Minimoose — zim

	Minimoose
	Undisguised; Disguised;
Name	Minimoose
Species	Robot Moose
Gender	Technically Genderless, portrayed as a male
Affliation	Irken Empire; Zim
First Appearance	Nubs of Doom (cancelled); The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever (aired)
Voice Actor(s)	Jhonen Vasquez

Minimoose is a supporting character in the Nickelodeon TV series Invader Zim, and a major antagonist in the 2019 Netflix film Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus.

He is a supporting character that would have made his official debut in the unfinished episode "Nubs of Doom". However, due to the cancellation of the series, he only appeared in "The Most Horrible X-mas Ever". Since then, however, he has made repeated appearances in the comic series, and played a prominent and crucial role in the Netflix movie.

Appearance

Minimoose was originally made to be the ultimate tool of destruction and a replacement sidekick, after Zim got tired of GIR constantly being distracted by Suck Munkeys. Instead, Zim created a floating stuffed animal that takes the form of a floating, purple, nose-less moose.

While appearing to be a failed creation, Minimoose truly is a tool of doom, but Zim doesn't know how to use him properly. However, GIR did manage to accidentally activate his built-in weapons while playing with him.

Minimoose would have disguised himself as a tiny airplane in "Nubs of Doom", much like GIR's dog costume. This was the only real known consistent disguise he would have had, although in Issue 24 he was disguised as a bucket.

In Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus, Minimoose had stolen a pizza sticker from a random kid’s mom’s car. He put it on the side of him with his telekinesis. After that scene, the pizza sticker vanished and never came back.

“THATS MY MOMS PIZZA STICKER, SHE IS CRAZY FOR PIZZAAA!”— *steals it*

Personality

Minimoose's personality wasn't shown much and it's unknown whether he is somewhat diabolical and mischievous in nature, or innocent and carefree like GIR. In the script for the unfinished episode "Nubs of Doom", he was very obedient to his master and completed all his tasks, acknowledging obedience with a cute little squeak.

This was because Zim was originally going to install an Obey-o-nator-2000X, the most unquestioningly obedient computer brain in the galaxy, but Zim wanted it to be even more unquestioningly obedient, much to the Computer's confusion.

Zim also accepted a top-secret experimental Vortian doomsday device offered by Vortian Prisoner 777 and incorporated it into Minimoose's construction. Minimoose, unlike GIR, is not tempted and distracted by Suck Munkeys, which was more than enough obedience for Zim.

It is revealed that in Enter the Florpus that he thinks Zim is cool but apparently isn't above using his oratory skills to trick Zim in order to get out of trouble, suggesting that Minimoose has a manipulative side.

In The Dookie Loop Horror, despite it having been established how powerful Minimoose can be, he is not fearless, as it was shown that he has a terrible fear of not knowing he's trapped in a time loop. The fact that he has such a fear to begin with suggests that he may have been in a time loop before and was traumatized by the experience, to the point Zim implies therapy for him.

Role in Invader Zim

Minimoose was supposed to be a primary character, but due to the series' cancellation he never got to be one. For some odd reason he only communicates through squeaking but that doesn't seem to be an issue since the characters around him can somehow understand his speech, although the audience cannot. His original purpose was to replace GIR as Zim's companion, although due to his failure to live up to Zim’s expectations, Minimoose was only demoted to being Zim's "other sidekick" rather than a minion that for unknown reasons doesn't appear as much as GIR.

Minimoose made his debut in "The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever", but Zim mentioned that he has had Minimoose with him "the entire time." This is a reference to the unfinished episode "Nubs of Doom", which was scheduled to air before the premiere aired. However, due to Invader Zim's cancellation, Nickelodeon only let the animation team finish one episode, and they sided with the Christmas special. This resulted in Minimoose being a mystery to the fans until the script and voice recording for his actual debut episode was released.

Minimoose has a prominent role in Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus, as Zim stated that he's the "only being in the known universe" to have the ability to channel cosmic energy into the Membracelets, which is key both to Zim's plan to transport Earth into the path of the Irken Armada, and later to enabling Professor Membrane undoing it. After the latter occurs, Zim initially blames Minimoose for his plan's failure, but quickly forgives the moose.

Minimoose's role in the comic series has been mostly limited to cameos, though in some issues he has a slightly larger role:

Near the end of the first issue, he distracts Dib long enough for Zim to escape in the Voot Runner, setting up the events of the following issue.
In Issue 3, he serves as Zim's mount during his scheme as the artist "Shminvader Shmim", carrying him around from place to place.
In Issue 24, for the first time ever he actually accompanies Zim and GIR off Earth to the black market planet Cyberflox and is left behind with GIR when Zim is abducted.
In Issue 25, Minimoose and GIR fly the Voot Cruiser to planet Dooq to rescue Zim from Fitzoo-Menga's clutches.
In Issue 27, Minimoose is first seen being used as a stand for GIR's snack bowl. He later does a terrible job at causing a distraction in order to stop Xooxi from boring Zim further, and finally gasps in shock when Zim insults their "host."
In Issue 38, Minimoose serves as Zim's primary assistant in his latest plan while GIR is busy impersonating Dib.
In Issue 44, Zim uses Minimoose to fly around Meat Mountain as he carries out his newest plan, similarly to what happened in Issue 3, though in this case Minimoose was most likely used to protect Zim against coming in contact with meat.
In Issue 50, Minimoose joins GIR in assisting Zim's newest plan by harvesting human brains. However he does so apparently disturbs Zim.
In The Dookie Loop Horror, Zim is shown interacting with Minimoose more than GIR throughout the time loop, suggesting favoritism in his sidekicks.

Abilities

Only three functions of Minimoose have been seen:

Binoculars (Zim once used Minimoose as binoculars in "The Most Horrible X-mas Ever")
Pack animal
Pilot

However, Minimoose contains many more deadly super weapons in "Nubs of Doom", giving the name to what would have been its debut episode. Minimoose is also capable of giving speeches, as shown when he introduced Santa Claus and the teleporter to the people of Earth, who cheered massively; either due to Santa's presence, or that Minimoose made a satisfactory speech.

Minimoose is also shown to be quite persuasive. In "Nubs of Doom", another speech was made by Minimoose to get the "Stop Piling Cows" protest group to leave the base. In Issue 1 of the comic series, Minimoose was also able to distract Dib with idle conversation long enough to allow Zim to launch into space.

In Enter the Florpus, Minimoose has the power to channel cosmic energy powerful enough to move an entire planet from one place of the universe to another. He's also shown to have some telekinetic abilities, as he was able to remove a pizza sticker from a car without touching it.

Filmography

Invader Zim (TV Series)

The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever
Nubs of Doom (unfinished)
Day of da Spookies (unfinished)
Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus (TV Movie)

Invader Zim (Comics)

Facts of Doom

Minimoose's ability to float in mid-air and follow Zim wherever he goes is similar to that of Luna-P, a character from the Sailor Moon metaseries. Unlike Luna-P, however, Minimoose presently does not have the ability to transform into objects or create objects.
Like the SIR Units, Minimoose is genderless, but is identified by whatever gender its master dubs them.
- It was confirmed by Jhonen Vasquez at San Diego comic-con during the Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus panel that Minimoose's assigned gender is undetermined, and it could be either male or female.
- However in the script for "Nubs of Doom" both Zim and GIR refer to Minimoose as a he.
- Realistically male, or bull, moose grow their antlers each year through the spring and summer while female moose, called cows, don't grow antlers, so this means that Minimoose is undoubtedly male. However, given Zim’s current lack of knowledge on Earth’s wildlife, it’s possible that Minimoose’s gender may be up for debate, as he may have made Minimoose with erroneous knowledge on the species.
- "The Dookie Loop Horror" is the first and last time that Zim refers to Minimoose in the third person rather than directly. Interestingly, he uses the pronouns "they" and "them" rather than "he" and "him", as most fans have long assumed would be the case. This could be because as mentioned above Zim may not know Minimoose's gender due to his ignorance of Earth creatures.
  - However, despite the fact that Minimoose was being referred to by gender neutral pronouns by Zim in the final comic, its continuity should be considered dubious as Zim doesn’t have the best track record with facts and Jhonen Vasquez has been known to change his opinion on certain matters within the franchise.
Unlike the SIR Units who are implied to be property of the Irken Empire, Minimoose was created by Zim as a replacement sidekick and as such he belongs to him.
Minimoose's vocabulary consists of small squeaks, - pronounced "Nyah!" - which are done by series creator Jhonen Vasquez. Despite this, everyone around him seem to understand what he’s saying, suggesting that the squeaks are translated into whatever language those around him are speaking.
Despite being common knowledge in the fandom on how Minimoose came into existence, he has yet to have a proper "in universe" introduction on either the series or the comics on how he became a part of Zim's "army of evil".
Unsurprisingly, Minimoose has had more appearances in the comics than in the TV series but never had an issue where he was central to the plot.
Of all of Zim's minions, Minimoose is perhaps the most competent, the Computer being a close second.
Unlike Zim or GIR who needs disguises to conceal their identities from the humans, Minimoose technically doesn't necessarily need one since he resembles an Earth creature and doesn't have to worry about keeping his abilities hidden since most people are oblivious.
In Issue 38, Zim at one point uses Minimoose like a cell phone or walkie talkie to communicate with GIR.
Despite Minimoose being very powerful, he apparently isn't the most advanced piece of technology on Earth. as in Issue 39 the SON Unit gives Tak's Ship that distinction.
- This doesn't necessarily means that this is actually the case as Minimoose wasn't seen in the issue, so whether or not the SON Unit was being accurate is a subject of debate.
- Jhonen Vasquez himself had said that Minimoose is the most powerful and mysterious piece of technology in the known universe.
As shown in Issue 44, Professor Membrane seems to think that Minimoose is one of "nature's deformities", which would explain why no one questions why he's purple or can float and squeak.
- In Enter the Florpus, Membrane states his view that "Minimoose" is a funny name.
- On that note, Professor Membrane also theoretically believes that a tiny purple space moose is possible. This seems to suggest that Zim isn’t the first person who thought about creating a robot moose, and the Professor may have thought about it but never went further than the drawing board.
In Issue 46, it is shown that Minimoose is somehow capable of producing saliva, hinting that like GIR, he is capable of not only tasting things but can also have the ability to eat, this was later confirmed in Enter the Florpus as he was seen eating some pudding Clembrane made and he was also seen eating a dinner casserole along with Zim and GIR in the final issue of the comics.
In Pixelatl Mexico 2019, Jhonen Vasquez said that he thinks it's funny that Minimoose was a little "Hellraiser puzzle", adding that he is the most mysterious, dangerous, horrible thing in the universe but nobody knows how to effectively use him.
At the end of Enter the Florpus, a car can be heard parking just before Minimoose enters Zim's Base, implying he was driving one. How this is possible when he lacks the limbs to drive is unknown, and it's probable that this is just a joke and not meant to be taken seriously. On the other hand, as mentioned above, Minimoose has some telekinetic powers which could be how he was able to drive the car, and previously in the Christmas special, he was seen piloting a labor sleigh.
Both Issue 50 and "The Dookie Loop Horror" show that Minimoose has a darker side. In the former, he gathered so many human brains that it even disturbed Zim, while in the latter, it's hinted that he (possibly) violently killed someone with a hammer.
It is never stated why Zim decided to give Minimoose the appearance of a moose, given how it's well known that Zim hates everything about Earth currently, but it's possible that he believes that the moose is a very dangerous animal as hinted in the episode "A Room with a Moose". (Moose can be dangerous, at least to each other, as shown but them butting antlers during fights for a mate.)

Minimoose
Undisguised Disguised
Name	Minimoose
Species	Robot Moose
Gender	Technically Genderless, portrayed as a male
Affliation	Irken Empire Zim
First Appearance	Nubs of Doom (cancelled) The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever (aired)
Voice Actor(s)	Jhonen Vasquez

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