax for control of Minimoose, who is key to undoing Zim's plan.
• Formerly Fit: Dib stayed in his chair and watched his monitors for any sign of Zim reappearing for an undetermined about of time. In said time, he had gotten seriously obese, stopped taking baths or showers, and allowed himself to become fused with his chair. One workout later, which includes getting seriously buff, he’s back to his regular self.
• Foreshadowing: In the scene where Dib comes up with the plan to reveal Zim as an alien on his dad's show, there is an easy-to-miss shot of the camera focusing on the Membracelet while Zim looks at it from the background, hinting him coming up with the idea to use the bracelets in his ultimate evil plan.
• Friendly Enemy: Dib is rather disappointed when Zim doesn't recognize him. He's also very uncomfortable to see him wailing on the floor and willingly giving himself up to Dib to be captured when it comes to light that the Tallest don't respect him, and Dib admits that he's in the same boat with his father.
• Gone Horribly Right: Clembrane's programming to believe he is the real Membrane causes him to turn on Zim shortly after Zim orders him to attack the Membranes.
• Gonk: Even with the film's grotesque art style, Dib's hideousness at the beginning stands out. He's fat, his eyes are bloodshot and encrusted with puss, his teeth are crooked, he has an overbite, and snot is perpetually dripping out of his nose.
• Grounded Forever: Zim mentions he created Clembrane to do this with Dib to prevent him from interfering. Later becomes a Brick Joke once Clembrane replaces the real Membrane and does it for real.
• Ham-to-Ham Combat: The Chase Scene that occurs during the climax might as well be dubbed as "Zim and Dib shouting at the top of their lungs at each other to see who is the bigger ham."
  • There's a very literal example when Zim (ham) gets smacked by Gaz with a ham.
• Happy Ending: Notably and surprisingly played straight for a kafka comedy cartoon. The Irken Armada and the Tallest are sucked into the Florpus, sparing the universe of their conquering. Meanwhile, Zim has deluded himself into believing that everything went exactly to plan, and Dib finally knows that his father is proud of him (even if he still does not believe in aliens).
• Heel–Face Turn: Clembrane grows truly attached to the Membrane family and turns on Zim. He even stays with them after the end of the story, seemingly for good.
• The Hermit: Dib became this over time after Zim had vanished, staying in his room all the time, before undergoing an intense Hard-Work Montage to get back in shape, where he quickly became too buff, but then toned it down so he got his old, normal body back.
• Hoist by His Own Petard:
  • Zim is ultimately betrayed by Clembrane due to the affection for Dib and Gaz that Zim programmed him with as part of his creation. He does, however, escape Clembrane's grasp off-screen, and the latter goes back to clinging onto Dib, Gaz and now Membrane.
  • The Tallest end up being sucked into the Florpus because they refused to deviate from flying in a straight line.
• Hypocritical Heartwarming: When Dib is insisting to Gaz that he's ruined everything by being tricked by Zim while the two of them are imprisoned in Moo-Ping 10, Gaz encourages him to keep going, and tells him that she only picks on him because she knows he can handle it.
  Gaz: You're my brother, man.
• I Can't Hear You: Once Dib realizes Zim is broadcasting the bracelet outside his house, it leads to a conversation where Zim (who is on the top floor of a skyscraper) either pretends to or is genuinely unable to hear what Dib is shouting at him.
• Ignored Expert: The pilot who warns the Tallest multiple times about the Florpus. First they're more concerned about Earth and Zim. Then when he suggests going around both Earth and the anomaly they refuse to do anything but go in a straight line. Even after the Earth teleports back to where it was they still refuse to change course and end up flying into the Florpus.
• Ignored Epiphany: At some point during his grand-scale plan to gain the favor of the Tallest (after finding out they were never planning to come to Earth), Zim appears to have forgotten what he was trying to accomplish or why such a plan was needed in the first place, as he ultimately reverts to his normal "mission" and checks in with the Tallest per usual.
• Imagine Spot: Zim has one where he imagines himself being punished by the Tallest and Control Brains for failing to conquer Earth. First his PAK is reprogrammed so he is reassigned as nothing, then a giant monster eats him.
• I Meant to Do That: Zim's entire plan throughout the movie was, of course, geared toward stealing a random knickknack from Dib's house. Victory!
• "Inescapable" Prison Easily Escaped: It really doesn't take much for Tak's ship to break the Membrane family out of Moo-Ping 10. Meanwhile, the rest of the prisoners just stand idly by the new hole in the wall and happily watch them fly away.
• Internal Reveal: Zim finally finds out that the Tallest had no plans to come to Earth, though he apparently still has no idea that his "mission" is actually an exile.
• Ironic Echo Cut: When Zim rejoices his victory in having teleported Earth to where the Tallest is heading, we get this bit:
  Zim: The Tallest will be so happy!
  Tallest: (groaning) We're so unhappy!
• I Surrender, Suckers: Though Zim actually was giving up at first, after learning about the Membracelets from both Dib and Professor Membrane's commercial for them, he quietly and convincingly appears to continue his surrender to Dib so that he can take over the bracelets of Professor Membrane and use them for his evil plan.
• Kamehame Hadoken: Professor Membrane's robotic arms can fire a Wave-Motion Gun in this way.
• Kick the Dog: When Clembrane gets ahold of Minimoose in the climax, Zim orders him to return Minimoose and destroy the Membranes. But since he was programmed to view the Membranes as his family, and had grown attached to them, his loyalties are conflicted. Zim angrily says he knew Clembrane would fail him, and that he couldn't even make pudding the right way. That last one drove Clembrane to tears.
• Killer Rabbit: Minimoose is the only being in the universe with the power to harness the dark energy of space to activate the space-phasing alien horror blob Zim attached to the Membracelets, enabling Zim to teleport the Earth and creating the Florpus hole in the process.
• Kindness Ball: When Dib reaches the Despair Event Horizon at Moo-Ping 10 and demands that Gaz just give him her "I told you so" like usual, Gaz tries to cheer him up for once, making a point that she only mocks and insults him because she knows he could take it.
• Kubrick Stare: Zim pulls one off — while sitting in a toilet, no less — in an early nod to A Clockwork Orange.
• Laser-Guided Karma: The Tallest (and the entire Irken Armada surrounding The Massive) after destroying and enslaving hundreds of planets throughout the series, are sucked into the Florpus and are now turned into puppets while burning in some hell-like dimension, engulfed in fire and perpetually screaming.
• Laugh with Me!: The flashback to Zim "hiding" (i.e. stuck) in the toilet.
  Zim: Computer, laugh with me!
  Computer: I don't want to.
• Left the Background Music On: During Dib's workout montage, it's shown the background music is being provided by Gaz, wailing away on electric guitar.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Dib has certainly been less than pleased with Zim before, but when it looks as though Zim's plan has resulted in Gaz and Professor Membrane getting killed? The kid gloves come right off.
  Dib: YOU. GIVE ME THE MOOSE.
  (GIR screams and shoves Minimoose off on Zim, who screams and takes off running.)
• Lighter and Softer: Make no mistake, the rapid-fire Black Comedy and adult jokes are still there, but it doesn't get as disturbing and grotesque with it as the original series, and instead of leaning completely towards the cynical end of the scale, it sits somewhere in the middle. The art and character designs are also rounder and more polished looking, instead of the sharp, jagged edges seen in the original show, and the colour schemes are brighter. Not to mention that the ending is actually pretty happy, and there are several moments of the Membrane family being genuinely loving towards each other, the most notable being where Professor Membrane tells Dib that he doesn't need to try to prove himself to make him proud, because he's already always proud of him. But don't worry, it's still recognizably the same show.
• Long-Runner Tech Marches On:
  • Zim utilizes a device that looks suspiciously like a typical smartphone to showcase phase one of his Evil Plan. Prof. Membrane also mentions apps as one of the Membracelet's features.
  • Further lampshaded by Dib offhandedly mentioning that no one reads newspapers anymore.
  • Gaz now has a Game Slave 4, based on the PlayStation 4, an update of the PS 2 relationship.
• MacGuffin: Minimoose becomes this during the climax, as he's the key to undoing Zim's plan.
• Made of Iron: The force and speed of the pod that Dib crash-lands onto Earth in is so powerful that it becomes a meteor and nearly burns up on reentry, and once it hits ground, explodes so massively that it knocks Zim and GIR out of their ginormous throne. So what does Dib do? Claws himself out of the massive crater, covered in rubble. Zim is absolutely gobsmacked, and Dib doesn't hesitate to give chase as soon as Zim makes a break for it, and once Zim encounters a stone debris wall blocking his path, he just jumps over it. What does Dib do? Smash through it with sheer force. He chases Zim across planets and floating rubble, and eventually Zim deploys Leprechaun Cat to attack him, creating yet another explosion. What does Dib do? Literally hits the ground running the second the blast sends him flying back to Earth. It takes a robot army dog-piling on him to finally stop his pursuit. Zim immediately thinks he's won, but then Professor Membrane comes crashing back down to Earth, recovers Dib from the destroyed dogpile, and fires a Wave-Motion Gun from his robot arms... so what happens to Dib now? Aside from a heart-felt reunion with his dad, Dib, upon being safely lowered to the ground, is not only able to walk, but join his father in fighting the robots like he didn't just go through the kind of physical trauma that should have shattered every bone in his body five times over.
• Missing Steps Plan: Phase One of Zim's latest scheme was to hide in his toilet. Phase Three was to Take Over the World. As for PHASE TWO...Zim has no idea what the hell it was supposed to be and spends a good chunk of the movie struggling to jog his memory.
• Most Definitely Not a Villain: The news broadcast of Zim's bracelets constantly uses the disclaimer that he isn't an alien.
• Mundane Made Awesome: A number of scenes were made overly dramatic for laughs.
  • During the initial PHASE TWO of Zim's plan, he goes through a massive spree of Poke the Poodle incidents, which both Zim and Dib treat as purest evil.
  • Remember the ham Gaz gave Dib? He tosses it to her, and she makes a massive scene that makes it seem like it's the Sword of Plot Advancement, then just chucks it at Zim's head.
• My Friends... and Zoidberg: As Zim watches his army of robot minions getting destroyed.
  Zim: Spencer! Devon! Maria! LAWRENCE! NOOOO! GIR, avenge your robot brothers, and Maria!
• Mythology Gag:
  • There are a few references to the comic series, despite taking place in separate continuities:
    • The first ten minutes of the movie, from Gaz trying to get Dib to come to dinner to Dib and Zim's conversation after the latter has returned, is almost directly lifted from the first issue.
    • Zim mocking Dib by saying that an Irken would never become a chair. In the 25th issue of the comic, Zim literally has to become a chair in order to chase after a fanboy who stole his body.
    • Floopsy Bloops Smoopsy, a Show Within a Show from Issue 20, appears on Zim's TV before he contacts the Tallest.
    • The brief gag of the Tallest confusing Zim with another Invader named Jim is lifted from the second issue, though the reason for them discussing Zim is different; the film has Purple randomly bring him up to Red, while the comics had Zim's transmission be the catalyst for them remembering his existence.
    • Moo-Ping 10, a Private Profit Prison Zim uses in the comics, is used by him again in the movie as where he imprisons Professor Membrane.
  • The imagined scene where the Tallest are stripping Zim of his rank seems to be based on the un-produced "The Trial" script.
  • Dib's food cannon from the series' non-canon pilot episode can be glimpsed in his family's garage.
  • One of the Art Shifts seen when Earth enters the Florpus depicts Zim, Dib and GIR in their original designs from the show, rather then their softer, brighter ETF designs.
• Negative Space Wedgie: The Florpus, a quantum singularity-like spacial anomaly that overlaps alternate realities with anything sucked into it, created as a by-product of the Earth's teleportation through Zim's tampered membracelets.
• Nice Guy: The bee alien who helps Dib reach Zim during the chase to acquire Minimoose is probably the most altruistic and helpful individual in the entire franchise, since Dib was a total stranger and they most likely had no idea what was going on.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Zim had truly given up after learning the Tallest had no plans to come anywhere near Earth, but Dib (and a convenient broadcast) talking about the Membracelet gave Zim the idea for his next evil plan.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Zim's actions ultimately (and inadvertently) trap the entirety of the Irken Armada in the Florpus, possibly forever, saving and liberating all worlds from their conquest.
• Noodle Incident: Professor Membrane losing his arms to sharks.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: Zim has his moments in the series where he shows himself to be intentionally or unintentionally dangerous and he combines both here. After spending an unspecified amount of time on the toilet and cycling through a series of unimpressive schemes, Zim successfully tricks Dib into getting him into Professor Membrane's presentation, takes control of Membrane Labs, launches Earth into the path of the Massive, and traps Gaz and Dib, the only ones who can stop him. He also accidentally opens up a Florpus hole that threatens to destroy Earth and planets around it. Even Gaz, who dismissed Zim's schemes as doomed to failure, admits that he's a danger this time around.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Dib sees his own struggle to get his father to recognize him in Zim's hapless quest to gain the approval of the Tallest.
• Only Sane Man: The one Irken navigator aboard the Tallest’s Massive who points out that they could easily avoid Earth and the Florpus by simply turning the armada in a different direction, which the Tallest refuse to allow.
• Opening Narration: Dib gives this, explaining the premise of the series and the current situation.
  "I used to look up at space with hope and wonder in my eyes. Until space looked back. Invader Zim: evil alien soldier of the Irken Empire. Sent by his diabolical masters, the Almighty Tallest, to infiltrate Earth and prepare it for the coming invasion. Disguised as one of us, he moved into my neighborhood, he went to my school, and with the help of his vile mechanical servants, plotted to destroy everything we have. Everything we are. And then... he vanished. My name is Dib Membrane. I'm 12-years-old, and I'm all that stands between Zim and the annihilation of our world."
• Opportunistic Bastard: Zim was genuinely in a deep depression when he realized that the Tallest weren't coming, but upon learning about the Membracelets, he leapt at the chance to hijack them for a new plan, which turns out to be the best one he ever had.
  • Dib as well. He found Zim while he was in his depression and, despite having a moment of pity for his enemy, had all intentions of handing Zim over to his father to what could only be assumed to be a life of imprisonment and experimentation.] Though it must be mentioned that at least Dib has the excuse of possibly still seeing Zim as a threat which, if that was the case, he'd been correct.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Gaz admits that even ''she'' can't torment Dib when he's in a slump.
• Overly Long Gag:
  • Dib trying to shout at Zim, only for Zim to be unable to hear him due to the distance. This goes on for a solid minute.
  Dib: You won't get away with-
  Zim: What?!
  • GIR at the end of the movie, asking "Did we win?" over and over again.
• Papa Wolf: Even when he thought it was all a giant hallucination, Professor Membrane went completely One-Man Army on Zim's robots to protect Dib and Gaz. Hell if he was letting anything touch his kids.
• Planetary Relocation: Zim, learning Earth isn't anywhere near the Tallest's path of conquest, eventually teleports the planet into their path to prove himself to them.
• Poke the Poodle: Zim at the beginning wreaks havoc by kicking down trash cans, tampering with other people's mail and reading a newspaper he didn't subscribe to. Minimoose also gets in on this, stealing a pizza sticker from Poonchy's mom's car, which Poonchy treats as absolutely horrible. GIR subverts this when he too gets in on the mayhem... by swallowing a pug whole and then LAUNCHING SAID PUG INTO SPACE!!!
  • In the final scene Zim tries to save face by stealing an ornament from the Membranes' living room and claiming that was the goal of his plan all along.
• Powered by a Forsaken Child: Subverted. The Membracelets harness energy found only in children. That said, they don't actually harm the children. Double Subverted when Zim uses them for his Evil Plan.
• Prosthetic Limb Reveal: Professor Membrane is revealed to have robotic arms, having lost his real ones to sharks.
• Race Lift: Dib, Gaz, and Professor Membrane all have a darker skin tone, to make their Mexican heritage more clear.
• Riddle for the Ages:
  • What exactly was PHASE TWO of Zim's plan, if indeed there was one at all? The plan Zim ends up enacting in the movie proper was not PHASE TWO, but rather something he improvised upon learning about the Membracelet during his Villainous BSoD; neither Zim nor the audience ever finds out what he was originally planning to do after making Dib into a "sad chair".
  • In the comics, of course, Zim legitimately has a Phase Two that he carries out without delay. Was Zim forgetting the plan the one branching point between two continuities, or did he have something else in mind in the film? The world may never know for sure.
• Running Gag:
  • Clembrane's obsession with pudding.
  • Tak's ship repeatedly mentioning the butts of the people riding her and how much she hates them.
  Dib: What's with you and butts?
• Sarcasm Mode:
  Dib: Gaz, I'm so sorry! Zim tricked me, I didn't mean for any—
  Gaz: Whaaat? You didn't mean to ruin Dad's big show? Get him kidnapped and hand Zim the keys to Membrane Labs? While you and I are held prisoner by something that looks like Dad having an allergic reaction to radioactive beeeees?
• Series Continuity Error:
  • Tak's ship was fixed in the Christmas Episode, but here it's established Dib hasn't been able to get the ship repaired since it landed in his yard. Also, the ship still has its AI copy of Tak's mind, despite Dib overwriting it in "Dibship Rising". To be fair, the latter was also present in the comics; the implication is he restored the copy of Tak after the events of "Dibship Rising."
  • Professor Membrane's shorter sleeves in the TV show clearly showed his bare arms were organic, not the robotic arms that the movie reveals he's had since he was a child. Though he could have been using different prosthetics then.
  • Zim has a Villainous BSoD after realizing that the Earth is nowhere near the Irken Armada's flight path. This despite "Backseat Drivers From Beyond the Stars" showing that he's tracked their path close enough to know exactly when they're closer to Earth than they ever had been before. Although, considering what happened last time, the rest of the Irken Armada may have made it FAR more difficult for Zim to track them.
• Series Fauxnale: It was initially thought this was the Series Finale, until Word of God confirmed that it wasn't. But given that it does resolve a lot of storylines, such as the Irken Armada and The Tallest pretty much getting destroyed by the Florpus, it's easy to confuse it for one.
• Shout-Out:
  • The dramatic Animesque prologue sequence, complete with the Dib Membrane vs. Invader Zim title cards, resembles the introduction of Army of Darkness, with the art style looking like JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
    • Zim's wiry, toothy design in this sequence is very obviously the XCOM 2 Sectoid with antennae stuck on.
  • The Kubrick Stare Zim gives while hiding in the toilet is meant as a Homage to Alex's famous example from A Clockwork Orange.
  • The design of Zim's walking mechanical throne is reminiscent of the tower of Dr. Zalost from Courage the Cowardly Dog.
  • Professor Membrane’s mechanical arm blasts at Zim’s robots look an awful lot like the Kamehameha.
  • Zim tries to order GIR to enter the fight and battle the Membrane family in the film's climax. GIR promptly rides into battle on a tiny donkey while brandishing a sword.
  • Perhaps this is unintentional, but the way Zim screams Lawrence sounds eerily familiar. Noticeably, Richard Horvitz was Zoni.
• Skewed Priorities: Despite being warned multiple times to divert their course from the Florpus, the Tallest decide to blow up the Earth just to finally be rid of Zim, which ends up horribly backfiring on them when they're sucked into the Florpus and are now suffering for their ignorance.
• The Smurfette Principle: Of all of Zim's named robots, only one was female, Maria.
• Space Whale: Several can be seen swimming through the cosmos around the newly teleported Earth. One also serves as an unfortunate hindrance later on when it accidentally swats Tak's Ship, seemingly killing Gaz and sending both Dib and Professor Membrane hurtling to Earth at terminal velocity.
• Space "X": Zim sends Professor Membrane to Moo-Ping 10, which he helpfully defines as "SPAAAAAAAAAAAAACE PRISOOOOOOOOOOOON!"
• Spit Take: Purple has an epic one when Zim first calls the Tallest and reveals he's alive. He spits a stream of soda into Red's face, pauses to eat a doughnut, and then spits another stream of soda into a service drone's face and keeps going until it pushes them off the platform they're on. And he didn't have a single sip of drink before or during this epic spit take!
• Spot the Thread: Parodied and mixed with Insane Troll Logic when Dib is desperately chasing down Zim during the Final Battle and they have this delightful exchange:
  Zim: YOU'RE UGLY WHEN YOU LIE, DIB!
  Dib: I'M NOT LYING!
  Zim: THEN WHY ARE YOU UGLY?!?!
• Stating the Simple Solution: One of the pilots on the Massive tells the Tallest they could just make a small turn to avoid the Earth and the Florpus after Zim puts them both in their path. The Tallest complain that would be too much work (and uncool) and insist on continuing in a straight line.
• Status Quo Is God: Zig-zagged. While the Irken fleet is potentially forever trapped in the Florpus, freeing the entire universe from its control in the process, Zim is oblivious to this fact and is still attempting to conquer Earth. Similarly, despite everything that happened and Dib having his family's love for him affirmed, Professor Membrane still doesn't believe that aliens exist, so Dib still has the incentive to continue trying to out Zim to the world. The universe may be saved, but Zim and Dib's rivalry isn't anywhere close to ending.
• The Stinger: The blasted-off pug that was re-launched at the end of the film is still drifting in space.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: As ruthless and cold as it is, Dib (after a second of Sympathy for the Devil) planning on subjecting a broken Zim to a life of horrific imprisonment/experimentation and Zim using Dib's desire to impress his father as a stepping stone for his latest scheme is perfectly in line for what enemies of their caliber would do to each other.
• Sympathy for the Devil: Dib feels a bit of this for Zim when he sees him in a state of depression after learning that the Tallest are no where close to earth, especially since he can relate to feeling like his father-figure(s) aren't proud of him, since Professor Membrane doesn't believe in aliens or the paranormal and tries to coax Dib into "real science."
• Threatening Shark:
  • The human chain of children forming the hand-held ring meets a bunch of sharks in the seas. But when GIR starts singing "Peace is Nice", the sharks join in and add to the chain.
  • All but stated from Prof. Membrane's childhood experience with sharks that resulted in his prosthetics.
• Throw the Dog a Bone:
  • The movie is a big one for Dib. Not only does he learn that his sister and father really do love him, but he manages to free the Earth from Zim after he conquers it. For once, he gets an undeniably happy ending.
  • It's also one for Zim himself since it allows the alien to (temporarily) take over the world, like he always intended.
• Title Drop: Dib does this twice, once during the opening narration as he refers to ZIM as "Invader Zim," and a second time at the end, where he tells his dad they're "entering the Florpus."
• Too Dumb to Live: The Tallest have the Massive fly in only a straight line. They refuse to make even a small turn to avoid the Earth and the Florpus, even going so far as to mock the pilot who recommended doing so. This ends up getting them and the Massive sucked into the Florpus and trapped in a burning hell-like dimension, where they're shown constantly screaming.
• Training Montage: Dib has one where he works out and exercises to lose all the excess weight he gained from sitting too long (Gaz assists him in the process). Dib gets really buff and muscular, but somehow loses it all and is reduced back to his usual self in the next scene. It also intertwines with Zim's Failure Montage trying to remember what PHASE TWO of his plan was.
• Unexplained Accent: For some reason, Dib's impression of his dad includes a goofy German accent that makes him sound like Dr. Scratchansniff or Professor Von Schlemmer.
  Gaz: (muttering) That's the worst Dad impression ever.
• Villainous BSoD: Zim falls into this when he discovers that the Irken Armada is traveling nowhere close to Earth. He snaps out of it when he learns from Dib about the Membracelet, giving Zim the idea for his next evil plan.
• Visual Pun: Gaz stuffs a big ham into Dib's mouth at one point in the film, to the point where Dib's face is barely visible. In other words, Dib looks like a Large Ham.
• Weirdness Censor: Zim's neighbor realizes that he's an alien after seeing him remove his toupee and contacts, then forgets again as soon as the disguise goes back on. He also doesn't notice as the "Sneaky!" base is sucking the life out of him.
• Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Bloaty vomits a whole pizza during his commercial.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: During the climax, Dib finally hears Professor Membrane say he's always been proud of Dib, even if he believes everything that happened after he was kidnapped, including being taken to Moo-Ping 10, fighting the robot army, and going through the Florpus, was all a hallucination. Dib seems to be content with the fact that his dad still holds fast to his scientific worldview, now that he knows that he's always had his love.
• Wham Episode: The plot is kicked off by Zim discovering the Irken Armada's route comes nowhere close to Earth, realizing all his plans for world conquest were for naught. Of course, Zim being Zim, he "rationalizes" this is some kind of mistake and prepares a grand plan that brings him possibly the closest he ever has to total victory (managing to technically Take Over the World and maintain his rule for a grand total of 2 days), and by the end of the story the Irken fleet is trapped in the Florpus.
• Wham Line:
  • Just when it looks like Zim's plan is going to go out the way it usually does, this exchange happens.
    Dib: (smugly) Ha! Nothing happened, Zim!
    Zim: (smirking) Of course nothing happened, human. It's not enough to simply attach a space-phasing horror blob to these bracelets!
    Dib: (visibly deflates) ...Space... phasing?
  • Professor Membrane delivers one as Dib is holding onto his hand to keep him from flying off the escape pod into the void of Earth's atmosphere as they come in for a fiery landing.
    Dib: I'll prove everything to you. You'll be proud of me!
    Professor Membrane: Son, you don't have to prove anything. I'm always proud of you.
• What Measure Is a Mook?: Amusingly averted, as Zim apparently named all of his new Mecha-Mooks, and is horrified when they're destroyed, especially Lawrence.
• What You Are in the Dark: Professor Membrane spends the back half of the movie convinced he's in a dream or hallucination and acts without a care as a result, casually laughing as he's in a pod that's entering Earth's atmosphere at terminal velocity. However, when Dib, who he assumes is part of this dream, shouts that he wants to save the world to make Membrane proud, he tells Dib he's always been proud of him without hesitation.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: The Tallest have finally had enough of Zim. They tried sending him off on a fake mission hoping he'd die on a route to nowhere. They tried having him killed during boot camp. They've done everything they could barring outright trying to kill him themselves without success, and now he's forced himself directly in front of the Massive's flight path, they've decided they've had enough with being discreet and are just going to outright kill him, by destroying Earth and him along with it.
• With Catlike Tread: When the base AI needs to steal more power from the surroundings, Zim tells it to do so sneakily. It then proceeds to launch cables from the base throughout the neighborhood, draining power from across the city, all while shouting "SNEAAAKY!" over and over again.
• World of Ham: Like with the original series, pretty much every character has their moment in this film where they get to Chew The Scenery like nobody's business.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Played with. Zim didn't intend to manipulate Dib at first since his Villainous BSoD was real and a clear case of O.O.C. Is Serious Business. He was just lucky enough to have his TV broadcast the Membracelet's capabilities while Dib spouted his self-absorbed plans to hijack his father's presentation to reveal Zim to the world, and Zim developed his new plan. From that point on, he just had to keep up appearances until the right time.
• Wrong Assumption: When Clembrane successfully keeps Dib from stopping PHASE TWO of Zim's plan, Gaz thinks he's exaggerating the severity of the situation and that Zim's plan will fail on its own like usual. When he successfully teleports the Earth into the Massive's flight path, Gaz admits she was wrong this time. Admittedly, she'd normally be right...
• "You!" Exclamation: Dib, when confronting Zim at the climax.
  Dib: YOU. GIVE ME THE MOOSE.

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