“ | Red: Welcome mighty Irken soldiers! You are the finest examples of military training the Irken army has to offer! Good for you. Standing behind us, however, are the soldiers we've chosen for roles in one of the most crucial parts in Operation Impending Doom II! [mockingly] You in the audience just get to sit and watch. Purple: You should have tried harder! |
„ |
~ Red and Purple to their army. |
“ | Red: Invader Zim, you were once our best, most amazing Invader, but now, you're dumb. Purple: Also stupid. As punishment, you will be stripped of your Invader rank, re-encoded as NOTHING! |
„ |
~ Red and Purple to Zim in his imagined trial |
The Almighty Tallests Red and Purple are the main antagonists of the 2001-2006 television series Invader Zim and the overarching antagonists of the 2019 Netflix film Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus. They are the leaders of the Irken Empire that are chosen for their height. In truth, they are really figureheads for the Control Brains, who are the actual leaders of the Empire.
In the show, they both despise Zim, a young and ambitious Irken whom they sent to the previously thought to be a fake planet "Earth", only to realize that Earth was actually quite real. They often appear in episodes where they reluctantly check up on Zim and his "mission". They first appeared in "The Nightmare Begins."
Red was voiced by Wally Wingert in the English verison, Paco Mauri in the Spanish version and Jan Spitzer in the German version. Purple was voiced by Kevin McDonald in the English version, Alejandro Illescas in the Spanish version and Tilo Schmitz in the German version.
Biography
Before Red and Purple became the Tallest, Almighty Tallest Miyuki and Spork were the leaders before getting killed by one of Zim's experiments, according to an unfinished episode.
In the series, the Almighty Tallest make occassional appearances, usually being contacted by Zim. Some episodes including them even have the Tallest play a major role.
In the 2019 Netflix film Invader ZIM: Enter the Florpus, the Tallest are first seen standing in the steering room of The Massive, Purple carelessly eating donuts and Red carelessly drinking a soft drink, as the ship destroys many planets. Purple recalls Zim, to which Red recalls how they sent Zim to Earth to get rid of him. Purple claims that life has been great since Zim vanished, moments before opening a transmission from Zim, revealing he is alive, to the Tallest's fury. Zim tries to explain the second phase of his plan, but he has forgotten. Upon realizing the Tallest aren't on hold, Zim blasts lasers from his PAK, ending the transmission. After retrieving their flight plan, Zim becomes distraught upon learning that the Tallest weren't going to come anywhere near Earth. Dib shows up to stop Zim for good, and finds the alien has surrendered. After Dib accidentally inspires Zim to formulate another plan to take over Earth, the planet is soon teleported into the flight path of the Irken Armada while Dib and his sister, Gaz, are held prisoner by a failed clone of their father, which Gaz has nicknamed "Clembrane". However, this opens a "Florpus hole", a black hole-like anomaly that will suck in all nearby planets and cause them to clash with alternate realities. When Zim declines their worries, Dib and Gaz escape from Clembrane on Tak's ship to save their real father from Moo-Ping 10.
Upon hearing about the Florpus hole, the Tallest dismiss it entirely, though they freak out when they hear that Earth, and thus, Zim, is in their path. They refuse to change course, claiming that "turning's no fun", and ultimately decide to just blow up Earth. The driver of the ship warns them of the Florpus, only for the Tallest to mock him. When they get to Earth, Professor Membrane uses Minimoose to teleport Earth back where it belongs. The Tallest then cheerfully allow the Irken Armada to fly straight into the Florpus, with their final transmission from Zim implicating that they were burning in a hell-like dimension as puppets for eternity, thus ending their conquering of worlds for good and killing them in the process.
Personality
The Red Tallest is very cunning and calculating, tricking Zim into going to Earth in the first place. The Purple Tallest is rather idiotic and slow. They both love to eat junk food and like sending young Irkens on missions to other planets without any regard for what type of planet and so what dangers that planet may hold.
Gallery
Trivia
- It was revealed in an interview with Wally Wingert that there was going to be an episode where it was revealed that the Tallest weren't actually tall, but were smaller Irkens wearing robot suits to make them appear taller. While Wingert's claims have never been proven as canon, both the show and its TV movie had heavy implications about it.
- Despite being the main antagonists of the show and the film, the Almighty Tallests are far more dangerous than Zim, as they have all the power of the Irken Empire on their hands and an immense military armada which they can use to ravage and conquer multiple worlds. Indeed, the Tallests are more evil than Zim, who just wants to prove his worthy as a better invader.
- Almighty Purple talked more than Red did.
- In Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus, despite retaining their comedic traits, the Almighty Tallests are more evil and depraved than in the series. While in the show they disliked Zim and sometimes they didn't want to check up his "mission" to either focus on Operation Impending Doom II or eat snacks, when Zim contacts them after a long time the Tallests decide that they have had enough of him and resolve to blow up the Earth just to get rid of Zim once and for all despite that millions of innocent people would die as a result consequently, definitely making this the Tallests' Moral Event Horizon-crossing act.
- While most antagonists of Nickelodeon Movies have received punishments for their actions (Plankton getting arrested, King Goobot being left alongside the League of Villains in the prehistory and Lasombra falling to his death), the Almighty Tallest received the worst punishment of all: Not only being sucked into the black Florpus Hole, but remaining there to suffer in agony in a full-fire dimension, likely for all eternity, burning them to death.
- According to Jhonen Vasquez, he had confirmed that both Red and Purple are dead, having died in the Florpus Hole in the dimension of fire, and presumably met their end shortly after Zim's transmission with them disconnected.
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Main Characters Irken Empire Skool One-Time Antagonists |
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Movies Live Action
Beast of No Station (2015): Commandment Series Animated Carmen Sandiego (2019): Professor Maelstrom | Coach Brunt | Countess Cleo | Dr. Saira Bellum | V.I.L.E. (The Cleaners | Roundabout | Cookie Booker | Tigress | Le Chevre | El Topo | Paper Star | Mime Bomb | Neal the Eel | The Mechanic | The Driver | Lady Dokuso | Otter Man and Moose Boy | Spinkick and Flytrap | The Troll | Madame Goldlove | Dash Haber) |
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