WMG / Splatoon

The series in general
Splatoon | Splatoon 2 | Splatoon 3

Unmarked spoilers for the whole franchise ahead.

Prerelease Theories

An Inkling will be a DLC character for the 3DS and Wii U versions of Super Smash Bros.

They have already been getting plenty of support recently and with Nintendo promoting the game hugely I think It's entirely possible''.

• Highly unlikely with the revelation of the Mii Gunner Inkling outfits. Trophies and maybe even a stage could still happen, but a fully playable character? ...hey, something to save for Smash 5.
  • They have a few costumes, so what? Link has a costume, does that mean we should cut him out?
    • And remember how the Meta Knight Mii mask was revealed before Meta Knight himself? I don't think Costumes diminish their chances.
  • Given that the Link Mii costume was revealed after the game had been out for months, it's hardly the same. That also goes for helmet-only items like the Meta Knight mask and Samus helmet, which aren't even full costumes. In any case, the Inklings aren't even in the same league as icons like Link or Samus, so it's a false equivalency to claim that costumes of a new character with one game are the same as one of a beloved character who's been in every Smash to date. Not to mention it would be very poor planning on Nintendo's part to reveal a Mii costume - which costs money, don't forget - and then later go "oh, hey, you know these costumes? Yeah, the money you spent on them was a total waste, now go buy the actual characters." And again, saving the Inklings for a future Smash game would be a much smarter idea. It'd be a wonderful way to start off promoting the game with an Inkling intro similar to how Villager or Mega Man were revealed.
  • There's talk about a trophy for the Inkling girl coming soon. That doesn't mean that the theory is completely jossed, however. Remember what eventually happened to Mewtwo and Lucas? Only time will tell, though.
  • Trophy confirmed, came with same update that added the inkling Mii Gunner outfits/Squid hat.
    • Confirmed, but is an Ultimate basegame newcomer.

The Inklings were made by Professor E. Gadd.

To elaborate, the Inklings were born from the ink spread by the brush that Bowser Jr. used in Super Mario Sunshine.

• Well, the game started as a Mario spinoff, so... I guess that was actually Nintendo's idea for the inklings all along.
• Jossed. It is stated in game that the inklings evolved along with other aquatic life to to live on land after the world was flooded

The Reason why Judd the cat is the only non-aquatic animal in the game is because...

He was sealed inside a time capsule for thousands of years.

• You just got this from the leak, didn't you? In any case, Confirmed.

The Inklings are actually just avatars of the ink, which is trying to spread itself.

Fairly straightforward, the Inklings aren't actually separate creatures but more concentrated forms of the ink that they spray, and they aren't respawning so much as the ink is just focusing on forming a new avatar.

• Jossed. The lore states that the Inklings evolved from regular squids, and it was only well after this that Turf Wars were developed around their ink-shooting. Also, the ink apparently disappears soon after it is sprayed.

The game will have a ridiculous parody of CoD plots as a story mode.

It will consist of evil, disposable Purple terrorists, an invading army of Blues, and rants about how Orange must be mobilized and reawaken to war by General Squidpard.

• Jossed. But this is a cool idea. Something for a sequel perhaps?

One of the custom designs for the Inklings will be Odangos.

There's nothing cuter than to have a choice to have that hairstyle and shooting ink at people. If we got pigtails and ponytails, I'm sure this could be an option.

• Sadly Jossed, there is no hair customization. Maybe in the sequel?
  • It looks like hair customization will be in the sequel, if this is anything to go by. However, there's no confirmation if there will be this particular hairstyle.

Each of the Inklings will have their strengths and weaknesses

Since it was just a demo, all the Inklings seem to operate the same way. However, if each Inkling was better at a certain type of gun based on their appearance then it could add depth to the game. (Of course, this troper can see people abusing this and just go for the best of he best instead of a situational thing).

• Confirmed, in the sense that abilities are gear-based...

There will be a crossover of some kind with Jet Grind Radio.

If a Jet Grind Radio 3 ever gets made with Nintendo's help then it will be a nice gesture to include the Inklings in some form. Maybe as an unlockable gang as an Easter Egg.

• There is interest on their side of the fence, and Nintendo does have some level of influence over their former foes these days.....

Getting doused in rival ink

-doesn't actually hurt per se; rather, it's more like a tingly, almost numbing sensation. Rival ink doesn't become a real problem until you get splattered.

Getting splattered hurts like hell.

• One problem: if getting splattered hurts a lot, then why would the average teen Inkling want to participate in Turf Wars as a recreational activity?
  • Why do humans play paintball?
  • For fun, of course. But let's compare the hurting... human paintball is with armor and helmet on (armor that matters of course, in Turf Wars, armor is almost meaningless), getting hit by a paintball doesn't hurt "like hell" (YMMV, but it does hurt,) also, humans don't explode during paintball.
• Alternative, splattering can hurt like hell, but it's worse the longer the inkling holds out before their body dissociates in conflicting ink. During turf wars and other sport, it's good sportsmanship to let this happen as soon as possible, which only hurts enough to add adrenline to the game, by the time they catch their breath while waiting out the respawn timer, then reform at base, they're ready to go all over again. On the other hand, Agent 3 holds out as long as possible before their body forcibly dissolves, then reconstitutes ASAP, so after getting splatter too many times without making progress, they're in such excruciating pain they have to retreat from the dome entirely to gather themselves before trying again.

The game might have character customization. So let's talk possibilities!

• It definitely should have Hats!
  • Confirmed.
• Gun finishes, decorative ammo containers!
  • Gun finishes confirmed, the amiibos unlock hero versions of the Splattershot, the Splat Charger, and the Splat Roller, which only differ in appearance.
• Crossovers! Plumber outfits, princess outfits, Toad/Toadette hats, Captain Falcon's helmet, etc.
  • Splatoon Link.
  • Confirmed for non-Nintendo franchises: Japan, at least, is getting a Squid Girl outfit! And the rest of the world's getting it too, presumably, since everyone else has to interact with Japanese players...
• Shout-outs to its "rival" Real Is Brown shooters! Soldier fatigues, stealth suits, terrorist hoodies and masks, etc.
  • Well there are gas masks, camo jackets, vests and beanies...
• And of course, RPG Elements just like the other shooters! Leveling up, unlocking (and maybe, or maybe not upgrading) weapons and scopes and grips, new classes, perks, abilities, kill streak rewards. Wait, actually, please don't.
  • Partially confirmed. Guns don't come with customizable parts, but new items are unlocked in the shops based on your online rank.
  • Completely confirmed after the august update. After level 20, every five levels warrants you a piece of three star gear made by Cuttlegear, and a replica of the Octoling's Octoshot.
• Jill from Drill Dozer, evidenced by one of the official Tumblr posts casually namedropping the game.
• With Sega's permission they include a few items and hats based on Jet Set Radio maybe: Beat's glasses, Gum's helmet, Combo's Yen necklace.
  • Stated to be a dream project by the game's creator.

The Inklings are part of an underground resistance movement.

In keeping with territorial control being the main theme of the game, the Octopus creatures have taken over Inkling society, and in the single player campaign the kids have decided to fight back.

• The reverse is true. The Octarians lost the last Turf War and were driven underground. Their attempt to invade the surface world and stealing its main power source is what kicks off the campaign.

The Mad Scientist-type in the trailer is E-Gadd's cousin.

Yes, I mean that he's his cousin. From another universe. (Unless this IS part of the Mario universe.) He also created the Inklings.

• The Mad Scientist-type in the trailer is Captain Cuttlefish, an old war veteran from the Great Turf Wars and not a scientist in the least.

Splatoon takes place in an Alternate Timeline from the Mario games

The split occurs in Super Mario Sunshine. In the timeline where Mario succeeds, everything is pretty much normal and leads to Super Mario Galaxy and beyond. In the timeline where Mario fails. Isle Defino and eventually the rest of the world, is lead to ruin from all the ink and most of the species in the main Mario universe goes extinct. Bloopers survive and evolve into the dominant species in this new world.

• Jossed, because it is Earth All Along.
  • You're no fun. Mario has visited many countries in various sports games so the Mushroom Kingdom is a place on Earth. Also the WMG is a spoof on Zelda Timeline theories.
  • Then again, the Olympic games are a non-canon crossover... and the Mario series (maybe even Sonic?) has Negative Continuity anyway. Though, I must give it that the actual story is very similar to the prediction, except replace "ruin from all the ink" with "rising sea levels" and Bloopers with real squid.
    • Actually, Mario and Sonic both have continuities. Mario's is just hard to understand as most people just ignore it.
    • Sonic's continuity has mostly been in line with the order of the games being released. Mario, on the other hand, has continuity between specific games, but doesn't seem to have a single, overarching plot that is easily connected. Galaxy 2, for example, might not have been a "real" event, just a bedtime story version of the plot for the first Galaxy. And Mario DOES take place on Earth, just not the real one.

Splatoon takes place in the same world as Pikmin

The Inklings and Octopi live on the same human-less Earth that the Pikmin live in. Remnants of humanity are still standing in the world of both games, and the fact that none of Pikmin's astronauts have come across either species can be explained by the fact that they are so small that the chances of coming across them in the few areas of Earth they explore are minimal.

• Jossed. It's been explained that most of the world in Splatoon is submerged in water, with the Great Turf Wars enacted to fight for the remaining parts of the surface. Pikmin's version of Earth is full of land and fauna, so this would not work.
• Not entirely. one can easily just say Pikmin takes place in the same world, but in an entirely different area.
  • Not to mention that since the scale of the Pikmin games is very tiny, it's possible that the entire surface areas of Pikmin does take place on the entire area of the world of Splatoon with room to spare. Also looking at all the various creatures that exist in the Pikmin games, and a great chunk of them resemble sea creatures that now live on land.
  • This would also explain how things such as food and Nintendo products in the Pikmin games (mainly 2) have not deteriorated, since it seems the Inklings are still using those things.

The Inklings and Octopi are a result of an experiment by Aperture Science

The Octopi live in underground domes, much like the ones built by Aperture Science, as shown in Portal 2. Both species are a product of Cave Johnson deciding they should put some more science on the gels they created, which then resulted in intelligent creatures that took over the Earth, surface and underground.

This game takes place in one the universes in the Portal 2 multiverse

The underground domes in one of the trailers could be the Octopi's version of Aperture Science. In the Perpetual Testing Initiative trailer for Portal 2, it is shown that there is a universe where octopi are sentient, and operate their own version of Aperture. So, it might be possible, that in the Portal 2 Community Test Chamber campaign, the Splatoon universe is visited, although we only see one test chamber from it.

Animal species from this game will appear in future Animal Crossing games.

They apparently have the same development team, and a few of the animal characters look like they'd be right at home in Animal Crossing.

The final boss will be a...

• Giant paint Kraken. Think about it- What's similar to octopi and squid, ferocious, giant, and powerful? Could be some kind of evil pirate captain guy who turns into a Kraken form- His tentacles could come out of the paint and attack at different times, and he'd occasionally pop his face out of the paint, which would be when he could be attacked.
• Alternately, it may be a disgraced Cap'n Cuttlefish, who ends up betraying you and joining the Octarians once they make him an offer he can't refuse...except it turns out even the Octarians are disappointed with his poor performance against you, meaning the real final boss will be the Octarians' last stand. As potential evidence, Cap'n Cuttlefish's entry in the Squid Research Lab notes supposedly looks like he wrote it himself, perhaps posturing himself as incorruptible even though the Octarians can see a few flaws in him to exploit.
• Both are jossed. The final boss is Octopus Skrillex in a giant turntable-powered mecha.

---

The Splatoon 1 servers will shut down following Splatoon 2's release...

...and the online multiplayer mode will be no longer available. Supporting facts??

• There are no more Splatfests; Callie vs. Marie was confirmed to be the final Splatfest.
• Splatoon 2 will have most of the weapons and features from the first game and then some.
• Splatoon 1 was on the Wii U, which was a failure in terms of sales and had been discontinued before Splatoon 2 was released.
  • Thankfully Jossed. It'll happen someday, but presumably only along with all other Wii U games.

Judd is immortal and the Turf Wars were originally ritual games.

Take a close look at the Splatoon Direct when they introduce the Sunken Scrolls. When they get to the fourth one◊, they show an ancient-looking picture of eight adult Inklings split into two teams and armed with ancient versions of the weapons, the judgement being presided over by an oddly familiar cat. This of course says two things: the turf wars were going on for centuries in the Inklings' world and presumably used to be for holy rituals (like, say, Mesoamerican court ball), and Judd has been judging these games for just as long. This at the very least helps explain how Judd got to be so accurate with counting the percentage of ink that covers the stage, though it also implies that he wasn't so fat back then.

• Kinda-sorta Jossed; while the activity of "turf war" has apparently been around in some form for almost as long as the Inklings have possessed civilization, the capital-letter Turf War was an actual war between the Inklings and Octarians, and a safe, sportlike version for kids was developed afterwards using the weapon designs from the real war.
  • That was called the Great Turf War (to distinguish it from the lesser turf wars). I don't see how that necessarily Josses anything.
• That said, the "Judd is immortal" part has been confirmed by the Splatoon 2 artbook.

Annie and Spyke are siblings.

It's mostly a case of one has soft, spiky hair, and the other has sharp and spiky hair.

• One thing going against this is that they're different species; Annie is an anemone, and Spyke is a sea urchin.

The Inklings can change their color at will.

This would explain how one person can be on multiple different teams during their play time.

• Welp, my point was Confirmed: If you quit a battle where you had a different color than the last match, your new color sticks.

The Inklings found a time capsule of modern human culture.

This might explain why they have cosmetics that we might see as modern now.

• Confirmed, with the contents being Judd.
• The Inklings just kinda took over human cities since humanity died off. So it makes sense they could have adopted some human practices.
• Plus a giant statue that may or may not be a giant laser-beam machine of death

Octarians didn't evolve on Earth, they're aliens.

That's why they use UFOs, have technology far beyond the Inklings, and the importance of the Golden Record that the Inklings sent out into space. There were no Octarians on the Golden Record because they are the ones who found the disc and came to Earth.

• After the Transformers Splatfest, the Golden Disk from Beast Wars]] comes to mind, yeesss...
  • Sadly, Splatoon 3 finally Josses this, by revealing that they, like the Inklings, evolved into what they were as a side effect of what humanity did in order to try and revive humanity.

The Inklings are the aliens and octarians are native.

The only proof we have that the inklings are from earth is some sketchy scrolls that could easily be some sort of Inkling propaganda. The inklings invaded earth and caused the flooding the Octarians are just highly evolved octopi but inklings are clearly some sort of goo creature that resembles a squid.

• Several problems with that. Why in the world would Inklings need propaganda about their own past if they had the technology to somehow invade Earth and also flood it? And why would they be so ignorant of humanity if they invaded it? (Again, if they had the means to space travel and invade another planet, that kind of info wouldn't just dissapear. Not to mention all the technology). Also, there's Judd the cat; he was put in stasis for 10,000 years, complete with some notes from his owner regarding the events. Why would the Inklings need to make fake propaganda that convoluted for this one fatass furry creature?
• Jossed by Word of God, which confirms that the Inklings are indeed descended from Earth squids.
  • And doubly so thanks to Splatoon 3's new lore.

Splatoon will feature battle arenas from the Mario Kart series as DLC.

Mario Kart 8 has no battle arenas and Splatoon is the only Wii U game by Nintendo that has (sort of) true battle mode.

• The inversion of this has been confirmed: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe will have Urchin Underpass as a Battle Mode stage.

Squid Girl is the distant ancestor of the squids.

Along with obvious spoilers, it's also why they have such a human like society. Having been among them for a little while herself, she could come back to her people/ Squidkind's ancestors and tell them everything they would need to know before humanity's giant wipeout.

Judd is NOT the last mammal.

This seems to be Fanon at this point, but a few things point to it possibly just being humans. The most important thing is that Callie mentions ice cream when talking about available stages, and you can see it on a menu inside a cafe from outside. The milk for that ice cream had to come from somewhere. It's still possible it's made from a milk substitute, but then why would it be called "ice cream"? Cows and other livestock may have survived while humans couldn't, and might be adapted to semi-aquatic life similarly to hippos.

• There are animals called water buffalo.
• There is also a cat shirt that the player can dress their inkling in that doesn't look like Judd. There are other ways that they could have known that (Judd, for example, drawing a picture or something), but it's possible that at least non-talking cats still exist. There's also the Cats vs. Dogs theme used in the North American Splatfest event.
• Also note the "catfish burgers" vs "hot dogfish sandwich" dialogue by Callie and Marie, though, which may lend credibility to semi-aquatic land mammals adaptation, though mostly for dogs, since catfish already exist even if they don't actually look like cats.
  • Dogfish are also a real thing - they're a group of sharks. I think Marie was more making a joke about hot dogs.
• Perhaps it's whale milk ice cream.
  • Well, it is possible to make bread using dolphin milk, so.....
• Confirmed as of Splatoon 2, with Judd's smol counterpart, Li'l Judd. They're hyping up his origin.
• Splatoon 3 has decided to label its Story Mode "Return of the Mammalians", which indicates there are even more than Judd and his clone, and they're coming back.
  • Fully confirmed: Mr Grizz, also known as Bear #3, is also a mammal.

General Cuttlefish and the final boss are actually friends, and the whole single player campaign is actually just them wanting attention

In one of the sunken scrolls, There's a picture of an inkling who looks like cuttlefish being friendly to an octopus wearing DJ Octavio's helmet. It should also be noted that in the final boss fight, Callie and Marie mention that "grandpa's (Cuttlefish) is probably just lonely"; Add their generally calm reaction to their grandpa's kidnapping to their older agent status and cuttlefishes odd amounts of preparation for a sneak attack (why did he have all those stuffed fish toys and snow globe just lying around?) and the likely truth is that DJ and the Captain rekindled their friendship after the war, and now they're just trying to avoid being forgotten.

DJ Octavio is an Octoling

Despite his size, Octavio looks extremely like an Octoling's octopus form. That, coupled with the fact that one of the sunken scrolls shows what is clearly a humanoid DJ Octavio next to a younger Captain Cuttlefish leads me to believe that Octavio is in fact the only male Octoling seen in the game. Now, why does he rely on a machine instead of using his Octoling abilities against you, and why doesn't he take humanoid form anymore? Well, Octavio must be about the same age as Cuttlefish, and Cuttlefish said he can't really shoot ink anymore, and he never is seen transforming, though the forms they stay in are different the principle is the same.

Humanity survived

At the very last second, we either built a rocket or created some sort of hidden shelter that the Inklings somehow haven't found.

• After all, none of the sunken scrolls say humanity is extinct, only that they will be if no-one does something.
  • Some of them survived the rising tides, yes, but it was the stupidity of their descendants that got them killed off, as proven by Splatoon 3.

Possibilities for an expansion pack

This Tropers theory is that at somepoint there will be a expansion pack dlc and here's what i think it includes.

• Octoling hero mode. play through a new set of challenges as Agent C he/she is sent out to explore an abandoned inkling city to secure some new zap fish. turns out the city isn't quite abandoned though.
• playable octlings male and female.
• to go with all this we get three new Amiibo's Octoling girl octoling boy and octopus.
  • Jossed. Them being in Splatoon 2 is still open though.
  • Turns out the sequel is getting an expansion pack in summer 2018.
    • Turns out that the expansion pack was actually about octolings, huh.

The Inklings are technically a One-Gender Race or have No Biological Sex

Pretty much the only thing that differentiates male and female Inklings is the way they wear their hair/tentacles; if an Inkling boy let his tentacles down he'd probably look exactly like a girl. This is because the Inklings no longer have any biological division between genders, but most Inklings identify as one or the other for cultural reasons. It also explains why Agent 3 can switch back and forth between being a boy or a girl; they're just wearing their hair differently.

• Pronounced Hartman Hips on female Inklings and Octolings say hi. Plus, the character creation screen does imply they are different characters (both boy and girl appearing there instead of one character changing back and forth); with the single player stuff being chalked up to Gameplay and Story Segregation.
• Splatoon 3 does not appear to have gender specific hair-styles, or any gender selection at all.

All of the bosses are piloted

They all have the same x-marked scar on the tentacle that emerges from them, except the final boss. Because he fights you face to face, and you can see for yourself that the scar belongs to DJ Octavio.

• Basically confirmed by the Sunken Scrolls in Splatoon 2.

Most single player themes are popular Octarian songs.

Shortly after the game was revealed, the developers said that the songs that played during matches were meant to be popular songs amongst the Inklings. Given the big difference between the rock/pop inspired tracks in multiplayer and the techno/futuristic beats in single player, it's not unreasonable to think that the single player tracks are ones popular with the Octarians, especially since most stages take place on their turf. This would be most exemplified during the Final Boss: Phase 1 has DJ Octavio's techno/dubstep beats, while Phase 2 has the Squid Sisters taking over the radio with their J-Pop-like song.

• Confirmed. Music in the single player game is credited to Turquoise October, which is noted in the Splatune OST CD booklet as being an Octarian band. DJ Octavio's track is titled I Am Octavio and has backing vocals from other artists.

The ink is self-replicating.

Do the math: you expend your supply of ink spreading it, dive into it, and are supplied the same amount. That colorful ink is Grey Goo.

• I'm calling Jossed on that one. Sunken Scroll #7 states that all ink sprayed during a Turf War (almost) immediately vanished after the end of a battle. Grey Goo doesn't vanish: it keeps spreading without hesitation.
  • If it disintegrates faster than it can spread if not actively aided by inklings, doesn't mean it isn't a self-replicating substance.
• It seems the ink is connected to the user's will. It won't mix unless the users are in accordance and won't stick around if the users no longer want it to.

The series takes place underwater.

Similar to Spongebob Squarepants, the whole game takes place underwater, but all the characters behave like they're above it.

• Jossed. Water is a hazard - Inklings can't swim, they dissolve. While underwater lakes do exist in Real Life (they're called brine pools), they're not even close to the extent that would create the hazards seen in the game.
• How about the Spongebob beach episodes where there's blue stuff that passes as "water" underwater? The stuff that Spongebob almost "drowns" in before Larry the Lifeguard saves him.
• Still Jossed. The Sunken Scrolls explicitly state that the Inklings crawled out onto land about 2000 years ago. The first thing they found was Judd, an air-breathing mammal, who had been sealed for 10,000 years at that point.
• There's also the fact the "water" is slime. Hence "Goo" Lagoon. Also, who says this game has to follow the logic of an unrelated tv show?

Should an inkling get into Smash, there will be a Splat fest to promote the DLC

In-Universe, it's stated that a few "mysterious guests" chose a few select inklings to appear at a fighting tournament, and the event is occurring to advertise it.

• Jossed as of the first game. Splatoon 2, though...

Sheldon can remake his grandfathers weapons...

... He won't because those are actually weapons. Turf wars of today are a fun competition using non lethal weapons, but the old Turf Wars the blueprints are from was a violent struggle for control of territory. Sheldon is glad to have the plans back but he's not going to let some squid go into a Nerf fight with the equivalent of an M1. So he says he couldn't replicate the tech, or waters it down a bit.

• Splatoon 2's campaign gives this some credence; he outright tells you that the Rainmaker he gives you to fight the final boss is a modded version that's presumably not tournament legal.
• A lesser version of this is also possible: the military-grade weapons are not actually more deadly than those used in the sporting turf-wars, since they don't prevent respawning or anything, but when selling weapons for that purpose in his shop, Sheldon still has to comply with the regulations passed down by the tournament committee, which limits weapon capabilities primarily for the sake of Competitive Balance. He won't sell the military grade weapons in his store for more or less the same reason that sporting goods stores generally don't sell corked bats or nonstandard golf clubs.
  • Sheldon does lament that he can’t soup up the Hero weapons when you unlock them. Apparently some parts of the creation process are beyond his control, even should he have the skill.

Most Octarians are severed tentacles

Octopuses have a distributed nervous system, some of their thinking power is in their brain. If you sever one of their tentacles it will operate on it's own for a bit, even bringing food to a mouth which is no longer there. They can also regenerate tentacles. This ability is present in octolings as well and has also been refined. If they cut off one of their tentacles and feed it, it will grow eyes and a mouth, legs and a brain. Only octolings are born from sexual reproduction.

• Confirmed by the artbook.
  • Similarly, the tentacles used to pilot the Octoweapons were severed limbs from Octavio himself.

Relating to the WMG above: Non-Octoling Octarians are bred for slave labor

Given that Octolings are the most intelligent member of the Octarian species and how they're the only ones to produce a ghost upon death, it's highly likely that in the eyes of their society, any Octarian that's just a severed tentacle or clutters of them are seen as lower class at best and full-on slaves at worst. This explains why a huge majority of the Octarian army consists of nonhumanoid severed tentacles or octopus parts strapped to machines. They're not individuals, but mere extensions of their Octoling "parent's" will like a sort of pseudo-hive mind, and therefore are fundamentally expendable in the eyes of their military.

Inklings are actually mutant humans

• Most likely Jossed. The Inklings are said to have crawled out of the oceans and taken over as the dominant life form.
  • Still, a possibility is that the Inklings were created by combining human and squid DNA in an attempt to avert extinction. 12,000 years is not long enough for an entire species to evolve without some sort of outside influence, especially not from marine to terrestrial. Not so much "mutant" in that case as "genetically modified".
  • Gonna blatantly steal from Game Theory here, but squids IRL can perform some kind of forced speed-evolution by manipulating their genetics directly instead of the roundabout way that most animals use. That way squids could quickly evolve to, say, have a much smaller body and a suit of ink-armor that they can reshape and control at will.
  • RNA editing is the mechanism...although some outside influence still isn't out of the question, as the sequel's DLC implies there is an antagonist that wants to use Inkling/Octarian genetic material to create a better species.
    • Splatoon 3 all but CONFIRMS this - they, like the Octolings and the rest of the marine life, evolved thanks to crystals containing human genetic code causing them to adapt, giving them the human-like traits we all know about.

Splatoon is a Stealth Sequel to Bloodborne.

Specifically, the "Childhood's Beginning" ending where the player character is transformed into a squid monster known as a Great One, that will usher in a new era of humanity. This era is actually the Inklings of Splatoon.

Rainmaker is what caused the end of humanity

Hence why it's called rainmaker

• Jossed. The rising tides were caused by human nuclear warfare escalating out of control, and then the true end of humanity happened underground.

The titles or sub-titles of all future games will be parodies of the titles of other shooter games.

Here are some ideas:

• Kraken Ops/Splat Ops (Call of Duty Black Ops)
• World Turf War (Call Of Duty World at War)
• Counter Ink-Strike (Counter Strike)^note This one is basically double-jossed, as not only was the sequel not called that, but it also removed the Inkstrike (along with several other specials) for balancing purposes, pretty much precluding any future puns on it.
• Calamari of Duty (Call of Duty)
• Cuttlefield/front (Battlefield/Battlefront)
• I'd say something about Halo, but whales seem to be absent... for now.
• Urchin Warfare (Call of Duty Modern Warfare)
  • Jossed. The second game is simply called Splatoon 2 and the third is simply called Splatoon 3

There will at some point be a crossover with Animal Crossing

Which sounds better, Animal Crossing characters in Splatoon's art style or the other way around?

• Confirmed. Since the release of Happy Home Designer, Splatoon-themed items, events, and even characters have frequently popped up in the series. However, the Splatoon games themselves have yet to feature anything related to Animal Crossing, though maybe we’ll see a Splatfest nearing AC’s release on the Switch.

Sunken Scroll #5◊ was Octarian wartime propaganda from the Great Turf War

The ink doesn't actually dissolve after a match, it may not even be biodegradable, and it needs to be cleaned up somehow.

First off, a small WMG: the ink may not really be biodegradable, but it does no harm to the plants in the stages, so it isn't harmful per se.

You might think Turf Wars are only 3 minutes long because the ink will dissolve soon after. However, throughout the results sequence, no such thing happens. In fact, in Ranked Battles (which are 5 minutes long), the ink still stays put the entire time! That's not to mention the fact that Splat Zones battles can go into overtime for a virtually infinite time, and hypothetically speaking, overtime could last forever.

So ink in multiplayer doesn't dissolve after an arbitrary amount of time. Same could very well go for Hero Mode; it would be ridiculous if your Inkling was splatting dangerous enemies and mechas with biodegradable ink. (Then again, this point could be Jossed considering the fact that you can only bring replicas of the weapons into online multiplayer, so maybe the Hero Shot et al. really are more dangerous? Then again again, the Final Boss doesn't die from being splatted, so maybe not so Jossed.)

Yet going back to Hero Mode, whenever a boss Turns Red, it lets out a screech so loud that all the ink is lifted off of the battlefield. So here we see that the ink can easily be removed upon exposure to a really loud noise, louder than even (hypothetically, again) eight Killer Wails. And who knows, really loud sounds may not be the only way to remove the ink, but it could be rather convenient—and with all the Inklings gone after a match ends, there would be no feasible consequences for blasting sound through the arena after a whole match. Or, again, it could be removed some other way, but that's the best I've come up with.

EDIT: Then again, the ink could just be cleaned up using water. Assuming the ink isn't biodegradable, it's more than likely that the Inklings' squid forms (and maybe hair?) are made out of the stuff. And Cap'n Cuttlefish does say he's too old to produce any more ink, so putting two and two together, the ink being sprayed everywhere are your Inklings' bodily fluids. And Inklings do dissolve in water and all, so putting four and two together, they could just hose down the arenas after each battle. Matchmaking isn't the only reason you have to wait between battles—it could be that you're waiting for the stages to dry off. (You know, given how they'd be covered in deadly dihydrogen monoxide and all.)

• I still go with the "dissociates slightly after Judd's judging" excuse being put up by the game. However, in case it doesn't, my mundane solution besides the organizers or janitors hosing everything down with H2O, is just the Squeegees from singleplayer. Organizers or janitors probably have these machines stacked up in a storeroom somewhere to bring them out after a match.
• To be clear, the way Overtime works doesn't allow infinite length matches. It only occurs if the team that's behind controls all Splat Zones or the Tower, and it can only last until said team either loses control of the Splat Zones/Tower or takes the lead. In other words, it can only last about 100 seconds at the maximum. So the possible length of matches still doesn't rule out the possibility that ink disappears about 8-10 minutes after being laid down.
• 100% Jossed by Splatoon 2; one of the Scrolls outright states that Inkling ink naturally biodegrades thanks to ink-eating airborne microbes.
• While there may be a natural check to ink, to ensure it doesn't stand forever, it's likely the ink will otherwise stay put as long as the Inklings/Octarians want it too, but quickly dissolve once they voluntarily relinquish the marked turf.

The ink is an extremely volatile and low-density fluid.

The reason that it disappears shortly after a match isn't so much that it's biodegradable, as that it's volatile. If it were merely biodegradable then it would require all kinds of bacteria and enzymes and time. But I think maybe it just evaporates after laying out in the sun for about 10 minutes or so. It being low-density would also explain why the Inklings (whose bodies are primarily composed of the ink, rather than water) have such a low falling speed and cannot be injured by falling: their bodies are so light that simple air resistance is enough to keep them from ever accelerating to a dangerous speed when falling. The ability to take on a "living ink vapor" form may even explain the little "squid ghost" thing that flies back to the spawn point every time you get splatted.

EDIT: The Inklings and Octarians being able to remain alive while vaporized also explains why the Octarians were able to build, and Inklings also able to use, the "tea kettle" transport system. The kettles work by boiling the user, followed by high-speed transport via steam pipe.

• Partly jossed by Splatoon 2's Sunken Scrolls, which outright state that Inkling ink is biodegradable thanks to ink-eating airborne microbes.

Inklings can change the overall solubility of their bodies.

They most obvious way they do this via their Squid-Kid transformations. During a turf war, or other ink intensive event, inklings let themselves become more loose so their squid forms can merge with their ink and flow through grates. When they're not in these situations, they shift towards being more solid so they can interact with water without dissolving. They have to be able to deal with liquids during daily living. Otherwise, Arrowana Mall might as well be built over a lava pit. And if it rains, it might as well be death from the sky.

• Jossed by Word of God, which has stated that Inklings are just naturally really porous and vulnerable to osmosis.

[[WMG: The Zapfish used to belong to the Octarians prior to the war.In the EU version of the game, the first thing DJ Octavio says when you engage the level is "I will take back what's mine." But he had only taken the Zapfish. Unless he was planning to retake the surface...

• If you account for other dubs (except for the NA dub), it's jossed. In the Japanese version, what he says translates to "I will reclaim my turf."
• You'll note the future tense, "I will take back what's mine." He'd already taken the zapfish, so he couldn't have been talking about that.

Callie and Sheldon have some kind of history.

Whenever she and Marie announce new weaponry available, she grimaces whenever she mentions seeing Sheldon for details. Kind of makes me wonder if something had happened between them in the past.

• If Marie's and Sheldon's interactions in Splatoon 2 are any indication, it's just because Sheldon has a habit of blabbing on and on and on and on and on ad nauseam; Marie is clearly annoyed by it, and I imagine Callie feels the same way.

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