i've had a lot of really random ideas about weapons over time, will probably come back to this thread a lot since i don't think i'll remember them right now. but since goo tuber was discussed a bit, i want to share an idea i'd been thinking about
the main inspiration for my idea is how chargers interacted with splatoon 1's damage up ability. never played the game myself, but having watched some people play chargers in it (namely DUDE), that seemed to be an important aspect of the backlines for that class (or at least e-liter, unsure about others); you could get 1-shot damage with a partial charge if you stacked enough damage up. goo tuber resembles this mechanic to me, though i don't necessarily think this was an intentional choice on the devs' part; after all, the damage gimmick wasn't even something the goo tuber released with
this got me thinking about what goo tuber really is, at its core. and the answer is a sorta unsatisfying "i guess it's a midline?". it doesn't really feel like it excels at any particular range value. squiffer and bamboozler both get lethal damage faster than it, and do much better at their ranges than goo tuber does (heck, goo tuber only barely outranges bamboo in the first place; only by about 0.2 units, according to inkipedia)
so, my proposal is: rework goo tuber's charge time and range to let it function as a true backline. something along the lines of, just about the same range as splat charger (maybe slightly less), with a slightly longer charge time than it. this transforms the weapon from being kinda just a worse bamboozler, to being something more along the lines of the ballpoint of chargers; something that can stand alongside the class's other backlines as equals, while having more complicated mechanics to allow it to confidently defend itself in close quarters combat
i feel like its kits would translate nicely into this new playstyle too; torpedo / missiles would be, uh, maybe a bit "splatoon 2 jet squelcher"-y, but it would work naturally as a good well-rounded kit for a backline, and would work even better if the goo tuber can actually reach decently far with a partial charge for the sake of comboing off of its missiles after launching them. and the fizzy / stamp kit would still be bad. but it would feel pretty similar to the wellstring's stamp kit, which, while still also being bad, does have good synergy. fizzy would combo better with its longer range (you could presumably still get 65 damage very fast even if charge time is nerfed), and you could hold the ground you gain with ultra stamp reasonably well still, but use your new position in the way a backline could
i feel like goo tuber really just needs to strive to be something more than it is. at the moment, i think it's weak because it's direction is rather aimless; i don't know what the devs want it to be, and i honestly don't think they do either. you could give it stat buffs and it could probably turn out alright without changing what it currently is (buffing the time it takes to get 100.0 damage would be an easy way to make the weapon okay), but i'm much more interested in the idea that it could fill a new unique role that isn't filled by very many weapons in the game right now