Irken

The Irkens are a race of typically short-statured sapients indigenous to the planet Irk. While they appear to be superficially similar to what could be described as "bipedal insects", their true evolutionary history is not known.

The Irken Empire is the militaristic governing force that rules their species. Like Saiyans, they send solitary Irkens to take over planets in the name of galactic conquest. Likely due to their naturally short statures, they place height above anything else, with the tallest of their species at any given time ruling the government, no matter how incompetent they might actually be. These officials are given the not-so-original title of "almighty tallest".

Irkens never get to know their parents. Instead, they are incubated in special machines until birth and at that point a multi-use robotic backpack is strapped to them, which it seems is never removed. Once sent on a mission, they are issued SIRs, robots that operate as vicious and deadly assistants, with one exception: GIR (who was intended as a prank SIR by the currently-ruling Tallests. Irkens are typically sent on missions all at once in an event known as the Great Assigning.  It is here that the elite soldiers of the Irken Empire are chosen to become invaders - special soldiers whose mission it is to first blend in with the indigenous life on a planet, collect intelligence on the populace, and prepare the planet for conquest by the armadas.

Notable Irken

 * Almighty Tallest Purple
 * Almighty Tallest Red
 * Sizz-Lorr
 * Skoodge
 * Tak
 * Tenn
 * Zim

Trivia

 * Earth is considered on the fringe of the Irken's known universe, and up until Zim's arrival, had never been explored by Irken.