Splatoon Misconceptions

[Cephalobro]

I feel like I needed to make this thread after hearing about a few misconceptions that keep coming up. Also warning, this will double as my venting because I have a lot to say about some of these misconceptions. Also, this thread is where facts and evidence are going to be piled up, so if you prefer confirmation bias over reasoning and research, then this thread isn't for you.

So the first one I'm going to say is that many people believe that the playable Agents have canon genders. I will say that this isn't true at all, the creators themselves always keep bringing more and more evidence against this idea as time went (and goes) by. One really obscure evidence is in a conference way back when talking about the development of the game, Splatoon revolves around the player and as such, there can't be a canon gender because that would go against that idea entirely. Secondly, male Agent 3 and male Agent 8 have gotten official artwork, along with that, Agent 3 can still be male in Octo Expansion's canon by the player's choice. It's only a matter of time until male Agent 4 starts appearing in official artwork.

The second misconception is one that has been recently surged stating that 3x8 ship is canon, the ship between Agent 3 and Agent 8 is not canon, yes even though they appeared in the Valentine's and White Day artworks, that doesn't confirm anything remotely romantic between them and here's why: In Japan, Valentine's Day is a day in which courtesy and social obligations are expressed to another person as well, it's the day where women give chocolate to men while White Day, the men give women gifts that are equal or more value than what men received in Valentine's Day. However, the romantic stuff doesn't happen during Japanese Valentine's Day, instead, the romantic stuff happens in December, which stops this ship from being canon. Now here is a huge piece of evidence that makes the ship non-canon, and that's the translated tweet from Splatoon's Valentine's Day post.


Now here is the directly translated text of the post:

Today is Valentine's Day.
A greeting card has arrived from a researcher.
It's a good idea not only to share your thoughts with the person you care about, but also to give a small thank you to that person.

The keywords are "care about", given how Japan is a lot more direct with their message than the western countries. This is a clear indication that romance is not canon between Agent 3 and Agent 8.



What are some Splatoon misconceptions you have found? I'd like to know what sorts of evidence you find!

 

[HighColorSunset]

That Octolings are fluent in Inkling, and even if they aren't, become fluent instantly.

I mean, there's the Octoling amiibo dialogue, which has gems like "What is not down?" and "You are like Ink Mine of freshness that is not explode yet." (So poetic...) The octoling voice lines themselves seem to have some frankly adorable attempts at saying Inkling "booyah" and "this way" voice lines.

Also, there's Marina- though her dialogue is fairly fluent in the English version ( to the point of using slang freely), the Japanese version has her use the polite "desu/masu" form that foreigners are taught, and her voice lines have her speak more slowly and carefully, implying some sort of accent. She's known the language for two years, but that's not enough to make her Inkling perfect. So even if her Inkling isn't "broken," per se, I like to think she does have a bit of an accent.

Most people give Octolings perfect American accents as soon as they step out to the surface, which would only make sense if they were born there, came at an early age, or somehow found some super-effective way to learn the language (or studied REALLY HARD beforehand). And even people who run "LOSE YOUR ACCENT FAST" channels tend to have a few pronunciation quirks here and there, I think, which I actually like; people who are foreign don't have to sound perfectly native in my opinion.

I don't absolutely despise it, though, especially if people recognize the other traits Octolings tend to have in common.

 

[Cephalobro]

So here is another misconception I have seen thrown around: Octarians and Salmonids are allies.

The true fact is that they are not, they are simply trade partners. Their relations are neutral at best, trading is perfectly feasible between two societies who are in neutral standing with each other. Otherwise, Octolings wouldn't have been going on Salmon Runs if Salmonids were their allies.

Trading does not mean alliance in any way, you can see many countries in neutral standing with each other still trading.

 

[HighColorSunset]

A lot of people portray Sanitized Octarians with sadistic grins and crazed attitudes. The truth is, it's probably more likely that they are dutiful yet entirely emotionless servants. (dedf1sh may have some traces of emotion due to not being 100% sanitized though.)

 

[Cephalobro]

So, another misconception I have seen thrown around, looks like there won't be a shortage of these now will it?

Anyways, the misconception in question this time is the line of thinking that Sheldon, Pearl, and Marina are Agents 5,6 and 7 respectively. I'm just going to say that they are not Agents at all. Sheldon in particular was offered to join the New Squidbeak Splatoon by Marie but he declined it. Moreover, one of Marie's dialogue when she alone says that she would need to start looking for an Agent 5 if Agent 4 doesn't do anything. Moreover, Pearl and Marina didn't even fight against the Octarians before Octo Expansion and even then, Marina developed tech for the Octarians. While Pearl did go to parts of Octo Valley, the only Octarian she has encountered was Marina and even then she didn't know that she was one.

The reason why Agent 8 was named as such was because Cap'n Cuttlefish knew that 10,008 would be too long of a name to say quick enough.

 

[Cephalobro]

Yet another misconception, the playable Inklings and Octolings are children.

They are actually not children, they are teenagers. 13 is not the age of a child in many countries, especially in Japan. The characters who we play as are 14 years old, which is not the age of a child, it's the age of a teenager. This means that they have the capability of being in love with others their own ages, form said relationships, and go through some complications in their lives. Heck, all of the playable Agents were confirmed to be at least 14 years old in the games they are playable in, and yet, they are sent to fight an army of some kind by someone older than them.

Bottom line, let Splatoon teenagers be in relationships when someone's OC is in a relationship with another OC and they are both teenagers.

 

[HighColorSunset]

Agent 3 and Agent 8 are apparently 16, and Agent 4's age is unclear- she's either 2 years older (16 if Marie saw 3 two years ago; 18) or 2 years younger (14; she can't be 12).

 

[Cephalobro]

For Agent 4, I believe he is 14 years old since it is confirmed that while Splatoon 2 takes place 2 years after Splatoon 1, he is a different Inkling than Agent 3 (in fact, all the playable Inklings from Splatoon 2 are different from their Splatoon 1 brethren). There is also the fact that he didn't watch TV, which is how he didn't know anything about the Squid Sisters until Marie mentioned that name to him.

 

[Cephalobro]

There is no shortage of persistent misconceptions now is there?

So despite there literately being official art of male Agent 3 and male Agent 8, people still have the annoying tendency to say they can only be female in canon despite official art for the male versions existing. Well, guess what, the developers themselves disagree as the only time when Agent 8 was ever referred to as a female was the promotional script, yup a script for something that's not related to Splatoon lore at all. All the playable Agents are always referred to as they both by the Squid Research Lab and the official games. Heck, even the Artbooks refer to them as they.

In fact, even though Google Translate can be messy at time, Agent 8 was referred to as "Taco boy" when translated from Japanese to English in one of the promotional posts of Octo Expansion. "Taco" was actually meant to be "Tako" if the translation wasn't messy.

Also, promotional artwork never equals canon, this is true for ALL games with any kind of character customization.

Bottom line, there is no official gender for Agent 3, Agent 4, or Agent 8, you can refer to them as he or she if you want to but don't claim that one gender is canonical because that's simply not true.

 

[HighColorSunset]

The misconception that the line "Way to be, Agent 3" shouldn't have a special place in my heart. :P

 

[Sheldon the cq cumber]

Veeemo like my name im new

 

[Sheldon the cq cumber]

I hate when people think annie and sheldon are canon

 

[Cephalobro]

Another misconception I typically keep seeing: Male Octolings were not in the Octarian army.

I see this misconception being said by theorists, but it's simply not true because the developers only said that the Octolings we fight are an elite group composed only of older females. Male Octolings are in fact part of the Octarian army, they just aren't encountered or seen during the single-player modes at all. Is DJ Octavio really going to send the entirety of the Octarian military on one person? That would be a waste of tactical advantage. He simply does not send the other Octoling unit, simple as that.

Also, the game already confirmed that there are male Octolings in Octavio's army.

EDIT: I just thought to add this, no, the females in the Splatoon world aren't stronger than males, both have the same amount of strength. There are other reasons why the Octarian army is structured the way it is rather than strength alone. That's why there are no gameplay differences between them at all.

 

[Sheldon the cq cumber]

Another misconception I typically keep seeing: Male Octolings were not in the Octarian army.

I see this misconception being said by theorists, but it's simply not true because the developers only said that the Octolings we fight are an elite group composed only of older females. Male Octolings are in fact part of the Octarian army, they just aren't encountered or seen during the single-player modes at all. Is DJ Octavio really going to send the entirety of the Octarian military on one person? That would be a waste of tactical advantage. He simply does not send the other Octoling unit, simple as that.

Also, the game already confirmed that there are male Octolings in Octavio's army.

EDIT: I just thought to add this, no, the females in the Splatoon world aren't stronger than males, both have the same amount of strength. There are other reasons why the Octarian army is structured the way it is rather than strength alone. That's why there are no gameplay differences between them at all.

Hey dude thanks for replying on my post test passed

 

[Cephalobro]

Well, another misconception regarding the Agents, but this time is with their names.

While Inklings from promotional material have been named before, the playable Agents have never and will never receive any canonical names within the games themselves and it's obvious why, the playable Agents are what the players choose in any capacity, there can't be a canonical name for them because they are supposed to be player names personified into characters, that's the point of Splatoon as a whole.

So yeah, Agent 3, Agent 4, and Agent 8 have millions of possible names, but none of the names are truly canonical in the game's universe and that's how it's meant to be.