The Plim are an alien race who first appear in Issue 42 and Issue 43 of the Invader Zim comic series.
Summary[]
A species of grub-like creatures, the Plim live on the planet of the same name, in a city by the same name. They were once an apparently very violent race, but all their advanced weaponry was sealed away in a massive vault, and a field was set up around their planet which makes it look barren and uninhabited from outside, while also disabling the electronics of any ship which tries to pass through it, thus leaving the Plim stranded.
The Plim have since become very sedate, relying on their fully automated society for all their needs. Especially notable is the Feed, a television-like network run by computer algorithms which generate random content based on what the Plim express interest in.
One of the most popular pieces of Feed content is a "prophecy" which states that the Plim don't need to try and take down the field around their planet, because one day a hero will fall from the sky and do it for them. One day, this comes true, as Zim and Dib stumble across the planet during a chase, and crash when the field causes both of their ships to malfunction. As the prophecy only mentioned one hero, the Plim can't agree on which of them it is, so they decide to give each of them a week to prove which of them it is.
Zim and Dib quickly realize that the Plim are rather simple-minded, don't like arguing, and are entirely reliant on the Feed. Thanks to advice from GIR (who is on a similar intelligence level), Zim quickly gains a massive lead on Dib, no matter how hard he tries.
Eventually getting fed-up, Dib briefly considers letting Zim win and just focusing on fixing Tak's Ship so he can leave the planet, until he learns about the vault. Not wanting Zim to get the Plim's ancient weapons, he decides to stay and find a way to beat Zim.
Dib tries increasingly desperate measures to win over the support of the Plim, only for them to be turned off by his negativity. This culminates in him dressing up in an Irken disguise adorned with all the things the Plim like, but has a cry of conscience and can't bring himself to lie about knowing how to bring down the planetary field, which Zim does, instantly regaining the lead.
Finally, however, Dib's guide Plab directs him to the Plim's archive, which contains all the records of their automated society. There, he discovers that it was the Plim themselves who put up the field, and using the controls they left behind he shuts it down, instantly winning the position of hero.
Ancient Plim TV show
However, it is then revealed that the field was there to hide from the Irken Empire, who immediately conquer the planet. Given the Plim's usual attitude and the fact that being enslaved is no different from their reliance on the Feed, they have no problem with this.
At this point, Dib tries to steal the weapons from the vault to keep them out of the Irkens' hands, only to be told by Plab that there are no weapons - instead, all it holds are ancient archived Feed programs.
Facts of Doom[]
- The fact that the Plim's ancestors built and activated the planetary field indicates that they were once much more active and innovative than they've since become due to their automated society.
- Plim elders look like babies.
- The Plim apparently have no bones.
- All Plim have brain implants that send their likes or dislikes into the Feed, guiding its algorithms and determining its content.
- The Plim vaguely resemble the Blob Creature, albeit it with more limbs and eyes that are more bulbous.