GIR (G Information Retrieval Unit) is the overall deuteragonist of the Invader Zim franchise and the secondary antagonist of the movie Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus.
He is the hyperactive robotic assistant of Zim and the closest thing the incompetent Irken has to a friend, having been constructed from scrap parts by the Almighty Tallest just before it was handed to Zim, instead of a regular SIR (Standard-issue Information Retrieval) Unit. Despite of being one of the main characters, GIR only played a main role in three episodes: "Walk of Doom", "Invasion of the Idiot Dog Brain" and "GIR Goes Crazy and Stuff", and would have played another major role in the cancelled episode "GIR's Big Day." In every other episode he either played a secondary role, or appeared just as a cameo.
Biography[]
GIR serves as Zim's "evil" henchman, but he is usually more of a hindrance than a help. As stated above, he has complied when Dib asked favors from him and replaced vital equipment with food in "Walk of Doom".
Moreover, his erratic behavior has often ended up having catastrophic consequences and ruining Zim's plans. However, GIR has bailed Zim out occasionally, saving him from alien fanatics in "Attack of the Saucer Morons". He can also be used as a form of transportation when the Voot Runner is unavailable, such as in "The Nightmare Begins".
The only differences between GIR and regular SIR Unit are the unique coloration of the luminous parts of GIR's body (teal instead of red, although they do go red when he is in Duty Mode), a different configuration for the eyes, and his cross-hatched mouth. The similarities in construction suggest that the components from which he was built came from an out-of-date model of SIR unit.
GIR's usual Earth disguise consists of a green "mongoose-dog" suit with a zipper on the stomach, and a head that can be pulled over like a hood. It also includes a small tail that he is inexplicably capable of wagging like an Earth dog. The large eyes sometimes blink while at other times, they do not. Also, the mouth will sometimes open when he speaks, whereas other times it stays closed.
GIR also has a small child disguise with blonde hair and the mouth hanging open so he can see, but it was only used in two episodes.
Personality[]
GIR is happy-go-lucky, enthusiastic, energetic, excitable, and extremely hyperactive, and will eat just about anything, regardless of whether it is edible or not. Most of the time he spouts nonsense, but does have a few, short moments of clarity: for instance, in "Walk for Your Lives" he actually contemplated whether making the explosion go faster would make things worse ("But if the big 'splody goes fast, won't it get all bad?"), and in "Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy" he questioned the wisdom of sending a machine into the past to destroy Dib.
GIR usually fools around when Zim gives an order, and always goes right back to what he was doing before once he has completed the order (which is only done occasionally) or, more often, when Zim leaves. Zim has described GIR's intelligence as "bad"; indeed, the little robot is often one of the many reasons why Zim's plans frequently fail. But, Zim has taken advantage of GIR's poor intelligence in the past, having once attached GIR to a power amplifier in "Plague of Babies" to incapacitate Sergeant Shnooky and his underlings with an amplified wave of the little robot's stupidity. However, despite his stupidity, GIR also has shown an occasional manipulative side, having used his antics in the past to bend others to his will.
GIR has also been known to disobey orders whenever it conflicts with getting something he wants, such as rubber piggies or food.
Unlike Zim, GIR does not mind getting involved with typical Earth culture; on several occasions, he has even admitted to loving Earth. GIR also has a strong love of Earth food, such as tacos, taquitos, candy, waffles, cupcakes, tuna, biscuits, chicken with mayonnaise, pizza, Suck Munkeys, numerous Poop products, mashed potatoes, muffins, corn, etc. He can eat and enjoy them (even though he is a robot) and was even shown somehow becoming fat in the "Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom" after stealing and devouring all of the Halloween candy from trick-or-treaters.
Despite his sub-par disguises, GIR is actually quite good at blending in with the humans, due to his behavior and intelligence being similar to theirs. In "Attack of the Saucer Morons", he even befriended multiple teenage human females.
Similarly in Issue 26 of the comics, GIR disguised himself as a human boy to able to go to skool with his master, in the process he befriended several skoolchildren, easily blending in and becoming one of the "popular kids" on his first day, even when the kids saw him in his dog costume, they still loved him.
GIR watching his favorite show, The Scary Monkey Show.
His favorite assignment from Zim is "monitoring Earth broadcasts" (in other words, watching TV); when doing so, he usually watches The Scary Monkey Show, which he has declared to be his "favorite show".
His favorite movie is Intestines of War, which he has seen over one hundred times ("FBI Warning of Doom"). GIR is also very loyal to Zim, despite disobeying him often and mainly being a hindrance to his plans. There have been times where Dib has "tricked" him into doing things, like putting a camera in Zim's Base in "Zim Eats Waffles", and even inviting him into the base during "The Frycook What Came from All That Space" and Enter the Florpus.
This is probably because Dib doesn't seem to bother GIR as much as he does Zim, saying in "Planet Jackers" that "he seems nice". By the time of "Mysterious Mysteries" however, GIR seemed to be aware of Dib's antipathy toward his master, and flat-out defended him, though this was probably because Zim told GIR exactly what to say.
GIR also seems to possess the uncanny ability of bending others to his will as he was able to make Zim dance in the elevator of the base during "Invasion of the Idiot Dog Brain" and more surprisingly, Gaz in "Tak: The Hideous New Girl". GIR does not hate or dislike anyone, which contrasts very sharply with Zim, Dib, and especially Gaz. He instead approaches everything in the world, living or not, with boundless affection and enthusiasm.
Behind the scenes[]
The point that GIR's body was first constructed is the first episode in the series (The Nightmare Begins). when Zim attempts to get a SIR Unit, a broken robot of a SIR was put together with parts from a garbage can by the Almighty Tallest and then put whatever they had in their pockets such as pennies, paper clips, and bubble gum into its head. The robot introduced himself as GIR. It is unknown what the G stands for, but it is theorized that it stands for garbage; he might be a SIR unit prototype, or an out-of-date model.