History Fridge / Splatoon

** One of the Sunken Sea Scrolls depicts [[spoiler:a younger Octavio]] when it talks about the Octarians, indicating that humanoid Octarians and Octolings are the 'core' of their race.
** Evidence that the final boss is using his own donor tentacles to clone up his forces? Take a good look at the tentacles that serve as the weak spots of the Great Octoweapons. Those scars on it are the same as his own.

** Also, some of the Octarian troopers, especially the single-tentacle ones, are... noted for being fairly dumb, really. Well, no crap — while the severed arms of an octopus do have a lot ''more'' neural mass than most limbs, the animal is still at its most intelligent when it has all its limbs and is connected to its brain. Of course the single-tentacle Octarians aren't bright, they're operating on limited brain power.

* The Rainmaker weapon might be named for its ability to rain a large amount of ink on the field without needing to be refilled, but another subtle detail is noticed when firing it: it leaves patches of ink on the ground, in the shape of rain drops.
* The fact that [[spoiler:the final time you send Octavio's large bomb back at him knocks him clean out of his ship. The first three times, the guy's got himself under control and is continually working the [=CDs=]. However, after the fourth time, Agents 1 and 2 override his music and put on some of their own. At this point, Capt. Cuttlefish and Octavio both start jazzing out and hopping to the beat. When you knock Octavio's ship for a loop at this point, he gets knocked flying out of it. This is because he doesn't have himself suckered into place on the ship. He's got his tentacles up in the air. The music actually helped make him more vulnerable.]]

** The {{Franchise/Transformers}}-themed Autobots vs Decepticons are very similar to the rivalry between the Inklings and Octoling as they're constantly in war over a powerful supply (Energon for Transformers and Zapfishes for Splatoon).
** {{WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants}} is a series set in a world with anthropomorphic marine-life animals just like in Splatoon.

* [[spoiler:The fossil of a human with a Wii U becomes horrifying the more you think about it. What would've or could've happened to cause the person to become a fossil in the middle of such a casual activity?]]
** [[spoiler:Apparently the end of the world came before the Switch could be released.]]
** [[spoiler:What makes this extra strange is the Wii Remote tied to a Pro Controller. This was recommended by Splatoon's official Tumblr page as a way of allowing the second player to use motion controls in the Battle Dojo. This set-up has never been used for any game other than Splatoon. [[MindScrew Does that mean Splatoon existed within its own universe?]]]]
** [[spoiler:Humanity fighting ''five'', yes, '''five''' world wars makes you wonder just how much more violent and brutal humanity was back when they still existed.]]

*** lending more credence to that supposition, Marina mentions during the Unicorn vs. Narwhal Splatfest that her landlord is a narwhal. Narwhals are basically whales with giant protruding tusks.
* Imagine hero mode from the viewpoint of the Octarians. [[spoiler:You have lived your entire life underground, as have all of your kind for a hundred years. Your civilization is literally crumbling, but you would be able to make do if only you had a little more electrical power to use. The surface is dominated by the inklings, who know nothing of rationing or shortages. They could easily spare some of their zapfish for you if they wanted. Compared to your people, they are hedonistic and lazy. So you build up an army, bolster it with powerful machines, and launch surprise raids to acquire the resources you need to survive. Every factor is working to your advantage. Then you lose completely and utterly. And if you could not win under these circumstances, you cannot ever win. Your people's situation used to be bad. Now it is hopeless.]]
** [[spoiler:Furthermore, in Hero Mode, after defeating the boss of each Dome, if you stick around before collecting the Zapfish, you'll eventually hear some unsettling loud noises. If that was the sound of the Octarian habitat domes collapsing from power loss, then that means that their situation got worse immediately after Captain Cuttlefish sent Agent 3 to reclaim Zapfishes.]]
* When you die in Splatoon, you explode into the opposing team's colour ink. Does this mean that the inklings are using each other's blood as ammo?

* Judd and Li'l Judd's fatness actually makes sense given their backstory: the world was flooding and thus they'd need extra fat to stay afloat and warm in the event that the flooding was permanent; in addition, they'd need to keep from freezing to death or having their bodies cannibalize themselves for energy while in cryostasis, another situation where fatness would be advantageous.

* Given their somewhat more feminine body type, voice, and the fact that their name is generally feminine across both the original Japanese text and multiple European translations, it's likely that Shiver - whose involvement in dialogue and descriptions actively avoids using Gendered language - is an AFAB (Assigned Female At Birth) Non-Binary Octoling (or, with the ink-and-marine-life theme of the franchise, perhaps they're Gender-''[[{{Pun}} fluid]]''?). In that case, their {{Sarashi}} might be not only to emphasize the traditional Japanese influence they bring to Deep Cut, but it may help them present more androgynously by doubling as a chest binder.
** As it's later revealed that Shiver is female and uses female pronouns, her traditional Japanese aesthetic and Deep Cut's rather prominent KabukiTheatre motif suggests that her androgynous appearance may instead be a reference to female roles in Kabuki being traditionally played by androgynous men.
* Mr. Grizz makes it clear he finds the whole OrderVersusChaos Splatfest to be completely pointless, saying he's more about the depths of the seas and saving the world. [[spoiler:Come Splatoon 3, and it's revealed he's been exploring the world for centuries by himself, and does want to save the world - [[WellIntentionedExtremist of mammals]].]]

* This maybe should go under a different trope, but, Marie and Callie is a pun on calamari, right? So what is Pearl and Marina? Marina means harbor, so it could be seen as pearl and har- OH GOD IT’S PEARL HARBOR.
* The Great Zapfish getting stolen for the third time was probably to be expected, but the horror comes in when you remember the considerable distance between Splatsville and Inkopolis based on the official map. While the Great Zapfish is rescued, it isn't brought back to Inkopolis. What are they doing for power?
** It's possible that there are several Great Zapfish and each major city has their own. Alternatively, you can rarely see the Great Zapfish fly around in Splatoon 2, so it might just be that it wanders around and visits Inkopolis when it's needed when the player isn't looking.

* The Great Zapfish getting stolen for the third time was probably to be expected, but the horror comes in when you remember the considerable distance between Splatsville and Inkopolis based on the official map. While the Great Zapfish is rescued, it isn't brought back to Inkopolis. What are they doing for power?

* This maybe should go under a different trope, but, Marie and Callie is a pun on calamari, right? So what is Pearl and Marina? Marina means harbor, so it could be seen as pearl and har- OH GOD IT’S PEARL HARBOR.

* this maybe should go under a different trope, but, Marie and Callie is a pun on calamari, right? So what is pearl and marina? marina means harbor, so it could be seen as pearl and har- OH GOD IT’S PEARL HARBOR.

** However, Respawning is actually a thing Inklings and Octarians are capable of doing in-universe, so falling in water may just be an inconvenience to them. No species that died for good the instant it came into contact with water would have any business becoming such a major part of the world, after all.

** Respawning is actually a thing Inklings and Octarians are capable of doing in-universe, so falling in water is just an inconvenience to them. No species that died for good the instant it came into contact with water would have any business becoming such a major part of the world.

** The {{Franchise/Transformers}}-themed Autobots vs Decepticons are very similar to the rivalry between the Inklings and Octoling as they're constantly in war over a powerful supply (Energon for Transformers and Zapfishes for Splatoon.

*** Indeed, WordOfGod has explicitly confirmed that Inklings canonically ''do'' dissolve in water, and yes, precisely ''because'' they're made of ink (specifically, their "skin" is so thin and porous that dunking them in water will cause them to basically "bleed out" due to osmosis).
** They dissolve in ''seawater'' because the ocean was tainted from the horrific weapons that rendered humanity extinct in the Fifth World War.

** Another possibility is for Inklings respawn and get back into action quicker. If you fall into void, you explode in mid-air, most likely to respawn into action as fast as possible instead of climbing all the way back up. Same with water — they'd have hard time climbing out of it because they can't spray walls to climb out because, well, ink and water, and rather self-destruct and respawn than swim (which they apparently can't) to where they can climb out normally, only to be splatted when they're most vulnerable. Time is golden in turf wars.

** Another possibility is to respawn and get back into action quicker. If you fall into void, you explode in mid-air, most likely to respawn into action as fast as possible instead of climbing all the way back up. Same with water — they'd have hard time climbing out of it because they can't spray walls to climb out because, well, ink and water, and rather self-destruct and respawn than swim (which they apparently can't) to where they can climb out normally, only to be splatted when they're most vulnerable. Time is golden in turf wars.

** Probably not the case. If you fall into void, you explode in mid-air, most likely to respawn into action as fast as possible instead of climbing all the way back up. Same with water — they'd have hard time climbing out of it because they can't spray walls to climb out because, well, ink and water, and rather self-destruct and respawn than swim (which they apparently can't) to where they can climb out normally, only to be splatted when they're most vulnerable. Time is golden in turf wars.

* Think back to the chat logs from the Octo Expansion; Pearl and Marina first met on Mount Nantai. Marina was going through a very dark time in her life, and was climbing a mountain. [[DrivenToSuicide It isn't hard to put two-and-two together.]] [[labelnote:note]]If that weren't enough, there's a waterfall very close to Mount Nantai known as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kegon_Falls Kegon Falls]]. It's famous in Japanese culture for being the location philosophy student Misao Fujimura left a farewell poem before committing suicide, and is unfortunately a very common spot for despairing teenagers to take their own lives due to the Werther effect.[[/labelnote]]

** Ink Me Up is actually a creative way of daring someone to fight. The song is essentially called "Come at Me Bro."

* The Octolings and Octostriker stages in single-player involve a group of Octarians invading certain areas of the surface; then how come Agent 3 is the only one there to stop them? Well, these stages take place either at night or what seems to be dawn. Remember how one of the earlier Sunken Scrolls said that, during the start of the Great Turf War, Octarians were winning because Inklings couldn't wake up early enough in the morning to defend themselves? A century worth of history or not, some things just don't change. If anything, it makes Agent 3 more impressive as they have the fortitude to be up at that hour.

** As [[DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist Respawning]] is a canonical element of the world of ''Splatoon'', Inklings (and Octolings living on the surface) would more likely find it annoying at worse. And sense the ecological disaster that wiped out humanity was Rising Tides via nuking Antarctica, it's unlikely that normal weather patterns stopped.

* Think back to the chat logs from the Octo Expansion; Pearl and Marina first met on Mount Nantai. Marina was going through a very dark time in her life, and was climbing a mountain. [[DrivenToSuicide It isn't hard to put two-and-two together.]] [[labelnote:note]]If that weren't enough, there's a waterfall very close to Mount Nantai known as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kegon_Falls Kegon Falls]]. It's famous in Japanese culture for being the location philosophy student Misao Fujimura left a farewell poem before committing suicide, and is unfortunately a very common spot for despairing teenagers to take their own lives due to the Werther effect.[[/labelnote]].

** As [[DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist Respawning]] is a canonical element of the world of ''Splatoon'', Inklings (and Octolings living on the surface) would more likely find it annoying at worse. And sense the ecological disaster that wiped out humanity was 'Rising Tides,' it's unlikely that weather patterns genuinely stopped.

* Did the ecological disaster that hit the planet completely stop all weather patterns? You'd think that with Inklings dissolving in water, a sudden rainstorm or blizzard would prove horrifying to their society.

** Also, some of the Octarian troopers, especially the single-tentacle ones, are... noted for being fairly dumb, really. Well, no crap - while the severed arms of an octopus do have a lot ''more'' neural mass than most limbs, the animal is still at its most intelligent when it has all its limbs and is connected to its brain. Of course the single-tentacle Octarians aren't bright, they're operating on limited brain power.

** Probably not the case. If you fall into void, you explode in mid-air, most likely to respawn into action as fast as possible instead of climbing all the way back up. Same with water- they'd have hard time climbing out of it because they can't spray walls to climb out because, well, ink and water, and rather self-destruct and respawn than swim (which they apparently can't) to where they can climb out normally, only to be splatted when they're most vulnerable. Time is golden in turf wars.

*** Indeed, WordOfGod has explicitly confirmed that Inklings canonically ''do'' dissolve in water, and yes, precisely ''because'' they're made of ink (specifically, their "skin" is so porous that dunking them in water will cause them to basically "bleed out" due to osmosis).
* The Octolings and Octostriker stages in single player involve a group of Octarians invading certain areas of the surface; then how come Agent 3 is the only one there to stop them? Well, these stages take place either at night or what seems to be dawn. Remember how one of the earlier Sunken Scrolls said that, during the start of the Great Turf War, Octarians were winning because Inklings couldn't wake up early enough in the morning to defend themselves? A century worth of history or not, some things just don't change. If anything, it makes Agent 3 more impressive as they have the fortitude to be up at that hour.

* If you talk to Cap'n Cuttlefish in the Single Player hub, he'll sometimes comment that he produces less ink than he used to. This explains why Cap'n is so short and skinny compared to the younger Inklings. He doesn't make as much ink, so he doesn't have as much mass as the younger squids.

* During the North American Past vs. Future Splatfest Callie said she wanted to travel to the past to meet humans. It looks like she got her wish for the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxkKUbNnXKE Splatoon Squid Sisters Live 2016 concert.]]
* The Splattershot line of progression (Jr., Normal, Pro) reflects the evolution of water guns during the early to mid 90's, and their specs reflect this. The Jr is based on old squirt guns that squirt low amounts of water per shot and commonly had clear bodies, the Jr has short range and low power but can fire for a long time due to the low ink each shot has. The regular Splattershot is based on the Super Soaker 50, one of the first pressure pump water guns and the standard gun of the line, as such being the JackofAllStats. Finally, the Pro is based on the Super Soaker CPS-2000, one of the most powerful water guns ever made thanks to it's water bladder CPS system, but the same system also made it slow to repump between shots and used up a lot of water in a matter of seconds, thus the Pro has higher damage, but lower fire rate and higher ink consumption.

** Helmets like Armor Helmet Replica have '''Tenacity''', while '''Defence Up''' would seem to make more sense, somebody wearing a helmet would be ''able to be more reckless thanks to the protection'', which would basically be like going into the fray without help. The same can be said for the Gas Mask.

** Samurai Helmet has '''Strength Up''', the Samurai Shoes have '''Special Duration Up''' and the Samurai Jacket has '''Special Charge Up'''. All of which involve the use of a weapon and a special weapon. Samurais are known as '''Warriors''' (Main) and '''Protectors''' (Special).

** Octoling Items are Bomb-based and Special-Based: In Japan, bombs are widely considered to be "evil". We have Bomb Range (Goggles) and Ink Saver Sub (Armor) , and one of the Specials is '''a missile''' (Boots). Guess what one of the enemies in the main campaign are.

** While not the proper boot type, the Blue Moto Boots have '''Ink Resist Up''', boots are often protective from dirty and messy things.

** The Pilot Goggles have Bomb Range/ Sub Power Up, which makes sense in both cases - Bomb Range because pilots are naturally going to be fighting from a distance, and Sub Power because they need to use weapons tactically (and also because Bomb Range was lumped into Sub Power).

** Ink Me Up is actually a creative why of daring someone to fight. The song is essential called "Come at Me Bro."

** Marie's solo, Tide Goes Out: Marie makes many comments about the backgrounds of stages, which is often water. Clearly she like water.

*** Alternatively, it's name comes from their names. In other words, "Our Spell."

* [[spoiler: The fossil of a human with a Wii U becomes horrifying the more you think about it. What would've or could've happened to cause the person to become a fossil in the middle of such a casual activity?]]
** [[spoiler: Apparently the end of the world came before the Switch could be released.]]
** [[spoiler: What makes this extra strange is the Wii Remote tied to a Pro Controller. This was recommended by Splatoon's official Tumblr page as a way of allowing the second player to use motion controls in the Battle Dojo. This set-up has never been used for any game other than Splatoon. [[MindScrew Does that mean Splatoon existed within its own universe?]]]]

** [[spoiler:Furthermore, in Hero Mode, after defeating the boss of each Dome, if you stick around before collecting the Zapfish you'll eventually hear some unsettling loud noises. If that was the sound of the Octarian habitat domes collapsing from power loss, then that means that their situation got worse immediately after Captain Cuttlefish sent Agent 3 to reclaim Zapfishes.]]
* When you die in splatoon, you explode into the opposing team's colour ink. Does this mean that the inklings are using each other's blood as ammo?

** You can see unevolved fish in the water in various stages (Arowana Mall, Bluefin Depot). Not to mention Squids are carnivorous (And Callie and Marie mention eating Catfish Burgers and Hot Dogfish), so it's unlikely they hold his carnivorous tendencies against him.

** It might be considered an extremely scary ride in-universe which is why it is compared to roller coasters. There's one of two ways this [[WildMassGuessing could be]] implemented:

* The fact inklings dissolve in water makes their world a lot more scary seeming. Realistically inkling should die when they dissolve, though since a Game Over when falling into water doesn't make for a fun game they simply respawn. What must rain and snow do to them? There's also the issue of masses of water being lethal to inkling. The implications they live in Japan, which are a series of islands surrounded by water, only makes it worse.

* Not exactly a 'horror' exactly but mildly off-putting. Apparently at least some other species still eat salted squid. Wouldn't that be a bit creepy to inklings considering they're evolved squids?