Dib (Invader Zim)
From Scratchpad
Dib is a fictional character from the Nickelodeon animated television series, Invader Zim. He is Zim's rival and is highly unpopular at school (where he shares a class with Zim) and at home for his broken record obsession with the paranormal, aliens, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and other paranormal phenomena. 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. He is voiced by Andy Berman.
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[edit] 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 cancelled, a potential storyline might have included Dib discovering he was an artificial creation of Professor Membrane's making.
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. Dib is 11 years old as stated by Jhonen Vasquez
[edit] Personality
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 his father, Professor Membrane in fact to many people he is nothing more than a crazy nutjob. 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 good person, Dib can be, however, extremely talky and annoying, explaining himself constantly, which frustrates his sister Gaz to no end. When confronted with versions of himself (such as in Future Dib and Dibship Rising) he can be aware of this.
[edit] Dib's Dream
Not surprisingly, Dib dreams of becoming a paranormal investigator when he grows up. He seems to regard this field as a legitimate one, though most people he knows do not; 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)
Apart from his sister, Dib is the only child at the "Skool" who realizes that Zim is an alien, and his sister doesn't seem to care. He is a member of the "Swollen Eyeball Network" conspiracy theory group, where he is known as Agent Mothman (possibly a reference to the Mothman of West Virginian folklore). Prior to his discovery of Zim, Dib was already heavily involved in the paranormal, and people often throw his earlier ideas of 'ninja ghosts' and 'finding bigfoot in his garage' (where he was using the belt sander) back in his face when he asks for help.
[edit] Appearance
Dib's hair is pulled back in a scythe-like manner, and he is never seen without his trademark trench coat (except in "Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy" when Zim sees Dib's past). A running gag in the show is the fact that everyone insults Dib for his supposedly-large head (though his head is more or less equal in proportions to everybody else). This joke was started by Gir in the episode Door-to-Door, and has occurred in almost every half an hour episode since. Dib has the same T-shirt as Squee, a character from Johny the Homicidal Maniac, also created by Jhonen Vasquez.
[edit] Trivia
- It is thought that his mother was killed in a lab accident, and his "father" preserved her remains in a jar in his labs, but hasn't been proven yet. If Dib was created like Irkens were (cloning-like process), he was then he wouldn't have a mother at all. Though since Gaz seems to fit in with everyone (despite wanting to be away from everyone) this might be true but is just her mother.
- Dib's favorite TV show is Mysterious Mysteries. Once while on this show he ended up in a straight jacket.
- The style used to draw Dib went through a major design change known as God Save the Dib.
- Many episodes end with Dib screaming.
- He usually loses his battles. Before the 7th or so script, his profile on Nick.com said he was never able to win.
- A misconseption is that at the end of Future Dib, Dib is shown old, when it may just be he'd been there for a month, as evidenced by the fact that his hair is still black. However, the entire story of Dib's life (including the shoe aliens) was a simulation created by Zim to see if Dib threw the muffin at him.
- In Japan he is voiced by Ayumi Kida (who voices Dexter from The Japenese Dub of Dexter's Laboratory).
- In The Most Horrible Short Ever he is voiced by Invader Flobee.
- Dib in the past looks like his head is much bigger than Dib in the present.
- In the pilot, Dib's hair droops when he is scared of Ms. Bitters.
