Almighty Tallest Purple

Purple
Original Enter the Florpus
Homeworld	Irk
Rank	Almighty Tallest
Gender	Male
Eye Color	Purple
Equipment	The Massive
Affiliation(s)	Irken Empire
First appearance	The Nightmare Begins
Voice Actor(s)	Kevin Hamilton McDonald (English) Alejandro Illescas (Spanish) Tilo Schmitz (German)

Almighty Tallest Purple is the co-ruler of the Irken Empire alongside Almighty Tallest Red. He and Red are the tallest Irkens currently alive, thus giving them joint sovereignty over all aspects of the Irken race (the two previous Tallest, Spork and Miyuki, were eaten by Cthulu, a creation of Zim's). Although the only way to tell Red and Purple apart is by color, Purple is better described as the "comedic relief" of the duo. He doesn't work as hard as Red, but arguably has better lines in the show.

It is assumed that like his predecessors, he has the ability to levitate by use of technology known merely as "Hover Belts", and like his co-ruler he has an addiction to junk food.

Appearance

A front and side view of Purple.

Both Purple and Red have a different design and body structure than normal Irkens. His arms are much more bulgy right before the fingers, because of the uniformal cufflinks, and he has only two thin fingers instead of the usual three.

His chest and legs are connected by a very thin torso, while his neck is also extremely thin. His feet may be different from that of an average Irken, but it's hard to tell since he is always levitating.

This appears to be the case for all of the Tallest, as concept art of Almighty Tallest Miyuki and Spork showed similar designs. Almighty Tallest Purple has purple eyes and wears gray, purple and magenta clothing. His PAK is light gray with purple spots.

An early version of Almighty Tallest Purple.

Both Tallest were re-designed in the middle of the first season; Jhonen Vasquez decided to make their torsos thinner, as well as other major updates to their suits and overall physical appearance. Like Red and all previous Tallest, Purple has two fingers instead of the normal three possessed by the average Irken.

It has been stated by the Invader Zim crew that the Tallest have their thumbs chopped off in a ceremony as they become Tallest to prove that they can "rule the Empire with only two fingers", but Purple is more than likely just hiding his thumbs within his gauntlets.

Personality

Purple panicking along with the rest of the Massive's crew.

Purple, as stated above, is the more comical of the two current Tallest. He was shown to be less capable than Red in "Backseat Drivers from Beyond the Stars", choosing to hover around and grab as much donuts as possibly as well as freaking out instead of taking control of the situation. Both are very lazy and petty, however, and enjoy snacking and generally ruling all of Irk.

Purple is also shown to be generally less patient than Red. He's more likely to criticize things he doesn't like: the Megadoomer and the name for the Resisty, to name a few. He is frequently antagonized by Red, but seems to be more or less tolerant of the bullying, often simply laughing.

Unlike Red, Purple is more eloquent which is seen when he corrects on his co-ruler's lack of word-craft, showing signs of some intelligence however rare they may be.

Purple can also be quite cruel taking enjoyment in the misery of others, like Bob who was forced into a bet by the Tallest to ensure that they wouldn't lose any monies during Zim's training on Hobo 13.

Role in Invader Zim

Main article: Almighty Tallest

Tallest Purple, ruling the Irken empire along with Tallest Red.

Purple, alongside Red, has ultimate power over the Irkens. He and Red are the ones who assigned the Invaders to their respective planets, sent Zim to his exile on Earth, and created GIR. They oversee the progress of the Invaders on their chosen planets, as well as the overall Irken grip in the universe.

However, they are typically seen lounging around eating and soaking up the luxury of their positions. On the other hand, Operation Impending Doom II appears to be coming along quite well under their rulership.

However, they are best described as mere figureheads, since the Control Brains are truly what have control over the Irkens.

Purple and Red place bets on whether Zim will survive or not.

Purple's opinion of Zim ranges anywhere from irritation to gleeful mockery. In "The Nightmare Begins" for example, Purple was exasperated to see Zim, whereas in "Battle of the Planets" he could barely keep from laughing. However, Purple and Red were also seen having a somewhat friendly conversation with Zim in the episode "Abducted", discussing the bizarre fact that humans are tall yet unintelligent.

Purple holding in an outburst while hearing Zim's words.

Aside from this one occasion, Purple habitually expresses his disdain for Zim at every opportunity. More than once he has attempted to get Zim killed, for example by sending him to military training on Hobo 13. Unfortunately, these attempts occasionally lead to disaster.

in "Megadoomer", the Tallest tried to send Zim a package full of dangerously malfunctioning SIR Units, in the hope that he would be killed. However, a disgruntled worker deliberately switched the labels of Zim's package and another one for Invader Tenn, causing an unfortunate Tenn's base to be destroyed by the maniacal SIR Units. As a result, her cover was blown and Tenn was captured by the Meekrob, endangering the Irken Empire. According to a very questionable plot idea for the supposed series finale, both Tallest would have been deposed, with Zim and Gaz taking their place.

The two Tallest express their shock upon realizing that Zim is alive.

Purple often lies to, and tries to trick Zim. An example is in "The Nightmare Begins", when he presents him a malfunctioning SIR unit claiming it to be "advanced". Another is in "Backseat Drivers from Beyond the Stars", when he joined Red in pretending that they were being attacked by an enemy vessel. It should be noted that Purple's lies tend to be much more obvious than Red's, and he sometimes has trouble remembering to maintain said lies, often blurting out the uncensored truth in excitement.

Purple and Red underestimate the harm that Zim can cause from time to time. Even though Zim is far away from Operation Impending Doom II, he still frequently manages to impede it, once by hijacking The Massive in "Backseat Drivers".

Purple is responsible for the events of Issue 4 of the comic series, as his lazy choice to toss his leftover cheese snack through Skrang's wormhole generator rather than get up to throw it in the garbage leads to it ending up in Zim's base and Zim assuming that it's a gift of some kind. Purple then gets the idea of pranking Zim by stating that the snack is a new weapon that he must charge through a series of humiliating and painful actions.

Trivia

• It's possible that Red and Purple are the first-ever co-rulers of Irk, since their only known predecessors, Miyuki and Spork, were both lone rulers.
• Purple is never referred to by name in the actual show, he and Red being collectively referred to as The Tallest by everybody else, despite the previous Tallests being referred to by name. Both the fans and the Invader Zim voice actors and production crew have taken to calling Red and Purple by these names (although, in the script of "The Trial", a young Irken smeet named Timmy openly referred to Purple as such). However, Purple's name was finally confirmed in the opening of Issue 4 of the comic series, which would also imply that his partner is also indeed named Red.
• The voice of Almighty Tallest Purple was done by Kevin McDonald, previous star of Kids in the Hall and the voice actor as the character "Waffle" of Catscratch, also on Nickelodeon. Kevin McDonald also voiced another alien (with a similar personality to Purple's), Pleakley, from Lilo & Stitch. He has also voiced various characters in What's New, Scooby-Doo?.
• Originally, Wally Wingert was going to be cast in the role until later on when Kevin was available. As Kevin was unavailable for the InvaderCon reading of "The Trial", Wally performed as both Red and Purple in his absence.
• Ironically, despite Zim's total obedience to them, Red and Purple are arguably bigger antagonists to him than Dib is.
• According to Steve Ressel, if the Tallest were to tell Zim the truth about his mission, he wouldn't believe them, as he is too arrogant. However, the plot for the TV movie Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus! suggests otherwise.
• Despite the fact that the Tallest presumably had their thumbs cut off, in the trailer for the upcoming special they have them again.

See also

• Almighty Tallest and Zim's Relationship
• Almighty Tallest:Screenshots
• Almighty Tallest