Poll: Why is Invader Zim so highly praised?

[Dimitriov]

It's one of my favourite cartoons, and I only discivered it a few years ago in my 20's.

Why? because it's dark, it's bizarre, and it's completely random. My three favourite types of comedy.


The episode "Dark harvest" is probably my favourite.

Also: "IIIIIIT'S MEEEEE!! I WAS THE TURKEY ALL ALONG!"

 

[Chemical Alia]

I had a stereotypically gothic roommate when I was in the army, and she absolutely adored all that Jhonen Vasquez shit. I tried watching it her at first, but it gave me that awkward feeling you get when you walk into a Hot Topic store or an anime convention filled with spastic nerds.

 

[HorseManDemon]

I loved this show back when I was younger, and still love it now. I really like Jhonen's bleak (and accurate) view of humanity. Every character is either blindingly stupid or downright insane. The show focuses on the darker aspects of people, then dials them up a couple notches into parody territory.

Some of the random humor can be hit-or-miss, but that's kinda the nature of random humor.
Zim and Gir are infinitely quotable. It became a common occurrence amongst my friends to hear someone shake their fist and shout "Obey the fist!"

I think the key to liking the show is either to embrace the random nature of much of the humor, or to simply have a very disdainful eye for the rest of mankind.

 

[DJ_DEnM]

I didnt know invader zim was from the 90's....I figured it was from the "fairly odd parents" era

Fairly Odd Parents is the 90's...

 

[Texas Joker 52]

Mainly, I think the off-beat humor, the style, and the fact that, despite it being a childrens cartoon, it had a sort of... Latent maturity to it. I'm not sure how else to describe it, but really, its the intangible things that made it really appeal to the tastes of some, while shunning away others.

In a way, I would liken Zim to two things: The Last Airbender, simply for being something that was different from standard Nick fare, and Red vs. Blue, for having one character that was either loved or hated for his idiocy. Some people love Caboose and GIR simply because of how stupid, random and endearing they can be.

If its not for you, thats fine. It really all depends on your tastes. I really think thats the case for all niche cult-classics.

 

[Andy Dittmar]

I liked it for the art style and laughs but mostly it flows though me like giant radio active rubber pants !!

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

It entertained me to no end, that is all. I loved it right up there with Johnny Bravo, Catdog, Dexter's Lab... Its one of those things that people enjoyed during their childhood, but later became popular.

 

[JCBFGD]

The show's bizarre and dark. I like bizarre and dark. My love of the bizarre and dark has led me to enjoy Philip K Dick. What's the problem, exactly?

 

[Goremocker]

It's a love it or hate it show, like most of Nick's classics. I myself was a huge fan of Angry beavers, Rocko's modern life, AAAAAHHHHH!! Real monsters, of course Invader Zim, The grim adventures of Billy and Mandy(And before you say it, yes, I know that was on Cartoon Network), and a few other odd shows from the time. Really it comes down to nostalgia and attitude. As a kid, things of the goth sort always fascinated me, and I grew an early idea that nearly everyone in the world was an idiot. I suppose those ideals, mostly, are what I owe my love to Grim and Zim.

It was sort of just the anti-cartoon. So chock full of references and more adult jokes that it appealed to someone who wasn't a fan of most entertainment, or people in general. Having a show reinforce your idea that people are mostly complete morons and that the world is a crappy junk heap was sort of comforting. It felt like the show was made for the express purpose of feeding my already hastily developed hate.

Yeah it sound's kinda emo-esque, and I can easily blame shows like that for making our annoying and self-absorbed blights on humanity. But they worked fine for people like me, who eventually just grew into reality easier with the aid of these shows.

But hey, I could be over-analyzing here.

 

[Hasido]

GIR is that generation's Pinkie Pie.

I would love to see a GIR/Pinkie Pie crossover.

the phrase that launched a thousand fanfics

 

[Deathmageddon]

Zim was more popular among viewers between the ages of 15-18 and even some people in their early 20's than Nick's target audience: 7-12 year olds. So they cancelled it. Also, best show ever. If I had to choose between bringing back Firefly and bringing back Zim... I'd choose Zim. It's just that good.

 

[Neverhoodian]

And about the pony crossover, please go drink some bleach.

I know, right? Why sully Friendship is Magic's reputation with such tripe?

Spoiler

In all seriousness though, I never really watched Invader Zim all that much. I've seen a number of early episodes and found it moderately entertaining, but I didn't go nuts over it.

 

[AlexanderPeregrine]

Invader Zim is similar to Earthbound in that it's incredibly quirky, off-beat, and insular; one just has to "get it". There's no explaining or examining why it does or doesn't work because it is so far removed from classical narrative or comedic structure, talking about it as such is meaningless. A cynical person would say its enduring popularity amongst goths and other punk-derived subcultures is because it creeps out "mundanes", but really, it's random neurons lining up just right.

 

[Lerasai]

I guess I find it entertaining because I have a real soft spot in my heart for dim, ineffectual, bad guys and Zim is the amazing kind of arrogant sociopath that continues stubbornly in his delusions of grandeur even in the face of logic and spectacular failures. It's fun to watch him and Dib have their "epic battles" when they're the only ones in the entire show that take any of it seriously, including the creators. Yeah, the attention and commercialization it has been getting in the past few years from the Hot Topic crowd is obnoxious, but it's not going to stop me from liking it.

On the topic of the MLP comparison; no. I don't care if Pinkie and Gir are both "Omg, so random!", the two series could not be more different in terms of how they present the world. As much as I do like it, Invader Zim is cynical and bitter and I would never want to see that sort of negativity touching something that is supposed to be about optimism and kindness. I know it's a silly thing to get up in arms about, but the idea bothers me. I am fully aware I need to get less emotional about cartoons.

 

[Raika]

It's highly praised because kids on the internet love things that are "random", rather than things that are well-written. This explains the popularity of substanceless tripe like Invader Zim and Aqua Teen Hunger Force, say nothing of the absolutely execrable Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, which is in the same category as the aforementioned two in addition to being the worst television show of all time.