INVADER ZIM & LADY XENO
Invader Zim is the series that made me want to become an animator. I've always had a passion for storytelling, but the particular way that Invader Zim's hilarious writing, interesting sci-fii worldbuilding, unique animation, and memorable characters all worked together resonated with me like nothing had before. After the final episode, I immediately asked myself "How do I make something like THAT?"
Discovery
I'm pretty sure the first time I heard about Invader Zim was from Nickelodeon's website as just another entry on a list of legacy shows that I didn't recognize. After that, the main way I heard about Invader Zim was from YouTuber RebelTaxi. After I heard about Dark Harvest, my 11 or so year old morbidly curious biology nerd self just had to watch it, so I watched a rip of it on YouTube that was paired with Invasion of the Idiot Dog Brain. I thought it was interesting, but didn't bother watching the rest of the series yet. I only referenced it with my friends as just something that emos and scene kids liked.
I watched Invader Zim in full for the first time in July 2017. It was summer after my 7th grade year, so I was left home alone with not much to do. I noticed that the series was on Hulu on a day more fateful than most and gave it a go. As early as episode 1, I was completely hooked and binge watched the rest whenever I had access to the big living room TV. I caught myself thinking about the characters while listening to music and that's how I knew it was my newest special interest.
Until 2018, my love for Invader Zim was spent pretty isolated from the rest of the fandom. I drew some art depicting the characters as Sailor Moon's sailor senshi and started coming up with what evolved into my Sailor GIR AU. Aside from that, I didn't make much fan material for the series yet, mostly because I was an inexperienced artist.
The Invader Zim Amino
In 2018, I joined my first Invader Zim fan group: the Invader Zim Amino (the platform is now defunct, but Amino was an interest-based social media app structured like a cross between Tumblr and Reddit that was really popular with nerdy teenagers in the late 2010s). It was there where I came up with most of my fan characters and started posting about my thoughts and headcanons.
Up until the release of Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus, the Invader Zim Amino happened to be in a sweet spot in size: small enough for everyone to know each other, but big enough for there to be plenty of interaction. The community events, especially the contests, were my favorite part of the group. The art contests pushed me to draw more and with higher effort than I had before. I started finding my art style and experienced drawing getting easier and easier. After months of trying, I eventually started winning some contests. In my eyes, I had "made it."
Of course, the Zim Amino wouldn't have been so fun if it weren't for the cool people I met on there. I keep up with many of the fans I met on there to this day, but none more so than my best friend Genny Denny. She and I met for the first time in the summer 2018 when she requested art of her OC. I kept DMing her jokes about her characters and we've been besties ever since.
In August 2019, the day we were all waiting for finally came: the release of Enter the Florpus. In the aftermath of the film coming out, many people who only just got into Invader Zim started joining the Amino. While the growing community was exciting, the sudden presence of many strangers made me more self-concious of what I was posting. Still, I kept posting art as long as I was into Invader Zim.
The next month, my first very long fixation on Invader Zim died down as I rediscovered my love for Sonic the Hedgehog. I stopped checking in on the Zim Amino. After my closest friends migrated to Discord and deleted their Amino accounts, I left the platform in favor of Twitter and Instagram.
On December 19, 2025, Amino Apps suddenly ceased operations without prior notice, erasing all of its unarchived content with it. The Invader Zim Amino now only exists in the memories of its former members and in any screenshots and posts that were saved.
Dreams Come True
From 2020 to 2022, Invader Zim remained my main special interest, but it faded in and out as I got really into various other fandoms. I sometimes dipped back into the Zim fandom to touch up on my old OCs and AUs, but they didn't last long enough for anything significant to come from them.
In August 2023, I made my Tumblr Invader Zim fandom blog Her Majesty Tak. Posting my headcanons, questions, and jokes to the fandom again rejuvenated my love for the series and I was back to talking about it constantly.
On Friday December 1st, 2023, I attended Galaxycon Columbus and got to meet Richard Horvitz, Rikki Simons, Melissa Fahn, Eric Trueheart, and Jhonen Vasquez for the first time. I kicked off my collection of autographs on my House Box DVD Set, got some birthday messages for Gen, and showed off my art to them. Most of the interactions went how you'd expect, but my meeting with Jhonen stood out to me. Of the cast and crew, he was the most exciting for me to meet, but also the most daunting; I knew all too well that Jhonen's the type to tell you very directly if he doesn't like something that you do. I had NO idea what I was going to even say to him as I stepped up to his booth, but the conversation flowed a lot more naturally than I thought. Talking to him really just felt like talking to any other artist about their original characters. I passed him my fanart for autographing and he paused when he noticed Clembrane on the art I made for Gen. Apparently, he had never seen fanart of Clembrane before and was very surprised by it, surprised enough to whip out his phone and photograph MY ART with MY BEST FRIEND'S OC ON IT. I still don't know how I didn't faint right then and there. I suppose it was because being so close to Jhonen reminded me how human he is after all.
On Saturday December 2nd, I returned to Eric Trueheart's booth and bought his script for GIR's Big Day. The big event of that day was the Invader Zim Q&A. I was so determined to ask a question that I attended the Paula Abdul Q&A in the same room right before just to get a front row seat (which turned out not to be filler, my mother and I learned some very cool facts about her that day). I asked about the status of SKOODGE: was he ZIM's roommate despite the episode that would have established that going unfinishd? Jhonen confirmed that it was the case and I felt so proud, being one of the few question askers to answer an unknown lore question.
On Sunday December 3rd, I did the big professional photo ops: one at the start of the day with Richard Horvitz and Rikki Simons, another at the end of the day with Jhonen Vasquez. I wore my GIR closet cosplay and brought my ZIM and GIR zippermouth plushes, ready to cap off my dream convention experience. Again, Richard and Rikki's session went as expected, but Jhonen Vasquez surprised me. I held my plushes up just as I did with Richard and Rikki, but Jhonen turned to me and asked if he could hold one! I passed him the ZIM and got my favorite photo taken. My only regret is wearing my thick blue GIR goggles the whole time so I couldn't see anyone clearly.