>>82149357Zim is clearly very intelligent in some sense to engineer the shit he does (like the giant creature he bioengineers in that unfilmed script that eats one of the Tallest) as when he needs to protect Earth, but his common sense is so lacking as to be terminal, so he might as well be retarded.
As for Tak, I suspect she is "defective" too and probably has more in common with Zim then she'd like to know. It's too bad the show never got the chance to explore her. Some real possibilities there.
I think the thing is Irken society itself is retarded. Except for maybe the control brains, and even they are a conglomeration of idiots. They steal a lot of their tech from Vort...and Vortians are also stupid except for their tech...everyone in the Zim universe is brutally stupid. I mean Purple and Red are morons.
