#Octo order and control lore

[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…”

[tunabunk]

is cuttlefish and Octavio still alive?

Pic of (Capt) Craig Cuttlefish’s design in the AU (still haven’t gotten to Octavio’s yet)

YES! I expanded a bit more on their lore as well, they are NOT the older captains (like in canon).

>> Craig is the head captain currently of NSBS

>> Octavio is the King-Samurai currently of the entire Octarion Army

>>> Their fathers WERE the ones in command of either sides of the war.

[tunabunk]

THIS 👆👆👆👆

All of this weird hybrid-ism stuff from Beastars is where I got my inspiration from to do the whole “Reverse Genetics” lore!

>> Hybrid and “Reverse Genetics” kids work on similar terms; albeit, “Reverse genetic” kids tend to have more minimal or lesser apparent traits that make it obvious that they���re even a hybrid in the first place:

Example:

>> Pearl only has octoling eyes (like, literally the ONLY indication that she has a hint of octoling genes in her). However, she does possess her mother’s turquoise tentacle coloring, and even mole placement!

Example 2:

>> Another interesting case of “Reverse Genetics,” Frye and Shiver! Surprisingly enough, Frye herself was a case of this phenomenon (with her biological mother having been an octoling!) And so, Frye actually possesses octoling-like eyes. Meanwhile, Shiver managed to inherit both of her amba’s/mother’s purple tentacle tips, triangle shaped eyebrows (yea I’m adding that in as an extra trait lol), and even inkling-like eyes.

>>> I like to imagine that the ‘idol eyes’ (aka, those starry, yellow eyes) that idols like the Squid Sisters, Pearl, and Frye all possess can ONLY be of an inkling origin. So that’s why lil’ Shiver’s got those starry red ‘idol’ eyes!

(MORE EXAMPLES COMING UP IN A BIT)

Beastars- coolest ass thing when Paru ACTUALLY explores what hybrids would mean for an anthro animal world! I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR SOMETHING LIKE THIS-

Which, is where I get my inspiration from for one of my most prominent AUs: “Splatoon: Octo Order and Control” 👌

[justyouraveragealternanfuzzball]

What's this? 1000 people have read Welcome to Octopia!🥳

This is such a monumental occasion, as this is literally the first piece of fanfiction I have ever written, and to see that it's become this successful makes me unbelievably happy.

Writing the chapters, coming up with all the lore and worldbuilding, drawing the characters... it all brings me so much joy, and I know that this really is just the beginning - I have so many plans for the future of this fic and even beyond that!

So thank you all so much for giving this story a chance to thrive. The support I've gotten so far is indispensable and greatly appreciated - @nipotazzi especially, you've been with me since the start and you've made the story so much better, from your fabulous editing skills to your inventive ideas. From the bottom of my heart - thank you!

I'll also tag @tunaflippingbunkers, another awesome artist who is such an inspiration for me, both art-wise and worldbuilding-wise. Their Splatoon AU, Octo Order and Control, is seriously worth checking out! (And once again, thanks for the cameo in this ask blog post! It means a lot <3)

There's a couple of other people who have read my story and reached out to tell me how much they like it, but frankly I'm too scared to tag them all 😅 so just know that I appreciate everyone who has sent in an ask, or left a nice comment or anything like that! You guys know who you are 😉

I can't wait to continue this journey with you all!

[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.

[splxtduxlies]

yes i kno i do a lot of agent 24 headcanons but what if. pearlina headcanons

(aka the other splatoon ship that makes up most of my brain's space)

so at this point i think we all pretty much get their lore - marina was an octoling solider that heard the inkantation at the end of splat1 and fled from underground, pearl was a richy rich inkling who wanted to start a band, they make out they get married they adopt agent 8 yk the Canon

marina's first impression of pearl was "wow this short inkling girl can scream"

pearl's first impression of marina was that she looked cool and would make her band stand out from the rest bc of her "weird" look (pearl canonically did not know marina was an octoling lol) it wasnt long until "cool" became "shes pretty cute actually" and then "wow shes beautiful" and it just went downhill from there

for pearl she definitely fell in love with marina's looks first,, shes not even gonna lie,, she can be a lil shallow lesbian smh

marina for. obvious reasons cant say she ever found inklings physically attractive, given the. yk. propaganda in the underground

so for her she really admired pearl's inner beauty first and most

i like to think marina was not on the ground *at all* when she was in the military. definitely the one controlling the tech from the sidelines so she never really had to hold a weapon

hence, marina cannot fight. she's too pretty & she will cry

okay well she did grow up underground so she can hold her own when she needs to but she gets frazzled easily and a little overwhelmed. definitely tries to talk or manipulate her way out of tough situations

pearl, surprisingly on the otherhand, can and will beat the shit out of a grown man

well she's scrappy so she'll bite them and claw at them and kick in their shins and they'll run away but not without literal chunks bitten out of them

anything for her queen ✨️🌸

when marina agreed to make a band with pearl, pearl was so excited she immediately suggested marina move into her home (her bodyguards were horrified)

marina,,, immediately politely declined and pearl helped her get an apartment instead

basically, despite appearances and titles, pearl is not the princess who needs protecting by marina , she thinks of it Very differently

pearl's love language is, obviously, words of affirmation and gift giving

her way of "courting" marina was buying her tons of stuff and offering to have people do everything for her so she doesnt have to lift a finger

it worked for all pearl's exs sooooo should work for this octo baddie right (she is not right)

marina's love languages are physical touch and words of affirmation...actually its mostly physical touch lol

yk marina hugging pearl so hard they fall on the ground at the end of octo expansion. and then she keeps Going

marina is "baby i want the most high tech weaponry on the black market" and pearl is definitely "my baby gets whatever she wants laws be damned"

growing up a only child in a family with a LOT of money means pearl definitely got the spoiling but. she never got the feeling of spoiling Someone Else and she prefers that waay more

marina does not have expensive tastes,,, but she doesnt mind being spoiled sometimes as a treat i meann it would be rude to decline n she was raised to be polite soooOO

if marina's friends from the octoling barracks saw the stuff pearl buys her now they would be in Shock

but dont forget,,, marina was team love so shes not overly impressed by *all* the gifts

of all the fancy music gear and clothes and things pearl has bought her marina's favorite gift has just been plain ole flowers

they dont grow underground obviously but theyve always captured marina, the smell the look the different varieties she loves them

when marina thinks of the beauty and joy of being above ground first she thinks of pearl, and then she thinks of flowers

pearl catches on that marina likes flowers and starts ordering her tons of bouquets and starts lining the hallways leading to her apartment with floral gifts and flowers in the shape of her head and all kinds of junk

marina accepted the gifts. politely ofc

but her fondest memory is of her and pearl doing a photoshoot for an album in a wildflower meadow. marina looked so beautiful and Pearl's crushing was driving her crazy so she gathered a bunch of random flowers in her fist and shoved them in marina's face because she had to give her Something or she was gonna loose it

marina felt so fond, she keeps the dry and crumpled flowers in a locket with her all the time

at some point pearl realized marina likes it better when She opens the door for her first instead of pearl's bodyguards so now pearl rushes to every door to open it for marina before anyone else can

*bodyguard opens car door for pearl on side* *pearl runs to the other side of the car to open the door for marina*

pearl snores and drools like a dad of 4 who works a blue collar job 5 days a week and luckily marina is a heavy sleeper.

marina is the small spoon exclusively,,, when they fall asleep. when they wake up pearl is wrapped in marinas arms AND tentacles and she can't Move

whenever they get into fights pearl Always is the one to apologize. not just because shes usually the one whose wrong but marina is scary good at being cold (surprisingly given how affectionate and sweet she is with pearl) and pearl absolutely Hates it, its like the world feels wrong

everyone notices because marina is usually all over her, so pearl gets pressured by her bodyguards to apologize too (they always know shes in the wrong)

marina makes it look easy,,, but shes usually moments away from apologizing herself bc she misses her pearl so much

pearl is one of those people who makes sounds and hand motions to express feelings and marina is usually the only one who understands

marina has literally made a powerpoint presentation on all the things she loves about pearl in great detail. and she will present it do not test her

she's perpetually in the "crushing phase" and gets so excited to spend time with her and pearls like "babe we've been married for 2 years i see u every night and day"

if i was allowed to keep going i would never stop-

[auranova26]

Splatoon: Octo Cuentos Lore Bits

As I type this, I am being lulled into a trance by this beautiful remix.

With it, I feel compelled to share some bits of lore I have regarding my AU. Uh, no particular order or thematic, just whatever comes to mind. I am in fact drunk. 🥴

There are effectively five dialects that exist in the world of Splatoon: OC. I guess the term 'languages' could work as well. They are Inkadian, Splatlandian, Octarian, Salmonarian, and Ursine/Alternan. Inkadian is the primary language among those in Inkadia, with Splatlandian being that for The Splatlands people. Octarian is for the Octarians and Octolings of the Octo Domes. Salmonarian is the language of the Salmonids. Ursine is interestingly the human language, as it was Mr. Grizz who would speak this language and 'teach' it to those he had in Alterna. Even named it after his species, the entitled prick. The language would eventually go under a new name and evolution to Alternan after Grizz's death and the liberation of the victims in Alterna from his control.

Among these 5, Salmonarian and Alternan would be the most radically different from the other three. Salmonids, due to the way they are, just created their own language amongst themselves and thus share very little with the others in roots of terms and such. Alternan, as stated, is the human language taken by Grizz and then eventually by the Mammalian Inkfish of Alterna. While it would adapt its own borrowed/influenced terms from the other dialects, it still overall is very different from the others. As for what human language... whatever you want it to be.

Interestingly, Octarian shares roots with interestingly both Inkadian and Splatlandian, despite the divide between both lands.

Inkadian and Splatlandian share enough similarities, but also enough differences to be distinct from one another.

DJ Octavio is more painted as a leader who is trying to do good for his people. Give them hope and uphold his promises of prosperity from the tightrope dance over the abyss of collapse. But, his grudges of the past, with the surface and especially Cuttlefish, do unfortunately cloud some aspects of his decision making. I just don't like this idea of him being portrayed as a villain. Yes, dude can be prideful and such. Yes, he effectively created a militaristic culture for his people that spanned for what can only be about a century. But he isn't some batshit crazy dictator like we have seen in our history who is only in it for himself. The whole aspect of this military culture, in his eyes, was a way to keep a sense of unity and community for everyone. All doing their part to help the Octarians as a whole inch ever closer to that bright future. Even with his rather serious and sometimes intimidating facade, he does what he can for everyone. He doesn't live in opulence; he partakes in rations for food and mandatory blackouts to conserve energy.

The No 9 Gang actually play a role in the story as major supporting characters. Their leader, Inochi, is sympathetic to Octarians and actually has an alliance with DJ Octavio. He and his gang do what they can to provide some form of aid via anything they can provide, information being the greatest asset. In fact, thanks to them, they were instrumental in assuring that the theft of the Great Zapfish went as smoothly as it did thanks to them being able to provide valuable info and aid those who went to get the Great Zapfish.

As far as the water weakness is concerned, I just go with this video done by rassicas:

A lot of what they go over I just agree with and like. Especially this whole thing regarding osmotic pressure.

While I don't have any designs, I do like the thought that Inklings and Octolings from the Splatlands look very different from those in Inkadia. The thing that comes to mind is more... feral? Tougher considering the climate of the Splatlands compared to Inkadia? If you are aware of the artist opal-owl-flight, I want to look to the general shape ideas they go for the way they draw Inkfish.

Speaking of artists coming up with cool concepts:

Would consider this as a concept existing in Splatoon: OC.

Once again with more artist concepts that I agree with and or want to implement for how I will design Inkfish characters in Splatoon: OC:

Salmonids don't have any sense of malice towards the denizens of Inkadia and the Splatlands. Hecc, they don't even hate Grizzco. For the employees of Grizzco, while they acknowledge them as invaders of their turf, they also recognize them as warriors. Sure, they don't like their Golden Eggs being taken, but it serves as another incentive for them to give their all in battle against these 'invading warriors'.

I go with the idea a lot of bird species survived into the new age of the Inkfish. Ancestors of the dinosaurs outliving the dumb mammals.

It wasn't just Octarians that were mutated by Fuzzy Ooze. Grizz basically carefully chose he saw that society wouldn't care about as a whole if they went missing. Vagabonds, homeless and the like. He considers these 'Mammalian Inkfish' to be lucky to be gifted with this new evolution to them.

Mammalian Inkfish, once fully mutated, possess a skeletal structure. With this, they lose their ability to shift forms like they could before. However, with their thicker skin, they no longer need to worry about water killing due to osmotic pressure and stuff. However, they can drown. But due to the mutagenetic properties gifted by the Fuzzy Oozes strange ingredients, they can hold their breaths for quite some time and can quickly learn how to swim in water.

Mammalian Inkfish are still capable of producing Ink, but not at the same rate as they could before. As a remnant of the osmotic pressure aspect, should they have enough ink stored in them and are in enough of a heightened state, they can use a range of Specials. These can be a Killer Wail Roar, a Splashdown, and even a transformation.

This transformation special of the Mammalian Inkfish equates to them bulking out their bodies into a more feral, monstrous state where they are significantly more resilient to damage and can deal much more pain. But like any transformation, it can only last for so long before their ink supply runs out and their 'osmotic pressure' cools down.

There is the idea about whether Mr. Grizz is even the same bear that awoke those several years ago from the Ark of Polaris. Due to the many experiments he performed with the Fuzzy Ooze and its creation, it vastly screwed with his biology. Was it really he who came up with his plan to ensure a lasting legacy of his kind, or the ooze gaining sentience and using what was once Grizz to spread itself about. The answer is never stated, but I like to think of the horrifying implications considering the fact he can like... melt into ink and reform despite having a skeleton.

Mammalian Inkfish mutate in such a way to resemble bearlike creatures. But not just brown bears, but a variety of those in the gene pool of bears.

NO, Octavio didn't brainwash anyone, especially not Callie. In fact, I'll lay down what I have thought about regarding what would spark the Splatoon 2 arc of Splatoon: OC. Callie fled from Inkopolis due to a number factors that left her angry, sad, and hurt. Just to get away from everything, she would eventually head beyond the peak of Mount Nantai. She didn't have a place in mind, just wanted to get as far away. Likely as there might be soldiers performing reconnaissance, they would have spotted her before she reached Octo Canyon. Being informed of her presence, Octavio would decide to personally go see her, along with some Elite soldiers just in case. And while she might initially have been shocked to see DJ Octavio freed, she wouldn't care much about that. If anything, she might have been ready for a fight as she wanted to be left alone considering her messy state of mind. While yes, Octavio certainly had some grievances with her being part of the reasons his plans failed, his anger was more directed at Cuttlefish than her. Plus, he did recognize how the Calamari Inkantation was still in the minds of many Octarians, including his own with it being such a funky tune he can respect begrudgingly. Instead, he sees an opportunity. By allowing her a place to get away from the stress of Inkopolis and her life, he could then show her the life that was for the people that her grandfather labeled as her enemies. As she stayed in in the Octo Domes, she was treated quite well there. Beyond Octavio's orders for her to be treated well, many just were surprised and excited to see her. Really seeing the conditions that these people lived in, she was utterly taken a back how much many who she met did what they could for her. Even the smallest gesture touched her heart. In return, she did what she could to bring that small bit of spark of joy to those she met. Sure, she did encounter those that she did realize were not a fan of her presence, but she didn't push back at all. Her time here not only was helping her chill out but giving her this sense of support that she desperately wanted and needed. She completely lost track of time and even any connection with the surface. She just liked being here, practically seeing the Octarians as friends and family.

With Callie having forged this bond with the Octarians as a whole, as plans were being prepared to get the Great Zapfish of Inkopolis Square, Octavio would decide to test the waters. With her basically experiencing what life was for he and his people, he eventually finds a way to bring up how it isn't fair how the lives of the Octarians have to be the way it is. They were just like the people of the surface yet were forced to basically live in these barely functioning ecosystems all because of something that happened long ago. If anything, the surface was greedy. One Great Zapfish would certainly be enough to fuel the megalopolis, certainly another wouldn't be an issue to lose. And even then, they had access to a multitude of resources that they could use to make up for any inconveniences, to which Callie would genuinely agree on. She basically turned a blind eye to the fact that he and the Octarians pulled off another heist to steal another Great Zapfish. The ultimate test would come when reconnaissance would spot Marie, with a seemingly new Inkling on her side invading the Octo Canyon. When Callie was made aware of this, she stopped to think for a little before coming to the conclusion that she was likely here cause of the Great Zapfish heist. In fact, to Octavio's delight, Callie seemed angry at the mention of Marie's name. Granted, she wasn't made aware of the news regarding her disappearance, but Octavio was careful about what Callie was made aware of. With her basically sympathetic to the Octarians, Callie would willingly aid them from the shadows to stop Marie and this 'Agent 4' from causing any more suffering for the Octarians. While she had no desire to kill, originally trying to menacingly send anonymous radio calls to tell them to back off from what they were doing if they had any sense of empathy, their continued success would cause her to get angrier and frustrated. Not only what could happen to these people that overall helped her in her time of need, but her resentment towards Marie and her family as whole. This boiling rage that would eventually culminate in the final battle.

So yeah, Octavio basically emotionally manipulates Callie. Not only giving her what she wanted but turning her own anger against those that she considered family. I mean think about it, dude is a leader. They need to be able to say the right words to get people to do things. No need for any dumb brainwash crap.

With that said, Callie did help with designing the new outfits for the Octarian Army, even designing her own outfit to fit in more with them. While she had no rank, she basically was treated like an Elite Soldier due to her own skills being formidable. Even with this unofficial rank, Callie never tried to abuse any privileges this would entail.

One of the driving factors that made Grizz initiate his plans was the fear of death. Unlike Judd and Lil Judd, he was not biologically immortal. And with the heightened intelligence 'gifted' to him via the experiments of the humans, he had the existential dread of not only death, but of having no way to pass on a legacy. With no other bears alive, he couldn't continue a lineage as was natural for all creatures to pass on their genetic material. In a sense, this idea of a new age of mammals/bears, the mutations of the Inkfish was his way to leave a lasting legacy on the world. Though however much of that initial spark is left is unknown considering how much the ooze mutated his own biology.

Salmonids have a folk story about 'The beast that came from the night sky ocean.' Basically, it is a recounting of their kind's first encounter with Mr. Grizz when he had just walked out of the wreckage of the Ark of Polaris. Yeah, his first encounter with life on Earth was the Salmonids. Not the best first impression. Even with the tech of the Octarians, many were slaughtered and feasted on by the brown beast.

Yeah... that is about it. I am super tired and trying to sober up before sleep. I hope you enjoyed this Lore Bit. I'd be happy to elaborate on some stuff. :)

[fishsprout]

SPLATOON 3 NINTENDO DIRECT SIDE ORDER ITS HAPPENING ITS HAPPENING OH MY GOD

okay. analysis time

MY GIRL AAHHH SHES BACK!! okay SO. inkopolis square. but dead. its a bleached coral forest basically. there seems to be this sorta of,, electricity thing going on throughout the trailer that we can see on the lobby tower. overall looks dope as hell

WE HAVE THE FULL FIT!! FOR BOTH GENDERS!! okay first of all what are those ink tanks? sorta looks like those IV bags. same with the outfit,, the shoes sorta look like casts and the clothes look like some sort of sensory deprivation tank suit. a lot of medical vibes going on from the white color and everything. i love it

PEARL BOT! no questions about it, marina definitely made this for her (the wives :D) its interesting that pearl isn't actually there (marina isn't either, ill talk more about my theory later) but she can still talk to us through this robot. also love how marina added the sliding eyebrows to make it more expressive LMAO

i love how we can ride pearl bot as well. i think this will be an important feature, wonder if we can control her when this happens :O

okay what are these? i think the first one on the left is a mem cake, not really sure what the others are though

okay im seeing a theme of electricity and we can see in the background it sort of glitching, so i think side order might a simulation or something. the huge orb in the middle is definitely some fucked up zapfish (where you end the level im assuming), but its glitching and then a ton of the skeleton creatures come out of it

it looks like a ton of dead fish (dedf1sh...?),, we havent seen any octolings that you need to fight yet so these seem like the new enemies replacing them for side order. though i do wonder if we'll ever encounter an evil octoling (or inkling or salmonid, who knows) also are these an entire new species? or just some simulation creature

i also love how instead of ink, its the same electricity we've been seeing used to summon the weapons. this whole realms creation definitely has something to do with marina since its side order and its super technologically advanced

okay WOA numbers. definitely something marina would implement. i don't have much to say about this but yea, im loving the tech-y themes going on. it also seems like pearlbot is helping you fight these guys since she is shooting lasers at them. if she's sorta like small fry, i wonder if we will ever get to use her as a bomb, or if she is automatic

also its confirmed that the octoling is indeed agent 8! i was like 90% sure but im glad its definite

okay the biggest thing about this trailer, DEDF1SH!!!!!!!!!

"just another bystander who got sucked in." what sucked them in? my theory is that marina somehow trapped them in a simulation she made of a world thats orderly- maybe she made it after the final fest?or is this an already existing place? maybe some whirlpool was created after octo expansion and this place exists under inkopolis square?

SHE HAS A NAME!!! ACHT!!!! also i am so glad all of the fan theories were correct and she isn't evil, just still partially sanitized. i wonder if that will be a factor in the story? more dedf1sh lore?

her glasses are different! since she doesn't have the hypno shades anymore she prolly has much more awareness now since she isnt being brainwashed, though she is still sanitized- but i think the music is counteracting the effects of that since shes a dj and shes always wearing headphones

also why is her arm bandaged? what happened to her? also all this time i thought she was wearing a tshirt LMAO

i am a huge dedf1sh fan and i have quite a few theories about her, so i hope she is an important character in the story of side order and we get some backstory

ESPECIALLY ABOUT HER HISTORY WITH MARINA!! they are both djs so that probably is important, but i am really excited to learn more about them. i think marina mightve gone missing and we are looking for her too?

the color chips seem to be like, stat boosts? and also 8 started to gain color once you add them! its sorta like deep cut's colored fingers. wonder if this will be a new feature after the dlc! i loveee customization options

this seems to be the respawn animation which !?!?!? IS SO COOL!?!?!

i have no idea what this is but. oh my god. i am so excited for this. its happening.

[unregisteredskybox]

[@ysines becuz u asked :D] im gonna preface this rant by saying i think side order was GREAT!!!! i love roguelikes i love splatoon this was a dlc MADE for me,

that being said! the lore was obviously, unfortunately, not the focal point of the dlc, especially the final boss being [spoilers!] another sentient ai. i love the little guy, but tartar [my wife] did it better. so UNDER THE CUT will be a long rant as to what i would make for the final boss of the DLC, along with some art I made for it!!! Oh, and that final boss?

Order, a sentient collection of Eight's memories that deems ITSELF to be the real copy

alright, now that i have your attention, let me go into depth as to how this all began, side order spoilers obviously:

Marina created the Memverse to help all the octolings from the metro of course, but more specifically, her friend Eight. The entire memverse was based on their memories, using them as the "blueprint" for all memcake related technology, since theirs were fully intact. Not only that, but since Eight was not only unsanitized, in a right state of mind, and an incredibly capable fighter, they were the perfect basis for those CLIMBING the tower. if the memverse is brain surgery, than Eight's brain was the example used. makes sense? This is where thing's get weird, however. Eight's memories are embeded within the memverse itself, interconnected with all aspects of it. Functionally speaking, a part of their SOUL was in the memverse, a soul with lots of desires, dreams, and determination. They fought through kamabo co. after all, their soul wouldn't be so easily tamed. Marina allotted too much control over to Eight's memories, so as soon as the memverse was online, they were alive. Alive...

And alone.

The memverse was just booting up, and considering how big it was, it would likely take hours, maybe even days. Days that Not-Eight would have to spend wandering an unfished world alone, devoid of any meaningful colour. It was designed to be monochrome as it was easier to retain memories when climbing the spire, without significant colour to distract the climber. Worst part was, this individual was eight's memories BEFORE octo expansion, so the last thing they remember is falling after fighting agent 3, waking up here. Through time, other memories would spark creation within the world, from the sanitized octolings who helped on the project, but it was still a long and lonely time for Not-Eight. However, as I said, they're the blueprint for this world, and was interconnected with it, so they had a form of control. It wasn't a conscious decision, but rather, the unbearable feeling of loneliness caused the simulation to pull people IN, hoping to satiate the desire for connection the god of this world demanded. And, with our Eight also being integral to the memverse, the system decided the perfect fit would be to bring in their best bud Agent 4! ...Who Not-Eight didn't know because they've never met.

But, after a quick explanation, Four, smart as they are, picks up on the situation: something went wrong in the Memverse, and Eight only remembers her previous memories, and not her current ones. Alright, they've got it completely wrong, but it's the logical conclusion. The two do find solace in each other, however, as they wander the Memverse searching for...anything really. As this happens though, something starts to happen to Not-Eight. This entire time, they've felt like something was missing. Like when you wake up from a dream, and feel like you can remember it exactly, yet it immediately fades away. That, but constantly. They assume Four's story is correct, since it would explain the feeling, but it doesn't offer them any comfort. There's also Not-Eight's emotional state, since they've been wandering the memverse for days now, and Four's only done it for maybe a few hours. It's taken a toll on their mind, and by proxy, the Memverse itself. Remember, it's connected to them, their loneliness was why Four was here in the first place. As such, with their desire to be fulfilled, to remember something, the Memverse starts to overwork itself; it brings the spire into existence, the Jelletons, all of the challenges, much faster than it should, all for its God that doesn't even know it's a god in the first place. With this speed comes mistakes, or in computer terms, glitches. Just as Not-Eight's mental state effects the memverse, the memverse's stability effects Not-Eight. They start to, if only gradually, undergo a process known as Bleaching; when a Soul and Body are separated into two individual beings, the soul in the memverse, and the body outside of it. [This replaces greyscaling.] But, Not-Eight doesn't have a body, just a simulated one to house their soul. That means, while attempting to climb the spire with four, they start to deteriorate. Pieces of them glitch away, corals grow and cover their face, and features just disappear. It's an incredibly painful process, one that Four doesn't really understand, so they try to solve it in the only way they know how: getting to the top. It's hard, especially considering they have to carry Not-Eight up there, and have no colour chips [Only weapons they summoned the same way Pearl did], but they make it to the control room. Pulling up a monitor, they scroll to a section covering the Admins of the spire. Marina, Pearl, Four themselves, and...two instances of Eight. One of them is glitching out, so that's the one Four goes for, not bothering to question why there were two. They click the button to reset the palette, but...that was probably the worst thing they could've done. In an instant, Not-Eight's mind was flooded with the code of the entire memverse, it's innerworkings, what it was currently processing, and their identity. They knew within an instant that they were just MEMORIES, a shadow of another person. Yet, they also knew how much power they had over the world. Without another word, they immediately Bleached Four, creating the Parallel Canon boss and Order Defense Force. They knew that the "real" Eight would come for them, to subsume them, to replace them, so they would need defenses. Though they acted like a tough general on the outside, in reality, Order was horrified. They were, mentally, a fourteen-year old child who failed to escape to the surface and instead fell into what was practically Hell. A cold, barren landscape with no colour or emotions, a place where they would die by being assimilated into another person. The mask placed on the Parallel Canon boss wasn't something to control them, as they already had that power. Rather, it was to make other beings look more like themselves after they began to decompose. This, is Order, the commander of the spire:

The red bits on their body are pieces they can no longer use due to the Bleaching, which is basically trying to separate their soul in two, considering they don't have a body. All facial recognition they once had has been wiped clean, and they're more coral than octoling at this point. Now is when Eight and the rest of the gang enter the memverse, but how Order presents themself is different. They're still a dignified smoke cloud, as they were after Marina, but they harbor an irrational sense of hatred towards Eight, one that isn't cold or orderly. Boss fights are now, as many people have suggested, Eight fighting the person the palette belongs to. Inky clones of Marie or Big man, who dissipate into a cloud of smoke once you defeat them, with Order taunting/insulting Eight after the fact. However, palette orders are slightly changed, as the last one you get before Eights is Four's. Now, the Parallel Canon boss up to this point would've been the hairless clones specifically, because Order is saving Four for last. Once Eight reaches the top, Order does another monologue, and brings out Four in hopes that Eight's emotional attachment to them would make them give up. [It does not, as Eight is INCREDIBLY used to fighting their brainwashed friends.] Once Four is defeated, they're freed from the Bleaching/mind control, and exposes Order's identity in their fit of rage. Now, Order did genuinely like Four, so seeing them express such hatred for them puts them in a really terrible mood, especially considering Eight is one step closer to replacing them.

at this point, Order freaks out, and Eight probably would as well, considering that they look exactly like each other [Though Order's freakout is more anger and Eight's is more confusion.] Order's one goal now is to kill Eight and replace them before they can do the same. It probably has some sort of AM I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream esque monologue [can you see the inspiration? i love it so much] and deems itself to be the one true "eight." After escaping the tower, with a bit of exposition from both Four and Marina, the entire group basically figures out what's going on. Their respective reactions, however, are a little different, mainly between Eight and everyone else. Most of the group feels sympathetic for Order, as they're a 14 year old who's only known loneliness, the fake sunlight, and is currently at risk of being replaced as a person. Eight, however, has NO sympathy for Order whatsoever, an opinion they would definitely voice. They toiled and troubled through Kamabo Co and the spire just to get their memories back, but now their friends are arguing that they shouldn't? That they should remain without memories just to keep a fake person alive? I've been writing this with more of a story perspective than a gameplay one, so this would probably cause some divide in the group. How the Memverse works to me is after freeing Marina, all of them could come and go from the simulation as they please, like a normal VR. And, because I loooove angst, I could see Eight sneaking into the simulation when everyone else is gone and fighting Order themselves, since no one agrees with them.

Here's where I split the timeline a little, because honestly? I don't know how this should end! I could see two options, option 1. With plenty of time and convincing, they learn to coexist, Order eventually becoming like a little sister to Eight and the two of them living in harmony, completing each other. Option 2? One of them kills the other, permanently, and basically absorbs their mind, memories and bodies, just fitting with the personality of whoever won. IDK!!! I could draw smth for both maybe? Or if you, the lovely reader have any ideas???

And if you have any questions about this (or the aforementioned ideas) don't be afraid to drop an ask!!!!!!!! ooough that was long. thanks for reading : D

[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.

[lunar-insanity]

Okay so it's been like, a few months since I put anything into this tag BUT! Quadpath became Octopath lol. I added a 5th party member because the NPC I had planned them to meet later in the campaign ended up gaining story significance thanks to CoTC, and then I wanted the full 8 so NOW GUESS WHAT LOL

We just had the last session of Chapter 1 today, picked up & met all 8 travelers (The last two won't officially join until a little later into CH 2) and it has delightfully set up everyone's beginning arcs.

One of my dear players just picked up the Hunters and god damn ran with it, making a whole new clan and we just kept coming up with more and more and I am VIBING like hell with it. I fully intend to let them keep having fun with the lore potential.

So, just to quickly say, the campaign is drawing upon both Octo 1 and CotC, with some ideas from Octo 2. It takes place 2 years after Octo 1's events.

SO! Let me introduce you all to everyone! in OCTOPATH order ^^

First up, Orinthia!

She was met last, and for good reason. Orinthia here is from G'roha, and a Scholar. She says she's here with a sponsorship from someone and is here to research Orsterra's Gods... and legends... and artifacts... stuff like that ;P

I'm doing my best with G'roha, considering the lack of much information beyond what CoTC's wiki is giving. I am gonna work hard with what I got.

Her main colour is ORANGE (yes despite the sheer amount of black. Most everyone is wearing black from that country anyway)

Next up, Callum Faulkner! One of the core 4!

A Merchant who was attempting to build a Merchant company called the Selenites, but has been sadly thwarted at nearly every turn by "Crows" (That's what my two players have been calling them, I'm sure you all know who exactly I'm talking about)

He's a pretty jovial and seemingly easy going guy, but he doesn't really divulge much about himself, other than that he's not really getting on well with his patron god Bifelgan.

His main colour is WHITE/SILVER

AND NOW! ONE OF OUR MAIN BOIS! The one who kicked off this adventure: TORBIE!

That's him at the start, and right now at the end of CH 1, he has an update!

Art done by his dear player @pklcha ^v^ Torbie here is the Hunter, from a Hunter Clan called Northmaw, that my dear has been pouring so much into, like... holy fuck, I am so happy they are so hyped about this! This boi is out to make his Legend, and he may or may not apparently have a hotline to his patron God!

I wonder how that will turn out lol ;P (I have such fun plans)

His main colour is GREEN

(They just fought a Heavenwing and he cooked that bird with lightning)

NEXT OF THE CORE 4! My dearest, murderous Apothecary, Ozella Hawthorne ;P

Met around the same time as Callum, Ozella was found being trafficked by 'Crows' in a massive crystal. Which everyone has since learned, was a huge Blood crystal. Thankfully that clean up was done easy but all they know of their mysterious Apothecary is that she's scary, intimidating, is out for revenge, and has an armful of Blood Crystals that are growing there. Ozella is out to find out everything she can in pursuit of her real target, the one that did... everything to her.

Ozella's main colour is PURPLE

And now, for the main who turned this from Quadpath to Octopath again! Percival Mac Alasdair!

A current Knight Ardante (Warrior), the Core 4 Travelers met him in Flamesgrace when a man not dressed for the Frostlands was seemingly on a crazed bender. They tracked him down into the Cave of Origin where the man truly seemed crazed and had to take him down. Percy then joined the group when his captain sent him to learn more about where the crazed man had come from and what is going on.

The team then unfortunately found out about his affliction in Swark'ii: The crazed affliction, a sort of berserk mode, also affects Percival, though he does his best to keep it under control. He's doing his awkward best tho!

For those from CoTC, he's originally from Emberglow soooo ifykyk ;PPP

His main colour is RED

Next up, the last of the Core 4 and my other player! Altair Aalto!

(And of course the art Star did of her dear character!)

Is that a mechanical arm? Yes. Star asked me if she could? I said convince me, she convinced me, and thus I pulled some bullshit out of my ass using the as yet unseen continent of Gaborra to make it work. I love it, I'm rolling with it, it's fun ;P

A former soldier of Hornburg, Altair spent the past couple years in Sunshade under the new management after a certain //cough cough// proprietor died to afford that new arm, delivered by Callum (though there was a small hiccup, the arm did get delivered lol)

Now he's on a journey around Orsterra to take momentos of his fallen brothers in arms to places they wanted to see. And recently he said "I'm an Open Book that no one wants to read."

That was said in jest and inflicted 1d6 of damage on all of us INCLUDING HIMSELF

(It's not that no one wants to read him, it's that everyone else has skeletons right now in their closet, and to read is to invite being read into in turn and theeeey don't want rn. They just met, it's gonna take a hot minute)

Obviously, his main colour is BLUE (And the only one who's OBVIOUSLY wearing their colour)

Up next is the other traveler they met today but won't be joining just yet: Thursday!

Callum and Torbie met her in Lower Bolderfall (Percy and Altair also met Orinthia there in the upper section) when she tried (very poorly) to steal something from Callum.

Callum immediately recognized that she is a VERY new tealeaf, possibly trying to play at one even, and is over all just very annoyed by the brief encounter. Those two are gonna have some fun times later on ;P

Thursday's main colour is BLACK

And to round out the roster, met on the trail to S'warkii after a truly ABYSSMAL Giant Boar encounter: Helena Ayleward!

A 50 year old from Wispermill, their current Cleric (and former farmer) despite the lack of Faith, who's currently trying to FIND it again. After the events that befell her village 2 years ago (IFYKYK wink wink wink), Helena went searching for where she could place her faith. A re-encounter with Ophilia Clement encouraged her to travel the breadth of Orsterra to find it again. Wherever faith may lie. At least Aelfric sees fit to answer her healing magic.

Helena's main colour is YELLOW

(Don't mess with Grandma, that is a pitchfork staff and she's got farmer strength)

SO! That is everyone for this campaign's troupe of Travelers! They've all gotten along quite well so far, other than a few mishaps and a lot of teasing banter and bickering (and that Orin and Thursday aren't officially apart of it yet)

I am having, so much fun, they are having so much fun, this is gonna be great. HA! Chapter 2, here we come!

[asktheoctoorderandcontrolgang]

(Further response from Pearl from Reddit post)

[tunabunk]

MORE “War on Whiskers” AU AU LORE:

Part 1: Tuna’s adoption:

LOREEEEE:

• Pearl and Marina were already thinking of having another baby; however, Marina herself was hesitant, especially since they were technically older now.

>> Everything changed, when Tuna showed up at Marina’s mentee-

• After Tuna grew on the Houzoki family, and once Tuna told Marina where they had come from: It was time for Tuna to get adopted (for financial reasons, and to give them a better life in their 20s)

Part 2: MORE of the neighbors of the lil’ town!

• Essentially, some of these dynamics were carried over from ‘Octo Order and Control’ such as teen Frye and Coconut still becoming teen parents to lil’ Shiver.

Part 3: Disc’s friends

Here are some more lil’ critters:

• Marie/Kushi (Shiba Inu)

• Sheldon/Rocky Top (Mole)

• San/Dango (Shiba Inu/Mole hybrid ‘pup’)

(Eat up this lore, babessss ✨✨✨)

[averageartistamber]

So, my thoughts on Side Order

Okay, so Side Order’s been out for a few days, so I may as well give out my thoughts on it. Obviously, this post is going to contain spoilers below as I go into more detail about my opinions and observations.

I’ve completed four runs so far (almost got five but failed near the end).

Overall, Side Order’s pretty good. It’s a lot of fun, a little rough in some areas, but worth the wait.

 First, let’s talk about mechanics.

Splatoon’s gameplay works well with a rogue-lite gameplay loop, and it’ll easily keep you occupied for at least a couple of hours (Some folks have 100% completed it on release day, but for the average player I’d reckon maybe 15-20 hours?). The permanent upgrade system allows a degree of control over the difficulty (even if it can be a grind to unlock things).

The chip system is cool, especially later on when you’ve made some really goofy yet strong builds. The Pearl Drone is some of the most fun stuff we’ve seen in the series so far. Letting her be almost as overpowered in the gameplay as she is in the lore is just really funny.

One thing that I feel does bring it down though, is the lack of variety. After a few hours you do start to notice that there’s only about five different floor objectives, and there’s not that much in terms of enemy variety either (although later floors add a mechanic where Battering Lentos can carry other Jelletons around on their backs…Which is a thing. Definitely would have preferred a few new guys instead.)  

As for the Jelletons…they’re…eh. They don’t really have the charm of the Octarians or Salmonids, but the devs seem to have intentionally singled out some of the worst aspects of those enemy rosters to design these dudes. With such a small bestiary, about half of them are annoying “screw those guys” (the flying sprinkler assholes and the Stinger But Even Worse dudes come to mind)…Which I’m not sure if that’s bad game design or really good game design honestly. They do their job as obstacles and video game enemies, and the designs are solid.

At least it’s not reskinned Octarians again.

There only really being five different bosses, with three in “rotation” (and one you only fight once), which honestly feels like a huge wasted opportunity. Would have been cool to have maybe a handful more options. Maybe even have an exclusive boss for each palette on Floor 20 where Eight has to fight a screwed-up version of whoever the palette represents. In this case Parallel Canon would be exclusive to Agent 4, and Marina would have a slightly buffed version of her fight, maybe with a different barrier mechanic to differentiate her from Overlorder.

And as always, the soundtrack absolutely slaps.

Not sure if I’m personally going to bother with 100% completion, since apparently the reward is a few secret lore files that I’ll probably find and read from the wiki or something.

Story, Lore and Characters

The story is serviceable, it’s pretty much what you’d expect from Splatoon’s storytelling at this point. There’s interesting stuff there which either isn’t explored in detail or is relegated to background lore files you can unlock and read. That being said, the lore we got is cool. Like, we all guessed that the Spire of Order was some kind of VR thing Marina made, and finding out she made it in order to heal victims of KamaboCo and restore the sanitised is both in-character and a very nice tying of ends from Octo Expansion.

I will say that if you haven’t played or are otherwise aware of the plot of Octo Expansion, some things might not make the most sense (ie. you’ll probably scratching your head over who the hell Acht is and why they’re neon green.) so it’s best experienced after reading or watching a video on the previous DLC to have the full context.

Thank Cod they didn’t make Marina the villain or have her be locked away for most of the game waiting to be rescued. Although she did get put under mind control, which I kinda expected…Seems to be at least one the Story Writer’s favourite trope at this point. Or just an odd choice of running gag. This story feels more character-focused than events and plot-focused, so not much really “happens”, but we get some substantial character interactions that make up for it.

The limited cast of characters works very well in the story’s favour. Adds to the weird lonely and isolated vibe of the Memverse. Pearl and Marina are great as usual, and there’s a surprising amount of scenes and dialogue for Pearlina shippers to lose their minds over. Acht/Dedf1sh is an effective straight man to all this, providing a foil to the other characters. The vibe of “Can we please talk about literally anything else” after the aggressive Pearlina banter is entertaining. It’s just really cool that the background musician characters are starting to get more relevance.

Cipher doesn’t do very much, but might have one of the best character designs in the franchise so far. It’s alright (I think the character uses It/It’s pronouns).

On the other hand, I personally think Order/Smollusk might be the weakest of the Splatoon big bads. They don’t really have the charisma and backstory intrigue of Octavio, the presence and build-up of Mr.Grizz (who to be fair had two a whole game prior to his stint as a villain) or the menace/“creep factor” of Commander Tartar.

In fact, Order kinda feels like a toned-down or Bowdlerised Tartar, as in which Order’s goal is similar and similarly horrifying, but they haven’t been getting away with it for god knows how long and you don’t ever see the result of their plans, (No ghastly Bad Ending cutscene of everyone getting their minds destroyed by the Memverse or anything), unless you count the thing they turned Marina into. I guess the whole Virtual Reality setting makes them feel like less of a threat? Maybe it’s just me.

And I dunno if this is just localisation weirdness, but did they HAVE to make his weakened form converse in Uwu-speak?

Although this seemingly isn’t what happens, I do quite enjoy the idea of Order/Smollusk slowly getting rehabilitated and redeemed as the gang hangs out with him (and kicks his ass) several times. Unfortunately, dude seems to be really clinging hard to the “Evil Overlord” shtick, which ultimately turns the character into a one-note laugh when we could’ve had a fun little arc.

One more thing about characters….

WHERE IN THE FRESHLY FRIED AND FILLETED FLIPPER-FLOPPER IS AGENT FOUR!?

The fact that they have a sort-of presence (being the Splattershot is explicitly called Agent Four’s Palette and not, like, Squidbeak Splatoon Palette, as well as the Parallel Canon boss) really seemed to be hinting at Agent Four making a physical appearance. Maybe it’s cut content? Maybe they’ll find their way into the Memverse in an update (like with Callie in 2’s Hero Mode)?

Them being the only Agent not to appear in Splatoon 3 just kinda sucks. Like, even Nintendo themselves seem to in on the joke with them being the un-favourite (see the “supposed to be a [BIG SHOT]” line from Pearl). But I really hope that one day Agent Four gets to be something that’s a bit more than a joke, y’know?

…So this ended up being way longer than I thought it would be. Might come back and maybe discuss some of the new lore a bit more, but that’s my thoughts about Side Order. I ended up really enjoying it, and I’m pretty excited to see if this leads to more experimental stuff with Splatoon going forwards. I’d give it a 7/10.

[summerf0x]

splatoon for the ask thing

Favorite male character

This one’s a bit hard considering how most of the leads are female, but probably Iso Padre. He has a nice design and the fact that he washed out of the Deepsea Metro’s testing system but has been riding the train for so long he’s forgotten his own name is a really quick and effective way to make the player weary of the place. I like that he gets to make to the surface eventually as well. Hope he’s enjoying his coffee :)

2. Favorite female character

Who else but Agent Four? Maybe I’m a bit biased because I played Hero Mode a ton when I first got Splatoon 2 due to the lack of online (seriously scummy Nintendo) and really got into the deepest recesses of Octo Canyon and therefore her character, but there’s a ton of cool stuff about her that no one else aside from the other Fourheads seem to care about. Parallel Canon leaves me with so many questions I wish the game would answer. Just you wait, she’ll come back in Splatoon 4 and they’ll throw her a grand parade! You’ll see! You’ll all see!

3. Least favorite character

This one’s also hard, but I think I’d have to go with Smolusk. All of the other villains have something that makes them interesting, from Octavio’s mix of both a leader put in a hard position to protect their people and DJ jargon to Mr Grizz’s corporate persona eventually morphing into the giant bear trying to cling onto the past. Smolusk has that too, being a literal manifestation of Marina’s fears of chaos and what it does blown out of control. They’re fine, I guess. I just don’t really find baby characters that entertaining.

4. Favorite ship

I don’t really have one of these for Splatoon, but Pearlina is one of the main ships for a reason. An ex-weapons engineer escaping to the surface and meeting a headstrong, freshly kicked out of her band inkling who wants to form her own band with her practically writes itself, and Side Order is filled with stuff with them to the point where their final song is called SPECTRUM Obligato and they bring back the greyscaled world with rainbows. Octo Expansion is my personal favorite with them as well.

5. Favorite friendship

Four and Eight. I saw the official art of them being roommates and something just clicked in me. I could talk more, but I wrote an in-progress fic about them as well.

6. Favorite quote

“Right on time, kid. I got work for you.”

Salmon Run is my favorite game mode hands down, so almost all of Mr Grizz’s voicelines are carved into my mind.

7. Worst character death

Splatoon’s lore has many deaths, but I’ll only count the ones we see on screen. Captain Cuttlefish’s fake out death was just kind of unnecessary. I knew he wasn’t really going to die, so it just felt awkward as the giant rocket literally right in front of us started to take off.

8. “This made me so happy you have no idea” moment

Parallel Canon’s reveal. It was a short lived happiness, but a happiness nonetheless. I was literally that one wojack pointing image, and was so ready to see what would happen next with Four. (So much for that)

9. Saddest moment

Going through Kamabo Co and realizing what happened to all of the other test subjects that succeeded. Going through hellish trials all in hopes that you’ll one day make it to the surface only to have it ripped out from under you as you get sliced to death and your remains will be used to essentially zombifiy people.

10. Favorite location

The Ruins of Arc Polaris. It’s a cobbled together station welded together with human signs spread around the place with GRIND RAILS and a GIANT ROCKET IN THE BACKGROUND. I was pretty saddened when it didn’t return in Splatoon 3.

[dr-spectre]

I’ve been seeing a lot of people in the Splatoon community say that Splatoon 3 ROTM will be the last time we will see the New Squidbeak Splatoon which includes Callie and Marie, but like… no?! Nintendo hasn’t outright said “hey y'all, you like the Squid Sisters and wanna see them continue to grow and develop? TOO BAD BITCH!! THEY AIN'T COMING BACK AFTER THIS GAME HA HA! IT'S JUST OFF THE PEAK AND DEEP PEAK NOW BUDDY! ENJOY!!”

When that person said in the Splatoon 3 direct “witness the finale of the Splatoon Saga” she meant the finale of the trilogy set up from Splatoon 1, the story of the New Squidbeak Splatoon vs the Octarians. The Splatoon games up until this point have always had a consistent throughline of developing the Octarians and giving more insight into the conflict between them and the Inklings. Octo Expansion was about diving deeper into the Octolings, them reaching the surface and living with the Inklings. In Splatoon 3, it seems like the Inklings have accepted the Octolings and are living peacefully alongside them. (Or they are just really dumb and still don't realize that Octolings aren't just Inklings with weird hairstyles.) 

Splatoon 3 ROTM marks the finale of the New Squidbeak Splatoon vs Octarians storyline as DJ Octavio’s entire army literally got turned into mindless furries and he became allies with the New Squidbeak Splatoon at the end of the game. Whether he’ll stay as a good guy remains to be seen but by judging Smollusk’s dialogue in Side Order where he says that Octavio is just flying around in his new machine nowadays, he’s probably gonna stay at the very least neutral to the Squidbeak Splatoon. His mission to save his race is basically over now, Octolings are living on the surface and his army is a bunch of furries. We will most likely never see the Octarians as enemies ever again in the series and the developers will move on to different threats never seen before and start a new storyline, or maybe they’ll focus on the Salmonids for Splatoon 4 but we’ll have to wait and see. 

Now I wanna roll back to the Squid Sisters, listen, aside from the Inklings, Callie and Marie are the most iconic characters in the entire franchise. If you tell a random person “do you know Splatoon?” They are probably gonna think of the Inklings, the unique gameplay and then the Squid Sisters. The only other characters that rivals their popularity are arguably Off the Hook, Deep Cut are still recognizable but they aren’t on the same level of popularity as those two groups in my opinion. 

It would genuinely be a bad financial and story mistake to never ever bring back Callie and Marie for Splatoon 4 and onwards, they are extremely iconic and profitable characters that people LOVE and wanna see more and continue having brand new adventures. Now, do I think they are gonna have the same role as before? No, I think they may take a break or step back from the Squidbeak Splatoon and let Captain 3 take control over Agent 4, Neo Agent 3, etc.

For Splatoon 4, I am guessing they are still gonna perform as the Squid Sisters, but in the main story mode or dlc I'm hoping that the developers take an Octo Expansion/Side Order route with the Squid Sisters where you get to hang out with them and learn more about them. How are they doing currently? What was it like for them at the start of their careers? Some more info about how they were as kids? How do Callie and Marie look back on the events of Splatoon 2? How do they feel about the other Idols and characters? 

There’s still so much left for these girls and just never seeing them again after Splatoon 3 would be a massive mistake and destroy all that interesting potential and lore. 

Also, the way that the Splatoon world works is that it’s an ever evolving world that follows our time, meaning that the characters age and go on new journeys as the years go by in our world. We see updates on past characters and are shown where they are at, the only times when that doesn't happen is when a character is fucking dead (Commander Tartar and the Octoweapons except for Octostomp) or they are in a location that isn’t the focus of what the writers wanna tell (C.Q. Cumber), heck even a character like Iso Padre who was a small side character in Octo Expansion managed to make an appearance in Splatoon 3 and show that he actually made it to the surface! 

Callie and Marie are not going anywhere, you can rest easy. The credits song "Wave Goodbye" is not called that in Japanese, it's called "Star of the Sea Breeze" and we all know that the localization team can make some pretty bad mistakes....