Irken
| Synonyms: | Irk |
| See also: | Invader Zim, ZADR |
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Irkens are a race of aliens from the Nickelodeon cartoon Invader Zim. Irkens are named after the word "irk," which means to irritate or to annoy. The titular character of IZ is an Irken.
Canon
Irkens hail from their capital planet Irk. The planet appears to be covered mostly in magenta and pink cities, and there is no rain on Irk. The Irken star may be much dimmer, as stars can be seen during the day on the surface, and Zim was unaware staring at the Earth sun would blind him. Because Irkens can breathe on Earth, it's assumed Irk has an Earth like atmosphere rich in oxygen.
Irkens themselves are green-skinned aliens with two small antennae and large, round eyes. Eyes come in shades of pink, purple, red, and green, though other colors are used in fanon. Every Irken has a PAK on their back, which keeps them alive and contains an array of gadgets and weapons. Irkens are cloned in tubes as smeets (babies or children), and as soon as they "hatch" a PAK is attached, they're shocked with electricity, and are awoken with the ability to already speak and walk. The first thing Irken smeets will see and hear is the robotic arm that brings them to life. After birth, Irkens will have their PAK programmed by having large swaths of information flooded into them.
They have little to no sexual dimorphism, likely due to being cloned. Males have straight antennae with a flag at the end, while females have curled antennae and a higher voice. However, this may not be a hard rule, as in the Invader Zim comics a female Irken named Commander Poki has straight antennae.[1] Some female Irken's are drawn with eyelashes. This may be a stylistic choice. If not, it implies that Irken's are not always hairless. Jhonen Vasquez has confirmed that Irken's have no reproductive organs.[2]
The Irken Empire is a gigantic collection of enslaved/conquered planets and fleets of spaceships. Their leaders are determined exclusively due to their height, and are referred to as "The Tallests." There can be multiple Tallests. The Tallests live on a planet-sized spaceship called The Massive, which according to Enter the Florpus, travels in a straight-line, sometimes even directly into planets. Above The Tallests' rein are the Control Brains. The Control Brains run everything, such as judiciary work, making tests for elite soldiers, and reprogramming PAKs. Because The Tallest have to obey the Control Brains, The Tallest may be figureheads, meaning that Irkens are actually ruled by an artificial intelligence. When an Irken dies, the Control Brains absorb their PAK's data for re-use later.
Fandom
Like with any aliens in fandom, Irkens, and Invader Zim himself, are at the center of many headcanons.
Irkens having a heat and experiencing mpreg was written as early as 2009 on FFN.[3] Irken's having sensitive antennae has also been an old headcanon, and some fans go as far as to suggest Irken antennae are used for physical intimacy. Others take a more canon approach, where Irken antennae are too sensitive to touch at all, and thus touching them can be painful or overstimulating. Some fans refer to Irken antennae as "lekku," (singular "lek") a word borrowed from the Star Wars universe, which refer to the tendrils on the heads of certain species from Star Wars.
Because Irkens- including Zim and The Tallests- are seen eating nothing but carb/sugar rich foods (such as chips, donuts, waffles, and soda) fanon often headcanons Irkens as living off of a diet exclusively of sugar. They may be written as being highly allergic to meats, indifferent towards vegetables and fruits, and easily swayed by processed sugars.
Giving Irkens (especially Zim) the characteristics of a cat or reptile are common. Purring is a favorite, which may be spurred by stroking the antennae like human hair. The skin may be headcanonned to be covered in short, soft fur, and sometimes the antennae are drawn hairy. More uncommonly, Irkens are headcanonned to shed like a snake and have small scales, and have a preference towards warm environments. These fans may draw Irken heads as more snout-like, similar to a salamander, with a wide front mouth. Zim is almost always given zipper-teeth or sharp, predatory teeth. Sometimes Irkens are given a nictitating membrane (third eyelid) and may click, chirp, or warble in their throat, specially as a response to pleasing stimuli.
In canon Irkens are "hatched" as smeets (children) from cloning tubes. Fans make a myriad of headcanons about the Irken relationship with reproduction and cloning, though usually the most popular consensus is that they are, straight forwardly, cloned as in canon, but can still engage in sexual relationships. Depending on the artist, these relationships may either be taboo (having supposedly been "bred out" of them) or remain purely rank based and social (particularly with one character socially submitting to the other). Other headcanons are that, while Irkens could still have genitals despite their extensive cloning, they do not engage in sexual acts and also find human shame at nakedness to be a sign of weakness. Some artists will depict Zim or other Irkens not understanding human social norms, and may walk in on naked humans and not understand why the human becomes upset.
Courtship and bonding rituals are sometimes important parts of Irken fanon. A popular trope in ZADR fanfiction is that Zim's antics have been attempts to court Dib in the way Irkens would court, but because Dib is a human he is unware. The type of courtship varies between fanon. In some, the courtship is violent, meaning any time Zim has a physical altercation with Dib he is flirting. In others, like the fanfiction Polaris by CatlynGunn from 2017, the Irken courting behavior is to "impress" the other by any means possible. This includes acting over dramatic, showing off, giving gifts, and grabbing the other's attention by any means neccessary.[4] Some fanon includes a way for couples to mark one another as taken, consensually or non-consensually. In Polaris this involves the Taller gifting the Smaller a necklace called an "Orok," which is made from the Taller's weapon and blood, thus eternally claiming the Smaller as their mate. In the fanfiction The Human Kribliss by Swing-21 from 2008, the mark is non-consensual. In this fanfic's fanon, an Irken can mark any other creature with a "Kribliss" tattoo non-consensually, which is a barcode-like tattoo that means "back off, mine" and can mean anything from the mark-holder is the other's to kill, to the mark-holder is the romantic property of the other.[5]
Original Characters
Irken original characters are the most popular type of OC to make in the IZ fandom, though there are a myriad of other canon species OCs and original alien OCs as well. In the fanfic Polaris there is a Vortian/Irken hybrid who looks mostly Irken but without need of a PAK, as well as several original aliens. In the fanfic The Human Kribliss there are a handful of Irken OCs, each with a different eye color and antennae style.
While many Irken OCs take on a similar role as Zim in canon (see Invader OC), it's not uncommon to have Irken OCs of different occupations, or even Tallest OCs. Creating squadrons of Irkens who work as a crew is common, such as a commander and their ship crew, or a team of scientists.[6]
Irken OC creators get creative with their designs, using practices not implemented in the canon (or implemented that often). This includes face tattoos, extreme antennae styles (like antennae with several kinks that reach down to the floor), extra antennae, heterochromia, differing apparel, albinism, and color motifs outside the canon ranges of pink and purple.
Communities
Example Fanworks
References
- ^ Commander Poki, Invader Zim Wiki. (accessed 11/27/2020)
- ^ Irken Biology, Invader Zim Wiki. (Accessed 11/27/2020)
- ^ Heat, Fanfiction.net. Nov 24, 2009. (Accessed 11/5/2020)
- ^ Polaris, Archive of Our Own. 4/17/2017 (Accessed 11/27/2020)
- ^ The Human Kribliss, fanfiction.net. Jan 1, 2008. (Accessed 11/28/2020)
- ^ IZ Little Green Terror Line Up, Aug 20, 2019. (Accessed 11/28/2020)