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Professor membrane

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Professor Membrane has been presented an incredibly vain individual judging by how he owns multiple objects and inventions that resemble him (mainly being his scythe-shaped hairstyle). Despite this, he still cares about other people, that being his family. Although he does seem to have little parental concern for his children. As shown in the unmade episode "Mopiness of Doom", Dib comes home after a fight with Zim, now having disheveled hair, scratches, and torn-up clothing. Membrane either didn't notice Dib's condition, or seem very concerned about it. Another instance is in "Battle-Dib", where he didn't even seem to recognize his son in the battle armor he was wearing.

There are times where he shows parental concern for his children however. As seen in "Gaz, Taster of Pork", he was clearly stressed out by the fact he could not find a way to cure Gaz for when she was "cursed" to taste pork in everything she was eating. As well as another scene from "Mopiness of Doom", he was easily able to detect that Dib was not happy about something, showing that he's easily able to tell how someone feels depending on their demeanor, or anything they do that's slightly off. Like when one of Dib's calculations were incorrect, Membrane clearly took this as a "cry for help" and told Dib he could tell him what was wrong. Another example is from "Quarterly 2", when Dib gets knocked off the Membrane Labs Junior Executive Mobile Exosuit by Zim, Membrane clearly showed worry for his son's life, quickly jumping into action by catching his son, and expressed anger at what Zim had just tried to do.

Membrane can also be temperamental since he usually tends to suddenly raise his voice when saying certain words, or talking about a certain topic. He's rather expressive through movement, and tone of voice, which is probably a good thing considering his face is obscured by he coat and goggles.

Much like his daughter Gaz, he can also be vengeful at times as shown in "The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever", he was not happy to have received an overload of socks from Santa Claus, and devoted a portion of his life to destroying Santa. He's clearly still very angry about it, even in adulthood.

Although his parenting skills seem to be missing in action, he really does love his kids, taking time at least once a year for dinner together—and always remembering to activate the food monitor. In "Future Dib", he invented a device that would supply unlimited energy to the entire planet, but refused to activate it unless his children were there to share the moment.

Membrane is somewhat embarrassed of his son's belief in the paranormal, refusing to call it a "proper" branch of science. However, he believes Dib's obsession is just a phase (or as he speaks of it, "temporary insanity"), that Dib will eventually grow out of, and allows his son to do as he pleases to an extent.

He even understands that letting go of such of notions isn't easy, comparing it to how he once believed sharks and humans could be friends (which cost him both his arms). On occasion, Membrane is so preoccupied with work that he fails to recognize his own kids (i.e. not recognizing Dib when he comes backstage in "Battle-Dib").

Professor Membrane has also had a grudge against Santa Claus ever since he was a child; on Christmas day, instead of giving him twelve cases of Uranium-238 as he'd asked, Santa gave him a present overflowing with socks.

In the comic series, the Professor is presented as a more active parent, spending more time with his children. This is carried over into Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus, where it's made clear that despite still not liking Dib's obsession with the paranormal, he's proud of and loves his son.

Professor Membrane's appearance and voice has not developed much since he was a child, other than his increased height; the in-production reason for this is unknown. He wears a white lab coat, purple gloves, and big black boots. His eyes are never clearly seen due to him wearing goggles. Dib looks a lot like his father, both sharing black hair styled in similar scythe-like shapes. In "The Most Horrible X-mas Ever", Membrane seems to have incredible power, similar to that of Dib's power in the episode "Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom", when he blasts open the back door with an energy beam fired from his glove, although this is likely based more upon technology that he created rather than any natural gift.

This was eventually confirmed in Enter the Florpus, where it is revealed that the Professor has two completely robotic arms hidden under his gloves, which are capable of firing powerful energy attacks. He apparently lost his real arms to sharks he tried to befriend as a child. It is also implied that he used his scientific skills to create some sort of device(s) that allows him to move inhumanly fast, as he was seen covering a large portion of a stadium in the blink of an eye, he also has the ability to hover by projecting the same energy from the bottom of his feet. it is revealed that his last name is in fact Membrane. However, his first name has never been revealed. The Professor was the final member of his family to have met Zim and by extension possibly the first scientist to have met an alien, though he is unaware of this fact for now as he thinks Zim to be a child with a skin condition. By the time of Enter the Florpus, he seems to recognize that Zim is an alien (albeit after thinking he is hallucinating). Professor Membrane frequently refers to Zim as Dib's "little foreign friend" which makes sense as he (somewhat erroneously) believes that he is from another country rather than another planet (this could refer to the fact that "alien" is also a synonym for "immigrant"). He does however believe in the existence of extraterrestrials, though does not believe they have visited Earth, as he said in “Battle Of The Planets” that if there truly were aliens in space then they would be too far away to travel the massive distance to our planet, completely unaware that several alien races such as the Irkens, Planet Jackers and more have made the trip to Earth. Perhaps he will find out in the future. Jhonen Vasquez revealed that Professor Membrane is rich, which makes sense seeing as he has his own TV Show "Probing the Membrane of Science", creates several inventions that he most likely patented as well as receiving royalties from his autobiography, he also has two labs, one downtown and the other in the basement in his house and it is hinted in "Future Dib" that he also gets funding from the government as he is friends with President Man. Despite this, however, he lives in a regular, normal house, which contrasts with his childhood home seen in the Quarterly 3 issue. However, he may have other homes and properties as well. He doesn't allow Dib to use his tools for his "para-science", as stated in the Halloween episode. However, this is contradicted in "NanoZIM", when he allows Dib to use his Nanoship, although it's possible that the Professor made these restrictions after an unseen event in the series, maybe the above mention of bringing the dead back from the grave. The Professor has a lever built into his home for restoring power to the entire city, in the (apparently frequent) event that his son causes a city-wide blackout. The Professor calls Gaz his "funny child" and sometimes he even calls her "honey". He sometimes even calls her by her name which he never does to Dib, implying that she is his favorite child and may be protective of her. The feeling must be mutual since unsurprisingly, because The Professor is Gaz's favorite family member. The Professor has a little handmade puppet version of himself and seems to have a talent for ventriloquism. However, this may just be because his mouth is covered by his clothing. the Professor was an only child. Professor Membrane has made it clear that he'll do anything if it's stated to be "for science", no matter how morally questionable it may be. This is how he justified imprisoning Gaz and turning her into a media freak during "Gaz, Taster of Pork". In the unmade episode “Mopiness of Doom” Dib commented the possibility of replacing human blood with tiny coffee beans and the Professor said that the conducted a similar study but “there were laws against those particular As revealed by himself in Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus, he used to think sharks were his friends, but now he knows better. This might suggest that his mechanical arms are the result of having his original arms being bitten off by sharks. Interestingly despite the implied gruesome shark attack, apparently Professor Membrane is not afraid of sharks but seems to hold a grudge against them, similar to his grudge against Santa Claus. he is TERRIBLE at casual interaction with people and flirting, he also fears that anyone who flirts with him is just doing so for money, to be a gold digger, or to simply leech off his success as a scientist , polite and formal

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