#grindrails

[nmtltlz]

Never forgive never forget Rift Apart for being a game about dimensionality, reintroducing Torren IV with a mysterious, unknown “fixer” character, and then not talking about or alluding to Alister in any way whatsoever

[skeletalheartattack]

[pcktknife]

also I hate those stupid ass ink things on bonerattle I miss you ark polaris

[twipsai]

@cephalonheadquarters haha get it cuz. Ark Polaris. The Ark. (coughs violently) anyways i love ur sonicxsplatoon designs graahhhh

[wereh0gz]

Most devastating thing you could tell me is that the Big we see in frontiers isn't real

[dedf1sh-fan]

Just beat After Alterna for the first time, and I feel like god

[raccstarlogan]

[C] Volt Skateboard

Commission for jstem_z over on Instagram! His fox boi Volt is just grinding on a rail on his skateboard, bein cool as always :p

[raconabhorrent]

been fascinated with Finding Frankie today and while I definitely think there's a lot to praise about the game and the story and the characters,, i'm also hella confused as to WHY (not what) things in the story were happening...

not saying it needs like HELLA lore like Poppy Playtime or an ARG like Amanda the Adventurer or smth but even if u think about the story of the game as completely self-contained (as in, it has no effect on the universe it resides within),, some of the things that happen happen for no reason other than they were written that way??? which, again,, isn't a bad thing,, but i'd def like to see some of the plot threads introduced in the game developed more if they do end up making sequels...

!!! SPOILERS AHEAD !!!

things like,, why are there two frankies??? why is one evil (capitalism) and the other one just tries to stomp on you?? why are the mascots sentient or whatever??? were they built like that??? do they have human something inside them (human organs, human soul, etc.) or are they just inanimate objects that have their own consciousnesses of some kind????

who started the game show? who's running it? who created the mascots? who are the people watching the streams? does the government know or is this like squid games? how have they not gone bankrupt previously? how have the police not been notified BEFORE of hundreds of people dying before you arrive?

what is the player's motivation for being a contestant? it seems like your character tried really hard to get that vhs tape... why does frankie get mad at you for "ruining his fucking gameshow" and then turn around when you somehow survive falling into the incinerator (which,, what??? did you use the grindrails?? is that even the player???) and be like "omg let's be business partners buddy"???

how parkour physics work?? (i can suspend my disbelief on this one the most, honestly),, HOW IS THIS FACILITY RUNNING??? IS FRANKIE RUNNING THE WHOLE THING??? are there humans behind the whole operation that you're not seeing?? who called the polices???? why do they never bring that up again??? WHAT IS A NOOB NOOB?!?!??!1 why do they explode why do they do a little dance when ur chasing them why do they have blood inside them i'm assuming its blood cus all the supposed blood in this game is black is it dried?? is it old blood??? is it stylized?? is it ichor of some kind??? what??

maybe my tendency to overthink is getting carried away here,, probably,, but i def want to understand more about this setting bc there's so much that can be done with it, even if it's explained away with silly cartoon logic or something.

[rozzywell]

Grindrail Gateway ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

[vividviolence]

Alright after having played the entire campaign & indulged in a bit of the postgame, here's my current rankings for every stage & boss in antonblast! via this tierlist right here

My thoughts on each individual stage will be under the cut, ordered from favorites to least favorites :]

The Levels...

I feel like Pinball Mire and Mad Mall are overall fine levels dragged down by a single really annoying gimmick or two. This is to say that the pinball is the single worst transformation in the game and I found the time limits & trash goblins to be a fuckin' chore.

Bomb Candy Mines and Cinnamon Springs really only have the crime of not being as interesting as later stages. They're largely good & fun to go back to, but I'd easily pick something like Mysterious Glasshouse due to their environments not being as cool to me.

Devilled Gardens is a really fun stage thematically but having to sit through Moonits' dialouge every single time I replay the stage kinda kills a lot of its replay value, & while I think the timer mech is a really really fucking cool setpiece it's pretty boring mechanically.

Boiler City is a really solid introduction to the game! Not much more to say, outside of the bombastic chase sequence at the end it doesn't really seek to blow your balls off too hard- which is good imo. it makes a strong first impression & does what it seeks to do well.

Same can largely be said about Crimson Factory, but it gets to be slightly higher up because it has damn good music and my favorite paul location in the game.

Outside of the grindrail sections The Mysterious Glasshouse is an overall solid stage. It maybe goes on for a bit too long, but each mechanic it introduces is used well enough that I'll give it a pass :]

Slowroast Sewer has some of my favorite mechanics out of any stage. The water, the sewer shark, the rat enemy, all of these are fun to play around & master.

I dunno if I'm in the minority but I fuckin' love replaying Hell Manor. I LOVE when games bring back every previous mechanic and force you to use em in new ways, and Hell Manor exceeds at that with flying colors!

Big Bath. Probably the single most unique stage in the entire game, still insane to me that they had the balls to just actually send you to non-euclidean poolrooms hell. I also love that while it's clear the stage isn't trying too hard to take itself seriously, it also isn't too much of an explicit parody either. The weird fucked up geometry is played pretty straight, and really the only comedic elements are The Duck(s) and the fakeout at the end.

And finally, for my favorite Antonblast level, Concrete Jungle!!!! I love Concrete Jungle so fucking much. The music, the enemies, the gimmicks, the stage concept, all of these come together to make the most solid gameplay experience in the entire game for me. It's the absolute platonic ideal of what an Antonblast stage should be imo...

Shit I still have to talk about the bosses.

Okay fuck I spent so much time talking about each individual stage that I'm just gonna shoot each boss rq. h

Brawlbuster does a fine job as an introductory boss, but outside of that he really doesn't have much going for him. Hey, at least his animations & design are cool! I respect him but do not feel much for him.

Probably unpopular opinion but outside of the third phase I found Ring a Ding boring. Didn't really dig his first phase track & I think the fact that he's literally just a massive bell with eyes is kinda lame for what's meant to be the penultimate boss of the game. Third phase was sick as hell though I'll give him that!

I like maulbuster :] unfortunately the way her fight changes your ui was really really confusing and I had to spend several attempts just figuring out how I was supposed to damage her. there was a short period where I legitimately thought I had to attack the bullets instead of dodge them! It was confusing! Once you get a handle on things the fight's fun & pretty easy though

I don't have much to say about smallbuster other then she's cute & her fight is fun :]

I love Freako Dragon. Big pachinko ball dragon... honestly high contendor for my favorite design in the whole game. Really his fight would be higher if it was just easier to control anton during the second phase, that's like the one thing I don't like about it.

Tallbuster is my favorite of the bossbusters. I should probably swap him and freako but I think he deserves to be in the top 3 :] anyways his weakness is very clearly conveyed, his attacks aren't too too hard to dodge, and really he just lacks any glaring flaws imo. He's like THE antonblast boss to me.

I'm not fucking talking about every phase of satan but it's a really damn good ending to the game. first phase busts your balls appropriately well & the following phases are all compoundingly intense, but not really in an overbearing way. it's good boss yes yes

Jewel Ghoul fucking rules. 10/10 design, 10/10 theme, 10/10 attack patterns, he's very deserving of the placement of best antonblast boss to me.

Anyways wow that's all. I don't have a way to end this. I'm tired. lol

[mliter]

Mario Kart World.

I never really thought much of the next iteration of the mario kart series. Not even what it would look like, just the concept in general. We've been with 8 for 2 console generations. I guess this is what we'll be with for the next 2.

This was the very first exclusive to be revealed for the Switch 2. The brand new console from Nintendo. It promised more power and features, with Mario Kart World being the debut title to show it all off.

So, how do you make Mario Kart even crazier? Every game had some sort of new feature that became the gimmick we'd get to play with. This time? An open world. (And 24 players.)

Everything here, you can just drive through. I get the same feeling of "how the hell" i got when i was exploring BOTW's Hyrule for the first time. Visually, this world is well designed. Everything is connected. It really is a world. I wonder how much planning this took. You can just about go and do anything you want. That first moment where you fly off the course and not have lakitu snatch your ass for the first time and you realize you’re really free is something special. There’s a lot of charm and detail to be discovered by the player. There something awesome about being able to see the track looming over the horizon. Speaking of details, a personal favourite are the live weather effects. In previous titles, you were stuck with whatever weather they designed that track around. Now, almost any track can take place at any point of the day. Visually it keeps things interesting for a brain like mine.

Speaking of visuals, I thought this game looked similar to MK8D, but i was quickly proven wrong. Due to the power that the switch 2 now boasts, everything looks much better compared to their previous counterpart. Lighting, models, graphical fidelity, everything. Especially the character models. The entire cast got a visual refresh to be more in line with the cartoon-y direction they seem to be taking the mario cast in. The look from the 2010's is completely gone now. It's most noticeable with characters like Mario. Don't believe me? This game’s even got a photo mode to show it all off.

What are these guys wearing? New to the game is food items that unlock alternate costumes for the character you’re playing as. It was fun looking for all of the costumes for my favorited characters. It makes you think about these characters’s fashion sense. Daisy and Luigi’s wardrobes have proven to be my favourites. My all time favourite costume from the game is Luigi’s farmer costume. It’s the hat for me.

Also... That rainbow road...

Gone is the zero gravity mechanic, replaced with being able to straight up drive anywhere. The walls? Go ahead. Rail grinding? Before Sonic? Sure. If you're reading this around game release, you've surely seen the clips of the ridiculous shortcuts skilled players have been finding with these new tricks. A whole new layer of depth and player expression has been slapped onto Mario Kart and i love it. How will players handle this turn? One may hit the wall, one may just drift. One may just hit the grindrail.

Also, to accommodate this, all of the karts transform depending on the situation. Karts get monster truck tires when off road, and these cool water jets when on water. The tires also have a cool squash-n-stretch effect when charging up a jump. It's all very charming.

The game revolves around this open world, with both Knock-out tour and races. You’ll find yourself actually driving to the track you’ve selected in Grand Prix and online, and Knock-out tour is a brutal elimination style game mode that has you racing against multiple people. It’s a crazy mode. You’ll find yourself having heartbreaking losses, and triumphant wins that’ll have you feeling like a beast. It’s fun, but brutal. I’ve only managed to win 5 myself.

Now here’s a sleeper hit from this game. The soundtrack. Because there’ll be so much off time in the menus, and waiting for the next match to start, and free roam, the folks at Nintendo went and created a soundtrack of 200. Ranging from remixes and new music for the new tracks. The remixes are arguably one of the best parts of the game. The entire Mario library is represented here, with interesting takes on classic songs you will recognize. I realized I was in for it when I heard that EDM remix of baby park.

Yeah. this is going to be an all timer. The game looks great, feels great, and plays great. I wonder how DLC is going to look like with this new formula though...

[sunsetconcert]

literally every video of mario kart world is made by the least curious and most boring people ive ever seen

like the game was advertised as having wallruns and grindrails and nobody fucking uses them

[numbertumberz]

Kris on a grindrail

[scrufflesksunnide]

Cooperation

The siblings making grindrails together, they're having fun!

[loremaster]

oh yeah. speaking of yomi.. that reminds me of my dream last night

there was some sort of like. big multiplayer competition in a video game world, had a bunch of different characters from different dimensions isekaied in but they were given powers from a predetermined set and had to learn how to use them. then they could eventually unlock the other sets

but yeah i was playing as vivia, or seeing it through his pov i guess. and most people when they spawned in they’d get a blue ping on the map saying what their objective was and outlining their personal story quest in a to-do list on the side. but vivia shows up and the blue only flashes for a second and then it turns into a single red dot on the map. no objective listed. absolutely no clue what to do at all

then the red dot starts getting closer. and he turns around and it’s YOMI FU”CKING HELLSMILE walking menacingly out of the darkness right towards him. so vivia fucking bolts. …for some reason i remember him running on all fours.

then he meets up with other players and kinda goes along with their team doing quests and magic and whatever

Eventually yomi shows up again and starts slaughtering npcs and the team has to ride the grindrail (splatoon) over to the next area of the map

but then vivia gets separated, ends up with another team, ends up with a completely different move set (he uses fists now???)

and then he gets this weird flash forward premonition where he’s holding hands with yakou?? even though?? yakou died??? yomi killed him?? but somehow it’s clear this is the future that will come to pass. and vivia’s all like huh… it doesn’t make logical sense but i guess this is the future i’m fighting for

then they’re about to do some beyblade arena mini game when the simulation ends and i am no longer vivia but myself and also i’m in high school science class and they’re asking me to turn in homework I forgot to do. Nightmare ending. i blame yomi

[sick-ada]

CICADA AGENTS MASTERPOST

bc i keep forgetting that i havent actually put much abt my agents on my tumblr and i need to expose the max number of people to my blorbos as i can

going under the readmore cause this is gonna get longg

(this has been in my drafts for over a month)

CB-808 (agent 8, she/her) and Bubbles (agent 8 AGAIN, a SECOND TIME, CAN YOU TELL EIGHT IS MY FAV, he/him)

they're "twins", meaning they both woke up without any memories, saw that they were the only two nearby who looked similar (being the only non-sanitized octolings in the metro) and assumed that meant they were twins

they do all of the tests in octo expansion as a duo! this makes some tests easier (like girl power station) and others much harder (like the one with the dualie squelchers and the grindrails, since they have to share the weapon between them)

this kinda fucks with the computer systems and all their mem cakes are blended (lmao) together. they have to work together to figure out whose memories are whose, to varying success levels

very very very codependent. theyll get anxious if you take the other to another room where they cant see each other. proto (cap3) convinced them to do one test separately and CB got so worked up she punched the side of the carriage and permanently dented it

they didnt try a second time

ON THE TOPIC OF CB DENTING THE METAL: shes freakishly strong, in an artificially-modified way rather than a very-strong-but-normal way

after the splatoon 1 campaign, elite soldiers deserted en masse since nearly all of them were at the concert/final-battle, leaving a gaping hole in the octarian military. in an attempt to fill that gap as quickly as possible, volunteers were "purposed" to become enhanced super-soldiers

(ill probably make a dedicated post abt it when i remember but "purposing" is what they do to make octarians (the stubby tentacle guys) into all the different forms you see in-game. debateably ethical to begin with, SUPER unethical to do to actual octolings)

im bad at timelining but she signs up to this when she's like,,, 13. still kinda blobby

functionally, what it did to her was make her freakishly strong (she breaks the handles on doors ridiculously often) and about 50% more resistance to enemy ink. girls a tank. however, she has trouble regulating her strength and therefore cant superjump accurately since she overshoots her target every time

it's also super painful. she permanently lost her voice from screaming too much and cant speak any louder than a whisper, but she knows octarian and inklish sign languages so she gets along fine

her name is CB-808 bc that was the serial number printed on a livestock tag in her ear

BUBBLES ON THE OTHER HAND. not physically fucked up. mentally though................

his parents were some of the elites who deserted after hearing the Inkantation (in my headcanons it's something that can be resisted, but only temporarily). he wanted their approval more than anything so them leaving him was devastating

hes not actually a dude he just think he/him is a cool set of pronouns. heard someone say "him" once and absorbed it into his gender

he lied abt his age to become a scout/reconnaisance (how you spell that??), even if nobody was really gonna check given the situation after splat1

where CB is built like a tank, he's tall and lanky, and also scarily smart. combined with his lack of filter he'll literally just stare at you for 5 seconds before saying some shit like "oh i see. youre scared of us because of our competence and your perception of our alleigances compared to urs"

captain 3 is scared by him more than CB. as they should be.

his name is Bubbles because he has circular markings on his upper arms and CB is not very good at coming up with names (shes an amnesiac teenager give her a break)

theyre both 15 during octo expansion, and 20 by splatoon3

after reaching the surface they move in with flora (4) and his roommate bola (oc) to form the Leftovers Squad, an inksports team and maybe-gang

these two are wonderfully terrible influences and teach the two of them how to defy authority n shit, it's great, ill talk abt it more in their specific sections

CB mains the dynamo but plays it like a splat roller because she's so strong she can swing it with about that speed. Bubbles mains the e-liter and has nutty aim. the kind of duo that makes people realize theyre ex-soldiers

both of them are too obedient to authority, leftover habits from the military even if they don't fully remember their time there. CB is much worse in this regard, since she was more heavily conditioned to follow orders and Bubbles is observant enough to realize when theyre being taken advantage of

FLORA (agent 4, he/she used interchangeably)

part of the Leftovers Squad! a young punk squid that revels in rebellion and violence and showing people what's what

almost entirely deaf. he had pretty bad hearing to begin with, but loud raves without ear protection worsened it significantly. his hero headset functions as hearing aids but he doesnt usually wear them unless he's on NSS missions or patrols or w/e

came to inkopolis when she was 14, but it wasnt intentional. her parents were the kind of awful perfectionists that expected their children to be equally as perfect, so decided to leave flora in inkopolis bc she did awful in school

he was taken under Bola's fin (get it it's a fish pun theyre fish im hilarious) and became enamoured with the adrenaline-fueled, bloody-mouthed rush of fighting, in and out of inksports

the best way i can describe her is "violent for the sake of violence and gleeful about it". she starts a fight with someone twice her size just for the fun of attacking and taking a beating. probably something wrong with her. i love her with every fibre of my being

has absolutely zero respect or trust in authority -- especially adults, which includes Marie since she's 19 in splat2 and he's only 16

still goes along with her whole "hey go save the zapfish" spiel because A) she cant actually hear what marie is saying B) marie gave her some free fancy hearing aids so she GUESSES she has to return the favour somehow C) she wants to fight some octarian soldiers D) she wants to steal her own zapfish (she succeeds, it gets a tank in Leftover Squad's living room) and E) she thinks itll be REALLY funny to fuck with marie

shes right btw. its hilarious

she only follows orders when it's funnier than disobeying them. she puts zapfishes back in levels she wants to complete a second time. she teaches octolings how to play poker (and how to cheat at poker). she lets a squee-g splat her "to see what it feels like"

if callie wasn't missing marie would NOT put up with his bullshit, but alas.

respects agent 3 even less than marie, when they meet, since at least marie has a sense of humour

he's the one who suggests that CB and Bubbles move in with him and Bola after Octo Expansion. less out of his own goodwill and more out of a combination of morbid curiousity and a sense of "bola has a habit of taking weird inkfish under their fin, walking in with two soldiers will be really funny"

gets hypnoshaded 5 years post-splat2 (during the splat3 campaign) and has to be rescued by the leftover Leftovers (lmao) and Off the Hook. octavio doesnt really convince her to put them on, theres no realistic way he could do that, so he physically overpowers her and puts the shades on

he gets rescued tho! so it's all good and absolutely no interpersonal issues come from it i swear (lying)

Bola (they/them, not an agent)

another member of Leftovers Squad and, arguably, its leader

is about as comfortable with violence as flora (read: very comfortable) but, unlike him, doesn't enjoy it for its own sake. when they do a violence, it's for a specific aim and a purpose, even if that purpose seems inane or petty

theyre the leader of the leftovers mostly because theyre the only one with a goal or any sort of purpose. also because theyre by far the most charismatic of the bunch but mostly bc theyre the only one with any direction in life. the other three are happy to just help with that

(calling it a purpose is doing it too much justice, it's a grudge. a massive fucking grudge against Squidforce as a brand and an institution and a company. they want that thing obliterated)

when they first came to inkopolis (they were like 12), they werent a citizen of inkadia so they had no ID and weren't allowed to do official Squidforce battles, so they went to unofficial/illegal/unregulated turf wars to make some cash

this got shut down by squidforce

they decided "no. fuck this. fuck you, im gonna fuck every single one of you over, die." and swore vengeance about as dramatically as a then-13 year old could. luckily, bola was a very dramatic, kinda blobby 13 year old

they met flora when he came to inkopolis and introduced him to the concept of You Can Just Fight These People If You Don't Like Them

would have agreed to housing CB and Bubbles if Flora had just asked but this is fine they guess

theyll be the last to admit they have a compassionate streak, but they have a soft spot for the underbelly of inkopolis and everyone who lives there, most of which are underrepresented or downtrodden by the system that squidforce upholds

theyre an octoling but not an octarian (citizen of octaria, the nation that lost the great turf war and now lives in the domes) like CB and Bubbles are

instead, theyre a weird subspecies of octoling that went back in the water while the "normal" species of inkfish stayed on the surface. they still have most of the same features as an inkfish, like the shapeshifting, but have more aquatic adaptations like gills and razor sharp teeth and being able to swim in water unharmed (ik inkfish dying in water is only dubiously canon but for my headcanons normal inkfish dissolve like ingame if they fall into water)

they also have sepiism! better described in this post this means their ink/tentacle colours are limited to blacks and browns. their subspecies is more prone to this colour mutation than other inkfish since black is a pretty good camoflague colour if youre in the deep ocean. idk i wanted an excuse to make them look cool dont think abt it too hard

they absolutely despise proto (captain 3). aint no world where theyd trust the militaristic authority figure that orders around the two ex-soldiers theyre trying to teach how to be independent

not to mention the grudge they form against the captain after the hypnoshading incident that i will elaborate on i PROMISE its in the next section

aFTER I TALK ABOUT THE LEFTOVERS SQUAD AS A WHOLE. IF I CANT ESCAPE THEM NEITHER CAN YOU

when they meet, post octo expansion, the twins are 15 and the punks are 16, so theyre 20 and 21 respectively by the time splat3 rolls around

flora gets squidnapped just after splat3 campaign (which lasts like a day for reasons that will be evident once i get to neo 3 and "little" buddy), so proto and the squid sisters are in alterna monitoring the situation and doing cleanup while it happens. this will be relevant later. foreshadowing is a technique where--

a couple months after the twins move in, CB discovers inksports and makes the biggest saddest puppy dog eyes at the rest of the squad until they agree to making a league team together. it's also called the leftovers

CB and Flora love it because they enjoy physically fighting people (CB likes that she doesnt have to be permanently hurting people during it, Flora would like it better if there was a lil permanent injury tbh). Bubbles enjoys it because his sister enjoys it and also because he enjoys using his big brain to do sick predicts and snipe people from across the map where he's nice and safe. Bola only joins at first because telling the ex-soldier, who theyve been trying to convince that you dont need peoples permission to do things, "no" would be counterproductive. they hate every moment they have to fight in a squidforce battle. but then once the team gets well-known they realise that squidforce cant get rid of them anymore and uses their platform to absolutely troll the shit out of squidforce

like when they go on interviews and stuff they constantly mention how shitty squidforce is and "yeah i personally prefer [smaller organisation]'s inksports, they have way better maps and modes, squidforce just has a monopoly so..." and squidforce cant do shit bc theyre the charismatic face of this popular new team and itd be bad publicity

CB and Bubbles dont have real IDs cause theyre amnesiac teenagers who made up their own names. flora and bola get them fake IDs that claim CB stands for Courtney Blitz, making bubbles into Bubbles Blitz

CB often gets called Clam Blitz. CB does NOT appreciate this. Bubbles thinks it's hilarious and only answers people who call him "Blam Blitz" for like a week

Bubbles mains the E-liter but likes lots of different anchors, CB exclusively plays her "splat roller" (a dynamo swung really fast), Flora learnt how to play every weapon from the splat2 campaign and can play basically anything (but usually goes for something close-range so his bloodlust gets put to good use. heavy weapons tend to turn into bludgeons in his hands) i dont know what bola would use tbh. i wanna say a splatana but this is set mainly in splat2 so they wouldnt have those. if anyone is still reading this far pls make suggestions in the notes 👍

CB and Bubbles dont have any sense of money (in my hcs, the domes work more on a communal property + bartering system) so they have no reason to object to pearl giving them inordinate amounts of money. bola and flora have to have a conversation where they ask whether pearl is their sugar daddy. this is agonising for everyone involved.

they used the money to buy an unreasonably large bed that they all sleep on together bc theyre my ocs i make the rules

i promised it was proto next. here *throws them like a javelin through the screen

Proto (captain 3, they/them)

i shld probably start at the beginning for them bc their actions through all the games are the catalyst for a Lot of plot

they were raised in calamari county, their parents were friends with callie and maries parents so they hung out a bunch when they were kids. basically the third squid sister, though they get way too bad stage fright to become idols like the other two

hanging out with those two so much also meant a lot of exposure to cap'n cuttlefish. proto idolised him to no end, decided they wanted to be just like him when they grew up

when the squisters went to inkopolis to become idols, proto became their manager. they were also recruited alongside callie and marie into the NSS when craig decided to reform it. ive never actually watched a playthrough of splat1 so i dont actually know how the plot works other than "craig is there and then callie & marie are there" so the next part is probably gonna be more canon parallel than canon adjacent

also because im just making up random shit about splat1. thats probably also a factor

in this version of canon, the octarians dont steal every zapfish you grab at the end of the levels, only the ones used for the boss levels. all the rest are ones owned by the octarians, mostly bred in captivity cause where tf else are you gonna get the power for running the domes

proto isnt an active agent in splat1, it's callie and marie who go in and do the fighting while proto is the one coordinating them and making plans. their plan is to steal all these extra zapfish to strain the domes' resources and then perform the inkantation during the final confrontation to make the maximum number of soldiers (especially elites) desert, all so they become incapable of stealing more zapfish or launching a retaliatory strike

and cap'n cuttlefish approves so surely that means that this is a good plan and any suffering caused is a necessary evil and it's not like this paranoid old man has any biases or grudges that would impede his judgement. surely not

side note: instead of inner agent 3, CB and Bubbles have to fight inner agents 1 & 2. inner-callie targets CB and inner-marie targets Bubbles because i think the roller-charger parallel is cool

the plan works! elites and soldiers desert in droves, neutering the octarian military capability, and octaria has to focus what resources it has on not starving (which it barely achieves, theres a famine regardless) rather than attacking back. it also creates the conditions for bubbles' parents to leave him and for CB to undergo the extremely painful and inhumane procedures to become an enhanced supersoldier but proto doesnt learn this til octo expansion

the squid sister stories proceed basically like canon, but proto dedicates themselves to agent work while marie focuses on the radio and callie focuses on acting. theyre out investigating the metro with craig when callie gets squidnapped so they dont find out until octo expansion finishes (like a few weeks after she gets rescued)

SPEAKING OF OCTO EXPANSION. PROTO IS THERE THE WHOLE TIME

they dont fight CB and Bubbles, theyre a terrible fighter and a bit of a wimp (and those two are kinda terrifying), instead they watch when they get overpowered and captured by a squad of sanitized octolings (those two got sent to investigate since people kept vanishing when they went that way). they still get the same "youre down here because of me" guilt since they chose to watch rather than intervene

they later got into the metro proper and found those same people but like super amnesia'd and a little traumatised already, even if theyre not sure how much of that was already there, and then they get even MORE fucked up because the metro is fucking Like That

also guilt bc they dont actually help with the tests beyond advice thru the comms. can never have too much of that

they get CB and Bubbles out of the blender by removing their special limiter and spamming splashdown on the top til it breaks, getting exhausted and passing out afterwards, letting tartar control them

the hole in the ceiling gets made by CB throwing a bit of broken blender really hard

usually they would get their ass kicked by either CB or Bubbles, let alone both at once, but the two of them are so exhausted and fucked up and a little injured that the fight is closer than anyone would like. the fight ends when CB grabs them by the ankle and slams them into the floor. think that one scene from the avengers with the hulk and loki

unfortunately, since CB is way too scared and full of adrenaline to properly regulate her strength, she completely crushes their ankle and lower leg. since it doesnt splat them, they dont respawn, and everyone is too preoccupied with destroying the NILs statue to get them to a hospital, the leg wasnt salvageable and they had to get it amputated below the knee

theyre an ambulatory wheelchair user, after that. sometimes crutches instead, but they tend to go for the chair in alterna bc crutches and ice do NOT mix trust me on this. i only had crutches for a couple months but i fell on my ass SO much

anyway they reconnect with callie and marie and things are fine and good and theyre totally not avoiding the twins because marina kept updating them on relevant files she found during OE and theyre struggling to reconcile the idea that these are enemies with the undeniable truth that nobody has had a greater negative impact on their lives than them.

probably would be worse if marina told them the twins were 15. good thing she doesnt!

oh yeah i forgot ages. proto is 17 in splat1, 19 in splat2/OE and 24 by splat3

anyway yeah in their efforts to avoid the twins so that they dont have to think about the wide-reaching consequences of their past actions, they dont actually leave them with any way to contact them while they go check out the Crater. itll only be a quick mission, right? no need to worry about it

alterna happens

then they and the squid sisters come back to cuttlefish cabin to find it completely empty, then discover that flora is still in the hospital after having the shit kicked out of him because he was hypnoshaded and they didnt have any low-tide ink because marie wasnt there and they couldnt contact her and they tried and they tried and why didnt anyone answer and

theres a big cool dramatic confrontation where CB and Bubbles reveal they got all their mem cakes and know exactly who proto is and what they did and would have forgiven if they had been honest but now they cant trust their captain and formally quit the NSS

honestly theres more stuff for proto after this but i ahvent actually figured it out yet.

personality-wise, theyre overconfident in their own abilities and underconfident in the abilities of everyone else, they struggle to give control of anything over to someone else. because why would they allow someone else to be in charge when they know that their own plans are automatically so much better?

as they learn about the actual consequences of their splat1 plan via CB and Bubbles' descriptions of their mem cakes, this confidence falters a bit. they spent so long with that plan being one of their greatest achievements that they cant reconcile with the reality that it had devastating consequences for innocent people

this is not at all helped by Flora, who makes no secret of his opinion on proto. at first he's just fucking with them for the sake of fucking with them, the same way he does for marie, but it gets more antagonistic when proto reacts with genuine anger rather than the good humour marie does. flora absolutely does not take kindly to people trying to exert authority over her so she aims to piss off proto at every opportunity

it is very easy for flora to piss proto off

OKAY I HIT THE CHARACTER LIMIT ILL MAKE A SECOND POST FOR THE REST