SON Unit

SON Unit
Name	SON Unit
Species	Robot
First Appearance	Issue 39
Voice Actor(s)	None

The SON Unit is an alien robot which appears in Issue 39 of the Invader Zim comic series.

Summary

The SON (Sentient Observational eNvoy) Unit is a type of robot used by Inquisitorian observers to assist in their missions to observe life on other worlds, similar to how SIR Units assist Irken Invaders in their missions.

SON Units are dispatched by their masters in probes from the mother ships to planets of interest and observe what is happening, but never interfere.

They also appear to be typically programmed to seek out the most advanced technology on these planets, most likely in order to observe the most developed places and individuals available.

The SON Unit which appears in Issue 39 belongs to Inquisitous the Observer, and is sent by him to observe how Earth has developed since their last visit. Determining that Tak's ship is the most advanced technology on the planet, it travels to Dib's house, arriving in the middle of a fight between Dib and Zim. It is then somehow destroyed, triggering a distress signal that leads to Inquisitous abducting the pair (as well as Gaz and GIR, who were in the vicinity at the time) and placing them in a Memory Visualizer to try and determine what happened to the SON.

Given Zim and Dib's personal biases displaying different memories of what happened, Gaz's lack of paying attention to the situation, and GIR's random nonsensical mind overloading and destroying the Visualizer and Inquistious' ship, a definitive explanation for how the SON was destroyed in never reached (though given the established characterizations of the characters, Dib's account of Zim destroying it out of spite for it thinking his technology is inferior to Tak's is most likely).

Facts of Doom

• Inquisitious claims that his SON is a specially designed one given to him by the Inquisitorian Elders, much like how GIR was "specially" designed for Zim by the Almighty Tallest. Given that the Elders appear to treat Inquisitious the way the Tallest treat Zim, it's likely that this SON was therefore faulty in some way.
• Unlike GIR, the SON Unit has only one eye that appears to have a pupil in it like a human, something no other robot in the comics or series has displayed before.
• Assuming that Dib's retelling of things is accurate, then SON Units can break their non-interference rule if they're acting in self-defense.