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Dibsthe1 — It Looks Like This
Published: 2007-10-28 19:32:06 +0000 UTC; Views: 1874; Favourites: 10; Downloads: 34
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After drawing this, I decided against posting it. Then after a polite but brief conversation the other day I saw how much it needs to go up after all.Yes. I know the drawing is hideous. I know the colors are an eyesore. That's deliberate. Originally I had carefully drawn everything out in exact three point perspective, foreshortening and all. Then I realized the colors and the drawing needed to be grotesque enough to match the subject matter. This also helps to make sure that if anybody actually faves this, they'll be doing so because they read and got what I'm saying, not for the sake of a few pretty colors or some wow-y perspective.
One reason Dib won't allow himself to hit her back is his bizarre delusion this is some sort of "little sister." (Something that would beat him up worse if he took a hand to her is a "little sister." Sure, Dib, sure.
)Beating up those who won't hit you back is no better than beating up those who can't hit you back.
Discussing Dib and Gaz interactions in one of the FFN forums reminded me that many people appear to believe the way Dib treats Gaz... considering the barbaric way she treats him... is heartwarming or adorable or cute or whatever else.
Well, it is NONE of the above. It is stomach-turning,
not "heartwarming." 
It is NOT "adorable."
And it is least of all
"cute." Thanking someone for abusing you is just asking for more of it. I compared Gaz to someone who mercilessly beats a dog, a dog that keeps licking the very fist that beats it. How adorable is it now?
This is fairly close to how ugly, repulsive and nauseating the way Gaz treats Dib really is. I have another version up next to this one which may be even closer.
I do wonder, though, how all the sadists are going to react to this one. Will they cream their jeans because the dog's ear looks like Dib's hair scythe?
Or will they be appalled... just this once... now that the rest of this creature is a DOG??
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Comments: 22
Really late comment, but I'm relatively new to the fandom and I didn't find your art until recently.
I think Dib and Gaz's relationship is... interesting. There is no doubt that Gaz overreacts to the slightest little things and treats Dib like crap, but that's pretty much the way she treats everyone but Professor Membrane. When you think about it, she might even treat Dib a little "better" than she treats most other people, or better than other people treat him. At lunch, she sits with him at an otherwise empty table. She believes him about Zim, even if she does absolutely NOTHING about it. And she is pretty much the only character, besides Ms. Bitters, who never said Dib head a big head. As far as I know she only said something along those lines once, in her rant in Taster of Pork.
Also, in canon, at least, she only actually beat Dib up in two episodes--Taster of Pork and the Christmas episode.
Gaz is probably the only thing even slightly close to a friend that Dib has in the show, and that is really, REALLY sad. But it's the reverse, as well, with Dib probably being Gaz's closest friend, not counting Professor Membrane. Every other character is terrified of her and without Dib she would be completely alone.
I'm definitely not trying to defend Gaz's behavior toward Dib or anything. It's horrible. I'm just saying that I'm not sure she treats him any worse than she treats anyone else in the show.
It sounds like most of your grievances are directed towards how Dib and Gaz are portrayed in fanfiction. I haven't read nearly enough to be able to say anything about that. I just wanted to mention a few of my own thoughts on their relationship.
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That's okay. Better late than never!
You make a good point. In fact I'm certain it's the fanfiction that got me into writing and drawing about this. When it comes to canon, watching "Taster of Pork" in particular, I would grant that she had a grievance in the beginning of the episode. However, she definitely took it too far, continuing even after Dib was doing everything he could to undo it. I was surprised and disgusted when I realized that the viewers were actually applauding this.
Yes, it's the fandom applauding this that I have the problem with. I don't know where or when, but I'm pretty sure I wrote something to this effect.
Thanks for your comment!
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I agree, she took it way too far with that episode. If she wanted a cure so badly she could have helped Dib find one instead of threatening his life :/
The fandom applauded that? 
Welcome!
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You know, actually this is kind of weird---just earlier today I was thinking of drawing a kind of similar picture to this. Huh.
Anyway, yes---something that has often confused me is why people react to animal suffering much worse than human suffering; maybe just because animals are seen as more helpless and innocent, but it is rather bizarre. And I didn't notice the ear at first, but making it match Dib's hair was a clever touch. Nice work.
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When an animal abuse case makes headlines, internet comment pages overflow with cries for hideous vengeance, so I wonder why they can't muster more than a fraction of this indignation when a human is victimized?
They only spare humans this sort of reaction when it happens to a child, but even then the child story will get far fewer posts than one about say, a cat.
One would think we would at least put our own species first; even the animals do that. Wolves and lions don't seem too concerned about the feelings of the animal they're planning to take down so that their own can eat.
Thanks! I hope you're still going to draw what you were already thinking of drawing?
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Maybe; it was just an idea, so I was never totally sure if I would draw it. When I saw this is just seemed like a weird coincidence, though.
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Now you've got me curious! Was it about Dib and Gaz or sympathy for animals over people?
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Actually, it was basically going to be Zim kicking a puppy. 
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If I was you, I'd still draw it.
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Okay, so I've read a lot of your fanfics, and you're a good writer, but I have to say, after giving it some thought, I don't understand your outrage when it comes to Gaz. So she's violent and irrational and immature. So what? She's about eight years old! My little brother freaks out about stupid things too. Maybe she's a little autistic. Siblings beat the crap out of each other. Especially siblings with no parents to speak of. Why should Dib hit her back? I don't hit my brother back when he throws furniture at me. He's 12, he's immature and volatile and crazy. So what? When I was in the fourth grade, my best friend and his sister used to pull painful, humiliating elaborate pranks on each other all the time. Their parents chalked it up to normal sibling rivalry, even though it was violent and mean. Kids are mean. Oh well.
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Thank you for the compliment, and thank you for the question. I'm sorry I didn't get back to you before now, but a lot of things happened at once and wanted to take the time to fully answer your question.
We're in the same boat in a way, actually. What I don't understand is how more of us AREN'T outraged.
Back when I still read fanfics regularly, this theme would turn up quite a bit, and each time it did it steeled my hatred of Gaz still more: Gaz abuses Dib all her life, he does something all nicey nice for her; because she didn't like some tiny thing or other about the way he did it she lashes out at him like a cuddled cobra and the reviewers all try to oudo each other gushing over how "heartwarming" that supposedly is.
Er, NO. That stopped being "heartwarming" the second she attacked him. In fact, Dib doesn't even look like a "good brother" any more; now he just looks like a chump who's too stupid to even know when something hurts.
Gaz is allowed to treat her brother worse than she'd treat a complete stranger, whereas Dib is required to constantly put Gaz's interests first because she IS his sister. What I wonder is how everybody else views this gross lopsidedness as just hunkydory.
Even Zim has been known to pull his punches; Gaz never does, no matter how much is at stake, no matter how contrite Dib is. A backstabbing family member has to be the single ugliest thing there is, both in real life and in fiction.
I bet my password that if the situation was reversed everybody'd Get It immediately.
"Why should Dib hit her back?" A better question would be "Why should Dib NOT hit her back?" He's a kid too, and one who is barely older than she is, a fact most conveniently overlooked by everybody.
"Siblings beat the crap out of each other... pull painful, humiliating elaborate pranks on each other." The key words there are "each other." There is nothing remotely "each other" about the way Dib and Gaz interact.
Kids fight, that is indeed true. What Dib and Gaz do is NOT fighting. While Dib undeniably rubs Gaz the wrong way, he never EVER does it maliciously. That is a lot more than SHE can say...
For sometimes very very tiny offenses, Gaz declares all-out war on Dib... AND he is forbidden to lift a hand to her. Gaz can more than take care of herself, but all the support redundantly goes to her. 
I did the math and less than one percent of the FFN fics show him repaying her in kind. If he had ever done this in canon, even once, however much he needed to, he would be hated even more than he is now... and I am sure this fandom would find some way.
I've even seen him called "noble" for this. My unwiped @$$ he is. This is causing me to LOSE respect for this character, big time.
Everybody writes Gaz as a merciless bully, but what is odd is that I seem to be the only one who gets called on it. I'm sure this is because I do my best to distance myself from those who believe grossly unjustified brutality makes a character in any way "cool (sic)". I'm sure that also has a lot to do with the impression I've been leaving.
Thanks again, and may I add, please, that if you can shrug it off when someone hurls furniture at you, either you're not paying attention or you're eligible for sainthood.
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When you say Dib is "forbidden" to hurt Gaz back, what do you mean? Forbidden by whom? None of the adults in the show would care.
I don't know. I just feel like Gaz is more talk than action. She has beaten Dib up a couple of times, but mostly she just makes crazy, melodramatic proclamations... just like everyone else in the show. Plus, Dib *can't* have a nice, supportive sister. If he had any help whatsoever, any acknowledgement or appreciation from anyone, he wouldn't be the miserable underdog that he is. Zim is in the same boat, (only he doesn't realize it) and this parallel is an important part of their dynamic.
I'm not defending Gaz's behavior. It isn't cool or "heartwarming" (who the hell said it was heartwarming?!). But it is part of the show and part of Dib's character, that he must be completely, desperately, frustratingly alone is his mission. I guess I just can't see her as the ultimate evil as you seem to. She's the least of Dib's problems. In fact, aside from the occasional display of fear, he hardly seems to care that she abuses him. It's not as if Dib is making any attempt to be close to her or have any kind of relationship with her. She's just someone to rant at.
PS: I've always suspected her sourness was to offset Gir. heh.
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Forbidden by a social rule that is so much taken for granted that we're usually not even aware of it. I referred to it when I mentioned that if Dib ever once hit Gaz, viewers would react even more negatively to him than they already do. People call him "noble, a hero, a good brother", sic) etc. for standing there and taking it; I call him something else.
It's the "Boys Don't Hit Girls" thing. Nobody else ever seems to notice that Gaz keeps beating up someone who never ever hits her back.
Yes indeed, Gaz is much more talk than action... in canon. Dib has enough sense not to try to cuddle up to her... in canon. The fanon version is what I'm reacting to. That's what got me into writing for IZ in the first place; I wanted to show the other side of it.
No, you didn't call it "cool" or "heartwarming." Just about everyone else does, however. The question was why I have such a problem with Gaz, and that was part of my answer. Did you see the fic "The Journal of Gaz" by Julesies, or "Growing up Gaz" by microwavednoodles, both on FFN? When those two particular fics came up within a month of each other, that's when I thought maybe it wasn't such a good idea for me to be reading IZ fics. I had plenty of "WTF!??" 
I'd actually be okay with Dib being a total underdog if this was getting him any amount of sympathy from viewers. Instead, many of them take this to mean it's expected if not mandatory to hit him when he's down.
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Yeah, that I don't get. Dib is so fantastically compelling! Why don't people like him? Although, I guess I'm a little biased having grown up with a crush on Mulder from the X-Files. ^^
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(And here's something else... I didn't watch the show when it was on, but yeah... Mulder IS cute!)
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I keep having dreams of the poor dog now. ¬¬ A pic has to be good to do that. *has faved it*
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I agree...now that you mention it, those comparisons do work. Although when I first saw the pic, I thought it was a scene from your fanfic, "Puppy Love". (That's what it was called, right? It's been a while since I read it.) Not only that, but I absolutely hate animal abuse!
But good job on the crudeness of the drawing...and I also noticed something else. The stick-figure like arms and legs and sloppy coloring made me think of a child's drawing...and in fact, Gaz is a child when it comes to always wanting her way no matter what, and reacting with violence at the slightest thing. I remember reading in a book on toddlers back in 10th grade that said toddlers go through a stage where they always react to displeasure with anger...it seems like Gaz is stuck in that stage. Just a thought...
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Wow, very nicely done with making it with the crude drawing and colouring to get the point across more clearly, and I totally agree with what you say about Gaz treating Dib so badly. How can anyone like that?? It's stupid and wrong. So yep, you've got at least one person on your side, the whole way.
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I don't mean to sound rude or offensive, but I think this might be a bit of an over reaction.
Gaz only beats on her brother like any normal sibling would. Now, yes, it is more harsh than in a normal sibling rivalry, but it's a cartoon. Dib is kinda of there to be given flack, but get back up on his feet right away.
But Dib is kind to his sister. He never beat her up, never called her a name, or anything like that. But not cute either.
Gaz and Dib's relationship is a more cartoon version of any other brother/sister relationship. Which is meant to be a bloodthirsty battle until you get older.
In short, Gaz isn't completely barbaric to Dib, but their relationship is far from cute.
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This actually hits a little close to home for reasons. As I have known people like that before and often wonder what must be going though their head?
It's a good comparison though. And even though you decided to keep the drawing simplistic it still conveys the emotion that runs rampant through that subject matter.
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