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Description
In my earlier couple deviations introducing my ZASR theory, I noted that my view of them includes both a good as well as a bad side to their relationship, which I think is really important. However, I found it a lot more comfortable to write about the bad (because it's a lot more in character for these two) and not give away too much on the good, because that goes into my OWN theories of who the characters themselves are deep down, and I was worried people would find it OOC. As a result, I think people may have misinterpreted their relationship as being TOO negative, which I assure you is not the case

Invader Zim (the TV series) is often goofy and comedic, which blends surprisingly well with the horror/cringe-worthy aspect of it which dwells and exposes the uncomfortable idiosyncrasies of modern society. I love this about the show as much as the next guy, but unfortunately this leaves little room for genuine character development. This is where I like to dig deeper into these awesome characters (who have so much hidden potential) and come up with my own stories about who they REALLY are, how they THINK, and what makes them *ahem* 'human.'

So to break it down: in my headcanons, Zim is very well aware that he's a defective, and he's actually ALWAYS been aware of this. His mental capabilities are working perfectly fine (er, most of the time) but in any case he's still a defective and tends to make mistakes and react rashly. (If you haven't read the transcript for the unmade episode "the Trial" than this won't make much sense) His defectiveness took away some of that 'hive-mindset' directly in his PAK, and therefore he occasionally made decisions of his own freewill which has caused him many dramatic problems in the past. So, when he was but a few minutes old, he didn't realize what to do when he went down that shoot. He chose to shove that new smeet back into the shoot, which of course lead to massive problems resulting in a blackout. Due to this one mistake, I imagine Zim has ALWAYS been looked down on. Irken society is probably even worse than how it is on Earth, so I wouldn't be surprised if he was constantly belittled, bullied, shoved around, and couldn't make any friends if he wanted to due to something he did when he was first born. Now, Zim is naturally ridiculously confident (Naruto-levels of confidence and self-motivation.) Whether or not that's just his personality or if it stems from his defectiveness, I don't know. In any case, Zim has MOSTLY took these emotional beatings in stride, but that doesn't mean he's TOTALLY immune to it either by any means. Over time, he's easily developed a hardened bitterness towards others of his kind for his unjustified mistreatment, and thus he considers himself above others. To him, the only thing that's important is 'looking out for number one.' Even so, he's pushed a lot of sore feelings away deep down, and he even holds a VERY strong regret for what he's done. Even so, due to the laws of his society (that Irkens can't be killed, only severely punished) he will often use his defectiveness to his advantage and play off his misbehavior as accidents, or otherwise he'd simply play dumb. As years go by, his bitterness increases, and we get to see that truly unfold during Impending Doom One. Though he has laughed it off ever since, a big reason he decided to attack his own people is because he frankly hates them and had motivation to kill or severely injure them. Extremely deplorable on Earth, but Irkens are trained to be killers, so crimes like this (obviously much more minor crimes) happen often. One reason Zim wanted to be an invader was because he wanted to prove himself to his people (and possibly make an impossible attempt to make up for those incidents) but he also simply wanted to get AWAY from them. Zim has also had no friends pretty much all his life- no one would be willing too, but Zim just doesn't want company at all. He's 100% okay with that.

So, in comes Skoodge, who's a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT breed from the rest of his race. Naturally kind-hearted and sensitive (and ugly and short), he's been rejected by his society in more ways than one (but not nearly at the level Zim has had to tolerate.) Skoodge met Zim when they were both only around 10 Earth years old (these two are currently around 200 years old. For some reason, I consider Zim to be exactly 163 years old though.) Skoodge has big confidence issues and he thinks less of himself for being sensitive (a big no-no on planet Irk) so he's always taken a liking towards Zim. Skoodge seeks to understand Zim and has always genuinely wanted to befriend him. It started out with his VERY deep admiration for his confidence. Over time, Skoodge learned of how much Zim gets beaten down in his society, and yet Zim just continues to grow his confidence. Skoodge's admiration for him just kept growing as he learned about how strong of a person Zim is.

Now getting into the meat of the ship: In the beginning, Skoodge deeply admired Zim for his apparent bravado and unwavering confidence- he seemingly just didn't give a hoot about how people thought of him and he formed his OWN path in life. Though Zim often tried to push Skoodge away (to the point of physical and emotionally abusing him, which he still does as seen in The Trial and in Hobo 13, when he pushes him down a cliff.) Skoodge didn't back away from him no matter what Zim did, and eventually they formed a friendship. Zim has always been very touched by this, though of course he doesn't show it..in the beginning. As time went on, their relationship grew and grew until Zim became dependent on Skoodge for his friendship. There are certain times (I'm still going to be touchy about these scenes, mostly because I haven't thought them out perfectly through yet) where Zim has completely dropped his bravado and becomes like an open book to Skoodge. There are many VERY deep and EXTREEEEMELY personal confessions and secrets which Zim has only told Skoodge, and Skoodge will be the only one to know (except Dib, but that's a different story.) This is really the biggest and rawest part of their relationship which I treasure- Zim has a trust in Skoodge which only Skoodge could do for him. He's willing to tell him things about himself, things that have deeply troubled him and bothered him his whole life, and that's something he'd never do with anyone else if it costed him his life. This has actually really helped him because he can talk about his feelings, and Skoodge has only ever been patient and gentle with him. There are many times where Skoodge has told him that he'll understand everything- he won't judge Zim for anything he's done in the past and that he'll believe anything he has to say. No judgments, just unconditional love. This is where Skoodge himself developed new feelings of admiration for Zim- he was no longer like a rock which couldn't be broken, or someone with nothing but confidence. He was someone who DID feel hurt sometimes, but he was strong enough to have confidence ANYWAY. To this day, Skoodge constantly tries to imitate Zim's confidence, and Zim himself tries to act as confident around Skoodge as he can (for Skoodge's sake.) After Zim had told him pretty much everything about himself (how he regrets killing his own people, how he's aware he's a defective and how that's affected him all his life, how he feels he'll never be able to make it up again, even how he isn't sure if he wants to kill Dib or destroy Earth or not) Skoodge and Zim had a very tight bind and they decided to make it into a legit relationship, since they both agreed they couldn't part. For BOTH of these characters, they have different feelings about their significant other than they do about everyone else. For Zim, dating anyone else would never be as comfortable as dating Skoodge, and vice versa.

And yes, they do occasionally do romantic relationship-y things together, but as I've already said, those aren't often and they only happen when they're alone. This scene is one of those soul-wrenching moments where Zim talks about himself on a personal level, and these moments are often extremely emotional for him and will lead to tears. Skoodge is crying just because he's a very sensitive person, and seeing Zim this upset makes HIM upset. I drew this because it was suggested that I draw a intimate scene between these two. I'm sure them crying wasn't what you had in mind In my defense, drawing intimate scenes while using the canon art style is HARD. I'll note, Zim particularly likes laying his head in Skoodge's lap (or otherwise sitting in his lap) and having his antenna stroked ( Because d'aww) and Skoodge especially appreciates simply cuddling. They both like kissing. But all of these are a pain to draw, their heads take up the space of their entire body How am I supposed to draw them cuddling when their adorable heads are HUGE? So we get this instead- Skoodge comforting Zim, and frankly this is what I really like about this ship. The romantic parts are of course tons of fun and add so much to their relationship (a lot of my headcanons and daydreams revolve around the humorous adventures of these two trying to make a romantic relationship work in the middle of Zim trying to conquer Earth) but for me, these moments of soul-bearing and pillow talk are the MOST intimate things these two could do, and I wanted to share that

sorry for cruddy background. I really ought to learn how to draw those someday. Also, I was trying to draw Zim's head slightly tilted upward, but you can't really tell and it just ended up looking like I messed up drawing his head. Oops.

Enjoy

Description
In my earlier couple deviations introducing my ZASR theory, I noted that my view of them includes both a good as well as a bad side to their relationship, which I think is really important. However, I found it a lot more comfortable to write about the bad (because it's a lot more in character for these two) and not give away too much on the good, because that goes into my OWN theories of who the characters themselves are deep down, and I was worried people would find it OOC. As a result, I think people may have misinterpreted their relationship as being TOO negative, which I assure you is not the case

Invader Zim (the TV series) is often goofy and comedic, which blends surprisingly well with the horror/cringe-worthy aspect of it which dwells and exposes the uncomfortable idiosyncrasies of modern society. I love this about the show as much as the next guy, but unfortunately this leaves little room for genuine character development. This is where I like to dig deeper into these awesome characters (who have so much hidden potential) and come up with my own stories about who they REALLY are, how they THINK, and what makes them *ahem* 'human.'

So to break it down: in my headcanons, Zim is very well aware that he's a defective, and he's actually ALWAYS been aware of this. His mental capabilities are working perfectly fine (er, most of the time) but in any case he's still a defective and tends to make mistakes and react rashly. (If you haven't read the transcript for the unmade episode "the Trial" than this won't make much sense) His defectiveness took away some of that 'hive-mindset' directly in his PAK, and therefore he occasionally made decisions of his own freewill which has caused him many dramatic problems in the past. So, when he was but a few minutes old, he didn't realize what to do when he went down that shoot. He chose to shove that new smeet back into the shoot, which of course lead to massive problems resulting in a blackout. Due to this one mistake, I imagine Zim has ALWAYS been looked down on. Irken society is probably even worse than how it is on Earth, so I wouldn't be surprised if he was constantly belittled, bullied, shoved around, and couldn't make any friends if he wanted to due to something he did when he was first born. Now, Zim is naturally ridiculously confident (Naruto-levels of confidence and self-motivation.) Whether or not that's just his personality or if it stems from his defectiveness, I don't know. In any case, Zim has MOSTLY took these emotional beatings in stride, but that doesn't mean he's TOTALLY immune to it either by any means. Over time, he's easily developed a hardened bitterness towards others of his kind for his unjustified mistreatment, and thus he considers himself above others. To him, the only thing that's important is 'looking out for number one.' Even so, he's pushed a lot of sore feelings away deep down, and he even holds a VERY strong regret for what he's done. Even so, due to the laws of his society (that Irkens can't be killed, only severely punished) he will often use his defectiveness to his advantage and play off his misbehavior as accidents, or otherwise he'd simply play dumb. As years go by, his bitterness increases, and we get to see that truly unfold during Impending Doom One. Though he has laughed it off ever since, a big reason he decided to attack his own people is because he frankly hates them and had motivation to kill or severely injure them. Extremely deplorable on Earth, but Irkens are trained to be killers, so crimes like this (obviously much more minor crimes) happen often. One reason Zim wanted to be an invader was because he wanted to prove himself to his people (and possibly make an impossible attempt to make up for those incidents) but he also simply wanted to get AWAY from them. Zim has also had no friends pretty much all his life- no one would be willing too, but Zim just doesn't want company at all. He's 100% okay with that.

So, in comes Skoodge, who's a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT breed from the rest of his race. Naturally kind-hearted and sensitive (and ugly and short), he's been rejected by his society in more ways than one (but not nearly at the level Zim has had to tolerate.) Skoodge met Zim when they were both only around 10 Earth years old (these two are currently around 200 years old. For some reason, I consider Zim to be exactly 163 years old though.) Skoodge has big confidence issues and he thinks less of himself for being sensitive (a big no-no on planet Irk) so he's always taken a liking towards Zim. Skoodge seeks to understand Zim and has always genuinely wanted to befriend him. It started out with his VERY deep admiration for his confidence. Over time, Skoodge learned of how much Zim gets beaten down in his society, and yet Zim just continues to grow his confidence. Skoodge's admiration for him just kept growing as he learned about how strong of a person Zim is.

Now getting into the meat of the ship: In the beginning, Skoodge deeply admired Zim for his apparent bravado and unwavering confidence- he seemingly just didn't give a hoot about how people thought of him and he formed his OWN path in life. Though Zim often tried to push Skoodge away (to the point of physical and emotionally abusing him, which he still does as seen in The Trial and in Hobo 13, when he pushes him down a cliff.) Skoodge didn't back away from him no matter what Zim did, and eventually they formed a friendship. Zim has always been very touched by this, though of course he doesn't show it..in the beginning. As time went on, their relationship grew and grew until Zim became dependent on Skoodge for his friendship. There are certain times (I'm still going to be touchy about these scenes, mostly because I haven't thought them out perfectly through yet) where Zim has completely dropped his bravado and becomes like an open book to Skoodge. There are many VERY deep and EXTREEEEMELY personal confessions and secrets which Zim has only told Skoodge, and Skoodge will be the only one to know (except Dib, but that's a different story.) This is really the biggest and rawest part of their relationship which I treasure- Zim has a trust in Skoodge which only Skoodge could do for him. He's willing to tell him things about himself, things that have deeply troubled him and bothered him his whole life, and that's something he'd never do with anyone else if it costed him his life. This has actually really helped him because he can talk about his feelings, and Skoodge has only ever been patient and gentle with him. There are many times where Skoodge has told him that he'll understand everything- he won't judge Zim for anything he's done in the past and that he'll believe anything he has to say. No judgments, just unconditional love. This is where Skoodge himself developed new feelings of admiration for Zim- he was no longer like a rock which couldn't be broken, or someone with nothing but confidence. He was someone who DID feel hurt sometimes, but he was strong enough to have confidence ANYWAY. To this day, Skoodge constantly tries to imitate Zim's confidence, and Zim himself tries to act as confident around Skoodge as he can (for Skoodge's sake.) After Zim had told him pretty much everything about himself (how he regrets killing his own people, how he's aware he's a defective and how that's affected him all his life, how he feels he'll never be able to make it up again, even how he isn't sure if he wants to kill Dib or destroy Earth or not) Skoodge and Zim had a very tight bind and they decided to make it into a legit relationship, since they both agreed they couldn't part. For BOTH of these characters, they have different feelings about their significant other than they do about everyone else. For Zim, dating anyone else would never be as comfortable as dating Skoodge, and vice versa.

And yes, they do occasionally do romantic relationship-y things together, but as I've already said, those aren't often and they only happen when they're alone. This scene is one of those soul-wrenching moments where Zim talks about himself on a personal level, and these moments are often extremely emotional for him and will lead to tears. Skoodge is crying just because he's a very sensitive person, and seeing Zim this upset makes HIM upset. I drew this because it was suggested that I draw a intimate scene between these two. I'm sure them crying wasn't what you had in mind In my defense, drawing intimate scenes while using the canon art style is HARD. I'll note, Zim particularly likes laying his head in Skoodge's lap (or otherwise sitting in his lap) and having his antenna stroked ( Because d'aww) and Skoodge especially appreciates simply cuddling. They both like kissing. But all of these are a pain to draw, their heads take up the space of their entire body How am I supposed to draw them cuddling when their adorable heads are HUGE? So we get this instead- Skoodge comforting Zim, and frankly this is what I really like about this ship. The romantic parts are of course tons of fun and add so much to their relationship (a lot of my headcanons and daydreams revolve around the humorous adventures of these two trying to make a romantic relationship work in the middle of Zim trying to conquer Earth) but for me, these moments of soul-bearing and pillow talk are the MOST intimate things these two could do, and I wanted to share that

sorry for cruddy background. I really ought to learn how to draw those someday. Also, I was trying to draw Zim's head slightly tilted upward, but you can't really tell and it just ended up looking like I messed up drawing his head. Oops.

Enjoy