Discussing Inkling/Octoling Biology

[Globin347]

And that's even more reason to propose the oceanic squid if Callie eats squid chips.

 

[BlackZero]

And that's even more reason to propose the oceanic squid if Callie eats squid chips.

I have a sneaking suspicion that Callie likes the octopus flavored chips

 

[Globin347]

I just thought of an apparent inconsistency.

In one of the kelp dome newscasts, marie reccomends hairspray, stating that "the humidity is chaos", and yet...

Should we write this off as a localization issue, or think of an ad-hoc explanation?

 

[Dolphoshi]

I just thought of an apparent inconsistency.

In one of the kelp dome newscasts, marie reccomends hairspray, stating that "the humidity is chaos", and yet...

Should we write this off as a localization issue, or think of an ad-hoc explanation?

I don't think we should write anything off as localization because they did use those words for a reason it may not be what they said exactly but it's still roughly going to be the same thing otherwise you can just write things that break our theries and just write them offf as translation (that is why the dark ages didn't have any advancements because everyone who did was burned as a witch)
besides if we are talking world everything they say was translated to english (or whatever language you say)
i'm guessing they don't use the tentacles on their head because they lost the ability to use them (some people can move their ears some can't)
also is callie a male inkling? "she" doesn't have the long tentacle hair like marie does and every-other inkling girl has the long hair and any that don't are the males (lol people going to be mad)

 

[ShinyGirafarig]

I don't think we should write anything off as localization because they did use those words for a reason it may not be what they said exactly but it's still roughly going to be the same thing otherwise you can just write things that break our theries and just write them offf as translation (that is why the dark ages didn't have any advancements because everyone who did was burned as a witch)
besides if we are talking world everything they say was translated to english (or whatever language you say)
i'm guessing they don't use the tentacles on their head because they lost the ability to use them (some people can move their ears some can't)
also is callie a male inkling? "she" doesn't have the long tentacle hair like marie does and every-other inkling girl has the long hair and any that don't are the males (lol people going to be mad)

Huh? Callie has the longest known tentacles in this game. They are tied back like Marie's. It's tied down while Marie's is tied to the side. If they were untied she would be dragging them through the floor.

 

[Dolphoshi]

Huh? Callie has the longest known tentacles in this game. They are tied back like Marie's. It's tied down while Marie's is tied to the side. If they were untied she would be dragging them through the floor.

( i can never remember which one has which name) so (the green one) she has them tied back because only the male inklings have theirs tied back and are a bit shorter.
but i haven't seen the back of her head so what do I know

 

[ShinyGirafarig]

( i can never remember which one has which name) so (the green one) she has them tied back because only the male inklings have theirs tied back and are a bit shorter.
but i haven't seen the back of her head so what do I know

Well they both have them tied. Who said female inklings are not allowed to tie them back? Also you can see their backs during Splatfests when they are dancing.


Also this person tried to determine just how long they are: http://keiggy.tumblr.com/post/130313211206/i-got-bored-and-decided-to-investigate-the-truth

 

[Dolphoshi]

Well they both have them tied. Who said female inklings are not allowed to tied them back? Also you can see their backs during Splatfests when they are dancing.


Also this person tried to determine just how long they are: http://keiggy.tumblr.com/post/130313211206/i-got-bored-and-decided-to-investigate-the-truth

was too excited to play at an splatfest (have only been able to play in three of them) to look at them
ok that makes sense that seems more accurate
who says boys can't wear high heels
just generally from what we have seen only males have their tied back so but females "hair" is much longer then the males so thanks for answering my question

 

[BlackZero]

i'm guessing they don't use the tentacles on their head because they lost the ability to use them (some people can move their ears some can't)
also is callie a male inkling? "she" doesn't have the long tentacle hair like marie does and every-other inkling girl has the long hair and any that don't are the males (lol people going to be mad)

I thought she just wrapped hers around her head so they looked shorter. Kinda like a squid version of a Librarian's bun or Geisha hair

As for the hair spray, some sea creatures have hair (or at least something very close to it). It's also possible that they have wigs/hair pieces inspired by pictures of humans with hair

 

[ShinyGirafarig]

ok that makes sense that seems more accurate
who says boys can't wear high heels
just generally from what we have seen only males have their tied back so but females "hair" is much longer then the males so thanks for answering my question

Also Callie and Marie have quotes that refer to them working at Walleye Warehouse. Anyone who ever worked with heavy machinery knows that untied hair in real life may lead to a disaster if the hair gets caught on the machinery so the same will apply to long tentacles getting caught like how regular female Inklings usually wear them.

Also here is an example of a canon male Inkling with the tentacles down, it is the one with purple tentacles I am talking about.

It is confirmed that the one with orange tentacles is the only female Inkling in this group. So you can see it is alright for male Inklings to have them down as well.

 

[Dolphoshi]

I thought she just wrapped hers around her head so they looked shorter. Kinda like a squid version of a Librarian's bun or Geisha hair

As for the hair spray, some sea creatures have hair (or at least something very close to it). It's also possible that they have wigs/hair pieces inspired by pictures of humans with hair

makes sense they could have easily adapted to having hair so they didn't freeze to death when they came on land

 

[Dolphoshi]

Also Callie and Marie have quotes that refer to them working at Walleye Warehouse. Anyone who ever worked with heavy machinery knows that untied hair in real life may lead to a disaster if the hair gets caught on the machinery so the same will apply to long tentacles getting caught like how regular female Inklings usually wear them.

Also here is an example of a canon male Inkling with the tentacles down, it is the one with purple tentacles I am talking about.

It is confirmed that the one with orange tentacles is the only female Inkling in this group. So you can see it is alright for male Inklings to have them down as well.

very true
? where are these people in game but if this is cannon I guess it's the fashon choice or maybe it's the best for turf war for some reason because i haven't heard about these people before

 

[ShinyGirafarig]

very true
? where are these people in game but if this is cannon I guess it's the fashon choice or maybe it's the best for turf war for some reason because i haven't heard about these people before

It's Squid Squad. The first VS music you heard in online mode before the other music was added to matches. And you can see their images on billboards in Inkopolis if you look around.

 

[Dolphoshi]

oh forgot they actually have cannon bands thats right i remember seeing them in inkpolois (i think it was the billboard) cool good to know

 

[Globin347]

I see this has taken an interesting turn. Anyway, when I made the write-off comment, I was just trying not to offend Pinko...

And now I'm beginning to realize that this may have been more offensive than just leaving that part out.
Sorry, Pinko.

Anyway, I haven't seen any inklings wearing wigs (yet), and these newscasts seem to be directed prinarily at inkings, who are really the only known species (aside from octolings) who can participate in ink battles.

Edit: many of those bands contain species not seen in-game... how many confirmed species do we have now?

Here are the ones I remember...

Inklings
Octolings
Jellyfish
King prawn
Horseshoe crab
Anemone
Floating (?) clownfish
Sea urchin
Judd
Lobster
That green guy from the chirpy-chirps
The three fish folk from hightide era, who are either from two or three species.

That makes 13 or 14.

This may not be relevant, but I was a little curious.

 

[Paragon-Yoshi]

So to cut this short: They eat and drink just like humans.
And thanks to their inky body, cleaning is a simple task.

Though I do wonder if they still take baths and the like, just for relaxation and/or fun.


I am still wondering, provided the whole "Inklings can't take water" still stands, how can they take a bath or go to a sauna or whatever, if they cannot come into contact with water?
And does water damage them, no matter what amount or whether it is liquid or gaseous?

Of course, I too would prefer to go with the "Inklings can take water, they just can't swim" concept.
But Nintendo seems to go with the former.

 

[Globin347]

Well, I assumed that gaseous water wouldn't harm inklings. I also assumed that they can take liquid water, just not too much of it.

Of course, in the solid model, they can take liquid water.

 

[Pinko]

They're a comedy duo: that's what they do. The Boke vs Tsukkomi Japanese Splatfest is a reference to this (the boke and tsukkomi style comedy). Callie is the Boke (someone who comically misunderstands something or has amusing misconceptions) and Marie is the Tsukkomi (the "straight man" or the person who's correcting the Boke's misconceptions). Think of it as a Japanese version of Jon Stewart and Steve Colbert playing off of each other.

The problem is, Westerners don't always find this as funny as Japanese audiences. The NA localization team turned them into a more westernized comedy duo (Callie's wacky, Marie's deadpan) because they thought Americans wouldn't get the Japanese style humor. Considering most self-proclaimed Japanese cultural experts over here get their knowledge from anime instead of actual anthropology and sociology, they were probably correct. The EU/AU probably made a judgment call to not change their lines too much, but that doesn't mean people get what they're referring to.

For example, Callie's love for chips is probably a reference to Japanese Squid Chips. We don't have those over here, so American's probably wouldn't make the connection between Callie (an evolved squid) and a squid themed snack food more or less exclusive to Japan. Since the whole joke relies on the audience knowing what it's referring to, the NA version replaced chips (which would have seemed random to Americans anyway) with more popular American foods.

The EU/AU version probably kept it because British "chips" are what the US calls French fries, and are absolutely delicious with salt and a little malt vinegar. Chips are popular and very common in the UK and AU (can't speak for the rest of Europe), so they likely didn't bother changing it.

So Callie liking chips is random?
They aren't just 'funny' though, in your version they are nothing but supposed to be funny. They're news presenters, not just a laugh everyday.

The lines are fine. The context conveyed through them is nothing difficult, you can understand their lines without having to snicker at everything. Inkipedia has all the stage quotes so you can take a look at some of them yourself and see if they're difficult to understand.

Well I didn't know they would've been a reference to squid chips. Down here at least in Australia, chips is a broad term for the 'french fries' and crisps, and since it's pretty ambiguous since she just says chips, I understand what she means anyway; she likes chips, and since I know what those are, it makes complete sense. It wouldn't have been to hard to maybe say fries in your version alone, but it's replaced with burgers, among other ridiculous things. Since it's just replaced, I can hardly take that version seriously.

Every line they speak in my version is totally understandable and okay. It shouldn't be too hard for America then too if that's the case.

 

[Pinko]

There's a quote that was datamined earlier talks about the two wanting to take a dip in water
not going to say more but it was suggesting it like a question.

 

[BlackZero]

So Callie liking chips is random?

When you remove the context of the thing she's referencing, yes. It's completely arbitrary.

They aren't just 'funny' though, in your version they are nothing but supposed to be funny. They're news presenters, not just a laugh everyday.

It's not just NA version. As I said, they are a boke & tsukkomi duo (Manzai). It's a style of humor unique to Japan that doesn't always cross borders gracefully. Humor is the whole point of their interactions in all versions of the game, regardless of that their in-game professions are. That particular style of humor simply doesn't have the same impact on Westerners as it does Japanese audiences. I don't mean to be offensive, but if you didn't recognize that Callie liking chips was a comical reference, it only proves my point that this type of comedy and the jokes they make in the Japanese version likely went over everyone's head outside of Japan.

The lines are fine. The context conveyed through them is nothing difficult, you can understand their lines without having to snicker at everything. Inkipedia has all the stage quotes so you can take a look at some of them yourself and see if they're difficult to understand.

If you ever take up learning a second language that has a different root than English, you will see what I mean. I studied Arabic for 3 years. During that time, I learned that, with languages that have nothing in common with English, literal word-for-word translations are not always helpful because they don't really capture the meaning of what is said. The translated lines themselves are easy to understand. The nuance or colloquial meaning gets lost in literal translations. Second, as stated before, you also have to know what they are referencing to get the joke. If you don't get the reference, you may not even realize they made a joke in the first place. Third, Japanese wordplay only works if people read the sentences in Japanese. If you translate them, the whole gimmick falls apart because it relies on how the language sounds. So, there's another genre of humor where non-Japanese speakers will completely miss the joke and translations won't help.

Well I didn't know they would've been a reference to squid chips. Down here at least in Australia, chips is a broad term for the 'french fries' and crisps, and since it's pretty ambiguous since she just says chips, I understand what she means anyway; she likes chips, and since I know what those are, it makes complete sense.

This is my whole point. You didn't know what they were referencing because what she referenced was something only Japanese audiences would get. Yes, chips exist all over the world, so I'm sure everyone knows what they are, but that statement is making a reference that likely went over the heads all non-Japanese players. Thus, the whole point of saying she likes chips is lost. The NA localization team recognized the whole purpose of that statement was to be funny, but it wouldn't be funny to Americans because they wouldn't get the reference. So instead, they changed it to something US players could better connect with.

Now back to our regularly scheduled theorizing.

Can Inklings get sick? Would "human" viruses still affect them?