Back with another theory about Octarians, this time is about the appearance of Octolings throughout their lives. Why do their tentacles vary in thickness throughout their lives? What could be the reasons for that? I'm here to explain all of this. Have a seat and relax because this is going to be one of my longest theories yet.
Octolings, the original Octarians from which all of these living tentacles came from. We have seen that Octolings that are younger than 11 seem to have thick tentacles. This can be explained as something that their body would need as many cells as possible to provide their growth. Much like Inklings, most younger Octolings don't have the ability to transform into a cephalopod form yet.
When Octolings start getting to their teenage years, their tentacles start to thin out. The process in which the tentacles thin out is called apoptosis, basically programmed cell death so that its organelles can be transferred deeper into the body so new cells can take them and provide growth for the needed parts of the body. The best real-world example of apoptosis is when a tadpole grows into a frog, its tail is slowly absorbed into the body of the frog once it's not needed anymore.
This is why the playable Octolings have thinner tentacles, it's because the tentacles would just get in the way of their sight. You may also notice the difference between the playable Octoling's and enemy Octoling's octopus forms. This is because even their octopus forms go through apoptosis, as they age, the two tentacles that were used for swimming thin out and provide the organelles for new cells to extend their other tentacles.
As Octolings age from their teenage years, from 15 onwards, their tentacles start thickening again as their bodies are able to provide more cells to their tentacles in the humanoid form. As confirmed by developer interviews, the enemy Octolings are older than the playable Octolings. After an unknown amount of years, their tentacles start thinning again and this is because their body starts to absorb cells in order for them to be able to live longer in their older adult years. This is maybe because that just like Inklings, Octolings start to lose the ability to produce ink once they become old in their adult lives. We already see what an old Inkling looks like thanks to Cap'n Cuttlefish, being skinny enough to show formations that look like human rib cages. This is why DJ Octavio is seen having thinner tentacles in a sunken scroll and an image in Marina's chat room where DJ Octavio and Cap'n Cuttlefish were fighting against each other.
Now you may think "What about their teeth?", just like Inklings, some Octolings just have teeth that are different from the rest. You can see this with Pearl and Marina as both of their teeth are arranged differently than the rest of their species. Now regarding Octoling tentacles again, any Octoling tentacle can become a separate Octarian no matter the thickness and it's actually a natural growth into the separate Octarian.
Now DJ Octavio does have cloning technology on his side as shown in the Octo Expansion artbook, which is how he is able to mass produce tentacle troops with his own severed tentacles that gained sentience. But for cloning to happen, it must come from an already existing source, which is why Octarians starting out as severed tentacles can naturally develop eyes, mouth, and legs, the cloning only takes place after those features have been developed in order to mass produce troops after the cloning machine got those features right.
Now that's not to say the playable Octolings are clones, not at all, they have varying skin tones and eye colors and I highly doubt DJ Octavio would be able to convince that many Octolings to provide their genetic materials. The playable Octolings were instead being preserved in order to live as long as possible. There are many cases in which liquids are used to preserve bodies, this is actually another case. Remember that it was confirmed that Pearl, an Inkling, got shocked when she was younger, which stopped her from growing taller? This confirms that there are ways to affect the growth of beings in Splatoon from the outside. Now off course, they aren't giving Octolings electric shocks to slow their growth, it's the liquid that's actually slowing down the growth. This is most likely done in an attempt to give hope for the Octarian species' survival, and it worked!
Wow, that was a lot even from me, if you want to, I can list out the reasons about the hope for the Octarian species survival being successful. But that will be on a separate post because this one is already packed with my thoughts.
Octolings, the original Octarians from which all of these living tentacles came from. We have seen that Octolings that are younger than 11 seem to have thick tentacles. This can be explained as something that their body would need as many cells as possible to provide their growth. Much like Inklings, most younger Octolings don't have the ability to transform into a cephalopod form yet.
When Octolings start getting to their teenage years, their tentacles start to thin out. The process in which the tentacles thin out is called apoptosis, basically programmed cell death so that its organelles can be transferred deeper into the body so new cells can take them and provide growth for the needed parts of the body. The best real-world example of apoptosis is when a tadpole grows into a frog, its tail is slowly absorbed into the body of the frog once it's not needed anymore.
This is why the playable Octolings have thinner tentacles, it's because the tentacles would just get in the way of their sight. You may also notice the difference between the playable Octoling's and enemy Octoling's octopus forms. This is because even their octopus forms go through apoptosis, as they age, the two tentacles that were used for swimming thin out and provide the organelles for new cells to extend their other tentacles.
As Octolings age from their teenage years, from 15 onwards, their tentacles start thickening again as their bodies are able to provide more cells to their tentacles in the humanoid form. As confirmed by developer interviews, the enemy Octolings are older than the playable Octolings. After an unknown amount of years, their tentacles start thinning again and this is because their body starts to absorb cells in order for them to be able to live longer in their older adult years. This is maybe because that just like Inklings, Octolings start to lose the ability to produce ink once they become old in their adult lives. We already see what an old Inkling looks like thanks to Cap'n Cuttlefish, being skinny enough to show formations that look like human rib cages. This is why DJ Octavio is seen having thinner tentacles in a sunken scroll and an image in Marina's chat room where DJ Octavio and Cap'n Cuttlefish were fighting against each other.
Now you may think "What about their teeth?", just like Inklings, some Octolings just have teeth that are different from the rest. You can see this with Pearl and Marina as both of their teeth are arranged differently than the rest of their species. Now regarding Octoling tentacles again, any Octoling tentacle can become a separate Octarian no matter the thickness and it's actually a natural growth into the separate Octarian.
Now DJ Octavio does have cloning technology on his side as shown in the Octo Expansion artbook, which is how he is able to mass produce tentacle troops with his own severed tentacles that gained sentience. But for cloning to happen, it must come from an already existing source, which is why Octarians starting out as severed tentacles can naturally develop eyes, mouth, and legs, the cloning only takes place after those features have been developed in order to mass produce troops after the cloning machine got those features right.
Now that's not to say the playable Octolings are clones, not at all, they have varying skin tones and eye colors and I highly doubt DJ Octavio would be able to convince that many Octolings to provide their genetic materials. The playable Octolings were instead being preserved in order to live as long as possible. There are many cases in which liquids are used to preserve bodies, this is actually another case. Remember that it was confirmed that Pearl, an Inkling, got shocked when she was younger, which stopped her from growing taller? This confirms that there are ways to affect the growth of beings in Splatoon from the outside. Now off course, they aren't giving Octolings electric shocks to slow their growth, it's the liquid that's actually slowing down the growth. This is most likely done in an attempt to give hope for the Octarian species' survival, and it worked!
Wow, that was a lot even from me, if you want to, I can list out the reasons about the hope for the Octarian species survival being successful. But that will be on a separate post because this one is already packed with my thoughts.
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