Finally getting Tak's ship operational again, Dib takes it on a test flight, only to get into a dogfight with Zim's Voot Cruiser. This leads to a crash-landing that sees the pair of enemies crossing paths with the vampire Norlock and setting them on a path to upend their status quo.
- Awakening the Sleeping Giant: Norlock was perfectly content to stay in his castle minding his own business. Then Dib accidentally blows the castle up, causing him to ally with Zim, upping the latter's threat level considerably.
- Berserk Button: Norlock hates Twilight, and any hint of being compared to it.
- Big Red Button: Dib hits one on the Spittle Runner's console during the dogfight with Zim, hoping that it's the weapon controls. It's actually an emergency brake, which causes the ship to stall and the Voot to slam into it.
- Canis Major: Norlock's pet giant wolf, Phil.
- Doomy Dooms of Doom: The canon series' use of this trope is taken to its logical extreme when it’s mentioned that the city the story is set in is called "Doomsville".
- Dramatic Thunder: Lightning cracks when Zim first sees Norlock's castle, despite there not being a cloud in the sky.
- Evil Mentor: Norlock has had a hobby of playing this role throughout history, and decides to take Zim as his new protege.
- Failed a Spot Check: Dib does this twice — first, when he overlooks the Big Red Button on the Spittle Runner's console, and later when he's trying to escape Norlock's castle and doesn't see a nearby window right away.
- Finger-Lickin' Evil: Norlock does this with his claws twice, as a way of taste testing samples of Dib and Zim's blood.
- Fluffy the Terrible: Dib is dumbfounded that the horse-sized wolf with as many muscles as a silverback gorilla is named Phil.
- Friendship Moment: Zim and Norlock bond over a shared love of other people's suffering when they first meet.
- Literal Surveillance Bug: Zim uses one to spy on Dib early on.
- Locked in the Dungeon: Done to Dib, when Norlock drags his unconscious body inside his castle home.
- Look, a Distraction!: Dib pulls this on Phil when they first meet, telling him to "look at that thing over there" and running when he turns around. It takes Phil about five minutes to realize he's looking at nothing.
- Must Be Invited: Norlock is subject to this rule, though the invitation doesn’t need to be given at the home to qualify, as shown when Zim gives him an invitation despite being on a different continent from his base at the time.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Dib accidentally blowing up Norlock's castle leads to the vampire allying with Zim.
- Noodle Implements: When GIR first appears, he's coated in chocolate pudding. And the only explanation we get for this is from Minimoose, so we don't really learn why.
- Old, Dark House: Norlock's castle rather fits the bill.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Zim makes it clear to Norlock that he won't allow anyone else to kill Dib but him.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Skoodge is established to have one like Zim's, except with red hair in the wig.
- Prompting Nudge: Zim kicks Skoodge to get him to go along with the cover story of the latter being the former's cousin.
- Shout-Out:
- During a rant, Zim says that he's going to turn Dib into a bug, mail him to himself, and crush him.
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Word of God is that Norlock is based on the Black Court. - Norlock and Dib’s conversations mention Dracula, The Twilight Saga, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
- GIR at one point jumps on Zim's back while shouting "Hi ho, Silver!"
- Take That!: Norlock, an actual vampire, doesn’t like The Twilight Saga.
- Überwald: What little we see of Bransloatia, the country Norlock lives in when Zim and Dib first encounter him, seems to paint it as one of these.
- Villain Team-Up: By the end of the chapter, Zim and Norlock have struck up an alliance.
- Wham Episode: The series starts off with a bang, as it introduces Norlock and sees him ally with Zim.
- Wooden Stake: Subverted. Dib tries to stake Norlock in the heart with a piece of wooden debris, but it can't penetrate the vampire's rib cage on its own.
- Your Vampires Suck: In addition to his hatred of Twilight, Norlock also dismisses Dracula as "a hack with a good publicist."
