2019 Geek-A-Long: Invader Zim

Hello friends. I am a perfectly normal human worm-baby. You have nothing, absolutely nothing to fear from me.

Invader Zim is one of those perfectly early 2000’s cartoons. It’s not going to change your life. Most of the time it won’t even make you think overly deep thoughts. It is a hell of a lot of fun though.

Zim is an evil, if rather ineffective, alien invader singularly focused on taking over the earth. Sent on this mission by his people to get him out of their way, he is a great inventor, but with poor resources and follow through. He is supported by his malfunctioning robot “dog”, GIR, and opposed by the human boy, Dib. GIR was our pick for the square because he is adorable in his green dog disguise, and he likes eating almost as much as we do.

Dib is really the only thing standing between Zim and total annihilation of the human race, unless you count Zim’s own incompetence. Usually, we use the Geek-A-Long to showcase fandoms that have impacted us or the nerdy community in some significant way. That’s still true of Zim, but it’s impact is different from most of what we give square space to. Invader Zim set out to entertain us, and has done a magnificent job of it. There’s a new Invader Zim movie on Netflix and it’s a lot of fun. With the exception of a few heartwarming moments between Dib and his father, it’s not trying to give you the feels. I appreciate that.

The movie takes place after the show ended and shows Zim’s last ditch effort to get his people to take the earth invasion seriously. It features a pudding obsessed clone, a disaffected teenage girl, and a spectacular flaming-peanut spewing throne. You don’t need to have seen the show to watch the movie. Mr. Llama and I watched it this week and, though we had both watched Zim back in it’s day, we didn’t really remember much about it other than the overall human-race-takeover plot line. The movie works as a nice standalone, and all you need to know going in is that Zim wants to own the earth and Dib wants to stop him. So treat yourself to a nice light, funny cartoon. I think we all deserve that.

Whether you’re knitting, crocheting, or cross stitching this square, you can download the Invader Zim (GIR) pattern here. Instructions and charts for both knit and crochet are listed in the pattern. When you’re finished making it, don’t forget to Instagram your squares at us @lattesandllamasyarn with the hashtag #geekalong! Want to hang out with other people making the blanket? You can find moral support in the Geek-A-Long group on Ravelry here.

~Megan-Anne

“Invader’s blood marches through my veins like giant radioactive rubber pants!” -Zim

If you enjoyed this post, please consider making a donation to Child’s Play Charity. Here is a direct link to our official donation page benefiting the charity. Please help us raise $1,000 this year. No contribution is too small! Wanna make your donation go even further? Lattes & Llamas will donate $1 for every skein of Geek-A-Long Yarn purchased.