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inbarfink · 3 months

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Hello, Invader Zim Fandom! Say, have you ever found yourself thinking “hmmm.... I wonder how often Zim and Dib skip classes due to their constant misadventures and battles?” Well, whatever you did or not, I am going to do it now! Time for…

Checking Attendance for Invader Zim and Dib Membrane!

"The Nightmare Begins"

Our first major confrontation between the two leads (leaving aside some quarreling in the middle of class, but I am checking attendance - not behavior) happens explicitly right after Skool has finished. So, no class has been missed in the production of this episode.

(I mean maybe I would ask about how long their Skoolday even is considering Miss Bitters introduces Zim, says ‘Doomed’ for a few minutes and then sends them home. But that’s, like, a common Bug with Schools in fiction. I’m going to assume that we’re not supposed to take the class/Skoolday as literally being that short.)

"Bestest Friend"

Zim takes a whole day off from Skool under the claim that he’s sick.

Zim: I'm sick. I'm not going to skool today.

Which, I mean, he said it to get Keef off his back, but then we do see he stayed in his lab all day to work on his Eyeball Machine. So yeah, here's our first missed attendance. Zim skipped a whole day of Skool right there.

"Nanozim"

Dib: Zim wasn't in class today, Gaz. Gaz: Maybe he's sick. Dib: Yeah, sick with fear!

Another whole missed day from Zim for the sake of his scheme!

"Parent Teacher Night"

Nothing! The entirety of this episode takes place either during Skool, explicitly after Skool or during a Skool-sectioned Afterskool event.

"Walk of Doom"

Now this is where things really get interesting. Because Zim certainly spent like a whole day on his and GIR’s little City Adventure - but also, you might want consider the possibility that this episode took place over the weekend, or even just that it starts after skool. After all, Invader Zim’s Daytime Sky doesn't change that much between the morning and the afternoon.

However, even taking these factors into account, I still think that it’s more likely that this episode does takes place during Skool Hours and is yet another example of Zim missing a full day of Skool, and that is for one reason - the background extras.

Through all of Zim’s Urban Misadventure, the City seems to be populated entirely by adults + one baby we saw on the Bus. No Skool-aged youngsters anywhere in sight.

And, maybe that’s a weird thing to get hung up on, but usually IZ Crowd Scenes do include a mixture of kids and adults… including some scenes in that very episode, but only after the transition into night. When Skool would obviously be already over.

Thus, I think it’s most logical to conclude that Zim, for some reason, decided to do this lil excursion in the middle of a Skoolday. Couldn’t wait for the weekend or even just the afternoon for some reason. He got a bee in his bonnet about the Guidance Chip and he had to do it at that very moment!!

(But I am going to cut him a little slack with the ending. Cause, like, obviously he’s been driving for like a whole night and it’s going to take him some time to get back home… but for the sake of Being Nice I am going to assume this episode takes place on a Friday and he's got the whole weekend to find his way back home and so he only missed one day of Skool. After all, isn’t this what ‘Invader Zim’ is all about? Being nice?)

(This is a rhetorical question and the answer is no.)

"Germs"

As Zim himself states, he did miss a day of Skool due to his obsession with Germs.

Zim: The skool! The skool will know I've been missing! They must be really suspicious by now!

I wondered if that was actually more than one day, but we only see one transition to night near the end of the episode.

Most likely this entire episode takes place over the course of a single day - Zim watched that movie very early in the morning before getting to Skool (he doesn’t sleep so he’s got a lot more free time in a day) and then got so Germ-Obsessed for that one day that he forgot about that.

And thanks (?) to the workaround at the end, we can be sure this time he only missed one single day of Skool.

"Dark Harvest"

So all of this episode takes place in the Skool, but mostly outside of the classroom. With Zim leaving early on after a lesson started, then Dib going after him a short while later and this whole …. Adventure lasted enough to get to Lunch Break and also probably the climax lasted a bit after it and into the next lesson period (considering how empty the Skool Hallways seem at that point.

However, this speculation is kinda moot since both Zim and Dib were both out there with Hall-Passes officially ‘just trying to get to the nurse’, so I am just not going to count it as skipping class at all. They had permission.

"Attack of the Saucer Morons"

Okay, so… this episode starts at night, but by the time Zim gets to the Saucer Morons it’s already Daytime. But since Zim was very adamant about getting his Voot back ASAP, I am going to assume this is taking place Very Early in the Morning. It just takes a while for Zim to get back home from the crash site and then back again without the Cruiser, but it’s still probably like… before Skool starts. 5AM-6AM or something like that? You know, the excitement of an Alien Spaceship is going to encourage a lot of people to wake up early.

It’s not entirely clear how long the events of the episode lasted in-universe. There’s a few ‘skips’, like, how long did Zim’s initiation take? How long did it take GIR to get the Government Man robot ready? How long did it take the Saucer Morons to make that lil’ set-up for Zim?

But, Fastforwards to the climatic chase scene at the end of the episode, and we can see Zim has zoomed by a Skoolbus. Now, this might be a Bus taking kids back from Skool, or taking the kids to Skool. Either the implication here is that Zim has wasted a whole skoolday and it’s already the afternoon - or it’s still early in the morning and Skool is just about to start. And… since it’s just down to my gut feelings, I am going to say the second one. I think all of the little-time skips during the episode still don’t amount to more than like, an hour or two. So it being just before Skool starts seems reasonable to me.

But, well, even for the sake of being nice to Zim…

I am going to assume that murdering all of these scientists (or however he got himself out of that jam) and getting back home to retrieve a new disguise will take like… A Considerable Amount of Time. And Skool was basically just about to start. So… I think that I’m going to mark it as Zim missing at least one class and getting to Skool late.

"The Wettening"

This episode actually puts a lot of attention into making sure all of Zim and Dib’s confrontations take place after Skool hours and that all the time they spend at home planning is happening during the weekend. This episode is mostly useful for explicitly establishing that Skool is operating with a two-day Saturday-Sunday weekend.

Now, I was wondering if I should count Zim as ‘skipping class’ for, y’know - not actually showing up to Skool on Monday and basically going straight home to drown to death in the toilet right after he won that water-balloon fight. But since the entire damn Skool was reduced to a ruin by Zim’s victory - I think it’s safe to say that Skool is canceled regardless. So that shouldn't count.

(Remember kids! If you wanna skip school, you should just blow it up with a giant Space Water Balloon first and then it’s okay!)

"Career Day"

The entire events of that episode were a Skool-sanctioned activity, so nothing really to report.

"Battle-Dib"

With the 8PM ticking clock, Doctor Membrane having a clearly very kid-oriented edutainment show that he’s apparently recording live, and all the other ordinary kids trying out for the audience… I think it’s pretty safe to say this whole episode takes place after skool.

"Planet Jackers"

Whole episode takes place at night, nothing for us to concern ourselves about.

"Rise of the Zitboy"

Okay, so this episode starts at daytime, with both Zim and Dib very clearly not at Skool - and usually that would be enough for me to assume this episode starts in the afternoon, but…

After Zim gains the Power of Pustulio, he seemingly immediately goes to Skool to test it out. There’s no reason to assume this is like, a whole night later. Zim’s only thought was about hypnotizing Dib and he knows where his house is. If it were the afternoon, wouldn't he just go to the Membrane household rather than wait for the next Skool Day? So this episode actually starts very early in the morning.

And, like, either way it seems like this is happening very early in the morning and has no real effect on their Skool attendence and I shouldn’t dwell on it too much for this post but… I guess it still kinda surprises me that Dib got up bright and early just to do this shit like an hour before skool starts.

Most of the episode seems to take place before the first period of the day even starts, so the only actually relevant part to our discussion is the very last line from Zim.

Zim: Bye Dib, and thanks for the information! I've got a few more lawn gnomes to plant!

So Zim is going to skip away before Skool starts to take care of the security problems in his Gnome Field right away. So… he’s probably going to miss at least one class, if he’s even coming back.

"Invasion of the Idiot Dog Brain"

Episode takes place entirely at night, not relevant to our discussion. I am not going to consider the ‘One Year Later’ gag as canon, because, like…. come on.

"Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy"

As the episode starts with a broadcast of Professor Membrane’s show (which as we have already established, is very kids-oriented, highly-rated and seems to be airing live), it’s a pretty safe bet that the whole events of this episode is taking place in the afternoon, so no Skool-Problems here!

"A Room With a Moose"

So, I am not going to knock Dib any points for leaving mid-class on something that wasn’t really a Skool trip. I mean… everyone thought it was a Skool trip, including the other students and their teacher. I assume either Zim took care of the paperwork while he was sneaking around setting up his plan or there was never any paperwork in the first place because it’s the IZ Earth and No One Cares.

Now about Zim… he has technically not skipped class in the sense that he was doing all of this under the guise of being in the toilet, but… Like, in his second round in the Restroom, he actually just never came back until… well, probably the next Skool day, considering it was nighttime at the end of the episode. Even with how apathetic Miss Bitters is… I assume she can conceive of the idea of a student trying to get out of Skool under the excuse of being in the bathroom, even if she doesn’t know/care about the Alien Teleporter Device.

So I am counting this as just a half day of skipping school for Zim.

"Hamstergeddon"

Okay, so this was actually the episode that inspired me to make this post, and the reason why I conceived of it as a “Zim and Dib Skipping School” list even though, as you have seen so far… Dib has a pretty spotless attendance record so far. I just saw both Zim and Dib piss off from Skool mid-lesson to follow the Hamster Kaiju and started to wonder ‘hmmm… how often does this happen?”

And since we never see Ultra Peepi, like, outright entirely destroy the Skool - I don’t think the day would be canceled like it probably was in “The Wettning” (if it was, I’d assume we’d see more students running out and not just Zim and Dib). And I assume Dib would notice the Growing Peepi Problem near the start of the day, so they both missed about a full day of Skool just then.

"Plague of Babies"

Takes place entirely during one night, not relevant here.

"Bloaty's Pizza Hog"

Explicitly takes place during the late afternoon/evening.

"Door to Door"

Another Skool-Sanctioned activity similar to ‘Career Day’

"FBI Warning of Doom"

Takes place during the evening/night.

"Bolognius Maximus"

After Zim reveals there is no cure to the Bolognafication, Dib runs out of the classroom screaming. This transition into a whole Zim Fantasy Sequence where he’s Gigantic and stuff. But it does seem like the whole ‘Dib being run out of Skool midway through the Skoolday’ did happen. Since they only re-meet after Zim is going back home from Skool.

So that’s the first time Dib loses attendance (basically an entire day, since he didn’t even last one whole lesson) but not Zim. (But Dib still has a lot of ‘catching up’ to do).

(This episode also establishes that Dib is often late to Skool due to his various paranormal misadventures. Reliably enough for Zim to incorporate it into his Vengeance. However, that’s not entirely relevant since I’m only counting attendance in this post and not tardiness. But I thought I might as well acknowledge it.)

"Game Slave 2"

Episode takes place entirely at night, not relevant.

"Battle of the Planets"

Same as above.

"Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom"

So I am not going to count Dib being forcibly institutionalized by Skool administration as ‘skipping classes’, obviously.

However, while Dib was being dragged off to the Crazy House, Zim used the chaos to ‘escape’ this Skool full of ‘Zombies’ and ready his base for tonight. Next time we see Zim, it’s nighttime and he is still readying his base. And even with Dib being late, it still seems like the episode started early in the first period. So Zim is skipping another full day of Skool basically.

"Mysterious Mysteries"

From the events of the episode, it seems like ‘Mysterious Mysteries’ airs live (or at least semi-live, in regards to the interviewed segments). We already know that it airs in the evenings because that’s always when we see Dib watch it. Even if it didn’t actually air live, they would probably schedule their interviews to afterskool hours when they have three elementary-skoolers to interview.

"Future Dib"

Episode starts at a Skool-Assembly, and then move to later that day in the afternoon/early evening (Membrane says ‘tonight’, but the sky is always daylight-yellow, so it seems to be later that day after Skoolhour, it’s just that the sun hasn’t quite set yet.) Either way, neither Zim nor Dib actually seem to skip class on that one.

"Hobo 13"

With this being an entirely Space-Based Episode, we have basically No Data on what Earth Time this episode takes place. Zim does generally seem to call the Tallests just after Skool or during the night, so I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt on that one and not count it.

"Walk For Your Lives"

While I have no doubt in my mind that Zim would skip Skool for the sake of Probing Day and maaaybe Dib would too for the sake of catching Zim by surprise, well…

So remember way way back during ‘Walk of Doom’ when I talked about background extras? Well, I’m doing this again but in the other direction this time!

Because all the city scenes in this episode do actually feature both child and adult extras (including literally some of Zim and Dib’s classmates).

So I think it’s most likely to assume this episode takes place just after Skool hours. Or perhaps the weekend.

"Megadoomer"

Starts right after Zim gets home from Skool, and lasts through the night. Not relevant.

"Lice"

Takes place entirely at Skool and also classes are canceled due to Lice Quarantine. I don’t really count any of the Nonsense in this episode as ‘skipping class’, it’s fine.

"Abducted"

We don’t have any details about when the episode takes place outside of ‘the daytime’, but again, Zim generally ‘updates’ the Tallest after Skool so I am going to assume this applies here. Plus, we also see Dib and Gaz at home by the end and they generally don’t skip Skool - so yeah, more evidence for this being the afternoon.

"The Sad, Sad Tale of Chickenfoot"

Episode explicitly takes place at evening/night, not relevant.

"Gir Goes Crazy and Stuff"

Episode starts at night, and ends at sunrise.

Not relevant.

(Also hey! Does this imply that we can tell that the City is on the East Coast at least?)

"Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom"

Starts at Skool and then seems to take place entirely at night - since the Wonderful Life of Doom starts with Dib sleeping in bed, I assume Dib kidnapped him and put him in the simulation while he was actually asleep.

"Tak: The Hideous New Girl"

Okay, so we had two fairly-regular Skooldays since Tak arrived on Earth.

Then, after Zim comes back from Skool the second day and Tak reveals herself, we cut to Zim’s battle against the Ham Demon. Which is also happening in the daytime. Although Zim later mentions he’s been trailing Tak for ‘48 hours’ - meaning exactly two whole days.

And then as Zim realizes he needs Dib’s help, we cut to the Membrane house at nighttime.

So… was that battle taking place in the afternoon/early evening and it’s just that by the time Zim got to the Membranes the sun had already set? That seems to be the case from the establishing shot. But then Dib yawns and rubs his eyes as if he just woke up and Professor Membrane says ‘good morning’.

I mean… with how often Dib seems to stay up late and wake up extremely early, maybe he takes a lot of afternoon-evening naps?

Or perhaps this suggests this establishing shot might’ve been just an art error? The little we see of the indoor backdrops are also kinda inconsistent about the Color of the Sky.

First seeming to indicate daytime.

And then… nighttime? Nighttime with sunset? Nighttime with sunrise?

Then nighttime again?

And then, the whole Giant Evil Weenie Stand sequence is at daytime again.

And it only becomes night again by the climax.

And with Zim’s ‘48 hours’ comment placing the Ham Demon fight at the early afternoon (it should be 48 hours after the Tak confrontation, which happened just after Zim got home from Skool) our scenarios are either:

Zim battles the Ham Demon, then almost immediately Zim confronts Dib after his afternoon nap (and the Color of the Sky around the Membrane household is just Consistently an Art Error. It should be daytime). And the rest of the events of the episode take place on that same day’s late afternoon/evening.

Zim battles the Ham Demon, then a few hours later Zim confronts Dib after his early evening nap (the Color of the Sky around the Membrane household is not an art error...for the most part. The sun has set already). Then the rest of the events of the episode take place over the next day.

Zim battles the Ham Demon, then the next morning Zim confronts Dib when he wakes up (the Color of the Sky might be a major art error, or it might be a failed attempt at conveying sunrise, or both). Then the rest of the events of the episode take place during that day.

And when considering which one seems to me the most likely, I took three different factors into consideration.

I wanna minimize just dismissing things as art/continuity errors. I want to be as canon-compliant as I possibly can.

The plot needs to maintain its sense of urgency. Having too many Big Timeskips where the characters just kinda don’t do anything significantly hurts the narrative. ‘

The possibility of skipped skool days which is… hey! Is actually what this post is supposed to be about!

Okay, so to elaborate on Point C: Scenario 1 has Zim spend like two full Skooldays’ worth of time on tracking Tak down and then he and Dib and Gaz stop her together during afterskool hours. Scenario 2 + 3 has Zim spend two skooldays, and then the three of them spend the day after that stopping Tak. And.. it’s not just a matter of considering Zim skipping two days versus three days and Dib and Gaz skipping one day versus zero days. Because also the weekend exists.

I actually think it’s incredibly likely that the Tak Reveal is supposed to take place on a Friday, and Zim tracked Tak over the weekend (so the ending of the Ham Demon sequence is on Sunday afternoon).

Especially as Dib apparently didn’t notice Zim either stalking Tak during Skool or just vanishing from Skool altogether due to the Ham Demon Situation. Like, considering how paranoid he is about Zim normally, you’d think he’d take notice and try and figure out if he is up to anything. Especially if it involved the girl he saw as an ally and friend. But it seemed like he was not bothered by anything or noticed anything Zim was doing in the meantime. Which I think only makes sense if Zim was ‘investigating’ Tak during the weekend.

So in Scenario 1 that would mean the climax of the episode took place during Sunday afternoon/evening. And Scenario 2 + 3 would mean that those events take place during Monday, and thus all of our main trio is either skipping skool or waiting until skool is done to go on their Earth-Saving-Missions.

And the latter is both unlikely because it wrecks the sense of Urgency in the plot and because… like… did Zim and Dib just go to Skool and Angrily Glared at each other until it was done? It really just kinda ruins the dramatic pacing if Zim and Dib meet between the scene at the Membrane Household and the Weenie Stand. So going to Skool on Monday and then doing the Evil Weenie Investigation afterwards seems unlikely to me.

And as for the former scenario… like, as you’ve noticed. Dib very very rarely skips Skool of his own volition. And Gaz never does. Honestly I don’t think it’s in-character for her. Not cause she’s a goody-two-shoes who would never skip class or anything like that. Just because she never takes all of this Alien Stuff seriously enough to consider it a worthwhile reason to skipping classes. And no, neither is getting her brother beat up by security - even if she does enjoy the latter a lot more.

I guess maybe just Zim could’ve been skipping Skool that Monday morning to do some more failed ‘investigative work’ before he actually realized the Evil Weenie Stand was important. While Dib and Gaz just attended classes like Normal and investigated the Weenies afterwards.

But then, like, did Tak go to Skool? She cares so much about showing off her ability to Actually Competently Infiltrate Humanity, and it seems most of the Evil Weenie Stand Construction is happening automatically… so I kinda assume she would go to Skool on that Monday? So with both Dib and Tak at class that day and Zim not being… that would be another Hypothetical Dramatic Scenario that is just Inexplicably Off Screen in the narrative.

You know like…. Maybe not Dib confronting Tak about Zim’s accusations if he truly doesn’t believe them at that point, but trying to warn her that Zim is deluded about her and out to get her? I just don’t believe any Skoolday after Zim and Dib's confrontation at Dib’s house could be uneventful enough so that we could just skip over it completely like that.

So, I really really tried to get a scenario where I don’t resort to the Art Error Clause but… I think the only timeline that makes real sense in terms of narrative and characterization is Scenario 1. So most of the events of the climax of “Tak: the Hideous New Girl” probably take place over Sunday afternoon and thus neither Zim nor Dib actually skipped classes. Zim just had a very very busy weekend.

"Backseat Drivers From Beyond the Stars"

Takes place entirely during the night/evening, irrelevant.

"Mortos Der Soul Stealer"

Same as above.

"Zim Eats Waffles"

Okay, so, there’s nothing in the text of the episode that explicitly says it but… since this episode centers around Zim eating waffles and reading the newspaper

I always kinda assumed it was taking place in the morning. And probably, like Saturday/Sunday morning.

This would also explain why Dib immediately goes to sleep at the end of the episode even though it’s the same ‘daytime’ sky-color outside.

He woke up early for this - but now that his plan has failed so thoroughly, well… It's still the weekend and now he’s going to sleep in for a while. He probably needs it.

"The Girl Who Cried Gnome"

Well, presumably Moofy and the other Girly Rangers don’t go selling cookies during normal Skool hours. So this episode either takes place after skool hours or also over the weekend. The amount of kid extras in the scene also supports that idea.

Of course, with the episode ending with Dib being tormented until nightfall, there’s a reasonable chance he won’t make it to Skool on the next day… but I’m going to be nice and assume he managed to get himself free, like, at 3AM or something. So he’s fine, just incredibly sleep-deprived and traumatized. So par for the course, really.

"Dibship Rising"

So, Dibship tries to go to school as Dib, and it seems like it could’ve worked

Poonchy: Hey! Dib's bein' all weird and giant again!

But, well for starters, Dibship only managed to get to Skool by the time for lunch break. I guess he’s really just figuring out how to walk and he’s pretty slow and heavy… So yeah, it might take him a While to get to Skool. Then once he is at Skool, Zim almost immediately takes him over and starts up his Evil Scheme.

It’s unclear how long it takes until Dib actually wakes up (hey, remember what I said about him being probably very sleep deprived?), but since Dib’s concern is about being late, I assume the skoolday is not yet over. And when he meets up with Dibship again…

Yeah, it actually took me a bit to notice it, but the scene is directed as to always obscure the top of the ship’s cockpit. AKA where Zim is. I thought at first that maybe he sent the ship out on its own and jumped onto it when it was passing through the Skool. But with that little trick of angles and the stick in Zim’s wig and GIR scattering acorns everywhere… yeah he was clearly on it the whole time.

So Dib missed about a whole day of Skool, spending the reminder of that day trapped just over the cesspool listening to the dying Dibship talk about how much of a loser they are.

Zim got about… half a skoolday done before skipping out for, as Dib pointed out, no real reason other then endangering himself. And I’m pretty sure he, like, died at the end of the episode. So he’s probably not making it back to Skool either.

"Vindicated!"

The events of this episode start during Skool and then explicitly continue after Skool, not relevant.

"The Voting of the Doomed"

Takes place entirely at Skool doing Skool stuff, not relevant.

"Gaz, Taster of Pork"

Well, I am not actively counting Gaz’s absences for this post, so I don’t need to worry about, like, the multiple weeks that her dad kept her isolated in his lab (and even so, I don’t think being forcibly being pulled out of the education system by your parents count as ‘skipping skool’?) As for Dib, most of his ‘research’ we’ve seen happen either in Skool

Or at nighttime and thus explicitly after Skool.

The daring breakout from Membrane Lab does happen in the daytime - the day after Dib’s Hobo Encounter at MacMeaties. The question is just if Dib decided to wait until after Skool to get the information out to Gaz or if he broke her out ASAP skool be damned. (And it can’t be the weekend this time, “this Friday” is our explicit Ticking Clock). But since the sun had already set by the time they finished with their chase scene… Honestly, yeah my guess is he decided to procrastinate by waiting after Skool to break her out lol.

So Dib has had another Very Long Night, but he probably didn't skip skool (and since the episode ends on Friday, he technically has two whole days to finish Cleaning the Pig Toilets and still make it back in time for Monday! Fun!)

"The Frycook What Came From All That Space"

So Zim gets kidnapped from Skool at the very start of the episode and , according to Sizz-Lorr, a week before the Foodening starts

Sizz-Lorr: YES!! And that's not all, Zim! In one week, the Foodening begins once more, and you'll be trapped here for 20 years, just like I was!

And Zim manages to get off the planet at the very last second before the Foodening trapped him there.

And we know there’s no ‘time warp’ in place cause Dib did notice Zim was gone for three days about halfway through the episode.

Dib: Um, I noticed Zim's been gone for three days. Do you know where he is?

So, yeah, Zim was absent from Skool for a week.

(I am… going to assume Dib did not spend like 72-96 hours non-stop annoying the Tallest. But rather he went back and to Zim’s house whenever he had the chance so I am not counting absences for him.)

"The Most Horrible X-mas Ever"

Takes place over Winter Break and thus is irrelevant.

In total, Zim has confirmed 12 missed full days of Skool + about two times where probably just skipped the first period. Dib has three missed days of Skool. So, like Zim might need to repeat the sixth grade if time ever Actually Moved Forwards in the IZ universe - but Dib is pretty in the clear I think.

Really, what I find really interesting, more than just the obvious difference between Zim and Dib’s tendency to skip skool is the difference between the earlier and later episodes. Like, not counting the five days Zim picked up at the second-to-last episode (which were very much outside of his control)… Zim picked up 4/7 missed days in just the first eight episodes! And after that they are far less frequent. Perhaps the writers deliberately tried to take care to not overuse the whole skipping skool thing too much? Or maybe from an in-universe perspective it just took Zim a few weeks to really wrap his head around how the skool schedule thing even works?

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jaegersdevil · 9 months

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boyfriend!eren headcanons pt. 5

u guys love him, so i will provide more......

cw: zeke is a father (his kid is named oliver), use of y/n once

part 1 part 2 part 3 part 4 / masterlist

children LOVE bf!eren and he treats them like they're his friends instead of actual kids

bf!eren 'hangs out' with his nephew instead of babysitting him. he talks to oliver about the basketball game on tv like he's his best mate..... asking for his opinion, if he wants a beer, about his doctor's visit yesterday, 'hey y/n, can i give him some pizza?'..... when ollie is literally 4 months old

bf!eren wears nba jerseys or oversized graphic tees with sweat shorts...... that's just his style. i really can't see him in anything other than sweatpants, a hoodie, and his bigass dunks when he goes out.... sorry to all the fashion girlies 😔

BUT, if it's somewhere important (team dinner, awards night, a wedding, a ball perhaps etc), then he does wear a suit & dress shoes (all black). he's not THAT laidback ok

bf!eren surprises you with your favourite dessert every friday night (not really a surprise atp, but it's the thought that counts <333)

wherever you sit, bf!eren has his arm over the back of the chair/couch you're on

bf!eren LOVES sci-fi movies from the 70s & 80s, hence the back to the future DVDs (part 4), the star wars funko pops (leia, darth vader, chewie, luke) he has around his room, and the framed dune poster in his living room

bf!eren listens to rap music, mostly kendrick, travis, eminem, baby keem, chief keef, yeat... i could go on forever. BUT he also loves 80s rock (eg his bon jovi vinyl (part 4), inxs CDs, and many more), and 90s & 00s club music

you keep extra snacks in your backpack for bf!eren because he gets hungry in class AFKJSAFJ

bf!eren flirts with you 24/7, and pretends to flirt with you as a stranger in public sometimes because he is SILLY

you both have an obsession with taking photos of each other (but find it annoying when the other does it) (e.g. on a picnic, you've got your phone out, ready to take a picture of bf!eren absolutely destroy his sandwich, but when he sees you, he tilts his head and sighs, covering his face with one hand and his other holds the sandwich to his mouth) (e.g. 2. you're reading on the couch, bf!eren is sat across from you, your legs on top of his. and because eren never turns his phone ringer off, you hear him take a photo of you. you groan instantly and cover your face with the book, whining his name. he just giggles and adds it to his folder of photos of you)

bf!eren throws grapes at you when you ignore him (lovingly)

bf!eren buys your favourite album on vinyl so he can keep it at his house

bf!eren likes being the little spoon but will be the big spoon if you don't want to <3

bf!eren plays with your fingers when watching tv/movies because he can't sit still to save his life

bf!eren is a golden retriever boyfriend, but he can be such an asshole!!

in part 2 i mentioned he can be so condescending and petty in an argument, and that's because he doesn't know how to express his emotions in a healthy way (but he's working on it with you!!)

in basketball games against certain colleges, bf!eren gets so fired up and aggressive and lippy. he talks so much shit on the court (he's known for it), and isn't afraid to take shit either (which pisses off the other team, and the whole cycle starts again)

but, it's a bonus for you when he gets off the court because he's looking extra hot..... and he knows it...... asshole

bf!eren is such a gossip too, like he hears ONE thing from jean in passing, and suddenly everyone in the group has heard about it... but everybody already knows not to tell bf!eren anything they don't want anyone else to know (the group still makes jokes about how poor jean got scammed by a fake protein powder website (he lost $200 HA.... sorry))

lmao bf!eren's such a little shit <3

#eren jaeger #attack on titan imagine #attack on titan x reader #eren jaeger imagine #eren jaeger x reader #eren jeager imagines #eren jeager x reader #eren yaeger imagine #eren yaeger x reader #eren yeager x reader #eren yeager x y/n #eren yeager x you #boyfriend!eren #— ann writes!

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myfairkatiecat · 1 day

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why'd you get so mad at that sophie/keefe sibling anon?

hope that doesn't seem rude

I didn’t mean to come off as mad or anything, sorry if the tone didn’t translate right! BUT! I did get a little frustrated, because this is something that people who ship non-canon ships rlly need to figure out.

And hello to you anon, and also to whatever anon send the original ask! Because considering the amount of anti-Sokeefe friends I have in this fandom, you totally might be one of my friends! Want to be clear—this isn’t because I have a problem with you not liking Sokeefe, the problem is with saying she saw him as a sibling in canon when she did NOT see him as a sibling in canon, because that has icky implications.

Since I don’t want to misrepresent anyone’s opinions, here’s the exact message:

Sophie never seemed romantically interested in Keefe, sorry

it was more like a little sister comforting her brother

That’s the part that bothered me, because that implies that in canon, the thoughts sophie has about Keefe seem more like a sister about a brother.

It’s one thing to read Percy Jackson and say, “wow, I just don’t really like a Percabeth ship :/” and that’s totally valid, like, ship whatever you want! Ship Annabeth with Piper if you’d like, or Percy with Jason or whatever!

But it’s another thing to say “Percy always saw Annabeth as a sister!!” 1) that’s a weird thing to say because they’re canonically together and so comparing them to siblings is really icky, and 2) if you actually read the books it’s very clear that he develops romantic feelings for her. Even if it’s not super prevalent in the first few books cause they start out as twelve.

So people who say Sophie never seemed to like Keefe until book 9 sound to me like if someone said Percy never liked Annabeth or considered her romantically until the kiss in battle of the labyrinth. Just because it wasn’t a focus of the narrative doesn’t mean it wasn’t there from the beginning—and it CLEARLY was!

It just sort of feels like a really icky reaction to not liking a ship to say they always acted like siblings when clearly that isn’t canon.

If you don’t like Sokeefe, maybe you can say you would have preferred it if Sophie saw Keefe as a brother. Maybe you can write fanfic where they’re just friends and have more of a sibling type relationship. But that isn’t canon and that’s FINE, you don’t have to be on board with everything in canon, but for the love of God not liking a ship doesn’t mean they were never interested in each other 😭

Especially cause the ask didn’t even say she saw him as a friend, it said she saw him as a sibling??? Hello??? That’s SUCH a weird thing to say about two people who are now canonically dating???

Like it wouldn’t really have bothered me if the anon said “I would have enjoyed kotlc more if Keefe was a brother to Sophie instead of a love interest.” Like, I definitely disagree, but I don’t care that much cause everyone can have their own opinions and enjoy whatever they like about the media or write whatever fanfic bc they don’t think canon did it right! You’re MORE than welcome to believe that Sophie and Keefe would have been a better dynamic IF they were siblings.

But don’t say that IN CANON Sophie treated Keefe like she was his sister, because considering the many specifically romantic thoughts she has regarding him, that is a really weird thing to say because it implies that people think that way about their siblings? And comment internally on how attractive they are? Like maybe even if the anon had used the word “friend” I wouldn’t have been as frustrated, though it’s definitely the case that if we’re looking at canon, Sophie has feelings for Keefe. They’ve kissed. They’re together. That’s canon. If canon isn’t your thing, read fanfic, but don’t outright deny what’s in canon in a way that has weird implications.

It’s almost like saying sophie never had a crush on fitz. It’s slightly different because she acknowledged that one more overtly beyond just commenting on how good he looked or how he made her feel, but it would still really frustrate me if someone said Sophie and Fitz had more of a sibling relationship in canon when clearly they had romantic feelings for each other. So like it has nothing to do even with the fact that I ship Sokeefe, I would get frustrated if it was about Sophitz too because you just can’t say that someone who has very clear romantic thoughts about someone always saw them as a sibling in canon

That has really weird implications??

Anyway. I know im not being super tactful but I do hope that anon sees this so they can understand what the problem was with the ask, which wasn’t that it was anti-Sokeefe. I’m super okay with someone not liking Sokeefe. Literally a bunch of my best friends in this fandom are anti-Sokeefe. One of them might even be the one who sent this ask, in which case, hey friend!! my advice to you is, if you want a sibling dynamic, go write some fanfic! But… don’t imply that “and she had to say, the beachy look really worked for him” is a normal thing to say about your brother, because it seriously is not.

Hope we can all continue to be friends! Again it’s not the anti-Sokeefe that bothers me, it’s the deliberate misrepresentation of canon in a way that has icky implications!!

Whoaaa that was long sorry

TLDR: Sophie has romantic thoughts about Keefe in canon, so saying that in canon they seemed like siblings is weird because that implies people normally have romantic thoughts about their siblings.

Have a great day :)

#I hope we can all still be friends ofc #also anon if you’re reading this don’t take this the wrong way #it was just the wording of the ask #perhaps send a clarifying ask if you understand why the wording was definitely not right?#idk if you were really thinking about it but I definitely saw the ask and was like #you have to be kidding me #kotlc #keeper of the lost cities #keefe sencen #sophie foster #Sokeefe

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swans-chirping-in-the-distance · 21 days

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hi.... so you like keefe, and that's the general concensus

could you maybe help explain his virtues and stuff more? it's hard to see his appeal

(hope this isn't rude)

Ofc I will!! I want to dissect him <33

I would like to start out by saying that while I think that his flaws make sense and I'll defend that he's a traumatized teen, I don't think he's flawless. I don't think he actually does nothing wrong. I LOVE that he has flaws.

Keefe is my favorite "using jokes to cover sadness" character because I love the depth he has. He comes across as silly and joking but if you dig just a little bit you see that he's angry, and even further, that he's sad.

Keefe is angry that he's been hurt so many times, that those he loves have been hurt so many times, and that the people that should be his home made him like this. Because Keefe has this disgustingly warped perspective of himself, and whether or not he realizes it, it's all their fault. If his family had been there for him he wouldn't have become how he did. He put up walls and cracked jokes and avoided everything because that's all he could do. He was so young when he was being abused that he didn't know how to deal with things. His parents literally formed his brain, in a way.

And that's why he's so reckless. He's so desperate to be different from them; so desperate to be better. And he makes these rash decisions out of love. Because he never got love from his family. And he wanted it so damn bad. So he gives it out to people, but never the right amount. He trusted his mom. He trusted Alvar. He trusted all of them, and look where that got him.

He's just so jealous. Jealous of perfect Fitz Vacker who is always chosen in his eyes. Jealous of perfect Sophie Foster who's wrongs are nowhere near Keefe's in his eyes. Jealous of every parent relationship that's good, that he should've had.

And through all of it, he's just…sad. While Fitz is built on this uncontrollable backbone of anger and Tam is built on this unwavering support of trauma-induced love, Keefe is built on this dark void in his heart made up of sadness. This empty hole from spending so much time in a toxic place, and the stark contrast between that and the "perfect" Vackers. All he was really shown in his formative years was what not to do. And he knows it. And he feels it every single day when he wakes up and distracts himself with little things so he doesn't have to face the big ones. Because facing them means facing him, and Keefe fears nothing more than that.

And although he can be mean and insensitive and screw up, he can really get people. He just doesn't always know how to deal with it. But he's learning. He's teaching himself to be kind by displaying the gentleness he wished he had. He doesn't want people to hurt like he has.

Throughout all of his flaws, Keefe Sencen cares. He cares about everything and nothing and all in between. And that is truly what makes Keefe an interesting character to me. The depth of his suffering and the way he naturally expresses it.

Also he's a little sarcastic shithead

#this is the closest i could get to dissecting him hope i did good #im so sorry you did NOT consent to a multiparagraph essay but yk #i might be seeing things that arent there but i dont think i am #anyhoo #hope this helped lmao #kotlc #keeper of the lost cities #keefe sencen #kotlc keefe #twilomiwb

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corvus--rex · 7 months

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Lance and Keith started dating early in high school, even before Keith came out and started his transition, and it's now just after college and they're engaged. They've been with Lance's family for the day, Sylvio and Nadia included.

The kids are 6 and 4 and have known Keith literally their entire lives. They were too young during various stages to understand what was going on, but they both know Keith's trans.

Needing a break, Keith is curled up against Lance in the living room, while Sylvio and Nadia are sprawled on the floor with a book each. Nadia's only just learning to read, but she already loves books. She's turning the pages, mostly looking at the pictures, when she looks up, interrupting Keith and Lance's quiet conversation.

"Tío Keef, why aren't there families in my stories like ours?"

It's been about 15 years since he's read a kids' book and doesn't understand where's she's going with this. "What do you mean, munchkin?"

Nadia puts her book down, turning to face him in all the seriousness a 4 year old can muster. "They all have a mami and a papi, but not - not -" her face scrunches as she tries to find the right word.

She doesn't need to find the right word, the realization of what she's asking hits him at full force. He sits up, leaning forward to meet her eyes. "You wanna know why there isn't anyone like me?"

She nods. "It's not fair."

It's an innocent question, but she asked it with such naive sincerity, genuinely upset that she didn't see her own family in her favorite books. It gave Keith an idea. He had a new sketchbook in the backseat of his car, a very recent art degree, and the few creative writing classes he'd taken.

Nadia's books didn't have her family in their pages, but maybe they could.

"Y'know what? I'll be right back."

He ran out to his car and back with the sketchbook, plus the mechanical pencil and ballpoint pen from his bag, and sat down on the floor with her, meeting Lance's confused look asking what the hell he was doing with one that said "trust me".

"Ok, munchkin," he said to Nadia, "If your stories don't have our family in them, how about we make a new story?"

Nadia's face lit up. "We can make a new one? With our kind of family in it?"

"We can, but I'll need your help."

Sylvio was pretending to read his own book, but Lance could see him listening in and sneaking looks at the rough sketches. That didn't last long, the book quickly forgotten in favor of throwing out wilder and wilder ideas for the story with Keith gently reeling him in. Sylvio was not one to be reeled in, and Lance soon joined them on the floor to help wrangle the kids' enthusiasm. They stayed there for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening, neither one wanting to leave when their parents came to tell them it was time to go. They only stopped fighting it when Keith promised them they'd work on the story again.

He kept that promise, taking the kids out every few weeks, showing them what he'd done in between when he had time, and them continuing the story and illustrations.

After it was finished, he left it for a while, not forgotten, but resting. Eventually, he pulled the illustrations and their companion sheets of text from the shoebox-like storage box he'd gotten just for this, matching art to words.

Lance came home from work to their apartment that evening to find Keith on the living room floor, bristol board and printer paper in an organized chaos around him.

"Think it's really done?" Lance asked.

Keith sighed and leaned back against the sofa. There was one thing about the book he hadn't told anyone yet, but after the email he'd gotten earlier in the day, he finally could.

"Yeah I do." He paused and looked up, a little bit guilty, but mostly trying to contain excitement. "I found a publisher for it. They're a queer-owned company. I actually sent it off about a month ago and I finally heard back today. They love it."

It had started as a picture book, but evolved since then into something a little bigger. Nadia wanted cats - all different colors, and not little kitties, no she wanted lions. And the lions had to have knights to ride on them. Sylvio was the one to insist on a princess and that she had to be their honorary Tía Allura. Gradually, all of the knights and princess ended up based on people the kids knew, Keith and Lance included. It made sense and Keith loved it and the idea of family including the one you make for yourself.

When it came time for a name for this story of found family and adventures, Sylvio yelled "Defenders of the UNIVERSE!" at the top of his lungs in the middle of the park. Nadia had been taking a break from the playground, sitting next to Keith with her coloring pad. She'd drawn the lions from their story, facing out in a vaguely star shape, their tails meeting in the middle.

Keith asked for her opinion on a story name and also what she was drawing and without looking up from her coloring, she said "Its name is Voltron."

Keith put the two together, and when the book was published, its cover was the lions Nadia had drawn that day, only by Keith's hand this time, framed on top and bottom by the book's name: Defenders of The Universe, a Voltron story.

No one had seen the dedication, not until Keith got the advance copies, giving one each to Sylvio and Nadia in the same living room the story had started in. Nadia climbed into Keith's lap with it, Sylvio squeezing himself in between Keith and Lance on the sofa.

Looking over Sylvio's shoulder, Lance read it aloud.

"For Sylvio and Nadia, the original Defenders, this book wouldn't exist without you. Don't stop reading or dreaming."

#my writing #love Keith being good with kids #trans keith #keith kogane #lance mcclain #vld keith #vld lance #keith x lance #klance #vld #voltron #voltron legendary defender

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an-j8 · 3 days

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Okay.

my honest opinion on this cover. ( My english is bad btw) + theory about the guy in the back

(I'm going to talk a lot because I expected a lot)

1) it’s empty. Not only does Keefe not do an action like all the covers of the saga but he just looks at us with a smile on his face. the characters are poorly organized it seems like Keefe is taking up all the space the details are really sloppy

2) there is no special color. Exile is blue, legacy violet, stellarlune red but this cover has no color it’s super disturbing

3) it does NOT fit with the rest of the books

4) Keefe face. his left eye is not simetric (plus it droops) there is not much space in his face on the side his hair is not the same as before it just looks like someone put some hair on him twigs on the skulls and there are holes. "b-but he just grew up" growing up doesn't mean your whole face changes. Pls it looks like he has a wig?

5) there are not enough details too many people forward!!

6) I've seen people say they expected a parallel with 8.5. and indeed it would have been so much better aesthetically it would have been beautiful with the other books. Keefe could have been in the center with AROUND human destinations like the cover of book 8.5. Or she could have put a SCENE, an ACTION. I don't know Keefe with an umbrella stroking the fox or him under a lamppost or him investigating, I don't know something

7) Keefe's expression? my friend told me the underground looks like heaven lol why is he smiling like that? I mean he just LOST his life, left his best friend (Fitz), the girl he loves and all the other people he cares about so WHY is he looking at us like that wtf the cover had SO MUCH potential with an alley dark where I don't know I just want to cry

Now the guy.

I think it's Grady @ru0exe made fun of me but it makes sense that it was him 😭 Something must have happened between Grady and Keefe which would explain why Sophie's father became so nice to him. and then at the end of 8.5 Grady gives him a tip to contact him it wouldn't surprise me if Grady went to the forbidden cities to keep an eye Keefe.

or your just a member of the neverseen? But who 🤔

whatever it is, the more I cover this for you, the more I want to cry.

#I of course respect everyone who likes this cover it's just not my case #kotlc #kotlc fandom #kotlc thoughts #keeper of the lost cities #keefe sencen #unraveled #kotlc unraveled

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emeraldspiral · 7 months

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Thinking about the progression of Zim and Dib's relationship and who would/did fall for the other first. Like, I know I already said Dib would be the first to recognize and come to terms with their feelings because he doesn't rely on denial nearly as hard to avoid dealing with uncomfortable truths as Zim does. But I'm talking about like, the subconscious development of feelings and how they progressed throughout the show and the comics.

With Dib, it was obsession at first sight. Which makes sense. To Zim, Dib was just some random earth native he knew nothing about and needed time to evaluate. But to Dib, Zim was everything. Zim was proof that he wasn't crazy, a way to win his father's respect, a ticket to the career he always wanted, and the key to unlocking fathomless knowledge about outer space, other worlds, and advanced technology. Zim was everything Dib had ever dreamed of.

So Dib was down bad straight from the Nightmare Begins, but on Zim's end it took awhile for him to really reciprocate. Dib proves to be a problem for him as early as the second episode when he breaks into his house and snaps a photo of him in NanoZim. But Zim has multiple chances to do away with him for good starting with that episode, but never tries to actually off Dib until episode 8. Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy is the first time that Zim makes an actual attempt on Dib's life, and when he thinks he succeeded he doesn't seem to regard it with any gravitas. So I think up until that point Zim didn't really regard Dib as an equal, just a pest he thought he could get rid of as easily as Keef. But by the end of that episode, Zim realized that he'd underestimated Dib. Dib was so determined death only made him stronger, and left Zim with no choice but to completely abort his plan. This is notably also the first time Dib actually beat Zim, unless you count driving him out of his house in Planetjackers. Gaz was the one who defeated him in NanoZim and Zim trounced Dib in Dark Harvest, The Wettening, and Rise of Zitboy. So it makes sense that Zim didn't really take Dib seriously until BBRP.

Then, what happens in the very next episode? He tries again to get rid of Dib in A Room With a Moose, and it's in that episode where he explicitly acknowledges Dib as a Worthy Opponent by declaring him the only one who can appreciate his plan and implying that he enjoys being challenged by Dib.

So Dib's been obsessed from the first episode but it wasn't until BBRP that he won Zim's respect and Zim began relying on Dib's validation to boost his ego. This is further reinforced in the next episode, Hamstergeddon, where their dialog with each other is more relaxed and respectful, like they've really begun to see each other as equals.

The thing is though, at this point Zim and Dib are both fixated on each other, but they don't feel the same way about each other. Zim can see qualities in Dib that he likes, which is why Dib's opinion matters to him. He thinks Dib is cunning and intelligent so he crafts plans that he hopes Dib will admire. He starts hallucinating about the "Gangsta Specter of Defeat" and then gains the resolve to redouble his efforts in Door to Door only after Dib taunted him, because he didn't want to lose face in front of his rival. He's unable to resist Dib's obvious manipulation when he claims to admire the cleverness of his revenge in Bolognius Maximus. By the time of Mopiness of Doom, Zim is completely dependent on Dib's validation to motivate him to continue his mission, and in the comics more the once he outright says his plans are "for" Dib. Then of course, there's the more overt indications that Zim likes Dib and wants Dib to like him back. Most obviously, that time he was baffled that having him for a brother wasn't a dream come true for Dib, or programming Clembrane to think Dib loves him, or posing dramatically just especially for Dib when he finally decided to come out of the toilet.

Dib on the other hand, doesn't seem to have the same sort of open-secret admiration for Zim. He stands up for him to Tak's ship and claims that his Zim is the best since he beat Zib and all the other Zims in the Zimvoid, but it's framed as just him coping because if he admits that his Zim sucks then what does it say about him if he hasn't been able to defeat him? Dib's only ever really expressed any kind of admiration of Zim a handful of times. Aside from the aforementioned instances in the Zimvoid arc, he was impressed the first time he saw Zim's base in Bloaty's, admitted that he liked his boots when pressed to say SOMETHING nice about him, and complimented his work in ETF. Notably, ETF is the only time he really had anything nice to say about Zim. His boots and his base are just things he has, and insisting that he's a genuine threat isn't really a compliment. It's indicated at the end of the Virooz comic arc that Zim takes the fact that Dib considers him a threat as enough of an admission that he must have some respect for him, but ETF was the only time Dib ever verbally confirmed that he thought any of Zim's plans or inventions were any good and therefore that Zim himself has a respectable intellect.

Where Zim's fixation on Dib seems to be based on Dib having actual qualities Zim likes, Dib's obsession seems to be based on pure objectification. Dib does not view Zim as a person, but a means to an end. A way to get his dad's respect, a way to jumpstart his career, a way to get validation, and a punching bag to vent his frustrations. He sees Zim as pure, uncomplicated evil. No redeeming qualities, no feelings worthy of consideration, and no "humanity", for lack of a better term, worthy of any dignity or decency. Which conveniently means he doesn't have to worry about the ethics of wanting to dissect him or experiment on him, let alone bullying him at skool. But to be fair, Zim is entirely complicit in this. He wants to be seen as pure evil. He calls himself and his plans evil all the time. He nods along when Dib outlines to Chammy how they can never be friends because Zim is an irredeemable monster incapable of any emotions except gluttony and warlike ambition. Zim wants to be objectified because he's been socially conditioned to think of himself as an object. A machine with some organic hardware bred and programmed to be a cog whose only purpose is to serve the Empire and those in charge of it.

ETF is the first time Zim is ever vulnerable in front of Dib and it's very uncomfortable for him because it goes completely against how he's always viewed Zim. It's the first time he's seeing Zim as a person with feelings, and feelings he can relate to no less, and that's hard for him to process. That's why he's so quick to accuse Zim of faking it after he betrays him. Because it's easier to go back to that simple, comforting, uncomplicated idea of Zim as pure evil rather than try to integrate the idea that Zim can do the things he does while also being person with feelings and pain that Dib can sympathize with. But this isn't the only time in ETF Dib's perspectives of the people around him are challenged. He thinks his sister just hates his guts but it turns out she doesn't, and she won't kick him when he's really down and will support him when he needs it. He thinks his dad doesn't respect him or have his back and he needs to work for it to get him to be proud of him, but he finds out he was wrong about that too.

Overall, ETF was a big coming of age movie for Dib where his perceptions were challenged and his black and white views became more nuanced. The comic Dib's Dilemma would continue to show Dib's evolving perspective of himself and his father and his quest to prove himself.

So it seems like Dib is on track to shed his more childish views and understand the world with more nuance like anyone else does as they grow up. I know some people like the idea of Maladjusted Adult Dib, and that's a perfectly valid concept to explore. But I feel like the evidence is pointing us in a more positive direction. Like, as of Dib's Dilemma he's already begun to realize that his dad is imperfect and that he can make the conscious choice to be better than him, and specifically better about treating others with more empathy.

So to summarize the evolution of ZADR:

Dib was obsessed at first sight, but the person he's obsessed with doesn't exist. He's only barely begun to see the real Zim through the cracks in his facade as of ETF. But there's reason to believe that he is capable of eventually seeing the "humanity" in Zim and recognizing that he is a victim.

Zim meanwhile, initially didn't peg Dib as a significant threat until BBRP, at which point he began to respect and admire him, which grew into something of an infatuation to the point that the need for Dib's validation is about of equal importance to the Tallest. He even has the exact same reaction to Dib abandoning him as the Tallest.

But Zim is still wrapped up in delusions and denial 24/7 and convinced that he is incapable of love like all good Irkens should be, while Dib is growing and maturing and changing his beliefs according to new information. So I stand by my earlier assessment that even if Zim is the one who started to catch feelings first and Dib's barely even beginning to start thinking of him as a person, let alone a person he has any kind of affection for, Dib's the one who's going to be able to recognize and come to terms with whatever feelings he develops way before Zim will.

#invader zim #zadr #zadf

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ethervalism · 1 year

Text

stellarlune spoilers!!

spoiler

scroll away

last chance to scroll from stellarlune spoiler

sokeefe kiss was beautiful and sweet but it lacked one thing for me and that was.........more emotion. I worry that Keefe's emotions are fucked up further than maybe we realize! but let me explain why the lack of emotion is actually sort of ok.

something I found very sweet but also really sad is how Keefe just seems so focused on everything that could go WRONG if he and Sophie are together. it's the first thing he says in response to her confession. but he isn't just worried about friend drama, and he isn't just worried about her safety because of his mom. he is worried about his own ability to succeed in this relationship that he's wanted for so long. Keefe has spent so much time trying to get used to the fact that he can't, and shouldn't, confess to Sophie because of things outside of his control, such as her mental state, things they are dealing with because of the never seen, and her not knowing her feelings. and he knows what it feels like to almost lose her because of mistakes he has made. "please don't let me mess this up" seems like something he's saying just to himself because this is the one relationship in his entire life that he has ever cared for someone to this extent and now that it's real and in front of him he can't crack jokes because he doesnt want to mess up this moment or make Sophie think he is not SO SO SO SERIOUS. he is just like Keefe.exe has stopped working.

not knowing how Sophie is feeling must be really hard too. he isn't sure, he can’t be sure. he wants her to be sure because he wants this to work out so badly

keefe just isn't the same. the time away changed him, partially because of his abilities going numb, and partially because he's just been away from his normal environment. but that doesn't change his fear in this moment that he has been waiting for. he has been waiting for the "until she was ready for more" for so long!!!

hes so emotionless because he is so. scared. he loves her so much. oh my god

although I kinda wish Shannon went a little sappier on the descriptions of his facial expressions but that is just the sokeefe Stan in me dont listen to her ok this is absolutely incoherent bye

#stellarlune spoilers #stellarlune #kotlc #kotlc stellarlune #keeper of the lost cities #sokeefe #foster keefe #keefe sencen #sophie foster

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theunmappedstar · 1 year

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Do you have any analysis or thoughts about the scene chapter 40 (Sophie sees the drawing green journal and that awkward conversation) sorry I just haven’t seen anyone discuss it yet

at first i didn't think this needed an analysis because it was a given what was going on - but i knew better than to let it slide and decided to give the scene a reread.

and oh boy.

if you yourself need a refresher, sophie has just come home from foxfire. keefe is under the panakes drawing after a training session with grady. sophie and keefe exchange their thoughts about their classes, the current stellarlune situation, and what keefe is drawing. keefe shows sophie that he drew ethan and eleanor's graves. during the discussion, keefe becomes frustrated and pushes the journals off his lap - flipping the green one open to the page where he had drawn sophie and fitz performing a cognate exercise.

sophie sees it as she is going to clean up the mess for him. she mentions that her and fitz's gazes are intense, but that's not what she's interested in: she's interested in how keefe drew her.

"Her hair was slightly messy, and her tunic was a little crooked, and she was slouching the way her human mom used to tell her would turn her spine into a twisty pretzel if she didn't work on better posture. But mostly, she looked like her. A little awkward. A whole lot nervous. Definitely not perfect. And... she kinda loved that about it."

this is all we get to hear from her before keefe snatches the journal away, feeling awkward that she discovered it. but this set of inner monologue holds a lot more weight than you think.

a) i want to focus really quick on the 'definitely not perfect' line. this is a direct tie-in to fitz.

only a handful of pages later, fitz and sophie complete their "cognate inquisition". during this, sophie enters fitz's 'core of verity' which is supposed to hold no defense mechanisms or barriers. it is a true reflection of one's self. sophie, on her journey to this place, sees herself in the center of fitz's mind. but unlike the drawing keefe created, this sophie is polished. she's posing, flashing a smile, looking undefeated... and perfect, as she mentions. but while fitz means well with the image, this pedestal and the woman on top of it is not her. it's not accurate to who she is in real life.

so, for sophie to witness the difference between how the two boys view her is huge. they both do have deep affection for her, but the lens they view her from is different. keefe has a camera; fitz has a microscope.

b) most people would cringe to be drawn in such an accurate, "flawed" light. sophie isn't gazing into the sunset looking blissfully aloof. she's not posing for the camera. she's caught in what most would considering an unflattering position. she's hunched, she looks 'awkward' and 'nervous'. her hair is messy, her clothes are crooked...

i can tell you little to no one who would want to be caught like that by their crush. but sophie doesn't shy from having keefe not only seen her that way, but record it - no, she enjoys it. she feels happy to share that side of herself with him. she's glad he gets to see the imperfect person she is.

that right there just proves multiple things to me: how long this love has run without her really knowing it, how ready she is to be open in a relationship, and how real this connection is to her.

sophie doesn't desire something movie-worthy with him. she wants something real.

bored? send me an ask!

#kotlc #sokeefe #keefe sencen #fitz vacker #asks #ask me anything #kotlc asks #stellarlune spoilers

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ahoyimlosingmymind · 1 month

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all I'm saying is that if Fitz treated Sophie the way she treated him while they were together in regards to Keefe, ya'll would have hung him

and I mean the emotional cheating with his best friend. The keeping secrets. The dodging questions. The lying. Secret missions. Keeping him a secret from friends. Letting said best friend's bodyguard insult him in front of the whole room and not coming to his defense. Secretly agreeing with the insults and denying it later. Letting his traitorous brother go without consulting him, even though it really mattered to him. Going and getting with the best friend like five seconds after the break up, after giving him the impression that she wanted to make it work with him.

listen- they're all messy as hell, and they make mistakes, but boy am I tired of acting like she was a saint in that situation.

He was unreasonable. I'm well aware.

But so was she.

she made him her first choice and then proceeded to treat him like her second.

Just bc she felt hurt by him in her POV doesn't mean she was automatically correct. And same goes for him (only difference is we never get his POV fully)

#I love discourse #I would have loved to see them work through this and stay together #but I also dgaf about the ships anymore #I just think matchmaking was the least of their problems.#they were both messy- but I don't think either was more right than the other.#she might be a teenager but so am I #and you would never catch me acting like that towards my supposed bf #like did she even like him?? seriously.#Fitz vacker #Sophie foster #Sophie foster crit #sophitz #Fitzphie #kotlc

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sillysistersusi · 2 months

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Someone To Feel Safe With

Authors note: My first work for Kotlc!!!! Just recently started this series so I am really sorry if something in here doesn't make any sense😅 I wanted to read these books for a long time and now I finally started them and they are even better than I expected!

Summary: When Keefe fails a surprise test, he is afraid to return home to his adoptive father Elwin.

Keefe's legs trembled as he slumped to the floor in front of his locker. Everything seemed too bright all of a sudden, and the light burned in his eyes, from which tears were already rolling down his cheeks.

Why could he never do anything right?

They had all written a surprise test today, and Keefe hadn't actually been particularly nervous or excited about it. Unlike Sophie, who had immediately stressed herself out, causing a really cute little worry line to form between her eyes.

Normally, he wasn't necessarily bad at school. At least, he'd thought he wasn't, because ever since Elwin had adopted him and Cassius had been forbidden to see Keefe, he'd been trying really hard.

Elwin had always believed in Keefe, no matter how much mischief he got into, but Keefe was afraid. He was afraid that Elwin would now see the full extent of his uselessness and it drove Keefe insane.

Because even though he had had a good feeling about the test at first, that feeling had been wrong. Because it had been a disaster.

He hadn't even scored half the points he could have. When he had seen the sheet with his score for the first time, it had sent a cold shiver down his spine.

How was he supposed to show it to Elwin without sinking to the ground in shame? Keefe didn't think he could bear it if Elwin was disappointed in him. Cassius had always looked disappointed at him, and Keefe dreaded seeing the same expression on Elwin's face.

But he was even more afraid of how Elwin would punish him for his failure. He had only lived with Elwin for a short time and had so far managed not to do anything to upset the other elf. But he knew that it was normal to be punished for failure or bad behavior, and even if Elwin treated him with a gentleness he had never known before, he would need punish him.

Keefe rubbed tears from his eyes, but it didn't do much good as new ones kept coming. His heart twisted into a knot and he struggled for breath.

What would Elwin's punishments look like?

Perhaps he would forbid Keefe to eat? Cassius had done that all the time.

Or-

But his thoughts were interrupted by a sudden, relieved-sounding cry: "Keefe! There you are, I've been looking everywhere for you I- "

It was Elwin. At first he looked overjoyed, then his eyes wandered to the tears on Keefe's cheeks and he paused. The smile slowly turned into an expression of worry.

Keefe bit his trembling lower lip nervously and he clenched his fingers inside the fabric of his school uniform to keep them from shaking uncontrollably.

Elwin knelt on the floor in front of him. "Keefe?" he asked gently. "Darling, what's wrong?"

But Keefe shook his head. He didn't know how to tell Elwin. That was the only reason he was still in Foxfire after school ended.

When Elwin touched him gently on the shoulder, presumably just to comfort him, Keefe flinched so hard that Elwin jerked his hand back and his eyes darted to the side.

Then Keefe saw Elwin frown, and when he followed his gaze, he realized that Elwin had found the test that had slipped from Keefe's fingers when he had fallen to the ground.

"I'm sorry," Keefe whispered softly through his tears. His voice, a little raspy from crying, carried strangely through the completely silent room.

Elwin frowned even more. "What are you sorry for, Keefe?"

Keefe nodded over to the test and then closed his eyes, afraid of the disappointment on Elwin's face.

There was silence for a while and Keefe held his breath, afraid of what would follow.

Would Elwin yell? Or would he speak his threat quietly? Or would he-

Even thinking it gave Keefe very uncomfortable goosebumps.

Cassius hadn't hit him often, only when he had done something that had been terribly wrong or embarrassing in his eyes.

But would Elwin really-

Then he suddenly felt a very gentle touch on his head that made him flinch again.

Elwin stroked his hair.

"It's okay, darling," Elwin whispered, but Keefe could also sense that he was tense. But if he was angry, why didn't he just take it out on Keefe?

Maybe-

Maybe he waited until they were home. Maybe he just didn't want to take the risk that someone might notice.

"Come on." Elwin whispered softly and helped Keefe to his feet, whose body suddenly felt strangely stiff. Elwin was probably just waiting for them to be alone. "Let's go home."

Elwin took the test in one hand and reached with the other for one of Keefe's trembling hands and gently stroked his knuckles. Keefe's whole hand began to tingle. It was a nice feeling, Keefe couldn't remember anyone ever doing that to him. At least not in this way.

Slowly, they walked through the corridors of Foxfire, Keefe's hand still firmly in Elwin's.

He was so spaced out that he only regained consciousness when they stood in front of the door to their home.

Keefe felt his stomach tighten. If they walked through that door, Elwin would drop his façade. He swallowed and realized his knees were weak again, but he held himself up.

If they went through that door, then the gentle words and reassuring touches would end.

"Keefe?"

He couldn't go through that door.

"Keefe?"

What if Elwin threw him out? Not only would he not be sure what to do, but even worse, Elwin was important to him and he didn't want to lose him. Especially not just because he was to stupid to get good grades.

"Oh Keefe, whatever's going on, why won't you talk to me? I could help, Darling." Elwin's voice slowly drifted over to Keefe, but it sounded distant.

Elwin put a hand on his shoulder. The warmth from his body helped Keefe to slowly cling back to reality. Then Elwin said, and this time Keefe heard him loud and clear: "You're not afraid of my reaction, are you?"

When Keefe didn't answer, he sighed sadly.

"That's what I thought. But you don't need to be, really." Elwin explained, which unfortunately did little to calm Keefe down.

As they stepped over the threshold, Keefe held his breath, as if he could delay the inevitable.

He simply stood in the doorway and waited.

He didn't want to leave. As soon as he stepped through the door, that familiar smell surrounded him. Elwin's smell, which already smelled like home to him.

Keefe loved living here. He loved dinner, where Elwin would tell funny stories or invite one of Keefe's friends, usually Sophie. It had never been like dinner with his parents, where they had either been silent, had made fun of someone or talking about what a disappointment Keefe had been. Dinner was always a very tense occasion, but now it was something Keefe was looking forward to, but he had ruined it. Like he ruined everything.

He only realized he had started crying again when he felt a wet tickle on his chin.

"Kiddo?" Elwin asked gently. Why was he so nice? They were alone now, Elwing could now scream at him. Why was he talking to Keefe like he was a frightend animal?

"I- I don't understand." Keefe whispered softly, trying to look anywhere but into Elwin's eyes.

Elwin took a step closer. "What don't you understand, darling?"

"Why aren't you yelling at me?" Keefe asked, hating the way his voice broke at the end of the sentence and fighting the urge to run away.

Then he said even more quietly, "Why aren't you hurting me?"

Keefe didn't know where those words had come from, he felt as if someone else had spoken them.

"I would never- "Elwin sounded desperate, "Keefe, my boy, look at me."

And Keefe did as he had said. His father had always hated it when Keefe didn't obey him immediately, and he didn't want to risk making Elwin even angrier.

But he didn't see anger in Elwin's eyes. No, he saw kindness and concern and... love. At least he thought he did, because the look in Elwin's eyes brought more tears to his eyes.

"Kiddo, you don't need to be afraid of anything like that with me. I would never yell at you or take my anger out on you, because thats wrong. You don't deserve that." Elwin smiled gently and Keefe suddenly felt a little less afraid. "You're a wonderful boy and I know you're trying." Elwin nodded over to the test he had placed on a dresser in the corner. "These things happen. We're all just elves. No one is perfect and I don't expect you to be."

"Oh." Keefe murmured and sniffled softly.

Elwin slowly reached out a hand, and this time Keefe didn't flinch. "Do you want a hug?" Elwin asked gently and Keefe swallowed as he felt new tears. However, these tears had a different reason. He nodded.

Elwin slowly wrapped his arms around him and Keefe didn't think he had ever felt so warm. He buried his face in Elwin's chest, who began stroking his hair again.

"It's all good. I promise." Elwin whispered softly. "I don't want to be someone you fear, but someone you can trust and go to if you need help. So don't be afraid, kiddo."

Keefe nodded slowly, allowing more tears to escape his eyes as he let himself sink into Elwin's arms, relinquishing control completely for the first time in his life.

For he could feel Elwin's emotions now that the storm in his own head was calmed, and he could feel nothing but sincerity and love. And these were feelings that Keefe's parents had never felt towards him.

Keefe would have liked to tell Elwin that he loved him too, but he didn't know if he could, so he just hugged Elwin tighter. He was sure he understood anyway.

#kotlc #kotlc keefe #kotlc fandom #kotlc sophie #koftlc fanfic #dadwin #kotlc elwin #elwin #keefe sencen #sophie foster #elwin adopts keefe #fanfic #cross posted on ao3 #keeper of the lost cities

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