History YMMV / InvaderZim

** Similarly, Gaz's treatment of Dib (particularly in episodes such as "Battle Dib" and "Gaz: Taster of Pork") caused many in the fandom for the longest time to view her as a worse abuser than Membrane. And while this has dissipated thanks to her development in both the comic and ''Enter the Florpus'', some have found her past actions to be too extreme to fully redeem her.

** Despite her fairly minor role, Invader Tenn has a bit of fanart and is often given the AscendedExtra treatment in fanworks via being promoted to one of Zim's minions. Since she's one of the few named female Irkens, she's sometimes PromotedToLoveInterest and shipped with Zim.

* {{Moe}}: Of all the characters, GIR is probably the one who manages this the most.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: The show's particular brand of [[WorldOfHam manic, over-the-top]] BlackComedy has been widely imitated by fans of the show in other works, including other animated TV shows, to the point that it's simply become a mainstay of millennial humor.

** After the events of "Gaz, Taster of Pork", it's common to assume that Gaz has developed a complete hatred of any pork products, as they remind her of what happened in that episode. Some fanfics even turn them into an outright TraumaButton for her.

* DracoInLeatherPants: Zim does get a lot of this. See MisaimedFandom below.

* VillainDecay: Whether you consider Zim or Dib the villain, they both got considerably worse at their tasks as the series advanced; early episodes would usually have one best the other, while later many ended with them ''both'' of them enduring some terrible trauma. Some later episodes seem to imply that Dib has flat-out ''given up'' on trying to expose ZIM and sees him as less of a threat and more of a pest.

* EvilIsSexy: Zim, Tak, and most of the Irken species. In FanArt [[SelfFanservice at least...]]

* MagnificentBastard: "[[Recap/InvaderZimS2E9TheFrycookWhatCameFromAllThatSpace The Frycook What Came from all that Space]]": Sizz-Lorr is a ruthless and cunning Irken "[[AlmightyJanitor FryLord]]" who runs [[BarFullOfAliens Shloogorgh's Flavor Monster]] on Foodcourtia and [[Characters/InvaderZimZim Zim]]'s former boss when the Invader was sentenced to Foodcourtia as punishment for ruining Operation: Impending Doom 2, but was trapped by "the Great Foodening" while Zim was able to escape. Much later, Sizz-Lorr tracks Zim to Earth to recapture him and force him to endure the rest of his sentence, while remaining generous and fair to his other employees. Sizz-Lorr installs high-tech traps to ensure Zim can't escape again, and when his prisoner figures a way to bypass the security system, Sizz-Lorr breaks out the heavy artillery and pursues the alien all the way to the planet's Stratosphere, coming [[NearVillainVictory within a hair's width of recapturing his quarry]] before he's thwarted by a stray sign.

* HilariousInHindsight:
** In one episode, Zim catches Dib sneaking around his house in a squirrel disguise. After Dib runs off, Zim yells a parting insult to him, calling him "Squirrel boy!" Several years later, Zim's voice actor would go on to voice the titular character in the series WesternAnimation/SquirrelBoy.
** This, when you consider the internet meme involving trollface an "u jelly?"
--->'''Dib''': You're just jealous...\\
'''Zim''': This has nothing to do with jelly!
** Pretty much everything, if you've played VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}. A short, goggle-wearing character voiced by Creator/RichardStevenHorvitz, dealing with a paranoid security guard, enjoys setting things on fire, and screaming about meat? Both Raz and Zim (who share a voice actor) are also deathly afraid of water, and there's also Zim trying to justify his green skin with "a skin condition". The Psychonauts' cast features several green, blue, and purple-skinned characters.
** Almighty Tallest Purple was voiced by Kevin [=McDonald=]. A year later, he would be voicing [[WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch another wacky alien in a science fiction story.]]
** Zim's species' skin seems to burn by water. One year later, ''Film/{{Signs}}'' came out.
** One of the most common {{Fandom Specific Plot}}s among ''Invader Zim'' fanfics is Zim finding out the truth about his mission being fake and becoming depressed over it. [[AscendedFanon That exact plot ended up being used in the movie.]]
** One of the [[WhatCouldHaveBeen original plans]] for the series was being a parody of 50s B-Movies, which was ditched due to Jhonen Vasquez hating it and finding it too predictable. The game series ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans'' is essentially this very concept, even featuring Richard Steven Horvitz as deuteragonist Orthopox (using almost exactly the same voice as Zim), and has a similarly [[BlackComedy pitch-black sense of humor]].
** Remember that episode where Mars and Mercury were essentially spaceships? Well, not quite the same, but ''Film/TheWanderingEarth'' has the titular planet being propelled by rockets.
** In this show, Creator/MelissaFahn voices Gaz, a purple-haired, misanthropic LittleMissBadass with a tendency towards the occult. Nearly a decade and a half later, she would go on to voice Rider in the English dub of ''Anime/FateStayNightUnlimitedBladeWorks'', who is a purple-haired, misanthropic ''fully-grown'' badass with magical powers. And just to make things even funnier, ''Anime/FateGrandOrderAbsoluteDemonicFrontBabylonia'' features a child version of the character, also voiced by Fahn... and she just sounds like Gaz doing a slight European accent.
** The Vortians who built the Irken flagship have horns that make them look like [[WebAnimation/HazbinHotel]]. Guess which [[WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss series]] Richard Horvitz would later star in.

!!YMMV items with their own pages:

[[index]]
* [[FandomSpecificPlot/InvaderZim Fandom-Specific Plot]]
* [[Memes/InvaderZim Memetic Mutation]]
[[/index]]

** After the events of "Gaz, Taster of Pork", it's common to assume that Gaz has developed a complete hatred of any pork products, as they remind her of what happened in that episode. Some fanfics even turn them into a TraumaButton for her.

** Despite her fairly minor role, Invader Tenn has a bit of fanart and is often given the AscendedExtra treatment in fanworks via being promoted to one of Zim's minions. Since she's the only other named female Irken aside from Tak, she's sometimes PromotedToLoveInterest and shipped with Zim.

** Despite her fairly minor role, Invader Tenn has a bit of fanart and is often given the AscendedExtra treatment in fanworks via being promoted to one of Zim's minions.

** After the events of "Gaz, Taster of Pork", it's common to assume that Gaz hates the taste of any pork products. Some fanfics even turn them into a TraumaButton for her.

* FanonDiscontinuity: "Gaz: Taster of Pork" gets this treatment quite a bit, due to the weak plot and both Dib and Gaz acting out of character.

** GIR (yes, even ''GIR'' gets one of these): genuinely happy and unaware/unconcerned with his insanity? Or is there actually a tortured SIR unit's mind in there that recognizes it's malfunctioning at all times, but simply can't control itself? It's likely canon going by the events of "GIR Goes Crazy And Stuff". Jhonen himself simply described GIR as "broken".

* FanonDiscontinuity: "Gaz: Taster of Pork" gets this treatment quite a bit, due to the IdiotPlot and both Dib and Gaz acting out of character.

* BrokenBase: In regards to the Creator/OniPress comics, for being LighterAndSofter than the original animated series. While the comic still revels in the show's usual themes and insane plots, it has a tendency to trade in some of the {{dark comedy}} for more [[DenserAndWackier absurdist humor]] in an effort to "ease up on the cruelty", in addition to swapping out the old grungy and angular art style for a more colorful and rounded one. Many fans have completely embraced this change, seeing it as a positive evolution of Vasquez's style and approach. Meanwhile, others feel as though all the removed darkness was an important part of ''Invader Zim'''s identity, and that the comics are an inferior product (or at least mildly disappointing) due to that removed "edge". This also extends towards ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZimEnterTheFlorpus'', due to the movie taking most of its tonal cues from the comic book series.

For YMMV tropes applying to the Oni comic series, see [[YMMV/InvaderZimOni here]].

For tropes applying to the movie, see [[YMMV/InvaderZimEnterTheFlorpus here]].

!!General examples:

!!YMMV tropes with their own pages:

[[index]]
* [[FandomSpecificPlot/InvaderZim Fandom-Specific Plot]]
* [[Memes/InvaderZim Memetic Mutation]]
[[/index]]

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** Jhonen Vasquez admitted that, as misanthropic as the show already was, Dib's abusive sister and neglectful father were ''too'' cruel to find funny, and when creating the comics, rewrote Gaz from a FlatCharacter to a more dynamic AnnoyingYoungerSibling (notably in Issue 14) and had Professor Membrane interacting with his children a little more. This extended into ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZimEnterTheFlorpus'', which firmly shows that the Membranes love each other in spite of their dysfunction. All to make the cruelty funnier, of course.
** Speaking of ''Enter The Florpus'', the television film also rolls back both Zim and Dib's {{Flanderization}} into {{Cosmic Plaything}}s who never have anything go their way (to the point of encouraging TooBleakStoppedCaring), with Zim actually ''[[TheBadGuyWins winning]]'' for once (albeit temporarily) and Dib actually ending the film on a genuinely cheery note concerning his relationship with his family.

* [[WarpThatAesop/InvaderZim Warp That Aesop!]]

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Zim, Dib, Gaz, Prof. Membrane and almost every Creator/JhonenVasquez character.

** Jhonen Vasquez admitted that, as misanthropic as the show already was, Dib's abusive sister and neglectful father were ''too'' cruel to find funny, and when creating the comics, rewrote Gaz from a FlatCharacter to a more dynamic AnnoyingYoungerSibling (notably in Issue 14) and had Prof. Membrane interacting with his children a little more. This extended into ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZimEnterTheFlorpus'', which firmly shows that the Membranes love each other in spite of their dysfunction. All to make the cruelty funnier, of course.

* FanPreferredCouple: ZADR (Zim/Dib) is an interesting case as it is both the most popular pairing in the fandom (stories and fan art tending to outnumber [[UpToEleven most of the other pairings combined]]) yet it's also the most [[BrokenBase despised pairing]] for being the exact opposite of canon. A more classic example might be [[UnholyMatrimony ZAGR]] (Zim/Gaz) which, even though close but not as common, tends to cause a bit less ire.

*** Taken UpToEleven ForTheLulz when the voice actors performed "Mopiness of Doom" with puppets during Invader Con I, in which Richard and Andy had Puppet!Zim and Puppet!Dib make out after they reunited. The two even complied to love confession requests ("Dib" fully confessing while "Zim" chickened out/wasn't going to lie, though "Zim" initiated the aforementioned make out).

* {{Squick}}: UpToEleven. Spurting pus, dripping grease, and squishy organs. And one of these things is almost guaranteed to explode once in a while.

** In "Dark Harvest," Miss Bitters gives a lecture about how "Ring Around The Rosie" is actually about a horrible disease, referring to the popular belief that it's about the Black Plague. (It isn't. Wiki/ThatOtherWiki has [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_a_Ring_o%27_Roses#Meaning more information on the matter]]).