History YMMV / Splatoon

* CharacterPerceptionEvolution: Pearl started off a BaseBreakingCharacter with many fans, who found her [[ForeheadOfDoom beetle brow]] awkward-looking and her childish, bratty demeanor off-putting.[[note]]There's some elements of AmericansHateTingle at play here -- Pearl's dynamic with Marina was subject to questionable localization at first, resulting in their interactions coming off as far less warm and more standoffish, closer to VitriolicBestBuds.[[/note]] But then her HiddenDepths started coming to light in later updates, and the ''Octo Expansion'' revealed her true maturity and how sweet and faithful she could be. (It's telling that the popular [[PortmanteauCoupleName Pearlina]] {{ship|ping}} didn't start to take off until after the ''Octo Expansion'' released.) By the time of ''Splatoon 3'', she'd become almost as popular as Marina, she was missed just as much as her when the two were PutOnABus, and her appearance as Eight's drone sidekick in ''Side Order'' was met with near-unanimous approval. To further show how far Pearl has come among Western fans, "the gremlin" started out as a somewhat derogatory nickname for her, but is now almost exclusively affectionate.

* CharacterPerceptionEvolution: Pearl started off a BaseBreakingCharacter with many fans, who found her [[ForeheadOfDoom beetle brow]] awkward-looking and her childish, bratty demeanor off-putting.[[note]]There's some elements of AmericansHateTingle at play here -- Pearl's dynamic with Marina was subject to questionable localization at first, resulting in their interactions coming off as far less warm and more standoffish, closer to VitriolicBestBuds.[[/note]] But then her HiddenDepths started coming to light in later updates, and the ''Octo Expansion'' revealed her true maturity and how sweet and faithful she could be. (It's telling that the popular [[PortmanteauCoupleName Pearlina]] {{ship|ping}} didn't start to take off until after the ''Octo Expansion'' released.) By the time of ''Splatoon 3'', she'd become almost as popular as Marina, she was missed just as much as her when the two was PutOnABus, and her appearance as Eight's drone sidekick in ''Side Order'' was met with near-unanimous approval. To further show how far Pearl has come among Western fans, "the gremlin" started out as a somewhat derogatory nickname for her, but is now almost exclusively affectionate.

* CharacterPerceptionEvolution: Pearl started off a BaseBreakingCharacter with many fans, who found her [[ForeheadOfDoom beetle brow]] awkward-looking and her childish, bratty demeanor off-putting.[[note]]There's some elements of AmericansHateTingle at play here -- Pearl's dynamic with Marina was subject to questionable localization at first, resulting in their interactions coming off as far less warm and more standoffish, closer to VitriolicBestBuds.[[/note]] But then her HiddenDepths started coming to light in later updates, and the ''Octo Expansion'' revealed her true maturity and how sweet and faithful she could be. (It's telling that the popular [[PortmanteauCoupleName Pearlina]] {{ship|ping}} didn't start to take off until after the ''Octo Expansion'' released.) By the time of ''Splatoon 3'', she'd become almost as popular as Marina, she was missed just as much as her when she was PutOnABus, and her appearance as Eight's drone sidekick in ''Side Order'' was met with near-unanimous approval. To further show how far Pearl has come among Western fans, "the gremlin" started out as a somewhat derogatory nickname for her, but is now almost exclusively affectionate.

** Many fans interpret Marina as being autistic, as some of her hand movements appear similar to stimming.

** How did Marina end up above ground and how did she meet Pearl? Many fanfic try to solve these questions. As mentioned above, ''Octo Expansion'' filled in some of the blanks, which actually ''increased'' the number of these stories, since writers now had a solid base surrounding Marina's culture shock and tech genius to expand upon and explore in-depth.

** Splat Tim is an inkling that comes from a distorted picture of the Inkling boy from [[https://splatoonwiki.org/wiki/File:Outfit_SplatFest_Tee_Team_Cat_and_Team_Dog.jpg a Cats vs. Dogs Splatfest promo image]] was posted on Twitter with the caption "it splat tim" (a corruption of "it's splat time"). It inspired a series of StylisticSuck [[http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/006/323/4a9.jpg fake game covers]], and tends to be associated with the phrases "He does it!" and "It's him!" (the latter being from [[http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/007/000/b1d.png one]] of the many "sequels"). Splat Tim is often treated as his own character and is the subject of numerous memes.

* FanNickname: The manga is often referred to as Coroika by fans, a {{portmanteau}} of Corocoro, the magazine that serialises the manga, and ika, the Japanese word for squid.
* {{Fanon}}: Most fans like to believe that Emperor and Prince are related to [[VideoGame/Splatoon2 Pearl]] as her [[OlderThanHeLooks younger]] siblings due to all three coming from rich backgrounds, as well as boasting similar appearances.
* HilariousInHindsight: In the first chapter, Rider has all three of his teammates fire an Inkstrike at once, which the narration calls a Triple Inkstrike. A long time after this chapter was published, Splatoon 3 would include an actual Triple Inkstrike as a standalone special.

** The ''Octo Expansion'' also brought [[https://splatoonwiki.org/wiki/Dedf1sh DJ [=Dedf1sh=]]], a sanitized octoling that garnered a fan following for the excellent tunes she provides for the campaign, along with having some of [[DarkerAndEdgier the darkest lore]] attached to her name.

* BrokenBase: Picking a Splatfest team based on the question versus picking it based on the idol. Advocates for the former argue that picking based on the idol is disingenuous to the concept of a Splatfest, while advocates for the latter maintain that the choice doesn't really matter and that they'd rather side with the more popular idol if it means a better chance at getting more Super Sea Snails.

* EvilIsSexy: A lot of people find the Octoling enemies, in all their various designs, to be attractive.

* LowTierLetdown:
** The Aerosprays are consistently rated pretty low in competitive metagame. Their inability to focus fire and poor range means that they're only good at splatting when right up against someone's face, which is not very helpful in most Ranked modes and effectively reduces them to a mediocre support that's good at covering the ground, spamming their special and doing little else. They require good kits and a team built around their presence to be functional, which rarely occurs since many competitive teams would rather build around a superior support weapon over an Aerospray.
** Undercover Brella, introduced in ''VideoGame/Splatoon2''. A lightweight member of the Brella class, it has the gimmick of not deploying its shield after holding the trigger for a prolonged period of time, meaning the user can continuously shoot while maintaining cover, rather than having to time alternating between an attack and defense mode like the other Brellas. This may seem overpowered at first, but the vanilla Undercover Brella (AKA the [[FanNickname Vunder]]) has a lot of weaknesses that makes it widely viewed as the worst weapon in the series by a wide margin. First, as a trade-off for being able to keep up a shield while always firing, said shield is very weak compared to other Brellas, having a mere 200 HP compared to the middleweight Splat Brella's 500 HP and the heavyweight Tenta Brella's 700 HP. Second, it has the worst DPS ''in the entire game'', needing three well-aimed shots to splat any opponent, with the fastest it can accomplish that task being two seconds, an eternity in [[RocketTagGameplay a game as fast-paced as]] ''Splatoon''. Those two things alone mean that a player is unlikely to splat an opponent before their shield is broken, but in addition, it has lackluster ink coverage for a ranged weapon (so tough luck making a quick escape route during an engagement) and poor synergy with its sub weapon, Ink Mine (the Vunder's low DPS means it can't combo the damage from an Ink Mine well). Things don't get much better with its special weapon. In ''Splatoon 2'', it boasts the Splashdown. To be fair, in low-level play, it's a good panic button that will splat anyone nearby. In high-level play, however? Splashdown is an utter joke, as anyone ranked S+ and above can react and take out the user during the brief vulnerability period at the special's start-up. In ''VideoGame/Splatoon3'', it has the Reefslider, but it is only a marginal upgrade so far that players can use it without immediately being punished since they're activating it from a farther distance; now they get punished afterward, for missing the Reefslider explosion means that they're now in ''very'' close proximity with at least one other opponent, which the Undercover Brella can't hope to fend off given all its listed problems.
* MemeticMutation: [[{{Memes/Splatoon}} There's enough of them to warrant a separate page for them!]]

** Splatfest to both the Wii's ''Everybody Votes Channel'' and Conquest in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU''. Everybody can vote and fight for popularity, although there was no fighting in ''Everybody Votes Channel''