#Octo order and control concepts

[tunabunk]

Tears of frustration…

Tears of joy…

Tears of realization…

[dr-spectre]

I heard about how in Bancala Walker there was a short story about Marina and Acht and their time in the domes. And I'm gonna be 100% honest with you. It kinda makes me mad, and it really highlights a massive problem with Splatoon as a whole, and that's how it treats its stories.

(Yep I'm rambling about Splatoon's storytelling for the 500th time, welcome to my blog.)

Since Splatoon 2, the series has had a weird relationship with its storytelling, the main stories of each campaign are very simplistic and are very video game like plots. "Go get the Great Zapfish back and save Captain Cuttlefish. Go get the Great Zapfish again and find Callie. Find the thangs and get out. GO GET THE ZAPFISH AGAIN AND SAVE CAPTAIN CUTTLEFISH AGAIN!!! Climb up the tower." Splatoon 1 got away with this because it's clearly the most "tutorial" mode out of any of the single player campaigns and it doesn't really try to say any deeper messages or express a character arc.

Now, obviously video game stories must have goals for the player to work towards, I'm not complaining about that, you gotta have that stuff in games to motivate the player, however, what really drives me up a wall is when they decide to add depth and interesting things relating to the characters and world, yet they intentionally throw away that same depth and chuck it to the side. Hell they sometimes retcon the optional hard to find lore or make it more confusing just because!! If you're gonna add depth and something else to these stories, you HAVE to actually explore it and expand upon it WITHIN THE STORY! You cannot add it as "extra lore" when it's stuff that should have been in the main storyline to begin with. It's like not adding seasoning to chicken and that you boiled the fucking chicken and wrapped it in lettuce and mayonnaise.

I could obviously talk about the elephant in the room... you know... this little goober right here. This freak.

And I'm going to.

From the concept art we were given, we know that Callie was originally gonna have more exploration into her troubling mental health issues as seen by her being in the shadows and being comforted by Octarians. It's a significantly different tone compared to the final product.

However in the final game, they tossed MOST of this shit away and say in the game as well as in official media, "naw she was kidnapped and brainwashed forcefully because she's a dumb clutz lmao." They tried to backtrack with an obscure relationship chart, the sunken scrolls and Squid Sisters web prequel series, but then they backtracked AGAIN with the Splatoon 3 artbook that states that she was "brainwashed." It's an incredibly simplified and frankly insulting version of events that are TECHNICALLY canon but Nintendo and others don't treat it as such and i don't know why. I dont know why they treat Callie like this. Is it because she's silly?

Wouldn't it be more interesting and more powerful as a story if they made Callie had more control and awareness of her actions? That she was truly acting upon her mental illness and isolation? Putting DJ Octavio, the fucking funny octopus guy on the same level as Talon from Overwatch and Hydra from Marvel, the literal nazis who damaged Bucky Barnes' brain and removed all of his memories, making him into the Winter Solider, is fucking psychotic and actually insane of Nintendo to do.

There is also Acht and how they were shown between Octo Expansion and Side Order.

Some of the most powerful stories in media have strong character arcs and characters overcoming their struggles and pain. It is inspirating and incredibly real to see a loved one reach out to a person that they care about who have lost their way, either from mental illness or drugs. Trying to bring them back and help them go through their pain together. When someone is under distress and mental health troubles, they can act like a completely different person and the fact that Nintendo half assed serious topics like this and made shit WAY WORSE boils my blood to no end.

In Octo Expansion, we were told that they went under Sanitization willingly in order to remove doubts in their mind and put their all into music. Now due to the unknowns of Sanitization at the time, this made for a really interesting character and brought up a lot of interesting questions as to why they would do this and who they are.

However, in Side Order when they explained Sanitization further and told us that Acht lost all of their free will and were FORCED to make music for Tartar, it kinda damaged their story a little bit. Like sure, Acht still probably wanted to go under Sanitization to clear their doubts and remove emotion, but the added information kinda goes against the interesting story they were trying to tell with Acht. Acht doesn't even mention why they went under Sanitization in Side Order and their reasoning is only found IN A SOCIAL MEDIA POST BACK IN 2018!!! THEY DON'T RESTATE IT AT ALL WHEN IT WOULD HAVE BEEN IMPORTANT TO DO SO! They kinda tell us via their letters, but guess when you get those, IN THE POST GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This leads me to another big talking point, most of the lore is hidden and hard to find. You have to go out of your way to find most of the shit Splatoon has to offer. Sunken Scrolls are hidden collectables and most people don't wanna go through the effort of finding them all in the stages, the chat logs in Octo Expansion are completely optional due to entries being tied to specific stations and you can choose to easily skip them, the dev diaries are locked behind lockers and some people may complete Side Order in a manner where they can get to the final boss and be done with the main campaign before seeing most of the entries. Now I'm not saying that there cannot be extra lore tidbits for players to find, hell no, i love extra stuff like that, i think Splatoon 1 and 3's hero modes did a really job of that. BUT WHEN YOU HIDE AWAY IMPORTANT DETAILS LIKE CALLIE'S MOTIVATION IN SPLATOON 2 AND MARINA'S AND PEARL'S BACKSTORIES!?!? YEAH I GOT A FUCKING PROBLEM RIGHT THERE!

In other games, these would be cutscenes or a bunch of mandatory dialogue, BUT NOPE! THEY ARE IN HARD TO FIND SPOTS!

Some of the other lore details are found on social media posts and some of them are YEARS old or on Splatoon's dead Tumblr account. Most people would rather go to Inkipedia and even they can sometimes make vital mistakes or have wording that gives people the wrong idea on what happened in particular events, which heavily impacts the community and discussion. When i talk about my perspective on what happened to Callie in Splatoon 2, I've seen people say to me "wait really? Huh?! I didn't know that." The amount of research you gotta do to go into these characters is an absolute nightmare, AND DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THE SPLATBANDS!!! Their lore is literally locked behind Japanese exclusive expensive artbooks!!! WHY?!?!

I really do wanna stress again, is it cool to get cool lore outside of the games and as collectables?! ABSOLUTELY! You know how awesome it was to read the Alterna logs for the first time? The smile on my face seeing Pearl and Marina back in the Final Fest in Side Order. But when the main stories suffer because of important information being tossed to the side and not applied to the main games... I dont know man, it just becomes incredibly frustrating to me personally. Especially with all the misconceptions and other things that occur within the community, the fandom has an information problem and honestly, it's Nintendo's fault. Imagine if Side Order had flashbacks to a younger Marina and Acht, it would have helped with the middle chunk of the story being so... nothing.

[gaydiation-poisoning]

HORRIBLE MESSY IN-NO-PARTICULAR-ORDER AMP BULLETPOINT POST BEFORE SIDE ORDER COMES OUT LETS FUCKING GOOOO

THIS IS AMP ^ (art by @for-a-new-life)

SHE IS MY NEO AGENT 3

Age: 14

Height: 4'8

Full name: Amphitrite Takowasa

°She was born a little less than a year after the events of Splatoon 2 (we have a slightly altered timeline)

°She will BITE you if you call her Amphitrite

°Amp's mother Ashta disappeared when she was about 7 years old, ever since she's been growing up on the streets of Inkopolis alongside her best friend/little brother Sammy.

(pictured here, by @redginaldusrooiakker)

°She does not know her own full name

°She has faint memories of Off The Hook playing on the television when she was little, this inspired her dream of becoming a big time DJ. (cus there's not enough of these Octo DJ bastards running about)

°She made her way to Splatsville at age 13 looking to make it big, although having no money and no home took to crashing on the couch in the Lobby.

°Despite practically living in the Lobby, Amp does not play much Turf War or any other sport. She tends to find them limiting and aggravating, as she's not much of a team player and tends to prefer an aggressive solo charge over working with others. As a result she turns to working at Grizzco for cash.

°She is very reckless on the job, with a tendency to charge in headfirst with a seeming lack of self preservation, most coworkers dislike her for her behavior and think she's a liability. She is, however, effective, and thus Grizz keeps her on and assigns her 'mentors' to keep her focused. (At least until they burn out and she's passed to someone else)

°Mains Octobrush

°After about four months of working for Grizzco, she had a falling out with her favourite mentor and wound up meeting Craig Cuttlefish and joining the Squidbeak Splatoon

°She just wants to feel useful

°Amp has a very casual way of speaking, very rarely using honorifics. Some find this rude, but it's typically a sign that she likes someone a great deal and feels comfortable. She doesn't typically gel well with Authority figures for this reason. (Albeit this is not intentional on her end.)

°She takes to calling Cuttlefish 'Uncle' not long after meeting him.

°Also has very little in the way of a filter with profanity, and tends to cuss a lot when the urge strikes her.

°Very fidgety, tends to chew on wasabi sprouts or tug on her tentacles to keep her mind occupied. Hates sitting still.

°Has very little sense of aim, her method with a splattershot essentially comes down to 'Can't hurt me if you're atomized'

°Almost shoots Octavio after he fell out of the Octobot, Craig had to knock the gun upwards to deflect the shot.

°Prefers baggy clothes

°Will eat anything. Not picky at all.

°Has a love for spicy food, the hotter the better.

°Sometimes eats things with her hands that really should not be eaten with one's hands

°VERY loud for someone her size

°Has no concept of an 'inside voice'

°If you do so much as give her a sandwich she'd probably be willing to die for you.

°Runs very warm

°Very heavy sleeper, can sleep in almost any position.

°The notch in her ear is from a Grizzco Charger by her mentor turned nemesis turned best friend Mono

----

°The scar on her forehead comes from accidentally bashing her forehead against the Octobot's control console during the fight with Grizz

(on that note)

°If you have talked to me about her or simply read her name, you'd probably have figured out that Amp is the granddaughter of DJ Octavio

(This charming fella. Art once again provided by @for-a-new-life)

°Neither of them are aware of this connection until post Splatoon 3's story (although there are a couple AUs where that's not the case)

°Her mother is named Ashta, she is Agent 8 and a Clone of Octavio (if you're wondering why she came out female well the answer is 🏳️‍⚧️)

°Amp's lack of knowledge of or contact with her grandfather comes from her mother's distaste for her father (to put it lightly)

°She looks up to her grandpa a lot, she definitely sees him through rose tinted glasses in her younger years. (Honestly the Takowasa family drama will probably get a reblog dedicated to breaking it down)

°She wouldn't have even been accepted by him if Craig hadn't basically reverse psychology-ed Octavio into actually being a grandpa to her

°Amp is close with Octavio but the relationship is...complicated to say the least

°Despite this she is very determined to upkeep a relationship with him

°When she eventually starts her DJing career, she does so under the stage name of DJ ANG3LFISH, a mix of her title as Agent 3, and of Octavio's occasional nickname for her, Angelfish.

°She keeps up this stage performance until one particularly traumatic performance scares her into silence for a time

°She later comes back onto the music scene in a somewhat fishing themed band called The Reel Deal, with her once again as the DJ, and her friends Mono and now much more grownup Sammy as vocalists.

°Amp would not start singing in their songs until some of their later albums.

°She has a lot of vocal fry which can be very good for their harsher tracks

And finally (for now)

°Amp is a Virgo

(doodle by @redginaldusrooiakker)

(Second part breaking down the Takowasa Family Issues will be out soon!)

EDIT: PART 2 OUT NOW CHECK RBS

[gobblinhours]

So is 4 traumatized from being parallel cannon? And if so does 3 help or sympathize with her? Since they know what it feels like to be controlled

My Four is separate from Parallel Canon so this turned into a word vomit dump about how it works sorry (also i've been working on this since i got the ask since i actually have Motivation for once and im scared to see how long this took)

I'm interpreting Parallel Canon as a modification of the initial security system that was based off of data collected from Four.

My current concept is that the security system was created by Four fighting an incredibly basic simulation of an inkfish enemy that when splatted, respawned with recorded data from a mask that Four was wearing (along with the basic starting data extracted from a bunch of videos of Four going through Octo Canyon) which allowed the simulation to learn, making it get a little better at combat each time. The reason it was done like this and not just copying Four's soul is because Marina has Ethics and didn't want to Ship-of-Theseus her security system.

The end result is something weaker than the original, due to a slew of different factors (primarily worse improvisational skills.). Though the numbers difference should (in theory) make the difference negligible. After all, quantity is a quality in itself.

Parallel Canon differs from the original security system in that instead of a team of equals, it's a hierarchical system, with one "alpha" and a slew of lesser copies, each with the added abilities to summon Jelletons and mimic the color chips of the enemy's palette. The Alpha itself is derived from the original system and combined with a copy of the "soul data" from Four's palette for an extra boost, which is then copied again for the drones. Though each time the data is copied, it loses "potency", meaning that a drone with soul data straight from the palette would be 3-4 times as strong as a drone copied from the alpha. This is done to save processing power, as instead of a bunch of power-sucking supersoldiers, there's one and a bunch of less annoying scraps. (This is also why they are sent out in waves, to save processing power)

To maintain effectiveness, the lesser drones function similar to the Geth from Mass Effect, meaning that the more there are on the field, the sharper their mental faculties become. By doing this, it allows the drones to each be of similar competency to the Alpha when in large enough numbers, while making it less strenuous on the system by having them support eachother. (Don't @ me about the logic Marina made a full-dive VR that eats souls)

While the Parallel Canon are an overall improvement on the original security system in nearly every way, it shares a weakness with the original: the age-old strategy of "divide and conquer." Individually, the Canon soldiers are about on-par with a standard inkfish, so while it would be a toss-up against a normal invader, against someone like Eight, it's a bloodbath, and it only gets worse as more fall due to the Geth-like modification made by Order.

Back to the soul data, luckily the palette isn't enough to make an actual copy of Four, only making the Alpha like a Four-based chatbot. Emulating her behaviors the best it can with the restrictions put upon it by Order and its environment, though it's not actually alive, just responding to stimuli in a Four-like manner without any thought or intention behind the behaviors. (The drones also have an amount of variation due to imperfections in the copying process, as the initial copy was modified to learn towards combat skills, but a small error remained in the process that made subsequent copies lean towards random personality traits (the copy preference no longer had a target due to the battle data already being maxed out, so it defaulted to random), though they are even less "alive" than the Alpha)

TL;DR: The original security system was a machine learning algorithm that was based off of and fought Four to advance in skill, which was then modified and subsequently copied into the current form of Parallel Canon, meaning that Agent Four and the Alpha Canon are two separate entities.

TL;DRTTL;DR: Four fought a robot a bunch and doesn't even know what a "Parallel Canon" is.

[masquayla-the-splendid]

How Splatoon makes a controversial Fnaf theory work better in their universe, and other parallels. (Really.)

[Side Order spoilers]

I beat Side Order in 3 hours on my 3rd try at 3am. No I am not joking. I used a slosher. I currently have 9 lockers yet to open, so if anything important comes up, I will update.

I couldn't help but notice the parallels right at the beginning, freeing Marina from Order's control. I went neuron activation, VANESSA.

But then they started talking more about Octo Expansion lore, which made me get all giddy, because 14 y/o me had the biggest fascination with the Sanitized Octolings, and how Commander Tartar built up his scheme to the point we encounter him.

They referred something or other about the color chips/pallettes as "souls" which caught my attention. They're like broken soul pieces? Alright. We already know a comically large kitchen utensil blends octopuses into life goop. What exactly happens to the ones that look like this?

Why are you green?

Marina's logs read:

So okay. I, personally, despise Molten MCI. I think it takes away of a ton of character's individuality, and makes more things confusing, all to explain some old man's rambling in a non-canon ending.

It works for Splatoon's case, because we already had no information about any of the octolings before Sanitization. (Aside from Acht.) We didn’t have time to make that up for ourselves, because we never knew about any of this beforehand, like how we filled in the gaps with underwritten characters for fnaf.

However I'll keep reading and see what else can line up here.

This is leaning into TFC territory. So for less Splatoon knowledgeable readers, Marina is trying to take, essentially what is the Freddy amalgam in TFC, and trying to deconstruct it with each animatronic having everything from their respective endoskeletons. That's best way I can explain it. (For a reader more knowledgeable with Steven Universe, she's trying to fix the forced fusions like Yellow.)

Except the difference here is that the products of Kamabo are, well, orderly, and not animalistic.

The logs that sold it for me:

So in fnaf speak: From a Molten MCI perspective, (blech,) melting down the infused metal, transferring it into data, and putting that data gloop into playable avatars in an arcade game where they can choose the bits of remnant that belong to them, putting themselves back together.

However, with my neuron activation Order=Mimic, that would mean Mimic MCI, but WAIT COME BACK. IT DOESNT HAVE TO BE.

I have yet to get the rest of the lore bits, but as far as I know, Order, (I'm not calling him Smollusk,) is an AI with the generalized ideals Kamabo has programming into the Sanitized Octolings. (I swear he's just leftovers of Tartar. I know it in my heart.) Mimic copies everything it sees, and learns incredibly fast. It learned the tragedies and rumors of Fazbear Ent, and according to Tiger Rock, he's running most of the Pizza Plex, which makes profits of said tragedies he's learned. Did Mimic orchestrate everything? No. He probably has no understanding of anything he's doing, he just does it because that's all he knows. The company started it.

Basically,

Kamabo Co.= Sleazy NewGen Fazbear Ent.

Order=Mimic.

How ever this ends, I'm using as evidence for how I predict the SteelWool plot to resolve/hj

Conc1usion: Marina and Henry should meet up. Well maybe not, if Marina wants permanent results.

I find it telling that with a plot so similar to a Fnaf theory that I hate, I actually really like this idea. And I think it's because it's not Fnaf. It's almost the exact same concept, but it makes much more sense and flows better in Splatoon's world. Probably because it was intentionally written that way, and is supposed to be shamelessly absurd and scifi. I like that I'm able to enjoy a concept I hate.

Analogy: Chocolate is good. I like when a pre existing food item I enjoy has an added chocolate exterior. Like strawberries. Sometimes, there are instances where that is not the case, like bacon. It exsists, and you either love it or hate it. I like both base consumables, and I like the additive, but it works better for one than the other.

Literal speak: I like the scifi horror concept of brainwashing with the actual person person being trapped or lost in a specific state, while their body is just another puppet for the main antagonist, and it takes some Cyber Chase shenanigans to free everyone. That's a rad concept. I just like it better when it's applied to a world that is planned for that kind of take, rather than to a world I already enjoyed, but scrambled to cut itself to fit that shape because it almost fit. It works better for a wacky scifi dystopia, not a campy paranormal horror.

Conclu2ion: Some things are best left for other stories.

Oh and both franchises have a known history of bangin soundtrack.

[dreamvonlicht]

I can‘t exactly tell you everything about it, but I can tell you what I know! (or what comes to mind…)

Splatoon plays about 10.000 years in the future and is about squids/octopi/etc who have absorbed human dni and now live on the lands. They can‘t however touch water because it‘s become lethal to them over the course of time, so they‘d ‚die‘ upon touching it (since they can respawn after some time, but the game usually resets you). The first idols in the first game (Splatoon) are Marie (green-oriented and calmer) and Callie (pink-oriented and energetic), who are Inklings (all squids) and have a bit of a rivalry going on. They hosted (I believe) the first few Splatfests, which are events where the idols choose a topic (say, ketchup or mayo), the players choose a team and then fight against one another in groups of four (4v4?), shooting coloured ink through weapons at another (example; red for ketchup and blue for mayo). Their final Splatfest was Callie vs Marie, where Marie won, which caused Callie to eventualöy be kidnapped by DJ Octavio, the main villain, and be hypnotised. She did get freed though, and they’re close again now. In Splatoon 2’s Octo Expansion, we‘re introduced to the other race, Octarians (evil octos, usually the troops you fight against are female too, especially the Elite ones are titles only female octarians can pursue), which can have the form of a tentacle or another human-like squid. However, there are also peaceful ones living with Inklings called Octolings instead. The idols for this game are Marina (cyan, very smart octoling) and Pearl (hyper rapper Inkling), who have bonded a lot closer than the previous idols, which is why their final Splatfest wasn‘t Pearl vs Marina but Chaos vs Order, and Chaos won. In Splatoon 3 we continue with fighting with Marie and Callie, this time meeting the next idols, Shiver (open and proud blue Octoling), Frye (silly yellow Inkling) and Big Man (a manta ray in red). They’re the antagonists of the game at first, until Callie and Marie say they can just have the treasure they were fighting for, where they ask if they (Marie & Callie, ends up just being Marie) can‘t be their(Deep Cut, BigMan Shiver Frye) boss. They then turn non-hostile, even if they’re still pirates of sort, and continue hosting Splatfests and making music like the other idols. In Splatoon 3‘s Side Order (expansion), Marina was, upon working on her secret project and her worries turning bigger than before, taken control of by the literal being, emerged from the concept and worries, of ORDER. She‘s the first boss in the expansion, after which she then turns normal again and helps you fight once more. The final battle turns ORDER into Smallusk, where it‘s theorized that Marina and Pearl adopted it as a virtual child, of sorts. Deep Cut still hosts Splatfests and we‘re all hoping for a Splat4 :D

I read all of it. It’s very informative. Thank you for sharing.

[govindhtech]

Splatoon 3 side order release date at the Agent 8

Splatoon 3 side order Splatoon 3 is getting a new addition called Side Order that will be released later this month. This expansion will provide players a new method to paint the town red, blue, yellow, and other colors. The 22nd of February saw the publication of an overview video for the mode, which incorporates roguelike features into the splat-based shooter. Nintendo has published the clip.

During the course of Splatoon 3 side order, the protagonist, Agent 8, is an Octoling who finds themselves in the enigmatic Spire of Order. The whole globe is devoid of color, and in order to restore it, Agent 8 must journey around the entire tower with a new sidekick who claims to be Pearl from Splatoon 2’s Off the Hook. This is necessary in order to restore the color to the world.

As you make your way around the tower, you will encounter a new roguelite twist on the Splatoon 3 concept. Each of the thirty levels presents a unique set of obstacles with each try, and there are different bosses on every tenth floor. During each run, players will gather color chips that temporarily increase their powers. At the conclusion of each run, these color chips will be transformed into a money that may unlock a variety of other upgrades, some of which are more permanent than others but still available.

In the video preview that can be seen above, you gave the Side Order expansion a go and described it as “the perfect excuse to jump back into Splatoon.” The press release further states that the “roguelite take on Splatoon 3 side order ended up feeling so natural, that you’re kinda surprised it wasn’t already a thing,” since according to “the pieces have always been there.”

During the whole duration of the Splatoon series, Nintendo has done a commendable job at showcasing the series’ adaptability. Few of the company’s other first-party licenses, outside Mario and Pokemon, have shown that they can work with a variety of game genres. Splatoon 3 side order has shown throughout time that it functions as a cooperative horde mode, an open-world single-player tale, a competitive multiplayer game, and a linear single-player story. The next Side Order DLC for Splatoon 3 side order will go into a brand-new subgenre for the game roguelites.

Splatoon 3 side order gameplay Recently, Shacknews had a chance to play Splatoon 3 Side Order you were pleasantly delighted by what you saw instead of the probable continuation of the main Splatoon 3 side order tale, which you had so much fun with. In Splatoon 3 side order, Agent 8 from the Splatoon 2 Octo Expansion makes a comeback and finds themselves awake in an odd, deserted place. Agent 8 soon has half of Off the Hook, Pearl. Somehow, Pearl’s mind has been imprinted on a drone. They are both abruptly summoned inside the unusual edifice known as the Spire of Order by an enigmatic entity. It’s possible that the Spire holds the answers to what’s occurring, but danger lurks on every level.

Splatoon 3 dlc side order The objective of Side Order is to ascend all of the Spire of Order’s levels and battle a brand-new class of adversaries known as Jellatins. Every level is a compact, confined area with a single aim, such as controlling a Splat Zone, taking out a string of portals, or guiding an Ink Tower to a destination. The difficulty of each level will progressively rise, but throughout the course of a run, Agent 8’s powers will also expand. Players will be given the option to choose between two or three levels of differing challenges to go on after finishing a floor.

Agent 8’s armament will be upgraded with Color Chips for the duration of the run, among other perks that come with each option. Once chosen, the benefits may be instantly attached to Agent 8’s palette. Players may benefit from Color Chip enhancements by doing more damage, using less ink each shot, and expanding the splash radius, to mention a few. Players need to decide which options best suit their playstyle and the weapon they want to carry into the Spire.

Every 10 levels are boss bouts, which may be challenging for even the most experienced Splatoon 3 side order player. In one instance, a gigantic funnel-shaped monster rotates its layers and unleashes tremendous bursts of enemy ink. If that’s not enough, if they’re not taken care of right enough, it will spew forth hostile Jellatins that will not stop chasing the player throughout the level. There will be several occasions in which players are unable to get to the summit of the Spire.

In addition to starting afresh and hoping for better fortune, players may gradually acquire permanent enhancements. Agent 8’s strength is momentarily increased by the Color Chips, but permanent upgrades which provide an increase in lives, a permanent decrease in damage, and other bonuses can completely shift the game. In between sessions, players will also notice a wide variety of lockers with a variety of unlockables within.

Read more on Govindhtech.com

[dokidokitsuna]

GREAT NEWS

I BEAT MR. GRIZZ :D (i.e. I finally finished Splatoon 3′s story mode)

...The final section (ascending the launchpad + multistage boss fight) really wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be; I shouldn’t have put it off for so long. ^^; It was more annoying than anything, tbh...

Originally when I was watching playthroughs of Return of the Mammalians my biggest criticism was that this story mode felt like busywork, and unfortunately after having played through it myself it still feels that way. :/ Of course, that’s probably why I actually got through it-- having so little investment in the story took the pressure off-- but that doesn’t mean I can’t find fault with it...

Every level feels more like a random challenge than a part of a larger journey that actually means something, and even the setup for the story that’s there feels superficial. For example, O.R.C.A.: I can buy that there’s an AI living in Alterna that acts as a lore-keeper for its long-dead civilization. I can even buy that accomplishments *of some sort* should earn you the right to read the lore that it’s keeping. But why does it specifically give the Agent physical challenges (did the people of Alterna have to go through these...? Why would they??) Why are these challenges populated by the fuzzy Octarians that are supposedly under Mr. Grizz’s control? Why do we spend 90% of the story mode with this random A.I. that really has nothing to do with the plot...???

Its constant inclusion in the story makes you think it’s working together with Mr. Grizz (that’s what I initially suspected...) but in the end it turns out that’s not the case? As of now, O.R.C.A. is a neutral party and I don’t think Grizz ever even acknowledges its existence...despite the fact that it provides the infrastructure for every single level from Octo Canyon’s collapse to the rocket launch. You’d really think such an integral aspect of the gameplay would be equally integral to the story...but instead it’s just kind of there...

It feels like the devs just handed us a CQ clone that accidentally lacked any justification for its actions or existence in the story...and then stapled Deep Cut and Mr. Grizz’s backstory onto that concept and called it a day. All these things feel so disconnected, and there’s not enough camp to cement it all together. Which worries me a bit, because the Splatoon series usually oozes camp...it’s like they saw the success of Octo Expansion and took the wrong lesson from it. 

Tartar’s antics, the psychedelic visuals, and Agent 8′s subtle characterization were what made that DLC fun; the added lore didn’t really matter that much. On the flipside, Return of the Mammalians has a fairly grounded setting where you spend most of your time marching around the snow earning lore...as a blank-slate MC who’s friends with (I hate to say it...) a Deus ex Machina. :/

All that is to say, I hope this is just an isolated mild disappointment, and not the beginning of a trend. I won’t mind RotM being the way it is if Side Order, for instance, is a super-impressive return to form. ^^;

[smolsidesandco]

Title: I'm not icky 

Description: Remus is an age and pet regressor, but because of his intrusive thoughts, icky things commonly fill his head and make him think he's not a regressor. 

In this, Janus aka his Moddy ends up slowly helping the smol away from the intrusive thoughts.

Not exactly a series in order but I will be doing more with this same concept.

Universe info: Human Au

                       Janus is a wonderful enby with 

                    vitiligo that uses they/them

                        Remus is trans masc, and 

                    uses he/him

         This stuff doesn't come up really but I 

             enjoy this info.

Word count: 1,404

Tw: mentions of k!nk things, intrusive thoughts, impure regression

_____

Thoughts that held themselves like a dark gooey slime squirmed all throughout his head. Squishy squishy squishy icky thoughts. Black tar that covered and stuck to everything he did. All his movements, all his thoughts, every breath that left his lips. 'Lips that he could be using to-' no no no no! The green haired boy covered his ears. As if that would stop the rampant icky thoughts and ideas that ran through his head. Even though it wouldn't logically, it was all the little Duke could think about doing. Even if this had happened over and over when he had regressed. Whether that was involuntary or voluntary, nine times out of ten his intrusive thoughts would get increasingly louder and more on the adult icky side.

He didn't mind thoughts about blood or gore, that was just simple things. Those things just didn't bother him usually, even when he regressed. More dramatically violent thoughts for some reason just didn't seem so destructive to his mental state. It didn't haunt him or tear him apart like the gooey thoughts. The black icky darkness that he always had a hard time escaping. He had gotten quite sick before due to the thoughts filling his brain. Or even sometimes pushing him out of regression so he could do other icky things.

A sob escaped his mouth as he started to pull at his green and silver hair. As if yanking on it would pull away the icky sort of thoughts out. What if he was faking being a regressor? What if he wasn't a regressor and..and he was one of those icky kinds of littles? What if, that's what he was doing! He didn't like these thoughts...but but if he was having these kind of thoughts then that must be it! That must be-

"Remus?" A voice spoke from the entrance of his bedroom doorway. A figure dressed in what can be described as a casual Gothic ouji look stood at the door. Having easily been able to pick up on the crying from the other room. Either someone had stubbed their toe, which they totally wouldn't have laughed at them for, or something had happened to a regressed Remus. Re regressing alone was usually a recipe for disaster for multiple reasons. Sometimes it was a plotting smol causing chaos. A tiny octo tearing up something that he wasn't supposed to. Or in this case, overwhelming unwanted thoughts.

The smol one in question quickly started to rub his eyes of all the tears that were blurring his vision. His knees brought up to his chest as he had stuffed himself in the corner of his bedroom. Hoping he would have been able to make himself tiny and hide from these icky thoughts. But it seemed that the thoughts were too good at hide and seek and found him everytime he tried to hide! "I-tried to h-hide cause cause. Hnng im just Icky!" Remus tried to explain before he ended up in even more tears from before.

"You are not icky my little Morningstar." Janus was quick but soft to assure the crying baby. Their 'carer mode' quickly kicking in at seeing the small one cry over his own thoughts. Gently but quickly moving over to the regressed one on the floor. Not wanting to add to the overwhelming feeling Remus was feeling, but knowing he needed to be close enough to the smol to help them. 

"Those thoughts in your head do not make you icky. Moddy knows that it isn't fun at all to have all those things in your head, but that doesn't make you icky." They kept  their voice soft and steady as they spoke. Carefully holding out gloved hands for the other to take if he wanted to. 

"F-feels icky icky icky." Remus sniffled trying to look up at the big person without tears blocking his vision. "Don't don't wanna be icky! I'm already icky when not a baby! I don't wanna be icky baby too!" His emotions shifted between self anger, fear, and sadness. He was scared of all these thoughts he felt in his head. Sad that his smolspace was tainted by icky things and emotions he couldn't control. Angry at himself and the universe for not letting him have something that wasn't icky. 

"Baby you are not always icky, you're just very open and extra." Janus did agree that Remus tended to be rather talkative about that sort of stuff when he was in his big headspace, but they didn't consider it any different from his brother going on and on about romantic things. That and saying anything about the other being icky right now wouldn't help the situation right now.

The smol one gently reached out with one of his hands to touch the soft gloves that Jan always wore. Feeling the comforting texture that he liked to feel. It was smooth and soft against his hand, not a texture he touched the most often but still one that he really liked. It usually meant he was safe and things would be okay. It's a texture he associated with moddy a lot since they always wore gloves. Touching things with their actual hands could become too much for them a lot of the time. So a lot of the time they wore gloves over their hands to keep them away from touching anything bad. 

"Is there anything Moddy can do to help their very not icky Morningstar?" Janus asked as Remus started to get more and more distracted by feeling their gloves, textures always seemed to be an easy place to start getting them away from unwanted sort of thoughts. Textures simply had a way of conveying messages and feelings that words couldn't. Of course unwanted textures weren't good to feel, but figuring out textures that the little ones liked wasn't too hard to figure out after a while. This baby certainly liked the material their gloves were made of. 

"Would you like moddy to hold you?" That question seemed to pull Remus out of feeling the fabric of the gloves, instantly making grabby hands up at Janus with wide eyes. It was as if the other had said some sort of magic sentence. Like when you asked a dog if they wanted to go on walkies. Which is something that happened commonly when Roman happened to be in animal space. Unless you wanted him to have zoomies inside. Which rarely ended well.

"Uppies! Up up!!" 

Janus couldn't help but chuckle softly at the small baby demanding uppies with an adorable little bounce. "Well how can I say no to such an adorable and valid baby boy, hm?" Carefully picking up the little one in their arms. Not wanting to accidentally drop him, in moments they were rather thankful that Remus was relatively short and small compared to them. Otherwise he wasn't sure he would be able to pick the other up. 

Remus gave a happy giggle as he was picked up, grabbing onto moddy's caplet once he was picked up. This was another texture he really liked to feel. Moddy really had the best touchy feely stuff. It made his fingers feel nice and happy! Like they were dancing to a really awesome song! "Touchy touchy touch touch!"  He made another happy giggle as moddy messed around with his hair the way he liked. And...liking his hair being played with was okay! It wasn't icky! "No icky icky." He smiled proudly at being able to say it wasn't icky without anyone else having to say it. Usually he needed help but this time he did it himself!

"Thats very very true baby, not icky at all. Very good little one." Janus said with a smile at the regressed baby in their arms coming to the conclusion by himself. There was still a long way to go before Remus was fully able to get through the intrusive thoughts, but every pinch of progress was a success. It was slow yes, but that was okay. It was much better than the other being stuck in these thoughts or stuck in the horrible things of the past. "I'm very proud of you, now how about we go watch some cartoons in moddy's room?"

"Mhm mhm mhm! Wanna watch the one with the monsters at the school!"

"Oh really? Well I think that sounds like a plan then."

[tunabunk]

I wish for more baby pics! I just saw the older ones and it’s cute omg

As you wish 😤👌 (I’ve got PLENTY)

[asktheoctoorderandcontrolgang]

Hey Pearl, what do you do for fun? have any hobbies? interests of any kind?

Pearl: “… Infact, I’ve learned that humans are very much similar to us inkfish people… Starting wars, and what for? All for land? All for the pettiest of reasons…? Wars are stupid fights…”

“Stupid, stupid, stupid…”

[bigblueoctoling]

The entire basis of this concept being on an arbitrary definition of hypnosis rather than the most clear cut definition of the word, and then acting like people who don't accept this just don't care enough about callie, is really really absurd, especially when this really doesn't do the character of Callie the justice you think it does.

For the record, I will set some things straight:

Callie does care about Octarians, and went to Octo Canyon out of her own volition and desire to improve Octarians' standard of living.

Callie isn't stupid- not for any reason, but especially not because of this event- her compassion and trust were taken advantage of by a manipulative person.

That being said, I find this entire narrative people push of Callie not being hypnotized/brainwashed (for the sake of simplicity I will refer to any instance of "having your thoughts unnaturally altered" beyond this as brainwashing) to be absurd.

I feel as though people who make this claim refuse to accept the fact that there can be a middle ground between "Callie is sympathetic for Octarians" and "Callie was a thoughtless robot for the entire period between splatoon 1 and splatoon 3".

The narrative of Callie, sympathetic to the suffrage of Octarians, went to Octo Canyon to hear Octavio out, and made a genuine effort to make their lives better, before Octavio, ever fixated on his military strength over all else, betrayed her and forced her to fight alongside him, is a lot more consistent with the narrative in the future and at the time for all characters involved. People seem strangely fixated on avoiding implicating Octavio doing anything wrong, but literally all evidence points towards the reality that Octavio would always sacrifice the wellbeing of Octarians for his military power. This is literally only emphasized further in Octo Expansion and Side Order.

I don't understand where people are pulling this idea that Octavio would inexplicably show sympathy for Callie with no ulterior motives when he is the only person keeping Octarians oppressed, when all Octarians are funneled into his military and personal freedoms are routinely ignored. You posited this as a criticism against mischaracterization of Callie but all I see is mischaracterization of Octavio.

I also just think everything about this greatly damages Callie's future developments. It doesn't make any sense why Callie would be fully onboard with supporting Octavio, so willing that she would go so far as to attack Marie, allegedly by mere suggestion and not any form of brainwashing, but after being defeated, assists in helping Octarians *escape from Octavio*, makes no sense at all. On the other hand, if Callie was primarily focused on helping Octarians from the start, and then had that compassion betrayed, it portrays a lot of bravery from Callie that she is willing to go back and continue to assist them.

I also just flatly refuse the idea that Callie would ever be pushed far enough to attack Marie and 4 without being provoked by a manner such as brainwashing. Like, the entire story is about Callie and Marie's bond- how much the two of them being separated was destructive to the both of them, and how much better both of their lives became when they came back together. As long as we're talking about mischaracterizing Callie and Marie- I have to ask what sort of evidence is there that Callie would ever willingly betray Marie?

As for the rematch dialogue-

It's obviously not canon?

Like. The fact that you can replay a boss fight doesn't mean that canonically it happened again. And, for the record, this also goes for anyone who'd use this dialogue as evidence that Callie is stupid- but ultimately this feels like the only evidence I've ever seen for this entire concept that Callie is in control, but the entire idea of this rematch text being canonical evidence that this entire fight happened more than once is really, really absurd.

Now, just for the record- you can say all of this as a headcanon, that's totally fine. If you wanna develop a headcanon based on the rematch text, go for it. There's some interesting depth to explore in the idea of Callie not being brainwashed, to the hypnoshades being like a drug that Callie can't quit- but it really irks me to act like all of this stuff is canon, and that the developers/translators of the game just didn't understand the original intent of the work, and that the common reading is boring or lazy, and that people who read it that way just don't care enough... That shit is the worst.

Found this on Twitter, sounds like you lol

omg send me the link of the tweet i wanna see the comments.

Also. TRUE!!!!!!!!!! SO TRUE BESTIE!!!!!!! Everyone gets Pearl, Marina, Shiver, Frye and Big Man correct but not them.

"Callie was kidnapped!"

*shows art of Callie walking towards Octavio's mark and an official relationship chart*

"Oh she was brainwashed!" *shows articles talking about hypnosis and how it's not anywhere near the same thing as brainwashing*

Literally took me five minutes to find sources to disprove it HAHAAHAAH!!!!!!

"Oh but Marie said this!"

Literally only in the English translation btw, not any other languages.

"But Octavio said he remixed her brain!" Not in the original Japanese script and in other scripts btw. Every other script aside from English and Dutch mention hypnosis. Plus he's a DJ, he says musical puns to describe actions. The remixing is implying he got her on his side via manipulation and not direct brain "washing". God.

People really don't care that much about Callie to even look at outside sources, they just see the English script and take it as is because "Callie is silly and Splatoon is silly." Fucking hell man. Not even people who deep dive into timelines, reviewers, NEARLY EVERYONE!

Why do you think people call her HYPNO Callie huh?! What do you think HYPNO stands for? Use the fleshy pink thing in your skull. GOD! DAMN! I know Inkipedia calls her brainwashed Callie and says she was kidnapped sometimes on some of the pages, but that's down to the site being run by multiple people who have different levels of engagement in different areas of Splatoon.

If i come across one more fucking person that calls Callie a dumbass or airheaded for putting the shades back on i will literally throw myself out off of the tallest floor on the god damn Burj Khalifa. Callie was suffering from an addiction and y'all laughed at it because the game poorly presented that idea due to time constraints.

You guys are so lucky I'm not also a massive Marie fan too... I would be doing DOUBLE the ranting.

[do-your-socks-have-holes-in-them]

Metamorphosis

Summary:  Logan is tired of being human, with all these things like "needing to sleep at some point" and "having feelings" distracting him from his work. He creates a robotic assistant, Patton, to aid him in becoming a robot himself, but of course things don't quite go according to plan.

Warnings: referring to someone as “it” and saying they’re not a person (because robots), knives mentioned, broken arm (but, again, robots, so it’s different)

Pairings: Logicality

Words: ~3.4k

Read on AO3

Logan smiled.  This was a rare event, as the few people who knew him would attest, but he believed the occasion was worth it: the completion of his most impressive invention so far.  It marked a considerable step towards his ultimate goal, his life’s work… but now wasn’t the time to get caught up in future plans; there was still work to be done in the present.  He stepped forward and pulled a lever on a nearby control panel to activate the machine.

Some gears whirred, and some lights blinked, and with very little fanfare, the android lying on the table in front of him sat up and looked around.  Logan waited patiently while its eyes scanned the room, taking in as much information as possible, before finally landing on him.

“Hello,” it said, “my name is Patton.  Do you have any instructions for me?”

Logan already knew the android’s name, being the one who named it and all.  On the other hand, he also programmed it with that greeting, so he had no one to blame for this redundancy but himself.  “Hello, Patton,” he responded.  “I am Logan, your creator.  You will be my assistant, and as such you will perform various tasks for me within this workshop.  More specific instructions will be provided as they become necessary.”

The android, or rather Patton, nodded to confirm understanding. “Is there anything else I should know?”

“Yes.  You were created to be similar to a human, including human methods of learning information.  When you have questions upon encountering new things, ask me and I will answer them as far as my own knowledge allows.  That said, do you have any questions right now?”

“Yes… should I ask them?  Oh- wait, I just did.”  Patton smiled, evidently very easily amused.  Logan supposed that could happen when one had literally never heard a joke before.

“Go ahead.”  When Patton looked confused, Logan clarified: “A phrase meaning ‘proceed.’  Ask your questions, Patton.”

Patton visibly stored that knowledge away for later. “Okay.  Why did you make me like a human instead of making me know everything you know and have octopus arms?”

“Because I already have a robot like that.”  He gestured to a corner of the room, where a group of eight metal tentacles was flailing, each holding a knife.  “It didn’t end well.  I also wanted to prove it was possible to make you nearly indistinguishable from a real person.”

“Oh.  I see.” Patton filed that information away as well- in a mental folder labeled Things to Never Go Near, in the case of the octo-bot.

“Any more questions?”

“Yes, can you explain birds to me?  I have some information in my memory but I don’t really get it.”

Logan sighed.  This was going to be a very long day.

A few hours later, Patton finally ran out of things to ask about and Logan was able to begin a tour of the workshop.  Of course, this spawned even more questions: what does this bit do? why can’t I touch it? what would happen if I did stick my hand in it, though?  It was like dealing with a child, although fortunately, this particular child was made of metal and nearly indestructible, and actually listened when told not to do things.  Still, with so many interruptions, it was night by the time the tour was finished.  Logan put Patton in “sleep” mode and then went to bed himself in the apartment above the workshop.  Hopefully, the endless inane questions were just a first-day-of-activation thing and he’d be able to actually get something done tomorrow.

The next day, Logan returned to the workshop and, rather optimistically, instructed Patton to help him right after waking the android up. For a short while, everything went smoothly.  Patton was quite competent as an assistant, which didn’t surprise Logan, but did allow him to feel pleased with his creation.  But then the questions started again.

“Why are you wearing different clothes today?”

“Because the ones I wore yesterday are dirty now.”

“Why don’t I wear clothes?”

“You’re a robot, you don’t need them.”

“Can I have them anyway, just for fun?”

“...Maybe later.”  At first Logan had wished he’d given Patton more knowledge to start with, just to save himself some trouble, but now he suspected it wouldn’t have saved him regardless.  And Patton really did seem to be struggling with the concept of birds, for some reason.

“Is this a pigeon?”

“No, Patton, that is a butterfly.  Stop bringing living things into the workshop to ask me if they’re birds or not.”

Patton wilted a little and put it back outside.

Not everything he wanted to know was so trivial, however, and before long Patton asked him what exactly it was they were doing.  Logan had anticipated this, but struggled to explain his project in a way that didn’t… sound bad.

“Well, you see, I find it inconvenient to deal with biological needs and emotional fluctuations, so I’m going to transfer my mind into a mechanical body like yours in order to avoid those things and have more time for my work.”

“Oh.  Okay.”

…There were definitely benefits, Logan decided, to having a recently created android with no concept of what humans would consider weird and creepy as his assistant.

“Why don’t you want emotions, though?  I haven’t had them very long, but they don’t seem that bad.” That was a slight understatement: so far, Patton had only experienced about two.  He knew that happy was how he felt when Logan praised his work, telling him he’d done a good job; on the other hand, when his creator grew impatient with his questions earlier and told Patton to leave him alone and let him work for a while, what he felt was sad.  And while he didn’t like sadness, and anger didn’t seem very fun either from what he’d seen of Logan yelling at a malfunctioning piece of equipment, he did very much like being happy, and that was how he’d felt nearly all the time so far.

Logan sighed and looked away from him, focusing on the part in his hands.  “I don’t expect you to truly understand.  The emotions you experience aren’t real, merely simulated reactions.  As realistic as you may appear, the fact remains that you are not a real person, and so I doubt you’ll ever have any idea how truly distracting they can be.”

“Oh,” Patton said distantly.  He turned back to his own work.  He was having a new feeling, and he didn’t know what it was or why it was happening- Logan had only stated facts they were both aware of, after all- but he knew it wasn’t one he liked.

Whatever had happened there, it was quickly pushed to the back of Patton’s mind and he and Logan got back into the rhythm of working together.  He liked working with Logan, and focused on that, not thinking about anything else until the end of the day.  Before Logan left the workshop, instructing Patton to clean up before shutting himself off for the night, he told him he’d done well today, and listed the things Patton had done he’d especially approved of.  He’d done the same thing last night, and Patton knew that his purpose was to help him improve by knowing which actions he should try to repeat.  Still, it made him very happy, at least until he recalled Logan’s earlier words.

He wasn’t really a person, at least according to Logan- and he knew the right answer for almost everything, and always admitted when he wasn’t sure, so it had to be true, didn’t it?  Well, if Patton really was just simulating his emotions, he’d like to turn off the ones that felt like this.  Somehow, it was one thing to know he wasn’t human, just designed to seem like one, and another thing altogether for Logan to say it to him like that.

When Logan entered the workshop the next day and brought him out of sleep mode, Patton experienced a new type of happiness, as if everything from the previous day had been forgotten.

This wasn’t unusual, to be fair.  He had only existed for a few days.  Almost every experience he had was new, and soon pushed aside by the next one.  But this one felt special, somehow; it was warm and bubbly and made him feel slightly ill- not that he was capable of being ill, but he knew what it would feel like, in theory.  As soon as he was finished cataloguing it he went up to Logan, excited to tell him about his new feeling.

Logan frowned at his description.  “That isn’t one of the emotional responses I programmed you with, and there’s no reason to have any emotional reaction at all to merely waking up. It was most likely some sort of glitch. If you continue experiencing feelings with no apparent cause, let me know and I’ll see what I can do to fix it.”

Patton nodded slowly.  He knew it wasn’t his fault, yet that still felt like… not an insult, exactly, but… Logan seemed disappointed with him.  “Okay, I will.  What do you need me to do today?”

It was Patton’s first ever lie, only a few days into existing. He wondered if he’d set some kind of record.

Logan didn’t know what was happening, and he didn’t like it. Patton had been acting… off.  It was as if his approximation of emotion had gotten stuck somewhere around sadness, but he insisted there was nothing that needed fixing and became defensive when Logan pressed him about it. On the other hand, he’d also been even more helpful than before- sometimes anticipating what Logan might need before he even asked- so maybe it wasn’t anything to worry about, and would resolve itself in time without negatively impacting his main function.

Logan wondered, for a moment, if mentally referring to the android as “he” was a sign of getting too attached.  He quickly dismissed the concern, however.  It simply felt strange to refer to Patton as an object when he looked and acted almost entirely human.  It didn’t mean he was actually thinking of him as something other than what he was, or anything like-

There was an enormous crash from downstairs, and a scream. Logan scrambled out of bed and ran down to the workshop.  “Patton!”

Ten minutes ago, Patton had been almost finished tidying up the workshop for the night.  He hadn’t mentioned the new feeling again in the few days since it had first appeared, but that didn’t mean it had gone away- in fact, it had only been getting stronger.  It returned every time he interacted with Logan, and… and it was starting to hurt. Especially when he was reminded that he wasn’t a person to him; he certainly wouldn’t appreciate it if Patton announced that he’d done a bit of research and was fairly sure he’d fallen in love with him.  It almost wouldn’t change anything when Logan went through with his plan to get rid of his emotions, the chance of him ever returning Patton’s feelings was already so minuscule.

Still, though, he couldn’t bear to let Logan “fix” him. Even if it hurt, it felt too important to just get rid of.  He wanted to love Logan.  And as much as he knew it was hopeless, he couldn’t help trying to get at least some kind of positive reaction from him.  That was why he’d been working so hard to be helpful- and it was also why, looking around the workshop, he decided to surprise Logan and get a head start on tomorrow’s work.

…Well, Logan was definitely surprised.

Patton wasn’t in any shape to be cheered up by a technicality, though.  In the process of working on a tricky mechanical part, he’d become lost in his thoughts and slipped up, resulting in both the part and his left arm being crushed. The shirt Logan had found for him earlier was ruined.  Patton didn’t have the ability to feel pain, thank goodness, but he certainly had the ability to panic.  When Logan got there, he was cradling the twisted metal where his hand used to be and emitting a soft whine as his mind overloaded with another new emotion- fear.

“Patton!  Patton, what happened?”  Logan took him by the shoulders and had him sit down against a wall, lest he damage himself any further.  “Please calm yourself, and tell me what just happened.”

“I- I was just trying to help,” Patton managed after a few seconds.  “I broke it, I’m sorry, I just wanted to- make you happy…”  He covered his face with his remaining hand, shoulders shaking in an approximation of crying despite not being equipped to actually produce tears.

“You broke…?”  Logan looked over at the destroyed part in question and sighed.  “We can remake it.  Just don’t do that again.”

Patton nodded quietly.

“Come with me and I’ll see about fixing your arm.”

Logan didn’t get much sleep that night.  It took him hours to repair Patton, as he essentially had to replace the entire arm.  The android watched him work anxiously, his right hand clinging to Logan’s shirt and face half-hidden in his shoulder, and Logan found himself pausing occasionally to reassure him.  He didn’t even think twice about it when Patton indicated he wanted a hug before going into sleep mode… or at least not until he was finally back in bed, and found he was unable to go to sleep himself.

He felt bad, somehow.  Patton had only been trying to do something nice for him- the first time anyone had done so in a long time, really- and it had ended in what he could only imagine was a very distressing experience, even if the distress was simulated. Maybe… maybe he should be more considerate of how he talked to Patton.  He shouldn’t feel like he needed to go to such lengths to get Logan’s approval. He didn’t ever want to see him panicked like that again.

Wait.  What was he doing?  Why was he thinking of Patton like… well, he couldn’t even call it like a friend.  Logan didn’t exactly have friends.  The “mad scientist” vibe tended to scare people off.  In any case, he seemed to be getting… sentimental.  This was exactly why he didn’t want emotions anymore. (Part of the reason, at least.) It led him to do the most irrational things.

It was good that his project would be ready soon, even with the setback of Patton’s accident.  Until then, he would simply do his best to deal with it, and detach himself from any emotion-based impulses.

Logan was not doing a very good job of dealing with it, although sleep deprivation may have been a factor.  In the interest of keeping his schedule as intact as possible, he woke up at the usual time, despite having spent most of the night awake. He stumbled downstairs only to be greeted by Patton, who had a smile and a cup of coffee for him, and immediately faltered in his resolve to be detached.

In fact, he failed completely.  “Thanks,” he mumbled, taking a long sip despite the fact that it burned his mouth.  “You’re sweet.”  Ten seconds passed before he realized what he’d said, at which point he nearly dropped the mug.

Yeah, he really needed to hurry up with that “getting rid of his emotions” thing.  Preferably before he had to look Patton in the face again.

Over the next two weeks, Logan failed miserably at not getting too attached.  He continued pushing the feelings aside, telling himself it wouldn’t matter soon and absolutely refusing to consider what it meant that he couldn’t look at Patton anymore without getting the urge to smile.  Patton had been unusually clumsy and kept dropping and misplacing various things ever since Logan replaced his arm- he’d yet to find the cause, but he must have made some sort of mistake while rebuilding it- but even with those setbacks, they made steady progress.

When the day finally arrived, Logan wondered why he didn’t feel as satisfied as he had upon completing Patton.  No matter.  Soon he wouldn’t need to worry about feeling anything at all.

The final preparations went by in a blur.  Logan knew he’d double checked everything, but somehow couldn’t remember any of it, and now he was strapped into a machine next to a robotic copy of himself and could only hope everything was in order. He looked over at Patton, standing by ready to activate the machine, and realized with a start that he looked miserable. In fact, Logan wasn’t sure he’d seen him truly happy in the past week.  He leaned forward to get a better look at him and ask what was wrong, but Patton misinterpreted the movement as a nod that he was ready and flipped a switch.  Logan’s vision went dark.

Once his task was done, Patton stood in front of Logan’s new body and waited.  He waited for nearly twenty minutes before anything visibly happened.  The mechanical form shifted, like a human slowly waking from sleep, and finally opened its eyes.

He stepped closer.  “Logan?  Can you hear me?”

Logan blinked a few times and focused on him.  “…Patton?”

Patton gave him a small smile, although his chest ached. “How do you feel?”

“Everything seems to be in order.  I…”  He took a small step forward and stopped, looking down at his hands.  His body felt new and strange, and yet his mind…  “Why do I still feel the same?”

Patton’s eyes widened, and he jumped forward to catch him when Logan tried a bigger step without thinking and nearly fell.  “What do you mean?”  He tried not to sound too hopeful, but he wasn’t very good at hiding his feelings yet.

“I, I feel- I feel, Patton, that’s the problem!” Logan practically shouted.  He pulled away from Patton’s grip and fell to his knees, hands curling into fists.  “It didn’t work!  That’s what I mean, I- I spent my entire life working towards this and I failed and I don’t, I can’t-”  He curled in on himself, shaking, and Patton’s heart broke for him.

He knelt in front of him and wrapped his arms around Logan’s shoulders.  There were a lot of metallic clanking noises involved.  “There, there.  You’ll be okay.  You’re strong, I know you are, and I’m here to help you.”

Logan instinctively latched onto Patton’s shirt, suddenly very glad he’d agreed to get proper clothes for him.  This was so strange- not only because he was an android being hugged by another android, but… nobody had comforted him like this since he was a child.  It was weird and he didn’t want it to stop, and he didn’t understand how Patton could be such an amazing person when he wasn’t supposed to even be a person, and suddenly not all his feelings were bad because his heart felt like it was going to burst-

Oh.  Oh, no.

“Patton,” he said in a shaky voice.  “Patton, I- I love you.”

Patton froze for a moment, then hugged him even harder, pressing his forehead against Logan’s shoulder.  He was shaking a little.  “You do? Really?”

“Yes, I think so, I can’t believe it took me this long- I can’t believe I had to become a robot to figure it out, but- I do, Patton, I can’t believe I tried to give this up- you’d think such a genius wouldn’t be such an idiot, but here I am…”

“So… you don’t want to get rid of your emotions anymore?” Patton asked hopefully.

He shook his head.  “No, no, of course not, what a stupid idea that was-”  He laughed somewhat bitterly.  “Years of my life, and now I realize I shouldn’t have been trying…”

“Oh good,” he sighed.  “Then you won’t be mad that I sabotaged it.”

“…You what?!”

Patton held up a crucial piece of the machine and laughed nervously.

Logan’s face went through an impressive variety of expressions, considering its mechanical limitations- from shock to anger to, finally, something softer.  “Thank you,” he finally said.  “Thank you… I love you.”

Patton grinned, feeling like he could float away on a cloud of joy.  Only about a month into existence and he’d already achieved the seemingly impossible. That had to be some kind of record.

“I love you, too.”

[inktank-thinktank]

Splatocalypse Now

My friends, the final Splatfest is upon us. And you know what that means. Plot implications for Splatoon 3.

We have been looking over the material released for Splatocalypse, and have prepared some analysis and interpretation, to not only help you make what you deem is the correct choice for the Splatfest, but also to prepare you for what is to come.

I’m warning you now, if you click into the Read More, there will be major spoilers for nearly every aspect of the Final Fest: Splatocalypse event, INCLUDING datamined material. Enter at your own risk.

First, we should note the theming. 'Splatocalypse'. This theme of a Splatoon apocalypse pops up in many places in the material we are to observe, and seems an almost overbearing theme. Nintendo is being direct this time - what happens is going to deeply impact the world of Splatoon.

Indeed, the music that plays during the trailer, according to the Live in Makuhari album coming out three days after the Splatfest ends, is called 'Haikara (Inkopolis) Memorial Mixtape', by DJ Octavio.

EDIT: OatmealDome has informed me that Haikara Memorial Mixtape is likely a NEW song that we have not heard yet! The song in the trailer is most likely ‘SPLATOCALYPSE （ファイナルフェス 告知映像BGM）’ (SPLATOCALYPSE - Final Splatfest Announcement Video BGM), the immediately previous track on the album.

After a brief summary of Splatfests to-date, we open to Pearl and Marina. When Pearl is on-screen, we get a sound effect of rushing flames, while Marina is accompanied by sounds reminiscent of computers and technology. This is notable, especially when viewed in combination with other material, giving us an... 'inkling', of what is to come. The first thing that I think needs considering in combination with this is the Splatfest gear.

What we see is quite telling.

In English, the gear names are ‘Jetflame Crest’ (the motorbike helmet), ‘Fierce Fishskull’ (the fish skull, obviously), ‘Eye of Justice’ (the helmet with the screen on it), and ‘Hivemind Antenna’ (the shades).

As per this Reddit post, which we will be referencing a lot going forward, the names are ‘Burning Broiler’, ‘Giga Fishbone’, ‘Justice Brain’, and ‘Cosmic Antenna’.

Team Chaos’ gear puts off an air of being very ‘Mad Max’-inspired, very befitting of both ‘chaos’ and the apocalyptic themes. It is also worth noting that the helmet containing the word ‘broiler’ in the name is a connection to the Salmonids, who we know from the Splatoon 2 Ikasu Art Book use cooking implements as weaponry because they see life and death and consumption of other living things as all part of a cycle.

Similarly, we know that sunglasses of the shape the Hivemind Antenna / Cosmic Antenna take have historically been linked to Octarian mind control technology, such as the hypnoshades worn by Callie and the Octolings you fight in Hero Mode 2.

It is not difficult then to surmise that Team Chaos ties in to the concept of a Mad Max style apocalyptic wasteland, somehow related to the Salmonids, while Team Order ties in to the concept of a false utopian society controlled by mechanisms of technological oppression.

Now, moving back to the trailer...

Over the course of the trailer, we are shown who is on each side, out of the major characters. I will summarize our beliefs as to why each character is on each side, as this will influence later covered topics.

TEAM CHAOS

Starting with Team Chaos, we have the Salmonids. This is quite obvious. The Salmonids have always been agents of chaos, chiefly known for overrunning early Inkling settlements and even going as far as consuming the Inklings within.

There is also Iso Padre, which may come as a surprise to some. However, as a former test subject of TARTAR’s, it is clear he would want as little to do with ‘order’ as possible when presented the option. He seems okay with Kamabo Co. in Octo Expansion, but in a way that seems...detached, wistful, almost like he’s given up on a life free of oppression.

Spyke is another obvious one, being a gangster and someone who, y’know, steals stuff and runs an actual pyramid scheme.

Agent 4 is also fairly obvious; official art depicting Agent 4 has always shown her to be a trickster of sorts, and less serious than her predecessor, Agent 3.

Callie is also an obvious one, being the spontaneous, excitable, freedom-and-fun-loving one out of the Squid Sisters.

Flow, being a ‘hippie’ of sorts, likely is on chaos in terms of ‘personal freedom’. And, y’know. Being able to be high all the time most likely.

For Annie, the first game implies that out of her and Moe, Moe is the one really ‘in charge’ of things, and, well... Moe is hard chaos. Play Splatoon Wii U, guys.

Li’l Judd is Team Chaos because as we know, he has an inferiority complex and resentment for Judd, being his clone, and generally is more of a tricksterish character. Also, being a kitten, Li’l Judd would likely be more playful, again ‘chaos’ as in ‘freedom’.

Pearl lays out her motivation for being Team Chaos rather starkly in the Splatfest announcement (which we will get to later).

And, I saved this one for last, because it’s somewhat surprising... Despite the Octarians being Team Order, Octavio is Team Chaos. This could be due to a thinking that he must win at any cost, and a willingness to use manipulation tactics to move his people towards supporting his war on Inkopolis. It could also be due to a mental slippage from so many repeated losses.

“But wait!” I hear you say. “If Octavio is Team Chaos, why are the shades, ostensibly tied to hypnosis, a Team Order gear piece?”

I would argue there that the hypnoshades, while used by Octavio, fit more into the Octarians’ wheelhouse of order through technology and regimentation.

TEAM NEUTRAL

Judd being Team Neutral is obvious. He judges the Splatfests, and unlike Li’l Judd, is generally more ‘neutral’ in tone.

Sheldon is probably Team Neutral because, well, he sells you weapons no matter what side you’re on in Splatfest, so...

And Mr. Grizz is Team Neutral because he’s out for his own interests, which exist apart from all other teams (note he’s apart from the rest of Team Neutral, and upside-down).

TEAM ORDER

Cap’n Cuttlefish is Team Order for having been part of the military, as well as actively fighting for the safety and security of Inklings.

Marie is Team Order being the more relaxed yet traditional one of the Squid Sisters.

Agent 8 is Team Order being an Octarian, and thus a part of their regimented society.

This brings us to the Octarians in general, who are Team Order being a regimented technocracy where large focus is put on people serving a specific function (see Marina’s Chat Room), as well as again the technological oppression aspects. They may also be simply following Marina, as we know that Agent 8 idolizes her, and that the Octolings who escaped to Inkopolis did so because they were inspired by her.

C.Q. Cumber is Team Order because, as Nintendo has stated, he really wasn’t concerned with what TARTAR was up to, he was just doing his job. Order at its finest.

TARTAR is Team Order for obvious reasons. It desires ‘order’ in the sense of purging the capricious, impulsive Inklings and petty, warlike Octarians, instead replacing them with a new ‘superior’ race of beings, created from its successful test subjects.

Agent 3 is Order because, well, she made the idea of ‘being the hero’ a central part of her identity, see adopting the ‘3′ cape into her outfit (something she had no reason to do).

Jelfonzo being Team Order makes sense, given that Nogami has stated that the Jellyfishes are all actually a large hivemind organism, who may have a significant hand in sponsoring Turf War, suggesting since Turf War is according to the Splatoon Ikasu Art Book largely subsidized by the government, the Jellyfish hivemind has a significant hand in Inkopolis’ government as well.

As with Pearl, we will discuss Marina’s choice more in-depth later, as it is looked at rather deeply in the Splatfest dialogue.

The only ones who we cannot seem to figure out are Murch, Bisk, and Crusty Sean, however we know that Sean has some...strangeness to him, only accepting tickets and getting defensive when you point this out, and the ‘Crustwear XXL’ shirt, a shirt advertising his food truck, being Grizzco gear. Perhaps he supports Team Order because of an involvement with corporate bureaucracy?

Similarly, my best guess with Murch is that, since he only engaged in the gear scrubbing and ordering scheme because he idolized Spyke, he realized at some point that Spyke was a criminal, and wanted to distance himself.

Now on to the leading ladies themselves. Pearl’s reasons for being Team Chaos run VERY deep, and a larger overall analysis is necessary.

Pearl’s motivation for Team Chaos seems to be primarily rooted in wanting a world that is ever-changing and not static, finding a world that stays the same boring and uneappealing. She also seems to act somewhat as an agent of chaos, declaring in the Splatfest dialogue both in English and Japanese that whichever side wins the Splatfest will be the form the world takes going forward.

In the English dialogue, she invokes ‘Splatfest law’, which is something created wholesale by Nintendo of America, however the implication either way is that whoever wins will remake the world in their own team’s image.

Additionally, in the Japanese dialogue, Pearl states “all I know is I don't want a world that's always like this!“, spoken in the same sort of way as when someone says things like ‘I wish things would be like this forever’.

Marina’s reasons for being Team Order as well are somewhat complex. She is primarily worried about stability and control over her life and her situation.

In fact, Pearl’s statements about Team Chaos, in the Japanese dialogue, are replied to in ways that show that she’s worried that Pearl would eventually even grow bored with Off the Hook, and flippantly want that to be over and ‘change’ as well.

It’s worth noting that Marina’s theming shows an erring towards technology, and technological order as we’ve seen before usually is something dangerous in the Splatoon universe. This may hint at what direction ‘her world’ would go in if she wins the final Splatfest.

Marina does, however, express trepidation in the Japanese dialogue about reshaping the world in the winner’s image, only doing so because Pearl is pushing things in that direction.

Moving forward, we will be addressing the assets and imagery the game has been preparing for the Splatocalypse event, and how that ties into the theming of a Splatoon apocalypse.

First, and the elephant in the room... ‘Dear Senpai’, or as it’s being called by Nintendo of America, ‘MC.Princess Diaries’, the new Shifty Station stage.

The stage is quite obviously based on another brush Inkopolis has had with the apocalypse, that being the NILS Statue fight from the Octo Expansion, where Pearl and Marina, with the help of Agent 8, narrowly stopped TARTAR from destroying Inkopolis. The fight, and indeed all Turf Wars in the Final Fest event, come complete with the discordant Turf War intro sound from Octo Expansion, and Dear Senpai comes with Hyperbombs and the ‘Princess Cannon’ (the Killer Wail from the first game). Information from OatmealDome states that three sets of Hyperbombs each appear throughout the match, each time consisting of two per team, while the Princess Cannon is spawned once per match for one player to use in the form of Pearl coming down from the helicopter outside the stage.

We know that Team Chaos is strongly coded to involve Salmonids, and we know Team Order is strongly coded to involve technological oppression, but again per OatmealDome we have our first look at how this would play out.

The stage chronologically takes place after the NILS Statue fight, with the wreckage of the NILS Statue seen in the background, being tended to and examined by Jellyfish, who again are part of the Inkopolis government. And, if you recall during the final fight, the NILS Statue is utterly swimming in TARTAR’s corruptive ooze, as well as the remains of TARTAR itself. Could we perhaps see the return of TARTAR via the Jellyfish hivemind? This would explain also how it would be Team Order despite being ostensibly dead.

You may wonder why I haven’t discussed the actual terrain of Dear Senpai, or the post-Splatfest dialogue. In fact, Nintendo pushed invalid dummy data in its place to prevent data mining. In the case of Dear Senpai, they pushed the Shifty Station from Frostyfest, and in the case of the post-Splatfest dialogue, barebones dialogue with nothing beyond a winning team announcement.

As most should already know, the Final Splatfest will have all 23 previous Shifty Stations on a rotation, two every two hours like the other maps, before running Dear Senpai for the final 24 hours. Interestingly, while we know that Dear Senpai is to take up the full final 24 hours , the two hours immediately preceding it also have only a single Shifty Station stage: Tentacle Warning / Sweet Valley Tentacles, the Shifty Station from the Squid vs. Octopus Splatfest. As a brief aside, all of the Shifty Station names in Japanese are puns on manga titles, and all the ones in English are puns on novels.

This is what the Inkopolis Square skybox will look like during the Final Fest. A video showing the Square with this skybox and Splatfest mode on can be found here. We don’t know what the Square‘s event decorations will be, if any, but this immediately brings something to mind: Blade Runner 2049.

Screenshot from the relevant point in the movie for reference.

Furthermore, at this screen when you press ZL+ZR, this sound plays. Sound familiar? It sounds to me like the clock tower bell in Majora’s Mask. In fact, both are the same note, a C4.

Additionally, we know that the music for the Final Fest is a combination of Off the Hook and Squid Sisters music. Per OatmealDome:

New battle music for Final Fest!

Ink Me Up by Squid Sisters (Splatoon 1)

Shark Bytes

Calamari Inkantation

Fly Octo Fly

New 1 minute left music!

Now or Never! by Off the Hook, feat Squid Sisters

Now or Never! by Squid Sisters

This suggests that the Squid Sisters are to play a major role; however they do not appear in any of the Final Fest assets, meaning this likely is hinting at them playing some role in the Final Fest’s impact on Splatoon 3. This is corroborated by their appearance in the Splatocalypse trailer, wearing Pearl and Marina’s signature crown and headphones, respectively.

In closing, I think it can be easily surmised just what is going on. Team Chaos has strong ties to Salmonids and a theme of Inkopolis being overrun or falling to ruin. Team Order has strong ties to TARTAR and themes of technological oppression and control. The Splatfest announcement dialogue implicates Pearl or Marina respectively as bringing on a possibly related, possibly simply additional, chaotic or orderly world for each bad outcome to exist in. And the strong focus on the Squid Sisters implicates that, yet again, Callie and Marie will be pitted against each other.

It is truly a matter of ‘pick your villain’. Except unlike Splatoon 1, where the loser was the one who was turned against us, and instead of being against her will... This time the winner, or at least the winning side, is the one who will turn wicked.

Who and what form will this take? Only time will tell.

[lev-splatoon]

The significance of the Octarian jingle

Alright, we’re heading into some deeply speculative waters here, so bear with me for a bit. We were recently discussing theories in @lesbian-octoling‘s discord server when someone brought up the reoccurring jingle that pops up several times in Octo Valley and Octo Canyon, asking if there was any potential significance to it. As much as I love to read into things looking for deeper meanings, I initially brushed it off as just a fun thing the devs kept returning to as an easter egg.

But then an idea struck me. I remembered the concept of 0451.

If you’re unfamiliar with 0451, Errant Signal has a very good video detailing its history and significance here, but I’ll give you the lowdown: 0451 is a bit of a recurring motif within a certain subset of video games, starting out as a key code for the first locked door in System Shock that, in itself, was just an easter egg as it was the code for a door at the developers office. The number sequence has since come to be repeated and referenced in many games, some which were developed by the former members of the System Shock team, some which were games trying to build on the ideas first presented in those games, and some which just referenced the code because they thought it was something cool and meaningful.

So what does any of that have to do with this jingle? Well, I think it might be that the jingle represents something similar for the Octarians. I did say this was going to be deeply theoretical, didn't I?

I think it might just be that the jingle is Octavio's creative watermark of sorts. A little self-reference he plants into his songs like a flag that over time has become co-opted by his underlings as a symbol of his influence and his power

And that last part might just be a little bit more sinister than it seems at first. Let's break down the jingle's appearances bit by bit. To start with, I think the least interesting cases of the jingle are in the Hero Mode songs Eight Legged Advance and Octo Eight Step. These songs are not made by Octavio himself, but by his direct underlings, Turqouise October. The members of the band might, just like some developers did with 0451, reference this jingle just as a nod to someone who influenced them greatly, but since the Octarians have been explicitly stated in an interview to use music to give out orders to their soldiers, the presence of the jingle becomes a reminder of Octavio's power over his troops

After that comes the jingle in probably its most prominent form: The two variants of Zapfish Get! This is an odd case, since in this situation the jingle is something that is celebratory for us, Octavio's enemy, but it could be that the presence of the jingle marks the idea that we are taking away Octavio's power. its meaning is subverted, a reclamation of both a literal and symbolic kind

After that comes I Am Octavio and Bomb Rush Blush (feat. Callie), the themes of the dastardly DJ himself, and this is the part where I think my idea holds the most water. The presence of the jingle is self-explanatory, in fact, it could theoretically be its origin. I Am Octavio is a statement and a threat, a proclamation of power and the promise to wield it, so naturally he'd feature the jingle in his own theme song.

The jingle being in Bomb Rush Blush, however, is probably its most cruel application to date, because that song belongs to Callie. If the jingle is a musical flag, it is being used in this situation as a banner of conquest. By remixing Bomb Rush Blush and placing his own watermark in it, Octavio is metaphorically claiming Callie's work as his own. Brainwashing the artist herself wasn't enough, he had to put her art under his control as well. It's very telling that Callie is the one 'featured' in this version of Bomb Rush Blush.

Finally, let's talk about the jingle as it appears in Marina's Ebb & Flow demo. In this scenario, the jingle was put into the song by Marina herself, something she probably did without thinking too much about it, just a short familiar tune that fit well with the cadence of the song. But in this case, the jingle represents control, Octavio's control over Marina. Even though she's escaped the Octarian military, Marina is still metaphorically chained by her former leader's influence.

But the Ebb & Flow demo is just that, a demo. A test, a first pass, inherently incomplete. The song could not be completed without Pearl's help, and together the two of them made a song that shot them into stardom. A song that, in its finished form, no longer features the Octarian jingle. Marina could not free herself from the mental burden of her past without Pearl, and she could not find herself as an artist until she did. The jingle's removal is both a literal and metaphorical freedom cry.

Well, that was a whole lot of words on something that probably doesn't mean a lot. But that's fine, honestly, To me, the value of speculation lies more in the speculation itself than the prospect of being right. Writing this was fun, and I hope it was fun to read! Until next time: Don't get cooked, stay Off the Hook!

[tunabunk]

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY! Best posts on all the mamas