GUESS WHO MADE WAAAAFFLES?!! — GIR, Zim Eats Waffles. |
GIR | |
Name | GIR |
Species | SIR Unit |
Gender | None; referred to as male |
Affliation | Irken Empire Zim |
First Appearance | The Nightmare Begins |
Voice Actor(s) | Rosearik Rikki Simons (English) Wasabi Mizuta (Japanese) Irwin Daayán (Spanish) Sabine Manke (German) Wendel Bezerra (Brazilian Portuguese) |
GIR (G Information Retrieval Unit) is the deuteragonist of Invader Zim, and the secondary antagonist of the Netflix movie Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus.
He is the hyperactive robotic assistant of Zim and the closest thing the incompetent Irken has to a friend, having been constructed from scrap parts by the Almighty Tallest just before it was handed to Zim, instead of a regular SIR (Standard-issue Information Retrieval) Unit. Despite of being one of the main characters, GIR only played a main role in three episodes: "Walk of Doom", "Invasion of the Idiot Dog Brain" and "GIR Goes Crazy and Stuff", and would have played another major role in the cancelled episode "GIR's Big Day." In every other episode he either played a secondary role, or appeared just as a cameo.
Appearance
The only differences between GIR and regular SIR units are the unique coloration of the luminous parts of GIR's body (teal instead of red, although they do go red when he is in Duty Mode), a different configuration for the eyes, and his cross-hatched mouth. The similarities in construction suggest that the components from which he was built came from an out-of-date model of SIR unit.
GIR's usual Earth disguise consists of a green "mongoose-dog" suit with a zipper on the stomach, and a head that can be pulled over like a hood. It also includes a small tail that he is inexplicably capable of wagging like an Earth dog. The large eyes sometimes blink while at other times, they do not. Also, the mouth will sometimes open when he speaks, whereas other times it stays closed.
GIR also has a small child disguise with blonde hair and the mouth hanging open so he can see, but it was only used in two episodes.
Personality
GIR is happy-go-lucky, enthusiastic, energetic, excitable, and extremely hyperactive, and will eat just about anything, regardless of whether it is edible or not. Most of the time he spouts nonsense, but does have a few, short moments of clarity: for instance, in "Walk for Your Lives" he actually contemplated whether making the explosion go faster would make things worse ("But if the big 'splody goes fast, won't it get all bad?"), and in "Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy" he questioned the wisdom of sending a machine into the past to destroy Dib.
GIR usually fools around when Zim gives an order, and always goes right back to what he was doing before once he has completed the order (which is only done occasionally) or, more often, when Zim leaves. Zim has described GIR's intelligence as "bad"; indeed, the little robot is often one of the many reasons why Zim's plans frequently fail. But, Zim has taken advantage of GIR's poor intelligence in the past, having once attached GIR to a power amplifier in "Plague of Babies" to incapacitate Sergeant Shnooky and his underlings with an amplified wave of the little robot's stupidity. However, despite his stupidity, GIR also has shown an occasional manipulative side, having used his antics in the past to bend others to his will.
GIR has also been known to disobey orders whenever it conflicts with getting something he wants, such as rubber piggies or food.
Unlike Zim (at first), GIR does not mind getting involved with typical Earth culture; on several occasions, he has even admitted to loving Earth. GIR also has a strong love of Earth food, such as tacos, taquitos, candy, waffles, cupcakes, tuna, biscuits, chicken with mayonnaise, pizza, Suck Munkeys, numerous Poop products, mashed potatoes, muffins, corn, etc. He can eat and enjoy them (even though he is a robot) and was even shown somehow becoming fat in the "Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom" after stealing and devouring all of the Halloween candy from trick-or-treaters. Similarly, in "Nubs of Doom", GIR is more preoccupied with getting a suck munkey than his being left out of Zim's latest invasion plan.
Despite his sub-par disguises, GIR is actually quite good at blending in with the humans, due to his behavior and intelligence being similar to theirs. In "Attack of the Saucer Morons", he even befriended multiple teenage human females.
Similarly in Issue 26 of the comics, GIR disguised himself as a human boy to able to go to skool with his master, in the process he befriended several skoolchildren, easily blending in and becoming one of the "popular kids" on his first day, even when the kids saw him in his dog costume, they still loved him.
His favorite assignment from Zim is "monitoring Earth broadcasts" (in other words, watching TV); when doing so, he usually watches The Scary Monkey Show, which he has declared to be his "favorite show".
His favorite movie is Intestines of War, which he has seen over one hundred times ("FBI Warning of Doom"). GIR is also very loyal to Zim, despite disobeying him often and mainly being a hindrance to his plans. There have been times where Dib has "tricked" him into doing things, like putting a camera in Zim's Base in "Zim Eats Waffles", and even inviting him into the base during "The Frycook What Came from All That Space" and Enter the Florpus.
This is probably because Dib doesn't seem to bother GIR as much as he does Zim, saying in "Planet Jackers" that "he seems nice". By the time of "Mysterious Mysteries" however, GIR seemed to be aware of Dib's antipathy toward his master, and flat-out defended him, though this was probably because Zim told GIR exactly what to say.
GIR also seems to possess the uncanny ability of bending others to his will as he was able to make Zim dance in the elevator of the base during "Invasion of the Idiot Dog Brain" and more surprisingly, Gaz in "Tak: The Hideous New Girl".
GIR does not hate or dislike anyone, which contrasts very sharply with Zim, Dib, and especially Gaz. He instead approaches everything in the world, living or not, with boundless affection and enthusiasm.
Sightings
Season 2 | ||||||||||||
21. "Backseat Drivers from Beyond the Stars": | Appears | |||||||||||
22a. "Mortos der Soulstealer": | Appears | 22b. "Zim Eats Waffles": | Appears | |||||||||
23a. "The Girl Who Cried Gnome": | Appears | 23b. "Dibship Rising": | Appears | |||||||||
24a. "Vindicated!": | Appears | 24b. "The Voting of the Doomed": | Appears | |||||||||
25. "Gaz, Taster of Pork": | Appears | |||||||||||
26. "The Frycook What Came from All That Space": | Appears | |||||||||||
27. "The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever": | Appears |
Unfinished Episodes | ||||||||||||
1. "Roboparents Gone Wild": | Confirmed | 2. "Simon Sez Doom": | Does Not Appear | |||||||||
3. "Invader Poonchy": | Confirmed | 4. "Nubs of Doom": | Confirmed | |||||||||
5. "Ten Minutes to Doom": | Does Not Appear | 6. "GIR's Big Day": | Confirmed | |||||||||
7. "Return of Keef": | Confirmed | 8. "Day of da Spookies": | Confirmed | |||||||||
9. "Mopiness of Doom": | Confirmed | 10. "Those!": | Unconfirmed | |||||||||
11. "Top of the Line": | Confirmed | 12. "The Trial": | Confirmed | |||||||||
13. "It Feeds on Noodles": | Unconfirmed | 14. "When Pants Ruled!": | Unconfirmed | |||||||||
15. "Squishy: Hugger of Worlds": | Unconfirmed |
Comic Series | ||||||||||||
1. Issue 1: | Appears | 2. Issue 2: | Appears | |||||||||
3. Issue 3: | Appears | 4. Issue 4: | Appears | |||||||||
5. Issue 5: | Cameo | 6. Issue 6: | Appears | |||||||||
7. Issue 7: | Appears | 8. Issue 8: | Appears | |||||||||
9. Issue 9: | Appears | 10. Issue 10: | Appears | |||||||||
11. Issue 11: | Appears | 12. Issue 12: | Appears | |||||||||
13. Issue 13: | Appears | 14. Issue 14: | Absent | |||||||||
15. Issue 15: | Absent | 16. Issue 16: | Appears | |||||||||
17. Issue 17: | Appears | 18. Issue 18: | Appears | |||||||||
19. Issue 19: | Appears | 20. Issue 20: | Appears | |||||||||
21. Issue 21: | Appears | 22. Issue 22: | Appears | |||||||||
23. Issue 23: | Appears | 24. Issue 24: | Appears | |||||||||
25. Issue 25: | Appears | 26. Issue 26: | Appears | |||||||||
27. Issue 27: | Appears | 28. Issue 28: | Appears | |||||||||
29. Issue 29: | Appears | 30. Issue 30: | Appears | |||||||||
31. Issue 31: | Absent | 32. Issue 32: | Appears | |||||||||
33. Issue 33: | Appears | 34. Issue 34: | Appears | |||||||||
35. Issue 35: | Appears | 36. Issue 36: | Appears | |||||||||
37. Issue 37: | Imagined | 38. Issue 38: | Appears | |||||||||
39. Issue 39: | Appears | 40. Issue 40: | Appears | |||||||||
41. Issue 41: | Appears | 42. Issue 42: | Appears | |||||||||
43. Issue 43: | Appears | 44. Issue 44: | Appears | |||||||||
45. Issue 45: | Appears | 46. Issue 46: | Appears | |||||||||
47. Issue 47: | Appears | 48. Issue 48: | Appears | |||||||||
49. Issue 49: | Appears | 50. Issue 50: | Appears | |||||||||
Q1. Quarterly 1: | Appears | Q2. Quarterly 2: | Appears | |||||||||
Q3. Quarterly 3: | Imagined | Q4. Quarterly 4: | Appears | |||||||||
DLH. The Dookie Loop Horror: | Appears |
Other Media | ||||||||||||
EX. "Pilot": | Appears | |||||||||||
SP. Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus: | Appears |
Relationships
Zim
By all accounts, Zim is GIR's master and the SIR Unit is (sometimes) aware of that fact. GIR, however, is not entirely obedient to Zim and more often than not causes chaos, whether in their home or the Irken's plans for conquest, whenever something else grabs his attention, like in "The Frycook What Came From All That Space". That isn't to say that GIR isn't loyal to Zim, as he has bailed him out several times like in "Attack of the Saucer Morons", "Plague of Babies" and "Battle of the Planets". On the other hand, in "GIR Goes Crazy and Stuff" he almost murdered Zim after being locked in Duty Mode, showing some possible resentment from the usually insane SIR Unit; this is hinted at in "Planet Jackers", when GIR pretends to crush his head with his hand while making squishy noises while at Dib's house.
Zim, for his part, is frustrated with GIR's disobedience and tried to replace him as his "evil sidekick" in "Nubs of Doom", though it should be noted that he didn't try to dismantle or get rid of GIR, suggesting he has grown attached to the robot. This could be due to the fact that they're both "Defectives" in the eyes of the Irken Empire.
Dib
GIR has commented that he thinks of Dib as "nice", which is unsurprising since he views everyone like a friend. GIR is also sometimes aware that Dib is an enemy, as he stated to Zim that Dib has seen them out of disguise and knows where they live. In later episodes, however, GIR seems to be unaware of Dib's name as he has called him "Mary".
Dib, however, doesn't view GIR as much of a threat, as he is aware the SIR Unit is more friendly than an actual enemy, and can sometimes count on the fact that he will be helpful in his plans to expose Zim, with the most famous example being in "Zim Eats Waffles". There have also been times that Dib has been able to get inside Zim's base, like in "The Frycook What Came from All That Space", where he even made a little dance in front of the Tallest with GIR, while in "Battle of the Planets", he views GIR as an annoyance and was mad at him for stealing his cameras and even called him a loser in the unmade episode "Nubs of Doom".
Gaz
GIR has hardly spent any time with Gaz, the first time that they directly interacted being when she went to Zim's house to rescue her brother in "Bloaty's Pizza Hog", which incidentally was the first time she saw him out of disguise. She seemed hardly impressed with the fact that she met an alien robot, and was equally unimpressed with the many weapons GIR had at his disposal; she unsurprisingly grew quickly annoyed with him. The most time she has spent with him was in the episode "Tak: The Hideous New Girl", where they work together to drive MiMi crazy. This is noteworthy, as GIR amazingly was able to make Gaz dance and even went as far as to give her a kiss, much to her disgust.
Their limited interaction, however, is quite predictable (and somewhat different) in that GIR seems to be infatuated with Gaz, but she has little tolerance for him, which surprisingly GIR seems to understand, as hinted in their first meeting. This, however, is contradicted by the fact that unlike anyone else, Gaz actually gives him a warning rather than any type of physical or verbal abuse, probably because she believes that GIR is too stupid to understand the full extent of the harm she could give him. Their friendliest interaction to date was in "The Voting of the Doomed", where she ate some salted nuts out of GIR's head and he didn't seem to mind, which also implied Gaz may have found a way to get GIR to calm down even if temporarily.
Tak
Tak had a limited interaction with GIR and usually paid him no mind, as she most likely viewed the defective SIR Unit as not a threat to her plans, which would explain why she disregarded him every time they crossed paths. Ironically, this came back to bite her as GIR was crucial to stopping her plans to make Earth appealing to the Tallest.
On his part, GIR most likely saw Tak as "nice", since he was unable to view her as an enemy, but was still somewhat aware of her plans as he told Zim that she didn't steal her plan from him.
Minimoose
GIR and Minimoose seem to get along very well and seemed to have developed somewhat of a friendship. This is hardly surprising, given that they're both Zim's "evil sidekicks", and most likely spend a lot of time together when Zim is out of the base, most likely watching TV and eating food. GIR also doesn't seem to hold any resentment towards Minimoose even though Zim originally built him as a replacement robot servant, although in the comics GIR laments Zim's clear favoritism towards the purple moose.
During the movie Enter the Florpus, GIR and Minimoose aided Zim in his latest plan to conquer the Earth, and once the planet was moved to another solar system, GIR had Minimoose attached to a string like a balloon. This ended up being a good thing, as Minimoose saved GIR from being destroyed once Dib collided with Zim's movable throne, GIR, however, didn't return the favor as he simply gave the purple moose to Zim in order to save himself from an angry Dib, showing that their relationship is far from perfect.
The Almighty Tallest
The Tallest were the ones to give GIR to Zim. Although Tallest Red was the one to build the SIR Unit, it was Tallest Purple to provide him with a "brain". In this sense they're his creators, but it was evident that in the eyes of the Tallest, GIR was nothing more than a means to an end as they refused to give Zim a perfectly working robot, and GIR's only purpose was to fool Zim into thinking his robot was specially made for his "secret mission."
From GIR's POV, he views the Tallest as not only Zim's leaders but also his friends, as it should be noted that GIR was able to contact the Tallest during the events of "The Frycook What Came From All That Space", and they didn't terminate the call for quite some time. In several other episodes like "Abducted", the Tallest see how incompetent GIR truly is.
Interestingly, GIR parallels the Tallest themselves, as they're not the best leaders and the three of them share a love for snacks.
Duty Mode
Every so often, GIR will display brief instances of complete functionality. Usually triggered by Zim giving an order, this "Duty Mode" is made manifest by the teal parts of GIR's body and eyes flashing red, his voice changing from high-pitched to harsh, deep and rough, and GIR himself snapping to attention, alert and utterly obedient. He concludes it with a salute and response of "Yes, sir!". These random bouts never last for long, though, and after a few seconds, GIR is right back to his gleeful, hyperactive self.
As it turns out, however, this brevity is probably a good thing for Zim: As he learned the hard way when he tried to lock GIR into Duty Mode via a Behavioral Modulator, if GIR was fully lucid all the time, he would quickly realize that his own master was a threat to their mission to conquer Earth, and would quickly eliminate him. (As seen in "GIR Goes Crazy and Stuff"). However, GIR still seems to retain some of his original childish actions when locked into Duty Mode, jumping out to scare Zim before attempting to kill him.
Abilities and Equipment
GIR possesses "superior geographic abilities" that were given to him by Zim. In his head there are an array of various weapons, but he rarely uses them. There is also a great deal of empty space that he uses to store things, like a giant pile of rubber piggies, a puppy, or even a beehive. This is implied to be the "thermos" function stated by Tallest Red to be built into all SIR units.
He also has X-ray vision, the ability to shoot lasers from his eyes, and jets in his feet.
GIR can also analyze living things and inanimate objects, from species to intelligence.
GIR is shown to be extremely strong as shown in the episode "Megadoomer", as he carried a huge plug around the neighborhood to Dib's house. He also seems to be very durable as he was also able to withstand a big explosion without being destroyed in the same episode. He is shown to be very fast in "Bad Bad Rubber Piggy" as he outran several missles Dib shot at him.
Role in Invader Zim
GIR serves as Zim's "evil" henchman, but he is usually more of a hindrance than a help. As stated above, he has complied when Dib asked favors from him and replaced vital equipment with food in "Walk of Doom".
Moreover, his erratic behavior has often ended up having catastrophic consequences and ruining Zim's plans. However, GIR has bailed Zim out occasionally, saving him from alien fanatics in "Attack of the Saucer Morons". He can also be used as a form of transportation when the Voot Runner is unavailable, such as in "The Nightmare Begins".
Bloody GIR
- Main article: Bloody GIR
Bloody GIR is an Easter egg visible in several episodes of Invader Zim. Bloody GIR was born when Nickelodeon refused to allow a scene involving GIR covered with blood. The crew inserted the forbidden image into single frames in a few episodes.
Post-production supervisor Jason Stiff has confirmed that the image appears in "Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy."
The existence of Bloody GIR has been confirmed by director Steve Ressel in interviews. The frames were reportedly scattered throughout the episodes following "Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy" by Ressel and Chris Graham.
Bloody GIR can be seen the most clearly during the opening in "Mortos der Soulstealer", when the purple pipe from Zim's house envelops the shot right before Dib's sequence. In fact, it is almost in plain sight. Although many claim to see Bloody GIR in almost every episode, Simons stated at the 2011 InvaderCON that he only inserted Bloody GIR into a couple of episodes.
Facts of Doom
- GIR is voiced by Rosearik Rikki Simons. He was voiced by Wasabi Mizuta in the Japanese dub, Wendel Bezerra in the Brazilian Portuguese dub and while Irwin Daayán voiced him in the Latin American dub, he was credited erroneously the voice actor Víctor Ugarte voiced him in duty mode in "Gir Goes Crazy and Stuff." but this was a mistake in the final credits.
- GIR's Japanese voice actress is also known for voicing Doraemon from the series of the same name.
- Besides both characters being robots, they also share the same voice actors in Japanese & Latin Spanish version.
- GIR's Brazilian Portuguese voice actor is also known for voicing SpongeBob and Goku from Dragon Ball series.
- GIR's Latin Spanish voice actor is also known for voicing Yugi Muto from Yu-Gi-Oh! series and Sheen Estevez from Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius also the movie and the series.
- Rikki Simon's first voice for auditioning GIR was trying to imitate his mother-in law, but was said to be "too shrieky". Rikki remembered when he played hand puppets with his father, voicing the puppets, so he did that voice for GIR.
- Rikki Simons originally had his recorded dialogue increased in pitch post-recording to voice GIR, his natural voice being much too low to perform it. A metallic effect is also added to make his voice sound more mechanical. At OMGCon 2010, Simons claimed he had learned to perform GIR's voice without the need to digitally increase the pitch, although the metallic effect was still necessary.
- Jhonen Vasquez wanted someone without experience in voice acting as he felt it would be a reflection of how messed up of a machine GIR could be.
- GIR's Japanese voice actress is also known for voicing Doraemon from the series of the same name.
- Seeing as GIR was made by the Tallest because they didn't want to waste a perfectly good SIR on Zim, it is conceivable to think that before being re-activated, he actually was a fully functional robot before presumably becoming obsolete by newer versions of the SIR Units.
- Ironically the Tallest unwittingly saved Zim's life by giving him GIR as a joke assistant, had they provided him with an actual SIR Unit, they would've freed the Irken Empire from his shenanigans once and for all as it nearly happened when GIR was stuck in duty mode during "GIR Goes Crazy and Stuff."
- Another irony is that despite GIR being a defective SIR Unit, he's still far more advanced than any A.I. on Earth, as he not only has a guidance chip, can fly, has enormous strength, serves as a thermos and is built with powerful weaponry within him, but is also capable of emotions, has the ability to eat, sleep and laugh, basically giving him anthropomorphic characteristics, something humans currently haven't been able to achieve in robotics. (By the time this was posted.)
- It was for a long time speculated that GIR's full name was Garbage Information Retrieval unit, given that he was made by the Tallest mostly from parts in a garbage can. However Jhonen Vasquez, the creator of the show said the "G" doesn't stand for anything.
- It's possible that GIR is a one of a kind SIR Unit, as it's unlikely that any other robot given to Invaders has such anthropomorphic qualities.
- One could argue that the Tallest made GIR the most "human" character of the show.
- In Duty Mode, GIR can show hate, unlike his normal malfunctioning self.
- In "GIR Goes Crazy and Stuff", it was revealed that there's a SIR Unit code that enables a SIR Unit's free will in the event that they and their master's mission is under threat. Interestingly, GIR knew this while in Duty Mode, which may mean that he does know this when he is his regular self but his malfunctioning nature prevents him from fully understanding it. In this sense, GIR is the only SIR Unit in the series to have free will.
- GIR is shown to be somewhat aware of his surroundings, however he most likely isn't aware that he's a robot, much less that he is technically meant to assist Zim in the enslavement or annihilation of humanity.
- Despite Irk being GIR's homeworld, he has never been seen setting foot on the planet, and he was actually assembled on Conventia.
- During the early stages of the show, Jhonen Vasquez considered the idea of GIR storing meat into his disguise to give his dog suit the appearance of a "fleshy consistency" something that was later done in "Invader Poonchy."
- GIR apparently has a "defensive mode" activated by voice command via Zim, although it typically results in GIR being actually even more unhelpful than usual. In "Abducted", for example, Zim activated GIR's Defensive Mode with the intent of preventing two aliens from abducting them; instead, GIR simply leaped into the sack that the aliens had brought. Defensive Mode was used again in "Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom", when Zim was barricading the house against an onslaught of trick-or-treaters; its activation led GIR to cheerfully hop out of the nearest window. Defensive Mode was last used in "Zim Eats Waffles", when Zim activated it in desperation against an attacking Giant Flesh-Eating Cyborg Squid; GIR responded by offering the squid two snow cones out of his head as it beat Zim with a microwave.
- GIR literally breaks the fourth wall by running into the screen during the title sequence.
- GIR's feet squeak when he walks, regardless of whether or not he is wearing his dog disguise.
- GIR makes a cameo appears in the 2017 video game South Park: The Fractured but Whole, however he is mis-colored blue instead of green and the zipper to his dog suit is also missing. This could be to prevent any copyright issues.
- He also appears in many games like Nicktoons: Globs of Doom, Nicktoons MLB (as an announcer) and is playable in a game called Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots, although in AOTTB DS edition, his voice is a lower pitch then his normal voice, resembling his voice in the Pilot Episode despite the fact he is still voiced by Rikki Simons in the games.
- He is the color commentator in Nicktoons MLB, according to his collectible card. When he was told he was going to be the CC, he said, "I WON ALL THE SQUISHY TACO SOAP!".
- He seems to like anything he sees, but especially loves tacos, cupcakes, monkeys, pigs, T.V., and most food.
- GIR is one of the most popular characters in the series, being an all time fan favorite.
- As a result, he has been featured on more Invader Zim merchandise than any other character.
- In the title sequence when Zim falls into his Voot Cruiser, GIR's eyes appear green.
- GIR's brain consists of pocket lint, a paperclip, a penny, and a marble, all of which were the contents of Tallest Purple's pockets at the time he was hastily assembled.
- How GIR is able to function is unknown, considering Tallest Red made him hastily and his brain is made of miscellaneous objects as mentioned above; By all accounts he shouldn't even be able to be activated, let alone possess the cognitive ability to talk or do all his crazy shenanigans.
- Since Tallest Red made him, one could say that he is GIR's father.
- As seen in “The Frycook What Came from All That Space” GIR knows the transmission frequency needed to call the Massive and he is most likely the only SIR Unit ever to do so as calls to the Tallest are done only by the Invaders.
- GIR's famous "bacon soap" quote from "Rise of the Zitboy", much like Courteney Lily's shouting from almost being crushed by Mars in "Battle of the Planets", had also become an audio meme on Flipnote Hatena when it was still active.
- Richard Horvitz has said in the DVD Commentary that the “bacon soap” bit is his favorite GIR moment from the series.
- Similarly to Zim who has saved the Earth a few times in the name of Irken interest, GIR has also saved our planet from certain doom; twice in the show and thrice in the comics, the first was unintentionally and unknowingly in “ Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom” by his morbid obesity which horrified Nightmare Bitters so much she cancelled her invasion on our world, the second was in "Tak: The Hideous New Girl" as he drove MiMi crazy to the point Tak had to dismantle her SIR Unit and was forced out of her ship and prevented her from completing her plan while in the comics, he single-handedly saved the Earth during the events of the first quarterly issue, the first from the Bubudaxi invasion, the second from the Darkness and the third from Dr. Fongo's ape doughnut army.
- This makes GIR the only known SIR Unit to have saved a planet rather than help destroy/conquer it.
- There is a consistent error, in both the show and comics, regarding GIR's Duty Mode. Sometimes, his eyes and chest panel will both change color from blue to red, and other times just his eyes change, leaving the chest panel the same.
- GIR has a habit of keeping small live animals in his head. This includes: a bee hive ("Walk of Doom" and Issue 17), a smelly puppy (“Walk for Your Lives”), a poodle (Issue 1), a chipmunk (Issue 4), a space slug (Issue 7), puppies (Issue 9), a squirrel, and a cat (Issue 11).
- Interestingly, in the comics, GIR's speech bubbles are the same color as any other character (black letters on white background), even though every other robotic character's speech bubbles are color inverted, being white on black. This may be done intentionally as GIR is more sentient than any robot in the series and comics.
- In Issue 22, the disguise that GIR wears as the assistant to Zim's "Engineer Scientist" has been noted as making him look like Fonzie from the TV series Happy Days, likely as a tribute to the character.
- Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was shown that GIR actually does have a fondness for his master as Zim was in GIR's "like pack" in Issue 23.
- In 2011, Rosearik Rikki Simons was approached to do some GIR shorts for Nickelodeon. Although Simons would have been very much open to reprise his role as GIR, negotiations ultimately fell apart and no shorts were ever produced.[1] At Long Beach Comic Con 2019, Simons said the reason why these GIR shorts never went anywhere might have been because "It's kinda weird to do GIR by himself. I don't know what that would be."
- Vasquez has stated that the four main characters are not evil; this can be proven with GIR since he is a malfunctioning robot and befriends just about anyone he makes contact with, regardless of whether or not it is alive.
- There's a character from the heavily cult-followed western-styled anime Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt named Chuck; his appearance is strikingly similar to GIR's dog disguise.
- Because of this, Jhonen stated later he found it amusing seeing the character in the anime series.
- There's another character who is also similar to GIR named Clank, the deuteragonist from the popular PlayStation game series, Ratchet & Clank. But unlike GIR, he's likely the polar opposite of him, intelligent, responsible and highly-focused.
- Zim apparently washes GIR’s dog disguise and needs to bribe him with Girly Rangers cookies to do so as seen in "Issue 17."
- It seems that GIR is infatuated with Gaz as seen in "Bloaty's Pizza Hog", and when he even managed to kiss her in "Tak: The Hideous New Girl". He’s the only character in Invader Zim to ever kiss someone.
- GIR is one of the four characters to have conquered the Earth, as in the cancelled episode "The Trial" he uses Zim's attack satellite and ends up being worshipped by the human race. The other three are Gaz (in Zim's body) in Issue 21, Emperor Zim in Issue 12 and Zim himself in Enter the Florpus.
- The comic series has a running gag of GIR being obsessed with bones. In Issue 10, he complains about not having bones, clarifying that he does but they're not his; in Issue 41, he steals some bones from Dib's skeleton when he finds it wandering the city and is last seen playing with them; and in Issue 43, when a Plim comments that they don't have bones, GIR cheerfully pulls a bunch out of his chest compartment.
- In Issue 38; when GIR is impersonating Dib and gets carried away with the role, he ironically gets a lot closer to convincing people that Zim is an alien than Dib ever has, meaning he almost exposed his master.
- A day before the movie was available for streaming, Netflix released some promotional art, presumably made by Jhonen Vasquez. If the art is canon, it confirms that GIR has a heart.
- This might be a reference to the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz, who was a metal man who wanted a heart.
- In Enter the Florpus, it’s revealed that GIR is an excellent songwriter (by the show's standards) as he worked diligently on the song "Peace is Nice", which inspired the children of Earth to hold hands, which was crucial to Zim's plan to teleport the Earth into the path of the Irken Armada.
- GIR makes an appearance in his dog disguise for a promotional poster for the 2023 “Paw Patrol Mighty Movie” alongside other Nickelodeon and Nick Junior dogs.
- Foodio 3000 and GIR are the only known robots in the series who are seen cooking, but only the latter has the ability to eat.
- GIR's dog disguise is green, which could be a reference to the Irkens themselves as they are the S.I.R Units creators.
- GIR has technically committed murder by eating the berry like aliens in the Quarterly Issue of GIR's Big Day.
- Interestingly, while Zim has only destroyed certain alien worlds, ironically it's GIR - who by all accounts is the most innocent out of everyone in the series - that is responsible for the destruction of the universe during the events of The Dookie Loop Horror. This makes him the character with the highest body count in the series or comics, but because the loop keeps happening, all the deaths and destruction keeps getting erased.
- As said by Jhonen Vasquez on a Twitch stream for the 20th Anniversary of Invader Zim, GIR is "a chaotic baby". Jhonen has said that GIR has killed people but has never done so on purpose. GIR has even admitted to eating a baby in the very first issue of the Invader Zim comic series and Enter the Florpus.
- George Dvorsky from io9 specifically praised GIR, saying, “Science fiction has portrayed its fair share of glitchy and bumbling robots over the years, but none hold a candle to Invader Zim's GIR. Quite possibly the most erratic and unhelpful robot to ever hit the screen, GIR has become one of the most loved and often quoted characters to appear in a sci-fi cartoon in years.”
- Dvorsky added that, “In a show that features a nasty array of selfish, mean-spirited, and indifferent characters, GIR is a symbol of child-like innocence and free-spirited rebelliousness. He may have weapons that pop out of his head, but he never once uses them. He hates no one, and despite the mission, actually comes to love the planet Earth."
- According to Rikki Simons (GIR's voice actor), Jhonen Vasquez gave him the role because no one else could mess it up more.
Gallery Of Doom
Gallery
- Main article: GIR/Images
See also
References
Characters of Invader Zim |
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Main Characters |
Zim • GIR • Dib Membrane • Gaz Membrane |
Supporting Characters |
Almighty Tallest Purple • Almighty Tallest Red • Ms. Bitters • Professor Membrane |
Minor Characters |
Invader Skoodge • Keef • Minimoose • Tak • President Man • Roboparents • Lard Nar • Skool Principal |
Background Characters |
Adult Dib • Old Kid • Hobo • Alan • Meef • Skoolchildren |
Temporary Characters |
Mortos der Soulstealer • Sergeant Slab Rankle • Sergeant Hobo 678 • Shadow Hog • Chickenfoot • Sizz-Lorr • Gashloog • Willy • Iggins • Walton Chunky • Pigboy |
Canceled Characters |
Louie • Digestor • Almighty Tallest Spork • Almighty Tallest Miyuki • Bloody GIR • Cthulu • Cybernetic Kitten • Dinky • Little Timmy |