Dib Membrane

Appearance

Dib Membrane is a kid who is obsessed with paranormal activity and trying to stop his arch-nemesis Zim from taking over the earth. He moved from his home dimension to Portalgate due to his father's work and he spends most of his time hanging out with The Tide Turners.

## Role In Cartoonland

Dib is a semi-major protagonist in Cartoonland: Resurrection, being in almost every adventure and playing an important role.

## Appearance

Not much changed about his appearance from the series.

Dib is half Mexican and has messy black scythe-like hair that quite closely resembles his father, Professor Membrane's. He has light brown eyes and wears big circular glasses. He wears blue jeans, big red boots, and a black trench coat over a blue t-shirt with an alien in a UFO graphic and the cheesy phrase, "I need some space" on it. He is often seen carrying around a brief case which he uses to hold all of his paranormal investigation supplies.

His sidekick outfit remains basically the same as his usual one, but with a blue coat and hat with antennae and wings attached from his arms to his waist to resemble a moth.

## Relationships

### Zim

Zim is Dib's mortal enemy. They come from the same dimension and hate each other. As much as Dib hates the guy, he can't help but feel bad for him sometimes.

In "The First Problem", Zim and Dib are paired together to get an ingredient for the rope to pull the dimensions. Zim becomes the victim of some visions of his worst fear, and becomes frozen in place. Dib can't see the things Zim can, but tries to snap him out of it so they can get back to their work. Zim activates his PAK legs in defense, hurting Dib in the process. After the visions end and Zim snaps out of it, he realizes Dib is injured and can't walk. Zim is forced to carry Dib back to the meeting spot. After the problem is resolved, Dib decides that he owes Zim a favor and agrees to help him try to get the Tallest's respect.

In the adventure "Earning Respect", Dib helps Zim try and find a way to get the Almighty Tallest's respect for Zim after he starts having doubts about his leader's opinion of him. While on the Massive, Dib realizes how messed up the Tallest are after finding out the truth about Zim's mission. Dib puts his hatred for Zim aside for just a minute to stand up for him. Dib goes off on the Tallest, telling them that the way they've treated Zim is horrible and wrong, saying Zim is the most loyal solider in the empire and they should be grateful. The Tallest banish Zim to rot on earth for the rest of his days and order some Irkens to throw Dib out the airlock. Zim saves Dib before returning to the Voot Cruiser to head back to earth.

In the Adventure "Family Secrets" after Dib finds out that he's just a clone of his father, Zim attempts to come up with ways to find out more about Dib's heritage. This gag continues in "Daddy Issues", where Zim and Dib begin to contemplate nicknames. So while they claim that they hate each other's guts, they're not on terrible terms. They do still bicker contently and Dib is still weary of Zim, not accepting his redemption yet.

### Gaz

Gaz is his sister. They weren't super close when introduced, but after the Membrane family moved into a small apartment complex in Portalgate City and they were forced to share a room together, they got closer. During the events of "The Mysterious Mothman", Gaz was worried about her brother's well being, not wanting him to be trapped as the Mothman forever. Gaz is also in The Tide Turners, so she hangs out with Dib and his friends quite often. Dib has some resentful feelings towards Gaz since finding out the truth about their family. He's angry that she didn't tell him sooner, especially considering he's older than her. He knows deep down that it's not her fault, though.

### Professor Membrane

Professor Membrane is Dib's father. Dib resents his father for several reasons. His dad is always busy with his work and doesn't make time for his children and he doesn't believe Dib's true accusations of paranormal happenings. His father has been absent for most of his life, sometimes even forgetting about his existence and not recognizing him. After the first Florpus incident, his father tried to be more present, but most days just left them alone with Clembrane. His father moved the family into a small apartment complex in Portalgate City so he could be closer to work on his new project, enrolling Dib and Gaz into a new school and making them share a room without them getting a say in any of it.

After "Family Secrets" Dib resents him even more after learning that he kept the fact that he and his sister are just clones of their father. In "Family Conflict", The Tide Turners make a stop at a city that Professor Membrane just so happens to be visiting. Dib decides to give his father a piece of his mind and goes out to talk to him. Dib tells his father his true feelings but his father just brushes them aside, saying that he loves Dib and his sister more than anything else he's ever created. Later on after Dib and Professor Membrane get into an argument, his father gets his life force taken by a possessed Zim. Ziggy then takes over Professor Membrane's lifeless body as a vessel. Dib is unsure how he feels about his father. On one hand, he's still resentful, but on the other hand, he's devastated that his father is possessed and dead.

### Jacque

Dib looks up to Jacque, and loves working in the field as his sidekick, Agent Mothman. Dib has sworn to keep his identity a secret, even though Jacque keeps his hero coat in the shop window. Dib's debut as his sidekick was in the adventure "Mr. Doctor Detective Man: In LOVE!" in which Dib accompanies Jacque as he tries to stop the super villain organisation known as Shade only to discover that the head of the operation is Jacque's new boyfriend, Neil.

In "The First Problem" Dib and Jacque team up again to put a stop to a string of robberies that have been occurring across Cartoonland. They fail to catch the last thief and they get away with the final piece to a super weapon that a villain is planning on using to teleport several dimensions away from Cartoonland.

## Trivia

* The clone aspect of Dib's arc is based off what one of the writers on Invader Zim -Eric Trueheart - said during an interview, where he stated that had the show not been canceled, there would have been an episode in which Dib went on a quest to figure out why his life was so horrible. By the end of the episode, Dib would have discovered that he was in fact a clone of his father, Professor Membrane.