History Tearjerker / InvaderZim

* The entire show. It takes place in a possibly post-apocalypse Earth where [[HumansAreMorons everyone]] is [[AdultsAreUseless dumb]] (with the exceptions of Dib, Gaz and Professor Membrane), kids are constantly trying to kill each other, elderly, overweight and even mentally challenged people are bullied, mocked and made fun of, etc. After all, WordOfGod said that ''Invader Zim'' was conceived when he thought that everything on Earth was stupid.

-->'''Eric''': I always assumed that deep down Gaz's attitude was a coping mechanism for messed-up her home life really was. [[ParentalNeglect 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 entire show. It takes place in a possibly post-apocalypse Earth where [[HumansAreMorons everyone]] is [[AdultsAreUseless dumb]] (with the exceptions of Dib, Gaz and Professor Membrane), kids are constantly trying to kill each other, elderly, overweight and even mentally challenged people are bullied mocked and made fun of, etc. After all, WordOfGod said that ''Invader Zim'' was conceived when he thought that everything on Earth was stupid.

* [[CreepyChild 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 it is hinted to suffer from depression. It is possible that her behavior is due to Membrane neglecting her and her brother or the fact that she lives in a CrapsackWorld. Eric Trueheart, one of the writers for the show, has even [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] this:

** According to the IP bible for ''Invader Zim'' Gaz is hinted at naturally being how she is in the show, but part of the reason why she acts the way she does to Dib is because he constantly used her as a lab rat for a lot of experiments. Though this was for dark comedy purposes, but still.

** 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. Let's hope he is okay after the fight and we are sure his dad is proud of him for sending the monstrous Santa into space. 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 chronological final aired episode "The Frycook What Came From All That Space". [[/labelnote]]

** Despite the fact that this episode is praised by fans for [[ADayInTheLimelight giving Gaz a main role]], it also received mixed reaction by others due to Dib and Gaz being slightly OOC and for the DownerEnding. Even Nickelodeon seemed to hate it, or at least dislike the majority of the episode, to the point where it’s ''hardly'' seen on TV anymore.

* 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.

** Just seeing a flashback of Zim and Dib in their baby stages, [[FridgeHorror it makes you wonder what their lives have gone through before they were enemies]]

* 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.

* The ending. Ok, Dib deserved some punishment for using Gaz as a guinea pig 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?
** Well, there was also the horrible experiments that Membrane most likely did to her during her quarantine. It makes it worse knowing that [[DaddysGirl her dad is the only person she has/shows any value for.]]

** Later, in the scene where all the parents are witnessing Billy’s mother getting severely injured by RoboMom, his brother is clearly seen crying.

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

* 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.

** Later in the scene where all the parents are witnessing Billy’s mother getting severely injured by RoboMom, his brother is clearly seen crying.

* [[CreepyChild 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 or the fact that she lives in a CrapsackWorld. Eric Trueheart, one of the writers for the show, has even [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] this:

* Dib's situation is not one that anyone would want to be in. As prideful and self-serving he can be, he genuinely wants to save the Earth from Zim's schemes, but is believed by ''no one'' (except Gaz, who doesn't care) in regards to Zim's true identity and and is continuously made a pariah by the very people he's trying to protect. And things are no better at home where he is constantly on the receiving end of Gaz's wrath as well as belittled by his father for not studying "real science". The sheer amount of times he gets beaten up and put down would certainly take a toll on anyone's sanity, and in instances such as the Halloween episode it's implied that Dib has indeed been negatively affected by his circumstances and he is '''only a kid.'''
* [[AbusiveParents Professor]] [[ParentalNeglect Membrane]], he so busy that he, Dib, and Gaz only go out to eat together ''once a year''. Which seems sort of funny... until you think about it.

* Bloaty. The poor man is completely miserable, forced to do a menial job and gorge himself on pizza.
* Pretty much anytime Gir cries. Even in minor cases like "Walk for Your Lives".

* [[CreepyChild 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 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:

** It also becomes HarsherInHindsight when you realize that Lucille Bliss, Miss Bitters' voice actor, died in 2012, with the latter having a silent cameo in ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZimEnterTheFlorpus''.

* "Mopiness of Doom", Dib gives up Paranormal Investigation to learn "real science" with his father. Zim finds himself too depressed to do any evil without Dib trying to stop him and winds up lying on the couch eating junk food.

* 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 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:

* 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.

** GIR's reaction to Zim using his rubber piggies for this is a bit of minor example

* Much like the above example, we get a brief flashback 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.]]
** Just seeing Zim and Dib in their baby stages is SO sad and also adorable it makes you want to hug them.

* 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.

* Gretchen, one of the rejects in the Skool, is shown crying when Dib is talking with Tak thinking that she is not good enough for Dib. What is even sadder is that not only she's a reject like her friends, Keef, Melvin, and Dirge, but she is one of the only people who cares about Dib as she is shown giving him meat slabs with a smile on her face. Shown in an unused animatic, she dumps her skool lunch on Dib and laughs. But it could be reasonable since she is also one of the kids who poke fun of him before and after this episode. But no worries, though. He isn’t interested in Tak either. Only interested in talking about his paranormal studies.

** 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.

* Overall, all of these unfinished episodes had potential. [[ScrewedByTheNetwork But because of the show's cancellation, none of them were even finished nor got the chance to.]] We would've seen how Minimoose came to be in "Nubs Of Doom", we would've seen how Zim losing and trying to retrieve his PAK back in "Ten Minutes To Doom", we would've seen Zim's backstory in "The Trial", we would've seen how Dib and Gaz are revealed to be clones of Professor Membrane, we would've seen Skoodge again in "Day Of da Spookies", etc.

** It is not even better that in "Gaz: Taster of Pork"

** Dib taking the punishment of the Shadow-Hog to save his sister. He's genuinely crying at the end and feeling guilty, [[Jerkass and yet Gaz ignores this completely and leaves him to his fate.]] Not even Gaz's confession from ''Enter The Florpus'' that she actually cares about Dib helps.

** Dib taking the punishment of the Shadow-Hog to save his sister. He's genuinely crying at the end and feeling guilty, [[Jerkass and yet Gaz ignores this completely and leaves him to his fate.]] Not even Gaz's confession from ''Enter The Florpus'' that she cares about Dib helps

** According to the IP bible for Invader Zim Gaz is hinted at naturally being how she is in the show, but part of the reason why she acts the way she does to Dib is because he constantly used her as a lab rat for ''a lot'' of experiments similar to what happened in "Gaz: Taster of Pork".
* Dib's situation is not one that anyone would want to be in. As prideful and self-serving he can be, he genuinely wants to save the Earth from Zim's schemes, but is believed by ''no one'' (except Gaz, who doesn't care) in regards to Zim's true identity and and is continuously made a pariah by the very people he's trying to protect. And (in the original series) things are no better at home where he is constantly on the receiving end of Gaz's wrath as well as belittled by his father for not studying "real science". The sheer amount of times he gets beaten up and put down would certainly take a toll on anyone's sanity, and in instances such as the Halloween episode it's implied that Dib has indeed been negatively affected by his circumstances yet he still goes on with his crusade against Zim.
* Membrane is so busy that he, Dib, and Gaz only go out to eat together ONCE A YEAR. Which seems sort of funny... until you think about it.
** Though Dib seems to care far less than Gaz, interestingly enough. He was more than willing to miss out on that annual family outing without even a hint of regret.

* The ending. Ok, Dib deserved some punishment for using Gaz as a guinea pig 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.]]

* Dib's situation is not one that anyone would want to be in. As prideful and occasionally self-serving he can be, he's still a genuinely good kid who's believed by ''no one'' (except Gaz, who doesn't care) in regards to Zim's true identity and and is continuously made a pariah by the very people he's trying to protect. And (in the original series) things are no better at home where he is constantly on the receiving end of Gaz's wrath as well as belittled by his father for not studying "real science". The sheer amount of times he gets beaten up and put down would certainly take a toll on anyone's sanity, and in instances such as the Halloween episode it's implied that Dib has indeed been negatively affected by his circumstances yet he still goes on with his crusade against Zim.

* Dib's situation is not exactly one that a lot of people would want to be in. As prideful and occasionally self-serving he can be, he's still a genuinely good kid who's believed by ''no one'' (except Gaz, who doesn't care) in regards to Zim's true identity and and is continuously made a pariah by the very people he's trying to protect. And (in the original series) things are no better at home where he is constantly on the receiving end of Gaz's wrath as well as belittled by his father for not studying "real science". The sheer amount of times he gets beaten up and put down would certainly take a toll on anyone's sanity, and in instances such as the Halloween episode it's implied that Dib has indeed been negatively affected by his circumstances yet he still goes on with his crusade against Zim.

* Dib's situation is not exactly one that a lot of people would want to be in. As much of a prideful jerk he is Dib's still a genuinely good kid who's believed by ''no one'' (except Gaz, who doesn't care) in regards to Zim's true identity and and is continuously made a pariah by the very people he's trying to protect. And (in the original series) things are no better at home where he is constantly on the receiving end of Gaz's wrath as well as belittled by his father for not studying "real science". The sheer amount of times he gets beaten up and put down would certainly take a toll on anyone's sanity, and in instances such as the Halloween episode it's implied that Dib has indeed been negatively affected by his circumstances yet he still goes on with his crusade against Zim.
* Dib and Gaz's whole family situation. Their dad is so busy, they only go out to eat together ONCE A YEAR. Which seems sort of funny... until you think about it.

[[AC: The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever]]
* When the Santa suit sucks up Zim completely, 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. Let's hope he is okay after the fight and we are sure his dad is proud of him for sending the monstrous Santa into space. 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 chronological final aired 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. 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]]

** It also becomes HarsherInHindsight when you realize that ''Actor/LucilleBliss'', Miss Bitters' voice actor, died in 2012, with the latter having a silent cameo in ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZimEnterTheFlorpus''.

* Dib's situation is not exactly one that a lot of people would want to be in. As much of a prideful jerk he is Dib's believed by ''no one'' (except Gaz, who doesn't care) in regards to Zim's true identity and and is continuously made a pariah by the very people he's trying to protect. And (in the original series) things are no better at home where he is constantly on the receiving end of Gaz's wrath as well as belittled by his father for not studying "real science". The sheer amount of times he gets beaten up and put down would certainly take a toll on anyone's sanity, and in instances such as the Halloween episode it's implied that Dib has indeed been negatively affected by his circumstances yet he still goes on with his crusade against Zim.

* 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!

* Dib's situation is not exactly one that a lot of people would want to be in. As much of a prideful jerk he is Dib's believed by ''no one'' (except Gax, who doesn't care) in regards to Zim's true identity and and is continuously made a pariah by the very people he's trying to protect. And (in the original series) things are no better at home where he is constantly on the receiving end of Gaz's wrath as well as belittled by his father for not studying "real science". The sheer amount of times he gets beaten up and put down would certainly take a toll on anyone's sanity, and in instances such as the Halloween episode it's implied that Dib has indeed been negatively affected by his circumstances yet he still goes on with his crusade against Zim.

* Dib's situation is not exactly one that a lot of people would want to be in. As much of a prideful jerk he is Dib's believed by ''no one'' in regards to Zim's true identity and and is continuously made a pariah by the very people he's trying to protect. And (in the original series) things are no better at home where he is constantly on the receiving end of Gaz's wrath as well as belittled by his father for not studying "real science". The sheer amount of times he gets beaten up and put down would certainly take a toll on anyone's sanity, and in instances such as the Halloween episode it's implied that Dib has indeed been negatively affected by his circumstances yet he still goes on with his crusade against Zim.