History Tearjerker / InvaderZim

* Gaz. Despite being a cynical and sadistic little girl, she is a growing pre-teen with emotional issues. [[PerpetualFrowner She rarely smiles]], she doesn't seem to have any friends and she is implied to suffer from depression. It is possible that her behavior is due to Membrane neglecting her and her brother (see details below) or the fact that she lives in a CrapsackWorld. In fact, No one, not even Dib or her dad, seems to bother asking her what is upsetting her. Eric Trueheart, one of the writers for the show, has even [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] this:

-->'''Eric''': I always assumed that deep down Gaz's attitude was a coping mechanism for messed-up her home life really was. Absent dad, crazy brother, [[MissingMom mysteriously unmentioned mother]], etc. I don't know if anyone else thought this way. Gaz's character could walk a line between horrible and sympathetic, so you had to be careful not to fall too hard on the horrible side.

* The ending. Ok, Dib deserved some punishment for using Gaz as a test rat for his spell drive (good intentions or not), but not only tricking Dib into believing she was in danger when she obviously was not but also forcing him to clean up Shadow-Hog dookie ''with his head'' while he's crying for forgiveness? Not to mention all the horrific (and very graphic) death threats and beatings that Dib took from her while he was trying to help her? No wonder Gaz has a bit of a BaseBreakingCharacter status.

[[folder:Unfinished Episodes]]

[[folder:General]]

* "The Sad, Sad Tale of Chickenfoot", where Chickenfoot talks about his past life with Dib where he was a normal man named Chewie Rodriguez until an accident occurred when the microwave was splashed with water while Chewie was wearing the suit and cooking chicken in a microwave, generating an explosion that "created an unholy fusion of man and chicken", causing him [[GoMadFromTheRevelation go insane]] and [[DespairEventHorizon live all alone]] in an apartment with assorted Chicky Licky toys that he calls his "[[CompanionCube friends]]".
* "Bad, Bad, Rubber Piggy" doubles as both horror and TearJerker worthy because of what Zim does to poor Dib by crippling him horribly by tossing rubber pigs into Dib's past through a time machine, replacing seemingly random objects in ways that cause Dib to have horrible accidents, progressively crippling Dib to the point that he almost dies.
** GIR's reaction to Zim using his rubber piggies for this is a bit of minor example
--> "WHYYYYYYY?!? MY PIGGIE!!! I LOVEDED YOU, PIGGIE!! I LOVEDED YOOOU!!!!"
* "Bloaty's Pizza Hog", Gaz yells at Dib for going off to fight Zim because she "just wants to go out to eat with dad." Considering the [[ParentalNeglect situation]], this certainly counts.
-->'''Dib:''' Can't you just go there to eat tomorrow?
-->'''Gaz:''' ...You just don't get it, do you?
** Bloaty. The poor man is completely miserable, forced to do a menial job and gorge himself on pizza.
* Zim's encounter with the adorable blob experiment in "Abducted." It's kept in an isolated room of a spaceship, who hopes someone will rescue it... only to have ZIM [[KickTheDog nonchalantly leave]]? The poor creature is left to cry softly...
* Officer Squidman telling Zim IHaveAFamily is a lot sadder if taken at face value rather than for the absurdity that it is. Thanks to Zim, he'll never see them again because he ''doesn't remember them''.
** Reinforced that he has children, but [[MissingMom not a wife]]. What became of his kids?

* Dib finding out Dwicky's been lying to him in "Vindicated!" When you see how he joyfully and rather innocently reacts to someone extending a measure of kindness and tolerance towards him, it starts to kind of hit you just how ridiculously YOUNG the poor kid is, and when his "ally" is taken from him it becomes almost impossible not to see just how thankless and lonely a life he lives in trying to save his own people from extinction.
-->'''Dib''': You don't believe me! You... ''(builds towards rage, then regresses to pleading, and winds up just staring at the ground in defeat)'' I thought you were different.\\
'''Dwicky''': Look, I know you ''think'' I lied, and I--I did, but I was only trying to help.\\
'''Dib''' ''(bitter)'': Isn't this just great?! While you waste my time, Earth gets one step closer to being taken over! '''That's''' my problem right there! My '''problem''' is that the human race seems to '''want''' to be destroyed!
** Dib going into a breakdown after Dwicky leaves with the aliens and Zim rubs it in (AND takes the super weapons that Dib unwittingly helped him acquire) is just the icing on this cake.

* The ending of "Gaz: Taster of Pork". Ok, Dib deserved some punishment for using Gaz as a test rat for his spell drive (good intentions or not), but not only tricking Dib into believing she was in danger when she obviously was not but also forcing him to clean up Shadow-Hog dookie ''with his head'' while he's crying for forgiveness? Not to mention all the horrific (and very graphic) death threats and beatings that Dib took from her while he was trying to help her? No wonder Gaz has a bit of a BaseBreakingCharacter status.
** Well, there was also the horrible experiments that Membrane most likely did to her during her quarantine. It makes it worse knowing that her dad is the only person she has/shows any value for... and since it kind of was Dib's fault and she already has A LOT of disdain for him...
** Dib taking the punishment of the Shadow-Hog to save his sister. He's genuinely crying at the end and feeling guilty...[[UngratefulBastard and yet Gaz ignores this completely and leaves him to his fate.]]
* The intro of "The Frycook What Came from All That Space" marks an especially saddening moment for Dib. After spending possibly minutes to hours attempting to explain to his classmates that Zim is an alien and that they do exist, the kids continuously mock him and cause him to have a momentary mental breakdown in front of the entire class. After cooling down, he tries again only to have a large and imposing alien (alter revealed to be another Irken) kidnap Zim interrupt him while stating it came from outer space. Dib tries to use this as evidence to his statements about aliens only for bird poop to fall on his shoulder from the hole in the roof that the alien created. The kids totally ignore the roof and alien and simply start to laugh at Dib for having been pooped on by a bird. Cue a single tear from a heartbroken and embarrassed Dib.
* Zim's humiliating duties on Foodcourtia (from the same episode) are funny at first, but become genuinely depressing after he has a complete breakdown and begins weeping after being forced to dance in a mascot costume filled with boiling oil.
* The ending of "Tak: The Hideous New Girl" has a moment of genuine reflection and realisation on Zim's behalf of the fact that he consistently fails the Tallest and that they don't like him at all. It's rare to see him with any sort of self-awareness, so seeing his delusions and facade slip a little to reveal some shame implies that he might know that they hate him and still wants them to be proud of him anyway.
* "Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom": Dib enjoys a life of many achievements in technology and the humanities, and defeats the Irkens in battle forcing them to surrender...until it [[YankTheDogsChain turns out]] that [[LotusEaterMachine it was all a simulation]] ran by Zim. Why? ''[[DisproportionateRetribution Because he wanted to know who threw a muffin at him in class.]]'' Zim could've just interrogated Dib in a more straightforward manner, but he wanted to twist the knife more by making Dib believe his wildest dreams were coming through before tricking him into admitting it.
* "Career Day": Dib gets matched up with Bill, a paranormal investigator; sounds like the match made in heaven, right? Except Bill believes in everything ''but'' the existence of aliens, dismissing the Galactic Equinox molt as hogwash. Just to rub salt in the wound, Bill believes Count Cocofang, a cereal box mascot, is real, and chases after the poor man dressed as Cocofang while Dib tries ''desperately'' to get him to look at the restaurant where [[BodyHorror Zim is molting through the doors and windows]], without any luck. The molt comes and goes, the only hint of evidence being the completely-destroyed restaurant, and Dib loses his chance to not only expose Zim as an alien but to do so to someone who he thought would be interested in the subject!
* "A Room With a Moose" really shows how much Dib is disliked by his classmates, with them constantly glaring at and insulting him. Dib actually wonders if they're worth saving, and when he does manage to, it's not because they're listening to him, it's because they all just want to sit away from him.
* "Voting of the Doomed" also shows how unpopular Dib is. When he's feeding Willy lines for his campaign and gets him to request that Dib be treated with respect, it proves so unpopular that he has to quickly change tracks in order to get Willy popular again. Worse, Zim -- who also isn't liked by the other students -- has no problem winning them over.
* When the Santa suit sucks up Zim completely in ”The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever", he sounds like that he lost all hope. When he curls into a [[TroubledFetalPosition fetal position]], he looked like he hoped that everything was [[AllJustADream all a dream]] and that he was still in his smeet tube. Luckily, Dib accidentally rescues him.
** At the end, after it seems that the crowd will take to Dib's speech of how Christmas should be a time for family and not fake Santas Zim proceeds to persuade the crowd into beating Dib up under the guise of an Easter platypus thing. Though luckily, this is also the last time Dib is beaten in the series.[[labelnote:note]] "The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever" being the last episode in production until it’s actual final aired episode "The Frycook What Came From All That Space". [[/labelnote]]
* Even though Zim is always mad at GIR and calls him a "HORRIBLE robot", he does have a soft spot for him.
** In "Walk of Doom", when Zim gets mad at GIR for replacing the guidance chip for a cupcake, GIR started crying, Zim started feeling sorry for him and that getting mad at him would get them nowhere. But what GIR is sad about was that he ate his only cupcake, but you could think that he’s also sad that Zim was mad at him
** Zim bawling over GIR's dog suit filled with ground beef, thinking he was turned into ground beef in the unfinished episode "Invader Poonchy".
* In "Parent Teacher Night", Zim’s flashback as a smeet can be kinda of a tearjerker. Just by hearing Zim’s first words [[https://youtu.be/QzrE1K0FGLw?t=20 "I love you, cold unfeeling robot arm!"]] is heartwarming to hear him say that but also very heartbreaking since THIS Zim has grown from such an [[UsedToBeASweetKid adorable, all-loving smeet]] to a [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer very unpopular Irken Invader]] who is hated by everyone on Irk.
** The similiar thing happens to Dib, we get a brief flashback in "Mysterious Mysteries" of Dib and Gaz as babies. The band-aid on Dib’s head makes you think that [[TinyTyrannicalGirl Gaz]] bullied him. And just seeing Dib [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/zimwiki/images/d/d3/Mysterious_mysteries_1.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20101230224103 using building blocks to spell "ALIENS"]] is very cute.. until Gaz just kicks the blocks out of her way only for Dib to just [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/zimwiki/images/1/1e/Baby_dib_1.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110101123319 look in sadness.]]

-->'''Dib:''' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Can't you just go there to eat tomorrow?]]

-->'''Dib:''' [[CompletelyMissingThePoint Can't you just go there to eat tomorrow?]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/b_45.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:It's been suffering for so long, and Zim just... leaves it.]]

* Even though Zim is always mad at GIR and calling a "HORRIBLE robot", he does have a soft spot for him.

** Zim crying over GIR thinking he was turned into ground beef in the unfinished episode's transcript "Invader Poonchy".

** In "Walk of Doom", when Zim gets mad at GIR for not locating back home, GIR started crying, which causes Zim to regret getting mad at him.

* In "Parent Teacher Night", Zim’s flashback as a smeet can be kinda of a tearjerker. Just by hearing Zim’s first words "I love you, cold unfeeling robot arm!" is heartwarming to hear him say that but also very heartbreaking since THIS Zim has grown from such an [[UsedToBeASweetKid adorable loving smeet]] to a [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer very unpopular Invader]] who is hated by everyone on Irk.
** The similiar thing happens to Dib, we get a brief flashback in "Mysterious Mysteries" of Dib and Gaz as babies. The band-aid on Dib’s head makes you think that [[TinyTyrannicalGirl Gaz]] bullied him. And just seeing Dib using building blocks to spell "ALIENS" is very cute.. but Gaz just kicks the blocks out of her way only for Dib to just look in sadness.

** At the end, after it seems that the crowd will take to Dib's speech of how Christmas should be a time for family and not fake Santas Zim proceeds to persuade the crowd into beating Dib up under the guise of an Easter platypus thing. Oh yeah, this is also the last time Dib is beaten in the series, luckily.[[labelnote:note]] "The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever" being the last episode in production until it’s actual final episode "The Frycook What Came From All That Space". [[/labelnote]]

** At the end, after it seems that the crowd will take to Dib's speech of how Christmas should be a time for family and not fake Santas Zim proceeds to persuade the crowd into beating Dib up under the guise of an Easter platypus thing. Oh yeah, this is also the last time Dib is beaten.[[labelnote:note]] "The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever" being the last episode in production until it’s actual final episode "The Frycook What Came From All That Space". [[/labelnote]]
* In "Parent Teacher Night", Zim’s flashback as a smeet can be kinda of a tearjerker. Just by hearing Zim’s first words "I love you, cold unfeeling robot arm!" is heartwarming to hear him say that but also very heartbreaking since THIS Zim has grown from such an [[UsedToBeASweetKid adorable loving smeet]] to a [[AllTheItherReindeer very unpopular Invader]] who is hated by everyone on Irk.

* In "Parent Teacher Night", Zim’s flashback as a smeet can be kinda of a tearjerker. Just by hearing Zim’s first words "I Love you cold unfeeling robot arm!" is heartwarming and breaking since THIS Zim has grown from such an adorable loving smeet to a very unpopular Invader who is hated by everyone on Irk.

** At the end, after it seems that the crowd will take to Dib's speech of how Christmas should be a time for family and not fake Santas Zim proceeds to persuade the crowd into beating Dib up under the guise of an Easter platypus thing. Oh yeah...this was also Dib's last moment in the original series. [[labelnote:note]] "The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever" being the last episode in production despite the rest of season 2 premiering nearly four years afterward. [[/labelnote]]

* When the Santa suit sucks up Zim completely in ''The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever'', he sounds like that he lost all hope. When he curls into a [[TroubledFetalPosition fetal position]], he looked like he hoped that everything was all a dream and that he was still in his smeet tube. Luckily, Dib accidentally rescues him.

* When the Santa suit sucks up Zim completely in ''The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever'', he sounds like that he lost all hope. When he curls into a [[TroubledFetalPosition fetal position]] as if he hoped that everything was all a dream and that he was still in his smeet tube, luckily, Dib accidentally rescues him.

* ''The Sad, Sad Tale of Chickenfoot'', where Chickenfoot talks about his past life with Dib where he was a normal man named Chewie Rodriguez until an accident occurred when the microwave was splashed with water while Chewie was wearing the suit and cooking chicken in a microwave, generating an explosion that "created an unholy fusion of man and chicken", causing him [[GoMadFromTheRevelation go insane]] and [[DespairEventHorizon live all alone]] in an apartment with assorted Chicky Licky toys that he calls his "[[CompanionCube friends]]".
* ''Bad, Bad, Rubber Piggy'' doubles as both horror and TearJerker worthy because of what Zim does to poor Dib by crippling him horribly by tossing rubber pigs into Dib's past through a time machine, replacing seemingly random objects in ways that cause Dib to have horrible accidents, progressively crippling Dib to the point that he almost dies.
** "WHYYYYYYY?!? MY PIGGIE!!! I LOVEDED YOU, PIGGIE!! I LOVEDED YOOOU!!!!"
* ''Bloaty's Pizza Hog'', Gaz yells at Dib for going off to fight Zim because she "just wants to go out to eat with dad." Considering the [[ParentalNeglect situation]], this certainly counts.

* The ending of ''Tak: The Hideous New Girl'' has a moment of genuine reflection and realisation on Zim's behalf of the fact that he consistently fails the Tallest and that they don't like him at all. It's rare to see him with any sort of self-awareness, so seeing his delusions and facade slip a little to reveal some shame implies that he might know that they hate him and still wants them to be proud of him anyway.
* ''Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom''. Dib enjoys a life of many achievements in technology and the humanities, and defeats the Irkens in battle forcing them to surrender...until it [[YankTheDogsChain turns out]] that [[LotusEaterMachine it was all a simulation]] ran by Zim. Why? ''[[DisproportionateRetribution Because he wanted to know who threw a muffin at him in class.]]'' Zim could've just interrogated Dib in a more straightforward manner, but he wanted to twist the knife more by making Dib believe his wildest dreams were coming through before tricking him into admitting it.
* ''Career Day''. Dib gets matched up with Bill, a paranormal investigator; sounds like the match made in heaven, right? Except Bill believes in everything ''but'' the existence of aliens, dismissing the Galactic Equinox molt as hogwash. Just to rub salt in the wound, Bill believes Count Cocofang, a cereal box mascot, is real, and chases after the poor man dressed as Cocofang while Dib tries ''desperately'' to get him to look at the restaurant where [[BodyHorror Zim is molting through the doors and windows]], without any luck. The molt comes and goes, the only hint of evidence being the completely-destroyed restaurant, and Dib loses his chance to not only expose Zim as an alien but to do so to someone who he thought would be interested in the subject!

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:The Show]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: The Comics]]
* The ending of Issue 2 can count, with Dib secluding himself in his room once again in order to hide from ridicule after Zim transmits that embarrassing video to everyone in the galaxy. Dib being wrapped up in his blankets with bloodshot eyes and looking like he's about to break doesn't help.
** Also in this issue, Gir has his legs blown off and is paralyzed, yet Zim and Dib both abandon him.
** Then there's also Zim being trapped on the Gargantis Array after Dib denied him a ride, especially after Zim even referred to Earth specifically as his home. Though to be fair, Zim did have it coming.
* Issue 5. At first, Membrane appears to be keeping up with the streak of being a decent parent to his kids... until it's revealed that he built that alternative world machine for Gaz ''with complete knowledge'' that she was going to use it to torture Dib AND participated in the kidnapping sequence.
** Taking a look at this issue from Dib's perspective makes the situation, while still the epitome of BlackComedy, ''freakin'' heart wrenching. Yes, Dib should have known by now that not only does Gaz have absolutely zero interest in his hobbies but is, in all accounts, an extremely vicious-minded individual with [[HairTriggerTemper an extremely short fuse]] [[EvilIsPetty if interrupted.]] Problem is..even if Dib acknowledges and accepts that he has ''absolutely no one'' outside of her or [[ParentalNeglect Membrane]] to turn to [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer given]] [[NoRespectGuy his]] [[TheUnfavorite circumstances]]. Apparently, he'll risk abandonment, ridicule, and horrific punishment trying to find support from his own family before trucking on completely alone.
** Gaz also makes herself out to be kind of a hypocrite here too. She claims that Dib was selfish for trying to get her involved with his interests, but at the same time not only is she never willing to spare him any time of her own vocation but her obsession with video games is at such a violent level that even Dib's obsession with the paranormal can't compare. And another thing, even when Dib chooses (after the fact) to try and do things that she enjoys, [[UngratefulBitch she STILL finds some reason to hurt him]] (beating Dib up because he happens to win a game fairly). In conclusion, Jhonen was absolutely right about this issue making issue 2 look tame to Dib.
* In Issue 12, Dib travels to an alternate future where Zim rules the world and eliminates the human race. Membrane's hologram message laments that the only members of their kind he was able to save were his family...except for "poor insane Dib" because Dib still wanted to fight Zim even if he had to do it alone. Even with that logic, it's obvious Membrane made no attempt to rescue his son for his own good, try to look for Dib if he was captured, or even try to assist Dib at a time where it was obvious Zim was the enemy and winning.
* In Issue 21, the main 4 cast members get their bodies switched. When Dib (In GIR's body) and Zim (In Gaz's body) realize that Gaz (In Zim's body) tricked them into getting her famous, Dib feels utterly betrayed.
-->'''Dib''': She played us. My own sister totally played us.
* In Issue 43, Dib is so happy that he's managed to beat Zim for the position of leader of the Plim, and starts talking about how he's going to help them improve their society and place in the galaxy... [[YankTheDogsChain and then the Irkens show up and take over the planet]]. Worse, this only happens [[NiceJobBreakingItHero because Dib took down the anti-technology field surrounding the planet]].
[[/folder]]

* In ''Enter the Florpus'', Zim despairs over the realization that the Tallests had no intention of coming to the Earth, [[VillainousBSOD becoming completely despondent]] and not even putting up a fight when Dib comes to capture him and ''agrees'' to let Dib expose him to the world. [[spoiler: Of course, this doesn't last long before he's back to trying to conquer Earth.]]
** Dib's clear frustration and anger at his father refusing to believe him about Zim or other paranormal stuff. Special mention goes to when Dib tells Membrane that he wishes that he had his back, only for Membrane to respond along the lines of wishing not being scientific.

* In ''Enter the Florpus'', Zim despairs over the realization that the Tallests had no intention of coming to the Earth, [[VillainousBSOD becoming completely despondent]] and not even putting up a fight when Dib comes to capture him. [[spoiler: Of course, this doesn't last long before he's back to trying to conquer Earth.]]

** Dib's clear frustration and anger at his father refusing to believe him about Zim or other paranormal stuff.