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Tak
Homeworld Irk
Assignment Cleaning planets
Rank Janitorial Drone
Gender Female
Eye Color Purple
Equipment Modified SIR Unit, advanced ship made by modifying a Spittle Runner
Affiliation(s) Irken Empire
First appearance Tak: The Hideous New Girl
Voice Actor(s) Olivia Jane d'Abo (English)
María Fernanda Morales (Spanish)

Tak is an Irken and a minor antagonist in Invader Zim. Her main goal is to take Zim's "mission" because Zim had ruined her training as an Invader.

Vicious and determined, she's more focused on trying to gain for herself an honorable title as an Invader than revenge. She claims that Zim just happens to be in the way of getting it.

Despite her repeated assertions, she does show an inordinate amount of anger and bitterness toward Zim with good reason. Fifty Earth years prior to Zim's arrival on Earth, Tak was going through training to become an Irken Elite, with the possibility of being chosen as an Invader.

However, Zim caused a major blackout throughout half of Devastis, when he chose to retrieve a snack from a faulty vending machine by using a large battle mech (possibly a Maim Bot, as seen in "Hobo 13") and shooting straight at it. The resulting explosion blasted half the planet's power grid and trapped Tak in a training cell on the day of examination. Despite the catastrophic power outage, all tests continued on the other still-working side of the planet, leaving Tak stranded.

She pled her case to her assigned Control Brain in hopes for some leniency, but her request was promptly denied. She was then put into a janitorial squad to do hard labor on Planet Dirt for the duration of seventy Earth years before she could retake the examination.

Appearance[]

Tak on Planet Dirt (Tak, The Hideous New Girl)

Tak on Dirt.

Tak has dark purple eyes, square-curled antennae, and a light gray PAK with purple spots. However, she also has some rather distinctive features that make her stand out from ordinary Irkens.

One is an implant in her head that possesses limited mind-altering abilities, such as mind control and erasing memories. However, it only works on the simple-minded.

The other notable feature is her custom purple and magenta uniform; although it's modeled after the standard Irken uniform, it also resembles a tailcoat in the back and has a small insignia on the front.

Tak in Disguise

Tak in her disguise.

Her boots are steel-toed and buckled, similar to another one of Jhonen Vasquez's characters, Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. She also has a black beauty mark under her left eye and a crosshatched mouth, similar to GIR's.

Her human disguise, which is holographic, has short dark blue hair in a bob cut, very pale skin, black eyeliner, dark purple eye shadow, black leggings, and a pair of silver stud earrings. Her clothing is similar to her normal Irken uniform save for some differences; it contains four different shades of purple and blue, and has a backpack which covers her PAK.

She also only has three fingers, while other humans have four. This is possibly the only flaw in her disguise, though Keef and Moofy also have three fingers.

Personality[]

Tak-mimi

Tak with MIMI.

Despite the fact that she appeared in only one episode, Tak's personality is eminently clear. She quickly establishes herself as cunning, ruthless, and deeply vindictive. Tak has access to an arsenal of advanced technology, which she seems to prefer over more simplistic methods. This may allude to an interest in tech, and it's possibly an unrecognized or un-utilized talent in the field. Because she was only featured in a single episode, the finer points of her personality and interests were never given attention. However, it's still abundantly obvious that she has what it takes to be an exceptionally successful Invader.

While not arrogant, she appears to be acutely aware of how her talents are being squandered, and resents this. She sought to redeem herself by usurping Zim's mission, reducing the Earth to a hollow shell, pumping out all its magma, and filling it with snacks instead, hoping to appeal directly to the Tallest's taste for sweets. Given Tallest Purple's disappointment with the plan's failure, this idea may not have been without legitimate merit. 

Role in Invader Zim[]

TOTS

Her attempt to take over Earth and thus steal Zim's mission makes Tak an antagonist toward both Zim and Dib. "Tak: The Hideous New Girl" is her first and only appearance, but if the show had gone on longer, she would have made more appearances in the series, in "Top of the Line" and even more later on. Her role would've mainly been getting in Zim's way of world conquest, making her a main character and antagonist.

In "Top of the Line", she would have entered a competition among the other Invaders, during which their SIR Units would be put through a series of tests (not unlike a dog show). Tak's role would have been to sabotage the other SIRs, leaving all but MiMi, Skoodge, and Tenn's SIR Units and GIR destroyed. Because the script was never recovered, her interaction with Zim during the course of the episode is to be determined.

Relationships[]

Zim[]

Zim and Tak terryfing 1

Tak raging

Tak sees Zim as unworthy of being an Invader and resents him because it's his fault that she couldn't become an Invader herself. As a result, Tak tried to take his "mission" because she saw it as something that was rightfully hers. She claimed not to want revenge on Zim, however this didn't stop her from making his time at Skool miserable. Eventually, Zim had the last laugh, as he was able to stop her plan to destroy the Earth, and as a final insult, left her stranded in space with a dismantled MiMi in the remnants of her ship.

Had the series gone on, it is believed Tak would have returned and become a regular enemy to Zim, however it's unknown to what effect future encounters would have had on their relationship, as it's clear they won't stop until the other is defeated or dead.

At the beginning, it's possible she saw Zim as nothing more than pest but towards the end of her failed invasion, it's likely she has a deeper more personal hatred towards Zim.

GIR[]

G&Th

Tak being mad and Gir just watchs her

Tak had a limited interaction with GIR and usually paid him no mind, as she most likely viewed the defective SIR Unit as not a threat to her plans, which would explain why she disregarded him every time they crossed paths. Ironically, this came back to bite her as GIR was crucial to stopping her plans to make Earth appealing to the Tallest.

On his part, GIR most likely saw Tak as "nice", since he was unable to view her as an enemy, but was still somewhat aware of her plans as he told Zim that she didn't steal her plan from him.

MiMi[]

Tak-mimi

Tak and MiMi.

MiMi is an upgraded SIR Unit that belongs to Tak (and most likely the closest thing she has to a friend), who built her out of scrap on the planet Dirt. MiMi is more advanced than other Invaders' SIR units seen in the show, and is more capable than most others as well. Her creation was most likely because Tak thinks she deserves the title of Invader and therefore wanted a SIR Unit of her own as a status of that belief.

MiMi is very loyal to Tak, serving her mistress without question and very nearly succeeded in killing Zim. However, her loyalty ended when GIR and Gaz were able to hack into her memory disk and drive her insane, which caused damage to Tak's Ship, and the Irken was forced to dismantle her, which implies that Tak had no qualms to discard MiMi should the situation arise.

Dib[]

Dib and Tak

Tak and Dib laugh at Zim

Dib and Tak had a brief friendship in "Tak: The Hideous New Girl", due to mutual dislike of Zim. However, she only befriended him to get information about Zim; it can be assumed that Tak confronted him only because she noticed that he knew the most about Zim. Meanwhile, Dib noted that no one else had ever taken an interest in his paranormal studies before, so clearly was excited to have someone listen to him.

They were seen having one conversation while at Skool, during which he offered her Valentine's Day meat. This was the only time they were seen interacting before Tak's identity was revealed, which leaves whether or not they talked often up to debate.

Gaz[]

G&T

Tak briefly met Gaz in her Base of Operations which was in the Deelishus Weenie company. They both hardly paid the other much attention, but clearly Tak acknowledged that Gaz was smarter than most humans, as she was not only immune to her mind erasing abilities but was also the only human who has caused her any sort of pain, as Gaz soaked her with poop cola that somewhat burned her.

Interestingly, while Tak never took off her disguise in Dib's presence, she did deactivate it as she was making her escape to do her plan, not caring that Gaz saw her. This is most likely because Tak didn't see the point as her identity as an Irken was already revealed.

The Almighty Tallest[]

T&T

Only once did Tak make contact with the Tallest, and it was at the beginning of her debut. Although it was never seen what they talked about, Tak herself implied that Zim was a topic of discussion, as she was aware that his "mission" was meant to be something to get rid of him and that he isn't a real Invader.

It was also shown that she had a great deal of respect towards the Tallest, since she planned to fill Earth with snacks as an offering towards her leaders in hopes of getting the Invader status she yearned for. Seeing how disappointed they were that Zim stopped her plan, it's likely she could have gotten her wish, implying they at least were willing to give her the opportunity to prove herself.

Sightings[]

Invader Zim (TV series)[]

Invader Zim (comic series)[]

Facts of Doom[]

In the eyes of the Control Brains
  • She speaks with something approximating an English accent, keeping mainly to a London variety but with occasional rhotic r's similar to West Country dialect.
    • Note: Her voice actress, Olivia D' Abo, is also British. Also, tending to dumb herself down when around humans, her voice sounds higher in tone when in disguise.
  • It was stated back in September 2016 by Eric Trueheart that there were no plans to feature Tak in the comic series (yet),[1] which led to speculation that she was being saved for the Invader Zim television film.
    • Additionally, her voice actress, Olivia Jane d'Abo, stated on her Twitter she was excited for the movie.[2] Later on in the summer, she confirmed that she was "working" on the Invader Zim movie, but she did not verify if she was actually recording.[3]
    • When the movie came out, it was revealed that d'Abo wasn't voicing Tak herself, but the AI copy of her aboard her ship. However, months later at a panel at GalaxyCon Minneapolis 2019, Richard Horvitz and Rikki Simons claimed that a deleted scene would have revealed that Tak was imprisoned in Moo-Ping 10 and would have shown her ship freeing her.
  • She designed her ship by modifying a Spittle Runner, painting it red, and decorating the craft with her customized version of the Irken insignia.
    Screen Shot 2012-08-04 at 3.52

    Tak using her mind erasing abilities.

  • The purple-pink spark of light that comes out of her right eye and into her left eye has psionic properties, which she used to make Sara apologize to her and, as an added bonus, eat her eraser.
  • She tried to erase Dib and Gaz's memories, but they're apparently immune to her powers, because they are much smarter than the other Skoolchildren. This power is thought to come from an implant that's placed on the left side of her head.
  • Zim and GIR were also immune to her mind powers, which could hint that it can't be used against other Irkens or SIR Units.
  • Tak is one of the few known Irkens to have purple eyes: Others include the Almighty Tallest Purple, Sizz-Lorr, Invader Zee, and a handful of background Irkens.
  • Tak appears to have a high pain tolerance, as she reacts much less severely to Earth water than Zim.
  • While Tak is shown ejecting herself out of her ship at the end of "Tak: The Hideous New Girl", the ship that crashes in Dib's yard is whole, leaving how she escaped alive up to debate.
  • Tak mentions Zim's Roboparents during her confrontation with Dib and Gaz, although she had never actually met them, which would imply that she may have followed Zim for some time.
Tak and Zim 1

Tak having a blast making fun of Zim

  • Despite Zim and Tak hating each other, they do have three things in common - they're not real Invaders, they both had jobs similarly found on Earth, and they left the planets the Control Brains stationed them on.
    • On that note, based on her unorthodox methods and abilities, many fans have theorized that Tak may be a "defective" like Zim. This seems to be supported by the fact that as mentioned above, she abandoned her janitorial tasks on planet Dirt, much in the way that Zim (a known defective) abandoned his station on Foodcourtia. Also, both invaders felt they were meant for something greater than what the Control Brains assigned them.
    • Her holographic human disguise could also be a clue to her defective nature, as it's far more advanced than those of her Invader peers.
  • Much to Tak's frustration, Zim's actually earned the status of an Irken Invader before being demoted to Fast Food Drone, something she hasn't been able to achieve.
  • Ironically, had she just waited, Tak would have had another chance to take the test to become an Invader. Instead she left her assigned planet, which might be seen as desertion by the Control Brains, which can be seen as a severe offense as Tak was meant to stay on Dirt for the duration of 70 Earth years and was not exiled like Zim.
  • Ironically, and contrary to what Tak says, Zim actually saved her life accidentally, since had she actually become an Invader, she probably would have been killed with all the others during Zim's rampage that ruined Operation Impending Doom I.
  • When Zim claimed that Tak's plan came from him, it can be hinted he was jealous of her ingenuity as well as knowing it would have the full support from the Tallest.
  • Tak is taller than Zim, possibly by an inch or so.
  • Tak's name is also shared by an extradimensional entity in several books by Stephen King.
  • Despite only having made one appearance in the show before its cancellation, Tak is extremely popular in the fandom, with her presence among fanfiction and fan art being just as prolific as that of the main characters.
  • Tak is mentioned by Recap Kid in Issue 45, marking the first time she's been directly referenced in the comic series, as opposed to simply mentioning her indirectly through the existence of her ship.
  • In Issue 46, GIR mentions Tak twice, only for Zim to claim to not remember her (despite mentioning her by name in several previous issues).
  • Her appearance and outfit is very similar to Devi D. and Johnny C. from Johnny the Homicidal Maniac and I Feel Sick. Her outfit design is strikingly similar to Nny’s own, most notably the tailcoat and the boots. Also, her holographic disguise seems to look like Devi.
  • In the commentary for "Backseat Drivers from Beyond The Stars", Jhonen Vasquez said that Tak would have been Zim's archenemy and would have made a lot of appearances in the series if the show continued on.
    • This implies that Tak would have eventually returned to Earth somehow and possibly reside on the planet, trying to take Zim’s mission, determined to earn the rank of an Invader.
  • In a podcast to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the show's series premiere, Jhonen Vasquez answered questions by fans and said that in Enter the Florpus, Tak's presence was felt the moment the Ship appeared and that when the Ship heard about Moo-Ping 10, it's excited because it knows Tak is imprisoned there and the explosion we saw in the movie was the Ship freeing Tak. We were meant to see her shadow at that point, but due to an animation error that was not possible.
    • Vasquez also said that there would have been a post credit scene with Tak coming out of her ship, implying she was a stowaway and that she and Dib would team up against Zim in a possible sequel. The reason as to why that scene was cut was because Jhonen believed that if there ever was a sequel he didn't want to force Tak into the movie and the plot would be harder to write if the idea changed with time.
    • As a result of this change, it’s unclear whether or not the ship actually knows where her owner currently is.
      Tak in Comic

      Tak before and after the Loop.

  • In The Dookie Loop Horror, Tak appears as part of the montage of people being caught up in the time loop, marking the first (and only) time she actually appears in the comics in person.
    • Interestingly, she's shown in the custody of the Gellaxis, as a possible nod to the aforementioned abandoned plot point from the movie, suggesting that despite the scene being cut from the film, it ultimately became canon that she would end up imprisoned on Moo-Ping 10.
    • There is a Bloody GIR on Tak's shoe in "Tak: The Hideous New Girl".

See also[]

References[]

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