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How do you make the world's cutest robot even cuter? Put a Halloween costume on him!
Like his master Zim,
Gir needs an "earthly" disguise. And so, to "blend in" on Earth, he adorns a green doggie suit, complete with a zipper! The problem with Gir is, keeping him in the doggie suit seems virtually impossible, and he is always popping out, and ruining his cover.
First of all, that should really say that he "dons" a green doggie suit, not "adorns" it - first one means he puts it on, second one means he decorates it somehow. Plus, take it easy on the commas, guys; poor grammar sticks out like a sore thumb. Way to go, Travis J. Allen (see, there's a downside to printing credits on the packaging - we know who to blame). Now enough of the OAFEnet literary review. We're here to talk about Series 2's Doggie Suit Gir!
The obvious choice for Series 2's version of Gir, this little robot is in disguise.
Having scanned all of Irth's indigenous lifeforms and designed himself a FLAWLESS disguise, Zim decreed that Gir should be his faithful human pet. He selected a dog, though the design was apparently too complex for his ship's systems, because the actual thing doesn't look much like the data input.
Just like any average dog, Gir's body is green. Since this is a costume, it's got a line of stitches running back the head and down the spine, and a few more at the shoulders. His eyes bulge out, his squarish tongue dangles out of his mouth and his ears stand straight up. The giant zipper that runs down his chest is big and chunky, and his pointy little tail sticks out behind. So cute!
Doggie Suit Gir is less articulated than the Series 1 version, but that's to be expected. He's got balljointed shoulders and a peg neck, and that's it. Considering how huge his head is in relation to his body, that's about all we could hope for. Heck, the little guy won't even stand on his own - for that, we rely on the included stand, which doesn't really help.
He doesn't have any holes in his little doggie feet, so Palisades gave us a clear plastic rod to connect him to the base. Since they couldn't very well give him a gaping,
"goatse"-style cloaca, the connector is very, very thin, which means what, class? That's right, it breaks easily. Be extra careful with it, and then be even carefuller than that.
The rod is clear, but the stand itself is the same yellowish color seen on the floor of the living room. Gir's other accessories include several connector pins and tentacles, the squeeky moose he played with in "Invasion of the Idiot Dog Brain," an octopus he picked up somewhere around Halloween and one of the pigs he often invited over for tea or play time. That's a real swine, not a rubber piggy.
The Gir figures always have food, and this is no exception. We begin with some reused pieces, two Krazy Tacos, though this time there's substantially more pink in them. Some kind of fish taco, perhaps? He has three things that are either cornbread muffins or yellow-frosted cupcakes, an accessory that should have been with Series 1's Gir, since it was his head that could open. Finally, we get the stack of waffles that Keef made for Zim when Gir let him in.
Gaz, Gir and Zim all come with a section of the front of Zim's house. Gir has the roof and upstairs window. The window has all the right irregular angles, and fades from purple to pink. There's an Irken connector port on the right side of the roof, and the interlocking teeth that allow the roof to split to release the Voot Cruiser are molded into the surface. The roof doesn't actually open, but it looks like it would. Sadly, the set doesn't include Zim's satellite dish - the item intended to fit in that port on the roof.
Between Series 1 and Series 2, we've gotten a plain version of Gir and a version in his Earth disguise. The Hot Topic exclusive for Series 2 falls somewhere in between.
Gir has flipped back the head of his suit
and is screaming with unbridled, insane glee. The three Girs we've had so far all had the same basic head, but this one is all-new. No more is Gir waiting quietly for something to happen - his mouth is open wide, and his little robotic tongue is flapping in the breeze.
The Doggie Suit is looking awesome. Yes, the body is just the right shape, the zipper is detailed well and the stitches are sculpted perfectly, but what's really neat is the way they designed the flipped-back head. It really does look like cloth that's been folded over itself, with some nice, subtle wrinkles at the neck. Of course, if he's pulled the hood back, the ears should really be trailing behind him, not pointing to the front - probably would have helped him balance, too.
Exclusive Gir does come with a black base, the same flimsy rod style as his mass market counterpart. At least if this one breaks, Gir's flipped-back head will help him balance. Still, practice being gentle now, while you still can.
The stand isn't the only thing that's breakable: Gir's neck also gave way, down where it meets the body. Superglue is holding it for now, but we don't expect this type of thing from Palisades. Hopefully this isn't yet another signpost on the road to Palisades' slow decline.
Articulation is minimal: just the head and shoulders. Fortunately, all three are balljoints, so he does get a bit more poseability than the fully disguised Gir, and the balljointed heads of all the Girs can be removed and swapped among each other - that means if you want a robot Gir to scream gleefully as he rides the giant pig, you can have it. The "tail" of Gir's suit is actually an L-shaped peg that plugs into the flipped-back head to keep it from getting out of place.
HT Gir's accessories are a beaut.
The Little Robot That Couldn't always seems to come with a nice selection of food, and this time he's got two hotdogs and a really great double-decker burger from McMeatie's. Since Gir features a new facial sculpt, you can no longer take the top of his head off; it makes sense, then, that this is when Palisades would finally choose to include the accessory we've been waiting for since Series 1 - a cupcake! Three of them, in fact, and they're all very cool. Same mold as the three included with regular Doggie Suit Gir, but a new, show-correct paint app.
On the non-food front,
Gir's got the toy monkey that was helping him guard the house when Gaz came over to visit and a giant tv tuned to, what else, the Scary Monkey Show! That... HORRIBLE monkey! The TV's got four ports on the back so it can be hooked up to the conglomeration of Irken tubes and supports from the other figures. Too cool! Add the remote control from Human Zim, and Gir's ready to veg on the couch all day.
Hot Topic's version of Doggie Suit Gir is definitely worth getting - just look at his adorable face! Just be aware of the figure's weaknesses, and be appropriately careful.
Remember when you used to be able to count on Palisades? Tell us on our message board, The Loafing Lounge.
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