thecosmiccloud

[thecosmiccloud]

Was it confirmed that Acht speaks inklish in bancala or anywhere else? In a post, you also mentioned the accent being an intentional tone. Is it a mix of both tone and octarian accent or explicitly just the tone?

I hope this ask doesn't sound too confusing. I wanted to make a note of how Acht comes off in speech. Thank you.

short answer: there’s no canon info specifying whether Acht speaks the inkling language. however, in the JP version, Acht speaks in a similar way to other Octarian characters, with said specific way of speaking for these other characters very likely denoting accented speech. but...

long answer:

using katakana, which is otherwise used for loanwords and foreign names (in modern times) for words that are written in hiragana/kanji gives a feeling of "difference". it’s very commonly used to denote accented speech or a foreign language in media. examples of its usage by Octarian characters that canonically originate from the domes:

(1) DJ Octavio:

throughout all three games, DJ Octavio speaks in all katakana, and seemingly in a slow, deliberating way, as every word is separated by a space (rather than a space after a few words like with the rest of splatoon's text, which is instead of no spaces like normal JP writing, which is likely done for readability purposes)

サイキン　シモベタチガ　シッソウ　シテイタハ

(2) Marina:

how Marina speaks in the JP version has been fairly well-documented, but just in case: she speaks in the polite keigo, specifically teinei-go; the literal textbook Japanese that people learning it as a second language are first taught. however, she uses tame-guchi/casual speech with Acht exclusively (in both Side Order and #3-etude), and it’s unknown whether she used it with her other Octarian peers. she also very occasionally uses katakana for some words that are otherwise written differently.

side note: her lyrics in Off the Hook are written in katakana, and are canonically in the “octo language” (イイダが歌うタコ語はカタカナになっている).

the JP version of Octo Expansion explicitly states that Marina spoke in “broken Inkling” when she first met Pearl (more directly translated version here). Marina’s "let's start a band” quote as per Pearl:

MC Princess >思い出した！山でノドのウォームアップしてたらいきな り「アナタ探シテタユニット組ミタイ」って言われて、ストーカーかと 思ったわ

is written in all katakana besides the kanji portions, and is more blunt than the teinei-go we see her using otherwise. 

(3) Agent 8:

as a silent protagonist, Agent 8 obviously doesn’t get a lot of opportunities for dialogue, but there are some. their Mem Cake poems are all written normally. however, in both of their relationship charts, they speak in full katakana with spaces between every word.

スゴイ センパイタチ

(4) Acht, in chronological order:

#3-etude: narrates and speaks with no katakana (*)

Side Order: uses katakana instead of the hiragana for sentence endings, as well as inconsistently using katakana for nouns/adjectives/verbs/etc. in both spoken dialogue and the letters they write to Marina. some examples:

イイダは外に出て　良い仲間に出会えたようダナ ...ま、カノジョのコトだし、心配はしてなかったケド

カラーチップは、その結果によっていくつかの系統に分けられル系統ごとに　色や模様もチガウんダ

Ordertune: writes with no katakana

considering all the above examples, it’s easy to imagine that they’re speaking the Inkling language in Side Order, as they’d obviously be speaking the Octarian language in #3-etude. however, their speech patterns are rather casual/laid-back and don't have the faltering nature of other examples. it’d also make you wonder when Acht would’ve had the opportunity to learn the Inkling language before being sanitized, since Marina needed to be taught it by Pearl. the fact that it isn’t present in Ordertune could be a reflection of it being written rather than spoken meaning that an accent wouldn’t express itself… but they do use it in their written letters to Marina (I guess it could indicate they improved at the language that much in a short amount of time)

(if it doesn't represent an accent or different language, than it'd still beg the question of what language they're all using in the elevator... and this is probably going beyond the scope of the question, but maybe Marina is really enough of a genius to design the Memverse in such a way that anything said can transcend language barriers?)

there’s other examples of atypical katakana usage that likely represent an accent besides Octarian characters (jellyfish store owners, Spyke and Murch), but also likely other distinct usages (Tartar, as robot characters speaking in katakana in media is a staple. also whatever reason Frye's lyrics are written in katakana). the few line of dialogue from sanitized Octarian enemies in Octo Expansion are written in all katakana:

タイショウヲ カクニン... シマツセヨ

So finally getting to that asterisk: despite no other atypical katakana usage throughout #3-etude, the very final line is this:

イイダがボクたちの前から姿を消したのは、それから少しだけ後の話ダ。

a single katakana sentence ending finding its way in, as Acht narrates on how Marina would soon leave all of their lives. considering the subject matter of where this comes up, it makes me view their katakana usage as chiefly representing their hollowness post-sanitization, which they're eventually able to start recovering from. though ultimately that's just my interpretation.

[thecosmiccloud]

One year after Side Order’s release, I still find myself thinking about its story. While parts of it left me disappointed, I’ve greatly enjoyed diving into its lore over the last 12 months. And today, I’ve put all of my thoughts together into this massive recap/ review. Hope you enjoy!

[thecosmiccloud]

Padre does mean dad :3

[thecosmiccloud]

(↓ link to translation here)

Ordertune: Dedf1sh's Playlist Translation

(scans below for visuals)

Translations: @magicalgirlfia and myself

Scans: @lumenid

[thecosmiccloud]

New video! Some thoughts, analysis, and ideas about the result of Grand Festival and how it might influence the story of the next Splatoon game!

[thecosmiccloud]

From my college days, painting based on Norman Rockwell’s “Rosie the Riveter”

[thecosmiccloud]

who invited bro

[thecosmiccloud]

Agent 8!💕🐙

[thecosmiccloud]

in this vast sea

[thecosmiccloud]

Squid Sisters & Team Past

[thecosmiccloud]

As someone who has always loved Splatoon lore, I was actually very disappointed by Splatoon 3's Story Mode. In this video, I finally go into detail about why I believe Return of the Mammalians fails to meet the standard set by previous stories in the series. This is probably the most negative video I’ll ever make about Splatoon, but I hope you find it to be an interesting and entertaining breakdown!

[thecosmiccloud]

hi, I can’t comment on your sanitisation video on YouTube so I’ll put it here instead :) : Hi you probably won’t see this, but I just wanted to let you know how immensely grateful I am for this video. I can’t even express how happy this made me. It sounds kind of dumb but as a HUGE fan of splatoon lore, specifically octo expansion, I have spent a lot of time thinking about the lore of sanitisation and it was making me very confused and really stressing me out everyday. This video is so well written and clears so much up for me. I was so happy watching it when you brought up all the points inconsistencies I had been thinking about. Previously I thought nobody else cared about them and it was extremely frustrating to me, I felt so relieved that I wasn’t the only one. You are my favourite YouTuber and I had previously loved your video about splatoon and what it means to be human. You explain things so well, your videos are masterpieces!! I only have a few questions. Marinas dev diary states that post sanitisation, the structure housing the soul is left a hollow husk. This wording of the structure being hollow and not the soul seems to imply that sanitisation removes the soul, making me question why eight and the sanitized octolings still have one and can respawn, and how dummy information can be injected into the soul if it is gone. However, I think this is likely to just be a mistranslation or clumsy wording, and it is supposed to be that the soul becomes a hollow husk, or that the “structure housing the soul” is, confusingly just the exterior of the soul(the bit we see when they are splatted) but it has no real substance to it anymore- no thoughts or memories. Also, sanitized octolings are said to lack vital signs. I assumed that this meant eight would have them, you would assume that marina would’ve mentioned it if they didn’t. So would they be lost in the second phase of the sanitisation? I can’t really say. Also, I have one small theory. I believe the green skin may not be a side effect of sanitisation but a conscious choice made so tartar can determine the difference between test subjects and kamabo co workers. Possibly the substance causing this colour change would just be added to the sanitized ink , explaining why the octolings coming out of the belly phase ink vats are green. The only issue with this is achts eye colour changing back to normal after the reversal of their sanitisation. So I don’t know. Finally, I am a bit confused about one point. I’m not sure if tartars plan is to destroy all life with the sanitized ink by sanitizing every creature and letting them die out I guess as they have no memory or direction, then letting a new race emerge from the sanitized ink which contains supreme dna of diligent and hardworking and strong test subjects- or if the plan is to sanitize everyone and that the sanitized creatures would be the new, better race tartar talks of? I’m not sure. But Seriously, thank you so much for this video you can’t imagine how happy you’ve made me :)) 

Thank you so much for the kind words! I'm really glad you enjoyed the video! A lot of the questions you listed here are ones I have myself, but I'll try my best to explain how I see each of these things.

The wording around souls is pretty confusing. It isn't entirely clear if the soul contains memories or if it is literally made OUT of memories. I wish I could tell you what the "structure housing the soul" is, but I don't have a great grasp on it myself. Like you said, Eight has a visible soul and can respawn, so it wasn't removed completely. Notably, we do know that Eight at least held onto a single memory: the Calamari Inkanation, which was described by Cuttlefish as being "etched into" their soul, so that might end up having some importance. Until Nintendo themselves gives us more information, though, that's unfortunately all I can say.

My guess for why the Sanitized Octolings have souls is because by being injected with dummy information, they are implanted with what is effectively an artificial soul. There's no official explanation given, but this makes sense to me.

In terms of the vital signs thing: I definitely think the decline of normal bodily functions is something that happens after injection of dummy information (step 2). I see it as Tartar basically piloting their bodies around while doing the bare minimum to stop them from falling apart. Eight is probably still running like a normal person.

I always saw the green skin as their bodies being "stained" from the procedure. Tartar coloring them intentionally (rather than it just being a side effect) might explain some of the inconsistencies, but seems a little strange to me; I don't think it's a coincidence that the Octarians match the color of the blended ink used to create them. I honestly think Acht staying green in Side Order (despite being "cured") is further evidence of this; otherwise I think they would have turned back to their normal skin color to show that they are no longer being controlled. Their eyes change back to yellow to show that they are themself again, but the skin color remains as a sort of scar.

Lastly, Tartar's plan. In English, Tartar's states that its plan is to "destroy this world and start anew," allowing the "ultimate lifeform" to emerge. In Japanese, it says that it created "a seed that would bring forth a perfect world with a new humanity" (translation from this rassicas video). To me this sounds like something beyond Sanitization. I think Tartar used Sanitization as a sort of test run before it would straight up play god and create brand new life out of the biological material it had been saving up. So yes, it would kill everything on the planet and replace it with its own species.

Hope this helped! Thanks again for the nice words and thanks for reaching out! This is my first Tumblr ask so this is fun for me too lol

[thecosmiccloud]

Forgot to post this here, but I made a fun video where I do an in depth exploration of Lemuria Hub and hunt down all the real life references I can. in real life. go watch it <3

[thecosmiccloud]

[thecosmiccloud]

Hiiiiiii eighttt i’m your biggest fannnnnnnnnnn

[thecosmiccloud]

(10/22)

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[thecosmiccloud]

Agent 8 is my favorite Splatoon character, but recent lore has made certain elements of their story a bit more confusing. In this video, I dive into the history of the Mem Cakes and cite a developer interview to build an argument about why Eight's character was handled the way it was.

There's also a small theory at the end about how Commander Tartar might have used the Mem Cakes in Octo Expansion. Hope you enjoy!