Almighty Tallest Red - Blog Posts

One big shift I noticed in Enter the Florpus that the fandom uses a lot in fanfiction is how the Tallest talk to and about Zim.

I would like the point out, the Tallest never say anything bad about Zim when he’s in earshot.

This isn’t disqualifying the fact that they talk shit about him to each other, and to the other Irkens on the Massive. Just never in front of him. They try very hard to keep his exile a secret, correcting themselves very quickly the few times they do slip up.

For example, most prominently, Backseat Drivers From Beyond the Stars, where Zim calls them to show off a plan of his and annoys them for three hours straight. When trying to come up with an excuse, the Tallest (Red, at least), make up some story about an enemy ship going up against the Massive, despite knowing that to any other Irken, that would raise doubts. They know Zim’s unbridled, faulty loyalty better than anyone, and know that they need to placate him, no matter how wild those aforementioned placating words are.

Another, much larger example is Battle of the Planets. Zim calls his leaders in a bear suit for seemingly no reason. the Tallest, along with every other Irken, watch him ramble about whatever Zim-like things he talks about, trying to stay completely calm. a noteworthy detail; they were laughing at him and mocking the fact that he wasn’t around to mess Operation Impending Doom 2 just before this. It’s only when Zim calls do they stop, and even then, they’re trying to hide laughter. Zim soaks up the “praise” of his leaders and his fellow Irkens before hanging up. Then the Tallest spill into laughter again. It’s rarely ever been in front of Zim. Ever. Because I’m sure that, as oblivious as they know Zim is, they must also know there’s a point where he’s going to realize they’re not laughing with him (even if this is never the case).

They don’t seem to completely despise him as they could have simply hung up when Zim’s constant yelling of ‘my Tallest’ got too annoying, but that’s a different story entirely.

Purple seems to have less of an issue of bullying the invader to his face, and Red is obviously the more work-focused of the two (which is debatable, as both of them seem to slack off a lot), as well as the one who keeps the secret about Zim’s mission and his disdain for him under wraps.

The movie, while admittedly changing a good few things about characters, butchered the Tallest the most, in my opinion. For Purple, it made complete sense to want to fly straight. he’s been childish a few times, and a lot more open about when he doesn’t like an order or anything else (see Megadoomer). However, Red was always the one that seemed to have things under control, at least a few times. When the Massive flies out of control, his first instinct is to run a diagnostic to find the problem, while his companion tries to save the donuts (this is not to say they differ too drastically in personality, as Red also wanted to save the donuts). For him to insist on flying straight, especially when there’s a very large and dangerous rip in space some miles away that he no doubt knows could hurt him and his companion, is a bit out of character.

When Zim calls, they make no effort to hide the fact that they’re annoyed with him, with Purple outright stating he liked him better when they thought he was dead. Red yells that they really don’t care about whatever he has to say. These are minor things, the only interaction they have with him in the whole film, and admittedly isn’t that telling. But I feel that short five minute was very telling to how they interact with him. Especially for newer fans who didn’t analyze every character in the show in comparison to the movie I’ve watched 20+ times now,

And a lot of fanfictions make the Tallest unnecessarily cruel, even going as far as to tell Zim, unprompted, to his face, that his mission is fake. Understandably, it’s possible for them to reach their limit and blurt it out in anger, but even then, Zim would just laugh it off, never taking it for what it is. Hell, the best example of the Tallest I’ve seen written ever is Forced Perspective, where they stuck to expected behaviors and, even when Zim asked about the legitimacy of his mission, stopped him from finding out. Zim finding out his mission is fake would make him want to go back to Irk, after all. And they can’t have that.

They know keeping the secret of Zim’s mission is crucial for keeping him away from them and causing destruction away from them, yet I feel that’s easily forgotten.

This is my interpretation of what happens after dinosaurus_maj's fic "What's the use of feeling (blue)?"

Red has become Tallest and she eventually married and had two children. They eventually accept that neither of them would see one another ever again.

Or course, as fate would have it, Red's rash decision of humouring Zim leads to the defective landing on the very planet Red was forced to leave behind.

Red and Dib have been stuck together in that dark and musty cell for a long time, but they've learned to make the best of it. Red was really starting to like the little alien.

Of course, their captors couldn't just leave them alone...

Little 5 year old Dib finds herself in a prison cell with a red-eyed alien in chains. So of course she had to introduce herself!

Red never thought he'd ever find himself in this situation. He was an Irken Elite! Yet there he was, unable to even stand up.

Yes!! One of my favorite headcannons is that Red and Zim were friends in smeethood. But when Red started to grow and Zim didn’t, Red could no longer associate with him. Red met Purple and promptly abandoned Zim afterward. He was also a little scared of Zim. He’s a scary little man!

Tallest Red and Zim

So lots of people love Purple and think that he is the nicer one of the tallests but I personally prefer Red. I find it really interesting his and Zim’s interaction. Why? Lets see some examples:

1.      Red was the one who gave his sandwich to Zim which is a pretty big deal because the tallests seem pretty selfish about their food later on. He probably did this because food usually calms down other irkens (like him and Purple) while it doesnt seem to work on Zim. I mean Zim can get excited about food fe: nachos but when he is serious he doesnt let it divide his attention. It also seems that Zim remembered Red’s offering because he also made sandwiches to the tallest when he wanted them to visit Earth.

2.      It was Red who planed out the whole sending Zim away to a secret mission. It seemed that Purple didnt know what to do with the situation and he seemed more annoyed and angry at Zim than Red. And while the whole sending Zim away to die seems cruel it still raises some questions fe: Why didnt the tallests just throw him out of the airlock like they did with other irkens? or Why didnt they just send him to a trial? It seems that they or at least Red is more careful around Zim. And this is where my third point comes up.

3.      Red also tries to avoid confrontation with Zim. He often lies to him and sweeten his situation up unlike Purple who outright talks badly about him and wants  to kill him off even to his face. fe: The hobo13 episode where Purple outright called Zim insane and was happy about the possibility to see him die while Red immediately tried to cover up his slip.

4.      Red also shows interest about Zim’s experience on Earth and humans. They had a pretty decent talk while Purple thought the whole thing was ridiculous and he even asked him if they should see Zim’s progression on probing day. (Even Purple seemed confused why Red even pay attention to Zim)

5.      He also let Zim to annoy him for three hours because he was curious how long the other irken could last. He was angry and desperate but he didnt stop him before.

6.      I am not saying that Red doesnt enjoy torturing Zim because he was excited about shaming him in front of other irkens and just like Purple he likes seeing him suffer but he also seems to be more patient with him.

 7. For me Purple always seemed more cruel because he has no problem to hurt other irkens fe: throwing them out of airlocks, throwing Sir units at them…

8.      Both tallests seem to cause suffering to other irkens especially smaller ones. Fe: The probing day, Bob the table drone and Skoodge who both of them found disgusting. Red didnt even want to be close to Skoodge. It seems being fat and dirty is a very unattractive for irkens which is strange cause the tallests themselves can be very dirty and sloppy with their food and I also wonder why arent they fat because they always drink or eat and they dont even walk around. And as much they hate smaller irkens they dont seem to care about Zim’s height anymore or at least they dont shame him because of it. Maybe because Zim doesnt react or because he still challenge them on their levels.

9.      Even in the show and the comics it seems that Zim has some kind of malice towards Purple. He was the first one to die in Dib’s imagined life and in the comics Zim said he hated the Purple character and wished he would die. Maybe Zim is angry at Purple because his constant abuse towards him and others or maybe because Zim and Red used to be friends but Purple stand between them?

 10.  Zim also sees Red in a different light. In the Dib wonderful life of doom episode while he kinda let Purple to get killed he showed Red in a very different way compared to how he normally acts. Red usually very well collected and can keep his cool even in dangerous situation like we saw in the backseat driver episode meanwhile his version of Red immediately panicked and fleed from the danger and even let Purple die. Maybe he imagine Red more emotional and cowardly because of his behaviour towards him or maybe he knows the real Red who is scared but just tries to keep up his strong leader facade.

11. Red and Zim also have lots of things in common. I mean they both like destruction and blowing things up and they can be patient with crazier people and they can also focuse when they need to and they both can use technology very well.

Idk for me Red lots of time treats Zim like and older brother would treat his annoying little brother.

I also think that the tallests lots of times arent just annoyed with Zim but they actually afraid of him. Maybe because of their past they saw what he can do or maybe because he was and still is the only one who can stand up against them . I just really want to know more about their past and I hope we can see more about their smeethood in the comics.

He's very tired

They need to go to hell when they die

Drew Tallest Red with pen

Headcanon:

Purple has a natural high pitched kinda feminine sounding voice, which is technically canon cause of his voice actor, but he's able to slightly deepen his voice but he will only do it as a prank to mess with Red or other Irkens sometimes, it catches everyone off guard whenever he does it and Purple gets a good laugh from it every time

Does anyone else headcanon Tallest Purple as Trans? Specifically MtF?

Purple definitely loves eyeliner and mascara, Tallest Red definitely helps Purple curl his antennaes