History Fridge / Splatoon

* The Inkbrush and Octobrush seem idiosyncratically named after the humanoid races' names. However, the ''Octo''brush is the more basic of them, and thus the only Brush that [[EliteMooks rival]] ''Octo''lings can wield; whereas the ''Ink''brush is not only used solely by player characters (initially just ''Ink''lings), but used to spread ''ink'', as opposed to a mundane ''paint''brush used for actual ''paint''.

! FridgeBrilliance

* One of the members of the Chirpy Chips is a flapjack octopus, which may seem weird, considering that Inklings and Octolings are mortal enemies in the first game... until you find out that real flapjack octopuses don't produce ink. The band (and Inkling society as a whole) accepted them because they couldn't hurt them!

** Confirmed in the official artbook.
* The shed behind Cuttlefish in the main hub world is full of zapfish dolls, explaining where he got them to place into replayed levels.
* In a meta sense, while the BossBanter of the FinalBoss is dratically different between the more serious European localization and the LargeHam American one, they still share one punny line: ''"Time to... D-D-D-DROP THE SEA BASS!!"''. Of course they wouldn't even think on having a game by the same creators of ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'' without [[RunningGag the obligatory "sea bass" pun]]; ''especially'' for a game entirely focused on sea creatures.

* The Octolings and Octostriker stages in single-player involve a group of Octarians invading certain areas of the surface, so 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.
* Why is green such a prominent color in Hero Mode? In one of the Sunken Scrolls, it shows that the Original Squidbeak Splatoon had green tentacles.
* 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 [[MiniatureSeniorCitizens 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.
** It would also explain why he's so much smaller compared to pictures of him that you find in Sunken Scrolls.

* The fact that 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 constantly got his tentacles up in the air and he's jumping around in his booth. The music actually helped make him more vulnerable.
* 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.]]

* Some of the gear's main abilities actually make sense:
** 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.
** The Legendary Cap has '''Damage Up'''. It's the same hat [[BigGood Capp'n Cuttlefish]], a '''solider''', wore in a war.
** Lightweight Cap is '''Swim Speed Up''', something that is ''lightweight'' would be easier to swim with.
** Power Mask has '''Defence Up''', considering it's a ''protective 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).
** The Splash Goggles have '''Defence Up''': They're designed for Protection.
** 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.
** Octo Tee and Forge Octarian Jacket have '''Haunt''', much like how Octarians ''haunted'' Inkopolis.
** The Navy Items have '''Damage Up''', What do Navies often do?
** While not the proper boot type, the Blue Moto Boots have '''Ink Resist Up'''; boots are often protective from dirty and messy things.
** You'd think that Stealth Goggles should have '''Stealth Jump''' or '''Stealth Swim''', but '''Swim Speed Up''' ''would'' allow a great getaway and recon.
** 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).
* The names of the Squid Sisters' songs:
** Ink Me Up is actually a creative way of daring someone to fight. The song is essentially called "Fire at Me."
** City of Color: The Sisters grew up in Calamari County. This is their impression of Inkopolis.
** Marie's solo, Tide Goes Out: Marie makes many comments about the backgrounds of stages, which is often water. Clearly she likes water.
*** Maritime Memory may have the same meaning.
** Fresh Start: ''STAY FRESH!''
** Calamari Inkantation has several meanings:
*** They may have named it after Calamari County. In a way, it could be a shout-out to their homeland.
*** It's said the song works as kind of a counter-spell: The name is basically "Squid Spell."
*** Alternatively, its name comes from their names. In other words, "Our Spell."
* The two North American collaborative Splatfests bears similarities to Splatoon's concepts:
** 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''.

! FridgeHorror
* 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?
** Apparently the end of the world came before the Switch could be released.
** 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?]]
** Humanity fighting ''five'', yes, '''five''' world wars makes you wonder just how much more violent and brutal humanity was back when they still existed.
* No, wait a minute... where the hell '''are''' the whales? If the oceans changed drastically due to environmental calamity, did the whales also... [[InferredHolocaust oh god]]!

* Imagine Hero Mode from the viewpoint of the Octarians. You have lived your entire life underground, as have all of your kind for a hundred years. Your civilization is literally crumbling around you, but your people would be able to make do if only they 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 your venerated leader DJ Octavio builds up an army, bolsters it with powerful machines, and then you all launch surprise raids to acquire the resources you need to survive. Every factor is working to your advantage. Then you lose completely and utterly... to a ''handful'' of these lazy Inklings. Not only that, they singlehandedly destroy the greatest weapons of your people AND your leader while he's piloting the strongest Octarian weapon powered by the greatest power source known to the world. To top it all off, the Inkling directly fighting the Octarian army ''isn't even a soldier''; they had about 10 minutes of training, at best. If your people could not win under these circumstances, you cannot ever win. The Octarians' situation used to be bad. Now it is hopeless.
** 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.

* Being composed of ink, the inklings dissociate in water. So why are some Inklings supporting ''water slides'' in the second North American Splatfest?
** 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:
*** Inklings actually dissociate at the watery bottom, then respawn at a spawn point at the top of the water slide. (Considering the average teen engages in turf wars and gets splatted once in a while, they might not mind it.)
*** The water slide doesn't end in a deep pool of water at the end, so nobody "drowns" at the bottom.
* The fact inklings dissolve in water makes their world a lot more scary seeming. Realistically, inklings 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 inklings. The implications they live in Japan, which are a series of islands surrounded by water, only makes it worse.
** 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.

** 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 since 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]]
* 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.

* Imagine hero mode from the viewpoint of the Octarians. 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... to a ''handful'' of these lazy inklings. Not only that, they singlehandedly destroy the greatest weapons of your people AND your leader while he's piloting the strongest Octarian weapon. 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.

* One of the members of the Chirpy Chips is a flapjack octopus, which may seem weird, considering that Inklings and Octolings are mortal enemies in the first game... until you find out that real flapjack octopi don't produce ink. The band (and Inkling society as a whole) accepted them because they couldn't hurt them!