#I really like learning about splatoon lore :)

[doomed-era]

my friend showed me a video about splatoon and now im obsessed with the idea of "dark nintendo"

[strawbuddy-luv]

Tim Drake would love video games sm tho, and I do not see that represented enough.

He'd be a total nerd about it to. He'd rant and rant and rant about all the games he's played and all the cheats and the secret cut scenes and the hidden lore. He'd be a game theorist for sure, probably has a YouTube account dedicated to it since he's such a little detective. He knows the true lore of FNaF.

He'd definitely speed run minecraft, rp to probably. First person shooter? How about first hand experience. FNaF fanatic oh my God he'd LOVE that game so fucking much. Absolutely a Sonic kid, like you cannot convince me otherwise. Mario less so but you knows hes probably played every single game anyways. Pokemon? Every single one memorized down to their exact coloration. Stardew valley? Do i even have to ask. Animal crossing? Perfected his village, villagers and all. Zelda? I cannot prove it but he has a lino Cosplay somewhere and he's worn it for under cover missions. He'd slay in DTI, have like 5 different mansions in Bloxburg, defiantly played Royal High until the capitalism became to close to the real world, probably has hundreds of avatars to. An expert at games like fnf has played half the mods to ever be made for that game. He's been playing fortnite since it's release. He'd have one of the top scores ever in subway surfers. He'd download those "complete your restaurant" type games and finish them in two weeks and it'd only take that long because the game forces him to wait sometimes. Candy crush is his bitch 100%. He'd download mobile games and finish them in a day and then keep redoing them till he's perfected his method. He has played and replayed countless driving based games, can learn almost any new one in 6 minutes. Going back to the speed run thing I think he'd just enjoy speed running games in general, and gridning. He'd love minecraft so much omg-. Last of us? Played. Iron Lung? Played. Cuphead? Played. Detroit Become Human? Played. Kindergarten? Played. Sallyface? Played. Splatoon? Played. He'd love small games to I just am not that into video games to know any to list- :').

I mean think about it. Going off the "Tim's parents are never home" version of him, he'd have so much time to just sit around and play video games. He has the money to buy them and the time to spend getting ungodly good at them. He'd have amazing equipment, and it'd give him some sort of community even if he doesn't really interact with it personally. Like if he's not out stalking Batman or at school, he's playing a video game. Even after he starts working for Batman, he'd overwork himself to the bone and he'd STILL find a way to go pro gamer in-between. Probably for like 0.5 seconds whenever he's got to stand up to get himself another energy drink.

Like please, video game nerd Tim Drake on my knees begging you add this to your stories and headcanons. Have him introduce other batfam members to video games. HAVE HIM INTRODCUE BRUCE TO CANDY CRUSH AND MAKE THEM GET INTO A COMPETITION ON WHO CAN GET TO A HIGHER LEVEL FASTER. He shows Damian animal crossing. He gives Jason a gaming console and like 50 different shooter games and one copy of stardew valley as a joke and did not expect Jason to get so into it. Him Cass and Steph would love those Roblox horror games. He'd force the whole family to start having game nights and they'd have a world on Minecraft that has the most insane lore you've ever heard. Like please give me more video game nerd Tim and tell me your headcanons on what games he'd like and what he'd introduce different batfam members to in the comment I am begging you.

[dr-spectre]

It's getting late where I'm at but. I just wanna come here and say, a big thank you. Just... thank you all.

Thanks to all the peeps who followed me, liked my stuff, reblogged, commented, everything. Even though I have a small following, it's better than nothing you know?

I can't believe people are calling me THE Callie guy. And like... going up to me, sending me cool stuff, asking me questions and giving me cool insights, or people wanting to learn more about Callie and just Splatoon lore in general. It's awesome man. I'm so incredibly thankful for it!

Being able to FINALLY voice my stances on stuff and have people see it... it's just... it's amazing. Being rewarded for rambling and ranting and YELLING and clearing up misconceptions that used to ruin a big arc in my comfort character's history for me... and having people go "Hey... this guy kinda cooked..." man... ITS JUST. I LOVE IT!!! I FEEL LIKE I FINALLY HAVE A VOICE!!! I finally have an outlet for things I've always wanted to talk about!!

I really hope I don't sound self-absorbed or selfish! I'm not trying to be! What I'm trying to say is that Tumblr is fucking AWESOME! I LOVE BEING ON HERE! You guys are great, keep being cool!

...and keep having the correct takes on Callie... especially her arc in Splatoon 2 and using the correct terminology....

.....or else.....

HAVE A GOOD DAY!!!

[toldentops]

talk about kinoga. NOW.

GAH I JUST THINK THEY ARE SO............. well first of all. they are so cute and handsome. look at them right now

Second of all I have one million feelings about them and it's barely an exaggeration. For those who aren't familiar, Kinoga is one of my beloved splatoon ocs and I think about them all the time. Originally made when I tossed a "what-if" idea about Trito, my first splatoon oc, who was once part of the octarian military, if he runs into one of the old squad members on the surface, and Kinoga was born with the help of @igneouskit. Brainworms ensue. its terminal. check out their toyhouse

(extremely brief rundown for those unfamiliar with splatoon lore the relevant bits are as follows: some octolings are part of a military that were forced underground after a war with the Inklings over land due to rising seas. At some point during the plot, the song Calamari Inkantation is sung by the two idols, which is apparently imbued in the DNA of all creatures and compels octolings to see the surface. In the splatoon 2 DLC, octo expansion, some octolings are recruited by a shady company called Kamabo Co, which entices participants to enroll in tests through a deep sea metro, and offers the "promised land" as a reward. Completing the tests entails collecting parts of a blender, and the "reward" is getting blended into sludge. This sludge can get injected into other octos which causes them to lose their will and consciousness ("sanitization").

timeline-wise much of their story takes place between splat 2, through octo expansion, and is currently in the splat 3 era. When they were still in the military, they ended up hearing the Calamari Inkantation like Agent 8 did. Kinoga and their squad were incredibly close to each other. Unwilling to just up and leave the underground but wanting to give their squadmates a better life, Kinoga hears about Kamabo's "promised land" and wants to seek it out, so they leave the squad to embark on the metros and promises to return. They do not <3 Some of the tests make them encounter sanitized octolings and they begin to question what's really happening in the metros. Their tipping point is when they run into Agara, one of their squadmates that decided to enter the metros to look for Kinoga and ends up being sanitized. Kinoga, facing the crushing realization that their squadmates had followed them, unaware of the danger, narrowly escapes being killed by Agara and eventually makes it to the surface.

This results in them experiencing a good amount of crushing guilt about leaving, they never knew it would lead to the possibility of dooming their whole squad that followed after them because they were loved and trusted. Kinoga had no way of letting the rest of them know that they should turn back and it's so. AAUGH. They have no choice but to continue on, finding life on the surface and eventually making it to splatsville with the belief that the rest of the squad may be gone. Agara and Trito end up running through the metro, Agara gets sanitized and Trito survives, albeit without getting a nasty scar from an accident that nearly got him sanitized.

Trito makes me insane also. he's my funny silly rabbit. I care about him so so much. trito goes through the metros, to maybe catch up with kinoga or meet them at the promised land, trusting that it was worth leaving if Kinoga decided it was worth it for all of them too.

Trito, upon learning about The Horrors in the metro later, realizes what could have happened to Kinoga and Agara and is unwilling to return to the rest of the squad with this knowledge, struck by the possibility that they're both gone. <-also has to realize that these horrible things have been happening to all the octlings that left to go do the metro tests. He too, eventually escapes to the surface and makes it to Inkopolis.

Years later, Trito, on a day trip to Splatsville, encounters Kinoga on the streets, and they lock eyes. and. fuck. They thought they were dead and had dealt with the grief and accepting that they were gone, effectively pushing those thoughts aside, and now they're physically in front of each other and they have to deal with it again. they make me SICK. Kinoga knowing that trito went to the metros and followed them and made it out also. Trito knowing that Kinoga experienced the horrors as well and survived. Neither of them able to return to tell the rest of the squad but they're both here, alive on the surface and aarrghhhhhhh. now they have to cope with this. they hastily exchange contact information, having to leave each other again, and end up meeting later to really catch up.

I'm so normal about kinoga and their relationship to trito post-domes. They don't even realize that they miss each other so much because they accepted that they were already gone. Seeing how much the other had changed. Being each other's only tie to their previous lives and it dawns on them that they never can move on from this. Kinoga struggles to tell Trito that they couldn't bring themselves to go back, not knowing if they could escape a second time, not knowing if any of their teammates were still left, already dealing with occasional spurts of being wracked by grief. Trito feeling the same, wanting to forget the terrible things and find happiness on the surface, but disheartened when learning that Kinoga also couldn't bring themselves to go back to look (though now that the both of them are together.....they do eventually muster the courage to go back to the domes to look for their old squadmates). It like. sucks so bad. They didn't intend to abandon their squad, but they were given circumstances where they just could not, and none of the other squad members could have known and suffer for it. aarghhhhh.

They end up at Trito's place, Kinoga and Trito end up being very affectionate towards each other after reuniting, definitely Trito being clingier...Compelled to hold onto each other and not let go, not after feeling so much regret about leaving in the first place. It's like. they left once before and terrible things happened out of their control, so they're allowed to hold each other as close as they can so it doesn't happen again (THE DEMONS) (GRIPS). it's irrational for Trito especially to think that he'll never see Kinoga again when they have to leave, since they live in separate cities and have to go in the morning. and kinoga knows it's irrational and they do their best to comfort him anyways because. who could blame him for wanting to keep them there after being gone for so long and so unexpectedly. The slow, crushing experience of not fully registering that someone could be gone and it creeps up to them until it hits. auuuuugh. they have to be so tender with each other, not really knowing where to take things afterwards but relishing in the moment of having each other there. riding the high of each other's comfort. fuck. this post is just getting worse as it goes. Trito breaking down in Kinoga's arms because he's had to hold in his grief and having nowhere to put it and then finally being able to release it. just being able to feel Something again. kinoga feeling so heartbroken to see trito like this, remembering that he was always so outspoken and smiling and having him curled up against them unable to say anything. holding him as tightly as they can. Feeling the need to take good care of him. They aren't his squad leader anymore but they still feel compelled to look out for him because then they can feel like they're doing at least something right. whatever. you guys get the gist. I'm way too much of a sucker for like...............pained intimacy. I'm down terrible. I think both of them deserve a little kissy and more. again. very touchy and affectionate with each other, I guess theyre still like "friends" (A WARRIOR'S BOND. OR WHATEVER) and are not "together" like a couple but here are words from igneouskit who put it better then I could ever. they love each other so much and they make me blow up. worlds most situationship

and also one bit I forgot to mention is that Trito has a huge scar on his chest that he hates talking about, it just brings back the fear and pain felt when he got it, and by association reminds him that he's alone from his squad who may never see again, so he's very protective of it. Upon getting back to kinoga, they do find out about the scar accidentally, and Trito lets them. like auuuugh they were so familiar with each other and now get to see what's changed since the last time. exploring eachother's bodies. whatever

Kinoga also ends up feeling really guilty at some point for Trito being immediately so affectionate towards them, they harbor thoughts that they don’t deserve it after having him go through that pain, and trito having to tell them that he made his own decision, nobody was forcing him to go, and besides, did it to see kinoga and now that they’re right in front of him he can give him all the love he’s been holding for them. Auuughhhh. Like don’t worry about feeling guilty for it. It wasn’t their fault. What matters to him now is that they’re both alive and with each other. I feel like blowing up

Even after Kinoga goes back to splatsville the next day trito is still aches about them......like a few days of reunion could never be enough to compensate for the years that they spent apart. every time they meet up after that trito jumps in kinoga's arms and kiss them like it was the first time they'd reunited

anyways. they eventually go back down to the domes to find the others. By that time, Agent 8 had dismantled Kamabo, the Sludge shit was no longer in operation, and octolings have started going to the surface. Kanu, another squad member, left the domes to find Kinoga, Agara, and Trito(jilon was another squad member who left for reasons I haven't decided yet). Denchu, the last remaining member, stayed behind, holding on to the hope that the missing members would someday return (denchu is a whole other can of worms. theyre everything to me and I feel so terrible for them <3). Trito and kinoga meet denchu, they update them on everybody else, leaving agara unaccounted for. Kinoga, who was the only one to see Agara firsthand, knowing that she might be completely unsalvageable, hesitates to bring it up, but Trito insists on going to look for her. aughhh. kinoga wants to spare trito the pain of seeing her dead or unconscious. They do eventually find her </3

She is alive, but not doing well at all, Kinoga desperate to maybe find some way to undo sanitization and restore her to full health, knowing full well that it may not be possible. They take Agara back with them to the surface and Kinoga spends a lot of time agonizing again over having caused this, feeling that agara's state is somehow their fault (ITS NOTT they're beating themselves up so bad for this because they feel responsible for the squad. aughhh).

I think thats all I have for kinoga. for now. obviously there are more thoughts I can get into but currently my brain has just latched so hard on trito and kinoga's fun situation and I love them so much. didn't think I'd get attached to them this bad but here we are </3. I hope everyone who has read this far also enjoys them as much as I do

[dogtoling]

Hey so I'm trying to figure out some stuff about the Inkadian government and needless to say there's a lot of rampant Cnidarian corruption - but I had a question about jellies

Opinions on what Nogami said about the Jellyfish having a hivemind? Is there any sort of biological fact it's based in? (All I can think of is how some jellyfish like the Portuguese Man 'O War is actually a collection of polyps cooperating to find food)

Sorry if someone's already asked this, but it's appreciated!

i have literally no idea. I know next to nothing about jellyfish and the jellyfish in splatoon have so many random tidbits of lore and culture that we only get random lore drops of in interviews. Like the fact they're a hivemind WHATEVER THAT MEANS, most of them don't speak, they just split parts of themselves off and clone to reproduce, one of them just started glowing one day and magically every other jellyfish could glow too after that (what), a lot of them Do Things just because they're mimicking things other people do et cetera.

i have no idea what the "correct" way to interpret the hivemind thing in canon terms would be, but I do have some thoughts on it. i feel it's more likely that jellyfish in general are a hivemind in the way that they can sense each other's thoughts and emotions and intent to some form, and their behavior and communication just greatly mystifies other species who can't read their body language at all and mainly communicate by speech, which jellyfish learn to do solely if they want to communicate with non-jellyfish, pretty much. I'd assume it's less of a hivemind in the "they all literally have the same brain" but more of a hivemind in the sense of they have extremely refined and detailed ways of probably chemical communication or something, so other species can't predict or understand their trains of thoughts at all and thus find it mystifying and confusing when jellyfish will randomly do things in perfect unison despite the fact that they didnt communicate about it whatsoever.

The main problem i have with jellyfish is that it makes it REALLY HARD to make jellyfish OCs because we literally don't know how they work. i like jellyfish and want to make ocs so badly and I will, but what the fuck man. Also jellyfish give me so many additional questions. HOW do birth certificates and IDs work in splatoon when people can just randomly clone themselves? Are the jellyfish recognized citizens? I'd hope so. They supposedly have money but do they get paid for all the work the NPCs do in spite of the game saying a lot of jellyfish just do things that they've seen other jellyfish and people do? i'd hope so. Do they have like, housing? Like what is going on. We know from Jelonzo and Jelfonzo and the like that jellyfish at least have their own individual will instead of just being a cog in a hypotethical singularity that every jellyfish is a part of. Or, well...

There's actually quite a lot of this in this interview. yeah, not something that's easy or clear to work with at all really. Interesting yes, but god help me

[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.

[busiest-bee]

Splatoon salmonid rambles

Hi ok so big run (grand run?) just passed like yesterday or something and I had the most sickening idea for splatoon 4

I want the story mode to give salmonid lore. I want them to be treated like people. They are a society. They are conscious. They ARE people. But in the games they’re literally just “kill as many of those guys as u can and give me their eggs pls 🐻” which is fine I guess but…they canonically are people. They have culture and beliefs and traditions and music (the music that plays during Salmon Run is made by an in universe band called omega-3 (except the word “omega” is a symbol, probably the Omega symbol but I’m stupid so I wouldn’t know) like they are literally People.

And u might be asking urself “bee wtf does this have to do with a potential story mode for splatoon 4” and to that I say

The total amount of golden eggs gathered during this past Big Run was

1,535,611,351

(For anyone who struggles figuring out how much a big number actually Is, it’s Over one billion and a half. Lotsa eggs)

And I’m very proud of the community for getting that many! That’s really incredibly impressive!! Especially considering how the original quota was 700,000,000 (seven hundred million, also a very big number, but considerably smaller.)

What I want from the story mode of splatoon 4 is the ramifications of this. I want the salmonids to be allies. I want to see their societies, learn about them. I want them to be CHARACTERS, not just ENEMIES.

I think an interesting way to do this would be to have Grizzco be at the center of the evil happenings..again. But this time under the iron fist (paw) of Lil’ Judd. Because if u pay attention to detail, there are some things that possibly imply that Lil’ Judd is running Grizzco while Mr.Grizz is in space. Maybe Lil’ Judd, fueled by his superiority complex, tries to do what Mr.Grizz couldn’t, or maybe something even worse. Maybe Lil’ Judd doesn’t even care about mammals and inkfish and salmonids, he just wants to rule everything, have everlasting control. He doesn’t want to keep living in Judd’s shadow.

Anyways yeah I’ll stop rambling now. Sorry if this makes no sense lmao

[bigblueoctoling]

HOLY FUCK I DON'T WANT PAST TO WIN

Honestly I feel like anyone voting Past just wants old man yaoi and doesn't actually give a shit about the lore of splatoon. Like, there's so much shit in the present and the future that would be interesting to learn about- NOTHING about the past is worth revolving the ENTIRE game around it. The entire appeal of Splatoon as a franchise is progress, I really don't wanna be stuck learning about the racist old war vets an entire fucking game.

I also can't help but think that idol bias is a part of this as well. People have such a strange nostalgia for the squid sisters (as if the squid sisters have EVER left the focal point of the entire series)- I would honestly prefer to side with deep cut over anything else, but frankly I'm just more interested in the present of the world of splatoon than anything else. I would do anything to ensure that Past does not win. I honestly have to hope that the majority of people saying they want to vote Past are just kids who don't know any better so that Past loses.

[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.

[ideasarestuckinmyhead]

Seeing as how you don’t mind doing research I would like to request hc’s for Alphonse, Auron, Seth, and Lucien playing splatoon 3 with the listener (if you need more specifics like if they’re playing single player or multi player, dlc or base game or anyother details that could help you pls let me know!) :D

Splatoon!

Hope I did good! I really did like the lore I read it was interesting and makes me wanna play splatoon! I think I based this more on the base game?

Auron

I think he's really curious about the lore of the game (I read it, it was really interesting how the squid and octarian's evolution went) So he enjoy's the story mode. Will ask questions about some of the lore so he knows everything.

Since you can't play multiplayer for story mode he'd probably buy a nintendo to play with you. The game play looks really interesting and the characters too are very well written.

When he first played turf war he understood it quickly and mostly focused on covering the map with the color of your team. But if someone did try and fight him he learned how to defeat them quickly.

I can see him liking playing splatoon with you but only sometimes bc he is busy and isn't fully interesting in games. However if you do ask him to play he won't say no.

Seth

Really confused on what to do when playing because he doesn't really play a lot of games. But tries to learn how to play with you, but I feel like Seth would prefer slow pace Nintendo games like how he likes Animal crossing.

Probably would prefer to watch you play story mode, I feel like he'd prefer to watch you game then actually play the game. Since he doesn't know wtf he's doing he prefers to watch someone who does.

If you do ever get him a switch and the game he'll play it till he gets to a good point to play multiplayer with you. I can see him liking tower mode, where you try and move a tower into the enemy territory the farthest.

I feel like after a while when he gets the hang of the game he'd play it himself. Kinda like how he took over Al's island. Is also willing if he has time to play any of the game modes you want to play.

Lucien

No fucking clue wtf is going on but he loves it here. The character's look silly and he likes how he can customize his avatar. It looks so chaotic bc he can't decide wtf he wants it to look like.

Doesn't really care for the story mode, but will listen to you explain the lore to him. Will he remember it? Probably not but its the thought of him trying to understand that makes it nice.

Some how summons a Nintendo? Don't ask question he can play w you now! Since he's learning all the modes and other things he doesn't really have a favorite mode. As long as you guys win he doesn't really care.

Lowkey got addicted to the game bc he was playing so many modes and stuff. Some how go to a very high level in the span of a week? Someone get that switch OUT of his hand.

Alphonse

Look at these colorful guys! What even are they? Asks a lot of questions bc he want's to understand the best he could.

Lazer focused in when playing the story mode bc he want's you to see how he is trying. Yes, Al did get some of the lore confused but he likes playing and talking about the game with you!

He's kinda chaotic to play with in game modes bc he's competitive. I feel like he plays aggressive in turf war fighting people and adding more to the ink coverage for the team.

He's really happy you introduced him to the game bc it's really fun! Also for giggles I would think he's good at clam blitz bc he's collecting so many fucking clams. Al cackles as he destroys the other team's clam basket.

[brooklynisher]

Here's a bunch of old sketchbook doodles I made y'all

Stick around bc this includes my first SPG drawings!! (Before I joined Tumblr)

Riveting start

I'll start off with little drawings I made of myself. And my god do you see what I'm doing with the anatomy? Do you see how tiny those joints are? That's horrific. Why did I build everyone like that? But Yugo is where I began to find my art style. Will love them forever for that. I've got to go back to simple-shaped heads one of these days and blush/eyelashes on everything

We've got some lovely Smile For Me-related doodles. First is a Flower Kid design. Second was not smile for me specifically, but Face Love (by the same devs). And the last two were my earlier attempts at making comics and scenes. Ft. lancer for some reason.

Here are a couple of abandoned OCs. Pretty boy (Basil) is supposed to be yellow. We've all had that OC whose only trait was being a hot person and that's what he was all about. Didn't develop him much in terms of character which is sad because I kinda like his design. He was created when I was doodling random designs in FireAlpaca. I'll have to show the other doodles in a different post (If you are interested).

THIS GUY I WOULD LIKE TO BRING BACK! Might be kinda basic in terms of like "Weird Core" designs but I still love him. His plot keeps changing though because his design is so strange yet so simple to the point where I could put him in just about any world I wanted to had I gotten bored of the old one. Which is silly bc he's just a depressed news anchor man.

Anyway bc of that, Basil used to be his bf, but isn't anymore. He got replaced with fat peppermint man who fun fact: was inspired by the song Brass Goggles BEFORE I even got into SPG and learned what it was about! How silly is that! Peppermint boy is technically my first SPG OC!

She was a fun one, but I abandoned her too. I think she was too influenced by Frye's character from Splatoon. She was a warrior of sorts. Sort of tribal I suppose. She spoke fast, and in her tribe's language, so many people struggled to understand her. She was very bouncy too. Jumping all over the place. If you know Frye, you'll probably notice that they're a bit too similar to each other. That's usually why I abandon my OCs. When they're too similar to another.

Critter I doodled. Not really an OC, but I still think she's cute

Don't ask me about the first guy. The girl was a mii that was born in Tomodachi Life! Her name is Lily. She is the child of Kris (Deltarune) and Hatsune Miku. She looks silly which is why I love her.

I'm Picasso. Kinda vibe with this ngl. Not sure if I could ever turn this into anything though

Here are some low-effort doodles. Enjoyed the design of the big lady more than I thought. I was practicing drawing bigger bodies at the time. Joints are still KILLING ME but it's not bad considering I had the worst anatomy method imaginable

Here are some higher-effort doodles. Aside from the abhorrent anatomy (WHY DOES THE PIG ZOMBIE HAVE TWO DIFFERENTLY SIZED SHOULDERSS????) I quite like these critters. That mermaid girl had lore too. She could control the dead of the sea. She was lowkey evil. Never turned her into anything though. Also, you can see by that guy at the bottom of the first one, that Bunny's art was starting to take an influence on me.

Lots of stuff going on over here but LOOK! MY VERY FIRST SPG FANART! IT'S OF VI POINTING AT AN APPLE AND YELLING AT IT

I was inspired by Bunny to make these monster-ish-looking people

More thingies! There's the goopy robot which I initially drew as a first attempt at drawing a robot, but then I made it black and goopy bc that's what it was giving. The star guy appears and disappears a few times. I think I wanted to keep them, but the design was very similar to LightLazer so I felt a bit weird about drawing them.

More robot shenanigans. First time drawing Rabbit and The Spine! Cannot believe that my first Spine drawing was in a dress oh my god.

More Bunny-inspired drawings and I'm REALLY kinda digging that weird tiny robot critter. Looking at it now, it's kinda like Spring in a few ways, but it's also completely different from Spring in so many other ways. The limbs are retractable. I kinda like this thing actually. I Oughtta do something with it.

These ones are more SPG-specific. You'll have to forgive me, most of these are from memory. Don't ask me why Rabbit looks like David Bowie in the first one.

And finally, some Rabbit and Spine doodles! Rabbit's doing the "Hey Andy Sweetie" meme. I could totally reattempt drawing that today actually.

Anyway, hope you had fun. I did. Ugh this is so sillyy

[terminatorbuns]

Revisiting Shiver's role in Splatoon 3 (An addendum to "Frye is the new Marina")

This is an addendum to "Frye is the New Marina", if you have not read that, please do read it first for context.

A side note first, I've since been informed that Splatsville might be visually inspired by Kowloon, which places it in Hong Kong rather than Japan. This is pretty interesting because it would reframe the Japanese Shiver as also an immigrant, but since Hong Kong is still East Asian she passes much more easily as a native than Frye's much darker South Asian complexion. Frye and Shiver's respective relationships to their race is still mostly unchanged.

Apart from that, I realized that I omitted one other detail about Frye and Shiver in my previous essay that didn't seem significant at the time, but I've come to reexamine its importance. I'll readily admit to having a Frye bias but examining Frye and Shiver as a duo really helped me understand Shiver better and discover reasons to like Shiver, and I've come to the conclusion that I've seriously underestimated Shiver as a character.

I previously said that Shiver should have a gender narrative and be trans or non-binary, and I still stand by that. Shiver displays the signs of a gender struggle and it would be extremely meaningful to a lot of people to see Nintendo do a gender narrative for Shiver. I thought at the time that it would put her on par narratively with Frye, who has a compelling set of traumas and anxieties stemming from her status as an obvious racial minority, compared to Shiver who passes as the majority culture much more easily. However, I've since come to realize that there's another angle to both idols that needs to be discussed, one that gives Shiver a much more compelling role in the design philosophy of Splatoon 3. In fact, the journey to understand Shiver's character has become uncomfortably personal for me in a way that I could not have expected.

1. Opposing Views on Heritage

The one detail I forgot was Frye and Shiver's opposing views on their cultural heritage. Frye had the most struggles with her heritage growing up, but ironically she ends up embracing her upbringing more closely than Shiver. With the new interview we now know that Frye was too busy with dance recitals to make any friends, but Frye ultimately ends up embracing her family's dance techniques whole heartedly and reproducing it faithfully as part of her personal fighting style. Despite struggling to fit in with her small town East Asian community Frye keeps her country bumpkin accent and takes up banditry to give back to the same community that could not accept her. It's in this way that Frye's specialty as a villain shines the most brightly: Frye embraces struggle and loss and recontextualizes them into her strengths.

Shiver is the opposite in every way. Shiver learns a regal theatrical accent to hide the fact that she originates from the same backwaters town Frye is from. Shiver's clan has already changed their older tradition of shark slaying once to shark taming, but Shiver breaks tradition even further by adopting a deranged biker persona and putting motorcycle handlebars on her shark. Shiver dresses extremely unconventionally with a punk fade haircut, visible Sarashi bindings that have connotations with crime and delinquency, and very low cut torn pants. In comparison, Shiver's expression of her heritage feels much less faithful to tradition.

Part of the discrepancy in their personalities is due to the fact that Nintendo is a Japanese company, their audience is more accustomed to Japanese visuals than South Asian. Frye's South Asian aesthetics are inherently exotic and exciting when reproduced more faithfully, but Shiver's traditional Japanese aesthetic needs more modification to be interesting to a Japanese audience. An unfortunate side effect is that Frye feels objectively cooler than Shiver: there's a genuine strength and purpose to Frye's passion for South Asian culture while Shiver's presentation of Japanese culture feels somehow less sincere.

And yet, as I wrote the earlier drafts of this I felt myself drawn more to Shiver than Frye, which took me a little bit  by surprise. It begs the question, what does Shiver stands for, and why would people be drawn to Shiver over Frye? I found that I had little canon lore left to explain my feelings, but it gave me the realization that the tools to understand this must come from my own personal experiences. And so, I'd like to share some of those experiences with you, the reader.

2. Struggling with Tradition

My relationship to my cultural background is complicated. I am an East Asian immigrant in North America, but I was lucky enough to live in areas that were friendly to my demographic. I had a multicultural group of friends and was rarely bullied for my ethnicity.

I say this because the vast majority of my personal anxieties come from my OWN culture and upbringing. I remember a distinct pressure to fit in and not cause trouble, and I was good at it, but I also remember how much it confined my artistic growth until I left the house to be independent. I remember a general unease towards artistic expression in general, the idea that cartoons and games are for children and I should be spending my energy on math and science. I still hide my art from my parents to this day.

I remember, most of all, a grating, xenophobic distrust towards other cultures, and the subtle yet consistent suspicion that anything I did wrong was a result of outside influences. The idea that my progressive politics was a corruption of "Westernization" just because it went against traditional, conservative culture. The often unspoken, but sometimes spoken, fear that my multicultural friends are influencing me negatively through their different cultural upbringings, when those same friends helped me discover my artistic voice in the first place. I remember accusations being made against other POC, some of which are more vulnerable than I am. I remember accusations specifically towards friends LIKE FRYE.

This was the point my analysis into Shiver took a deeply uncomfortable, personal turn, as I started to see my experiences in Shiver. Shiver, who also feels the need to hide a part of her personality that can only be shown to her accepting and diverse friend group. Shiver, who excels at passing for "normal" in a community that is friendly towards East Asians, but has witnessed that same community ostracize the darker, South Asian Frye. Shiver's loose presentation of Japanese culture starts to remind me of all the ways that I myself struggle to celebrate my own culture openly and faithfully, because I've come to associate so much negativity and baggage with it. Through this lens, Shiver's behaviors no longer seem like flaws, but rather defense mechanisms that I have too much experience with.

Now, I have no reason to believe that the original creators of Splatoon 3 had ever intended Shiver to convey such a specifically detailed cultural narrative. What is instead undeniably true is that Shiver ended up representing my experiences in a way that Frye could not on her own. I had previously understood the narrative of Splatoon 3 through a Frye-centric point of view, the huge Frye fan I am, but I am starting to understand that it is an incomplete analysis without considering Shiver's perspective as well. Shiver's role in Splatoon 3 is simply too important to be diminished.

3. Understanding Shiver as a Rebel

For me, Shiver has come to represent a rejection and reinvention of tradition. I've come to realize that what I had thought to be Shiver's weakness could actually be the core of her strength: her refusal to replicate Japanese traditions exactly. As much as she likes Japanese traditions and presenting like a traditional Japanese girl, she's also the first to put an unconventional spin on everything. Her punk hair, her Sarashi wrap, and her motorcycle shark, all symbolize this. Also, the fact that she wears her shoes on Tatami mat stages (the audacity).

As I said previously, a purely traditional Japanese aesthetic would be boring for a Japanese market, so Shiver's design has become an inherent struggle against tradition and normalcy. Shiver wants to be anything but normal, anything but boring. This puts her in direct contrast to Frye, who ends up being the traditionalist of the pair. Frye even has a preference for traditional analog forms of performance like stage plays while Shiver gravitates towards the newer medium of television.

Shiver's friendship with the culturally different Frye and Big Man is, in itself, a departure from tradition. Frye does not have the conventionally attractive TV features for an East Asian audience, but Shiver wants Frye to be on TV. Big Man can neither dance or sing, but Shiver wants him to appear on stage. Shiver's Rakugo specialty is a solo act, but she's modified it to include both of her close friends so they can be on TV together. I would also suggest that this has a special meaning for Frye specifically, whose personality and skin tone has caused her the most difficulty with fitting into a polite, East Asian coded society. As much as Shiver likes traditional Japanese culture, Shiver has taken steps to avoid replicating Japanese culture in a way that would exclude the exceptionally vulnerable Frye: Shiver refuses to hurt Frye.

This understanding of Shiver ties in well with her perfectionist tendencies. From the new interview we now know that Shiver made Big Man revise Anarchy Rainbow 7 times, she's picky to say the least. However, song lyrics are not the only thing she intends to perfect. Shiver's not content with cultural traditions the way they were taught to her: she's searching for ways to enhance her artistry, but she's also searching for ways to include her multicultural friends in her art forms without harming them.

Ironically her experimental perfectionism is also a weakness: reinventing safe, established traditions is inherently risky and Shiver has some hilarious failures to show for it. Shiver's villain persona is a take on the Bosozoku biker gang subculture of the 80's, also Japanese but notably a criminal counter-culture in Japan's history and a far cry from Shiver's usual polite, civil presentation. It's more than obvious that the biker persona is outside of Shiver's comfort zone, as she becomes clumsy and manic in a way that severely undercuts her ability to be a genuinely intimidating villain like Frye. However, Shiver's failures are entertaining and charming in her own ways, and her willingness to fail in the pursuit of perfection is uniquely inspiring.

4. Contrasting Shiver and Frye

Frye's still my favorite member of Deep Cut: she's peppy and likable, and her design tells the story of a cultural underdog that's extremely sympathetic and easy to root for. She doesn't have to represent my specific personal experiences to be my favorite. That being said, I think I now have the tools to understand the ways that people might find Shiver to be more appealing.

Shiver holds a lot of symbolic power for people that struggle with family and heritage, having seen those things harm either themselves or their friends. Even at a surface level many fans have already noticed the way that Shiver defies basic gender and social norms in her visual design and have found a sense of attachment to that. For people like me, Frye's fearless optimism towards her cultural roots isn't always helpful because I don't want to replicate those cultural traditions the way I have learned them. I'm deeply scared of accidentally replicating the hurtful aspects I've been taught to associate with my cultural heritage in a way that will hurt my friends. I want the inventiveness required to change my traditions into something more positive, and the courage to sometimes fail in the attempt. Shiver passes for "normal" in a society that easily accepts her, but that doesn't make her less interesting than the underdog Frye. Shiver speaks to a set of very real cultural anxieties that is just as compelling as Frye's, and both of their perspectives are required to complete the core narrative of Splatoon 3.

Splatoon 3 is a narrative about many things, but the most compelling narrative of this game is the dual commentary on cultural heritage that Frye and Shiver represent together. Frye is the cultural misfit that wants to be normalized, that wants her culture to be accepted despite being different. She represents an optimistic sense of traditionalism, one that sees the positives of traditional artistry and the value they can bring into the future. Shiver is the culturally normative girl who craves change, who is easily bored of rigid traditions and is eager to reinvent the past. She represents a healthy skepticism towards tradition, one that sees the dangers of harmful traditions but believes in the opportunity to change them into something healthier. The two perspectives form a symbiotic relationship: Shiver helps Frye to imagine a world where the dominant culture changes to be more inclusive of Frye, and Frye helps Shiver identify the positives of Shiver's traditions that should be retained in Shiver's quest for cultural innovation. It's a powerful, mutually-beneficial relationship that helps both artists visualize and achieve their respective artistic goals. It's beautiful.

I would do more to justify Splatoon 3 as a narrative focused on cultural heritage, except I don't actually have to because Nintendo straight up TOLD US their intentions in game. There's a key piece of cultural context in the original Japanese text that is lost in the English localization that really clarifies the design philosophy behind Shiver, Frye, and Splatoon 3 as a whole. We have to discuss the Bankara movement.

5. Bankara

I've written about this before but Splatsville is named Bankara city in Japanese, in reference to the specific Japanese Bankara counter culture movement of the early 1900's. Bankara was created in direct opposition to the Haikara movement, which was a fashion and cultural movement caused by Japan's rapid modernization and Westernization at the time, represented by western style "high collars" (Haikara). Inkopolis is called "Haikara City" in Japanese, in reference to the hip Western style Streetwear and music that previously defined Splatoon. The Bankara aesthetic mostly consists of traditional Japanese garments, kimonos and geta and such, the least Western stuff possible, to signal a discontentment with Japan's assimilation into Western aesthetics. At the same time these clothes were worn in a ratty, disheveled manner to signal a discontentment with traditional Japanese culture as well, as it had allowed the rise of the Haikara movement in the first place. A rejection of the new and the old. Later successors of the Bankara aesthetic include the Bosozoku biker and delinquent aesthetics, which consists of school uniforms worn in deliberately disheveled styles, fused with traditional Japanese elements such as Sarashi wrap and geta (sound familiar?). 

Shiver and Frye's entire city is named after Bankara so of course this duo is themed after the Bankara movement as well, it's so obvious in hindsight. Frye and Shiver together represent the dual focus of the Bankara movement: Frye represents a preservation of heritage in the face of modernization and homogenization, and Shiver represents a rejection of outdated traditional values. Both of them wear traditional garb as a reference to the traditionally Japanese garments that defined the Bankara movement, except Frye puts a twist on the concept by wearing traditional South Asian clothes instead. Shiver's secondary Bosozoku biker aesthetic also falls under the Bankara umbrella. The original Japanese name for Anarchy Rainbow is "Bankara mixed modern" (in English, no less), clearly signaling Deep Cut's design philosophy as a reimagining of the Bankara aesthetic for a modern, multicultural audience.

I must point out that Splatoon 3's take on the Bankara aesthetic is deliberately modified in some key ways. The original Bankara movement was largely a right wing men's movement that centered toxic versions of traditional masculinity and prioritized an insulation of Japan from foreign cultural forces. Deep Cut immediately recontextualizes the goals of Bankara by being majority female led (trans versions of Shiver would not have been considered traditionally masculine, either), and including the multicultural friendship between Shiver and Frye. In this way Splatoon 3 borrows from the aesthetics and themes of Bankara as a counter culture movement without condoning its original goals; Splatoon is intended as a progressive, inclusive space, after all, if the fanbase is any indication.

In these very changes we already see the push and pull between the ideas that Shiver and Frye represents: there's a desire to retain the counter-culture themes and cultural signifigance of Bankara while disregarding its original, dangerously right wing meanings. It's fascinating how much Shiver and Frye's designs naturally reflect the design process behind Splatoon 3 as a whole, whether intentionally or by accident. It's also very frustrating that the English speaking audience kind of has to dissect all the themes of Splatoon 3 the long way around through tiny context clues, when the Japanese audience is given it directly in big shiny text. Either way, Splatoon 3 has succeeded in crafting a dauntingly complex multilayered narrative on the evolution of culture, both as a reinvention of Bankara and as a reinvention of Splatoon as a franchise.

Splatoon is so deep, you guys.

[dr-spectre]

I just read through a small portion of the splatoon manga because im feeling a little sleep deprived, and i was bored, and dude. It is AWFULLL!!!!!! They somehow made the splatoon 2 story mode EVEN WORSE?!?! LIKE A TRILLION TIMES WORSE THAN IT ALREADY IS?!?!

How would I even describe the writing of it... it's like, imagine you write something at age 13, and then you come back to it as an adult and you look at it and you go "what the fuck is this?" ITS THAT LEVEL OF BAD IM NOT PLAYING AROUND WITH Y'ALL! PEOPLE WE WERE RIGHT! AND I AINT EVEN TALKED ABOUT THE NAKED INKLINGS CAUSE WHY THE HELL IS THAT AN ACTUAL RUNNING GAG IN THE MANGA APPARENTLY?! WHY?! WHHHYYYYY?!?!?!?!

Like, man. They could have really gone deeper into the lore, the characters, clear up misinformation, and fill in the gaps. Could you imagine if the manga was like the Squid Sister stories where it takes place between games and fleshes out certain elements and you got to look at nice art on top of it? That would be fire, right?! Or maybe it could be about actual compelling characters that go through arcs and grow and learn from mistakes and stuff like that. Or maybe it could be a cute slice of life manga about an Inkling going through day to day life, and we get to see the smaller stuff in the Splatoon universe we don't normally get to see.

BUT NO! IT SUCKS! ITS ASS!! AND NOT THE GOOD KIND OF ASS!

[nirogryphon]

whats ur parallel fanon

i'm assuming you saw this post, right? are you talking about that specific guy? that's adzuki. idk if you're wanting headcanons about what i think about that boss or an oc lore dump. to me they're both, so that's what you're getting. it's gonna get long, get some popcorn.

in my splatoons world post-memverse runthrough, beans (my four) beg marina to let it out because he saw that it was sentient and wanted it to join his bf as a polycule. It's got a very similar level of kindness and whatnot to beans, but is extremely dry, blunt, and overall "emotionless" (not true, we'll get to that).

you see, i don't think parallel canon is 4, but merely a program made to mimic 4. Marina wanted one of the best in the NSS, so she asked Beans (instead of Ty, who was an elite, but then again, who got their ass handed to all those years ago again?) to offer up a brain scan to get a copy of that fighting skill of theirs for what would become the Parallel canons. Unfortunately, like with any technology, this wasn't perfect, especially with someone who was sanitized like how beans is. That scan ended up grabbing some other aspects of him, like a bit of his personality and, mainly, his fear of himself. He's gotten over it for the most part, at least that's what he thought anyways. When testing, fighting a perfect copy of yourself isn't going to pop up really at all, so this doesn't come up as an issue until Marina's released her little game for the sanitized to use, allowing the one freak scenario to arise.

The rogue code, formerly dormant, activates immediately when beans ends up confronting parallel canon. He's hesitant at first, but remembers it's not him, merely code made to look and fight like them. So, without much worry, he begins to charge at it for the fight, that code kicking in to overdrive and making it act the exact way beans would if it were the other way around. It retreats. It cries out, garbled, in supposed simulated fear. Beans stops in his tracks, staring down at the clone, only seeing his socked face staring back in the reflection of the mask.

This sparks a snowball effect of new programming being written without an author, a program learning, becoming sapient, alive. A scenario that forces one to confront something he wasn't fully ready for and another to realize what it is. Subsequent run attempts, the two keep learning about themselves and eachother in combat, regardless on if either of them like it, until eventually coming to a rather peaceful confrontation, a realization that neither want to hurt the other, and yadda yadda yadda something something long messy story short it's a reconnection with the self and learning to love oneself again. I don't want to get into detail here, I'm personally still torn on whether or not this exact part should be sfw or not, so, lol.

Regardless, it's still ultimately what the memverse was made for: helping the sanitized remember and become themselves again, and while it isn't an evil agent 4, what we got works way better with what I had already and it's just perfect.

As for adzuki itself, I'm not sure exactly the details on its anatomy when given the physical form outside of the memverse. I do want to stick to a very similar palette to what PC has in the memverse, as well as being made out of goo still, but does that mean it's a physical jelleton in the walking world? Don't know for sure yet. I'll work that out in time. Adzuki's voice is an AI recreation of Beans', sounding extremely similar, but obviously synthesized.

As for personality, Adzuki is a lot like beans in its ideals and bonds. However, due to being based off code not meant to emote or show tone, it struggles a lot in doing so, save for a few exceptions. It can only really express emotion through body language instead, and a lot of what it says is extremely clinical, blunt, and dry. Think Data from Star Trek. Of course, that doesn't mean it is emotionless, quite the opposite. Adzuki merely expresses emotions very differently than the regular inkfish. There's also a few ways to gauge how intense the emotion it's feeling is via how unstable the goo it's made out of is or by how bitcrushed its voice has gotten. Essentially: the drippier and messier it is, or the more low quality the voice is, the more intense the emotion it's feeling is.

Some exceptions that break that stoic mask of sorts can be via substance use, like drinking or smoking weed. Once that code is overwritten inside it during these exceptions, Adzuki is almost indifferentiable from beans beyond appearance.

Adzuki, unlike canon PC, loves using the order roller the most out of all the order weapons. It's extremely annoying with it, and enjoys sneaking up on someone to vert-swing them.

[thepageofhopes]

Talking about my choices and template under the cut!

Favorite Game of All Time: Undertale

Probably will stay my GOAT forever unless Deltarune manages to stick it's landing with the many cool extensions to undertale's themes and lore it brings up. Part of my love for it is based on how little games cared to explore the themes it brought up before undertale came out.

Favorite Series: Super Monkey Ball series

No other games have really managed to capture what this series had, though Rolled Out might by the time it's finally released. Lots of nostalgia baked into this choice- I used to do stunts as a teenager back in the day and learn the tech from forums.

Best Soundtrack: Terraria's Calamity Mod

Yes, I'm counting a mod as both a separate game and enough of one to have the best soundtrack. I already loved DM DOKURO's undertale remixes, and they just knock it out of the park with the Calamity mod. I will never not scream THE ENEMY HAS ASCENDED BEYOND YOUR CONTROL but Devourer of Gods is also something truly special.

Favorite Protagonist: Zagreus from Hades

I'm not usually super into the protagonists of games as I usually am with the supporting cast, but Zagreus really makes the story of Hades and his commentary brings the game to life so, so much. Other contender of this spot was probably the Voice of the Hero from Slay the Princess, but hard to say if they are really the protagonist, and also, I like Voice of the Contrarian even more.

Favorite Villain: The Masked Man from Mother 3

-endless crying-

Best Story: Mother 3

Listen, Undertale may be my GOAT but Mother 3 is my number 2 because of how good the story is. Please go watch Super Eyepatch Wolf's video on it if you haven't. The incredible themes, the knife-twisting tragedies, the goofy humor covering up extremely dark subject matter, all of it is so, so, so, good.

Have not played but want to: Alan Wake 2

This game seems so much My Shit™ but sadly it is only on epic games store which I hate. I've heard so many wonderful things about the game and all the visuals in those reviews look amazing and seem like it really is the peak of modern survival horror. Can't wait for it to come to Steam/GoG.

Everyone hates but you love: Continue?9876543210

'Everyone' is quite an overstatement for such a weird, niche game but it is the only game I really like that also has a non positive rating on steam. I've always loved the weird themes and existentialism tinged with hope that this game offers, despite everything from its mechanics to the story being vague and near impossible to parse.

You hate but everyone loves: Into The Breach

Nuclear Throne/Enter the Gungeon could also go here. All are roguelikes which are incredibly loved in the community that I just can't stand. I don't even particularly know why I don't like them, just something about the feel of the mechanics don't agree with me.

Best Artstyle: Splatoon series, but specifically Octo Expansion (until Side Order inevitably beats this)

Splatoon has always been a series marked by it's incredible visual design. Everything screams 90s, the color choices are vivid and striking, the character models are super expressive, etc. Octo Expansion adds even more with the retropunk aesthetic and dark environments mixed with the neon greens and blues.

Favorite Ending: Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations

The entire last case of this game is perfect. The ending montage where you get to see where all the characters are going is sweet and ties a great bow on the series, and the final picture with the vase gets me every time. This was another game that was a contender for best story.

Favorite Boss Fight: Undyne the Undying from Undertale

'Not Sans???' listen Sans is probably the better design but Undyne the Undying was my literal first true boss I ever fought in Undertale, and it will always stick with me. I love the rhythm game style of her mechanics and her intro into her music sets the tone perfectly for the genocide run.

Childhood Game: Ball Revamped 2: Metaphasik

Catz is also a contender here since that is even older and I also played that quite a lot as a kid, but Ball Revamped 2 and a lot of jmtb02's other flash games were really when I started to heavily get into video games. I still sometimes go back to this one, the design still holds up quite well, and the rest of the series ain't bad either.

Relaxing Game: Vampire Survivors

I don't generally play 'relaxing' games, I like my games hard and fast and brutal. But vampire survivors build crafting is incredibly relaxing and when you make a successful build being able to just sit back and let the game play itself to win is such a dopamine rush.

Stressful Game: Cook, Serve, Delicious 3

Honestly, most of the games I play could go here. CSD series however is a special type of stress that puts me on edge through the whole level, enough that I often can't do more than a 3 or so in a play session (lovingly). A rhythm game without music, there is no other game series that demands the level of intense focus and execution like this does.

Game you can always come back to: Fallout: New Vegas

I've come back to this game at least 10 separate times with new characters. A combination of incredibly relaxing due to the easy combat system and replayability given the role playing system mean it's an easy game to just jump back into even after a long time away.

Guilty Pleasure: Project Sekai: Colorful Stage

I play a lot of gacha games and most if not all could fit here given how terrible those games are with the players, but Project Sekai is one where I will actively gush about it as I think it's story and characters are legitimately great. Magia Record could also fit here if it the NA servers weren't shut down.

Tons of Hours Played: Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

Not my most played game technically (Terraria and Tabletop Simulator beat it) but both of those don't count as many of Terraria's hours are idle due to holding a server up, and Tabletop Simulator due to waiting and also it's not exactly a game in it's own right. I've so far put 750 hours into Rebirth, and still only have 545 of the 637 achievements. No other game has ever captured BoI's way of insane item combinations that make each run a discovery fest.

And here's the template!

[grandpa-cephalopods]

Well it was a good finalfest this one, I'm glad team grandpas won this time. It's like an echo of the original Past vs Future, lol.

Unprofreshional Splat 3 nagging incoming, but first, I'll link my other stuff for anyone that stumbles on this blog.

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Main Blog: @thegoldendoorknob

Twitter: Petitemask

Deviantart: Chibilightsage

OC Comic: Wishway

Comic Askblog: @wishwaycrew

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First off- unfinished plotlines.

Had plans to elaborate more on Salmonid lore. In this verse, the apocalypse was partially mass natural destruction, and part zombie apocalypse via the Salmonids. Jones was originally a regular salmonid that was tested in a research lab before escaping and starting the whole death-of-humanity thing.

Also, there was a surviving human moonbase where the rich and famous lived. They gradually replaced parts of their bodies with mechanical parts to live longer than usual, but it took an expected toll on their sanity. That's what I was going to connect the Side Order plot to, initially.

T going evil for a bit bc of the aforementioned Jones thing.

I have a very write-as-I-go mentality with ask blogs so I could go to and from these kinds of ideas, but those were some of the core ones.

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Ok long rant time sorry

So I've ran 2 other ask blogs in the past, and I came to recognize one of the things that can keep me in a fandom for over 7 years like Splatoon is engaging with the game itself. It's one thing to just scroll through the wiki pages 10 times over, but actually playing the games is what gives them so much staying power. Not only does it let me theorize about all the loose ends stated in the plot, but I can consider the fun and technicalities of how the gameplay can tie-in with the plot.

If I didn't play the games, I wouldn't be coming up with ideas like the Respawn March, Ink Eggs, Cuttlefish making zapfish doll batteries on repeat levels, the tentacle amps in Octavio's arena being another Octoweapon, human reanimation, moon colonies...

All of that wouldn't happen if I just read the wiki and called it a day. And that's why it kind of pains me to say Splatoon 3 just.. didn't give me any lasting material to work with. I did like deep cut (especially Frye) but they showed up like.. a whopping 2 times in the actual story, and there's no real lasting impression they make outside of their idol career or supplementary material.

-And that wouldn't be too big of a deal, because the opener of Splatoon 2 ALSO sucked, and gave us table scraps for plot, but I was still able to engage with the story because the new salmon run mode was fun to play, and I still had a little breathing room with the new players before the meta scene REALLY kicked in with X-rank.

I'm not even going to get started with X-rank, or it's little brother S-rank's introduction in 1, but during my time playing I definitely got hit by the hard shift from casual to pro gameplay between these games. Splat 3 was a game that felt like it was made with the purest intention to please pro gamers, but in doing that, it really alienated any casual players from sticking around.

I have a difficult relationship with the shift in meta, because I started with Splat1 back in 2015. Splat1 was extremely defensive, and almost completely dominated by chargers, rollers, and sloshers. You'll never guess what my 3 favorite weapons were in that title I ended up spending.. I think upwards of 5 months figuring out how to play the splat charger, because I ran a Cap'n blog, and Cap'n was a historic bamboozler main. What kind of blog would I be if I didn't at least try to learn grandpa's main? Lol.

So then comes Splat2, and because of all the heckling they were getting over the hyperdefensive gameplay, they decided to shift to a hyperoffensive meta instead. Heaven forbid we got another Moray Towers or triggerfish, so they started to crack down on the level design to make it harder to lock a game down for 3 minutes with one really good charger.

So, my matches got spawncamped by blasters and shooters instead ♡

Because of that, it kind of hurt to come from being a skilled A+ rank charger at the time back into a B- level nobody who sullies their characters. But my friends were still able to play Splat2, and wanted to play splat 2, so it wasn't that hard to deal with.

Splatoon 3, however, no one wanted to play. Within almost 3 months of it's release, my mutuals were already done with it, and if I wanted to engage with it at all, I'd have to play it through solo matches. So I was already running on fumes, and then the main plot involved characters I never played, and plot that only really benefitted human lore. So, this blog's activity continued to stagnate until I couldn't find it in me to let it spiral into my human plot any further.

But it's ok sage, they reassured, because Splat2 plot also sucked, but OE pulled it out of the ashes! Just wait an entire year, and we'll show you how good this dlc is going to be!

Nope! More characters that you don't play and an average story!

I don't have a lot of hope for my relationship with a 4th game, because 2 and 3 gave me a general idea of where they want to go with the series now. I've just fallen too far behind from 2015 sage to 2024 sage that I know that the gameplay is no longer made for players like me. It's made for official tournaments and promotional material, and nintendo is going to make that bank because it's the logical choice. 3 Regulars will probably have it easiest, there.

Realistically, the easiest way for me to return to the series is if they made the map terrain "fun" again, or at least fixed the matchmaking to better pair people with similar skilled rooms (I'll wait those 20 minutes if I can be put in the right room, dammit!). But for now.. I'm sorry to return to the original character hermit shell I lived in, but the lack of community outside of my 4 mutuals isn't strong enough to keep me here when the gameplay can't.

So.. I'm glad Splat3's grand festival ended this on a bang, because I can say nice things about that. It finally gave me a fully positive impression, it just took the end of the game's lifetime to get here. I feel a little bad at the lack of an OE reference outside of Acht, but that more or less confirms to me Tartar is probably pretty dead in canon.

At least BOTH GRANDPAS MADE IT TO THE STANDS! I've had to eat crumbs for years and they reward me with a slice of toast. Maybe 4 could give all of us grandpa fans the balanced breakfast they crave, who knows.

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So I'll be on hiatus for a bit, y'all can send asks at your leisure and if the fandom bug gets me again, there's a chance I could probably answer 'em in the future if splatoon 4 actually slaps. I just wanted to lay these motivation problems out so there isn't any will-they won't-they confusion that I've gotten from many other abandoned or deleted blogs.